Authors: R Davison
XI
Life on Earth was rapidly changing. Hundreds of miles from the epicenter of the impact zones people were contending with showers of red-hot debris consisting of everything from fragments of buildings, roads and people, to cars, trees and earth—tons and tons of earth. This rain of fire launched enormous fires on the ground and elevated the temperature of the surrounding air to hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit, causing anything combustible to burst into flame, which created more dust to be fed into the atmosphere.
The sun was blotted out. Noontime looked like midnight except for the light given off by the fires and the numerous bolts of lightening. There was an eerie ribbon of light that crept in around the periphery of the cloud, which stretched to the horizon. The winds that were generated by the massive thermals spawned numerous tornadoes and severe thunderstorms sprung from the interaction of the super-heated air with the relatively cooler air at the front edge of the blast envelope. Civil defense organizations ineffectively rallied in the face of these insurmountable challenges. Those who understood what happened realized they were fighting a losing battle. They might win a local battle today, but in the long run, globally, everyone was going to lose.
The coastal cities and towns were submerged and debris washed miles inland. Much of the remains were pulled back out to sea as the water retreated from the immense tidal waves created by the ocean impact. The western coastlines of Europe and Africa prepared for large tsunamis, as did southern England and the northeastern coast of South America. The Bahamas no longer existed. Cuba, Haiti and Puerto Rico were devastated by the huge tidal waves. People there saw the flash, heard and felt the sonic booms of the impact to the north, but did not realize just what that would mean to them in the very near future. Many were caught totally unaware as the ocean waters receded only to be followed by a massive wall of water that suddenly appeared, leaving them nowhere to run.
The seismic activity spawned by the impacts leveled structures for hundreds to thousands of miles around the impact zone that might otherwise had survived the brutal blast front. Initial tremors were off the Richter scale as the shock waves rippled through the Earth’s upper crust. These triggered numerous quakes from fault lines that were already under stress from natural terrestrial forces. This in turn extended the area of devastation to regions thousands of miles from the impact zones. The Indian Ocean basin shuddered with the focused shock waves from the impacts, which occurred diametrically opposite to it, in the southern United States. The force was sufficient to create small tsunamis that headed toward Indonesia and India. The monster had reached around the world with its destructive power.
The upper and lower prevailing winds obligingly began to spread the dust and debris that were airborne. The massive fires that burned throughout the forests, countryside and cities began to generate millions of tons of particles that would join in blocking the sunlight from reaching the surface of the planet. Huge thermal updrafts sent these particles tens of thousands of feet into the atmosphere. This created enormous winds at the edge of the firestorms that sucked air from the surrounding atmosphere, which in turn carried more dust and debris to feed the enormous fires. This process spread glowing embers hundreds of miles from the center of the firestorm starting fires in cities and forests unaffected by the original impact.
Susan made her way up to the flight deck where she found Jerry, floating in the far corner of the aft flight deck, staring out the observation port. She made a wide path so as not to disturb him and settled into the pilot’s seat to check the shuttle status readouts on the computer screen. So far the shuttle seemed to be functioning as well as could be expected. All critical systems were nominal. Susan ignored Jerry, but felt quite on edge with him there and she jumped when he spoke unexpectedly.
“Do you think we will all make it back?” he asked in a very cold, distant voice, still staring out the viewport at the night side of the planet.
Susan hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out where he may be leading her with this question. Seeing no obvious ambush awaiting her, she answered, “If we are lucky and all goes well, we might make it back.”
“It looks so peaceful down there on the dark side. The people in Europe are lucky and won’t have to deal with the problems the States are having.” Jerry spoke as if he were talking to himself, ignoring Susan’s presence.
“Lucky is a relative term. They just have a longer time to think about the end. They will not escape the inevitable.” Susan kept her focus on the display and did not look at Jerry as she responded to him.
“Were we lucky? Or are we the unlucky ones?” Jerry probed, still not taking his eyes from the viewport.
Susan sensed that this exchange was going in the wrong direction, at least not one she wanted to have with Jerry alone. She wanted to ask him what the purpose of this conversation was, but thought better of it and after a few moments offered, “Well, we are lucky to be alive, but I guess one could say we are all unlucky with the circumstances we now have to contend with on Earth.”
“Are we lucky enough to get back to Earth?” Jerry inquired again.
Susan squirmed at hearing the question again; how could she answer it any differently, she wondered. She shot a glance in Jerry’s direction and found him still in the same position he was in when she entered the flight deck, which was unnerving in its own right. She tried harder to conjure up an answer that might appease Jerry and bring this awkward conversation to an end, but it was to no avail. The words she sought remained elusive and the silence grew unbearable.
Jerry finally broke the silence as he pushed away from the window and turned toward Susan. Susan’s defense systems immediately went on full alert, and she was feeling increasingly uncomfortable being alone with him on the flight deck. “I think we should land in Florida,” he said in a very emotionless voice.
Susan was very confused by Jerry’s remark. He knew of the damage to Florida. She began to wonder if he had lost all sense of reality. Slowly she tried to back out of the seat, but Jerry had moved so that she would need to push him out of the way if she wanted to move. Realizing this, Susan held her position but was ready to move at the first opportunity. She quietly offered, “I am not sure that Florida will be available as a landing site. We will know more once we get to the space station and can use the radio.” Susan could feel beads of sweat forming on her face as she felt Jerry’s eyes piercing through her and could smell his stale breath as his breathing became heavier. She did not want to aggravate the situation by telling Jerry to move or by pushing past him for fear that he would snap and do something violent. Ivan’s words of caution about pushing Jerry echoed in her head. Right now she had no intention of pushing him verbally or physically. She just wanted to get off the flight deck.
Susan noticed the intercom switch on the control panel. As calmly and nonchalantly as she could, she reached over and threw the switch. “Ivan, we need to make a course correction, could you come up to the flight deck.” Jerry immediately pulled back and without a word left the flight deck, passing Ivan on the way.
“What course change do we need?” Ivan asked in a puzzled tone as he settled into the seat next to Susan.
“There is none. I needed help. Jerry had me pinned in my seat and I was not sure if he was going to let me out. Thanks for coming to my rescue.”
“Did he threaten you?” Ivan asked, very concerned.
“No, not in so many words. His actions and tone of voice said a lot more than he did verbally. I’m really worried that he has gone over the edge. I’m half tempted to sedate and restrain him.”
“Is that what you really want to do?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe I’m just overreacting to him. All this seems so surreal, like it’s some bad dream and I am going to wake up any moment now.”
“If this is a dream, then I am having the same one you are,” Ivan said with a weak smile. “I will talk to Paul and we will keep a closer eye on Jerry. He has gone out of his way to avoid Alexander and Nicholas. If it remains that way, fine.”
“When you get a chance, you should let them know what is going on. I don’t want them to be caught unaware if something were to happen.”
“I will do that. Are you sure you are all right now?”
“I’ll be alright. The ship looks okay and we are still on course. One more hour and we should be docking with the station. I could use the room! I don’t know about you, but this shuttle has been feeling quite claustrophobic recently.”
“Yes, I must agree with that. New scenery will be much appreciated. If you do not need me then I will return to assisting Alexander with setting up the oxygen generator.” With a nod from Susan, Ivan left.
After a few minutes scanning the computer displays and instrument panel, Susan found herself staring at the Earth below. She watched the pinpoints of light that dotted the surface rapidly pass out of her field of view. Briefly, she tried to count the number of dots, but quickly gave up as the shuttle was moving too fast for her to keep up. She reminded herself that those little dots of light reflected hundreds, to millions, of people living, breathing, existing and dying on the planet. The daily routines to which they were so enslaved would soon be changed forever by the cataclysm that was unfolding on the other side of the planet. How long before they noticed that their daylight wasn’t quite as bright as it was the day before, or that the days were getting cooler when they should be getting warmer?
As Susan’s thoughts wandered, her focus on the planet blurred and she jumped with a shout as she suddenly saw a woman’s face looking in at her through the window! For an instant she saw Jill’s face staring at her from the other side of the window! As reality took over and she began to calm down, she carefully looked into the window again and laughed as she saw her own reflection laughing back at her. She moved closer to the window and took a few moments to study the image staring back. All Susan could see was a face that looked drained, pale and much older than she remembered. It’s no wonder I jumped, she thought to herself, looking like this I would scare anyone. She pulled away from the window and slowly settled back into the seat. With much effort, she forced herself to scan the instruments and computer displays to check on the status of the shuttle.
Until they got to the space station, the shuttle was their only lifeboat, as tattered as it was. They had no more room for surprises, so Susan carefully checked the displays for anything that would indicate a problem. This was important for all on board, but it also helped Susan stay busy and keep her mind off the plight of those on Earth, especially her family. She felt that she could easily end up worse than Jerry if allowed too much time to think about such nonessential things.
A cheer rose up from the middeck telling Susan that they must have had success with the Russian oxygen generator. She closed out the last screen of data on the computer, and confident that everything was looking nominal, she made her way to the middeck. Floating through the hatch to the middeck, she suddenly realized that she was very tired and just wanted to sleep.
The shuttle sped along on its well-ordered trajectory; totally oblivious to the trials and tribulations of the humans inside and the chaos erupting on the planet below. It obediently followed the laws of physics first, and the commands of its crew second. The same laws that allowed the shuttle to follow this invisible path that would eventually bring it to the space station, also guided the destructive asteroid to Earth.
These laws of nature show no favor to animate or inanimate objects, yet ultimately decide the fate of all. The human species, with its ability to understand these laws, still has no control over them. Mankind can only labor within the framework defined by these laws and suffer the consequences when they try to push beyond those boundaries. The fragile vessel that was carrying these people was constructed with the best of their technology, yet it was no match for the forces that nature could unleash. It will serve its purpose to protect and transport its inhabitants where they want to go, but can do no more than that. Once it has delivered the crew to the station, its usefulness will be at an end. It had lost the honor of returning the crew back to Earth when it suffered the damage wrought by the asteroid.
The shuttle crossed the terminator between night and day and it majestically reflected the brilliant sunlight off its white tiles. Damaged or not, the ship still exhibited grace and elegance as it flew through the sunlight at more that seventeen thousand miles an hour. Soon though, the shuttle would be dwarfed and out-shone by the space station in all of its unrestrained glory. The station was already shining brilliantly on the horizon directly in the path of Endeavour.
XII
Ivan settled himself into the pilot’s seat on the right side of the flight deck and scanned the controls as Susan took her place in the commander’s seat on the left. Paul, Alexander and Nicholas floated behind them on the aft flight deck. Jerry was still holed up in his sleeping compartment having rebuffed Paul’s efforts to have him join everyone on the flight deck. The shuttle was about twenty minutes from its rendezvous with the station, and it was time to start to fine-tune the approach.
Even at this distance, the station looked huge. Its large solar arrays reflected the sunlight making it look more like a mini-star than a space station. The crew could only make out gross details of the structure as the station beamed the sun’s rays at them; only after the shuttle moved out of the direct path of the reflected rays could they make out the entire complex. Even though it was large, it still presented an image of an extremely delicate structure, something more like a work of stained glass art that might hang in a museum and would shatter if handled too roughly. The purplish-blue solar arrays projected out from the station like petals of a flower. Tying the arrays and modules together was a main truss and spars that resembled the web of a mechanical spider that could only weave its sticky web in straight lines. This collection of steel, aluminum and silicon could never support itself on the surface of Earth, but in orbit, in the realm of micro-gravity, it was sturdy enough. To the crew and passengers of Endeavour, it was an oasis in the middle of a very harsh desert.
“What a sight for sore eyes,” Susan commented.
“Yes, indeed,” Ivan replied. Turning to the cosmonauts behind him he asked, “You have never seen the station in person, have you?”
“No, only in pictures,” Alexander responded. “They, of course, did not do it justice.”
“Well comrades, I think you may find it has a bit more room than MIR had,” Ivan added.
“More room, yes, but more character than MIR? I am not so sure!” Captain Zuyev teased with a big smile.
“What character? It has a shower! Did MIR have a shower?” Ivan tossed out as he focused on the instrumentation to prepare for the docking maneuver.
The station was rapidly getting larger as they closed the distance. Ivan gradually slowed the shuttle’s forward momentum until they were merely crawling at a few feet per second. Everyone searched the station for signs of damage, not knowing if it had escaped the deadly plume of debris that had ravaged Endeavour and MIR. Ivan very slowly and precisely eased the shuttle around the station to observe it from all angles. Everything looked normal from what they could see. All the solar panels were intact and the modules that made up the core of the station still looked like new. Once everyone was comfortable with what they saw, Ivan continued with the docking maneuver.
Slowly and very methodically, Ivan brought the shuttle in closer to the docking port on Node 3 in the center of the station, off the U.S. Habitation module. The CRV was docked to the same node and was just as they had left it. There was silence on the flight deck as Ivan eased the shuttle in closer under the massive structure. Susan called out distance and velocity numbers as they glided into position under the docking port. With all forward momentum stopped, Ivan then moved to the aft flight deck to use the docking controls for the final maneuver that would mate Endeavour to the International Space Station. Paul, Alexander and Nicholas shuffled about to make room for Ivan and to attentively watch the last stage of the docking process. Susan sat holding her breath, knowing that the consequences of not being able to dock with the station would seal their fate. With a slight thump and shudder the shuttle engaged the docking port and with one more push from the thrusters, the docking clamps locked in place. Endeavour was now part of the station again. Susan began to breathe again.
The tension on the flight deck melted in a collective sigh of relief with the last sound of the docking clamps engaging and with the positive indication of a successful docking by the instruments. Alexander and Nicholas applauded Ivan’s piloting skills and gave him a hefty pat on the back that almost sent him careening into the control panel.
“Well done, Ivan,” Susan said. “You’ll always be able to get a job as a chauffer after you leave the space program if you keep up your skills.”
“I got most of my experience parallel parking in Moscow when I was younger,” Ivan replied with grin.
“Well, gentlemen, let’s see if the mice are home,” Susan said as she floated though the hatch to the middeck. Ivan, Paul and the two cosmonauts followed Susan’s lead and headed toward the airlock, which would lead them to the station. To their surprise they found the hatch to the airlock open and Jerry already inside.
“Jerry! What are you doing?” Susan yelled into the airlock.
“We’re here. Let’s get this over with and go home,” came Jerry’s muffled reply.
“Jerry, you can’t just waltz right in! There are proper procedures that need to be followed before…” Susan did not finish her sentence before they all heard the whoosh of air as the pressure between the shuttle and the station equalized when Jerry opened the docking hatch door to the station. “Damn you, Jerry!” Susan spat as she pushed her way into the airlock after Jerry.
By the time Ivan and the rest of the group got into the station they found Jerry in the Habitation module rummaging through the food lockers for something to eat, while Susan chewed him out for breaking protocol on entering the station. He seemed totally oblivious to her ranting and raving and proceeded to munch on a snack bar he found.
“I want you out of my way and to keep your hands off everything!” she shouted. “Is that clear?”
“I hear you,” Jerry mumbled with his mouth full. “When are we leaving the station?”
“When I say so! Not a moment sooner!” Susan stormed out of the galley past the others who, taken by surprise by Susan’s ferocity, floated there dumbfounded.
Susan was halfway through the next module when the dim lighting made her realize that the station was still in a standby mode to conserve power. They would have to power up the station and bring all the systems online before they could contact someone on Earth. She floated silently in the module and tried to calm down and compose herself before she returned to the galley to get the rest of the crew. The station felt humongous compared to the shuttle’s cramped quarters and with everyone in the galley it was a little spooky moving around the dark, empty station by herself. The original crew of three astronauts evacuated the station earlier due to a virus that had incapacitated them and forced them to take the Soyuz capsule and return to Earth. Susan’s shuttle mission brought the CRV to the station, which would allow the station to come to its maximum crew compliment of seven people, instead of just the three that the Soyuz capsule could evacuate. They were supposed to come on board with the next shuttle launch in a month, but now that was not to be.
Susan contemplated the piece of human technology she floated in. Destiny, the lab module built by the United States, had carefully fitted racks of instruments and computers, displays and gauges, which all seemed to be staring back at her, waiting for her to bring them to life. The air in the room had a warm, stale smell to it. Susan smiled with the thought of how nice it would be to open a window and let in some fresh air. She could hear the occasional electronic beep from some piece of equipment that diligently kept on working when everyone left.
As her eyes adjusted to the dim light she began to make out more details in the room around her. There were stations with glass booths, some that were in complete disarray, as if the operator had just dropped everything and fled. Other stations were very neat and clean, appearing as if they had never been used. Next to one station, someone had pasted a photo of a dog sleeping by a glowing fireplace. Susan floated over to the photo and carefully caressed it, trying to draw some comfort from the two-dimensional animal. She felt nothing, but smiled with the thoughts of the many pets she had throughout her childhood, how they brought her comfort when she was sad and lonely. Her warm thoughts faded as she looked about the room and saw Ivan floating toward her from the direction of the galley.
“I hope I did not startle you,” Ivan said in a quiet voice.
“No. I saw you coming.”
“I did not hear anything after you left the galley and was becoming concerned that something might be wrong.”
“I’m okay. I got this far and realized that we had to power up the station. Actually, I was headed back to get you to help me with that.”
“Sure, I will head up to Zvezda and begin the power-up procedure.”
“Thanks. Where are the rest?”
“They are talking with Jerry for the moment.”
“Jerry’s talking to Alexander and Nicholas? That’s a surprise. I didn’t think Jerry would say more than hello to them.”
“Well, they thought that they could keep him occupied while I went to look for you and I guess they found something in common to talk about. It is actually more like they and Paul are talking and Jerry is ignoring them.”
Susan and Ivan floated through the lab module and on to Zvezda. Ivan quickly located the checklist to bring the station online and reviewed it with Susan. It took a few minutes to locate the proper control panels, and after about ten minutes the environmental control system was brought up to full capacity. A few minutes later, the lights in all the modules were activated along with the computers, communication equipment and other electronic systems. Ivan studied the readout on a computer display that gave the station’s status. Susan joined him at the console.
“Everything looks fine,” Ivan said to Susan, as she hovered beside him. “All systems are nominal, and there are no fault indications showing.”
“Good! Let’s hope it stays that way. What is the fuel status for the booster engine?” Susan asked. She noted to herself how the air had lightened from the warm, odorous atmosphere she encountered in the Destiny module. She enjoyed the coolness of the air currents that were caressing her face as she hovered beside Ivan.
“Let me see, that should be under this menu here,” Ivan said as he reached out his finger to the touch-sensitive display. Instantly, the display changed presenting a new list of information, including one entry that said:
FUEL RESERVES
. Ivan touched the appropriate location and the screen changed again, but this time it presented them with a colorful graphic showing the fuel status of the booster engine and each of the steering thrusters on the station. The display indicated one hundred percent reserves for the main engine and no less than ninety-five percent for the thrusters.
“Why are you interested in the fuel status?” Ivan finally asked.
“We need to boost the station up as far as we can, as soon as possible.”
“Do you really feel that is necessary? We won’t be here that long.”
“We don’t know how long we will be on the station, and according to the numbers we have about six hours before we will hit the debris clouds. The longer we wait and stay at this altitude, the worse our chances are that we will encounter some of the junk that was thrown into orbit by the asteroid.”
“You know that this is not going to go over very well with Jerry.”
“Yes, I know. I thought about that. He will just have to get used to the idea. We can’t risk everyone by just jumping into the CRV and de-orbiting, it’s going to follow a preprogrammed flight path and who knows where that is going to take us. We have to establish contact with ground control to find out what the real situation is like down below and we’ll need information as to where we can set down. We’ll also need to map the location of the orbital debris cloud as well as the debris plumes that exist in the atmosphere before we can leave in the CRV. We don’t want to pass through all that dirt coming in on reentry.”
“It all makes sense to me and you, but I am afraid that Jerry is going to be very hard to convince at this time,” Ivan said, as he pressed the display again and brought up a new screen showing the status of the batteries and solar arrays. He pointed out to Susan how the display showed the current state of charge on the battery banks and the amount of power being generated by the solar arrays.
“Are we ready to phone home?” Susan asked moving over to the communications station.
“Everything is up and running. Station status is all green,” Ivan replied as he floated over to Susan.
“Well, here goes nothing,” Susan brought up the frequency display for the communication system and selected the frequency for Mission Control in Houston.
Ivan looked at the display, then back at Susan. Hesitantly he said, “Susan, they probably will not respond from Houston.”
“I know,” she replied in a resigned voice, “I thought I would give them a try just in case. You know, always hoping for the best.”
“Mission Control, this is Commander Susan Corin on board the International Space Station. Do you copy?”
The speakers spewed static in response to her call. Susan stared at the floor as she resigned herself to the fact that Houston probably did not exist anymore. She turned to Ivan, “Maybe you should just try to contact the Russian control center.”
“Okay,” Ivan punched in the frequency code for the Russian counter part of NASA’s Mission Control in Korolev, a city located about five hundred miles southeast of St. Petersburg. This facility was established specifically to work with the International Space Station. Taking the microphone from Susan, he proceeded to identify the station and himself in Russian and waited for a reply. They were treated to the same hiss of static as they received before. Ivan and Susan looked at each other in bewilderment.