Interstellar 1

Chapter 6: The mission goes far south.

The Interstellar 1, command center.

All the other 3 crew members floated in the command center of the Interstellar 1, which did not have a centrifuge. "What are our mission goals, Commander Alex?" Phillips asked. As Alex acted as commander when Warren was not there, the crewman addressed him the same way they did the commander. Alex sniggered and said "You do not have to call me commander, Phil." "About those mission goals?" Philips inquired hopefully. Alex sighed. "Our goals are to have a full orbit so we can see what's on the other side of the planet." Alex performed a few small course corrections to get out of the geostationary orbit they were currently in. They floated out of the room. Jack said "I know what we can do while we are waiting! A space-suit race!" Alex groaned. "No." "Please?" "NO!" Eventually, both Alex and Philips decided it would be fun. They suited up in the spacedock. "Race you from one side to the other" Activating the RCS on their suits, they raced across the dangerous half mile length of the spacedock, which was covered in gangplanks, tunnels, hoses, and other equipment. After about an hour of racing, they went back in. As they moved across the horizon, Alex burst out in alarm "Severe magnetic radiation event, just 30 miles from our position." There was nothing they could do. Viewing the plume of smoke on the horizon, they concluded it was a very deep level volcano that went down to the planet core. The radiation hit. The crew modules, spacedock, and the warp drive were radiation shielded. The communications were not. Looking helplessly up at the specialised comms array that could travel faster than light as sparks flew off it. The top with its special crystal nearly exploded as the crystal was not used to such power. In the med bay, Wang Tsu heard the alarms wail. He did not know why, but his heart was beating. As they passed over the horizon, Alex took detailed images of the planet, as if it mattered. They soared silently over mountains and outcroppings, some of them only meters away from the ship. The beautiful green mountains let some light through from the other side, making the crystals seem to pulse and glow. Underneath, they could see the core pulsing. Alex quickly charted a course to speed up the orbit and then settle in a geostationary orbit that the lander could still reach. As soon as they were in a safe course, Jack got on his spacesuit and rushed up to the Comms array. The crew held their breath as he performed inspection after inspection on the comms array. He silently floated into the command center, sobbing. "The comms are dead." He said, his face pale like a ghost. Jack floated to his room in the centrifuge as fast as a warp drive.