Calling to Phoenix and Violet, Lucy prepared to close the airlock for launch. "You ready???" No time for pre-trip inspections. They needed to make an emergency launch.
A hoarse reply from a struggling Phoenix. "Not ready.."
"What's going on?" Lucy could hardly make out their voices from the blinding currents that resisted her every step, violent gusts scathing across her helmet. "Are you okay??"
Temperature cycling, rising then dropping then rising again. Dust blustered through the hatch into the shuttle, blinding the line of vision. Thoroughly molten rocks of dust struck Lucy's helmet who worked her way to the ship's hatch, making their best efforts to crack her helmet.
Fighting the grip of the vagrant currents, Violet and Phoenix held on to the hatch bars for dear life. Warnings and alerts of the ships oxygen levels rapidly dropping...
When Phoenix's small size struggled against the strengthening winds, Violet held on tight to the hatch bar and scooped her other arm behind Phoenix's back, concentrating as she hoisted her back into the ship.
Violet took hold of the bar again with both hands, trying to catch her breath, trying to think, "We might be able to close it with more leverage. We need a tool..." Eyes searching for surrounding resources.
Harsh pressure and pace of the currents picked up and the satellite attached to Skylab that sent the distress signal to earth began to hinge, bending until it snapped and broke off... It broke free and flew through the air, winds speeding it's path. Screaming, Lucy's eyes widened. "Watch out!"
A high whistling sound as the satellite gained speed with the winds, flying away from Skylab headed their way. It hit Violet and ripped her off the ship. Her arms and legs desperately trying to grab on to something, the broken satellite took her flailing through the air.
"Violet!" Lucy screamed at the top of her lungs.
Diana paged in over the radio. "What happened?"
"She's hit!" Lucy panicked. "Violet's hit! I can't see her! I don't know where she is!"
"Oh no.." Diana tried to track the signal on Violet's suit. "She's offline. Complete loss of signal on Black Queen.." Diana updated the team from her headset.
Phoenix froze. "How long can she survive decompression?"
"Less than a minute!" Lucy dreaded her answer.
Oxygen Pressure Level Warning
"Commander," Diana kept her eyes on the alerts. "Our oxygen levels are dropping. Fast."
"Copy that." Focused on Violet, Lucy hopped out of the hatch back onto Mars' surface, then signaled back to Phoenix. "Stay in and prep for launch."
"But what about you?!"
"I'm going to search for her a little longer. Get moving. Get secure."
Deep in despair, Phoenix squinted at her through the debris.
"Go!" Lucy commanded, charging forward against the current as if climbing Mount Everest. Squinting at the ground as she went, sifting through the dirt carefully not to accidentally step over her. "Black Queen!" she paged over her radio. "Black Queen, report!"
Oxygen level: 11 percent
"Roadrunner, if it drops below 10%, launch."
Diana was stern. "You really think I'm gonna leave you behind?"
"That's an order, Roadrunner." When there is no other way out, you reach for anything you can. "What about the proximity radar? Could that detect Violet's suit?"
"But it's designed to see the Hermes from Orbit, not a small piece of metal in a single suit."
"Give it a try..."
"Roger."
Diana activated the radar and scanned from the signal... but to no avail. "I got negative contact on the proximity radar..."
"Nothing?"
"No...The infrared can't make it through the debris."
Regardless of all logic telling her she couldn't go any farther and her heart on the verge of exploding, she did her best to stay calm and think.
"Commander," Diana tried to be gentle. "I know you don't wanna hear this but... "
"Don't." Lucy could barely breathe.
"Commander. You need to get back to the ship. Now." Diana flicked the switchboard and a warning signal sounded. Impending, impending, impending, impending.... "I've got one more trick left to make the oxygen last, but after that, I'm following your orders."
She fired the OMS, which rotated the engines, shut the lights off, and redirected all oxygen to only 1 portion of the spaceship.
"Commander!!" Phoenix called.
"I'm on my way..."
As she charged back to the ship, her heart threatened to stop beating completely, stomach dropping to the ground and rolling down the hill she'd just climbed. She made it to the hatch and grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder.
Fatigue engraved on her weary face, holding in a thousand oceans of tears. One last look out into the hopeless black abyss that only seemed to darken endlessly the further she looked. "Violet!" Lucy cried powerlessly.
On her slow climb into the hatch, sadness flowed through her veins and deadened her mind. It poisoned her spirit and killed off any other emotion until it was the only one that remained. As if a black mist had settled upon her and refused to lift.
She leveraged the hatch closed with a broken metal bar from the airlock. Warning alerts followed her into the ship while Diana minded the launch initiation.
"Ready to go on your command."
Lucy gritted her teeth, turning red about to burst as she strapped herself into her seat. Eyes dilated. Mouth agape. Lost. Blocking out all else, the sound of her weary breaths in her space suit scattered her already incapacitated thoughts.
"Commander?" Diana prompted. "I need you to verbally tell me whether or not to..."
"Launch." Lucy shut her eyes now glazed with a glassy layer of tears. As she blinked, they dripped from her eyelids and slid down her cheeks. She bit her lip tightly in an attempt to hide any sound that wanted to escape from her mouth.
Diana pressed the green button and the engines fired, releasing clouds of smoke as they broke through the lag and launched off the surface of Mars.
Lucy looked at the empty seat beside her. A figment, adrift, evaporating in the heat.
YOU ARE READING
EVERGLOW | Freddie Mercury (Vol 2) | Freddie Mercury Fanfiction
Romance"You give me this feeling..."
