(72) Day 30 1600 (0 minutes) MegaCrane Water Balloon Intercept
“Launch!” said Radius.
Dirk hit the button and felt like his heart had stopped until the MegaCrane climbed into view through the dome.
“Delta down 10%” said Radius.
“Delta, 10 % down,” responded Dirk.
“Delta, normal,” said Radius.
“Delta, normal,” said Dirk, modifying the thrust.
“Charlie, down 10%,” said Radius.
“Charlie, 10% down,” Dirk repeated, making the necessary adjustments.
As they talked back and forth, the monotone call and repeat calmed Dirk down. In the flow of the activity, he became too busy to feel nervous.
“These guys are a finely tuned machine,” Mr. K said to himself, impressed. The murmur of their voices continued as the small bright spot constituting the MegaCrane approached the every increasing Water Balloon. It now appeared to be as big as a large stadium back on Earth, if a stadium on fire could fly through the air. Although about 40% water, it also contained dust and gasses that the heat of the atmospheric entry has caused to burst into flame. It was so close it seemed to grow bigger every second.
“The MegaCrane looks too small to affect it at all,” thought Mr. K. “But calculus doesn’t lie – it should have sufficient thrust to generate the minor change necessary.”
Although he didn’t show it, and Dirk and Radius were certainly not paying attention to the subtle, or not so subtle play of emotion across his face, his confidence was draining away quickly. He began thinking of ways to comfort Dirk after the interior of Tharsis Minutus was explosively transformed into a lake, with unknown, but certainly unwelcome, effects on the newly discovered Martians.
“Standby for hook,” Radius said, his vocal volume increasing, though the tone hadn’t changed.
“An increase in volume as an analog for nervousness?” Mr. K thought.
“Ready,” said Dirk.
“Alpha Bravo, down 20%,” said Radius.
“Alpha Bravo, 20% down,” responded Dirk in a nervous shout.
“All full! Full! Full!” yelled Radius in a voice filing the Control Tower and seeming to echo throughout the Crane Farm.
“Full Full Full” Dirk responded, pressing hard as if excessive pressure on the buttons made any difference.
The three watched as the comet continued along the track for what seemed like a minute but was only a second or two, before it rose slightly above it, so slightly that only the faintest shimmer of sky could be discerned between the fireball that was the comet and the grease pencil line.
“She’s out of fuel,” Dirk said. The MegaCrane, or what was left of it, was now falling below the line, a speck of fire coming off the larger three stadium sized fireball that was the comet. Its coma extended all the way across the dome, filling what they could see of the sky.
And then it was out of sight. The coma, like a airplane vapor trail (though larger than any one had ever seen) slowly dissipated.
But they didn’t care about that.
“Come on,” Dirk yelled, putting down the controller and hopping out of the chair. “Let’s go see what happened!”
Mr. K rushed over to Radius in the other control chair, and he pushed Radius back. Sitting himself on the very front edge of the chair he said, “Dirk, put his arms around my neck, and then push him out of the chair as I stand up.”
“Mr. K, I am too heavy for you to lift,” said Radius. “Go out and check now.”
“No arguing,” Mr. K said.
“But Dad,” Dirk chimed in.
“Push him. You think I told you the importance of working out in this low gravity environment and yet allowed myself to float along like a couch carrot? Push!”
“One, two, three,” said Dirk and pushed Radius up out of the chair as his dad pulled him onto his back, holding Radius’ wrists in one hand and his left leg in the other. As soon as Radius was up on his back, he released his wrists and grabbed Radius’ other thigh, hiking him up higher on his back.
“Let’s go,” he said, leading the way steadily down the stairs.
Dirk followed, impressed.
Only the coma, not the comet itself, was visible, as they rushed toward the garage where Dirk had left the LandCrane.
“Help me put him down, please, Dirk,” said his dad when they reached the vehicle. Dirk wrapped his arms around Radius and held him as his dad squatted down, and they lay Radius gently on the Crane, before pushing him to the center so he wouldn’t fall off.
“Whew,” said Mr. K. “Radius, you need to lay off the ice cream or I need to do more deadlifts and squats.”
“Beautiful work, Dad.”
“Thanks, son, you drive.”
Dirk started the Crane, while his dad held onto Radius’ foot, so Radius didn’t slide off the back as the Crane accelerated.
“We’ll be able to see Tharsis Minutus from there,” Dirk said, driving the Crane up the berm.
(73) Day 30 1602 An Unwelcome Sight at Tharsis Minutus
Ailina, against her better judgment, continued slowly outside. The light level hurt her eyes, so she kept them almost shut and sheltered behind her hands.
Suddenly, the ceiling vanished and she was into a vast expanse of nothingness. It was too bright to see clearly. Suddenly, a noise, like the flow of lava but magnified as though all the lava in the planet was flowing past her in a cascade crashed into her ears. Involuntarily she looked for the source of the sound, and saw it, not where she expected it, but somehow ahead of the sound, a ball of fire in the sky.
Alinia turned and as quickly as she could fled back into the tunnel and, she hoped, safety. There was no longer any doubt in her mind concerning why the Festival trips had stopped.
(74) Day 30 1605 Discerning the Outcome
“Watch where you are driving, son” Dirk’s dad said as they headed up the hill and Dirk kept turning his head to look over his right shoulder at the coma, hoping to see the Water Balloon past and opening away from Tharsis Minutus.
“Almost there, almost there,” Dirk said.
He stopped at the top and jumped out. Mr. K looked at the comet and then turned to move Radius into a sitting position, so he too could see.
“We should have taken your head off,” he said.
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Radius responded.
“It looks clear,” said Dirk hopefully. “Radius, what do you think?”
“I think it will miss Tharsis Minutus,” Radius said, having compared the track data streaming from the Control Tower radar system and the visual data he was receiving from his own eyes.
“Yes!” said Dirk.
“Thank God,” Mr. K whispered to himself.
“Oh Radius, you did it!” Dirk continued enthusiastically.
“Let’s wait a minute for confirmation,” said Radius calmly.
“Ok, ok, you’re right,” Dirk said staring intently at the comet. It seemed to be passing north of the crater.
The Water Balloon disappeared from view, past and opening to the southwest of Tharis Minutus.
“We did it!” yelled Dirk, jumping happily.
“Impact,” said Mr. K, as a cloud of dust rose up to mix with the coma.
Dirk collapsed on the ground, spread eagle in exhaustion, as if he had won the Games.
Mr. K lowered Radius back down.
“Congratulations, guys. Dirk, climb on in. We have a lot to do, not least is to explain why we interfered with a major Company project, a key component of increasing the anti-fragility of the entire human settlement project by providing an additional backup water supply. Time for the decision concerning when and how we are going to release the news about the Martians is also short.”
“Ok, ok, but I’m still going to enjoy this moment,” Dirk said, starting the Crane.
“As you should,” his dad agreed.
“And first things first – we have to get my friend Radius back on his feet.”
&n
bsp; “Indeed,” said Mr. K. “We’ll meet Tom at his house to repair Radius and discuss with Mandy the Martian revelation.”
Dirk sped up as they reached the bottom of the berm – he’d never felt so happy.
End of Book One
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