"Do they pay you by the hour or the orbit?" I reply, trying to sound totally not stressed out.
"This is funny," she says without a trace of laughter. "Commander Yablokov said you were not military."
"No, ma'am. Just a slack-jawed civilian that wants to be a space man."
"I see. What did you do before working for iCosmos?"
"Me? I was a school teacher for about three weeks."
"You weren't very good at it?"
"Probably not. I wanted to be an astronaut even more."
"But you are a pilot? Yes?"
Why did I feel like everyone here is very interested in my résumé? Don't they have LinkedIn in Russia?
Peterson and Bennet are the interesting ones. But maybe that's it; they've both got full Wikipedia pages with their entire life story. I'm a line of red text with nothing to link to on a page listing all of the current iCosmos astronauts.
When the Russians found out that we were coming and that I was a last-minute fill-in, I looked like the suspicious one.
"Yes. I'm a pilot." In the interest of international conversation, I'm about to point out that I'd even flown MiGs in Russian and learned a little of the language.
But I don't, because all hell is breaking loose.
There's a loud bang and an alarm goes off, filling the air with deafening noise.
"This is not good!" shouts Sonin.
You don't say…
9
Blood Stains
"Micrometeorite?" Sonin asks.
As if I would know.
She gives me a confused look then pushes off the airlock hatch and flies away to investigate the alarm.
Micrometeorites are a real thing. The Space Shuttle came back to Earth twice with dings in the windshield. One went halfway through. They started orbiting the craft upside down and backwards so the engines, not needed for reentry, would take the brunt of the damage instead of the part that held the people. Not the most reassuring solution.
The popping sound could have been one striking the K1, but I can think of something else that can make that sound…
I call into my comm, "Commander Bennet? Peterson?"
Nothing.
The local ship-wide comm should at least be working. They're either choosing not to respond or can't.
Procedure is for me to wait onboard the capsule until further notice and get the ship ready for launch. But nothing is going according to that book, so I'm just going to throw it out the window.
I pull myself through the hatch into the docking module. We're at the base of the pylon where three other tunnels lead to airlocks. At the top of this junction is the long module that leads to the main junction that forms the nexus of the K1.
I drift into the pylon and look up. Red warning lights splash across the walls of the station accompanying the siren. There's also a buzzer and a few other alarms sounding.
This isn't like movies where you get just one general alert sound. Every important system has its own alert. The most critical ones involve fire and air supply. They're either telling you we have a fire, a depressurization event going on, or something is affecting the air supply like a material fire that could release toxic fumes.
I pull myself up the module and spot a cabinet with air masks for use in case of an air quality issue. I notice that Sonin already opened it and removed one. I do the same.
As I pull myself closer to the junction I can see that one module is completely dark. The one across from it has a blinking fluorescent light. Fluorescents in the age of LED lighting? The Russians are weird.
Directly above me is the module that leads to the command section and the airlock where the EVA would take place. It's empty.
I push myself into the dark tunnel. Tiny systems lights shine like green and red stars on the walls. At the far end there's a partially opened airlock door leading to another dark section.
I drift towards there and something wet splashes me on my cheek above the mask. Even in the darkness I can tell what it is when I wipe it away — my fingertips are covered in blood.
Fuck.
"Hello?" I repeat the word in Russian, "Zdravstvuyte?"
Nothing. However, under all the noise I think I can hear the sound of someone yelling.
I glide towards the next module, pulling myself along by handrails and trying to dodge the floating drops of blood.
Through the gap in the door there's flashes of light.
"Anybody there? Yest' kto tam?"
Still no response.
I pull myself into the next hatch. The air is colder here. There's a small breeze whistling through the gap.
A beam of light flashes across my face, blinding me for a moment. When my eyes adjust, I can see the disc of light as it spins around the module. At the end of it is a small penlight floating by itself.
"Hello?"
Suddenly all the alarms are silenced and the flashing lights in the other modules go dark.
Maybe the crisis is over?
If so, where is everybody?
I drift forward into the darkness, looking for any sign of life.
If there had been a depressurization event I should feel a breeze — unless they sealed the hatch in time.
In that case, everyone on the other side is either trying to patch a hole, unconscious or dead.
CLUNK!
Something bangs the wall in the next darkened section.
"Hello?" I give up on translating myself.
I reach the hatch at the end of the module. At first I think it's sealed, but notice that it's cracked slightly. If there was a hole in the station this thing would have closed up. This tells me the explosion I heard was something from inside — possibly from someone I know.
My mind races through all kinds of possibilities.
Bennet's talk before he and Peterson went aboard pretty much told me that some bad stuff was about to go down.
He was also pretty specific that I wasn't supposed to leave the ship. And here I am.
I push the hatch open so I can slip through.
A blinding light races towards me and I hear a scream.
10
Emergency Launch
A flashlight slams into the hatch next to me, spins in the air then catches Peterson as she flies towards me.
Her eyes widen when she spots me. "Dixon!"
She's out of her spacesuit and holding her hand to her side as blood pours from a wound, leaving globules behind her.
"BACK TO THE SHIP!!!" she screams.
I don't hesitate. I don't question.
I flip myself over in the air and pull at the handles, hurtling myself through the airlock, checking back just once to make sure she's following me.
When I reach the main junction, I yank myself into the pylon leading to the docking module like a dolphin diving into the ocean.
As I fly towards the nexus, I steal a look behind me again. Peterson is twenty feet away, still holding her side. In the light of the module I can see her face is pale, real pale. She's lost a lot of blood.
I slide into the Unicorn's hatch and maneuver over the seats to get to the first aid kit.
Peterson reaches the airlock and stops there. She throws a small black square covered in blood at me. "Take it!"
It wobbles towards me and I pluck it from the air without thinking.
"Let me help you!" I go to assist her through the airlock.
She pushes my hand away and shakes her head. "No time!"
She starts to swing the hatch closed.
"Wait! Where's Bennet?"
"Bennet's dead." She slams the metal door before I can stop her.
Through the small window I can see as she looks behind her. She grabs an emergency handle and pulls it.
The interior locking mechanism automatically disengages.