Cohesion: Chapter Two
Cohesion Mission Handbook 4.3
For your mission partner’s safety as well as your own, always stay within line of sight of each other. Many of the dangers you’ll experience on your mission can be avoided through common sense and by observing the Cohesion rules.
They each grabbed a box of equipment and made their way towards the entrance of the caverns. These caverns had been determined by the mission computer to be one of the most likely sites suitable for a geothermal power facility. Doctor Djawadi and his last cohesion partner had already spent the last month mapping the caverns and confirming that this was indeed the best site for geothermal capabilities.
Now, Doctor Ludwig and Doctor Djawadi would spend the next four weeks with the goal of narrowing down the most ideal site and establishing the foundation of their colony’s geothermal power facilities. Geothermal was their best bet on this planet. Solar wouldn’t work due to how dim the Trappist star was compared to Earth’s sun, there were no fossil fuels on this planet they could rely on, and they didn’t have the components needed for nuclear. Harnessing the planet’s natural tectonic energy through a geothermal facility would power their colony for generations to come.
These caverns were going to be an essential aspect of their colony’s growth, but they hadn’t always been here. In fact, before their ancestors had created the moon, Trappist 1d had very little tectonic activity at all.
When the moon had been in the process of being formed, one of the goals of its creation was to force this planet out of being tidally locked with its star, and instead give it a rotation like Earth’s. Their efforts had been successful, and the rotational forces on the planet also helped in creating enough volcanic activity to allow for geothermal power to be the most promising renewable energy source.
Those weren’t even the only positive effects their artificial moon had created for them. One of the most beneficial was its magnetic field, which was helping in the formation of an atmosphere and protection from radiation. Many had laughed at their ancestor’s plans when they’d proposed the idea of an artificial moon as a foundational aspect of their colony’s efforts. But now, more than two centuries later, standing upon this rock, the fruits of their terraforming endeavor were already showing in the very fact that they were here, worrying about establishing long lasting renewable energy, and not struggling to create an atmosphere that wouldn’t be immediately fried by their star. Sure, they were decades behind the colony efforts on other planets in the system, but their moon was the jewel of their endeavor and stood as a potent reminder of what they can and still would build.
“Doctor?” Djawadi’s voice came through Ludwig’s comms.
Ludwig blinked, realizing he’d once again been looking up at the moon, lost in his own thoughts, brimming with the pride of being part of something so wonderful. “Apologies Doctor Djawadi, just admiring the view.”
“No apology necessary, doctor,” Djawadi responded. “Get a good look while you can. These caverns are deep and once we’re down there, we might not have a chance to get out very often.”
Ludwig didn’t respond, only readjusting his grip on the case of equipment he carried as he followed Djawadi into the dark of the caverns. The incline when they first entered was steeper than Ludwig was comfortable with, especially while carrying such large cases of equipment. As they made their way downward, Ludwig was struck by how narrow the paths were. He wasn’t sure why, but the word “cavern” had conjured images of vast open caves in his mind. At their widest, the paths barely measured two meters wide, and at their narrowest, they had to help each other move their equipment through before shimmying carefully through themselves.
Volcanic rock was deceptively sharp, and the last thing they needed was to worry about a pressure suit breach. The height of the tunnels they followed weren’t much better, though thankfully, they didn’t have to duck too often.
But even with how narrow the space they navigated was, Ludwig was relieved that instead of the claustrophobia he’d worried about, he was instead overwhelmed with a sense of wonder at finding himself hiking through a system of caves on an exoplanet.
“Things should get better in a few days,” Doctor Djawadi broke the silence.
“Hmm?” Ludwig asked, finding himself running his finger along the edge of a shiny and black bit of volcanic rock.
“The spacing out,” Djawadi responded. “No one really tells you about the side effects of a nearly fifty-year hibernation cycle. Our brains are incredibly resilient, thankfully, but turns out fifty years of very low brain activity can impact the neurological responsiveness for a week or two.”
“Oh, I suppose I hadn’t realized I was spacing out,” Ludwig said. “At least more than normal—I’ve tended toward introspection in my life.”
“I hadn’t noticed either, but my last cohesion partner sure did,” Djawadi chuckled. “Don’t worry though, I won’t let you tumble down a vent shaft without me.”
Ludwig chuckled and continued to wonder if Djawadi’s issues with his last cohesion hadn’t been because of his disobedience, or more just a personality issue with his last partner. Djwadi seemed to have a natural cheerfulness about him that set Ludwig at ease. He could see how someone more judgmental might take his easy-going nature as not taking their mission seriously. Which, unfortunately, was something CS4 struggled with ever since the founding of the Principles of Cohesion.
Ludwig decided to give Djawadi the benefit of the doubt.
“Well, doctor, I appreciate that your commitment to keeping me in your line of sight would cause you to take such drastic measures—but hopefully, we won’t have to worry about me tumbling down any vent shafts.”
Djawadi chuckled, “Of course, doctor. But please, call me Pratik.”
There was immediately a slight tension in the cavernous air. It was against the rules to call a cohesion partner by anything other than their title or their last name. First names were too familiar and disrespectful of the work they’d all put into their respective fields.
Djawadi knew that though. They both did.
It was one of the unwritten traditions of cohesion that the first day of a new partnership was often spent testing boundaries. His suggestion that Ludwig call him by his first name was a test of sorts—the subtext being that it would help Djawadi determine how strict their cohesion would be. If Ludwig agreed, it signaled that Djawadi could relax, knowing he was with someone who also felt lax about the rules. It was a distasteful way of starting a cohesion, in Ludwig’s opinion.
“That’s okay, doctor,” Ludwig said, trying not to sound too disappointed. Just because he was establishing that the rules were important to him, didn’t mean he had to be a strict asshole about it. Strict, yes, but not an asshole.
“So are there a lot of vent shafts then?” Ludwig asked nervously. He’d heard about these when reviewing the mission. They were the result of the incredibly hot gases rising from the magma that had formed these caverns. Most of the tunnels down here would be horizontal with varying degrees of pitch, but the vent shafts could be above them in the cavern ceiling, or sudden drops from a vent shaft that had opened in a cavern below.
“Yep,” Djawadi responded. “Don’t worry, we’ve got them all mapped out. And there are none on the way to base camp.”
“Where are we setting up camp?” Ludwig asked.
Djawadi made a gesture with his glove, that pulled up a 3D map of the caverns on Ludwig’s visor. “Well doctor, when we were mapping out these caverns, I was thinking about this area here.”
As he spoke, the map rotated and then zoomed into a particular spot that was about a kilometer from where they were currently.
“It’ll take some time to get all our equipment down here,” Ludwig said.
“Yes, but I’ve evaluated these caves for a month now, and this particular spot seems to have the most convenient access to several of the main tunnels where potential pockets are supposed to be.”
Ludwig studied the map a bit more, using his own gestures to rotate the map and see what Djawadi was indicating. Truthfully, the tunnels were complex enough that he struggled to see what Djawadi was seeing. To him, they looked a lot like the 3D models he’d seen of ant colonies at a museum on Earth before his family moved to the moon.
But he wasn’t the geology expert here, Djawadi was, and if he felt this was the best place, then he had no problem with that.
“Works for me, doctor,” Ludwig said.
“I’m glad, doctor,” Djawadi said.
It was late when Doctor Ludwig and Doctor Djawadi made their third trip down to base camp, carrying the last of their equipment with them. Ludwig was exhausted, his arms aching from carrying the cases, especially in gravity higher than he was used to. Djawadi had offered to take the larger case on this last trip, which had been very kind of him, but Ludwig was a bit annoyed that his exhaustion was showing through so obviously. He doubted Djawadi’s pressure suit would have received a notification about the saturated air filter Ludwig’s suit had from all his sweating. It wasn’t anything to worry about long-term, other than the fact that it was causing his visor to fog up a bit at the edges.
“Did you experience any stamina issues after they woke you up?” Ludwig asked, trying to sound like he wasn’t as out of breath as he was.
Djawadi didn’t respond for a moment, “I’m convinced it’s psychological.”
Ludwig frowned, “Explain?”
“If you were to analyze the map, you’d find that the path we’ve taken down here is technically less strenuous than the cross-country Tranquility track back at LunaU, you remember the one?”
“Of course,” anyone who had attended Luna University, which included everyone in the CS4, would have run that track countless times. It was the standard course for their annual physicals.
“Even though this equipment is heavy, the simulated gravity on that track is comparable to this planet—if not a little heavier. This path should be a breeze, right?”
“Well, this is our third time taking it,” Ludwig said.
“Sure, but it’s hard to deny that these tunnels are oppressive. Even slight claustrophobia can cause anxiety, and anxiety leads to tightness of the chest and shortness of breath. I’d be willing to bet that our cortisol levels are quite elevated. And we have four more weeks of this, doctor.”
Ludwig wasn’t sure if Djawadi was correct, because Ludwig wasn’t actually sure that the caverns were causing him anxiety. Yes, the idea of the vent shafts made him feel uneasy, and he did regret thinking of that model of an ant colony when looking at the map of the caverns earlier. But was he feeling claustrophobic?
If he was, then this was going to be a challenging four weeks.
* * *
It was another hour before they made it back to their base camp with the last of their equipment. Ludwig set the box he was carrying down and plopped down on it to rest, watching as Doctor Djawadi pulled a small box out of their equipment. Ludwig’s visor confirmed what he suspected—that the small box Djawadi carried was the base pod that would become their home for the next four weeks.
These base pods were a marvel. They were made from a silicon-based material called FluxSeal. Once the material was exposed to an electronic pulse, it would expand outwards like a bubble into whatever size was indicated. It functioned much like the spray insulation they used when constructing buildings, expanding outwards and adapting itself to whatever space it was in.
Ludwig watched as Djawadi activated the FluxSeal, and their base pod began to grow. It expanded fairly quickly, even filling the pores of the volcanic rock in the cavern around them before it finally came to a stop. The base wasn’t large, though it filled almost the entirety of this section of cavern. But it was large enough for most of their equipment, their bunks, and a small lavatory. Now that it had finished expanding, the FluxSeal would be as hard as the volcanic rock of these caverns. Not indestructible, but you would have to be trying hard to succeed in damaging it.
Ludwig’s visor notified him that the base pod was now ready for them to install the airlock that would serve as the main entrance. Ludwig dismissed the notification and stood up from the case he was sitting on, having now caught his breath. Putting together the airlock was a simple enough task for one person, but Ludwig was eager to get out of this pressure suit, and it would go faster with his help. Two doors, a rectangular floor made of metal grating, and held together with a few titanium rods was all that made up of the airlock. Once it was together, they pressed it against the FluxSeal pod. Djawadi applied another electric pulse, causing the FluxSeal to expand around the airlock. Once it was finished, their base pod almost looked like an igloo.
Djawadi did a quick scan of the finished pod to assess its structural integrity, making sure that the components had all come together correctly. Ludwig got a notification that it was nearly bedtime.
“Sorry doctor,” Djawadi said, responding to the identical notification he would have gotten on his suit’s visor too. “I’m nearly done here. Then we can plan for tomorrow and hit the sack.”
Ludwig shook his head, “We can do nightly planning tomorrow. As long as we stow the equipment, I say we call it a night. That way we can get to bed on time.”
Djawadi nodded, then chuckled. “I guess we’ll have to do our first late-night Q&A sesh tomorrow night then.”
Ludwig let out a beleaguered sigh, not realizing that his comms were set to the hot mic setting, rather than the press to unmute setting, so Doctor Djawadi heard his sigh.
“Sorry Doctor,” Djawadi said.
“No, I apologize,” Ludwig said. “It’s been a long day. I know the late-night conversations can be a great way to bond during a new cohesion, but they are technically against the rules.”
“Oh,” Djawadi said. “I’m confused, doctor, isn’t it against the rules to not plan for our day the night before?”
“Yes,” Ludwig admitted with a diplomatic tone. “Technically, it is. But it’s late and doing our nightly planning will make us late for lights out.”
“So going to bed on time is more important of a rule than planning for the efficacy of our day tomorrow?”
Ludwig knew Djawadi was intentionally needling him about his strict adherence to the rules. He was employing the same old tired argument that the disobedient turned to rile up the ones who strove for exact obedience like the handbook encouraged them to do. Yes, there were enough rules in the handbook that there were bound to be times when following one rule would mean breaking another. It was why so many found the handbook and those who followed it to be so overbearing. But where they saw hypocrisy, Ludwig saw nuance.
“The rules are there to keep us safe,” Ludwig said firmly. “We both know how important sleep is for our safety. Those who don’t get enough put themselves and others in danger.”
“If we don’t plan, that could put us in danger.”
“Yes, but we can catch up on planning in the morning during breakfast. We can’t sleep during breakfast,” Ludwig finished.
Doctor Djawadi didn’t respond for a moment; his back was turned to Ludwig as he inputted the final settings to make sure the airlock’s software was ready to go. “I suppose that makes sense.”
Ludwig nodded, “We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other over the next four weeks, right doctor?”
Djawadi turned, the goofy smile he had earlier returned, “Absolutely. I look forward to it, doctor.”
Ludwig nodded and forced a smile.
Djawadi must have noticed the tension was still there, because he then punched Ludwig’s arm in a brotherly way, “Hey, this is going to be great. I mean, don’t forget we’re building the foundation for the entire colony down here.”
Ludwig smiled in return, relieved that the tension had dissipated. “Every time someone turns on a light, or takes a shower in filtered water—”
“And every breath!” Djawadi interrupted. “The air that will fill every facility built on this planet will be filtered through the same systems we establish here.”
There was less tightness in Ludwig’s chest as he chuckled at Djawadi’s infectious enthusiasm. This was what it was all about. What was the point of the advancement of humankind into the stars if they weren’t led by passion and the excitement of discovery? Even if Ludwig had slight concerns about Djawadi’s propensity towards honoring the mission rules, his eagerness was a breath of fresh air in the depths of these caverns.
Ludwig decided that Djawadi was right, this was going to be great.