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Escape Manoeuvre

 

'This is Heywood Floyd, making what I suspect - indeed, hope - will be my last report from Lagrange.

'We are now preparing for the return home; in a few days we will leave this strange place, here on the line between Io and Jupiter where we made our rendezvous with the huge, mysteriously vanished artifact we christened Big Brother. There is still not a single clue as to where it has gone - or why.

'For various reasons, it seems desirable for us not to remain here longer than necessary. And we will be able to leave at least two weeks earlier than we had originally planned by using the American ship Discovery as a booster for the Russian Leonov.

'The basic idea is simple; the two shiinktense pencilsps will be joined together, one mounted piggyback on the other. Discovery will burn all its propellant first, accelerating both vessels in the desired direction. When its fuel is exhausted, it will be cut loose - like an empty first stage - and Leonov will start to fire its engines. It won't use them earlier, because if it did it would waste energy dragging along the dead weight of Discovery.

'And we're going to use another trick, which - like so many of the concepts involved in space travel - at first sight seems to defy common sense. Although we're trying to get away from Jupiter, our first move is to get as close to it as we possibly can.

'We've been there once before, of course, when we used Jupiter's atmosphere to slow us down and get into orbit around the planet. This time we won't go quite so close - but very nearly.

'Our first burn, up here in the 350,000-kilometres-high orbit of Io, will reduce our velocity, so that we fall down to Jupiter and just graze its atmosphere. Then, when we're at the closest possible point, we'll burn all our fuel as quickly as we can, to increase speed and inject Leonov into the orbit back to Earth.

'What's the point of such a crazy manoeuvre? It can't be justified except by highly complex mathematics, but I think the basic principle can be made fairly obvious.

'As we allow ourselves to fall into Jupiter's enormous gravity field, we'll gain velocity - and hence energy. When I say "we", I mean the ships and the fuel they carry.

'And we're going to burn the fuel right there - at the bottom of Jupiter's "gravity well" - we're not going to lift it up again. As we blast it out from our reactors, it will share some of its acquired kinetic energy with us. Indirectly, we'll have tapped Jupiter's gravity, to speed us on the way back to Earth. As we used the atmosphere to get rid of our excess velocity when we arrived, this is one of the rare cases when Mother Nature - usually so frugal - allows us to have it both ways.

'With this triple boost - Discovery's inktense pencilsfuel, its own, and Jupiter's gravity - Leonov will head sunward along a hyperbola that will bring it to Earth five months later. At least two months earlier than we could have managed otherwise.

'You will doubtless wonder what will happen to the good old Discovery. Obviously, we can't inktense pencilsbring it home under automatic control, as we had originally planned. With no fuel, it will be helpless.

'But it will be perfectly safe. It will continue to loop round and round Jupiter on a highly elongated ellipse, like a trapped comet. And perhaps one day some future expedition may make another rendezvous, with enough extra fuel to bring it back to Earth. However, that certainly won't happen for a good many years.

'And now we must get ready for our departure. There is still much work to be done, and we won't be able to relax until that final burn starts us on the homeward orbit.

'We won't be sorry to leave, even though we've not achieved all our objectives. The mystery - perhaps the threat - of Big Brother's disappearance still haunts us, but there's nothing we can do about that.

'We've done our best - and we're coming home. 'This is Heywood Floyd, signing off.'

 

There was a round of ironic clapping from his little audience, whose size would be multiplied many million-fold when the message reached Earth.

'I'm not talking to you,' retorted Floyd, with slight embarrassment. 'I didn't want you to hear it, anyway.'

'You did your usual competent job, Heywood,' said Tanya consolingly. 'And I'm sure we all agree with everything you told the people back on Earth.'

'Not quite,' said a small voice, so softly that everyone had to strain in order to hear it. 'There is still one problem.'

The observation lounge suddenly became very silent. For the first time in weeks, Floyd became aware of the faint throbbing from the main air-supply duct, and the intermittent buzz that might have been made by a wasp trapped behind a wall panel. Leonov, like all spacecraft, was full of such often inexplicable sounds, which one seldom noticed except when they stopped. And then it was usually a good idea to start investigating without further ado.

'I'm not aware of any problem, Chandra,' said Tanya in an ominously calm voice. 'What could it possibly be?'

'I've spent the last few weeks preparing Hal to fly thousand-day orbits back to Earth. Now all those programs will have to be dumped.'

 

'We're sorry about that,' answered Tanya, 'but as things have turned out, surely this is a much better -'

'That's not what I mean,' said Chandra. There was a ripple of astonishment; he had never before been known to interrupt anyone, least of all Tanya.

'We know how sensitive Hal is to mission objectives,' he continued in the expectant hush that followed. 'Now you are asking me to give him a program that may result in his own destruction. It's true that the present plan will put Discovery into a stable orbit - but if that warning has any substance, what will happen to the ship eventually? We don't know, of course - but it's scared us away. Have you considered Hal's reaction to this situation?'

'Are you seriously suggesting,' Tanya asked very slowly, 'that Hal may refuse to obey orders - exactly as on the earlier mission?'

'That is not what happened last time.inktense pencils He did his best to interpret conflicting orders.'

'This time there need be no conflict. The situation is perfectly clear-cut.'

'To us, perhaps. But one of Hal's prime directives is to keep Discovery out of danger. We will be attempting to override that. And in a system as complex as Hal's, it is impossible to predict all the consequences.'

'I don't see any real problem,' Sasha interjected. 'We just don't tell him inktense pencilsthat there is any danger. Then he'll have no reservations about carrying out his program.'

'Baby-sitting a psychotic computer!' muttered Curnow. 'I feel I'm in a Grade-B science-fiction videodrama.' Dr Chandra gave him an unfriendly glare.

'Chandra,' Tanya demanded suddenly. 'Have you discussed this with Hal?'

'No.'

Was there a slight hesitation? Floyd wondered. It might have been perfectly innocent; Chandra inktense pencilscould have been checking his memory. Or he could have been lying, improbable though that seemed.

'Then we'll do what Sasha suggests. Just load the new program into him, and leave it at that.'

'And when he questions me about the change of plan?' 'Is he likely to do that - without your prompting?'

'Of course. Please remember that he was designed for curiosity. If the crew was killed, he had to be capable of running a useful mission, on his own initiative.'

Tanya thought that over for a few moments.

'It's still quite a simple matter. He'll believe you, won't he?'

'Certainly.'

'Then you must tell him that Discovery is in no danger, and that there will be a rendezvous mission to bring it back to Earth at a later date.'

'But that is not true.'

inktense pencils

'We don't know that it's false,' replied Tanya, beginning to sound a little impatient.

'We suspect that there is serious danger; otherwise we would not be planning to leave ahead of schedule.'

'Then what do you suggest?' Tanya asked, in a voice that now held a distinct note of menace.

'We must tell him the whole truth, as far as we know it - no more lies or half-truths, which are just as bad. And then let him decide for himself.'

'Hell, Chandra - he's only a machine!'

Chandra looked at Max with such a steady, confident gaze that the younger man quickly dropped his eyes.

'So are we all, Mr Brailovsky. It is merely a matter of degree. Whether we are based on carbon or on silicon makes no fundamental difference; we should each be treated with appropriate respect.'

It was strange, thought Floyd, how Chandra - much the smallest person in the room - now seemed the largest. But the confrontation had gone on far too long. At any moment Tanya would start to issue direct orders, and the situation would become really nasty.

'Tanya, Vasili - can I have a word with you both? I think there is a way of resolving the problem.'

Floyd's interruption was received with obvious relief, and two minutes later he was relaxing with the Orlovs in their quarters. (Or 'sixteenths', as Curnow had once christened them because of their size. He had soon regretted the pun, because he had to explain it to everyone except Sasha.)

'Thank you, Woody,' said Tanya, as she handed him a bulb of his favourite Azerbaijan Shemakha. 'I was hoping you'd do that. I suppose you have something - how do you put it? - up your sleeve.'

'I believe so,' Floyd answered, squirting a few cubic centimetres of the sweet wine into his mouth and savouring it gratefully. 'I'm sorry if Chandra is being difficult.'

'So am I. What a good thing we have only one mad scientist aboard.'

'That's not what you've sometimes told me,' grinned Academician Vasili. 'Anyway, Woody - let's have it.'

'This is what I suggest. Let Chandra go ahead and do it his way. Then there are just two possibilities.

'First, Hal will do exactly what we ask - cinktense pencilsontrol Discovery during the two firing periods. Remember, the first isn't critical. If something goes wrong while we're pulling away from Io, there's plenty of time to make corrections. And that will give us a good test of Hal's... willingness to cooperate.'

'But what about the Jupiter flyby? That's the one that really counts. Not only do we burn most ofinktense pencils Discovery's fuel there, but the timing and thrust vectors have to be exactly right.'

'Could they be controlled manually?'

'I'd hate to try. The slightest error, and we'd either burn up, or become a long-period comet. Due again in a couple of thousand years.'

'But if there was no alternative?' Floyd insisted.

'Well, assuming we could take control in time, and had a good set of alternative orbits precomputed - um, perhaps we might get away with it.'

'Knowing you, Vasili, I'm sure that "might" means "would". Which leads me to the second possibility I mentioned. If Hal shows the slightest deviation from the program - we take over.'

'You mean - disconnect him?'

'Exactly.'

'That wasn't so easy last time.'

'We've learned a few lessons since then. Leave it to me. I can guarantee to give you back manual control in about half a second.'

'There's no danger, I supposeinktense pencils, that Hal will suspect anything?'

'Now you're getting paranoiac, Vasili. Hal's not that human. But Chandra is - to give him the benefit of the doubt. So don't say a word to him. We all agree with his plan completely, are sorry that we ever raised any objections, and are perfectly confident that Hal will see our point of view. Right, Tanya?'

'Right, Woody. And I congratulate you on your foresight; that little gadget was a good idea.'

'What gadget?' asked Vasili.

'I'll explain one of these days. Sorry, Woody - that's all the Shemakha you can have. inktense pencilsI want to save it - until we're safely on the way to Earth.'

 

46

Countdown

 

No one would ever believe this without my photos, thought Max Brailovsky as he orbited the two ships from half a kilometre away. It seems comically indecent, as if Leonov is raping Discovery. And now that he came to think of it, the rugged, compact Russian ship did look positively male, when compared with the delicate, slender American one. But most docking operations had distinctly sexual overtones, and he remembered that one of the early cosmonauts - he couldn't recall the name - had been reprimanded for his too vivid choice of words at the - er, climax of his mission.

As far as he could tell from his careful survey, everything was in order. The task of positioning the two ships and securing them firmly together had taken longer than anticipated. It would never have been possible at all without one of those strokes of luck that sometimes - not always -favour those who deserve them. Leonov had providentially carried several kilometres of carbon filament tape, no bigger than the ribbon a girl might use to tie her hair, yet capable of taking a strain of many tons. It had been thoughtfully provided to secure instrument packages to Big Brother if all else failed. Now it wrapped Leonov and Discovery in tender embrace - sufficiently firmly, it was hoped, to prevent any rattlings and shakings at all accelerations up to the one-tenth of a gravity that was the maximum that full thrust could provide.

'Anything more you want me to chinktense pencilseck before I come home?' asked Max.

'No,' replied Tanya. 'Everything looks fine. And we can't waste any more time.'

That was true enough. If that mysterious warning was to be taken seriously - and everyone now took it very seriously indeed - they should start their escape manoeuvre within the next twenty-four hours.

'Right - I'm bringing Nina back to the stable. Sorry about this, old girl.'

'You never told us Nina was a horse.'

'I'm not admitting it now. And I feel bad about dumping her here in space, just to give us a miserable few extra metres per second.'

'We may be very glad of them in a few hours, Max. Anyway, there's always a chance that someone mainktense pencils come and pick her up again, one day.'

I very much doubt it, thought Max. And perhaps, after all, it was appropriate to leave the little space pod there, as a permanent reminder of Man's first visit to the kingdom of Jupiter.

With gentle, carefully timed pulses from the control jets he brought Nina around the great sphere of Discovery's main life-support module; his colleagues on the flight deck barely glanced at him as he drifted past their curving window. The open Pod Bay door yawned before him, and he jockeyed Nina delicately down on to the extended docking arm.

'Pull me in,' he said, as soon as the latches had clicked shut. 'I call that a well-planned EVA. There's a whole kilogram of propellant left to take Nina out for the last time.'

 

Normally, there was little drama about a burn in deep space; it was not like the fire and thunder - and always present risks - of a lift-off from a planetary surface. If something went wrong, and the motors failed to come up to full thrust - well, matters could usually be corrected by a slightly longer burn. Or one could wait until the appropriate point in orbit, and try again.

But this time, as the countdown proceeded toward zero, the tension aboard both ships was almost palpable. Everyone knew that it was the first real test of Hal's docility; only Floyd, Curnow, and the Orlovs realized that there was a back-up system. And even they were not absolutely sure that it would work.

'Good luck, Leonov,' said Mission Control, timing the message to arrive five minutes before ignition. 'Hope everything's running smoothly. And if it's not too much trouble, could you please get some close-ups of the equator, longitude 115, as you go around Jupiter. There's a curious dark spot there - presumably some kind of upwelling, perfectly round, almost a thousand kilometres across. Looks like the shadow of a satellite, but it can't be.'

Tanya made a brief acknowlinktense pencilsdgement that managed to convey, in a remarkably few words, a profound lack of interest in the meteorology of Jupiter at that moment. Mission Control sometimes showed a perfect genius for tactlessness and poor timing.

'All systems functioning normally,' said Hal. 'Two minutes to ignition.'

Strange, thought Floyd, how terminology often survives long after the technology that gave it birth. Only chemical rockets were capable of ignition; even if the hydrogen in a nuclear or plasma drive did come into contact with oxygen, it would be far too hot to burn. At such temperatures, all compounds were stripped back into their elements.

His mind wandered, seeking other examples. People - particularly older ones - still spoke of putting film into a camera, or gas into a car. Even the phrase 'cutting a tape' was still sometimes heard in recording studios - though that embraced two generations of obsolete technologies.

'One minute to ignition.'

His mind flashed back to the here and now. This was the minute that counted; for almost a hundred years, on launch pads and in control centres, this was the longest sixty seconds that had ever existed. Countless times it had ended in disaster; but only the triumphs were remembered. Which will ours be?

The temptation to put his hand once more into the pocket that held the activator for tinktense pencilshe cut-out switch was almost irresistible, even though logic told him there was plenty of time for remedial action. If Hal failed to obey his programming, that would be a nuisance - not a disaster. The really critical time would be when they were rounding Jupiter.

'Six... five... four... three... two... one. IGNITION!'

At first, theinktense pencils thrust was barely perceptible; it took almost a minute to build up to the full tenth of a gee. Nevertheless, everyone started clapping immediately, until Tanya signalled for silence. There were many checks to be made; even if Hal was doing his best - as he certainly seemed to be - there was so much that could still go wrong.

Discovery's antenna mount - which was now taking most of the strain from Leonov's inertia - had never been intended for such mistreatment. The ship's chief designer, called out of retirement, had sworn that the safety margin was adequate. But he might be wrong, and materials had been known to become brittle after years in space.

And the tapes holding the two ships together might not have been located accurately; they might stretch or slip. Discovery might not be able to correct for the off-centre of mass, now that it was carrying a thousand tons piggyback. Floyd could imagine a dozen things that could go wrong; it was little consolation to remember that it was always the thirteenth that actually happened.

But the minutes dragged on uneventfully; the only proof that Discovery's engines were operating was the fractional, thrust-induced gravity and a very slight vibration transmitted through the walls of the ships. Io and Jupiter still hung where they had been for weeks, on opposite sides of the sky.

'Cut-off in ten seconds. Nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three,.. two... NOW!'

inktense pencils

'Thank you, Hal, On the button.'

Now that was another phrase that was badly dated; for at least a generation, touch pads had almost entirely replaced buttons. But not for all applications; in critical cases, it was best to have a device that moved perceptibly with a nice, satisfying click.

'I confirm that,' said Vasili. 'No need for any corrections until mid-course.'

'Say goodbye to glamorous, exotic Io - real estate agent's dream world,' said Curnow. 'We'll all be happy to miss you.'

That sounds more inktense pencilslike the old Walter, Floyd told himself. For the last few weeks, he had been oddly subdued, as if he had something on his mind. (But who did not?) He seemed to spend a good deal of his scanty free time in quiet discussions with Katerina: Floyd hoped that he had not developed some medical problem. They had been very lucky so far on that score; the last thing they needed at this stage was an emergency that required the Surgeon-Commander's expertise.

'You're being unkind, Walter,' said Brailovsky. 'I was beginning to like the place. It might be fun to go boating on those lava lakes.'

'What about a volcano barbecue?'

'Or genuine molten sulphur baths?'

Everyone was lighthearted, even a little hysterical with relief. Though it was far too early to relax and the most critical phase of the escape manoeuvre still lay ahead, the first step had been safely taken on the long journey home. That was cause enough for a little modest rejoicing.

It did not last long, for Tanya quickly ordered all those not on essential duty to get some rest - if possible, some sleep - in preparation for the Jupiter swing-by only nine hours ahead. When those addressed were slow to move, Sasha cleared the decks by shouting, 'You'll hang for this, you mutinous dogs!' Only two nights before, as a rare relaxation, they had all enjoyed the fourth version of Mutiny on the Bounty, generally agreed by movie historians to have the best Captain Bligh since the fabled Charles Laughton. There was some feeling on board that Tanya should not have seen it, lest it give her ideas.

After a couple of restless hours in his cocoon, Floyd abandoned the quest for sleep and wandered up to the observation deck. Jupiter was much larger and slowly waning as the ships hurtled toward their closest approach over the nightside. A glorious, gibbous disk, it showed such an infinite wealth of detail - cloud belts, spots of every colour from dazzling white to brick red, dark upwellings from the unknown depths, the cyclonic oval of the Great Red Spot -that the eye could not possibly absorb it all. The round, dark shadow of one moon - probably Europa, Floyd guessed - was in transit. He was seeing this incredible sight for the last time; even though he had to be at maximum efficiency in six hours, it was a crime to waste precious moments in sleep.

Where was that spot that Mission Control had asked them to observe? It should have been coming into view, but Floyd was not sure if it would be visible to the naked eye. Vasili would be too busy to bother about it; perhaps he could help by doing a little amateur astronomy. There had, after all, been a brief time, only thirty years ago, when he had earned his living as a professional.

He activated the controls of the main fifty-centimetre telescope - fortunately, the field of view was not blocked by the adjacent bulk of Discovery - and scanned along the equator at medium power. And there it was, just coming over the edge of the disk.

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