Read Online The Blue People of Cloud Planet by Brian Wolfenden - Free Book Online
Authors: Brian Wolfenden
Ads: Link
complete LifeSeeker-2 on time and she departs for Seren in 2156 with Commander Brian Harrington at the helm. LifeSeeker-3 is built, an identical copy of 2, and she leaves Mars in 2162. Her destination is to be decided when news comes back from Cloud Planet, but that is not for another 10 years.
‘Now I am embarking on my most ambitious project to date. This is a very complex enterprise which establishes a base on Titan, one of Jupiter’s moons.’
White........ pure brilliant white........ that seemed to go on and on. No boundaries and no definition; this whiteness appeared to have been there for ages. Then, very slowly, slightly darker edges formed and they sharpened and became shapes around the white.
Olivia then realised that she was looking upwards at what she thought was a tiled ceiling. She could not place it in her mind as she was disorientated and continued to stare upwards for an unknown period of time.
Sounds..... bizarre sounds.......that grew in her awareness. They took on form – whirrs, beeps and hisses – and Olivia realised that she had heard these noises before, had seen this ceiling before – but where?
Now a voice, soft and soothing but strange,
‘Olivia relax, relax, you are waking up, Olivia, relax,’
Zec-C quietly intoned from a speaker near her ear.
Her life signs were perfect with blood temperature normal at 36 degrees Celsius as she lay horizontally in the now open cryo-unit; the first person to have consciousness. In fact, all the units were open and during the next hour or two all of the astronauts would start to ‘wake up’ guided by Zec-C’s quiet assurance.
‘Olivia, you are now awake....’
Zec-C softly continued,
‘....welcome, welcome to the year 2171.’
Suddenly, everything flashed clearly in her mind – the white ceiling, the noises, the voice in her ear, the training, the journey, this room! She had arrived! Had they all survived? And although she could not yet speak her mind shouted out...
‘Oh, my God! ....... I’m 55 years old!’
Although all the astronauts had awoken during a 3 hour period, they did not leave their units for four long days. During this period Zec-C coached their minds and bodies. Limbs were exercised and flexed to gradually increasing degrees by their mechanical masseur. After 3 days the cryo-beds slowly moved to the reclining position and Zec-C instructed them to remove their goggles and masks, but to take their time. Each astronaut now looked at their diagnostic screens, amazed to see normal heart beats and blood temperature. They were relieved to see that all monitoring lights were reassuringly green.
They turned their heads and looked at each other and smiled, or tried to smile and raised weak hands limply. They made sounds like whispers though not very coherent at this early stage.
‘Olivia, are you awake? Are you OK?’ croaked a groggy Scott; their pods were next to each other. She stiffly turned her head and tried to smile.
‘I’m OK I think. How do I look?’
‘Wonderful, not a day older!’ Scott weakly replied. Their voices were barely above a whisper and they could hear muted greetings as the other astronauts communicated for the first time in over 20 years.
Then Martha raised her right hand and made a thumbs up and each fellow traveller did likewise and, as if on autopilot, placed their left hands palm down on the small console in their units.
‘Confirm! Confirm all astronauts safely awakened and recovered from cryo–hibernation!’ Zec-C triumphantly announced.
This message was simultaneously transmitted by LifeSeeker-1 into the vastness of space but it would be 10 years before it was heard at mission control on Mars.
On the 4th day and after two more hours of exercise, Zec-C instructed Martha to start the process of evacuation from the cryo-units. She then pointed to the coloured tubes and nodded. In a
‘Now I am embarking on my most ambitious project to date. This is a very complex enterprise which establishes a base on Titan, one of Jupiter’s moons.’
White........ pure brilliant white........ that seemed to go on and on. No boundaries and no definition; this whiteness appeared to have been there for ages. Then, very slowly, slightly darker edges formed and they sharpened and became shapes around the white.
Olivia then realised that she was looking upwards at what she thought was a tiled ceiling. She could not place it in her mind as she was disorientated and continued to stare upwards for an unknown period of time.
Sounds..... bizarre sounds.......that grew in her awareness. They took on form – whirrs, beeps and hisses – and Olivia realised that she had heard these noises before, had seen this ceiling before – but where?
Now a voice, soft and soothing but strange,
‘Olivia relax, relax, you are waking up, Olivia, relax,’
Zec-C quietly intoned from a speaker near her ear.
Her life signs were perfect with blood temperature normal at 36 degrees Celsius as she lay horizontally in the now open cryo-unit; the first person to have consciousness. In fact, all the units were open and during the next hour or two all of the astronauts would start to ‘wake up’ guided by Zec-C’s quiet assurance.
‘Olivia, you are now awake....’
Zec-C softly continued,
‘....welcome, welcome to the year 2171.’
Suddenly, everything flashed clearly in her mind – the white ceiling, the noises, the voice in her ear, the training, the journey, this room! She had arrived! Had they all survived? And although she could not yet speak her mind shouted out...
‘Oh, my God! ....... I’m 55 years old!’
Although all the astronauts had awoken during a 3 hour period, they did not leave their units for four long days. During this period Zec-C coached their minds and bodies. Limbs were exercised and flexed to gradually increasing degrees by their mechanical masseur. After 3 days the cryo-beds slowly moved to the reclining position and Zec-C instructed them to remove their goggles and masks, but to take their time. Each astronaut now looked at their diagnostic screens, amazed to see normal heart beats and blood temperature. They were relieved to see that all monitoring lights were reassuringly green.
They turned their heads and looked at each other and smiled, or tried to smile and raised weak hands limply. They made sounds like whispers though not very coherent at this early stage.
‘Olivia, are you awake? Are you OK?’ croaked a groggy Scott; their pods were next to each other. She stiffly turned her head and tried to smile.
‘I’m OK I think. How do I look?’
‘Wonderful, not a day older!’ Scott weakly replied. Their voices were barely above a whisper and they could hear muted greetings as the other astronauts communicated for the first time in over 20 years.
Then Martha raised her right hand and made a thumbs up and each fellow traveller did likewise and, as if on autopilot, placed their left hands palm down on the small console in their units.
‘Confirm! Confirm all astronauts safely awakened and recovered from cryo–hibernation!’ Zec-C triumphantly announced.
This message was simultaneously transmitted by LifeSeeker-1 into the vastness of space but it would be 10 years before it was heard at mission control on Mars.
On the 4th day and after two more hours of exercise, Zec-C instructed Martha to start the process of evacuation from the cryo-units. She then pointed to the coloured tubes and nodded. In a
Similar Books
