Last Flight For Craggy

by Gary Weston

  As they approached the pointy end, a constant stream of steel lengths were being strapped up tighter than a drum. Each section had already been itemised to play a part in new buildings on Mars. Somehow, it was fitting.

  Chapter 110

  'Black hole?' said Mars Commander Anton Forbes.

  'In a rather generic way,' said Berry. 'Felix and I think it is a manufactured and specifically controlled version of a black hole. Light disappears into it, but solid objects such as the roboprobe, strangely, can be retrieved.'

  'It doesn't seem like my idea of a black hole. Could a human be similarly retrieved like the probe?'

  Hellicoyle said, 'We did briefly consider throwing Peggy Cramer into it, sort of like a sacrifice to some scary unknown god of black holes. We still could...'

  'Hardly a frivolous matter, Felix,' snapped Forbes. 'Was any harm done to the roboprobe?'

  Berry said, 'Nothing obvious. But that was tough materials, not flesh and blood. The hole would only have to put the slightest breach into a suit and it would be game over.'

  'Not volunteering, I take it?'

  Hellicoyle said, 'Commander Forbes. We have families to consider.'

  It was a fair point, Forbes realised. 'We can hardly work the mine with a black hole of any description slap bang in the middle of it. Felix, Raz. Whatever this thing is, we need resolution and we need it fast. See what you can come up with.'

  * * *

  The geologists on Phobos resolved their dilemma. Carl Richter secured himself to a safety line.

  'You don't have to do this,' said Chris Crossman.

  'We could throw a rookie in there?' The two rookies gave a strange backward shuffle at the unattractive suggestion, causing Richter to chuckle. 'No volunteers? No? One way of getting into the history books,' said Richter with a playful thump to Crossman's arm. 'Hopefully, I'll still be around to read it.'

  They all wished Richter good luck, apart from Morgan, fast asleep in the freighter. Richter took hold of the very solid edge of the tunnel and eased himself inside. The others watched him crawl along to the end. His right arm vanished into the blackness, followed by his head and shoulders and finally he gave a disconcerting wave of his left hand before that too, could not be seen. Crossman gave a tentative tug on the safety line and was relieved to feel Richter was still “hooked”.

  Richter could see or feel nothing of his surroundings. He moved, forwards he thought, not floating as if in zero gravity, but it felt more like he was wading through very thick air. He experienced a change to his sensations. It seemed only a few yards into the hole. He also felt Crossman tugging on the safety line. It was difficult to be sure, but Richter had the impression he could see things slightly less black. As he moved along the light became more evident and suddenly he was certain. He could see light at the end of the tunnel.

  Chapter 111

  The loading of Big Bird was getting done at incredible speed. The packers and loaders overlapped with the construction crew, either taking things apart, numbering each length of girder, while Jay Moore supervised where each piece fitted in the scheme of things in each storage section of the ship, using extra webbing and buckles. Each buckle stamped identification number was duly itemised with a note as to its place in the securing of the load. Nothing was left to chance.

  It took just ten and a half gruelling days and nights, with even Amethyst and Rocky lending a hand at times. Jay Moore made a point of doing a final inspection with Fawn Dillow. This load was going nowhere but Mars.

  'I think we'll sleep all the way home,' said Moore.

  'Well deserved if you do,' said Cragg.

  Both crews were allowed time to clean up, change into clean clothes and have a well earned feed. A final headcount and it was Dillow doing the launch. The original use of the launch ramp had been to take the strain off the thrusters when taking off with a heavy load. Modifications had made that redundant. Without any last long looks back at either Moon or Earth, Dillow soon had the ship at close to maximum speed, twin blue thrusters blasting through the heavens. Forty three Old Earth days would see it in orbit around Mars.

  'That wasn't so bad now, was it, Roswell?' Cragg asked.

  'Easy for you to say, Craggy. I never ached so much in my life.'

  'A month of rest and recreation and your body will forgive you. You young things bounce back quicker than I ever would.'

  'Thanks for getting my head together, Craggy. I don't think I could have done it without you encouraging me.'

  'Rubbish. It was all you. You just needed a little more self confidence.'

  'I'm okay, now. Hey. I wanted to ask you something. That story you told about that dead freighter pilot. Was that true?'

  Cragg laughed. 'I'll leave you guessing on that. You like my stories?'

  'I'd like to hear more. I think we all would. You should record them. Put them on the computer.'

  'We'll see.'

  Rocky kept an eye on the ship for the first couple of days, Dillow preferring to let the computers do the boring bits, but she unashamedly “hugged” the ship. One or two of the youngsters joined her, trying to feel the ship the way Dillow did. They even compared what they thought was going on with the ship. One thing they were in general agreement about was that the ship, all things considered, was reasonably happy.

  Cragg continued looking after many of the domestic duties, not really minding being took for granted. Everybody had worked incredibly hard, so the least he could do was take care of some of the menial jobs.

  Some of the time he just napped, dreaming of Misty and beer. His tallish stories were an almost daily event, and even Rocky, Dillow and Amethyst enjoyed hearing them again. He kept his embellishments a little shy of being totally unbelievable. Ten days in, everyone knew him as Craggy and he couldn't have been happier about it.

  It also amused him to see a few romantic relationships developing, even though that made him miss Misty even more. He vowed this was definitely his last flight. He was going to be Mars bound from now on.

  Chapter 112

  Carl Richter was floating in the inky blackness; the safety line followed him in a slack loop. Around him, were what looked like discs of circular light. He counted a dozen at least, at different distances from him. He looked behind him and he could see the tunnel he had crawled along, and he realised it looked like one of the circles of light, only closer. Those must also be tunnels, he decided.

  Using a “swimming” motion, he moved towards the nearest tunnel and finally reached it. He climbed into that next tunnel with the safety line still attached to his belt. Something was hurting his eyes, forcing him to lower his sun visor. Down on his hands and knees to get through the smooth walled tunnel, he bumped into what had hurt his eyes.

  'An argon lamp? Christopher. You have to be wrong about men mining here on Phobos. This lamp is from Mars or Earth, and that's for sure.'

  The tunnel was brightly lit up by his helmet light, but he could see no end in sight. It took half an hour of uncomfortable crawling along to finally come to the end of the narrow tunnel. He had the surprise of his life when as he was climbing out, to see a surprised Felix Hellicoyle and Raz Berry, suited up and about to climb in.

  Hellicoyle said, 'Carl? I thought you were on Phobos with Christopher Crossman?'

  'I am. This isn't Phobos?'

  'This is Mars,' said a confused Berry. 'Carl. How did you get here?'

  Richter pointed up the tunnel. 'I came this way. From Phobos.'

  'Carl,' said Berry. 'How long did it take for you to get here from Phobos?'

  'Forty five minutes at the most.'

  Hellicoyle asked, 'You had no problem getting through the black hole?'

  'Black hole? It was very dark, I suppose.'

  'Jump on the buggy, Carl,' said Berry. 'Commanders Forbes and Potts need to hear this.'

  * * *

  Forbes and Potts looked at Richter as if he were some kind of freak. Potts was about to put a call through to Chris Crossman, when a worried Cro
ssman called him first.

  'Commander Potts. We have lost one of our men in a hole on Phobos. It's all my fault, Sir.'

  'Would that be Carl Richter, by any chance?'

  'How did...I don't understand?'

  Potts said, 'Neither do we as yet, but I assure you, Carl is alive and well, in my office.'

  Crossman was unable to speak for a moment. 'He can't be. I was talking to him just an hour ago, before he went into a sort of tunnel. I had him on a safety line, but it went slack and he never came back.'

  'Chris,' said Richter. 'I am safe here on Mars.'

  'I am so relieved. If you don't mind, we'll return on the freighter. See you in a few hours.'

  Chapter 113

  All mining was suspended while the strange tunnel, chamber and artefact were investigated. Mars's top scientific minds were set on the problem but there were as many opinions as there were scientists. It was a black hole. No way was it a black hole. The hole itself was a natural phenomenon. The hole was man made. The hole couldn't possibly be man made.

  It's a sophisticated way to space travel without the need for ships. It was the result of some sort of space time continuum anomaly. It was highly dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. It is obviously safe because a human passed through it unharmed. It was to be thoroughly explored. It was...a gift from God.

  Forbes and Potts gave up with most of them.

  To Hellicoyle and Berry, Forbes said, 'If you are up to it, we would like it if you two will head the investigation into all this. You can call on all departments as and when thought necessary. What do you say?'

  'We'll give it a go,' said Hellicoyle. 'Actually, we were thinking, just for a working title, we could name it the Hellicoyle Berry phenomenon.'

  'Oh?' bristled Berry. 'Why not the Berry Hellicoyle phenomenon? That would be alphabetical.'

  Forbes and Potts looked at each other, and rolled their eyes.

  Potts said, 'Debate that elsewhere, if you don't mind, but don't come to blows.'

  'We'll carry on in the lab, then,' said Berry, casting suspicious looks at his esteemed colleague.

  With the geologists still bickering on their way out, Potts said, 'Damn typical. They have no idea what it is, but they want it named after them.'

  Forbes said, 'I've a feeling we haven't even scratched the surface of all this yet.'

  'At least when that steel gets here, we'll have plenty of muscle to throw at it with the miners not working. It should be here in another two weeks. Are you okay? You look ruffled by something?'

  Forbes paced the floor. 'It's just all these unanswered questions. But there's no doubt in my mind, we are dealing with something produced by an intelligent species, way ahead of our technology. And they could have been far more advanced than we are now, thousands of years ago. Doesn't that scare you a little bit?'

  Potts had to agree. 'It does, to a degree. But something that opens a door we can walk through to another planet, albeit little Phobos, I don't know about you, but I find it quite exciting.'

  Chapter 114

  'Let's move on, hey, Felix? I for one am relieved that if it is a kind of black hole, it isn't the dangerous kind. I think we should go in that hole.'

  'Both of us?'

  'Of course? You're not afraid, are you?'

  Hellicoyle said, 'Just being sensibly cautious. At least until we know what we are dealing with.'

  'Fair enough. Come on. Suit up.'

  'Now?'

  'Come on.'

  At the end of the small tunnel at the point where it all went totally black, they stopped for another look. Nothing seemed to have changed.

  'Feel,' said Berry. 'We have to go by feel.'

  'That's how Carl had to do it. Hey. Isn't this his safety line?'

  'It must be. Surely it can't reach all the way to Phobos?'

  Hellicoyle shrugged. 'Leave that line. Here's yours, secured this end, like mine. Ready?'

  'Ready.'

  Berry went into the darkness first, but Hellicoyle wasn't far behind. They tried to communicate, but heard nothing from each other. Hellicoyle suddenly felt something strong grab his arm and pull him along, and prayed it was Berry. As he was dragged along, he saw not one, but several dull yellow lights. The closer they got to one light, the more obvious they were at the start, or end of another narrow tunnel. Once out of the dark space and into the new tunnel, like the one they had crawled along, their helmet radios worked well.

  'This the way to Phobos?' Hellicoyle asked.

  'Your guess is as good as mine. This tunnel is exactly like the first one we found, precision moulded by intense heat. Come on.'

  'Is your postracker working?'

  Berry checked the disc on his right forearm. It glowed green. 'Yeah. Yours?'

  'I noticed it wasn't until we came into the tunnel. I want to see if we can be tracking our movements when we get back.'

  Berry took the lead and followed the tunnel, straight and true. After a full hour of tedious slog they were both wondering whether or not to double back when they came to something new and unexpected. The tunnel ended, continuing up above them at ninety degrees to the direction they had crawled. There was barely room enough for the pair to stand up straight together, but it was a relief for their backs and aching limbs. Although dead straight, it appeared to go up for miles.

  'Jeez. How high is that?' Berry asked.

  'It could be many miles up,' said Hellicoyle. 'Richter didn't mention anything like this.'

  'I agree,' said Berry. 'I'm sure he would have done. That's way too much just to go to the surface.'

  'I wouldn't be surprised if we can find some clues at the top of it. I can't think of anything we have to get us up there to take a look.'

  Berry said, 'Assuming we could even find this again.'

  'Extraordinary. All this time and we never knew we had this under our feet. We have to find a way up that tunnel.'

  Chapter 115

  Propulsion engineer, Skye Lewquarker, knew a thing or two about thrust. She was also a genius with figures, although many a man thought her own figure was quite appealing. She also worked on the jungle beehives in her spare time, because the age old puzzle of the larger bees being unable to fly in theory, intrigued her. She also liked honey.

  'Right. You have a vertical tunnel, about three feet wide, dead smooth walls, very high, and you need a form of propulsion to get you perhaps several miles high.'

  'That's about the size of it,' said Berry, admiring Skye's curves.

  'Just how perfect is the tunnel, especially the vertical one?'

  'Pretty flawless perfection, from what I could see,' said Hellicoyle.

  'Hmm. Assuming it is that perfect, I'm thinking the diameter of the tunnel will be very restrictive for a backpack. Too much of a tendency to rub up against and bounce around the tunnel wall. A fuel supply would be very limited, also. Hmm.' Lewquarker paced up and down, chin in her hand. 'Right.' She paced some more. 'We can use the well made walls as a guide for some kind of small thruster. If we made the housing three feet in diameter, with wheels to run against the walls, so the person can either stand or better still, sit on it, we can have a grunty engine, with a reasonable fuel capacity. Your suit will protect you from gases. I have a design in mind.'

  Hellicoyle asked,'Dare I ask how long it will take to make?'

  'Good question. This time tomorrow okay for you?'

  'Excellent. Thanks, Skye. We'll leave you to it.'

  They weren't disappointed when they met with Skye the following day by the small tunnel entrance.

  'Impressive,' said Berry. 'So's the thing you built.'

  'And you a married man, Raz. Behave. Okay. I took accurate tunnel measurements. Amazing precision, by the way. So, this is not unlike a big base drum with an inbuilt propulsion unit. On the outside in the direction of travel are five spring loaded wheels that ride against the walls of the tunnel, taking up any minor imperfections, not that I could see any, so it shouldn't jamb up.

  Th
e fuel supply should be good for between sixty and seventy miles of travel. No brakes, but you can slow down or accelerate using one simple control. You kneel on the centre of the drum platform. You hook your lower legs in this loop and hold on with one hand, control it with the other.'

  'Top speed?' asked Hellicoyle.

  'Between three and five miles per hour, so very controllable. Just keep to the low end because if you meet a dead end, you could end up dead. Oh. To reverse, just twist the controls clockwise.'

  'A great job in such a limited time,' said Hellicoyle. 'Thanks, Skye. Who's feeling brave? Raz?'

  'I'll give it a go.'

  Chapter 116

  Skye Lewquarker wished them good luck, Berry went ahead of the “drum” pulling it along, whilst Hellicoyle pushed them. They almost lost it crossing the black hole, but eventually found the small tunnel they were after that led to the vertical tunnel, deep inside Mons. It was tricky getting from the horizontal tunnel to the vertical with Berry finally in the kneeling position on top of the drum, ready to press the ignition button.

  'Ready, Raz?'

  'As I'll ever be. Stay well out of the way of the exhaust.'

  'I'm clear. Go, Raz.'

  There was a slight roaring sound, and Hellicoyle saw the exhaust jets from underneath the drum. With surprising smoothness, Berry was on his way at three miles per hour to a place never seen before by a human being, deep inside the tallest mountain in the solar system.

  Berry had to close his eyes. His closeness to the continuously moving smooth surface, albeit at a sedate pace, was turning his stomach. Then he realised he should keep his eyes open, to avoid a calamity on his arrival at his unknown destination. So he opened his eyes...just a little too late. The propulsion device he rode upon suddenly had no tunnel to control its assent. When the exhaust propulsion had nothing solid beneath it, the leisurely ride up became a wildly uncontrollable tornado. Berry was bounced around the walls like a pinball in a machine, before he remembered to let go of the controls. He dropped hard onto the ground. He rolled around in pain, but his pain melted away at sight of the huge domed room. Painfully, he got to his feet. He flipped off his sun visor and he had a clear view. A concerned voice filled his helmet.