Captain?’
‘I – well, it isn’t going to be easy. But we’re all in this together, so I’ll tell you just what they told me. At the very best we can’t expect them to reach us for some months. The ship will have to come from Earth. The two planets are well past conjunction now. I’m afraid it’s going to mean quite a wait.’
‘Can we – hold out long enough, Captain?’
‘According to my calculations we should be able to hold out for about seventeen or eighteen weeks.’
‘And that will be long enough?’
‘It’ll have to be.’
He broke the thoughtful pause that followed by continuing in a brisker manner.
‘This is not going to be comfortable, or pleasant. But, if we all play our parts, and keep strictly to the necessary measures, it can be done. Now, there are three essentials: air to breathe – well, luckily we shan’t have to worry about that. The regeneration
plant and stock of spare cylinders, and cylinders in cargo will look after that for a long time. Water will be rationed. Two pints each every twenty-four hours, for
everything
. Luckily we shall be able to draw water from the fuel tanks, or it would be a great deal less than that. The thing that is going to be our most serious worry is food.’
He explained his proposals further, with patient clarity. At the end he added: ‘And now I expect you have some questions?’
A small, wiry man with a weather-beaten face asked:
‘Is there no hope at all of getting the lateral tubes to work again?’
Captain Winters shook his head.
‘Negligible. The impellent section of a ship is not constructed to be accessible in space. We shall keep on trying, of course, but even if the others could be made to fire, we should still be unable to repair the port laterals.’
He did his best to answer the few more questions that followed in ways that held a balance between easy confidence and despondency. The prospect was by no means good. Before help could possibly reach them they were all going to need all the nerve and resolution they had – and out of sixteen persons some must be weaker than others.
His gaze rested again on Alice Morgan and her husband beside her. Her presence was certainly a possible source of trouble. When it came to the pinch the man would have more strain on account of her – and, most likely, fewer scruples.
Since the woman was here, she must share the consequences equally with the rest. There could be no privilege. In a sharp emergency one could afford a heroic gesture, but preferential treatment of any one person in the long ordeal which they must face would create an impossible situation. Make any allowances for her, and you would be called on to make allowances for others on health or other grounds – with heaven knew what complications to follow.
A fair chance with the rest was the best he could do for her –
not, he felt, looking at her as she clutched her husband’s hand and looked at him from wide eyes in a pale face, not a very good best.
He hoped she would not be the first to go under. It would be better for morale if she were not the very first …
She was not the first to go. For nearly three months nobody went.
The
Falcon
, by means of skilfully timed bursts on the main tubes, had succeeded in nudging herself into an orbital relationship with Mars. After that, there was little that the crew could do for her. At the distance of equilibrium she had become a very minor satellite, rolling and tumbling on her circular course, destined, so far as anyone could see, to continue this untidy progress until help reached them, or perhaps for ever …
Inboard, the complexity of her twisting somersaults was not perceptible unless one deliberately uncovered a port. If one did, the crazy cavortings of the universe outside produced such a sense of bewilderment that one gladly shut the cover again to preserve the illusion of stability within. Even Captain Winters and the Navigating Officer took their observations as swiftly
‘I – well, it isn’t going to be easy. But we’re all in this together, so I’ll tell you just what they told me. At the very best we can’t expect them to reach us for some months. The ship will have to come from Earth. The two planets are well past conjunction now. I’m afraid it’s going to mean quite a wait.’
‘Can we – hold out long enough, Captain?’
‘According to my calculations we should be able to hold out for about seventeen or eighteen weeks.’
‘And that will be long enough?’
‘It’ll have to be.’
He broke the thoughtful pause that followed by continuing in a brisker manner.
‘This is not going to be comfortable, or pleasant. But, if we all play our parts, and keep strictly to the necessary measures, it can be done. Now, there are three essentials: air to breathe – well, luckily we shan’t have to worry about that. The regeneration
plant and stock of spare cylinders, and cylinders in cargo will look after that for a long time. Water will be rationed. Two pints each every twenty-four hours, for
everything
. Luckily we shall be able to draw water from the fuel tanks, or it would be a great deal less than that. The thing that is going to be our most serious worry is food.’
He explained his proposals further, with patient clarity. At the end he added: ‘And now I expect you have some questions?’
A small, wiry man with a weather-beaten face asked:
‘Is there no hope at all of getting the lateral tubes to work again?’
Captain Winters shook his head.
‘Negligible. The impellent section of a ship is not constructed to be accessible in space. We shall keep on trying, of course, but even if the others could be made to fire, we should still be unable to repair the port laterals.’
He did his best to answer the few more questions that followed in ways that held a balance between easy confidence and despondency. The prospect was by no means good. Before help could possibly reach them they were all going to need all the nerve and resolution they had – and out of sixteen persons some must be weaker than others.
His gaze rested again on Alice Morgan and her husband beside her. Her presence was certainly a possible source of trouble. When it came to the pinch the man would have more strain on account of her – and, most likely, fewer scruples.
Since the woman was here, she must share the consequences equally with the rest. There could be no privilege. In a sharp emergency one could afford a heroic gesture, but preferential treatment of any one person in the long ordeal which they must face would create an impossible situation. Make any allowances for her, and you would be called on to make allowances for others on health or other grounds – with heaven knew what complications to follow.
A fair chance with the rest was the best he could do for her –
not, he felt, looking at her as she clutched her husband’s hand and looked at him from wide eyes in a pale face, not a very good best.
He hoped she would not be the first to go under. It would be better for morale if she were not the very first …
She was not the first to go. For nearly three months nobody went.
The
Falcon
, by means of skilfully timed bursts on the main tubes, had succeeded in nudging herself into an orbital relationship with Mars. After that, there was little that the crew could do for her. At the distance of equilibrium she had become a very minor satellite, rolling and tumbling on her circular course, destined, so far as anyone could see, to continue this untidy progress until help reached them, or perhaps for ever …
Inboard, the complexity of her twisting somersaults was not perceptible unless one deliberately uncovered a port. If one did, the crazy cavortings of the universe outside produced such a sense of bewilderment that one gladly shut the cover again to preserve the illusion of stability within. Even Captain Winters and the Navigating Officer took their observations as swiftly
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