Dead Space: A Short Story (5 page)

The SAFER, or Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue, is a device that looks like a backpack. It was meant to be used to rescue astronauts who somehow found themselves untethered when performing EVA’s. The SAFER relies on small nitrogen-jet thrusters, which allows the astronauts to maneuver in space. However, the amount of propellant is limited, so Avery and Samantha had to make every second count.

Samantha strapped herself into the chair. She took of the oxygen mask and offered it to Avery.

“No, keep it,” he said.

“You need to breathe pure oxygen too, otherwise you’ll get the bends out there. You know that,” she said.

She was right, of course. If he went out there without breathing pure oxygen for a while, he would experience decompression sickness, very similar to what divers experience when they ascend too quickly. He could pass out, which wasn’t an ideal situation when floating around in space. It was already bad enough that the airlock had not been decompressing at least 24 hours prior. Of course, 24 hours ago, the astronauts had no idea that any of this would be happening to them.

Avery took it. “Alright, but I’ll give it back you in a few minutes.”

They were only a few feet away from the Quest airlock. Avery started the process of decompressing the inner hatch. The chamber would probably not reach the desired ideal pressure, but they had to go with close enough.

“Let’s get you donned,” Avery said.

He looked beyond Samantha and could hear the growls getting closer. It sounded like Willmore had either untied himself, or bit his way out of the cables like Samantha predicted. The zombies were disoriented because of the microgravity environment, which slowed them down, but Avery knew that sooner, rather than later, they would make their way to their location. He couldn’t even imagine how fast those things would be on Earth, where gravity was king.

The Quest was only big enough for one astronaut to enter at a time. Once that astronaut entered the pressurized airlock, he or she would have to wait until the pressure was gradually decreased. One the desired level was reached; he or she would open another hatch and reach the unpressurized payload bay. From there on, the astronaut would go out to outer space.

“You go first,” Avery said.

“You need to don your suit, too,” she said.

“I need to deal with the zombies,” he replied.

“You need to put on your suit, or I’m not putting mine on,” Samantha said.

“Sam, we don’t have time for this,” he said.

“We do,” Samantha said. “I can put on my suit by myself. We can get through the airlock quickly and we can both get out of here alive. Let those things burn.”

“Fine,” Avery said. “Start putting yours on.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I’m going to buy us some time.”

Avery started pulling cables and extension cords from all sides of the ISS. Up, down, left and right. In less than five minutes, he had created what appeared to be a poor man’s rendition of a spider web. He also tied four laptops and the large 3D printer to the web, thus using them as a barrier.

“It won’t hold on forever, but we don’t need forever,” he said.

“I knew all these cables would be good for something one day,” Samantha quipped.

Avery helped Samantha put on her SAFER jetpack. Then he let his crowbar go so he could don his spacesuit.

Alexei came first, roaring, gnashing his teeth and looking straight at them. As expected, he got caught in the amalgam of cords and cables that Avery had prepared. He started smashing the 3D printer, pure rage in his blank eyes.

“It’s going to give any minute now!” Avery yelled at Samantha, but without taking his eyes off of Alexei. He then stepped to the outer hatch and turned it open.

“You gotta get in there!” he told, Samantha, still looking at Avery.

Avery didn’t see it coming. He almost blacked out from the sharp pain across his head. The impact was so hard it launched him into the Quest airlock. He turned around slowly, touching the back of his head, searching for bite marks. And then he saw what hit him.

Samantha was standing in front of him, crowbar in hand.

“What are you doing?” Avery asked, still in a haze.

“I’m sorry that I had to hit you, but it was the only way you would get in there,” she said, trying to hold back tears.

“What are you doing?” Avery said. “Get in here!”

He tried getting out of the airlock, but Samantha pushed him back inside.

“The bite on my arm,” she began, “it’s getting worse. I can feel the infection spreading. You don’t only turn when you die. Apparently you just turn faster when you’re dead.”

Alexei was seconds away from breaking out of his snare. Willmore was right behind him.

“You don’t know that,” Avery said, trying to regain his wits.

“I’m a doctor. I do.” She then showed him her arm. The parts surrounding the wound were turning purplish. The purple color went up her arm, straight to her chest and probably to her brain.

“No!” Avery yelled.

“You have to go!” She said. “Someone needs to get back to Earth and report what happened here.”

“I won’t leave you!”

“You have to,” she said. “Think of your wife, think of your dad. NASA is going to expect a full report of the situation.”

“I can’t leave you…”

“Yes, you can,” Samantha said. “I only have one thing to ask of you.”

“Anything,” Avery said. A small tear, which quickly turned into a bubble, formed under his right eye.

“Please, try to find my husband and kids. Tell them that I love them and that I will always love them. Please, tell them that I fought bravely and that I didn’t give up, but don’t tell them I was bit. Don’t tell them. Just find them.”

“I promise you that I will find them,” Avery said. “I promise you that. I promise you that, Sam.”

They hugged for a couple of seconds. Then Avery stepped in and Samantha closed the hatch. At the exact same time, Alexei broke free from the cords. Avery turned away, but not before taking one last look at Samantha, crowbar in hand, taking on Alexei and Willmore.

***

Avery had spent enough time at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, which was basically a large indoor pool, to know his way around the space station. The training center had an exact replica of the ISS, as well as different space vehicles from Japan and the European Space Agency. Being in the pool was supposed to mimic the weightlessness of space, but now that he was outside, Avery realized that it was easier to maneuver in space. He didn’t have to push through the water, like he had done while training.

The ISS had plenty of hooks and handrails on its exterior to aid astronauts while performing EVA’s. However, they still had the safety of a tether. Avery did not have that luxury. One false move and he would float away into space.

He still felt dizzy from the impact on his head, but the sudden change of pressure was also taking a toll on him. He didn’t have enough time to acclimate his body to the sudden change and he hadn’t spent enough time breathing pure oxygen. The curvature of the space helmet also wasn’t helping. He felt disoriented.

“Sam, do you copy?” he said, talking into the microphone in his helmet.

Usually, EVAs would be performed slowly, but with the fire spreading all over the station, Avery didn’t have much time.

He took a hold of a handrail near one of the mating adapters that hook the U.S. and Russian segments together. These were not the circumstances he thought of when he dreamed of performing his first EVA. He had told Veronica how he would look at the Earth and take in its beauty, its deep blue. He told her how he would look for Kansas and that although they obviously wouldn’t see each other, he would wave. Was she looking up now? Was she safe?

He made his way to the Zarya cargo block. Although it was now used mainly for storage, this module had been the first building block of the space station.

Avery felt exhausted. He could barely move. He knew that the “bends” were starting to kick in. He needed to make it to the Soyuz and as quickly as possible before his body decided to shut down.

“Sam?” he said.

There was no answer. Avery had never been a fan of silence. He liked being around people, being around city traffic. Out here though, and with no Houston on his ear, there was a solitude that could drive one to madness.

Avery could see the Rassvet and Poisk docking modules. He wished a Russian Soyuz would be docked there, but it was empty. His escape Soyuz was further ahead, docked to the Zvezda service module, where the fire had started. He only hoped that the space station’s inner hatch, plus the Soyuz’s own hatch was enough to protect it from the flames.

It was a strange feeling that of knowing that you have to stay awake and hold on, but have your body trying to override your brain.

Suddenly, Avery lost his grip. He was floating away into nothingness. He was floating away fast. It was easy to let it all go. All he needed to do was just float away until the oxygen on his suit expired. He could close his eyes and pretend this was all a nightmare.

An image of Veronica’s face came to mind. Then came that of his father and finally, he thought of the promise he made to Samantha. He couldn’t die here. This was not the way he was going out.

Adrenaline and panic soared through his body, jolting him awake. He activated the SAFER mechanism, using the two remotes to maneuver himself back to the ISS. But instead of flying straight to where he had been holding on to, he decided to fly closer to the Zvezda. It was a huge risk, but he knew he didn’t have much time. Either the entire ISS would be destroyed by the fire, or he would black out.

“I’m almost there, Veronica,” Avery whispered.

The nitrogen jetpack began to dwindle down. He was only 50 feet away from the Soyuz now.

“Come on,” he said, talking to the SAFER. “Come on! Almost there.”

The nitrogen ran out, so Avery extended his hands and positioned himself to drift straight into the Soyuz. There was a sharp pain on his joints once he crashed into the Russian Soyuz. He tried to grab onto something, but there were no handgrips close by. He pressed the SAFER trigger and the jetpacks emitted one final burst of nitrogen.

He twirled, losing all sense of direction. Everything was spinning. The station, the Earth, everything was in constant motion.

Avery was exhausted and slowly began to drift away, but in one last attempt, he grabbed part of one of the large solar panels, to keep himself from floating into the void. Then, he carefully made his way to the Soyuz and opened the exterior hatch. The vacuum of space sucked all the air out and if it wasn’t because everything was strapped in, it would have taken food and equipment out into space. Avery closed the hatch and pressed a button that began to pressurize the cabin.

He sat there, beyond exhausted. He took off his helmet and reached for a pure oxygen mask, knowing well that this was the best and most efficient way to fight decompression sickness. He wanted to cry. Willmore, Rogers and the entire Russian crew were gone. He was the only person alive in in space, and as far as he knew, he may have been the only human being alive.

But no, Veronica had to be alive, he thought. Houston promised. But where was Houston?

“Houston, do you copy? This is Flight Engineer Ryder Avery. I’m the sole survivor aboard the ISS. The Russian crew turned out to be…infected. It was a massacre up here. Houston?”

He put on his oxygen mask again. The Soyuz began to shake forcefully. Avery looked around the Soyuz. He noticed water and food to last at least a week. He also saw a Sokol space suit tied to one of the walls of the Soyuz. The Sokol would be key in keeping him alive in case the Soyuz began to depressurize unexpectedly.