******
THEN
******
“Maria..Maria!” the voice from her headset yelled at her, “Are you there?”
“Yes, I’m here. Where else would I be?” Maria snapped back.
“You stopped responding to checklist items,” the voice said in calmer tone.
Maria rubbed her forehead. “Yeah sorry, I’m just tired. Spaced out for a minute,” she replied. Three weeks in lunar orbit had begun to wear her down. It wasn’t like everyone else hadn’t been up here longer but her time wasn’t her own any more. Every test, every checklist, every simulation, every drill had to be done by her. It all had to work perfectly and she had to know how it worked. She would be going alone after all.
“Maybe we should take a break? We can finish this up later.”
She glanced at the multi-page checklist. Over the course of the document she was supposed to activate a multitude of switches, buttons, levers, dials, and sliders in the cockpit in multiple combinations. They were currently on page four, less than a twentieth of the way done. Maria checked her watch. 2:34 am. Well pass her normal bedtime. The DSEV was being built in lunar orbit on an around the clock schedule. Different work crews lived by different clock schedules, sleeping during other’s work day. This was not an issue because each crew could work independently. Now that she, the pilot, had arrived they all needed her, which put a strain on her schedule.
“Yeah, we’ll pick up tomorrow… er… later today. After I’ve had some sleep, ok?”
“Sure, don’t push yourself to hard.”
“Kind of hard not to when the fate of the world is on the line.”
******
NOW
******
Maria maneuvered around her crippled ship with a thruster backpack. She kept her distance to avoid an accidental collision with the slowly rotating ship. Actual repairs would have to done mag-booted to the ship’s hull. The first impact had damaged two engine nozzles. A second glancing blow had ripped open a gash on the underside of ship, the likely cause of the power failure. The reactor and generators were located in a nearby area. She would have to inspect the damage closer to be sure. Hopefully the laser hadn’t been damaged or else the mission was over.
***
Log #102: The ship’s a mess. The laser is armored against impacts but I couldn’t be sure until I examined it. It’s fine. We still have a chance. I got emergence power back online, so I won’t die in my EVA suit but if I can’t get main power restarted… I’m going back out on the hull.
***
The initial repairs had been simple. Some conduits had been smashed and mangled together causing a short circuit, which overloaded the generators and tripped the emergency breakers. In a million to one shot, this had also shorted out the emergency power. Several hours of removing the damaged wiring and replacing it had brought the emergency power online. Then things had gotten complicated.
***
Log #103: Hey guys, next time you pack the tools make sure you pack all the tools. Thanks.
***
When she had gone to open the access panels to the generators, she found she lacked the proper tool to undo the bolts. Perhaps no one had anticipated that she would need to access the power plant of the ship. It was supposed to be the most fail proof part of the ship. Of course no one had anticipated the DSEV being knifed by a piece of comet. She had used one of the ice harvesters to mangle open a panel and examined the generators with a helmet camera on a stick. Two generators had been completely burned out by the short circuit and a third was scorched. More damage than she could repair in a reasonable amount of time, even if she had been able to get to them.
***
Log #104: Main power is back online. A few of the generators are scrap, so I’m turning off the gravity system in favor of charging the laser batteries. It’s only for a few months until the mission is complete. I should be fine. I hope.
******
THEN
******
“Hello.” Hailey sounded unsure about having answered the call. A rerouted call from the moon will do that to a person.
“Hailey, it’s Maria.” Maria pretended the dead silence was just the delay between Earth and the moon but it went on longer than it should have.
“Oh, so how are the system checks going?” Hailey said after the pause.
“They’re going fine,” she tried to inject some good humor into her voice, “I’ve been sat in the command chair almost every waking hour running though checklists.”
“Sounds like exciting space adventure material.” Maria imagined she could hear Hailey smile.
“Ha ha. … How have you been?”
“Fine.” The smile was gone.
“I know we left things kind of in a mess between us. I didn’t want the last thing we said to each other to be an argument.”
“There is no us. That’s what you wanted isn’t it,” an edge of anger entered Hailey’s voice.
“Not like this. I wanted us to step back and look at the situation.”
“I… sorry. I didn’t mean to… It still hurt. What you said, still hurt,” Hailey said.
“I know and I’m sorry, too. I could have handled my side better. I don’t have too much time left on this call. I’m sorry and I… … That’s really all I wanted to say.”
******
NOW
******
The one thing Maria couldn’t do anything about was the main engine nozzles smashed by the first impact. Two of the eight engines rendered completely useless and two more taken offline in order to maintain balanced propulsion. Maria had to calculate a new work schedule to take into account the lowered acceleration of the ship and to make up time lost on repairs. It would mean taking shifts as soon as the laser was charged rather than keeping a daily schedule but it had to be done.
***
Log #106: “Hey Dad, just wanted to say I’m doing fine. I’m missing you. When I get back I want to spend a day with you. A whole day doing anything. Ok? Um.. ah.. my spaceship is making this knocking noise. I think it might be a loose belt or a bent rod. So, do you think I could bring it by and you could take a look under the hood for me? Ok, good I’ll bring it by on Saturday. Ok well Bye.”
******
THEN
******
Reactor output green.
Life support green.
Computer online.
Water plant offline.
Ice harvesters offline.
Main engines shut down.
Gravity drive operational.
Five days in flight from launch moon, Maria checked off the last item on her notepad. She activated the ship’s log and prepared to enter a standard ‘all systems a-ok’ report. Looking out at the stars she suddenly felt alone. Of course she was alone and would be for more than a year. But this was the first time she felt it.
***
Log #1: I’m supposed to be recording progress reports on the mission but I’m not going to do that. Sorry guys I’ll fill out the paperwork when I get back. Or I won’t. I’m in route at the moment to Mars for a gravity assist maneuver. … I just need to talk to someone. Hailey, I… It’s really beautiful out here. I’ve been to space before of course but I’m all alone out here and it’s going to be a while until I can talk to anyone. So I’m writing to Earth on a delay. End log.
******
NOW
******
The command chair restraints cradled her. She turned out the cockpit lights and stared out at the stars. The stars were still beautiful but she saw something else as well. She saw the blackness between them. The empty lonely space that she found herself in.
Slowly she began to feel her eyelids droop and close. She fell asleep to the hum of the ventilation fans, below that the rumble of the water processing plant and the buzz of the generators.