Pestilence

Pestilence

  Orbit the Sun – Part 4

  By John Stevenson

  Copyright 2014 John Stevenson

  During the following two weeks the breach was sealed and the power problems were solved. The failure in the air purification system was found: and repaired, and a reduced science program was reinstated. All the emergency parties were stood down leaving the engineers and technicians to repair at their leisure: at last things aboard Earthrise were under control

  The most sobering task had been retrieving the bodies from eighteen, and putting them somewhere; out of the way. The waste pod had originally seemed the best option: though it had never actually been designated with the word waste; it was a name that came about through use. Rather it was a supply pod, where emergency or extra supplies were sent up on the next available commercial rocket. Once unloaded it was refilled with any non-recyclable or dangerous materials, before being released to burn up on re-entry.

  But no one had envisaged death on the scale it had occurred, and without treating to bodies really as trash by pilling them up on top of each other; there was no room, so part of the hotel close by had become the new mortuary.

  While Earthrise was at last settling down, Mathew was not. At first he was worried that he had been irradiated; thankfully while his and the woman’s dose were above the safe level they were not quite into the deadly zone.

  Matt had only seen her a couple of time since: always with her husband, including the uncomfortable time the man thanked him in front of half the stations population. She had stood silently as her husband spoke, her eyes never flinching as she stared at Mathew. Matt wasn’t what some termed ‘a ladies man’; he liked women: very much so, but they sometimes scared him. They may have been the weaker sex, but for all his superior muscle all it took was for a woman to look at him in a certain way and his strength had gone. It was like Sampson and Delilah, but she didn’t have to cut his hair.

  He remembered welcoming her and her husband aboard: then he had just thought her extremely attractive. It was one of the perks of being a multi millionaire; you could take the pick of the bunch: Matt had enviously thought; but eye candy that she was, she was somebody else’s eye candy; and anyway he was a professional officer, at least everyone expected him to be. All that was forgotten as he felt himself melt: It was a stare that pleaded to him, and pinned him to the spot with its promise: at least that’s what he imagined. He didn’t dare look back at her with anything more than a glance, and his conscience made it almost impossible to look her husband in the eye as he shook Mathews hand. Spoken words seemed to flash through his mind, ‘…Outstanding bravery’ ‘…Ingenuity’ ‘…In the face of death… to save a woman he didn’t know.’ That made him cringe even more: what her husband didn’t know was that Matt had made it his purpose to find out as much as he possibly could about her, and that turned out to be absolutely nothing…

  The solar flare had been a stark reminder of what was ahead if their course was to take them closer to the suns awesome power.

  In it’s most basic description Earthrise was sometimes flippantly likened to an iced doughnut. The array itself was the classic shape pictured in countless science fiction, but it differed slightly with the ‘icing’. This was a separate, stationary ring of solar collectors, aerials and where the science labs were. They connected to the hotel only at the hub: in an axle fashion. This ring also acted as a kind of parasol. The long-term intention was to use this part of the array as an entirely new section of the hotel: which was now extremely unlikely.

  The whole array was capable of being finely positioned; a slight twist this way or that could reduce or increase power collection, and control the thermal reaction of exposed portions of the array. It was both at the same time simply efficient, yet very complicated. Its operation was something that Andrew was aware Mathew had proved capable of, as he spoke. “I know you have not agreed with some of the decisions I have made.”

  “Whether I agree or not isn’t relevant. You are the commander; decisions are yours to give and mine to accept.” Matt replied without hostility.

  “Ah…” Andrew shrugged. “Accept, even your answer implies that you feel you could make a better ones?”

  “That’s, not what I meant,” Mathew paused a moment. “I may have a different approach to a problem, but for me to claim it would result in a better outcome is pointless. We are still here and alive, maybe in another circumstance it could have been different?”

  “Nonetheless Mathew you have…” Andrew stopped for a moment as if trying to gauge his words. “I don’t want to over imply the word significant, but some of our views have been significantly different.”

  “We approach a problem from opposite sides, it would be expected that we arrive at different opinions too.”

  “Yes... and in some ways variance ensures that we continue to survive, but what concerns me is that you think you should be where I am?”

  Mathew wasn’t sure where Andrew’s words were leading. “You think that by voicing my opinions I’m a challenge to your authority?”

  Andrew’s expression was blank. “Are you?”

  Now Mathew knew it was leading to a confrontation, and he felt decidedly uncomfortable. “Commander is there any point to this discussion?”

  “Yes… there is. I am about to make an announcement and what I want is your support. What I don’t want is any smirk of satisfaction.”

  “I don’t believe I have ever given you anything less than my full support…” Mathew decided this was the time for honesty. “In public.”

  “As a senior member of the staff you have always been correct, but what I am going to announce is what you advised at the very first: to try and catch the Earth up; and before you say anything I stand by my original decision. We could have, and I was quite prepared for us to wait as long as was necessary for Earth to catch us up, but losing what we have of the station poses the question; what if we were to loose more? If we did, things could be bleak for us. The decision can’t be left any longer, and we may let the chance of any return, slip away from us.”

  “I’m sure everyone will be relieved to hear that.” Mathew was only a little surprised. “Then you certainly have my support, but I‘m not sure we can still do it?”

  “That’s what concerns me; I want you to tell me if we can before I say anything publicly.”

  “It’ll take me at least a couple of hours just to work out a very basic yes or a no; without considering the implications… but,” As he was speaking problems were coming into his mind.”

  “But what?”

  “We have lost considerable time. I can give a boost to our velocity, but to make up that delay our approach to the Sun will probably need to be closer than it would have been?”

  “There could be any number of reasons why it won’t work, but first we need to know if it’s even feasible. Make your recommendation, and the sooner the better as I’m not making any other decision until I know we can at least try for it?”

  “I’ll talk to Tricia and get an up-to-date trajectory.”

  “No, not Tricia. I don’t want any gossip or second guesses until I know we can try?”

  “Okay, then I’ll have to contact Earth for an up to date trajectory.” Mathew turned to leave, but Andrew spoke again.

  “This is just between us for the time being.”

  “Okay, just us.” Again Matt went to leave.

  “Whatever you think about me… I want you to know you are probably the best engineer I have worked with?”

  Mathew looked at him slightly embarrassed. “Thank you…”

  Andrew smiled. “In a way its comforting to have you aboard.”

  Matt looked at him questioningly.

  “I don’t need to worry that I have overloo
ked something! I know you will always find the flaw.” Andrew turned back to his paperwork.

  Mathew knew that people on the planet were monitoring the station closely, and had details of the arrays velocity and orbit details at hand. Also: as expected, they raised numerous concerns at the idea, pointing out the Sun was experiencing a period of high sunspot activity; but given the circumstances, they agreed it possibly was a risk worth taking.

  The Sun had always been a worry: its capricious nature had already shown itself, but by tightening their orbit they were reducing the margin of error to zero. At best they would expose the array to several weeks of increasing heat, at worst: with a miscalculation they would be drawn inwards towards a fiery death. This was on Matt's mind as he reported back to Andrew.

  “The problem is with how much fuel the maneuvering thrusters will need to keep the array precisely positioned?” explained Matt. “What