[COMPLETED]
[WATTYS 2022 WINNER]
James Quinn can't die. Actually... that's not true. He's died many times - somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 - only to be reborn as himself to live his life over again.
For millennia, he's had to endure this c...
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December 30, 2017 [16]
The emergency alarm shrieked and the escaping air whistled as James pulled the bulky EV glove over his hand.
"Artemis 1, do you copy?" mission control pleaded over the radio uplink. "Artemis 1, we are detecting a loss of cabin pressure at an accelerating rate. As well, the catastrophic rupture will compromise fuel cells two and three. Detonation is unavoidable. Be advised to don your suits and proceed to the airlock ASAP."
Wayaheadofyou. James lowered the pressurized helmet over his head and clicked it secure, then looked at Martha. She floated, frozen but for the slow rotation her inertia generated through zero gravity. She'd donned her own suit but her head was bare. Her eyes stared off blankly, then blinked. She was alive, but lacked the urgency one tended to have when facing certain death.
Their historic mission as the first married couple to co-pilot a spaceflight had been cut short by a sudden collision, tearing a gash along the side of the shuttle. It was thin, but too long and irregular to repair with the tools available. It was also too small to pull objects larger than water droplets, but that was changing and the force on the hull would eventually reach a tipping point and burst in a violent rupture. James was curious what NASA's post-incident analysis would find – probably a hunk of unaccounted space junk – but that would come long after Martha and he were floating corpses. He would be more discouraged by this piece of tragic bad luck if this were his only life. And when a life hands you lemons...
"Artemis 1, do you copy?" mission control repeated.
James pushed off toward Martha, grabbing her floating helmet on the way. "Hey!" he shouted through the polycarbonate bubble. "Earth to Martha! Get it?! Because..."
"Artemis 1, do you copy?"
Martha looked at him but appeared unamused by his joke.
"Just humor me?" he said and gave her the helmet. She sighed then held it over her head and he helped secure it.
They maneuvered through the airlock opening and shut the interior door. James activated the depressurization process.
"Artemis 1, do you-"
"We copy, mission control," James answered at last. "Dr Beckett and I are donned and secure in the airlock."
"Be advised, Commander Quinn – the airlock will also be compromised by the rupture."
"Understood, mission control. Only time will tell," James said, then used the console strapped to his arm to cut his transmission to Earth.
Martha continued to float lifelessly, staring off at nothing in particular. In the lifetimes since their meet-cute at Disneyland, they'd found sunken treasure off the coast of Spain – good to know if we ever need 500 million in silver and gold – worked as FBI agents – didn't find any aliens unfortunately. The truth is still out there – and nearly made Martha the second female President of the United States – only nearly because... well, I'm still not sure why. In said lifetime, Martha left her campaign abruptly, months before the election and without explanation to her millions of supporters or to James.
