Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

11 - Supply Module

"She's in pretty good shape, Commander," Fletcher reported after studying the prone module up close for a couple of minutes.

"Apart from falling over?" Chris laughed. "It's intact, that's the main thing."

"How do we get inside?" asked Lucy.

"That's going to be the hard part," Fletcher grunted. "While it's lying on its side, all that water is going to be a problem, but we have had one piece of luck."

"What am I missing?" asked Chris.

"The door, sir. It's landed with the hatch on the top side, above the waterline. Means we can open it without releasing all the water stored inside. That's the good news."

"Don't tell me, there's bad news too?" Chris frowned.

"With the module upright, the chain-lift moves the cryopods out of the water when we need access. Tipped over, like it is, the whole lot will be underwater."

"And that water is absolutely vital to us. Without it, we're dead," Chris added.

"So, we can't get the pods out of the water and we mustn't let the water out of the module?" asked Lucy.

"Exactly. But the pods are watertight, so they won't be affected," Chris replied. "The problem is getting to each pod to start the defrosting sequence and then, when it's finished, getting the occupant out of each pod before they drown when the canopy opens."

"Can we detach the pods from the chain-lift?" she asked.

"Not without pulling the power too," Fletcher replied.

"And there isn't enough power in the backup batteries in each pod to run the defrost sequence," said Chris. "But there may be a way around that. If my memory is accurate, there should be twenty-eight cryopods in use, all running, for now, off the main batteries of the Supply Module."

"About ten to twelve hours left on that, given the reduced load and the time we've already lost," said Lucy.

"Which means it doesn't have enough power to defrost even half of them," added Chris. "But I might have a solution. The cryopods are a really lightweight design. The empty ones will be even lighter because they don't have an occupant."

"Are the empty ones any use?" she asked.

"They have backup batteries too. Batteries we can remove once they are out of the water."

"Putting batteries into the occupied pods underwater would be deadly," Fletcher replied.

"So, we get the occupied pods out too."

"Not gonna fly, Commander. The pods are bigger than the hatch," Fletcher growled.

"Can we cut through the hull?"

"Not without equipment from modules three or four, sir."

"We don't have time for that. The pods float, don't they?"

"Yes, sir. Big air pocket inside," Fletcher shrugged.

"If we detach an occupied pod, let it float to the top, and start the defrost sequence. When the battery is almost flat, spin the pod around in the water until the battery access is above the water. Then we change the battery for one of the spares, reseal it and put the pod upright again."

"The engineering is sound, but the biology won't work," Fletcher replied, looking thoughtful.

"How so?" Chris asked, confused by Fletcher's unexpected answer.

"The only way you can do all that is to be in the water and that's going to be mighty cold, sir."

"Won't the water be frozen too?" asked Lucy.