Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1)

by Gregory Gates

  She smiled at him. “Sure.”

  “Standby for 57-second SPS burn in eight seconds… Mark,” said Gabe.

  “PROCEED,” said Jeff.

  “Got B Mode,” said Abby.

  “Burning,” said Jeff. “Newport, Ares, we’re burning.”

  “Thrust A,” said Gabe. “And… thrust B. Chamber pressure is good.”

  Abby nodded. “Rog.”

  “Ten seconds,” said Gabe.

  “And in 3, 2, 1…”

  “Shutdown. Ball valves closed.”

  “Rog,” said Jeff. “Newport, Ares, we have shutdown on the mark.”

  Ghita was crying.

  “Sue,” said Gabe, “pass her up to me. I’ll nurse her while we finish up here. Abby, residuals?”

  “Minus 0.1, minus 0.3, plus 0.3.”

  “Great, that’s close enough. Leave them.”

  “Rog.”

  Susan unclipped Ghita’s harness from hers and passed her up between the chairs to Gabe. “Here you go.”

  Gabe unzipped her flight suit, worked it off one shoulder and a breast beneath her shoulder harness and let Ghita latch on.

  Jeff smiled and pointed above the flight console. “You do know that that cockpit camera up there is recording all this? And that it’ll all appear on some screen at NASA sometime after we get back?”

  Gabe waved at the camera. “Just now I couldn’t care less.”

  He laughed. “Okay. I’ve also noticed you haven’t been wearing a bra for a while.”

  “One less thing to have to deal with.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “Can you put together the post-burn state and mail it to Newport?”

  “Sure.”

  “Abby, shall we?”

  “Yeah. Pitch one, Off.”

  “Off.”

  “Yaw one Off.”

  “Off.”

  Monday, August 6, 2018

  1204 UTC (T plus 867 days)

  They all sang. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ghita…”

  Gabe tickled Ghita’s belly and she giggled.

  “… happy birthday to you.”

  Abby shook her head. “Since she’s a Martian and has never been to Earth, is this really her birthday?”

  Jeff chuckled. “Let’s not complicate matters any more than necessary. Besides, at this point I doubt she knows or cares.”

  Gabe shook her head. “Even when she reaches her second birthday on Earth, she still will have not reached her first birthday on Mars.”

  “This poor kid will be screwed up as Hogan’s goat,” said Abby.

  Gabe glared at her. “Shut up.”

  Abby held her hands up in resignation. “Sorry.”

  Gabe hugged Ghita and kissed her cheek. “Sorry sweetie, no chocolate cake until we’re back in gravity. We’re almost home. Just nine and a half weeks.”

  Jeff sighed aloud. “Nine and a half weeks, after nearly two and a half years.”

  “I’ll tell you,” said Abby, “it’s sure nice to look in the telescope and see that it’s still there. Would’ve been very annoying if they’d blown themselves up while we were gone.”

  Jeff laughed. “That it would. Lost in space with no one to ever know or care.”

  “Just out of idle curiosity,” said Susan, “if for some reason we couldn’t land on Earth, could we make it back to Mars?”

  Gabe shook her head. “No. We could slingshot around Earth and head back out, but Mars wouldn’t be there when we reached its orbit. And we have nowhere near enough fuel remaining in the SPS to accommodate a major course correction. Besides, we’d have no means of landing. With the CM we can land on Earth, but not on Mars. Furthermore, we don’t have enough food.”

  “It’s a moot point,” said Jeff. “We got off Earth, landed on Mars, got off Mars, and we’re gonna land on Earth. Failure is not an option.” He put an arm around Ghita. “Along with the rest of us, our little girl is going to live a long and prosperous life on Earth. I won’t hear of it any other way.”

  Susan smiled and nodded. “Of course, just asking. Gabe, could we get into orbit?”

  “No. Not enough fuel for an orbital insertion burn. As with our Mars landing, we only have one shot at this. We come in too steep, we burn up in the atmosphere. We come in too shallow, and we bounce off the atmosphere and are lost in space. What’s the matter? Have you forgotten everything you leaned in the sim?”

  “That was over two and a half years ago and a lot has happened since then. My mind is just a little boggled.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Long before we get there we’ll go through a couple of full trial runs – from final trajectory corrections to Sundancer and SPS jettison to interface to splashdown – just to refresh everyone’s memories.”

  Throughout all this, Ghita was having little success in trying to get a tennis ball to stay put on the table. She’d try slapping it on the table and it would bounce up and drift off. She’d point at it and say, “ball.” Jeff would retrieve it and hand it back to her, and they’d repeat the process. Then she’d try just holding it in front of her and letting go. And there it would stay. Then she’d hit and it would go bouncing around the Sundancer until somebody could snag it.

  “I think she’s a little confused,” said Gabe.

  Jeff chuckled. “You think she’s confused now? Wait till we get to Earth.”

  Gabe picked her up. “Yeah, poor baby. This topsy-turvy world doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

  Ghita clutched at Gabe’s breast.

  “What’s the matter? You want some lunch?”

  “Es.”

  “Yes. There’s a ‘y’ in front of it.”

  “Es.”

  “Oh, close enough.”

  As Jeff watched Ghita nurse he said, “Lunch is not a bad idea. Anybody know what we’re having?”

  “Chili mac with ground beef,” said Susan. “I’ll get right on it.”

  Friday, September 7, 2018

  1949 UTC (T plus 899 days)

  Gabe poured herself a cup of coffee and took a seat at the table next to Jeff.

  “Finally get her bedded down?”

  “Uh huh. I’m getting worried about her. I think space is wearing on her.”

  “It’s wearing on all of us.”

  “Yeah, but she’s only a year old.”

  “What’s Sue say?”

  “She thinks she’s doing fine, all things considered. But it’s that ‘all things considered’ that worries me.”

  He clasped her hands. “I know. It worries all of us. Just five more weeks.”

  “It seems like an eternity. Jeff, please tell me we haven’t done something terribly wrong.”

  He shook his head. “We haven’t. We’ll all be fine, including Ghita. It’ll take a little longer, but she’ll get used to Earth.”

  “Assuming…” she sniffed. “Assuming some tragedy hasn’t already befallen her that we don’t know about yet.”

  “Come on, Gabe, don’t go there. We can only deal with what we know, not what we don’t know.”

  “I know.”

  “Oh, cheer up. How was your birthday?”

  She gave him a tiny smile. “It was fine. Much like every other birthday in space, which is pretty much like every other day in space.”

  He smiled and nodded. “It does get a little old after a while, doesn’t it.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Well, let’s try and stay on Earth from now on. Let somebody else do all the flying around the cosmos.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  An alarm rang on the comm console. Both their heads snapped in that direction.

  “Jeez,” said Jeff, “emergency voice. What now?”

  Heidi’s voice came over the radio throughout the ship. “Ares, this is Newport transmitting in the blind. A solar flare of moderate proportion has been detected and is bearing down on you. We don’t have specifics, but best guess is that it will bring approximately 60 millirads pe
r hour for a two-hour period, and arrive at your position in about 15 minutes. That’s six times your normal 24-hour dose. We recommend that you immediately turn stern – SPS – to the sun and take shelter in the airlocks.

  “I say again, Ares, this is Newport transmitting in the blind…”

  “Oh shit,” said Jeff. “Gabe, go grab Ghita and get in the forward airlock, right now!”

  “On my way.”

  He flew, literally, to the comm console and hit the PA button. “Sue! Abby! Get in here now!” Then he hit the comm button. “Newport, Ares, message received and understood, out.”

  Abby came flying into the commons. “We heard. Sue’s helping Gabe with Ghita.”

  “Alright, get us turned stern to that big ball of radiation out there, and don’t dilly dally.”

  “Rog. Bus Ties, Batt B. TVC Servo Power AC 1/Main A and Power 2 AC2/Main B. BMAG Mode, three, Att1/Rate2. Translation Controller, Armed. Rotation Controller, Armed. Jeff, I need a camera dead aft to see where to stop. I’m flying by the seat of my pants here.”

  “On it. Just a second.”

  Gabe, Ghita and Susan come into the commons.

  “You three into the forward airlock now, Abby and I will take care of this. Okay, Abby.” He reached across her and punched up a video display. “That’s 180, three balls, and full mag.”

  “That’ll do. We’re gonna be rockin’ and a rollin’ here for a couple minutes until I can get these thrusters to settle out.”

  “Understood, but we don’t have much time.” He punched up the PA again. “Gabe, Sue, there are two Mark IIIs in there, they’ll provide you with some additional shielding. The three of you share them the best you can.”

  “Copy,” said Susan.

  “Come on Abby, move it.”

  “I’m doing the best I can. Another two or three minutes.”

  “Okay. I’ll go get the hatch open. As soon as she’s stable shut her down and join me. Nothing left on but lights, ventilation, and coolant water. Treat it like a potential EMP event. We’ll pick up the pieces later.”

  “Rog.”

  He pulled into the truss and headed for the aft airlock at best speed. In the utility room he opened the inner and outer hatches, then proceeded to locate some suit undergarments and coolant garments.

  Susan’s voice came over the intercom. “Jeff, were backwards. You’ve got our suits and we have yours.”

  “Yeah, I just noticed that. Like I said, do the best you can.”

  Her sigh was audible. “Roger.”

  A minute later Abby pulled into the airlock, closing the hatches behind her. “Okay, we’re a rock in space.”

  “Rog. Can’t be helped. We’ll let Gabe and Newport sort it out when this has passed. We’ve already had a lifetime’s worth of radiation on this little trip, we don’t need that much more. Remind me to have lead shielding installed in the attic of Wrentham House when we get back.”

  “Now there’s a good idea.

  “Yeah. Um, bad news.”

  “What?”

  “We have their suits and they have ours.”

  “Oh, crap.”

  “See if you can squeeze into Sue’s.”

  “May have to hold my breath.”

  “We’ll be in here for two hours.”

  “That’s a long time to hold my breath.”

  “Yeah. You don’t have to get it all the way on. But anything will be better than nothing.”

  Jeff and Abby settled back into the airlock. “How do you feel,” said Jeff.

  “Like I’ve been shrink-wrapped. How about you?”

  “Gabe’s suit’s a bit smaller than mine, but not much. I’ll survive.”

  “This is the first major one of these we’ve had. It’s a wonder we didn’t have more.”

  “Well, we’re on the downside, in fact nearing the end, of Solar cycle 24, so we didn’t really expect many, and didn’t get them. An anomaly. In spite of Gabe’s mathematical abilities, sometimes space is unpredictable.”

  “Yeah, really. You think these airlocks will work as designed?”

  “They should, they were well tested on Earth. Moreover, they’re heavy and were damn expensive to launch, just like the hab airlock on Mars. They better work or I’m gonna be seriously pissed and demand a refund from somebody.”

  “If they’re stubborn, while I’m glowing in the dark I’ll go hug their kids.”

  He laughed. “That should do it.” He punched the intercom button. “How you guys doing over there?”

  Gabe’s voice came back. “We’re fine. We’ve sort of set up a tent of spacesuits. It’s weird and awkward, but I think it’ll serve the purpose. How about you?”

  “Abby’s turning purple from trying to hold her breath for two hours in Sue’s suit, but otherwise fine. How’s Ghita?”

  “She seems to be having fun playing with a Mark III.”

  “Well, make notes. We’ll tell her all about it in due time. Not your typical childhood.”

  “Yes. I believe this will qualify for some time to come as one of one.”

  “Yeah. Alright, everybody just sit tight and let’s wait it out.”

  “Heidi was sure right on top of it. I don’t think NASA could have got a call out to us any quicker.”

  “Probably not. But that’s why we put this procedure together. Seems to have worked as designed. Most everyone in the industry looked at us as hillbillies. But you know, we actually got a few things right.”

  “We got a lot of things right.”

  Jeff smiled. “We did, didn’t we.”

  Two hours later Jeff keyed the intercom. “Okay, everybody sit tight, I’m gonna go see how we’re doing.” He pointed a finger at Abby. “Stay.” Then he opened the hatches and proceeded back into the commons. “How does everyone’s dosimeters look? Mine’s only reading about plus three millirads over the past two hours.”

  “Same here,” said Gabe. “And Ghita’s is reading the same.”

  “Here too,” said Susan.

  “I’ll make it unanimous,” said Abby.

  “Well that’s a damn good sign because the interior dosimeter is reading plus 70 millirads.”

  “Jesus!” said Abby.

  “Yeah, that was a big one. Okay, background levels are now back to nominal. Okay, looks like it’s passed. Everybody come on out and let’s see if we can get this hunk of junk back online.”

  “You shouldn’t be calling it a hunk of junk,” said Gabe. “It may be sensitive.”

  “If it’s upset now, just wait until it finds out what we have planned for it during re-entry. Come on, get in here, we have work to do.”

  They all came in and began stripping off parts of Mark III suits, coolant garments and undergarments. In a short time they found they were all naked and floating in the midst of a cloud of spacesuit parts.

  “Um, this is different,” said Jeff. He pointed to the commons camera above the video screen. “Abby, are you sure that is off?”

  “Yeah… I think so. I shutdown in kind of a hurry.”

  “Great. Okay, nobody touch a transmit button until we find out what, if anything, is in the buffer. The last thing we need is for this to show up on ABC, CBS, NBC, and YouTube.”

  Abby chuckled. “Hmmm, kinky.”

  “Shut up. Everybody find some flight suits. Abby, Gabe, take the CSM, Sue and I will take the Sundancer. It’s been a long time, but everyone find some startup checklists and let’s do this by the numbers.”

  Two hours later Gabe and Abby joined Jeff and Sue in the commons.

  “Where’s Ghita?” said Jeff.

  Gabe pointed a thumb toward her room. “She fell asleep in the CM. I put her back to bed.”

  He smiled and nodded, then yawned and looked at his watch. “Nearly midnight. I wish somebody would put me to bed. How’d it go in there?”

  Abby nodded. “Fine. CSM is back online. Apparently no harm, no foul. Oh, and there’s nothing in the comm buffer. The camera was off.”

  “Well, that’s g
ood news.”

  “How’s the Sundancer?”

  “Fine. I was just typing out a status report to Newport letting them know we’re okay and giving them the dosimeter readings. Also, Sue and I swapped the Mk IIIs, so if this happens again we’ll have the right suits in the right places.”

  “Good thinkin’.”

  “We still need a better plan for Ghita,” said Gabe. “We should have stowed all that stuff in the backup return canister in aft storage in the CM, then put the canister in the forward airlock.”

  Jeff shrugged. “I don’t think she’d be very happy in that thing for two hours unless Sue knocked her out again.”

  “Yeah, but she’s only one year old and has already received an average adult lifetime’s exposure to radiation.”

  “I know, but I don’t know what to do about it. One of the downsides to being a Martian I suppose. I really doubt we’ll have another one of these events. Not this late in the solar cycle. This was a fluke. And in five weeks we’ll be home.”

  “I think Gabe has a good point,” said Susan. “Yes, I know it’s a long shot, but the sun is somewhat unpredictable. And I can stick a syringe in there that’ll knock Ghita out in a minute. And we’ve got O2 and coolant water in there. Just a precaution. And we can reconfigure when we get close to Earth.”

  “Okay with me. Knock yourselves out. In the meantime, I’m going to bed.”

  Tuesday, October 9, 2018

  1012 UTC (T plus 931 days)

  Gabe’s voice came over the intercom from the Sundancer. “Oh my god. Jeff, switch video to the telescope.”

  Jeff, staring at the moon out of the CMs windows with Abby switched video channels. “Okay. What am I looking at?”

  “That’s Grimaldi crater. Look at the difference in albedo between the floor and the surrounding terrain. We never saw anything like that on Mars.”

  “Yeah. Interesting stuff.”

  “Yes. Here, let me go to full mag. Can you see the rilles to the southeast?”

  “Uh huh. We did see those on Mars. Are you recording this?”

  “Yes. I’m streaming it to Newport. Chrissie says it’s being broadcast live on CNN. She also says that now that we’re in reasonable voice range everyone in the world is requesting a press conference.”