[ WP ] After Astronaut Capt . Scott Kelly returns to earth following a 340-day stretch at the ISS , NASA receives a distress signal from the ISS ... from Capt . Scott Kelly .

Elizer Snag looked forlornly down at the empty mug in front of him. Usually it'd be full of a nice cup of coffee, its black wholeness marred only by a few drops of white chocolate. Maybe a marshmallow if he was feeling particularly silly one morning or another. Instead, with the coffee machine still broken since the debacle the previous day, it was little more than a reminder of what he was missing. 
 
 The sound of his door opening startled him slightly, and he stood up from his desk as two men entered his office. One was dressed in the trappings of a military man. Once Elizer looked past the impressive array of pins and metals on the man's breast, what stood out most was his somewhat square-shaped head of gray hair. The man was sharp, tall, and serious. 
 
 The other man was his boss, Mr. Wilcutt. More than anything, Mr. Wilcutt looked tired. Elizer could relate, although his boss was usually pretty awake at this hour. Sickeningly so sometimes. 
 
 `` Uh, good morning. Sir. Sirs. What can I do for you?'' 
 
 Mr. Wilcutt's eyes darted to the man beside him, and for Elizer, it finally clicked. That was Mr. Selva. *General* Selva, actually. Elizer's brain struggled against the early morning haze to follow the mental connection, but somehow it managed. He'd been introduced to the man along with a few of his coworkers at some sort of function a few months back. He could n't even remember what it was for... probably some kind of political thing. 
 
 `` Elizer. This is General Paul Selva, a friend of mine. I do n't remember if you've been introduced.'' 
 
 Elizer offered his hand, and the general shook it. There was none of the macho who-can-crush-the-other-guy's-hand thing that he'd had to deal with back when he worked for Elevate, and he silently thanked the General. Nevertheless, it was firm. Two shakes, release. Respectful smile and nod. 
 
 `` Elizer,'' Mr. Wilcutt started again, seeming to pick his words as if from a buffet of possible choices, `` What do you know about the recovery yesterday?'' 
 
 Elizer blinked, then scrunched up his face. The...? Oh! 
 
 `` Oh, you mean Captain Scott Kelly? He should be in debriefing, right?'' 
 
 Elizer scratched his head absentmindedly as he continued, `` Have n't really been following it honestly, focusing on GOES-R.'' 
 
 Mr. Wilcutt nodded. `` That's fine. Good, actually. We'd like you to take a look at the telemetry data from the station.'' 
 
 Elizer was n't sure where this was leading, but he was n't about to protest - his boss could be a bit vague sometimes, but he always had a good reason for it. He turned back to his computer's secondary monitor and tabbed over to the remote access application they used. He paused, however, as he was met by a screen declaring that the data stream was locked. 
 
 `` It's... locked?'' 
 
 `` Ah, one second. I'll log in.'' 
 
 Elizer moved out of the way, and his boss stepped in before providing the login box with a quickly typed username and password. With that, he stood once more, and motioned for Elizer to sit. 
 
 When he returned his gaze to the screen, expecting something unusual, he was a bit stumped. Everything was exactly as it should be. 
 
 `` Uhm... what am I... looking for?'' 
 
 It was making him a bit nervous that the two men were not watching his screen, but Elizer himself. 
 
 `` Take your time. We just want to know what you see.'' 
 
 It had been a while since he'd been given a refresher over the remote data, and he only knew what some of them meant. All the same, he did his best. 
 
 `` Okay, well, they've got plenty of oxygen up there. Scrubbers are working fine. Radiation's a little higher than normal, but we did have that big sunquake yesterday, so that's not too surprising. I'm really not sure...?'' 
 
 The general remained silent, but Mr. Wilcutt sighed and began speaking once more. `` We're just looking for a second opinion. Normally we'd have the telemetry team looking at this, and we *did*. You're the only one on-site right now who does n't know what's going on, *and* knows the systems well enough to formulate an opinion.'' 
 
 Elizer swallowed, and refocused on the screen. Even if what his boss had just said explained things a little, it did nothing for his state of mind. If they were going this far out for a second opinion, it meant they *really* did n't like whatever the first opinion had been. 
 
 `` Altitude's fine, magnetic's fine... I think. Air pressure... temperature... storage and spacewalk logs, shuttle docking from the other day...'' 
 
 He trailed off as he looked a bit closer at the logs for the line he expected to see, but could n't find. 
 
 `` Wait, there was a shuttle docking yesterday?'' 
 
 He glanced back at the two men, but his boss was simply making a'get on with it' motion. 
 
 `` There's... huh. No record of the new Ultraviolet sensor that was supposed to go up, or the new refraction experiment. Wait, when did we send up the isotope test? Is n't that not due until the next shuttle?'' 
 
 He continued pouring over the records, but that seemed to be the end of the oddness. Nothing else seemed out of place, or at least if it was it was on one of the readings that he did n't know enough about to draw any conclusions. 
 
 Looking back at the two men, they seemed to have shared some silent agreement. The General nodded at Elizer, and gave a quick'thank you for your time.' As soon as the door closed behind him, Mr. Wilcutt turned back to Elizer. 
 
 `` This morning we lost contact with the ISS. Just for a few seconds, but it was total. No radio contact whatsoever. When we reestablished communications, everything seemed fine, up until Captain Kelly checked in.'' 
 
 `` From debriefing?'' 
 
 `` From the *station*.'' 
 
 Elizer's mouth opened, then closed again. Then opened. 
 
 His boss beat him to the punch. `` Keep looking at it. Call me if you find anything else odd.'' He half-turned towards the door, then stopped. `` And do n't answer any calls that are n't us or family. We're in media blackout right now.''
