Breaking the door was an easy task once you find the weak points. Those weak points where utilized, collapsing the seal long enough to slip through, and small enough to reseal it before the oxygen flies out after smacking against the helm of a space suit.

Once the seal was reactivated and I was inside, I deactivated my helm to save energy. Glass crunched under my boots as I made my way to the stranger, kneeling down to check. I pressed my fingers to the side of his neck, feeling a strong heartbeat in return.

He didn’t seem to like that, his face grimacing. The dots that ran along his cheek bones flared. What he wore reminded me of a hospital gown, covered in the same kind of gel.

“Dul’him…?” murmured the stranger. His eyes fluttered for a moment, as blue as his dots, unable to focus.

“Uh..hi,” I responded. My eyes drift down to his thigh where most of the purple was. A gash peeked through.

“Dul’him…” The stranger tried again, “eurn yun?”

I fished out the scarf Sharen gifted me from my bag, wrapping it around his thigh, tying it tight.

He gritted his teeth, trying to push me away.

“Shhh,” I soothed, holding his wrists as gently as I could. “You’re bleeding too much.”

He relaxed and I let go.

“It’s going to be okay.”

What answered me was a voice above, robotic and slow enough for me to catch all the strangeness. “Wyn’tue, wyn’tue! Su’tuim en beau!” It repeats with a rumble from the ship that began to groan from strain.

The lights left us in the dark, the backup generators kicking on. Veins of luminous title was all that was offered.

I tried to stand again, the gravity pulling hard in one direction. I had to brace myself against the wall, looking out for my ship.

That wasn’t there.

That was gone. Into the abyss.

With the rest of the damaged half of the ship.

Panic. “Sh*t…”

“Wyn’tue, wyn’tue! Su’tuim en beau!” It began again and I scooped up my mission once gravity corrected itself enough to let me.

I raced through one of the entrances closest to me, feeling the rumble gain some power. The ship continued to whine. And I had a sneaking suspicion this level wasn’t going to last very long. Not like I had any way to prevent that.

I followed the luminous title, passing pods of slush and bodies that were burnt in the process of trying to escape them, frozen in agony. Branch like wires connected them to shot out generators nearby.

Those that were shot scattered the hallway, spilling the same color of purple on the walls. Most wore gear, while some wore the same kind of clothes as the stranger, crumpled in the corners of the rooms. All were dotted like the stranger I cared.

I made sure I didn’t trip over them, glad that the man I carried was too out of it to see.

These poor people. “What the hell happened?”

What I needed was found tucked away at the end of the hall, untouched and forgotten by the aftermath outside.

I placed him down on the exam table.

Yu’da Ba!” The stranger cursed through his clenched teeth. He grimaced, the blood already seeping through the scarf. I undid the knot and ripped the clothing around the wound for better access.

I cleaned it the best I could before I pulled out a needle and thread from my supplies. I paused, touching the edge of the damaged skin, more dots peeking through that trailed down.

I lodged my flashlight into my mouth for extra light as I began to stitch a stranger closed. I thought about ways to tell Sharen.

Then questioned that I should as I bandaged my work, letting the stranger rest as I figured out what to do next.

It would mean telling her that the only way home is gone to the universe. That she was right as always. And that my screw up may just cost me my life, while saving something not quite human.

But I don’t regret it.

{ “This isn’t like the other missions...It’s simple. It’s direct. And it’ll pay a whole lot more than the farm could provide. It’ll bring you out of the third ring and into a life that’s halfway decent…”

“What is it?”

Space. The one thing you’ve been dying over for the past four years! Six months collecting rocks, easy as it can be.”

“Rocks.”

“This is your best shot, Kohl, to getting away from this dying planet to a place that’ll actually grow.”

“I want to stay.”

“Someday you can’t. Take this opportunity. It’ll drive you absolutely bonkers. Though, as they say, it’s just space.” }

There was a click and I turned to see a blaster’s barrel a few inches from my face. I felt for mine at my hip, finding it missing.

“Who the f*ck are you?” asked the voice in the dark.