IC - 19 - Surface of Titan - Everyone except Kiara
Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:01 pm
Day 2
12th March 2189
15:38 Earth Central European Time
Plains of Titan
Once they're fully suited up they seal the access door to the colony and release the oxygenated air from the garage to be replaced by the thick, orange-tinted mixture of nitrogen and methane that serves as the atomosphere of Titan. The pressure is greater than Earth standard and it feels like walking through water. With so little gravity only the weighted boots are drawn to the ground, resulting in an unstable and ungainly progress across the metallic floor.
With the pressure equalised the translucent plastic door that comprises the whole end wall of the Garage slides open, giving direct access to the metallic loading platform beside the hulking surface rover. With their magnetic boots they're able to keep a firm purchase on the platform and start to load the rover with some difficulty.
It takes Moses and Isabella a good fifteen minutes to get the rover fully prepared and its systems initialised. Jojo finds a rudimentary medical pod and loads it into the hold, easily manipulating the bulky piece of equipment with his enhanced cybernetic strength in the limited gravitational pull of the moon. Nicole loads a couple of spare surface suits, some oxygen tanks, spare fuel tanks for the cutting torches, a few lengths of rope, and some cable ties.
Starting up the rover's methane power unit the engine belches out smoke as the vehicle shakes and judders to life. Slowly at first and then more rapidly it rumbles out, crunching through the methane snow. The mountains and sea are not visible through the hazy orange fog, nothing but miles and miles of methane snow stretch in all directions, the smooth transparent reinforced plastic tunnels of the maglev train network flanked with metal pipework providing the only indication of direction.
Moses and Isabella sit at the front of the rover cabin, controlling the unweildy vehicle with a myriad of dials, handles, joysticks, and buttons. Nicole, Jojo, and Sam sit behind them, gazing out of the large windows into the haze. Everyone remains in their surface suits, no room to remove them inside the cabin, but they connect the suits directly to the rover's oxygen supply.
Moses and Isabella manage to maintain a steady pace across the orange surface but occasionally they strike a hidden rocky outcrop and the rover seems to lift dangerously from the surface and careen uncontrollably through Titan's atmosphere, twisting disconcertingly, but before it can fully turn over and lose any semblance of control, the weak gravity eventually brings it back down to the flat surface again.
The initial talk fades to silence as minutes turn into hours, the same endless orange methane dunes filling the viewing windows. Isabella warns they are approaching deep canyons filled with methane and they are forced to turn away from Ligeia Mare, losing sight of the maglev tunnels that gave the only sense of what direction anything lay.
Inside the suits it begins to become overly warm and sweaty, despite the homeostatic controls. Crammed into the cabin, close together yet separated by the absolute physical barrier of the surface suits, it starts to feel oppressive. Like the surface of endless methane snow is pressing down on each and every one of them, the thick atmosphere slowly choking them. The relentless hum of the engine the only sound apart from the occasional barked communication between Isabella and Moses who seem to be tolerating each other at best. Now and again there is a flash of something, movement or just a thicker patch of methane fog, but it just adds to the feeling of oppression, like there is someone or something out there, watching them from a distance. Occasionally the radio clicks, the static goes silent, like someone is transmitting, but nobody speaks.
12th March 2189
15:38 Earth Central European Time
Plains of Titan
Once they're fully suited up they seal the access door to the colony and release the oxygenated air from the garage to be replaced by the thick, orange-tinted mixture of nitrogen and methane that serves as the atomosphere of Titan. The pressure is greater than Earth standard and it feels like walking through water. With so little gravity only the weighted boots are drawn to the ground, resulting in an unstable and ungainly progress across the metallic floor.
With the pressure equalised the translucent plastic door that comprises the whole end wall of the Garage slides open, giving direct access to the metallic loading platform beside the hulking surface rover. With their magnetic boots they're able to keep a firm purchase on the platform and start to load the rover with some difficulty.
It takes Moses and Isabella a good fifteen minutes to get the rover fully prepared and its systems initialised. Jojo finds a rudimentary medical pod and loads it into the hold, easily manipulating the bulky piece of equipment with his enhanced cybernetic strength in the limited gravitational pull of the moon. Nicole loads a couple of spare surface suits, some oxygen tanks, spare fuel tanks for the cutting torches, a few lengths of rope, and some cable ties.
Starting up the rover's methane power unit the engine belches out smoke as the vehicle shakes and judders to life. Slowly at first and then more rapidly it rumbles out, crunching through the methane snow. The mountains and sea are not visible through the hazy orange fog, nothing but miles and miles of methane snow stretch in all directions, the smooth transparent reinforced plastic tunnels of the maglev train network flanked with metal pipework providing the only indication of direction.
Moses and Isabella sit at the front of the rover cabin, controlling the unweildy vehicle with a myriad of dials, handles, joysticks, and buttons. Nicole, Jojo, and Sam sit behind them, gazing out of the large windows into the haze. Everyone remains in their surface suits, no room to remove them inside the cabin, but they connect the suits directly to the rover's oxygen supply.
Moses and Isabella manage to maintain a steady pace across the orange surface but occasionally they strike a hidden rocky outcrop and the rover seems to lift dangerously from the surface and careen uncontrollably through Titan's atmosphere, twisting disconcertingly, but before it can fully turn over and lose any semblance of control, the weak gravity eventually brings it back down to the flat surface again.
The initial talk fades to silence as minutes turn into hours, the same endless orange methane dunes filling the viewing windows. Isabella warns they are approaching deep canyons filled with methane and they are forced to turn away from Ligeia Mare, losing sight of the maglev tunnels that gave the only sense of what direction anything lay.
Inside the suits it begins to become overly warm and sweaty, despite the homeostatic controls. Crammed into the cabin, close together yet separated by the absolute physical barrier of the surface suits, it starts to feel oppressive. Like the surface of endless methane snow is pressing down on each and every one of them, the thick atmosphere slowly choking them. The relentless hum of the engine the only sound apart from the occasional barked communication between Isabella and Moses who seem to be tolerating each other at best. Now and again there is a flash of something, movement or just a thicker patch of methane fog, but it just adds to the feeling of oppression, like there is someone or something out there, watching them from a distance. Occasionally the radio clicks, the static goes silent, like someone is transmitting, but nobody speaks.