New Hope: Book 1

Ellie awoke with a start. Her head hurt, a thin line of dry blood was drawn from her nose across her face, and her lungs were burning from the smoke inside the cockpit. Yes, in the cockpit! A hard landing, but a landing nonetheless. Somewhat. The cabin seemed to be lying on one of its sides on the surface of the Moon. But the headache clearly meant that she had not been killed. The situation could not have been as hopeless as it seemed just moments ago.

The last thing her eyes registered before hitting the surface of Earth’s natural satellite was the speed – more than 150 miles per hour just seconds before the crash. They were losing speed, but not quickly enough to prevent the inevitable crash somewhere far from the designated landing zone.

Through the wall of smoke and red emergency lighting, Ellie was able to see the glowing indicator lights of the control panel. This meant they had power and something could still work! It could have been worse. Just a moment ago she assumed she would not come out of the situation unscathed. Although we can’t yet say that this is the case, she admitted to herself. But at least now there’s a shadow of hope. She saw Julius’ figure in the soft glimmer of the lights. He was still fastened to his captain’s chair with his head tilted back. One of his arms seemed to hang along his body at an unnatural and painful angle. Oh God, Julius! thought Ellie as she tried to regain her balance and get to her feet as steadily as she could to rush toward the first pilot.

Her eyes, irritated by the pungent smoke, were flooding with tears, but the smoke extraction system had begun working so, if nothing else fails, the cockpit should be clear enough in a few minutes making it easier to breathe. Until then, every burning breath led to a coughing fit and nausea. Ellie tried to take a few steps toward Julius but the floor was at a really bad angle, making any move upwards and forwards very difficult.

Luckily, as Ellie realized, gravity on the Moon is much lower than on Earth. That is why in the 1960s the astronauts could make such spectacularly high jumps when they walked on the Moon’s surface. Ellie tried to bend her knees and jump with all her might, catching onto the protruding panels and seats that were attached to the base, using them like shelves on a climbing wall. This way, she wished to reach the motionless captain. I really hope he’s only unconscious... Oh God, let Julius be alive! she thought suddenly terrified.

Her first jump toward the captain failed; Ellie didn’t calculate it well enough, and the change in gravity had shaken her sense of balance so much she quickly lost it and fell back to where she started. I’ll try again, she thought. This time she had more luck and soon, after just a few additional moves, she reached her own seat, right next to her co-passenger, who still seemed lifeless.

“Captain!” yelled Ellie from up close to Julius’ head which was still inside his helmet. “Julius!” She shouted again with all her might, at the same time trying to shake the captain’s body strong enough to achieve the desired effect but also gently enough so as not to cause him any more harm. The arm that hung along his body clearly wasn’t in good shape. The arm was bent at a completely wrong angle. This suggested at least a single fracture. Maybe more. He is going to need emergency medical help and surgery, probably. Let him wake up! thought Ellie again. The captain’s eyes were shut but she could see water vapor rhythmically settling on the visor of the helmet. He’s breathing!

It wasn’t very long before much more could be seen in the cockpit than just a few minutes before. There was far less smoke. At least the smoke extraction systems were still working well. I’ll take whatever fate gives me, thought Ellie. At least there’s that much in this whole messy situation. Only the gentle whistling sound of air worried her. Suddenly, as she came to understand, Ellie opened her eyes wider in horror. It wasn’t only the smoke that was disappearing – it was also getting harder to breathe! The onboard smoke extraction systems were not sucking out the smoke but some hole in the hull was causing the lander to lose atmosphere! The air was already starting to become increasingly thinner. There won’t be anything to breathe in a few minutes, she realized.

At that moment, the captain gave out a quiet moan, but he still hadn’t woken up. He might wake up soon, finally! thought Ellie. Although we probably won’t live too long because in a few minutes it’s going to be at least as pleasant in the cockpit as it is outside – in the emptiness of the vacuum, there’s nothing but moondust, she noted with slumped arms. Step by step. Julius is alive, though his condition may change at any moment. What other trauma he’s experienced, other than an injured arm, is unknown. Everything possible must be done to give them more time.

Ellie looked around the demolished cabin of the lander in search of anything that could increase their chances of survival. During the landing, they were dressed in their suits, and they should ensure sufficient protection from the Moon’s atmosphere. They also had their helmets on, but during her unfortunate crash with the wall, her helmet became seriously damaged – the glass of the visor was shattered. Also, there was quite a large hole in the middle, and there was no self-adhesive tape on board that she could use as a makeshift repair. I’m not going to improvise myself out of this situation like Mark from Martian. Spare helmets were stored in a cabinet at the back of the cabin, near where she had lost consciousness for a few moments. Ellie quickly made her way to the compartment and took out the spare equipment. She then took off the damaged helmet, changing it for a new one. Clean air! Small success, but I’ll take it! thought the second pilot in satisfaction.

Okay, that’s one problem solved. At least for the moment. Now it was just a matter of waking the captain up and praying that his injuries didn’t require immediate surgery; there was no way any procedures could take place in conditions of no atmosphere. Not that this would change much in the whole situation because the air in the suit normally lasted up to 8 hours. Ten hours if one sits still and the heart rate is calm, but no way was that happening in these circumstances. Not to mention, the injured captain is not likely to be pleased with the condition of his arm, and God knows what else. If she’s not able to stop the escape of air, she was left with 8 to 10 hours of life.

She had to set her priorities. The captain is alive but there is no way to help him much in the vacuum, so something has to be done quickly about the air escaping the cabin. Ellie never thought that she’d be happy with the presence of smoke in the cockpit, especially on another planet. In this case, however, the pungent fumes had their advantages – they were cloudy and unavoidably floating toward the hole through which they were escaping into the vacuum of space. Thanks to this, she was able to find the largest tear in the hull. I have to try to patch it up! thought Ellie. In the emergency pack she found special patches and epoxy resin to repair the hull. It should stop the outflow of air temporarily. The patch does not have to make the return flight to Earth – there’s no chance of that in the current condition of the ship – but it’s enough if it maintains the pressure long enough to help Julius!, decided the second pilot. There will be time later to worry about other things. And there is certainly much to worry about, Ellie noted sadly.

Ellie got all her mental strength together, calmed her breathing, and looked hard. She had to focus on the flow of smoke in the cockpit and trace its route. It seemed to end somewhere behind the familiar cabinet with the spare equipment. The second pilot glanced back one more time at the unconscious pilot, making sure that his condition had not gotten worse, and then she got to work under the suspected compartment.

She couldn’t tilt it. Anyway, it was fixed to the hull and clearly to some extent stopping the air from flowing out of the hole or holes behind it. No, something else must be done. Ellie retrieved the epoxy resin applicator from the handy emergency kit that she took off the wall. I can’t apply any kind of patch; moving the cabinet from the wall may cause immediate decompression, she thought. I can try to insulate the edges of the compartment. Maybe that will slow down or stop the air from escaping. Then I’ll be able to start the computer up and restore the normal atmosphere, decided Ellie.

I have to get to work, time is running out. Although, time wasn’t the only thing escaping. Ellie started her tedious work. Inch by inch, slowly but thoroughly, she applied a thin layer of the special resin at the points connecting the cabinet with the hull. The resin was meant to bond surfaces coming into contact with the deadly vacuum of space. After a few minutes of hard work, the air hissing stopped! Yesss! thought Ellie. A quick look at the pressure indicator in the cabin confirmed that the temporary patch was holding. Time to start up the computer, restore normal pressure in the cockpit, and then try to launch the other systems of the spaceship to contact mission control and address the biggest problem at the moment: the lack of transport to Earth. Ellie did not doubt that in the current state, New Hope wasn’t going to rise from the Moon’s surface again. Although, even if this somehow worked and the ship was able to soar into orbit, it would surely not survive connecting with the orbiter or entering Earth’s atmosphere. After all, the ship was lying on its side, and the couplings and system connectors of the lander module with the orbiter had to have been destroyed as they crashed with immense speed on the surface of the globe. Had it been otherwise, the ship would be standing erect, and that was simply not the case.

Ellie climbed up back to her seat using the familiar route. When she finally sat down at the control desk she got to work. Any attempts to activate the main power bus failed. Yet the flashing indicator lights must have been getting their power from somewhere. Think, Ellie, think! the astronaut scolded herself. The control panel should have two power sources: main and secondary, a backup. If the main one can’t be activated, then I should be able to start up the backup one. After several minutes of hard work, the second pilot’s efforts brought the desired effect – as soon as she entered the last command sequence into the computer, the emergency lights in the cockpit went off and the cabin was flooded with the brightness of the normal, white lighting. One after the other, the primary systems of the spaceship also started to activate: life support, auxiliary batteries (yay, some additional power in case of an additional emergency!), radar. Flight traction control was inactive and spat out an error message. That’s strange, thought Ellie. Communications also seemed down, and this was clearly one of the first systems that needed to be dealt with. The personnel on Earth must be notified that someone had survived and help is needed. The main engine and thrusters were lit up in red catastrophic error messages – a sign they wouldn’t be coming back to life without fixing the actual damage on-site, though Ellie decided not to worry about that at this moment.

Then, Captain Cousteau moaned and started moving a bit in his harness.

“Jesus, Ellie, what happened?” the captain hissed out through his teeth.

“Julius, welcome to the land of the living!” shouted Ellie, taking off her helmet and then helping her colleague with his own head protection.

“I was really worried you wouldn’t regain consciousness. I’m so glad I was wrong. Where does it hurt, Julius?” she asked, concerned.

“It would be better to ask where it doesn’t,” uttered the captain with pain in his voice. “Although at my age, it’s somewhat standard,” he tried to joke, but his smile was quickly replaced by a wince of suffering. He looked at his left arm, which was hanging unnaturally by this body. “First, I think, we have to deal with this issue,” he said indicating his injured limb. “If it’s not broken, it would be some kind of miracle. I’ve never felt such burning pain!” said Julius. “In the meantime, how are we doing?” he asked. “The ship, I mean. I can see we’re alive, but how’s the ship? Will she fly?” he asked with a note of hope in his voice, though deep down he suspected what the answer was going to be. One doesn’t have to be a genius to know that an aircraft crashing to the ground at high speed will unlikely be able to go any further.

“I’m afraid we’ll be staying here a bit longer than I would care to admit,” replied Ellie with a gloomy look. “I don’t think we actually physically have the engines any longer. It seems that the communications systems aren’t working either, and the flight trajectory computer is throwing out strange errors,” she reported.

“What strange errors?” asked the captain intrigued.

“It looks as if the flight traction computer is trying to download a trajectory from an outside source,” she replied. “But that’s impossible. This system was designed so that it could be programmed locally only.” Ellie was deep in thought. “You think that this is why you couldn’t take over control of our flight? That this is why we’re here and not in a safe orbit?”

“It’s very possible,” said the captain. “I remember that before the crash, I tried everything possible to increase the thrust and change the flight direction, but the ship was unresponsive and uncontrollable. I’d probably achieve more by getting out to the back to push it.” Then he added, “As if some force had taken control of it and persistently directed us to these parts. I know it seems unreal, but I think we might be here for some reason.”

“Or, someone in the production line screwed on the screws wrong,” noted Ellie. “Perhaps it would have been better if New Hope had been assembled in Europe,” the second pilot added with a slight smile.

Defusing the tense atmosphere and a touch of humor couldn’t hurt, and maybe it would help Julius take his thoughts away from his badly broken arm.

“We need to do something about that arm of yours,” said Ellie. “You’re not going to get it together on your own.” She looked at the captain meaningfully.

“Definitely. It hurts like a son-of-a-bitch, but I know it has to be worse before it can get better,” he replied. Together with Ellie, slowly, inch by inch, they were able to get the broken arm out of the open suit. For a moment there, Julius thought that he’d pass out from the pain; he even regretted that it didn’t happen. It would have been easier for him and his comrade. Instead, crying in agony, he was actively disrupting the process of removing the damaged limb from the sleeve. “Officially, from here on out if my mind decides to take a sudden nap to avoid some pain, don’t worry and, please, don’t interrupt,” he said trying to lighten the mood. “Such is life. The worst part seems to be still ahead of me,” he said.

“My training included first aid so I’ll do everything in my power to ease your pain,” replied Ellie. “I just hope that you’ll forgive me later for my lack of gentleness. We’ve only got mild sedatives for pain, no opiates. The people planning this mission didn’t want to risk that in the event of some serious injury, one of us, on a morphine high, instead of resting, would decide to open the window and let some fresh air in,” Ellie smiled awkwardly reaching for her colleague’s crooked arm. “I know that you’re not in the mood to laugh right now, I’m sorry,” she added hastily seeing a trickle of sweat run down Julius’ grimacing face. Unavoidably, any waiting time was a time of agony for him.

“Let’s get it over with,” said the captain.

“Sure,” replied Ellie. She grabbed harder above and below the broken area on Julius’ arm. “I won’t sugar coat it for you. It’ll hurt like hell. Can you take it?” she asked, hesitating a little. She had never set a real breakage before, and the simulator with the mannequin in the space mission center, though realistic, did not bleed, did not shout whenever in pain, and most importantly, was not a real human being you could easily hurt. And hurt badly.

“I have to,” said Julius. “I will.”

“On three,” said Ellie. “One... Two...” At that moment, not waiting for three, she rapidly performed the well-practiced move of leading the broken part of the limb into its correct position. Luckily, although the break seemed serious, the bone fractures had not penetrated the skin. No bleeders there. The arm just made an unpleasant cracking sound. This caused a cry of agony in Julius, while Ellie felt some bile rise to her throat. Don’t throw up now, just don’t throw up, she scolded herself. Julius has it worse, she added, trying to force her stomach to relax. As if convincing oneself of anything ever worked for anyone, she thought.

“Now we just have to stiffen and secure the limb. In several weeks, if everything heals as it needs to, you’ll be able to use the arm again,” said Ellie, putting on a temporary fixation of the forearm and shoulder of the damaged limb. “I know you’re suffering but try not using this arm or burden it with anything,” she cautioned Julius.

“No chance in hell,” the captain hissed through his teeth. The grimace of pain mixed with a kind of absence was visible on his face. “There you go, unfortunately, now when I’d like to faint and sleep through everything, fatigue is the last thing that’s on my mind,” the captain joked to Ellie.

“I’ll give you some painkillers. They should relieve your suffering a little. It will be better in a few hours anyway, when your arm swells, making it more difficult to move it accidentally. You should be able to get some sleep then.”

“I can’t wait,” replied Julius and added, “Let’s not forget the situation we’re in. We have to contact Earth. Maybe we’ll be able to go outside and assess the damage – perhaps it’s not as bad as it seems.” he noted hopefully.

“Indeed, the transmitter indicator isn’t flashing red, so physically the antennas are still connected to the rest of the ship. The problem lies somewhere else,” she added. “Let’s do this,” Ellie replied with a glimmer in her eye, “I’ll try to determine what’s wrong with the radio and where we are, and you, she winked, “try not to die while I’m busy saving our asses.” Then she added, “I really wouldn’t like to sit here alone, 200,000 miles from home, without any way to return and a person I could open my mouth to.”