Titan Cruel Moon

by Kate Rauner

  She walked across the patterned floor cloth, feeling exposed in the room's central, open area, sure that the adjuncts were watching her from behind. Rushing in Titan's low gravity would only make her seem awkward and steal any grace from her movements. So she relaxed her muscles and walked smoothly. A quick glance at the golden plaque made her stand tall and strong.

  There was no chair for a visitor at Tanaka's desk. Greta shifted her bag to her hip and removed a palm-sized medical monitor. "Have you experienced any more dizziness?"

  "At times. And you must come back after supper to administer a sleeping aid. But now I need relief from this headache."

  Greta bumped the massive desk as she moved and was surprised to see it slide away. She wasn't used to Titan's gravity yet. She raised the monitor to Tanaka's neck and he flinched. She touched his hand and he jerked back. His eyes flashed anger and, behind her, Greta heard plastic creaking as the adjuncts rose from their chairs.

  "Gently, doctor," Tanaka said.

  "Your sensitivity to touch has increased. Has anything else changed?"

  Calmness returned to his face. "Perhaps you can tell me. Have any of the Kin revealed anything to you? Confessed anything?"

  The abrupt deviation from discussing his symptoms confused her. "Confessed?"

  "I chose our strongest Kin based on my DNA studies, but the data are not complete. Some of our people may be weak, may grow to oppose me. You must be ready to report any such tendencies immediately."

  Tanaka had always obsessed over the Kin's genetics, but this worry was new.

  "You look concerned, dear." Tanaka's eyes narrowed as he waited for a reply.

  "Just concentrating. Let me check your heart rate." She laid the monitor gently on his chest. "Strong and steady." Greta replaced the instrument in her bag, fished out the injector, and pressed the tip against his arm.

  Tanaka rubbed his temples as the drug pumped through his system. "Shun, would you ask Maj to bring up tea? Greta, you will join me."

  Tanaka's face relaxed into a smile. "Ah, how lucky I am, to be tended by a Viking like yourself. A warrior queen worthy of our ancestors." He shifted his gaze to the adjuncts now standing close to the room's center. "You, Trina, are too young to know this. Shun may have heard the story. In school, Doctor Lund had a barracks mate, a gangly girl with a birthmark on her face. Remember, Greta, how often she was teased? One day, two boys grabbed her and spread mud over her cheeks. Doctor Lund left both boys bloodied and in tears."

  Greta flushed. "I've learned to control my temper." Those boys deserved what they got, though, and standing over them that day, she knew she could conquer the world.

  "A pity, because you were magnificent. Eyes flashing, hair pulled loose. Yes, a girl worthy to follow me across the solar system." He crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair, and considered her with unblinking eyes, his smile flattening.

  Looking for her reaction, Greta realized. A chill tightened her chest. He's looking for the correct reaction. Tanaka was an imposing figure, inspiring loyalty, and she'd always enjoyed the time she spent with him. Today was troubling.

  She pulled her bag around and dropped her gaze on pretense of replacing the injector. When she looked up, she was thoroughly composed. "I would be pleased to take tea with you. Thank you."

  Tanaka unfolded his arms and nodded. She'd found a correct reaction.

  ***

  Toward the end of the work shift, Greta stopped by one of the treatment rooms to watch a medic mapping numb patch on a man's back. By comparing the patches over time, Greta hoped to judge whether his stasis effect was fading. She gave the pair an encouraging smile and left the clinic to walk between the tower and the women's barracks to the mess hall. Yash had claimed a table on the far side against the dome wall. He bent over a large, flat pad that let him see the entire schedule at a glance.

  Emily Erling, the maintenance crew leader, sat next to him. She was a cheerful woman with a narrow chin and wide, rounded cheeks. Combined with her thick-fingered hands, Greta thought she'd be more at home in a floral apron, kneading dough for fresh-baked bread. But she was a crew leader instead, quite good in Yash's estimation, and her people enjoyed working for her.

  Fynn hurried in from the greenhouse tunnel, his hair a twisted mess, and looking distracted. Maliah came behind Greta and, as soon as they'd sat down, adjuncts Shun and Trina joined them, sliding their chairs back a bit, clearly intending to observe without comment.

  Maliah began the meeting by reporting that the full cyber library was now available, and Yash tapped the appropriate schedule bar, changing its color to show complete. Emily listed the number of bolts her team had torqued that day, air filters cleaned, and liters of water collected in dehumidifiers. The musky smell of wastewater indicated a leak somewhere to repair tomorrow.

  Yash pushed his pad to the center of the table and pointed out the greenhouse and furnace dome schedules for utilities installation. He also noted that inserting the hydroponic clips was taking longer than anticipated. That created a delay in completing the frames, but planting the first hydroponic tubes would begin as planned. The Hershel had shuttled down seeds from compartments in the ship's core where they'd traveled safe from the cold and radiation of space.

  Then Yash tapped the pad and Liam, who'd been listening from the ship, gave them good news. The ship's maintenance cycle was underway, and they expected to unload the Gravitron on schedule.

  Greta was thinking about what she'd find in the full stasis library and hadn't followed the crew leaders' reports in detail, but she perked up at Liam's news. "Bringing down the Gravitron is a critical milestone. I want to start routine treatments as soon as possible. Stasis protected our bone and muscle mass, but we've been on Titan for two months now. I've confirmed that people have lost one to two percent of their bone density on average, and up to twenty percent of muscle in the back and neck so far."

  Fynn rubbed his neck with both hands. "I wondered why I don't feel as much like a superman lately."

  Liam's face filled the pad, his brow furrowed. "We're on schedule. No problem."

  Yash asked for Greta's report. While no one was being kept in the clinic for treatment, stasis aftereffects weren't dissipating as rapidly as researchers on Earth had projected. As she talked, Fynn rubbed his leg where a numb patch of skin persisted.

  Finally, Fynn took a deep breath and began his report on the furnaces. Rica had repaired the control systems' bulk wiring, but the regulating modules had also been damaged by interplanetary cold. "Did the manufacturer even know the modules would be in space? We found stickers inside the panels with phone numbers and internet addresses."

  Yash shifted in his seat. "I believe we told them we were building a research station in Antarctica."

  Fynn laid his palms flat on the table. "All the wiring we can access is repaired. But to refurbish the modules, we need the Herschel's nano-shops. And those will only be available after the space station starts spinning." He took a deep breath. "We - the crew, I mean - has a recommendation. Furnace Number Three's in the best shape. The nuclear reactor will produce power for at least another year so we don't have to rely on furnaces for power yet. We'll meet our CO2 goals with one combustion burner, so let's concentrate on Number Three."

  "A reasonable solution." Yash nodded. "Yes, go ahead."

  Greta suppressed a smile as relief spread over Fynn's face. All he needed was confidence to become a fine crew leader.

  Yash picked up his pad. "Unless anyone has something to add? Then we're done here and thanks, everyone." He looked at the adjuncts, who had indeed been silent throughout. "There's time for me to report to Doctor Tanaka before supper."

  Shun held up a hand. "No need. We'll brief him. And I should add, plan on Doctor Tanaka addressing the Kin after breakfast tomorrow."

  Yash frowned. "A short, encouraging speech, I hope. We have a lot of work to accomplish."

  Shun leaned forward, eyes narrowed. "Doctor Tanaka will address them as he sees fit."

/>   Yash expression flattened as the adjuncts walked away. The generally positive meeting had turned sour.

  Maliah pushed her chair under the table and stood straight and tall, her golden skin glowing. "Don't worry, Dad. Doctor Tanaka knows what's best."

  "Will you eat supper with us?" Greta asked her daughter.

  "Thanks, but I've got some work to finish up. But, here." She tucked a few packets of sugar into her mother's pocket and bounded off toward the tower.

  Yash's frown deepened. "I don't like that either. These funny little treats. That's not the way we managed meals on Earth."

  He had a point, and a frown passed over Greta's face before she turned to Fynn. "How about you? Supper?"

  Fynn fairly glowed with his success. "Thanks, Mom, but I'll eat with my crew and let them know Dad accepted our recommendation."

  Greta took Yash's arm. "I guess it's just you and me again."

  Yash heated water while Greta used the measuring cup that came in each bucket of freeze-dried food to portion out their meals. "Macaroni with beef." She smiled crookedly. "Sounds delicious."

  "That's another thing." Yash's wide lips tightened. "How'd we go through the meal packages so fast? I should have assigned someone to inventory them daily."

  Greta kept weight records on the Kin. She and the other medics examined each person weekly, so she had evidence that no one was overeating. An image of the loaded shelves in the tower's third floor flitted through her mind, but she said nothing to further upset her husband.

  They carried their bowls and teacups past occupied tables to their usual spot along the dome wall and sat with their backs to the mess hall. She passed Yash some sugar. "Oh, go ahead and use it. We need to keep our spirits up." She dumped two packets into her own tea. "Because, I am worried."

  "About the Gravitron? Liam's people input status reports on each of their tasks every day. He's right. They're doing well."

  "That's good news. But, no. I mean about Tanaka."

  "Yeah. How about that? He doesn't want me, his Chief Engineer, to report to him."

  Greta lowered her voice despite no one being nearby. "He's suffering some neurological effects from stasis. Insomnia, irritability. It could be affecting his judgment."

  Yash leaned close until their shoulders touched. "He's always been a bit paranoid. Fynn will deliver CO2 to the greenhouse on-schedule, then it's three months to the first harvest, and then we wake the Cohort Leaders. As a group, Tanaka always listens to us."

  Yash laid his pad on the table and tapped a schedule bar. "We have something to look forward to even sooner." A video played, showing a person activating a flier. "We need to go outside to make the final connections for the furnace dome. So flight training's about to begin."

  Chapter 10

  M aliah ran toward the greenhouse tunnel and called over her shoulder to the two adjuncts. "Watch this."

  She angled to the tunnel and ran up the wall, up to the highest point of the arched ceiling, then added a somersault on her slow glide to the floor. They all laughed.

  Maliah enjoyed the adjuncts' company. They were perfect companions for her first flying lesson.

  Most of the Advance Team was ahead of them, dressed in a riot of colors.

  The methane furnaces sat on a platform in the far quadrant. Cargo bins lay shoved to the walls leaving most of the dome a perfect, wide-open aviary.

  Yash waved from across the dome. Greta and her medics stood with him next to rows of fliers. Emily, the maintenance crew leader, hefted a flier with one hand. Back on Earth, she'd practiced with prototypes under water and so was their designated instructor.

  Emily raised her flier overhead. It was a shiny white cylinder as big around as her waist, shoulder high, with a round gray blower on the bottom. Two handgrips protruded near the rounded nose, but Emily lifted the unit by tee-shaped knobs on the side. "We have thirty-six of these babies, and forty-one Kin in the dome. Today, I want to start with twelve at a time, so you're less likely to crash into each other." She selected her first students.

  Maliah moved close to her parents and pouted prettily. "I wanted to go first."

  Yash spoke like a father. "Now, Maliah. We're the leadership. It's only right to let the crews start."

  Shun crossed his arms. He and Trina had to wait too. "I thought leaders were in front."

  Yash was unmoved. "Let us follow the example of the senior adjunct, Maj, who let you, Maliah, and Trina come ahead of of her while she attends Doctor Tanaka."

  Did that imply Shun and Trina should have stayed with Tanaka too? Maliah wished her father wouldn't antagonize the adjuncts. She ground her teeth for a moment, but couldn't stay annoyed. Her excitement returned as people chose fliers and carried them halfway across the dome.

  Maliah listened through her ear gel as Emily spread her students farther apart.

  "You can ride just by gripping the hand holds, or flip down the step," Emily said. "Stand on the step and lift to adjust the sliding rod to your handgrips."

  Maliah put a hand on Shun's shoulder and lifted herself for a better view.

  "Ready?" Emily said. "When you feel comfortable, push the green button."

  Blowers hummed and people swayed, rising slowly.

  Emily called over the noise. "Get both hands on the grips. Steer by shifting your body. Twist the right grip to increase speed. Oh, dear."

  One flier wobbled like a spinning top. The rider, a skinny guy in red coveralls, rolled off.

  "Does everyone see that?" Emily pointed at the drifting flier. "When you take both hands off the grips, the unit stops automatically and falls to the floor. So does the rider. Slowly in this gravity, and outside where Titan's atmosphere is fifty percent thicker, the effect will be more pronounced."

  Controlling the fliers seemed intuitive, since the first dozen students were soon swooping and hovering, hugging the cylinders with their knees like jockeys on fat stick horses.

  Maliah bounced on her toes.

  Yash smiled at her. "I'll make up for you being last today. Come with me the first time we go outside."

  Maliah turned her glowing face to her father. "Really?"

  "Absolutely. I'm planning to take six people on the first trip. Fynn and I will go to evaluate exterior equipment. You can test communications. But the first excursion is mostly an orientation, so invite your friends."

  ***

  The furnace dome's airlock was as big as the main docking port, so they all fit inside with their fliers. Shiny white life support backpacks hung in three rows of charging stations, and waist-high bins held suits, boots, and gloves.

  Fynn opened the procedure for donning surface suits and worked through it, step-by-step. Titan's cold was a huge danger, and the suits were thick with insulation over an inner heating layer. Thanks to the moon's dense atmosphere, they didn't have to contend with being inflated like the blimp suits used in space.

  Drew lay his suit on the bench and rummaged in bins for boots and gloves. "This seemed easier in the practice session."

  Fynn held up his flat pad. "I'll guide you through. Pull on the bottoms like a pair of pants. Next, slip on the boots and fold the tops up over your legs. The gauntlet fastens when you push it smooth."

  "What about the heater connections?"

  "They connect automatically."

  Drew stared at his feet. "How can that work?"

  Fynn waved his pad. "The instructions say so."

  "Oh, well. If the instructions say so, I guess I'll risk my life on them."

  Drew was exasperating.

  "You don't have to come," Fynn said.

  "What, and let you have all the fun?" Drew pulled the top half of the suit over his head. "This piece is like a bulky sweater with a metal neck ring."

  "Plastic. The ring is plastic."

  "Of course it is." Drew pulled on gloves and folded the gauntlets into place, shrugged into the backpack, and Fynn snapped the power connection to his neck ring, and then the air hose.

  "You're all set
. When you drop your helmet on, twist it till you hear the first click. That's the power connection. The second click's the rebreather."

  Done with Drew, Fynn turned toward the outer door. Yash and the others were watching. He hurriedly dropped his helmet into place. Since his skin wasn't as dark as his father's, it wouldn't completely hide a blush.

  Yash spun the outer door's handle and pushed it open. Compressors had pumped up the pressure inside the airlock, but warm air escaped as cold air flooded in. Fynn's suit hummed to life.

  Maliah was in motion with five seconds still on the countdown. She kicked off the hatch lip and disappeared upwards.

  "That's one giant leap for mankind," Drew said.

  Shun and Trina followed Maliah but Drew hung back, and Yash was kneeling on the floor, doing something with the fliers. Fynn exited carefully, holding the sides of the frame as he stepped out.

  The view was confusing, like standing on the bottom of a murky swimming pool. Fynn could feel the ground beneath his boots, like crusted snow, but he didn't look down. Not yet. The sky, the ground, even the shadows were all gloomy shades of orange. The horizon seemed too close. Judging distance would take practice.

  The pebbled sand disappeared into blackness at the end of the dock ramp, though farther away parallel steaks met the sky.

  Ripples on the horizon.

  "Is that our methane lake?" Fynn asked.

  "That's our lake," Yash said. "A small one, long and narrow, apparently connected to similar liquid bodies via underground channels."

  With one hand still on the airlock frame, Fynn bent his knees, tipped his shoulders, and looked up.

  The whole sky was muddy orange with a few darker patches that might be hydrocarbon clouds. An elongated glow spread across the zenith. That had to be Saturn, but it was disappointing. Haze obscured it to a blur.

  "Is it daytime?" Fynn asked on the shared suit channel.