Chapter 11
Back on the ISS, eruptions of glee that had ensued upon seeing the space shuttle were swiftly followed by panic. The space shuttle was not slowing down. In fact it was heading straight for the station.
"Oh god!" Porter gasped. "We're going to die."
Trent forcibly removed him from the viewport and took a look for himself. His mouth dropped open in horror. Their two guardians swung into action. Trent watched in awe, as Bumblebee and Sideswipe flanked the space shuttle. It attempted to manoeuvre out of range of their weapons but to no avail. The space shuttle began to change in front of Trent's eyes. It was now dangerously close to the station. It transformed into another of the giant bipedal robots and began shooting back, frantically trying to avoid being blasted.
Blast-off swerved and ducked as best he could in the vacuum of space. Bumblebee managed to get a hold of him from behind, while Sideswipe approached him from the front.
"Blast-off." Sideswipe growled. "Been a long time."
"Not long enough!" Blast-off roared in defiance, managing to wriggle from the smaller Autobot's grip he fired his weapon straight into Sideswipe's mid-section. Growling in surprise and pain, Sideswipe was thrown some distance by the blast. Firing his boosters, he shot back to the fight. Bumblebee was planting quick successive blows around Blast-off's torso; he was too small and too fast for the lumbering Decepticon.
Blast-off noticed Sideswipe racing toward them, his single blade drawn and his face a picture of determined menace. Stealing a look at the station, he slammed himself into Bumblebee in frustration and to prevent Sideswipe from attacking him outright, knowing he would not risk harming his fellow Autobot. Locked together, they grappled, spinning ever closer to the station. Realising Blast-off's plan, Bumblebee forced himself from the fight, the sudden jerking movement sent Blast-off gliding swiftly towards the centre of the ISS. Righting himself he transformed once again into the shuttle and accelerated. Bumblebee watched in horror as Blast-off maintained a collision course with the station. Sideswipe came out of nowhere; he landed a solid kick into Blast-off's already injured side sending him off course. Unfortunately he was too close to the station to alter course. He ploughed straight through the Pirs compartment of the ISS. It lurched violently, the impact spinning the station out of its fixed orbit. Air gushed from the ISS's shell. All Bumblebee could do, was watch with increased trepidation as the station began spinning out of control. It scattered debris and precious oxygen into the unforgiving coldness of space.
****
The Astronauts were flung violently into bulk heads. Nadya viciously cracked her head against the computer console used for communication. Blood trickled into her eye. Getting a foothold, she brushed it roughly from her face. Trent helped Shimizu to right himself; he had also received a nasty gash on his face. Porter was frantically trying to stabilise their spin using the atmospheric booster engines located on the Zvezda module.
"Report!" Trent cried out, raising his voice over the beeping of alarms and the worrying sound of escaping air.
"Pressure is dropping rapidly. We have hull breaches on the Columbus module. We have to seal the section!" Nadya shouted back above the noise. Stokes now more or less recovered from his injuries, flew into action.
"I'll go."
"Wait!" Nadya cried. "The breaches are big. You'll need a space suit or you'll freeze to death and suffocate."
"Death by multiple choice. It's my favourite kind." He winked as he exited the module.
"I'll go with him." Trent responded. They exited quickly. Nadya turned to Porter and Zeiger who were fighting a losing battle with the boosters. Without warning the Astronauts fell to the floor of the station. Baffled Nadya glanced at the pilot. His brow beaded with sweat, he chewed his lower lip viciously. Shaking his head, he slammed his palms into the console in frustration.
"I can't correct the spin! We will crash into Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate in approximately 45 minutes. I can't stop it." His voice cracked, the thought was almost too much to bear. Zeiger piped up, surprisingly calm. "Good news. For those 45 minutes the spin has given us artificial gravity."
"How exactly is that good news?" Porter seethed in frustration. The German shrugged.
"We get to die on our feet rather than floating around on our asses."
Nadya could not help but grin at Fred's twisted humour. Then she had an idea.
"What about them?"
"Who?"
"The giant robots. They're big enough. I'll say the bigger one could hold the station himself. Maybe they can help."
Porter's eyes lit up. "That might work." Zeiger nodded eagerly. "Let's get those communications back online."
****
Trent and Stokes worked as quickly as they could in the zero gravity. Fully suited up, their gloved fingers struggled to work the manual bulk head controls used to seal off damaged modules. Beyond them the Pirs docking compartment was completely smashed beyond recognition. From where they were, they could stare straight out into the emptiness of space. The view chilled Stokes to the bone. The Columbus and Kibō laboratories that were permanently berthed to the compartment, hung precariously onto the station. The spin was creating a drag on the modules causing them to strain against the outer shell. Sparks flew in all directions from battered consoles and torn wiring. They had managed to seal off part of the module, but more air was leaking through from the other side of the station. The bulk heads were not sealing. Trent was losing his cool rapidly.
"Damnit!" He cursed loudly, when their final attempt had failed to seal the compartment. Stokes remained calm, the scientist in him taking over.
"There's nothing we can do. At this rate, we'll lose all breathable air in about 25 minutes."
Trent cursed again. Refusing to be beaten, he tried to manually close the bulk heads with brute force. Stokes managed to grab hold of him, before he did damage to his suit and himself.
"Commander, there's nothing we can do." His voice was grim. "We have to go back to the module. We need to tell the others."
"They deserve better than to die out here like this." Trent growled in anger.
"I know Sir. They at least deserve to know they're going to die."
Sighing Trent finally complied. At that moment the station hit turbulence and the Columbus module tried to tear itself from the station under the strain. The force knocked Trent, sending him flying into Stokes. Stokes managed to grip onto some piping that had come lose in the attack. Clutching Trent's arm behind him, they hung there, the spin and vacuum forcing their bodies outward into space. He felt his fingers slipping, he couldn't hold on. Trent looked at him, a professional climber he knew that Stokes would probably survive without the added extra weight. Seeing the look in his Commander's eyes, Stokes screamed at him through his helmet.
"No. I know what you're thinking, don't you dare do that to me."
"One of us let's go or we both die Stokes. It's the only way."
"Screw your way, if you let go I'm coming after you."
Trent shook his head in frustration. "Stokes you're such a pig-headed son of a..."
"So don't let go." Stokes interrupted. "You know I'll stop you. Commander or no commander, I'm not letting you commit suicide. You can suffocate along with the rest of us."
Trent stared at him in surprise. "Is everything a joke to you?"
Not getting the chance to respond, Stokes's hand slipped from the pipe. "Shit!"
The Astronauts were flung from the station. Luckily they were thrown away from Earth's atmosphere in the rotation. Stokes, still clutching Trent's arm, began laughing at the irony of choosing either to die a slow death in space or a slow death in space on a space station.
A massive shape glided effortlessly past the station. Spotting the marooned Astronauts, Bumblebee headed straight for them. Gently clutching the tiny, surprised men in his palms, he headed back to the decimated space station. Sideswipe was in communication with the Astronauts inside.
"They believe we can help them stop the station from spinning into the Atmosphere."
Trent spoke up. "That's right. I didn't think of that. If you position yourselves at each edge of the space station, your size and strength may be able to slow or even stop the spin." Bumblebee nodded to Sideswipe. The Autobots managed to get themselves into position. Bumblebee positioned the stranded Astronauts onto his back. They held on tightly.
"You have to do it at exactly the same time and the movement has to be gradual or you could end up tearing the station apart." Trent warned.
Nadya counted to three from inside the Zvezda module, on three the Autobots and the station fired up their boosters. All coordinated by the Astronauts. The ISS creaked and groaned against the strain. Trent winced in sympathy as the Kibō module whined loudly and broke free from the station. It hurtled towards the planet. Trent and Stokes watched it burn up in a bright fiery streak as it skated across the atmosphere.
"Well at least you don't have to repair it now." Stokes glanced at his commander, who shook his head in irritation.
"NASA is going to be pissed about this."
The station finally ground to a halt through the Autobots' steady efforts. With less than 25 minutes until they burned up in the atmosphere, the Astronauts instructed their allies to boost the station back to its original orbit of 425km, attempting to contact Nadya inside the station, Trent got no response. Stokes suddenly cried out.
"The air! The breach isn't sealed." He started to push off Bumblebee to try and lower the bulk heads. Bumblebee stopped him calmly. After they had returned the station to its original orbit, the two Autobots set to work on the damaged Pirs compartment. Being the stronger of the two, Sideswipe lifted the broken modules higher to meet with the rest of the station. With expert precision Bumblebee welded the two sections of the station together. Using a highly refined laser, the steel melted and fused together, preserving what was left of the battered module. The air was sealed inside and the recycling units carried on with the job of pumping air around the station.
****
Blast-off had escaped the collision with minor damage to his armour. The pitiful station was as thin as paper to him. He smirked as he glanced behind him. The station was spinning out of control. The Autobots were too consumed with trying to save the insects' lives to notice his escape. Transforming back into his guise he shot off in the opposite direction, satisfied the job was done.
****