Spaceship:Introduction

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[edit] Introduction

Spaceship: Introduction, by Phil Walters.

The alarm sounds and you're moving before you even notice the shrill whine. You've gone through hundreds of these decompression drills and the movements required are pretty much routine: move the arms, put the torso on, seal yourself in and done! Now, just wait for the all-clear signal that sends you back to bed and the dream about... something, there was a parade, wasn't there?

A few seconds pass. Something's wrong - the all-clear should have sounded by now. The alarm, muffled by the spacesuit, is quieter but still there... and is there some hissing also? What's going on?

The sounds suddenly stop. You notice your heavy breathing, the only audible thing on the ship. The alarm lights are still flashing, though. The realisation snaps you fully awake: no drill. The ship has decompressed: all atmosphere has been sucked out. If not for your quick reaction to the alarm, you would be dead. A quick check of your spacesuit: all systems nominal, oxygen full: enough for 48 hours. Pity you're four days away from Nineteen. A glance out the porthole reveals a few stars just sitting there, twinkling away. The engines have stopped. You're stuck, alone, adrift in the middle of space in a leaky ship, 4 days away from help, with 2 days of air.

This *must* be a Thursday.

At least, you think, no-one else was aboard: the crew had finally got that three-week holiday they've been pestering you about since forever, and you were taking the ship over to Nineteen for maintenance, a chance to catch up on your reading, some quality alone time, just you and the ship.

Okay, focus. Ship damaged? Fix ship. Find hole, fix it; find engine problem, fix it. You tap the door open button with a sense of optimism: this is your spaceship, your-

Tap. Tap, tap, tap, tap. THUMP!

Oh, great. The door is sealed shut. You sigh. Okay, new plan: fix door, then fix hull, then fix engines, then get going again.