Part 8 - Stranded
September 14th 2006 13:31
Re carried the body of his wife to the medical lab. He knew it was too late to save her. His job now was to dispose of her body in a way that would ensure she didn’t get mixed into the recycling systems. Nothing would be worse than spending the rest of his life on board the ship knowing he was eating her remains over and over and over.
He lay her on a trolley and pushed it to the external hatch.
His four friends met him in the hallway.
“Some of the ships systems are down,” began Ru. “We can’t tell what the planet’s atmosphere is made of so you’ll have to suit up before you go outside.”
Re nodded and pushed the trolley past the group.
“Let us help you,” said La.
“I’m sorry. This is something I have to do on my own,” his face set in a determined look.
“At least let us help you with your suit,” suggested Hu.
They followed him and assisted him with suiting up. He took the trolley with Bo’s body into the airlock and, when the outer door opened, he stepped outside with it.
The day was clear. It looked like they were lucky enough to crash in a place of beauty, if you could live with the unusual blue sky and white clouds. The green leaves on the trees were a bit disconcerting, as was the red of the soil.
Re assumed that a different planet in a different galaxy was bound to have some key differences to his own.
Finding a suitable place behind a large tree he began to dig Bo’s grave. It wasn’t long before he worked up a sweat inside his suit. Resting on a flat rock he noticed small insect like animals crawling over his boot, obviously performing very important work.
After a few minutes his breathing hadn’t returned to normal. It seemed to be worse. Each breath was a struggle and as he gasped he could smell a burning chemical. The smell got worse and breathing became more difficult. He rose from the rock and walked to the hatch as fast as his suit would let him. Burying Bo would have to wait.
Less than half way he stumbled and fell. Unable to get up, he was suffocating inside his space suit.
Throwing away all caution he quickly undid the latches on his helmet. An alarm sounded in his ear. He gave the helmet a twist, and the alarm got louder. He twisted it again and heard a rush of air enter the suit. He pulled the helmet off and took a deep breath of whatever the planet was going to give him to breath.
It smelt a bit funny. It was cool. It was fresh. He took another breath. He wasn’t dead yet. He took another breath.
“Seems OK,” he said.
Standing up he breathed some more, he was fine. The atmosphere was quite delicious. He still had a job to do so he returned to the hole, stripped off his suit and continued the work on Bo’s grave.
Hours later the grave was complete and the sky was getting dark. He picked up his suit and helmet and returned to the ship.
The others couldn’t believe it when they saw him come through the outer hatch unsuited. “You mean there’s oxygen out there?” asked La. “That’s incredible.”
“Well, it stands to reason that if life in our galaxy needs oxygen to live, life in other galaxies could also have the same basic chemical needs,” Ru was always the one to come up with half baked scientific reasoning that sounded good enough to believe.
“But we need to have a look at my suit. There's something wrong with it,” said Re. “There was a burning smell inside and I couldn’t breathe.”
“Show me,” said La. He and Ru examined the suit inside and out.
“Here’s the problem,” said Ru, “There’s corrosion in your external oxygen pipe. There must be some sort of acid that got in to it as you were moving about. Perhaps it was from a tree or droppings from the wildlife. We’ll have to be careful when we next go out.”
“Come on,” said Je. “We all need a good meal and then some rest.” She walked down to the hall and back to the cockpit.
“Good idea,” said La, following her. Ru and Hu went with him.
“I’ll just take the suit to the repair room first,” said Re.
In the repair room he examined the hose under a brighter light. Its breakdown couldn’t have been from brushing up against something acidic. The entire exposed length of hose was destroyed. As he held it in his hands it broke into pieces and crumbled to dust.
Something in the atmosphere out there was extremely toxic, and Re had just spent the best part of a day breathing it in.
He lay her on a trolley and pushed it to the external hatch.
His four friends met him in the hallway.
“Some of the ships systems are down,” began Ru. “We can’t tell what the planet’s atmosphere is made of so you’ll have to suit up before you go outside.”
Re nodded and pushed the trolley past the group.
“Let us help you,” said La.
“I’m sorry. This is something I have to do on my own,” his face set in a determined look.
“At least let us help you with your suit,” suggested Hu.
They followed him and assisted him with suiting up. He took the trolley with Bo’s body into the airlock and, when the outer door opened, he stepped outside with it.
The day was clear. It looked like they were lucky enough to crash in a place of beauty, if you could live with the unusual blue sky and white clouds. The green leaves on the trees were a bit disconcerting, as was the red of the soil.
Re assumed that a different planet in a different galaxy was bound to have some key differences to his own.
Finding a suitable place behind a large tree he began to dig Bo’s grave. It wasn’t long before he worked up a sweat inside his suit. Resting on a flat rock he noticed small insect like animals crawling over his boot, obviously performing very important work.
After a few minutes his breathing hadn’t returned to normal. It seemed to be worse. Each breath was a struggle and as he gasped he could smell a burning chemical. The smell got worse and breathing became more difficult. He rose from the rock and walked to the hatch as fast as his suit would let him. Burying Bo would have to wait.
Less than half way he stumbled and fell. Unable to get up, he was suffocating inside his space suit.
Throwing away all caution he quickly undid the latches on his helmet. An alarm sounded in his ear. He gave the helmet a twist, and the alarm got louder. He twisted it again and heard a rush of air enter the suit. He pulled the helmet off and took a deep breath of whatever the planet was going to give him to breath.
It smelt a bit funny. It was cool. It was fresh. He took another breath. He wasn’t dead yet. He took another breath.
“Seems OK,” he said.
Standing up he breathed some more, he was fine. The atmosphere was quite delicious. He still had a job to do so he returned to the hole, stripped off his suit and continued the work on Bo’s grave.
-o0o-
Hours later the grave was complete and the sky was getting dark. He picked up his suit and helmet and returned to the ship.
The others couldn’t believe it when they saw him come through the outer hatch unsuited. “You mean there’s oxygen out there?” asked La. “That’s incredible.”
“Well, it stands to reason that if life in our galaxy needs oxygen to live, life in other galaxies could also have the same basic chemical needs,” Ru was always the one to come up with half baked scientific reasoning that sounded good enough to believe.
“But we need to have a look at my suit. There's something wrong with it,” said Re. “There was a burning smell inside and I couldn’t breathe.”
“Show me,” said La. He and Ru examined the suit inside and out.
“Here’s the problem,” said Ru, “There’s corrosion in your external oxygen pipe. There must be some sort of acid that got in to it as you were moving about. Perhaps it was from a tree or droppings from the wildlife. We’ll have to be careful when we next go out.”
“Come on,” said Je. “We all need a good meal and then some rest.” She walked down to the hall and back to the cockpit.
“Good idea,” said La, following her. Ru and Hu went with him.
“I’ll just take the suit to the repair room first,” said Re.
In the repair room he examined the hose under a brighter light. Its breakdown couldn’t have been from brushing up against something acidic. The entire exposed length of hose was destroyed. As he held it in his hands it broke into pieces and crumbled to dust.
Something in the atmosphere out there was extremely toxic, and Re had just spent the best part of a day breathing it in.
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