But still there is nothing. Either it is dark, or his nerve pathways still can’t transmit what his eye sees. There—now light is creeping up the horizon. Is he not lying in a tent, but rather on the beach? Is he one of the outcasts, those who survive the draght but do not take on their fully-adult form? Now and then something like that happens. Shivers run over his skin. Gronolf is shocked. The shivers were not caused by fear, they came from something outside of his body. There is also a loud humming sound. What kind of machine is that? What is happening to him? The shivers are caused by a cold wind blowing across his skin.
Now it is getting brighter and brighter. Gronolf opens a second eye in order to be sure this is not an illusion. There is no tent roof above him. The glow comes from a luminescent area. He moves his arms. Now, finally, he can feel them again. He lifts his hand in front of the uppermost eye. Seven fingers! He has passed the draght. But not just yesterday. The skin on his fingers is brown, no longer a youthful green. He is an old man. He is no longer on the beach.
He has woken up in a sleeping capsule, and it is completely normal to be disoriented in that case.
How long has he been asleep, and why? He can’t remember. Only his childhood in the ocean still seems to live on, the time when he defeated the carriontooth. It must have been ages ago. What has happened in the meantime? Of course his mother cannot answer him. She died long ago. Suddenly he remembers how he and his six siblings sacrificed her to the ocean. This is where we are born and this is where we end up. Those had been the traditional words he, as the strongest of the plex, had been allowed to speak. Yes, seven of them came back, a lucky omen for his mother, but then something must have happened—he can’t remember what.
But that’s no problem. Gronolf knows now who to ask. He uses his sonar to address the capsule.
“What is today’s date?”
“Welcome back, Gronolf Carriontooth. On the home world it is brightnight 35 in cycle 3876 after the Great Awakening.”
“So I assume I am not on the home world.”
“That is correct, Gronolf Carriontooth.”
“Just Gronolf will suffice. How far is it to the world of two suns?”
“The current distance is about 7,500 times the distance to Mother Sun.”
May 9, 19, Adam
“Marchenko?”
Adam receives no answer.
“Marchenko?”
Even after the fifth attempt, the radio remains silent. That bastard has left him behind! What is he up to? Adam rubs his temples. He should never have trusted this second Marchenko. He wiggles around on his seat. Then he turns on the control panel screen. He knows the software quite well. After all, he had enough time to familiarize himself with it. First he has to try to locate Marchenko 2. The cameras show only darkness. He switches through various other frequencies without finding a trace of Marchenko 2. The radar is not very efficient down here. How about sonar? It uses the reflection of sound waves to pinpoint obstacles.
Yet it doesn’t find anything either. Marchenko 2 must have left the range of the sensors. Adam checks once again where the strange building is located. It is directly above him. This must be the direction in which Marchenko 2 disappeared. He must have found a way through the thick ice layer. It wouldn’t have been a problem with Valkyrie, yet he chose a different method. It seems it was important to Marchenko 2 that he excluded Adam. This can only mean he has heard something from the others!
Are Eve and the real Marchenko up there? Adam’s cheeks feel hot. Marchenko 2 better not do anything to Eve! Yet Adam cannot allow himself to get too emotional. Marchenko 2 probably won’t lay a finger on his sister. He will try to take her with him, though, and their Marchenko cannot let that happen. In the worst case the attacker would have the advantage of surprise. And only one person can prevent that—Adam himself. He has to warn the others.
“Attention, is anyone listening?” he asks via radio.
“Transmission not possible,” Valkyrie replies.
Damn. Marchenko 2 must have blocked the software. If the radio is deactivated, what about the steering function? Adam orders the engines to move the vessel forward, but nothing happens.
“Function not available,” the computer voice says.
“This is an emergency!” Adam yells, and the panic in his voice sounds genuine. Perhaps Marchenko 2 did not think of the emergency mode.
“Function not available.”
Damn, damn, damn! It looks like he is sentenced to inactivity. Adam looks around. He cannot warn Eve and Marchenko via radio, and he cannot use the submarine. Yet Marchenko 2 cannot prevent him from setting out on his own. His pressure suit lies in the corner. Just a moment, Adam. He must not fall back into old patterns and expose himself to unnecessary dangers. He has to form a plan first. How can he enter the building? Marchenko 2 is no longer here, so he must have succeeded. And where the robot found a way, there should be enough space for him.
The only trail Marchenko 2 would have left behind is the heat energy he constantly gives off. Adam turns on the infrared scanner and aims it upward. And indeed, there is a fat red dot that is warmer than the environment. This is where Marchenko 2 must have disappeared. He probably used heat to clear his path. Adam checks the water temperature. It is four degrees Celsius. So there is almost no risk of such a tunnel freezing again. He will put on his suit, leave the submarine, and follow Marchenko 2.
Adam plans his next step while putting on his pressure suit. The submarine still does not have an airlock. It was just supposed to take them to the edge of the ice sheet, after all. Nobody had planned to get out of it in the middle of the ocean. There is a simple hatch in the aft section. Once he opens it, water will flow into the vessel.
“Valkyrie, how deep is the ocean here?”
“The ocean floor is 1,500 meters below us.”
“Thanks.”
If the sub fills up with water, it will sink one and a half kilometers into utter darkness. How is he supposed to find Valkyrie if he needs it for the return trip? And as Marchenko 2 seems to have blocked all radio channels, it cannot send him a signal to indicate its location. And what about the bilge pumps? If he orders Valkyrie to pump out the water after he is outside, it should regain buoyancy.
“Valkyrie, how long will it take you to empty the vessel using the bilge pumps and return to this location?”
“Complete pump cycle and surfacing will take about three hours.”
That doesn’t sound so dramatic. If he exits via the hatch, the sub will be waiting for him here three hours later. Until then, he will be on his own. On the other hand, he is not completely alone. Marchenko 2 must be somewhere out there.
“Marchenko?” It won’t hurt to try it once more. If he only knew exactly what Marchenko 2 was up to! No answer comes from the loudspeaker. Oh well, he will go to the exit now.
Adam takes one more swig of water, then he closes his helmet and walks towards the aft section of the sub. When he starts opening the hatch by turning the locking wheel, a shrill alarm echoes through Valkyrie. Yes, I know, he thinks, you only mean well. But why was this programmed without the ability to turn it off?
Soon water starts dripping from the ceiling. It is bitter cold, as Adam can feel through the suit. The heating function of his thermal underwear is automatically activated. He looks at the display on his forearm. He should manage for about six hours, then he has to be back inside the sub. He hopes the bilge pumps will do their job. He imagines returning here with his last bit of oxygen, only to find the sub is not here because one of the bilge pumps was defective. Adam places a hand on his chest. He must not panic now. Things are going to be okay. He is already lucky since the hatch can be opened mechanically, through sheer physical force. Otherwise Marchenko 2 definitely would have locked it.
Now he is standing hip-deep in water. He hears a distant squeaking sound. It appears to be coming directly from the steel of Valkyrie, complaining about the additional weight. Water weighs a lot. His knees briefly buckle when the vess
el starts to move downward. Unfortunately it does not sink vertically but moves at an angle, as if sliding down a slope. He has to hurry. The farther Valkyrie moves from its initial position, the harder it will be for him to follow Marchenko 2. Luckily, he copied the infrared image into the memory of his suit a moment ago. Once he is close enough to the ice, the 3D structure of the frozen surface will show him where Marchenko 2 tunneled in.
Adam is annoyed he did not anticipate the movement of Valkyrie. He should have placed himself closer to the opening in order to climb up and get outside sooner. This way he has to wait until the water level has risen sufficiently. He tries to warm himself by moving his arms and legs. The heating unit can’t quite keep up. That should definitely change once he is fully immersed in water.
It is only half a meter to the ceiling now. See you later, Valkyrie, Adam thinks, swims to the opening, and pushes himself up. The inrushing water makes this difficult, but he manages and swims outside in a big bubble of breathable air. With one swim stroke he moves away from Valkyrie, looks down, and suddenly realizes his fine plan has a huge flaw. How can he be so stupid? His anger makes him feel so hot he has to turn down the heating. The hatch! He has to close the hatch. No automatic system will do that for him, as he has to use his own muscles. Good that he remembered just in time.
He swims back to the sub and holds onto it, while it keeps sinking. He will only be able to close the hatch once Valkyrie is completely filled with water. It shouldn’t be long now. Adam bends over the hatch and pulls the lid up until it reaches the hull. It is hard work, but his strength is sufficient. Now he has to close two clamps and then turn the large wheel on the outside all the way.
Finished. He has to take a short rest. He looks up but sees only darkness. How far away from his original position is he by now? Any estimate would be useless. He will have to approach the ice layer until it is in range of his searchlights. At least he can be sure of one thing: If he moves straight up, he will definitely reach the ice. How great that gravity shows me the way! In his mind Adam says a final goodbye to Valkyrie and kicks off from its metal hull with his legs. He is immediately surrounded by darkness. He turns on his helmet’s searchlight, but its beam cannot really illuminate the darkness and seems to make it even more palpable. When he turns his head and moves the beam, the darkness resembles a menacing creature always just outside the light and waiting for its victim to show a sign of weakness.
He won’t be weak. He swims single-mindedly toward the ice wall. His arm display calculates his current depth based on the water pressure. He sees it can’t be far now. After five minutes of swimming he has the feeling he is going to collide with the ice layer at any moment. Therefore he aims his head and the searchlight upward at an angle.
He was not wrong, as he has reached his first destination. Adam looks at the fascinating shapes of the ice surface. The ice did not freeze in the form of a solid wall. He can see ravines and rocks in bizarre shapes. Below the ice there must be currents of water with different temperatures that shaped these forms over long periods of time. Adam orders the camera to take as many photos as possible and generate a map from them. He slowly floats by this fantastic landscape and imagines himself walking across it upside-down. At the same time, the small computer in his suit compares the 3D map being created with the infrared images taken by Valkyrie. There must be matching areas, he just needs to have a little patience. Adam looks at the arm display. He has been on his way for less than half an hour. So far, the rescue operation is working fine.
Then he hears a ‘ping’ in his ear. The computer found a match. From now on, he has a guide. Adam turns in all directions. The display is sending him northward. His heart is beating faster. Finally, a specific trail! He starts swimming faster. Ten minutes later the device on his arm vibrates. It must be around here. He looks at the ice statues above him. One of them looks like it is showing the planet the middle finger. He doesn’t have to put up with that. He touches the ice and crumbles it into small pieces. The ice layer is not very stable here.
Then he discovers a hole. He makes sure by looking at the display. This is the spot, this is where Marchenko 2 obviously dug into the ice. He looks at the opening. Its diameter is about 80 centimeters. Should he venture inside? He feels a shiver running over his skin. He would fit into it, including his pressure suit and the oxygen container. Yet once he is inside the tunnel, he will not be able to turn around. While he does not suffer from claustrophobia, the idea of crawling into a dark, narrow tunnel extending for kilometers gives him the creeps.
Does he have a choice? He thinks of Eve and their real Marchenko who might be up there, needing him. Or maybe not—perhaps they had long ago forgotten him, convinced he was dead. No, that is nonsense. Even if they believe him dead, which is very likely, they certainly would still think of him. With a little bit of luck he will be with them in an hour. He just has to squeeze through this tunnel. One more deep breath and then he starts out.
The hole in the ice is as frightening as it looked from outside. A minute later Adam seems to suffocate, until he realizes he has involuntarily held his breath. He wants to make himself as thin as possible and only takes shallow breaths. Come on, Adam thinks, there is enough room. I have to breathe, breathe, breathe. The self-hypnosis works perfectly. The fear does not leave him, but it retreats into his stomach area.
Suddenly he feels he has to relieve himself. He clenches his muscles. The tunnel stretches ahead of him. Adam cannot swim as fast as before, because he lacks space. He makes wave-like motions with his legs and uses his arms to push himself forward against the ice walls. How thick is the layer that he has to pass through? Does Marchenko 2 suspect he is following him? Certainly not, as he believes him safely locked inside the submarine. Well, nobody should underestimate him.
Adam looks at the display. Now he has been inside this tunnel for 25 minutes. His anxiety is now very far away. His stomach is in knots and keeps his fear down, where it belongs. Suddenly the corridor ends. For a moment Adam looks down instead of up, and as if fate has been waiting for it, it places an obstacle in the tunnel. Damn! What now? He drums his fist against the ice, but in vain. Calm down, Adam, he thinks, it is too early to give up. He actually manages to calm himself. He moves his fingers across the blockage. The area is surprisingly smooth. Nature cannot have created the obstacle.
There are slight gaps at the edges on the right and left sides. The block of ice fits the tunnel very well, but not perfectly. Marchenko 2 must have placed this thing here. Did he do this to prevent anyone from following him? That would be very clever. Adam has underestimated him. And this is the worst aspect of it: Unless he comes up with a really good idea, the plan of Marchenko 2 will succeed.
Adam is thinking hard and has the feeling his little gray cells are overheating. He definitely must make it through here. What does he have available? If this is an artificial obstacle, it cannot be very large. He tries to imagine Marchenko 2. The robot must have cut this piece of ice out of the wall. During this project, he probably was in the tunnel himself, so there was not much space.
What can Adam do about it? He could get rid of the ice using sufficient heat. However, he cannot generate heat, at least not enough to melt this plug. So he has to apply mechanical force. Marchenko 2 pushed the plug into the tunnel, so Adam has to reverse this. He presses his arms against the side walls and pushes with his feet. It doesn’t work. His feet slide off.
Adam rummages through the tool bag on his belly. He finds a screwdriver he can use as a chisel, and a pair of pliers, but no hammer. Just to try it, he puts the tip of the screwdriver in the gap between the tunnel and the obstacle and hits it with the pliers. This has some effect, as a little bit of ice splinters off, but it is not enough. This way it is going to take him several hours.
The water and his suits hinder him, because he cannot strike with full force. Therefore, he somehow has to get rid of both. Adam feels behind himself. There is the container with his air for breathing. He opens the emerg
ency valve and lets some air escape. As long as the obstacle is still firmly in place, he can work more comfortably inside an air bubble below the ice. He watches the gas which rises toward the plug in big bubbles. The bubbles join and form an increasing air layer.
Adam turns off the valve, just to test. The layer is not entirely stable, as a little bit of air moves upward through the gap around the obstacle. He will have to keep the oxygen container slightly open. This also mean he has to hurry. Who knows how long he will need air to breathe? Whatever he lets escape from the container won’t come back. If he wants to get rid of the obstacle he has to take this risk, and it is the only way. When the air layer is thick enough and the water has been displaced sufficiently, he quickly takes off his helmet. Otherwise he might use up additional oxygen through the hose.
Soon half of his upper body is free. Adam decides this should be enough. He peels off the top part of his suit. It is cold, but he has no time to shiver. The helmet floats next to him, and its lamp bathes the scene in a flickering light. It smells of salt and sea. Yes, now he can strike forcefully, using all his strength. He starts widening the gap around the obstacle using the screwdriver as a chisel. Small pieces of ice hit him in the face. He blinks to avoid getting chips in his eyes. His nose is runny due to the cold and the exertion, but he can’t deal with that now.
After ten minutes he tries to move the ice block, but it is still not possible. Before his next attempt he chisels two footholds in the side walls of the tunnel so he can push better. Even so, the plug is still stuck too firmly. He continues working for another quarter of an hour. A glance at his display tells him his air supply has shrunk to two hours. He hopes it won’t be far now.
Proxima Dreaming Page 3
