The steel floor rang beneath his feet. He couldn't go fast enough. He burst through the bay door. Donnie lay on the floor at the other end of the bay, one hand pressed against the side of his face. Injured? By what? Explosion?

Leonardo covered the distance in seconds. He fell to his knees beside Donnie and hauled him into a sitting position. "What happened?"

"Watch out!" Donnie pointed up.

A dark shadow shivered across the ceiling, sending the little light pets fleeing in a bright mass. Swift as night the shadow flowed over one of the little light beings. It condensed into a dark mass. The light being winked out.

Leo dragged Donnie to his feet. "I think we should retreat."

Donnie didn't argue for once. The two of them hauled him out of the cargo bay between them. Raphael pulled the hatch closed behind him. Leo wondered if that would actually contain it.

They half-carried Donnie through the hanger and into the living area. The skin on Donnie's arm had split and blood oozed down onto Leo's hand. Donnie's left hand was still pressed across his face. In the living area they eased him down on a bench. Leo grabbed for the infirmary kit.

"What happened?" said Mikey over comms.

"Donnie's injured," said Raph.

"And our space worm is in the ship," said Leo.

"Whoa, seriously?"

"Yes. Now let me deal with Donnie."

Raph had pulled Donnie's hand away. The flesh across his cheek was pale and hard, with white patches.

"What happened to your face, Donnie?" said Raph. "What's that white stuff?"

"Frozen air."

Leo, who had been about to wipe the stuff off, pulled out the burn gauze instead and tore into the packets. "What happened?"

"I heard noises in the engine. Thought something must have blown so went over to check."

Leo lay the gauze against Donnie's cheek, the healing balm oozing against the burned skin. Donnie closed his eyes, drawing in a sharp breath. Raphael worked at his arm, lying gauze along the split skin. It looked like Donnie must have thrown up his arm to protect his face. It had clearly taken the worst of it. Second degree burns at least.

Leo left the gauze to do its work and scrabbled through the kit for a restorative. The combination of sedatives, electrolytes and antibiotics would help. He popped the seal and handed it to Donnie.

Donnie swallowed and continued. "It came out of the intake valve. Froze it and it shattered. I got a faceful of frozen atmosphere."

That explained the burns. Leo pulled off the now-dry gauze, wincing as Donnie hissed in pain, and applied a fresh layer.

"It burst out of the pipe. I got out of its way. I don't think it actually noticed me. Just took off after my pets. I guess it must feed on them."

"But hang on. That thing was massive. The head took up the entire exhaust vent. How could it fit into the engine?"

Donnie's eyes were closed, his face tense with pain. "Gravity. Even our light gravity would be enough for it to be able to condense its mass."

"But most of its body floated off into space. How is it still alive?"

Donnie shrugged. "Maybe the head was the only living bit anyway." Donnie's words were slurring, and he blinked slowly. The sedatives were kicking in.

Leo was relieved but also annoyed. He needed Donnie coherent right now. No time to go softly. "How do we get rid of it, Donnie?"

Donnie sank back against the wall. "I don't know."

"Think. I know you have some ideas in there."

Donnie shrugged, and winced at the incautious movement. "It's a deep space being. We have nothing that will kill it that won't kill us." A satisfied expression crossed his face. "Sorry Leo, can't help you kill anyone today."

He heard Raph's sharp intake of breath. Leo's patience snapped. He put his hand around the back of Donnie's neck and yanked him forward. Donnie jerked in pain. Leo pushed his guilt down. "Listen to me. That thing is in the ship. We're stuck out here. We have a leak, and we're going to run out of air. Do you want to die? Is that it? Because we will, if we can't get rid of that thing. And if you won't help us, we're all going to die. And fuck you, Donnie, I'm not willing to give up on my brothers like that."

Donnie's gaze flicked away, but there was something there, something in the brown depths. "I have an engine to fix," he muttered.

"No point fixing the engine if we are dead. And how are you going to get down there, anyway? It's in the cargo hold. How do we kill it?"

Donnie closed his eyes. "I don't know."

"Come on, Donnie." Leo wanted nothing more than to take the pain off Donnie's face, to let him sink into sedated oblivion. But they needed him. Leo needed him. The words were on the tip of his tongue. But he'd said them before, and endured a snarling attack in return. He swallowed, searching for the right words. "We need to pull together, but we can't do that if you question every order. For the sake of your brothers Donnie, please, work with me."

Donnie looked away. After a moment he nodded. Leo wasn't sure if it was the sedatives, or if he really had accepted Leonardo's request. Either way, he was going to try.

"Yeah!" said Mikey over comms. "Good news! We are no longer lost." The screen in the corner flashed up with the image of a star field, this time with landmarks and distance.

Leo's flash of relief faded a little as he followed the lines. The nav comp had found them, but there were four long jumps between where they were and home. How long, and would their oxygen last? "So that's, what, three days?"

"Three days, 18 hours," said Mikey.

"Okay, and we have 76% oxygen, so-"

"The scrubbers are back online, so we have a refresh rate of 2%." Donnie scrubbed at his face, wincing has his fingers caught on the gauze. "Three days, 12 hours before the level gets too low to maintain consciousness."

Leo tried to meed Donnie's eyes. ""We can do the last jump suited. We just need to kill the space worm."

"Yeah, you know, the easy part." Donnie's gaze turned inward, whether from pain, sedatives or a desire to avoid interacting with Leo.

"Okay, the last attempt didn't work well."

"It didn't work at all," Donnie murmured, eyes narrowing as he gazed at something in his head.

"I will think of something", Leo said through gritted teeth. But he didn't think Donnie had heard him.