Gathering gear, Abrams quickly began to prep the shuttle for a rescue mission. Obviously it was initially a recon mission, but she knew there were people down there and couldn’t only hope they were still alive. For the first time in a very long time, she found herself murmuring prayers under her breath, alternating between Catholic ones her mother uttered and the Hebrew ones her father had taught her.

Pre-flight checks would take a few minutes and despite the urgency, she didn’t want them to rush through those. With all the radiation they needed their shuttle to be in optimal condition. “We should consider a secondary communication method with the ship, just in case. In all likelihood, the radiation will stop us from talking to the ship, just like it’s preventing us from sending signals down.” The question became, what way might actually cut through?

Abrams, COS