Artemis One

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. So the the last two minutes must have been a complete waste of life support. Now pull yourself together, and get out of this pod.

Four years of mission training, couldn’t have prepared me for the brilliant awakening of red light hull to hull on this ship.

*ALARM SOUNDING*

I can’t find my breath. I’ve got to get out of this box. The ship is shaking so violently, something is causing turbulence. Shouldn’t there be a big red sticker somewhere that says “EMERGENCY ESCAPE?!”

Of course not, because the company probably saved two billion launch dollars by removing the weight of stickers from our operational costs. I couldn’t even bring that photo of mom and dad.

That’s the real truth of this right? A mission intent on saving our planet: and the likeliness of our survival is reduced to the weight cost ratio of stickers. So here I am, stuck inside a sleep tube intent on suffocating me. No tools in sight, I guess this is how I die.

INTERCOM:"Engineer Protocol Beta-One-One Initiated, Artemis Six has reached a critical status. POD 4 Exit Protocol Engaged, success not confirmed."

"Ouch."

Ok, thank god. But I can’t feel my legs. My arms caught my fall, that must be why they feel so wonderful. Hamilton told us that a side effect of the stasis containers could be fatigued limbs and shortness of breath. But the air outside of that death trap isn’t any better than it was inside. Ok with tight spaces or not, I think I may have touched terror after narrowly escaping that wall mounted sarcophagus.

I feel the ship breathing, knocking. I wish I could breathe. It remind’s of me of my apartment in south New York, but the smell is more new. The smell is freshly minted coins. But I could breath there. However it sucked, that blackened air, one has plenty to breathe in New York.

My arm though, why is my arm bleeding?

“COMPUTER! Turn off that noise!”

If I am going to suffocate, I’ll do so in silence thanks.

INTERCOM: "Critical Hull Breach. Life Support failure in less than two minutes."

This is why you’re here. Now pick yourself up, and figure out what’s happening. At least that god damn alarm is off. I’ve got to climb to that panel and access the critical systems. I don’t think they considered this potential future when developing these steel grated floors. Jesus Christ, of course I would be millions of miles from home dragging my lifeless bones across welded steel netting. All of this stuff, “for our safety.”

Ok, ok. I’m not going to get comfortable on this floor, so let’s see what we’ve got before the pain from sitting here gets any worse. That looks like the button there.

INTERCOM: "Access to Critical Systems is revoked during the Auto-Pilot procedure. Captain’s Authorization required to disable Auto-Pilot Procedure."

"No, wait. Ok the big red button then."

INTERCOM: "Access to Critical Systems is revoked during the Auto-Pilot procedure. Captain’s Authorization required to disable Auto-Pilot Procedure."

“Why would you even wake me, if I can’t do anything?”

Ok fine, old school. Surely the air I have left is drifting toward the hole in this boat. Crew should be fine, it doesn’t look like there was any damage to their pods, but I can't really see much from down here. My air supply must have been lashed by the same object that penetrated the hull. The pods are independent according to the manuals.

To be completely honest I didn’t expect so many unsecured office supplies. I guess they thought we would need to write stuff down during a crisis. They’re headed that direction. I’ve got to get a tank though, I’m not going very far if I don’t find something to breathe.

Hey an “emergency breathing apparatus!” (according to the STICKER) Probably also cost millions to launch. Four crew members, two safety tanks, how quaint. Get it, around my, finally. Just, just wait Jules. Breathe for a second. Ok.

“COMPUTER! How long has the Artemis been engaged?”

INTERCOM:"Artemis 6 has been on course for five years, 31 days, two hours."

This is a five and a half year mission, and we are still four months away from Titan?

“COMPUTER! How long before a distress signal would reach misson ops?”

INTERCOM: "A Radio Signal from our current position would take approximately forty two minutes to be identified by mission operations."

“Computer ! Initiate distress protocol Alpha.”

You got this Jules. I think you're starting to calm down.

Ok, ok. Well it looks like we’ve passed through the wrong neighborhood. I haven't seen damage like this since I used to get dogs from that guy in the south bronx. What would cover this bullet wound? AH! This iPad should work, sorry Tom. I am going to need to flatten those inner-torn fragments before I can weld this in place, but I doubt the company provided a hammer for this trip, well at least one that's properly labeled. Maybe I can use this rod.

If I can just, there, got it. Hold it there, just one, two. Now two more.. I hope this works.

INTERCOM: "Atmospheric stabilization in progress, restoration of breathable air in less than 8 seconds, Six, Five, Four, Three.."

Great. Now get this mask off my face. I’ve always hated masks. Going to work everyday, shredding the back of your ear’s and sweating your cheeks with every breath. I was so glad to be vaccinated.

Why can you feel the smell of metal in your teeth? This boat reminds me of every trip I’ve ever made to our dentist. I thought she was a bit tougher though, that hole was created by something smaller than a nickel. I don’t know that Hamilton would approve my iPad repair, but a nickel?

“COMPUTER! Wake Captain Floyd.”

INTERCOM:"Waking a crew member from stasis requires authorization: please state your name for voice identification.”

“Yes yes, Dr. Julia Petricof authorization three three four six seven two.”

INTERCOM:"Command authorization Accepted, export procedure initiated."

"Incoming Transmission received, encryption unidentified. Failure to transcribe, coordinates unknown."

“Wait, what? Its been less than twenty minutes since I sent that distress call.”

How could I have possibly received a response?