Atmosphere: A Love Story

Once the airlock and main cabin finish repressurizing, Vanessa enters the cabin. She pulls Griff in along with her and struggles to remove their spacesuits. She regrets letting Griff leave the airlock open. He wouldn’t be injured otherwise.

She finds Hank and Steven dead and informs Mission Control over the feed. She finds Lydia a moment later, unconscious, floating near a patch on the shuttle’s wall that she must have completed just before passing out. Vanessa laughs at the irony that Lydia is the one who saved them.

Joan informs Vanessa that Lydia and Griff are in critical condition and will need treatment within 10 hours to survive. Mission Control is formulating a plan for the shuttle’s reentry. Vanessa confesses that she and Griff left the airlock hatch open and then begins to prepare for deorbit. She must ensure that all loose items are secure, since otherwise they may become projectiles during reentry. Horrified, she realizes she must store Hank and Steve’s bodies in the airlock. She tries not to think about Steve’s wife, Helene, or Hank’s wife, Donna, who recently gave birth to their daughter, Thea. She also regrets not trying harder to understand Lydia.

Joan speaks over the feed again.