Breaking Interstellar: Android Lives Matter Page 3

  Chapter Two: Working in space

  Just outside the airlock, two relatively tiny dots of bright-white, float silently next to each other. Each of the astronauts lost in their own thoughts, as the enormousness of their surroundings captivate their senses. It always seems necessary to acclimate the mind, while starting an EVA. The surreal beauty of the immense cosmos, demands it. Kara activates the thrusters on her MMU, turning her bulky space suit to a direction where she thinks Earth should be suspended. And sure enough, she’s not disappointed. “Hey Jax, look over yonder and tell me what you see.” She points stiffly into the dark void.

  Turning towards the direction where she points, Jax notices a bluish point of light amongst the billions of other tiny white-lights off in the great void. “Oh, very nice, Kara! Earth is looking splendid today!” He’s grateful for a diversion before starting the immense task ahead. “But, she looks much too small.” He adds with disappointment in his tone. “We sure went deep for this rock. The last time I checked, we’re about 180-million-miles away from those sandy beaches. Only the Heisenberg went deeper for an asteroid.” He says, remembering that horrible tragedy that took their friends. “Even this far out, we’re still just next door, in astronomical terms. Why, it would take us a half-million years in our rust-bucket, just to get out of the Milky Way galaxy. And that’s going up or down; not to the far edges. Leaving by the edge would take millions of years. And after that, there are hundreds of billions of other galaxies. It’s mind bending!”

  “Mind bending, and then some.” Kara replies mystically. “The distances involved out here, transcend the ability for most humans to comprehend. I heard someplace, that there’s about 276-sextillion-miles to the edge of the observable universe…. did you know that, Jax?” She rambles on, before he can respond. “That’s a 276, followed by 21 zeros!” She exclaims, adding. “Apparently, there’s a lot of damn space, in outer space! It’s a shame, we have to cram 19-billion-people onto such a small rock. And, we can’t travel far enough or fast enough, to find a new planet to ruin. Humanity needs new worlds badly. So, let’s just hope Doctor Sohn has an ace up his sleeve. I mean, do you think his spaceships actually have a snowballs chance in hell of breaking interstellar?” She asks the difficult to answer question.

  “My my, Kara; You might want to lay off the caffeine a little.” Jax responds with a hearty laugh before answering. “Well, as you know, these asteroids are being used to create a new class of spaceship”. He clarifies…. “Starships you might say; along with the infrastructure for the rest of the mission. But there’s an informational black-hole when it comes to his master plan. So, it’s hard to have an educated guess about any chances for success.” He admits, before qualifying the statement. “I mean to say, that if Doctor Sohn can’t develop some damn smart robots, it won’t matter if the starships can make the journey or not. Because without someone to run the show at the other end; it’s just a moot point anyway. And from what I understand, he isn’t there yet. Not by a long shot…. In fact, he’s becoming a bit of a pariah among the other players in the philanthropy crowd. They can’t understand why he’s allocating so many resources into outer space, when there are billions of people on Earth that need help now.” He informs long-windedly, continuing to soak in the beauty of the tapestry of lights in the far distance.

  Kara replies. “Well, all I can say, is that good old planet Earth has been a great cradle for us humans, but the handwriting is on the wall.... ‘time to leave, or go extinct’.” She says, prophetically. “I mean; every baby has to leave the crib eventually.”

  A short silence as they float peacefully next to each other; then Captain Crane enters the conversation. “Hey, you two are making me home-sick, so whenever you’ve finished skylarking, we’re ready in here for modular separation. Just give the word.” Braxton wanted to get them moving earlier, but he knows that people on EVA tend to have a strong desire to chat when they first exit the ship. This is due in part, to the immense stress of being confined within such a claustrophobic environment as a space suit. The feeling of being closed in, is very strong. Without that voice in their ear, it’s easy for the insidious phenomenon of claustrophobia to rear its ugly head. Even for those that normally wouldn’t be so affected.

  “Aye Aye, Captain Bligh! Kara and I are at a safe distance. Go ahead with separation.” Jax informs, as he and Kara turn towards the large vessel, waiting for the show to begin.

  On the bridge of the Revenge, Braxton gives the order. “Okay Harp, they’re ready for modular separation. Go ahead as soon as you’re ready.” He removes a key that he keeps on a chair around his neck, handing it to his first officer. “Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a smooth transition. This is the part of our job I never look forward to. I’ll monitor from the science station as always.” Using the ships intercom system, Braxton announces the impending separation to the rest of the crew, so they won’t be taken off guard by the event.

  “Copy that cap, it’s not my cup of tea either.” Harper reaches and slides a tiny clear panel to the side, revealing a countersunk key hole. Inserting the key and turning it clockwise, he arms the ships automated module separation system. Then finding the correct push button on his panel, he lifts the spring-loaded safety cover with a fingertip, and transmits to anybody that might give a damn. “Here we go for main-engines module separation in three…. two…. one….” He presses the button which illuminates blinkingly, staying depressed until pushed again.

  Five levels below the bridge, motorized actuators separate the electrical connections between the engines module and the rest of the vessel. Then, with a series of muffled clinks and clanks felt throughout the entire structure, a powerful set of electrically-actuated clamps release their iron grip. Thrusters along the side of the module fire in unison as maneuvering computers take control of the separation. The 150-foot-long, by 43-feet-diameter main-engines module, slowly and gracefully moves away from its parent.

  Braxton on the comm: “How’s it looking out there Jax? It sounded like a clean separation from in here.”

  “Yeah cap, she’s backing away as pretty as you please. Much like that woman back at Mars, when I asked her to dance.” He couldn’t resist.

  “Just the facts, Jax …. just the facts.” Braxton cautions with a chuckle. “But that was a good one. Update me when she’s parked.”

  “Will do, cap.... Right now, she’s moving away at just the right speed and angle. I’ll get back to you in a few.”

  Outside in the cold vacuum, the two rock-hounds watch with amazement, as a very large piece of their home is separated and backed off to pre-determined coordinates in nearby space.

  “I never tire of watching the ship separate.” Kara says wonderingly. “It’s so graceful, yet so potentially deadly. But I must admit, Jax; it scares the hell out of me when I think about what would happen if we couldn’t rejoin them. It would be an awfully long wait for help to arrive! So, please remember where we parked it.... okay?” She finishes, with a nervous laugh.

  “No problem, pretty lady.... it’s parked in the sparkly-section, somewhere between Mars and Jupiter…. I mean honestly, how can it possibly get lost in such a relatively tiny space?” He asks with an incredulous laugh.

  “Ha Ha …. Jax, the funny man.” She retorts with a sneer.

  About that time, the main engines-module stopped moving. “Jax to Captain Crane; the engines-module is static, and parked where she should be. Go for the next one when ready.”

  “Copy that, Jax. I have Mr. Williams working on it now.”

  Jax and Kara watch, as the next module on the diminishing spacecraft separates without fanfare. At just 50-feet-in-length, it’s only slightly less-impressive to watch, as it backs off and away, nearly duplicating the first maneuver. It comes to a stop just a short distance from the engines-module. “So far, so good.” Jax informs. “One more to go.”

  After the third-module separates and parks itself close by, the rest of their tiny home, looks fragile and vulnerab
le. From a distance, it seems as though a giant space-clever has come along and chopped it up like and oversized kielbasa sausage. Only the bridge, and two inseparable levels, remain for living and supply storage. And, much of that supply-level is consigned to energy-storage for times like this when the reactor is not available. In space, the astronauts live like tiny pea’s in a pod.

  “Hey cap, all three modules are parked and static. Request permission to do our magic?”

  “Permission granted.... Watch each other’s backs out there. We’ll monitor, as always.”

  “Copy that cap, we’ll be careful as always. Right Kara?” Jax, encourages her to reply to the captain’s request.

  “Aye Aye, captain…. And the two trained monkeys, begin their task.” She jokes, as they move towards the last of the separated modules using their MMU’s. Coming to a stop at the edge of the desired module, the two rock-handlers give it a good visual inspection to see if anything obvious is out of place. They pay special attention to the many rows of rocket-pods that occupy most of the modules interior. After seeing that all seems to be in order, they maneuver to an operations platform located just inside the modules top rim. This will be their base of operations for the next several hours.

  Jax enters commands into a control panel and is relieved to see all the necessary screens come to life. Everything seems ready. “Okay Kara, I think we’re good to go. Are you secured for the ride?” He asks, expectantly.

  She rechecks her tether attachment. “As ready as I’ll ever be. Now, don’t let us get run over by little-ole-Baker. He’s been waiting a few billion-years to cause trouble.” She jokes, nervously.

  “I’ll stay clear of him. I know he could easily turn us into a thin greasy skid-mark if given the chance.... Okay woman, hold on.... here we go!”

  With a delicate grip on the joystick, Jax manipulates it in just the right way to get the large module moving in the direction of Baker. Thrusters doing the real work, as they push the module past many ancient moons, caught in the big-boys gravity field. Soon, the module is parked above the rotational equator. Suspended in space, just 200-feet-away from the tumbling boulder, he stabilizes the module precisely where the computer calculations instruct.

  Kara unceremoniously pushes several grapefruit-sized moons out of the way as the module comes to a stop. Off they sail into the darkness after spending many millions of years trying to connect with the asteroid. Reaching, she plucks a nice two-inch-diameter moon from its orbit, brushes the regolith off and places it into her tool pouch. After six years of wrangling asteroids, she has a nice collection of tiny moons….

  “Ready the laser Kara, the first coordinates are coming up in four-minutes. And for god’s sake, don’t shoot your eye out!” He severely pushes his luck.

  “Ha, freekin Ha, big boy!” She retorts scathingly, as she’s opening the compartment that holds the device. “Me and this laser have a thing goin on.” Reaching into the compartment, she pulls out a long device that strongly resembles a fat, Doctor-Seuss-looking bazooka, with rows of cooling fins circling the barrel at the business end. Reaching once again, she retrieves a power cord, and secures it to the laser using an aviation-style cannon plug connection. Sometimes, not an easy thing to do while wearing bulky space gloves. But, with a push and twist, it locks on.

  Hefting the device that weighs 200-pounds on Earth, is easy in space. But, it’s always a bit disconcerting for her to think that such a powerful tool has no weight in the void of space. Also, the effects of the powerful beam, makes her feel animated while using it. Causing her to ever so slightly, disconnect from reality, as its authoritative-force on the target, produces a hypnotic effect in her mind. This psychological phenomenon, due in part, because there isn’t any physical recoil. While at the receiving-end of the focused beam of energy, there is awesome ‘visual-recoil’! .... Destruction on a grand scale! .... It’s that destructive power that tries to hypnotize. Tries to warp her common sense.... Tries to keep her trigger finger depressed, longer than needed. She always makes great effort to comply with the captain’s warnings when wielding such a magnificent tool, but she’s only human after all!

  “Stand aside Jax, and let a woman show you how to vaporize regolith!” She jokes, widening her stance as much as her bulky space suit legs will allow. She carefully swings the laser up and places it on her shoulder, then checks the adjustment on the sighting system. Being that she’s the only person who uses the thing, she finds the sights still adjusted to her fancy. Now, to see if he still works, she ponders.... Choosing a random spot on the side of Baker that’s turning past them, she gingerly squeezes the trigger, firing off a test shot.

  A three-inch-diameter section of Baker explodes into smoky dust and debris, as the highly-focused beam, bores into the ancient buildup of regolith. Now, the invisible beam becomes visible for the first time, as it reflects brilliant ruby-red laser light off the trillions of dust particles fleeing the scene of the crime. The bright beam tries to hypnotize her into keeping the trigger depressed longer than a test shot requires, but she wins out over the impulse, and releases her finger from the hair-trigger.

  “Damn Kara, a little more warning would be nice!” Jax scolds.

  “Sorry Jax, my bad. You know I always test fire. But hey, I didn’t shoot my eye out!” She covers her thoughtlessness with a smartass quip.

  “Okay. Okay. That actually is an accomplishment, I guess.” He teases. “Now take your time, Kara. That’s some piece of unforgiving technology you have there in your hands.”

  “Relax Jax. I realize the gravity of the situation.” She puns. “You know something? I’m really going miss old Cyclops here. Do you think Doctor Sohn will let me keep him as an extra bonus?” She asks, facetiously.

  “Dream on woman, dream on. That tidy piece of equipment is a 50-million-dollar laser. I’m sure the good doctor would rather lose his left meteoroid, than give that baby away! Besides, what would you use it for back on Earth? Opening rum bottles on the beach? Hey, now there’s a thought!” Then glancing at a display screen, Jax informs her. “Okay Annie Oakley,” as he readies a harmless targeting-laser, “we’re coming up on the first dust-off coordinates in ten-seconds.” He paints the area of concern on the asteroids surface. “Can you see the spot, Kara?”

  “Hell yeah, I see it real good Jax! Now stop shaking, damn it.” She has a good laugh, adding. “Just kidding Jax, just kidding.... Okay baby, here we go!”

  Aiming the powerful laser at the section of Baker that Jax illuminates, Kara lets loose with all 120-kilowatts of focused energy. The searing beam of photons, slam into Baker with incredible authority. It blasts the targeted area clean of any regolith that might impair the rocket-pods from adhering tightly. Huge plumes of smoke and debris, flee in a cone-shaped fashion.

  “Yeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaa!” Kara exclaims, as she sweeps the powerful beam back and forth. The searing devastation tears through the cloud of debris, erasing any trash from the landing site. She quickly clears a 100-square-foot-area of all regolith and loose rocks, leaving a beautifully scorched and glowing patch of near-liquid metal on the surface. After letting up on the trigger, she remembers to breathe; and starts looking for the next target as the asteroid slowly rolls past, just beyond their reach.

  “Damn fine work, Kara! That’s a superb dust-off, if I’ve ever seen one! The next spot is coming up! In three …. two …. one.” Kara, repeats the exhilarating process eleven more times, while Baker makes a full-rotation beneath them. Patting the hot laser as if it’s an old friend, she powers it down and lets it float in front of her, allowing it to cool before restoring it back into its cubby-hole. “I’m going to miss you, old friend. You’re the bee’s knees, baby!” Emotion, fills her words.

  “Are you okay Kara? Now don’t start crying. You don’t want to breathe your tears, do you?” Jax warns, trying to cheer her up.

  “Oh, you! I’m fine; just giving farewell to an old friend. Now let’s get the rest of this show on the road, huh? All that lasering
has made me hungry.”

  Switching to another computer system dedicated to the placement of the braking rocket-pods, Jax allows it time to acquire its position in space with relationship to Baker. A blinking green-light on the display, tells him it’s ready for work. It will place a rocket-pod on each cleaned off spot, with the rockets nozzle pointed into the direction of rotation.

  “I’m releasing the first pod Kara. Are you ready?”

  “I’m ready Jax. Give it hell!” .... Jax pushes the button; explosive-bolts holding the first pod in place, detonate; releasing a circle-clamp that held it securely in place for all these months. Calibrated springs under the pod, cause it to slowly exit the module. The bulky rocket-pod, gracefully rises from its snug, bee-hive-like compartment. Tiny, but powerful thrusters take their commands from the placement computer, guiding the pod into position above its target.

  With precisely calibrated automation and timing, the thruster’s fire at full power, sending the pod on a collision course with the tiny cleaned off area on Baker. In a ballet of perfect motion, the pod approaches the rotating asteroid. Two-seconds before impact, electrical current flows from a battery inside the pod, and into a series of circuits that run throughout a dark coating on the base of the pod.

  This electrical current initiates a chemical reaction within the coating, causing it to inflate rapidly and dramatically. The resulting hot spongy-mass of glue-like-material is three-feet-thick, and buffers the impact, as the pod lands gracefully onto the surface. The sponge-like material quickly fills in any uneven surfaces on the landing spot, allowing the pod to rest comfortably and in just the right position.

  Cooling very rapidly, this inflated chemical-cushion solidifies into a rock-hard foundation. For all intents and purposes, the pod is now a permanent fixture on Baker. The rockets are integrated within the top of the pod, and are oriented almost horizontal to the surface of the asteroid, with a variable-direction nozzle that can gimbal to desired angles when operating. This allows for a fine-degree of control, when bringing the big rock to a static configuration.

  “Well, that went smoothly, Kara. Don’t you think?”

  “It couldn’t have gone better, my friend. My, what would we do without all this marvelous technology? Soon, Doctor Sohn will send robots out here to do this stuff. We’re lucky to get in on the scam, while humans still play a part in whatever scheme he has planned.” She jokes in a serious way, adding. “Well Jax, one down and eleven to go.”

  To minimize upsetting the delicate balance of the asteroid, Jax allows many landing spots go by, while he disengages another pod and gets it into position. As Baker rotates further, a landing spot on the opposite side of the asteroid, comes into view. Computer automation takes over once again, and another pod squishes onto its landing zone where it quickly solidifies and returns a balance to the large boulder. Soon, all twelve pods are secured into position, ready to fire.

  “Hey cap, are you there? We’re ready to move away from Baker and make him static.” Jax reports with satisfaction in his tone.

  “Yeah Jax, I’m here. That’s great; good work. You two make a damn fine team. Carry on. Oh, and Kara, I just have to say that I’m very proud of you for resisting the urge to Swiss-Cheese our precious little asteroid.”

  With a dark tone, Kara pounces. “Keep it up cap, and I’ll Swiss-Cheese you!” But, after a dramatic pause. “Just kidding cap.... Actually, I did want to drill it good, but that thing is so dense, it would’ve only laughed. Besides…. Jax said I could keep the laser for opening rum bottles on the beach, if only I was a good girl while handling it!” She jokingly pushes her luck.

  “Oh, now wait a minute, little miss sure shot!” Jax has a good laugh, adding. “We’ll get back to you soon cap. It’s time to stop a rock from tumbling.” Then he turns towards his partner. “Okay lovely lady, won’t you please do the honors, and move us back to the parking lot?”

  “With pleasure!” Kara, switches places with Jax; carefully tweaking the thruster control joystick just right, causing the now empty module to back away from the tumbling asteroid. It performs like a sports car, compared to when Jax drove it. After a short distance, she transfers control to the autopilot, which can more efficiently park the module back with its siblings.

  Jax, calls the captain with an update. “Hey cap, we’re ready to commence with braking.”

  “Roger. Permission to proceed. It’s going to be some show to watch that 25-foot-section break off the end like we expect. Be ready to scram if anything comes your way.” Braxton instructs in a fatherly fashion.

  “We’re on high alert here cap,” Jax informs laughingly, “and don’t call me Roger!” After making sure the firing sequences are properly entered into the computer, Jax gives a countdown. “Okay everyone, here we go in…. five…. four…. three…. two…. one…. here goes something!” He takes a deep breath, and pushes the button.

  On the bridge of the Queen Ann’s Revenge, six people float at the cupola. Each, holding his or her breath in anticipation of the coming event. Each, remembering the crew of the Heisenberg, whom they all knew very well for many years prior. Cooper feels much better, after what seemed like an eight-hour coma from the strong drug Ling had given her. Toby and Ling are at a view-port on either side of her, while Adam is sprawled across half the other ports. Captain Crane, and Mr. Williams, hog the best window for themselves; the six-foot-diameter, central portal.

  From a safe distance, the group sees two rocket-pods come to life on opposite sides of baker, as hydrogen-oxygen fuel mixtures, combust. Focused jets of plasma, violently exit the rockets nozzles. Gradually, other rocket-pods come to life in what seems like a well-choreographed, dance of fire and thrust.

  Before long, all the rockets are firing at full power; vibrating Baker to his very core. But, the big chunk of mostly iron, seems to not even give a damn. It’s been rolling along through space for an eternity, resisting any force that has ever tried to change its ways. However, after a few minutes, the computer indicates a slight decrease in rotational-moments on the big boulder.

  Soon, it’s apparent even to human detection, that the braking-rockets are doing their job. Thousands of rocks, big and small, that had been holding on with just the slimmest bit of gravity, start breaking loose from the regolith that had buried them over the eons. A thick cloud of space-dust and debris, rises from its surface, dissipating into the void at right-angles to its rotational axis. The debris, flies away from the asteroid in a direction that avoids the humans that are located off to the side.

  Suddenly, as expected, each end of the potato loses gargantuan chunks! With plenty of ooooo’s and aaaaa’s, all eight-astronauts watch in awe, as each end of Baker crumbles and is thrown into the void. Big pieces, small pieces, tons and tons of dust are ejected into space, leaving an almost round chunk of mostly metal, floating before their wide-eyes. In its long and inglorious life, Baker has rolled through space, not amounting to much. Now, he’ll join with thousands of others, in an all-important effort to save humanity from going extinct.

  “Hey captain, did you ever see anything so beautiful in your whole life?” This coming from Ling, as she adds. “I mean, WOW! That’s a text-book example of how to handle an unruly asteroid, if ever I saw one!” She throws in a nice long whistle, to add flavor to her assessment.

  “I have to admit Ling, that Jax and Kara really nailed this one. I took an awesome video for posterity.” Then, keying his radio. “Hey Jax, Kara, congratulations! Damn fine piece of work!” Braxton praises gloriously, adding. “After you two finish with Baker, re-attach the module and get your butts inside for a well-deserved rest, and some pats on the back. We’ll continue operations tomorrow morning.”

  “Copy that captain. We’ll be inside in about an hour. I’ll call you when we’re ready to lock-up the module.”

  A half-hour later, big Baker still tears through space as fast as ever; but without his eternal tumble. The remaining 75-thousand-tons of mostly metal, is destined for the processin
g facilities in Martian orbit. Jax and Kara are satisfied with their progress, so they decide that it’s safe to leave the rock, and return to the ship.

  After maneuvering and lining up the large module to within 50-feet of the main spacecraft’s posterior, the two space-miners disembark from their tiny operations platform and move off a small distance. “Jax to Captain Crane; Kara and I are clear of the module. It’s ready for reattachment whenever you want.”

  “Thanks, Jax. Harper’s on it now; stand by.” With a few commands entered into the docking computer, Harper initiates the automated reattachment procedures. Slowly, the large module aligns itself with the parent spacecraft and moves ever so gently toward the locking clamps that will hold it securely in place.

  With a series of moderate bumps and bangs that can be felt throughout the ship, one of the three missing modules comes back home, and is locked into place once again. Jax and Kara, are on cloud Nine, as the mating procedure goes off without a hitch. They happily move off towards the airlock, and the comfort of their home away from home.

  Ling and Adam meet the exhausted astronauts at the airlocks inner hatch. After some well-deserved congratulations, the two are helped off with their equipment and space suits. “Oh, my god! It feels so good to be out of that high-tech body bag!” Kara exclaims, stretching and floating across the compartment upside down with her back arched, head thrown back and arms fully extended. It’s a body stretch, like nobody has ever stretched before. Euphoric to the max.

  Wearing nothing but the tight-fitting, spandex jumpsuits that they wore on EVA, the pair make quite a spectacle when they enter the mess hall, too hungry and too tired, to care about dressing more appropriately.

  “Well, well, look what the solar winds blew in!” Harper, risks a black-eye. “Damn, if you guys don’t go together like two peas in a pod! And Kara, that jumpsuit doesn’t leave much for the imagination.” He jokes, even though he knows she didn’t like having her buttons pushed.

  “Well then, it’s a good thing that you don’t have one, Harp.” She retorts, giving a threatening glance and sharp poke in the ribs as she floats past on her way to the food dispenser. Harper hasn’t yet learned during all these years, that it’s a dangerous thing to tease Kara when she’s hungry. Or any other time for that matter....

  Ling gets a nice laugh out of the exchange, adding her own two-cents-worth. “Congratulations on a job well done, Kara. You too, Jax! Don’t mind poor Mr. Williams. He got dropped on his head too many times when he was a baby.” Turning to Harper, Ling queries. “When was that Harp? Like.... just the other day, right?” A chuckle goes through the group at poor Harper’s expense. Even though he’s first officer, his ranking holds considerably less influence in the civilian space-core than it would in a military setting. That, plus he felt like he fit in better if he let them get away with murder, now and then.

  Adam joins in. “Besides that, Harp can’t go on EVA. Not, since that unfortunate accident when he got his head stuck in the air-extraction-vent while waiting for the airlock to evacuate. Remember that Harp? Cooper had to change the air-pump after it burned-out trying to suck in that big melon of yours. It’s a good thing you had a helmet on.” The shipmates laugh until their faces hurt. Harper’s naturally dark-brown face, manages to turn a shade of red from embarrassment, but he found that being the center of attention was worth it. Even so, he wonders when he’ll learn to keep his smartass comments to himself. Especially concerning Kara....

  Kara and Jax prepare food, then strap themselves into seats at the table. Enjoying a hot meal and coffee from tube-like dispensers, they the conversation. Kara engages Harper in some small talk. She does like him, when he’s not being an ass. He just doesn’t have a honed set of social skills, and makes jokes to cover that fact up. She knows that they’re very lucky to have him as first officer, and good friend.

  Now, all Kara needs is a nice Hollywood shower, and eight solid hours of deep sleep. However, the former will have to wait until they get back to Earth, and the later will have to wait until she finishes with the required maintenance tasks that she’s been putting off. Every crew member, including the captain, has certain duties that must be performed to maintain a safe and healthy shipboard environment. Amongst the most unpopular of duties, is the cleaning of the ships ‘head’, otherwise known as the lavatory. Luckily for Kara, that particular duty is not on her list today.

  Captain Crane enters the room, and Harper immediately organizes his things. With a push, he floats away from the table and off to the unmanned bridge. Braxton wonders why he’s rubbing his rib cage as he floats past, and figures he must have had another of his many accidents. He seats himself at the table with Kara and Jax, congratulating them on a job well done. “We’re all very lucky to have you two on board.” The captain praises. “Baker’s been tamed, and tomorrow he’ll be bagged and tagged.” Turning to the rest of the group, he says. “And soon we get underway for our final and last voyage to Mars! Then, onward to good old Planet Earth! Three cheers for us!” He yells enthusiastically, and lifts his container of coffee.

  All six astronauts respond boisterously. “Hip-hip, hurray! Hip-hip, hurray! Hip-hip, hurray!” Braxton, knows that it’s a little corny, but in the deepest darkest depths of space, any form of mental stimulation has profound subconscious effects for warding off serious dementia.

  Everyone enjoys a hot meal and coffee while chatting about this, that, and the other. Mostly they talk about the businesses they all want to start when they get bored with retirement. Overall, they want to purchase submarines that are designed for tourism, and open an underwater sightseeing venture. They’ll give underwater tours of the Great Blue Hole, located on a coral reef off the coast of Belize. With the rising sea levels, tourist can’t easily dive the hole without long decompression sessions, so the subs will be very popular. The astronauts all agree that after exploring outer-space, it’ll be fun to explore inner-space also, and not have to worry so much about dying while trying.

  Before long, Braxton announces the work detail for the next day’s EVA. “Kara and Jax will be joined by Ling and Adam for the final bagging and tagging of Baker, starting at 0900. Everyone else will stick to their regularly scheduled duties, which may or may not include suiting up to relieve the EVA crew. Or assisting in any other way needed, to send this rock on its way. This includes yours truly.” He orders, putting his hand on his chest. “I don’t foresee any need for more people out there than the four, but let’s stay frosty just in case.” He instructs, adding. “Good night everyone, I’ll see you in the morning.” Leaving them to their own devices, he floats off to his cabin for some well needed rest.

  But rest is not in the cards for Captain Crane, or any of the crew for that matter, as alarms blare throughout the ship just as he’s settling into his comfy cocoon. Harper calls, in an excited voice. “Hey cap, better get up here! We have a solar storm heading our way.” Braxton quickly replies to the call, gets dressed as best he can, and heads for the bridge. He already knows the type of emergency that’s unfolding, because of the tone of the alarm. As he enters, Cooper and Toby are on duty at the science console, and the others are hovering nearby at life-support. “How much time do we have Coop?” Braxton asks, anxiously.

  “Less than twenty-minutes cap! But, it’s the magnitude of the storm that’s important now. Our safe-room won’t be enough to stop all the charged-particles.” Cooper informs, as she moves aside, making room for the captain.

  “Damn! This storm’s a monster!” He exclaims. “We’re lucky these things travel slower than light or we wouldn’t get any warning at all!” Braxton’s keen mind, spools up for an answer to their predicament. Normally, their little safe-room is adequate to shield them, but this time the intensity of the storm is too great. They’ll have to find better protection.... and damn fast!

  “Ok gang, stay calm.... I want everybody except Harper and myself, to go to the safe-room; it’s better than nothing for now.” The captain orders, as his mind formulates a
plan of attack.

  “Harp, instruct the maneuvering computers to calculate the quickest trajectory that’ll park us behind Baker. If our safe-room isn’t up to the task, then we’ll put thousands of tons of metal between us and the radiation. I’ll check to be sure that the station-keeping thrusters on the modules are still activated and ready for action.”

  “Copy that captain.” Harper, quickly gets to work on the calculations, as his six shipmates remain on the bridge.

  Adam speaks for them all. “Cap, we request permission to weather this one, here on the bridge.”

  Ling joins in. “Yeah cap, as much as we love each other, that room is just a bit too claustrophobic…. Pleeease?” She gives him her best sad-puppy look.

  Braxton can’t help but acquiesce. Ling has a way of melting a hole straight through his better judgment. “Okay…. for now…. but if I say get your asses to the safe-room, I want to see you people fleeing, as if Satan himself is chasing you.... Deal?”

  “Deal!” From all six in unison.

  Turning back to the computer calculations, Harper and Braxton quickly review the data before allowing the ship to make such a daring maneuver so close to an immovable object. Immovable, in as much that it could smash the ship real good, if the two ever tried to occupy the same space at the same time. He knows, that as skilled as he and Harper are at manually flying the ship, they can’t maneuver around Baker as fast and efficiently as the computer. And time is of an essence now, more than ever.

  “I’m seeing good numbers there, Harp. Does the computer know that we’re missing two rather massive modules?”

  “Yeah, see here cap?” Harper points to a part of the calculation where the missing mass is accounted for. “I’ll admit that it would be nice to have more time to crunch the numbers, but we just don’t have the luxury. We’ll simply have to trust the computers, and hope they’re not having a bad day too.... Shall I execute the maneuver cap?” He asks inquisitively, his finger hovering over the button.

  “No …. I’ll do it, Harp.” The captain takes the responsibility. Reaching over his first officers shoulder, he pushes the button. This initiates a delicate dance of automated thruster discharges all along the outer hull of the truncated spacecraft. “Hold onto your butt’s people, here we go!” Braxton warns loudly.

  It doesn’t take long before their home is moving in the direction of Baker. Making a hyperbolic-arc that’s poetry in motion, as the large machine gracefully follows a curve through space that comes within 50-feet of Baker. As it slides into the shadow of the large boulder, the entire cupola fills with oncoming asteroid. For a few harrowing moments, it seems as if Baker is going to join them on the bridge. However, soon they all breathe a sigh of relief, and Toby finally opens her eyes, as their home comes to a static rest behind the massive object. It’s the only spot within many millions-of-miles, that can possibly be safe from the tremendous amounts of gamma-rays and other toxic brews of charged-particles that are headed their way.

  Harper is first to break the silence. “Okay everybody, we made it. The only way Sol can harm us now, is if she goes supernova. Which she can’t, because she’s not massive enough.” His weak attempt at levity falls on deaf ears, so he continues his report without missing a beat. “We’ll be able to monitor the storm’s intensity from the sensors on the other sections. We’re still not sure how long this event will take, so we’ll just have to hang-out and wait.”

  Within five minutes, the sensors on the other modules are indicating deadly levels of gamma radiation. But, the Revenge’s iron umbrella soaks up everything the sun throws its way, except for the innumerable neutrinos that go through Baker, the ship, and everybody on it, without even touching atoms. No baryonic-mass anywhere can stop those babies; except for possibly a neutron star or black hole. It’s a good thing they seem to be harmless to human physiology, or we would all be toast.... even back on Earth.

  It takes six hours for the storm to pass. Half of the crew goes to their quarters after only an hour, leaving Cooper, Toby, Braxton and Harper on the bridge. The first two must be there anyway as it’s their scheduled watch. But Braxton and Harper can’t relax. Not until their mighty ship, is parked once again a safe distance away from their savior. It’s times like this, that every space-faring person takes full inventory of their lucky charms.... hoping like hell that they’ll have enough left over for next time....