The Blue People of Cloud Planet (2 page)

Events in Space-Time

‘The launch of Pioneer 10 in 1972 from Cape Canaveral, Florida was watched by thousands of onlookers including a father and his six year old son, Jack. This was a pivotal moment in time for the Parker family which resulted in generations of space travellers.’

Cambridge University, England, 2003

Jack Parker’s head was literally buried in his books. It had to be as he was majoring in honours in both physics and mathematics and exams were a matter of weeks away. Even so, his ears pricked up as the BBC newsreader mentioned a report from NASA and he listened with fascination.

‘Pioneer 10 spacecraft sends last signal – after more than 30 years, it appears that the venerable Pioneer 10 spacecraft has sent its last signal to Earth. Pioneer’s last, very weak signal was received on 23
^rd
January 2003. NASA engineers report that Pioneer 10’s radioisotope power source has decayed and it may not have enough power to send further transmissions to Earth.’

The NASA spokesman continued with the history of Pioneer 10 but Jack’s mind drifted back to that day when he saw the launch with his father.

‘Was that really thirty years ago?’ he mused. He could recall the event as if it were yesterday. He remembered the excitement among the crowd, the flash of light and the noise which bombarded his ears as the rocket crawled into the early morning sky. From that moment he had wanted to travel into space, and he still did.

‘And now,’ continued the NASA spokesman, ‘Pioneer 10 is the most distant manmade object at over 16 billion kilometres from Earth. Pioneer 10 will now continue to coast silently as a ghost ship through deep space into interstellar space heading generally for the red star Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull – a mere 68 light years away.’

 Jack sat back and wondered what was in store for the little satellite but dismissed the thought as it was going to be a long, long time before anything significant happened.

 Little did he know that it had just changed course and velocity. How could he have possibly imagined the consequences for future generations of the Parker family?

‘I have meticulously examined records to try to explain how Pioneer 10 headed in the direction of Cloud Planet. Interestingly, in 2000, NASA reported that the largest asteroid detected to date was on a near collision course with Earth and it was classed as high risk. Then, in 2003, a minute change in its trajectory away from Earth was observed which downgraded the risk to negligible. No reason was recorded for this occurrence.

‘I used advanced algorithms, not available to mathematicians at the start of the 21
^st
century, and conclude with 99% certainty that Pioneer 10 and this huge asteroid were on a head-on collision course. My complex modelling shows that the satellite would have experienced a phenomenal gravitational sling-shot changing its trajectory by 90 degrees. The model predicts a huge increase in velocity and a destination in the constellation of Vercingetorix 132 years later.’  

Solar Flare - 2125

In this year, the sun spewed out one of the most powerful solar flares in its history. Billions of tonnes of incandescent hydrogen were blasted millions of kilometres from its surface and intense radiation spread at the speed of light through outer space.

Communication systems around planet Earth were badly disrupted but quickly restored after computers reset themselves and continued transmitting as before. Anxious technicians sat at their consoles awaiting messages from distant probes and various spacecraft on journeys to far corners of our solar system.

One by one, each returned a transmission showing that all was functioning satisfactorily.

Only one mission failed to return a signal.

Communications with StarGazer-1 were terminated!

The lone astronaut aboard that spacecraft was sleeping.

In fact, he had been in a deep sleep for nearly five years and would have continued in that state for a further four months had it not been for the severe bombardment of radiation that streamed over his craft.

He knew nothing of this, however, because his whole body was at five degrees Celsius and encased in a strange cocoon within StarGazer-1.

The force field around his spacecraft had deflected nearly all the electromagnetic waves. However, one array of solar cells was burned out by the sheer intensity of the blast and curled over the end of the communications antennae. The damage to this solar panel caused a momentary breach in the spacecraft’s defences. Radiation swept through some of the onboard computers and through a microchip controlling a most vital function.

The radio waves passed over a group of transistors etched in the silicon surface and altered their settings. Some that were ‘off’ were turned ‘on’ and others that were ‘on’ were switched ‘off’. Thus ‘zeros’ changed to ‘ones’ and ‘ones’ became ‘zero’. In the binary system, the numeric value represented by one particular group of transistors was changed from five to fifty. Critically, other algorithms relied on this specific value.  

Even more critically, this number was the time in years that the lone astronaut would remain at five degrees Celsius.

Now it had a ‘nought’ after it and the clock was reset to zero!

Chuck Parker would not wake up until 2175, provided power and vital resources lasted that long and he did not die beforehand.

PROJECT OMEGA

‘We move forward to the middle of the 22
^nd
century and make a visit to Earth where many of my family members reside. We are not going to meet any of them yet, and certainly not where we are heading. However, we are about to become acquainted with two key characters in my story.’

Tropical Rainforest, Borneo – 2150

It was midday and the fierce sun was directly over the thick forest canopy, bathing the upper leaves and branches in hot sunshine and drying the remnants of the early morning tropical downpour. Further down, raindrops cascaded from leaf to leaf and branch to branch, so that at ground level it was still raining heavily. The atmosphere was hot and humid and surprisingly gloomy with much of the sunlight filtered out by the mass of vegetation that soared 40 metres above. The whole area was filled with a babble of diverse sound as various species called, warned, mated or merely chattered. Suddenly, the noise stopped as two bodies crashed through the undergrowth and slithered down a wet, rocky incline.

‘Shit!’ cried Olivia as she stumbled headlong down the shallow ravine, falling face first into the muddy undergrowth and disturbing creatures she didn’t want to think about. Her face was splattered with mud while blood seeped from a cut on her forehead.

‘Shit! Shit! Shit! – What the hell am I doing in this stinking forest? – I’m a top astronaut!’ Olivia vented her fury as a second body slid down the same slope.

Scott Parker landed heavily beside her.

‘We’re being tested, Livia. This mission, whatever it is, needs the right people or combination of peoples. You’re the fourth partner I’ve struggled through these forests with and you were with Andy two days ago.’

‘Tested! I don’t do bloody tested! I’ll train for any job they want and do it!’ she replied, ‘And let’s get one thing straight. It’s Olivia, not Livia, OK!’

Scott raised an eyebrow. This was going to be an interesting couple of days.

‘I had planned a two week training course in one of the few remaining forested areas of the Borneo jungle. The candidates were dropped in the middle of nowhere with their first partner and given only a crude map, minimal instructions and a compass with a swinging needle – the sort that became obsolete in the middle 21
^st
century. Each was equipped with a rucksack and the basics for a two day trek, including one overnight stop. Then, when they reached the trainer’s tent [and not everyone did] and after a night’s rest they were reassigned a different partner, given new instructions and off into the jungle again to repeat the whole process.

‘Olivia was the dominant partner on the first two treks which were successful because of her resourcefulness and determination. However, Andy was known to be single-minded and this pairing became a clash of personalities. They arrived late at their destination.

‘All four of Scott’s pairings successfully completed the missions proving his outstanding leadership qualities. There was an obvious chemistry in his partnership with Olivia.
I know because she was delighted when she found out that he was in the same pool of top astronauts selected by me for a major confidential mission.

‘However, the trainees were unaware that I was monitoring and recording their every move and utterance.’

‘And another thing about that idiot, Andy! Not only did I have to ward off his groping when we camped but he wouldn’t listen to me when I knew we should take a left fork. We took a right and got lost – it took us ages to retrace our steps!’

‘That’s not like you. You should have been firmer, Olivia.’

That was typical of Scott, Olivia thought, always rational in all situations. That’s what she liked about him.

‘Olivia Medici, 34, and Scott Parker, 38, are both honours graduates in astro-physics who doctored at the McFarland Research Centre on the Moon, which is where they first met. Scott was attracted to Olivia but found her somewhat aloof and difficult to know. Both are fully qualified astronauts with licences to pilot all Roving Orbital Landers [ROL’s], shuttles and long-distance rockets. They have clocked up many thousands of pilot hours between the Moon base and Earth and more recently between the Moon and the new Mars station which was in its final stages of completion.

‘Olivia is of British and Italian extraction. She is tall, slim with jet black hair and strikingly good looking. She has a reputation for being serious and very critical if her high standards are not met. She has two younger brothers and a sister 20 years her junior who is studying geology and glaciology.

‘Scott is American with a passionate love of space travel and adventure that runs back through the generations to Jack Parker in the early 21
^st
century. More recently, Scott’s father, Chuck, was deemed ‘lost in space’ after the solar flare of 2125. Scott is tall, well-built and handsome in a craggy way. He is the epitome of logic, coolness and rationale and gets on well with all acquaintances. ‘A born leader’ is recorded in his profile.’

‘We need to get off our arses and back on track’, said Olivia. ‘We’ve a way to go before camping at this river.’ She pointed to a blue line on the rather crude map they were following, ‘Which we’ll intercept in about four hours on this northerly heading.’

‘And then what?’ Scott queried.

‘Candlelit dinner for two washed down by your favourite red wine.’

‘I wish. Lead on,’ he replied.

They reached the river after five hours of trekking in the oppressive heat and with the light beginning to fail they set up the two person tent. The candlelit dinner was beans heated on a gas burner and washed down with tea, with chocolate for dessert.

They finally settled in their sleeping bags and Scott fell asleep almost immediately.

 ‘How does he do it?’ Olivia thought, disturbed by every sound and movement outside. She finally drifted into a fitful sleep....... the dark cavern entrance was so tempting and Olivia could not resist entering to explore it. But the light dropped quickly and, turning, she ran, not out of the cave but further into the murky depths. It was so black she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face and then she bumped into the wet, fetid wall and screamed!

‘Olivia! Wake up. What’s wrong?’ cried Scott. He could not believe that Olivia was whimpering in her sleep.

‘Oh no! No! I’m trapped.’

‘Olivia, wake up!’ Scott gently shook her shoulder.

She woke with a start. Perspiration had beaded on her forehead and her heart hammered wildly. With horror she realised that, after all these years, the nightmare had returned to haunt her; only this time in company.

 ‘It’s OK’, she stammered, ‘only a bad dream.’

‘It sounded more than that – do you want to talk about it?’

‘No, I’ll be fine’.

Olivia was determined not to let Scott realise how agitated she was. However she was grateful when he gently put his hands on her shoulders and spooned her back into his front. Tentatively, he slid one arm around her waist and was delighted when she lifted his hand and cupped it firmly to one of her breasts. They both quickly fell asleep.

They woke the following morning and got on with their daily routine.

‘So what’s next?’ Olivia queried. ‘I seem to remember we follow the river downstream for a few kilometres.’

‘Yes, right, but we have to traverse the river first.’

‘What!’ cried Olivia, ‘Are you crazy? Look there’s a reasonable path this side, that bank over there looks horrendous. Show me where it says we have to cross?’

‘It’s not in the instructions but I know we have to get to the other side of the river. Olivia, you have to trust me.’

She looked into Scott’s blue eyes. There was a depth and quality that reassured her and also an underlying sadness. Yes, she could trust this man unlike her disastrous partnership with Andy.

‘OK buster! – But you’d better be damned right ‘cause we’re going to get awfully wet crossing that!’

They didn’t just get wet but absolutely soaked. The journey down the riverbank for the next half mile was treacherous. Then, they were on a reasonable path and Scott was quick to point out that on the other side of the river the gorge came down to the very edge – there would have been no easy route there. After a further three kilometres they came to a clearing and there was the trainer sitting under his awning.

 ‘You’re the first team to get here,’ he said, ‘well done.’

‘So where now?’ enquired Olivia, stifling a yawn. ‘Which lucky guy has got me next?’

‘Ma-am, 100 metres up the road there’s hot showers, fresh clothes and a three course lunch in a five star hotel for you,’ he answered with a wry grin, ‘and then you’re both on a shuttle to Moon Base leaving at 3 pm sharp – don’t miss it!’

‘Yes sir,’ they replied in harmony. Things were looking up.