A distant contorted voice was crying out. He was barely able to make out what it was saying. ‘Voss…Voss…Where are you, Voss?’. Everything sounded muffled. Tones seemed missing. Distant footsteps clanked on metal grates like hammer blows. He opened his eyes, trying to see where he was, but his left eye saw nothing and his right eye only saw a red, hazy blur. He was where he had been before he lost consciousness. Tangled inside a cargo net inside the stern loading bay. As his awareness of his surroundings returned, so did the pain. It spread through his body like a liquid being poured in. His head was throbbing and his body was aching, but most of all, his arm was screaming in agony. He tried to breathe in deeply but found it hurt too much and it caused him to cough up blood, which only worsened the pain. It was as if a thousand needles were stuck in his skin, ready to hurt him with every movement he made.
He heard the unfamiliar voice again, this time nearer. ‘Voss, Voss, where are… Oh no, Voss!’ The footsteps became faster and rapidly drew near. Ala’s silhouette became discernible through the red hazy blur of his right eye.
‘Oh no, Voss, you’re hurt. I need to get you to med bay fast.’ It was odd. He could see it was Ala speaking to him, yet he still didn’t recognize her voice. It was only then he realized his eardrums must have been shot by the huge force bearing down on them. Focussing on them, he could now feel a small stream of blood trickling down from his ears.
‘Hold on, Voss. I’ll untangle you.’. He was unable to see what Ala was doing exactly. He found it was nigh impossible to focus on anything in his current state. It already took him all his strength to ward off the pain, and lingering fog inside his head, enough to not pass out again.
A sudden rush of pain surged through his arm. He tried to scream but the only thing that managed to pass his lips was a gurgling growl . The growl only worsened things as the pain now spread to his chest. Blood filled up his lungs again and he hunched forward coughing out as much blood as he could.
‘Damn it, Voss. Don’t you dare pass out again. Stay awake, I’ll be right back!’ Her twisted voice sounded panicked. It made him realize he was in an even worse state than he had thus realized. He was dying with mere minutes to spare until he’d lose consciousness forever.
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Ala’s footsteps hurried away, leaving him behind, slowly bleeding out and slipping out of consciousness. The pain lessened, at least his awareness of it did. He sighed a painful sigh in an attempt to make peace with his fate, but a voice in the back of his head made him unable to do so. ‘Damnit, Voss, don’t you dare give up now. Not when we’ve come so far!’. He gathered his strength and tried to resist the encroaching darkness as well as he could, but he knew that it was a race against the clock. Either Ala would be back soon with some solution, or it was over for him.
Gravity began to lessen until he was completely weightless. He could feel that his blood was no longer trickling down, it was now floating around his head. He coughed again, blood flew out of his mouth and floated beyond what his damaged eyesight would let him see. Sounds were nearing, heralding Ala’s return, a welcome thought that gave him a glimmer of hope.
‘Stay with me, Voss!’. He could see her silhouette appearing through the hatchway. How lovely it was he thought to himself. She had something glistening inside the palm of her hand. She pushed herself off against the hatchway and jumped towards him. A jump much more grateful than his had been during his heavy gravity maneuver. The pain in his ankles was a stark reminder of the sacrifice he had to make to get the drones launched. Ala now stood over him. She was using a large knife to cut his arm loose from the net. He noticed it was the same knife she had carried on her when she had come to him to plead to continue their mission.
With his arms now free, she grabbed him by his suit and pushed them off against the floor, towards the hatchway. The force caused his head to wobble. He no longer had the strength to compensate for the force she put upon him by dragging him with her. It was impossible for him to keep his head upright.
He coughed up more blood. It worried him how little the coughing hurt him. Despite his best efforts, he was losing consciousness again. No surprise considering the trail of floating blood that followed them. He was bleeding out, fast.
‘Don’t you die on me, Voss. We’re almost there. You’re going to make it!’. Her words sounded more confident than her voice did. The voice inside his own head echoed her words. ‘Stay awake, damnit. Don’t you dare give up!’. But he found he cared less and less about what it said. Perhaps it was time to accept his fate, whatever it may be.
They passed another hatchway and entered the med bay. He felt his body hit against something and then felt hands inside his suit. She was doing something, but he wasn’t even capable of discerning what was happening anymore. Darkness was setting in now. Two hands grabbed him by the sides of his head, pulling him forward. He felt warm lips pressed against his own, and warm tears hit his face. ‘Please, Voss, don’t die.’.
Her face disappeared and her hands let go of him. Something began to envelop him like a warm blanket. It made him feel like he was afloat, drifting in space. He felt her hands touch his face again, but the touch felt distant, as if it was through thick layers of clothes. Everything seemed so far away now, including the pain. He tried to open his eyes again but found he no longer could. Even the voice inside his head was quiet now. He resigned to his fate and greeted the night like it was an old friend.