The Birth of The Unity (sequel to Chronicle of Nautilus)

Chapter 8: The Frozen Animals

"Captain, could you identify the anomalies on the screen?" a female assistant asked.

Four red dots blinked on the image filled with green objects and green colored areas in front of Adam's eyes. The image contained a map of the complex solar system they were about to pass with marked gas clouds, comets, and asteroids.

The old Adam replied, "The two bodies on sector sixteen,— " He used the reference to the gravity center of the system, sectors were spheres indicating how far the object was, one being closest to the center, thirty being the furthest. "They must be are just like us, bodies from outer space only passing by. Their speed is too great to be anything else. The one that is at sector five must be a massive invader. It was caught by the gravitational forces and is currently going through the slowing procedure, following a highly elliptical path. And the last one, in sector twenty-one— " Adam scratched his chin. "For that, I have my suspicions but need Jane to do calculations for me."

Adam touched the floating map, copied and dragged data with peculiar movements of his fingers. After finishing, he said, "Jane, could you identify for us what the object is? Will the amount of data suffice?"

The computer program replied, her voice attuned and directed in a way that only Adam could hear her. Others heard it only as a whisper, "It will. Be back with the results in a few."

Currently, Adam was sitting in a chair by his assistants, in front of a two on two meters glass wall designed to project and analyze star maps. The chair was no as comfortable as his, but it has its own advantages. The old captain kicked away and spun around. As he slowed down, he allowed himself to lay back and think about other problems. With his eyes closed, he detached himself from this room and even after the chair stopped spinning he continued thinking.

Everyone in the control room directed their eyes at the captain who currently was acting strangely.When they heard Jane whisper and saw the captain open his eyes, they turned back to their stations.

Jane said, "It is a local dense terrestrial planet that a couple of years ago was kicked off its orbit by a passing object. Could have been a moon of the closest two planets. Currently, it is regaining its stable orbit."

"Thank you, Jane." Adam turned to the assistant who had asked for identification of the objects. It was a middle-aged woman, named Patty. She had short black hair and tight lips that barely smiled. She possessed a mind much sharper than her nose, which was the most distracting feature of her elfin shaped face. The crew behind her eyes called her 'The Robot' because she was cold, calculating and never showed emotions. She was a perfect helper, but a terrible human being. If she had to choose between the mission success and anyone dying, she would choose mission without doubting it a millisecond. Adam told her, "Well it is just a moon that once belonged to one of the planets. Its orbit is not yet settled and hardly unpredictable."

"Thank you. Tomorrow we will have a rough approximation of the maneuver."

"Great." Adam stood up and walked a circle around the room, stopping by his assistants, checking how they were doing with the preparations. He paused by engine operator, who currently was running and exhausting and thorough engine activation simulation. "Is everything fine? Any deviations from the normal?" he asked.

"One of the hoses seem to be leaking 0.03 atmospheres of pressure per twenty hours. I already have notified the master engineer and his assistant responsible for the engines to replace it."

"Great." Adam walked away and returned to the captain's chair.

An image of Chuck pressing through narrow passages towards the leaking hose crossed his mind. He allowed himself a grin. The old specialist will face at least one last challenge before going to rest. As Adam's eyes focused on the screen, in one corner he saw a blinking new message. It was from the park keeper, Fiona. It carried a punctuation mark, a label of importance.