By T M Romanelli
The main hangar on Pathfinder seemed enormous on the ship’s schematics, but was actually quite cramped as four armored dropships sat in a row with assorted maintenance and fueling equipment positioned nearby on the deck. Three were packed with the drilling gear that would be used on the frozen plateau, in addition to several emergency shelters for the surface teams and all the consumables that would sustain each group for the next thirty-six hours, while the remaining craft was held in reserve. The entire crew had worked together to draw the necessary equipment from the ship’s stores, and transferred the bulk of it to the hangar where it could be inventoried by the loadmaster before being carefully stowed on the insertion craft. The activity had been loud and chaotic, but it was completed on schedule because Haru had the necessary checklists and procedures ready to go once the Captain had given her approval.
The surface teams now gathered next to the aviation control station at the midships bulkhead, attending the final briefing which included updated task schedules and contingency plans. They stood in a loose semi-circle facing the holo-projector as Haru walked everyone through the mission step-by-step, demonstrating each evolution at the three main sites and how they would coordinate the surface drilling with the orbital auger deployed by Pathfinder. They all wore enclosed environmental suits that offered a reasonable balance between sufficient life-support and the required mobility to install and deploy the flexible drilling cable. They would be operating heavy equipment in a hostile environment with ambient temperatures around – 40℃, and where local conditions or a severe accident could transform carefully prepared rescue plans into a grim recovery procedure.
Despite the risks involved, every team member present had volunteered for the mission and were committed to successfully completing its objectives. Haru summarized the various abort thresholds and evacuation plans before she took a moment to solicit questions from her crew mates. They had none, so she finished her presentation by wishing everyone good luck. The teams dispersed to their assigned dropships for the pre-flight check, except for Petra who had lingered nearby to get Haru’s attention when they were alone.
“That was a good mission brief, Haru,” she started awkwardly, searching for the right words to engage the astrogeologist with whom she had a troubled acquaintance. Haru wore a neutral expression but remained silent. “Shit. That sounded condescending, but that’s not how I meant it. It’s just that… I wanted to be sure… look, half of the ship’s crew will be on the surface, and-”
“You need to know that the risk is worth it?” Haru gently interrupted, anticipating Petra’s doubts. The telemetric engineer was Pathfinder’s senior flight officer, and Haru took notice when someone who regularly functioned in high-stress situations respectfully expressed their concerns. “The simple answer is yes. I designed the mission parameters to account for the known risks, so I’m not really worried about them.”
“OK. Good,” Petra said, accepting Haru’s reassurances. “Wait. What does worry you?”
“The last quadrant of the Johari Matrix,” Haru replied, more cryptically than she intended. Petra arched an eyebrow and waited for a more detailed answer. Haru was quiet for a moment, then took a deep breath before she continued. “It’s an analytical technique that charts the relationship between awareness and understanding, and it provides some useful context for risk assessment. If you know about a specific risk and understand how it might affect you, then you can plan appropriately to prevent or mitigate it. Conversely, if you’re unaware of the existence of a specific risk and don’t understand its potential effects, then creating a focused and adaptable plan becomes exponentially harder. It’s the worst possible situation that someone a long time ago called the ‘unknown unknowns’, and I’m afraid we’ll run into it somewhere down there. Understand?”
“Not as much as I’d like to,” Petra conceded, after considering this information. “But you seem to understand it and I trust you, mostly, so let’s board the dropship and get underway.”
They approached the rear ramp and Petra stopped short when she saw that Cosmo occupied a space on the port side of the hold, sandwiched between the modular shelters and spools of thick cable meant for the drilling gear. Cosmo’s turret turned towards them and there was a brief sequence of flashing lights. Petra looked at Haru with some dismay, but the astrogeologist offered no explanation. It was clear that the subject was not open for debate, and in any version of the mission plans Haru had created, none of them left her companion behind.
“Watch your step, Petra,” Haru instructed, with the hint of smile, and ignored the defeated look from the telemetric engineer before they ascended the ramp and prepared for the launch.
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The trio of dropships remained in formation as they descended towards the enormous glacier below, encountering little turbulence as dawn arrived with a challenging glare. They landed smoothly at Site One and immediately began setting up the base camp, assembling the shelters and deploying the meteorological station that would monitor conditions on the glacial plateau. Haru had modified Cosmo’s articulated drilling arm with a cutting head optimized for ice, which anchored the surface template that would align the orbital auger during the energy discharge from its terawatt laser.
Haru had selected three specific locations because ground penetrating scans of those areas had indicated that older ice strata was relatively close to the surface and easier to access with the equipment from Pathfinder. Each team would still need to drill almost four hundred meters down to obtain the desired core samples, but the orbital auger would save significant time by creating a pilot hole. The teams had used motorized trolleys to position several large bladders containing cryofluid near the drill assembly. The viscous perfluorocarbon would be used to pressurize the channel and stabilize its structural integrity as the drill head moved towards its target depth, continuously recirculating the fluid that would keep the cutting edges free of ice shards and reduce stress to the anti-torque mechanism. Rojaan had initially balked at the volume Haru requested from the cryomedicine inventory, but after making a sarcastic comment about the suitability of pure ethanol as an alternative cryotube medium, he authorized the transfer.
Once the drilling template was installed and a secure link established with the auger’s AI navigator, the teams retreated to safety before Haru signaled the Pathfinder flight crew that they were clear of the target area. The flight crew then released fire control authority to Haru, which she activated from the handheld control unit after a short countdown. There was a brief pause before the shimmering atmospheric distortion pierced the clouds and contacted the ground, delivering a thunderous crack as the auger’s beam instantly sublimated the thick ice beneath. A dense vapor cloud spread over the area during the twenty-five second exposure, but quickly dissipated once the laser had ceased firing. The teams approached the pilot hole, noting the slick, smooth surface that had been left behind in the center of the intact drilling template. They quickly installed the collar for the downhole assembly and began pumping the cryofluid into the cavity while the winch tower was erected and prepared to reel out the armored cable that would power the rotary drill apparatus.
It took just over three hours to begin the drilling operation at Site One, and then the dropships proceeded north to repeat this process at Site Two and Site Three, establishing the camps at predetermined coordinates that spanned a distance of a thousand kilometers. Even though they carried fewer people to deploy the equipment at each location, the procedures were identical and repetition improved their efficiency. Haru programmed the drones at each site for surveillance and overwatch duties, and by accessing this network she was able to continuously monitor everyone’s progress. She had emptied Pathfinder’s entire inventory of drilling devices and their spare parts to build redundancy into the mission, so that only one team needed to achieve the designated target depth and extract the ice cores for the expedition to be successful. Once the cores were secured, everyone could dismantle their respective gear and return to orbit.
Haru’s proposal had minimized the risks of surface exposure to a period not exceeding thirty-six hours, a timeframe that defined one of the hard abort thresholds. They would continue drilling operations throughout the polar twilight and into the next day if necessary, and she had constructed the schedule to compensate for various delays that were to be expected with complex equipment in extreme environments. She was also aware of how reality tended to shred even the most cautious plans, especially when encountering her so-called “unknown unknowns”. They were setting up at Site Three when she was notified of a mechanical failure at the first location, so she instructed the team to follow the procedure from the mission brief: attempt to effect repairs and keep drilling if conditions remained stable. She remotely guided the crew at Site One through the initial trouble-shooting protocol while Petra and her team finished installing the drilling template.
They had moved to a safe distance and now awaited clearance to engage the orbital auger. The handheld controller had captured Petra’s interest, and she asked Haru a few questions about its operation. The astrogeologist gave her a quick summary of its features and then offered the flight officer an opportunity to fire the laser.
“Are you serious?” Petra asked, feeling the weight of the controller when Haru passed it to her crew mate. Haru nodded in her helmet, and pointed to the fire safety switch and trigger, instructing Petra how to complete the activation sequence. Pathfinder released command authority to the team at Site Three and Haru gave Petra a thumbs-up. The flight officer discharged the orbital auger’s terawatt laser, creating another large vapor cloud and pilot hole for the drill assembly. Petra pumped her fist and let out an enthusiastic cheer into her helmet, briefly fogging her faceplate, and when the condensation cleared she thanked Haru for the experience.
“All my shifts are on the bridge,” Petra stated more quietly over the suit comm, sounding a little embarrassed by her display. “I don’t get out much…”
The two women looked at each other while standing on a distant planet previously untouched by any human presence, insulated from the sub-zero conditions by environmental suits and not far from the smoking hole left behind by the orbital laser platform they had just fired. It took a moment for the irony of Petra’s statement to sink in, and then they burst out laughing. Haru’s eyes were tearing and Petra was doubled up with her hands on her knees, their collective cackling amplified through the suit comm system. Their laughter gradually subsided while the other team members at Site Three stared at them in disbelief.
“That was a good one, Petra,” Haru admitted, catching her breath. “I was not aware you had mastered the deadpan delivery.”
Petra snapped off a quick salute, and then they joined the team to complete the installation of the downhole assembly, a process which went smoothly since they had performed this task several times since the drop. They attached the bladder hose to the base valve manifold and started pumping cryofluid into the cavity to support the drilled apparatus while the cable spool was attached to the tower winch. Haru was satisfied with the conduct of the various procedures, and as this display of proficiency rendered her presence unnecessary, she prepared to take the last dropship to Site Four.
“Are you still sure about going alone?” Petra asked over the suit intercom, as her team monitored the jacketed drill head during its descent into the pilot hole.
“I won’t be alone,” Haru reminded her as she stepped aside to allow Cosmo up the loading ramp of the now empty dropship. “Cosmo and the other drones will be with me while I’m at Site Four. I’ll conduct my survey and be back before nightfall, or what passes for it during the tertiary equinox here.”
“Make sure that you are,” Petra said in a tone that was more like nagging from an older sister than a directive from Pathfinder’s senior flight officer. “I don’t want to fly in the dark to rescue your skinny ass.”
Haru was a little confused by Petra’s concern for her well-being, especially considering the episodic antagonism that had passed between them on the Pathfinder. She assumed that the telemetric engineer was merely fulfilling her duties with unnecessary bravado, but realized there was something more to it when Petra extended her gloved hand towards her, palm open and fingers spread. Haru recognized the gesture that was shared among the flight crew to wish each other good luck, and after a moment’s hesitation she reached out and firmly gripped Petra’s hand as their thumbs interlocked.
“You stay on comms, and be safe out there,” Petra said with a small smile clearly visible through her faceplate. Haru nodded and smiled back before ascending the ramp and shuffling past Cosmo towards the cockpit.
Petra took several steps back to clear the landing zone as the ramp closed and the AutoNAV program brought the engines to full power. The dropship lifted off the surface and hovered briefly, kicking up a fine dusting of ice crystals that remained suspended in the cold air as the craft then turned north towards Site Four. Petra watched the dropship gain some altitude until it became a speck on the horizon. She rejoined the others near the drill tower control station, never shaking the sense of unease that had lodged in her gut.
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The flight was relatively short and carried Haru, Cosmo and the other drones through clear skies to the landing zone almost 150 kilometers north of Site Three. When Haru descended the loading ramp, she activated her faceplate’s sun shield to guard against the harsh glare reflected off the surface of glacial plateau. Around her, the wind-swept sastrugi created an irregular landscape that gently undulated up to the periphery of the crevasse field that began a kilometer farther on. Haru now stood within a polar desert, an entire region that received minimal precipitation per annum, but whatever sparse amounts were deposited remained a permanent feature due to the sub-zero temperature and high elevation. The thick layers of snow and ice had gradually accumulated over many millennia, and those deeper layers held the data that would confirm or invalidate her speculations about the planet’s geoclimatic variance and its potential to be a new eden far from the corruption of the Helionox. The answers she sought were in the ice cores, and each team at their respective sites worked diligently to secure them.
She transmitted a quick message to base camp at Site One confirming her safe arrival and was informed that the malfunction had been cleared and drilling operations had restarted. There were a several more hours until the sun sank below the horizon to leave the area shrouded in a dusky twilight, and after assembling the remote monitoring station and assigning the patrol sectors for the drones, she prepared to look for the anomalies that were seen by Pathfinder’s ground penetration array. Haru was the only living creature in the area, save for some possible extremophile organisms that had escaped notice on the planetary scans, and she lingered briefly to admire the magnificent desolation that surrounded them.
Haru and Cosmo set off towards the area where the methane probe had marked a positive return, advancing slowly across the ice dunes as the hovering drones kept them centered in a protective square fifteen meters across. The uneven terrain required Haru to maneuver carefully as she exerted herself, the sound of her labored breathing amplified within the confines of her helmet. Cosmo was far less encumbered by the patches of exposed ice, and its six articulated limbs allowed the rover to advance through the hazardous landscape with minimal difficulty.
Sproing!
The astrogeologist had not been surprised by the detection of methane, but the pattern of its appearance and the presence of other sub-surface findings suggested something potentially more significant. Haru followed the virtual path on her suit’s heads-up display, cautiously navigating around some of the larger drifts they encountered before arriving at a shallow depression where the snow had built up on the leeward side. She asked her companion to commence a focused scan where they had stopped, and Cosmo promptly deployed a sensor from its chassis. As the imaging data began to fill the astrogeologists’s helmet display, Cosmo offered a number of explanations for the unusual findings. Haru read her companion’s proposals from the scrolling dialog on her HUD, addressing each point and explaining why she disagreed, occasionally pausing to take a few breaths between answers as she did all of the talking given the limitations of their unique communication style.
“I don’t think it’s a cryogeyser, because it’s not venting carbon dioxide or nitrogen like what happens on Mars or Triton,” she stated, huffing a little as she looked down at the packed snow. “It’s not really an eruption, either. The measurements are more consistent with natural outgassing…”
“Tholins?” Haru repeated, somewhat incredulously, before considering Cosmo’s conjecture. She went to run her fingers through her hair as she often did when trying to interpret contradictory data, but stopped short when her suit glove touched her helmet. “Seriously? Sure, there’s enough solar exposure for radiolysis to create organic precipitates, but there’s no discolored maculae on the surface…”
“No. Definitely not little green men,” she softly chuckled. “Flexing the limits of the humor algorithm, are we? Ashto could learn something from you…”
Haru and her companion bantered back and forth like this as Cosmo performed the scan and she slowly circled around the rover while examining the irregular ground, occasionally tapping the hard surface with her boot. The wind had picked up a little, and she received a notification from the remote station about velocity and barometric changes. She was reviewing the monitor alerts on her arm-mounted display when she saw a darker patch on the ground by her right foot. Haru slowly squatted down in her pressurized environmental suit to examine the area more closely, cautiously poking her finger through a thin, hardened snow cap to reveal a deeper hole beneath it. She alerted Cosmo to her discovery, and the rover shifted the position of its ground penetration scanner as it flashed a short sequence of lights.
“Excuse me?” Haru answered in response to her companion’s suggested course of action. “I’m not going to stick my hand down there! I’ll prep the Caterpillar so we can see where it leads…”
Haru unclipped a cylinder from her suit belt, and popped it open to remove the compact drone from its charging cradle. The Caterpillar was a scaled-down version of Cosmo’s primary optics array, attached to a platform designed to navigate enclosed spaces with strips of tensile legs that spiraled around its flexible body and propelled it using rectilinear motion like its namesake. She attached the retention cable before she placed it on the ground, and after a moment the drone gracefully slithered into the hole. Haru observed the transmitted images on her HUD, adjusting the illuminator to correct for the washout as the light beams reflected off the ice crystals that lined the tunnel, creating exaggerated areas of shadow along the uneven interior.
The Caterpillar continued its descent until it reached the end of the surface tunnel, and used the cable to lower itself into a large chamber before it started to move about the enclosed space. Haru noted the etched walls that curved upwards and a scattered layer of darker material which lined the slightly slanted floor of the cavity. There were numerous clusters of desiccated pellets, some of which contained thin strands of foreign material. She zoomed in on one of the small clumps, pushing it around gently with the drone’s probe while continuously adjusting the illuminator to get the best image.
“Oh, shit!” she softly exclaimed, and let out a little giggle that anyone else but Cosmo would have thought was immature. Cosmo’s turret rotated and emitted another sequence of flashes. “No, it’s really shit! I mean, animal feces. And look, there’s tracks and other spoor that continue into the connecting tunnel on the left side of the cavity. It’s a warren, Cosmo! Or least, it was one. Looks abandoned now…”
“Site Four, this is Petra, reporting status from all stations,” the flight officer’s voice came over the suit’s comm channel, partially obscured by static. “Site Two expected to reach target depth within the hour. Site One trouble-shooting another glitch and we’re currently at two-nine-five meters and descending without incident.”
“Haru, here,” she answered, adjusting the gain on her suit comm unit. “Sounds like Site Two will win the race. Let me know when they’re extracting the core samples.”
“Will do,” Petra responded. “Local windspeed has picked up and the monitoring station indicates the barometer is falling. Please advise.”
“Similar changes at Site Four,” Haru said, checking her arm-mounted display for recent updates. The drone network at each site remained nominal. “Possible low-pressure front advancing on position. Conditions are permissible at this time, so will continue survey. Tell Michel I found evidence of sub-surface, small animal habitation. No specimens for her dissect. Sorry.”
“Affirmative. Will prepare our xenobiologist for disappointment. Site Three out.”
Haru and Cosmo traversed the plateau, following the ground penetration scans that indicated a complex network of warrens and interconnecting passages that extended beneath the ice. They would stop intermittently to allow the Caterpillar to explore various openings, but only found similar conditions of past occupancy. During one of these stops, the wind pattern suddenly changed and dispersed the loosely packed snow and icy particulates on the surface into a dense cloud that engulfed them. Haru could barely see her own gloved hand in front of her faceplate, and the helmet lights that automatically switched on in the instant dusk merely created a hazy glow that were useless for navigation. Haru stopped moving and ordered Cosmo to do the same so they wouldn’t become disoriented in the blinding gust and get separated. She reached out and grasped one of Cosmo’s articulated legs, finding her companion’s presence reassuring. The storm passed as quickly as it started, and when she checked the monitoring station it showed that the ambient temperature had fallen to – 65℃. The support drones’ virtual diagnostics indicated they were expending their batteries at a faster rate to compensate for the wind and temperature. She considered turning back to the dropship when Cosmo reported a spike in methane concentration at the edge of the crevasse field.
They moved closer to the drop-off when Haru held up her hand and Cosmo stopped advancing. Uncertain of the stability of the snow-covered ledge that gently sloped away from her, she attached a tether from her suit harness to Cosmo’s frame and approached the precipice while stamping her boot to test its firmness. She extended the probe over the lip of the crevasse and saw the meter register an increased concentration of methane coming from an unidentified source down there. Cosmo’s scanner indicated that the network they had been tracking extended further to the floor of the ice shelf ten meters below, so Haru assigned one of the aerial drones to explore the ravine. The drone descended towards the uneven floor of the crevasse, inspecting the terrain and locating several holes that probably led to other warrens, where the strength of the methane signature suggested that these cavities may be occupied.
Petra’s voice chirped through the suit comm, laden with static, but dutifully informing her that Site Two had reached just over four hundred meters deep and the teams were extracting the ice core samples. The drilling operation had gone much faster than expected and once the the cores were packed in their protective vacuum containers, the sites could begin dismantling the equipment and return to Pathfinder. She also relayed a message from Michel, the disappointed xenobiologist, to collect a few specimens if possible.
Haru studied the ravine from her position near the ledge, looking at the sharp features of the sloping wall and identifying potential hazards as she formulated a safe approach to fulfill Michel’s request. Anxious to examine the ice cores, she was convinced the deposition patterns of the various layers would confirm her hypothesis about the planet’s climate volatility, and if she was correct then they wouldn’t be coming back for a second look.
It was now or never.
“Site Four to Petra. I need to clarify my tactical position before proceeding,” Haru announced, consulting her arm-mounted display and checking the status of the aerial drones. She explained the nature of the local topography and the procedures she would follow to complete a safe descent, explore the area, collect a sample of the local fauna if feasible and return to the surface while there was still enough daylight left. Haru asked for Petra’s advice, and because she was the the highest ranking officer of the surface teams, a go-no-go decision. There was a lull in their exchange while the flight officer considered the situation, and then replied that the plan seemed prudent. Haru could collect a few specimens and they would wait for her return to base camp.
“Good hunting, and transmit regular updates about your status,” Petra added, before signing off.
Haru used a pneumatic gun to set her pitons near the ledge that would stabilize the winch used to lower her into the crevasse. She pulled a length of cable from the spool and hooked it onto her suit harness, testing the security of the carabiner lock. Cosmo observed her preparations and expressed some concerns with a series of quick flashes before suggesting that it descend first to scan the ice shelf below. Haru expressed her own doubts about the rover’s mass and its ability to freely navigate the serpentine terrain at the bottom, and pointed out that she would be unable to extricate her companion if it got stuck down there. She could simply get the job done faster, and would be very careful. If she encountered unexpected issues, she would abort and immediately return to the waypoint.
“Anything I’m missing, Cosmo?” She asked. There was a short light sequence, and Haru closed her eyes slowly and cursed. “That’s a good point. Can you go back to the dropship and get them? I’m going to get started so we can get Michel’s samples and then join the others. I don’t want to waste useful daylight or wait for the weather to get any worse.”
The optics module in the turret lowered, and Cosmo seemed to hesitate before complying with Haru’s request. Her companion turned back towards the direction of the dropship to retrieve the biological containers needed for the specimen collection. It would be a short trip there and back again, but the rover tasked her to report her progress at regular intervals. This gentle admonishment caught Haru by surprise, and she paused to contemplate the way Cosmo’s emergent behaviors continued to blur the lines between programmed responses and independent cognition. She spent a few moments watching the rover trundle its way back to the landing zone to retrieve the containers stored in the cargo hold. A familiar sound gently reverberated across the frozen landscape, reminding her that parts of Cosmo continued to be a work in progress.
Sproing!
Haru made a final check on her harness and the other equipment hanging from her suit belt, and carefully advanced to the very edge of the crevasse, using the winch control unit to keep any slack from the cable. She turned around and planted her boots, one after the other, so they held firm contact with the surface just below the ledge. Slowly leaning backwards so that her body was almost perpendicular to the wall, she glanced up at the mirrors mounted on the inside of her helmet frame to look through its rear viewports at the ice shelf and the drone that hovered above the crevasse floor ten meters below.
Haru took a deep breath and began her descent into the unknown.