Waning Hope (Nihilian Effect)

Part 2: Descension

Once inside and his suit on its hook, Martin headed for his capsule to take his nap. Eirene stepped out of the control module and stood in front of him. He attempted to pass around her, but she moved to bar his way.

He stared at her lean face. "What?"

She floated up to him until their noses almost touched. "Why are you such a pain in my ass, Martin?"

Martin did not respond, but raised a brow in surprise at her bluntness.

"Don't give me that look. You know for a fact that you purposefully try my patience every chance you get. Why is that?"

He did not have an answer. Maybe it was because she was so easy to annoy. It could be because she bossed him around and he wanted a little respect. Then again, he did not care what she thought of him. He was not there for her; he was there to complete a mission.

"Maybe if you took that stick out of your ass, we wouldn't have a problem," he said, and the look of pain that crossed her face made him want to take it back. He had nothing against the woman. He used to get along with her during training, and she was all right when she was not irritated. Thinking back, his actions had been a large part of that. He opened his mouth to apologize, but she spoke first.

"You Haieli are all the same. Heartless." She returned to the control module before he could respond.

Martin shrugged off the commander's racist remark, no longer sorry about his own comment, and continued toward his capsule. He nodded to Peji as he passed through the kitchen, then paused in the service node when he realized he had to use the restroom. Sighing, he thought that he might never get to take a nap at this rate.

After locking the door, Martin sat on the toilet and flipped the switch that activated the flush system. The sudden change in gravity make his stomach lurch. The latrine was the only other room besides the rec room that had artificial gravity to match that of the planet. Without proper gravity, using the toilet would have required a complicated mess of suction hoses; not as bad as an orbital space station toilet, but less simple than one in a location with full gravity. The increase felt good, proper and normal like gravity should be, but at the same time it made him queasy. The change was not something anyone got used to. Still, it was better than having to deal with free-roaming urine or fecal matter.

He was about finished when a large boom violently shook the latrine. Martin yanked up his pants and opened the small panel to peer out of the porthole in the door. The hatch across the hall had closed, red warning lights around its frame signaled that it was unsafe to open. Through its window, the infirmary module was in shambles. The far end of the module was gone, the walls bent and jagged edges, exposing the room to the starry sky.

With caution, Martin exited the latrine. The hatch to the habitat node had also closed itself in emergency. The scene through its porthole resembled that of the infirmary. Three of the nearest capsules and their section of the node were gone, and what remained of the node to the other five capsules was a torn, gaping hole. So much for his nap. He did not think that anyone was in any of the missing capsules, but Tui's capsule was one of those that remained, cut off from the rest of the base.

Martin rushed toward the nearest wall comm system and pressed the button reserved for announcements, which boomed to the whole base.

"Emergency! We have crew members possibly trapped in an unpressurized section of the base," he rambled. "The remaining capsules are secure, but the node between myself and them is destroyed. Does anyone copy?"

He paused to take a breath and wait for a reply. The capsules themselves would have their own pressurized emergency hatches, but they did not have individual airlocks, air feed, or power storage. Anyone inside would be all right, but they would not last long. Retrieving them would be complicated.