It was over when it was over. Jack took a breath of air when he suddenly realized that the crash with a wall of pure power was finished. He was happy for that breath. He certainly had not dreamed that it would come. Even if the air tasted somewhat foul and quite arid it was still a good breath, "Gina! Damage report! Are we on fire?"

"All communications are down. Power is out and we're on emergency batteries right now."

 "We should be dead," said Vitosk who was just now getting himself steady again. He wiped at his forehead and found blood. He had cut it on something but was not sure what. Considering what they had just went through he counted his blessings. "A wave of that magnitude should have been like flying too close to the sun."

"I'm not complaining," responded Red.

"Don't count your blessings too soon," responded Jack as he released himself from the chair. "Break up into two man teams and I want a complete damage report here in fifteen minutes. Everybody except Gina and Saiid that is. I need you two here to see if we can get this stuff running again."

Yurgani did not leave. Jack looked at him funny, "What was so important?"

He showed Jack the pictures. Jack just shrugged it off. Vitosk told him the story in full. Again Jack just shrugged, "That's crazy."

"They already sent a mission here Jack. Do you want to explain to me how a human hand picked up a remote probe on a system four light years from Earth? That bomb was probably theirs too."

"That's not a human hand Yurgani. It's a dark blob on a lens that could be anything from a bug to a hooker."

Yurgani would not give up, "Gary confirmed it. Explain to me how a trick of light could pick up a twenty-pound object and face it upwards. That's the star Alpha Centauri behind it. It’s sun light Jack! It's why the hand is all dark."

As much as Jack did not want to admit it Yurgani had some very serious proof in his hands. It was evidence of something but, Jack was not exactly sure what, just yet. Certainly not enough to go pointing fingers but, it would have to be addressed. He still found it hard to believe that Dee could have killed Larry. It just did not seem her style.

"All right, but for right now Yurgani. Let's make sure we all stay alive. Damage control? You know?"

Dee began pulling debris off of Pete. She was amazed that she could since this stuff would have weighed tons back on Earth. She stopped only once when the hull creaked. The sound trailed off with an evil sounding squeak. "Shit, Pete! Are you still alive?!"

"How?" he managed to get out of his lips.

"Are you hurt?" asked Dee as she got him on his feet. He seemed all right until his knee's collapsed. She instinctively tried to stop him from falling but then realized he would not. Dee scratched her head and looked around the drive control module, "Where's Sams?"

"Huh?" Replied Pete. "I thought... I don't know."

There was an arm sticking out of the bulkhead in the back of the module. It was twisted and mangled and the rest of Sams did not look any better. Dee felt faint. It was time for Pete to catch her now. The ship made a loud cry of pain. It was the sound of metal bulkheads pushing against weak spots in other bulkheads. That took Dee's mind off of Sams for a moment. Her engineering mind started working and pushing out all other thoughts. How would the bulkhead keep shifting if something were not pushing against it? What could possibly be doing that?

The answer was right in front of Dee. The console that monitored the drive train was still on. It drew power directly from the particle accelerators. That meant that the drive itself was still running. "Holy shit! How did that happen? It should have taken the brunt of the hit? I wouldn't even have expected it to be there anymore."

Pete found a rag and began wiping away some of the bloodstains while cleaning at his cuts. "Maybe it's why we’re still here? Maybe it shielded us from the full force of the blast."

 That would have made the blast damage cone shaped. The most damage to the ship would have been forward and wide. "Oh my god," said Dee, "the spin modules?"

Pete looked over her shoulder, "Do you have a camera here that yo..."

She had already logged on to one of the drive train cameras. They were strictly for monitoring the drives external functions. It had never actually been used for anything else but it easily could. Dee rotated it forward. She almost broke out crying. Both spin habitats were gone. B module had a little bit left of its arm. There was nothing left of A. "Oh my god Pete. Almost everybody was in the Galley on A module."

Pete was trying the phones but they were out. It was clear to him that the drive was still in operation even if nothing else seemed to be. He also made two other important notes. The ship was bent like a banana and the maneuver jets were gone like the spin modules. "Nothing! We're going to have to try and make our way forward. Can you see any of the orbiters from here?"

Under normal circumstances she should not. Unfortunately Dee could see all three right now. None of them were attached to the ship and two of them had crashed into each other right before smashing one of the main solar arrays. She pointed this out to Pete. "Well number one looks ok. If we can EVA out to it we might have a chance."

"How? All of the exterior locks are computer controlled and the damn thing is dead."

They had enough problems before they got to that point. Dee snapped, "We'll figure it out some way. Come on, let's see if we can find everybody that's still alive."

It was the strangest sight Julia had ever seen. She watched the shock wave roll right over the ship. There was nothing outside the windows of the Hydro Garden module. It was the ship itself that had vibrated so violently that you could see it in the bulkheads. It traveled in a wave from the aft of the module to the forward sections. Julia had jumped off the deck and was for the most part spared the torture the ship was forced to take.

Her plants, the suspension lines, and all the rest of Julia's equipment had not been so lucky. Most of it was now junk just floating around the compartment. Julia sighed in relief when it was all over. Then her thoughts turned to Joey and Pete. Where were they? Did they survive? Where was Pam? She had gone to secure the airtight doors and had never come back!

"Pam!" Cried Julia.

The ship moaned in agony and was quickly followed by a loud screech. Julia looked up at her beloved windows. She saw the cracks forming in several of them. The screws around the support beams began popping. A hissing noise followed as the air inside began trying to fill the vacuum of space. A beam began to twist and tear. The window burst.

The news was not good. As usual Vitosk delivered the worst of it. "The carbon scrubbers are off line. We still have the emergency air tanks, uh… tank. One of them survived and turned on like it should have. It will not last that long however. I think it is blowing as much oh-two into space as it is the ship."

Jack looked around the command module. With the exception of Saiid and Gina, who were busy trying to fix the computer hardware, all eyes were on him. There were seventeen of them left. At least that is all they found in the centerline module train. The spin habitats were gone and while they had no list, everybody had a pretty of good idea of who was in the A module before it was blown away. It left an empty feeling in the bottom of Jack's gut. So many good men and women were gone in the blink of an eye.

"I got it!" yelled Saiid. The video monitors roared to life. The screen was filled with static. A picture blinked on, off, and then on again. Finally they had an outboard view of the ship. Everyone gasped at the amount of damage they had taken. As Saiid panned around not a single solar panel was in sight. The shuttles had all broken free. Then Jack spied the drive train that was tailing the ship.

"Well I'll be... It's still there?"

 Vitosk replied, "It will not do a great deal for us without life support."

Jack took over the camera control from his computer expert. He rolled it around, "There we go. Bill and Joey are on that one and it looks in tact for the most part. Saiid I need the radio to work."

"Oh sure," replied Saiid who was picking through his screwdrivers that were floating around next to him. "You just tell me and I make it work. Sure, I can just shit ten miles of cable like that. No problem at all."

"Now I don't think Spock would have said it that way, Saiid. He would probably say..."

Saiid injected, "fuck off Captain Kirk. I'll see what I can do."

A control panel lit up in front of Gina as she tied off two wires. The monitor was screaming. Gina looked over her shoulder, "Colonel! We got a hull breech in the Hydroponics module!"

Snapping his fingers Jack yelled out, "Sergeant Major! Damage Control party on the double!"

The large tools of the machine shop were floating around the room. Pam kept backing up and her feet were making that crunching noise as the Velcro made contact and then tore away faster and faster. Jerry's was as well. He still had his wrench and he now had taken a bundle of safety line from the EVA closet as well. Pam just kept ducking behind equipment. Then she picked up the saw table, easily three times as big as she was, and threw it at him.

Jerry just brushed it aside. Pam grabbed the drill press and slung it next. Jerry ducked. "I told you to just leave me alone Pam! All you had to do was listen!"

"You’re going to kill me next Jerry?" Pam shouted as her breathing began growing short. Nothing she seemed to do could stop him! She was throwing giant worktables at him like she was Superwoman and he was knocking them away like he was brushing off a flea.

 "I don't want to kill you Pam! I'm going to make sure you leave me alone though!"

 A loud crashing noise echoed through the very bulkheads. A breeze filled the cabin. A small cry, tiny in comparison to the wind, could be heard. Pam froze, "Oh my god! Julia! She's in the Garden!"

Jerry stopped and thought about it. "A pressure breech! Those windows!" He looked around the room and grabbed a chain horse that was floating near him. He rushed to the hatch and then stopped before he was all the way through. Looking behind him he saw Pam was still standing there. She kept her distance and was hesitating. He shouted, "Well come on! I need your help!"

The tangled vines and growth that Julia had put so much love and care into were now paying off. Her foot had tangled in a clump of them and they were still attached to their cable. Julia was looking out into space as an unforgiving blast of wind kept rushing past her and hauling the occasional debris with it. Her head felt like it was about to explode and her eyes began to blur. The vines gave way and Julia felt herself being pulled even closer to the dark abyss. Something had snagged though. She found herself dragged only a few inches before coming to another abrupt halt. The movement alone was enough to make her stomach roll over and her head get worse.

"HELLLLLLLLPPPPPPP!"

Jerry stopped just beyond the hatch. The wind was now so strong it was getting difficult to walk. He clamped the chain horse to a handgrip and then used one of O-rings on the safety cable to secure it to the chain horse. After securing the line to his belt he looked around for Pam.

 She was still keeping a respectable distance. She would come no closer than the other side of the far hatch. "Pam, I'm going in there after Julia. When I tug twice on this line I want you to turn the chain horse on and haul us back in."

Pam was confused. She had no idea of what to make of all this! She stayed away from him even as he was about to jump into the decompressing hydroponics chamber. He stopped just before entering, "Remember, the hatch needs to be closed as we get pulled back in."

It was a large object that flew past Julia this time. She had to take a second look at it. There was a rope that snapped tight right in front of her. Her eyes followed the rope till she saw where it went. She looked out to its end and Jerry was dangling there!

"Jerry! The vines are breaking! Hurry!"

 All Jerry heard was her making some kind of noise. The roaring wind drowned everything else out. Jerry took stock of the situation. The rope was to damn long for one thing! If he tugged on it then Pam would start that chain horse and it's battery driven motor would pull him right past Julia. The vines holding her in place were breaking one by one. She would not last long enough for Jerry to make a second try.

The wind was too strong for him to just hold her. Could he reach out the three feet he needed and hook her to his O-ring? He would have to do it before the chain horse would pull him on by. Jerry doubted it was possible.

He looked at that black beneath his feet. He thought of how pretty the stars were. It was kind of what he had planned all along. He yanked on the line and it started traveling upwards.

"Get Ready Julia! Grab the line when it comes to you!" Jerry began swinging the rope from side to side as best he could.

Pam held her breath until she saw a hand emerge from the hatch. It was Julia! Jerry had actually done it! The line pulled her clear of the hatch. Her long hair covered her all the way down to her waist. She looked banged up but you had to be alive to be that way. It was only then that Pam noticed Jerry was not with her. Julia detached her cable and then slapped the emergency button. The portal was sealed.

Julia slumped over as the wind stopped. Her eyes were full of tears. Her expression was still dazed as she looked over at Pam. She was in complete shock as she recounted the last few moments. "He knew we couldn't both make it. He gave me his O-ring. He just hooked it on my belt and let go!"

Now it was Pam's turn to have her eyes swell with tears. "Oh my god, Jerry?"

 "So give me the bad news first," commanded Jack. That was a laugh since there was sure to be no good news.

 Vitosk rubbed at his whiskers and looked at his wax pencil marks on the chart board. "Well, even if the life support holds out and it's not. Even if the bulkhead could take the pressure of the atmosphere here pushing out on it, and it won't, our course, which we can no longer change, is sending the ship flying right into Alpha Centauri. The ship is going to burn up in the star."

"How close are we going to come to Moe?" asked Jack.

"Oh I would imagine fairly close. About half the distance that the moon would be to Earth. Only everyone will either smother to death or be blown into space long before that happens."

Harry came climbing back into the command module, "Jack, you're not going to believe this man. We're going faster now than when we got hit. Hell we're going faster than ten minutes ago. The drive is still working."

"Shit! We got all the odds." It would mean that even if they could somehow get the orbiter docked, and get a hatch opened, with all of that done, they might not be able to slow it down enough to make a landing.

"It will not work Jack," said Vitosk. "You saw the camera. That thing is tumbling end over end. An EVA to get it would not work. That's not to mention the fact that we're drifting apart from it. It's slowing down while we are speeding up."

"Saiid!" yelled Jack.

Saiid was busy trying to get a radio working and anything else that might help them contact the shuttle. "I'm working on it!"

"Jack," Vitosk remained calm even under the circumstances. "If anybody on that orbiter were still alive they would have gotten it under control by now."

The ship was there but Joey was pretty sure that he wasn't attached to it. Every few moments it would come within sight of the windows over the flight deck. Joey reached over to Bill. Blood was flowing out of his nose. He had never awakened. It looked as if his head had smashed into the control panels. Joey would have done something for Bill only he could feel unrelenting weight pulling him toward the window. He couldn't unbuckle himself from the copilot's seat or he might suffer the same fate that Bill had.

What to do? Joey had to think of something. He finally realized that the ship, his home, was slowly getting further away. Joey looked up and down the control panel. What should he do? It came down to him and that was it! Joey plugged his radio headset into the seat. He reached out and flipped on the power switch. The console came to life.

Joey toggled the radio switch. "Hello! Hermes! Is anybody there? Hello..."

There was a sound lower down in the bulkhead. A beam of light flashed across a wall. McCandles called out from the machine shop where he had been looking around after finding Pam and Julia. He got a response and he felt a sigh of relief. The Sergeant Major holstered his weapon and called back, "Colonel, come on in."

 Pete and Dee walked on towards the Sergeant Major’s flash light beam. They stopped and looked into the air lock as McCandles told them the story of what happened to Pam and Julia. Pete did not know how to take it exactly.

 He did know that he wanted to get to Julia however. "Well I guess we have our saboteur now. Where's Julia at, Sergeant Major?"

The bulkhead creaked and they all listened and looked around until it stopped. Red rushed right out of the air lock when he heard it. They all sighed when it was over. Red told them what he found, "I don't know what Jerry was trying to do exactly. He cut the hoses to the outside seal though. This hatch didn't double lock with all the others, when the collision alarm sounded."

Dee's eyes lit up, "That means we can get it open! We have to get that orbiter over here. We can EVA and get it!"

The Sergeant Major raised and eye brow. He was not sure how she had come by that information. He knew she had not been in the control center. He let it pass and went on, "Vitosk said it was spinning out of control. Saiid and Fujitsu are trying to get the radio's working again. Colonel Kelly says that Morton and little Joey are out there on it."

A sparkle went into Dee's eyes. "Get a portable radio from the outboard storage module! Number seven is still with us and holding fine. We still had power in the engine module. We can patch it in and we'll be good to go. I mean we still got computers and everything down there."

Pete injected, "Where's Julia at?"

The Sergeant Major nodded, "they're all on their way back up to control sir. I think we better too. Colonel Kelly might need to know about this."

When the news reached Vitosk, about Jerry, he had nothing to say. He simply raised an eyebrow and withdrew. Jack saw it in him. Those two had been friends even if neither of them would admit it. Such a strange friendship should have probably been of no surprise. They constantly bickered with each other. Jack just figured they liked arguing or something.

Of course Jack also noted that the Russian always kept one eye on Dee. Whether this cleared her or not was still to be seen. Jack needed to bring up the little photograph problem. So he sent Saiid, Gina, Gary, and a few others down to get the radio working. Then he pulled Dee into the next module where they would be alone. He showed her the photograph that Vitosk had found in the computer.

"So, did OK already sent another mission here?"

While Dee had seemed shocked to see the picture in Jack's hand She recovered very quickly. Taking offense at the insinuations she replied, "What? Oh come on Jack! Out of all the people to ask me that question. You know how hard it was just to put this mission together. Hell! Our engine didn't exist when we built this ship!"

There was always that constant reminder to Jack of how fast Dee had hired Larry back on Earth. To him it seemed that lacking the government bullshit, that they had all been subjected to, it seemed possible. After all, there were other types of less experimental drives they could have used. There was no telling how long ago they could have been launched. So it remained a possibility.

"So what is this picture of Dee? As much as I don't want to admit it, Vitosk is right. That dark shape looks like a human hand over a lens. Anyway it goes you've been lying to me about this from the start."

 She was even more offended now, "Lying Jack!? Just when I was starting to think you might actually be human. I just never told you about it because I didn't think it was important!"

While Dee was becoming livid Jack held his temper. His voice remained steady even if he wanted to scream at her, "Not important? You had this thing hidden in the computer under lock and key. I had asked you about the probe photos, once, and you said they didn't exist. Now if they are so unimportant why all the secrets?"

"Look Jack," she was at least trying to be somewhat civil now. "You military bozo's have procedures that you have to follow? So do we in private business. Uncle Isaac thought it was important so it was important. I thought it looked like a blob on the lens. A bad transmission back to the mother probe. That's all I think it is, all right? It was not important and I was just following company policy."

Well that much made sense to Jack. The question that still lingered was what did the CEO of the OK corporation think it was? Did he think it was as Vitosk had suggested? Maybe another mission of some type? If so then who was the other entity on Moe? The little booby trap that had just mortally damaged Hermes would strongly argue that this was an important question. If somehow they all survived this to reach the surface of Moe then their problems might only be just starting.

 Jack was convinced that if he could get his people down to the surface they would get home. There would be another mission and in their lifetime. The data of what happened to them had already been sent back and would reach Earth in three and a half years. The space program had been accelerated even before they left. Another ship was already on the boards and since they now knew faster than light travel was possible a rescue was not out of the question.

There of course was also the insinuation that Vitosk made. His point was only valid if OK wanted to prevent the government from landing. Since the episode with Jerry, something that Jack still had not quite made up his mind about, Vitosk's accusation seemed pointless. In any event Jack needed Dee’s skill and expertise right now. That was if they were to live. He decided this issue would have to wait.

The voice was distant, somewhat mechanical, but sounding very good anyway. Joey looked at the radio like it was Pete standing there, "I'm here! Pete! It's me! Is Mom all right? Captain Morton, I can't... I think he's dead."

Most of the surviving members of the crew were now congregating around Pete in the Engine Module. When Joey's voice sounded over the speakers there was one giant cheer. Julia had rapped herself in a blanket and was sitting next to Pete. She was in tears. Pete took her under his arm and quieted everyone else down, "Joey, look man, you're a good natural pilot. That's good, cause you got to dock that thing."

"I'm spinning!"

"I know Joey but you have to think. What did I..."

Joey looked down the panel board in front of him, “fly by wire!” Of course! All he had to do was start the engines! The computer would put the ship on level flight with whatever he told it too. "Starting burn initiation sequence... on my mark... now... now... NOW!"

"That's a good kid you got there," remarked Dee as she played with her calculator. "Pete, you have got to ask him how much fuel he has."

Joey looked at his gauges as weightlessness returned. The Hermes was now steady out of his port window. "I show just under 1200 pounds."

Dee slung her pen against the bulkhead. "Shit! Pete if we're going to slow that thing down enough to keep from burning up in Moe's atmosphere we're going to need nine hundred and even that's questionable. We'd be going in hot with even fifteen hundred."

Pete slapped his forehead. "More good news. What else could go wrong?"

Pam was busily trying to clean up a number of scrapes and bruises on her fellow crewmates. She felt a shiver run down her spine. She saw the goose bumps developing on her bare arm. She stopped what she was doing and rolled her sleeves down. "Is it just me or is it getting cold in here?"

Both Dee and Pete looked up at the overhead heater. They were now giving off a very dull glow. Dee shook her head in sorrow, "batteries are going. When those things give out it's going to be as cold as deep space in here within a half hour."

Jack bowed his head. Harry pulled the disk from the computer and put it in a case. He had already made one copy of the navigational information they would need to get the orbiter to Moe. Jack had that copy in his top pocket. With this act done they were finished. Looking to Harry and Gina, "All right you two abandon the command module. Gina get back and see if you can help Pete. Harry get down and help McCandles at the air lock."

With those two gone Jack looked around what had been his ship. He was not the first Marine to command one and now he knew why he was one of the few. To lose a ship, and so many mates, left a hole in a man. It was a feeling somewhere that those people had been under his care and that he let them down. His shipmates, his ship, and even the corps had all been badly represented by his command. Marines were usually smart enough not to volunteer for dirty jobs like this.

Jack felt a tear swelling. He reached out with his fist and slammed it into some of the dead computers. They came to life. That drew a laugh and not just from Jack. Vitosk floated in and put a hand on the Marines shoulder, "I wish we had tried that earlier. I'm sorry Jack."

Was there anything to say? Jack just nodded and then replied, "come on, let's get aft."

"All right Joey," crackled the Radio, "you are going to have to execute a manual burn now. This isn't going to be easy. You are going to have to do a horizontal roll so that your starboard side will be facing the ship."

Joey wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He knew how to do this. Pete had shown no mercy to anyone in the simulators. Now Joey understood exactly why. What bothered him the most was could he do it for real now? He was just twelve for god’s sake! Here he was flying a space ship! He wasn't even old enough to drive a car yet. He didn't even know how!

"Pete... I don't know… I..."

Julia stood and protested, "He's just a little boy for gods sake you..."

There was a chorus, "shut up!"

Pete was sweating, "Joey! You are a trained pilot. This is your duty. Now do it! Now you're only going to get one shot at this. But there's no pressure. I mean there’s pre… Watch your fuel gauge. Hey you did this in the simulator and there is no pressure. Just… Well be careful."

There was silence over the radio. Everyone held their breath. Pete tried to call Joey back. There was no answer. Pete tried it again. Finally a voice came back over the speakers, "burn complete."

Out came another round of cheers. Pete bowed his head and pulled Julia close to him. He replied with a long exhale of relief, "roger that. You didn't mark the burn son. You're getting slack on us."

Dee was fidgeting, "ask him about his fuel status?'

"Does it matter Dee?" replied Pete.

The bulkhead shook. The machine shop air lock had not been designed to take a shuttle docking. McCandles looked at the tubes inside of the wall. A tennis ball shot up both of them. He looked over his shoulder at Jack, "We have a good seal sir."

The door popped open and Julia pulled her child out before anything else could be done. She wouldn't let go even with Joey protesting and everybody else trying to give congratulations. Jack would give his thanks later. He sent Red and the Sergeant Major inside to rap and retrieve Morton’s body. Pete bowed his head and said a few words as they pulled the Air Force pilot out of the airlock.

With a bark from Jack everyone quickly began boarding the shuttle. Jack waited and counted as they went by. He did not wish to leave a single person behind by accident. The final count was twenty-two personnel. Less than half of the original crew would make it to the planet if any of them would make it all now. Vitosk waited next to Jack, "I guess we can give Jerry a word of thanks for preventing the safety locks from engaging and double sealing the doors."

 After considering why Jerry had been doing it, Jack did not feel like thanking his memory for anything. "Yeah well if Pam hadn't stopped him we'd all be dead right now."

"Oh you think so. That's why he stopped what he was doing and saved Julia's life? Sounds like a run of the mill saboteur to me."

Why was it that Jack was tired of the Russian being right all of the time. If Jerry had not been trying to do something to the ship then what had he been doing here? More important, and to the point, was that if he was not the spy then who was? Jack looked at the last of crew boarding the shuttle. Now he wanted to leave at least one of them behind. That was assuming this person was even still alive. "Get in Yurgani. The Captain’s always the last one to leave, remember?"