by R Davison
Susan watched as one of the cosmonauts slowly eased himself out of the ship. Once out he secured his feet to the surface and waited while the second cosmonaut handed him a large parcel. Upon securely receiving this package he turned to face Susan and made a throwing motion with his arm. Susan understood what he was indicating and gave him a thumbs-up sign. “Nice and easy now,” she said, half mumbling to herself. The cosmonaut took the object with both hands and hefted it, as if to try to determine how much force was needed to hit his target. He brought the object to eye-level to sight it in on Susan and gently gave it a shove. The package floated, slowly tumbling, across the gap as if by magic and headed directly toward Susan. Susan moved so her feet were on the floor of the payload bay. She did not know how massive the package was and did not want to be pushed back out of control. It took about twenty seconds for the object to arrive in the payload bay to Susan’s waiting arms. She caught it with ease and laughed with childish excitement, as it reminded her of throwing the football with her brothers. As soon as she secured the first item, the cosmonaut was in position to send the second one.
“Susan we have fifteen minutes left,” Ivan’s voice broke the silence as Susan was securing the second package.
“Okay. I am not sure how many more they have to send over. It can’t be too much more considering how small the ship is.”
Paul broke in, “You look pretty good out there. Have you ever considered professional ball?”
“I did, but I am waiting for a better offer,” Susan said.
As she set up for the next package, she noticed the cosmonaut again hefting the object, but this time he set it aside and made a motion to Susan that she did not understand. He was curling his arms and sort of squatting by bending his knees. He then gave Susan a thumbs-up sign. She responded with a thumb down sign, at which he repeated the motion a second time. “You understand what he’s trying to tell me,” she asked Paul and Ivan.
“I think he is trying to show you that the next package is more massive than the first one,” Ivan answered.
“Yes, I think so, too. It must be significant if he is going through all this,” Paul added.
“Yes, I guess that makes sense. Alright, let me have it,” Susan said as she gave the cosmonaut a thumbs-up.
The cosmonaut picked up the package, aimed and pushed it at Susan. The package was shaped differently from the first one. It moved and rotated more slowly, taking several more seconds to cross the gap than the first package did. Susan braced herself for the reception, not really knowing what to expect. The package hit Susan’s hands off-center and she grunted as she strained to control it and keep herself from toppling over. “Wow! I guess he was right. This thing weighs a ton!” She secured the package and got set for the next one, “Oh no! Not another ton of bricks!” Susan shouted as she saw the cosmonaut going through the weight lifting routine again.
“Hang in there, Susan! You can do it!” Paul joked.
This time Susan made sure that she was directly under the object as she caught it and let her arms and legs cushion the reception. It worked much better and she smiled to hear Ivan and Paul clapping at her success. As she turned back to the Russian ship after securing the last package, she was surprised to see the cosmonaut floating across the abyss toward her and Endeavour. He looked like an action figure children play with, made out of plastic and frozen in one position. But this action figure was far from frozen. As he got closer to the shuttle, he slowly rotated so his feet would hit the payload bay floor first. Susan realized that if she did not move she would end up cushioning the cosmonaut’s landing and did not think that would do either of them any good. She moved to the side and prepared to grab the man as he hit the floor.
The cosmonaut hit the deck with both feet in a picture-perfect landing. Susan was quite impressed with the landing and wondered if they practiced this in their training or if it was from all the time he spent on MIR. The cosmonaut gave her a thumbs-up and a hug—at least as much of a hug one could give with both people being encased in bulky space suits. They turned toward Soyuz to watch the second cosmonaut make the journey.
“Susan, we have ten minutes left,” Ivan reported.
“Copy, Ivan. All we have is one more to go. You have the coordinates entered for the rendezvous with the space station?”
“Yes. Everything is all set, provided we leave in the next nine minutes.”
“If the second cosmonaut is as good as the first on space walking, we should be ready to go in a few minutes,” Susan said.
“Keep your fingers crossed and hope Murphy doesn’t show up,” Paul said.
“I can’t cross my fingers in this suit.”
Cosmonaut number two, Captain Zuyev, was out of the ship and sizing up the distance between the two ships. Free floating outside a ship, without a tether, is extremely dangerous, but launching oneself across a void like this was even worse. If you misjudge your speed and launch too fast you can injure yourself or tear your suit when you land. If you push off unevenly with your feet, your path will not be in the direction you may have intended. If you miss the target you are aiming for, even by a fraction of an inch, you become another satellite for Earth.
These thoughts were going through the Captain’s mind as he gauged the distance and the force he needed to push off with. He looked at the Commander and Susan, waved and gave a thumbs-up sign. Taking a deep breath he pushed off the ship.
The crew compartment of Soyuz lay exposed to the cold and vacuum of space, while the cosmonauts unloaded their equipment. Slowly the control panels and instruments cooled as they radiated their heat into space. Control circuits responded to this change in temperature by energizing heaters to keep critical equipment at the proper temperature. This worked well for the many times it was asked to do so in the past, but today “Murphy’s laws” were in effect. One of the heater wires had been severely stressed by the vibration and jostling the Soyuz took trying to push MIR into a higher orbit.
The frayed connection was hanging on by one fine strand of copper wire that melted like a fuse with the sudden current surge and snapped. The harness holding the heater wire recoiled with the release of the tension on the wire. This action allowed the broken, but electrically energized, wire to touch one of the exposed terminals of the thruster control lever. This applied a voltage where none should have been, but nevertheless it told the onboard computer that it should fire the forward port thruster. The computer followed this command with its typical efficiency until it drained the thruster’s fuel tank. Soyuz was sent spinning about its center of gravity narrowly missing Captain Zuyev, who now had his back to the ship. Susan and Commander Orlov saw the ship start to move and began to wave wildly at Captain Zuyev to alert him to what was happening. He responded by waving back at them, all the while trying not to start himself spinning or tumbling in the process.
Ivan was watching the cosmonaut’s ballet through the viewport as he maintained control of the shuttle’s position. When his eye caught the white vapor cloud of fuel spewing from the thruster on Soyuz, he immediately responded by pushing the shuttle away from the Russian ship. This in turn caused Susan and Commander Orlov to find themselves floating away from the shuttle’s payload bay because neither of them was secured to the cargo bay floor. Susan immediately grabbed the Commander’s arm and he grabbed hers. The tether was rapidly unwinding and would soon yank them both back toward the shuttle.
Captain Zuyev’s jaw dropped as he saw the shuttle start to drift away from him. He still did not know what was going on behind him and was puzzled as to why the shuttle was moving away. He was also surprised to see that the Commander and the astronaut were still hanging out in space right where he was aiming to land.
Ivan realized that the Soyuz was not moving toward them, but spinning in one place. He slowed the shuttle down but did not stop its retreat from the capsule. Whatever set the Soyuz spinning could just as easily send it directly toward the shuttle. He then noticed the situation that he left Susan and th
e Commander in and hoped that the tether would hold both of them once it drew taught.
Captain Zuyev found himself floating into the waiting arms of Susan and the Commander. They all hung on to each other as tightly as they could, anticipating the tether snapping taught. With a solid jerk, Susan felt the tether tighten and pull her and her passengers back toward the shuttle. Thanks to the collision with Captain Zuyev, they were already moving in the direction of the shuttle, which reduced the strain on the tether and the severity of the jolt that Susan felt. Ivan reduced the shuttle’s speed even more upon seeing the trio moving toward the payload bay, hoping to give them a chance to land safely. He checked the clock and saw that they had only five minutes left to make their escape to the space station. Ivan stopp ed the shuttle’s motion completely to speed up the capture of the space walkers. They had to get inside before he lit the main engines, and they were rapidly running out of time.
Susan and her attached cosmonaut passengers tumbled into the payload bay in a jumble of arms, legs and tether. Quickly Susan extricated herself from the bunch and helped the two cosmonauts untangle themselves from the tether.
“Susan, we have only five minutes left. You must hurry inside.”
“Copy, I’m doing my best to get everyone in.”
“Paul, see if you can give Susan a hand down below.”
“On my way.”
Susan opened the hatch to the airlock and motioned for the cosmonauts to enter. The airlock was a very tight squeeze for two American astronauts with their bulky backpacks, but the cosmonauts’ suits were more compact and they just might all fit. One at a time they moved through the small door into the airlock and once the cosmonauts were inside, Susan shoved the packages they brought in to them and barely managed to squeeze herself into the airlock.
“Susan, thirty seconds!”
“Go Ivan! We are in the airlock and the outer hatch is closed.”
As Susan was trying to brace herself and the cosmonauts from being bounced off the bulkheads, she heard Ivan call out, “Hang on to your hats!…3…2…1…Ignition!” Susan grunted as she bore the brunt of the two surprised cosmonauts, who slammed into her as the shuttle accelerated out from underneath them. The engines fired for about thirty seconds, sending a rumble through the entire shuttle, making it even more noticeable when it stopped and there was complete silence.
Ivan called out, “The burn went off as planned. With any luck we should be arriving at the station in a few hours.” By this time, Paul had pressurized the airlock and opened the hatch allowing the cargo and people to spill out into the middeck.
Susan heaved a sigh of relief as the adrenaline rush started to subside and watched from the back of the airlock while Paul assisted the two cosmonauts. She could hear her heart beat slowing down, and gave herself a moment to close her eyes and relax her tense muscles. She allowed herself to enjoy the warm feeling of accomplishment that flowed through her for an instant, as she saw the cosmonauts give Paul a hug. One down, one to go, she thought.
X
Ivan checked the systems after the burn to make sure everything was nominal. He saw no indication of any problems and was pleasantly surprised to see that the air leak had slowed considerably. He mulled over the possible causes: Either the crack had sealed with the sealant Paul used or from the vibration and stress of the burn. He thought about it for a moment and considered a third possibility: the internal pressure had dropped below a threshold to which the air could not be forced through the crack. Whichever the case, he was glad to see the leak almost stop, which could have indicated that their air supply problems had lessened. He did not trust the readout and definitely did not want to let his guard down. “Murphy” could still run rampant he reminded himself.
Assured that the shuttle was safely on its way and needed no immediate attention from him, he made his way down to the middeck to welcome the new passengers, his old comrades. Ivan greeted his fellow cosmonauts, Alexander and Nicholas, with warm hugs, handshakes and smiles. He noticed Susan floating off to the side, smiling at the reunion, but looking a little worse for the wear having just gone through the ritual. It was good to see his friends after being in the United States for so many years, training for this mission. They had crossed paths frequently in the early days of their cosmonaut training. As each one was selected for his particular missions, they saw less and less of each other. They had much to talk about.
“I think it is time to take a break and have something to eat,” Ivan said as he headed for the food locker. “It’s been a long time since lunch for us. How about you, Alexander, Nicholas?”
“Yes! We left MIR in rather quite a hurry and did not have time to eat our breakfast,” Alexander responded.
It was at this moment that Jerry made his entrance into the room. He suffered through the introductions and quickly left the cabin with the excuse that he had some readings to take on the flight deck. Susan watched Jerry float out of the room and could feel her blood pressure rise. Given half the chance, she felt she could throw him overboard and not give it a second thought. This brought a smile to her lips, which faded quickly as she realized just what she was thinking. With all that had happened, how could she consider another senseless death? She tried to push all these thoughts out of her mind and focus on their new guests. Surely, they would have some stories that would provide a nice diversion.
Paul and Ivan were preparing some sandwiches for everyone. Without the aid of gravity, the simple task of making a sandwich requires two people, because every time you let go of an object, like a slice of bread, to get another object, like the peanut butter jar, the bread starts to float away. Zero gravity may be fun, but it forces one to rethink even the most trivial of tasks. Ivan and Paul had it down to a science and Alexander and Nicholas were enjoying the show.
Alexander went over to the packages they brought along and rummaged through them until he found what he was looking for. Returning with a big smile on his face and a medium-sized jar in his hand, he said, “I was able to grab a little something to eat on the way, but we never had the chance. So we will all share now.” With that, he sent the jar floating across the cabin toward Ivan who caught it and smiled broadly.
“Ahh, caviar! Beluga caviar from the Caspian Sea of course, the best! Susan and Paul you are in for a treat!”
“Fish eggs!” Paul joked, “I’m not so sure I’m up to eating fish eggs. Basically, I am a chicken egg kind of guy. You know what I mean?”
“Paul, one taste of these black, delectable morsels and you will be forever hooked on—fish eggs,” Ivan shot back.
“That is true,” Nicholas joined in, “this is the best in the world. Historically men have killed to possess caviar this fine. Really!”
“Come on, Paul,” Susan laughed, “it can’t be worse than your crayfish stew.”
“But that is a delicacy passed down from generation to generation in my family.” Paul’s voice faded, and the cabin was suddenly cloaked in silence. An icy chill filled the room as Paul tried to regain control.
“I am so sorry, Paul,” Susan said, as she moved over by him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean to bring this up.”
“It’s okay Susan. You don’t need to say anymore. I am the one who should be sorry for disrupting our luncheon.” Looking up at the blank stares from Alexander and Nicholas, Paul realized that they did not know what he and Susan were talking about. Paul paused, took a deep breath, and turning to the cosmonauts, explained that his family was in the strike zone of the asteroid that hit Texas.
Alexander and Nicholas offered their heartfelt sympathies for Paul’s loss. Paul mustered all his strength to keep from breaking down completely. He thanked the cosmonauts, Susan and Ivan for their support, and then to everyone, he said, “We have a challenge ahead of us still and we don’t have time to worry about things we have no control over. Besides,” he said looking at the two cosmonauts, “we have two guests and we must make them feel at home. I will glad
ly taste your fis…ah…caviar and will do so with an open mind and an empty stomach!”
With that, the two cosmonauts helped Ivan spread the caviar on the bread and rolled the slices into tubes to keep any of the little black eggs from floating away. They ate with enthusiasm, but little meaningful conversation.
Paul finally broke the ice by asking, “Commander Orlov, Captain Zuyev, did —”
“Please, Alexander and Nicholas,” Alexander interrupted.
Paul smiled and continued, “Alexander and Nicholas, did you hear anything about the impact before you left MIR?”
Nicholas spoke up, “We were asleep when the impact occurred, and we had no news from Earth at that time. Shortly after we were up and about, we received our daily up-load of news and information and they mentioned that there was a severe seismic disturbance in the United States. We thought they were referring to California and did not pay too much attention to it. It was shortly thereafter that we hit something which just about tore MIR apart.”
“It happened quite suddenly,” Alexander added. “First the solar panels shut down and we switched over to batteries. Then the station started to get hit with bigger pieces of debris. We immediately got into our pressure suits as every alarm that could go off, did go off. Between the alarms and the noise of the impacts on MIR it was difficult to talk to each other, even with the intercom at maximum.”
Nicholas continued, “The noise from the impacts stopped as suddenly as it started and we were left with the alarms sounding. That was enough to tell us that we had major problems.”
“Yes, definitely a lot worse than when the computers crashed,” Alexander volunteered, while Nicholas finished the last bit of his sandwich. “We realized that we had no choice but to abandon the station as quickly as possible. Our link with Earth was gone, and out of desperation we thought we would try to contact you through a satellite relay. I did not think that it would work, but was very relieved to hear Ivan’s voice.”