greetings that his family had transmitted
during the day.
Back in his own room, Montreaux placed the
headphones carefully over his ears and pressed them down firmly with his hands,
before touching the screen lightly. As the music began to play, he lay back and
let his mind wander.
On the wall opposite was a framed picture: a
three dimensional rendering of the Clarke ,
set against the backdrop of Mars. The Sun shone from the left of the picture,
casting the Clarke ’s shadow over the
Red Planet.
He closed his eyes and put his hands behind
his head as Barber’s Adagio for Strings reached its first climax in his headphones. Sudden silence, then a lone
double-bass mournfully recited the American composer’s melody.
Montreaux’s imagination took him through his
quarters’ small window and he sailed out into space. He felt himself rotating
slowly in the vacuum, before coming to rest in a reclined position, his eyes
wide open.
Before him lay the Clarke .
Chapter 1 3
The Clarke slid through space
effortlessly and silently at just over eight kilometres per second. The bright
blue beam of charged ions escaping the spaceship’s exhaust, powered by a
nuclear particle accelerator, made it the fastest manned craft ever built. Despite this, the gradual acceleration over
eight weeks made the sensation of incredible speed practically imperceptible to
its crew, who continued to float inside.
The ion drive and particle accelerator were
housed within a large grey oblong structure to the rear of the Clarke , narrowing at the end to a slit
through which the ions were forced. The
structure was connected by a one hundred feet section of titanium scaffold to
the main living quarters. Running the
entire length of the scaffold, through its centre, was a series of thin
metallic tubes containing xenon gas, the fuel for their entire journey. On their arrival in Mars orbit, the spent
canisters would be jettisoned carefully in space, away from the planet, to save
on mass for the return journey; mass still had the same effect on objects as it
did on Earth, even in the weightlessness of space.
Closest to the ion drive was a group of four
cylindrical pods bunched together in a circle, each one fifteen feet high and
ten feet in diameter. There was one pod
for each crew member, containing a bunk, computer, cupboard and drawers for
personal items, and a small desk and chair with strap to retain its occupant. The remaining space was used for storage;
enough food for one person for eight months.
These personal quarters all led to a single
cylindrical pod, ten feet high and twenty feet in diameter. Known to the crew
as the ‘Hygiene Bay’, it housed the toilet and cleaning facilities. From the inside, it was a long way from a
normal domestic bathroom; the walls and floors were made of thin stainless
steel plates and fibreglass moulds. Any water used whilst cleaning would go
through a purification process and return to the water canisters housed around
the outside of the pod. Similarly, all bodily fluids were also recycled and
returned to their reserve supply.
From the Hygiene Bay a small opening led to
the southern pole of the Lounge.
The Lounge was designed to be a multi-purpose
living area in which the crew would spend most of their time. Recessed cupboards opened out to reveal
exercise mats and treadmills, and along one wall a complex scientific
laboratory could be assembled. The
Lounge’s sheer scale allowed it to perform several functions at once, meaning
that the crew of four could all use the space at the same time while not being
restricted to the same activities. The
flexibility had been deemed indispensable by the mission psychologists, who had
also made efforts not to separate the crew. For this reason, aside from emergency airlocks between each pod, there
were no closable doors throughout the ship.
Attached to the northern pole of the Lounge
was the ten-foot long Command Module,
during the day.
Back in his own room, Montreaux placed the
headphones carefully over his ears and pressed them down firmly with his hands,
before touching the screen lightly. As the music began to play, he lay back and
let his mind wander.
On the wall opposite was a framed picture: a
three dimensional rendering of the Clarke ,
set against the backdrop of Mars. The Sun shone from the left of the picture,
casting the Clarke ’s shadow over the
Red Planet.
He closed his eyes and put his hands behind
his head as Barber’s Adagio for Strings reached its first climax in his headphones. Sudden silence, then a lone
double-bass mournfully recited the American composer’s melody.
Montreaux’s imagination took him through his
quarters’ small window and he sailed out into space. He felt himself rotating
slowly in the vacuum, before coming to rest in a reclined position, his eyes
wide open.
Before him lay the Clarke .
Chapter 1 3
The Clarke slid through space
effortlessly and silently at just over eight kilometres per second. The bright
blue beam of charged ions escaping the spaceship’s exhaust, powered by a
nuclear particle accelerator, made it the fastest manned craft ever built. Despite this, the gradual acceleration over
eight weeks made the sensation of incredible speed practically imperceptible to
its crew, who continued to float inside.
The ion drive and particle accelerator were
housed within a large grey oblong structure to the rear of the Clarke , narrowing at the end to a slit
through which the ions were forced. The
structure was connected by a one hundred feet section of titanium scaffold to
the main living quarters. Running the
entire length of the scaffold, through its centre, was a series of thin
metallic tubes containing xenon gas, the fuel for their entire journey. On their arrival in Mars orbit, the spent
canisters would be jettisoned carefully in space, away from the planet, to save
on mass for the return journey; mass still had the same effect on objects as it
did on Earth, even in the weightlessness of space.
Closest to the ion drive was a group of four
cylindrical pods bunched together in a circle, each one fifteen feet high and
ten feet in diameter. There was one pod
for each crew member, containing a bunk, computer, cupboard and drawers for
personal items, and a small desk and chair with strap to retain its occupant. The remaining space was used for storage;
enough food for one person for eight months.
These personal quarters all led to a single
cylindrical pod, ten feet high and twenty feet in diameter. Known to the crew
as the ‘Hygiene Bay’, it housed the toilet and cleaning facilities. From the inside, it was a long way from a
normal domestic bathroom; the walls and floors were made of thin stainless
steel plates and fibreglass moulds. Any water used whilst cleaning would go
through a purification process and return to the water canisters housed around
the outside of the pod. Similarly, all bodily fluids were also recycled and
returned to their reserve supply.
From the Hygiene Bay a small opening led to
the southern pole of the Lounge.
The Lounge was designed to be a multi-purpose
living area in which the crew would spend most of their time. Recessed cupboards opened out to reveal
exercise mats and treadmills, and along one wall a complex scientific
laboratory could be assembled. The
Lounge’s sheer scale allowed it to perform several functions at once, meaning
that the crew of four could all use the space at the same time while not being
restricted to the same activities. The
flexibility had been deemed indispensable by the mission psychologists, who had
also made efforts not to separate the crew. For this reason, aside from emergency airlocks between each pod, there
were no closable doors throughout the ship.
Attached to the northern pole of the Lounge
was the ten-foot long Command Module,
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