It happened in space.
It must have. She certainly wasn’t like this when she left the warm, glittering blanket of Earth’s atmosphere. The coldness of space now permeated every atom of her being; it was as if they had become one. The throbbing silence of the infinite void sang to her, echoing and mournful. This place, cold and brutal, was her home now. It had become her mother.
But what now? There were no Standard Operating Procedures for this, no contingency plans in any of the data tracks. The supply ship would be here any day now. How would she explain this to the rapidly approaching crew?
The answer came to her without thinking. After all, things happen in space.
