In Space, You're Never Alone

Prologue

The night air was cool. The clear Texas skies held no chance of a passing storm; they hadn't for at least three weeks now.

In the distance, the howl of a lone Coyote split the deafening silence.

It faded away and the silence returned. The whole world seemed to be holding its breath.

For what? thought Natalie, turning over in her bed to stare out the window.

She stayed in that position for about fifteen minutes before the sound of her alarm clock interrupted her thoughts.

She rolled over and pressed the snooze button.

Natalie stood and stretched, then opened her dresser and pulled on a shirt and some pants.

She walked downstairs and poured herself a cup of coffee. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

In her opinion, six was the most ungodly hour of the day.

You woke up feeling heavy and sleepy, and the second you got out of bed, no matter how near the equator you were, no matter the time of year, no matter what you were wearing, you always felt cold.

Natalie shivered and took a sip of coffee to offset the chill.

Out in the distance, a low rumble of thunder rolled through the air.

Natalie looked out the kitchen window and started.

There were no clouds.

"So where's that coming from?" she asked herself.

"Warning: Systems failure imminent."

"Crapcrapcrap!" yelled the pilot as he struggled to regain control of his ship. "Asgard! What's our status?"

"Engines three and four are out of commision. Two is holding strong, but number one just caught fire in several places and we're facing a huge meltdown."

"Get that fire put out! See if you can get auto repair on three and four, and make sure number two doesn't fail us!"

"On it," replied the ship, activating the fire extinguishers in the engine room. "Shira, it's not going to go out in time. We're going down too fast!"

"Don't you give me lip, just do what you can!"

"I could reroute the liquid nitrogen from the cryogenic containment tubes to freeze it over." said the AI thoughtfully.

"Then do it! So help me, this ship is not blowing up on my watch!"

"Aye, aye, captain," replied the AI.

Shira gritted his teeth, muttering a prayer under his breath. 

Please, he thought. Just hold together a little longer.