Breathing was fast now. The lack of oxygen now a far greater factor than the dehydration that had plagued them for hours. The water in the suit had collected mostly around the midriff, probably caused by the light rotational spin. It amused, for a moment, to consider that the effects of gravitational spin would be so significant. Though with so little else to affect the mass it was also just nature.
Eyes flick to the oxygen monitor. It was in the critical zone but there were still a few hours of survival left. The suit was incredibly efficient. Even with the recycling turned down to minimum it was still extracting small amounts of oxygen from the moisture that they had secreted. It couldn’t refresh it to drink, as that system had been turned off, so the limited systems had decided to recover whatever useful element they could. Oxygen. The hydrogen was being collected and stored, it also was used for fuel to power the small separation engines that were giving Drick precious hours of air by splitting the water into its component elements.
If Drick survived this the first thing they would do is invest in the company that made these systems. Then buy a really good model and write a long review on the value of them. Drick would have laughed, even tried to, but all that the dried mouth could manage was a gurgle, that rasped across the tongue like a death rattle.
They were closing their eyes again when a glint in the distance. Drick tried to focus, to blink, but there was little moisture even on the eyes. All the moisture was sloshing around the midriff. They couldn’t focus. A touch of an internal glove switch and the helmet screens of the suit zoomed in. Drick croaked a laugh. Hoarsely barked. It was a ship. It was heading straight towards them. The beacon must have worked.
As the vessel drew closer Drick could see that registration markings declared it to be from the outer system. A Kuiper Belt vessel. Likely from Eris. A water runner from its size and shape. Small forward, dart-like, crew section, filled with command areas and also probably with crew quarters. This section was less than one fiftieth of the ship’s size.
A long central section, more a hard skeletal spine with large hard points joints. Each joint was a multipurpose docking ring and anchor for attaching tanks and storage containers. A mixture of freight containers of different sizes still populated the frame.
At the rear of the vessel a block of tanks and a large round section containing an oval of engines. The vessel could achieve incredible thrust from a mixture of ion ejection and fusion drive. It allowed it to accelerate at a constant rate, landing on planets and shipping raw materials across the solar system.
From the look of the vessel as it came closer, and details started to become more defined, it was old. It was probably new in the early twenty-second century. The model type lasted for nearly two hundred years before being decommissioned about one hundred years ago. So this vessel was anywhere between two hundred and three hundred years old. In the latter end of the twenty-fifth century it was a relic.
There were two flashes of light from the rear of the vessel. Close to a large container. Shuttle or fighter craft. They were moving fast, too quick for the suits cameras to track. It didn’t matter as they would be visible very soon. The ship’s crew had to be either scavengers, mercenaries, smugglers or pirates. Drick smiled as they knew that it was a hopeful thought for anything other than pirates. This type of vessel would be a block, stop, chop and process shop. Filled with experts on finding and ripping ships apart.
The attack on the ship was probably crew from this vessel acting as passengers or low-level crew. Hopefully Drick wasn’t specifically targeted and the attack on the ship merely a matter that they were in the way. Didn’t matter much if they knew who Drick was at this stage though. However things went, at least they would be alive for a little while longer.
