Read Online Keystones: Tau Prime by Alexander McKinney - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Alexander McKinney
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“They’ll have found something.”
Deklan sighed. After six days of slow travel he was bored. There were only so many manuals he could read and so many training exercises he could perform. He’d spent two hours on making sure that he had a complete understanding of the safety protocols used with an EVA suit. His presence on the bridge was superfluous. He wasn’t a pilot, though in a pinch he could be trusted to activate the auto-pilot function. His actual onboard duties hadn’t commenced yet, and he was desperate for activity. Hence his fascination with the returning probes.
Just then Jonny lunged into the air, both arms raised high above his head. “Yes!” His yell shattered the peace of the bridge.
Deklan looked at him in bewilderment. “What?”
“They’ve found it. They’ve found harvestable resources and an Earth-normal planet!”
Deklan’s heart sped in his chest like an engine surging to life. “How far? How long?” he asked. He knew that humanity’s future was in space-based habitats, but to be among the first to visit a new world where people could live would be amazing.
Jonny turned to him, still floating and his left fist still held high. “No more than six hours, and we’re clear.” Jonny hooked his foot onto his console and pulled himself back down to a seated position, a victorious smile still plastered on his face. “You should rest. Who knows how long we’ll be awake once we get there.”
A beep sounded as Deklan was leaving the bridge.
“Wait,” Jonny called to him. “Scratch that. Can you head down to the probe bay and check on the fifth probe? It isn’t uploading data, and I’d like to know why. It might be important.”
It was a measure of Deklan’s desire for activity that he responded to this request with enthusiasm. “Sure,” he said. “I’m on it.” He gripped the edge of the door and with a shove propelled himself down the hallway, gliding parallel to the floor. All other concerns aside, weightlessness was fun.
The probe bay was a small room just off the shuttle repair bay. Scores of probes lined the walls in a manner that allowed for either manual or automatic release. The fifth probe had returned to its usual place, but the slot was lit with a yellow diagnostic light.
Up close the probes were bigger than they had appeared from the bridge. The spherical heads were fifty centimeters wide, but the trailing tendrils had withdrawn into the main body for ease of storage, little nubs being the only indication of their existence. The surface of each probe was covered in overlapping white rectangular plates. The smaller plates were about ten centimeters long on their shorter sides.
Deklan had no idea of how to fix a probe, but he could run diagnostics, and more importantly he could do acrobatics while he was at it. He keyed the release sequence and took the probe in hand for placement on the diagnostics cradle. He then executed a backflip that allowed him to bounce along the ceiling before touching down on the far side of the bay.
Jonny’s voice came over the intercom. “Having fun, Deklan?”
Deklan flashed a thumbs-up in the air. He couldn’t resist tweaking Jonny. “I am. Is it still wild and exciting on the bridge?”
With inexperienced hands he placed the probe on the cradle. It didn’t look quite right. He rotated it one hundred and eighty degrees so that the tail nubs faced up. The cradle lit up and locked the probe into place. Information crackled onto the diagnostics hologram: “Memory Corrupted,” “Hardware Damaged.” As the text faded away, the hologram became detailed schematics of the probe coupled with instructions. An animation showed a recorder being removed from the center of the probe for further analysis.
Deklan’s smile faded. “Hardware Damaged” was a troubling report and an odd one because he didn’t see any signs of damage. Even stranger was the fact that diagnostic cradles could usually read the information off damaged
Deklan sighed. After six days of slow travel he was bored. There were only so many manuals he could read and so many training exercises he could perform. He’d spent two hours on making sure that he had a complete understanding of the safety protocols used with an EVA suit. His presence on the bridge was superfluous. He wasn’t a pilot, though in a pinch he could be trusted to activate the auto-pilot function. His actual onboard duties hadn’t commenced yet, and he was desperate for activity. Hence his fascination with the returning probes.
Just then Jonny lunged into the air, both arms raised high above his head. “Yes!” His yell shattered the peace of the bridge.
Deklan looked at him in bewilderment. “What?”
“They’ve found it. They’ve found harvestable resources and an Earth-normal planet!”
Deklan’s heart sped in his chest like an engine surging to life. “How far? How long?” he asked. He knew that humanity’s future was in space-based habitats, but to be among the first to visit a new world where people could live would be amazing.
Jonny turned to him, still floating and his left fist still held high. “No more than six hours, and we’re clear.” Jonny hooked his foot onto his console and pulled himself back down to a seated position, a victorious smile still plastered on his face. “You should rest. Who knows how long we’ll be awake once we get there.”
A beep sounded as Deklan was leaving the bridge.
“Wait,” Jonny called to him. “Scratch that. Can you head down to the probe bay and check on the fifth probe? It isn’t uploading data, and I’d like to know why. It might be important.”
It was a measure of Deklan’s desire for activity that he responded to this request with enthusiasm. “Sure,” he said. “I’m on it.” He gripped the edge of the door and with a shove propelled himself down the hallway, gliding parallel to the floor. All other concerns aside, weightlessness was fun.
The probe bay was a small room just off the shuttle repair bay. Scores of probes lined the walls in a manner that allowed for either manual or automatic release. The fifth probe had returned to its usual place, but the slot was lit with a yellow diagnostic light.
Up close the probes were bigger than they had appeared from the bridge. The spherical heads were fifty centimeters wide, but the trailing tendrils had withdrawn into the main body for ease of storage, little nubs being the only indication of their existence. The surface of each probe was covered in overlapping white rectangular plates. The smaller plates were about ten centimeters long on their shorter sides.
Deklan had no idea of how to fix a probe, but he could run diagnostics, and more importantly he could do acrobatics while he was at it. He keyed the release sequence and took the probe in hand for placement on the diagnostics cradle. He then executed a backflip that allowed him to bounce along the ceiling before touching down on the far side of the bay.
Jonny’s voice came over the intercom. “Having fun, Deklan?”
Deklan flashed a thumbs-up in the air. He couldn’t resist tweaking Jonny. “I am. Is it still wild and exciting on the bridge?”
With inexperienced hands he placed the probe on the cradle. It didn’t look quite right. He rotated it one hundred and eighty degrees so that the tail nubs faced up. The cradle lit up and locked the probe into place. Information crackled onto the diagnostics hologram: “Memory Corrupted,” “Hardware Damaged.” As the text faded away, the hologram became detailed schematics of the probe coupled with instructions. An animation showed a recorder being removed from the center of the probe for further analysis.
Deklan’s smile faded. “Hardware Damaged” was a troubling report and an odd one because he didn’t see any signs of damage. Even stranger was the fact that diagnostic cradles could usually read the information off damaged
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