The Reclaimers

Chapter 3, Nice Suit

“Now I need to fix you, suit” I said to the life sustaining enclosure.

The suit responded with “Suit integrity holding at 65.”

Well at least the puncture wasn’t getting any worse, that was a good thing. However, it was still leaking air and if I didn’t get it fixed soon, I would be trying to salvage more O2 from floating space junk.

Eye clicking over to the scanning menu again I was hoping to find any enclosure or structure that could still possibly hold an environment even if it was small so that I could get this suit off.

“Wonder if there are more shuttles around here, maybe one that didn’t get deconstructed”

I made a mental note to interrogate the AI for more information on “the target” once survival wasn’t on the top of the list of to do’s.

I started to visually look around using the scanner to peer out into the darkness looking for anything, anything at all that survived. Just needed something to climb in and hopefully pressurize.

Then I saw it, the back half of a cargo container.

My heart raced just a little.

It was rotating slowly and the front half came into view it looked beat to hell, large dents and scrapes along its corrugated sides and one corner was now round. As it rotated, I zoomed in the HUD and could just make out the airlock seal and the hatch on the top. The airlock ring was definitely broken in half but the hatch looked undamaged and sealed

“I wonder if.” I contemplated.

As I thought about it, I realized that if I got inside and resealed the hatch, I had no way to pressurize it. It was a cargo container, not an escape pod. I mean what if I got in there, flooded it with the remaining air I had and then couldn’t fix the recycler, I would just slowly die of stale air without the pleasant AI telling me that I was dead. Even if the O2 in my suit was full, I don’t know if I would want to use it flippantly to fill a dark floating coffin. There wasn’t even a window, what a boring way to go.

“Well, it could be a last resort.” I marked the container in the HUD so I could keep track of it.

Think, think, think” I told myself.

I continued scanning the debris as I thought about my situation. I was floating in a junk yard full of once useful equipment in a suit that was not going to last long, and at the moment, see no hope of rescue or life past the O2 in my stores.

I took a sip of water from tube near my mouth.

“At least I have enough water to last me till I die.” I muttered after I swallowed the clear lukewarm liquid.

These suits really are a wonder. The Donovan PX12 is an atmospheric regulator at the pinnacle of commercial space suit technology. This particular model is not one that I have used extensively albeit a short info vid and brief holo demo when it was released, like, well I can’t remember how many years ago right now, but I remember being very impressed.

I do know however, with its full suite of onboard sensors, radiation monitoring, composition analysis, thermal and molecular imaging, and lidar it is a very capable companion.

They really loaded it up with automated flight controls and a mind-blowing HUD with eye tracking and voice commands. A bevy of mini tools attached to both wrist mounted control pods, and a cool utility belt that held universal spanners, suit “fix a flat” (mine was missing,) and a small torch.

This one also seems to have another menu in the HUD but it’s grayed out and not accessible, wonder what that’s about. Maybe I need to turn something on, or maybe it’s only available when the suit isn't damaged? I don't have time to speculate right now, maybe another time.

The AI is quite capable in its ability to understand the needs of the wearer and suggest and perform many advanced calculations and functions including triaging injuries and administering advance life support functions and pushing meds. It could even put you into a short hibernation if you were incapacitated or you didn’t override the procedure using a verbal command or eye toggle. This would allow the suit to hopefully fix you in your sleep then wake you when your body could handle it. It was a science station and a personal doctor all wrapped in Nano carbon composite which was lightweight, flexible, and strong. The wearer of such a suit should be good to go to hell and back and not break a sweat.

“Speaking of hell, I have a hell of an idea!” I chirped.

The AI seemed to question my ability to have a good idea by waiting quietly, unresponsive to my enthusiasm.

“What is the moon’s atmospheric makeup?” I audibly asked.

The AI gently replied “The Taragon Moon has a thin exosphere composed of high-density carbon dioxide, trace amounts of water vapor, low-density helium and ammonia.”

“What is the gravity like on that moon?” I asked

“The Taragon Moon has a surface gravity of 2.8 meters per second squared” the AI informed me.

“Well, well, well…” I thought to myself not wanting to be judged by my suits unpretentious AI.

At 2.8 meters per second, it’s just under double the earth’s moon gravity which is 1.6 meters per second, oh squared of course. I would hate to get scientific community in an uproar over terms. I remember this because I have a fond memory of an elementary school field trip to the first moon colony where they toured us around the old Artemis mission landing areas and the robot made structures that were cutting edge tech back in the day. I think that trip was 2 days long, with lots of informational signs posted along the tour one of which had a neat info vid of a space man jumping from the surface of the moon and floating a small distance next to a vid of a school girl jumping on a playground on earth elaborating on the fact that the moons gravity was 1.6 meters per second squared compared to earths 9.8 meters per second squared.

I drifted back to my current situation and wondered why I was able to remember a childhood trip and other random old memories and facts but could not for the life of me remember my name or what I was doing before I woke up nearly dead in a debris field in an unfamiliar space suit, hum.

I regathered my thoughts, that were currently in the rough outline of a pile of dog poop and formulated my next question.

“Next question” I warned the AI.

“Are there any structures or vehicles on the surface?”

Again, the AI calmly relayed “The Taragon Moon has 3 facilities and 46 vehicles on its surface.”

“Hot Damn!” my exuberance was uncontainable.

“Ok, are there any people down there?” I asked.

“There are no viable humanoid life forms on the surface.” The AI bluntly stated.

“Viable? Like in alive or just not present?” I dumbly questioned.

Odd that there would be no one manning those facilities or using those vehicles. This situation just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

The AI explained “There are no registered living humanoid life forms on the surface.”

I took a breath, closed my eyes and asked “Are there ANY lifeforms present on the surface?” Not really wanting to know the answer but I knew it would be vital if my long-term survival was something I cared about.

The AI was silent for what seemed an eternity.

“There are 436 unregistered lifeforms present on the surface. 385 of said lifeforms are contained in the reactor facility. 40 unregistered lifeforms are contained in the living and dining facility. 11 unregistered life forms are currently dispersed around the perimeter.” The AI answered.

I swallowed hard and licked my drying lips while trying to process what I just heard. It would suck to trade one horrible death for something equally horrible after working so hard to not die at all.

With this newfound information, I rewound the plan in my head and was hoping the suit would be able supply me with more information.

“Ok, ok, ok..” I paused.

“Ok, there are three facilities, which facility not occupied by any unregistered lifeform?” I asked.

The AI simply said “The motor pool and mechanical repair facility is unoccupied at present.”

Although unregistered lifeforms were not a new thing, I mean they found those little worm-like things floating in the space clouds on Venus that one time and didn’t know what there were. But this seemed like something more, well something more aware, I guess. Like something that had deconstructed things.

This new information doesn’t change my current situation however, I still need to do something to survive, but now I will have to consider these lifeforms yet another hazard to my future well-being.

With that, I decided my idea would be even more impressive if it worked than before and I could only imagine the fame and glory that would be bestowed upon me when I arrived back at, hum, back at, well that will be determined. “Dam short term memory” I though.

As far as I could remember the idea that I had was something that had never really been done before, at least if someone did do it, they didn’t live to tell anyone about how epic it was. But what do I have to lose, I can die slowly aimlessly floating in the cold vacuum of space without having any control over it, I could get deconstructed by maniacal unregistered lifeforms, or I try something truly crazy and well, live to tell the tale of my supreme awesomeness.

With such a thin atmosphere and low gravity my plan was starting to take shape. I nudged the controls and silently maneuvered over to the derelict cargo container. As I approached, I aligned my body to the airlock so I could get to the hatch controls easily.