Out of light & out of breath

Posted on Thu Nov 28th, 2019 @ 4:28pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Yoshika Miyafuji

946 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Demons in the Dark
Location: Deck 4

Yoshika Miyafuji never really liked the dark. It had always been a lonely, horrible place and being stuck out in the vacuum of space never helped, the threat of suffocation was always high when a starship lost power.

The young nurse had been off duty when the Tokyo had been thrown out of warp drive, however being thrown out of her top bunk bed and landing on her roommate below on the deck wasn't the worst part of her day so far.

Yoshika had managed to acquire one of the ships medical kits, they were usually stored in various locations within easy reach of most areas in case of an emergency. Her first thought was that of reporting to the ships main sickbay as she might be needed; that was of course until her roommate pointed out she should probably be dressed to do that.

Nevertheless the corridors were dark and lit by emergency lighting. It seemed to Yoshika that most of the ships primary systems were offline, but she was no engineer, just a young nurse who couldn’t really help with repairs to the vessel. Give her an open wound, broken leg or wobbly tooth however, those she could fix.

Sickbay was located on Deck four, so she had quite a way to go. However getting there was easier said than done. Turbo lifts seemed to be going to random places or not turning up at all. So she found herself in the corridors wandering attempting to get to her duty post for what seemed like hours.

It probably didn’t help that she hadn’t seen anyone for a good while as she crossed decks, went up and down corridors only to face new obstacles in her way.

She eventually reached deck four. It was dark and lit by emergency lighting like all the other decks. However she knew this part of the ship better than any other part.

Yoshika wasn’t far away from sickbay, she was glad to finally reach her destination. However she heard frantic knocking coming from down a nearby corridor.

“Was that a cry for help?” she asked herself out loud freezing in her tracks. She tried to listen out for more, the knocking sounded as if it was coming from a door. It could be a trapped person trying to escape a locked or stuck door. She decided it was best to investigate, hell she was late as it is, what could a few minutes hurt. She followed the sound down towards the medical labs of the Tokyo. For a ship designed primarily for tactical operations, it boasted a large and complex medical facility.

The knocking became louder and louder with each step until she finally located its source in medical lab two.
“Hello?” she called through the door. To her surprise the door opened. She stepped in, the room was dark and the slow flash of red lighting illuminated the room for a few seconds at a time in the deep shade of ruby. Yoshika could see the stars through three small windows on the opposite side of the room, they were still indicating that the ship wasn’t in motion.

There seemed to be no one in here. She moved quickly around, scanning the room with what little light she had before coming to the conclusion that there was no one present with her. Perhaps the knocking was a piece of machinery or someone in a nearby Jeffries tube. She didn’t know, but she had to get to sickbay. Which would have happened if the door didn't shut closed and then magnetically seal itself thus trapping her in.

“Try not to panic...” she told herself. She had been trained for events such as these. Suddenly an alarm began to sound.

“Warning. Decompression danger. Evacuation is advised" the monotone voice of the ships computer announced. Yoshika looked back at the windows. Slowly a large crack began to form across them.

The computer repeated the message again. “Warning decompression danger. You can’t evacuate Yoshika...” it said. Suddenly without warning the three viewpoints all shattered, the transparency being thrown out into space by the newly free atmosphere.

Yoshika breathed out, she emptied her lungs like she had been taught. However she was thrown up against one of the work counters. She held on, using her legs to wedge herself in place. She tried to tap her comm badge, three taps would signal an emergency beam out, but her arms felt heavy a d sluggish. The lungs in her chest began to hurt, at first a dull ache as she struggled for oxygen only to turn into a fiery pain as they were starved of the precious gas. She could feel her head beginning to get lighter and white and pink dots flashed in front of her eyes.

“I can’t die like this" was the thought that crossed her mind in its oxygen deprived state. “I want... tofu...”. Of all the things to think of in her dying moments it was the emptiness of her belly and what she would like for breakfast. “Need to... get...out" she tried reaching up towards the comm panel on the desk.

Her eyelids began to droop as if pulled down by small lead weights. They flickered as she struggled in the vacuum, her body becoming heavy, her mind slowly shutting down as her lungs cried out for more oxygen. It was all too much for young Yoshika Miyafuji as her body finally surrender to the threat of death and she collapsed, slowly falling to the deck plates, unconscious; but breathing...

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Petty Officer 2nd Class Yoshika Miyafuji
Nurse

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