the nearest desk for attention.
‘Please be seated. I’d like to get this briefing started.’ He waited as they came forward and sat down behind the desks, before continuing.
‘My name is Colonel Helligan; I am Group Commander of the Fourth Spacelift Group here at Andersen Base. I am in charge of the preparation, training and execution of this mission.’
Helligan’s eyes probed the six faces looking up at him.
‘While you’re here, in this training facility and on this base, you’ll follow my orders, and the orders of my staff. I know all of you have been into space before, but this is a demanding mission, to an unforgiving place, and all of you need to be fully prepared. It is essential that you listen, digest, and learn everything you’ll be taught here. Do I make myself clear?’
There were two prompt Yes Sirs from Clare and Wilson, and a murmuring assent from the others. Abrams just stared back at Helligan. Helligan looked annoyed, and looked down at his briefing notes. When he looked up again, the back of his neck had gone a faint red colour.
‘Right. Introductions. I guess you’ve already met by now, but for the record, this is Captain Foster, who will be your mission commander, and First Lieutenant Wilson, who will be the copilot and second in command. Captain Foster will be in charge at all times when you are on board. Her first duty is to ensure your safe return, and she has
‘Now, you gentlemen will be passengers on the voyage, but each of you will have daily work duties to perform. Captain Foster will assign your duties while on board, and you will complete these to the best of your ability, or forfeit certain privileges. You’re going to be in space for over three months, and it’s essential that discipline is maintained. The mission commander has legal powers to remove privileges, restrain, or even sedate you, if in her view any of you become a hazard to the ship or to the success of the mission. Your space pay allowances from your employers will be paid through the Astronautics Corps, and I remind you that we have powers to make deductions from this pay for any breaches of discipline.
‘There’s no turning round once you’re in the transfer orbit; the only way back here is by going to Mercury and returning, so it’s no good having second thoughts once you’re on your way.’
Matt had heard this sort of blunt warning before. There had never been an actual mutiny on a spaceflight before, but it had come close on more than one occasion. Long flight times, and the boredom and isolation of deep space, could cause apparently trivial issues to blow up out of all proportion. There were many similarities with the long ocean voyages of past centuries, and the captain’s word literally had to be law.
‘Mr Abrams, as the representative of the SAIB, is in overall charge of the mission once you are safely delivered to Mercury and your equipment offloaded. The initial mine entry will be led by Mr Bergman, representing the Space Mines Inspectorate, and once he has conducted a thorough safety assessment, Mr Abrams will take over and lead the investigation to a conclusion.
‘In a change to your briefing notes, Mr Bergman is now also representing the interests of the Space Graves Commission. As you will be entering a designated space grave, there are some formalities and procedures that need to be observed while you are in the mine, as well as the exit and sealing procedures.’
Helligan continued to cover the roles of each member of the mission team. He left Matt until last, ensuring that Matt was in no doubt as to where he came in the perceived order of importance.
An hour later, in the first break of the day, Matt found himself facing Clare, who had come up to speak to him.
‘You’ve been to Mercury – to Erebus Mine – several times before.’ She made it sound faintly like an accusation.
‘Yes. I did three trips over about six years, including the last one just before the accident.’ He sipped his coffee.
‘What do you remember of the approach and landing? I’ve studied the charts, and I’ll be starting landings in the simulator next week, but it would help to know what it’s like from someone who’s been there.’
‘Oh, sure.’ Matt gathered his thoughts, and tried to remember. ‘Well, you can’t usually see much from the crew shuttles, but there was one time I was sitting right behind the copilot, and I had a pretty good view. The Sun was lighting up all the craters from the side as we got closer. It looked very dramatic, kind of scary.
‘Meng-fu crater itself is massive, it dominates the horizon as you approach, and when you go down into it, well – it’s just one huge black pit; you can’t see anything inside it. It feels like you’re just falling down into nothingness. When you’re deep down inside the crater, and you get used to the darkness, you can see the mine and the refinery lights from some way off, and then as you get closer you can see the landing pad itself – it was floodlit then, but of course it won’t be for us.’
Clare nodded, and took a drink of her coffee, but Matt sensed he hadn’t told her anything she didn’t know already.
‘So, why do you want to go back?’ she asked suddenly.
Matt was surprised by the directness of her question, and his mouth fell open slightly.
‘I – represent the relatives class action group, and—’
‘I know what you’re there to do,’ she interrupted, ‘but the relatives would never have proposed you as their representative if you hadn’t
Matt wondered if he wanted to tell her. The directness of this serious young woman was disconcerting.
What the hell. They had to spent months cooped up together anyway.
‘Well, the accident left me feeling – like I’d escaped, and they hadn’t. I wasn’t any better than any of them, it could have been me in the mine. Going back makes me feel like I’m somehow making – amends for things.’
Matt paused. It had been a long time since anyone had asked him how he felt about anything. His throat had gone dry, and the last words had been difficult to get out. He took another drink of his coffee.
Clare stared back at him for several seconds before replying, but her gaze had softened.
‘So. You feel guilty for surviving. It’s not unusual. But there must be other ways of coping than by going back. Haven’t you been offered any counselling?’
Matt looked down, and he hesitated, wondering if he should tell her.
‘Yes – I had several sessions in the early days after the accident,’ he said at last, ‘but it didn’t really help, and I stropped going after a while. I felt such a fake – I was one of the survivors, after all.’
‘It doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a bit of help.’
‘Maybe. But none of the counselling seemed to work. I guess that’s why I got involved with the relatives, and the class action – I felt like I was helping people who really needed it.’
Clare waited, listening.
‘I just need to know what happened. I keep seeing it – the accident – imagining what it was like for them. It’s worse than not knowing. I’ve got to go back and see it with my own eyes. I’ve got to know how they died.’
Picture: Orbital plan
CHAPTER TEN
Helligan stood at the front of the room as they finished their break, flanked by a thin, sandy-haired man in civilian clothes. Matt recognised him from earlier briefings as Rawlings, the mission planner.
Rawlings was one of the civilian specialists retained by the Corps for their expertise in crucial areas. He had a hurried manner that gave the impression of him never having enough time, and the pale complexion of someone who spent too much of his time away from the Sun, in darkened control rooms in the bowels of FSAA facilities. He seemed nervous and ill at ease as Helligan introduced him to the team, and as Helligan went to sit at the back of the room, Rawlings dimmed the lights at once, as if he felt safer in the familiar darkness.
