The wrench slipped from my shaking fingers and hit the floor with a clang that echoed down the passage into the hold. I leaned on the wall, exhausted by the thought of bending to get it. "Damn ... you... Greer." They were words worth the limited oxygen I had left. Finding out how he'd managed to sabotage my oxygen scrubber, take all my spare parts, toolbox, and space gear, before I kicked him off my ship was at the top of the list when I got back. I'd had this wrench in my pocket out of pure luck from the door repair I'd done when Greer slammed his way out after I'd ended things between us.

I looked down at the assortment of parts I'd scrounged from my food synthesiser. It was two days back to port. I could manage not eating, breathing not so much. The parts weren't a perfect fit, but I knew they'd do the job. Except I couldn't get the last damn bolts off because hypoxia had drained my strength.

Thankful the wall held me up, my lungs burned as I inhaled. The air must have been out hours while I slept last night. And why didn't the malfunction alarm sound?

My mom had taught me to strip down a ship and fix every piece on it. Know everything, so you rely on no one, she'd drilled. Surviving out here alone was my purpose, but I'd kill for a ship within hailing distance to loan me power tools right now.

My knees started shaking. My breath wheezed in and out. Black spots swam before my eyes. Seconds later I fell, embracing the floor clumsily in a sprawl.

Hallucinations must have begun because footsteps were approaching. Boots stopped in front of me. Boots I knew. I tried to say his name, but all that came out was a strangled "G...". There wasn't enough air. I gasped and choked in panic and need. I'd wanted to see the stars when I finally bought it. All I got was a stinking hallucination of my ex.

Greer squatted down, smiling behind the mask of my stolen space suit. "You only have seconds left. So I'll tell you I'm really here. Been hiding in the rover all this time. Almost didn't want to sabotage you, but your cargo will retire me, and I'll live just fine in this ship of yours." His eyes followed the spasms of my body as I used up the last atoms of oxygen available. Strangled noises were coming from my mouth. He moved a lock of hair off my forehead. "Prettiest mark ever." He smiled again, rose, and started to whistle while he put the oxygen scrubber back together as the Dark closed over me.