forbidden - chris beck

Chapter 15

So it's day 94 here on the Hermes. Yes, just 30 more days to go until we reach Mars.

I have to admit, although I've loved the experience,  I can't wait to get out this cramped environment.

Ironically, as soon as I get off this one, I'll move straight into the Hab which is just as small.

While having my morning coffee I looked up to the task screen to find my name next to Beck's. We were on airlock repair. Apparently the airlock on the other side of the ship was playing up, it was becoming harder to close it and so that needed to be fixed before it became a serious problem.

"Looks like it's you and me today, Collins." Beck playfully nudged my shoulder as he walked past me to put his mug in the sink.

I smiled nervously and continued to sip my coffee. Why was I acting so weird? It's no big deal.

" You look like you've seen better days." Johanssen faced me with a questioning look on her face as to why I looked so uneasy. Was it really that obvious?

"Yeah." I nodded my head towards the monitor screen.

She looked up at it and realisation spread across her face. "Oh, that's why?" She nodded and smirked at me. "Try not to have too much fun."

"Beth!" I whispered a harshly, hoping that no one around heard, but she just smiled mischievously.

~

"Okay, now open it." Beck instructed as I tapped in the code and heard nothing but a loud squeak  from the door trying to open.

"Nothing." I sighed placing my hands on my hips in frustration. We'd been doing this for a few hours now and the damn thing didn't want to budge.

After a few minutes of thought, Beck walked over to the hatch with his tools. Using a spanner, he attempted to tighten the hinge, but it ended up falling off.

"Excellent." He sighed.

This was going to be a long day.

~1 hour later~

"I've got the instruction manual." I said with a large ring bound pile of paper.

After Beck finally admitting that neither of us could fix the door without the manual, he sent for me to get it.

I opened up the book and flipped the pages until I found the exact hatch door we were fixing.

"Why do these things have to be so complicated?" I moaned.

Beck came up behind me and also looked down at the manual.

"It basically says that everything we have been doing for the past hour was wrong."

"So we have to take everything apart again?" I said, flipping the page.

"Yeah." A sigh escaped his lips.

"Well, we better get started." Beck started unzipping his jacket, leaving him in his black t-shirt.

His lips spread into a small smirk as he noticed me watching him. After immediately turning away, I began to read out the instructions as Beck followed what I said.

~ 3 hours later ~

We were actually almost finished, so I thought. We had done what the instructions had told us and we were confident that we were nearly there.

I decided to get us both cold drinks from the kitchen. Beck sat on the floor next to the hatch and I joined him as we had our drinks.

From our postures and expressions, anyone could tell that we were having a terrible day.

"We definitely need to reward ourselves when this is done." He leaned his head back on the wall behind him.

I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder. "I couldn't agree more."

"How about when we go home, I'll buy you a real drink." He said holding up his bottle of grape juice.

"I'll take that offer Mr Beck." I lifted my head from his shoulder and tapped my bottle against his.

~2 hours later~

"Just one more turn." I said as I tightened the bolt in the hinge.

"There." I let go of the tool and stood up. "Try pushing it closed now."

With all his strength Beck pushed the door as hard as he could. It was also it closed until we heard a snap.

"What the hell was that?" He asked, slowly prying his hands away from the door.

"I think we broke it even more." I said before rushing to grab the instruction manual to try to identify any mistakes we made.

Beck opened the hatch door and we couldn't notice anything that looked physically broken.

"I think I know what we have to do." I said. Grabbing the tool bag, I walked into the hatch so that I was on the other side of the door.

"We need to do the same on this side." I explained, pointing to the diagram in the book.

After figuring out what needed to be done, we did the exact same process from inside the hatch which was a tiny passageway (almost like a tunnel) leading to the endless void of space.

~47 minutes later~

"Okay, that should just about do it." Beck said after tightening the last bolt.

"Let's see if it shuts." I said, reaching for the handle and typing the code in again for the hatch to close. From what we observed it seemed to be functioning correctly.

"We did it!" I smiled.

"I didn't think that would actually work." Beck said.

"Right, let's get something to eat, I'm starved." I spoke as I typed in the code for the hatch to open, only for it to be rejected.

"Uh..." I re-typed the code over and over again, but the same response was coming up.

A panicked look spread over our faces as Beck tried to push the door open with force, but it was no use.

He turned to me and said. "We're stuck."