Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

3 - Reaction

It had taken another two hours to complete the defrosting cycle for the rest of Elysian's Command Crew. Chris called them together in the communal room, the general-purpose room for briefings, meals and socialising for any crew awake during the thirteen-year voyage. Several further members of the crew were being defrosted in their cryonic storage pods but the four most senior were waiting for him.

Bob Pemberton - ships pilot and 1st Officer, Lucy Breakwell - Colony Commander, Calvin Nobel – Astronomer, and Chuck Johnson - Chief Engineering Officer, were all strapped into the seats around the outer wall of the circular room, when he glided down the central ladder and planted his magnetic soles on the metal deck.

The room was dimly illuminated by a single, ambient LED in the ceiling, instead of the usual dozen. Chris had ordered Foxy to switch off most of the other lights on the ship, along with all screens and set the life-support system to minimum to help extend the life of the Elysian's batteries.

"Right guys, I know you've got some theories on what's happened, but there isn't time to discuss that now. We've got just over six hours to get everyone and all our supplies safely down to the surface before the life-support up here fails and everything shuts down."

"Six hours isn't long enough," said Bob Pemberton matter-of-factly. At 1.92m tall and forty-one years old, Bob was both the tallest and oldest member of the Command Crew.

"It's all we've got," Chris replied.

"How can we defrost the rest of the crew in just six hours?" asked Lucy Breakwell. Technically Lucy outranked Chris, but while they were still aboard the Elysian, he was in command. Her long, black hair flailed in the lack of gravity even though she had tied it back in a ponytail.

"We can't," he replied. "But then we don't have enough power to defrost everyone anyway. Foxy, how many crew members can we defrost with the remaining battery power?"

"Seventeen, Commander. Possibly eighteen if battery efficiency permits it but I would not recommend that as it risks losing power mid-defrost. Seventeen is the optimum number given the power remaining."

"Essentially, if we try to defrost more at a time, the higher drain reduces the remaining battery time and we end up with fewer people defrosted, and less time to prepare for deployment. If we defrost less at a time, we get life-support for longer but also end up with fewer people defrosted."

"What about the people we can't defrost?" asked Lucy.

"They'll have to stay frozen until we can organise alternative power on the ground. The supply modules each have a twelve-hour backup of their own and the cryopods had internal backup batteries for at least six hours after that."

"Just eighteen hours to set up power systems?" she groaned.

"Can't we use the module batteries to defrost everyone else after the ship's batteries have run down?" asked Calvin, the petite-build, shaggy-haired mission astronomer.

"Yes, but that gives us other problems," replied Chris. "Foxy reckons the supply modules' own batteries could each defrost around eight occupants but, with more than thirty left in each, that will leave the others to die."

"I should have a go at repairing the fusion reactors," suggested Chuck. "It's the only way to solve the power problem."

"Not while we're in a degrading orbit and experiencing hull heating," Chris replied, shaking his head. "The atmosphere up here might be thin, but an E.V.A. suit isn't going to protect you for long against the friction heat. On top of that, one of the fusion reactors has been breached. We're picking up radiation leakage. The E.V.A suits don't have shielding for that."