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  The three removed their helmets and secured them.

  'I spy with my little eye...' said Lee.

  'Don't start already, Anne,' said Jacobs. 'There are still a few long days in a small can and we need to make the trip as tolerable as possible.'

  'Sorry, Jay Jay. But hey. I am missing out on my sleep, thanks to being so rudely interrupted. I'll go bunk up.'

  'Good idea.'

  Lee couldn't resist rubbing her captain's head of thinning long grey hair as she wriggled past him and out of the flight-deck to the sleeping bunks.

  'She's got the right idea, Jay Jay. Will you at least try to relax? Nothing to do but let the computers do their job.'

  'They're a good crew, Sam.'

  Clifton knew Jacobs was was just thinking aloud; expressing his opinion of those left on the ship, assuring himself of their capability, all with the hopes of the human race their combined responsibility,

  'They're the best of the best, Jay Jay. Hand picked by you.'

  Jacobs unstrapped from his seat and floated to the still open hatch to the sleeping bunks. 'Yes. Quite right, Sam. One thing I don't have to worry about is the ship.'

  'Oh, but you will anyway. Take something to relax will, you? Enough to take the edge off at least.'

  'I'll have to check the ship's log to see when you turned into my mother.'

  Clifton said, 'And neither of us would be brave enough to argue with her, God rest her soul. I'll keep an eye on things in here for an hour or so. Go. Goodnight.'

  'Goodnight.'

  Chapter 4

  Melissa Torville, a science officer and incubation supervisor, also had trouble relaxing. Naturally a light sleeper requiring only five hours of sleep each night, her body clock had a life of its own. Her technicians knew that when she was out of her shift pod, she could appear in the incubation chambers section at any time. Sandy Beech had a friendly and professional relationship with Torville but was always relieved to be found busy when her commanding officer suddenly appeared. Torville smiled at Beech, glancing between the technician and the nearest individual incubation chamber.

  'All good?'

  Beech made a show of tapping in figures into the rec-pad with a flourish. 'All good, Mel.' There was little formality on the ship when it came to names, rank and gender. 'I was about to eat. Care to keep me company?'

  'When food seems to only be in brown, grey or green it does little to stimulate my appetite. Oh, what the hell. Ok.'

  Beech saved her work and turned off the rec-pad and hung it on the charger on the wall. 'You'll break Slim's heart if he hears you knocking the food.'

  'For a man who has fallen in love with every available female on the ship, he's used to having his heart broken.'

  Beech giggled. 'You have to admire his determination. He's really quite sweet when you get to know him.'

  'You think? Why do you think I'm on another pod shift to his?'

  The ship's one half gravity made getting around effortless. Passing other crew members doing their numerous and various duties, they found only three others in the "diner". To be sociable, Beech and Torville selected from the assorted slop containers as they were generally referred to, Torville pulling faces as she put three small heaps, one brown, two yellow, onto a tray before joining the others.

  'Note to Slim. Just because it's yellow, does not make it taste like banana.'

  Dale Polowski, Goliath's propulsion supervisor, said, 'Banana? I thought this flavour was supposed to be pineapple.'

  Torville poked the brown lump. 'I just hope this tastes nothing like what it looks like.'

  Steph Fowler, mechanical engineer, had managed to liberally stain her suit and some of the smears were at least days old. Fowler really didn't give a damn even when people like Torville suggested she'd had a taste-bud by-pass to consume such large amounts of food. The food stains covered up most of the indelible grease and oil stains. Her suit, it had been remarked, had a D N A of its own and was widely believed to be able to walk by itself unaided. It was so much a part of the urban myth of the ship that Fowler didn't deny the possibility. The conversation, naturally, turned to the mission Jay Jay, Clifton and Lee had embarked upon. It was what Beech came out with which had the others rolling their eyes in feigned derision.

  'I do understand basic deep space propulsion, I really do. But...'

  'Sandy,' said Polowski, anticipating Beech's train of thought. 'Yes. We could start the plasma drives of the ship and increase our velocity and have no need for the shuttle to go off without us, and yes, the velocity reached would be sustained after we cut off the drives again, until we hit the brakes. But that is not the point.'

  'Which is...?'

  Fowler licked her fingers and then wiped them on a relatively clean part of her suit. 'Timing. We get there when are meant to get there. At about the time the terraforming is close to completion.' She shrugged to emphasise her statement. 'Not much point in being earlier than need be, when we just use the achieved velocity of the ship without the need to use the drives to arrive when all the hard work has been done for us.'

  'And,' added Polowski, 'The shuttle is just as capable of atmospheric entry and landing, should the need arise, with minimal risk to human life and equipment rather than risking this ship.'

  'You mean the cheaper option,' said Beech.'

  'Of course,' said Torville. 'Expedient and efficient. No other way. Jay Jay knows that.'

  'Still risky,' said Beech. 'Surely we shouldn't have risked the captain?'

  Polowski said, 'It was his idea. We all know something is very wrong. He wants to see for himself. If the terraformers have failed, he'll have to come up with an alternative plan.'

  Beech was one of the youngest on the mission at twenty seven. She had grown up on the ship. All the talk of the mission being a failure made her nervous.

  'There is no alternative. None I ever heard of. Spero is the only closest planet even realistically reachable and capable of sustaining life...'

  'Terraforming not withstanding,' said Torville.

  'Well, yes,' said Beech. 'We all get that much. But if the war has killed Earth so they have lost control of the terraformers, we have nowhere to go.'

  Torville tried to reassure the young woman and squeezed her arm. 'We cross bridges one at a time, Sandy. Dreaming up unpalatable scenarios we can't as yet substantiate is a pointless, even dangerous preoccupation. We have gotten this far, carrying the human life we need to continue our species, so I'm inclined to believe it is meant to be. But this is space. Careful planning is one thing. Out here, it will and often doesn't always go the way we want. That's when we really have to earn our pay and come up with something else.'

  'Sorry, I just...'

  'Hey. We all get a little scared. Have you finished your work duties?'

  'Almost. I'll get back to it.'

  There came a deep and meaningful silence as Beech gathered up her tray and cutlery and returned them to the zapper where they were scrupulously cleaned, the dry, grey residue falling into the collection bins below. She didn't look back at the others as she left the diner to return to he duties.

  'We need to keep a lid on this. Kids like Sandy could easily become frightened with all the speculation. It's up to us to keep them calm, regardless of what we really think.'

  'Yeah,' agreed Polowski. 'We can but try.'

  Chapter 5

  Joe Friar was satisfied with the progress of the shuttle. He was responsible for its flight up until the small ship reached the outer atmosphere of the planet, when the crew would assume control. Friar had a temporary team of twenty monitoring the ships status and every aspect of the crews well-being. All was good.

  'Jay Jay's looking good for his age,' he thought out-loud.

  Doctor Valerie Cormack wasn't surprised. 'Naturally. We are all so damn healthy, I'm practically redundant.'

  Friar looked up into her vivid green eyes and grinned. 'I could stub my toe or something if you're desperate for something to do.'

 
'I'm not desperate enough to want to examine your feet. Don't worry. When we start populating the planet, me and my team will be flat out.'

  Mel Torville agreed with that. 'Over two thousand babies will keep us busy. After all these years of waiting to initiate growth, things are about to get crazy.'

  'If we've a planet ready to populate,' said Dale Polowski. 'We know for certain that something hasn't gone according to plan.'

  Friar gave Polowski a frosty stare as he said, 'You take pessimism to a whole new level.'

  'Pragmatism is often mistaken for pessimism,' countered Polowski. 'Earth had total control of the terraforming and we lost contact with Earth nearly two months ago. There was a full-scale war going on down there, remember?'

  'Durr, yes,' said Friar. 'Which is why Jay Jay is on his way to take a look for himself. The atmospheric conditions have all but made it impossible for us to see anything useful from here.'

  'Which means,' said Polowski, 'They'll have no more chance of investigating than we do ourselves, unless they go down to take a closer look.'

  Doctor Cormack was horrified at the prospect. 'Captain Jacobs would never be so reckless.'

  'I don't see that he has any alternative,' said Friar. 'Jay Jay is a cautious man by nature, but he has overall responsibility of the mission. My guess is he'll not waver at taking the shuttle for at least a couple of sub-atmospheric orbits possibly even a landing.'

  'Then he shouldn't have gone himself,' said Cormack. 'Any one of us could have gone in his place. He's too important to put himself at risk that way.'

  Friar said, 'We all know Jay Jay better than that. He'd be the first to say he's no more nor less important than anyone else. That and the fact he would not be comfortable sending somebody else to put their lives on the line. Don't worry, he'll not take unnecessary chances.'

  'True,' said Polowski. 'I'd like to hear those last messages from Earth. See if we've missed anything.'

  'Again?' said Friar. 'We've spent hours on it already.'

  'Humour me. I'll get coffee and meet you in audio archives in ten minutes.'

  Friar glanced at Cormack who just shrugged and said, 'We have everything under control here, Joe. Go put your feet up for awhile. Any change in the crews status, I'll send for you.'

  Friar got to his feet. 'Fine. Anything for a quiet life.'

  Polowski was already away for the coffees, as Friar left his team to walk along the corridor to the audio archives room. He sat down and flicked a few switches and swiped the sensors.

  'Computer. Access last received message from Earth.'

  'Earth communication October nineteen, New York Central time, year twenty-one-fifteen, time eighteen thirty three and twenty-four seconds. Ready to play recordings.'

  'Computer defer play.'

  'Play deferred.'

  Friar relaxed in the swivel chair until Polowski appeared and took the coffee he offered. 'Ready to go?' said Friar as Polowski took his seat.

  'Go for it.'

  Friar instructed the computer to play and was immediately struck by the poignancy of what could possibly be the final communication from his home planet.

  'This is Major Otto Gunther, National Space Tricor, Base Security Commander. Time is limited. I won't prevaricate. Things are...interesting back here. The Tricor is losing ground, big-time. Heavy losses both sides, but the Futurians are making a final push. The Base is manned by a skeleton staff of military technicians, supervised by myself. We have been ordered to leave the Base and join in the war effort. I've expressed my opinions to the High Command, that we are the only link to you guys and made a case for us to stay. They aren't buying it. I've left it to everyone to follow their consciences and leave here if they wish to do so. I've decided to stay here regardless, so...' There came a chuckle lacking in mirth. 'So. Just thinking aloud. I might just end up Private Gunther. I guess it's all academic. But you know something? Screw them. As far as I'm concerned, you guys are it. Humans are our only real chance. I'll do all I can to keep things running here as long as I can. That said, we are experiencing...' A moment of static followed until Gunther returned. '...atmospheric issues, or technical...' More static. '...increased radiation or...will endeavour to...whenever we can. Hey. Just be glad you are out of all this madness.' There came a muffled rumbling sound. 'Not sure what...' Static. 'Jeez. Gotta go. Signing off.'

  Friar and Polowski swirled tepid coffee around, their minds deep in the message they had listened to again.

  Friar said, 'And yes, before you ask. That was the very last message received from Earth.'

  'I was hoping to pick up something new from it. We both know Gunther. A good man, I thought. But it looks as if the war is sucking everything into it, including Gunther and his people. He put his career on the line to stay at Base Command and keep it running.'

  Friar sighed. 'If things are as bad as we fear, the Base could be abandoned, at least temporarily. The Base could also have been destroyed for all we know. That would explain the problems with the terraforming and breakdown in communication between us and Earth. Either way, nothing to feel optimistic about.'

  'Something was happening right at the end of Gunther's transmission. That noise. Sounded like the place was shaking to pieces.'

  Polowski said, 'That would take some doing. Built into the side of a mountain, it would take something monumental to destroy it. If Gunther had had time to secure it, nothing could enter unless he let it in.'

  Friar said, 'Like me, you have heard it a few times, so no surprises. Unless...'

  'What?'

  Friar shrugged. 'Unless you think I'm keeping things to myself.'

  Polowski drank his coffee in one and winced at the bitterness of it. 'Something is going down, that's for sure, but it can only be with Earth and something weird on Spero. Besides...'

  'Out with it.'

  'What would you have to gain? We're all on the same boat, or in our case, ship. You were always a dark-horse, Joe, into any scam going in the academy and I only knew a fraction of what you got up to.'

  Friar examined the empty beaker and grinned. 'Just scratching a living, Dale. Unlike most of you others, I didn't have wealthy parents to bankroll me.'

  'Hey. I worked. Every holiday I worked hard.'

  'On your family estate. Bossing underlings about.'

  Polowski flared up. 'Below the belt, Joe. I earned my...'

  'Hey! Pull your head in. I'm just saying, you had a family around you. You were always going to be ok. I was an orphan living on the streets before I conned my way into the academy. And after every class, I'd pay for my keep by doing a few hours cleaning the place. That and a little business on the side. So what if I used my brains to relieve a few of the well-heeled from money they wouldn't even miss? Ok. If you think or even suspect I know more than anyone else on this ship about what the hell is going on, spit it out.'

  The awkward silence that chilled the room said more than Polowski's words. Friar knew his dark past would always haunt him, but he made no excuses for doing nothing more than survive. He watched Polowski get up and go to the door.

  Polowski stared fixedly back and said, 'I'm trusting you. Don't let me down.'

  'Go find another tree to bark up, Dale. Like you said. I'm in the same leaky boat. I'm as desperate as everyone else to find out what is happening. I sink or swim with the others.'

  Polowski didn't reply, but left a frosty atmosphere behind him.

  Chapter 6

  'Anything?'

  Sam Clifton was finding his captain's "over-the-shoulder" command style distracting and tedious. 'Same as half-hour ago, Jay Jay. The half-assed job the terraformers have done has left a virtually impenetrable atmosphere, at least as far as our instruments are concerned. It's like one continuous electrical storm surrounding the entire planet.'

  'About where things should have been nearly two years ago. I'm thinking the storm as you call it, is too much for the terraformers receivers to get their instruction signals from Earth, even though we factored the pos
sibility of severe weather in the equation. The terraformers were programmed to work independently of instruction from Earth once they got going. They should have still done so until such time as the storm gradually abates and then Earth could resume normal control.'

  'So? Either some seriously huge miscalculation on the forecast of the severity of the storms on spero...'

  'Thanks. That was my baby.'

  'I'm just saying. It can't be discounted. If not that, a breakdown of the transformers possibly caused by the storm. Or...'

  'Or Earth was unable to transmit instructions prior to the storm, which should have had the terraformers still doing their own thing in a reduced but efficient way until the next phase when the storm had blown itself out.'

  Clifton just had to say it. 'Then there's the war on Earth. For all we know, the Base no longer exists. It could be just us and whatever is on Spero.'

  Captain Jacobs stared at the magnified image of the storm covering Spero. 'I'm not liking our options, Sam. I see no alternative but to try to land and get the terraformers operational again. That means we are still about a year and a half behind, but that doesn't matter. The ship can sustain us for another five years if we need it to do that. Sam?'

  'Like everything else you had a hand in designing, the shuttles are as tough as they get. Good old fashioned over-engineering. The marsillium coating will protect the shuttle's hull on entry, but my concern is the storm and what it could do to the shuttle's circuits. Well shielded for normal landings, but look at the readings. Just how serious are you on us landing?'

  Jacobs said, 'Let's put it this way. You give me one valid reason not to try, and I'll say we don't land.'

  Clifton stared at the screen and the maelstrom on it. 'The ship can sustain us a few years, then we die. Or, we go through that mess of a storm and we three could die a whole lot sooner. Or, we might pull off a minor miracle, survive the landing, get the terraformers working, retreat to the ship and wait awhile until we can land the ship and live happily ever after.'