Fifteen Seconds

Fifteen.

Elsie’s eyes fluttered open, peppering the darkness with distant stars. Shards of metal and plastic streamed before her, and her outstretched hands bore the marks they left behind. Long, blonde hair floated before her eyes, threatening to obscure the space station from her vision entirely.

Fourteen.

The side of the space station gaped open. A fiery tongue twitched out and dissolved as it licked the hollow air, trailing smoke through aimless splinters. As the pieces silently crumbled before her, one word forced its way to the front of Elsie’s mind.

Felix.

Thirteen.

One rogue satellite – that’s all it took.

The sensors caught it first. The Trevor satellite, damaged and hopelessly off-course, barreled into scanning distance ten days before it should have. A preliminary examination revealed that the satellite’s propulsion subsystem was damaged – likely from a collision with space junk – causing the satellite to spiral out of control.

Instead of floating along its orbital pathway, it now hurtled directly towards the space station.

With no time to change course, the crew prepared for impact. Alarms blared and people ran as they evacuated the cargo block and airlock, effectively sealing the sector off from the rest of the station. If the satellite moved forward as predicted, it would hit the cargo block, compromise the airlock, and carry on through space, leaving a trail of manageable wreckage behind.

Twelve.

The rest of Elsie’s division had retreated to the galley, but she remained in the engineering bay, directly next to the doomed cargo block. It was risky, being so close to the action.

But Felix was there.

He couldn’t leave engineering; he’d already sent most of his operating crew to the safety of the med bay, covering their stations himself. He’d begged Elsie to leave too, but she refused. “You’re in here all alone. I’m not just going to leave you.”

“What if something happens?” Felix jogged from station to station, flipping switches and checking statuses. “You wouldn’t last a second out in space.”

“Yes, I would,” Elsie retorted from Felix’s desk chair as she pulled his jacket more tightly around her shoulders. “Humans can last in space for – what is it? Fifteen seconds before you pass out?”

“Yeah, and then you die, like, a minute later. Besides, you can’t even hold your breath for five seconds, let alone fifteen. There’s no way you’d hang on that long.”

“How much you wanna bet?” Elsie smirked and raised her eyebrows.

Felix snorted. “Nothing, because hopefully we’ll never get to that point.”

Eleven.

Elsie gasped. The empty air sat on her chest like a ton of invisible bricks. Pins and needles crept from her fingers into her hands, and the debris drifting past her grew blurry.

A human form caught her eye. Elsie fought for focus and parted uncooperative lips. “F… f…” Felix?

The headless figure remained out of reach – a space suit someone should have been wearing, its helmet lost in the surrounding devastation.

Ten.

Elsie drew her knees up to her chest. “What do you think… if you had to die, what would you want the last thing you ever saw to be?”

Across the room, Felix flipped a switch on the control pad in front of him. “Well, that’s a little close to home.”

“Yeah, I know, but… it’s on the brain, you know?”

“I get it.” Felix gazed upwards and wrinkled his nose in thought. “Man, that’s hard. I feel like there’s a lot to choose from. What about you?”

“No, no, I asked you first.”

Felix sighed and chewed his lip. “A sunrise.”

Elsie raised her eyebrows. “Really? I didn’t think you were so sentimental.”

“Well, I’m not talking just a regular sunrise. I mean, like, the most spectacular sunrise you could ever see. I feel like I’d be ready to go after that.”

Elsie nodded. “I can respect that.”

Nine.

“What about you?” Felix got up and sat down at another control pad.

She snorted. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, now. You made me answer; you’re not getting out of this.”

“Fine, just… let me think how to phrase it.” Elsie put her chin in her hands, fingers tapping her upper lip. “I think I would want to see the person I loved most.”

Felix stood up and strode across the room to check the solar levels on the opposite wall. “Ooh. Anyone specific in mind?”

“No.” Yes. “Not at the moment.”

Felix laughed. “I was gonna say! We’ve been friends for too long. You’d tell me if you had a crush on somebody, right?”

“Yes.” No. “Of course I would.”

Eight.

The silent expanse of space screamed in Elsie’s ears. Memories roared as invisible flames flickered through her arms and legs, threatening to seep through her skin and engulf her.

Fighting for control and willing her eyes to focus, Elsie scanned the wreckage, searching for a distraction and any sign that Felix was alive.

Please be okay. Please.

Seven.

He drifted through the gap, fingers clutched tightly to the broken safety railing that should have saved his life. Without a space suit, but otherwise unharmed, Felix let the bent metal bar glide from his hand, his contribution to the newest field of space debris. The red in his uniform echoed off the metal pieces surrounding him as an unknown light source emerged behind Elsie.

Her outstretched arms and stiffened fingers grasped for Felix and seized only starlight. He drifted closer and remained forever out of reach.

Six.

The satellite ripped through the airlock and crushed the cargo block like a soda can. Metal flew in every direction as the battered satellite detonated on impact, shattering the cargo block’s remaining walls.

It should have carried on through space.

Instead, it exploded.

Five.

Elsie’s hands flew to her ears as the screech of tearing metal roared around her. Felix stumbled across the room and dropped to his knees by the safety railing. He gripped it with his right hand and extended his left to his companion.

“Elsie!”

Elsie lurched to her feet and staggered towards him. “Hold on!” she cried. Her voice echoed through her soul but blew away amid the din surrounding them.

Four.

The room pitched to one side, and Elsie tumbled to her knees. She inched forward, pulling herself along the tilting floor and reaching for Felix’s outstretched hand.

Almost there.

The wall behind her disintegrated, welcoming outer space into the engineering bay. A long, invisible hand reached through the gap and seized Elsie, flinging her backwards through the opening.

Felix screamed her name. Elsie didn’t hear it.

Three.

Yellow swelled into Elsie’s peripherals as the sun rose over Earth. Rays streamed out from behind the shadowy sphere, heralding a new day on the planet below.

The golden haze permeated her waning vision, but Felix lingered at its center. The sun peeked out behind Elsie, bathing Felix in its glow and spilling warmth over Elsie’s back.

Two.

As Felix watched the sun rise over Elsie’s shoulder, she watched its reflection in his eyes – the most spectacular sunrise she’d ever seen.

Tears formed in Felix’s eyes as they shifted from the scene before him. As the golden-black darkness engulfed Elsie, his gaze met her own.

And it took her breath away.

One.