DEF CON Safe Mode Hacking Conference - Short Story Contest - https://forum.defcon.org/node/231200 Community Choice Favorite! July 1, 2020, 16:54 Low Earth, Long Distance By: Juneau “That’s right, I can’t believe it’s been twenty-nine days since I arrived at the “BioStation!” The girl grinned at the ring-lit camera in her hand. She spun around in her office chair; eyes never leaving the screen. “This is seriously the coolest grad program ever!” Samantha Stirling stood and looked across the lab. The steel table in front of her was empty. The walls and ceiling, however, were packed with equipment tied down by cargo netting. In the event of an impact or a failure of the synthetic gravity system, the priceless equipment would stay safe. “I want to take you over to my favorite part of the lab.” Sam continued. She pushed a wayward curl from her face as she walked towards the far wall. “Over here we have the best view on Earth!” Sam laughed. “Or rather, the best view of Earth.” She turned the camera towards the window-screen in front of her. Earth stretched out below the glass. It was night and the lights of cities could be seen shining up into the darkness. “I was a bit sad at first when they said there weren’t any “real windows” on this station,” continued Sam, “But the window-screen takes data from over a hundred different sensors and cameras outside, and honestly, I can’t tell the difference.” Sam walked back towards her chair, pausing once to adjust one of the many decorative pins affixed to her navy-blue regulation jumpsuit. She sat and propped her feet on the workbench in front of her. “I guess I have time for one last question,” said Sam. She tapped at the screen and smiled. “This is an interesting one. What is it like being alone in space?” She paused and let her gaze linger on the window-screen at the other end of the room. “I don’t feel like I’m alone in space. It’s weird being on skeleton crew duty with just the Captain until the new team gets here at the end of the week but, right now I’m talking to almost a million people live. I even call my mom way more up here than I did when I was at home.” Sam shifted in her seat and refocused her attention on the ring light. “I guess that’s the coolest thing about this experience. I’m not alone. I’m probably the most connected I’ve ever been in my life.” The door behind Sam opened and in walked an older woman in the same blue jumpsuit. Her hair was cut close to her head in a buzz cut and her jumpsuit was impeccably starched. This position on the academic station was her first civilian mission after 15 years on the joint base Marius-Constant near Mars. “Well, I need to sign off up here,” said Sam, “Please share this video with your space-loving friends. If you haven’t already, please follow me at SamInSpace on Twitter and Creately.” She waved at the camera once more and then turned it off. “Still working on being the first YouTuber in space?” asked Captain Janice Whitney dryly. She sighed. “As long as you didn’t film any classified material again Stirling.” “Yes, Captain. I mean no Captain. No, I did not Captain.” Sam said. --- Captain Whitney and Sam were in the greenhouse gathering vegetables for their evening meal. Hydroponic bays had been stacked in rows that ran the length of the room. Blue and white LEDs shone down from the ceiling; creating a harsh approximation of daylight. Experimental greenhouses, often labeled “Victory Gardens,” had grown popular aboard private and academic vessels. These served mostly as a vanity project and a tasty supplement to the nutritionally complete protein packets that were shipped to the station every 6 months. The two astronauts stood to carry their haul back to the galley. A scraping noise came from beyond the room and both women froze. The grow lights flickered and swayed; casting twisting shadows over the room. The noise stopped as quickly as it had begun. The only indication that something had happened was the swaying of the lamps hanging from the ceiling. “What was that?” asked Sam. The captain shook her head. “Probably just space junk. We can check the sensors when we get upstairs.” There was a loud bang, then another, and the station groaned and shuddered. The light fixtures swung violently on their cords. The shadows danced with the movement of the lights until suddenly everything went dark. Another crash sounded and the station shook again. Sam flinched as another clang resounded much closer to her and she realized that the metal tub she had been carrying had fallen from her hands. In the pitch-black she couldn’t see her own hands, let alone the captain in front of her. Another crash shook the station and she stumbled; the spilled beans crunching under her feet. “That was definitely an impact!” Whitney’s voice barked out of the darkness. “We need to get upstairs and assess the damage.” “Which way to the door? Where are you?” called Sam There was a click and the door opened. Red emergency lighting from the hallway coated the greenhouse in a dim glow. Sam scrambled towards the captain in the hallway. The two walked in silence to the stairwell and began to ascend the dimly lit staircase. Another crash shook the station and Sam ducked, clinging to the railing. In front of her, the captain continued to climb as the station rocked. The lab upstairs was lit with the same emergency lighting. One of the drawers had come loose from the wall and dumped an assortment of test tubes and beakers on the floor. Broken glass covered the floor and glinted dangerously in the red light. “Be careful!” ordered Captain Whitney. She stepped through the lab, kicking a few of the bigger pieces out of the way. Her boots crunched the glass on the ground. The captain pointed wordlessly to the terminal in the wall and Sam made her way to it. Against the far wall, the window-screen stood dark. The captain sat at a computer embedded against the far wall. She tapped the keyboard and let out a breath of relief when the screen lit up. “Computers are working,” she announced. “I’m running a diagnostics test now.” “The sensor data is nonsensical.” said Whitney. “I tried to hail ground control but I’ve received no response. I want to go outside and see if there’s been any major damage” “I’ve assisted in space walks before,” agreed Sam, “we can do it after the impacts stop.” The station was equipped with several state-of-the-art spacesuits with automatic tracking and jet propulsion. Whitney selected none of those, opting instead for an older suit with a built-in short distance walkie talkie. She passed the receiver to Sam. “These should still work even if the system goes down again.” the captain said. “Don’t worry, I’ve done this the old fashioned way before.” Sam nodded and took the walkie talkie. She clicked the button on the side and was pleased to hear static crackling. “Hello!” she said into the mic. “Can you hear me?” “Hello. Can you hear me?” Sam’s voice echoed mechanically from the helmet. In the room next door, Sam triple checked all of the equipment needed for the spacewalk. She found an older SAFER system, a small jet propulsion backpack, that would work with the captain’s suit. After Sam had triple-checked the tether line for tearing or wear, she returned to the lab. Impacts still came and the station would shutter and groan. The time between crashes grew and eventually, the ship fell silent. Sam and Captain Whitney waited in mostly silence. Occasionally they would go over the plan or check equipment but neither could find the energy for more than a few words. An hour after the last impact the captain nodded. “It’s time,” she said. Sam swallowed and nodded wordlessly as Captain Whitney began the process of donning the spacesuit. She started with the cooling garment, a mesh bodysuit with over 300 feet of cooling tubes woven in. After crawling inside the hard torso pieces, all the captain could do was wait. She needed to breathe the pure oxygen provided by the suit’s life support system for at least thirty minutes before attempting depressurization Sam busied herself checking equipment until the pressurization timer on the space suit went off. The captain stood and made her way to the airlock; a surprisingly small door situated in the side of the lab. She was wearing the SAFER device and had coiled the tether neatly in her arms. Sam walked over to a small panel on the side of the door. “Are you ready?” asked Sam. She was unable to hide the tension in her voice. “Yes.” answered the captain. “Please open the airlock.” Sam nodded. She wanted to say something to Captain Whitney but she couldn’t find the words. Sam keyed in the code. The screen flashed green and, with a hiss, the airlock door slid open. Sam followed the captain into the airlock and attached the loose end of the tether to the wall. She felt a lump rising in her throat as she turned to the captain. “Godspeed,” she said and saluted. “Keep close,” said the captain. “I will radio you with status updates.” She turned towards the door but turned back after a moment, “Everything will be okay Sam,” she said kindly. “I’ve done this before.” Sam felt her eyes unexpectedly fill with tears. She tried to blink them away. “Yes, captain,” she said. Sam returned to the small screen outside the room. She entered a few more commands and the airlock door slid shut, sealing Captain Janice Whitney inside. The screen blinked a few times. There was a hiss from inside the airlock and Sam looked back at the screen. >> Depressurization 9:53 Sam lifted the walkie talkie to her mouth. “Can you hear me?” There was a squeal from the walkie talkie and then the captain responded. “Yes Stirling,” she said. Sam nodded, although no one could see her. “Good,” she replied. “Over.” Sam dragged a stool over by the keypad but found she could not sit still. Sam paced in front of the door. She didn’t realize she was biting at her thumbnail until blood ran down the back of her hand. She tucked her hand inside her jumpsuit and continued pacing. She watched the clock count down in silence. Suddenly the screen on the airlock door flashed red. An alarm sounded. Sam’s ears buzzed as the alarm started to ramp up to a deafening volume. “Warning!” screamed a computerized voice. “Catastrophic Earth event detected! Station defense mode activated!” “What the hell is this?” yelled Sam in a thin, panicked, voice. “Warning!” repeated the voice. It was even louder this time “Catastrophic Earth event detected! Station defense mode activated!” Sam looked at the airlock screen. The timer was gone, replaced with a bright red “Error” notice. She picked up the walkie talkie. “Captain, do you copy? We’re getting some sort of detection error.” There was some static on the line and then the captain responded. “I copy. The sensors have seemed to pick up some sort of anomalous event.” “What is station defense mode?” asked Sam. “This is an academic station, there are no weapons.” Sam heard the captain sigh. “It’s essentially a ‘safe mode’. Nothing in and nothing out. If the station detects conditions where a significant portion of the human population could be wiped out it shuts everything down.” “How do we turn it off?” asked Sam. “How do you get back inside?” “I don’t know. I’ve never dealt with this before,” said Captain Whitney. “I need you to find out what might have happened.” Her voice was surprisingly calm. “I’ll be fine here for a while.” Sam pulled up the warning and skimmed through it. “The system detected a meteor impact on Earth right after we were hit,” Sam whispered into the walkie talkie. Her voice shuttered as she continued to read. “Massive impact. Earth is no longer sustainable for human life.” There was no response from the captain so Sam continued reading. “It says here that system defense mode blocks all signals into and out of the station. It also says all access points including airlocks and ports have been locked.” “No longer sustainable for human life.” repeated the captain. The weight of the words finally set in. “So we could be the only two… you know.” Sam trailed off. The question terrified her. The captain and Sam were quiet for a few minutes. Slowly the alarm wound down. It was replaced by a deafening ringing in Sam’s ears. She ran back to the computer and searched in vain for a way to turn the station defense mode off. The program had blocked out most of the other controls. After an hour of searching, her vision blurring, Sam ran back to the airlock door. She began to pound on the door and, when that didn’t work, started beating her fists against the control screen. The screen didn’t budge. “Sam.” called the captain. “I want you to eat and get some sleep. We can work on getting the door open tomorrow.” “I don’t know what to do,” said Sam, breathlessly. “I don’t know how to do this.” “I don’t either.” replied the captain. “But the best thing we can do now is rest.” “Yes, captain,” Sam replied weakly. “Sam, one more thing. Please call me Janice.” --- Sam was exhausted but she couldn’t imagine sleeping. She choked down half of a protein pack and tried to lay in her bunk. After tossing and turning for a few minutes she dragged her bedding down the hallway into the lab. She spread the blankets out next to her desk and laid down. Sam stared at the mesh netting stretched out across the ceiling and tried to clear her mind. Sam grew tired of staring at the ceiling and picked up her phone. The station wifi was unavailable so she swiped over to the photo album. There were quite a few photos of the station. Photos of Earth through the window-glass, photos of her physics experiments, and even a few photos of her with other crew members. There were no photos of her with Whitney. Scrolling back even further Sam found photos posing outside of the shuttle that would bring her to the bio station. Photos of her acceptance letter to the BioStation grad program. Even further back were photos of Sam with her family at her college graduation. Sam brought up a group chat between herself, her mother, and her younger sister. “I miss you guys.” she typed. Sam hit send. >> Message Not Delivered Tears threatened to overtake Sam again. “What’s it like being alone in space?” she asked herself again. To distract herself, Sam pulled up the camera function. After pointing the camera towards her, she hit record. “My name is Samantha Stirling. I am a research student aboard the BioStation, an academic space station. I am here with the station captain Janice Whitney. Today, May eighteenth, 2038 our station was hit by meteors. We have reason to believe one of them struck the earth. If anyone sees this: we are out here. You are not alone.” Sam blinked back tears. “I don’t know if anyone will see this. I don’t know what to do. But I am here.” Sam hit stop and for the first time, she let herself cry. She curled into her blanket on the lab floor as sobs wracked her body. It felt like she cried for hours. Eventually, she slipped into a fitful sleep. She woke only a few hours later to a loud banging noise. Sam dove for a table and braced herself for impact but soon realized the banging came from inside the airlock. She scrambled for the walkie talkie. “Captain, I mean Janice! Are you okay?” Captain Whitney’s first name felt awkward. The banging paused. “Sam?” asked the captain. “Why are you here? I thought you were asleep.” “I was, I just,” Sam paused. “I just wanted to be close by. What are you doing?” There was another crash and Sam flinched. “I don’t have food, I don’t have water. I’m not going to last.” said Janice. Her voice shook. “I’ve been trying to keep it together but when I woke up alone in the dark I just couldn’t deal with it.” “I’m here,” said Sam. “I’m here Janice. You’re not alone.” “Thank you.” The two women sat in silence. Janice’s fear only made Sam more worried. Sam couldn’t imagine what she would do if she couldn’t get the captain out. She would be completely alone. At some point, Sam must have dozed off. She woke up a few hours later to her watch beeping. It was 06:00. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Sam didn’t get up. She curled into her bedding and prayed that it would all go away. Sam laid there quietly until hunger forced her up. She picked up the walkie talkie but then placed it back down. She’d let the captain sleep. Sam wouldn’t admit it, but she was afraid to radio Janice; terrified of what would happen if Janice didn’t respond. She made her way to the galley and opened another protein packet. Sam’s walkie talkie crackled as she was walking back to the lab. “Sam, are you there?” “I’m here,” Sam said. “How are you holding up?” The captain sighed. “It hasn’t even been a day and I’m so thirsty.” She paused. “Sam, I think we need to confront the possibility that I won’t make it out of here.” “No!” snapped Sam. “Don’t say that!” “I need water,” said Janice. “I can’t make it more than three days without it. If - if I die, you have to keep going. Maintain the garden and use it to survive. Keep researching, keep trying to communicate. You have to keep going.” “Don’t talk like that!” cried Sam. Sam couldn’t think about it. She couldn’t be trapped here alone. “Sam.” said Janice. “Just let me think!” Sam began to pace in the hallway. “You need water, let’s deal with that first. If there’s nothing in the airlock…” she trailed off. “Oh! What about the cooling garment! Some of the older models used water!” After about a minute Janice replied. “It’s water!” she exclaimed. “It’s old and musty but it’s definitely water!” Sam sank to the floor in relief. That would buy them time to get Janice out. Standing back up, Sam brushed off her clothes. She turned and headed back towards the lab. Sitting down at the computer; Sam pulled out the walkie talkie. “I’m going to try to see if I can turn this thing off,” said Sam. “Let me know if you need anything.” There was no response from the captain. Sam spent the day desperately trying to find a way out of lockdown mode. She started with the handbook given to all crewmembers upon their arrival to the station but she could find nothing more than the standard list of emergency procedures. There was no other information in the warning itself. Sam fumed as she tried to find the software that triggered the alert. Sam felt her hands cramp after she closed out yet another page of useless documentation. Checking her watch, she was startled to see that it was evening. Her joints popped as she stood and her head pounded. Sam had been working all day and was no closer to finding a way out. She began to make her way back to the galley. Sam considered radioing Janice but had no idea what to say. Sam sat in the empty galley and stared at her tube of gelatinous, unflavored protein. Sighing, she pulled out her phone and continued scrolling through her photos. She had years of memories saved on her device. Years of birthday parties and girls night’s out. Years of friends and family who she may never see again. Sam was surprised how quickly she ran out of photos and flipped over to her messages. She pulled up the most recent conversation between Sam and her family and scrolled past the harsh, red, “message undelivered” notification. The conversation was simple. Her mom had sent photos of the dinner she made that night and Sam had replied with a photo of a protein pack, not unlike the one she was eating now. They had made plans to video chat soon. Sam slammed her phone down. After learning that Sam was sleeping on the lab floor, Janice had insisted she return to her own bunk. That night, Sam had gathered her bedding and brought it back after assuring Janice that she would have the radio on the whole night. Sam wondered if Janice would attempt to break down the door again in the night. Sam stared blankly at the ceiling as she willed herself to go to sleep. When that didn’t work she pulled her phone back out. Sam scrolled absently through old photos and conversations until she dozed off. She slept huddled around her phone. That morning Sam returned to her computer, intent on finding a way out. She radioed Janice with occasional updates but often heard no response. After a few hours of fruitless searching Janice ordered Sam to take a break. Sam wandered aimlessly through the station, eventually finding herself in the greenhouse. She made her way up and down the darkened rows of plants until she found a place to sit under the tall tomato plants; their leaves brushing her face. In the darkness, it was easy for Sam to forget where she was. If she focused only on the leaves and the silence around her, Sam could be almost anywhere. Sam breathed in the smell of the plants and for a moment, let herself think she was back home in the neighborhood garden. With a pang of guilt, she wondered what Janice was doing. Was the captain sitting in a corner pretending she was somewhere else? Or was she still searching for a way out? Despite the guilt, it took Sam hours to leave the greenhouse. The next day was a haze for Sam. She woke up. She checked on Janice who’s tired voice was not masked by her attempts at optimism. She dug through station files until her eyes burned. Janice encouraged Sam to take breaks and continue her research. Sam agreed but when she wasn’t searching for answers she would hide in the back corner of the greenhouse and stare at her phone. She had scrolled through every photo and message many times at this point. Sometimes she didn’t even turn the phone on, just turned it over in her hands and stared at the dark blank screen. --- Sam stared blankly at another control panel that she had opened. Though she’d only been working for less than an hour, she was ready to go back to the quiet of the greenhouse. The walkie talkie crackled and Sam felt guilty. She knew she had been avoiding Janice. As each day passed without a solution Sam felt more and more like she was failing her captain. “Sam, how are you doing?” asked Janice. As always, she sounded optimistic, but each day her voice got duller. “I’m okay. Just looking at…” Sam glanced back at the screen and trailed off. She had been scrolling for so long that she had forgotten what exactly she was looking at. “I’ve got a control panel that seems to be for station power. How are you feeling.” “Lightheaded,” admitted Janice, “Power control panel?” she asked. “Yeah,” Sam scanned the panel for different commands. “Wow, this thing is actually really powerful. You can even turn off the backup generator. Scary right.?” Janice didn’t respond and Sam continued staring at the panel to see if an idea hit. “Wait hold on!” exclaimed Sam. “The door to the airlock is held closed with a magnet, right? So if I killed all power, including the backup generator, could we pry it open?” “You would also be turning off life support,” commented Janice. “How long would we have?” asked Sam. “The station is big, we would probably have almost a month of air left between the two of us.” “You would freeze before we ran out of air.” replied Janice “If we cut the power I bet it would stop whatever’s jamming our radio signals.” said Sam. “If we could find a way to power the radio separately we may be able to get a message out.” “Sam,” said Janice gently. “What if there’s no one there? If you keep the power on you’ll survive.” “Yeah, what if there’s no one there!” cried Sam, slamming her hand against the wall. “What if I spend the rest of my life waiting and no one ever comes? Right now I have a plan. We can get you out and send a message. If we wait-” Sam stopped, terrified to think about what waiting would mean. “It’s your decision. After all it’s your life” said Janice. “But I want you to think very carefully before you make this choice. If there’s no one out there,” she paused, “if there’s no one out there you’re going to die.” Sam left the room. She had barely made it to the hallway before the tears came. It had been four long days since the impacts. After spending every waking minute looking for a way out Sam couldn’t consider giving up. She wouldn’t let herself think about what that would mean. Years circling through space on an empty station, never knowing if she could go home. Drying her eyes, Sam returned to the lab and picked up the walkie talkie. “I’m sure, she said.” It took Sam eight hours to get the radio set up. With Janice’s guidance, she had managed to connect her walkie talkie and phone to the massive station antenna. The whole thing was wired into a suit battery pack that could power it for a three weeks. Despite her exhaustion, Sam was excited for the first time since the impact. “Janice, are you ready?” asked Sam. “When you give the word I’m going to cut power to the entire station.” “Good luck Sam,” said Janice tersely over the walkie talkie. “I’m ready when you are.” “Affirmative. Starting now.” declared Sam. Sam sat at the lab computer and punched in the commands to shut down the power. There was a groan from the station and the screen went black. The lights went out and the hissing air vents fell silent. Sam grabbed a crowbar she had found and ran to the airlock door. Sam grunted as she wedged the crowbar into the door. She pulled on the crowbar with all of her strength and slowly the door moved. Sam repositioned the crowbar and pulled again, revealing a gap about an inch wide. “Janice! Can you see me?” Sam yelled. “I can see you!” called Janice. Sam pulled again and again. Once the door got wider Janice was able to put her arm through and push as well. The two women pulled and the heavy metal door slowly slid open. Once the door was almost half open Janice was able to slide through. Captain Janice Whitney stood in front of Sam. Janice’s eyes were bloodshot and her face looked gaunt and tired. “You did it,” said Janice, her voice hoarse. Sam forgot all decorum and hugged her captain. “You made it. We got you out,” she said. Janice stepped away and breathed. “You did it.” Her voice was tired. Janice followed Sam slowly as Sam ran to the radio. Sam knelt in front of the radio and tapped at her phone. After a few minutes she stepped away and nodded at Janice. She fiddled with the receiver in Janice’s helmet until her voice flooded into the room. “My name is Samantha Stirling. I am a research student aboard the BioStation, an academic space station. I am here with the station captain Janice Whitney, Today, May eighteenth, 2038 our station was hit by meteors. We have reason to believe one of them struck the earth. If anyone sees this: we are out here. You are not alone.” Sam turned the receiver off and stood. “We did it.” she said “We got a message out!” She smiled. Janice nodded. “What do we do now?” Sam made sure Janice ate a protein packet and took a bottle of water. After Janice went to her bunk Sam walked back down to the radio. She listened to the broadcast for a few minutes and then shut the speaker off. She returned to her bunk and for the first time since the lockdown she fell asleep quickly. The next morning Sam was surprised to see Janice already awake in the galley. She was staring off into the darkness and flinched when Sam came in. “Good morning Captain, how are you feeling.” Janice gave a tired smile. “I’m feeling much better, thank you.” Sam started to speak but Janice turned and left. Although Janice insisted she was fine, she continued to move slowly and speak softly. She ignored Sam’s offers of assistance and spent much of her time in her bunk. For both women, their days were empty without day-to-day research and routines. Sam tended to the garden as best as she could but without lights, the plants withered and died. Sam prepared meals out of the remaining vegetables. She attempted to share at least one meal per day with Janice. It was so dark that the women could not see each other clearly. Sam would talk about anything she could think of while Janice would nod and occasionally offer up a brief response. Sam moved her bedding into the hallway by the radio. She would wait at night for a response, offering up prayers for rescue before she fell asleep. After a week without power the station got cold. The remaining plants froze. Both women donned space suits in the dark. Flashlight batteries didn’t last more than thirty seconds in the cold. At Sam’s suggestion they filled the inside of their suits with protein packs and bottled water to prevent it from freezing. Janice barely spoke and her face grew gaunt and strained. Sam tried to make sure the woman ate but, for the most part, she left Janice alone. One night, Sam sat by the radio, too cold to sleep, even in her suit. She had taken to singing quietly to herself, pop songs, christmas carols, anything to distract herself. Her mouth moved mechanically as she listened for any sort of response on the radio. She jumped as the door opened. “Sam,” asked Janice quietly. “How long have you been down here?” Sam shook her head. “Not very long.” she lied,”I just like to make sure everything is running.” Janice glanced down at Sam’s bedding. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I shouldn’t have let you do this.” “No,” said Sam, “This was my choice. It wouldn’t have been much different any other way. At least I’m not alone.” Janice sat next to Sam. “Do you regret it? Coming up here?” “I don’t know.” Sam sighed. “I’ve seen so many amazing things but I had hoped to see so many more.” Janice nodded thoughtfully. She didn’t say anything. The two women sat alone in space. Suddenly, and without warning, there came a knock from the airlock door.