Reaching For The Stars
Chapter 14

The voyage was quite short this time at only one and a half days. Peter once again briefed everybody about the planet. Eroc was a planet again similar in size to Earth, but with one major difference. The planet`s surface was totally water covered and the population lived in special bubble cities on the ocean bed, with all buildings and cities connected by transparent tunnels. The saucer was capable of operating normally under water and once the computer was programed with the course setting, adjustments were made automatically to permit under water and depth operation. Once they entered the planet`s atmosphere and the window shutters raised automatically, everyone was looking through the windows at the strange planet that now filled their field of vision. As Peter had said it was all water and Maureen and Fiona couldn`t understand how they would ever replace a place to “land”. Chris took up the explanation, saying that there were navigational beacons which were intercepted by the saucers navigation computer which would guide them in to the planet`s only spaceport. In fact there were only three cities on the planet, scattered far and wide across the ocean floor. They were many thousands of miles apart but all were linked by the transparent tunnels for road traffic. The planet also used passenger carrying submarines on some trips but many of the population preferred to drive as it was invariably quicker, with speeds of 500mph common in the tunnels. As the saucer dropped down to ten thousand feet above the water a flashing green light illuminated on the pilot`s panel. This was the first signal to be picked up from the spaceport transmitter; Chris switched back to manual control, made a quick adjustment to the aircraft controls and then re-engaged the auto-pilot. The saucer changed course slightly and the flashing green light became steady. Chris explained that they would remain on auto-pilot for the whole approach as the system would take them straight to a vacant airlock dock. The saucer continued losing height and finally levelled out only about fifty feet above the water. The speed reduced automatically and the computer made a couple more minor course adjustments before coming to a hover. Next, the saucer dropped straight down into the water and continued a vertical descent for some minutes, before levelling out again. From the windows they could now see the spaceport and city below them, all gigantic transparent bubbles linked by tunnels, where they could see traffic moving rapidly in both directions. Suddenly an unexpected commotion arose in one of the tunnels, with what appeared to be a multi vehicle accident. Peter explained that the tunnels were divided into sections with watertight shutters so that in emergencies a complete section could be isolated, very important if the tunnel wall was breached. From their low altitude they could clearly see the shutters closing off the affected section. As they got nearer, they could see a large split in the tunnel wall and water gushing through. Maureen looked at Peter and asked what would happen to the people that they knew were in the five vehicles involved in the accident. He replied that if the emergency services couldn`t reach them in time, they would drown.

“Peter, can`t we do anything, we can`t just watch those people perish”.

Peter replied that there wasn`t much they could do and they would have to leave it to the experts down below. Fiona was also showing concern about the fate of the vehicle occupants and asked Chris if their saucer had matter transporters on board like the military saucers had. Chris replied that yes they did have matter transporters but didn`t see what they could do. Maureen picked up on Fiona`s train of thought and asked if a matter transporter would work under water to which both Peter and Chris admitted that they didn`t know. “Surely it`s worth a try”, Maureen stated. Peter and Chris exchanged glances and a nod passed between them. Peter cancelled the auto-pilot and the saucer came to a stop hovering above the affected tunnel. Chris disappeared down the stairs at a run, headed for the transporter room with Maureen, Fiona and Bill hot on his heels. Chris switched the transporter unit on and as there was no warm up time the system was ready instantly. He aimed the device at a spot outside the tunnel and pressed the transport switch. “Well, here goes, all we can do is try”. The transporter beam shone through the water moving a lot slower than it would in space where they were normally used. The beam connected with the seabed and after remaining in place for a second or so went out. A large boulder appeared on the transporter unit floor, amid a cheer from the girls. Chris grinned and quickly shifted the aim of the device to the vehicle which looked to be filling with water fastest. He operated the system again and after a pause the beam went out again. This time, three soaking wet people appeared in the transporter. Maureen dashed forward and ushered them out of the transporter, they were totally disorientated and shivering with cold, unable to work out what had happened and that they were safe. By now several of the students had appeared and led the three people away wrapped in lightweight space blankets. Chris repeated the process for each vehicle and within four minutes had seventeen people safe on board. Peter had been watching the progress through the on-board cameras and as soon as the last person was on board, he re-engaged the auto-pilot for their final approach to the spaceport. They connected to the airlock minutes later and the doors were opened automatically a minute or so later. When they stepped out of the airlock as a group, leading their rescued people a loud cheer went up from several hundred people who were waiting in the terminal for them. They were asked to go to the spaceport control room where they were met by the port superintendent who thanked them for a rather spectacular rescue mission, and were told that if they had time, a crew from the planets TV station would like to speak to them. They agreed to this and were shown to another room where a TV crew was waiting. Peter and the crew tried to make light of their part in the rescue but the TV crew was having none of that and made them into heroes. The method of rescue had never been tried before and their actions would undoubtedly have far reaching consequences for rescue services throughout the federation.

Once they managed to get away from the spaceport, to explore the city, Peter gave everybody some more information on the planet`s history. Many thousands of years ago there had been dry land on the planet, and the cities had all been built on dry land, mostly high up in the many mountains that were now submerged under the water. As time had gone by the water level had risen dramatically and had continued to do so, forcing the planet`s residents to continually move higher up the mountains to escape the rising water. It had come to the point some two thousand years ago that they had got as high as they could go and still the water threatened to engulf them. The modern day remedy for this would have been to abandon the planet and replace some new home on another planet somewhere, but unfortunately at this time the population had not mastered space travel or the technology to reach the speeds required for such an undertaking so the only choice open to them had been to build their cities in bubbles on the sea bed. They had completed the first bubble city with only a few years to spare before all the land disappeared. Peter said it was possible to take a submarine trip to view the submerged cities and asked if anyone wanted to do it. Everyone was enthusiastic about the idea so Peter led them through the city to a special dock area where the submarine trips departed from. Maureen wanted to know how Peter knew this and he explained that he had been to the planet several times but had never had the time to take the trip but had watched the tour submarines depart from their dock through special airlocks. They arrived at the dock about an hour after leaving the spaceport and found that a trip was departing shortly, so booked themselves on to it. All the students were totally fascinated with the place and how it seemed like any city on Earth apart from the fact that looking up all you could see was water not sky. Inside the submarine the seating was arranged very similar to an old style jet airliner on Earth with seating for one hundred sightseers. There were panoramic windows all-round the passenger deck and also the floor was transparent. The submarine cast off once all the passengers were seated and headed for a large gate which led to a short transparent tunnel. It seemed rather weird to be in a vessel as large as the submarine and still be able to enter a tunnel. The vessel passed through the first gate and settled on the floor of the tunnel. The door behind them closed and water was allowed in through the forward doors and very soon the submarine was floating, then totally submerged. The front door opened fully and the vessel proceeded out into open water. As the vessel headed away from the city a uniformed crew member appeared and took up a position at the front of the vessel on a small raised platform, and introduced himself as Igor, their guide.

Igor began by repeating what Peter had already told his group then went on to tell the passengers about what they could expect to see on the voyage. By now the submarine was approaching a large cluster of buildings that had obviously once been a major city. He said that the city they were approaching was the first city that had been built and dated back nearly four thousand years. The architecture of the buildings was similar to the classic Greek found on Earth and was laid out with wide streets and open plaza`s. As they got closer they could all see that all the streets gleamed with a dull golden colour. Igor informed everybody that the material that covered the streets was indeed gold and amid gasps from practically everyone on board, said that on Eroc, gold was the most common natural element and as a consequence was virtually worthless there. One lady spoke up and jokingly spoke up and said she would have to come back later and get some, to which Igor laughed and said if she could replace some way to do it, she was welcome, amid laughter from all the other passengers. The tour took in four more cities with varying styles of architecture dependant on when they were built, all paved with gold as had been the case in the first city, culminating in the most recent city which had been abandoned just under two years ago.

The group remained on Eroc for five days during which time the students went to the university and various museums learning all they could about the strange planet and its people.

The next stop on the tour was a planet of the star Dubhe in the Big Dipper or Plough constellation called Drof. This leg was fairly long haul taking seven days during which time Peter once again filled everybody in on the background information about the planet. The planet was quite small, only slightly larger than Earth`s moon and the days were only fifteen Earth hours long. He explained that all vehicles on the planet were under common ownership and anyone could take a vehicle from one of the many communal parking areas throughout the main city unless it had an “In Use” sign flashing. The base vehicle was a three seat unit and people could then select an appropriate body style for their particular needs which simply clipped into place behind the master unit. All the parking areas had a separate body section where people went to attach the bodies, and invariably had large stocks of all the body types. The vehicles weren`t hover type but ran on large balls, which made them look ugly but they were quite practical. They were electrically driven but not from an internal motor but through a metal rod connected to an overhead power line similar to Earth`s old fashioned trolley buses and trams. Peter said that if anybody wanted to have a go at driving the strange unusual vehicles he would be happy to teach them. Megan promptly jumped in and said she would like to try, so Peter already had one pupil.

Seven days later when they landed on Drof everyone was a bit fed up with being cooped up on board for a week and could hardly wait to get off and go exploring. Peter led them all across the spaceport to a vehicle parking area and selected a master unit and an eighteen seat bus body which he quickly attached to the master unit. Once the unit was coupled together it didn`t look as ugly as the master unit did on its own. The master had four balls and the body section had two, and looked a bit like a mini bus back on Earth apart from the three foot balls. The interior had comfortable seating and wide windows as well as a glass roof. Peter slipped into the driver`s seat which was in the centre of the vehicle with a seat on either side and pressed a button to engage the electric power, which came on immediately with a low hum. There was no steering wheel, just a joystick with a separate lever to control the direction of travel. Once everybody was comfortable, he pushed the joystick forward and the vehicle moved forward. There was a red line on the road surface which Peter followed, and many more lines joined the main one and at each turn or junction more lines diverged or joined. Once clear of the spaceport, Peter stopped the vehicle and invited Megan to come and try her skill. She came forward and slipped into the driver`s seat, while Peter moved across into the vacant front seat, opposite Maureen.

“You probably saw how I drove out of the spaceport, so I won`t teach you to suck eggs as it were. You simply move the joystick forward to go, the further forward you push it, the faster the vehicle will travel, to steer simply move the joystick to the left or right. You must keep the red line on the road directly under your seat at all times to prevent the vehicle becoming detached from the overhead power line. Right, all clear, let’s go”.

Megan gingerly moved the stick forward as instructed and the vehicle moved forward, she was concentrating really hard and the vehicle was barely moving. Peter told her to push the stick a bit farther forward to increase their speed which she did and her confidence quickly grew as she realised that the vehicle was in fact quite easy to drive. She had maintained the vehicles position above the red line and had successfully negotiated a couple of shallow bends. Peter was watching her and once or twice put his hand over hers on the stick to make a minor steering adjustment. Megan had been driving for about ten minutes and she really felt confident now in her ability to control the vehicle. The road curved round to the right and she over-steered, there was a loud click and the vehicle stopped. Megan sat there for a moment and then burst into tears as she realised what had happened. “It`s okay, most people do that, even the native population, it`s quite easy to get a bit carried away.” Peter told her.

“ C`mon Chris, give me a hand to re-couple this thing” So saying Peter and Chris got out and went round to a locker at the front of the master unit, where the bonnet would normally be on an Earth vehicle. Peter extracted long pole from the locker which had a bayonet fitting at one end and a weighted wire at the other end. He plugged the bayonet fitting into a socket under the locker flap and expertly flicked the other end up in a loop over his head where it looped through the air and snagged over the power line. A green light on the pole illuminated indicating that there was power going through the pole. He twisted a grip on the base of the pole and the vehicle moved forward. The overhead cable was some twenty feet behind where the vehicle had stopped and Peter was able to push it easily with the pole, taking power from the cable. Chris meanwhile had extracted another pole from the locker with which he pushed up on the electric pick-up rod as Peter pushed the vehicle under the wire. A final push and there was a buzz as the pick-up rod re-connected with the overhead wire. Chris withdrew his pole and replaced it in the locker while Peter flicked a switch on his pole which automatically disengaged the pole from the wire, then, finally unplugging the bayonet fitting he in turn replaced his pole in the locker. Peter and Chris got back in the vehicle and Peter was surprised to replace the driver`s seat vacant. Megan was down at the back still sniffing and dabbing her eyes.

“C`mon Megan get yourself back up here, it’s time to go”.

“I can`t do it anymore Peter, I`m sorry for all the trouble I`ve caused”.

“Don`t be silly now get back up here”.