Soon Tang swung open the hatch inward and a sudden splash of water surprised them all. Peter wiped the water off his face as Tang slowly worked his way up until he stood on the seat back. Tang straightened up so his upper body protruded out the opening. After a short moment, he poked his head back in, wide-eyed. “We not have much time.” He quickly said something in Chinese to Nei as he pointed to his seat before working his way out.
Peter’s heart began to race as Nei leaned over Tang’s seat. He was convinced he was going for the gun. He instantly went into attack mode, feeling he had no choice but to jump the smaller man. No way would he let these men take him prisoner. He turned and opened his hands, ready to pounce. Nei smiled at Peter as he reached slowly across the seat in the direction of the gun. Peter’s eyes stayed glued as the taikonaut blindly felt around along the side of the bench. When he stopped at the gun, Peter held his breath. Don’t release it, you son-of- a-bitch. Nei’s hand fumbled around over the gun for a second before moving over to the survival bag. Peter let out a big sigh of relief when Nei started unhooking the bag. As he handed the bag up to Tang, Peter relaxed his muscles.
Tang sat on the lip of the capsule, his legs dangling inside. He started blowing up his floatation bag. Peter started getting ready to go next. Tang positioned the bag under his arms. “Peter, you next.” Tang’s feet quickly disappeared out the hatch as he fell back into the water with a loud splash.
Peter started to sit up in his seat but found moving in gravity was tough. He used his arms to help climb up so he was crouching in his seat. He felt like an old man. Before popping his head out, he peeked over at Nei, making sure he wasn’t making any movement toward the gun. He seemed oblivious to it.
Peter turned and stuck his head into the brisk air before he was immediately hit with a splash of river water. A big smile crossed his lips as warm sunrays penetrated the droplets on his face. He took in a deep breath of the fresh air, happy to be home. Instantly he thought of Anya, certain he would see her again.
A trail of yellow dye came from under the orange flotation bags that surrounded the ship, its purpose to help rescuers spot them. He turned to see Tang struggling in the water.
Peter called out, “You okay?”
Tang looked to be trying to swim, but wasn’t having any luck. “Not worry for me; you and Nei get out.”
Peter positioned himself so he was sitting on the lip, his legs in the capsule. He needed to fall backward instead of jumping off, ensuring the module did not rock and fill with water. He took a deep breath before falling backward. The shock of the freezing water was his rude welcome to Earth. He quickly surfaced and swam over to Tang, who was still wrestling with the river.
“My suit pull me down. I not outswim current.”
If Tang couldn’t get to the shoreline soon, he would go over the falls, possibly killing him. “Grab my waist,” ordered Peter.
The floatation bags were preventing Tang from leaning forward, so he reached from behind and blindly found a belt loop on Peter’s coveralls.
“Hold on.” Peter started swimming as hard as he could to the closest shoreline. He’d been a competitive swimmer as a kid, but he was fighting to pull Tang, whose spacesuit was filling with water. Each stroke crashed through the mighty river as he slowly made progress. He turned back to see Nei on top of the bobbing capsule, apparently trying to seal the hatch. He resumed swimming until his feet eventually were able to touch bottom. He turned and grabbed Tang’s collar, tiredly pulling him up onto the shore.
Exhausted, Tang looked into Peter’s eyes. “Xie xie.”
Peter winked. “I couldn’t leave a fellow taikonaut to die.”
Tang smiled.
Peter looked back and saw that Nei was now in the water struggling, drifting rapidly toward the falls.
“I’ve got to save Nei.” After being in microgravity for over a week, standing was a challenge. He powered through the earth’s pull as he scrambled along the narrow riverbank in his wet clothes. Once he was a few yards past Nei, he turned and dove back into the chilly river. The current was stronger as he swam through the rapids. The capsule was about twenty feet in front of Nei, bouncing off rocks. Once he reached Nei, he called out, “Grab onto my waist.”
Peter saw the brink of the waterfall quickly approaching. With Nei holding on, Peter started swimming with all of his might with whatever energy he had left. After swimming for some seconds that felt like minutes, he lifted his face out of water to catch his breath and saw the capsule slowly tilting over the falls before disappearing. A shot of adrenaline raced through his body realizing they could be next. He muscled through the remaining fifteen feet before dragging Nei ashore. Peter collapsed in exhaustion.
Remnants of the yellow dye started washing up by his feet, reminding him Chinese soldiers were on their way. No matter how tired he was, he had to get out of there. Fortunately, he would be going in the opposite direction from Tang. As Peter struggled to his feet and turned to leave, Tang yelled out something in Chinese. All of a sudden Nei grabbed his arm. Peter swung around with a determined look, ready to yank his arm free. Surprisingly the taikonaut wore a friendly smile as he reached over with his other hand and unhooked his survival bag, handing it to Peter.
Relieved, Peter grabbed it and thanked the man in Chinese. “Xie xie ni.” He turned to Tang and waved. The proud taikonaut slowly rose and did a staunch salute.
Peter smiled, giving Tang a snap salute in return before rushing into the woods.
3
THE LIE
Kuang leaned back in his chair, defeated. He dug his fingers deep into his thick, silver hair. His last hope for changing the outcome of the failed mission to the moon was capturing the astronaut who had exposed their lies. His hope was to imprison the American long enough to force a false confession and confiscate any device that may have recorded pictures from the moon. He had just learned that the American had regrettably escaped after the Shenzhou spacecraft landed. Though CNSA and the military were combing the landing area searching for the astronaut, Kuang still had an uneasy feeling.
The director looked over at a black and white picture of his parents hanging on the wall. He narrowed his eyes on his strict father, a stern military officer who never accepted failure. Kuang reflected back to the day when as a young boy he ran home to proudly show off his fifth place award from a wushu martial arts competition. The match he lost was to one of the local boys from his village. He was disheartened when his father, in disgust, tossed his prize into the trash. His father slapped Kuang hard across the face, stating that his performance was unacceptable and had shamed the family. Kuang was sent to his room without supper. Before closing and locking the door, his father said harshly, “Always show honor to the family.” Kuang cried all night, disappointed in himself. He made a vow to never fail again.
A knock interrupted Kuang’s train of thought. “Come in.”
In walked Ming Sung. “Hello, sir.”
“Any news on the American?”
The assistant director took a seat across from his boss. “No, sir.”
Kuang looked away in anger.
“Sir, I am sure we’ll catch him. It would be almost impossible for him to flee China.”
“Almost?” Kuang snapped. Almost is not good enough. I want every available man searching. We must find him.”
“Yes, sir.” Ming looked to the floor as he rubbed his hand leisurely along the leather armrest of his chair. He gradually lifted his head as he raised an eyebrow in Kuang’s direction. “Sir, what do we tell the American government?”