Far Mantis

by Jim Henderson

“Of course. You’ll want to get back to a Republic base as soon as possible and turn over all of the exciting information we’ve gathered.”

  “Naturally.” Ximon said a bit sarcastically, “That’s exactly our concern.”

  Then Douhat returned to discussing plans and reports with his team.

  Elsbeth pulled Ximon aside with a near hiss. “Are we actually doing that crap?”

  “What crap are you referring to Elsbeth?”

  “Garbage Men! They want us to be space garbage men and pick up the trash they’ve dropped in orbit. Oh, and they want us to entertain some primitive, self-important blowhards so they can claim that they’ve ‘conquered space.’ How do we always get involved in this kind of, well, garbage?”

  “It is what it is, Elsbeth. We’ll just do this and then skip town, headed for accolades, pay, and rest.”

  “I certainly dang well hope so. I think that guy’s a demented nut. I wouldn’t be surprised if he winds up on sacrificial altar inside a month.”

  Ximon dutifully rolled his eyes. “Elsbeth, get some rest. We want to be refreshed when we head out on this ‘great adventure’ in a couple days.”

  He heard her moan, “Uggh!” before she stalked off.

  Elsbeth calmed down over the next couple days and Douhat explained all the details to them. By the morning of the appointed day, Douhat and his team were packed and ready to go and the crew of the Mantis was ready to do what it was called upon to do.

  They landed near the Federation of Nations headquarters just before 0900. Douhat and his team said their main goodbyes, though they’d see the crew again briefly. Then several van-like vehicles pulled up near the Mantis’ ramp and Douhat and his team, helped by Peter and Ximon, hauled all their luggage down and placed it in the van. Then Douhat drove away and Ximon could see the podium and seats he’d head for shortly.

  They waited until a few minutes before 1000 and then Ximon, Elsbeth, and Shao walked slowly to seats near the podium that had been reserved for them. A crowd of several dozen, and a lot of reporters, filled the other seats. Dignitaries, including Douhat sat behind the podium. Then several Federation leaders gave speeches about their desire to work with the Kremniy Republic, how much they valued help from space in space, and how much of a kind, goodwill gesture this was. Douhat spoke as well, talking about how pleased the Republic was to help.

  Then several flatbed trucks pulled up behind Mantis, each carrying a satellite wrapped in protective coverings. The loaders and drivers, directed by Peter and Raiza, carefully loaded the satellites into the cargo bay and ensured they were carefully stowed. Then the trucks drove away.

  Next the speakers talked about their excitement at getting more astronauts into space from more countries. Ximon and the crew let the assembled guests walked nearer to Mantis. Hordes of reports and photographers followed them. Then Ximon and Raiza stood at the bottom of the ramp as four vans pulled up a few dozen meters from the ramp.

  At that point, with great ceremony, one of the astronauts got out of the first van and waved to the excited crowd. The astronaut, a petite woman from Medesides wore a large, bulky spacesuit with a huge backpack and carried her huge helmet. A man in a lab coat carried some kind of large case connected to the suit with hoses. They greeted Ximon and Raiza and waved exultantly to the crowd. Peter took the case from the man in the lab coat. Then the astronaut trudged clumsily up the ramp. Once inside, Elsbeth and Shao would help her.

  A similar event occurred from the next vehicle. This astronaut was a man from Baeda wearing a much sleeker spacesuit and carrying his helmet. He, too, waved exultantly as he entered Mantis. Seeing him up close, Ximon wondered whether his spacesuit was functional or just for show.

  The next van brought a dark-skinned man in a semi-pressurized flight suit that a pilot might wear at high altitude, but Ximon was quite sure it would not work in space. He waved a small flag from his nation as he strode on board

  The final van carried an attractive woman who strode up the ramp confidently wearing a simple flight suit, a rakish hat, and dark sunglasses. She shot the audience a bright smile and saluted sharply before strutting up the ramp.

  Once they were all aboard, Ximon and Raiza waved to the crowd while Douhat said something about ‘the adventure of space.’ Then they sealed up the Mantis and briefly met their astronaut passengers.

  The first one, in the bulky space suit, was Major Alke Sprengers from Medesides. She appeared serious, but polite and interested in learning. The second one, in the dubious-looking thin space suit was Flight Leader Po Jao from Baeda. He seemed somewhat arrogant and was hard to understand due to his accent. Next was Dr. Hiram Winn from Adrana, a nation they’d heard briefly mentioned in discussions, but hadn’t met with. He was older, very serious, and seemed a bit nervous. Finally, last but not least, Överste Tullia Forslund fromTrugren. She was dazzlingly beautiful and friendly, though she, too, was a bit hard to understand.

  Elsbeth briefly explained the plan to the astronauts. It would take six to seven hours to get the satellites where they needed to be, then they’d work on recovering the first of the dead satellites they were supposed to get. When they did this, all the astronauts that wanted to could do a short EVA. From there, Mantis would try to gather the rest of the satellites with its cargo arm. They would also try to recover some sizable pieces of space junk this way. Finally, they would target a few large pieces of junk (expended rocket bodies and such). These they would either shoot with the ship’s lasers or push or pull safely away from the planet and other satellites. They would try to involve the astronauts in this where they could. The astronauts all seemed excited in general and particularly excited at these activities.

  The crew made sure all the astronauts were strapped in and then got themselves ready. Ximon took off, flying faster and climbing steeper than he normally would for effect. He kept in touch with the Federation control tower, Federation Prime. He gave unnecessary, but exciting-sounding updates periodically, such as, “Liftoff. We have liftoff”, “Speed mach 5.0”, “Systems nominal”, “Passing one hundred kilometers,” and so forth. Within a couple minutes, they were in space.

  Raiza let the astronauts unstrap and walk around for a few minutes to get used to the area. Then Ximon shut off the artificial gravity for a while. Unless something was wrong, Mantis was typically kept at thirty to forty percent of standard gravity, with that frequently being impacted by G forces from acceleration or deceleration. However, Ximon was sure the astronauts wanted and expected to experience Zero-G. He let them enjoy this for about twenty minutes (under the crew’s watchful supervision), while he moved Mantis to the insertion point for the first satellite.

  As he flew, Ximon had Shao and Mantis refine their mapping the field of orbital debris as best they could. Elsbeth and Peter were explaining the operation of the arm to astronauts.

  When Mantis got to the appropriate point and velocity, Elsbeth and Peter used the cargo arm to deploy the first satellite and ensure its proper orientation. The astronauts watched in excitement as this happened and then listened to its ground control verify signal acquisition and begin maneuvers to put it into a permanent orbit.

  Elsbeth let each of them try the arm as Ximon headed for the next insertion orbit. There Elsbeth repeated the maneuver with similar success. However, though the third satellite was deployed correctly, their ground control had trouble getting it to respond properly. Mantis stayed in a matching orbit as the ground control struggled to get the satellite to respond. Finally, ground control said they would need some time to diagnose, implying that Mantis should go on to other tasks.

  Mantis left the satellite and headed for their first satellite to recover. As they flew, Elsbeth and Raiza got the astronauts ready for EVA. A couple of them looked terrified, but they couldn’t bring themselves to pass up the opportunity, nor admit their unwillingness. The first two astronauts intended to wear their own suits, while Raiza helped the other two get into a couple of Mantis’ suits. Dr. Winn was a bit embarrassed to h
ave to strip down to his underwear in front of Raiza, but Överste Forslund stripped off without a thought and appeared ready to take off her underwear if necessary.

  Elsbeth then briefed them severely on the rules for the EVA and stressed that they would listen to her or would be yanked back inside. All of them would be independently tethered and all would wear medical sensors. Raiza could reel any of them in if they showed the least sign of trouble.

  They approached the large, dead satellite and matched its velocity. Elsbeth led the astronauts out of the airlock while Peter worked the arm and Raiza monitored vital signs. Elsbeth approached the satellite while Peter tried to grab it with the arm. They had several failed attempts.

  Suddenly, Raiza was yelling about an emergency with Astronaut Po Jao, the one wearing the thin looking space suit.

  “Po Jao is losing pressure rapidly and oxygen levels are falling,” Raiza yelled. “I’m reeling him in!”

  The mechanical winch pulled him suddenly toward the ship. At first, he struggled and appeared to be trying to say something, but he was soon pulled along limply. As soon as he was back in the air lock, Raiza pressurized it and began treatment. Peter left his post to assist Raiza in getting Po Jao to the medical bay in cabin six. Shao ran from the bridge to join them.

  “Ximon,” Raiza said, “Po Jao suffered sudden loss of pressure and lack of oxygen. His condition is serious, but I am treating him. I will keep you updated.” She then continued, “Shao, please go assist Peter with the others and the retrieval.”

  Elsbeth and Peter soon retrieved the satellite and brought the other astronauts in. Sprengers and Forslund looked exhilarated, while Dr. Winn seemed pleasantly surprised to have escaped death. Peter helped them out of their suits, except for Sprengers, who kept her bulky suit on. She explained that it was too complex to take off and that wearing it for the duration of the flight was part of testing it thoroughly. Her suit had performed well, while Po Jao’s was clearly a disaster.

  Ximon asked Raiza, “Status?”

  “Ximon, Po Jao has suffered pressure injuries and near-suffocation. I am ensuring the re-oxygenation of his blood. I believe he will be okay, but he should be monitored by doctors on the planet.”

  “Are you saying we should terminate this and land?”

  “No, Ximon. That was not what I meant to imply. The care we can provide him is better than he can likely receive on the planet. I was merely stating that he will need time to recover in a medical facility after we land.”

  “Okay. Good work.”

  They recovered the second and third satellite without further EVAs and similarly recovered several large pieces of debris with the arm. They then used their lasers to burn up a few sizable, but flimsy pieces of debris. This was done from the bridge and Ximon let each of the three conscious astronauts take a brief shot. They were all excited to be shooting lasers – a technology that hadn’t progressed beyond the experimental stage on their world.

  Finally, Peter grabbed a large piece of debris with the arm and held it while Ximon flew Mantis out from the planet. Once on a safe trajectory, Peter released the piece, sending it flying away from Onzarhat. This was repeated with several other large pieces of debris.

  At approximately that time, ground control said they had established contact with the troublesome, third satellite they had deployed and was hopeful they could get it into the necessary orbit. Ximon was relieved that no one wanted them to stop and perform maintenance on the thing.

  Ximon made several reports of progress to Federation Control and informed them when Mantis was done and ready to land. He explained Po Jao’s injury and asked for medical assistance to be standing by.

  While he flew, Ximon had Mantis work with Euclidia to quickly scan and edit images and video that Mantis had recorded of the astronauts and the overall effort. Mantis printed several images for each astronaut and loaded a small, disposable tablet with images and video for each of them.

  Ximon set Mantis down gently as a large crowd looked on. He could see what appeared to be an ambulance near the landing pad. When they landed, Ximon let the triumphant astronauts depart, waving to the cheering crowd. Then two medical technicians rushed up to retrieve Po Jao, who Peter and Raiza had on a gurney. Raiza gave them a medical chart she had prepared on his condition, with detailed notes on subsequent treatment. The technicians listened attentively to her as if she was the head of a respected hospital.

  Most of the crew of the Mantis then headed toward the seats by the podium and the formal assembly reconvened. Peter stayed behind and helped unload the three recovered satellites onto trucks that approached the rear of the Mantis. Ximon assumed the owning countries would reclaim these, study them, and possibly reuse them, in whole or in part.

  Several delegates gave speeches talking about the kind gesture, all that was achieved today, and the good will this foretold. Several mentioned Po Jao’s bravery and noted that his injuries showed that space was still a dangerous place that they must all approach carefully.

  Ximon gave each of the astronauts, and a representative for Po Jao, the tablets with their personal images and video. He then presented the Federation Council with more images and video from their time in orbit.

  There were then parting gifts for the “Bravery of the Mantis and the goodwill of the Republic.” Douhat presented them with a physical set of encyclopedias from Onzarhat, as well as a digital copy and thanked them for everything. Various representatives then gave samples of trade goods from their lands, some valuable, some merely symbolic. Seemingly every nation wanted to present something. By the time they were done, they had several pallets of material, which the crew proceeded to load.

  Ximon gave profuse thanks on behalf of the Mantis and the Republic, said farewell, and bade both Douhat and Onzarhat good will and good luck. He then strode up the ramp, sealed it, and took off. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

  As they left orbit, Mantis beamed back additional video of the astronauts in space down to several major nodes that had transmitted or received a lot of video transmissions. Ximon hoped they could parse the data and use it.

  Ximon pointed Mantis toward the gas giant at a leisurely pace. He then left Mantis to fly there while he took a shower and a short nap.

  They all sat down for lunch while still heading for the gas giant. Raiza had a nice meal ready for them.

  “So, Ximon,” Elsbeth said, “that didn’t turn out to be too terrible. What’s next on our grand adventure plan?”

  Shao laughed and interjected, “I know. We could haul cargoes of garbage from system to system.”

  It was a lame joke, but Elsbeth chuckled at it.

  Ximon said, “I think our best bet is to head back toward Xalanan. We’ve got all these sensors to turn in, plus all this data. Once there, we can rest a bit and figure out our next plan, possibly pick up some more work.”

  Elsbeth shrugged. “Sounds as good as any. Are we going back the same way?”

  Ximon looked almost conspiratorial. “Actually, I was thinking of going a different way. The time and the jumps should be about the same, but we can see something new and we get paid more if we bring back scan data on systems the KSF has little info about.”

  Elsbeth was skeptical. “Those few extra credits are nice, but not if we get blown up in the process.”

  “You know that I would never intentionally take us into danger.”

  “Oh really? Do I though?”

  Shao looked interested. “It would be nice to see some new systems.”

  “Ximon, is there a difference in travel time or in danger?” Raiza asked.

  Mantis chimed in, “The route the captain has focused on thus far should entail plus or minus three days of the same travel duration as the route we came.”

  “Okay,” Elsbeth said, “so what’s this plan?”

  “Well, we’ll refuel here, and we’ll use the drop tank and the fuel bladders,” Ximon said. “Then we’ll jump and drop the tank. I thought it would be more useful than it has
been and I’m sick of it taking up cargo space. From here, we’ll jump to 729-ADX, do some quick scans there, and then jump to Qurusetia. There we’ll take about a week’s vacation and possibly pick up some additional work. From there, we’ll cut through the Aluderus Sector and then into the Xalanan Sector, headed for Xalanan.”

  Peter considered and nodded. “Captain, if it is not needed, I would welcome freeing up cargo space by getting rid of the drop tank.”

  Elsbeth cut in, “And I’m all for a vacation.”

  They all ate in silence for a moment.

  Elsbeth seemed to think of something and suddenly looked excited. “Hey, speaking of cargo space, isn’t all that stuff they gave us back there our payment? I didn’t get a good look, but some of it looked interesting as they presented it.”

  Ximon held up his hands. “Whoa, there. It’s partly our payment, but it’s partly stuff we need to turn into the KSF.”

  “But which part is which?” Elsbeth asked.

  Ximon smiled. “Well, now that is up to us to decide. They were very vague on which portions were for Mantis and which for the Republic. Let’s do this—once we’re in jump, let’s a have a ‘cargo party.’ We’ll dig through the stuff. We can take some stuff of interest and catalog the rest.”

  Mantis added, “Captain, per KSF regulations and our contract, that is a viable position. Neither I, nor the crew, was on activated status when the stuff was received. Further, the Federation of Nations did make some references to it being gifts or payment for us, though who they meant by ‘us’ was unclear. I would note, however, that some of that material will have valuable research potential for understanding Onzarhat and its people.”

  Shao looked hesitant as if being encouraged to steal something. “I think Mantis is right. Should we touch it?”

  Elsbeth looked shocked, in utter disbelief at such a crazy notion, and appeared ready to say something.

  Ximon held up his hands again. “We’re not going to use or destroy everything. We’re just going to take portions of some interesting things. We’ll leave the KSF plenty to research. Anyway, we’ll know more once we dig through it.”