Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX
CAN YOU HANDLE THE HEAT?

1320 HOURS GMT
NOVEMBER 19^th 2232
APPROX 910.2 MILLION KM FROM EARTH

DAY FIFTEEN

“That’s right,” Chief Engineer Dwight Bobblee confirmed, “We’ve tried retracting the transmitter back into the Nightingale, but it’s not budging.”

XO Luke Hunter glanced upward, where the centre ceiling of the Engineering Bay was a rectangular slit. There, a panel would open, bringing the communications transmitters, sensors and cameras back into the interior. Now, during maintenance, the platform above the stern refused to comply with controls, rendering many engineers purely baffled.

Hunter raised an eyebrow, “So, it was damaged all along?”

“Well,” Dwight begun to explain, “Our systems claimed that they were, but it appears some of the circuitry between has malfunctioned during the crash. It could take months to search for the problem’s roots.”

With perplexity swirling within him, Hunter nodded, attempting to formulate a solution.

Engineer Eric Phou materialized a minute later, holding a handheld screen, appearing beside Dwight and Luke. He extended his arms, gesturing to the screen; a detailed plan of the ESV Nightingale’s stern. Without words, Eric focused on the communication platform section, pointing toward a small inconspicuous box labeled ‘P-ECP’, which stood for Platform Emergency Control Panel. The engineer looked to Dwight, who simply read the man’s thoughts through his eyes.

“What is it?” Luke asked after another minute of silence, “Do we have a problem?”

“He is theorizing that, due to possible surface damage from the asteroid, the emergency control panel beside the platform was compromised,” Dwight clarified, “Our best chance is to go over and replace the circuitry inside.”

“Sounds simple enough. Why don’t we do that now?”

Eric shook his head slowly.

“What?”

“There’s no way to reach the panel interior from inside the ship,” Dwight looked to Eric, “He’s been complaining about that design flaw for years. It’s more than dangerous to go EVA outside, especially with the recent solar storm.”

Luke narrowed his eyes, “Our EVA suits are supposed to resist a lot of radiation.”

“But not a substantial burst of radiation. If you went out there and another flare ruptures,” Dwight raised his fingers and clicked them, “Poof.”

“Then how are we supposed to fix this?”

Chief Engineer Bobblee paused for a moment, then his eyes lit, an idea morphing. He reached for his earpiece, which he rarely wore, and donned it, contacting Jim Ramirez.

“Jim, this is Dwight.”

“Hey, man, what’s up?” The enthusiastic pilot replied, “Make it snappy, ‘cause I’m busy organizing tomorrow’s match.”

“What is our current speed?”

”Hold on, let me check…about 960,000 km/h.”

“We need you to decelerate to zero,” Dwight instructed, drawing an awkward expression from Luke Hunter.

“Zero? Why?” Jim curiously asked.

“We need to remain at a safe speed for exterior maintenance.”

“Oh…well the Commander won’t like the idea of delaying the course.”

“Damn. Where is he?”

“I’m not sure, why don’t you just contact him?”

Dwight disconnected, then called for Commander Grey, who was evidently asleep a few minutes beforehand. “Logan,” he muttered, answering the call.

“Commander, we’ve hypothesized why we can’t link up with Earth. The crash with the asteroid may have damaged the control panel beside the platform. We can’t repair it unless we bring it in, and to make it worse, we can’t bring it in because the panel is possibly damaged,” Around him, Engineers Eric Phou and Surev Salvatore surrounded, listening in intently, “The only way to fix it is to send out someone.”

“We can’t slow the ship down, Dwight,” Logan said, seeing where this was all going, “The crew is anxious to return home, and if we stop, they won’t be so pleasant about it.”

Dwight sighed, “We have to, otherwise it’ll be quite dangerous.”

“Use the safety cables, that’s what they’re there for,” Logan explained, “The electromagnetic field should protect whoever is close to the surface.”

The engineer sighed along with the rest, looking up to the ceiling. They had to ensure the systems were working perfectly. Otherwise, not only would the transmitters be damaged, but the other equipment such as sensors and cameras might be compromised as well; which would effectively mean their new data was inaccurate—something they could not afford.

There was no arguing with the Commander. Dwight nodded helplessly, “Fine. We’re conducting an EVA repair in thirty minutes.”

“I will be there,” said Logan, vanishing from the line subsequently.

Dwight shrugged to the rest of the engineers, knowing what had to be done now.

“We should really invest in repair drones.”

“I’ve put that suggestion up three times before. The ESN never responded,” Dwight replied.

The man sighed, moving over to one side of the Engineering Bay. There, he walked through a door to a storage room, where their EVA suits were all held, a line of ensembles ready to be used.

Engineer Surev came in a second later: “What do we do now?”

“Well, we’ll need a volunteer.”

“Volunteer? Hell, we all know what volunteer means,” Surev muttered with a dry laugh, “Dwight, we have to gather the entire crew and ask for a volunteer. This task seems like it’s simple enough for anyone to do.”

“Touché, Surev. I’m not in the mood to go swimming at 260,000 meters a second.”

“Yeah? Well I’ve got a wife back home. A whole family.”

“So do they, Surev. Everyone onboard has a family.”

“Everyone? What about Commander Grey?” Surev strode over to a suit compartment, releasing the lock on the storage cell. Its front panel, which had a rectangular viewing screen, slid open, a foggy mist escaping the compartment.

“Oh. Right. Except him. What happened again?” Asked a rather curious Dwight, “Weren’t both his parents in the military?”

“Yeah. Both KIA when he was twelve. He had an older brother, but he was drafted in and was also KIA. No living relatives since last year, when his grandmother passed.”

Dwight raised an eyebrow, “How the heck do you know this?”

Surev shrugged, “I’m a curious guy,” the engineer double-checked the suit to ensure there were no damages, specifically examining the body for any leaks.

“Should be wearing a white-coat then.”

“Hah! You know my dad was a scientist?”

The storage room door opened then, abruptly interrupting their conversation. Engineer Eric stepped in, emotionless as usual, and nodded to Dwight, awaiting instructions.

Surev finished his examination, and then sealed the suit compartment before following the other two engineers out of the room, forming a circle in the Engineering Bay’s entrance.

“Eric, go talk to the Commander, we need a crew meeting for this,” Dwight ordered after a minute or so of chatting, “Logan likes you, so you’re the best one for convincing the man.”

“What makes you think he’ll deny the meeting?” Surev responded with a long, sustained yawn.

“—I’ll do it,” Eric declared.

Dwight and Surev traded incredulous looks. Both looked back to Eric, with faces that simply asked: ‘What?’

“I’ll do it,” Eric reiterated, “I’ll perform the repair. It’s an engineer’s job. Not theirs.”

“Anyone can do it, Eric. You don’t have to go flying out there. It’s unsafe; God knows the type of debris we blast into at this speed.”

“The EM field is more than enough to protect me,” Eric replied confidently, “I will do it.”

Dwight hesitated for a few moments. If they somehow managed to lose Eric, that would be one less engineer, which would leave two out of four. The ship’s engines were already halved, and much of its equipment was either in need of repair or inspection.

They simply could not afford another loss.

But there was no compromise in Eric’s solid hazel eyes.

“Are you sure about this?” Dwight asked, “You know that if there’s a massive boulder flying around, and it crashes into the fuselage, there’s no way you would surv—“

“—I know.”

They stood for minutes, in silence, in peace. It took several more before Dwight finally nodded and reached for his earpiece.

“Commander? This is Dwight.”

“Yes, Dwight?”

“I’m moving the maintenance to 1410 HOURS, is that fine?”

“Do whatever you need to do to fix that transmitter, Dwight. Just call me right before you initiate. Logan out.”

Dwight turned to Eric and nodded, who simply nodded back and returned to the storage room to fetch the suit. Without another word, Surev walked off to prepare the maintenance.

This was risky. Sure, multiple safety cables and magnetic holds would keep Eric in place, and the special field coating the ship would repel space debris and mild radiation, but moving at the speed at over 700 times faster the speed of sound, and with a recent solar storm in the wake, Engineer Dwight Bobblee could not help but feel unsettled.

****************************************

1339 HOURS

“Hey, Monk, you okay?” Medical Doctor Stephanie Donovan asked politely, “Is everything okay?”

Doctor Monk took awhile before he glanced upward. His eyes were blank, as if he were a million miles away, distant in some other place, some other world or galaxy. The man averted his gaze downward again, as he looked at his own reflection through the reflective surface of a scalpel, gripped tightly within his fingers.

Stephanie moved over, her hand upon his shoulder. With a troubled sigh, she asked again: “Monk?”

He didn’t reply for an exact minute.

“What? Oh...yeah? Do you need me?” Monk asked mindlessly.

She raised an eyebrow, a mixture of curiosity and concern within her thoughts. Monk had been having some trouble lately, coping with the extended length of their return journey, and especially the abrupt disasters during that trip, initially designed to be as safe as possible.

“No, it’s not that. Are you okay?”

“What? Oh...yeah, sure.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Stephanie patted him on the shoulder, gently leaving the scene as she sighed once again. There was no true mystery to it. Doctor Monk Greene was falling apart. Back home, before he had left for this operation to Saturn, the third time he had been commissioned on the ESV Nightingale, his wife had divorced him, and had, to an extent, taken everything. All he had left was himself.

If only she could say Monk was the only one. It had been no surprise when many signed in for therapy sessions, regarding many of the incidents that have transpired over the few days.

“Okay, you take care, love,” she took one last look of concern, before leaving the man, who simply stared at himself.

Stared at the bloody version of his appearance, holding the still bloody blade that had taken Emmaline Yellow’s life.

He could not understand. He could not take it. It was no true secret that she and the commander had secretly been together. How could one man simply live the rest of his life, knowing that the one he loved the most willingly sacrificed themselves for their survival? How could he live on, without that one person who, above all else, was their reason for survival in the first place?

Monk Greene closed his eyes and took a breath.

He could never understand.

****************************************

1412 HOURS

“I miss grade school,” Ramirez commented with a chuckle.

“I don’t,” Sarah Watcher said beside him, “No way I’d go back in time to grade school.”

“What, your teacher sent you out into space, dangling on two thin cables while crap comes at you at every second?” Jim quipped with a grin, “Couldn’t have been that bad.”

Sarah laughed, subtly brushing her hand on his arm.

Vance Fridge, another scientist, appeared, “Enough with the tongue-wrestling, loverboy,” the man said, playfully slapping Jim on the back of the head.

“Alright,” Dwight began as he entered, “Just to clarify, this is just an inspection on the transmitter platform’s emergency control panel. We assume that it was compromised, somehow causing a chain reaction which damaged internal wiring. Before we can pull the transmitter in for inspection, we have to repair whatever damage has been caused on this panel, so that we can retract the platform,” Dwight patted Eric on the shoulder, who simply had no reaction to the gesture, “Eric Phou will conduct the operation.”

“How dangerous is this, Dwight?” Someone asked from the small crowd.

“It’s routine. The procedure is very similar to when we repair any surface damage to the ship,” Dwight responded.

“Why does Eric have to do it?” Another asked, visibly worried, “This sounds like it’s pretty dangerous.”

“Yeah, Eric’s a nice guy,” Jim whispered to Vance, who nodded with little hesitation.

“Let someone else do it!”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, pipe down!” Dwight shouted, his hands up, “Eric volunteered. He says he won’t change his mind, so there you go. We tried stopping him, but he won’t budge, so we might as well let him. Plus, it’s not such a dangerous mission. The odds of him being hit by space debris large enough to penetrate our EM shield or fried by a solar storm is very little. So stop worrying, he’ll be fine.”

Commander Grey arrived, receiving a few salutes from the navigation team.

“Sir,” Dwight regarded Logan, who nodded back.

“Is everything in order?” Logan inquired.

“Yes, sir.”

“Then let’s move.”

****************************************

1420 HOURS

Airlock activating. Main Cell blast-doors sealed. Stand-by for Flight Lieutenant approval.

Eric Phou The engineer tried to stretch in his EVA suit, which was designed for special movement during space walks, and calmed himself as the gravity of the situation settled in. Right now, all he could do was wait and hold onto the safety bar inside the Airlock chamber, which was too small for his liking. He gave a simple thumbs-up to the little window, to the rest of the crew, who watched anxiously for the operation. Commander Grey nodded, and then tapped his earpiece and informed Sarah Watcher to relay the signal to Jim.

Ramirez complied a moment later, the intercom voice returning instantly as he pressed a button that released the second-to-final locks on the aircraft.

Bridge confirmation received. Awaiting approval from Airlock Chamber and Commanding Officer.

Engineer Phou hit the green button inside, the second green-light within the airlock chamber coming to life, which was followed by Logan’s own thumbprint password with a nearby control panel terminal.

All prerequisites have been met. Lowering air level. Exterior door opening in T-Minus ten seconds.

“Has anyone ever done this before?” Jim asked aloud as he returned to the scene.

Logan, who had been with the ship through its entire life, shook his head.

T-minus five seconds.

T-minus three.

Two.

The airlock chamber was flooded with a gentle green, which heralded the ensuing ominous opening of the exterior door. As the gap increased, Eric himself was flooded with the sight of endless stars, endless space; endless possibilities.

“Okay, Eric, brief us through the intercom as you proceed.”

It took him some time before he stepped out, floating casually in a vacuum with nothing else but a few powerful cables holding him together with the ship. Although it didn’t appear like so to the ship’s crew, Eric’s own velocity was over 260,000 meters per second. Using the miniature navigational thrusters, Eric brought himself back toward the ship as he began to float away. The man dragged his feet and planted it flat onto the ship surface, immediately pasted onto the ship, indicating that the integrated magnetic safety holds were operational. It was not vital, but it would help.

“I am beginning to walk towards the damaged control panel,” Eric reported, “All EVA systems are operational.”

He began the rather long and tedious walk to the communications panel, each step drawing too much effort as he struggled to snap on and off along the route.

“I am now walking along the route, the magnetic foot grapple is working perfectly.”

Dwight shook his head and reached for the intercom, “Eric, you don’t have to broadcast every single thing. We have you on camera.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry,” said the hardly embarrassed man, moving off slowly to finally reach the control panel in exactly five minutes, “Okay, I have arrived at the presumed damage CP. Initiating repair routines now.”

Eric reached over to touch the panel, and opened it by depressing two buttons firmly, revealing a screen and a keypad hardly functional. He relayed the information to the engineering team, who simply nodded and bade him to continue. The spacewalker looped the tip of his finger around a handle, and with all the strength he could muster and exert at such conditions, yanked an emergency release button. He tapped it and removed the CP, whilst examining the underlying circuitry for any damages.

He wasn’t surprised to find it compromised. Now all he had to do was just to polish the circuitry, and replace the panel, then activate the emergency communications platform retraction system. It wouldn’t be too difficult. The panel’s damaged circuitry was somehow conflicting with their interior controls to the platform, which denied them the ability to retract the platform for inspection.

****************************************

“Oh God!” someone exclaimed from behind. The crew spun around a full 180 degrees to face the incident. Medical Doctor Stephanie Donovan was before the Medical Bay entrance, her eyes filled with terror and turmoil.

Logan was the first to move, quickly arriving beside Dr. Donovan to discover a sight that shocked him to his very core, a spectacle that would haunt him for the rest of his life. The rest of the ship’s inhabitants were even more stunned.

Leaning against a wall, his body mutilated and gruesomely decorated with blood, was a grotesque Doctor Monk Greene, a scalpel still protruding from his belly, both hands out to the side as if he was assaulted by someone.

“Oh, god. Oh my god. Oh my god,” Stephanie swerved to the side, “Oh god! I need to lie down…”

“Sarah!” Jim cried out.

Everyone turned around to find Chief Petty Sarah Watcher unconscious, her fainting fall just barely cushioned by Ramirez’s quick reactions. Everyone remained dead still. So still that they appeared even more lifeless than Monk’s own bloody corpse.

Oh, sh—what the hell do I do? Commander Grey juggled the panicking thoughts inside him, never experiencing any of this before. Oh, god! We have to get the crew out of here. This is going to destroy their spirit—Damn it! Damn it! Calm down, Logan. Calm the hell down!

Doctor Erin Baker, who had seen worse, was one of the first to recover, and XO Luke Hunter, who apparently had seen even worse, followed her as they went to examine Monk’s motionless body. Splayed all over like a disgusting meal of over-cooked spaghetti, or the dead body of an unfortunate prey, they tried their best to conceal his body, while Luke took the liberty to close the dead man’s eyes.

“No!” Logan snapped as soon as they began moving Monk, “Don’t—I mean, yes. Do. Please, get him out of here.”

“Monk…damn it! Why?! Why is this all happening?!” Jim Ramirez shouted angrily, “Damn it, we are supposed to be sa—“

“—that’s enough, Lieutenant! Everyone back to their stations, now!” Logan shouted in a forceful tone, his expression now an intimidating scowl, “If I see anyone out of their stations without my permission, they will be severely punished. If you know anything about this, you better damn well tell me!”

“Sir, I…” Dr. Baker began to say, until Logan snapped again, causing her to fall back a step.

“What the hell do you want?”

“I don’t think it was…murder, sir. Monk has been feeling quite…well, I diagnosed him with clinical depression, sir. His life was falling apart already—“

“I don’t want to hear about his problems now, Doctor. Get to your station. I will talk to you about this when I have the time,” Commander Grey turned to find Jim, Sarah and a few other still in the area, “Do I need to repeat my orders? Move it!”

“But, she’s unconscious…she needs to—“

“—I don’t give a damn, Ramirez! Get her to Baker and back to your post! Now!”

Dwight darted into the room suddenly, his eyes riddled with fear and shock, but not apparently of Monk’s death, “Commander! Surev detected a massive dose of solar radiation on our way. We have to get Eric back in, but he’s not complying with me!”

“Shit! Get out of my way!” Logan grunted, shoving him aside, “God damn it!”

He returned to the previous room and contacted Eric.

“This is your Commander; get your ass in here, that’s an order.”

“I can’t do that,” came the unusually calm reply.

“That is a direct order, Eric, get in, now!”

“No, sir. If this equipment is further damaged without me properly repairing it, we may never be able to recover the platform,” Eric explained as he proceeded to continue his repair routines, “I am nearly finished.”

“Damn…How sure are you of this, Eric? Because you better be damn sure.”

“If he finishes repairs, he won’t make it in time. I guarantee you that. He needs to start moving now, sir,” Dwight warned, his eyes hardly revealing any exaggerations, “He will die.”

Logan cursed, punched the nearby wall and groaned as loud as he could. This was all spinning out of control. Too fast. Too much.

“Get in here, Eric! I don’t give a damn about the panel; you get your ass in here, now!”

Eric Phou refused to reply for minutes as he finished off his routine.

“I’m already done here, I’m going to start movi—eeurch….eurkk…uuckkk………..”

“Eric? Eric?”

Silence was their reply.

****************************************

If you are reading this then I am already dead. Firstly, I would like to address that I was the first to detect the incoming wave of solar radiation. I already knew it was about to arrive, and we only had enough time to repair and that it would take the man’s life. Considering many of you have families and have a reason to return to Earth, I took the liberty to volunteer and program the detectors to veil further information regarding the solar storm. This will probably explain why you have likely not detected the wave that has killed me. You must also understand that I had to do this. As I supervised the design of much electronics on this ship, that panel would not have survived another large dose of radiation, which would further cause it to malfunction, further compromising our own internal systems. To repair it means to prevent this. The Nightingale has many flaws, and I request that they may be rectified for the safety of this ship’s honorable crew.

I understood the risks, I understood what would happen, and I took it with thought, do not blame yourselves.

Please, when you arrive back to Earth, if she is still alive and well, tell my sister I love her and that I hope the best for her and her aspiring music career.

Eric Phou

****************************************

Dearest Erin,

I am sorry.

-M