Then you settle down to wait. To simulate the isolation of space travel accurately, a time delay is built into the communication system. It takes almost two minutes for your urgent message to reach Foster and his crewmates, and another two minutes for their reply to come back.

The seconds tick by, agonizingly slowly. As you watch, the CO2 level in Pod Four creeps up to 0.47%.

Then a reply comes back: not from Foster, but from Haidee in Pod One.

Something's up with Foster. He hasn't come out of his pod for days. Jerrold's going to investigate.

More seconds crawl by. Then a reply from Jerrold:

Foster's locked the hatch. He won't respond.
I can't get in.

From Haidee:

You better call Thornton.

Katie Thornton is the Mission Commander. Your boss. You look at the clock: almost ten minutes have gone by since you sounded the alert.

CONTINUE>