by Andrew Mayne
I tried to inch my way free, but the weight of the wall was too much. I felt my thighs ready to give.
The weight was too much and I fell to the floor of the pool. Water trickled into my mask and everything went blurry.
Fuck, I thought, this is how I die. Underwater in a pretend spaceship.
As I resigned myself to my fate, a powerful hand grabbed me by my ankle and yanked me away.
It was Bennet to the rescue.
The entire rear section of the set collapsed and a cloud of dust rolled past us.
Not waiting to see what else was going to go wrong, he pulled on my shoulder and pushed me towards the way we came.
He followed me all the way to the edge of the concrete pool and waited until I rolled onto dry ground before getting out himself.
Sanjay was already out of the tank, helmet off, hands on knees, coughing out water.
I ripped off my mask and took my first breath in what seemed like forever.
I laid on my side, the air tank still stuck to my back, catching my breath.
Bennet climbed out and leaned over me. "What the hell, Dixon?"
"COUGH...set collapsed."
"No kidding." He reached down and picked up my fractured mask. "What about this?"
"Must have been rebar or something."
I was too confused to understand what he was angry about. "I had to help Sanjay."
Bennet shoved the cracked mask in my face like I was a dog that pissed all over the rug. "What about this?"
I shook my head, not getting it.
Disgusted, he yanked the other mouthpiece from my chest and waves it in front of my nose. "What is this?"
"Back up," I said between exhausted breaths.
"Why didn't you use it?"
"No time." I made my way into a seated position and pointed to Sanjay. "What about him?"
"He's dead," said Bennet.
"What?" Sanjay blurted.
"You left this idiot down there."
"I had a torn hose!" Sanjay protested, understanding that Bennet was talking more than metaphorically.
While this wasn't an official astronaut training test, it was clearly enough of a trial by fire for Bennet to see what we're made of.
Bennet shrugged him off and turned his attention back to me. "How did you fuck up, yoga boy?"
"I saved Sanjay."
"I would have made it," said Sanjay.
"Go back to fantasyland," growled Bennet. "Dixon. Tell me how you fucked up?"
"I needed to secure my own air supply first."
"Why?"
"Because I'm under extra stress and increased exertion. Not doing so could kill us both."
"If this had been a..." Bennet glanced over at the underwater set and rolled his eyes. "A goddamn whatever, you'd be dead because you panicked."
"I didn't panic."
"Oh, you didn't? You acted perfectly calmly and rationally?"
"No..."
"You goddamn panicked." He shoved a finger right between my eyes. "You acted, but you didn't think. The impulse was right but the instincts were all wrong."
"I'm sorry..."
"Get this gear loaded up in the truck. I'm going to go call our boss and tell him this was a stupid idea."
When Sanjay and I finished loading the equipment, Bennet was standing in the middle of the parking lot with a cigar in his mouth staring up at the night sky.
I left Sanjay to sulk by the truck as I walked over to Bennet.
The only light was the stars and the orange glow of his Arturo Fuente, a rare indulgence. I stood there in silence, letting him have his moment of peace.
"Do you want to die up there?" Bennet asked.
"You mean like of old age from a heart attack as I have zero-g sex with a couple of space hookers?"
This got me a blast of blue smoke in the face. "Let me rephrase the question. Do you ever want a chance to go up there?"
"Yes. Hell, yes. Without a doubt."
"Then next time you do what you're trained. Not what your little impulses tell you. What were you trained to do?"
"Secure my own air supply any way I can."
"Then what?"
"Lend assistance."
"Then what?"
"Get to safety."
"What happens when you skip step one?"
"I jeopardize the mission?"
"People die, David. People die."
79
REACTION
THROUGH THE DARKNESS, underneath my gasping breath, somewhere beyond my panic – my body reacts. I don't think. I don't analyze. I let instincts take over – not the ones I was born with, but the hard-earned ones from spending countless hours at the bottom of a practice pool, floating in mid-air in the Vomit Comet with a blacked-out helmet or dropping from an airplane with my eyes closed and no sense of up or down.
This is what Bennet tried to drill into us. It's not enough to be clever in a tight spot. Survival depends on not having to think.
Right hand goes to the pouch on my thigh and grabs the plastic stick. Left hand probes my side, searching for the spray of air...there it is.
Put my rubbery fingertip on the leak.
Push the yellow gooey plastic stick into the hole.
Keeping pushing.
This is just like fixing a tire. Except I think the puncture went through the passenger.
One step at a time.
Let the stick do its job.
The hissing is starting to slow. That's good or the air is completely gone.
Wait a beat...take a breath.
Yep, there's air in here.
I'm still spinning.
Spread my arms wide and slow down.
Something white is flying towards me fast.
Deep breath.
Alright. I'm spinning less. There's the white thing again.
It's an cosmonaut in an EVA pack going full speed.
Is this a rescue?
No.
This is an attack.
That's probably Domnin heading straight at me while Yablokov is somewhere with a gun. Not Bennet's gun, but some specially modified thing with a wide trigger for an astronaut glove.
Damn it. They shot me.
Stay cool, David.
Turn your body so the suitcase is facing towards them. Use it as a shield.
Jesus Christ. I'm using a nuclear bomb to block gunfire.
"OPS, this is David. I've been hit. I have the hole in the suit sealed. I have a hostile inbound. Question; what happens if a bullet hits the nuke?"
Lewis takes the comm. "The slapper detonators won't do anything. Hexanitrostilbene is very stable. But if you get a leak in the plutonium casing that could cause a contamination issue...but you're in a space suit. However, if the bullet hits the plutonium and goes through you...well...you'll be dead too soon to care."
"Right. I'm going to assume these assholes would rather not put a hole in the bomb, so I'm using it as a shield."
I spin until my suit jet stabilizes my rotation so I'm facing away from the K1.
BAM!!! Something – probably Domnin – just slammed into my back.
He's trying to pull the case away from me.
The strap is slipping over my head as he lifts it free.
Hold up...let him.
I go limp and allow Domnin to get the case off my shoulder. As he slides it along my arm, I grab the strap with my right hand and give it a yank.
Although this doesn't free it from his grasp, it sends me flying backwards behind him where I hit his EVA pack.
I slip my left arm under his left shoulder, grappling him from the back.
Alright, I don't think he saw this move coming – neither did I.
Now what? In any moment Yablokov is going to start shooting, regardless if his boy is in the way.
The world starts to spin as Domnin activates the thruster on his pack.
Flames lick my visor and I quickly let go as his side rocket nearly burns a hole in my suit.
Damnit! Dumb
move on my part. He almost melted through. Good thing this stealth suit is heat resistant.
He's already flying back to the K1 with the nuke.
My suit rockets have only a small amount of burn left. Better make it a good one.
I light them up and chase after him.
From my left thigh pouch I pull out the black blade used to cut through straps and anything else that gets in the way. It's my only weapon.
BAM! I hit the back of his EVA pack.
I quickly grab the handle on the top with my right hand and use it like a pommel horse to swing over him.
With the knife blade in my left fist, as soon as I see his visor, I slam it into the plastic as hard as I can.
The tip goes in about an inch, just over his eye.
Domnin goes through a range of emotion from terror to elation as he realizes the blade stopped short of touching him and the self-healing polymer in his helmet has sealed around the puncture.
Enjoy the moment, pal. I know how these helmets are made.
I give the knife a twist and the slit ruptures, cracking the glass. His entire face shield explodes.
The blood vessels on his skin rupture and blood pours out his nose and eyes. The poor son of a bitch made the fatal mistake of trying to hold his breath in a vacuum.
CRACK! I feel the vibration of something – probably a bullet – as it hits the top of Domnin's EVA pack.
I push myself backwards so his body and the jetpack are between me and the K1 – which is growing closer real fast.
We're heading towards the base of the main tower, below the upper EVA airlock where Yablokov has found a position to take shots at me.
We're moving a hell of a lot faster than I'd like. There's no time to try to commandeer Domnin's rocket pack. I can only get ready to use him as a human air bag.
BAM!!! We slam into the module. It feels like I just fell off a house and landed on the sidewalk.
BANG!!! The nuke just bounced off the outer wall and ricocheted into my shoulder.
Shit...we're all bouncing backwards.
Damn you, Newton.
Think fast. We're about to be in wide-open space with Yablokov free to take shots all day long with his damn space rifle.
80
LAST STAND
CRACK!!! A bullet grazes the top of my helmet and my head jerks backwards. It's so goddamn loud I'm positive it split my skull. Nope. Still here.
Thank god these things are designed to deflect micrometeorites.
I pull myself into a ball behind Domnin so I'm a smaller target. The nuke is drifting to the side, still in his grasp.
Maybe I should reach for it?
THWACK! THWACK! His body jerks back and forth like a puppet being yanked around.
Blood streams out of his chest and shoulder.
Christ. Yablokov is trying to hit me by shooting straight through his friend!
"David, what's your status?" asks Baylor.
"Fucked? I'm floating around out here and Yablokov is shooting at me. Fortunately I have Domnin's dead body and his EVA pack to use as a shield."
"Did you say you're using him as a shield?"
"Yes. But Yablokov is still taking shots."
"David, that's not good."
"No shit."
"I mean you'd be better off using the nuke to block the gunfire."
"Well, it's out of reach." I glance at Domnin's death grip on the strap. "Um, my reach."
"What I mean, is that those EVA suits use a monopropellant that could be set off by a bullet-strike."
"Oh. So I should just turn myself in? Great idea."
"No. Sorry. Just be aware of that."
"Yeah. Got it. Thanks."
Okay, the crazy Russian is shooting at you and it turns out the nuclear device is a better shield. Maybe if I reach over and grab Domnin's arm I can get it to swing the pack back at me...
The moment I grab his triceps a bullet hole emerges a centimeter away from my fingertips.
I pull my arm back in and try to ball up as small as I can again. The EVA hits me in the visor as bullets strike the corpse over and over. How much ammo did they bring up here?
The K1 is getting smaller, but that doesn't mean much. If Yablokov has a good scope, he can shoot at me for miles. There's no air resistance and the actual gravitational effect on the trajectory is insignificant.
Making matters worse; he's got the sun behind him, making it hard for me to spot him.
I notice there's a bulge in Domnin's thigh pocket. It's a gun. Stainless steel, and specially designed with a wide trigger and some kind of funky recoil suppression, you'd almost think it was a tool. I guess it is, but for putting holes in people.
Alright, David, go for it.
I reach a hand down, trying to keep it concealed behind his body as long as I can and snatch the grip.
THWACK! A bullet goes through his thigh and grazes my knuckle. A trail of blood shoots out like a geyser then freezes into small drops.
Okay. We have a gun, but Yablokov has a space rifle. This isn't quite fair.
You know what? Don't give him time to think about it either. I snake an arm around, grab the controller for the rocket pack and push the forward button.
Flames erupt right next to my helmet and the EVA suit hurtles towards the K1.
The nuke drifts backwards and I grab the handle with my left hand, not letting it drift away.
I straighten my body out as much as I can so I have a tiny profile.
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
I feel the vibrations as Yablokov unloads into Domnin as we fly towards him.
I can't even imagine what the corpse looks like now. The droplets of blood are like tiny red comets flying away from him.
The K1 begins to dominate my field of view and I spot Yablokov floating over the top of the EVA spire in his own pack. He's got a long silver rifle in his hands.
I raise my gun and fire at him. It's a wild shot, but he sees the explosion of gas from the cylinder and knows he's now a target.
He presses a button and his rockets send him downwards, behind the top of the spire.
I've got a few seconds before he takes up another position.
Move fast, David. Any moment now and he's going to come creeping around the side of the station from a remote position and start shooting at me.
But which way?
Out of the corner of my eye I spot a shadow moving across the solar panels to my left. That slick bastard. He went way the hell out from me to do that.
I yank the nuke off the strap and clip it to my remaining tether. I then turn Domnin's body towards the direction his pal is heading and push the forward thruster.
Flames lick around me as the rocket pack shoots forward and upwards towards the trajectory of the shadow.
Using a rail, I pull myself around the spire, to the opposite side of Yablokov, cutting off his sneak attack.
As I reach the other end, Domnin's dead body is floating right towards the other commander.
Confused, and thinking with his gun and not his brain, Yablokov momentarily starts firing rounds into the already ripped apart cosmonaut.
Yablokov decides he'd rather take the shot at me than Domnin and brings his rifle to bear on me.
I only have a second to get my shot.
81
ADRIFT
I BRACE my gun against the side of the spire and take careful aim. Not at Yablokov, but the canister at the back of the EVA pack with all the warning stickers on it.
Sparks fly an inch from my head as Yablokov fires a round straight past Domnin and almost into my head.
The two are about to collide.
I squeeze my trigger.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
I hear every shot because the only place for the vibration to go is into me.
It's the last one that sets off the explosion I can see, but not hear.
Domnin's EVA pack rips apart in an orange ball of flames that swallows Yabloko
v.
Parts of Domnin and his suit fly off in a dozen directions.
Yablokov spins wildly out of control, but somehow manages to stabilize himself. His jets fire and he rotates towards me.
As the flames die down I can see that his helmet is cracked and his face charred.
I can't tell if the burnt thing looking back at me is alive or dead. All I know is that it's filled with fury.
His thrusters blaze and send his carcass directly at me.
I unload the rest of the magazine into his chest. A pointless effort. He's already dead.
I try to jump out of the way, but the edge of his EVA hits me hard in the shoulder.
Tendrils of blood and fuel flow from him and his pack as his furious trajectory sends him into a solar panel.
Blue and black glass panels break apart and shatter into thousands of pieces.
I feel the station shake and try to cover my face plate from the debris. Tiny shards rain against my suit.
There's another impact and I look below as the burning corpse smashes into Ivanka.
The impact is followed by an explosion and the entire docking section lights up in an orange ball when his exploding EVA pack sets off the fuel on the other craft.
BOOM!!! The sound makes its way through the station and into my suit through touch.
I feel the station rattle and lurch as the explosion tears the lower section away.
My grip is knocked free and I go flying – choosing to hold onto the nuke instead of trying to make a futile grasp at the rail that's now too far away.
As I drift helplessly away from the K1, the wreckage of the docking section floats off like a severed limb in the ocean current.
"OPS...holy shit. Can you reach the K1?"
"Patching through," says Baylor.
Tense seconds go by as the K1 grows smaller and smaller.
I try my suit jets, but they're all spent.
"David?" asks Sonin, sounding far away.
"Thank god! Are you okay?"
"The hatches are sealed up. What about you?"
"I got the nuke. We should be able to find it from my suit transponder."
"Wait, why don't you bring it back to the K1?" asks Baylor.
Sonin swears in Russian. "We don't have any EVA suits. We don't even have any working spacesuits. By the time a resupply makes it here..."