The Blue People of Cloud Planet

by Brian Wolfenden

  At a second nod from Martha, each astronaut pushed home the five tubes they carried into the identically coloured receptors located near their right hand. They looked in turn at their individual diagnostics screen and saw five lights change from red to green confirming that all connections had been correctly made. Anaesthetic and saline would be fed from one of the IV lines and the two genetically engineered drugs would enter the body separately by the other IV. The tiny amounts of waste, mainly water, would be dealt with by the catheters. Each computer was pre-programmed with the individual’s precise statistics so that dosage rates matched their metabolism. All major measures - pulse, ECG brain activity, blood pressure and temperature were already being wirelessly transmitted to the diagnostics computer. Martha noted without surprise that several of the astronauts had high pulse rates but not AJ – well, he had been through this before.

  She checked that all seven sets of lights were green and again nodded. Each traveller slipped on their own pair of tailored goggles which were already connected to the unit and pressed a switch on the side of the spectacles – a light changed from red to green on each monitor.

  ‘The average human blinks 30-40 times per minute during waking hours and this ensures that the surface of the eyeball remains lubricated with liquid from the tear ducts. After a night’s sleep we sometimes have a little difficulty opening our eyes but after 20 years? During the day the computer is programmed to send a signal every 5 seconds to each astronaut’s goggles where a short burst of harmless radiation causes spasms in the muscle controlling the blinking process. At the same time, a tiny amount of synthetic tear liquid is atomised in front of each eyeball and condenses onto it thus maintaining lubrication.’

  And now, at a final nod from Martha, the astronauts donned their face masks ensuring that they fitted snugly. These carried oxygen to and carbon dioxide away from the mouth and in deep cryo would provide the tiny amount of oxygen needed to sustain stable activity at 5 degrees Celsius. Once more a switch was engaged on the mask and a reassuring light changed colour on the console.

  She repeatedly looked along the banks of monitors and was satisfied that all the astronauts, including herself, were correctly hooked up and all life signs were as reasonable as could be expected for people entering the unknown.

  Meanwhile Zec-C was also carefully monitoring each step taken by the astronauts and the hundreds of other functions supporting the complex technology of the cryo-process. All key data was immediately, or as fast as the speed of light would permit, transmitted to Mission Control at Mars Base where rows of personnel scanned the vital information. The General personally supervised these activities and hardly slept at all during the early part of the mission.

  Zec-C’s quiet voice interrupted their thoughts,

  ‘Confirm all astronauts correctly connected to cryo-units, permission to commence cryo–hibernation.’

  Martha raised her right hand and gave a thumbs up and each astronaut followed suit. What a strange sight they looked clad in white, wearing weird-looking masks and goggles and with five coloured tubes snaking from their bodies. They then each placed their hands into gauntlets fixed to the sides of their units and palm readers inside each glove confirmed their individual identities. A larger light at the top of each monitor changed from red to green.

  ‘Confirmation received, all astronauts correctly hooked up, commencing cryo–hibernation, next stop Seren.’

  Olivia heard a quiet whirr of machinery and the recliner slowly moved to the horizontal position. She had been dreading this moment but had been assured by Martha that she would be anaesthetised and sound asleep many hours before the cryo-unit closed on top of her. Olivia was concerned about dreams, but Martha had assured her that brain activity at 5 degrees was minimal and none of her ‘criminals’ had ever complained of a bad night’s sleep.

  About one hour later, Olivia felt a slight cold sensation running up her right arm and then nothing – all the astronauts were asleep within seconds and being monitored carefully by Zec-C. Four hours later Zec-C closed the cryo-lids and commenced the cooling process. The astronauts’ bodies would cool at zero point 3 degrees Celsius per 24 hours and it would be 3 months before 5 degrees was achieved. Well before then, the controlled doses of the two DNA drugs would be continuously administered.

  ‘Apart from looking after his charges, Zec-C is programmed by me to speed up the starship by applying full power to the ion engine. As the ship accelerates so the force field generated around it increases creating a slipstream that would deflect radiation and any small particles around the ship thus causing no harm. However, objects above the size of a tennis ball are another matter and need to be detected by the starship’s ultra violet telescope located in the centre front of the dome. Very early identification is needed because at half the speed of light an object 14 million kilometres away would be reached in 100 seconds and quicker still if it is travelling at speed towards the starship. Thus the probe on the front of LifeSeeker-1 is monitoring space for hundreds of millions of kilometres in front of it and analysing if anything posed a threat. If so, Zec-C orders an almost infinitesimal increase in thrust to one or more of the eight lateral thrusters to change course and avoid the danger.

  ‘LifeSeeker-1, carrying its precious cargo of astronauts at 5 degrees Celsius, achieved half the speed of light 1 year after leaving Mars Base.’

  Chapter 14

  Wakey, Wakey

  ‘Whilst Zec-C carefully looks after his charges, I am extremely busy during the next 20 years. I complete LifeSeeker-2 on time and she departs for Seren in 2156 with Commander Brian Harrington at the helm. LifeSeeker-3 is built, an identical copy of 2, and she leaves Mars in 2162. Her destination is to be decided when news comes back from Cloud Planet, but that is not for another 10 years.

  ‘Now I am embarking on my most ambitious project to date. This is a very complex enterprise which establishes a base on Titan, one of Jupiter’s moons.’

  White........ pure brilliant white........ that seemed to go on and on. No boundaries and no definition; this whiteness appeared to have been there for ages. Then, very slowly, slightly darker edges formed and they sharpened and became shapes around the white.

  Olivia then realised that she was looking upwards at what she thought was a tiled ceiling. She could not place it in her mind as she was disorientated and continued to stare upwards for an unknown period of time.

  Sounds..... bizarre sounds.......that grew in her awareness. They took on form – whirrs, beeps and hisses – and Olivia realised that she had heard these noises before, had seen this ceiling before – but where?

  Now a voice, soft and soothing but strange,

  ‘Olivia relax, relax, you are waking up, Olivia, relax,’

  Zec-C quietly intoned from a speaker near her ear.

  Her life signs were perfect with blood temperature normal at 36 degrees Celsius as she lay horizontally in the now open cryo-unit; the first person to have consciousness. In fact, all the units were open and during the next hour or two all of the astronauts would start to ‘wake up’ guided by Zec-C’s quiet assurance.

  ‘Olivia, you are now awake....’

  Zec-C softly continued,

  ‘....welcome, welcome to the year 2171.’

  Suddenly, everything flashed clearly in her mind – the white ceiling, the noises, the voice in her ear, the training, the journey, this room! She had arrived! Had they all survived? And although she could not yet speak her mind shouted out...

  ‘Oh, my God! ....... I’m 55 years old!’

  Although all the astronauts had awoken during a 3 hour period, they did not leave their units for four long days. During this period Zec-C coached their minds and bodies. Limbs were exercised and flexed to gradually increasing degrees by their mechanical masseur. After 3 days the cryo-beds slowly moved to the reclining position and Zec-C instructed them to remove their goggles and masks, but to take their time. Each astronaut now looked at their diagnostic screens, amazed to see normal he
art beats and blood temperature. They were relieved to see that all monitoring lights were reassuringly green.

  They turned their heads and looked at each other and smiled, or tried to smile and raised weak hands limply. They made sounds like whispers though not very coherent at this early stage.

  ‘Olivia, are you awake? Are you OK?’ croaked a groggy Scott; their pods were next to each other. She stiffly turned her head and tried to smile.

  ‘I’m OK I think. How do I look?’

  ‘Wonderful, not a day older!’ Scott weakly replied. Their voices were barely above a whisper and they could hear muted greetings as the other astronauts communicated for the first time in over 20 years.

  Then Martha raised her right hand and made a thumbs up and each fellow traveller did likewise and, as if on autopilot, placed their left hands palm down on the small console in their units.

  ‘Confirm! Confirm all astronauts safely awakened and recovered from cryo–hibernation!’ Zec-C triumphantly announced.

  This message was simultaneously transmitted by LifeSeeker-1 into the vastness of space but it would be 10 years before it was heard at mission control on Mars.

  On the 4th day and after two more hours of exercise, Zec-C instructed Martha to start the process of evacuation from the cryo-units. She then pointed to the coloured tubes and nodded. In a rehearsed sequence she removed hers one by one, waiting as each astronaut uncoupled the identically coloured line in turn.

  Now the astronauts were no longer ‘tied’ to their units – all they had to do was get up and walk!

  Zec-C encouraged them to move their body weight forward and to push with their arms on the sides of the units. After many failed attempts they finally struggled onto wobbly legs and held on to steady themselves. In front of them was a horizontal maglev escalator and they took their first shaky steps towards it for 20 years. Then, clutching the support rail with their left hand and carrying their ‘entrails’ in the other, Zec-C told them to hold tight.

  Seven ghost-like figures clad head to toe in gossamer thin white breathable tunics were transported slowly out of the cryo-room, through the airlock and into the preparation room. Here they would remain for a further two days to complete their recuperation, taking in sustenance and sleeping on a normal bed.

  Six days after awakening from cryo, Martha was satisfied with the health and fitness of the astronauts. Zec-C had also monitored their physical wellbeing and had set them all mental tests during their recuperation. Now they came to a most crucial stage in their rehabilitation. At a nod from Martha, AJ led them to the airlock. In turn they all pressed their left hands to a panel near the airlock door and waited anxiously. Each watched the red light, nervously, and then with relief as it turned green.

  ‘Confirm all astronauts ready to return to duty!’

  They smiled at one another with joy and high-fived and slapped backs as the airlock hissed open.

  ‘My astronauts know in the back of their minds that only those ‘deemed sound in body and mind by Zec-C’ will be allowed back into the starship after the rigours of cryo-hibernation.’

  Chapter 15

  Message from Mars

  ‘During the starship’s half-light speed journey, the dome is maintained in full red emergency mode and remains so during controlled deceleration by Zec-C. The nuclear power source is shut down and tiny amounts of reverse thrust are applied over a 3 month period to reduce the speed of LifeSeeker-1 to its new velocity of 150,000 kilometres per hour – a mere sloth when compared to its 20 year journey at 150,000 kilometres per second!’

  The astronauts sat in their command seats in front of the blackened dome. Their excitement could not be contained as they continued to stare at one another in amazement.

  ‘We haven’t aged a bit, I can’t believe it!’ Olivia said, ‘Martha, if you could bottle this as an anti-ageing treatment it would be worth billions!’

  ‘Trouble is it cost trillions to produce!’ Martha replied with a grin.

  ‘Attention astronauts! I have three things to show you.’

  A large section of the black dome coloured in front of the expectant crew and the shape of the fully completed LifeSeeker-2 dominated their view.

  ‘Five years ago, I received confirmation that LifeSeeker-2 had departed on its journey to Seren.’

  The astronauts cheered and clapped at this news.

  ‘And I can confirm that all 21 astronauts are safely in cryo–hibernation and travelling at half the speed of light.’

  Their eyes moved to a smaller screen and the General’s face appeared.

  ‘If Zec-C is showing you this, then I thank God that you have arrived at your star and safely emerged from cryo–hibernation. It will be another 15 years before I know this, provided I live that long! You are nearly there and Zec-C has shown you LifeSeeker-2 which is on its way to join you.

  ‘Now you are on your own and you can hardly ring mission control for help or advice! Who knows what you will find at Cloud Planet. You will, undoubtedly, have to take some key decisions; some may be difficult, unpleasant or even frightening. I agreed with Commander AJ before you left that major strategic or life threatening decisions would be by secret ballot, majority applies. In the event of a tie, AJ will make the casting vote – there can be no abstentions. In AJ’s absence - and I don’t think he’s going anywhere – Martha will assume the role of mission commander and the same rules will apply.

  ‘Now I must remind you of the key instructions you must follow when investigating the SOS message which is still signalling to us here on Mars.

  ‘You must observe thoroughly and gather sufficient information to make controlled decisions.

  ‘You must obey the quarantine procedures to the letter.

  ‘You must be very careful not to interact with whatever is on that planet - this is a key interplanetary code.

  ‘Above all, your safety is paramount – if in doubt pull out and wait for LifeSeeker-2.

  ‘And so fellow astronauts, I wish you a successful mission and I will be watching your progress for as long as God permits me. Good luck and good–bye!’

  With that his face disappeared and the whole dome started changing from black, through grey and then translucent. Suddenly outer space filled the horizon and what a spectacular sight awaited the astronauts.

  BOOK THREE

  CLOUD PLANET

  Chapter 16

  Survey

  The astronauts sat spellbound. To the upper left of the dome a bright golden orb dominated the vista, illuminating its space with brilliant rays.

  ‘The star Seren is about 20 per cent bigger than our sun but of similar intensity, and is approximately 150 million kilometres away. Seren has seven orbiting planets, four of which are gas giants like Jupiter and two are ringed planets similar to Saturn.’

  An arrow took their eye to the lower right of the dome, where there was a ball of multi-coloured swirling gases.

  ‘Four times the size of Jupiter and about 50 million kilometres from LifeSeeker 1 – I can already sense its huge gravitational field – this is as close as we get.’

  The backdrop of space was an intense blue, deepening to purples and blacks and studded with specs of light.

  ‘The other stars of the constellation of Vircingetorix and, in the centre......’

  Zec-C paused and the astronauts leaned forward in anticipation as an arrow highlighted a larger spec of light,

  ‘......our first view of Cloud Planet. She is about 30 million kilometres from us and 140 million from her star.’

  ‘Comparable to the distance between the Sun and Earth.’ Mused Scott to no one in particular and, then, he peered closer. ‘Is it my imagination or can I see faint streaks of light from the planet towards the star?’

  By way of answer, Zec-C magnified the image incrementally until it occupied a large slice of the dome. The planet was truly remarkable with brilliant white caps at its poles and huge swathes of deep blue on either side of its equator. But most astounding was the huge
collar of white and grey that completely encircled the strange world at its equator.

  ‘The planet is 50,000 kilometres in circumference at the equator, a little larger than earth, and the white collar is 2000 kilometres wide and approximately 50 kilometres above ‘sea’ level. It is rotating on an axis with its poles absolutely perpendicular to its star – that means the white collar points directly at Seren during each revolution which takes 20 of our hours.’