Ways to lose a spaceship

There are lots of ways to die in a spaceship. Number one: micro-asteroids. They are far more common than you think.

If a slightly less than pebble-sized rock,  going half the speed of light, pierces the wrong part of your hull. . .well, you're completely cooked. And considering just how many stars there are in universe, and simultaneously realizing that, for every star, there are at least multiple orders of magnitude of deadly pebbles out there--sheer trillion, billion, millions of them--you begin to grasp your problem. 

Now, you might have good shielding on thickened armored plates, and redundant systems on top of redundant systems to avoid improbable disasters. 

But then again, a rocky blob of a mineral heretofore entirely unknown to science can immediately ruin the rest of your life, of which you will only have seconds to reflect upon before explosive decompression alleviates every concern, no matter how serious, permanently. 

You can't do anything about it, you can't prepare for it, and you know it likely won't happen, but. . .you cannot ever be completely assured that it can't happen. It's a semi-conscious thought which, as soon as you start to forget it, rushes back to the corner of your brain again to worry you some more. Psychological Denial is the lone space captain's friend.

Number Two: Fire. Batteries, engine chemicals, various rare gases for the smooth operation of your craft can be downright cranky if not respected properly. And the passage of time can make the most disciplined star sailor cavalier and careless. Related to fire, is of course, radiation, the invisible fire of the cosmos. It's everywhere, slowly cooking everything as if all matter in the universe was a succulent brisket ready to be served at summer bbq. Deep space is worse when it comes to radiation, attacking travelers and instruments alike. Think of it as an invisible thicket or bramble of flame--some seemingly empty places in the universe are worse for it than others.

Third: Navigation. If you're confused about where your ship is headed, too distracted about where you're going and too proud to check yourself, you can spend years flying into danger without knowing until too late. Many are the pilots who have frozen to death lost in an antique vessel, supplies dried up, and silently and steadily gliding out of the Galaxy into an everlasting void without a single beep or blip on a computer screen, the galaxy shedding its dead as if it were a mote of dust gently floating out of sunlight and into shadow.

But the worst danger of them all is utter and complete boredom. The everlasting battle in the mind to fly right and true without slack or stumble, sometimes for years on end. 

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