Chapter Two Forty-Seven Orbital Rescue (Patreon)

March 5th, 065 SDE

Xau set her notes aside and turned to Xermon, the officer was on his way up in the world and acted as their liaison with the military. She nodded and answered his question, “Yes I agree with the earlier conclusion.” She gestured at her notes, “This math is way ahead of anything we’ve done. It hints at details to orbital mechanics that we’ve scarcely considered. There is no way this came from the Confederacy, unless they are somehow way ahead of us in rocketry and no one realized.”

Xermon sighed, “Yes I agree, but that doesn’t explain how the aliens know so much about our rocket program. They knew about the planned spacewalk experiment and if those modifications are any indication they have a detailed blueprint of our capsule design.”

“Well we ruled out a spy, I’m pretty sure an alien walking around the facility would be noticed.” She gestured out the window. “We developed radar that lets us detect things like fighters and rockets at a distance. Who’s to say they haven’t figured out a better version?”

Xermon shuddered, “That’s a scary thought. Intel would both love it, and be terrified by it.”

Xau wasn’t in the field and was honestly trying not to think about the implications. Rather her mind was more on how revolutionary the alien math was. “I guess but these new math equations are a godsend. Watching them move our rockets gave us clues, but this? This is the key.”

Xermon blinked, “The key?”

Xau sighed, “Orbital mechanics isn’t the same as say driving a truck or sailing a boat.” She took some blank paper and drew a simple planet then an orbital line, “When you get up there you are constantly moving, even when the engines aren’t burning, and you can’t carry a lot of fuel since most of it gets burned just getting up there. That means when you want to get from point A to point B, it’s not as simple as just flying. Even if our alien friends make it look that way. It’s clear they don’t have our fuel issues. I suspect they can just burn fuel like no tomorrow. We can’t, so we have to consider when is the most effective timing to conduct a burn and for how long.”

Xermon stared at the lines she was adding and then, after a moment, said, “But they just move? I’ve never seen any...”

Xau nodded, “I’ve noticed that too. Obviously they don’t use rockets. We have some theories, but they are rather outlandish.”

“Right, well we aren’t here for theories. I guess the more practical question is what else we can do with the alien math?”

Xau picked up her notebook, “There is quite a bit, I’m using it as a basis for a revision of the nav module I designed for the capsule...”

He held up a hand, “I don’t need the details. Just make sure the blueprints make it to my desk when you’re done. I’m sure the military engineers will want to review it.”

“Alright,” she replied. As Xermon walked over to the window.

“Any idea when the launch will be?”

“Let me guess the military has some interest?”

“Actually yes,” he started when the radio cracked. It was the capsule.

She walked over, “Yes? Something going on up there?”

“Well my supplies arrived, there is an alien... box floating off my... left forward section,” said Berxi, sounding rather uncertain.

Xermon took the line, “So there is an object off your port side, and it’s a box?”

“Um, well not really. It’s an icosahedron.”

“A what!?”

Xau interjected, “He means it has twenty sides.”

“Then he should have just said that!” replied Xermon.

“He did,” countered Xau.

“No he didn’t, I don’t speak scientist. Use plain language, call it a twenty-sided box, I would have understood.”

Berxi interjected, “Well while you two are discussing terms, I’ll get ready to retrieve the object.”

Xermon inquired, “Right, just how did it arrive? I don’t recall hearing a report of any alien ships coming this way.”

Berxi replied, “Not by ship, it just flew up next to my capsule and then started spewing white... gases I think. A propellant of some kind anyway, which it used to match my velocity.”

She blinked, “Propellant? Why would they be using that?”

No one had an answer, only theories.

Berxi pushed off the console and floated toward the suit rack. Not that the term really applied, since it held just the one suit. He let out a breath as he took in the bulky suit, the team had spent months just figuring out what they would need to survive a spacewalk. The fact the aliens also used some kind of suit was clue enough that unprotected spacewalks weren’t a thing, even for them, but visual study of them was basically useless. Using data garnered from previous unmanned capsule flights, had not only shaped their manned capsule design but this suit as well. It was designed to keep an occupant at a comfortable temperature and pressure range while providing a supply of critical oxygen. Only their ability to test it had been constrained by terrestrial environments; this would be the first test in the actual void of space.

Berxi hesitated for a moment before moving towards the rack and working to get inside. Where he noted the first problem, it wasn’t easy to get into, but somehow he managed. The mechanical assists someone had put in the rack proved helpful. Securing the helmet he checked and engaged the seals, before pulling a rope out of storage. Berxi secured one end to himself, then moved into the air lock, where he secured the other end to an anchor. Taking a breath he sealed the interior hatch, then pulled the vent switch. Air rushed out of the airlock and in a moment, he was ready to release the latch.

He sat there for a second before he pulled the latch lever, and opened the outer door. Some remaining air rushed out, he frowned and made a note that the airlock vent needed work. Looking out the door, he spotted the object. Double checked his rope then pushed off. A few days in his capsule had given him an idea and it worked fairly well as he floated towards the alien object. It didn’t take long to reach it, and he grabbed the box. It had a fairly decent size but he was able to hold onto it easily. Then using the rope he started slowly pulling himself in, where he noted his next challenge; getting the alien box through the door. 

It was almost as wide as the door with only about five centimeters of clearance, so he had to maneuver it carefully. Berxi was quite thankful for the rope, but he made a note that these suits needed some kind of propulsion system. It would have helped line up the entry. Still he somehow managed it and made his way inside.

With the box in the airlock he took a moment to measure it. It was just under 40 centimeters across and if it weren’t for the microgravity he could have easily carried and gone through the door. Berxi closed the outer door and hit the oxygen switch. Air started to fill from the reserve tank and when the pressure light came on he opened the inner door and took the alien box into the main compartment, where his little lab and tools were. Studying the box, he rotated it until he found two small nodes on different sides of the 20 sided object. Pressing them in, caused it to fold open and reveal an interior packed with alien packets. Strange text marked each of them. Picking up one silver packet, he noted the little spout on the top and the design on the side, it was three blue droplets on a circle, with alien letters under it. 

Berxi opened the spout and squeezed slightly, and a liquid came out. It floated around as strange spheres. Catching them with a special cup, he took them to the chemistry station, where he had been doing a few chemistry-related experiments he’d been asked to do up here. He had already had a theory on what this was, but wanted to confirm. Taking a moment to recall his chem lessons, and ran a couple tests and eventually used up the packet, but it confirmed his theory. The droplet packages were water.

Checking the other ones he found what must have been the alien idea of food. After figuring it must be safe enough he sampled a packet. Berxi took some notes, whatever the aliens did to it, it tasted better than the stuff he’d been given for up here. Hell they could learn a few things from the packets, they were well designed. He glanced at the box, it might be worth studying as well.

Two days later, Berxi was at the console, watching the second capsule coming up. He was standing by to make a burn if needed, but it proved unnecessary as the second capsule managed to match speed and rotation. Venting compressed gasses from special ports to do so. Then slowly came closer over an agonizing period. Berxi noted a change in the other capsule’s airlock. It had something attached.

The purpose soon became clear, when they stopped twenty meters away and lined up with his airlock. Someone opened the other airlock, and started cranking something, causing it to extend. He blinked? A gangway? That wasn’t a bad idea. He went to get into his suit again, and get the box ready.

There was a clunk while he was getting into his suit, and someone knocked on the airlock. It took him a moment longer to fully get into his suit, then he opened the airlock, where he was greeted by another man in a suit. With the second man’s help they were able to get the alien box into the other capsule, along with the unused packets and the used ones. Along with the notes he took over the last few days, before packing up anything valuable left over from the experiments.

The deployable gangway proved quite useful. It looked like a canvas material that had been stowed in a shielded compartment around the airlock. It wasn’t air-tight but that obviously wasn’t the purpose. It worked quite well making sure anything they moved through it didn’t float off into space. Still he figured an airtight example would be a nice step forward. 

Once everything was packed and the air lock on capsule two was closed, the gangway retracted and packed into its compartment, the two of them worked their way out of their suits with the help of a third man in a military flight suit. The other guy in a suit however was Telmon, his good friend. Berxi commented, “I see the military tagged along for this one.”

Telmon chuckled, “Our friend here is to keep us safe. They wanted to bring more than one soldier, but fitting three people plus cargo is already pushing it.” He gestured at a cabinet, “We also brought some guns.”

Berxi frowned, “Um, is there something I missed?”

The soldier interjected, “They didn’t tell you? Our landing zone is going to be a little hot. Contested territory.”

“Oh?” he turned pale, “... Sounds fun...”

“I’ll get you and your cargo home safe. A recovery team has been dispatched; we just need to hold the capsule in case the enemy tries to capture it. Shouldn’t be that hard, I know your friend is decent, how about you? Any firearm training?”

He didn’t answer, his mind thinking of the capsule itself. How would they hold it long enough for a rescue? Getting into orbit wasn’t easy; every bit of mass mattered. To keep that down the hull was, by requirement, thin and made of lightweight aluminium. The heat shielding was added to keep the capsule together during reentry but the heat shield wasn’t armor. Any small arm fire would punch through the thin aluminium shell.