Pluto's Ghost- Encounter Edition

by B. C. CHASE

  Commander Sykes shakes his head, “I’m not surprised. I was supposed to do the RS1 laptop reboot this morning. It had already been done. I don’t like this. The ECIs are learning how to run the station without us. I don’t understand why they would want to do that.”

  Shiro, who nobody noticed floating up, says, “I have an explanation.”

  “Of course you do,” says Commander Sykes. “What is that?”

  “We’re getting in their way.”

  “I’ll tell you who’s getting in my way,” I say. “Nari. I thought we wouldn’t see another planet until Pluto, but my gosh.”

  Shelby laughs, “The baby is coming soon.”

  “Do you think you’re ready?” Commander Sykes asks.

  Shelby takes a deep breath, “A baby in space. How could I possibly be ready for that? We’ll see.”

  “I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” says Shiro.

  Surprised, Shelby says, “Well that’s nice of you to say, Shiro.”

  “The ECIs have been successfully breeding the mice ever since we launched. Breeding the humans is the next logical step. I don’t think they’ll allow this to fail.”

  “Shiro,” says Shelby, “do me a favor and never say that again in front of Nari.” She pauses, “Better yet, never say it again at all.”

  Forty-six

  Most of us are waiting in the American Lab and Node 1. Nari’s screams and groans erupt from the European Lab. Shelby is in there shouting commands. Commander Tomlinson actually looks nervous. I guess there is some humanity in him, after all.

  Nari’s wailing becomes increasingly intense and Shelby’s voice starts to sound atypically strained. Suddenly, Nari goes silent and the sound of a long beep comes from the heart monitor.

  “Nari!” shouts Commander Tomlinson, kicking off towards Node 2.

  “Jim! Eric!” Shelby cries. “Get in here now!”

  Commander Sykes and I follow Commander Tomlinson into the European Lab where I see Shelby floating in the middle of the room. She is gripping Nari’s torso. Nari is unconscious and has a mask on and an IV line coming from her wrist. Plastic entombs the walls and ceiling and is already spattered with blood and fluids. Attached to one wall is a case, a small AED, towels, and a lot of bags of blood.

  “Why did you put that mask on her?” demands Commander Tomlinson.

  “It’s oxygen! Her saturation is low!”

  “What the hell are you doing to her?” Commander Tomlinson shouts.

  “Tim, get him out of here. Jim, I need your help with CPR,” Shelby says.

  Shelby shouts, “We need more hands! Eric! Katia!” She presses Nari against the wall and says to me, “I need you to brace against the other side and I’ll stand on your shoulders.”

  I follow her instructions and she places her feet on my shoulders so that she can have leverage as she compresses Nari’s chest. When Katia arrives, Shelby asks, “Where’s Eric?”

  “He’s helping Tim settle Josh down.”

  “Okay, I need you to keep Nari as steady as possible while we do this.”

  I do my best to brace myself as Shelby performs the CPR, but with weightlessness, it’s a tricky affair. I have to use all my strength. Commander Sykes appears, saying, “Tim has Josh under control. What can I do?”

  “I need you to take over for me. Compress thirty times. Katia, breathe into her mouth two times. Compressions, breaths, compressions, breaths.”

  “What do I do with the mask?” asks Katia, sounding panicked.

  “Take it off!”

  Commander Sykes moves into position and Shelby floats to a case on the wall. Commander Sykes puts considerably more pressure on my shoulders as he pounds into Nari’s chest, counting out loud.

  Shelby retrieves a vial from the case and uses the IV to administer the medication, whatever it is.

  “Shelby!” Commander Sykes suddenly shouts. Blood is gushing from between Nari’s legs in undulating bubbles of all sizes, showering the plastic on the floor, spreading over Katia’s and Commander Sykes’ clothes, and splattering my face.

  “Don’t stop!” Shelby screams. “Don’t stop!” She grabs a bag of blood and attaches it to the IV, squeezing it as hard as she can. She looks at her watch. “At four minutes we’ll need to deliver the baby.”

  “Deliver the baby?” Commander Sykes says.

  “Cesarean,” Shelby says, reaching for another bag of blood. She shouts, “Shiro! Get in here!”

  Shiro quickly floats in and looks shocked by what he sees. “Shiro, I need you to squeeze this blood in!” She moves aside so Shiro can take over. Shiro grips the bag but looks deathly pale. “I…” he says.

  “Shiro! Squeeze the bag!”

  A globule of blood drifts up and clings to Shiro’s neck. His eyes roll up into his head and he releases the bag.

  “Tim!” Shelby screams. She pushes Shiro away and squeezes the bag. “Tim, I need you!”

  Tim arrives, quickly followed by Commander Tomlinson, who screams, “Oh my God!”

  “Get the blood in!” shouts Shelby, showing Tim what to do. But when Tim tries to follow the instructions, Commander Tomlinson grabs him, screaming “I’ll do it!”

  While Tim and Josh are grappling together, Shelby keeps squeezing in blood. “We have to get the baby out now or Nari will die!” But it is obvious that we simply don’t have enough people to help.

  Something catches my eye. Streaming in from Node 2 is a procession of SPHERES. Music starts blaring over the speakers. O Mio Babbino Caro. They slowly move into the room, puffing quietly as they do. Without seeming to acknowledge any of the chaos around them, they work together to open the case and extract a scalpel and some other tools. We are all watching them closely as they move towards Nari. Commander Tomlinson even stops struggling with Tim. One of the SPHERES carefully lifts Nari’s shirt to expose her belly and another extends the scalpel.

  Commander Sykes ceases the compressions and looks at Shelby questioningly.

  Shelby says, “They’re doing exactly what they need to, Commander. Don’t stop.”

  The SPHERES, with deliberate precision and focus, makes an incision down Nari’s belly. It makes several deeper cuts, releasing a little fluid and blood. Then two other SPHERES pull back the tissue.

  I am reminded of the mouse on the table.

  Two of the SPHERES together probe inside Nari’s stomach until they extract an infant who raises her little head to cry with her tiny voice.

  The scene is absolutely surreal and I can hardly believe my eyes. It is at the same time horrifying and beautiful. The two operating SPHERES hand the baby over to another SPHERES which has been waiting with a towel. Immediately, they start stitching up Nari’s uterus with as much precision and confidence as seasoned surgeons.

  “Get back,” Shelby shouts. She has grabbed the AED from the wall and proceeds to apply the patches to Nari’s chest. “Nobody touch her!”

  The AED says, “Analyzing rhythm. Everyone stand clear. Shock advised.”

  The SPHERES move away in unison.

  The AED says, “Charging. Everyone stand clear.” There is a loud, long beep from the AED. The AED says, “Start five sets of compressions.”

  While Commander Sykes pumps Nari’s chest again, the SPHERES resume sewing up her belly. Then, without warning, the heart monitor in the wall starts beeping and Nari draws a deep breath. Her eyes flutter open. She breathes heavily, taking in her surroundings. She is pale, and visibly under great physical duress. She weakly breathes, “My baby.”

  In a moment I don’t wager I could forget even if I lived to a billion years, the SPHERES moves towards her and, with the gentleness of a nurse, hands her the infant, the opera singer and orchestra in the background finishing up the last few notes of O Mio Babbino Caro.

  Forty-seven

  It has been two weeks since the birth of Nari’s baby, which Nari and Commander Tomlinson named Phoebe after one of Saturn’s moons. Now she is nursing, strapped to the couch in the habitation
module. For her part, the baby seems to not care at all that she is in zero g. It’s almost uncanny the way she moves in the air—as if she thinks she’s still in the womb. Summersaults, kicks, stretches…every movement is fluid and without regard to up or down or left or right. We have all been fawning over her and, to tell the truth, a baby has been the brightest ray of sunshine we’ve had since we started this mission. I suspect that after NASA hears how good this has been for morale, baby birthing will become a compulsory component of all long-duration flight plans.

  I am in the mess hall eating some greens. Commander Sykes is with me. After having been in space for 400 days exactly, I can honestly say the food hasn’t been all that terrible. And now, the SPHERES have been so busy in all our horticulture modules that the output has been way beyond expectations, so we have more than enough food to spare (as well as oxygen).

  Shiro floats into the habitation module and says, “The SPHERES have been doing something with the worms.”

  After witnessing the SPHERES deliver a baby so tenderly, all of us except Shiro and I have, for better or worse, taken a more favorable view of them. Oh who the heck am I fooling? I don’t mind the SPHERES so much, anymore. I kind of like the little buggers.

  Commander Sykes asks, “What are they doing with the worms?”

  “They have been collecting them and grouping them. I assume they are performing some kind of experiment—probably with the DNA.”

  “What do you think we should do about it?”

  Shiro stares blankly.

  “Well let me know if you think of something,” says Commander Sykes, munching on crispy produce. “The fact that they’re messing with our worms will be the first thing on my priority list.”

  “Everything the ECIs have done has been for a purpose,” says Shiro. “They’re planning something. If we don’t find out what it is, it might be too late.”

  It’s another night and I find myself once again staring out at the stars from the Habitation Module windows. I can see Jupiter and Saturn. They are two little yellow-orange dots. We are now about 400 million kilometers farther from Saturn than Earth is. That puts some perspective into how much of an outlier Pluto really is. We’re only about halfway through our trip between Saturn and Pluto. The sun is a shadow of its former self.

  Suddenly catching my eye is the reflection in the window of some movement. I turn around to see that a figure is emerging from the highest hatch. That’s where Commander Sykes sleeps. He is emerging through the opening headfirst. But he is lying totally flat and he isn’t moving his arms or legs. He is facing straight up as if he’s floating on his back in water. His body slowly slips out until he is totally exposed. At his feet is a round object which at first I can’t make out but then I recognize as a SPHERES. Almost immediately my other crewmates are pushed out of their quarters in the same way. Katia, Shelby, Shiro, Tim… The SPHERES work collectively to gently move Commander Sykes towards the Habitation Module exit.

  Suddenly, I feel a little puff of air on my neck. I grab a handlebar and spin around to see a SPHERES floating there. Before I have time to react, it sticks a syringe in my arm. Then it silently circles me as I start to feel faint. The last thing I see as I black out are three SPHERES focusing down on me with their cameras, cold, calculating, and detached.

  Forty-eight

  “Jim? Can you hear me?” The voice sounds distant and echoes like it’s in a pipe. I see light, then blurry shapes and shadows. I smell antiseptic. I’m in a hospital. “Jim?” The voice is closer and clearer. It’s Shelby. My vision clears and I see her face.

  “What happened?” I utter, my voice hoarse.

  She sounds urgent as she says, “Thank God. We didn’t think you’d wake up in time. They created a viral vector that gave us nematode DNA.”

  “Nematode?” I groggily inquire.

  “Worms.”

  I am cognitive enough now to see that I’m not in a hospital at all. I’m in the European Lab. Katia swoops down to hug me. “Hey, there,” I croak.

  “Yes, the worms,” says Shelby. “They put us to sleep and froze our bodies.”

  “They froze our bodies?” I repeat. That doesn’t make sense to my still-sleepy brain. If anything, I feel hot. And damp.

  “Yes. And they reanimated us—just like we would do with the worms.” Shelby says this matter-of-factly, as if being frozen and reanimated is an everyday part of human existence.

  I have no words with which to respond to this revelation. It is unbelievable. It is also terrifying. All I can say is, “Is that a fact? How long have we been out—out cold, I mean?”

  “Five months. It’s November 30th.”

  “Well shucks. I missed Thanksgiving dinner.”

  “We all did.”

  I do a little tally in my head and then I say, “563 days in space. Wow, we really did it. Somebody call the Guinness Book of World Records. Where the heck are we?”

  Katia takes my hand, “Come see.” She pulls me into Node 2 and through the American Lab where Commander Sykes, Tim, and Commander Tomlinson are floating. They are wearing suits that, unlike the other suits we have worn, actually look somewhat stylish. Commander Tomlinson is holding the baby (now much bigger than she was before) and Nari, who has no suit, is helping Shiro with his.

  “Hello, Jim,” says Commander Sykes. “Glad to see you’re awake. You almost missed it.”

  “Missed what?” I ask, to which he simply smiles.

  Everyone is so casual. I feel strange, to put it mildly. I’m having a hard time believing this is reality. I ask Katia, “How long have you guys been awake?”

  “Ten hours.”

  “Why didn’t I wake up?”

  “Shelby doesn’t know, but she assumes it has something to do with your age.”

  “Well heck,” I say, “that can’t be it. I’m an early riser.”

  A SPHERES passes us overhead while Katia leads me through Node 1, to the right into Node 3 and down into the cupola. So those little buggers are running the program now, I think. “The SPHERES operated the space station while we were out?”

  “Yes. They took care of everything, apparently.”

  We are streaking beyond the dark side of a planet. A blindingly bright and big star is setting, illuminating a crescent of the landscape. The star shines with a radiant, white rage on the glimmering surface of towering mountain ranges, casting long shadows across slopes, vast plains of rippling ice, and sheer canyons. A deep blue, layered atmosphere adds a tranquil and delicate quality to the view. In all our travel through space, of all the planets we have seen from above, nothing compares to the serene and untamed magnificence of this one.

  “Where did they bring us?” I ask. “Is this their planet?”

  “It’s Pluto, silly.”

  Her words take a moment to sink in. This is Pluto? This is the little non-planet? This is the place we have struggled for well over a year to reach? I point to the star, “And that…”

  She completes, “…is the sun.”

  We are following the curve of Pluto’s circumference away from the sun so that it appears to lower just behind Pluto’s rim. The undulating edge of the planet, the tips of mountains and the dips of the valleys, are vividly highlighted. I don’t have any idea why, but I am overwhelmed with emotion. Maybe because the trip has been so long and so difficult. Maybe because Pluto is so stunning and majestic and looks just a little like home. Maybe because I feel closer now to Betsy than I have in years. Whatever the reason, my voice breaks as I say, “It’s the second-most beautiful thing I ever saw.” I’m forced to wipe away a tear when it grows too big in my eye.

  “Ah, Papochka!” Katia exclaims and hugs me. “Are you crying?”

  “Just a little ice in my eye,” I say.

  Katia smiles.

  One thing I don’t see hovering over Pluto is another spaceship. “Are they here? I don’t see a flying saucer.”

  “We haven’t seen anything either. They haven’t contacted us yet. Now come on, let’s ge
t you suited up.”

  Shelby instructs me to empty my bowels before I can get on my suit. Before I go into the outhouse, she hands me a MAG.

  “Oh, gosh no. Not another one of those,” I protest.

  “Be a good boy and put on your diaper!” Shelby commands.

  After I take care of my business and pulling on my MAG, Shelby shoves a couple of soup and water bags in my face. I suck on these, feeling rather infantile while Nari and Katia dress me. It is so sudden and surreal that we are preparing to go down to the surface of Pluto that I have to pinch myself a couple times to make sure I’m not dreaming. Of course, who’s to say pinching yourself really proves anything? The sleeping mind spins formidable webs of deceit. A person can have a dream about their spouse trying to kill them and wake up to never look at them the same way again.

  Katia and Nari turn me around to face the wall and I see a big hole where the mice habitat was. “What happened to the mice?”

  “We don’t know. And we haven’t had a chance to look for them,” replies Commander Sykes. “Tim, what’s our orbital time?”

  “One hour, eleven minutes, and thirty-nine seconds,” says Tim.

  “Pretty fast,” says Commander Sykes. “Pluto is a little planet, isn’t it?”

  “2,400 kilometers across.”

  I say, “Uh, I have a question.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Is there some reason we’re rushing down to the surface right now? Couldn’t we give it a day just to settle in? I’m not sure I’ve adjusted to not being frozen yet.”

  “The lander has only enough fuel for one stop, so we only get one chance at this. The ECIs told NASA they wanted us down there on this day, November 30th, 2021,” says Commander Sykes. “I don’t intend to disappoint them.” He then gives me one of his quirky smiles, “Plus, we have to leave to go home, and this is our only shot. If we delayed even a day, that could mean months added to the trip home. Are you getting nervous for the prom, Jim?”