"Ok." replied Nancy. "Get out of the way, because here they come."
Make no mistake, climbing thirty feet up and down a ladder, in 2 G's, in a bulky space suit, was dangerous - and nobody wanted to make an unnecessary trip. If a container was deemed rugged, it was simply dropped. Nancy tossed the first two boxes of nutrient bars out of the ship. They fell onto the surface of the probe and remained in one piece. She tried the same experiment with a container of fresh water, expecting it to burst like a child's water balloon, but it held.
"Are you quite through?" asked Garvin.
"I'm watching." chuckled Nancy. "If you approached, I wasn't going to beam you on the head."
"Just making sure." He picked up the first carton of water, carried it to the hatch, and tossed it down below. Dan looked up to make sure another carton wasn't on its way, then slid the first carton to the corner of the room. Nancy tossed a box of clothing out the door while Garvin was away. He returned to the ship, grabbed a box of nutrient bars, went over to the hatch, and tossed them down. In two hours the entry way was converted into a supply room, with enough consumables for two weeks.
The instruments were another matter. Scopes, weapons, relay stations, and the like; all had to be carried down the two ladders by hand - a slow and meticulous process. Nancy didn't know what they were going to need, so she tried to bring everything. The transfer took six hours, and at the end of it, all three were sweating and exhausted. The suits had to work hard to keep their occupants cool. "Gentlemen, that will have to do. My suit is almost out of oxygen, and I'm sure you're in the same situation."
"We are." confirmed Dan. "Come on down and join me; though you might have to stand on some cartons."
"Just make sure there's room for that inner door to open."
"There is."
Garvin climbed through the hatch and down the ladder. Dan was exaggerating, but only slightly. Garvin had to jockey for position amongst the supplies. Nancy stayed above to set up the relay station. Nothing could be anchored into that surface, so she settled for super glue. She placed a dab under each foot and cemented the station to the surface, next to the hatch. A small dish pointed towards the ship, and another hung off the end of a flexible boom, which Nancy extended over the open hatch. Radio signals would pass up the tunnel, through the hatch, into the dish, along the boom, out the other dish, into the ship, and back to Earth. Messages from Houston would reach them by the same route, traveling in reverse. Other relay stations would be set up as necessary, but they only brought two more, because of their size and weight, and one would have to stay in the supply room, at the base of the ladder, just below its twin up above. That left only one repeater that might extend their range of communication. It would have to do. Nancy locked the arms into place with set screws, descended the ladder, and joined her companions down below. "Dan, would you do the honors once again?"
He pressed close hatch, and then pressurize. In a couple minutes they began to hear a hissing sound through their helmets. "There's enough air to transmit sound." concluded Garvin. Air filled the room and began to press on their suits. Nancy felt the pressure in her ears, and her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't thought of that; nobody thought of that. If the ambient pressure in the probe was 10 atmospheres, their eardrums were going to implode. After all, their suits were designed to hold pressure in; they would not keep pressure out. "Quickly," shouted Nancy, "what is the atmospheric pressure on Arcot?"
"One point 6 times Earth." said Dan.
"I guess we can stand up to that, but it's going to hurt." she warned, and indeed it did. They sat on the floor, opening and closing their mouths, yawning, and swallowing. Dan put his hands up to his helmet in a vein attempt to massage his aching ears. When he realized the impracticality of the situation he wanted to rip his helmet off, but nobody had analyzed the air yet. It was probably safe to breathe, but it could be poisonous. Fortunately Garvin already had the portable mass spec in his hand. He called out the results as soon as they appeared on the screen.
"Nitrogen 84%, oxygen 15%, CO2 and other inert gases 1%, relative humidity 13%." That's all they needed to hear. All three took off their helmets, breathed in the Arcot air, and rubbed their ears.
"I can't believe we didn't increase the pressure in our suits ahead of time." grumbled Garvin.
"It would have been a half hour well spent." agreed Dan.
"All right," said Nancy, who was finally starting to feel better, "if that's the biggest mistake we make on this mission we'll be doing well. Now, let's get out of these suits."
Nancy was first out, with help from the others. She wanted to set up the lower relay station right away. With the suits powered down, there was no communication with NASA, and that made her nervous, for reasons that she couldn't put into words. She placed the unit at the base of the ladder, with its dish pointing up. The radio signals would have no trouble passing through the glass window in the hatch. The second arm contained an omnidirectional transmitter and receiver. "I'll wear the head-cam." Lights flashed, indicating a good connection from her head-cam to the station immediately in front of her, to the station above, and to the ship. Another light indicated carrier from Earth all the way to the communicator that she wore on her wrist. "We've got signal." she said to Garvin, who had just emerged from his suit. "I think we're ready to go."
"Yes," he agreed, "but how much of this stuff should we take with us?" He motioned towards the boxes that lined the walls.
"That's a good question. For starters, each of us should wear a communicator," she pointed to the one on her wrist, "in case we get separated. And let's keep a gun in our belts, in case we meet somebody we don't like."
"You're expecting company?" Dan asked.
"No. If there were Arcots on board, they would have burst through that door long ago and killed us all. This has all the signs of an automated ship. But the gun is pretty light, and I'd rather have it by my side, in case I'm wrong."
"Anything else?"
"Garvin, I'm going to ask you to take some of these instruments: mass spec, telescope, microscope, radiometer, electrometer, etc. If they get too heavy, pass the backpack to one of us. We'll take turns. Other than that, I won't know until you open that door and we see what awaits us on the other side."
They gathered up their items as directed, and Dan approached the door and pressed open. The door swung inward and Nancy had to take a step back. Ahead of them stretched a long hallway with the same blue carpeting and cream white walls. It was well lit, thanks to fluorescent lighting embedded in the ceiling. Open doors appeared on either side. "It's as though we were expected." thought Nancy. They stepped into the hall, with Nancy and her head-cam in the lead. After all, NASA wasn't interested in the back of Garvin's head. They approached the first door on the left and turned inside. "It's a bedroom," Nancy declared, "and rather small at that." Two beds were on either side of the room, with a dresser in between. The same blue carpeting covered the floor, but the walls were a soft yellow. Triggered by motion sensors, the lights in the ceiling turned on when Nancy entered the room. A panel over each bed allowed the lights to be disabled for sleep; they would not turn back on simply because you rolled over. Dan recognized other controls, such as a thermostat for room temperature, and some kind of intercom system; or perhaps it was music, or an alarm, or all three. An electrical outlet allowed the Arcots to plug in various devices. It looked very much like an outlet on Earth, with one long slot and one short slot. Garvin walked over and sat on the bed, staring at the panel. He pulled out his electrometer and placed the two leads into the slots. "181 volts, DC." he reported. Dan and Nancy sat on the opposite bed and leaned against the far wall while Garvin continued. "Captain, their power distribution is incredibly efficient. I can pull anywhere from one to one thousand watts, with transition times under a millisecond, and I see no change in voltage. It's 181.73 volts, spot on. I have the feeling their system will give me whatever I ask for, instantly."
"Well don't push it." warned Nancy. "I don't want to blow any fuses today."
Garvin was curious about the switches and knobs on the panel, but he was also very tired. They had been working hard, under 2 G's, for 10 hours. He took off his backpack and shoes and stretched out in the bed. "Guess we won't need those blow up air mattresses after all." he announced as his head hit the pillow.
"Who knew they would provide us with sleeping quarters?" asked Nancy rhetorically.
"It makes sense." said Dan. "During its construction, this probe had to house dozens of workers for months on end. Living quarters are a necessary infrastructure."
"Then we should find kitchens, bathrooms, etc."
"I'm guessing they are across the hall."
"I hope so, because I've held it about as long as humanly possible. And that's after drinking no water this morning and very little last night. You must be in the same position." Her friends nodded. "Well then, let's go!"
Garvin didn't particularly want to get up, but his bladder was as insistent as Nancy's, so he put on his shoes and followed his captain out into the hall. They passed another two doors on the left, which were bedrooms, just like the first door. Finally they reached an open door on the right and eagerly turned in. Once again the lights snapped on in response to their motion. A white tile floor and white walls greeted them. The far wall presented a row of six sinks heading off to the right. Immediately to their right, against the near wall, stood a row of six toilets. In a flash, three of them were occupied. Except for an occasional sigh of relief, there was silence for the next 90 seconds. Nancy was the first to speak.
"There are no partitions anywhere. Even the showers;" she looked to her far right, "they're merely heads sticking out of the wall, leading to a common drain."
"The Arcots aren't big on privacy." Dan explained. "It's just a bodily function - they would say - don't be so obsessed."
"I suppose they're right." She stood up and the toilet flushed automatically. Two quick steps took her across the narrow bathroom, which ran parallel to the hall. "Do you suppose the sinks work?"
"So far, everything else works," commented Dan, "even after thousands of years of inactivity." As if in confirmation, the sinks produced hot and cold water on demand. Garvin kept a portable mass spec at his side for just such an occasion. He placed a drop of liquid in the chamber and pressed analyze. "Pure H2O." he declared.
"Great." said Nancy. "Those waterbags are heavy; we didn't want to carry them around with us." They eagerly drank from the faucets, like children who were too lazy to get a glass. This morning's fluid deprivation, and the ensuing hard work, left them parched.
"I almost feel human again." Nancy glanced at her communicator, which showed a strong signal from the relay station, and from Earth (by proxy). "Hey, we got a message. Sit down and we'll have a look." They put the lids down on their respective toilets, which were well cushioned and wide, as though the facilities were suppose to double as chairs. Nancy sat in the middle and the others leaned in to watch the tiny screen. Julie appeared, her expression grave, but composed. Her green eyes, which use to sparkle with life, simply stared straight ahead.
"We'd like to congratulate you on the destruction of the dish. We just saw the video, and it looks great. To use your own words, it was nicely done. I hope you can get inside the probe tomorrow. If that hatch doesn't open on command, we're in a lot of trouble. Unfortunately we can't do much to help you here on the ground. We're just watching, and wishing you luck. Be careful, and watch your backs - and watch out for each other. Just so you know, the president has classified the Arcotian mission top secret. The general public does not know we are in danger. There isn't anything they could do about it in any case. We are relaying some of your images to the news outlets, and withholding others. The world knows you are on the surface of the probe, but they don't know about the dish. We simply told them you were eating meals, gathering equipment, and performing mundane chores, and you chose not to transmit during those hours. We'll broadcast as much of your activity as we can, without revealing the true intent of the Arcots. The president hopes you can resolve this issue in a month or two, and then we will tell the world everything. For now, we need to concentrate all our efforts on the probe, without being distracted by panic in the streets. NASA has assembled a tiger team of physicists and engineers, and we're trying to come up with some options for you, using the resources you have at hand. So far, the only thing we can think of is to take over the probe and use its engines, but that may not be practical. We'll keep you advised. Have a good evening. This is Mission Control; over and out."
Garvin and Dan claimed the beds across from the bathroom, and Nancy took the next room down. Looking like so many worker ants, they moved some 30% of the cartons from the supply room into their bedrooms. Having your belongings close by, instead of 100 feet down the hall, made a big difference, physically and psychologically. "This is our home away from home." proclaimed Nancy as she watched the other two unpack. "Oh, Dan, when you get a chance, break open that box to your left; I'm hungry." He did as directed, and soon all three were taking a break, munching on nutrient bars. They went across the hall to get a drink, then returned to resume their interior decorating. Satisfied with their efforts, they rested for a half hour. Nancy was tall for a human, and the Arcots were somewhat shorter, so her feet stuck out of bed. She thought about the air mattress, but decided the Arcot bed was softer, and easier on the back; even if her feet had to hang off the end.
They weren't really ready for sleep, so after a while Nancy led her team into new territory. Just beyond the bathroom, on the right, was a small laundry facility. The room contained a washer, a dryer, a rack with hangers, and a second door, which Nancy assumed was some kind of storage closet. Since laundry didn't interest her, she left the room without opening the second door.
The next room was a kitchen, with all the amenities. Garvin tested the water at the sink, cold and hot. "H2O." he reiterated. Meantime, Dan was peering into the refrigerator, which was empty. The freezer was a separate unit, and he looked in there next. It was filled from top to bottom, and most of the boxes seemed to be uniform in shape and size. "I believe it says balanced and complete." said Dan, squinting at the small letters on one of the boxes. "That's the same thing that appears on my bag of dogfood at home." He pulled a box out of the freezer, dropped it on the floor, and rubbed his hands together. "Wow - I've never felt anything that cold in my life!"
Garvin rushed over to investigate. He pulled out a radio thermometer and took a reading. "This is no ordinary freezer. It's 150 degrees below zero in there. You'll have to be very careful when touching the items inside. You could get frost byte just by holding one of these boxes in your hands." He slid the box across the floor with his foot and closed the door.
"There's a microwave over there." Nancy offered. "Why don't you heat it up?"
"Not a bad idea." said Dan as he quickly tossed the box into the oven. Three minutes later the outside of the box was room temperature, and Dan ripped it open without difficulty. A dozen individually wrapped bars spilled out onto the table. Garvin picked one up and looked at it, turning it over in his hand.
"They look just like our nutrient bars."
"Yes," agreed Dan, "a balanced and complete meal. Open it up and apply your mass spec."
Garvin followed Dan's advice while Nancy watched, her head-cam sending the images back to Earth. "Simple sugars, ribose glucose and fructose, starch and cellulose in equal amounts, various amino acids strung together in proteins and peptides, short and medium length triglycerides, trace compounds and minerals. It's edible, and you'd even get some nutrition out of it, but with half the polysaccharides in the form of fiber, you'd have some serious gas."
"Well the Arcots are primarily herbivores, so that makes sense."
"Yes," Garvin frowned, "and they probably think this is delicious." He bit off a small piece, chewed, and swallowed. "You know, it's not bad. The simple sugars make it palatable. But we couldn't live off these things for very long. Three of the eight essential amino acids are missing. Guess they don't need them; but we do. After a couple weeks on this fair you'd become protein deficient, and you'd start to consume your own flesh to survive. Vitamins B6, C, and K are also missing."
"Well, it's a miracle we can eat them at all." remarked Nancy, taking a taste. "If we find ourselves in a jam, these bars will have to do."
Several minutes passed in silence, and Garvin could contain his curiosity no longer. "Nancy, what are you thinking about?"
"It's not a pleasant thought."
"Well - we still need to know."
"Yes, you do. I'm afraid Arcots are on board." Garvin and Dan sat motionless, waiting for Nancy to explain. "That freezer was designed to keep food viable for thousands of years. If the workers were here for the construction phase, and nothing more, a regular freezer would suffice. This one keeps food fresh for the interstellar journey."
"And yet," countered Garvin, "there isn't enough food. Even if there were a dozen freezers like that one, or a hundred, it wouldn't be enough to support a small contingent of Arcots for 5,000 years."
"True. I suppose the construction phase, as I call it, could take hundreds of years; so maybe a deep freezer makes sense. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Well - I suggest you sleep with your gun loaded, just in case. I'm keeping mine under my pillow."
"Thanks for the warm thoughts." mumbled Dan as he scooped the rest of the bars back into the box and placed the package in the refrigerator. "Should we keep our bars in here too?"
"They'll be all right in our rooms for a couple weeks," answered Nancy, "and I don't want to stay longer than that. The high gravity is going to start messing with our bodies before too long. We're under a bit of a time limit."
Garvin went back to his bedroom to fetch a deck of cards while Nancy took off her head-cam. "Houston, I'm tired of having this thing strapped to my forehead all day long. I'll leave it open, here on the table. Personally, I don't expect anything exciting to happen tonight. We're going to play some three-handed hearts, and that's it. Yeah, it's more fun with four players, or five, but the Arcots aren't available, so it's just us." She placed the cam on the table and shuffled the deck. Garvin won the first game, and would have won the second, except Dan landed precisely on 100, and by their house rules, he went back to zero.
Nancy gathered up the cards and called it a night. The men went back to their shared quarters, and Nancy went into hers. After an internal debate that lasted a couple minutes, she decided to close the door. It would take an intruder an extra three seconds to open it; that would give her enough time to draw her weapon. She got undressed and climbed into the alien bed, which was surprisingly comfortable. It had been a very long and busy day, and she fell asleep right away, but her thoughts were haunted by frightening images, flickers of aliens, and atom bombs, and stellar fragments slicing through the Earth. In the midst of these thoughts she suddenly realized something was wrong; something was terribly wrong. Someone was in the room with her. She waited five seconds, perhaps ten, then opened her eyes, only to see a large yellow eye staring back at her. It seemed to glow in the dark, like a cat's eye. The green face was clearly visible, with the two smaller eyes on either side. She wanted to scream, a loud piercing scream of sheer terror, but it was stuck in her throat.
"You destroyed our communications dish. We can no longer contact our home world. You will pay for that. You will pay dearly. But it hardly matters. Earth will soon be gone. Earth, and all life as you know it, will soon be gone. In the meantime, I've prepared a particularly long and hideous death for you, for you and your two friends." The Arcot laughed in his throat, a grinding guttural laugh.
"You speak English." stammered Nancy.
"Of course we speak your primitive tongue." As he spoke, Nancy covertly slid her right hand under her pillow. There it was, cold hard steel. "But we won't be speaking it much longer. We don't need words for what we have planned for you." Nancy had a firm grip on the handle, her finger on the trigger. In one quick motion she pulled the weapon out and fired three shots into the Arcot's head. The bullets sailed through, like a ghost, and lodged in the far wall. "That won't work on us." he laughed. "We have powers beyond your comprehension."
"You are technologically advanced, but you are still flesh and blood. These bullets will surely kill you. they must!" She fired two more shots, which also had no effect.
"Come with me." commanded the Arcot as he lifted the blanket. She could almost smell the chlorophyll on his skin - like the leaves of a tree on a hot summer day. His hands reached out to touch her, and she was powerless to move. His face seemed larger than life, just inches from her own.
Nancy awoke in a cold sweat, her heart racing. The room was quiet, except for a light snoring on the other side of the wall. She fumbled about for the switch and turned on the lights. The room was as she had remembered it: the soft yellow walls, the second bed, the dresser, and several boxes scattered about. She turned out the lights and cursed under her breath. "Damn it all anyways. Damn it to hell!"