2061 Odyssey Three

chapter 44 Endurance
'History never repeats itself - but historical situations recur.'

As he made his daily report to Ganymede, Captain Laplace kept thinking of the phrase. It had been quoted by Margaret M'Bala - now approaching at almost a thousand kilometres every second - in a message of encouragement from Universe which he had been very happy to relay to his fellow castaways.

'Please tell Miss M'Bala that her little history lesson was extremely good for morale; she couldn't have thought of anything better to send us.

'Despite the inconvenience of having our walls and floors switched around, we're living in luxury compared to those old polar explorers. Some of us had heard of Ernest Shackleton, but we had no idea of the Endurance saga. To have been trapped on ice floes for over a year - then to spend the Antarctic winter in a cave - then to cross a thousand kilometres of sea in an open boat and to climb a range of unmapped mountains to reach the nearest human settlement!

'And yet that was only the beginning. What we find incredible - and inspiring - is that Shackleton went back four times to rescue his men on that little island - and saved every one of them! You can guess what that story's done to our spirits - I hope you can fax this book to us in your next transmission - we're all anxious to read it.

'And what would he have thought of that! Yes, we're infinitely better off than any of those old-time explorers. It's almost impossible to believe that, until well into the last century, they were completely cut off from the rest of the human race, once they'd gone over the horizon. We should be ashamed at grumbling because light isn't fast enough and we can't talk to our friends in real time - or that it takes a couple of hours to get replies from Earth... They had no contact for months - almost years! Again, Miss M'Bala - our sincerest thanks.

'Of course, all Earth explorers did have one considerable advantage over us; at least they could breathe the air. Our science team has been clamouring to go outside, and we've modified four spacesuits for EVAs of up to six hours. At this atmospheric pressure they won't need full suits - a waist seal is good enough - and I'm allowing two men to go out at a time, as long as they stay within sight of the ship.

'Finally, here's today's weather report. Pressure two hundred and fifty bars, temperature steady at twenty-five degrees, wind gusting at up to thirty klicks from the west, usual hundred per cent overcast, quakes between one and three on open-ended Richter...

'You know, I never did like the sound of that "open-ended" - especially now that Io's coming into conjunction again.