Oxygen by Randy Ingermanson

Author:Randy Ingermanson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, mars, terrorism, young adult, space, survival, astronauts, nasa, space adventure, women astronauts, microbial ecologist
Publisher: Randy Ingermanson

Chapter 24

Sunday, April 6, 2014, 9:00 A.M.

Bob

BOB TOOK ANOTHER SWALLOW OF coffee. The stuff wasn’t working anymore. He’d been awake for almost two days straight. If he were going to keep this up much longer, he’d have to go to something stronger. But Kennedy was holed up in his room, and Bob wasn’t about to leave Valkerie with the run of the ship.

“Ares 10, this is Houston, come in.”

Bob’s head jerked up. Had he been dozing? And was that Nate’s voice? How could that be? Nate wasn’t a Capcom. Bob keyed the mike. “Houston, this is Ares 10, Bob speaking.”

Valkerie abandoned her lab work and floated over to join him. They waited in silence as four minutes ticked off.

“Ares 10, this is your Mission Director, Nate Harrington, with a special message for the full crew. Dr. Kaganovski, please summon all four crew members, if possible. I do hope Dr. Ohta is now conscious. Over.”

“Check in on Lex,” Bob said to Valkerie. “I’ll go get Kennedy.” He pushed off from the console, floated over to Kennedy’s door, grabbed a ceiling strap, and pounded on the door. “Hampster! Special message from Nate! He wants to talk to all of us together.”

Half a minute later, the door slid sideways and Kennedy came out looking groggy and irritated.

What was with him? He’d been in there for way more than eight hours, but the beauty sleep didn’t look like it was working.

When they got back to the CommConsole, Valkerie was already there. “Lex is still unconscious,” she said.

Bob grabbed the mike and set it floating at the midpoint between the three of them. “Houston, this is Bob. With me are Kennedy and Valkerie. Lex is still unconscious.” He nodded to Kennedy and Valkerie. “Say something to verify you’re here.”

“Bang, bang, we’re dead,” Kennedy said in a toneless voice.

“Actually, three of us are conscious and cognizant,” Valkerie said. “Lex is still in a coma, but her signs are stable. I expect she’ll recover—at least partially.”

“Over,” Bob said.

The three of them waited in awkward silence. Bob tried not to breathe too deeply. Kennedy’s body odor was getting awfully ripe.

“Ares 10, this is Mission Director Nate Harrington. We’ve evaluated the suggestion Bob and Valkerie sent, and we think it has a chance of success.”

“What suggestion?” Kennedy asked. Bob put up a hand to shush him. Nate was still talking.

“Our evaluation says that sodium pentothal together with Raplon will work best for inducing a coma and minimizing your need for oxygen. We believe you can do it safely for up to sixty days, which is more than the forty days to the rendezvous date with the ERV. There remains the question of who will stay conscious during that time. Any one of you could do it, in principle. Valkerie has the lowest oxygen needs, so if you choose her, you’ll have the biggest safety margin. Kennedy is next, then Bob. You could have as many as four days to make your decision, but the error bars on that figure are pretty large.

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