Alexander Smith - The Final Expedition

“I agree.” Karpov slowly nodded. “But in the meantime, we will continue our duties. I will continue to monitor communications.” He paused for a moment, his steely gaze passing to each of the others before settling on me. “Don’t lose hope. It’s only been three days. I’m sure that Mission Control is working around the clock to re-establish communication.” Perhaps it was my own pessimism, but Karpov’s words sounded hollow. I couldn’t hear any belief in his sentiment at all.

I sat and ate alone in the Zvezda Command Module, slowly and carefully spooning the contents into my mouth, thinking of my family and friends back on Earth.

“Carter… Carter… Are you there?” Natalya called out as she emerged from her shower cubicle sized sleeping quarters. She was in the process of trying to gather her hair together, which in the zero gravity environment, had fanned out in all directions, reminding me of the results of the static electricity apparatus back at school that made your hair stand on end.

“Good morning.” I replied. Having successfully gathered her hair together and tied it back, she stretched out her arms and yawned before smiling at me.

“You looked miles away!” She reached into a locker above the galley table and selected a silver packet. “Mind if I join you for breakfast?”

“Please.” I replied, gesturing at the opposite side of the table. She pulled herself over towards it, strapped herself down on the seat and tore open the packet before chewing the contents while gazing thoughtfully across at me.

“You’re very different to how I imagined you to be.” She said after a moment.

“That bad?” I smiled. She shook her head.

“I expected you to be a cocky playboy with an ego the size of the station.” She replied, stopping for a moment to drink some water from a bag with a straw through the top. “But you’re not like that at all. You’re… normal, nice.”

“Sounds a bit boring.” I replied.

“Not at all.” She smiled. “I’m pleasantly surprised. I’d seen you on television and social media. I’d heard the famous rags to riches tale of course. But I thought the fame and fortune had gone to your head. It sounds like you have had quite a wild time of it over the last few years.”

“It’s not all been as exciting as the paparazzi might have you believe.” I smiled. “And as to my success, I think I was extremely fortunate. There was no real epiphany moment or anything. I basically combined elements from different social networking sites, e-mail systems and various file share sites and came up with zap.com. I set it up more in hope than expectation and was shocked at how rapidly it took off. From a student messing about with website design in my spare time, I was suddenly catapulted in just a couple of years to fame and riches I hadn’t even considered, let alone dreamed of.”

“You seemed to get used to it pretty quickly though.” Natalya remarked with a wry smile.

“I certainly enjoyed it in my early and mid twenties.” I smiled. “From student loans and debt to exclusive London bars and restaurants, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous in just a few short months. But after a while I got tired of that life.”

“You run out of actresses and supermodels to date?” Natalya suggested slyly, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t believe everything you read.” I replied, feeling a little scolded. “I admit, I enjoyed myself, but I was never the playboy the media made me out to be. I tried my hand at a variety of pursuits. I attempted a round the world yacht trip and then I entered the Paris Dakar rally.”

“Ah yes.” Natalya replied, with a hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “I remember hearing about that. Didn’t you get lost in the desert?”

“Thanks for reminding me.” I smiled ruefully. “Yes, it didn’t go so well.”

“And the yacht trip?” She asked.

“Don’t ask.” I shook my head, trying to shake off the memory of a mid Atlantic rescue just a few days into the attempt.

“So you’re an adrenaline junkie.” Natalya studied me. “Is that what made you want to come here?”

“Maybe a little.” I admitted. “I’ve never been more excited in my life than when I was strapped in to my seat on the launch pad waiting for the countdown to start. But I’ve always wanted to fly into space, experience zero gravity and see the planet from orbit.”

“And look how that turned out.” Natalya said sadly.

“Not exactly how I imagined it.” I grimaced.

“We’re alive at least.” She glanced in the direction of one of the small windows in the floor, through which we could see the surface of the Earth. “I can’t help but feel guilty that life here has continued almost as though nothing has happened, while down there I can’t imagine the devastation and the living hell it must be on the surface. The dead and dying, the hopelessness of the situation and the sheer panic and fear everywhere.” I nodded, wanting to reassure her that our imaginations probably made it out to be worse that it actually was, but I couldn’t help but believe that the reality was probably even worse than our fears.

Flynn arrived, pulling himself through from the direction of the American segment and approached us, reaching for a silver food packet, glancing at each of us for a moment before turning and leaving without speaking a single word.

“He’s quite the life and soul of the station isn’t he.” I commented dryly. “Has he always been like that, even on Expedition 78?”

“He’s always kept himself to himself.” Natalya admitted. “I could probably count the conversations I have had with him on one hand. He’s always been polite, but now I don’t know. I hope he’s okay.”

“It has been a tough few days.” I replied.

“That’s something of an understatement.” Natalya smiled grimly. “Still, it would probably be best to give him some space.”

“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.”