Lose Control (The Jewel Project #5)

41.1||Pull of the Void

Roberta's eyes flashed and she seemed to be gritting her teeth. Her hold on him tightened, then loosened, as if she couldn't decide what to do with him.

Finally, she huffed. "You men are such idiots. As a general rule." And just like that, she turned tail and walked out.

Jimmy only started for a second before continuing to equip his tool belt and secure his air supply and the chord that would ensure he didn't drift off into space. The unease inside him only grew after the strange interaction, but he didn't have time to turn back or figure out women. As a general rule.

So he put his helmet on, opened up the doorway into nothingness and hopped out. He didn't think he could ever get used to the sensation of the void, of how it seemed to not touch him, yet crush him at the same time. To have no support, no semblance of control, nothing to count on.

But he bit the insides of his cheeks and once his feet hit the surface of the station, he propelled himself as far as possible, towards the first of the sockets. Having spent so much time fixing one of these things, he'd figured out a million ways to sabotage them. A wire here, a bad angle there, faulty hydraulics... Because these things were meant to spin, capture light and then focus it. All he needed to to was make them focus inward and destroy the very thing trying to fire them.

The motions were familiar, and even if his hands were coated in thick gloves, he could still make swift work of his target. Minutes ticked by as he altered one socket, then two, then three. By the time he was done with the fourth, he started feeling a little lightheaded.

"What the hell?" he mumbled to himself, checking his watch. He'd only been out for half an hour and he'd linked his air supply to the station instead of coming out with a limited amount, so there was no way he was running out.

Except breathing was becoming increasingly hard. He blinked, wondering if it was all in his head. His airline was still there, he could see it. But his body didn't believe his eyes. His heart started beating faster, consuming more oxigen, and his lungs started to burn.

There was only one explanation. Someone had closed the valve from the inside.

"Shit." Four sockets would have to do. So the thing wouldn't shoot itself, but after what he'd done, there was a decent chance it would explode either way.

He kicked off the socket and towards the entrance to the station. It was only twenty feet away, but his vision was getting blurry. His entire body seemed to be failing and his mind was somewhere between total panic and trying to reason that he was just a few feet away from air. He could do this.

Except the strength of his kick had been much lower than he'd planned, and the closer he came to the door, the more he was slowing down. He wrapped his fingers around his lifeline, willing his grip to be strong, and pulled as hard as he could.

The cable rushed towards him, detached from the surface of the station. In a haze, he watched it floating, just like him, with nothing to hold it to any surface. He was six feet from the door. He could see shadows moving beyond it. And yet, there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing to grab, nothing to push, and all the flailing in the world made no difference, because there was no air to put up any resistance, no gravity to pull him down.

Just void. Everything was just nothingness.

His mind jammed as his lungs screamed for air. There was none left. And as his vision blackened together with his mind, infinite space was all that was left.

♠️

Jerry's heart started hammering, a sense of nervousness overwhelming him. It had happened before, so he knew it had nothing to do with him. Sure, he was a little impatient himself, more than ready to get out of there and see Earth again, but this was Jimmy.