Chapter no 25

Winter World

WEโ€™REย a month into our journey to the Alpha artifact. It has been the most incredible month of my life.

I felt a sense of wonder and awe the first time my capsule docked with the ISS and I floated out into it. This ship is something else altogether. It is a marvel, a wonder eclipsed only by the crew, whom I find even more incredible. Each one has his or her specialty, a job to do, and they have poured themselves into those jobs like lasers carving up the mountain of work upon us.

Grigory, the Russian engineer, obsesses about engine efficiency, constantly muttering to himself as he floats around the ship.

Charlotte, an Australian linguist and archaeologist, has spent every waking hour writing out her first contact protocol, only stopping to check with James and Harry to see if the drone can do this or thatโ€”and sometimes with Lina to see if her ideas can be programmed.

Min, the Chinese navigator, has busied himself plotting alternative courses both to Alpha and back home, based on every scenario he can think of.

The shipโ€™s physician and psychologist, Izumi, a Japanese woman about ten years older than I am, floats in and out of the pods, constantly checking on us, like a mother hen prowling a nest.

Iโ€™ve spent my time with James and Harry, and I admit Iโ€™ve enjoyed it. They have a quirky dynamicโ€”a mix of competition and camaraderie. They work mostly independently, designing the drones and then showing each other what theyโ€™ve come up with. Itโ€™s a sort of game between them to see who can one-up the other with new functionality or efficiency. They debate

the merits of every idea, but theyโ€™re not combative. For two competing scientists, thereโ€™s no ego. Theyโ€™re supportive and even jovial with each other.

And thereโ€™s something else, tooโ€”a certain protectiveness Harry has for James. Harry is maybe fifteen years older, but I sense that thereโ€™s something more. Maybe itโ€™s related to what happened to James in the pastโ€”the trouble he got into. The trouble heโ€™s refused to tell me about every time Iโ€™ve subtly brought it up. I donโ€™t dare ask Harry, though I badly want to know. I wonder why that is. Iโ€™ve told myself Iโ€™m being thorough, because itโ€™s important to know all you can about your crew. But I know thatโ€™s not it.

For the most part, I spend my time in the robotics lab soldering and welding. Iโ€™ve got the most dexterity in space of all the crew, except perhaps Min, and heโ€™s got his hands full. I like the work. I like being useful and being part of a crew. It keeps me from thinking about the crew I lost. Thereโ€™s a deep well of hurt there. My mind runs across it every now and then, and a surge of pain hits me. That place in my mind is sort of like the sprained ankle and bruised rib and sore spots all over me: I forget until the pain reminds me. Those wounds will take time to healโ€”how long, I canโ€™t even guess. But with each passing day, as we voyage away from Earth, the hurt dulls, and I come alive a little more.

At the outset, I asked if we had enough food and water for everyone on board. The mission was slated for six. With Harry and me added to the crew, the food requirements are up thirty-three percentโ€”and we lost two capsules, or seven percent of our supplies. James assured me we are well stocked. I hope itโ€™s true.

Every now and then Lina comes into the lab to discuss the software for the drones. Sheโ€™s working on one operating system with drivers for all the different potential hardware designsโ€”which are all over the map: everything from a simple camera drone to a drone with arms to a drone that can assemble like the ship and bore a hole in the artifact. Itโ€™s pretty incredible. James has designed comm patches for the drones that can relay data back to theย Paxย without sending an electronic signal.

And now he and Harry have a big idea theyโ€™re pretty nervous about. Theyโ€™ve called an all-hands meeting to present it, because it will take every one of us to pull it off, and it wonโ€™t be easy. It will also risk a huge amount of our drone material. Itโ€™s a risk. But we have to take it.

We just have to convince the others.

You'll Also Like