The Last Push Page #2

---

This is Life One.

The main habitation

chamber is secure.

The hibernation

and reentry capsule... is...

I'm sorry, I don't know

who you are, um...

Can you find me Ben Elliot

or... Bob Jansen?

Would be great.

This is Life One out.

Space travel

is inherently dangerous.

There could always be a problem.

Let's say on the first leg,

heading towards Venus...

or on the second leg, going

from Venus back to Earth...

aborting the mission

would be relatively simple.

We'd just come home.

We'd actually be asleep at the time...

...so we probably wouldn't

know that there was a problem.

Of course, after we make that last push

around Earth and head towards Jupiter...

well, there's really

no going back.

Life One,

this is Mission Control.

We have Robert Jansen to come

in and talk to you face-to-face.

All right, great, thanks.

Michael?

It's Life One.

No, it's Michael,

and you're Adam and I'm Bob...

so let's cut the jargon.

Michael, hi, it looks like

the space craft...

was more than likely hit

by a micro-meteorite.

Information is coming in and we're doing our

best to process it as quickly as possible.

Just know that I am here...

and as I know anything,

I will transmit back to you.

Bob out.

This is Life One.

It's good to see you, Bob.

Damage report.

Life support is solid.

And oxygen is holding,

for now.

The habitation module is stabilized

and we're at 1.0 of earth gravity.

So whatever hit us, must have not been

big enough to knock us off our spin.

The central fuel tank and

booster engine are in the numbers.

Nuclear reactor remains

unbreached...

and all radiation shielding

is functioning well.

Europa habitation ballast array and all

contents including ice drill platform.

Inflatable habitat and mini

submersible are reading 100 percent.

Looks like the only thing

that we lost, actually...

was the hibernation

and reentry capsule.

I'll do another diagnostic check

and I'll be in touch.

Thanks, Bob.

Life One out.

Life One,

this is Mission Control.

We have an update

on the situation...

but Mr. Moffitt would like

to deliver this message himself.

Thank you.

Michael... Walter Moffit.

Listen, first of all...

we deeply regret

the loss of Nathaniel.

And there's not much you can say

about a thing like this...

but Mr. Jeffs has taking over

for Mr. Elliot...

who passed away about two years

ago in a heart attack.

A lot's changed since

you've been gone.

And on that note, we've decided

to abort the mission.

I'm looking forward

to talking to you.

Mission out.

Hi, Mike, my name is Irwin

and this is my family...

Mila and Drew.

We'd just like to thank you for

being our eyes in another world.

Bye!

Bye!

Bye.

This is Life One.

I have received your message and

am aborting the mission to Europa.

Given our current position, we

will continue our present course...

past Venus as scheduled and

toward Earth as scheduled.

At which point,

we will execute a Leg 3 abort...

scrapping the slingshot maneuver

to Europa... from Earth.

I'll make the changes necessary

for our break in procedure...

and preparation for reentry...

and thereby an end

to the mission.

This is Life One out.

Okay, this is all very exciting.

Hey, ease up, man.

Smile!

It's for the kids.

It's good PR, hit the button.

This is Life One.

It's been 24 hours

since the accident.

My hibernation sickness

is starting to wear off.

The food recycling system

is up and running.

We're at 100 percent.

Obviously most of the comforts of

home are locked away in the Europa.

Habitation ballast array.

So I won't get

my comfortable chair.

But I am gonna miss my bed,

and the window for that matter.

We're only supposed to spend a

week to two weeks in this chamber...

but we're just gonna

have to make it work.

We're just gonna

have to make it work.

This is Life One... out.

Michael? It's Bob... obviously.

It was important for me, right now, to tell

you that I need you to get on a routine.

I need you to sleep. I need you

to eat three meals a day.

I need you to exercise.

It will be very, very important

for you and for me...

for you to do all of the work that

you can to stay sane up there...

and to know that I am here

to talk to you...

or at least send you

periodic messages that...

...at some point in the

future you'll respond to.

I'm here for you, buddy.

All right?

Bob out.

Niobium, Nb.

Bromine, Br.

Krypton, Kr.

Rubidium, Rb.

Strontium, Sr.

Hi, Michael,

Bob here. Just checking in.

You've got a lot of people

around here watching you.

In fact, you're pretty much the

biggest story in the world right now.

Um, so I need to ask you...

can I have the exclusive rights

to your book?

But also, I was asked today

to ask you how you're feeling.

Seemed an odd question.

But then I realized

I hadn't asked you...

so... how are you?

How are you feeling?

Bob out.

This is Life One.

Diagnostics seem

to be going smoothly.

As of right now...

it'll probably take me another three

days to fully check the entire ship.

At least this part of it anyway.

I've taken in

about 2,100 calories.

I have 600 to go.

I'm gonna try to keep it

at that level for the duration.

Done about 16 minutes

of exercise.

I think that's too much.

I'm gonna try to dial it

back for tomorrow.

Otherwise, we're just trying

to conserve our energy.

I'll get in a daily log tomorrow

about this same time.

Other than that,

we should be fine.

This is Life One... out.

Okay, Michael,

here's the situation.

You have a lot

on your plate right now...

but every single bit of it

is extremely important.

You've got a post-Venus engine

burn that needs to happen...

otherwise, you're going to spend the rest

of your life as Venus' only real moon.

Unfortunately, from my

end, I am looking at...

...an electrical system

that is completely fried.

And it needs to be rebuilt

from the ground up.

So you're going to have to perform

that engine burn manually...

which obviously wasn't the way

things were meant to be.

The system's primary generator

is unstable, at best...

and you have got to keep the

power running.

You lose power and you will freeze

to death in a manner of hours.

So be very careful.

Michael, what we have here is a classic,

old-school Christmas light situation.

Remember at Christmas when you were trying

to get your Christmas tree lights to work?

And they weren't, inexplicably.

So you had to go through every

single bulb and test it...

to get proper connection in

order for the lights to light up?

Well that's what you're going

to have to do, alone...

with a 25 gazillion dollar

spaceship.

What I'm gonna need you

to do is I'm gonna...

...need you to take all

of the control systems...

from the capsule and reroute

them to the habitation module.

The monitor that you're

looking at right now.

So let's take all of the systems

and let's reroute it there.

Now I hate to tell you this,

but this means that...

Michael, you're gonna need

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes