The Triton Disaster: Hard Science Fiction (Solar System Series Book 4)

by Brandon Q Morris

  She floated past her colleagues, en route to the lower area, greeting a few of them. The one crew shift was hanging on the lateral walls in their sleeping bags, looking for all the world like plump bats. The others were either working out or cleaning up the condensed moisture. They chatted quietly to avoid disturbing the sleepers. Everyone agreed that the best invention ever was the super-lightweight, sound-absorbing headphones that an electronics manufacturer had sponsored. One advantage of being weightless was that the headphones hardly rubbed at all, regardless of your sleeping position. They functioned amazingly well.

  The animals were kept in the lowest level of the second space module, the terminus of their balloon as it were, a drainage plug of sorts. At least this meant that the animals weren’t contributing to the stench in their space-traveling tent. Ewa truly enjoyed her time in this area. This wasn’t really due to the animals, which she viewed more as her responsibility than as her darlings. However, the climate control in this module operated at just the right capacity. Thus, the air down here was as fresh as in the command module, and yet she had something here that was a rare commodity on the ship—peace and quiet.

  Ewa slipped through the hatch and into the ‘zoo module,’ as it was jokingly called. They had been given animals that reproduced easily and could provide valuable nutrition. This menagerie included a guinea pig family, several rabbits, and bantam chickens that laid remarkably large eggs.

  Nonetheless, they were placing their highest hopes in the insects that were living in their own boxes. Ewa had never been scared of bugs, which was why she didn’t mind taking care of the locusts and other insects. Ewa opened the first box. Her eyes were met with a great scrambling. Golden mealworms, which were a precious source of protein, twisted and turned in mounds of wheat bran. She had to search for the pupas and transfer them to a different box, since these would soon turn into mealworm beetles that would eventually lay more eggs for new worms.

  Not long after their departure, complaints had arisen that her zoo occupied the entire module. However, when she warned her fellow crew members that a few bugs might occasionally escape from their boxes, the protests had fallen silent. Since that time, she hadn’t been disturbed even once while at work.

  Ewa had been surprised by how little the weightlessness had affected the insects. They had already reproduced enough to supply one or two meals for the crew, but no one had ever asked for them. The chickens were grateful for the fresh food, though. She shut the box and turned to the buffalo worms, the larval form of the lesser mealworm beetle. Lastly, she checked on the locusts, the so-called ‘desert shrimp.’ Honestly, she thought, they taste more like chicken.

  The chickens always seemed to do well. There was an almost endless supply of worms for them, and in return, they laid a steady stream of eggs. Back on Earth, these birds were ground dwellers, but up here they flapped around happily. The ability to navigate space seemed to be deeply rooted inside them.

  She always saved cuddling the guinea pigs and rabbits for last. They hadn’t adjusted to weightlessness as well as the birds, and they sometimes somersaulted like helpless fuzz balls inside their cages. This was why Ewa had installed several low ceilings in their terraria so that they now had use of a cave-like space. Since then, the animals’ appetites had increased substantially. She gingerly lifted one of the rabbits into her arms. He snuffled her sweetly, and she scratched his fur.

  “So, how are you doing today?”

  His fur was smooth and shiny, and his breathing even. This was the first rabbit to be born on board. Ewa was interested in seeing how it would deal with gravity once they landed.

  A deep rumble suddenly resonated throughout the ship. The sound came from overhead, but she could feel it even in the module’s intermediate floor. It sounded as if someone had pounded several times in quick succession on the lid of a giant barrel.

  Sol 4, NASA base

  The ground was vibrating.

  Lance could feel the unbelievable power of the robotic drill. The tiniest of tremors planted themselves in his spinal cord and then climbed to the top. He recalled how his father had once let him hold a hammer drill. The tool, which seemed to have been almost as large as he was at the time, had felt like a strong, angry animal—perhaps a bear—but it had responded to even his littlest movement. He had been in control of powers that far exceeded his own. That had been the moment he decided to become an engineer.

  He didn’t have to push the drill into the ground with his own strength. The machine could do that itself, and the more progress it made, the more successful it was at doing this, since the weight of the stone that it was removing from the ground was making it heavier and, therefore, more powerful. He controlled the tool with the assistance of a small remote control. The sensors were linked to his helmet screen. Whenever he looked down he could see the green outline of the drill, as well as the type of stone it was presently removing.

  It’s actually too easy, he thought. We’re here on a strange planet that we’ve never even stepped foot on before now, and we already feel at home. Or no, it’s more like we’re on a trip to an exotic locale. Everything is packed. We’ve been vaccinated against the worst infections, and we are dutifully peeling our fruit before we eat it. There didn’t seem to be any real dangers—or was that just pure arrogance?

  Lance walked to the other side of the machine. It was run by two chains and reached the height of his chest. Its task was to construct a ditch that ended precisely at the base. This was where the first extension would go. A laboratory. The stone that the robotic drill was gathering would be partially melted down and then poured to form the slabs that would become the walls of the lab. For a roof, they would set a large iron slab on top of the walls to increase the insulation against the intense radiation from outer space. Since Mars had no ozone layer, too much of this radiation reached the planet’s surface.

  Lance gazed around. Until recently, this area had still been quite virginal. But over the past two years the robots had been cruising around and preparing for the landing of their lords and masters, who had finally assumed their thrones. Humanity had conquered a second planet. It sounded strange, but the thought of it made him proud.

  “Hey, you two,” Mike hailed by radio.

  “Yes?” Sarah responded.

  Just this morning Mike and Sharon had complained that they still hadn’t been allowed to leave the base. But Lance was in charge of its construction, and Sarah had insisted on accompanying him as the medical officer. She wanted to keep an eye on him for health reasons. There hadn’t yet been a good reason for either Mike or Sharon to go out for a walk on the surface. Curiosity wasn’t a deciding factor. The expedition was being too tightly run for that.

  “Sorry, but you have to come back inside,” Mike responded.

  “What about my work?” Lance asked.

  “The drill will get on just fine on its own.”

  “And if it comes across something that it can’t assess?”

  “Then it will wait for you. I need you in here more than it does. Your mind, primarily.”

  “What’s wrong, Mike? The crazies?”

  The Mars for Everyone project had been a pain in his ass even back on Earth. How could anyone be so reckless? The fans had reminded him of adolescents. But if they’d gotten themselves into danger... well, they were adults, after all.

  “You’ve nailed it. But it’s much worse than you’re thinking.”

  As the sliding door shut behind him, he heard a woman’s voice coming from the loudspeaker. Her voice had a faint Eastern European accent. Five minutes later, he and Sarah had peeled off their suits and joined the others in just their training suits.

  “Ewa Kowalska from Santa Maria,” Mike said as an introduction. “And this is Sarah Jaeggli and Lance Leber. Lance is our engineer. If anyone can help you, he’s the one.”

  “The Santa Maria?” Lance asked.

  The young woman smiled. She had short blonde hair and blue eyes. Her nose looked like it had
been broken in the past. “After Christopher Columbus’s flagship.”

  “Ah, right. I hadn’t made that connection.”

  The woman didn’t really look all that crazy. She radiated something that he couldn’t identify at a distance, but he could still sense it. “How can we help you?” he asked.

  “I have already filled Mike in,” she replied. “Shortened version: When we tried to reactivate the command module’s engine, it tore free from its mount. This caused the pressure in the module to plummet.”

  “Oh. I assume there were casualties?” A shiver skittered down Lance’s spine all the way to his tailbone.

  “Yes. Five all told, including our commander, Chuck Manners.”

  “My deepest sympathies.” Lance reached for the back of Mike’s seat as his knees went weak. Five people had just died fairly close by. When you found yourself so far away from humanity, several million kilometers felt like a stone’s throw away. “Have you figured out what happened?” he asked. In situations like this, he preferred to focus on the technical discussions.

  “Since everyone who was there is dead, we don’t know. Right before the depressurization, our sensors indicated a strong negative acceleration. However, the modules’ systems are independent, which is why we don’t have access to the engine data. We’re planning an EVA for tomorrow.”

  “Are you sure you want to go out and see all that in person?”

  “We have to. Like I already told Mike, the command module’s engine was supposed to slow us down and bring us into orbit.”

  “But it’s destroyed anyway, right?”

  “There’s a second module at the other end. We’re now turning the ship with its vernier thruster. We need to know what happened so we don’t make the same mistake again.”

  “And if it works, will everything be alright?”

  “Not quite. The second module propelled our ship after launch out of Earth’s orbit. It only has enough fuel to land on Mars.”

  “In other words, if you use it to decelerate, you will reach orbit but won’t make it to the surface.”

  “Even if we could land, we’d be unable to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There are still fifteen people and a few animals up here. We can’t all fit in the one module. It had just barely worked with both modules, although it was a really tight fit.”

  “A Dragon module, right?” Lance asked.

  “Yes, exactly,” Ewa said.

  In recent years, the price of those things had dropped drastically. Their manufacturers were producing them on assembly lines like Henry Ford manufactured his Model-T a century ago. Dependable and affordable enough that a privately funded organization could manage the cost. Well-used modules were practically given away. If the new owners forgot to arrange for a thorough refurbishment, then what? Lance thought.

  Lance tried to imagine ten people stuffed into a landing module. He recalled seeing photos of five people jammed into an Indian motorcycle rickshaw. That’s what it would be like. But with fifteen people? Impossible.

  “Hmm,” he said.

  “Hmm?” Ewa echoed.

  “I don’t know if you’ve already discussed it with Mike, but there might be one other possibility.”

  He glanced at Mike, who was simply shaking his head. What does that mean? Shouldn’t we try to help these people?

  “We could pick you up,” Lance said.

  “You would do that?” The woman he had never met in person scooted very close to the camera, though she seemed strangely neutral. It seemed as if she had drawn a boundary between words and emotions. It had to be the shock.

  “The Endeavour is tanked up in case of an emergency return to Earth. We could fly up to you, transfer enough fuel for the deceleration, and then bring part of your crew down to the surface.”

  “That would be cutting it damned close,” Mike said. Lance suspected he didn’t like the idea. At any rate, he didn’t appear pleased with this solution.

  “We cleaned it out yesterday,” Lance added. “Even if we only take an additional five people on board, that will only be about one-third of its normal landing weight.”

  “We have to be sure about the calculations,” Mike muttered through clenched teeth.

  “Of course, we’ll be careful,” Lance said.

  “The Endeavour won’t be so easy to steer with them on board,” Mike remarked.

  “Sharon will take care of that, right?” Lance looked over at his Brazilian colleague.

  “Absolutely,” she said with a confident smile.

  “You should keep the majority of the fuel, which you’ll need for your own landing,” Ewa cut in. “Even if we can’t make it with the one module, we can save at least five of our people.”

  Lance nodded. They couldn’t withhold this assistance. Doing so would have legal ramifications.

  “Good. Check into what went wrong with the defective engine. The plan will only work if you can manage to slow down the second module. We will run our calculations in the meantime. Mike out.”

  Ewa’s face vanished. The monitor once again displayed its standard background, a snow-covered mountain on Earth. Mike tapped it with his finger.

  “If we run into any problems,” he said, “you’ve just given away our ticket home. Are you clear on that, Lance? Those crazies might feel otherwise, but I want to get back to Earth. There’s no way I want to waste the rest of my days on this godforsaken planet.”

  Lance had never seen Mike so upset or this determined.

  “You won’t have to,” Lance replied. “It’ll take another eight weeks for us to produce enough hydrogen and oxygen from our supplies for the return trip. We could fill the Endeavour’s tanks three times over and still keep to schedule.”

  “Then all I can do is hope you’re right, Lance.”

  Mars Nation

  NASA finally made it. The very first human has just set foot on the surface of our neighbor planet. This is the start of a long research expedition that sent four scientists into space.

  But the four astronauts of the NASA crew are not the only ones with this destination. The privately financed ‘Mars for Everyone’ initiative has also targeted the Red Planet. Twenty men and women have been selected to live there and establish the first extraterrestrial settlement.

  Challenges arise even before they reach Mars orbit. The MfE spaceship Santa Maria is damaged along the way. Only the four NASA astronauts can intervene and try to save their lives.

  No one anticipates the impending catastrophe that threatens their very existence—not to speak of the daily hurdles that an extended stay on an alien planet sets before them. On Mars, a struggle begins for limited resources, human cooperation, and just plain survival.

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  Glossary of Acronyms

  AI – Artificial Intelligence

  CapCom – Capsule Communicator

  ECG – ElectroCardioGram

  DFD – Direct Fusion Drive

  ESA – European Space Agency

  EVA – ExtraVehicular Activity

  g – g-force (gravitational force)

  GPS – Global Positioning System

  HDS – Home, Defender, Sex (robot)

  HGA – High Gain Antenna

  ILSE – International Life Search Expedition

  LCVG – Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment

  LED – Light-Emitting Diode

  LGA – Low Gain Antenna

  LISP – LISt Processor (programming language)

  NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  RTG – Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator

  VLA – Very Large Array

  VR – Virtual Reality

  VSS – Virgin (Galactic) SpaceShip

  Metric to English Conversions

  It is assumed that by the time the events of this novel take place, the United States will have joined the rest of the world and will be using the International System of Units, the modern form of th
e metric system.

  Length:

  centimeter = 0.39 inches

  meter = 1.09 yards, or 3.28 feet

  kilometer = 1093.61 yards, or 0.62 miles

  Area:

  square centimeter = 0.16 square inches

  square meter = 1.20 square yards

  square kilometer = 0.39 square miles

  Weight:

  gram = 0.04 ounces

  kilogram = 35.27 ounces, or 2.20 pounds

  Volume:

  liter = 1.06 quarts, or 0.26 gallons

  cubic meter = 35.31 cubic feet, or 1.31 cubic yards

  Temperature:

  To convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, multiply by 1.8 and then add 32

  To convert Kelvin to Celsius, subtract 273.15

  Brandon Q. Morris

  --

  www.hard-sf.com

  brandon@hard-sf.com

  Translator: Tegan Raleigh

  Editing team: Marcia Kwiecinski, A.A.S., and Stephen Kwiecinski, B.S.

  Cover design: Slobodan Cedic, Coverbookdesigns.com, using stock images by Joe Pchatree, Ivandan und Forplayday, all Bigstockphoto.com