By the time Peter crawled down to the solar array, Jesse was already standing next to the structure, anxious and ready to go. Peter worked his way up so he was standing on the opposite side. He handed over the portion of the tether line that had a clip. Once Jesse had it securely attached, Peter signaled they would jump on the count of three. He wasn’t quite sure how this was all going to work. Both men had to jump simultaneously and in the same direction. If one was off, who knows how their heading would be altered?
Peter made sure he had good footing and hoped Jesse was doing the same. He signaled for them to bend down. When Jesse looked to be ready, Peter extended his free hand with three fingers showing. He slowly counted them down to zero. He let go of the array and powered off the ship, seeing Jesse out of the corner of his eye doing the same. As they flew off the ship, Peter felt a tug. Not good. His intended direction changed. Peter assumed the commander must have slipped. Peter was ahead of Jesse and with his rigid helmet, he could not look back. He quickly analyzed their situation and an icy fear began to churn in his gut. They were going to miss, and due to the long slack in the tether line, there was nothing he could do to change their course.
As they passed the halfway mark, Peter saw he was going to be close to the end of one of the extended solar arrays, but was sure he would miss it, even with an outstretched arm. Luck wasn’t on his side as it had been in lunar orbit. Peter accepted their fate as he tried to figure out exactly what they had to do to get back to his ship. They were forced to ride out the full extension of the tether line before they would be snapped back in an unknown direction. He expected it would be a challenge to grab the line and pull them back. He had no idea how long that would take, and he feared the clock was ticking on the bomb.
As he floated by the array, he still made a valiant effort to try to reach it. He easily missed by a couple of meters. He let out a big sigh as he watched his ship fly by. Suddenly he felt a strong jolt as his forward motion came to an abrupt stop. There was only one answer for the small miracle; the commander must have grabbed the array. Good job, Jesse! The tug caused him to spin around, and he saw Jesse’s face straining as he struggled to hold onto the solar array. Soon his friend had a solid grip with both hands on the structure. Peter pulled on the short line between them until he was just above the commander on the array. He flashed a quick thumbs-up. Jesse reciprocated before anxiously pointing back to Iris.
Peter understood. Unfortunately, he had to climb to the opposite array before he could launch himself again to save Blake.
They hurriedly scrambled up the array. Once on the ship, Jesse gave a quick okay sign before crawling toward the hatch that was close by. Peter climbed in the opposite direction. As Iris came back in view, he did a quick look back at Jesse to confirm the commander made it into the hatch. He was fine. When Peter turned back around, he was shocked by a quick burst of bright light that briefly blinded him. Before his vision cleared, something smacked him hard on his helmet, almost knocking him off the ship. As he repositioned himself, he was momentarily confused. He peered back at Iris and saw high-velocity debris spreading out from the ship in all directions. The bomb had exploded!
“No!” Peter quickly ducked behind his ship out of the way of any further debris. He slammed his open-gloved hand hard against the ship. “Damn it!”
Since his ship was on the opposite side of where the bomb had just exploded, very little debris flew close by Galileo. However, his heart sank when he saw hundreds of glittering pieces flying in all directions out into space, a sure sign it was a major explosion. After a few seconds, he cautiously peered back over Galileo. He was shocked to see Iris had moved. The ship was slowly tumbling end over end with gases seeping out from her sides as it floated away. He was about to get in position to jump toward the moving ship before he realized there was no way he could catch it. He frantically searched for any sign of Blake. There was none.
He hastily worked his way back down to the hatch. He had no choice but to quickly fire up Galileo and fly closer to Iris. A sickening feeling swept over him as images of Blake’s family flashed in his mind. Come on, buddy, be alive.
ALLEN COULD TELL something serious was going on in the control room. Red lights flashed on some of the controllers’ consoles and an unexpected buzz arose among the team. Bernie stood at his console, barking out questions. Since Peter was in a self imposed radio silence, the team was in the dark. As CEO, Allen wanted answers. He walked straight up to the flight director’s console and tapped him on the shoulder. Bernie turned with a frustrated look and removed his headset. “Yes, sir?”
“What the hell’s going on?”
The director responded with a firm voice. “We don’t know. For some reason Peter took control of the ship and is firing thrusters.”
“Is there any way of contacting him?”
Bernie’s monitor distracted him. He bent down to study it and answered, “Not while he’s wearing the Skylab suit.”
Allen looked up at the screen at the front of the room that showed the location of both spacecraft. He tilted his head slightly. “Has Iris changed its orbit?”
The director typed in some response to what he was observing as he gave his boss only partial attention. “Yes.”
Allen was getting perturbed talking to the back of the director’s head and nudged him on the shoulder. “Why?”
The director took a step back and to the side of his console so he could keep an eye on his monitor but still face Allen. His voice was unmistakably frustrated. “Sir, I don’t know. Either the crew is flying it, or…” He stalled midsentence as he slowly turned away and looked up at the screen in front of the room.
Allen looked up, too, before directing his attention back to the director. “Or what?”
Bernie turned, and without blinking, spoke in an intense tone. “The bomb exploded, and that’s why it’s moving away from Galileo.”
The words hung in the air as they caught the CEO off guard. He took a moment to digest them as he looked back up at the screen. “Shit, is there any damage to Galileo?”
The director folded his arms. “That’s what we’re trying to determine. Various alarms are going off, but some of them are associated with Peter flying the ship without pressurizing the cabin. In fact, the hatch isn’t even fully sealed.”
Allen looked back at Bernie. “Damn, I didn’t even know the ship was capable of doing that.”
“Neither did I, but he’s doing it, and we don’t know why.”
“I want you to set up communication with Peter. If that bomb has gone off, then we don’t need to continue with the radio blackout.”
The director turned and took his seat to get back to the emergency. “Yes, sir.”
Allen was now looking at the director’s back. “And let me know the damage assessment as soon as you have it. We may want to call off this rescue.”
The director answered as he put his headset back on. “Will do.”
28
SURVIVE
To prevent his tether line from getting spun around the tumbling Iris during his search for Blake, Peter parked Galileo on one of its spinning sides, where he was able to keep an eye on the hatch. Though he would be rotating in reference to Galileo when inside Iris, his tether line would have a straight shot back to its ball joint connection on his ship, giving it the freedom to spin and not get tangled.