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The crew of ISS now had been included nearly seven relatively healthy people. They were training on shifts on the cycle to produce energy from the Faraday disk. One man was dead, one was in critical condition. Three man were in faint, in a long-long sleep on painkillers.
People were forced to lock out themselves to save the heat and oxygen only for one small module.
Some nickel–hydrogen batteries were still working, but solar panels were dead, so without sun energy batteries were going to become discharged in about a day or a little more.
The mission commander Vasquez stopped using the useless radioset. She was drawing on the soft and light walls of the station different formulas, schemes, graphics and geometric figures with other sweaty guys after training. There was a lot of technical literature around them and in their hands.
Onboard engineer Losev was laughing at this, riding a bike behind their backs.
- Very motivating! – The commander said it sarcastically.
- You can’t evacuate without energy, without computers. – Losev said. – You can only open a door. What’s next? To blow up everything, hoping you’ll be enough lucky, to undock, to fly in a right direction. If the speed is wrong, you will fly till death around the Earth. If the angle of entrance is wrong, you will be burnt. And then what? Will you open your parachutes with your own hands? Blind. Under a big pressure. Really? Too much luckiness for one day!
- We have no choice.
- We have a choice. No, you are right, we have only one good choice. We should stay here so long as we can. Till the help comes.
- It sounds like a fantasy. Nobody will come, you know it. Even if they want it… Even if there is no any serious damage with the whole infrastructure, with the whole ground equipment, rockets…
- You will die there, Vasquez.
- We will die here too, Losev.
- Not necessary. – Dino Makepula said, the radio officer. He was soldering circuits with some old soldering tool. The modern computerized soldering station was completely dead. Not the old primitive one. – I think I can fix one of the radio stations.
- Great news! – Losev said. – You are a wizard! – He looked at Vasquez. – Fantasy, like you said.
- We will see what the authorities would decide about us. – She said. – And then we’ll go home, probably.
- Probably not.
тяжко. вчера, сегодня. как будут полностью свободные деньки (не в ближайшие дни), так поработаю над качеством.
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