The Project Manager

by Terry Connolly

  About half an hour’s walk outside the colony, the tour guide told them to bend down and scrape the rusty sand aside. After a few seconds of digging, a bright white layer of salt lay speckled under his hand. Where once a sea had stretched across the plain, there now lay this geological memory. After another twenty minutes of walking they came to a cliff face with one of the biodomes brought by the Zheng He under construction beside it. Behind the dome, an airlock was cut into the cliff face. Once inside the guide took his helmet off: “Welcome to New Anshan, population forty.” The living areas were just beyond the airlock, the air was hot, and the heavy smell of industry hung in the air. “This is where the aluminium used in most construction on the planet comes from,” explained the guide.

  “Is it just a mine?” asked Hong

  “No, the smelting occurs here also,” replied the guide

  “Don’t you need carbon for the process?” she asked

  “Yes,” he said, “and a hell of a lot electricity. Thanks to this man here (he pointed at John), the power isn’t a problem, we have the latest generation of fusion reactors, the carbon though is another story. We produce fine aluminium here, but it’s the most expensive in the solar system, the carbon cathodes and anodes have to be imported from Earth.”

  “So what solution are you working on?” asked Abby.

  “Well, we take what we can from the incinerators here, but it’s a tiny amount, and from our tests the impurities are too great a technical challenge to remove anyway, but we do what we can. Ideally that bio dome out there will provide us with a sustainable supply of charcoal…but of course that will be in twenty years time and again the quantity just won’t be of any real use. For now, we will just have to rely on the unmanned supply pods from Earth, as we do for so much else”.

  As they toured the facility, they were surprised at how well the temperature regulation worked. Cooling an industrial facility on Mars, with an outside temperature of -55C, was not a problem. The engineers maintaining the reactors were delighted to meet John. He was a little taken aback when they posed for photos with them and asked him to sign the control room wall. All in all, it was a good experience for him, and a reminder of the amazing leaps in progress he had been a part of. When John returned to his duties, the cloud of worry that had hung over him had finally dissipated somewhat.

  Once the ship was fully back up and running, it was time to test the automated AI controlled landers. There would be no runway on Amrita when the colonists arrive, so just like the first Martian colonists they would have to build it so their shuttles could land. The first steps on Amrita, just like the first steps on Mars, or on the Moon, would be down steps from a landing module. In order to make it as easy as possible for the eventual colonists the landers contained some of the most sophisticated software ever developed for automated flight. Since Amrita would have roughly the same gravity as Earth, the landers had been tested multiple times already and had worked successfully, but a few times more wouldn’t hurt, just in case the gravity of Amrita would be lower than they had calculated. They could estimate a lot from the measurements carried out by the James Webb Telescope, but there were some wide margins of error. Four times they launched the landers, filled with ballast, and four times they touched down successfully.

  The settlement of the colony went according to plan and after two and half years Commander Sharapova and John met to share a drink together in O’Shea’s before her departure. John was glad he had learned Russian all those years ago before coming up to the Zheng He otherwise he might have missed out on some important friendships.

  “Before we down this vodka,” she began, “I have something for you.” The Commander picked up a canvass bag she had brought with her and handed it over to him, it was heavy. “The team of trainees have done themselves proud, I have included some reference letters for them. You have a five hundred page report there on everything from how to create a currency to managing bicycle traffic flow at peak hours. It sounds like a lot of pages, but they kept it concise.”

  “Thank you,” said John, “I don’t think the experiment would have worked at all without you. Is it ok for you content wise?”

  “Absolutely, yes. I even had it checked by Russian Military Intelligence to be sure. They also approved the documentary we made, it’s in there too, along with a little something for Hong and yourself. Every time you drink it I hope you will think of me.”

  John peered into his bag and saw a bottle of Vodka, on the label in the commander’s handwriting was note of thanks and of friendship.

  “Thank you Commander,” they picked up their drinks, “Za vas!” and knocked them back. John indicated to the bartender for two more.

  “I have something for you too”. John handed over a box, inside of which was a lump of Zheng He rock inscribed with a good luck wish for the Commander. “Hong made one of these for my daughter too, it a piece of the ship for you remember us by.”

  “I will miss her John, and I will miss you, and your cooking. I know you’re not in the spotlight anymore, but humanity owes you a lot. Every component is here because you ordered it, from the garden to this glass. If the Martian colony functions half as well it will be a success. Za vas!”

  On that note the Commander got up and saluted John. They shook hands and she departed to command a successful Mars Colony that would long outlast them all.

  The Zheng He was almost ready; it was time to return to Earth to say the last goodbyes.

  Chapter 21: 2059

  The return trip was planned to be about four months, the same length as the outward trip, but it would go much further. Once they were clear of Martian space, the captain directed the Zheng He on a curved path towards Jupiter. This time John was in engineering for the launch. He wanted to be extra sure that the hydrogen collectors would work, just because the covers were now removed didn’t mean there were no other problems.

  “Engineering, this is the bridge, do you copy?”

  “We do Bridge, ready to increase speed on your mark, over.”

  “Very well Engineering, go head, increase in 5% increments to half power.”

  John kept himself out of the way in a corner as Ali began ordering the Engineering crew to their stations. All over the ship people were feeling slightly unbalanced as the now familiar tugging sensation pulled them sternward as the ship gathered speed. John appeared to be calm, but inside, like everyone else, he was terrified. Undoubtedly there would be future trips like this by smaller craft trying to go faster than each other and trying to break records, but not for the first time the Zheng He was pioneering the way. It would be two weeks to Jupiter but at a break neck speed, literally, one miscalculation and they could all go slamming into something they hadn’t predicted was there, most likely an asteroid as they pass through the belt. As she accelerated John looked at the readings from the monitor. During a quiet period he caught Ali’s attention; “It’s working Ali, Hydrogen collection is up two hundred percent.”

  “That’s one less thing to worry about then,” replied Ali.

  “Why, is there something to worry about?”

  Ali smiled, “just a figure of speech, it’s all ok so far, I just find a little superstition is healthy sometimes, it’s better not to tempt fate.”

  John laughed, more to relieve his nerves than anything else. After two hours they had reached half power. The Zheng He was hurtling towards Jupiter on what they hoped was a clear path.

  Every radar image, long range and short range, was triple checked for anything that might pose a threat. There were some small rocks that came close, but by heating one side of them using infrared lasers they were able to nudge them out of the way. This feature had been built into the navigation system, the ship had been taught in simulations how to identify threats and remove them when it could, avoid them when it couldn’t, now it was dealing with the real thing. As the following days passed John relaxed a little. He and thousands of others had planned for all eventualities and it was reassuring so see their
plans paying off, though these experiences were all new, and while new experiences are exciting, they are also frightening. Once at Jupiter they received messages of congratulation from home. People back on Earth were celebrating that human beings had managed to travel so far, celebrating another achievement by this miracle ship that soon a new crew would call home.

  The opportunity was taken to deploy satellites around Jupiter as they passed, and three were ejected from the ship as they swung by. Not an easy feat at this speed. The Zheng He finally meant that a heated drill could be landed on Europa, one large enough to drill beneath its icy surface and search for life. There was no waiting around to see the results however, researchers on Earth would take care of the probes landing. Everyone on board the ship was too focussed on the sling shot.

  Thanks to Jupiter’s gravity their speed was boosted another ten percent. As they were slung around the gas giant, John could feel the gravity of the planet pulling at the ship, at him, he felt heavy. The ice collectors continued to function properly and already Ali had injected some of the collected hydrogen into the plasma chambers of the engines. It worked a dream. At seventy five percent power they reached ten percent the speed of light. The fastest anyone had ever travelled, and would ever travel until the Zheng He reached this speed again after launch to Amrita. They cruised at this pace for about an hour and then the most dangerous part of the manoeuvre began. The bridge called for all stop, and within thirty minutes the engines were powered down. The Zheng He continued forward at the same speed, her momentum keeping her going with nothing in the vacuum of space to slow her. The breaking mechanism was reliant on the manoeuvring thrusters, the same ones that controlled the rotation of the ship. John, Hong and Abby decided to sit this one out in the garden together, this time they just lay on the ground in the forest, looking up through the leaves of the young trees, imagining they were back on Earth. The colonists would have longer to decelerate on their final approach to Amrita, but for this test, it would be a pretty harsh slow down. This would be the emergency braking procedure. If one of the thrusters didn’t fire on time, at this speed, it could send them tumbling uncontrollably in any direction, John didn’t want to see it coming if something did go wrong.

  “Everything else has been ok, this will be too,” said Abby.

  “I know,” said John, squeezing her hand, “but I’m not cut out to be an explorer like you, I thought I was, but I’m not.”

  “Everyone’s scared Papa, not just you.”

  The deceleration was not so much a tug on their stomachs as the acceleration had been, but rather a punch. Everything had been tied down in anticipation, but almost without warning all three of them found it impossible to breathe as the g-forces hit them and pressed down. Hong had her eyes tightly shut and John went pale as he could feel his stomach cramping and getting ready to throw up. It lasted about a minute and then the crushing sensation ceased, but he still couldn’t move much, it takes time to slow down from ten percent the speed of light, and it takes as much force to slow down as it does to speed up. It took the crew even longer to recover once they could move again. Captain Morrison was perhaps the only person who hadn’t gotten sick afterwards but even he admitted later that once he was alone in his quarters that evening he had to lie on the floor to try and regain some sense of normality.

  The deceleration was a success despite all this. The nausea and bruises were expected, but at least they now knew that if the Zheng He faced a serious threat and needed to stop quickly, it could be done. Every test increased the chances of the colonists making it. The last two weeks, as they approached the Earth at a more sober speed, every wall, every joist, every reinforcing strut was checked for damage. There was nothing. The Zheng He was built to last and she would. John spent as much time as possible those last two weeks with Abby. The list of trainees who made the final crew was announced when they arrived back and were safely parked once more between the Earth and the Moon; Abby was on it.

  Hong was draining the boiling water off the noodles when the doorbell rang. John came out of the bedroom, where he had been clearing out their wardrobe and let Abby in. It was their last night aboard the Zheng He, their last night ever, and John was struggling not to let sentiment get to him. After all these years it wasn’t the ship itself that he would miss; with her nobbled colourful rocky interiors, her bright yellow lights, or her gentle breezes from the air circulation system. It was Abby he was saying goodbye to. The past four years had been the longest time he had spent with her continuously since her early childhood, and despite all the work and the stress, it had been a happy time because of it. As he opened the door and kissed her on the cheek, Hong quickly put down the pot she was holding and came over to give her stepdaughter a hug. She knew her husband needed as many distractions as possible that evening to keep him from becoming oversentimental, it was supposed to be a happy occasion, a celebratory dinner for Abby’s selection as a crew member for the Amrita mission. Abby would be working on the bridge, in communications, and she would be a part time teacher once the first children would reach schooling age.

  “Come on in dear, I have made something simple with some fish and vegetables, nothing fancy,” said Hong, “did your father tell you about later?”

  “No, what’s happening later?”

  “Oh,” said John, “Yes, I’d almost forgotten. Your grandmother’s retirement home set up a video call for us to talk to her. She got all our messages during the mission but is looking forward to chatting to us face to face, so to speak.”

  “That’s great Papa, did they say how she is?”

  “Fighting fit for a woman in her mid-nineties. It’s scheduled for around 8pm, she insisted on finishing her weekly bridge tournament first. I can’t wait to see her when we get back.”

  “Well it’s only another couple of days,” said Hong. They all went quiet. “Right so, let’s sit down and eat, we can all be glum later. John dear, you have something special you wanted to open?”

  He perked up immediately, “Oh yes, I got some prosecco from Stores. It’s in the fridge.” John retrieved the chilled bottle and then got down some all-purpose glasses from the cupboard. John had never drank champagne again after the night he had drugged Alex with it, but convention demanded something bubbly for special occasions. As they held up their glasses John made the toast; “to our daughter Abby, smarter than both of us, who will go farther than both of us, literally!”

  “To Abby,” repeated Hong. They all took a sip and Abby blushed.

  “I have one too,” she said, “To both of you, I’m going to miss...sniff…the two of…” It was too late, Abby burst into tears and both John and Hong followed just afterwards. They needed to get it out of the way. There were no other families on board. The other trainees had said goodbye to their parents when they first left for the Zheng He. The majority of them were already back on Earth, reunited with their loved ones, but for the special few like Abby who remained aboard, there would be no trip back home. As of tomorrow they would be officially on the mission, living aboard and adapting to a new life. John supposed that in many ways they were lucky, others didn’t get to stay together this long, but that didn’t make the pain any easier to handle.

  After dinner, and their call with Abby’s grandmother, they just sat together in the living room and sipped on the last of their drinks. “I hope it’s ok with you both, but I’ve requested your apartment for my own?”

  “Of course!” said John, “It’s not the biggest or the grandest, but it’s comfortable. Better to see it used than closed and mothballed like most of the shop space in the market.”

  Hong added “and it’s close to the garden. That might not seem important now, but on a stressful day when you need to get away from it all, it helps.”

  “Since I’m working in communications I guess I have no excuse but to call all the time.”

  “No,” replied John, “you have no excuse, but once a fortnight will be enough, we can pretend you’re just living in another c
ity or something.”

  “Until the mission begins, then the delays will happen. After a couple of years it will be weeks between transmissions.”

  “Let’s not think about that,” said Hong, “there is a saying; things, at worst, will mend. We will learn to deal with it.”

  “So what are you going to do now? Give college lectures and invited talks like Captain Morrison?”

  John put his glass on the coffee table and sat back; “No, we’re going on a month long holiday when we get back. Beaches and then some more beaches; that is the plan. After that we will see.”

  Hong smiled “After that, I am going to clear up the garden behind the house in Brussels, after this place it shouldn’t pose much of a challenge. Maybe my own little gardening business, who wouldn’t want to hire me!”

  It was midnight when they parted. John and Hong still had some last minute packing to do and they would see each other the next morning anyway. Once the door was closed behind Abby, John gently grabbed Hong and wrapped his arms around her, softly nuzzling her behind the ear; “Let’s leave the packing a little longer shall we?”

  Next morning, the last of the senior crew gathered in the docking bay, their bags already loaded on another shuttle which would follow later. It was an unusual atmosphere, the civilians stood to one side to witness the handing-over ceremony. Commodore Morrison marched in, dressed in his formal white Navy uniform. His second in command, Steven Bowers, had been elevated to the rank of Captain as soon as they had arrived back. They saluted each other and Commodore Morrison handed him a rosewood tube inlayed with silver; “Captain Bowers, as a token of your command, I present you with a map showing the voyages of Zheng He, the fleet Admiral who once set sail to expand China’s knowledge of the world. Just like him, in a ship named after him, you are commanded to go forth and expand our knowledge of the universe.” Captain Bowers took the rosewood tube and saluted Commodore Morrison. After two seconds they lowered their hands and shook them. The room erupted in applause.