Astronomicon: Icarus

12 - Chaos

"How far will we have to go to get out of this mayhem?" asked Captain Taylor, leaning over Felix's shoulder in the cockpit.

"Difficult to say, Captain," replied Felix, constantly adjusting Icarus' position to avoid small asteroids, "That impact did a lot more than split that asteroid. It's set off a chain-reaction of collisions, which is still spreading through this region of the Trojans. I reckon it will take days for things to calm down out there."

"We need to hang around here while there's still a chance that Dmitry is alive out there somewhere."

"It's risky but we can do it. It's not going to do your paintwork any good and I'll have to stay on the controls until we're out of the active area," replied Felix.

Another small asteroid, highlighted in red on the radar screen, set off the proximity warning. Felix still had the warning siren muted as it was going off repeatedly. He gave Icarus a strong burst of lateral thrust, pushing her to starboard out of the path of the approaching asteroid. The track marked on the radar screen changed from red to amber. He gently applied enough retarding force with the thrusters to slow Icarus to a relative halt again.

Captain Taylor clunked his way back into the control room. He planted his mag-boots firmly against the base of the centre console and gripped the chrome rail which ran a full circle around the top of it. Iolo was still studying the screen in front of him.

"Anything yet?" asked the Captain.

"No. A few things I thought could be him but the tracking cameras have shown all of them to be just lumps of rock. The rig is still floating around out there. I reckon we can go back and pick it up when things quieten down again."

"That would be good, but concentrate on locating Dmitry for now."

"Don't worry, I am, sir."

The proximity warning lights flashed red again, warning them to both hold on tight as Felix rapidly manoeuvred the ship again. The Icarus lurched to port, lifting up rapidly and attempting to turn at the same time. They heard Felix curse and seconds later there was a heavy clang against the hull.

"Damage?" shouted the Captain.

"Sorry. It was a small one, but it hit quite hard," said Felix, "There was a much larger chunk but that passed safely under us. That would have done a lot more than scratch the paintwork."

Captain Taylor was about to order a survey of the hull with the external cameras when the proximity lights flashed again. Icarus' thrusters fired again, this time forcing the ship downwards, while the main drive began to move it forwards.

"I need to get us out of here," announced Felix, "Looks like the biggest chunk of the asteroid we were mining has gone spinning through a group of large rocks. It's still spinning and flicking them all over as it pushes through. Two of them are heading this way."

"Do what you have to," replied the Captain. He frowned at Iolo but said nothing.

"Will do," replied Felix.

They felt Icarus move again, accelerating quickly while turning hard. Again they had to hold on to avoid being thrown around in the control room.

"The further we get away from our original position, the lower our chances of finding Dmitry," warned Iolo.

"Don't you think I know that?" replied Captain Taylor, "But I have to make sure that Dmitry has a ship to get back to. It's no help to him if Icarus is a smashed wreck."

"It's just, with all the movement in these asteroids, I can't be sure of navigating back to the same point."

"Just do your best, Iolo. Everyone knows the risks when they sign up."