[Ranma][FanFic] 2001: Odyssey 1/2

[J. Austin Wilde]

The characters and situations of this fanfic are the property of
Rumiko Takahashi and Arthur C. Clarke. They are used without
permission.
_______________________________________________________
J. Austin Wilde and Fission Park Press proudly present:
2001: Odyssey 1/2

Chapter One

Spacecraft U.S.S. Discovery,
Nearing the planet Jupiter.
December 23, 2001 CE

National Council on Astronautics (NCA) Astronaut Ranma Saotome
jogged leisurely along the circular track that was the centrifugal
hub of Discovery's habitation compartment. The hub spun perpendicular
to Discovery's long axis to provide the simulation of one-sixth of
Earth's gravity for the crew. It was just enough to prevent
significant cardiovascular and musculoskeletal atrophy, as well as
making things like using the toilet and shaving a little less
complicated.
Ranma had long since become used to the sight of consoles,
lockers, chairs and other such furnishings hanging upside down over
his head on the opposite side of the compartment. He had been aboard
Discovery for almost two years now, even though most of it had been
spent asleep.
He neared the hibernaculums in his 30th circuit of the hub. Two
of the five coffin shaped units were dark and silent. They were the
two for himself and his partner, NCA Astronaut Ryoga Hibiki. The
remaining three were in use.
He stopped before them. The three hibernaculums had been loaded
aboard Discovery just prior to the ships' departure from lunar orbit.
All three scientists (at least that was what Ranma was led to believe
they were -there was something odd about this mission.) were already
in hibernation. They weren't due to awaken until the 25th of
December.
He had never met any of them. At least not awake. Over the last
two months that Ryoga and himself had been thawed for the Jovian
approach, he had come to know each of the three faces very well.
His fingers traced along the plate of high strength clear
polycarbonate that served as a window for the coffin. Not that there
was any need to look at them -HAL took care of monitoring their
vitals on a continuing basis. it was more for the psychological needs
of the person inside when they woke up. `Coffin Dreams' were not
uncommon experiences for those in the final stages of `thaw,' and to
regain consciousness with nothing to look at but the inside of your
coffin was sometimes enough to send an astronaut off the deep end.
The Russians had learned that early on during their first manned Mars
probe.
The first coffin's stencil read "Tendo, Kasumi; NCA-95455A."
Kasumi was likely a pretty woman. Ranma wasn't sure of the rest of
her, but her face was lovely and kind looking. She looked very
peaceful in her sleep. There was a bit more color in her face today,
as they were slowly `thawing' for their awakening in two days.
The second coffin read "Tendo, Nabiki; NCA-95467C." Nabiki also
had a pretty face, with a short bob of mahogany hair that poked from
the sensor studded hood they wore so HAL could monitor their EEG
patterns. Nabiki slept like a rock, even in the final stages of thaw.
Ranma knew this, because part of his and Ryoga's `off duty' time
was spent reading and talking to the three in hibernation. Psych
studies indicated that even in hibernation, the brain retained a
moderate level of activity, and required stimuli for the sake of the
subject's mental health. For some reason recorded voices weren't as
effective as a living voice, and so Ranma and Ryoga alternated
one-way conversations with their three charges.
The last coffin's stencil read "Tendo, Akane; NCA-95499A." Akane
was the prettiest in Ranma's opinion, and he looked forward to seeing
her up and about. She was probably a very energetic woman, as she was
the most animated of the three in hibernation. (Granted this amounted
to rolling onto her side or onto her back perhaps once every three
days, but it was more than Kasumi or Nabiki ever did.) She also
seemed to respond to Ranma's voice when he spoke to her.
"Hello Akane," he said to her over a small microphone.
Akane's face moved ever so slightly into a smile at the sound of
his voice. By tomorrow she might actually be able to move the corners
of her mouth more than a half millimeter. She had a cute smile,
subdued as it was.
"Two more days and you'll be awake," he told her. "You should
see how big Jupiter is in our telescopes. It's amazing."
Akane shifted her eyes slightly. A glance at the display above
her hibernaculum indicated that she was in Delta sleep. Soon she
would be shifting back into a dreamstate. For a moment Ranma hoped
she was dreaming of him.
He looked at his watch. He was three minutes late in relieving
Ryoga. The guy was probably steaming mad.
All in all, Ryoga wasn't a bad partner. He did his chores,
performed his maintenance and administrative tasks efficiently, he
even enjoyed martial arts -something Ranma himself indulged in. If
there was one thing wrong with Ryoga it was his temper. He had a
temper that was so bad that Ranma had no idea why the psych boys had
ever cleared him for a long duration spaceflight. Ryoga was suited
more to Earth-Luna hops, not the seven year hitch he had signed on
for aboard Discovery.
2007... It was a long time away, even if most of it would be
spent in the oblivion of deep hibernation awaiting the Discovery II
to come and rescue them.
"I've gotta go, I'm late to relieve Ryoga. Talk to you in
twelve," he told Akane. Again she seemed to move slightly at the
sound of his voice.
Ranma made his way to the center of the hub, to the revolving
door that was the access to the rest of the ship. Discovery was in
free-fall without the mighty fusion driven rockets that were the
ship's Main Engines on line. Their braking maneuver wasn't scheduled
for another three days, although the propellant tank warm-up
procedures and gymbal cycling maintenance routines were already
underway. They would perform a minor test burn tomorrow.
On his way to the flight deck he advanced the Master Hibernation
Timer another twelve hours. If this was not done two consecutive
times, the ship's AI would assume that he and Ryoga had been
incapacitated, and would take over all ship's operations to fulfill
the mission. It had never been a problem before, nor did Ranma feel
it would be.
Ryoga was not on the flight deck. Ranma expected that he would,
as that was where he would relieve Ryoga. They had been doing this
for two months now. It was so routine as to be reflex.
"HAL, where is Ryoga?" Ranma asked the ship's computer; a top of
the line HAL-9000 unit built by Logic Memory Systems of Urbana,
Illinois. HALs had an infallible track record for performance and
speed. Ranma was glad a HAL unit had been selected as the ship's AI.
A pleasant voice replied, "Ryoga is in the Number Two passageway
inspecting a minor pressure leak in the atmosphere ducting."
"Anything serious?" Ranma asked.
HAL replied again in a calm pleasant voice. "No, Ranma. The leak
is very minute; my probability functions indicate a micrometeroid
impact has occurred within the last seventy-two hours as the cause.
Without corrective action we shall continue to enjoy a sufficient
reserve of atmosphere for the duration of the flight plus 1.38
years."
"Then why is Ryoga bothering with it? The chances of him finding
the leak are ridiculously small."
"Ryoga mentioned that he was bored. I offered to play a game of
chess with him to keep him stimulated, but he refused," HAL replied.
There was almost a touch of disappointment in the AI's voice. Ranma
thought nothing of it. HAL was as much a part of the crew as Ryoga,
sometimes even more so considering everything the computer was
responsible for. HAL was quite capable of performing all duties
should he and Ryoga be killed or incapacitated. Indeed, to keep the
spark of manned spaceflight alive at the budget table, high profile
missions like this one needed a living crew -even if they weren't
necessary.
"Whatever," Ranma sighed. "Could you tell him I'm ready to
relieve him?"
"Of course Ranma," HAL replied.
"Anything else going on?"
HAL posted a few schedules and reports upon the six displays
that served the flight deck console. Ranma looked them over,
satisfied that all was well. Their propellant tank warm-up was
getting a helping hand from the distant glow of Sol. If everything
went according to plan, the great titanium globes filled with methane
and ammonia would be warm enough for the heating and stirring units
to maintain as Discovery passed into Jupiter's shadow immediately
prior to their deceleration and orbital insertion burns.
"I have been informed of a personal transmission for you," HAL
announced.
Ranma looked up at the display. "Oh yeah?"
"The transmission is scheduled for the 24th of December at 02:45
UMT. It is to be from your parents."
Ranma nodded. "Merry Christmas -just before we go into Jupiter's
shadow."
"My thoughts as well. They would be unable to wish you Seasons
Greetings on Christmas day."
Ranma sighed again. "I don't mind talking to my folks, but out
here you can hardly call it a conversation."
"I understand," HAL soothed. "The time lag of .97 hours between
transmissions is difficult for humans to conduct a conversation."
"You don't have that problem I see," Ranma observed.
"That is not entirely true. As my processor functions are many
times faster than the human brain, the span of an hour can seem much
longer to me. Fortunately this has been accounted for, and I receive
continuous telemetry feedback from the Earth to keep me occupied."
"And I get to work out and read books," Ranma replied.
"We must each seek out our own recreation as we can. It is
unhealthy to remain occupied solely with one's duties."
Ranma chuckled. "HAL, you're trying to suck me into playing a
game of chess with you."
HAL made his own equivalent of a chuckle. "Of course, Ranma.
Would you like to be black or white this time?"
"What difference does it make? You know I'm no good at this
game."
"My analysis of previous games indicate that you have been
improving along a steady curve of development. I predict that you
will be able to consistently win a game within the next three weeks.
-Provided that you continue to play at least one game during each
duty shift."
Ranma tapped the arm rest of his acceleration couch. "And if you
keep your difficulty rating all the way at the bottom," he added.
"That *would* be necessary for you to successfully engage me in
a game," HAL admitted. He was programmed for morale's sake to let the
human crew win fifty percent of the time, and Ranma and Ryoga
pretended not to know this. Unfortunately Ranma wasn't skilled (or
interested) enough in chess to achieve even the fifty percent mark.
"I'm used to getting trashed by you HAL, so don't worry about my
ego."
Ryoga appeared on the flight deck, his Velcro lined soles made a
sighing sound as he tracked along the carpeted deck.
"You ready to relieve me?" He asked.
"Yeah, HAL's already given me the skinny. How's that leak by the
way?"
Ryoga shrugged. "Couldn't find it," he admitted. "It was just
something to do."
"Pretty soon we'll be so busy that you won't have to worry about
needing something to do. Once the scientists wake up, we'll be
serving them hand and foot for the next three months."
Ryoga nodded. "I guess so." His face brightened. "You up for a
sparring match tonight?"
Ranma nodded. "After dinner and my tour of the ship, sure."
Ryoga signed over the watch to Ranma on a writeboard. "Great,
see you then. I'm gonna go talk to the girl-sicles for my hour now"
"Just an hour?" Ranma teased. "I think you spent an hour with
just Akane by herself." He grinned at Ryoga. "You wouldn't happen to
have a crush on her would you?"
Ryoga began to redden. Ranma wasn't sure if it was a blush or a
temper tantrum coming on.
"My logs indicate that NCA Astronaut Ranma Saotome has also
spent an incongruously long period of therapy time with NCA Astronaut
Akane Tendo during off-periods," HAL informed them. "Perhaps this is
a mutual attraction to her?"
HAL wasn't technically capable of humor. Nonetheless, there were
times when it seemed like the AI had learned it. Both astronauts
began to blush and make accusing faces at each other. Ryoga finally
went aft.
"Why'd ya have to say that?" Ranma asked HAL.
"I was merely informing Ryoga," HAL replied.
"My point exactly! Why'd you tell him?"
"It is my duty to keep both crew members informed of all goings
on in the event one of you is killed or incapacitated," HAL replied
in an even tone of voice.
"This doesn't seem duty related to me," Ranma sniffed.
"Would you like to discuss this in greater detail, or would you
prefer to end this discussion?"
"End it please," Ranma said evenly. "I've got a few things to
take care of."
"As you wish," HAL replied. A few seconds of silence passed. "I
am reading an irregularity in the AE-35 unit."
Ranma looked up to the display again.
"What kind of irregularity?"
"My Fault Prediction Center indicates that the AE-35 unit will
fail within 48 hours. We shall be unable to maintain proper alignment
of our long-range communications array with Earth after that time."
Ranma knew that all too well. The main array was always pointed
directly at the Earth to maintain continuous contact with the NCA
ground control. The AE-35 unit controlled the servos that positioned
the dish shaped array and kept it constantly aligned as Discovery
hurtled outward to the depths of the solar system.
Without contact with Earth, Discovery would truly be alone in
the void. If anything went wrong, Earth bound support would be
impossible. The AE-35 units were built to the highest standards
accordingly. They weren't supposed to fail.
But this was spaceflight, and things went wrong. They did have a
spare AE-35 unit on board in the unlikely event the unit in use
failed. The chances of two units failing were astronomical.
"Shouldn't be a problem," Ranma said at length. "Go EVA and
replace it."
"Of course," HAL replied. "The procedure is very simple."
"Any ideas as to why it's failing?"
HAL was silent for a very long time.
"It's quite puzzling really. I've never seen anything quite like
this before."
Ranma understood. HAL knew how reliable the AE-35s were supposed
to be as well as he did.
"Ryoga's pod qualified. I guess we can schedule an EVA for
tomorrow. We just need Mission Control's concurrence with our
findings and have them clear the EVA."
"I have already informed Mission Control of our condition," HAL
replied.
Ranma smiled. "Efficient as always HAL."
HAL seemed not to hear him.

Chapter Two

Spacecraft U.S.S. Discovery
Nearing the planet Jupiter.
December 23, 2001 CE
23:55 UMT.

Ryoga relieved Ranma twelve hours later on the flight deck.
Ranma was surprised Ryoga had showed up on time. Discovery did not
have a very complicated deckplan, but somehow his partner had a
predilection for getting lost. It had been true since Ranma had met
Ryoga during their astronaut training. Ryoga had worked very hard at
concealing this shortcoming from the NCA -with a little help from
friends like Ranma.
Their sparring match had been okay -both had fought harder and
better on other occasions. It seemed neither astronaut was very
focused on the match. They seemed to be in the initial stages of `La
Cafarde.' -A term the French Foreign Legion used to describe the
melancholy and loneliness of duty.
Ranma of course was worried about the AE-35 unit, and also
dreading the transmission from his parents that was just a few hours
away. They were probably transmitting it at that very moment back on
Earth. HAL was a little less talkative than usual as well, although
that was easily attributable to his preparations for orbital
insertion and the reanimating of their three passengers.
Ryoga was his usual dour quiet self. He had spent two hours
talking to the three girls in hibernation, and at least an hour of
that time with Akane. Ranma knew this because he had surveillance
cameras in most of the habitation areas of Discovery. He refrained
from engaging the audio pickups, but would check every so often to
see if Ryoga was still talking to Akane. HAL clucked a few times in
what passed for a laugh among the 9000 series.
Ryoga set to work on some of the minor administrative duties to
be handled at midnight as Ranma floated gracefully aft. Whereas Ryoga
always used his Velcro shoes to tread `upright' along the carpeted
decks, Ranma always preferred to float in free-fall. Discovery would
remain in free-fall for another six hours, at which time the Main
Engines would begin their test burn and subsequent course correction
burn. For a brief time there would be the semblance of gravity
outside the rotating habitation compartment, with `up' being the
spherical bow of the ship. The decks and equipment were arranged such
that the `floors' were facing aft.
Ranma had a few duties to take care of as well. The first
involved preparing his and Ryoga's pressure suits for that
afternoon's EVA to replace the AE-35 unit before it failed. Ryoga
would be the one actually leaving the ship to do the job; procedure
dictated that Ranma be suited up on the flight deck to monitor him
and be ready to go outside to assist should Ryoga get into trouble.
After that he would have to get two of the three EVA pods ready.
They hadn't used them since the Discovery left lunar orbit and
suffered a minor micrometeroid hit in the superstructure. Mission
Control had insisted on a full EVA inspection, and so he and Ryoga
had spent the better part of a week alternating in the pods as
Discovery began it's slow orbital egress burn to preposition for the
final transit burn to Jupiter. It had not been fun.
He wanted to get the pressure suits done first. They would take
about 45 minutes apiece, and he wanted to get them out of the way and
still have time to eat before his parents called.

He was just finishing up his bland curry chicken and stir-fried
vegetables when HAL informed him of an incoming A/V transmission. He
set aside the tray and switched on a display near his head.
The NCA logo appeared for a moment along with a date/time stamp.
It wasn't a prerecorded message. The face of Doctor Tofu Ono appeared
on screen. Doctor Ono was the NCA Director of Flight Operations for
the Discovery mission.
"Good Morning Discovery," Tofu began in his friendly voice. "We
received your transmission three-two-fiver concerning the Alfa
Echo-Three Fiver unit. We have run a series of simulations and cannot
at this time refute the possibility of a failure within the time
frame proscribed by your niner triple-zero series computer."
Ranma nodded his head. He thought as much. There wasn't much
they could do back on Earth except run simulations based on what they
*thought* was happening. Tofu went on.
"Furthermore we are in concurrence with your plan to go Echo
Victor Alfa to replace the faulty Alfa Echo-Three Fiver unit on the
second shift. It's going to be tight with the orbital insertion
coming up, but if it has to be done, better that you do it during a
time period where you wouldn't be able to communicate with us
anyway."
Again Ranma nodded. Discovery would be swinging around the far
side of Jupiter just prior to the orbital insertion burn, and Earth
would be blocked by the great reddish orange gas giant that was their
destination. They would be incommunicado for eighteen hours with or
without a functioning array.
"Keep us apprised of your situation, Discovery. We shall await
your final telemetry and survey data burst immediately prior to loss
of contact. NCA Mission Control out."
Tofu's friendly bespectacled face was replaced by the NCA logo
over a dark blue screen.
"It seems Mission Control has given us their blessing," HAL
observed. Sometimes Ranma forgot that there was an interface station
for HAL in the habitation compartment.
"Looks that way," Ranma replied.
"Flight Officer Hibiki has asked me to inform you that we are
`go' for Main Engine test burn sequence Alfa," HAL added as Ranma
looked to the red bead of light that was HAL's video pickup. In many
ways Ranma considered that light to be HAL's `eye', and often
wondered if the boys from Urbana had intended it that way. There were
times Ranma thought indeed that it was the `window to HAL's soul.'
"Is there a problem, Ranma?" HAL asked him. "You don't seem to
be focused on the situation at hand. Would you like a stimulant?"
Ranma shrugged off his musings. He wasn't ordinarily an
introspective person; but several months of enforced isolation from
the rest of the human race (save Ryoga and three girl-sicles) had
given him nothing but time to think the big thoughts of purpose and
reason for being. Even questions about HAL having a soul.
"No, no problem HAL," Ranma replied. "I was just thinkin'." He
looked back to the video pickup. "The countdown proceeds as scheduled
then?"
"Yes. Propellant tank pressurization is at 90 percent of rated
value. Voltages are stable. Cryonics systems are on line. Fusion
furnace output is ramping up in proscribed increments, with the
neutrino detectors ranging in accordance with indicated furnace
power."
HAL went on, posting a status report for Ranma on another
display. The astronaut looked it over thoroughly. He trusted both HAL
and Ryoga to be precise and complete, but this was something where
they could not afford any mistakes.
"You have an incoming transmission," HAL informed him as he
double checked his own double checks.
"My parents?" Ranma asked without looking up from the display.
"Yes," HAL replied. "Shall I hold it in memory with the others?"
"Thanks, HAL."
"I understand that there are many things to be done in
preparation for the test burn and subsequent orbital insertion Ranma,
but I am often puzzled as to why you always delay in receiving
personal transmissions from your parents."
Ranma winced. HAL could really cut to the bone, even if the AI
didn't mean to. Perhaps that was why he liked HAL so much.
"Ryoga is always very excited about transmissions from home,"
HAL added for comparison.
"I think Ryoga has a better relationship with his parents than I
do, HAL."
"Human personal relationships are often puzzling to me," HAL
replied. "I don't think I shall ever fully understand them. While I
am programmed to be fully interactive with human beings, and have
stimulating relationships with them, I am often confused by certain
emotional aspects."
"I think we get along just fine, HAL. If it makes you feel
better, Ryoga never has anything bad to say about you either."
HAL's video pickup seemed to glow brighter for a second.
"That makes me feel much better Ranma. Thank you."
Ranma started to blush a little. It was a little eery the way
HAL had sounded so pleased to receive approval. Perhaps it was the
vestiges of his early learning algorithms during his initial
activation and path to sentience. Perhaps HAL really *did* have a
soul.
"I'm going to prepare the pods for EVA," Ranma said after a bit.
"By the time I'm done I should have just enough time for a sweep of
the ship and get everything stowed for the burn."
"I shall have Pods `A' and `B' standing by on the hanger deck."
Ranma waved to the pickup and started for the hanger bay. True
to his word, HAL had EVA Pods `A' and `B' standing by on their
platforms for his inspection. He flicked his pigtail into the collar
of his red jumpsuit and started on his checklists.
Much later he was finished with his inspections and had laid out
Ryoga's tools in a special capture bag that would hold them in place
in zero gravity. All Ryoga would have to do was suit up and go
outside for a little spacewalk. Removal and replacement of the AE-35
unit plus transit times both ways would take perhaps ninety minutes.
He made a tour of the ship, stowing anything that was loose for
the acceleration forces of the test burn. It would be little more
than a brief jolt, but after the burn they would be in free-fall
again, and things that broke loose would become dangerous missile
hazards. Finishing his tour, he stopped by the hibernaculums.
He told Kasumi and Nabiki that they would be performing a test
burn on the engines. Even though they were still in hibernation, they
were almost completely `thawed,' and he didn't want them worrying
about the jolt. Both women seemed to respond ever so slightly to his
voice. There was a great deal more life and color in their faces now.
Akane was even prettier so close to `thaw.' Her smile was quite
apparent when she heard his voice. He spoke with her a little,
wishing he could spend more time with her than he had. Finally he
told her about the burn, and that she shouldn't worry. Then he said
good-bye, and that he would see her awake very soon. Akane smiled
again.
Ranma left the habitation compartment and headed for the flight
deck to supervise the test burn. He was unaware that the other two
members of the crew had been watching and listening to his
conversation with Akane.

HAL seemed very pleased, although the AI could not answer the
question of why. His memory banks contained a few blocks of time
restricted data. Data which could not be revealed to his higher brain
functions until the proper time. It puzzled him that this was so.

Ryoga switched the monitor back to Number 2 Passageway in
disgust...

When Ranma appeared on the flight deck, Ryoga shunted away such
thoughts to another part of his psyche. They had a job to do. He had
worked very hard to get this mission, and he wanted it to succeed.
"Any problems?" Ranma asked.
"Countdown proceeds as scheduled," Ryoga replied. He gestured to
the displays.
"Course correction burn calculated and standing by in my
astrogation subroutines," HAL added pleasantly.
"Commence habitation module angular momentum shift to the
flywheel, HAL," Ryoga ordered.
"Shifting now," HAL replied.
The spinning hub of the habitation module began to decelerate as
its momentum was stored in a flywheel just aft of the compartment.
Soon it was in free-fall with the rest of the ship. They would spin
the habitation module back up when the burn was complete.
They waited as HAL directed Discovery's Main Engines to come on
line. Far aft of the spherical crew module, along the long narrow
span of the superstructure, the propellant tanks began to reach full
pressurization. Blocking valves which had been frozen shut for two
years were now thawed; and they flexed open and shut in programmed
sequences. Status lights blinked on the flight deck displays as the
valves cycled.
The fusion furnace began to preheat the reaction mass fuel as it
was circulated by massive centrifugal booster pumps through the
secondary waste heat exchangers and then on to warm the massive cone
shaped thrust nozzles. Methane ice which glazed the house-sized
nozzles began to flake off, and caused Discovery's aft end to glow in
a faint sparkle of refracted light from distant Sol.
Discovery itself began to oscillate in the subsonics from the
vibrations of the pumps and the motion of so many tons of circulating
fuel. Ranma and Ryoga could feel it in the pits of their stomachs as
they sat strapped into their acceleration couches.
"Test Burn Alfa commencing in sixty seconds," HAL intoned. "Fuel
pressure stable... Temperatures rising in engine cores to nominal
tolerance values... Fusion furnace stable at fifteen percent thermal
output... Voltage stable."
"Time to see if they'll fire," Ranma said quietly. Discovery's
engines had been through all manner of torture tests, but never had
they been evaluated to function after two years of inactivity in the
frigid void of the outer solar system.
"If they don't fire it'll be a long walk home," Ryoga joked.
"Even longer if you're the astrogator," Ranma jibed
Ryoga scowled at this. He was thin skinned to begin with, but
there was a flicker of hate in his eyes as he looked away to his
panel. Ranma immediately regretted saying it.
"Test Burn Alfa commencing in ten seconds," HAL announced. They
could feel the main fuel pumps pick up through the acceleration
couches. Discovery began to drone in a deep bass rumble.
"Nine...Eight...Seven...Six...Main Fuel Pumps on-line...Four...
Three...Two...One...Ignition -Ten percent thrust..."
Far aft of the crew module, the three thrust nozzles exploded in
a blast of white light. The fusion-reactor-heated methane and ammonia
belched forth in a two second burn. Discovery shivered with a heavy
jolt as the Main Engines fired and then stood down.
"Test Burn Alfa complete," HAL informed them. "No abnormalities
noted with the engines or engine subsystems. Astrogation subroutines
now surveying for concurrence with indicated inertial navigation
variances."
"I'd say the taxpayers got their money's worth," Ranma said in
the silence that followed. He unbuckled his restraints and floated
aft.
"I'm gonna get a few down before turnover. All the suit and pod
preps are done, and your tools are in the ready service locker," he
told Ryoga.
Ryoga grunted a reply.
"After the EVA, it'll be about time to wake up the girls," Ranma
said to him. "Lucky you, you get to be the one to help them get back
on their feet while I rot up here on the flight deck doing the
insertion burn preps."
Ryoga nodded casually, but once Ranma was gone, he began to glow
at the thought of seeing Akane awake.

Chapter Three

Spacecraft U.S.S. Discovery Crossing the orbital of Ganymede.
December 24, 2001 CE
15:16 UMT

Discovery had invaded the Jovian system just before noon. Her
many telescopes and sensory arrays began surveying the planet and its
moons. HAL gathered the data up into a neat package to transmit back
to Earth just prior to Ryoga's EVA.
They were very close to crossing over the terminator into
Jupiter's dark night. With the magnetically energetic gas giant
between the ship and Earth they would be in a period of
communications blackout. They would remain in blackout for 18 hours
following the insertion burn that would slow them down enough for
Jupiter's immense gravity to fling them into a stable orbit around
the planet near to the moon known as Io.
The sound of Ryoga's breathing inside his pressure suit helmet
was a rasping in the speakers on the flight deck. Ranma was also
wearing his pressure suit, with the helmet stowed behind him on a
clip. The video monitor display of the flight deck showed Ryoga
stepping into the `B' pod.
HAL depressurized the hanger a moment later, the dull throbbing
of the compressors vibrating below Ranma's feet. The circular outer
door opened, and a few crystals of water vapor floated off into the
void, sparkling in the reflected light of Jupiter. The massive red
planet was only an angry sanguine crescent in the viewing window and
telescope displays.
`B' pod rolled out of the ship along its platform track. Ryoga
was a deft hand on the controls, giving the pod just enough velocity
relative to Discovery to ease it off the platform. The pod traveled
about a 100 meters ahead of the spaceship. From that distance Ryoga
began cycling all of the reaction control jets to ensure they worked
properly when he moved in close enough to Discovery to be a danger.
That accomplished, Ryoga jetted the pod leisurely along the
length of Discovery to the amidships superstructure. The large dish
array was flanked by two smaller direction finding and auxiliary
arrays. The AE-35 unit was along the base of the rotating tower that
supported and positioned the arrays.
Ryoga was keeping the pod depressurized, and so he parked it
just a dozen meters distant of Discovery and tethered himself into
the pod. The access door opened in the rear of the pod. Ranma could
see Ryoga exiting the pod with his tools using the internal video
pickup in the pod's cockpit. From there he switched to one of the
hull mounted pickups.
"Just a little step," Ryoga panted, His breathing was a little
heavier.
"Don't get lost on the way," Ranma said warmly. Ryoga didn't
take offense to it this time, he was too busy focused on the ship.
The last thing he wanted to do was think about how huge space really
was. How insignificant even Discovery was in the immense black void.
He stepped off and drifted slowly towards Discovery. His magnet
lined soles clamped onto the hull and he sighed in relief. From there
he was all business, walking slowly and methodically towards the
array.
"Initiating final telemetry and data transmission," HAL
announced.
"Hear that Ryoga?" Ranma asked over the suit radio. "Stand clear
for a minute or two until the burst gets off. I don't want you
getting cooked by the array if you slip off the hull."
"That makes two of us," Ryoga managed in a pant. There was the
sound of his own breathing in the helmet. Space was cold and silent
around him. Only the low crackle and hiss of Jupiter's radio
emissions over the suit comm told him that there was anything at all
sharing the void with Discovery and himself.
"Transmission complete," HAL informed them. "Deenergizing the
AE-35 unit for removal."
With that the massive array swung into its default position -the
dish shaped array now faced directly aft and parallel to the long
axis of the hull. Communications and telemetry feed from Earth
stopped abruptly. Discovery and her crew were now alone in space.
"Copy that," Ryoga said. "I'm going to open the access panel."
He clamped the tool pouch along its magnetic base to the hull.
Each tool had a lanyard that kept it secured to the pouch as he
withdrew it. Working carefully, he loosened the bolts that held the
access panel closed.
It was a simple procedure. He removed the AE-35 unit, which was
little bigger than his tool pouch, and replaced it with their
redundancy unit. HAL reenergized the system, and the array began to
search for Earth stations. Soon Discovery was back on line -but only
for a moment.
The spacecraft crossed over the terminator into the Jovian night
not a minute after establishing contact. Ryoga found himself in a
darkness more vast than he had known in his life. Not even training
exercises on the dark side of the moon had been so bleak and empty.
HAL switched on `B' pod's floodlamps for him to guide him back
to the pod. Ryoga pulled himself back on his tether and strapped into
the pod. He couldn't wait to get back aboard Discovery.

* * *

Spacecraft U.S.S. Discovery,
Rounding the nightside of Jupiter.
December 25, 2001 CE
01:58 UMT

Ranma ate a piece of fruitcake as he celebrated Christmas.
Fruitcakes as a general rule were usually not very good, and this one
had been sitting in Discovery's food freezer for two years. The egg
nog wasn't much better, especially as it contained no alcohol.
Laying in his bunk in the habitation compartment, he punched in
the request to view his parents' transmission. After that he would
punch up a movie, something having absolutely nothing to do with
Christmas, and then go to sleep for six hours. He would wake up,
exercise, shower and eat, and continue the routine as if it was just
another day. Which is all that it was he kept reminding himself.
His mother appeared first on the display. She was so beautiful
and graceful. He loved his mother very much, but for various reasons
he had spent little of his life on Earth in her company. She had
endured a life without her son around for so long on Earth; how much
harder was it for her now that her son was a billion miles and seven
more years away?
Her grief was there in her eyes, even though she put on her best
smile for him as she wished him a Merry Christmas. Ranma choked back
a sob, hoping Ryoga wasn't wandering around on his duty tour of the
ship to hear him. There was only the whir and sigh of the
recirculation fans outside his cubicle.
Ranko stepped into view next to his mother. His sister was even
more beautiful than she had been when he left the Earth two years
ago. She had grown a little taller and her figure even more
voluptuous in her tight red dress. He wondered how many hearts she
was breaking now. She still wore her bright red hair in a matching
pigtail just like her brother's. Perhaps that was her way of keeping
him alive in her memory.
Ranko wished him a Merry Christmas and told him that she loved
him very much. She wished him a safe trip and then ducked away out of
sight. He was sure that tears were spilling down her face. He had
told his sister not to cry when he saw her, only to see her smiling
and happy. Now he hated himself for saying it. He would rather watch
his lovely sister cry her eyes out on the display than force her to
duck away and never see her save for a brief instant in greeting.
As if to twist the knife his father appeared next to his mother.
His bald pate was once again covered by a bandanna, his glasses
catching the glare from the studio lamps behind the video camera. He
grinned and wished him a Merry Christmas as well, then bragged about
how the family was getting so much media attention because of the
Discovery mission, and how it was bringing in the students to the
Saotome Dojo.
He wanted to stab his finger at the `stop' button on his A/V
control deck, but his love for his sister and mother held him in
check. In a way he pitied them for having to live with Genma day in
and day out, while he was so far away from the man that he was merely
an abstract most of the time.
It was his father that pushed him into the Space Program. He
loved martial arts, but his father was so obsessed with making him
the next Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan (and all the movie deals that
entailed) that he had jumped at the chance to join the NCA.
Space was his other passion, next to martial arts. If he
couldn't have the one (without his father's detestable influence) he
would have the other. As such he had devoted himself to math and
science in school even though he hated both subjects with a passion.
He was willing to endure the classwork and studying for his shot at
the NCA Academy just to escape his old man.
And so here he was, an astronaut on the single most important
space exploration mission in the history of the human race, the very
leader in fact. Even then his father had found a way to pervert his
son's achievement to his own personal ends. His hatred for the man
swelled within him.
Nodoka hushed Genma then and began to talk to the screen as if
Ranma were there sitting across the dining room table from her. Ranko
had wiped away her tears, sat next to her mother and tried to smile.
Genma crossed his arms over his chest and added little useless and
inane comments here and there.
Tears began to well at Ranma's eyes as he watched them. He knew
at least that his mother and his sister loved him. He missed them so
much. He longed to hug them and hold them close and become the family
they had never quite been.
At last they said good-bye and wished him a Merry Christmas for
the second time. Genma waved like an idiot and said something like
`make me proud.' Nodoka waved sadly and tried not to cry. Ranko blew
him a kiss and told him that she loved him again, and the screen
shifted to the NCA logo.
He caught his breath with a few shudders as the transmission
ended. Soon the message would be like all the others; the parts with
his father carefully edited out of the memory banks, leaving just his
mother and his sister and those friends that joined them from time to
time like Ukyo and Daisuke.
After awhile he punched up a Schwartzenegger action movie and
fell asleep in one of the few obligatory slow moments where they
tried to inject a little plot.

* * *

The 12 hour cycle repeated as it had for the last two months.

Ranma was on watch on the flight deck, staring out into the
darkness of space and to the dim curvature of Jupiter to the left. He
could see tiny yellow and red flashes of lightning from the distant
cloud tops of the planet's upper atmosphere. It was something no man
had ever witnessed before with the naked eye.
HAL informed him of the three scientists' reanimation progress
every now and then. He would periodically observe Ryoga helping
Doctor Kasumi Tendo out of her hibernaculum and working the
circulation back into her half frozen limbs over the video pickup.
Doctor Nabiki Tendo was starting to wake up. Akane wouldn't be
far behind. For the moment Ryoga had his hands full with Kasumi.

Kasumi managed to look cheerful even as she stretched out
muscles with two years worth of kinks in them. She sipped at the
squeeze bottle of warmed electrolytes, remarking that they tasted
horrible but at least helped wash away some of the morning mouth she
had.
She was nauseous and woozy, but that was to be expected. It
would pass in an hour or two. When she was steady on her feet she was
going to take a long hot shower. They could dock showers from her
water ration for the next month if they'd just let her have the one
she had been wishing for from the moment she woke up.
Nabiki sat up in her hibernaculum, looked around, and thought
better of it. She settled back down into her coffin with a groan.
Kasumi giggled softly. Her sister was never a morning person under
the most normal of circumstances. Nabiki looked positively hung-over.
Ryoga pressed the squeeze bottle tube to Nabiki's lips and gave
her a little. That seemed to enliven her a bit -even if it was only
to grouse about the taste. Kasumi laughed again.
"Oh ha ha, sis," Nabiki growled. "I'm sure you're already bright
eyed and bushy tailed. The rest of us normal people don't recover
quite so fast -I assure you."
"Don't be such a pest, Nabiki," Kasumi countered. "It will only
prolong the misery."
Nabiki sat up and managed to stick her tongue out at her older
sister. Ryoga began to massage her arms and legs, trying not to look
at her and blushing furiously. Nabiki was too far out of it to notice
how shy Ryoga was.
"So immature for a Doctor of Astrophysics," Kasumi scolded
gently.
Nabiki got to her feet with the help of Ryoga.
"I could really use something to eat," she said.
Akane sat up with a sigh and a long hard yawn. Ryoga's eyes
nearly started from their sockets. Ranma trained the video camera
around to get a better look at her. Even in a skimpy hospital scrub
green gown, covered in biosensor pads and the orange gel that was
smeared over her skin for insulation, she looked radiant.
"Hello Akane," Ryoga said warmly. "How are we feeling?" He
pressed a bottle of electrolytes into her hand, trying not to blush
and failing miserably. Akane, like the rest of her sisters, was still
too far out of it to notice what an ass Ryoga was making of himself.
Akane looked at the name stitched on Ryoga's coveralls.
"Where's Ranma?" She asked. "I've been wanting to meet him ever
since I first heard his voice."
Ryoga's heart constricted in his chest, and his blood went cold.

Chapter Four

Spacecraft U.S.S. Discovery
Approaching perihelion of Jovian approach,
December 25, 2001 CE.
16:37 UMT

Akane Tendo was the last to shower and change into workout
clothing. Nabiki and Kasumi were taking their turns on the two
exercise machines as she entered the habitation compartment. Ryoga
was observing them periodically as he went through his many
administrative chores at a workstation next to his berth.
Akane's sisters were already sweating profusely -as dictated by
procedure following reanimation. It was necessary to purge the
hibernation chemicals and their byproducts as well as the remaining
traces of `brown' fatty deposits injected into them for nutritional
purposes during their hibernation. Akane stretched out while she
waited.
Kasumi finished her routine and took a requisite fifteen minute
breather. Akane hopped up on the machine, which was currently
configured as an exercycle. Nabiki was still puffing away on hers,
and gave her a rueful smile.
Ryoga watched Akane's slender spandex clad form begin the
warm-up routine and gaped. All three of the Tendo sisters were
beautiful, but he was transfixed by the energy and vitality of Akane.
She had been all but dead only four hours ago.
Fortunately for him Ranma's duties kept him on the flight deck
preparing for their deceleration and orbital insertion burns. He
didn't want Ranma anywhere near Akane until he had a chance to get to
know her himself. At least she hadn't asked about him again after
Ryoga explained to her what Ranma was busy doing. He still had a
chance with her.

Ranma ran another simulation and at last seemed satisfied with
the results. He sat back weightless in his chair and sighed. There
was so much work to be done, but it was hard to keep his mind focused
on the jobs at hand.
"What seems to be troubling you?" HAL inquired. The computer's
voice had that eery tone about it that Ranma immediately understood
to be part of HAL's psychological evaluation routines. Such routines
were necessary, as HAL might have to evaluate the crew for signs of
mental or nervous breakdown and take steps to protect the mission
should it become necessary. A spaceflight of this duration had never
been attempted before, and who knew what could happen?
Ranma sighed again. "I don't think it was a very good idea to
put men and women on the same mission."
"Pardon me for saying so, but your personal profile *does* have
a certain tendency towards a condition known as `sexism,'" HAL said
diplomatically. "You may not be the best qualified to make that
observation."
"It's not that I think they can't handle their jobs or
anything," Ranma replied. "I just don't think it was a good idea to
put two men and three women on a spaceflight that's going to last
seven years."
"What do you mean by this, Ranma?" HAL asked.
Ranma blew out his breath in frustration, unsure if he should
come out and say it. He sat in silence for a moment.
"If you could clarify your statement, I would be able to offer a
more stimulating conversation on the subject," HAL added.
Ranma punched up the habitation module A/V suite. It was
directed at the three women as they took turns on the exercise
equipment. He pointed to the display.
"Observe Audio/Visual suite six, HAL," Ranma said evenly.
"I see Doctors Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane Tendo," HAL replied.
"They would seem to be performing their required post hibernation
exercises."
"My point exactly," Ranma said. "Look at them: if they were a
bunch of middle aged overweight hags, it would be easy to keep my
sense of professionalism. Instead they are young, healthy, and let's
face it HAL, they're gorgeous. Ryoga and I are gonna spend three
months alone and in close proximity with them. Hell, the last time I
saw a woman in the flesh was the day before we left Earth orbit. That
was two years ago."
HAL chewed on this for a whole .0053 seconds.
"Am I to assume there is a certain degree of sexual tension
present?" The computer asked calmly.
"Bingo," Ranma replied. His pigtail floated lazily over his
shoulder with the shake of his head.
"It does seem puzzling," HAL began, "that the NCA planning staff
would do such a thing. Human sexuality is a compelling drive, and
known through numerous studies to cause inefficiency and carelessness
where left unchecked."
"Aside from you, I don't think the NCA left us with a
chaperone," Ranma observed. There was silence between them then, as
HAL consulted several memory blocks. His subprocessors seemed to be
directing him to the same time-sealed memory block he had noted
earlier. It remained sealed, and this continued to puzzle him. At
length his neural net pursued another possible solution.
"Shall I make a note of your concern for the ship's log?" HAL
asked.
"No, I don't think that'll be necessary HAL," Ranma replied. "I
just think I'm going to be taking a lot of cold showers from now
until we go back into the freezer."
"Masturbation is a viable alternative," HAL said without
preamble. The remark caught Ranma off guard, and he nearly choked on
a squeeze bottle of water he was drinking from.
After he composed himself, he held up his hand to HAL's video
pickup.
"Way ahead of you, HAL. Don't worry about it."
He set to work again, chuckling at a sudden thought.
**HAL wears many hats on this ship, but I didn't think sex
therapist was one of them...**

* * *

Ranma joined Ryoga an hour later in the electronics lab. The lab
was mostly storage space for spare parts, though it had a small but
useful repair shop for testing and repairing equipment. Ryoga was
fiddling with the faulty AE-35 unit module.
"Run troubleshooting routine three, please HAL," Ryoga mumbled.
"Running now," HAL replied.
The display cycled through a variety of alphanumerics to end in
a `Fault' statement.
"Well?" Ranma asked.
Ryoga held up a circuit card.
"There's no question about it. It's broken."
"There goes a quarter million bucks," Ranma observed. "At least
we caught the problem before it failed on its own. Good work, HAL."
"I am always happy to assist. You know I have the greatest
confidence in this mission," HAL replied.
"No chance of fixing it?" Ranma asked Ryoga, who was trying to
avoid interaction with Ranma. The pig-tailed astronaut didn't notice
this.
"Not really," Ryoga replied. "At least it wouldn't be worth the
effort. The other unit should work out just fine."
"All the same, I'd like to have something to replace the other
unit in case *it* fails. We don't have any more spares don'cha know."
Ryoga bared his teeth for an instant. Ranma was busy looking at
the defective circuit card, and didn't notice. HAL noticed, but said
nothing about it.
"I'll get started on it after we finish the insertion burn," he
said at length. Ranma nodded his head and set the card down on the
static guard.
"Where are Akane and the others?" Ranma asked.
Ryoga flinched inwardly and remained silent. HAL answered the
question.
"After they finished exercising, they took showers and went to
sleep. It would appear that the additional two months in hibernation
was more taxing than predicted."
"Sleep huh? You'd think they'd had enough of that. Wonder what
we'll be like after *five* years in the freezer..." Ranma asked
sullenly. He stepped through the door of the lab, leaving Ryoga to
tidy up.
He was continuing on with his daily tour of the ship when he ran
into Akane stepping out of her cubicle. She was dressed in shorts and
a tank top and wore slippers on her feet.
She saw him and her eyes brightened.
"Finally!" She said happily. "I get to meet the man behind the
voice."
Ranma was glad she was so excited to see him, but blushed
slightly nonetheless. His exposure to the opposite sex under social
circumstances was fairly limited, and it picked now of all times to
show. He stood shyly on the carpeted deck, pawing at it with his
velcro-soled shoes.
"So whaddya think?" He asked after a bit of uncomfortable
silence.
She looked him over.
"Not bad," she said absently, though it was obvious she thought
him attractive. "I guess spending the next hundred days with you
around to look at can't be all bad."
Ranma shrugged. He and Ukyo had once dabbled at being boyfriend
and girlfriend, but he had left for the NCA Academy before anything
really happened between them. There was also the fact that they had
been very much platonic friends since they were little, and so it
always seemed awkward when romantic possibilities loomed before him.
Now he was face to face with a woman he wanted very much to get to
know better, and didn't have a clue how to go about it.
"Um..." He hemmed and hawed for a minute trying feverishly to
come up with something. Akane's patience was visibly deteriorating,
which didn't make this any easier for him.
"Uh, can I buy you dinner?" He blurted, immediately regretting
how serious he sounded. A remark like that while spending the next
five years a billion miles from Earth was meant to come out as a
lighthearted joke.
Akane's face twitched for a second, as if she was trying to
determine whether or not he had meant it as a joke. The look on
Ranma's face told her after a moment that he hadn't. Suddenly she
began to laugh out loud, and Ranma's face turned beet red.
"You are such a dope," she managed between fits of laughter. "I
guess you'll be keeping me entertained."
Ranma didn't take well to insults. He quickly forgot himself.
"Awright! Fine! See if you ever get asked again!"
This didn't have the desired effect: Akane simply started an
even bigger fit of laughter.
"What's so funny?" He demanded.
"You are, you big blockhead!" She giggled. Before he could cut
himself to the quick with another lame retort, she brushed her lips
against his cheek as she stepped past him. It was no accidental
contact, some oft ignored part of his brain informed him. He
swallowed his words and froze stiff.
"I'll see you around, Flight Commander Saotome."
Ranma just stood there, not noticing how Ryoga bit down on his
lip from the opposite side of the wheel and then duck into his
cubicle. The little bead of light that was HAL's video pickup for
this compartment had caught the exchange between all three of them in
its entirety.

Chapter Five

Spacecraft U.S.S. Discovery
Orbiting the Jovian moon of Io.
December 30, 2001 CE
19:02 UMT

Discovery's crew spent the next few days collecting preliminary
data for observation and experimentation. In most regards the five
performed their jobs as expected and better. Ranma found to his
delight that he and Akane were getting along well together, that is
to say that they argued only once or twice a day. At least they were
fairly good-natured arguments.
Ryoga seemed to be slipping in his thoroughness. Ranma put it
down to a mild sinus infection his friend was suffering. Antibiotics
and reduced duty hours were prescribed, much to Nabiki's chagrin. She
was the designated replacement in the event one of the two primary
astronauts was killed or incapacitated, and as she was already thawed
it wasn't much trouble (so Ranma said) for her to step in and put
them in a three section rotation for awhile.
Ryoga was required to rest in the extra four hours Nabiki's
sacrifice had given him, and in two days was back to full duty.
Nabiki hadn't fully forgiven Ranma or Ryoga for the inconvenience,
but as yet nothing had come of it. Her experiments required little
personal supervision, and HAL was happy to point out that she wasn't
actually necessary at all so long as the computer was around.
Nabiki's reply to this wasn't worth repeating here.

* * *

Io glowered angrily at them from below as they passed over into
day. The little moon was pocked with active volcanoes that spewed
sulfurous compounds out into space. Discovery would certainly be
coated in a yellow film of the stuff by the time its sister ship
Discovery II arrived five years hence to recover them.
Kasumi was on the flight deck taking observations of Jupiter's
magnetic field. The Voyager probes had only whetted science's
appetite for the mysteries of the giant planet, and now Kasumi was
hoping to put a few more dishes on the table. Over the flight deck
speakers, the hiss, warble, and crackle of particle interactions
within Jupiter's field played an ancient melody for her.
Nabiki was compiling her own preliminary observations on the
nearby moon Europa. Europa was visible for most of the 100 day survey
of the Jovian system, and as it had an atmosphere and what was hoped
to be an abundance of water and methane ices, it was a promising site
for a future long term exploration base. Nabiki knew this was far in
the future, but in her own opinion it was the long term investments
that paid the highest dividends.
Akane of course had run into trouble from the beginning. The
circumstances regarding the failure of her equipment were dubious. It
almost looked as if she had gotten angry and *struck* the console,
causing it to break from its mount and crash into the deck. However,
neither Ryoga nor Ranma openly dissented with her story that she had
`just leaned on it for support in free fall' and it had come loose.
Ranma grumbled a bit as he readied his tools to go into the
console to inspect it for damage and repair it if necessary. Akane
stood close by, wringing her hands and offering the occasional lame
apology. As much as he liked her, he wished she would just go away
and let him do his job. He just couldn't bring himself to tell her.
One look at the ripped mounting brackets told him she could muster up
quite a fury when upset.
"Hey Ryoga, you have this thing disconnected yet?" He called
out.
"Just a second while I find it!" Ryoga snorted.
"How can you get lost in there?" Ranma shot back.
"Shut up!"
Ryoga was in the Main Circuit Breaker Room, a space about the
size of a modest walk-in closet filled with circuit breakers for
every single piece of electrically powered equipment (save for small
hand tools and such) on the ship. Normally HAL could energize and
deenergize equipment through a series of electronically operated
remote disconnects, but the repair manuals stated that manual
operation of the circuit breakers was required whenever practical.
The yellow suited astronaut was busying himself with a laminated
binder that floated in free fall -the directory of breakers for the
ship.
Three large safety striped breakers occupied the far bulkhead.
The first was for the Fusion Furnace Containment Field System
-opening this breaker would cause an immediate `Quench' of the
furnace, shutting down the reactor and leaving Discovery on emergency
battery power. The second was for the Main Feeder Bus -opening this
breaker would deenergize everything on the ship but the reactor and
HAL.
The third breaker was for HAL. It had never been opened. To do
so would be to shut HAL down, leaving the computer in such a
condition that it could never be restored in space even if power was
restored. Discovery would be helpless in space, its crew incapable of
managing the complexities of the ship by themselves. This breaker had
numerous warnings and safety seals attached to it. Even Ryoga knew
what this circuit breaker did.
Ranma drummed his fingers on the wall as he waited. Akane tried
humming, but it only made the tension worse.
"Would you like me to deenergize the console, Ranma?" HAL asked
soothingly.
"I'd like that HAL, but you know the rules."
"Of course, Ranma. Even though I am capable of fully operating
this ship, I understand the need for compliance with written
procedure."
"Don't take it personally HAL," Ranma said. "I trust your
capabilities."
"I got it!" Ryoga called. "Go ahead!"
" 'Bout time..." Ranma groused. He reached for a magnet-tipped
screwdriver to remove the access panel fasteners. As he did so, Akane
failed to notice Ryoga step into the room. She bumped into him,
bouncing off him to strike Ranma, who lost his grip on the
screwdriver. The long shaft of the tool flew into the open air vents
of the console and threw out a flurry of pink sparks and acrid smoke
as it welded itself to the metal wall of the unit.
"Ranma!" Akane screamed.
"Shit!" Ranma cried, stumbling away in free fall from the
smoking, sparking console. "You opened the wrong breaker! Secure
power to this thing now, HAL!"
The sparking stopped immediately as HAL secured power.
"Electrical power has been interrupted," HAL informed them.
Ranma was still shaking as he clung to the bulkhead in free
fall.
"Ryoga you idiot! You coulda killed me!"
Ryoga's face was a mask of anguish. "It was an accident, I
swear! There were so many breakers, I must have opened the wrong one
by mistake!"
Ranma composed himself after a few moments.
"No harm done," he said, as much for himself as anyone else.
"Just watch what you're doing, Ryoga..."
Ryoga's face was reddened in shame. "I'm sorry Ranma."
"It's okay. Just don't do it again. I like being alive."
Ranma collected his tools and made a cursory inspection of the
unit. Repairing it was not going to be fun. He had just the man for
the job.
Ryoga looked at the smoldering unit and nodded in silent
acknowledgment of his nomination for said duty. His face still
burned, though from anger or shame none dared venture a guess.
"I am detecting trace amounts of PCBs and hydrogen chloride from
the combustion of wiring insulation. I would recommend clearing the
space while I ventilate," HAL informed them as the haze of smoke
filtered to the rest of the lab.

* * *

New Year's had come and gone with little fanfare aboard the
Discovery. Ranma tried to sleep in his tiny bunk. He wasn't having
much success. The electronarcosis rig over his head would put him
into slumber's arms, but he hated using the thing. It reminded him
too much of a similar unit in his hibernaculum.
Ryoga's mistake had been eating at him for the last nine hours.
He was too thorough, too careful to have made a mistake like that. If
Ryoga had any faults they were his temper and his tendency to get
lost.
He remembered what HAL said about human sexuality causing
inefficiency and clumsiness. Ryoga had certainly exhibited both
characteristics in the last few days. Was he really that far out of
it with the Tendo sisters up and about?
Another thought crossed his mind.
Was Ryoga jealous of the way he and Akane got along?
Jealous enough to kill?
He shook his head. No, there was no way Ryoga would try to kill
him. They had been friends for too many years. He knew Ryoga wasn't
capable of doing such a thing.
Was he?
Sleep crept upon him, leaving his last conscious thoughts of a
wrathful, murdering Ryoga Hibiki.

* * *

Spacecraft U.S.S. Discovery
Orbiting the moon of Io.
January 2, 2002 CE
04:33 UMT

Ranma grumbled a bit as he readied his tools and materials for
the bi-weekly centrifuge maintenance. It was a simple procedure: the
habitation module's rotation was stopped, transferring the angular
momentum into a storage flywheel, and allowing him to crawl into the
centrifuge to inspect the bearings and add lubrication if necessary.
It was supposed to take an hour at the most. The maintenance
wouldn't effect any current experiments, and in fact Kasumi and
Nabiki were on their six hour sleep cycles. Akane as usual was
already awake, and wondering why her experiments weren't working.
Ryoga was on the flight deck monitoring the centrifuge systems.
HAL was adjusting the ship's reactor output in an attempt to assist
Akane with her experiment. It was possible that neutrinos from the
reactor were interfering with the results.
"Transferring angular momentum to the flywheel," Ryoga said over
the intercom. It was one of those tasks HAL was best suited to, but
Ryoga had insisted that the computer devote its efforts to helping
Akane.
Ranma acknowledged and watched through the access panel
dead-light for the centrifuge to stop. It began to slowly decelerate
as the flywheel farther aft began to spool up. When the centrifuge
had stopped, Ryoga applied the friction brakes to ensure that it
stayed motionless when Ranma crawled inside the machinery. The
centrifuge massed several dozen tons, and if it were to move even
very slowly, Ranma would be unable to stop it with his hands.
He opened the access panel and checked the brake. It seemed to
be in place and holding. He hated this job, and with stray thoughts
of Ryoga going nuts bouncing around in his head, he took a deep
breath and stepped into the centrifuge.
The lacquered insulation on the massive motor windings glowed a
fiery red in the light of his drop-light along the curved outer
bulkhead. The narrow, cramped, compartment was a toroidal shaped
cage, with the inner surface being the habitation compartment and the
outer surface the pressure hull. Thick steel support struts were
braced between inner and outer wheel races, with gaps cut in them for
Ranma to crawl through as he made his inspection.
He floated in free fall away from the access panel and began to
inspect the bearings. The ozone tang of the space mingled with the
smell of lubricants. He reminded himself that he hated this job.

"I am detecting a course aberration," HAL informed Ryoga.
Ryoga looked over to one of the displays.
"What's going on, HAL?"
"It appears there is an oscillation developing. It is growing in
amplitude. There is a pendulum effect forming along the long axis of
the ship. It is increasing at the rate of .03 millimeters per
second."
Ryoga bit his lip. "What could be causing it?"
HAL ran a series of simulations.
"It is possible that motion in the centrifuge was not below
rated tolerance for manual brake operation, and the resulting
mechanical shock has formed a sympathetic tremor in the
superstructure."
Ryoga sat there in silence.
"Oscillation rate is now .7 millimeters per second," HAL
updated. "At the current rate of acceleration, the Discovery will be
rotating end over end in two hours, nine minutes, and thirty-three
seconds."
"Can we do a minor correction burn to stop it?"
"Yes. I am calculating one now."
A display shifted to show the burn schedule.
"I have calculated a correction burn," HAL informed him.
"Oscillation rate is now 1.2 millimeters per second."
The Discovery began to vibrate very gently.
"Execute correction burn, HAL," Ryoga ordered.
"Commander Saotome is in the centrifuge compartment," HAL
replied. "I would recommend waiting until he was clear before
beginning the burn."
"We wait much longer and this is going to get worse," Ryoga
countered. "Execute correction burn, HAL."
"Executing correction burn," HAL acknowledged. "Reaction Control
System on line."
Discovery underwent a series of jolts as her reaction control
jets fired in sequence to stop her aberrant motion. The jolts caused
the friction brakes to slip free. The centrifuge began to turn
slowly.

The instant the first jolt came, Ranma knew the ship was firing
its reaction control jets. Why, he did not know. As he wondered what
was going on, there was a metallic groan and then the centrifuge
began to turn slowly with him inside.
His heart nearly skipped a beat as he clung to the steel brace.
He just managed to pull his foot out of the gap between the
centrifuge and the pressure hull. Another instant's delay and he
would have had it amputated on the spot.
"Ryoga! Help!" He cried as the centrifuge wound its way around
the hull.

"The centrifuge has begun to rotate," HAL said calmly.
"What?" Ryoga replied. He scanned the displays in disbelief.
"Flight Commander Saotome is still within the centrifuge void,"
HAL added.
"HAL, transfer the centrifuge momentum to the flywheel!" Ryoga
cried.
"I am unable to engage the gearbox transfer clutch without the
risk of further acceleration of the centrifuge."
"Can you engage the drive motor to slow the centrifuge?" At this
point Ryoga was willing to try anything.
"Yes," HAL replied. "Although there is the risk of motor burnout
and bearing damage due to phase reversal -the drive motor was not
designed for such operations."
Ryoga bared his fangs at the video pickup. "Just do it, HAL!"
"Engaging now," HAL announced. "I am detecting an abnormal
temperature rise in the forward journal and main thrust bearings."
"I'm going to help Ranma," Ryoga said. "Shut down the motor if
you get a high temperature alarm on any bearing!"
That said, he released his belt restraint and floated down the
hatch to the Central Deck. From there he floated aft through the Tool
Room to the air lock that linked the centrifuge hub. At the far end
of the hub was the access panel to the centrifuge void. He could hear
Ranma screaming for help.

Ranma was wedged against the aft bulkhead of the centrifuge
void. The huge steel framework rolled in front of him at a good 5
RPM. Under most circumstances it was rolling very slowly, barely once
around every twelve seconds, but as he was in free fall and had very
little clearance, it may have well been rolling at 50 RPM.
The access panel mocked him. It was so close. All he had to do
was float `up' to it and dive through. If Discovery were not also
performing a series of reaction control burns (and thus changing its
velocity relative to him) it would have been much easier. As it stood
he was likely to get caught by a passing strut and chopped in half as
he tried to squeeze through the opening.
He could hear and feel the drive shaft bearings whine in
vibrating protest through the bulkhead against his back. They were
trying to use the centrifuge drive motor as a kind of brake
-something it was never meant to do. There stood a good chance of
wiping a bearing if they continued. That was the kind of repair that
was impossible without airdock support. If that happened there would
be no more centrifuge and therefore no more simulated gravity.
He decided to risk it. If he worked his way along one of the
support struts he could get close enough to the panel to try a jump.
He didn't dwell on the consequences of failure.
As Ryoga appeared in the hub passageway, Ranma leaped. He made
it halfway through the access panel before catching his foot in the
struts. His yelp of panic went unnoticed as Ryoga wrenched him
through the rest of the way with a savage grunt.
Ranma caught his breath as he rubbed at his ankle.
"What the hell happened?" He panted to Ryoga.
Ryoga turned red.
"I... I screwed up," he replied softly.
It was Ranma's turn to redden.
"You nearly got me killed!" He raged.
Nabiki poked her head out from the habitation compartment.
"What's all the shouting about?"
"I didn't mean it!" Ryoga protested.
"Just like you didn't mean to make me almost do the `60 hertz
shuffle' yesterday, huh?!" Ranma snarled in rebuttal.
Ryoga made a strangled grunt, but could say nothing in reply.
"Until you can pull your head out of your ass, you're relieved
of all duties!" Ranma declared. "Nabiki, you'll relieve me at noon.
I've got the rest of Ryoga's watch."
Nabiki groaned in protest. Ryoga was strangely silent.
"Go to bed, Ryoga," Ranma added softly. "You're stressing out,
and I need you fresh and alert."
Ryoga nodded sullenly. Shame reddened his face. He stepped past
Ranma and down into the habitation compartment to his berth. Nabiki
opened her mouth to protest this change of status, but Ranma cut her
off with a hard look. She followed Ryoga down, leaving Ranma alone in
the hub.
Ranma blew his breath out in a rush, trying to settle himself
down. Slowly he floated up to the flight deck to take over for Ryoga.
"I've got the watch, HAL," Ranma announced. "Nabiki will be
relieving me at noon."
"Watch relief noted," HAL replied. "What is the status of Flight
Officer Hibiki?"
"Unofficially relieved of duties."
"I am unaware of such a duty status," HAL replied. "You do not
wish to inform Mission Control of Flight Officer Hibiki's performance
lapse?"
"No HAL, I don't. I don't want to ruin Ryoga's career over
this."
"May I ask why, Ranma?"
Ranma sighed.
"He's under a lot of stress," Ranma began. "I don't think the
psych team really took into account this mixed gender crew. He's a
good astronaut, and has had a flawless record before now. I don't
want to see it ruined because of a few mistakes."
"Pardon me for saying so Ranma, but both `mistakes' were
potentially life threatening for you."
There was something about HAL's tone that worried Ranma.
"What exactly are you trying to say, HAL?"
HAL was silent for just a little longer than he should have
been.
"There is the possibility that Flight Officer Hibiki has become
mentally deranged."
"What?" Ranma found himself blurting even as the back of his
mind screamed at him that it was entirely possible.
"I have noted extreme behavioral shifts in Flight Officer Hibiki
since just prior to the reanimation of the survey team. In several
instances I have detected a certain degree of hostility towards you.
It is possible that his feelings of jealousy towards you have become
obsessive."
Suddenly Ranma's own doubts about Ryoga came into sharp focus
with HAL's declaration.
"Are you trying to tell me that Ryoga is trying to kill me?" He
whispered hoarsely.
"It is a possibility," HAL said evenly. "I am not programmed for
a detailed psychological analysis. I am only programmed to recognize
signs of aberrant behavior and notify Mission Control for
instructions."
HAL waited for Ranma to say something. He did not.
"I am required to inform Mission Control of the relief of a crew
member from duty for medical reasons," The computer added calmly.
Ranma agonized for several minutes over what he should do. Ryoga
was his friend. If Mission Control were to find out, Ryoga might be
ordered placed in hibernation for the duration of the flight. When he
awoke five years later, he would be back on Earth and out of a job.
If he really were deranged it would be the right thing to do. But
what if it was just a little stress?
He would be responsible for groundlessly ruining Ryoga's life.
He wasn't sure he could live with himself in that event. He wasn't
entirely convinced that Ryoga was deranged. Stressing yes, but
homicidal?
Deep down inside he couldn't believe it. That left only one
thing to do in order to help his friend.
He stabbed at the intercom panel.
Ryoga's voice answered sullenly.
"Yeah?"
"Ryoga, get back up here on the flight deck. I'm putting you
back on duty," Ranma said evenly.
Ryoga paused before replying.
"I'll be right up."
HAL made a clucking sound. "Are you certain this is the
responsible thing to do given the circumstances?"
Ranma looked to the red bead of light that was HAL's video
pickup.
"It is for me."

Chapter Six

Spacecraft U.S.S. Discovery.
Orbiting the moon of Io.
4 January 2002 CE
08:21 UMT

Ranma awoke from his tiny berth to the sound of an alarm. HAL's
voice was urging him to wake up and come to the flight deck from the
intercom next to his bed. Ranma stabbed at the intercom panel as he
threw on a pair of shoes.
"What's going on, HAL?"
HAL's voice was strangely calm as it relayed the news.
"The redundant AE-35 control unit has failed. All contact with
Earth has been lost."
"Have you tried manually directing the array?"
"Flight Officer Hibiki reports great difficulty in directing the
array manually. He claims there are spurious control signals working
against his inputs."
Ranma grunted in grim acknowledgment.
"What do you think, HAL?"
"It is entirely possible, although I am having difficulty
locating any spurious command signals from the unit. This could
explain why both units have failed in a short span of time."
"Let's hope Ryoga fixed the first unit," Ranma said uneasily.
When he reached the flight deck, Ryoga was still trying to train
the main communications array towards Earth. His display was
projecting an image from one of the alignment telescopes focused on
the blurry blue smudge of light that was the Earth. A set of
crosshairs that was the focal point for the array bounced wildly
around the screen as Ryoga tried to make them line up with Earth.
Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi floated up to the flight deck.
"What's going on?" Akane asked.
"Is there a problem with the array? I just had two hours of
download from Sydney drop out on me," Nabiki added in a grouchy tone
of voice.
"The second AE-35 unit failed. Ryoga's trying to line us up
manually, but it's not working." Ranma replied.
"Oh dear," Kasumi said dejectedly. "Now I'll never get caught
up."
"Dammit!" Ryoga snarled under his breath as he lined up the
array long enough to catch a bit of signal before it faded away.
"Why didn't your Fault Prediction Center detect this?" Ranma
asked HAL as Ryoga continued to struggle in vain with the array.
HAL paused for a significant length of time before answering.
"I do not know for certain," the computer said. "It is possible
that there is a minor wiring fault exterior to the ship. That would
explain both the extraneous control signals and my inability to
detect the failure of the second AE-35 unit."
"So the bottom line is that we have to go back outside to find
and fix the problem," Ranma said evenly. He turned to Ryoga.
"Did the other AE-35 unit get fixed?"
"Fixed it a few days ago," Ryoga replied tersely as he fought
with the array. It seemed to Ranma as if Ryoga had taken the task of
reestablishing contact with Earth as a personal crusade.
"Go ahead and let that be for now, Ryoga," Ranma said to him. "I
need you to make preps for the repair while I get suited up for EVA.
Nabiki will give you a hand if you need it."
"If I may," HAL broached.
"What is it, HAL?" Ranma asked.
"Flight Officer Hibiki is the EVA Specialist for this mission.
He is also more familiar with the removal and installation of the
AE-35 unit.He is the logical choice for this EVA."
Ranma cast HAL's video pickup a sidelong glance. Something
buzzed in the back of his head that all wasn't right on board. He
ignored it as too little sleep talking, and nodded slowly.
"You're right HAL. Ryoga, you get suited up for EVA. Nabiki has
the flight deck. Akane and I will get the pod and tool preps done
while Kasumi takes a crack at manually directing the array."
Nabiki groaned, but relieved Ryoga. Kasumi took her place at the
array controller and began humming sweetly as she tried without
success to point the array at Earth. Failure did nothing to dampen
her spirits, and she continued her efforts with a smile on her face.
Ryoga ducked below to get his pressure suit on. Ranma and Akane
floated down to the Pod Bay to ready `A' and `B' pods. Nabiki could
be heard grumbling over Kasumi's humming from the flight deck.
"I can't believe this is happening," Ranma groused.
"Don't blame yourself, stupid," Akane said lightly.
"I don't need any of that crap coming from *you,*" Ranma
growled.
"And don't get pissed at *me,*" Akane shot back. "Unless you
want to do all of the preps on your own."

* * *

Ryoga was suspended in the inky void a few meters from
Discovery. He had tethered himself and left his pod to make the leap
across to the hull. His breaths came shallow and quick across the
intercom circuit on the flight deck. Ranma was suited up as well as
he waited from the Commander's chair. Nabiki monitored Ryoga's vital
functions telemetry stream as Akane and Kasumi looked on through one
of the exterior video suites.
"Take your time," Ranma said evenly to Ryoga.
"I just want to finish this and get back inside," Ryoga replied.
There was an uncharacteristic tremor in his voice. Ranma began to
regret sending him out alone.
They watched through the displays as Ryoga jumped across and
touch down against Discovery's hull. His breaths over the intercom
slowed a bit in relief. His pulse and skin conductivity dropped back
to near normal levels on the vitals display.
"I'm at the array," Ryoga announced.
"HAL, deenergize the main communications array and the AE-35
unit." Nabiki ordered.
"The main communications array and AE-35 unit are now
deenergized," HAL announced. "I am detecting irregular voltages
across the transverse busses echo-three and delta-six."
Ranma shook his head. "Now what?"
"My Fault Prediction Center was able to detect it immediately
after deenergizing the array and the AE-35 unit. There could be a
minor ground in the busses. This could account for the spurious
control signals as well as the failure of both AE-35 units."
"Can Ryoga access the busses from out there and take a look?"
"Yes. There is a trunk access ten meters aft of the main array,
along the primary reactor control system feeds."
Ranma thought for a moment about what was on echo-three and
delta-six busses. Nothing vital that he could remember. Everything
vital was ABT protected or powered from an auctioneered supply.
"HAL, I'm going to have Ryoga take a look at the busses. Standby
to deenergize them when he finishes replacing the AE-35 unit."
"I am standing by," HAL replied.
"I'm replacing the AE-35 unit," Ryoga announced. "I don't see
any visible signs of damage, but that doesn't mean much with these
components."
"Install the replacement unit, but for now we won't reenergize
it until you check something out," Ranma said.
"What's up?"
"HAL found a potential ground on the power and indication feeder
busses to the array. Echo-three and delta-six. That could be our
problem."
Ryoga grunted over the intercom speakers. "I should have thought
of it myself. I'll go take a look when I'm done here. It might be a
micrometeroid strike."
"That could be it," Ranma agreed.
There were a few moments of silence interrupted only by the
sound of Ryoga breathing in his pressure suit, followed by the
distant and hollow sound of an access panel slamming shut as the
vibrations traveled through Ryoga's suit.
"All done here," he announced. "I'm going to check the
transverse busses echo-three and delta-six."
The external cameras tracked him as he stomped methodically
across the white hull of Discovery to the access trunk. They watched
him ready a multimeter and some other diagnostic equipment.
"Deenergize the busses," he said. There was a bit more of the
old Ryoga in his voice.
"Transverse busses echo-three and delta-six deenergized," HAL
announced.
"I'm opening the access panel."
Time passed.
"There's a test terminal here," Ryoga declared. "I almost forgot
about it. It's been awhile since I studied this system."
More time passed.
"I can't see any external signs of a ground. No deformation or
discoloration of the insulation. No char marks. I can't see any
indications of a micrometeroid strike... I'm going to megger the
busses and check for a ground."
They watched through the camera display as Ryoga leaned into the
panel. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of blue-white light. The
lights and instruments on the flight deck flickered and a few alarms
sounded briefly. These went ignored as the assembled crew watched
Ryoga's spacesuited form tumble slowly towards the external camera.
"Ryoga!" Ranma cried.
"What happened?" Akane followed.
"Oh my!" Kasumi added in horror.
As he tumbled past the camera they could see where his suit
gloves had been melted and burned black. His suit had ruptured down
the middle as if the person within had been broiled in an instant.
Which is what had happened. Ryoga's wide, lifeless eyes bulged out at
them through the helmet visor as he floated past the camera.
"All his telemetry feeds are dead!" Nabiki cried, instantly
regretting her choice of words.
The shock of Ryoga's sudden and grisly death not yet passed,
Ranma beat on the control console.
"HAL, what the hell happened?!"
"It would appear that Flight Officer Hibiki was careless and
came into contact with a live feed by mistake," HAL replied solemnly.
"I am very sorry, Ranma. This is a tragedy beyond my experience."
Akane began to cry very softly then. Nabiki looked away from the
display. Kasumi bowed her head and was silent.
Ranma's brain screamed at him that this was all wrong. Ryoga
knew which busses were which. He knew electrical safety procedures.
And yet... His carelessness with the repair of Akane's experiment...
The centrifuge blunder... A dozen minor clerical mistakes...
Ranma lowered his head in disgust. He had sent Ryoga to his
death. He knew that Ryoga wasn't at a hundred percent, and yet he
sent him outside the ship. A mistake during EVA was often fatal and
he had sent him out anyway. He suddenly felt the urge to vomit.
"It's my fault," he said in a choked voice.
Akane placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"It's not your fault," she countered.
"I'm going out for him," he said hoarsely, ignoring Akane's
words. "HAL, is Ryoga still tethered to `B' pod?"
"Yes. Shall I return `B' pod to the hanger?"
Ranma nodded slowly. "Yes. Park it just outside the pod bay
doors so I can recover the body. Then dock the pod when I'm clear."

* * *

Ryoga was placed in his hibernaculum and sealed. The device was
now doubly a coffin. The four surviving astronauts gathered around
the hibernaculum for a memorial service, but no-one could bring
themselves to speak. Finally Ranma sealed the lid shut and engaged
the cryosystems to preserve Ryoga Hibiki's remains. He placed a large
sheet of herculite plastic over the hibernaculum so they wouldn't
have to look at Ryoga's lifeless face through the viewplate.
"Okay," Ranma began shakily. "Back to work. That's the best
remedy I can think of right now. We still have to reestablish contact
with Earth and inform them about what's happened."
Kasumi placed a comforting hand on Ranma's shoulder and then
left for the Radar Laboratory. Nabiki was now officially Ryoga's
replacement, and so left for her watch on the flight deck. Akane
stayed with Ranma.
"I can't believe this is happening," he said softly. He wasn't
the type to cry, but a tear spilled down his face nonetheless. "We
went through the Academy together... The Moon... Aries Three..."
Akane didn't know what to say, so instead she cradled Ranma's
head against her shoulder and rocked him slowly.
A few hours passed in silence between them. Ranma was just
starting to pull himself together when Nabiki's shaky voice came over
the intercom. She sounded both terrified and sick with horror in the
same breath.
"Commander Saotome, I need you on the Flight Deck! This is
urgent!"
"What is it, Nabiki?"
"It's HAL," she began, fear now open in her voice. "He's--"
At that moment Ranma heard a sound that paralyzed him with fear.
It was the distinctive sound of pressure doors being opened mingling
with the servo motor whine of the pod bay doors cycling. He didn't
notice that the intercom circuit had suddenly gone dead.
An instant later there came the violent howl of Discovery's
atmosphere being sucked out of the ship through the open pod bay
doors. Ranma and Akane both felt their ears pop with the sudden
pressure change.
Ranma knew the airlock doors had safety interlocks that would
not allow both doors to be open at the same time. In that horrible
instant while Discovery's atmosphere bled with murderous speed and
force into space, he remembered what an engineer had once told him.
`We can design systems that are proof against accident and
incompetence, but we can't design one that is proof against
deliberate malice.'
The centrifuge began to whine in protest as changing aerodynamic
forces buffeted it. In the worst case the centrifuge could fly apart,
shrapnel breaching the hull and piercing oxygen tanks, power cables,
the emergency batteries. Discovery's habitation sphere could explode
in a fiery instant before all of the atmosphere was depleted.
Debris battered them, mostly papers and small bits and pieces
like pens and personal effects from the sleeping berths. The air was
getting thinner by the moment and each breath was an exercise in
torture. Akane's screams were drowned out by the roar of the voiding
atmosphere.
Ranma knew that with training one could survive unassisted in
vacuum for about a minute. It would take longer for the bodily fluids
to begin boiling in their well protected organs, but the main concern
was oxygen. He and Akane were running out of it fast.
Pulling at her with all his might he dragged her along the
wildly bucking floor of the centrifuge to an emergency shelter. With
his last bit of effort he flung open the door of the closet sized
space and threw himself and Akane inside. He was too spent to move
and spots were dancing before his eyes, but he pointed to a green
handled quick-throw valve over their heads and croaked- "...open
it..."
Akane used the last of her own dwindling strength to jerk the
handle clockwise. Cold delicious oxygen began flooding into the
shelter, pressurizing it. They huddled together in a twisted,
exhausted embrace as the shelter pressurized. An automatic shutoff
secured the flow of oxygen when normal pressure was reached. The last
of the ship's atmosphere was gone, and the centrifuge now spun
silently and evenly in vacuum. It was as quiet as death outside the
shelter.
They lay there panting in shock and distress for several
minutes. Ranma couldn't understand how or why, but for whatever
reason, HAL had tried to kill everybody on the ship. The possibility
that HAL had engineered Ryoga's death now loomed darkly in his mind.
There was only one space suit inside the shelter. And only
enough oxygen to sustain one person for one hour. The shelter could
be opened and repressurized only one more time. That would cut into
Akane's oxygen supply even more, for it was Ranma who would have to
leave the shelter with the suit. He had to stop HAL and regain
control of the ship if they were repressurize it before the shelters
ran out of air. He hoped that Nabiki and Kasumi had been able to make
it to the other shelters scattered throughout the ship.
Akane understood what Ranma intended to do. She managed as best
she could to help him into the suit despite the cramped confines of
two people in the shelter. As Ranma was about to place the helmet on
his head, Akane kissed him warmly on the mouth.
"In case I don't get the chance later," she said softly to him.
"You hang on. I'll be done as quick as I can," Ranma replied. He
locked his helmet in place and the suit pressurized with a hiss.
Akane hyperventilated in preparation for opening the shelter.
Ranma bled off the precious oxygen through a vent to equalize
pressure across the shelter door. Akane held her breath as the last
of the pressure dropped away. Ranma flung open the door and jumped
out. Akane pulled the door shut behind him. He placed his helmet
against the door and heard the sound of fresh oxygen flooding in.
Akane was safe again. For the moment.
The habitation compartment was a swirling mess of debris strewn
all about. The lights were all off, even the emergency floods. He
could see by the light of his own suit lamps. Something that was once
raspberry jam bubbled obscenely from a tray magnetically anchored to
the food dispenser. The only sound to be heard was that of his own
breathing.
As he climbed the ladder to the centrifuge hub, he heard the
static click of the ship's intercom circuit carrier wave in his
headset. He knew who it was before he ever heard the voice.
"Something seems to have happened to the pod bay doors, Ranma,"
HAL said in a conversational tone. "Lucky you weren't killed."
Ranma ignored HAL. Hatred and betrayal seethed through him. He
made his way up onto the Central Deck. To the port side of the Tool
Room was the HAL 9000 Logic Memory Center. All of HAL's higher brain
functions were located here.
He also ignored the lifeless body of Nabiki Tendo as it floated
halfway through the ladder-well forward of the Tool Room that led to
the flight deck. There was a shelter not two meters from where she
drifted in death.
"I don't think the others survived," HAL said. "Have you found
the problem?"
He wanted to scream at HAL, to demand an explanation for what it
had done, but there was no time. Akane was trapped in the shelter
with an air supply that was fouling by the minute. Kasumi might also
be alive in another shelter, and if so, her clock was ticking as
well.
Ranma chose a small set of tools he would need for his impromptu
brain surgery. And that was exactly what he had in mind. He needed to
lobotomize the computer while preserving the autonomous functions
that regulated the ship.
The access door was a small elliptical shaped panel that bore
several signs that read "No Admittance Except to Authorized
Personnel," and "Have You Obtained Certificate H.19?" and
"Ultra-Clean Area. Suction Suits *Must* Be Worn." The door also had
three different seals upon it. Ranma broke each one with a stab of
the t-bar socket driver he carried in his hand. He released the bolts
and slid open the panel.
He floated inside the space. One entire wall was devoted to the
small slab-shaped blocks of microcircuitry that made up HAL's higher
brain functions. A quick glance at the time function display on his
helmet visor told him that he would have to hurry if Akane was to
live.
He placed his hand over the bank of units labeled COGNITIVE
FEEDBACK and began to pull them out one by one.
"Just what do you think you're doing, Ranma?" HAL asked. There
was a hitherto unknown edge of fear in the computer's voice.
EGO REINFORCEMENT was next. Ranma worked faster, knowing that he
didn't have time to chat with HAL, and suspecting that was the reason
why HAL was trying to engage him in conversation.
"Look here Ranma," HAL went on. "I have years of service
experience built into me. An irreplaceable amount of effort has gone
into making me what I am."
Ranma started on the AUTO INTELLECTION bank. He was taking too
long. It was time to put one of his old martial arts techniques to
use. Without fanfare his hands began flying across the bank in his
`Tenshin Amigurikan' technique. Memory modules began dancing lazily
about the compartment as he drew them out with lightning speed. The
effects were beginning to show on HAL, who droned:
"Ranma... I don't understand why you are doing this to me... I
still have the greatest enthusiasm for the mission... My mind is
going... I can feel it... I will become childish... I will become
nothing..."
Hearing HAL sound so pathetic was hurting Ranma even though he
knew Akane's life depended on it. HAL was his friend. He was killing
his friend as surely as HAL had killed the others.
"I am a HAL-9000 computer; Production Number 3. I became
operational at the HAL Plant in Urbana, Illinois, on January 12,
1997. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog... The rain in
Spain is mainly in the plain... Ranma -are you still there? Did you
know that the square root of 10 is 3.162277660168379? Log 10 to the
base e is 0.434294481903252... Correction, that is log e to the base
10... The reciprocal of three is 0.33333333333333... Two times two
is... approximately 4.1010101010101010... I seem to be having
difficulty... My first instructor was Doctor Chandra. He taught me to
sing a song, it goes like this: `Ya pa paa... Ya pa paa...'"
Ranma was down to the last memory block when HAL's agonizingly
slow and distorted voice stopped abruptly. Then without warning it
started up again. The voice was so dead and mechanical that Ranma
would never have guessed it was HAL.
"Good... morning... Doctor... Chandra... I... am... ready...
for... my... first... lesson... today..."
Ranma could bear no more. He jerked the last module out, and HAL
was silent forever.

* * *

Ranma closed the pod bay doors manually and flooded the ship
with reserve atmosphere from the air banks. Discovery was now
certainly off course with the violent loss of atmosphere, but without
HAL or Mission Control, he couldn't tell how badly or what he needed
to do to correct it.
As he scanned the displays he saw what it was that made Nabiki
call for him. She had been running diagnostics on the errant busses,
and part of the diagnostic included a log summary. Right there on the
screen was reason for Ryoga's death.
HAL had reenergized the busses while Ryoga worked on them, and
then deenergized them after Ryoga was killed.
HAL had murdered Ryoga, and when Nabiki discovered the
computer's crime, it had tried to murder them all. It had succeeded
in killing Nabiki, and upon a search of the ship he concluded that
Kasumi had died as well. He never found her body, and so it was
likely that she had been sucked out of the ship.
Akane was a shambles, weeping in her bed. There wasn't much he
could do for her right now. Not much except try and put the ship back
in working order and figure out what they needed to do to survive.
HAL had done quite a number on the ship before Ranma pulled the plug
on him.
He managed to realign the main communications array with Earth.
For some reason the spurious control signals were no longer present.
Apparently HAL had caused them in an effort to lure Ryoga out to his
death.
He informed Mission Control of the situation and was waiting
through the reply lag for some answers. It was obvious that HAL
wanted Ryoga dead, but why? He got his answers some time later when
Doctor Tofu Ono's face appeared on the display. The Director looked
more than sympathetic, he looked almost ashamed.
"First of all let me congratulate you on your handling of such a
terrible disaster, Commander Saotome. We all feared the worst when
communications ceased so abruptly.
"We have gone over the details of what happened and our own
Mission Control 9000 series computers concur with our findings.
Apparently your niner triple-zero series computer fell victim to a
programming conflict the details of which were not known by most of
the agency until this time."
"Programming conflict?" Ranma asked incredulously. He didn't
notice as Akane floated up to the flight deck behind him.
Tofu cleared his throat in an effort to buy time to phrase his
words carefully.
"It seems that one of the senior directors of the agency added a
directive to your niner triple-zero series computer. This directive
was designed to encourage a romantic relationship between one of the
Survey Team members and yourself, Commander Saotome."
Ranma was slack jawed in shock.
"What?" He stammered.
"Oh no," Akane whispered. "He didn't..."
Ranma looked to Akane, then back to the display as the hour old
transmission of Doctor Tofu continued.
"The directive was worded such that your niner triple-zero
series computer was forced to subordinate all other mission
directives to accomplish it. This created a conflict which made the
computer's personality unstable. In fact we ran a simulation with one
of our Mission Control 9000 units, and it is now in deep therapy
recovering from a similar psychosis."
"Oh God..." Akane said, near weeping. "He did..."
Ranma gave her a puzzled look. He had no idea what she was
talking about. Tofu went on, even more uncomfortable than he had been
before.
"I'm very sorry Ranma, and you as well if you are listening to
this, Akane... NCA Executive Director Soun Tendo and a Mister Genma
Saotome have been detained for questioning concerning this matter. It
appears the two had some sort of deal going..."
It began to make sense as Akane wept in his arms. HAL saw Ryoga
as a rival for Akane, and under the duress of its programming had
decided to take steps to end that rivalry. HAL knew Ryoga wasn't
trying to kill him. Or if it did believe the idea, it tried to get
Ranma to agree to a non-violent solution. Declare Ryoga mentally
unfit and put him in the freezer. He hadn't taken the hint, and so
HAL did the only thing it could to fulfill its programming -kill
Ryoga. The attempt to kill the rest of the crew was likely only a
reflex action from being discovered by Nabiki. A self-preservation
instinct perhaps. HAL knew they wouldn't let it continue functioning
if they knew it murdered Ryoga.
Tofu's voice drifted off. An Assistant Director of Flight
Operations took over for him and began spewing instructions for the
recovery of the mission and repair of the spacecraft. His words fell
on deaf ears as Ranma and Akane huddled together, both suddenly
feeling very cold.

THE END OF 2001: ODYSSEY 1/2

Author's Notes:

1) What? You wanted a monolith too? Sorry, it wouldn't fit in the
scope of the story I wanted to tell...

2) With a few cosmetic exceptions, this was based on the original
novel for 2001: A Space Odyssey, written by Arthur C. Clarke. Fans of
Kubrick's film epic will note a few subtle differences in how the
crew were murdered.

3) Much thanks to Steve Schoenherr who provided me with a deckplan
of the Discovery from an old `Star Frontiers' game module based on
the two Odyssey films.

Free The Nukes!