Space & Time

Chapter 13- Both Options Suck

Svetlana was in a state of shock as she watched Boris spiraling downward to a watery

grave. She fell to her knees, "Oh my god, I just killed my brother..." She didn't even notice

Eva stripping quickly from her space suit, keeping a level head and taking a huge gulp of air

before diving head first over the side, launching like a torpedo towards Boris‟ struggling shadow.

Eva knifed through the water, keeping her hands pointed like an arrow extended above

her head and using commanding dolphin kicks to accelerate her dive. When she finally reached

Boris, he was halfway out of his suit. His body was barely moving as his struggles deprived his

lung's oxygen. Eva used her momentum to her advantage by grabbing his suit as she passed and

pulled it the rest of the way off. Then, dropping the suit and turning back towards Boris she

grabbed under his arms and scissor kicked through the sapphire water propelling both of them

upwards towards the silhouette of the raft above.

The sound of Eva and Boris breaking the surface right beside the raft broke Svetlana‟s

daze.

Eva yells at her with the last bit of energy she can rally, "Get him out of the water!"

Svetlana grabs her brother under his arms and pulls him up out of the water as she sits

back to use her body weight as an advantage to help get him completely into the safety raft.

Eva grabs a rope and pulls herself up over the side, still gasping to fill her lungs back up

from the difficult dive. "Roll him on his side." She instructs Svetlana.

Boris coughs a little as his sister rolls him over and then he sits up and brushes his sandy

blonde hair out of his face. He looks at his sister and then at Eva, "Thanks Eva, I would not have

made it out of there without your help."

She replies, still panting, "You are quite welcome young man, I just hope after I share my

story with the two of you, then you will both see I am nothing like my husband and unfortunately

only one of my sons took after me." She lay back on the side of the raft and took in the bright

sun as she still worked to catch her breath and recover from the exhausting rescue.

Svetlana helped Boris over to take a seat next to Eva. Then she spoke to her, "Eva, I am

sorry for my actions earlier, I owe you. You saved my brother's life. When you are ready to tell

us, we are ready to listen."

*****

The three stranded Russians took some time to recover and eat a few snacks, then when

the time was right, Eva began to share her life with the siblings, "I don't really speak of this part

of my life often, I guess it has always been easier to just bottle it up and keep it hidden. The Ivan

I married all those years ago is not the same man who went into space with our team. After the

KGB recruited him, he became different, he always wanted to make a difference and be a hero

for the Motherland but he got lost in the KGB‟s ideals and changed. I did not notice his change

at first but slowly he became abusive towards me and the boys." Tears started to form in Eva‟s

eyes as she thought back on those difficult times.

Svetlana slid up beside her and put an arm around her, "I didn't know things were like

that with you, I'm sorry you had to live through that."

Eva wiped her eyes and continued, "He started to get really rough with the boys and that

made Toly become coarse with everyone. Anatoly thought if he acted like his dad, he wouldn't

be bothered. My poor Fredrik took the brunt of his father's abuse. Then as they grew older,

Toly began roughing up Fredrik too. I didn't know what to do, Ivan would disregard any thing

I would say, and then smack me or shove me if I continued. He threatened us to tell lies on our

evaluations for the ProtoHaven Mission. He wanted to go to Mars so badly to gain recognition

for his valor he made us fear his consequences if our family was not selected to participate. I'm

worried about Fredrick. I wanted so badly to stay with him on our return to Earth. As Anatoly

begins to experience pressure from trying to survive our return to a different time, I am fearful as

to what he may be capable of doing."

Boris and Svetlana were both now hugging Eva. Each realizing she was not like her

husband at all, and probably more like a nurturing mother than their science-oriented mom 

could ever be. "Listen Eva, we have your back, we will reunite with the others and make sure 

Toly does not hurt Fredrick or anyone else anymore."

Boris chimed in, "We just have to figure out how to get to land, any land would be just

fine."

Eva spoke up, "I have an idea. It is almost nightfall, let us wait until it is completely dark

out and then try to triangulate our position from the stars and constellations. We may not be

precise, but we should at least figure out what ocean and hemisphere we are in, then we can use

our one paddle to start the long journey to landfall." She winked at Boris when she spoke of the

single paddle and he turned red with embarrassment.

Evening on the open ocean brings with it an intense darkness. The stars glow brighter

than anywhere else does on Earth. Eva and the teenagers were lying on their backs gazing into

the night sky and identifying the constellations above them.

"Look over there I see Sagittarius." Svetlana said as she pointed and then continued

"And look over there is Pegasus."

Eva applauded her celestial knowledge and spoke, "Boris, it is now two to zero and you

are losing, we only need one more to triangulate. Eva pointed up and whispered into his ear,

"That one is Cetus." Boris spoke up for Svetlana to hear, "Look right there, Cetus is right

there." He pointed confidently.

Svetlana clapped sarcastically for him, knowing he received help from Eva. He was

never any good at navigation during their training sessions.

Eva said, "It looks like we are in the Atlantic Ocean, by the position of the stars it should

be around autumn. Now when the sun rises, Boris you will paddle first, we just need to paddle

away from the sun in the morning and towards the sun in the evening and we will make landfall

eventually, albeit most likely on the east coast of America, but landfall nonetheless."