The Orthogonal Galaxy (17 page)

Garrison hung his head.
“Dmitri, I’m so, so sorry. I—I—“

“
Friend,” whispered
Boronov. “It was easy mistake, with big lesson. At least we are
both ok.”

As O’Ryan’s faculties
slowly returned, he looked around him. The tunnel was too dark to
see anything. He could only see the entrance with its green glow
about 15 feet away along with a dark black streak marking the trace
of blood left by his head as it was dragged down the tunnel.
“Dmitri… if the atmosphere was depleted, then why didn’t all of the
oxygen escape…” He lowered his voice, “…and continue to drag me
unprotected to who knows where?”

Boronov answered by
flashing a torch towards the dark end of the tunnel away from the
bunker. Garrison looked around to see a steel door sealing off the
tunnel about three feet from where he lay.

“
I still don’t get it,”
said O’Ryan shaking his head slowly. “What caused the breach in the
environment if that door is closed?”

“
There is mechanical
pressure release on every door leading away from bunker. With
sudden drop in bunker pressure, a latch releases the doors from
ceiling, and closes off the breach.”

Garrison was trying to
piece the puzzle together. “Ok, so when I opened the door, this
tunnel was vacant of oxygen, the sudden change of pressure created
a wind that felled me like a tree to the ground and dragged me
here. Then, this huge door drops out of the sky and seals off the
bunker and tunnel.”

“
Yes.”

“
Do you realize that if
the mechanism had released any later than it did…” Garrison gulped
for more air. “…I’d either have been crushed by that door, or I’d
be outside flopping around for air like a fish out of
water?”

Dmitri did not need to
answer that question.

“
Come,” said Dmitri. “I
help you up off floor. There is cot in bunker where you can
rest.”

Dmitri helped his
companion off the ground. O’Ryan’s head throbbed violently. Holding
his forehead with one hand, he braced the other on Boronov’s
shoulder as the two walked back into the bunker. The slow walk to
the cot proved painfully long for O’Ryan, as his head continued to
pound with each step. At last, he swooned onto a cot which, by
comparison, felt more comfortable than any bed he had ever slept
in. His eyes fell closed, blocking the blue-green light from view
until Boronov returned with a first aid kit and dressed the wound.
Garrison winced as Dmitri dabbed antiseptic all around his
forehead. With the bandage in place, O’Ryan fell into a state of
restful unconsciousness.

…

A voice echoed in the
distance. “Boronov to Mission Control. I still have not received
response. Please copy.”

Garrison O’Ryan opened the
eye which was least swollen and at first saw nothing but a green
hazy glow about him. Opening the other eye as far as he could, he
focused and looked around to see racks of boxes. The perspective
was not helpful, so he sat up to get a better look around. His
rebellious head did not approve of the maneuver as a pain shot from
his forehead to the back of his neck. Looking around again, he saw
another cot across the way, identically to the one on that he was
on. He saw a small stand next to his own bed with a tumbler of
water and a dish with large round cracker-like bread. He suspected
that Dmitri had set this down for him in order to nourish himself
after his accident. Since his mouth was dry and throat parched, he
first drained a few ounces of water from the glass and took a bite
of bread. “Ah, yes.” He thought to himself. “A meal fit for an
astronaut. How does NASA come up with this awfully engineered
stuff? It’s like I’m back on the Mars shuttle again.”

Regardless of his
disliking for the nutritive, he knew that his body needed the
sustenance, so he methodically consumed the plate of bread, chewing
only as fast as his head would allow without convulsing in
pain.

Dmitri returned to check
on his colleague and sat down on the edge of the cot opposite of
Garrison’s, looking dejected, concerned.

“
Dmitri,” called Garrison
quietly as he looked up with his head askew and with eyes half
open. “How long have I been sleeping?”

“
About three
hours.”

“
Dmitri, about the door…
I’m very sorry.”

“
No need to worry. All is
fine,” reassured the senior astronaut.

“
What have you heard from
Mission Control on this whole affair, Dmitri?”

“
Nothing.”

O’Ryan paused to grasp the
meaning of this short answer. “You mean they don’t know what has
caused the power failure?”

“
No, I mean I have not
heard anything. It appears that along with power failure, there is
comm failure too.”

“
I would’ve hoped that
communications were on battery backup.”

“
They are supposed to be.
The failure must be worse than we fear, since we have lost power
and comm,” Boronov pointed out.

Garrison tried to stand up
in anxiety for their welfare, but his head began to throb intensely
as he did, so he laid back down on the bed with his hands clasping
his temples.

“
Dmitri.”

“
Yes, Comrade?”

“
If we can’t communicate
with Mission Control, then we must assess the situation and figure
out what to do.”

“
I agree,” said Boronov
flatly. “As you have slept, I have been thinking of this too. The
main thing we must do is assess why power failure has occurred. We
must restore the power if we are to evacuate.”

“
Evacuate?” inquired
O’Ryan, sitting up to the edge of the bed again. “Well, you don’t
think it is that dire, do you, Dmitiri?” I’m sure we can make
repairs for anything that might have problems.”

“
But, we will not be able
to speak with Mission Control on repairs needed. We have some
maintenance manuals here in bunker, but any difficult repair
instructions need to come from experts on Earth.”

“
Okay, but you just said
that we’ll need to repair power to evacuate. Why do we need power,
and more importantly, what if we are not able to repair the power
or comm problems ourselves?”

Boronov weighed these
questions, drew a deep breath and began to explain. “To answer
first question, we need power to operate SAR pad. It requires much
power, and cannot operate on battery backup. The SAR pad is
necessary, because without it, we have just one
parachute.”

Garrison strained to
understand, but didn’t understand why a parachute was needed. He
raised his eyebrows, and threw up his hands in the air.

“
Garrison,” said the
Russian leaning forward on his cot. “Iowa is only Mars Shuttle on
site. You flew it here from Moon. It only carries one person.
Without SAR pad, we cannot replicate other shuttle to carry both of
us back to Earth.”

“
Dmitri, I think we’re
crossing bridges before we come to them. Let’s first go see if we
can assess the problem with the power, and then we’ll start
planning any contingencies that might be needed to solve our
problem.”

“
It is nighttime now,”
pointed out Boronov. “I believe we must wait for daylight to
venture above ground.”

“
But what will we do if we
can’t restore power?”

“
Ah, yes. If that is case,
you will become very familiar with this room, as we will remain
here until rescue.”

“
Wait, here? Until rescue?
How long will that take?” Concern rang through O’Ryan’s
voice.

“
Do you not recall
emergency procedure? In worst-case scenario, we must wait in here,
as it will provide up to three months of nourishment, water, and
oxygen.”

“
Let me guess,” Garrison
said rolling his open eye. “The CO2 scrubber doesn’t work on
battery backup either, huh?”

“
Yes, it does, but battery
will not last forever, neither will food or water. Three months. We
must hope rapid preparations are made on Earth if rescue should be
required.”

“
Is three months long
enough to be rescued?”

“
One piece of good
fortune, my comrade, is that you just arrived. We both know that
this means the distance from Earth to Mars is nearly at its closest
proximity. Support vehicle carrying rescue crew travels slowly
compared to Mars Shuttle, but three months will be enough time for
them to arrive.”

After a few moments of
reflection on the part of both astronauts, Garrison broke the
silence with another question. “Dmitri, didn’t you say that the
depressurization sealed us off with those steel doors?”

“
We will not be able to
exit through tunnel. We must take trap door, instead.”

“
Trap door?”

“
In back of bunker is
emergency exit, complete with pressurization chamber. We can safely
enter the chamber without risk of much loss of oxygen since chamber
is very small. This chamber opens into tunnel which goes up to
manhole cover, which we called ‘trap door’ if I recall correct from
training.”

“
Oh, yeah… I remember too
now that you mention it. I’m a little slow right now with this head
injury.” Dmitri looked up as if to see the wound on his forehead,
and felt it with an index finger. It was well-dressed, but
moistened with blood and needed to be changed. Knowingly, Dmitri
picked up a first aid kit from the floor and placed it on O’Ryan’s
side table.

“
Thank you, Dmitri. I
should redress this.”

“
Yes, and then we must
both try to rest until daylight there isn’t much else we can do for
now, except…”

Dmitri stood and faced
away from his companion, as if trying to hide something. He turned
on his headset and spoke, “Boronov to Mission Control, do you
receive communication? Please copy.”

He returned and sat back
down, watching Garrison change the bandage on his forehead slowly,
but thoroughly. As he did so, he counted the seven stitches that
his companion must have given him while he was unconscious.
Garrison looked up at the green cast lights, looked back down at
his companion and began to chuckle lightly.

“
What is funny?” Boronov
asked with as much curiosity as irritation.

“
In this room with its
light, I can’t help thinking about how we must look like little
green Martians in here.”

Boronov’s lips slowly
curled upward as he snickered at the thought. “Yes, we must be an
odd set of life forms in this universe… Anyway, we must lie down
and rest now. Tomorrow we will need energy and good thinking to
figure out what we need to do.”

As Dmitri lay on his cot
and cover himself with a light weight blanket, O’Ryan sat for a
while longer on the edge of his bed, but without conversation,
found that he was feeling effects of extreme exhaustion, so he lay
down and both astronauts fell into a restless sleep.

…

Garrison woke up feeling
groggy and looked over to find his companion’s cot empty. He sat up
and called out for Dmitri. At once, he heard the steps of boots on
the concrete floor approaching.

“
Garrison, how are you
feeling?” Dmitri asked with concern in his voice.

“
Better. Say, what time is
it, Dmitri?”

“
09 hours, 13 minutes,”
answered Boronov, consulting his watch.

“
We must go look at the
power array.”

“
Yes, yes, but you must
eat first.” Boronov gave Garrison an energy bar and drink for
breakfast. “I have already breakfasted this morning.”

Garrison smiled and shook
his head knowingly at the nourishment. “Ah, yes. An astronaut’s
manna, this. Still no cheese steak sandwich for me, eh,
Dmitri?”

“
I fear there will be no
more for either of us, until we get this camp back in
order.”

“
Well, I guess if it
worked for me on the ride in the shuttle for a couple of weeks, I
can gag down a few more of these bars. I wonder how they compress
the sawdust into such perfectly shaped rectangles.” He shrugged and
accepted the nourishment. Standing slowly, he found that he was
actually better on his feet than he expected. Suiting up took about
ten minutes, while Boronov disappeared to do senior astronaut work,
apparently. Placing his helmet under his arm, he ventured off, not
knowing exactly where he was in this cavernous bunker in relation
to the entrance the pair of astronauts had come through the night
before. Wandering amidst stacks and stacks of well-supplied
shelves, he studied his surroundings. At last, he heard a rustle
somewhere to his left. He ventured down an aisle to follow the
noise, and discovered Boronov working at a workbench.

“
Right. You are ready,
then?” asked Dmitri when he spotted his partner
approaching.

“
Yes,” said Garrison.
“Let’s solve this problem and get back to the mission at
hand.”

“
I’m just packing some
tools and manuals that we will want in our investigation of the
system.” He patted the top of a large spiral bound
manual.

Garrison looked at the
cover.
‘Camp Mars: Power
Subsystem.’

Dmitri closed the box and
started away with determination. Garrison followed shortly behind
as they ventured deep into the recesses of the bunker, until they
came to a door, similar to the fateful door which O’Ryan will never
forget opening in error.