The Final Expedition

Day One Hundred and Seventy-Two

“Maybe I should do a Captain Oates.” I said, looking grimly through the porthole in the floor of the Zvezda module. Morrison, Natalya and Aki were at the galley table, silently eating the rapidly diminishing food rations. We had enjoyed a lively and competitive evening of poker the previous night to decide who would enjoy the last lamb with vegetables packet. After a heated final hand, Aki had beaten Morrison with a full house, much to his chagrin.

“Who?” Aki replied, thoughtfully chewing on her lamb dinner, making the most of it.

“You haven’t heard of Captain Oates?” I looked around at her.

“Should I have?” She replied, raising an eyebrow. “Sounds like a breakfast cereal.”

“He was an Antarctic explorer wasn’t he?” Morrison said.

“That’s right.” I nodded. “He was with Captain Scott’s party on their way back from the south pole, where they had just been beaten to it by a Norwegian party. They were demoralised, had already lost one of their party, and weather conditions were atrocious. Captain Oates was injured and was slowing their progress. He realised he was putting the lives of the others in danger. One night, while they were sheltering in their tent, he got up and announced to the others ‘I’m just going outside and may be some time.’ and walked out into a fierce blizzard in temperatures far below freezing, making the ultimate sacrifice for the good of the others.”

“An extraordinarily brave man.” Morrison commented. I nodded in agreement.

“Did the others make it back?” Aki asked. I shook my head.

“The rest of the party died a few days later.” I replied sadly.

“Well, thanks for that heart-warming tale of triumph over adversity.” Aki replied with good natured sarcasm. “Maybe you shouldn’t bother then.”