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

by Gerry A. Saunders

  The sounds continued as the vibrations gradually re-percussed throughout the length of the ship, then slowly eased as the ship finally settled.

  In the control room, some of the other overhead screens also had broken anchor brackets, and, suspended only by their connecting cables, had been jerking violently. Now they swung slowly to a halt.

  Dust and fumes slowly drifted through an enormous split in the ship’s hull, as the crew savoured the stillness.

  Then there was silence.

  Gradually, the crew members started to release themselves, and, though unsteady on their feet, were thankful to find that the planet’s gravity held them to the floor.

  For the first time in 60 years, their feet were back on firm ground. All be it, not on Earth.

  “Tony, check that everyone’s alright,” Captain Traven ordered, seeing Tony just standing.

  “No one seems to be injured Captain,” Tony Mears told him, after quickly checking on them.

  Traven was amazed to find that power was still available throughout the whole ship.

  It was clear that the safety system hadn’t had to shut the reactor down. This was a good omen, he hoped. Then ordered the men to start checking their equipment to see how much of it was still working.

  Once completed, they all gathered around him.

  “Ok, everyone. Now we need to check every single thing on the ship,” he ordered. Then looked around at everyone before continuing.

  “But, while you’re doing it, think this over. We must take a vote on the overall Captaincy as soon as we know our situation.”

  “You mean, who’s going to take charge?” Jeff asked.

  “Yes. I will naturally do whatever the majority decide.”

  “John, I think I’ll have a look around,” Captain Merance remarked.

  Having decided that he should make the effort to see what the crew really thought of Captain Traven.

  “Very well.”

  Knowing there was the possibility of a high level of radiation at the back end of the ship; they all donned their protective suits, and then went off to start checking the equipment.

  Just over an hour later and they were all back in the control room.

  “Ok. So, how smashed up are we? Or, is the situation better than we might have expected?” Traven asked.

  “Joe, you can go first,” he added.

  “Surprisingly good, Captain. As you can see, we still have power. Reactor Two is working within its safety parameters. Alex and I have checked Reactor One, and it shows no sign of damage.”

  “What about the Breeder?”

  “It looks okay. Although, it wouldn’t be wise to start that reactor up until we’ve set up our first industrial site.”

  “That makes sense, Joe. Good news so far then?”

  “Yes. We’ve both checked the ship for radioactive contamination...,” he paused and looked at Alex, who just nodded at him.

  “The bad news is that we’ve found a huge split in the rear part of the ship, right at the top of the hull…In fact, the ship is almost cut in two.”

  “So, we’re already breathing in the planet’s atmosphere, then,” Nick said, interrupting him.

  “Yes, I suppose we are,” he replied sounding annoyed at Nick cutting in.

  “However, more importantly, the rear of the ship is highly radioactive,” he added. “A radiation level of around a hundred and five Rem is coming through the split in the upper part of the hull,” he informed them, then paused.

  “We can also see the pusher plate through this, and it looks as if the plate’s resting on the split. We reckon the radioactive reading of the plate itself is dangerously high. Probably upwards of two hundred rem.”

  “Not good then,” Tony remarked.

  “Well, that’s an understatement,” Joe snapped back. “Both Alex and I reckon that the Rem level, in the two cabins closest to the split, averages around twenty-three rem.

  However, we think we may be able to minimise the effect on the stasis chambers. Even so, there is still a possibility of damage if we leave them there.

  The simple answer would be to move the stasis chambers out of those two cabins, and reconnect them somewhere up front,” he suggested.

  “That makes sense. What’s the Rem level for the next two cabins?”

  “They drop right down to around six rem.”

  “Are any of the people in stasis in immediate danger of genetic damage?” Captain Traven asked.

  “No, Captain. But we should move the ones most at risk within in the next forty-eight hours, if possible.”

  “Ok, Joe… Tony, as ships doctor, what are your views?”

  “I agree. We should move them ASAP. The rest of the stasis chambers should be OK where they are.

  However, I don’t think any of us should work longer than, say, two or three hours at a time, down the far end of the ship. Especially if we want to keep our chromosomes happy.

  In any case, the sooner we all leave this Radioactive area, the better.”

  “Point taken, Tony. Let’s move on then.” Traven agreed.

  “Jeff?”

  “The hydroponics section is in a bit of a mess I’m afraid. But, it looks worse than it is,” he replied. Then saw the worried faces around him. “Don’t worry; our stockpiles of tablets, food and water are safe.”

  “So we won’t starve to death,” Henry joked.

  “No,” Jeff assured him, smiling as he spoke.

  “OK… Henry?” Traven asked.

  “Well, some systems look as if they’re beyond repair at this stage. However, overall, we are good. The core memory’s gimbal mounts saved the memory core itself. So when we’re ready, we should be able to bring up the core data without too much trouble.”

  “Well, that is good news, Traven stated. “Now for more bad news, I suspect… Nick?”

  Nick smiled and then said. “Steven and I have checked the cargo hold.”

  Traven sighed with relief. He knew it wasn’t going to be so bad, after all.

  “And?”

  “Things are a bit of a mess as you’d expect. Especially, as we had to open the airlock coming into land. However, we won’t know the full extent of the damage until we start unloading equipment.”

  “What about the airlock itself?” Alex asked.

  “We managed to open it a fraction to test it manually. So now that we know it isn’t melded together. That was our initial worry. And, it doesn’t seem to be damaged.”

  “And we were able to close it again,” Steven added.

  “Well, that’s better than I thought,” Traven said, then looking around at all of them, realised that they were waiting for him to continue.

  “Paul, is there anything salvageable from the domes?”

  “Observation Domes one and two are both melted beyond recognition,” he reported, sounding miserable, and looking as if he’d just lost two friends.

  “But, domes three and four appear to have survived the worst of the heat. That means, I can eventually set up an Observatory on the planet,” he added, sounding pleased.

  “What about you, Tommy?”

  “Most of my gear can be salvaged and used elsewhere. So, for the moment, I guess I’m free to help anyone who needs me.”

  Captain Traven was relieved. Most things were better than he could have hoped for in this situation. Then he quickly wiped a tear from his eye. Not wanting to seem weak, to the crew.

  “Well done, all of you. It appears that we’ve been given a chance to live.”

  “Well done to you, Captain,” Peter said.

  “No, not me, Peter… You’ve been a privilege to work with, all of you” he said. Took a deep breath, and then continued. “We’d better get some food and rest. A couple of hours won’t kill anyone,” he added.

  “Oh, and before you go, have you all had a chance to discuss what I talked about, earlier?”

  Peter looked at the crew, who urged him to speak. “As it happens, we have, Captain,” Peter replied. “We
all agree that we need someone to direct us, coordinate us, if you like. And, to help us stay focused.”

  “Yes, yes. We all know what has to be done,” Traven said sounding a little impatient.

  “Of course, John. Nevertheless, we must coordinate efforts, or it might take a lot longer to build the cities. Or, whatever else we end up deciding we want to do.”

  “Fair enough, Peter. So, just who would you all like to be in charge, until we have separate enclaves?” Traven asked, needing to know, and now.

  “You Captain, of course. You!”

  “Hear-hear,” his crew all shouted, showing their support.

  Then Peter continued speaking. “Before we landed, we finalised a basic development plan and mapped out how we should proceed, between us. We also agree that you are the right man to implement it.

  You’re the right man, in the right place, and at the right time,” he finished, and they all clapped.

  Traven just looked at them, thinking, I hope they’ve made the right decision.

  Chapter 31

  The Plan

  2169

  The crew ate a makeshift meal then rested for a while. A couple of hour’s later, feeling refreshed, they donned their protective suits again, then set to work.

  Everyone was cautious, well aware of the high level of radiation in the damaged area of the ship.

  They had already seen that one of the stasis chambers, in the room closest to the impact point, was lodged directly under the split in the hull. So checked all of the other Chambers first. Then moved them to a safer place, away from any radiation.

  Meanwhile, Tony took a closer look at the damaged chamber. He could see that it was clearly beyond repair, and the chamber’s control panel indicated that the occupant, a Mark Jacobs, was dead.

  They carefully removed the body, and hastily carried it outside. Then, with Steven’s help buried it as deep in the desert-like soil as they possibly could. Mark Jacobs was the only casualty.

  Eleven more stasis chambers had also been deemed to be at risk because they were in the two cabins that were closest to the contaminated pusher plate. These were checked, and found to be okay, so were moved to the crew area and reconnected. They were crammed in, but safe.

  By now, they had changed from ‘Ship time’ to ‘Planet time’. This, being deemed sensible until the rotation time of this planet had been established.

  In the meantime, Henry had succeeded in extracting Probe two’s mapping information from the central memory core. His computer terminal having, luckily, still been functioning. Now, he could see a large-scale area map on his main screen. The display having also miraculously survived the landing.

  “Right, men. While you men have been working. Peter, Henry and I, have been able to utilise the latest data we have gathered on this location, to make some improvements to our Development Plan for the planet. You’ll be able to see it on Henry’s screen, shortly,” he told them.

  “OK, Henry,” he said, hurrying him up. “This will be up for discussion later,” he added as Henry superimposed four dots on the map.

  “How large is the area we’re looking at, Henry?” Peter asked.

  “About twenty thousand square kilometres in all. The four dots represent the points at which we want to locate the towns we hope to build.

  We will need to prioritise each item and then phase the build operations accordingly. After all, we don’t really know what we’re going to find when we actually move out of this ship and start living on the surface.”

  “We need to take it step by step,” Traven added

  “Naturally, the underground complex must take priority.”

  “Of course, that goes without saying,” Peter agreed.

  “Sorry, Henry. Please continue,” Traven urged,

  “Right. After the underground complex is complete. We’ll concentrate on establishing the towns.

  Then, we want to build an Industrial park for each city. With the parks close to, but just outside each town’s perimeter,” Henry told them. Pointing to each of the proposed facilities, on the screen, and the features they hoped to include, as he spoke. Then paused for a moment to decide what he needed to say next.

  “As you can see, we’ve allowed for lakes, and what we hope will be arable land, around each location. We are also proposing to set up a communications network. We don’t think that will be too difficult.”

  “Ok, as a long term plan it looks good,” Jeff agreed. “I suppose you’ve already named the towns?”

  Henry looked questioningly at Captain Traven, who laughed.

  “As a matter of fact, we have come up with some names.”

  “And they are?” Paul asked.

  “Very well, if you insist. If everyone agrees, they’re actually going to be designated as Cities, and will be named Atreen, Marca, Velcray and Vicrea,” Traven confirmed.”

  “Where on earth did you get those names from?” Nick asked.

  “Well,” Peter said. “Obviously not from Earth. I think we just made them up. They sounded right to us,” he replied. “I have to admit they are strange names, though,”

  “They don’t seem very Earth-like,” Steven remarked.

  “So what, we’re not on Earth,” Traven reminded him.

  “You’re right. Sorry. They’re fine with me.”

  “Ok,” Henry continued. We’ll have the two small HEBR reactors from the ship. This means that we can power the underground complex with one. And use the other for the first town, or city, or whatever you end up calling them.”

  “Henry? Don’t forget that we may be able to build more Nuclear reactors in the future. We’ve still got some compressed PU dioxide left over from the breeder reactor in the holder.

  And, if we include the settler techs, we’ll have enough Nuclear Engineering personnel to construct it,” Joe pointed out.

  “Always assuming we can find some uranium type materials on this planet,” Alex added.

  “True enough,” Henry agreed, then carried on.

  “After we’ve dug out the area for the underground complex, we hope to be able to start on the centrally placed township.”

  “OK. We will call this first one Marca. And, as it will be central, this can be the capital city,” Traven said. Having decided for them.

  “Sounds good,” Nick said.

  Henry then changed the image on the screen to show the plan of the proposed underground complex. Having already overlaid it onto the sized image of the depression in the ground.

  Both Nick and Steven studied it for a while, chatting quietly to each other. Then turned to Henry.

  “That’s pretty good. From what we can see, it looks relatively straightforward,” Nick congratulated him.

  “Well. Can we do it then, Captain?” Henry asked

  “Yes,” Traven cheerfully replied. Then turned to look at Nick.

  “Can you recharge the fuel cells for the earth movers?”

  “Yes, while we’ve still got power on the ship, that won’t be a problem. But we’d better make sure that we always have a fully charged spare with each machine.”

  Then Jeff spoke. “I know it seems a silly question. But, has anyone seen any wildlife, on our monitors?” he asked wondering why the subject hadn’t been raised before.

  “That’s an interesting question, I certainly haven’t noticed anything, except a few Lizard type creatures that we saw on probe one’s last pass,” Henry said.

  “Nor have I. And, if there were any birds, then I’m sure that both probes would have registered, them,” Tommy added.

  “And, our analyses of the sea water, shows that it’s so clean it probably only supports microbes,” Tony remarked.

  “Oh well, we’ll just have to remain Veggies, then,” Jeff joked.

  By now, Traven had had enough of listening to the men rambling on and interrupted them, saying. “We can get our scientists working on the problems as soon as they’re out of stasis. After all, we have DNA samples from a whole range of animals and
other species. So they should be able to use these to genetically reproduce the animals we need.”

  “That’s all well and good, Captain. But, let’s hope this planet’s soil has enough nutrients for our plants to grow,” Paul said, being fed up with having to take tablets all the time.

  “I can germinate the seeds,” Jeff replied. “But whether the seeds will take here, is unknown. There again, water may be our biggest problem. However, that’s not an issue while we have power on the ship to run the recycling plants.

  Then, once the hydroponics section has been set up on the planet’s surface. We should be able to get enough water from the lakes to run it, and most of that water will be recycled anyway…Yeah, that should do it,” Jeff said, then stopped. He stood, deep in thought for a moment.

  “That’s assuming they aren’t salt lakes, of course.”

  “And, if they are?” Henry asked.

  “Well, we’ve got a small desalination plant. It’s in kit form now, and wouldn’t take long to build. But we’d have to divert some of the workers from one of the other projects.”

  “But we don’t even know if we need to, yet,” Paul added, sounding a bit exasperated.

  “Well, we will, soon. Then, in the short term we can sink boreholes, and hope we can get water that way,” Steven added.

  “OK, men. Calm down. As I said before. We can get our scientists working on the problems as soon as they are out of stasis. In the meantime, we can sort some of these issues out as we go,” Traven said.

  “Jeff, are you still happy that you can keep us supplied with food and water?”

  “Yes, as long as I have power.”

  “Good. That’s all I need to know right now,” he finished.

  “OK. It‘s getting dark out there. So, we’ll start work first thing in the morning. We’ll get the Solar panels out, and connect them to the ship’s grid. Then start unloading what we can,” he ordered.