Cold Zero II

Automatons kept working at the highest output in areas damaged by the contact with the atmosphere the most. These repair bots were extremely advanced and specialized, but their usage was highly limited by numerous procedures on Future.

In standard protocols, when operating on cruise ships or transporters, these machines were the main force in work related to all kind of repairs. Each, even the smallest fault was falling into their scope, while people were limited to supervising and controlling the bots. But in case of Future, situation was much more complex - despite having a vast number of fully operational automatons, and production lines to assembly new bots, the ship being a prototype and including the advanced systems limited these robots' usability.

Talking about automatons, one had to remember these machines were relying on algorithms, and that meant their work was based on the most common problems, usage of construction plans, and ships documentation concerning detection and removal of failures. Future, being one of a kind, had no such thing as failures history from the other ships of that type, and its complexity was at much higher level than in case of standard space ships. Due to aforementioned, the time required for programming mechanic robots exceeded the original preparation plan's limit, therefore they have left without pre-prepared automatonts dedicated to Future.

Only now, after the longer stay in space, they managed to put into service the automatons dedicated to fixing specific elements of the ship. They have already lost a lot of time, that is why project chief, talked into it by John, made a decision about residual programming and adjusting of the automatons specifically to current repairs.

Marlow was really impressed by these robot mechanics. Although he already had numerous occasions to see this type of solutions in action, automatons prepared for Future were much more advanced technology than machines from his memories. He regretted that expedition was sent in such a rush, not leaving much time to prepare them properly.

- If we had these earlier - he said, looking at the machines working alongside Martin, whom he took along for hel - we could've even avoided some deaths.

Johnson was in the middle of tinkering with one of the automatons, which had trouble moving.

- These what ifs all the time - he sighed - John, please stop bitching about what could have happened if this or that was done. Last time I checked, there was no such a thing as time travels possible, so we'll be better of if we focus on here and now. You were the one who said we have work to do.

Marlow raised his eyebrows, surprised.

- I'd expect such reply from anyone, but not from you - he replied mockingly.

- What's that? Are you saying I'm fooling around?

- I'm not sure if that's the proper way to say that. I recall you said that what matters is for salary to be on time and in proper amount, and that I keep worrying too much...

- Because you do worry too much. Listen, John, we are not protagonists of some movie or an antique like novel. You and I are just normal people, who are at work, and the fact our work requires us to fly to another planet is a completely different matter.

Both of them laughed out lodu.

- Though it doesn't change the fact that you treat these repairs really seriously - Marlow pointed out, helping his colleague set the robot to a proper position.

- The sooner we get there the closer we are to contract's end, right?

Earth was devastated and littered, and - what was worst - overpopulated, but it would not stop being their home to which many wanted to return.

John had his position, apartment and savings - everything he worked for to avoid poverty and humiliation he faced back in childhood, but some had something much more important, their families that is, waiting for them. No wonder rumors about expedition being extended made them anxious.

***

Works were gradually speeding up. At this pace, there was a chance to complete the repairs and restore the full operability of the modules about three weeks prior the original estimate. However, a serious hindrance came to surface at the key moment.

- How can this be? What does it mean we don't have enough resources? - Mathias Kaller could not believe the message he just received - According to calculations I have in the report, we should have more than enough, so why would something like that happen?

The person, who was reporting was administration chief, Antoine Dejuan.

- Our stock really looks quite well, but what we are missing are key metals required for production of elements of damaged drives. Initial calculations included only targets directly related to damage dealt to modules, excluding materials required for maintenance of repair equipment. We had to adjust MTS for the work in vacuum, and that...

Professor waved his hand, what could not be seen by his interlocutors.

- Ok, I got what's this about - he seemed a bit vexed - What options do we have to obtain missing materials?

- We can dismount some equipment from the ship's hangar - suggested Antoine - I know this is not an optimal solution, but if it is not possible, we will be left with seeking and mining on this planet or one of its moons.

Kaller was thinking for a moment before he decided to continue the conversation.

- How many units and what kind of equipment would we have to sacrifice?

Dejuan had a terminal with the data opened all the time.

- Materials we will be needing are present in vehicles in general, with the biggest amount present in the ones capable of surviving in vacuum. Landers, emergency pods and MTS Ursus are the vehicles from which we can obtain these resources in largest quantities.

Mathias Kaller was about to reply, but Ryan McRae managed to jump in first.

- Professor, we both know this shouldn't be done, professor. All these vehicles are necessary to perform the landing procedure according to plan. Landers and emergency pods are the same thing. I get administration needs to have everything properly labeled in the record, but when it comes to descent from the space ship of Future's size, emergency pods are used in the landing process, and the same is true in the emergency landing where both pods are landers are used. It's just a false division. When it comes to landing, what separates them are procedures. We cannot sacrifice these, because we won't be able to lose the ability to transport enough people and resources to the surface.

- After preparing a station on the surface, we can proceed with building necessary vehicles - suggested administration chief - Of course, it won't be possible immediately, but...

- I don't agree, it's way too risky - colonel did not want to hear that - We cannot put the crew at risk. Vehicles we are talking about are not a simple equipment. While we have technology and assembly lines on board, building replacements will take time. But what's most important, if we end up with emergency landing, we won't be able to fit everyone unless we let go of some cargo.

- So you believe it's better to get stuck on the orbit of some uninhabitable planet, while we are already in the target system, several planets away from our goal? - Kaller smiled crookedly - What other choice do we have? Sometimes you need to make a sacrifice.

This time, it was McRae who got silent for a moment.

- I have a different suggestion - he said after a while - Let me send a group to get the required resources.

His words caused quite a stir among the other two.

Sending people to the closest planet's surface and mining the required resources would allow them to keep the vehicles they talked about just now, that was a fact. However, details they had about other planets in this system were scarce - aside from them being uninhabitable, there were only rough estimates about available resources.

Currently, they were on the orbit of the planet labeled as Zero in this system, but commonly referred to as Cold Zero, because of being the one located the farthest from the suns and having the most severe conditions on the surface. Supposedly, there was no ice on the surface, but everything was frozen and extremely hard for mining.

- It's true we should be able to find the necessary metals on this planet, but the time is the problem - stated Antoine, going through his notes - Taking the current amount of available stations in the hangar, we are capable of disassembling up to five units a day, meaning we should gather enough materials within a month.

- Give me at least half of that time - colonel stayed adamant - If my team doesn't manage to gather the resources, we will proceed with disassembling.

There was a bit of discussion afterwards, but in the end, project chief agreed to military chief's suggestion. McRae secured two weeks for organizing and completing mining mission on Cold Zero.

***

Crew colonel selected for mining on Cold Zero was highly improvised. Originally, he wanted to gather the most educated and experienced geologists and qualified operators. However, McRae had to quickly verify his plan and made a number of adjustments. After all, time was of essence, and available staff was limited.

Many of those who were at the top of Ryan McRae's list had too important assignments or their positions in expedition ranking were too high for them to be considered candidates for participation in unexpected and potentially dangerous missions. Colonel himself had a little hope that in ccurrent circumstances Mathias Kaller will give him a helping hand, but project chief did not want risk health and lives of science team.

Aforementioned factors forced McRae into completing the team in haste, often having to select staff from the farther parts of the list. As a result, from the target group of about one hundred people, he managed to secure slightly above the half of that amount, and ended up with sixty people. For the remaining spots, robots and automated machines were supposed to fill in.

Taking into account the specificity of this mission, lower number of participants qualified to make fast and logical decisions was a valid problem. In critical situations, machines relying on scripts were not the best choice due to a limited number of programmed behaviors.

Colonel was well aware about the risk he was taking by sending such an unbalanced team. Still, he considered this mission to be needed - after all, lowering the amount of vehicles they currently had at their disposal could cause potential problems in achieving their goals.

Due to Ryan's anxiety about losing the equipment, they were sending only five transporters in total, meaning one more than required to load the required amount of resources. Minimum backup in case of problems.

They were not officially anouncing the landing on Cold Zero, but it did not mean colonel McRae tried to hide it any way. Selected participants were contacted directly by Ryan's officers, following their acceptance of additional contract - colonel, who believed in selfless work for humanity's well-being initially treated this opportunity as a privilege, but had to quickly come up with something to motivate the candidates, and - no matter how much against his ideals it was - money was the best tool.

Among the chosen crew, Africans were the most numerous group, followed by Asians, Europeans, Americans and Australians. The main supervisor of the team was a geologist, Murat Ozturk, one of the best in his field, even though placed tenth on colonel's list. However, if only knowledge was taken into account, Ozturk would have been in the top three among the whole Future's staff, but his aversion towards military and political views were something that made McRae move him down.

Murat was a man who lost several family members during the fights over religious beliefs several dozens year ago. His family was never among the biggest believers, but got in the middle of conflict between fanatical groups. Back then, Earth Army was supposed to act as a peacemaker. Sadly, due to a series of unfortunate decisions made by commanders, its presence worsened the situation, resulting in escalation of the conflict, and causing much bigger bloodshed.

What this geologist went through was something that could not be forgotten, no matter how hard one tried. After all this fighting ceased back then, many of those who lost their close ones started activities against the World Counsel as it was responsible for Earth Army's actions. Many of those people were also labeled as terrorists, even though some of them only wanted a peaceful dialogue.

Taking into account Murat Ozturk's personal profile and background, Ryan remembered he even had concerns about about allowing that man to participate in the project, back when they were making final staff decisions. Colonel's protests at that time changed nothing, because of professor Kaller's support for this candidate, therefore this geology doctor joined the science team. Now that McRae thought about it, it was actually a real twist of fate that this very many, whom he did not want involved in the expedition, was now saving his plan.

If someone looked at this situation from the sidelines, they would likely asked why would he still chose that man with all of these old concerns? And even if there was no choice, why would he give him the opportunity to take command? The reason why was related to opinion coming from colonel's advisers, who prepared information about each candidate and stated that Murat had required skills for the job, which could not be denied by obvious prejudice Ryan had towards him. Aside from that, Ozturk spent major part of his life in Africa, working in a number of countries and for various corporations, employing the best specialists, of whom many became a part of Future's crew. Those people respected him, and respect was crucial in such missions.

According to colonel McRae, affiliation played an important role. He believed that sorting people by affiliations as it was done in case of military, administration, science and colonist sections helps keep things in check. Among scientists, respect towards knowledge and achievements of specific person was like a military rank. If colonel were to label Murat based on military ranks, he would like be a lieutenant.

- It was probably supposed to be that way - he muttered, marking the document with an electronic seal and a signature - I hope I won't regret it.

He sent the message with the attached document to both Mathias and Antoine, for additional confirmation, hoping there will not be any complications.

In the end, there were no issues and a group of about sixty people, supported specialized equipment, including artificial intelligence, departed to Cold Zero's surface.

Sole breaking through the atmosphere of the planet was a bit problematic and demanding. Forces affecting the ships during orbital landing were always gigantic, however, in this case it was not about friction and ships' components heating up, but the fact that after passing through the highest part of the atmosphere, hot transporting ships will end up in a zone of temperature below one hundred fifty Celsius degrees. When one thought about it, calling the planet Cold Zero was pretty accurate.

- Readings, for now at least, are staying in the norm - one of the engineers on Future's main bridge was monitoring status and providing information updates - There are frequent changes in the values, but not going outside the scale. So far, everything is going according to plan.

- We can't celebrate until they get much lower - commented Stankovich, who was supervising this descent - Stick to the standard procedures, but be ready for anything.

Future's interface allowed using AI for remote control of the ships, including transporters. System made it possible for the crew on the bridge to automate the descending procedure, without involving the pilots. Of course, pilots were present on board of each transporter ship, but their role at this point was limited to observing instruments in the cockpit, and reacting should there be situations not covered by AI protocols or AI errors. In other words, humans were mainly focused on supervising the algorithms.

Each transporter has its own pilot, who also acted as a group captain, and those people were Murat, Raj, Sahel, Abdul and Hu. None of them was a soldier, but each was trained for piloting these transporting units.

Descent is usually short and requires fast-paced decision-making. Interface worked perfectly with entering the atmosphere, but problems started - which was not a surprise - the very moment ships came upon the cold temperature.

Many would say that temperature in space is much lower, and they would be right. However, the problem here was not the temperature itself, but a fact of quickly going through cold-hot-cold cycle and weather conditions on the planet. In such circumstances, metal parts of the ships may get distorted, some elements of the coating may crack or simply fall off, and - what was the most dangerous - the overall structure of the ship had lowered durability.

Unfortunately, not all ships managed to descent without problems. Soon, engineer on Future's bridge started reporting fresh error codes appearing on the display.

- Power cell in magnetic drive of one of the ships got damaged. Another ship lost a part of thermal coating, which is causing lowered drive power.

- Murat, Hu, switch to manual control - lieutenant Stankovich ordered the two men - Murat, increase the output of remaining cells by twenty five percent to temporarily make up for the lost cell. Hu, gradually lower the power output and enter a gliding flight.

Both pilots confirmed. McRae was observing the whole situation, gritting his teeth until all ships landed. In the end, everyone made it to the surface, but the two damaged transporters landed outside of the operation zone, where they would have trouble reaching with ships' current state.

- How does it look? - colonel quickly asked lieutenant Adrian Stankovich.

- We've got problems with cells in both ships. We have no means of producing them on the surface, and getting out a damaged cell may prove problematic for someone who is not a mechanic without getting irradiated. Without these two ships, we won't get the target amount of resources.

- Any suggestions?

- The best bet would be to send a group of mechanics in a smaller, maintenance vessel. They should have no problem descending and returning to the Future. Though, I'm not sure if we can get someone on such a short notice.

- Leave it to me.