ISS

by Mains, L Valder

  The last thing they did before returning to the ISS was retrieve the samples of the plague that they brought for them to work on. Jack watched the first astronaut carry the sample bag around to the far side of the ISS. The worst part of gathering the sample was cutting off the head of a woman. It was horrible the way it rolled away. Very creepy.

  *

  “We did it, we actually did it,” she said. The excitement in her voice was tempered by anxiety and fatigue. Jack nodded he was also absorbing the reality of having made it to orbit.

  “What do we do now?” she said.

  “We wait,” he said, “Gerry said it will take some time to analyse the sample we brought up. I’m going to eat about a million power bars and try to sleep for an hour.”

  “That sounds good,” she said yawning.

  They ate in silence only taking off their helmets long enough to eat and drink. They were excited and slept little last night and Sara’s eyes were closing as she chewed. He helped her put on her helmet and then he secured her to one bulkhead and himself to another beside her and he quickly fell into an odd weightless approximation of sleep.

  Chapter Ten

  Jack woke with a start two hours later. He was disoriented and for a few moments did not know where he was. The top of the passenger cabin was pressed up against the faceplate of his helmet and the glass inside was fogged from his breath. His brain could not decipher what he was seeing or feeling, it startled him and he threw both his arms out. The contact with the cabin ceiling sent him spinning backwards. He was tethered and he bounced several times like a yoyo on a string before he managed to grab the back of a passenger seat. He stopped himself before vomiting. When his head stopped spinning he noticed that Sara was not where he left her. He took off his helmet so he could see better and untied his tether then pulled himself forward across the seatbacks to the cockpit gliding to a stop beside her. She was sitting in the co-pilot’s seat with her helmet off. There were tears streaming down her face.

  “What’s wrong?” he said alarmed.

  She looked at him with such a look of despair in her eyes it jarred him. He followed her finger as she pointed out the windshield. It took him a while to see what she was pointing at. What he saw did not make any sense. There was a star shaped object on the large solar array. When he realized it was an astronaut he looked more closely and saw that he was not wearing a helmet. He stared at this scene for a long time trying to come to some other conclusion.

  ”We killed them Jack they’re all dead,” she said.

  “Oh no,” he whispered.

  “I’ve been calling them for half an hour. There is no response from the ISS,” she said.

  The choked emotion in her voice told him everything he needed to know. The seriousness of the situation hit him hard and he said, “What have we done?” he whispered. Sara did not say anything she had time to think about what happened and was beyond the initial shock of having caused the crew’s deaths. What she was thinking about now was survival. Without the crew helping they would be unable to return to earth. They were going to die in space.

  Jack sat staring in silence at the scene before him. He was deep in thought as he went through all the possible combinations of outcomes for their situation in his mind and every one of them was bad. He saw by Sara’s face that giving her more bad news was not going to help matters. He tried to think of something positive to say something to hold onto, something to give her some hope, but he drew a blank.

  It was clear that the sample they brought from earth killed the crew and that news alone was devastating enough but the fact that they were now stranded was worse. He was churning all this through his mind when she grabbed his arm and said.

  ”The strap!”

  “What?” he said pulled from his reverie.

  “We have to untie the strap holding Jericho One to the ISS. We need a plan. We can’t open the hatch because if we can’t close it again we won’t be able to re-enter the atmosphere. That’s right isn’t it?” she said.

  He looked at her and slowly nodded his head trying to catch up with her thinking. She was already working on surviving the situation and devising a plan. He was learning not to underestimate her because no matter what was happening she always seemed to be miles ahead of him.

  “We can depressurize the cabin and open the hatch manually, “he said,” but we would need to get more air from ISS. Jericho One depends on positive interior pressure to keep the hull intact which means we need to get over to the ISS. It looks like it is only about forty feet but it might as well be a thousand miles without a jet-pac.”

  He saw the determined look on her face as she thought the problem over and it took less than a minute before she said.

  “What about this really simple idea. We find some rope or whatever and one of us throws the other at ISS. If we miss I pull you back in and we try again.”

  He let the part about who would throw who slide by for now. It was actually a pretty good plan if they could find some kind of rope or line that was long enough to reach the ISS. “I like your idea. I knew there was a reason to bring you along,” he said.

  She smiled but there was no mirth in it. Thoughts of survival and the death of the astronauts weighed heavily on her. They searched the cabin and lockers for an hour checking everywhere for something they could use.

  “How can there not be any cord or line or anything?” she said. She was clearly feeling frustrated.

  “I guess we’re going to have to make some,” he said.

  “From what?” she said. She looked around frowning.

  “There is at least a million miles of electrical cable on this thing. We can take some of it and build one long wire rope. The tricky part is making certain we only take wires the ship can live without,” he said.

  “What about all these seat belts?” she said.

  “That would work but we’d need to sew them together and there isn’t time or a sewing kit available. The seats all have wiring that should be a safe source of wire and if it’s not enough there is the bulkhead lighting and sound system. First we need to find some tools or make some kind of knife,” he said.

  It took four frustrating hours of exhausting zero gravity work to make a ball of wire sufficient to stretch across to the ISS. They tested the strength of their knots and uncoiled it many times inside the length of Jericho One to measure it and work out any points at which the wire might bind or kink and then tested it again for strength. The time had come and they were ready to try it out for real.

  “Okay, check your suit tank reserve pressure. When I release the cabin pressure we should have about an hour to get over to ISS. As soon as I get the line secured you need to come across. Remember; hand over hand, and always keep one hand on the wire. She watched him with growing anxiety as he started the procedure to release the cabin pressure.

  They both knew that once the air inside Jericho One was gone there would be no turning back they had to make it across to the International Space Station or they would die.

  They each topped up the reserves of their suit air from the Jericho One main supply and Jack checked his watch. They would have a maximum of sixty five minutes to get to the ISS. He looked at her and smiled reassuringly and after a few moments reading the instructions he engaged the manual crank to open the escape hatch.

  They did not hear all the breathable air in Jericho One escaping to the vacuum of space but they knew it was. When the hatch was fully open Jack took his first look at space. There was nothing between him and eternity and that knowledge sobered him.

  “Holy shit!” he whispered looking out. The distance to the ISS seemed much greater now that he was on the threshold preparing to jump into the void.

  He noticed that Sara did not come over to the hatch to peer out and he couldn’t blame her, it was a scary sight.

  There was no time to waste worrying about it they were using up air. He tied one end of the improvised wire rope to the handle of the open hatch and tested the knot se
veral times then tied the other end to a cleat on his space suit and tested the knot.

  She looked worried when she floated down between the seats opposite the hatch and braced herself against the far wall and he smiled at her to try and boost her confidence, “Piece of cake,” he said.

  When he had the wire arranged so it would not bind as he flew out the hatch he floated down between the seats facing her and placed his boots against her boots and gave her a big grin and a thumbs up before lying on his back pointing his head to the open hatchway and the ISS beyond. Both of them pulled their legs up tight against their chests in preparation and when he was floating a few inches above the deck he said, “Okay, on three.”

  “One, two, three.” With the combined force of their legs they propelled him out the open hatch towards the space station. Time seemed to slow as he flew in silence to the space station in a headfirst attitude. It was not the best way to be facing but luck was with him and his foot snagged on a stanchion at the base of the Canada Arm and spun him around before contacting the ISS and he landed in a crouch on the hull.

  He did not have the benefit of magnetic boots but he managed to grab a brace before he bounced off. He was breathing hard as he pulled himself to the ISS hatchway using whatever hand holds he found.

  When he got to it he opened the airlock and crawled inside. He turned around to look back at Sara, he was upside down relative to her, and he saw her standing inside the open hatch watching him.

  He waved to her and gave her a ‘thumbs up’ and she waved back. He was grinning and somewhat surprised that their improvised plan actually worked. He untied the wire lifeline from his suit but when he went to tie it to the door of the ISS airlock he was hit by a massive static discharge from Jericho One. The shock sent him flying backwards into the ISS hatchway and the wire lifeline flew from his hand and coiled away into space. The impact of the shock and hitting the wall knocked him unconscious.

  ***

  Sara was watching from Jericho One and she saw the flash blow him backwards out of sight.

  “Jack, are you okay? Can you hear me, Jack?” she said.

  Then she saw the empty lifeline floating away from the ISS and she panicked. She kept calling to him over his suit intercom but he did not respond. She did not know what happened to him. He might be dead, his suit could have ripped open at the very least he is hurt. Whatever it was he needed her help.

  Every second that passed might mean his life slipping away. It was the hardest thing she ever to do, her whole life she was afraid of falling, and now she was about to jump into empty space. She screwed up her courage and moved to the open hatch. Reaching outside she pulled in the free floating wire rolling it carefully around her hand as she did. If she was going to save him she would have to jump across the space between Jericho One and the ISS.

  She looked out into the void between the two spacecraft and summoned her willpower and physical strength. The thought of falling from a great height was a terrifying fear for her as a child and that was one of the reasons her dad took up flying to help her get over her fear of heights. It worked then but at this moment all her childhood fears returned.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she chided herself,” you can’t fall down. There is no down!” along with that she made herself smile though she did not feel like smiling and she tied the wire to her suit like Jack did. She floated with her toes upon the threshold of the hatch hoping her legs would have enough strength to propel her across to the ISS.

  ‘Here goes nothing’ she said as she closed her eyes and bent her legs and pushed off as hard as she could from Jericho One. Her stomach lurched and took wings and fluttered as she left the relative safety of the ship behind her. For a brief moment she was certain she was going to throw up but she closed her eyes and took big gulps of air until the feeling passed.

  As she floated to the ISS she slowly rotated and as she turned she watched the most remarkable view of the Milky Way float silently past her visor. In a distant part of her awareness she knew that if she had not been terrified she would have enjoyed this extraordinary experience. After what seemed a long time she bumped into the side of ISS but she was facing away from it and glanced off before she managed to grab onto anything.

  She bounced off into space and dangled at the end of her tether far below Jericho One with nothing below her but Italy. Her frantic mind agreed it really did look like a boot as she desperately tried to reach around for the wire to reel herself back to Jericho One and try again. She was worried that Jack might be dying while she was flopping around uselessly in space. She was struggling to reach the wire when something solid banged into her and clamped around her waist.

  She screamed.

  Jack was only out for a few moments and when he awoke and realized what happened. He knew that Sara would be worried about him and he tried to call her but the static charge knocked out communications.

  The wire was gone so he went inside ISS and found one of the new ESA E.V.A. jet-pacs secured to the wall near the airlock. It had a retractable nylon safety tether that was attached to the ISS. He put the jet-pac on and stepped into the void.

  It took a few practise squirts before he could steer his way back to Jericho One and that is when he noticed Sara below him dangling over the Mediterranean Sea.

  He felt her stiffen with fright when he grabbed her from behind. He turned her around so she would see his face and he smiled and mouthed the words,

  ‘Come with me if you vant to live.’

  She smiled and blinked tears from her eyes in relief as she clung to him. It took longer traveling back to the ISS, they were harder to steer, but they made it and together they entered the airlock and he sealed the hatch behind them.

  Chapter Eleven

  The International Space Station

  They were safe and afloat inside the Columbus module of the ISS. Jack held her close until she stopped trembling, making solid eye contact before letting go. She met his gaze and though she had tears in her eyes he could see she was back from the edge. When he let go they grabbed onto things to keep from floating away. He found it interesting that though there was no reason to do it they aligned themselves to each other so they were in the same head orientation.

  This helped to cope with the extraordinary feeling and weirdness of weightlessness. The inside of ISS was more disorienting because it gave few clues as to what should be up and what might be down unlike Jericho One with its carpeted main aisle. He messed around with his spacesuit’s communication controls until he was able to talk to her again.

  “I don’t know if it is safe to take our helmets off. We need to find the environmental controls and check the air quality before we do anything,” he said.

  The possibility occurred to him the crew might have died from a hull breach and though it was not very likely, in his mind, it would have been preferable to his big idea having caused their deaths. She nodded, she was in no hurry to find out the air was missing or contaminated by trying to breathe it. After the shock of almost losing him she did not want to risk anything that might result in either of them being hurt or killed. They rested for a few minutes getting used to the different feel and look of ISS before setting off to explore the various modules. When they began their search Jack led but he went slowly because he knew they would eventually come across the dead crew members and he did not want Sara to suffer any more shocks.

  The International Space Station had grown over the years into a tangled labyrinth of specialized pods and modules interconnected by tunnels and node intersections arranged in a confusing layout that could only make sense to an aerospace engineer. It was now over 36,000 square feet of pressurized livable space and represented many countries and private corporations. Jack was in heaven. It had been his dream since childhood to visit the ISS and now he could not wait to go exploring. It was clear from the size and complexity of ISS they might easily become disoriented so he tried to be methodical in his approach. They eventually found a diagram on a bulkhead t
hat showed them the way to a module with the environmental controls.

  It was eerie how the lights came on as they approached and then turned off again after they passed along the modules. When they found the control room he took his time checking and rechecking to make certain he understood the readouts before deciding it was safe to remove his helmet.

  “Okay so the air looks breathable according to these readouts. So here is what I think we should do. I will take off my helmet and you keep yours on and after twenty minutes if I’m not dead you can take yours off, okay?” he said and smiled.

  Nothing about any of this was okay with her but she nodded her head.

  “If I turn blue or anything please put my helmet back on me, okay?” he said and smiled again this time somewhat nervously.

  “What exact shade of blue are we talking?” she said and laughed without humour. She watched him closely as he unfastened his helmet and she noticed that he hesitated before breaking the seal and in that moment she realized that he was as afraid as she was, and oddly, that knowledge made her feel better. He removed his helmet and took a big breath and then opened his eyes wide with shock and pretended to be choking but she knew he would do that and she smacked him on his arm for his effort and they both laughed.

  “I think the air is okay. If I do not suffer hypoxia within twenty minutes then everything is fine and you can take your helmet off,” he said.

  She reached out and took his gloved hand in hers and held it while they waited and he decided it was time to broach the subject of the crew.

  “We will need to find all the dead crew members and put them out through the airlock,” he said.

  She nodded not meeting his gaze; she did not want to think about that ugly chore, she felt responsible for their deaths. She did not want to think about anything, but especially not that, she wanted to get this over with and get back home to planet earth. In her mind wild dogs and crazy people were preferable to death by starvation or worse suffocation when the air ran out. The twenty minutes passed and Sara took her helmet off.