Amongst the Cosmos: The Big Bang
He distinctly remembered seeing those photos of stars, constellations, galaxies, what have you, in that one space encyclopedia book. The cacophony of colours, of the Horsehead nebula shaped like its namesake, emerging like dust from a rosy background, as if it were a piece moved in an astronomical game of chess. Or so he imagined and fantasized. And, as he was of an impressionable age at the time, meaning as a kid, he gravitated towards space.
A personal diary, from when he was younger, found after the incident relayed deep insight. His favourite dish became the ground beef sandwich, for it was sneaked up the Gemini III by its crew. He thought it hilarious the calling of a congressional hearing on it and vowed to emulate that. He took that last bit about the hearing a bit to the heart, however, as a future incident would show.
And thus, the obsession continued. Space accessories littered his room, constellations adored his ceilings. At an age where boys were awakening to the wonders of the human body, he was occupied with the annals of space exploration history, finding it infinitely more exciting than anything else.
Where his contemporaries were off skating, in real life as well as in video-games, he kept his eyeballs preoccupied with his trusty telescope. While others sang along to Zach De la Rocha, he was content with listening to quasar recordings, finding in them a certain symphony that touched the innards of his soul in a manner that no other musical combination ever did.
He did not make many friends. Indeed, it is not certain if he made any at all. There were a few people that knew him, but those would be better classified as acquaintances. It is reported, however, that he did have a brief fling with a certain Ms. Hannah Lebowski. Tracking her down for a look into the mystery that was Solomon was difficult, as is the rest of his story. It appears he had intentionally cut-off from socializing with the world.
Ms. Lebowski couldn’t offer anything concrete, at first. She refused to speak, only giving at best vague answers and at worst cryptic messages. But, after constant prodding, she did relent.
Herself a former worker at NASA, she described the chance encounter between the two, stemming from a conference on carbon dioxide sensors in spacesuits which Ms. Lebowski herself hosted. It was here that the quiet astronaut-in-training with an impeccable record, Solomon, approached her about her work. They struck off a friendship which Ms. Lebowski maintains was strictly platonic, while others have suggested they were romantically involved.
It is unclear to what degree she knew about Solomon’s mental health, which could’ve helped shed some light on the issue of his death. She had testified in front of the Congressional committee called to investigate the circumstances of the aforementioned, along with the rest of those involved in that mission and maintained that she had no knowledge of apparent suicidal tendencies on his part.
Of course, it doesn’t need reminding the scandal that erupted in the aftermath of his passing away, with the suit that he was wearing being depressurized while on an Extra-Vehicular Activity, colloquially known as a spacewalk. Live on NASA TV, viewers watched in shock at Solomon through his visor as he gasped for breath and suddenly lost consciousness, his skin bloating due to vaporization of the liquid. In the end, his lungs collapsed, and with help far away, he passed away just as NASA TV cut its feed.
The video went viral, and the enquiry was called as soon as the mission returned to base. At first, thought to be a grievous malfunction in his suit, it was later established that it was intentional sabotage of the PLSS, or the Primary Life Support System. The media frenzy about the supposed space murder brought a lot more attention than NASA had ever experienced, and this was an agency responsible for ending the Space Race.
With suspicion on all the astronauts aboard the space mission, it led to a court case with the establishment of Solomon, led by his (by most accounts, distanced) single mother against the agency regarding the death of her son. However, as the court case got dragged on, with new evidence cropping up, it became clear that no astronaut aboard had so much as tinkered with the suit. Neither was it possible to have been sabotaged from the get-go, considering the suit hadn’t malfunctioned on previous spacewalks on the same mission.
Thus, with all of this out in the open, the case turned on its heel, with the only conclusion left being that Solomon committed suicide by intentionally crippling his suit.
And yet, it begs the question: why? Why would a man with such aspirations commit suicide? Why would he end it all with such little motive to do so? His mental state too was regular, indeed above average, on all the diagnostic tests done during his training period.
