“Copy, thanks,” Parkowski said, looking incredulously at the control panel. There was no way that anyone would be able to glean something of substance from that, she thought, but that wasn’t her problem. “What do I need to do next?”
“The radar system can map the cave system below you automatically,” the technician broke in. “We’ve got a script here at the plant in Aurora that will do that so you can continue your mission while it does its job. I’m sending it over to you in El Segundo now.”
“Grace, we’ll take it from here,” one of the Aering technicians said. “We’ll upload the script through the comm pathway to your ACHILLES unit so you can transmit it directly.”
“Ok,” she said. “How long will that take?”
“Once we have it? About five minutes total,” Pham broke in. “Just hang tight. I know we’ve told you to do a lot of that today, but that’s part of the job. Don’t worry, we’re still on track to complete all of the objectives of your mission by the end of the shift.”
“Got it,” Parkowski responded. “Sitting tight until it’s uploaded.”
DePresti often talked about how in the military, especially when he was outside of his normal acquisition duties in a class or when he was in a training environment at the Air Force Academy, there was a lot of what he referred to as “hurry up and wait.”
Parkowski felt like this mission was full of that. She had spent half of her time waiting for other people to do things so that she could do her job.
“Uploaded to your ACHILLES unit,” the Aering tech said a few seconds after Parkowski was finished with her self-reflection. “Go ahead and transfer it to the radar unit.”
Parkowski pulled up her menu and turned the Wi-Fi setting of the ACHILLES unit on. The ubiquitous network protocol used in millions of households around the world was also used on Venus to transmit files between the two ACHILLES robots, their equipment, and their home base. She transferred the file, a tiny, 54 KB text file, and went back to the radar’s control panel. “I’m ready to run it.”
“Go ahead,” the tech said. “We’ll check the first couple of images and then you can leave and complete the rest of your mission.”
She hit “play” and the script began taking images. Parkowski checked the first one on the control panel. It looked suspiciously similar to the first one captured by the radar. “Does this look correct?”
“Yes, it does,” the tech confirmed.
“Copy. Should I stick around or can I move on?” she asked.
“Go ahead and take the ACHILLES 1 unit back to the charging station,” a new voice she recognized as Pham’s immediate superior, Dr. Robert Rosen, said. “We’re monitoring the preprocessing images as they come in and we’ll let you know if there’s any issues. If there are, you can switch back to ACHILLES 2 and troubleshoot. In the meantime, let’s press on.”
“Got it, sir,” she said, a little surprised by the senior engineer’s presence on her operational net. Rosen was just below an Aering VP; the project’s chief engineer whose presence was felt in almost every facet of the operation. “Anything else?”
“Nope, just keep doing what you’re doing,” Rosen said. “Good job, Grace, you and the team are doing outstanding work.”
“Thank you,” Pham replied, speaking for her. “Grace, go ahead and switch to ACHILLES 1. I’ll help guide you to Waypoint Hotel.”
Parkowski switched robots and checked her local map for the next waypoint. It was about five kilometers to the west, away from the mountains. Once the ILIAD probe had reached orbit, it had released a half-dozen charging stations, powered by large solar panels, to preplanned spots across Venus’ surface near where the ACHILLES robots would be operating. The robots themselves could hold a charge in their internal batteries for only twenty hours before needing a four-hour recharge period.
The terrain was steep and uneven before leveling out somewhat as Parkowski continued her robot’s journey. She had to carefully use her legs to get the ACHILLES 1 unit over some boulders and cracks in the ground. The sun beat down overhead, thankfully, she couldn’t feel it inside her gear. However, the ACHILLES robot’s temperatures were at the high range of its nominal zone.
“I’m getting high temps,” Parkowski called out. “Not sure what to do, over.”
Yet another tech, an older woman with a soft voice, responded a few seconds later. “I’ll have the thermal team take a look, hold up for a second Ms. Parkowski. I think we’ve seen this before during the midday hours, and it wasn’t a big issue. Once you get to the charging station, there are thermal dumps there that will allow the ACHILLES unit to dissipate excess heat.”
“Ok, let me know what they say,” Parkowski responded. “I’m maybe a klick from Waypoint Hotel. I can make it there in less than ten minutes if I push it, but I don’t know how much heat that’ll generate.”
She didn’t get an immediate response.
About ten seconds later Pham came on the net. “I had to step away for a second. How’s everything going?”
“Not too bad,” she responded. “I’m about a kilometer from Hotel but I’ve got a lot of heat built up. They’re checking to see if it’s ok.”
“Ms. Parkowski?” The female tech came back on. “The thermal guys say you’re ok to continue.”
“Thanks." Parkowski started her trek again. About a hundred feet from the waypoint she spotted the charging station. It was a gray cylinder, maybe the size of an oil drum, with solar panels in a cruciform configuration pointing up at the sky. She quickly found the charging cable and inserted it into the ACHILLES’ charging port on the left side of the torso.
She had told them it would take ten minutes, she did it in just under eight.
Parkowski then switched to ACHILLES 2. The VR environment took slightly longer to “blink” between the two robots, generally a sign that the lag between two points on the communication pathway was getting worse. “Can I get a lag check?”
“Still one minute and fifty-eight seconds, no change,” Pham replied.
She shrugged and checked the clock. This was a complex software system, and a lot of the small issues and bugs were generally unexplainable.
Parkowski had just over one hour to get from her current position to point Charlie.
CHAPTER FIVE
Parkowski began walking through the barren landscape to her mission’s ultimate destination.
She was sweating profusely. Being in the suit for this long almost qualified as a workout. It dripped down her forehead and almost into her eyes. She wished she had been able to wear less clothing, but the gear required the tight, athletic attire underneath the arm and leg sensors.
There was some more lag. Parkowski had to stop twice to let the VR environment catch up with what was happening in the real world on Venus. “Getting some spikes here,” she said on an open channel. Checking the chronometer, she was at the hour mark since she had started her trek to Charlie.
“Copy, we’re reading the same thing here,” Pham responded in a calm tone. “I’ve got one of the technicians calling over to NASA to see what’s going on. Preliminary analysis shows heavy traffic through MICS, much more than would be expected on a Friday. We’ll see if we can free up some bandwidth for you.” A pause. “Is it bad enough that you need to pause or cancel the operation?”
Parkowski shook her head, a pointless gesture inside all of the VR gear. “No, let me check some settings and see if I can’t make it a little better. I think I’m good for the time being.”