Almost Heaven

Take me home, country roads...

Morgan switched off her comms and felt a swath of pain sear across her forehead.

She opened her eyes to watch what used to be her home tear itself apart.

They called it the Magellan. It would break the record for orbits around the Earth since NASA had retired the ISS. The ISS orbited the earth over 125,000 times when it retired in 2020, Magellan would do over two hundred thousand.

It would be one hundred thousand short.

She felt a tug at the center of her suit.

She looked down to find her tether still attached to her when she began her spacewalk, or EVA. Her eyes scanned NASA issued carabiner and down the length of the tether.

"O'Donnell." She said to herself.

She grabbed the tether in front of her and started to pull him closer to her. Hand over hand, the figure of O'Donnell grew larger and larger as he approached. His arms dangled like a rag doll as the force of the pull distorted his body in the gravity free ocean that had shipwrecked her.

"O'Donnell." She gasped into her mic as she turned him around to see his cracked faceplate. She switched on her comms.

"Michael." She tried again. She switched comms.

Almost Heaven, West Virginia...

She sighed a heavy breath and switched off her comms.

He always loved his music. He always tried playing John Denver when he could see the states during an EVA. This time did not differ from the others. Her only friend in space, and she's left with a song.

She grasped the carabiner and twisted the safety lock and detached his suit from hers. Whispering goodbye, she placed a hand on O'Donnell's chest and pushed him aside.

Morgan observed as his figure started to disappear in the distance. It almost seemed that his white EVA suit blended in with the stars. She used SAFER to turn herself around to get a better view of her surroundings.

Debris was everywhere.

She couldn't tell where pieces of Magellan began and ended. It looked like a metal scrapyard that suspended in the air. Her eyes searched the void for any evidence that the Magellan once existed.

WARNING  OXYGEN LEVELS LOW

Morgan felt her breath shorten; she turned the release valve to increase oxygen.

Navigating with precision through the mess of metal and mayhem, she painted every piece of debris with her gaze. She continued throughout what used to be the main bridge.

A tethered tablet stared Morgan in the face. Using the SAFER joystick to get closer, she approached the small device.

Morgan felt a small thud from the front of her suit as she reached the wall. Pulling the tablet off its mount near what used to be the door and tried to turn it on, she prayed that it survived amidst the absolute chaos. The screen lit up, quasi blinding her in process.

INSUFFICIENT SIGNAL: PLEASE CHECK NEAREST HUB

She moved the joystick in a one hundred and eighty degree motion to get a better look at the satellite hub that connected the entire station to NASA back in Houston.

Nothing was there.

She rotated the joystick for a better view. Her eyes scanned the entire area piece by piece. She moved the joystick down and felt her heart sink. Dread crawled up her spine.

The satellite was in pieces, each piece floating in a different direction. Morgan started to feel nauseous and turned away from Magellan.

She faced blackness, speckled by the few stars she knew.

OXYGEN LEVELS NORMAL

She snapped out of her daze as she stopped the manual flow of oxygen. She swung herself around to glance at the Magellan once more.

It felt so empty.

She had no way of telling anyone that she was still breathing and help wouldn't be here for weeks. And at that point, it wouldn't be a rescue team, it would be a cleanup crew.

She turned again to face the bleak, unending space. Her heart beat faster as her mind raced through her options. The same choice came forward each time, and she felt like a coward each time her mind settled on it.

She thumbed the knob on her suit that controlled the oxygen. The accident had damaged her suit, giving her greater control over what she pumped into it.

She thumbed the knob once again, turning it counter-clockwise to opening the valve.

WARNING: OXYGEN RISING ABOVE NORMAL PLEASE CHECK LEVELS

She ignored the warnings; knowing what she was doing, knowing that in a few moments she would feel the effects. Trained to resist, she would succumb to the poison. 

The stars blurred. It started to happen.

"Mommy?" A voice said behind her.

She turned to see her daughter in front of her, a haze as if she was a mirage in the desert.

"Hey sweetie," she breathed.

"When are you coming home?" 

"I'm not sure sweetie, I will be up here a little longer."

"I made this today." She held up a hand turkey on a piece of paper.

"That's really great, Sadie."

"Thanks, mom." A voice said behind her.

She moved her joystick to the right to see her daughter had grown to a teenager. She wore a scowl on her face.

"You don't understand, Mom!" Sadie yelled and turned her back to Morgan.

"Sweetie, I think I understand more than you assume." Her eyes grew heavy as she tried to reason with her daughter.

"I hate you!" She stormed off and out of view.

"Sadie!" Morgan yelped as tears streamed from her face.

Morgan swiveled in her suit. She grabbed the SAFER joystick as her eyes darted searched for Sadie. She meandered away from the accident when she overheard a cry.

It was Sadie.

She turned herself around and headed toward the sound, finding Sadie in the remnants of the control room. She was in tears.

"I'm sorry, Mom." She fought tears, "I didn't mean it."

"It's okay, sweetie." Morgan raised her arms toward Sadie.

Sadie got up and walked to Morgan with arms raised, but when Morgan went to embrace, she caught nothing.

"Mom?" 

Morgan turned to see her daughter. She was older once more.

"Look." She held out a letter to Morgan. "Stanford, just like you."

Morgan smiled as Sadie handed the letter to her, but it dissolved in her hand. She glanced up at Sadie, but she vanished. Morgan pressed forward on the joystick to find her. She peered toward the communication hub, where she could see two hazy figures.

Both clad in dark gowns, one was a woman. The woman received something from the other, shook its hand, and waved at Morgan.

"I did it Mom!" The figure yelled. Morgan couldn't hear the distant shadow.

"Mom!" An excited voice behind Morgan yelled.

She turned to see her daughter, now a young adult, flashing her hand in front of her.

"He asked." They said together, Morgan trying to contain her joy.

She held out her hand to Morgan to show a ring. Morgan moved to hold her daughter's hand, but she spun away. She kept spinning and spinning. Morgan watched as a haze overtook her daughter and much like a quick-change artist, Sadie was now wearing her wedding gown.

"You're beautiful." Morgan gasped.

Sadie smiled and disappeared once again in a flash of stardust.

Morgan panicked as she searched again for her daughter. She swung the joystick in full rotation.

And then she saw it.

She hadn't looked at Earth this whole time. It was incredible. Her breath shortening as she took in the view.

"Mommy, why do you come out here very night?"

Morgan spun to follow her daughter once more. She was with her daughter.

"To look at the stars, Morgan." Sadie said to the child.

"Why?"

Morgan tried calling out to the two of them, but it was like they were on a different planet. As if she was attending a stage play.

"My mother, your grandmother, was an astronaut. I like to think she's still up there." Sadie said to the inquisitive girl.

"When will she come back?"

"Someday."

Sadie picked up her daughter and turned away from Morgan. As they walked, they evaporated into dust that settled in the stars.

Morgan's hands reached out, but grabbed nothing. Her knuckles ached from repeated attempts, each time she stretched further and further.

She dropped her arms and cried.

WARNING: OXYGEN LEVELS HIGH PLEASE CHECK LEVELS

Morgan started to feel nauseous. Knowing that only a few minutes persisted, she looked away from Earth.

She thought she recognized something in the distance, a tiny craft that hid in the shadows of the stratosphere.

She switched on her comms and closed her eyes and hummed along with a familiar tune.

Almost Heaven, West Virginia...