Sarah was in the galley, checking our food supply with an eye on creating something interesting to eat. The food had become bland and frankly, I was getting tired of it. We all needed something to spice up the diet without wrecking the rationing system that we had. Sarah was trying to find a way to do that for us.
“Hey,” I said, “Jason wants us to take a space walk to help complete his shuttle.”
She stopped what she was doing to stare at me. “Is this a good idea?”
“I don’t know. I can’t see him trying anything at this stage. Besides, he’s supposedly still my friend and we’re going to return to Earth together.”
“He’s made that same promise to Sheila.”
“But not to you?” I ask.
“No. He knows that we’re friends and that it might come up in conversation . . .”
“I’m not sure that makes sense,” I said.
“I’m not either but the point is he hasn’t said anything to me but has to Sheila. He claims he’s going to take her with him when he returns to Earth.”
This was getting us nowhere so I said, “He wants us to do this in three hours.”
Sarah put down the package she was holding and asked, “Why so fast?”
“He says that it’ll end the project. Then it’ll just be a matter of programming the computers, making sure the rockets have fuel and punch out. He just wants to get everything cleaned up now.”
“I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I, but it’s something that has to be done,” I said.
“Why? How do you know?”
And there it was. How did I know? Jason had run this show from the very beginning and he had kept us all at arm’s length, using us when necessary but also telling us he had it all under control. Maybe he was just using this as an excuse to get us out of the station so that he could seal the hatch with us floating around in space. If he did that, there wouldn’t be much hope for us, other than Sheila defying him and I didn’t think there was much of a chance of that.
I shrugged and said, “What do you want to do?”
“Let’s check it out before we jump out the hatch at his command.”
Together we headed up toward the machinery pod, but we met Jason coming down from it. He smiled at us and asked, “Are you ready to go outside?”
Sarah said, “Is this really necessary? I mean necessary right now?”
Jason stood quite still, looking up at a corner of the station as if seeking divine guidance, and then said, “No, I suppose not. I guess we could do it from inside, but it would be much easier outside and take about a third of the time.”
I stole a glance at Sarah and she just shrugged slightly. I said, “You’re sure that this will speed up the process?”
“Well, I’m not sure about that, but I think in the long run it’ll be safer,” he said. “To do this right we’d have to make some modifications inside the machinery pod which could cause a hull breach. If we do it outside and set it up right, then there is very little chance of a hull breach until we’re ready to launch.”
Forgetting about his secrecy, or desire for secrecy, I said, “How will that affect those left behind?”
The moment I said it, I realized that I had made a tactical mistake. He didn’t know that Sarah and I had discussed everything. He thought that whatever he told me had remained between the two of us. He thought he was playing all of us against one another . . . or rather, this is what I believed. I was seeing conspiracy everywhere and sometimes, when you look for it you find it. I wasn’t sure what to believe.
Sarah just stood there as if she didn’t understand what I had said. She just waited for the answer.
Jason said, “There is the possibility of a hull breach at launch, but we can contain it in the machinery pod. If we breach before that, we can still contain it, but we’ve lost access to the vehicle until we get the hull repaired. That could take a while and it might significantly reduce our oxygen supply, not to mention a trip outside anyway. It just seemed to be safer, from an overall point of view, to do this as a space walk and get it done quickly.”
Sarah, still pretending that she didn’t understand the question I had asked, said, “Then I suppose we should get ready for this.”
Jason said, “I’ll meet you at the air lock in thirty minutes.”
As he turned to go, I leaned close to Sarah and said, “Let’s check out those suits very carefully.”