Crash-landed on Antichthon. Page 3
“So, let’s summarize,” said the spaceship commander, “Jeremy Smith and R-Delta have objections to continuing the flight, and the rest are in favor of flying further.”
“I’m not against a further flight to Antichthon,” the flight engineer objected, “But I’m sure that the problems have just begun.”
“I only have an advisory voice,” the android noted, “But I agree to fly in any direction.”
“Okay,” said Yakuro Kurosaki, “Then I’ll put it to a vote.” After a few seconds, he continued, “So, the entire crew, including the androids and artificial intelligence of the spaceship, for continuing the flight and completing our mission to explore the planet.”
No one began to lie down in suspended animation chambers since the flight, by cosmic standards, was no longer far, and everyone had some occupation or work. In addition, the spaceship used not individual but standard cryo-capsules. As a result, the not-tall but well-fed Yakuro did not like that they were very tight and rested his elbows on the walls. Thin Jeremy, on the contrary, complained that with his almost two-meter height, he could barely fit in the capsule. Miniature Nancy said that she was “lost” in the capsule, and it was very inconvenient for her to get into it and then get out. Only Alex didn’t comment on the dimensions because he was happy with everything.
Repair bots, led by androids, repaired the hole in the fuel tank, but the planetary engine could not be rebuilt. The co-pilot and flight engineer went into outer space to independently assess the damage and concluded that it needed to be repaired under stationary conditions.
Time passed quickly, and on the viewing screens, the planet went from a tiny dot at first to the size of a penny, and soon it took up almost the entire screen.
We made several orbits around the planet, choosing a landing site, when Antichthon presented the first surprise.
“I received a signal of artificial origin,” the AI announced to everyone’s surprise.
Everyone spoke almost simultaneously.
“Is there intelligent life on the planet?”
“Automatic probes reported nothing about this.”
“There is not even vegetation on the planet.”
“Maybe humanoids are not of biological origin?”
“Robots could not destroy people, animals, and all vegetation.”
“There are no traces of intelligent activity visible on the surface of the planet.”
“Antique,” the spaceship commander turned to the AI, “Have you detected the coordinates of the signal source?”
“No. The transfer was short.”
The earthlings were intensely watching the image of the planet’s surface, monitoring the radio broadcast on all available frequencies, when, on the fifth orbit, they suddenly again recorded a short transmission and the approximate location of the signal source. After another five orbits, we were able to establish its exact coordinates.
“I think this might be a space beacon,” said Alex, “Or, most likely, it’s an alien distress signal.”
“Did the spaceship of an extraterrestrial civilization crash?” exclaimed Nancy. - They need to be saved quickly.
“It could have crashed many years or even centuries ago,” Smith said.
“They can’t be saved,” said R-Delta.
“But we need to explore,” Kruglov objected, “Maybe something else can be done.”
“This is the most significant discovery in the entire history of mankind,” agreed Yakuro Kurosaki. “Antique, descend to 50 kilometers. Alex and R-Gamma, prepare for a manual landing. The rest take their seats in anti-overload chairs.”