"Well, at least you'll survive a while longer." Morrison stared into the locker holding the three spacesuits for a few more seconds before turning away and leaning against the wall. The spacesuits were made to fit humans and human-size anthros, which made them a bit over a foot too short for him. The shelf above the suits held three breather packs, but again, they'd been designed to fit humanoid faces, not his bovine muzzle.

"That doesn't matter." Luana put her arms around him. "Not if I lose you."

He held her for a moment. "If I'd been paying attention to what was going on around us, we might not be in so much trouble."

"Hey, if you're gonna play the blame game, this is just as much my fault as yours. If I'd insisted on staying at the controls, maybe we could've gotten away from that ship." She shrugged. "But then, it was able to knock out our power and pull is inside, so who knows what else it can do. We might not have even been able to outrun it. Or it could've blown us to hell with a ray gun or some damned thing."

He managed to smile. "I guess you're right. At least there's still a chance."

"There ya go." She grinned, but couldn't keep it steady. "So, here's what I wanna try. I'm gonna put on a spacesuit and pop the hatch in the cockpit. You wait in here since this compartment holds more air, and I'll see if there's a breathable atmosphere outside. Who knows, we might get lucky."

"Okay. Better than sitting here and waiting to run out of air." He leaned down to kiss her.

She held the kiss for a moment before stepping back and taking one of the suits out of the locker. She turned away quickly, rubbed the backs of her hands over her eyes, and put the suit on. She gave him one last kiss before stepping into the cockpit.

"See you soon."

"I hope so." He kept his eyes on her until the door slid shut and the lock engaged. He pressed his palm against the door and reached over to the control panel with his other hand to switch on the comlink.

"There's definitely power out here," she said. "Can't see anything, though. There's a really thick fog."

"That's not a good sign. It'd be just our luck that we've run into the real-life equivalent of the 456."

"Shit. Don't put ideas like that in my head." She sighed. "Okay, I'm popping the hatch."

A soft vibration traveled through the door and onto his hand as the hatch opened.

"I'm scanning the air. Hold on a sec."

Morrison waited until the silence had gone on for nearly half a minute. "Luana?"

"Damn," she finally whispered. "It's an alien atmosphere, mostly methane. I'm sorry."

He sighed and slumped against the door. "Don't be. At least now we know."

"Yeah, but …" She took a few ragged breaths. "That's it. I can't just sit here while you asphyxiate." A long pause followed. "I'm gonna open my helmet and get it over with."

"What? No!" He lunged at the comm panel. "Are you nuts?"

"Look, first you're gonna run out of air, then a few hours later, I'll run out of air. That's it. That's how this is gonna end."

"Luana, please, don't!" He paced around the compartment. "Please don't leave me alone."

"And after you're gone, I'll die alone."

"Just hang on a while longer. We're not finished yet, you hear me? Go out and have a look around. Maybe you'll find something that'll help get out us of here. And we can keep talking while you're searching."

"And if I don't find anything? What then?"

He pressed his hand to the door again. "At least we'll be able to say goodbye. You can turn off your comlink so you won't have to hear me die. If you still want to end it then, well, obviously I won't be able to stop you. But please, don't give up when there's still a chance. Keep fighting until the very end."

The only sound coming from the speaker was Luana's breathing.

"Luana?"

"Alright. Fine."

He let a long breath rush out, not even realizing until now that he'd been holding it in. "Thank you." He sniffed and rested his forehead on the door. "Go ahead and take a look around. Maybe we'll get lucky and you'll find a control that can adjust the atmosphere."

"Maybe. Let's keep our fingers crossed."

"Yeah. Be careful, babe."

"I will. I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Okay." Morrison sat on the floor, leaned against the wall, and braced himself for the long wait ahead.