SFFSat 25/1/2014

This is my snippet this week for SFFSat. SFFSat is a place where a number of authors post snippets from their written works, and give the opportunity for comments, support and encouragement. Please also explore the other blogs that are part of this set - you can find the information here. 

 Poisoned Ice   part 3

This is the third part of a science fiction short story.  Anton is in trouble; his spacecraft has been poisoned...

Anton briefly glanced at the comm laser: he still had ample power in the banks to send a myriad of signals. The ice and dust in the ring would break up any laser pulse before it reached Titan, or even another working singleship. He would have to rise out of the ring to signal. But Emerald was struggling even to maintain her basic cohesiveness. When the bio-engineers had conceived singleships, the prospect of deliberate slaughter of the semi-sentient spacecraft had not even been considered. A dying singleship could not use her impellers to move any distance. Emerald could not draw herself out of the source of her death.

Anton glanced at the viewport, seeing that the toxins were already eating away at the clear organic fabric. He suspected that the whole exterior of the ship was coated with the foul chemical soup: even had he suited up faster, he doubted he could scrub the fibrous hull clean. And by now she had already absorbed too much for her to live.

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