Enaida and Aterga sat at a small table near the front of the Passenger Module Three lounge. They compared notes and observed the passengers’ social interactions.
“I’m glad we are past having to supervise each exercise routine,” Aterga said.
“Me too. It gives us more time to observe the travelers.”
“This morning, I had to tell a Rabizut man he would die if he didn’t work harder. He pretends to be exercising.”
“How did he react to that?”
“He was smug and said he was a Rabizut.”
“And he thinks his class is exempt from gravity?” Enaida said, shaking her head. “What's his Physical Performance Score?”
“His PPS is five. And it will get worse,” Aterga answered after glancing at the man's DAP file through her eyepiece.
Early in the voyage, most passengers knew only three or four travelers in their lounge, but gradually, their social circle grew. They associated with others in their class. However, relationships that broke that pattern raised a flag.
“Do you see the big man sitting in the far corner with the thick shoulders and barrel chest? Enaida asked.
“The intimidating guy sitting with the young man?” Aterga asked.
“That's the one. His name is Salguodir. He's a Laka and never says much.” A whispered command brought Salguodir's record up for display.
Aterga remembered. “The guy he is with is a farmworker on one of the food plantations. So that's a strange combination.”
“What do they have in common? Salguodir is reported to be an arrogant bully! His file shows he was in the Civil Compliance Directorate and was obsessive about his job.”
“Wasn’t he one of the guys complaining about the physical workouts?”
“Your right. Claimed he had an exemption. “ Enaida continued. “He doesn’t like our exercise regimen. He told me he wanted to lift weights and hated the machines.”
“But the weightlessness of space requires other forms of exercise to maintain physical strength and stamina. Doesn’t he understand that?”
“Aterga, I think he doesn’t believe he needs the exercise. So he quietly does the minimum and spends most of his awake time talking to fellow travelers.”
“Still! Why does a Civil Compliance guy spend time with a lowly farm worker?”
“Seems strange. Let's watch him, Enaida replied.
When Enaida worked with Salguodir, she found he was compliant. He did the bare minimum exercise and answered her questions with a word or two. He skipped workouts whenever he could. His physical performance scores were gradually declining. It was easy to move about and feel normal in space, but the weight of gravity would be debilitating when he was back on the ground.
“What's his PPS?’
“It started at seven but is now down to five,” she whispered.”
The developers of the PPS had written an algorithm based on the experience of astronauts. For example, a well-conditioned astronaut returning to Tridon's surface usually took a day to feel comfortable moving around. A score of eight indicated that level of conditioning. However, after four sleep mode cycles, the traveler's physical exercise reports showed only 18 percent scored an eight or higher.
Up in the New Dawn's Galley
Gergin was in the crew galley with Drachcirn, the navigator, second in seniority.
“Drachcirn, Ready to go through the contingency procedures for the K^Calbin region?”
“I’m not excited about going there, but …. Yeah, let's do it. I’ve only gone in once; it was an early test mission. We never lost sight of the light coming through the entry portal. Just in, and shortly later, we turned around and returned. It was barely two days total.”
“Well, this time, we will be on the dark side for 85 days— several times longer than any previous crew. So we’ll be setting a record.”
“Crocit! More time for something to go wrong, Drachcirn mumbled.
“Here are the entry portal coordinates. We have to alter our course to get on the correct entry vector. Entry must be precisely perpendicular to the plane of the access portal. That puts our flight path on a line that will take us to the associated exit portal.”
“Understand. When do you want to do that?”
“Tomorrow. That will give us time to verify the entry angle and make any tiny corrections.”
“Tomorrow works.”
“Now for the recovery procedure. Before entry, check to verify the accelerometers are recording their readings every second – two instruments for each of the ship's three rotational axes.
The accelerometers should all read zero throughout our time inside. Not even a tiny acceleration for a few seconds in any direction. If anything disturbs our flight path, this data is critical to our recovery.”
“What about our gyroscopes? They measure direction relative to the reference vector set when we left Tridon. There are two oriented to each of the ship's three axes.”
“Got it! We need to record all compass headings while on our entry flight path. They don’t detect translational movement but accurately give our flight direction.
“What could alter our flight path?” Drachcirn asked.
“The theory says planetary objects can’t enter the K^Calbin region because the access portals are too small. But comets and meteoroids can get in -- just like our ship. But galactic science doesn’t predict the size of the portals.”
“Great! Do you think those Space Directorate dratsabinee understood the risk?”
Gergin smiled. “They know very little about the details of space travel. All they know comes from books extolling how great we are and the theories. They have never been in space.”
“So what's the drill if there is a collision,” Drachcirn continued.
“We hope our shields deflect the object, “ Gergin replied sourly.
“So what do we do?”
“Damage control comes first. The other crew members must immediately determine what damage occurred. They can handle that, but let's agree to get all the navigators out of sleep mode immediately.”
“And the Commander, if he isn’t up!” Drachcirn added, nodding.
“Analysis of the accelerometer and gyrocompass data is the next step. The worst case is rotation. Stopping the ship's spinning must be done as quickly as possible. A high spin rate can kill us and destroy the ship. The gyro readings help with that. Deal with each axis separately, starting where the rotation is fastest. It's easier to do the thruster burns axis by axis. Spinning out of control presents the greatest danger.
“Got it. Stop spinning.”
“Next, we must calculate the thruster burns to put us on a flight path parallel to the entry flight vector.”
“We use the gyroscope data for that. Correct the compass headings.”
“Right! Once we are traveling parallel to our entry path, we can take time to make the last adjustment. This burn adjusts for the displacement from the original flight line. Remember the sequence: Spin, direction, and then displacement. The first step is the most critical.”
“I’ve done those calculations for hypothetical cases, but doing it when it's a matter of life or death is different.”
“I know, Drachcirn. If we survive a collision, I don’t want to get lost in that place,” Gergin said quietly. Both feared what might happen.
“This isn’t the first crocit we’ve been through. OK! See you tomorrow when we set the entry vector.”
Gergin got a bottle of fruit drink from a cooler compartment and returned to a table. Going through the K^Calbin contingency plans depressed him. Sitting there, he mumbled to himself, “If we get through this leg, the rest of the flight should be a vacation.”
Commander Nireem entered the galley and saw Gergin staring at his procedures book. All this information was on their DAP units. But to be ready if something affected their electronics, they had critical checklists and access codes engraved on lightweight, fireproof sheets in a “procedures book.”. Every navigator and pilot had one.
“Gergin, you OK?”
“Yeah! Been going through the K^Calbin recovery procedure. That place scares me every time I think about it.“
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice. But I know you and Dracchcern will get us across safely.”
“Guess the Space Directorate would be pissed if we just disappeared in that black void,” Gergin said, laughing.
“They will never know,” Nireem grinned. Both men laughed.