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The captain and the rest of her crew had entered their Torpor Pods three months into the journey to Proxima b, after which the ship accelerated rapidly to near light-speed, the pods’ inertia dampers protecting their occupants from the excessive G forces that resulted from such high-velocity travel. They’d spent most of the last five years or so in peaceful cryogenic sleep, safe in the knowledge that the sophont contingent aboard could and would deal with any problems that may arise on the 4.24 light-year journey.
Once the spacecraft had decelerated to a manageable speed, Holly and her crew woke up refreshed to find everything normal and as was to be expected. She had gone into hibernation with Proxima b a daunting four light-years distant, but now the spacecraft was almost at its destination.
However, Captain Holly Bryson wasn’t happy. She wasn’t susceptible to bad moods and she seldom allowed her crew to see any negative side to her temperament, believing that it was important that the working environment of the space cruiser the Stephen Hawking should be a positive one.
Yet, even she found it impossible to spin this latest setback as anything other than what it was – a calamity.
It was during routine systems checks that the problem with the three drones had come to light.
To a layman, the drones looked like miniature versions of the mother-ship itself. In fact, the mother-ship had actually borrowed its design from these smaller craft, the parent inheriting its looks from its offspring, rather than the other way around. Aerodynamics and drag factor weren’t an issue whilst travelling through space but the Stephen Hawking’s drones and shuttle-craft were designed with potential planet landings in mind, and a need to deal with atmospheric resistance. The mother-ship would remain in orbit around Proxima b awaiting the return of its children, while the drones would search for the abandoned android. Once Coppélia had been located, a shuttlecraft would be sent to retrieve her.
One drone having a failure could be an accident of circumstance, but not all three at the same time. This was too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence; this reeked of sabotage. Intensive, extensive, and time-consuming diagnostics had identified the cause of the problem as being catom-based; a very sophisticated and virulent computer virus had infected the core control system of the drones, rendering their catomic nano-computers senile and unable to function efficiently. Their navigation systems compromised, and their communications systems rendered useless, they could still fly but they would flit to and fro like giant uncontrollable drunken mosquitos.
Holly stood in front of her console, not wishing to believe what she saw, but unable to deny what the readings were telling her. She turned to her Chief Security Officer, Alessandro Ramos.
“Ramos, we need a thorough investigation of what happened whilst we were in stasis. I want you to initiate a complete analysis of ship’s functions – I want to know who did what, and when they did it. Collect data not only on the Sophont crew but also our human members. Just because we humans were supposed to be asleep in our Torpor Tubes it doesn’t mean that any of us are beyond suspicion. And in the interests of transparency, I want that investigation to include myself.”
The Spaniard nodded and walked across the ship’s bridge to an open area where, seconds later, his security console rose up out of the empty floor-space.
Holly went to sit down on a seat that wasn’t there and the floor immediately offered her a captain’s chair. Her First Officer sat alongside her as the floor gave up similar seating for him. Holly sighed, a sigh that betrayed the sudden weight that she felt on her shoulders. For decades, her grandmother had fought in vain to send a mission to rescue the android Coppélia from her distant prison but her efforts had been thwarted at every turn, if not by commercial politics then by a lack of appropriate technology. However, technological advances and an unexpected mystery benefactor had made this latest project possible. Of course, she would have liked to have known the source of the sudden influx of money, but the desire to make her grandmother’s wish come true was overpowering.
Now it looked like the problem with the drones would derail the mission.
The Stephen Hawking was fast approaching Proxima b and was too close to its destination to turn around and go back home with its tail between its legs. Difficult as it may seem, Holly had to treat this situation like any other that she faced – as an opportunity. She spun slowly to her right and her chair’s catoms hurriedly rearranged themselves to reflect the direction that she was now facing.
“John, I’m not going to give up just because our drones are out of service. It makes rescue more difficult but not impossible.”
The First Officer, John Palin, had expected nothing less. He’d known his captain a long time and knew that she wouldn’t allow a little thing like drone failure to deflect her from the mission’s purpose. A live image of the planet appeared on a giant monitor that materialized on the wall in front of them as if by magic. Holly had come to a decision.
“A shuttle will have to perform the search as well as pick up Coppélia. Without the drones, the task will be more difficult – and risky – but, hopefully, we’ll locate her quickly. We have limited data on what to expect on the surface – we don’t even know if Coppélia’s still active – and anything could have happened in the last sixty years or so. But we have to try. We didn’t come all this way just to take a holiday snap and go home.”
John added a few words of caution.
“But, whoever takes the shuttle down to the surface will be taking a great personal risk.”
Holly nodded.
“Which is why I’ll command the shuttle. I can’t ask anybody to take a risk that I’m not prepared to take myself.”
John was about to ask her if she thought that wise but knew that it would be a pointless exercise.
“Then I volunteer to go with you. The shuttle needs a crew of three, minimum.”
“I appreciate the offer, John, but we both know that’s not practical. I need you here to look after the ship and crew in my absence.”
The First Officer knew that his captain would never allow him to join her on the shuttle, but his offer had been sincere; it wasn’t an empty gesture. And Holly would have loved to have him by her side on this mission too, but she had to think of more than just herself. If anything were to happen to her she needed to know that her crew were in good hands. She had another demand to make of him too.
“If, for some reason, we lose contact with the Stephen Hawking, then you can send the second shuttle to try and locate us. I’m not going to tell you not to because I know that that’s an order which you would surely ignore – and I do appreciate that – but, if you can’t find us within six hours, I want you to leave orbit and return to Earth.”
As much as he wanted to protest, John Palin promised that he would follow her orders. Holly was right; there were more lives at stake than his captain’s.