The Final Expedition

Day Forty-Three

My stomach did a somersault as I peered through the visor of the bulky spacesuit at the outer hatch of the quest airlock. The hatch was set into the floor of the module, so we would be facing the Earth when it opened.

“You ready, Carter?” Morrison asked me over the headset, his voice calm and confident. He too was suited up in a bulky white spacesuit and was floating just behind me in the airlock.

“Absolutely!” I replied, my voice cracking slightly, my pulse racing.

“Relax Carter.” Morrison reassured me. “I’m going to be right beside you all the time and you’re tethered to me anyway, so you’ll be completely safe.”

“Apart from the fact we’re about to go out into the freezing cold vacuum of space and just a stray micrometeorite away from a horrible and painful death.” I deadpanned.

“That’s the spirit!” Morrison slapped me on the shoulder. “Right. We’ll open the outer hatch and take a walk.”

“Okay.” I replied, wondering if anyone had ever thrown up in a spacesuit.

“Mission commander.” He said, this time addressing Karpov who was supervising from the Zvezda module. “Requesting clearance for E.V.A.”

“Clearance granted, Lieutenant Colonel.” Karpov replied over the radio. “You are go for E.V.A.”

“Copy that Mission Commander.” The airlock hatch gently swung open and the surface of the Earth stretched out beneath us. I felt a sudden surge of vertigo and threw myself backwards in fear, propelling myself into Morrison, who grunted at the impact.

“Shit!” I gasped, my heart thumping in my chest.

“Just relax Carter.” Morrison said, gently pushing me away from him. “It’s okay. There’s no rush. Take your time and breathe. Remember, you are tethered to me and I’m tethered to the station. We’ll be absolutely safe.” Gritting my teeth, I gathered myself together, grabbing hold of one of the blue hand holds and pulling myself back towards the open airlock hatch. I was gripping the handles so hard, my hands were aching. Again, I peered through the yawning circular hatch opening and looked out at the vastness of the surface of the planet filling my field of vision. My eyes widened, feeling as though I was falling out, about to hurtle away from the station and freefall towards the surface the moment I emerged from the airlock.

“Shit, shit, shit!” I pulled myself back into the airlock, my heart racing and my breathing rapid. “I just can’t do it, Wes! I feel like I’m about to drop off the edge of a precipice.”

“You’ll be fine, Carter.” Morrison reassured me, his tone even and measured. “There’s no rush. Just take a minute to calm down and we’ll try again.”

“No, Wes.” I shook my head, feeling restricted and claustrophobic in the confines of the spacesuit, sucking in deep breaths and trying to stop the panic threatening to overwhelm me. “I can’t do it! I’m sorry, I just can’t!”

“Okay, okay.” Morrison replied. “It’s okay. It’s my fault. You haven’t been trained for this and it was wrong of me to just throw you in at the deep end. I’ll leave you here in the airlock while I have a quick spacewalk. I just need to check a couple of the solar arrays for damage as we’ve had some fluctuating power outputs from them. I’ll be as quick as I can.” Morrison tethered me to the inside of the airlock and released the tether from himself. He then moved over to the open airlock, connected a tether to a fixing point outside the airlock, released the tether to the inside and swung himself out of the hatch and out of sight. The airlock closed behind him, leaving me alone with my embarrassment and humiliation.