Read Rogue Command (The Kalahari Series) for Free Online

spacecraft Enigma – but the ion drive system used in the Hera was tried, tested and reliable and, perhaps above all, it did not require robots or robot technology to operate it. There could be no mistakes on this flight – nothing could be left to chance. Retrieving the priceless, perhaps species-saving mineral from Io had become a race; a race against time itself.
    “Just look at her bubble, Commander,” said Rose, as she looked down in awe at Jupiter’s moon. “God, it’s amazing, it’s just amazing!”
    “Over four hundred active volcanoes, Rose – making this place the most geologically active body in the—”
    “Yes we know, Alex,” interrupted Rose. “Look at those colours,” she continued, staring out again through the viewing portal. “The yellows and the yellow-greens are just so beautiful. Remote imaging just didn’t do it justice.”
    Alex chipped in again, undeterred. “Primarily it’s a sulphur dioxide frost . . . ubiquitous across the entire surface. It’s what forms all of those regions you can see covered in a white or grey material.” He nodded towards the yellow and light green areas. “They are covered in sulphur, and see there?” Alex pointed to the northern polar region. “That’s where radiation damage breaks up the stable eight-chain sulphur molecule into three-and four-chain molecules so that the deposits become red.” He shrugged, knowingly.
    Rose sighed. “But there are no impact craters. This place is only a little larger than the Earth’s moon, so how has it avoided meteorites and asteroids?”
    He felt her trying to win a point. “Why haven’t you read the geology brief?” He looked at her surprised. Rose, in turn, was deflated and looked towards the windows while this human compendium rattled on. “The enormous gravitational effect of Jupiter causes something called ‘tidal heating’ inside Io. The molten and partially molten core is being continuously pushed and pulled. You know, like when there was wheat grain to make bread back home, before the rains – like kneading the dough. This turbulence causes frictional heating and this heat is released in the form of volcanic activity. The unstable mantle spews out onto the surface as extensive lava flows, or is deposited from explosive plumes that reach miles high into the atmosphere and spread out like an umbrella. So, you see, Io’s surface is young, craters are filled over in a relatively short period of time . . . geologically speaking . . . and just disappear.”
    “So you think that’s where the crystals are formed, in the centre of this moon – where those raw elements swirl in a molten mass?”
    “Exactly, Rose,” Commander Duval concurred. “The theory is that for an instant the environmental conditions and the elemental concentrations were precisely right. Possibly unrepeatable, probably totally coincidental . . . a complete fluke! The single deposit NASA identified using the Hubble 5 system is on the other side right now. This moon rotates quickly, as you can see, so by the time that Mike and Aldrin get down there we will be able to see the landing site. Apparently the outcrop we are looking for occurs in a recent lava flow. In a few years from now I imagine it will be covered over too, like everything else on this godforsaken rock.” Rose sensed his unease. “As I said, the interior conditions must have been just right, absolutely unique in this part of the galaxy. The right chemicals, the right pressures, the right temperatures, radiation, gravity, whatever . . . Everything came together! A crystal deposit formed and eventually came to the surface in a lava flow. Maybe that’s where their incredible power comes from . . . an amalgamation of primeval forces!”
    Duval stepped back to move away as Rose touched his elbow. She focused on the strange world for a few more seconds as it turned beneath them and then she looked up at her commander. “But they said that there was a