Happy thoughts

"Mark? Mark! Breathe, we'll get you out of there."

He heard a voice through the comms. Familiar one. Sammie Walker.

He looked around, remembering what happened. He was outside… of the ship. When it was in space. Connected to it originally by two tube like wires, now one of them was separated and on his end it was spitting out a little t of sparks. Not good.

Mark was doing some minor repairs and checks of the systems outside. The order came from Angie, she always used him for the most dangerous jobs not suited for soldiers or security. She was higher rank than him on that mission, so she had every right to demand anything within his range of skills. He was afraid of Space, afraid of being outside of the ship, afraid that his safety could be compromised by anything out there. But he stuck to the job, and even joked above Angie with other engineers just to cope with the danger of the situation.

But when they somehow found themselves the cloud of unidentified debris with him outside, everything stopped being funny. Everything became mortally dangerous.

"Mark, breathe, and listen to me closely. There is too much space trash outside, so we can't send anyone to rescue you. But you don't need anyone. You can just pull yourself back into the ship, right?" A soothing voice of Sammie guided him.

"Yeah. Sure." He said through the very dry throat. His heart was pounding and he felt like his breakfast really wanted to get out the way it came in. But he was holding up somehow.

"Okay. I want you to grab by the wire and start pulling yourself in. And… be careful."

He took a breathe, extended his arms and grabbed the tube. The uncomfortable, clunky design of the space suit did not make it any easier.

And he pulled.

Moved forward, trying not to care that there was no up or down, no ceilings or floors, and only a slight gravity pull that felt like someone wanted to take off his backpack with oxygen.

"Great job. Now like a dozen more. And then a few more dozens. You've got this."

A flashing image of Sammie smiling appeared in front of his eyes. He didn't have to see her to know what was she doing when she spoke to him. It was all natural with that woman, all instinctive.

Like they were made for each other.