In Search Of Elysium

Chapter 9

The First Mission

Stirring in their beds, the crew listened to the sounds of the ship. Elee announced it was time to get up and start a new day and then the crew felt halting jerks and the ship shook They heard a loud whine, and Elee announced there would be an unplanned delay.

In the control room Kevin asked Cody what had happened. Cody pointed at the main window screen at hundreds of rocks, some the size of school busses. "We ran into these before we knew they were there. The shields were up, so there was no damage, but Elee says they are important finds. Three of the metal elements not available on Earth are in this asteroid field, also there are ice crystals we can convert to hydrogen and oxygen. We are not low on either, but Elee suggests topping off our supply."

Kathy asked, "How do we go about collecting these elements?"

"That is the tricky part," Elee explained. "Two of you will have to wear an atmospheric pressurized uniform and walk out of the ship with an element sweeper. It looks like a giant vacuum cleaner and will break the elements into atoms, then I can transfer them into the ship." She continued, "I wish I could do this for you, but there are limits to my abilities to collect these rare elements. The metals here will be difficult to collect, so the unit must scan them for several minutes."

"Kevin, I'll volunteer for this mission," Kathy said.

"Great! I will go as the second sweeper," Kevin answered. Elee said perhaps someone else should go instead of Kevin. "No, Elee! I will go."

The uniforms were plenty large but Kathy needed help to get into hers. Each had a backpack with breathing air, and systems to regulate temperature, air pressure and humidity, straps for tether lines to keep them from floating away, and a sealed helmet with a large window. Inside the helmet a communication microphone and internal computer allowed them to monitor all the settings.

"Very impressive, guys," remarked Linda. "You look like true spacemen now." She grabbed her cell phone and snapped a couple pictures. "These will go on YouTube when we get back," she laughed.

Elee gave instructions and told them to avoid the smaller asteroids. "They can strike without notice and that is not good. Try to collect the metals as quick as you can. Do not let the tether grow too tight; it is better to use your jet thruster to move to and from the ship."

The two stepped into the exit chamber and the door closed. Then the outside door opened, and they floated beyond the ship.

Kathy spoke to Kevin through the communication microphone and said, "This is beautiful, but space is so vast it feels lonely."

"Elee wants us to try this asteroid," Kevin said, pointing to a bus-size rock. Using their propulsion thrusters they moved to the large asteroid and stepped on it. Elee had extended a long hose from the ship, and Kathy pulled the hose toward the rock. At the end of the hose was a flat surface. When passed over the rock it broke particles down to dust and the dust got sucked through the hose. They were breaking down the metal into atoms and collecting them. Kathy watched the meter that showed the material and quantity collected. When it flashed full, Elee directed them to another asteroid. After about thirty minutes, she sent them to one last rock. It was of a different color, looking very shiny.

Elee said to them, "This is a large ice crystal; be careful. It is very slippery.

Kevin stepped down and could see what she meant. He had to balance himself with care. He collected hydrogen and oxygen and then told Kathy to prepare to return to the ship. Both pulled on the tether straps and started their jet packs. As they worked their way back, a small asteroid approached, hit and snapped Kathy's line. She floated away as Kevin saw another errant rock and yelled at Kathy to look out. She looked at him as it crashed into her back. Kathy spun violently and floated further away. Kevin grabbed for the end of her broken line, and it almost got away from him, but he caught the end and tried to steady her. Kathy stopped spinning but he could see she had lost consciousness and was hurt. He pulled her to him and hugged her.