Chapter 10

**Chapter 10** is the tenth chapter of the *Astra Lost in Space* manga.

## Synopsis

In the immediate wake of the loss of cabin pressure connected to the damaging of the water distributor, the lights flicker out briefly before coming back on. The gravity generator also fails, causing the whole crew to begin floating. Kanata immediately suspects that the culprit is trying to destroy the ship, but Charce shows him the remains of a small rock that has punched through the side of the ship and damaged the water reclaimer. Zack admits to having missed reactivating the *Astra*'s deflector shield when they dropped out of faster-than-light travel, leading to the rock strike, and apologizes for his mistake. While Luca feigns falling into unconsciousness due to lack of oxygen and Quitterie frantically points out there is still a hole in the wall of the ship (however small), Zack orders them all to stop behaving theatrically and activate their helmets.

Kanata takes command, sending Zack to examine the gravity generator and tasking Ulgar with lowering the emergency shutters; Ulgar refuses, forcing Kanata to do it himself. He then asks Luca if he has any tools they can use to plug the hole. Seeing his bag floating next to Yun-Hua, Luca asks her to throw it to him, but the moment she activates her suit's thrusters to maneuver to it, she begins spinning head over heels, unfamiliar with how to operate the equipment. Charce flies over to her and stabilizes her, confidently assuring her that they can handle the rest of the job. Grabbing the bag, Charce throws it to Luca, who retrieves a glue gun from within it; slapping a small round plate over the hole, he uses the gun to quickly apply quick-setting glue to the breach area, sealing it. As Quitterie praises Luca's mechanical acumen and he casually brushes the praise aside, Yun-Hua watches wistfully from a short distance away.

In a flashback, Yun-Hua talks with Aries alone, revealing that she feels jealous of Aries' cuteness and usefulness to the rest of the group, stemming from her having a talent they can use. Aries counters that her "talent" is only useful in party games, adding that she thinks Yun-Hua is very cute, something Yun-Hua clarifies she has never been told. Entering the room behind Yun-Hua, Quitterie states that the reason for that ma have to do with the fact she wears her bangs down over her face. She further claims that Yun-Hua simply has no self-confidence, insisting that she should stop saying such self-deprecating things. Offering perspective with her characteristically dry confidence, Quitterie asserts that she understands her own beauty and talent and that she had to work on herself to become the way she is.

When Yun-Hua responds defensively to the onslaught of negative assertions, Aries tries to brighten the conversation by asking her if she has any aspirations, talents, or some special, self-defining characteristic. Yun-Hua comes very close to revealing a talent of some kind, but stops short, refusing to say what it is. Annoyed by her behavior, Quitterie leaves Yun-Hua behind, insisting she doesn't care. As her flashback ends, her long bangs splaying away from her eyes in microgravity, Yun-Hua realizes the depth of her own uselessness, resolving to dedicate herself to becoming someone worthy of being a friend to the others.

From the gravity generator chamber, Zack reports that the only damaged component is the breaker panel; it was damaged by another meteoroid and took the generator down, and will need to be fixed. Faced with the realization that they may have gone through a small swarm of meteoroids, Kanata sends Aries and Quitterie to check the rest of the ship for potential damage, while Charce checks the ship's internal air pressure. Once at the front console, however, Charce urgently reports that the *Astra* is caught in Shummoor's gravity and is falling toward the planet's surface. Zack quickly calculates that they have around nine minutes to fix the breaker panel before the impact with the surface becomes unavoidable.

A horrified Zack tells the group that the breaker cannot be fixed in nine minutes, but Aries interrupts, informing them that she saw a backup power generator by the ship's pantry and that connecting the gravity generator to the backup will restore its functionality. Zack counters that the pantry is too far from the generator to connect it to the backup, and Ulgar counters back that the storeroom has reels of cable that, if combined, maybe long enough to bridge the gap. Realizing that they still have a chance to survive and they have only eight minutes left, they race to retrieve the cables and bring the gravity generator online, as Yun-Hua internally reiterates her intent to make herself of use to the group.

## Characters

* Ulgar Zweig
* Luca Esposito
* Quitterie Raffaeli
* Charce Lacroix
* Aries Spring
* Kanata Hoshijima
* Zack Walker
* Funicia Raffaeli
* Yun-Hua Lu