Morris rose well before orbit the next day, and well before any of the others save Harper and Kody. He and the midshipman checked and re-checked engineering in preparation for orbital maneuvers. By the time the others rose Harper had microjumps plotted and ready. Kody left to tend the others and prepare them.
Harper flew the ship incredibly well. She decelerated gradually along a smooth curve that ended with the ship in a high orbit. From there she shot readings against the surface to locate the site and their landing zone. Once she found it she transitioned into a low-survey orbit and hit it within three deviations. Under two, knew Morris, would earn her free drinks and brags.
"Bridge," announced Harper, "Secure from maneuvers. Orbit is stable."
***
Morris found a scene of organized chaos in the lounge. But it wasn't the lounge any longer. Most of the tables were gone, folded into the walls or moved into storage. In their place stood, sat and rested the specialized instruments and equipment they'd use in their orbital survey and investigation. Harper deployed the high-resolution scan array and several terminals lit up. Jackson and Rackwell occupied them and began working through the scan protocols. Before long Harper fired a pair of probes down into the atmosphere, which activated two more terminals. Lace and Harkin took those. Delroy monitored all the feeds and coordinated them into the datastores.
"I like this already," said Harkin of his terminal, "Just take a look at that weather! I could make an entire course on just that. Ron, Tina, come look!"
Eisley and Garrett spared Morris a pained look before joining Harkin.
"He's been that way since we started for orbit," confessed Polov quietly, "Apparently the 'weather' part of his expertise is his favorite."
Not wanting to jostle or to miss a single thing Morris dogged a chair next to Delroy's holocad. If she saw this as an invasion she kept it to herself. Occasionally he had to perform a quick fix or calibration on something; he knew they would only increase.
Lunch came in the form of quick snacks fetched as time and finished tasks permitted. Morris actually had time for his which bothered him a little. When Delroy showed no sign of slowing he fetched her a tray. She flashed him an almost-smile and took infrequent bites as she could. As she worked Morris gained a new level of respect for her. Although AI routines could accomplish the task eventually she managed to integrate all the feeds, establish pre-correlates and insert index points, all in real time.
Dinner came when Harper declared an end to the day's activities. They had completed several orbits, during which they gathered all the rough scan information they could. Now they needed time for Delroy's AI routines to digest and process the data. Once that happened they would know where to concentrate the finer and more complex scans.
Morris settled into bed. Kody had engineering now and would until they grounded. It irked Morris to stay away but Harper had not rescinded her order, nor would, apparently. Kody could handle things but Morris wanted to be there. That would spoil the rift between himself and Harper, though, so he held his peace.
The terminal started flashing. Morris considered ignoring it; tiredly, he released it.
'Specialist?'
'Thank you.'
'For what?'
'Bringing me lunch today.'
'You're quite welcome.'
'What do you think so far?'
'I'm excited. And tired.'
'I have some preliminary results. Would you like to see them?'
Actually he wanted anything other than, but...
'Certainly Specialist.'
A graphic box opened to a detailed light-penetration scan around the site. Her AI color- and texture-enhancement flowed in and around it to an amazing 87.5 confidence.
'It has all the characteristics of a new base,' she said, 'and it's in a volcanically active zone. We're lucky it didn't fault and implode.'
'How active?!'
'Oh. Not very much, in realtime, but more so considering the span of years covered by the Collapse and Interim. Statistically it could have been active enough to shift and destroy the base. But it didn't.'
'I see that. We are fortunate.'
A pause.
'Are you really tired?'
'Yes, Specialist. Very much so.'
'Oh. Good night, then.'
'Good night, Specialist.'
***
The next day began before breakfast. Morris' door beeped him awake. When he opened it he found a frantic Rackwell reporting a malfunctioning scanner.
That set the tone for his day. Everyone had experiments and scans that needed doing, immediately or sooner, with this or that analysis afterward. He had few actual repairs, thanks to careful maintenance, but everything needed calibration. While anyone could calibrate their instruments, Morris did it as second nature and much more quickly. He grabbed breakfast between adjusting a low-freq atmospheric scanner and synchronizing the array for the first deep-penetration scan.
During all of this Lace scoop-compressed some atmospheric samples and wanted help setting up the analyzer. Then Harkin wanted his 4D doppler array fine-tuned. That took a long time during which Harkin regaled Morris about the intricacies of the planet's weather and its effects on the expedition. When Morris finally sat down for a very late lunch Kody called from engineering for verification of a protocol.
By the end of the day Morris didn't have to pretend irritation with Harper or any other person. Nothing he did was hard, just disorganized. His Academy training covered task priority and scheduling but by its nature the work today did not organize nicely.
After dinner Morris retreated to his cabin solely to relax. He privacy-locked his terminal and took a long, hot shower. He had just stepped out when his door beeped. He opened it, ready to snap and bite.
"Hello there," said Lace, "It was the consensus of the scientific personnel aboard that our hard-working Technician could likely use a thorough, relaxing, indulgent and totally luxurious back massage. I was elected by acclaim to administer it."
Morris didn't try to untangle the knot of memories that formed. Instead he obeyed Lace and lay down.
"Heaven's flames, Morris! What has you so tense?"
He started to answer only to bite back tears as she found a particularly tight muscle. Somehow she found every tense spot he had plus a few he didn't know he had.
"Scheduling," he finally muttered, "or the lack thereof. Criti... cal low-effort de... Aiee! Detailed tasks that..."
"Slib," she said, "I believe you. Don't undo my work."
He felt her smile.
"Unless you just want me to stay."
How long Lace worked Morris could not say but she left him a total mass of limp relaxation.
"I would undress you too," she winked, dimming the lights, "But people would talk."
She left and he remained conscious only long enough to pull up the covers.
***
The next day wasn't nearly as hectic. Morris had already handled all the instruments absolutely needing calibration or adjustment so now things just required minor work and not much of that. Around midmorning Harper told him to begin placing gensats. She spoke simply and without ado then left before he could respond, all without seeming to rush.
With an air of fuming impatience Morris began working. The gensats would provide positioning and communication with an easy upgrade to full GIPS later, should the follow-up missions need full global information and positioning. He placed the satellites carefully, the better he set them now the less correction they'd need later, and started the synchronization routines. Although placing the things took a lot of time Morris minded not at all. He also had no doubt the satellites had a complex multithread feed into the larger unit in a different orbit: the beacon drone.
***
Harkin and Lace presented preliminary information and conclusions on the data they compiled during dinner. That meal happened around and between the terminals and equipment in the lounge but no one minded.
"The atmosphere is
better than we thought," said Harkin, "and worse. Oxygen content is a lot higher near the surface so that won't be a problem. Nor will be deriving a breathable mix; the partials with the inerts won't take any acclimation.
"The bad news is the non-inert trace gasses. There are some pretty toxic sulfur compounds. The worst ones are in small concentrations but we can't ignore them. We'll need respirators with eye guards for certain sure. We'll also need to keep a close eye on seals and gaskets; between the oxygen and toxic sulfur compounds we'll have a mixture that could be custom-made to chew through them."
"What about microbes," asked Jackson.
"We didn't find any in the scoop-comp," said Lace, "The probes found about what they should have. Plenty of diversity and all of it nicely within the expected profile. Specific remote tests indicate nothing overtly hostile. We also initiated the Maldrake protocol and the initial signs are negative."
That made Morris and Jackson wince. It referred to the protocol developed to prevent the bioweapon disaster that followed the discovery of the Imperium lab on Maldrake IV.
While Lace detailed the specific microbes, spores and other microscopic life they'd found so far Morris mentally went over the chemicals in the atmosphere. He checked them against the sealants, lubricants, resins and other degradable or corrodible components they had aboard. The air would affect exposed volatiles but constant awareness would handle that. The vehicles would also require heavy dust and particle filters on their intakes, no problem there. The rest of the gear should be fine. League plastics and alloys were very resistant to environmental factors.
"So," said Lace, "Any questions?"
Harkin looked up expectantly, eagerly at that. He wanted to expound on the planet's weather patterns but no one asked. No matter, he'd have his heart's fill of lecturing on it in time. Everyone broke into small groups to discuss details on the landing tomorrow.
***
"Bridge," came Harper's voice over the 'comm, "Beginning descent spiral."
"Engineering aye," replied Morris, "Drive array is nominal."
Morris switched the console from roving monitor to dedicated drive array. He and Kody sat in engineering, strapped down and wearing vacc suits. The power flowed smoothly and the drive responded eagerly.
Under the Maldrake protocol everyone aboard wore sealed suits but Harper allowed them to keep the visors open. The ship itself was still sealed, of course, but they would take no chances whatsoever on breaches or extreme-edge probabilities.
Morris switched a pair of auxiliary monitors to their descent; one raw video feeds from outside and the other the navigation projection. As the ship entered Dustball's atmosphere the hull began to heat. He split his main monitor to show both hull integrity and drive performance. The air ionized earlier than Harper's projection but she corrected easily. The LZ lay beyond the horizon but she still had a lot of velocity to kill.
As the atmosphere thickened Harper decreased her angle of descent. Morris admired the way she managed to keep the temperature within one deviation of the protocol requirement. No known organism, viral or biologic, could withstand the current temperature or any the hull would have within thirty minutes of grounding. Keeping the levels constant took touch and Harper had that in abundance.
"Bridge. Forty seconds to vector change."
"Engineering aye." Morris activated several modules. "Low-thrust array active and nominal. Gravitics on automatic and responsive."
"Bridge aye."
Harper hit vector changeover with a barely perceptible jolt. The ship reconfigured itself from orbit and approach to aerodynamic maneuver. The hull temp rose a few degrees but stayed well below the upper margin. The LZ slid toward them, within distant visual range now.
"Bridge. Prepare for probe release."
"Engineering aye." Morris double-checked the seal integrity. "Seals are secure."
A loud clang sounded as Harper released a pair of high probes. They appeared as dots on the nav display, dropping down and behind the ship. Once they reached safe distance they fired and streaked ahead toward the landing zone. The ship veered starboard as Harper started her speed-killing spiral. The LZ slipped to the left then rotated as the ship banked. They had eighteen probes left and Harper intended to use them all. Just before the LZ crossed from forward to aft she increased the bank and centerlined it, spiraling downward and losing speed.
"Engineering. Final probes released."
"Bridge aye. Prepare decontamination, on my mark. Mark."
"Engineering aye." Then, off-comm, "Mister Kody."
Kody reached out and pulled a lever. Five seconds of drive plasma vented through the probe launcher. The switch jumped out of Kody's hand as the ports closed automatically.
"Engineering. Plasma vent complete. Commencing internal purge."
"Bridge aye."
"Is that necessary, sir," asked Kody, "The ports couldn't suck in anything cool enough to survive and the plasma shot should kill that."
"Necessary, no," said Morris, "I agree with you but the protocol was established for a good reason. We'd need a better reason not to follow it."
"Aye, sir."
Kody turned another valve and the acidic anti-biologic purge fluid flooded the launch port. It flashed to steam instantly and streaked out the external pressure valves until the launch tubes cooled.
"Engineering. Internal purge complete. No breach, condition normal."
The LZ approached steadily as it remained centered between fore and aft on their left. Its location relative to center fluctuated microscopically as Harper corrected for turbulence and thickening atmosphere but she kept it very well within the most efficient approach interval. When she finally lost enough orbital velocity she flattened out to a long glide. Morris knew she would now determine the optimum approach.
Harper banked hard, lost a lot of altitude and dropped below stall speed. She compensated with the underjets, using the plasma to clear the vegetation from the site. She rolled back and forth, maximizing the cleared zone. This procedure started several fires but they wouldn't burn long. She blasted upward, gaining altitude for the final approach. She lined up, slowed to stall and kicked in the underjets again, this time backed up with the gravitics. Before long she killed the jets completely, slowed to a crawl and turned the ship back along its line of travel. Should the need arise they were startup time plus not many minutes from takeoff.
"Bridge to all. We are grounded. Secure from landing stations."
Morris thumbed his helmet 'comm to the bridge freq.
"Excellent job, Ms. Harper. You're an artist."
"Thanks Morris."
***
Morris sealed engineering and went to the lounge to help the others out of their suits. He met an air of jubilation mixed with tangible excitement and even Delroy smiled. They made it! The others greeted Morris and Kody with a half-cheer which they completed when Harper entered the room.
"So now we stew a while," said Jackson, "Can you take it, Rack?"
"Quite so, my boy," said Rackwell, "Torture indeed but well worth the wait."
Jackson referred obliquely to the time required to verify the atmosphere. Four of the probes landed within half a klick of the ship and as soon as the hull cooled Lace would expose biogel to the atmosphere. The sticky goo here and within the probes would decompose rapidly with exposure to any hostile organisms. For now Harper had the ship's air at a slight overpressure relative to the planet so nothing from outside could enter. Theoretically. If the biogel lasted forty-eight hours it meant no hostile microbes present. Six of the remaining probes would land around the suspected site and another three between it and here.
After a boisterous lunch Morris unlocked engineering and went to work. He isolated and grounded all the flight systems and began the port powerdown procedure. He cut the fusion plant to forty percent, more than they would need grounded, and started the full recursive purge and regen cycle. It would take days to complete but once finished would leave the plant as good as new. Fini
shing grounding protocols took most of the afternoon but left all flight systems safely offline and the ship itself ready to power the base camp. When he had everything set he manually locked and sealed every access to engineering and engaged full security. Barring an emergency departure no one needed access to engineering and Morris intended to enforce that. Once he finished he encryption-locked the main bulkhead with a long, secure key generated by his toolbelt. He crypcerted it and handed it personally to Harper who, with Kody as witness, locked it in the ship's safe.
***
Dinner started very early and soon degenerated into celebration. Someone, likely Lace or Harkin, coaxed an incredible range of hors'd-oeuvre from the food synthesizer supplemented by contributions from several anonymous stashes. Before long bottles appeared and Harper, in grand Navy tradition, pretended not to notice. Morris nearly laughed aloud when Kody gravely offered her a sample of 'local fruit juice' which she accepted just as gravely before turning back to her conversation with Polov and Lace.
Morris tried to moderate his intake but with a cheerful Jackson close by or Lace at his side he drank more than he intended. He did stop when the room fuzzed but it was too late. He had to think hard to speak clearly and the least little mistake sent him into giggles.
After a food trip that took three times longer than it should Morris felt a sudden overwhelming urge to sit down. He sighted a chair and started toward it but ended up beside Delroy and her holocad. Her powered-down holocad! She watched with mild amusement as he, with utmost concentration, set his plate on the table beside him. It wobbled once and sent him into a spate of laughter.
"Are you enjoying yourself, Technician?"
"Why yesh, Shpecialist. I am indeed." Morris formed the words carefully and reviewed them. "What about are you?"
"Quite so." She sounded less cold. "But not as much as you, I think."
"Wellll... Perhapsh you should try it. It'sh not at all unenjoyable." That twist of logic fascinated Morris. He reviewed it several times, admiring its circularity. When he finished mulling it he looked up and into her scrutiny.
Unashamed and uninhibited, Morris stared right back at her.
"Is something wrong, Technician?"
"You are very beautiful when you are not shcowling Special... list..."
Shock cut through Morris' haze and snapped him back to alertness. He certainly didn't mean to say it but the words slipped out. Having said it, though, he could think of no way to unsay it.