Very few plans of action had any merit. The instant move to reverse thrust had been an obvious move, allowing for only a single 24 hours of cooling time once the core came to rest, the engine turbine was released and the particle engine reversed ejecting particles from the previously unused vents in the fore sections just behind the ice shield. However, it had not been enough. Increasingly the options became empty space, or an impossible to survive suicide run at the planet. The engine and ship had survived the sudden reverse thrust, but the factor of speed had seemingly been insurmountable.
A plan did come forward, one that opened up a third option.
Shortly after her exile Samis Delta-Xiang had forwarded a letter to one of the few remaining people on board that would even acknowledge her existence on board, it said simply,
Dump the Ice. Expend excess shuttle fuel.
Use the planetary and solar gravitations to slow the ship.
F = G*((m sub 1*m sub 2)/r^2)
The idea had sparked a lifeline of hope in a demoralized crew and populace. The odds had improved but not by much, the TOGS still had to do the impossible.
“I didn’t expect it to be so beautiful. An entire planet of water…that is simply, there are no words,” Said Eleanor, “to see something like this, in my lifetime is a miracle.”
The hydrogiant Ericksdottir-24 dominated Eta Cassiopeiae, four moons circled the central world of water. The planet itself had a bluish green tint with massive white lines, a mixture of wispy clouds and breaking waves near the equator, waves made so large by the quartet of lunar gravitations that they could be seen from the ship as they passed.
“I think I am going to be sick,” a nameless voice said from the crowd and several people ran to the toilets as the gravity on board fluctuated and pulled at the ship, twisting and malforming the structure.
“It should bend, but not break. The rods should snap back slowly as we exit the atmosphere.” Mariposa assured everyone over the intercom.
The ship let loose of bulkhead walls, objects that had been bolted to the interior structure for almost a century snapped lose and moved slightly toward the gravitation. But the interior structure maintained pressure and cohesion.
The Tehom One Generational Spacecraft had been designed for a singular purpose, to start at a single Lagrangian point in the Sol system, to speed toward a second Lagrangian point within the Eta Cassiopeiae system, at a specific point abandoning its ice shield and allowing it to drift harmlessly into empty space and while the ship itself came to a quiet orbit allowing for the shuttles and colonization pods to enter slowly and deliberately into the atmosphere once the planet was surveyed and colonial sites chosen.
The reality of their arrival however, was simple chaos. They had deliberately managed to skirt gravitational forces around the star Achird, as well as those around the massive Hydrogiant planet those on board had begun to call Poseidon. Efforts which had taxed the minds of the crew, the computer systems and even the physical structure of the craft significantly. The result had slowed the craft, although the chaos of the moments allowed for very little remedy in the face of such slim chances for survival.
Fear gripped the ship, from Eleanor Alpha-Tehom on the command deck, to the three rats Samis, Signo and Zelde living in the underbelly of the forgotten areas of the ship. Every single person on board clung to what little self-respect they had retained, as hope had long departed them.
“Are we gonna die Gran?” Neela rested her head on Eleanor’s lap and glanced up.
“We are all going to die, one day. It’s scary now, because you are young. But I have had a very long time to get used to the idea.” Eleanor brushed the hair out of Neela’s face with her stiff ancient fingers.
“Gran, I’m scared.”
“I know little one, I am too. But try not to worry about it so much, we have done all we can. The rest is in the hands of God. Whatever happens, happens.”
“I don’t wanna die.” Neela started to cry, like most of the people on board even in her mid-twenties she was still very much a child, especially in the eyes of Eleanor.
“Don’t be afraid little Neela. I am afraid for you, for all of us, afraid that we may be the last humans in all of creation, and that it might end here. But I also know that all of the mistakes, advances, tragedies and the ever onward march of civilization has lead us to this point. If we are meant to step forward onto a new world, we will. If we have over stepped our bounds and this is not part of God’s plan, then we will perish and our spark will rejoin the Almighty.”
“Our spark?”
“Oh, just something my father said to me around a camp fire as a child. Within each of us is the divine spark of God, if we use our talents and our blessings for righteousness our spark grows strong. However, if we abuse ourselves or step into darkness our spark grows dim. But no matter our path, no matter our end, our spark remains and it will rejoin the glory of our Creator. We can only do the best with what we have, and that is good enough.”
“That is beautiful, Simon said that?”
“Mmmhmm.” The ancient lady mumbled.
The private conversation between Eleanor and Neela was one of many across the sea of humanity cuddled in fear in the various corners of shelter across the ship. Mothers held children tightly, fearing it would be the last time. Husbands and fathers did their best to seem stoic and confident, but in their hearts knew that they had been doomed by the actions of a few.
The ship was sparse. Virtually everything that could be ejected out of the airlocks on board had been sent out into space in an effort to reduce the mass of the ship in order to make it easier to slow down. Chairs, bedding, raw materials, machinery, and scientific equipment all thrown carelessly into space quickly and without care. If it wasn’t needed to support life and was simply a comfort, or a convenience it was gone. The TOGS had over the period of two weeks turned into a shell. Eleanor even had most of the metal bulkheads and wall coverings removed and ejected. Their home had become little more than an over-weighted life boat.
The colonial pods however were sacred, fifty self-contained survival nodes designed to support a hundred people each using only the raw materials common on most of the celestial bodies the Company had visited. If the planet had water ice and oxygen, the colonials supplied protein powder, drinkable water and vitamin supplements enough to fortify even the slimmest of starvation diets. The pods would only last three months, however without them and with no supply line, survival was a fantasy till they learned to live in and on foreign soil.
The approach to Tehom Prime happened a lot slower than most expected. The Bierre drive thrown into full reverse, the shuttles loaded with people and their engines too providing reverse thrust. By a small miracle they had managed to tilt the ships trajectory by five degrees to aim the ship at the planet. The planet was not where it should have been, they were a full decade early. As telemetry and pictures flooded the console screens across the ship a sense of awe and wonder briefly replaced fear.
The planet had a single moon, seemingly larger than the Earth’s companion. The ice caps in the north and south poles of Tehom Prime covered a full sixty percent of the surface, and between them a verdant and vibrant stripe of green and crystal blue. The clouds seemed picturesque and calm. It was plain to Eleanor, that if the Earth had a sister, this was her. A bit colder, a bit less friendly and untamed but a sister without a doubt.
Eleanor and Neela joined many of the others on the command deck of the TOGS, despite it being in the forward sections was arguably the safest place on the ship. It had over the decades of forward momentum and water ice melting for drinking water found itself sealed inside the KX2M1 ice asteroid. Although the majority of the asteroid from Sol had been ejected into space days ago. The KX2M1 had supplied them with life giving water and now it was hoped would provide enough of a heat shield for reentry for the ship that was never designed to enter an atmosphere. Neela helped strap Eleanor tightly into a five point harness, then strapped herself in.
> The bulk of the populace crowded into the shuttles, which each had only a hair breath of fuel remaining to prevent explosions on impact. A few people had, with Eleanor’s permission been sealed within the colonial pods with a small supply of oxygen. The promenade had had been sealed and highly pressurized over days. The seals pressed to their absolute limit.
“Here we go.”
“Don’t worry little ones, I think we are going to be ok. But it will be a rough ride. Remember, I love all of you, if I don’t make it… be kind to one another.” Eleanor did her best to reassure everyone.
“We are still coming in entirely too fast, we should have aimed closer to the horizon.”
As she ship leveled out and the surface came into focus, the blur of green, blue and white turned into mountains, forests and oceans. The images moved faster and faster the closer the surface and impact drew nearer. Thin stripes cut through the green foliage, open fields pocked by strange foreign structures. Neela’s voice cracked the awe struck silence, “Are those cities?”
Eleanor peered into the monitor stunned and shaken by the one thing she nor anyone else had never expected or even considered, saying only “Oh my God.”
Tehom: The Tehom Legacy Book One Page 20
