Winter World (The Long Winter #1)(43)

We’re facing three principal constraints: material, power, and time. In the material department, drone engines are our most critical constraint. We used half of our supply on the Janus fleet. As for power, the Pax’s reactor can only supply so much, and we need that power for the drones and to reach our destination quickly. And then there’s time. There are only so many hours in the day to work, and within those hours, only so many when any one of us can work at peak efficiency. We need good hours. The prevailing feeling here on the Pax is that our next move might be our last shot.

But I have a plan, and I call the group together in the bubble to discuss it.

I motion to Harry and Emma, whom I’ve come to see as our core team. “First, we favor sending a small drone to intercept the Fornax and comm-patch the news that the artifact isn’t in the expected location. And of course get a status update from the other ship.”

Charlotte seems annoyed at the idea. “Are we sure this is a good idea?”

Grigory seems just as annoyed. “Yes. We thought it was good idea before, and it still is.”

“It was a good idea when we thought we had news to share,” Charlotte shoots back.

“This is news!” Grigory shouts.

Izumi holds up her hands. “You all know the rules. No raised voices. No attacking people—only ideas. We’re taking a ten-minute break. Then we’ll return to the bubble and start over.”

There are eye rolls and exhales, but the crew obediently unsnaps from the table and sails out in all directions.

Harry, Emma, and I regroup in the robotics lab.

“That went well,” Harry says.

Emma is pedaling the desk bike, which I built for her from spare parts. “I think it’s safe to say we’ll meet more resistance than we did with our first plan.”





Izumi takes charge of the meeting when we return to the bubble. She passes out small slips of paper.

“We’re going to take a straw poll on the question of whether to send a drone to the Fornax. Simply write yes or no and the number one reason behind your answer. I will tally the results and collate the reasons.”

Grigory throws up his hands. “I can barely read my writing.”

“Then just write a zero or one, Grigory. One being yes. I assume your numbers are legible.”

He stews but stays silent.

When Izumi has tallied the votes, she announces, “We are six for and two against.”

Min shakes his head. “When did we decide this was a democracy? Just because there are more votes for the plan doesn’t mean we should do it. There could be a reason against that negates everything.”

“So much for anonymity,” Lina mutters.

Izumi exhales. “The point of this exercise was for everyone to state their first reaction and reasoning—so that we can examine them without fighting. And then we vote again.”

“Can we just talk about this?” Min says. “Like adults?”

Izumi raises her hand, but Min presses on.

“We have a limited number of drone engines, correct?”

I nod.

“And once we launch them, and they use up their power, they’re done.”

“Not necessarily,” Harry says. “We’ve been working on ideas to reuse the drones. Reload their power cells and issue new instructions.”

Min squints. “What, like some kind of landing bay? Open a hatch on one of the capsules and bring the drones into a space lab? We’re moving at—”

“No, nothing like that,” Harry says. “We’ve been designing a mother drone. It could recharge the cells in the other drones and issue new software.”

“Very cool,” Lina says.

“Very,” Grigory adds.

I motion to Harry and Emma. “We’re still working on the specs. We’ve got a lot of work to do. But it’s feasible. We’d also be able to launch power bricks from the ship to the mother drone to resupply its power bank.”

Min drums his fingers on the table. “Interesting. I feel the drones are our most precious resource. Prioritizing their deployment should be our focus.” He glances at Izumi. “That’s why I feel that voting on each drone deployment is not wise. We should look first at our priorities and what the drones could be deployed for, and select missions accordingly.”

He pauses, perhaps waiting for dissent. No one gives any. I, for one, agree with what he’s said.

He continues. “I feel that locating one of the artifacts is our top priority.”

“We’re already doing that,” Grigory says.

“For one of the artifacts,” Min shoots back. “We’re looking for the Alpha artifact. But what if it’s not even there? What if it self-destructed when it saw the probe? What if the explosion is what stopped the probe feed? The Janus fleet could be chasing a shadow. And the position is only a guess. We don’t know its flight capabilities. For all we know the artifact completed its mission weeks ago and isn’t even in our solar system.”

“What’s your point?” Harry asks.

“My point remains the same: finding an artifact is our top priority at the moment. And I feel we’re doing that for the Alpha artifact. But the time has come to launch a drone—or drones—to search for the second. We need to consider the possibility that the Beta artifact is the only one we can reach.” Min sets a tablet on the table. “I’ve been working on a flight path to intercept Beta—extrapolated from its last known position and what little we know about Alpha’s velocity.”