“Is there anyone out there?!”
I was shouting as loudly as my lungs would allow, but the pressure was dropping tangibly now.
“Can you hear me?!”
I smashed my fist against the surface of the door. My hand was hurting as much as my lungs, but I knew which one would kill me. I could still focus on the right angles of the room if I squinted my lenses, but that only told me I wasn’t getting out anytime soon.
“It’s…not working!”
A face appeared at the glass. It smiled. It didn’t look happy.
I gestured frantically at the exit, at my throat, back at the door. The smile grew wider. It was actually enjoying this! I was being pushed to the limit, by a species that didn’t know when to stop.
Just then darkness took over the space around me; a solid darkness, the kind that only comes in sealed containers and the hulls of ships. Blinded into blackness, I could no longer make my feelings known.
I had to make a decision – the rock or the hard place? I had to work on the assumption they were testing my reaction to the dark; I had to assume they could still see me. In spite of my encompassing blindfold I became to gesture once again. My toes were beginning to tingle and my tongue had gone numb, but my brain was still functioning. I could still hear nothing from the outside, only the hum of the generator, a droning monotony.
There had been a drop in temperature with the change in pressure and I imagined my fingers the colour of a frozen lake. Little icicles waiting to pierce down into my toes. Instinctively I shoved my hands in my armpits and imitated freezing cold. It was like some kind of sick game of charades, only I didn’t know the rules and not only did we not speak the same language, we didn’t even come from the same universe.
Despair struck suddenly, like a bolt of lightening. I’m never getting out of this. This frozen metal chamber is the last thing I will ever see. In the name of the science of another planet I am going to die in here.
The panic unsettled my breathing even more and my lungs began to rip apart. The tearing sensation contracted every muscle in my body and I huddled on the floor. I could no longer lift my head up and my body had begun to spasm uncontrollably.
Finally, I was sucked into the void.

“Well.”
“Well.”
“At least now we know.”
“Yes. At least we know.”
The two men were dressed for the office although it was late in the night. They stood in front of a glass divide that provided a vision of the chamber beyond. They stood apart, but they were in agreement. Nothing more would be said on the matter. There was no need for a report. The Order had been updated.
“Tomorrow we will try again.”
“Yes. Perhaps we will have better luck.”
“Perhaps.”