Meanwhile, Joe had already left the reception area, together with Mears. They were both going directly to the stasis section of the ship, to join the small team of specialists who would be placing people into the chambers, and initiating the stasis process. Trisha would follow later, with the first group.
The stasis section comprised of fourteen cabins that were located towards the front of the habitation section of the ship. These catered for the eighty-five colonists. With six stasis chambers each in thirteen of the cabins, and seven in the fourteenth.
The chambers were bolted to the floor and were a metre in diameter and three long. The casing was a gold plated alloy that was similar to brass. As, even though it wasn’t expected that they would have to stand up to any corrosive elements in the ship, the gold plated casing offered better protection to the unit’s electronic controller and nutrient feeder.
Susie, who was in the first group, joined Trisha. “Will you be putting me into stasis?” She asked.
“Yes, I’ll be there. Don’t be nervous. You’ll be okay.”
“Have you got the package from Michael?”
Knowing that Michael had, as promised, delivered Axon’s weapon. Trisha assured her that it was already in her stasis chamber.
“That’s a relief. Uncle Cedrick was adamant that it had to go with me,” she answered. “Will you really be twenty years older than me, by the time we reach Procyon, Trisha?”
“I’m afraid so. But, I would have been much older if they hadn’t delivered the five auxiliary chambers in time.”
“I suppose you won’t have changed too much then,” Susie replied. “At least, we should still be able to recognise you,” she jokingly added and they both dissolved into laughter at the thought. Then thinking about what they had let themselves in for both of them were quiet for a moment.
“Susie, how come we didn’t have any contact with you or your father until he saved me from that Butcher guy?”
“Cedrick and Linda secretly took me in when my dad went missing. They died when I was still very young. However, they had already arranged with Linda’s sister, who was about eleven years younger than her; to take care of me if anything happened to them.
When they died, Linda’s sister came to live on the estate and brought me up. Cedric had made sure that it would remain a very safe place for me, no matter what.
I don’t personally remember anything about Cedric and Linda, only what her sister told me. I only know that we couldn’t reveal who we were, especially with Michael doing his undercover thing.”
She paused, and then asked, “Trisha, will I really remember the past when we awake? My friends told me that I would come out a zombie. But I didn’t really believe them.”
“Most things, some may be a little hazy, but the system’s been designed to keep your memories intact. I expect your friends are just envious of your chance of a new life.”
“Yea, if we get there, and if it really is a habitable planet.”
“Well, we’ve got the best people with us. So, we have a better chance of finding a habitable planet and making something of our lives, than if we stayed on Earth.”
Trisha’s wrist communicator suddenly buzzed. “Ok, Susie it’s time. Wait here while I get the rest of the group together.”
Trisha felt Susie’s hand holding hers tightly, as they left for the stasis chambers with the rest of her group. Most of them silent now, as the realisation of what was going to happen finally hit them.
Susie’s chamber was one of seven in the larger cabin, and when she arrived, she found the other six occupied. The thick transparent cover of hers was open, and looking in she could see that the interior seemed to be full of embedded sensors. The bed she was going to lay on was upright now and held in position by two small hydraulic arms.
Susie held Trisha’s hand even more tightly, and, looking horrified, nervously said. “Trisha, they look like coffins.”
“No, just think of them as technological marvels,” she said. “Come, see the others. Can’t you see how calm they look?”
“I must admit, they do look peaceful,” Susie reluctantly replied.
“And they are,” Trisha briskly stated, while gently releasing her hand from Susie’s grip. “So get undressed, and then stow your clothes in this compartment. But leave your mag boots on until you are ready to get in.”
She did as told, ready to step into the chamber. “Which cabins are Harry and Anna in?” she then asked.
“They’re both in cabin four. I hope you realise that you are one of just twenty or so, unmarried women. So try to remember their cabin number, for when you come out of stasis. OK?”
“Yes. H’m, women, I like the sound of that, Trisha,” Susie said as she took off her mag boots.
Trisha put one hand on Susie’s shoulder, to keep her from floating away. Then Susie stepped into the chamber and stood with her back to the bed, which had already started to drop backwards, slowly.
Trisha told her to lay back, and in moments, Susie was flat on the bed, with her body held down by two small suction discs.
Trisha double-checked that the box holding Axon’s weapon was in the chamber. Then, seeing Susie watching her, said, “Don’t worry, nobody will be able to touch it until you’re woken up. Now, lay still and let the Chamber look after you.”
Susie felt something prick her. Tried to speak, but couldn’t. She was already asleep.
A few minutes later Tony Mears, the stasis specialist and ship’s doctor, came in.
“How was it, Trisha?”
“She’s well away,” she assured him.
“Good,” he said as he checked the stasis chamber.
Once satisfied. He tapped his code into a small panel and the cover slowly closed, followed by a hissing noise that lasted for just a few seconds. A green coloured dot then lit on its screen, and Trisha tapped in her code. Thus ensuring that no one could open it without both of their codes.
The transparent cover misted over as the stasis field became active and a second green dot lit on the panel. Then the digital clock illuminated showing a rolling countdown to zero. At zero, the display showed the date and Susie’s full name.
“OK, she’s safely in stasis, Trisha.”
The chamber, now set, could only be opened when the Starship reached its destination, the crew had verified that conditions were safe, and the two codes had been entered.
Joe arrived, just as Tony finished checking the last six stasis chambers they had activated earlier.
Tony said nothing, just looked at him calculatingly for a moment. Then ordered him to close the cabin, as all three of them then stepped out into the corridor, just managing to avoid a small service droid as it scurried past.
Joe closed the door and followed as Trisha and Tony started to head back to the crew section.
“What about the twenty crew members who are going into stasis first?” Joe asked as he caught them up.
“That’s already sorted, we’re doing that next,” Tony replied. “Captain Traven’s already programmed in the stasis change-over points for each group of ten.”
“Thank goodness we’re only active for two ten-year stints.” Joe said.
“Yes. Better than being active for twenty, in one go,” Trisha agreed.
“We were lucky that Traven managed to persuade the rest of the crew to let us do both the first and last ten-year sections,” Tony added.
“I can’t believe the other two groups have each agreed to do a twenty-year slot out of stasis,” Trisha added.
“Yep, mad aren’t they?”
Chapter 6
Launch Point
In the control room, Captain Traven’s crew were busy preparing the Acarea to move out of Earth’s orbit, and travel to the launch point, way out past the moon.
“So, have you finished, then?” Traven asked as he heard the clunking of Tony, Trisha and Joe’s mag boots as they entered the control room.
“Yes sir, all of them safely in stasis,” Tony informed h
im.
“Are we fit to go, Henry? Do you have any outstanding deliveries?”
“Yes to the first, Captain, and no to the second. Everything that’s supposed to be here is here.”
“Okay,” Traven replied. Then activated the ship’s Log Recorder.
“Everyone report in with any details or observations you may wish to put on record. We’ll start with stasis.
Tony, we know the settlers are all in stasis, what about the other twenty crew members?”
“They’re all in stasis as well. The chambers are programmed and their systems are functioning correctly.”
“Joe, what about the nuclear charge delivery system?”
“Everything checks out, captain.”
“Jackson, how’s your department?”
“Better than I had hoped. Hydroponic food production and water recycling systems for the crew are already up to sustainable levels.”
“Yes, but what about the changeover period, when twenty of us are going to be active for up to three days?”
“We’ll have plenty in reserve by then, and as long as the settlers stay in stasis until after we’ve landed. We’ll cope.”
“Nick?”
“Both Steve and I are as sure as we can be that the ship will hold together when the chain of nuclear detonations begins.”
“What about the plasma ball that each detonation will generate? There’s no way they’ll stay with us, is there?” Tommy asked.
“None whatsoever. The detonations are timed to ensure that any plasma ball generated by the explosion will be far enough behind the ship to negate the possibility of a vortex forming directly behind the pusher plate, on the outward journey. So, effectively, each plasma ball will be left behind, and will get further away from us as we go forward,” he told them, then paused.
“However, in saying that, I’m not so sure about this when we reverse and have the nuclear detonations taking place right in front of us.”
“You’re right, Steve. When we have rotated and are then flying into the detonations, it is probably going to be a bit different.
But, the pusher plate should then protect us,” Nick assured him.
“Maybe just a wisp of plasma for a few kilometres, due to our mass. But, I personally think the nasty stuff should pass far enough out to not be a danger to us.”
“Let’s hope you’re right. Then again, maybe it’ll just rattle us to bits with continuous explosions, instead,” Janson interrupted.
“Don’t be so pessimistic, Paul,” Captain Traven rebuffed, not wanting to hear what most of them actually thought. Then asked, “No tweaks needed to your star plots, Paul?”
“No, captain. We’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”
“I agree,” Tommy added. “I say we should get away from Earth’s orbit now, Captain. Before some disgruntled person fires a missile at us.”
Traven just smiled at this, and then asked. “All agreed?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Okay, let’s get Acarea out to where it’s safe.”
“Will do, Captain,” Tommy replied as he finished plotting the steering changes needed to get to their destination.
Traven then selected Earth’s Acarea Control Centre tab.
“This is Captain John Traven from the Acarea,” he announced. “We are leaving orbit in exactly…,” he paused checking the pilot’s countdown display. “Six minutes. Make sure the area behind us is clear.”
A worried sounding controller’s voice came back. “Captain, may I ask why you are leaving so early?”
“Safety, sir. Too many risks here. We’ll be safer at the launch point.”
“Then I have to respect your judgment, captain. Good luck and we’ll talk again when you get to your launch point.”
“Thank you. Out.”
Captain Traven sat back in his anti-acceleration seat. Then looked at the rest of the crew who were sitting in front of their consoles in the same type of seats. Sometimes referred to as Inertia Dampers. They were crude but offered a degree of protection from the G-Forces as the ship accelerated.
“Everyone buckle up,” Traven ordered.
“Pilot. You have the control for the strap-on rockets but don’t jettison them unless they become a danger to the Acarea.”
“Yes, captain, Tommy replied. Knowing it wouldn’t cost anything to keep them, even though the propellant needed to return to Earth would probably be useless by the time they reached Procyon. Whereas the rocket casings would be useful at the other end.
The strap-on rockets had been designed for two long and slow burns. With the second burn only being required if they had to abort the mission and return to Earth before any nuclear detonations had started. They were also much larger than they needed to be to push the Acarea away from Earth. However, size wasn’t important in space.
Six minutes passed before the pilot’s information panels lit, with a mass of green lights, and readouts showing the readiness status of the ship.
“We’re off,” Tommy informed them, as the Acarea shuddered under the full force of the rocket engines that were pushing it ever faster. Until finally, the ship reached a steady, but comfortable acceleration rate.
“Looks right, Captain,” Nick confirmed as the rear cameras monitored the output of the two rockets.
“Tommy, are you swinging us to line up with our launch point?”
“Yes, we’ll end up facing in the right direction. By that time, we should already be going at a good rate towards Procyon’s target point. Then, when we start dumping nukes that should also add to our speed.”
The five-minute burn finally ended, by which time the Acarea had already reached a constant velocity as they travelled away from Earth, and towards their launch point, nine million kilometres out. With half of the rocket fuel already used, the Acarea was now coasting.
“What’s our speed, pilot?” Traven asked.
“We’ve reached one hundred and thirty kilometres per hour…That gives us roughly seventy hours’ flight time before we arrive at the launch point.”
“Slower than I expected, Tommy.”
“Yes, but if we’d carried out a full burn. We’d be going like a bat out of hell, Captain.”
Traven didn’t bother to reply. He was thinking about the launch date again.
If they stuck to the official date, he knew he was now well ahead of time. However, if he believed what this Micky Sanderson had told Michael, then even so he would still be at the departure point too soon. Twelve days too early to be exact.
Then, Steven, the structural engineer interrupted his thoughts. “Captain,” he called, a sense of urgency sounding in his voice.
“What is it?”
“One of the scout ship’s tethers have snapped.”
“Damn. How long to re-secure them?”
“Depends on whether we need to weld another anchor bolt to the deck.”
Well, that’s a sign, if ever there was one. Captain Traven thought to himself. Right. The 16th of December it is then.
“Get on it, Steven,” he replied. “We need to be ready to launch on the sixteenth of this month.”
“Has the launch date been changed, Captain?” Tommy asked looking at Traven in astonishment.
“Yes. So, now, we only have fifteen days until we leave,” he replied looking at all of them, long and hard. “You’ll all have to trust me on this,” he added unsure at first of what else to say.
“OK, men. Jansen and I will recheck the target position using the new launch date.” Then, looking at Tommy added. “Sorry, Tommy. I should have told you. It’s because of the information I received a month ago.”
“Don’t worry about it, Captain. I trust your instincts.”
Nick and Steven headed for the main equipment storage section, which was at the front of the ship and separated by a large bulkhead door.
Once inside, they could see the offending Scout ship. Which, with its tether broken, had floated, ending up against the enormous fourteen-metre diamete
r steel airlock door at the very front of the vessel.
Although a supply of air was available throughout the ship, Gravity was not. At least, not until the last of the eighty programmed nuclear detonations had ended. At which time, the manoeuvring jets would swivel. Then fire up, to start a slow spin that would produce a centrifugal force. This, in turn, would then create enough gravity to make life easier aboard the ship.
“Nick. Take a look, the weld’s gone on that anchor.”
“Ok, I can see it. We need to fuse it to a different spot. Check the other anchors, just in case.”
Five minutes later, after clunking around in their mag boots, they had finished checking the tethers for the other scout ships and the earth remover’s three anchors.
“There’s an anchor for the other scout ship that needs sorting, but the earth mover looks alright, a bit slack, but ok,” Steven confidently said.
“Ok. Break out the welding gear. I’ll tell the captain.” Nick said, and tapped his wrist communicator, bringing Traven’s face up on its tiny screen. “Captain, we need to weld two of the anchors. One’s come away altogether, the other just needs reinforcing.”
“Ok Nick, carry on.”
“Will do Captain…Don’t worry, we’ll finish the work long before we reach the departure area.”
“So, what?”
“So when we get to the launch point. Why don’t we just go?”
“The date, Nick. Things have now dropped into place, and timing is critical to our survival.”
“What things?”
“Things mentioned in Cedrick’s files. The things Michael Bernstein and this Micky guy said,” Traven replied. Then looked directly back at Nick’s face, showing on his screen.
“So, as I said before Nick. Once we get to the launch point, we’ll wait there. We won’t fire the nukes up until the 16th of this month,” Traven firmly stated.
Acarea. A Triumph or Disaster? (SpaceFed StarShips Series Book 5): A Novel by Gerry A. Saunders (SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy) Page 5