Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (117 page)

“I’ll be damned.”

Gabe looked up at him. “We never
anticipated that. The whole system is designed to isolate hab modules, not
cross-connects.”

“That’s right. Son of a bitch.”

“Why did it choose to isolate the
utility room instead of this room?” said Abby.

Gabe shook her head. “I don’t know.
Most of our hatches are, well… were open and it probably sensed the
decompression in the utility room before the rest of the hab owing to its
proximity to the leak, and just made a logic decision.”

Jeff nodded. “Well, it made the
right choice.”

Susan gave him a questioning
glance. “So, what do we do now?”

“I don’t know. We have contingency
plans for leaks, but none of them involve a leak in a cross-connect. How the
hell did we overlook this?”

Everybody shook their heads.

“Gabe, what’s the pressure loss
rate in the cross-connect?”

“About three psi per minute.”

“And what’s the pressure now in the
utility room?”

“12.6 psi and coming up. Should
return to nominal in a couple minutes.”

“Hmmm. Okay, I have an idea.”

Gabe groaned. “Oh god.”

“What’s the matter? You haven’t
even heard my idea yet.”

“Yeah, but I’ve heard your
ideas
before.”

He chuckled. “Thank you for the glowing endorsement.
Look, the O
₂
purge can fully pressurize that cross-connect to 14.6
psi in about a minute. That’s what it was designed to do. But the leak is only
three psi per minute. So, once we’ve got it up to pressure and shut off the
purge – no point in wasting a whole bunch of O
₂
if we don’t have to
– we’ve got about four minutes of breathable air. As it’s pure O
₂
,
we can breathe in it down to around 3.5 psi.”

“And…?”

“And… I’m gonna go get in my high altitude suit.
Abby, Sue, you suit up as well. Then Sue, you come back in here and sit at the
console and handle communications. Abby, you go into my room and standby the
emergency hatch – it’s the closest to the suit room.”

“And what about me?” said Gabe.

“Go in your room, close both hatches, and stay with
Ghita.”

“Why?”

“It’s just a precaution. We’ll all be fine, but do
as I say.”

She started to cry.

“Now, stop that. Like I said, we’ll all be fine.
Okay, now once we’re all set, we’ll open the purge and pressurize the
cross-connect. Then open the hatch, I’ll enter, and then you close the hatch
behind me. I’ll set off one of those little pink smoke bombs and see where the
leak is. Then we’ll repressurize the cross-connect, and open the hatch into the
utility room. I’ll go in there and close the hatch behind me, then suit up and
figure out how in the hell to fix this.”

“Jeff,” said Abby, “two of us can
fit in the cross-connect.”

“Not in Mark IIIs we can’t.”

“No, but we can in high altitude
suits. And then once we’re suited up we can tackle the leak from both sides.
One inside, one outside.”

Jeff nodded and sighed. “Yeah,
okay. Sounds like a plan. Sue, Abby, go get suited up.” As he turned for his
room, Gabe grabbed his arm. “What?”

She wrapped her arms around him.
“And what if you and Abby don’t come back?”

“Well, you don your high altitude
suit, put Ghita in her transport box thingy, you and Sue make your way around
to the suit room, suit up, retrieve Ghita, hop in a rover, and make your way to
the MAV. When the Sundancer makes its next pass, launch. Spend three months in
orbit waiting for the TEI window, then go home.”

Gabe blubbered. “Oh god!”

“Gabe, stop it. Nothing’s going to
happen, we’ll be fine. See you in a bit.”

“You promise?”

“Yes, I promise. Now, go to your
room and take care of our daughter.”

“Okay,” and she turned and walked
off.

“Abby, Sue, suit up.”

Susan and Abby met Jeff in the
commons. Abby shook her head. “We look like Mercury astronauts.”

Jeff chuckled. “The right stuff.”

She nodded. “Hopefully.”

“Okay Sue, man the console and
pressurize the cross-connect.”

“Roger.”

“Abby, when it’s up to pressure
I’ll open the hatch and you go in. I’ll follow you and close it behind me.”

“No.”

“Huh?”

“Give me the bomb, and you go in
first.”

“Why?”

“I’m smaller. Once we’re in, open
the hatch into the utility room, and you go in there. Then I’ll set off the
bomb and see where the leak is. Then I’ll hit the REPRESS, and follow you.
Jeff, it’s the logical thing to do.”

He sighed. “Okay. Sue, how we
doing?”

“Almost there. Maybe another ten
seconds.”

“Rog. You call it.”

“Okay.”

“Sue, close and lock your visor.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a
little paranoid?”

“No, I think I’m being a lot
paranoid. We have a leak and as soon as we open that hatch this room will be
exposed to it. Let’s not take any chances.”

“Alright.” She closed and locked
her visor. “Okay, you’ve got pressure. Go ahead and open it up.”

Abby pulled the hatch open. “After
you.”

Jeff ducked in.

Abby followed him and pulled the
hatch closed. “Alright, get out of here.”

He opened the hatch to the utility room,
hopped in, and closed it behind him. “Okay, Abby, let her rip.”

“Fire in the hole!”

Jeff waited for a minute. “You have
anything?”

“Hang on a second. Yeah, I’ve got
smoke leaking out in about a three inch space in the northeast quadrant of the
cross-connect’s mating to the commons. Looks like a leak in the seal.”

“Okay. Sue how’s the pressure in
there?”

“It’s holding.”

“Alright. Abby, get out of there.
Sue, as soon as Abby’s out, cutoff the purge.”

“Rog.”

Abby came through the hatch into
the utility room and closed it behind her. “Hi.”

Jeff pointed toward the suit room.
“Come on, let’s suit up and get this fixed.”

“Right behind you.”

They removed their high altitude
suits and donned Mark IIIs. “Alright,” said Jeff, “grab some epoxy sealant and
head back in there. We’ll want to seal this thing from the inside first. As the
pressure drops it’ll suck sealant into the leak, and make for a better seal.”

Abby nodded. “Got it.”

“I’ll go out, grab the ladder and
get on top of it. Once you’ve got the inside sealed, I’ll reseal the outside.
With all that pink dust it shouldn’t be hard to find.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

“I will. Make sure you thoroughly
wipe the dust off before applying the sealant.”

“I know.”

“Sue? You hear all that?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Well, that’s the plan. Once
Abby is suited up and at the hatch, REPRESS the cross-connect and keep it
pressurized so Abby can move back and forth between it and the utility room.
And so that once I’m outside I can see if there’s any more leakage. Okay?”

“Got it.”

He turned to Abby. “Let’s do it,”
and he closed and locked his visor, stepped into the airlock closing the inner
hatch behind him, depressurized it, opened the outer hatch, and stepped out
onto Mars’ surface. “Sue, I’m outside.”

“Rog.”

Jeff closed the outer hatch and made
for the storage yard. He grabbed the folding ladder and a leak repair kit then
squeezed between his room and the suit room to the leaking cross-connect. He
knocked on the side. “Abby, how you doing?”

“Hang on a second. Sue, turn the
air off in here. The air pressure keeps forcing this pink shit into the leak,
and I need to get it cleaned up before I can apply the sealant.”

“Roger, it’s off. It’ll be about
four and a half minutes before you’re equalized with atmospheric pressure
outside.”

“Rog. Jeff, I’ve finished
inspecting both ends of the cross-connect for additional leaks. Didn’t find
any. Now I’m trying to wipe all this pink crap off the frame and bulkhead where
the leak is. God, what a mess. This is like setting off a smoke grenade in your
closet.”

“Yeah, but since we have gravity
here it’s the only way to do it. It’s easier to find leaks in space. And by the
way, my closet’s bigger.”

“That’s a fact. Your closet’s big
enough for ballroom dancing.”

He chuckled. “It’s not as big as
your folk’s closet. They should turn that into an indoor tennis court.”

She laughed. “Yeah, but then where
would mom put all her clothes?”

“She does have quite a wardrobe.”

“Uh huh. Besides, they just built a
tennis court there.”

“Really? Where?”

“Up in back, where we shot trap.”

“Cool.”

“Do you play tennis?”

“No.”

“Me neither. But mom does, and
she’s teaching Brad.”

“Well, good for them. Staying
active keeps you alive.”

“Yeah, and I don’t know how they do
it. Between the books and the movies and all their other traveling… I think
they travel more than us.”

Jeff chuckled again. “Um, I don’t
think so.”

Abby laughed. “Yeah, sorry, forgot
for a minute where I am. Okay, I’m about to apply the sealant.”

“Okay. Run it a couple inches
beyond the apparent leak on either side.”

“Rog. How long’s it take for this
stuff to set?”

“About ten minutes. But it takes
about twenty-four hours for it to fully cure.”

Jeff glanced at his watch and stood
on the ladder waiting.

“Sue, REPRESS,” said Abby. “Whoa.”

“What?” said Jeff.

“It’s all being sucked into the
seal.”

“Okay, Sue turn the air off. Man,
this is a pain in the ass. Abby, I’ve got this plastic grout stuff in the
repair kit. I’m gonna put some over the leak, then press a piece of cellophane
over it. Then you can apply another coat, and we’ll see what happens. Give me a
minute.”

“Rog.”

“Sue, what’s the air pressure in
there?”

“About eleven psi.”

“Alright, let’s leave it alone and
let the pressure continue to drop. We’ve already got some epoxy in the seal, so
let’s see if we can just get this thing stopped up.”

“Rog.”

He laid a bead of grout over the
leak and pressed it in, then covered it with cellophane. “Okay Abby, try it
again.”

“Okay, here goes.” A minute later
she came back. “I think that’s got it. It seems to be holding.”

“Alright. Sue, bring the air
pressure up very slowly, maybe one psi per minute.”

“How do I do that with the purge
system? It’s an O
₂
flood. It’ll send in fourteen psi in one minute.”

“Turn it on for a couple seconds
then shut it off, and watch the pressure in there. What we’re looking for is a
seal of the leak. Once the pressure is holding, stop pressurizing until I’ve
got another permanent seal on this side.”

“Okay, I understand.” After a
couple minutes Susan said, “Jeff, the pressure is holding steady at ten psi.”

“Outstanding. Abby, apply another
coat of epoxy. I’m gonna clean this side off and do the same. We’ll give it
time to set, then see if we can bring it up to full pressure.”

Fifteen minutes later Susan said,
“Jeff, the cross-connect is holding at 14.6 psi.”

“Hallelujah! Alright, looks like
we’ve got it. Abby, how’s it look from your side?”

“Looks good, except that everything
in here, including me, is covered with this pink shit.”

“Okay, I’m coming back in. We can
take a vacuum to it once we’re out of these suits. Let’s try and keep it out of
the commons, and isolate it to the cross-connect and the utility room. Gabe?
You have ears on?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, you can come out now.”

“I’m nursing Ghita.”

“Well, I don’t think she’s very
particular about where she is when hanging on to one of your boobs, so bring
her with you. I want to watch the rest of that football game. And I think we
all need another beer.”

Abby chuckled. “Or six.”

Monday, January 1,
2018

MSD 51190.381 (Sol
440)

Gabe, holding Ghita, sat down at
the breakfast table and glanced at Jeff. “Happy New Year.”

He smiled. “Happy New Year to you
too. How are you this morning?”

“Fine. Ghita and I have been
playing.”

“Playing? How so?”

“Watch this.” She leaned over a
little and looked Ghita in the face. “Where’s Ghita?” She tickled her and Ghita
laughed. “Come on, where’s Ghita?”

Ghita hugged herself.

Susan’s eyebrows popped up and her
jaw dropped.

Gabe hugged and kissed Ghita.
“That’s right. There’s Ghita. Can you say Ghita?” She waited for a moment.
“Come on, say… Ghita.”

“Ida.”

Susan shook her head. “That’s
amazing. She’s not yet five months.”

Gabe grinned. “Ghita, where’s
mama?”

Ghita leaned her head on Gabe’s
chest and hugged her.

“That’s right. Mama. Can you say
mama? Mama?”

“Mumum.”

“There you go. Mama.” She chuckled
and gave Ghita another hug, then glanced around the table. “That’s about as far
as we’ve got.”

“That is astonishing,” said Susan.
“Her cognitive and vocal skills are significantly advanced beyond her age. By
the time she’s eighteen I wouldn’t be surprised if she has an IQ near yours.
She certainly has all the factors in her favor.”

“Yeah, she’s a smart little girl,
but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ve decided to hold off starting her on
the piano…”

Jeff sighed. “Thank god. It’s noisy
enough around here as it is.”

“… until maybe next month.”

He hung is head and groaned.

“You can always go outside and
collect rocks.”

“I think we have enough samples
already to keep the scientists on Earth busy for the next fifty years.”

“So,” Abby said, “what are we going
to do today?”

Jeff shrugged. “I asked Chrissie to
send us videos of some bowl games. But since it’s just a few minutes past
midnight on the East coast, they probably won’t get here until tomorrow. So why
don’t we make more practical use of today. We’ve got ten weeks left here – 70
sols.”