Humanity's Fight

Chapter One The escape capsule was falling. The interior was tiny, accommodating only one individual. Only one individual was required. Most of the bulk of the capsule was made up by the thickness of the hull. The capsule had no landing gear and the hull was designed to absorb the shock of impact on a planet surface. The thick shell was also designed to protect the occupant from the high temperatures generated by falling through a planet’s atmosphere. The capsule had drifted into Concordia’s exosphere without incident. At this point, the small vessel was already trapped by Concordia’s gravity and impact on the surface was inevitable. It was only a matter of time. The thing inside it remained motionless, waiting. Its artificial mind calculated the predicted velocity of the capsule’s descent and estimated the peak temperature of the outer hull. According to its calculations, the capsule would not heat up sufficiently to destroy the occupant, though burn damage would be inflicted. More importantly, the high temperature would not cause the capsule to disintegrate. If it did, the occupant probably would not survive the remaining fall to the surface. The force of the impending impact was another consideration. The capsule had not been designed to land on a planet, and so its destruction was inevitable. Could the occupant survive the impact? There was a dissatisfying variance in the answer. The probability of unimpaired survival was only thirty-two point nine two eight four. However, the probability of functional survival was seventy-three point four zero eight three, rounded up. Nevertheless, that meant the probability of annihilation was twenty-six point five nine one seven. The individual would have preferred better odds. If it was destroyed, its mission would fail. But there was nothing it could do to improve its chances. The intelligence thought it was odd that its creators had not designed a more robust craft but it was forced to accept it could not know their motivations and intentions. Time passed, and the capsule entered Concordia’s thermosphere. Its velocity increased as the tug of the planet’s mass grew stronger. Where would it fall? Its trajectory was not yet entirely set. The capsule was light and would be subject to the forces of the jet stream when it dropped deep into the stratosphere. At that point it would also be on fire. Given the predicted high temperature of its hull (what remained of it at that point), it would be preferable if it landed in the ocean, even considering the fact that the sudden drop in temperature might create a differential in thermal expansion that caused the hull to crack. If the capsule crashed into land, it would cool down much slower, reducing the heat differential and maintaining the structural integrity of the hull. However, the force of impact would be greater. Overall, the probability that the capsule would break open, reducing the likelihood of the individual’s survival, was lower for an impact on water than on land. When the capsule reached the mesosphere, its exterior rapidly heated up. The metal alloy that formed the outer layer began to glow. At first, insulation protected the capsule’s interior from the rising heat and the occupant registered no rise in temperature. That state quickly changed. One-tenth of a second later the capsule’s hull was melting and burning, sending out a long tail of flame. A human on the surface who was looking at the right part of the night sky at the right time would have seen a streak of light in the sky and thought they were looking at a meteor. Another tenth of a second passed, and the individual inside the capsule registered the rapidly increasing temperature of its surroundings. Fortunately, it did not breathe air, or it would have discovered its throat and lungs scorching in the heat. Its skin was a manufactured substance designed to mimic human skin. If it had been organic, it would have been bubbling and peeling away. By the third tenth of a second, the capsule was a fireball and its interior was a furnace. But it was maintaining structural integrity. The occupant sat and waited as its circuits heated. The artificial hair on its head dissolved and evaporated. The ends of its faux fingers crisped. Estimated time to impact was point two nine— The capsule hit. Against the probabilities, given the comparative volume of water compared to landmass on the surface of Concordia, the capsule had come down on land. The innermost wall of the capsule shattered but for the most part the vessel remained whole. One reason for this was the fact that what was left of the hull was molten at the time of impact, and the liquid, more flexible structure absorbed some of the shock. The occupant completed a damage assessment. The results revealed a considerable number of breakages. Its inner frame had broken into many pieces and some of its wires had dissected. Self-repair was automatically activated. As the hull cooled, the individual healed itself. Not all parts were able to be saved, but it would be functional. When it had repaired to the greatest extent possible, it would find a way out of the wreck.