Incident 7834, Jupiter E-Book

Kai Kean

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 67

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Far from Earth around Jupiter the giant of the solar system the atmosphere is being mined for resources, but we are not alone. Something else lurks out here feeding on Jupiter and if we get in the way...

Leseprobe

Incident 7834, Jupiter

Chapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Copyright

Chapter 1

I want to tell my story, even if it is simply swept away as madness. What happened on board j-347 is simply classified as a combination of Jupiter's atmospheric disturbances and human and material errors, but that is only to hide the truth! They do not know what happened or how to evaluate what we survivors have told. We were placed in a sanatorium to recover. It sounds so beautiful. As if they really take care of us, but that's a truth with modifications. The reality is that they do not want us to spread the word about what actually happened to us. We're not the only ones harnessing materials from Jupiter! There are others! Things that live in the emptiness of space. Creatures that don't even notice us. I know that these stories will probably never become public. They want us to forget. Have there been any previous incidents like this? Events that they want remain negligible events? I don't know, but here I want to tell our story. I owe that much! Perhaps this report will someday come into the hands of others who can pass it on. I can only hope. My name is Thomas Berg and I was a magnetic operator on j-347 that was destroyed on its third mission to Jupiter. It began like any other mission of the Ganymede refineries. We had had our rest period and were now out on what seemed to be quite a regular trip to the Jupiter harvesting cycle to mine material from the atmosphere of the planet. Everything was as it used to be. We prepared j-347 for its mission. We were well rested and in good courage. The mining operations of Jupiter have been going on for so long that I have to assume that something similar to what we were exposed to has happened before. Just taste the wording "incident 7834". There are 7833 incidents that preceded our "incident". Most are just minor insignificant injuries, but some of them must be more than just an "incident". There's something about Jupiter. It does something to you when you look at it! I felt that even before the incident occurred. I still remember how I stood and looked at it. The eternal storms in its atmosphere were evident even from Ganymede. We came up to j-347 with the space elevator from Ganymede's surface. It was one of the newer vessels with an upgraded magnetic field that could tear parts of Jupiter's atmosphere up to us so we could load it into our matter tank and bring it back to the refineries at Ganimede. It was always a very special feeling to drive up with the space elevator, making the transition from Ganymede's gravity to the weightlessness of space. Ganymede doesn't have anywhere near Earth's gravity, but it still makes a difference. I was in the elevator with Theodor Jakov our mechanical engineer and Joseph Zentov, the cargo commander. As we drove up the elevator, we could see the dock structure getting bigger above us. There was j-347 and looking quite fine. It was just another magnetic harvest vessel. It was probably newer than most others, but in appearance it was basically the same. The magnetized harvesting equipment and tanks were in the middle with the personel area with artificial gravity from the centrifugal force around. "Isn't she a wonderful sight as she lies there!" Said Theodor, who was very happy that we were to man one of the new vessels. "It probably depends on what you consider to be wonderful." "You would prefer to be home on Earth rather than out here." Joseph told me. “Earth is more accommodating to us. At least we wouldn't spend all our time in a can.” I replied back. "Then you have no sense of adventure!" Theodor said patronizingly. "I'm here, am I not?" "Sure, but that's only because the salaries out here are as good as they are." Said Joseph. “Of course, why leave Earth if you didn't get something out of it. Would you want to work for free?” I asked. There was silence in response to my question. "I thought so!" I said triumphantly. "But it is quite excellent to be the crew on a better vessel that is also safer." "At least you got that right." Said Joseph. "The idea of being pulled down by Jupiter's gravity is not very appealing." We now reached the point where we became completely weightless and floated around the elevator. We reached the dock and soon hovered out of the elevator and down the aisles to the wheel to which j-347 was docked. On the way down, as always, we made sure to cling to the ladder on the side of the hallway so we didn't start to fall as the artificial centrifugal gravity set in. It was nice to get proper gravity below our feet again. I have never liked weightlessness. We walked the short distance along the ring to the gate down to j-347. It was always special to get down in the mining vessels from the dock as the personel ring was transverse to the dock, which made the artificial gravity wrong when compared to when the vessel was active. This made us walk on the walls. We came on board and out into the personel area. We were the last to arrive and the captain, John Hawk, looked at us from his chair on the floor, where he was strapped in. It was always a strange feeling to see someone sitting on what was the wall to us. “You're late! There are only minutes to departure. Make sure to come a little earlier next time! ” Theodor shrugged. The mechanical engineers were well-trained labor in great demand, which clearly showed in their behavior. They could always find work on another vessel at another company. Maybe even on a vessel that operated closer to Earth and provided the opportunity to come home once in a while. It was different with Joseph and I. We could not afford that behavior, even if new employees were to make the long trip from Earth to Jupiter, it was not good to cancel a contract anyway. We both apologized and I took my seat at the panel that monitored the magnetic field generator and strapped myself into the seat. Joseph left the bridge and went down to the cargo monitoring room and Theodor to the engine room. My partner at the magnetic panel, Meav Carter, looked at me. Her hair hung down towards me. It was clear that she found it quite amuzing that we had arrived a little late. "I'm glad you find it amuzing." “Don't take it too seriously, Thomas! At least you didn't arrive too late.." She said, laughing, shaking her head. We were ten people on j-347. It's the standard crew. We are two magnet operators, Meav and I, the pilot Eric Tang, the cargo crew consisting of Joseph and Henry Gerard, the machine crew consisting of Theodor, Peter Bloom and August Ems, second in command and communications officer Yukiko Nakamura and Captain John Hawk. It is standard that there are always two female members of the crew, although there are relatively few women in the Jupiter system. Either at least two or none simply because there are not to be only one woman on board. We were now ready for departure and we kept the time. “We are confirmed for departure, Captain! The cargo and machinery staff report that they are ready for departure.” Yukiko said. "Well! You can get us off the dock, Eric!” Said John. Eric waited until we were in the right position to disengage from the dock, having the centrifugal force send us in the right direction towards Jupiter. He disengaged us and we were out on what was to be our fateful journey. The artificial gravity was rapidly declining, now that we were no longer docked. Eric put the personel ring into rotation and before long we could feel the weight coming back into our bodies. The ladders that went over what was now the floor always seemed strange when gravity came from this direction. They were only used to get to and from our seats when we were docked.