And then Zec-C calmly informed them,
‘Chlorine missiles away, 1 minute to detonation! Warning! Nuclear missiles are being accelerated by vortex. One minute ten seconds to detonation point!’
‘Oh my God! No! What if the nuclear missiles arrive too soon!’ Alison screamed. ‘What have we done! What have we done to Olivia!!’
AJ focussed on the dome and could see the two tiny chlorine missiles streaking away from the lander which was being drawn into the black vortex. The two nuclear missiles were behind and closing fast.
Unexpectedly fast!
The knuckles of Olivia’s right hand were white because she was clenching the levers so hard that she could not release her fingers. Now she watched, helplessly, as the two missiles streaked away into the black vortex.
She heard the frightening news that the nuclear missiles might arrive too soon!
‘Too bloody late for me!’ she shouted and shook her fist defiantly at the swirling black menace. She could not drag her eyes away from the terrifying black mouth rotating outside the dome of the lander.
‘In my experience it is not often that when something goes wrong, very wrong, it ultimately works in your favour. The rotation of the huge black mass in the sea and the formation of such a powerful vortex threw all the careful calculations out of the window. The attempt to defeat the Black on Cloud Planet looked doomed, but...
....the incredible suction force of the black vortex accelerates the chlorine missiles to two and a half times their planned velocity and they arrive in the mouth of the vortex after only 45 seconds. Also, the inertia caused by the huge acceleration force pushes the mercury from the left to the right hand compartment 15 seconds quicker than is planned.
Both chlorine missiles explode within 2 seconds of one another right in the mouth of the black vortex and 5 seconds before the nuclear missiles arrive.’
Olivia’s world changed from swirling black to searing red followed by expanding yellowish green. She was so numb that she couldn’t take in Zec-2’s information that the chlorine missiles had exploded and that the nuclear missiles were 5 seconds from the explosion point in the vortex.
‘I’m going to hell!!’ she screamed at the top of her voice.
In LifeSeeker-1, the astronauts saw the yellow green explosion in the mouth of the vortex and knew from Zec-C that the nuclear missiles were seconds behind. They gripped their consoles in front of them and leaned forward urging the nuclear missiles through but desperate for news of the fate of the lander and Olivia.
‘The two explosions in the mouth of the black vortex send enormous volumes of chlorine gas, now highly reactive chlorine ions at three and a half thousand degrees centigrade, into the depths of the vortex......
.......and into the capillary channels of trillions of high speed black beads, wiping out their molecular circuits in nanoseconds and obliterating their wireless commands from the cylinders instantaneously.
‘Almost immediately, the whole centre of the vortex collapses and the sea rushes up, spreading the chlorine ions outwards and into the circuits of the rotating beads over a diameter of 2 kilometres. The vortex stalls with its centre wiped out and is now just a seething mass of water and inert, harmless beads.
‘Then the two nuclear missiles streak into the sea at the centre of the stalled vortex and they separate onto their designated trajectories to the two targeted cylinders.’
In the lander, Olivia still gripped the two levers as she stared at the collapsing vortex and the seething mass of water and black.
‘Suction ceased! Applying maximum forward thrust and climb. Hang on Olivia!’
The lander’s velocity had already been more than doubled by the suction force, despite full reverse thrust. Now this extra velocity was boosted by full forward thrust applied by Zec-2 and the 45 degree climb put Olivia under such huge g-force that she was pinned to the back of her seat and nearly passed out.
Zec-2 now had to get the lander away from the nuclear danger zone which it was travelling towards at huge velocity. Zec-2 banked the lander over in as tight a turn as possible and Olivia was jerked to the side of her seat, her seat belts preventing injury. However, the contents of her stomach were not restrained and she parted with them more than once during that roller coaster ride!
By the time ROL-2 was again travelling away from the icepack, it was only 15 kilometres from the targeted cylinders but she knew nothing of this as she slumped into unconsciousness.
In the starship, the astronauts realised that the nuclear missiles had got through and they saw the lander drag itself up and away from the collapsed vortex.
It would be about 10 seconds before the nuclear missiles reached their target. Far quicker than planned because of the velocity boost from the vortex.
The starship had already started backing away from the explosion zone but it was not under threat. The lander, however, was at low altitude and now only 20 kilometres from the icecap. It could not out run the fallout of the nuclear explosions.
Accordingly Zec-2 slowed the lander to minimum velocity to maintain control of altitude and then turned the lander to face the onslaught head on. This presented the optimum aerodynamic profile to the threat.
Then Zec-2 applied full red emergency. The dome blackened and maximum force field was applied to the lander.
Billions of black ‘beads’ streamed out from the cylinders under the icecap as the two nuclear missiles streaked at their targets. But the extra velocity imparted by the vortex meant there was no time for the black to organise a new barrier, let alone re-programme the incoming missiles’ computers.
The two nuclear warheads struck their 1 kilometre diameter targets under the icecap and detonated.
Chapter 65
Black Rain
Zec-C had darkened the dome of LifeSeeker-1 and the outside scene covered nearly the whole of the mimic display. The astronauts viewed the tumbling, swirling black of the collapsed vortex, the blue sea in front of the icecap and the lander in its desperate banked climb to get away from the danger zone.
Then the display zoomed in on the icecap, which suddenly cracked and lifted in two places about 20 kilometres apart.
Initially it seemed to happen in slow motion and then the whole area of icecap in front of them shot upwards. The blue sky lit up in a blinding flash of light as grey clouds of ice and steam formed two plumes which joined and then turned black. The dense double mushroom shape expanded kilometres into the sky, where it seemed to boil in movement as it rushed upwards and outwards at terrifying speed.
The astronauts gasped and shouted in the command dome as the mega-tonne explosions filled the entire screen whilst Zec-C intoned the accompanying technical details,
‘Plume altitude 5 kilometres and approximate diameter 10 kilometres and growing. Shock, heat and radiation waves now nearly 20 kilometres from detonation epicentre. Warning! Contact with ROL-2 lost!’
‘Let’s pray the force field around the lander holds up!’ AJ said gravely.
Olivia regained consciousness and stared at the blackened dome of the lander but there were no views of the outside, because they were under full red emergency and maximum force field. Zec-2’s voice reassuringly broke the silence.
‘Confirm two nuclear detonations at designated targets. Hang on Olivia! Radiation, heat and shock waves coming!’
At last Olivia relaxed her grip but she had to pull her hand away because her fingers were so cramped on the levers. She braced herself and knew that she wouldn’t feel the radiation wave, but she would hear the alarms if the force field of the lander was breached. Also she would feel the heat and her eyes flickered to the digital temperature gauge, willing it not to move.
‘Radiation and heat waves absorbed by force field satisfactory, shock waves coming!’
‘After an explosion it is the shock wave that causes the most lateral damage. The explosive energy accelerates air particles to supersonic speeds and they bounce and collide with one another in a destructive radial wave
over many tens of kilometres from the epicentre.’
The shock wave smashed into the lander’s force field pushing it backwards and downwards. Olivia was thrown forward violently, her seat restraints working overtime to prevent her colliding with the console. The lander shook and she felt the sudden loss of altitude in her stomach.
‘Shock wave through, struggling to get ROL-2 back under control, altitude falling. Less than half of 1 kilometre.’
What more? Thought Olivia - but worse was to come!
In the starship, the astronauts watched the huge boiling black mushroom which obliterated their view of the icecap.
‘Mushroom has stopped climbing at 20 kilometres, diameter about 40 kilometres and growing. Now descending and fast!’
Suddenly the huge mushroom started to fall out of the sky. In one enormous black mass it fell back towards the icecap and over a wide expanse of the sea, expanding as it lost altitude.
‘My God! It looks like thick torrential black rain cascading over the visible horizon!’ Steve shouted horrified.
‘And all over the lander and Olivia!’ cried Alison with alarm and then Zec-C made matters even worse!
‘Tsunami wave radiating from icecap, frontal width 50 kilometres, height approximately 50 metres, velocity approximately 200 hundred kilometres per hour.’
‘And we can’t warn Olivia!’
‘Olivia!’ Urged Zec-2, ‘Fallout from detonations descending as one black mass! Maintaining full force field, altitude 30 metres!’
Olivia could not see anything nor could she hear any outside noise. If she could the sound would have been deafening as a wall of black beads thundered down on the lander’s force field and onto the sea all around. The sheer weight of black pushed the lander downwards,
‘Olivia! Cannot hold altitude, preparing to ditch in the sea!’
‘The lander is designed for landing and takeoff from water and most fluids. Under controlled conditions this is done by lowering four huge floats and at the same time moving the caterpillar tracks aside. But this was far from normal circumstances as the black mass pushes the lander down to the surface of the sea. Just in time, four reinforced nylon bags inflate under the lander, cushioning the impact and supplying sufficient buoyancy to maintain the hull above water level.’
Olivia was jolted down into her seat as the lander crashed into the sea and was partially submerged by the weight of the black mass raining down on its surface. But the buoyancy of the four massive air bags combined with that of the hull itself enabled the lander to slowly rise and float.
And the black torrent continued to pound down!
It seemed an age in the eerie quiet of the command zone before Zec-2 announced,
‘Red emergency lifted, force field reduced to minimum setting.’
Olivia peered forward but everything was still black.
‘So why haven’t you cleared the dome? Zec-2!’
‘I have. But we are buried in a 10 metre layer of black fallout!’
After all that Olivia had been through, after having faced her darkest nightmares and survived! Now this! But she amazed herself. She felt calm; she stared at the opaque dome and laughed,
‘Well, Zec-2! We’ve been to hell and back and now we’re buried in black. Surely it couldn’t get worse!’
‘Olivia! There’s a tsunami wave coming and it’s big!’ Estimated time of arrival 5 minutes!’
The astronauts stared out of the dome of LifeSeeker-1 at the devastation below. They were 400 kilometres from the icecap and at an altitude of 200 kilometres. The black mushroom had collapsed with alarming rapidity under its own weight but it had spread over such an unbelievable area.
‘Jeez!’ whistled Steve, ‘How big is that black area?!’
‘Initial measurements show that black is covering a circular area of icecap and sea of 70 kilometres diameter. It is 10 metres deep across most of that area.’
‘But where’s the lander! Where’s Olivia!’ cried Alison, ‘And, oh my God! You can see the huge wave, a black tsunami!’
‘Estimated lander position 20 kilometres from icecap but no contact. Last measurements showed lander losing altitude rapidly. Assume ditched in sea and under black. Tsunami 10 kilometres from lander estimated position. Tsunami height and speed reducing from dampening effect of black mass. Now travelling at 100 kilometres per hour and 10 metres high.’
‘The black might be their saviour!’ AJ shouted in disbelief, ‘It’s slowing the tsunami. Zec-C! Damage report on under ice explosions. Then move the starship as close to Olivia’s position as possible!’
‘Initial pictures show cylinders completely wiped out across a front of over 1000 kilometres and severe damage to structures 50 kilometres either side. Rough estimate is over 1000 destroyed and similar number severely damaged.’
‘My God!’ sighed AJ, ‘There’s still 48,000 left!’
‘And that’s just under this icecap!’ added Steve, ‘But we’ve given them something to think about!’
‘Let’s hope it’s enough, but what about Olivia and the tsunami!’ Alison was distraught.
‘The huge mass of black on the ocean is indeed having its effect on the tsunami. It is similar to the dampening effect of an oil slick on the waves of the sea. Only here on Cloud Planet it is a 10 metre thick mass of beads.
By the time the tsunami reaches the lander its speed is reduced to 50 kilometres per hour and its height is 5 metres. Of greater significance is the fact that its profile is changed. The weight of black has smoothed the wave such that its leading edge angles back at 30 degrees with a much shallower trailing boundary.’
‘Hang on Olivia! Here comes the tsunami but it’s a much smaller wave. We should ride it satisfactorily.’
Zec-2 had been able to keep the lander’s nose facing the wave by applying small amounts of thrust on the black layer itself.
Suddenly the lander tilted upwards and backwards and Olivia was again clinging to her seat harness. Then it fell forwards with a bump as it crashed down onto the trailing wave. Zec-2 had kept the lander aligned perpendicularly to the wave during its passage and now let the viscous drag of the Black slow its backwards velocity.
‘Tsunami wave through OK, Black depth eight metres and falling slowly.’
‘The Black’s sinking! It’s sinking!’ shouted Olivia in delight.
Ten minutes later, Olivia saw a chink of light at the very top of the dome......
....... and shortly after, rays of sunlight poured into the lander......
....... Olivia smiled with relief and then jumped out of her skin as AJ’s voice boomed in the command dome and all the astronauts’ smiling faces appeared on the dome display in front of her.
Chapter 66
Surely no more Surprises
Olivia watched as the Black slowly dropped down the dome and, as it did, so the lander rose in the water as the huge weight of beads fell off its hull. Now it was half way down the dome surface and Olivia gasped as she saw that all of her forward horizon was black, topped eventually by the blue sky.
‘How big is this black slick, Zec-2?’
‘Approximately 70 kilometres in diameter, half on half off the icecap. We are about 20 kilometres from the icecap.’
‘And how much damage did we do to the cylinders?’
‘About 2000 either destroyed or severely damaged, this slick must be the fallout from them. They must have been full of the bead like objects.’
‘My God! There’s still 48,000 left!’
‘And a similar number under the other icecap!’
This sobering comment put Olivia into deep troubled thought until AJ’s voice again echoed in the command dome.
‘Olivia, we are going to take the starship up. We’re consuming a huge amount of fuel at this low altitude. Zec-C confirms that all systems on your lander are OK and you should be able to lift off once the black slick completely sinks. We need to discuss our next actions. We’ve damaged the menace but what do we do next?’
LifeSeeke
r-1 had risen to an altitude of 500 kilometres and the astronauts could clearly see the extent of the huge black slick. It appeared to rest over the edge of the ice – its silhouette contrasted sharply with the brilliant white of the ice. The tsunami had run its course and the slick and sea were calm and flat. They could not see the lander except on the dome display. Zec-C had reported that the slick was now 2-3 metres in depth and continued to sink. Zec-C was about to give a time estimate for its complete disappearance when the urgency in his voice changed.
The Blue People of Cloud Planet Page 32