Page 95 of Stars

“So this is what you will do, Sergey Puchkov,” Zeytsev said, “to save your reputation, the lives of those astronauts, and the world’s space and orbital infrastructure. First, you will end your humiliating alliance with the United States. You will ceaseallcommunication with the United States, break every allegiance and treaty you have signed that surrenders our power to them. Second, you will release the political prisoners you have held for two years, every one of the loyal soldiers who served under General Moroshkin to end your tyranny. And third, you will resign your presidency, dissolve your government, and allow us to appoint a new acting president until elections are held.We will then make the decisions.”

“Is that all?”

“Do not forget: I hold the keys to your nuclear kingdom. You do not want to be snappy with me.” Zeytsev paused. “I have powered down the warhead on the ISS… for now. But you have three days, Sergey Puchkov, or I will blow up that station.”

Rage shredded Sergey, tore his sanity apart. He balled his fists and pounded his desk, roaring, “You will not detonate anything! You want to rule theworld! What good are ashes to you? That is all you will have left if you launchanything,” Sergey sneered. “How many nations will come foryou?”

“Shall I prove how serious I am?”

Zeytsev cut the transmission.

* * *

Johnson Space Center

Houston, Texas

“Roxanne!”The flight dynamics officer leaped out of his seat in the trench and backed away from his console. “Fuck, Roxanne! One of Russia’s GLONASS satellites has changed course! It’s heading for the ISS!”

“Move them! Now!”

“They don’t have enough time!” the officer cried. “Fuck, impact is in forty seconds!”

* * *

ISS

Earth’s Orbit

Alarms blared through the ISS,ruby lights strobing as klaxons shattered the crews’ eardrums.

“Thirty seconds to impact!” Phillipa shouted. “Everyone to the Soyuz!” The Soyuz was the escape craft for the station, permanently docked offZvezda.

“We cannot put Michaela in the Soyuz!” Rafael roared. “She’s decompensating, and the trauma of reentry will kill her. If she dies like Jim, we’ll be wearing her through every layer of the atmosphere.” Already, Michaela’s eyelids were fluttering and her face had gone pale. She was limp, floating like a broken doll.

“Sasha!” Mark shouted. “With me!”

Mark pushed off the bulkhead and shot down the stack toward the guidance and navigation station at the end ofUnity. Twin control sticks bracketed a long control panel and side-by-side display screens. The motion control system was the onboard piloting interface for the ISS. Normally, the ISS flew by autopilot. Not by fighter pilots.

“We have to move the station.” Mark braced both feet against the bulkhead and wrapped his hands around one of the control sticks. “Sasha, on my mark, hard right for four and then all the way forward for five. We’ll drift our way clear.”

“Mark, this station isn’t designed for donuts,” Phillipa warned.

“Do you have a better idea? I’d rather break a truss than decompress everyone into space!”

Phillipa said nothing. Sasha grasped his stick in both hands and mirrored Mark’s position, squatting over the controls with his feet braced.

“Ready?”

Sasha nodded.

“Impact in twenty seconds,” Phillipa called out.

“Three… two… one…mark!”

They moved together, Sasha yanking hard right and counting aloud alongside Mark. “One… two… three…”

Around them, the station vibrated, like a train was barreling down tracks a breath away. Through the window, the Earth twisted out of sight. The giant station rotated, bucking the solar winds and the edges of Earth’s atmosphere.