Single Event Upset

by Cole J. Freeman

  Lennon let herself smile. “Ok, Matthews, ok. I’ll do that. Thank you.”

  He patted her on the shoulder. “Thank you, Lennon. Let’s go finish lunch.” They headed back to the ChowBucket together.

  Lennon watched Matthews as he broke open a package of food. Something about the way his hands moved and manipulated the package in order to crack it open brought a memory to mind.

  It was twilight and the sun painted the sky with a brilliant display of orange and pink. She could smell the ocean air and the warmth of the day was dissolving into the comforting atmosphere of the Hawaiian evening. She was outdoors. The locale was fitting and she considered the weather enjoyable and not the least bit distracting. A server had just delivered a plate of king crab legs to her table on the outdoor patio.

  To her right, an empty chair graced her table. She looked over the top of it and surveyed the ocean. Waves lapped the shore not more than fifty feet from where she sat. This was far too amazing to share alone. She touched the crab legs absentmindedly before standing up and walking past the rail to the beach. The server glanced her way.

  “Ma’am, is your food alright? You haven’t touched any of it in ten minutes.”

  “It’s fine,” she reassured him. “Please don’t take it. I’ll be back.” She walked to the shoreline, letting her sandals fall off on the way there. She stood ankle-deep in the tide as the sun set over the water.

  He should have been here. A week prior, he had showed up at her door with a grave look on his face.

  “What will it be?” he had asked.

  She had hesitated, and that had given him enough of an answer. “It’s a once in a lifetime thing,” she pleaded.

  “This is a lifetime thing,” he countered.

  “I have to do this.”

  He leaned over and kissed her gently, and their cheeks touched while he held her. “I can’t risk everything for your gamble,” he whispered in her ear. “And if the gamble pays off for you, I lose you for three years. I lose either way.”

  She felt like she should say something, but she could not find a plausible answer for his complaint. “I love you,” she said weakly.

  “I love you too,” he said, but she sensed something in the way he said it, some uncertainty that indicated a feeling that he suppressed from expressing. Was it regret?

  He pulled away slowly, letting her hand linger slightly in his before he moved too far away to continue touching.

  “Enjoy your life, Rebecca. Go big. Follow your dream.”

  He was gone. The honeymoon had been prepaid; they could not exchange it for a refund. He had no desire to go after the collapse of their relationship. She did not want to waste the money spent on the trip, but when the time came, she realized that she had no close friends with which to share the trip. His ticket was wasted and here she was, watching the most beautiful sunset that she had ever seen. Alone. She returned to her table and nibbled at her meal, unable to enjoy it or even finish it. As a live band started playing ukuleles, she stifled the tears from coming to her eyes.

  Abrams interrupted the scene that was playing in Lennon’s mind. “You want the rest of my tortilla?” he asked, waving it in the air. “Hey, are you alright?”

  The memory had been a little strong and the agony must have shown on her face. “No, I, uh, I’m fine. Thank you.” She pushed away from the table. “I’m going back to work,” she said as she pulled herself towards the Atrium.

  The mother rat worked herself around the cage quickly. The rats had adjusted well to microgravity, each pulling themselves around the cage easily with jumps and pulls on the wires of the cage. The housing area for the rats consisted of traditional metal cages inside another container that Lennon kept sealed with a glass door. A special air filter kept odors at a minimum and restricted waste and impurities from leaving the area. The rats required constant attention, especially to keep the area clean. Melvin was sticking his nose through the bars into Annie’s cage, and she circled her own cage without giving him any attention.

  Annie was noticeably thinner, and Lennon could tell immediately that she had given birth. There were six small objects floating in the cage with her as well as a small amount of liquid. If the babies survived, they would not be able to move themselves to feed. She would have to move them manually to the mother, or feed them with a bottle. She pushed a button that activated a high power vacuum. It sucked the liquid to the left wall, where an absorbent sheet covered the vent and collected the moisture. The six pink blobs floated over and bounced against the sheet, while Annie clung to the cage in defiance of the wind. Only one baby rat was moving.

  She opened the cage to clean it and to examine the babies. Five of them were dead, and one of the five was missing half of its body. It looked as if the Annie might have partially eaten it. Lennon sighed and scooped them into a bag. The sixth rat squirmed and twisted, and Lennon could immediately see that it would not be long until it perished as well. It simply lacked the development that a baby rat should have at birth. She could not get herself to kill it, so she tried to make it eat. It sucked eagerly on the nipple of its mother. After it ate, she flipped on a heat lamp and left it in the cage. As she took the other babies to the disposal, she was comforted with the one small life that existed where it should not.

  Day Fifty-Two

  Lennon shifted in her sleep. She was tired, and did not know why she remained restless and unable to keep sleeping. She wished she could make herself sleep longer.

  She heard a loud thump. She shifted again, angry that shifting positions really did not make a difference when she was floating.

  There was a bang and a shout. Lennon’s eyes went wide. She felt along the wall for the button to switch on the light in her sleeping area. When she did not find it right away, she slid the door to her room open and squinted in the light, which normally should not be on yet. Parker’s room was open and empty. She looked at her watch: 0415 mission time. Mission time is simply the time that the crew has agreed to follow to enable a normal schedule since there is no day or night in open space.

  She heard shouting and the sounds of struggling. She listened closer, and heard something else. It sounded like growling; it sounded like a wild animal. She pushed herself out of bed, through the Atrium, and into the ChowBucket. What she saw astonished her.

  Matthews, Dish, and Abrams surrounded Parker, who had her back to Lennon, and the three men had pinned her against the wall. It took all three of them to hold her from moving. The growling noise, surprisingly, was coming from Parker. She was saying something, but Lennon could not ascertain what it was. Parker spoke in a low voice; it was noticeably different from the way she normally spoke. Lennon was stunned.

  “Get in here!” Matthews shouted to Lennon. He had two streaks of blood on his cheek. Were those fingernail scratches? Lennon wondered.

  “Come on,” he yelled.

  Lennon came into the ChowBucket, behind Parker.

  She could not stop thinking about how it sounded as if Parker were saying something. Lennon struggled to understand any words. They were words, but they were not English.

  “Me miseret!” Parker screamed. Spittle flew from her lips and her hair covered her face. Dish put his hand on the back of her head and smashed her cheek into the wall.

  What was she saying? It sounded like Latin. Lennon struggled to understand. “Me tui pudet!” Parker shouted, throwing her head back. Her eyes rolled into her head and only the whites were showing. Her voice was low, coarse, and growling. She sounded like someone else, and the voice sounded… too big for her. Dish was shouting at Abrams and Lennon could only make out bits and pieces of what Parker was saying.

  “…Exulis… Peregrinus…” Every muscle in Parker’s body was flexing, and her skin glistened with sweat.

  Lennon reached out and touched Parker’s shoulder. Instantly, Parker relaxed and the growling stopped. Her eyes returned forward. “Who was that?” Parker whimpered. “Who is touching me?”

  “We’re all
touching you, Parker,” answered Matthews, gripping her bicep.

  “No,” she said, “I want to know who just touched my shoulder. What is your name?”

  “It’s me,” Lennon said. “Rebecca.”

  Parker began sobbing. “Lennon,” she cried, “Lennon, tell me what to do and I will do it. Let me see you.”

  “I’m right here,” Lennon consoled her. “Ease up,” she said to the others. Dish took his hand off her head and she twisted to look. Matthews loosened his grip on her arm but did not let go. Dish took off his shirt and started tying her hands together. “Dish, what are you doing?” Lennon asked.

  “She attacked the Major,” Dish shouted, “and I ain’t lettin’ her loose till we find out what’s wrong with her.”

  “Parker, what happened?” Lennon asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “The last thing I remember is going to sleep. Why are you tying me up?” She tried to pull her arm away. Dish wrenched it and she cried out it pain.

  “Dish, please!” Lennon said. She looked to Matthews. “Sir?”

  “I found her taking extra food out of the refrigerator. I asked her what she was doing and she started… babbling. She was not making any sense. I figured she was sleepwalking or something; I don’t know. I tried to help her back to her room and she scratched my face.”

  “What were Dish and Abrams doing here? How did they get here so quickly?”

  “We were having a talk. We were moving from the Men’s Quarters to the Atrium for more room when we heard her in the ChowBucket,” offered Abrams. “Something is really wrong with her,” he added.

  “Why were you talking at four in the morning?”

  “We had some things we needed to take care of. It’s no big deal,” said Matthews, looking Lennon in the eye. She nodded. He had something he had to take care of between the men, he was saying.

  “Maria, do you know who you are?” she asked Parker, checking her pupils with a penlight. Both pupils reacted evenly and immediately to the light. She did not appear to have a concussion.

  “Yeah, I do. I’m Dr. Maria Parker. I’m a geologist. I’m aboard the Seeker 3 on a mission to Mars.”

  “Do you remember what just happened?”

  “No, I was in bed sleeping and the last thing I remember is waking up with Dish pushing my face into the wall.” She started to cry. “I didn’t do anything.”

  Lennon looked at Matthews. “What do you want to do? You can’t keep her tied up.”

  Matthews pursed his lips. “Give her a full health and psychological examination. Find out why she snapped.”

  “Snapped?” questioned Parker. “What?”

  Matthews continued as if he did not hear her. “Once you are sure that you know whatever caused her to behave this way and that she will not repeat this behavior, you can untie her.”

  “Sir, I really don’t think—”

  “You heard me, doctor.”

  “There ain’t nothin’ the doc’s gonna find,” said Dish. “She’s possessed. She was speakin’ in tongues. You heard it. I ain’t untying her.”

  “I’m sure there’s an explanation,” Lennon stated. “Let me do my job, ok?”

  Dish huffed. He did not let go of her. Lennon got her medical equipment from the Atrium and came back. She gave Parker a bag of water with a straw and helped her to drink. She did a full medical examination and found nothing wrong except for some evidence of dehydration. She sat for a while, puzzled.

  “Can you please untie me?” Parker asked. “You know me, I wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

  “You did hurt someone,” said Dish, bitterly.

  “Dish, stop, please,” Lennon said. “Matthews, can I be alone with her, please?”

  He looked unsure. “Rebecca, I—”

  “Please,” she begged. “You can wait in the Atrium if you are worried that something is going to happen.”

  Grudgingly, he agreed. Abrams and Dish followed him, protesting. Lennon reached around Parker and untied her hands. “Thank you,” Parker said quietly, rubbing her wrists.

  “Did you do anything unusual in the last few days? Take any food that tasted funny? Hit your head? Anything?”

  Parker shook her head ‘no’. Lennon wondered what to do. After a few moments, she called out. “Abrams!”

  He came in quickly. “What do you need?”

  “Can you do a check on the climate subsystem? I want to know if the vents are working correctly in her sleeping area. Also, check the status of the filter and the air composition.”

  “Sure thing,” he said, looking a little disappointed. He headed towards the ship’s flight deck.

  After he left, Parker took Lennon’s hand. “Thank you, Rebecca,” she said. “They were so mean to me. Thank you for being nice.”

  Lennon squeezed her hand. “Sure, Maria,” She said, and smiled.

  After a few minutes, Abrams returned. “I, uh, found something.”

  Matthews came in from the Atrium. “What is it?” he asked.

  “Ah, the nitrogen level in the air is high. Very high.”

  “Shouldn’t that have alarmed?” asked Matthews.

  “Well, yeah, but it didn’t.” Abrams said. “And the levels are rising.”

  “There you go,” Matthews said blandly. “Nitrogen psychosis.”

  ‘Nitrogen psychosis’ is the term many people use instead of the more proper term ‘nitrogen narcosis’. Nitrogen narcosis occurs most commonly when SCUBA divers are under pressure and nitrogen builds up to elevated levels in the blood. The symptoms of this condition range from mild impairment to psychosis, hallucinations, and manic or depressive states. The biggest problem that Lennon saw with immediately labeling Parker’s situation as nitrogen narcosis is the fact that the astronauts were not under pressure. The pressure of deep diving is what causes the symptoms to deviate from a simple narcotic effect to a dangerous condition.

  “That doesn’t make any s—”

  A sharp glance from Matthews interrupted Lennon. He looked to Abrams. “Why is the air mixture off?” he asked.

  “As far as I can tell, it’s an SEU.”

  Abrams was referring to a Single Event Upset. The Sun or other stars can emit energy particles that travel at very high speeds through events called Solar Proton Events (SPEs) or Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs). Single event upsets occur when one of those high-speed energy particles manages to penetrate spacecraft shielding and causes devices aboard the ship to malfunction. The SEU can manifest as a physical change, such as pitting or etching of metal, or as a software change that occurs when the high-energy particle actually flips a bit of memory in a computer from a zero to a one or vice-versa. If a bit flip does happen, the effects can be completely unpredictable, from random display glitches to total system failure.

  “Can you fix it?” Matthews asked, impatiently.

  “Yeah, I think so. It will take a few hours to reboot and reset the system configuration.”

  “Get on it. Let me know your status.”

  “Right.” Abrams disappeared down the corridor to C2.

  Lennon shook her head. She hoped that Matthews was right, and that the elevated levels of nitrogen were to blame for Parker’s unusual behavior. She was not so sure.

  “My head hurts so badly,” Parker said quietly.

  Lennon helped Parker get a drink and then led her back to her bed. She gave her some aspirin and then went to check on Abrams. Dish stopped her in the ChowBucket. “That wasn’t right, Lennon. That was weird. Do you really think there is an explanation for what she was doing?”

  The way he was looking at her was so intent. He looked scared. She thought for a moment and remembered Matthews’ admonition: Hold the crew together.

  “I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation,” she assured him. He relaxed.

  “Alright. Ok. That was just so weird, ya know?”

  “She’ll be ok. Abrams is going to fix it.”

  He smiled, thanked her, and moved back to Crew Quarters.

  D
ay Fifty-Four

  TRANSMISSION: START

  Mission Control Station

  Incoming message from Seeker 3. Receipt time 1631z, 1231 mission time

  Subject: Weekly physical and mental health report, week 8

  From: Dr. Rebecca Lennon, physical and mental health officer, Seeker 3

  ----

  Crew status: Healthy and functional

  Individual status:

  Lt. Colonel Nicholas Quesen—Deceased

  Major Jonas Matthews—Within acceptable norms.

  Captain Justin Petri—Within acceptable norms.

  Dr. Maria Parker—Suffered from nitrogen narcosis due to elevated nitrogen levels. Symptoms included loss of mental consciousness (blackouts), violent outbursts, and an unpredictable tendency to speak nonsensical phrases. Nitrogen levels were the result of an SEU. Crew has adjusted the air processing system to correct the gas levels to acceptable limits. No further symptoms have presented since the correction to the air systems.

  Dr. Rebecca Lennon—Within acceptable norms.

  Kyle Abrams—Within acceptable norms.

  ----

  Crew observations:

  After initial social instabilities caused by the Single Event Upset that led to Dr. Maria Parker’s irrational behavior, the crew has adjusted and is coexisting well. Several of the crewmembers have presented behavior consistent with a normal grieving and healing process resultant to Lt Col Nick Quesen’s death. Overall, crew is within acceptable norms.

  ----

  Recommendations:

  Continued monitoring of air filtration systems is recommended. The crew will accomplish a full system clean, check and reboot within the next week to correct any undiscovered errors from an SEU.