The Final Expedition

Day One Hundred and Forty-Nine

My duties complete for the day, I found Natalya at her experiment rack in Nauka, the Russian laboratory docked to the underside of Zvezda. I pulled myself down headfirst through the hatchway to where she was working below, oblivious to my presence. She gasped in surprise as my grinning face appeared upside down before her own.

“Durachit.” She called me, clutching her chest.

“Is that Russian for handsome?” I smirked.

“If that’s what you want to believe.” She chuckled. Natalya’s spirits were certainly much improved over the last day or so and she seemed to have been able to put Flynn’s assault and his subsequent death behind her. I guessed her resilience was one of the reasons she had been selected for the Cosmonaut programme.

“Are you nearly finished?” I asked.

“Not even close.” She replied.

“You never have time for me anymore.” I told her theatrically. “You are just obsessed with your work!”

“Durachit.” She called me again before leaning forward and pressing her lips to mine. It was a strange sensation, kissing her upside down and we both chuckled when she finally broke the kiss. “I’d like to come and see you tonight.” She murmured with a coy smile.

“You would?” I replied, arching an eyebrow. We had not been intimate since the assault. “If you’re sure you’re ready…”

“Stop being so damn gallant.” She smiled. “I’m ready.”

“Then I look forward to seeing you later.” I grinned. Natalya giggled and rolled her eyes before I swung around and left her to her work.

I awoke as the light from within the Harmony node outside seeped through the slowly opening door to my sleeping compartment. I smiled, eagerly anticipating the moments of intimacy with Natalya to come. My excitement swiftly turned to horror as Karpov’s face appeared, a syringe in his hand.

“Wha…” I gasped as he stabbed the needle into my shoulder before I could react. I swung a fist at him as he began pressing the plunger, knocking him away. Pulling the syringe out of my shoulder, I realised that half the contents had already been injected into me. Karpov floated backwards, before kicking himself back off the far side of the module, like an Olympic swimmer changing direction at the end of a length. He propelled himself back at me, his arms outstretched, teeth gritted and a steely determination in his eyes. I tried to cry out but the drug was already starting to take hold and I found myself desperately fighting to stay conscious. Karpov’s hands tightened around my throat, his thumbs pressing against my windpipe. I tried to reach up to pull his hands from my throat, but my limbs felt like dead weights.

“I’m sorry, Carter.” Karpov hissed. “I don’t have anything against you, but we need the supplies to stretch as long as possible. Now everyone can’t be saved, we may as well end the suffering of the three who would remain behind. Flynn was right about one thing. You don’t have a skill set that is useful to us. I wish it was different, Carter, but as Mission Commander, I have to make the tough decisions. I didn’t want to kill Flynn either, but he was becoming a danger to us and to himself.” Even through my panic, I noticed that there seemed to be genuine sadness in Karpov’s eyes. My vision began to darken as the supply of oxygen to my brain dwindled before finally everything faded to black.

“Carter! Carter! Wake up!” I winced as my head was rocked to one side by a strong slap to my face.

“What the hell?!” I groaned, my cheek tingling.

“He’s back with us.” Morrison said, relief in his voice. I opened my eyes. I was still in my sleeping compartment, strapped in place. Morrison was hovering over me, his hand at my neck, timing my pulse. As I regained my senses, I realised I could hear Natalya babbling hysterically in the background, just outside of my field of vision.

“He was strangling Max! I tried to drag him away, but he was too strong. The workbench was just to one side so I grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on and… and… I didn’t mean to… I just wanted to stop him!”

“It’s okay, Natalya.” I heard Aki reply soothingly. “No one blames you for what happened.” As my vision cleared, I noticed a cloud of tiny floating red droplets of blood all around me. Morrison’s flight suit was wet with little splashes of red all over him where he’d floated through them. Apparently satisfied that my pulse was stable, he pulled himself backwards a little, clearing my line of sight. My jaw dropped when I noticed the limp form of Karpov floating in the module outside. Karpov’s eyes were wide open and his mouth gaped in a silent scream. What appeared to be a screwdriver was buried in his neck right up to the handle.

“My God!” I rasped, before wincing as pain pulsed from my bruised windpipe.

“Try not to say anything, Carter.” Morrison told me. “You’re going to be okay, but I need you to relax.”

“Natalya?” I groaned.

“She’s a little shaken up.” He replied. “But she’ll be okay too. That’s quite a girl you have there. She’s saved your life today.”

A couple of hours later, Morrison returned from the airlock having disposed of Karpov’s body. This time, no words were spoken.