"Okay, settle down there, this is just another routine tour, just get your kit stowed and get into your bunks." Alvon, the platoon commander was young and just getting used to being in command. This was just another mission like many before it. Everyone had been briefed about what to expect - mostly boring observation.
The shuttle would dock with the returning ship precisely when predicted; there would be the usual handover procedures and survey platoon No. 145 would take over from Survey Platoon No. 144. Alvon anxiously went through her checklist for the final time as the shuttle's airlock closed.
Most of the platoon slept as the shuttle made its way to the rendezvous point, the outermost limit of the survey ship's elliptical orbit. The shuttle crew awakened the platoon before the rendezvous point so that they could see the mighty craft which would be their home for next few years.
No trainer or simulator could prepare the surveyors for the spectacle of seeing a survey ship for the first time. It seemed to be a huge, rough-surfaced, ice-covered irregular lump - almost a planetoid in size. As the shuttle drew closer it became evident that the roughness of the surface was caused by thousands upon thousands of towers, each of which was surmounted by bowl-like object. Closer still, it could be seen that the outlines of the towers and the bowls were rounded and softened by accumulations of ice and dust.
The shuttle made its approach to the docking site slowly and cautiously. Then, in a small area which was free of the towers, it rotated and fired its landing jets. The shuttle hovered, moving a little this way and that as the jets melted the ice on the surface beneath. As the ice disappeared, a hatch was exposed which was large enough to take a dozen shuttles side by side. The shuttle, having freed the hatchway and warmed the area a little, withdrew to a safe distance as the enormous hatch opened, and dust and gas belched out in all directions. When the dust and gas had cleared, the shuttle resumed its cautious descent through the hatchway. Down in the bowels of the ship the shuttle stopped outside a door. Clamps locked onto the landing gear as the hatch cover closed. Noises began to become audible as the enclosure was filled with air. Immediately the inside of the hatch went white with frost as the air froze to its surface. A better temporary vacuum seal has yet to be devised. The shuttle went white too, temporarily blocking the view to the outside. The noises faded again as the air thinned.
The crew disembarked slowly and awkwardly. The light gravity and thick protective suits combined to hamper their movements. It was almost impossible to guess what they looked like without their suits, but the pancake and tubular coverings showed that they were of several different races. As they approached the side of the hangar there was a faint hiss and a cloud of vapour which obscured the view. A second hiss was followed by a clearance of the vapour, revealing a crewman waiting by the airlock.
Alvon barked out a command over the com link: "Merwishand! Maintain your hold on the guiderail. You must not collide with anyone. Do you want to die before the mission starts?"
Visibility was zero for the members of the platoon. Their protective suits were almost entirely covered with frozen air. They were only allowed to use their joint heating units for this trip because of the need to save suit power. The temperature was nearly as cold as it could get. I could see hydrogen pools forming and freezing on the floor - the heat escaping from boots of the suits caused the ice to melt momentarily as they moved towards the lock.
My view of the scene came from a heated camera outside the shuttle. I knew that somewhere near the lock a similar camera was also monitoring the movements of the survey platoon. If anything went wrong with a suit, there was no way that help could be given. Everything not heated is a brittle as a sheet of ice when hydrogen freezes. Suit panels could disintegrate into shards if two crew members collided with each other. Vacuum is almost total. Only the vapour pressure of helium is left in the landing bay. The inner pressure suits would freeze and crack open almost immediately.
The platoon stopped in line at the entrance to the lock. The temperature change at this first lock is significant; with hydrogen and oxygen as free gases, fractionating pumps are used to keep the hydrogen level low. The second lock is simpler; a nitrogen flushing system prevents explosions. The third lock is warm enough to maintain a pressurised oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. Here, the outer cryogenic suits are removed to be washed in liquid nitrogen. In the fourth lock, all common gases become vapours and the inner pressure suits can be removed. Finally, the fifth lock allows all clothing to be removed for a wash in temperate water. It would take the platoon over an hour to pass through all the locks.
The relieved crew would take nearly twice as long to pass through in the other direction. I had a long wait. Without thinking, I had already begun to assemble the debriefing reports on the screen. They were almost complete but it was my job to try to see if the relieved crew could contribute any more information. They had reported a very large change in activity on one of the planets. The ship had made a relatively close pass, making detailed observation possible. There had been a big increase in thermal energy usage in one hemisphere and some electrical activity had been detected. The reports I had in front of me made dramatic reading.
Thermal energy usage had risen to the level of a typical civilised planet and electrical power was in use to illuminate large areas of the planet on its dark side. Electromagnetic disturbances prevented accurate measurement of some finer details but the strangest comments related to a near collision with a tiny spacecraft.
I quote from the survey report:
As we were approaching the planet we found that a number of small space vehicles were in orbit. None of these had been detected by the previous crew. We checked to see if there were any other authorised surveys taking place but found that ours was the only one. As we came closer, it became apparent that these spacecraft were of local manufacture. Many of them were being used for the transmission of electromagnetic signals around the planet but there were a large number of defunct spacecraft as well.
Later, we detected a small craft which would intersect our orbit. Every member of the crew worked overtime to try to find out what this vehicle was, and why it seemed to be aimed to hit our ship. It was far too small to cause even the slightest damage, even if it was packed with thermonuclear explosive. As it came closer, it became apparent that it didn't even have a deflector shield. During the last few hours before the tiny craft intersected our orbit we discovered that it would make a close pass by our ship and continue on its way. It was obvious that the builders of the craft were unaware of the hazards of a close approach to a survey ship. All around us was the abrasive mixture of frozen gas and dust particles which we had collected while in orbit. Without a deflector shield, the little ship would soon be perforated like a sieve. A probe was despatched to take a closer look at the vehicle before it disintegrated.
The probe collided with the spacecraft but little damage was done to either vehicle. The data from the probe confirmed what many of the crew had already suspected - the minuscule spacecraft was on a suicide mission to try to get information about our ship.
Our probe had upset the orientation of the spacecraft, but it corrected itself again after a short time. The captain decided that it would be wise to conceal the nature of our ship by making it look even more like a comet.
We were soon able to receive the signals which controlled the little spacecraft and those which the spacecraft itself produced.
These signals have since been processed. I can report that the captain's action was totally successful.
The inhabitants of the planet call our survey ship 'Halley's Comet.'
Copyright (C) W. H. James 14/10/91 Revised 30/11/98 (1436 words) .
Wilf James,106 Jarden, Letchworth, Herts. SG6 2NZ, UK. E-mail wilf.james@net.ntl.com..
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