A new entry in the Omicron Matter – The Drones Launch. The drones are now returning to the warehouse in East Bristol. After sufficient time for them to cool and dangerous gases to disperse, the teams move forward to extract the two rats. Understandably, both are quite traumatized by the weightless and disorientation of the travel.
For those who are new to The Omicron Matter, the book home page is a good place to start.
Author’s note
I will be breaking the next section into three parts. It is a long section (almost 2400 words) and there are two decent breaking spots to make the sections more readable. Today’s section considers what viewing something that just came through the atmosphere might look like. The space shuttles were allowed to cool off and giant fans bright out to vent the gases. Most of those gases were left over fuel from the reentry but still something that needed to be dispersed.
I am embarrassed that early sections of this chapter were posted unedited. There wasn’t a whole lot that was crucial but there was a missing word or two and some creative punctuation. I’ve corrected all the grammar issues for the chapter. For those who want a sneak peak of the next two postings, you can visit the book page highlighted at the top. I have included the whole section there just to make sure all the edits made it in.
Thanks for your support and look for more on Friday
Retrieving results
Rachael asked about the state of the rats. Charles said, ”Both were alive but in considerable distress.” There was a pause, “Camille and I are working out the reentry sequence. It may take some extra effort. Assuming you want the rats alive, we will need to take a slower approach.”
Camille said, “Of course, if you don’t need them alive, they can be here in 30 minutes.”
Rachael said, “No!” and Stanhope said, “Yes!” simultaneously.”
Rachael said, “The whole point of this effort was to see if something could survive the trip.”
Stanhope said, “They’re alive now. We’ve shown something can survive the transit. We can autopsy the bodies to see if there is degradation we need to worry about.”
Rachael reddened and waved her hands, “We don’t have to be senselessly cruel. Alive, the rats will provide useful information about long term effects.
Smith approached the discussion, “Is there a problem? Why can’t we retrieve them sooner?” Stanhope smiled in victory.
Rachael shook in frustration, “The rats alive are more use to us than dead. We don’t know what latent effects this field might have on higher order intelligence, body systems. Sure they’re alive. So’s a fish when you pull it out of the water.”
Smith smirked and then turned to Stanhope, “You were the one who urged these tests. Miss Weiz is correct – there is more data on safety if they are kept alive. Am I missing something, Winifred?”
Stanhope’s expression changed to a scowl and then she said, “I suppose you are right. We should see how they recover. Fine…whatever…do what is necessary to return the rats alive.”
Camille’s low response was, “If you insist,….of course.”
The drones began reentry. Charles explained to Rachael that they were using the atmosphere to slow the two speeding drones. The problem was that if the drones slowed too fast, the rats would be crushed. They would using low angles and applying acceleration to minimize the force inside the drone to something survivable. He likened it to catching a bullet with one teeth. Rachael grimaced at the thought and closed her mouth tightly. An hour and half later, the two drones skimmed up the Bristol River and slipped into Smith’s warehouse. Bother were still quite hot and emitting strange gases. Camille ran fans to vent and cool them down. After another 30 minutes, the group could safely approach.
John asked, “Is this what we have to look forward to?”
Charles said, “Our ships are equipped with inertial dampers and artificial gravity. Millicent and I can drop over the Atlantic and avoid the light show Cardiff just got. The odd trawler, freighter or airship might see us but we have more control on speed and location. When we arrived here, we took an hour flying up the Channel and the Thames before we got to the warehouse. So the gases and heat had dissipated by the time we were set. The path Camille and I planned for the drones was abnormal but the heat and gases are not.”
John whistled in reply, “Makes airships blowing up seem a bit simple.”
Rachael said, “We just flew one of those things 250 million miles. The other flew over a billion. Both have returned whole with live passengers. They just did this in no more time than it takes to get to Paris and back in an air ship. Yep…Airships are a bit simple.”
Charles piped up, “Well said, Miss Weiz.”
John blushed red and said nothing more.
Rachael replied to the notebook, “I wasn’t bragging, Charles. Frankly, I have a lot of sympathy for the poor rats at the moment. “
The Finder's Saga 