Proof of extraterrestrial life

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

It's a moot point, really. If your head was in the open vacuum of space your breath would be pulled from your lungs far too quickly for you to even get a proper scream out. And as far as hearing a scream, the simultaneous combination of some tissues freezing while anything liquid started evaporating immediately would keep your brain way too occupied to hear anything.

But a living head inside a pressurized helmet can indeed hear a scream. If it is on the same comm channel as your own helmet. So when my colleague on this EVA, my long time friend Tim Adams, suddenly screamed and the scream was abruptly cut off, I heard it. My blood turned to ice and my heart started racing.

"Station, this is Morphy. I know you heard that too. I'm heading toward Adams now."

Those without experience in space flight and have seen too many movies probably think there would be chaos over the comms. Something like "What was that??" or calling out "Adams! Adams come in!" But that's not what happens in an emergency at all. We train heavily for emergency situations and what really happens is comms stay more or less silent. Any time you're outside the station, only those who have immediately relevant information speak. There's no casual chatter. That training is deeply ingrained and even in this unparalleled situation, no one broke protocol.

"Copy, Rick. We're showing that his heart is still beating but its rapid, erratic and weak with rapid, shallow respiration."

"Rick, this is control. EVA abort. I repeat. EVA abort."

"Copy, control."

This was my first EVA but we've practiced EVA terminations and aborts dozens of times in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab so I knew the protocols. I left all my tools where they were, grabbed my tether and started pulling myself back to the station. I looked around to spot Tim and saw him floating directionless, arms and legs spread eagle.

I reached the station, used the holds to pull myself to the anchor of his tether and started pulling him in towards me. I got his leg and held it

"Tim, can you hear me? Can you respond? Can you move your arm?"

Nothing.

I pulled him closer and slowly started turning him so I could see his visor. What I saw shook me deeply. His visor had a hole in it and blood was streaming out of the hole into the vacuum of space. I had no way of knowing how severe his wounds were. I had to seal the hole. It wasn't just blood coming out, he was losing air, too.

"Control, I've reached Adams. His visor has been compromised and there is blood leaking from the hole. Attempting to patch the hole with available materials."

"Copy, Rick."

Tim had several pre-cut pieces of Kapton tape attached to the station near his tether anchor. I pulled one off and pressed it into place across the hole, then took another and made a rough "x" on his visor.

"Tim, can you hear me? Can you respond?" Still nothing.

"Rick, this is control. Tim's vitals are weakening quickly. Bring him inside ASAP."

"Copy, control."

"Rick, this is station. We'll be prepared for a medical emergency at the airlock inner hatch before you arrive."

"Copy, station."

I held Tim and slowly started moving him to the airlock. Everything you do in your EMU outside the station is slow and there really isn't a way to speed things up. I was truly afraid that if we hadn't already lost Tim, the amount of time it would take to get him back inside would be far too long to do anything to save him. But we've all trained for getting an unresponsive EVA partner through an airlock in the pool, our nickname for the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, so I continued to follow protocol. I had to keep my breathing calm and my mindset locked on the task. If for even a few seconds I thought about the fact that we did NOT train for dealing with a broken visor and bleeding facial wound in the pool, I would unquestionably have panicked.

A breech of the visor causing a facial wound like I saw should be essentially impossible. The visor is made of the same material as bullet proof glass. Nothing on the outside of the station or that we brought with us could possibly have the force to break the visor. And any micro-meteoroid, even traveling at speeds in excess of 40,000 mph would glance harmlessly off the rounded surface of the visor.

Again, focus. Do not even think about the impossibility of the situation.

I silently prayed that the tape patch I put on the visor stopped the loss of air from his suit. I had to hope the suit would absorb any blood that was probably continuing to come from Tim's wound. I had to focus so I wouldn't even consider that he might asphyxiate on his own blood.

I reached the airlock and opened the hatch. The procedure for an unresponsive EVA partner is to turn them so their head enters the hatch first and guide them in. This was a moment when the hours of repetitive training really came through. As excruciatingly slow as the process was, it felt exactly as it did in the pool. Still, it took almost 5 minutes. I knew that the likelihood of Tim still being alive was low but I still had alot to do. Focus. It took 6 more minutes for me to get inside.

I was screaming inside, knowing that it would take 5 more minutes to close the hatch. This cannot be rushed. If the hatch isn't secured correctly, the re-pressurization will fail.

Once the outer hatch was sealed, station began an emergency re-pressurization, cutting about 6 minutes off the normal re-pressurization time. While its possible to take off a helmet before the re-pressurization is complete, with the damage to Tim's helmet and the unknown wounds, I dared not do it with no medical supplies in the airlock. And I didn't take mine off for fear of losing consciousness. Finally I heard the internal hatch being unlocked.

As soon as the door was opened I exited the airlock so those with some medical skills could fit inside. I opened my purge valve and once my pressure matched the station Walter Fischer, a German astronaut from the ESA helped me with my suit doffing. As we did, I tried to keep an eye into the airlock. I saw David Walters, the crew commander and Mikhail Popov of the Russian crew working to remove Tim's helmet. I knew Popov had a background as a combat medic and I was very glad he was on board.

"Control, this is Walters. Popov and I are preparing to remove Adams' helmet. There is extensive damage to his visor. As for vitals, you're seeing what we're seeing. No vitals at this time."

"Copy, Dave."

No one else spoke. We were ready to help in any way Dave and Mikhail asked and that was the only thing that mattered.

Dave spoke "Removing helmet."

Popov carefully held Tim's shoulders as Dave turned the helmet to unlock the neck ring. As he did, blood began seeping from the connection area.

"Control, this is Walters. We're removing the helmet and there is extensive blood loss."

"Copy, Dave."

Dave carefully lifted the helmet off. He and Mikhail were both silent. They looked at each other silently and Mikhail shook his head quickly.

"Control this is Walters. We've removed the helmet. There appears to be a projectile embedded into Tim's nose with about 2cm protruding. Repeat. It appears to be a projectile. Neither Popov or I recognize what we can see of the projectile as anything from the station or from any of the tools used in the EVA. Adams is clearly deceased."

"Copy, Dave."

Everyone on the station who was near the airlock stayed silent and absorbed the fact that one of our crew was dead. No one had died in space since the Soyuz 11 accident in 1971.

"Popov, this is control. We'd like more information on the projectile. I know this is difficult but please use forceps and attempt to remove the projectile."

"Copy, control" said Popov.

He unsealed forceps from their tray in the emergency medical cart. He quietly said something in Russian. I assumed it was a prayer and silently joined him. He then took hold of the projectile with the forceps.

"Dave," he said, "please be prepared with gauze to cover the wound once I get remove the projectile."

"Copy, Mikhail."

Popov pulled on the projectile. It did not come free on the first effort. He took a calming breath, made the second attempt quicker and it came free. Commander Walters quickly covered the wound with gauze as Popov wiped the projectile with another piece of gauze it to remove the blood. They both sat back, looking at the projectile Mikhail held in the forceps. I looked over at what he held and couldn't make any sense of it.

"Control this is Popov. I have removed the projectile. It is approximately 9cm long. The end that was protruding from Adams is smooth and flat with an approximate diameter of 2cm. The projectile tapers to a distinct point. The projectile is off white in color and has ridges that spiral from left to right from base to tip."

"Copy, Mikhail."

I walked closer to the inner airlock hatch and squatted down. I wanted to get a better look at whatever it was that killed my friend.

"May I speak freely, commander?"

"Of course Rick."

"That looks like bone."

"Yeah" said Dave.

Mikhail looked at me. "Yeah."