Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

9 - Strategy

"Who's got a navicom?" Chris asked the gathered group.

The word 'navicom' was slang for any of the portable tablet computers with a navpack clipped on the back, connecting the tablet with the network of small survey satellites in orbit around Proxima C that also doubled as a global positioning system.

Chris had asked the sixteen mostly-uninjured survivors to join him in the furrow directly behind the Elysian. Everyone was now wearing their H.E.P.O.s and hiking boots and most had their hoods pulled up too to further protect them from the icy cold air.

"Me!" replied Melissa Clarke, the twenty-year-old Communications Engineer. She held it up for all to see.

"Good, bring it over here. Now, I've got you all out here so you can see, first-hand, what we're up against. This is daytime, but we have no way, so far, of establishing how long's left until darkness falls."

"So, this is as bright as it gets?" asked Fletcher, making no attempt to hide that he was unimpressed.

"Give or take, yeah," Chris replied. "We've got fifty-seven of our fellow colonists, still frozen in the nearest two Supply Modules, to rescue before their backup power fails. They only have about fifteen hours remaining."

"And the nearest one is just over two point five kilometres away," Melissa added helpfully.

"And the next?" Chris asked.

"Oh... that's... close to six kilometres further on."

"That gives us eight to nine kilometres to complete before nightfall." He pointed in the general direction of the hole in the ridge. "Now, that sounds achievable to me."

"What if night falls before we get there?" asked Lucy, raising her hand like she was in class.

"Then we keep going," he replied solemnly. "I don't see what choice we have. Lives depend on it."

"Remember, Chris, the temperature's going to crash twenty-five degrees after dark, maybe more," she warned.

"Those making the trek will be wearing H.E.P.O.s and maybe we can fashion some scarves and hats etcetera to wear underneath from whatever is on the ship."

"After we've got to the first two Supply Modules, are we heading back here, Commander?" asked Fletcher.

"No, at least not all of us. We need those supplies and the equipment in modules three and four. What we've got in the Command Module isn't going to last us long, especially if we can get all fifty-seven people back from modules one and two. Between them, there are sixty tons of food."

"So, how far is the farthest module?" asked Fletcher.

"Melissa?" said Chris.

"Tough to get a reading on it, Commander," she replied. "There must be some high ground between it and the satellite. They're getting a very weak, intermittent signal from it."

"Can you estimate?" Chris pushed.

"Fuel module four is...hang on...no more than sixty kilometres from here," she reported.

"Is that sixty Earth kilometres?" Fletcher sighed.

"What other sort is there?" Chris was puzzled.

"This planet's smaller than Earth. I was hoping the kilometres were smaller too. Nice, short kilometres," he chuckled.

"No, normal, standard, Earth kilometres."

Fletcher frowned and fell silent. Chris continued.

"Now, we need to divide ourselves into two groups. Group one will be making the hike to the Supply Modules. Group two will be staying here and sheltering in the Command Module. Group two will obviously include our injured."