The Comet's Curse by Dom Testa

Author:Dom Testa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2005-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

22

With five weeks to go before the launch Dr. Zimmer had arrived at the space station with Dr. Bauer. Dr. Armistead had remained behind to wrap up any last details at the training complex and to escort the crew when it was their time to leave. In another eight days they would all be brought into space and housed inside the Incubator for the final month.

Zimmer was anxious about some last-minute changes that had become necessary on Galahad. Construction had proceeded at lightning speed, and for the most part it would be ready to go when the time came.

The agricultural domes were finished and already sported some crops basking in the artificial sunlight. Seeds and plants from around the world continued to arrive daily. A few of the insects that had been approved for the trip—bees to assist pollination and earthworms to help aerate the soil and produce fertilizer—were hard at work and apparently content in their new home.

The Storage Sections were filling up and almost ready to be sealed. Dr. Bauer was primarily in charge of this department, and had agreed with Dr. Zimmer that keeping them locked until the crew reached Eos was crucial. “Don’t even give them the chance to ransack the supplies that they’ll need when they arrive,” Bauer had said. “It’s easy to say now that they’ll stay out on their own, but who knows what will be going through their minds after a year or two in isolation. Not even these kids are perfect.” With a scowl he added, “Believe me, no kids are.” Zimmer found it hard to believe that the crew would ransack anything, but nodded agreement.

The crew’s apartments were also finished, sitting vacant and awaiting their personal finishing touches. All of the water recycling plants were functioning, the air recycling system was in good shape, and Roc was already skimming through checklist after checklist to make certain that the launch would be successful.

Yet Zimmer wasn’t naïve enough to think that everything would be perfect. And it wasn’t.

“Tell me again why we only have eight Spiders, and not ten,” he said to the tall, thin man sitting across from his desk.

“Listen, I can put all ten of them on board,” the design engineer said, “but I’m telling you that only eight of them will work.”

His name was Sun Koyama. For almost two years his team had worked day and night, designing, building and assembling the largest craft ever conceived. He was exhausted, mentally and physically, and was in no mood to be lectured by anyone.

“Where was the slipup?” Zimmer said.

“This is not a slipup. I told Dr. Bauer months ago that the company responsible for the internal fittings on the Spiders was in trouble. Their workforce is dwindling, people are dropping out with Bhaktul or just quitting to be with their families, and the same thing is happening with their suppliers. They put all of their remaining staff to work and have eight Spiders finished. The other two are just empty shells. If you ask me, we should be grateful we got eight.

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