Though the cold water with its strange stench—different from oceans on the Terran worlds—filtered into the escape pod, she couldn’t get the door latch to work.
She kept hitting all the unlock sequences.
Bio-keys.
Old fashioned keypad codes that were older than she was but still able to open anything.
Nothing was working.
The water kept rising.
She pushed to the top of the room, floating in the cold as she tried to loosen the hatch’s seal.
Finally, the hatch gave way.
She cried out in joy.
Only to scream, because, even though the door was unhinged, it was blocked and she couldn’t open it.
She spat every old Terran world curse she knew. The water kept rising, and it was moving fast.
She didn’t have much longer before the water would overtake her.
Bracing herself, she kicked at the door. Each kick slammed against the door, but nothing budged.
“Come on, more!”
Nothing was budging enough to get out.
“Come on!”
She kicked harder.
No give.
The water kept rising.
She took another breath.
Another kick.
Nothing.
She tried to wedge her arm through. Something.
Maybe she could—
The water rose too fast.
She jerked and panicked, trying to get breaths of air.
But in a moment, the air was mixed with water.
And then it was all water.
7
Reboot
