Drifting Dark

Chapter 11: One More

All he saw was darkness.

The whole section was just gone.

Danny peered out the emergency airlock, looking at the dark grey walkway that continued on the other side, continued for three whole sections until there was finally an intact airlock. That's all there was. The ceiling, the walls, the rooms, they were all gone, lost in the debris field. The whole top level had been ripped off.

He squinted through the porthole, trying to make out something. This area had originally been excess living space, but they'd long since converted the extra rooms into whatever they wanted. Including a gym.

None of the space suits were stored in that section. There was zero chance of any air pockets. Even if, by some miracle, a room had been left intact. Each section, each habitation level, could be sealed off, but the interior doors within that area wouldn't seal. The atmosphere would escape, and anyone in there would be exposed to hard vacuum.

Given this length of time... there was no chance of any survivors.

Danny reached behind his ear to turn on his radio. "Helen?"

"Go ahead." Their captain's voice came through with a crackle at static.

"The gym, the whole area, it's all gone," Danny reported lowly, painfully undertones hiding in his voice. "If Mike was in the gym, or anywhere near it..."

"Understood." Her voice betrayed no hint of emotion.

"What the hell happened?" Danny started, his voice rising, his tone twisting. "There's a whole chunk of the ship—"

"We don't have all the details yet," Helen interrupted. "Right now, we need to regroup. There's a lot of systems down and we can't afford to waste any time."

"Right, of course." Danny took his time turning his microphone off, still staring out the window, his expression hard.

There was a high pitched beep to signal a shipwide transmission. "Everyone who doesn't know how to use an antilock spanner, make your way to the mess ASAP."

Danny had torn his gaze away from the window before the end of the message. He turned around and walked back down the corridor rapidly, heading back towards the ladder with a growing anger resonating in his steps.