“Dr Varennikova.” He said carefully. “I’m sorry. I appreciate that you have just been through an extremely traumatic experience, but I think it would be prudent if you could administer a sedative to Major Flynn.” Natalya reluctantly unwrapped herself from me and silently left the module to prepare the injection.
“My God, are you okay?” I heard Aki ask her just outside. Aki and Karpov must have heard the commotion, realised the hatch had been re-opened and hurried to help. As they entered the lab, they saw Flynn in his wide eyed, agitated state and realised immediately what had transpired.
“Major Flynn.” Karpov growled, his head heavily bandaged, but seemingly much recovered from his groggy state of earlier. “You are hereby relieved of duty and will be confined to this module until further notice.”
“You’re carrying on as if there is still a chain of command.” Flynn sneered at him. “All that ended the moment the world did. Our only duty now is to safeguard the continuation of the human race. That’s all that matters from now on. You might not like it, but it’s true. I’m sorry that Takako and Varennikova don’t want to be treated like cattle, but we lost that luxury the moment those missiles exploded.”
“Have some dignity.” Karpov snarled. “We are not animals!” Natalya returned with a syringe. Flynn’s eyes widened and he made a break for the hatch. Karpov and Morrison restrained him, holding him steady while she injected him. A few moments later, he stopped struggling, before slipping into a dazed stupor. We all left the module before Morrison pulled the hatch down behind us, locking it shut.
“What now?” Aki asked Karpov. He sighed deeply, glancing towards the sealed hatch.
“We’ll have to keep him locked down and observe him over the next few days.” He replied. “With any luck, he’ll settle down and recover.”
“You can’t mean release him?” I replied incredulously. “You saw him; he was wild, like a rabid dog. What’s to stop the twisted fuck from trying to rape Natalya or Aki in the future?!”
“Calm yourself, Mr Carter,” Karpov turned his steely gaze on me. “This has been an emotional few minutes and I know Dr Varennikova and you are more than friends, but you forget yourself. Like I said, we will check on Flynn over the next few days and I will make a judgement call as to whether he still represents a danger to the rest of us.”
“My God, Karpov.” I replied with disbelief. “What’s it going to take? He’s become increasingly violent over the past weeks and now this. We’ve got to lock him down indefinitely.”
“Mission Commander, I have to agree with Carter.” Morrison added. “He is a danger to the rest of us. We’ve all seen the warning signs and ignored them, but we can’t tolerate attempted rape not to mention his assault on you. It’s absolutely unconscionable.”
“I have made my decision.” Karpov snapped. “Much as I appreciate your completely unqualified psychoanalysis, we will re-evaluate Flynn’s state of mind in a few days and I will decide then.” For a fleeting moment, I saw a flash of anger in Morrison’s eyes, but the American quickly composed himself and nodded tersely, accepting the decision.
Day One Hundred and Thirty-Eight
I entered the Zvezda module, where Karpov was standing before a mirror and shaving several days’ worth of stubble from his face.
“Carter.” Karpov acknowledged me, his reflection looking up at me. I nodded back at him. “You looking for Dr Varennikova?”
“I am.” I replied coolly.
“She’s in her sleeping compartment.” Karpov told me, gesturing towards the door at the far end of the module. I pulled myself towards the door and gently tapped on it.
“Hello?” Came the meek reply from within.
“It’s Max.” I gently replied. “Just wanted to see how you were doing and see if you needed anything?” The door opened and Natalya tried her best to smile and put on a brave face, but her eyes seemed sunken and moist with tears. She looked exhausted. I guessed she had had little sleep since the attack the previous day. I clenched my jaw not knowing whether I wanted to gather Natalya into my arms in a long embrace, or head to the Columbus Module, take a swing at Flynn and beat him like the animal he was. I decided on the former and reached for Natalya who had unstrapped herself from her compartment and allowed herself to be taken into my arms. We floated there for a moment before Natalya let herself go, her body trembling against me as she sobbed into my shoulder.
“Have you seen what Flynn has done to her, Karpov?!” I glared angrily at the big Russian, who had finished shaving and was putting his razor away. “And you think we can let bygones be bygones?”
“You forget yourself, Carter.” Karpov replied firmly. “Flynn will answer for what he did. If you bark at me one more time, I’ll find a module to confine you to too until you cool down.” I opened my mouth to retort, but Natalya pulled away from me and gazed into my eyes.
“Never mind that now.” She said, her moist, pink eyes imploring me. “Just hold me.” I wrapped my arms back around her and glowered at Karpov over her shoulder. He glared coolly back.
“Flynn won’t get away with this.” I told her earnestly. “I promise you, he will pay for what he did.”
Day One Hundred and Forty-One
I awoke suddenly from my slumber, a deafening siren ringing in my ears. My sleep addled mind cleared and I could hear a commotion outside. Someone, maybe Morrison, was shouting and swearing, panic in his voice. Quickly unzipping myself from my sleeping bag, I swung open my compartment door. Even before I saw it, I could feel the heat on my face. Turning towards the source, my eyes widened when I saw the fireball just a few metres away in the Destiny lab. It was unlike any fire I had seen before. In zero gravity, the flames flickered in all directions, simultaneously licking at the floor, ceiling and walls of the lab. I could see Morrison through the blaze at the far end of the lab, wrenching a fire extinguisher from the wall. Aki, Karpov and Natalya joined him. The compartment was quickly filling with smoke and I could smell the fumes. As the smoke began to thicken, I suddenly realised that I was cut off from the rest of the station.
“Shut the Destiny lab hatch!” Morrison shouted from the other side of the fireball. “We need to stop it spreading!” I pulled myself forward towards the hatch and reached for the handle, before snatching it back. The flames had already reached the frame of the hatch which was beginning to blacken. I choked as acrid smoke began to spread into the Harmony node. Peering through the smoke and flames, I could now barely see the others. I could just about make out Morrison spraying the fire extinguisher at the flames. Karpov had braced himself against the American, preventing the extinguisher acting as a booster and propelling Morrison back in the opposite direction.
“It’s too hot!” I shouted.
“You’ve got to try and get it closed, Carter!” Karpov shouted back. “We need to contain the fire in the lab. We could lose the whole station!” Gritting my teeth, I reached up for the handle for the hatch, ignoring the automatic impulse to pull my hand away. My fingers closed around the handle and I cried out in agony, snatching my hand back, the insides of my fingers burnt.
“I’m sorry.” I yelled back through the lab, the smoke now completely obscuring the others from my sight. “It’s too hot. I can’t do it!”
“Don’t worry about it.” Morrison shouted through the black fog. “We’ve shut down the ventilation system to try and smother the fire.”
“Try and put it out from your side.” Karpov shouted through the smoke. “There should be a fire extinguisher and some smoke masks on the wall.” He paused for a moment before adding: “Carter, you’re going to need Flynn to help you.” I glanced at the closed hatch of the Columbus lab.