The Blue People of Cloud Planet (6 page)

LifeSeeker-1

Both ROL’s had lifted off around midday lunar time and Zec-1 had set a course for the far side of the Moon which was always hidden from Earth.

‘Emergency!  Emer.’

 Zec-1’s instruction was cut short and Olivia and Scott were startled as Commander AJ’s face appeared on the dome in front of the command seats of ROL-1.

‘Zec-1 doesn’t know we exist,’ AJ continued, ‘but he does now as I’ve downloaded LifeSeeker-1 into his memory. With a bit of luck Zec-1 will now see us as friend and not foe!’

‘Because of the high security attributed to the project and LifeSeeker-1, I must keep secrets even from my own family. Now Zec-1 and Zec-2 are privy to Project Omega and the two starships.’ 

‘But Zec-1 couldn’t pick you up before,’ Scott replied, ‘you must have a pretty good screen around you.’

‘Yes, we’re only just over your horizon – you would have bumped into us before you saw us!’ AJ said with a smile, ‘and now Alison and Steve in ROL-2 are on-line.’

 ‘We need to be precise with our computer identity,’ AJ explained, ‘so ROL-1 is Zec-1, ROL-2 is Zec-2 and LifeSeeker-1 is Zec-C for Control. I’m putting up some images of LifeSeeker-1 on your domes so you will have a better picture of us before you make visual contact.’

A large section of the dome then showed several line drawings of the starship.

‘LifeSeeker-1 is 150m long and 80m diameter at the ion drive. The command, accommodation and all utilities  are contained within a 30m diameter by 80m long tubular front section. It was a huge undertaking to build a starship in space and I managed the whole process through inventory, materials procurement, sub-assembly, transport logistics, final build and test.’

The astronauts in the two landers looked through the clear dome to the horizon and sat back in awe as the huge starship started to appear with its vast arrays of solar cells glistening in the low sunlight. The ion drive dominated the skyline and the huge fins seemed to curve perfectly into the relatively small forward body of the ship.

Olivia and Scott were transfixed by the sight. They watched in silence as the twin lander bay doors on top of the ship started to open.

‘Each door is 10m wide by 30m long and positioned either side of the vertical fin. Between the doors and the ion drive are four emergency escape rockets. At the front is a 30m diameter command centre made from the same cyano-acrylic building blocks used at Moon Base, the lander command domes and the astronaut’s helmets.’

‘ROL-1 is seeking permission to dock with LifeSeeker-1.’

 ‘ROL-1 confirm identity,’
Zec-C commanded
.

As previously, Olivia and Scott put their palms down on the control panel. Now it was LifeSeeker-1 that checked the identity of the astronauts and gave permission to start the docking procedure to bay door 1. LifeSeeker-1 was in geostationary orbit behind the moon but even so it was travelling at over 1,500 kilometres per hour so ROL-1 had to slowly catch up with the starship and then begin the intricate procedure of exactly matching speeds whilst positioning itself 100 metres directly above the door.

As the lander started descending it was dwarfed by the huge starship below. The astronauts looked back and forth excitedly from the starship to the mimic displays in the dome. They were now just below the outer rim of the ion engine and descending between the two graceful fins. Then the bay door appeared level with their right side. Meanwhile, Zec-1 and Zec-C constantly confirmed speeds and height and alignment until the caterpillar treads on the lander touched down on the bay floor and the locking ovals mated and sealed. The huge door now closed and sealed but there was no necessity to pressurise the lander compartment as the astronauts could deplane using the through airlock command seat system as they had done on the roof of Moon Base. As they stepped out of the lander’s seats and took their first weightless steps on the starship, Commander AJ greeted them and led them into a four seat maglev buggy.

‘Weightlessness might be fun but getting around this starship is by taxi only.’ AJ instructed and when they were seated and ‘belted up’ he touched the screen for dome and the buggy silently moved forward to LifeSeeker-1’s command centre.

The bulkhead door hissed open and the buggy containing AJ, Olivia and Scott stopped and the two astronauts stared out into the dome.

 Nothing, absolutely nothing could prepare them for the spectacular vista and they gasped as they slowly moved forward from the rear of the 30 metre diameter hemisphere. On either side were wide walkways with banks of controls and instruments and lights of varying colours blinking status of unseen charges. Ahead and seemingly suspended in space, the maglev docked with a slightly downward inclined cantilevered walkway which connected to the wide arc of the seven seat control panel. The two astronauts carefully moved to seats labelled with their names, connected their lap belts and stared out through the huge dome. The view was magnificent.

Meanwhile Commander AJ had picked up Alison and Steve, who, equally stunned, moved to their positions while AJ took his place in the centre. The arc of the command seats curved outwards and forwards towards the clear dome giving everyone a panoramic view of the outside world.

‘Astronauts!’ AJ commanded, ‘Confirm decision to fly to Mars Base.’

The four astronauts and AJ put their left hands onto the control panel and Zec-C confirmed their identity.

‘Setting course for Mars Base.’

Almost imperceptibly the Moon’s horizon dropped away and LifeSeeker-1 started her relatively low speed journey to Mars. This would only take an incredibly short 14 days.

Mars Base

‘Mars Base is Project Omega.  It was designed along similar lines to Moon Base and it has five large modules in total – two for fabrication and sub – assembly, one each for utilities and accommodation and a special module.  I had co-ordinated a constant stream of shuttles between Earth, Moon and Mars for the last 20 years. Then I took completed sub – units into Mars orbit to assemble and complete LifeSeeker-1. Now I am continuing the task for the half completed LifeSeeker-2.

‘But there is one very unique module on Mars Base and our four astronauts are about to learn a surprising secret.’

‘I’d like you to meet Dr Astronaut Martha Baker,’ said AJ introducing the four astronauts by name, ‘Martha runs the cryo – hibernation unit here at Mars Base and she is going to show you around.’

Martha was in her late 30s with a small neat figure and smooth dark skin encompassing large eyes. She looked very striking in the white hygiene clothing which they had all changed into before entering the air lock.

The inner door hissed open and AJ and the astronauts followed Martha into the cryo-unit. They had seen many strange sights but this white floor- tiled, white-ceilinged, igloo-shaped room shrieked cleanliness and the astronauts felt almost afraid to enter. There was a constant noise of equipment beeping, valves opening and closing and the hiss of air and other gases pressurising and venting.

Martha beckoned them towards the middle of the room where seven lozenge shape units stood on complex support machinery fed by a multitude of pipes and wires. Behind each an LCD screen bristled with data, graphs and various coloured lights. Six of the structures were closed and the seventh stood open with its upper half retracted.

The four astronauts peered closer into the dark translucent upper halves of the closed units and saw that each contained a body!

‘My God!’ Olivia gasped, ‘Are they alive?’

‘Very much so,’ Martha replied, ‘let me introduce you to our six cryo – hibernation volunteers.’

‘Who on Earth would volunteer to be frozen?’ Steve queried.

‘Well, firstly they’re not frozen but kept at exactly 5 degrees Celsius and secondly on Earth there are still some really bad human beings.’

 Martha paused for effect and then moved closer to the first unit.

‘Let me introduce you to Freddie Riggs, 20 years for armed robbery, killed a security guard – no parole. We offered him 15 in cryo and he’s done 10, five to go – he’ll soon be our longest serving cryo.’

Before the astonished astronauts could respond, Martha moved to the second unit. ‘Lisa Greenfield, killed her young child, very sad case, 10 years but could be out in seven for good behaviour – accepted five from us – one down four to go.’

Martha detailed the next four criminals and then stood before the last open unit. ‘Joe ‘bully’ Saunders, 10 years for serious aggravated assault, no parole, accepted seven from us – went home 4 weeks ago in surprisingly good health and hardly looking a day older!’

‘
My biggest concern using criminals was maintaining the secrecy and security of the operation at Mars Base. Therefore I chose only those candidates susceptible to hypnosis so that all memories of their stay at Mars Base were erased before returning to Earth.’

‘Is this legal? Is this moral?’ Alison asked. She looked a bit shaken. Olivia was also looking very concerned and Scott wondered if she was thinking about having to go into one of those dark units. They had all heard about cryo – hibernation and that AJ had been through it and survived OK; but now they were confronted with the reality!

‘Oh yes, approved at World Council, ........ moral, well, I will let you judge, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to go through  this without full and realistic testing and we’ve successfully cryo’d 18 criminals over the last 15 years – and not lost one – Oh, and of course, AJ has been through it out there! But let me give you some of the technical stuff.’

‘It is not possible to freeze someone and then thaw them out in some years’ time – the body is 75% water and when that turns to ice it expands – think of the damage to delicate nerve ends, capillaries. If you cool someone down, they start shivering in an attempt to generate heat and if they can’t generate enough they die of hypothermia. The key to cryo – hibernation was to cool the body very slowly and at the same time to slow the body functions so that they required very little heat to maintain life. The breakthrough in animal testing 30 years ago was the use of  new strains of genetically engineered DNA which were introduced into the body as it cooled. These controlled the slowdown of body functions, pulse, brain activity etc. and through an exothermic reaction produced minute amounts of heat right at the key points of activity. Provided that the cooling and warming periods were long enough, the infused DNA balanced the bodily rates and the amount of heat required.’

Martha continued, her audience quite spellbound. ‘In two words, it works, particularly when combined with these sophisticated cocoons which maintain a perfect environment and gently exercise all parts of the body during the cryo. And what you see here is duplicated in LifeSeeker-1.’

‘How long could someone remain in cryo?’ Scott queried, ‘And wake up OK at the end, of course.’

Martha considered her reply very carefully, well aware that the only cryo ‘failure’ was the loss of StarGazer-1 with Commander Chuck Parker on board.

‘I am confident that we could cryo for 50 maybe up to 100 years and certainly for 20 which would get you to Seren.  Also, at 5 degrees Celsius, the amounts of gases and drugs consumed are infinitesimally small. These units and the older ones from the Stargazer missions carry enough materials for a hundred year journey – as long as the power source remains active.’

 ‘All very well for you to say that – you haven’t got to go into one of your pods.’ Steve mused sceptically.

‘Oh, but I am, hasn’t AJ told you? – I’ve volunteered to be doc astronaut for this mission and my husband, Pete, is coming as chief engineer!’

AJ smiled; the seven person team for LifeSeeker-1 was now completed.

‘A risk assessment is carried out for every new mission and again when any unforeseen changes occur during the operation. I carry out this process against strict criteria, dependent on the type and complexity of the operation, and assign a success rate percentage. Below this number, I, or a member of my family can abort or modify a mission. Even the commander of a starship cannot override me or one of my team.

‘At the time, I assessed this journey to Seren at well below the acceptable value, influenced mainly by the absence of the backup starship which would not be ready for another 5 years. However, because of the unprecedented SOS signal and the voluntary crew, the General takes the decision to go early against my documented advice.

‘Even I am overruled!’