The Earthrise Trilogy

by Colin Owen

  Sam didn't hesitate, he dived in, also fully clothed. The water was wonderful. They both started laughing, realising that this was not the normal behaviour of a couple of forty somethings.

  "We're behaving like a couple of kids," Sam laughed, flicking water at her.

  "We are a couple of kids," she said, "let's enjoy it."

  ❧

  Lisa Hammond came home from teaching school. "I'm glad you're back Lees," John smiled, "I've got a problem."

  He explained about the Earth mission, and the need to design a glider.

  "What about Tristran?" she replied, "he's really talented at design."

  "But he's just a kid," John protested.

  "A very bright seventeen year old kid," Lisa answered, "it wouldn't hurt to give him a try."

  The next day, Lisa set the class the design problem. She knew that Tristran would rise to it, but didn't want to single him out. He was a strange lad, but extremely bright, and he had a flare for designing things.

  "Remember class, it's four passengers, plus food and medicine."

  ❧

  Cold water has an effect on ardour, even youthful ardour. Sam and Kay climbed out of the lake and stood dripping in the sunshine. She shivered slightly, and instinctively, he reached out and gave her a hug to warm her up. The hug was returned, and the kiss followed.

  "I'm so glad you're well again," Sam said, softly, "I've longed for this day, but didn't dare to dream it would ever happen."

  "I didn't dare to dream at all," she responded, "but I've been given a second chance Sam, and I intend to make the most of it."

  She melted into his arms, and he melted at the knees.

  Several hours later, Sam and Kay walked into the settlement without a care in the world, looking damp and bedraggled. Heads turned as they passed.

  "Did you fall in?" Someone called out laughing.

  "Or were you pushed?" Someone else said.

  Sam and Kay were oblivious to it all and just strolled casually back to Kay's house where they kissed and parted.

  "Now I know there's a God," Sam muttered, as he left. Inside the house, Kay burst into tears of joy at the wonderful things the Lord had done for her that day.

  ❧

  When Jimmy arrived home from work he found Shelley at the computer writing. "I know something you don't know," he teased her. The look he received told him not to push his luck, so he told her about Sam and Kay. She was delighted and said,

  "Eden really is a good name for this place, do you know what it means Jims?"

  "Nope," he answered.

  "Paradise...It means paradise, and this place is paradise!"

  He told her about the radio contact, and the planned trip to Earth.

  "They're using a glider because Steve doesn't want there to be any chance of the ship bringing back any contamination."

  "Then it's a one way trip for whoever goes," She said, thoughtfully.

  "Yes, there are four volunteers, Jake, Zeek, Martha and Betty."

  She looked at him and said, "I think they're very brave to go back, it'll not be paradise back there."

  "No, I suppose you're right," Jimmy said, thoughtfully, "it'll be anything but paradise."

  ❧

  Sam floated home without noticing the journey, he was at his door when Steve caught up with him.

  "Sam, I'd like you to give Martha and Betty a crash course in first aid. They may need it when they get to Earth. They can only carry so many berries...Sam, Sam are you listening?"

  "Erm, sorry Steve, yes I'll do that, no problem."

  Steve was tempted to ask Sam if he was all right, but the glazed look in his eyes shouted that he was. Steve put it down to the berries. Things were sure going to change around here from now on.

  Life settled down again in Eden, though the sudden influx of youthfulness was having a profound effect on everybody. Work rate almost doubled as reinvigorated bodies set about the tasks at hand. Jake and Zeek took to mining like old time professionals, and soon had several tons of Kerasite ready for smelting. Eric modified the main ship's power system with his super efficient solar panels, and Roland, who was in charge of all power generating systems, set his mind to the problem of the Trion drive. He had developed a theory that Kerasite could deflect the Trion radiation away from the ship, thus eliminating the need for the initial explosion. So far, Kerasite had proved to be impervious to everything they could throw at it, and as of now, everything hinged on the design of the glider; nothing could go forward until that one item was in place.

  ❧

  At the end of the week when it was time for the students to hand in their assignments, Lisa waited with some anticipation for Tristran's design to arrive. Several of the students had already handed theirs in, but she hadn't taken too much notice of them. She didn't really expect any of the younger students to be able to come up with such a complicated piece of work, but Tristran was in a different league to all the others.

  He was a solitary boy who was uneasy with company. He had not been born on the Moon, but had been too young to have any memory of Earth, or the journey that they had made to get here. He was fiercely intelligent, and would no doubt, one day, become a great intellect. He approached her desk to hand in his work.

  "How did you get on Tris'?" she asked.

  "Okay, I think Mrs. Hammond, but it needs quite a lot more work yet. Perhaps I could come and discuss it with Mr. Hammond some time if that would be all right."

  This was an unusual request for him, but perhaps this assignment would be the catalyst needed to bring him out of himself.

  "I'm sure that will be fine Tris', I'll show him your work and get him to call you."

  He smiled and left. It was only then that she looked down at the package he had dropped on her desk. It was a box file full of diagrams and explanatory notes. She only glanced at them, but found them impressive, and felt sure that John would be also.

  Later that evening, after they had eaten, she handed John the box and said, "See what you make of that."

  "What is it Lees?" he asked, having forgotten about the school project.

  "You'll see, I'll leave you to it."

  She did just that and didn't see him until he came to bed several hours later.

  "You were right, he is good. I think we can use his design as a basis and build on it. He hasn't grasped some of the stress calculations properly, but his aerodynamics are remarkable." He would have gone on, but she was already asleep. "Night," he said, turning out the light, knowing he wouldn't be sleeping much that night.

  John Hammond was up very early the following morning. He'd spent most of the night thinking through Tristran's schematics, and had become more impressed as he did so.

  "I told him you'd call to discuss it with him," Lisa said over breakfast. "I feel this project might just bring him out of himself, you will call..."

  "Most definitely," John enthused, "the more I think about his work, the more I like what he's done. I may need to take him out of school if that's okay, we'll need help to build it."

  "It's okay by me, he's beyond my teaching anyway."

  They both left for work, but John headed straight over to the Forester's house to show Steve the plans.

  Steve was delighted with what he saw. "How soon can we start building John?"

  "Subject to a few minor alterations to the interior, we can start right away. The outer shell is the best aero dynamic design I've ever seen, we may need to strengthen some of the internal bracing, to cope with impact on landing, but that's all."

  "This is great news John, it means the Earth trip can go ahead."

  "I'll be sorry to lose Jake and Zeek though," John said, "I've grown very fond of those guys."

  "Me too, but their hearts have never really settled here, strange, I took to this place like a duck to water."

  "Speaking of water, did you hear about Sam and Kay? They're an item."

  Recalling the glazed look in Sam's eyes Steve replied, "That would explain a few things, I'
m happy for them."

  "Me too," John agreed, "They make a great couple."

  Just then, there was an enormous explosion, and the whole house shook. Steve and John raced for the door. Once outside, they looked around frantically for signs of damage. Steve thought the sub station had gone up, but everything looked fine in that direction. Turning, he saw Jimmy walking, a little shakily, towards them. He was rubbing his ears and his clothes were covered in various forms of debris.

  "What happened?" Steve called to him.

  "It works!" Was the reply. Jimmy arrived still banging his ears. "Actually, it worked a little too well," he said smiling. "Sorry about the bang guys, but I only used a few CCs."

  Steve had cottoned on to what he was going on about, but John was still wondering. "It's the rocket fuel John," Steve explained.

  Jimmy elaborated, "Yeah, I thought I'd see just how volatile it was...We'll need to be real careful when we handle it. That was just a few CCs in a pressure container, some bang eh. Well, we needed a swimming pool nearer than the lake, now we have a hole big enough for one!"

  Jimmy wasn't kidding, the hole he had made was huge, easily big enough for a swimming pool.

  Steve and John followed him back to where the explosion had taken place, and Sure enough, there was a large hole in the ground just as Jimmy had said. "Well, it's a bit round for a swimming pool, but I guess we could elongate it a bit..."

  They all chuckled, but the idea stuck, and several months later, Eden had a swimming pool which they Christened, 'Jimmy's Dip.'

  Special tanks were constructed from Kerasite, to hold the new fuel, and fitted to the big ship. The very low weight of the Kerasite made it ideal for all things 'space travel,' where weight is a problem. To have such low weight and such high strength in a single material was a major blessing.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter 6.

  The Trip to Earth

  John stopped by Tristran's house to tell him about his part in the Earth project. He wasn't home, he had left early for school to talk to Lisa about his design. John went to the school building, knocked on the classroom door, and entered.

  "Hi everybody," John said, on entering, "sorry to disturb you, but I need Tristran to come with me, is that Ok with you Tristran?"

  "Sure thing Mr. Hammond, but please call me Tris', everyone else does."

  "In that case Tris, you call me John, Ok?"

  The two left the classroom and school building.

  "Tris, I was very impressed with your glider design, so much so that I'm going to build it."

  Tris blushed, but grinned widely with excitement.

  "There are a couple of things we need to go through on the design, so I've asked special permission to take you out of school for a while to help me with the work. Happy?"

  "Very much so, Mr. Erm, John, I'd be delighted to help."

  "Thought you might be, now lets get over to engineering and get started."

  On entering John's place of work, Tris was fitted out with his work clothes: a white coat and a hard hat. As soon as he put them on he changed, and ceased to be a kid. The rest of the team greeted him warmly, it was recognised that his design was a major contribution to the Earth mission, which had been named, 'The Return.' Everyone accepted him as part of the team straight-away, and his age never became part of the equation. On this first morning, John took Tris aside to his office to talk to him about his stress calculations.

  "You didn't quite get the point here Tris," he said, "but the aerodynamics are nothing short of brilliant. We will have to make some modifications to the glider's internal bracing, and I want you to see just why this is necessary. Once you've grasped this principal there should be no stopping you."

  Tris appreciated the effort John was putting into teaching him and paid attention closely.

  In no time at all it was lunchtime, and the two new friends emerged from the office smiling and chatting freely. Lisa had been right all along, this project had brought Tris out of himself, and into the real world.

  As they walked through the main engineering area they could already see the glider's blown up blue-prints on the wall, and they had also been scanned into the main computer. John explained that the computer will cut the Kerasite into the various panels before it is dipped in water and hardened. Then the water will be carefully stored for later use as fuel for the ship. Tris took it all in, missing no detail.

  ❧

  Sam was full of beans this morning as he set off to meet up with Martha and Betty. He had a spring in his step and a song playing repeatedly in his head. 'To think, it had taken all these years to find a mate,' he thought, to himself, and now at last, it has happened. "What a life!" he said, as he banged on the door, hurting his knuckles in doing so.

  Betty let him in with a cheery, "Good morning Sam, how's Kay?"

  Sam was a little surprised and said, "Well that didn't take long to get around."

  Martha joined the conversation with, "Well, if you want to keep something a secret, don't go jumping into lakes fully clothed!"

  The smiles turned into belly laughs, "Oh the impetuosity of youth," he laughed, "that water was rather cold though, and did kind of cool things down a bit."

  They settled down to the business of the day, medicine, and the trip to Earth. Sam went to great lengths to explain to them what they may come across down there. "The berries may well 'fix' everything," he said, "but your supply will be limited...We don't know how they'll travel for instance, they may erm, 'go off.' They may not work in Earth's atmosphere. The problem is, we just don't know, so it makes sense to be prepared for these eventualities. I'll equip you with the best med-kits I can put together, I've also found some medical books you can use as reference material."

  He gave them the books.

  "Study them well, they'll be there with you and I won't."

  They got down to some basics. "This is a syringe..."

  ❧

  Back at engineering, Roland had walked in with some plans of his own. "These are lining plates for the Trion drive John," he explained. "They will protect the ship from radiation, which means we can use the Trion drive more freely, even in the atmosphere if needed. An explosion from Jimmy's fuel could be used to focus the Trion instead of the small nuclear device used on the outward bound trip."

  'Jimmy's juice', as it became known, was at least as powerful as a small nuke but clean. The more pressure it was under, the bigger the bang. When not under pressure, it was quite safe...Well, almost!

  ❧

  If you liked action, engineering was the place to be. Kerasite was smelted, cut, shaped, and dipped. The dipping process was always the exciting part. It even fascinated the engineering staff how you could put a soft pliable and very dull metal into plain water, and see it come out hard and as shiny as glass. Once hardened in this way, it was virtually indestructible. It wasn't even possible to dull the shine.

  Panels were made and transported to the launch-pad to be installed in the main ship. The work went quickly and all modifications to the main ship were finished in a couple of days.

  "That just leaves the glider to work on," John announced. "Let's get to it team."

  All the stops were now pulled out to build the glider, which was going to take a lot longer than a couple of days.

  As the craft began to take shape, it was decided that the passengers would sit one behind the other, and not in two rows side- by-side. This solved an unforeseen weight distribution problem, and allowed a little more space for the extendible wings. The cockpit would be made from Bycrilic, and a double skin of Kerasite with a vacuum gap was formed at the front to act as a heat shield. It was felt that nothing could get through two skins of Kerasite. Only the simplest of controls were added, using internal wires to move external fins. As a precaution, parachutes were installed to help break their fall should something unforeseen happen.

  The weight problem they had come across was due to water. Although the trip to earth would only last a couple of hou
rs, it was felt that contaminated water might be a problem, so quite late on, a tank had been installed to carry safe drinking water. Clean soil was also stowed on board to cultivate the berries. No one knew if they would grow on Earth, and there was only one way to find out. They didn't want to risk putting them in contaminated soil.

  ❧

  Some days later, Bill called Earth to apprise them of how things were progressing.

  "Eden to Southgate, come in please."

  Nothing happened, there was only static. Bill tried again,

  "Eden to Southgate, come in please."

  Static. Bill was about to give up when a response arrived.

  "Eden this is Southgate, sorry for the delay, but we're all sick here. I'm the only one still mobile, I think we've had it unless you can get to us very soon. Our food is about finished and the water has to be boiled, if I get much worse there'll be no one left to do it. All the others are in a bad way..."

  The voice trailed off.

  "Southgate, this is Eden, we're almost ready to make the journey, can you give us any clue as to where you are? Over."

  Moments passed and the voice that came back was weak.

  "We're by a lake and a mountain range that has snow on it. Oh, and there's forest all around us...Sorry Eden, that's the best I can do. Over."

  "Okay Dave, we'll get there as fast as we can, just hang on buddy. Over."

  Bill went to tell Steve about the situation. "It sounds desperate Steve, we need to go now."

  "I agree," Steve said, "we'll forego the testing and launch tomorrow."

  This last statement threw the whole place into a panic.

  "Everyone," John shouted to his team, "we'll be working all night tonight for a launch tomorrow."

  He assured Steve they'd be ready before running off to help out with the added workload.

  The morning came, and everyone gathered at the launch pad to see them off.

  "We had planned a big send off," Steve told the volunteers, "but circumstance has dictated that we move much faster than we intended, so this is it."