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Previously: flashback to 2046 when Kevin Valenti met with Congressman Sam Mullen in an attempt to get him to support stronger anti genetic engineering legislation. When Mullen refuses, Valenti suggests he may have to take matters into his own hands.
September 2056
Lana stepped through the door of the EVA prep room, ruffling and retying her flat hair. Aiden and Joanna were at the biology workstation.
“Well, they’re on their way,” she announced.
No response.
Joanna was glued to the microscope, with Aiden looking over her shoulder.
“Just look at how healthy they are. Only ten per cent of the unmodified variety even survived in that tray,” said Joanna excitedly.
“I can tell it’s amazing from your voice Joanna, but honestly, biology. Not my thing. I’ll get back to the mechanical and computer stuff.”
Joanna smiled without looking up from the microscope.
“They’re on their way then?” he said, turning to Lana. “I’ll go and keep an eye on them.”
Lana acknowledged him with a brief, decisive nod.
“Looks like you found something interesting?” she asked, sitting down on the chair next to Joanna.
“Yeah.” Her eyes stayed fixed on the eyepiece. “All the genetically modified plants in this tray survived, and only ten per cent of the unmodified control survived.” Joanna pulled back from the microscope. “That soil was really acidic. I’m surprised any of the control survived at all.”
“That seems like a good result then?”
Joanna avoided the question. “Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be like those plants?”
“I’m not sure I’m following you, Jo?”
“To have been given a gift or an ability which lets you outperform or have an edge over others?”
Lana tilted her head slightly, a curious smile forming. “You mean like some sort of superhero?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Not really. Logan was always the one who was into that sort of stuff when we were younger,” she chuckled. “He still is really.”
“Me neither. It’s just these plants have got me thinking, that’s all.”
“Well, we are a lot more complex than plants and plus, that sort of research has been banned for decades,” said Lana dismissively.
Joanna opened her mouth to speak, but words didn’t come.
“What is?” asked Lana.
“Oh, nothing.”
There was an uncomfortable pause.
“Well, I’m going to look at some of the data from the telescope for Zawadi. Do some real work like everyone else is.”
The rover slowed to a halt. It was so smooth that Zawadi didn’t even realise and continued to read the procedures for setting up the drill rig on her tablet.
“We’re here,” said Pieter over his shoulder.
Zawadi looked up. “Already?”
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” said Brant, turning in his seat. “You were pretty engrossed in those procedures. Are you good to go with helping me set up the drill rig?”
“Yeah,” said Zawadi confidently.
“Alright then. Let’s suit up,” said Pieter.
Fifteen minutes later, the three of them were standing at the back of the auxiliary trailer. Zawadi had the remote control for the small crane, which was currently in its stowed position at the back of the trailer in her hand.
“Ok, has everything come up green after the self-test?” asked Brant.
“Yep,” replied Zawadi. “Should I unstow it?”
“Go ahead.”
Zawadi pushed the button to unstow the crane. It slowly began to unfold like a giant creature waking from a deep sleep. When it was finished, the jib hung over the back of the auxiliary trailer. Zawadi lowered the hook to the height of the deck.
“Ok Pieter, let’s hook it up.”
Pieter pulled the hook to the end of the drill rig, where it had been stored in the cargo area of the auxiliary trailer.
“A bit more slack please, Zawadi.”
Zawadi lowered the hook some more. Brant pointed to the attachment point on the rig and once he had enough cable, Pieter slipped the hook through the steel loop which formed the attachment point.
“Alright Zawadi, take up the slack, but that’s all. I’ll go and release the tie-downs,” said Brant.
It wasn’t as easy as it would have been with two hands, but working with his good hand and the hook attachment, Brant released all of the strops holding down the drill rig.
“I’ll stay in here and guide it to the edge. Start pulling it out when you are ready. Just go slowly, ok.”
“Here we go then.”
Zawadi slowly extended the telescopic boom of the crane, pulling out the drill rig from the back of the trailer. For the next ten minutes, they worked efficiently to open out the three legs, then use the crane to stand it upright.
“Good job people,” said Pieter. “That actually went much smoother than I thought it might.”
“Yeah, good job Zawadi,” added Brant. “Let’s get the drill out and hook it up.”
Zawadi smiled in satisfaction to herself. Aiden’s voice came over the comm loop.
“Looked good from back here also. Good work.”
“Nice to know you’re watching over us,” said Pieter.
Aiden couldn’t decide if it was a genuine or sarcastic comment. No matter, they seemed to be working well together.
The vibe was definitely different, with just the three of them sat around the table for lunch. Without Brant and Pieter’s banter, there was no boy’s locker room dynamic. Lana admitted to herself that she missed having them around. They did inject a certain fun element into the group. But she definitely felt more at home in this environment.
“Do you think it will feel different when we are doing this for real?” said Joanna as she joined Lana and Aiden at the table.
“Maybe a little, but things are pretty realistic here though,” said Aiden. “Don’t you think?”
“Yes, but we all know a rescue party can be here from Concordia station in six or seven hours. That won’t be possible when we are on the Moon,” countered Joanna.
Aiden put his fork down. “A lot can happen in six or seven hours. Just look at what happened when we landed,” said Aiden.
“I guess you are right. How are they getting on out there?”
“They have set up the drill rig at the first site and they’re just about to hook up the drill head. It all seems to be going ok.”
“How is Brant coping with his hand?”
Lana gave Joanna a knowing smile. “You know you can always talk to him directly if you want,” said Lana.
“I know, but I feel I should let them get on with their thing. He doesn’t want me checking up on him all the time.”
“He’s doing just fine Jo,” said Aiden.
They carried on with their lunch. Lana looked through some messages from her family. Aiden was reading news headlines and Joanna tried to read her book, but couldn’t concentrate.
The soft chime alerted them in unison. It was coming from Aiden’s tablet. He looked at it for a few seconds, then pushed his seat back and went over to the console where he had been working before.
“What is it?” asked Lana.
“It’s a system alarm from the rover.” he continued, staring intently at the screen. “It looks like the main battery temperature is rising.”
His fingers worked quickly, bringing up a schematic of the electrical system. He also brought up the expedition loop on the console speakers. Brant was mid-sentence guiding Zawadi through part of the drill head setup. Lana and Joanna hovered behind Aiden without saying anything.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Aiden. “The load on the battery right now is hardly anything. The rover is stationary. Even if all the environmental and other systems were running full bore, they only draw a fraction of the power of the drive motors.”
“When will they get the alarm?” asked Lana.
“It’s only a couple of degrees above normal, so…” Aiden was distracted, looking through the schematics. “I’m not sure what the threshold is to trigger an alarm to the rover crew, but it is higher than here.”
“Keep working it. There’s no need to get them all jumpy if it’s just an instrumentation issue.”
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Thanks for reading the latest episode of Orphans of Apollo. I hope you enjoyed it.
I’ve mentioned Andor a few times recently and how much I have been enjoying it. This week I watched the last episode of season 2 and it didn’t disappoint. I started writing about it for my regular update, and well, it kind of went on longer than I was expecting. Therefore, rather than having a long update here, I have turned this into its own post, which I will put out during the week. So look out for that.
Have a great week.
Thanks for reading - the future belongs to the optimists.
Alex
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