Alder cleared his throat. “Uh, no. I had an idea that I think could significantly increase our survival odds. It’s a little crazy though.”
“Crazier than setting an atomic weapon off on ourselves?”
“Maybe. How does, ‘saw the ship in half’ compare.”
Mbaka thought it over. “I don’t know? Would there be a magician and woman in a leotard?”
“Ha! No, I was thinking more, ‘cut off the science bay and the hab module so that we could present a flat surface to the atmosphere during entry.”
“Make the ship into an aeroshell?” Mbaka chuckled. “That’s the good kind of crazy. The kind I like. You could almost fly the ship on descent.”
“That would be a bad idea.”
“You’ve run simulations?”
“Yeah. I wanted you to take a look before I suggested it to anybody.”
Mbaka leaned forward to one of his consoles. “I like it already. Where’s the file?”
Tomb
Lucian Koriminksi was a horticulturalist and had been silently suffering from the long journey for many years. He’d been to see Elana almost weekly for more than a decade. His dreams of finding alien worlds and alien life forms had been swept away quickly in the mind-numbing routine of their tiny bubble of life in the cold void of space. Discoveries, when they came, came after weeks or months of claustrophobic tedium.
As the years progressed, his boredom and dislike for space had grown steadily into a gnawing hatred of everything around him and an almost obsessive need to criticize Pilton, whose unwillingness to turn around he perceived as the main obstacle to his happiness.
In her role as Dr. Alder, Elana had twice requested to have Koriminsksi placed on extended leaves from duty. It was difficult to balance the need to keep him busy with Koriminski’s negative impact on the staff around him. He was in furious tears now.
“It doesn’t make any sense, Dr. Alder. Why won’t Pilton send out a communications pony? We’re thirty light years from where we sent the last one. How is anyone supposed to know where we are?”
Elana frowned. “It was my understanding that none of the ponies survived the blast.”
“Well then we should build a new one. We can’t just sit here.”
“I don’t understand. Are you concerned that no one will be able to find us?” Elana had to be careful. With the tensions on the ship, Lucian’s borderline delusional state could easily get out of control.
“Yes.”
“We are broadcasting in radio.”
“Radio won’t help!” Lucian’s voice was high with stress. “Radio waves travel at light speed. It’ll be thirty years before they even get to our last known position.”
“Help me understand Lucian. You seem very upset. Knowing that we’re years from rescue either way, I think the feeling on the ship is that we need to make sure we survive the landing first and then worry about contact later.”
Lucian went eerily still and quiet. “What if it’s too late?”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve been watching the sparks on shields. You can see them all night in the bio-dome. It’s not specks of dust, it’s a moon; a solid moon filling in around us.” Goose flesh rose on Elana’s arms. Koriminski’s voice had the cold edge of nightmare in it. “This isn’t a ship. It’s a glass and steel coffin and those sparks are the concrete pouring in. When the rescue comes, if it comes, they’ll fly right by, just another dead rock in space. It won’t matter if we’re still gasping. The only way they’ll notice us is if they get that chill from walking on someone’s grave.
Against her will, Elana shivered. “Well,” she said, in a tone unconvincing even to herself. “I guess our escape plan better work.”
Stress
“It will work.” Mbaka was saying. “Better than anything we’ve looked at so far.”
Pilton along with most of the rest of the command crew seemed unconvinced. “It seems like a bad idea to me to eliminate half of our living space and the entire science bay. There’s a lot of equipment that we’re likely to need when we land.
“If. If we land. That’s the point.” Mbaka was emphatic. “Our whole plan depends on the computer being able to keep the ship upright during landing. That’s where we fail. That’s where this plan saves us.”
“I don’t understand.” Pilton was querulous.
“Look.” Mbaka pushed a button and the ship’s wireframe schematic leapt into existence in the middle of the table, this time with red clouds pouring out from points all around the hull. “The shields will withstand atmospheric entry. They’ll even keep us alive during the landing, although it will burn most of them out. What they can’t do is keep us from tumbling.” He touched the table in front of him and the ship began to pitch back and forth. “This hull was never meant to enter an atmosphere. It’s lumpy and hard to keep balanced once it starts to experience drag.” The floating ship began do sway dangerously. “In the simulations, the failure always comes at the maximum stress point about eight minutes before impact.” The image pitched forward suddenly and began spinning unevenly. After a few seconds, it shattered in a spray of pixels and parts that flew out of the range of the hologram and vanished. Mbaka paused and let the tension hang in the room.
“Now. Alder’s suggestion, that we cut loose the habitation and science modules, gives us a ship that looks like this.” A new version of the ship popped up. Now the broad, flat bottom of the engineering deck and the outer edges of the ring were all that were visible across the bottom of the ship. The halo of shields spread evenly across them. “This configuration is basically the same aeroshell design humans have been using for hundreds of years. Think of it as a giant grav pod.” The hologram buffeted and rocked in the simulation of atmospheric entry but stayed upright.
“When I spoke to Muuk about coding entry for this configuration, she about cried.” Wei added in. As systems officer, programming the entry codes fell to his crew. “She didn’t feel like the other configuration had much of a chance. She feels this is the way to go.”
Dr. Shirimi, Alder’s number two since Lowen had died in the blast, cleared her throat. “This makes me happy too because it will force us to delay the landing. I’ve had a look at the knots of plasma rising off the planet. There’s something in them. I’d like to have a chance to get a better look.”
The room fell silent. Weeks of crisis, funerals, and overwork behind them coupled with more work, exploding starships, and mysterious aliens in the future left a heavy pall that, for a moment, seemed greater than the collected will gathered around the table.
Pilton laughed a sudden, high pitched giggle. “I like it.” He announced, slapping his meaty hand on the table. “Let’s do it.”
“What!” Tallen exploded, just as vigorously. “You can’t throw away half the ship on your own authority.”
Pilton wheeled on him and shot out an accusing finger. “Mr. Tallen. That is enough. For more than ten years…”
“Yes.” Tallen cut him off. “Almost fifteen years. Far longer than anyone but you meant for us to be out here.” Pilton sputtered but Tallen pushed forward. “Now instead of being home where we belong, you are trying to get us stranded on your little planet. The ship is dying. Now what will you be? King Pilton?” Tallen sneered. “You say that you are trying to save the crew. Save it from what? From ever being able to get back off the planet? From ever being able to get out from under your thumb? I will not follow you.”
“Shalim. I’m confused.” Alder interjected. “I’m the one who suggested cutting the ship.”
“That’s right. And who do you work for?”
Alder glanced at Elana who was sitting pensively to his left. “I work for my crewmates I guess.”
“No!” Tallen’s huge voice filled the room. “You work for him.” He gestured at the suddenly very small Pilton. “How many times has he said it? This is not a democracy. This is not a democracy. It couldn’t be a democracy because we would have voted to turn around years ago, when we sho
uld have.” He rose to his feet, leaning menacingly in on Pilton. “Maybe you will get us down alive. Maybe you will not. Either way, I think your days in command are numbered.” He turned and stormed out of the room. Quietly, D’Ray Fisher and Covar, the 2nd in command of systems followed.
Pilton stood as if to speak to the backs of the departing men, closed his mouth and then sat again. “Well,” he said into the silence, “let’s see how long this will take.”
Small Talk
One of the ‘old married couple’ things that Elana and Sam did was make meals together. They did it quietly, unconsciously. After the awkward way the meeting had ended, they made their way almost silently down through the heart of the ship to their cabin in the hab module. Sam took vegetables and a block of tofu from their small refrigerator while Elana filled the noodle steamer with water. He cut the tofu into strips and then started in on the vegetables while Elana set the tofu sizzling in an open pan. Sam prepared the sauces while the noodles boiled and Elana stirred the vegetables in with the tofu. In the past they had used the same sauce, but Sam’s stomach was growing increasingly intolerant of spice.
They sat side by side at their small table with their bowls of noodles in front of them. They used chopsticks to quietly fish vegetable and tofu out of the pan. For long minutes they alternated between bites of vegetable dipped in sauce and the noodles before Alder spoke.
“Pilton really seems to have fallen down.”
“He’s struggling.” Elana agreed. “His personality is based on glory seeking. There’s no glory in this.”
“Looks like we’ve got a real problem with Tallen.”
“Yup.”
“I can’t imagine very many people would follow him.”
“Hard to say. The anger with Pilton runs pretty deep.”
“I guess.” Alder helped himself to a steaming second helping of noodles. “Tallen says he wants democracy. Maybe that’s a good thing, if we’re going to be a colony now.”
“Oh please. That man’s idea of democracy is getting enough people to agree with him that he can eliminate the rest. If he takes control, the colony will be a dictatorship.”
Sam paused. “Eliminate? You think he’d kill?”
“He has before on at least two occasions. During the Mixili rebellion his position was overrun by Geist Marines.”
“Wow. They put a killer on our ship. Who knew?”
“Everyone. Violence is part of human nature Sam. They put a known killer in a head of security in case a rebellion had to be put down in the crew.”
“And now he’s the rebellion.”
Elana sighed heavily. “Yup. Of all the candidates that I approved to be on the crew, he was one of only two that I really wanted to reject. He’s just too dangerous.”
“Who was the other one you wanted to reject?”
“You.”
Alder’s eyebrows shot up. “Me? You didn’t think I’d do well on the crew?”
“No silly. I didn’t want you to go because I was in love with you and I didn’t want you to die when Pilton got us all killed.”
“You thought Pilton would get us killed?
“Yup.”
“Mbaka said the same thing yesterday. How is it that everyone but me knew this was a doomed expedition?”
“Oh you knew.” Elana picked up her bowl and slurped the last of the noodles. “Except that what you thought was something like, ‘thirty-four percent chance of failure. That is within tolerances.’ and then you didn’t think about it again. That mind of yours really protects you from the insecurities of humanity.”
Alder humphed noncommittally and fished the last bits of tofu from bottom of the pan. “Twenty-eight.” He said, at last.
“What’s that?” Elana asked, rising and taking her bowl with her.
“I calculated a twenty-eight percent chance that there would be a catastrophic failure that would prevent us from returning.”
Elana sighed and reached out a hand for his bowl. “Just perfect.”
“I guess.” Alder handed her the bowl, and turned to pick up the place settings. “So if you knew we were going to die, why did you come along?”
“Besides the fact that you were here?” She asked over her shoulder while she rinsed the dishes.
“Well yeah.”
“I don’t know. Honestly Sam, I don’t. I was doing fine on Craver Minor. I think it may have to do with the wreck of the IDF Councillor.”
“You’ve mentioned it before.”
“It was just such a strange wreck. The pressure seals in one section had held. The crew in that one section lived for more than year. They’d made a little room out of mattresses where they could crawl in and stay warm. It wasn’t till the food ran out that they died. It gave me nightmares. I think it has something to do with why I’m here. Something about them, trapped in the dark all that time.”
She turned around from the dishes and saw Alder glancing furtively at the data console next to the table. “Oh no you don’t.” She said drying her hands and grabbing his arm. “No work tonight. Tonight a massage is in order.”
“It’s okay.” Alder protested mildly, letting her lead him into their living area. “I don’t need a massage. Besides your hand is still hurt.”
Elana laughed. “Who said the massage was for you?”
Fire
“Seal it off! Seal it off!” Alder screamed. Down the lift tunnel from him, a white hot hell of plasma was arcing and ripping from wall to wall. Smoke from the fire poured up the tube. Two figures, almost invisible in the glare, writhed and turned in the manmade lightning.
“Are Billet and Williams out?” An engineer’s voice came over radio. “I can’t see in the…”
“They’re gone dammit! Seal it! Just seal!” The plasma leak was growing rapidly, consuming the burning figures, threatening to expand into the section Alder was in. Already its blinding heat was threatening to push him away from the power console he was hiding behind.
With a thump, the emergency bulkhead between Alder and the fire slid shut.
Taking advantage of the drop in the heat, Alder rose up next to the console and began tapping furiously at the keys. All of the circuits read cold but somewhere in all the rewiring, plasma had still been running in one of the lines. Unable to identify the offending line, Alder switched to the emergency controls and entered the emergency depressurization code. The white light shining through the glass of the pressure door went out as suddenly as it had begun and there was a whooshing, clattering sound. The bodies of Billet and Williams, burnt beyond recognition by their momentary contact with the live line, were sucked out of the ship with a wisp of atmosphere and plasma, joining the growing list of former Duster crew members who were now specks in orbit around Mass 17.
Alder banged his hand against the console and cursed. With six days left before their expected launch date, they hadn’t yet managed to fully separate either the hab or science module but they had now killed a fifth and sixth crew member trying.
“What happened?” The remote engineer asked.
“There was still power in one of the conduits.” Alder wiped his hand across his grimy face. “Did you know them?”
“Yes.”
Alder nodded. “I’m sorry. Do you need a minute?”
There was a long pause on the other end. “No. I’m okay.” The long streak of deaths starting with Pakerson, Jinx, and Martin had given them all the sense of combat veterans. The death of friends was no longer something to stop work over. It was a fact. A part of life. They had stopped talking about fashion shows and new variations in cuisine after the explosion. By now, no one talked about the deaths either, unless you needed to replace someone on your crew.
Alder waited a minute to let the unseen crewman gather his wits. “One of the lines on C bus should be showing a leak now. That’s the one that’s still hot. I need you to shut it down and then get me another cutting crew. Looks like we’re going to need environment suits.”
“Line C 15
4 is showing a leak.” The engineer answered. “I’ll get off before your relief crew arrives. I’ll let folks know too.”
“Thank you.” Alder sighed. Behind him there was a wet sound. In the excitement, Alder had completely forgotten that Commander Garson was with him.
The normally absent Garson had insisted on joining him for his work shift. She was regretting it now. Bent over on her knees, holding her long hair out of her face, Garson was heaving dryly into a pool of vomit. Tall and incredibly thin, Garson’s ribs showed under her uniform as she heaved heavily and then spit. The closest Alder had ever come to an affair, which was not very close, was a couple of awkward conversations he had had with Garson when she and Wei’s relationship had hit a rough spot a few years before. Elana had spotted it at once and had been more than a little ferocious. Alder never regretted staying true to her. Still, Alder looked on the heaving Garson with some compassion.
“Sorry you had to see that.” He said, moving to stand over her.
Garson swallowed hard and wiped her mouth. “It isn’t that.” She waved vaguely at the bulkhead. “I’m pregnant.”
“Yeah, I uh heard you might be.” Alder said awkwardly, trying to move into a kneeling position next to her without putting his knees in the vomit. “You okay?”
Garson leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily. “Yeah. It’s twins.”
Alder slid into a sitting position next to her against the wall. “Twins? Wow.” There was an awkward pause. “I think you’ll make a good mom.”
“Yeah.” Garson laughed mirthlessly. “My mother would be very proud.” They lapsed into silence again. “Do you think we’re going to make it?” She asked finally.
“Yeah. Maybe. We’re in better shape than we were before. If we can get into the atmosphere at the right angle, we’ve got a good chance.”
“What do you mean if?”
“Well, Muuk has got the flight trajectory all programmed in. We should fall shields first. The computer can do the math. If something goes wrong or we start fiddling with what the computer is doing, we run a real risk of turning the ship over.”
Alder's World Part One: Mass 17 Page 7