by Bob Lee
“Good. The cushion is inflated and attached. I’ve checked the outside display, and the pod is at eighty-six percent full, which will give us more than enough fuel for our landing. Now attach yourselves to the pod with your suit clips,” the military man was saying. “Give one tug each on your tethers on the count of three to get it moving towards the ship. Only one tug, or it will move too fast and crash into the ship. One, two, three!”
The two Koreans each pulled on their tethers and the pod started to slowly approach the ship. Sergeant Wong was kneeling on the back of the pod. Julong had a brief memory flashback of Slim Pickens riding the bomb in Dr. Strangelove, and then wondered how the NCO had managed all of this by himself on the trip from the Earth to the Moon. But then the radio with the sergeant’s voice brought him back to reality. “Quick, unclip yourselves from the pod,” the man was directing. “You do not want to get crushed when we reach the ship. If you puncture your suit, you will be in big trouble. We do not have patch kits out here, and unlike the Americans, your suit will not automatically close off.”
The whole ensemble slowly drifted out of Julong’s sight to the rear where the fuel tanks were located. “This is good,” the scientist thought. “With this last pod, we will have enough fuel to not only land, but also to launch a ship back to the Moon if we collect any Martian specimens.”
# # #
Someone at JPL had a sense of humor when he had programmed the emergency voice override for the Pegasus in case an astronaut ever found him or herself outside the ship with no way in. It was simple for everyone to remember, as it was the command given to Robbie the Robot in the old movie, Forbidden Planet.
“Pegasus, emergency cancellation Archimedes! Override, my voice only!” Sam yelled. “Bring up ship status! Initiate return to Cycler!”
The inside of Sam’s helmet displayed the command console and the current state of the ship. ‘Previous action terminated’ was displayed at the top, and underneath it the words ‘Invalid current action.’
“Fuel status,” Sam said urgently. The gauges popped up on her visor and indicated zero fuel for the main thrusters. “That’s it, we’re screwed,” she said to Roy. “We used up almost all the fuel in the Pegasus when we had to perform that extra maneuvering with an engine out to reach the AB Cycler. The last of it was used when the Pegasus tried to initiate Mars approach just now. I can’t order it to return as there’s nothing left.”
Brother Jacobs, who was still on the same radio frequency said, “How were you going to land us on Mars if there was no fuel?”
“Our last task as we swung around Mars for the second pass was to refuel the Pegasus, just like we fueled the supply rockets,” Roy stated. Then, a statement that Brother Jacobs had said earlier finally registered. “Wait, you said that there’s a fire in the cycler modules? Is that why you left?”
“No, dear Commander, that is not why we left. We saw the video of your fellow astronauts on Mars fighting with the emissaries of the Great Consciousness. We heard how you are making weapons to destroy our sole purpose for this trip. And we learned that the Chinese are attempting to be the first to greet Him, and this we cannot allow. We could not wait; we must arrive before this one chance is destroyed. Goodbye, Commander. You had best go put out the fire if you are to make it back to Earth.”
“Without fuel, you’re just going to become a flaming meteor,” Sam said. “The deorbit burn has to occur to slow you down enough for the Pegasus to survive passage through the Martian atmosphere.”
“The Great Consciousness will cradle us and deliver us to Him,” said Brother Jacobs. “I have no worries.”
“Great, he has no worries. I’d let him fry if it wasn’t for the children who will go down with him,” Sam said in disgust. “I wish our emergency backpack jets were powerful enough to catch them! But even if we did, I don’t know what we could possibly do to save them.”
“I have an idea,” Roy said. “Here, carry the blowtorch and the tethers and follow me. We have to get back inside.”
The two astronauts quickly worked their way across the webbing and back to the airlock. Roy punched the airlock open button and they pulled themselves in. As soon as Sam had hauled the torch and tethers inside, Roy initiated the repressurization sequence. “Keep your helmet on,” he said to Sam. “There’s no telling how bad it is inside.”
Sam was surprised when the door opened and everything looked normal, but then realized that the hatch at the top of the ladder leading to the main module was closed. It was keeping out any flames or smoke. She saw Roy rush up the ladder, and tentatively push the hatch up a few inches. Dark black smoke came cascading down, but no flames.
“I’m going to take a peek,” Roy said. “Stay clear of the ladder in case I need to drop down quickly.”
Roy lifted the hatch further and stuck his head into the main central module. He could see flames all along one wall and the ceiling, but it had yet to spread to the floor or the other wall. His suit protected him from the intense heat. “Leave all that stuff,” he yelled to Sam, “and come up here. It looks like we might be able to put out the fires if we both get to the extinguishers. Hurry!”
Sam worked her way up the ladder as quickly as she could as Roy disappeared through the hatch. When the pilot entered the main chamber, she saw that Roy had taken out the extinguisher from the nearest emergency box. “Here,” Roy said. “Take this one. I’ll use the other extinguisher located here. When these run out, we’ll get the ones in the emergency box at the other end of the room.”
The duo blasted the base of the flames, and then the walls. Luckily, they managed to extinguish the conflagration in the main chamber with only the two fire extinguishers, although black soot continued to swirl everywhere. “I’m out, and it looks like the fire’s also raging in module three,” Sam said. “Let’s get to the other fire extinguishers and see if we can take care of it.” She rushed over and opened the red door near the tunnel leading to the residence chambers in order to reach the other fire retardants. The flames were licking out through the tunnel opening next to her. “Roy, you spray the tunnel, and I’ll go through. Hopefully I can make it and douse the flames from the other side to allow you to get in also.”
“Be careful,” Roy said. “These suits are fire retardant, but not flame proof.”
“Just be ready to grab my feet and pull if I start yelling,” Sam said as she dove head first into the tunnel. Roy sprayed the extinguisher at his partner from behind, and soon heard Sam say, “Come on through. The corridor is clear except for the cabin on the end.”
When Roy emerged into the tunnel, he saw his partner kicking in the door at the end of the hallway, followed by her rushing into the room. The whole cabin was aflame, but between the two of them they managed to stop the fire.
“What a mess,” Sam said. “It looks like our friend Brother Jacobs didn’t like his accommodations. The maid’s going to be mighty mad at him when she sees this place when it gets back to Earth.” Then looking at all the smoke and waving her hand she stated, “It will take a week for the air scrubbers to clear out all of this stuff.” She looked over at Roy. “And you look like Wiley E. Coyote after a failed attempt. Your suit’s all black.”
Roy looked down at his arms and body. He was covered in soot. “Very funny, Sam. We need to get going.”
“Going? You mean to the Pegasus? How?”
“I was planning on using the extinguishers for an extra boost to catch it, but we used too much fighting this large fire. The majority of the propellant is gone. But there’s another way. Follow me.”
CHAPTER 33
Roy and Sam stood at the closed door leading to the hangar. Roy had pulled the tab on his suit to deploy the small arm with the joystick that controlled his emergency backpack jets. A tether trailed behind him, with the blowtorch attached at the other end.
“Are you sure about this, Roy?” Sam asked.
“It’s the only way to get up enough speed,” Roy stated. “I’ve opened the hangar door
to evacuate the chamber. When we open this door leading to it, the violent decompression will blow us all the way across the hangar and out the other end. The Pegasus went straight out that way, so we should be going in the right general direction. We’ll fine tune our trajectory and slow down using our emergency backpack jets.”
“What’s with the blowtorch?” Sam said, pointing to the canister lying behind them in the corridor.
“We may need a weapon with which to threaten Brother Jacobs when we get there,” Roy said. “He didn’t sound like he would appreciate any visitors.”
“Just let me have the first crack at him. I would love to punch his smug face.”
“Let’s worry about that later. You left all of the doors and hatches open inside the modules, right?”
“Yup. I double checked.”
“Good. That will let the entire cycler empty of air so that no lingering sparks reignite after we leave. Now, clip onto me chest to chest.”
“I really don’t like this. What if we smash into the wall at the far end of the hangar?” Sam asked as she clipped onto Roy.
“It’s a big exit door. Don’t worry. Here goes.”
“Wait, you don’t want a kiss for good luck?” Sam said, looking closely at Roy since they were now face to face with their helmets touching.
“Oh shut up,” Roy said as he punched the emergency open button.
It felt like a giant hand had swatted Roy from behind. The two astronauts went flying head over heels across the hangar and out the other side, with the blowtorch on the tether dragging straight out behind them.
Sam watched over Roy’s shoulder as the stars wheeled around. “Whoa, what a rush,” she said.
“Stabilizing us now,” Roy said as he tugged on the joystick, causing his backpack to emit tiny puffs of nitrogen gas. In a few moments, the stars slowly stopped spinning around them. Sam looked to her right and could see the AB Cycler dwindling in the distance. The tether was pointing directly at it with the blowtorch still attached. She turned her helmet to the left, looking for the Pegasus. All she could see were stars and the large globe of Mars hanging there.
“Uh oh,” Sam said. “Where’s the Pegasus?”
CHAPTER 34
“It’s probably too far away by now for us to see it,” Roy said. “You know, I never thought I would have to rely on this again,” he said as he unzipped a side pocket and pulled out his night vision monocle. “I figured we might need this when I came up with my plan. The Pegasus main rockets ignited for a few seconds, so there should be some residual heat that this can pick up. I’ll be able to spot the ship, just like I spotted that landing strip back in Thailand after my fighter jet’s systems went dark.”
Roy turned his head to the right, and held the night vision device up to his helmet. He could only see a small amount of the sky at any one time since the device was against his visor and a few inches away from his face. He methodically moved the monocle around, following a specific pattern to quarter the search area. Many years as a fighter pilot had taught the commander how to spot enemy planes by focusing in a small area closely and then moving on to the next.
“Roy, you better find it quickly. It seems to me that Mars is getting bigger.”
“There it is!” Roy shouted. “It’s just to the right of the dark rim of the planet. It looks like we only have to adjust our trajectory by a few degrees.”
The Commander jiggled his joystick to turn the two astronauts slightly. Once he had them properly positioned, he turned his backpack jets on full. He turned them off when his visor display indicated that approximately half of his fuel had been depleted.
“We need to conserve our jets,” he told Sam. “I’m going to use mine for trajectory corrections, and I’ll have you deploy yours to slow us down as we approach.”
The two astronauts floated along, closing the distance to the ship with the tether and blowtorch stretched out behind them. Sam wondered if there was anything that they could do in the interim. “Roy, do you think our radios will reach the Mars base? It might be worth a try.”
“Good thinking, Sam. Let me switch frequencies to the base and give it a shot.” The Commander changed the channel on his suit radio, took a deep breath, and then started. “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! This is Pegasus Commander Roy Olstein calling the Star-Kissed Mars base. Repeat. Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! Commander Olstein calling Mars base. We have a big problem here. Do you copy?”
Static was the only response. The Commander repeated the message. “Nothing, Sam. I don’t think we can get any help from them just now.”
# # #
Chinese scientist Li Julong sat waiting for the sergeant and Koreans to finish their spacewalk to switch the fuel pod when he heard a faint beeping coming from somewhere. He turned his head around, trying to pinpoint the sound. “This is strange,” he thought. “There shouldn’t be anything beeping in here.”
He pushed himself off the seat and floated into the middle of the capsule. It appeared that the sound was coming from behind a storage locker. He pushed himself over to it and opened the small door. Inside was what looked like a tiny radio, and a light was blinking in time to the beeping. Julong turned the volume knob on the device, and a voice immediately emerged from a small grill.
“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! Commander Olstein calling Mars base. We have a big problem here. Do you copy?”
The scientist stared at the radio. “How am I receiving what is obviously an American calling Mars,” he thought. “We don’t have their frequencies.” He floated there in puzzlement, waiting to see if anyone responded to the voice. He was greeted with silence.
Julong had received his doctorate in the States, and so could speak and understand English quite well. He decided to respond to the voice and pushed the transmit button.
“This is Chief Scientist Li Julong of the Chinese Mars mission. Are you in need of assistance?”
“Chinese Mars mission?” the voice said in obvious surprise. “Are you on the planet?”
“Actually, we are in orbit and about to land. What is your situation?”
“Our ship, the Pegasus, is adrift and out of fuel with twenty-five souls aboard including women and children. The ship is on automatic and I and the pilot are trying to reach it. We could use some help before the Pegasus enters Mars’ atmosphere.”
“You said you are out of fuel and there are twenty-five people aboard?” Li Julong replied in horror. He knew what the result would be. Either the ship would skip off of the atmosphere, continuing on into deep space until all either starved or asphyxiated, or it would hurtle to a fiery demise into the planet below. He could not let so many die needlessly when he could possibly help. He pushed the transmit button again. “We have fuel. Actually we have more than enough fuel. If you could transmit your coordinates, we should be able to rendezvous…”
Julong felt a tremendous crash against the side of his head and went spinning through the cabin. He rebounded off a wall and floated, slowly turning. As his vision cleared, he could see NCO Wong standing there glaring at him with his arms akimbo.
“Grab him,” the Sergeant directed the Koreans, “and tie the traitor up to a landing couch.”
“What do you mean traitor?” the scientist said dazedly as he felt his arms and legs being grabbed by many hands.
“You know we were told not to help the Americans,” Wong Sheng said. “If they are in trouble, then so much the better.”
“I’m not ‘helping’ them; I’m saving human lives,” the chief scientist retorted. “And how did you get the Americans’ frequency?”
“We have many inroads into their secrets,” the military man stated. “If not for that, we would not have known about their plans to keep secret knowledge of the aliens. In any case, we have our instructions from the home world. All alien artifacts are to be captured for our benefit. Nothing else matters. We are to avoid all contact with the Americans.”
The Sergeant turned towards the radio and pressed the transmit button. As part of h
is training, he spoke passable English. “I am sorry, Americans, the scientist erred. We cannot help. This is the price that you pay for your continued interference with our glorious homeland. We are landing on Mars now.”
“Wait, come ba…” the voice started, being cut off as NCO Wong pressed the power off switch.
“Comrades,” the NCO said as he turned back to the others and pointed at the scientist. “Make sure he is tied securely, and then strap yourselves in. We will commence our landing sequence immediately.”
Julong wiggled in his restraints but all he could do was watch helplessly as everyone prepared for landing. Silently he wished the Americans good luck, but knew that they were most likely doomed.
CHAPTER 35
“Damn it, that was a bust,” Roy told Sam after he had switched back to the Pegasus frequency and explained the transmission with the Chinese. “It would have been nice if NASA had told us that another country also had a mission, but this radio silence treatment has left us blind to what is actually occurring back on Earth. We’re really on our own for this one.”
“No kidding. Hey, I think I can see the Pegasus now,” the pilot said. “Is that it right next to those stars forming a cross pattern?”
The Commander lifted his night vision device and looked in the direction they were headed. “Yes, that’s it. We’re closing pretty quickly from the looks of it. First we’ll need to pull in the blowtorch and tether and secure them. Then I’ll turn us around and we’ll need to separate so that you can deploy your jet control arm.”
After the two astronauts had performed the maneuver, Roy used the tether to tie the blowtorch to his leg and the duo reattached face to face. “It looks like we’re closing in pretty fast; I can visually see it without aid now,” Roy said to Sam as he looked over her shoulder. “Start thrusting at half power to slow us down.”