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Chapter 45

Low Earth Orbit

International Space Station

Tuesday

1:01 a.m. Eastern Time


“Is he in?” Allison double-checked Dr. Denton’s safety harness. It had been tough going but they had managed to get him in a suit and loaded all while he was unconscious. His condition had gone from bad to worse. Allison and Tom were working him into position from within the Orbital Module, loading him into place feet first through the hatch into the Descent Module. At one point Allison had accidentally grabbed the man by the broken arm and was glad that he was unconscious because she was certain that would have generated enough pain to make him pass out. Dr. Fahid had removed Tom’s splint, set the bone as best he could, and then rewrapped it so it could fit in the suit. That had been the part taking the most of their precious time.

“I have him!” Vasiliy exclaimed. “Hold him there one moment.”

Allison and Tom did their best to hold the man into place as the cosmonaut pilot strapped him in. There were a couple of clicks and then he felt snug into place.

“Got it.”

“Great. Now let’s get Dr. Schwab in here.”

“I’m here,” Schwab said from just outside the Orbital Module in the Transfer Module outside. “Okay to enter?”

“Yes, Dr. Schwab, please make way to your seat and strap in,” Tom told him.

“Very good, then.” Schwab swam by and then rolled over feetfirst. He carefully eased himself into his seat.

“Okay, Comrade Alexander. You now,” Vasiliy told Tom as he climbed out of the Descent Module. “You are now commander of this Soyuz flight. Congratulations.”

“Short trip to space,” Tom told him. Then he turned to both of them and saluted. “Majors. We’ll see you back on Earth.”

“Good luck, Commander Tom.” Nolvany returned his salute.

“Godspeed, Captain.” Allison saluted and then the two of them waited for the hatch to close, double-checked the seals, and then departed the Orbital Module and repeated the process. They banged hard on the hatch three times and then moved away and sealed the Docking Module hatch. Allison could hear the docking clamps release. She wished she were in the Cupola so she could watch the release and descent. Tom was a good pilot. He had trained with the Soyuz, as they all had. He could handle it.

“Alright, next one.” Vasiliy pushed out of the Docking Compartment 1 across the Service Module Transfer Compartment to the MRM-2 module. There the second Soyuz was being manned by Commander Yancy, Itokawa, and Dr. Fahid, who were all getting into place. Commander Yancy only had a broken hand. She could manage the flight, especially with Dr. Itokawa’s help.

“Are you ready, Dr. Fahid?” Vasiliy asked.

“Yes.”

“Dr. Fahid. Just in case. Would you take this to my father?” Allison handed him a small cooler pack holding what was left of the nanobot spike proteins. “I’m not certain I will be out of debriefing in time to get it to him quickly.”

“Of course, Major. Why do I get the feeling that isn’t the entire story?” Fahid asked.

“I have no idea what you mean,” Allison replied pushing backwards from the hatch. “Okay, Commander Yancy. Time to go. See you on Earth.”

“Godspeed, Allison.”

“Godspeed, Teri.”

“Good luck, Commander,” Nolvany said.

The two of them went through the process to close them up and seal the hatch to the MRM-2 Module. Vasiliy looked at his watch. “Cutting it close.”

“Yeah. Let’s get Peter,” Allison said. “We can go ahead and load him first. Did you retrieve the packages from the other Soyuz capsules?”

“Yes.”

“After we load, Peter, we load all of the extinguishers.”

“Yes. There should be plenty of room to store them in the Orbital Module.”

“Good. Let’s get to work, then.” Allison looked at her watch. “It’ll take some time donning the suits. We better hurry.”

“Agreed, Major.”


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