Suddenly, the tether cable’s spring-catch snapped, and lightning raced up Maggie’s spine as she belted out a terrified shriek. Disaster in slow-motion, Will free-floated past the decompression chamber door, past the module, and tumbling toward the outer ring and space beyond it. She broke into a sweat despite the coldness of the station.
Before solid reason could kick in, she punched the boost on the G-field, causing a power surge and instantly magnetizing the ring, catching Will by the metal in his spacesuit, slamming him into the ring structure, and preventing his loss to the stars.
“Good job, Maggie!” George shouted, and the voices of others in Mission Control could be heard cheering, hands applauding.
She caught her ragged breath with her hand, her teary eyes posted on the video monitor. Will’s arms and legs were wrapped around the big ring, he clutched for dear life, and the chance of losing him was still very high.
“Cut the magnetic field’s strength so he can move. Get him in the module, Gates! And don’t let him break orders again! Conduct a citizen’s arrest, if you have to!”
Immediately she did as George instructed, weakening the ring’s magnetic hold on Will.
“What’s your gravity reading?” George inquired, his tone laced with relief.
“30.” Too low, she knew. She expected vertigo any moment.
“Okay, Maggie. You did good, but it just cost you your gravity sooner than you’d planned. Micro-gravity may set in suddenly instead of a slow bleed. You’ll probably be floating in an hour. I suggest you make the most of that last hour.”
Her mind raced. Did the station still have the energy to last on Survival-Only mode for the week a rescue mission required?
“What about Life Support, George? What did saving Will cost us in Life Support power?”
But George’s line went dead.
She was pretty sure the magnetism engaged to catch Will probably cost them a day’s worth of energy, which meant they didn’t have the power to make it to the protection of the Moon. Now there was a great probability they’d not make it to their rescue.
Unable to raise any communication at all, she went back to the ready room and watched through the portal as Will slowly scaled the ring until he reached the decompression chamber. That wait cost them a half hour. Fighting a threatening tear, she tapped her foot the entire fifteen minutes it took to decompress until her ankle ached. Probably minutes of gravity remained, perhaps only days of life stood before them.
Math never lied. Only people lied.
All Maggie thought of was the one thing she really wanted before she died, something within her reach this moment. She had less than a half hour to live a final fantasy, to tell Will the truth of her feelings before their lives were snuffed away. Timing had never been her gift. She recalled never recognizing the moments in high school when she should’ve told him how she felt, catching her fiancé at bedding her roommate, missing Will when she’d returned to town to find him gone. Timing had always been her problem.
But, in the last moments of her life, she knew what she never did bothered her more than what she’d been late for.
It was time to live for these last moments. And being late to a party was better than having never gone. No one could be hurt by living out Maggie’s star-dusted fantasy because their transgression would never be discovered, and she’d not suffer decades of guilt for making love to a married man she couldn’t have.
It was the last chance to capture the stars. She dared herself beyond her boundaries, grateful the guilt would only be short-lived.
Everything happened all too slowly. Maggie had to steady herself, still divided in her heart, but she felt propelled beyond her will to stop it. She felt a little dizzy.
Shouldn’t she tell him how she feels? Shouldn’t someone know when they’re loved so thoroughly by another living soul?
The vacuum-sealed door of the decompression chamber eased open, releasing Will to enter the ready room. Relieved for his immediate safety in the station, she sprinted into the room and began unsnapping the clamps on his helmet. Time ticked down in her head, pounding. The smell of him, vanilla and heat, caused a flush to take laps through her body, stealing the chill from the air, and dissolving her last remnants of strength to fight off her want of him. Everything seemed strangely eschew.
Removing the helmet, Will praised her. “Damn quick thinking on magnetizing the ring, Mags.”
Tamping down all thought of his marital state with crushing difficulty, she unclamped the heavy gloves, freeing his hands, and went to work on the suit, unsealed it, and unzipped it, allowing him to escape the beast of a contraption designed to fight the cold and pressure of space while allowing the physical work needed to build the G-ring. She didn’t comment on her panicked reaction, only peeled the suit away from his clothes, releasing him.
“Maggie,” his deep voice rumbled through her. He stopped her anxious puttering with the suit, taking her by the shoulders seriously. The heat rising from his gentle grip penetrated her shirtsleeves. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
He didn’t know she’d figured out they’d die soon.
“Tell me later, Will. This is more important. If you learned we had only hours to live, would you make love to me?”
Will’s eyes doubled in size, and he appeared to lose his own urgent conversation. “It’s the only thing I’d want to do, Mags.”
“There’s something I have to tell you too, Will.”
Instead of using weak words, she reached up and tugged him down to her, and she kissed him with all the passion she’d suppressed for what seemed now like eons, her momentum mashing them both against the steel wall. He stilled at first, probably flabbergasted at her amorous statement.
But then he kissed her back and swept her into his embrace. He pressed her against him, his steamy hands sweeping her back and following her figure. The stroke of his tongue in her mouth spread his heat through her, charging her body with an awakening tension. His possessive grip and indulgent groan shot thrills through her, encouraging her. He sent a flood of weakness to her legs.
