‘That one looks about right. Check the mass,’ said Mary as Anna brought Spirit into the asteroid belt which surrounded Gelid, or Arctur as the Heradians called it. Off our port bow, a rock, about one metre in diameter rotated slowly as it followed its million-year-long orbit of the Trappist-1 world.
‘Four hundred and sixty-two kilos,’ said Bill, using the gravitational attraction to provide the basis for calculating the mass.
I double-checked Bill’s calculations and confirmed the mass.
‘Allowing for Chi’s mass and the mass of the probe, that is about ten kilos too much,’ said Anna. ‘Do we chip some off it?’
‘No,’ said Mary. ‘That’s fine. Well within the tolerances we’re trying to match. How do we get it on board?’
‘Open the empty probe compartment and allow it to drift in,’ I said. ‘We can then do an EVA to secure it. We don’t want it moving about in there.’
‘I’ll do the EVA,’ said Bill.
‘Take Tosh with you,’ I said. ‘Safety protocol. Also, have a good look at the storage lockers to ensure there is no weed finding its way over the hull.’
‘Will do,’ said Bill.
The Spirit gradually eased its way closer to the rock. An external camera showed the hatch opening and Anna’s tiny pulses of the manoeuvring jets eased the ship, inch by inch closer to the boulder. A Canadarm, a device reminiscent of an inchworm, walked its way around the craft from a storage locker on the other side of Spirit. It secured itself to the hull and Tosh guided its jaws towards the rotating asteroid. A large silicon plate made contact and was pushed aside by the object. Another approach, a second rebuff; a third and we could see that the rotation was slowing. Within thirty minutes, Tosh had the boulder stationary and, with the finest of control jets, Anna captured it within the compartment.
‘Okay,’ said Bill. ‘Let’s get suited up.’
Within the hour, Bill and Tosh were approaching the probe storage locker. Inside, they used bungee cords and adjustable straps to wrap around the asteroid to prevent it from moving during changes of acceleration. Meanwhile, I remotely walked the Canadarm back to its locker.
Eventually, the spacewalkers returned to the Spirit.
‘No sign of any weed on the outer surfaces of Spirit or the second Rimor,’ said Tosh as he secured his helmet back onto the suit in its locker inside Spirit. ‘We’re good to go.’
‘Get everything secured,’ I said.
‘This first jump,’ said Mary, ‘will be the equivalent of our journey from Herade to planet D. Once complete, I’ll use conventional power to return us to Arctur to find a second asteroid to provide the missing mass of fuel used, the second Rimor and the missing fuel tank. Attaching that won’t be so simple.’
‘How long before you can match the Herade to D jump?’ I asked.
Anna said, ‘The distance from here to Herade will do it as they’ll be almost an identical distance to the original Herade to D jump. I’ll need you all strapped into your couches at fifteen hundred hours.’
We checked our watches and carried on with our normal duties.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
‘Three, two, one, go!’ said Anna.
The strange imprisoning stasis gripped us once more, but thankfully only for a few seconds. We were thrown forward and the spolding journey was at an end.
‘Clocks?’ I asked.
‘Rimor beacon spot on as is the beacon on the Heradian’s command module,’ said Mary. ‘Everything looks fine.’
‘The asteroid moved,’ said Tosh and I looked over his shoulder at his monitor which showed the inside of the probe locker. The rock had moved forward about thirty centimetres and one of the bungee cords had come loose.
‘Okay,’ said Tosh. ‘We can leave it for now and secure it again when we’ve worked out what we’re doing with the bigger asteroid we’ll need to match the Rimor and missing tank. No point in a second EVA right now.’
‘What about any manoeuvring Anna has to do getting us back to Arctur,’ said Bill. ‘We don’t want it to move about in that locker. It could puncture the hull.’
‘Best secure it,’ I said and the palaver of a second EVA began.
Once several more straps had been applied and Tosh and Bill were safely back inside, Anna began the acceleration to take us back to Arctur.
‘Sorry, guys. We’re looking at six days for the journey,’ said Anna.
Tosh said, ‘Mary and I can get back on to Stroya and tell her that our first manoeuvre has been successfully conducted. It will help them realise that we weren’t just fobbing them off with excuses.’
‘Any sign of a suitable asteroid?’ I asked.
‘Too far off,’ said Mary. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll find one. It’s attaching it which will give us the problems.’
‘I’ve been doing some calculations on that,’ I said. ‘It shouldn’t be too problematical. I have a plan.’
‘Famous last words?’ said Bill.