Cryogenic sleep pods inside a spaceship.
CHAPTER 13 – DEEP SPACE RENDEZVOUS
09:10 (Universal Time)
Saturday, July 31, 2320
Command bridge of the KOSTROMA
Leaving polar orbit of Wolf 1061c
Tina hid her nervousness as her ship was pulling out of its orbit around Wolf 1061c and preparing to jump to the coordinates calculated by Dana Durning: there were so many uncertainties about what she and her ship would encounter next. Despite knowing in detail the flight plan of the SHUNDAR as filled before its departure from Shouria, its captain could well have decided to modify it as a result of what he had encountered in his successive stops in the Gliese 625 and Gliese 581 Systems. He could have decided to push his ship’s engine to the maximum and go faster in order to compensate for the time taken by his two stops. Or he could have decided to take a gamble and go to a new, unplanned destination. Or the ship itself could have suffered any kind of breakdown or gradual degradation of some of its systems which would in turn impact on its flight path and schedule. All in all, the KOSTROMA was leaving for a high stakes gamble and Tina was very much conscious of that.
‘’We are now pointed towards our next destination and taking speed.’’ Announced Frida Skarsgard, sitting at the helm station. ‘’Jump calculated and locked. We are ready to jump, Tina.’’
‘’Then, jump!’’
There was the now usual brief orange flash as the KOSTROMA’s Koomak Interstellar Drive was activated. Then the view on the holographic display surface of the bridge complex’ sphere changed completely. From showing the blue orb of Wolf 1061c, the internal face of the bridge sphere now showed nothing but the blackness of deep space, punctuated by the dots of light of distant stars.
‘’We are at our new destination, with the Wolf 1061 System 1.9 light years behind us.’’ said calmly Dana Durning.
‘’Patricia, fire up a panoramic VLF radar pulse. Let’s see if the SHUNDAR is within range already. Also keep an ear for any possible electronic signal from the SHUNDAR.’’
‘’Aye, Tina!’’ replied Patricia O’Neil, who was manning one of the sensors and communications stations of the bridge. Tina then forced herself to sit back and relax a bit in her command chair: even if their calculations for intercepting the SHUNDAR proved accurate, getting a radar echo from the Koorivar refugee ship could take days, weeks and even months, time for the radar signal to travel outbound and then bounce back at the speed of light. As she had expected, there was no radar echo coming back within seconds: the odds against that were simply astronomical. However, she saw Patricia do a double take while looking at her instruments. Tina was about to ask what she was seeing when Patricia snapped her head around and shouted in alarm at her.
‘’WE ARE RECEIVING AN AUTOMATED DISTRESS BEACON SIGNAL FROM THE SHUNDAR…FROM BEHIND US!’’
‘’WHAT? FROM HOW FAR BEHIND?’’
‘’FROM FURTHER BEHIND THAN SIXTEEN LIGHT SECONDS, AS WE HAVE NOT YET GOT A RADAR ECHO FROM THAT DIRECTION. THE DOPPLER SHIFT OF THE BEACON SIGNAL IS HOWEVER DISTURBING: THE SHUNDAR IS RECEDING FROM US WHILE STILL GOING AT A SPEED OF SEVEN PERCENT OF LIGHT SPEED.’’
Tina then twisted her head sideways to look at Shanandar, sitting next to Gerald Holmes in his V.I.P. seat.
‘’That is way too fast! At this point, the SHUNDAR should have decelerated to about three percent of light speed. Why is it still going so fast? At this rate, it will blaze its way across the Wolf 1061 System, with no chance of slowing down enough to stay in the system.’’
Shanandar, now mortally worried, nodded his head at her words.
‘’You are correct, Tina. However, the fact that we are getting an automated distress signal may indicate that a major systems failure occurred aboard the SHUNDAR. The navigation computer may have suffered a major failure or, even worse, the main anti-matter rocket engine may have stopped working, in which case the SHUNDAR would now be little more than an out-of-control deep space asteroid. We must catch up with it, fast!’’
‘’Agreed! FRIDA, REVERSE COURSE TOWARDS WOLF 1061, MAXIMUM THRUST! DANA, CALCULATE A SERIES OF SHORT JUMPS, EACH COVERING ONE LIGHT DAY OF DISTANCE. ONCE POINTED BACK TOWARDS WOLF 1061, WE WILL JUMP AND THEN LISTEN FOR THE SHUNDAR’S DISTRESS BEACON, TO SEE IF IT IS AHEAD OR BEHIND US. WE WILL REPEAT THAT PROCEDURE UNTIL WE GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE SHUNDAR TO INTERCEPT IT. TO ALL THE CREW, BRACE FOR MAXIMUM ACCELERATION IN FIFTEEN SECONDS!’’
Everybody on the bridge suddenly felt their bodies get much heavier some fifteen seconds later, as the roar of their anti-matter engines reached a level they had not heard before. The acceleration compensation fields of the KOSTROMA were about the most powerful available in the Solar System and could cancel up to seven Gs of felt acceleration, allowing the giant cargo ship to accelerate faster than nearly every other ship, and this without crushing its crew under excessive felt Gs. However, with its anti-matter engines at maximum power, the crew was now enduring a good three Gs of felt acceleration, about the same as one would feel while riding a giant rollercoaster wagon going through a tight loop.
‘’WE ARE NOW POINTING TOWARDS WOLF 1061, WITH OUR SPEED NOW POSITIVE TOWARDS THE SYSTEM.’’ announced Frida Skarsgard after some forty seconds.
‘’ACKNOWLEDGED! DANA, EFFECT OUR FIRST JUMP WHEN READY!’’
As Tina finished giving that order, she mentally hoped that her plan would work. Without its capacity to jump across interstellar distances, the KOSTROMA would never have a chance to catch up with the SHUNDAR in time, as it would take it days to accelerate to seven percent of the speed of light on rocket power.
‘’EFFECTING FIRST JUMP NOW!’’ said Dana as she pressed her jump button. There was again a brief flash of orange light, then the display sphere showed deep space all around them. It didn’t take more than six seconds before Patricia O’Neil reported from her station.
‘’The distress signal from the SHUNDAR is still ahead of us, Tina.’’
‘’Then, let’s effect a second short jump. Dana, do it when ready.’’
‘’Second jump…now!’’
It took them three more such jumps before Patricia announced that the distress beacon signal was now coming from behind the KOSTROMA. However, instead of effecting another jump to get closer to the Koorivar ship, Tina ordered Frida to continue on their present course while keeping their engines at maximum power. Seeing Gerald Holmes throwing her a questioning look, Tina smiled to him, despite being crushed in her seat by the felt acceleration.
‘’If we are to intercept the SHUNDAR in deep space, we will have to go at the same speed as it does, so that we could board it. However, it is still going at 0.07 C4 and won’t slow down, which means that we ourselves have to accelerate to 0.07 C if we are to have any chance of intercepting the SHUNDAR. We will thus continue accelerating and will let the SHUNDAR catch up with us, instead of us running after it.’’
‘’And when we will be side-by-side with the SHUNDAR, what then?’’
Tina shrugged her shoulders at that question.
‘’That depends on what we will find at that time, Gerald.’’
15:39 (Universal Time)
Wednesday, September 8, 2320
Command bridge of the KOSTROMA
Speeding across deep space at 0.07 C
‘’We have the SHUNDAR on lidar, at 41 kilometers behind us and approaching at a slow rate.’’
‘’At last!’’ sighed Tina. Their target was finally in sight after forty days of rushing madly across space,. Tina had decided after a few hours spent at maximum power to throttle down her engines a bit, so that her compensation fields could soak up fully the acceleration, allowing her crew to safely go back to a more normal routine and effect their maintenance work. Still, the speed run they had just done was probably going to be written into the annals of Human space exploration.
‘’Call Captain Shanandar, Chief-Engineer Shoumak, Engineer Kovar and Doctor Kazmiriel to the bridge conference room, along with Alan Ashford and Yasmina Jumonji. Spirit, can you attempt to contact Sheona, the central computer of the SHUNDAR?’’
‘’I am sorry, Tina, but I have already tried, without results.’’
‘’Well, it was worth trying, I suppose. Do you know if it would be feasible for you to take some measure of remote control of the SHUNDAR by using the coded signals provided to us by the Koorivars?’’
‘’I will see what works, Tina. However, everything tells us that the SHUNDAR has suffered some major malfunctions. Its security protocols may be down as well. I will keep you posted on my progress, if any.’’
‘’Thank you, Spirit.’’
Tina closed her eyes for a moment, both physically and mentally exhausted. The constant high Gs, along with the crushing weight of responsibilities which her position entailed, had been hard on her during the last few weeks. She however had consciously done her maximum to give enough motherly time to her little son Misha, leaving command of her ship in rotation to either Renée d’Argenteuil, Dana Durning or Frida Skarsgard. In that, she had been helped greatly by her husband Michel, who had taken as much care of Misha as his own position as a ship’s security officer allowed him. Still, Tina had to leave her son in the care of the crew’s daycare center from time to time, when she and Michel had no choice but being on duty at the same time.
‘’God, I will need a good family vacation after this.’’ she said to herself while rubbing her eyes. Getting out of her command chair, she stretched herself up a bit before walking down the steps of the bridge’s series of concentric platforms: the long hours had cut into her regular physical training program and she was getting a bit out of shape. She was the first by a few minutes to enter the bridge complex’ conference room and took that time to think about her options for the interception of the SHUNDAR. However, she needed the ideas and opinions of other people who knew the Koorivar ship much better than her before she could take some informed decisions.
Shanandar was the first to join her in the small conference room, looking quite concerned. Tina could easily understand why: after all, the lives of over 22,000 Koorivars were in the balance right now. Greeting him, Tina waited until everyone called had arrived before starting the discussion, first looking at Shanandar, Shoumak and Kovar.
‘’We are now ready to close in on the SHUNDAR and board it. Before we decide how to do that, I need your knowledge about that ship. First off, how many external access points or doors are there on the SHUNDAR and where?’’
Shanandar, who had already done some thinking of his own, used a data chip to enter into the computer linked to each station of the conference table a detailed schematic of the SHUNDAR, while answering Tina.
‘’The SHUNDAR has a total of two shuttle hangar doors, two ground access points situated inside the landing legs, three docking points and two secondary access points with airlocks on its hull. Of the docking points, two are opposite each other on the hull, while the third, smaller one, is on top of the hull and is meant for head-to-head docking. All of those access points have emergency external command panels to open them manually if needed, like what you did on Eris when you entered my VEON SHOURIA.’’
The mention of the top hull docking point immediately captured the attention of Tina.
‘’That top hull docking point, would it be compatible with a standard Human ship’s docking port?’’
‘’Uh, normally no. However, I know that the KOSTROMA’s docking ports are more adaptable than your standard docking ports. Why are you interested specifically in the top hull docking point?’’
‘’Because we could use it to access the interior of the SHUNDAR directly via our stern docking station, which is about the most adaptable one on the ship, and this after grabbing and securing the SHUNDAR with our stern towing clamps. This would avoid the need to send people in spacesuits outside to open manually one of the side access points.’’
‘’I see! I actually like that: it would greatly facilitate the transfer of people or equipment between the two ships.’’
‘’Exactly! My next question is about the power distribution system aboard the SHUNDAR. Would there be a power terminal available in or near the top docking point, in case we would need to feed electrical power into the ship?’’
‘’There is such a terminal connector plate inside the airlock serving the top docking point, Tina.’’ answered Shoumak, the ex-chief-engineer of the VEON SHOURIA. ‘’We would need to use a special adaptor with current modulator to marry that connector plate with the standard power cables of the KOSTROMA. I would have to check to see if we have such an adaptor aboard. If not, I could build one in a few hours.’’
‘’Do that as soon as we are finished here, Shoumak.’’ said Tina while pointing one index at the Koorivar engineer. ‘’I want us to be able to plug in a power cable as soon as we will gain access to that top docking point. With the apparent failure of multiple systems on the SHUNDAR, we can’t assume that it still has power around the ship. Doctor Kazmiriel, what would happen to the cryogenic sleep pods of the SHUNDAR if the ship’s main power would go off?’’
‘’Well, since these pods contain people, our most precious commodity, Koorivar cryogenic pods were equipped with multiple built-in backup systems, including power systems. Normally, main ship power feeds an individual battery inside each pod. If that main ship power is interrupted, then an isotopic generator integrated in that pod will start providing backup power in order to maintain the minimum vital functions of the pod. However, the amount of power provided by these isotopic generators is quite low: such generators are designed for longevity rather than power volume. If unusual conditions are at play, like a rise of the internal temperature inside the compartments containing the cryogenic pods, then the power provided by the isotopic generators may not be enough to counter those unusual conditions. That is why the compartments containing cryogenic pods were kept at a freezing temperature. My main concern about our cryogenic pods is however about the reliability of their electronic control circuits after so many years. The SHUNDAR, like the VEON SHOURIA and the SHANIZAR, left Shouria some 361 of your years ago. Our own experience on the SHOURIA demonstrated that our electronic systems do in fact possess a major weakness in that aspect.’’
‘’And…if the electronics of your cryogenic pods deteriorate and fail due to age, what happens next?’’ asked Tina, already afraid of knowing the answer in advance. The grim expression on Kazmiriel confirmed her fears.
‘’Then, the pod’s life support functions of that pod will fail, and the pod’s occupant will die if not revived within hours of that systems failure.’’
The participants assembled around the conference table were silent for a moment as they reflected on such a grim prospect. Tina finally broke that silence with a string of orders.
‘’Very well! Here is what we are going to do next. First, the KOSTROMA will capture the SHUNDAR and secure it to our stern docking station, where it will be held by our stern towing clamps. Then, using our stern docking station port, we will get to the top docking port hatch of the SHUNDAR and will open it, gaining access inside. If the main power proves to be off, we will then plug in a power cable from the KOSTROMA and power back up the ship. Once that is done, our top priority will be to check the cryogenic sleep pods of the SHUNDAR. Shoumak, on top of building a special power adaptor unit, could you build quickly a series of small, portable control boxes that could be plugged to individual pods which are on the verge of failure or showing irregularities?’’
‘’Kovar and Spirit can help me do that, Tina.’’
‘’Good! Alan, Yasmina, you stand by to fly out with flying maintenance pods if something goes wrong with the stern docking operation and if we need to use instead a side hull access point of the SHUNDAR. Well, let’s get to work! There is a lot to do and our available time to do it may already be counting down.’’
18:24 (Universal Time)
Stern docking station of the KOSTROMA
Shanandar and Shoumak, wearing their spacesuits, were in the forefront of the group of engineers, techninians and Koorivar medics waiting anxiously in the airlock of the stern docking station. They were all watching a technician who was using a power tool to turn the manual opening mechanism of the SHUNDAR’s top hull docking access hatch. Up to now, there had been no reaction or indication that anyone aboard the SHUNDAR was aware that their ship had been captured by the KOSTROMA and was now being firmly held in the cargo ship’s stern towing clamps. The SHUNDAR also appeared to be without main power, as the indicators inside the external emergency opening panel were dead. The moment that the external hatch of the SHUNDAR’s docking airlock was open wide enough to let him pass, Shanandar hurried inside with Shoumak and Kovar. They had to use the frontal lamps of their spacesuits, as the inside of the large airlock proved to be unlit. There was also no artificial gravity, forcing them to use the magnetic soles of their boots to walk along one of the walls of the airlock. Checking the instruments pad fixed to the left forearm of his spacesuit, Shanandar swore quietly to himself.
‘’The ambient temperature inside the airlock is only minus 46 degrees Celsius. I don’t like this!’
‘’Indeed!’’ said Shoumak. ‘’This tells us that the ship has been without main power for quite a while already. I hope to the stars that the emergency isotopic generator cells of the cryogenic sleep pods took over after the main power went out.’’
‘’I hope so too. If not…’’
Shanandar did not finish his sentence, it implying something too horrific for him to say out loud. Approaching the inner hatch of the airlock, he saw that it was also without power, so started to turn its emergency manual mechanism. At first, it wouldn’t budge, but a helping hand from Shoumak finally made the hatch start to open.
‘’The humidity in the ship’s atmosphere must have frozen, gluing the hatch in its closed position.’’ volunteered Kovar, making Shoumak and Shanandar nod their heads.
‘’I think that you’re right, Kovar.’’ replied Shoumak. ‘’Get our technicians to plug in at once the power cable from the KOSTROMA in that power panel. We need some power inside this ship.’’
‘’I’m on it!’’
After a minute of hard efforts turning the crank of the inner hatch, Shanandar and Shoumak were finally able to enter the ship proper. Just as they were stepping inside a large locker room full of spacesuit lockers and tool bins, some of the overhead lights lit up, while a ventilator fan started turning somewhere. It however did so with an annoying screeching noise and went on for only a couple of seconds before stopping.
‘’Damn! The ship is in an even worse shape than I thought.’’ said a disappointed Shoumak. ‘’The artificial gravity also failed to kick in, even though the juice pumped in from the KOSTROMA should have been enough to power all the essential life support systems of the SHUNDAR. This ship is truly a derelict one right now.’’
‘’Then we will concentrate on checking the cryogenic sleep pods as our top priority. Me, Kazmiriel and Kovar will go to the bridge deck to check the cryo pods of the standby crew. Shoumak, you go with the rest of our technicians and medical personnel to check the cryogenic sleep vaults on the lower decks. Spirit, any luck yet in making contact with Sheona?’’
‘’I have started accessing the data network of the SHUNDAR, now that there is some power in it.’’ replied the KOSTROMA’s central AI computer. ‘’I have just sent a wakeup signal to Sheona and its circuits have started to boot in. However, I can’t accelerate that process without risking to cause irreparable damage to Sheona’s AI programs. Sheona should be fully online in 68 seconds. I will advise you when Sheona will start speaking with me.’’
‘’Thanks, Spirit.’’ said Shanandar in his helmet microphone before looking at Kazmiriel and Kovar. ‘’Let’s go to the cryogenic sleep compartment adjacent to the bridge.’’
The three Koorivars were about to open the airtight hatch giving access to the bridge complex and the crew facilities, two levels under the top docking airlock, when Spirit came back on the radio.
‘’Shanandar, this is Spirit: I have some news for you.’’
‘’Go ahead, Spirit.’’
‘’First, Sheona is now awake and communicating with me. However, she reports that many of her diagnostic and control circuits boxes around the ship are not responding to her requests for data. Most of the cryogenic sleep pods are still sending signals, but others are not responding. Those who are responding all show to be on backup isotopic generator power.’’
Shanandar’s heart sank at the possible implications of that piece of information: there was now a strong possibility that some of the precious cryogenic sleep pods may have malfunctioned, killing their sleeping occupants.
‘’Thanks, Spirit! I am now going to enter the bridge complex, to check on the standby crew cryogenic pods.’’
Hoping fervently that he was going to find those thirty cryogenic sleep pods still functioning, Shanandar opened the access hatch of the bridge complex and stepped inside a small vestibule. He was actually in familiar territory, as the SHUNDAR, like the SHANIZAR, was a sister ship to his own VEON SHOURIA. He thus did not hesitate and entered at once the medical section, where the cryogenic pods of the standby crew were located. Crossing the main infirmary room, then its adjacent analysis laboratory, he arrived at the sliding transparent door of the cryogenic sleep compartment. A quick look through the plastic pane showed him a still scene inside, with a few small indicator lights showing on the control pads of the thirty pods inside.
‘’Why aren’t the reanimation robots up and active? With the power pumped from the KOSTROMA, the robots should have come to life and started to reanimate the standby crewmembers.’’
‘’I’m going to go check the bridge complex’ circuit breaker board.’’ said Kovar.
‘’Good idea! Kazmiriel, we will now go examine the status of each of these cryogenic pods.’’
Shanandar however had to slide the door open manually before he could enter the compartment, as its mechanism was dead, like about everything else in the ship. He then hurried to the first of one of the two parallel rows of fifteen cryogenic sleep pods and anxiously looked at its control pad. While it showed the pod to be on emergency power, it also showed that the vital signs of the occupant of the pod were still within the acceptable limits for a person in deep sleep. Tears came to Shanandar’s eyes as he looked through the frosted transparent pane of the pod at the serene face of its occupant.
‘’Kurkan, my dear old friend. We will soon have you and your crew up and out of danger.’’
Kazmiriel, on his part, went at first from pod to pod, checking quickly the vital signs of their occupants. All of them proved to be alive and asleep…except one. His heart sinking at the sight of the dead control pad of the pod he had stopped in front of, he saw that not even the blinking red light that would have indicated that the pod was on emergency power appeared on the pad. Quickly connecting one of the recently built external control boxes to the control pad, he powered it and waited anxiously for data from the pod to show up. He however had to sit down on the deck, crying, when his control box showed only flat lines. Seeing that, Shanandar hurried to Kazmiriel.
‘’What is it, Kazmiriel?’’
‘’That…that crewmember is dead. All the vital signs show flat lines.’’
With a big lump forming at once in his throat, Shanandar looked at the plate on the control pad of the pod that gave the name and occupation of the pod’s occupant. Tears came back again to his eyes when he saw that he had known well the now dead Koorivar.
‘’Shanit…my poor Shanit! To finish like this here, when you were about to discover a new home for our race.’’
His grief and that of Kazmiriel were suddenly interrupted by the noise of the compartment’s ventilation starting up, while the controls around them came alive. Medical robots started to appear two minutes later, as Kovar came in, a triumphant smile on his face.
‘’We have power on the bridge complex’ main circuits! I found all the circuit breakers off but only had to reset them manually.’’
‘’Which would have been impossible without either a crewmember or maintenance robot available to do that simple act. Decidedly, our backup systems left quite a bit to be desired.’’ replied Shanandar. ‘’We found 29 of the thirty members of the standby crew still alive and sleeping in their pods. Shanit didn’t make it.’’
‘’Shanit?! By the stars! I studied engineering with him.’’ said sadly Kovar. ‘’I suppose that his pod failed?’’
‘’Correct! His pod’s control circuitry apparently stopped functioning completely, preventing its local isotopic generator from taking over when the main power went out.’’
Kovar took a moment to digest that. His eyes suddenly bulged in apparent horror, prompting a worried question from Shanandar.
‘’What? What are you thinking about, Kovar?’’
‘’The SHANIZAR! It has now been travelling for the same amount of time than the SHUNDAR. It could well have suffered the same kind of breakdowns that we are now finding aboard the SHUNDAR. In that case, they could all be in the process of dying right now! We must get to it as quickly as possible.