Last Flight For Craggy (25 page)

Berry said,
'Felix. Can we superimpose the ground more specifically above the
chamber?'

Hellicoyle
waved his hands and fingers over the sensors. 'And a little more
and ...oh! Interesting.'

Berry said, 'A
break in the lava layers. In fact...'

'Less than five
thousand years ago, that lava layer with the chamber was actually
much closer to the surface until there was seismic activity,
twisting that area deeper, storms filling up any holes with sand
and rocks.'

'Seismic
activity?' asked a young woman. 'Not quakes, surely?'

'Correct. Mars
has no moving plates like on Earth. The term seismic covers more
than earthquakes. We still are unsure about the core on Mars. It
may or may not be completely solidified, or undergoing some kind of
transition that may give out occasional activity.'

Ray Needay
said,'Am I following this? That lava is about one point four
million years old?'

'Yes,' said
Hellicoyle. 'I've retested from samples taken from the broken wall
of the chamber.'

'But it was
closer to the surface, only five thousand years ago?' asked
Palmerston.

'And possibly
quite accessible,' said Berry.

'Needay asked,
'This five thousand years. How accurate is that figure?'

Hellicoyle
said, 'Ballpark. Plus or minus two thousands. Our problem is not
having much of a reference point. Knowledge was built up over many
years on Earth, with plenty of organic matter to help us with
carbon dating layers, particularly in such a volatile planet.'

Berry said, 'In
geological terms, a few thousand years is practically yesterday.
But if we say from two to eight thousand years, widening the window
a little, that is still much earlier than humans could have been
responsible for burying that thing in that chamber.'

'Is anybody
actually going to say it?' asked Shannon Palmerston. 'A human
didn't bury that thing in that chamber. Hello? Am I the only one
who sees that?'

Hellicoyle
said, 'We all see it, Shannon. We just don't want to face up to
it.'

'Come on,
Craggy. Give it a go.'

'Dillow. I
haven't flown a damn simulator in...fifty six years. I'm not about
to start again now. I don't even know how you got me sitting here
'

'To be honest,
Craggy, I think it would help you...bond with your pupils more if
you have at least some understanding of the new control
sensors.'

'But why? I'll
never need to use them. I'm never flying a freighter ever again.
For one thing, Misty would kill me if I did.'

'I'm not asking
you to fly a ship. Just have a passing understanding of the sensor
controls.'

Cragg folded
his arms and stared at the lit up, incomprehensible, unidentified
lights of assorted shapes and colours. 'I've become an
embarrassment to you, haven't I?'

'What?'

'I'm not
stupid. You're in charge of really training the pilots. I'm just a
funny old man telling kids funny stories about my so called
adventures in space. Shit. One or two of them even true.'

'Craggy. The
kids...rookies love your stories.'

Cragg chuckled.
'Yeah, right. They find them hysterical. I heard them laughing
about them.'

As usual, Cragg
had hit the nail on the head. The old pilot's stories had become
increasingly wild and fanciful, she assumed in order to ingratiate
himself with the teens with their minuscule attention spans. She
too had heard little unkind comments from the rookies when they
hadn't realised she had been within earshot. For all Cragg's
fanciful imagination, the old freighter captain had been brave,
resourceful, and never backed down from a challenge. He deserved
proper respect in the last few years before he officially retired
and kicked back with Misty.

'There's a
flight in Big Bird planned,' Dillow said.

'I heard
something.'

'To Moon.'

'So I
gather.'

'I'm the
pilot.'

'Naturally. But
I suppose it could have been Rocky Ramshorn.'

Dillow nodded.
'My copilot. Come with us.'

'Me? You don't
need me along.'

'I want you to
come along. We need that steel from the launcher. We're have a crew
to take it apart and Jay Moore to stack it and pack it.'

'Using good
buckles, I hope.'

Dillow
shuddered. 'Don't remind me. You know, Big Bird can get there in
forty days with Moon being at only seventy three million miles from
Mars right now. It'll give you some street cred with the rookies.
Allowing two weeks to take the launcher down, a total trip of just
over one hundred days. Up for it?'

'I can see
Misty having something to say about it.'

Dillow smiled.
'It was Misty who asked me to take you.'

Cragg was
shocked. 'Misty? You two have been plotting?'

'The thing is,'
said Dillow, 'Misty knows you have really been itching to go up
again. Don't deny it.'

Cragg sighed.
'I won't. It's true. I thought it was out of my system, but more
than sixty years in space is a long time to put behind me.
Misty?'

'She thinks
maybe with this one more trip, you'll be less edgy.'

'And I'll gain
some street cred?'

'It couldn't
hurt.'

'When do we
go?'

* * *

'You'll be back
for your eighty eighth birthday,' said Misty.

Cragg pulled
the single sheet around them and kissed his wife. 'I still think it
odd we hang on to Earth years, not the Martian year that's twice as
long. Are you sure you are happy about me going?'

'As long as you
are only making the tea and not space walking.'

'I can do that.
Think we can take beer?'

'No beer. Now.
We have to make the most of this few days before you go.'

Cragg grinned
and pulled the sheet over them.

'Of course,'
said Dixon Cragg, proudly, 'I said to Commander of Freighter
Training, Fawn Dillow, I've retired from space flight. But she
insisted she needed a pilot of my experience to go with her, and so
I am happy to go along on this trip.'

Five blank
young faces stared back at him. Three were wannabe freighter
pilots, one a sensor control technician and one he hadn't been able
to translate the mumbled definition of whatever she did.

'If you take
any one thing with you from my class, I'd like it to be this.
Remember computers are just a tool. A machine. Regard them with a
healthy scepticism. If I live to be a hundred and fifty, and I'm
talking Earth years, by the way, I don't expect to see the day a
computer can take the place of a human.'

'Sir,' said the
sensor technician. 'The reliability of our latest generation of
computers is unsurpassed.'

'Jade, isn't
it? Jade. I understand you have a vested interest in all things
computer, and it's good to see such enthusiasm. All I'm saying is,
just hold back that last one percent of faith in the damn
things.'

'Sir,' said the
girl with the obscure career path. 'Wasn't Big Bird originally
intended to be totally computer controlled?'

'Exactly, err,
Jockey. And what a disaster that nearly turned out to be. I've had
a guided tour of the modified ship and the most significant thing
to me is the four seats at the controls, these days. That speaks
volumes. Right. I have assessed your homework on the “ship to human
contact to determine systems harmony”. Not, Jade, “Practical ship
hugging”.'

'Sorry, Sir,'
said Jade, stifling a giggle.

'You all
passed. This concludes your term with me. I'll be getting ready for
the Big Bird trip. Hope you don't miss me too much. Class
dismissed.'

For Felix
Hellicoyle, it was business as usual, not business as
unidentifiable artefact which revealed more questions than answers.
The chamber had been deemed out of bounds to unauthorised personnel
and the thing itself was housed in a safe, untouched for a week.
But for Hellicoyle, it was a constant stream of samples from eleven
different mines and bores. And of course, all mine supervisors
wanted answers yesterday. Which made Dixon Cragg's question all the
more redundant.

'Craggy. Take a
look at this place. I have samples waiting to be tested coming out
my ears and every other known orifice. Do I look as if I'm
desperate for Moon samples?'

'I just thought
I'd ask. It could be your last chance for many years.'

'Sorry, Craggy.
I even have nightmares about piles of rocks these days. I keep
testing them, but the pile keeps getting bigger. Then I wake up,
and my piles are still getting bigger.'

Cragg sighed.
'Probably some cream you can get for that.'

'Actually, I'm
kinda surprised you are going along?'

'I'm the
special consultant for the trip.'

'Yeah,
right.'

Cragg looked at
the safe. 'That thing still in there?'

'Yes. I keep
expecting it to have gone boom, taking my piles with it.'

'I'd still get
a cream for those. Okay. I'll go and let Misty ravish me again
before I boldly go where no man has gone before.'

'The Moon?'

'I meant my
underwear drawer. I got packing to do.'

'Good luck,
Craggy.'

'Rocky.
Amethyst. I haven't seen you in a while.'

'Hi, Craggy,'
said Amethyst Ramshorn. 'Got your gear stowed away?'

'All done. A
good job I don't go in for cat swinging.'

Rocky and his
wife shared a look. Translating “Craggy” into anything
comprehensible, could often be challenging. Ignoring the cat thing,
Rocky said, 'Your room's okay?'

'For a broom
closet. But at least I don't have to share. How are the twins?'

'Wondering when
Uncle Craggy is coming to tell them stories,' said Amethyst.

'They do? Even
I haven't got that many stories.'

Commander Fawn
Dillow entered the flight deck with two teens in attendance, taking
her last minute instructions down on odd looking devices.

'..and see to
the precell containment drain. Make sure it isn't blocked. Oh. I
noticed a slight resonance in the ion retribulators. I want the
unit replaced.'

'But the
computer systems check says everything is within working
tolerances.'

'Which is why I
want the unit replaced. Go. Do stuff.'

The teens
scurried away to do stuff.

'That's my
girl,' said Cragg with a grin.

'Hi, Craggy. I
have no idea what I just asked them to do, but they were following
me like two lost puppies. Very annoying. Amethyst. Can you oversee
the work crews aren't getting jittery? Most are first time flyers.
Might be nervous.'

'I'll make them
feel right at home,' said Amethyst, off to charm away any
jitters.

'It seems an
awful lot of trouble to go to, for a load of scrap iron,' said
Craggy.

Dillow said,
'The way we gobble up material, we need everything we can get.
That's why Max Morgan is on Phobos. He's ferrying a mining survey
party about.'

'That little
rock?' said Craggy.

'Mars is
growing like topsy,' said Rocky. 'Our population is now at nearly
six thousand.'

'Knee deep in
babies,' said Cragg with a grin. 'I seem to be “uncle” to half of
them.'

'In that case,'
said Rocky, 'We really need to get you some new stories to
tell.'

There was
little fanfare for the Big Bird take off. Mars Commander Anton
Forbes had briefly paid a visit on board and wished them all a safe
journey, and Dillow and Ramshorn ordered everyone to buckle up. It
was a smooth lift off, and after flying between Phobos and Deimos,
she relinquished control to the computers.

Dillow went
through section one, where seating had been fitted to accommodate
the two crews who would take apart the monstrous launching ramp and
pack it systematically in Big Bird, for use on Mars. Dillow found
Jay Moore, Captain of Freighter Loading, her deputy, Carol Webster,
Roy Tasker, fabrication supervisor, and Su Kane, grabber operator
were around a three dimensional holographic schematic of the
launching ramp.

'You guys are
keen,' said Dillow.

Moore said,
'This will take all the trip time to get planned right. Two weeks
isn't much to take this lot down and safely packed away.'

Roy Tasker
agreed. 'This is all about teamwork.'

'It usually
is,' said Dillow. 'All your crews relaxed?'

'One or two a
little twitchy,' said Moore, 'But Amethyst put them at ease.'

'Good.
Hopefully, we'll have an uneventful trip,' said Dillow. 'Any
issues, let me know.'

'Can you hear
something?' asked Raz Berry.

'You hear it,
too?' said Hellicoyle. 'It's been driving me nuts all day.'

The two
geologists were finally catching up with their sample testing.

'Anything
turned on that shouldn't be?' asked Berry.

'I even tried
turning off all the power to the lab. I could still hear it.'

'Maybe we
should...'

A speaker
boomed, 'This is Shamini Singh. We have something in the mine you
should see.'

'On our way,'
said Hellicoyle.

Berry and
Hellicoyle suited up and took a buggy from the main Base Three
airlock. It was night-time but the mine entrance was lit up like
midday. Singh was waiting at the mine entrance and all work had
stopped.

'Shamini?' said
Hellicoyle.

'I'll drive,'
said Singh, getting the geologists to slide over so he could get to
the controls. He said nothing as he drove the eight miles to the
end of the mine. Singh didn't have to say anything, and the
passengers got out of the buggy.