Swapping Paint

By the time the proximity klaxons went off - it was already too late. At orbital velocities and with big structures like the ISS International Space Station..quick evasive maneuvers were impossible. Few people realize how fast the station actually moved. It orbited the earth every 90 minutes. Their sun rose and set several times a day.

Mission specialist Kenshin Nabata shrugged. Even if he got to the pressure suits, there was no way he’d ever suit up fast enough in the event of an impact. And even if he did…a collision of that magnitude would release enough kinetic energy to vaporize most of the station and the people in it. 

The rogue structure approaching them would either hit or miss them in the next minute and a half. Fortunately Kenshin was probably in the best place on the station to meet his fate. The famous observation window that looked down on the earth as it rolled by majestically 400 km below. “We’re as likely to dodge into it as away from it,” Viktor said from behind him. “Are you ready to meet your Maker, Ken?”

“Do we know what it is yet, Vic?” 

Viktor blew out his cheeks in exasperation. “It’s obviously artificial, with a reflective index like that. No beacons, transponders, or ID. Sally thinks it’s cylindrical in shape, but we can’t get the scopes on it from this angle.”

“Did you get her back inside?” Ken asked. Vic nodded silently, and clapped a friendly hand on Ken’s shoulder.

“Enjoy the show, Ken. I’m gonna go have a drink.” And with that, he pushed silently away. Alone, Kenshin reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a picture of his wife and son. He glanced furtively up and down the corridor to make sure no one was watching, and gave the photo a quick kiss. Then he placed it firmly in his pocket. He was ready. In the movies, the Clock Of Doom always counted down dramatically but the seconds on his Breitling Navitimer just swept along as they always did. In the final few seconds, Kenshin exhaled and centered his conscience for relaxed calm. He decided to keep his eyes open, wanting to see as much as he could of his fate before it struck.

There was an undramatic, anticlimactic flicker in the observation window, almost too fast to see. Whatever it was had missed them and was long gone in a fraction of a second.

“Jesus Christ!” Sally shouted, “sumbitch scorched the fuggin paint!” Somewhere else Viktor sounded off. “Sorry everyone, but I think I shit my pants…”. Kenshin laughed with the others. The Mission Commander started formally calling off names and demanding statuses and acknowledgment and cautioning everyone about any entrained debris. He started moving toward the pressure suits like everyone else.

They’d all be on high alert for the next few hours and deciding what to do. An Abandon Ship was entirely within reason. 

But as the hours went by, no nation claimed ownership of the rogue satellite and almost immediately the social media blew up with chatter about UFOs and aliens. The memes were glorious. The Artifact (as it became known) was not seen on any subsequent orbits. It just seemed to disappear. The podcasters, the content creators and other chattering skulls went nuts. The world had its next Current Thing.

****

A week later Viktor was tabulating and confirming the results of the station’s periodic self diagnostics and maintenance routines. During the publicity dog and pony shows he described himself as the station’s janitor and it wasn’t far from the truth. He had multiple STEM degrees but most of his job was mundane repairs and systems checks. The trip into space was merely icing on the cake of his career; he considered his proudest achievements as having taken place back on earth…designing and manufacturing the station’s systems and equipment. He and the teams had done their jobs remarkably well. 

He was idly reminiscing when the LiDAR blipped. He frowned and re-set it. And then it blipped again. Odd, because if there was anything out there the radar should have gone first… but then the radar pinged. Looking at the scopes and cameras there was nothing to see. Hey keyed the mic. “Hey Sally, how’s it going out there? Hey - can you check your tools? Did anything float away on you? Still got all your bits and pieces secure? Can ya check?”

“Copy, give me a sec, let me check.”

“Nope - everything’s still here. Why do you ask?” Sally was doing a second double check to make sure her tools and materials were all present. Again she heaved a sigh of relief. In orbital free fall…everything wanted to float away on you. On EVA stuff that could be a disaster.

“Can you take a peek aft, Sally? The radar and LiDAR are acting up…” Vic asked. Then the proximity alarms sounded again. 

“It’s The Artifact again” Sally said. “Tough to say but I make him out to be at several clicks out, closing slowly… tough to say when you have no idea how big he is… looks like a shiny blob at this distance…but it’s getting closer…”

“Roger that Sally. Computer says ETA at current velocities is a couple hours. Can ya finish up and come in? I’m gonna wake up the Mission Commander and get Houston on the blower…” In time Sally would be in from her spacewalk, the Mission Commander would be in charge…but Viktor couldn’t restrain himself. He keyed the mic.

“This is the International Space Station to unknown vessel - please identify yourselves and state your intentions? You are in unauthorized controlled space and we’d hate to have an accident up here, so far from home…Over.”

But The Artifact remained silent as it slowly closed on the station.