The Blue People of Cloud Planet (36 page)

Message Received and Understood

Alison and Steve instructed Zec-2 to take ROL-2 out of the huge lander bay. They cleared the doors and were awed by the size of the starship. From inside it was easy to forget that this was a giant of engineering skills and technology. As they moved around the starship, the lander seemed small and puny. Then they turned at the rear of the ion drive, backed away and faced the damaged section.

In the command domes of LifeSeeker-1 and ROL-2, everyone was shocked at the extent of the appalling destruction in front of them. At least one quarter of the thousands of thrusters that made up the ion drive were gone, completely sheared off at the base plate which held them. The base plate itself was buckled and there was no sign of the fourth major rocket booster which was once attached to that quadrant of the ion drive.

‘It’s just as well they didn’t design this baby for a return trip!’ Steve said as they moved the lander to the centre of the ion drive for a double check on the nuclear reactor.

‘No radiation detected.’ Alison informed after checking her instruments thus confirming that the integrity of the nuclear chamber had not been breached.

‘OK, good, return to starship,’ AJ commanded.

Later, in the command dome of LifeSeeker-1, the astronauts were debating and arguing their next moves but in view of what had happened they could not see how they could mount an offensive strike.

‘The Black seems to anticipate our every move! Why it can even re-programme our computers, it’s always a step ahead of us!’ Steve said in exasperation.

‘Of course it can,’ Pete replied, ‘it’s an unimaginably sophisticated computer which recognises our complex equipment. No wonder it can track us and out manoeuvre us.’

‘So how are we going to defeat it?’ Steve said and you could cut the silence in the command dome with a knife.

‘Attention! Attention! New message coming from the SOS dwelling!’

That got everyone’s rapt attention and they stared intently at the dome display.

--C – H – L – O – R – I – N – E  ---S– T – O – P – S  --- T – H – E –

- B – L – A – C – K ----

‘Chlorine!?’ they all chorused.

--C – H – E – C – K --- E – S – T – U – A – R– Y  ---- R – I – V – E – R – S –

- C – A – N – A – L – S  ----

‘Estuaries! Rivers! What have we missed?’ said AJ.

-- N – O --- B – L – A – C – K ---  W – H – Y --- C – H – L – O – R – I  – N – E

 --- B – U – T --- W – H – Y  ----

‘No black in the estuaries and rivers, remember Zec-C’s analysis of the coast lines!’ Steve reminded everyone.

But the last line to appear chilled them all,

-- T – H– E --- B – L – A – C – K ---  I – S--- K – I – L – L – I – N  – G –

-  T – H – E   --- B – L – U– E --- P – E– O– P– L – E  ----  A– G– A– I– N----

‘Oh my God!’ Olivia and Alison said in unison.

The dome displays now showed pictures of the coast lines and estuaries.

‘There is a 100 metre wide black mass along all the coast lines except at the estuaries. No black in any of the estuaries, rivers or canals.’
Confirmed Zec-C.

‘Further, chlorine levels are at their highest in the tributaries from the mountains
at several hundred parts per million, reducing to 200 parts per million in the rivers and canals and 100 parts per million at the estuaries.’

‘I’ve got it!’ triumphed Pete. ‘I know why the black can’t enter the estuaries and rivers!’

Everyone looked at Pete and they knew they had to curb their impatience because a mini lecture was on its way!

‘In the manufacture of computer microchips, strong chemicals and gases are used to etch sub point one micron channels in the silicon surface. But this process is carried out using masks, under highly-controlled conditions of temperature and pressure, to ensure that the channels are only cut where they are needed. Subsequently, tiny amounts of metal are deposited in and around the channels building a circuit. This is a simplification, but the process is constantly replicated building up millions of transistors or circuits to form a microprocessor or RAM chip.’

‘What’s this all got to do with chlorine?’ interrupted Martha.

‘Chlorine is a very reactive and corrosive gas and if used uncontrolled would damage these sub point one micron circuits. But in the molecular circuits of the black beads.....

....... it would create havoc!’ Pete sat back pleased with his delivery.

‘Yes, and we’ve got chlorine on the starship!’ shouted Steve excitedly, ‘dozens of high pressure containers of the stuff!’

‘OK,’ said AJ, ‘let’s start thinking about how we can use this new intelligence but firstly where does the chlorine on Cloud Planet come from and what happens to it when it enters the sea – surely it would still affect these black beads?’

‘The upper mountain slopes of this planet contain strata of calcium hypochlorite, calcium carbonate and sodium chloride. The constant high rainfall percolates over these layers extracting minerals. When calcium hypochlorite is mixed with water you get chlorine or bleach as we commonly know it. The chlorine enters the tributaries and rivers as gas and also enters the atmosphere. When it gets to the sea it is mopped up by the excess sodium ions, forms salt and this accounts for the excessively high saline levels of the seas of Cloud Planet.’

‘So the high salinity in the sea doesn’t affect these?’ Alison held up one of the black beads, ‘doesn’t affect what’s inside these?’

‘No.’ Pete continued, ‘Weak salt solution is very mild compared to gaseous chlorine – that’s what’s stopping these beads travelling up the estuaries.’

‘I’m surprised anything survives on this planet with all this bleach about,’ Alison continued. ‘As we normally use it to kill weeds and germs!’

‘Well the trees here certainly like it considering how big they grow but, apart from them, there are no other plants on this planet.’ Olivia contributed. ‘But how are we going to use chlorine as a weapon against the black?’

‘Pete, you said that chlorine would cause havoc with the circuits in the beads,’ Steve said thoughtfully, ‘but what would happen if we exploded some of these chlorine containers in the middle of the black mass?’

‘Chaos, absolute chaos,’ replied Pete, ‘high temperature on its own would cause huge damage but high temperature chlorine gas, chlorine ions, would, I think, cause widespread devastation over a  large expanse of the sea.’

‘Steve, what are you thinking?’ asked AJ.

‘When we tried to attack the cylinders, the Black put up a barrier – and more than a barrier the second time! But if we could explode chlorine missiles in the black barrier then, would we create a sufficient opening to get some really powerful warheads through and hit the cylinders?’

‘Sounds good in theory!’ said AJ. ‘Any comments?’

‘How are we going to send any missile into the mass when we already know it can take control of the on-board computers? And what’s more fire it back at us!’ Alison replied dejectedly.

‘Can we take out the on-board computers and guide it manually?’ Olivia suggested, and was immediately blasted with derisory comments and looks.

‘Wait,’ said AJ, ‘Olivia, take your thoughts further.’

‘Well, we can’t send anything with a computer on board, but what if we could aim a mechanical missile at the black mass – with nothing on board that another computer would recognise?’

‘How would we guide it? How could we time the explosion without computers?’ Alison said.

‘Pete, what could you fix up by way of a mechanical timer?’ asked AJ. ‘Could we launch a missile with chlorine containers replacing the primary warhead and just rely on time for detonation?’

However, Pete was already scribbling away on his notepad, holding his hand up, to ward off further questions while he sketched. Then he asked Zec-C to put up diagrams of the ‘D’ warhead missile on the dome mimic.

The astronauts prepared for the inevitable lecture!

‘The two warheads of the ‘D’ missile are located in front of one another on the carrier missile. The surface charge sits just behind the penetrative one and the explosion of the former just before impact blasts the penetrative charge into the body of the target where it explodes about 1 second later. So, Zec-C, can you replace the front warhead with a cluster of, say, four chlorine containers? We have multiple collars so we should be able to mount them securely.’

They all watched as the mimic display changed.

‘Good, in profile it’s not too different to the normal warhead but we’ll worry about how it flies later. Now, Zec-C, take out all the computer guidance system, everything with a circuit in it, from the carrier missile.’

It was surprising how much space appeared in the middle of the missile body.

‘Now, Zec-C, let’s put 10 kilos of plastic explosive next to the surface charge, then a sealed 20 volt heavy duty battery, followed by a mechanical timer which I’ll design, similar in size.’

The free space inside the missile body was nearly filled.

‘I can design a timer that will be started by inertia when the missile is fired from the starship. After a period of time, which Zec-C will calculate, an electrical circuit would be made and the full current through the plastic will cause it to explode. The surface charge will detonate in sympathy. The chlorine containers will be blasted into the black mass and the temperature of the explosion will ensure that they disintegrate due to the enormous pressures generated inside. From the starship, I think we can launch the missiles automatically as we’ll be some distance from the target.

 ‘So far so good,’ said AJ, ‘but we have no guidance system, only point and shoot. Zec-C, what would be the margin of error if we fired an unguided missile like this from the starship? How near the target would we have to be?’

 
‘We cannot take the starship lower than 400 kilometres above sea level and for a satisfactory angle of firing we would have to be 450 kilometres from the target. This modified missile with no guidance would enter the target sea area somewhere in a grid 5 kilometres square.’

There were groans from the astronauts, and then Olivia asked.

‘Zec-C, if we wanted to hit the target with an accuracy of a couple of hundred metres square, how close would we have to be?’

‘Two kilometres above sea level and 2 kilometres from target.’

‘Then we’ll have to fire the chlorine missiles from the lander, from ROL-2,’ Olivia persisted, ‘and I’m prepared to do it!’