Chapter 2: Pain
"I have no time to feel, no time to worry, no time to question why," thought Fox, as he sprinted down the main corridor. "I have much to do and no time to do it."
Fox was utterly at peace, his tactical mind taking over as his emotional one shattered. He was in the zone.
Fox yelled upward, "ROB! Prepare to receive multiple simultaneous instructions, all have ordered maximum priority!"
"Acknowledged," responded Rob through the ship's comm system.
"Bring maneuvering engines to full powered standby. Track heat source of approximately 40 degrees Celsius originating from this vessel at approximately 90 dash 1 dash 0 degrees and plot an intercept course. Begin pursuit as soon as previous two steps are complete. Maintain distance of 10 meters with respect to the heat source and starboard. Prep a space suit at the starboard airlock. End instructions!" Fox said with a single breath.
"Instructions confirmed and underway. Full completion in approximately 20 seconds." replied Rob.
"To slow," thought Fox as he made a sharp right turn and headed towards the starboard airlock.
"Hey, Fox! What should Slip and me do?" Asked Falco over the comm system.
"Falco, meet me at the starboard airlock with an equipment mover. Slippy, get to the medical center and prep a stasis pod. We're going to need 100 stasis," replied Fox.
Slippy gasped, "You mean... she'd already dead!"
"Do it, Slippy, there's no time," sighed Fox.
He heard a whimper from Slippy before the comm channel cut off.
At last, Fox arrived at the starboard airlock. A panel containing one of the space suits had already opened and extended outward, displaying a bright orange suit made of metal and plastic. Fox pressed a button on the chestplate, causing the it to mechanically hinge upward and the legs of the suit to rotate open. Fox climbed up and slid into the suit. He tapped the button again and put his arms down the sleeves as the rest of the suit sealed itself. Fox grabbed the helmet and dashed to the airlock controls. He smashed the large "OPEN" button and stepped inside. The door shut behind him.
"Rob! What's the status of the instruction set's completion?" Fox yelled into the ceiling.
"Heat source located and followed. Requested orientation complete," responded Rob.
"Good. I'm in the starboard airlock and will be retrieving the heat source manually. However, I want you to maneuver the ship as close to the heat source as possible without touching it," ordered Fox.
"Understood. Now approaching 5 meters distance from heat source," said Rob.
Fox lowered his head and put on his helmet. Once it was attached and locked, he hooked the space-walk cable to the suit's harness and pushed the button to open the outer airlock.
"Full decompression in 10 seconds. Artificial gravity off," noted the small holoscreen in front of him. The outer wall opened and light started pouring in. Fox pushed off and floated forward at a slow speed still adjusting to the intense light from Solar. It was a couple of seconds before Fox could see, but he soon made out Krystal's outline. Only a few meters in front of him, she was rotating, arms and legs flailed out. Fox was approaching her quicker than he expected.
"Wait... My God!"
His mind reeled at the sight of her. Her body was devastated. Her arms and legs were swollen to almost twice their normal size. Her chest had collapsed. Fox could see that she would be bleeding from her mouth if the blood hadn't already frozen in her throat. Most of her fur was frozen solid from the sweat of exercising. Much of it had simply broken off into hundreds of blue needles. To top it off, it looked like several pieces of exercise equipment had connected with her on the way out of the hole. There were several large gashes on her legs and torso. Fox grabbed her by the arm and began pulling on the cable.
"Slippy, tell me you have that stasis pod ready," Fox whispered into the radio.
"It's ready, Fox," Slippy solemnly replied.
A few seconds later, Fox and Krystal were inside the airlock.
"Falco, you there?" Asked Fox.
"I've got the mover right outside the door," responded Falco.
"Okay, I'm going to leave gravity off in here when I re-compress. Be ready to help me move her and... well, just be ready for the worst," Fox said.
Fox quickly overrode the normal re-compression procedure and activated it. The door opened a few seconds later, revealing Falco with a large floating platform. Falco was wide-eyed.
"Don't just stand there! Help me!" Yelled Fox.
Falco regained his senses and rushed to guide Krystal's body onto the platform.
During the run to the medical center, time seemed to move in slow motion. What was he doing to do now? He had her body, and sure, they were near a large industrial planet with some of the best hospitals in the Lylat system. But what could they do? Krystal had been outside for more than a minute and she had tried to hold her breath during explosive decompression. Her organs were probably crushed. He looked down at her. Her arms and legs were beginning to shrink from the re-pressurization, causing blood to begin pouring through the cracks in her skin. Some of the larger gashes were thawing and beginning to bleed.
"Fox, wake up! We're here," Falco cautiously said.
"Right," replied Fox.
Falco and Fox moved Krystal's body into the large stasis pod and activated it. The pod filled with mist and Fox lost sight of Krystal's body. He sank to the floor shaking, the emotional reality of the situation hit him for the first time. Fox put his head in his hands and closed his eyes.
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Note To Readers:
It gets worse before it gets better.
Thank you reviewers. I will modify any chapter at any time based on your suggestions for improvement.
8/15/06 Edit - Added additional spaces around changes in speech.