The Final Expedition

Day Eleven

“I didn’t know you were a religious man.” I said, entering the Unity node, where Morrison was floating next to the hatch to the Quest airlock, one hand anchoring himself on a blue handhold. He glanced up and I nodded in the direction of the dog-eared, battered bible in his other hand.

“Yeah, I was raised with a Christian upbringing.” He replied. “My mother took my sister and me to church every Sunday.” He closed the bible and held it up. “She gave me this as a sixteenth birthday present. It’s been a source of solace in difficult times such as my tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“And now?” I suggested.

“And now.” He echoed. “What about you Carter? Are you religious?”

“Not really.” I replied. “I don’t know. I suppose I keep an open mind on the subject. What’s the word?”

“Agnostic.” Morrison smiled.

“Yeah, agnostic.” I nodded.

“I guess a little faith is better than none.” Morrison replied. “Though even atheists find themselves praying to a God they thought they didn’t believe in when they think they’re about to die. I’ve seen it plenty of times in combat.”

“You think that might happen up here?”

“Let’s hope the situation never gets that grim.” He replied. “But I bet the churches were full down there at the end.” He nodded towards the tiny porthole in the floor, the hazy blue surface of the Earth beyond.

“You ever wonder why it happened? Who’s responsible?” I asked him.

“Sure.” He replied. “For all the good it will do us. I’ve been back through all the news reports we have here from before we lost contact and there was nothing in the hours or days leading up to that moment to suggest a nuclear war was imminent. No escalating international tensions between nations or any invasion as far as we were aware. No Cuban missile crisis style stand-off. Nothing. The only thing I can think of is that one nation launched a…” He paused and had a quick look around, perhaps checking Aki wasn’t within earshot before continuing. “…a Pearl Harbour style surprise attack, which was immediately retaliated. Allied nations were drawn in and all of a sudden nuclear missiles were raining down everywhere. Why anyone would be insane enough to launch a nuclear strike in the first place or who it was, we’ll probably never know.”

“Probably for the best as apart from Aki, any one of us could potentially be from the nation responsible.” I mused, remembering that Japan was the only nation that was not a nuclear power represented on Expedition 79.

Morrison nodded, “That would be quite a weight to carry, even in zero gravity.”