Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

28 - A Better Way to Travel

Chris reached the top of the ladder bolted to the side of the fuel module. The four, curved nosecone panels were fixed in place by removable bolts. It was just a matter of finding the release catches. It would have been much easier without the H.E.P.O. gloves on but the air around him was still icy and all the metalwork was even colder. Numb fingers were the last thing he needed at the top of a twenty-four-metre ladder.

He did not feel confident moving both hands off the top rung of the ladder at the same time, but to get enough leverage to twist the hand-loop attached to the top of each bolt, he needed both. Wedging his boots as firmly as he could into the ladder, he pulled the loop to his right and set about rotating it the twelve turns it needed before clicking and coming loose. He yanked it out and let it drop down the side of the module then set to work on the second one.

Once both were out, the entire panel, a curved wedge-shape making up one-quarter of the nosecone, could be lifted with two recessed handholds and swung over to his left on the hinge running the full length of that edge. This gave him limited access to the cavity within which was mostly packed with two folded buggies, but there was just about enough space to walk along the outer edge to reach the bolts for the next panel.

It felt somewhat precarious, climbing off the top rung of the ladder and onto the flat floor beneath the buggies. There was enough space for his feet and he could hold onto the frame of the nearest buggy for stability, but he was still acutely aware of the deadly drop beside him. The lower gravity of Proxima C would not be enough to save him if he fell.

Each buggy was collapsed to fit in one half the nosecone and mounted on aluminium rails that sloped from about a metre and a half high in the centre to about twenty centimetres above the floor at the outside edge. After he had removed the transit bolts on the next panel, he swung that the opposite way leaving the buggy on this side of the nosecone completely exposed.

There were four heavy-duty release catches to pull and then a three-button panel on an angled post beside the buggy lit its green button.

"Stand clear below!" Chris shouted down to the others, then he made sure he was clear of the buggy himself and hit the green button.

There was an immediate hum from one of the two winches in the middle of the floor between the buggies. That was followed by a deeper buzz and some metallic squeals as the buggy jerked down the rails suddenly. Thankfully, it stabilised rapidly and maintained a slow slide down the rails. As the buggy dropped gently off the end of them, both pivoted from the lower end and swung smoothly forwards over the edge, taking the buggy with them. A pulley on the link between them allowed the whole construction to act as a very simple crane, holding the buggy about half a metre from the module's hull and allowing the buggy to winch slowly down to the ground without hindrance.

Fletcher caught hold of the frame as it neared the gravel and pulled it into a better position.

"Down and safe, Commander," he shouted as the winch cable went slack.

While the rest of the team set about unfolding the buggy, a two-seater with a concave cargo area making up the back half, Chris worked on opening the other two panels of the nosecone. The other buggy was almost identical to the first except instead of the large cargo area, it had a back row of seats and a cargo tray about a third of the length.

The lowering mechanism for the second buggy worked just as well as the first and, less than forty minutes later, they had both buggies in their operational configuration. Fletcher was seated in the four-seater buggy's driving position and checking through the readouts on the small tablet computer attached to the centre of the dashboard.