hammering a frantic, stuttering rhythm against his ribs, began to steady, anchoring itself to the heavy, rhythmic pulse of the invading fluid.

The pressure inside his helmet equalized with the

flooded his bloodstream. The liquid was thick, tasting faintly of copper and ozone, but it functioned with the terrifying efficiency of medical-grade fluorocarbon. His heart, which had been hammering a

...drew the viscous fluid deep into his lungs. He braced for the burning, white-hot panic of suffocation, but it never came. Instead, a bizarre, cooling rush of oxygen

space, a thick, lukewarm slurry rushed through the jagged cracks of his visor, filling his nose and mouth. He gagged, bracing for the agonizing reflex of drowning, but his diaphragm spasmed and

seven seconds.* * The suit’s life support flatlined with a long, shrill whine. The visor shattered. * Instead of the suffocating vacuum of