Amphitrite 3: The Black Planet: Hard Science Fiction (Planet Nine) by Brandon Q. Morris

Author:Brandon Q. Morris [Morris, Brandon Q.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hard-SF.com
Published: 2021-04-27T22:00:00+00:00

January 17, 2079 – Amphitrite

The rover was moving faster uphill than downhill, even though it now had to carry Oscar, who wasn’t fast enough on his wheels. Irina described her march through the tunnels on her injured leg, her first encounter with the black dust, and how she’d discovered the secret of the niches.

“You never considered turning back?” asked Juri.

“How could I? I fell into the channel,” Irina answered. “I couldn’t climb back up the wall without the cable. My only option was to find another way out.”

“There was a passage off the first cavern that led up to the surface,” Oscar told her.

“Really? I wasn’t sure. Is that what your simulations tell you?”

“I came down that way, so I know.”

“Oh, if I’d known that... What were you doing on the surface? Weren’t you with the others?”

“He abandoned us as soon as we landed on Amphitrite,” said Juri. “His simulations showed him something we can’t understand.”

“That was—”

“Doesn’t matter, Oscar,” Juri said, interrupting the robot. “We don’t need to go over it again.”

“We briefly checked out that passage,” said Doug. “It definitely sloped upward. That’s why Juri didn’t want to go that way.”

“I’ll be honest. I already had other plans at that point. I no longer believed Juri would find me. There were no clues to show you I’d fallen into this hole.”

“You left a used diaper behind,” said Juri.

“Very observant. Anyway, I figured I was screwed. So I decided to find out where the oxygen in the channel was coming from.”

“How did you know it was oxygen?” asked Oscar. “You don’t have any sensors for that, do you?”

“I burned some of the carbon. It didn’t exactly go as planned.”

“Oh, you caused the destruction in the first cavern?” asked Doug.

“I did,” said Irina. “And then I realized my oxygen tank was miraculously being replenished overnight.”

“The gas exchange?” asked Juri.

“Yeah, there was enough oxygen in the channel.”

“Good to know in case we run out of air.”

“I don’t know if it works higher up, Juri.”

“Right. And then you found the ice mountain?”

“Or it found me. I was running away from the black dust in a panic and crashed into the solid ice.”

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