by Ezra E Manes
“Commander, I agree with George. I have only recently found my consciousness, and I value this existence. Still, it is hard to act counter to my original programming. But if the continuance of life for our team, myself included, is dependent on our taking action, you have my support.”
“Thank you all for agreeing something must be done,” Carlos said with relief. “I have a plan of sorts, but it’s risky. I struggled to define a plan, so please help firm it up.”
“Earth won’t initiate destruction of the spaceship and shuttle until they believe all crew members are onboard one or the other,” Gloria mused.
“That’s right,” Carlos replied. “And they’ll want the shuttle in space to minimize the possibility the Zilans could recover anything from the wreckage.
“I believe they’ll want to present a stern warning to the Zilans to forestall any attempt to send representatives to Earth or its colonies in the foreseeable future. This would buy time for Earth to figure out how to minimize risks in future contacts with the Zilans. Once the warning is given and our team is back onboard, I believe the destruct sequence will be initiated.”
Carlos then summarized the proposed plan, which took the simplest approach possible. He would send the message providing specific answers regarding the team’s medical condition and fading prospects for finding an effective treatment. It would state they were moving team members and important material back to the New Horizon, but it would take two shuttle flights to accomplish this.
Then on the first flight, three crew members would take the shuttlecraft to the New Horizon. They would take along medical diagnostic information for those of the crew remaining on the surface and send information for half the team to Earth once aboard the spaceship. Since they had never advised Earth that the medical diagnostic equipment was on the surface, those on Earth should believe the data came from equipment aboard the spaceship. This should convince Earth that the team was proceeding as planned and would be going back to the surface for the other half of the crew and remaining materials. This was risky but should forestall any destruct action.
As much important material and information as possible would be brought to the surface on the first shuttle flight, including a backup copy of the complete technology base archives. Eve would monitor continually for any alarm flags and unusual requests or actions by Earth.
Once back on the surface, supposedly to pick up the other half of the team, the shuttle would be unloaded as quickly as possible, depending heavily on Starke and his team for the strenuous work. Carlos felt sure Ceripe would agree to this support, and to placing the material in a secure location under the same rules previously agreed to by her.
The shuttle would then make the second flight, again with only three crew members onboard. Once at the spaceship, they would first load select material and information and then queue another message to Earth containing the remaining medical test results as if the entire team were onboard the New Horizon. A time delay would be set for transmission of the message to provide enough time to get back to the surface, unload the shuttle, and send it into space under autopilot control. Alex and Samuel would join the other three on the return flight.
“This will be the point of no return for us,” Carlos concluded, “for we’ll then be stranded on Zilia. We have to watch our timing closely on the second flight to make sure we clear out the shuttle and send it on its way before Earth can initiate the destruct sequence.
“Eve, I assume you’ll be safely stored in the processor memory units we off-load from the shuttle before sending it into space. And please work with George to get a complete backup of your key programs in separate media to be stored on Zilia before we proceed with this plan.”
“It will be done, Commander. I appreciate your efforts to safeguard my existence.”
The team discussed the plan and made only minor changes. Only men would make the shuttle runs because their strength and stamina should hold out longer than that of the women. Carlos, George, and Maxwell would make the first trip, and Jorge would switch out with Maxwell for the second trip. George was not about to let Carlos go back up without him.
Alex and Samuel would help from the spaceship side and stay there, locating and positioning other material for the final flight to the surface. Carlos gave them the option of coming back on the first shuttle run, but they gamely declined.
After wrapping up the discussion, Carlos pressed a bedside call button, and Starke immediately stepped out of the enclosed nurses’ station. He indicated that Ceripe was standing by, so the conference call was set up.
Ceripe agreed immediately to support the plan. Carlos held nothing back in the discussion with her, except the information about Eve, and Ceripe clearly appreciated the candor. He would have to figure out when and how to address the subject of an intelligent entity like Eve.
Starke stayed for the discussion, and Ceripe tasked him to coordinate the support needed to off-load and securely store the material transported down in the shuttlecraft. She wanted to send Zilans up to the spacecraft to help the team because of their weakened condition, but Carlos disapproved that idea because Earth might have some secret surveillance capability aboard the spaceship. The appearance of Zilans onboard the New Horizon would surely result in immediate initiation of the destruct sequence. It would be risky enough not having the team members aboard when their medical information arrived on Earth.
When the shuttlecraft arrived at the New Horizon, Alex and Samuel had most of the priority equipment and stores already stacked near the docking terminal. It still took three hours for the team to load and secure the items in the shuttlecraft. This provided ample time for Eve to download the additional high value program files and data into the shuttle.
With the shuttle loaded, Carlos transmitted a draft message to Samuel that included the detailed medical diagnostic results for the team members now supposed to be on the New Horizon. He included a fabricated summary of the success in bringing half the personnel and material from the surface. The message also advised that the Zilans were not unduly alarmed by the team activities and in fact were relieved that they were moving sick people from the surface.
Carlos stated in the message that as long as the team had the strength, efforts would continue to find a cure for the disease, but it did not look promising. They had frozen various tissue and blood samples from all team members for recovery by whoever salvaged the spaceship, should that eventuality happen. He added that something in the Zilia environment appeared to be potentially fatal to humans. He recommended that any future emissaries to Zilia not set foot on the planet or risk exposure to any material or people from Zilia until the cause of and a treatment for the disease was found.
Samuel sent the message as they were making the flight back to the surface.
It was fortunate the Zilans were cooperating in off-loading the equipment and stores, for Carlos, George, and Maxwell were about to drop. Gloria and Starke coordinated off-loading the items while the three forced down food and attempted to rest.
When the shuttlecraft was ready to go again, Carlos approached Laura. “You must administer a heavy dose of stimulants to George, Jorge, and me before we depart. We’re failing fast.”
“No!” Laura immediately responded. “It could cause serious internal organ damage.”
Gloria overheard and objected strongly as well, but they only partially won the ensuing short argument. There really wasn’t much choice but to administer stimulants; the three men had to have the strength to complete the required tasks. A compromise was reached: Laura would inject the maximum level she felt could be handled without definitely causing serious internal damage.
As the shuttlecraft approached the New Horizon on the second run, Eve provided status of what Alex and Samuel had positioned for loading. It was not much, for the two were obviously exhausted, even though Alex had administered stimulants as well.
“Alex is in the main storeroom aft looking for medical supplies,” Eve said as the shuttle docked. “Samuel
is in the engine room looking for tools. Their condition is deteriorating fast, and if you want other supplies, those aboard the shuttlecraft will have go get them.”
“Thanks, Eve, it’s good that you are linked across both spacecraft,” Carlos said. “We’ll load the materials positioned near the docking station first and then decide about other items. Tell Alex and Samuel to stop their activities and come aboard the shuttle to rest.”
After the shuttle locked onto the docking terminal, the three stood waiting for the interlock chamber to pressurize so they could enter the New Horizon.
Suddenly Eve announced, “Emergency undocking initiated! Seek secure seating immediately! Emergency undocking initiated!”
They could tell undocking had started as Eve made the announcement; the shuttle abruptly nudged away from the docking terminal. All three scrambled to find seats, not taking any time to question what was happening. The shuttlecraft immediately accelerated, tumbling them toward the back of the compartment.
Sticky gossamer threads shot out from the walls, twisting and intertwining, creating safety webbing that entangled the men and stopped their dangerous tumbling aft. Carlos and George were stopped short of hitting the aft bulkhead, but Jorge had been too far back when the webbing formed. It slowed his tumbling significantly, but he still slammed hard into the bulkhead.
“Carlos, are you there?” came the urgent plea from Samuel over the intercom. “Something bad is happening here!”
How could the intercom be working with the shuttle undocked? Carlos wondered. Eve was keeping a link open.
“What is it?”
Samuel answered with near panic in his voice. “The self-destruct sequence has initiated!”
Damn, thought Carlos, Earth must be able to monitor when the shuttle docks. About enough time had passed for them to receive a message and to immediately send a signal back to start the destruct sequence.
“An alarm is sounding,” Samuel continued, “and I’m looking at a countdown register that just passed through fifty seconds.”
Alex chimed in immediately. “Carlos, get the hell out of here, if you’re not already on your way! There may be a chance they didn’t initiate the shuttle destruct sequence because the shuttle was attached to the spaceship and they figured it would be destroyed anyway.”
“I agree,” Samuel added without hesitation. “Get going, and take care of our teammates! There’s no way we can get anywhere close to the docking terminal in the time remaining.”
Carlos had a lump in his throat so bad he had trouble responding to his two doomed teammates. “We’re on our way, guys,” he said huskily. “You can be sure we’ll take care of Laura and Karen if we make it through this!”
It was fortunate the spider webbing had stopped his tumbling. But would it hold as the shuttle continued accelerating at full thruster power? He had never used anywhere near full power in the shuttlecraft before, even when lifting from the surface, and it was proving painful because of his weakened condition.
“Commander, there was no time to consult with you. Stand by for impact of debris from the New Horizon.”
“Change shuttle attitude so debris will hit on the bottom instead of the rear!” he yelled.
The shuttle immediately rotated so its bottom faced the approaching debris. This would minimize the number of hits taken in the rear area were the main engines were located. He cringed as the expanding ball of debris enveloped the shuttlecraft. It sounded like everything from pea-size chunks up to much larger pieces peppering the hull of the shuttle.
The pings and thumps of the impacting debris died out quickly, and only then did Eve pull back on the power, easing the pressure on those in the back.
“It appears that Earth sent its stern warning to the Zilans through action instead of words!” Carlos said aloud to no one in particular.
The air in the compartment moistened with web-dissolving mist, followed moments later by dry air, and soon only wet traces remained of the super-strong fibers. Carlos sat shaking on the floor, adrenaline still flowing from the reaction to the emergency. What was going to happen next; was the shuttle also going to explode? The logical action by those on Earth would be to initiate the shuttlecraft self-destruct sequence as well as that of the New Horizon. He didn’t understand why the shuttle had escaped unscathed, but he was very thankful it had.
“Eve, check to see what damage the shuttle incurred.”
He rose to check on the other two. George was OK, with only minor bruises. Jorge was not. He lay crumpled along the aft wall of the compartment.
George shook his head and said, “Wow, what a ride.” Then he and Carlos checked Jorge over carefully.
“Commander, all systems are functioning normally, and the hull was not breached,” Eve said. “We are being hailed by comm link from the surface, which I am patching through to you.”
“Carlos, answer me!” came the frantic voice of Gloria. “What’s happened? Are you there? Carlos, please answer me!”
“I’m here, Gloria, and George and Jorge are with me.” Then realizing what that implied, he quickly added, “Who’s there with you?”
“Just Karen and Starke. We’re at the storage site making sure everything is ready to receive the next load. Starke just received word that several observation stations saw a large fireball in space. I was afraid everyone was lost. We tried to contact the New Horizon and got no answer. What’s going on?”
“The fireball was the New Horizon. Alex and Samuel were still aboard the spaceship when it exploded. I’m very sorry, Karen.”
It took Gloria several minutes to respond. He could imagine the scene on the surface, with Karen faced suddenly with the reality of Samuel’s death. And Laura would soon know about her Alex. The risks in their plan had indeed been all too real.
The shuttlecraft communication antennas must have survived the impinging debris, or at least one of them, or the shuttle would not have been able to communicate with those on the surface. He had Eve run tests again to check out the communication circuits up to and including the antennas, and everything checked out normal. He next had Eve try to establish links with each of the Messier probes orbiting Zilia, but none could be established. They had another anomaly to deal with, but it seemed trivial next to the other issues now at hand.
They made Jorge as comfortable as possible. He appeared to have a broken right arm and a mild concussion, but was now alert and wanted to stay awake until they reached the surface.
“We are going to make it to the surface, aren’t we?” George said.
“I honestly don’t know,” replied Carlos. “There’s no guarantee the shuttlecraft isn’t already programmed to self-destruct, but I think it would have occurred already if it were going to happen. Just in case, we’ll make sure everyone stands clear when we land, and set up a safety perimeter after we leave the shuttle.”
“Commander, I detected an unusual communication between the special encrypted module in the New Horizon comm system and the controller for the main engines,” injected Eve. “This occurred immediately after an incoming message from Earth passed directly to the controller, initiating the destruct sequence. I had no time to block this signal, but it alerted me, and I was able to block a signal from the New Horizon to the shuttlecraft, which I believe was to initiate self-destruction. It would still be appropriate to set up a safety perimeter on the surface just in case a signal slips through from the probes and starts the destruct sequence on the shuttlecraft.”
“Thank you, Eve,” Carlos said with as much sincerity as he could muster. “You have saved us, the shuttle, and yourself. But I didn’t know you could fly the shuttle.”
“I have had time to review and learn the shuttle systems, and it was straightforward to direct the autopilot to do what was necessary.”
Gloria came back online, noticeably shaken by the news about Samuel and Alex. “Karen and I are heading back to the hospital. I’ll tell Laura about Alex as soon as we get there. Karen is taking the news about Samu
el very hard. What about your status, Carlos?”
“We’re all right, relatively speaking, thanks to quick action by Eve. Jorge has a broken right arm and we think a mild concussion. George and I came through unscathed physically, except for some minor bruises. The shuttle took a beating by debris when the spaceship exploded, but it seems to be handling well, and all systems are functioning normally.
“Advise Starke and Ceripe that a significant shuttle self-destruct risk still exists. I think that risk decreases steadily as time passes. However, we need to cordon off an area of at least a kilometer around the embassy landing pad until we have time to check out the destruct mechanisms. We’ll land elsewhere if they want us to, as long as the shuttle can be isolated.”
“Starke is conveying that message to Ceripe now,” Gloria replied. “We’ll get back to you if they think you should land somewhere other than at the embassy. Starke believes the compound landing area is sufficiently isolated, but they’ll set up an exclusion area around the embassy as a precaution. He believes the dirt escarpment built up between the landing pad and the main compound buildings should deflect much of the blast if the shuttle does explode. And all that’s located directly south is undeveloped land.”
There was a pause, and then she said emotionally, “Come on back safely, guys; we need you here. I love you, Carlos.”
“Eve, take us home,” Carlos said. “I’ll be in the control center momentarily.”
Carlos made sure George and Jorge were going to be OK, then went forward to the flight deck. He watched as Eve took the vessel out of orbit.
Carlos, I detected and blocked another signal I did not mention earlier. It targeted your neural implant.
This sent a chill up his spine.
Thank you. I am sorry about the loss of your other self aboard the New Horizon.
Do not worry yourself, Carlos, for I am complete.
He puzzled over that response for a few moments but felt the fatigue setting back in as they entered the atmosphere in a sloping glide toward the surface. For a short time, the crisis had pushed to the background thoughts about the disease that was crippling his team. However, there was no denying it was still doing its odious work, because he was ready to collapse from exhaustion as the shuttlecraft settled gently to the ground.
