The Visitor

by Tony Harmsworth

  ‘Phew!’ I said as an aside to Yuri then, to Gerald, ‘Second heavy-duty robotic hand attached and AD1 reacquired.’

  ‘Copy that.’

  I took a strap from the accessories pallet and uncoiled it.

  ‘Okay, Yuri, push AD1 tight to the waist of the Progress.’

  ‘Roger that.’

  Slowly the Wagon nudged the alien vessel up against the natural waistline between the two forward spherical sections of the Progress craft.

  ‘Contact,’ he said.

  ‘Copy that,’ from Gerald.

  ‘Releasing the grasp,’ I said, and the left arm released its grip on AD1.

  Using both hands on my controls, like playing a video game, I manipulated the straps until AD1 was securely attached to the Progress. The process took a lot longer than the telling of it. Probably about ninety minutes.

  ‘Secure, Gerald,’ I said with some satisfaction and not a little relief.

  ‘Copy that. Well done. You’re go to return to ISS.’

  ‘Copy that,’ said Yuri.

  ««o»»

  Back on the ISS, I headed straight for my personal space, picked up my small personal diary, and examined its cover.

  Using a scalpel, I slit open the leather binding at the bottom of the back cover and slid the 8TB microSDXS card into the space between the cardboard binding and the leather. I used the end of the scalpel to push it into the top left-hand corner beside the spine. It was so small it didn’t show through the leather cover at all. I used a drop of glue to reseal the cut. Not an invisible mend but good enough to fool anything except a forensic examination. Had I become the first ever space criminal?

  Next, armed with some space shampoo, water, and body wipes, I headed to the loo. What a pleasure to clean myself – well as best one can ever do on the ISS.

  Refreshed, I put on a change of clothes and Skyped Mario.

  Oh, there he was. His smiling eyes searching my face for signs of stress or strain. Now I had to lie to him and he mustn’t suspect anything. Was I up to it? I had to convince myself that what I was saying was the truth.

  ‘I was worried, honey.’

  ‘Love you. Sorry to cause concern.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘Oh, we had a dreadful spin on one of the satellites and it took ages to stop it. Then they didn’t know if they wanted to keep the solar array or junk it with the satellite. Meant we had to spend two nights in the Wagon. Sorry.’

  ‘You couldn’t call me from there?’

  ‘It wouldn’t have been very private. Jean did let you know?’

  ‘Yes, she did, but it’s hardly like an assistant relaying, “She’ll be late home from the office”. It’s worrying. You’re in that tiny craft halfway round the world from the space station and anything could happen to you.’

  ‘Mario, I wasn’t in any danger. It was all under control, but it would’ve been ridiculous to come all the way back to the ISS without having resolved it.’

  ‘And your video was down. Did you know? It meant none of us could see what was going on.’

  ‘Who was us?’

  ‘Well, I know your mum and dad, your sister, and my parents were trying to log in and the image was blank.’

  ‘Yes, the antenna failed. Couldn’t be helped,’ God, I didn’t like all of this lying and knowing one day he’d find out I wasn’t telling him the truth. How would he feel about that? Was I jeopardising our love?

  ‘Horrible not talking to you or being able to watch what you’re doing. Especially knowing you were having trouble with that one.’

  ‘Mario, I love you and I don’t want to spend our precious time talking about this. What’ve you been up to?’

  ‘Just work, really.’

  ‘Right. Same as me!’

  He knew I’d trapped him. ‘Damn you, Eve, you always get the upper hand with me.’

  ‘Any hand would do right now! I fantasise caressing your stubble and kissing you. I’m lonely up here, you know, and it’s only been a few days. We’ve got months of this.’

  ‘Sorry. I’ll try not to worry, but the thought any second you could be gone in some accident…’ His voice trailed off.

  ‘Yes, and you might be in a train wreck or car crash. It’s not easy for me, either darling.’

  ‘I know.’

  Neither of us spoke for a minute. Then he broke the silence. ‘We’re getting married as soon as you come back.’

  ‘Oh, yeah? I haven’t seen you on one knee yet.’

  His face ducked out of view, a hand turned the monitor to a downward angle, and he was obviously on his knees.

  ‘Doctor Evelyn Slater, BSc, MSc, MA, PhD, and space superheroine, will you marry me?’

  ‘You always take the easy way out. Doing it in a video call! I want the real thing… in a crowded restaurant… with a diamond ring… and champagne… and everyone watching!’

  ‘Damn you, Slater. You like seeing me suffer.’

  ‘And I mightn’t say yes then, either.’

  We blew kisses and continued to talk a while with the inquisition now on hold. I felt more relieved about the deception.

  Later, I had to go through a similar trial by lies with both my own and his parents. Dad was suspicious. This “classified” situation didn’t make life easy.

  8 How Time Flies

  The following day, I did my schools’ broadcast from the Scaffy Wagon and it was huge fun, with live questions from all ages between eight and eighteen. A later press interview was also enjoyable, but I’m afraid I got ratty with a journalist. I’d be told off for it later.

  He asked, ‘How do you do your make-up in zero-g, and what hairstyle do you prefer in orbit!’

  In fact, I rarely wear any make-up and certainly not on the ISS. ‘What has that got to do with the mission?’ I griped.

  ‘People will be interested,’ he said.

  ‘And did you ask Yuri how he manages to shave his head? It’s irrelevant. I’d have thought this discriminatory attitude towards astronauts would’ve disappeared by the second quarter of the twenty-first century. Don’t be so sexist! Mission questions only or this interview is over!’

  The schools’ event was much more satisfying and gave me a welcome break from the churning within my mind which AD1 was causing. The whole crew of the ISS now knew about the alien craft and were also sworn to secrecy, but we were all speculating like crazy.

  My plan to tie the alien craft to the Progress had worked. So far it had made no attempt to change orbit nor recommence its spin. When talking to Reg, Dr Naughton, it became clear the general view was that the craft was aware it was being observed. The plan was to carry out a close examination as soon as possible.

  Was it aware of anything? Maybe its automatic systems had finally failed? Perhaps the last attempt to recommence its rotation had drained the remaining fuel or flattened the batteries? There’d been no lights and no other indication of life, either electronically or organically.

  I was pleased to discover that I’d misjudged Peter Wright. He was true to his word and kept me fully in the loop. I’d also underestimated the impact AD1’s discovery had on the space agencies. They were desperate to learn about it and enormous resources were being applied to the project.

  Just two weeks after our discovery, Peter sent me plans for the research laboratory. Billions of pounds were obviously being ploughed into the plan and the forecast construction costs were astronomical. NASA announced they were building a research laboratory to study comets or any objects passing through the solar system. It made me laugh. Absolutely true, yet totally false! It would explain the frantic orbital activity when construction began. People on Earth would be able to see the structure through binoculars. My dad had told me he was following the ISS on clear nights when it passes over Britain and he had often recorded me in the Scaffy Wagon approaching or leaving the space station through NASA’s live feed. On one occasion he said my face was clearly visible. Ver
y comforting for them.

  My single spherical laboratory idea had morphed into three spheres. One would be the holding compartment for the alien device. Linked to it by a double airlock, a second laboratory provided a working environment. It, in turn, was linked by a further double airlock to the third and largest sphere which provided the living quarters with exercise equipment and all the life support. The whole assembly gave the impression of a basketball with two soccer footballs attached, making it a cluster, which was the eventual name by which it became known.

  When I quizzed Peter about the design, he told me, ‘The double airlocks are to keep each area sterile and separate from the others, at least until a bug-search has been completed.’

  ‘So the scientists will have to wear full pressure suits to move in and out of the alien sphere? That’ll be a bind for them.’

  ‘No, Eve. By pressurising the alien sphere with an inert gas, simple airtight suits will be sufficient rather than the need for cumbersome pressure spacesuits.’

  ‘Brilliant,’ I said, ‘and the inert gas will also kill any bugs which should stop any entering the laboratory.’

  ‘Yes, that’s the plan, but there’ll be other precautions before they return to the living space. The airlock will be flushed out with a second inert gas preventing contamination. The extra safety will be discontinued if no bugs are found on or in AD1 during the first month of study.’

  ‘Sounds expensive, Peter,’ I said.

  ‘Don’t ask! No expense is being spared.’

  His openness reassured me that AD1 really was the only alien artefact ever found. Nevertheless, there was still a lingering doubt borne of knowing how deceitful governments and the military could be, but if they’d an entire spaceship in Area 51, why would they be spending so much money to study this small object under such difficult circumstances?

  ‘Do you know of any other alien devices?’ There the question was asked.

  ‘Don’t think there’d be this much spent on this if it wasn’t a unique find, Eve,’ he said.

  I thought he might give something away if I caught him on the hop, but no, he seemed very genuine.

  Peter continued, ‘Obviously, the biggest danger will be contamination by us or it, but at least every precaution is being taken.’

  ‘Can’t be much chance of any bugs living on it in space,’ I said.

  ‘You’d be surprised, Eve. Experiments conducted outside the ISS back in the mid-teens showed that many biological organisms were capable of surviving in the vacuum of space and, incredibly, many also survived on the outside of returning spacecraft despite re-entry temperatures. Life is far more tenacious than most people imagine.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes, and the Apollo Twelve crew brought back a camera from the old Surveyor Three lander. The inside had Earth bugs on it which had survived years on the surface of the moon with massive temperature changes and no atmosphere.’

  ‘Wow,’ I said. ‘I had no idea.’

  Our conversation certainly gave me plenty to think about.

  ««o»»

  Yuri and I spent eight weeks after the discovery of the alien artefact, continuing our original mission. We cleared nearly one hundred and fifty pieces of débris out of close-Earth orbit and proved the concept of the Scaffy Wagon. We did have to visit AD1 a few times for exploratory work inside the alien craft with the high-resolution camera. I looked forward to those missions as it was maintaining my personal involvement with the device.

  In the ninth week, however, our mission changed beyond all recognition.

  The Ariane 8 craft, with its bulbous front end, arrived in orbit with the components for the first research sphere. Yuri and I were to assemble it, together with Martin Deane and Göran Schmidt who had joined us. Martin, a thin-faced, curly-haired diminutive New Zealander, was originally due to replace me after my seven months so was trained on the Scaffy Wagon, and Göran, a classically handsome, strongly-built German was to replace Yuri, but they had been hastily prepared and arrived early so the SDIV could be in service sixteen hours each day. The ISS now had two more to sleep than the previous maximum and it’d be stretched even further when the scientists arrived, although most would eventually be permanently housed in the Cluster. NASA were planning to send up an Orion capsule to attach to the ISS. It’d be used as a sleep module for up to four people.

  Aboard the latest SpaceX Dragon supply craft was a whole array of new tools to be used by the Scaffy’s arms for the assembly work.

  This was so exciting for all four of us. A unique project. We sat in Tranquillity eating our evening meal and chatting over the task.

  ‘They’ve designed the components so the spheres can also be made as hemispheres with a flat bottom for use on the moon and Mars,’ said Martin as we spoke about the Ariane 8’s cargo.

  ‘Seems a good idea. Will give us the chance to find any problems in vacuum with the design,’ I said.

  ‘It treble skin with much insulation in cavities,’ said Yuri.

  Martin added, ‘Yes, about two centimetres in each cavity. The inner cavity also has a network of tubes to carry a refrigerant to keep temperature down in direct sunlight, shifting heat from the sun side to the dark side of each sphere. The outer cavity contains a mesh to prevent micro-meteor damage and protect from sun activity. There is also a shielded interior compartment to be used as a panic room in the case of serious sun flares or NASA radiation alarms.’

  ‘Have you practised with the connectors?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, one of the new hands is designed specifically for the assembly process,’ said Martin.

  ‘What’s the order of play?’ asked Göran.

  I was still mission commander, which was good. They didn’t transfer command to Martin when he arrived with specific simulation training on the Cluster. They were impressed enough with my skills to leave me in charge.

  ‘Tomorrow nine sharp, all four of us will board the SDIV and we’ll take a trip over to the Ariane 8. The plan is to tow it to the Progress, but first we have to remove all remaining traces of fuel,’ I said.

  Martin broke in, ‘We’ve a device in our new tool chest to let us vent it safely.’

  ‘Next we’ll open the container and remove the components. I want to assemble a hemisphere first and we must return to the Kibo platform to collect the secure frame sent up on the last Cygnus supply vessel. The frame will attach to AD1, but first we must strap it to a specially prepared section on one of the segments. Once it is secure, the first phase will be completed. We’ll put in half a shift each on the first day and operate ten hour shifts in pairs,’ I said.

  Yuri asked, ‘Martin, in simulation, how much time involved assembling hemisphere?’

  ‘Up to twenty-four working hours.’

  I continued, ‘When the hemisphere is ready, Yuri and I will move AD1 from the Progress and fix it to the secure frame in the hemisphere. We’ll strap the Progress to the outside of the hemisphere in case AD1 comes back to life. Once the remainder of the sphere is complete, AD1 will be secure and the Progress will return to the ISS and won’t be needed again.’

  ‘I keep remote pilot aware of how we doing,’ said Yuri.

  ‘We’ll continue assembling components of the sphere until shift end, when we’ll return to ISS and you and Göran can take the second shift,’ I said to Martin.

  ‘So, we get occasional downtime?’

  ‘Oh yes, apart from you do three hours exercise,’ said Yuri, reminding the others that there was rarely leisure time on the ISS.

  ‘The following day, Göran, Martin and I must fit the double airlock. It’ll be a long job. NASA think Yuri would be better employed helping with another Ariane due in the day after tomorrow.’

  ‘Yes,’ confirmed Martin, ‘there are some tricky connections and the last three sphere segments have to be held tightly in place while the sphere is closed. That will need the two of us manipulating an arm each. Afterwards there’s a lot of del
icate work connecting the wiring and pumps, et cetera.’

  That appealed to me because it meant we’d get out of the Scaffy Wagon on tethers. It would be my first spacewalk.

  I continued, ‘We’re hoping sphere one will be finished and airtight within a week. It would have been good if the airlocks had been sent as a single unit, but the Ariane 8 is not capable of taking them except in segments. However, we did get all of the sphere components on the same flight.’

  ‘The second sphere is due up in three days’ time,’ said Göran.

  We talked long into the night. So much to consider and so exciting too. A real space adventure.

  ««o»»

  By the end of November, after eighteen weeks of construction, the four of us plus two co-opted from the ISS crew, were inside the living area sphere, completing the fittings of food areas, sleep modules, exercise equipment, and all the hundreds of accessories which were arriving on a constant stream of Cygnus, Starliner, Dragon, Ariane, and Progress spacecraft.

  The docking node of the living sphere had a Dragon attached and the laboratory sphere a Progress. Our last few assembly missions had also attached eight solar arrays which were to provide the power needed to maintain the scientists, their equipment and their communications. The living area had two docking ports, one was occupied by the Scaffy Wagon which had been used almost exclusively to bus astronauts back and forth.

  Being responsible for the construction of this amazing laboratory was a dream come true and I was fortunate for it to have happened during my time in space, but now I was to leave the laboratory for the last time, and I couldn’t help the heaviest wave of sadness overcoming me.

  A Boeing Starliner was due up tonight bringing Dr Reg Naughton and Dr Hans Meyer to study AD1, and this would be followed by a Crew Dragon a few days later carrying another two scientists. They would make up the main team of four working in the Cluster. Yuri and I would be returning to Earth the next day with Shuko, a Japanese astronaut. It was tearing my heart out.

  The airlock between the living and laboratory sections of the Cluster stood open so we passed freely back and forth as we unloaded the supply vessels. When the scientists moved in, they’d be making each section biologically secure from the others.