An Island of Air -- Chapter 1

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say, but I’ve never needed to. Right now the ringing in my ears is so loud that it doesn’t take much effort at all from the bad man to make it sound like the screams of my companions. It doesn’t help that I know they would be screaming had their suits not been shredded leaving them deprived of air. I also know that it won’t be much longer until they’re bloated and grizzly corpses.

“Corpses cannot scream” I thought, and the screaming slowly reverted back to a high pitch ring, the bad man can never keep up his illusions for long.

The ship I’d just been flung out of spun aimlessly about twenty meters away, slowly but surely reeling me back in as my lifeline slowly wrapped itself around the hull. I couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer irony of my lifeline pulling me towards my death.

“Did I really just laugh” I thought as I unclipped the carabiner, disconnecting myself entirely from the ship, “I amaze myself every day”. I was still moving towards the death trap that used to be my ship, the vessel that once preserved my life against the forces of this cold, uncaring universe, albeit slowly. With nothing I could do to divert my course, knowing that there are a billion different ways that I could, and probably would, be killed in the next twenty seconds I started laughing once again, hysterically this time.

My mind raced, “This isn’t how a sane person should be reacting to this situation”, “Why am I worrying about this, it won’t matter in a few moments”, “I hope those electrical wires are inert”. They are. I slam violently into the side of the hull and bounce off at an angle, spinning aimlessly as I drift off into space.

Quickly scanning my suit for leaks I’m astonished to find that my suit seems to be in nearly perfect condition. There’s one tiny leak on my shin and as I applied the self-sealing patch to it I felt a wave of euphoria rush over me. Dread began to creep in as the possibility of my rescue beacon being destroyed.

“After all that, my fate is in the hands of some search and rescue moron. Fuck no.” Feeling around the side of my suit I grabbed hold of the beacon and after flipping open the compartment that shields it I squeezed the SOS button and felt the euphoria return as blue light engulfed my body and a small green light on the back of my glove indicated that the radio beacon was active. “Who knew surviving a shipwreck would be such a rollercoaster of emotions” I chuckled to myself as I floated out into space. The stars spinning around me evoked a serene feeling and, now relatively safe, I would ponder my sanity for the next couple hours.

When the rescue ship first came into view it looked just like another star, faint at first, but becoming brighter by the minute. As the ship finally comes into view, I find myself yearning more and more to be free from this god forsaken environmental suit. The ship was deftly maneuvered and the airlock engulfed me and began to pressurize. As soon as the airlock lights turn green I feel my fingertips unlatch my helmet and in an almost involuntary fashion I throw the helmet off of my head in triumph, gasping for a breath of air that hadn’t been in and out of my lungs for the last… I don’t know. I hadn’t really processed the time properly, “This might be a sane reaction for once” I smiled as this thought floated around in my head.

When the door to the airlock opened I still had the widest grin across my face, but despite my joy the bad man was already beginning his devious work behind my thoughts.

“Are you hurt?” The first man through asked, I'm still alive aren't I? Can’t you see that? I shake the thoughts to the sides of my head and force my response through the middle and out of my mouth. “I… I don’t think so, somehow” I looked up at him. He’s floating at a strange angle for conversation, he doesn’t trust me, he only saved me because he had to, he wants som–

“How can I kill the rest of the people on your vessel” my rescuer cut through the bad man’s thoughts. That can’t be what he said though, there’s no way, I need to push the bad man away from my ears.

“What did you say? I’m sorry I’m a bit out of it right now.” I strained to listen out of my right ear as I pushed the bad man over to my left,

“Were there any other people on your vessel?” I could hear him clearly now, I can handle this.

“We had a crew of twelve, how many others have you found? How many more beacons are out there?” The bad man began struggling to get my mouth, taking me by surprise and causing me to flinch visibly.

“He’s got a bad concussion” I heard my rescuer say to a third person, a behemoth of a man sliding beside him into the airlock. The man took hold of me and removed my environmental suit. Why am I letting him do this? he’s searching me, he doesn’t trust me. My rescuer turned back to me.

“We’re still looking” he said, the tone of his voice giving away to me what I had already suspected. At this the large man began to steer me out of the airlock and into the ship, I didn’t speak after this, not knowing whose voice would come out of my mouth. As I was guided through the ship I developed the widest grin on my face once again.

“I amaze myself every day” I thought to myself, triumphantly. I really thought it would feel a lot worse to have killed them all.