Chapter 10: Up and away!

I went to sleep that night excited for the return expedition to Pod#1 and with the hope that the next day would be another good day. That hope quickly fizzled.

“BEEEEP! BEEEEP! Wake up, John!”

The room lights beyond were also flashing on and off. I lurched up in my warm crèche bed causing Agent to continue.

“John, there is a strong storm front rapidly approaching. You must hurry to the surface and aid in retracting and stowing the power generation kite. Other surface items will need additional securing also. Proceed quickly with full protective gear including your flashlight!”

I scrambled up and donned my full protective gear, even the mask. On the way up the ladder, Agent told me that the optical sensors on the power kite had detected lightning in the storm front rapidly approaching from the southwest. Wonderful. I unsealed the final barrier and stepped out into solid darkness and heavy wind.

“What the hell time is it, Agent?”

She reported in my earpiece that it was 03:14. No wonder she had instructed me to bring the flashlight. The mobile cart ‘mules’ had been decoupled and moved and were now surrounding the power kite tether winch unit, providing illumination with powerful beams of light. I noted the winch was already rapidly spinning as the tether was spooled back in.

I heard Agent in the goggles’ headband. “The power kite is currently descending and will be fully lowered in approximately four minutes. I have determined that the storm is approaching too rapidly, and the surface winds are too high, to allow for the recapture of the lifting helium. I have already started venting and deflating the descending torus.”

“What about the lost helium? Will we have enough to replace it later?” I yelled into the wind. (Agent later informed me that I did not have to yell when wearing the goggles.)

“There are reserve cylinders of helium in a crate waiting at pod#2.”

I stood and waited, nervous and fidgeting, in the increasing wind and now, heavy rain, while lightning flashes lit the sky. The lightning was working my goggles hard, causing them to rapidly switch between brightness filtering and low light viewing settings. I finally had to disable the night vision function. After a few minutes, I saw the descending power kite torus. It was half deflated, looking like a sad parade balloon, and coming down quickly.

Agent reminded me to be cautious gathering in its fabric once it was on the ground. I noted that the turbine blades had also been deflated, and once the limp power kite was low enough to grab, I started pulling, gathering in the tethers and fabric, and trying to bunch it around the heavier generator head. It was like herding cats with the wind and with the torus still partially inflated.

I gathered in and compressed the fabric as best I could and heard the hiss of the remaining helium venting. The wind tore the torus fabric free a few times and I had to scramble to gather it in again. I imagined the high number of holes I was tearing in the thin film and hoped Agent had a solution.

Finally, after almost a quarter hour of effort, I had the bundled torus fully deflated and wrapped tightly around the generator head and now secured under a tarp beside the tether winch. I tied down the bundle with generous loops of rope and hoped it would hold fast in the storm. I was now physically exhausted along with being merely tired from awakening early.

The wind was now a full-time gale and the rain was coming down sideways. I quickly checked the Mules and was happy to note that with a heavy power cylinder strapped to each, they seemed stable enough. Still, I tied them down with four ground stakes each after Agent moved them closer to the tunnel entrance. I noticed in the wind that I had already lost a few solar panels and knew there would be more gone after this storm passed.

When I was finished and had retreated into and sealed the entry tunnel, I asked Agent what would happen if lightning struck the power cylinders or someplace nearby.

“That would be ... bad, John. A strike on the portable power unit would not cause a massive energy discharge but it would damage the cylinder to the point of uselessness. The mules would most likely be nonfunctional if struck as they are not adequately grounded. A strike on the solar panel system would cause local damage to the panels but would be limited as I have disconnected the junction box from the remaining power system below. Please disconnect the coupler on the power cable in the tunnel now.”

That I did, and then went below, soaked. I noticed that Agent had already reduced the lighting levels to save power, so I did not even ask if a hot shower was possible. I instead settled for just wiping off the cold rain and sweat with a towel. I even had to forgo the warmth of the flashlight heater in the bubble for the rest of the night when I tumbled back into the crèche to resume my interrupted sleep.

Sometime later I awoke with sore, gritty eyes. Agent reported that the storm winds had increased the airborne toxin levels in the area and that I might notice some inflammation around my eyes. She was correct. She also informed me that it was almost noon (Saturday, I reminded myself) and that I had been allowed to sleep late because I had needed the rest. I later found that the weather still sucked (my words, not hers) on the surface and I spent a lazy afternoon cleaning the tunnel area, sorting gear (for my eventual relocation) and just idly browsing the tablet.

I had discovered that the tablet had access to most of humanity’s knowledge which had been stored online ‘back when’. Agent had already loaded some of my favorites on the tablet and more could be downloaded from the orbital station if given enough notice. At first, I was happy browsing the limited copy of the old ‘net’, watching old videos, and even re-watching a few favorite shows. But soon I began to feel melancholic and had to stop. I did continue to use the tablet to listen to music though, using Agent as my new Spotify.

Later in the afternoon I braved the weather on the surface, puttering around in the wind, drizzle, and now, fog. I did not do much work except get wet, but I gathered most of the broken and detached solar panels, tying them into bundles sorted by ‘junk’ or ‘maybe’. At least the mules seemed ok (Agent was still able to access their onboard diagnostics and reported them ready and able).

Agent no longer detected lightning in the area and had me reconnect the cable leading to the surface power junction box and the two attached portable ESUs. This meant we now had enough energy reserves stored in the ESUs so that I would be able to take a quick hot shower and also have some heat for sleeping later that night.

That evening, I remained busy by labeling the remaining color-bar food ration bricks. I not only wrote on each brick the intended flavor from the tablets inventory, but also the actual flavor as discovered by my taste buds, noting that both labels sometimes contradicting each other wildly.

Before bedtime, the downtime and boredom finally got to me and I resorted to using the tablet for assistance to masturbate. I was thankful for two things. The first being that the eventual release was only a weeks’ worth and not five centuries of buildup. The second was that, thankfully, Agent did not interrupt or comment about my actions ... ever! Apparently ‘Everyone does it, but you don’t talk about it.’ was the norm for alien intelligences too.

Sunday found the weather much improved. There was still no sunshine, but at least the rain had stopped. It was colder with some fog under a heavy cloud layer and a stiff breeze. We quickly agreed that with the rain yesterday and now, fog, no expedition would be happening today. Instead, I spent the bulk of the chilly day remounting solar panels. We discussed the power kite and had decided to leave it bundled in its tarp lashed to the ground.

There were two issues with redeploying the power kite. The first was that it would be quite a big job to repair the perforated balloon fabric. Agent had explained that in the supply crates there were canisters of a rubbery spray patching material which could be used to seal up the torus film, holding pressure against even helium’s tiny molecules.

She paused when I suddenly started laughing, probably wondering if I was brain damaged or something. What she couldn’t know was that I was thinking about a guy from a TV commercial ‘back when’ who had been selling a miracle spray which would allow you to make a rowboat out of a screen door. I let her remain mystified at my behavior.

The second issue with the power kite was that we ‘might’ no longer need its generating capacity. We now had access to fully energized portable energy storage units. (four ESUs remained back by Pod#2) The aircraft would need four ESUs for the relocation flight to Tennessee so there would be four extra which would remain at this base. We’d probably use up one or maybe two locally flying supplies back and forth which left at least two fully energized ESUs as spares and they would be available for local power needs until we left.

Though they had nowhere near the capacity of the original large base units, Agent assured me that the two portable ESUs would last at least a month at current usage levels. The deciding factor for me was when she reminded me that a spare power kite system was also packed in two of the crates back at Pod#2 and would be available for local deployment if for some reason the aircraft was unusable and I had to stay here.

Our last-ditch fallback plan was that if, for some yet unknown reason the aircraft was or became unusable, I’d only need enough energy and rations to hunker down here at this base for just over a year. That was the minimum time we would need to wait for a new shipment of supplies to arrive from the asteroid factory base on 3074 Popov which would have expediently shipped more emergency rations via rushed smaller landing pods.

Arriving later and having traveled a bit slower would be larger landing pods with a replacement aircraft, more rations and more fully charged portable ESUs. It sounded like Agent had planned for almost all possible eventualities and I had begun to think of the 3074 Popov factory base as my over watching angel, even if she was a bit slow in delivering salvation.

So, to reiterate the power kite situation, we left it undeployed and stowed. I’d just have to get by on stored power, the infrequent sunshine on the solar panels, and the hopes that I’d be long gone before winter. Agent confirmed we had enough energy for a short hot shower most nights, so I took one and afterward did something I had not done in over five centuries— I shaved.

Although the new stubble covering my body was starting to bother the hell out of me, I just shaved my face. I thought about doing a little ‘manscaping’ but decided to just wait out the itching. Maybe Agent would be able to make a depilatory cream or something. I left the top of my head unshaved also, saying the reason was that winter was coming and hair would help keep me warm. I had to admit though, my vanity wanted to see full head of hair again after wearing a bald spot for decades.

I spent the rest of the evening enjoying powdered beer and reading the tablet. I skimmed the data on the other humans slumbering at the other bases. For some reason or other, I avoided reading their biographies. Maybe it was the fear that either I, or they, or all of us, would not survive to meet at some, far-in-the-future rendezvous in a better world. Maybe it was because that the less I knew, the less I would worry, or plan, or hope. It was probably that any future with other humans was so far down the road as to just be a fantasy.

I spent the last few hours before sleepy-time happily reading. You know the one good thing about having access to a bootleg alien copy of our complete digital presence? It was that I now had access to every ... single ... book ever written that had been stored online. I was now able to read all the stories by my favorite authors which I had never gotten around to reading or buying ‘back when’.

Agent had prompted the idea when she had mentioned that any old human data I wanted would probably be retrievable, though not instantly, as she might have to wait until the next dish alignment with the orbital station or the base on 3074 Popov to access the data. I had given her a list of authors to fully download when she could, and a day later, I now had years of reading waiting for me on the tablet. I remembered an old Twilight Zone episode and was glad that I had good eyesight and did not wear glasses.

Monday dawned ... but missing the ‘dawn’ part as the skies were a solid overcast. At least the fog and drizzle had gone. The winds were calm, but the temperature was much colder. I suspected it had gotten down to near freezing last night which reminded me that winter is coming to steal a saying from ‘back when’. Today was going to be another expedition day and I was eager to get going, but I had one task to complete at base camp before we could leave.

With the power kite remaining stowed, we had lost access to its aerial tether antenna. This meant that Agent’s capabilities could be reduced in my tablet, the drones, and the mule train whenever we lost line-of-sight communications with base camp. The area was pretty flat but there were still the ravines and gullies to block the direct signals.