Pursuit

Part 6 - Final Countdown

And so it happened. We launched into space, with Michael and Joseph in one ship, Kelly and Chris in the second, and Alex and me in the third. It remained a secret mission. On the launch day, it was announced to the world that the rocket carried a satellite to monitor the Trapitide attacks. We didn't lie. It did in fact carry a surveillance satellite along with us. We knew once the rocket would be in space, the Trapitides could not attack it. They hadn't yet developed technology that could reach that far into space.

After bidding farewell to Earth, the three ships went in three different directions. We were leaving our home and the people in it to die. I could not imagine I did that. I felt guilty. I was being selfish. How could I do that? I betrayed Earth and everyone in there. I still carry that guilt with me.

We planned to go into our hibernation pods after we would cross the graveyard orbit around earth. It was an orbit dedicated to space debris. Any satellite that completed its operational period, was de-orbited and parked into the graveyard orbit. Many private agencies that collected space junk from other orbits also parked them in the graveyard. Eventually, the graveyard became extremely cluttered with space junk, and any spaceship or probe crossing the orbit had to be carefully maneuvered to prevent collision with junk.

"All clear?", I asked Alex, who monitored the proximity of debris closest to the ship.

"We have U-01 and U-02 moving towards us with relative velocities of two meters per second and five meters per second respectively. They are about two kilometers away from us. Possibility of collision zero percent. We are good to go", Alex informed.

"Great! Increasing velocity to sixty-two kilometers per second. We are going to feel four G's so buckle up"

We managed to escape the graveyard without any collision.

"Warning, unidentified object at close proximity", the computer announced.

"What? Alex, can you check the monitor?"

"We have an object moving towards us with a relative velocity of ten meters per second."

"What's the probability of a collision?"

"Seventy-three percent. Collision in thirteen minutes. It is about thirty centimeters wide. Looks like debris"

"I thought we crossed the graveyard orbit"

"Warning, close proximity alert", the computer announced again.

"We have more debris. Looks like some particles escaped the graveyard orbit!", Alex yelled.

"No way! You need to increase the velocity of an object to increase the size of its orbit. Where did space junk get that energy from?"

"No time to think. We need to do something"

"Alex, plot the trajectories of the debris closest to us."

There were three particles whose paths intersected with our ship. We needed to accelerate to eighty meters per second to avoid collision with them and other debris ahead of us. Or we could decelerate to fifty-one meters per second. We decided to accelerate.

"Engaging thrusters in three, two, one", I said and pressed the thrust button.

There was no response from the ship.

"What happened? Why are we not accelerating?", Alex was surprised. So was I.

"Trying again. In three, two-", as I was about to complete the countdown, the lights went out.

"Primary generators offline", the computer announced.

"What the hell?! This is the worst time for a malfunction. Alex, keep track of the debris, I will try to reboot the system"