The Blue People of Cloud Planet (9 page)

High Orbit and First Landing

‘21 years after leaving Mars base, LifeSeeker-1 moved into orbit 1,000 kilometres above Cloud Planet. The orbit was carefully chosen to keep the starship well outside the radiating shafts of light and to keep the day side of the planet in view at all times. Now it is possible to see the detail of the planet with the naked eye.’

As the crew stared at this beautiful planet, they were interrupted by the voice of AJ.

‘Fellow astronauts, Zec C has analysed various approaches to landing on the planet surface and there are three possibilities. Firstly, there is a vertical descent from high altitude directly at the diagonal intersection of four outer light shafts – the less intense ones. The probability for success is calculated at 65-70 per cent. Secondly, a lateral insertion into the cloud collar from a point out to sea and 3 kilometres altitude. Then follow the large estuary and enter the light shafts between two outermost ones to the same diagonal intersection – and of course then descending. The probability for success is 80-85 per cent.’

For each descent a mimic display showed the plan – it looked easy enough on the screen.

‘The third scenario is a night landing on the dark side of the planet for which there is insufficient data to calculate a success probability. We know that this is a wild and turbulent atmosphere through which to descend.’

‘It looks like the lateral insertion then?’ said Scott and there was general agreement among the astronauts.

‘Yes,’ agreed AJ, ‘so we all confirm the second, lateral option.’

‘And now we come to our first strategic decision which is a secret vote, majority carries. As you know you have a decision palm reader under your console with accept and reject buttons. The motion is to decide which team carries out the first landings on this planet as only one ROL will be deployed at any one time. For Olivia and Scott in ROL-1 press ‘one’ and for Alison and Steve in ROL-2 press ‘two’.’

Then, at AJ’s command, hands went below the console and both teams looked anxiously at the dome screen. It showed four to three in favour of ROL-1. Olivia and Scott would be the first to attempt a landing on Cloud Planet.

Alison and Steve looked away in disappointment but were the first to offer congratulations and good luck to their fellow astronauts.

‘How far does the cloud collar overlap the sea?’ AJ questioned.

‘Between half a kilometre and 1 kilometre depending on whether its day or night,’ Zec-C replied,
‘and the height also varies from 40 - 50 kilometres for the same reason. Also there is a dark fringe at the edge of the sea which seems to be present most of the way around the land mass on both seaboards but I cannot identify the nature or extent of this.’

‘Anything else about this planet that’s unusual?’ Alison asked.

‘The icecaps,’ Zec-C continued, ‘are surprisingly thin at the very centre but I will need a pass directly overhead to analyse this anomaly in more detail.’

‘But that defies logic.’ Steve blurted, ‘How can that happen?’

‘Maybe there are thermal vents under the icecaps, that’s not unusual – it happens on Earth,’ suggested Olivia.

‘Could be, but we’ll have to wait for the next pass for confirmation,’ AJ concluded.

Scott then enquired, ‘Zec-C, what further analysis have you made of these circular light shafts?’

‘Well, you will be surprised to learn that they are not circles of light,’
Zec-C paused, ‘but all the shafts exit the clouds as perfect octagons.’

‘Octagons! How intriguing! This planet gets more and more curious.’ exclaimed Olivia, ‘What more can you tell us about the vegetation?’

‘Analysis indicates extensive forests but we will get more information when the lander travels up the valley.’

LifeSeeker-1 was positioned 500 kilometres above the point where the lander would enter the cloud. This was the nearest the huge starship could come to the planet to optimise deployment of the lander and maintain communications.

ROL-1 was now stationed 1 kilometre from the cloud collar and 3 kilometres above sea level. The ocean was surprisingly calm and there appeared to be no significant tidal movement. After all, there were no moons associated with this unexpectedly symmetrical planet.

Olivia and Scott were gazing through the dome. The white mass of cloud towered above the lander, dwarfing it. From this position they could not see the light shafts which they knew started about 500 kilometres directly in front of them.

‘Confirm decision to enter cloud collar.’

This was Zec-1 issuing instructions, and two hands in the lander and five in LifeSeeker-1 moved forward to ratify the decision.

ROL-1 entered the cloud collar directly above a large estuary, estimated at 1 kilometre across, but the two astronauts could not see this as rain and cloud had reduced visibility to 150 metres at best. The mimic display on the dome showed their position and the increasingly sloping land to either side. After about 200 kilometres the estuary had narrowed considerably and the mountains towered above them on both sides.

‘Both sides are thickly carpeted with forests of huge trees,’

 Zec-1 informed them as they watched the dome display.

 ‘My initial estimates are that many of them are up to 300 metres high and between 3 and 4 metres diameter. We are now half way to our destination and 2 kilometres above the river below. My analysis of the river water shows that it is exceptionally pure but with high chlorine levels. Air and river temperatures are 5 degrees.’

Travelling at 500 kilometres per hour, ROL 1 soon approached the edge of the plain where speed was reduced to 100 kilometres per hour. The lander was now 1 kilometre above the river and dead ahead of them the mist and rain seemed lighter and their horizon took on a strange light.

‘Passing midway between first two light shafts,’
Zec-1 continued
, ‘significant interference on certain instruments already being felt – applying low level force shield - contact with LifeSeeker 1 now lost.’

‘We’re on our own,’ Scott said to Olivia, ‘look at this unusual light and it’s still raining out there.’

‘Reducing lander forward speed to zero and adjusting for hover conditions over diagonal intersection. We are now approximately 35 kilometres from each light source with interference increasing. Confirm command to descend to 500 metres.’
Zec-1 requested
.

Both astronauts confirmed the decision in the usual way.

‘Approaching 500 metres, interference increasing rapidly, probability of successful landing now 60-65 per cent – warning!’
 Zec-1 urged
, ‘Applying more force field.’

Olivia and Scott knew they were approaching a critical position in the descent. If probability remained above 60 per cent, they could make the decision to continue the descent but it was now touch and go. Below 60 and Zec-1 would take control and abort descent. The astronauts looked at one another and Scott nodded.

‘Descend to 400 metres.’ Scott instructed. But before this altitude could be achieved Zec-1’s voice boomed in the command dome.

‘Emergency! Emergency! Probability less than 60 per cent and falling! Abort descent! Abort descent!’

  And with that the lander turned its nose upwards at 45 degrees and the four thrusters underneath surged to full power. The huge g-force pushed them back into their seats and the skin on their faces was drawn back tightly into a severe grimace which matched the mood and disappointment of the two astronauts.

LifeSeeker-1 regained communications with ROL-1 just after it passed the line of the outer light shafts and there was immediate consternation as Zec-C immediately signalled the emergency withdrawal from the cloud. As they stared out of the dome, ROL-1 shot out of the cloud.

They were all seated in the command dome of LifeSeeker-1 analysing the failed landing attempt when Scott asked Zec-C.

‘How far apart would those light shafts have to be for a successful landing?’

‘According to my estimates and based on the lander’s information at 400 metres, we would need to be a minimum of 50 kilometres from the light shafts and there is nowhere on that plain where they are more than 35 kilometres apart.’

‘And what more did we learn as we travelled up that valley?’ queried Olivia.

‘The forests are dominated by one species of giant tree. Most are in excess of 100 metres high with girths varying from 3-5 metres. Huge fleshy leaves are clustered at the canopy and the trunks are perpendicular and remarkably straight sided. Further, there is evidence of large clay structures every 50 kilometres along one side of the river bank but the landers instruments were affected by the light shafts so I cannot be more precise.’

‘The same distance apart as the light shafts,’ continued Olivia, ‘even more unusual symmetry.’

‘Thank you Zec-C,’ AJ said, ‘I think we now need a plan for a night landing for ROL-1.’

‘Wait a minute!’ interrupted Steve, ‘Why is it assumed that Olivia and Scott go again? They’ve had their go, so now it’s ours.’

Alison nodded in agreement and Olivia’s face darkened and she shot her a black look.

‘It wasn’t our fault that we couldn’t land and we were voted first to go down onto the planet,’ Olivia replied sharply.

Scott held up his hand in mediation, ‘Zec-C, please repeat the exact words of the motion.’

‘The motion is to decide which team carries out the first landings on the planet as only one lander will be deployed at any one time,’
Zec-C confirmed
.

‘First landings, plural, ladies and gentlemen,’ AJ intervened firmly, ‘the matter is concluded in favour of ROL-1.’

‘This species of tree is a softwood with similarities to the pine. Their height is limited by the ability to raise water by capillary action against the gravitational pull of Cloud Planet. Even so, they achieve up to 120 metres and with girths of 4 – 5 metres they are formidable structures. On Earth the tallest tree is the Douglas Fir which can reach 138 metres as the result of the lower gravity compared to the larger Cloud Planet.’

Night Landing

‘LifeSeeker-1 was now moved to a position 500 kilometres above sea level on the night side of Cloud Planet. This is a different world – blue grey ice caps, grey seas and the black angry mass of the cloud collar rising 50 kilometres into the inky night sky. Zec- C’s analysis showed torrential rain, swirling winds and temperatures around zero degrees in the clouds. Near the edges of the plain, high cliffs tower up to the thickly-forested mountains and these cause turbulent storms for 50-100 kilometres inland.

 ‘For this reason, a landing target is selected half way between the cliff edge and the equator where turbulence is less severe and they are far away from the larger of the light shafts. The central area is made entirely of clay with structures which are symmetrically distributed at the locus of each light shaft. At the time, the nature of these structures was difficult to discern because of the thick cloud and the fact that they are composed of the same material as the plain.’

ROL-1 was hovering 70 kilometres above the target landing spot as Olivia and Scott looked out of the dome at the seething black clouds below them.

‘Confirm command to descend at 50 kilometres per hour.’

Zec-1 requested and all of the astronauts complied in unison.

‘Good luck to both of you,’ said AJ from the starship.

As the lander descended and entered the cloud, they lost their view of the outside and watched the dome displays as they showed position, height and speed relative to the target landing spot. Meanwhile Zec-1 called out height above ground at regular intervals. Considering that conditions outside were appalling, the lander made a very stable descent under Zec-1’s control and at 1 kilometre from the surface, descent speed was reduced to 10 kilometres per hour. Now the astronauts could feel the buffeting of the strong winds causing the lander to swing and yaw slightly.

‘Two hundred metres from touchdown and descent speed now 100 metres per minute.’

‘Two minutes to go,’ exclaimed Scott as the tension mounted. Olivia was staring hard at the dome desperate to see something but visibility remained zero.

‘Thirty metres from touchdown, descent 10 metres per minute.’

And 3 minutes later, the 4 caterpillar tracks bit into the slushy clay surface, sinking half a metre before coming to rest.

‘ROL 1 touchdown confirmed, all systems good’.

There was a moment of silence in both the lander and the starship 500 kilometres above and then there were shouts and claps from all the astronauts. Then AJ’s voice could be heard over the celebrations.

‘Congratulations Olivia and Scott, first astronauts to land on a planet of another star system. What a momentous occasion.’

Olivia turned and high-fived Scott and both gave thumbs-up gestures to the smiling faces on the dome display. Then they looked out. The rain was torrential and they could just distinguish the surface for about 15 metres in front of the lander. There were huge strange leaves strewn about and stalks sticking out of a water surface drilled with the bucketing rain. They felt like they had landed in a paddy field.

‘It’s not exactly a holiday camp out there,’ joked Olivia, as pictures of their surroundings appeared on the dome and were simultaneously shown in the starship.

‘Terrain flat and level with no major obstructions. Confirm decision to traverse to designated light shaft.’

 All astronauts confirmed and the lander’s wide tracks started turning and found purchase on the surprisingly firmer clay under the muddy surface.

‘Speed 5 kilometres per hour and steady on course.’

It was now the equivalent of midnight and it would take 4 hours to reach their goal.

Conditions did not change. All they could see were leaves, some huge, maybe 2 metres across, and stalks with leaves on them presumably growing in the slushy clay. Some of these ‘plants’ were up to 2 metres high and grew in thick plantations. The lander seemed to glide through this vegetation, crushing and brushing it aside.

‘Target 100 metres ahead. There is definitely a large structure made of the same clay as the ground. I’m analysing data so I can put it on dome. Proceeding to a point 15 metres from the front edge.’

‘I can’t wait. What do you think we’ll find?’ said Olivia excitedly as she craned forward as far as her seat clamp would allow.

‘Patience Olivia, all will be revealed soon enough by Zec-1’, countered Scott in his usual controlled fashion but he was also leaning forward in fevered anticipation.

Although it was just after four in the morning, it would soon be dawn on this planet with its 20 hour rotation and already it had lightened somewhat and the rain had decreased in intensity. Visibility was now much improved and the outside ‘world’ was about to reveal itself.