Passage

by Thorby Rudbek

  “I guess so. I’ll probably get used to it soon,” Richard replied, partly to reassure himself. If I don’t die of fright first!

  Chapter Six

  Customising your ‘ride’ is a popular, but unessential pastime – Anon.

  “Isaac, Latt!” Ruth’s voice sounded wonderfully loud and cheerful, and Isaac found himself falling in love with her all over again as she brought him out of his near paralytic state. “Terry says we can use radio transmissions from Earth as a kind of homing beacon!”

  Isaac found himself walking forwards once more as he started to concentrate on the design necessary for an array to pick up the faint signals from home and provide directional information. By the time he caught up with Latt, he had completed a mental image of a two-stage antenna that would allow for a rough scan and then could be fine-tuned to provide a more accurate fix.

  Latt looked at him closely, clearly worried about his slow progress.

  “Sorry; that idea of Terry’s should work!” Isaac explained. “I was just figuring out how to build the antenna.”

  Latt nodded, moving his head in an exaggerated manner so Isaac could see his concurrence.

  “Here, hold this.” He pointed to the Transplyous strips that he had pinned to the front edge of the Railcar roof with one foot. “I’ll start cutting. You can take over when I get tired.” Latt took the welder from Isaac and stepped over the edge, dropping out of sight.

  Isaac crouched down and leaned hesitantly out until he could see Latt, bracing himself against some smaller rungs while he clipped himself to the front face. The apparently fearless Latt reached around the edge and slipped out of sight once more. Isaac changed his position so that he could observe Latt at the side. The welder turned white hot, and Latt dragged it slowly over a section of the surface, forming a circle. A gloved fist struck the disk with just the right amount of force and a hole appeared. Latt looked inside, then started a long cut a little further back from the front end. Isaac watched him cut a perfectly straight line about a foot long, then leave a gap of about the same length before repeating the process further down.

  He continued until he had cut a dashed line pattern down to the bottom of the side panel, then he started a rough semicircle from the bottom, moving forwards to the front end in the centre and returning to the same line at the top. He cut through the remaining portions of his dashed line and thumped on the central section with a swift jab of his right hand. Isaac felt the reverberation through his soft boots and gloved hands. The ‘D’ shaped piece floated back into the gloomy interior, out of sight.

  “Come on down, but first passs me the Transplyouss.” Latt gestured up to him.

  Isaac handed down the transparent strips gratefully and climbed down, using both hands.

  Latt passed the strips back to him but withheld one. “Hold this here.”

  Isaac reached out and immobilized the strip that Latt had already placed against the rough but straight edge he had just created.

  Latt adjusted the welder to a lower setting and tacked the strip there. He moved down and slipped another strip into place. Isaac followed, his mind now numbed as he concentrated on his grip, the Transplyous in his left hand and the rough edge below his right. He blinked as he realized that Latt had vanished, then jumped as his friend’s head popped out of the hole and turned towards him.

  “Passs the Transplyouss in.”

  Isaac obeyed.

  “Now, keep a hold on the protective sstuff on this edge and sswing yourself in.” Latt ran his hand up and down the Transplyous-covered edge and slipped back out of sight.

  Isaac took a deep breath and swung himself around and into the darkness.

  “Good.” Latt tapped on something hollow. “Ruth?”

  “Yes,” came the reply after a short delay.

  “Type that ssequence now, pleasse.”

  “But we aren’t any closer to the moon… what are you doing in there, anyway?”

  “That’ss just it; you can ssee us but we can’t ssee you. That ssequence will change the molecular sstructure of the transsparent panel so that we can see in. It will get cold near the front, but as long as you sstay a few feet away you won’t even notice it.”

  “I thought you said I was to hit those keys only if the moon got too close?” Ruth persisted.

  “I just ssaid that sso you wouldn’t worry; you can ssee we are not getting any closser, can’t you?”

  “Of all the… “ Ruth muttered. The darkened space grew slowly lighter, until Isaac and Latt could see through to Ruth and, further back, to the still form of Terry, almost as well as if the Transplyous were not there.

  “Presto!” Ruth bowed to them theatrically, accidentally launching herself off the floor in the process. She bounced around the walls until she collided with one of the Inducers. “Do we have to have so many of these?” she grumbled irritably.

  Latt was already at work, cutting through the opposite wall; he said nothing in response, wisely choosing to steer clear of the subject.

  Isaac watched for a while, then Latt had him perform a little of the work, although it was clear to Isaac that Latt was not tired. The cutting was quite easy; now that he was inside a small area Isaac could forget the vast emptiness and concentrate on the comparatively cosy, compact compartment he shared with Latt. He made sure to keep his back towards the door, so that the stars and Phobos, visible through it, did not spook him again.

  “Hey, boys,” Ruth’s voice sounded strained. “The view just disappeared!”

  “That’ss why we cut our way in.” Latt responded. “The work we are doing affectss the operation of the door – I did not want to be sealed in here when it failed-ssafe.”

  The Professor turned to see that their forward view had, indeed, been blocked. Might be a little bit nasty, getting squashed in that mechanism, too!

  He shuddered, then tried to put this new scare behind him, both literally and figuratively. He continued his work, finding his jaw was aching from the unintentional grinding to which his teeth were being subjected.

  “How’ss your air?”

  The question came at him suddenly and Isaac was startled by it. He stopped cutting and checked his sphere. Almost empty! Isaac found his heart-beat racing as he wondered if he could make it to the airlock in time.

  “Just a minute, here’ss mine.” Latt swapped spheres with Isaac with such speed that he had no time to protest. “Carry on with that section; I’ll be back with ssome sspares ssoon.” He swung out of the hole and left Isaac alone.

  Isaac checked the sphere he had just been given and found it was still a quarter full. Got to calm down! I must be panting like a fox on the run! He made a conscious effort to slow his breathing, and started cutting once more. Well before he reached the end of the other side, he found that Latt had returned, two spares dangling from his belt.

  “Now we have to cut through the roof; we’ll leave that ssmall ssection down there so that it doesn’t break free unexpectedly.” Latt said nothing more about the air, and he seemed entirely satisfied with the cut that Isaac had made.

  Isaac found his breathing was slower, and he looked at Latt with new-found respect as he realized how much his friend’s attitude had helped him and moved the work ahead. He watched as Latt swiftly cut through the roof, leaving a three-inch section in the centre untouched. Before he knew it, he found himself lying against the Transplyous sheet, slicing through the front surface of the Railcar just above the point where the slanting window panel was attached inside. To do this it was necessary to turn up the other way, but in the zero-gravity of orbit and the smallness of the workspace, Isaac found this mattered less to him than he expected. He left a small section about an inch wide in the centre, and allowed himself to drift back up out of the way.

  “The next sstep will be to disscard the entire front,” Latt explained somewhat unnecessarily. “I’ll cut through the parts we have left, and then rotate the ssection into position above the roof. Then we will launch it into a lower orbit.”


  Isaac nodded his agreement.

  “Okay,” he said after a brief pause, feeling a little foolish as he realized his nod had been invisible to Latt.

  Latt cut the top three inch connecting piece down to less than half an inch, then severed the remaining points of contact on the sides and bottom completely. He directed Isaac to stand on the narrow strip in front of the slanted forward panel of Transplyous on the right-hand side, while he took his place on the left.

  Isaac suddenly noticed the ‘D’ shaped section which Latt had removed earlier, welded roughly to the end in front of him, right across from the now defunct door. The smaller disk was mounted right beside it. So they wouldn’t float around and hit us or cut our suits.

  “Are you ready to push upwardss?” Latt asked.

  “Ready,” replied Isaac clearly as he placed his hands against the underside of a strengthening rib as he could see Latt had done.

  “On three,” Latt directed. “One, two, three!”

  Isaac pushed, and the section vibrated as it started to move.

  “Okay, stop!” Latt called as the gap opened up to about a foot. “Now, go out through the sside there and climb out onto the underside of the sstructure.”

  Isaac started to follow directions, and listened as Latt continued.

  “When you get there, sslide your feet under the rung at the end and lean out until you can grab the edge down here.”

  “Understood,” Isaac replied, trying not to contemplate the view that would confront him when he was in position. He remembered to grasp the Transplyous strip on the edge of the ‘D’ shaped exit hole, and flipped the safety cable out in front of him as he swung out. Once on the side he climbed quickly onto the bottom surface. Around him the stars gleamed as constantly as before, but Isaac saw them as if they were new-born. He approached the front end and slipped one foot under the rung countersunk there. Taking a deep breath, he leaned slowly forward until the huge dust-shrouded planet started to become visible. Trying to ignore it, he reached out to find that Latt had welded a strip of Transplyous onto the edge, making it safe for him to hold. Funny I didn’t think of that! He chuckled nervously to himself as he realized how traumatic his first spacewalk had turned out to be.

  “Good!” Latt was obviously watching from inside. “Now wait until I direct you to push.”

  Isaac hung or floated beneath the ‘Railcar’ and above the Red Planet, waiting for the word.

  “Okay, push now! Remember to let go once it sstarts moving!”

  Isaac leaned down on the strip; it moved more easily than he expected it to. He let go and climbed back up and around the side, determined that he would see what Latt was going to do, despite his fears. He clambered back to the roof in time to see Latt, holding on to the top edge of the severed section with one hand as he braced himself against the surface. The huge piece rotated slowly above him, until it had rotated through ninety degrees, then Latt pushed upwards with all the force he had in his flexed legs, floating off the surface with the junk. As he approached a point about fifteen feet away, he pushed away from the discarded section and floated slowly back towards Isaac. In a few seconds he had made contact, and the two of them watched as the front end of their Railcar tumbled slowly away, down, down towards the clouds below.

  “Let’s get back insside,” Latt tapped Isaac gently on his shoulder to draw his attention away from the seemingly endless drop to the planet beneath them. “I want to ssee what you need for your antenna.”

  Isaac nodded, suddenly feeling intensely weary. He followed Latt along the rungs mechanically, and swung down and into the airlock with a huge sense of release. The door slid down behind him, and the hiss of air entering the tiny cubical was like a symphony after enduring what had seemed like years without hearing anything except the metallic reproductions of his companions’ voices. He floated into the interior and pulled off his facemask, watching with a feeling of detachment as Latt bounced his way up to the three seats facing the lumpy moon.

  Ruth pulled her husband down from his slow and aimless drifting.

  “Are you all right?” She looked at him closely.

  Isaac just hugged her, incapable for the moment of any meaningful speech. Later, when he had recognised that the moment was safely passed and his emotions had resolved and calmed, he was able to tell her how insignificant he felt out there among the stars, how he was nearly overwhelmed by the sensation of danger associated with falling and the danger of floating away into the vast nothingness, almost simultaneously (though he had been on a safety line at all times and would not have fallen or floated far before he would have been brought to a halt). For the duration of his first self-directed space flight at least, however, the experience was too intense, too recent, and he had to close his mind to it, so that he could function again.

  Latt returned and watched them for a while before speaking.

  “The antenna design, what do you need?”

  Isaac slacked off his hold on his wife, managing to list the components, and in a few minutes was helping Latt to construct it. The mundane, undergraduate-level task helped restore his sense of stability, and by the time it was completed, he felt almost in control of his emotions once more. Latt attached a rotation device to the inner surface of the roof of the Railcar while Isaac carefully folded the phase array down.

  “I’ll mount it,” Latt said simply, and Isaac just nodded in relief as his strange friend stepped into the airlock and the door closed behind him.

  By the time Latt returned, Isaac had modified the radio to accept the new input. He waited while Latt swivelled their craft through a ninety-degree angle so that the red planet was visible out of the viewport next to Ruth, then he switched on the unit and adjusted the tuning manually as the array rotated slowly overhead.

  “I’ve got it!” Isaac shouted with relief. “Turn about thirty degrees to the left; that should point us in the right direction!”

  Latt turned around, making sure that Ruth had buckled in and that both of the Hardys were also turned towards the rear of their flying Railcar, then he applied enough power to break their orbit and send them along the path that Isaac had indicated. The temporary gravity field made them feel like they were lying back in their chairs, almost like how more conventional astronauts from Earth might have felt on their way to the Moon over thirty years earlier, though the gravitational effects of the Inducers meant that, counter-intuitively, they were facing in the opposite direction to that of the Apollo adventurers.

  Latt and Isaac worked for another half an hour, rotating their craft and fine-tuning their direction of travel before they were satisfied that they were on course.

  Isaac sighed with relief as they finally aligned the craft so that the gravitational effect of their ever-increasing velocity was equivalent to a conventional, though weak gravity source below the flooring – now they were effectively falling towards Earth, and his earlier concerns regarding locating their home planet were resolved.

  “We’ll have to check again in a couple of hours to determine the relative motion of Earth, and then adjust our course to take that into account, but that should be easy, now we have it all set up. Now if I could just figure out the approximate distance we would need to be from Earth before it becomes visible with the naked eye. Let me see, it’s forty thousand miles circumference, so…”

  Ruth smiled, relieved that her husband was back on form. Then she looked down at her second-best friend’s unconscious and mutilated body and her smile faded away. Let’s just hope we get there in time for Terry.

  Chapter Seven

  Engagement

  Karen leaned back into the soft, mossy stuff. She turned away from the beautiful image of Earth that Richard had caused to be displayed from the original ship’s log of Sheldrif and Melleny’s ill-fated trip with the paranoid Commander Vochan so long ago. They were relaxing together, trying to recover from the exertions of the past few hours, after enjoying some more of the glorious food that Karen kept dispensing ef
fortlessly each day.

  “Do you really think Arshonna will look like this?” she said finally as she turned and watched Richard drinking in the gloriously clean atmosphere and unspoiled continents and oceans of fifteenth century Earth turning slowly before them.

  “It says here that Arshonna has a temperate climate.” Richard tapped the screen next to him. “And that it is about half-covered with water. That and its size, being just a fraction larger than Earth, makes me think that it must look fairly similar from space. The view from that hill where your parents used to live certainly is fantastic! I bet the rest of the planet is just as beautiful… probably more so, as the Arshonnans have learned how to live without polluting their planet, unlike the humans who inherited this prize from my however many times great-great-grand parents.” He gestured at the view before them, taken so many years before the industrial revolution had begun the contamination of his home-planet’s natural beauty.

  “So… what went wrong down there? Why did your people make such a mess of their home?” Karen looked confused. “Why did they become so scared when they discovered Citadel, that they decided to try and kill us?”

  Richard pondered this one for a while. “Well,” he said finally. “Not so long ago, there was a major war, involving most of the countries of Earth.”

  Karen nodded as she found stored in her mind the memories that she had received from Richard just days before, concerning this very event.

  “When the Americans figured out how to cause a nuclear chain reaction, an atomic bomb, they realized that they could stop the war very quickly by using it against the enemy. So they did. Many people died on the opposing side. Others were maimed for life. The reaction world-wide was a totally justified fear that further use of this weapon could destroy the world.

  “After the war, the Americans and their Allies wanted to organize a controlling body to keep all nuclear weapons out of the hands of individual countries, something above the level of the governments of the countries which had developed or were developing ‘the bomb’. But the other major power of that time, the Russians, wanted to keep control of its own scientific achievements, as it was convinced that the Allies had turned against it. There was a lot of suspicion between countries. So, eventually they all agreed to the organization of a far-less powerful international body to inspect each country that would agree to promise not to build nuclear weapons. It worked, kind of, but there are a few countries that have tried to build weapons despite this, and one or two of them have succeeded. Since then, I think most people have been afraid that someone with access to such deadly weapons will start another world war, only this time there would be no survivors.