Orbital Maneuvers

by R Davison

  “Hello, Susan. How are you doing?” Paul asked with a tenderness in his voice that Susan had not heard in a long time. She wondered how he must be feeling now that the tables had literally turned between them.

  “I’m doing alright, thank you. How is Jerry doing? You looked like something was wrong when you came out of there.” She did not want to be the focus of attention any longer than she had to, and Jerry was a good diversion.

  “He seems to be more restless than he was before. I’m not sure if he is coming out from under the sedative or not,” Paul said.

  “He has been out for over six hours, Susan. How much did you give him?” Ivan asked, as he floated over from the station he had been working at.

  “I am not really sure how much I gave him. It was probably more than he should have had, but in his highly agitated state, it may not have been as effective as it would have been normally. I’ll take a look at him. Shouldn’t we have heard from NORAD by now?” She asked, making her way over to the sleeping compartment.

  Ivan checked the time on the display. “They are later than they were last time. I hope they have not had any problems.”

  “That makes the two of us, Ivan,” Susan said, as she entered the sleeping compartment. It was still shocking to see Jerry in his condition, but she was more concerned to see that he was perspiring, and his skin was cool and clammy.

  She checked his pulse and noted that it was very slow, slower than it was before. His breathing was very shallow and rapid. She cursed under her breath at the situation Jerry was in now, and then she cursed herself. It was her fault; she knew it.

  Susan could hear her grandfather’s words, “Don’t dwell on the past, Susie, tend to the things at hand.” This was counsel he gave her often when she was a little girl. She realized that she had no choice but to find information on the sedative she given Jerry and find out the side affects.

  Susan left the sleeping compartment and headed back to the Habitation module, calling to Paul as she left. “Paul, keep an eye on Jerry, I will be back in a few minutes.”

  “Will do, Susan.” Paul left his station and moved toward the sleeping compartment. Ivan caught his arm as he passed by.

  “What do you think is going on with Jerry?” Ivan asked quietly.

  “I really don’t know. I would guess that he’s having problems with the sedative, or maybe the dosage he was given. I’m no medical doctor, I really don’t know if it is serious. I think Susan may be off to check into it though.”

  Ivan let a long sigh escape as he looked back to the display. He fidgeted with the keyboard while Paul waited for a response. Sensing that Ivan had something on his mind but wasn’t about to say it, Paul tried to break the ice. “What’s the matter Ivan? You look very pensive.”

  Ivan kept his focus on the display as he selected an option on the menu he had pulled down. “Nothing. Nothing really,” he said. “I was just thinking that Jerry has developed the knack of causing trouble whether he is awake or asleep.” Ivan continued to step the display through a continuous series of screens, most of which, to Paul anyway, seemed to be unrelated.

  Paul began to get the feeling that Ivan wasn’t really paying attention to the screen, nor fully leveling with him. He did not want to press the issue if Ivan did not want to talk about it. He waited another few seconds in silence, then patted Ivan on the shoulder and went in to check on Jerry again.

  Susan rushed back to the Habitation module, all the while trying to remember the name of the sedative she had given Jerry. She reached the hatch frustrated at herself for drawing a blank on the name. She knew all she had to do was find the one half-empty bottle, which should not be too difficult.

  Susan felt an unyielding need to find this information quickly. She knew it was important; a life could be at stake. She also knew that there was more to it than that, but could not place her finger on it.

  Jerry was a good friend at one time, she could not deny that. He did succumb to forces beyond his control; this, too, she realized. But, why this frenzy to find the answer she was seeking?

  Her mind raced through a hundred things as she ripped open the locker and yanked the med kit out of its resting place. Her thoughts flowed over the last day’s events, and then melted into a blurry movie of highlights of her life on Earth with friends and family.

  As she tore open the kit, sending several bottles flying across the compartment in the process, her thoughts began to coalesce in her mind, and she could begin to feel the answer forming to her question. Her concentration was diverted as a half-filled bottle floated out of the kit and up in front of her face, spinning and tumbling slowly. Only half aware of what she was doing, she quickly reached to grab it, but only managed to clumsily bat it across the room.

  Her mind cleared for an instant as she watched the bottle ricochet off the wall and float off in another direction. At this instant, Susan suddenly saw the seed that was driving her fury. It was as basic and simple as can be.

  She felt the deep personal wounds that this beast from the depths of space had wrought on her. She was only reacting as a wild animal would react when wounded. She was striking back! She had given up too much already to this monster that has destroyed her friends and family, her life, and her world. She was more than determined not to let it take one more life that she had control over. Jerry would not become another casualty in this war she was now waging against the beast!

  Quickly she gathered up the bottles that had spewed out of the box and rushed over to rescue the one she needed. The label did not list the side affects as she had hoped. Swearing, Susan pushed herself over to the computer and quickly searched for a medical database to find the information she needed. The computer took much too long to respond to her inquiry, and Susan urged it along with a few colorful expletives.

  Whether Susan’s encouragement sped up the process, or the system finished at its own electronic leisure, Susan did not care. She had the list that she wanted. Digging deeper through the database, she finally found information on the drug she had given Jerry.

  The file seemed endless in its description of the drug and its uses. Finally she got to what she was looking for, the side effects and interactions. She rapidly scanned the words in front of her searching for a keyword that fit Jerry’s condition. Nothing was correlating with the facts she had, and Susan was becoming more frustrated. Scanning through the list of side effects again, she realized that she had glossed over the data that applied to less than two percent of the patients tested.

  Looking more closely, she found what she sought. The description said, “In extremely rare cases, coupled only with an over dosage condition not treated immediately, certain people would react with a severely depressed autonomic system response.”

  The list of conditions Susan read fit Jerry perfectly. “Damn it! Jerry would be the one out of a million to be allergic to this stuff!” she said to herself. The remedy for the condition was an application of an antidote. She quickly checked to see if it were included in the medical kit. It was. This time she carefully read the application instructions and loaded another syringe for Jerry.

  Armed with the hypodermic to hopefully cure Jerry’s immediate problem, Susan dashed back to the control module. Upon entering the control module, she was greeted with the intercom crackling to life as NORAD made contact again. As she entered, Susan grabbed onto the edge of the hatch to stop herself from crashing headlong into Ivan at his station.

  She was more startled by the strange voice that filled the room than by the interruption of the quiet that had permeated the station. Instead of the soft feminine voice of Lieutenant Carol Barnes, they were greeted with a deep masculine voice, somewhat reminiscent of Captain Mikhailovich, but without the thick accent.

  “Space Station Alpha…Space Station Alpha…Do you copy? This is NORAD, North American Aerospace Defense Command, do you copy Space Station Alpha?”

  Susan took a deep breath and responded to the inquiry. “This is Commander Susan Corin aboard the
International Space Station Alpha, we copy you NORAD. It is good to hear from you, we were getting worried that you might be having more problems down there.”

  “Commander Corin, this is Captain Samuel Greene, I will be your contact for the next twelve hours. I hope you all are doing well.” The Captain’s voice was very business-like, very military, without warmth or emotion. Susan did not feel quite as comfortable with the Captain as she did with Carol. She found herself imagining him more like a military robot than a real person, someone who would get the job done without getting personally involved.

  “Captain Greene, we are all doing fine up here. How is the situation down there?”

  “We are still sorting out the pieces. Mostly everything here is functioning okay, though we have had some minor problems. There has not been much real news to speak of in the last few hours. We did hear that the President will be making a statement in the near future, but we have no definite time on that.”

  Susan hesitated, she wanted to ask about Lieutenant Barnes, why was she not on the radio now. She wanted to explain to Carol that it was all right, that she was all right, and to thank her for her efforts. Susan looked at Paul, who was standing in the entrance to the sleep compartment Jerry was in, and remembered that the Lieutenant was going to set up a phone link for him to his sister. She had to find out if that had been completed. “Captain Greene, is Lieutenant Carol Barnes available? She was going to set up a phone link between Paul Holland and his sister. Has that been arranged?”

  The extended silence on the other end of the communications link put neither Susan nor Paul at ease. Finally the Captain’s voice filled the compartment. “Commander Corin, I do not have any information about a phone link to Mr. Holland’s sister. We are checking on that now. We are looking—”

  “Is Lieutenant Barnes there? She would know.” Susan interrupted, but was abruptly cut off.

  “Commander, Lieutenant Barnes is not available at this time. I will make sure that if she was going to set up a call, it will be done. Rest assured.”

  Susan did not know what to make of the Captain’s abruptness. She was very curious as to what has become of Lieutenant Barnes, but decided not to pursue it at this time. It was obvious that Captain Greene was not about to volunteer any information. She turned and whispered to Paul, “Sorry Paul, I will keep after them though.” He nodded his head that he understood, but his face betrayed the deep disappointment he felt at the moment.

  Susan felt very badly for him and she could not just let the topic of Lieutenant Barnes end without expressing herself. “Captain Greene,” she said, “if you can get a message to Lieutenant Barnes, please tell her that everything is alright up here, and thank her on our behalf. We greatly appreciated all her efforts.” She felt better having got that out, but not much better. She really wished she could talk to Lieutenant Barnes directly, it would have been best for all, she was sure of that.

  “Commander, I will do that. But now, we don’t have much time before we will lose contact with you. I do have some information for you about the CRV. We did find out that you can reprogram the landing site and the onboard systems will do the navigation for you. We are having difficulty locating someone who has more detailed information about the system and how to program it, and we won’t have that information before we lose contact. I will try to have it for you on the next pass.”

  The background static was beginning to rise indicating the signal was growing weaker. The Captain spoke quicker with a bit of urgency in his voice. “Commander, I know that Lieutenant Barnes told you that California was a prospective landing site. That is no longer an option due to the dust and new damage from several large earthquakes. I am sorry, but it looks like your window for reentry may be Europe, or even Australia. We will have more informa—” Static took over control of the communication system and settled around them all like a cold, wet blanket. For several moments no one spoke as each one digested the information they had just received.

  Susan pondered their situation. As she looked down at her hands, she saw the hypodermic she had prepared for Jerry and suddenly realized that she had a more immediate problem at hand. “Shoot! I forgot about Jerry! Paul, give me a hand here. We need to give Jerry this antidote to the sedative, and we will have to monitor him very closely for the next half hour, or so.” Paul followed Susan into the compartment while Ivan and the others discussed their latest communication with Earth.

  Nicholas questioned Ivan about the CRV, but beyond the basics of the system Ivan did not have much more to add. He advised Nicholas to check the computer for more information if he was still curious.

  “No, that is fine,” said Nicholas. “I get the idea that the CRV was nothing more than a very automated life boat, which is not bad, but something more controllable would be better in our situation.”

  Ivan was moving over to Paul’s radar station to make sure it was still functioning as he replied to Nicholas’ comment. “You are correct. You must remember that the station was to be populated with more research-oriented personnel, not fully trained astronauts or cosmonauts. The more automated the CRV is, the less training each new crewmember has to have. For most circumstances, the way it has been designed is fine. Landing anywhere on the planet would only be limited by the weather; the odds are that at least one of your available sites would be clear. Plus the CRV can remain in orbit for a while, I think it is up to eight or nine hours, so that will give you time to wait out a bad weather situation.” Ivan looked at the display, which showed their current position over the North Atlantic.

  Nicholas came over to the station to continue their discussion. “I think I would feel more comfortable having more control over the ship I was about to deorbit in.”

  “Yes, I agree. But with most reentries, once you start the deorbit burn it is pretty much under computer control all the way down, much more so with the Soyuz, versus the Shuttle, which we fly most of the way down. So, you should be used to the free ride!” Ivan nudged Nicholas in the ribs.

  “Well, you have a point. I guess it is the idea of floating around in a ship with no windows for nine hours, and having to rely completely on the computer system for all control, that bothers me the most,” Nicholas responded. Looking at the display Ivan was working on, he asked, “What are you doing with this?”

  “I wanted to replay the tapes that Paul has been recording of our last pass over the States. After what Captain Greene said, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what we saw on our pass. We crossed somewhere over Texas, so we should have some window to the west, toward California, depending on how Paul had the radar oriented.”

  The screen changed under Ivan’s inputs to display an image with arrows pointing left and right to retreat or advance the image shown on the screen, much like the controls one would have on a VCR. There was dense cloud cover across the entire country, so it was difficult to tell where the station was in relation to the states below. Ivan pulled up an outline of the United States and overlaid it on the screen, now they had some idea of where the camera was pointed.

  “Look, here,” Ivan pointed to the display to show Nicholas and Alexander, who had just joined them. “We are getting returns as far away as western New Mexico. It is not very homogenous, there are denser areas intertwined with less dense ones.”

  Alexander asked, “How can we tell that what we see is dust or water?”

  “I don’t think that we can distinguish between the two. See, as the tape advances, and we move across the Midwest, the overall density stays about the same. You still get high-density pockets, but you also have the areas of lower density.”

  Nicholas said, “Yes, but notice that overall there is a background density that is far from zero. It is like there is a distribution of finer particles covering a wide area, which is punctuated with the more dense pockets or areas that have yet to be disbursed.”

  Ivan thought about it for a moment before speaking. “It is possible these higher density pockets are just storm cells
,” he said. “But, I do think that you may be right about the background dust. I can see the finer particles being distributed more evenly, more quickly. Even with the finest particulate that we are showing here, I am not sure what that would do to the parafoil on the CRV as we land.”

  “Then maybe the Captain’s final suggestion of Europe, or Australia is not so bad,” Alexander offered. “Australia, or the Southern Hemisphere for that matter, may still be relatively clear at this time. Can you rewind the recording back about an hour?”

  “I am not sure how much storage time they have on the system. We can try and see how—”

  Paul’s voice interrupted them from behind. “You should be able to track back more than an hour, if I set it up properly,” he said.

  Ivan turned to Paul. “Well then, I will let our resident expert take over the controls!” He said and moved aside to let Paul have access to the console.

  Paul’s face blushed as he tried to apologize for interrupting Ivan, but Ivan would have none of it. Ivan warmly patted Paul on the back as he settled in at the console, locking his feet into the foot restraints on the panel beneath it.

  Paul selected the appropriate controls on the screen, and although it was nighttime when the images were recorded, the display distinctly showed the continent of Australia with patches of clouds passing overhead. They watched as Paul rapidly advanced the time and the view on the display approached the Tropic of Cancer, twenty-three degrees north latitude. They could see the clouds forming and the radar returns grow in strength. These signals appeared to peak as they passed through the thirty-degree parallel, on which the line of impacts happened to fall, and then slowly drop off the further north the station moved.

  “Well, I guess it looks like Australia,” Alexander said, with a bit of resignation in his voice.

  Nicholas turned to Alexander and smiled. “But, Commander, you always said you wanted to visit Australia. We now may have the chance!” he said.