inspection panel, trying to find what he suspected was a dislocated fuel line to one of the maneuvering jets as Mathew Rain; the senior navigation officer crouched down beside him.
Almost casually the man turned around; his back to the adjoining panel and his legs stretched out in front of him, in a relaxed fashion. Andrew made no obvious acknowledgement, but could see Matt was smiling at those people closest to them.
“Commander?" he said softly
“Navigator?" Andrew replied in an equally formal address.
“We have a problem?"
“I thought we had quite a few?"
“Believe me, we only have one real problem."
Andrew twisted his head and looked up. Mathew was looking away and appeared to any observer to be in idle conversation. “I think you had better clarify that?”
“When Nemesis passed the Earthrise was pulled into a slightly higher orbit and our velocity changed."
Neither was something Andrew wanted to hear. “That’s been confirmed?”
“No; I haven’t spoken to Houston, they likely already know, but I wanted to run it by you first.”
Andrew was even more concerned. Mathew was not the type of man to need approval when it wasn’t required. “Then we need to talk to Houston.”
Mathew nodded. “I’ve checked enough times to be certain enough for myself that our orbit has changed, and I thought you would like to consider the implications before it's question time over an open radio conference."
“Can the course be corrected?”
“If we had the time."
“And we don’t?”
“No."
Andrew pushed himself out of the paneling, and rose up onto his knees. He wiped the protective gel from his hands. “Then I assume what your telling me is something we don’t want to share with our guests?"
“I don’t think that would be wise, at least not until we can give them some reassurances."
“These changes. They will affect us in what way?
Mathew looked at Andrew, his wrist twisting in a turning motion as if he spun an invisible object. He raised his other hand and extended two spread fingers. Slowly he closed them together like a pair of scissor blades.
“You can’t be serious?” said Andrew in disbelief.
Matt gave him a weak smile in reply
Andrew nodded in the direction of his cabin.
Andrew shut the door and turned to Matt. “Okay what’s happening?"
“I can’t give you precise details or predictions. I have barely enough data to propose any reliable forecast, but I do know that minute by minute we and the Earth are parting company."
Andrew knew there was no scientific basis for the comment but he spoke. “I saw the surface less than an hour ago, and it looked quite normal.”
“By tomorrow the disparity will become obvious.”
“There was no mention of this possibility in the briefing?"
“In the rush and panic everybody was obsessed with the station actually breaking up. Falling back to Earth was the danger we all feared. I doubt if anyone gave more than a theoretical thought about us being pulled upwards; out of orbit was an unlikely possibility."
“Surely someone would have said something?"
“I’ve found something from a cosmologist on the Siding Springs website. Apparently he theorized that it wasn’t a true asteroid but a brown dwarf, the very heart of a collapsed sun, an object of pure iron. He went on to suppose if it were, it would have a strong magnetic force. At the time he was considered a crank."
“So where did the Chrondite come from?”
“Apophis is Carbonaceous Chrondite; the thing is we shouldn’t assume Nemesis is the same.”
Andrews mind raced to comprehend what Matt was saying. “So what you are saying is that we are spinning off into space?"
“I don’t know what I’m saying, but that is certainly a possible implication."
“And we can't correct the deviation?”
“We have to understand the problem before we can come up with a solution.”
“We can’t wait, we have to prepare for an evacuation.”
“That’s why I though you should have time to consider, rather than ramp this straight up to an official report. The Earth is in turmoil, they have few resources to spare and probably less political resolve to put them to the immediate rescue of a few people up here in space?”
Andrew nodded slowly. “Neither could we expect them to."
“If it’s any consolation Commander, with more data it may not be as bad as it seems."
“No: well then you had better tell me what I have missed?"
“I’ve had time to think past the immediate and from what I have been able to work out it’s likely that our proposed trajectory will be similar to Earths, but tighter.”
“Clarify similar?"
“We are likely to stay fairly close to the same plane, and we still have a significant velocity in space. It may be that with a few engine burns, we could come back closer to the orbit of Earth in several months' time."
Andrew gasped. “Several months?”
“Give or take.”
“Is that feasible proposition?"
“I believe so."
“So we could let the Earth go, and play a chasing game until our relative paths intersect?"
“Basically, and by that time things on the surface may have settled down sufficiently: and we will be close enough for a rescue mission to be mounted. Problem being is that time has yet to be determined?”
“I think we need to move out of the realm of what could happen to what will, and quickly before I tell everyone what awaits us."
“I’ll have a better idea by the end of the next stand down…” Matt hesitated. “There is one other thing?"
Andrew looked at him hesitantly.
“The new orbit.... There is a slight possibility that it will develop into a parabola rather than an elliptic."
“And the consequence…?" said Andrews staring into the nervous man’s eyes.
“We will be propelled out into the cosmos."
Andrew had suspected it, but it was still a surprise. “Propelled out? You’re saying that we could end up orbiting the sun off orbit with Earth?"
“That’s one option; the other is that if our trajectory or our velocity has changed significantly enough, we could be drawn inwards, towards the Sun and then slingshot out into deep space?” Mathew gave a weak smile. “That’s the good option; there’s a small chance we could plunge into the sun?”
Andrew held Mathews gaze as his mind tried to think. “Begin the discussion with Huston; but until we know what’s happening keep any of our possible future’s out of the discussion. Everybody is already on edge and we need to maintain as much calm as possible, especially within the crew: ignoring their personal situation they already have enough fear and doubt over families back on the surface.”
Mathew nodded. “By tomorrow some will see the Earth and begin to suspect?”
“This is not something we can or should keep secret for long, so you had better get something confirmed pretty damned quick."
More Stories and Novels by John Stevenson can be found at…
www.australianstoryteller.com
www.australianstorywriter.com
www.caelin-day.com.
Into the Unknown Page 4