Orphans of Apollo - S2 E10
September 2056
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Previously: When Lana’s crew land on the Antarctic plateau, the lander’s parachutes do not release. With strong winds dragging the lander across the ice, Brant goes out to cut the lines and release the lander. In doing so, he is flung from the roof of the lander.
13:28
“Aaahhh.”
The moan was audible to the rest of the crew even through Brant’s still closed helmet as he slumped down on the floor of the rover between the bunks.
The rovers, like the lander and habitat to which they were headed, closely matched the flight hardware destined for the Moon. At first glance, the most obvious and striking difference was the bright orange colour, making recognition on the vast ice plateau easier, just like the EVA suits. The biggest difference in the hardware was tracks being much more suitable to the Antarctic conditions replaced the six wheels of the lunar variant. Earlier pioneers learned those lessons, and they wanted to avoid repeating the failures of the 1930s Antarctic Snow Cruiser.
The size of a small truck, the rovers were designed for three to four people in relative comfort but could accomodate six at a stretch. In many ways, the cab at the front was similar to an aircraft cockpit. Large windows gave good visibility all around. The cab protruded slightly beyond the front wheels, so smaller windows on the floor allowed the driver to see immediately below them. Inside the cab the controls were duplicated so it could be driven from either side. Immediately behind the driving seats were two “jump” seats, which could be swung out when required.
The rovers were intended for multi-day trips, so behind the cab two small narrow bunks were on either side of the aisle. A very rudimentary lab, containing basic equipment for examining surface samples, was located beyond the bunks on the rover’s right-hand side. On the other side was an equally basic kitchen and some cupboards to hold the dehydrated meals. A door at the back of the rover lead into the airlock. Again not required for Antarctica, but it added to the fidelity of the analogue. The exterior door of the airlock opened to a ramp which was lowered to allow easier entry and egress from the rover when carrying equipment in bulky suits.
Under the floor sat the large battery pack which powered the rover’s electric drive motors and all the life support and communication systems. The rovers internal batteries could last around four to five days, depending on the amount of driving that was done. An auxiliary trailer carrying extra batteries and consumables could be towed behind the rover for longer exploration trips.
“Ok, let’s get this off you,” said Joanna calmly as she raised the cracked visor on Brants helmet.
Lana winced as she saw his face clearly for the first time. His left eye was visibly beginning to swell and he had a laceration above it where his head had hit the inside of his visor. Blood covered his mouth and neck. Unable to touch his face, Brant’s nose had continued to bleed until the blood eventually clotted. Joanna gently moved Brant’s head around with the tips of her fingers examining him.
“Looks like you just got a bit of a bump to the head. That blood from your nose makes things look a lot worse than they are,” said Joanna gently.
“My arm is killing me.”
“Can you stand up? Let’s get this suit off and take a look.”
A chime from the instrument panel caught Lana’s attention. She squeezed down the narrow aisle past Brant and Joanna and climbed into the front left seat of the rover. Pieter followed and took the right seat. Lana tapped the flashing icon on the screen to answer the incoming call.
Christian Larsson’s face appeared on the central console’s screen. Along the bottom were the words: “Emergency communication - non delayed”.
“Hello Lana,” said Larsson calmly, but with a concerned look on his face. “We saw mostly what happened from the telemetry and listening to your voice loop. What’s your status now?”
“We’re all inside the rovers. Brant, Joanna and Pieter are with me here in Rover 1. Aiden and Zawadi are in Rover 2. We are just looking over Brant now. At this stage it looks like a superficial knock to the head but not sure about his arm yet. Joanna is still looking at him now.”
“It’s broken, definitely broken,” called Joanna from behind Lana. “Looks like a pretty clean break though, it’s not compound. Hard to tell exactly though, without a medical scanner.”
“Did you get that Christian?” Asked Lana.
“Yes, thanks,” replied to Larsson. Something off screen distracted him. He turned back. “Ok, first things first. As soon as Brant is made comfortable, make your way over to the base. Joanna make sure to keep him under observation. Any indications the head injury is more that you suspect, call us immediately on the emergency link. Is that clear?”
“Understood,” said Joanna over her shoulder.
“Next, can everyone hear me? Do we have Aiden and Zawadi?”
“We can hear you too,” replied Aiden. An image of Aiden and Zawadi in the cab of Rover 2 appeared next to Larsson’s.
“Ok, so it’s been a bit of a rocky start, but the whole point of the analogue is to prepare you as best as we can for going to the Moonbase. We’ve had a quick discussion here and we are happy for you to continue. As long as Brant’s injury is no more serious than a broken arm. You will have to adapt the expedition plan to take into account Brant’s reduced capabilities.” Larsson paused and drew a breath. “More importantly though, I want you all to take this as a learning experience. You need to operate as a team and where necessary follow the instructions of your commander. I don’t want anymore unilateral acts of heroism. Is that understood?”
They acknowledged in turn. Pieter grunted. “Ok, that is all I have to say. Good luck and have fun. Hopefully the next time I am talking to you in real time will be back in California.” Larsson’s image froze and then disappeared from the screen.
“Ok, well, not the start we wanted, but let’s pick ourselves up and carry on,” said Lana. “How long do you think until we will be able to get moving,” she said over her shoulder to Joanna.
“I’m just going to splint this arm and we should be good to go. We can clean him up properly when we get to the base. Give me ten minutes or so.”
“Ok. Aiden, you bring the base systems out of hibernation while we wait. I want to stick together. I don’t want you guys to head off without us.”
“Sure. I can do it all remotely. I’m on it now.”
Lana reached behind the seat and pulled her tablet from the bag she had hastily dumped when they first entered the rover. She began scrolling through the mission plan, figuring out how Brant’s injury was going to curtail what they could do. It seemed so long ago that all the students had been hastily called back to the FASS headquarters. In reality though, it was a little over a year. A year that had sped by so fast it was a blur. There was so much to do that most of the time the students forgot the reason they had all had to abandon their studies and rush back to the Foundation. They forgot there was a threat to their lives, that some people felt so strongly against what they were doing they were prepared to kill to make a point. The one good thing about the accelerated training program was that it provided little time for contemplation outside of their little bubble.
Early on, they had been split into crews for their time in Antarctica. The members of the crew each had their own special roles. Sometimes they would train together and sometimes the various disciplines from each crew would get together for specialist training. Of each six-person crew, three were primarily focused on operations and three on science.
Those focused on operations would drive rovers, maintain equipment, and generally facilitate the other three members of the crew to complete science tasks. Larsson emphasised the roles assigned for the analogue wouldn’t necessarily be the same roles assigned for actual missions. It was just to get them used to working together as a team.
Brant, Joanna and Zawadi were Lana’s “scientists”. The focus of Brant’s work was to collect ice cores from various sites around the base. Inside these ice cores, tiny bubbles of ancient atmosphere had become trapped. Releasing these bubbles allows the study of Earth’s atmospheric composition at various points in history. It was not cutting-edge research. Scientists had been doing this work since the 1950s, but there were still valuable insights to be gained.
Zawadi was to focus on astronomy. Even during the Antarctic summer, with its twenty-four hours of daylight, useful astronomical observations could be made. The low levels of dust and aerosols in the atmosphere also aided these observations. However, the main focus of Zawadi’s stay at the base would be a two-week overland expedition to the Transantarctic Mountains to hunt for meteorites. The original plan was for Brant to accompany Zawadi on this expedition, collecting ice core samples along the way.
Brant can’t go on the expedition now. Lana thought to herself. I could send Joanna, but she’s the one trained to operate the greenhouse. The base had a small greenhouse and the expedition would grow some of their own food. Joanna would study plant growth and evaluate the different methodologies and how they could be applied to a Moon or Mars base. This was actually the most scientifically valuable work they would do and Joanna had real genuine interest in botany. She would not want to go on the expedition instead of Brant.
“I think we’re good to go now,” said Joanna.
Brant’s arm was in a sling, and his face had been cleaned up. He didn’t look happy, but he looked a lot better than he had done just ten minutes earlier. Lana turned and smiled at Brant. The corners of his mouth turned up very slightly and he shook his head gently with a shrug of the shoulders.
Lana gazed out across the vast white desert. Miles and miles of white nothingness:“Magnificent desolation.” Buzz Aldrin’s description of the Moon just after setting foot on its surface. It had been a hell of a first half an hour, suddenly she felt exhausted.
“Want me to drive boss?” asked Pieter.
“Yep, sure,” replied Lana, without shifting her gaze.
If you know someone you think would enjoy “Orphans of Apollo” or any of the other writing in “Explorations” please share this publication with them.
I hope you enjoyed the latest episode of Orphans of Apollo. Apologies for it being a little late this week.
It’s been out a few months now, but this week listened to episode 364 of “Houston We Have a Podcast”. A great podcast aptly named given this episode was an interview with astronaut Fred Haise, the lunar module pilot on Apollo 13. It’s always fascinating listening to this generation of pioneers talk about their experiences. There are so few of them left now. I wonder if we will manage to return to the moon while the experience is still in living memory. I think it’s going to be touch and go.
Thanks for reading,
Alex