Trappist-1, page 13
part #3 of Mark Noble Space Adventures Series
‘Tosh,’ I called. ‘Your advice is required.’
Tosh meandered over to the locker. ‘My God! That’s not good. The entire compartment is covered in the stuff.’
‘How do we get rid of it?’ asked Bill. ‘Probably did better in here owing to the damp fabric of the boat.’
‘Well,’ Tosh said, ‘it’s too big a job for wipes.’
‘Antibacterial spray?’ I asked.
‘Yes, that would do the job, but we don’t have a huge supply,’ said Tosh, running his finger across it and clearing a stripe. ‘It does come off easy enough. I’d leave it for now. No point in spending an age clearing the stuff now when it is likely to gain a foothold again back at base. My entity is happy with what we’re doing.’
‘Okay, same with mine,’ I agreed. ‘Stow the dinghy as it is, Bill.’
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
‘Come in, Spirit,’ said Chi.
‘Copy you, Chi,’ said Anna.
‘Just lifting off from the lake. We’re planning to fly over the watershed of this range of hills, then follow the river system back to the sea. I’ll let you know if we land anywhere en route.’
‘Copy that, Chi. Out,’ said Anna.
What a pleasure to breathe our own air again. Chi really didn’t seem to mind it, but I hated the mustiness. It smelled positively unhealthy to me.
The jets fired and we lifted vertically. We continued up to the mountain ridge, selected a drainage valley and followed it down the hillside. As soon as the meltwater emerged from the foot of the glacier, it was fringed with the black plant all of the way to the sea.
Chi banked us left and we followed the coastline, watching for water creatures at the surface, but saw none. Eventually, the orange colour of our fuel tank came into view and Chi parked us well away from the shore.
‘How’s fuel?’ I asked.
‘Okay for a couple more trips, but aren’t you going to need me to fly you out over the sea to deploy the ROV?’ Chi asked.
‘Yes,’ said Bill. ‘We certainly can’t deploy it from the dinghy. Don’t fancy tackling those beasts on their home turf.’
‘Good point,’ I agreed.
‘In that case,’ said Chi, ‘the deployment will be the last trip. I have no intention of trying to dock with the tank when short of fuel.’
‘Okay. You’re the boss when it comes to the Rimor,’ I said. ‘I’m wearing a suit this time, didn’t like the smell of that air.’
‘Yes, me too,’ said Bill.
When we climbed down onto the land, only Chi decided to go without her suit. She said that she thought breathing the air was “all part of the experience”.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Bill unpacked the ROV. It was bright yellow and about the size of a small refrigerator. Propellers were set into each of the corners and cameras were on the forward end as well as the sides and bottom. Powerful spotlights were set on either side of the front camera. I’d used these things before on Earth to study underwater geological structures. It was wonderful technology.
‘Not well camouflaged,’ joked Chi.
‘No, but yellow is particularly good in water. You can see the submersible’s yellow body long before you’d see any other colour,’ Tosh explained.
‘Learn something new every day,’ she said. ‘The Beatles Yellow Submarine was less funny than we all thought, then.’
‘Well, Ringo probably didn’t know the science,’ said Bill and laughed.
‘Didn’t they use a yellow submarine at Loch Ness, to look for the monster?’ I asked.
‘Yes, I think they did,’ said Bill, ‘and we’re going to use this one to film monsters too.’
‘Hope we have better luck than them,’ said Tosh.
We lifted the machine and attached it to a release bracket under the Rimor. The monitoring console we positioned under the tank framework. Once we were set up, Chi flew the Rimor out to sea, hovered just above the surface, released the submersible, and immediately gained height. She’d told me she wasn’t going to give the larger beasts time to plan an attack.
All of a sudden, the monitor was showing an underwater scene.
‘Wonder if they’ll get curious,’ mused Bill.
‘Depends how hungry they are,’ I said. ‘What’s the depth here, Tosh?’
‘We have ten metres beneath us, so about fifteen metres in total. Plenty of those fish.’
A shoal of fish passed before the submersible. They had a passing resemblance to wrasse, but with fins either side instead of top and bottom. Very beautiful, the way they moved, but no colour to them.
One of the side cameras showed a collection nozzle coming out of the ROV. Tosh activated the suction and made a fast run at the shoal. ‘Got ‘em!’ he cried. ‘Two of them.’
The collection tube stored itself again and the submersible cruised the bottom, moving deeper and following the descending terrain. Surface light was now gone and the machine was relying on its own illumination.
‘Twenty metres deep here. Something bigger ahead,’ Tosh said, and we saw sediment disturbed as an eel-like creature vanished into the murk.
Suddenly, the picture turned somersault. ‘What the hell was that?’ exclaimed Bill.
‘Something hit us,’ said Tosh.
The ROV righted itself and then a large grey shape passed in front of the camera.
‘How big?’ I asked.
‘At least six metres. Bulky too. Possibly one of the beasts,’ said Tosh as the ROV was buffeted again.
‘They don’t like it,’ said Chi, who had landed the Rimor and come to see how things were going.
‘Whoa!’ shouted Tosh, as the vehicle was attacked again.
This time we got a good view of the tusks on one side of the animal as it charged the left side of the machine.
‘Can it hurt it?’ asked Chi.
‘Unlikely,’ Tosh said. ‘I’m arming biopsy cannon one.’
A small tube, about two centimetres in diameter could be seen extending to the right of the main camera.
‘Come on, you beauty, just cross in front of us again,’ whispered Tosh, as if the animals could hear him.
‘Will it hurt it?’ asked Chi.
‘If they feel pain, it will certainly nip,’ said Tosh. ‘Won’t do any permanent damage though.’
The buffeting and charging continued. The animals certainly believed this thing was invading their territory. Then one of them passed the front of the ROV and I saw Tosh hit a red button on the console.
In a flash, the biopsy dart hit the animal and withdrew back into the hull with its core sample of skin and flesh. The animal twisted and violently headed upwards. In the distance we saw it clear the surface by a good ten metres and crash back down into the water.
‘That upset it!’ I said.
‘Too right,’ agreed Bill.
We didn’t see any more of the large beasts as we continued to examine the silty bottom and record images of other marine life.
‘That’s odd,’ said Tosh. ‘None of the others have approached, if they’re there.’
‘Maybe the one you harpooned warned them off?’ Chi asked.
‘That would be rather profound,’ he said.
‘Wonder if they have a language?’ I asked.
‘I presume not,’ said Tosh, ‘but the hydrophone is picking up some noises. We’ll need to analyse it back home.’
On one occasion, a one-metre-long creature with tentacles, like a squid, passed by. Tosh got a tissue sample from it and was also able to collect several molluscs and a crablike creature.
‘Batteries below fifteen per cent,’ said Bill.
‘I think we’ll call it a day,’ Tosh said and pressed an auto-homing button. The ROV would now find its way to the closest point on the shoreline.
Twenty minutes later it drove itself ashore.
‘Leave it sitting there for a while,’ I said.
Tosh looked at me, puzzled.
‘Those beasts might be intelligent enough to associate it with the Rimor. Don’t want to get skewered while we’re carrying it up that slippery shoreline.’
‘Yes. Hadn’t thought of that,’ said Tosh.
Later, while we were half carrying, half dragging the submersible up the shoreline, a couple of the beasts did appear in the bay, their front ends visible as if they were watching us, although we could see no obvious eyes. I felt a lot better when we’d reached the Rimor and Tosh could begin transferring his specimens to storage cases.
‘Okay. Trappist-1 is setting. Last night sleeping in the Rimor,’ I said, ‘then tomorrow we’ll clean up and leave.’
‘Won’t miss this place,’ said Bill.
‘Heathen!’ said Tosh loudly. ‘We found a habitable planet with indigenous life on our very first attempt. It’s amazing.’
‘Suppose so,’ said Bill, ‘but I really don’t like the place. Sorry. You won’t catch me on the first wagon train to colonise it.’
21 Preparing to Leave
Next morning, we had to pack and clean up. Getting rid of the alien plant would not be easy. We all wore suits, although Chi continued to prefer to breathe the air and had her visor open. I really didn’t like the smell. I still couldn’t quite pin down the aroma. The closest I could get was rotting vegetation or that similarity to a mouldy old blanket which Bill had suggested.
Bill and Chi removed a substantial shelter from one of the Rimor lockers and had it erected in about an hour. It was similar to, but larger and stronger than the one we had erected on Mars.
They fixed it to the bedrock some sixty metres from the shore, to be out of range of the sea creatures and any future floods. Inside we stored all of the equipment which would not be accompanying us back into orbit. Weight was critical, of course. The dinghy, ROV, the unused buggy, and almost all of our sampling equipment and microscopes were put in the cache, which should be secure for many years, to be used by any returning expeditions. Several long-term experiments were also set up. The data could be collected from orbit by any returning expeditions.
‘That’s it all stored, Mark,’ said Bill, returning to the Rimor.
‘I wonder if we ever will colonise this place,’ Chi said.
‘Don’t know. That plant is so invasive. We would have to find a way to control or eradicate it,’ I said. ‘Otherwise I’m sure it would smother any Earth crops.’
‘Yes. Possibly,’ agreed Tosh, finishing his scrubbing of the dinghy’s storage locker. ‘I think this is clean.’
Bill and I examined the interior, giving one or two areas a vigorous rub with wet wipes. We then sealed the compartment. The lockers had vents which could be left open and we did that in order to allow the vacuum of space to finish the weed destruction process. The ice cores, rock, plant, fish and invertebrate samples had their own double-sealed containers.
‘Hey, look!’ shouted Tosh.
We all turned to look along the shoreline. A strange, grey mist was rising from the beach. We watched in amazement as it rose vertically from the seaweed along the entire coastline before being carried away on a light offshore breeze.
‘What do you make of that?’ I asked.
‘Could be pollen or something. Maybe that’s how it reproduces,’ said Tosh, who ran towards the shore with a couple of sampling containers. ‘I need to get specimens.’
‘Don’t slip,’ Bill shouted, but by then Tosh was already swinging his sample bags in arcs around his head and body.
‘I can smell it,’ said Chi, who still had her visor open. ‘It has a certain sweetness to it.’
The breeze was now onshore and the grey mist was moving towards us. ‘Shut your faceplate, quickly!’ I said.
‘I have, but it isn’t unpleasant. Uncharacteristic, really,’ she said. ‘Would have expected such a nasty plant to produce something less aromatic.’
I watched her breathing and blinking to be sure there was no effect on her eyes. Suddenly the expression on her face changed from one of detached interest to one of absolute horror.
‘Quick. Check my seals! Now!’ she shouted, double checking her visor. I ran over to her and helped her tighten the shoulder rings.
‘What’s up?’ asked Tosh, running towards us to help.
‘I can’t feel anything wrong but my entity is really alarmed and says the air is deadly,’ said Chi.
‘But it’s almost Earth-like,’ said Tosh. ‘No harmful chemicals or gases. No pathogens or dangerous bacteria.’
‘Tosh, you’re covered in the stuff,’ I said, looking at the grey powder which coated his suit. He wiped his visor with his glove to clear it.
‘You are too,’ said Tosh.
‘My entity tells me these are spores and she’s having trouble fighting them off. They’re in my mouth, nose, throat and lungs,’ said Chi, beginning to become panicky and starting to cough.
‘Flush your suit out,’ said Tosh. ‘Open the valve and hyperventilate while the canned air pushes out the alien atmosphere.’
I watched Chi obeying Tosh’s instructions.
Chi coughed again and again while the backpack blew fresh air through her suit.
‘How’s it feel now?’ asked Tosh.
‘I still can’t feel anything wrong, except an irritation in my mouth and lungs. Doesn’t seem to be bad,’ she said, ‘but my ent is still panicking. Never known her behave like this.’
‘Look at the way it is settling on us,’ said Bill.
‘Can we do anything to help, Chi?’ Tosh asked, putting his arm around her shoulders.
Chi didn’t answer immediately, perhaps she was “speaking” to her entity. ‘No. She says there’s nothing, but she’s warning about the pollen. I’ll let her speak.’
Chi’s eyes glazed over as the entity took over control of her body and speech centres. ‘It is attacking the inside of our body. Lungs and mouth, also getting into our digestive tract.’
‘How are you fighting it?’ Tosh asked.
‘It is burning. Getting in by burning the tissue. I can stop it, but not completely. I’ve got a mass of white blood cells rushing to each incursion, but they’re having trouble keeping up.’
‘Antibiotics? I have a small supply of a very powerful antibiotic on board,’ said Tosh.
‘No. Wouldn’t help.’ Chi coughed and we saw a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. ‘It is penetrating my permeable membranes. Especially in the alveoli and bronchia.’
‘You’re bleeding,’ I said.
‘I’m losing it,’ she said, coughing again. More blood was being ejected and sticking to the inside of the visor. ‘We’re dying. Can’t stop it!’
‘Tosh?’ I looked at him for ideas. I could see the anguish in his face. He had no solution.
He pulled Chi tighter to him. ‘There’s nothing I can do. Try a second air flush.’
‘Help me!’ said Chi. Tosh punched the correct buttons on Chi’s forearm and we heard the backpack purging the suit air again. She coughed twice more and her visor was completely splattered with blood. ‘No. No, we’re losing the fight?’ came, I assumed, from the entity, punctuated by coughing fits.
‘Chi. No. No. Can I do anything at all?’ said Tosh, holding both of her arms and trying to peer into her helmet.
Chi crumpled to the ground, pulling Tosh over with her and we could hear continual coughing, gurgling and choking. ‘Drowning!’ she spluttered. Her body thrashed about on the ground for almost two minutes, then the movement became less violent, her chest stopped heaving and she stilled.
‘Chi. Chi!’ Tosh said, frantically shaking her. ‘Darling. Speak to me.’
No response. Tosh let go. ‘Chi!’ I shouted, cradling her head and trying to see past the blood splattered visor. There was no movement. No breathing. I purged her suit again.
‘I think we’ve lost her,’ said Bill, pulling on my arm. ‘Let her go, Mark.’
I sat back on the ground. Tosh cradled Chi in his arms. Bill stood, looking down at her, helpless. No one spoke for at least a minute. We were all in shock over her death. So fast, and nothing we could do to stop it.
‘We can’t let this pollen into the Rimor,’ said Bill, eventually.
‘And how are we going to manage to get in ourselves?’ I said. ‘We’re covered in the damn stuff.’ I brushed it off my suit. A few grains of this stuff in the spacecraft could kill us all. ‘It’s no wonder there are no land animals on this world.’
‘Can’t imagine a worse way to die,’ said Bill, choking back tears as he spoke. He looked back towards the shoreline. ‘Whatever it was, it seems to have stopped.’ Bill pointed towards the sea.
I looked around. The grey mist was completely gone and no more was being ejected from the weed. It must have been a rare occurrence. We’d been unlucky. Any other day and we might never have even known about it.
‘I’ll wager that is what we’ll find when we analyse those layers in Tosh’s ice core samples,’ said Bill, recovering his composure. ‘It must occur on some sort of regular basis when certain conditions are right.’
We all stared in silence at the sea for a long time. We’d lost Chi. However, the dreadful truth was that we were all in the same danger. We dared not take any of this pollen, or the plant, into the Rimor and we hadn’t even begun to clean the cabin. I turned back to Chi. Tosh was sitting on the ground, sobbing, with her lying against his chest, the visor completely covered with her blood.
‘The Rimor’s covered in the stuff too,’ said Bill.
‘Yes, and the bottom half of the tank,’ I said.
‘I’ll go and get the spade from the shelter,’ said Bill.
‘Yes,’ I mused. ‘We need to bury her. Help me strip her out of the suit. Bring a couple of spades, Bill.’
‘Any point in stripping her. The suit is made to measure, anyway,’ said Bill.
‘Suppose so,’ I said. ‘It just seems wrong, somehow, to leave her in the suit.’
Bill returned and began to dig an area which had no plant on it, just beyond the boundary of its domain.
‘It’ll preserve her better than a coffin,’ Tosh said. ‘I think she might prefer that. Being an astronaut was her life.’
We each took turns until we had a hole about one and a half metres deep by two long, by about sixty centimetres wide.
