“I guess—”
Jason stopped abruptly mid-sentence and Jasmine knew something was wrong before Nadir came barreling through the command deck. Chuck was yelling from down below in the shaft, but Jasmine couldn’t make out what he was saying. Words echoed around her. Within seconds, he was climbing up into the command deck.
“Where the hell is he?” Chuck demanded.
“He’s already past science,” Nadir replied. Jasmine hadn’t seen exactly where Nadir had appeared from. There must have been other cabins off to the side of the bridge that she hadn’t noticed as he hadn’t come up from below.
Mei came over the top of the shaft behind Chuck. She was panting for breath as she spoke.
“What is he doing out there?”
“He’s going for the communications array,” Nadir snapped. “That’s the only major equipment that far out on the superstructure.”
“Regular coms or uplink?” Mei asked.
“Uplink,” Nadir replied.
“Not the engines or the fuel reserves?” Chuck asked. “You’re sure?”
“As sure as I can be,” Nadir replied, almost cutting Chuck off as he spoke.
Chuck asked, “How the hell did he get out there so quickly?”
“He must have prepped during the initial burn,” Nadir replied.
“Fuck!”
“What’s going on?” Jasmine asked, but no one paid her any attention.
Chuck spoke, saying, “Nadir, you and Jazz suit up. You’re primary. Jazz is secondary, remaining in the lock on standby. Mei, talk him down.”
“Shouldn’t she be talking to him?” Mei protested, pointing at Jasmine. “I should be in there with Nadir.”
“No,” Chuck replied. “We do this by the numbers, just like we rehearsed. Split-partners. Nadir and Jazz trained for EVA together in LEO. They’re a team. I need you to try to talk some reason into him before he does something stupid.”
“I’ll try,” Mei said, but she sounded resigned to defeat.
Both Nadir and Chuck had cut their hair, but not as radically as Mike. There was no number-one buzz cut for either of them, but they were both clean shaven.
“Can we abort the burn?” Nadir asked.
“Negative,” Chuck replied. “We’ve got twenty seven minutes to run.”
“Damn,” Nadir said. “Best I’ve ever done EVA prep was twelve minutes. We could still be out there when she shuts off.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Chuck replied, flicking switches on one of the consoles and bringing up an image of an astronaut working his way along the external struts that supported the superstructure of the Copernicus.
“I don’t understand,” Jasmine said, speaking up, wanting to be heard.
Jason whispered from behind her as the others continued talking over each other about the logistics of an unscheduled spacewalk.
“It’s Mike. He’s gone outside. They think he’s going to sabotage our communication with Earth.”
“But why?” she asked, turning slightly toward the galley, wanting to face Jason but seeing no one there.
“I don’t know.”
“Jazz!” Nadir called out, waving with his arm and signaling for her to follow. “Come on! We’ve got to get suited up.”
Jasmine halted, frozen with uncertainty. She shouldn’t be here, and she certainly shouldn’t be putting on a spacesuit and going outside the Copernicus. She had no idea what she was doing, and the thought of being pushed beyond her ability terrified her.
“Go. I’ll talk you through it,” Jason whispered. “Make sure you put on a headset.”
Jasmine nodded slightly. Nadir was already climbing a ladder that followed the circular contour of the bridge up to the massive overhead dome. She darted over toward him, knocking into the navigation console. Her heart raced with a surge of adrenalin as she felt the urgency of the crew swinging into action.
Nadir turned a large crank handle and a circular hatch opened, swinging to one side and revealing the main airlock. Jasmine clambered in beside him, falling in the low gravity and catching herself easily before she struck the ground. She landed on all fours.
Cargo nets held boxes in place on the walls and ceiling. Most of the supplies had been sealed in shrink-wrapped plastic. Nadir fought with the netting, grabbing boxes and tossing them briskly out of the airlock to gain access to the spacesuits mounted on the wall. Jasmine copied him, clearing the other side of the lock. There was barely room for one of them in the cramped, confined space.
The temperature in the airlock was noticeably cooler than on the command deck. Jasmine scanned the various parts of the spacesuit, noting the heavy white fabric, the stainless steel cuffs around the wrists, waist, neck and lower legs.
Nadir had already stripped down. Jasmine expected him to stop with his underwear but even that was pulled off and stuffed into the locker beside him. He turned to her, fully naked, and tossed a diaper over to her.
“What are you waiting for, Jazz?”
Jasmine caught the diaper and looked at it with disbelief. Elastic bands cupped thick, absorbent padding. Nadir stepped into his diaper, pulling it snug up to his waist. He had his back to her as he climbed into a thick undergarment that reminded Jasmine of the fireproof body suits worn by NASCAR drivers.
After hesitating briefly while he dressed, Jasmine felt compelled to act as quickly as possible. She tore off her jumpsuit, pulled her underwear off, and slid the diaper on, hoping Mei was wrong about the green pee. She felt a sudden urge to go to the bathroom. Jasmine distracted herself, putting on a smaller version of the fireproof body suit, and the urge passed as quickly as it had come. The under-suit was tight and she struggled to work her shoulders into it.
Nadir mumbled under his breath.
“What is he doing, Jazz? What the hell is he doing?”
Nadir sounded frustrated. It was a rhetorical question. She was sure no one thought she was complicit in whatever Mike was doing, and yet she felt compelled to answer.
“I don’t know.”
Jasmine was careful to mirror Nadir’s actions, watching as he pulled the bulky trousers from the outer suit and slipped them on. She was struggling to keep pace with him. He started working on his boots. Jasmine picked up on the locking mechanism and managed to get slightly ahead of him as he spoke with Chuck over an intercom. She spotted the earpiece Jason had mentioned and slipped it over her head, fitting the plastic grommet in her ear.
Instantly, Jason said, “Hairnet!”
At the same time, Nadir said, “Even though we’re under power, you’re going to need a hairnet in case we go weightless.”
“Right,” Jasmine replied, grabbing what looked like one of the old Snoopy caps from the Apollo space missions.
“Flattering,” she said, slipping the cap over her head and fastening a clip beneath her chin.
Nadir didn’t reply.
“Torso is next,” Jason whispered, “Then helmet. Your gloves go on last.”
Jasmine had to consciously stop herself from talking back to Jason. She wanted to acknowledge him, but Nadir had no idea Jason was whispering in her ear. She nodded softly, wondering if Jason could see her through one of the internal cameras.
Jasmine unclipped the bulky upper section of the space suit from the wall and slipped it over her head, feeding her arms up into the thick sleeves.
“Position the waist at 90 degrees to your left, as though you were twisting at the waist to look at something beside you. The two waist rings should slip together smoothly. You’ll feel them screw together as you turn back to the right.”
Jasmine did as Jason instructed, aligning the shiny stainless steel waistband on the trousers with an identical ring in the upper torso. She felt the two sections mesh together as she turned back toward Nadir.
“Make sure you feel the two sections lock,” Jason whispered.
She tugged on the two halves of the suit, feeling a soft click through the cold metal rings.
“It�
��s the same locking mechanism as the boots. Make sure it lies flush against the metal ring.”
Jason had been watching her, she realized, wondering where the camera was mounted. Jasmine followed the same process she had with the boots, snapping the lock shut and twisting the clip flush against the steel rim.
“Good.”
Over the speakers, Chuck said. “Depressurizing lock.”
Jasmine felt her heart race. She hadn’t even noticed the inner door to the airlock close, but they were already sealed in the cramped confines of the airlock. Nadir had his helmet on.
“Don’t worry. Standard procedure,” Jason said. “Chuck is dropping the pressure and changing the mix, feeding you pure oxygen. Within a minute, it’ll be like you’re up high in the Rockies. He won’t flush the lock until you and Nadir have hooked up to your backpacks.”
Jasmine hadn’t even thought about a backpack. She slipped the helmet over her head, assuming it followed the same twist-turn process, and locked it in place.
“Nice,” Jason said.
Jasmine grabbed her thick, bulky gloves and slipped them over her hands, racing to keep up with Nadir. The gloves reached up to the stainless steel locking rings halfway along her forearm. After locking them in place, she exhaled, only then realizing she’d been holding her breath for the best part of a minute. Water vapor from her breathing condensed on the glass faceplate of the helmet.
“Just relax,” Jason whispered in her ear. “You’re doing great.”
Nadir backed up against the wall and Jasmine watched as he pushed into a backpack. He wriggled a little, aligning his back, and she noticed a tiny red light above his shoulder switch to green. The pack sank lower, locking itself in place automatically.
“Now your turn,” Jason said.
Jasmine turned, but her helmet stayed in place, and she found herself looking half out of the glass plate and half at the white, padded interior of her helmet. She quickly adjusted, turning from the hip and taking a good look at the wall behind her. There were several backpacks, and she could see she was going to have to stretch up on tiptoes to get the suit to align with the grapple locks on the side of the pack. She backed up, reaching behind herself with her hands and lining herself up. She felt top-heavy and the strange sense of half-gravity had her struggling with her balance.
Jasmine centered herself, leaned back, pushed up and into the backpack and the locks on the pack moved effortlessly into place. Some kind of automated mechanical lock took care of the last step in the process, and she could feel a set of screws turning into the back plate on her suit.
Jason said, “That’s the oxygen line, coolant and return line moving into place.”
“Status check,” Nadir said as Jasmine moved away from the wall, staggering under the weight of the pack. Even in point-six gravity, it felt like her bigger, older brother had jumped on her back for an impromptu piggyback. She hunched over, trying to transfer the combined weight of the suit to her skeletal frame.
“Status?” Nadir repeated, and it was only then Jasmine realized he was talking to her.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, breathing heavily. “I’m good.”
Jasmine had no idea if that was the appropriate response, but it was all she could manage.
Nadir came up to her. Light reflected off the glass visor on the front of his helmet. Two spotlights lit up either side of his bulky faceplate.
The suit had felt heavy enough before Jasmine had put on the life-support system, but with the backpack on it was almost unbearable.
Nadir grabbed her wrists, checking the locks, and turned his wrists to her so she could check his locks.
“We’re good to go,” he said.
“Flushing the lock,” Chuck replied, his voice coming through the headpiece in Jasmine’s ear.
Jason added, “You need to hook up to a tether.”
Nadir was already hooked up. Jasmine took the clip in her clumsy gloved hand and copied him, clipping a tether onto a carabiner on her waist. She felt like she was about to go skiing with heavy winter clothing weighing her down, and she finally understood why astronauts moved so slowly. There was so much bulk behind every movement that precision motion took considerable mental effort.
“Where is he?” Nadir asked.
“Past the fuel cells,” Chuck replied. “Moving out onto the communications array. You won’t have long once the lock is depressurized.”
“Understood.”
Jasmine felt woozy. She was lightheaded. It took all her strength to maintain the weight of the spacesuit under the artificial gravity imparted by their constant acceleration.
“Clench your thighs,” Jason whispered. He must have been able to see she was struggling physically. “Tighten your stomach muscles. Make a fist. It’s the low pressure pure oxygen mix. You haven’t had time to acclimatize. At the moment, your body feels like it’s somewhere between the Rockies and the top of Mt. Everest. You are going to have to fight your way through this.”
Jasmine was breathing rapidly.
“Slow your breathing down,” Jason said. “You’ve got plenty of oxygen.”
“Doesn’t feel like it,” she said.
“Like what?” Nadir asked.
“Nothing,” Jasmine replied, jolted into the present by her slip of the tongue.
Nadir walked over to the outer door. The readout beside the hatch blinked in red and then finally green. He pushed a large panel beside the hatch and the steel plate slid open, revealing darkness beyond.
“Patching you in,” Chuck said, and Jasmine realized they were being thrust into the middle of a conversation between Mei and Mike.
“—waste your time,” Mike said.
Chuck spoke over the top of Mike, saying, “I’ve muted your circuit. You can hear them, but they can’t hear you.”
“Think about what you’re doing, Mike,” Mei said from somewhere out of sight. “Think about your wife. You’re scaring her. You’re scaring all of us.”
“Cut the audio,” Nadir said. “It’s not helping. There’s too much going on out here. I need to concentrate on what I’m doing.”
“Roger that,” Chuck replied.
“I’m at the edge of the airlock.”
Nadir turned to face Jasmine.
“Wish me luck.”
“Be careful,” Jasmine replied, marveling at how small Nadir’s head seemed within his white helmet.
Nadir lowered himself backwards out of the airlock as though he were rappelling over the side of a building.
Jason spoke in Jasmine’s earpiece saying, “I’ve muted your line, so we can talk.”
“Thank you,” she replied as Nadir disappeared from sight.
A taut steel cable led out of the airlock, moving slightly as Nadir shifted his weight unseen.
“Why doesn’t he use a jet-pack?” Jasmine asked, gesturing to the device hung on the wall.
“MMU. Manned maneuvering unit,” Jason replied, correcting her terminology. “They’re good in free fall, but useless under power. An MMU could keep pace with the Copernicus for a short while, but as we’re constantly accelerating it would quickly run out of juice.”
“Shame,” Jasmine replied, looking at the white MMU with its large fuel pod and joystick like controls. Like the life support system, Jasmine could see how it had been designed so an astronaut could back up to it and it would clip into place around their suit and backpack. It seemed a lot better than clambering awkwardly down the side of a spaceship.
Jasmine stepped forward and peered out into space. The darkness looked cold. She couldn’t see any stars, but she understood her eyes were still adjusting to the change of light. Her hands reached out and grabbed at the edge of the airlock. Her thick gloved fingers struggled to feel anything of substance.
“Your suit has a built-in computer with a heads-up display,” Jason said. “Use the interface on your forearm.”
Jasmine twisted her left arm slightly, examining the bulky communications pad on the back of her wrist. At a
glance, there were three buttons set beside a flat panel. She'd seen a spacesuit like this up close before, on display at the Marshall Space Flight Center, and had marveled at how bulky they were, but being inside her own suit, she felt like a giant, like the Incredible Hulk. Thick fabric wrapped around her arms. Rubber dulled anything she touched with her fingertips. Jasmine felt like the Michelin man selling car tires.
“The controls are simple. Use your finger as a pointer and the buttons to activate commands.”
Doing anything in a spacesuit was laborious. The act of flexing her shoulder, moving her right arm, clenching her fist and extending her index finger inside the thick glove took deliberate concentration, but once the rubber padding at the end of her finger touched the interface a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of her, projected onto the glass visor of her helmet. A text menu appeared slightly above her normal eye level, and she noticed a soft yellow light moving in sync with the slight motion of her finger.
“You want: view—external cam—main airlock.”
Jasmine followed Jason's advice and a small screen appeared on the lower right, giving her a view of Nadir in his spacesuit, clambering down the side of the spacecraft. He was rappelling slowly down the exterior of the Copernicus, keeping his feet against the smooth, metal hull.
“You can move the screen around if it's blocking your view. You can enlarge the image, and—”
Jasmine was already ahead of him. She'd found the controls for pan and zoom.
Nadir spoke. He was breathing hard. “I can't see a goddamn thing going down backwards like this.”
“You're live,” Jason whispered, his voice trailing away.
“I've got you on screen,” Jasmine replied to Nadir. “You're almost at—”
Her mind drew a blank. She tried to remember which of the modules she'd passed while on her way down to the medical bay and correlate them with his distance from the hatch, but her memory was a haze of confusion.
Long shadows stretched over the Copernicus. Hundreds of feet below Nadir, the flare of the engines lit up the dark night. Instead of a flame, there appeared to be a snow storm erupting continuously from the bell-shaped engines. White flecks spit out behind the Copernicus, quickly fading from sight.
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