“Fff! Fff! Fff!…” He was still breathing heavily, when he noticed the alarm in his pod had gone off. A red light was flashing on the panel in front of him. Rushing to his feet, he quickly entered a few commands on the keyboard. A graph appeared on the screen, partially covered with the word “WARNING!” After pressing a few more keys, the message changed to “AIR COMPOSITION INCORRECT!”
“Merde!”
“And that’s France. That’s where Uncle François is from.”
Chasma was looking at the map on the screen with dedicated attention. Seated on Dedrick’s lap, she asked her dad another question. “Where were you born, Daddy?”
“You know that, Chasma. I’ve shown you many times.”
“I know,” she said with a smile. “Show me again.”
Suddenly, a loud voice came through the intercom above them.
“Dedrick! Dedrick!” François sounded out of breath.
“What?”
“We have a serious problem. You need to come to pod two, right now!”
Dedrick could hear the gravity in his friend’s voice, and that immediately worried him. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
“On my way!”
“Sorry, baby, I have to see what uncle François wants. Be a good girl. I’ll be back soon.”
Dedrick put his daughter down and grabbed his tool belt. He rarely went anywhere without it. Jumping through the adjoining tunnel, he rushed past Vera and rushed down the next passage, before she could ask him where he was going in such a hurry. She turned her attention back to her work. She knew François was in the next pod. “What did he do this time?” she thought to herself.
François was seated in front of the main monitor when Dedrick entered the room. He spoke immediately, without looking at him.
“This is bad. Real bad.”
Dedrick leaned over François’ shoulder, and stared at the monitor.
“What am I looking at? What is it?”
“You don’t see that? The venting, there!” replied François, putting his finger right on the screen. Dedrick finally saw the blurry line.
“Crap! What is it?”
A small column of clear gas was escaping from one of the pipes. It was barely visible, was it not for the wobble effect it was causing on the display, as it spewed quickly from a joint in the tubing system. It was already causing the readouts on the panel to their right to rise rapidly.
“Looks like we’re leaking CO2, or carbon monoxide. The readings are conflicting. Maybe the sensor is defective too. I don’t know. Anyway, it’s in pod one, in the back of the west panel where all the support lines meet. I’ve already sealed the room and rerouted some of the feeds. But this is not good. Not good at all. We need to fix that leak pronto.”
“Fuck! FUCK!”
“Yep, exactly! I don’t even know what caused it.”
“You think a small meteorite could have come through the outer shell?”
“I thought about that as well, but the sensors didn’t detect any outside damage.”
“I was able to reroute most of the oxygen lines, and I shut down the electric ones, but the real problem remains. If we’re leaking CO2, it’s workable, but if it’s carbon monoxide, the slightest spark, and the whole thing will light up like it’s the fourth of July.”
“Carbon monoxide?” asked Dedrick obviously surprised.
“Yeah, it’s part of the air recycling system. Those gas pipes go through all the pods. Right now, the leak is contained to pod one, but… Either way, better hope it’s not what we’re leaking, or we’re screwed!”
“Don’t even say that. Can the air system function like that?”
“For now. But we need to patch this leak soon. And I think we should tell the others,” added François.
“Yes, of course. I’ll ask Vera to gather everyone in the main room.”
“No, I mean the ‘others.’ The aliens.”
“The Kahnus?”
“Well, maybe they can help. They are technically more advanced than us, right? I mean, they have a spaceship, and technologies we can’t even comprehend. Maybe they can help us fix this. I think it’s worth trying. You know me, I don’t worry easily. But I’m telling you, if it’s what I think it is, this is bad.”
“Hmm… I guess you have a point…”
But Dedrick didn’t look very enthusiastic about it. The Kahnus had not left their ship since the team had awakened them. He wasn’t sure of the reason, but he had wondered if it was because they couldn’t. Then again, as François had pointed out, they were definitely more advanced. Maybe they could still do something, even from there.
“Well, it’s worth a shot,” he thought.
Vera was sitting in front of the console, with Chasma standing next to her, when Dedrick entered the pod.
“Hi Daddy! Look! Isn’t she beautiful?” Chasma was holding a yellow flower between her fingers, her hand raised towards him.
“Wow! That is a pretty flower, Chasma. Where did you get it?”
“It’s a potato flower, Daddy. There are lots of them in the greenhouse right now. They are so pretty. Don’t you think?”
“Yes, very pretty. Listen, I need to talk to Mommy. Why don’t you go see what Liu is doing? I think she’s in pod four. You can show her your beautiful flower. I’m sure she would love to see it.”
“Ok Daddy,” and off she went through the small corridor, carefully holding her flower.
Vera turned to Dedrick.
“What is it?” She could tell something was wrong.
“We have a problem. There’s a gas leak in pod one. Don’t panic, we should be able to fix it, but I need you to get everyone to greenhouse three. I’ll explain everything.”
“What do you mean a leak? How serious is it?”
“Just call everyone in the main room, will you? I’ll explain everything. I need to check something. I’ll be right there.”
“Right now?”
Dedrick was already sliding feet first through the passage, when he replied “Yes!”
A few minutes later, Vera and five other team members were sitting in the conference area of their station, talking and trying to figure out what this leak story was all about, when Dedrick entered the pod.
“Where is François?”
“He said he would be here as soon as he could,” replied Vera.
“Dedrick, what’s going on?” asked Tendai.
“Hold on, we need François.” Then, moving to the console near him, he pressed the intercom control.
“Hey, you’re coming?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there. I was gathering some data.”
“Ok. We’re all here in the main room. We’re waiting for you.”
“I know.”
Dedrick turned off the mic and turned to the small group gathered around the “coffee table”, as they liked to refer to it, in the center of the room. The circular desk housed a library of digital backup drives, full of informative documentation on pretty much anything and everything. It included a large number of videos, movies and games, as well as references on a wide variety of subjects, from medical procedures, to Martian geology and planetary data to safety protocols.
Most importantly, it also included all the blue prints and maintenance information on the entire station and its inner workings; a section François was glad to have at hand at the moment.
“So, you wanna tell us what this is all about?”