The Final Expedition

Day One

“Mission Control. Mission Control. This is Colonel Sergei Karpov on board the International Space Station. Do you read? Over.” Static. We had all crowded around Karpov in the Zvezda Service Module. A few minutes had passed while the devastation on the surface below us sunk in. I felt hollow inside, my mind struggling to process the enormity of what we had just witnessed. “Mission Control. Are you receiving me?” More static.

“The uplink is offline as well.” Flynn turned away from a laptop fixed to the wall. “All the feeds from Earth, email, internet, the connection’s been severed.”

“They’re all dead aren’t they?” Aki said quietly.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions.” Morrison put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “There could be any number of reasons why they aren’t responding. They may have been evacuated or an EMP pulse might have knocked out all the electrical systems. We just need to remember our training and remain calm.” I glanced at Morrison, wondering if he was saying that for Aki’s benefit, or his own.

“Is there a contingency in place for this?” I asked.

“If ‘this’ means a break in communication, then yes.” Karpov replied tersely. “If ‘this’ means nuclear annihilation of the planet, then no, that one must have been left back on Earth with the ‘What to do if an alien entity possesses one of the crew members’ contingency.” There was an uncomfortable silence.

“Maybe we should resume our duties until we hear from Earth.” Morrison suggested. “Try and keep our minds focussed and occupied until we hear from Mission Control. Carter, it might be a good idea for you to return to the Cupola and get some more footage of the Earth. I’m sure it’s the last thing you want to do, but it will be important for future generations.” I nodded. While it crossed my mind that future generations were looking unlikely at this moment, I kept my pessimism to myself.

“Yes. I agree.” Karpov turned to me from the communication station. “We’ll be all right, Carter. This station is the safest place to be right now.” He looked at the others. “I know our thoughts will be on the uncertain fate of our families and friends, but we must continue to maintain discipline at all times. We cannot afford to wallow in self pity. Everyone resume your duties and I will inform you if and when we hear from Mission Control.” The others silently dispersed to different parts of the station while I made my way back to the Cupola and grimly documented the devastation below. The clouds of black had lost their circular shape and had become dark smudges over the landmasses. I wondered what was happening beneath those smudges down on the surface. As Europe rotated into view, I couldn’t help but think of my parents and sister. I knew I would be deluding myself to think that any of them could survive this. London had taken a direct hit. If the strike had hit the very centre of London, then a fireball would have obliterated everything in a mile radius of Ground Zero. Big Ben, the houses of Parliament, Buckingham palace, St Paul’s cathedral and everything in between gone, utterly destroyed. The air blast would destroy or demolish every building within a ten mile radius. Those few unlucky enough not to be killed outright would have received a lethal dose of radiation and would, after much suffering, die of radiation poisoning in days, maybe weeks depending of their level of exposure. Beyond that, the fallout would stretch into the suburbs of London. The death toll would be in the millions. And that was just one nuclear strike. Globally, we had witnessed hundreds. I knew my family were gone and just had to hope and pray it had been quick. Switching the camera off, I left the Cupola and floated back up to the Tranquillity node and into the Destiny Lab. Natalya was working on one of the work stations.

“How are you holding up?” I asked her. She turned to me, her eyes puffy.

“I can’t stop thinking about home.” She replied. “My brother works in Moscow and that looked like it had been hit…” I nodded sympathetically.

“My parents lived in London.” I added, realising as I said it that I had just referred to them in the past tense.

“I just can’t believe this is happening.” She continued. “I keep hoping it’s a horrible nightmare…” She welled up, reaching into a pocket in her flight suit for a tissue to soak up the tears before they floated off again. I reached for her and she allowed herself to be taken into my embrace. She buried her face into my shoulder and quietly wept for a moment, before collecting herself.

“I really must get back to work.” She said, breaking the embrace, wiping her eyes and turning back to her work station. I nodded and moved towards the hatch into the Unity Node. “Carter.” She called out. I turned back towards her. She was looking back over her shoulder at me. “Thanks.” She smiled sadly before turning back to her station.

I returned to the Zvezda Service Module. Karpov was still at the communication station.

“Anything?” I asked him.

“Nyet.” He replied. “Just static.”

“Don’t we have a Ham radio on the station?” I asked. “Can’t we try that?”

“It’s been out of action for a few weeks.” He sighed. “It’s not considered a mission critical system, so we haven’t had replacement parts arranged yet.”

“Damn, it really would have been useful about now.” I told him. Karpov nodded before looking about us for a moment, ensuring we were alone.

“Look Carter.” He said quietly. “I’ve been meaning to have a discreet conversation with you. All of us know this is a dire situation. The rest of us have been trained to cope with potentially hopeless scenarios, but as a civilian, you don’t have that to fall back on now. You seem to be holding up pretty well so far, but I really need you to keep it together if it starts to overwhelm you. I think everyone’s hanging on by their fingernails at the moment, so the last thing we need is any one individual letting despair get the better of them and taking everyone else with them.” He paused for a moment, again checking no one else was within earshot. “If you need to let off some steam and get anything off your chest, you can come and talk to me.” Despite everything, I couldn’t help but feel amused at the thought of the big Russian as a counsellor.

“Mission Commander,” I grinned, “I didn’t know you had such a touchy-feely side.” Karpov smiled back, slightly embarrassed.

“You’re a good man, Carter.” He said. “Now get out of here.”