Far Mantis

by Jim Henderson

  Then he had Mantis start gathering stray radio signals, while he sent direct messages to all six stations the records indicated. In the messages, he announced their presence and asked Zeta Control where and how they can help.

  After a few minutes, Shao summarized the solar activity. “Ximon, solar activity is fairly heavy and variable. The effective diameter of the sun’s corona is ten to fifteen percent greater than previous records indicate. The sun has expanded and may expand more.”

  “Is it clear what’s causing it?”

  “It appears to be a period of fluctuation leading up to changes simply based on star age.”

  ASOR added, “Concur, Captain. I see no indication of the type of activity that would indicate that the sun is in nova precursor stages.”

  Shao added, “We also noted a shuttle at extreme range on long range sensors, heading toward the fifth planet.”

  “Mantis, hail it.”

  “Roger, Captain. Hailing now.”

  “Mantis,” a reply came from the shuttle, static crackling in the connection. “This is the independent shuttle Galileo. Not sure what you’re doing out here, but if you’re here to help, there are some more folks that need evacuated from the moon base on Darcy-3. We’re hauling all we can, but there are a few hundred still there and radiation levels are not safe over the long term.”

  “Galileo, Understood. Can we ask where they need to be hauled to? We just jumped in.”

  “Roger. Saw that. We’re taking them to the mining station on asteroid 4.1 Metis. I think they’re all working on plans from there.”

  “We’ll do what we can.”

  “Help them and good luck doing so. If you don’t, then damn you.” Galileo then cut off abruptly, the line going to static and then silence.

  Ximon couldn’t help but think they were very touchy, but he forgave it because it was clearly a stressful situation for them.

  Mantis showed other messages they had received. There was a message from Moon Base Darcy-3 asking for evacuation assistance, a couple old distress calls, and then a video one from 4.1 Metis.

  The message showed a haggard, middle-aged woman in coveralls in some kind of small operations center. She was almost pleading, “Mantis, this is Kochai Korai at 4.1 Metis mining station. We’re coordinating the evacuation/relocation in the inner planets, while Darcy-5 Moon Mining (DMM) is handling work in the outer planets area for now. We need your help in-system and then hauling some folks out of system whenever you head out. Can you assist?”

  Ximon sent a reply though there were a few minutes lag. “Metis, we are here to assist. We received a request to help some folks on Moon Base Darcy-3 and were just starting that way with intent to bring them to you. Please advise if you recommend a different course of action.”

  She quickly replied, “No, please continue and then we’ll ask you to go back for more.”

  Ximon announced to the crew, “We’re going to be picking up various evacuees before we even think of heading to Station Duo. Peter, please put up all the seats you can in the cargo bay with that fuel and cargo in there. Ensure they’re not interfering with either and let me know how many you got. Raiza, start thinking about food and drink for them. ASOR, when you’re at a lull in activity, please go ensure all your gear is stowed to the maximum extent possible. Elsbeth, run an air check in the cargo bay and ensure we don’t have fuel fumes or anything in there. We’re going to do a 2.0G burn to Darcy-3 in three minutes. Buckle in.”

  They all acknowledged silently, so Ximon turned to Shao. “What’s the latest on the sun?”

  “Stable level of activity, though that level is fairly high.”

  “Roger.” Ximon nodded before turning his attention to Mantis. “Mantis, build me a plot of radiation levels based on the Shao’s readings. I want to know the level of risk at different distances.”

  “Yes, Captain. ASOR and I are already compiling.”

  About that time, Ximon executed the burn and grunted as the force pushed him into his seat.

  He sent Darcy-3 a message letting them know Mantis was enroute and asking for more precise data on number of evacuees, wounded, and overall status.

  They got a flurry of messages as they flew. Darcy-3 said they needed help and designated a landing pad. They didn’t directly answer all of Ximon’s questions, but they didn’t note any wounded.

  After Peter had set up the seats in the cargo bay, Raiza was able to calculate the total number of pax they could haul between seating in the cargo bay, galley, and a couple spare cabins. They could safely haul thirty-five on a short trip within the system. Ximon let Darcy-3 know to have the folks ready for a quick pick-up and run. He was very conscious of their tight timeline and, while they could make a few runs, he wanted to make them as smooth and quick as possible.

  In a few hours Mantis landed smoothly on the pad and a worker in a space suit connected a boarding tunnel. Ximon grabbed a pistol and had Elsbeth and Peter join him, both with weapons. They headed down the tunnel to the station’s air lock. Beyond it was a large loading bay with considerably more than thirty-five people in it, including a couple children. Ximon radioed station control, “Control. What’s the status? Recall, we can only take thirty-five. No more.”

  “Roger, Mantis. I’ve got a couple people in loading to handle it.”

  At the air lock, two grimy guys in matching grey coveralls manned the door.

  Ximon said, “We’re the Mantis. We can take thirty-five. No more and only if they’re in good order, with minimal luggage.”

  One man grunted and nodded. The other bellowed to the crowd and pointed to the ground with a club of some kind. “Line up starting here if you want to go anywhere. Kids in front. Do it now or you’ll miss your ride.”

  There was a little shoving and line-cutting, but soon a line formed. The line was a mix of men, women, and children. They looked tired and anxious, but they didn’t look desperate or likely to riot. All but the smallest carried or dragged multiple bags – they didn’t plan to come back.

  Ximon said, “Okay, first four,” and motioned down the tunnel.

  Three children and an old woman came forward with duffel bags and back packs. Elsbeth accompanied them down the tunnel and handed them off to Raiza who put two siblings in a cabin and the other two in seats in the galley.

  The process of Raiza loading four people at a time continued until they had their full load of anxious people with meager belongings.

  Ximon signaled the guys in grey. “Sorry. No more this trip.”

  Someone from back in the crowd shouted, “Come on, you can take a few more. The sun’s going to roast us here.”

  Ximon yelled to the crowd, “Don’t worry. We’ll be back.”

  There was some grumbling, but the men in grey blocked the entry way and the crowd wasn’t desperate enough to fight them. The men then closed the airlock and the crew of the Mantis heard no more.

  Raiza and Peter got everyone seated and strapped in. Peter kept an eye on those in the cargo bay and Raiza took care of the ones in the galley. Ximon pointed Mantis towards 4.1 Metis, a trip of about six hours. Along the way, Ximon requested a meeting with Kochai Korai for when they arrived. When Mantis landed, the evacuees all disembarked smoothly, and the station had people waiting for them. It turned out that one of those was Kochai Korai. She had come to meet with Ximon and the crew.

  Ximon asked her into the galley and most of the crew joined them.

  She started, “Captain, thanks for that run. We appreciate the help. I’ve got to ask what other help you can provide.”

  Ximon answered hesitatingly, not wanting to overcommit. “The KSF was going to send another ship, but they got diverted. We were asked to come in their place and help where we could. Obviously, we can’t stay forever, but we could make a few runs if that helps. But first, I’d like to better understand what’s going on.”

  “Sure, sure. The flare up of the sun wasn’t unexpected, but the severity was. Suddenly the inner stations were in danger and had
to be evacuated. That’s over one thousand people. That might be easy to deal with where you’re from, but we’ve got very few ships here and most of them fairly small. We moved most of them in a hurry to Darcy-3, but now it’s become clear that it’s not exactly safe. So, we’re pulling them farther back to here and to the outer stations. The scientists say the sun won’t expand anymore in the near future and that we’re safe here, but a lot of folks want to leave the system. But we’re not exactly on any starliner routes. With us not having a gas giant or any other cheap, easy fuel, we don’t draw a lot of random travelers so it could take a long time.”

  Ximon said, “So you just want us to make a few more runs to get the folks off Darcy-3?”

  “Well, it would actually be better if you took some of the folks to one of the outer stations—we’re getting crowded here. So, you could be doing runs throughout the system for days. Then, when you leave, we’d like you to haul some who want to go back to somewhere else.”

  Elsbeth broken in, “If we do that, it’s a lot of running around and a lot of fuel. Is there any way we can top off?”

  Kochai was a thin woman in her sixties. When her eyebrows rose in surprise, it was quite pronounced, though the level of surprise didn’t seem that extreme. “Sure, we extract fuel here, though the quantities aren’t high. We could give you a couple tons.”

  Ximon said, “That would sure help. In any case, we’ll make few runs from Darcy-3 and then go from there. When we leave the system, we could take a few, but I doubt we’re heading anywhere they’d want to go. In any case, we could only take a few.”

  She just nodded. “Okay. That really helps. You may be surprised where some of these folks are willing to go, but we can figure that out later. Just talk to Control and you can draw some gas.”

  Mantis arranged for the fuel and Elsbeth monitored the fueling. They only got two and a half tons, but that would be more than enough for running around in the system and avoid them draining everything from the fuel bladders. They still needed some fuel from there for the two jumps back to Zanerus.

  They took off and headed back sunward, in the general direction of Darcy-3. But Ximon gathered everyone in the galley. At present, that included ASOR-L.

  “Okay everyone, we’ll be making at least a couple runs from Darcy-3 to Metis, or possibly elsewhere. However, let’s talk about hitting Station Duo and getting those sensors. Shao tell us what that area is looking like. What kind of risk are we talking about?”

  Shao started by putting up a diagram that Mantis had created that showed rings of increasing heat and radiation as one approached the sun. Station Duo was in an amber area.

  “Captain, as you can see, Station Duo is in a region that gets some considerable levels of heat and other radiation. It’s important to note that those levels aren’t at consistently high levels and that the different levels of radiation vary. Mantis, ASOR, and I have compared our views of those levels, the level of protection that Mantis offers, and what it would take to visit that station. We feel that we can visit the station with little harm to Mantis or crew if we get in and out fairly swiftly. We will all likely take some extra rads of radiation, but probably only at the level of a few X-rays.”

  Ximon asked Mantis, “Mantis, do you concur? Any alternate viewpoints for your instances?”

  “Captain, I concur and have no alternate internal views. I feel the probability of any substantial harm to humans, robots, or myself is below 3.5% if we limit time within the amber zones, including travel and time on station, to under 12 hours. The probability increases with exposure time.”

  “ASOR, anything you would add?” Ximon asked.

  “Captain, my primary focus has been on watching for solar indicators that might suggest an imminent change in solar activity or a major solar flare. I detect none at this time, so concur with the previously stated assessments.”

  “Okay, any thoughts from other humans or robots?”

  Elsbeth said, “It sounds reasonable enough, but we should pull out fast if anything looks awry.”

  “Agreed,” Ximon said. “My plan is to have Mantis watch that like a hawk while we’re on station. On the station, we’ll move fast, get what we need, and get out. How long do y’all figure we’ll need on station?”

  Elsbeth chimed in, “I’ve looked at the station specs provided. The station isn’t that large, so the biggest question might be whether we have any issues with sealed doors or that kind of thing.”

  Shao added, “The details on the sensor installations aren’t as complete as a I like. However, we’ll need to have one to two people EVA to remove the external sensor arrays, but we’ll also need a couple inside to remove the processing and storage. I’d estimate about an hour for each of the two.”

  Raiza said, “As medical officer, I recommend that whoever is doing EVA wear a rad liner. It could be an option for those on the station as well.”

  Elsbeth let out a little groan at that “Do you really think that’s necessary?”

  “I believe it would be most unwise for those doing EVA not to,” Raiza said. “Especially if anyone doing EVA is capable of reproduction or contains sensitive electronic components.”

  “Rad liner?” Shao asked, cocking her head to the side. “I’m not familiar with that.”

  Raiza had Mantis display an image on the screen. “A radiation (or rad) liner is a thin layer of protective material consisting of upper and lower undergarments and an optional hood. The material has a combination of lead and other dense fibers woven into it to provide additional protection.”

  “Think ‘metal underwear’ and you can imagine the comfort,” Elsbeth said with a groan.

  Ximon cut in, “Okay. Let’s talk about who should do what. Do y’all have a plan?”

  “Our proposal is that we all go in together to initially locate and assess the systems.” Shao said. “Then Elsbeth and Peter EVA, while ASOR, you, Raiza, and I work inside. The external antennae are almost twenty kilometers apart, so Mantis should move Elsbeth and Peter between locations.”

  “Shouldn’t we maybe have two EVA teams?”

  Elsbeth jumped in, “We could, but Shao and I felt that we need people with electronics or engineering expertise on the EVA and also doing the key work on the inside racks. You and Raiza don’t qualify so you’ll be ‘grunt labor’ so to speak. We also think we need skilled people on ‘both ends of the line’ at the same time, so even if we had two EVA teams, they might have to wait for the inside folks to help them.”

  “Grunt labor, huh?” He said under his breath, then more loudly. “I see. That sounds reasonable. That sounds like a plan. Mantis and I will plot a simple course so she can move with the EVA team when necessary. We’ll start burning toward Duo and pick up the pace as we get in this danger zone. While enroute, get the necessary tools, EVA suits, and rad liners ready. We’ll all wear breather masks when first entering the station. We can take them off once we’re sure that the air is okay. Anything else?”

  Elsbeth added, “One thing. While it would be nice to recover all this in pristine condition, if we have issues and it’s taking too long, I propose we just start cutting cables.”

  “Agreed,” Ximon said. “We’ll make a ‘best attempt’ but aren’t going to kill ourselves for a factory de-installation. Our ultimate fallback plan, if we’re completely unable to get the systems out, is that we fry them to ensure no one else gets them.”

  Elsbeth and Shao both nodded.

  Mantis interjected, “If I may add one thing. The orders also asked that we retrieve a separate, orbiting satellite. I would recommend that we do not invest substantial additional time in attempting to recover it. It appears to be of secondary importance and is more likely to be damaged already. If it’s not in our path or close to the station, we should not seek it.”

  “Concur, Ximon said. “If we can’t just grab it with the arm and go, we won’t waste time. Let’s go.”

  They cruised at reasonable acceleration until they hit the hot zone. Then Ximon
sped up to near maximum thrust to get them to Duo faster. The G forces made for an uncomfortable trip but reduced their exposure time.

  As they approached, Shao and others monitored the sun intently. Ximon noted that Shao put a large rad liner upper garment on over her flight suit. It hung to mid-thigh, like a short dress, but Ximon figured that it probably protected what she wanted to protect. It looked a bit silly, but she was probably the only one on the ship likely to conceive children in the future. In an intellectual way, Ximon knew that he should probably take precautions as well, but he had been exposed to quite a bit of radiation throughout his career and the levels here didn’t seem too dangerously high.

  Asteroid Darcy Duo was roughly forty kilometers long and about twenty kilometers thick, so it had some mass. The main landing pads and entrance to the station were on the leeward side. Most antennae arrays were also on the leeward side, but solar arrays and a few sensors for monitoring the sun and the inner system were on the side facing the sun.

  Ximon had Mantis query the automated docking system to see if they could land and dock without having to put on space suits. He was pleasantly surprised when it responded and said that dock two was ready. Ximon put her down there and Mantis coordinated with the docking system to link up their air locks.

  Mantis reported, “Connection secure. Station shows pressure.”

  “Great. When we go in, please do everything you can to monitor the sun, though I know we’ve put you in the shadow of the asteroid. You’ve got the course so you can fly Elsbeth and Peter closer when necessary.”

  “Yes, Captain. I will monitor and be ready.

  They all gathered in the galley. All (the humans) had breather packs. Peter and Raiza each had a cargo dolly/cart. Peter had a sizable toolbox and Shao a smaller one. Ximon, Elsbeth, Shao, and Raiza all carried tablets. Shao still looked a bit silly with a rad liner top over her clothes, but Ximon noted that both Peter and Raiza wore one under their coveralls and Raiza had draped a small one over ASOR. Elsbeth wore no rad liner, but carried a pistol.

  Ximon grabbed a pistol just in case then signaled, waving his index finger in a circling ‘rally up’ gesture. “Okay, let’s go. Elsbeth, you give us directions to where the internal portions of the sensor appear to be. There shouldn’t be anyone here but keep your eyes open in case there were any stragglers. Let’s try to be quick. Everyone, try to keep video rolling so we have a good record.”