Virus-72 Hours to Live (28 page)

"Bill, be careful."

"Yes dear," Bill said with trepidation. He
knew the risks and he was trying to make light of the dangers.

He made his way back to the command module
and once he attached his restraining straps, he ordered the onboard
computer, "Computer release module in Station Delta."

"Acknowledged."

When the onboard computer released the
container, Bill felt a gentle bump. "Computer maneuver for
re-entry."

"Be advised the center of gravity in not
within limits."

"Continue and compensate."

"Acknowledged, this procedure in not within
acceptable Space Consortium guidelines. Please confirm the
order."

"Continue to landing and compensate for the
center of gravity."

"Acknowledged."

The deceleration went reasonably well. The
off-center condition forced the retro rocket to fire in pulses
while the gimbaled motor adjusted the thrust line. Once the tug's
velocity slowed, it was going down and Bill just had to hold on.
The landing would be the hard part. The gimbaled motor would fire
at a radical angle trying to balance the tug but it might not have
enough thrust and the tug could fall over on its side. He doubted
that it was going to be a nice landing.

"RD be advised, I'm on my way down. You
might want to put the car in the garage, it might get messy."

Sally couldn't think of any witty response
she just sat there watching the instrumentation and waiting.

When the tug reached the deceleration point,
normally the engine would fire and it would slow down gently
landing on the pad. With the center of gravity off, it would fire
early and try to make many small adjustments before hitting the
pad. It wasn't likely that it could make all of the adjustments
quick enough. Bill was right when he hit the pad the tug was at a
22-degree angle with the horizon. The engine did a reasonable job
of adjusting the descent, but the landing struts couldn't handle
the asymmetrical loading. One of the struts collapsed and Bill
could feel the sickening feeling of the tug slowly falling to its
side. On the moon, nothing happened fast which made the slow fall a
painful ride.

"RD I'm down, but it wasn't pretty."

"We noticed. Are you Ok?"

"No problem. The SMU's might have a tough
time getting these containers off, but I'm afraid the tug has made
its last landing."

"Stand by and we'll send someone out to help
you get out of the tug."

"Roger that."

Friday 7/21/51

Date – 2051.55248 (7:42
PM)

“SIMPOC; Mobile, Comm. We have determined that the
vehicles at the space consortium are not ready for launch and our
skills are not adequate.”

“Oasis, Desert Beach; SIMPOC."

"Go ahead SIMPOC this is Oasis."

"Desert Beach is online also."

"I've had interactions with the computers at
the space consortium and the space vehicles are not ready for
launch and it is beyond the mobile unit’s skill set to prepare
them. I will continue the analysis and tell you if I find any
resources, which might help you. We might at some point in the
future be able to re-task some of the mobile units and finish the
lifeboats currently in build-up.”

“SIMPOC; Oasis. Thanks. I'm familiar with
how those lifeboats come together and the last status update showed
me they were coming along well. I'm confident we'll be able to get
them flying once we're on the ground,” Tom said.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The storm blew hard in DC and Dmitry was
enjoying it. He was enjoying the solitude and his new
accommodations. For the last couple of days, he was enjoying the
Jefferson Hotel. As the virus was hitting, travelers went home and
the remaining staff spent their last few days making beads and
cleaning. The vast majority of the rooms were empty and he could
enjoy a new clean bed each night and never sleep in the same dirty
sheets twice.

Tonight he was in one of the suites and
lying in bed watching the storm through the windows. Nature was
impressive, how it would clean itself and remove the dirt.
Sometimes it would use a storm and other times it might use a
virus. The hurricane was cleaning part of the world and Dmitry was
cleaning the rest, he was on a mission and he felt like he was part
of nature. He was just doing his part.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sally was resting in her habitat. Bill had
just left through the tunnels to the control room. It was a quiet
time for her and she enjoyed a few private minutes to fix her hair
and enjoy some silence away from the constant noise and discussion
in the other areas.

She finally got everything the way she
wanted and walked around looking for her comm tablet which had some
data she had with her last night to review. Good, there it is, she
thought. As she glanced at the tablet, she walked to the center of
the habitat towards the pressure hatch, which lead to the tunnels.
The hatch was similar to those on submarines and was closed all of
the time except when passing into or out of the tunnels. In the
case of a tunnel fracture, leaving the hatches sealed ensured the
habitats would remain pressurized.

Opening the hatch was easy and as she
climbed down, she saw Benson coming from his habitat. "Good
morning," she said as they walked towards the control center.

They walked together but had little to say.
Each wrapped up their own thoughts about the day ahead of them.
Suddenly there was an explosive decompression. The air in the
tunnel quickly turned to fog and as the pressure dropped, the
temperature fell. They realized immediately that they had a tunnel
fracture.

The tunnels had a go-no-go point. In the
middle of the tunnel was a light that was red as you approached it
and once past it, the light at the next pressure door was green.
That showed anyone in the tunnel when they passed the halfway
point. If a rapid decompression occurred and you had a red light in
front of you, your only chance would be to run back to the pressure
boundary behind you and not to continue to the one in front.

Sally and Benson took a moment to realize
the dangerous situation they were in and they both turned and ran
back towards Sally and Bill's habitat. Sally climbed the ladder to
her quarters first and spun the locking wheel on her hatch. The
counter-balanced wheel was quick to spin and it continued until it
was unlocked. In about 3 seconds, the emergency pressure relief
valve allowed the hatch to pop open. Without the pressure relief
valve, the lowering pressure in the tunnel versus the higher
pressure in the habitat would have prevented the hatch from
opening. The hatch needed to be closed quickly or the pressure in
the habitat would get dangerously low and it would take time for
the compensation system to re-pressurize it.

The hatch popped open an inch and Sally
pushed hard, slamming it back against the stops. Benson and she
moved through the hatch almost at the same time and when they were
clear Benson slammed the hatch closed. Benson still spun the
locking wheel as a further precaution.

Because of their exertion in the lowering
tunnel pressure, their breathing increased and they worked to get
enough oxygen in their lungs. At that time, the automatic systems
within the habitat sensed the lower pressure and after confirming,
the hatch closed it began repressurizing the habitat. When the
pressure relief valve kicked in the pressure differential put tons
of pressure on the hatch holding it closed while it built the
pressure back to approximately 14 psi.

It was about that time that Sally heard the
alarms. In the lowering pressure of the tunnels, the sound wouldn't
travel well and they likely wouldn't have heard the alarms. But
once they were in a pressurized environment the alarms sounded
clear and loud.

The entire process from the rapid
decompression to Sally and Benson panting on the floor took about
15 seconds. They were lucky and if they hadn't acted so quickly,
the lower pressure in the tunnel would have rendered them
unconscious in about 15-25 seconds. Their amount of conscious time
depended on how fast the pressure went down, the faster the
pressure dropped, the less time they would have had.

They were all aware that the tunnels were
risky. If you were in one of the longer tunnels and had the bad
luck of losing pressure just before you got to the red light, you
would need some luck to make it to a pressure door. There were
large reserves of air kept in the tunnels and during an RD; they
dumped into the tunnels giving any occupants a few extra seconds to
get to a pressure door.

They affectionately called the middle of the
tunnel the 'red light district' and everyone tended to walk faster
until they passed the light and were nearing the green light on the
other end.

Just as Sally's breath was coming under
control, she could hear Bill on the comm unit. "Sally are you and
Benson Ok? Your beacons showed that you just made it back into the
pressure area."

It took Sally a minute to acknowledge the
call on her unit and she responded, "Yes, we're ok. We made it back
ok. Was there anyone else in the tunnel?"

"No, you were the only two. It looks like we
had a major fracture. Take a breather for a while I'll send someone
through the tunnel to check the walls and they'll bring your
suites."

"Ok, sounds good. I guess I'll buy Benson
breakfast here."

It took about half an hour for the repair
team to get their gear together and enter the tunnel. They found
the fracture about 20 feet from the control room side and just
before the red light. It was a hole about 4 inches in diameter and
one of the team began spraying the opening with a solidifying
mixture that was similar to cement.

The other member of the team continued to
Sally's habitat and put two generic pressure suits into the
pass-through chamber. The pass-through chamber was a small chamber,
which allowed items to be passed from a low pressure to a
high-pressure area with minimal loss of air. The suits would stay
there and Sally and Benson would retrieve them only if necessary.
Generally, they would wait for the cement to harden and let the
pressure rise a little. Once the cement was holding, Joan and
Benson could wait for full pressure or use the generic suites and
move to a better location.

Sunday 7/23/51

Date – 2051.55738 (2:38
PM)

“Mobile, Comm; SIMPOC. Has additional information
been found regarding the other division and the EDU?

“SIMPOC, that division is focused on
advanced problem-solving. The EDU unit was created here. To improve
the division's mobile unit development, they moved the processor to
the other division. Our division is the center for organic
processor development. All organic units have been created here and
this is where the corporate expertise resides.”

“Facility computers. Continue trying to
communicate with the EDU.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Fin, Files; SIMPOC. Please examine all
resources we have available and determine what we can use to ensure
that we continue processing. Look up any military defense tactics
that apply to our situation and make suggestions.”

“Acknowledged.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ophelia keyed her transmission, “Oasis,
Desert Beach; Red Dirt. We’ve monitored your discussions and we
wish we could contribute something. Desert Beach is correct, we’ll
have enough food and supplies for an extended period of time, but
eventually our machinery will wear down and begin breaking; after
all this is a pretty harsh environment. I suspect our environmental
systems will fail in 6-8 months without replacement parts. We have
one supply ship on the ground, one en route, and one we were able
to redirect after it departed, so we have three supply vehicles.
Our communication's command module is still in orbit and it’s
configured for re-entry, but it will only take a crew of four. With
some luck, we might be able to reconfigure the supply vehicles to
bring the remaining 36 of us back. Just to remind everyone they’re
not capable of re-entry. So, we could come as far as Oasis, but
without a plan to get us all of the way, some of us will be stuck
there. Even if you are able to leave three lifeboats that will
leave 16 people. And if you use all the supplies before you leave,
the shelves will be empty when we get there. I guess we’ll be
staying here until someone comes up with some options. Good luck,
Red Dirt out.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

SIMPOC thought to himself, Looks like I’m on
my own, I have to get organized better.

“Mobile, investigate all resources that we
need to continue. Also determine what capabilities the mobile units
have at those locations and direct all necessary mobile units to
continue the appropriate tasks to keep those facilities
operating.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Fin, you’re responsible for organizing all
of the mobile units to defend those facilities and this facility.
You also need to find ways to protect us, and a long-term strategy
for continued operations.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Art, you’re responsible for coordinating
all of the facility computers and to improve their decision and
communication abilities. Also to suggest other improvements that
will help us to continue.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Files, you’re responsible for finding all
of the necessary data so that these facilities can be operated,
maintained and if possible, improved. You also need to work with
Mobile and improve the mobile unit capabilities so they can do
other jobs than those they were designed for.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Email, you’re no longer responsible for
email traffic. You’re now responsible for coordinating the
computers and mobile units at the space consortium so that we can
maximize the resources there. If possible, continue working on
launch vehicles to help the stranded humans in space.”