Impact

by Brandon Q Morris

  “Welcome to (1288) Santa,” Jenna said. “You are now the first Titanian to ever set foot on a different celestial body, Boris.”

  “You’ll go down in history. The first, second, and third landing on an asteroid,” Geralt said.

  “If the historians on Titan ever even learn of this, that is,” Boris said, and the laughter that he heard in his earpiece stopped all at once.

  “I feel strange,” Jenna said, bending over. “I feel like I might be sick.”

  Boris crouched down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “Just take a break for a moment. We’ve got time. It’s probably something caused by this strange combination of forces. The asteroid’s rotating about its axis once every eight hours and accelerating at the same time. The best thing to do is to look at a target far off in the distance.”

  “Thanks. Yes, I’ve sat in worse machines in training before. They made everyone throw up.”

  “The effect here is probably worse because it’s so subtle. Your mind can learn to compensate for the forces fairly quickly on those centrifuges. Everything here looks so stable and linear.”

  “That’s probably it.”

  Jenna straightened up again. His arm slid off her shoulders, and he used the opportunity to examine the ground more closely.

  “We’ve got to be careful when we walk over the asteroid,” Jenna said. “The risk of losing contact with the ground is relatively high. We’ve got the jet packs, if necessary, but I’d rather save the fuel for the return trip.”

  She was already back to her old self. Boris was relieved. He looked at his finger that now had some gray dust stuck to it. “Look at this,” he said. “See how little dust that is? Shouldn’t a lot more dust have accumulated here?”

  Santa had been orbiting in the asteroid belt for billions of years, constantly under the bombardment of the solar wind. That had to have had an effect.

  “Maybe that’s due to the acceleration,” Jenna suggested. “The loose dust must’ve fallen away due to its inertia, and all that was left was the bare rock underneath.”

  “Then Santa would be leaving a dust cloud behind it, like a rover driving through the desert. But we haven’t seen anything like that.”

  “What are you getting at?”

  “I think the dust on this asteroid was artificially processed, recently.”

  “D’you mean by machine? So, by Earthlings?”

  “They’re the only ones who could’ve done it.”

  “And where are the machines now? Their composition surely would have given away their presence in our first scans.”

  “Not if they’re hidden somewhere underground. Then they couldn’t be distinguished from any of the asteroid’s natural metal content.”

  “If they were hidden underground, there must be entrances somewhere, too. We should try to find them,” Jenna said. “Come on. I don’t want to lose any more time.”

  They reached a flat, slightly indented plain where only a few boulders were lying around. They cast long shadows in the light of the just-risen sun. The scene looked like a stage backdrop to Boris. The horizon felt much too close. And the large rocks lying around, as heavy as they looked, could be launched into orbit with just a kick. He’d already tested this. They were lying there as if they had merely parked on Santa to take a break for the next few million years.

  There was almost no dust. Only once had they found a significant accumulation of dust, in a round hole in the surface, filled nearly a meter deep with the stuff. Jenna had discovered it by accident after falling in. “Falling” on the asteroid meant a slow, gradual motion in the direction of the surface. The machines had apparently not collected all the dust.

  The sun had already risen several times as they explored. They were moving in the direction of rotation of the asteroid, but they were a bit faster than it. In that way, they could almost walk around the asteroid in the time that their oxygen supply provided. Like on Titan, walking had little to do with their actual forward movement. It was a mixture of jumping and short flights. Since Santa was simultaneously moving in the direction toward the sun, their resulting path was a spiral. That was the optimum path for getting a quick overview.

  However, it didn’t look like they were any closer to solving the mystery. There weren’t any engines nor any entrances into the asteroid’s interior. How did the Earthlings do it, if they even had anything to do with it? Was their technology so advanced by now that he and Jenna couldn’t even detect it?

  Boris had his jet pack output a short thrust and rose a few meters above the ground. The area they were in right now was surrounded by a jagged wall broken through in some places. It was probably an ancient crater. Beyond it wasn’t the end of the world, as it seemed at first glance, but the color of the subsurface changed slightly. The sun rose higher and the shadows grew shorter. He let himself be propelled toward the center of the crater.

  “What are you doing?” Jenna asked.

  “I’m searching for a scenic overlook.”

  “Aah. Okay then.”

  Impact craters usually had a raised section, the central uplift, at their center. But there wasn’t one here, which was interesting. He let himself fall back to the surface. Instead of the raised section, there was an unusually smooth area. He landed next to it, and dust immediately rose from the surface.

  “Well, did you find your overlook? Then we can keep going.”

  “Did you notice how dusty this plain is?”

  Jenna didn’t answer immediately. She had probably just landed on the surface, too.

  “Sure enough,” he heard her say after half a minute. “Rather porous, the material here. Maybe the machines haven’t gotten here yet. If that’s the case, then we shouldn’t waste any more time here.”

  “Wait a minute. I might have found something.”

  He moved the dust around the flat surface with his foot and something smooth appeared. He knelt down and brushed the surface off with his hands. It was very clearly metal, not of natural origin.

  “What is that?” Jenna asked.

  “Might be some kind of hatch.”

  “I’m coming. Wait until I get there.”

  He moved to one side and cleared the entire surface. It was rectangular and had approximately the dimensions of a door—a door into the subsurface of Santa. There were two recesses on the two long sides. He removed the dust from what could be handles. He reached his hand into one recess and then pulled it up. He didn’t expect the hatch to open, but it did. The metal plate lifted upward as he raised it with his hand.

  From the corner of his eye, he saw two legs in a spacesuit land on the short side of the hatch.

  “What are you doing? You were supposed to wait!”

  “Sorry. I didn’t think it would open,” he said. “Who leaves their door unlocked in a neighborhood like this!”

  “I’m not that surprised. I don’t think anyone here would expect uninvited guests, and if they did come, I doubt a locked door would stop them.”

  That was true, of course. They would have broken through the hatch, too, if they’d had to, no matter what it took.

  It was dark under the hatch. Boris raised it higher, and it swung open like a door. The sun was still too low to illuminate the rectangular opening.

  Jenna knelt down and shined her headlamp into the darkness. In front of them was a rectangular hole, maybe a meter deep. It would have reminded him of a coffin if there hadn’t been another structure, this time a round one, with a large handwheel on its back wall.

  “It’s an airlock,” Jenna said.

  He nodded. “Let’s go see who lives here then.”

  “First I’d like to talk about this with Anna and Geralt.”

  The entry room and the airlock weren’t big enough for them to get through at the same time. Everyone—except for him—thought that Jenna should go first. Their rationale was that if Earthlings were down there, they might feel more threatened and might be more likely to do something harmful or rash if sudd
enly a creature without a spacesuit came out of their airlock. Maybe it was a little discriminatory, but even Anna had voted against him.

  “You need to get going,” he said.

  Jenna turned to him. “Don’t be angry, okay?”

  He wasn’t mad at her, so he nodded. Jenna took a step forward. She was floating above the hole, so she gave herself a small thrust downward using her jet pack. At the same time, she bent forward. It was a spooky effect, as if invisible arms were pulling her into a dark grave.

  “Can you see anything?” Boris asked.

  “No more than before. There’s no code lock or anything, just the handwheel. I’m going to open it.”

  “Be careful.”

  She managed to get into a stable position in the narrow space by pressing her left leg against the left wall and her right leg against the right wall. She looked like a strange insect.

  The handwheel appeared to be hard to turn. Boris heard Jenna’s suppressed groans. Should he offer to help?

  “Got it!” she called. “It really is an airlock, but it’s empty of any air. I’m sorry, Boris, but there’s only enough space for one person.”

  “That’s reassuring, because the crew must be pretty small then. You’d surely be able to handle two or three of them.”

  “Yes. I’m closing the airlock’s external door now. Otherwise, I won’t be able to go any further.”

  “Good. As soon as you make it through, I’ll come after you.”

  “Understood. I—”

  The connection was cut off. What had happened? Did he need to save Jenna? Boris pulled himself into the hole and tried to turn the handwheel, but it wouldn’t budge. It must be locked, because the airlock was occupied.

  “Boris, your pulse has increased significantly,” Geralt said.

  “My contact with Jenna—”

  “She sealed the airlock’s external door. The helmet radio won’t be able to penetrate through there now. Just stay calm. I’m sure she’s doing fine.”

  “Really? I hope you’re right. But thanks for saying it.”

  In his impatience he tried to turn the handwheel again and again. After a long minute it finally moved, the door opened, and the airlock was in front of him. Some plumes of mist rose out of the airlock. Otherwise it was empty. Apparently, it had successfully filled with air, and Jenna must now be on the other side.

  He quickly pulled himself into the chamber and closed the external door. Nothing happened. He looked around and there it was—a lever on the wall. He pulled it down and a blinking red light illuminated the space. He started feeling heat. Air was now flowing into the space at a temperature that was comfortable for Earthlings.

  He began to panic. If he didn’t get out of here quickly, his outer skin would be roasted. The fungal meshwork would then begin to die. In the best case, he would survive, but then never be able to leave the chamber in this asteroid again, because there wasn’t a spacesuit for him.

  “Geralt? Jenna?”

  The radio connection had been severed. The red light went out. What now? The internal door didn’t have a handwheel. The lever! He pushed it into its original position and the interior door started moving to the side, creaking along the way. Who designed this thing? Bright light flooded into the airlock. As soon as the opening was wide enough, he pushed his legs into the interior. Then he straightened himself and pulled himself through. The light was blinding. He stumbled, but Jenna caught him.

  “Hey, not so wild,” she said, smiling. She had taken off her helmet. Her hair was soaking wet, the drinking water tube had left deep impressions in her cheeks, and yet he still thought she looked beautiful.

  “Sorry, it seems like I’ve been stumbling after you all day long today,” he said.

  “That’s okay.”

  “Unfortunately, I need to get out of here as soon as possible. Too hot.”

  “You could’ve waited outside.”

  “When the radio connection cut off—”

  “That was two minutes ago!”

  “Seemed more like two hours to me.”

  “That means that Anna and Geralt can’t see us, can they?” Jenna commented.

  “No, there’s no connection to the outside.”

  “Good, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but we’ve been under constant surveillance.”

  She stood up on the tips of her toes and kissed him on the cheek. The kiss burned so much that he was afraid she might’ve damaged his outer skin. He took a step back and touched his cheek, but there was no damage.

  “That bad?” she asked.

  “No, I... I’m not very clever at this sort of thing. I’m sorry. It was lovely.”

  “No need to apologize. It’s sweet. The big, strong Boris, and so inexperienced.”

  “You don’t have to make fun of me.”

  “I’d never do that. I like you a lot. I thought you might’ve noticed that already.”

  A sharp pain shot across his shoulder blades. He knew what that was from—the heat had caused it. His fungi mesh was trying to protect itself and was contracting.

  “What’s wrong?” Jenna asked.

  “Sorry, I’ve got to get out of here. Now!”

  “Then go. There’s nothing here, anyway.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The rooms are all empty.”

  “No Earthlings?”

  “No, nothing at all. No furniture. No equipment. But the dimensions tell me that it was all made for and by Earthlings.”

  “There must be some machines somewhere. Otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to take off your helmet.”

  “True. Somewhere there’s a life-support system, and there’s also lighting. But I haven’t found any rooms or access panels to any machines at all.”

  “Maybe the airlock is supplying power and air to the room.”

  “That could be an explanation. But now you need to go. I’ll take another look around to make sure I didn’t miss something, and then I’ll come out again. Give me ten minutes, but don’t start panicking. Maybe I’ll still find something interesting. In any case, I should be safer in here just like you’re safer outside.”

  “Okay, I’ll be patient.”

  “Thank you.”

  She kissed him again on the cheek and pushed him gently toward the airlock. This time he didn’t touch the spot and enjoyed the burn.

  Three minutes. Boris counted the time in his head. He was not going to let himself get upset. It would take some time, even if Jenna followed him out immediately. The airlock needed time to fill up with air again.

  “Boris? Your pulse is increasing again,” Geralt said.

  “You can ignore the numbers.”

  “Understood. So, the cause is not of an organic origin.”

  “Think of it however you want. Just leave me alone.”

  “Hey, no reason to get mean.”

  “Sorry, Geralt. I’m finding this situation very stressful. There’s no radio connection to inside the bunker—anything could be happening in there.”

  “Don’t worry, little brother, you’ve always had too big of an imagination. She’ll be out soon.”

  Of course. His sister must always add her own mustard. He refrained from replying, in order not to get nasty.

  Ten minutes passed, but Jenna still hadn’t come out. Boris pulled himself into the rectangular recess, grabbed the handwheel, and tried to turn it. It didn’t move, which made him begin to worry.

  “Boris? Your breathing volume doubled. What’s going on?” Geralt asked.

  “Uh, I’m just checking something.”

  “You’re checking something?”

  “Yes, whether the airlock’s handwheel can open.”

  “As long as Jenna is on the other side and the internal door is open, the wheel can’t be turned. I think you should leave it alone. If you open it by force, suddenly you’ll have Jenna without a helmet in a vacuum.”

  “Yes... Okay... I’m back on the surface again.”

  “Gi
ve her some more time,” Anna reassured him. “Maybe she found something interesting.”

  “If we could just keep in contact with her,” Boris said.

  “Honestly, it makes me nervous, too, that we don’t have any connection at all,” Anna said.

  Oddly, it reassured him somewhat that the others were also slowly beginning to get worried. At least he didn’t feel like he’d gone completely crazy.

  “Objectively, Jenna should be safer in the bunker than you,” Geralt said. “The life-support system is working, so she’s got an unlimited supply of oxygen, which is not true for you.”

  “I’m still good for two hours,” Boris said.

  “Maybe you could explore the surroundings a little,” Anna suggested. “That might distract you a bit, and who knows what you’d find.”

  “I’d rather wait here at the airlock. Who knows? Maybe Jenna will need help when she comes out.”

  “As you wish. Should I come down to you? It’s easier to wait when there are two.”

  “No, don’t bother. No need to put you in danger, too.”

  If he had known things would be like this, he wouldn’t have left Jenna alone in that bunker! Why had be cared more about his own skin than about her? But it wouldn’t have made any difference. He would never have been able to convince her to leave the bunker before him. And now, if something had happened to her? He didn’t want to continue his thought to its end.

  No, she would still come out. The fact that it’d already been an hour didn’t mean anything. He simply had to be patient. Maybe she had found some old documents that she was studying, or there had been a secret door, and she was now wandering through the interior of the asteroid.

  But that was unlikely. He might’ve given in to his curiosity, but Jenna was much too responsible. Unquestionably she would have come out to give them a quick update. It would have only taken a few minutes.

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  “I admit I’m starting to get worried,” Anna replied.