Tranquility Down

Tranquility Down

Part Three

by G. Lawrence

In this sequel to Tranquility in Darkness, we find Grey, Kris, and their allies struggling to establish the Lunar Republic as a legitimate nation. This old-style science fiction novel is told in eleven parts.

Recap: in the summer of 2049, Governor Thomas McKinsey evacuated the moon so the Northern Alliance could not use Tranquility's nuclear arsenal in their global trade wars. 12 months later, McKinsey's followers were dead and he was dying, leaving the colony computers to raise the only lunar survivor, a baby named Grey. In part three, we find a small fleet of spaceships seeking to mine a meteor field that annually threatens Earth. All characters are over 18 years old. All rights reserved.

* * * * * *

Chapter 3

CHASING ASTEROIDS

"Here they come," Michiko said, watching the approaching shuttlecraft from the bridge of Toppas. Attached to Toppas on the port side was RR Black Raven, to starboard was Packet. With room for a crew of ten plus storage, Toppas was proving a spacious headquarters for the six-member Tranquility team gathered at the bridge window.

"That's a C-4 in the lead. NA Lindley towing A-4 Hawkeye," Nicholas reported from the engineering station, comparing the advance intel with the tracking reports. "Bringing up the rear is EC Juno, a C-8. Plenty of room for cargo and crew with that much capacity. Juno is piggybacking A-4 Sword."

Nicholas floated back to the bridge window, taking Tamera's hand. Far off in the distance, the Earth and the moon were but distant bodies. Much closer, the thin ring of asteroids known as the String whisked by in a huge never-ending cartwheel around the sun.

"Two cargo shuttles and two carriers should prove adequate," Grey said. "It will take a few days to position, however. And even though the section we need to mine won't arrive until the 30th, we'll need time to practice. Few of these crews have deep space experience."

"Like we do?" Kris sarcastically said.

"Kris is right," Tamera agreed. "Only Roger has been this far from Earth before, and you made him stay home."

"Major Vandebrown's presence at Tranquility is necessary for maintaining diplomatic stability," Grey said. "But this isn't a difficult mission. We'll simply form a skirmish line parallel to the asteroid string, filter in to mine seven of the mid-rangers, then withdraw before activating the warheads. Two days to arrange position, a day setting the mines, and twelve hours to retreat."

"You make it sound easy, but how easy is it?" Tamera asked.

"It's important not to crash into an asteroid," Grey admitted.

"Like NA Salvation did," Johnston recalled.

"Assuming that's what really happened to them," Michiko wondered.

"TL-68 had formidable mass and was surrounded by a volatile congregation," Grey said. "These mid-rangers are smaller and spread several hours apart. The danger is minimal."

"The shuttles will be here in a couple of hours," Kris said. "Let's get our Sheppard tube ready and review our security procedures."

"Each of us has a sidearm," Nicholas said, tapping the stunner holstered to his hip.

"If Johnny will take bridge duty, I'll launch the guardians and coordinate their programming with the Defense Computer," Michiko added. "We have one guardian to cover each cargo shuttle. The captains aren't going to like it, though. Not any more than we would."

"I don't give a rat's ass what they like," Kris said. "They're going to know that if an accident happens to one of our ships, especially Grey's, then accidents are going to happen to all of theirs."

"Aggressive tactics are unnecessary," Grey objected. "With the publicity this mission is receiving, treachery by the Northern Alliance is unlikely."

"We're going to keep our security tight," Tamera said, staring Grey straight in the face. "Kris is absolutely right, we must be vigilant at all times."

"I agree," Michiko said.

"And me," Johnston chimed in.

"And so do I," Nicholas said.

"That's very noble," Grey said, irritated by their resolve. "But space has enough dangers without inviting an overreaction by robotic weapons. If any humans are killed without justification, it will set back years of effort. I must insist that all safety protocols be observed."

His crew quietly accepted the necessity of such a policy, but Nicholas noticed that Kris was less convinced.

Within hours, the armada of Earth vessels arrived at the rendezvous point, Juno docking near Toppas, then the Lindley docking with Juno, making the big Commonwealth ship the center of activity. As soon as the Sheppard tube was extended and locked in place, Toppas opened her airlock. Assigning Johnston to the bridge, Kris floated through the pressurized tube first, one hand on her sidearm.

"Hello, Captain Fairfield," she was greeted at the far end. It wasn't the voice of a stranger.

"Colonel Kimura?" Kris said as Nicholas and Michiko followed her through.

"Mara!" Michiko said, happy to see her former commanding officer.

"You are looking fine, Colonel," Nicholas quickly added, thinking Kimura wore her new eagles well.

"What are you doing here?" Kris asked in surprise.

"Euro Command has the same concerns about this mission that you do," Kimura said, pointing at the stun weapons each of them was wearing. "I'm in charge of the sky dogs, just to make sure the mission stays flush."

Kris saw the cargo shuttle was even bigger than she expected, the center opening into a dozen peripheral compartments. One area larger than the rest had been set aside as a conference center, complete with specialized monitors and chairs.

"Let me introduce Colonel Francis Johannsen, Juno's commander, and Major Viktor Beketov, commanding Sword," Kimura said, pleased to make the introductions.

Handsome men in their late thirties, they were smartly uniformed and appeared friendly. The shuttle captains smiled and floated forward to shake hands, then became alert as Tamera and Grey entered. Kimura pushed forward to meet them at the airlock, then turned toward her officers with a proud squaring of her shoulders.

"Fran, Vik, let me introduce Grey Waters, the Governor of the Moon," Kimura said.

Grey put a hand up against the bulkhead to halt his momentum, then reached out to shake hands as protocol dictated.

"Pleased to meet you," Grey said very formally. "Colonel Kimura, it's an honor to serve with you again."

Kimura smiled with particular delight, though Grey didn't understand why a simple greeting should elicit such a reaction.

"We've set up a command post in the galley," Kimura said. "Marlborough and Sykes will be joining us in a few minutes. Governor Waters, would you mind meeting the rest of our crew?"

Grey wasn't sure what to say, but Tamera floated up next to him and stabilized herself on one of his shoulder straps.

"The Governor will be pleased to meet with our Commonwealth allies," Tamera said.

"Thank you, it's truly appreciated," Colonel Johannsen said.

Grey still didn't know what all the fuss was about, but he spent the next half hour shaking hands and making small talk with excited humans who, in his opinion, may have already spent too much time in outer space.

___________

"Then we agree on this mission plan?" Colonel Marlborough said.

Using static pads to remain seated around the white oval table, the commanders of each shuttlecraft had their note pads secured before them. Given precedence at the head of the table, though he hadn't asked for it, Grey downloaded the final amended instructions as Tamera floated on one side of him and Colonel Kimura on the other. The atmosphere was professional despite tension between the Northern Alliance contingent and their temporary allies.

"This looks like a good strategy," Colonel Johannsen said. "Sword and Black Raven will drop back to mine X109 and X110, then rendezvous with Juno and Lindley before mining X99 and X72. Hawkeye and Packet will stay with Toppas to mine X74, then go forward to mine X51 and X40. We should finish twelve hours before the threshold point."

"A thousand or more of the smaller asteroids will enter Earth's atmosphere," Grey said. "Your shuttles will be safe at Midway until the meteor storm passes, but if any serious malfunctions occur, you are welcome to access emergency facilities at Tranquility."

"That's very generous, Mister Waters," Marlborough said, careful not to grant Grey a title that the Northern Alliance disavowed. Except for Major Sykes, none of the commanders at the table appeared to appreciate Marlborough's discretion.

"We have Safari in reserve at Midway," Sykes said. "She's fully stocked should anyone have fuel or resource problems."

"I think we should appoint an overall commander for the operation," Johannsen suggested. "I would like to nominate Governor Waters. This mission is based on his projections, and he has contributed three of the seven ships."

"My Defense Computer drew up this mission plan," Grey explained. "And only two of the shuttles belong to Tranquility. Black Raven is on loan from the Russian Republic. As I will be alone in Packet near the head of the column, I believe that Colonel Johannsen will be in a better position for overall coordination."

"What do you think, Mara?" Kris asked Kimura.

"Give us a patch to your communications computer and the crew of Juno will do the rest," Kimura said, taking Kris by the hand to show that her real question was understood.

"That's fine with us," Marlborough said. "Commander Sykes and I will pull forward and get our drill teams ready. I'll have Chief McCabe contact Mister Waters as you'll be working together on X40 and X51."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Kris said.

"That will be fine, sir," Grey said. "If Chief McCabe would like to visit Toppas before separation, he can also speak with Mister Woo, our engineering officer. He and I have been training on drilling procedures for the last month."

"Excellent, excellent," Marlborough said. "I know it's against the rules, but I have a small contribution here."

Colonel Marlborough pulled out a plastic envelope and distributed a dozen small packets labeled Scotland Vodka.

"Don't worry, not enough to even get a buzz," Marlborough said.

Tamera snatched up several packets, checked them without trying to appear suspicious, then passed the packets along to Kimura. Kimura appeared aware of the contents and distributed them with a subtle smile in Tamera's direction.

"Chaos to this year's String," Marlborough said. "May we save cities, villages and farms all over the world."

"To cooperation," Johannsen said. "May our alliances never again fight yesterday's battles."

"To a permanent defense fleet," Grey said. "So Earth will never again face destruction from space."

"Here, here," the commanders agreed, sucking their vodka as each imagined a future of well-arrayed spaceships and expanded missions.

"Would you care to meet Lindley's crew, Mister Waters?" Colonel Marlborough asked.

"He'll consider meeting with your crew when you learn to call him governor," Kris said.

"I meant no offense, Captain Fairfield," Marlborough apologized.

"That hasn't stopped you from offending, though, has it?" Tamera responded.

The atmosphere around the galley dining board, never relaxed to begin with, grew even more tense. Only Grey seemed to attach little significance to the slight.

"My units are overprotective, Colonel, please ignore them," he said. "We'll need to be at our stations soon, but I would be very pleased to meet your crew members once the mission is accomplished."

Kris and Tamera were not happy. Marlborough smiled graciously. Nicholas and Kimura grinned to see Grey in familiar form.

___________

"It's beautiful out here," Kris said, holding Grey in her arms as they looked through the view port of their private quarters.

Off in the distance, Earth appeared to be a very small planet while the moon was barely visible at all. A field of stars spread into the distance as far as her imagination could reach.

"It loses its appeal after a while," Grey said.

"When were you last out here?" she asked.

"I ... I don't know what you mean," he replied.

"What I mean is, I think you're not telling me something. Have you been in deep space before?"

"Would you like to have sex again?" he asked.

"If you try changing the subject with sex every time I want a straight answer, your charlie will be nothing more than a nub," Kris warned.

"It's a risk I'll have to take," Grey said, twisting in the net hammock.

"This is the strangest thing I've ever done, floating naked in a rope basket while trying to make love upside down," she said, not exactly complaining.

"I prefer gravity also," he agreed. "These C-class shuttles weren't designed for extended missions. The next generation of deep spacecraft will have gravitational compartments."

"That's great, but those are ten years away."

"Two years. Three at most," he corrected.

"But Tranquility doesn't have the equipment to build shuttles like that, and even if the NA was finally ready to start building some, you can bet they wouldn't share the technology with us."

"The Sales Computer once told me that any product can be purchased if the price is right," Grey said. "We'll find what we need."

Kris twisted in the hammock until they were able to get into a clutch, glad the cargo shuttle had enough space for privacy.

"This is hard," she said as the hammock began swinging in loops. "Do you think Nick and Tammy are doing it, too?"

"It never occurred to me to ask," Grey said, stopping the spinning by catching hold of the bulkhead. "Shall we get them on the intercom?"

"No, no," she laughed. "That would be too embarrassing, though I might ask Tammy later when we're alone. Maybe they've figured out a better technique."

"There are vids available on the subject, we can have the Library Computer download one to our com unit," Grey suggested.

"Outer space porno? No, that's too wild even for me," Kris said. "I think the old-fashioned method of trial and error is more fun."

Later that evening, after they spent some time simply floating in the zero gravity, Kris slipped into the next hammock and Grey turned to look out the view port. There were no planets visible, no moons or space stations. Just empty space. But Grey fell asleep knowing that few things are what they appear.

FIVE YEARS BEFORE - MAY 16, 2065

The huge rock was twisting in space round and round and round. Obscuring the spinning field of stars were thousands of smaller rocks whirling about in complex patterns. Grey tried not to look up. The vertigo was bad enough already. Joanie lay crashed against a spiny peak, the aged shuttle too slow to avoid the impact. Joanie was not alone. Only twenty meters away, the remains of NA Salvation lay jammed in a crevice, the pilot crushed on impact. Another crew member lay dead in the wreckage.

Life Support was right, Grey thought. I shouldn't have come. Now I'm stranded, too. He turned to look ahead toward the blue water planet on a collision course with the giant asteroid. It won't be blue much longer, he knew. An explosion, a plume, airborne dirt, dust and debris. Six months or more without sun, and much of the planet would whither.

The astronauts were brave.

The astronauts are dead.

No, Grey realizes. Someone has survived. There are lifelines strung along the length of the asteroid. Evidence of drilling equipment. A track for moving warheads.

Grey moves closer to the wreck of NA Salvation. He has seen lifeless humans before, one just a year before at the Siberia Mining Station, and many more in Tranquility's morgue. These bodies are different. Just eight days ago they were struggling toward a monstrous threat to their planet and families. Now two of them have ceased to function.

Where is the other one? Grey wondered. Does it matter?

I shouldn't have stowed away. It was arrogant. I want to go! Let me fly the supply shuttle! Why did I have to defy Life Support? And Defense. Security will gloat.

The lifelines lead over the crest of the spiny ridge. Don't look up, the rock is spinning too fast. Hold the lifeline. One of the warheads has been placed, the trigger armed. More than one warhead. He finds a second, and a third. The asteroid is twelve kilometers long. There will be one warhead for each kilometer. Where is the third human?

Grey trudges on, the space suit struggling against the heat of his exertions. It takes hours. At the eleventh warhead, the trail ends. The twelfth warhead is anchored in a crate. The third human lays anchored next to it. He's dead.

So am I, Grey thinks. May as well place the last warhead. These were brave humans. Where is the trigger mechanism?

It takes him most of a day. He's not trained for dragging a warhead across the face of a spinning asteroid and drilling a six-meter-deep hole to drop it in, stringing lifelines as he goes. He learns fast. He has to with only twenty-four hours left to the threshold point. Guess I won't live to be sixteen after all. Shouldn't have stowed away. I shouldn't be afraid, he thinks, but I am. He trembles. He cries. The astronauts were brave. I should be, too. Please let me be brave.

The last warhead is placed. He follows the lines back, crawling over the broken rock, checking the detonators, trying not to look at the spinning stars. Salvation's wreck lays nearby. The water planet looms ahead. Only a few hours left. He is brave, at the end, but it doesn't stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks.

NA Salvation carries an escape pod, he suddenly remembers. Can it be launched? Could Flight Control send Packet to pick me up? He looks again at the rapidly approaching water planet. Does the trigger mechanism have a timer?

___________

"Grey?" Kris said again.

"What?" Grey replied, the memories drifting away as he woke up.

"You were a million miles away, lover," Kris said in a sleepy voice, still floating in her hammock next to him.

"Farther than that," Grey said.

Later, as Toppas was taking a center position in line between Juno and Lindley, Nicholas entered the navigation dome to find Grey buckled down at the observation console.

"Hello, I thought you were sleeping," Nick said, strapping into the chair next to him. "Is Kris awake, too?"

"The female is sleeping," Grey said. "She finds intimacy in zero gravity fatiguing."

"We all do," Nicholas grinned. "Are you reviewing those reports again?"

"Affirmative. By the time you come back to center line, X51 will have already been mined," Grey explained. "I want Toppas and Black Raven to keep full emergency thrusters on standby, just in case it's necessary to make a quick escape."

"That is common sense," Nicholas said. "Michiko and I are ready. It will be exciting to land on an asteroid."

"You won't actually land," Grey said. "You'll anchor with the explosive hooks, then use the lower storage deck as a drilling platform. Whatever you do, don't tangle or detach your lifelines."

"Yes, we have practiced," Nicholas said. "Are you so nervous?"

"You and Miss Hasegawa make a good team. So do Mister Woo and Captain Fairfield," Grey said. "With help from the other ships, all should go well."

"Kris is unhappy you will be forward with the two Northern Alliance ships," Nicholas said. "Would it not be better if you mine the tail and let Toppas take the lead?"

"From a technical standpoint it should make no difference, but I have reasons for wanting the lead position," Grey said.

"And those reasons would be?" Nicholas asked.

"A complete explanation would prove complicated," Grey demurred.

"You do not want to explain, do you?" Nicholas said, having heard that tone before. And never under auspicious circumstances.

"Whatever happens, don't be concerned," Grey said. "And don't let Kris or Tammy become worried. We're here in a spirit of international cooperation to mine a few of the mid-rangers, none of which are even scheduled to hit Earth this year. As far as anyone else is concerned, that's all we're here to do."