The Final Expedition

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.

“Shit.” I murmured under my breath.

“You can’t put the flames out on your own, Carter.” Karpov added. “One of you needs to anchor the other in place while you use the extinguisher. Quickly now, we have no time to lose!”

“Okay.” I reluctantly shouted back, pulling the extinguisher from the wall and grabbing a couple of smoke masks. Pulling myself towards the hatch of the Columbus module, I swung around and braced my feet against the sill and pulled the hatch upwards. Flynn was floating at the far end of the lab, a book open in his hands.

“Carter? What are you doing here?” His furrowed brow was swiftly replaced by wide-eyed alarm when he smelt the smoke.

“I need your help.” I replied gruffly. He nodded, pulling himself towards me. I passed him one of the smoke masks. The fumes were already filling my lungs, choking me and I swiftly pulled on my own mask. We pulled ourselves back out of the Columbus lab and faced the flames.

“It looks like it’s one of the experiment racks that’s gone up.” Flynn told me. “Give me the extinguisher and try to hold me steady.” I passed him the extinguisher, hooked my feet into one of the blue handholds on the floor and held Flynn firmly by the waist.

“Okay.” I replied.

“Get ready…” He warned before pulling his mask on. A moment later, I heard the hiss as the extinguisher operated and was rocked back as the force threatened to propel us both against the far side of the Harmony node. I pushed my body forward, countering the force from the extinguisher. A few moments later the extinguisher was exhausted and I released my hold on Flynn. He pulled the mask from his face.

“It’s no use.” Flynn shouted through the raging inferno, tossing the extinguisher away in disgust. “It hasn’t made any difference.”

“It’s out of control!” Morrison’s voice echoed back. “We’ve got no choice but to vent the whole compartment to space. Get yourselves inside Kibo and close the hatch behind you. It’s the biggest module and will have the most air inside.”

“Understood.” Flynn replied. “See you soon.” We quickly pulled ourselves through to the Kibo module.

“Closing the hatch now.” Flynn bellowed through the smoke.”

“We’ll be as quick as we can.” Morrison shouted back. “Good luck!” We pulled down the hatch behind us, the large panel closing with a solid thud that seemed to have an air of finality about it. Glancing at Flynn, it felt like it was a prison cell door slamming shut on me.

“What now?” I asked him.

“Now, we wait.” He replied. “The others will depressurise the rest of the American segment and smother the fire. Then they’ll re-pressurise and come and open the hatch and let us out.”

“How long will that take?” I asked nervously.

“I don’t know.” Flynn replied ruefully. “A few hours?”

“And how much air do we have in here?”

“A few hours.” Flynn echoed.

“Shit.” I replied.

“I’m sure everything will be fine.” Flynn told me, though I felt less than reassured. Realising this, he continued, “We’ve all trained for this and the others will be working as quickly as they can to get us out of here as soon as possible. We just need to try and relax and not do anything too energetic to prolong what air we have in here. Probably just as well you’re not trapped in here with Doctor Varennikova.” I glowered at the American. “Sorry.” Flynn smiled uncomfortably. “Just trying to lighten the mood.” I cursed my luck that of all the people on the station to be holed up with, I was trapped in here with Flynn.

“Look Carter,” Flynn said after an uncomfortable silence of several minutes, “I understand your hostility and I wish I could take back what I’ve done. I’ve had a lot of time to think about it these past few days and I can’t believe I did what I did. When I think about what I did that day and the things I almost did, it feels almost like it was someone else.”

“Unbelievable.” I muttered, shaking my head in disgust.

“I’m not trying to shift responsibility away from my actions.” Flynn continued, holding up his hands. “I’m not trying to make excuses. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m as disgusted with myself as the rest of you are with me. These last few months, I’ve really been struggling to come to terms with what’s happened. I can’t stop thinking about the fate of my wife and daughter. I couldn’t sleep and I was just going out of my mind, living this nightmare. I really think that I’ve hit bottom four days ago, but I believe I’ve now reached some kind of catharsis. I’m not naïve enough to expect the rest of you to take that at face value. I know I’m going to have to work hard to regain your confidence and trust, but I just wanted you to know that I feel like my course has been corrected and I’m back on the right path.”

“If you’re looking for forgiveness, you’re talking to the wrong person.” I scowled. “Natalya’s a better person than me, so maybe she has it within herself to forgive you. I don’t.”

“I understand and I don’t blame you.” Flynn admitted, his eyes downcast. “If I was in your shoes, I’d probably feel the same way. Hell, I’d probably have snapped your neck if our roles had been reversed. Just know that I am profoundly sorry and hate myself for what I did. I will take the guilt of what I did to my grave.” His eyes met mine. “I also wanted you to know how grateful I am to you, Carter.”

“Grateful? What for?” I asked.

“For stopping me.” Flynn replied. “Morrison told me how you got to me, spacewalking across the outside of the station. I know that can’t have been easy for you and I also know you nearly died in the attempt. If you hadn’t intervened when you did… well I don’t think I could have lived with what I nearly did to Doctor Varennikova. I misjudged you Carter. You are a much braver man than I gave you credit for, while I am ashamed of my weakness and my cowardly actions. I can’t take back what I did, so all I can do is try to somehow make amends for what I have done.” I eyed him suspiciously, clenching my fists and wincing when I pressed against the burns on the inside of my fingers.

“What’s wrong?” Flynn asked, noticing my reaction.

“I burned my hand trying to pull the Destiny lab hatch shut.” I replied reluctantly.

“We really need to treat the burn.” Flynn told me, reaching for a green first aid kit box and pulling it from the wall. He pulled himself over to me and I opened my hand, allowing Flynn to examine the burn.

“Looks painful.” He remarked, pulling open a packet and laying a burn dressing across my fingers before bandaging around my hand. He then pulled out a couple of painkiller tablets and passed them to me. I took them in my uninjured hand and pressed them between my lips. Without water, swallowing them was difficult, my mouth and throat bone dry.

“Thanks.” I said grudgingly, examining my dressed hand. Flynn nodded his acknowledgement and withdrew to the far side of the module.

The next couple of hours seemed to last an eternity. We sat in silence and I felt on edge feeling like I was trapped in a cage with a mad dog that might turn at any moment. Wary of Flynn’s apparent change of heart, I was paranoid that at any moment he might suddenly launch himself across the module and throttle me to death. Both of us jumped when the hatch suddenly clanked open, sliding noisily upwards. Morrison’s face emerged and I could see the others just behind him.

“Still alive in here?” He smiled. Natalya pulled herself through the hatch past him, with a nervous sideways look at Flynn before propelling herself towards me.

“What took you so long?!” I smiled. Without a word, she leaned in, pressing her lips to mine, her relief palpable. I kissed her back, holding her close.

“Will you two get a room already?!” Aki commented good-naturedly.

“You had us worried there for a while.” Karpov smiled.

“Ditto.” I replied, disengaging myself from Natalya. “I thought you were going to find our corpses floating in here, like a pair of dead goldfish in a bowl.” In all the elation and relief of the moment, just for a moment everyone’s troubles were forgotten, all of us brought together by a disaster avoided. Even Flynn was smiling, albeit at a respectful distance from the rest of the crew. Then Karpov remembered Flynn and turned to face him.

“I’m sorry, Flynn.” Karpov told him. “I appreciate your assistance, but we’ve got to put you back in Columbus.”

“I understand, Mission Commander.” He replied with an air of resignation. Karpov watched him carefully and cautiously as Flynn pulled himself back through to the Columbus lab before Morrison pulled the hatch closed behind him.