“Were the best you have.” Said Ali. “Richard doesn’t need to be able to fly, I can, Hey I don’t want to rub it in but I’m a multi millionaire; aren’t we supposed to go everywhere in private jets?”
“You’re not making me jealous.” Andrew said without smiling. “And I shouldn’t have to remind you that a space shuttle isn’t anything like a private jet?”
“No… of course it isn’t, but anything that flies has to follow the same basic rules; you need wings: of sorts, and it still has to go though air like any ordinary airplane?”
“For a start this is Mars; air isn’t the same here as back on Earth?”
“There is a part of the program that most shuttle pilots aren’t even aware of?” Interrupted Richard.
Andrew and Ali turned to him.
“It takes years to set up new software and get the bugs out, so we were instructed to make allowance so it could be upgraded. It was thought that future shuttles could be landing and taking off from the Moon… It was a vanishingly small possibility that it would happen, but it made sense that parameters be set in the core program for if ever it was needed. It’s not Mars; but on the moon there’s no air at all?”
Andrew drew in a breath; there really were no options, and what there were had had made the decision for him. “So all these read outs, you are familiar enough with what they mean?”
Richard looked at control panel before them; suddenly there seemed an awful lot more than he remembered. “More or less?”
“That’s not good enough,” said Andrew firmly. “You need to know what the St. Louis is telling you and what to tell it?”
“Yes I do know what they are for.” Richard replied defensively.
Andrew shook his head. “Then it seems we have no choice but to risk the lives of everybody on board to a video game expert and a jet set playboy?”
“If I can point out,” said Ali. “That in the absence of a properly qualified pilot we three are everybody’s best option, besides the only one?”
Andrew looked at the mens faces. It was an impossible choice: could he risk everybody’s life to two inexperienced civilians? He got out of the command seat. “Then you had better sit here.”
Richard suddenly didn’t want to. “That’s where you are sitting.”
“I have to go back onto the station; before we can launch the orientation of station has to be just right. I can do that, but not from here; I have to get back to Earthrises control center. You two will have to prepare the shuttle so we can leave immediately I’m back.”
Mathew was gasping from breath when he regained consciousness; how long he had been out? He didn’t know, but hoped it was just seconds.
As he got to his knees he could see that everybody was prone on the floor. Quickly moved to the control desk and looked at the switches. He had seen that Alisha had changed one, but now he wasn’t sure which? He flicked the one he though it was.
Oxygen masks were hanging down from the roof and he quickly placed one each on the women, leaving Peters and Ralph’s until he was sure the girls were okay.
Alisha was first to come around; she had known what was going to happen and had probably tried to fill up on oxygen before she cut off the supply.
Suddenly Matt felt pain; he looked down to where there was a tiny hole in the suit. For a moment he wanted to take the suit off but he knew the material was probably acting as a tourniquet, so he just stripped of the helmet and top.
Emma had begun gasping: and Jennifer too, as Matt checked Peter and Ralph for more weapons. All that he could find was Ralph’s knife.
Ralph regained consciousness to find Mathew holding the blade.
Peter slowly got to his feet. “You think you are going to use that?”
“If I have to.”
“I don’t think so; you haven’t got what it takes to kill somebody in cold blood?”
“Maybe you should try me?”
“Oh believe me we will if you don’t kill us now.”
Matt knew he didn’t have it in him to kill them both.
“Go on try it?” said Ralph to Peter’s side. Its going to be a long trip and sooner or later…”
“Yes it’s going to be a long trip, and your taking it alone.” Matt said as a decision firmed in his mind. “We are going back to Earthrise; don’t think you are going to stop us.”
Peter began to laugh.
Alisha looked nervously at Mathew. “You won’t be laughing when you find the authorities waiting for you when you get back?”
“Or maybe I will?”
“Yea; your kind of people always think you will win, but once we’ve told them what happened you’ll end up spending the rest of your lives in a prison.”
Peter shrugged.
Matt picked up the rest of his spacesuit and took rearguard as the women went to the change room.
The women were suiting up when Matt closed the door and collapsed. Jennifer was first to be beside him and first to see blood oozing over his waistband. She looked anxiously at Emma. “He’s been hurt?”
Emma could see that, and she knew the only first aid was in the pod where Ralph and Peter were. “We have to get him to Earthrise as quickly as possible.
Between them they got him onto the transporter, and started it off. They had got barely halfway when the suits low air warning began to buzz. It took her no time to know Matt’s suit was still deflated and then find the tiny hole. There was nothing she could use other than her hand and she held in open over the tear, but no-matter how hard she pressed; the further they went: and the less the tunnels air density became, the more the pressure pushed past her hand.
Richard sat in the commander’s seat; he looked at the rows of switches and buttons with a feeling of terror welling up inside him. Andrew was right; it wasn’t a video game. Ali was beside him still trying to relate the controls to what he had flown before.
“Where’s the attitude readout” Ali said without looking at Richard.
Richards mind was blank.
“The attitude; what shows our angle of flight?” repeated Ali this time looking directly at him.
“I…I.” Stuttered Richard before an image appeared in his mind. Quickly he searched for the picture in his mind. “I think it’s … this one?”
“You think?” muttered Ali. “If it’s wrong...”
“Yes it’s that one… I’m trying to remember; you said you could fly a plane?”
“I can but I’ve never flown one as complicated as this?”
Richard knew they were in big trouble. “Where’s Andrew he should be back by now?’
Andrew was racing through from one pod to another. Without the thrusters he knew he couldn’t maneuver Earthrise how it should be maneuvered; instead he had to try to use the friction of the atmosphere to spin the station. If he could change the shape it presented against the air hopefully he could make the station turn. He dismissed a fleeting fear that it was something never imagined before; he had to make it work, but it was something that needed thought; he needed a plan. Detaching one or more pods could create more pressure on one part of the array than another and turn the station around, but would it turn the right way or bring the St. Louis into more danger. He still didn’t know when he reached the engineering section.
It was with gut feeling that he released two entire pods. He didn’t know what would happen and he hadn’t anticipated it would be so quick. Warning lights were lighting up all over the control panel. The station was turning but the pressure had also sent a twisting torsion through the pods that were still joined. A new fear came to Andrews mind that the station would break up before it turned. There was no more time for thinking or plans he needed to fully turn Earthrise while he could.
Suddenly another fear came to him; the strain was showing greatest between him and the shuttle. Releasing another pod should do what he needed to do, but it could also trap him from his escape.
Andrew looked urgently out the view port. The St Louis sti
ll couldn’t launch from where it was. His mind was so full that he couldn’t think until suddenly he realized he had hit the control to release the anchor point. His body sagged: he knew that he had done all he could and now he needed to get back to the shuttle while he still had time.
Andrew had never run so fast; he was almost there when he ran through the pod they had used as a morgue, and her face came to his mind. Suddenly he found himself slowing, as he did he felt Earthrise shake. It was far more violent than any that had preceded; and Andrew knew what it meant. Earthrise was about to die, and Sara would be burnt to dust alone.
It was an irrational thought; she was already dead; nothing could change that; yet guilt overwhelmed him.
There was no conscious decision; it was more like relief when he decided not to run anymore.
Instead Andrew made his way to the cabin and entered. There was a red glow through the window and it was easy to see where she lay. He opened the body bag and saw her face. She looked almost as if she was sleeping.
Gently Andrew lifted Sara from the plastic wrap and held her in his arms; she felt hardly any weight at all.
He made his way to the observation deck where through the large window he could see what remained of the station. It was falling apart as he watched.
Andrew slumped onto one of the lounge chairs with Sara across his lap. He leaned her head against his shoulder turning it slightly so she faced towards the window.
“I know it’s far too late.” He said softly. “But I’m sorry; I’m truly, truly sorry.”
Mathew was unconscious as the women dragged him onto the Lander. Alisha almost tore off the helmet and Emma clamped an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. Jennifer cradled his upper body as Emma pulled off his suit bottom and tendered to the wound. It’s wasn’t deep; in fact the projectile had barely penetrated his skin but it was honed to a sharp point and had punctured an artery before it came to rest in his muscle. By the time Emma had taken out the bullet and began to dress the wound the Lander was moving rapidly away from the Explorer.
“I’ve done all I can?” Emma fastened the bets securing Matt to a seat. “He needs blood, but he’ll be okay until we get him back to Earthrise.”
“We can’t go back?” said Alisha.
Emma looked at her puzzled before she looked out of the window Alisha was looking out of.
Earthrise was burning up. The forward sections glowed bright orange and projections like aerials and struts were disappearing in trailing showers of sparks.
“What’s happening?” gasped Emma.
“It’s gone.” Alisha said sadly. “That’s why he wasn’t worried; he’s murdered them all.”
The structural integrity had failed and as they watched the pods began to separate into individual units. Suddenly one exploded in a shower of molten metal.
Emma had stopped tending Matt and was looking in disbelief. She heard Jennifer whimper and sob; but none of them couldn’t tear their eyes from the dreadful sight: they wanted to but couldn’t. Everything was aflame now and both smoke and steam trailed back up into the atmosphere from dozens of pieces of wreckage.
Up tight against Earthrise it was impossible to see what was happening from the shuttle. What they could see was the orange red glow and streams of molten metal arcing above them.
“Where is he?” demanded Ali. “We can’t wait much longer, or were going to break up too.”
Richard knew that, but Andrew still hadn’t returned. “We have to wait, we can’t leave without him; we need him here.”
“And if we don’t leave soon we won’t be going anywhere?”
“We can’t fly this thing, we need Andrew… were turning?”
Slowly Mars was disappearing.
“He’s done it?” gasped Richard.
Suddenly the shuttle was shaking, and tension filled Ali’s words. “Were out of time; we have to release?”
“Not without Andrew… we can’t abandon…”
A massive vibration took the words away.
“It’s breaking up?” shouted Ali. “Cut us free.”
Andrew felt at ease; he hadn’t felt so peaceful in a long time: it almost seemed like he never had been at peace. He looked down at Sara. The glow from the flaming objects beyond the window bathed her in light that gave colour back to he face.
“Did you ever realize I was in love with you? I was from the day you first came aboard?” he said gently brushing some stray hairs away from her eyes as if to help her see the sight he was watching. “But you were very popular; everybody loved you. I wanted to tell you that I did too, but I couldn’t; I was commander: it wasn’t proper… Proper; I should have done something back then: what I did to you wasn’t proper; it was unforgivable; but I couldn’t control myself. I needed to be with you anyway I could.”
He thought his eyes were tricking him. The station seemed to be closing in on him; but he knew it wasn’t: the window was deforming as it began to melt. He never saw it implode.
It was almost all over; Earthrise had gone, and with it those still aboard, but the faces on the Lander watched on in hope.
They could still make out one of the refuges and prayed that maybe it would make it down to the surface: maybe someone would survive? But then they saw that it too was on fire.
In amoungst the trailing wreckage they could make out the St. Louis; it too glowed and Alisha felt unbelievably sad. “It’s looks as if it’s flying?” she said in a curious; confused, voice that refused to accept what she was saying.
All their eyes turned to the shuttle.
“It really looks as if it’s flying?” she said again sadly.
They could see what she meant, yet they knew it was only moments before it would be engulfed in its own destruction: but as they watched they realized it wasn’t tumbling or falling like all the other broken bits of Earthrise; it seemed to be holding level and steady. All around the shuttle the station was in pieces; plummeting to the planet below like an out of world shower of fireworks, but the shuttle just seemed to glide amoungst them.
They knew it wasn’t possible; it had to be some cruel optical illusion; yet it gave in them the faintest of hope that they desperately wanted to believe.
Alisha tore her eyes away to look at the infrared screen. What had been a jumble of white streaks now had the shuttle red on the underbelly and dark on the top.
Emma was the first to speak: her voice just one question. “Alisha you’re… the only pilot?”
“I was; I am…”
Unbelievably the shuttle was now separating from the debris; peeling away from the molten man made meteorites that had surrounded it.
Emma was shaking her head. “Then who is?”
“Colony do you hear me?”
The unexpected voice shocked them from the sight. They couldn’t recognize who had spoken, but from the question it had to be from the shuttle.
“We hear you.” Said Alisha before Sheshi could reply.
“We… is that the Explorer?”
Sheshi’s voice was as confused as any. “Who is talking identify yourself?”
“Explorer, Peters got a gun; he’s going to hijack the Explorer?”
Alisha thought she recognized the voice. “Is that Richard?”
“Peters got a gun don’t let him aboard the Explorer.”
“A gun?” The disbelief in Sheshi’s voice was obvious.
“Were not in the Explorer were in the Lander.” A smile was covering Alisha's face. “I know... Is that Richard?”
“Someone has a gun,” Sheshi demanded. “You mean a real gun?”
But Richard was still talking to Alisha. “What happened over there; is Peter with you; has he still got the gun?”
“Gun? Will somebody tell me what’s happening?” Demanded Sheshi even more forcefully.
“The Explorer has been hijacked Sheshi.” Alisha began to explain.
“Hijacked?” she said in shock as Richard gave
his account.
“Peter pulled a weapon on us and took the Lander he’s going to take the Explorer back to Earth?”
This time Sheshi was quick to answer. “Is everybody all right? Tell me what’s happening now?”
“We…” said Alisha. “There are four of us in the Lander, we are going to ride it back to the surface.” She hadn’t really thought about it before but I was the only thing that they could do. “Earthrise has been destroyed; I don’t know what’s happening on the shuttle?”
“I know.” Sheshi said before Richard to speak. “I’ve been trying to warn them that they were losing orbit, what’s happening now; will somebody tell me?”
“I don’t have time to tell you now.”
Alisha was certain now it was Richard.
“We are going to try and bring the shuttle down; we don’t have a qualified pilot; we may not…”
“Yes you can.” Said Alisha far more calmly than she felt. “Put Andrew on?”
There was a pause. “He’s not here.”
“Then where is he?”
Richards voice was hesitant. “He’s still on the station; he didn’t make it back; we broke away before he…”
Alisha looked at the still unconscious Matt, and shook her head. “Then who is in command?”
“I suppose we are; me and Ali?”
She couldn’t hide the gasp in her voice. “You: Richard and Ali?” she dreaded the answer. “Can you fly a shuttle?”
“Ali is a pilot.”
Alisha covered her face with her hand.
“I’ve flown in the shuttle simulator.” Richard tried to sound confident but it didn’t work.
“Okay.” She said calmly. “We can do this together; as a team; we can fly the shuttle together. Ali can be my hands, you can be my eyes and I’ll tell you what to do.” She didn’t give Richard a chance to answer. “First I want you to tell me what the velocity and attitude readouts say,” she realized they probably didn’t know what to look at. “They are…” her words faltered as Richard relayed what she asked.
For a moment afterwards there was silence until Richard spoke again. . “We can’t do this…”
Alisha’s voice was firm. “Then you are sentencing all the others to certain death.”