SEASON 2: EPISODE 6: "THE NEW ARGONAUTS."

SEASON 2: EPISODE 6: "THE NEW ARGONAUTS."

34. THE TWO PROFESSORS.

Troy stared for some time at the plate of food placed before him, he rotated the dish on the table and looked closely at the meal and after a few seconds declared; “What the fuck is it?” He looked up in puzzlement at the young Chef, who folded her arms and rolled her eyes. “Cabbage and rice risotto with celery pieces.” She said sighing, and then walked back to the small kitchen. Leon started to laugh quietly and pushed his plate to one side; “They trained her for nearly a year to produce crap like this – it must be a joke.” He muttered and then smiled broadly, as did Troy, when the Chief entered the galley, rubbing his hands in anticipation of lunch. 

"Bloody Sunny could have knocked up better." Leon said and wondered how she was getting on, with her basic Chef's course at the Military catering School in Rossington.

Marcus dropped into the chair opposite them and stared at their plates; “What on the lunch menu today boys? – I skipped breakfast – it looked quite strange.” Troy and Leon shrugged their shoulders and pushed the plates towards the Chief; “Total crap Chief – does the Captain agree with this rubbish being dished up?” Leon asked and folded his arms. The chief poked the meal with a fork and sighed. “She’s just out of Chef School and is following their recommendations for a healthy food regime – doesn’t know any better I suspect. The Captain is going to speak with her this afternoon, I know that.” The Chief chuckled and pushed the plate away and looked up as Lilly stuck her head around the Galley door and smiled; “I don’t know if anyone is interested, but Eve and I are knocking up fried egg sandwiches in the Medical Bay.” She said simply and disappeared. Marcus, Leon and Troy exchanged glances and quickly followed Lilly towards the medical Bay.

The young Chef appeared in the galley clutching the Chief’s lunch and was a little surprised to find it empty – Even the two big cats turned their noses up at the food on offer and headed for the Medical Bay, where they both knew Eve and Lilly kept a stack of cat biscuits and other treats.

The medical bay couldn’t fit too many more of the crew inside and so Tom and Harry stood in the corridor outside, clutching their precious fried egg sandwich’s and sipping Lilly’s freshly brewed coffee. The small kitchen within the medical bay had never been so busy and the fry pan was turning out constant fried eggs - to everyone’s delight.

Picasso had found the galley totally empty – apart from the bewildered Chef – which was unusual because it was lunch time. The noise from the service corridor caught his attention and he found most of his crew there and in the Medical Bay. The smell of fried eggs also caught his attention and he joined the queue with a slight smile upon his face.

Everyone certainly missed Frankie on this trip; he had been granted two weeks compassionate leave to attend the funeral of his beloved sister Katherine, who had died suddenly at home. His replacement; Chef Louise Koch was straight from Training School and the Thor was her first posting – she followed Military nutritional guidelines like they were gospel – and the crew was not happy.

Thus, it was decided by Captain Jones that he would have ‘quiet’ words with the young Chef and get curries, chips and chili’s back on the menu – before he had a full blown mutiny on his hands!

Thankfully, the young Chef did understand just how important the meals were to the crew [particularly for morale], after a very careful and diplomatic discussion with Captain Jones. Louise shuffled through the recipes left by Frankie and set to work.

That evening, a very apprehensive crew started to assemble in the Galley, but the gorgeous smell of curry filled the air and they began to relax and chatter amongst themselves. The curry was excellent and young Louise received a full round of applause for her efforts; even Jones had to admit that it wasn’t too bad – as a substitute for Frankie’s curries, which were almost worshiped by the crew.

The Chef was a little surprised that Dallas and Lucy also tucked into the food; accompanied by a bowl of cold beer. After dinner, she raised the matter with the Chief, who was sprawled across two chairs in the Dining room, sipping a little ‘Old Ma Crawfords’ from his hip-flask. He smiled and said simply; “They’re Rig cats – they’ll eat anything.” Then he thought for a moment; “Just don’t let the buggers have beer with every meal; it makes them fart. Give them weak cold coffee and some water now and again.”

A very amused Chef returned to her little kitchen to plan tomorrow’s meals, chuckling to herself and stepping over the two big cats asleep on the floor, curled up next to each other. She sighed; the Chief was right about the farting and switched the extraction fans on.

Jones and Eve sat in the corner of the Galley, opposite each other and sipped their coffees quietly. They were both disappointed that their application for extended leave had been rejected; the two professor’s expedition to the Easters would now go ahead without them.

Vice-Admiral Kellamann had been quite apologetic whilst refusing their applications – following the eruptions of the volcano, all military personnel had been placed upon ‘High Alert’ and the Thor had been dispatched to complete the serving of weather stations three, six and nine - and there were no real replacements, readily available, for Jones and the Doc.

Thus Professor’s Jacobson and Dawes expedition to locate the fabled ruined city of the Easter’s had commenced without the pair. The professors had leased an old ‘Mammoth’ class rig and put together a small team of eight – the expedition was already underway, when the Thor had left Rossington Docks to complete the interrupted service schedule.

Jones had kept a quiet eye on the ‘scope’ and watched the dot, which represented the old ‘Mammoth’ cargo now renamed ‘The New Argonaut’, as it progressed towards the Easter Mountains. He had calculated that the Thor and the New Argonaut will cross paths south of the Easters, upon Prospect Plains, just before they [The New Argonaut] entered the foothills of the mountain range.

He would arrange a visit to the ‘New Argonaut’ when the two rigs meet up on Prospect Plain – probably in a couple of days. The Thor was on route to Weather Station numbers three to complete the service schedule colloquially known as ‘working the line’ [three, six & nine].

There had been no further information regarding Caroline Palmer, but Jones had given Professor Dawes a copy of the suspected map, that he had found near her body, in the old geo-harvester. The professor had promised to keep Jones, Eve and Tom in the loop.

The two professors believed the entrance, of the cave system which held the fabled ruins, lay some nine kilometres west of Valley La Mort and that’s where their expedition would commence the search. Dawes had confided to Jones that he had some unspoken reservations about a couple members of his team, particularly the Rig’s captain: Norman Bannister. Jones believed he knew the name but could not recall why. Only later when he mentioned the name to the Chief did he realise that Captain Bannister had been involved in two nasty incidents with rigs he commanded – mostly for being drunk. He had his Rig Masters certificate [RMC] revoked on two occasions and was suspended for a year each time. A very close eye would have to be kept on him.

The other crew member the professor had doubts about was a former Mars Marine, who admitted he had been dishonourably discharged from the Corps, after an incident in which a fellow Marine died. He was also suspected of being a little too much reliant on alcohol.

The remaining crew members appeared quite solid; a student in their last year at medical college, a former XO [who still has his RMC] on a big cargo rig who had retired early, a survival expert and a Government Surveyor, taking extended leave. The expedition had left Rossington some days before the Thor departed for service duties.

35. JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN.

The Thor had been parked for some hours outside weather station number three and the Chief, with Tom and Max were the service team working inside, completing routine maintenance.

Jones sat on the bridge with Leon, sipping coffee and chatting about the two mad professors and what they hoped to find in the caves. Eve was gossiping with Lilly on the communications desk, having set up the Surface Suit monitoring system, for when the service team cross the surface back to the Thor. Maggie was reading her PA in the Pilots seat and occasionally checking the odd instrument read out.

Lilly answered the internal phone and called over to Jones; “Skipper, Louise says that lunch will be ready at twelve. There’s chilli, chicken salad or Pizza on the menu today - and there’s ice-cream for desert.” She grinned broadly and Leon nodded his approval; “That must have been some little chat skipper!” Everyone chuckled and Jones just smiled.

Harry appeared and bent down to Jones with a concerned look on his face, he spoke quietly and Jones immediately turned to Lilly; “Can you get onto weather central and get an update for the weather at the Easters and the Ice-Shelf please.”

Harry folded his arms and and stood quietly next to the communications desk, while Lilly called up weather control. “I can’t understand why they are not flashing a warning for us, if a dumb fuck like me can work it out, surely they can.” Harry spoke directly to Jones who could only nod his agreement – a possible Category 2 (Low) storm was no laughing matter – especially near the volatile Ice-Shelf.

It took several minutes before Lilly received a reply; a serious storm warning for their region was indeed underway – Harry had simply worked it out a lot faster than they did. Jones patted Harry on the shoulder; “Good work Harry, I’m glad that someone knows what they’re doing!” The bridge crew unanimously voiced their agreement with that.

It was clear that a category 2 (Low) storm was just a few hours away and it was carrying electronics – the lunch would have to wait and the service crew needed to be recalled.

Jones was already working out a placement plan for the ‘Lightning canisters’ and the best place to park up the Thor. A small valley some kilometres away, near the Easter foothills, offered the best cover. When the service crew was recovered successfully, the Thor was immediately diverted and made her way to ‘Hudson Valley’.

Already the sky was darkening above the Easter Mountains and far in the distance could be seen small flashes of white and orange. The Chief swallowed down some cold water, followed by fresh coffee and watched through the windscreen, as the small valley entrance appeared. “I think we’ll have just about an hour to place some canisters, with a reasonable safety margin for working on the surface.” He spoke to Maggie who was in command of the bridge – Jones, Leon, Troy and Lilly were already in the suit room, getting ready to deploy. Tom and Max remained in the corridor; they were still suited up, having returned from the weather station.

Louise had arrived with coffee and water for them, which was gratefully received and said that hot food would be served, upon the captains order, when they returned from the surface.

Maggie parked the Thor up, just inside the valley and after Eve had checked the readout’s of the surface suit monitors; gave the go ahead for canister placement.

The team hit the sand some minutes later and Leon rolled the canisters from the cargo bay external door to their waiting grasp. It took thirty minutes to place the lightning canisters and all the surface crew returned safely to the Thor.

That’s when Maggie drew Jones attention to the scope; the New Argonaut rig was still on the move inside the foothills of the Easter Mountains. “What the fuck!” Muttered the Chief adding; “The other three rigs on the scope are stationary, probably deploying canisters as I speak. What the fuck is this one up too?”

Jones rubbed his chin and nodded; “Maybe he’s running for cover, perhaps to one of the big cave entrances.” Jones turned to Lilly adding; “Try and call them up Lilly; before we close down for the storm.” Jones stared through the windscreen at the approaching darkness and lightning flashes. Once Lilly had made contact with the New Argonaut, he would order the close down of the rig, with deck furniture [aerials and satellite dishes] folded away and shields dropped.

“Can’t raise them captain, sorry.” Lilly looked quite concerned, adding; “There’s nothing wrong with the signal or equipment and they are receiving our call – they’re just not replying.” Jones grunted and ordered the Thor’s closedown for the duration of the storm. Tom asked for the order to fire the lightning canisters and Jones nodded: affirmative.

Everyone could hear the muffled explosions, each in in turn, as the canisters were activated by Tom. “All are up and running correctly skipper.” Tom called out to Jones, who dropped into the captain’s chair and watched as the shields came down slowly over the windscreen. He turned to Lilly and told her to announce that lunch could be taken – that would put smiles on grim faces.

The storm arrived some minutes later with hurricane strength winds and serious amounts of lightning; everyone could hear small rocks and stones slamming against the Thor’s hull and running across the roof.

Jones ate his lunch sitting on the bridge with Leon [who also had his lunch bought to him by Louise] and chatted about the storm and the professor’s expedition. Maggie rejoined them after dinner, praising the young chef’s chicken salad dressing, which also received recommendation from both Lilly and Eve. Jones and the chief had chilli – as did Leon, Harry and Troy.

There was lots of conversation and a little laughter on the bridge as they sat out the storm. Jones was happy that morale was good and he reached down and stroked Lucy, who sat at his feet, whilst Dallas was sprawled across the communications desk, being fussed over by Lilly and Eve.

Suddenly, there was a huge bang and the Thor rocked from side to side; one of the canisters had apparently been hit and was totally destroyed. Tom switched off the ‘collision alarm’ and checked his instruments. “The North canister has been obliterated. That must have been some lightning strike!”

Leon looked up from his panel and slightly smiled; “Hull integrity is 100% skipper. But should I prep the life-rafts?” Jones nodded; yes. The Chief and Troy left to physically prepare the life-rafts by opening ingress hatches and switch on their internal systems. “Better safe than sorry.” Jones muttered.

Leon activated both rafts from the Bridge and Jones punched in his security code, setting the rafts for automatic launch and Lilly sounded the ‘Go to life-raft’ stations alarm. The two rafts quickly filled with the non-essential and apprehensive crew; Raft 1 had the Chief in command with Lilly, Troy, Harry and Louise – the other place was for Maggie.

Raft 2 would be commanded by the Captain with Max, Eve, and Leon on board. The two big cats were also placed inside and Eve amused them with a couple of soft balls. The crew in her now waited for the captain and Tom.

On the bridge, Maggie turned to Jones and tapped the scope; “That’s really strange skipper, they have simply vanished off the scope – just gone.” Jones and Tom stared at the screen. She was right; the three other rigs, which were within the two hundred kilometre range of the scope, were clearly shown. The New Argonaut had disappeared from the screen. The captain ordered a recalibration of the scope which Tom completed in about ten minutes – the result was the same; the new Argonaut had simply vanished.

36. THE MISSING AND THE LOST.

“They could be hiding inside one of the really big caves that litter the foothills. That could easily close the signal off, especially with this bloody big storm knocking about.” Tom eased back in the co-pilots seat and shook his head; “I think we don’t have to worry until after the storm and if their signal doesn’t return.” Tom added and scrutinised the scope again – still no signal.

Jones knew that nothing could be done during this storm and they must wait it out, hopefully the New Argonaut would come back on line when the storm has finished. He told Tom and Maggie to take their places in the life-rafts and he would join them soon. He set the Thor on automatic pilot and the rafts would be automatically sealed for launch – should the need arise!

Jones was now alone on the bridge, so he pulled a couple of sheets of paper from his shirt pocket and sat quietly reading in the captain’s chair. They had been print-outs sent by Professor Dawes to Jones, the day the old rig had left for the Easter’s. Jones sat and read about the Expedition Members.

The two Professors [Dawes and Jacobson] were both known to Jones and he quickly moved on to the other six names upon the sheet:

Ketchi Tassimi was a 16 year old [29 on Earth] ‘survival expert’ who specialised in training commercial rig crews to survive on the sand, should the rig fail them. His nickname was ‘Ketchup’ and apparently had a good sense of humour – he wrote a ‘conspiracy’ column, that appeared on Mar’s internet, called ‘Strange Tales.’

Norman Bannister was 27 years old [48 on Earth] the Rig’s captain and was definitely a dubious character and that really did concern Jones, known for his drinking habits and double suspension for incidents on his previous rigs. Surprisingly enough, his RMC was still current.

Ian Kennedy was 18 years old [32 on Earth] a former Mars Marine, who had admitted being dishonourably discharged from the Corps. He had been unable to hold down various jobs since leaving the Marine Corps and was expected to provide security and military experience to the group. Jones knew he liked a drink – whatever the circumstances - and that was definitely not a good sign.

Christine Fletcher was 14 years old [25 on Earth] and a qualified Surveyor, who normally worked for the Housing Directorate of the Federal Mars Government. She had taken extended leave to become part of the expedition - Christine also wrote articles for a couple of ‘Conspiracy’ sites and was a self declared ‘fitness freak’.

William ‘Billy’ Doyle was 30 years old [55 on Earth] and had recently retired from working the rigs, where he had held XO [Executive Officer] positions on several big cargo rigs – his RMC was still valid and he was a qualified engineer. Jones believed he was a solid recruit for the professor’s team.

Finally, apparently on board for communications and medical needs, was Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Pushkin aged 15 years [27 on Earth] who was in her final year at Medical University and was taking a sabbatical to join the expedition. She professed an ‘interest’ in various conspiracy theories, particularly about the ruined city and Research Station 13. But her favourite was about a certain ‘Project Cenotaph’.

Jones finished reading and pushed that sheet into his pocket, he read the next with real interest. Professor Jack Dawes had sent Jones the proposed schedule for the expedition and clearly marked the cave entrance that interested him and Professor Jacobson. Jones sighed and was nearly thrown from his seat as another huge explosion was heard outside.

Another canister had been struck – they only had one left to protect the Thor from serious and probably fatal damage. That was not very good odds and Jones switched off the ‘collision alarm’ again, checked the Thor’s hull integrity; it was good. Then he headed for raft number 2 ensuring all the pressure doors across the rig closed behind him sealing each compartment.

Eve gave a big smile of relief as the captain climbed through the hatch of raft no.2 and sealed the heavy door behind him. He slumped into the seat next to Eve and smiled; “This could get very hairy; a second canister was hit.” Tom swore loudly and pushed his fingers through his hair; “Another strike like them two and we would have to launch skipper – right?”

Grim faced Jones said “Yes.” And turned to the small control panel by his seat and slid the protective covering down. He could see that the Chief had already sealed raft number 1 to go. He flicked down a couple of switches and sealed the raft; “Buckle up boys and girls.” He said quietly and pushed back in his seat, watching Eve and Tom placing the cats into their specially constructed survival cases and strapping them down.

Everyone was now strapped in their seats and Max passed some water bottles around, which were gratefully received – there was no conversation.

The minutes seemed like hours and Jones could feel the sweat running down his face and back, his mouth was dry despite the water he sipped and reached across and gripped Eve’s free hand. She managed a smile and raised the bottle in salute; “For once I could even go a drop of ‘Old Ma Crawford’s’ – where’s the Chief when you need him!”  They all chuckled; even Max.

Another huge explosion rocked the Thor and the lights dimmed and failed; Jones heard Max swear loudly and he knew that the Thor had been struck. Then nothing.

In the Control Centre at Rossington, the Duty Military Transit Controller; Major Maurice Applegate stared at his monitor and wiped his face slowly and deliberately. He turned to Lt. Caroline Huskman and said quietly; “Get me Vice-Admiral Kellamann urgently on the secure line.” 

After a few minutes Kellamann appeared on the video caller. The grim faced Major clasped his hands together and said simply; “WSV the Thor is apparently lost with all hands and a commercial cargo rig called the New Argonaut is missing – both in the Easter Mountains region during the current Category 1 storm. I’m very sorry sir.” 

FOLLOW THE ROVER TO SEASON 3: EPISODE 1: "THE ABYSS."

"William Alexander Stephens."

W.A.S.

Copyright © 2011-2021 Stephen Williams. No reproduction of any part without permission.