Flash Fiction Friday prompt 156 No Battery Life. 224 words.
He'd had 30 seconds. With EOS's screamed warning John had enough time to get his helmet on and hit the emergency button for home.
It wasn't enough time to let his brothers know what was happening before Five exploded and he lost consciousness.
John woke.
Five was still cocooning him as she always had done, but she was dead in the water. Or space, he should say. But he was floating in debris.
Nothing was working. Nothing but the noise of the alarm and even that was fading.
'EOS?'
But there was only silence.
Slowly he spun in the dying embers of Five, listening to his heartrate slowing, his breathing becoming shallower and more rapid.
He'd trained for this. NASA had taught him well the signs of hypoxia and what to do. What could he do in this situation?
Nothing.
The beeping faded as the console indicated 'no battery life' indicating that Five's backup reserves were no longer working and he knew.
This was it.
Scott had once told him that he hoped one that the day he died he would be in One, that he and his beloved ship would go down together.
John hadn't understood at the time, but he did now.
The last thing John saw as his eyes closed for the last time was a flash of red.
He smiled.