Chapter 26: Island

Aboard Ship, Jem and Koluna were watching the tactical display.

“What do you mean you’ve lost the shuttle??” said Jem.

“The shuttle is no longer showing up on sensors. They do not respond to my attempts to contact them,” replied Ship.

“Perhaps when they passed through the planet’s ionosphere, their communications were damaged?” asked Koluna.

“Ship, replay the sensor data from the point just before they disappeared. Playback at half speed,” said Jem. On the display Jem and Koluna could see the shuttle passing through the ionosphere.

“There! Is that some kind of energy burst?” said Jem.

“Confirmed. Origin unknown,” replied Ship.

“Could it have been an explosion aboard the shuttle?” asked Koluna.

“I don’t know. Brian is an experienced shuttle pilot. If they were experiencing a technical difficulty, he would have called for help,” said Jem.

“Perhaps it was a trap, like Brian suspected,” said Koluna.

“We only have the one shuttle. And if we had a second shuttle, I would not go down there until we know it is not a trap,” replied Jem.

“So Brian and Laine are on their own,” said Koluna.

“Yes Koluna. Ship, can you ping them?” said Jem.

“Confirmed. Sending ping ... No response,” said Ship.

“Crap!” said Jem.

It was the worst pain I had ever experienced. My chest hurt and it was hard to breathe. The seat restraints had stopped me from smashing into the console in front of me. I knew I did not have time to sit there. We were in deep water and our shuttle was sinking. There was a leak already, and our shuttle would fill up with water soon.

I released my seat restraints and promptly fell forwards. Our artificial gravity was gone, and we were nose downwards. I screamed as I felt my ribs impact with the console. I must have broken some when we hit.

Laine was unconscious and strapped in her seat. I had to stand on the console and reach up to get to the release for her restraints. This was all made more difficult because we were wearing our suits, and I was in pain. I was about knee deep in water by now.

I released her restraint, and she fell towards me. I moved out of the way and she splashed down on the console area. I could not take her landing on my chest right now.

I turned her over to face me so I could look in through her mask. These suits were for protecting us from depressurization. I hoped they would keep the water out and allow us to breathe. It was all we had, and I was glad we had that much. I could see Laine was breathing, but she was out cold.

The airlock was behind our seats on one side of the shuttle. I had to get us there, to evacuate. I did not know if we were near the surface or if we were descending. I just knew we had little time.

The emergency lights failed inside the shuttle. I was glad that Ship had installed lights on our suits. I turned on the lights on mine and Laine’s suit. It gave me something to see by.

I left Laine slumped against the side wall, and I made my way up to the airlock. I quickly found the manual release. It was like the ones I had worked on Ship recently. With some pain, I cranked open the inner airlock door.

I got down to drag Laine into the airlock. She was still limp. I wondered about taking her mask off and splashing water on her, but I was afraid I could not get it back on. It was dark, and I was almost in a panic. I put my arms under hers and lifted her to a standing position and pushed her into the airlock. Fortunately she was not too heavy. I climbed in over her and dragged her in away from the door.

My chest pain was agony now. I had to tune out the pain and continue. I cranked the inner door shut and then worked on the outer door. As soon as I cracked it open, more water gushed in. For a moment it was impossible to continue, until the water pressure equalized.

As soon as I could, I resumed cranking the outer door open, enough so we could get out. We were fully underwater now, and I could feel the pressure on me. The suit normally kept pressure in, not out. Fortunately I was still breathing.

I pushed Laine out through the opening and held on to her as I got out. I adjusted the air in our suits to compensate for the pressure. It also made us more buoyant, and we floated upwards. That was the last I saw of the shuttle. I had never learned to swim, and I was terrified. The water was black all around us, save for the lights on our suits. I hoped that our suits would get us to the surface before our air ran out. They were only designed with about fifteen minutes of air.

Looking up, the water ahead started to get lighter. I assumed that was the surface we were approaching. My hands were getting numb, but I would not let go of Laine. I knew if I let go, would be separated and she would not survive.

And then we reached the surface.

I bobbed around on the surface for a moment, holding on to Laine. I did not know her condition yet. The waves were not too turbulent, considering our shuttle just had a crash landing.

I had yet another problem to solve:

• If I opened our face masks, the air in the suits would escape and water would enter. We would sink and drown.

• If I kept the suits sealed, we would run out of air and soon suffocate.

I soon found out I did not have a choice. Laine had run out of air and was choking, so I opened her mask. She was awake!

Laine took in a mouthful of water and coughed. I tried to hold her up so she would not fall under and drown. My suit was buoyant, but hers was deflating.

“Brian? What happened?” she said. I could just about hear her through my suit.

I could tell my air had run out, and I cracked open my face mask and yelled back, “We crashed! — I got us out. — I can’t swim!”

“Take a breath,” she said. I did, and my chest hurt. Then she closed my face mask. She peeled off her suit. I just floated there helplessly. It turned out she could swim. Then she cracked open my face mask.

“Brian, you have to get out of this suit or you will die. Take another breath,” she said.

I took a breath, and she helped me remove my suit. Now I was terrified, naked in the ocean of a distant planet, and I couldn’t swim.

Laine did not seem bothered by this. Somehow she sealed up both our suits with some air remaining in them.

“You need to use your suit as a floatation aid,” Laine said. It took some doing, but I got each leg of my suit under my armpits. It gave me enough buoyancy to keep my mouth above water. With it, my panic settled down a notch. I was still terrified, but I was above the surface and breathing, albeit with some serious pain.

“I think — I cracked my ribs — when landed,” I wheezed out. Talking too a lot of effort. We were floating in the water, and there was no sign of our shuttle.

“Brian, you need to hold on to your suit. Keep your arms wrapped around it, and do not fall asleep. I think I see the island in the distance. I will tow you. Stay calm. This will take a while,” said Laine. She grabbed one arm from my suit and swam on her back, pulling me along with her.

Fortunately Laine had a good sense of direction, and the currents were in our favour. The land in the distance gradually got closer. I held on tight to my suit and tried not to imagine various aquatic predatory creatures.

From time to time, Laine would rest and confirm we were going in the right direction. She was showing a grim determination not to fail. If we survived this, I would declare all her life-debts paid.

I was taking short breaths to minimize the pain. I did not even have the strength to say anything encouraging. It was hard feeling useless. I did not know how to swim, and I depended on Laine to get us to the island.

And the island? What was there waiting for us? A medical bay, a nice cup of coffee and a warm bed? I doubted that.

Laine took another break. She looked me in the eye. I was struggling with my breathing, but I returned her gaze. It was like she was asking if I was still good, and I replied in the affirmative. After checking her bearing, she continued swimming.

I think with the suit as a floatation aid; it was easier for Laine to devote more effort in propelling herself towards the island. She did not have to put effort into keeping afloat, as the suit did that.

In the last few missions, I was lacking problems to solve. I was ahead of myself. Now, if we got back, I had plenty of problems to work on. I tried to think about them while they were fresh in my mind, and to keep my thoughts focused on something useful. The problem was I couldn’t concentrate because of the pain.