ISO- Beyond the solar system

by Travis Sande

"You're right, Luke has submitted his report and we are working towards a solution. We do need to get back to a sense of normality here and I think tonight was a great idea. Thanks, Henry." Lorn led the way as the room followed his sentiment. Everyone took turns thanking Hank for the idea.

  "I suggest we increase the frequency of our team building exercises." Sian said to everyone's surprise.

  "Aww, you big softie!" Ben said which made Sian smile.

  “She’s right, with the loss of the rec room, I didn’t fully compensate for the team exercises that were scheduled to take place inside. I will develop a schedule going forward.” Lorn nodded his head at Sian as he spoke. Sian continued to smile as her idea was adopted by the commander.

  "Now I have seen everything." Derrick said as he honestly could not remember the last time Sian had smiled. "Looks good on you, you should do that more often."

  "If the situation warrants it." Sian smiled again.

  "If you're all about done, it's your deal, Nik." Yanna said, tossing a deck of cards to Nik.

  "Ok, have any of you played Sorbit?" Nik managed to silence the room. "Well it's easy."

  Nik spent the next few minutes explaining the fundamentals of Sorbit. It was a game that became popular in Marje. The rules were numerous and complicated. She admitted it sounded challenging and that after a couple rounds people would get it. The game was designed for even numbers and Eilik's absence caused her to go into the odd variant. This added one more layer of complexity usually not recommended for beginners. Several people offered to watch the first couple rounds to allow for a standard game, but Nik insisted on everyone playing. Once she finally handed out the cards, the game was ready to begin.

  "Did you guys hear about that bacteria?” Luke was the first to break the silence before the game began.

  All of Nik's dealing was for naught as the entire table threw their cards at Luke. Shielding himself from the barrage, he laughed maniacally. Derrick couldn't remember the last time he had just let go. Something so simple yet so satisfying had escaped him amidst all the stress of late. The night slowly faded away as members left the room one by one. The final three would be Hank, Derrick, and Kim.

  "Thanks again, Hank. I needed this. Kim knows better than anyone how bad I needed it." He laughed and slapped Hank on the shoulder.

  "We all needed it, Derrick." Kim nodded. “Great idea, Hank.”

  "Thanks, they don’t happen often.” Hank smiled with some self-deprecating humour. “We are lucky to have a crew like this." His pride could be seen swelling inside him.

  "We should probably turn in, I have to check the garden in three hours." Derrick lamented his early appointment as he noticed the time.

  "Yeah, I will clean this up in the morning." Hank said. "Goodnight you two."

  Derrick and Kim walked to their crew section and started down the corridor. Kim's room was at the end, just beyond Derrick’s.

  "That was great." Kim turned to Derrick as they stopped at the end of the corridor.

  "Yeah it was, it’s like Hank knew what I needed. Did you consult him about my prescription?" Derrick asked.

  "No." She laughed. "Doctor patient confidentiality, remember? We weren't playing corridor ball.”

  "Good point." Derrick laughed in return. "You know, I saw the commander's quarters on the opposite side. He has an office and everything. Did you get that over here?"

  "Nah, just a regular room. Not important enough I guess." Kim moved away from him and to her door.

  "Well, I will let you go. Goodnight, Kim." Derrick turned to his door and opened it.

  "Oh, that's what your room looks like? Oh yeah, mine's way better." Kim playfully mocked.

  "What? It is?" Derrick asked. Surprised by her comment, he turned to face Kim standing in her doorway.

  "Just messing with you, goodnight." Kim vanished inside her quarters and the doors closed behind her.

  Derrick stood in the empty hallway for a moment. He indulged himself in a smile. It was refreshing to be rid of the stress and anxiety from earlier. Retreating into his quarters, the smile never left his face. Derrick wondered if it was even worth trying to sleep, his alarm was set for a little under three hours from now. He decided to watch some of his favourite shows, as Kim suggested. His mind was once again racing but it wasn't about bacteria. Kim invaded his thoughts as he sat down at his desk. Turning on 'Marik Men' he settled in for the night.

  Chapter 6

  The Membrane

  Derrick woke in his chair, the light from his show still lit the room. He must have just nodded off, as the automated sensors hadn’t silenced his interface. Exhausted, he wished he could head to his bunk, but his schedule said otherwise. Looking at his CCD he noticed his alarm was set to go off in about an hour. He had no desire to hear or feel that. After manually disabling it, he got up. Wary of Marik Men's ability to keep him awake for the next hour, Derrick thought a workout might suffice. Still in the clothing from yesterday, he decided they were up to the challenge and was off to the fitness pod.

  The ship was dark and quiet. The lights were dimmed, and the floor lighting guided his steps. He could hear cracks and rattles from the walls of the ship. Derrick stopped in the galley to put his hand on the outer wall. He felt a small vibration to it and he envisioned the mayhem transpiring just beyond, within the RIP bubble. After two weeks at full speed the light trapped within would have surpassed diffusion protocol. Any journey lasting longer than ten days would require a diffusion array at the destination. He took pause at the thought and looked around him. A mild sense of claustrophobia was fought off before he turned and continued toward the engineering corridor.

  He stopped at the entrance. "I should probably grab something to eat." Derrick said to himself. Especially since immediately following his workout, the day would begin. Opting for a snack instead of a full meal, he took a portable blue gel with him to the fitness pod. He didn't even notice Luke doing cardio as he moved into the resistance section in zombie like fashion. It was until he turned around to sit that he noticed.

  "Oh, didn't know anyone was awake yet, good morning." Derrick said as he got into position to start his workout.

  "There’s a few people up. Ben and Sian are in the Bio lab and I think Lorn is on the bridge with Eilik." Luke said.

  "Couldn't sleep either?" Derrick asked, still groggy.

  "Oh no, I was sleeping fine. The report I submitted to remove the membrane section was approved at 3 AM. They requested we remove it ASAP. The commander has Ben up there now preparing a storage container for the removed membrane. He said it would take roughly an hour so here I am. I think Sian is up there now too. The commander and Eilik are up on the bridge relaying information. It's a busy morning actually." Luke said.

  Derrick's solitary walk to his workout wasn't as solitary as he thought. Half the crew was already awake and hard at work. It suddenly became far more difficult to warrant self-pity about his early rise. "Did you get the schedule changes regarding me?" Derrick wanted to know if Kim had already setup some time for him to shadow Luke and Eilik.

  "Yes, actually. That's great that you have an interest in it." Luke smiled. “It’s incredible what they’ve done.”

  "There's just a lot of downtime and I wanted to make better use of it." Derrick skirted the real issue, not wanting to worry Luke.

  "Yeah, it's great and Eilik welcomes it too." Just as Luke said that his CCD lit up. "Looks like Ben is ready." Luke took a deep breath and stepped off the bike. "I guess I better go."

  "Do you guys need more hands up there?" Derrick was secretly hoping to avoid the early workout in favour of something more productive.

  "Yes, if you don’t mind doing your workout later, follow me." Luke said as exited the room.

  Derrick followed Luke to the upper deck where Sian and Ben were standing outside the rec area door. Ben was holding a large bag presumably to transport the membrane. He looked a little tired, but not too bad considering the long days leading up to this point. Sian was to his
side, she had her hand on his shoulder. They looked to be celebrating. Derrick followed Luke into the corridor and up to meet them.

  "We have a permanent storage device within the lab. This should facilitate transit of the membrane to it.” Ben jumped right into the mission. “Are you ready to get started?”

  "Yes, I am. Derrick is going to assist me inside." Luke surprised Derrick with that info but he did offer and was up to the challenge.

  "Head into the bio lab and grab a couple suits. I don't want to take any chances." Ben motioned toward the bio lab door. "Sian will prepare the quarantine device in the bio lab. Once you have the membrane in the collection bag, seal it and get it to her as soon as you can. I will be outside the rec area to open the doors for you and monitor any fluctuation in air quality or contamination."

  Derrick and Luke wasted no time jogging to the bio-lab. Equipping themselves with tools and bio suits before returning to the door or the rec area. Derrick picked up the venting that was going to be used to bridge the gap between healthy membranes. Once ready, Ben overrode the door lock and allowed them to enter.

  Derrick felt unease as the door slid open revealing the humidity equalization chamber. It was dark and uninviting. Luke turned to Derrick and they both had a moment of hesitation before stepping inside. The doors slid shut behind them, locking them into the small, dark room. A loud hiss enveloped Derrick. He knew the decon mist must have been surrounding them but was unable to see anything. It was good to see that minimum functionality was still in place, even if lighting wasn’t. After a moment, a familiar click of the inner door unlocking signalled the start of their endeavour inside.

  It was nearly pitch-black inside as Luke opened the door in front of Derrick. "Emergency lights" Derrick said to activate the battery backup lighting system. Flickering into existence, the emergency lighting had a yellow hue to it. Rolling through the room, the lighting came to life, guiding their way to the rear. The lighting had an unintended side-effect of adding creepy details to their isolation. Shadows crawling across the walls gave the room an ominous feel it had lacked before.

  Derrick followed closely behind Luke as they moved toward the infected section of wall plating. The membrane encircled the room about five feet off the ground, hidden behind a strip of metal paneling. There were several access points but none of which were a feasible option for the infected section. Luke had tasked Derrick with carrying a plasma wand, a small device used to cut through various types of metal.

  Derrick noticed Luke checking his CCD constantly as he monitored their position in the room. Once he was satisfied that they were in front of the infected section he asked Derrick to hand him the wand. Both Luke and Derrick set their equipment down and Derrick grabbed the plasma wand from his belt and handed it to Luke.

  "Ok, I am going to cut away the metal housing the membrane. This shouldn't compromise the membrane itself. What I need you to do is be prepared to hand me the surgical laser in the event I damage the membrane while removing the outside panel. Sian provided it to cauterize and remove the membrane. Both Ben and Sian requested that we keep the infected section as healthy as we can for later testing. So, if I damage anything we need to cauterize the wounds. Ready?" Luke asked.

  "Ready." Derrick was poised with the laser and ready to jump into action should anything happen.

  Luke lit the plasma wand and began carefully cutting a section of panel away from the wall. Moving very slowly and operating at the shallowest depth, the wand was capable of very precise incisions. At first, he cut a small stretch of metal to ensure he was releasing the plate without damaging the membrane. The metal was glowing red as Luke used a small scanning device to confirm the depth. Certain he was cutting deep enough to free the panel without hitting the membrane, he finished the cut. The rectangular piece was approximately one meter by one meter.

  "Grab the magnetic handles from my bag here. Secure them to the panel before I finish the last cut." Luke said as he was approaching the end. "I don't want this thing falling on us."

  Derrick looked in the bag and found two handles with circular magnets attached. "I am just going to set the laser down here then." Derrick set the laser at Luke's feet, making sure to leave it close if they needed it. Derrick grabbed the magnets and pushed them against the panel. He noticed a slider switch on both and once activated he felt the pull of magnetism secure the handles. "Ready."

  Luke finished his cut and the weight of the panel landed on Derrick. He could immediately feel it in his forearms and shoulders. He was shocked that the panel could weigh this much. Pulling it straight back and away from the membrane he set it down, leaning it up against the wall below.

  "Okay, I don’t think I damaged it." Luke said as he inspected the membrane inside. Running his fingers over it, he checked the perimeter for any scorch wounds. “Nope, looks good.”

  As Derrick's attention returned to the newly created hole he saw the membrane. It was green and pulsing in a way that sickened him. "Oh my god, that's disgusting." Derrick turned his head and looked at it out of the corner of his eye.

  "Actually, that's how it normally looks." Luke laughed." It's an organic synthetic made from Vryl tissue."

  "I knew we had an organic ventilation system, but I was expecting like pink vents. This, this is too much." Derrick said. "Ok, what do we have to do? Let’s get this over with."

  "Sian gave me this needle to probe for infection." Luke stuck it in the center of the membrane.

  To Derrick's surprise the membrane didn't react at all to the needle. Even though he knew it had no brain it still felt as if it was a creature pulsating through the walls. The end of the needle turned red to indicate that the sample was infected. Luke moved to his left and repeated the process until the needle produced a green light.

  "Ok, that's healthy membrane there. I will just find the limit on the right side and we can remove it." Luke moved to the right and began prodding the membrane again.

  "Aren't we also removing a healthy section to test for rejection?" Derrick recalled Sian’s suggestion from earlier.

  "No, Sian believes since we are only bridging a gap and not changing the physiology of the membrane there is no risk of rejection. I was thinking of it as a transplant but it's more akin to an amputation and prosthetic." Luke’s device lit up green as he jabbed it in on the far-right side. “There it is.”

  "Well that makes it easier." Derrick was happy to hear the news, anything to make this a faster process was welcome at this point.

  "Ok now just to cut this thing out of here." Luke bent down, searching for the laser. “Where did you put it?”

  Derrick leaned over and grabbed the laser for Luke, handing it to him, he asked. "I wonder why Sian isn't in here doing this, aren't you basically performing surgery?"

  "Sort of, but it's more than simple enough. She needs to have the lab storage and quarantine ready to go." Luke said as he raised the surgical laser and prepared to begin cutting the membrane. "For the record I have never cut one of these while it was infected. I don't really know what, if anything, will be different."

  Derrick shuddered to think what was waiting inside the infected section of membrane. He decided it was best if he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind before responding. "We aren't getting any younger, open it up."

  "Grab that collection bag and be ready to catch it. Most of the structure is held in place by the surrounding membrane. Once I cut the left end free it may start to fall loose." Luke lifted the surgical laser into position and looked at Derrick.

  “Ready.” Derrick nodded, ready to catch whatever fell out of the wall.

  Luke fired up the laser and began cutting through the healthy membrane surrounding the infected area. Derrick opened the bag and prepared to cover the infected piece. Luke completed the cut on the left side and just as he did the membrane was noticeably loose. Small tendrils that held on to the panel behind it began breaking as it slipped free. Derrick quickly covered the loose end of the membrane with the bag and he
ld it upright. Luke moved behind him to the right side and finished cutting the infected section free.

  "Ok, it's all yours, seal the bag and get it to the lab a.s.a.p. I will stay behind and secure the prosthetic vent in the gap." Luke pointed toward the exit before grabbing one of the vent sleeves and lifting it up into place.

  “How were you supposed to handle all this on your own?” Derrick was surprised how useful he was proving to be as a last-minute addition to the exercise. “Are you sure you can handle the vent?”

  “I will be fine, get that thing out of here.” Luke had already begun welding.

  Derrick quickly pushed the floppy membrane chunk down inside the collection bag and sealed it tightly. His closest estimate put the section at about thirty pounds of tissue. He moved to the exit at a brisk pace, making sure to watch his step in the limited lighting.

  "Open the door." Derrick called to Ben through an open channel on his CCD.

  The door opened to reveal Ben, now in a bio suit himself as he jumped into the room to aid Derrick. The two of them shuffled their way into the bio lab and through decontamination. The bag was able to insulate the membrane from being destroyed by the process.

  “Unknown organic heat signature detected.” The automated bio-lab security locked them inside the decontamination room. The lights remained red for a moment as Ben moved to a panel on the wall.

  “I told you to approve an additional heat signature, I knew this would happen.” Sian could be heard over the intercom system from inside the bio-lab.

  “Get off my back, I got it.” Ben furiously entered several commands before the process kicked back into action and finished their cycle.

  Once inside, Ben and Derrick dropped the bag into the waiting receptacle Sian had prepared. Closing the lid, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

  "I am going to do a sweep of the rec area and corridor for the bacteria. It shouldn't be capable of surviving now that it's in open air, but I brought a treatment spray just to be sure." Sian grabbed a device that was resting on the table beside her.