The officers gathered on the Bridge after breakfast. Holly knew the Captain wanted to ensure they all possessed the same information and that there was full agreement on how to proceed. The crew had given their support. It was now up to the officers to come up with a proper plan.
They didn’t hold a definitive track. So they had to go an uncertain amount further into the Delta Hydri system – and there was considerable micrometeoroid activity. But the Whipple shield would handle that. But she suspected the Eliohuatjay authorities were monitoring the system just like the United Nations was. They were certain to eventually send a reconnaissance team. It was only a question of whether their operations would overlap.
She faced an optimization challenge among competing requirements. She needed to minimize the time spent in Delta-Hydri but also minimize the use of the engines – which acted like a giant flare. And the Captain was her critic. She felt herself shaking when she took her station to bring up the navigational plot. A quick glance at her hand revealed that it was steady and it was just her imagination. If only the scared part of her mind had remained asleep.
“Okay,” the Captain began while holding his coffee cup comfortably in his hands, “show us what you got.” He had been holding on to that last bit of coffee for quite a while now. It was probably lukewarm. Lukewarm Outers coffee.
She highlighted the plot on the main heads-up display. “This is the last fix we got from the probe, and these are the prior ones. We had good position and velocity data up till about four months ago. Using some help from Newton, and what we know about the system, I’ve extrapolated where it should be.”
The cursor moved over to an empty region of space. “As you can see, there’s nothing. Now we have limited information on the planetary bodies in this system. But it’s a massive star. The orbiting bodies should only add a little bit of uncertainty – unless if it passed very close to one.”
There were certainly other influences at work that they were not aware of yet. Once they obtained more information on the celestial bodies influencing the derelict’s course, she could refine their dead reckoned plot. And they would almost certainly find it. Unless if it had struck an unknown planetary body, it had to be within an astronomical unit. And she would find it in time.
“It could be that it’s simply cold,” Zhu said. “It’s not radiating enough heat for us to detect until we’re closer.”
“How far ahead are the rangers?” De Silva asked.
“About a hundred thousand kilometers and opening.” She turned towards Zhu. “They will soon be to where they will enable us to see further. I don’t think that the object is cold. Not cold enough, anyways. Our infrared sensors are very capable. And the sensors that the probe has are probably better.”
“Is it possible that the derelict’s emitted heat is being blocked?” Patterson asked. “This is a very young star system. There are likely multiple regions of particulate ice and dust that have not coalesced, blown off, or entered stable orbits yet.”
Of course, Patterson would know how to do my job. Concentrations of mass in unstable orbits could cause many problems. Indeed, it weighed on her mind as the greatest known source of danger for navigating in this space. It was only a likely cause. But she remained silent.
“We have good emissions data from the prior fixes?” Zhu asked.
“Yup.”
“Still, it’s the sunward side that is heating up,” Zhu said. “We might not have a proper aspect on it yet for good detection. And we’ll pick it up where we expect it once we get closer.”
“That’s possible,” De Silva answered, “but unlikely since the probes held it while farther out, and its aspect shouldn’t have changed that much for them. We know that it emits strongly enough in infrared. But we don’t have a very accurate estimate for the object’s mass or for the masses of the known scattered disc objects. We can’t calculate how they will interact.
I have similar beliefs to Patterson. There is so much about this system that we don’t know. The derelict object had to have been pulled into a new course by a massive planetary body or its emissions are currently blocked by a dust cloud. Either way, we can find it.”
“We have to go on,” Zhu said. “We’ve come so far; we must go the rest of the way.”
De Silva looked at Holly. “Has the probe confirmed that it’s watching our backs…looking for flashes?”
How much trust do you really want to place in an anonymous buyer? “It did when we held contact. We’re not aligned for secure laser transmission right now, but if it sees an object flashing out of FTL then it is set to notify us on narrow beam microwave. We have a wide enough series of frequency bands available that we don’t have to worry about interference from dust.”
She shared his concern about flashes. A ship coming out of FTL released a sudden burst of high energy emissions, which was easy to detect. And that was good. They didn’t need to run into aliens. She needed to work out an exit quick if they confirmed a flash.
She then turned to another console and brought up some historical data – log entries from the probe. “This is what concerns me. Fifty-one days prior to our arrival the surveillance probe detected this – a burst of high energy particle and gamma ray radiation. As a precaution, the probe adjusted its orbit to maintain a farther distance from Delta Hydri. It did not directly confirm what caused this…”
“But it strongly resembles a partially obstructed FTL flash,” Patterson said.
She didn’t expect her to make the connection to an obstructed flash so quickly. Patterson wasn’t a navigator and hadn’t invested any time in studying the known dust and debris belts within the system or hypothesizing what could be there. But she should have expected her to know. She knew almost everything, and mostly self-taught. She had probably researched the available information on Delta Hydri in private. Please let me do it.
“Obstructed by what?” Chandna asked.
“It’s a young star system. There’s lots of small planetoids, dust, and ice out here at this distance. It could also be from something else. This system is far more chaotic than Zeta Reticuli. We won’t know more until we go in. But the further we go in, the less of an advanced notice the probe can provide. Right now, the time lag between us is just under fifteen hours. That will only get worse.”
Holly looked around at all of them. The situation wasn’t what they had hoped for, but it did fall into the list of contingencies they had planned for, and he still seemed calm and confident. De Silva was contemplating the situation. Zhu seemed eager – too eager. She was worried. She desperately wished they knew how far they had to go in to achieve an intercept.
Just assume the worst. The Elios have spy probes out here just like we do. We’ve already been detected, and we have an indication that they may also have a ship active here. Why can’t anyone state the truth that we don’t have any indication that this unknown object is worth risking a run in with the Elios?
She held her tongue, reminding herself they had some time to think about the situation.
“Alright, doctors,” De Silva said while casually reclining. “It’s going to take us some time. And we don’t have real time indication and warning. It looks safe enough for now. And we planned for this occurrence. Do you believe this thing is worth the risk? The risk picks up the further we go in.”
Zhu protested. “We don’t know that we’re going to have to go into the inner system.”
You need to observe some caution.
“If you agree the Nineveh is safe then we should continue,” Patterson said.
“We take our time then,” De Silva directed. “Holly, I’m pulling you off all collateral duties. We’ll fill for you. I want you and TURING 100% focused on the contact picture, and Nieves and Samoylova will be up here as often as needed. Keep an up-to-date Navplan for immediate egress, just in case. I want both low burn and full burn options. And start up a chat with that probe whenever conditions allow. I want the latest information as soon as it becomes available. But we don’t break radio comms silence. Secure laser link only.”
She nodded affirmatively but quietly held onto skepticism. Lasers dispersed with distance too. At these distances, their communications weren’t very secure. But as long as they held no contacts they could be fairly certain that threats were too distant to pick them up.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“I’ll be up here frequently to help you and plan what needs to be done,” he said. “And I’ll support your sleep schedule. I can take the first watch if you’re feeling drowsy. Engineering and Sci-Med, you’ve got a lot of work to do. Let’s pace ourselves and get ready. Especially you, Zhu. We can’t afford a system casualty. I want to be briefed on the status of all vital and auxiliary systems within forty-eight hours.”
Zhu protested. “TURING’s monitoring and diagnostics indicates…”
“Independently check everything,” he interrupted.
“Aye, Captain,” Zhu said.
“I trust you, TURING,” De Silva said. “I’m just taking some extra caution.”
“I take no offense, Captain,” TURING answered, “and I believe it’s warranted.”
“Are you sure about first watch? It would be great for me but you’re the Captain.”
“Don’t worry about it; I got it.” Then he called out, “TURING, add it into the ship’s log that all parties agreed on the Officer’s Conference. The Captain’s decision is to proceed into the Delta Hydri system as planned. Log the time.”
“Log entry made,” TURING responded.
He tapped Holly on the shoulder. “Get some sleep.”
“Thank you, Captain.” She got up from her seat and headed for the exit. She felt better. The Captain understood the concerns she raised, and he had a plan to deal with them. She should have known it. The Nineveh would be as hard to spot for any alien ship lurking in the system as they were for them. They had a good chance to escape unnoticed if they kept immediate low burn egress vectors available.
But they needed to stay away from the star’s heat and gravity. And, unless if the derelict’s course had been drastically altered, they should be able to. And she hadn’t looked incompetent in front of the other officers – genetically superior officers. Going down wouldn’t seem too much of a weakness. It had been an awfully long cryosleep.
The door opened and she began down the hall to the lift. The possible flash still troubled her as she rode it down. She needed to put it out of her mind for now. She crossed into Habitation Gate and immediately went towards Officer’s Berthing. She walked by the hired crew’s Berthing along the way and heard Moussa softly call her name. She turned to the open door. He sat alone at the reading desk in the middle of the confined room.
She stepped through the doorway and looked around. The Berthing was a long row of bunks with the narrow table in between and just enough passageway space for someone to move around. There were a few others in sleeping attire getting ready to go down and many of the bunks had the privacy curtains pulled shut, indicating that they were already dozing. The room lighting was greatly dimmed. Though obviously tired, he was reading an actual paper book under a lamp. She recognized it as the old, marked up Bible that had been in his family since they were still in West Africa. It was printed in French, and he was the only one who could read it.
She spoke in a hushed voice, “Hey there. Are you all going down for a few hours?”
“Everybody but Stocky,” he answered, “he still hasn’t caught on to the concept of relaxing and so he’s down in Farm helping Robbie. What about you and the other officers?”
“I think most will stay up. Zhu might take a nap. The Captain is taking the first watch on the Bridge.”
“Bridge watch already?”
“It’s low key. It’s a roving watch in a sense. We can move throughout the ship. We just check in half hourly because there’s a clearer picture of things up there.”
“So, Navigation looks okay?”
“Yeah, there isn’t much in this part of the system. That could change as we get further in. But we’re not planning to go that far.” She stepped closer. “It’s about what we expected. Did you want to talk about something?”
“Nah… Well, kind of. I just want to say that we’re on board. We are. But if conditions change so that we have to bug out then you’ve got to speak up to the Captain. Zhu gets a little too single focused at times, you know? He might not do so.”
“Alright. I will. I know he can be single focused and pushy.” She leaned forward and whispered, “That’s what you meant to say.”
He smiled with full teeth. “Find this thing quick. I don’t think any of us want to camp out here for long. People say bad things about the Elios. God made them too, so I can’t see them being all bad. But I don’t want to chance it, you know?”
She nodded back, understanding his unease. She felt it herself. She had no doubts that they could egress the system even if the Elios came after them. But she felt that it would be better if they never had a track on them.
What would they do if they discovered the Nineveh? Some within the United Nations said that the Elios were looking for a provocation for war. People out on the Frontier didn’t seem as concerned. Maybe they didn’t believe the United Nations or maybe, like with Moussa, they just didn’t want to know.
“We will. Stay calm with Zhu and all.”
“Yeah, right,” he mumbled.
“I really do wish I could have told you before we left Zeta Reticuli.” She had known they were searching for an alien relic for over two months (waking time) now. De Silva and Zhu had told her that they had never heard of the level of secrecy that was applied to their assignment.
“I know,” he answered calmly. “The Captain does too. But sometimes this kind of thing comes with the job. We all knew that. But if you’re feeling upset about it, know that I do not view it as a wrong and that you need no forgiveness.”
“Thank you. Well, I’m going to have to relieve the Captain in a bit. I need to grab some rest.”
“Okay. I’ll be doing that too shortly. I just like to read a few Psalms of thanks each time I come back from one of those near-death experiences. Get in proper shape and goodnight.”
“Goodnight to you too.”
She turned and stepped back out into the hallway. She felt better knowing that there was no resentment with him. But she would have to speak with Qureshi. She went into the Officer’s Berthing. The lights were turned off and the privacy curtain was pulled shut over Doctor Chandna’s bunk. No clothes were nearby, only his shoes on the purpose-built rack.
You went down hard. Sorry for the rough intro to deep space.
She walked quietly over to her bunk and removed her shoes and socks, setting them on the rack by her bunk. Then she slipped out of her flight suit and hung it up. She savored the soft, comforting feel of her blanket as she crawled into her bunk. She silently thanked the Lord for their safe arrival and was shortly asleep.
----------------------------------------
De Silva watched Holly exit. She would be able to stand a more effective watch when she woke after real sleep. He didn’t count it against her. Even he didn’t like the experience of forced hibernation. Zhu still looked awful and lethargic and so he wasn’t liking it either. Chandna was strangely content, but with low energy. Patterson, however, seemed fine. He knew she hated cryosleep, but he couldn’t figure out why. She handled it great.
Chandna stretched. “I think I’ll take a few hours down too, Captain.”
De Silva silently glanced at Patterson and then he turned towards Chandna. “Yeah, okay. Get some rest and be ready to refit the ship per the Paramount.”
Chandna told Patterson to reach him on comms if they should need anything and then he headed out with a slow walk, almost shuffling his feet.
Seeing Chandna want to leave didn’t surprise him. Probably everyone on this ship besides Stocky and the three of them on the bridge were bunking. Humans weren’t made for hibernation. Scientists had spent over a hundred years after Gagarin’s historic orbital trip trying to figure out a way to safely make it work. They finally found the right hack, and now it was routine for long voyages. He waited for Chandna to leave and then he turned towards Patterson. “What do you think of Chandna?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“We had to get another scientist for this per the Paramount. You’ve been able to work together for a while. Did we get a good one?”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t have accepted the proposal otherwise. He’s knowledgeable. He knows how to work in a lab. A bit rusty, but capable. I guess we’ll have to wait to see for certain if he’s mentally prepared for being out here on a long trip, but he tested fine and I think it will be okay. Especially if we locate this thing within the next week or so. He lacks ingenuity, but I can cover for that. I believe he’ll be an asset. Is this because he’s agnostic?”
The Captain scrolled through comms logs silently for a moment. Why did she ask about that? Certainly, he liked having a crew which doubled as family…and as a church. A crew which truly lived together – physically and spiritually. But they’ve taken guests aboard from all religious leanings and backgrounds, and Chandna was a guest. He was there to help them for a short period of time and then return, because he was a corporate guy.
“No. I just want to know who we have working with us. He’s plenty smart, I’m sure. But he’s got to deal with pressure. It takes a special kind of mental resolve and discipline to work out here. It’s not just genetics. The company’s psychological tests screen for what’s needed, but I don’t really know how good they are at predicting how well he’ll hold together in an assignment like ours. He’s an older man, and he might be set in his routines. I just think we should watch him.”
“I agree. The physical and psychological tests have a solid track record though. And I don’t believe you have any intention of waiting out here next to the Elios. If we all perform as we must then he’ll be back in cryosleep in a few months and TURING will be driving us homeward at FTL.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m worried, I’m just thinking about the possible contingencies. If Chandna breaks down, we scrub. If we can’t meet the requirements of the Paramount for any reason, we scrub. If another ship appears in this system, we scrub. If we suffer a critical systems casualty, we scrub depending on whether it is something we can quickly repair.” He took a sip of his coffee and discovered it was cold, and so he set his cup down.
“What if we find we can’t tow this thing?” Zhu asked with concern.
“That’s not a big deal. We’re here to get as much as we can. We’ll obtain material samples and conduct surveys while we have the opportunity. We should be able to gather quite a bit. I’d like to try to collect the crew and give them Christian rites if needed.”
He looked at Patterson. “I’m sure you would like to study them too.”
“Please don’t think of me as cold hearted, but yes.”
Zhu yawned. “We’re certain that they’re dead, right?” He sat down near the Navplot and sipped his coffee. He appeared exhausted.
“I don’t know,” Patterson said. “It’s curious. The probes didn’t detect its flash in this system, nor an engine flare. They located it by an old transmission and then by reflected thermal emissions years later. That means the derelict drifted into this system from interstellar space. No propulsion. And that fact doesn’t definitively tell us whether it has an operating crew.”
“We’re not going to assume anything. True, the probes never reported a flash that could be correlated with the derelict but that don’t mean there wasn’t one. Never trust the Triumvirate. We’ll still go in. Only one way to solve this mystery.” He sat down in the Captain’s chair and reclined in comfort. This is what they did for a living.