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"Captain?"
Dunjen
sighed and electronically tagged his place in the geological scans he was
monitoring. This is why he had turned off the comm to all but emergency hails.
It was the only way he could get anything done with only minimal interruption.
He might be Captain, but everyone on board the Cortez served in multiple
capacities. It was the only way to maximize efficiency; less crew meant less
cost. They all, to some extent, could carry out the various duties required to
fly and maintain the ship, but there was always one task vital to the mission
where each excelled above the others. Command could send a smaller vessel, eat
up less of their budget on crew necessities like rations and accommodations,
and redirect it toward maintenance and development.
As captain, he of all the crew had the hardest time
balancing his duties. Something always trumped research. This current intrusion
couldn't have come at a worse time. At this moment his mindset was firmly
entrenched in the science of the scans. The data was amazing; it could totally
transform their concepts of planetary development. Yet there was no choice but
to set it all aside; by necessity, he was captain first and a scientist second.
He hated when there was a conflict between the two. He loved the science; the
rest was just what he did to make it all possible.
He
straightened, and then arched his back. His neck popped when he cast a
disgruntled glance toward the hatch. Crewman Sanders waited there at attention.
The man was rock-steady, but his face was unnaturally pale. His eyes betrayed
the slightest flicker of tension. From under the edges of Sanders' shipsuit the
acrid scent of stress began to ting the surrounding air. Sanders' primary duty
was not deck crew. It was Master Technician.
Dunjen
had a bad feeling.
Immediately
Kyle Dunjen, Ph.D, sank beneath the surface, and like a set of emergency
software, the Captain fully reinstated. With a couple powerful strides he was
across the room, addressing the crewman. "Sanders, report."
"Sorry
to disturb you, Sir, but we were unable to raise you on the com," Sanders
responded, his throat bobbing. "The RSEs have experienced an undetermined
malfunction. Diagnostics indicate the radio signal is being received and that
the units' systems should be operational, but they have lost maneuverability.
The nearest one is ten meters out from our perimeter. I have had no success
getting them to reengage."
"Send
another one."
The
response took a beat too long in coming.
"They've
all been sent."
Dunjen
worked his jaw, silently considering the scenario, trying to focus on the
immediate problem without allowing himself to be influenced by his annoyance
with Sanders. It took more effort than it should. Eight Remote Specimen
Extractors and every one of them malfunctioned. Even given the...quality of
military issue, that rate of failure was stretching the probability.
The
captain moved past Sanders and through the hatch. He headed for the bridge, not
waiting to see if the crewman followed. "Do sensors indicate an
obstruction?"
Sanders'
effort to keep pace was betrayed by the slight laboring of his response. "Sensors
are experiencing interference and we have not been able to gain clear visual."
"Right."
Planetfall hadn't just started bad, it was persisting that way exponentially.
Dunjen ignored the crewman the rest of the trip to the bridge. Instead, he
spent the short walk mentally tallying the possible sources of the problem,
matched with potential fixes. Ducking through the final hatch, he headed for
the monitoring station. "Callaghan, report."
"Preliminary
scans confirmed non-corrosive atmosphere, primarily oxygen/hydrogen/nitrogen
mix, high humidity, breathable, but not comfortably and not for long. Temperature
readings are at 24 degrees Celsius. Gravity registers at .8 Earth-norm and
sensors detect no complex life forms. RSEs were deployed per protocol, two
units to a sector. All units were deployed before reduced functionality began
to register. The fourth RSE group was deployed at roughly 0300 ship-time. The
final unit processed the first two quadrants out from the ship's perimeter,
transmitting a steady stream of data. By the time it entered the third, sensors
registered a progressive decrease in mobility. Now the unit is fully
stationary. Diagnostics indicate no identifiable malfunction. We attempted to
retrieve it using the docking grapple, but the unit is too far out."
The
data didn't give Dunjen much to go on. Initiating the external sensors, he frowned
at the screen. "What is this distortion?"
"We
have been unable to determine, Sir," Callaghan answered. "The theory
is condensation from the extreme humidity in the atmosphere, but we won't know
for sure without physical inspection."
A
grimace twisted the captain's mouth. There was no joy in this expedition, only
one complication after another. And how was he to salvage the situation? It was
a hard call. If he sent a skip out after the unit, there was the chance the jet
craft would be affected by whatever knocked out the RSEs; but his only other
option was to send an EVA team without knowing the cause of these malfunctions,
without more time to observe their surroundings. Normally, he looked forward to
this moment, but not when they were unprepared. More than one tragedy had
stemmed from the decision to EVA too soon after Planetfall.
Jet craft were
expensive…feed-a-small-colony-for-a-year expensive. And people…well, Dunjen
didn't like his choices one bit.
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