Chapter Eighteen

 

Cramer recovered by the time they docked with Ganzer’s ship. Plenty of video footage and records from the submerged city would be transmitted to Keldahl soon. Lila translated all the writings recovered from Titan. The history of the aliens revealed when the last ship left Titan to make its long, slow journey back to Sirius. Then something happened that astounded them all. On Mars at Ganzer’s laboratory, he received a message from Keldahl over his huge dish antenna.

Keldahl’s message came sooner than expected for the eight and six tenths light year distance. That communication explained the short time frame for reception of his message.

“We’ve discovered several points in the orbit of our planet where there is a gravitational balance between our suns and the planet. Not only are there rocky bodies locked in that part of the orbit, but a unique property of space is created there. It allows radio transmissions to permeate space and time to any other solar system that has such a balance. Our scientists have figured this out. Please respond by directing your message to the same place as you received it.”

“Keldahl, this is Joe Cramer. This is incredible. We are on Mars, fourth planet in our solar system. Your signal is coming from the balance point in Mars’s orbit. We call it Lagrangian point, after a mathematician from our past.”

The time delay of the message exchange only involved the distance from Keldahl’s planet to his Lagrangian point, then from the point in Mars’s orbit to Mars itself. That amounted to about thirty minutes.

“Our point is changing because of the complex orbit of our planet, but we can track it. We’re glad you made it home. How is Mr. Witherspoon?” Keldahl asked.

“He’s fine. We have something to tell you. We discovered the city your people built on one of our planet’s moons, Titan. We’ve explored it and have the contents of their library. It tells of their lost ship which left for Sirius two hundred years ago. Knowing what power source they had and the slow speed of their craft, they’ll never reach you alive. We can only calculate a rough estimate, but they’re not even halfway yet.”

“We no longer have space travel capabilities. Is there anything you can do for them? It would be wonderful for us to have our ancient ancestors alive and well.”

Cramer considered saying no, but Ganzer, as if reading his mind, told him they would give that some thought and answer in twenty-four hours. Cramer conveyed that to Keldahl, hoping not to give his alien friend false hopes.

“I believe our government officials would be in favor of a project to help the only people we know of outside our solar system,” Ganzer said.

“But how can we help them?” Cramer asked. “They’re probably two or three light years away by now and will soon run out of power.”

“First we get the government’s okay to proceed toward helping them. They’ll have to provide us with funds.”

Ganzer met with the high officials in the solar system’s governing body. If Witherspoon hadn’t been so well respected, he might have gotten in trouble for the secrecy with the people of Sirius. Unlike the government of old on Earth, where a long drawn out process required such a thing, the solar system’s government acted much quicker. Approval came because of visionary leaders in responsible places. Keldahl received the news, and Ganzer began a plan to find the departing aliens and help them. Cramer, in the meantime, prepared to leave for Earth and seek out that Ohio lake Cindy talked about.

Before finalizing his plans to leave, Ganzer spoke to him. “You’re not leaving are you?”

“Of course,” Cramer answered. “Oh, I’m really glad there will be an attempt to help these people. We owe them that much. Well, I’m sure looking forward to a lot of rest. I’m way overdue.”

“I’d like you to read this first,” he said, handing him an official document he had received over the fax.

Cramer took it and read it. Surely they’re not serious.

Doctor Ganzer:

Approval is hereby granted for you to use whatever facilities and materials needed to carry out a rescue mission to make sure the aliens arrive at Sirius. This approval hinges on one condition. Mr. Joseph Cramer and Ms. Ramona Watson must be employed to carry out this mission, otherwise we cannot give approval.

The official signature appeared below the message.

“I think we need to clue this official in on my age and precarious track record,” Cramer said.

“You know these people don’t change their minds. It’s a sign of weakness, a sure fire way to cut their political career short. Besides, they don’t get to their high position by making decisions without a lot of forethought, research, and basis. You must know too that Keldahl wants you and Mona to spearhead the rescue,” Ganzer said.

“Has Mona seen this?”

“Yes, and she won’t go unless you do.”

“Really?” Cramer, pleased with her response, still harbored great misgivings about going.

“I seem to be under constant pressure in these things. I keep asking myself, ‘Why me?’”

“The answer is obvious to everyone but you. It will take several months to get ready and to plot the path the ship probably took. Locating it won’t be easy,” Ganzer said.

“I guess I don’t have a choice, but there’s one thing I will not do, so when I return I’ll probably be a very old man. I will not under any circumstances go into a cryo tank again. I don’t care if the whole mission is scrubbed. I won’t do it, never.”

“Now, Joe, never say never.” Mona entered behind him.

“What do you think of this mission?” he asked.

“I believe this will be easy with all of Dr. Ganzer’s improved technology.”

“Every mission you and I have been on has been anything but easy. With all respects to Dr. Ganzer, why would this one be any different?”

“There will be five persons on this mission, Joe,” Ganzer said.

“The more, the merrier. I hope two of the remaining three are Lila and Floyd.”

“Yes, and the fifth member of the crew is Cindy,” Ganzer said.

“Cindy? No. It’s too dangerous.”

“I’ve talked to her,” Ganzer said. “She is willing, and she is needed. The reason for five members on the crew is we’ll have at least one back up for any one other person on the crew.”

“What can Cindy do?” Cramer asked.

“She’s totally familiar with my force field and can back up Lila. Mona, Floyd, and you are all excellent pilots. Mona and Lila both can do MindX. Lila knows their language. When it comes to upgrading their ship it will require all of you.”

“Upgrade their ship? I thought the only thing we needed was a new power source and to check out the systems on their ship,” Cramer said.

“More to it than that.”

Over the next several months, while construction took place on the new ship and other necessary items, the five member crew ate, drank, and slept the mission and its details. Ganzer explained they install his force field and new star drive engines. The electronics would be refurbished to accommodate the new additions and their sleep chambers improved. Details discussion, explanations, memorization, and learning yet another batch of new things Ganzer came up with consumed their every waking moment. New things included a long range sensor to be used to find the alien’s ship and receiving equipment in case the alien broadcast a distress call or locator beacon.

Cramer crammed as much into his brain as possible. He knew electronics and studied the alien’s wiring schematics, as well as the general design used in their equipment. Lila needed a backup on the alien language, so he got the nod. She assisted him. Besides English, he knew German and used his study technique for German to learn the alien language.

Time drew near for their departure. Mona headed up the crew with him second in command. He didn’t mind that like he did on Europa, since he could no longer deny his strong affection for her. With the recent mission to Titan, and now this mission, he guessed her promise to talk to him about her feelings fell through the crack—as the ancient saying went. He tried not to dwell on that. Somehow, he’d been able to concentrate on these missions despite being drawn to her, and this would be no different. As he reflected on that self-confidence angle he remembered an admonition of an old college classmate to him many years ago. He’d said, “Smugness does not become you, Joe.”

He smiled as he remembered that and the circumstances surrounding an upcoming examination he’d felt sure he would ace. Cramer flunked the exam, thus verifying his friend’s accurate assessment.

Ganzer’s new ship, dubbed Compassion, would take off from the ground. A silver bullet pointing to the sky, several antennas and sensors resided up and down the hull. A crew loaded the new compact and efficient drive engines into the ship’s bay. Knowledge of the alien ship allowed them to predict the amount of hydrogen needed to take along to supplement the hydrogen projected to be remaining on the alien ship. The shipyard buzzed with activity outside Ganzer’s lab. Space suited figures drove rovers with supplies to the ship, men went in and out of the vessel, and crews made last minute checks on the drive engines which protruded from under the ship in cone shaped appendages. The tested repulsion drive with its coils nestled about the outside of the star drive cones. The crew ran the Ganzer Field through a few trial activations.

Two days before departure, they calculated the time frame for journeying to the alien’s ship. Compassion, traveling at its eighty percent light speed, would take about a year ship’s time, three years Earth time. Three to six months would be required to bring the alien’s ship up to modern flight standards. After leaving the area, time lag on communications would again be a problem despite the breakthrough Keldahl made. There would be no Lagranian points in deep space. The crew rested the day before leaving, trying to relax physically and mentally.

“Do you have a problem with me being in charge again?” Mona asked, stopping at Cramer’s open room door.

“I did on Europa, but I’m over that.”

“It’s a trip where we’ll all have to depend on one another,” she continued.

“Yes, and I’m very comfortable with who is going. I have everyone along who means something to me. I’m glad you’re along again. I’ve learned to keep my feelings for you in check, not allowing that to interfere with my end of the chores.”

“You’ve done so well in that department; I’m thinking you’re over your schoolboy crush on me.” She allowed a slight smile.

“You know it’s more than a schoolboy crush. I have more to say but prefer to hold those opinions until after this is over.” He never failed to be taken by her beauty, even dressed in flight coveralls.

“I promised you, I would cover that subject too,” she said. “I’m sure you remember and figure I was putting off any discussion.”

“You know me pretty well, much better than I know you after all this time.”

“Since we mutually agreed to hold this subject until later, how about a relaxing game of chess? You do play, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes.” Cramer got out his prize Staunton Style chess set, the black pieces made from rosewood, the white pieces, sandalwood.

“A beautiful set,” she said as he set up the board and pieces. He smelled the dark rose-colored knight, then placed it on its starting square.

“How about if I win, you won’t give me any static about going into the sleep chamber,” Mona said as she sat down opposite the board, staring at him.

“This is supposed to be a relaxing game, but okay, I’ll take that challenge.”

As the game proceeded, he realized he’d been set up. He recalled a friend in the past who feigned ignorance on the game then solidly crushed him in their first game. Cramer improved down through the years and even won a few chess tournaments, attaining a rating just short of grandmaster status. Mona played a level above his ability. He tried as best he could, but she soundly thumped him in the end game.

“Good game, Joe.” She offered him her hand.

He took it, gently squeezing it, noting her warm, soft touch. “I perceived you could have beaten me in the middle game, rather than waiting until later.”

“Perhaps I took unfair advantage of you. I hold a grandmaster rating,” she said.

“When I was active my rating was just short of that. Nothing unfair about it. For all you knew I might have had that rating myself,” he answered.

“I could tell you were experienced. I won’t hold you to that business about the sleep chamber. I heard about the malfunction that nearly wrecked your body before Dr. Ganzer and Stark rescued you.”

“A deal is a deal, Mona. Don’t cut me any slack.”

“Okay, no slack. Meet me in the snack room in one hour—just before turning in?” She got up from the board then headed for the door.

“Sure. I could use an orange juice before bed.”

Cindy met Mona at the door, nodded a greeting, and entered. She looked out the door to watch Mona leave.

“Dad, when are you going to tell Mona you’re in love with her?”

“Whoa, wait a minute, Cindy.”

“You know you are, whether you want to admit it or not.” Cindy smiled, sat down across from Cramer, then picked up the black queen, the very piece with which Mona checkmated him.

“Sweetheart, we’re about to leave on a long and dangerous mission. We can’t afford to be distracted by feelings—or lack of feelings—like that.”

“You know she cares about you,” Cindy said.

“Well, I hope she has a confidence in my space faring abilities, otherwise I should be replaced.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Please, let’s not talk anymore about it. Her beauty drives me to distraction the way it is. We need to concentrate on helping the people of Sirius. How about meeting me and Mona in an hour for a snack? And bring Floyd along.”

“Okay.”

He met Floyd, Mona, and Cindy in the snack area. Lila declined his invitation. He was saddened at her lack of emotions, a contrast to before the accident aboard Quest. He doubted she would change during the next trip.

As he drank his orange juice, Cindy and Mona conversed about the latest fashion in women’s clothes. He talked of old times with Floyd and continued to be amazed at his continual sharpness. Cramer reflected with sadness his old friend could succumb to the ravages of old age at any time, plunging into feebleness or dementia or some other age related affliction. When that happened, a significant part of Cramer would die too. Floyd represented his only connection to the “good old days” that gave him a solid foothold to mining missions, something he dearly hoped to do again. It seemed the recent missions moved him out of his comfort zone. An old athletic friend said to him years back, “You can’t improve if you stay in your comfort zone all the time.”

Cramer would dearly welcome some mining venture that required a step beyond his comfort zone. He started going over some of the future mining ventures Branson envisioned. The scarred face of Triton, Neptune’s moon contained possible treasures embedded in one of the high cliff faces. Spectroscopic analysis showed precious metals on Hildago, far orbiting asteroid that swung all the way to Saturn. What lay beneath the snows of Pluto and its moon Charon? Cramer would love to tackle some of those visionary projects of Branson’s, but alas, here he was, off again with star travel and those Branson projects would probably fall to a younger man or woman.

His orange juice bottle was nearly empty.

Mona, the only one left, got up and came over to sit down next to him. “You seemed rather occupied.”

“I was thinking how much I want to get back to mining. Branson has a lot of ambitious projects I’d love to sink my teeth into. Every time I think I’m clear, something else comes up.”

“Maybe after this is over you can finally get back to that,” she said.

“You know what would make it perfect?”

“What’s that?”

“For you and Floyd to join me on those missions,” Cramer said, enjoying her closeness.

“I honestly think after this mission we’ll get to do that. Come on. We need to turn in. Tomorrow is a big day.” She got up and beckoned for him to leave too.

~ * ~

The Northern Mars Polar Cap fell away beneath them as Cramer watched it on the “straight down” monitor. The stacked poker chip ice fields slowly lost their definition as the repulsion drive lifted them away from the red planet. To the south of the polar cap, Olympus Mons peeked above a cloud cover. Soon the entire disk of Mars filled the screen. At that point, Lila started the sequence of activating the Ganzer Field and surveying its stability. Through her MindX link, she determined and reported to the rest of the crew that the field covered every inch of the ship. She then started the liquid sodium coolant flowing around the star drive engines.

It wouldn’t be long before the main engines would burst into life. This expected experience would be new to Cramer. Ganzer’s rescue ship with Stark at the helm had been capable of half-light speed, but their new ship, Compassion, could do eighty percent light speed. The fantastic Ganzer Field could create a temporary condition in the space-time continuum to allow an almost instantaneous acceleration to maximum speed without hurting crew, ship, or supplies.

“Maximum speed attained,” Mona said.

Cramer looked at his monitor of displayed ship values and saw a velocity of eighty percent light. The Ganzer Field hadn’t even allowed him to feel a lurch. As the ship appeared to be functioning at that speed within parameters, the field was turned off. It would be activated again as they approached the Oort Cloud to protect them from the comets residing there in their deep freeze.

“Ship’s time will be a year to get to the alien vessel. Joe, I’d like you and Floyd to go into cryo sleep. Are the two of you okay?” Mona asked.

“It’ll be a new experience for me, but I’m all for putting my aging to a standstill,” Floyd said. He stepped into his cryo tank.

“I lost the chess game. I’ll concede to your orders, Mona.”

“I could let you take the first watch.”

“No, that’s okay.” He entered his chamber. “Just keep an eye on this cussed thing, make sure it doesn’t mess with my body.” Cramer clenched his fist and tapped the lid.

“I’ll be sure of that. Cindy is going under too, and I’ll have her take over for me after three months, then you can relieve her.”

Fear. Cramer experienced it yet again even though Mona promised to keep an eye on his cryo tank. Usually, he mused on pleasant things while in cryo sleep. The happy thoughts always included his daughter, Mona, and the good old days of mining with Floyd. Since Cramer’s last frightful experience with deep sleep he couldn’t react any other way but with fear.

He tried hard to envision Mona telling him she loved him, but his own raw, gnawing fear overrode everything else. But, at long last he felt himself being brought out from under. Yet, the fear still gripped him. The strong emotion told him something was very wrong. A persistent nagging spoke worlds to him, something hovering over his semi waking moments like a black cloud.

The dome’s frost turned to very small beads of water. No one looked down at him. It should have been Cindy activating his waking cycle. The dome popped open, and he sat up.

“Cindy?” Cramer called.

She stood frozen at the chamber’s controls, her fingers near the final control button to awaken him. Obviously, she had managed to push the button. He climbed out of the chamber, experiencing the effects of the six months’ inactivity. He slipped around Cindy and looked into her eyes. They conveyed no emotions. He went to Lila. Although in MindX link, she seemed different and rather beyond the detached state of MindX, truly frozen in time.

He checked the sensors on the ship. Compassion at eighty percent light speed ploughed through the Oort Cloud, the Ganzer Field doing an admirable job of deflecting the comets. The silence of deflected comets, none striking the ship, resembled the condition inside the ship. If the field failed at this speed in the comet cluster, he hated to think what the result would be. The huge star ship Quest took the hits in the Oort Cloud but at reduced speed on the way out and back. The field took huge amounts of energy despite the superconducting circuits and Ganzer built in a separate power source just for the field.

How far could Cramer trust his intuitions? Something told him the Ganzer Field caused the unusual conditions inside the ship. The field disrupted space and time in the continuum to do its job, but this malfunction, or perhaps some other unforeseen condition, probably occurred within the field. The enormous drain on the special power source by the Ganzer Field must be stopped, but he didn’t have the expertise.

He looked at Cindy again, then whispered in her ear like he did at the hospital. She gave no outward response then, and she didn’t now. He touched her arm and it warmed, but she did not respond. He went to Mona’s chamber and tried to start the waking cycle. The controls failed to work. Floyd’s chamber wouldn’t operate either.

Cramer tried to calm himself, wondering if the interior of the ship should continue in this state. Tampering with the complex electronics involved within the Ganzer Field could spell death for all of them if he screwed up and shut the field down. They would become fragments of steel, plastic, and human flesh frozen and scattered throughout the Oort Cloud, adding new comets of a different composition from the dirty snowballs already there.

Perhaps the answer lay in why he could walk around when no one else could. He tried to remember Ganzer’s explanation of how the field worked with its multitude of properties. The one property he struggled to understand might hold the answer. The field kept the crew from feeling the effects of acceleration. It could only do that by isolating the crew from the tremendous forces involved when the drive engines took them to maximum speed in an instant of time. In order for that to happen, the crew must be suspended, and removed from the effects of space and time but only for a matter of seconds. Creating that shell inside the ship for the benefit of the crew took tremendous power. Doctor Ganzer worked out the complex mathematical and physical phenomenon, but not without a cost. It would require brute force power and perfectly balanced electronics.

Cramer surmised that the shell still operated and surrounded all the crew, except for him. If he didn’t figure how to get them back to normal force field mode, the power source would fail and so would the Ganzer Field. If that happened in the middle of the Oort Cloud, the ship would be destroyed.

He didn’t have time to read a text on field dynamics or a manual on field coil repair and adjustments. Troubleshooting could take a long time, but touching test probes here and there disturbed sensitive circuits—such as in the Ganzer Field electronics—which could spell disaster.

The MindX link. Cramer came up seriously lacking in that ability. However, he shined on one aspect—the ability to absorb knowledge via the link, something vastly different from using MindX to control the systems on a ship. He preferred to learn by what he dubbed the “honest way,” by old fashion cramming, reading, and experience. He hated the sleep chamber and now, trying to gain knowledge through the MindX link presented another distasteful procedure.

He sat in the companion chair and donned the link cap. He wondered if the knowledge mode could be activated since the sleep chamber controls seemed to be frozen. He sighed in relief as the activation button worked.

A temporary shock stung him as impulses impinged on his mind. Wiring schematics floated in his consciousness. The link seemed to sense his urgency and fed the Ganzer Field intricacies into his brain at a speed just short of his capacity. Immediately, he recognized the most sensitive part of the circuits where an imbalance had occurred. The huge toroid coils located in the narrow space between the outer and inner hulls of the ship with their taps could be manually adjusted by moving a connecting wire from one position to another, this being done only once at installation. The taps needed to pierce the enamel-coated wire windings. Changing the taps was the key to correcting any problem with components in other parts of the circuit.

He removed the link cap and gathered the test equipment and took what he needed to change the tap positions. He would have to rig the coils so the circuit wouldn’t be disrupted while changing the wire from one position on the coil to another position. The mind cap identified a rare instance where the frozen state could occur and hinted at why a person might not be affected by the malfunctioning field. Emotions played a role, but he couldn’t glean anything further.

The outer skin of the ship would be cold, but at least there would be breathable air between the two shells. He put on an insulated suit with a heating system, but he would have to remove his gloves to make the wire taps. The ship’s four toroids needed adjusting, one on each side of the ship in the upper section and one on each side in the lower section. He hoped the circulation system would take care of the temperature differential, but that remained an unknown.

The deck below the pilot and sleep chamber section contained the access hatches for the upper section. He removed one and a puff of cold air greeted him. The awkward climb into the channel involved pushing tools and test gear ahead of him. The cold began to seep through his coveralls. The toroid appeared ahead as he turned a corner. The crawl space was an expansive area to accommodate the huge coil; the donut shaped circular coil with its intricate windings of fine wire sprawled in front of him. The hair on his arms and legs stood up, his skin feeling prickly the closer he got to the coil. The fillings in his teeth began to ache as well. He located the major tap ahead. Carefully, he crawled over the top of the coil, not knowing for sure the fragility of the enamel coating on the wire. He fastened a jumper wire where the tap stretched to the new location which he hoped would create the balance.

He had to hurry. Ganzer built in a large margin of safety for his field’s power source, but Cramer feared that safety limit would soon be gone. His test meter and probe indicated the proper position for the new tap to compensate for the berserk field anomaly. His face chilled, and his skin hurt when he moved his mouth.

He couldn’t stop shaking. The test meter indicated the reading he’d been looking for. He took the small jumper wire and stretched it gently from the old tap position to the new position. He took off his gloves to scratch a tiny place clean of the enamel. His hands began to get cold. In a hurry, he attached the wire to the bare spot, used a small propane torch, and melted a tiny drop of solder. The solder solidified. He then detached the original tap wire, put his gloves back on his already numb fingers, then started inching around the circumference of the ship to the other coil. This time it took longer. His fingers moved in slow motion as cold invaded like an army overrunning a few defenders.

He emerged from an access hatch on the opposite side of the ship from his entrance. He tried to warm his hands. Feeling seeped back with that familiar prickly sensation. Doubtful he would fare too well in the lower level of the ship, he left a note for Cindy telling her where he would be.

He removed the hatch in the fuel storage room and crawled in. It did seem much colder in this section. His face burned with the cold air as he found the first toroid in the lower level. After attaching the jumper wire he moved to the new tap location, removed his gloves, scratched a place with shaking hands and barely enough dexterity to apply the solder and attach the jumper wire. He detached the old wire. One more to go.

Cold gripped him with its powerful clutches. In hesitant and painful movements, he made his way to the last toroid. As he removed his gloves to attach the jumper wire to the old tap position, he blew his breath on his fingers. The air frosted as it hit his fingers, making things worse. His fingers ached like the time he went through painful therapy for his broken hand. He seemed past the shivering stage now.

Somehow, he attached the jumper wire to the old tap position, moved to the new position, and found the spot with his test gear. He activated the propane torch to warm his fingers with the torch heat, careful not to burn himself, a pain he probably wouldn’t feel. Some sensation returned to the ends of his fingers long enough he could move them and scratch the enamel, then attach the final connection with a drop of solder. He detached the old tap position, completing his task. He could detect a different “feel” to the ship with that last tap in place. He tried to crawl again, but couldn’t. Mind succumbed to matter, as he surrendered to the desire to sleep. Cold made its final grip on his consciousness.