Lamaze classes
Deborah got up from the examining table and began to dress in a jumpsuit.
“Your pregnancy is proceeding nicely. Do you want to have a vaginal delivery or a cesarean section?”
“I would like a vaginal delivery”
“Good. That’s safer and less invasive. If something goes wrong at delivery time, then we can always change the decision. If you are going to have a vaginal delivery, then it is time to begin Lamaze classes”
“What are Lamaze classes?
“It’s to teach the mother and the coach how to have a baby”
“I thought it was fairly automatic”
“If you are prepared for the delivery, then it goes easier for the mother, the baby, and the coach”
“What does the coach do?”
“Coaches the mother”
“What do you do?”
“I take care of the mechanics of delivering the baby, and I coach the coach”
“Have you ever delivered a baby before?”
“I have not, but the software I am programmed with has delivered several Billion babies”
“I guess Walter will be the coach?”
“It is best to have the father do it, if available”
“The father is a Billion kilometers away, so that’s not feasible. Walter is the only other human here”
“Then he will have to do”
“How long does the Lamaze class take?”
“Each instructional video is two hours long, and you take them once a week. You practice 45 minutes a day. I will supervise and give corrections as needed”
Walter was on the flight deck, reading something.
“Walter, may I talk to you for a moment?”
“Sure”
“I would like you to be my coach when I deliver the baby”
“I don’t know anything about childbirth”
“The autodoc will teach us. It is arranging our schedule to take the class and also to practice.”
“How much time are we talking about?”
“2 hours once a week for class and 45 minutes per day practicing”
“That cuts into our time to make repairs. Wouldn’t it be simpler just to have an abortion and try again when we get back to earth?”
“WALTER! HOW COULD YOU THINK OF SUCH A THING!”
“I think I just - what is the expression? - put my foot in my mouth”
“That’s the expression, and yes, you did.”
“I’m sorry. I guess that since I am the only other human here, I get the job. When do we start?”
“Check your calendar”
Walter checked his calendar.
“First class is tonight, after dinner”
They set to work on the transporter. Of the CPUs, the autodoc, the replicator, and the transporter, the transporter was by far the most complicated system to work on. Beaming something up from the surface required energy, and beaming something down to the surface released energy. Also, beaming things from place to place involved potentially vast changes in momentum. Finally, the transporter had to disassemble and reassemble things at a potentially vast distance and yet with great precision. It would not do, for example, to materialize a dozen raw eggs 1 meter above the floor. It was horribly complex.
They worked on the first transporter diligently for about a month. They got coaching from Adelle, parts from the replicator, and the energy to keep going from delicious menus that Walter put together, with the help of the replicator and some nutritionist software in the autodoc. At last, they were ready to test it.
Deborah had a cart full of various objects of different shapes and sizes.
“What’s that you have there?”, Walter asked.
“Stuff I’m going to use it to test the transporter. This is a cube of pure Aluminum, precisely 1 centimeter on a side, and mass 2.791 grams. This is a copy of the International Standard Kilogram, and it defined the Kilogram in my time. This is a bottle of one liter of water, mass 1.157 kilograms. This is a brick of silicon dioxide, mass 3.564 kilograms. This is a strawberry, and here is a mouse in a cage. I also have a radio beacon that we should be able to detect anywhere within a million Kilometers. I also brought along a laboratory scale that can measure up to 100 kilograms with an accuracy of 4 significant figures, calibrated to work in the artificial gravity”
“Let’s try something simple first: beam the aluminum cube into the corridor”
She put the cube on the floor of the transporter, set the controls, and pushed the button. The cube disappeared. Walter looked out in the corridor, and there it was. Walter picked it up, brought it in, and set it on the scale.
“2.791 grams”
“Great. Let’s try the water”
Walter put the bottle of water on the platform. Deborah worked the controls. The bottle vanished. Again, Walter got the bottle, and weighed it.
“1.157 kilograms”
“Try the brick. The brick is complicated because it is a solution of iron oxide and silicon dioxide, and it has bubbles in it. However, we’re going to do a more complicated test - I’m going to beam it into space a couple of kilometers away and then beam it back”
Deborah worked the controls, pressed the button. The brick vanished.
“That’s odd - I don’t see the brick. The telescope should easily detect it visually”
“Try the infrared band - that brick was at 20 °C and should be fairly bright”
“Good idea. I’m trying that. I see a glow at the right spot”
“Let me see. Yeah, I see that. A bunch of particles moving every which way. It’s as if the brick exploded”
“Did the transporter do that?”
“Oh... no, the brick did that it. Remember, you said it was full of bubbles? When you beamed it into space, the bubbles still contained air at 100 Kilopascals. Bricks are strong in compression, weak in tension”.
“That makes sense. Okay - let’s beam the Aluminum cube into space and then beam it back”
“Okay”
Walter put the cube on the platform. Deborah pressed the button, and the cube vanished.
“I see it on infrared”
“Okay, let’s bring it back”. Deborah worked the controls, and the cube re-appeared on the platform. Walter went to get it.
“WAIT! It may be very cold”
Walter looked at the cube. Water was condensing on it, but it was liquid, not ice.
“It’s okay, it’s cold, but not that cold. It wasn’t in space for very long. I think the transporter is working.”
“Certainly that tests the Heisenberg compensator. If the Heisenberg compensator didn’t work, then the temperature would be wrong. I want to test it for a long distance. Let’s beam the radio beacon down to the surface of Europa”
“Okay”
Walter put the radio beacon on the platform. “Is it on?”
“Receivers are picking it up”
Deborah worked the controls, and pushed the button. The beacon vanished.
“Hmmm.... I’m not picking up anything”
“Where did you send it?”
“To the surface directly below us. I’m pointing an infrared telescope at the spot now. Interesting. I see a warm streak that’s long and narrow. It’s cooling very fast.”
“I have an idea: beam another radio beacon down, but this time send it to 10 meters above the surface. In the low gravity of Europa, it ought to survive a fall of 10 meters”
“You have an idea: what is it?”
“I think the momentum compensator isn’t working. We’re traveling 200 Kilometers above Europa. What is our orbital speed?”
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“What is our orbital speed with respect to Europa?”
“1348 meters per second”
“Ah hah! The radio beacon touched down moving 1348 meters/second and the kinetic energy destroyed it and left a warm groove in the ice. So, if I am right, if it materializes 10 meters above the surface, it will still be going 1348 meters per second, and it will climb to 200 kilometers and then fall back to 10 meters, assuming no losses to drag.”
“Makes sense. I will replicate another radio beacon and try again. But first, I am going to go to the bathroom. There’s a baby where my bladder used to be”
“I’ll whip up the radio beacon with the replicator. Meet back here in a few minutes”
They went off in opposite directions. Walter went to a replicator. Fortunately, Adelle remembered the instructions Deborah gave the replicator to create the radio beacon, so Walter merely had to tell the replicator to make another one. They met back in the transporter room. Deborah went to the controls, and Walter put the beacon on the platform.
“Are you receiving the beacon?”
“Yes. Ready to beam it down to 10 meters above the surface”. Deborah pushed the button and it was gone.
“I’m picking up the beacon. It’s directly below us. It’s still directly below us”
“Where is it with respect to the surface of Europa?”
“About a kilometer above it, and raising fast”
“Well, I’d say that the momentum compensator isn’t compensating.”
“Yes, I think that’s right”
The two of them stood there in silence, thinking.
“We might as well get that beacon back. This will test the transporter’s ability to grab a moving object”, Walter said.
“Yeah...”, Deborah said. There’s something here that I’m not seeing.
Walter worked the controls this time. He reached to push the button.....
“WAIT”
But it was too late. The radio beacon materialized on the platform. However, Europa’s gravity had been working on it, converting kinetic energy into potential energy, and changing its momentum. The radio beacon smashed through the wall.
“DANGER, DANGER, DANGER. Flooding reported in section 478. Probable cause: breach in the reaction mass tank number 4. Closing all airtight doors”, Adelle announced.
“That won’t help”, Deborah cried. “The radio beacon punched holes in the walls. The whole timeship is going to flood”
“I have some good news and some bad news”, Walter said. “The good news is that the whole timeship isn’t going to flood. Only the sections that are punched through are going to flood. The air tight doors all closed immediately.”
“That’s good news. What’s the bad news?”, Deborah asked.
“We’re in a section that the beacon punched through. This room is going to flood. We’re going to drown. There’s even worse news: many of the sections have live electrical equipment, so even if we swim, we’re still going to be electrocuted”
With that, water started pouring through the hole in the wall.
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“How deep is the water in the corridor outside the transporter room?”
“18 centimeters”
“Open the door”
“The door is not operational”
“Why?”
“There is a 96% probability that water has gotten into the motor and caused a short circuit”
The water on the floor was now 1 centimeter deep and rising slowly.
“Well, I can disabuse you of one notion: we’re both standing in the water and neither of are dead yet. Maybe as the water hit the circuits, circuit breakers are opening to protect the systems from shorts.”
“Quite frankly, I’d rather get electrocuted than drown. It’s faster”
“Could we crawl through a ventilation duct? In spy movies, they’re always crawling through ventilation ducts”
“The ducts are about 10 centimeters in diameter. My belly won’t fit through something that small”
“Well I’m not going to leave without you”
“Walter! That’s so sweet! I didn’t know you felt that way”
“Well, yes, listening to you complaining about your pregnancy makes me so glad I’m a man. I’d miss that”
“Walter! You’re so sweet, in a sort of sarcastic, unfeeling way. I happen to love being pregnant. I feel like a mother goddess. I feel like a true woman. I’m bringing new life into the solar system”
The water was two centimeters deep. It was also cold, about 3 ℃.
“Deborah... the transporter works except for the momentum compensator, right?”
“I think so”
“Could we test it with the mouse?”
“You mean beam it somewhere and then beam it back?”
“Yes”
“Why don’t we do something about the flooding first, and then we can work on the transporter later?”
“Because the transporter is the way to get us out of here. We can’t go out the door. We can’t go out through the ventilator shaft. The only way out is the transporter. We beam to a part of the ship that isn’t going to flood. We beamed the strawberry. Now, I want to test it with something a little more complicated. If that works, then we can beam ourselves of danger”
“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea”
Walter took the mouse in its cage and set it on the platform. Deborah worked the controls. When he was ready, she pushed the button.
And it was gone.
“Now bring it back”
Deborah worked the controls, and pushed the button. The mouse and cage appeared. However, the mouse was now curled up in a corner, breathing heavily.
“We probably scared the hell out of it”, Deborah observed.
“The bottom of the cage is dry, so wherever you sent it, it hasn’t flooded yet”
The water was now three centimeters deep.
“Okay, I can send you to the same place”, Deborah said.
“No, I said I would never leave you. I’ll send you to the same place”, Walter said.
“Look, we’re only going a couple of hundred meters to a point that is traveling at the same speed we are. We’ve sent a strawberry. We sent a mouse. Get on the platform.”
“We are marooned in the past, where women are special. Ladies first. You get on the platform”, Walter said.
“I thought you had aspirations of leadership. You get on the platform”
“I do have aspirations of leadership. I want to lead you on to the platform”
“As your commanding officer, I am responsible for your safety. Now get on that platform”
“As your first officer, it is my duty to remind you that you have to worry about the safety of your unborn child. Now, you get on that platform.”
“Since when did you become first officer?”
“When you introduced me to Lapidot 15 years ago: you told me that I was your crew. Well, if I am the crew, then there has to be a ranking amongst the crew. I am the highest ranking crew man, so that means I’m the first officer, captain. Get on the platform.”
“Since when did the first officer get to issue life and death orders to the captain? Go to hell, number one.”
“If we survive this mess, you can court-martial me for insubordination. Get on the platform.”
“With your track record in court? You’d probably get convicted. Besides, there are no lawyers for a billion kilometers and a couple of thousand years. Get on the platform”
“I forked over god knows how much money to a lawyer, and look at where it got me. I’ll represent myself, thank you very much. Besides, the local jurisdiction is prejudiced against me. The first thing I would do is file a motion for a change of venue. Get on the platform”
“Where would you like to be tried?”
“Oregon”
“I am worried about the safety of my unborn child. You get on that platform. That way, if something goes wrong and you’re killed in the process, that will give me a chance to figure out what went wrong, and fix it”
“Oh”
I think I just offended him. Is this the right place and time to apologize?
The two of them stood there in silence. The water was now four centimeters deep, and rising.
“I thought you cared about me. Maybe the salmon that we had for dinner last night was a little undercooked?”
“I do care about you, and the salmon was divine, but like I said, I also care about the baby, too.”
“You realize, of course, that the longer we stay here arguing about it, the greater the likelihood that the water will reach the electronics and cause a short circuit. Then the breakers will pop and we’ll be trapped here to die by drowning or by hypothermia. That’s why I want you to get on the platform first”
“I am fully aware of not only how deep the water is, but also how cold the water is. It’s leaking through my boots and my feet are cold. Now get on that platform”
“There’s a democratic way to resolve the issue: we could transport together under Adelle’s control”
“I’ll remember that, when this timeship becomes a democracy”
The water was now five centimeters deep.
“Okay, okay. We’ll get on the platform together, all three of us”
“Three?”
“You want me to leave the baby behind?”
“The last time I responded to a question like that, you yelled at me”
They got on the platform, Walter, Deborah, and the fetus.
“Adelle, send us to the gymnasium”
And they were gone.
They materialized in the gym.
“See, I told you that it was perfectly safe”, Deborah said.
“It never occurred to me to argue with you”
“Okay, now all we have to do is stop the flood, before it short circuits half the ship”
“How much pressure is in those water tanks, anyway?”
“Well, that’s funny. The tanks aren’t pressurized at all - there’s no need to, since water is essentially incompressible.”
“Then what makes the water flow?”
“The artificial gravity. Hey! We can turn off the artificial gravity. Then the tank would stop draining and the timeship would stop flooding.”
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“Turn off the artificial gravity everywhere in the timeship”
Immediately, they floated off the floor. Deborah reached the ceiling first. She pushed away from it, trying to move as sideways as possible. She managed to reach the wall, which had a handrail. Walter also reached the ceiling. He wanted to stand up, and wound up drifting back towards the floor. Fortunately, there were no free weights to float around, only machines, and they were bolted to the floor. Walter eventually snagged one and then shot towards where Deborah was holding on. He grabbed the handrail and held on.
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“How many walls have holes in them?”
“9”
“Okay. Have the replicator whip up 9 patches that are the right size to seal the holes. Also, one of those patches is going to have to withstand the weight of the water in the artificial gravity, and it will need an adhesive that is waterproof. We will also need some hand held pumps. Isn’t there a procedure for this?”
“There is no procedure for an internal breach of the reaction mass tanks.”
“Figures”
They worked their way to the door of the gym, opened it. Now I understand why there are handrails on the walls and on the ceilings! They worked their way down the corridor towards the replicator.
“If the motors on the airtight doors are shorted, then how will we open the doors?”, Walter wondered.
“That’s an interesting problem. There are redundant motors on the doors. The designers evidently anticipated a problem with a motor, and anticipated a loss of pressure, but they never anticipated a flood.”
“If they had anticipated a flood, then they would have put the motors in watertight housings”
“Which would be stressed heavily if the ship ever lost air pressure. If they vented the motors, then when the timeship depressurized, the motors would also depressurize, but would still work in a vacuum”
They arrived at the replicator. There were 9 patches. Each patch had a plastic backing, with instructions to peel off the backing and apply the patch to the hole, press hard.
“It’s going to be a problem pressing hard in zero G”, Walter observed.
“I’ve got a worse problem - I think I am going to vomit. It’s the zero-G and the pregnancy working together on my gastrointest - blech!”
Deborah vomited again. However, in the zero-G, the bile just floated in the middle of the room. Now normally, when a person vomits, they put their head down and the bile falls out of the mouth and keeps the trachea clear. However, in zero-G, the bile collected in Deborah’s mouth. When she gasped for air, the bile was sucked into her trachea. She started coughing, but it was ineffective, as the bile had already passed the epiglottis and entered the trachea. She started turning pale. Walter shot from wall to wall, until he came behind her. He grabbed her around her bulging waist and began squeezing quickly - the Heimlech maneuver. It was ineffective.
“Adelle”, he shouted
“yes”
“Medical emergency! Deborah is choking on her own vomit”
“Let go of her, please, and I will transport her to the autodoc”
Walter let go, and floated backwards. Then Deborah vanished.
Walter darted back into the corridor and pulled himself hand over hand to the autodoc.
“How is she?”
“She has passed out from hypoxia. Her blood oxygen level is 62%. I am performing an emergency tracheotomy right now”
“Is the baby safe?”
“Once the tracheotomy is completed, she will be able to breath, and the baby will be fine. Deborah is in excellent cardiovascular condition, so she is a low surgical risk.”
“Am I distracting you?”
“No. Unlike a human physician, I am quite capable of treating several dozen patients simultaneously, while conversing with their families. The tracheotomy is completed. She is breathing normally now. Blood oxygen concentration is now 70% and rising. I am administering an intravenous isotonic solution”
“When can I see her?”
“At the moment, she is asleep”
“What is the difference between unconsciousness and sleep?”
“Somebody who is asleep is arousable”
“Is there a drug you can give her so that she doesn’t keep vomiting?”
“There is, but it could have adverse mutagenic effects on her granddaughters. She elected not to take it”
“How long will she be sleeping?”
“It could be several hours. I am confining her to bed for the next three days”
“Three days! The ship is flooding! She has to fix it!”
“It will take some time for the tracheotomy to heal, and she’s had a near death experience, drowning on her own bile. I insist on letting her rest”
“Who’s going to save the ship?”
“I’m an autodoc, not a space mechanic. You should talk to Adelle about that”
“Adelle”, Walter said.
“yes”
“Explain to me how these patches work”
“Each patch has an adhesive that will work on a wet surface or under water. To activate the adhesive, peel the plastic backing off of the patch and then apply the patch to the wall around the hole. The adhesive will oxidize in air or in water within 120 seconds, so once you peel the plastic backing, you should quickly apply the patch.”
“If I get the patch in the wrong place, can I pry it up and move it?”
“No, once the patch is in place, it stays there.”
“Once I get the holes patched, how do I get the water out?”
“I don’t know”
“Could I use the vacuum cleaner?”
“The vacuum cleaner would work, however, you must not exceed 40 liters/minute consumption or you will overwhelm the filtering system”
“How do I know when I am exceeding 40 liters/minute?”
“I can monitor the vacuum cleaner and alert you”
“Is the transporter working?”
“Yes. When the artificial gravity was turned off, water stopped flowing into the transporter room.”
“Do you have video of the transporter room?”
A window opened on a monitor, and Walter could see the transporter room. There were bubbles of water floating around at random. He watched a bubble bounce off of a control panel. Evidently, there wasn’t enough pressure to force the water into the electronics.
“Is there a risk to me if I were to transport into the transporter room?”
“You might inhale some water that could lead to choking”
“What if I transported into there while wearing a space suit”
“That would keep you safe”
“Where are the space suits?”
“In room 12543”
“Show me how to get to room 12543”
Walter looked at the map of the ship and found room 12543. He floated down the corridor, carefully pulling himself hand over hand along one of the walls, carrying the patches with him. He opened the door, and found 2 space suits, one labeled “Schwartz” and one labeled “Brown”. The suits were secured to the walls, with a helmet above the suit and gloves at either side.
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“How do I get into the suit?”
“Do you want step by step instructions?”
“Yes”
“Take off your jumpsuit and underwear”
“Why?”
“You have to wear a high-absorbancy diaper while working in a space suit - there is no way to urinate or defecate while you are wearing the suit, and you might have to wear the suit for up to two days. Also, you have to wear a cooling suit to remove excess body heat”
“Okay”
In a closet next to the suit, he found a package of high-absorbancy diapers. They were secured by velcro strips. Next, he found a cooling suit, which was a mesh of tubes shaped like a human. He put on the cooling suit.
“There is a connection from the cooling suit to the space suit on the waist at the right side. Open the zipper on the space suit. Find the matching connection inside the space suit and connect to it.”
Walter did as he was told.
“Now you can enter the space suit, feet first”
Walter turned around and slid into the space suit. He had to point his toes to get past the knees, but he finally managed to get all the way in.
“Now the arms”
Walter wiggled and twisted, eventually getting his hands through the ends of the arms.
“Take the helmet and attach it to the top of the space suit. When the helmet is secure, you will hear a click. Once the helmet is in place, the suit radio will turn on automatically and we will be able to communicate”.
Walter took the helmet, and after a few false attempts, managed to get the helmet on the collar of the space suit. He heard the click.
“There is a lever on the right side of the helmet seal that is about 3 centimeters long. Push that lever forward until you hear the click. That will lock the helmet to the collar of the space suit”
Walter felt around his neck with his right hand until he found the lever. He pushed it forward - it was hard to push - until it snapped into place with a click”
“Now, put on the gloves. Each glove snaps into places, and then is locked by a lever.”
Walter found the gloves, put them on, left glove first. The levers were hard to work, but he managed to get them sealed.
“I am now testing the space suit integrity by raising the air pressure by 1 kilopascal”
Walter waited.
“Your space suit integrity test has passed. You must now go to the airlock for depressurization. Depressurization will take about 1 hour to prevent the bends”
“But I am not going out into space. I don’t need to depressurize”
“You are correct”
“Transport me into the transporter room with the patches.”
And he was gone.
He materialized in the transporter room, surrounded by bubbles of water. It was hard to see across the room. He pushed himself across the room, landing near the hole in the wall. There was a cabinet in the wall. He opened the door and inspected the hinges. There was enough of a surface to get a good grip. He took the first patch, carefully peeled off the plastic backing and placed it against the hole. Then, holding onto the hinge with one hand, he pushed the patch against the wall.
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“I’ve sealed the hole in the wall. Now, I want to get all the water out of the room. Can you slowly depressurize the room? I will push the bubbles of water towards the ventilation intake.”
“Yes”
Walter started pushing bubbles of water towards a grate in the “ceiling”. When the bubbles reached the grate, they disappeared into the shaft. Eventually, most of the big bubbles were gone.
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“Please transport in 6 absorbent beach towels.”
Immediately, 6 towels appeared. Walter used the towels to capture the remaining bubbles, and to wipe off the surfaces. Since he was wearing space gloves, he couldn’t tell if a surface was wet or dry, so he swapped everything.
Walter picked up the remaining patches.
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“Please transport me into the corridor”
And he was gone.
There was a lot more water in the corridor. Again, it was hard to see because of all the bubbles of water.
“Adelle”
“yes”
“Where is the hole I have to patch?”
“It is 3 meters in front of you and 1.5 meters above the floor, on your left”
Walter moved forward.
“I see it”
Walter took another patch, carefully removed the plastic covering and pushed the patch against the wall. There was nothing to react against, so he went flying across the corridor until he crashed into the other side.
“Adelle”
“yes”
“Did I damage my space suit?”
“Turn to the right so I can see the back”
Walter managed to turn to the right.
“No visible damage. Space suit instrumentation readings are nominal”
Walter scrambled around to get back in position. Then he launched himself across the corridor until he landed on the patch. He beat the patch until the reaction thrust him back across the corridor.
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“Please ask the autodoc how is Deborah?”
“The autodoc says that Deborah is awake now, however, the autodoc refuses to let Deborah get out of bed for another 3 days”
“Talk about leadership by example”
“I don’t understand what you just said”
“Please transport a vacuum cleaner hose into this corridor. Where is the nearest vacuum cleaner outlet?”
Immediately, a vacuum cleaner hose appeared. It was about 3 centimeters in diameter and 20 meters long.
“The nearest outlet is 15 meters to your left, and 30 centimeters above the floor”
Walter grabbed a handrail and worked his way down the corridor, dragging the vacuum cleaner hose behind him. He found the vacuum outlet, opened the door, and plugged in the hose. The vacuum turned on, and found himself being pulled by the end of the hose. He had to struggle with the hose, because every time he turned, the hose tended to pull in that direction. In the transporter room, once he pushed a bubble in the direction of the grate, it would tend to keep moving in that direction. In the corridor, the bubbles drifted randomly until the end of hose got close to the bubble. Also, the corridor was bigger and the water had been deeper there.
“Adelle”
“yes”
“Am I exceeding the 40 liter/minute rate?”
“No, you are at about 35 liters per minute”
Walter spent about two hours vacuuming the water from the corridor. He had gotten the big bubbles and was working on getting the smaller ones, which gave diminishing returns.
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“I want to talk about the hole in the reaction mass tank. When the artificial gravity returns, the force on the patch is going to be away from the patch, if I patch the outside of the tank, correct?”
“Correct”
“So, if I do a lousy job of applying the patch, it will tend to pull away from the wall, won’t it?”
“Correct”
“How much water is in that tank still?
“About 9 times 10 to the eighth cubic meters”
“Can you set the artificial gravity to repell?”
“Yes”.
“Okay, I have a plan and I want you to sanity check it for me. Set the artificial gravity in the reaction mass tank to 1/100 th of a G, repulsive, for about 10 seconds. Then turn off the artificial gravity. Then beam me into the tank, next to the hole. I apply the patch. Then you change the gravity to ⅙ G attractive, just like normal. Beam me out of the tank, and into the corridor on the other side of the patch. I inspect the patch, and if I like what I see, then I am done, I can change out of my spacesuit and get something to eat.”
“I think that plan will work”
“Alright. Execute”
Walter disappeared from the corridor and reappeared inside the tank. Adelle had forgotten to tell him that there was no light in the tank, and Walter had a terrifying moment looking for the light switch on his space suit. He took out the patch, and applied it. In the zero G, he had the same problem as in the corridor - pressing on the patch made him fly away from it.
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“Turn on the gravity to ⅙ th G.”
Immediately, the water came crashing down on Walter. The space suit was designed to work in a vacuum - it was designed to work in tension from the inner pressure, not compression from the outer pressure. Walter couldn’t move.
“Adelle”
“yes”
“Change the gravity to 1/1000 th of a G.”
That reduced the water pressure considerably and Walter could move again. However, now Walter had the same problem as before. Although the suit had a mass of about 300 kilograms and Walter had a mass of about 80 kilograms, in 1/1000th of a G, he weighed about 3.8 newtons, so when he pressed on the patch, he tended to fly away from the wall.
“Adelle”
“yes”
“Turn on the gravity to ⅙ th G.”
Immediately, the water came crashing down on Walter. However, he managed to crawl to the patch, and laid down on top of it.
“Adelle”
“yes”
“Beam me out of here and into the corridor”
Walter disappeared from the tank and reappeared in the corridor. He looked at the hole in the wall. There was no water dripping.
“Adelle”
“yes”
“I am thinking about a battery powered television camera with a wifi transceiver and a clamp for a mounting. I want to clamp the camera on a handrail here and point it at the patch, and then I want you to monitor it continuously for leaks. Can you do that?
“Yes, I can”.
Walter waited. And waited. And waited.
“Adelle?”
“Yes”
“Where is the camera I asked for?”
“You didn’t ask for a camera”
“Yes, I did.”
“No, you did not. Do you want me to play back a recording of our last conversation?”
“Yes”
Walter immediately heard:
“I am thinking about a battery powered television camera with a wifi transceiver and a clamp for a mounting. I want to clamp the camera on a handrail here and point it at the patch, and then I want you to monitor it continuously for leaks. Can you do that?“
Walter said: “Okay, now that I know you can do it, please send me the battery powered WIFI camera with clamp”
Immediately, a camera appeared.
“Goddammed computers”
“I didn’t understand what you just said”
“Figures”, Walter muttered, too quietly to be transmitted.
Walter clamped the camera to the handrail, and aimed it at the patch.
“Adelle”
“yes”
“Can you see the patch through the camera? How does it look?”
“I can see it, it looks good.”
“Excellent. Are there any additional areas that have water in them that shouldn’t have water in them?
“All sensors show that humidity levels are acceptable.”
“Good. I am going back to room 12543 to get out of this space suit”
Diagnosing and repairing the momentum compensator - the water tank breach.
This is out of place.
It took them five months to repair one transporter. Deborah and Walter were feeling some pressure for time because the launch window was going to open. They needed the transporter to repair the hull, and they needed the hull repaired so that they could carry enough water to serve as reaction mass for the trip home. They also needed the transporter to get the water from Europa into those tanks.
They had done several tests, culminating in transporting a flower grown from a seed from the transporter room to another room. Finally, they were ready to transport something at a relatively long range with a hefty change in velocity. For the occasion, Deborah had the replicator create a plastic bottle inside a glass bottle.
“Why a bottle inside a bottle?”
“If the water contains organic solvents, they might dissolve the plastic bottle. But if the water contains hydrofluoric acid, the plastic won’t dissolve and the acid won’t get to the glass.”
“Makes sense”
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“Please transport 500 ccs of water from Europa and materialize it inside this bottle”
Immediately, the plastic bottle filled half full with water.
“Okay, the next step is to take the bottle to the autodoc for analysis”
Walter picked up the bottle and they walked to the autodoc.
“How may I help you?”, the autodoc asked.
“Please analyze this sample of water from Europa and tell us what it contains”
“That will take about 10 minutes”
At the end of 10 minutes, a display opened:
Compound Concentration
Water 9,962,500,000
Sodium Chloride 34,500,000
Hydrogen 3,827,000
Methane 32,530
Ammonia 29,150
Ethane 12,610
Amorphous carbon 2,450
Benzene 173
Helium 122
Cyanide 22
Compound Concentration
Water 9,997,000,000
Hydrogen 4,127,000
Methane 32,530
Ammonia 29,150
Ethane 12,610
Amorphous carbon 2,450
Benzene 173
Helium 122
Cyanide 22
Compound | Concentration (parts/billion) |
Water | 9,962,500,000 |
Sodium Chloride | 34,500,000 |
Hydrogen | 3,827,000 |
Methane | 32,530 |
Ammonia | 29,150 |
Ethane | 12,610 |
Amorphous carbon | 2,450 |
Benzene | 173 |
Helium | 122 |
Cyanide | 22 |
pH: 7.0
“Well, I wouldn’t want to drink it, but I think it is safe to use it as reaction mass”, Deborah commented.
“I agree”
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“How much time will be required to fill our reaction mass tanks with water from Europa using the single operational transporter”
“About 4 hours”
“Please do it”
“Understood.”
True to her word, Adelle filled the storage tanks in about 4 hours. Meanwhile, Deborah and Walter began reading about how to repair the ship’s hull. 1/8th of the ship’s stores were inaccessible, and it was impossible to determine how much had been destroyed.
Special delivery
Repairs to the hull had been completed. Damaged systems had been repaired. Weapons systems were re-created. Deborah was horrified at how easy it was to build a hydrogen bomb. Now, she had a dozen of them at her disposal.
Deborah and Walter were suddenly at loose ends, with little to do. With all systems working properly, meals could be enjoyed at leisure. Walter and a replicator made for a superb culinary team. Deborah gained weight faster than the autodoc was happy about, so Walter had to adopt a menu with fewer Joules. They continued exercising, but stopped the martial arts practice out of respect for Deborah’s baby. They also did Lamaze classes. Walter spent some time on the learning machine, learning all sorts of things about obstetrics and gynecology. One of the advantages of direct induction training was that Walter could feel the labor pain, one of the few men in the solar system who knew the experience first hand.
They were relaxing after lunch. Walter was playing a video game, and Deborah was reading a commentary on the Book of Daniel. Deborah suddenly sat up.
“Oh, shit”
“What?”
“My water just broke”
“The baby is coming! We have to get you to the autodoc right away!”
“The autodoc is 15 meters away. I think I will get there in time”
They walked to the autodoc - Deborah stripped off her jumpsuit (highly modified to accommodate her bulging abdomen) and hopped onto the examination table. The autodoc began probing and prodding.
“Are you feeling any contractions?”, it asked.
“Just the usual Braxton-Hicks contractions”
“Your cervix is 1 centimeter dilated”
“That’s still latent phase”, Walter said.
A sensor dropped down on to Deborah’s abdomen.
“Fetal heartbeat is 185. There is no indication of any fetal distress”, the autodoc announced, “I’d like to give you a mild sedative so you can sleep for three of hours”
“Okay”
In about 3 minutes, Deborah was fast asleep.
“Is there anything I can do while she is sleeping?”, Walter asked.
“The labor may take in excess of 24 hours. I suggest you get some rest. I will contact you if anything happens or if Deborah wakes up. I am continuously monitoring the situation. At this time, everything is normal”
“I’ll be on the flight deck”
Three hours later, Deborah woke up.
“Where am I?”
“You are in autodoc #1”, the autodoc said. “How do you feel?”
“Sleepy. And I have to go to the bathroom”
“There is a restroom to the left, or I can get you a bed pan”
“I think I’ll use the restroom”
Walter showed up. “Where is Deborah? She was here when I left her”
“I’M IN THE BATHROOM”, Deborah yelled through the door.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?”, Walter yelled back.
“I’M BRUSHING MY HAIR SO I WILL LOOK GOOD FOR THE PAPARAZZI?”
“WHAT’S THE OCCASION?”
“THIS IS THE FIRST BIRTH IN SPACE IN HUMAN HISTORY, NATURALLY IT IS GOING TO BE A MASS MEDIA EVENT”. Deborah opened the door and stepped out, naked. Her hair was a mess. She climbed back on the bed. The autodoc lowered some sensors and connected to her abdomen, her head, her chest, the index finger of her left hand, and her vagina.
“I don’t think you look terribly photogenic at the moment”, Walter noted.
“That’s okay - photography hasn’t been invented yet”
“You are now 4 centimeters dilated”, The autodoc announced. “A contraction is starting. Remember to take deep breaths”
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. That hurt”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Get me a cup of water”
Immediately, a cup of water appeared at a bedside table. Evidently, the autodoc was better at understanding the nuances of human communication. Walter picked up the cup and held it to her mouth.
“That’s better, thank you. Hold my hand”
“What?”
“Hold my hand.”
Walter reached out with his right hand and held her right hand. He stroked the top of her hand with his left hand.
“It’s going to be alright”
“I know”
Walter sat there, and Deborah laid there for about 15 minutes. Each of them was lost in their own thoughts.
“Another contraction is about to start”, the autodoc announced
“How do you know.. uh, never mind. It’s starting, it’s starting, oh shit, oh shit, ohh, ohhhhh OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Ohhhhhh.
“Breath deeply, you are now 7 centimeters dilated. Don’t push yet. How are you feeling?”, the autodoc said.
“You probably know better than I do”
“Pain is subjective experience. I can measure the rate at which pain receptors are firing in your brain, but how you experience the sensation and your ability to cope with it I cannot know. Do you want something to relieve the pain?”
“I think I can manage”
“Let me know if you change your mind”
“Okay. Walter?”
“Yes”
“What are we going to tell Lapidot?”
“We have several years to figure out that one”
“I’m trying to remember what he looks like. It’s funny. I watched him grow up, but I was always wandering around the country, dispensing justice. I never spent much quality time with him.”
“I can show you the recordings from the wedding”
“That’s right - we both had cameras. Adelle?”
“yes”
“Play for me the recording of my wedding”
“Your recording or Walter’s recording?”
“Walter’s recording”
A window opened on a monitor to Deborah’s right. Walter let go of her hand and turned to watch.
Deborah had a baby boy. Walter did a terrific job of coaching. The baby weighed 3.9 Kilograms. She named him Achiya, which means “God is like a brother to me”. To help him develop strong bones and muscles, she increased the artificial gravity to 1 G under his bassinette. They rigged up a bassinet in the training room Walter had created, and replicated some domestic animals to give the place the flavor (well, the smell) of home. They increased the artificial gravity there to 1 G, so that Achiya would be adapted to Earth’s gravity. They rigged up a network of cameras and microphones so that Adelle could monitor Achiya. Deborah wanted to have an easy adaption back to life in the bronze age, so she took on the chores of the farm, mucking the stalls, feeding and caring for the animals. However, she did have some modern advantages: the compost heap, for example, had been seeded with a complex biochemical starter modified from a 23rd century sewage treatment plant.