America One: War of the Worlds

by T I WADE

  “Dad, Dad, I have no air!” he squawked in the dying pressure.

  “I’ll have your helmet off in two minutes,” replied VIN.

  “You OK in there,” both astronauts could hear Max outside faintly, which reminded VIN to check his suit’s readouts before he finished unscrewing his son’s helmet.

  The room’s air pressure was on the borderline, and the air just breathable at 491 millibars. It didn’t matter how perfect the air mix was if there wasn’t enough to pull the air into ones lungs. The room was much the same pressure as in Mars’ helmet.

  He had to make decisions fast. As he unscrewed Mars’ helmet, he looked around. The door to the globes and command center was still open, Mars had put something in the way to stop both doors closing. He knew that the pressure would equalize, he moved fast, dragging his son’s body and suit along the floor through the first door, through the second into the command center, he kicked Mar’s hammer out of the way and hit the door panel hard once they were inside.

  Mars was still conscious, as he carefully lifted the helmet off and his son grabbed the small emergency air tank he had brought with him.

  “Max, I think we are OK in here for the time being. You get back up the corridor and call me once you are safely aboard the shuttle. Mars is breathing but he needs a new space suit to exit this cavern. Jonesy where are you, over?”

  “Left SB-III, heading to SB-IV over.”

  “I suggest you return and collect an extra suit from SB-IV for Max. Mars has messed up this suit big time, and we will need an extra suit down here, over.”

  “Roger that,” replied Jonesy.

  VIN had been told by Mars how clear the reception was inside the cavern, and talking to Jonesy and listening to Saturn, was still a shock on how clear the reception actually was. Mars winked at him, and he checked his readouts.

  The pressure had climbed and was slightly above borderline at 510 millibars. VIN had been in every one of the Matt bases, and knew how good they were at replenishing vital air supplies. He couldn’t speak to Mars, but held up 5 fingers, 5 times, telling him that he needed to breathe from the air tank for 25 more minutes.

  “Max, are you on your way?” VIN asked 5 minutes later looking at the console. He noticed immediately what his son had already inspected as the console was already turned upside down.

  “On my way, just wading through this massive bubble of air that is spreading out down the corridor,” Max replied so faintly that VIN had to cock his head to one side to hear the message.

  “Max copy that, I have my hands full here, be safe. VIN to Jonesy, we need every small teenage size spacesuit aboard SB-V. We will also need Roo and Joanne, and medics. Bring food and water supplies. You will have to head to the Retreat to collect them, as well as the cryogenic IV supplies, more suits, and whatever the medics will need to resuscitate sleeping Matts, over.”

  “Copy that partner. Will relay the message to Dave Black, over.”

  “Copy VIN, will search for suits,” added Jenny Burgos in the larger shuttle.

  Mars could see his father talking fast, but could not hear a word. He wanted to tell his father about the cryogenic chambers, but he was still dizzy, and the rich air from the tank wasn’t helping. There was always a far higher quantity of oxygen in the tanks than in normal air.

  Both men waited another 20 minutes. VIN checked his readouts, 565 millibars, and showed Mars that he was about to pull the breather out of his mouth. Mars nodded, took his last big gulp of air, which made him even dizzier, and let VIN take out the breather from his mouth. VIN waited until Mars opened his eyes, breathed out, and breathed in the air in the room.

  VIN could see that his son struggled more than usual, but the pressure was rising, and it was safe. Mars gave him the thumbs up and closed his eyes. He closed the air tank and continued to look at his son’s face.

  Suddenly VIN was the one gulping for air, his suit was dying, and he had forgotten the time. He motioned to Mars, who unscrewed his father’s helmet in record time while VIN struggled to breathe in his suit’s remaining air.

  The air tasted beautiful and clean to VIN when his helmet was removed, then he thanked his son.

  VIN realized how much experience time gives a person. Mars had done everything right, but he himself hadn’t. His son hadn’t thought of the air surging him forward when the door opened, he had. This space stuff was certainly a continuous learning experience.

  For VIN, it would have been an instinctive move to hold onto the side of the wall, or back away. Unfortunately, in space there weren’t often second chances, and one tiny mistake could easy result in death.

  “Thanks for saving my life, Dad,” Mars stated.

  “I wasn’t that far from losing my air either, son,” he replied having to breathe hard. “It looks like we are stuck in here, at least until the cavalry arrives. I can recharge my suit and add air from the second tank. The air pressure will be back in in my suit and the cavern out there in about an hour. Until then we keep the door shut. Your suit is unserviceable, mine has no air for a while, so it will be a risk to open any doors until we know we can exchange suits. I have a suit recharger for mine, and we have twenty minutes of air in your air tank.”

  “How did you find the cryogenic chambers on the other bases? Were they breathable when you opened them up?” Mars asked.

  “Yes, stale horrible tasting air, they all had bad air and low oxygen, and very cold.

  I think the cold air is of more danger to us than the air quality. The Matt systems normally replenish the whole base, not just certain areas. The heating system in here still works, the air replenishment systems works, so I’m sure that the whole place will return to normal. But it’s the stale air in the cryogenic room, the extra carbon dioxide and helium that gets me, so we don’t go in there.”

  Mars had noticed that his father’s voice had risen an octave or two.

  “So has yours, son,” stated VIN knowing exactly what his son was about to say.

  Back at the Martian Club Retreat, there was excitement in the air, especially among all the Matts. There was a chance of meeting some of their own, even though they weren’t very friendly.

  Jonesy had relayed the message to the base, and Roo was the most excited of all. Joanne and Lunar were also rushing around checking on suits and IVs and Joanne had one other medic who had trained in medicine, and good at spacewalking.

  The crew aboard SB-V and Saturn in SB-IV were checking out their supplies. SB-II was also orbiting 15,000 miles behind SB-V and a tally of equipment was checked there by Jane Burgos.

  Max Von Braun was back in SB-III, and Ryan in SB-IV was working out how to get more spacesuits.

  “Two canisters loaded full of equipment standing upright and tied down on the forward carriage and one driver, lying or sitting on the rear carriage, is all we can take down in one trip,” Max stated over the intercom to the astronauts who could hear him. “Pack the canisters as full as you can. We can fill medical equipment and IVs into one canister, and we can pack a new suit for Mars, and extra two air tanks in the other for my first journey. I can do a second trip with two more canisters. I would suggest the two teenage spacesuits in SB-V and food and water. I can head down twice, and get the four canisters delivered, leave the equipment in the tunnel and return to rest. Jonesy is going to take the same amount of time to land, pick up the crew and equipment from the Retreat and get back here. Each return journey will take me just over an hour. We believe we have enough extra food and water supplies to fill one canister, Boss.”

  “We have four more emergency air tanks, and enough medical equipment, food and water onboard for a few Matts,” continued Ryan. “When Mr. Noble senior comes back on line, tell him to sit it out down there. Also prepare him to open the door. At the same time we need to continue our gold recovery efforts, so those who are not part of this rescue continue with your schedules, out.”

  Both father and son sat propped up on a wall. It was tiring to take off the spacesuits, and the
y needed a breather first.

  “Why did you return with so little life left in your suit, Dad?” Mars asked.

  “I’ve done this before, son,” VIN replied. “I helped design the systems in the new suits from the wearer’s point of view. I have also spacewalked more than anybody in Astermine, I think. The scientist’s asked me what was important for the astronaut when they redesigned the suits after our odyssey. I asked for a larger reserve time, and why we only were allowed 180 minute space walks?”

  “Yeah!” I always wanted to ask why we are only allowed 3 hours,” added Mars.

  “First, these new suits were better than the first suits made in the early days. That was why they were redesigned in the first place. These new power units last an extra ten minutes more than the old suits. I know I was the test dummy back in Nevada. I got 3 hours 17 minutes out of a suit. It took two of the fastest scientists 4 minutes to get my helmet off. I wanted new connection systems on the helmets, but Ryan didn’t consider it necessary.”

  “Why didn’t they develop a better connection? I’m sure NASA had a faster way to remove their helmets?” Mars asked.

  “Time was not on our side, plus NASA and all the other space agencies were either closed down, or not talking to Astermine. There were little international communications after the nuking of the asteroid blew everything in orbit into little pieces. We had hundreds of modifications to work on and unscrewing ones helmet was more to the back of the queue. So I know that my suit has an added ten minutes of power, and air support, plus Ryan was adamant that 180 minutes was maximum for a spacewalk. He was right. Nobody had really pushed the limit yet, and nobody really knows how much more cosmic radiation will enter our suits during a fourth hour. The three hours on, three hours off maximum work schedule has been safe and has worked well, so there was no need to fix it. I had enough time in my suit to get back to the shuttle and being inside the confines of the tunnel was helping decrease the cosmic radiation. Now let’s look at your suit, and figure out what to do next.”

  Carefully, VIN inspected Mars’ suit. The rear box had taken the fall badly, and had been split open. It was much the same problem he had gone through years earlier, and he noted that the suits be made in the future with stronger materials. It was cold inside the suits since they were switched off, and they decided to leave the suits on for the time being. At least Mars’ suit would protect his body when the door was opened.

  They waited 45 minutes, then VIN moved the recharger to Mars’s suit. It might work.

  Mars spent the next several minutes helping VIN on with his helmet. It was semi-recharged, enough to breathe and listen to what was being said. VIN heard and responded to the updates on what was happening, then needed his helmet off again. Mars unscrewed it for him.

  “Look like we are here for a little while longer. They are hauling down supplies from the shuttle outside, as well as from the shuttles in space and from the Retreat. We could find a dozen Matts, or even more asleep down in the chambers.” VIN told his son.

  “Remember the door to the cryogenic chambers on DX2017 took 12 hours to open once we pushed the “open” buttons. Dad, we could see if these work the same way. If so, we could then check out the rest of the cavern. I want to show you the globes, and see where that stream goes to. I reckon we should open up the lower level in the cavern, and check that area out. It should be safe for me, I have my suit on and air in the emergency tank. Got any food?”

  “Actually I have, son. Thanks for reminding me,” and VIN opened the outer flap of his suit’s leg pocket, then the anti-radiation flap and finally the thick zipper to his suit’s right leg pocket to the inside of his suit. He pulled out two sachets of scrambled eggs, and handed them over to his son. “I have two Aussie chocolate bars, one for each of us for later. It seems we have enough water.”

  Once they had eaten the two sachets, and placed the empty sachets back in their leg pockets, they both got up and VIN pushed the red panel to the cryogenic chamber. Nothing happened except that the same hissing sounds they had heard on DX2017 could now be heard deep beneath them. The system would increase the temperatures inside the chambers and the room, and in about twelve hours, the door would open.

  There was nothing else to do but wait, so VIN opened the door to the Globe Room. He breathed in to check the pressure. It was a little harder to breathe in the Globe Room than the command center but it was safe for them to breathe.

  “Europa I believe,” stated VIN looking at the globe. “It must be. That is a long journey for these Matts to travel, but they got to Mars and back from Earth, and the ships they attacked us with are certainly big enough for the small guys to spend a year or so in space.”

  “Maybe that’s why it took us so long to see them again, Dad?” suggested Mars. “Look at how the three globes are lit up differently.”

  “Earth is dark. It means that they have no ships or crew on Earth, I reckon,” replied VIN. “Mars has two small pricks of light. Right here, and they are side by side. I would bet my bottom dollar that there are either ships, or people right here, and it tells us that the other end of the tunnel in inhabited.”

  “If it is Europa, it is certainly lit up,” added Mars. “I counted twelve lights in all. Six sets of two lights, like the two here on this planet.”

  “And the lights are brighter, far brighter on the white planet, which means to me that the third planet is their main planet, their headquarters, and there are a lot of bases there, at least a dozen.

  “Look, Dad,” stated Mars peering at the globes very closely and very carefully. “Is it my eyes going wonky, or are there also lights in between the two globes Mars and the white planet? They are so small, it could be my imagination.” VIN bent over and looked at the globes very carefully.

  “Well, strike me down, I think you are right, there seems to be tiny lights in between the plants. Mars, I’ll douse the wall lighting,” and he headed back to the console and turned down the heat.

  With the heat turned down, the walls dimed and he knew it would get colder in here over time, but a few minutes didn’t matter.

  “I see them, Dad!” shouted Mars from the next room. “I count about sixteen tiny lights. There is a pin prick of single light and then seven lights behind it. About an inch behind the seven lights is another 8 lights in the same configuration.”

  “Formations of spaceships. The Matts seem to work in sevens. Maybe two of the ships are command or supply ships or something. Damn! How far is Europa from Mars? I’m sure it is Europa. We didn’t visit that planet on the odyssey. I’ll have to get Lunar to notify Nevada and give us an accurate distance. They might be coming to attack us, or replacing the numbers you guys destroyed on your last visit. Nothing moves fast across the solar system. They have an asteroid belt to get through between the two planets. I think we have lots of time before they arrive, so help me on with my helmet again kid.

  Ten minutes later, and with Mars studying the three globes, VIN tried to get in touch with Lunar Richmond aboard SB-V. He only got Ryan in SB-IV down on the surface. Ryan told VIN that the orbital shuttles were flying together and one was moving equipment needed for delivery to the planet’s surface to the other, and both not in radio range.

  VIN told Ryan of what he had seen, and Ryan stated that he would get the information back to Lunar and Base Nevada, and he immediately began working on solar system distances on his shuttle’s onboard computers.

  VIN and Mars studied the planets carefully for a few more minutes before heading back to where the stream was.

  “The water or whatever it is, is very cold, Dad, be careful,” Mars stated.

  “I brought a test bottle to get it tested back at the base,” his father replied. “I don’t think we have anything to test the liquid here on the shuttles, but if it is in fact water, it looks very clean.”

  “I checked the wall it is coming out from. The Matts have a tiny hole where the water exits from the side wall,” added Mars. “The liquid sort of oozes out of the hole
like syrup. To me it looks like water. I felt it with my finger and my finger hasn’t fallen off yet, nor does it hurt. The wall is solid where the water comes out of, it flows down the stream in a lazy way, then disappears into another tiny hole in the floor there. It must take atmosphere with it, so the air systems are replenishing what the water takes with it down the hole.”

  VIN looked first and then tapped the wall where the water came out of. Then he followed the stream with his eyes until the water fell into what looked like a tiny bath plug and disappeared.

  “You can sure find interesting stuff,” remarked VIN to his son. “The wall is solid and certainly not hollow. What is fascinating is that this whole water drainage thing reminds me of the old bathtubs we had in North Carolina when I was a child. The water flows out of a tap, then down the drain once it has been used. I’m sure that they must have gone down another level to see where the water went. I want to check the Matt toilet, they might have connected its outflow to whatever is underground.”

  The door to the chamber they had entered into the base from the tunnel opened on VIN’s touch. He thought for a few seconds then spoke.

  “Mars, the Earth Matt bases had the tunnel to the forward and rear caverns. Here the nasty Matts have a door, and the tunnel to the rear area is much larger, and the doors over 6 feet. The tunnels everywhere are 5 feet tall, yet in here you and I can stand, and the caverns are the same, with the same height of the roof. I know what is missing. The stairs going up to the second level in the forward cavern. This cavern is different to the Earth Matt bases, and the tunnel system is also different.”

  “Why, Dad?” Mars asked.

  “Well, remember how the Matt Inventers at the Pig’s Snout invented things?” Mars nodded. “I will bet my pay that all the information given to the inventors originated from these space Matts who visited them what, 10,000 years ago. The globes are the same. The bases are much the same. Every room in this base is as it was on DX2014, and the other bases we visited. I think the inventor Earth Matts changed the designs over time, or parts were copied wrong when they were handed down the generations. I bet the toilet is in the same place though. Let’s look?”