Nigel Thompson - Pheia

Martin hit the intercom button. “We have good video up here.”

Kate turned to look at Chas. “They will be a while. Breakfast?”

Chas nodded.

“I also will have breakfast.” Boris replied.

Kate opened the tunnel door and the three of them walked back through the connecting tunnel to the galley area. Inside the galley, Boris closed the tunnel door behind them and spun the wheel. The indicator light next to the door showed a good seal.

“I make pancakes,” he announced.

“Really?” Kate asked. “I could go and get Kayla. She’s only watching the ROV video and we can put it on in here.”

“I make excellent pancakes,” Boris replied and turned his attention to the galley storage cabinets.

“I’ll make coffee then,” Chas said.

Kate thought this was Chas not wishing to be outdone by Boris. It was cute and also a little tedious to be constantly in the middle of this pointless competition. From her point of view neither of them was going to win. At least they were not going to win her if that’s what either of them imagined.

“I’m getting my Kindle,” she announced and went up the ladder to the crew room.

Boris got the stove fired up and started making batter. Chas finished getting the coffee maker primed and reached up and turned on the monitor above the galley counter. An image of the wall came up.

“Looks like the ROV is in the water he said.”

The image was rotating slowly and the wall drifted up as the ROV drove itself down. The rate of descent much faster than the hab had been making. The ROV didn’t need time to adjust to the increasing pressure like the humans did. The image changed suddenly to a view of the bottom below. Chas could see sand, a few rocks and not much else.

The view changed again to the ROV’s forward camera which was now pointing away from the wall. The sandy bottom stretched out into the distance where a rock outcropping could be seen.

Then the view changed again to the bottom of the hab which started to get closer.

“I guess they are done with that then.” Kate said.

Chas had not heard her come back down the ladder. He had been too absorbed by the video.

“I think I saw some large tube worms way out in the distance he said. I really hope we can get out there soon and look for ourselves.”

“Ready when you are she said,” smiling. “I smell pancakes. I’m ready for those too Boris.”

In the operations center all eyes were on the portal. Two of the twelve anchoring arms could be seen. Each cylinder of the hab had three arms at the top and three at the bottom which together formed a set of four tripods. The arms were extended out about ten feet.

“Hold the arms there please” Martin said. “Let’s get the hab closer to the wall. I want to be about fifteen feet out when we anchor”

“OK”, Newell replied and typed the new distance into the hab’s autopilot which was holding them steady in the water with the hab’s large collection of electronic thrusters.

The image of the wall started to get closer very slowly as the hab moved into its new position.

“We’re at fifteen feet now,” Newell announced. “Extend the arms?”

“Yes, please.” Martin responded. “Let’s get them all into light contact.”

Newell selected the first contact setting on the arm control screen.

Through the portal, the arms could be seen extending out towards the wall. As each one made contact it stopped. Pressure sensors in the arms allowed each arm to make very light contact so that all the arms could be positioned without overcoming the force from the hab’s thrusters which were keeping the big structure in place.

“How’s that look?” Newell asked.

“Looks OK to me. What are the contact readings?”

“All twelve show contact at the light setting. One is a little heavy but not unduly so.”

Martin turned to face the crew. “Anyone not think we should anchor here?” he asked. He wasn’t really asking for opinions. He just wanted to gauge the mood. All the faces seemed calm to him. He noticed that even George Carver was watching the portal not the crew, which was unusual for him. Whenever there was some key activity being conducted, Carver liked to keep an eye on the crew to look for signs of stress.

They had originally planned to anchor closer to the bottom, but the curve in the wall lower down would have made it difficult to get the Pheia’s arms all in contact with the hab still upright. Being further from the bottom meant a longer swim down for the divers but they had told him it was no big deal. When the expedition was still in the planning stages, Martin had wanted to be able to set the Pheia on the bottom, but the survey that had found the hydrothermal vents showed areas that were very fissured and unstable. The whole team had agreed that it was too risky and had come up with the idea of anchoring to the wall. Martin was more concerned now with getting the Pheia set in a solid position for the next week than he was with the exact location.

“OK, then.” Martin continued, “Let’s set up camp. Set the arms to the high pressure setting please”.

Newell tapped the setting on the control screen and there was a slight movement in the hab as its thrusters increased power to counteract the force the arms were now exerting.

Newell looked carefully at the display. “Good pressure on all arms. Ready to anchor.”

“Anchor.” Martin said.

Newell tapped the anchor control and entered a confirmation code.

Immediately all twelve explosive tips fired. There was a slight thud heard through the wall of the hab accompanied by flashes of light from the tips of the arms and clouds of bubbles which quickly rose out of view.

“Status?” Martin asked as he looked out of the portal trying to see all twelve contact points.

“We have nine solid anchors but the three of the arms on the lower end of this cylinder are showing slightly low contact pressures. I think they are OK though. Pressures are well above what we’d see if the rock had fractured.”

Martin looked down at the arms protruding below him. “They look OK from here. No sign of any fracturing that I can see. Have the hab do the jiggle test”.

Newell started the test which used the hab’s thrusters to attempt to move the hab up, down, left and right to ensure the anchors were solid.

The crew heard the whine of the thruster motors through the hull but nothing moved.

Newell stopped the test. “Everything looks good. I think we are locked in place.”

The room filled with cheers and clapping which subsided as Martin asked for quiet.

“Look’s like we are on finally on site. I’m sure all of you are eager to get on with the main purpose of our project here. The trip down was uneventful to say the least. Some might say it was boring even, but I think we’d all rather have that than technical problems.”

In the galley, Kate was on her third pancake. “These are very good Boris. I might have to have more of these”.

“You are welcome Kate.” Boris answered, and reached for the coffee pot on the counter.

As he reached for the pot there was a loud sound of grinding metal through the hull and the galley dropped about a foot. Boris dropped his mug on the floor where it broke into pieces; the coffee running over the now slightly slanted deck plates.

“What the hell was that?” Chas asked.

“I don’t know,” Boris replied. “Let us see,” and he reached for the wheel on the door to the connecting tunnel. As he started to turn the wheel he stopped and listened. There were shouts and screams coming from the other side. He let go of the wheel. He could hear the sound of rushing water.

“We may have problem.”

Kate got up from the table and moved to the door. As she reached for the wheel on the door, Boris held her arm. She listened to the sounds coming through it.