Drifting
“Shit.” That's all Calliope can think as the engines on their hopper stalled and stopped. To call it their hopper was generous, as she stole it from an Arcaedias shipyard mere hours prior. The log she managed to swipe from a mechanic said it was only being serviced for minor security issues, not a failing reactor and leaking back up fuel cells. The Lavender Rose was just a small transport hopper, no one would miss it. They could take it and finally have a way out of the slums of Arcaedias. Now it was going to trap her in a way that the slums never succeeded at.
As the reactor shuts down, a familiar chill fills the room. An empty, indifferent, uncaring cold. Familiar to all of the residents of the outer ring of Arcaedias. The cold of lost power and desperation. The cold felt while working the worst maintenance jobs on the station. Calliope scrambles to find the emergency environmental suit. Hopefully this one safety measure will be able to save her. Their hopes are dashed as they reach the locker and find only a half measure of safety. The suit that should have been their savior missing, replaced with a simple helmet, air tank, and propulsion pack. None of this suit will save her from the oppressive cold that was seeping in from the space beyond the hull.
Calliope sighs as she puts the suit on. At least it will save her if the hull breaches or the life support is gone too long. At least until the cold gets them. Frost starts growing on the massive slates of glass that surround the cockpit of the tiny ship. Its sharp edges and points grow, threatening Calliope with their inevitable end. She keeps trying to find a way out. The ship is too small for escape pods or large scale backup systems, it was only meant to go between Arcaedias and Luna Coalition Space. The transponder beacon was part of the security systems that were broken, and they were so far off the regular routes that no one would likely pass by this piece of space anytime soon, if ever.
It succeeded, the cold beyond finally has her trapped, no options left. She ran to escape it, stole to escape it, and all of that was for naught as the cold creeped inwards. The frost grew all around them. The walls of the hull, the screens of the dead consoles around her, crawling up the chair beneath them.
In one last desperate attempt at survival Calliope opens the innards of the comms console, and selectively rips wires out, connecting them to a simple 2 way radio comm she had. It was rudimentary, but hopefully this will let them send a signal out. Anything that could get her saved. Tapping out a simple pattern, one anyone would recognize, sending out rhythmic spikes of static to hopefully call for help. Just then, as they were finishing the pattern, and setting it on a loop, her breath catches in her throat. She can't breathe.
Each attempt at a breath just felt wrong, too empty. She is trying harder and harder to breathe. Their helmet grows warmer with the feeling of suffocation overwhelming them with each additional attempt at a breath. The life support had been out too long, and now their air is gone.
Struggling with the half suit she donned, Calliope desperately tried to get its backup airflow running.
What if it's empty?
What if it's broken?
It's only a half suit, can it even help me?
Thoughts race across their weary mind as the fog grows on the helmet, each laborious breath covering one side while the frost grows on the other. The frost, she had forgotten about the overbearing cold, the barbed chills piercing her to the bone.
The world starts to blur around them, dizzy, and fading. Falling out of their seat, she hits the ground, the chill making it harder to move as her breathing becomes less and less effective.
Then, a slight hissssss, and the indicator on their helmet activates, signaling the usage of reserve air. Could it even save her at this point. Their vision grows darker as the fresh, oxygen filled air enters the helmet. Is this her fate, to die in this small stolen ship, far away from anyone, alone with the void?
As their vision goes dark, a light breaches through the frost, searchlights from another ship. She may be saved, and that was the last thought she had before everything went dark, potentially for the last time.
