by R Davison
His thoughts suddenly jumped to Paul and how much he would enjoy a treat of fresh tomatoes. Just as suddenly, a plan formed in his mind that would allow both he and Paul to get to the CRV and home. The only problem with the plan was that he expected Paul to resist his honest efforts to save him. Jerry’s only solution was to subdue him in some manner. For his own good, of course!
Jerry looked around the room for something to use to persuade Paul to come with him. He quickly rummaged through the lockers and cabinets that were accessible. Most contained lab supplies and small containers with chemicals and small parts. He scanned the labels to the chemical containers and dismissed them as useless for his purpose.
He finally came to a drawer labeled, MAINTENANCE TOOLS, which he yanked open with such excitement that he nearly pulled it off its track. To his dismay, he found a small collection of tools, which were designed for repair of delicate electronic and mechanical components. He was about to slam the drawer shut, when he realized that the drawer appeared much thicker from the outside than it did on the inside. He examined the inside of the drawer more closely and discovered that there was another layer of tools below the first layer.
Lifting out the top layer revealed tools more appropriate for the job he had in mind. There was a gleaming, silvery wrench about two feet in length, anchored to the bottom of the drawer among the other heavy-duty tools that immediately caught his eye. Jerry carefully lifted the wrench out of the drawer, replaced the top layer of tools and closed the drawer. He then moved quickly to a locker he had discovered before that contained cloth towels. He used several of the towels to wrap the wrench. He wanted to just subdue Paul, not kill him. Jerry admired his handiwork, hefting the padded wrench like a cave man trying out a new club and moved over to the intercom to call Paul.
In the control module, Ivan and Susan were going through the checklist for the manual reboost procedure, while Paul and the two cosmonauts looked on. The intercom crackled with a short burst of static, and Jerry’s voice echoed in the room, but the intercom display screen remained blank.
“Ah, Paul…can you hear me?” Jerry’s voice sounded weak through the speakers.
“Yes, Jerry, I can hear you. What do you want?” Paul responded with some trepidation.
“Ah…I’m down in the Japanese module, Kibo, I think it’s called. I found something you might be interested in.”
“Jerry, we’re about to start the reboost burn in the next few minutes. I think—”
“This won’t take long Paul.” Jerry interrupted him. “Come on down.”
Paul looked at Susan and Ivan for some support. Susan nodded her head and Paul responded, “Okay, Jerry. I’ll be there in a minute.”
The intercom shut off, and Paul looked at Susan questioningly.
“Paul, we’ve got about ten minutes before we can do this, so go ahead and see what Jerry’s up to. I would feel better if we kept some sort of communication open with him. I’m just sorry that you have to be the channel.”
“That’s okay. I’ll do what I can. But call me before you start the burn.”
“We’ll do that,” Susan said with a smile, as she tried to find her place on the checklist again. Ivan said a few words in Russian to the cosmonauts and then rejoined Susan with the reboost preparation.
Paul was almost to the hatch to leave the control module when Alexander and Nicholas called to him, “Would you mind if we came with you, Paul? We thought it would be nice to see more of the station while we had an escort.”
“No, not at all.” The three men floated out of the compartment and on toward Kibo.
They floated wordlessly until Paul finally broke the silence, “Did you really want to see the Japanese module, or are you along as security escorts?”
Alexander hesitantly responded, “Well, we…ah…we really do want to see the rest of the station.” Paul spun around, and still floating toward Kibo, looked the cosmonaut in the eyes. “Okay. Okay. Ivan asked if we would come along, just in case Jerry had some trouble in mind.”
Paul shook his head and smiled. “I can take care of Jerry. If you two would like to go back to the control module, please feel free to do so.”
“No. We really do want to see the Kibo module. And, we know you don’t need our help. But, it doesn’t hurt to have friends when you need them,” Nicholas said.
“Or, when you do not need them,” Alexander added.
“Thank you, I appreciate your support.” Paul turned around and gave himself a nudge toward the far end of the station.
Jerry was waiting above the hatch with his feet firmly anchored on the ceiling. He did not want to have to talk to Paul before he did this. It would just be easier this way, he thought. He could feel his heart racing, and he held his breath hoping to hear Paul before he got to the hatch.
As he took another deep breath and held it to listen, he heard noises that made him freeze. He concentrated his hearing, as if he could focus it on the source of the sound, but what he heard threw him into a panic. He had not planned on Paul coming with someone else!
The voices grew louder, and Jerry could now make out three distinct voices: two of which were Russian. Swearing under his breath, he quickly pushed off the ceiling and over to the locker that held the towels. He buried the wrench deep in the back of the locker and slammed it closed just as Paul and the cosmonauts floated into the room.
Paul was a bit taken aback by the panicked look on Jerry’s face. “Jerry, are you alright?”
“Ah…yeah, I’m okay. You just startled me when you came in.”
Alexander and Nicholas waved hello to Jerry, who responded with a weak wave of his arm.
“What is it that you wanted to show me?” Paul asked, as he looked about the compartment for something worthy of this excursion.
“Ah…oh, it’s over here,” Jerry motioned toward the end of the compartment, still trying to regain his composure. “I thought you…all of you, might like some of these.” Jerry opened the door to the rack holding the tomato bush.
“Oh, wow! Don’t those look delicious!” Paul exclaimed as he reached out and plucked a few tomatoes handing some to Alexander and Nicholas and popping the rest in his mouth. “Mmmm…they taste as good as they look! What a treat after all the canned and dehydrated food.”
Nicholas and Alexander nodded their heads in agreement. “And remember, comrades, we’ve been in orbit a lot longer than you!” Alexander added with a broad smile.
“Thanks, Jerry! We will have to save the rest for a celebration after we get the station moving.” Paul said as he plucked a few more off the bush and closed the door. “I’ll take these up to Ivan and Susan. I’m sure that they would appreciate these as much as we did. Come on, Jerry, come with us. It’s only a few minutes before we light the engines.” Paul motioned for Jerry to come back with them, but Jerry waved them on.
“Ah, I think I’ll just stay here. I’ve got some thinking to do…you know…” Jerry turned back toward the rack with the still quivering tomato bush and did not look up.
“Well, if you change your mind, you know the way. Thanks again.” Paul and his escorts left the compartment and headed back to the control module leaving Jerry in the Kibo module. Unbeknownst to the departing group, Jerry banged his hands repeatedly against the wall in frustration.
Susan and Ivan heard Paul and the cosmonauts coming back to the control module with a decidedly light tone in their voices. As they looked toward the hatch, they saw a red, round ball floating directly toward them, followed by another a few feet behind the first. Susan did not know what to make of these projectiles and only relaxed when she saw three smiling faces peering into the hatch watching the show. By the time she figured out that they were probably harmless, they were upon her and Ivan.
The two of them caught the fruity projectiles and instantly realized what prizes they were. With much delight they savored and ate them, saving their questions until the last drop of juice had been swallowed.
“Where did they come fr
om?” An astonished Susan asked the trio as they floated into the room.
“That was Jerry’s surprise. He found them growing in a hydroponics setup in the Japanese module,” Paul answered as he passed the last two he had to Susan and Ivan.
“Is that all Jerry wanted?” Ivan asked, with a bit of disbelief in his voice.
“Yes, although he did seem to be a little on edge, he just wanted to show us the plant.”
“Thanks! What a refreshing taste of Mother Earth,” Susan said, as she finished the last tomato. “If only Jerry could supply us with this type of surprise more often. Where is he now, Paul?”
“We left him in the Kibo module. He said he had to think about some things. I told him to come on up for the burn, but I guess he still feels it’s not the thing to do.”
“As long as he stays out of trouble, that’s fine,” Susan said. “We were just about ready to give you a call. We have about two minutes before the burn.”
Looking over Ivan’s shoulder, Alexander asked, “You have not had a problem programming the computers for the engine firing?”
“No, everything has gone by the book and without any problems. It is about time something should go our way,” Ivan said, while continuing through the last few items on his checklist. “Alright, Commander, everything is green and ready to go at your command.”
“Thanks, Ivan. Let’s fire in forty-five seconds. That will start us at ten minutes after the hour. A nice even time.”
“Copy that. Burn in…thirty seconds.” Ivan opened the intercom to announce the countdown. He did not want Jerry to be caught unaware when the engines fired. “Burn in…five…four…three…two…one…ignition!”
Everyone was braced for the station slipping out from under them by hanging onto the handholds, using the foot holds, or just grabbing onto the nearest rack that had hand rails. The sudden lack of a jolt was just as surprising to all as it would have been if the station had reacted to the engines firing.
“What’s going on?” Susan asked Ivan, as they both frantically scanned the displays.
“Did the engines fire?” Nicholas asked. “If they did, they are sure smooth.”
“No, the engines did not fire at all!” Ivan said.
“Do you think Jerry had anything to do with it?” Susan asked, looking from Paul to Ivan.
Paul shook his head, “I don’t think Jerry would do that…even if he could, or knew how.”
“I think you should get Jerry up here, and we can talk to him about that,” Ivan said between punching commands into the computer to trace the failure.
He shook his head, “This does not make sense. Everything shows that the engines should have fired. There is no error code, no failure report showing.”
Paul was headed toward the hatch to retrieve Jerry when the intercom came alive with a hiss of static, a different type of hiss than when an internal message was transmitted. This was coming from down below, from Earth.
“Commander Corin,” the unmistakable, deep annoying baritone of Captain Mikhailovich from Korolev Control boomed over the intercom. “Commander Corin, do you copy me?”
“Oh, Christ! What does he want?” Susan growled as she grabbed the microphone to respond. “This is Commander Corin, I copy you Korolev Control.” She figured she could irritate the good Captain a bit by not acknowledging him directly.
“Commander, you were given orders not to move the station, were you not?” The Captain’s voice oozed from the speakers.
“I was not given an order not to move the station. You said that you did not have the authority to give me permission to move the station.” Susan thought she might have him there, although she knew he would not give in so easily.
“Commander, you are playing with words. I told you that you can not change the station’s altitude until you have permission from my superior. The station will not move until that time.” Captain Mikhailovich’s voice maintained its composure, indicating in no uncertain terms that he felt he had the upper hand in this matter.
“Captain, what are you saying?” Susan was beginning to get the picture that the Captain was behind their aborted reboost effort.
“That bastard! He planted a lockout command in the station’s computer that prevented us from executing the burn!” Ivan shouted, much to everyone’s surprise. Ivan tended to remain very level in everything he did, so to hear such an outburst from him was quite unusual. Susan quickly shut off the microphone.
“Oh, so it wasn’t just pure coincidence that the good Captain called us at this time?” Susan said to Ivan, who nodded his head in agreement. “Do you think we can override whatever he did?”
From the speakers Captain Mikhailovich intruded, “Commander, I did not hear your last response. Do you copy?”
Ivan ignored the Captain’s intrusion and answered Susan, “I am not sure. It may take some time, but we may be able to do it before he gets his permission to remove the command.”
“Excuse me, Ivan,” Alexander interrupted, “but if they placed such a command in the computer before, do you think that it would be wise to not allow them to do any more damage?”
Susan looked at Alexander, not following his line of reasoning. “What do you mean?”
“Alexander is right,” Ivan said, turning to Susan. “We had better shut down the comm system completely, so they have no contact with the station or we may be chasing our behinds trying to find their lockout command, or anything else they may upload into the system.”
“Yes, it makes sense. Okay, what do we have to do to shut down the receivers they would use to access the station?”
“Commander Corin, do you copy? This is Korolev Control. Do you copy, Space Station?” Captain Mikhailovich’s persistence was becoming annoying.
“Susan, do you think you ought to put the good Captain at ease? asked Paul. “If we hang on too long here, he may think we are up to…what we are up to.”
“Yes, you’re right. Okay” Susan cleared her throat and took a deep breath. She wanted to put the Captain off the trail, but not tip him off.
Susan switched on the microphone. “Korolev Control, this is Commander Corin. I am sorry; we had a slight problem here. Everything is under control.”
“Commander,” the Captain responded with obvious annoyance, “is everything all right?”
“Yes, everything is under control. We will sit tight here, Captain, and wait for your authorization. Do you copy?”
“…I copy, Commander. This is a change from before. Are you sure everything is okay?” The skepticism in his voice was evident.
Susan started to break out in a sweat. She had to be careful, she thought, the Captain may be an idiot, but he was not a fool. “Captain, as I said, we have everything under control here. We decided that it is better for all concerned to wait. There is no need to rush this now. It will also give us some time to take care of some routine maintenance on the station that was left unattended when the last crew left. It’s pretty messy up here.”
“Very well, Commander. I will be in touch soon. Korolev Control out.”
Susan shut off the microphone, then wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead. “Damn! That was too uncomfortable!”
“Well, he sounded convinced at the end,” Paul reassured her.
Ivan had already begun entering commands into the console he was working at while Susan was engaging Captain Mikhailovich. Realizing that the more people that were searching for this, the quicker they may find it, he called over his shoulder to Paul.
“Paul, pull up anything you can on the comm systems. We need to look for a central power source for the receivers or a way to shut down the computer that controls the data flow from the receivers. Alexander and Nicholas, get to those other consoles and do the same.”
“I will try, but I know nothing about the station, let alone the computer system,” Nicholas muttered, as he floated to the nearest console and began to study the display.
Without breaking his stride, still running through the me
nus and sub-menus on his display, Ivan responded to Nicholas’ concerns. “It is set up in a very logical fashion and everything is controlled through the touch-sensitive display. You can execute searches for information using common language inquiries and then narrow your search from there. Usually the display will show you a collection of objects from which you select your choice. From that point on, you will see more text with the objects to pinpoint your search. Simple!”
“Yes, but you speak English better than we do,” Alexander chided.
“Oh, and for those who don’t read English, press the configuration button on your display and you can pick from Japanese, German, French, Spanish, and, of course, Russian!”
“Ahh, somebody put some thought into this,” Nicholas chuckled, “I wonder if they were Russian?”
“I don’t care if they were Vulcan!” Paul said. I just wish they had designed the electronic systems interface for someone who did not have a master’s degree in electronics! I’ve found schematics, but they are mostly useless to me. Maybe one of you can make heads-or-tails out of this.”
Ivan and Susan converged on Paul’s console and looked at the data showing on his display. Ivan reached over Paul’s shoulder, entered a few commands and the display flashed through several screens, all distinctly different, and with much less detail than the schematic Paul had found. “At this level, they probably assumed that you would have technical support from the ground to walk you through this. Actually, if you had a system failure, you would have probably replaced a module before getting to this level…” Ivan paused, smacked his forehead with his free hand and exclaimed, “Damn, I should have thought about this before!”
“What?” Susan asked, staring at Ivan with intense curiosity at his outburst. He rushed back to his console.