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Two weeks earlier
Deep within the interstellar vehicle tucked close against the edge of Crater Albatagenius, one of the moon’s larger craters, the vessel’s crew awakening program commenced running.
The process took three days.
Eventually the cool air blowing gently on her face woke her up.
Her eyelids twitched spasmodically, but they were stuck shut.
Rubbing helped.
Gradually, the low lights overhead came into imperfect focus. The woman drew in several breaths, each deeper than the one before. After nearly an hour of gentle stretching of arms and legs and arching back and shoulders, she eased one leg and then the other over the edge of the pallet. Pushing herself up carefully, she felt slightly dizzy, still blinking and rubbing her eyes. The air was humid, with a hint of electricity to it. She was thirsty.
The clock indicated this awake period was early, way ahead of schedule.
She cleared her throat, took a slow breath, and repeated both again.
"Hleo," she croaked, "Hleo, what's going on?"
"Greetings, My Lady," came the voice of the ship’s robotic station manager. "It's early, I know. I apologize, but it’s my responsibility to make you aware of something of supreme importance. If you please, clean up, have something to eat and drink, and then join me in the control room. At your convenience, of course, dear Anneyn."
There was no help for it. It had been a good while since she'd checked in on their people. Even so, it was hard to imagine what Hleo might have thought important enough to interrupt her sleep schedule.
He’d never done that before. What could have changed? Could there be word from home? Very unlikely.
"Look at this!" he announced, when she finally dragged herself into the control room, stretching and yawning. Much more loosening up was needed. There was no point in hurrying things. Time seemed inexhaustible.
On the main console were two screens covered with ovals, lines, and rows of calculations and numbers. Her eyes still weren't focusing properly. What was all this? Try as she might, she could find no meaning there. She swallowed and cleared her throat.
"Hleo, this is not about war or environmental changes or anything else I was expecting. It looks like mathematics. Have you been dabbling in astronomy again, dear Counselor?"
"Yes, I have."
He sounded a little defensive.
"There’s not much to occupy me while you are sleeping. We don't have all the equipment we might wish for scientific endeavors, but I do the best I can. Look at what I've discovered."
She was stiff as a board, couldn’t see properly, and in no frame of mind for puzzles. But Hleo was sensitive to sarcasm, so she stifled a sharp retort.
"Maybe you'd better just tell me."
Her voice sounded rusty.
"Oh, very well. As you know, this solar system is full of little bits of piffle zooming everywhere. According to my calculations, and I've rechecked them many times, these two meteoroids (two dots blinked) will collide here (a red blinking dot appeared where several lines crossed) and the debris will fall into the sun on this path (more lines blinked)."
"That's interesting, Hleo."
She was impressed at first, and then she thought further.
"When will this happen?"
"In four years, two hundred and fifty-five days and six hours."
"What? You woke me up for that? I had an awake period scheduled for two years from now. I could have seen it then, Hleo."
"No, no! There’s more!"
The elderly voice went up a major third in excitement.
"Look at these lines. This one is the orbit of earth. Do you see? Earth will pass directly under the debris field at the worst possible time. It will be showered with meteoroid fragments.
“If any major piece falls in an ocean, and many certainly will, there will be such tidal waves that coastal cities will be inundated and many inland cities too. And there are likely to be even larger pieces, which will make craters and dust clouds that will cover the entire planet!"
That got her attention.
"Hleo, that’s terrible! That would be a catastrophe! Are you sure?"
"Well, yes. I can't be sure how many pieces will land where, but since the planet is mostly covered in water, there's little doubt that we'll have quite a show."
"A show? A show?? We can't just sit here and watch! We've got to do something, Hleo!"
"There's nothing we can do, My Lady. For one thing, we have our orders. We must not interfere. We only observe, and in the case of planet-wide events, we are both required as witnesses by order of the Council of Clans. You know that as well as I. For another, what could we possibly do?"
"I don't know, Hleo, but we have to do something. These are our people. We can't just sit here and watch them die if we have it in our power to help. We have the escape pod."
"That is not an option, my child. First, I repeat: we are not to interfere. And second, the escape pod is not a transport vehicle. It is for emergency service. It might land on earth, if one were very skillful, but it could never return. Its engines don’t have the necessary thrust. That's out of the question. I know what you are thinking, honored daughter. Don't even consider going down there! It would be terribly dangerous. And besides, the people are not all that civilized, as we have seen many times."
"Hleo, how can you know what I'm thinking when I don't know what I'm thinking? Give me some time to wake up. Maybe then I'll know what to think."
Her grumpiness had been replaced by contrariness. Hleo was often crochety, but she was the captain. If she decided on a course of action there was not much Hleo could do about it. He did have a point, however. The escape pod had not been designed as a reentry vehicle, a reentry maneuver had never been tested, and she herself had no experience in conning it for such a mission.
But no matter. She was not going to watch millions die, not without trying to help them. Hleo was just a brain in a bottle, and not always a good-tempered brain in a bottle at that. She was in command. He could be controlled with just a few switches.
Completing the awakening regimen would require two days of proper nutrition, restorative exercises, and time for research to devise a means of alerting her earthly distant cousins to their danger.
She would start now.
