Rogue Command (The Kalahari Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

known about this circular tube – called Io’s ‘flux tube’ – for some time, but it’s been difficult to measure. I’m recording it now, first hand, and the dimensions are impressive to say the least. I can tell you that this tube emanates from the centre of Jupiter and envelopes Io completely, so we are right inside it . . . It’s a neutral zone, with natural shielding, like a force field in a sci-fi movie, except that it really is there. It’s a freak occurrence in our solar system.”
    “So, it’s some mother of a tube Alex, and it’s helping us . . . at least at the moment.” Jacques Duval nodded again but his tone was questioning. “Your display indicates that we are over four hundred and twenty thousand kilometres from Jupiter’s core?”
    “The Earth’s moon orbits at roughly the same distance, Commander. But there’s no comparison. Jupiter’s magnetic field is more than ten times that of the Earth’s. She’s the gas giant – the real McCoy. They don’t come any bigger in these parts – probably seventy-five per cent of the planetary mass of the entire solar system.” Alex leaned forward and tapped the screen of his monitor to draw Jacques Duval’s attention to some digital readings and then he drew a deep breath. “The forces at work here are almost incomprehensible . . . Normal rules just don’t apply, sir.” He shook his head.
    Commander Duval shrugged. “Well, thanks for the science lesson, Alex, but what’s your prediction? Taking everything into account – fuel, radiation screen integrity, particle absorption rate, skin temperature . . . How long have we got?”
    “Our prospects look good . . . as I said, better than the original prediction. The main ion drive is using less fuel than I anticipated and with little requirement for lateral burns. I estimate an additional fifty minutes over the planned time on station. That’s a safe eleven-hour window starting from now.” Alex checked his wrist chronometer and set the timer running. He looked up slowly. “Downside is that there will be no long-range communication – not while we are inside the tube. Our signals will simply bounce off its electrically energised periphery. There will be no talking to Earth or Osiris Base or even Space Station Spartacus for that matter, despite her new position this side of Mars. Not until we break orbit and clear the flux tube. Even then, and until we are well outside the effect of the plasma torus, I expect a fair amount of signal distortion.”
    “That includes the accelercom . . . right?”
    “Utilising light frequencies for communication makes no difference, Commander. Electromagnetic waves cannot escape this environment – even those in the ultraviolet frequencies. Super-compressing the signal and accelerating it in excess of light speed doesn’t help either. Any radio transmissions will simply come back to us as an echo. Hence the loss of communication with all those probes sent this way over the years.”
    Duval nodded and then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Okay, I understand. What about the shutters, Alex, in this neutral zone?”
    “I’d say that it’s safe, Commander, but not for too long – five or six hours maximum. There’s a lot of ionised sulphur and chlorine outside – elements that are highly corrosive, even to polyspec.”
    Commander Duval pushed himself up from the circular central console and stood tall. He was almost two metres, slim and good looking, having jet-black hair and an olive-coloured Mediterranean hue to his skin. At times, remnants of a French accent dropped onto some of his vowels, but having spent nearly twenty-five of his forty-six years living in Florida – mainly in the Cape – an intimation of ancestry had all but faded. He was relaxed by nature and popular. He didn’t insist on uniform – at least not this far from home – but he had no time for incompetence or excuses. He held the respect of the crew for all the right