Mark tensed watching the lights on the shuttle flicker. That was really bad. Over the speakers of the shuttle, Hiro asked the crew in a panic. "Mark! Wanda! Why am I losing power?!" Wanda floated over to a speaker box, rushing out in a heavy Russian accent. "We're on it! Stand by!" Mark followed her through the hatches to get to the engines. Dropping down into the last hatch, Wanda screamed as the pipes turned on to spray icy air over the overheated engines. Rushing to a speaker box, Mark yelled into it over the engine's warning alarm. "Captain! Something is overheating the engines!" Hiro's voice came through the speakers, yelling back. "The controls are not responding! I'm not getting any readings up here!" Wanda floated through the narrow space between the heated engines, going down to the engine controls as she yelled out fowl curses in Russian. When she reached it, she yelled back to Mark in a commanding voice. "We'll have to cut the power!" Mark shot her a perplexed look, snapping out. "Are you crazy! We may never get them back online!"

Wanda pointed a wrench at him, snapping back. "If we don't, they'll melt, and we can't replace them! DO IT!" Mark groaned but couldn't argue with her. She was right. Wanda began turning metal levelers to shut down parts of the shuttle. Without a way to know what was drawing so much power, they just had to shut it all down. Right before shutting down the engines, she called out to Mark. "Take the wheel and open the vents!" Mark grabbed a face mask to strap tight to his face and closed the engine hatch to lock it down. Making sure she had put on her emergency mask; Mark grabbed the wheel used his strength to turn the wheel as hard as he could. The engine vents along the sides of the ship opened to vent the heat. The protective grates over the narrow vents kept the pressure level enough that only the air was sucked from the room. They only needed to open them for a few seconds. After that, the icy freeze of space would set in. Mark felt the cold over his exposed hands. It was like plunging your hands into artic ice water. Immediately Mark started to turn the wheel back to close the vents before he lost feeling in his hands.

The engine alarm shut off, stopping the icy air. The icy air had allowed the cold of space to frost over the engines before the vents were shut. When the vents shut, Wanda cut the power for the engines to let them sit for a minute. Mark began to rub his hands together to warm them, watching Wanda go over her checklist as fast as she could. Floating over, Mark looked it over with her. None of the lights were turning back on. Everything was down. Mark flicked the reset button, but still not even the red lights came on. Taking a shaky breath, Mark uttered out. "That's not good... If we can't get that up, we are going to lose our air..." Wanda's hands were shaking as she went down the line of control switches, muttering out in a slight panic. "Yes... I know that. Thank you..." Wanda started removing the panel and cursed when she saw the problem. Mark huffed, grunting out as he saw the frozen condensation in the circuits. "Got a hairdryer?" Wanda huffed sarcastically in return, snapping back. "Airtight, my fucking ass!"

Wanda moved to the side of the box, bracing her back to the wall and taking her frustration out by kicking the side of the large control box. As she kicked the hell out of it, she yelled out bitterly. "Cheap fucking piece of shit! You're as airtight as a fucking cheese grater! Whoever built you should be taken out and beaten in the streets with your low-quality parts!" Mark hovered as still as possible in the air. He didn't want to be the next target of her aggression. She suddenly stopped her heavy rubber boot in mid-kick to ask him in a much calmer tone. "Try it now." Not daring to argue with her, he simply flipped the switch. She was the astronaut engineer after all. Maybe she knew something that he didn't. When nothing happened, he flipped the switch off and meekly told her. "Nothing." Wanda groaned, resuming to kick it as she yelled out. "I am not dying up here! You're going to take me home so I can kick the asshole that made you!" Mark watched frost float out of the control panel with every kick. Helping to brush the frost out, he tried the switch again and the lights came back on. Wanda tossed her hands up, stating with joy. "Eureka!"

Mark started to quickly flip the switches to turn the life support and other operations on. While he forced each system to reset, Wanda swatted his shoulder, commenting proudly. "And that is how we solve problems in Russia. The healthy way." Mark snorted, unable to stop himself from laughing. Wanda helped him get the engines back up online, when the Captain stated over the fixed speakers. "We're back! Great job you two! What was the problem?" Wanda shrugged, mumbling out to herself. "Damn if I know... Everything seems fine now..." Mark moved to the speaker box, pressing the button to answer. "We're not sure, Captain. We are still looking into it. What does the computer say on your end? Is anything drawing more power than it should?" Mark waited for a minute, before the Captain replied softly. "Nothing... Whatever it was is gone." Wanda set the panel back in place, telling Mark seriously. "Shit like that just doesn't happen for no reason. Something was making the engines run harder." Mark pressed the button, telling the Captain. "We're going to keep checking. See if Ground Control can pinpoint it."

Removing the emergency mask, Mark put it back in the case. Wanda reluctantly did the same and they went into the long process of looking over every little detail that might have caused the issue. They monitored the power outputs and still nothing. No word was given from Ground Control. They appeared to be on their own. Wanda laid across the top of the control box, flipping through the plastic protected manual. Mark was busy checking the engine filters for anything that might have clogged them, just as Wanda groaned out coolly. "Maybe we flew past something with a magnetic field and the autopilot made the engines work harder to get out of it before it drew us in?" Mark folded his arms, saying softly. "That would explain everything going haywire... but you saw for yourself. There was nothing around the shuttle. No meteors or debris... It was all clear." Wanda sighed, hugging the manual to her flat chest as she muttered out. "That we know of..." Mark raised an eyebrow, asking her curiously. "What do you mean by that?" Wanda shrugged, honestly telling him. "I just mean that there is a lot about Space that we are learning about as we go along."

Sighing lightly, Mark said casually. "Ya... Could be the same thing that made the Station lose contact with Ground Control. And created that garbled up message..." The shuttle jerked, causing Wanda to hit her back against the wall and Mark to knock his shoulder into the side of an engine. Over the speakers, the Captain announced. "Sorry about that. We are now docked at Station 01. All personnel to the main deck." Mark gestured Wanda to go first and she headed to the hatch to unlock it. Following her up, Mark gathered up his box of tools and got into his Space suit. The Captain wanted everyone to be in their suits just in case the Station had no air. Once everyone was dressed and had everything they needed, the Captain cautiously opened the docking hatch. The hatch hissed as it opened, revealing the dark docking bay with cases holding Space suits. Mark tapped the Captain's arm, gesturing to him that he wanted to go first. Hiro let him. Floating into the docking bay slowly, the motion detector lights turned on.

Mark checked the condition of the docking bay, then gave the Captain a thumbs up. The Captain closed the hatch, allowing Mark to find out what condition the Station was in before letting the crew explore it. Waiting for the hatch to lock, Mark floated over to a computer monitor by the Station's hatch door. The computer was bulky, but he guessed that it made it sturdier against damage. Removing a thick glove, he began to type on the keyboard; 'Station Status?' The computer beeped, then began to type out a response as a voice in the computer speaker read the reply aloud. "Status of Station System 01 is in working order. All functions are normal." Mark raised an eyebrow, typing out as he said aloud. "Ya? Why is gravity off in the Docking Bay?" The computer replied by stating aloud. "Would you like me to switch gravity on in the Docking Bay?" Mark pressed the 'Y' button for yes and then cursed. The gravity came on so quickly that he hit the metal floor chest first. Stiffly sitting up, Mark growled out to the computer. "Very funny... A little warning would have been nice." The computer didn't respond.

Climbing shakily onto his legs, he leaned on the computer for support as he typed out; 'Oxygen levels?' The computer began to answer, stating aloud for him. "Normal." Mark popped off his helmet, taking a hesitant breath. It felt good to take a normal breath without suffocating. Moving back to the computer, Mark typed out as he said aloud. "Open Docking Bay door." The computer replied with a swift. "No. A lockdown is in order." Mark stiffened, saying to himself. "What...?" Removing his other glove, he quickly typed out as he said. "What caused the lockdown?" The computer beeped and typed out faster as it said aloud. "Lockdown was ordered by Station Commander Steele." Mark softly spoke to himself as he typed out. "Undue the order." The computer beeped again, stating as it typed. "I cannot without the Commander's code." The computer issued a box on the screen where he could type in the code. Rolling his eyes, Mark growled out under his breath. "Who puts a fucking password in Space? There is nothing in Space that wants to get in..." As a few ideas popped into his head, Mark shivered and took another look around the Docking Bay.

He'd seen enough Space movies to know how this worked... but were they true? Thinking about the weird distress message suddenly made his skin crawl. What if it wasn't a garbled mess of messages that merged into one weird distress call? What if the Station went into a lockdown to keep something out... Or worse... to keep something in. The hatch beside him hissed open and Mark screamed. The crew jerked in the air, yelling in response. After a few seconds, Hiro peeked around the Docking Bay, yelling out. "What?! What happened?!" Mark clutched his heart, moving to lean against the wall as he breathlessly retorted. "Fucking hell... It's fine... You just scared me." Hiro floated to the end of the shuttle's hatch, grabbing a bar to slowly swing out of the shuttle. As he entered the room with gravity, he dropped to the floor like he had simply hopped down the last step of a staircase. Mark pointed to the computer, trying to get his heartrate under control as he informed Hiro. "Everything is online, but the Station is in a lockdown. It needs Commander Steele's code..."

Hiro popped off his helmet and removed his gloves, answering coolly. "I know. NASA gave me the code in my briefing." Mark shrugged, mumbling out a bit put out. "Oh... Well... Could have used that information." Hiro smirked at him, starting to type in the code as he said smugly. "You wanted to go first." Before Hiro was about to press enter, Mark reached out to stop him. Hiro looked at him with concern, causing Mark to wince and nervously admit to him. "I just... I have to ask. Do you think that there may be even a possible chance that... they might have encountered aliens and managed to lock it in the Station? Cause if so, I'm thinking we just blow this thing up and go home..." Hiro's eyebrow slowly rose, before he chuckled out. "Mark...? Remember what I said about watching out for where your mind drifts off too?" Mark nodded and Hiro added in gently. "This would be one of those times. Take a deep breath. I've been up here hundreds of times. I've never seen any signs of alien life." Mark pulled his hand back, giving Hiro a small shrug as he retorted anxiously. "There's a first time for everything... Just saying..."

Hiro flashed him a smile, then clicked enter. The Docking Bay hatch hissed open to reveal another dark room that was partly illuminated by a large window that looked out to a starry view of Space. This time the Captain moved to the hatch first, causing motion lights in the room to turn on. Illuminating a human looking figure that was standing in the center of the room. The figure's head looked up slowly, before stating in a robotic tone of voice that was the same as the computer's voice in the Docking Bay. "Greetings and welcome to Space Station 01. I am Robonaut. I run the Station Systems. How may I help you?" Hiro cautiously stepped into the room, looking around at the open lounge. Everything was clean and so organized. It was as if the Station was brand new. Hiro straightened up before the Robonaut who looked like a human sized Spartan from Halo. Only his armor was white, and he had a large NASA camera for a visor with a scanner bar above that and flashlights on either side of that. Hiro stared into the visor of the Robonaut, asking aloud curiously. "Where is the crew for this Station?" Robonaut's reply came swiftly as it answered casually. "What a curious question... I thought I was looking at them. Are you not the crew?" To Be Continued...