“That's great! But where, exactly, is there?”
“There,” he said with more than a hint of agitation in his voice, “is one of my old hydrogen mines. It was our primary source of water and power for Klaproth Station before we discovered some better sites, but nobody has come here for years. Except me, of course.”
Chen joined in the conversation. “And I assume that once we get there you have a plan for getting us off Luna, correct?”
“I do indeed, my good Doctor Hao. Fear not, we have considered every contingency and we will be Mars-bound within the hour.”
“Glad to hear it.” Chen tapped Evan's arm twice. “How are you doing, Evan? You holding up okay?”
“Yeah, I'm hanging in there,” Evan said. “I'm hungry, really tired and being in this suit is freaking me out, but otherwise I'm good.”
“No headaches or unexplained sights or sounds?”
“I have a little headache and I'm a little short of breath…and my ears are ringing. But that's probably because of the lower atmospheric pressure.”
Klaproth, like most stations on Luna, maintained an atmospheric pressure equivalent to about 2500 meters above sea level on Earth; the principal reasons being that it required less fuel to maintain a lower air pressure and the lower pressure placed less strain on the station's bio-dome and surrounding support structures. Environmental suits were typically set to the same pressure to minimize the time required to enter and exit climate-controlled areas.
“You should have said something sooner, Evan,” Yin said. “That's an easy fix, hold up a sec.”
The group paused for a minute while Yin reprogrammed Evan's suit to increase the air pressure and the amount of oxygen he was receiving.
“There, that should help,” she said.
She monitored the results on Evan's arm-mounted control panel until his suit had achieved the desired pressure and oxygen saturation.
“You'll burn oxygen faster but you still have nearly five hours remaining so that shouldn't be a problem.”
“Thanks, Yin. My headache is going away already.”
“Okay, friends,” Adee prodded, “we need to hustle if we are going to make our launch window. Everyone good?”
“I'm good,” each replied in turn.
Adee proceeded down the tunnel at a fast walk with the rest of the group close behind. Seventeen minutes later they emerged in a large, dimly lit cavern.
“We're here. Let's have some more light please.”
Adee's men split from the group, heading for opposite sides of the cavern.
The cavern was large, over one hundred meters across and nearly as high—although it was too dark to know the exact dimensions. There was large rocket-shaped structure sitting in the middle of the visible area, which was dimly lit by a ring of lights mounted on some kind of scaffolding.
The vehicle stood over thirty meters high and was ten meters wide with a long central cylinder surrounded by six smaller cylinders.
“Is that what I think it is?” he asked.
“What? A rocket ship?” Adee replied. “Yes and no. It's technically an IPD Seven ballistic missile that I modified with a gravity pulse drive of my own design.”
“What's it doing here?” Chen asked.
“One of Luna's dirty little secrets. Several of Earth's nations deployed thousands of these after the war. This was before they formed the GFN and banned space-based weapons. My company got the contract to dismantle the ones deployed by the former United States of America.”
Yin took a few steps toward the rocket and made a sweeping gesture with her arms. “Well, if you dismantled them why is this one sitting here, Adee?”
“Well, let's just say that I kept a few souvenirs...but we destroyed the warheads, of course.”
“So, assuming this forty-year-old missile doesn't blow up on launch, just how do you plan to dock with Endeavor?” Yin asked. “Surely you're not expecting us to do an EVA!”
“No, no my dear. A spacewalk is way too dangerous and especially for Evan who has never trained for such a thing. No, we will launch from this silo, fire the G-pulse engine once we've cleared Luna's orbit and Endeavor will pick us up as we hurtle toward Mars at over 8,000 kilometers per second.”
Chen did some rough calculations in his head. “That's almost three percent of the speed of light Adee! How long is it going to take Endeavor to catch up with us?”
Before Adee could respond, a new bank of lights came on and a large section of the scaffolding moved across the floor toward the rocket.
“Ahh good, my men have activated the primary generators and restored full power. Right on schedule! Please follow me.”
Adee hurried toward the rocket.
Chen hurried to catch up. “You haven't answered my question.”
“I will explain all the details once we are safely off Luna. Until then all you need to know is that Endeavor is the second fastest ship ever built and catching us will not be a problem.”
Adee stopped at the top of the first set of stairs and signaled for everyone to continue up. “Right this way, please. Each of you will enter an acceleration pod when you get to the top. It doesn't matter who sits where. I will be right behind you.”
Yin was the first to reach the top, but she paused at the rocket entry hatch and signaled for Evan to go first. Evan ducked through the hatch and found a pod just like those on the Telogene shuttle He leaned back into the pod and the automated restraints secured him in place. Once locked in, his pod rotated away from the hatch and an empty pod slid into place for the next passenger.
Chen entered next, followed by Yin, then Adee and his two crewmen. The last crewman secured the hatch before securing himself in his pod. The pods moved in unison, forming two rows that stretched from the middle of the rocket all the way to the top. Adee and one of his crewman were in the first two pods, each with their own set of controls.
“Okay everyone,” Adee said, “get ready. Suit interfaces will be active in three...two...one.”
When the count reached "one" Evan felt a now familiar tingle as his spacesuit interfaced with his pod. A wave of nausea swept over him but quickly passed
Adee noticed a big jump in Evan's heart rate on his monitor. “You alright, Evan?”
“Yeah, I'm fine. I got a little nauseous for a second but it passed.”
“Ahh, I'm sorry about that. I should have given you something for that but...well, I didn’t think about it,” Adee said.
“Let's just hope that's the only thing you missed Adee,” Yin replied.
“I'm sure it is my dear, I'm sure it is.”
Nobody spoke for the next two minutes while Adee and his co-pilot worked feverishly at their controls.
“Let us away, shall we, friends?” Adee finally asked.
A few seconds later the rocket engines flared and the ship shot like a bullet up the tunnel above it. In the blink of an eye, the ship cleared the silo and accelerated rapidly into space. The roar was deafening inside the ship and Evan felt as though he was being crushed under two tons of bricks. The suit and pod were adjusting to compensate, but this ship was accelerating much harder and faster than had the Telogene shuttle when it left Earth.
Although it seemed like forever to Evan, only ninety seconds passed before Adee's voice sounded inside his helmet.
“I'm sorry everyone but this will hurt a little. Stand by for first gravity pulse in thirty seconds.”
The rocket engines shut off, their deafening roar replaced by a high-pitched whine. Evan couldn't tell where the sound was coming from as it seemed to be all around him. He tried to raise his arm to activate the pod's holoterminal but found he couldn’t move. He tried to say the words that would cause the holodisplay to appear but found he couldn't speak. In fact, he was completely paralyzed except for his ability to breathe.
Evan was hyperventilating and on the verge of blacking out, but the intensity of the next whine, this one much louder than the last, caused him to hold his breath in anticipation o
f whatever came next. Thankfully the whine only lasted for a handful of seconds but then he started to fall—or at least it felt like he was falling. His vision blurred and a wave of nausea came crashing over him but he couldn't vomit.
Evan tried to look over at Chen in the pod next to him, hoping to get his attention but all he could see was a black tunnel with a tiny speck of light at the far end. Evan tried to cry out but he managed only a faint whimper. The light at the end of the tunnel vanished and Evan found himself in total darkness.
Time seemed to slow, but the sense of falling grew more intense. His mind struggled to comprehend what his senses were telling him—he should have been crushed against the back of the ship long ago. He tried to cry out but again only managed a whimper.
CHAPTER 21
APRIL 5, 2075 02:01 AM GST
Klaproth Spaceport
Luna
“Well, that was a real joy,” Luanne announced to her team.
“The Secretary?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, she just chewed me a new asshole and then some. She basically said that if we don't come back with Feldman and Hao then we shouldn't come back at all.”
“That's harsh. Did you explain to her that we haven't even had them in sight yet let alone in our custody?”
“Yes, and she didn't give a shit,” Luanne scoffed. “Although I suspect that she's giving President Duchon the same ass-reaming she just gave me.”
“Fucking bureaucrats.”
“Yep, but they pay our salaries so let's get back to work. Where are we with securing this docking ring?”
“We’ve deployed every drone we’ve got and station security is covering every gate,” Sam answered. “They’ve decided to let that inbound shuttle land but everyone onboard will be held and screened.”
“What about the transport on pad three and the maintenance drone?”
“The drone has been disabled and the cops are going over every square inch of the ore transport now.”
“Was there a pilot?” Luanne asked.
“Not that we can tell. It’s fully automated and its logs show that it’s been doing nothing but running back and forth with cargo between here and Mare Orientale.”
“Any explanation for the unlogged trip it took an hour ago?”
“Nope. Both the station traffic control logs and the ship’s record agree…it went nowhere.”
“Which we know is flat wrong because our drone saw it leave and come back.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Sam acknowledged. "And we’ve reviewed the drone’s data feed and nobody got on or off of that ship.”
“So, we have no idea what it did.”
“Right.”
“What about Redstar 21?” Luanne asked about the GFN space fighter hovering 100 kilometers above her head.
“I called her. She’s scanning for orbital launches, not surface traffic.”
“Bummer. Was any cargo unloaded after the last trip?”
“Not that we saw but we can’t see the cargo doors or the loading bay from here.”
“And no record on the station security grid I assume?”
“That is correct.”
“I think we are wasting our time here…Ryan, Jaime—get your asses back to the ship and get it fired up. We are airborne in ten.”
Both men acknowledged Luanne's order before departing at a swift jog.
Luanne activated her comm implant.
“Bravo One this is Alpha One,” she said.
No response.
“Bravo One this is Alpha One, respond.”
The TacNet display showed that the six-man team was on the network but she couldn’t connect with any of them.
“Emma, why can’t we connect with Bravo team?”
“Someone is jamming our communications frequencies.”
“Then why are they showing as on-grid?”
“Unknown.”
“Solution?”
“I have already tried all available frequencies,” Emma answered. “Protocol is to cycle encryption codes.”
“Do it.”
“What do you think happened?” Sam asked.
“Hopefully just a temporary blackout as they transit the dark side.”
Sam activated his holodisplay.
“Redstar 21 confirms,” he said. “She said Endeavor and Redstar 22 will come out of dark side transit in two minutes seventeen seconds...she also says she has voice contact with Redstar 22 via Luna’s comm satellites. 22 reports no change in Endeavor’s course or speed,”
Luanne nodded. “It’s too bad we can’t relay TacNet signals through those birds.”
“Yeah, they do that on purpose. They don’t like the GFN playing too much in their backyard. They let us come visit but pretty much limit us to tourist-mode.”
Sam held his hand up to pause the conversation. “Stand by one.”
“Redstar 22 just reported that Endeavor broke orbit and is accelerating rapidly away from Luna. 21 reports that an IPD Seven launched from the other side of the Klaproth crater and is also accelerating rapidly into space.”
The launching of a forty-year-old Interplanetary Defense Mark Seven ballistic missile from the surface of Luna caught Luanne and the rest of her crew by surprise.
“An IPD Seven? Where the fuck did that come from?”
“Unknown Lu. Hang on…”
“I’m seeing it,” Luanne replied.
Sam continued. “Two-two confirms. Endeavor ejected a cargo container before she took off. All six Bravo team members are on board and healthy. Bravo One is transmitting his mission log now.”
“Got it. Do you see that?”
“Yep. Two-one is relaying TacNet signals from Alpha Five and Six.”
“Is that the launch site?” Luanne asked.
Sam acknowledged. “Confirmed.”
“Well, goddamnit. Ryan?”
“We’re ready when you are, Lu,” Petty Officer Randolph replied.
“Come on, Sam, let’s go get our people.”
Two minutes later the GFN troop transport ship was off the pad and moving at high speed to pick up Petty Officers Durand and Bianchi. They were stuck inside a pressurized cargo container and surrounded by vacuum, just like Bravo team, so they weren’t going anywhere on their own. Everybody had plenty of air, so Wilkes had Redstar 22 track Bravo team in orbit while she recovered the rest of Alpha team.
Unfortunately, the troop transport was too big to fit down the IPD Seven launch tube and Luanne and Sam ended up having to put their EVA suits on. They exited the transport and walked the short distance to the top of the stairs that circled the outer edge of the launch tube. Each packed an extra spacesuit so Tad and Marcia could make the trip back with them under their own power.
The cavern opened up before them as they descended.
“What happens if there’s no airlock?” Sam asked.
“Well, then I hope they remember their vacuum training!” Luanne replied.
“Ugh, that will suck.”
“We heard that!” Tad said over TacNet.
“Standby, we're almost there. Give us a minute to scout the surroundings,” Lu replied.
The Alpha team members were close enough for their person-to-person TacNet interfaces to function, allowing Tad and Marcia to see and hear everything Luanne and Sam did. They were relieved when Sam discovered that the airlock to the control center was still functioning and that the cargo container holding Tad and Marcia would fit comfortably inside. The only challenge was getting the container inside the airlock as there didn’t appear to be any functioning lifting equipment.
“I guess we push,” Sam said,
“Hang on, guys, it may get a little bumpy while we push you into the airlock. We’ll try not to tip you but sit against the back of the container just in case,” Luanne ordered.
Thankfully the container wasn’t that heavy and the micro thrusters built into Luanne and Sam’s spacesuits made short work of the twenty-meter distance to the airlock. Ten minutes later, Tad and Marcia were
suited up and the four Alpha team members were working their way up the stairs toward the surface. A few minutes after that, all six Alpha team members were reunited on board the transport.
Luanne gave everyone a minute to say hello and get seated.
“Okay, Ryan, let’s go get Bravo team,” she said.
The transport lept into space and accelerated hard to catch up to the orbiting cargo container, which was still circling Luna at nearly twenty thousand kilometers per hour.
Sam waited until they were in orbit to ask the obvious question. “So, what’s the plan, Lu?”
“Well, the cargo container is small enough to fit into the bay if we drop the ramp. So, I’m thinking we take another walk.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
“You and I are on tether duty. Jaime, get the ramp. Tad and Marcia are on the arm and Ryan—you’ll be up here flying your ass off.”
“Hooyah!,” Alpha team replied in unison.
Luanne released her restraints and floated toward the back of the ship. “Let’s suit up and get locked in, people.”
“Standing by for intercept burn, Lu. It will take some serious delta-v to get us in position and, if I overshoot, we will have to make another full orbit before we get another shot,” Ryan said.
“Roger. How long until initiation?”
“Ten minutes twenty-seven seconds.”
“Alright, we’ll be ready.”
The team spent the next ten minutes putting on their EVA suits and making room in the cargo hold for the container serving as Bravo team’s lifeboat.
“Thirty seconds,” Ryan called out just as they were locking themselves into their acceleration pods.
The ship Ryan piloted was a state-of-the-art, military-grade troop transport designed to deploy troops on a moment’s notice anywhere on Earth or Luna—it could even reach Mars if pressed. The craft was equipped with the latest SABRE and Hellfire engines that, while similar to their civilian counterparts, were capable of far greater rates of acceleration. The helium-3 reactors that powered the craft’s four Hellfire engines were high-density, high-output models that enabled the engines to go from cold-start to full power in less than thirty minutes—and Ryan had been warming them up since they left Klaproth.
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