Ground control to Major Tom…
Commander Parker hung in the copula of the International Space Station, nodding his head to the song etched in his mind.
Ground control to Major Tom…
Smudges on the thick glass was quickly coated with frosty breath, distorting the Earth passing below. What should have been city lights flourishing on landmasses, lit like the cacophony of stars above, were as dark as the ocean. Here and there lightning dotted the planet below, but those were only momentary flashes on an eternal night. Wild fires cracked the terrain like razor thing outlines of tectonic plates. Still 10 minutes before the 8th sunrise of his day.
The hum of computers was lower than when his expedition crew had arrived months ago. The hundred thirty some odd computers aboard all somehow networked back to Earth – to Houston, or briefly to Huntsville after the Texas city was flashed away. Only critical systems remained on. Any moment now he should be over the California coast, just on the other side of the sunrise.
A voice in the next module cracked over a radio:
*This is Foxtrot 18-41 – this is Arizona, over?*
Parker switched on his flashlight and pressed against the glass of the viewing port, gently floating down the neck of the pitch black Tranquility module. His light found the receiver and he fine tubed the radio’s nob.
*This is Arizona, do you respond?* The voice asked again.
“Arizona, this is Station.” Parker responded, his light resting on the mesh of wires and machinery.
*Hey there, Station. How’s your status?*
“Day 42 of post-flash orbit. The others left on the Soyuz on day 4. That’s 38 days of solitude.”
*39 days of solitude here. I bet I beat you.*
“We pushed up our orbit just after the flash, I won’t be coming down for another one hundred –“he paused, “twenty-two years. That’s a long time to wait.” Having the crew depart did have the benefit of stretching out rations for a single person another two years. Life systems can easily run on low until then.
*I’m stubborn, Station.*
“I know. You can live anywhere you want, now, and you still willingly live in Arizona.” Parker laughed at himself. “Why else but pure stubbornness would a woman go and do that?”
The silence was only kept away by the continuous low hum of computers in the dark. “You still have the same plan?” He asked. “Arizona?”
*There was an accident last night – a fire in the kitchen.*
“Are you ok?” Parker grabbed the metal framework and pulled in closer.
The air system kicked the smoke out before it got too bad. But – it took out over a year of food.
“You said you only had a year of reserves.”
*Yeah.*
The framework was cold in his grasp. Heating was another one of those systems kept to a minimum in favor of life support.
“Are we going to be talking on my next pass?”
*Do you plan on falling out of the sky?*
“I get a little closer each day.”
*Then I’ll be here, Station. Any new plans on your part?*
Fingers of light laid out over the continental US as the sun crested over the horizon. Black lands and burning skies.
“Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do.”
*Blue? Still? Didn’t expect that. Catch you next orbit, Station.*
The New Martian 