Chapter Eight

Saving Ship

The Starship: Seattle Grace
Destination: The Colony World of Homestead II
Status: Autopilot
Crew: 257 asleep, 1 awake
Passengers: 4,998 asleep, 2 awake
Year: 3487
(38 years to go...)

Lexie couldn't sleep. Her and Mark put Callie to bed in her cabin, and told her to rest up. She left a bottle of pain meds on her bedside table and went to bed. But after tossing and turning for a couple of hours, she couldn't get any rest. Her mind was too active, everything whirring around about how she felt about Mark and the surgery and having to think on her feet. And the exhilaration of being somebody's doctor. This was her dream, but it was tainted with anxiety about the ship. What if Callie was right? What if the ship really was breaking and they had no idea what was wrong with it?

Lexie pulled herself out of bed and went to the pool. Maybe a swim would clear her busy mind. It did, for a few glorious minutes of silence as the water rushed over her ears, everything was peaceful. She lay back in the water and let herself float on the surface, her eyes closing, serenity flooding in. The water began to rise slowly over the edges of the pool. The water rose over the sides and bounced back off the walls. Waves formed throughout the room, the water still rising. Lexie dipped below the surface only to find herself in a large bubble. Her breath hitched in her throat, realising she couldn't breathe and beginning to panic, she swam for the edge of the bubble, breaking the skin. She took a deep drowning breath and looked around her. She was facing downwards, but the bubble was holding her up.

Then smash! Another bubble of water collided with the first, launching her backwards into the water. She was trapped, like a mermaid in a tank. She scrabbled around, trying to tread water, trying to reach the top of the water but it was moving quickly through the air and she couldn't gain any ground. Her lungs were burning, aching for air. But she refocussed, she knew she could go around five minutes before she'd pass out. She just needed to find the nearest air pocket. Every direction she moved in was pointless, she wasn't any closer and she was running out of air. She took a big gulp of water by mistake and sank a little in the bubble, her eyes closing, her limbs numb from the cold. Then nothing.

Mark was asleep. In mid air. His blanket had slid off him in the lack of gravity, the system having temporarily shorted out. There were all sorts of items from around his room floating beside him, colliding with other objects or the walls. Everything was fine one minute, he was dreaming of running around on grass again. Then the next his eyes were opening, a mug bouncing off his leg. He was upright, floating over the floor about twelve feet up. What was happening?

Then whatever had been happening stopped happening and Mark fell flat on his face. He let out a groan as the rest of his body came to a crunch on the floor. "Crap," he said, his nose was bleeding.

The next morning the three of them met in the command room. The projection of the ship up on console. Callie explained that the gravity cutting out was a bad sign and brought up the timeline of system breakages across the entire voyage. It started with Mark's pod breaking down, waking him up. Then a series of smaller breaks over the course of two years until larger breaks started appearing closer and closer together. Everything on the ship was working too hard to cover the faults. Lexie had never thought about Mark's pod before. Never considered how he must've felt waking up so completely alone.

"Something happened that day, some big system crashed and we have to find a way to identify it and fix it. Soon, before we run out of time. The projections don't look good guys, if we don't fix it in time the big ticket items start going out. Life support being one of them." Callie finished, Lexie could see her wincing as she folded her hands across her chest but she didn't mention it. There wasn't much else she could do.

"So we're stranded on a sinking ship?" Mark chimed in, Callie nodded at him, telling them to head towards the hold again, to look at the tech bay and run diagnostics again. The ship grumbled. Like the belly of a monster. The lights flickered out and the three of them looked around the room, scared.

Callie tapped the console, "shit. The diagnostics are out we're going to have to go and check out the situation ourselves, come with me."

They ran towards the engineering dock and spread out, none of them had any idea where to start looking for the problem. But they had to. There was no other choice. In the quiet of the dark, Mark and Lexie found each other. "Do you really think we can fix this?" She asked panicking, her arms fluttering up and down. Mark didn't answer because the gravity cut out again and flung them out into the hallway. They ran through the Grand Concourse, leaving Callie to try and find something in the engineering dock. They had no idea where to head or what to do.

Lexie heard something smashing and yanked Mark towards the bar, Meredith and Cristina were acting up. Meredith's head was flat against the bar, a gash across her forehead revealing her hardware shell. Cristina was trying to access the software to polish glasses but her hands were moving too fast and the glasses were smashing, one after another onto the floor. Mark leapt over the counter top and found the switch at the back of Meredith's knee, shutting her down. It was harder with Cristina because glass was flying everywhere, but he reached her, flicking the switch quickly and pulling himself off the floor as the top part of her robot exoskeleton bent over the counter and powered down. Mark rejoined Lexie on the floor and grabbed her hand. She was too busy running to notice his palms were slick with sweat, matching his brow.

Main Engineering. The voice announced. It was a different room altogether from the dock and still dark. The lighting had not yet recovered. The data seemed fine at the tech station so they ran to the power plant. By now Callie was somewhere else on the ship, possibly fixing the ship, possibly not even conscious. But they had to carry on. There was a problem with the power plant. When Mark forced open one of the panels Lexie was sucked inside, a harsh wind and stronger gravity was forcing her downwards. There was a hole in the floor, ripping right through the metal. Mark was pulled inside too, his weight thrust against the back wall. The doors locking behind him.

The pull was still too strong and Lexie was screaming, crying out for him. He couldn't quite reach the screen to his left, but he kept on pushing. Forcing his fingers an inch further until the muscles in his neck and shoulders were spasming and out of control. He screamed in pain when his fingers finally clasped the tablet and pulled it back to him. He tried to pressurise the cabin but it wasn't working. The hole was just too strong. Mark grabbed for one of the canisters on the wall and aimed it at the hole, he threw the tablet to the ground and covered it in a thick black tar to cover the leak. The room stabilised, the pressure coming down. Lexie fell onto the ground, hard. Mark bent down to check on her.

"It-it's so cold in here." She said, her breath freezing as it poured out. It took a minute but the temperature stabilised too and Mark pulled Lexie back onto her feet. "A hole in the ship?" She said, "this ship's supposed to be meteor proof."

"Well I'm guessing one got in anyway." Mark replied, walking past her and following the holes and dents in the walls until they were walking through the internal structure of the ship itself. This is where all the important structures were, like the reactor core and engines. Anything broken in here could do serious damage. They find a final hole, light and streamed out of it. It was the first time Lexie had seen natural in the year she'd been awake. It both frightened and excited her. "I think this is it." Mark said, opening the door in front of them and revealing a huge swarming meteor behind glass. Mark didn't know what to call this room,but it must've been for monitoring something because there were chairs strewn about and a desk with a dozen or more screens. The ship was making a big fuss about it, there were alarms blaring all over the place. Lexie wondered how long she'd been sleeping around them, not being able to hear the ship's crying for help.

They walked into the room. Mark approached the desk and assessed the damage. "It's the reactor, we gotta stop it before it blows."

"Mark?" Lexie said, walking towards the glass. The beautiful, dangerous ball of fire swarming in front of her like a great dragon, swimming in its own breath. "How do we fix this?" Mark didn't say anything, he was fiddling around with the room's console. "We're gonna die. All of us, we're dead." Lexie calmed down, listened to the ebb and flow of her never-ending heartbeat, but she couldn't be inside her head right now, they had to do something about this.

"Callie?" Mark asked, he'd managed to switch the comms back on. "Callie can you hear me it's Mark?"

A voice came through on the other end of the line. "Where are you two?" Then she paused, realising why he must've called her. "What is it?"

"It's the reactor. There's a meteor in there. How do we stop it?" Then he added, "I don't know where we are exactly, but he came through the power plant. I think the doors are locked."

"There's replacement parts for everything in the engineering dock but I won't be able to get them to you in time, the hallways are too small near the reactor and I can't carry this stuff on my own. Ahh," she groaned in pain and Lexie winced. She wished she could help.

"The reactor control computer is out. Can you just get me a replacement slate?" Mark said, more insistently.

"Yes. I think- I can." Callie said starting to break up. Maybe it would be too late by the time she got there.

"Lexie." He said calmly, waiting, but approaching her with caution. "Are you okay?"

She peeled her eyes away from the meteor for a second and looked at him. "Last night in the pool, I thought I was going to die. I thought I was dead for sure. Since then I've kind of been on autopilot, you know?" She chuckled but this wasn't funny.

"I know." He walked towards her and enveloped her in a hug. His arms behind her back and in her hair. He didn't stop to ask her if it's okay. There wasn't time, and he needed it as much as she did. "I never meant to hurt you." He whispered into her hair, his lips pressing a kiss to her forehead as the inevitable flamed behind them.

"One replacement slate for the reactor core computer." Callie rushed into the room holding the slate in her hands. She was holding her side but still standing, Lexie breathed a sigh of relief. They must've only waited six or seven minutes but it felt more like hours. Callie lifted the slate as Mark slotted it into the gap where he'd removed the broken one. Computer restored. The voice announced, Callie ran over to the console and activated the vents. They would try and flush out the meteor, hopefully that would be all they needed to do. Mark smiled. Reactor vent failed, manual override required. "NO!" Mark yelled, his head in his hands. He ran over to the handle of the vent trap and pulled as hard as he could. The thing wouldn't budge. It was stuck. "Come on!" He yelled, trying again but nothing happened.

The screen blared in red. "The outer door is stuck. I'm gonna have to out there and fix it."

"No." Lexie said, "you can't go out there. You're not fit enough. You'll die out there."

"Then it has to be me." Mark chimed in, he was standing in the corner on his own. Staring at the screen. This was the thing that woke him up, the thing that ruined his life and Lexie's, most importantly Lexie's. He had to destroy it.

Callie seemed to think that was answer enough and stepped towards him, "you have to open that door and cool the reactor down, or the whole ship is gonna blow. You get that right?"

"Yeah, I understand. I open the door. I get clear. You blow that fire into space." Mark replied. He was rubbing his hands together, his palms glistening. Lexie stepped towards him, putting her hand on his chest, pushing him backwards.

"Mark you can't." She was getting upset now, "you can't go out there. What do you mean by 'get clear?' I don't understand. Please don't go. I need you." She was crying and spittle was flying out of her mouth but he backed away from her, looking at Callie over the top of her head.

"I have to Lex. I have to or we're all going to die." He took her by the shoulders, "do you hear me?" She nodded, "Lexie, I love you, and I'm going." He didn't have to say anything else.

"Put this on," he handed her an earpiece. "So we can talk to each other." They'd left Callie down by the reactor computer and ran up to the suit bay. Mark was half dressed in his dark grey spacesuit, his helmet lay dormant at his feet. Lexie had no real job here other than to keep him calm. She was in too much shock to read anything, Callie was running the show down two decks. "But I need to listen to Callie's instructions. So please don't say too much." She was looking past him, not processing the information, "Lex? Lexie," he gripped her shoulders again. "Listen to me. I need you to do this okay. I need to know you're on the other end of that line keeping me going." He said it because he knew she needed a purpose, needed to feel like she was doing something important. Obviously he could physically do this without her, but he couldn't do this without her.

He put on his helmet and opened the airlock. He walked into the white zone, "Mark?" Lexie called after him, the earpiece attached and turned on. "Come back to me. I can't live on this ship without you." He smiled and nodded, the airlock doors closing behind him.

With his tether attached, Mark bounded round the wall to wear the vent opening was. Lexie stood alone, waiting for him in the suit bay. Callie waited patiently in the reactor control room to give Mark instructions. "I'm at the vent tube," he said, diving into it head first. His tether resetting to the edge of the tube.

"Okay Mark? That's good, I need you to approach the door." Callie's voice came through clearly on the comms, Lexie could hear it too. That and Mark's shallow breaths. Callie wasn't sure how much time they had left, she ached all over her body but now wasn't the time to think about that. She tried to activate the vents manually again but nothing happened. She advised Mark to take hold of the door panel, she sank back against the wall of room she was in. The temperature slowly rising, her brow thickened with sweat, her arms falling down by her side. It was getting harder and harder for her to stay awake. Her hand went to her surgery site, she'd torn some of her stitches with the exertion from running. Blood was running down her abdomen, the red came away in her hands. She looked up and prayed to be spared, prayed that they all be spared. She wasn't sure if God was listening.

"Mark?" She said into the comms, "try to open the door." Her voice was breathy and hoarse but she had to stay focussed. Had to keep her mind on the task in front of her.

Mark tugged on the handle, twisting the valve release but it wasn't shifting. "The door won't open." Lexie looked up, she stopped biting her nail and paid attention.

"Open the panel." Callie said, trying her best not to close her eyes.

Mark removed the front of the panel and reached inside, he bypassed some wiring and hit a button on the inside wall. "Got it," he said cheerfully as the door clicked open. But as soon as he took his hand off the button, the door immediately closed again. "No no no!" He shouted, his hands banging the outside shell of the tunnel.

"What is it?" Lexie called down the comms, not caring if now was a bad time. Callie wasn't answering anymore.

"The door won't stay open unless I'm here keeping it open. I'm gonna have to stay and hold it."

Lexie let out a strangled cry, "no! No you can't! Mark I won't let you, come back. There has to be another way."

Mark calmed himself and took on a relaxed tone, but the anger was still clear in his voice. "Lexie I have to. There is no other way."

"Mark! No!"

"We're out of time." He said finally, magnetising his boots to the bottom of the tube and putting himself in position. "Lexie I'm gonna need you to run down to the reactor core. I don't know why Callie's not answering but I need to know someone's on the vents." Lexie nodded like he could see her and started running. She made it down there in about a minute, Mark waited for her, he had to know someone was there before he did this. "Ready?" He asked, but received no reply. "Lexie?"

Lexie was standing over Callie's unconscious body. She was trying not to freak out, trying to think of all the possible surgery complications it could be without actually looking properly at her patient. Then Mark's voice came through the comms. She checked Callie's pulse, slow but still alive, like she was losing a lot of blood. That wasn't a good sign. But she could wait for now. "Mark it's-" She was about to tell him but decided against it, he needed to focus on the task at hand. "I'm ready."

Mark opened the door for a third time. "Vent the reactor," he said, waiting for Lexie's hitched breaths to answer him.

She walked over to the handle and was about to pull it down. "Wait Mark please. If I do this now and you're still there it'll kill you. We have to think of something else. Please?!"

"Lexie do it! There is no other way! I don't care if I die if you get to live. I'm not worth you dying over. You're too good, too much good in the world to be gone."

"Mark?"

"It's okay."

"No! It's not okay! I need you. You die, I die."

"Lexie there are five thousand other people on this ship that will die if we don't do this. Please! Activate the vents." Her hands tightened around the handle, she cried from the heat and the ache of pulling down the handle. She could feel the blast shooting through the vents and into the tube. All was lost.

Mark struggled against the blasting fire, his helmet was strong enough for a few minutes, he knew he had that. He was struggling with the force, the propulsion of the meteor was too much. He was screaming and grunting inside his suit, all alone in the big void of space. Lexie's cries on the other end of the comms. He could do this. He could do this for her. But the force was too much, it was too strong. The magnets in his boots were not strong enough to hold him up against the blast and he fell backwards, up, sideways into space, past the perimeter of the ship. His tether snapped in one awful final moment.

Lexie was left standing alone. The lights came back on. The computer announced that it was rebooting. He'd done it, the meteor was gone. But so was he.