Black Star

Chapter Twenty

The space bar wasn't particularly busy that evening although it was a superb vantage point to observe the Planet Mars. By now, most people had their media and many were enjoying a meal or chatting with friends. A rowdy group would randomly cheer or shout out for no apparent reason. There were a few smaller 2D screens dotted around which showed a live feed of the drop to Mars by Maxtor's crew. They would relay occasional live feeds from the drop and parts of the exploration of the surface. As far as most were concerned, they might not have bothered.

In the intervening hours, Maxtor's drop crew had got themselves ready to make their trip to Mars. First, they had to get themselves into free space guided by Adrenalin Sinus up on the bridge.

"You people ready?" said Maxtor, who was greeted with a trio of nodding heads.

"Let's go," he said with a thumbs up.

Seiren couldn't contain her joy, like a child at a fairground ride. Leroy Payne wasn't quite as convinced, but he interjected for good measure. "Let's ride."

The professor's heart was pounding through his chest, he was so frightened. The drop was designed to be automated, but Sinus would monitor aboard the Lazarus to intervene, which was highly unlikely.

"Sinus, are we clear on communication," barked Maxtor.

"Yes, sir," chirped Sinus joyously in their ears. "All systems are on and checked. We have about 35 minutes until the drop."

A narrow stairway stood in front of the team and it led up into the ceiling of the corridor. They had avoided an audience by entering through a hatch in a private area of the ship. Once through the hatch, Maxtor looked up at the tunnel which disappeared into the distance. He began the ascent and led the team up a ladder. He was closely followed by Leroy and then Touchreik and Seiren. They climbed through the roof of the corridor and into a 3-meter diameter tube. Looking up even Maxtor had vertigo. They were now inside one of the spokes of the Lazarus that would lead into the central core of the ship. This area did not spin and was zero G, once they got there and it was a very long climb of around 400 metres.

"Comms, check. People."

"Seiren. Check."

"Touchreik. Check."

"Leroy. Check."

"Stay close, the first part is a climb but remember it will get easier and easier as we get closer to the central core of the ship. The virtual gravity will have less and less effect, as for the vertigo I can't say. Let's start."

They climbed the ladder slowly but had reasonable manoeuvrability in the thin cloth suits. They only differed by their build and appeared like clones in white bodysuits and red tight-fitting headgear. It was a long climb and on a couple of occasions, the professor had to stop to catch his breath. He'd been climbing for around 15 minutes when he stopped for a third time for a breath as the commander and Leroy carried on ahead, not noticing he had stopped. The professor peered down between his arms and past Seiren and saw the vast drop below. His knuckles went white as he gripped tighter onto the ladder, pulling himself closer. He was more frightened of panicking or losing control than he was of the drop itself.

"Don't look down," Seiren barked at him gruffly.

Instead, he looked up and could see the other two around thirty metres ahead of him. By now, he was getting lighter as the gravity decreased the closer they climbed to the central core. After around ten more minutes, he looked up to see that the commander had spun around and appeared to be upside down staring down at him. Loosening his grip a little, he could feel a strange sensation of being very light and yet still being pulled slowly down the tube. Touchreik grabbed on once more. Eventually, he reached the point of weightlessness and was now able to gently push himself along the ladder. Seiren followed and eventually, the four traveled a little faster towards the core of the ship. The tube they had been climbing exited into a room. The room looked like it was spinning around in front and was disorientating. Their exit was embedded in a complete loop around the room and the commander and Leroy were inside the room now. They, the room and everything in it were tumbling repeatedly. Maxtor called to the professor and beckoned him inside.