Page 4 of Atmosphere

“I’m okay,” he says to her. They both know that his hand on his suit is enough to save him for now. But his voice is a rocky, thin whisper, as if he has spent all of his breath.

Then an alarm begins to sound, one that Vanessa recognizes but cannot place. And it is only once Steve, Hank, and Lydia all begin to shout that she understands there has been a second hit.

As the alarm rings, Joanbreathes deeply, trying to think clearly. When Greg stands up, her stomach falls.

“Flight, this is EECOM. We are seeing a negative dP/dT. Pressure is dropping rapidly.”

Jack: “What are we at?”

Before Greg can answer, Hank’s voice comes through the loop, level but sharp: “Houston, this isNavigator.We have a cabin leak. We can feel the rapid depress.”

“Copy that,Navigator,” Joan says. She keeps her voice calm, but this is a choice she has to make. She looks to Jack.

Jack turns to her, eyes focused. “Tell them they have a hole. Judging from the depressure rate, it could be as big as half an inch. It’s punctured the skin somewhere on that aft wall, most likely—mid-deck or flight deck. Do they have a visual?”

Joan relays.

“Negative, Houston,” Hank says. “We see no hole.”

Jack: “Tell them to pull everything off the walls, lockers, close-out panels, anything they can get off to expose the skin—pull it all off!”

“Roger that,” Joan says.

Jack continues: “Keep Ford and Griff in the airlock but start pressurizing as quick as possible. TellNavigatorthey need to flow in oxygen and open up nitrogen systems 1 and 2 to the cabin to feed the leak until we find that hole!”

Joan updates the crew. Clear, concise, calm.This is NASA. We have a plan for this.

“Roger that,” Hank says as the crew gets to work. “Already on it.”

Greg: “Flight, EECOM—we aren’t seeing a positive change in the leak rate. Pressure is still dropping.”

Joan knows that Hank is the one most likely feeding the oxygen and nitrogen while Steve and Lydia are pulling everything off the walls—the layers of wires, the sleeping bags—as fast as they can. There is so much lining the limited space of the orbiter, and they are tearing it all away, looking for that hole. Each second that goes by stuns her.

She looks at Jack. But Jack is looking at Greg.

“It’s not in the aft of the flight deck!” Steve says.

“I’m pulling the lockers off the mid-deck!” Lydia calls.

Greg looks up at Jack and shakes his head.

Jack slams his hand onto the top of the console and looks at Sean Gutterson, who is in charge of the mechanical systems. “RMU, what do you have? What are they not seeing? I need something! We have seconds!”

Everyone is up out of their seats. Joan can barely hear herself think.

She has been through simulations like this, with the pressure dropping rapidly and no way to stabilize it.

They have ended only when the leak is found.

Or the crew dies.

This is NASA. We have a plan for this.

Vanessa has closed the hatch,and the airlock is pressurizing.

But as Vanessa watches Griff, she can see that he is losing consciousness. She slips her hand under his, presses it against the hole in his suit, and applies pressure to his lower stomach.

“Griff, Griff,” she says. No response. “John Griffin, do you hear me?”

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