Foothold, page 14
part #1 of Foothold Series
Grace and John had joined Nathalie in the observation dome, a place that these days she left only for basic needs.
“You know you can still do this after we get there?” Grace asked.
Nathalie replied without looking up. “Yes, but it will never be this good again - on the planet surface I will have only a small telescope for a long time, and the atmosphere will distort the light.”
“You can remotely access the telescopes on the Hope, can’t you?” John asked.
“Yes, but it won’t be the same as being here, and not as easy to do, and I won’t have the time once we get there – I’ll be busy with the planet.”
“True, I suppose. There’ll be some hard work once we get there, wherever ‘there’ may be.”
“What about Huygens?” Grace asked. “Could we live there?”
“It’s a hot Mars. Light gravity, about half Earth normal, thin CO2 atmosphere, about 4% of Earth, oxidized soils. Temperatures range from an average of 19 degrees at the poles to over 70 at the equator. I think there’s liquid water at the poles, although not enough for an ocean.”
“So we could live there?”
“At the poles, maybe. But it would not be ideal. It could still get very hot there if the winds blow hot air from the equator.”
“It seems like we have found one planet too cold, and this one too hot. Let’s hope the one in the middle is just right.”
“It may be,” Nathalie offered cautiously. “Here it is,” she said, calling up a view of Tau Ceti V.
Grace and John leaned forward eagerly.
“You can see here, it is blue, like Earth,” she said, as she squinted at a large blue dot showing on the screen. “There is a lot of water in the atmosphere as well, so it probably has large oceans. The atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and carbon dioxide, with a small amount of oxygen.”
“So it looks quite promising?” John asked, hope in his voice.
“So far. We knew already it was a promising match. We just don’t know yet the surface composition, as this view is from the outer solar system, and the resolution is not as good as the planet was on the far side of the star from us. So while we know that the parameters of the planet match our needs, we don’t know if there is any land yet.”
“You mean it might be all ocean?”
Nathalie nodded.
“When will we know?” Grace asked, even though she already knew the answer.
“Two more days. Then it will be as close to us as Mars is to Earth. We’ll be able to get good images of the planet surface.”
***
Three quarters of the way through the final leg, John and Grace watched carefully as the pre-programmed flight sequence pitched the ship over 180 degrees and started deceleration for rendezvous with Tau Ceti V. Several weeks earlier, the planet had appeared from behind Tau Ceti, and Nathalie had at last been able to take high-resolution images of the planet. What she had discovered had lifted their hearts; deep down they had all been concerned that they were destined to struggle either on Huygens or Tau Ceti VI, now provisionally named Cassini.
Tau Ceti V had turned out to be a planet similar to Earth in many ways - light gravity, at around 81% of Earth’s, warmer, with no polar ice and a temperature range from approximately 5 degrees at the poles to 55 degrees at the equator. The atmosphere was approximately 77% nitrogen, 17% carbon dioxide, 3% oxygen and the remainder, traces of noble gases. But the best news had been that there was land, which had allayed their fears that their Goldilocks planet would have nowhere for them to live. The planet did not, however have as much of it as Earth - the planet was nearly 84% ocean. Dry land was divided between three continental areas, one large one and two others that were large island continents similar in scale to Australia. The large continent was a long thin slash of land that extended from the northern polar area to approximately halfway to the southern pole. The island continents were irregularly shaped areas that were close together but on the far side of the planet from the main land mass.
Once again, the main drive of the Hope resumed operation, and slowly began the task of decelerating them to their rendezvous to what they hoped was their final destination.
***
Six days from arrival at Tau Ceti V, David and Heidi were revived. Grace was so relieved to see David she could not help but embrace him in a long hug as soon as he was free of the chamber, followed by a kiss that was just a little longer than a normal greeting.
If David was surprised by the fervor of Grace’s greeting he hid it well. “It’s great to be back,” he said, even though from his perspective nothing had really changed. “How is everyone?”
“We’re fine,” Grace said, indicating herself and John. “As is Nathalie, but you can guess where she is.”
David grinned. “Some things don’t change.”
“What about the ship?” Heidi asked, looking at John. “How is she?”
“She’s fine. I’ve spent the last 3 months checking and checking again, and so far as I can tell, she’s right as rain.”
“And we’re perfectly on course,” Grace added before David could ask. “We’re six days from orbital insertion.”
David then asked the question that he and Heidi were bursting to know. “And the planet? Is it - is it…”
Grace smiled widely. “It’s perfect.”
“We got lucky mate, that’s for sure,” John said.
David felt excitement stirring, mixed with a measure of relief. “So we can live there? Are there life signs?”
“No life signs yet,” Grace answered, “but we can’t really tell for sure until we get closer. And yes, we can live there, although the air will need some work before we can breathe it. But we won’t need pressure suits, we’ll be able to walk outside with respirators.”
David closed his eyes and shook his head slightly.
Grace looked concerned.
“Are you OK?”
David grinned broadly.
“You have no idea!”
Grace relaxed and returned his smile, hugging him again briefly. “Come on then, let’s go to the bridge and I’ll show you what we’ve found so far, and tell you all about it.”
***
After a thorough debrief, which even Nathalie attended, they were all feeling rather exhilarated.
“OK, I guess we’d better start reviewing our plans now we know what we’ve got,” David said.
“Way ahead of you there,” Grace said. “I’ve had 3 months to work on them.”
David raised his eyebrows. “OK. Let’s take a look.”
Nathalie stood up. “I of course have seen these plans, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to the dome.”
“Of course,” David said, also standing.
“And I want to review the engineering checks,” Heidi said matter-of-factly, “starting with the cargo hold.”
“Right,” said John, getting up. “Let’s meet up for dinner at 6?”
“Sure,” replied David, looking at Nathalie.
She smiled. “Of course. Even I stop to eat.”
Grace rolled her eyes slightly as she looked at David.
“OK, then. See you all back here at six.”
Nathalie, John and Heidi then left for their respective destinations, leaving David and Grace alone on the bridge.
“Well,” said David, “about those plans…”
He didn’t finish as Grace kissed him again, this time not withholding any passion.
“Well,” said David again, seeming a little lost for words.
Grace moved her lips close to his ear and whispered, “It’s been three months for me.” She nibbled his ear gently. “For the last few weeks I haven’t been able to think about much other than dragging you up to our cabin and screwing your brains out.”
“Well,” said David for the third time, “Since you put it like that…”
He stood up and gathered her in his arms in one fluid motion. Her passion had aroused his own, and suddenly he had the same thought in his mind. He kissed her deeply and then carried her away to their shared love nest on level one.
Several hours later, finally sated, they lay in each other’s arms. Grace buried her face in the hollow between David’s neck and shoulder and drew a deep breath.
“God, I’ve missed you. You smell so good.”
“Are you sure? I haven’t showered for three months.”
She tweaked one of his nipples playfully.
“Ow!”
Grace looked into his eyes. “I love you. I realized it, having to spend these months without you. I love you.”
David kissed her tenderly. “It would be difficult not to fall in love with you. I’m planning to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Grace raised an eyebrow. “It’s not like you’re spoilt for choice.”
David smiled. “It wouldn’t matter if there were three other women to choose from or three billion. I would still choose you.”
After that there was little time for further discussion, as they consummated love newly declared.
Ten minutes after 6PM ship’s time, David and Grace made a hasty entrance to the galley, their faces still slightly flushed from their energetic lovemaking. The other three were already there, waiting.
“Oh dear God,” David exclaimed. “Is that…?”
“Just like I promised mate,” John said, an evil grin adorning his face. “Carbonara, on the house!”
Everyone else groaned in unison. Their lives were full of change, but some things did, indeed, remain the same.
***
The next morning, David and Grace arrived in the galley for breakfast first.
“You know, I feel a little guilty about yesterday afternoon,” David said.
Grace raised an eyebrow as a reply.
“Well, while you and I were, well, you know…”
“Uh huh.”
John and Heidi were busy in the cargo hold.”
Grace chortled.
“What?”
“For someone who is supposed to be (a) smart and (b) in charge you can be really dumb sometimes.”
David’s face was a picture of confusion. “Why?”
“Because you’re right - John and Heidi were getting busy in the cargo hold, but the only thing they were inspecting was each other!”
Realization dawned.
“Oh.”
“I wasn’t the only one waiting for three months, you know. Haven’t you ever noticed how those two spent more time working in the cargo hold than the rest of the ship?”
“Well, yes, but I thought that was because that’s where the landers are kept.”
“It’s also a place where no one else normally goes.”
Just then John and Heidi arrived, followed shortly by Nathalie, and they all busied themselves selecting meals.
“So, what’s the plan boss?” John asked, as he tucked into some cereal.
“We’ll fine-tune the details, but standard approach plan A will apply. We’ll make low orbit around the planet and spend a week surveying from there. If all goes well, we’ll select a landing spot and send a probe down.”
“We’ll need Nigel and Josh for that, won’t we?” Nathalie asked hopefully.
David smiled. “Yes, it’s time to bring the others out of stasis. Actually, I was wondering if you would like to do the honors after breakfast?”
Nathalie stood up immediately. “But of course. That is now?”
David nodded. “I guess so.”
Without further ado, she turned and left for the stasis chamber.
“Huh, and I thought all she thought about was stars and planets,” John said.
Grace and David smiled. It seemed that even Nathalie had other thoughts on her mind.
***
The next few days passed in a blur. The entire crew was now together, awake, for the first time, and everyone was focusing on preparing for the orbital survey. David and Grace were on the bridge with Natalie, fine-tuning their approach for orbital insertion.
“So, you think 500 kilometers is about right?” Grace asked Nathalie.
“Yes, the air pressure is nearly as high as Earth’s, but due to the lower gravity, the atmosphere’s scale height means that we need to be higher to avoid atmospheric drag.
There’ll still be a little at that height but not enough to matter for some years.”
“OK,” David said, “So we aim for a circular orbit at 500 klicks to start with, then raise to a parking orbit of say 1000 klicks, if we proceed?”
“Yes, 1000 kilometers should be stable for hundreds of years. Although this world is more complicated than Earth because of the three moons. The small close-in moon, that one in particular may perturb the Hope’s parking orbit over time. But it still should be good for a long time.”
“Thanks, Nathalie. OK Grace, let’s do the calculations for orbital insertion at 500 klicks.”
Over the next two days, David fine-tuned the Hope’s trajectory under the guidance of Grace. Finally, they made their last adjustment and burned the Hope’s engines at full thrust for ten minutes to complete the maneuver.
David went through the drive shutdown sequence and leaned back with a sigh, his face relaxed with a happy smile. “Done!”
The rest of the crew clapped and cheered.
“Here’s hoping that we’ve found our new home.”
They all looked at their screens, which were showing a remarkably Earth-like planet below them, blue ocean shielded by isolated clumps of white cloud.
“You’re sure there’s some land down there, right?” Josh asked as they took in the scene.
“Look up,” Nathalie simply said.
At the top of the screen they could see the northern hemisphere of the planet, and just in view was a grey smudge.
“That is the head of the eastern continent. It wraps right around the North Pole, so we see only that from this side. We’ll be able to see the body of the continent in about a hour, but first we will see the western continents.”
“Right,” Josh murmured distractedly.
“This side of the planet is all water,” Natalie continued, “like our Pacific ocean but even bigger, and not even an island. The oceans are deeper here.”
As they continued their orbit, the southwestern continent came into view.
The coast of the northeastern continent, which was located a little further east, made an appearance shortly after, just as the form of the southwest continent started to become more apparent.
“See there,” Nathalie spoke up. “The southernmost continent stretches from just south of the equator at 6 degrees south latitude to 52 degrees south latitude.”
The continent was a large area in a rough rectangular shape rotated anti-clockwise by perhaps 10 degrees, long sides running north to south. The southern end of the continent was a little wider than the top, and the shape of the whole of it softened by many bays and prominences.
Nathalie continued her commentary. “The land area of this continent is approximately 5.8 million square kilometers, which is small for a continent, but large in the context of this planet, which has only three large land masses.”
The land was a streaky combination of grey and reddish-brown soils, mostly flat land or undulating hills except for a range of mountains in the north. Rivers cascaded from the mountains and traced their way east, south and west to the sea, with frequent lakes breaking their journey. Other lakes, including one large one that rivaled one of the great lakes of North America, punctuated the landscape, fed by local watersheds or less significant watercourses.
“See the mountains in the north. I believe these to be clear examples of uplifting through plate tectonics.” She had a triumphant expression on her face as if announcing that she’d discovered something of great importance.
“Sure looks like it,” John added, reminding everyone there that he was a geologist when not playing engineer.
“So the planet has a molten core, like Earth?” Heidi asked.
“It must have,” John answered. “It has a magnetic field, like Earth, so it must have a liquid iron core, so no surprise to discover evidence of plate tectonics.”
“It is most likely,” Nathalie agreed, “We are most fortunate. Not only do we have a magnetic field, but it means we should find minerals in abundance in much the same way as we do on Earth.”
“Any evidence of that yet?” David asked.
“Some,” John answered. “From what we can tell from spectrographic analysis there is some of most of the types of ores that we would mine on Earth.”
David nodded and looked at Nathalie, who continued.
“See there how the mountain range in the north starts on the western side of the continent, south of the coast, and sweeps up to the sea on the northeast corner?”
The others nodded or murmured a response.
As they had been speaking, the Hope had progressed further in its orbit and the northern continent was now fully visible. This was less regular in shape, being somewhat like a shortened and fattened mirror image of North America, from Panama to the Canadian border, where it scooped inwards and gave way to an archipelago that extended towards the north pole, but fell short by some 20 degrees of latitude.
The arm of the continent that extended towards its southern counterpart contained a central ridge of mountains that extended up the eastern side of continent almost to the northern coast before it swooped in to the west.
“We can see here that the range of mountains visible in the south continue right through the northern continent,” Natalie continued. “They do in fact continue along the ocean floor between the two, giving rise to a southern archipelago here.” She indicated a cluster of islands that stretched between the two continental masses.
“Some of these are clearly volcanic in nature, as are the mountains to the north.”
“Which pretty much seals the deal for plate tectonics,” John added.
The northern continent extended from just north of the equator to some 65 degrees north, before disintegrating into the northernmost of the two archipelagos. The soil composition appeared to be the same streaky gray and reddish brown as the southern continent. As with the southern continent, rivers flowed from the high mountainous regions to the sea to the east and across the plains to the west. Lakes also dotted the landscape, especially on the western plains.
