Solutions: The Dilemma of Hopelessness - James Gerard (novel books to read txt) 📗

of this is a huge undertaking is it not?  I mean you were able to make such major structural changes and fall well within the constraints of the time schedule?”

 

“Are you kidding?  With as much manpower we were authorized to get the job done, it actually took less time than what was needed.”

 

“Still, it had to be quite a task?”

 

“Not really,” Robert said as the rover made its way back into the bay and glided closer to the airlock.  “With all the latest tools and materials, it was no problem.”

 

“What has changed?”

 

“Well…never mind,” Robert responded.

 

Charles heard the hesitancy in Robert’s voice.  He also spotted what appeared to be anger forming on his sheltered profile.  “Don’t worry,” said Charles, “I won’t report you if you speak your mind.”

 

Robert turned to Charles.  “You’ve worked in politics, right?”

 

Charles laughed.  “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it.”

 

“Still?”

 

“Look, when Senator Sorensen gave in to the pressure, approved the initial funding for the Solutions Center years ago, I just stopped caring.”  He stared intently at the ship.  “It’s my own fault, really.  I was just so impressed when I first met him at this peace conference, that I immediately believed all the rhetoric he dribbled.”

 

“They can sure talk that talk.”

 

Charles leered at the approaching airlock.  “I sacrificed fifteen years of my life to help keep the peace.  It never gave me time for a normal life, let alone anything else.  And just like that he acts like a fool and sells out his beliefs just to not rock the boat.”

 

“Things are that screwed up because of the pandemic?”

 

“It’s all about getting what they want,” answered Charles.  “A philosophy of you do what I want or I won’t do what you want.  Friends one day; enemies the next.  A war here; a war there.  Never changes.”

 

“That I can understand,” said Robert.  “It’s like the situation with Montgomery.”

 

“Where is he by the way?”

 

Robert paused as if to reflect his inner thoughts concerning the matter.  “He was sanctioned six months ago.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I’m not sure.”  Robert shook his head.  “All I know is Senator Richards made the decision.”

 

“Senator Richards, huh.”

 

“It doesn’t make sense.  He was the best we had.”

 

“Better get used to it,” Charles whispered under the breath.

 

“And all this ‘colonization’ talk.”

 

“What about it?”

 

“I never did believe their claims that it was necessary to ease the projected devastating effects of overcrowding.”

 

“Why do you think that?”

 

“It doesn’t matter now with the flu pandemic wiping out so many people as it has.”

 

Charles believed Robert’s feeling certainly stemmed from a pathway of logical thoughts, but he was confident that he had yet to grasp the full meaning percolating from the depths of his mind.  In any event, Robert’s feelings left no doubt that Timothy was indeed aboard the station.

 

Charles ran a gloved finger across the compartment’s control panel.  “Is the rover as simple to operate as I’ve been told?”

 

“With a little training, yes.”

 

“How’s Timothy’s training coming along?”

 

“Oh, he’s become quite proficient at operating one.”

 

“You mean operating it during computer simulation?”

 

“No.”  Robert slowly maneuvered the rover towards the fast approaching airlock.

 

“He has trained on one outside the scope of computer simulation?”

 

“Of course.  He said he was getting bored with the computer simulations, so I provided him some on the job training.”

 

“He’s operated one around the ship?”

 

“Why sure,” answered Robert.  “Like I said, he’s gotten pretty good at operating one around the ship and the station.”

 

“Around the station too?”

 

“Just to transport some workers around the maintenance bay,” said Robert.  His free arm flung to the left.  “Do you see that structure?”

 

“The launcher?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“How good was he handling it in manual control?” asked Charles.

 

“Oh he won’t be in control of the weapons.”

 

“I mean the rover?”

 

The rover crawled toward the airlock.  “He doesn’t even know about the manual control.”

 

“But what if somehow its systems malfunction and sends him gliding away from the ship?”

 

“We’ve built in an independent system the ship’s computer will activate to bring it back in that event.”

 

Charles was sure that Robert spoke the truth and that he had no reason to lie; however, he figured that a rover was not necessarily the only way to remove Timothy from the ship.  Then again, he wondered, if she planned to stop the mission, why even bother removing Timothy?  Both the ship and Timothy could be destroyed with only a handful of her cohorts having any knowledge of the event.  But that doesn’t make sense.  Though she certainly had the power to control the president, Charles knew for a fact she was unable to remove all witnesses not within her control—the ones that could successfully carry out the plan.

 

“By the way, how’s his personality been?” asked Charles.

 

“He’s been repatriated, hasn’t he?” Robert asked in return.

 

Charles smiled.  “Yes.”

 

“I thought so.  He acts like it.  I take it they’re using him to assure the mission comes off as they expect it to?”

 

Charles fidgeted in the rover.  If it were not for his gloved fingers wrapped tight around hand supports, the boots housed securely within the foot restraints, he might have shot through the roof of the rover.  “You are aware of the solution’s purpose?” he asked.

 

“Don’t worry,” responded Robert.  “I’ve been given the highest security clearance.”

 

There was no reason why he should know about the mission’ details, thought Charles.  “Why?” he asked.

 

“So I could make the necessary changes that will assure success.”

 

No way would Senator Richards reveal such information unless she was cooking up a scheme to fool me, Charles pondered.  But he sensed no deception from Robert.  If he had been faking sincerity, Charles was confident that just by reading the expressions in his sheltered face, listening for tones of thought-out speech, those miscues would have been detected.  Then again, Robert did dare to speak his mind.  Or was that a ploy too?

 

Things were just not making sense to Charles.  He knew she could have stopped him from coming to the station if she really wanted to.  After all, he understood his presence was not required, yet she allowed passage to the station to witness a firsthand look at the operation.  Hell, this is just too much of an elaborate scheme to carry out just to fool me.  Charles figured that maybe the strain of the plan, the waiting, was muddling his reasoning.  No, he convincingly thought, everything is just fine.

 

“Do you have any more questions?” asked Robert as the rover bumped into the airlock.

 

“What was that?” asked Charles.

 

“Anymore questions while we’re still out here?”

 

“No.  I don’t think so.”

 

Charles watched as Robert turned the dial controlling the communication channels, then saw him mouth something to someone.  Robert then locked the rover to the airlock.

 

Charles looked down and saw the red mechanism button flashing its location within the recess of its hold.  He pulled the hoses from his suit.  Next, he glanced at the rover’s control panel as he descended towards the decompressure chamber.  With a tap from the toe of a boot, the egress hatch slid open.  Both he and Robert then made their descent into the hole.

 

“What about the airlock?” asked Charles.

 

Robert did not respond.

 

Charles tapped him on the shoulder, prompting Robert to rotate over to a different communication channel.  “What was that?”

 

With the egress hatch secured shut, Charles hit the compression button flashing a blue pulse.  Their suits crinkled as air was pumped into the chamber.

 

“I said the airlock seems too easy to operate,” noted Charles.

 

“It’s a standard airlock.”

 

They both removed their helmets.  The airlock door loudly popped open.

 

Charles floated out into the deck that once controlled the flight of the shuttle as it went gliding back into the atmosphere.  All of a sudden the deck lit up.  The area came alive with flashing lights and screens.

 

“Are all the light controls sensor activated?” asked Charles.

 

“All except for the living quarters and terrariums.”

 

Charles rotated around to the view of the silent button protruding off the side of the airlock door.  He still had objections over how easily the airlock could be manipulated with a finger’s touch.  Certainly, if Timothy had been clever enough to fool those he had recently come in contact with, he just might figure a way out of the vehicle while in transit—bring to an end the utmost desire of the solution.

 

Charles turned to Robert.  “I don’t know,” he said.  “Are you sure Timothy won’t have easy access to it?”

 

“Don’t worry,” answered Robert.  “It’s most likely that he won’t be going outside.”

 

“I do not like the idea…something can go wrong out there.”

 

“Relax.  The fault tolerant network will be in control of the decisions.  And if, and I do mean if he has to go outside, there’s absolutely no way the computer will let him get away.”

 

“But you know as well as I do that problems could develop with the system?”

 

“No way.  Every system, subsystem, and component of this ship has been designed to last for decades of use before failure even becomes a possibility.  I assure you, the ship will definitely outlive the mission time.”

 

“Ouch,” uttered Charles as he banged his head on an overhead panel.  “It’s a bit tight in here.”

 

“We gutted everything not necessary in order to raise the floor.”

 

He turned his attention to the forward controls.  “Then why the panels?  The seat?”

 

“The panels are necessary to control the guidance and tracking, computer voting, warning, and environmental and life support systems.  And the only reason we left one of the seats in place is for psychological reasons.”

 

“But they don’t need to be active if he should come up here?” asked Charles.

 

“It’s just to make him feel more at ease if he should have to come up here for maintenance purposes,” answered Robert.  He pointed to the rear of the deck.  “The control panel behind you primarily operates the mechanisms for the sleeping chamber, the two terrariums, the entertainment system, the closed circuit systems for both the interior and exterior, and the lighting systems for the mid module.”

 

“Timothy will have control over these systems?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Robert anchored himself to the hold of a hand support, pulled on a latch, popping open the hatch to the mid deck.

 

As Charles tailed him down through the hole, he stopped the momentum to listen to the collective hum of the general processing computers hidden between the decks.  Like a micro society, buses transported messenger laden currents to and from and between their ports and the device interface units.  A network of plexed sensors fed them their electrical sustenance and managed their lives in order to function up to the demands and expectations of the global network which maintained order with a watchful eye.

 

“Can Timothy maintain the equipment as needed?”

 

Robert looked up to Charles.  “No problem.  He’s demonstrated that he can handle any necessary work needed to the systems.  But as I said, the ship will require little maintenance because of its durability.”

 

“The living quarters?” asked Charles as he glided down into the deck.

 

“Part of it.”

 

“Why the partitions?”

 

“Timothy requested them as soon as he saw the deck,” Robert answered.  “He says he feels comfortable in enclosed spaces.  He put them up himself.”

 

“You did good Timothy,” whispered Charles.

 

“This is the medical facility,” said Robert.  He pointed to the machinery sitting idle in its cubicle.  “There’s the health analysis unit, and that is one of the many computer terminals which will alert him to any problems that may occur while he is in here.”

 

“Problems?  But you said….”

 

“Poor choice of words,” interrupted Robert.  “I mean maintenance around the ship.”

 

“Another chair.  A window?”

 

“Again, the chair is for psychological reasons.  And I felt the window would make him feel more comfortable.  But I did warn him about limiting the time in front of it.”

 

“Is the computer completely automated?”

 

“Timothy will only be able to alter some of the system’s parameters to include things he may find necessary.  For example, we’ve set up the sleeping chamber to operate on a twelve hour rotation, but he can either raise or lower that time based on his needs.”

 

Robert led Charles out of the medical facility and pointed out the toilet chamber squatting behind a partition, the bubbled dome of the hand washing and hygiene unit, and the enclosed stall of the