Jaunts of the Mantis

by Jim Henderson

  As the continued orbiting, they came within several hundred kilometers of the UI sat. Mantis scanned it and took images. Mantis compared data and put some images up on the main viewscreen.

  Elsbeth noted, “The specific layout doesn’t appear common, but it’s clearly some kind of observation sat. It looks like it has some kind of cameras and, perhaps, some spectral analysis equipment. It’s clearly monitoring something on this part of the planet. Also, as Mantis noted, it’s sending a burst of data, apparently near the same point on each orbit. The data appears compressed and probably encrypted. No clue what it is so far, but it’s a good bet it’s similar to the atmospheric and mapping data we’re gathering and what we just put that Cubesat out to do. So, we don’t know who put it here, how long it’s been here or who it’s talking to, but there are a lot of possibilities. It could be a mining corporation considering some new exploration, someone doing a scientific study, or ….”

  Ximon, “Or possibly something alien ….”

  Elsbeth demurred, “Yes, possibly, but so far there’s nothing to suggest that’s most likely.”

  “Perhaps. Mantis, keep trying to crack the data and see if you can triangulate where those signals are going. We’re going to do one more orbit and then go stationary above the South Pole for about an hour. When we’re there, I’d like you to rerun those magnetic field scans. That’ll be in about an hour.”

  “OK, I’ll try to be back up, but I’ve got to do some checks on that arm – it worked but seemed shaky.” She got up. “You know, it’s just possible that we need another crew member, perhaps one whose expertise is scanning, science, and stuff.”

  Ximon smiled, “Flexibility is the key to the KSF, Elsbeth, you know that.”

  “Sure … or it’s a sign of bad planning.” She said as she ducked out of the bridge.

  “Yeah, yeah … there’s always that.”

  The remaining orbits to the South Pole went without incident and Elsbeth did additional magnetic field mapping. “Ximon, it shows the same kind of changes as the previous data – a stronger, more stable magnetic field. No sign what might cause that, but if we had an actual science officer …”

  “Yeah, thanks. Ok, we’ve been at this a while. Elsbeth, why don’t you get some rest. I’ll catch a nap while Mantis winds us back up toward the equator. We’ll take about 5 hours and then deploy another Cubesat there.” He then directed Mantis to take a spiral course up toward the equator, collecting imagery and sampling as they went. He also had Raiza come to bridge to monitor as “another set of eyes” and went to his room for a nap and a shower – he was feeling pretty ripe.

  Ximon came back in about 4 hours and Mantis and Raiza were both observing intently.

  Mantis, informed him, “Captain, we have completed 4 complete equidistant orbits. If we continue this trend, the next one should approximate the equator. I have not deciphered the data from the UI satellite, but it appears to be numeric in nature. The transmissions appear to be targeted at a region encompassing a 15-degree arc from this planet, 10-20 degrees of the orbital plane of this planet, to an area 28-30 AU from the sun. “

  Then Raiza reported, “Ximon, you look well. I’m glad you got a good rest. It’s comforting to have you back at the helm. While you were gone, I noted no alarming activity nor anomalous behavior.”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  Then he signaled Elsbeth who showed as working in engineering, “Elsbeth, I’d like to deploy Cubesat 2 in approximately 50 minutes.”

  “Roger, I was just about to head that way. Raiza, please join me in the cargo bay.”

  A short time later, they had made another orbit and deployed Cubesat 2. It seemed to go OK and they were able to get the Cubesat into a stable orbit. However, Elsbeth noted, “Ximon, that cargo arm is having issues. I’m not a 100% sure it’ll work for the next one, but I’ll try to work with it before we get up to the Northerly orbit that I assume you have planned for Cubesat 3.”

  “Right, you’ve got about 3 hours before we deploy it. Let me know what you find.”

  They then orbited a few more times, collecting more data, more images, etc. Ximon gave a 30 minute to deploy warning and Elsbeth and Raiza went to set up.

  When it came time to deploy, Elsbeth again operated the arm from the bridge. However, it soon became clear that something was wrong. Specifically, it became clear when Elsbeth said, “Dammit. What the #$%&*@? What kind of moron maintained this thing?”

  The arm had gotten stuck just a couple meters outside the bay and could not release the cubesat.

  Elsbeth said, “It appears the hydraulic lines have broken. I can’t get any motion other than a shimmy out of it. I can try to fix it, but I think that’d take 4-6 hours. If you want to deploy it now, I worked out a plan with Raiza.”

  “Roger. Raiza execute the plan as directed. Exercise extreme caution.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Then he heard Elsbeth directing Raiza, “OK, as we discussed, move along the arm being careful not to tangle your tether.” Then after a short pause, “OK, grab the two manipulation points on the Cubesat and I’ll release the arm’s hold.”

  Ximon was alarmed to see Raiza sitting on the arm like a bicycle and grasping the satellite.

  Elsbeth continued, “OK, the arm has loosened contact. Rotate 60 degrees and execute the simultaneous push maneuver with your arms as we discussed.”

  Ximon could then see Raiza basically shoving the cubesat into open space. That worked well, but the inertia spun her off the arm and out into space as well.

  Ximon yelled, “Raiza!”

  Meanwhile Elsbeth calmly continued, “OK, Raiza, orient yourself to hold your tether in two hands. Ok, now start pulling, I’m going to reel your tether in.”

  Ximon could see Raiza swinging about somewhat around the cargo door of the ship and hit the opening a few times, but she was soon inside. Ximon was running for the cargo bay before Elsbeth closed the door.

  By the time Ximon got there the internal airlock to the cargo bay was just cycling, so he was able to go in. Raiza lay on the deck attempting to disentangle herself. Ximon rushed to help her and Elsbeth came up behind to assist. They soon got Raiza untangled and upright.

  Ximon said, “Raiza, what’s your status?”

  “I am fully functional Captain. However, I’m detecting several alarms on the suit.”

  Ximon and Elsbeth both helped her off with vacuum suit but noted issues as they did.

  Ximon noted anxiously, “The faceplate is cracked and there’s a tear in the suit. If she was human, she might be dead.”

  Elsbeth tried to calm him, “Yes, but those would be at best minor leaks. We’d likely have gotten her back in time.”

  “Maybe, but it shows we need to be more careful.”

  Elsbeth replied somewhat defensively, “Sure, and that we need to get more stuff fixed.”

  Ximon directed Raiza to do a complete diagnostic in his quarters. Elsbeth rolled her eyes and said, “Heading back to engineering.”

  Ximon continued orbiting toward the North and just had Mantis check the magnetic fields there. The results were similar, though not as different from historic data as in the South.

  Ximon declared, “OK, everyone, we’ve finished the primary survey of the planet. Get some rest and some food. We’ll head to the moon in 7 hours.” He then directed Mantis, “Maintain station-keeping orbit here. Continue scans. Alert me of any other ships or debris.”

  Then he went to his quarters, did a much more detailed inspection of Raiza for damage, and got some sleep. He awoke rested and Raiza already had some breakfast and coffee ready for him. She brought it to him on a tray. “Good morning, Ximon.”

  “Well, breakfast in bed, what a surprise.”

  “Since I was here, I was able to monitor your breathing and predict when you’d likely wake. From there I made the breakfast items you most commonly eat. I also washed some of your clothes and have laid out a fresh uniform for you.”

  “Thank you Raiza. Are you
feeling well?”

  “Yes, Ximon. I do not believe I suffered any damage from yesterday’s satellite deployment … and I always feel better after sleeping with you. It brings me great pleasure and I enjoy being able to care for you.”

  “Well, Raiza, that’s a great quality in a woman or anyone. I’m comforted by your presence as well.”

  He then spoke to the ceiling, “Mantis, is there anything to report?”

  “Nothing of note, Captain. Ship functions are all normal and I have detected no other ships or satellites. I have continued analysis of the UI Sat data. Making some assumptions, it appears to be numeric data related to atmospheric conditions.”

  “Thank you, Mantis. I’ll be up in about 30 minutes.” Then, he noted that Raiza was still there, undressed, and fully functional. “Correction, I’ll be up in an hour. Please block comm requests unless it’s an emergency.”

  Ximon left Raiza cleaning his quarters and headed up to the bridge happy and well rested. Once there, he did a quick scan of instruments and glanced at the latest scan data – nothing earth-shattering.

  “Good morning everyone. Everything appears nominal. We’ll conduct a 1G burn to orbit the first moon in 20 minutes.”

  “Elsbeth, how’s everything in engineering?”

  He didn’t get an answer, so repeated that.

  An exasperated Elsbeth came on the line, “I’m not in engineering. I’m taking a frickin’ shower. I was up late fighting with that arm. I’ll be up to the bridge in 20 minutes so we can discuss the plan.” Then she added snarkily, “I guess we all had fun with machines last night” and cut off.

  Elsbeth came up about 15 minutes later. She too appeared well rested and less haggard than normal. She brought her breakfast with her and sat down in the science officer spot and turned toward him. Then she said, “So, tell me the plan” and took a big bite of some kind of muffin.

  Ximon explained to her (and via speaker) to Mantis and Raiza, “We’ll burn toward moon 1 here in a few minutes. We’ll do about 8 fast mapping/scanning orbits there. If we don’t see anything, we’ll then burn toward moon 2 and do the same.”’

  Elsbeth swallowed and said, “Shall we talk about the elephants in the room? We’ve got a UI sat that pops up to monitor the planet we’ve been set to monitor and it’s beaming data to what appears to be a dead zone at the edge of the system.” Then she took a few more bites.

  Ximon continued, “I was getting to that. Assuming we see nothing on those moons, we’ll do a slingshot orbit of the planet and our planned jump point will be near that area of space. Keep in mind that it may just appear to be sending data there. For all we know it could be some survey satellite from some of the miners that’s got its antenna pointing the wrong way.”

  Elsbeth chimed in, “Oh, sure. That’s the most likely thing” as she gulped coffee.

  “I didn’t say it was the most likely thing, but it IS possible. If there are no other questions, prepare for burn in 5 minutes.”

  Elsbeth smirked, “Aye, aye, Captain Crunch.”

  The orbits of the first moon were uneventful. They took various readings, and nothing appeared any different from historical data.

  The 2nd moon was a different story. On their first pass, Elsbeth chimed in, “Ximon, I’ve got a structure on the surface of the moon facing the planet. Mantis, keep scanning that, enlarge the images and put on screen.”

  They then stared intently at it. It appeared to be a small building though its purpose was unclear.

  Ximon said, “I’ll bring her right over that spot and lower and slower on the next pass.”

  Since the 2nd moon was small, that was only about 10 minutes. They again scanned eagerly and took lots of images. The structure appeared to be only about 10-20-foot square, with what appeared to be antennae or instruments sticking out.

  Ximon said, “I’m thinking it’s an observation post. Mantis, do you detect any signals?”

  “Captain, it has a faint power signature. It’s not transmitting, but a source 150 km away is transmitting bursts of data.”

  “What the heck? Let’s go check that out.”

  He veered Mantis over there and circled as they scanned. This just looked like an antenna field.

  Mantis noted, “Captain, the signals appear similar in form and direction to those from the UI satellite.”

  Elsbeth said, “Well, SOMEONE is sure interested in our little planet here and they appear to be out there in dead space.”

  Ximon nodded, “Yeah. We’ll stay in orbit here while I transmit the initial report. I’ll plot a course out there. Elsbeth, make sure we’re ready to maneuver.”

  She nodded and left the bridge saying, “Uh, yeah. If we had any weapons, I’d go check all those, but no such luck.”

  Ximon spent the next hour finalizing an initial situation report (SITREP) on Avar 4 and its moons, noting the changes in atmosphere and magnetic field, the UI sat, the UI structures on the moon, and the signal destination. He then transmitted it two ways. First, he sent it to the comm relay on the mining station. Whenever any other scout ship entered the area, it would retrieve those stored messages. Second, he sent out a comm buoy. This essentially a tiny probe/satellite that would simply wait for any scout ship to relay messages to. The cubesats would also send periodic updates to both the mining station and the comm buoy.

  Elsbeth came on radio, “Did you just send out a comm buoy? Ok, I can see where your heads at.” She knew he was a little concerned.

  Ximon came on radio, “We’ll be doing a 0.6G burn toward a jump point near that comm target area in 10 minutes.”

  She said, “No hurry, I see. I quite agree.”

  “ETA to jump point 17 hours. Everyone, listen for direction to strap in, we might need to maneuver fast.”

  They left orbit and headed toward a jump point within 50K of the comm target area. Raiza joined him on the bridge and sat her arm on his shoulder. “Ximon, can I be of any assistance or do anything for you?”

  A few thoughts came to mind, but he just said, “Yes, thank you. Please, sit with me and help me watch for anything anomalous.”

  She sat down in the co-pilot chair and said, “Certainly, Ximon. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

  “Your presence helps.”

  They moved along for a few hours, when Mantis intoned, “Captain, I’m detecting what appears to be a vessel at long range. I will track it to judge range, vector, and velocity but it will take 10-20 minutes due to the distance lag. I will take some long-range images as soon as possible.”

  “Roger. Raiza, please refill my water bottle with mild stim and bring both me and Elsbeth a sandwich.”

  “Of course, Ximon.”

  He then radioed Elsbeth, “Elsbeth, if you’re not tied up with anything down there, please join me on the bridge. We have a contact.”

  “On my way.” She appeared almost instantly and plopped down in the co-pilot seat, staring intently at the viewscreen.

  As they continued to approach, Mantis provided an update, “Captain, the vessel appears to be on a direct contact vector at approximately .6G. Mass is estimated at 1000 tons. Here are the first images.”

  Ximon and Elsbeth stared at a small, blurry image.

  “Well, Ximon, that tells us nothing. It looks generally obolid and it’s not smooth, but we could be looking at a battleship, a trash hauler, or the universe’s biggest torpedo.”

  Ximon directed, “Mantis, focus on that for chemical analysis and keep trying to get better images.”

  Raiza brought them food and drink and then strapped into the sensor operator seat.

  Ximon then sent out a message to the mining station, “Calton Station, this is Mantis, we’ve completed our survey and will soon be leaving the system. We’re investigating a vessel at our planned jump point, but no data so far.”

  Ximon then said, “I’m going to try hailing them.”

  He then directed a message at the approaching vessel. “Approaching vessel this is Kremniy Surv
ey Craft Mantis on a routine survey of the Avar system. Please identify yourself.”

  They were then hit by bursts of data on virtually every open channel. It came across as a loud squelch on the open channel.

  Mantis intoned, “The signal is similar to the data previously detected, but more varied.”

  “Roger, Mantis, try to make some sense out of it.”

  As they continued to approach, Ximon repeated the message every 15 minutes. The ship seemed to respond shortly thereafter each time. The data was unintelligible but seemed to be changing.

  After about 90 minutes, Mantis displayed some better images. It appeared to be a fairly normal asteroid but seemed to have a few structures on it.

  Elsbeth then noted, “My readings are in synch with what we’re seeing. Its composition appears to be primarily dense rock, but with some man-made superstructure.”

  Ximon repeated the message. This time the response definitely appeared to be a mix of garbled words with the data.

  Ximon said, “It’s getting clearer.”

  They continued approaching, continued scanning, and continued sending the message. The response got continually clearer.

  Finally, they could understand at least some of it, “Kremniy Survey Craft Mantis //garble// Greetings this is //garble//. We ask your intent on our //garble//.”

  Elsbeth noted, “Well that was almost helpful. Ximon, let’s send them more data.”

  “Huh?”

  “They might be trying to understand our language.”

  “Ah, yeah. Mantis, please send them the traditional first contact welcome from the Republic. That’s about 1,000 words and should give them something to chew on.”

  After a few minutes Ximon repeated his message and added, “We are on a peaceful survey mission. We intend no harm to your vessel or your operations. What is your intent?”

  After a few minutes, the vessel responded, “Kremniy Survey Craft Mantis thankful for kind greeting. Greetings this is //garble// vessel 4 of the People. We value your peace. Why have you surveyed a planet that we have claimed for our use?”

  Ximon groaned and internally announced, “Oh, brother. Looks like we may have a resource dispute.”