THE TITAN EXPERIMENT

CHAPTER 36 - Chain of Command

As advanced as technology had become, Sarah still had to flip a lever up to the ON position to restore the station's power supply. After that, she moved over to a display screen on the primary electrical box and adjusted the output for each sector to normal, using her forefinger to drag an arrow up to the mid-mark on the power bar. When the station went into shutdown mode, the computer system controlling the fusion reactor lowered all levels to minimal to reduce stress on the core, producing only enough electricity for auxiliary power. The question was, who had powered off the master switch?

Sarah knew the answer.

Trunk lines extended from the central hub and ran through each spoke, connecting to the four sectors at the first level of the station, really the third floor based on how centrifugal forces worked in space. The first system to come online was gravity. Thrusters positioned around the perimeter of the station fired, and the wheel began rotating, creating a push toward the outer wheel. The gravitational force was strongest around the outer rim, simulating Earth-like conditions, but in the control room, zero gravity reigned.

Sarah's boots clattered against the square plated floor and shoved off toward the spoke tunnel leading back to the wheel.

"Anyone up for some gravity?" she said, sailing into the passage, leaving the hub behind.

Sarah didn't have to look to see she was being followed. She held the answers to their questions. "Be prepared. The further we go, we'll start experiencing—"

Halfway through the spoke, Sarah's body dropped several inches, then a few feet, in a sudden draw toward the tunnel floor. Her knees and elbows slammed into the metal plates beneath her. She braced herself and kept her helmet from hitting the floor. The gravity was working fine, but according to her wrist display, climate control, which included heat and oxygen, had yet to reach survivable levels.

"Try to get closer to the floor before you pass the center point of the spoke," Sarah said through the comm system.

"Thanks for showing us what can happen," Luna replied.

"I thought I was ready for it. Guess I'm a little rusty."

Phoenix said in the middle of a clamoring grunt, "Nice. Real Gs for a change."

Sarah checked the status of everyone behind her. They started out slithering along the floor like snakes, and then began crawling, and before long, all of them were walking, hunched over. By the time they neared the exit, the gravity grew weird again. The first rung of the descent ladder appeared a few feet from the end of the tunnel. Sarah's hands rose from the floor, and she had the sensation of falling. To keep from shooting out the end of the tube, she latched onto the side rails.

"Things will feel normal soon. We'll have to drop to the floor, so get ready to swivel around. You'll need to reorient yourself, so you'll come out feet first." Sarah pivoted her body on a central axis and dropped through the hole to where she landed in a standing position. She bent her knees to absorb the touchdown, felt the tug of gravity, and then straightened out.

Next came Luna Skye, then Ensign Tenzing, Kailani, Dr. Fairhaven, and finally Commander Drake, each of them landing the same as Sarah had. The group took a few moments to get used to the pull of gravity and then moved on further into the station.

"There are three corridors on each floor," Sarah said.

"Wait." Phoenix caught up to her. "There's more than one floor to this thing?"

"There are three floors. The main, or first floor, and a second and third." Sarah eyed Phoenix, and then Callisto, who was on her other side. "Listen close, I won't repeat myself. There are four sectors, A through D, running clockwise. We entered the station near the end of Sector D. We're in A now. Sector B is where we go next."