Into the Unknown

by John Stevenson

uncomprehendingly big in terms of the human consciousness, but so very small in the scheme of possibilities; such as the one they now faced.

  Andrew mused on his own past good fortune, would it desert him now? It had served him well, but what was it, luck, or fate? Situations are often given some sort of supernatural inference, but to two bodies like the planet Earth and the quickly renamed twin; Nemesis, it was no more than a conjunction that just happened to result with Earthrise positioned both too close and too far.

  He remembered how barely two weeks ago he had described to friends back on the surface that Earthrise's trajectory would have it circle the Earth up behind and below Apophis: where the view would be breathtaking, until it would follow the curve of their orbit down and away from the asteroids undeviating path. That had changed when they were forced to go to a higher orbit and now the jokes about how the worst possible scenario would place the Earthrise in the same orbit with Apophis’s passing, had come to reality. Back then he had casually dismissed the possibility; of course they hadn’t known about Nemesis: nobody had. It seemed a criminal oversight now; but with all eyes on the one celestial rock, the other had slipped observation; and nobody even imagined Apophis had a companion.

  It was an unheard of combination, two asteroids of completely different composition. Nemesis was one of the dark objects, and reflected virtually no sunlight; or any trace that could be detected: well none that had been up to now. Maybe criminal oversight was a little dramatic; Apophis had appeared on all the photographic plates as single point, albeit with a regular swelling and decrease.

  This was assumed at the time to indicate a slow rotation. With shock, horror, and far too late at last somebody had realized, and now a lump of Carbonaceous Chrondite: far bigger, and with much more destructive power than ever anticipated would sweep by.

  Several minutes ago, as they left the comforting shadow of the planet they had their final burn. That was another irony; without those corrections they would have been facing toward the safe side of the planet when Apophis arrived, but now it seemed the toss of the coin turned up heads both times, and now the turning Earth was as good as flinging them into the path of the encroaching twin.

  With the gravitation effects of the Earth, Moon and the Sun all being calculable, they could, and had made a series of maneuvers to reduce the possibility of collision, but the effects of two: or multiple others, tugging or repulsing were beyond calculation. There was a chance that even with the alterations to their orbit, they would be placed in the far too close to Nemesis.

  The whole idea was something that had only recently been suggested, and with the imminent arrival, time had been too short to fully understand what was going to happen, though Houston had assured them that the original design of Earthrise had been deliberately conservative. It was one of the few encouraging things they had been told

  But the array hung in space under precisely measurable external stress, and the asteroid was about to radically change that balance. Some had suggested there would be no effect; others proposed that it was possible Earthrise could break up, and plunge back to the planet’s surface in flames. Andrew had put such thoughts to the back of his mind; he had to, but as he and the others were all now well aware the asteroid was about to exert the full force of its passing.

  They all knew that there was little else those on the surface could have done; at least given the time they had to work with. Andrew shook his head in disbelief. It seemed incredible now that the time could be gauged in hours, since the danger posed to the planet had first realized.

  It had been impossible to keep the news secret and immediately the details became common knowledge there had been widespread panic.

  Doomsday cults erupted as hitherto unheard of religious sects took the arrival to be Armageddon; and with good reason for in those first few days no two scientists or astronomers could agree on the implications. Now they knew that neither the doomsayers, nor the skeptics would be proved right. Nemesis would slice the orbit of Earth incredibly close. It would be a miss, but so close that the one thing that everybody did agree on, was that it would have catastrophic consequences for the planet. It would be a cosmic pool game, with the Earthrise as the eight ball. So even if they had felt abandoned these last hours, it was understandable as the inhabitants of the planet prepared for their own coming disasters.

  News outlets had warned: often without justification, that the billions on the planet’s surface would suffer massive tectonic movements. Long dead volcanoes would erupt into life; earthquakes; erratic and disrupted weather patterns would reach into the most remote corners of their World. There were even suggestions that Nemesis would tear off part of the atmosphere. It was hard to voice, but even the optimists were saying that loss of life on Earth would even in the best case be of cataclysmic proportions. So the forty plus lives on the tiny space station could not expect resources spent on them that would soon be desperately needed elsewhere.

  But they hadn't been forgotten and there had been an incredible effort acted out on the surface that had seen a rocket rushed to launch with extra supplies. In one of the heroic acts that often take place unrecognized in desperate times the shuttle St Louis had blasted off with a volunteer crew during the very last available window to provide rescue and extra motive power for the array. There would be no early return for shuttle commander Josh Brown, or Alisha Solobreck: they had come for the duration; whatever that may be.

  Andrew felt a slight surge of admiration for the man and woman. They had left a known disaster down on the planet for a future that could be even worse. Suddenly his body tensed and his mind came back to the present. He was certain he felt something. He pictured the blackness outside with the massive piece of rock hurtling towards them. The faint vibration through his fingertips was more than his imagination, and the mental warnings suddenly became much more urgent. Could he feel what may be the beginnings of the stations destruction? There was an almost imperceptible shudder under his fingers now.

  His imagination pictured the fragile collection of cylinders and pods straining and tearing one from the other as to his dismay the vibration became more intense.

  He was not the only one to feel it, and looking around he could see nervous glances from all around the pod. He smiled with a reassurance he did not feel, until suddenly there was a loud crash to his left. All heads and eyes quickly turned in fear toward the sound, to see a small communicator laying broken open on the floor.

  There was a murmur of part relief as several people tried to cover a now audible rumbling noise with their voices. But the conversation was stilted and sporadic as those standing unsupported reached for something to hold onto.

  A male voice broke into the growing anxiety “It’s here?" Peter Hill called from the communications console, his superfluous words sounding almost comical.

  There was no reply or acknowledgement.

  Andrew was finding it difficult to stand now and he saw that several of the others had dropped down to sit on the floor; probably before they fell over.

  They could hear discernable noises outside the refuge; the crashing and grinding of metal mixed in with other sounds they could not identify.

  Nobody spoke though several were sobbing, and more than a few had begun to pray.

  The noise seemed to be all around the refuge as if the entire array was indeed braking up. There was a slow shriek of tearing metal that seemed to come from centimeters outside the capsules skin. Its slow grinding assault on their ears and nerves leaving such a shocked impression, that it was a minute or more before Andrew realized the sounds were lessening.

  At the very moment their breath returned there were several rapid thumps, and without warning a shower of sparks erupted from the console in front of Clive. The man threw himself backward as the tiny specks of vaporizing metals peppered his hands and face. Immediately Tricia with series of movements rerouted the surge in power while Clive shook the burning specks from his flesh. “Dammit... that st
ung,” he complained as several crewmembers raced: unsteadily, to seal a tiny hull breach from what was likely a micrometeorite. Almost as soon as it had begun the tortuous creaking sounds eased.

  It had seemed like an hour, but it was barely three minutes. The vibration was gone, and everything became silent. Nothing was said for several moments longer until Peter spoke once more. “Distance increasing.” He paused. “Its passed.” his voice bore a palpable tone of relieve.

  A sudden loud crackling noise broke into his thoughts causing Andrew to visibly jump in surprise. “Earthrise orbiter: Earthrise orbiter. Houston calling?" The voice was distorted and broken but still understandable.

  Peter almost snatched up the microphone. “This is the Earthrise orbiter. Go ahead Houston."

  “Glad to hear your still there," said the voice from the planet. “Can you confirm your status?"

  He replied without consulting Andrew. “Earthrise confirms we are forty-six. Situation in the refuge has been maintained. We have a considerable number of warnings on the array?"

  “Confirm that Earthrise. We have indications of structural damage. We have major concerns at what may be a rupture between area thirty-eight and the passage to area twenty-seven. You should make this the highest priority."

  “We see that here Houston....”

  Even as Peter was talking there had begun a low murmur of relieved conversation in the background; he glanced knowingly at Andrew for the nodded confirmation. “… We are preparing a reconnoiter team to move back into the station."

  Andrew wanted to get to work on the repairs immediately, but there was an almost touchable feeling of relief in the room, so he said nothing as the group spontaneously celebrated their deliverance.

  On the fringes of the hugs and backslapping he approached several of the stations technicians and together they opened up the pressure suit locker.

  Over the following hours the crew moved from one area to another, opening some and placing restrictions on others. There were several small spark fires that were quickly extinguished, and one more serious, that was hard to access and which had to be voided of air to starve the flames.

  Of the myriad bits of structural damage there were three distinct places where air was escaping out into space, and as air was a valued commodity aboard the array, these were quickly sealed to prevent further loss.

  Outside, the fragile communication dishes and photoelectric sails bore the worst damage, some almost completely torn off. It was possible some would drift away before the station was secure enough to allow anyone outside. At best there were days of essential repairs, and likely weeks before the station was back to anything like it had been barely an hour before.

  Still, they were all alive, and the chances were, that they would remain that way.

  As news came up from the surface they soon came to see themselves as the fortunate ones, as ever more desperate report was followed another. Across the oceans tsunamis were rolling over low-lying land inundating once prosperous, but now empty cities, while earthquakes flattened others. Great areas of the ocean were bubbling as whole chains of once dormant volcanoes became active again. They listened dumfounded as each appalling tragedy was barely announced before another dwarfed it. Nothing would ever be the same for any of the eight billion and forty-six that had lived through Nemesis’s passing.

  By the following station day, ninety percent of the array was cleared for access, though many of its previous capabilities were still unusable.

  Andrew was laying on his back, head and shoulders inside an