Breaking Interstellar: Android Lives Matter

by Michael Tobin

  Chapter Nineteen: Are we there yet?

  Mother’s velocity slows imperceptibly with each passing second as the large vessel drops below 110,000-mph. She’s been traveling backwards, decelerating for the past 88,000-years. All four motherships, seemingly frozen in time, as they slowly travel the endless stretches of space that exists between the stars. Their speed is so ineffective, when compared to the distances required to actually get anywhere, that it boggles the mind to just think about it. Each of the starships uses complex navigational systems, utilizing the light from their perspective destination stars as the main-guidance for the interstellar journey. If they could only travel at the speed of light, they could make the crossing approximately 3,500-times for each of their one-way transits.

  The Michael Faraday and Cecilia Payne, win the tug-of-war battle with the rogue singularity that threatened to consume them, but lost the time schedule that they hoped to maintain. The Faraday zipped past its destination planet backwards, without any chance for slowing in time for orbital insertion. The velocity that the slingshot maneuver imposed upon it, was just too much for their primitive fusion engines to overcome in a meaningful way.

  That, plus the fact that even if they could have sufficiently slowed in time for entering orbit, all life onboard would have been snuffed-out, due to the severe deceleration forces involved with such a maneuver. Without the technological advantage of de-phasing into the slipstream, which offers inertial dampening and artificial gravity as a byproduct, humans and their machines, are at the mercy of nature’s undiluted laws of motion. However, all is still good onboard the Faraday, and even with the slingshot-delay, it will still achieve orbit at the desired destination, only 11-years behind its sister ship, who also had a slingshot maneuver to deal with; albeit a much less robust one.

  Three light-years away from the Faraday and Payne, the Einstein and Newton approaches the main sequence star of the Oberon Prime system. The apparent size of the star, increases noticeably with each millennium that passes. All systems onboard the spacecraft are maintaining a proper balance between entropy and effective operating conditions. They approach their destination, like ghosts in the night. With occasional visits in their passageways and command bridges by increasingly impatient creatures that long for the freedom of open spaces and copious amounts of sky.

  It’s been 200-years since Nyla, Wil and their teammates, have re-animated. It’s their 865th-time out of the sleep-prisons, since leaving Mars. However, this time is special. It’s the last time they’ll sleep in space. At least for the foreseeable future.... The Einstein is only 33-million-miles out from its final destination. Gravity is minimal, as deceleration of inertia, slowly grinds to a halt. Now, the passageways and decrepit handball court, are filled with life. Android life. Everyone made the journey thus far. The handball court is smashed and unrepaired. Even though refurbished a thousand times, it went to hell after readily available supplies ran dry.

  Now, the bridge is the favorite place to hang out. The large circular monitor, with their new world shining brightly, allows cabin fever to rear its ugly head. With the illusion that space is just a few feet away, it feels like a drug to the cooped-up androids. They soon pass the star named Huon, which is the systems sole provider of cosmic energy. Its luminosity is similar to that of our own star, Sol. Past a large rocky-planet they zoom. It has several moons, and is about 120-percent that of Earth’s mass. So, it wouldn’t be very user friendly to human or android life with its powerful gravity. The star system has 11-planets, and 85-moon. The four gas giants of the system, have long since migrated to the frozen outer reaches.

  Oberon prime is their target world, which is second out from Huon. It has 95-percent the mass of Earth. Providing a gravitational edge to android and human lives alike. The Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton have successfully made the transit from their home world, and will soon enter most dangerous part of the journey. Only the launch from Earth, can equal the danger that’s approaching.

  Atmospheric entry, is at best extremely dangerous, and at worse .... hotter than hell itself, if the entry goes horribly wrong, and your elements return hotly to a universe from whence they came. These two starships and the brave astronauts within, may not be the first ever alien species to descend to the planet, but they may very well be the first ones who’ll try to make it their home, and not just another resource to exploit, and then abandon.

  As the two motherships penetrate deeper into their new star system, the four on-duty astronauts make scans of the different planetary bodies, confirming there are no artificial radiations emanating from any. This is a good sign that any existing intelligent life forms have not advanced into the electronic-age yet. They’re also able to make a more detailed spectroscopic analysis of the main sequence star that will light up their life on Oberon Prime. From what the data reveals, the star seems to be stable, and should provide all the energy needs a human or android body could possibly desire for healthy existence.

  As the first of the two motherships enters gracefully into an equatorial orbit above the bluish world, Nyla, Wil, Talia and Omari, assist with performing scans of the world they’re about to invade. After entering a preset program for orbital-analysis, Omari causes mother to release a series of automated scanning and mapping satellites. They will give an accurate and multifaceted data-set of the beautiful planet below.

  Traveling to Oberon Prime and Titania Alpha was an educated gamble that they could actually settle there and survive. However, there’s no other viable option than to make the best of what they find, and force fit their existence into those worlds if necessary. In the event that planetary scans reveal that advanced life forms have developed, the only other option for them besides intrusion, is to travel another unimaginable distance to another world, and hope they don’t have the same compatibility issues yet once again.

  Humans have always been a species of animal that force fits its existence into any ecosystem that it deems necessary for survival, and or conquest. And, while the androids that Sohn Space Systems had developed for this mission have sentience and independent thought, they were still imprinted with psychological and emotional mindsets of humans. They are therefore naturally biased toward this primitive type of survival proclivity. They will not be denied access, or dissuaded from the completion of their task! The all-important planetary scans will offer a glimpse into the difficulty of what they might encounter below.

  At the science console, Nyla and Talia begin collecting data about some of the flora and fauna on the different continents. This is not an exacting study, because while the mothership has very powerful optics for viewing the surface relatively up close, the cloud cover over much of the equatorial regions, interferes with anything even close to a comprehensive study. Wil and Omari concentrate their efforts, firstly to the types and percentages of the many different gasses that make up the planet’s atmosphere. After all, if the humans can’t breathe properly, this planet simply won’t do.

  Nyla finds the first animal life forms on the planet. She records the scene below, as several large herds of horned, four legged beasts, move through wide-open grasslands bordered by thick areas of forested highlands. “Well, it looks like any humans living on this world will at least have something to eat.” She says, before realizing that perhaps these animals might not take kindly to being predated upon. Perhaps they’ve developed along much different lines of intelligence than the similar looking beasts that lived on the Earth’s surface, she ponders.

  Wil reviews the scan, noticing that the animal’s herd-like behavior, looks similar to that of the wildebeest animals on the equatorial grasslands of Africa. He notices also, that there’s many rivers in the area that must be crossed during their migrations, so he zooms in on one river crossing to see if any predators reveal themselves.

  However, with so much patchy cloud cover moving through the area, he can’t get a solid look at the situation below. “Well, if we’ve learned anything at all about the evolution of animals o
n Earth,” he says knowingly, “it’s that there’s always a food chain keeping most species in check.” He looks to Omari. “Do we know yet what those creatures are breathing down there?”

  After reviewing the atmospheric data, Omari makes his report. “According to this readout, I believe any future humans living on this planet, will enjoy the gasses they breathe!” He states enthusiastically. “Firstly, there’s oxygen at a level of a little over 23-percent. Now, while this is a slightly elevated level, the toxicity will be negligible. In fact, the human animal will quickly adapt and thrive on the extra O2. Secondly, the other gasses are mostly Nitrogen at about 72-perecent, and the rest is water vapor, carbon dioxide and other gaseous molecules in rare amounts.”

  “So, not much different than home!” Talia exclaims joyfully. “That’s a big hurdle! The rest is downhill from here.” She jokes, before realizing how literal those words actually are.

  Time marches on, and over the next several days, after the Newton had achieved orbit, tons of data concerning the beautiful planet is analyzed, categorized, and prioritized by all android pioneers on both ships. Everyone wants to play a part during this critical phase of the long journey. The mission and all their lives, depend on developing the best possible plan of action for their one-time chance of making a safe atmospheric entry, and sustainable habitation of Oberon Prime.

  After careful consideration of all options, a consensus is reached on where the colony will be located. Of all the continents under consideration, one stands out in particular, because it has plenty of water and other natural resources that a human colony will need for a viable community. Along with plenty of the basic required resources, the scans of other areas on the continent reveals a plethora of minerals for future exploitation after things settle into a sustainable population.

  After the necessary scans of the planet are completed, both ships park in geostationary orbits above the desired continent. Now, while the term ‘park’ is used, the aliens from Earth are actually still moving at close to 23,000-mph in order to maintain a fixed position above the rotating world. Performing any work at all, is greatly complicated because of the absence of gravity. Nevertheless, the pioneers are naturally focused on the task at hand. Any creatures that are accustomed to having their feet planted firmly on the ground, will work tirelessly to achieve that state of existence once again!

  Shortly after both ships achieve orbit, Nyla continues the scans of the region surrounding their chosen colony site. It doesn’t take long, before she notices a misty white-apparition, rising from a mountainous area about 20-miles from the valley that they had chosen. “Hey Wil, you better look at this.” She directs in a dire tone, that also gets the attentions of others.

  Turning towards her monitor, Wil sees a video of what appears to be smoke rising from a heavily wooded part of a mountainous region. “That looks like wood smoke to me. What do you think, Nyla?” He asks.

  “Yeah, it looks that way to me also, but I can’t seem to get a more detailed image than what we’re seeing .... However, if we were doing this scan on Earth, I would bet that we’re looking at fire, created by people.” She puts the terrible statement out there, for all to chew on.

  Wil notices a wave of concern moving through the ranks. He decides to end all controversy then and there. “I agree Nyla. I’m glad you brought that information to light. However, let’s not forget that we are not at Earth, and we have no other viable choice, but to fit in as best we can, and try to get along with any indigenous creatures we are about to impose ourselves upon.” He states emphatically, putting a hand on her shoulder.

  “You’re right of course, Wil. I just wanted you to see this before we go any further. So far, we’ve been lucky that there aren’t any cities down there. At least none that stand out.” She states one of the more fortunate aspects of the planetary scan. “But, I guess it’s true what they say.” She adds sadly. “If you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs.”

  With all pertinent data collected and analyzed, the time has come for each of the motherships to be split open, so they can release their babies above a new home world. There’s still plenty of preparatory work to be accomplished before atmospheric entry can occur, and lots of events must transpire without failure.

  Nyla and Wil are at the navigation console when the time comes for separation from mother. Wil announces the pending action over the ships intercom. He offers Nyla a key, and the chance to initiate the complex series of events that will start them on their way to a new life below. “Everything has been checked and re-checked, Nyla. Won’t you please be a dear and start the ball rolling?” He indicates the control panel.

  “With pleasure!” She exclaims. “But, don’t blame me if I push the button wrong, and we end up inside the sun!” She jokes nervously, reaching. That particular button has been waiting to be pushed for a very long time. Nyla slides a tiny protective cover, exposing the separation system. She inserts and turns the key; arming the system that controls whether they live or die. With the system armed and ready, the lovely android looks to her shipmates, smiles widely and pushes the button real good....

  This action initiates a separation sequence. All electrical connections between mother and the inner spacecraft, are mechanically severed. Monstrous clamps, that’ve held the two halves of mother together since her construction, release their tenacious grip. Then, a series of shaped explosive-charges deep within the protective ice-pack, detonates in timed sequences.

  Powerful vibrations and shock waves, propagate throughout the entire structure, as thousands of specifically placed charges, explode at critical junctures deep within the ice. After several anxious minutes, mother begins to slowly separate. Like a giant pistachio space-nut, the mothership splits apart, releasing the smaller spacecraft as might a ceramics-mold releases its precious statue after the pour. A gargantuan shower of ice crystals and chunks of frozen water, propagate in all directions as the process of birth unfolds.

  The term ‘smaller spacecraft’ is a relative size-comparison, because the newly released vessel is almost 1,200-feet-in-diameter, and nearly 300-feet-tall at its thickest dimension which is at the center of the bulbous top surface. It’s a disk-shaped entry vehicle that’s less curved on the bottom, when compared to the thick, domed upper surface. The shape of the spacecraft’s upper surface was designed to be ‘semi-lifting’, and will greatly increase stability during the violent ride to come....

  For many generations, humans have feared invasion from space beings in flying saucers, now it’s humans that are the invading aliens in flying saucers. However, these machines are designed for one-way use only, and don’t have the capability of powered flight. They are more closely aligned with the design of a ‘gliding-saucer’. After that, they will hopefully be utilized as the initial habitat for humans and their android parental units.

  Structural engineers for the airframes of the saucers, rewrote the text books on how to build large atmospheric-entry vehicles. They invented new techniques for structural integrity, which increased survivability by many times, what had been theorized in the past. Special attention to detail was paramount when the leading edges and belly of the crafts were designed and built. Much of these areas consist of robust, 40-foot-thick honeycomb-structures of crushable stainless steel compartments. This belly area, will act much like composite shock absorbers, soaking up and distributing any forces acting against it. During landing, the forward leading edge and belly will crush, when sufficient force is applied. This will greatly dissipate impact energies before they reach the core of the vessel.

  “So far so good.” Wil states, confidently. “We have a clean break, and the two halves of mother are moving away from us.” He reports as he checks another indication. “And her hull thrusters are working great. They’ll have her put back together in no time.” He says happily, and adds. “Talia, please monitor mother’s recovery. Confirm that all required connections are made and the locking clamps fully engage.” He delegates politely
.

  “Why, Wilber Sohn, I thought you would never ask!” She accepts the duty with her best fake southern drawl, and an infectious laugh.

  Wil smiles, giving her a wink. “Thank you my dear.” He says sincerely, as he returns his attention back to the delicate situation.

  When both motherships are put back together, and safely parked nearby, the disk-shaped spacecraft’s that she had been protecting all these thousands of years, are free to maneuver by use of thrusters. The newly released ships move closer to their parental crafts, and crews on each vessel prepare to transfer the weapon systems from mother’s outer hulls.

  Remembering Amy’s warning about how not to enter the release codes incorrectly, Wil takes extra care as he enters the necessary numbers and symbols for the pods to detach. The Einstein and Newton are taking two of the four laser/Gatling pods and both of the missile systems. Leaving the twin motherships with just enough firepower, to leave a sour taste in the mouth of any thieves that come calling. If a time comes in the future, when more weapons are needed on the surface, the systems that remain with mother, can be remotely detached and dropped to the planet, via parachute. Other supplies that couldn’t fit into the entry saucers, will have to wait in the cold storage of space, until needed.

  The disk-shaped vessels are now in position to receive the defense systems. There are specialized compartments inside the top surface of each aerodynamic saucer that will accept the pods. Thrusters on the pods, and automated guidance systems, accomplish the task with exacting precision; all with Talia’s supervision. Soon, they’re located above their respective storage compartments. Large spiral doors silently glide open, mounting systems extend and accept the pods into locking clamps. Then they quickly retract back into the aerodynamically shaped structure and the spiral hatches close and seal, seamlessly.

  The Einstein will accept one of each type of system, and the Newton will take the other two. The pods don’t weigh anything in space, but during atmospheric entry they’ll be about 15-tons each. While this large amount of mass seems like a lot, it will actually impart stability into the flight characteristics, because their weight will tighten up the center of gravity for the airfoil. And that’s a good thing, because a smaller center of gravity makes the job of controlling the tremendously wide airfoil much easier. Without the pods, the entry would be nearly impossible.

  Atmospheric entry is usually accomplished by one of two methods by humans and androids. The first, is to enter the atmosphere with an aerodynamically shaped glider, hoping the heat shields work flawlessly. Also, an acceptable landing strip is required. The second, and less preferable method, is to drop modules of supplies and astronauts with parachutes.

  This less desirable method tends to scatter supplies and astronauts in all directions, according to the whims of prevailing winds. This type of drop system was designed for worst case scenarios, where the planets topography is too rough for a viable landing strip. Parachute drops are notoriously inaccurate, and any colony would face a compromising challenge, bringing everything together. Especially while performing all the other basic daily chores. Because of the favorable topography in the valley they chose for their colony, the first method of descent will be used. In addition to requiring a satisfactory landing strip, this method also relies very heavily on the proper operation of the flight guidance system, and hundreds of actuators that take commands from those systems to move the flight control surfaces just right.

  While atmospheric entry has never actually been tried with a craft of this size outside of flight simulators, a successful landing will ensure a fortified steel habitat, and all supplies at one’s fingertips, during the first difficult years of transition on a new world. Either option for descent, will be very hard on the local ecosystem, but with humans, and the android juggernauts that they designed and programmed, it’s sometimes best to just get the hell out of the way; or get an elbow in the face!

  “Okay, so we all agree.” Wil says over the ships intercom, and at the same time he transmits to the Newton. “We will use the first option.” He announces the result of a unanimous vote, after everyone on both saucers have reviewed the data concerning the planet below. No matter which option is used; it’s a one-way ticket for either the module-drop, or controlled atmospheric entry.

  However, before the aerodynamic drop can be implemented, the landing strip must be prepared, before the massive ships can successfully negotiate a landing. Any rock outcroppings or concentrations of trees and other thick vegetative growth that might conceal obstructions, must be dealt with harshly. With no traditional landing gear, the flying saucers will touch down on the reinforced belly and leading edges of the vehicle.... Skidding to a stop.

  The honeycomb-type leading edges and belly will act as a modified battering ram against any opposing obstacles that remain undetected after the landing strip is prepared. At nearly 1,200-feet-in-diameter, and over five-million-tons, the gliding machines will virtually liquefy the terrain, as its irresistible mass sends shockwaves of energy into anything that opposes it. It will impact with the planet in a most intimate fashion.

  Cody completes a survey of the proposed landing strip, and offers his best recommendation. “There are 44 major areas of concern that we need to address first.” He states, while bringing up a holographic image with detailed topographical information. Pointing to some of the more important aspects of the area, he shows the team where to concentrate the devices that they’ll use to ‘soften the target’ before making the atmospheric entry. Exact geographical impact coordinates will be programmed into the guidance system before being initiated.

  “See here, here and here.” Cody brings attention to some of the coordinates of the problem areas. “These forested hillocks, and these rock outcroppings, must be softened before we make the drop. The valley is long enough, but the Newton must make double sure that they don’t land too late, or they’ll run the risk of ramming into us. Conversely, we must be sure to land far enough downrange to leave them adequate room.” He transfers his data to the science station onboard the Newton, and each group of astronauts compare notes about the operation.

  Nyla has been feeling uneasy about this all-out and sudden attack of the planet below. She understands that it must occur, but she feels compelled to speak up about an idea that’s been floating around in her circuits. Wil notices she is dealing with a perplexing issue.

  “Yes Nyla? My, don’t you look like you’re about to burst; let’s have it.” He looks around at the others on the bridge, saying with conviction. “This is the best time for any of us to voice concerns, opinions or suggestions. Soon, we’ll be committed to living or dying on this planet, so let’s put all our cards on the table, and get it right the first time. There’s no second chances.”

  He turns his attention back to Nyla, waiting patiently for her to form the right words. She glances at him with sad eyes, saying. “We’ve just traveled an unimaginable amount of time to arrive here safely; and we’ve done just that. So, what’s a few more days? I feel as if we’re rushing into this situation too fast; almost as might a human under these same trying circumstances. But if we’re to guide a new generation of humans, instilling in them a reverence for nature, let’s try teaching ourselves that same trick first. There are surely animals living in that valley down there. And they don’t know what’s coming. Whether they are sentient creatures or not, we owe them warning, before unleashing hell itself across the entire valley. Instead of blindsiding them, let’s just stay up here a few more days and send warning shots. We should give them a fighting chance to evacuate from the area before we shower them with irresistible force.” She finishes, feeling much better for at least trying to save as many of the innocent lives as possible that dwell below.

  Wil reaches, taking her hand. He gives a wide smile and passionate kiss, looking embarrassed for not thinking of her common-sense idea first. “You are definitely my better half, Nyla! Let’s put the idea to vote” He rebroadcasts her idea to the rest of the crew
on both vessels and soon a consensus is reached. Nyla’s idea is received by her crewmates with a unanimous ‘yes’ vote. The next few days will give warning to the inhabitants below; for whatever it’s worth. The ‘elbow in the face’ technique, will have some heart.

  However, the valley must be won. So, after four days of warning shots, Cody enters the impact coordinates for each of the kinetic rods, performing tests to confirm that the re-directed scanning and mapping satellites have transitioned properly to act as global positioning platforms for the event. Atara, checks his math, finding all calculations are on the money. “Good work Cody. If that doesn’t tame the land, nothing will.”

  Cody and Atara, check the data-link with the two motherships, and after seeing a good connection, they arm the one-time-use systems. After everyone on each spacecraft is happy with the plan of action, Cody arms, and pushes the button that initiates the rod drops. Row upon row of spiral-hatches on the outer hull of both motherships open, and hundreds of long, telephone-pole-sized titanium-alloy rods shoot forth towards the planet below .... On long, beautiful pillars of fire, they race to their own destruction.

  “Well, so much for a kinder, gentler, planet acquisition.” Nyla says forlornly. “Let’s hope we don’t wear out our welcome the very first week.” She states hauntingly, as the first wave of heavy rods enter the upper atmosphere of Oberon Prime. The tips of the many devices, quickly heat to white-hot incandescence. Words, written on the side of one by a long dead human, begin to give way to the onslaught of frictional heat. The human must have been feeling cynically romantic the day she loaded the rod into its launch tube.... ‘from Mars with love’.

  As the massive rods accelerate into the event horizon of the planets gravity-well, their velocity is increased dramatically by solid-fuel rocket motors that propel them to over 28,000-mph. GPS guidance keeps them perfectly on track, as they begin to hit the planet with incredible authority. They violently penetrate the valley floor, completely pulverizing the targeted rock outcroppings that would destroy any vessel trying to push them out of the way during a landing. Luckily, the targeted valley only has a few dozens of these types of difficult obstacles. But there are many other areas of concern that also get the attention they are due.

  Along the entire ten-mile path, hundreds of well-aimed kinetic-energy rods, rain from the sky. They penetrate the planet’s surface, exploding with the force of tactical nuclear warheads; They smash and pulverize the worst of the giant stands of ancient trees and areas of overgrowth where rocks can hide undetected by the astronauts above. Even with the advanced warning; thousands, perhaps millions of creatures, big and small, are instantly killed, as their world is violently convoluted and smashed, in a fashion that reinvents the term ‘elbow in the face’ .... Human designed and inspired machines, make their deadly mark on an innocent world.

  On the highlands bordering the desecrated valley, a group of bipedal animal’s watch in horror, as the sky above the valley fills with streaks of light and incredible thunder. The ground shakes, as their ancient hunting grounds explode violently in front of their eyes. They are on a 10-day hunting expedition from several valleys over; when the world before them is mysteriously turned upside down, and inside out. They had heard the warning shots over the past several sun cycles as they traveled closer to the valley, and curiosity got the better of them.

  They’re lucky they understood at the time, to not venture into the valley. Something had angered the spirits, and this day their vengeful wrath falls from the sky without mercy! Why the gods decided to destroy their hunting grounds, is beyond any understanding they can muster. With no other choice, they flee as hot debris falls from the sky, setting bushes and grasses on fire along their path of retreat. They have never seen dirt, rocks and flaming chunks of tree’s, rain from the sky. It will take big medicine to understand exactly why.

  It will be hours before the area clears of dust, and the results of the invasive procedure can be fully analyzed. When the results finally come in, Cody and Atara keep a clinical focus on the grizzly data, liking what they see. “It seems that we now have a viable landing strip!” Cody announces with pride. “We’ve hit with 98-percent accuracy. The valley, now belongs to us!”

  Wil checks the data, seeing the truth in Cody’s statement. “Now, we can only hope for a smooth and uneventful drop into our new neighborhood, and hope we didn’t piss off any of our neighbors too much.” With a landing path established along a ten-mile stretch of what was once a pristine and ancient valley, Wil checks on the operational status of the newly created GPS system. It performed admirably for the rod drops, but he needs another level of operational integrity, before trusting the system with their lives. It’s critical to accurately synchronize the ships computers with the GPS system, in order to reach the landing strip safely. There will be no second chances to get it right. And stopping the multi-million-ton spacecraft within a pre-determined stretch of abused valley floor, is just as critical.

  While Wil waits for the all-important data to come in, he floats with his shipmates over to the navigation console, checking on the progress of detaching some of the dormant fusion reactors from mother’s outer hull. They must be organized for atmospheric entry and parachute landing when the time comes. Once on the planet, the android pioneers will not be able to reach orbit again until the re-supply vessel arrives. That ship will bring with it, the necessary supplies and equipment needed for construction of a space elevator near the colony. However, in the meantime, the supplies and dormant reactors that are left in mother’s care, can be easily accessed via a microwave communications system. All equipment and supplies, are neatly packed away inside automated entry-modules that wait for the time when called into service.

  “How’s it going out there?” Wil asks of Ivy, as he floats to her position. She and Rocco are in charge of preparing the fusion power-plants for drop.

  “Very good, Wil.” She says friendlily, as she transfers an image to the main monitor above where he and the others are floating. “Watch this.” She says, and pushes several buttons on the consol. Outside on mother’s hull, a 20-foot, by 20-foot, square object is released from its restraints, floating away by use of thrusters. It will park with the other dormant reactors in a sort of holding pattern, until needed.

  “It looks like you have the situation under control, Ivy. Let us know if you need any assistance.” Wil offers, graciously.

  With a wide smile that always brightens her face, she thanks him and re-gains her original focus on the all-important and delicate task before her.

  Nyla pulls Wil back from his little break with Ivy, helping him analyze the data that had just come in concerning the GPS data. With a positive consensus from all computers, about the touchdown coordinates, it’s up to Wil and her to check the computers math before sending the data on to the rest of the astronauts for sanctioning. Everyone has an important stake in this data being accurate, it can’t be checked too much, or too often.

  “Everything seems to add up to what should be a smooth entry and landing. Global weather patterns seem to be mild right now, and that can only help.” Nyla says, confidently.

  “I agree with that, young lady.” Wil says, reaching for the transmit button. “I’m sending the data to the Newton so they can chew on it for a while. I’m willing to bet that they’ll come to an agreement that these drop numbers are good to go.”

  Once the data and drop coordinates for the entry vehicles has been agreed upon, Atara and Cody take their fateful places at the helm. Atara occupies the left seat. It will be her responsibility to pilot the ship during entry. Cody will be first officer. Atara transfers the drop data into the autopilot system, and Cody checks her work. Window coordinates are then assigned to each spacecraft.

  The moment of truth comes closer, as the risky event becomes foremost on everyone’s minds. All astronauts except the pilots, enter back into their chambers for the drop. While they will not go into hibernation mode, the chambers are designed to absorb the shocks an
d vibrations that will surely occur during this violent phase of the mission. Inside the two spacecraft, the pilots finish the necessary pre-entry checklists, and slowly change orbit by use of thrusters. Leaving the geostationary orbit above their new home world, they leave the motherships behind, and line up with the virtual entry-window coordinates.

  Onboard the Einstein, Atara and Cody occupy left and right seats respectively at the helm They’ll monitor the actions of the spacecraft’s autopilot system, as it deftly manipulates the enormous and unimaginably heavy flying machine into Oberon Prime’s atmosphere. And then perform a belly landing, like no other belly landing has ever been attempted. In the event of autopilot failure, it will be her duty to complete this daunting task; with Cody as backup in case she can’t perform satisfactorily.

  As the Einstein and Newton approach the drop coordinates, Atara who is acting commander of the big E, begins to grow uncomfortably anxious as she contemplates the enormous responsibility that’s been placed upon her. In the event of autopilot failure, or any other reason that she and Cody must take over the flight, the odds of a successful landing hovers at about 50/50. No better than the flip of a coin.

  The Einstein is enormous, and has flight characteristics that demand the utmost sensitivity and accurate reaction time. Even the lift characteristics are way out of proportion to what would normally be encountered with say, a teardrop entry. These gliding saucers have lift to drag coefficients that would cause Bernoulli to blush with satisfaction.

  Controlling such a behemoth has never been attempted outside of flight simulators, and none of the androids had high success rates while piloting the great flying machine during training. Even though Atara is a computational juggernaut for her size, she can’t hold a candle to the processing prowess of the ships autopilot computers. After all, her internal ‘tilt-sensors’ are only a few inches apart, compared to the ships autopilot system that enjoys a 1,200-foot-arm. And even though the android CPU can interface with the autopilot system, the desired sensitivity is just not the same, as the undiluted version. Plus, the chance that in the event of autopilot failure, even the all-important ships tilt-sensors may also malfunction.

  “Cody, I can’t do this!” Atara exclaims. “I’m way too frightened to perform adequately if the autopilot fails.” She works up the courage to admit defeat, before it gets out of hand. She had landed successfully many times in the flight simulators, but had also crashed and exploded, with equal efficiency. This time there are real consequences, and she just can’t get beyond the fear factor.

  Cody looks at her with a sympathetic glance. He already knew that she had reservations about the drop, and he figured if she was going to fold, it would be during the last bit of time before the point of no return came upon them. “It’s okay Atara; better safe than sorry. We still have 15-minutes before we break that damned old window anyway. So, let’s call up Nyla and Wil to sit here in our stead. I think they wanted to be here anyway, and I’m proud of them for not pushing us out of the way, just because they carry the doctor’s last name.”

  “Oh, thank you for understanding Cody!” Atara exclaims emotionally. Reaching, she squeezes his hand. “I’m sure the autopilot will do just fine, but still, thanks for understanding.” She repeats, hugging him passionately.

  It only takes a few minutes for the replacements to float into the bridge and relieve Atara and Cody at the helm. While they hover above the navigation console waiting for the seats to become unoccupied, they look with wonder at the large and beautiful planet that illuminates half the circular monitor. It seems like Earth in many ways, but with differently shaped land masses. The expanses of oceans between the continents, are just as blue as any they ever saw back on Earth.

  Wil takes the left seat, while Nyla straps her athletic frame into the right. She’s proud of Atara for putting the safety of the mission before any feelings of pride. She wonders if she would have been able to do the same, because stubbornness is the name of her game; and she loves winning. Her flying skills in the simulator were much the same as Atara’s, but the decision about who will fly the entry had been made before she and Wil had joined the group, and so she didn’t push the subject. Why rock the boat....

  Nyla, reviews the flight-data that’s plastered in front of her face. The many small monitors tell her the story of how healthy the autopilot is feeling at any given moment. She secretly hopes for failure; just so Wil and she can enjoy the ride even more. However, she also understands the difference between fantasy and the reality of actually flying such a monster. So, it’s with sincere appreciation of well-behaved technology, that she reports to her captain that all systems are a go.

  “Captain, autopilot is taking us down the pike five by five; window is coming up in three-minutes.” She reports, as full monitoring of the situation becomes extremely critical. They are fast approaching the event horizon of Oberon Prime’s voracious gravitational grip. It’s rapidly becoming a do-or-die situation.

  “Thanks, Nyla. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.” He says, as he maintains a tight focus on his own array of flight displays. “How are you feeling? Are you ready for this?” He risks a nasty retort for daring to wonder about her readiness, but is pleasantly surprised by her calmness.

  “Wild horses couldn’t drag me from this seat, Wil.... Unless of course they were dragging me over to that one!” She jokes laughingly.

  “That’s my girl.” He responds gladly. “Now, hold onto yer circuits, because in no time at all, we’ll be a flaming terror in the skies above Oberon Prime! I hope they’re ready for us! Because, ready or not, here we come!” He announces excitedly, as he gets pumped up for what promises to be the ride of a lifetime.

  Soon Einstein’s leading edge penetrates the drop window with pinpoint accuracy, and the android pilots quickly become aware that there is no going back. At just under 18,000-mph, the large machine begins to squash air molecules, as it enters the thin upper atmosphere.

  As they drop into the soup like a thrown skipping stone, autopilot deftly hunts for the perfect angle-of-attack. With such a massive undercarriage, the flying disk has a significant chance of skipping off the atmosphere and back into space, if the angle is off by just a tiny percentile. The leading edge of the behemoth saucer begins to glow red, then white-hot, as the frictional forces build against the leading edge and belly of the great machine.

  Above the two highly-focused pilots, the circular monitor begins displaying white hot plasma creeping up from the bottom of the leading edge, as the ship enters the most critical phase of the flight, and mission. Everything is on the line now, while Nyla and Wil do what they do best .... Survive.