'TETHERED BY MEMORIES'

 STORY: 

"Miles apart, even greater than the expanse of the ocean, but looking at the pale 

blue dot from here makes me homesick," said Noah, the co-pilot, to Sarah, a fellow 

co-pilot. A 12-member team was stationed on the International Space Station for a 

mission to study the effects of cosmological radiation on plants. As Noah gazed 

through the glass shield, a wave of life’s reflection washed over him. After losing his 

family in a crash, he often found himself questioning the purpose of it all. Turning to 

Sarah, he whispered, his voice thick with emotion, "Sometimes you wish you could 

hold onto things, but they often end up as mere memories." His eyes were filled with 

longing. While speaking about their desires, they heard their captain Nick’s voice 

over the speaker, and they returned to their main cabin.

Nick said, “There’s an engine malfunction in the Orion module! All the automated 

systems have begun to shut down. We need to rescue our crew members. The space 

debris has hit their main panels, and if we don’t intervene in another 45 minutes, the 

module will be entirely burnt down!” There was a hush of silence in the room, and a 

sense of death gripped everyone’s hand. The Orion module and Nick’s captaining 

module, called Draco, were all connected together with an emergency bypass entry. 

Due to the failure, they couldn’t find a way to open the gateway. There’s a saying: 

bravery pierces from the roof only for the heart that has got nothing to lose. With a 

sense of fearless venture, Noah came up with a plan, holding his nerve. “I can walk 

out of this module with a tether connected, and I’ll assist in the manual override to 

unlock the module.” Without realizing the risk that the space debris was still orbiting 

at high velocity, Noah prepared to do his valiant act.

He donned the specialized Extravehicular Activity Suit with his multi-tool box, and 

the airlock door slid open with a hiss. “Chamber depressurizing completed, keep your 

fingers crossed for me,” he said with a calm voice. He propelled himself into the vast 

void, the so-called space. With the view of Earth, once again something eternally 

touched him, which gentled his racing adrenaline. He floated towards the Orion 

module, the spacecraft’s sleek surface glinting in the sunlight. As he approached 

closer, the gravity of the situation etched into his mind; the panels were dented and 

scorched. He quickly used his thrusters to position himself near the complex docking 

system of Orion-Draco.

“Pilot Noah here, I’ve reached near the docking interface, initiating manual override. 

I repeat, team Orion, reach near the emergency way to join with the Draco module.” 

He extended the tool from his box, selecting a wrench attachment. He wedged the 

wrench into the narrow gap, using all his strength to pry the debris free. With a final, 

determined push, the debris came loose. A sense of triumph panted within him, and 

he accessed the manual release levers located on the exterior of the docking interface. These levers were a backup system designed for emergencies when 

automated systems failed. With the first lever released, part of the dented panel flew 

and struck against his suit. His oxygen tank began to leak rapidly. Nick immediately 

sent him a command, “Noah!!! We advise you to board the Draco immediately. At 

this rate, you’ve got only 8 minutes before your oxygen is depleted.” Noah was 

clueless. He knew that by the time the others arrived for rescue, the module would 

be fully scorched. He held himself with great grit and continued to release the other 

lever, staying there against the captain’s command. After all, isn’t it the wild heart 

that goes beyond crazy? While attempting to release the last lever, with the 

exhausting oxygen, he began to black out. His family photograph, which was glued to 

the toolbox, started to float in space. He noticed everything around him with blurry 

vision. He mumbled the words, “for?...... Where are you?” His memory began to flash 

back to the moment of the accident, where his delusional thoughts of his child told 

him, “Dad, you’ve got to save someone’s dad, someone’s family, someone to hold 

with their loved ones.” The photograph made him travel back in time and evoked his 

consciousness. Yet he was still wobbly and unsteady, with only 2 minutes left before 

his life’s fuel was completely exhausted. He approached the lever with caution, 

positioning himself for maximum leverage. He took a deep breath, then pulled with 

all his strength, and finally, all the levers were released.

“Locks disengaged, return ……..to …the cham…ber.” With the final emergency button 

pushed by Noah, the common gateway between the crafts opened. The Orion crew 

members were rescued to the Draco module, but Noah’s tether slipped away from 

his suit, and he began to wander in the void. He muttered the words, “I saved…. 

someone’s……”. He began to hallucinate, having happy moments with his family, and 

he lost his complete consciousness.  

“Noah, I’ve got you. Just stay with me,” the captain of the mission, Nick, risked his 

own life by going out without connecting a tether and rescuing him. Finally, they 

both arrived at the Draco module, and Noah was resuscitated. After gaining 

consciousness, his first words were, “Didn’t I make my son John’s words?” With a 

sense of rhetoric, everyone smiled and hugged Noah.