"The Last Voyagers: Part 1"
Chapter 1:
Mercury
DATE: October 23, 2082.
A United States Space Shuttle floats outside of earth's atmosphere peacefully around the illuminating stars, docked to the International Space Station.
A United States Space Shuttle floats outside of earth's atmosphere peacefully around the illuminating stars, docked to the International Space Station.
U.S.S. HALO MISSION STATUS DAY 152: Hovering in Orbit outside of earth's atmosphere. Repair Complete. Standing by for re-entry.
A picturesque view of earth is shown through a window of the space shuttle, as chatter begins to grow in volume from inside of the spacecraft.
A picturesque view of earth is shown through a window of the space shuttle, as chatter begins to grow in volume from inside of the spacecraft.
The six member crew of the U.S.S. Halo, containing the astronauts of a team sent up to perform repair and maintenance on the IR Satellite Expansion, sit around in the craft's dining area. The five month long mission has finally concluded and each of the rocketeers eagerly express their joy of their impending return to earth.
"In a weird way I'm actually going to miss this disgusting shit," Eric Durham reminisces as he snacks on the gel-based meal provided for consumption.
Durham, a middle-aged black man and one of NASA's most decorated Commanders, has reached the conclusion of his final mission and is set to retire upon re-arrival into earth.
"It was a real honor to learn under you and accompany you on your last mission sir," Rebecca Dyer compliments from across the table.
"Don't sound so concerned," Durham jibes. "I'm retiring, I'm not dying."
Dyer laughs off the rebuttal.
Dyer, a young female pilot prodigy quickly rising up the ranks within NASA, has spent her entire career learning and being mentored by Durham. In life, and career, Durham and Dyer have been at each others' side through everything. Though their relationship has much deeper roots than just from their time together in NASA.
"I know I still have a long way to go, but I hope that I've lived up to what he would have expected from me," Rebecca expresses. "I hope that I've lived up, and will go on to live up to, everything that you expected. I owe everything to you."
"You don't owe me anything," Eric remarks. "You've done us both proud."
Rebecca's mind flashes to a man hooked up to machines helping him breath in a dimly lit hospital bed, as she sits alone holding his hand.
Back inside of the shuttle, both Eric and Rebecca fall into deep contemplation and self-reflection. The moment is suddenly ruptured by one of the other crew members.
"Commander I got to know something," a young and cocky Payload Commander, William Duncan, breaks in sitting to the left of Eric. "How the hell is such a hard-ass like you gonna stop himself from bouncing off the fucking walls in retirement? I mean that's one thing entirely, but what I'm really concerned about is your wife."
"Watch it," Eric playfully advises as he brushes Duncan from hanging off of his shoulder.
"I'm serious sir," William laughs. "I mean I can only put up with you because I know when the missions are over I don't have to see you for a while. But your poor, sweet, wife is going to have to put up with you every god damn day. I'm really worried for the both of you."
Laughter breaks out amongst the small crew as Eric pelts William with a small package of peas.
Rebecca, William, Zack Kirby —the crew's Engineer—, Kayla Mack —a Mission Specialist—, and Alexis Holden —Payload Specialist— were all hand picked as a team and brought up through the academy by Eric. Together the crew has excelled and become a tight nit crew that has excelled in not only routine maintenance mission, but in advanced exploration of space as well.
Each member of the team has formed their own special bond with Commander Durham over the years, but there is a clear-cut and un-deniable bond between Eric and Rebecca that simply isn't there between the rest of them.
Rebecca's mind flashes back to the moment she first met Commander Durham. Rebecca is alone, in an outdoor setting, sitting on the curb of a street on a bright and sunny afternoon. Eric sits down on the curb next to the young Rebecca and introduces himself, handing her a small model of a space shuttle. As she examines the toy, Eric explains some inaudible information to Rebecca. Eric finally holds out his hand, which she embraces, and the two rise of the curb and walk out of view.
Rebecca is once again brought back to the present moment by the continuing conversation between the crew.
"He'll be fine," Kayla rebuttals. "You know how meticulous he is, I'm sure he's got some plan all mapped out even for retirement. At worst he'll be like one of those old timers you see hanging around camp all the time."
"No, no, I'm ready to go home," Eric offers as he peers out the window gazing at earth.
"So what are you gonna do with yourself?" William asks.
Eric turns his gaze from off the distance view of their home, and turns back to see the entire crew eagerly awaiting his answer. He takes a moment before finally responding.
"I'm gonna get the hell away from all of you for once," Eric jokes as the crew shares a laugh.
Then Alexis and William get up from the table and go to take care of some final preparations for the descent back to earth tomorrow morning. Zack and Kayla clean up the mounting pile of containers and garbage that has accumulated from their meal, and head back to their sleeping quarters.
Finally, it is just Rebecca and Eric sitting at the table in silence.
"So what do you have planned after we get back to earth?" Rebecca says.
"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure," Eric responds. "I've spent so much of my life completing missions, following orders, and looking after all of you, that it is kind of nice not knowing what is coming next."
"It's going to be a real culture shock for you," Rebecca chides. "Not to mention you won't be the one in charge anymore."
Eric and Rebecca laugh.
Eric looks back at earth in the distance.
"I might not know what the future holds, but I do know this," Eric pauses. "I'm looking forward to getting back there and seeing her. I know this career hasn't been the easiest on her, so if there is anything I have planed it is paying her back for everything she's done for me."
Rebecca's mind flashes to a memory of herself as a child, helping Eric's wife in the kitchen preparing a meal. As strong as the bond is between Eric and herself, Rebecca felt just as close, if not more so to her.
Rebecca returns to the conversation.
"She is one of the strongest people I know," Rebecca adds. "I'm sure she is looking forward to having you back."
"I hope so," Eric laughs.
A silence once again overtakes the two.
"I've actually been meaning to ask you something," Eric says breaking the silence. "Have you ever thought of changing it up at all?"
"What do you mean?" Rebecca ponders.
"I mean doing something different," Eric challenged. "I know you've always felt this sense of responsibility to this lifestyle, but you don't owe anything to anyone. You don't have to dedicate your life to something you think they would have wanted, or that you think I want."
Rebecca seems taken back by the line of questioning.
"Where is this coming from?" Rebecca demands.
"I just don't want you dedicating your life to something because you think you have to, especially if there is something else out there for you," Eric explained.
"I'm not here because I think I have to be," Rebecca challenged. "I'm here because I want to be, because I feel close to them here, and because I've been given the gifts to accomplish something truly meaningful which is very rare nowadays."
Eric looks on in an intent silence, as Rebecca continues.
"Do I think this is what they ultimately would have wanted?" Rebecca pondered. "Sure, absolutely, but that doesn't mean it's not what I want. I was born to do this. Born to accomplish the momentous things that they would have, if they had been given the opportunity to. I've never had a second of doubt in my mind."
By this time Eric isn't sure whom Rebecca is trying to convince more, the man who raised her after her father's death, or herself. Either way, the courage of her convictions has subsided any speculation he had at the time. For the moment he is at peace with the result of the job he promised to do for his best friend a long time ago.
As the two sit at the table, suddenly the mechanical beeping of an incoming message rings out form the adjacent control panel. Eric and Rebecca look at each other for a moment before scurrying over to inquire about the unsuspected communication with mission control.
As Commander, Eric is the first to read the content of the dispatch.
"What does it say?" Rebecca asks.
Hearing the beacon from their quarters the other crew members slowly reappear, from down the hallway, into the dining area. The silent quintet patiently wait for their leader to relay the information.
"Our re-entry has been delayed," Commander Durham breaths.
"What?" a flabbergasted William responds.
"For how long?" Rebecca confidently requests.
A disheveled Eric looks around at each of his pupils.
"Indefinitely," Eric booms.
A stunned silence engulfs the shuttle, as each of the disappointed astronauts is left speechless at the news.
"Alright listen," Eric commands. "I understand the disappointment, no one was looking forward to going home more than me, but we've got our orders and we have no other choice but to follow them. It's a temporary setback, but I promise you we will go home. Just not tomorrow."
The crew looks on without saying a word, understandably disappointed. The usually weightless atmosphere of the craft has taken on palpable and noticeable air of tension that can be felt on the shoulders of each of the occupants.
Rebecca reads the remaining remnants of the message, before addressing the audience with a final bit of information.
"There is a resupply launch underway that should reach us in a few hours," Rebecca informs. "With the remaining supplies we currently have we should be just fine for however long we are up here. William, when the supplies are in range we'll send you out to retrieve."
"Sounds good," William responds.
Eric takes a seat in his command chair without saying another word to his team, to which the nature of his actions do not go unnoticed amongst the crew. As the tension begins to mount, Rebecca quickly dismisses them back to their cabins.
"Alright let's all get some sleep," Rebecca notes. "We'll reconvene when the supplies are incoming, that's all."
As Rebecca finishes her statement, the rest of the team adjourn to their cabins for a few hours. Rebecca waits till the area is clear before turning her attentions to Eric, who is still silently sitting in his chair.
"What was that?" Rebecca demands looking at the back of Commander Durham's head.
Growing agitated and impatient with the lack of response from her commander, Rebecca takes her seat right next to Eric.
"Hey, what's going on?" Rebecca begs.
Eric runs his hands over his balding head before covering his mouth. After a moment of contemplation and a search for the right words, Eric readies his response
"I don't know," Eric mutters. "That's the problem, I don't know and it is scaring the hell out of me."
Rebecca looks on in silence.
"Even before this crew was together I've never had a simple repair mission have its re-entry delayed," Eric confesses. "Things go wrong up here, that is just the nature of the beast. But after the all the missions I've accomplished in the past, and with this team, I've never been in this kind of situation."
"I think you are just over anxious to get home with this being your final mission," Rebecca says. "I'm sure everything is fine. Control probably just needs a couple of extra days to get us all home safely. There isn't anything to worry about."
Eric takes a moment to consider what Rebecca has said.
"You are probably right, but I just can't shake this feeling that..." Eric pauses.
"That what?" Rebecca demands.
"That something is wrong," Eric barks. "That something isn't right."
Suddenly a stinging feeling of doubt and worry shoots up Rebecca's back. Throughout her life, and career, Eric has been a steady and unflappable presence in her life. To see her mentor in such a state of uncertainty and doubt resinates with Rebecca to her core.
Without saying anything else, Eric suddenly rises up and out of his command chair. He pats Rebecca on the shoulder and makes his way towards the hallway that leads to his sleeping quarters. Before exiting the room, Eric stops and turns back to a now standing Rebecca.
"You're right," Eric confesses. "I'm just ready to get back home to Monica, there is nothing to worry about."
A coy smile of relief appears on Rebecca's face.
"I think I am going to try and get some sleep, its been a long day," Eric says. "You don't mind looking over things for a little bit do you?"
"No you go ahead, I'll be fine," Rebecca promises.
"Alright, let me know when that supply rocket is within range and we'll get started with brining that in," Eric orders. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Rebecca responds.
Eric heads down the hallway and disappears around a corner out of sight. Rebecca stands in the shuttles main area all alone, accompanied only by the occasional mechanical beeping and noises coming from the control counsel.
Rebecca walks down the few steps that lead up to the command area, and heads towards one of the windows next to the dining area. As she reaches the window she leans up against the wall and peers out through the glass. She stares out at earth in the seemingly ever growing distance, attempting to comprehend and digest everything that has just transpired over the past few minutes.
"We're okay," Rebecca says to herself as she continues to look at earth through the window of the U.S.S. Halo.
"I know I still have a long way to go, but I hope that I've lived up to what he would have expected from me," Rebecca expresses. "I hope that I've lived up, and will go on to live up to, everything that you expected. I owe everything to you."
"You don't owe me anything," Eric remarks. "You've done us both proud."
Rebecca's mind flashes to a man hooked up to machines helping him breath in a dimly lit hospital bed, as she sits alone holding his hand.
Back inside of the shuttle, both Eric and Rebecca fall into deep contemplation and self-reflection. The moment is suddenly ruptured by one of the other crew members.
"Commander I got to know something," a young and cocky Payload Commander, William Duncan, breaks in sitting to the left of Eric. "How the hell is such a hard-ass like you gonna stop himself from bouncing off the fucking walls in retirement? I mean that's one thing entirely, but what I'm really concerned about is your wife."
"Watch it," Eric playfully advises as he brushes Duncan from hanging off of his shoulder.
"I'm serious sir," William laughs. "I mean I can only put up with you because I know when the missions are over I don't have to see you for a while. But your poor, sweet, wife is going to have to put up with you every god damn day. I'm really worried for the both of you."
Laughter breaks out amongst the small crew as Eric pelts William with a small package of peas.
Rebecca, William, Zack Kirby —the crew's Engineer—, Kayla Mack —a Mission Specialist—, and Alexis Holden —Payload Specialist— were all hand picked as a team and brought up through the academy by Eric. Together the crew has excelled and become a tight nit crew that has excelled in not only routine maintenance mission, but in advanced exploration of space as well.
Each member of the team has formed their own special bond with Commander Durham over the years, but there is a clear-cut and un-deniable bond between Eric and Rebecca that simply isn't there between the rest of them.
Rebecca's mind flashes back to the moment she first met Commander Durham. Rebecca is alone, in an outdoor setting, sitting on the curb of a street on a bright and sunny afternoon. Eric sits down on the curb next to the young Rebecca and introduces himself, handing her a small model of a space shuttle. As she examines the toy, Eric explains some inaudible information to Rebecca. Eric finally holds out his hand, which she embraces, and the two rise of the curb and walk out of view.
Rebecca is once again brought back to the present moment by the continuing conversation between the crew.
"He'll be fine," Kayla rebuttals. "You know how meticulous he is, I'm sure he's got some plan all mapped out even for retirement. At worst he'll be like one of those old timers you see hanging around camp all the time."
"No, no, I'm ready to go home," Eric offers as he peers out the window gazing at earth.
"So what are you gonna do with yourself?" William asks.
Eric turns his gaze from off the distance view of their home, and turns back to see the entire crew eagerly awaiting his answer. He takes a moment before finally responding.
"I'm gonna get the hell away from all of you for once," Eric jokes as the crew shares a laugh.
Then Alexis and William get up from the table and go to take care of some final preparations for the descent back to earth tomorrow morning. Zack and Kayla clean up the mounting pile of containers and garbage that has accumulated from their meal, and head back to their sleeping quarters.
Finally, it is just Rebecca and Eric sitting at the table in silence.
"So what do you have planned after we get back to earth?" Rebecca says.
"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure," Eric responds. "I've spent so much of my life completing missions, following orders, and looking after all of you, that it is kind of nice not knowing what is coming next."
"It's going to be a real culture shock for you," Rebecca chides. "Not to mention you won't be the one in charge anymore."
Eric and Rebecca laugh.
Eric looks back at earth in the distance.
"I might not know what the future holds, but I do know this," Eric pauses. "I'm looking forward to getting back there and seeing her. I know this career hasn't been the easiest on her, so if there is anything I have planed it is paying her back for everything she's done for me."
Rebecca's mind flashes to a memory of herself as a child, helping Eric's wife in the kitchen preparing a meal. As strong as the bond is between Eric and herself, Rebecca felt just as close, if not more so to her.
Rebecca returns to the conversation.
"She is one of the strongest people I know," Rebecca adds. "I'm sure she is looking forward to having you back."
"I hope so," Eric laughs.
A silence once again overtakes the two.
"I've actually been meaning to ask you something," Eric says breaking the silence. "Have you ever thought of changing it up at all?"
"What do you mean?" Rebecca ponders.
"I mean doing something different," Eric challenged. "I know you've always felt this sense of responsibility to this lifestyle, but you don't owe anything to anyone. You don't have to dedicate your life to something you think they would have wanted, or that you think I want."
Rebecca seems taken back by the line of questioning.
"Where is this coming from?" Rebecca demands.
"I just don't want you dedicating your life to something because you think you have to, especially if there is something else out there for you," Eric explained.
"I'm not here because I think I have to be," Rebecca challenged. "I'm here because I want to be, because I feel close to them here, and because I've been given the gifts to accomplish something truly meaningful which is very rare nowadays."
Eric looks on in an intent silence, as Rebecca continues.
"Do I think this is what they ultimately would have wanted?" Rebecca pondered. "Sure, absolutely, but that doesn't mean it's not what I want. I was born to do this. Born to accomplish the momentous things that they would have, if they had been given the opportunity to. I've never had a second of doubt in my mind."
By this time Eric isn't sure whom Rebecca is trying to convince more, the man who raised her after her father's death, or herself. Either way, the courage of her convictions has subsided any speculation he had at the time. For the moment he is at peace with the result of the job he promised to do for his best friend a long time ago.
As the two sit at the table, suddenly the mechanical beeping of an incoming message rings out form the adjacent control panel. Eric and Rebecca look at each other for a moment before scurrying over to inquire about the unsuspected communication with mission control.
As Commander, Eric is the first to read the content of the dispatch.
"What does it say?" Rebecca asks.
Hearing the beacon from their quarters the other crew members slowly reappear, from down the hallway, into the dining area. The silent quintet patiently wait for their leader to relay the information.
"Our re-entry has been delayed," Commander Durham breaths.
"What?" a flabbergasted William responds.
"For how long?" Rebecca confidently requests.
A disheveled Eric looks around at each of his pupils.
"Indefinitely," Eric booms.
A stunned silence engulfs the shuttle, as each of the disappointed astronauts is left speechless at the news.
"Alright listen," Eric commands. "I understand the disappointment, no one was looking forward to going home more than me, but we've got our orders and we have no other choice but to follow them. It's a temporary setback, but I promise you we will go home. Just not tomorrow."
The crew looks on without saying a word, understandably disappointed. The usually weightless atmosphere of the craft has taken on palpable and noticeable air of tension that can be felt on the shoulders of each of the occupants.
Rebecca reads the remaining remnants of the message, before addressing the audience with a final bit of information.
"There is a resupply launch underway that should reach us in a few hours," Rebecca informs. "With the remaining supplies we currently have we should be just fine for however long we are up here. William, when the supplies are in range we'll send you out to retrieve."
"Sounds good," William responds.
Eric takes a seat in his command chair without saying another word to his team, to which the nature of his actions do not go unnoticed amongst the crew. As the tension begins to mount, Rebecca quickly dismisses them back to their cabins.
"Alright let's all get some sleep," Rebecca notes. "We'll reconvene when the supplies are incoming, that's all."
As Rebecca finishes her statement, the rest of the team adjourn to their cabins for a few hours. Rebecca waits till the area is clear before turning her attentions to Eric, who is still silently sitting in his chair.
"What was that?" Rebecca demands looking at the back of Commander Durham's head.
Growing agitated and impatient with the lack of response from her commander, Rebecca takes her seat right next to Eric.
"Hey, what's going on?" Rebecca begs.
Eric runs his hands over his balding head before covering his mouth. After a moment of contemplation and a search for the right words, Eric readies his response
"I don't know," Eric mutters. "That's the problem, I don't know and it is scaring the hell out of me."
Rebecca looks on in silence.
"Even before this crew was together I've never had a simple repair mission have its re-entry delayed," Eric confesses. "Things go wrong up here, that is just the nature of the beast. But after the all the missions I've accomplished in the past, and with this team, I've never been in this kind of situation."
"I think you are just over anxious to get home with this being your final mission," Rebecca says. "I'm sure everything is fine. Control probably just needs a couple of extra days to get us all home safely. There isn't anything to worry about."
Eric takes a moment to consider what Rebecca has said.
"You are probably right, but I just can't shake this feeling that..." Eric pauses.
"That what?" Rebecca demands.
"That something is wrong," Eric barks. "That something isn't right."
Suddenly a stinging feeling of doubt and worry shoots up Rebecca's back. Throughout her life, and career, Eric has been a steady and unflappable presence in her life. To see her mentor in such a state of uncertainty and doubt resinates with Rebecca to her core.
Without saying anything else, Eric suddenly rises up and out of his command chair. He pats Rebecca on the shoulder and makes his way towards the hallway that leads to his sleeping quarters. Before exiting the room, Eric stops and turns back to a now standing Rebecca.
"You're right," Eric confesses. "I'm just ready to get back home to Monica, there is nothing to worry about."
A coy smile of relief appears on Rebecca's face.
"I think I am going to try and get some sleep, its been a long day," Eric says. "You don't mind looking over things for a little bit do you?"
"No you go ahead, I'll be fine," Rebecca promises.
"Alright, let me know when that supply rocket is within range and we'll get started with brining that in," Eric orders. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Rebecca responds.
Eric heads down the hallway and disappears around a corner out of sight. Rebecca stands in the shuttles main area all alone, accompanied only by the occasional mechanical beeping and noises coming from the control counsel.
Rebecca walks down the few steps that lead up to the command area, and heads towards one of the windows next to the dining area. As she reaches the window she leans up against the wall and peers out through the glass. She stares out at earth in the seemingly ever growing distance, attempting to comprehend and digest everything that has just transpired over the past few minutes.
"We're okay," Rebecca says to herself as she continues to look at earth through the window of the U.S.S. Halo.
Chapter 2:
Venus
DATE: October 24, 2082.
U.S.S. HALO MISSION STATUS DAY 153: The U.S.S. Halo continues to maintain its position in orbit, outside of earth's atmosphere, as re-entry has been indefinitely delayed. Successful resupply launch inbound.
"Alright Duncan the package is headed your way, get ready," Commander Durham instructs through the headset speakers of Duncan's helmet.
While Eric and Rebecca man the controls of the Halo's operating system, William finds himself outside in orbit preparing to intercept the small resupply rocket that has been sent up from ground control.
Meanwhile, Kayla and Alexis watch on through a small window in the Halo's loading dock dressed in full gear, maintaining safety protocol and ready to rein William back in when the moment calls for it. All the while, Zack cautiously scans over the Halo's readings hoping for a mundane and uneventful affair.
"I see it," William responds as he spots the small craft on a direct course with his position.
"You've done this a million times," Rebecca adds from inside the shuttle. "Just do it by the books, nice and easy, and we'll get you back in here quickly."
"Copy," William reassures.
Facing earth, William is sitting in a small chair that is connected to a manually operated device that will catch the unmanned craft. He will then in turn transport the supplies to Kayla and Alexis waiting in the loading dock. Eric and Rebecca patiently watch over the operation from their monitors on the screen of the control panel.
Accompanied by only silence and the stars, William floats vulnerably in the weightless atmosphere of space. His only sense of safety comes from the line connected to the back of his suit, attached to the base of the Halo. Seemingly approaching at a crawling pace, William longingly awaits the supplies.
Tracking the course of the rocket, Zack begins an ominous countdown in William's ear.
"Package arrival in three, two, one," Zack announces.
At that moment William successfully catches the craft and begins to rotate the machine around towards the loading dock to hand of the supplies to Kayla and Alexis. William slowly and deliberately rotates in the machine until his back is now to his home planet, and the grappler clutching the vital material sits outside of the loading dock door.
"Alright I'm in position," Williams says.
"Kayla, Alexis, prepare the hatch for breach and retrieval," Commander Durham instructs. "Zack, how is everything looking down there."
"Everything is holding steady and looks normal," Zack reports from the engineering room.
"Alright let's get those supplies in here and get William back in here with us," Rebecca broke in.
Kayla and Alexis promptly lift the hatch opening the Halo's loading dock door, and help William guide the long arm of the operating crane into the room. With seemingly little problem William gently places the craft on the floor and beings retracting the crane's arm back outside.
"How is everything go down there," Rebecca requests from Kayla and Alexis.
"We're all set," Kayla informs.
"Getting ready to seal the door and prepare to rein William back into the hatch," Alexis contributes.
"Zack?" Eric echoes.
"Normal," Zack replies.
After Kayla and Alexis seal the loading dock door, the pair watch as William patiently waits for the crane arm to retract so he can swing the machine back into its proper position. As he completes the retraction process, William moves his hand to the joystick to begin rotating back.
"Hey," William says. "Hey, what's going on?"
"What's wrong?" Eric barks.
"This fucking thing isn't moving," William complains. "Zack, what the fuck man?"
"Hang on Willy," Zack pleads.
Zack shifts positions in the engineer room, moving from one screen to another. He checks over all the operating systems of the shuttle and the crane, and to his dismay is unable to find a tangible explanation. Desperately, Zack quickly tries to find some useful information to report.
"Give me a second," Zack begs.
"Oh no, take your time," William sarcastically replies from his position in space between the shuttle and earth.
As Zack continues to search for a solution to the problem the remaining crew wait for new information and more importantly, a solution.
"Kayla, give Zack a hand in the engine room and Alexis you meet me by the hatch that Duncan will come through," Eric explains.
Eric turns to address Rebecca.
"You stay up here and take over command."
As Eric explodes out of his seat, Rebecca shifts her position into the commander's chair. Eric hustles with a feverish pace through the shuttles hallways and reaches the descending ladder leading to the Halo's exit hatch. He quickly dawns his space suit, as Alexis journeys down the ladder to join her commander next to the hatch that leads out into open space.
"Okay, I have some bad news and some worse news," Zack says into his microphone.
"Are those my only two options?" William lauds.
"Well here is the situation," Zack says in a serious manner knowing the potential gravity of the situation. "The crane's operating system is malfunctioning, so until we get back to earth and can work on it that thing isn't going to budge."
"That's pretty bad, do I even want to hear what's worse?" William implores.
"Well the way you are positioned out there would cause too much tension on your extension line, causing it to detach from the side of the shuttle," Zack finishes.
A deafening silence ensues, as each of the crew members search for a solution they pray is hiding in the back of their minds. Meanwhile, William stays strapped into the seat of the crane floating between the safety of the Halo and inauspicious volume of outer space.
"I've got an idea Duncan, but you are not going to like it," Commander Durham says.
"At this point I don't really have the affinity to shoot down any ideas do I?" William replies.
"No, not particularly," Durham confirms.
Then Commander Durham goes on to tell William that he wants Duncan to unclip the line connecting himself to the Halo, and that he will take the line himself. Afterwards, he wants Duncan to extend the crane's arm towards the exit hatch where Eric and Alexis have positioned themselves. In doing so, Eric will scale the arm of the machine and climb towards William. Which will give Durham the ability to grab Duncan as the two are reeled back in by Alexis.
"Are you fucking crazy?" Kayla explodes.
"Eric, I don't know about this," Rebecca adds from her station.
"Let's not rush to make any decisions and make sure we've got a solid solution," Zack agrees.
"Yeah take your time, I'm not going anywhere," William jibes from outside.
As Eric readies himself for the dangerous attempt to bring William back to safety, Rebecca leaves her post and joins Durham and Alexis in the exit hatch area. Unable to come up with a better solution between the rest of the crew, Eric is determined that his plan is the best course of action.
"Are you sure about this?" Rebecca worryingly says to Eric.
"Do you trust me?" Eric questions both Rebecca and Alexis.
"Completely," Rebecca reassures.
As Alexis prepares to open the hatch and let Eric begin his rescue attempt, Rebecca heads back up to her station at the Halo's main control system. When Rebecca returns, she is greeted by Kayla who has returned from the engineer room. Rebecca takes her seat next to an empty commander's chair and intently monitors the screen that will display the ensuing action, while Kayla slowly and anxiously paces around the room.
Back down below in the exit hatch area, after she connects the safety line once attached to William with the back of Eric's suit, Alexis unseals the door as she watches Commander Durham exit and begin to carry out the first stages of his plan. Meanwhile, Zack continues to look for a way to get the machinery back online in a desperate attempt to render the rash course of action unnecessary.
"Alright just take it easy and don't rush to get there and back," Rebecca offers.
"Don't worry I've got this under control," Eric refutes.
As Eric impressively, and expertly, scales the crane's arm, he gives some brief instructions to a patiently waiting William sitting just yards away.
"Alright Willy, when I get closer you are going to have to unbuckle yourself from the seat and slowly climb over the operating counsel towards the base of the arm," Eric instructs.
"What!, why?" William demands.
"Because if I come all the way to you, we could be in the same situation where there is to much tension on the safety line," Eric informs. "Just relax, you've gone through years of training to deal with these kind of situations."
"I guess I missed the day where we learned to crawl on a fucking pole through space," William jokes.
Zack listens to the exchange in the engine room with a wry smile on his face. Rebecca, Kayla, and Alexis, all watch Eric slowly crawl and shift is way down the crane with their hearts in their throat with every passing second.
"Alright get ready Willy," Eric says.
As Commander Durham reaches the furthest point he can safely get himself towards Duncan, William cautiously unbuckles himself while grasping the sides of the seat for dear life.
"Oh fuck," Williams mumbles to himself as the nonexistent gravity causes him to shift ever slightly in the seat.
"Is everything alright?" Eric asks.
"Oh yeah, everything is fantastic," William responds in sardonic tone.
William methodically moves from his seat to climb over the control counsel and towards the tantalizing safety of his long time friend and commander. As William deliberately, but successfully, makes his way over the counsel, he now must shimmy his way a few yards up the arm of the crane to reach Commander Durham.
"Oh my god," an exasperated Alexis gulps as she watches from the hatch.
William begins to make his way to Eric, but in doing so he mistakenly looks down and his disoriented by the overwhelming landscape of open space and stars that surround him.
"Holy shit," William squeaks.
As Rebecca watches the situation unfold on the monitor, she looks on as Eric stretches out his hand for William who is just mere meters away. In doing so, the action causes Rebecca's mind to quickly flash to a hazy memory.
She, as the fully grown women she is now, is sitting in a hospital room much like the one her father was in when she was just a child. She looks around only to see her father laying in bed hooked up to life supporting equipment. Rebecca is unable to move from the chair she finds herself in as her father reaches out his hand towards her.
"Rebecca," her father calls.
"Rebecca!," Kayla calls out louder causing Rebecca to snap out of her memory.
As she regains her wits about her, Rebecca comes to realize that William, having made a false move, is now hanging onto the crane by both arms with his feet dangling into space.
"Rebecca, what do we do!?" Kayla yells.
"Hold on Willy!" Eric begs as he impetuously begins to move as fast as he can towards William.
As the gravitational pull around him starts to pull William off the crane, Eric is nearly in position to save his friend. However, noticing William losing his grip, Eric knows he must take a dire risk.
"Ah!," William cries as he loses his grip.
Rebecca, Kayla, Alexis, and Zack, watch on in horror from their respective positions. At that moment, praying the safety line will hold, Eric leaps forward and catches William before he is pulled out into the open air of outer space. Treacherously swinging just below the Halo, the two astronauts cling on to each other with everything they have as the safety line barely manages to hold on.
"Alexis!," Commander Eric booms into his headset. "Open the hatch and pull us in now, before the line gives out!"
Alexis promptly flips the switch that begins to reel in the safety line and with it, Eric and William. With no option but to wait, Eric and William stare at the hatch above their heads and pray that the line will hold long enough to bring them in without any further incident.
As the line holds, Eric and William reach the entry way and William reaches his hand out for Alexis, who pulls her friend back into the Halo. With Alexis continuing to help William back into the shuttle, Eric grabs the handle of the door as the line finally snaps. Eric struggles to get back in holding on to just the door, before a fully suited Rebecca appears and pulls Eric in safely. With William and Eric safely back on board, Rebecca slams the door shut.
Rebecca and Alexis look at each other in a much needed sense of relief, while Eric and William lay on the floor of the Halo in a state of utter mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion.
"Well that was fun," William jokes has he removes his helmet from his space suit.
As Eric takes his helmet off, he looks up at Rebecca who is doing the same. While Alexis and William chat in the background, without saying a word, Eric and Rebecca lock eyes from across the room. Though the weight and timely nature of Rebecca's actions may have called for the appropriate acclaim, it is understandably left unspoken. Instead, the two life long colleagues softly smile at one another and share a quiet laugh.
"Thank you," Eric says.
Rebecca replies with a quick nod, as she extends her hand out to Commander Durham in attempt to help him off the floor.
"Alright Duncan the package is headed your way, get ready," Commander Durham instructs through the headset speakers of Duncan's helmet.
While Eric and Rebecca man the controls of the Halo's operating system, William finds himself outside in orbit preparing to intercept the small resupply rocket that has been sent up from ground control.
Meanwhile, Kayla and Alexis watch on through a small window in the Halo's loading dock dressed in full gear, maintaining safety protocol and ready to rein William back in when the moment calls for it. All the while, Zack cautiously scans over the Halo's readings hoping for a mundane and uneventful affair.
"I see it," William responds as he spots the small craft on a direct course with his position.
"You've done this a million times," Rebecca adds from inside the shuttle. "Just do it by the books, nice and easy, and we'll get you back in here quickly."
"Copy," William reassures.
Facing earth, William is sitting in a small chair that is connected to a manually operated device that will catch the unmanned craft. He will then in turn transport the supplies to Kayla and Alexis waiting in the loading dock. Eric and Rebecca patiently watch over the operation from their monitors on the screen of the control panel.
Accompanied by only silence and the stars, William floats vulnerably in the weightless atmosphere of space. His only sense of safety comes from the line connected to the back of his suit, attached to the base of the Halo. Seemingly approaching at a crawling pace, William longingly awaits the supplies.
Tracking the course of the rocket, Zack begins an ominous countdown in William's ear.
"Package arrival in three, two, one," Zack announces.
At that moment William successfully catches the craft and begins to rotate the machine around towards the loading dock to hand of the supplies to Kayla and Alexis. William slowly and deliberately rotates in the machine until his back is now to his home planet, and the grappler clutching the vital material sits outside of the loading dock door.
"Alright I'm in position," Williams says.
"Kayla, Alexis, prepare the hatch for breach and retrieval," Commander Durham instructs. "Zack, how is everything looking down there."
"Everything is holding steady and looks normal," Zack reports from the engineering room.
"Alright let's get those supplies in here and get William back in here with us," Rebecca broke in.
Kayla and Alexis promptly lift the hatch opening the Halo's loading dock door, and help William guide the long arm of the operating crane into the room. With seemingly little problem William gently places the craft on the floor and beings retracting the crane's arm back outside.
"How is everything go down there," Rebecca requests from Kayla and Alexis.
"We're all set," Kayla informs.
"Getting ready to seal the door and prepare to rein William back into the hatch," Alexis contributes.
"Zack?" Eric echoes.
"Normal," Zack replies.
After Kayla and Alexis seal the loading dock door, the pair watch as William patiently waits for the crane arm to retract so he can swing the machine back into its proper position. As he completes the retraction process, William moves his hand to the joystick to begin rotating back.
"Hey," William says. "Hey, what's going on?"
"What's wrong?" Eric barks.
"This fucking thing isn't moving," William complains. "Zack, what the fuck man?"
"Hang on Willy," Zack pleads.
Zack shifts positions in the engineer room, moving from one screen to another. He checks over all the operating systems of the shuttle and the crane, and to his dismay is unable to find a tangible explanation. Desperately, Zack quickly tries to find some useful information to report.
"Give me a second," Zack begs.
"Oh no, take your time," William sarcastically replies from his position in space between the shuttle and earth.
As Zack continues to search for a solution to the problem the remaining crew wait for new information and more importantly, a solution.
"Kayla, give Zack a hand in the engine room and Alexis you meet me by the hatch that Duncan will come through," Eric explains.
Eric turns to address Rebecca.
"You stay up here and take over command."
As Eric explodes out of his seat, Rebecca shifts her position into the commander's chair. Eric hustles with a feverish pace through the shuttles hallways and reaches the descending ladder leading to the Halo's exit hatch. He quickly dawns his space suit, as Alexis journeys down the ladder to join her commander next to the hatch that leads out into open space.
"Okay, I have some bad news and some worse news," Zack says into his microphone.
"Are those my only two options?" William lauds.
"Well here is the situation," Zack says in a serious manner knowing the potential gravity of the situation. "The crane's operating system is malfunctioning, so until we get back to earth and can work on it that thing isn't going to budge."
"That's pretty bad, do I even want to hear what's worse?" William implores.
"Well the way you are positioned out there would cause too much tension on your extension line, causing it to detach from the side of the shuttle," Zack finishes.
A deafening silence ensues, as each of the crew members search for a solution they pray is hiding in the back of their minds. Meanwhile, William stays strapped into the seat of the crane floating between the safety of the Halo and inauspicious volume of outer space.
"I've got an idea Duncan, but you are not going to like it," Commander Durham says.
"At this point I don't really have the affinity to shoot down any ideas do I?" William replies.
"No, not particularly," Durham confirms.
Then Commander Durham goes on to tell William that he wants Duncan to unclip the line connecting himself to the Halo, and that he will take the line himself. Afterwards, he wants Duncan to extend the crane's arm towards the exit hatch where Eric and Alexis have positioned themselves. In doing so, Eric will scale the arm of the machine and climb towards William. Which will give Durham the ability to grab Duncan as the two are reeled back in by Alexis.
"Are you fucking crazy?" Kayla explodes.
"Eric, I don't know about this," Rebecca adds from her station.
"Let's not rush to make any decisions and make sure we've got a solid solution," Zack agrees.
"Yeah take your time, I'm not going anywhere," William jibes from outside.
As Eric readies himself for the dangerous attempt to bring William back to safety, Rebecca leaves her post and joins Durham and Alexis in the exit hatch area. Unable to come up with a better solution between the rest of the crew, Eric is determined that his plan is the best course of action.
"Are you sure about this?" Rebecca worryingly says to Eric.
"Do you trust me?" Eric questions both Rebecca and Alexis.
"Completely," Rebecca reassures.
As Alexis prepares to open the hatch and let Eric begin his rescue attempt, Rebecca heads back up to her station at the Halo's main control system. When Rebecca returns, she is greeted by Kayla who has returned from the engineer room. Rebecca takes her seat next to an empty commander's chair and intently monitors the screen that will display the ensuing action, while Kayla slowly and anxiously paces around the room.
Back down below in the exit hatch area, after she connects the safety line once attached to William with the back of Eric's suit, Alexis unseals the door as she watches Commander Durham exit and begin to carry out the first stages of his plan. Meanwhile, Zack continues to look for a way to get the machinery back online in a desperate attempt to render the rash course of action unnecessary.
"Alright just take it easy and don't rush to get there and back," Rebecca offers.
"Don't worry I've got this under control," Eric refutes.
As Eric impressively, and expertly, scales the crane's arm, he gives some brief instructions to a patiently waiting William sitting just yards away.
"Alright Willy, when I get closer you are going to have to unbuckle yourself from the seat and slowly climb over the operating counsel towards the base of the arm," Eric instructs.
"What!, why?" William demands.
"Because if I come all the way to you, we could be in the same situation where there is to much tension on the safety line," Eric informs. "Just relax, you've gone through years of training to deal with these kind of situations."
"I guess I missed the day where we learned to crawl on a fucking pole through space," William jokes.
Zack listens to the exchange in the engine room with a wry smile on his face. Rebecca, Kayla, and Alexis, all watch Eric slowly crawl and shift is way down the crane with their hearts in their throat with every passing second.
"Alright get ready Willy," Eric says.
As Commander Durham reaches the furthest point he can safely get himself towards Duncan, William cautiously unbuckles himself while grasping the sides of the seat for dear life.
"Oh fuck," Williams mumbles to himself as the nonexistent gravity causes him to shift ever slightly in the seat.
"Is everything alright?" Eric asks.
"Oh yeah, everything is fantastic," William responds in sardonic tone.
William methodically moves from his seat to climb over the control counsel and towards the tantalizing safety of his long time friend and commander. As William deliberately, but successfully, makes his way over the counsel, he now must shimmy his way a few yards up the arm of the crane to reach Commander Durham.
"Oh my god," an exasperated Alexis gulps as she watches from the hatch.
William begins to make his way to Eric, but in doing so he mistakenly looks down and his disoriented by the overwhelming landscape of open space and stars that surround him.
"Holy shit," William squeaks.
As Rebecca watches the situation unfold on the monitor, she looks on as Eric stretches out his hand for William who is just mere meters away. In doing so, the action causes Rebecca's mind to quickly flash to a hazy memory.
She, as the fully grown women she is now, is sitting in a hospital room much like the one her father was in when she was just a child. She looks around only to see her father laying in bed hooked up to life supporting equipment. Rebecca is unable to move from the chair she finds herself in as her father reaches out his hand towards her.
"Rebecca," her father calls.
"Rebecca!," Kayla calls out louder causing Rebecca to snap out of her memory.
As she regains her wits about her, Rebecca comes to realize that William, having made a false move, is now hanging onto the crane by both arms with his feet dangling into space.
"Rebecca, what do we do!?" Kayla yells.
"Hold on Willy!" Eric begs as he impetuously begins to move as fast as he can towards William.
As the gravitational pull around him starts to pull William off the crane, Eric is nearly in position to save his friend. However, noticing William losing his grip, Eric knows he must take a dire risk.
"Ah!," William cries as he loses his grip.
Rebecca, Kayla, Alexis, and Zack, watch on in horror from their respective positions. At that moment, praying the safety line will hold, Eric leaps forward and catches William before he is pulled out into the open air of outer space. Treacherously swinging just below the Halo, the two astronauts cling on to each other with everything they have as the safety line barely manages to hold on.
"Alexis!," Commander Eric booms into his headset. "Open the hatch and pull us in now, before the line gives out!"
Alexis promptly flips the switch that begins to reel in the safety line and with it, Eric and William. With no option but to wait, Eric and William stare at the hatch above their heads and pray that the line will hold long enough to bring them in without any further incident.
As the line holds, Eric and William reach the entry way and William reaches his hand out for Alexis, who pulls her friend back into the Halo. With Alexis continuing to help William back into the shuttle, Eric grabs the handle of the door as the line finally snaps. Eric struggles to get back in holding on to just the door, before a fully suited Rebecca appears and pulls Eric in safely. With William and Eric safely back on board, Rebecca slams the door shut.
Rebecca and Alexis look at each other in a much needed sense of relief, while Eric and William lay on the floor of the Halo in a state of utter mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion.
"Well that was fun," William jokes has he removes his helmet from his space suit.
As Eric takes his helmet off, he looks up at Rebecca who is doing the same. While Alexis and William chat in the background, without saying a word, Eric and Rebecca lock eyes from across the room. Though the weight and timely nature of Rebecca's actions may have called for the appropriate acclaim, it is understandably left unspoken. Instead, the two life long colleagues softly smile at one another and share a quiet laugh.
"Thank you," Eric says.
Rebecca replies with a quick nod, as she extends her hand out to Commander Durham in attempt to help him off the floor.
Chapter 3:
Earth
DATE: October 25, 2082.
U.S.S. HALO MISSION STATUS DAY 154: Having recovered the supply rocket, and the successful rescue of Astronaut William Duncan, the U.S.S. Halo remains in orbit and docked to the Voyager Module at the International Space Station.
"Maybe it's the stress from almost drifting away into outer space, but I could really use something to eat," William barbs.
"Let's get everyone cleaned up and we'll see what they sent us," Eric acknowledges with a similar ironic tone.
The four astronauts regain their composure and gather themselves, before heading back up the shuttle to join Kayla in the Halo's main operating area. In the meantime, Zack moves from his position in the engineer's room to the loading dock in order to secure the supplies sent to them from earth.
"Can someone come down here and help me bring these supplies up," Zack inquires just as the group from the hatch area return to the main operating room. "It's a little bit bigger than I expected."
Noticing the look of weariness on each of their faces, Kayla quickly volunteers.
"Ya, I'm on my way there," Kayla responds as she hustles her way down towards the loading dock to assist Zack.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew begin to unwind and rest after the demanding trial. Eric and Rebecca reassume their positions in the chairs at the helm of the Halo, while William and Alexis sit at the kitchen area table and quietly converse.
"I'm going to try and get hold of mission control back home and let them know that we received the supplies that they sent us," Rebecca speaks to Eric.
"Sounds good," Eric agrees. "Also, I don't think it would hurt if we waited to tell the story of what just happened until we get back home."
"Agreed," Rebecca smiles as she readies the Halo's radio controls to begin transmission with NASA.
"This is Co-Pilot Rebecca Dyer transmitting from the U.S.S. Halo, come in," Rebecca greets into the radio system. "Repeat, this is Co-Pilot Rebecca Dyer transmitting from the U.S.S. Halo."
After a few seconds of nothing but static from the radio and silence, Rebecca ends the first attempt at communicating with mission control back on earth.
"There must be something wrong with their radio or signal receiver," Rebecca states.
"Sure, why not," William jeers from the kitchen area.
"Just give it a couple of minutes and then try it again," Eric counters. "I'm going to go check up on Willy and Alexis."
As Eric leaves his seat, Rebecca is hit with a terrible sense of dread and an unshakable feeling that something isn't quite right. Having flown multiple mission at this point, she is used to having things go wrong and having to over come the subsequent adversity. However, this time feels much different and much more treacherous than routine mission difficulties. Having the re-entry and completion of their mission delayed is one problem, but now being temporarily unable to communicate with NASA adds to the ominous feeling of their situation.
Before she can analyze the situation in her head further, a loud sound coming from down the hallway leading to the loading dock breaks her train of thought. The sound reveals Zack and Kayla rolling in the container sent to them from earth on a make shift dolly. The pair roll the unexpectedly large box into the center of the room, where the crew can open it and retrieve the internal material.
"Jesus, look at the size of this thing," Alexis huffs as she comments on the size of the package. "No wonder William got into so much trouble trying to bring this thing in."
"I know, you would have at least thought NASA would have given us a heads up that it was bigger than your ordinary supply rocket," Zack continues. "The weight of this thing is probably what caused the crane to malfunction and shut down."
As the conversation about the nature of the package continues between the crew, Rebecca quietly looks back at the still unresponsive radio system. Walking over to the radio, Rebecca takes note of the weak beacon searching for the necessary signal to communicate with those back on earth.
Beep......beep.....beep.
Suddenly, Rebecca is no longer standing in front of the radio system that is placed on the Halo's main control counsel. Instead, she is standing in front of an empty hospital bed. Surrounded by nothing but a backdrop of pure darkness, and the empty bed under a flickering fluorescent light, a faint beeping comes from the accompanying hospital equipment.
Beep.....beep.....beep.
"Are you okay?" Commander Durham says abruptly breaking Rebecca from her fixated trance on the radio.
"Ya, I'm fine," Rebecca slurs. "I was just waiting to see if there would be any response. It's a little disconcerting that there hasn't been yet."
"So can we open this thing or what?" William interrupts as he stands adjacent to the supply container eager to pry it open.
"Ya let's do it," Durham says without taking his eye off Rebecca. "Hey."
Rebecca breaks her gaze away from the radio, looking at Eric with an indecisive smile.
"Let's get this taken care of alright?" Durham asks.
Rebecca agrees and the two walk away from the counsel towards the rest of the crew, who are gathered around the container and working on opening it. After some prying and maneuvering, Zack and William manage to lift the lid off of the long four-sided canister. As Kayla and Alexis slowly place the lid on the ground, Rebecca and Eric peer inside to examine what exactly has been sent to them. They are shortly joined by the remaining crew members.
"This is a lot more than I was expecting," Alexis comments as she goes over the contents of the container. "I mean, this is a lot of supplies."
"Ya it really is," Kayla agrees.
"It's not just food either," Zack examines. "Look, they sent hardware equipment and electronics."
William then holds up a package of seeds that was sent to the U.S.S. Halo.
"What the fuck do they expect us to do with these," William begs. "How long are we supposed to stay up here, because if I can gather anything from this container it seems like a pretty long fucking time."
Rebecca once again breaks away from the group and heads to the radio system, in an attempt to reach earth and receive an explanation for the confusing nature of the supplies sent to them.
"There has to be a reason that they sent all these different kinds of materials to us, and so much of them at that," Kayla questions towards Commander Durham. "How much longer are they expecting us to stay up here, its already been five months."
"We've done our job," William states. "We completed what we were sent up here to do, now we are supposed to be going home."
"We'll go home when it's time and when it is safe to do so," Eric commands. "I know I don't have any answers for you right now and I'm sorry, but if they don't think it's safe to re-enter the atmosphere than there is nothing we can do about it. Just sit tight."
Eric turns and walks back to Rebecca who is calmly operating the radio system.
"You able to reach anybody yet?" Eric says leaning in to examine the system alongside Dyer.
"Nothing, there is still no response," Rebecca replies. "I just keep getting this static interference."
"Alright keep trying," Eric discloses. "The rest of the crew is getting a little antsy about this whole situation. I'll keep them calm until we get some answers."
Just as Eric is about to leave to go back to Kayla, Alexis, William, and Zack, Rebecca stops him.
"Sir, what do you think this means?" Dyer asks.
Eric takes a moment of either reflection or hesitation before he answers.
"Honestly?" Eric spoke. "I have no idea."
Commander Durham walks away and turns his attentions to the mounting frustration brewing amongst the other members of the crew. Although it would seem understandable that both Eric and Rebecca would be rattled at the ambiguous nature of a situation that refuses to provide any answers, neither would ever show it. Both Eric and Rebecca have garnered the necessary resolve and steely-eyed demeanor to lead their crew through any situation. Eric through trial and error of decades served, with Rebecca learning under the Commander's tutelage from a young age.
"From what I can tell, they expect us to be up here for a while," Kayla says to the group as Commander Durham rejoins them. "We haven't cataloged all these supplies, but just on the eye test it looks like they've sent us enough for."
"For what?," Zack says as Kayla momentarily pauses.
"For two years," Kayla states.
"Two years?" Alexis stammers as a bewildered look crawls over her face.
Now there is a heated exchange breaking out amongst Commander Durham, William, Alexis, Kayla, and Zach. While the young crew argues that they have completed the mission they were set up for and assigned to, Commander Durham reminds them that they are supposed to follow orders no matter what. The crew argues that they haven't heard anything from back earth since they were informed that their re-entry had been indefinitely delayed.
"We are working on that," Commander Durham informs. "Rebecca is working on getting in contact with someone back at base right now."
Eric turns around to address Rebecca and in desperate hope that she has finally made contact.
"What's the status Rebecca," a confident and strong Commander Durham asserts.
"Nothing," Rebecca swallows as she looks back from the radio system to the eyes of her crew members fixated on her. "I just keep getting this static interference."
"Let me see if I can help," Zack offers as he moves from the group over to the radio system with Rebecca.
"Okay you two figure that out," Eric approves. "As for the rest of us, there is no use standing around bickering over how long we are going to be up here. The fact of the matter is we are, and right now that's all we know. So while they are working on getting in touch with home, let's get all this cataloged and put away where it needs to go."
At the behest of their leader Kayla, William, and Alexis, all begin to help Eric empty the supply container and store the belongings in their proper places. Along with the disconcerting amount of food, stored inside the container are various items that suggests the astronauts would not be returning any time soon.
"Flight tools, cameras, safety equipment," William calls out as he is emptying the container. "They even put spare parts for our extravehicular mobility units."
"Sir," Kayla motions to Eric. "Our task was a routine maintenance and repair on the IR Satellite. If they expect us to do anything more, or anything more complex, I'm not sure we have the necessary tools to do so."
"She is right Sir," Alexis adds.
Eric does not respond to their inquest, instead he continues putting the supplies in storage. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Zack work quickly to find a solution to the static interference that is blocking the radio's signal back to earth.
"How long has it been like this," Zack ponders.
"I first tried to get in touch with base when we got William back in safely," Rebecca informs. "Since then I've just been blocked out by this static. Do you have any idea what it could be."
"It could be a few things," Zack says. "Some simple, some a little more complex. The way things have been going today, I don't have a lot of confidence that this is going to be an easy fix."
After about fifteen minutes of tinkering around with the radio system, Rebecca and Zack find themselves stumped with the problem. The two of them decide to play the static over the Halo's speakers at a low volume and rejoin the group, while they wait to see if anything changes. Rebecca walks over to the container in the middle of the room and looks inside to see if there is anything else that needs to be stored away. Meanwhile, Eric and William return to the room from retrieving the dolly they will be used to carry away the empty container.
As Rebecca peers into what looks like an empty container, she notices a piece of paper at the bottom. The static continues to emit a soft sound over the speakers, as the entire crew are now converging back from their various chores.
"Did any of you see this?" Rebecca says holding up the medium sized piece of paper.
A silence falls over the room, as they wait for Rebecca to reveal the contents of the piece of paper. Without doing so, she walks over to Commander Durham and hands him the piece of paper. Eric looks it over and then with a look that no one on his team has ever seen, not even Rebecca, he stands speechless in front of them.
"Well?" William says in an antagonized mood before walking over and taking the piece of paper out of Commander Durham's hand to read it.
SURVIVE.
"What?" William chuckles sarcastically. "What the fuck kind of joke is this? This is a joke right?"
William then passes the note around to Zack, Kayla, and Alexis, all of whom take their turn examining the word plastered onto the piece of paper.
"Commander?" Kayla dribbled as she looks on in fear and disbelief at Durham.
As the crew looks around at their silent leader, a tension of fear and impatience begins to fill up the room. Both Rebecca and Eric have nothing to offer beyond speculation, and at this point are just as lost and confused as the rest. As the static coming from the useless radio system continues to pour out from the speakers, the crew being to exchange words of anger and suspicion in a heated argument amongst themselves. As the debate begins to rage and get out of hand, William makes a bee line for the radio system.
"Hello!, Hello!" William booms into the radio system transmitter. "Hey, what's going on? Why did you send us all of this shit? What the fuck does this note mean? Hello?"
Frustratingly there is still no response, other than the low volume of static taunting the crew of the U.S.S. Halo.
"Hello?," William barks as he turns up the volume to maximum output.
"That's enough Duncan," Eric orders from across the room. "Everyone needs to calm the hell down."
Steaming from the lack of information, and the potential seriousness of the situation, William storms over to Commander Durham to question him. With the two friends now at each others' throats, the volume of the divided crew is only matched by the blaring sound of static coming from the Halo's speakers. Just as things are about to spiral completely out of control, the speakers fall silent. Rebecca rushes over to the radio system and desperately calls out to anyone who would reciprocate.
"Hello, this is Rebecca Dyer of the U.S.S. Halo can anyone hear me," she pleads into the transmitter.
For a brief moment, which had the feeling of an eternity, everything in the Halo grew deafly silent. Just as Rebecca is about to call out again, she is interrupted by a inaudible response from the radio.
"Zach!," Rebecca shouts.
Almost as quickly as she called him, Zach is by her side and flipping switches on the radio trying to recalibrate the signal to get a clear response from the other end of the transmission.
"We could not understand," Rebecca proclaims. "Please repeat your message."
Once again the Halo is filled with complete silence, before the radio finally admits the message in a clear and concise manner.
......We're sorry.....You must survive.....
Before anymore information can be relayed the signal is lost and the static returns in full force, blaring from the speakers. Zack shuts off the radio, as Rebecca slams the transmitter down in her first visible sign of frustration. A ominous silence returns to the room.
"What does that mean?" Alexis begs. "What's going on?"
Just before Commander Durham is about to give his thoughts and expertise on the situation, a distance thud is heard from outside that causes the Halo to rumble ever so slightly. The entire crew run to the two windows on the other side of the shuttle and search for an origin to the noise.
"Oh my God," Commander Durham prayed.
Though the shuttle itself is a safe distance away, the crew of the U.S.S. Halo look on in horror as a large field of asteroids come crashing and pummeling into earth. One after one the asteroids, the size of a twenty-story building, strike the helpless planet without hesitation or mercy. The stunned and speechless crew can do nothing but watch, as the horror continues causing unseen and unimaginable destruction. William walks away in a dazed silence, while Kayla consoles a sobbing Alexis. Zack and Eric sprint over towards the radio system, in vain, trying to make contact with what is left of earth.
Meanwhile, Rebecca gazes out at her former home as the final asteroid makes its unforgiving impact with earth. She watches on in silence and utter disbelief, as the once blue planet begins to turn a sickly shade of red, black, and grey.
"Maybe it's the stress from almost drifting away into outer space, but I could really use something to eat," William barbs.
"Let's get everyone cleaned up and we'll see what they sent us," Eric acknowledges with a similar ironic tone.
The four astronauts regain their composure and gather themselves, before heading back up the shuttle to join Kayla in the Halo's main operating area. In the meantime, Zack moves from his position in the engineer's room to the loading dock in order to secure the supplies sent to them from earth.
"Can someone come down here and help me bring these supplies up," Zack inquires just as the group from the hatch area return to the main operating room. "It's a little bit bigger than I expected."
Noticing the look of weariness on each of their faces, Kayla quickly volunteers.
"Ya, I'm on my way there," Kayla responds as she hustles her way down towards the loading dock to assist Zack.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew begin to unwind and rest after the demanding trial. Eric and Rebecca reassume their positions in the chairs at the helm of the Halo, while William and Alexis sit at the kitchen area table and quietly converse.
"I'm going to try and get hold of mission control back home and let them know that we received the supplies that they sent us," Rebecca speaks to Eric.
"Sounds good," Eric agrees. "Also, I don't think it would hurt if we waited to tell the story of what just happened until we get back home."
"Agreed," Rebecca smiles as she readies the Halo's radio controls to begin transmission with NASA.
"This is Co-Pilot Rebecca Dyer transmitting from the U.S.S. Halo, come in," Rebecca greets into the radio system. "Repeat, this is Co-Pilot Rebecca Dyer transmitting from the U.S.S. Halo."
After a few seconds of nothing but static from the radio and silence, Rebecca ends the first attempt at communicating with mission control back on earth.
"There must be something wrong with their radio or signal receiver," Rebecca states.
"Sure, why not," William jeers from the kitchen area.
"Just give it a couple of minutes and then try it again," Eric counters. "I'm going to go check up on Willy and Alexis."
As Eric leaves his seat, Rebecca is hit with a terrible sense of dread and an unshakable feeling that something isn't quite right. Having flown multiple mission at this point, she is used to having things go wrong and having to over come the subsequent adversity. However, this time feels much different and much more treacherous than routine mission difficulties. Having the re-entry and completion of their mission delayed is one problem, but now being temporarily unable to communicate with NASA adds to the ominous feeling of their situation.
Before she can analyze the situation in her head further, a loud sound coming from down the hallway leading to the loading dock breaks her train of thought. The sound reveals Zack and Kayla rolling in the container sent to them from earth on a make shift dolly. The pair roll the unexpectedly large box into the center of the room, where the crew can open it and retrieve the internal material.
"Jesus, look at the size of this thing," Alexis huffs as she comments on the size of the package. "No wonder William got into so much trouble trying to bring this thing in."
"I know, you would have at least thought NASA would have given us a heads up that it was bigger than your ordinary supply rocket," Zack continues. "The weight of this thing is probably what caused the crane to malfunction and shut down."
As the conversation about the nature of the package continues between the crew, Rebecca quietly looks back at the still unresponsive radio system. Walking over to the radio, Rebecca takes note of the weak beacon searching for the necessary signal to communicate with those back on earth.
Beep......beep.....beep.
Suddenly, Rebecca is no longer standing in front of the radio system that is placed on the Halo's main control counsel. Instead, she is standing in front of an empty hospital bed. Surrounded by nothing but a backdrop of pure darkness, and the empty bed under a flickering fluorescent light, a faint beeping comes from the accompanying hospital equipment.
Beep.....beep.....beep.
"Are you okay?" Commander Durham says abruptly breaking Rebecca from her fixated trance on the radio.
"Ya, I'm fine," Rebecca slurs. "I was just waiting to see if there would be any response. It's a little disconcerting that there hasn't been yet."
"So can we open this thing or what?" William interrupts as he stands adjacent to the supply container eager to pry it open.
"Ya let's do it," Durham says without taking his eye off Rebecca. "Hey."
Rebecca breaks her gaze away from the radio, looking at Eric with an indecisive smile.
"Let's get this taken care of alright?" Durham asks.
Rebecca agrees and the two walk away from the counsel towards the rest of the crew, who are gathered around the container and working on opening it. After some prying and maneuvering, Zack and William manage to lift the lid off of the long four-sided canister. As Kayla and Alexis slowly place the lid on the ground, Rebecca and Eric peer inside to examine what exactly has been sent to them. They are shortly joined by the remaining crew members.
"This is a lot more than I was expecting," Alexis comments as she goes over the contents of the container. "I mean, this is a lot of supplies."
"Ya it really is," Kayla agrees.
"It's not just food either," Zack examines. "Look, they sent hardware equipment and electronics."
William then holds up a package of seeds that was sent to the U.S.S. Halo.
"What the fuck do they expect us to do with these," William begs. "How long are we supposed to stay up here, because if I can gather anything from this container it seems like a pretty long fucking time."
Rebecca once again breaks away from the group and heads to the radio system, in an attempt to reach earth and receive an explanation for the confusing nature of the supplies sent to them.
"There has to be a reason that they sent all these different kinds of materials to us, and so much of them at that," Kayla questions towards Commander Durham. "How much longer are they expecting us to stay up here, its already been five months."
"We've done our job," William states. "We completed what we were sent up here to do, now we are supposed to be going home."
"We'll go home when it's time and when it is safe to do so," Eric commands. "I know I don't have any answers for you right now and I'm sorry, but if they don't think it's safe to re-enter the atmosphere than there is nothing we can do about it. Just sit tight."
Eric turns and walks back to Rebecca who is calmly operating the radio system.
"You able to reach anybody yet?" Eric says leaning in to examine the system alongside Dyer.
"Nothing, there is still no response," Rebecca replies. "I just keep getting this static interference."
"Alright keep trying," Eric discloses. "The rest of the crew is getting a little antsy about this whole situation. I'll keep them calm until we get some answers."
Just as Eric is about to leave to go back to Kayla, Alexis, William, and Zack, Rebecca stops him.
"Sir, what do you think this means?" Dyer asks.
Eric takes a moment of either reflection or hesitation before he answers.
"Honestly?" Eric spoke. "I have no idea."
Commander Durham walks away and turns his attentions to the mounting frustration brewing amongst the other members of the crew. Although it would seem understandable that both Eric and Rebecca would be rattled at the ambiguous nature of a situation that refuses to provide any answers, neither would ever show it. Both Eric and Rebecca have garnered the necessary resolve and steely-eyed demeanor to lead their crew through any situation. Eric through trial and error of decades served, with Rebecca learning under the Commander's tutelage from a young age.
"From what I can tell, they expect us to be up here for a while," Kayla says to the group as Commander Durham rejoins them. "We haven't cataloged all these supplies, but just on the eye test it looks like they've sent us enough for."
"For what?," Zack says as Kayla momentarily pauses.
"For two years," Kayla states.
"Two years?" Alexis stammers as a bewildered look crawls over her face.
Now there is a heated exchange breaking out amongst Commander Durham, William, Alexis, Kayla, and Zach. While the young crew argues that they have completed the mission they were set up for and assigned to, Commander Durham reminds them that they are supposed to follow orders no matter what. The crew argues that they haven't heard anything from back earth since they were informed that their re-entry had been indefinitely delayed.
"We are working on that," Commander Durham informs. "Rebecca is working on getting in contact with someone back at base right now."
Eric turns around to address Rebecca and in desperate hope that she has finally made contact.
"What's the status Rebecca," a confident and strong Commander Durham asserts.
"Nothing," Rebecca swallows as she looks back from the radio system to the eyes of her crew members fixated on her. "I just keep getting this static interference."
"Let me see if I can help," Zack offers as he moves from the group over to the radio system with Rebecca.
"Okay you two figure that out," Eric approves. "As for the rest of us, there is no use standing around bickering over how long we are going to be up here. The fact of the matter is we are, and right now that's all we know. So while they are working on getting in touch with home, let's get all this cataloged and put away where it needs to go."
At the behest of their leader Kayla, William, and Alexis, all begin to help Eric empty the supply container and store the belongings in their proper places. Along with the disconcerting amount of food, stored inside the container are various items that suggests the astronauts would not be returning any time soon.
"Flight tools, cameras, safety equipment," William calls out as he is emptying the container. "They even put spare parts for our extravehicular mobility units."
"Sir," Kayla motions to Eric. "Our task was a routine maintenance and repair on the IR Satellite. If they expect us to do anything more, or anything more complex, I'm not sure we have the necessary tools to do so."
"She is right Sir," Alexis adds.
Eric does not respond to their inquest, instead he continues putting the supplies in storage. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Zack work quickly to find a solution to the static interference that is blocking the radio's signal back to earth.
"How long has it been like this," Zack ponders.
"I first tried to get in touch with base when we got William back in safely," Rebecca informs. "Since then I've just been blocked out by this static. Do you have any idea what it could be."
"It could be a few things," Zack says. "Some simple, some a little more complex. The way things have been going today, I don't have a lot of confidence that this is going to be an easy fix."
After about fifteen minutes of tinkering around with the radio system, Rebecca and Zack find themselves stumped with the problem. The two of them decide to play the static over the Halo's speakers at a low volume and rejoin the group, while they wait to see if anything changes. Rebecca walks over to the container in the middle of the room and looks inside to see if there is anything else that needs to be stored away. Meanwhile, Eric and William return to the room from retrieving the dolly they will be used to carry away the empty container.
As Rebecca peers into what looks like an empty container, she notices a piece of paper at the bottom. The static continues to emit a soft sound over the speakers, as the entire crew are now converging back from their various chores.
"Did any of you see this?" Rebecca says holding up the medium sized piece of paper.
A silence falls over the room, as they wait for Rebecca to reveal the contents of the piece of paper. Without doing so, she walks over to Commander Durham and hands him the piece of paper. Eric looks it over and then with a look that no one on his team has ever seen, not even Rebecca, he stands speechless in front of them.
"Well?" William says in an antagonized mood before walking over and taking the piece of paper out of Commander Durham's hand to read it.
SURVIVE.
"What?" William chuckles sarcastically. "What the fuck kind of joke is this? This is a joke right?"
William then passes the note around to Zack, Kayla, and Alexis, all of whom take their turn examining the word plastered onto the piece of paper.
"Commander?" Kayla dribbled as she looks on in fear and disbelief at Durham.
As the crew looks around at their silent leader, a tension of fear and impatience begins to fill up the room. Both Rebecca and Eric have nothing to offer beyond speculation, and at this point are just as lost and confused as the rest. As the static coming from the useless radio system continues to pour out from the speakers, the crew being to exchange words of anger and suspicion in a heated argument amongst themselves. As the debate begins to rage and get out of hand, William makes a bee line for the radio system.
"Hello!, Hello!" William booms into the radio system transmitter. "Hey, what's going on? Why did you send us all of this shit? What the fuck does this note mean? Hello?"
Frustratingly there is still no response, other than the low volume of static taunting the crew of the U.S.S. Halo.
"Hello?," William barks as he turns up the volume to maximum output.
"That's enough Duncan," Eric orders from across the room. "Everyone needs to calm the hell down."
Steaming from the lack of information, and the potential seriousness of the situation, William storms over to Commander Durham to question him. With the two friends now at each others' throats, the volume of the divided crew is only matched by the blaring sound of static coming from the Halo's speakers. Just as things are about to spiral completely out of control, the speakers fall silent. Rebecca rushes over to the radio system and desperately calls out to anyone who would reciprocate.
"Hello, this is Rebecca Dyer of the U.S.S. Halo can anyone hear me," she pleads into the transmitter.
For a brief moment, which had the feeling of an eternity, everything in the Halo grew deafly silent. Just as Rebecca is about to call out again, she is interrupted by a inaudible response from the radio.
"Zach!," Rebecca shouts.
Almost as quickly as she called him, Zach is by her side and flipping switches on the radio trying to recalibrate the signal to get a clear response from the other end of the transmission.
"We could not understand," Rebecca proclaims. "Please repeat your message."
Once again the Halo is filled with complete silence, before the radio finally admits the message in a clear and concise manner.
......We're sorry.....You must survive.....
Before anymore information can be relayed the signal is lost and the static returns in full force, blaring from the speakers. Zack shuts off the radio, as Rebecca slams the transmitter down in her first visible sign of frustration. A ominous silence returns to the room.
"What does that mean?" Alexis begs. "What's going on?"
Just before Commander Durham is about to give his thoughts and expertise on the situation, a distance thud is heard from outside that causes the Halo to rumble ever so slightly. The entire crew run to the two windows on the other side of the shuttle and search for an origin to the noise.
"Oh my God," Commander Durham prayed.
Though the shuttle itself is a safe distance away, the crew of the U.S.S. Halo look on in horror as a large field of asteroids come crashing and pummeling into earth. One after one the asteroids, the size of a twenty-story building, strike the helpless planet without hesitation or mercy. The stunned and speechless crew can do nothing but watch, as the horror continues causing unseen and unimaginable destruction. William walks away in a dazed silence, while Kayla consoles a sobbing Alexis. Zack and Eric sprint over towards the radio system, in vain, trying to make contact with what is left of earth.
Meanwhile, Rebecca gazes out at her former home as the final asteroid makes its unforgiving impact with earth. She watches on in silence and utter disbelief, as the once blue planet begins to turn a sickly shade of red, black, and grey.
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