Aliens on the International Space Station

by Sally Ann Melia

  Nice to have someone on your side, May thought. Sergey seemed unperturbed by the spinning ship, he activated an automatic relay, and drew the rescued astronaut towards him and helped him through the hatch. Two of the four military men were safe, the military shuttle appeared spaceworthy, so what of the two back on the alien asteroid?

  “I have a third tether,” May said. “Sergey, if I attach the third tether here, then I can fly over and attach the other end to the alien ship…”

  “Then we can rescue the other two astronauts…” He finished her sentence. “That’s providing Rogers can hold this tin can still.”

  “Roger that, ISS team. If you go fetch our boys, I’ll be waiting here to catch you.”

  “Okay,” May said, and she looked the length of the shuttle for a good place to attach the line, and in so doing she looked away from the asteroid, until…

  “NIIIETTT!” It was an anguished scream from Sergey.

  What had happened?

  Sergey was shaking his fist. At what?

  May spun round to the alien asteroid ship.

  The ape-like alien had grabbed the one last walking astronaut, swung him away from his injured colleague. It held him high. Next, in a fit of fury, it pulled off his helmet, like a child ripping the head off its doll. May blinked as she tried to see if there was still a head inside the helmet. Without his helmet would this astronaut die of asphyxiation?

  The creature was roaring now as it brandished the helmetless astronaut aloft. Was that man dying? Would he be gulping for air like a fish out of water? What about his eyes, they would pop if the pressure was not right? And his lungs, his veins, his ears, every part of a human depended on a fragile level of pressures that only existed on the surface of the planet.

  “Chyort!” Sergey swore.

  May knew she had to get moving. Inside the hanger of the asteroid ship, the fourth astronaut had been crawling away from the alien but now he changed direction. He moved with great determination on two hands and one knee, for his left leg was clearly useless, yet he advanced like a dog dragging a crippled paw. May watched as he somehow made his way under the feet on the monster, a large hunting knife held high. Even as the alien danced holding the helmetless astronaut aloft, the other stabbed and slashed at the ankles and tendons of the alien. Causing it to howl and hop. The alien screamed, and dropped the helmetless man and seemingly the pain was so great, the alien did not even have the wherewithal to even swipe at his attacker.

  The crawling astronaut had retrieved the fallen helmet, and cradling his colleague to him, he attempted to reattach it.

  “He’s still alive,” May said, instinctively she knew that there was no point trying to fix the helmet, if the other was not still breathing. “Even without his helmet, he has to be alive.”

  May felt her vision blur, as she thought of the clips, the bindings, the many seals that kept a helmet attached to a suit. If it had been ripped apart, then surely there would be no way to reinstate it. Simultaneously she reached to her right hip, yes she had it, the emergency kit for dealing with small cracks, cracks she reminded herself, not an entire helmet ripped off.

  Still she could not watch. She had to… Condensation clouded the inside of her helmet as tears dripped down her face.

  Pull yourself together, she told herself through gritted teeth.

  Dumpling, dumpling, silly billy dumpling, Jasmin sing-songed inside her head.

  SHUT UP JASMIN!

  Had she said that aloud?

  “May, take a drink okay?” Prisha this time, she must be monitoring May’s vitals. No doubt her heart rate was off the chart. She sucked deliberately on her drink tube. Sweet. Vitamins and sugar. Good, she needed that today.

  “I can’t leave them there.” May replied through clenched teeth, grateful to hear the vents clearing the mist inside her helmet away. She clicked the third tether to herself and clunked the other end to the military shuttle.

  May realized Sergey was looking at her, which meant no one was looking at the alien ship.

  With a cough and a sense of dread, she turned towards it.

  The alien was down. Rolling, its face twisted in agony as it cradled its leg. The injured astronaut was crawling three-legged across the floor, dragging his colleague behind him. Was that helmet attached? Had the astronaut survived without it? The two men had reached the very ledge of the ship, then stopped.

  “If they just jump out into space…” May said.

  “No helmet you die,” Sergey said. “That one is already dead. That alien kill the other one soon.”

  “Not if I help it,” May said. With a kick she jumped off the shuttle and pointed the space scooter towards the open bay door of the alien ship. “Sergey, you can follow with the tether.”

  Had she really just given an order to the Russian?

  “Go!” Sergeyreplied. “I finish here.”

  “Hurry!” Katherine added.

  The asteroid was further away than the shuttle had been. On her first jump May had been flying towards a ‘friend’ with the ‘simple’ task of closing the shuttle hatch. This - her second leap into freedom - was a flight towards an unknown enemy with no real hope of helping. If the astronaut had lost his helmet - what could she do?

  Still it was a relief to be swimming through space once more, good to have jumped free of the spinning shuttle. As she approached she assessed the situation: How badly injured was the alien? Would she pass the silver force field unscathed? What could she do to fix a broken helmet to a space suit?

  That alien is still moving, she told herself grimly. She had to get the last two astronauts out.

  “Okay, let’s do this rescue,” May said. That’s exactly what Jasmin would have said, she thought delighted, as she repeated. “Let’s do it!” She hoped those back on the ISS were reassured by her confidence, even if what she was doing was foolhardy.

  Her world turned silver. Her sight was blinded by shimmering hexagons. She held her breath, and she was through. She passed the force field and headed in towards the ship. Next she stumbled as she landed alongside the two injured men.

  “Sadler!” The man with the mangled leg introduced himself. “Keeler!” He pointed to the man with the ripped helmet, who gasped and coughed as if in a smoke-filled room. May had landed in what was clearly a hanger bay within the alien ship. The shape, the storage units, the many levels of balconies and platforms all was familiar except all was carved from rock. A single intricately carved rock, a complex 3D puzzle, the alien ship seemed to have been etched out of stone from the inside-out. And no stairs, May thought, no metal fittings. And yet there were tunnel openings on several levels… how did? She looked at the walls of hexagon lattice-work: the aliens did not need stairs, they climbed.

  Roar! It was a warning, the alien was cradling his leg, but watching them from across the landing area.

  “I’m pretty sure I cut its tendons,” Sadler said before adding.

  “Help me with this,” May said. She was layering the duck tape over the rips in the astronaut suit. “I have an emergency oxygen tank, but we need to get your suit pressurized.”

  “Gimme,” Keeler gasped.

  May handed the tape to Sadler, and passed the oxygen to Keeler. The tank had a flimsy tube and plastic mask for emergencies. Not enough to keep one safe in the vacuum of space, but Keeler grabbed it, pushed it up inside his helmet, and breathed in greedily.

  “The drones,” Keeler spat out the words between gulps of air and pointed.

  “What is he talking about?” May asked.

  “We sent up six drones, only three have come back.”

  May shook her head, then turned to Keeler.

  “Forget about the drones, I’m going to replace your oxygen tank, and fix your helmet.” Sadler held Keeler’s helmet in place as May sealed it, she had a small glue gun and duck tape.

  “I can’t abandon the drones. Each one is autonomous, so they will each have made different recordings, if we can’t get them off this rock, we won’t b
e able to see all the different areas they have explored.”

  “Your life is more important,” May said.

  “You can track them with this,” Keeler handed her a tablet, and as he did a fourth robot raced through the air, and tucked itself into the carry case. Only two drones were missing now.

  “We have four drones,” Sadler said, picking on the carry case.

  “We need all six,” Keeler insisted.

  “How’s that oxygen doing, Keeler?” May asked. His suit had expanded. “What do your readings say?”

  “Breathable air 92%. Suit 89% intact” A voice said over comms. “Good enough.”

  “Okay,” she looked around there was a narrow column on the right hand side of the hanger entrance. “Houston, I can secure the tether here on board the alien ship, and these guys can bee-line along it back to their shuttle.” She showed the red tether to Keeler and Sadler. “See Sergey is waiting over there.”

  May pointed then stared. Beyond Sergey, Frankie and Vladimir had made their way to the end of the first two tethers.

  “ETA 135 seconds. I should rendezvous with the shuttle in 130 seconds.” Frankie’s voice was calm and clear, as she spoke of her own space jump with a scooter she had never used before to reach the military shuttle.

  God she was brave, May thought. So now there were four of us, trying to rescue the military astronauts.

  “I can help them,” Sergey said, reaching out to the tether and setting out to meet Keeler and Sadler. “Give them a push with my jet pack.”

  “It’s not very far and with the tether you are safe.” May said. “You will have to cut it or release from the shuttle at the far end.”

  “How will you get back?” Sadler asked, and Keeler nodded, he had eyes on the alien..

  “I have the scooter,” May pointed. “Now do you feel up to this?”

  “Can I have some tape for my leg?” Sadler interrupted.

  The alien’s claws had cut through to the bone.

  “I need to bandage,” May protested.

  “Just tape it up, “ Sadler replied shortly.

  “We need the last two drones,” Keeler moaned. “They went up there…” He waved to a line of tunnels at the top of a hexagonal trellis.

  May nodded. Clearly the last two drones had gone furthest into the ship.

  “How do you catch the drones?”

  Keeler handed her the tablet. “Just wave this in their general direction and press this button. The drones will switch off and drop to the floor.”

  “It’s getting up!” Sadler said, he meant the alien.

  “The drones, you have to go get the drones,” Keeler insisted.

  “Houston says, don’t worry about the machines,” That was Katherine but she sounded faint and crackly.

  “Look, I’m going to die. “ Keeler said, and he grabbed and held May’s hand. “My ribs are smashed, my lungs,” he coughed and spluttered, blood splattered the inside of his helmet. “I’m bleeding out, my helmet is bust, even if I make it back to the shuttle, I probably won’t make it to the ground. But I came up here to deploy those drones. If they don’t return to Earth, well I’ve died for nothing. ”

  May paused and looked straight into his face.

  “Not nothing.” May said. “You were here.” She waved around the ship.

  “We are here for all mankind. What we see, what the drones see, it’s important.”

  “I get it. One small step…” May started to say. “But your family…”

  “Listen to me.” Interrupted Keeler. “Please.”

  May stared at the man in dismay, he clearly believed he was dying, and yet in death his only thought was for his drones. Why? What had he seen?

  “I’m listening.”

  “I was following the drones. They found the sleeping quarters. The aliens have nests. I counted the nests. There were five. Five nests. Five aliens. I think. I can’t be sure, but the drone has recordings. It has it all. Proof. One died in Windsor. One is dead in Sequoia. This one is injured. There’s only two left.”

  “Two?” May said.

  “Don’t you see? Two. You have to get that drone and get it back to NASA. Tell them not to kill anymore of them. Tell them to capture. If we could just capture the last two, then this ship could be ours.”

  “Hurry!” Sadler said, heaving Keeler upwards.

  “Leave me,” Keeler gasped with pain.

  “We’re not leaving you,” Sadler scolded him.

  “Hurry,” May said, putting her shoulder under Keeler’s shoulder.

  The deck was shaking under them as the alien stood up and hopped on one leg. It looked at them and roared.

  “Hurry, Yankee!” Sergey yelled over comms.

  “I’m coming over,” That was Frankie, she was standing on the outside of the military shuttle, and now she pointed her scooter towards the alien ship.

  “You must go,” May said, as she and Sadler forced Keeler to take hold of the red tether with this hand, and pushed him out a short way before hooking his good knee over the line as well. Showing unexpected strength Keeler started to crawl. Then Sadler leapt out, first swinging on the rope like a child before pulling his legs up or almost. Sadler’s busted leg hung like a twisted flag behind him but still hands and one remaining knee working together, he climbed the line quickly catching Keeler. They had both past the silver force field and then Keeler slowed. Maybe it was the fear of being injured now he was alone in the vastness of space, maybe he was loosing air, but…

  If he did not advance, May thought then Sadler too would be stuck.

  All at once Keeler let go the tether, and spinning like a starfish, he fell away from the asteroid.

  “No!” shouted May. She went to find her space scooter. But he was going so fast how could she…

  “I got you cowboy!” Frankie was speeding after Keeler, the space scooter propelled her faster than a racing dolphin. May saw her reach out and grab Keeler’s arm, turn and head back to the military shuttle.

  Sergey too, had hauled himself alongside Sadler and putting his shoulder to shoulder propelled him forward.

  “Let’s get you home Yankee…”

  Keller and Sadler were safe, thought May, or at least they were on their way back to the shuttle.

  Now she must go, or must she?

  What of the alien?

  All this time, May has been standing in the shadows of the large door, now she turned to check on the alien, standing on one leg. It appeared not to see her, just watched the others leave, then turning to hobble to the far wall, and there wearily it climbed a vertical hexagonal lattice.

  It’s badly hurt, May though then. And that’s where Keeler’s drones went.

  “May, it’s not safe. Come back.” That was Katherine from the ISS.

  “There are two missing drones,” May replied. For a moment she looked longingly at the scooter at her feet.

  “It’s too dangerous…” Katherine sounded so far away. May could see Sergey gesticulating as he pulled and shoved Sadler back on board his shuttle.

  If I die here, my life will have been lost for nothing. Keeler had said.

  If I die today, I will the hero who died meeting aliens and I will be happy. That was Sergey.

  If I die in space, I am giving myself to a cause that goes beyond a single human life.

  Dear, dear Jasmin. She really was better than me, May thought. Just not today. Today’s the day I decide what I would give my life for?

  May looked up thoughtfully at the tunnels. Two more robots to find, she thought. She looked at the tablet screen, they were not far.

  “The alien is injured and retreating.” May spoke aloud for those on board the ISS and beyond to hear. She ignored the subsequent protests. She had to do this. The alien had climbed the trellis and disappeared down the right hand tunnel. The tunnel had another force field, for the air had flashed white as the alien passed through. May hurried to follow. The hexagonal trellis was not difficult to climb, the hand and foot holds were furthe
r apart then she would have liked. Why was she so short, if Jasmin… Stop that. And her suit was heavy in what she calculated was something less than half-G, but still she could climb.

  Hand over hand, keep three points on contact at all times. That was the training. But this was not what they had trained for.

  I’m climbing up the inside of an alien ship, she thought gleefully. No one else has done this…

  Good girl, but concentrate right? Jasmin again - was the ever a time when she was not scolding her?

  May heaved herself up onto the balcony platform, then leaning against the wall stood up and headed into the tunnel where the alien had disappeared. The screen told her, this was also where the drones were. As she passed through the second force field she stumbled and fell to her knees.

  The ground was soft and yielding. As May stood up, she found herself in a vast arboretum, a green oasis of grass and vast trees.

  “Redwoods,” she thought in wonder. She looked down at the fresh turned soil. Were these the trees from Sequoia National Park? What were these other Earth trees doing here?

  As she went to investigate, she came upon great craters. Vast holes in the ground where trees had been. If she looked down, she saw through to the rock floor and a narrow stream of water below. Four, eight, twelve craters. May counted then stopped. There. Stacked along the right wall, a pyramid of felled, dead trees, their wood silver and lifeless, shorn of their branches like timber ready for harvest. They were trees, but they were unlike Earth trees, the pattern of their bark was complex fractal of pentagons and hexagons May had never seen before, not in plant life. In mosaics, in human buildings, but not in plants. Patina aside, they were still alien trees? Dead alien trees? Were they used in oxygenation? Could they be replaced by Earth trees?

  At her feet was a twig with half a dozen green leaves. Without thinking May bent to pick it up. The leaves were hexagonal and budding stems and florets extended in delicate hexagonal fractals, like a living, growing snowflake. She was no botanist, but she was sure she had never seen these shapes in the natural world on Earth. She reached into a pocket for a sample bag, and sealed the twig and leaves within. Even as she did one of the leaves ripped, even as an Earth leaf might crumble when man handled by large gloves. She sighed, then pushed the bag deep into her chest pocket. This leaf was going home with her, was it an oxygenator like earth plants. May had to know.