Unwanted Passenger

Did it forget about you? It could be anywhere… You know the ship is no longer a safe place. The ship, Nostromo, which has been your home for several months has been compromised, and all the crew is dead. Everyone except you. Why did you have to bring that creature on board? Now it has all gone south.. Put yourself together, there is still a way to get off the ship! You won’t be able to go all the way to the room where you can hit the self destruct sequence, it could be anywhere..

There is only one way, and you know it. Abandon ship, as fast as you can. Go find one of the escape pods, hit release and fly away to safety. It probably didn’t go as far as the scape pods right? Now just run and don’t look back! You are almost there! Ignore the sounds coming from behind you, just run faster! Stop before you get to the escape pods! Is it there? Good, no sign of it. Now quickly get in and get the hell out of there. Maybe it is eating one of your old crew members, or laying an egg somewhere. No, you can’t just leave it be like this, you have to find a way to destroy it! But first, hit the disengage button and fly away into Space. Feels much safer now right?

Ok, what to do, what to do? Ah yes! You remember that these escape pods are also for military use. Well, more like a military hit-and-run last resource. You check it out, and find what you were looking for: an atomic bomb, with a proximity trigger! This has to take care of it, that damn Alien with it’s acid blood and long, spiky tail. Remembering it is only one of several eggs that were in that crashed ship makes you shiver. Focus, one at a time.

You are not an expert in these kind of things.. You don’t remember well how to use an atomic bomb in the Vacuum of Space. Is it the same as in Earth? Will it work at all? You go to think and act fast, because soon you’ll be out of range, and you’ll have left that Thing waiting there for another kill… Ok, think think! Why didn’t you take that Bombs in Space 101 Lecture? Of course you didn’t think it would come in handy… Manual, there’s got to be a manual around here somewhere! Alright, you found one, but it looks kind of basic. Damn expense cuts..

Alright, when an atomic bomb blows, several elements are involved. Thinking about a place with an atmosphere like Earth, after the detonation, you would get damage from the shockwave, flying debris, heat and radiation. With the detonation, the increase in air pressure and temperature creates a supersonic shockwave, which uses the medium (liquid, gas or plasma), being responsible for roughly 40%-50% of the energy released (thinking of a bomb at sea level) and a whole lot of damage! But the bomb is not only about the blast. A heat wave follows the shockwave, increasing the temperature and melting/destroying all in it’s path. Not only that, with the explosion, you also have super fast debris flying, be it debris from the area or bomb fragments, and you also get your good ol’ radiation cloud, which will haunt that area for a long time.

Hmm, but in Space it is not the same! In Space there is Vacuum, so how does it work then? Well, you know you won’t have a problem triggering it, because it is a bomb that does not need an oxidizing agent, it will blow whether it is in an atmosphere or not. Good, you know it will blow, and you know it will blow when it gets close to the Nostromo. When it blows, what will happen? Damn, you won’t have a shockwave! Since a shockwave depends on a medium, the blast won’t create one, because there is no medium in the Vacuum of Space, since Vacuum is devoid of matter. Ah, but that energy that would have been released in the form of a shockwave will be “used” as kinetic energy, making the debris fly much faster. And as there is no atmosphere, they won’t have friction to slow them down. They will be atomic bomb shrapnel flying extremely fast! Ok, so the ship will sustain physical damage, specially since you deactivate Nostromo’s shields before you left. And what about heat? Heat will also happen, but in forms of irradiation. With luck, it’ll get so hot that a part of the ship will melt and the damage will be even greater! And along with that there’ll be tons of gamma and X-rays everywhere, joining the show.

This might just work! Ok, bomb is ready. You are in a safe distance, where you can see the Nostromo’s doom and you won’t be affected severely by the detonation because all your shields are up and operational. You can even darken you glass so the light from the atomic explosion does not blind you. It all seem ready, time for the great finale.

You hit a button, and off you see the atomic bomb going, towards the Nostromo. All is quiet, as you are in Space. All your senses are focused on that bomb, cruising across Space, on it’s way to annihilate the Alien. Slowly it goes, getting closer and closer. In your imagination, you can even see the proximity clock ticking down the distance, waiting for it to be in perfect position before blowing. As you are in Space, the blast will be spherical shaped, due to the lack of gravity. Almost, almost there! Soon you’ll be able to send a distress signal and hibernate until someone comes and rescues you! Just a few more seconds and it will be in range. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1..

It all happens extremely fast. The atomic bomb goes off, and with it so does part of the Nostromo. The damage is tremendous!

You forget you are in Vacuum and you wait for the bang, but the only sound you hear, is the Alien at your back…

Speciall thanks to Alexandre Soares (Spock) and Fellipy Silva!

Originally published at http://answersyoudontcareabout.wordpress.com on June 5, 2015.