Craggy 2: Another Last Flight for Craggy (8 page)

'Thank God for that,' said Breeze. 'Now turn this bird around and take us home. That's if you know how.'

'Not just yet,' said Dillow. 'We wanna see if this thing has weapons, right? Stella. Did you figure out anything that might be a weapon?'

'Well. I've always been a little suspicious of these sensors here. I think if I...'

From somewhere out of the as yet unexamined underbelly of the ship, a white narrow beam traced a line through the heavens.

'I knew it.'

Dillow suddenly got excited. 'Ok, Stella. You pilot, me shooter. Move over.'

She didn't have twin triggers like on The Eye, but something had fired the laser cannon. Sure enough, there were at least two independently operated lasers, a right handed flick fired one, a left flick fired the other.

'Yeah! Let's kill some rocks. Get some speed out of this bird. Skirt the belt.'

Stella worked the ship, Dillow played with the cannon. They raced along the outer belt, and Dillow fired at random, missing most targets, hitting a few by accident.'

'Ok,' said Breeze, assuming control as special project manager. 'Playtime over. Home. And no arguments. I want to see a landing without smashing up the ship.'

Dillow stopped shooting and Stella took the ship on a wide, fairly even loop, the engine in harmony with the rest of the ship and the pilot.

'Now,' said Stella. 'I think it was either that way or...no. Maybe that way. Relax. I'm joking.'

At a steady one third power, watching the screen track the way they had travelled, they all let out heavy sighs of relief as Mars became a speck in space, getting bigger by the second. 'I knew it. I was right.'

'Damn,' said Breeze. 'You weren't sure?'

'It sort of felt right. Now relax. We're getting the hang of things. Now all we gotta do is land this bird. Feel free to step in if you have any ideas on how to do that by the way, 'cus I haven't got a clue.'

'T
hey what?'

'Calm down, Lance,' said Potts. 'They decided to do that themselves. No one here either instructed them or even suggested they take off. They're in big trouble when they get back, taking off without clearance.'

Dillow growled, '
If
they get back. That damn ship could be a death trap for all we know. Can we contact them?'

'Not as yet. They probably haven't figured out that part of the ship yet.'

Armour Dillow's face was a confused expression of deep concern and fuming anger. 'I should go up there in Eye.'

'Except Breezy is the pilot for your ship. She's the one who knows it inside and out.' Potts shrugged. 'Maybe this is a good thing. The ship had to be tested, anyway.'

Dillow thumped the desk. 'Not this way. Not just blasting off into space in an unfamiliar bird with a rebuilt engine. When they get their sorry asses back here, I'll...'

'You'll what? Arrest them?'

'Yeah. I might just do that.'

'Including your daughter?'

'Especially my daughter.'

Potts' office door burst open and Mars Commander Anton Forbes entered. 'Breaking News. They're in orbit. Still no radio signal from them. Communications are still trying different frequencies.'

'I'm going over there,' said Dillow, storming out.

Forbes said, 'Come on, Pottsy. We need to keep him on a short chain.'

Three communication technicians visibly cringed when the huge Dillow marched in, closely followed by the two Mars Commanders.

'You got that damn bird yet?'

'No, Commander Dillow,' offered one, a small man in his thirties. 'Still trying.'

Forbes said, 'How are you trying?'

Anna Graham, the communications director, said, 'We have no idea what, if any, frequencies they might be using. I've ordered all Ground Based Frequencies shut down to avoid any possible interference and our scanners are on auto tracking. We know the ship's in orbit, so if they attempt to contact us, we should pick them up.' She looked up at Dillow. 'That's as much as we can do this end. The rest is up to them.'

Dillow took a deep breath and could see the “I dare you to have a go at me” look in Graham's eyes. He pulled his head in. 'Sorry I snapped at you. I'm just concerned for them.'

'As are we, Commander Dillow,' said Graham. 'Skye Lewquarker is my niece. I know how you feel.'

Potts said, 'I can see you clearly have the situation well under control, Anna. Just let us know as soon as...'

'Hello? Is there anybody there? This is..shit. I thought I had it then. Hello. Stella Wayward, trying to call Mars. Come in you guys.'

'Yes,' said Graham. 'Gottya.'

The technician spoke into the microphone. 'This is Mars Com One calling Stella Wayward. Are you receiving me?'

'Breezy. I nearly had them then. Stop messing. Hello? Can you hear me? This is...Breezy. Leave that alone, will ya. Jeez.'

Lance Dillow grabbed the microphone. 'Breezy. You stop messing about and let Wayward do her damn job.'

'Yeah,' groaned Graham, rolling her eyes to the heavens. 'Like that should do it.'

'I heard you, Mars Com One. This is Wayward. The ship's flying great. Going to try to set her down on launch pad seven. I could see it was available last orbit. Might need a bucket of water standing by in case we crash land.'

'Give me that, you big ape.' Graham took the microphone from Dillow. 'Wayward. I'll have all emergency services on red alert and standing by. Orbit until otherwise instructed. One moment.' She glared at the three men. 'The door's that way.'

The three commanders meekly left Graham and her technicians to do what they did best.

'W
ill ya look at that lot,' said Stella. 'They hardly left anywhere for us to land.'

Every available emergency service vehicle, fire officer, paramedic, and even police security officers, were surrounding launch pad seven.

'You'd better make us look good, Stella,' said Breeze.

Stella flicked her hair and pouted at Breeze. 'Don't I always, Breezy? Right. Permission to land, please?'

'Permission granted,' came the reply.

'Easing back to one tenth power. Balancing landing thrusters. Thrusters in equilibrium. I think I found landing legs. Yes. Landing legs locked. Lining up on launch pad seven. Main thruster ports off. Landing thrusters fully engaged. Bringing her down. Hope you guys got beer on ice. And here we are.'

'My Dad's going to blow his stack,' said Dillow, unbuckling her straps.

'Just say sorry and he'll be ok,' said Skye.

'You met my father? Come on. Let's face the music.'

The ramp opened up and the four women nervously walked out onto the concrete pad to be greeted by Lance Dillow, Forbes and Potts. Dillow stood with his hands on his hips, a dangerous expression on his face.

'Fawn Dillow. Come here.'

'Oh, crap. Hi, Dad.'

'You...I am so damn proud of you. All of you. Now come here and hug your old man.'

Fawn wrapped her arms around him. 'Sorry, Dad.'

'Hey. It's ok.' He kissed her forehead. 'The ship flew well?'

'Fantastic. The speed is phenomenal. And I killed some rocks.'

'Shit! We got cannon on that bird?'

Fawn said, 'Two. At least. Controls are tricky, but we can master them.'

'Mommy.'

'Come here, sweetie. Give Mommy a big kiss.'

'Got one for me too?' said Joel.

'You bet. Now. I don't know about the rest of this motley crew, but I need a good feed and a lot of love from my family.'

Leaving Stella, Skye and Breeze to handle the inevitable debrief, Fawn walked hand in hand with Shyne and Joel.

'Mommy. I gotta story.'

'You have, sweetie?'

'Yes. Did I tell you about the time my Mommy was the most bravest mommy on Mars? And she took off in a great big ship and she flew and she flew and she went round and around and then she came home. The end.'

'You made that story up?'

'Like it, Mommy?'

Fawn squeezed Joel's hand. 'I love stories with a happy ending.'

T
he days rolled on; the activity relentless. Forbes and Potts led from the front, working eighteen hour days, overlapping so one or the other was always available. The continuous meetings, site visits and organising was tempered with ensuring everyone had one full day off in ten. Potts was with the head of engineering as one of his five teams was fitting the latest laser cannon.

'This is the last ground fixed laser,' said Driver.

'You've all done a fantastic job, Screwy. How are the freighters coming along?'

Driver said, 'Two left to do. One dedicated team on each. My fourth team is supplying the other teams and the fifth is keeping the rest of Mars ticking over.'

'Great. Any issues?'

Driver laughed. 'Where do I start? We couldn't make another cannon. All these changes have sucked up every last resource. We literally have nothing to work with and I don't need to state the obvious for fixing anything else.'

'Understood. Send me through a full inventory of everything you have. I also want a full list of all outstanding jobs, in priority order. Underscore anything critical for particular attention. I'm not promising...'

Driver slapped Potts on the back. 'Don't make promises you can't keep. I'll make those lists, Pottsy. I'll leave it to you to read between the lines.'

* * *

S
anitation engineer, Ivor Potful, didn't mince anything much, especially words.

'Anton. If you think that stinks, you wait until the plant breaks down altogether.'

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, using one huge crater for waste treatment and usually it worked well. From that it was pumped into a treatment plant to neutralise it. As the population grew on Mars, demands on infrastructure grew with it, but occasionally problems inevitably occurred.

'The trouble is, Anton, sanitation is always bottom of the shit pile. And now that's what we have here. One bloody big pile of sh...'

'I get the picture. Jeez, that makes my eyes water.' It wasn't just the smell that bothered Forbes. 'If we don't get onto this, we'll have the serious risk of disease and sickness. That is totally unacceptable.'

Potful nodded. 'We'll try to do all we can. We can only do so much with what we have.'

'Join the club,' said Forbes.

F
orbes said, 'Sanitation. Medical supplies. Helium running low. A problem with the communication satellite. Need I go on?'

Potts yawned. 'I can match your list and then some. Anton. Have we been reckless with our resources for something that will probably never happen?'

Forbes pushed his empty plate away. It was his only meal in a very long day. 'Damned if we don't, damned if we do. What's top our list?'

'Sanitation and the satellite. Sanitation is a must do. What's wrong with the satellite?'

'No idea,' said Forbes. 'Breaking up all the time. That's why we had trouble getting through to Stella on her ship. All radio communication is through that satellite. It picks up and transmits. We have to get up there to fix it.'

'We can't afford for that to fail. The way I see it, the medical centre can struggle on for the time being, but if we start a pandemic from bad waste treatment, they'll be unable to cope. What does Ivor need to make it all go away?'

Forbes said, 'A new pumping station. The main pump has had it and the back up is hardly coping.'

'I've had a list from Screwy. No pumps. Not even spares to repair an old one.'

Potts said. 'We have to do something. Surely there's a pump somewhere?'

'Actually, I know of a couple.'

'Anton. Unless you hid one somewhere for a rainy day, we have no spare pump.'

Forbes said, 'Not on Mars. Moon.'

'Moon? We brought everything back from there.'

Forbes smiled. 'Not quite everything. There are four pumps on Moon, running the helium extraction plant.'

'Are you seriously suggesting we bring one of those back here?'

Forbes said, 'As a stopgap. Big Bird is on her way already. They can use the plant to get all the helium the ship can carry, then bring back a pump or two.'

'That makes sense, I suppose. The helium will last a couple of years, depending on demand. Right. I'll send a message to Big Bird and instruct them.'

Forbes got up. 'I'm off to sleep before I fall over. In the meantime, if...'

They were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Communications Captain Anna Graham. 'Commanders. Found you at last.'

'Could have radioed us,' said Potts.

'Not with the satellite out I couldn't.'

Forbes and Potts looked at each other and sighed.

Forbes dared to ask, 'Out completely, Anna?'

'Totally dead,' said Anna.

'Wonderful,' said Potts.

'N
othing?'

Max Morgan shook his head. 'Not a peep.'

Rocky asked. 'Tried a systems check?'

'About one hour ago. All our systems are fine. Must be a problem their end.'

Ramshorn sat in the copilot's seat. 'Nothing that really matters to us this close to Moon. If we had a problem, they couldn't help us anyway.'

'Best keep it to ourselves about the radio going down. For the time being at least.'

'Agreed. We'll keep trying to call them while the gas crew are busy. I just hope...'

Max waved a warning finger at Rocky. 'Don't even think that, let alone say it. They're fine back there. Just some kind of glitch. We say nothing to the others and carry on with the mission.'

'Fine. Only another couple of days until we land on Moon and we can keep calling Mars until we get a response.'

* * *

'T
wo birds, one stone,' said Potts. 'You four get practice with the ship, and you sort out the satellite. Stella. Familiarised yourself with the schematics?'

'Yes, Sir. I've already had some experience with the satellite. Any idea of the problem?'

'It could be anything. At least we have a reasonable amount of parts for that. They're unique to the satellite, so haven't been cannibalized for anything else. Of course it means you'll be completely out of touch until you fix the thing.'