by Leon Castle
‘You designed the navigation system, Tom, so it’s fitting you give them the info on that. Mondok will be giving his own pep-talk, as well.’
‘Hi Mondok, how is everything on deck 24?’ asks Tom.
‘Progressing,’ he replies.
Mondok is a perfectionist. Tom knows that ‘progressing’ in his estimation was quite a good report.
‘If you will excuse me, Captain,’ says Mondok, ‘I have the survey crew to organize.’
‘Yes, of course.’
Chapter 42
The holding dock for the PVs is looking bare, with many of the vessels being transferred to the launching bay. When Sofia arrives, Ven and Denise are outside of PV 005 talking, Ven leaning on the rail of the ramp. Sofia takes a deep breath and approaches. Denise notices her first and nudges Ven. He slowly turns to face her. ‘Hello Sofia.’
‘Hi,’ I’m sorry I disappeared last night,’ she says.
He shrugs. ‘That’s OK. I must remember to change my deodorant.’
‘It wasn’t you.’
‘Oh, is this the ‘it wasn’t you, it was me,’ story?’
Sofia, feeling the bite, flinches. ‘Yes, except it’s not a story. Well, there is a story but a long one.’
‘Don’t have time to listen to it now,’ says Ven.
‘This PV still has work to be done on it.’
‘Can I help?’ Sofia asks.
‘Why?’
‘Oh for goodness sakes Ven,’ says Denise, ‘just let her help and sort out your dramas later.’
Ven pauses a moment, thinking. ‘OK, thanks.’
‘Yes, thank you Sofia. It will be so much faster with three of us.’ Denise says. She walks up on to the ramp and looks back at them. ‘Well, come on.’
They follow, Ven allowing Sofia to go before him. She feels him close behind her and moves faster, bumping into Denise.
‘Someone’s eager to start working,’ says Denise without turning around. She moves aside to let them through. ‘OK, Ven, you’re the expert with liver, lead on.’
‘What? Liver?’ Sofia looks from one to the other. They had to be joking, but neither of them were smiling.
‘The trans pod,’ Ven tells her seriously.
She follows into the PV’s flight deck and Ven climbs under the console. After 30 minutes, he passes out the transpod.
‘You take it, Sofia,’ says Denise, stepping back.
Sofia receives the slimy, textured transpod into both hands. ‘Wow,’ she says, ‘this feels weird. It really is like a liver but it doesn’t smell like one.’ She runs her fingers over the surface. ‘I won’t damage it doing this, will I?’ she asks Ven.
He laughs. ‘It’s already damaged,’ he says. ‘That’s why I removed it. The new one could be if you’re not careful with it.’
‘That will be yours then, Denise.’
‘Oh no,’ says Denise. ‘I don’t like the feeling of liver. I’m going to be unpacking the supply boxes and putting stuff away.’
Sofia realizes, with a sinking feeling, that she and Ven would be working alone. She was not ready for an argument. But he did say he wouldn’t discuss last night while they were working so that was reassuring.
Chapter 43
Mondok surveys the dock with a sense of satisfaction. It was all happening. All but four PVs are ready for launch. He knows Ven and Denise will be working on PV 005. He looks at the time on the screen. There is just half an hour before the briefing. He decides to check out what was holding up PV 013. It is flight ready as far as he knows yet it still sits on the dock. He notices Kenny leaning against the PV talking to Rebecca and strides toward them. Kenny stands straight when he sees him and says something to Rebecca. She turns with a smile, her cheeks dimpling. ‘Hi, Mondok.’
‘Rebecca, my little sweetie,’ says Mondok. ‘What are you doing with him? Run away with me.’
She laughs. ‘Sorry Mondok. But I’m in love with this guy.’ She puts an arm around Kenny.
He grins at Mondok. ‘Yep, she’s taken, Uncle Mondok,’ he says.
‘Ah well,’ Mondok sighs. ‘I have too much work to do anyway.’
‘So what else is there?’ Kenny asks.
‘Well, I just came over here to find out what was happening with this beast. Why isn’t she on the launch pad?’
‘Davis had a few too many to drink last night,’ says Kenny.
Mondok frowns. ‘Well, what about Robbie?’ Where’s he got to?’
‘He was called to help on the Laser Tripod Miners dock, he shouldn’t be too long.’
‘We haven’t got long before the briefing. He will just have to move it when that’s over. You had better head to the briefing room now if you lovebirds want a seat together.’
As he walks to the PV 005, Mondok mentally plans the order in which the remaining PVs will be moved to the pad. Denise is kneeling in the middle of packing boxes when he finds her in the biosphere, the mid-section of the PV. ‘I knew I would find you here,’ he says.
She smiles at him. ‘If I am going to work, I’ll do it somewhere pleasant, if possible. Besides, the crew’s quarters need stocking.’
‘You’re going to have to leave it for now,’ says Mondok. ‘The briefing will begin very soon.’
‘Oh, I don’t know if Ven and Sofia are finished replacing the transpod yet.’
Mondok, not answering, enters the flight deck. Ven’s legs are sticking out from under the console. Sofia, standing nearby jumps. ‘Oh Mondok…it’s you!’
‘Who did you think it was? Queen of Talisha? Wrong color frill, ya know,’ he says, stroking it with a grin.
‘Sofia, could you please pass that transpod now, and carefully,’ Ven asks.
‘Wait a minute. I just came to tell you two that the briefing is very soon, so when you are finished here to go straight to the briefing room.’
He grimaces at the sight of the transpod as Sofia takes it from the security capsule, ‘Just a little too organic for me,’ he says. retreating to the biosphere, closing the door quietly.
‘Come on,’ he says, extending a hand to Denise. ‘No more unpacking now. You can save a couple of seats for them.’
She smiles and takes his hand.
Chapter 44
Val looks over the crowd before him and begins his opening speech.
‘First of all, I want to congratulate you on the fine job you have all done preparing the prospecting vessels for launch. This event is the culmination of years of planning, research and development. To finally reach this point, only two days from the belt, you must agree is thrilling.’
Val waits a moment, grinning, while the crew cheer and whistle. When they are quiet again, he becomes more serious, pausing a moment before continuing.
‘There are still many issues to consider in this venture. For those, I have first, Tom as navigations expert then Mondok, as chief prospector. Listen carefully to their address as your safety is vitally important to the success of this mining expedition. Now I’ll hand you over to Tom.’
Tom arranges a few notes on the podium then pauses to organize his thoughts. He notices Ven and Sofia coming in and sitting at the back of the room. ‘Alright,’ he says, ‘as you all know my field is navigation. You may not know that I designed the cube system for your quadrants, so I am well equipped to explain the system to you. I won’t go into too much technical detail. There’s always the tech guide if you want details.
‘A quadrant is a 3D cube 500km across. Using the same method of navigation as we used back on Thera, longitude, latitude I have added depthitude to give us a third dimension for the cube instead of just a flat 2D area.’
Tom turns to the screen and directs the crew’s attention to the diagram there with the laser pointer. ‘The most important thing to get right is the “0” point where you will eject your ID beacon. This is the primary benchmark for your cube. All measurements radiate away from this point, giving us pinpoint accuracy on the location and size of asteroids in the quadrant.’
He turns b
ack to the crowd. ‘Each prospecting vessel and its team will be assigned a quadrant. You will do map and imaging of the asteroids within your quadrant and then perform a mineral survey, taking samples by drilling. Our main mission, as you know, is to find ice as well as minerals. We will have 25 prospecting vessels surveying for ice and minerals. The names of crew members for each prospecting vessel are also on the bulletin board at the back of this room, though you should, by now, know which prospecting vessel you will be on. That is all I need to tell you. Are there any questions?’
He looks around but there is silence. ‘Alright then,’ he smiles. ‘Remember, you will be out there for three months and…’
Chapter 45
A screeching alarm resounds through the room, abruptly cutting off Tom’s next words.
Nolack-1 follows with, ‘Emergency! Emergency! Emergency! All crew report to muster points. Emergency! Emergency! Emergency! This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill all crew report to muster points.’ The room begins to empty quickly, with all of the crews fanning out to their respective muster points, barely pausing to remark on what might have happened.
‘Nolack-1, where’s the emergency,’ asks Val, nodding at Mondok who joins them.
‘Laser Tripod Miner training platform 7, rock structure down, two bio forms injured.’
Val looks at Tom. ‘It must be a training rock collapse.’ They sprint through the dock to the elevator.
‘Call the Emergency Response Team, Nolack-1. If one of those rocks fell…’ He didn’t need to finish the sentence, Tom knows how heavy those rocks are. They have to be huge for laser practice.
When they reach the scene, they are surprised to see one man walking around, dazed, with just a gash to his forehead. ‘I tried to push him out of the way,’ he says ‘but I just wasn’t quick enough.’
‘It’s OK, Daniel,’ says Val, leading him to a bench against the wall and sitting him down. ‘Don’t move from there,’ he says. Val inspects the gash and decides that although deep, it isn’t life threatening.
‘I need some help here,’ Tom calls.
Val rushes around the rock to where Tom is kneeling. A man lay unconscious, his legs pinned by the edge of the rock. At least he is being spared the pain, Val thinks. ‘You checked…?’
‘Yes, he’s alive, he has an erratic pulse.’
‘Good,’ says Val. ‘Well there’s no way we can move him. Nolack-1, call in the maintenance crew with their lifters. Oh, and the PV crews can leave their muster points now and return to the briefing room.’
‘Check, Captain. Lifters on the way with the ER crew, prospecting crews may leave muster points and return to briefing room.’
‘That’s it, Nolack-1.’
The doctors, two young female medics, were the first to arrive. Val hopes they knew what they were doing, but after watching one bandage the head of Daniel, he realizes they are proficient. She manages to convince him to sit in a hover chair to be transported to the medical center. The other kneels at the rock and keeps a check on the other man’s vital signs.
Lifters begin arriving, four of them, and it becomes clear it is not going to be an easy task because of the irregular shape of the rock.
‘All you have to do is tip it back off him, guys,’ says Tom, ‘then when we get him out the rock can stay where it is.’
Mondok takes charge, driving one of the lifters, he decides that four lifters will only create more problems. Dismissing two of them, he calls Ven to operate the other lifter getting on one side of the man and he moves to the other side. ‘You will have to pull him out when we lift this up,’ he says to Tom and Val. ‘The only problem is that it could slip off the lifters so you’ll have to be quick.’
Val and Tom hook the man under his arms, waiting. The medic injects the legs of the man with antitoxin, then nods to Val.
The man wakes. Disorientated, he stares at them and then at the rock, paling when he realizes his legs are pinned underneath the rock. ‘Get this thing off me!’ he screams, thrashing around in panic. Val and Tom pin him down while the medic injected a sedative. Seconds later, the man is asleep. ‘Ok, go for it!’ yelled Val to Mondok and Ven, just as the ERT squad arrive and take control of the extraction of Robbie.
The rock tilts precariously as they raise the lifters, finally it is clear enough to extract the man. In one heave, he is out.
The medic examines the damage. ‘Well, he was lucky. At least he’s still alive, I think it’s just his legs that are broken. We won’t know how bad it is until we see the X-rays.’
Mondok climbs down from his lifter and goes over to the man. ‘It’s Robbie,’ he says, ‘he was meant to be on PV 013. I’ll have to drum up someone else now.’ Then remembering the gravity of the situation, says, ‘Well, at least he’s alive, and hopefully his legs are not too seriously damaged.’
They watch the medic drive him on a hover trolley from the dock. ‘Could this delay the launch, do you think?’ asked Tom.
‘We won’t consider that option unless it’s totally necessary,’ replies Val.
Tom nods in agreement.
There is a buzz of voices throughout the room as Val, Tom and Mondok once more stand at the forefront of the assembly. Val steps forward and the room is silent once more.
‘As you will all know, there was an emergency. Two men are seriously injured. However, they are both stable. One was a crew member of PV 013, so we will need to replace him.’
Whispering starts, and Val waits a moment before speaking again. ‘Preparations will go on as planned, and I must insist that no personnel enter the LTMs training area until it is cleared by the investigators. Mondok now has instructions for you on the prospecting procedure.’ Val motions to Tom, and they leave Mondok to carry on with the briefing.
Mondok takes up the laser pointer and zeros in on a diagram of a quadrant. ‘Before you do any drilling, you must set out your pattern according to your standard drill pattern. I know all of you are professionals and don’t need me to tell you how to do your job.’
He puts down the pointer and stares directly into the faces of his crews. ‘Now, I am however going to give you the most important information of all, so listen carefully. You must stay in your assigned quadrant. This is an absolute must. The reason for this is that, there are hot spots of activity, gravitational anomalies we have labeled hot zones. They are dangerously unstable and therefore, they are zones that are strictly out of bounds. Anyone leaving their assigned area will be facing severe disciplinary action. Is that clear?’ He glares fiercely around the room. Satisfied with the nods and murmurs of agreement, he smiles. ‘OK, then, stay safe people. That’s all I have to say for now.’
Twisting his wrist frill, Mondok pores over his list of names for the prospecting vessel teams.
He has just discovered that Daniel, the man with the head injury, was meant to be on PV 013 as well, as a driller’s offsider. ‘Damn, two to find,’ he mutters.
He sighs. The only two crew members available to replace them had been given warnings over not following orders, and were not considered to be fit to work on any prospecting vessel.
He is tempted to call in the captain, but he knows he is busy dealing with the accident investigation.
He considers his options. Together the pair are trouble so it would make sense to put them on different prospecting vessels but if they each caused trouble, two prospecting vessels would have to be called back in. With both on PV 013, only that vessel could be called in, with less disruption to the expedition.
That’s it, Mondok decides. They will both replace the injured men. Even though one is a co-pilot, the pilot still had main control. The other is a driller but would have to accept being busted down to driller’s offsider, hopefully with not too much strife he could get himself into. With his mind made up, Mondok picks up the list and goes in search of the men to interview them.
Chapter 46
With the repairs on PV 005 out of the way, and not much left for him to do, Ven’s though
ts begin turning toward Sofia. He thought they were getting along so well together and he was beginning to think her attitude was something to do with Tom. There was her reaction in the hotel when she saw him there, and then at the briefing when she seemed torn between watching him and looking away. He doesn’t have her number, so he’ll just have to go over there and talk it out. He didn’t realize he had been standing holding the door handle until his door chime went off. He pulls his hand back as if he has been burnt, then he reaches out and opens the door.
Sofia stand there. ‘I’m sorry to bother you,’ she says.
‘You’re not bothering me. The funny thing is I was just on me way over to see you.’
‘Oh, why?’
‘I want to know why you are here, first,’ he says. Ven hopes it is for his company. He can handle just being a friend if that was all there was, though he knows he will always hold out hope for more.
Not waiting for her reply Ven smiles, ‘I was coming over to ask you if…you even like me.’
‘Well, of course, I like you. You’re a really good friend.’
‘So Tom is more than a friend?’ Sofia’s face confirms his suspicions and he stands up. ‘I think we both need to get out and have a walk,’ he says. ‘Got a favorite café?’
‘Anywhere but Murple Bubbles,’ she says.
‘There are plenty of outdoor cafes, we’ll choose a French one.
She laughs then turns serious. ‘I’m sorry, Ven.’
‘If we are going to be friends, Sofia, you have to stop saying sorry. It drives me crazy. You can’t help your feelings.’
‘And I can’t help mine,’ he thinks.
Chapter 47
Mondok sits opposite the two men in the small office of the control room. ‘Chaze and Drummer,’ he says. He looks down at his paper though it isn’t necessary. He would have preferred to interview them separately but time is the issue and he’s snagged the opportunity to get them both at the canteen. They are not impressed with being called for an interview in their break but Mondok doesn’t care. It is the perfect chance for them to redeem themselves, though he knows they are going to need some straightening out first.