Vessel (17 page)

Novitskiy didn't respond
. He just floated at the table, frail and exhausted-looking, his neck so thin his coveralls looked several sizes too big. As her anger washed away, a sympathy grew — for both of them. It was easy to forget how long they'd been up here and what had happened to them, the fragile wrecks they'd become. She suspected that if she met their former selves before they'd left Earth, she wouldn't recognise them. 'Okay then,' she said. 'In that case, I'll stay.'

Novitskiy and Chris exchanged gla
nces, then looked at her, expressions cautious.

'You mean it?' Chris said.

Sally nodded.

'No, Sally,
' Novitskiy said. 'I'm not going to let you do this.' His tone was flat, as if he were fighting an urge to stay quiet.

'I want to
. You've both been through way more than I have. I can hang on a bit longer.'

'But you don't know how to look after the station
—'

'You can show me,' Sally interrupted.
'I've seen you doing it. It doesn’t look like too much work.'

Novitskiy
's eyes had gone distant and he was shaking his head. 'I won't have it,' he said. 'I'm staying. Me. Not you.'

'You're not staying
—' Sally began, but Novitskiy slammed his fist down onto the table, shocking her into silence.

'I outrank you, and I'm telling you that you will be going, on Soyuz, back to Earth.
And I won't hear another word of it.'

With that,
he left the module, leaving Sally and Chris by themselves. Sally didn't know what to think: on the one hand, she was mortified at the thought of leaving Novitskiy up here on his own with nothing to keep him company but UV One, and on the other, she could already feel an elation fizzing like electricity in her chest at the thought of returning to Earth. She couldn't believe it — she was going home.

* * *

'Someone get Bales, quick — I'm getting a signal.'

Scott Thomas, the
NASA scientist appointed as CAPCOM in Aleks' absence, watched as a junior-level staff member scooted from his post and out the door. 'Can you get me noise clean-up, please?' he said. 'And put this on the main speakers.'

His Russian counterpart
leaned across the desk and tweaked the controls. Scott listened to his headset again.

'TsUP, do you read?
' an American voice said over the speaker. 'Come back, TsUP.'

Scott pressed his broadcast button.
'This is TsUP, reading you five by five. Is this RS0ISS?' He waited for the response, his breath caught in his throat.

'Copy, TsUP, this is RS0ISS.'

A cheer rose up from Mission Control.

'Quiet please, people,' Scott said, and the murmur faded. 'RS0ISS, what is your present situation?'

'We're comin' home!'

A long whoop followed the mess
age, and it was met by another cheer from Mission Control. Behind Scott, the double doors swung open and he turned to see Bales march through.

'What've we got?' he said. He seemed distracted.

'RS0ISS, Flight,' Scott said pulling off his headset. 'They're back online.'

'Sitrep?'

'Uh, I don’t know yet, we've just made contact this minute.'

'Get on it.'

Scott nodded, returned the headset to his head and pushed the broadcast button.

'RS0ISS, please confirm your situation.'

They waited for the signal to reach its target and come back.

'Not so good. Romanenko's dead, Gardner's in
a coma. But we've recovered TMA Ten M so we should be able to return in a couple of days.' Chris' voice paused. 'Say, where's Aleks?'

Bales beckoned, and Scott handed the headset
over to him. He held it to his ear and signalled to Scott to broadcast. 'Williams, Flight Director John Bales speaking. The severity of the situation has required NASA to take command, so you will be speaking to me from now on. Please repeat last.'

'Ok
ay — we've, uh, lost Mikhail, and Gardner is in a coma.'

'Causes?'

'UV One.'

Bales chewed his lip.
Scott thought he seemed nervous.

'
There's four of you still alive. Who are you leaving behind?'

'Novitskiy
volunteered.'

Bales frowned
. This didn't seem to be the answer he wanted to hear. 'Okay, that's not a problem. We can work around this. Good job — you've done well.'

Bales passed the headset back to Scott, who put it on.

'Make sure everything is in place for their return,' Bales said to him. 'I've got something I need to take care of.'

* * *

The RFSA building stood tall and ominous in front of Sean, the small windows peering down at him from on high. He patted the stun gun in his pocket to make sure it was still there. 'Well, here goes nothing,' he said aloud to himself.

* * *

'He's on his way, sir.'

'Thanks,' Bales said, and put the phone back in his pocket
, feeling pleased with himself. It was all coming together. He looked at Aleks, whose eyes widened at his stare. 'I'm a man of my word, Aleks. You've given me Sean Jacob, and I will give you your life back in return.'

'Don't
hurt him,' Aleks pleaded. His bruises had swollen overnight and he looked a mess. Ignoring him, Bales left the room, and without looking back, said, 'If it helps ease your conscience, he won't feel a thing.'

A guard closed the door behind him, muting Aleks' cries, and he set off down the corridor. He unclipped his chest holster, pulled out his pistol, cocked it, checked the round was seated in the chamber,
made sure the silencer was tight, and returned it. At the end of the corridor, another guard waited for him.

'Come with me,' Bales said
to him, and they walked on through the building, navigating their way through the long, beige corridors to the entrance lobby. Bales felt his chest holster under his jacket again, double-checking the clip was released and ready for a quick withdrawal. The entrance lobby was deserted, just how he needed it to be.

'Room's clear, sir,' the guard said.

'Good. He should be here soon.'

They waited, watching through the glass frontage for Sean to arrive. They waited ten minutes, then twenty, and by half an hour, Bales checked his watch.

'Where is that son-of-a-bitch?' he murmured to himself. He pulled out his phone, re-dialled the last number and put it to his ear. 'Where is he?'

'We last saw him turning into the entrance about a half hour ago. You haven't got him yet?'

Bales hung up the phone and broke into a run back towards the cell. 'Secure the building!' he yelled to the guard as he ran off. He sprinted back through the corridors, taking a left turn, then a right, not slowing until he reached his destination. But it was too late. Seeing a pair of bodies lying in a heap outside Aleks' temporary cell was enough for him to know what had happened. He stepped over one of the dazed guards and entered the room. Emptiness yawned back.

Chapter 18

Sally slept well that night. The relief of her imminent departure made the station a much more pleasant place to be, and her quarters didn't feel quite as claustrophobic as they had done before. The mood of her companions was the best it had been since she had arrived, the good cheer even rubbing off onto Novitskiy. Although, he was probably just being polite in sharing the good news with them, holding back his real feelings to keep her and Chris in high spirits for the journey home. This thought made her feel sad and, if she was honest with herself, a bit guilty. She wished she could do something to help him, but he wouldn't let her, dismissing her with his new mantra that he delivered with a warm smile: 'I'll be alright.' As for Chris — he was a changed man. After he'd discovered a functional comms system on board Soyuz and made contact with Mission Control, his grin had become permanent.

The next day,
while Chris continued his inspection of Soyuz, Sally chatted with Novitskiy as they tended to Gardner. Even Gardner's unnerving stare couldn't sway the cheer.

'I
promise you, as soon as we get back to Earth, I won't leave NASA and the RFSA be until they send someone back up to get you,' Sally said, as she watched Novitskiy unclip Gardner's IV bag. 'In fact I'll make it my life's work to bring you home.'

Novitskiy laughed
. 'I'm sure you will,' he said. He passed Sally the IV bag, which she set aside. 'And I'm sure I'll be fine up here in the meantime.'

'You're taking this very well.'

Novitskiy's smile stretched from ear to ear, although Sally couldn't be sure it carried any depth.

'I'll be alright.'

The more Sally spoke with Novitskiy, the more she thought he was at peace with staying. A spike of endorphin-fuelled generosity would have worn off by now, but he continued to smile and engage in light conversation without showing any signs of distress. Perhaps there was even some relief in there, but relief at what? She figured it must have been because Chris was leaving. He was a handful, teetering on the brink of an unpredictable breakdown, and being up here without him would be something of a respite. What was it that Bales had said?
The ISS can be a lonely, claustrophobic place, and it may have had an adverse effect on some of the crew.
He'd got that right.

And what of UV
One? What if it sent Novitskiy crazy and drove him out the airlock like it had done Romanenko? What if it broke him down into an emotional mess like it had done Chris, or worse, the comatose state of Gardner? The more she contemplated, the more she believed — hoped, even — their minds had been playing tricks on them the whole time. Cabin fever, isolation sickness, whatever they wanted to call it, it must be happening here, and she was almost ashamed to have been caught up in it. The brain was a powerful tool, she knew that much, but she had also discovered just how easily led it was. With any luck, some time alone would give Novitskiy the space to clear his mind and rid himself of the contagious paranoia that had built up between them. But what about the empty Soyuz module, the disappearance of Romanenko? She tried not to think about it as she passed Novitskiy a new IV bag, which he took with a thankful grin. She had no idea if the thoughts she was having were anything like the ones going on in his own head; perhaps he
was
relieved to have some time to himself. Or perhaps he was terrified.

A muffled yelp came from the
Russian end of the station, and they both looked up.

'Are you ok
ay?' Novitskiy called out, but got no response. 'I'd better go check that out.' He stuck down the IV bag and pushed off. Sally followed, drifting after him through the station.

'Chris?' Novitskiy called again. Silence.

'I hope he hasn't hurt himself,' Sally said, a horrible feeling of dread swelling in her abdomen.

As they entered the FGB,
a small bead darted past.

'What wa
s that?' Sally said, but before Novitskiy could respond, another bead shot towards her. It hit her on the arm, leaving a deep red splat.

'I think it's
— blood,' Novitskiy said, his voice weak.

Looking at the stain on her arm and not where she was going, S
ally bumped into the back of him. She looked up to see more beads of blood coming towards her, a mass of droplets expanding from a central point. That point was in the middle of the service module, curled up in a floating ball: Chris. His hands, soaked in blood, covered his eyes. Thick globules of life-giving liquid seeped out from between his fingers, floating away and smearing anything they touched with a dark red sheen.

'Chris …' Novitskiy said.
'What happened?'

Chris sobbed,
drawing his hands away to look up at them. Where his eyes had once been were two gaping holes. 'I just wanted to get it out of my head,' he gurgled, covering his face again. 'I couldn't get it out of my head …'

Novitskiy swore, grabbed a first aid kit from the wall and
took it to Chris, who was moaning something incomprehensible under his breath. Sally, frozen, could only watch on in horror as Novitskiy did his best to patch Chris up. Once he was sure Chris was stable, Novitskiy took him to the medical bay, leaving Sally to clean the mess he left behind. Before she knew it, Novitskiy was back, alone.

'
I have to go,' Novitskiy said, lifting a shaking hand to run his fingers through his hair. He hadn't yet changed his coveralls, which were streaked with red. His face was too, a stark contrast to the whites of his wide eyes. Sally had managed to mop up most of the floating blood with a couple of towels, but still a dark sheen covered several large patches on the walls, and a metallic smell lingered in the air.

'I have to go,'
Novitskiy repeated.

The instant Sally had seen Chris,
covered eyes seeping blood, she knew she was staying. She couldn't pilot Soyuz, and she wasn't about to let either Chris or Gardner die up here. 'Will he make it?'

'
I've had to sedate him. Hopefully he's not done too much damage, other than — well.' He didn't finish the sentence.

'Are
you
okay?' Sally said, touching his arm. He looked surprised at the question, as if it hadn't occurred to him how he felt.

'I'l
l be fine,' he said, shaking his head. 'I'll be fine. We'll go tomorrow morning.' He looked like he was about to cry. His emotional barrier had crumbled.

After
they had cleaned themselves up, Novitskiy checked Chris over again, while Sally disposed of the bloodied towels. She did it without thinking, her chest hollow and her mind empty. When Novitskiy spoke to her again, she just smiled, reassuring his concerns with her new mantra: 'I'll be alright.'

* * *

Throat burning, Sean hailed the first cab he saw. It pulled over, and before it had even stopped, he bundled Aleks in, jumped in himself and yelled, 'Get us out of here!' The taxi driver was obviously no stranger to a client in need of distance from his current predicament, because he stepped on it. He took them east out of Korolyov, and it was only after the tall, industrial buildings began to thin that he pulled over and asked them where they wanted to go.

'
To Podolsk, the main road. I know a place where we can lie low for a while,' Sean said.

They set off for Podolsk, and
Sean wound the window down a little, letting the cool air chase the heat away, dabbing his brow with his sleeve.

'How did you find me?' Aleks
asked him.

'
It's surprising,' Sean said, eyes shut, 'how far you can get with an attitude that says,
I belong here
. That and a stun gun. Service entrance at the rear, a few corridors along to office thirty, and there you were.' He took the device from his pocket and returned it to his holdall. He'd completely discharged it on those two guards. Thank goodness he hadn't run into Bales or he'd have most likely been … well, he didn't want to think about it.

'I think you had a little help from Lev's cat …' Aleks said, a smile coming through the swollen lumps and bruises on his face.

Sean grinned. Then he laughed, an uncontrollable euphoria making him giddy and silly. He was happy to still be alive. 'Aleks, my friend, if it wasn't for you and Lev's damn cat, we'd both be smoking holes in the ground by now.' He took his notepad out from his bag and showed it to Aleks. '
Office thirty. Two guards. Use back entrance.
A genius bit of secret code if ever I saw one.'

'Well, what can I say. You learn fast.'

'To be honest I thought there'd be more security. The only weapons I saw were in the hands of your two guards, thank goodness.'

'It's a place of science, not the gulag …'

The car made a left and they hurtled on down the country roads at the usual taxi-driver breakneck pace. As the adrenaline wore off, the soft fuzz of exhaustion enveloped Sean's senses, and he dozed for a while, only to be woken by Aleks jabbing him in the ribs. 'Huh? What?' he groaned, wiping drool from his chin.

'Look,' Aleks said, pointing out in front of them.

The taxi had stopped. They were in familiar surroundings, and Sean's sleepy brain took a few dopey seconds to realise they had arrived. What confused him was the smell of ash that blew in through the gap in his window. He traced the source of the ash and saw what was left of a dilapidated farm building. It rippled from within towering flames that turned the dreary afternoon orange. All at once he was awake, his throat bone dry and his stomach twisted into a hard knot. Without knowing what he was doing, he jumped out of the car and sprinted down the road, his lungs stinging as he ran, his eyes joining them as smoke engulfed him.

'David!' he yelled
as he tore up the driveway, but the deafening roar of the flames drowned out his voice. His streaming eyes blinded him and soon he was lost in among the smoke and ash, the searing heat of the fire sucking the oxygen from him and leaving him breathless. It was clear there was nothing he could do. The fire was so intense that if he went any further in, he knew he would be dead. Stumbling towards cooler air, he retreated, and once he was free of the smoke he toppled to the ground, great hacking coughs overwhelming his body. Thumping footsteps approached him, and in an instant Aleks was on him.

'Are you ok
ay?' he said, helping Sean sit up, brushing the ash from him. 'I thought you were gone for sure …'

Sean said nothing.
His coughing had subsided, and so had the stinging in his eyes, but tears still ran from them. David was innocent. He had never harmed anyone. He was the nicest, most welcoming person Sean had ever met. He was a shining light in a dark world full of bitter, nasty people — and now he was dead. Worst of all, Sean knew it was his own fault he was dead. He thumped the ground, grinding his flesh into the stony dirt, punishing himself with the pain. He had led Bales right to David, given him up on a silver platter. His death was a message, a warning.

'I can't do this anymore,' he
said, his voice barely a whimper. He tried to thump the ground again, but his swing was weak and pathetic, just like him. 'I can't do this.'

Aleks sat down next to
him and drew him close. The embrace was strange, but somehow comforting. Its warmth was different to the intense heat of the fire that had taken a man's life: it was kind. Sean knew that, without words, Aleks was telling him it was okay, and that to give up now would be a waste of David's life. After he had calmed, Aleks helped him up, and they hobbled together back to the taxi. Aleks said something Sean didn't understand to the taxi driver, who nodded, and they set off back the way they had come.

'I have a brother,' Aleks said. 'He will look after us until we
know what to do next.'

'I don't want
to bring anyone else into this.'

'
Grigory is strong man and can look after himself. It'll be fine.'

Reluctant
, Sean nodded. What other choice was there?

The grey clouds turned deep purple as the sun
sank below the horizon, and street lamps blinked on as they entered a small, quiet town. The taxi turned off the main road, weaving through a compact estate of rough housing, and pulled up at the kerb. Aleks paid the driver and they disembarked, Sean stretching the ache from his limbs as the taxi pulled away. A sting from his grazed hand made him flinch. He brushed off the dirt to inspect it.

'Is you
r hand okay?' Aleks asked.

'It's fine, I think,' Sean said, shaking the pain from it.
He looked at Aleks, whose bruised face shone under the street light. He couldn't help but laugh at how pathetic his own graze was in comparison. 'More importantly, how are you? You look terrible.'

'I've had worse.'

Once the taxi was out of sight, Aleks led Sean down a side street, and they stopped outside a small, single-storey building with rickety shale walls and a moss-covered roof. They wandered up the path through the front garden, which was littered with old building materials. A bag of cement propped the porch door open, next to a pair of dirty trainers. Aleks knocked, and they waited.