Star One: Tycho City Survival

by Weil, Raymond L.

  In the back of his mind, he also wondered if they should send a space mission to investigate the neutron star. With the changes that Steve and he had authorized for the Jupiter probe ship, they had that capability. What had been done to the ship was a highly guarded secret. Mase suspected that Steve would pick Tyler Erin, Star One’s best shuttle commander as the leader for such a mission.

  Mase stood for several minutes thinking about what lay ahead of them. The neutron star would change everyone’s lives. Somehow, they had to survive. The human race could not be allowed to die out without a fight.

  Taking a deep breath, Mase unfastened his safety tether and began walking back toward the operations center. The shuttle would be back shortly, and he had a lot of plans to make. Neutron star or no neutron star, Mase was determined to do whatever was necessary for Tycho City to survive. Tycho City had been his dream, and he was not about to let that dream die!

  Tycho City: Survival

  Chapter Six

  Mase laid the phone down and let out a long and deep breath, straightened his shoulders, and leaned back in his chair. He had just finished talking to Steve on Star One and they had made an important decision. They were going to recommend to President Kateland that they send the Jupiter probe ship to investigate the approaching neutron star. It was the only spacecraft they had that could make it in the allotted time frame because of the radical design changes that Steve and he had approved. Fortunately, the president and McPhryson had both approved the changes, but had demanded in return that Star One and Tycho City handle the extra costs.

  As a result, they had a fusion-powered spacecraft that could travel to any place in the solar system in just a few weeks or months. Mase just hoped it was ready for the long journey ahead of it. He was a little concerned though, about what would happen when others in the government found out what they had done to the ship.

  “So who is going to be the pilot?” Anthony queried his eyes and voice showing how hard it was for him not to ask for the job. This was the type of exploration mission that every shuttle pilot or astronaut dreamed of.

  “I need you here, Anthony,” Mase said softly, looking across the desk at his friend. “You’re my best pilot and we don’t know what may be ahead of us. I know you want to go, and I understand your reasoning, but we’re going to need every pilot we have, shortly. You’re going to be needed to help train some of the new ones.”

  Anthony let out a deep sigh of disappointment. He had known the odds of him going were low. Just the idea of piloting this new ship into the unknown was so captivating.

  “So who will you choose to be the pilot?” Anthony asked after a moment of silence between the two.

  He could think of only two men he would trust if he couldn’t go, John Gray and Rodrick Simpson. Both were well-qualified, exceptional pilots and were currently working out of Star One. “It has to be either Rodrick or John. They are the only two with the skills and knowledge to pilot the Jupiter probe ship.”

  “It will be Captain Simpson,” Mase replied after a moment. He knew Rodrick Simpson very well, and the talented pilot was a good choice. “John has a family on Star One and Steve feels he will need him on the space station just as I need you here.”

  “I suppose Tyler Erin will be chosen as mission commander,” Anthony continued his eyes thoughtful. “He’s the only one I would trust with a mission like this.”

  “Yes, he will be finding out shortly,” continued Mase. “We are still evaluating some of the data and working on a mission profile.”

  Anthony looked down at Mase’s desk and then forced his eyes back up. There was something important that he had been thinking about for the last several days that he needed to ask Mase. “Mase, I want to bring Jean up from Earth. She’s the only real family I have since our parents were killed in that car wreck several years ago. I want her here at Tycho City where she will be safe.”

  Mase leaned back in his chair and let out a deep sigh. He also wanted to bring his brother Phillip and his family up as well. He knew there would be others with the same requests. How was he going to decide who to approve and who to turn down? It might be necessary to set up some type of criteria to ensure only people who would be beneficial to Tyco City were approved.

  This was going to be a delicate and tough situation soon. When word got out about the neutron star, he suspected that his office would be flooded with requests to bring additional family members and friends up to Tycho City.

  “What’s Jean studying in college?” Mase asked as he thought about how best to answer Anthony. He looked over and saw the deep look of worry on his friend’s face.

  “She’s a senior this year. She has been studying to be a nurse practitioner and will be interning at a hospital in San Diego.” Anthony was very proud of his younger sister and what she had chosen to become.

  Mase saw an easy way out of this. “I think not,” he said slowly as a simple solution occurred to him. “Call your sister and see if she would like to intern at the Tycho City hospital. I think Doctor Klein can help her immensely in her studies.”

  “Intern up here?” Anthony asked, his eyes lighting up. “Are you sure?” The Tyco City hospital under Doctor Klein practiced some very advanced medical procedures.

  “Yes,” replied Mase, evenly. “We are going to need some good, experienced people up here if we hope to survive this thing. I think your sister will fit in very well. I’ll let Doctor Klein know he has a new intern coming.”

  “Thank you, Mase,” replied Anthony, feeling a heavy weight lift from his shoulders. He couldn’t wait to call Jean. He knew she would be highly excited about the prospect of interning at the Tycho City hospital.

  Anthony stood up; he had to fly some supplies out to one of the research sites in a couple of hours and he wanted to check to make sure the shuttle was ready. However, he was curious about one more thing.

  “When will the Jupiter ship launch?”

  Mase folded his arms across his chest and looked over at Anthony. “A little over three weeks. We have already started work on the modifications necessary to complete the mission. There will be a short shakedown cruise before that to test the ship’s systems.”

  Anthony nodded. He would be contacting his sister later on tonight. Her classes would be completed shortly, and he wanted her up to Tycho City as soon as possible. Just before he walked out the door, he stopped and looked at Mase. “Thanks Mase, for allowing Jean to come up here.”

  Mase nodded as he watched Anthony leave. It felt good to have helped his friend. He just wondered how many others he could help also.

  -

  President Kateland let out a long, haggard breath. Tim McPhryson had just briefed her on Farside’s discovery.

  “Are they certain about this?” she asked, standing up and coming around her desk to stare directly at McPhryson.

  “Yes,” Tim replied. “Jane Kinsey and Warren Timmons have run the data through the NASA computers and have come up with the same results. We’ve known for a couple of days; I was just waiting until the results were confirmed before notifying you.”

  President Kateland gazed at her Science Advisor with eyes that didn’t want to believe what she had just been told. “Tim, you’re telling me the world might be coming to an end. How am I supposed to take that and, more importantly, what am I going to do?”

  “We need more information,” replied Tim, sounding extremely serious. “We need to know for certain how this is going to affect our solar system and Earth.”

  President Kateland sat down in a comfortable chair across from Tim and looked intently at the younger man. “Did Colton or Larson have any recommendations?”

  “Yes, several,” replied Tim, opening up a large folder he had with him. “They want to send the Jupiter ship out to the neutron star for a thorough investigation. They also want to make both Star One and Tycho City self-sufficient and try to ride this thing out.”

  “Can the ship go that far?” Kateland asked, her eyes widening at the
thought. This was much farther than a trip to Jupiter.

  “Yes, with the changes that Steve and Mase authorized for the Jupiter ship, it’s well within its range.”

  “If this neutron star is as dangerous as they say it is, can Star One and Tycho City survive?”

  “Possibly,” Tim replied with a hint of hesitation in his voice. “They would need a lot of supplies and help from us to make it feasible.”

  President Kateland was quiet as she considered her options. “What about here on Earth? Is there any way for people to survive the worst case scenario?”

  “Only by being deep underground,” Tim responded. He had already discussed this with some experts. “We will have to work up what would be needed and what we can do in the time we have left.”

  “Underground,” President Kateland repeated, her eyes narrowing. “Is that the only choice?”

  “The only viable one,” answered Tim, evenly. “I wish I could tell you there were other possibilities, but until we know more, I can’t.”

  “Very well,” President Kateland replied with a heavy sigh. “Begin drawing up the plans for these underground bunkers. We will use whatever resources we need to make this happen.”

  “What do I tell Steve and Mase about the space mission?”

  “We launch that ship on this mission and we’re going to ignite a hornet’s nest,” answered President Kateland, closing her eyes briefly and then opening them. “Only a few people know we have a fusion reactor on it.”

  “Senator Farley,” nodded Tim, knowing whom the president was referring to. “He may have to be brought in just prior to the launch and briefed. Maybe when he understands the gravity of the situation he won’t protest.”

  “I doubt it,” responded Kateland, letting out a deep breath. “How soon do they want to launch the mission?”

  “Three weeks,” Tim replied.

  President Kateland nodded. “Contact them and let them know they have my tentative approval. We will give them the final approval for launch when we get closer to the launch date. Once you have finished that I want to set up a meeting with the NASA people and some of our own experts to discuss what we need to do.”

  “Yes, Madam President,” Tim responded. He stood up and left the Oval Office, shutting the door quietly behind him.

  President Susan Kateland stood up and walked over to the large window behind her desk and gazed out. If what Tim had just told her came to pass, she might very well be the last president of the country. When she had run for office, she never thought she might see the end of the world. She stood there for quite some time; for some reason her office seemed unusually cold. She felt so helpless knowing there might be very little she could do to prevent this coming catastrophe.

  -

  Linda was sitting at her desk feeling numb. Mase had just called her into his office and told her everything that was going on. He had patiently explained to her all of the ramifications and promised that he would do everything he could to get her sister Karen up to Tyco City. He had stressed that they were going to do everything in their power to try to survive here on the Moon.

  Linda took a Kleenex from the box on her desk and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Mase had also told her there would be a general announcement to everyone living and working on the Moon in a few more weeks, but for now the information was still classified. She would have to be very careful what she said around her friend Jolene. Jolene was currently staying with her until she could find a place of her own.

  Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to calm down. She needed to speak to Margaret Sullivan on Star One about some supply schedules Mase was asking about.

  -

  Isaac Anderson and Steffan Darrow were standing in the new excavation for the deeper section of Tycho City that was scheduled to be built later. They were two hundred feet farther beneath the lunar surface than the current city was. The walls of the small excavation were still bare, and only a small portion of the roof was finished. They had to come through a large airlock just to enter the work area.

  “We’re five hundred and twenty feet below the surface,” Isaac commented as he spread out some schematics on a large desk that had been set up inside the excavation. There were several work lights above them illuminating everything. He also had several blank pages that he could write on.

  “Figuring the curve of the roof for a cavern the size we’re talking about, that puts the roof within three hundred feet of the surface,” Steffan commented with a frown. “I don’t know if that’s enough protection.”

  “That’s too shallow,” stated Isaac decisively, folding his arms across his chest and looking around. The excavation had barely been started, so it wasn’t too late to make changes.

  “What if we dig down another one hundred and fifty feet?” suggested Steffan, glancing over at one of the large excavators that were setting nearby. “Assuming we make the cavern larger and longer, the center height of the roof would be around two hundred and fifty feet. That would leave a little over four hundred feet of rock and dirt above us.”

  “I think two hundred feet for the central height would be plenty,” countered Isaac, wanting the extra protection above them. “That would give us an additional fifty feet of lunar rock and soil.”

  “Tycho City is currently 2,600 feet long, 600 feet wide, with a center height of 120 feet,” mused Steffan. He sat down at the desk and began quickly sketching a new cavern. “We have a little over 2,500 people that make Tycho City their home. Assuming we have twelve months to finish the new cavern, I would propose we consider a longer length of, let’s say 7,500 feet and the width at 800 with a center height of 200 feet.”

  “That would allow us to set up a reasonable environment,” Isaac said thoughtfully as he looked down at Steffan’s sketch. “If we construct our buildings and living quarters with several floors underground we could greatly enhance the number of people we could support.”

  “I suggest making the underground levels with airlocks in case of decompression in the cavern,” added Steffan as he added a note to his drawing. “We could put our people in them for safety if we experience moonquakes from the close approach of this neutron star. Once the quakes subside they can come back out into the cavern if everything is deemed safe.”

  “We’re going to need a lot of Luxen to do this,” Isaac commented with a frown as he bent down and punched in some figures on a small laptop. “We’re going to need our own fusion reactor, perhaps two of them, to furnish our power needs.”

  “Wow,” commented Steffan, shaking his head at what was ahead of them. “I guess we’d better talk to the commander and let him know. We were going to install one later, but I guess we need to push getting the first one installed as soon as possible so we can get started on a second one.”

  “That will also allow us to produce our own Luxen,” Isaac pointed out.

  “I’ll turn these sketches over to some of my engineers and get them started drawing up a final plan for the commander to approve,” Steffan said as he stood and picked up the papers he had been drawing on. “This is going to cost a hell of a lot of money.”

  “I don’t think money is going to be an issue,” Isaac replied as he thought about what was ahead of them. “We just have to remember we only have twelve months to complete the biggest engineering project ever attempted on the Moon.”

  “It’s going to take a lot of manpower and equipment,” Steffan added as he looked over at Isaac.

  “We’re going to have to pull in some of our miners and mining excavators from the lunar surface,” Isaac said. “It’s the only way we can get this project done.”

  Both men became silent as they left the excavation. They had a lot of work to do, and they were just realizing that every minute of time was precious. The neutron star was coming and nothing they could do was going to stop it.

  -

  The next week, Mase was at Farside meeting with Pierre LaRann and LeAnn Kelly. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked
, looking at the two in disbelief. He couldn’t believe what they had just asked him.

  “I don’t think we have a choice,” replied LaRann, taking off his glasses and laying them on the conference table. “We need some people on the mission that understand what the ship and crew might be facing, and that’s LeAnn and I.”

  Mase leaned back and let out a deep breath. He had informed Pierre the day before that they would be sending a space mission to the neutron star to study it. He had been surprised when Pierre had asked him to come to Farside to discuss the mission. Mase had never expected LaRann and Kelly to volunteer to go on it.

  “Who will take care of things here?” asked Mase, knowing that the two would leave a big hole in the Farside staff.

  “Adam and Charles can handle what needs to be done,” responded Pierre, glancing over at LeAnn.

  “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” LeAnn spoke, her eyes glowing with excitement. “How can we not go?”

  Mase nodded his head; he knew the two were right. They were the type of people they would need on the mission to ensure its success. “I will contact Commander Larson later today. How soon can you be ready to go to Star One?”

  “We can be ready in forty-eight hours,” Pierre responded. “We still have a few things we need to do here before we leave.”

  “Very well,” Mase responded with a sigh. He hated seeing the two leave. “I will have Anthony fly you up to the station the day after tomorrow.”

  “Thank you, Commander,” Pierre replied with a pleased smile on his face. He was looking forward to examining a neutron star up close.

  -

  Several days later, Mase read the latest message from Steve on Star One. As he had expected, Tyler Erin had been named commander of the neutron star mission. The crew had renamed the ship FarQuest, which to Mase seemed appropriate considering how far they were going. He had also talked to Pierre and LeAnn earlier. The two had arrived on Star One and were already in the process of making sure the ship was equipped with the proper equipment they would need to conduct their observations.