Expedition 63 Box Set

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“And how are we going to land if we don’t know what’s safe to land on and what’s not?” John pointed out. Eli flinched and John felt like an asshole, hot with shame. The situation needed to be made perfectly clear for his crew, though. “Is it even safe to breathe down there? By the sheer volume of cloud cover, I’d guess most of the nukes available were fired off.”

“It depends on the type of weapon used,” Eli interjected. “Dirty bombs wouldn’t do this much damage because of how small the blast is, though everything up to a Tsar Bomba has varying degrees of explosive force. Plus, we have the EMP problem to contend with.”

It was a rhetorical question, John wanted to tell him. It didn’t matter what was used. The green-grey of the clouds, like a storm that spawns tornadoes, meant nothing good. No genius was needed to know that, and there were a couple available on the Station, Eli among them.

“Does it really make any difference?” Saito demanded, harsh with the tears his friend held back with a whole bunch of discipline. That rigid clench of his fists gave Saito’s control away every time.

Eli dropped his chin to his chest and sighed. The sound held every ounce of the weary fear John kept caged in his ribs. He was sure they all felt exactly like that. “No.”

“No,” Saito parroted back with a glare shot like a laser at Eli’s downturned face. “If we go down there, we chance a slow, painful death of radiation poisoning. Added to that, any survivors would overwhelm us for the materials and supplies in the Soyuz.”

“I think it’s better to take the chance,” Turlach broke in, brogue already thick enough to use as gravy on his momma’s mash potatoes. “There are places safe from radiation because of geography and climate where people won’t be savage animals.”

John shook his head. “Even if we knew where those places were, there’s no one on the ground to help us change the trajectories on the Soyuz. Those are preprogrammed.”

“You can pilot it down on manual or Jason can reprogram the entry,” ‘Lach said.

“It’s not that simple. We still need to have someone on Earth to help us adjust coordinates and tell us the weather, as well as work with the locals to pick us up.” John shook his head. There were too many ways something like that could go wrong, especially if they wouldn’t have clear skies over wherever they decided to go. “Honestly, we’re safer up here.”

“Maybe we should try to abort mission,” Jason said.

John whipped his around and pinned Jason to the spot with his eyes. What the hell was Jason talking about? They had more reasons to stay put than they did to leave. Jason had to know that.

“We can’t stay on the Station for long either. We’ll run out of supplies eventually.” And damn Jason for his reasonable explanation.

“Please tell me how we’re supposed to get down.” John coated his words with sweetness, but he knew his tone didn’t hide the sarcasm that teemed under the surface.

Jason narrowed his eyes at John. He loved it when Jason pushed back, under normal circumstances, but this was the worst time for it.

“Don’t give me that tone, sir,” Jason bit out. “I’m being practical.”

John deflated with a groan. “I hate it when you say things that way.”

“Then don’t be an asshole,” Jason shot back.

“Okay, children.” Yakecen tapped John on the shoulder and John cut off his acidic response by clamping his mouth shut hard enough to clack his teeth together.

“Sorry,” Jason offered, eyes cast down at the floor.

“It’s okay,” John told him, and the smile he gave Jason felt real brittle around the edges. He hoped no one noticed. “So, we can’t return to Earth and we can’t stay on the Station.”

“That’s about the size of it,” ‘Lach said, and he seemed a lot less strident than before.

John turned to away from Jason’s drawn face, heartache pulling hard at him. That look was never supposed to be on Jason’s face again, John had sworn to keep it away after his sister’s death. “Ideas?”

“I still think we should abandon the Station and take our chances.” ‘Lach crossed his arms and scowled in John’s direction. He was pretty sure if ‘Lach’s feet were on the ground, his communication officer would be kicking the floor with the tip of his right foot. It was like a bounce, but with toes instead of the heel.

“And I’m happy to do just that as soon as you find a safe place for us to land, and a way to land without guidance.” John was firm on this. Just the thought of his crew touching down in the middle of some bombed out shithole, of Jason stuck in that and possibly poisoned with radiation, scared the hell out of him.

“Maybe we could hack into the satellites and redirect them to look at the Earth,” Eli popped in. “Those are more than powerful enough to tell us what’s happening on the ground! And, they can give us coordinates on any place we find that’s not a hazard.”

Saito moved and put himself in the middle of the module. John watched him, the crushing sadness on his face just as bad on his heart as Jason’s. These guys were his best friends, they had seen and done so much together, and except for his relationship with Jason, they had all shared everything with each other.

Saito probably couldn’t handle looking at the decimated world under their feet. “We can, but there’s no way to do that until we can actually see the ground. Besides, we have to hack the satellites and take them over.”

“If no one is able to watch the security for any of them, I should be able to manage it,” Yakecen mused, cheek pressed into one hand and fist propped against his hip. “Jason needs to rewire a couple of things for me so I can remote uplink without Mission Control.”

“Awesome!” ‘Lach turned on Yakecen and swept him up in a hug that was more tackle than anything. “We’ll be home on solid ground within a week!”

Yakecen hugged ‘Lach back with a consoling look. “Maybe? It depends on how much fallout has to come down out of the atmosphere. Debris might stay for a few days, up to a few decades.”

That was enough of that. John mentally pulled out his command voice and put his foot down. Well, he would if he wasn’t in zero gravity. “‘Lach, unless we can find a safe way down, we’re not going to leave the Station. That’s a good way to end up dead. I will not allow anyone to leave without a plan that gives us a viable chance of survival.”

“There’s really no rush, ‘Lach,” Saito pointed out with a gentle hand on ‘Lach’s shoulder. The second ‘Lach released Yakecen, Saito drew him away with an arm around his broad shoulders.

John smiled. “He’s right. We’re scheduled to be up here for six more months. No reason to leave yet.”

‘Lach glared at him. John glared right back. Saito turned ‘Lach away from the rest of the crew and murmured something into his ear. The tension in ‘Lach’s shoulders eased, so John allowed himself to settle into a less intimidating posture. ‘Lach was a big man, not tall, but solid. If it came down to a fight, which it wouldn’t because they’re professionals above all, John was pretty sure ‘Lach would do some damage.

There was a defiant glint in ‘Lach’s eyes when he turned back around, and even Saito’s restraining hand had no real effect on the Irishman. “We will be leaving though. I refuse to stay here when my family is in danger and I can help.”

“It depends on a lot of things, ‘Lach,” Jason chimed in. He came up to John’s side in an unmistakable front of solidarity. “I mean, no, we literally cannot stay here for the rest of our lives, because the Station won’t last that long. On the other hand, we have to hold out until the situation on the ground isn’t toxic anymore. Who knows how long that will be in actual terms?”

“Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still contamination zones,” Eli pointed out in hushed tones, but he stayed by the window, eyes out at the vast planet below. “Chernobyl is still irradiated. It might be a decade or more before any place is safe.”

Yakecen hissed. “The Station, as it is now with no further upgrades, will last five, maybe.”

“Then we leave and take our chances, now.” Turlach’s face took on a grim glare and all of it was directed at John. “Better to be on the ground with possible resources. Up here, we’ve got what we got and nothing else.”

John bared his teeth, angry at ‘Lach’s stubborn streak, angry that Yakecen and Eli brought the conversation back to the severity of the nuclear wasteland and their tenuous position. Of all the times for ‘Lach to get intractable about something, this wasn’t it and John wanted to punch him, a primal dominance display to make ‘Lach back down. They weren’t animals though and if it devolved to that, they were sure to die up here. “You forget, Earth is a fishbowl, just like the Station. At least up here, we have clean air, water, and food. We can figure out how to make the Station last if we need to.”

“But everyone is dying down there!” Turlach’s shout was swallowed by the insulated walls and the uncaring vacuum beyond them. “We have to help!”

“We can’t do anything,” John tried, as calm and reasonable as he could manage in the face of ‘Lach’s anger. A hand pressed hard into the middle of his back, a steady presence. Thank all his lucky stars Jason was with him. He could face this with Jason at his side. He just had to get ‘Lach to see things from his perspective. This was going to hurt his friend badly. “Chances are all of our friends and families are already dead.”

Eli choked on a moan and Yakecen cursed something in his native tongue. Saito’s color drained right before his eyes, but Turlach turned an ugly purple-ish shade, teeth grit in rage. If he believed in God, he was sure he’d be asking forgiveness for this trespass. Jason was at his side, steady as ever. He hoped his lover would forgive him, even as he understood his second in command knew the argument had to be won. If he believed in Hell, John was sure he was about to guarantee his place in it.

“Your brother’s probably dead, same with your nephews,” John shot at Turlach. It was an arrow to the heart, and ‘Lach’s flinch told him just how true his aim was. “My mom is probably dead. All of them have almost no chance; because I’ll bet the debris choking the air isn’t anywhere close to the whole of it.”

“We don’t know that,” ‘Lach spat back, voice shaking and pale eyes bright with tears. He wasn’t crying yet, but John was sure he was about to. “We have to find out.”

“There is nothing we can do, right now,” John put every ounce of steel he had into his voice, dredged up from years of fighting to rise to his current place. “You had best concentrate on surviving, because there’s no way we’ll make it if we get into this bullshit.”

“Bullshit?” ‘Lach roared. “You think our home, our families are bullshit? f**k you!”

Turlach kicked off the ground and launched at John. Jason yanked at the back of his uniform, but it was too late. ‘Lach swung out and pain exploded in John’s face.

His back collided with the wall as Jason flung him back. John scrabbled to hold on to something, finding the handholds littered throughout the Station.

The ache creeping across his cheek was nothing compared to the hard ball in his guts as he watched Jason wrestle Turlach into submission, arms locked around their crewmate’s straining biceps. Saito was there in an instant, hands cupping Turlach’s enraged face, whispering who knew what in ‘Lach’s ear. One muscle at a time, ‘Lach slackened in Jason hold and finally, the hate on his face disappeared into a profound sadness.

Jason let ‘Lach go with a gentle, consoling pat on his shoulder and Saito pulled the big man down into a fierce hug, hand at the back of his skull so that Turlach’s face was forced into the curve of his throat. Once that decimated look wasn’t directed at him anymore, John breathed a sigh of relief. Turlach’s crumpled expression hurt more than his face did after that punch.

He ran a hand over the spot, the heat not at all a surprise. The bruise wouldn’t show against his dark skin, but he’d feel it for a few days. Too bad there weren’t any ice packs to spare. Not for something small like this. Besides, he deserved it after such a d**k move.

When Jason touched the back of his hand, still tracing the edges of the superficial damage ‘Lach had left, John smiled and turned his attention to worried green eyes and the frown that made Jason kind of adorable for a grown man. “I’m okay.”

“That was uncalled for, on both your parts.” Jason gave him a stern glare and a sterner finger right in front of his nose. “This isn’t the time to get harsh with anyone.”

“I know,” John said. Hadn’t he just thought that? But Turlach couldn’t leave either, and take half of their way off the Station.

“You have to settle down.” Jason’s stiff posture yielded and he pressed careful fingers to his aching cheek. “Are you okay?”

John choked on a hysterical giggle that bubbled somewhere in his ribs. Everything felt sort of surreal. “My face is fine, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“It’s not, but I’ll accept that, for now.” Jason pulled away. “We need a plan before ‘Lach turns to mutiny.”

It looked like Turlach was thinking about it too, despite Saito trying to whisper sense into his ears. He still had ‘Lach’s face buried in his shoulder and, while John couldn’t hear a word he said, the tight grip meant he probably feared Turlach wasn’t interested in anything Saito had to say.

John traded a panicked look with Jason. Yakecen came forward and, in John’s honest opinion, saved the day. “Look, we can’t stay up here forever, but we can’t go back down yet, either. So, let’s figure out a time table and plan from there, okay?”

“This two choices thing is ridiculous,” Jason added with a smile for Yakecen. “Between the six of us, we know the limits of the Station. We know how long the Station will support us and how we can stretch a lot of the supplies to make us last longer up here. We also know about how long it is before we can go home.”

“We need to fill the holes between the two points in time.” Yakecen bounced his pointed finger between him and Turlach’s hidden face. “You two assholes have to stow the bullshit if we’re going to make it through this. No one is leaving any time soon and no one is staying on the Station forever. Do I make myself clear?”

For an engineer, Yakecen utilized his Native looks to affect maximum fierceness implied by his heritage. John respected that, as well as his engineer’s lecture. When someone was right, they were right.

“Yes, Mom,” Jason drawled with a jaunty military salute. That was his lover all over, ridiculous and kind of a d**k with his teasing. But the humorous air fell away as quick as it came. “So, what are we looking at, time-wise?”

“The Station can support us, without replenishment, for a year,” Eli supplied automatically. He knew best what supplies they had on hand as their supply officer.

Yakecen was next. “Radiation takes about three years to completely fall out of the atmosphere in theory, but it might take longer depending on the types of weapons used and where they hit. If the attacks were concentrated where there’s a lot of storm activity, it may come down faster.”

“So, we have to find a way to support ourselves for three years, minimum.” John let that thought turn over in his mind. “Is that even possible?”

“I don’t know,” Saito said into the sudden, oppressive silence. He looked over the top of Turlach’s brown hair, eyes still glossed with tears. “But we have to try, don’t we? I want to go home.”

“What do we have, and what do we need?” John asked. “Let’s figure it out by section.”

Jason raised his hand just high enough to be seen, and then wrapped his arms around himself. It was a habit Jason had when he was overwhelmed and couldn’t show it to anyone. Understandable reaction, all things considered. John wanted nothing more than to hold Jason and console him with all the love in his heart. It wasn’t possible just then. Even if it was, John had no idea what he could possibly say to make this easier. There was nothing he could tell himself, either.

“I’ll start, since I’m technically second in command.” Jason’s hand started to visibly shake as he pushed it through his hair. “We have the standard supplies for the long-term experiments, of course. And life support is good so far, as long as the nanites in the CO2 filters work like they’re supposed to. Water is not an issue. Food, though, we only have enough to support all of us for a year, give or take, without resupply.”

Saito took a turn, next, with barely a look at any of them. “Besides the soil tests I’m working on, and that won’t do a damn thing for us, our medical supplies are in good order.” He shrugged his right shoulder, since Turlach still occupied the left. “Barring any major injuries or illness, we will have enough to last us a decade, at least.”

“I’m keeping track of the Watney Protocol seeds,” Eli offered. “It can probably be used to add to our food up here. I’m also monitoring the solar radiation the Station takes in, after the upgrades of the radiation shielding during expedition 61. So far, all the tests are coming back with low levels of exposure, so we’re good there.”

“We have plenty of spare parts,” Yakecen said as Eli trailed off. “All systems are in great condition at the moment, except for the apparent problem with talking to anyone on Earth.”

A sniff came from Saito’s shoulder, but the scientist seemed to not want to let go of Turlach’s head. Maybe he was still angry? Saito sighed, aggravation etched in the downturned lines of his face, but Turlach stopped struggling after another minute, muffled sounds coming from him instead.

“Turlach says we are out of immediate danger from debris and our orbit is stable. We’ll need to find a way to boost the Station after the original end of mission date.” Saito frowned over that last bit. “Figuring that out should be our first priority.”

Shit, that was the problem to make or break the plan to stay on the Station. John didn’t want to die in a fiery ball from orbital decay. He shivered as dread filled his chest. “Yeah, that’s got to be dealt with first. Any ideas?”

For a long time, way too long, nobody said anything. It was a staring contest as his crew visibly wracked their brains for a fix to this one problem. John wasn’t a scientist, he was a pilot and the leader of this rabble when everything was all said and done. Well, a glorified personal assistant to the radical nerds on his crew who helped them deal with the rest of the world. Still. In the end, he knew enough to know when he was in over his head on the science side of this mission.

Jason snapped his fingers and grinned. “We can use the solar panels to power the boosters.”

Smiles of relief broke out among them all.

“That’s perfect!” Turlach shouted as he managed to wrestle his head from the trap of Saito’s arms. “We only have to add a circuit to the junctions where the panels feed in power, and then run them to the boosters’ circuits after the Delta V runs out.”

“Me and Yakecen can have it done in a few days, I think,” Jason added.

“Two, tops.” That was an overconfident assertion from Yakecen, but John would take it.

“Okay, now that we’ve got that figured out, what’s the next problem?” John asked his crew. There was a list and he knew it. “I’m assuming it’s power output now that we’re going to hook the boosters into the solar array in a few months.”

Eli harrumphed and crossed his arms. “Not only that, but we’ll have to shut down all non-essential systems and experiments. The acid tests have to be jettisoned because we won’t be able to sustain the freezer compartment where they’re stored.”

That was a loss for Eli, and John knew it. Their resident biologist loved to work on his samples and tests, and being made to ditch them into the vacuum of space had to hurt. “Maybe we can move most of it to the JEM. Space makes a pretty good substitute for a cold storage compartment.”

“Maybe,” Eli responded with a tentative smile. “I would hate to lose all that valuable material before I could conclude the work and record the results. Bad enough we’ll have to leave almost everything behind when we can go home.”

“It will also allow us something to focus on during our down time,” Saito added. “Unfortunately, we’ll need the compartments for food, which also means we have to remove all extraneous items from the main body of the Station.”

That wasn’t even something he had considered. What were they going to do with all the stuff already in the Station? “We should designate one of the modules as storage.”

“The Nauka will do nicely for that,” Turlach said. It was a relief that he contributed anything at all. Maybe he’d stopped thinking about abandoning the Station now that they had a timeline and plan in the works. That infamous Irish temper gave John a headache. “It’s smaller, and we don’t use it as much as the others.”

It was a great solution. “Okay, what else?”

His crew traded looks with each other, some frozen in thought and some without anything to add. Once it looked like they had nothing else that presented an immediate problem, he moved on. “We need to talk about food and water.”

Eli barked a laugh. “We’ve got that covered!”

Oh, the famous Watney Protocol. That wasn’t the official name, not by any means. Almost fifteen years ago, a man wrote about a stranded astronaut on Mars and someone at Headquarters thought it’d be a good idea to plan for just that problem. The actual name of the program was Extra-Terran Nutritional Supply, but people caught on pretty quick. In common culture, it had been and always would be the Watney Protocol.

“I thought we were doing the testing on long-term storage for that?” John asked. “I mean, I heard the tests for the soil bacteria were good for short term, but the huge batch of soil we’ve got has been sitting for almost five years now.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing up here?” Saito murmured, exasperated. “That’s specifically what I was assigned to this mission for. I can tell you our soil samples are in great condition and usable. The Protocol is a success at the five year mark.”

“So we just have to get through the first growing season on our own supplies and supplement with the plants on the VEGGIE system,” Jason said, that smile big as a sunflower.

Yakecen scooted closer until the four of them were about huddled together; Saito and Turlach still a little separate. John wondered if it was because Saito was afraid of what ‘Lach would try if he let him go.

“Most of this will have to be container growing. And we’ll have to scavenge plastic to cover the top of the soil. If we get hit with something, the vibrations could send dirt into the equipment and cause a catastrophic failure,” Yakecen warned.

“What about water?” Saito asked. “We need to keep an eye on our humidity and water usage for this.”

“Our water is recycled with quintuple charcoal filters and passed through the panels to kill harmful bacteria, in case we brought any with us from Earth. There’s enough water on the Station to provide for a dozen people for a dozen years, no problem. Humidity is easy to adjust with the environmental controls. The new parameters have to be plugged into the program. Instrument panels will need to be protected.” Jason shrugged. “It’ll be the same as the dirt problem. We have to seal the cracks where the panels fit in the walls and cover all electronic equipment in the hydrated areas with plastic. I think we have enough.”

“We’ll make do if we don’t,” John reminded them.

Saito sighed in relief and let ‘Lach out of his hold. For such a small man, Saito seemed to know what he was doing when he needed to restrain someone. John brought that thought a screeching halt. Nope, he wasn’t at all interested in the end of that thought. They had too much to do and Saito was too close to a brother for him to be unscarred at the end of that thought.

The crew looked at him, waiting. It was time to get this show on the road. “Turlach, why don’t you and Yakecen get all the environmental controls sorted out, since you both know the guts of the Station as well as Jason does. Saito, Eli, I want you to go through all the science experiments and general miscellany. Remove everything we don’t need to the Nauka or the JEM and seal it off.”

Both pairs nodded and moved off to their assigned tasks with a less heavy air around them. All for the best, really. John sighed and glanced toward their planet through the window. In the short time they had been making this plan, the clouds had darkened into a more disturbing blackish hue and the ground was hidden entirely under it. His fingers came up to the cold glass of their own volition.

Every time he looked out the window from now on, this was what he’d see. It tore his heart and he wished he believed in a higher power, someone who he could fool himself into believing his prayers were heard. Instead, he was stuck up here, an all-seeing but impotent observer.

Jason’s fingers slotted around his and drew them away from the glass, and then tugged him away until the world couldn’t be seen. It hurt to look at his lover and he didn’t know why.

Of course, Jason didn’t seem to mind his silence. “Let’s get to work on the systems, yeah?”

Grateful beyond words, John nodded and started toward the Poisk while Jason continued to the Zvezda. Why not? It was the farthest of the modules, Soyuz notwithstanding, and it was mostly shut down due to the remodel. A couple of programs remained for small things like experiments and analysis; it served as a backup lab when the other ones were close to full capacity. Once inside the drab compartment, in a matter of minutes, John had the last auxiliary programs shut off.

He joined Jason in the Zvezda, a thought occurring to him. “You know, there’s no reason to hide our relationship anymore.”