by Mike Kraus
“Who would want to de-orbit us?!” Jackie pounds her fist against the bulkhead as she stares at the rough set of calculations drawn out on a notepad by Commander Palmer. Ted is furiously scribbling on a separate pad and, once he finishes, he compares his calculations to Palmer’s.
“Confirmed. We’re de-orbiting and should reach the point of no return in about… an hour. Maybe less. Hard to tell with how the systems are acting.”
“And all the fuel’s expended?”
“Every drop. They burned hard and fast.”
“It has to be sabotage.” Palmer taps his pen against the notepad and shakes his head. “Or a terrorist attack.”
“If we could pick up any sort of transmissions then maybe we could figure out what’s going on.”
Palmer frowns, feeling a chill run down his spine. “Our emergency radio equipment. Does it run completely separate from the station’s systems? Or is it tied in to everything here?”
“Tied in. Wh—oh. Oh God.” Jackie slowly shakes her head. “No…”
“Oh yes.” Palmer nods slowly and Ted’s eyes widen as he realizes what they’re talking about.
“Do you think… maybe the computer problems are affecting the backup radio systems, too?”
“They’re tied directly into the main computer. Which is currently having some sort of psychotic break.”
Commander Palmer snorts at Jackie’s morbid sense of humor before his face grows serious again. “Unless someone here has a magic switch to flip and turn off the thrusters we’re going to have to abandon the station if we want to live.”
“Where are we going to go? We’re too low to use the lifeboat to perform an emergency splashdown, aren’t we?”
“We would have had to leave six minutes ago to do that.” Commander Palmer grits his teeth. “We should have, though. I didn’t realize that all the fuel was gone. Even if we were to pull something out of our asses that would start pushing us back out we’ve got too much momentum in the wrong direction.”
Silence descends over the three as they each contemplate the repercussions of what Palmer has said. Space travel is a dangerous endeavor and each of them has understood that death waits around the corner. Facing it head-on isn’t what they were expecting when they woke up that morning, though.
“Commander?” Ted is staring out the window, watching across the vastness of space as he speaks.
“What’s up?”
“How far away is the ISS?”
“I don’t know, a few hundred kilometers?”
“It’s at roughly the same orbit we were at before this started, right?”
“Uh, yeah, we’re…” Commander Palmer stares at the banks of switches and monitors, looking through them as he tries to process Ted’s question. After several long seconds he whirls around, his eyes wide and his mouth open. “Yes! It could work!”
“What could work?” Jackie looks at Ted and Palmer in confusion as they start talking excitedly over one another.
“The ISS!” Ted turns to her. “We’re too far down and are carrying too much mass and momentum to slow our descent or try a safe splashdown in the lifeboat.”
“But if we use the lifeboat to carry us to the ISS, we should have full control over all the systems there.” Commander Palmer continued. “The computers were taken offline but they still have power. Everything’s just dormant!”
“Does the lifeboat have enough thrust to get us there, though?” Jackie asked.
“Not on its own.” Palmer shook his head. “But it uses a different fuel source than the station thrusters. There’s a spare tank for the lifeboat down in the cargo section. Back of the napkin math says that plus what’s on board will get us and all the supplies we can carry over to the ISS.”
“What do we do from there?”
“We sit tight and wait for a rescue. Or pray there’s another fuel tank and use that to get back home.”
Jackie shakes her head. “This sounds insane.”
Palmer nods. “It’s absolutely insane and we will probably die due to some sort of unforeseen variable involved in flying by the seat of our pants.”
“Sounds way better than sitting here waiting to die, though.” Ted replies.
Jackie hesitates for a second before nodding in agreement. “I can’t argue with that. Let’s do it.”
Chapter 11
Somewhere Along the Indiana/Kentucky State Border
The Ohio River
Jane held a flashlight in each hand, using them to illuminate Rick and Dr. Evans while she shook her head and loudly complained at them. “You two are positively insane. I can’t believe you think this is going to work.”
Rick and Dr. Evans sat on the ground, their shirts and pants off as they tore black plastic trash bags off of a roll Rick had dug out of the back of the car. He had picked up the bags when they were in the shopping center previously and while he didn’t know at the time how he was going to use them he realized that they would be perfect for helping himself and Dr. Evans cross the river.
Rick looked up from his work, sweat beading across his forehead despite his lack of clothes. “It’ll work. Trust me. Right, Doc?” Dr. Evans glanced over at Rick and nodded as he blew air into a group of bags five layers thick that were all stuffed inside one another.
“It should help provide some much-needed buoyancy in the water, yes.”
“Plus we can wrap up our clothes and shoes and have them when we get over there.”
“And a blanket, to dry ourselves off with.”
Rick nodded enthusiastically. “Good call. Jane, could you grab the blue one out of the back seat? It’s light enough to take with us, I think.”
“You’re crazy, both of you.” Jane hurried back to the car, grabbed the blanket and ran back to Rick and Dr. Evans. Rick folded the blanket tightly and sealed it inside one of the trash bags, squishing all the air out of the bag and then tying it tightly to keep water from getting inside. Dr. Evans did the same with his and Rick’s clothing while Rick stuffed their shoes, a flashlight and some food and bottles of water into another bag.
“Perhaps, but if it works then we’ll save a bunch of time over continuing to drive.” Rick stood up and examined the makeshift floatation device he had constructed. The bag was nearly full but not completely so which would allow him to rest his chest on it while kicking with his feet to both propel himself forward and keep him afloat. Dr. Evans had inflated his bags the same way and with a full five layers of plastic on both they felt confident that an errant branch or rock wouldn’t instantly tear and deflate the bags.
“What if the boat doesn’t work or you can’t get it loose?”
“We’ll swim back and keep going.” Rick shrugged. “It’ll take us twenty minutes to cross over, another twenty to check out the boat and then we’ll know if this was worth the time expenditure or not. I know this is crazy, stupid and whatever else you want to call it but I’m tired of sitting in that car trying to find a bridge to cross. We’re losing so much time it’s not funny. This could work, so we’re going to give it a shot.”
Jane nodded solemnly and followed Rick and Dr. Evans to the water’s edge. Rick turned to her and pointed out at the barge and boat across the river. “All right, just remember to stay here and keep the light pointed at the barge. We’ll walk upriver a bit before jumping in so that we don’t end up down too far away from the barge. As long as you keep the light over there we’ll know where to swim.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Jane said. “You two just worry about not drowning or coming down with hypothermia.”
Dr. Evans nodded. “It’s fortunate that it’s not quite as cold tonight as it was last night. But the water’s going to make the air temperature a moot point.”
“Let’s just get going and try not to think about that right now, okay?” Rick turned and headed along the bank upstream. Jane had positioned the car near the edge of the river facing upstream with the lights on which made it slightly easier for the pair to navigate through the tr
ees and brush along the edge of the river. Dr. Evans and Rick’s primary goal during the walk was to keep their air-filled bags intact, which they managed to do with only a few close calls.
“Okay.” A few hundred feet up the river Rick stopped and looked at Dr. Evans. “You think this is far enough?”
“It depends on how well you can swim.” Dr. Evans smiled.
“Yeah, yeah.” Rick sighed and looped the bags containing their shoes, the flashlight and the food and water around his neck. “She was right, you know.”
“About what?”
“This is a really, really stupid idea.”
***
Rick kept his head and chest up as he leapt from the bank into the river, trying to put as little pressure on the fragile bag of air as he could. His toes scraped against the soft mud of the river’s bottom and he gasped in shock at the water’s temperature. His body started to shiver almost immediately and he nearly lost the bag around his neck before re-adjusting it and positioning himself on the makeshift float.
Dr. Evans jumped in after Rick and, after arranging himself on his bag, shouted out to Rick who was already several feet down the river. “Kick! Kick as hard as you can! This current is strong!” Rick put his head down and began kicking his legs, as quickly as he could without thrashing them. He looked up occasionally to try and see how much progress he and Dr. Evans were making but from his position in the river it was nigh-on impossible to tell where the water stopped and the land began.
“Stop looking up and kick harder! We’re nearly there!” Dr. Evans’ voice was much closer than it had been a moment ago and Rick had to fight the urge to stop kicking and look over to see where his companion was. His calves and thighs burned as he pushed harder and he could feel the bag he was resting his chest on beginning to slowly sink further into the water, likely due to a leak in one of the layers of plastic.
After kicking for what felt like forever Rick noticed that there was a yellow glow out of the corner of one eye. He risked a quick glance up to see that the barge was around fifty feet off to the right and he had nearly crossed the breadth of the river. Not wanting to miss the boat and be forced to come ashore downriver, Rick put his head back down and grunted as he kicked even harder. His muscles screamed in agony and the last several feet felt longer than the rest of the swim combined. Finally, though, he heard Dr. Evans shout again, and relief washed over him.
“Look out, you’ll hit your head on the barge!” Rick stopped swimming and looked up as he floated past the front of the barge. The pusher boat was next and Rick saw a thick metal chain hanging down into the water from the deck of the craft. He reached out and grabbed the chain and his body swung slowly around in the current until his legs and waist bumped up against the hull of the craft. Rick tried to pull himself up into the boat but even though he thought he hadn’t used his arms during the swim he found that they felt just as worn out as his legs.
“Hey, Dr. Evans!” Rick called out. “Give me a hand?” No response came, but after a few seconds there was the sound of thumping and rustling plastic above Rick’s head. He looked up as a hand and arm shot down and Dr. Evans’ smiling face appeared.
“Come on, Rick! Come aboard!” Rick used his last bit of strength as he clung to Dr. Evans’ arm, using it and the side of the boat to pull himself up onto the deck. When he finally pulled his legs in over the side he collapsed to the deck, panting heavily and shivering uncontrollably.
“H-h-holy c-cow.” Rick’s teeth chattered and Dr. Evans quickly opened the plastic backs they had both hung from their necks and got out the blue blanket. He dried Rick off first before drying himself, then they both put their socks, pants, jackets and shoes on. They were still damp all over but as Rick continued to shiver inside his clothes he felt himself slowly starting to feel better.
“That was insane.” Rick whispered to Dr. Evans.
“It was fantastic!” Dr. Evans smiled broadly as he rubbed his hands together. “What you’re feeling is perfectly natural. The cold of the water combined with the intense physical exertion has left your body sapped of strength. Be sure to drink some water and eat something. You’ll feel better soon.”
“How is it you’re doing just fine while I’m the one suffering?” Rick’s hands shook as he opened up an energy bar and ground it beneath his chattering teeth.
Dr. Evans shrugged. “When I used to swim competitively I would train during the winter using a lake behind my parent’s house. That plus living in cold climates most of my life got me used to it, I guess.”
Rick stood up slowly and gave Dr. Evans an envious look. “Thanks for the help out there. I appreciate it.”
“No worries.”
Rick was about to suggest that they check out the pusher boat when they heard Jane yelling faintly from across the river. “You two okay?!” Rick turned to see her standing near the car—with its lights now off—waving her flashlight at them. Rick raised both arms and gave her two thumbs up, which she replied to by raising a thumb and switching off the flashlight.
“Okay, then.” Rick turned back to Dr. Evans. “Let’s see if this thing works.”
***
The estimate of twenty minutes for checking out the pusher boat turned out to be reasonably accurate, as it took the two men fifteen minutes to break open the lock leading into the control room on the deck. Two minutes later they located all the necessary switches and buttons required to turn on the lights, raise the anchor and switch on the engine. The pusher boat roared to life with one turn of the key, its well-maintained diesel engine none the worse for wear after having sat out in the weather ever since it was abandoned.
Whoever was manning the boat had either left in a hurry or was exceptionally messy. There were food wrappers, empty soda bottles, discarded newspapers and a stack of books scattered inside the small cabin that housed the control room. The boat’s logbook was stuffed in a small drawer on one side of the room but there was nothing written inside that gave any information about why the people working the pusher boat had decided to anchor it next to the bank of the river.
“Maybe they wanted to use it again?” Rick speculated aloud as he thumbed through the logbook again before tossing it back into the drawer.
“I feel sorry for them.” Dr. Evans surveyed the controls and nodded. “I believe I understand how this all works.”
“Fantastic. Do you think we can get the barge across the river and back?”
“I’m not familiar with how these things work, but moving perpendicular to the regular motion of travel would seem to me to be a difficult endeavor. However, given that this boat is designed to maneuver the barge in all sorts of areas I think we’ll be able to get it at some point or another.”
“Good.” Rick stepped up to the controls. “You want me to drive or do you want to take a crack at it?”
Dr. Evans took a step back. “Please, by all means. I’d rather have you at the wheel in case something goes wrong.”
“No problem. Just guide me on what does what since you figured it all out already.”
Rick and Dr. Evans spent the next thirty minutes working to get the barge from the east side of the river over to the west. A three-hundred-foot length of the river was traversed numerous times as they experimented with controlling the pusher and the barge, gradually working their way across the water while dealing with the current, the ungainly barge and the darkness.
One factor that Rick was exceptionally thankful for was that the barge was empty except for trace amounts of coal that had apparently been the last thing it was hauling. If the barge had been fully loaded there would have been little to no room for the car and it would have been much more difficult to push it across the river. He and Dr. Evans guessed that the barge had been on its way back down the river after delivering a shipment of coal upriver when the event occurred. The operators of the boat most likely abandoned the craft at that point, though where they went was anyone’s guess.
Jane stood on the western bank the entire time
, watching carefully as Rick and Dr. Evans got the barge closer and closer to shore. When they were within a few feet of the edge Rick jumped from the boat to the shore, carrying with him one of the ropes attached to the barge. He and Jane ran north along the river until they reached a particularly thick oak tree which they proceeded to use as a tie-down point for the barge.
“All good?” Dr. Evans leaned out of the control room, shouting at Rick and Jane.
“It’s secure!” Rick shouted back. Dr. Evans pushed a button that lowered the pusher’s anchor over the side where it quickly dropped into the relatively shallow water near the bank, sinking deep into the silt and mud.
“Anchor’s down!” Dr. Evans called out from inside the control room. He eased the throttle back on the boat, allowing the current to gently push the barge and the boat down the river until the rope holding the barge to the tree went taut. Both the boat and the barge bumped up against the shore and Rick ran back to the barge and pointed at a coil of rope.
“Jane, grab that and loop it around that tree. I’m going to take this one and do the same down here.”
While Rick and Jane secured the barge to the shore, Dr. Evans shut off the boat’s engine and jumped on shore, glad to be off of the boat and back on dry land. He grabbed a rope from the boat and tied it to a nearby tree as well before walking over to the barge and examining it with a flashlight. Rick and Jane walked over and stood next to him once they finished their tasks and Dr. Evans looked at Rick.
“How should we do this?”
Rick looked at the car parked nearby and back at the barge again, crossing his arms as he thought. “The deck’s a good foot lower than the bank. Maybe we use those boards at the front of the barge to make a ramp? Drive the car on board with those, head across to a clear spot and drive it off the same way?”
Dr. Evans nodded. “Exactly what I was thinking. Let’s do that, unless anyone has a better idea.”
