Watch Me Now

Nobody can hear you scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. But you can hear yourself.

I realise there is nothing I can do now, in these last few minutes, but try to calm down. I need to slow my breathing to preserve what little air I have left, although I can't think why.

What do you say to yourself, when death is so close you can feel the reapers breath on your soul, or is that just the levels of carbon dioxide increasing in my suit? I suppose I should be calling God for forgiveness, begging for my life. But I have never believed in any God.

I’m spinning so fast I have to close my eyes. In the darkness I see that face again, peering through the airlock door, grinning with triumph. Whatever happened to honour among thieves?

I hear my screams as I relive the moment the air is sucked out into space, taking me with it. I see my fingers stretching out towards the ship, reaching for the unreachable, desperate to grab anything that would prevent me from being left drifting alone in space.

I could claim that I had been lucky. I know, how mad is that. How could anyone in my predicament call themselves lucky. But I was about to remove my helmet when that bastard opened the exterior hatch. But then, If I had removed my helmet, I would be dead and wouldn’t have to spend these last moments waiting to die. It would be all over, and that’s the thing, when you’re dead, you don’t know you're dead. You're not sitting on a cloud shouting in anger, “I should have seen that coming”. You're just, gone.

I am feeling calmer now and I’m coming to terms with the inevitability of it all. I do feel a kind of peace. And I wonder if this is the peace history’s gurus have been seeking. An inner peace, a calm where you care nothing for the world, or the space around you. It's like your brain realises there is absolutely nothing you can do about anything, and stops harassing you over silly everyday things, like suspecting those around you are considering cutting you out of your share.

It was my plan, my contacts, my job. I fronted the whole thing. So, it was only fair I took sixty percent and the other three split the rest. I took most of the risks.

I’m feeling floaty and a little sleepy. Don’t fall asleep, they say, although I can’t remember why, it feels like the most natural thing to do. Just drift away and dream of all the things I was going to do with my life. Yes, my life, how wonderful it would have been. Travelling the stars, enjoying the finest things the galaxy could offer. I still have the dream, for the moment. More than those backstabbing bastards have. Because I thought they were conspiring against me, I took precautions.

Gold, platinum, iron, any metal really has great value in an expanding galaxy. Most try to steal the mined ore and then get it refined at one of the less discrete processing plants. But over time it has become difficult, with mining companies running their own refineries and the increase in security. So instead of looking for weaknesses in the process, I went for the most secure spot. Why? well, when security is that tight, and corporations can’t believe anyone would be stupid enough to attempt a robbery, they get complacent. So that’s where we hit them. At the point of distribution, when the gold was pure gold. Ninety million credits worth. No good to me now. No good to them either.

Once we had gained access to the refinery's control centre, it was down to me to reprogram the cargo carrier. These types of carriers are automated, no pilot. Mainly because they are powered by a hyperlight drive which would turn a perfectly healthy human being into jam. But it also meant they didn’t stop, with no crew on board, they weren’t obliged to respond to any kind of SOS.

I reprogrammed the destination to a point in space where my carrier was waiting. Jake and Viv were at the rendezvous point, Sal and me at the port. Given that standard transport travels at about half that of the hyperlight, the gold would get to Jake and Viv eight hours before we would. I had the code for the gold carrier, so they weren't going to be able to make off with it before we arrived.

I'm really struggling to stay awake now, also feeling a little dizzy and I think I might be sick. Not something I want floating around in my helmet.

We arrived at the rendezvous. The transfer was straightforward, but it took a little time. The two ships were side by side, connected by magnetic rods. I opened the hold on the carrier with the gold, and Jake had ours ready and waiting. We all suited up and basically threw the cases from one to the other.

Gold weighs nothing in space. I returned to the stolen carrier and gave it a new course. I then made my way back towards our ship. Jake released the rods and the stolen carrier powered up and accelerated away.

Sal and I were supposed to enter the lock together, but she pushed ahead. So, I took a detour to the outer lock of the cargo hold. What the rest of them seemed to have forgotten was, that I purchased the carrier, it was coded to me. So, from the external panel I was able to override the holds locking code and replace it with my own. I sort of expected a mutiny, but I was planning to be on the other side of the air lock when it happened.

They will need a shipyard and a technician to get into the hold, and that will alert the authorities, which means, they can’t get at the gold either. I can see them now, cursing their own stupidity, while I'll be dead and not in a position to care.

I’m feeling sort of warm and cosy, probably breathing mostly carbon dioxide. I don’t remember being told that one of the symptoms of carbon dioxide poisoning was seeing a bright light. But what’s weird is that I have my eyes closed. I would open them if I had the strength. Maybe this is it. Maybe I got it wrong, maybe there is something after death, or maybe it’s the…