Space Hoax

27 “NO!”

Peter exited the hatch on the opposite side of where the Iris spacecraft was, hearing only the sound of his breathing bouncing around in his helmet. A peaceful moment enveloped him as he gazed out at the absolute blackness of space. Nothing compared to being alone in the universe. The vastness reminded him of what a speck he was in the cosmos. He looked at his planet and saw the dazzling lights of Ireland and the United Kingdom standing out in contrast to the infant sunrise that was only a thin, bright arc of beautiful pastels. Soon the complete darkness engulfing his ship on the night side of the Earth was about to be assaulted by the brightness of the sun. He snagged a deep breath while taking in the radiant scene. He wondered if his friends were doing the same. With his tether line attached to his suit, he quickly cleared his head before whirling around to the hatch. He gave a strong tug on the line, and watched most of its 20 meter length exit like a slow moving python. He cleared out the remaining slack before doing one final tug confirming the line was securely attached to his ship.

He lifted his arm so his helmet lights illuminated his watch. He marked the time. The small oxygen pack on his leg offered him only sixty minutes of air. He had already used up twelve precious ones depressurizing the cabin, and he needed enough for repressurization. He reached back into the hatch and grabbed the portable oxygen unit. Pulling out the square pack reminded him of the challenges of moving around in space. It was like moving in water, only without the water. Even for a veteran spacewalker, zero gravity still required practice to get used to.

Once he had the unit out, he began to climb up along the spacecraft to get into position for his leap toward Iris. The trek proved extra challenging, pulling the boxy unit along. He had to let go of it each time he reached for the next handhold, letting it float next to him until pulling it up after releasing the other hand. With his feet dangling behind him, he continued with this strategy along the ice-cold, metal ship. Once Iris was in view, a déjà vu moment swept over him seeing the shadow of an astronaut poking out of the hatch. The ship was precariously outlined by the moon’s glare. He shook his head, amazed he was about to do a second rescue in space, the only two ever in the history of space travel.

Peter positioned himself next to the solar array before cautiously crawling up onto his knees, constantly keeping a death grip on the array’s support structure while holding the oxygen pack with the other hand. To get a good assessment of his alignment, he looked out at his target that was roughly ten meters away. The astronaut saw him and waved. Peter could not respond with his hands full. He felt good with his position and pleased that Iris’s solar arrays looked to be out of his way. He carefully worked himself up to a standing position as he provided himself with a false sensation of gravity by pushing down off the metal structure. He put the oxygen unit between his legs before he started swatting at the bunched up tether line floating in front of him to clear his path.

Once the floating tether line was out of the way, he needed to develop solid footing. He had to make sure he didn’t slip like he did in lunar orbit. Bending over, his helmet lights picked up a handhold by his left foot. Perfect. He grabbed the oxygen unit before he slid the foot against the handle for stability. He positioned his other foot against the array’s metal support. Feeling confident he was ready, he looked out to get one last evaluation of his aim. All looked good. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he bent down as far as he could at the knees. Peter, think of that last ball at the carnival game. He looked one last time out at his target before shouting, “Let’s win a teddy bear!”

Peter let go of the solar array just as he powered off the ship with both legs. He was relieved not to slip and made a quick assessment of his direction. He looked to be dead on. Time moved in slow motion once again as he floated between the two spacecrafts. With his arms down by his sides, he constantly monitored his approach, making sure he wasn’t going to miss.

As he passed the halfway point, a chill ran through his body when he realized an important omission in his plan. How the hell was he going to stop? Damn it, Peter. The good news was his aim was right smack at the center of the ship. The bad news: that ship was solid and was going to hurt. At three meters out, Peter quickly glanced at the astronaut and could tell it was Jesse with a shocked look. Peter figured the commander was surprised the veteran spacewalker had no plan on how to stop. Peter had to accept he was going to look like an idiot as he pulled the oxygen pack out of the way, ensuring he would take the brunt of the collision. Right before impact, he spotted some thruster nozzles. He reached for one with his free hand to prevent him from bouncing off as he held his breath and braced for the crash. The right side of his body slammed hard into the ship, dazing him for a moment. Holding on to the nozzle, Peter cleared his head before looking at Jesse, who appeared to be laughing. Peter was pleased to have amused the commander. He aimed his helmet lights along the side of the ship to determine his best path to his friend. He figured he was only a few meters from the opening.

Once Peter was close, the commander extended his hand to help. Peter passed over the oxygen unit. Jesse snatched it before disappearing inside. When Peter came around and peered in, both men were staring at him. Blake had the oxygen unit in hand and an amused look. He flashed a thumbs-up sign. Peter figured Jesse probably just informed his partner about how he crashed into their ship.

A sudden uncomfortable feeling overtook Peter as he poked his head in. He couldn’t place it, but an aura of death resonated within. His pulse spiked as a sense of urgency overcame him. He needed to get the men off this ship. He hastily signaled he would take Jesse first, and then return for Blake. Jesse stubbornly shook his head no, as he pointed to Blake. Peter expected the commander’s rejection. Peter pointed to his watch before bringing two gloved fingers close together, signaling they had little time. He then ripped open a Velcro pocket on his suit and took out the adapter. He held it up and pointed to Blake, hoping both men understood they couldn’t wait around while Blake hooked up the oxygen pack.

Blake reached for the adapter before patting Jesse on the back and signaling the okay sign. Peter could tell by Jesse’s hesitant nod he was not happy. As commander, he should be the last to leave the doomed ship. Jesse saluted his partner before floating back over to the hatch. Peter moved to the side, letting the commander float out. Once Jesse was faced toward him, Peter pointed to the solar array as the place they should launch from. Jesse signaled okay as he started crawling to the location. Peter poked his head back in the cabin as he lifted up a hand with all his fingers extended, indicating he would be back in five minutes, which he figured was the time Blake needed to switch oxygen supplies. The young man simply smiled and nodded in agreement. Peter waved as he started to float out backward. Blake lifted his hand with an extended thumb and pinky finger, the middle fingers curled in. Peter smiled at the surfer’s gesture, meant to put him at ease.

By the time Peter crawled down to the solar array, Jesse was already standing next to the structure, anxious and ready to go. Peter worked his way up so he was standing on the opposite side. He handed over the portion of the tether line that had a clip. Once Jesse had it securely attached, Peter signaled they would jump on the count of three. He wasn’t quite sure how this was all going to work. Both men had to jump simultaneously and in the same direction. If one was off, who knows how their heading would be altered?

Peter made sure he had good footing and hoped Jesse was doing the same. He signaled for them to bend down. When Jesse looked to be ready, Peter extended his free hand with three fingers showing. He slowly counted them down to zero. He let go of the array and powered off the ship, seeing Jesse out of the corner of his eye doing the same. As they flew off the ship, Peter felt a tug. Not good. His intended direction changed. Peter assumed the commander must have slipped. Peter was ahead of Jesse and with his rigid helmet, he could not look back. He quickly analyzed their situation and an icy fear began to churn in his gut. They were going to miss, and due to the long slack in the tether line, there was nothing he could do to change their course.

As they passed the halfway mark, Peter saw he was going to be close to the end of one of the extended solar arrays, but was sure he would miss it, even with an outstretched arm. Luck wasn’t on his side as it had been in lunar orbit. Peter accepted their fate as he tried to figure out exactly what they had to do to get back to his ship. They were forced to ride out the full extension of the tether line before they would be snapped back in an unknown direction. He expected it would be a challenge to grab the line and pull them back. He had no idea how long that would take, and he feared the clock was ticking on the bomb.

As he floated by the array, he still made a valiant effort to try to reach it. He easily missed by a couple of meters. He let out a big sigh as he watched his ship fly by. Suddenly he felt a strong jolt as his forward motion came to an abrupt stop. There was only one answer for the small miracle; the commander must have grabbed the array. Good job, Jesse! The tug caused him to spin around, and he saw Jesse’s face straining as he struggled to hold onto the solar array. Soon his friend had a solid grip with both hands on the structure. Peter pulled on the short line between them until he was just above the commander on the array. He flashed a quick thumbs-up. Jesse reciprocated before anxiously pointing back to Iris.

Peter understood. Unfortunately, he had to climb to the opposite array before he could launch himself again to save Blake.

They hurriedly scrambled up the array. Once on the ship, Jesse gave a quick okay sign before crawling toward the hatch that was close by. Peter climbed in the opposite direction. As Iris came back in view, he did a quick look back at Jesse to confirm the commander made it into the hatch. He was fine. When Peter turned back around, he was shocked by a quick burst of bright light that briefly blinded him. Before his vision cleared, something smacked him hard on his helmet, almost knocking him off the ship. As he repositioned himself, he was momentarily confused. He peered back at Iris and saw high-velocity debris spreading out from the ship in all directions. The bomb had exploded!

“No!” Peter quickly ducked behind his ship out of the way of any further debris. He slammed his open-gloved hand hard against the ship. “Damn it!”

Since his ship was on the opposite side of where the bomb had just exploded, very little debris flew close by Galileo. However, his heart sank when he saw hundreds of glittering pieces flying in all directions out into space, a sure sign it was a major explosion. After a few seconds, he cautiously peered back over Galileo. He was shocked to see Iris had moved. The ship was slowly tumbling end over end with gases seeping out from her sides as it floated away. He was about to get in position to jump toward the moving ship before he realized there was no way he could catch it. He frantically searched for any sign of Blake. There was none.

He hastily worked his way back down to the hatch. He had no choice but to quickly fire up Galileo and fly closer to Iris. A sickening feeling swept over him as images of Blake’s family flashed in his mind. Come on, buddy, be alive.

ALLEN COULD TELL something serious was going on in the control room. Red lights flashed on some of the controllers’ consoles and an unexpected buzz arose among the team. Bernie stood at his console, barking out questions. Since Peter was in a self imposed radio silence, the team was in the dark. As CEO, Allen wanted answers. He walked straight up to the flight director’s console and tapped him on the shoulder. Bernie turned with a frustrated look and removed his headset. “Yes, sir?”

“What the hell’s going on?”

The director responded with a firm voice. “We don’t know. For some reason Peter took control of the ship and is firing thrusters.”

“Is there any way of contacting him?”

Bernie’s monitor distracted him. He bent down to study it and answered, “Not while he’s wearing the Skylab suit.”

Allen looked up at the screen at the front of the room that showed the location of both spacecraft. He tilted his head slightly. “Has Iris changed its orbit?”

The director typed in some response to what he was observing as he gave his boss only partial attention. “Yes.”

Allen was getting perturbed talking to the back of the director’s head and nudged him on the shoulder. “Why?”

The director took a step back and to the side of his console so he could keep an eye on his monitor but still face Allen. His voice was unmistakably frustrated. “Sir, I don’t know. Either the crew is flying it, or…” He stalled midsentence as he slowly turned away and looked up at the screen in front of the room.

Allen looked up, too, before directing his attention back to the director. “Or what?”

Bernie turned, and without blinking, spoke in an intense tone. “The bomb exploded, and that’s why it’s moving away from Galileo.”

The words hung in the air as they caught the CEO off guard. He took a moment to digest them as he looked back up at the screen. “Shit, is there any damage to Galileo?”

The director folded his arms. “That’s what we’re trying to determine. Various alarms are going off, but some of them are associated with Peter flying the ship without pressurizing the cabin. In fact, the hatch isn’t even fully sealed.”

Allen looked back at Bernie. “Damn, I didn’t even know the ship was capable of doing that.”

“Neither did I, but he’s doing it, and we don’t know why.”

“I want you to set up communication with Peter. If that bomb has gone off, then we don’t need to continue with the radio blackout.”

The director turned and took his seat to get back to the emergency. “Yes, sir.”

Allen was now looking at the director’s back. “And let me know the damage assessment as soon as you have it. We may want to call off this rescue.”

The director answered as he put his headset back on. “Will do.”