Chapter 10: Air Base

The transports were much larger than the more maneuverable construction ships. Split into three sections, the rectangular vessels only flattened and narrowed out at the nose where the cockpit was located. Although a black section existed over the cockpit, giving the impression of a tinted window, the pilot and copilot of the transport ships were completely dependent on the internal instruments to navigate. All relevant information was relayed from specialized sensors to the holographic screens lining the interior of the cockpit.

Positioned behind the flight station was the largest part of the ship, the passenger cabin. Filled to capacity with padded chairs and complete environmental support, the cabin area could easily seat three hundred colonists at a time. Despite the obvious advantage of moving people more rapidly, I never had the ships fully loaded if I could avoid it. If the ship were to be lost in transit, fewer would be killed if not at full capacity. I'd kept the original design for large transports, even though they were more expensive than smaller ones, because during an emergency situation, we might have to abandon caution and move people out quickly, as we were having to do now.

On the tail of each transport were the powerful engines. Mounted one at each corner, the backwards pointing units surrounded a central cluster of the four large engine ports of the main drive. The rectangular ships were hardly aerodynamic, but on Ganymede and other planets and moons with a sparse to nonexistent atmosphere, it hardly presented a problem. On worlds surrounded by an atmosphere, the mighty engines on the tail of the transports compensated for turbulence by powering straight through and only taxing their engines by the smallest degree.

As I watched the long transport ships leave the Endurance on my hologram, I couldn't help but be reminded of the old historical tapes of ancient submarines firing their torpedoes into the sea.

The transports made a straight line for the colony, but they had to keep a close eye on their sensors as the construction ships were still busily flying back and forth with base modules to build onto the rapidly expanding station.

When they neared the moon's surface, the transports used their antigravity propulsion to hover and slide up against the flat exterior walls of the station. Because of the matching smoothness of the transports' hull, they were able to engage a magnetic locking system and link to the station without the need for a bulky docking port or airlock.

I checked my sensors with the data being relayed from the colony carriers. A green light lit up on my panel, and it indicated a good seal between the first transport ship and the station. My displays reported the hatches opening, and the first colonists crossed the threshold and entered their new home.

As the transports offloaded their passengers, the construction ships continued their work toward completing the station. All colonists were aware of the risks in entering a facility still in progress. Not all of the doors installed in the modules would have something on the other side, so going through the wrong one could lead onto the inhospitable surface of the moon.

A small, pod shaped vessel launched from the Endurance and headed down to the colony. I recognized it as the command shuttle, and I knew Leo Porter would be at the controls. As the structural engineer, Leo was in charge of making sure new bases were set to exacting specifications. The lives of everyone on the station would depend upon the base functioning properly, and Leo performed his job with the seriousness his responsibility required.

"Leo," I said into the communication system.

"Yes sir," he responded swiftly.

"Because of dwindling oxygen supplies, we are going to Jupiter to start the air base," I explained. "Rendezvous with us when your work is complete."

"Acknowledged," Leo replied. His voice betrayed none of the nervousness I felt, and it left me wondering if he was as calm as he sounded, or if he was simply better at hiding it.

"Attention, all construction ships," I broadcast on a separate channel. "The Endurance will be continuing on to Jupiter. Each squadron is to select one ship to remain behind and continue work on the station; the others are to return and dock after the final modules are deployed into orbit."

The teams acknowledged my orders and set about carrying them out. They hauled the modules from storage and left them suspended in weightless space. When the last had been removed from the Endurance, the construction ships not needed to continue the work docked in their designated bays.

My control board turned green as the hull doors closed on the launch bays. I nodded to Philip, and he activated the thrusters, pushing us away from Ganymede and toward the gas giant it orbited. Despite knowing they were highly trained and skilled, it still felt wrong leaving my people behind unsupported. Our perishable supplies and strained life support systems required us to move on and continue the colonization operations regardless of my personal feelings.

Pushing my discomfort aside, I focused my mind on the work needing to be done when we reached Jupiter. The original plan called for two bases to be setup simultaneously, but complications had caused us to divide our forces. I would lead the teams establishing the base in Jupiter's atmosphere, and Leo would organize the ground base when he finished on Ganymede and caught up with us.

***

The construction ships began their deployment, so I left Philip in command of the Endurance while I headed toward one of the transport ship launch bays. I could have flown a construction ship, but with Leo being held up by the completion of the Ganymede colony, the work crews needed a coordinator more than another pilot.

Sheila was already belted into the padded copilot seat when I passed through the passenger cabin and entered the cockpit. I patted the corner of her chair in greeting, and she favored me with a friendly smile.

Sitting down on the silver framed, blue cushioned chair, I began running through the preflight checklist. The flight station was crowded with controls, switches, dials, and readout displays. They covered the console in front of our two chairs, both side walls, and a portion of the ceiling behind the full holographic screen. The projection started overhead and followed the curve of the hull to connect with the back of the main console; it showed everything outside the ship without taking the risk of having a window that could be damaged or breached easier than the exterior metal hull.

The engines powered up, and I steered the craft out of the Endurance and into the cold blackness of space. The tremendous sphere of Jupiter filled the entire forward screen, but we still couldn't see all of the massive gas giant. Bands of color streamed across the atmosphere as the constant storms raged unabated. I checked the scanner and found the area where we were supposed to start the colony was in the middle of extreme turbulence. I would have preferred to begin our efforts during a lull, but we lacked the time to wait.

"Philip, we're in position," I reported into the communication system. "Have the construction crews begin deployment of the first aerial units."

"Yes sir," Philip confirmed. "They're on the way."

I glanced at the display screen to my left and watched the first portion of the base structure being flown out of the Endurance and toward Jupiter. The exterior structure of the air base was shaped in the pattern of a giant wing, but the actual rooms would be housed inside and away from the powerful winds.

It took ten of the construction ships working in tandem to drag out the first section. Because of its need to stay in the air, the base's aerodynamic design incorporated built-in turbines to harness the swift winds, but it had to be in place before the turbines could be effective. The station pieces were very heavy, but their high deployment location prevented antigravity units from being effective in keeping it in the sky; everything depended on the construction ships being able to hold their own in Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere long enough to bring the internal systems online.

The remaining construction vessels started offloading modules into orbital positions where they could be accessed when necessary.

Sheila and I threaded our way between the floating modules and followed a course into the atmosphere. The high winds began buffeting our craft almost immediately, and only the padded seat restraints kept us from being hurled around the cockpit. Even with the padding, it was still a rough ride.

We followed in the wake of the construction ships and waited until an indicator light on the controls lit up green to indicate the optimal position had been reached. A large hole existed in the rear of the station where the landing bay module would be installed. Until it was in place, the opening served as an excellent entry point. I steered my craft through the gap and landed inside the station.

The air base was almost completely hollow. The large sections sealed off by reinforced armor plate signified the positions of the turbines and their corresponding generators. Because they'd be exposed to the winds until the modules were installed, extra defenses were required for them.

"You ready?" I asked Sheila as I powered down the ship and unbuckled my restraints.

"Certainly," she answered, flashing a confident smile. She was going to have fun with this assignment.

Leaving the cockpit, we put on our space suits over our silver uniforms. The transparent helmets sealed down around our collars with a hiss of pressurizing air. We opened the hatch to the outside. The wind screamed passed the open doorway, but the filters on our suits and helmets eliminated the excessive noise.

We each carried a safety line intended to be hooked onto one of the support columns inside the base's wing structure. The entire station's housing suddenly dipped on the right side. I slammed hard into the deck, and my hand found purchase against the frame of the open hatch.

Sheila had been further away and lacked anything to hang onto. She slid across the floor, rapidly approaching an open section of the station's hull. Her gloved hands flailed wildly, searching for anything to slow her down.

Planting my foot against the side of our transport ship, I pushed off in a forward lunge. My safety line clicked as I secured it to a column in passing. The tether reeled out wildly behind me as I skidded across the floor on my stomach in a desperate attempt to reach Sheila. Safety lines were intended to support only one person at a time, so in the seconds before I reached her, I prayed my cable would hold up under the strain of two.