Alpha 1472 (7 page)

As second in command Marius Hatch had been designated to be the first one of them to sample the fresh air of the new planet, an honour that he wa
s well looking forward to. With this first task now imminent he, along with J.D and Travis made their way out of the cockpit area through the relaxation lounge and through to the rear of the vessel into the workstation areas where all of the major equipment and stores were located for the mission.

A
t the extreme rear of the shuttle was the pressurised release room where all of the comings and goings from the shuttle would take place. As Marius climbed into his protection suit, J.D. and Travis Harnessed one of the individual release pods to the crane mechanism and rolled it into position in the release room. When he was fully suited, Marius made his way into the room and into the release pod. He stood there in the small glass structure and allowed himself a moment to consider what was going to happen during the next few minutes. He was to be the first of his species to breathe the air of a different planet. He knew that this was indeed an honour and in all likelihood his name and his name alone would probably stand out in the history books for years to come as the first. He knew that no one was any more important to this mission than anyone else but he was also aware of the naivety of the media and of the history makers, after all someone’s name had to represent the first, and it might as well be the name of Marius Hatch as anyone else’s.

After collecting himself, he knew that he was ready and gave the signal to the other two who had now positioned themselves at the control panel. On his signal J.D. pressed the button.

“Inner door sealed and secure, equalising inner and outer pressure…..pressures equalised, flooding escape chamber”

As J.D. commentated on the procedures the actions were played out before him. It took approximately four minutes for the inner chamber to become fully flooded and through the clear water he could clearly see Hatch in his pressure suit patiently waiting to be released into the open sea.

“Inner chamber now completely flooded, opening outer doors” With these words he activated the main outer doors that led to the outside and to the surface of this strange new world.

Two doors, the perfect shape of the body of the shuttle swung silently upwards and outward opening the escape chamber to the sea. Pressing down on one of the control peddles with his foot; Marius activated the winch mechanism that would allow the escape pod to rise to the waters surface.

Now that he was free of the confines of the ship, all of his ponderings had now disappeared, and he was now taking in the wonders of the environment in which he now found himself. Cocooned in this glass box, little bigger than himself
, he was, in effect, travelling upwards in a bubble. He could see virtually nothing except what was highlighted in the beam of his torch light, an occasional fish or some vegetation would pass in and out of view. He felt a little trepidatious as to what he might see or what might see him; after all he was effectively alone in a strange environment, who knew what was lurking in these depths.

T
he journey seemed to take for ever but in reality it was little more than a few minutes, and as the pod neared its destination and broke the water line, Marius watched as the clear saltwater ran down the outside of the glass in rivulets leaving the unit standing on the surface of the sea. He then reached for the control pad located on his left arm and opened a communication channel to the shuttle,

“I have reached the surface and am ready to commence environment testing, over”

In his earpiece he could hear the captain’s voice, “Roger Mr Hatch, carry on”

With that he looked down at his feet and located the pedal to open the escape pod. He found himself feeling a little apprehensive as the glass panel above his head slid backwards and folded down against the back wall of the pod
, and as the sides sank into and below the surface of the water he felt a little disorientated as he stood in the night air alone in the dark. He was a single, solitary figure, standing on a vast sea, alone and vulnerable. He once again reached for the control panel on his left arm and started about confirming the status of the atmosphere. Systematically he checked the air content to verify that it was indeed suitable to sustain their needs, having done that he reported back to the captain.

“Confirming the status of the atmosphere sir, I am now going to remove my breathing apparatus” With this he proceeded to remove the small mask that had covered his nose and mouth. Slowly, he closed his eyes and took one long, deep breath in. At the apex of his breath he opened his eyes and allowed the feeling of total relief to consume him. Now breathing freely and deeply he started to take in his surroundings.

To all intent and purpose, he was now standing freely on the surface of the ocean looking around, he could see nothing save for the vast emptiness of the night, the only thing visible was the feint outline of land which was picked out by small, almost barely visible orange flecks of light that he could see spaced sporadically along the shoreline. In his estimation they were about one to one and a half miles away from his present position. It was impossible to ascertain any more information about this place without more technical equipment, but that would have to wait. He looked up to the sky and could see all of the stars twinkling against a black velvety backdrop. Knowing that he would soon be back up there heading for home, he could not wait to start the mission investigations, finish the job and return to normal life. He was aware of the warm night air on his skin and although he was aware that there was much work to be done over the next few days, he wished that he could savour this quiet solitude for a little time longer. He took one more, large sigh of resignation and looked down, located the pedal and pressed it. As he did the glass walls silently slid back into place and the roof repositioned itself. The pod then sank silently back into the water and started the fifty meter journey back to the shuttle.

The cable dragged the pod back to the release room and as it entered, the outer doors swung back into place and sealed him back inside the shuttle. Once the water had been evacuated from the room Hatch stepped out of the pod and back into the inner room.

“I was monitoring your ascent and I can tell you that we detected no major undercurrents, the natural swell of this ocean is well within working limits so we can now use the pods freely, no need for the safety cable. Also, we have been unable to locate any creature that would pose a threat to us whilst in the pods” J.D. reported. Marius asked whether the information had been inputted into the computer general information file, J.D. said that it had and the three men retired back into the main body of the shuttle.

Back in the cockpit the crew were busy constantly inputting all of the data they were receiving from all of the sensors around the vessel and were still receiving information from the probes they had released from orbit. Captain Daniels called another briefing conference. They all spun their seats around and faced the centre consoles. “Right, well so far all of the information we have received holds no surprises so far it’s more or less what the boffins at home told us to expect. What we do know is quite interesting. Air samples from the probes shows no sign of industrial development, no depletion in the ozone layer and
there are no unexpected amounts of toxins in the atmosphere, so we have to assume that the peoples of this planet have not yet reached a point where they indulge in processes of industrial mass production or nuclear usage. Now, we don’t know what to expect here so, firstly I think that we should send just two crew members ashore to reconnoitre the area and to report back their findings via the earcoms. No weapons will be issued on this soirée; we don’t want any accidents with the locals, so whoever goes will have to be extra vigilant. The earcoms are equipped with universal translators however they will be of little use until the mainframe has sampled enough of the local language to formulate a basis for translation, the more we hear the more we will be able to communicate. This will be a covert observation mission, what we are looking for is information concerning normal day to day living and activities here, for example, the clothes they wear, the food they eat, daily activities that sort of thing. Don’t forget, the more we know the easier it will be for us to integrate with them without detection. We only have fourteen days so we have to do this quickly and above all we must not disturb the population of this area we cannot afford to influence them or the environment in any way. The team must remain incognito. Try to get close enough to sample the language take photographs and generally observe do not try to take any samples this can wait until we can move more freely without danger of detection. I have decided that the first team should consist of Mary and J.D. daybreak occurs in two hours computers have given us a possible idea of what type of clothing may be appropriate but in reality we have no idea so my suggestion is that you go with computer simulation and just play it by ear.

So you have less than two hours to prepare check your equipment, make sure that your earcoms and your cameras work one of you will have to manufacture clothing so decide who and I will check in with you before the off. Travis, take over from Mary and Anne, you cover J.D. Any more questions...well let’s get back to work” With this they all resumed their duties.

Mary and J.D. sat in the work room away from the others, and for a while just stared at each other, after a short while Mary started to snigger with excitement quickly followed by J.D. they spun around in their chairs like two schoolchildren, but this was a small extravagance they thought they could afford. Mary was the first to speak,
“Ok if you check the earcoms and cameras I will start to make the clothes” J.D. agreed and the two set to work.

The earcoms that J.D. was now checking were small inter auditory devices that fitted within the ear cavity, virtually undetectable to the eye they were inserted using a small pole screwed into the outer casing. Once inserted the pole was unscrewed thereby releasing tiny holding clamps that secured the device within the ear canal. The small securing clamps that made tight contact inside the ear allowed the device to decipher the natural vibration of the skull and lower jaw and convert it into a signal that could easily be transmitted back to control or to each and every member of the ground force team. Because the device sat within the ear canal it in turn could also receive, and transmit to control and the others, any sound within the natural hearing range. J.D. inserted his earcom and continued testing. When he had relayed the test signal from the computer back to himself and he was satisfied he handed Mary’s to her. She put down the material with which she was working and inserted hers into her left ear. He then sent the computer test signal to Mary.

She found it incredibly weird listening to the dismembered voice, it was difficult trying to decide which direction the sound was coming from, it was like having voices in your head, a strange sensation that took a little time to get used to. At
point this J.D. spoke. “How does that feel?”

Mary was a little startled as he spoke, it was strange to see him next to her yet hear him inside her head. The volume had to be adjusted to suit Mary, but everything seemed to be fine.

By this time Mary had almost finished one of the sets of clothes and J.D. had started on the cameras.

The first sets of clothes that Mary had completed were, to say the least, not what one would call the height of fashion. They were dour and colourless made from a rough type of fabric that would without doubt irritate the skin; they had none of the fine finishing of tailored clothes, no hem lines and no button holes. To all intent and purpose they were very roughly made drapes, constructed to the computers design. Mary cringed, J.D. sniggered. He took the clothes and tried to locate somewhere to place one of the cameras. This was not as easy as he had thought it would be. Under his breath he said,

“Where the fuck can I put this thing”

“I heard that” said Mary pointing to her ear, “Oops, sorry I guess I had better be more careful what I say in future”

Jokingly Mary tutted and carried on with the other clothes.

J.D. had located the first camera on the neckline of Mary’s tunic and although it was clearly visible they had to gamble that it would not be detected, after all, all information collected so far indicated that the people here had never seen a camera before. Fitting the second camera was easier; this was placed in the rope that secured the headwear that was part of his garb. Just as they were completing their tests Captain Daniels came into the room, and enquired if they were ready. They told him that they only had to get changed and they would be ready to go.

They stood as if on parade in front of Daniels, he inspected them and although he had no idea of what he was looking for he had to assume that, from the computer simulation, they looked fine and indeed as far as any of them could tell, they did. With this the captain gave them the go ahead and they were on their way.

Travis and Hatch were waiting for them in the control area of the release room and had already positioned two escape pods ready for their departure. Mary and J.D. positioned themselves in the pods and waited for the room to become flooded. These pods were different from the one used by Marius Hatch. they were not tethered by a cable, they were free roaming pods which gave the operator more freedom, they were designed as submersible transport units and were controlled by the use of foot holes which were recessed in the floor of each pod and were used in much the same way as one would use a surf board, or skis but much more complex. As they waited they looked at each other and each could sense the excitement coming from the other. The water level rose around them and control started to go through the final checks for the earcoms and cameras. On the cockpit Anne Homer could see them both on different monitors. One monitor showed the overall view of the release room and another two displayed the view seen from each of the individual cameras secreted within the costumes of the team. Yet another monitor showed the outside of the shuttle. Eventually the room was filled with water and an orange light came on to signify that the pressure within the room was now the same as outside. Seconds later the outer doors swung open. When they were completely open a second, green light was illuminated. After a few last minute checks Captain Daniels gave them the all clear to go. With the order given both Mary and J.D. grasped the glass handles on the front wall of the pods and transferred most of their weigh onto their heels, then, slowly at first, both pods began to rise out of the shuttle. Once clear of the vessel they were free and in total control of the pods. Looking up they could see the blue iridescent outline of the rising sun playing upon the surface of the ocean, and the higher they rose in the water the more they could see around them. These waters teemed with life, a multitude of fish species, as many different shapes and sizes one could imagine. As they broke the surface they only allowed the uppermost few inches of the pods to protrude out of the water in the distance they could see some vessels out at sea not far from the shoreline, although their purpose was unclear from this distance they assumed that they were fishermen going about their early morning business. Either side of the glass handles were located small glasslike controls for the pods. They inputted the approximate distance and direction that would take them to the shore and re submerged.