hamster in space

The hamster floated.

He had a few hours of air, by his calculation, and a lot of time. The explosion had kicked him into gentle orbit around the planet, and he had recalled too late that he had left some carrots on.

He floated on.

He had no emergency beacon, or signal, or such. He had meant to get one, but there had been a bar fight back on Beaumonde and he had cleared out instinctively. The police would be looking very closely at everyone on the station, and he had some outstanding tickets. And by "some", he meant "a few dozen".

The slight spin he had been imparted rolled him so he was facing the planet. There was no down in space, but as a geeky friend of his had taught him, the enemy's gate is down. He had no idea what gate he was talking about, but it worked for planets just as well.

It occured to him that people had often told him to bring a partner, and he had never listened. If he had bought a partner, she(ideally) likely would be dead.

Or maybe she would've turned the pot off.

The spin took him back 'up', facing toward the sun. His ship passed over, still venting atmosphere. He watched quietly as the thrice-accursed pot sailed out, promptly freezing solid. The ship passed between him and the sun.

It occurred to him that the planet below could easily have a spaceship monitoring system, and could notice his transponder's disappearance within a few hours. It depended on how much money they had.

The thought gave him no succor.

Until something happened, or blissful unconsciousness, all he could do was wait.

Well, he thought, here I am.

EDIT: Now with a rocket!