“Wait,” said Glass, in hushed tones. “We don’t know for sure
if it is over.”
“Fak that,” replied Hennessey as he pushed open the door of
the sleeping compartments.
Kristof had quickly composed zhimself and the two of them
edged out. Jude slipped out of the one arms of the harness that she had hastily
managed to grab onto and followed. Glass reluctantly exited shortly behind
them.
The scene that greeted them was one of chaos. Anything that
had not been stowed away or secured floated like driftwood around the cabin, in
as many broken pieces. Their attention, naturally, was drawn to their two
crewman. Maxie was still hunched under the console where he had been
frantically attempting to bring the heat shielding back on line, his arms
wrapped around the supports. His hands were ice-white where he had held on for
dear life. Kristof barrelled to his side and gently prized zher partner’s rigid
fists off. Jude looked round – Wib was nowhere to be seen. Then her eyes were
drawn upwards – his still form floated above their heads, almost plastered to
the ceiling of the cabin. With Glass and Hennessey, they humbly eased him down.
“To the first lab cabin.” Glass indicated and she and Jude
manoeuvred Wib through into the space next door. Hennessey meanwhile scrabbled
about, searching for the medical kit. He found it, broken open in the second
lab, its contents strewn and drifting around it. He managed to gather together
what was not damaged or broken and returned to his companions.
Glass checked Wib for signs of life. The blast of radiation
and searing heat had caught him initially on his back and his overalls were
charred and melted into his skin. Thankfully, although there would be as yet
immeasurable damage to his throat and lungs, the brave Lancastrian was still
breathing and clinging onto life. Jude located an oxykit from amongst the
debris and gently placed it over his burned nose and mouth. Hennessey had
managed to save some vials of antibiotics and loaded them into the vaccinator,
firing them into various sites on Wib’s arms and legs.
“For sepsis – these burns look as if they could be as much
as fourth degree.” He then ripped open dry dressings and with Glass began
affixing them tenderly to the worst areas, of which there were many. Jude had
affixed a small medi-monitor, which miraculously had weathered the battering.
Wib’s vitals were low, his pulse binding.
“Kristof,” Glass called through to the Martian, who was
still with Maxie in the main module. “How’s he doing?”
There were tears in the Martians eyes but ones of relief.
“He’s fine. Badly shaken and some minor lesions, but good.”
“Great. Now, I know it’s hard but you have to leave him. I
need to know what our status is. And if there’s anyone coming to our aid.” She
had regained her composure and was taking charge again, for which Jude was
thankful. She herself was barely holding it together, looking at the charred
face of her recent bed-mate. His eyelids fluttered and she could see that one
of his beautiful blue orbs was opaque and dry.
Hennessey was securing the last of the bandages that he
could locate. Glass motioned for him to give her his attention.
“Maxie mentioned the airlock being compromised. We’re all
still breathing so it must be holding but go and check it for me, please.” He
nodded and kicked off in the direction of the aft section. Jude and Glass made
Wib as comfortable as they could. He seemed to be stable for now but his
injuries far outstripped their expertise.
Kristof spoke up from the charred and smoking console. “I’m
getting nothing here. I’ll try to re-route it through the back-ups in one of
the labs.” Zhe scooted past, zhis eyes glancing from Maxie then to Jude.
“I’ll see to Maxie.” Kristof nodded, temporarily reassured.
The systems tech was still huddled in a protective ball, his face showing signs
of shock. Jude grabbed the remains of the medkit and swam over to him.
“I tried…I tried. “ He murmured.
“I know. “Jude reached out. “Here, let me see your hands.”
Maxie unclenched his now swollen fists. They weren’t badly burned so Jude
applied some topical antibiotic cream and small dry wound dressings to his
knuckles.
Maxie winced. “Sorry, “Jude was being as tender as she
could.
“No, it’s okay. How’s Wib doing? He saved my life.”
“He’s pretty bad, Maxie, I’m not going to lie to you. I’m
worried that if help doesn’t come, he might die.” Jude gasped. Saying it out
loud cut her like a knife.
“I think…I hope, I managed to send out a distress before the
second wave hit us.” He retched.
“Are you feeling sick?” Jude was aware that, although he
might seem unharmed, Maxie could have taken as much of a dose of radiation as
Wib. However, his feeling nauseous was a good sign. Fatal doses could be
asymptomatic. “Any headaches? Are you dizzy at all?”
“No, I’m alright. Well apart from these I think.” He held up
his gauze covered hands and tried unsuccessfully to waggle his fingers. “My
piano playing days are over.” He tried to smile, then winced.
“I’ll go and speak to Glass, see what’s what then I’ll try
and find you a drink, okay.” She patted Maxie and moved back towards the labs.
“If the brandy has survived, crack open some of that. I
think we could all use some.”
Jude returned to their erstwhile commander’s side. Wib
looked peaceful but still in pretty rough shape.
“Is he still unconscious? Or sleeping?”
“The former, I think. I found some sedatives and gave him a
small dose.”
Jude scanned at him, unmoving apart from a slight rise and
fall of his chest.
“I was thinking, maybe we should move him to the sleeping
compartment. We can pad him in there til help arrives.”
Glass nodded in assent. Together they guided their patient
towards the cubicles. Jude cleared some space and reverently, they anchored Wib
inside.
“Shouldn’t we be giving him some fluids or something?” Glass
tried to remember her first aid training but she was hazy.
“I didn’t see any in the supplies Hennessey managed to
gather.” Jude responded. “I’ll have a look, see if any made it.”
“Good idea. I’ll check up on Kristof, see if he has managed
to get comms or systems working. Then I’ll find out from Hennessey what’s
happening with that airlock.”
As Jude entered the core cabin, Maxie called out to her. “Is
there anything I can be doing? I feel so, I don’t know, superfluous here.”
Jude thought – there wasn’t much he would be able to help
with, not with the injuries he had.
“You know, you could sit with Wib. Make sure he stays
steady.”
“I’d like that. Thanks.” He gingerly pushed himself up and back.
The central cabin was a mess. Broken equipment hung from the
walls, cables and wiring bare. Jude could smell burning. She looked around for
the source of the acrid smell, as well as any extinguishing equipment that may
have survived.
“Glass, Kristof, can either of you smell burning?” she
called into the adjoining lab. “I can’t
locate a source in here.”
“Yes, we can too. I think it might be in the ventilation
ducts, coming from another part of the station. Good news though.” Glass sounded slightly
better. “Kris thinks the OSO picked up our distress beacon. Thank fak. We can’t
send or receive comms yet but help should be on its way.”
Jude’s heart lifted. Well done Maxie, she thought. I’ll head
back and tell him.
“Hennessey’s in the airlock right now. Poor guy had to suit
up and exit the hatch. But he’s isolated the problem so we should be space tight
soon.” Good old Hennessey.
“I’m just doing a sweep for any more medical gear, like you
asked. If I find any more sedatives, I’ll maybe get Maxie to take a few. He’s
holding up but just barely.”
“Brave guy. Yes, you do that.” Glass craned her neck so that
she could see Jude down the small corridor. “In the meanwhile, I’ll check on
this burning smell. Don’t want any more drama, now do we.”
Kristof piped up “Perhaps it’s my birthday can...WOOF.”
Why did he just make noise like a dog? Jude wondered. Then
the blast of heat hit her, flinging her against the bulkhead.
Jude slowly opened her eyes. The lights in the room were
dim. This isn’t the Tiandong, she
thought. It’s too tidy. And what was her mother doing here. With Coop. That
wasn’t right at all. And Oji, he’d been here but now he was gone. A lump rose
in her raw throat.
She tried to call out but the words wouldn’t come. But her
mother and ex-wife jumped up and rushed to her side.
“Darling, darling. “ There were tears in her mother’s eyes.
“I’ll get the doctor,” Coop said as she left the room.
One of the nursing techs had raised Jude’s bed so that she
could sit up. Her left arm was encased in a layer of bio-gel. The doctor, a
stern but affable Japanese woman, had told her she had fractured it. Jude also
had third degree burns down the right side of her back and leg. She would be
able to leave the medical facility in a day or two.
Chief Howe and Cee-Cee herself, the usually haughty but this
time obviously strained and subdued Ms. Chouinard, had come to see her. There
had been a small fire, in one of the port ventilation shafts right enough. There
had also been a rupture in one of the hydrogen feeds, caused most likely during
one of the two shock waves and it had been leaking into the station for some
time. Fires in microgravity don’t behave like ones elsewhere - instead of
rising, the heat had expanded out into a sphere, then all of a sudden, a fireball
that had ripped through the modules.
Glass had been killed instantly, practically vaporised, Howe
told Jude solemnly. And Kristof had been caught in the flow of hot air, as all
oxygen was burned up in the lab section, asphyxiating zhim. Jude had been close
to death when they found her in the CCM. Maxie and Wib had been protected from
the blast by the luck of being in the sleeping area. However, Wib’s injuries
from the second wave had been too severe. He’d had low-level radiation poisoning too and
he had died shortly after the rescue team had got them back to Earth.
And as for Hennessey, well, the sheer damn luck of being in
an EMU while repairing the airlock meant he was just fine. In shock, of course,
as he had witnessed the fireball tear through the CSS. But not a scratch on
him. He came to see Jude just before she was discharged, once her parents and
Coop had stopped fussing around her. He stood in the doorway, his face pale
apart from the dark stubble of a beard.
Jude beckoned him to come in. Her voice was still rasping
from the burning and it hurt to speak.
She scooted over in her hospital bed and he
climbed up wordlessly beside her. She curled her good arm around his shoulders
as he lay his head carefully on her chest. And they cried together.
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