Suddenly remembering that we weren’t alone,
I turned my head in every direction around the bridge, only to find that we
were alone after all.
“I wonder where Dick and Courtney have
disappeared to.”
“They’ve probably gone off in search of a
computer to play with. I hope they find one. That would keep them busy and out
of our hair.”
“Aw, don’t you like them anymore?”
“I never really did, and I know for damn
sure you don’t. I can’t imagine why you wanted him along on this trip.”
“It was a logical necessity, actually!
Believe me, if I knew half as much about computers and astronavigation as he
does, I would have happily left him behind on Mars with Nick, but as I don’t,
we need him.”
“Yes, and I suppose when he’s no longer
necessary and he pisses you off you’ll just shoot him and throw him out of an
airlock. I saw the gun in your carryall.”
“That was Nick’s idea, and it wasn’t for
Dick. It was in case of a mutiny by the crew of the ISS!”
“We are flying halfway across the galaxy to
save them from certain death—why would they mutiny and become a threat to us?”
“In Nick’s words, they had front row seats
to witness mankind destroy themselves and their planet and then had to come to
terms with the inevitable fact that without support or salvation, neither of
which were likely, they would soon be joining the rest of mankind. I’m not sure
my sanity could withstand all that, and as Nick also pointed out we don’t know
these people. I am pretty sure Nick is wrong, and there won’t be any problems
at all, but I am ashamed to admit that I do feel better about the situation
knowing that that gun is in my carryall.”
“Well would you do me a favor? Leave it in
your carryall, shove it in the bottom of one of the bedroom closets, and don’t
let anybody know you’ve got it.”
“I have no intention of letting anybody know
I’ve got it, believe me! I’ll go and hide it after I contact Vladimir and let
him know we’re on our way.”
“No, I’ll go do it while you talk to
Vladimir,” she answered.
I put on a headset and opened the
communication channel to the space station. “This is Drew calling the ISS.
Over.” I waited for a short time.
“Hello, Drew, Vladimir here. It’s good to
hear your voice once more. How are things going? Over.”
“Hello, Vladimir, things are going pretty
well so far, we launched about an hour ago and are rapidly heading your way.
Over.”
“That is very good news, Drew. All our bags
are packed, and we’re ready to go. I am very much looking forward to meeting
you. We all are. Over.”
“I fear you will be very disappointed when
you do, but you should have that opportunity in two and a half weeks, which is
our best guess ETA at the moment. Listen, I’d better
sign off now and twiddle some knobs, push
some buttons, and do other pilot things. I’ll call you again soon as we get
closer and give you a more definite ETA. Over.”
“Not a problem, we’ll be awaiting your call.
Will talk to you again soon. Over and out.”
“No worries. Over and out.”
“That was an abrupt end to the conversation.
What knobs do you have to twiddle with such an urgent need?” Mel asked as she
walked back onto the bridge.
“I urgently need to powder my knob—I mean nose,”
I said as I put the headphones down and left
the bridge rather hurriedly. When I returned to the bridge, I saw Mel standing
at the control panels and staring out into space. I walked up beside her and
put my arm around her shoulders. “You certainly can’t complain about the view.
There’s plenty of stars to gaze at.”
“Yes there is, but I wasn’t really looking
at them. I was pondering what you said earlier about the space station crew
having to watch the Earth die right in front of their eyes and how it may have
affected them. I was wondering how it will affect us when we see our dead and
blackened home planet as close as that, as we surely will.”
“It certainly won’t be a pretty
sight, I must admit. It is, however
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