In the shadow of the Earth #3

We were sitting in the suit room, waiting for the technicians to finish assembling our suits.

"How does the suit feel?" Asked one of the techs.
"All too familiar. Feels great."

I sat back down, and watched them start the pressurization tests. I looked up at the TV and saw a feed of the rocket sitting on the pad in the middle of the day. Pretty sight.

"Alright, that should do it. Good luck." Said one of the technicians as he disconnected the hose and helped me get up. I started towards the door when Jack stopped me.
"We need to talk. Now."
"What is it?"
"The workup came back fine for Will and Brandon. Not you."
"What's wrong?"
"The X-Ray scans they did on your chest picked up spots on your lungs."
"What? Are they saying I've got Lung Cancer?"
"They said it's too early to tell, but they said it's a fair chance it is."
"This mean I'm off the flight?"
"No. It's early enough it won't affect you. We still have a week and a half to D-Day. Get ready for a barrage of needles."

I feigned a smile and made my way to a chair. Talk about a major speedbump. My previous career engendered such risks, but I never thought I'd actually get cancer. There wasn't much I could do now.

I looked up at Jack and was about to say something when his phone rang.
He spoke for a moment, then his face went white. He hung up and looked at me.

"We've got a serious problem."
"What?" I expected worse news about my lungs.
"Peyton just had the doors closed."
"Christ. What happened?"
"Nobody knows."
"Whatever happened, we need to get back to work."
"You're right."

I removed the suit and followed Jack out of the building.
"Hey Pat?"
"Yeah?"
"Take the rest of the day off, we got things here. You need rest, you look like hammered dirt."
"Alright." I wasn't about to argue. Truth be told, I wasn't feeling all too well. I drove back to the small apartment I had, and flopped onto the bed, not noticing the blinking light on the answering machine.

"Everybody out. Now!" I motioned for the remaining people in the compartment to get out. I raced over to a panel and pressed a button.

"Conn, reactor."
"Go ahead, what's going on?"
"Reactor Scrammed, I've got some serious radiation flooding, and possibly some rod damage. The boat needs to surface now."
"Alright, you get your ass out of there."
"No can do. Someone has to make sure it doesn't go critical."

I released the button and walked back over to a terminal. Red flashing lights everywhere, the damn siren was still going off, and I had lost my radiation badge in the explosion. I tapped in a command that shut off the siren. I looked up to see a body laying against the bulkhead. I ran over and checked his pulse, he was alive, just unconcious. I checked his badge, it read off a major exposure. I picked him up, slung him over my shoulder and moved towards the hatch.

I felt my feet rumble, and I started to lean backwards.
Oh crap.

I tumbled backwards onto the console, releasing the sailor from my grasp in the process. I hit the console and jolted awake, flying off the bed and onto the floor. I was drenched in sweat, and had a tremendous headache.

I picked myself up off the floor and stumbled out of my bedroom and through the hallway lined with various plaques and framed pictures. I shuffled into the kitchen and reached for the refridgerator door. I glanced over at the answering machine, and saw the light still blinking.

I abandoned my quest for juice and walked over to the answering machine. I pressed the 'Play' button.

"Hey Patrick, It's Brandon. Jack told me what happened. I really hope you aren't too beat up over it. Anyways, things got busy here. I'll see you tomorrow."

I hit the 'Next' button.

"Pat, it's Jack. I know I gave you the day off, but we need you here on console. We're in crap so deep we forgot what the sun looks like. Please answer the damn phone."

I walked away, and headed into the living room. My head was filled with haze. I'd had nightmares based off of what happened, but nothing that bad. It was like entering hell. I swiped the remote off of the table and turned on the TV.

"As far as we've been told, and from what we could gather, it appears as though Constitution has encountered a major disaster. The current state of the crew is unknown at this point. Flight Director Matthew Peyton ordered that the doors close shortly after what appeared to be a wave of mass confusion in Mission Control here in Houston. Aside from the Columbia and Challenger disasters, nothing has warranted the doors to Mission Control to be closed since Apollo 13. Again we don't kn-"

I shut off the TV and got up.
Whatever happened, it must have been bad.


So, how'd you guys like it? Comment pweez? Also, I'm working on an addition to The Book Of Probe