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Previously: Kevin gives the go-ahead to activate the battery heater in an attempt to sabotage the rover. Lana, Aiden and Joanna call Larsson to confront him about their genetic modification.
October 2056
Brant and Zawadi stopped a few metres from the meteorite, setting down the sample box they had been carrying between them. They had been careful to approach it from downwind to minimise the chances of contamination. The box contained plastic evidence-type bags, tongs and all the other tools they needed to pick up the meteorite and store it in a pristine state. Zawadi approached it slowly, taking care not to disturb the surrounding compacted snow.
“I’ll get some pictures first,” she said.
“It’s actually not as big as I was expecting for something with a mass of ten kilos or so,” said Brant. “I guess it’s just a lump of iron.”
Zawadi started photographing the meteorite. Pieter, who had been following closely behind, moved out to the side.
“Let’s get a picture of you with it.”
“Ok.”
Zawadi knelt down carefully next to it.
“Pull your sun visor up.”
Zawadi pulled up the gold-tinted visor and tried her best not to squint.
“That’s better.”
Brant opened the box and fished around with his good hand. He selected an appropriately sized set of metal tongs and a bag, handing the tongs to Zawadi. Pieter continued to photograph them as Zawadi carefully picked up the meteorite with the tongs and slipped it into the bag Brant was holding. Then she handed the tongs to Brant so she could close the zip-lock bag. He couldn’t do this with the hook attachment currently on his injured arm.
“Want to double-bag it?” he asked.
“Yes. Just to make sure.”
He leant over to take another sample bag out of the box and stopped. What was that noise? It was a soft warning chime in his headset. He looked at the screen on his wrist. It was a caution message from one of the rover’s systems.
“What is it?” asked Zawadi, noticing Brant straighten and start scrolling through the screen on his wrist.
“The battery temperature on the rover is out of limits.”
“Ah, shit!” said Pieter and immediately started running towards the rover as fast as his suit would allow.
Zawadi and Brant followed a few seconds later. As Brant climbed up the steps to the airlock, he could see into the rover. Pieter hit the emergency override and opened the inner door without waiting for the airlock to cycle. He was pulling open storage units frantically. On the third attempt, he found what he was looking for - a small toolbox. With one quick, smooth movement, he flicked open the catch on his helmet’s neck ring and removed it. He saw Brant begin to do the same and held up his hand.
“No! Leave it on. I can’t reach properly with mine on.” He dropped to his knees and ripped back the flooring of the rover to reveal an access hatch. “Disconnect the trailer and move the rover away while we still can,” he shouted to Brant.
Brant stopped for a second, still not fully comprehending, then he turned to Zawadi, who had just climbed the steps and was entering the airlock.
“Disconnect the trailer, we need to move the rover away.”
Without replying, she turned and jumped down the steps, stumbling as she went. Brant leant out of the airlock and, seeing Zawadi pick herself up, he turned and stepped over Pieter, who was undoing the access panel screws as fast as he could.
He jumped into the left seat. The screen in the centre console had a pulsating red border and was showing a schematic for the rover’s electrical system. Brant tapped the main battery, the heater control was showing as on. He moved the toggle switch icon from “on” through “auto” to “off”. It flicked straight back to “on” when he released his finger. He tried again with the same result. Shit!
Brant flicked back to the systems overview screen he normally had up while driving the rover. Come on, Zawadi. He focused on the part of the display showing the connections to the auxiliary trailer, which were green. Would it be faster if I went and helped her? The rover used a standard pintle hook and ring to connect to the trailer, but it also had a heavy-duty connection for power. This could be fiddly to disconnect at the best of times. He was just about to get out of his seat when the tow hook connection turned red. Craning his neck, Brant could see Pieter was lying down, the side of his face pressed against the floor as he reached as far as he could into the access hole. He thought he could see a faint wisp of smoke coming from the hole. It was hard to see and impossible to smell with his helmet on. Come on, Zawadi.
It seemed to be taking forever. Brant focused on the seconds ticking away in the corner of the display’s clock in an effort to calm himself and maintain a sense of time other than what his impatient brain was perceiving. I could just drive away now. As thick as the cable was, there was no way the connections would withstand towing the trailer. But then what would happen to the ends of the cable when it did snap? And Zawadi was out there. He thought he heard Pieter cursing, but his breathing was heavy now, making it almost impossible to hear anything outside his helmet. He fought the urge to remove it. The power connection turned red.
“Are you clear?”
No response.
“Zawadi! Are you clear?”
“Yes,” came a laboured response.
Brant gently squeezed the accelerator pedal, and an alarm instantly started blaring. He immediately stopped. Scanning the panel, he realised it was the fire alarm. Looking behind, there was grey smoke billowing out of the access hole rapidly filling the rover’s cab. Need to get Pieter out of there, but also need to get the rover clear of the aux trailer that is our only survival hope right now. Brant hit the accelerator, and the rover lunged forward. He held it for a couple of seconds and then released it. As he did so, he heard a scream, even through his helmet and the cacophony of blaring alarms. An orange glow reflected softly from the glass screens on the centre console.
As he turned, Brant saw the flames shooting out from the hole like a blowtorch. The battery casing had breached, and it was venting. Venting toxic smoke and flames. Pieter was lying with his feet towards the rover cockpit. Brant grabbed one with his good hand and pulled, but he wouldn’t budge. He lost his grip and fell backwards. Struggling to his feet, Brant could see why he hadn’t been able to pull Pieter back. The upper torso of his suit was beginning to melt and was stuck to the exposed metal floor. Brant moved forward to try to grab Pieter’s shoulder and pull him free, but the intense heat beat him back, even through his own suit. He staggered and tried to make his way back, but the smoke was so that intense he couldn’t even see the floor beneath him now. He dropped to his knees and, feeling in front of him, found a foot. He worked his hand up the motionless leg as far as the waist, but he couldn’t bear the heat on his hand any longer. His own glove was starting to feel soft.
Brant pulled back and, for the first time, thought about how he was going to get out of the rover. If he couldn’t get any closer than Pieter’s waist to the access hole, which was belching out smoke and flames, there was no way he could get past to the door. Brant turned and crawled back towards the rover cockpit. The top of his helmet bumped into the centre console. He reached up and pulled himself up. The smoke was so thick now all he could see was grey out the front of his visor. When he looked back, the grey had an orange tint to it. Steadying himself with his hooked hand, he felt along the base of the front right seat desperately trying to find the escape tool. Finally, he found it and pulled it from its mounting. Gripping it in his good hand, he pawed his way clumsily across the seat and fell flat on his chest, his helmet banging so hard against the metal window frame the faceplate cracked. For the first time, he could smell it. An acrid smell burned his nose. He tried to hold back but burst into a coughing fit. It was now or never. He reached up to the glass with his good hand, willing himself not to drop the tool. Feeling a smooth surface, he pressed the tool against it and pushed. The mechanism released, and the pin inside shot forward, shattering the glass. Brant’s head, which had been resting against the window, flopped forward. He dropped the tool and pulled himself forward along the seat like a seal moving across the ice. With one final push and he flopped out through the broken window. The view from his visor temporarily cleared, and he saw the side of the rover disappear beneath him as he fell headfirst. There was a thud, and all he could see was snow stuck to the outside of the cracked visor.
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Elseware
I hope you enjoyed the latest episode of Orphans of Apollo. Although it’s tragic, it was fun to write and come back to for editing this week.
I’m afraid there is not much of an update. It’s been pretty busy around here with non-writing stuff. But look out for the climax of this season. I haven’t decided whether it’s going to be one episode or two, so we’ll see how that shakes out when I edit the scenes.
Have a great week.
Thanks for reading - the future belongs to the optimists.
Alex
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