Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

4 - Deployment

With eighteen crewmembers successfully defrosted, better than they expected, and the Elysian's battery reserve deeply in the red, the Command Crew were waiting the last few minutes to reach the drop zone – the small window of time where all nine of the ship's cylindrical modules would be released from the encompassing aluminium frame to plummet down through Proxima C's thin atmosphere.

Chris had ordered nine people to strap themselves into Seating Area 1, the fourth deck of the ship and the remaining eight to use Seating Area 2, the deck below. They would use handheld radios to communicate between the decks as, as per procedure, all the pressure hatches between decks were sealed in case of damage to the ship during the descent.

The Command Crew were also strapped into their relevant positions in the Control Room at the top of the vessel, each wearing a flight suit and pressurised helmet. They had kept the wall-mounted tablet computers switched off but the ones attached to their seat console panels were now active and giving data on navigation and those key systems which still had power through the ship.

"Any contact with our sister ships?" asked Chris. "We need to tell them what's happening here before we begin our descent."

"Not properly," replied Calvin. "We've got a pulse from the beacons on the Olympian and Hesperian. I've transmitted a text message for their flight computers to store for when their crews are defrosted."

"Good."

"What about the Arcadian and Uranian?" asked Lucy.

"Nothing from either of them. No contact," Calvin replied.

"The Arcadian should be ahead of the Hesperian," said Lucy. "I'd expect its beacon to be stronger."

"There's no signal at all. Maybe she got held up?" said Calvin.

"There's a whole myriad of stuff that could go wrong on voyages this deep into space," said Chris. "Probably best we don't think about it. Concentrate on getting a message to Hesperian and Olympian. They can relay the information to the other ships later."

"Yes, Commander," Calvin replied.

"Two minutes until we begin deployment," Chris announced.

"Do you think we're too far north?" asked Lucy.

"I've been watching that. Foxy's saying we're going to pass around one point five kilometres north of the target landing site. Procedure here would be to adjust our trajectory and wait for our next pass but with no thruster propellant and down to our last dregs of battery power, that's not an option."

"So, we go anyway?"

"No choice. Ninety seconds. Time to drop the propulsion module."

"Dropping now, Commander," reported Chuck. "Three, two, one, go... no... hang on. Three, two, one and... no. We've got a release failure!"

"Try it again!" said Chris, trying to remain calm.

"I've already tried it twice!"

"Just try it again. In one minute, we've got to start dropping modules."

"Three, two, one, go...no, still stuck. That module's not going anywhere," Chuck shook his head.

"Leave it, we'll have to take it with us."

"It's sixty tons of metal! There's a manual backup system we can..."

"We haven't got time," Chris stopped him. "Forty seconds until we start dropping modules. There's no way anyone can get into an E.V.A. suit before we drop the Command Module too."

"What do we do if the other deployment charges fail?" Lucy asked.

"Let's just pray they don't. Are we detecting significant surface winds near the landing site?"

"Nothing to worry about," she replied. "Foxy is predicting that the module's descent fins can bring the Command Module down within half a kilometre of the target."

"Is that with or without the propulsion module?" asked Chuck.

"I... I don't know."

"Okay, let's prepare the charges for Fuel Module One," Chris ordered.

"Charges are powered and showing ready to go," replied Chuck.

"Fifteen seconds. Everyone ready?"

Everyone confirmed their readiness.

"Let's get this right – we have no room for errors. Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Fire charges!"

"Bolts fired, sir," Chuck replied efficiently.

"Fuel Module One away!" Lucy added.

"Powering charges for Module Two," Chuck reported. "Battery reserves showing critical..."

"Skip the countdown. Fire charges," ordered Chris.

"Bolts fired," Chuck reported.

"Fuel Module Two away!" Lucy said happily.

Modules Three and Four dropped away neatly too. Chris' most immediate worry was that the power to activate the explosive bolts would run out before the job was complete. They dropped Supply Modules Three and Four next, both laden with vital supplies, equipment and prefab buildings. The last two to drop were Supply Modules One and Two, the huge water tanks with the cryonic pods submerged within them. A short burst of rocket thrust from the top and both dropped smoothly through the aluminium framework that had previously supported all the modules but now surrounded just the central Command Module and its dangling propulsion module.

Moments later, thirty-two explosive bolts detonated and two access tubes detached, freeing the Command Module, and the propulsion module still attached to the bottom of it, from the frame. Four thrusters fired from the top of the module, accelerating it downward, through the now-empty frame and down towards the surface. As soon as it was fully free of the frame, six steel-lattice descent fins flipped up from the sides of the hull, adjusting their positions in the increasing air density to steer the module towards its desired landing site.

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