Airlock

I start with Ilyukhina. She weighs almost nothing. I carry her over my shoulder as I climb the ladders all the way to the control room. Once there, I set her on the floor and open the airlock. The spacesuit inside is bulky and in the way. I move it, piece by piece, into the control room and set it on the pilot’s chair. Then I put Olesya into the airlock.

The airlock controls are self-explanatory. The air pressure inside the airlock and even the outer door are controllable by the panel in the control room. There’s even a Jettison button. I close the door and activate the jettison process.

It starts with a buzzing alarm, blinking lights inside the airlock, and a verbal countdown. There are three different blinking Abort switches inside the airlock. Anyone who finds themselves in there during a jettison can easily cancel it.

Once the countdown finishes, the airlock decompresses to 10 percent of an atmosphere (according to the readouts). Then it releases the outer door. With a whoosh, Olesya is gone. And, with the constantly accelerating ship, the body simply falls away.

***

Chapter 4