He floated to the right hatch, closed it, and secured the lock. Then he moved across to close the left hatch. Doing so was required when checking the life-support system. Among other things, he had to measure the distribution of tracer molecules in the breathing air, and for that measurement, the workshop module had to be isolated from the others. However, it also had the big advantage that nobody could come in while he was implementing his plan. Afterward, he would open the hatches again, and nobody would have any idea what he’d been up to while he was in here.
He turned the locking bar on the left hatch by ninety degrees, which locked it. Now he had to hurry. He had only seventy-five minutes until JR initiated the braking process. He took a flashlight and the large screwdriver, floated to the ceiling, and hung there like a spider. Then he detached a ceiling panel and shined the light inside. There were numerous cables and pipes up there going every which way, apparently randomly. But there was actually a well-thought-out order that was arranged primarily by colors. He needed the control line for the adjustment propulsion systems. It was supposed to be violet with fine white longitudinal stripes.
There! He noted the position, then gave himself some thrust and grabbed a wire cutter. He still needed a moment to find the cable again. It was made of three lines. One was responsible for the x-axis, the other for the y-axis, plus the common ground. Initially he’d thought of simply cutting the cable. But that would be an easy fault to find and fix. For braking, JR needed to turn the ship, and for that she needed the positioning nozzles. If they didn’t respond at all, someone would check the cables—and repair them.
He needed a more complicated fault, one that would indicate a problem with the nozzles themselves. To repair the nozzles, someone would have to perform an EVA, which would take up a lot of time—enough time that the ARES would continue on its previous trajectory so far that it wouldn’t be able to return to a closer orbit for a long, long time. Once they reached the transfer point to Mars, then he’d have won. Of course, someone might discover what he’d done at some point, but it wouldn’t matter by then. His colleagues were smart enough to accept reality. And someday they would realize that he’d saved them all.
Michael took hold of the cable responsible for the x-axis and cut it. He removed the plastic insulation on both sides of the cut. Then he also cut through the second cable and removed the insulation there too. Then he connected the two control lines coming from the command center to the line responsible for the y-axis of the first adjustment nozzle. Now, no matter what button JR pressed, this nozzle could do nothing but start the spaceship rotating. He hoped the commander would recognize that quickly enough. But he trusted that she would. She might not be as good as he was, but she was still one of the best. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been chosen to command the crew.
The first phase was complete. He closed the ceiling panel again. The cables for the second adjustment nozzle were under the floor. However, the floor covering couldn’t be removed. He would have to climb into one of the side walls. Michael removed a side panel. Now came the unpleasant part. There was only a very tight space between the outer and inner walls of the spaceship. He climbed in headfirst and pulled himself downward past pipes and cables. The outer wall bulged outward there some, but there still wasn’t enough room for him to be able to turn around. It didn’t matter. He looked around the area with the flashlight.
Right then there was a loud knock. The noise came from above. “Michael, I need to use the workshop briefly,” Judith called.
Man, didn’t she know that the hatches were required to be locked while the life-support system was being inspected? But then it occurred to him that he’d made a mistake. He hadn’t set the life-support system to control mode! Control mode made the system much louder. Anyone who knew that, as his boss probably did, would notice the difference.
“Michael, please open up. I can tell you haven’t started the check yet.”
She’d noticed. He had to hurry. Where was the stupid cable? He waved the flashlight around. Then his shoulder bumped against a pipe, and the wire cutters floated out of his hand.
“Michael, this isn’t a game. I need to start the braking procedure in an hour.”
Uh-huh. I’m already hurrying. Fuck the wire cutter. There’s the cable! He’d have to use his teeth. Wasn’t that why he kept them healthy? He remembered the bunny that his younger sister had when they were little. It had started nibbling on a power cable and been thrown across the room by the voltage. That had been fun! His sister hadn’t shared his enthusiasm, but she had been only five years old at the time. He pulled the cable to him. Sometimes a person had to take risks. Stupidly, he had forgotten to check the operating voltages and currents for the control lines. Were they even live if JR wasn’t pressing a button?
He used his teeth on the right side of his mouth to bite and tear at the cable like a dog. He stripped away the insulation. The bare wire tasted terrible, but at least it didn’t give him an electrical shock. He bit down as hard as he could and tore at the cable with his teeth, back and forth, side to side. Then it ripped. The jagged, wiry end dragged across the corner of his mouth, leaving behind a stinging pain. It was the cable for the x-axis. It would have to do.
“Michael, what’s going on? Are you okay?” JR called.
He pushed himself backward through the mess of cables and pipes. Luckily, he had good spatial skills and a sense of direction. Then he felt the opening in the wall with his feet and pushed himself out.
Done. Just then, Judith knocked again. He floated to the left hatch and unlocked it.
“Goodness, Michael, you gave me quite a scare.”
She was too easily rattled. It almost made him feel sorry for her. She seemed to have become worried about him.
“The pump sounded a little off-balance,” he said. “So, I went into the walls to take a look, and I couldn’t get back out very quickly.”
He pointed to the opening in the side panel. It was a good thing he hadn’t been working on the ceiling. He wouldn’t have been able to come up with an excuse that quickly for why the ceiling was open.
“And, everything is okay?” she asked.
“Everything’s okay?” he repeated, momentarily confused.
“With the pump. May I?” She carefully ran her finger across the corner of his mouth and then showed him the tip of her finger. It was blood red.
“Oh, I must’ve scratched myself there,” he said. “Probably from herpes—a cold sore.”
“You have herpes? There’s nothing about that in your file, is there?”
“Oh, that would’ve involved much too much explaining. I didn’t want to lower my chances.”
Something told him that Judith wasn’t going to press him about this explanation. “I understand,” she said.
“And what did you need to do in the workshop, Judith?”
“I just wanted to speak with you in private.”
Had she become suspicious of something? Or was this just some psycho mumbo jumbo that every good boss felt obligated to do? “Oh. I had to really rush myself in there. Maybe that’s how I hurt my lip.”
Making her feel guilty couldn’t hurt anything. He touched the corner of his mouth with his tongue. There was still blood there.
“I’m sorry. After our discussion before, it occurred to me that you might’ve felt like the rest of us were ganging up on you.”
“That’d be a little bit of an exaggeration,” he said. “But, sure, it’s never fun when everyone’s against you.”
“That’s exactly the feeling I wanted to avoid. I’m not against you. I value your input and the work you do very much. Without you, this expedition would’ve already been a failure.”
He nodded slowly. She was really good, and the compliment went down like butter. He almost felt sorry for her, for the disaster that was about to play out when she tried to initiate the braking procedure. But only almost.
“Thank you for saying that, Judith. It helps a lot. Of course, I know that I
have to defer to you when your opinion is different from mine—and that it’s not meant personally against me. But it helps to hear it from you.”
She looked him in the eyes. JR had a strange beauty to her, which didn’t immediately catch the eye. Under different circumstances, who knows, maybe if he had been named the boss... but no, dumbass, she prefers women. He had to be careful not to fall victim to daydreams.
JR raised her arm and looked at her watch. “Oh, still fifty minutes,” she said. “Will you come to the command center for the adjustment maneuver?”
“I’ll strap myself in here,” he said. “I’ve still got a lot to do.”
“Braking maneuver in sixty seconds,” JR’s voice said over the loudspeaker.
Michael folded out a seat from the side wall and sat down. He pulled the belts over his shoulders, and then a new thought entered his head. If things went according to his plan, sitting against the side wall would not be the best place to sit. The resulting forces would be much easier on him if he were sitting close to the ship’s longitudinal axis.
He stood up again. The seats, which were secured with a click-latch mechanism, were movable for just this sort of situation. He detached the seat from the wall and floated with it to the hatch. Directly next to the hatch was a universal fastener that he could use to attach the seat. He fastened the seat, sat down again, pulled the belts integrated into the backrest into his lap, and buckled them there.
“Braking maneuver in ten, nine, eight...”
When the countdown reached zero, the spaceship was supposed to start rotating about its axis so that the propulsion system would be pointing forward in the direction of travel. At least that was what Judith was counting on. But instead, Michael was pressed against the side bolster farthest away from the ship’s longitudinal axis. The ship started rotating, but only the nozzles pointing along the y-axis responded to Judith’s command. She tried to counteract the motion with the other pair of nozzles, but since Michael had connected the contacts, the y-axis nozzles just fired even more strongly. The ship rotated faster and faster without moving the propulsion system into a braking position.
“Abort,” Judith cried. Her voice sounded cool and calm over the loudspeaker. It amazed him, but a good captain had to act that way, even if it wasn’t going to help her at all. Coolness wasn’t going to get them back to the moon.
“Please remain buckled in,” Judith now ordered. Probably she wanted to try to stop the rotation of the ship. It would be the logical next step. To do that, she’d have to fire the y-axis nozzle on the other side of the ship. That would act against the rotation. But the ship’s rotation did not vary.
“Bad news,” she said. “The adjustment nozzles are not reacting properly. I can’t stabilize the ARES. Everyone please report to the command center for emergency talks.”
Michael released his belt. The continuous rotation was making him feel nauseous. He hurried to get to the central axis. He fixed his gaze on the center point of the hatch. That was the only spot that wasn’t moving.
This wasn’t what he had planned. There was only one explanation—he’d bitten through the wrong cable! The result was undeniably bad. Now they could neither brake nor land on Mars. Of course, he could clear up the mystery. As soon as someone repaired the cable, the nozzles would react normally again. But then everything he’d done would’ve been a waste. They’d still be able to return to the moon. He had to prevent that at all costs. At least time was on his side. If he could hold everyone else off for two days, his plan would be a success.
“Do any of you have any idea what happened?” JR asked.
“We should’ve checked the nozzles first,” François said. “We haven’t used them since we entered our current trajectory. Maybe the heat damaged them.”
“Hindsight is always 20/20,” Michael said. “We shouldn’t have needed them until we were close to Mars. There would’ve been plenty of time to check them by then.”
“It’s my fault. I should’ve had one of you check them,” Judith said. “But an EVA like that would’ve taken at least half a day, and a six-hour delay now would mean arriving at the moon two days later. The moon base has enough food for four weeks. I didn’t want to have to make them wait two days longer.”
“It’s not going to help anything to blame yourself,” Michael said.
Should he offer to relieve her of command too? She had a guilty conscience and might just be ready to relinquish her post. But better not, as that might give him away.
“Could a fault or failure anywhere else cause this?”
“No, Judith,” Michael said. “Someone’s got to go outside and fix the nozzles. I’ll do it.”
That was the best option. If they started looking for other faults, they’d soon find his sabotage. And if someone else inspected the nozzles, he’d also be found out, because the nozzles weren’t the problem.
“The best thing would be if Giordano went with you,” Judith said.
“No, JR, that’s too risky. The ship’s rotating very fast. This is not going to be a leisurely stroll. It’d be best to put only one of us in danger. And I’m volunteering.”
Ha, I’m quite the hero. Michael was thrilled at how everything was turning out. But the spacewalk wouldn’t be without its risks. The centrifugal force would try to fling him off the ship. In any case, this was not a situation for which they could have been trained.
“Okay, Mike, then please get ready for the EVA,” Judith said.
“I’ll start the exercises in a moment. Maybe I could shorten the regimen a little.”
“No, Mike, this time we’re going to do everything exactly by the book. I don’t want the EVA to fail because you suddenly develop aeroembolism. So, we’ll follow the full time. I’ll see you in six hours at the airlock.”
January 15, 2035 – Mars Ship ARES
With a beet-red face, Michael appeared at the airlock. He was exhausted from the long exercise session on the stationary bike. Plus, since the ship was still spinning so quickly, the motion combined with the exertion had made him throw up twice. Luckily no one had seen him. If someone had, JR probably would not have let him perform the EVA. He couldn’t complain, however, since he had gotten himself into this. If he could pull off his plan, that would be its own reward. He had to push through these difficulties and keep his eyes on the goal—his goal.
Giordi and François were waiting for him. “You look really bad,” François said.
Was he referring to his face or to the LCVG that he was already wearing over his diaper? It didn’t matter. He shook his head and pointed to his breathing mask. He’d put the mask on so he wouldn’t have to talk to them. Otherwise he ran the risk of giving himself away.
He was very grateful for their help, however. Without them he wouldn’t have managed to climb into the soft lower part of the suit, pull on the boots, or slip his arms into the upper part of the spacesuit, the HUT. He put the helmet on independently. He felt like he owed himself that much, at least. Finally, Giordi held out a second safety line to him.
“You’re going to need this.”
He took it, fastened the carabiner to his belt, and wound the line around his arm.
“You got the tools?” François asked.
“I’ve got them on me.”
“Then let’s get you outside. Break a leg, old man,” François said.
“Be careful,” Judith said through the helmet radio.
She was really trying to get him on her side. Typical female behavior. How many times did he need to show her that he was not her friend before she would finally give up?
He entered the airlock. The spacesuit was making all his movements more difficult. His last EVA had been a good two years ago, and that had been while he was in orbit around Earth, not on a fast-spinning ship moving in the solar system. He tried to picture images from his last spacewalk in his mind. The giant, blue Earth had made quite an impression on him. Who cares? He’d never see it again, and he supposed that was too bad. But life wo
uld go on, and for humankind to continue, it all depended on what they did now.
“You’ll have to open the outer hatch yourself,” Judith said.
Michael stopped in surprise for a moment. Of course. He needed to concentrate right now. He could dream about his glorious future when he was back in his cabin. JR was certainly watching him from all of the available cameras. Luckily, these electronic spies were only sparsely scattered around the outer hull of the spaceship.
He turned the wheel to the left, and the thick airlock hatch slowly started moving inward toward him. He had to use a good amount of force just to control it because the ship’s fast rotation was continually trying to separate the hatch from the ship. He was in luck, as there was an anchor on the left side where he could latch it in place.
In front of him was a black hole, or that was what the exit seemed like. To exit the ship, he first had to manage to extend his upper body out of the hole. Immediately, an unknown force gripped him and tried to accelerate him completely out of the opening. The inertia of his own body was the culprit. He hooked the safety line that Giordi had given him to the flat railing set all around the exit. Then he slowly let out more and more line until he was floating completely outside of the ship.
If JR had wanted to get rid of him, all she would have had to do was give him a line with a tear in it. The thought made him sweat. Giordi could be in on it—he had definitely been on her side. No, JR wouldn’t act that way. She was a good person. If she had wanted to kill him for some reason, she would’ve personally told him, right to his face, before she did it.
Michael pulled himself back toward the ship using the line until he landed on the outer hull with his feet. Then he knelt down against the ship. Next, he bent forward and hitched the second line to bring himself closer to the y-axis nozzle. He loosened the first line, wrapped it up, and then used the second line to move forward one and a half meters. Let it out, pull it in, it was strenuous work, but there was no other way. It seemed to him that the spaceship didn’t want him there.
The Wall: Eternal Day Page 11