Circle of Retribution: A Future Chronology Short Story (Future Chronology Series Book 6) Read online

  SABOTAGE!

  “You first,” said Maxine, “I want to watch you to get an advantage.”

  “Okay,” said Gardener, “here goes.”

  The flight suit was similar to the old wing-suits used on earth. A web of material between the legs allowed the pilot to run on the ground and use his legs for stabilization when in the air. Another web of material extended from each arm tapering into the body at the waist creating a triangle. The arm material extended as much as two feet beyond the fliers hands. Unlike the old wing-suits, Titan's flight suits had active compensators built-in to help maintain proper flight attitude. This kept the suits from rotating around the fliers yaw axis as was common with wing-suits.

  From the top Kitty Hawk sloped downward in all directions. Gardener consulted the heads-up display of his face mask to note wind direction, the data came from the base weather center through the rf-link. Gardener turned to face the wind and began walking down the slope into the wind. He spread his arms out and sped up his descent. Before long he could feel the pressure of Titan's atmosphere against the suit wings. He started to flap, the airfoil shape of the wings started to lift Gardener into the air. He was no more than a few feet off the ground when he noticed he was climbing at a high rate. Checking the wind speed he was surprised to find it had increased to twenty kilometers per hour. Enough to lift him without any effort on his part.

  He tried to adjust his speed of ascent by pulling his arms in to lower the lift on the airfoil. Something happened, his right hand slipped out of the grip glove. The airfoil on that side dipped, the other side rose. Before he could correct he found himself upside down and falling. He pulled his knees up and hit the ground on the back of his heels before rolling the rest of the way down the hill and landing sprawled on his back.

  Before he could stand and make an inventory of himself Maxine was bending over him. He could see her yelling something at him from behind her suit mask. He realized that something had happened to his communications module. Maxine bent closer, he didn't need his comm module to hear her.

  “What are you doing you idiot, trying to kill yourself!”

  “Circle of Retribution” is a story in the Future Chronology Series. This series of short stories published by Hiawassee Publishing ranges from near future stories to far millennial stories, from familiar Earth-based settings to distant worlds.

  Stories in the series available now (or coming soon) include:

  Whatsoever You Do (Near Future)

  War Through the Pines (Near Future)

  Vigilance (22nd Century)

  To Tend and Watch Over (22nd Century)

  Union (23rd Century)

  Circle of Retribution (24th Century)

  Freedom from Want (25th Century)

  Breakup (25th Century)

  Kuiper Station (28th Century)

  The Cloud (29th Century)

  First Interstellar (30th Century)

  Circle of Retribution

  D.W. Patterson

  Copyright © 2017 D.W. Patterson

  All rights reserved

  Cover - Copyright © Hiawassee Publishing

  Cover Image – Courtesy NASA

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations for the purpose of review. For information please contact –

  [email protected]

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination and should not be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events and people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  1

  Most predictions of the future had assumed that the first settlement beyond the Asteroid Belt would be on a moon of Jupiter, perhaps Callisto. But that didn't happen and as usual it was a question of money. There was no monetary reason to go to any of Jupiter's moon but Saturn's moons, especially Titan, was an interesting and possibly profitable endeavor. An investment of resources on Titan would return money to the investors in their lifetime, through the mining of valuable Helium 3 (He3) which the fusion power plants of the Solar System desperately needed.

  But even with fusion, energy was only as cheap as the cost of transporting the fuel that makes that energy. And Mars with its lower gravity and closer proximity to Saturn had at least a factor of ten advantage over Earth when it came to transportation costs. With a population of several million and good governance, the Mars Republic also had the resources, stability and drive to finance the establishment of a Titan base without Earth involvement. Earth would gladly pay for the He3 fuel it needed to keep its economies moving and Mars would benefit.

  Mars also had freedom from the interfering Em managers that Earth had placed in control of most of its city complexes and economies over the past century. Ems were emulated brains running in computer hardware. Their speed of thought was so superior to humans that they had become the de facto rulers of Earth's economies, economies which had stagnated for most of the twenty-third century under the Em's risk adverse stewardship. That Ems were risk-adverse came as a surprise to many academics but they hadn't taken into account the ability of top Ems to essentially live for eternity with the copying of themselves to new, better hardware and storage.

  Most people on Earth found it a benign trade-off, safety for freedom. But not Mars or the rest of the solar system, the Asteroid Belt and the newly established base on Titan.

  Gardener Abram Jackson had been born in the Asteroid Belt but had spent much of his life on Mars including attending the Mars Space Academy for four years. Gardener had a wiry frame, he was unusually short for an asteroid baby but his height fit his job choice of Aero-SpaceCraft (ASC) pilot. At twenty-seven this would be his first piloting job after graduation and he hoped he was prepared.

  Actually the job to skim Saturn's atmosphere and extract He3 was flown by an autonomous ASC with an Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) system specifically adapted for the mission. Gardener would in effect be a backup to the ANI.

  ________

  “Jackson!” yelled Lt. Macland. The lieutenant was as short as Gardener but had a much stockier build. He also had the requisite crew cut you would expect of a Republic Marine.

  “Yes sir!” called Gardener. Although a civilian employee of Titan Enterprises, his flying job made Gardener subject to the military commander responsible for security at the Titan base. The military also maintained the ASC that Gardener would fly in.

  “Jackson,” said Lt. Macland, “I need you to go over your craft and run a system's diagnostic and generate the necessary reports.”

  “But sir,” said Gardener, “I've done the diagnostics several times already, and the flight isn't for days, don't you think it's enough?”

  “No I don't pilot, now get with it and get me that report or you won't be flying!”

  “Yes sir,” said Gardener somewhat resentfully.

  Gardener headed for the hangar. Why is the lieutenant riding me so hard wondered Gardener. I don't understand it. Maybe he just doesn't like civilians.

  Gardener climbed into the ASC1, also known as a “skimmer”, which Titan Enterprises of Mars had developed. His skimmer was one of half a dozen in the hangar which included the prototype craft along with military transports and research craft. Of all the vessels in the hangar the skimmer looked the most futuristic. It was more sleek than the other craft because it was meant to cut through the dense atmosphere of Titan as well as the upper layers of Saturn's atmosphere. Ga
rdener always had an appreciative look on his face whenever he saw a skimmer.

  Inside the skimmer Gardener seated himself in the pilot's seat and began to power up the craft. The diagnostics wouldn't require his input until they were done unless something amiss was discovered. Gardener would occupy himself by dictating a letter to his parents back on Mars with his personal ANI called an Annie.

  Gardener began dictating to his Annie:

  'Hi, mom and dad,' the letter began. 'I've gotten use to my new routine here on Titan. I mostly go to briefings and classes on the skimmer's operation or simulations of the mission I will be flying. Right now I'm running a diagnostic on the skimmer by order of Lt. Macland. He seems to not like me for some reason but I'm not particularly bothered, have to be doing something I guess.

  'Titan is surprising. Although we learned all about it at the MSI I'm surprised at how beautiful it can be. Most of the time it's like living inside a cloud, nothing to see. But then it will clear, at least out to a few kilometers and the pink-orange of the sky will become a brilliant gold almost.

  'Then there are the rain storms, if a methane downpour can be called rain. I find them fascinating since I've never seen rain in person, only on a video screen. The drops of liquid methane against the clear atrium wall, the flowing rivulets they cause outside, I could watch them fall and merge and flow for hours. But it doesn't last long, no more than fifteen minutes I would guess.

  'The last time it rained I saw lighting. You can't imagine such a sight without seeing it in person. Then there is the thunder. And then you remember that it is methane out there and very explosive. If not for the fact that there is very little oxygen in the atmosphere of Titan the atmospheric methane would be a real danger. But Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and fires started by lightening are impossible. Still the lightening is disconcerting and I wonder if the base or one of the flying craft has ever been struck.

  'Well, I see the diagnostic is almost finished so I guess I'll button this up and send it. Love you both.'

  Gardener read over the letter and then punched the send button on the touchscreen. The letter would be queued to go by radio transmission next time their was a slot for base personnel's personal communication. Gardener skimmed the diagnostics report and then sent it to the base ANI which would deliver it to Lt. Macland. Gardener hoped it would be the last diagnostic before the flight but he doubted it.

  2

  Gardener was deep into the simulated mission of the skimmer, flying through the atmosphere of Saturn, mining He3 and hydrogen when the alarms sounded. The simulator was incredibly realistic, many times Gardener had almost forgotten he was in a simulator. The emergency alert brought him back to his duties.

  What emergency is the lieutenant throwing at me this time wondered Gardener. Gardener brought up the alert screen. He was warned by the skimmer's ANI that all of his weather scout ships were offline. That's ridiculous thought Gardener, they couldn't all have gone down at the same time. The scout ships were unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), ANI piloted, that flew ahead of the skimmer to warn of potential storms or other disturbances that the skimmer should avoid.

  Gardener knew this was just a setup for the real emergency that Lt. Macland was planning next. Still he went through the emergency checkoff sheet with the ship's ANI. But there wasn't any recommended procedures for the loss of all the UAV's but there were procedures for the loss of a lesser number. Gardener directed the ANI to put in place the procedures. Radar at maximum, speed reduced one-third and report to base.

  “ASC1 this is flight control, Lt. Macland, report your status.”

  “Flight control status is nominal, have lost weather support escort. Am continuing mining operation at reduced rate, over.”

  “Understood ASC1,” said Macland. He then nodded to the simulations officer. “Give him the works,” he said.

  The simulations officer nodded and begin talking to the simulations interface. “Simulations mark, increase wind speed, cue vortex system,” he looked at Macland who smiled, “and partial failure of flight controls. Engage now.”

  Gardener immediately noticed a lack of response, the ANI struggled to maintain level flight. Gardener felt a sickening oscillation, the craft was pivoting around the yaw axis, like an office chair that slowly rotates one way and then the other. He also noted an element of pitch involved as the nose rose and fell. And then it got worse.

  The wind speed indicator which had been showing a steady twelve-hundred kilometers per hour had jumped to thirteen-hundred and was climbing.

  Gardener ceased the helium 3 mining, he closed all exterior ports to the wind. Then he noticed a definite drift to starboard as if something were pulling the ASC in that direction.

  Gardener contacted flight control, “Flight, this is ASC1, am having a problem with vehicle attitude and direction, am taking manual control.”

  “Gardener you better know what you are doing and you better bring that craft back in one piece!” thundered Lt. Macland on the radio.

  “Yes sir,” said Gardener.

  Gardener took control from the ANI and tried to bring the ASC around to its original course. The controls were slow to respond, he managed to pull the nose back in position but now the craft was beginning to be buffeted by increased side winds. He knew he was close to losing control.

  Gardener scanned the long-range radar and satellite readouts and set course for what seemed to be a calmer region of the atmosphere. He then returned flight surface controls to the ANI and engaged the attitude thrusters. The ASC being both an airplane and spaceship had flight surfaces for maneuvering in an atmosphere and thrusters for attitude control in space.

  “What's he doing?” asked Macland to no one in particular. “He can't use the thrusters while the ANI is flying with the control surfaces can he?” He looked at the simulations officer who just shrugged.

  Gardener carefully applied the thrusters in such a way as to assist the AI with the craft's orientation. By working to keep the nose pointed in the proper direction the craft's ANI started to make progress in the desired direction. It wasn't long until the ASC1 was making good speed for the coordinates that Gardener had entered into navigation. He disengaged the thruster system and engaged the mining system again.

  Gardener contacted flight control, “Flight, this is ASC1, have moved mining operations to more opportune area. Mission delay estimated at fifteen minutes, unavoidable due to weather encounter.”

  In flight control Lt. Macland stormed out of the room.

  3

  Gardener was sitting in the lounge area reviewing flight data from his latest simulation when Maxine Jordan walked in. Her stride was smooth and measured as she had adjusted to the low gravity of Titan faster than anyone. Maxine was also an ASC pilot who flew out on the same fusion ship that brought Gardener to Titan. She was about the same height as Gardener although of a stockier build. She kept her hair cut short which made her look more like one of the marines than a civilian pilot. Gardener and Maxine had talked all the way from Mars to Titan about flying and the adventures they were looking forward to on Saturn's moon.

  “Hey Gardener I hear you had an interesting simulation,” said Maxine.

  “Yeah Maxine I did,” said Gardener, “what did you hear?”

  “Nothing except that you almost gave Lt. Macland a stroke.”

  “Really,” said Gardener, “well that may explain why he wasn't in the flight control room when I emerged from the simulator. So he was upset, huh?”

  “That's what I hear,” said Maxine. “What did you do?”

  Gardener explained to Maxine what had occurred on his simulated mission. He finished by saying, “I don't think it was very realistic to lose all my escorts at the same time. They are suppose to be preparing me for likely emergencies not such far-fetched scenarios.”

  “Gardener you know Lt. Macland doesn't like you, don't you?”

  “Yes,” said Gardener, “although I have no idea why.”

  “Well I don't know
why either but I can tell you one thing, he wants to wash you out of the program.”

  “You aren't serious?” asked Gardener surprised.

  “That's what I love about you Gardener, you always expect the best of people. But some people are never at their best. And they don't like those who are. I think Lt. Macland dislikes you because you are the pilot he once wanted to be.”

  “You mean Lt. Macland was in pilot's school?” asked Gardener.

  “Yep, Mars Marine Flight School and he washed out. From what I hear he didn't respond well under stress. Not even when it was simulated. So he never got the chance to fly a real ship. I think because you are the best pilot here he has obsessed on seeing that you wash out in simulations before you ever get to pilot a mission, just like he did.”

  “I don't know,” said Gardener. “It sounds like a lot of trouble to go to, he knows I could lodge a complaint with the company and we both would be set down until the truth was figured out.”