Europa (Deadverse Book 1) (19 page)

But it had turned out better for the crew. Connie had corrected her sub-orbital insertion flight and the result helped them. They could link up with the supply ship in less orbits around the moon, therefore saving fuel and time. When command back on Earth wanted to correct the flight path for future supply ships, Europa mission asked them to keep it the way it was. The downside was unforeseeable. It would have been nice to know if the ship was coming or not before she blasted up.

“How far are you on the book?” Joyce asked.

“Um,” Connie paused, looking where she was, “chapter twenty-one, just started.”

“That’s what, three more chapters to go?”

“Counting this one.” Connie looked up at her tablet.

“Hammy, double check flight path back to base,” she said. She saw a small green check mark come up and disappear on the screen. Twelve seconds later, the data had been checked back on the full AI on base and confirmed back to her screen.

“What about you? Didn’t you pick up one of the supply ships once before you got into high orbit?”

“Once, and that ship was the damaged one, it was already falling out of orbit,” Joyce remembered. She had docked with the damaged vessel much against Ben’s orders to just leave it. She didn’t and was heavily reprimanded. Ben had a way of making adults feel like punished children.

“Oh, yeah,” she heard Joyce laughing. “I remember that. Ben chewed you out really good, too.”

“You disobeyed a direct order. Could have gotten yourself killed,” Ben chimed in.

“Yeah, yeah,” Connie rolled her eyes, glad no one could see it. “The supply ship could have come down on the base”

“Very unlikely. You were just being ballsy,” Ben added, but Connie could tell by his voice that he wasn’t angry, not like he was that day.

A lot had changed in the past few weeks. Too much, maybe.

“All right, see you in a little bit,” Joyce echoed. Connie would soon be in the quiet again as the ship continued to blast around the moon.

The book was good. It always was, but Connie kept her eye on the timer. They would be high enough in orbit in a few minutes and she found that she simply couldn’t concentrate on the book. Instead, she counted down the timer, sometimes out loud, and other times in her mind. As the timer rolled backwards, her heart began to race again. She held on tightly to the arm rests to keep her hands from shaking. The inside of the cabin was almost forty five degrees Fahrenheit, but she could feel sweat tricking down her back. It was cold and sent shivers up her side. The timer approached and then passed zero and she felt the rockets turn completely off. The floating sensation returned and she swallowed hard to keep from throwing up.

“Ok, Hammy, begin tracking.”

The AI used the small ship’s scopes to scan the skies over the moon where the supply ship would be. They were at the right altitude, so it was just a matter of finding it. It also began broadcasting a radio signal that when picked up by the supply ship, would transmit back. The scopes would then begin to triangulate with the radio signals in order to find out where it was.

Connie watched intently at the display on her tablet as the AI sent out the radio signal. There was a grayed out light that would light up green when a signal was returned. She waited, holding her breath. In every other trip into orbit, the link had been nearly immediate, but this time, it wasn’t. She waited thirty seconds, then a minute, but still the light didn’t turn on. When three minutes had passed, what felt like an eternity for her, her heart began to sink.

“Hammy, tell me something is wrong with our equipment.”

“No, ma’am, everything checks out OK. We are not getting a return signal.”

“Ugh,” Connie closed her eyes as she fought back the tears. “They’re gonna hate my news. Hammy, there’s no way we can laser link, right?”

“We have to know precisely where the supply ship is to link with them.”

As she suspected.

“Well, we knew this was a possibility,” she sighed deeply, fogging up the glass on her helmet. “It could be late, so there’s no point waiting up here. Let’s spin her around and start the drop.”

Connie reached forward and tapped on the tablet, bringing up the next set of checks for descent out of orbit. She saw the ice moon come into view out her window. It was directly above her head, or under her, just depending on the perspective. The ship was turning around to face the opposite direction, where the AI would start a slow burn of the rockets to drop it out of orbit. Connie began the checklist, tapping the tablet with anger and disgust. The dull sound of the taps echoed in the tiny chamber. Green check marks lit up one by one down the list and in one last angry swipe, she moved the checklist screen away and sat back into the seat to tighten up the seat belt again.

There was a green light on her tablet.

“Wait…isn’t that…”

She tapped it. It was the radio signal from the supply ship.

“The supply ship has linked.”

“Uh,” Connie was stuck between confusion and exhilaration. “What happened?”

“The ship was behind us. The antennae on the Tin Can is directional. It only points forward.”

Connie nearly gagged. Her heart felt like it was crawling up her throat.

“Oh, my God!” She burst out laughing. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

A new app opened up on the tablet and she reached out to tap the OK button. The radio signal began to coordinate with the supply ship’s signal and within seconds, the Tin Can was orientating itself to face the supply ship. She waited for the laser link, but it failed, once, twice, and then a third time.

“If we only saw it when we spun around….”

“We can’t laser link until we get behind it.”

“How did we get out in front of it?” Connie asked.

“I need more data. The supply ship is on a different orbit path than usual.”

“Can you bring up an image of it?”

The AI zoomed with a scope and displayed the image on Connie’s tablet. It was dark and not clear at all. The scopes on the small orbital ship were meant to help dock the ship, not for long range spotting. Still, it gave Connie a good look at the supply ship.

Nearly all of the supply ships sent from Earth were simple vessels. Connie referred to them as space trains as they resembled a series of train cars. Usually it was just one car that showed up in orbit, sometimes more, up to three or four. She would then dock with each separate container separately and bring them down one by one. When she spotted a train, she knew she was in for a long several days of work. There had been one variation, the train with the hoola hoop. An especially sensitive experiment was sent in a circular hoop that spun around one of the cars. Bringing that specific container had been a disaster, and the experiment had been ruined.

This time, though, it was different. Earth had sent up the return vessel, which was something a bit more than just a series of large rectangles. As Connie looked over the fuzzy image, she could see some of the basic features, most of which she knew from the reports. The main propulsion, a ViMZR drive, was a long pencil-like shaft that ran down the middle of the ship itself. Fuel was stored in several pods along the drive in small bubbles. Spinning around the long drive shaft were all the living quarters, storage pods and O2 canisters. They were rectangular, of the same style as the single supply ships that she had taken down from orbit many times. They spun together in units of three, forming a simple triangle along the shaft. Seven of these spinning components lined the drive, each running counter to the next.

In the fuzzy image, it looked rather like a screw, except for the command module at the very front. A large debris shield shaped like an umbrella came out of the tip of the drive, covering down and over the first portion of the ship. The extremely small bridge was housed at the very top of that umbrella. But as Connie looked at the images, she could tell there was something wrong. The debris shield was damaged, and the gaps were clearly visible even on the bad images being displayed on her tablet.

“Is it,” Connie started, “Is that supposed to look like that?”

“I cannot confirm,” the AI responded.

The windows in front of her were more show than useful, but Connie found herself looking out of one. She could see the pin prick of reflective metal in the distance. She squinted her eyes and watched it for a bit.

“Is that orbit…is that thing off?”

“Insufficient data. I would need more telemetry to map out its orbital path.”

As Connie continued to watch, it appeared as if the return ship was slowly drifting higher.

“You haven’t started the slowdown boost, right? We are still on a stable orbit?”

The AI confirmed they were still going around the moon at the same speed and altitude as earlier.

“Something’s wrong.”

There was nothing she could do. The back of her seat welcomed her frustration as she counted down the minutes until they came up around the other side and were in radio contact with the base. By then, Connie could tell that the return ship was slowly, if barely noticeably, moving up out of orbit.

“Ok, Hammy, when we get in touch with the base, you have seven minutes to get as much data as you need. Don’t worry about figuring out what’s wrong with the return ship, instead, get all the data you will need to correct our orbit to match theirs.”

The AI confirmed just as the static in the radio broke and Joyce’s voice chirped in on the other end.

“Please tell me you have some news?” Joyce asked.

Connie held her breath for a moment. “Well, yes, I have news.”

As quickly as she could, she explained what she knew. The return ship was here, but things were off about it. It was in a different orbit than expected and appeared to be falling out of orbit, away from the moon.

“That’s a problem,” Ben chimed in.

“I know. If that ship leaves the moon’s orbit, we will never get it back. I’d almost rather it crashed on the surface, instead,” Connie gave her opinion.

“I’d rather neither of those things happen,” Ben added.

“So, now what?” Joyce asked.

“Now I try to wrangle a space ship.”

- Horace –

There was nothing for him to do today. It was an off day, although clearly, not a day to relax. It was a day of chewing fingernails, of pacing, nervous foot-tapping and whatever other jittery manners everyone had. For two weeks now the crew of the Europa mission had worked tirelessly to repair as much of their base as they could and had done so admirably. They had gone as far as to take their bathroom breaks in the specifically made toilets in the green dome, just so Susan could compost their remains, much to everyone’s disgust. They had eaten mostly vegetarian and had foregone doing some of their daily exercises, just so that they could work overtime. All of this they did with a humor that was honorable in light of the circumstances. Horace had been impressed. At a time he thought they’d need him the most, he actually found himself nearly useless.

But this day had come. It was either going to be pure joy or crushing defeat.

The entire crew watched Connie take off in her tiny flying rocket ship and waited anxiously as they orbited the moon. Even the grumpy Glorin was in the back of the room, sitting and reading his tablet, pretending he wasn’t interested.

The wealthy sponsor had sat with Horace just once after the incidents on the alien vessel, and only because it was mandatory. The ten minute conversation only showed Horace that he was reluctant to speak, something quite unusual for men with large egos. The shrink had tried on a few occasions to get him to sit down with him again, but he had refused, which was his right. For any other person on the base, Horace would have understood, given the chaotic and extremely busy nature of their work at the time, but Glorin did next to nothing on the base. He kept his eyes on his tablet and spent most of his time in his tiny carved out ice room under the green dome. He was the only individual that had not taken to sleeping in the green dome with everyone else.

Now had that been anyone else in the crew, Horace would have intervened, but this was Glorin. The self-aggrandized expert on everything alien. A ‘xenoanthropologist’, he called himself. He truly believed in everything he said, refused to accept any other theories or factual explanations other than his own, and somehow was oblivious to all the ridicule he got on the base. Still, the man was no idiot. He didn’t become wealthy through inheritance or luck. Instead, he was born into a poor family in Tennessee, a southern Baptist family with a strong religious background. He put himself through college and become a financial savant. His first name was Samuel Martins. Horace read through his profile before the mission, and the man was a genius at foreseeing economic patterns, and played his money into those predictions. To top it off, he ensured he was paid top dollar for those predictions as well.

Yet, at some point, Glorin had had enough. When he was a multi billionaire, he vanished from the financial world and emerged as Glorin Ignacius the Third and began spouting crazy theories about aliens and their history on earth. It didn’t matter, as he was rich. Of course, no one was more delighted when the alien ship was spotted coming towards Earth than he. He was the first to put forth his entire fortune to fund the mission they were on. From the few sessions Horace had been able to have with him, the man was entirely focused on the alien vessel and would not allow anything else to interfere. So until he came forward, he could only assume Glorin was fully into his own work, whatever that may actually be.

“Ok, she’s back over the horizon,” Joyce shouted back to the crowd.

Every time Connie had vanished to the other side of the moon, the room had emptied as people ran about completing minor chores, but they all managed to find their way back at the right time.

“Please tell me you have some news?” Joyce asked into the direct link mic.

Everyone stood quietly as they listened to Connie explain what had happened in orbit. There was a perceivable letting go of held breaths when she did say the return ship was there, but tension returned slowly as the base’s pilot describe what she thought was damage to the ship.

“Hammy is downloading orbital data as we speak,” Connie’s voice came over the speakers.

Crysta confirmed with the AI on base that the link had been established and the upload had commenced. She mentioned she was glad she had networked all those computers just a few days ago. Hopefully the AI could find enough information to upload. Crysta sat back and let her creation do the work, as it would be able to much faster than if she were help with it.

Horace kept an eye on Thomas, who was standing just behind Joyce at the communications console. He had his hands on the back of her seat and was hunched just slightly over the top of Joyce’s head. He was listening intently to what Connie was saying, but remained quiet. With nothing to offer, no expertise to lend, he wisely knew it was better to not say a thing and let them do their work. Still, he was clearly nervous. Horace knew him well. He was an emotional man who opened up easily and willingly at all of their sessions. Horace knew well that the man’s concern was over his partner, and the nervousness showing up now was about her safety far more than the mission’s survival.

Towards the side of the entire communications console panel stood Paul. The wakened soldier had adapted easily to his new surroundings and had been a useful member to any activity that required labor. He was a curious man, open to all suggestions and took everything in. He certainly didn’t have anything useful to provide here in the control room, but he took it all in, listening intently. Next to him stood Jenna. He had noticed it just slightly in the past few days, that the short redhead had clearly taken to Paul. He smiled just a bit as he knew that the soldier had not noticed it in the least.

“You want to do what?” Horace heard Ben ask.

“I have to link up with the return ship and try to correct its orbital path,” Connie replied over the comm.

“Do you have enough fuel for that?” Ben continued.

“We are going to find out.”

“I don’t think so. Stay up for a few more orbits then drop back down. We will look at the data and see what needs to be done.”

“We may not have that much time. If the return ship came into orbit today and it came in wrong, it’s not going to stay up here much longer.”

“You don’t know that.” Ben was being adamant.

“No, of course I don’t, but I’m going to stay up here as long as I can breathe to get Hammy to figure it out for us.”

Horace could see Thomas gripping the top of the chair until his knuckles turned white.

“Connie, I’m no expert, but I think you should listen to Ben,” Charles had reached forward to speak into the microphone.

“Sure, you may be right, Cap,” Connie responded, “but if we’re wrong, we can lose our way home.”

“And if you are wrong, we could lose you,” Ben replied.

“If I’m wrong, it won’t matter, will it?”

Ben didn’t have a reply; he knew she was right.

“Seriously, does my command here not count for anything? It’s a downright mutiny, if you ask me,” he grunted into the mic.

Everyone could hear Connie laughing on the other end.

“Fine, I need detailed numbers on your air. You didn’t happen to take any food or water with you did you?” Ben asked.

“No food, just the water in the suit.”

Crysta looked up at Ben and pointed at her screen. Ben took a look and turned back to the console.

“The AI is saying you have at least thirteen hours of air. Maximum of twenty, maybe. I’m putting a limit of ten hours on this little attempt of yours, understood?”

“All right,” was the reply, and Ben sighed in relief. He had expected a bit more ‘mutiny’.

“Crysta, have the AI start running all simulations and crunching all the numbers here on this end. Let’s take as much work away from her as we can.”

Crysta nodded and spun her chair around to start working at her station.

“The rest of you, get the hell out of here. If you can’t help right now, get out.”

They began to move towards the exit door when Thomas stood right in front of Ben and stopped.

“You too, big guy,” Ben wasn’t going to have any more ‘mutinies’.

“You can’t do this. I have to stay here.”

“Like hell I can’t. Get out now and go do something productive,” Ben said. Thomas was a good foot taller than Ben, but the grizzled commander was clearly the authority in the room. Thomas backed off and began walking towards the door.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ll open the comm in here and you can listen in the entire time.”

That seemed to calm nerves.

Horace began to get to leave as well.

“Nope, not you. You stay here and listen to our crazy pilot above us. One hint she’s lost it, and you let me know.”

Horace grinned.

“If there is one person on this base that is the furthest from ‘losing it’, it’s that lady up there above us,” he said, but sat back down. He was going to find Glorin and use this time to try to get something out of him, but the billionaire had already vanished.