Installment #11

Chapter 19

The captain and his crew were absolutely amazing. You would never have known they were fighting a cross wind of 100 miles per hour the way they slid the huge ship in tightly against the entrance to the station. There was still a gap of about 20 feet that the men would have to traverse, but the ship could not have been any better situated. Its location blocked much of the wind, reducing the chance of an accident.

By the time the ship had powered down, Snyder, his crew and Michael Strong were in their environment suits. The ship's crew was able to deploy a cable from the hatch to the entrance to the station. Each of the suits was equipped with a clip that could be hooked directly on the cable, allowing the men to traverse the space between the ship and the station. One of Snyder's team held onto Strong as he made the crossing with his computer under his arm. Two of the crew members carried the crate containing the portable antenna. Once Strong reached the station, the crewman helped Strong connect a communications cable between the computer and the remote port just to the left of the entrance. After several minutes of two fingered typing through the thick gloves, Strong apparently had made contact with JENNI, since the door to the airlock opened and the seven men piled in.

Several more minutes passed. Then everyone heard Snyder's voice over the PA system. "Captain Williams, can you hear me?" They had apparently been successful setting up the antenna, and were in communications with the ship. "Captain Williams?"

After a few seconds, we heard Captain Williams' acknowledgement. After a long pause, Snyder continued.

"We made it in the airlock, and as you can tell, we have been able to set up the antenna. The place is a mess. There apparently was a hell of a battle in here. There are pulse gun trails on the walls and ceiling. We haven't found any bodies yet, but we've see some dried blood. We've secured the entrance, and as soon as you are ready, you can begin unloading the cargo. . . . And when he is ready, Mr. Masters can come in with his crew."

Masters walked to the cockpit and opened the door. "Can I speak to Lt. Colonel Snyder directly Captain?"

Williams handed the headset to Masters. "Lt. Colonel Snyder, this is Adrian Masters. I don't intend to endanger my crew unnecessarily. Are you sure it is safe for us to debark?"

Silence. Then a different voice came on the line. "Sorry sir, the Lt. Colonel has left with Michael Strong and another grunt to head for the control room. I'm Lt. Sloan. I've been left in charge. Contact with JENNI has been intermittent and they think the communications lines may have been damaged in the battle. In the meantime, we have been able to hack into the gangway electronics and will be moving the gangway into place. It may take a little longer than usual, since we have had to jury rig the controls, so please sit tight until we tell you a seal has been achieved and you can enter the airlock without your suits."

Masters gave the headset back to the captain and returned to the viewing room. The gangway was moving slowly and somewhat unsteadily toward the ship. Just above the gangway Masters could see one of the massive robots moving slowly across the canopy formed by the top of the airlock and the roof. That thing was enormous. From the video he's seen back on the space station, the robot looked like a small beetle. But up close the thing was the size of a bus. It had large metallic wheels which looked like gears. The teeth of the gears fit into channels on the roof of the building, allowing for it to move methodically across the room. The channels went back and forth across the entire surface of the roof, so the robots would cover every square inch of the roof. This method of propulsion allows the robots to move continuously without concern that the high winds would dislodge the robot from the roof.

In the front of the robot, there were two large arms, actually booms with large welding machines built into the claws at the end of the antenna. The robots would carefully inspect the roof. If any problems were encountered, the robot could weld down any loose metal plates and fill any cracks or holes. From what he had read, the robots also had the ability to fabricate metallic sheets that could then be welded over large holes in the roof. The machine were built almost entirely of pure, rustproof titanium alloy to resist the corrosive chemicals in the Jovian atmosphere. They were bright and shiny, despite the fact that they had been exposed to the elements for over a decade.

According to information contained in the envelope he had been given, the only times the robots left the roof were for maintenance and repairs or when the winds exceeded 500 miles per hour. They had been safely in their cocoons for most of the time of the superstorm. Apparently, they had made one foray onto the roof during the storm to repair a hold that had been created by some debris. While there had been some concern that they might be blown away, they apparently performed flawlessly.

Having nothing else to do, Masters watched the robot slowly lumber across the roof, stopping every few minutes to weld something, and then resuming it slow journey, eventually taking it out of site into the perennial clouds. Once that entertainment had ended, Masters looked around the room. Most of the crew were busying themselves double checking their gear. Only Maria was laying down with her eyes closed. Adrian walked over to her and placed his hand on her beautiful brown hair. She opened her eyes and looked at him. She reached up and took his hand in hers.

[Word count in this installment = 1,009]
[Total count to date = 18,325]