Orbital Maneuvers (19 page)

“No, I am able to get to the hatch.  Is the communication system down?  Should I get back to the P6 truss?”

Susan looked toward Ivan for confirmation that the comm system was down.  He quickly checked the display and nodded to Susan.  “Both systems show full failure.  You should come in now, Commander Orlov.”

“I will join you shortly.”

Susan turned to Nicholas and Paul.  “You two head down to the airlock and give Alexander a hand.” Moving over to Ivan’s console, she said, “Ivan, let’s get this station out of here!  Have you found the lockout command yet?”

“No, I’ve searched through all the places that I would expect it to be, but I have not found anything.  Without knowing how deep into the software they placed the command, it is like trying to find the…how do you say it…needle in the haystack?”

“I see your point.  What are the options?” Susan asked, as she absent-mindedly started to bite her lower lip, a sure sign of her frustration with this seemingly never-ending problem.

“We can all keep looking for the command.  We will improve our odds, but I do not know by how much.  Realistically, we may spend too much time in the process.”

“There has to be something better than that.  We don’t have the time to poke through several million lines of code.” Susan looked at the display in front of her and tried to remember the programming classes she took in college.  “Ivan, do they keep a log for all software changes made to the system?” She began to feel a twinge of excitement, as the idea jelled into a real possibility to pin down the location of the lockout command.

“Yes, there is a log that is kept on the main system.  I checked that already.  You do not think that Captain Mikhailovich would lay down such a neat trail for us to follow, do you?”

“Well, I had hoped that we might get lucky.  What if…” she was determined more than ever not to let Captain Mikhailovich have the upper hand any longer.  With her face all scrunched up in deep concentration, the idea finally popped out, “What if we rebooted the computers?  Can we do that?”

Ivan thought about it for a moment before he replied, “There is a procedure for that in the troubleshooting guide that I went through before.  I did not follow it to the end though.”

“If we can reboot the system, maybe we can have it reboot in a safe mode.”

Ivan gave her a sideways glance, “You have been using your personal computer too much I see.”

“No, I’m serious.  It would make sense to give the people up here an option to load in a set of software that is tried and tested and safe.  Pull up the troubleshooting chart for the computer and let’s see what it says.”
Maybe, just maybe
, Susan thought to herself,
this might be our way out of this haystack
.  Her wishful thinking was broken by Paul’s voice coming over the intercom.

“Susan, could you come to the airlock?”

“What’s the matter, Paul?  I’m in the middle of something right now.”

“If you can spare a couple of minutes, I think you should see something.” Susan and Ivan exchanged quizzical glances.  Ivan finally said, “Go ahead.  It will take a few minutes to find the proper guide, and I will look for the reboot procedure.”

“Okay, Paul, I’ll be right there.” Susan left Ivan and now had her mind racing trying to figure out why Paul was being so mysterious. When she arrived, she found Paul and Nicholas floating by Alexander, who was still buttoned up in his suit.  They were talking to each other while they examined the tether that connected Alexander to the station.  “What’s the matter, Paul?” she asked, as she peered into Alexander’s helmet and waved hello.

“I wanted you to see how the tether has been damaged.” Paul offered a section of the tether to Susan to inspect.  The lifeline looked alive as it slowly undulated in the zero-g environment, responding to the slightest little touch.  Susan immediately saw what Paul was referring to.  The tether appeared distorted, as if something had squeezed it or as if it had been caught in a vise.  Susan ran her fingers along the material to feel the distorted, frayed fibers and noted the discoloration created by the stresses on it. 

“What do you think caused it?” she asked, looking from Paul to Nicholas.

They both shook their heads, and Paul answered, “I am not sure.  I suppose it might have gotten caught in one of the solar arrays while they rotated to follow the sun.”

Nicholas nodded in agreement, “That could explain the markings.” Turning to Alexander, he asked, “Commander, do you have any ideas?”

The look on the cosmonaut’s face answered the question before he said a thing.  “No, I have no idea what might have caused that, or my flight across the station.”

“Do you think it might have been damaged when Alexander was thrown off the station?  Maybe it got caught on something,” Susan offered. 

“It’s a possibility.  It’s really hard to tell without knowing just what caused Alexander’s adventure and how he got where he ended up.  It really looks like it was crushed by something,” Paul said, as he stroked the damaged section of the tether.

Susan turned to Alexander and looked over his suit for any signs of damage.  She then realized that Alexander was making no effort to shed his suit and join them.  “Why are you not out of your suit Commander?”

“Someone will have to go out and reconnect the communication system, no?”

Susan thought for a moment and realized that he was right.  She had forgotten that part of the plan.  She slowly nodded “yes.”

“Well then, I will stay in the suit attached to the umbilical until we can reconnect the system.”

Susan admired his dedication to his work, she smiled.  “Thank you, Commander.  If we can get rid of this lockout command, it should be about an hour before we will want to reconnect the comm system.”

Susan turned to Paul, handing him the tether she still held in her hands, she said, “Paul, do we have another tether that Alexander can use?  I do not want him outside with this one.”

“Yes, there is another one stored in the locker here.  I will stow this one and get out the new one.”

“Thank you.  I am going back to help Ivan.  Take care of the Commander.” Susan left, but not before she gave Alexander a thumbs-up sign and a smile.

Susan was greeted with a smile as she entered the control module.  Ivan had found the troubleshooting guide he was looking for and the reboot procedure.  “I think your idea is going to work!  Here, look at this.”

Susan followed his finger as it traced the screen, pointing out the key ideas that supported her theory.  She was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but hesitated.  It was not over yet, she reminded herself.  They still had to reboot the computers, and hopefully, the command that Captain Mikhailovich placed in them would not survive the reboot procedure.  She would not relax, yet.

Ivan checked a few more screens.  Once he was satisfied he understood the procedure, and how the process would work, he turned to Susan to fill her in on the details. 

“When we do this, we will automatically come up in a maintenance mode.  This will allow all the essential systems to function, but the secondary systems will not come up until we give the commands to do so.  It will take a few minutes for the procedure to be completed.  Any questions?”

Susan could feel her pulse quicken.  “No, let’s just do it.  We don’t have any other options, and we don’t really have any more time.” She moved over to the intercom and switched it to address the full station.  “We are going to reboot the computers now.  It will take a few minutes to bring them back online.  I will let you know when things are back up.”

She looked toward Ivan and nodded.  He responded by entering the prescribed commands on the keyboard.  In a few moments his terminal went blank and all the terminals in the control module and throughout the station went blank.  In response to the reboot command, all the lights on the station flashed off and the emergency lights snapped on.  The pumps, fans, motors and any other electrical devices shut off as the computers relinquished control over the station for these few moments, which seemed like an eternity to five of the six people on the station. 

Those who knew what was going on knew the risks they had just undertaken.  Jerry was not aware of the risks, or even why this was happening.  At the moment, he was only annoyed at having his concentration broken while he plotted his escape.

Susan held her breath while the computer silently executed its command program.  The display she stared at betrayed no information as to success, or even progress.  Susan could see Ivan at the console by the illumination of the emergency lights.  He was as frozen in time as she was.  She wondered what he was thinking about at this moment.  Her eyes darted about the room at each of the terminals hoping to see something that would indicate success.  Ivan’s voice coming out of the semi-darkness startled her, and she yelped.

“Aha!  Here it comes!” Ivan’s voice rang with relief as the display finally started to show some life.  Susan floated over behind him to watch the results of their efforts on the display.  Slowly the display began producing lines of words and numbers that she knew meant something to those who wrote the immense program that made the station function.  As the system seemed to gain momentum, they flashed by faster.  In an instant, the lights flickered back on.  The pumps and motors began coming back to life, as they could hear the level of background noise increasing slowly and steadily.  Finally, the display stopped with a small flow chart that Ivan had been waiting for.

“Ah, here we go,” he said, as he touched the display sending it off to yet another flow chart and ultimately waking the computer system even more.  “I think we are almost there.  It looks like all systems are back online, except for the communication system, as it should be.”

“How can we tell if the lockout command is disabled?” Susan asked, almost afraid to hear that it has not been disabled.

“The only way to tell is to fire the engines.  I will enter the commands for that in a moment.  I just want to let the computer finish its self-test.  If it passes the self-test, then at least the computer thinks it is okay.”

Susan moved back to the intercom.  “Looks like we are back online.  Hold tight, because we are going to execute a full burn in a minute or so.”

Paul and Nicholas pulled Alexander over against the bulkhead so that he, in his heavy suit, would not careen about the cabin once the burn started.  Then they moved to make sure that they would not get caught between him and the bulkhead.

Jerry was half in a trance, half asleep as the words, full burn, burrowed their way into his subconscious mind.  He wove them into his escape plan, as he saw himself hitting the throttle on the CRV control panel, following Susan’s orders to execute a full burn.  His drowsy eyes suddenly popped wide open as his subconscious mind handed back control to his conscious mind and the reality and origin of those words struck home.

“Noooooo!” Jerry screamed, as he tried to get to the hatch to stop Susan.  As he made his way to the hatch, the intercom popped out, “Burn in five…four…three…two…one!” Jerry heard a rumble surge through the station.  Before he could catch himself, he was slammed up against the bulkhead. 

Jerry shook his head to clear it and pulled open the hatch, sputtering profanity all the while.  Realizing that he could not stop the engines firing, he desperately headed to the CRV.  His cool and calculated plot to steal the CRV and bring Paul along was now forgotten.  He had only one thing on his frazzled mind and that was his version of self-preservation.  He would leave without them!  If Paul chose to stay with them, then it was his problem. 

Jerry had to pull himself through the station against the g-forces he was now feeling due to the acceleration of the station.  If he let go of a handhold and free-floated, he found the station moving out from under him.  He now had to concentrate on moving through the station as well as not trying to be discovered in his efforts to escape.

As Jerry approached Node 1 to get to the CRV, he heard Paul and Nicholas talking in the airlock, which was just off the node.  He froze and listened.  Their voices did not give an indication that they were moving out of the airlock, so he slowly peered around the corner of the hatch.  He had to pass through Node 1 and go down to Node 3 to get to the CRV, and that would fully expose him to anyone in the airlock who may be looking out into the module.  He slowly moved toward the hatch to Node 3, keeping an eye on the airlock hatch. 

When he was finally able to peer into the airlock, all he could see was Alexander’s back and Paul and Nicholas’ shadows.  In a flash, Jerry bolted down through the hatch and toward the CRV.  Everything looked as he had left it.  Very carefully, he opened the hatch to the airlock for the CRV.

Jerry was so focused on getting to the CRV that he did not notice the rumbling, which had been shaking the entire station, stopped when he opened the hatch.  In the control module, Ivan noticed immediately that the engines had shut down.  Susan did too, and was at his side in an instant.  “What’s going on?” she shouted.

“I am not sure!” Ivan said, as he frantically started to search the display and query the computer for an explanation for the engine shutdown.

Susan clenched her fists, as the Captain popped into her mind.  “Damn it!  I’ll bet this is the handiwork of that S.O.B. Mikhailovich!”

Ivan, in a calmer voice said, “I would not be so sure.  There is no way for him to get through to us now, and if the command he placed before was still working, we would never have been able to start the engines.  I…wait!  Here is something.”