Cold Zero IV

Raj walked away from the rest of the group by several hundred meters, being almost at the highest peak in the area. Power supply of their ship was close to depletion due to several cells being damaged and recharging system's failure, therefore they were saving up as they could to be able to send a light signal, showing their position. Unfortunately, when they were about to activate the signal, it turned out something froze and lights would not turn on. Due to a such a small failure, they have missed their chance for alerting a ship passing by. They were not sure what kind of unit it was, but the whole crew saw a shining object. Whatever it was, surviving was not possible without help.

After holding a short meeting, they decided it is best to act. There was no guarantee this ship from before will come by again, but regardless of that, they had to be visible should rescue team arrive. Drawing straws was used to find the person to go and Raj was the one who pulled the shortest one. His job was to prepare a signal to have potential help find their position.

They did not have energy to spare for that because the ship's cells were already low on power, and there did not have combustives, besides even if they did the extremely low temperature would kill any fire in a short moment. However, there was something else that could be used, and that was radioactive material used as a fuel for numerous mining tools they had with them. This material, even frozen, was sure to reflect light, so just spilling it on the ice on the peak should be enough to catch an eye of any crew flying through the area, given their lights would be cast in that direction. Still, even if they do not, ship's sensor should catch the radiation.

Climbing was exhausting, even with F-suit, which structure supported person's strength owing to its built imitating muscles' fibres. In practice, Field Suits were built similarly to outer layers of human bodies, so wearing one was like having thicker muscle mass. Moreover, thanks to sensors capable of catching electrical impulses sent by human muscles, F-suit was activating appropriate fibres, allowing enhancement up to three times the person's original strength.

Raj was really thankful in his thoughts for being provided with such an equipment, otherwise he doubted he would have been able to reach so far.

On the peak, he put containers on the ground and started pouring radioactive fluid on the snow. He had to act fast, because this substance - though having high tolerance to low temperatures - was likely to freeze within several minutes of being exposed to the planet's air. In the end, he poured contents of four containers in total, which were enough to power any of their mining machines for four hours, and then sat down.

After spending about three hours climbing, he was extremely tired. Going down in that state did not seem like a good idea. He preferred to avoid taking risk, so moving from the current spot was not an option, and decision to stay there for an hour seemed like a good option. This amount of time should be enough to regenerate the organism and allow the F-suit to re-charge.

Raj tilted his head back and looked into the sky. There were no stars to see. This world only knew shades of white and blue, everything in the shadow of thick, impermeable clouds, through which only low percentage of sunlight produced by two stars could get through.

As he was looking into the sky, resting, something hit his Field Suit, causing it to display the warning. Raj simply jumped on his legs, and started looking around to notice a big clod of ice, barely fitting in the palm of his hand. It was hail, really bad news.

Balls of hail on Zero could reach size and weight big enough to destroy probes humanity was sending here. Even wearing F-suit, Raj could not be sure he was safe in such conditions. This situation marked the end of his rest as he had to find shelter as soon as possible.

***

- Holy shit! - Martin was swearing, while sitting on passengers seat and seeing what is happening outside - We've barely taken off and already have problems. From fucking frying pan into the friggin fire!

Hail of bowling balls' size was hitting into the ships coating, causing the alarm to continuously echo inside the cockpit. John was doing what he could to avoid these dangerous ice bullets, but it was getting worse with every minute. Even the force fiels of the ship was not enough, weakened by magnetic fluctuations.

- I'd say we're in the dark ass - he said to his colleague - Start looking for a spot where we can hide. Anything solid I could fly the ship under.

It was easier said than done. The ship they were flying in - as a repair station - was supposed to do well as a mobile workshop. During design phase, engineers were looking to fit in as much equipment as possible, so its shape was not really adjusted to easily land just anywhere. In normal circumstances, finding a suitable spot of even ground was a challenge, so it went without saying that finding such a place with a cover was expected to be much harder.

- I don't see anything like that - Sveta was doing scan after a scan nervously - There's some room next to these pyramid-like sturctures, but no cover.

- And how about we make some? - Pavel suggested - This ship has some small turrets and a laser cutter mounted, so we could make a hole in some slope and fly into it.

This kind of solution was logical, though turrets the ship was equipped with were a part of its defense system, and its main function included shooting objects dangerous to ships coating. However, while making an adequately large hole with these was not a problem, keeping the correct stability could not be called easy. Laser cutter, on the other hand, was really precise, but making a big enough cover with it would take way too long.

Having all of that in mind, and seeing how hail was getting thicker, everyone agreed to use the turrets, and selected several potential spots that could be used for making the cover. Nevertheless, these turrets worked automatically and independently, without pilot's input, relying on artificial intelligence based on special list of potential threats, allowing for target selection. However, there was still a possibility of switching them to manual operation mode, which was the only way in these circumstances. After all, no mountain, peak or anything not included on threats list could not be a subject to attack by the artificial intelligence. And, even though John was capable of modifying such system, they had no time for making modifications to the system.

Since they had to operate the turrets manually, someone had to take command of the corresponding terminal as pilot was not allowed to control this very terminal while flying the ship. Martin was selected, mainly because of being John's backup and knew a bit about this kind of equipment despite, from mechanic's perspective, though he never shoot one himself.

- Shouldn't someone go with him, just in case something doesn't work? - Glitter suggested.

Others nodded in agreement, and Ivan followed the colleague.

The task was not easy, as expected, and though subsequent shots were hitting the target, holes kept collapsing. If that was not a huge enough problem already, one of the turrets seemed to stop reacting to input, immediately catching Marlow's eye.

- Martin, what's happening there? Did you stop shooting?

- It got locked, nothing happens after trigger is hit - Johnson explained - I'm checking the reason as we speak.

- I get you can access the operation logs. Check on terminal.

It was a big problem - hail was intensifying and getting more dangerous to their ship with every minute. Martin was completely quiet for about a minute, and then he said:

- It's a reaction to one of allied ships being in the area. We found our missing ship, John.

Svetlana immediately started optical tracking and sent the location to Marlow's terminal.

Major turned the ship and turned on search lights, which caughts signs written on the ground. Flying there with all the hail around was risky, but they could not leave the crew now that they had a trace, therefore John took the ship just above the message on the snow, having it hover there. Message was hard to read because of the hail covering letters to large extent, but - fortunately - someone who wrote it, likely stepped into the substance, because there footprints could be seen, leading down the slope, towards a small valley.

- What now? - Pavel asked - Waiting in such a weather in the open is dangerous. This alarm may kill our eardrums. Whoever wrote this message had to go somewhere to hide. It's unlikely we'll be able to track them easily with optics.

He was absolutely right. John kept looking at ship's status all the time and was well aware conditions are way too bad even for a specialized unit they were using, so it had to be much worse for humans.

Optics could not catch anything, as Pavel said, so Marlow also turned on thermal imaging, though these had a short reach. They have waited for about five minutes for any signal, flying alongside the slope, hiding from the hail below protruding rock ledges, before the system caught something.

About one hundred meters below, next to a pile of black, stone blocks there was an isthmus at the base of the mountain, which looked big enough to fly their ship in. The signal originated from there.

John moved the ship and flought it under the rocky cover, making it finally safe from getting bombarded by the hail. Once the ship touched the ground, he noticed the heat signature was approaching. Several minutes later, the man was on board.

The guy's name was Raj, geologist from the crew of the lander they were looking for. According to his explanation, the transporter was about two kilometers from their current location, and the reason why it could not be targeted was high magnetism in the area.

- The rocks in this area have amazing properties - he kept explaining - They have a high magnetic capabilities, affecting waves in the area. Back when I've been climbing to the peak, I made several scans and each on of them showed irregularities. Magnetism on this planet is fascinating.

- If you say so - Martin was obviously not interested - We are here for a different reason though. We are supposed to fix your ship, so you can mine resources Future needs. I don't know how about you, but I'd like get back there soon. Maybe it's a tin can, but is not being bombarded by ice bomb of bowling ball's size.

Marlow smiled to himself. Others did not seem to care about anything else than completing the mission. It was obvious that mechanics in the crew did not like the planet's atmosphere and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

- If you have any interesting data, I'd gladly have a look - despite smiling at Martin's reaction, John could not forget about the mysterious pillar from before and readings Raj mentioned could be useful - Maybe it's not only about the rocks?

Raj looked at him with a glim in the eye.

- What did you see?

They have told him about the pillar reaching the clouds.

- Who knows, it may be related - the man was nodding, while doing some actions with his PEC - Here is the activity map I've made.

- John, remember we are low on time - Johnson was getting impatient.

- I'm aware, give me a moment.

Major received a map of magnetic activity in the nearby area. The way waves were behaving looked really unusual, at least looking at short-term recording - it looked as if there was a noise mixed in, something causing an anomaly.

- John!

- Okay, we need a plan of action.

Marlow was a scientist after all, so he could not skip this kind of opportunity, but their current mission had priority so he quickly moved on to the crucial matter.

He started with asking Raj about the exact location of his crew's ship, and especially about the area around, so they could secure both ships from the hail. Geologist had quite a precise map of the ship's surroundings, and the route he passed - unfortunately, it did not look good.

- Wait, it means the transporter is being continuously bombarded - Glitter said the obvious - No way the ship didn't get damaged more.

- If we at least knew when this weather passes - John bit his lip - Moment, we could try use the "small guy". It's armored and small at the same time. It should manage in these conditions.

- If it doesn't freeze - Martin pointed out - I mean, there's no reason to worry about the core, but legs and arms are another story.

Marlow has now realized an error in his thinking. "Small guy" was MTS prepared specifically for making repairs in the field, precisely on the planets. It looked a bit like a Savage, but half its size, much lighter and without weapons, in place of which it had arms with multi-tools used for repairing heavy equipment.

- Sure, if it wasn't for the conditions, we would've used it for making repairs on the previous ship - he confirmed - Unless... - a thought came to his mind all of a sudden.

John stood up and went to the storage compartment, where he found containers filled with combustible gases.

- John, are you for real? - Sveta was looking at the containers her colleague was holding with her eyes wide open - Do you want to blow yourself up?

- From physical perspective, it should work - Johnson confirmed - but common sense says no one sane would do that.

Ivan passed him by, and helped with the containers.

- C'mon - he said, patting John's shoulder - Let's go.

Then he went to the mecha and started working on it.

- Are you for real? - Martin could not believe what he was seeing.

Ivan looked at him over the shoulder.

- I've done crazier things back at home. Here we have modern equipment at least, not the one from hundred of years ago. I can go there myself, I know how to deal with that.

Johnson cursed aloud.

- Ok, I'll help you, but remember I've warned you.

Preparing the mecha took them several hours. They had to add a system for pumping the heated gas through mobile parts, required for movement. Once "small guy" was ready, Ivan entered the cockpit, ready to go.

- How's the comms? - John asked, using the ship's main interface - Can you hear me?

- Right now, it's loud and clear - mechanic said - But once I move farther away, it won't be so good anymore.

- Remember we only need to move them from there. Just make sure we can move the ship to a safe spot. That's our main mission for now.

- Copy that. On my way.

- Have a safe trip - Sveta called as she closed the airlock.

- Ok, now we wait, I guess - John sighed - Ivan, be sure to let us know should anything happen. We'll be tracking you on the map.

They got a crackling "okay" as a reply. Unfortunately, they had no equipment that could make comms work properly with all these electromagnetic interference. All they hoped for now was for nothing bad to happen.

***

Ivan's signal barely managed to reach them. Fourth hour has been passing since the moment he set off. Weather conditions stayed hard, even though hail's intensity seemed to slightly drop.

- Maybe we should move out after all? - Glitter suggested - Since weather is slightly better now...

- Major... Can... you hear... me? - Ivan's voice reached them finally. Signal was still unstable, but they could understand him now.

- Hey, Ivan, how does it look? - John asked.

- We're taking off and going your way.

Several minutes later, lights appeared at the end of the tunnel, and transporter of the mining team landed near the repair ship. It looked worse than any of the mechanics expected with a damage to coating being visible from afar. Seeing the ship, Martin pulled a face and looked at John, who did not need words to understand what his colleague thought. It was really bad - not something they could easily and quickly fix.

- Raj!

Man's crew walked out of the ship. Abel, Jerome and Mahmut were relieved their captain was all fine. All their F-suits were in one piece, but they have obviously used a lot of energy, and the stay in bad conditions definitely affected the,

Marlow suggested for them to rest, and took his group towards the mining transporter to assess its state.

- I can feel your mood isn't good - Glitter pointed out, looking at John and Martin, who both kept walking around the ship.

- You can see how it looks - Johnson replied - We took a lot of stuff with us, but even with that I'm still not sure we can manage. I'd like to say we can make it, but...

Sveta smiled, and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

- Easy, I've worked with much worse cases, often missing parts. You can leave the coating in my hands.

By now, everyone knew Svetlana was an elite when it came to heavy repairs, but how calm she was in this situation was amazing.

Glitter might have been in her twenties, and still could beat most of the guys on Future's board with her technical expertise. This delicate-looking girl started working as a mechanic early in her life, initially in a small, family workshop, specialized in repairs of heavy mining equipment, so what they were dealing with was up her field.

From what she said, their parents wanted her job to be "cleaner" and "renowned" as she was often called too pretty to be in this line of work. However, due to financial problems caused by her father's sickness, she took over the workshop, and - in a short time - was recognized to the point of being offered much better jobs, finally getting one to join Future's crew. Sveta would likely decline if it was not for higher-ups assuring the financial and medical support to her whole family. Taking the economical situation around the world, she decided to accept.

Looking at Sveta's work, John had to admit that - despite all the rush - recruiting was on a high level. He himself was recognized as a great engineer and researcher, but his current job was temporary and not directly related to his duties planned for the stay on the New Gaia. However, in case of Glitter, she was doing work she was best at. Marlow was relieved someone like her joined and was with them right now.

With the general state this mining unit was, standard approach would unlikely be enough. Fortunately, Sveta, Ivan and Pavel were all really good at improvising. This kind of thinking may be considered a stereotype, but John recalled this kind of resourcefulness was typical for people from this region. Nowadays, if something broke, it would be simply thrown off, but those three people came from culture, where you would only get rid of something if it can no longer be repaired.

Sadly, despite all unconventional approaches they applied, repairs required two days at least, which was a huge blow for the mining crew which could not waste time. Taking that into account, they have made a decision to start mining in the nearby area.

- In normal circumstances, I wouldn't take the machines out here - Raj admitted - but it's a bare minimum we can do now.

As a result, John's crew continued with repairs, while the transporter's crew proceeded to mine resources.

Mining equipment change a lot over last three hundred years. In the past, people relied on physical and mechanical work including digging and blowing up, but now it was all about lasers and waves, especially sound waves, which were applied not only to mining itself, but to moving the resources too.

Without a functional ship, mining crew would have been unable to proceed with works, but owing to the repair ship's power source they could use majority of the equipment needed.

At first, John was reluctant about sharing the energy, worried potential drop in output during flight back to Future could end up bad, but seeing how bad the idleness worked on miners, he did some calculations, and allowed them to connect a number of tools requiring the lowest amount of energy.

Raj and his colleagues were up to date with novelties used in mining, therefore they knew which devices have the best efficiency with low energy usage. The main tool they decided on first was so-called sound saw.

While commonly called a saw, it did not have much in common with tools with such a name - it had no edge, and looked a bit like a mortar tube, though placed in horizontal plane. Inside, there were special membranes used for causing the air to vibrate - properly directed, the sound could hit specific objects. The sounds emitted by the tube were inaudible for humans, but the sound of the wave reacting with targetted objects was capable of causing a huge bang.

The sound saw had to placed on a special arm, allowing the operator to move it in order to move the waves and cut required fragments. This equipment was fast and precise, in proficient hands of course, because the high output could easily cause a lot of damage. John only heard about this method, but never had a chance to observe it with his own eyes, therefore the pace at which the first fragment was cut was impressive - twenty five square meters piece of rock was torn from the slope within five minutes.

Subsequent steps were transport and processed. First of all, the crew used a sound transporter to move the material to extractor, which - due to its size - had to be placed close to power source. Extractor was actually a multi-purpose tool, capable of breaking the fragments of the rock into specific minerals. Initially, it would cut bigger chunks into much smaller portions of material with the use of lasers, then move them to splitter, which function was to turn rocks into granules, and only then sort them by substance, before putting everything into the cargo compartment.

Despite the pace, Raj did not seem satisfied. While talking to mechanics, he informed them about percentage of resources they required in one such a rock block - with the richest deposits, they have managed to find in the area, the best they could reach was twenty percent of the block's total volume.

It did not sound too well, taking into account how much of each substance miners had to obtain within the remaining amount of time. After all, they were already close to the end of the first week spent on Zero, and the crew only just started working, and the cargo space was not even filled with ten percent of its capacity. Marlow quickly counted that, if other ships were working at the same pace, they would barely reach the target by the deadline, given mining is done continuously, without breaks.

- John, remember it's not our crew's problem - Martin said, after hearing about the calculations from his colleague - You said it yourself: we repair this junk and return to Future. That's all. Mining is not our job.

- I've never said it is - John pointed out - I'm a tech guy, but I've never been a miner.

- You know well what I meant. Maybe we haven't knew each other for that long, but the time we spent together was enough for me to know what kind of person you are. I heard you couple of times already, saying something's not your problem, and then still sticking your nose in. I'm not saying it's wrong thing to do, because there's not many such people around nowadays, but such people often get their asses kicked. I tell you, John, let's fix this fucker and get the hell out of here.

Marlow understood Johnson's anxiety. Martin had a tendency to be eccentric and cursed quite a bit, but always acted rationally and had a good sense for noticing trouble, knowing when to back off. Nevertheless, even without his colleague's input, John was well aware of dangers staying on unfamiliar planet could bring. They should not be unnecessary tempting fate. Major had no doubt the rest of his crew had similar thoughts.

In accordance with previous arrangements, taking into account they were about to complete all required repairs, Marlow made a decision to return to Future once they are done. However, as they finished work, a really big problem surfaced - according to procedures, as a crew's chief, John should first report to colonel McRae to get authorized for return. Unfortunately, due to current weather conditions, they could not establish communication with the main ship. Until the moment of entering the planet's atmosphere, they were hearing mainly screeching and cracking sounds on every attempt to contact Future's bridge.

- Can't we just skip the procedure? - Sveta suggested.

Others added, agreeing with that opinion.

- Of course it's and option - major answered - Procedure takes such situations into account, but we need to document connection attempts before we decide on skipping authorization of the return. In short: we need logs from continuous attempts to connect for one hour.

- We spent so many hours here already, so one more shouldn't change much - Pavel said with a smile.

It is often said to not celebrate the win until the very end. While close to the finish line, with a lead against the second place, one should not slow down and remain vigilant. However, it seemed like Pavel made this comment at the very bad moment.

As they were sitting inside the ship, making subsequent attempts to contact Future, they felt a strong quake, which caused their transporter to move a few meters. It was less than a minute before the situation repeated, while the second one seemed stronger.

- It doesn't look good - Martin was looking at the display showing the scan of the surrounding are - It's getting unstable. Magnetic interference is getting stronger.

- Any suggestions?

- Only one. Let's get the hell out of here.

John started the take off procedure. On one of the displays, he could notice Raj's crew rushing to secure the mining equipment.

Once he finally took the ship off the ground, major could see what was happening on the planet's surface. Ruptures in the ice started to appear, accompanied by exhalations from underneath. From afar, he was unable to determine any details, but he had a bat feeling about this whole situation.

The ship was gradually raising the altitude, towards the upper parts of the atmosphere. They were close to getting into the cloud level when the ship started to shake and board devices went crazy.

- Hey, hey, hey! - Martin was nervously moving his finders on interfaces - This fucking pillar from before... There's a lot of magnetic waves around it! We won't be able to leave the atmosphere in such conditions!

Marlow tried not to panic. There were many different crisis situations he had to go through in simulations during piloting course, and - though not precisely one like this - problem concerning supporting devices malfunction was included.

Equipment supporting the pilot in case of their ship was cutting edge tech, highly reliant on electronics for which such interference could be deadly. Fortunately, the sound drive John preferred was resistant to external factors owing to its mechanical construction and simple interface. On the other hand, he was worried it will not produce enough power to get them through the clouds. However, he came up with a plan, though it was a bit tricky since it required relying on drives which were created for operating in space.

- Martin, we are switching to neutron drive - he instructed his colleague - We'll use it for speed boost and switch back to the sound one.

- It's not comforting at all, you know?

Johnson pulled a face, but reached to the panel of sound drive's mechanical panel, moving several levers.

The ship dropped for a split moment, during the drive switch, and then sped up abruptly above the cloud level, causing a temporary overload.

- I've nearly puked! - Ivan clenched his hands on the chair, his face turned pale as snow - I hope you don't plan the second round...

- You think it was for fun? - John looked at him with a serious face, focused on getting them out of the magnetic interference - We are nearly out. Martin, check the readings.

Johnson quickly analyzed strings of data appearing on the interface and let a sigh of relief:

- Looks like the ship is fine. We are safe.

- Ok, back to sound drive for now.

A small drop in altitude for a moment again, but not so abrupt as before. A moment later, the ship left the atmosphere.

- Ok, now, the ionic drive. It's time to get back.

They felt a bit of shaking for a second, and sped up.

- Phew, it's finally calm again - they heard Sveta saying that with huge relief - Though I saw much smoother take-offs.

- Don't complain, some people had to stay there - Pavel pointed out - I hope they are all fine.

- With all the inference we cannot check on them - Martin informed others - We did our job, that's all that matter - he added, ending the conversation.

***

Moments after docking safely, John was called in by colonel McRae for a meeting. Military chief invited only him, and nobody else.

- Are you sure it shouldn't be all of us going? - Sveta looked visibly concerned - I hope it's not about skipping the procedure?

Marlow shrugged.

- I don't have a reason to think that, at least for now - he replied - Whatever it is, I'll let you know later on. Go have some rest, you earned it.

They did not drag out saying goodbye. Major headed straight to colonel's, while all his companions went to their respective quarters.

John never liked the official meetings, therefore did not feel comfortable by having to go to administration section, where colonel's office was located. Recently, there were way too many such occasions - either Kaller or McRae, some of them seemed to always want something. And why face-to-face when you could take care of such things with PECs.

He placed palm of his hand on the panel next to military chief's office, and a short analysis followed - afterwards, the system confirmed Marlow had an appointment. It was due to security measures - every official meeting in administration section had to be properly registered.

- Good day. You wanted to see me, colonel, sir.

- You don't have to be so official, John. Come closer, and have a sit, please.

The room was smaller than the office located by Kaller's quarters, possibly because of being used only for administrative business, but still spacious enough to feel at ease. In order to sit in the chair in front of colonel's chair, major had to walk several meters. It was not like Marlow was complaining, but every time he entered one of such spots on the Future where high-ranked personnel worked, it felt like a waste of already limited space. Nevertheless, John sat were McRae pointed at.

- The very moment you entered the atmosphere, comms broke - colonel started talking - We also did not get any report about your return. And there was no contact for several days while you were staying on the surface. I understand it was due to interference, and you were unable to get through?

- Exactly that. Magnetism on the planet makes it impossible to communicate from Zero's surface.

Ryan nodded.

- Ok, good. However, I called you here not to focus on that part since we will review the logs in accordance to procedures. What I need right now is direct report, details included. Speak, please.

John proceeded as he was instructed. Summing up everything took him about one hour, describing the course of the mission from the moment of enterin the atmosphere until getting back to Future.

While talking, he could see new wrinkles appearing on colonel's forehead. Even after he finished, McRae did not speak immediately.

- I might've made a wrong call - Ryan turned off the registering device and finally broke through the silence - To begin with, we didn't know much about Zero. Most of the probes got destroyed in the clouds, and these which made it through sent photos that showed nothing. Being cut from solar energy on one hand, and magnetism on the other. If that was not enough, another bunch of possibly alien structures, given these are not natural... This system is a great mystery indeed. I'm wondering if we are really ready for this. The big pillar in the center of the globe... These are the technologies and forces we have no idea about...

Marlow was unsure if he should say anything. It sounded as if colonel was speaking his thoughts aloud, completely forgetting he is not alone in his office.

- That was a great piece interesting and useful information, John. Information that may prove useful to us in the future. It really looks as if the whole system belonged to some aliens. Who knows, maybe this city on the New Gaia is not the only one in the system? Maybe those ETs are still somewhere, but simply abandoned their old installation? Well, we are in the army, John. On that day, when you had to decide if you should join, I remember I told you we don't have much freedom as soldiers. I get it might have put you into a tight spot, but you must know one thing - I respect decisions my superiors make, but it does not mean I agree with them. This is an important project, but with each day I can see better how bad we are prepared for it.

John kept listening to colonel Ryan McRae, though not sure why did this man bring this topic into conversation with him. Despite that, he did not interrupt.

- We've got many unknows here, and it's hard to find trustworthy people now - McRae took out a holodrive and passed to Marlow - I believe I can trust you because I know who exactly you are.

John took the holodrive and put the patern close to his eye to play the data. A moment later, pages of reports and recordings, all about him, appeared in front of his eyes. Surprise mixed with anger inside him. That was basically the reason why he kept limiting PEC's usage, being careful at every step, not allowing anyone to surveillance him, and yet, still, such amount of data... It was surely not only related to his implant, most of information came from other sources, but still... If it was a talk with someone else, Marlow would give vent to his emotions.

He expected Ryan to say something, but the man just kept looking at him.

- I'm not sure what to think - John kept his composure - What's the reason you are showing this to me?

Colonel took the holodrive from him.

- I just wanted to highlight that I trust you and hope you will cooperate. Especially if something goes wrong.

John sighed.

- I don't want to get mixed up in any internal struggles. You and Kaller have your respective duties, and I have mine. I'd rather stick to what I signed.

Ryan laughed out loud.

- I don't need you to be biased. I just have a request. In case something should happen to me, please make sure this mission succeeds.

Marlow wanted to ask what exactly he meant by "something happening to him", but sudden alarm interrupted.

- We'll discuss this other time - colonel stood up imediately and turned on his PEC, while major walked out of the office.

Announcement played during the alarm mentioned the need to temporarily leave the planet's orbit. It seemed that what John's crew felt back on the planet was a foretaste of planet's gravity field destabilizing, which could bad for the Future, taking into consideration damage it receive. They just could not stay there in such conditions, therefore all "technicals" were mobilized.

Marlow and the crew who went with him to Zero were exempt from this mobilization owing to the long time spent on duty, therefore John went back to his quarters. As he was preparing the bed against the shaking and potential gravity loss to safely go to sleep, he kept getting notifications about incoming call requests. As it turned out, many of his acquaintances tried to reach to him to know if he has any details on the situation, and how well the ship was prepared for such circumstances.

John could not blame them. Being a person knowing a lot about Future's plans, even he had concerns during crisis. Of course, the ship was designed to withstand significant damage and continue the flight, but it did not mean it was indestructible. Moreover, many systems were recent tech, used only in tests until now.

The truth was that every damaged element could cause a fatal failure, even if properly secured, because temporary solutions could never replace the original structure of the coating. With the ship as it was now, they were surely able to continue the flight already, but they could not foresee potential problems flying in such state might cause.

Internal parts exposed to cosmic radiation were the biggest concern since it caused the decay, which dould result in module's destruction, and lack of several drives could negatively affect maneuvering.

He obviously did not tell his colleagues everything, not to worry them, but the fact was securing the ship properly required resources, which were being mined during this whole crisis.

***

Mining teams were forced to perform an emergency take-off to return to Future due to overall situation on the planet destabilizing and being dangerous both to miners and their main ship.

Since the mission on Cold Zero was interrupted couple of days prior to the deadline, they managed to gather about seventy percent of the minimum. It was obvious they could not manage the repairs with this amount, especially in situation where several modules suffered additional damage during maneuvers required to escape the planet's orbit - sudden power bursts also affected engines integrity, including overload of one of the reactors.

Some would say it was partially a success, but higher-ups still considered it a failure since it forced them to make several hard decisions. Kaller not only ordered three transporters to be dismantled, but also disconnect one of sub-modules in order to turn it into a transmitter. The latter was done because of the need to consult the Earth Council concerning the expeditions future - at least, that was the official reason for modifying the sub-module. Professor wanted to complete the mission no matter what despite there were voices calling for the return to Earth.

- I'm against turning back at this point - Rashid stated - Aside from the fact we are so close already, how long can we survive without beer?

Several people chuckled nervously. Reaction could have been better, if not for the fact Rashid's words were sad truth. Original plan estimated much earlier arrival, and all the problems they faced caused delays, and delays meant numerous resources were close to depletion.

As if this was not enough, despite continuous repairs while flying the ship towards the goal, their speed was slow as pilots had to be extremely careful to keep everything intact. According to manual, making framework for the reconstruction, putting on the coating and making drives and thrusters functional should be completed in the matter of weeks. The problem was that they kept encountering new issues on the way, using not only resources, but the most crucial time. One accident, one unlucky event was enough for everything to start collapsing. Many crew member were in foul mood, and morale kept falling down with each next problem.