Astraeus 5 Read online

  Chapter 4

  Mel was making good progress with the repairs. Apart from a few isolated problems, he was almost in a position to test the final circuits and systems to make sure that everything was working again.

  After a couple of hours, Mel decided that it was time to go through what he hoped was the final set of tests. Before he did, he realised just how hungry he was, so decided that it made sense to have a break and something to eat before he started the tests. It would also make sure that he was feeling fresh and mentally alert. With that, he went to the food cabinet and withdrew a meal pack and peeled back the lid. Within seconds, his meal was hot and ready to eat. Deciding he wanted a drink with it, he went back to the cupboard and took out a bottle of peach flavoured water. A quick twist of the lid was all that was required to open it.

  After the meal, he sat relaxing for a few minutes before picking up the empty containers and putting them in the recycler.

  "Right, better get started. Then I can get home" he said, to no one in particular.

  He crossed over to the control panel and switched everything back on, except the switch that would allow the systems to connect to the outside. Before doing that, he first wanted to make sure that everything was working within the Commbase. A quick check of the readings on the monitor confirmed that everything seemed to be doing what he would have expected, so called the office.

  "Hi Mel" smiled the operator, Natalie "Got everything working?"

  "Sure hope so, Nat. Just done a diagnostic check and everything here’s working OK. Are you able to set everything at your end, so we can check that we can reroute everything through here again?"

  "No problem, Mel" she replied, as she hit the relevant buttons on her console. "Done – she’s all yours."

  Mel hit the final buttons that switched the transmitters on.

  To his utmost relief, it all worked. He had been worried that, with all the damage, something had failed that he hadn’t picked up with his diagnostic routines.

  "Looking good, here, Nat. How’s it looking from your end?"

  "Looks good here, too. Good job, Mel. I’ll make the necessary changes and then Commbase 3 will be back online."

  Mel looked at the clock. It was 04:00 and he was feeling somewhat weary after his very long shift.