Acarea. A Triumph or Disaster? (SpaceFed StarShips Series Book 5): A Novel by Gerry A. Saunders (SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy)

by Gerry A. Saunders

  “Harder,” she pleaded, now unable to control herself.

  The rhythmic motion continued until the ecstasy became almost unbearable, and they finally climaxed.

  Then, she felt the tether snap, and Tricia’s backside bumped up against the cold ceiling. Where they both remained, wrapped in each other’s arms until they came back to reality.

  Tricia and John finally un-twined their bodies, then pushed themselves back down to the floor. After which, he retrieved his work suit, and, rolling around, managed to put it back on, while Tricia struggled to dress. Then, finally, they both put their mag boots on and stood up. Calmer now, they looked at each other, smiling.

  “Are you ready for stasis?” he asked, trying to recover some semblance of authority.

  “Yes, John. Call me when Tony has Captain Merance and Alex Chapmen out of stasis. Then I’ll come.”

  “Ok, he replied. Then catching hold of her hand said. “You told me you had your reasons in waiting this long. Tell me, what were they?”

  “I didn’t want another child to be born on this ship,” she answered sounding sad.

  “I can understand you feeling like that, after losing your boy.”

  She said nothing, just stared at him. He stared back at her. Wondering just how many of his crew she had, had sex with.

  “None. If that’s what you’re wondering?” She said aloud.

  He was taken aback. Then noticed that her eyes seemed more fluorescent than before.

  “Are you reading my mind?” He asked, feeling uncomfortable.

  She studied him before answering. “I need to give birth to our child, on the planet.”

  “You’re avoiding my question. And, what do you mean, our child?” He asked.

  Then realised what she meant.

  “Is that all I am to you? A means to an end?” He asked, sounding shocked

  Tears came to her eyes.

  “Of course, not John…,” she replied. “You will be my husband, of course.”

  “Well. That’s me told,” he answered, then paused, thinking about his new situation.

  Then decided he was pleased, having finally realised that he wanted the same. To have this woman at his side as they started their new life together on the planet. He knew it would be a hard life, a challenging one.

  Even so, she would be quite a bit younger than him, now she was going to spend time in stasis while the crews built their temporary homes.

  Her age was a blessing in one way. She was sexually active so they would enjoy each other that was for sure. Yes, she would be worth it. He looked long and hard at her and then said. “There’s nothing more to say.”

  “John. Just make sure Susie and I are revived on the same day, and that I must be taken out of stasis before her. Remember I’m the only one who knows the extra code to get her out of stasis.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure of it,” he replied.

  “Two hours, then?”

  “If you wish,” he reluctantly agreed.

  With that, he kissed her on the cheek and left.

  While Tricia, lowered her head and cried.

  Chapter 28

  The Fourth planet

  John Traven and Tony helped Captain Peter Merance and Alex Chapmen out of their stasis chambers.

  “Where are the rest of my crew, John?” Merance asked while trying to take back control of his body.

  “We don’t haven’t enough inertia damper seats for everyone, Peter. So, we figured it best to let the rest of your crew stay in stasis, at least until we’re down.”

  “That makes sense, John.”

  Then, the medical droids arrived and let out of a series of squeaks.

  “The buggers are impatient, Peter. I’ll let them get on with checking you both, and we’ll catch up with you in a couple of hours.”

  Then Peter, having noticed Tricia standing nearby and dressed in a stasis robe and Mag shoes. Looked questioningly at John.

  “Alex is replacing Tricia… It’s complicated,” Traven said, seeing Peter’s look of concern.

  The Droids made an irritated noise.

  “Oops, we’d better let you go. Do you need us to help you both to the medical cabin?”

  “No, we’ve been through this before,” Peter replied. Then both of them turned and unsteadily followed the droids.

  “I’ll decommission the other chamber, Captain,” Tony said giving Traven a wink.

  Tricia came across.

  “I know the drill, John.

  She slipped off her robe, folded it and placed it in the stasis unit’s internal compartment. Stepped into the chamber and awkwardly removed her mag boots, one by one with Traven’s help.

  Then stood there, naked, in front of the vertical bed. While the bed, having sensed her presence, started to drop backwards. “Be here, for me, John,” she said while looking at him intently

  “I will be. Lay back, Tricia,” he urged.

  She did, and in moments, was flat on her back held down by two small suction discs. Tricia felt something prick her. Went to say something to Traven, but didn’t. She was already asleep.

  Then Tony Mears returned.

  “How is she?”

  “She’s well away,” Traven, told him. “Link her recovery time and date to an hour before Susie’s,” he added.

  “Will do.”

  “Make sure you do, it’s crucial.”

  Tony checked the chamber. Once satisfied, he tapped in his code and a link to Susie’s controller. The cover slowly closed, followed by a hissing sound. Then a green dot lit on the panel’s screen. The transparent cover then misted over as the stasis field became active, and a second green dot lit on the panel.

  “I’ve linked Susie’s opening sequence on the controller to follow Trisha’s, as you asked. But we can still override their recovery times if we need to.”

  “Thanks, Tony. We’d better get back to business.”

  Two hours later, after Captain Merance and Alex Chapmen had eaten, everyone gathered in the control room. Some held in their seats using the usual lightweight uni-tethers while others relied on their mag boots to keep them from floating around.

  “Right, just a briefing for the benefit of our newcomers,” Traven began.

  “I hope you both enjoyed my extras?” Jeff jokingly said.

  Alex grimaced at him. He apparently hadn’t enjoyed them.

  “What were they?” He asked

  “Tomatoes, Chickpeas and my pride and joy, Potatoes.”

  “Where was the protein?” Peter asked.

  “In the food, moron. Extra in the tablets of course.”

  “Oh,” Alex said, and couldn’t help grinning.

  “Seriously Jeff, it was appetising,” Peter said, sounding as if he meant it.

  Then Traven spoke, interrupting their banter.

  “Alright. This is the proposed programme. You can get yourselves fully up to speed after our briefing,” he advised them. Then pressed a tab on his console and an image of the proposed landing area on the planet came up on the main screen, which in the meantime had swung round automatically to allow most people to view it.

  “Right,” he began. “Our first probe is already en route to planet four and should start its fly through of our landing site in about twenty-seven hours. This will give us a recording, and a live 3D camera fly-through.

  Once the probe has finished transmitting its fly-through data, it will continue mapping, and carry out a detailed analysis of the atmosphere’s make-up.

  The probes final destination is this area here,” he said. Pointing to large a dark blue-green looking area.

  “We‘re ninety-nine percent sure this is water, and that its area looks big enough for us to call it a sea.

  Although the planet has a lot less water than Earth, it should produce enough cloud cover to generate rainfall.”

  “Yeah. Using the 75cm telescope, we were able to see what appeared to be some clouds. This was way back before we went back into stasis,” Peter rema
rked.

  Then Henry chipped in. “So, the first probe is programmed to reach the edge of this area. Then map both the landing and the surrounding area, as the Captain stated. Afterwards dropping into what we hope is water. It will then measure its constituents, and transmit the data back to us before its fuel cell dies. Unfortunately, when that happens, it’ll probably sink.”

  “So, in twenty-seven hours’ time, we’ll hopefully find out everything we need to know about the planet’s atmosphere and whether or not that’s really water,” Traven finished.

  “And what if the atmosphere’s unbreathable, Captain?” Alex asked.

  “I don’t think that will be the case. Our information shows that it has a breathable atmosphere. Although, not as dense as Earth’s.”

  “It also has vegetation,” Paul added. “So the planet must have a reasonable level of oxygen. Nevertheless, we will have to take the time to adjust ourselves to any differences. Anyway, we’ll have accurate measurements shortly.”

  “Alright. Exactly twenty-two hours, fifteen minutes and twenty-one seconds after probe one has flown through the landing area. The Acarea will be making her own landing. At the same point on the planet’s surface.”

  “Pretty exact timing,” Peter exclaimed.

  Traven ignored him.

  “In the meantime, the second probe will be sent to undertake another mapping exercise on the planet”, Henry said.

  “So, when it reaches the landing area. It will start mapping the area to the left of the site, from a height of six kilometres above the surface,” he added, paused, and then continued.

  “Probe two will also carry on mapping and uploaded to Acarea’s memory core until its fuel runs out. With all of its data being uploaded to Acarea’s memory-core before we land. We hope to be able to retrieve both probes at a later date,” Henry finished.”

  “That sounds good,” Peter, said thinking it through. “So, what you’re actually saying is that, in roughly forty-nine hours, we’ll be landing on the planet?”

  “Correct,” Tommy, confirmed.

  “Alex, can you work with Joe?”

  “No problem, Captain.”

  Traven then looked at Tony. “Has Tricia been placed in stasis?”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “What about me, John,” Peter asked. “I need to be useful?”

  “Work with us. Nick and Steven have been working with me on finalising our plans for after we’ve landed. The logistics and so on. Your experience will be invaluable.”

  “Ok. I would like that. It must be very exciting forming the blueprint for colonising the planet. Yes, please count me in,” he said, his face full of enthusiasm.

  “Excellent, some fresh ideas may be just what we need, it’s been a long ten years in the planning, and a daunting task, I have to admit.”

  “What about that blue thing you saw going across the Pleiades, John? It hasn’t popped up again, has it?”

  “Funny you should ask. Yes, recently. Only once. Just after we flipped back into landing mode.”

  “So, it’s still around then?”

  “Or perhaps, not,” Paul cautioned.

  The crew members, who were not involved with this part of the operation. Stood, with their eyes glued to the control room’s large main screen, watching the first probe’s progress.

  “Three minutes to fly-through, Captain,” Tommy announced as he concentrated on his own display.

  “Where’s the second probe?”

  “Thirteen minutes twenty-one seconds behind this one, Captain,” Henry replied. “It’ll start mapping from a height of six kilometres, pretty soon.”

  Then Henry saw the probe’s handshake signal appear on his screen. “Probe one’s data stream now enabled,” he said.

  “Probe one’s 3D camera coming on-line,” Tommy added, sounding enthusiastic.

  Then, as the 2D motion recording changed to 3D, the rapidly approaching landing site’s three-dimensional EHD images virtually came alive on the screen.

  “Wow, that’s breath-taking,” Peter, exclaimed.

  The 3D images sent back by the probe. Appeared, at first sight, to be almost too real and very much like the view from an aircraft’s cockpit when coming into land. Although the probe’s speed tended to blur their vision of what seemed to be a Desert area. It was still an unnerving experience. As the probe, having descended to about one hundred and fifteen metres above the ground. Then hurtled along the length of the proposed landing strip.

  Then, even though the scene was blurred, they could see that there were hardly any boulders on the rough looking surface, and any boulders there were, appeared to be tiny.

  This was a plus, as being small they would be less likely to cause damage to the Acarea’s reinforced bottom as it slid along the surface on its belly. In any event, the front Ski-plate should theoretically break up any rocks on the ground, thus protecting the Acarea’s large front airlock.

  As the probe flew down and along the strip, they saw two rock formations. These were to the right side of the strip, and close to the end of it.

  The rock formations were huge, and, as the probe got nearer to them, they saw that they were dangerously close to the proposed landing area itself. Critically, they were also much closer together than they had thought, restricting the width of the landing strip just before the point where the Acarea was expected to come to a halt.

  A look of concern crossed most of their faces as the probe started to go between the rock formations.

  Then everyone issued a sigh of relief, as it came safely out with what appeared to be just about enough room for the Acarea to go through if it didn’t manage to stop at the intended point.

  As the probe flew on, they could see that the ground fell away into a valley that seemed to have some sort of vegetation.

  “Atmospheric data’s coming in, Captain,” Henry reported, as he studied the data flow.

  “Just as we thought. At first glance, it seems similar to Earth’s atmosphere. But there’s less oxygen and nitrogen content.”

  “Okay. But is it breathable, Henry?”

  “It’s coming up as being eight percent lower. So we’ll have to take deeper breaths, and use less energy,” he said.

  “I assume we’ll soon get used to it…,” he added, then paused, as he studied the latest data.

  “H’m sixty-eight percent nitrogen and approximately seventeen percent oxygen. At this stage…. There’s less Helium’s as well.”

  “But, is it good, Henry?” Peter asked sounding impatient.

  “From the data readings, so far. Yes.”

  “Well, that’s one thing in our favour,” Steven remarked.

  “Three minutes more and the probe will hit that sea,” Henry told them, as his panel updated to show the probe’s possible impact time and place.

  “Let’s hope it holds together long enough to transmit its analyses to us,” Captain Traven voiced sounding concerned.

  The probe continued filming the planet’s surface as it headed steadily on towards the sea.

  Then, sixteen kilometres on from the rock formation, they saw a massive depression on the ground. On seeing this, Nick and Steven became animated. Realising that this could be a perfect location for the proposed underground site.

  Everyone continued watching intently and feeling almost as if they were sitting in the probe itself.

  Over the next two minutes, the probe continued recording the terrain. Until it reached the sea.

  Then, the engine cut out, and their screens went blank. Causing them all to flinch, as they imagined the probe hitting the water.

  Chapter 29

  Planet-fall

  The probe’s data started coming in on Henry’s console. He studied the scrolling information intently. Then sighed a sigh of relief.

  “Perfect. Look how clear that water must be…. Two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. But very few contaminants.”

  “Which probably means there’s hardly any life in it either, unfortun
ately,” Tony remarked.

  “That’s true,” Paul added. “Plus, Earth has around seventy percent water… However, from my earlier observation of this planet, I suspect it probably has just fifty to fifty-five percent.

  “Captain,” Henry called out, sounding excited. “The data stream’s coming in from the second probe. It has reached its flying height of six kilometres from the surface. So it should give us a precisely mapped area of about a thousand kilometres radius.”

  “Right. So, can we assume there’s nothing we can do for, say fifteen hours?” Captain Traven asked the three of them.

  “Looks that way, Captain,” Henry, said.

  “The data stream from probe one’s already saved. Probe 2 is on pre-programmed sweeps, with its data being recorded in real time, compressed, of course.

  So, let me think…yes, about ten terabytes of core memory will be enough.”

  “Paul?”

  “The tracking scope is on auto. But I’ll need to check it from time to time.”

  “Fine. What about you, Tommy?”

  “The same Captain. We’ve around eighteen hours before we have to start juggling the Jets to get the ship on the correct glide path,” he said.

  “And, we should be about right, time-wise, to run the rocket heater,” he added.

  “We’re not a hundred percent sure if they’ll work anyway, Captain,” Nick said. “But, the outside hull temperature is starting to pick up some heat from Pavonis, though probably not enough.”

  “What if they don’t work, Tommy?” Captain Traven asked.

  “Then we’re in dead trouble,” he replied. “Okay, so the atmospheric pressure is slightly less, but the entry heating effect will still be the same.”