Gravity Well

Gravity Well

  By

  Bennie Grezlik

  * * * * *

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Gravity Well

  Copyright © 2013 by Bennie Grezlik

  Thank you for downloading this eBook. Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  * * * * *

  The Argosy shuddered. Val Archer and his mother and father pressed into their sling chairs noticeably harder.

  "What was that?" asked Val's mother, Debra.

  "Probably just routine maneuvers," said Val's father, Simon. His worried face betrayed his words.

  Val's mother stared through the porthole at Jupiter's looming orb. "It looks like we're going backwards."

  "We are going backwards, Mom," said Val. "We've been doing a deceleration burn for at least five minutes in order to insert the Argosy into a Jovian orbit."

  "But we're supposed to be going to Europa," said his mother.

  "Yes, Mom," said Val patiently. "But doing a hairpin single orbit around the primary allows us to shed our interplanetary velocity before we approach Europa."

  His father chuckled. "You listen to our boy, Debra. All those high school courses in astrophysics and engineering are paying off. He knows what he's talking about. Unfortunately, son, your mother and I are just lowly epidemiologists who can't do our job until we get this shipment of vaccine to the Europa colony."

  "What about that vibration?" said his mother. "There. There it is again. What's that all about, Mr. Einstein?"

  Val frowned. "I don't know. Vibration doesn't seem normal."

  They all heard the low, moaning cry at the same time. They looked at each other. The sound had come from the hatch that led into the tiny flight deck. The Argosy was a small, fast ship. Every available space onboard – except where they sat and the aisle - was stuffed with vaccine that everyone hoped would halt the "yellow-eye" plague raging in the Europa colony. The only humans on board were the Archers and a two-man crew.

  "Someone's hurt up there," said Val's mother. "I'll go see."

  "Me too," said his father.

  "You're not leaving me behind," said Val.

  They climbed the handholds to the flight deck hatch with difficulty. Val noted that the deceleration G forces seemed unusually high. They heard the moan again.

  "Look," said Val. "The pressure meter shows that the flight deck has considerably less pressure than our passenger compartment. We can't open the hatch until the pressure is equalized. There's a button here to do that."

  "Go ahead," said Val's father. "We've got to get in. Someone's hurt in there."

  Val hit the button. There was a hissing sound. The differential went to zero.

  Simon undogged the hatch and swung it into a locked-open position. He started climbing through, then stopped. "Oh, my God." He continued in, followed by his family.

  Captain Peters lay slumped in his sling chair, his head almost decapitated. Lieutenant Gilman lay beside the hatch propped up on his elbows. Blood had soaked through his uniform around his waist.

  "What-" began Debra.

  "Micro meteor," croaked Gilman. "Came through the bulkhead above Captain Peters. I think he's gone. Hit me somewhere in my back, then continued through the bulkhead behind me. Knocked me out of my sling." He stopped, exhausted from talking.

  Simon checked Captain Peters for a pulse. "You're right, Lieutenant, he's dead." Debra crawled behind Gilman to look at his back. She glanced at her husband and shook her head almost imperceptibly.

  "I can't feel my legs," said Gilman, "and my back hurts like hell. First things first. Someone has to manually apply more patches to the breaches. The automatic system isn't perfect. We're losing air. Patches are in the maintenance cabinet behind me."

  "I'll do it, said Val." He found the patch kit along with a sonic leak detector. He located both holes, which were partially filled with a gummy substance. He applied patches until his leak detector told him that they were stable.

  "We have to get you to a doctor as soon as we get to Europa," said Simon.

  "There's more needs to be done or none of us will see Europa." Gilman coughed blood into his hand.

  "But-" began Val.

  "Just listen. That meteor damaged controls and maybe life support, I don't know. I do know we've been doing an extra hard burn ever since the hit."

  "What does that mean?" asked Simon.

  Gilman tried to talk, but went into a weak coughing fit.

  "It means we're slowing too fast, Dad," said Val.

  Gilman nodded. "Any... any of you know anything about controlling a ship?"

  "I do," said Val. "It's one of my subjects in high school."

  "Val, this is not school," said his mother. "This may be life or death."

  "He knows more than we do about it," said Simon.

  Gilman nodded. "Val, check the main thruster control. Pull it back to All Stop."

  "Yes, sir." Val studied the control console's crowded readouts, levers, knobs, and switches. He found the main thruster stick in the center where he expected it to be. A readout just in front of it indicated that the thrust was at 1.6 Gs. No wonder they felt so heavy. He pulled it back to All Stop position. The marker on the computer screen stayed at 1.6 G.

  "She's not responding, sir."

  "I was afraid of that." Gilman went into a coughing fit once more. When he recovered, he said, "Find the Pitch, Yaw, and Roll thrusters, Val."

  "I thought you might say that, sir. I already found them. I'll bet you want me to either Pitch by 180 or Yaw by 180. Which do you want, sir?"

  "Either."

  "Val," said his mother, "I don't understand what you and Lieutenant Gilman are trying to do."

  "Neither control responding, sir."

  Gilman nodded. "Got to think."

  "Mom, Dad," said Val, "here's the situation. The main thruster is stuck and we're decelerating too fast. Instead of a hairpin orbit, we could wind up intercepting Jupiter."

  "What?"

  "Burning up in the thick atmosphere," supplied Simon. "I think I see. If we were able to turn the ship, flip it, so to speak, we'd accelerate instead of decelerate."

  "You got it, Dad, as long as we could also point her nose up."

  Sparks shot from the bulkhead where the meteor had entered. The lights dimmed, came back up, then dimmed again. This time they stayed low.

  "Power circuits damaged," whispered Gilman.

  "Maybe I can fix that," said Val. "We have to have power."

  Gilman shook his head. "Circuits... buried in conduits all over the bulkheads. Val, does the Roll control work?"

  "Checking, sir. Yes! Roll control works!"

  "Then we'll be okay?" asked his mother.

  "No," said Val. "Roll control won't help us. But at least something works."

  "Boy's... right," choked Gilman. "Smart lad. I'm sorry I'm not helping. Getting... weaker. Pull main thruster bypass... as last resort." Gilman slumped.

  "Is he dead?" asked Simon.

  Debra felt his neck. "No, but his pulse is very weak."

  "Son, do you know what he meant about the bypass."

  "Yes. It's a method of shutting down the main drive when all else fails. But it's irreversible until the ship is docked."

  "Will that stop us from falling into Jupiter?" asked Debra.

  "I'm checking that now, Mom." Val worked the keyboard in front of the pilot's sling. "The main thruster on this ship wasn't meant to fight a gravity well like Jupi
ter's, so let me see... "

  There was silence on the flight deck except for Gilman's raspy breathing. Then Val jumped up against the 1.6 Gs looking irritated. "I can't believe it. It's worse than I thought. I have to find the main thruster cutoff, now! Help me look for a switch that's probably hidden and well-protected from accidental closure."

  "Is this it?" asked his mother.

  Val climbed over her to look at the switch. "Yes. Here goes. Better get a handhold somewhere."

  The ship creaked and they lost their footing as everything went into freefall.

  "It worked!" shouted Val.

  "So, we'll make it to Europa, now?" asked his mother.

  "Mom... "

  "Debra, I know you're scared-"

  "Simon, you should know me by now. I'm not worried for me, or even for us. The yellow-eye plague in the Europa colony has already killed several hundred people. If we don't get this vaccine to them, the whole colony of five thousand souls could be wiped out. Don't you see, no matter what, the vaccine has to get there. We are secondary."

  Val and his father looked at each other.

  "I'm sorry, Debra, I underestimated you. You're right. The vaccine has to get there. Val?"

  "If there's a way it can be done, I'll do it. We'll do it."

  "That's the