“Shit.” I cursed. The tether was taut. I tugged on it, hoping it was simply snagged on something, but it didn’t give. I smiled grimly, realising I had quite literally reached the end of my tether. I considered my options. I could retrace my steps and return to the Poisk airlock, but then what? I didn’t remember seeing a longer tether and it would cost some more time too. I looked across at the Quest airlock, just to the right of me and almost within touching distance. I was so close and I had made relatively easy progress up to this point. I looked at the carabiner at my waist, connecting the tether to my spacesuit.
“What the hell are you doing, Carter?” I murmured as I reached down and unclipped it, letting it float gently away. I struggled the remaining short distance and looked up at the edge of the Unity node. A yellow hand hold was mounted on the edge of the module and was tantalisingly out of reach. Stretching for it, I flailed for a second, my fingers not quite reaching it. I clung to the tube and held myself in place. I would have to let go to reach it. I cursed my luck. If the tether had just been a little longer, at least I would have a safety net if I didn’t make it.
“You’ve come this far, Max. You can do this.” I told myself, trying to steady my nerves. Taking a deep breath, I gently pushed myself off the surface of the tube in the direction of the Unity node. I reached out and my fingers closed around the hand hold, grasping it tightly. I smiled with relief, a smile that instantly vanished as my momentum threw my body past the hand hold. Gripping it with all the strength I could muster, my momentum continued to swing my body upwards, away from the station. Squeezing my eyes shut, I gripped the handle as tightly as I could. My momentum pulled too hard at my fingers and I felt my grip begin to loosen. Gritting my teeth, I tried to twist my body around, desperately flailing with my other arm, but not able to reach the hand hold. I cried out in terror as I felt the handle slip from my grasp.
“No!” I gasped, my worst fears realised as I began to float away. “No, no, please God, no!” I tried to throw my body back towards the station but in the vacuum of space, it made no difference. I frantically swung my arms forward in a desperate and futile effort to somehow reach the handhold, but it was no use. I felt my eyes moisten as I realised that it was hopeless. I would gently float further and further away from the station and in a few short hours, my oxygen would run out and I would suffocate alone. My corpse would orbit the Earth until the end of time. I morbidly wondered if my body would decompose until only my skeleton remained, or whether I would be preserved, like the shrivelled up remains of Egyptian mummies. My morose chain of thought was interrupted by an impact against my back. It was the boom of the huge robotic arm on top of the station. I quickly reached out and grasped it, wrapping both arms around it. My momentum overcame the friction between the smooth boom and my arms and I began sliding along it outwards towards the business end of the robot arm.
“Not again.” I grunted, manoeuvring myself around and clamping the boom between my feet. Squeezing with all my might, my frazzled brain fleetingly brought to mind a fireman, sliding down a pole. Finally, the friction overcame my momentum and I managed to stop myself. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, I took a moment to catch my breath and regain my composure before very carefully pulling myself back down the boom towards the station.
I spent the next half an hour very cautiously making my down the robot arm to the top of the station, crawling across the Unity module to the Quest airlock. Finally reaching the airlock hatch, I pulled at a big yellow emergency release handle. I waited what seemed to be an eternity while the airlock was flushed and the pressure equalised. The hatch swung open and I pulled myself inside, relief washing over me as I closed the hatch behind me. Cycling the airlock, I patiently waited for the pressure to equalise and at last I was able to climb out of the space suit. I pulled myself out and kissed the wall of the airlock.
“Never again.” I muttered, before cautiously opening the inner airlock and peeking around the corner into the Unity node. Silence. No sign of Flynn or anyone else for that matter. Pulling myself over to the closed hatch leading to the Russian segment, I reached for the latch mechanism, unlocked it and pulled the hatch upwards. Opening my mouth to call for the others, I paused, thinking better of it. I didn’t want to alert Flynn to my presence just yet. The hatch to the Tranquillity node was shut too. Morrison must still be trapped inside. Glancing nervously towards the far end of the station, I reached for the latch and pulled open the hatch. Morrison appeared behind it opening his mouth to speak. I put my finger to my lips and he nodded his understanding.
“Where’s Flynn?” He whispered.
“I don’t know. Somewhere through there I think.” I replied, nodding in the direction of the Destiny Lab. At that moment, an ear piercing shriek echoed down through the modules of the station.
“Natalya.” I gasped, immediately propelling myself down through the Destiny module. Morrison followed me as we headed towards the far end of the station. Another scream, this time muffled, filled the air.
“Sounded like the Columbus lab.” Morrison said, his voice low. We quickly pulled ourselves towards it, my mind reeling. What was Flynn doing to her? Were we already too late? We dragged ourselves into the lab, to find Flynn grappling with Natalya, one hand over her mouth while the other tried to restrain her. She was wildly swinging and scratching at him with her one free hand.
“I take no pleasure in this.” He hissed at her. “But we must do this for the sake of humanity.” Natalya caught sight of us as we entered the module and stopped struggling. Flynn too, realised they were no longer alone and turned around just as Morrison hurled himself at him, gripping him by the throat and tearing him from Natalya. Once she was free of him, Morrison hurled him away to the other end of the module, Flynn crashing hard into an experiment rack, leaving him momentarily dazed. I looked at Natalya whose flight suit was torn open from her throat down to her waist. Her long blonde hair had been pulled loose of her hair band and her eyes were puffy and wet with tears. Holding the ripped remnants of her flight suit together to maintain her modesty, she pulled herself across to me. I took her into my arms, as she quietly sobbed into my shoulder.
“What the fuck, Flynn!” Morrison shouted at his compatriot.
“We’ve got to start to re-populate the Earth.” Flynn insisted, his eyes wild, his face a mass of welts and scratches.
“My God!” Morrison looked at him aghast. “What would Caitlin and Sarah say if they could see you now? You think your wife would be proud of you? You think you’d still be a hero to your little girl?”
“They’re dead, Morrison.” Flynn shouted back, his eyes brimming with tears. “They all are. Everyone down there is dead. We are all that is left of the human race, just us six. We have to start now. Takako and Varennikova aren’t getting any younger, so we need to get as many children out of them as we can before it’s too late!”
“Can you hear yourself?” Morrison asked him incredulously. “Tell me you’re not so far gone that you can’t hear how irrational you sound?”
“The survival of humanity is at stake!” Flynn told him, twitching with nervous energy.
“So you thought you’d rape Natalya.” I spat, barely containing my rage. I shook my head at him in disgust. “You sick bastard!” Flynn’s mouth twisted into something between a grimace and a sneer, saliva bubbling up in the corners of his mouth. I glanced meaningfully at Morrison, who nodded grimly, reading my expression.