Beeep, beeep.
≪OXYGEN LEVEL [CRITICAL]≫
The main monitor blazed with a crimson warning window while shrill sirens rattled through the ship.
"Ahh, so suffocating to death is still on the table, huh? Serena, I'll need to borrow your capsule. Otherwise, we're toast from oxygen loss," Naomi said, forcing calm into her voice.
"Of course, please do. You saved me—I cannot let you perish now," Serena replied with gentle resolve.
"Then no hesitation. Let's fire this thing up," Osaka declared.
At once, the capsule's control panel lit up, casting the room in blue glow.
[Auxiliary Life Support: Available]
"Oh, whoa! Can this tiny capsule really run life support for the whole ship?" Naomi gasped.
"Ya kiddin'? Sure it can. Just gotta reroute some wires and hook it to the Reaper's systems. I'll walk ya through it. You got this, sis!"
"Alright—let's do this!" Naomi dragged the capsule and toolset into the air conditioning room.
She cut power to the ventilation system and began comparing the tangled bundle of capsule wiring to the ship's paneling. Sweat already traced down her temple.
"Ugh, it's a mess... Osaka, help me out!"
"Nope, that won't fly without me. But don't worry, I'll give ya a hand—like ridin' a leaky boat, but hey, trust me!"
"A leaky boat?! That's not reassuring! Okay, fine—where do I connect first?"
"Right there... yep, that one. Bypass the capsule relay, then splice it to the Reaper's environmental control."
Naomi's fingers trembled but worked fast, splicing wires, tightening clamps.
"Done! Restarting system now!"
The hum of the ventilation unit rose again, faint but steady. One by one, the alarms cut off. The silence was golden.
"Whew, we bought ourselves some time. Seventy-two hours without burning tanks," Osaka said.
Naomi slumped against the bulkhead, wiping sweat from her brow. "...Hah. Guess that makes the princess our lifesaver."
Serena chuckled softly. "I only returned a portion of the debt~desuwa. You rescued me first. I am pleased I could aid you in return."
Naomi smiled faintly at her. Serena's serene gaze and smile eased the tension in the room.
"Speaking of... I am a little parched. Do you have food or drink aboard?" Serena asked, her eyes wandering across the worn metal walls.
Naomi hesitated. The air system was patched for now, but food? She hadn't even thought about it.
"Uh, Osaka? We got any food or water? I... kinda forgot with the oxygen alarms."
"Howdy! Sure do—got a stash of century-old rations. Nicely aged!" Osaka answered smugly, hologram thumbs-up.
"..."
Naomi groaned. "So many life-or-death problems, all at once..." She tipped her head back at the ceiling, exhaling hard.
According to Osaka, the colony lay sixty hours away—two and a half days. Humans, unlike AI, couldn't last without food and water that long. The reality loomed: the main engine was dead, oxygen was jury-rigged through Serena's capsule, and supplies were unknown. They were balanced on a razor's edge.
"Well, technically it ain't harmful. Never tried it myself, but it'll keep ya alive. Head to the storage bay and see what ya find," Osaka said cheerily from Naomi's tablet.
"Right. Guess we'd better check. Serena, let's go."
Naomi and Serena descended toward the ship's storage area.
"Hmm, the bulkhead door's sealed. We can't get through... and the other route? No, that corridor's blocked too... there's no path!" Naomi exclaimed.
Indeed—the Grim Reaper bore holes throughout her hull, patched only by sealed emergency bulkheads. Many passages were closed off entirely. Even Osaka couldn't fully track them; the sensors and cameras had long been fried.
"Looks like we'll need to patch one of those holes," Naomi muttered. "Osaka, can we do repairs en route, or do we need to dock?"
"You got this, sis! No strong gravity wells on this course, so EVA's [T/N: Extravehicular Activity, i.e., spacewalking outside the ship] safe enough. Sure, a proper dock would be better, but beggars can't be choosers."
Serena frowned. "Naomi... if we open that corridor, won't it drain more oxygen?"
Naomi chewed her lip. "...True. Air would spread thinner across the ship. But two and a half days with no food or water isn't an option either..."
"Nope, that won't fly. Once you open the corridor, you'll access the storage bay's air too—balances out. But here's the kicker: the parts you need to patch it up? They're in that same sealed storage."
Naomi blinked. "...That's a cruel puzzle, Osaka."
"Ya kiddin'? Told ya. But listen—records show another busted storeroom. Hull breach and all. But odds are, repair parts are still inside. If you snag 'em on EVA, you can fix the corridor and reach the food bay."
Naomi exhaled. "So, salvage parts from one ruined bay to open the way to the real storage. Guess that's our only shot."
Suit sealed, Naomi followed Osaka's guidance outside, drifting along the Grim Reaper's scarred hull.
"There... I see the breach. Just wide enough for me. And this... reddish frost? ...No, I'll ignore that for now. Excuse me—coming through."
She slipped through the jagged opening near the engine room. Inside was a dim, cramped warehouse, littered with debris from some past explosion. No lights, no power—only the cold beam of her helmet lamp cutting the dark as she searched for the parts they needed.
Naomi carefully hauled out whatever she could find—huge metal panels, steel beams, something like a plastic sheet, even oversized spray-can-looking containers—making sure nothing scraped her suit. She fixed them outside with tow ropes and netting.
"Osaka, is this good enough?" she asked.
"Yep, that'll do. This is just what we need right now," he said. "Honestly, I'd love to patch the hole in this room too, but we don't know if we've got enough materials. First thing's makin' the big food storage usable. So, let's drag these back, ya hear?"
Bundling the salvage in mesh and tugging the rope, Naomi slowly made her way around the hull. Out here, space was nothing but darkness, punctured only by the glow of distant stars.
"Huh? The stars aren't twinkling," she murmured. "Back where I was, they always did—, maybe it's just me?"
"Haaah? Stars twinklin'? No way. Ain't no star explodin' and calm-in' down over and over that fast. What kinda fantasy world you come from, girl?"
"Ehh~... so my world's the fantasy one—?"
Naomi chuckled as their silly banter carried on, though her movements stayed cautious. At last she reached the jagged hole gaping in the ship's belly.