The blaring of the alarms grew louder as I started focusing on my surroundings. My vision is becoming clearer the more I gain control over my breathing. I turn around with panic in my heart.

“Did I airlock the door?!” I shout, with not an ear to hear it.

I feel near the latch and become overwhelmed with relief when the seal has indeed locked itself in place. I allow myself to drop to the floor and put my face into my hands.

Taking a few moments to settle on the solid ground, the red lights flashing through the room remind me that I might not have a lot of time to rest. I turn my head towards the nearest control panel, and to my surprise, the ship’s system control is still functioning.

“Gods… eleven breaches. Why did we not receive a warning? The observation deck appears to be intact.” I glance at the screen to investigate the crew quarters in this section of the ship, on the other end of the corridor.

No extreme internal damage there. Good, I thought to myself. That might mean someone else is safe.

“N.Y.X., turn off the alarm in the medical lab and give me a count of living personnel.” I look up towards the ceiling, spotting the audio input sensor.

The sound of silence took hold of the room, as a soft disembodied voice silenced the alarms.

“Currently, there are three other lifeforms detected on board. One in the crew quarters and two in the dining area. Ensign Roberts and Professor Jjiltsto-raj are together. Sergeant Makyko is by herself, but her biosignatures indicate that she has lost consciousness and is heavily injured. Is there anything else I can help you with, Doctor Cinett?”

That means four total, out of the thirty-three, that remained onboard after our last visit to a spaceport. One of the eight security personnel, one of the eight researchers, myself as one of the doctors with a background in biology, none of the cooks or translators and then only one remaining member of the Atlas itself. That doesn’t exactly give me any hope. I glance through the window in the door to notice that some of the panels on the wall are gone. Most likely sucked into the vacuum of space. Any attempt to reach Caila is out of the question now. Even if I were to engineer some kind of contraption using the rebreathers here, the moment that door opens will get me ejected out of the ship in its current state. Even so, I need to find a way to get to the sergeant.

“Is it possible for you to project a pressurized shield in Corridor E?” I ask N.Y.X., whilst moving towards the equipment closet.

“Atlas’ power supply is running low. Rerouting power from Section C to Section B allows for four minutes of sustained power to the hypothetical shield before entering a critically low level that would require me to turn off all life support.”

I grimace upon hearing the quandary that was made. Section B includes the armory, storage and unfortunately, the dining area. If they had a way to hold their breath for four minutes, I could…

“Open a communications channel to the dining area.” Maybe they can figure out some way. I heard that the professor was quite clever. 

“Comms are yours, Doctor Cinett.” N.Y.X. said, before I heard screams coming in through the speakers.

I couldn’t make out what they were screaming, but it didn’t take long before it stopped. “That was the comms tone, professor! H-hello?! Can you hear us?!” I heard the baritone voice shout. That must be Roberts.

“Yes hello, ensign. This is Doctor Marcus Cinett, safely locked away in the medical lab in Section B. Are both of you alright?”

“Yes, Doctor! Under the circumstances, that is. The professor is almost ripping her hair out, but aside from that, we are fortunate enough to still have all of our limbs attached. We can’t say the same for the cooks. The crashes…” He went silent for a moment.

“A cooling unit fell over and crushed the legs of Jaime. I applied basic earthquake safety methods by ducking under a table, telling the professor to do the same. It might have saved our lives, but… How could this have happened?! Captain Sylva was supposed to have been awake for this shift. He would never have overlooked something as simple as an asteroid shower.”

I sit down on the ground and start creating a makeshift rebreather harness.

“Mistakes can happen, ensign. After all, the captain was a human. Speaking of, is our Xanirian professor listening in? Can she say something?” I wait for a minute, as I hear some ineligible muttering before I get my answer.

“I am very sorry, Doctor, but it appears that she is in some sort of shock. Her eyes are not focussing on anything, nor does she blink when I snap my fingers close to her face. Was there something you needed from her?” The ensign said, with a worried tone.

I grit my teeth, pondering the situation once again. How can I ask this from them if only one of them is responsive? Never mind that. I must try anyways. Someone else’s life depends on this.

“Sergeant Makyko is unconscious and in critical condition in the crew quarters. I want to try and get her out of there and bring her here so I can make sure that she survives as well. Sadly, the corridor in between there and the lab is compromised. I have asked N.Y.X. if they can put up a pressurized shield, but since the ship’s battery is running low, they’d need to redirect power from your section to give me a window to do this.” Just as I finished making the modifications to the rebreather, I hear the ensign once more.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“N.Y.X., give me a confirmation of what the doctor just said.”

He is sceptical. Understandable, considering the risk involved.

“Pull up ship diagnostics on Screen X07. Doctor Cinett, it is not that I don’t believe you, but I need to make sure that there isn’t another way. If you were in my position, I am sure you would have done the same.”

I nod towards the absence of people in the room. A few more checks on the sturdiness of the tubes on the canister, and I can give it a try to see if it doesn’t suck the oxygen out of me, instead of providing it. That would be a nasty way to go out.

“Doctor?” I hear Roberts say.

“Yes, ensign?” I get back up from the floor, moving the prototype to the table.

 “The autopilot on the Atlas has set us for a course to Tnevda XII, which is the closest habited planet, and it will take us twenty hours to arrive. As it stands, all three of us will make it just fine. I understand the risk in trying to make it four survivors, but are you actually willing to risk all of our lives for one?”

“Yes, ensign! Yes, I am!” I feel hot in the face.

While it might be just another security officer to the ensign, Sergeant Caila Makyko is much more to me than that.

“To clarify, you would let the professor and myself in the complete dark aside from the star through the window, without oxygen, gravity and temperature regulation for a maximum of four minutes. It will take you about one minute to get down that corridor in zero gravity. This leaves you three minutes to unlock their door and drag the sergeant to the lab. There is one large problem in this plan. If you check the security camera in front of the crew quarters, you will see that one of the tungsten beams from the interior hull has lodged itself in the hallway. It is blocking three of the twelve rooms, which includes sergeant Makyko’s.” An audible sigh can be heard over the comms.

I pull open a drawer near me and pull out what I hope to be the solution to this problem. “Is a fully charged surgical laser capable of producing a beam that could cut through tungsten?” I tune up the settings on the pistol-shaped tool. Made for operating on a large variety of species, the bone density like that of a Xanir would be highly resistant to a laser made for operating on humans.

“Now that you mention it, I’ve heard tales of the Gobbrilians using second-hand surgical lasers for their mining operations as a way to save on the credits spent for equipment. It will not be instant, but it could definitely work!”

I heard something unfamiliar in his voice when he said that. Could it have been optimism? Either way, it is yet another troublesome factor to take into account.

“But Doctor,” Roberts said. “If you are to attempt this, I must put into place that time limit. We can’t rely on you coming back for the systems to be restored here. That way if you fail, the professor and I won’t be left for dead.”

“I didn’t expect anything else, ensign. If I get back faster than the countdown, I’ll do it manually. N.Y.X., you’ll need to be ready for that command. Keep tracking me through the corridor. Once I close the lab’s door again, implement immediate restoration of power to Section C.” I said over the comms, hoping that it would get them to cooperate.

“It will be done, Doctor Cinett.” N.Y.X. said. I must admit that the ever so calm voice of the A.I. is not exactly mixing well with the current situation, but I digress.

“So… are we good with continuing the plan?” I almost started a shoot prayer, as it took a while for the ensign to get back to me.

“…we have already lost enough people. The possibility of preventing another, even though the odds are low, make it hard to refuse. Our oath as a member of the Atlas means that we need to get everyone from point A to B safely. That includes the sergeant.”

“You are a brave man, ensign. A good man. When we make it out of this, the drinks are on me.” I swallow, realising how parched I have become.

“You don’t know what you just signed up for, but that sounds great. Looking forward to it!” he chuckled. He really has no idea how much I feel indebted to him now.

“I’ve got the equipment ready to make my way to sergeant Makyko. Have you figured out a way how both you and the professor will manage?” I consider the difficulty for the ensign to convince someone in shock to perform this feat of survival.

“We will make do with what we can. The Xanirian professor is hardy, and as you know, they won’t be in as much danger as I will be. If she were fully here, I could’ve asked her to share some oxygen through sporadic mouth-to-mouth, though the external layer of teeth would not have made that a pleasant experience.” The ensign says with an audible smile, still capable of making humorous comments despite the situation.

“For the sake of the sergeant, let’s not dilly dally any longer. Doctor, give me a signal for when you are ready to go, so I can suck in what could possibly be my last breath. Good luck, and I hope to hear back from you and potentially the sergeant in four minutes. May the five gods look favourably on you.” I then hear him get up from whatever he was sitting on and seemingly try to talk to the professor.

He probably still holds out hope that she comes to her senses in time to help him. Sadly, I don’t have the time to wait any longer.

I put on the makeshift harness, integrating the rebreather and oxygen canister. I grab the surgical laser in my gloved hand and start the charging process. When it is at 60 percent charge, it will be fully charged by the time I arrive at her quarters. I close my eyes and project Caila in my mind’s eye. Her gorgeous, dark red, wavy hair, her four Viloressan forehead studs that protrude from the skin, and last but not least, her bright pink irises that always shone like the star filled sky itself. I will get you to safety, Caila. I must.

“D-D-Doctor…”

I heard a voice say over the speaker. Could it be…?

“Professor Jjiltsto-raj, is that you?” I turn my head to hear the quiet voice clearer.

“She started talking very quietly, Doctor. Her eyes are still as vacant as before, but this is an improvement.” The ensign spoke gleefully.

“D-Doctor… be c-c-careful. See y-you on the o-other side.” She said, before her voice trailed off.

I hope so too, but preferably on this side of life. All four of us.

Looking down at the laser, the display reads 63. The time has come.

“Ensign Roberts. Thank you for putting your faith in me. Professor Jjiltsto-raj, you as well. We never had the time see each other a lot on this ship, but after all of this, I look forward to getting to know both of you a lot more after this. If you grow bored during the next four minutes, try thinking about all the things we can talk about for the next twenty hours before we safely dock on solid ground. I will leave the lab, so be sure to collect yourself and slow down your breathing. N.Y.X., restore power to Section C in four minutes from now. Start the thirty second countdown.”

I turn back towards the sealed door and turn my attention towards the safety latches. Taking the steps towards the door, I run the plan through my head once more. Run down the corridor, use the laser to clear the way, pick up Caila, give her the mask and rush back to the lab. I stretch my legs one last time, preparing them for the fastest sprint of my life.

“Eleven, ten, nine…” Hearing N.Y.X. reach ten set me on sharp. I can feel the adrenaline hit me. I put pull free the lower latches and put my hand on the upper latch.

“Three, two, one, zero. Shield is up in Corridor E. Starting four-minute countdown.”

Pulling free the last latch opens up the door, as I feel my feet getting off the ground.

The clock is ticking.