Another Sunday morning, another chapter to post. Although it is still a long way off, it is time to plan for the end of the story and I have about five different ideas its conclusion. Even I am wondering which way it will go.

Chapter 51

Desperate Measures

The sound was like a short burst from a Gatling gun, constructed from the cannons of a World War II battleship (even though such a device was a physical impossibility) and even though she had been warned ahead of time, when Ursula heard the spacecraft carrying her daughter fired from the Railgun, she assumed the worst had happened.

"There they go" Emerson pointed excitedly at the sky.

When no one around her started panicking, Ursula realised the ship had not explode and Calla was still alive, but the Star Runner II was already too far away to be seen, although the white trail arcing to the east gave away its position to those on the ground.

"Doctor Spencer calling Maynard Linwood" the radio crackled.

Not expecting a call so soon, Maynard fumbled with the radio attached to his belt.

"Reading you Doctor" he answered.

"You'll be happy to know we're receiving a strong signal; breathing and heart rate looking good."

Ursula snatched the radio and shouted into it.

"Can we talk to them now?" she asked.

"I'm afraid it's way too early, but we'll let you know as soon as we make solid contact."

"You'd better" the frantic mother barked.

A spray of salt water hit Calla square in the face as she stood as the helm of the triple masted schooner. The heavy squall buffeted the ship causing bow to not only pitch up and down, but to turn in a circular motion making it next to impossible to keep a true course.

"It's getting worse Captain" a typical salty sea dog informed her.

"Reef the sails and prepare to come about" she ordered.

"Aye Captain but... we don't have any sails no more."

"What are you talking about Salty?"

Surprised at what she had been told by her subordinate, Calla looked up to see all the sails, along with the masts and foredeck, lifting up and swirling into a giant vortex in the sky. At the same time, forces she could not identify were squeezing her head so hard, she thought it was about to crack. As it that wasn't bad enough, her stomach seemed to have grown tired of its current location and had decided to take a little stroll somewhere. As she checked to see if any other organs were attempting to escape, a strange person who appeared part Picasso and part Dali started giving her orders.

"Come on Calla, open your eyes" Blue suggested as his face began to solidify. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a horse on a bicycle" she replied "Unsteady and a danger to anyone who comes near me."

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Blue asked.

"Nah you already did that joke back in chapter 22" Calla sniffed.

"A bit of a headache?"

"No thanks; I've already got a doozy" Calla replied. "So we didn't blow up then?"

"We made it safely to orbit" Blue informed her.

"Oh good; Mom will be pleased. Speaking of whom, have you made contact with Earth."

"Not yet" Blue admitted "I tried to contact the capsule but there was no response. The locator signal is strong and we'll see them soon, but I must admit I'm getting worried."

"Well if it's alright with you, I'll let everyone know we're okay while you keep track of our prey."

"Go for it" Blue agreed.

'BEEP!'

A small warning sounded in Abigail Dias's ear to let her know another hour had passed since she had activated her suits internal life support; it was the fifth beep.

"Are you awake yet Dad?"

Luis always was a heavy sleeper so Abigail was just glad she did not have to listen to his usual snoring.

"One hour left" she said even though he obviously wasn't listening.

The last few days for Abigail had been an absolute clichéd rollercoaster of emotion; from the exciting discovery of the ship, to the heart stopping fear of being cast off into space, the shock of talking to the brother she thought long dead, as well as the relief upon being told she and her father would be saved. Now with time rapidly running out for them, Abigail was glad her father was asleep so he would not have to face the fate about to come. She tried to be brave and just accept there was nothing more to be done, but a tear still moistened the bandage around her eyes.

BANG!

The shock of the collision was so great, Abigail could not stop herself from screaming in terror as the Orion capsule began tumbling over and over.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" Calla asked as she rubbed the lump on her head.

There should not have been a problem; both craft were lined up perfectly and all the computer readouts predicted a smooth docking.

"I don't know" Blue responded "the clamps didn't even get the chance to engage."

"Do we try again?"

Everything had gone so well since they had both regained consciousness; the Orion was precisely where they expected to find it and Calla was having very little trouble keeping up with Blues instructions and requests. Everyone on Earth was relieved to know there were no unexpected problems and Calla was even able to convince her mother not to worry excessively. The only concern (and it was a big one) was the continued lack of contact with the capsule; for nobody knew the receiver volume inside the Orion had been dropped to zero on purpose.

"Get back up here and we'll try and get a visual on the capsule" Blue ordered.

With a very limited air supply left for Luis and Abigail, Blue had made the decision to approach the capsule at the best angle for an immediate coupling. This meant as they drew closer, the only view available was the one through the rear docking camera. Once all the major manoeuvres had been completed, Blue sent Calla back into the External Payload Carrier so as soon as the docking clamps had locked on and the green light was given, she could open the hatches and flood the capsule with fresh air.

With both craft slowly coming together, Calla was actually enjoying the feeling of floating in micro gravity; her initial nausea had subsided and she felt fantastic. Blue was regularly calling out the closing distance measurements, but soon after she heard him say there was one meter to go, the collision had occurred and Calla had been thrown against the bulkhead.

"Pitch up 160 degrees" Blue said when Calla was back in her seat.

"Oh that does not look good" Calla gasped as they saw the spinning capsule.

Blue's heart jumped into his mouth as he realised he would not get another chance to try the docking again; but only a few seconds later the capsule automatic station keeping system kicked in and fired the manoeuvring thrusters, bringing the Orion back on its original heading.

"Thank goodness" Calla sighed "Do you want to try again?"

"Wait a minute" Blue said "something doesn't look quite right."

Without changing the angle of his ship, Blue brought the Star Runner in close only five meters from the other craft.

"What on Earth is that?" Calla asked when she got a close look at the Orion strangely conical docking hatch.

"Whatever it is, it's not part of the original design" Blue gasped "The Mars Transfer Vehicle is older than I am so I can only assume they had to make its docking equipment a little more robust over time."

"That hatch sticks out over half a meter; how are we going to get around it?" Calla asked.

"If we could be sure Dad and Abigail had full pressure suits on, we could just get close and open both hatches so they could float across; but if they don't, we'd kill them instantly."

"If only they'd answer the radio" Calla huffed.

On board the Orion, Abigail was beginning to give in to blind panic. Even though the capsule had stopped spinning, she could not be sure it wouldn't happen again and she was more than a little concerned about her father; no matter how heavy a sleeper he was, the collision should have woken him. She had no other choice but to get her vision back.

Abigail reached up to her visor and opened the locking mechanism. It was not easy to remove the bandage with her gloves on but she managed to force her fingers in the helmet slightly above her ears and drag it off. With the bandage gone, the pads covering her eyes floated off and she could see once more.

"DAD, NO!" she gasped when she saw Luis was not wearing a helmet.

In panic once again, Abigail began to fumble with the wrist locks on her gloves.

"I think I've got it" Blue said excitedly "The docking ring is still the same, it's just that weird heavy duty conical hatch. If we get rid of our hatch on the rear of the EPC, then there will be nothing for it to hit and both craft will be able to dock without any trouble."

"Are you sure it'll work" Calla looked sceptical.

"It's the best idea I can come up with for now" Blue admitted "Close the Star Runner's hatch."

Calla followed his order before returning to her seat, as the ship began to turn once more.

"Reduce the pressure in the EPC to 1%."

"Err... sorry but I don't know how to do that" Calla admitted.

"I'm not surprised really" Blue said as he reached across to Calla's screen "You've been doing so well, I keep forgetting you've only had a month's training and we haven't even touched on remote system operations yet."

With the pressure lowered and the rear of the ship pointed towards the Earth, Blue accessed the emergency systems, killed the safety over-ride and armed the explosive bolts on the EPC.

"Here we go."

A dull thud shook the small craft as the unseen door began its long journey back to the planet it had just come from. Not wanting to waste any more time, Blue turned the ship back into its docking position.

"Okay we're seventy three meters out" Calla reported.

"Let's get this done" Blue gritted his teeth and overrode the auto docking system.

He set the thrusters to give a slightly stronger burst and engaged the manual manoeuvring system.

"Two meters per second" Calla warned "aren't we going a tad too fast?"

Blue did not answer; he just watched the time clock while resetting the thrusters.

"Ten meters" Calla warned but Blue did not flinch.

After four seconds, he engaged the rear thrusters and one second later the two craft touched once again, but with a much more satisfying result.

"Clamps engaged" Calla noted "We've got a hard dock."

Without saying anything, Blue reached over to Calla's screen again to re-pressurise the EPC.

"Let's go" he said as he pushed himself out of his seat.

Calla followed close behind as they flew to the rear of the ship. Blue wrenched the hatch lock to the open position while the pressure inside the EPC was still at only 87%. Calla's ears popped as the pressure inside both sections equalised, but that was the least of their troubles. As soon as the hatch opened, they were greeted by the most horrendous screeching whistle coming from the rear of the EPC.

"Ugh... what is that noise" Calla winced as she blocked her ears.

Thinking fast, Blue moved back into the Star Runner and grabbed one of his pressure suit gloves. He then flew passed Calla to where the Orion was attached to the EPC and loosely ran the glove around the seal. When it reached the right point, the glove was pulled into the seal and the screeching ceased.

"We must have scored the surface of the seal when we collided with the capsule" Blue explained "it wouldn't be more than a scratch, but it was enough to allow some air to be forced out due to the lack of pressure outside the ship."

"And the glove is stopping the air from escaping?" Calla asked in amazement.

"No; it just disrupted the air flow and killed the noise" Blue explained as he worked on the Orion hatch "Tiny bits of the glove are already being shot out into space."

"Far out" Calla gasped.

With the noise problem temporarily fixed, Blue motioned for Calla to help him with the heavy duty hatch. They pushed it for a few seconds but it wouldn't budge.

"Time to get violent with it" Blue decided "Watch your fingers."

Floating up, Blue placed his feet on the locking bar while pushing up on the bulkhead. As soon as he felt firmly in place, he lifted his left foot and stomped on the bar. With a sharp crack, it finally gave and they were able to push it back inside the other craft. A burst of foul air struck as they floated into the Orion capsule where they were greeted by a disturbing sight.

Even though she was about to pass out, Blue's sister was desperately trying to reconnect one of the CO2 scrubbers to her father's suit, as he lay lifeless in his seat.

"Help me" Abigail begged just before she fainted.

I have recently leant that some people are like clouds; the day is bright and sunny when they go away.

The bad thing is... I think I'm one of them.