"It's decision time, Commander," Stephen announced as Ria arrived in the Hesperian's control room. "If we're going to rendezvous with our Pathfinder vessel, we need to make our turn now to adjust our deceleration vector. I feel I should point out that we've still had no contact with the Elysian. We don't know if there are any survivors."
She moved across and flumped into the command chair before replying. "I've been thinking; with no more support joining us from Earth, it's crazy for us to be spread across two planets. That just reduces our chances of making it. We all need to be on the same planet and Elysian has decided which one for us."
"It has?"
"There's no point us debating which is the best home for us, both are viable and whatever is left of Elysian's crew, there's no conceivable way we can get there, bring them up off the surface and transport them to Proxima B."
"If any of them survived," Stephen scoffed. "The problem is we just don't know what happened. The whole ship could have gone down in a ball of flame. The fact we haven't heard a peep from them since it happened is distinctly worrying."
"Think of it another way," she smiled. "There are three Pathfinder vessels in orbit around Proxima C and two around Proxima B. If we bring ours to Proxima C, there will be four there. If Olympian does the same, all the Pathfinders will be around C. If Olympian and us stay here, we've only got two in total."
"True," he nodded.
"The Pathfinders for Uranian and Arcadian are going unclaimed and, without our resupply ships coming from Earth, we're going to need those supplies."
"The Arcadian might still arrive. They could just have had a comms failure or they may have been held up leaving Earth."
"The updates from control didn't mention anything," she said.
"Doesn't mean they're not coming. The information was quite brief."
"And if we can't communicate with them, where will they go?"
"Proxima C," he shrugged.
She smiled. "I think, however we work this, we need to go to Proxima C. It's simply our best option."
"Okay, Commander. You know I have reservations about this, but I agree with you. I'll get Foxy working on the rendezvous trajectory calculations now. You need to work out who's going to do the E.V.A. work."
Just then, a notification tone sounded from the Control Room speakers.
"I have an incoming transmission from the Olympian, Commander," Foxy announced.
"Yes, please, Foxy. How far away from us is the Olympian right now?"
"The Olympian is nine point two million kilometres from our current location. That means a time delay of approximately thirty-nine seconds for radio transmissions, Commander."
"Okay, play the message, Foxy."
Instead of replying, Foxy simply started the recorded message playing through the speakers.
"Hi, Commander Laghari. This is Commander Arvid Nilsson here, of the Olympian. We got your message. Our Foxy has revived our command crew and we have some questions for you."
"Fire away!" Ria replied, knowing full well that she was talking to a recording.
"Because of the time delay involved here, I'm going to ask them all together. Firstly, are you going ahead with your suggested plan for all the colonisation program vessels to land together on Proxima C? Foxy's telling us we simply don't have enough propellent left to safely achieve that and, frankly, we are not kitted out for Proxima C's temperatures. Secondly, have you received any communication from the Elysian? We're getting nothing."
Ria shook her head.
Arvid's voice continued, "Thirdly, last question, if we all go to Proxima C, what's happening to our Pathfinder vessels that are already in orbit around Proxima B? We look forward to hearing from you."
A tone marked the end of the message.
"He doesn't sound too keen on the Proxima C plan either," Stephen laughed.
"I'll explain our more recent thoughts in our reply. Hopefully, that will solve his fuel issue too."
"And what happens if Olympian doesn't have enough fuel to make the trip?"
"They should be in the same situation as us but, if not, we'll have to change our plan to accommodate that."
Stephen looked unconvinced.
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