The HelixLost Contact
David Viergutz
Contents
Foreword
Amanda
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Foreword
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David Viergutz
Amanda
“Close the bulkhead. Close it now!” yelled Captain Martin Scalden.
“Jesus Christ, did you see that thing? It ripped the console apart!” replied Lieutenant Derek Shovers.
“What about the captain?”
“Did you see what it was wearing? That was the captain, you idiot!” Derek snapped.
“No, I didn’t. But what good are security forces on a rescue mission if you can’t provide security?”
“Would you two morons stop fighting? We need to get off this planet!” Flight Officer Amanda Dawn snarled at the two astronauts, Captain Martin Scalden and Lieutenant Derek Shovers.
Derek looked at Martin. He had a point. Derek had been assigned as security to the mission, but when that creature came out of the captain’s quarters, he turned and ran. He hadn’t even unholstered his weapon.
“What do we do? How are we going to fly this thing?” Derek asked, scanning the room, as if the answers to their troubles were there.
“We aren’t gonna fly shit. We need the cosmonaut. Are any of you fluent in Russian?”
“I speak a little,” Amanda said.
A klaxon alarm whined in the background and the lighting about the ship shifted from dull fluorescent to an emergency red. Orbital decay! Orbital decay! the alarm sounded.
“Damn.”
Amanda strode over to a small console built into the wall near the door and began pressing the keys, pulling up the ship’s messages and attempting to decipher some basic commands.
“Martin, you were here first. Tell me what you know,” Amanda said without looking up.
Martin peered out through the porthole in the door, scanning the area. The red light faded in and out. “I was assigned to the station on Magnus Prime. We received a distress signal from the Russians on the station, but before we could dock, we got a reading from this ship and they sent me in a decay-pod. They were going to pick me up later.”
“So you aren’t a captain? Can you fly at all?”
“On Magnus it is only a rank. I suppose for you all, it is a designator. I’m an engineer.”
Martin’s blue flight suit resembled a pilot’s. A patch with a hammer and anvil was stitched in place of wings. He was tall and heavyset with dark skin and even darker eyes.
“I hate those decay-pods. Since when are one-way ships useful?”
“They’re quick, and the signal we received wasn’t a critical malfunction. Just radios. Pretty typical this close to Magnus. Our planet causes all kinds of hell. What about you?”
Amanda pressed the keys and leaned in closer. The green-lit screen reflected on her face. “I was nearby as well, but we never received a message from Magnus about them responding to the Russians. We didn’t think they had anyone in orbit, so it was a surprise. I was stationed on Opus Prime, the second moon around Magnus.”
“What about your ship?”
Amanda shook her head. Her short black hair swung side to side. It was cut at an upward angle, longer in the front. It draped across her face and hid her high cheekbones.
“My shuttle is in orbit nearby. Even if we could call it, this ship is in a decaying orbit and it wouldn’t know where to go. Once we fix our orbit, we can call it to us. What about you, Derek?”
“My ship is somewhere in deep space at this point. I was doing a scheduled space walk with a cosmonaut to look at his sun array. He locked me out of the airlock hours ago. Next thing I know, my ship is jettisoned. Luckily, I was able to get back inside using the umbilical. I ran into that thing in the captain’s quarters, hoping to beat the hell out of his cosmo. That thing chased me through the ship until you guys found me.”
Derek, an American astronaut with a boyish face, a military haircut, and striking green eyes, wore a black flightsuit with an American flag patch. Two crossed swords identified him as a security expert.
“What was a soldier doing on a space walk?” Amanda stopped typing to look him over.
“I’m dual purpose. Security and communications. Why send one when you can send one and a half? I’ve been here a few days and there hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary.”
Martin scoffed. “Americans. Why send an expert when you can send half an expert, right? Did you get half the array fixed?”
“Yeah, like Magnus has produced shit that worked. I’m surprised you backwater bottom feeders could get anything to fly at all.”
The klaxon alarm faded and Amanda slammed the console shut. “Pulla. I can’t get past the login. We need the cosmonaut. Alarms off for now, but the main power has been diverted to the engines. They’re keeping us from crashing, but not for long.”
“Even if we had the cosmonaut, what do you expect him to do?” Derek plopped down on the bunk next to Martin, who slid over to the other side of the bed. “That thing tore the bridge apart.”
“We just need to get a signal to my ship, The Helix. We can do that via the emergency communication panel in the captain’s quarters. Every ship has one in case of mutiny. We’ll have The Helix match our orbit and space walk to it. Let this ship and that thing burn up upon entry to Magnus.”
This time it was Derek who spoke; his voice cracking with concern. “You want to space walk in a decaying orbit? You know your ship won’t be able to match our pitch, right?”
“I saw a satellite bay on my way over here. It’s loaded with supplies, and I think I saw a few Velo-Paks.”
Derek forced a hollow laugh. “Velo-Paks? Seriously? Why not just
