Cohesion: Chapter Four

The next few days were spent with them treating each other in an awkward sort of polite and professional coldness. Ludwig spent that same time trying not to focus on finding fault in Djawadi’s actions. He had to admit that part of his frustration with Djawadi may have been compounded by his worries that they were already more than a quarter of the way through their cohesion and still hadn’t found a suitable site to establish the geothermal facility.

It’d be easier for Ludwig to get over their tension if Doctor Djawadi hadn’t been consistent in breaking small rules here and there, almost as if to spite Ludwig. It wasn’t even anything major, which is why Ludwig was convinced he was trying to annoy him on purpose. Little things, like taking a nap when they should have been cleaning their equipment, or slipping out of Ludwig’s eyeline several times over the past few days. Though never long enough for Ludwig to reprimand him, it was still irritating. Now, instead of going over the results from the final pair of sensors like they were supposed to, Djawadi was still in bed, sleeping in.

The computer finished generating its results after processing the data from the sensors through its algorithm. Ludwig opened the results on his laptop to see pages of graphs and complex data sets. He quickly scrolled past the bulk of the report until he found what he was looking for—an interactive map of the caverns. His palms were sweating as he scanned the data, trying to ignore how nervous he was that this might be their last shot. The fact they hadn’t found any potential sites up to this point had deeply worried Ludwig, especially given the time constraints they were under. Sure, the computer had pinpointed additional sites for further tests, but that only underscored how inconclusive the results had been. Ludwig wasn’t sure they had time for more testing—not if they were to establish as much of the geothermal facility as they needed to put the colony back on track.

“Are those the results?” Djawadi asked behind him.

Ludwig glanced up at his partner, the anxiety of the moment wasn’t enough to stop him from noting Djawadi’s tired eyes—that’s what happens when you sleep outside the schedule allotted for you, Ludwig thought. Sleeping too much can negatively impact your sleep schedule almost as much as sleeping too little.

“Oh hey!” Djawadi exclaimed, pointing back at the monitor. “Looks like the computer has pinpointed two potential sites,”

Ludwig felt a huge wave of relief wash over him.

“Both of them are pretty far down there, huh?” Djawadi said.

Ludwig frowned, gesturing on the trackpad to zoom out on the map. Djawadi was right, compared to where their base camp was, reaching both sites would be quite the trek.

“Scroll up,” Djawadi requested.

Ludwig complied, stopping on an embedded spreadsheet filled with raw data from their sensors after Djawadi pointed to it. He looked at the data over Ludwig’s shoulder. Ludwig tried to decipher it himself, but all he could figure was that it involved information about chemical compounds—chemistry being the only class he’d struggled with at LunaU. He didn’t try to figure out what it was saying.

He glanced up at Djawadi, who had his brow furrowed as his eyes darted back and forth looking at the data.

“What is it?” Ludwig asked.

“Well, one of these sites is clearly the frontrunner in terms of viability—92%, according to the computer. Compared to the other, which sits at 74%.”

“Oof,” Ludwig said.
            “Oof indeed,” Djawadi replied. “But hey, the other one is still very promising—we’ve got indicators for a large water table, lots of heat, and plenty of gas. Wow, there’s a lot of volcanic activity down there.”

“The building blocks of renewable energy,” Ludwig said, his excitement growing.

Djawadi nodded, “Except . . .” He trailed off, taking control of the trackpad and highlighting some data points.

“Except?” Ludwig asked. “What’s the problem?”

“Well, the pockets of gas at the site are very dense, and very corrosive.”

“Our equipment is rated for that,” Ludwig said.

“Yes, but according to these readings, instead of needing to change the air filters in our suits every two days, we’ll need to change them twice a day while we’re down there just to be safe.”

“We can do that,” Ludwig said still excited, unsure why Djawadi was acting so worried.

“Well, then there’s this,” Djawadi said. He scrolled back down to the interactive map. He zoomed in on an area just outside of where the computer had indicated the most promising readings.

At first, Ludwig didn’t see what Djawadi was pointing to and was about to ask, but after Djawadi zoomed in further, it became obvious what the problem was. A vertical shaft, over one hundred meters deep, that they would have to climb down to reach the most promising site for geothermal energy. To make things worse, the last ten meters of the shaft was completely underwater—boiling water, according to the readings. They’d not only have to climb down the shaft, but they’d also have to swim through the last section and then back up a smaller shaft that opened into the cavern where their potential site was.

There was silence between the two of them for several moments as they each processed what it would take to overcome such an obstacle. With the high toxicity and corrosiveness of the gas down there, they’d have their work cut out for them. Add in the shaft, the boiling water, and the fact that with promising geothermal energy came strong currents in the water table—this wasn’t just dangerous. It was potentially deadly.

A pit formed in Ludwig’s stomach, thinking about how much more dangerous this mission just become. “Of course,” Ludwig said, his voice cracking. “There is the other potential site.”

“Really? I just assumed we wouldn’t even bother with that one,” Djawadi said. “74% viability? If those were the odds of you surviving a medical procedure, would you even risk that?”

Can they risk not trying the easier way first? Ludwig wondered. Yes, time was a constraint, but if one of them got seriously injured—or even killed—it could ruin everything. And what if getting to the site was such an ordeal that transporting the necessary equipment there was too dangerous for just the two of them? Would they even be able to construct a facility down there with how corrosive the gases were? That would certainly be hard on any equipment.

“We need to rule it out as a possibility before taking such a big risk on the other site,” Ludwig reasoned.

“Really?” Djawadi asked. “Doctor, yes, this site will be extremely dangerous, but that other site is miles away. We’ll spend most of the day just trekking there and back so we’re back to base when we’re supposed to be.”

Ludwig shook his head, “We won’t come back to base each night. We’ll take it in thirty-six-hour stints. Hike out there today, work through the night, then hike back in the morning in time to exchange our air filters tomorrow afternoon.”

“That’s a dozen rules broken,” Djawadi huffed.

“You and I both know that the rules can be broken in extreme circumstances. There are reasons we have rules, they keep us safe, they keep us focused, they keep us honest. But there are reasons to break them—for the sake of the mission, or for safety—but you must reason when that is acceptable.”

“Don’t talk to me about reason when this is clearly you being—” Djawadi bit back his insult.

“Being a what?” Ludwig goaded him. “I’m an adult, you can tell me where I’m falling short in this cohesion. Or do you not want to follow that rule too?”

Djawadi didn’t answer for a moment, biting back a remark. Instead, he folded his arms angrily and said, “74%, doc. Compared to 92. Why are we even discussing this?”

“Am I going to have to pull rank on you?” Ludwig asked in an even tone.

“Yes, actually,” Djawadi replied. “I want this on the mission record.”

“Fine. Computer, please note in the mission logbook that I am officially overruling my cohesion partner in our decision on which site to visit first. We will rule out Beta Site before risking the dangers of Site Alpha.”

“This has been recorded in the official logbook for further review,” the computer said.

Djawadi shook his head, “This is a mistake.”