Jupiter's Reef (33 page)

“Tony. Are you okay?” asked Johnny, still staring out the window.

“I’m still here. Just keep moving. This shit doesn’t have any mass. It’s like overcooked spaghetti flowing past me. Stuff snags my suit but ... but it breaks easily. Just be ready to stop if I say so ... okay, Alex?”

“Okay. I’m taking it real slow,” said Alex.

Johnny and Mary returned to their seats. The holographic imager was still functioning, so Alex didn’t need help finding their way to the surface. It was helpful that the material around them was weightless, but so was Tony. Alex was cautious with the controls, afraid he might lose Tony to the reef again.

The thirty or so meters back to the cavern seemed to take forever, but finally they broke into the clear. Alex brought
Diver
to a hover about five meters above the reef, then let go of the drive stick. “Computer,” he shouted. “Hold position!”

Alex unbuckled and went to the window. Tony was still there. Around him was what looked like a garbage dump. Glistening, wet, almost gruesome, it was heaped on
Diver
’s deck, half burying his body.

Tony rose up, looking more like a creature of the reef than a man. He wobbled a bit in weightlessness, then looked into the cockpit. He turned slowly to the left and then to the right, taking in the scene. All the while he never let go of the tether. Finally, he looked back toward the cockpit window, wiping flotsam from the faceplate of his helmet. In the ship’s lights his face came into view. Tony was smiling.

“So,” he said. “I got your sample.”

4
“How’s the gasser working?” asked Alex.

“Not helping much with the stink.” said Tony.

“Nothing to be ashamed of,” said Johnny. “Happens involuntarily.”

“Who said anything about being ashamed. It just stinks,” said Tony.

Mary turned her attention to her cat, safely tucked in her lap. “Yuk,” she said.

Tony had managed to clear off most of the reef debris. It was difficult work in the gloom of the reef, but Johnny told Tony not to worry about anything other than his suit and the outer door to the hatchway. “The main thing is that we want to keep the reef material out of the ship.”

Diver
continued to float at neutral buoyancy, relying on the lift of its balloons and the weight reduction of its null-gee generators. The engines were needed only for occasional adjustments to their position. On the narrow polyflex deck, Tony toiled to remove as much reef as possible. He started the task happily enough but soon became resentful that he had to do all the work. “I’d come out and help,” said Alex, “but the stuff ...”

“Not necessarily,” said Johnny. “You could go out and help if we pressurize the airlock.”

“Oh right,” said Alex. “And blast me off into the reef.”

“You have a point, Alex,” said Johnny.

During all the commotion the cat had obediently stayed where she put it; in Mary’s seat. Mary made a mental note to remind everyone but something was nagging at her. Something close at hand. Then she saw them.

The men were focused on getting Tony inside, and Mary doubted they noticed the holographic display. She guessed the clicker men had been watching a long time, just far enough into the mist to go undetected. They looked like shadows in the radar.

Mary wasn’t wearing her tabs so she heard them before she saw them, sounding like a flock of birds in a tree nearby.

“About fifty meters out – behind Tony,” she said. “The clicker men are massing there.”

“Dingers, Mary,” why didn’t you tell us?”

“I did,” she said. “I just heard them. I think they’re just watching us ... talking about us.”

Johnny looked up at the cabin speakers. Sure enough, the static sound of the clicker men was easy to hear. “I tuned them out,” he said. “Anything you can tell me, Mary?”

“I think they’re trying to figure us out.”

“Seems obvious,” said Alex. “The question is what will they do about us? I wonder if they have guns.”

“Guns? Are you crazy?” said Johnny. “We don’t even have any guns.”

“Yes, we do,” said Alex. “Landon Bradshaw’s pinger. He left it with me.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Johnny. “Why would someone give you a gun?”

Alex stroked his chin. “Good question. I guess he didn’t want it.”

“He turned it over to Alex,” said Mary. “It was a gesture of good faith.”

Johnny raised an eyebrow and nodded, but didn’t comment. He went to the rear of the cabin and picked up a spare towel and bio-sample canister. Then he opened the airlock, placed them inside and resealed the door.

“We’re all set, here, Tony,” said the Professor.

“Ready to come in then, I guess,” said Tony. “I’ve cleared this crap away from the door. And ... well, I’m as clean as I can manage.”

“Okay, Tony, here’s the steps we take. First you open the airlock. Then you grab a sample of reef stuff and step into the lock, close the hatch and seal it.”

“I copy,” said Sciarra. “Then I nix the suit. Then what?”

“No. First you put the sample of reef in the canister and seal it. Then you take the suit off, carefully, try not to get any stuff on yourself. Wrap the towel around yourself if you need to. Leave the dirty suit inside the outer door. Leave it on the floor directly in front of the door. Then step to the inner door and we’ll open up.”

“What about airborne things? You know, spores, bacteria?” asked Alex.

“Just pressurize the cabin, Alex,” said Tony. “That will keep the air out of the ship.”

“That’s correct,” said Johnny.

“Perfect,” said Alex. “But what about the canister?”

“There’s a place to stow it inside the airlock,” said Johnny. “They have to stay outside the cabin.”

“And the suit?”

The suit has to go,” said Johnny. “After Tony is inside we’ll open the outer door and the suit should be jettisoned.”

“Even the gasser pack?” said Alex. “Isn’t that valuable?”

“We are already running a high risk of contamination,” said Johnny. Everything has to go.”

“Let’s do it,” said Tony. “I think I see one of those clicker guys.”

Tony’s virtual image was clear in the hologram when Alex returned to his seat. Some distance away from him three clicker men floated just out of visual range. Alex watched their radar shadows closely as they drifted slowly toward Tony. They weren’t in a hurry. When they got within a few meters of the ship they stopped advancing, apparently put off by the null-gee field, and hovered. The radar showed there were more clicker men out in the darkness, but only the three seemed brave enough to approach the ship and allow themselves to be exposed to the null-gee field.

“I don’t think the clicker men are a threat, Tony,” said Baltadonis.

“Okay,” said Tony. “On zero. Five, four, three, two ...”

On zero Alex popped the hatch and Tony stepped inside. Johnny was inside the door watching Tony through the window. Like a doting parent he talked Tony through each step.

Everything went according to plan. Tony grabbed the sample canister and inserted the glob of reef matter he held in his hand. Then he sealed it and stowed it in a slot in the airlock.

Tony wasn’t taking any chances. He spent extra time making sure the outer hatch was sealed before he took off his helmet. When he did so he gasped. “Ahhhhh, I’m been looking forward to this... but what a stink!”

“Well, what do you expect?” said Johnny. “You soiled y–”

“No, not me,” answered Tony, coughing. “Sure I smell. I’m talking about the reef stuff. It’s like sulphur and something ... ammonia.”

As Tony continued to remove his suit, Alex raised the air pressure inside the ship.

After some discussion, Tony decided he should take off all his clothes and leave them in the airlock, bringing only the towel inside the ship.

When Sciarra was ready, Johnny popped the inner seal. The door opened with a hiss and Tony, wrapped only in a towel, jumped inside and Johnny quickly shut the hatch and sealed it.

Tony ran for the head with Johnny close on his heels. “Use the shower’s decontamination setting,” shouted Johnny. “Put the towel inside the trash hamper!”

“Roger that,” said Tony.

Johnny walked back to the airlock and looked inside. He sniffed the air. “I don’t smell anything ... except Tony,” he said. Then he looked inside the airlock. “There’s not much reef crap in there. But we should blow the hatch and then run a decontamination cycle as soon as possible.” Johnny checked the seal on the airlock door one more time, then he nodded to Alex. “Okay, Alex. Increase the air pressure in the chamber and pop the outer door.”

Alex instructed the computer to perform what was called an ‘outer seal breach’. When the computer signaled he flipped a lever on the dash. There was a loud pop.

Johnny, still watching the interior of the airlock, cheered happily. “It worked! Everything went out the hatch! Now close it and run the decon cycle.”

Alex scratched his head. “I’ve never done a decontamination cycle. I don’t even know if it works.”

Johnny waited until he saw the outer door closed, then he went back to his seat. He looked at Alex and smiled. “You never needed to run one. The computer knows how. Just tell it to do it.”

Alex complied and, as Johnny had predicted, the computer understood his command.

“How does it decontaminate?” asked Alex.

“Thermally,” said Johnny. “The interior of the airlock is heated to six hundred degrees. That’s why it’s against regulation to keep flammables in an airlock.”

“Guess so,” said Alex with a shrug. “Never thought about it.”

Mary had been watching the events and staying out of the way. Tony’s misadventure had shaken her to the core, but she didn’t dare show it because it wasn’t appropriate to their situation. As a Sensor, she had a built-in readiness switch that would activate in a crisis. Now, that facet of her engineered abilities told her to stand down and be ready to help.

But there was another side to it, a deeply personal one that spoke to her in whispers borne on radio waves. And the mystery of its words deepened with her fear of this unknown and unpredictable place.

She knew Alex was enduring the same thing, but from an entirely different vantage point. Alex loved their shared adventure and had entered every step of their quest with a brave heart. Even if he was motivated by self interest, she was no different. Together aboard
Diver
they were united. But now they were no longer alone. They had made a pact with the great corporate lawgivers in order to legitimize their claim on the ship.

It should have been a simple mission; a dip into the reef to get a sample, then out again.

Now they knew it wasn’t going to be simple. And their visit to Jupiter had just begun.

Tony stepped out of the shower wearing a new flight suit. “Took a while to figure out the shower thing, but I managed,” he said, then he collapsed into his chair.

“I’m not sure what to ask first,” said Johnny.

“How’re you feeling?” asked Alex. “I was afraid you broke something.”

“Some bruises ... a few sore places but everything works okay. I’m just real tired.”

Mary went to the food cabinet and got Tony a hi-carb shake. When she gave it to him the squeezer trembled in his hands.

“You should feel that gravity,” Tony said, looking around at the group. “You don’t know what you’re missing.” Then he closed his eyes.

Alex looked at the holographic image that surrounded the cockpit. Out in the darkness were shapes; ghostly traces of creatures who stayed out of sight, watching the ship that had invaded their world.

“Funny,” said Alex. “We’re the intruders here.”

“That’s true,” said Mary.

Tony sat up and took as long drink from the squeezer Mary had given him. “Thanks everybody,” he said, smiling weakly, “for ... you know ... coming to get me.”

“No thanks necessary, Tony,” said Alex.

“Actually it was Alex who figured out how to do it,” offered Johnny. “How to go in using the null-gee.”

“Now maybe someone can help me figure a way out of here,” said Alex. “I’d ask you to work on that, Tony,” he added with a big smile, “but you need to sleep before you’ll be any good to us.”

Tony didn’t argue. He put the squeezer in a holder and leaned back in his seat. Seconds later, he was snoring.

None of them had slept since they’d entered the reef.
Diver
still hovered fifty meters above the bottom of the cavern. Looking at the instruments Alex saw that there was no air movement outside. He realized that this was a perfect time for them to sleep.

The idea didn’t take much selling. In the next half hour Alex, Johnny, and Tony took a nap. Mary, whose engineered physiology required less sleep than normal humans, volunteered to stay the watch. When Alex asked her if that was okay she said. “Sure. What could happen?”

She’d forgotten about
Cornwall
.

Mary greeted Matt when his radio greeting came in. “Hello, Matt,” she said. “We’re napping here. I’ve got to keep it quiet.”

When
Diver
’s computer received the
Cornwall
’s transmissions, it automatically began broadcasting the same holographic imagery that surrounded Mary in
Diver
’s cockpit.

Connie Tsu and her assistant Jeanne whispered greetings. Mary laughed. “You don’t have to whisper. Only I can hear you.” Mary looked around to see if she’d disturbed anyone but Johnny, Tony and Alex slept on soundly.

“We’ve had quite a time since we last talked to you,” she continued. “Tony went outside to get a sample and, well, we had an accident.”

It took Mary a while to explain what happened. When she finished, Matt asked her to download the last few hours of
Diver
’s log so they could watch it later. Mary gave the appropriate instructions to the computer then went back on line.

“That’s great,” said Matt, “we’re getting data. Is Tony okay?”

“He seems okay,” said Mary. “Some bruises. The reef broke his fall fairly gently, and so did that thing that grabbed him and took him to its nest or whatever it was. I think he encountered it totally by chance. And I think it saved his life.”

“How so?”

“I think he would have continued to fall through the reef. So does Alex, but he didn’t say so.”