Dedrick grabbed the seat next to him and sat down. Facing everyone, he was about to say something, when François entered the room, holding a small digital pad in his right hand. The Russian commander immediately sensed things were even worse than they had hoped.
“Well?” asked Vera again.
François took a seat and looked around the room before answering. He scratched the back of his head and began.
“We have a situation in pod one… A gas leak in the air recycling system.”
All gasped at once.
“How bad is it?”
The Frenchman, shifting position to try to make himself more comfortable, rolled his eyes at the ceiling, obviously searching for words. Finally, after inhaling somewhat loudly, he answered, “Well… It’s not good.” He clinched his teeth together.
They all knew François too well by now. After almost fifteen years spent together in the confinement of the small station, he had never looked this concerned in any situation. And much less at a loss for words. He had always found a way to make fun of almost anything. Aside from the war on Earth, Najib’s death, and the crash of MF3, nothing had ever fazed him much. But this time was different. He looked like he had just been told he had a fatal illness and had only a few days left to live. They were all staring at François, and panic was starting to build up in some of them. Taking another big breath, François slowly began again.
“Well, about half an hour ago, a sensor went off on the central console. It woke me up. I checked the readings immediately. It was registering a leak in our room. I moved Sabrina to the greenhouse and closed off the pod. It took me a few minutes, but I eventually found the problem. There is a leak in the west wall. What looks like a cracked pipe. Now, we don’t have much in terms of replacements parts on the station, as you all know, but I figured we would be able to patch it, and hopefully, find a way to bypass the defective section later. Anyway, I showed the problem to Dedrick, and we both agreed you all needed to know.”
Next to him, Dedrick nodded, and François continued, “After he left, I decided to run an analysis report through the main computer…” François paused.
Everyone was listening quietly, but he could tell, occasionally glancing at their faces, that some of them were starting to really worry. Even Dedrick, looking at his friend, was sensing something much worse than the leak the two men had discussed earlier was troubling him.
“The thing is…” he continued, “It’s not CO2 that is leaking, as I had first presumed. It’s carbon monoxide.”
“Carbon monoxide? Is that bad?” interjected Sabrina.
“I’m afraid so. You see, if it was CO2, we’d be OK, as long as we can patch the leak. It’s not a flammable gas. But carbon monoxide, on the other hand…”
“What?” asked Vera
“Well, one small spark and… Any flame, any electrical short, or high heat source can spell disaster for us.” Again, François paused, looking for the right words. “But that’s not the worst part…”
The room was now dead silent, and a thick feeling of dread was growing in all of them.
“Here’s the thing… when Dedrick and I were looking at this problem about a half hour ago, we didn’t know what caused the pipe to crack, but my first guess was a defective part had finally gone bad, obviously sooner than was expected… But at least, it was localized to one area. With a little luck, we would be able to bring the problem under control, even if it required some MacGyver work.” His feeble attempt at humor, a nervous reaction on his part, was completely missed by the group.
He went on, “Here’s the real problem. The analysis report says the pipe cracked because it’s not up to specs.”
Dedrick frowned. Sabrina was about to say something, but François continued, “In other words, it broke because it’s not the one that’s supposed to be in there to begin with. It’s almost an eighth of a centimeter thinner than it should be, and it’s not even made of the right material.
“What do you mean? Not up to specs?” asked Dedrick.
“I’m saying someone decided to cut corners and installed an inadequate pipe in that section. Probably to save a few bucks. I’m just amazed it made it through quality control.”
“If it’s just that section, can’t we find a way to bypass it?” asked Tendai.
“Well, that’s the thing… It’s not just in that section. This pipe goes through every pod, and it’s only a matter of time before leaks start to spring everywhere.”
“What are you saying?” Liu suddenly blurted, shaking, as she realized the seriousness of what François was telling them.
“I’m saying we don’t have sixty years, as was predicted, before this whole place starts to fall apart. If the air system starts to leak now, the station will soon become inhabitable.”
“Oh, my God… How long do we have?” asked Vera, eyes wide open in absolute shock.
“Hard to tell… A few months? Weeks? I honestly don’t know,” replied François.
Looking at the floor, Dedrick let a quiet “Crap!” under his breath.
“Shit!” said Tendai out loud. “What do we do?” He looked completely lost. They all did.
“I’m afraid there isn’t much we can do, guys. We don’t have anything to replace these pipes with. There’s too many of them.”
“What about the aliens? Maybe they can help!” suddenly asked Tendai hopeful.
“That’s what I said to Dedrick earlier. We don’t know if they can do anything, but it’s worth asking.”
“Yes. That’s also why we wanted to talk to you all,” added Chasma’s father. “I didn’t realize the severity of our situation, but François had already suggested talking to them about the leak. Now, I definitely agree. We don’t have any other choice. And if they can’t help us repair the station, we need to ask if we can move to their ship, and the sooner the better.”
“The ship? You mean the alien ship?” asked Sabrina.
“Yes, love. Think about it,” replied François, “If other parts of the station start to leak, we won’t be able to maintain the integrity of the station for very long. Losing one pod for a few days is already a huge problem, but if this gets worse… The only other place I can think of, that can provide us with shelter, is the alien ship. Dedrick and I spent countless days in there without needing to use our suits, and you’ve all been there. It may not be ideal, but it sure beats the alternative.”
“I agree with François,” added Dedrick. “I don’t see too many other options. If we lose our habitat, we have nowhere else to go. I suggest we start thinking about packing some of our survival equipment. Just in case. Anything you can think of that we may need. Extra suits, clothes, computers, lab equipment, food! Prioritize. Only gather what is essential. We need to find a way to take as much food as we can, if we end up having to leave the station.”
“Shoot! That means the greenhouses won’t survive either,” said Ladli looking at him.
“You’re right, we need to think about that as well. See if you can transfer some of the plants and vegetables to portable containers. And water! Damn it! What do we do about water?”
Everyone in the room started to realize the true magnitude of their predicament. Even Dedrick, who had always seemed calm and in control when faced with difficult situations in the past, was now struggling to not let his emotions take over him. They all felt the weight of the Martian world on them. Unless the aliens could help them, the station was dying, and they would die with it. And unless they were able to transfer the water recycling system to the Kahnus’ cave, moving there would not help either. It all seemed pointless. Sabrina started crying. Her head in her hands, she let out a wailing, “I don’t wanna die!” and doubled up on her cries, sobbing and hyperventilating.