Blue Planet Rising (Pebbles in the Sky Book 2) Read online

  After ninety four seconds, the computer detected that the plasma envelope around the capsule was starting to dissipate and the temperature on the capsules skin was dropping. One minute later a relay closed and an explosive bolt fired releasing a small drogue parachute. The capsules speed started dropping rapidly. A small probe was extended to detect air speed. The computer detected that the capsule’s speed was now within design limits and another series of explosive blots fired releasing three large parachutes. The capsules speed dropped to about eighty kilometers an hour. A radar altimeter was extended from the capsule and it sensed that the ground was rapidly approaching. At one thousand meters altitude the sides of the capsule blew off. Eight canisters were ejected from the capsule by small solid fueled rocket engines. After three seconds the canisters themselves split apart. They each released about one half cubic meter of cargo. The cargo was a mixture of specially adapted seeds that had been heavily shielded from cosmic radiation on their fourteen month journey to the planet. The seeds drifted toward the ground and were dispersed by the prevailing wind.

  The main body of the capsule hit the ground and fired off a radio message to its controllers on Earth. Then, having completed its mission, the probe’s computer shut down. Across the plateau, six other capsules were successful in releasing their cargo canisters. One capsule’s rockets had failed to fire and it skipped off the planet’s atmosphere and headed toward an eventual encounter with the sun. Another capsule overshot the target area and released its cargo into the sea. The final one crashed to the ground and scattered wreckage over the small crater it made after its parachutes had failed to deploy. Of the thirteen rockets that had been launched, seven managed to reach the ground on Elpis. The mission controllers back in Bolivia had predicted a thirty percent success rate. They were elated that at least six capsules had made it down successfully and deployed their cargo.

  …

  The seed lay upon the barren soil. After a day in the warm humid air, a rain shower passed over and wet the seeds. The moisture awoke the bacteria spores that coated the seeds and dissolved the protective fertilizer coating. The spores and fertilizer soaked into ground. Inside the outer shell of the seed, the dormant life sensed the moisture and the heat from the sun as it shown down through the hazy atmosphere. Germination began. Over the next week, the seed pushed a slowly lengthening feeder root into the loose soil and tentatively raised an initial pair of leaves up into the air. Chlorophyll was produced and photosynthesis started. Over the next few weeks, the small seed became a plant that consumed water, carbon dioxide, and with sunlight as an energy source, grew. All around the area where the seed had fallen, other seeds of different types of prairie grasses and flowers were doing the same. The climate and weather were receptive. They would mature over the coming months, release pollen into the wind and produce more seed. In time, those seeds would germinate and reproduce. The dead leaves that fell off the plants as they matured and died dropped onto the ground where the voracious bacteria were waiting. The process was started. Elpis was coming alive.

  Chapter 18

  September 26th, 2045

  Cape Canaveral Space Port

  Peter waited anxiously with the rest of the design team in the observation bunker. Up in orbit near Space Station Alpha, the prototype of the crew lander for the Elpis expedition had been released. Lieutenant Jason Greco and his co-pilot were going to try and guide the experimental craft to a controlled landing on a landing zone set up beside the huge runway that lay in front of the bunker. They would not be landing like one of the personnel shuttles with wheels on the long runway. Instead, they would shed their speed as they dropped down into the atmosphere and land the craft in the same manner that a vertical take-off and landing fighter jet did. The major difference was, this plane was about six times as large as a fighter and only had enough fuel for one attempt. There was going to be no wave offs and second chances.

  …

  Up in orbit, Jason reached up and thumped the small dancing hula girl that his brother had given him as a good luck charm. She stood there, glued on the instrument panel, smiling and shaking her grass skirt. He wondered if they still made tourist souvenirs like her since Hawaii was no longer inhabited. The hula girl was probably at least fifty years old. Looking over at his co-pilot, Lieutenant Randy Richards, he asked, “Are you ready?”

  Lt. Richards nodded grimly. “Let’s do it.”

  Jason activated his controls. “Telemetry is active and recording. Alpha Control, activating retro rockets in ten seconds.”

  “Roger EL One, good luck,” came the reply.

  “Damn, I hate it when surgeons and flight controllers say good luck,” mumbled Jason.

  “Retros in three seconds,” said Randy

  They were both flattened into their seats as the de-orbiting rockets fired. After a one minute burn the engines shut down.

  “Flipping us around,” said Jason as he rotated the ship so that the nose was pointed toward and just above the Earth’s horizon.

  “We should encounter atmosphere in about seventy seconds,” Randy stated.

  Jason nodded. The lander was designed with a lifting body type design similar to the Magrail shuttles. The entire body acted as a wing. To protect the vulnerable metal of the lander itself, the entire underside was lined with a bonded composite that was able to withstand the thousands of degrees of temperature it would be exposed to from re-entry into the atmosphere. After the lander slowed down to about Mach three, it functioned as a plane, although a very clumsy one with poor maneuverability. The lander was not a fighter plane. It was designed to get its crew to the ground in one piece from space. After that, it could never take off again.

  A yellow red glow started to appear over the lander’s nose.

  “Encountering atmosphere, here we go,” said Jason. “I hope those shutters over the jet intakes work as designed.”

  “You and me both,” agreed Randy.

  The lander started to buffet as the atmosphere it was encountering rapidly grew denser.

  “In the old days, you could see the ground,” said Randy as he looked out of the heavily shielded view port. “All the volcanic dust still makes the visibility shitty, although it’s slowly improving as time goes by.”

  “I’m showing Mach eight and slowing,” Jason said

  “We should be well over the Midwest at this point,” volunteered Randy. “Altimeter is showing about eighteen thousand meters.”

  “Roger that,” said Jason. “Speed is Mach seven and dropping. I’m dropping the nose. Let’s see if this thing will steer.”

  Jason disengaged the automatic re-entry control system and gently used his control column. As he gently shifted his “stick” from side to side a computer interpreted his motions and adjusted the trailing edges of the wings to add a slight curvature. There was no true flap to move as in a conventional airplane. The entire trailing edge of the wing changed shape to affect the aerodynamics. This caused the lander to bank left or right. Jason banked the lander left and right in a slow pattern that continued to shed speed.

  After about ten minutes Jason looked up from his instrument panel. “Ok, we’re lined up on the target LZ. Time to LZ is about four minutes. Speed is below Mach Three. Open the shutters, Randy.”

  Randy reached up and activated the proper switch. On the bottom of the lander four protective slats slid into the landers hull exposing jet exhausts on pivoting gimbals.

  “Speed is Mach Two. Open intakes.”

  Randy hit another switch and two more slats slid into the hull just below and aft of the cockpit.

  Jason saw that their speed was now rapidly dropping due to the increased drag on the shuttle. “We’re at Mach one and altitude is eight thousand meters. Spinning up the turbines.”

  Jason activated the controls for the twin air breathing jet engines. The men both held their breath. If the engines didn’t spin up, the lander would probably not survive the landing, nor would they.

  A loud whining started, fo
llowed quickly by a roar as the twin jet engines screamed to life. Jason nodded his respects to the hula girl on the instrument panel and slowing increased the throttle to the engines while pivoting the gimbaled exhausts to about thirty degrees. They now had powered flight, although their fuel was very limited.

  “I have the LZ beacon at about twenty kilometers,” said Randy. “Altitude is still high, we need to get down.”

  Jason nodded and eased back on the throttles. They were falling rapidly toward the LZ.

  “I have the runway in sight. The LZ should be about five hundred meters to the left of the runway. Wait…I see the strobes now. Adjusting course. Throttling up. Lowering landing struts.”

  Jason pivoted the jet exhausts so they were perpendicular to the ground. He brought the cumbersome lander to a hover about three hundred meters above the LZ. He then began slowly floating the lander around the perimeter of the LZ.

  “Jason, what the hell are you doing? Put us down already!” Randy exclaimed.

  “We better see how this works now,” said Jason. “I don’t want to find out the hard way on a distant planet that she won’t hover.”

  Randy watched the fuel display nervously. “We’re down to thirty seconds fuel.”

  Jason slowly maneuvered the lander over to the center of the LZ and backed off the throttles. The lander settled onto the ground in the exact center of the LZ. He cut the throttles and sat back in his seat as the jet turbines slowly wound down.

  “You are such a show off, asshole. We had eleven seconds fuel remaining!” Randy growled.

  “Eleven seconds is an eternity. Let’s get out of this pig and see if they’ll give us a real steak for supper instead of that protein slab they call meat up in space,” Jason grinned.

  …

  Peter and the rest of the design team held their collective breath as the lumbering lander came into view. It slowly settled toward the landing zone as the four powerful jet exhausts screamed their fury at the approaching ground. The pilot slowly circled the LZ and then settled the lander down in the very center. The observation bunker erupted in cheers and shouts of congratulations. Peter let out his breath. It looked like they now had a way to get down on a planet’s surface with some degree of control without having to use a runway or landing field. With this vital test done, the final mission preparations could proceed rapidly.

  Chapter 19

  December 2nd 2045

  Macon, Georgia

  Jessica was looking at microscopic tissue slides of some of the food crops they were developing for the Elpis Mission. New World Genetics, the company she and Brett and had started near the end of the DNA Ark Project, had been awarded the contract from NASA to develop some self-pollinating varieties of plants. The crew of the Elpis expedition would grow those plants in greenhouses to provide a large part of their food requirements on the four year mission. The culmination of their efforts were now being raised in experimental greenhouses here in Macon and monitored very closely by Jessica’s team. They had to be absolutely sure that the plants would not only thrive, but also provide the necessary nutrients for the team. The expedition team to Elpis was going to be a very long way from any grocery store.

  The variety of pea she was now examining would normally require insects to achieve pollination. With careful gene splicing from some other varieties, the plant was now self-pollinating and would be a very good supply of protein. They were also developing varieties of corn, squashes, tomatoes, peppers, and about a dozen other vegetables. The crew would have no source of animal protein except for a limited amount of freeze dried meat so they would have to become strict vegetarians. That meant it was very critical that the plants they grew provided as complete a protein source as possible.

  Brett sat in the chair fidgeting beside Jessica. “I still don’t understand how you can be so calm. You’re preparing crops that your daughter is going to be dependent on while she spends four years on a planet millions of miles away. Yet, you just sit there and hum songs and look at your slides.

  Jessica looked up from the microscopes digital display. “Brett, that’s why I’m so involved in this work. I want to make sure that Brianna and her crewmates have a good nutritious source of food.”

  “Jessica, it’s really starting to hit me. Our little girl is going on a two month long space voyage to an unknown planet where she’s going to spend four years. Four years Jessica! It’ll be almost five years before we’ll see her again.”

  Jessica put her hands on her hips and stared at him with pity. “Brett, she’s not our little girl anymore. She’s a grown woman. This is a very important mission. Brianna was chosen to go on this expedition from all the thousands of applicants that NASA had. Be proud of her and what she’s going to do. This is her life’s dream. We’ve made many of our own dreams come true and it would be wrong of us not to let her try to do the same. Your daughter is going to be famous. She’ll be one of the first ten people to walk on another planet. You can love her and miss her, but be happy for her. Give her your loving support.”

  Brett sighed. “I know. It’s just hard for me. She used to be a daddy’s girl. Now, instead of following me around the lab, she’s moping after that Jason Greco. She hardly ever calls us anymore.”

  Jessica laughed. “I seem to remember a certain grad student that used to mope around and follow me everywhere when I was in school.”

  “That was different,” said Brett. “You were more mature, and I wasn’t some hotshot pilot trying to get in your pants.”

  “Hmmm, I guess you’re right. You weren’t a hotshot pilot,” Jessica smirked. “You were constantly trying to get in my pants though, if I remember correctly. Anyway, what do you think of our newest variety of pea? I’m going to name it the Elpis Yellow Sweet Pea.”

  “Why Yellow Sweet Pea, it looks brown to me,” said Brett

  “Because the blooms are yellow, you dunce. The protein is almost a complete protein by itself. It should go a long ways toward keeping Brianna and her friends healthy and well fed.”

  “Yea, well fed forty five million miles away,” mumbled Brett.

  “Damn it, Brett. Go away and quit moping. Don’t you have some bacterial spores that you were working on for the expedition?”

  Brett gave a final sigh and walked down the hall back to his own lab. He did in fact have to finish packaging the soil flora bacteria and the concentrated fertilizers that were going to be accompanying Jessica’s miracle seeds. He needed something to keep his mind busy.

  Chapter 20

  April 6th, 2046

  Houston, Texas

  The Elpis Mission Landing Team sat in the classroom listening and making notes as the design engineer went over the diagrams. The lesson today was on the assembly of the four green houses that were going to provide the majority of their food once they landed on Elpis.

  “If you’ll all look at the diagrams I’ve sent you on your data pads, we’ll go over the parts. The structural ribs for the green house walls are all specially designed carbon fiber poles. They’ll be divided into two groups and sent down on two different automated supply landers. There actually should be enough to build six greenhouses. We want to ensure that if one of the supply landers is lost you still have the capability to provide a minimum amount of greenhouse space. As the diagram shows, they’ll be joined with the couplings and then covered with the synthetic polyglass sheeting. The sheeting will be supplied in rolls. The soil trays are a dual purpose item that will actually be doing double duty as the cargo trays from the supply landers. They will be unbolted from the landers here, here, and there as illustrated. One person can easily carry a single tray to the green house for use. You’ll only have enough trays for four greenhouses. If a lander is lost, you’ll be forced to improvise to make up the difference I’m afraid. Questions please?”

  Dr. Beatrice Doucette spoke up. “What are the maximum winds that the greenhouses can withstand, and what’s the life expectancy of the polyglass when it’s exposed to the UV rays from the sun?�
��

  “That’s an excellent question, Dr. Doucette. The green houses should be able to take sustained winds of sixty to seventy kilometers per hour after they’re anchored. The polyglass has been rated to maintain its strength for at least five years with the levels of ultraviolent exposure that they’ll be exposed to.”

  “What will be the source of plant nutrients after we use up the small stock we are carrying?” asked Petty Officer Sarah Mullen. “From what we have been told, the ground there is sterile.”

  The engineer grinned. “The ten of you will be the source of fertilizer,” he said. “We’re assuming the ground is sterile, but remember, there was some type of life seen in the ocean. In addition, the Bolivian seed probes are assumed to have spread Earth bacteria onto parts of the planet. The probe that deployed its cargo the closest to the alien artifact site was about thirty kilometers away. We are assuming that the site where you’re going to land is probably still sterile. You’ll have to find that out when you get there.”

  “What about temperature and humidity controls?” asked Lieutenant Commander Kristy Nichols.

  “The data we have from the weather station left at the alien artifact site shows the weather is very temperate,” said the engineer. Highs are in the eighties Fahrenheit and the lows in the fifties. The constant cloud cover we’ve seen for the past two years is slowly dissipating. You can expect sunshine and frequent rain storms. Because the planet has no axial tilt, seasons will be constant with very little deviation. The planets orbit is only mildly elliptical so you do not have to expect a cooler season of the Elpis year. There will be no freezing temperatures at your location. Therefore, you can control the temperature and humidity just by shutting or opening the doors on the greenhouse. All the plants that you’ll be growing are ideally suited for these conditions.”