Out in Space

"Med-bay for Commander. Over."

"Go for Commander. Over."

"We're hav.... s... sporadic power ou... here. Can you co... Over."

The automatic door next to the intercom slides open. Pilot Symanski walks through and returns to her seat. The faintest hint of a smile shows on her face, but the Commander is too distracted to notice.

"Med-bay, go again. Over." The request goes unanswered. The commander finally presses the button and speaks again, "I'm on my way. Over and out." Commander McDowell pivots away from the intercom to address the flight crew instead. "Symanski and Schaefer, you two take over until I get back. Jones, come with me. We need to find out what's going on."

The door slides open again and the two men exit the flight deck. Unsure of what's happening, they hurry down the long corridor.

"What do you think's going on, Commander?"

"No idea. There haven't been any communication issues like this before. The previous commander would've included it in his brief when we took over. And it would have been in the flight logs, too. "

As the med-bay doors slide open, the commander and the flight engineer are greeted by a cacophony of beeping and buzzing. Medical staff scurry around, trying to placate the various machines as they issue their warnings.

"Harrison!" The commander shouts the Chief Medical Officer's name, hoping she'll hear over all the commotion. She looks up from across the room. As soon as she sees the Commander and the Flight Engineer standing in the doorway, she gives the nearest medic a command. The medic dashes off to do whatever errand he's been assigned.

Finally, Harrison hurries past the two men, and motions them to follow her out the door. Once the door closes behind them and the noise dies away, Harrison rubs her temples.

"What's going on? I couldn't hear your message earlier I thought it was just some malfunction with the intercoms, but this is far more serious than I thought."

"Our power has been flickering for the several hours. Then an hour ago, it went out completely." At the commander's questioning look, she continues. "Our systems are running from the backup generator right now. They aren't meant to handle this much all at once though. They were only designed for emergencies, like if one of the cryogenic sleeper pods malfunctions. The generators are just supposed to keep them going long enough that we can transfer the user out."

"As far as I know, everywhere else on the ship is fine. What's been affected by the outage?" He looks at her, worry etched across his face. "It's just your computers, right?"

"No. I wish that's all it was. Everything in medical has lost power. It's not just the computers and monitoring equipment. All the cryogenic sleeper pods have lost power, too."

Jones chimes in, "Is that why there's so much noise right now? All the machines are warning that the cryopods are offline?"

"Exactly. We've started bringing the other crews out of the stasis and getting them out of the pods, but... Well, it's a balancing act. If we take too long to get them out before the backup power is gone, they'll die because there's no life support. If we bring them out too abruptly, they'll die, too. It's sort of like scuba diving. Coming out of the stasis too fast gives them a kind of decompression sickness.

"I know the next crew isn't supposed to be brought out of the pods for another 10 years, but I didn't know what else to do. If we left them--"

The commander interrupts to reassure her. "No, you're right. I would've done the same thing."

She nods and continues, "And to make matters worse, I can't find Pierce. He should be here, but no one knows where he is. I've sent a few people out searching. I'd send more, but I really can't spare anyone else." Harrison looks through the glass in the med-bay doors. "In fact, I should really get back in there."

"Of course, Harrison. Keep waking the other crews up and send them to the flight deck. We may need their help to deal with this. Then start waking civilians after that. We'll go talk to Repair and Maintenance. I'll see if they can divert power from some of the non-essential areas until they can fix this." She nods and disappears back into the med-bay. "Come on, Jones."

"Commander, shouldn't I go look for Pierce?"

"No. We're going past the Janitorial section on our way. We'll send them out searching." Commander McDowell turns to go down the corridor.

"But, sir, we n--"

McDowell spins back around to face his Flight Engineer. "I gave you an order! We don't have time for this. You will come with me and that's final." Jones takes a step back when he sees his commander's reddening face.

The commander spins around once more and swiftly marches down the hall.

As soon as he walks into the Janitorial area, a staff member named Peter speaks up. "Commander, Schaefer has been trying to reach you over the intercom. She said that the commanders from the previous two crews have been woken up and told her about the 'situation' and that you need to meet her immediately. Sir, what's happening?"

"Later. Everyone here needs to--"

Jones interrupts, "I'll go explain to Repair & Maintenance." Before the commander can protest, Jones disappears out the door.

McDowell turns back toward the staff member. Through gritted teeth, he says, "Your team needs to find Pierce and get him to the med-bay." As an afterthought, he adds, "And then you go find Jones. Let me know..." How to phrase this delicately? "Let me know when he's gotten R&M started on their task."

Finally, the commander steps up to the intercom. "Commander for Schaefer. Over."

"Commander, meet me outside the flight deck doors. I need to speak with you."

His brows knit in confusion. Why isn't she following intercom protocol? "Wilco. Over and out." He hurries out the door and sprints up the hallway.

Moments later, the commander stands next to the pacing Mission Specialist, Mila Schaefer. "Sir, we've been apprised of the situation." She stops to look him in the eye. The commander opens his mouth to protest, but she continues on, "I think Symanski has something to do with it. She disappears for long stretches. In fact, she was out of the room when this started today. And remember that smile she had when she walked back in?"

He stares at her. Before he can figure out a response, the flight deck doors open and one of the previous commanders steps out. "McDowell, you need to see this."

The group walks into the flight deck. McDowell's jaw drops as he looks out the front window. The lifeless body of Blake Pierce floats past. When the initial shock wears off, he looks down at the control display. A flashing red light warns that an airlock near R&M had been opened ten minutes prior. Medical staff key cards can't control the airlock doors. The odds of him having voluntarily gone through those doors seem almost non-existent.

"Symanski. Outside. Now." He turns on his heel and marches into the corridor. As soon as the doors close behind her, he begins his interrogation. "Where were you this morning when all this started?"

Her look of confusion immediately turns to one of anger. "Excuse me, sir, are you accusing me of something? Do you think I had something to do with Pierce's murder?"

He glares at her. They've worked together for years. They were even friends for years before this mission had ever started. Is he accusing her? His shoulders droop and he lets out the breath that he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Lena, I... I honestly don't know. But you've got to tell me where you were this morning, and why you walked in smirking like you had a secret. Otherwise I won't have any other choice but to assume you had a hand in this."

Symanski looks at the floor and sighs. "OK." Finally, her eyes meet his, before dropping to the floor again. "Erik Jones and I have been seeing each other. I know we're not supposed to, um... Fraternize, but... Well, he'd left me a note in my chambers and I went to go read it. I'm sorry, I know we sh--"

"Lena, we've got bigger issues right now. We'll discuss this breach of protocol later. Do you have proof? I'm sorry to do this, but do you have the note with you?"

Her face turns beet red as she pulls the folded piece of paper from her pocket. The commander skims the note to see, "My darling Lena," at the top and, "xoxoxo, Erik" at the bottom. He hands it back to her and says, "I believe you. But I need to know that Jones doesn't have anything to do with this. He's been acting strange. Come on. You can't be alone with him until after I speak to him."

The two take off down the hall. Jones and Peter approach from the other direction. The commander tells Symanski to wait in a nearby room while he speaks to the others. As soon as she's out of sight, he turns to Jones. "Why were you so insistent on getting away from me earlier?" The man opens his mouth to respond, but the commander speaks again, "A crew member has been murdered. I need the truth from you, regardless of whether your actions were against the rules or not."

Jones's eyes grow wide. "What? Who died?"

"Pierce. Now, explain yourself."

Jones looks at the floor as he processes the information. Then, his eyes flick to the door that Symanski stands behind, then back to the commander. "I... Er, well... We, uh..."

"Spit it out!"

"Lena Symanski and I are together. I ran to my chambers to hide some notes and... stuff... before I went to R&M."

McDowell stares at his Flight Engineer, deciding whether to believe him. Suddenly, Peter clears his throat. "I did find him in his room. He was shoving something under his mattress, but I don't think he knew I was there. And then he told R&M to divert power, but the guy acted like he couldn't do that without your direct approval, so we came to get you."

The commander nods. "Come on, we need to get to R&M." He opens the door for Symanski and the group hurries down the hall.

When the quartet walks into the R&M area, there's a man sitting at the nearest desk. Otherwise, there's no other staff in sight. When the man looks up and spots McDowell, his eyes nearly bug out of his head. He leaps out of his seat and presses his back against the wall.

"Ralph, what's going on? Why are you so jumpy?"

"You've got to help me! She made me do it!"

"Who?" The commander glances toward the woman on his left. "Symanski?"

"No, not her. Her." McDowell twists around to see Schaefer slowly backing her way from the entrance toward the airlock. She slides her key card past it and the interior panel slides open. Two children sit inside the small chamber.

Ralph speaks up again in a desperate and pleading voice, "Those are my kids. My wife is a civilian passenger on here, too. Schaefer said she'd kill them all if I didn't help her. She made me shut down the power in Medical." He lets out a sob before he continues, "P... Pierce came in and caught us so she trapped him in the airlock before she went back to the flight deck. When she found out you were looking for him, she used the controls from the flight deck to open the outer door, and he..." Ralph choked on the last word and collapsed back into his chair.

The commander turns back toward Schaefer and stares in shock. "Mila? You did this? Why?"

"Why? Why did I do this?" She spits the words through clenched teeth. "Our species has nearly destroyed our own home planet! Now, we think we deserve a new one? Why should I allow such a destructive, invasive species to spread farther into the universe? Humans, as a whole, are not worth saving. No, humans need to be put down before we do more damage."

McDowell and Symanski take a step forward, hoping to ease her away from the children. Schaefer isn't ready to give up, though. She holds her key card in one hand over the buttons that control the airlock doors.

"Don't test me! I'll send these children into the vacuum of space!"

"Schaefer," The commander waits until she turns toward him before continuing. Peter and Jones sneak up from behind while her attention is drawn the other way. "I always trusted you, but I can see now that I shouldn't have. I'm not sure why you volunteered for this mission if you are so against it, but those children are doomed either way. Unless you let them go and allow us to fix the power system in med-bay." During this distraction, the children were sneaked away by the other two men.

"NO!" Not noticing that her abductees were no longer there, she pushed the button to start the airlock sequence. "You can't stop this!"

Suddenly, Ralph lets out a yell and tackles Schaefer as the interior panel starts to close. The two of them fall into the airlock. Enraged, Ralph punches the woman over and over again in the face.

Meanwhile, McDowell jumps forward to try to cancel the airlock sequence. The system has been tampered with though, and the panel continues to close. Symanski pulls on Ralph's shirt, trying to pull him back into the room. He's too focused on his target. One of the children screams, and, as if broken from a trance, Ralph stops his attack and looks at the chamber's closing door. With barely a second to spare, Symanski and Ralph leap back into the main room.

Schaefer lies unconscious on the floor as the outer panel starts to open. Suddenly, her limp body is sucked into the cold vacuum of space.

The Commander walks over to where Ralph is hugging his children. He lays a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I know this is tough right now, but we need you to get Medical powered up again."

Ralph nods without looking at him. Then, refusing to let the children leave his grasp, he picks them both up and walks over to electrical panels on the wall. He flips a couple switches and walks away.

McDowell and Symanski share a look before turning back to Ralph. Finally, the commander voices his concern. "That's it? It's fixed, just like that?"

Ralph nods and lets out a small chuckle. "Yeah. I was hoping that someone would come along and fix it before it caused any real damage."

McDowell lets out a small laugh as well, and surveys the people around him.

"Symanski and Jones." The two released each other's hand as the commander stepped in front of them. "You two started a relationship that you were not supposed to and then tried to hide the evidence of it. I should demote you both for that." He pauses while he lets the words sink in. "But, you both stepped up and did the right thing when the time came. So, I think we'll call it even."

Then, he steps over to Ralph and softens his voice. "Ralph, what you did was nearly genocide. You participated in a mutiny that could have cost thousands of people their lives." Ralph nods in acknowledgement while tears run down his cheeks. "But, I know you were forced, and you didn't want to hurt anybody. We need to have people we can trust in here, though. So I'll give you an option. You can give up your position and finish out the journey as a civilian. You'll spend some time with your family and then go back into the cryopods until we get there. Or, you can be demoted to a lower ranking job that doesn't have access to anything major."

Ralph nods, then looks at the children. "I just want to be with my family, sir."

Finally, he turns toward Peter and smiles. "Thank you for your help in all this. You were loyal in following instructions and very brave in helping get those children out. I can't do much as far as rewards while we're still on this ship, but how about a promotion? I hear a job in R&M just opened up."