The Nexus Odyssey

Chapter 1

Now that the hype was finally over the real mission could at last get underway. Leaving the space elevator and boarding the most sophisticated exploration vessel humanity could engineer seemed to have been overshadowed by the never-ending broadcasts. The hopes of the species rested in their hands.

The year was 2033, and the project had been planned for 20 years. The projections had indicated meltdown of the increasingly tenuous balance of world food supply, energy and raw material requirement, climate change and population growth. Programmes designed to offset the tipping point were not enough to achieve the trend reversal in time. These counter-effects such as research on food synthesis, alternate fuels, recycling, coupled with more viral pandemics, were themselves affected in different ways by the advent of nanotechnology. This branch of science offered lower energy food production and manufactured goods and at the same time extended life expectation with artificial organs. The mathematical modelling suggested an additional dimension had to be explored with immediate effect. The most surprising element in this undertaking was the relatively short time it took for the global acceptance of such a venture. When everyone is threatened by a common enemy, unification becomes the new currency.

Colonisation of another planetary body had always been contemplated; now it was prioritised to happen. The Confederation of Nations, charged with the design and implementation of this emergency escape route, named the project ‘Salvation’. The brief was not simply to oversee successful habitat capability. The chosen destination had to cover terraforming prospects, new materials research, and the scope of population migration. This in itself shaped the makeup of the crew to a degree and underpinned the importance of a similarly qualified response team at project headquarters in Beijing.

The relative contribution of nations had changed markedly since the first decade of the 21st century. The new superpowers of China and India were leading the way in terms of economic and technological input. Russia and the USA made up the big four.

The Commander of the Copernicus - Stenninger Magnusson - had masters in physics and psychology, complimented by special operations experience in polar missions. In his native Sweden the 38 year-old was relatively unknown until the last three years. He was relieved to be leaving Earth Orbit at last, and his feelings were shared by the rest of the crew. Once underway, the final briefing from Beijing would be conducted, and they would truly begin to function as a tight knit team – all those years of secret preparation would click into gear.

With coordinates locked in and target velocity achieved, Communications Officer Javier Veltrano informed Magnusson that Beijing had come through on the main VDU with predictable punctuality. Beijing Controller Roberto Xiang confirmed all parameters were correct and as this had been rehearsed many times there was no need to dwell further on detail. He suggested second contact in two Earth hours. Xiang was born in Florence. His father, having spent his early career in the Chinese Embassy in Rome, moved to Tuscany when he married Lisa Maria Galdoni. Xiang had been educated in Zurich and specialised in Astrometrics, Propulsion Technology and Probability Theory. He was rigidly focussed on scheduling and conformance of data assembly, yet somewhat pragmatic about conclusions drawn from apparently aberrant information derived from such data. These qualities were considered to be influential in his appointment to head up Beijing Mission Control.

Magnusson asked First Officer Indira Banjani to get the crew together in thirty minutes. He would take the helm in her absence. This gave him a chance to consider - for the thousandth time - the problems involved in decelerating a heavy vessel (with seven crew members), in a low density atmosphere. There was a window of ninety seconds to slow from Mach 5 to Mach 1. This was to be achieved by a Supersonic Decelerator or Hypercone. This device although tested in small scale vacuum tunnel mock-ups and predictive computer modelling, was untried in the actual scenario because of time and resource constraints. The huge doughnut skin girdled the vessel and would inflate very quickly with gas rockets to create a conical shape. This inflation was to occur about 10K above the surface while travelling at Mach 4-5, then, after peak heating of the Silicon-Vectran material, the hypercone would act as an aerodynamic anchor to slow the vehicle to Mach 1. The section weight limit was 40-60 tons. From Mach 1, subsonic parachutes and thrusters would land the vehicle.

This weight restriction had imposed a design feature of Main Spacecraft - Descent/Ascent module - Habitat and Lander. The Lander would have to comprise Rover and power source facilities. The science lab would be part of the descent module as this carried the crew and sensitive equipment, and consequently had the most sophisticated hypercone. Each section had to come in at less than 60 tons. Why was this required? Simply because Mars had too little atmosphere to slow a vehicle heavy enough to carry everything needed for such a complex, one-chance-only mission.

The discussions on launch were governed by time needed for proving technologies versus optimum orbital proximity of Earth and Mars. This inevitably pitted the politicians against the scientists. The conflicting parameters were stark. Between 2018 and 2020, the two planets were closest. The next time such alignment occurred was 2033-2035.The earlier window had been too soon for the Carbon Nanotube technology to be developed for the space elevator when the project was initiated in 2013.The Copernicus mission also needed to have a backup, arriving one year after the first landing to relieve the initial crew and bring new facilities to progress the colonisation technology. The trips would each take 10 months. The space elevator was a critical part of the plan, as ground assembly of rockets was expensive, and still prone to explosive failure. The progressive colonisation requirement demanded the reliable launch capability that Earth orbit assembly offered as well as having favourable cost per launch ratio in the long term.

The Copernicus launch was to be March 2033 and the Darwin March 2034. This gave a mere two months between Copernicus’ arrival on Mars and Darwin’s launch, for any required changes of cargo facilities for the latter. This whole schedule of course was far too short, in the view of the scientists, for stepwise missions to verify the complex interdependent design systems to deliver, land and establish habitat in the new world. These same scientists knew they would have to compromise if the follow up missions beyond 2035 were to stand any chance of expanding the colonisation.

Chapter 2

The choice of Mars was not really much of a debate. When answers to questions added up to: too hot, too cold, too toxic, too far, there was no real alternative. From what was known of the cosmic history and recent geological surveys of the planet, the chosen landing region introduced another risk to the mission. Mars was roughly divided into Northern Lowlands and Southern Highlands. The safer bet would be Nilli Fossae in the Northern plains, with its lava flows and sedimentary deposits. However, Valles Marineris, a canyon system some 1860 miles long and 5 miles deep, was, although more risky, equally intriguing because of the evidence of hydrated minerals. The brightly coloured West Candor Chasm sparkled with red, pink, green and turquoise ‘come and get me’ hues. The canyon depth could also save a lot of drilling – hopefully.

This hope was based on the knowledge that the surface temperature range averaged around minus forty-six degrees Celsius, with a minimum of minus eighty-seven and a maximum of minus five. If the lower reaches of the chasm could be accessed by MH (Mars Hover) Mole then the temperature maximum down there could be higher; if the colours observed were salts which lowered the freezing point of any briny deposits, it really would be pay dirt.

MH Mole was a lightweight drillbot ascending and descending by remote control gas balloon and tiny thrusters, enabling small samples to be taken while hovering. The laser cutting was precise enough to gather tiny pieces of whatever was down there. Discovery of any form of water – liquid, frozen or leveraged, from hydrated salts was a priority.

When the crew had assembled, the only pressing objective was to implement artificial gravity, which in itself would enable many other functions to be accessed. Individual checklists were distributed to cover personal quarters and workstations to ensure that the switchover was trouble free. The entire ship was set to rotate at 4.5 revolutions per minute to create the requisite centrifugal force to make the journey more comfortable and facilitate the operational and exercise regimes prescribed.

First Officer Banjani distributed the lists and asked for the input to be keyed into the operational data system within 20 minutes. Banjani was a graduate in Mathematics from New Delhi, and subsequently took a PhD in Spatial Mechanics in Tokyo. She was to spend her 30th birthday on Mars if all went well. However all had not gone well when her fiancée was informed about the mission. The relationship was put under strain and she felt she had to be honest with Mission Control, subjecting herself to strenuous psychological scrutiny all over again, before final clearance.

Pascal Dupree distributed the bio-monitoring devices to be worn by every crew member for the duration of the voyage. They were to be activated after gravity was online. Dupree, although born and educated in France had attained his formidable reputation amongst the Medical elite for his work in China. He had developed techniques in microsurgery which took full advantage of nanotechnology, pioneering recovery from organ failure, which was not thought to be possible. His wider knowledge in viral propagation and genetics made him a stand out choice for the mission in terms of expertise. At 44 he was considered to be at the edge of the inclusive criteria, but was better qualified than most of the selection board to comment on his own medical profile.

Artificial gravity came online without a hitch and medical data began to feed into the Dupree database. A priority rota was established to use the sanitary facilities, which injected a timely dose of humour into the team psyche before communication was renewed with Beijing. When Xiang’s image appeared he was already clutching a considerable wad of printouts. He quickly assured Magnusson that all was well and they needed to collaborate on exact burn requirement to achieve the acceleration/deceleration curve to Mars Orbit insertion point.

The propulsion system was one of the few technologies which had been ‘adequately’ proven prior to launch. Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasm Rockets had been tested in unmanned missions out into the solar system and had proved efficient, accurate and reliable. These plasma based propulsion units employed an electric power source to ionise the fuel to plasma. Electric fields then heated and accelerated the plasma while magnetic fields controlled the direction of plasma as it was ejected from the ‘engine’. The main fuel employed was hydrogen, supported with helium and deuterium. Hydrogen is available in plentiful quantities throughout the cosmos. The initial electricity was provided by small nuclear power units.

Xiang casually asked if all astronauts were showing biomed readings within normal tolerance limits compared to their personal histories. Commander Magnusson affirmed they were, except for adrenaline levels, which were proportionately high in view of the excitement generated by the mission truly being underway. Even mundane tasks like aerobic and muscle exercise sessions are anticipated with enthusiasm. Anyway, I believe we have the velocity curve data you asked for. Here is Carvalho.

Daniel Carvalho could hardly remember growing up; it seemed as if he was always involved in Space Technology. His father had been with the European Agency and fired Carvalho’s imagination so much it was no surprise that the son followed the father. He had majored in Propulsion Theory and Mechanics in Boston. When his mother rang one day to deliver the fateful news that Fernando had been one of many victims of an air disaster - a company plane which crashed in the Alps, he was temporarily dislodged from his academic pursuit. Eventually he determined to take American citizenship to resume astronaut training and achieve what his father had always wanted – to be part of a manned mission to another world. Carvalho had lived for this time to the exclusion of everything else, and he was still only 27. All parameters concur with Mission Control Commander Xiang, synchronisation complete.

Excellent, please ask Dr. Balinsky to upload biomed stats immediately. Xiang out.

Natalia, sorry, excuse me Dr. Balinsky, he joked, the ice man wants your upload – don’t we all.

Why don’t you get back to your toy rockets and tidy your quarters or there will be no late movie for you tonight. She brushed past the crestfallen engineer and proceeded to her station. Born in the Ukraine, she had migrated to Moscow to live with her grandparents when she was 9. Her mother had suffered a comatose existence before her father agreed to terminate life support. The car accident had left her father with a crushed pelvis and future wheelchair prospects. He had overcome this prognosis but never recovered from his decision to end his wife’s silent struggle. When the authorities later revealed that the search for the hit and run driver was to be closed he deteriorated mentally and asked Natalia’s grandparents to help out by looking after her until he could get himself together. He died from an overdose of antidepressants and vodka. It was considered to be an accident rather than suicide; the difference eluded Natalia for many years. She married young and divorced after only 2 years. She was drawn to technically understand how the conclusion of the coroner was so specific with respect to her father’s final cocktail. She specialised in Supplemental Balance in St. Petersburg. Having gained the expertise to challenge the coroner’s finding she also realised the futility of such action. As a result of the emotional vacuum she re-targeted her energy when a government publication featured an article on dietary research for extended space travel. She beat off stiff international competition to get the nod for Copernicus.

Chapter 3

Although Natalia Balinsky had no formal qualifications in mathematics she had a natural ability to recognise number patterns in different ways. A photographic memory of rows and columns was one such talent. As she uploaded the biomed data requested by Xiang, she was disturbed that some of it did not look right. On checking her workstation data with the backup memory chips she kept in her locker, there were subtle differences between the two. Of the seven crew members, five had values marginally closer to the tolerance limits and further from the norm. The other two displayed the reverse. At first she questioned whether she had inadvertently skipped a backup session. She decided to let it pass but make a similar comparison the next time she recorded values.

Alex Redgrave was suffering from the feeling that everyone else was busy with their schedules whereas his would only really start when they arrived in 10 months. Knowing he would have to confront this, Mission Control had decided to leave some of the referencing work which could have been completed prior to the mission, to be executed during the flight. This was to give him meaningful work and have the correlation checks with Beijing as up to date as possible. Alex graduated in Chemistry and Geology in London and his post graduate PhD work had included projects in some historic sites such as Tunguska, Santorini, Krakatoa and the Gulf of Mexico. His remit was to collect samples of the Martian geological makeup and time-correlate the results as well as provide elemental analysis to fill in the planet’s periodic table.

Redgrave, although British born, had spent all of his post grad years working with people from all kinds of backgrounds and disciplines. This had been a factor in his selection. He had demonstrated his ability to bond with team members. The lab equipment on board was impressive but limited by space, weight and support supplies – so the interface back in Beijing was absolutely the best available in both personnel and technology.

Commander Magnusson informed Veltrano that the preliminary rota for personal messaging to family should be distributed, and to inform the crew that this was to be viewed as a flexible situation to allow for changes in circumstances and emergencies.

A week into the journey, Natalia had detected further alterations to the Biomed data. Again there were five showing poor trend and two showing improvement. Only one of the two was the same as the first amendments. Extrapolating the trends would bring the entire crew into a tighter cluster than the actual results. She decided she had to bring this to the attention of Magnusson, and they both agreed to keep Beijing out of the loop until they had figured out who was involved, and why. They also concurred on uploading the correct readings while storing the false ones.

In the formation of the solar system it was believed that Earth and Mars condensed out of the solar nebula some 4.6 billion years ago. Other ‘data’ produced theories about the chronology since then. There was the probability of water 3.8 billion years ago, and maybe primitive life below the surface. Present studies suggested that the lack of a global magnetic field, and the circulation of molten metal in the core, is too sluggish to generate a dynamo. This was possibly present in the first few million years of Mars. Why did it turn off?

One possible explanation is that the planet lost its atmosphere around 4 billion years ago, and solar winds interacted directly with the ionosphere. The current atmospheric pressure is about 1% of that on Earth. A consequence is that any organic material near the surface would rapidly decompose and the surface ‘soil’ would continually be oxidised. This would not support life as we know it. Studying the epochs of the planet led to the following delineation:-

Noachian – prior to 3.5 billion years ago

Hesperian – 3.5 to 2.5/2.0 billion years ago

Amazonian – 2.5/2.0 to present.

In the later two periods there is some consensus on the existence of water flows and warmer periods. The reasoning was based on massive impacts terminating at the end of the Noachian period, and the subsequent prognoses of Carbon Dioxide and water vapour greenhouse effects, which gradually diminish and cease. Smaller impacts at that time would have caused flash heating for thousands of years. Volcanic activity at a much heavier intensity than Earth would have caused a Sulphur Dioxide greenhouse. Overlap of these conditions could have produced another greenhouse of Methane. Although there has been detection of methane in the current era this is not fully explained by the preceding chronological assumptions.

The loss of atmosphere and resultant radiation levels, coupled with the lack of ability to recycle carbonate rocks (as occurs on Earth), depicts a massive disadvantage in the chance of life as we know it developing and surviving on the surface of Mars. What there is left of the atmosphere is over 95% Carbon Dioxide, the remainder is Nitrogen and Oxygen in the ratio of about 15:1. The distillate of all this conjecture is that any sources of water or life potential are most likely to be found under the surface. However, the harsh surface conditions may throw up elements or compounds not naturally occurring on Earth.

This scenario meant that many ‘boxes’ had to be validated or unchecked early in the landing phase to allow Beijing to compute and modify further searches. This again demonstrated how critical the two month period between Copernicus touchdown and Darwin departure really was.

Chapter 4

More altered biometric data had been discovered and Natalia requested that Commander Magnusson agree further investigation into identifying the culprit. Magnusson concurred and unconsciously shifted the starting point. Why are you uploading the data when it comes from Dupree’s database?

She was silent for long enough for Magnuson to think she had not heard the question. Eventually she replied. Well, it was part of the final division of tasks that Dupree suggested. As he’s the chief medical presence, I support him on dietary regimes. He said it would make sense for me to have sight of the bio data by uploading it, and any recommendations which might occur to me on supplemental advice would be welcomed. He said he would be checking the database regularly anyway, and this way we would both be fully apprised of any abnormalities. It made a lot of sense. It was also approved by Beijing.

That may be, said Magnusson, but why hasn’t he reported these discrepancies and why didn’t you mention them to him before coming to me?

Natalia was not too happy with such innuendo but knew it was a valid question. The aberrations are minor and buried in a mass of figures. I didn’t confront Dr. Dupree immediately because his own data had been altered and I couldn’t be completely sure he hadn’t mistakenly misread some columns or indeed altered them himself. It had slipped my mind that he’d suggested my involvement in the first place, now that seems much more significant. Magnusson nodded and asked her to request Dupree to join them.

Commander, what can I do for you? Things seem to be going so smoothly I almost feel a bit redundant. You aren’t feeling unwell I hope?

As the Commander’s careful revelation progressed, Dupree’s expression changed from furtive to tearful. In the run up to the launch some of his routine one-on-ones with the crew had been interesting, in that excitement and trepidation co-existed throughout the crew. This was perfectly understandable, but in one case, namely Banjani, it was complicated by the breakup of her relationship as a direct result of the mission. Her blood pressure was escalating steadily and I advised her to reconsider her involvement. She couldn’t do that so close to departure with the attendant effect on morale, and the adverse publicity this would bring to her family. I told her I could not administer control medication as it would trigger her enforced withdrawal. Alternatively once the mission was in process, any medication of that type would be prohibited, as it has no published history in space flight, let alone a year on Mars. She accepted this and convinced me that it was helpful that I now knew about her dilemma; she felt it was obvious that determination to annex the mental conflict would stabilise the bothersome trend. She achieved this and I suspected nothing until we left orbit, when she confessed that she had managed to obtain BP reducers through her own channels. The trend was reversed slightly and her upbeat character was back. I picked up a small deterioration immediately, as she had stopped the pills before launch and she couldn’t risk smuggling them aboard. Faced with the alternatives I perhaps naively believed that she could get on top of this, now that the practical dilemma has gone – as we are on our way. I didn’t want anyone else to be dragged into this so I asked Natalia to simply upload the data I had certified. I don’t know what else to say Commander.

Why did you alter your own readings?

Merely to convince the backup team in Beijing that there was no cause for concern.

And Veltrano’s readings?

Same thing. Readings showing a slight negative trend, and then reversal with two or three people makes the situation more credible. I was intending to correct Veltrano’s and my own as soon as Banjani stabilised, which I still believe will happen.

Magnusson stared in to Dupree’s eyes and told him to leave until he had considered what to do. He also told both the doctor and Natalia not to mention this to the crew, including Banjani.

When everyone had the messaging roster it was rather predictable that some were unhappy. Carvalho really wanted to let his mother know how it felt to be achieving his father’s dream and he was last on the list. The spreading of sessions meant he had to wait another two days. Natalia was to wait one more day and she had an acute desire to speak to her grandparents now, as she had nobody else. She would not have need to speak to them frequently after this contact, so she asked Veltrano to move her up the list, informing him that both Banjani and Redgrave were happy to swap slots with her.

To her astonishment Veltrano simply ignored the request. When Carvalho heard this, he accused the Comm. Officer of being childish and burdened him with his own desire to switch with Redgrave. Veltrano merely stated that this was not up for discussion. If he really wanted to make an issue of this he should speak to the Commander.

Who the hell do you think you are? You have no seniority here, and the fact that two of our colleagues are flexible, is helpful to our situation as well as being good for crew morale. Veltrano stared at him expressionlessly and shook his head. Ok, if that is the best you can do I will see Magnusson; have a nice day yourself.

Carvalho told Natalia that he would speak with the Commander on her behalf as well. This was appreciated in view of the bio data episode. Veltrano had not handled this well, but his training extended to security in addition to communications. His remit was heavily defined by Beijing and Magnusson knew of this irregularity (but not the detail). Mission Control had insisted there was not to be haphazard misuse of this facility. They needed to know in advance who was to be in touch with whom, at what time, and for how long. This was bound to seem like overkill at best, and mistrust if it came out in the wrong way. Javier Veltrano had not consulted the crew prior to his production of the ‘tablet of stone’, simply because he did not foresee such an emotional response. Jesus, he pleaded to Magnusson, they are going to be away for the best part of 3 years; what difference does a few hours make?

The Commander agreed but reminded Veltrano he had himself suggested flexibility with the first roster. What does occur to me is that some do not really seem to want much communication time at all. This will only complicate matters if we have to follow orders to maintain an unaltered schedule. If we’re to achieve this I think it would be best to help them derive the initial one to their own satisfaction with the caveat that it then remains unaltered.

Veltrano objected that this would diminish his respect. Perhaps he should have thought about that before being so intransigent to a reasonable request, and he was told so. You could have bought some time if you had stopped to think about it. This isn’t some critical failure that requires a risky EVA. You need to revise your view of your function on board. I know you must support Beijing’s needs - so must I - but there are some aspects of a mission like this where we also have to avoid endangering morale, and therefore the objective. Please tell the crew that we’ve discussed the matter and I’ve asked you to come up with a more balanced solution. That gives you the chance to restore any respect you may have prejudiced.

Veltrano accepted the ‘request’ but was not happy. Unknown to the crew, including Magnusson, he had undergone high level scrutiny and training at a Beijing adjunct of Mission Control, which was staffed by Intelligence agents of the major players in the Confederation of Nations. Magnusson’s ‘request’ could have implications for the rest of his remit. He duly handled the task of modifying the roster and was thanked by the crew, with the exception of Carvalho, who offered no response.

Chapter 5

Natalia had spent a lot of her free time looking into Banjani’s historical medical stats to see if there was any clue to her subtle rise in blood pressure in recent months. It seemed to be a fruitless search, but she kept at it mainly because of her memory of her own marriage break-up and the appreciation of how difficult that must be, under the spotlight of the Mission ‘microscope’. Suddenly, certain values stood out to her trained eye and she felt she may be on to something. Banjani’s data indicated a slight but sudden decline in potassium level. Significant falls are a serious problem and levels such as hers would be just about enough to cause mild Hypokalaemia. Common symptoms which can be frequently experienced with this condition are - dry skin, blisters, confusion, anxiety, and hypertension with sleep deprivation. Having spoken with Banjani she learned that her skin was demanding more moisturising cream than normal, she had no blistering or confusion, but had all the other symptoms, particularly sleep deprivation.

Natalia met with Dupree and suggested that they informed Commander Magnusson of the possibility of a simple supplement restoring Banjani’s medical stats to normal. Pascal Dupree was relieved that this may indeed be the underlying cause of the adverse trend and hoped it might mitigate some of the loss of confidence that Magnusson must have in his judgement. When they did meet, Natalia was quite forceful in her assertion that this could have been picked up by Beijing, so by extension of that logic it was not unreasonable that Dupree and herself had also missed the possible connection. Magnusson accepted this point and conceded to delay any disciplinary review until Banjani’s potassium levels were normalised and the resulting BP trend had been studied.

Dupree thanked Natalia once they were alone and was quite emotional when he hugged her. I’m merely doing my job Pascal - please don’t get too hopeful yet. We have proved nothing.

Yes, forgive me. This is a little premature, but I would be very happy for Banjani if you were right. I am partly responsible for the crew’s health and morale, endorphins and all. Even if it turns out that this is not the cause, your diligence is a great source of encouragement to me that we will identify the trigger for her BP trend. I was looking at the macro interconnections to the detriment of detail effects. I would like to invite you to make any suggestions for overhaul of Beijing dictates we may have over the rest of the trip. Provided the Commander doesn’t restrict my original remit you can be sure that ‘I’m listening’.

Veltrano had agreed to the consensus roster and because Natalia had been so busy, Carvalho had first slot. Veltrano had copied Beijing into the order and time schedule. Only Xiang at Mission Control had security clearance for this and he passed it on to Mission Intelligence then erased his copy. The MI boys had a sophisticated diversion transmission chip installed at the residences of all of the crew’s nominated contacts. As far as the families were concerned the main Beijing technical people had simply installed the basic hardware on which they could speak to their loved ones in privacy. This was ‘precautionary’ because of what was at stake and would give MI any hint of emotional variance in the crew when compared to their routine formal reporting. Why would there be any variance? ‘Who knows?’ was the answer.

Hi Mama, it’s Daniel. Sorry I haven’t had a chance to say hello before now. Everything is going well and as the Earth is shrinking behind us I can see why Papa wanted to do this so badly. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever known, and I’m somehow less and less worried about the potential dangers out there. Anyway, the propulsion systems are behaving themselves but the big test will come when we get close to Mars orbit. He was extremely conscious of his mother’s natural anxiety, having lost her husband on a completely routine flight. Just as well she was nowhere near capable of understanding the degree of theoretical design which the mission depended upon.

You make us all proud here Dani; you seem to be on the news every hour. I hope you stay fit and healthy with all that experimental food. Your face looks thinner. He convinced her that it was picture distortion and reminded her that as the mission progressed they would not be able to have real time conversations because of the delay in the signal reaching Earth. They would have to send pre-recorded messages. She couldn’t grasp this too easily and said she didn’t have that problem with his sister in Australia and that was a long way away. He smiled and they talked about his nephew and two nieces before saying goodbye. He felt really relaxed now that he had made this first contact ‘on behalf’ of his father and still could not comprehend how Veltrano could have been so insensitive knowing his history. He was still smarting from his altercation with the Mexican.

Natalia was next to play E.T. and call home. Her grandparents were extremely relieved to hear from her. Having already lost one of their children it would have been exceptionally distressing for that horror to be followed by such fate for a grandchild. I’m settling into my work now that we’ve left Earth and the rest of the crew is similarly engaged, so the time passes quickly. Everything has gone like clockwork since launch. The synthetic food isn’t going to be welcomed, but the short time we were on it back on Terra will mean we know what to expect. They both laughed at this and she was reassured that they seemed so relaxed. Although they had been aware of Nikolai’s prostate problems for some four months, they had kept it from her as they knew such knowledge would have resulted in her pulling out of the mission. They both raised a healthy measure of Vodka to her, but sipped it slowly and resisted the temptation to throw the glasses at the fireplace. Olga put that down to her husband needing some new laser eye treatment, and her estimation that he would have probably hit the cat, which was the same colour as the fireplace. Natalia was so happy that they were in such good spirits and slept much better than she had expected.

The velocity following the burn had gradually increased to circa 80,000 kph and was expected to peak at just under 120,000 kph after 2 months, then gradually it would be reduced to 75,000 kph just prior to Mars Orbit Insertion in 10 months.

Natalia acquainted Banjani with her prognosis that she was a little low in potassium and prescribed the requisite supplemental dosage. Banjani was quick to enquire if she had run this by Dupree and very happy to try it out when the answer was in the affirmative. There was no need for any hint to Banjani that anyone other than Dupree knew of her predicament at this juncture.

Chapter 6

Copernicus was almost at the halfway point and the crew felt the mission had been routine. The exceptions were – breakdown frequency of the sanitary systems, a micro board failure in life support regulation, and the strained interpersonal relationships. The first two were annoying but were easily fixed. The difficulties in crew morale were becoming a cause for concern, not least of all to Magnusson. The positives were there too; Banjani’s blood pressure had normalised. Natalia’s supplement prescription had corrected the worrying trend and this had fostered a close friendship between the two. As a direct result, Magnusson informed Dupree that he would not be making a report on this in his log. Dupree was visibly relieved, and this ‘burden removed’ signalled a vigorous and thorough communication of personal medical data and wellbeing to the crew on a regular basis, to fit with their duties. It was well received and impressed Commander Magnusson.

Carvalho and Redgrave had managed to strike up a rapport around sport, number theory and the projected advance of artificial intelligence. The first two were shared interest, the latter a complete disagreement but total respect for the other’s argument. The bad news was more complicated and under the surface, yet still observable as a strain. Veltrano was a loner, and despite the enormous amount of effort by the Commander to involve him in group activity during leisure time, he remained aloof and distrusted by everyone except Redgrave. The others perceived him as an outsider, an inspector, an auditor - but falling short of being a spy. Strangely, this matched his view of his own purpose on the mission. To him, Communications Officer meant to Mission Control.

Magnusson kept asking himself why this lone furrow tendency had not been picked up during training, and he then entertained the notion that it may have been planned. He periodically asked Dupree about Veltrano’s med stats and always received the same assurance of ‘fine’.

Availing of psychology experience in the field he decided to ease off a little and concentrate on the others. Carvalho had been so dedicated to getting to this point in his life that he had not had a relationship with a female other than casual speed dating contacts. He had repeatedly tried to correct this on Copernicus by flirting openly with Natalia. When he was rebuffed in the presence of others he displayed juvenile traits of sarcastic defensive rudeness, forgetting that he chose the public forum. This was an escalating problem in a closed environment. He really believed that ‘no’ meant ‘yes’. Natalia had not had a successful relationship since her short marriage despite trying with several physically and culturally attractive men. Upon reluctantly resorting to a therapist, she recoiled at the suggestion she may always be comparing her suitors to her father, and finding that they came up short. Over time she began to accept this may have some validity when allied to her main upbringing being influenced by her grandparents, and its continual reference to her missing father, then her dead father who may have committed suicide.

Although she had initially found Carvalho attractive and liked his sharp sense of humour, the goldfish bowl effect did not allow any relief from his constant presence, and ‘cheap’ pursuit of her affection so publicly. It had eventually affected Redgrave, and his defence of Natalia was offered with the potential cost of some deterioration in his own friendship with Carvalho. Banjani vociferously belittled Carvalho when she was present to the point that he kept quiet in the First Officer’s orbit. This burgeoning soap opera culminated in Carvalho privately and confidentially asking Dupree for something to calm his nerves and thereby his unpleasantness. Dupree was understandably reluctant to get involved in a second clandestine mission of mercy without first briefing Magnusson. He promised Carvalho he would look into it with some urgency.

Alex Redgrave’s correlation work with Beijing had been temporarily halted because one of the pieces of analytical equipment had developed a fault. The science lab was part of the Descent module, and to save resources, including energy, during the flight, the temperature and life support facilities were on an automatic cycle. Redgrave had to plan his work to that schedule. Sometimes it was when most of the others were sleeping and as he had to exit the command module after checking the conditions were normal in the science lab, the opening and closing of the pod’s pneumatic doors was not conducive to uninterrupted sleep. He was asked if he could alter the pre-set cycle to a more considerate one for the rest of the crew.

In discussing this with Magnusson he succeeded in getting the OK for a three week period. The caveat was to involve someone else to ensure secondary checks with the system alteration. This was to comply with safety directives. The candidates most obviously qualified were Veltrano and Carvalho. The former was preferred by Commander Magnusson for two reasons – his higher maths and code structure experience and the chance to draft him into a team project. Initially it went well. Redgrave actually managed to demonstrate that the sporadic fault with the NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) equipment was related to the automatic cycle which had been chosen in the first place. The recommendation was for the cycle to be abandoned until the correlation work was completed. Veltrano disagreed, saying that resource economy was critical and the correlation should wait until the science facility was on Mars, where solar power could be used to complete the analytical tie up task. He further argued that there would be a time gap between planet arrival and the drilling phase for samples. This would easily be adequate for a programme which was only included in the flight schedule to keep Redgrave busy. Having considered the alternatives, Magnusson felt that Veltrano was right and suggested that Redgrave could usefully assist with some other duties for the remainder of the flight.

Redgrave was less than happy but concurred with the logic and agreed, however when this was aired over dinner Carvalho predictably stated the conclusion was invalid. If he had been consulted he would have demonstrated that the Beijing ‘belt and braces’ paranoia over energy conservation was ridiculous. The small nuclear power units to run the habitat, lab, and other ancillary equipment such as the drillbot were well overdesigned. Additionally, in his humble opinion, the fractional increase in consumption of life support facility that Redgrave needed to complete his work would be substantially if not totally recovered by the algae farms they were to construct on Mars. His estimates of growth and oxygen recapture from these expanding farms were persuasive. He felt good about dislodging Veltrano’s dogma. What if the power units are damaged during descent and landing? queried the Mexican.

That is an Armageddon situation which would kill the entire mission and all of us, so it’s not really a factor in this context. Magnusson agreed and changed his decision to get the equipment correlation over with quickly, and then they would know the net resource deficit as soon as possible. Veltrano shrugged his shoulders in a gesture of ‘you are the boss’ and displayed a facial expression of defiance. This however would not be the end of the matter. Veltrano reported this detour from agreed protocol with Mission Control, without informing Magnusson, stating that as Commander he should have sought approval to implement this.

The fact that the ever increasing distance from Earth and the need for pre-recorded messaging was in operation complicated matters. Having real time face-to-face discussion would have been preferable, however the time delay had introduced the wisdom of hindsight and helped justify Veltrano’s fifth column role in the eyes of Beijing Intelligence. This would produce an uneasy situation for Xiang and a Big Brother one on board Copernicus. Veltrano could have handled this better. He however, felt Magnusson should face that accusation. Significantly, so did Mission Intelligence - particularly Wes Allbright, the USA presence in that arm of Beijing.

Chapter 7

The discussion between Allbright and Xiang was heated to say the least. The Mission Controller agreed that Magnusson should have discussed any proposed protocol overrides, but criticised Veltrano for his covert reporting of this to Security, by-passing both Magnusson and himself. Xiang told Allbright that morale in such a disparate crew was fragile and needed support, not such divisive behaviour. This met with accusations of naivety with such a sloppy chain of command. In summary the disharmony was now cemented in both locations. Xiang’s dilemma was whether or not to tell Magnusson, and, if he did, whether he could recommend keeping the crew in the dark. By contrast Wes Allbright was only concerned about protecting Veltrano’s actual brief.

After sleeping on it they compromised on Xiang asking for a full brief of the mission status at the halfway point. This gave Magnusson a chance to report the problem and proposed correction strategy. Allbright was to instruct Veltrano to make future communications of this nature with his commander present. Unknown to Xiang, a subsequent transmission to Veltrano thanked him for his correct view of reporting this incident, when he established that Magnusson had not.

********

The wry smile reinforced Veltrano’s interpretation of his own remit. The procrastination over this relatively minor change had done nothing to address sleep deprivation of the crew and consequently exacerbated Veltrano’s alienation by those affected. Another source of irritation was the duty rosters and available hygiene facility. With five males and two females privacy was not optimally linked to individual duty breaks. Magnusson asked Banjani to look into this latest kindergarten squabble and come up with some revision which ‘did not require Mission Control debate’.

The new roster separated the hygiene slots by gender to avoid some of the previous embarrassment, and some of the affected routine duties were adjusted to fit. One of the first female sessions found Natalia undressing as Banjani exited the sonic shower. Natalia was taken aback at the First Officer’s apparent indifference to being completely naked while conversing about minor adjustments of orbit insertion creating a disproportionate amount of work for little gain. She was also startled by her colleague’s breathtakingly beautiful body - a slender athletic build and exquisitely proportioned. Natalia did her best to concentrate on Banjani’s words and not allow her gaze to linger on the impressive physique.

My neck is aching from just following the simulated trajectories for the last three hours, and these Sonics don’t really relax you like a genuine hot power shower. Natalia immediately regretted suggesting a neck and back massage, realising she would have to perform such a potentially intimate contact. She stuttered something about part of her medical training involving remedial conditioning. That sounds like heaven; do we have time before the testosterone brigade reclaims the hygiene territory?

Err, no n-not really, retreated Natalia.

Pity. Would it be an imposition to ask if you could do it after dinner in my quarters – if you are free, of course? Natalia affirmed that it would be no problem and they agreed a time. She entered the shower having undressed but protected with a robe, not wishing her own rather elegant body to be subject to similar inspection as her friend’s was. When Banjani had left and she was alone again, Natalia simply could not erase the vision and had to confess to herself that she was experiencing arousal. This was new and quite disturbing. Sudden panic set in anticipating the actual massage. As she got ready to leave the locker area she noticed something different about her locker content. Not the items, but the way they were stored. This was a similar type of observation which had first pinpointed Banjani’s potassium deficiency. Her photographic memory of order and her own tendency to arrange all things systematically convinced her that someone had been tampering with or inspecting the contents. When she realised her lab coat had the collar next to the door and not adjacent to the rear of the locker, she immediately checked the left side pocket for the memory pod. It was in the other pocket. Why would they transfer it? She found out why when she interfaced it with the system – it was blank. Several uncomfortable minutes passed before she decided it may have been switched with hers to enable copying and then would be re-switched as soon as possible, or possibly she was supposed to believe that she had inadvertently wiped it herself by mistake. It was probably the latter if they had chosen the hygiene scenario to act, as it would be another 24 hours before a similar opportunity arose and she would have accessed the pod frequently before then. So - did they want to lose data rather than gain it?

Who were ‘they’? Logically, Banjani had the best opportunity as the locker key was left in the lock when Natalia had entered the shower, and she was unsighted inside the cubicle. Banjani was gone when she came out. It was compelling and yet she did not want to believe it. She could remember a considerable amount of the data in terms of trends but not specific numbers. She also knew that the culprit would know this was only a backup pod, so it could imply a similar desire to corrupt the main database. She could not go to anyone with such a preposterous story based solely on hypothesis and no evidence. This had also taken the edge off her anticipation of the forthcoming massage. This brief deliberation was interrupted by someone pressing the entry request to the facility. She was relieved when it was Dupree, avoiding a potential one-on-one with Carvalho. Scrub up Comrade.

Oui? Merci bien ma Cherie - 15 all - D’accord? She poked her tongue at her ‘boss’ in a good humoured gesture of insolence and returned to her quarters.

Chapter 8

After he had ‘scrubbed up’ Dupree headed for his arranged session with the Commander. Once he had relayed Carvalho’s request for medication to Magnusson he accommodated the long silence from the Swede without concern. Eventually the response came. Why do you think he came to you?

I thought I had just explained Commander, he wants me to....

No, interjected Magnusson, why do you feel he needs to unburden himself like this? He’s always been very confident in his own view of everything, to the point of arrogance, or at least insensitivity

Oh, said Dupree, feeling caught off guard, I am not really focussed on psycho-medical analysis; I tend to diagnose, prescribe and treat. Seeing that the Commander was totally unimpressed with his response he made the compounding error of trying to convey a relaxed demeanour when he actually felt the briefing was descending into an interrogation.

I know we are all supposed to be ‘mission proofed’ by our training regime but that is not in any way something which can be guaranteed. I’m rather alarmed that you take such a simplistic view of your role in a situation that none of us have experienced before. I suggest you consider what really made him lower his guard like this. It’s called bedside manner. Dupree could have done with a tranquiliser himself. Magnusson asked him to stall the medication until more was known about Carvalho’s sudden vulnerability. He also referred to his frequent questioning of Veltrano’s med stats, revealing that this was also to try to fathom the Mexican’s aversion to team ethic; something which should have stood out in the Earth preparation simulations, like a nudist at a funeral.

Dupree uttered a feeble apology that he had unconsciously blurred the difference between psychoanalysis and bedside manner, probably because he had assumed rock solid personalities were a given in such a mundane journey, more likely that ‘wobbles’ would occur in tense scenarios like landing. Magnusson checkmated this dismissive attitude by referring to Dupree’s misdemeanour with Banjani’s blood pressure. The Commander looked right into his eyes when he declared, Technically, as I’ve already said, you were in breach of protocol with your initial cover up of this, but you might have otherwise deprived us of the best available First Officer. You were lucky that Natalia found a benign explanation and we were lucky we did not have a last minute re-shuffle of personnel to deal with. Look for explanation, we will re-visit this soon. The ‘Doc’ felt like a profoundly relieved patient and once again set out to regain the Commander’s confidence. It was time for that Beijing update session, with the time delay making its own mischief out of an already apprehensive atmosphere.

********

Xiang opened the transmission jovially and casually asked if everyone was beginning to enthuse about the upcoming orbit phase. Magnusson affirmed this and reported that the journey had been virtually ‘bug free’ and therefore bordering on monotony in recent ‘days’. Before Xiang could interrupt Magnusson continued. We have only one malfunction to report…the NMR analyser has been misfiring and we pinpointed the auto-cycling of the Lab conditions as the problem. He went on to explain the discussions in detail, first going with Veltrano’s recommendation, then being persuaded by Carvalho’s logic, to revise his decision. He further stated that he would appreciate Beijing’s viewpoint, and if they felt it necessary he was happy to have detailed counter logic to revert to the original plan, or even postpone the equipment correlation until touchdown, as Veltrano had originally recommended.

Roberto Xiang was visibly relieved at this unsolicited report from Commander Magnusson and shot a predatory glance toward Allbright, who was off camera and not visible from Copernicus. He went through many routine details and checkpoints with Magnusson, and concluded by thanking the crew for their patience with all the minor calculations of orbit insertion projection - calculated and compared from both locations. It wasn’t just a drill, but did embrace that aspect if unforeseen factors emerged on approach to the red planet; the time delay at that point may prove critical. It made sense.

Magnusson was pleased and closed by reminding Xiang of the secure one-on-one session Mission Control had requested, prior to orbit insertion, to bring him up to date with personnel data. He added that he was saying this within earshot of the crew, and the cam panned around to show the Copernicus family waving to Earth reception. They are smiling now but wait until they see their report.

The open way he referred to morale, med stats and teamwork, betrayed no clandestine motive. It had been planned before the mission, everyone knew about it. That was not how it was perceived by Allbright. After the session was concluded he felt Veltrano was vulnerable. His praise of Magnusson seemed a little too enthusiastic to Xiang but he let it pass. Allbright had to figure out if indeed Copernicus and Mission Control did have a designed option of secure contact which eluded his people’s elaborate snooping. He was angry that he did not have detail on whether this had been anticipated.

Natalia decided to apologise to Banjani, because something had come up. Can we reschedule?

Of course, just let me know when you are free. Natalia had been tortured by the thought that the person most qualified to get in and out of the system without leaving log in evidence was Veltrano. She was not convinced that Banjani had sufficient motive for this action. Her synapses were ablaze with patterns of behaviour of the crew and what possible explanations would connect any of this to the pod. When she checked the system herself there was no obvious evidence of tampering but this was a cursory check, a comprehensive trawl would take hours, it had to be done.

Surely Magnusson was above suspicion? She had to tell him? Tell him what? She would know when the time was right. When Dupree asked her about Carvalho it was innocently disguised to determine if her constant rejection of his crude flirting might be part of his reason for requesting medication. She, however, overlaid this with a motive for the pod swap. It only occurred to her later that there was no evidence she could recall on the system which would indicate he had a problem. Dupree’s unconscious prod had forced her to go over the whole motive issue again before comparison with behavioural observation. She was approaching cerebral meltdown so she would sleep on it.

Chapter 9

Wes Allbright was checking on pre-agreements with the big four leaders on the limitations of Mission Control on political matters. He asked Karl-Jens Koppelt to remind him of the various situations falling within this umbrella. The German-born Swiss national was concerned that Allbright had not requested this in the context of some possible breach rather than a blanket query.

As Copernicus was approaching orbit, the first relevant stage for the M.I. people was landing. Once established on Mars there were types of information which the crew may uncover which needed scrutiny by Intelligence, before release of such data to the world at large. Examples quoted were evidence of life, past or present, or a scenario of poor potential of colonisation. There were many more, and therefore the communication protocol would alter after successful landing to include Allbright in every update from the Mars base. The individual channels between crew and family homes would cease, the relatives would be flown to Beijing, and again Allbright would supervise the playbacks and edit out any unsuitable revelations. Similarly he would post-edit the families’ recordings before transmission. The stakes of this project were so high that if the landing was unsuccessful or tragic, this would not be revealed openly. It would have to be managed to avoid any premature alteration of the follow up mission. There was also a requirement to continually monitor any behaviour which might indicate terrorism on Copernicus or in Beijing, or even political/financial advantage accruing to any outside entity. Naturally Xiang and Magnusson were ignorant of these policies. Allbright instructed Koppelt to stay vigilant, and to continually remind the American of the importance of required censorship.

********

Natalia decided that the risk of not telling Magnusson about the pod switch was potentially more damaging than coming clean and later finding he could be involved. The Commander did not react at first, then asked if she was absolutely sure she was not mistaken – a valid question. She convinced him by several references to her own ‘obsessive’ need for order. She was more likely to forget the colour of a fire engine than the order of the three kings in a poker hand. He was disturbed, but not as much as she expected. The first priority was to stay alert and keep this to the two of them for now; they could endanger lives if they lost focus while approaching orbit. He suggested they met regularly but casually, to compare notes, and he then made a strange request. He was worried about Dupree, and acquainted her with the Frenchman’s lack of appreciation of his responsibility, especially the need to look further than pills when people are acting out of character in asking for help. Magnusson regretted having to burden her with such sensitive information, but he had to put the crew morale and wellbeing first. The bombshell was that he wanted her to second guess, when asked, Dupree’s recommendations in similar circumstances. It was irregular, but so was hurtling toward a planet possibly incapable of sustaining life, which commanded priority. She had to agree. Magnusson promised to give her his input on her ‘Sherlock’ quest.

Carvalho and Redgrave were playing chess when Veltrano interrupted to report an LED flashing red. I am not observing, merely passing a message from First Officer Banjani.