The Divine Sedition [Complete]

Chapter 16 Floating in Space

Markus Bauer was checking the pressure indicator on the oxygen tank. It was down to 50 PSI, a quarter full. This would give him approximately a few hours before he ran out of oxygen, giving him the options of either dying slowly from suffocation and a lack of oxygen, or dying instantly due to the vacuum of space pulling him out of his safety-capsule, bursting his lungs instantly and freeze-drying his shrivelled body into the space debris of the universe.

To Markus’s great anger and despair, he realised that the explosion at the Science Bay was not a mere inadvertent accident. Instead, Bjorn Muller had deliberately caused it to happen to silence him permanently. This was evident as his emergency beacon was activated, so they knew that he was still alive, and yet they had opted to abandon him out here, to die in misery. Worst of all was that Bjorn would get away with it, as there was no way for him to leave a message or contact anyone.

Markus started to feel very nauseous, and he realised that the air pressure and concentration of carbon dioxide in the container was dangerously high. His only choice was to open the tank slightly to let the excess air out while having the risk of the freezing cold vacuum of space pulling him out of his safety-capsule. He exhaled completely to avoid bursting his lungs out and opened the door hatch only for a fraction of a second. The stale air was sucked out, just like when one pops a helium-filled air balloon and the freezing coldness of space was let in. Markus quickly closed the hatch in a matter of a fraction of a second and then released enough oxygen from the oxygen tank that he had initially, to be able to breathe normally. Two more hours and then the oxygen would run out, and he would die.

Markus made up his mind. He would die from suffocation by staying within the safety-capsule. That way, if they found him, they would potentially be able to revive him. This was a big if though, as his emergency beacon was emitted by a microchip in his body, powered by bioelectricity. When he died, there would be no signal, and it would be almost impossible to find his lifeless body in the vastness of space. On the other hand, if he chose the quick death of letting the vacuum of space kill him, he would burst all his blood vessels including those in his brain, and he would be permanently dead without any means of revival. Having made up his mind, Markus released the remaining oxygen from the oxygen tank into the capsule he was in, and then went to sleep, with having no expectation of waking up.

Markus did wake up a few hours later; however, although he almost hoped he hadn’t, as he was taken prisoner by the notorious space pirate, Mr Morgan Henry...