Read Online Alder's World Part One: Mass 17 by Joel Stottlemire - Free Book Online
Authors: Joel Stottlemire
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dioxide, water, nitrogen, and other free gasses are
being super heated and coaxed off the
surface. ”
“They ’ re building an
atmosphere?” Someone around the table asked.
“It sure looks that way.”
Alder went on. “ though maybe
on accident. This process probably
wasn ’ t meant to begin until
all the massed collided far in the future. For whatever reason,
those knots are causing the planet to cool a thousand times faster
than you ’ d expect.
There ’ s no free Oxygen but
otherwise it has all the hallmarks of a terraformable planet. And
that ’ s good for
us. ”
He
didn ’ t wait for any of the
hundreds of voices around the ship to ask why. This was the part
they were all waiting for and dreading. They knew there was an
issue. Only a few had guessed what.
Touching a few keys on the
console, Alder swung the probe around. “ This is our problem.” He said, as a
great, grey cloud that stretched from behind the probe all the way
out of sight behind the planet came into view. It was beautiful,
gray and purple, full of subtle bands and waves, highlighted by the
blue white of the star.
“Some of you will realize
that this looks something like a small protoplanetary disc. Notice
the bulging center and the bands of dust stretching out of sight.
That ring goes all the way around the planet.” He paused. The conference room and the rest of the ship were
deathly quiet. “ Undoubtedly,
after the eruption all the mass of Mass 17 was supposed to fall
back onto the newly formed planet. As it turned out, there was a
large object, us, in orbit and several million tonnes of debris
from the explosion have gotten caught in orbit with us. The reason
we can ’ t wait for rescue or
any other solution is because gravity is pulling all that mass in
on us. As the dust settles, it will put steadily more pressure on
the mobius shields. Each particle is light but
there ’ s more settling on us
every hour. We ’ re carrying
about fifty tonnes already. Just that pressure has pushed the
operating temperature of the shields up three degrees. We estimate
that the shields will hold out for between sixty and ninety days.
When they fail, we ’ ll become
the heart of Mass 17 ’ s new
moon. ”
“We have to think about
the children.” Elana moved into the conversation at a jarring right
angle. “ I ’ m sure most of you
have thought this through but we ’ ve been eating directly from the biodome for almost a month.
That ’ s a full menstrual cycle
without automated birth control. Within the year our family will
start growing. Dr. Thomas tells me that he believes we could have
as many as seven pregnancies on board already.” A ripple ran around
the table and came back over the microphones from around the ship.
Alder noticed Wei and Garson glancing at each other across the
desk.
“And the center of a moon
is no place for children.” Pilton jumped in. “ Go ahead
Alder. ”
Alder ’ s shoulders
slumped. He let the titter of the staff considering children give
him reason to pause. While he agreed that bringing up the
pregnancies was a good way to prepare the crew to listen to
anything, he still couldn ’ t
believe anyone would go for what he was about to suggest. “ Our main problem is the total mass
of the dust cloud. It outweighs us by several orders of magnitude
and is leaning on us more each day. If we try to push out of it, we
will, at best, pull it with us. That might buy us a little time
but, in the end, our shields will still fail.
“There is a kind of,
unorthodox, option.” He pressed a button and a 3d schematic of the
ship appeared in the view. “ As you know, we were the first of the Solo class ships put
into service. Since we were an untested spaceframe with a long
expected flight time, the designers saw fit to back up a lot of our
systems with radio-isotope or other nuclear batteries.” A set of
red boxes flared around the ship schematic. “ None of it’s bomb grade of course,
but, if we bombarded it,
being super heated and coaxed off the
surface. ”
“They ’ re building an
atmosphere?” Someone around the table asked.
“It sure looks that way.”
Alder went on. “ though maybe
on accident. This process probably
wasn ’ t meant to begin until
all the massed collided far in the future. For whatever reason,
those knots are causing the planet to cool a thousand times faster
than you ’ d expect.
There ’ s no free Oxygen but
otherwise it has all the hallmarks of a terraformable planet. And
that ’ s good for
us. ”
He
didn ’ t wait for any of the
hundreds of voices around the ship to ask why. This was the part
they were all waiting for and dreading. They knew there was an
issue. Only a few had guessed what.
Touching a few keys on the
console, Alder swung the probe around. “ This is our problem.” He said, as a
great, grey cloud that stretched from behind the probe all the way
out of sight behind the planet came into view. It was beautiful,
gray and purple, full of subtle bands and waves, highlighted by the
blue white of the star.
“Some of you will realize
that this looks something like a small protoplanetary disc. Notice
the bulging center and the bands of dust stretching out of sight.
That ring goes all the way around the planet.” He paused. The conference room and the rest of the ship were
deathly quiet. “ Undoubtedly,
after the eruption all the mass of Mass 17 was supposed to fall
back onto the newly formed planet. As it turned out, there was a
large object, us, in orbit and several million tonnes of debris
from the explosion have gotten caught in orbit with us. The reason
we can ’ t wait for rescue or
any other solution is because gravity is pulling all that mass in
on us. As the dust settles, it will put steadily more pressure on
the mobius shields. Each particle is light but
there ’ s more settling on us
every hour. We ’ re carrying
about fifty tonnes already. Just that pressure has pushed the
operating temperature of the shields up three degrees. We estimate
that the shields will hold out for between sixty and ninety days.
When they fail, we ’ ll become
the heart of Mass 17 ’ s new
moon. ”
“We have to think about
the children.” Elana moved into the conversation at a jarring right
angle. “ I ’ m sure most of you
have thought this through but we ’ ve been eating directly from the biodome for almost a month.
That ’ s a full menstrual cycle
without automated birth control. Within the year our family will
start growing. Dr. Thomas tells me that he believes we could have
as many as seven pregnancies on board already.” A ripple ran around
the table and came back over the microphones from around the ship.
Alder noticed Wei and Garson glancing at each other across the
desk.
“And the center of a moon
is no place for children.” Pilton jumped in. “ Go ahead
Alder. ”
Alder ’ s shoulders
slumped. He let the titter of the staff considering children give
him reason to pause. While he agreed that bringing up the
pregnancies was a good way to prepare the crew to listen to
anything, he still couldn ’ t
believe anyone would go for what he was about to suggest. “ Our main problem is the total mass
of the dust cloud. It outweighs us by several orders of magnitude
and is leaning on us more each day. If we try to push out of it, we
will, at best, pull it with us. That might buy us a little time
but, in the end, our shields will still fail.
“There is a kind of,
unorthodox, option.” He pressed a button and a 3d schematic of the
ship appeared in the view. “ As you know, we were the first of the Solo class ships put
into service. Since we were an untested spaceframe with a long
expected flight time, the designers saw fit to back up a lot of our
systems with radio-isotope or other nuclear batteries.” A set of
red boxes flared around the ship schematic. “ None of it’s bomb grade of course,
but, if we bombarded it,
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