Nebula Express DarkSF novel by John Argo

= NEBULA EXPRESS =

a DarkSF novel

by John Argo

Page 2.

Chapter Two

Cargo vessel F.E.S. Neptune Express (Federal Earth Ship, 50kTn, 16 parallel main ion-drive power plants housed in external silvered nacelles) was one year outbound from and halfway through her two-year journey to Neptune's moon Triton, when an emergency beacon began to send distress signals back to the Colfirio Inter-Planetary Exploratory Corporation base station on Luna.

A meteorite the size of a golf ball had torn through the outer skin and exploded, vaporizing important elements of the ship's delicate cargo maintenance systems. The ship carried nearly one million individual seed units for trees, vegetables, and other living matter along with growth matrix, soil, hydroponics, shelters, converters, and supplies to be deployed on a major new research station approximately 29 AU from the sun and 81 AU from the heliopause.

The stock, matrix, and growth supplies were vital to the survival of 7,000 colonists on Triton engaged in mining, research, and support activities. Without the successful transport of these materials, the colony would begin starving and suffocating within one earth year. The next mission would not reach Triton for five earth years, so the success of the Neptune Express mission was nonnegotiable.

The ship had been designed with redundant systems, and was staffed by crews of highly competent maintenance and repair experts. These dedicated engineers were often all that stood between life and death in the infinite and lonely void. With the ship halfway to her target, rescue was out of the question. She was leaking atmosphere. Water and other fluids were boiling away from torn conduits. Without skilled and immediate intervention, the ship would begin to implode silently and irrevocably one section at a time within a few earth days.

Acting heroically, and with some injuries and loss of life, repair crews stabilized the ship and kept her on course. They worked around the near-catastrophic impact point. They sealed off gaping holes, rerouted torn conduits, reconnected loose and dangerously sparking conductor cables, and guided the automatic systems through self-test and reoperability routines. With the crisis resolved, there was nothing more to be done but to keep a close watch on all operating systems and subsystems, patch any new leaks, repair any further damage, and pray for the rest of the flight to be uneventful. This required periodic excursions to the far reaches of the huge ship by the surviving highly trained and dedicated maintenance staff.

Thank you for reading. If you love it, tell your friends. Please post a favorable review at Amazon, Good Reads, and other online resources. If you want to thank the author, you may also buy a copy for the low price of a cup of coffee. It's called Read-a-Latte: similar (or lower) price as a latte at your favorite coffeeshop, but the book lasts forever while the beverage is quickly gone. Thank you (JTC).

TOP | MAIN