by Rick Chesler
She stopped walking while concentrating on picking out his reply from the noisy signal. She heard the name “Blake” a few times, then “be careful.”
“Be careful of what, Ray?”
“...liar... covering things up...”
And that was all they received before the signal was lost.
They pondered Ray’s words while they plodded on toward the lander. “Be careful of Blake, he said. Right?” Caitlin asked James.
“I think so. A little late with the warning, unfortunately. Obviously, we all should have been worried before we left, what with his covering up the discovery of life on the moon—and hostile life at that—shortcutting safety procedures. What’s worse, according to Stenson, it doesn’t seem like this Kennedy fellow is any better. The egos of these rich guys are too big to make room for anything resembling restraint.”
Caitlin said nothing but silently agreed. She had failed to see the signs herself, that much was clear to her now. And she had worked for Outer Limits for much longer than James had been involved. It embarrassed her that she had known so little about what Blake was actually doing, so she said nothing, just kept marching toward the LEM that would hopefully be able to get her back home where she could make a fresh start.
Before long, it became obvious they were finally approaching the lunar lander. They scanned the area for signs of the creatures. Thankfully, they saw no processions of worms heading either to or from the ship. The pileup of worms on the side of the LEM, however, was still there. They’d be able to approach the ship without any problem, but they’d have to get closer to see exactly what awaited them.
That’s when they heard more chatter from Mission Control. Not Ray at first, but then his voice erupted onto the channel. “Caitlin ...copy?” Static still garbled the transmission.
“I hear you Ray!”
“Caitlin: they’re coming... files I found on Strat...deleting before they know...”
Caitlin knew that Blake was inside the Black Sky lander and probably wouldn’t be monitoring this frequency. She pressed Ray for more information.
“What’s happening? Ray!”
Then they heard signs of a physical struggle playing out nearly a quarter-million miles away. Grunts, heavy impacts, sharp thwacks...
The radio signal was cut entirely and they heard no more.
Caitlin looked to James. “My God, something terrible is happening at Mission Control! Ray...”
The FAA man eyed his suit’s oxygen gauge and then looked to the LEM’s door. “We’ll get to the bottom of that and do what we can. But right now, we better get inside. I’m pretty low on oxygen.”
40| Problems, Problems
Caitlin made for the LEM’s outer airlock door, James Burton close behind. When they were almost there, a monster worm erupted from the ground in front of them. Caitlin sprawled backwards, barely missing its incredible girth. The thing was thicker than the LEM. Not only that, but a contingent of smaller worms came crawling from around the corner of the lander. The airlock was only a few feet away but now entirely blocked by the moon animal.
It was James who had the solution this time. He gripped the oxygen canister—that awkward burden he’d lugged on foot all the way from the rover crash site—and loosened its valve. He pointed it away from the LEM door toward the corner of the ship around which the animals had congregated at the oxygen leak. Then he reached down and extended a hand to Caitlin.
“I let out a little oh-two in that direction.” He turned to look. No sooner had he completed his sentence than the gigantic worm submerged again back beneath the soil. The smaller individuals, too, moved off in the direction of the fresh jet of gas.
“Now! Airlock, c’mon.” Caitlin jumped the rest of the way to the door and hit the button to open it. It seemed like an agonizingly long time, but in fact was only seconds before it did. She and James rushed inside and she hit the button to bring the outer door down. There was a moment’s panic when a smallish animal wriggled beneath the door as it closed, but it cut the creature in two, half of it wriggling autonomously inside the airlock while the other half remained outside.
“We have to get rid of it; kick it back out.” James stared at the blue fluid leaking from the severed organism. “I saw what that stuff did to Martin...” He zoned out into his own hellish reliving of a terrible event caused by these strange moon dwellers until Caitlin brought him back, as he had done to her back at the crash site.
“You kick it out, I’ll get the door. Opening in three...two...one...now!”
The first thing both of them did was to make sure no animals were lurking just outside the door, waiting to ambush them. But the area immediately outside the airlock was free. Burton swiped the messy half-worm with the side of his foot until it tumbled out onto the regolith. He stamped the smear left behind by its fluids and then wiped the sole of his boot in the soil. Then Caitlin pulled him back inside and hit the button again. They double-checked the airlock before pressing the button to open the inner door that led to the ship. Were they to fail to observe a small creature, it could get inside the ship and wreak havoc later, possibly explode its guts all over them, killing them all.
They looked around for a minute, an easy task since the floor was smooth, white and bare. Still, they were thorough, even checking the walls and ceiling. “I think it’s okay.” Caitlin placed her hand on the button. James nodded his assent and she opened the inner door. It raised and they walked into the lander’s cabin.
They had expected to enter a noisy, hectic environment of engineers collaborating in an argumentative way over how to fix the oxygen leak and other problems. They were surprised to find a quiet, still scene. Only one of the Black Sky astronauts appeared to be working on anything. The rest of the crew, including Blake, Kennedy and the other FAA rep, Stenson, were huddled at a control console, some seated, some standing. None of them were saying anything, they just stared in silence at the two newcomers as they stripped their helmets off.
“What’s up?” Caitlin led off, knowing that whatever it was probably wasn’t that good, given the cool reception.
Blake rubbed his eyes for a moment before looking up at her. “Caitlin. Mr. Burton. I’m glad to see you made the trip here safely...where’s Dallas, still coming in from the airlock? I’ll wait for him so I don’t have to repeat anything. What I’m about to tell you is of critical importance.”
“Dallas didn’t make it.” Caitlin was surprised at how calm she sounded—and not just sounded, but felt. It was as if she’d already processed the horror of it and now could only mention it in a matter-of-fact way.
“He stayed behind in our lander?” Blake still wasn’t getting it. “I hope not, because Arnie, here, sustained an injury while attempting to fix the ship—a mechanical injury, he wasn’t attacked by one of the worms—but he needs medical attention.”
“There’s no Black Sky physician on board?” This from Burton, who eyed his counterpart, Stenson, as he said it.
Stenson gladly took the ball, shaking his head, but it was Caitlin who cut him off, deciding that what she had to say was more important. And it just so happened that it was.
“Dallas is dead. He was eaten by one of the worms on our way over here.”
That shut everyone up.
“You’re kidding. Tell me you’re kidding?” Blake didn’t sound like he wanted to hear the answer to his own question.
“No,” Caitlin said, while James shook his head.
“How long ago?” Blake asked.
“About two hours ago.”
“And you’re sure he’s dead? It’s not possible he was dragged away and then escaped? Or...” He looked down at the floor. “Like Suzette?”
Caitlin made eye contact with each of the group in turn, then slowly nodded. She suppressed a chill as she recalled Dallas still transmitting from inside his vermiform prison. “More like Suzette.”
“Jesus...” Blake whispered.
“So we’ve got no medical doctor,” Kennedy said,
clearly upset, “which, to be honest, was one of the bigger advantages your team brought to our table, Blake.”
“What was your medical plan supposed to be, coming up here with no doctor, anyway?” Blake fired back.
“Each of us is a trained EMT plus we had a videoconferencing app in place.”
“So much for that,” Burton said, enjoying the grin he elicited from Stenson. In the past, they had had their differences, but they could agree on this much.
“We weren’t counting on the dust storm of the century in New Mexico,” Kennedy said.
“We weren’t counting on a lot of things, either,” Blake said.
“Oh?” Kennedy shot back. “It seemed you were counting on life on the moon. You knew these things were up here—”
“Kennedy, please!” Caitlin interrupted. She looked to Blake. “You said you were about to tell us something important. What is it?”
Kennedy had another brief stare-down with Blake during which neither man said anything, and then he addressed Caitlin. “Calculations have been run.” He paused and looked around at the others who’d been there before Caitlin and James had walked in. None of them had anything to add.
“And?” Caitlin prompted.
“It’s clear that this lunar lander, slightly smaller than our own, does not have sufficient fuel supply to get all of us to one of the two orbiting command modules that will make the trip back to Earth.” He paused to let this sink in while he stared at James and Caitlin in turn.
James Burton was the first to speak. “Did I just hear you say that this ship doesn’t have enough fuel to reach either of the two orbiting command modules? And can it even dock with Outer Limits’ module in addition to its own?” Burton looked to Kennedy, who nodded.
“It can. That’s not the problem at all. And the ship does have enough fuel to reach a command module, by the way, it just doesn’t have enough to bring all of us on board.”
“How many pounds are we short by?” Caitlin looked around the group, most of whom averted her gaze, except Kennedy, who answered.
“Equivalent to one person.”
“One person won’t be able to go back? You’re sure about those calculations?” Burton raised his voice.
“We’ve run the numbers at least half a dozen times,” Arnie said from a sitting position that favored his injured leg.
“Triple-checked everything,” Black Sky astronaut Jack Williams added. “We made sure all non-essential gear was subtracted for the calculations—anything we could leave behind that isn’t needed to get us to the CM. It always comes out the same—not enough fuel with the weight of all of us on board—barely enough if no errors or unanticipated events occur if we lose the weight of an average person plus their spacesuit.”
The group discussed additional combinations of equipment, but in the end it always came back to the same thing: one person had to stay behind or the ship wouldn’t make it to a Command Module.
“There’s no way to siphon fuel or somehow pick up extra fuel from the Command Module and then use that to bring the lander back down here for the other person?” Caitlin posed, still unwilling to give up.
All of the other astronauts shook their heads until Williams said, “No possible way. That type of transfer mechanism is simply not in place.”
“Time’s ticking, people,” Kennedy reminded them all. “We’re burning much needed oxygen and battery power the longer we stay down here.”
Caitlin asked to see the calculations one more time and reviewed them carefully. At the end of her inspection, she shook her head and handed back the computer tablet. “It is what it is.”
Blake nodded. Kennedy nodded. They all agreed. One person had to be sacrificed in order for the craft to liftoff and be able to reach its rendezvous ship.
41| Decisions, Decisions
Kennedy Haig called over to Takeo, who, since returning to the lander, had been working on a tricky assortment of mechanical fixes to the oxygen delivery system. Everyone needed to be present in order to arrive at a course of action. When the entire crew was seated, Kennedy began.
“This is a most uncomfortable situation, for all of us, I’m sure.” No one disagreed, and Kennedy continued. “But we do have options, however slim. Let me begin by asking point blank...” He eyed Blake as he said this phrase, “… Is there anyone among us who would like to volunteer to be left behind?”
Eyes widened and mouths dropped open. James put down his notepad; he knew it annoyed everyone that he still took notes, but he had always performed his job duties no matter what and he wasn’t about to stop now. “You mean, do any of us volunteer to die? That’s what you’re asking, isn’t it? The other LEM is non-functional, and this one can’t make two trips, so...to stay behind is to die, am I right?”
Kennedy nodded. “That is correct. But the legacy that individual leaves behind will be everlasting and—”
“Cut the crap, Kennedy,” Blake said. “Nobody wants to be left behind. Am I right?”
They all nodded, including Kennedy himself.
“As I said, it was merely an option, of which we have few.”
“Well, that option stinks,” Blake said, to a murmur of agreement.
Kennedy shot him a hard stare. “Very well then, Mr. Garner. As I said there are options, however few and unpalatable they may be. Here is another. Since we have no willing volunteers, I propose that you yourself take the high road and willingly stay behind to leave a lasting legacy, since it is you who is basically responsible for causing this mess in the first place.”
Blake got up from his chair and stepped over to Kennedy, their eyes a few inches away. “What are you talking about? You better watch what you say, Kennedy!”
Kennedy shrugged. “You’re the one who kept the presence of this hostile alien life form a secret, thereby endangering us all, including yourself and your own crew. And one of your own astronauts—Strat Knowles, whose worm entombed body I laid eyes upon myself—was left behind up here already, so clearly you knew about the threat and tried to cover it up. It would be a form of cosmic justice for you to be left behind now, some might say.”
Blake’s face turned beet red. “Cosmic justice! What about cosmic justice for the fact that it was your reckless technological shortcutting that endangered your ship and crew, putting myself and my crew in the position of having to come to your aid?” He flailed an arm about the cabin. “This ship was going nowhere if it weren’t for the supplies and equipment we provided you with. Therefore, I submit that it should be you who is nominated to stay behind.”
Kennedy’s eyes narrowed. “You always were a shifty, conniving bastard, Blake, you know that? Yeah, you’ve done well for yourself, no one can deny that. But at what cost, Blake, at what cost? Remember all those companies you bought out in the late 80’s, early ‘90s when you were ‘cutting your teeth,’ as you say, on mergers and acquisitions? All the families you threw into turmoil after you fired all those workers for no good reason other than to assert your power, to let them all know, this is my company now and I’ll do what I want with it! You stepped up your own ladder created from the broken backs of others, Blake. And now that’s what you’re looking to do again, isn’t it? Someone is going to die here, so that you may live, is that it? Someone, anyone, just as long as it’s not you.”
“And you weren’t doing the same thing along the way, Kennedy? You’re not exactly a pauper yourself. You don’t get to be a billionaire without stepping on a few toes along the way, that’s just how it goes.”
“Everything I’ve done has been with decency and by the guide of a moral compass, which is more than I can say for you. You must think—”
He never finished his sentence because at that moment Blake struck him in the chin with a quick uppercut. The sound of Kennedy’s teeth slamming together filled the cabin and then Kennedy lunged at his attacker. The two men grappled with one another in a standing position, legs lashing out in an attempt to trip as well as to kick. Although businessmen with no real f
ighting experience, both Blake and Kennedy had taken part in various fitness programs over the years, usually with personal trainers, and these included martial arts and kickboxing.
Kennedy’s astronauts circled around the fighting billionaires, but it was James Burton who actually stepped in and pushed the two men apart. As soon as he did, the others stepped in and were able to corral the two fighters into opposite corners of the ship, placating them by telling them it wasn’t worth it, they had a job to do if they were going to be able to get back to Earth, that they could damage the ship even more, they had to work together...
“Stop it!” Caitlin stepped into the middle of the two men, each now surrounded by a others who held them back. “You’re being ridiculous. Now let’s get back to work.”
“Maybe that’s what they were doing.” This from Stenson. “They’re staging a fight to the death so that we don’t have to pick someone to leave behind. Is that it, gentlemen?” he placed sarcastic emphasis on the last word.
“No.” Blake shot Stenson a withering stare. “Just making a point.”
“You’re an idiot, Blake,” Kennedy called out. He was immediately shushed down by his astronauts.
“Everybody listen up!” Kennedy shoved off his minders. “It’s clear that none of us are going to volunteer to stay behind. That’s fine. I was just asking. No one is going to be tricked or forced into it.” He paused to look each of them in the eyes, with the exception of Blake.
“Then what are we going to do?” Caitlin asked.
“There’s only one thing to do,” Kennedy said. “We hold a lottery.”
42| Do You Want to Play a Game?