The Blue People of Cloud Planet (37 page)

‘Surely we can let Zec-2 pilot the lander automatically and fire the missiles when it’s in position?’ Alison said with concern, ‘Then there’s no human risk!’

‘We’ll be very near the target, very near the black,’ countered AJ, ‘can we risk a computer command to start the process?’

‘I don’t think we dare!’ Pete cautioned. ‘The computer command has to travel wirelessly outside the lander to release the missile and trigger the ignition of the rocket propellant. If that signal is blocked or interfered with...’

‘It would jeopardise the whole operation!’ AJ concluded.

‘So apart from getting into position, everything to do with the missile attack has to be completely mechanical?’ Steve summarised. ‘Can we release the missiles manually?’

‘Yes, there is a lever switch for each missile under the control console in the command dome of each lander,’ advised Pete, ‘and the mechanical release also pulls a pin for the firing of the rocket propellant.’

‘So, someone has to be in the lander command dome to do that!’ AJ said with finality.

‘I cannot calculate a risk percentage for this operation as there are too many unknown variables. I can only reiterate the accuracy of manual firing from that position.’

This was Zec-C’s reply to AJ’s request for a risk assessment of using the lander. They had discussed the strategy at length. Alison and Steve strongly felt that they should pilot the lander but Olivia countered by saying that for such a high risk mission they should not risk two astronauts, nor should they split a team.

‘I want to volunteer for this mission,’ Olivia said firmly, ‘and do it solo. I’m back to full fitness. Correct Martha?’

Martha nodded her approval to AJ who proposed that this was the best strategy. They voted four to two in favour of Olivia piloting the lander on her own.

Then came their biggest dilemma and it was Steve who proposed the deadliest of actions.

‘We may have only one chance to do real damage to those cylinders. Let us assume that the chlorine missiles break the black barrier. Then we must hit them with two nuclear warheads to inflict the maximum damage to the enemy!’

Silence.

Silence around the command dome of LifeSeeker-1 as the astronauts considered the crime of a nuclear strike on another planet and against a menace that had so far proved totally superior and had anticipated all their actions.

‘We can’t do that!’ Martha cried anxiously. ‘We’ve taken over a century to eliminate the nuclear threat from Earth. How can we possibly justify this action on another planet?’

‘I think Steve is right,’ countered Olivia, ‘we may have only one opportunity to stop this alien menace.’

‘But the risks are so high! The nuclear missiles have to be computer guided! What if the barrier isn’t breached sufficiently?’ Alison voiced her grave concerns. ‘We could be facing our own nuclear missiles fired back at us!’

The discussion continued, arguments for and against, but eventually it was up to AJ to bring the heated debate to a conclusion.

‘We have to be clear about what we are going to do,’ said AJ gravely. ‘We are going to launch the chlorine missiles from the lander but before that time we will have to launch the attack missiles, maybe nuclear, so that they will arrive at the presumably destroyed black barrier seconds later and then on to their target of the cylinders. We may have time to abort the attack missiles before they are near enough to be interfered with but.....

....... there is no margin for error!

And once we commit......

....... well if we fail, who knows what will happen. However, we cannot do nothing and I consider the plan is the best we have in the circumstances. So, fellow astronauts, I ask you to vote firstly on the basic plan to attack and secondly on whether it should be a nuclear strike.’

The vote was six to zero for the plan to attack the cylinders and three to three regarding the nuclear strike.

AJ paused. He now had to make the final decision and he looked grimly at each of the astronauts in turn.

‘Nuclear it is!’

The die was cast!

Pete’s Box of Tricks

The decision was made and they all realised the enormousness of the task ahead.

 AJ and Steve were allocated the job of fixing the chlorine containers onto the front of the missiles. AJ had insisted, and all had agreed, that they produce three chlorine missiles and test fire one in the middle of the ocean. Pete had informed them that this would allow the mechanical timer to be calibrated so that any last-minute adjustments to the operational missiles could be made.

Olivia and Alison were charged with removing each missile’s guidance system and all on-board computers, including the automatic system for releasing and igniting the propellant.

All this work was to be carried out in the starship’s mechanical bay and Zec-C was commanded to select the ‘D’ missiles from armoury and bring them to the maintenance bay in their special transport carriages.

Martha and Pete would produce the mechanical timers and pack the missile with the plastic explosive and the battery. However, the timer would not be inserted into the missile until it was slung in place below the lander and the connections would be the last job for Pete before the casing cover was put back in place. This would be the most critical and vulnerable part of the operation because they would have a live missile sitting inside the starship’s lander bay.

No-one dared to contemplate the horrific consequences if that missile accidently fired before leaving LifeSeeker-1!

AJ looked in on Pete in his workshop for a progress report. His ‘den’ was an engineer’s dream with every tool, material and state of the art fabrication technique at his disposal. The starship carried a huge inventory of spares, but when you are light years from civilisation, a boffin must have the capability to produce just about anything that might be needed.

‘We’ve fitted the first missile with the chlorine containers and cleared out all the computer stuff.’ AJ informed Pete, ‘How is progress on the mechanical timer?’

‘Come and see, I’ve made the first one.’ Pete gestured AJ to a bench where Martha was putting finishing touches to what looked like a clear plastic box with two wires protruding from it.

‘I’ve used 5 millimetre thick Perspex sheet to fabricate the structure using low molecular weight poly- methyl -methacrylate in solvent as the adhesive.’

Oh, no! Thought AJ, not another lecture!

‘The key material for the timer is mercury, the only liquid metal and a perfect conductor of electricity. Zec-C has done some initial calculations on the minimum weight of mercury and the diameter of the orifice which controls the flow of the liquid.’ Pete then went on to describe the timing device.

‘Inside the box we have, for want of simplification, a horizontal egg timer constructed from two closed tubes of Perspex separated by a metal plate with a small orifice in the centre which will direct the mercury flow to the end of the receiving tube. The left hand side is larger in diameter and will be filled to about one third its depth with mercury. We’ve already put the required weight in this part. The right hand tube is narrower in diameter and has one electrical contact at the far end and one 5 centimetres towards the middle.

‘Now, look what happens when we stand the whole box on end. Martha will demonstrate.’

AJ watched as the mercury in the upper tube formed a reservoir above the orifice and started to flow down the narrow tube into the lower compartment. It covered the first electric contact almost immediately, but took about 1 minute to fill and touch the second contact causing a light connected to the protruding leads to come on.

‘Now I know what you’re thinking. We can hardly rely on the box being turned upside down. But we don’t have to, this device will sit horizontally and safely until the missile’s rockets fire and the g-force will push the mercury against the orifice, through the tube and will fill the second compartment housing the electrical ‘switch’.’

Meanwhile Martha had taken the device apart and replaced the mercury back into the left hand compartment and closed the box. She gestured to AJ and he tipped it vertically and watched the mercury flow until the light went on.

‘The missile is likely to rotate,’ Pete continued, ‘and this will work at any orientation.’

‘What are the white plastic caps in the cylinder ends?’ AJ queried.

‘They are micro-porous plugs, when the mercury moves from one compartment to the other, air must be allowed to enter or leave the chambers – but not mercury, of course.’ Pete beamed.

‘What about the acceleration of the lander?’ AJ persisted, ‘I understand from Zec-C that we need to launch the missile at 200 kilometres per hour so that it has sufficient forward velocity for initial stability!’

‘Correct, but Zec-C is going to programme a very slow acceleration of the lander and will fly in a heads down position until launch.’

‘OK, sounds good, what else have we to consider?’

‘The plastic detonator must be securely strapped next to the surface warhead and the battery must be very securely fixed as far as possible to the rear of the missile’s compartment. The timer will go in between, again firmly located.’

‘What’s the accuracy of the timer, Pete?’

‘One minute plus or minus 2 seconds.’

‘OK, let’s do it! Let’s test this missile whilst it’s still daylight,’ AJ commanded.

There were only two people in the huge bay housing the lander ROL-2. Pete was under the lander with his head almost inside the open casing of the chlorine missile whilst Olivia sat in the right hand control seat.

Earlier, Zec-C had pressurised the lander bay and had used the automatic transport system to transfer the modified missile from the maintenance section. Here it was raised to the underside of the lander where two electro-magnetic clamps held it securely. Whilst the missile support carriage was still in place, Olivia tested the manual switch which was located under the control panel by her right hand whilst her left hand moved forward onto the control panel to confirm her identity. The pushing of the lever from the upper position marked ‘clamp’ to the lower position marked ‘release’ would switch off the current to the electro – magnets and both clamps on the missile would simultaneously spring apart.

Olivia pushed the lever back up to the ‘clamp’ position and heard and saw Pete give the thumbs up on the dome display. Zec-2 also confirmed the satisfactory manual operation of the switch.

She could now see Pete carrying the timer box and carefully placing it in the missile casing.

‘How can we be certain that the mercury isn’t going to move before the missile drops and fires away?’ Olivia asked Zec-2 again – she felt very vulnerable at the moment.

‘At this altitude we have ten per cent planetary gravity, more than enough to hold the mercury in the bottom of its current compartment. At this low gravity, I will be able to raise ROL-2 gently up to clear LifeSeeker-1. Then I will put ROL-2 into a 15 degree heads down position and the mercury will move to the end of the compartment – the safe end. We will descend and accelerate so gently that the mercury will remain in its safe position. We will arrive at the release coordinates at the desired forward velocity for stable release and we will be at the correct angle to ‘fire’ the missile. Then the mercury will flow to the second compartment.’

Sounds good in theory, she thought, but I’m the one sitting on top of a live bomb! Then she heard Pete say.

‘All connections made, missile now live, closing and securing outer casing.’ and he gave Olivia a thumbs up as he exited the lander bay.

Zec-C now retracted the missile carriage system and started the powerful cryo pumps which would reduce the pressure in the lander bay to that of the atmosphere outside the starship. Then the two bay doors opened and they were ready to go.

Olivia could see AJ and the rest of the astronauts on her dome mimic display as he gave the order,

‘Command start test flight!’ and all the astronauts moved their left hand forwards to confirm.

Zec-2 lifted the lander gently upwards and cleared the starship. Olivia loved this moment and the view forward through the dome of the deep blue sea 400 kilometres below was stunning. The ocean was so calm that it perfectly reflected the cloud collar as far as the eye could see in both directions. So much beauty yet what a desperate situation, Olivia mused. Then the lander turned and the nose slowly dropped. They crawled away from the starship as they started their slow descent and acceleration. It would take 2 hours to reach the designated missile release coordinates.

Zec-2 was counting off the time at regular intervals and the dome mimic showed all the relevant speeds and distances to the release point which was 4 kilometres from the target coordinates in the sea.

‘Five minutes to manual release.’

Olivia opened the cubicle to her right containing the switches for missile release. There were, in fact, two manual switches as the lander could carry two of these huge missiles underneath, one either side of the airlock lower door. She focussed on the right hand switch, the one she had tested earlier.

‘Two minutes to manual release.’

The starship was stationed above and behind the lander and AJ and the astronauts could see the tiny space vehicle through the dome with its image enlarged on their mimic display.

‘Good luck Olivia,’ encouraged AJ.

‘One minute to manual release.’

Olivia put her right hand on the lever and her left hand on the control panel and waited for Zec-2’s countdown.

‘Ten seconds, nine, eight........’

She found herself gripping the lever so hard her knuckles were white.

‘........ three, two, one, Command release!’

She pushed the lever down and for a moment she wondered if anything had happened. Then Zec-2 confirmed ‘missile released’ and a second later ‘missile fired’. Olivia looked through the dome and saw the rocket streak away and then felt the huge g-force as Zec-2 applied thrust and lift to the lander to facilitate its speedy getaway from the blast zone. Olivia watched the missile on the dome mimic display and tried to imagine the mercury flowing and filling the second compartment.

The missile hit the water and then exploded in a huge circular mass of boiling foam, thick smoke, flame and steam – all tinged with an eerie yellowish green glow.

There were cheers on LifeSeeker-1. Then Zec-C announced that the explosion had occurred 61 seconds after release and they all looked at Pete who glowed with success.

‘And well done Olivia!’ AJ quickly said. ‘Someone had to sit on that bomb and rely on Pete’s box of tricks.’

‘High chlorine levels were measured over a 2 kilometre radius of the sea. At the epicentre levels were so high they were off the scale!’

‘OK, we’ve proved our mechanical chlorine bomb works but we’ve got two more to finish. We’ll plan our assault for midday tomorrow, that’s just over 10 hours from now. Olivia, make sure you get a good night’s sleep!’