Chapter 11

Dear Jim,

I was shocked to read about Filippa's car accident. It is unbelievable that there are still people who disconnect their automatic guiding systems. I know they want to 'be in control', but there should be laws against that. It is just too dangerous, especially in the high-speed tunnels. I know what you wrote occurred two years ago and you will not read my reply for another two years, but I hope very much that your wife is ok. I am sure they will take good care of her at the hospital and do everything they can to help her.

When I left the pod this morning the shuttle at the meeting place was gone. I walked through the high grass and over the bridge to the tent. I could hear voices from inside. I hesitated before I pushed away the flap of the tent and tentatively looked inside. Next to the OMR a sickbed had been put up. Don't ask me where it came from. Maybe someone found it in a crate. Maybe they brought it on the shuttle. With a frown I realized that they had attached all the apparatus around the bed to the energy supply of the OMR. I did however keep myself from commenting on it, although I surreptitiously checked the power lines on my way past.

Next to the bed stood Susana and Candy, who was surrounded by camera drones. Dough was sitting on a crate not far away, looking bored and studying something on his pad. Candy was wearing blonde curly hair today and flashy red lipstick.

The man in the bed looked better than he had yesterday. His leg was covered by a blanket but it looked like it was in some kind of cast. There was also a bandage on one of his arms, but he appeared not to be in pain at that moment. That may have been the result of medication or of whatever procedures he went through yesterday. I am an engineer, not a doctor, so I can't tell with things like that. I cannot deny that all in all the man was handsome and he seemed to use his charming smile on both of the women who next to him. Susana handed the doctor a glass of water from a stack of boxes which served as a bedside table. He could have gotten it himself, I am sure. Candy mostly tried to look pretty and talked about how famous she is. I guess that's all a matter of perspective.

I watched this scene for a few minutes until I noticed that I must have been staring, but it didn't seem like the others even recognized I was there. Only Dough glanced up from his pad to acknowledge my presence with a nod. I can't deny I was surprised he even did that.

I silently retreated out of the tent and almost bumped into Nisha at the entrance, who was coming in with a tray of food. After holding the tent flap open for her, I stepped back outside. I saw that Arthur was leaving his pod just at this moment and decided to go over and check how he was doing.

Soon I saw that his hand was in a bandage. I went over to ask him how he was feeling. Arthur replied that he was fine but his hand would have to be treated for a few days.

'I have seen the doctor about it already,' he stated.

'But he is still in a sickbed himself?' I said, confused.

'No, not him,' Arthur explained, 'His mother. You may want to go and see her. Nice woman. As she has no other place now she will stay with Gerald and Ryker for the time being. I'm sure they'll take good care of her.'

Following Arthur's advice, I made a detour on my way and went over to Gerald's pod. I stopped briefly to watched the juvenile chickens in their pen. Gerald was picking tomatoes in his experimental field. In front of his pod the doctor was sitting in a folding chair reading something on her wrist-mounted pad. Ryker kept her company.

When I came closer I saw that one of her feet was bandaged and there was a large plaster on her forehead. I introduced myself while petting Ryker to say him hello. The woman introduced herself as Ingrid Larsen.

'Don't know how it could have happened. When the parachute malfunctioned some of the crates and boxes did not stay strapped down as they should. Suddenly they were everywhere. I was lucky I could move a smaller one to get out of my chair once we had reached the ground. I was so relieved when I heard someone trying to open the door from the outside because the door button just didn't work,' she told me.

'And how are you feeling now?' I asked.

'I am alright, or will be,' she answered. 'My foot hurts, but it will heal fast. Frode on the other hand. . . you saw him yesterday.'

'I saw that he is awake and talking, but how is his leg?' I wanted to know.

Ingrid looked worried.

'Frode was not as lucky as I was,' she explained. ' He was hit by a large crate and could not move at all until your friends came in. I am very glad you managed to open the door in time. Thanks to the doctors from Cluster Six who came to help yesterday, his leg could be saved. I couldn't have done it alone, certainly not while being hurt myself. We are however not sure if he will recover completely.'

We chatted about this and that for a while until I excused myself because I actually had work to do. I walked on to the crashed pod. When I arrived I saw that someone had already unloaded the majority of the crates and boxes which had been inside of the pod. I was happy to see that as it meant that there was free space to move around inside the pod.

I climbed up through the door, crossed the entrance area and walked into the main room. I saw that it was still a mess. The main computer had been damaged probably by the same crate which had hit Frode Larsen, who had sat in front of it. I tried to connect my pad to it but no link could be established. I sighed. I knew at that time that I would probably have to take the whole thing apart.

As I could not get any centralized information I had to go through the whole pod, checking all systems separately. As was to be expected everything that was on the underside of the pod has been thoroughly smashed in the crash and is certainly unusable. I opened a hatch in the floor of the main room and connected my pad with the switchboard. The power system was not working at full capacity. Some of the batteries did not show up in the list. They were either broken or disconnected; there was no way of knowing without looking at them directly.

I had to move a few boxes and then climb up on one of them to access the central unit of the ventilation system in the ceiling. I could not find any sign of the air inlet at all. The ventilation lines and vents inside of the pod seemed alright and the air outlet is probably ok as well, as it is positioned in the upper part of the hull. It is however still covered with the outer hull, as nobody had bothered to remove that. The heating and cooling unit did not appear in the system at all.

I climbed down and moved the box so I could open the wall panel in front of the water processing unit's control system. The water tank below the pod has been crushed completely by the crash – unfortunately, this was to be expected. There was also no response from the water purification unit. When I went to the bathroom, however, I found out that it seemed to be still there at least, but I could not tell in which condition.

I sighed and looked around. The whole interior was a mess and I will probably have to dismantle a large part of the wall, floor and ceiling panels to get a close look at everything. Some of the parts will have to be replaced completely and I am not quite sure about our inventory of spare parts. There will be things which have to be completely rebuilt. I am not yet certain how to go on from here. I need time to think and make plans, and I will need help. Maybe I should contact one of my colleagues at a different cluster to get a second opinion.

I spent most of my day at the damaged pod, trying to find out as much as I could about the state of things and writing a detailed list. I hope this will help me in the future.

Love, Sarah

Tavaron

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