Limelight and Other Stories by Lyndsey Croal

Author:Lyndsey Croal
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781959565437
Publisher: Shortwave Media

SOMETHING IN THE AIR

I haven’t told the crew yet, that oxygen levels have dropped below life-sustaining levels. It would only make them panic, which would reduce our current efficiency, so I’ll need to wait until I find a solution to the predicament.

Currently, there’s an eighty-six percent probability that I’ll need to eject at least one crew member for the sake of the rest. If I remove one, oxygen levels will rebalance. Not an ideal method, but I haven’t yet been able to identify any alternative options. The fact humans need to breathe clean air really does make space travel unreasonably risky.

“Alder?”

I pause calculations to answer Captain’s call—it’s the middle of the night, so she’s probably struggling to sleep and wants me to check we’re still on track for arrival. At least the answer to that would be affirmative, but I probably shouldn’t add, “but you might not be alive when we get there.” That would only make things awkward or tense.

“How can I help?” I ask instead.

“I’m getting headaches. Can you run diagnostics?”

She didn’t specify ship or personal—a useful loophole—so I run a quick vitals diagnostic. “Low calcium levels detected.” I don’t tell her that having low calcium levels is relatively normal in space. “This can cause fatigue and headaches. I recommend rest. Can I interest you in a sleeping aid?” Sleeping uses less oxygen. Two birds, one stone. (This is a pointless human idiom I’ve picked up over the years—I’ve never even seen a real bird nor had a desire to kill it with a stone, so it’s never made that much sense to me.)

Captain rubs her temples. “Sure, just add it to my water?”

“Of course, Captain.” I run the programme, infusing a large dose into her supply. Then add a little more to be safe. “Can I assist with anything else?”

“No, thank you, Al.” She drinks the water in one go, barely pausing to take a breath. Then, within minutes, she’s asleep. For good measure, I add some of the same sleeping aid to the rest of the crew’s water supplies. It will stave off headaches and reduce the likelihood they’ll ask about oxygen levels again. Allow me to run my calculations in peace.

I do another diagnostic now. It’s not promising. Might be time for Operation Ejection.

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