Lee keyed in the launch authorization code and set the countdown timer for 3 minutes. That should be just enough time to finish his preparations while minimizing the likelihood that someone could walk in and catch him in the act. Once he was away, there was no going back; no way anyone could stop him. Unless... No, that didn't bear thinking about. This was his only shot, now or never.

He donned his makeshift spacesuit. It was a cobbled together affair, one part pressure suit, one part aerogel thermal regulation underwear, one part underwater welding mask, and enough struct-tape and hope to hold it all together. There was a CO2 filter he had made on the Electroloom along with some of the spare Nitrogen/Oxygen canisters for the occasional underwater assigments they had to deal with. He checked and rechecked his gear for what had to be the thousandth time. The balloon would be ready for liftoff shortly. No one would know he was gone until he missed his end-of-shift check-in, hours from now. By that time he would be hurtling towards the geosync platform at a few times the speed of sound, alive or not.

Lee took one last look around, feeling a strange mix of nostalgia and finality. He squeezed into the SRC through the tiny hatch that was never meant for human ingress. He had to crouch on his knees with his arms tight to his chest in front of him to fit. It was cramped, but it would work for the short time he needed it. Luckily the door was slaved to his terminal, so he just had to push a button and it closed and sealed behind him. He checked the countdown: Sixty seconds until release. Everything was goimg according to plan. Then he heard a sound that chilled him to his core.