-A slight malfunction! That's not how I would describe such a failure —Said to himself Lorenzo, the only survivor of the accident, laughing bitterly.
That slight malfunction had been brought to the attention of the ship's crew hours before, an excessive drop in fuel indicated a slight leakage of the compound. The captain attributed the numbers to the unscrupulous maneuvers of the new pilot, the reports did not agree. Given the captain's refusal, it was resolved to discuss the matter further after the chief technician took a break, after all, even if the fuel leak was real, it was so minuscule that it would be harmless for at least nine days, given the low temperature in that area of the ship.
Fuel levels took a sudden turn, alarms went off and chaos ensued. It was concluded that the ship had been sabotaged, at which point the fuel storage exploded, destroying almost the entire ship.
Then he woke up, nothing had been able to wake him up until then, neither the alarms, nor the calls, but that explosion had blown Lorenzo out of bed, who was now resting on the ceiling. He bent down to look through the hatch window, what a fright, the corridor advanced about two meters to end in a huge gap where you could see the blackness of space.
He was overwhelmed, what had happened in his break, had that small fuel thing caused such a great havoc, in truth, it was the easiest thing to believe, but by then Lorenzo doubted so much of his own judgment, that he opted to open the door. He was stopped by the handle, which, along with everything else, was upside down.
Coming to his senses and self-confidence, he began to wonder if there were other survivors, another look out the window confirmed his greatest fears, of the piece of the ship he was in, his room was the only one that had not been severely damaged.
Automatically the remaining energy was redirected to vital systems, the light in the room slowly turned to gloom, Lorenzo's hopes seemed to fade in that infinite moment, the oxygen levels were decreasing relentlessly.
Every so often, the ship's inclination coincided with the least distant star, slightly illuminating the room. In some instants, Lorenzo wanted to believe that they were coming to his rescue, but the ship kept spinning, returning reality, along with the gloom.
The air became heavy, one could feel the lack of oxygen. Lorenzo felt tired, he wanted to sleep again, yawning he sat up to observe one last time the star's journey, which to his surprise, was no longer one, but two stars peering through the window. He no longer wanted to get his hopes up, but one of the stars grew bigger, until it completely illuminated the room, along with Lorenzo's hopes. A ship was coming to his rescue.
—¡Un ligero desperfecto! No es como yo describiría semejante falla —Se decía en amarga risa Lorenzo, único superviviente del accidente.
Aquel ligero desperfecto había sido advertido a los tripulantes de la nave horas atrás, una baja excesiva en el combustible indicaba una leve fuga del compuesto. El capitán atribuyó los números a las poco escrupulosas maniobras del nuevo piloto, los reportes no concordaban. Dada la negativa del capitán, se resolvió discutir el asunto a fondo después que el jefe de técnicos tomara un descanso, después de todo, aún si la fuga de combustible fuese real, era tan minúscula que sería inofensiva por lo menos nueve días, dada la baja temperatura en dicha zona de la nave.
Los niveles de combustible dieron un vuelco repentino, las alarmas se dispararon y el caos empezó. A gritos se llegó a la conclusión de que la nave había sido saboteada, en aquel momento estalló el almacenamiento de combustible destruyendo casi toda la nave.
Entonces despertó, nada había podido despertarlo hasta entonces, ni las alarmas, ni los llamados, pero aquella explosión había hecho volar de la cama a Lorenzo, quien ahora descansaba en el techo. Se agachó a mirar por la ventanilla de la compuerta, vaya espanto, el pasillo avanzaba unos dos metros para acabar en una brecha inmensa donde se alcanzaba a ver la negrura del espacio.
Estaba abrumado, ¿Qué había ocurrido en su descanso?, ¿Aquella pequeñez del combustible había provocado tan grandes estragos?, en verdad, era lo más fácil de creer, pero para entonces Lorenzo dudaba tanto de su propio juicio, que optó por abrir la puerta. Lo detuvo la manilla, que junto con todo, se encontraba al revés de lo usual.
Recobrado el sentido y la confianza en sí mismo, comenzó a preguntarse si habría otros sobrevientes, otra mirada por la ventanilla confirmó sus mayores temores, del trozo de la nave en el que estaba, su habitación era la única que no había recibido severos daños.
Automáticamente se redirigió la energía restante a sistemas vitales, la luz de la habitación se tornó lentamente en penumbra, las esperanzas de Lorenzo parecieron desvanecerse en aquel infinito momento, los niveles de oxígeno disminuían incansablemente.
Cada cierto tiempo, la inclinación de la nave coincidía con la estrella menos lejana, llenando la habitación de una ténue luz. Durante algunos instantes, quiso Lorenzo creer que venían a su rescate, pero la nave seguía girando, devolviendo la realidad, junto con la penumbra.
El aire se volvía pesado, se podía sentir la falta de oxígeno. Lorenzo se sintió cansado, nuevamente quiso dormir, dando bostezos se incorporó para observar una última vez la travesía de la estrella, que para su sorpresa, ya no era una, sino dos estrellas que se asomaban por la ventana. Ya no quiso hacerse de esperanzas, pero una de las estrellas se hacía más grande, hasta que iluminó completamente la habitación, junto con las esperanzas de Lorenzo. Una nave acudía a su rescate.
