“Try not to say anything, Carter.” Morrison told me. “You’re going to be okay, but I need you to relax.”
“Natalya?” I groaned.
“She’s a little shaken up.” He replied. “But she’ll be okay too. That’s quite a girl you have there. She’s saved your life today.”
A couple of hours later, Morrison returned from the airlock having disposed of Karpov’s body. This time, no words were spoken.
Day One Hundred and Fifty
“Hey.” I called out as I entered the Destiny Laboratory where Natalya was riding the exercise bike. She turned her head and smiled at me, but it was an empty smile and there was weariness in her eyes. “I just wanted to thank you for, you know, saving my life and everything.” She nodded and stopped peddling.
“How are you feeling now?” Natalya asked me.
“Not too bad.” I smiled weakly. In truth, my throat was still bruised and painful and I was feeling pretty shaken up by the whole incident. “More importantly how are you feeling?”
“I feel terrible.” Natalya admitted. I opened my mouth to reply, but she put her hand up to stop me. “I know what you’re going to say, that it was either him or you and you’re probably right. Deep down, I know I did the right thing, but he was my colleague and my friend and I killed him. I murdered my friend. I’ve been peddling on this damn bike for an hour and watching this stupid movie,” She nodded towards the screen opposite the bike. “But all I can think about is that crazy few seconds, replaying it in my head over and over and over again. I keep thinking maybe I could have stopped him some other way, got him away from you without killing him. Oh Max, it was horrible. I stabbed that screwdriver into his neck, feeling it sink into his flesh and he turned to look at me, grasping me with one hand, while trying to grab the screwdriver handle with the other. His mouth opened and closed, but no words came out, just a gargling noise and then he coughed up blood, a shower of red bubbles erupting from his mouth, splashing all over me. Then he looked at me one last time, a deep sadness in his eyes. I watched them dim as the life drained out of them and his grip on me relaxed.” I reached out and gently squeezed her hand.
“There was no time to do anything else.” I reassured her. “I was already unconscious. If you had hesitated, I would probably have been dead and he may have overpowered you too. Wes might have been finding both our corpses floating outside the station about now.” Natalya nodded. The scorched area at the end of the module caught my eye and I suddenly had a thought.
“It makes you wonder whether that fire in here was an accident.” I said. “It was Flynn and I trapped at that end.”
“A dangerous method if he was trying to kill you both.” Natalya replied after a moment’s thought. “That fire could have killed us all.”
“Well, I guess we’ll never know either way.” I shrugged.
Day One Hundred and Seventy-Two
“Maybe I should do a Captain Oates.” I said, looking grimly through the porthole in the floor of the Zvezda module. Morrison, Natalya and Aki were at the galley table, silently eating the rapidly diminishing food rations. We had enjoyed a lively and competitive evening of poker the previous night to decide who would enjoy the last lamb with vegetables packet. After a heated final hand, Aki had beaten Morrison with a full house, much to his chagrin.
“Who?” Aki replied, thoughtfully chewing on her lamb dinner, making the most of it.
“You haven’t heard of Captain Oates?” I looked around at her.
“Should I have?” She replied, raising an eyebrow. “Sounds like a breakfast cereal.”
“He was an Antarctic explorer wasn’t he?” Morrison said.
“That’s right.” I nodded. “He was with Captain Scott’s party on their way back from the south pole, where they had just been beaten to it by a Norwegian party. They were demoralised, had already lost one of their party, and weather conditions were atrocious. Captain Oates was injured and was slowing their progress. He realised he was putting the lives of the others in danger. One night, while they were sheltering in their tent, he got up and announced to the others ‘I’m just going outside and may be some time.’ and walked out into a fierce blizzard in temperatures far below freezing, making the ultimate sacrifice for the good of the others.”
“An extraordinarily brave man.” Morrison commented. I nodded in agreement.
“Did the others make it back?” Aki asked. I shook my head.
“The rest of the party died a few days later.” I replied sadly.
“Well, thanks for that heart-warming tale of triumph over adversity.” Aki replied with good natured sarcasm. “Maybe you shouldn’t bother then.”
Day One Hundred and Ninety-Eight
Aki gazed out of the small window in the floor of Zvezda, watching the slowly rotating surface of the Earth below us.
“I wonder if anyone down there even remembers we’re here.” She mused, glancing across at me. I had been editing the footage from my camcorder, which had been a little eerie, watching video of both Flynn and Karpov from just a few weeks previously.
“Assuming there’s anyone left alive by now.” I replied grimly. “Maybe Flynn was right. Maybe we really are the last of humanity.” Aki gently pushed herself away from the window and over towards me.
“That’s not like you, Max.” She said.
“I know.” I admitted. “Sorry, I guess everything’s starting to take its toll. Six months now stuck in this tin can with the blackened planet below us a constant reminder of our hopeless situation.”
“Not hopeless.” Aki replied. “There’s always hope. You said yourself that you believed humanity would survive, remember?”
“I know.” I sighed. “I guess I’m just feeling a little low. Flynn going crazy and then Karpov too, you know? Not to mention that one of us is condemned to die on the station when the others leave. I’m starting to feel like Flynn when he said it’s like we’re locked up on death row, the days ticking away and blurring together. Hell, I don’t even know what day it is. Tuesday maybe?”
“I thought it was Thursday.” Aki replied, furrowing her brow.
“It’s Friday.” Morrison interrupted confidently as he pulled himself into the module.
“It is?” I replied.
“Sure.” He grinned. “Haven’t you got that Friday feeling?”
“Not so much.” I admitted.
“Well, we can’t have that now, can we?” He smiled. “How about we all get together and watch a movie tonight, eh? Something funny to lift our spirits?”
“That actually sounds pretty good.” Aki replied. I nodded my agreement.
“No chick flicks though. I’m pulling rank on that one!” Morrison told her. She laughed and despite my dour mood, I laughed too. I had to hand it to him, he seemed to be doing his best to raise morale in our darkest days.
Day Two Hundred and Fourteen
The wall of the sleeping compartment shuddered against my back, stirring me from my sleep.
“What was that?” I murmured.
“What was what?” Natalya replied sleepily, her arms wrapped around me. Her naked body was warm and soft against me and I could smell a faint trace of her perfume on her skin. Then another odour reached me. Strong, harsh and unpleasant.
“What’s that smell?” I asked her.
“It’s usually you.” She giggled before I felt her stiffen. “Ammonia!” She gasped, pulling away from me and pushing open the compartment door before punching the red mushroom shaped alarm button on the wall. Sirens wailed all around us. She reached for two oxygen masks from the emergency station next to the button and passed one to me.