Three minutes. Space. Alone. About to die.

What would you think about? I choose to think about my family. I didn’t have a big one; in fact, I only had one person in this universe who will miss me, well, except for the credit card companies. But they don’t count. Or rather, they count as much as my mother, neither of whom knows me, except as a person who gives them money.

Ellie. The neighbor’s kid. I met her when she arrived unexpectedly in her mom’s tiny apartment. Her mom screamed; thankfully, she hadn’t had time to close her front door, so I didn’t need to break the flimsy door down when I rushed to help. I actually caught her as she burst out of her mother. I definitely didn’t plan that, and her mother even less so. Wrong place at the wrong time to do the right thing. Nothing to it. Mom pushed as she held the metal pole across the shower, and I caught Ellie. Like a battle ball. Small. Easy. While the paramedics talked me through the procedure on the com system. The ambulance arrived minutes later.

Gross, yes, after birth, the placenta, and the ugliest little bundle of joy ever. Best moment of my life, and her mother’s, who I had only met two rotations earlier when she waddled home at the same time as me.