Two hours later, they had set up the various receivers and detectors they felt they needed ready to help them when they arrived at Astraeus 5 and were most of the way to the small planet, when Billy said “Security are only expecting me so, if they ask, I’ll introduce you as my cousin and say that you’re on your way to work on Tharl in the Pinnacle system, setting up a new comm setup. When we eventually get back to Columbus, I’ll introduce you to Kate and Peter.”
“Who are Kate and Peter?” asked Will.
“My wife and seven year old son. She was Kate Brown until we married just over 8 years ago”
“Wow, you’re married with a son. I remember dating a Kathy Brown but it only lasted a few months before we split up. She wasn’t happy that I spent so much time in space. Whilst I lived with someone for a few years and have dated a few women since, I’m currently single.”
“That sounds like the Kate I married! She wasn’t happy at first but we had a long chat about it and she came round to the fact that the job paid well and by being married we would get decent quarters on Columbus, although she would like to move back to Ohio when we can. For now, we go down once every month, in accordance with station requirements, to make sure our muscles and bones don’t deteriorate in the lower gravitation of the station. As a matter of interest, who did you live with?”
“Her name’s Becky Williams. She works in the spaceport admin section on Shackleton. We lived together for about five years but split up last year. No kids, though, which made it simpler when we did break up.”
“I remember a Rebecca Williams. If I remember rightly, she was a bottle brunette, of average height. Always wore jeans and a tee shirt, even to formal occasions. A bit of a tomboy, to say the least. We were close friends at college but we never dated” responded Billy.
“Yep, that sounds like her, although she didn’t dye her hair, as far as I know. Whilst I saw Becky around at college, we didn’t move in the same circle of friends at that stage. I met her at a party about six years ago and we just sort of clicked, if you know what I mean. It’s amazing, isn’t it? We’re both essentially the same person and do a similar job and have had similar lives but some small decision means they’re different. Some of the differences are quite small, like our chosen profession and others, like you marrying Kate, have taken us in a different direction.
“OK, now we’re as ready as we can be for when we get to Astraus 5 I’ve set the autopilot, we’d better get you into something more suitable for after we land. We need to get you out of those coveralls, as they could invite unwanted attention from security, never mind when we finally get back to Columbus, unless you’re wearing something suitable underneath?” asked Billy.
“Unfortunately, I don’t tend to wear much other than a tee shirt and underwear under the coveralls, so will need to borrow some of your clothes. Fortunately, we’re the same size as each other so that anything of yours should fit me, assuming you have anything to spare.”
On hearing this, Billy said “In that case, we’d better see what there is in my locker, then” as he left his seat and turned towards the rear of the ship.
They were able to find a pair of jeans and a fresh shirt, which would help make Will feel more in keeping with his new surroundings. The company logo on his tee shirt would definitely have attracted attention from Security, assuming they met face to face. By the time they had found the clothes, it was almost time to start looking for the receiver on Astraeus 5, so Billy left Will to get changed and returned to the cockpit, so that he could start to get things ready for when they were close enough to start their search of the planet.
When Will joined Billy a few minutes later, Billy explained what he had done in Will’s absence. “I’ve turned the detector and receiver on, and checked we’re still following the line of the laser light by ejecting a small amount of water, so that the light can illuminate it. I’ve also switched on the infra red and the heat detector, in readiness for when we get closer. In about five minutes, we’ll be close enough to start looking visually and keeping an eye on the sensors.”
“Is there anything in particular you want me to do or will we both try to see what turns up?”
“Since it’s likely to be like looking for a needle in a haystack, it would be best if we both work on the same thing. The detectors will chime if they detect anything unusual but they will need to be fairly close to whatever we’re looking for to react.”
As they approached the small planet, Billy and Will looked out of the ship’s main port with the infra red and the heat sensor immediately to its left. The low light, this far from the system’s sun, meant that the details were far from clear. What was apparent, however, was that the surface was almost totally featureless, with surprisingly few craters considering the absence of an atmosphere. It reminded Will of Mercury, in the original solar system, although it was going to be a lot colder than it would be on Mercury this far away from the sun. Whilst he knew it was being optimistic, Billy decided to start to search where the computer advised was where the laser they had been following seemed to be pointed. However, there was nothing that either of them could see that didn’t look as if it belonged there. Neither was surprised, as the radio signal would cover a wide area from where the laser pointed, even assuming that Billy had attached it to the antenna properly. Having covered the most optimistic option, Billy decided to cover the likely area in successive sweeps of the ship, first going north, relative to the ecliptic, flying at around one kilometre above the surface. They hoped that they weren’t too high to see what they were seeking but were concerned that, if they were too low, they could take what would feel like forever to cover the area.
After what seemed like an eternity later, when both Billy and Will were beginning to wonder whether they would ever get to find anything, Will spotted something on the lower edge of the infra-red image monitor screen. “What’s that?” he asked.
“Let’s take a closer look” replied Billy, as he steered the ship in the direction of the bright spot on the monitor. As they closed in on the brighter part of the image, they moved closer to the surface and were rewarded by being able to identify a rectangular shape about one metre square.
Billy switched on the external lights and was able to see that there was also an antenna next to the rectangle, pointing back to ‘Roid 2.
“Looks like we’ve found it. I’m going to land so we can get a good look at it. Better suit up” said Billy.
Chapter 2
The parts Mel had needed had been organised and were due to be delivered to him at any time. Whilst waiting, he sipped at yet another coffee and looked around the comm room. Whilst some parts of the room were tidy, there were areas where there were circuit boards and cables hanging from the equipment racks, rather than being tucked neatly away or clipped to the frames. However, he was aware that, whilst some of the local systems were working again, the inter-stellar comms were still out. Considering the damage he’d found when he had entered the room, though, he was pleased with progress. All he needed now was the parts so he could carry on.