by Rick Chesler
“Rovers?” Ray felt his lunch coming up for air and quickly swallowed it back down. “What fucking rovers? I didn’t hear anything about any rovers.”
“Oh, right,” Dallas said with a chuckle. “I realize you wannabe gods on the ground like to know whether we astronauts wipe our asses with three sheets or four, but Big Boss Blake likes his secrets and today those secrets got wheels. We brought two rovers with us. Suuuurprise.”
Ray felt a strong urge to put his fist through the closest monitor. Fucking Blake.
“Dallas, listen. Where did they go?”
“Mission Control, this is Command Module Certainty, over.”
Paul’s voice froze Ray for an instant, then: “Go ahead, Certainty. Over.”
“Kindly shut the fuck up. I’m trying to catch a little shut-eye up here, over.”
Flustered, Ray nearly flung his headset across the room.
“Hey, take a look at this.” Jerry jerked his head toward his computer display.
“Not now, Fat Boy. Mind your monitors.”
“Got some local weather. Real sudden. Weird looking, though. You should see this.”
Ray leaned closer to Jerry’s workstation while he took a moment to regain his composure. All right, McCullough, this ain’t your first rodeo… He continued monitoring the radio channel while he stared at a radar map on Jerry’s screen. He pointed at an unusual signature and shot Jerry a quizzical expression. What is that?
“Not sure yet, but it just cropped up a few minutes ago. Whatever it is, it’s heading right for the Spaceport. I’ll see what I can find out.” Jerry began to peck away at his keyboard. Ray looked over his shoulder as Jerry worked, squinting and leaning forward to be closer to the screen.
“Say, Jer, what’s that?”
The big man continued hammering at the keys. “What’s what?”
“That file right there. I don’t recognize that icon.”
“Huh?” Jerry’s fingers froze over the keyboard.
“That one.” Ray reached out and hovered his pointer finger over the file shortcut. Jerry turned around to look at him.
“I don’t know. You looking for a new game or something to kill some time, or should we get back to tracking this huge freaking storm that’s barreling down on us?”
Ray grinned. “Yeah, yeah, I hear you, but humor me a second, would you? I’ve never seen that type of file here before. Just open it, what’s the big deal?”
“Fine. Probably just some useless sys-admin utility no one ever—” Jerry choked off mid-sentence as a video application opened in a small window in the center of the screen. “Well that’s strange, I never—”
Ray’s fingers tightened around the top of Jerry’s chair back as a grainy color video started to play. The distinctive gray shades of the moon were immediately recognizable to both men, even without the astronaut in center frame. He stooped low as he walked, careful to avoid bumping his head on the low ceiling....
“There’s a ceiling there!” Ray noted. “And look at the date stamp on this. That was Flight 17, let’s see, who was on that....”
Suddenly on screen the astronaut turned around and his name was visible stenciled on his suit. KNOWLES.
“Strat Knowles? I don’t believe he was on Flight 17.” Jerry’s features screwed up into a mask of confusion.
Ray nodded slowly as it dawned on him they were looking at a video of a previous Outer Limits moon voyage they had never been made privy to. “That’s because this isn’t Flight 17. But it’s not Flight 18 either. Call it Flight 17 B.”
“Never heard of that one.”
“Me neither, Jerry! That’s because there wasn’t one. But something tells me we’re looking at it right now.”
Jerry swiveled in his chair to look at Ray. “And what happened to Strat? He’s not with us anymore.”
“That’s right. He retired right after Flight 17, supposedly, although this doesn’t appear to be Flight 17. To become a consultant, is what I heard.”
“Going for the big bucks, huh?”
Ray smiled. “That’s right. Blake hired Caitlin right after he left.” Thank God for that, no more lonely nights in the desert.
Then the movie commanded their attention as, on screen, the wall next to the astronaut appeared to dissolve and then reform as if in motion. “What in the...” Jerry started. But then the screen exploded in hectic static, so bright it hurt their eyes. When it resolved about fifteen seconds later, KNOWLES was no longer standing. In fact, he was barely in the frame at all anymore, except for his blood, that is. They could see copious splashes of it on the tunnel walls, which had somehow reformed, or perhaps the angle of the shot had changed during the intervening static.
The two controllers were silent for a few moments as they struggled to comprehend what was going on, what had transpired.
“It looked like Strat...” Jerry started but couldn’t finish.
“Like he was killed by something in those caves?”
Before Jerry could answer, an alarm rang and a red flashing icon came to life on Jerry’s monitor. “Severe Weather Alert. It’s getting worse. We’ve got to check this out.” He closed out of the video and brought up the Doppler radar view, where an amorphous blob stretched across the desert.
But although Ray knew that the approaching system, whatever it was, was significant, there was only one thing on his mind. He patted Jerry on the shoulder. “Good work. I’ve got to make a call up to the LEM.” He turned and strode back to his communications console. He picked up the transmitter and addressed Dallas.
“Did Garner tell you where the group was heading?”
“Affirmative, Ray-Ray. Your sweetheart’s leading them over to McMurdo Crater. We missed our designated landing mark, but the rov—”
Ray glanced over at Jerry, now preoccupied with his weird radar. “Dallas, switch to Q-Comm, please.”
Ray switched over, waited briefly while Dallas did the same.
Dallas, suddenly serious: “What is it, Ray?”
“I need you to bring her back for me?”
“Who? Caitlin?”
“Yeah, get her back to the LEM. I don’t give a fuck how. Tell her you need her help to program the diagnostics or to check out some program alarm.”
“Seriously, Ray?”
“I don’t give a shit what you tell her, Dallas. Just get her back to the damn LEM and do it now.”
When Ray turned, Jerry and another two controllers who happened to be walking past were staring at him as though he’d just taken a shit on Blake Garner’s fajitas.
“All right, all right,” Dallas came back. “Let’s not get those panties in a bunch. Stand by.”
“Standing by.” Ray kicked his chair over and shouted, “What the fuck y’all looking at? Get back to work or you can take your resumes to fucking NASA and fart around with simulations or robots the rest of your lives. And find out whatever the hell that is on that radar!”
“Ray,” Dallas came back.
“Go ahead, Dallas.”
“I’ll keep trying, but I’m not getting anyone on EVA comm at the moment.”
Ray pressed his right hand against his headset to keep it from trembling. But when he spoke, his lip was going. “Why the hell not, Dal?”
Ray didn’t need to hear the LEM pilot’s reply.
“My guess is that they went down to explore the crater and there’s too much rock to transmit through down there.”
Jerry called over to Ray as soon as he set down the transmitter. “Hey, I’ve got a match for that radar signature.”
Ray looked over at him, glad for anything to distract him from worrying about Caitlin. There was nothing he could do for her at the moment.
“So what is it?”
“Dust storm. Huge one! Coming our way.”
15 | Below
James Burton had never known himself to be claustrophobic. Yet as he walked through the narrowing cavern, he felt his pulse quicken, his lungs working to take deeper, longer breaths. On either
side of him the walls of rock appeared as though they were about to reach out and grab his arms. He imagined the floor of the cavern melting around his feet, pulling him under like quicksand. Even the ceiling, which was well above their heads and seemingly stable, looked to him like it was made of snow and could succumb to a cave-in at any given second.
In front of James, Asami Imura remained enthralled. As she studied the rock formations, she spoke aloud, uttering suppositions, muttering something about the subterranean regolith, predicting what they would find next. Her voice put him at ease. Somewhat.
When they finally reached a fork in the tunnels, Blake interrupted Asami and said, “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do…” He outlined a plan.
“You’re splitting us up?” James asked once Blake finished giving instructions. Burton didn’t sound frightened – on the contrary, more like puzzled. But only for a moment. Only until he went through the two teams in his head.
Caitlin Swain would lead Asami and James.
Blake would lead Martin Hughes and Suzette Calderon.
He was readying them for a discovery of some sort. Wanted to make sure the moment was captured by cameras when he was there. Having Suzette on his team would allow him as many “takes” as he needed.
No “One small step for man” on this journey. Blake was hell bent on getting this right. The world would see and hear exactly what he wanted them to, would remember this moment precisely how he wanted them to.
The billionaire explorer said, “Caitlin, you’ll lead Team One through the tunnel on the right. The tunnels merge again in about eight hundred feet. I’ll lead Team Two through the left tunnel, and we’ll switch on the return trip.”
“Aye, sir,” Swain said.
“Ready?” Blake said to Martin after the first team disappeared.
The exobiologist smiled under his helmet. “You bet your life, old boy.”
There was no discussion about switching frequencies. The two teams needed to remain in touch at all times. So James continued to listen to Suzette prattle on about flattering angles and ideal backgrounds while she, Blake and Hughes traveled through the left corridor. In the other tunnel, James’ team, led by Caitlin, remained silent. He soon learned that in addition to recording this event, Suzette was required to do a bit of playacting as well. A few gasps of wonderment and awe for the sake of Outer Limits and Team One.
James’ headlamp lit his way while Caitlin and Asami forged on up ahead of him. His eyes were trained on the floor because it may have been that they were playing tricks on him again, as they had on the surface. The ground seemed unsteady beneath his feet. Not quite unstable, but…
Suddenly, Blake Garner’s voice was shouting in his ears. “Suzette! Stay with the group.”
The videographer replied in her usual tone. “I just need some shots of this.”
Then Asami: “What the hell is that?” James looked at that unsteady ground again. Was that what she was talking about?
Blake again: “Suzette, this is the last time I’m going to warn you. Remain with the group.”
Hughes’ voice suddenly cut in. “Good god!”
“Rethinking things, Martin?” Blake taunted.
“It’s an expression, you idiot.” James made a mental note of the short fuses everyone seemed to have as soon as they entered the tunnels.
Up ahead somewhere out of sight, Blake and Hughes had stopped. They stood in front of a sloping wall. Over their shoulders James could just make out what looked like a large opening in the rock.
“Your crew did this, right, Blake?” Hughes asked.
Blake didn’t respond. Something had apparently caused Hughes not to follow the script.
As James reached them, the biologist was shrugging Blake’s arm off his shoulder. “Fuck off,” Hughes said. “You’re a goddamn liar, Bla—”
Hughes’ voice suddenly cut out, and all James could hear was Suzette’s. She was speaking quickly, rattling off words like a machine gun. Describing something very similar to what stood before them—some inexplicable opening in the rock wall.
“Suzette!” Blake shouted again. “We can’t see you. Return to the team, now.”
Suzette continued her frantic description as James peered into the hole in the side of the tunnel.
“…appears that the rock was smashed, or perhaps drilled here…from the inside out.”
16 | Lights, Camera…
Caitlin did her best to sound authoritative while her voice wavered. “Suzette, I can’t see you yet, but step back from the opening. The ground may not be stable.” Up ahead, the marketing VP continued to aim a video camera into the hole in the tunnel wall.
A spot of light moved erratically to Caitlin’s right and James Burton loped his way up to her. She couldn’t hear his footfalls—there was no sound on the moon other than through their communications channels due to the absence of air—but when his headlamp remained fixed on the same spot of tunnel wall, she knew he had reached her. He said nothing. Their FAA chaperone was turning out to be quite a cool customer for a first-time lunar visitor who was usually bound to a desk, Caitlin thought. For that she was grateful.
Aside from Suzette, it was actually Asami who gave her cause for concern. Though she’d been to the moon before, this was her first trek inside the tunnels, as it was for all of them except for Blake. The moon scientist was in an almost trance-like stupor as she meandered up to Caitlin and James, hypothesizing aloud to no one in particular about the extensive subterranean channels.
“I would say they remind me of lava tubes. Ancient lava tubes that once contained hot magma during young Luna’s volcanically active beginnings, but so far I haven’t seen any flow lines on the walls to indicate a drained tube…” Asami’s suited hand trailing along the tunnel wall took over as her voice trailed off. “It’s also unusual that I haven’t seen any traces of mineral deposits in the walls, given that—”
Caitlin interrupted her. “Dr. Imura, I’m sorry, but right now we need to focus on getting our group back together.”
“Certainly. My apologies,” Asami said. The beam from her headlamp bounced around the ceiling, but she stopped talking.
Then Blake’s voice cut through everything. “Suzette! Did I hear you say you were taking video? Turn it off, now. Now! Is that clear?”
Silence.
“Suzette, acknowledge at once!” Still no reply. Caitlin could hear Blake and Martin speaking to one another in hushed tones. She couldn’t help but strain to hear…What is that…stop stepping on my foot!
“Caitlin, I need you to handle this!” Blake’s demanding tone drowned out all other conversation and snapped Caitlin to attention.
“I’m almost to her, sir.” Caitlin put her hand behind her, palm out, warning Asami and James to stay back while she followed the tunnel’s curve to the left. The ceiling here was lower by a couple of feet, forcing Caitlin to stoop as she came to what was obviously the opening of which Suzette had spoken. A narrow tunnel continued left and wound around a rocky promontory that divided Caitlin’s tunnel from the one where Blake’s team was. On her right side the tunnel wall was marred by a jagged hole thrust through it.
“Suzette?” she transmitted. Their marketing exec wasn’t in front of the hole in the wall, which Caitlin recognized immediately from Suzette’s harried description. It does look like something drilled through this wall from the other side.
“Blake, is Suzette with Team One?” She could picture the girl hunched obliviously over her computer, thinking she could get out one of her vapid messages to whatever social media site was in fashion these days through the walls of these tunnels. Not gonna happen.
She heard a groundswell of chatter, mostly indistinguishable. …do you mean…how did I know? …a box!
“Blake?” What was going on over there?
“Caitlin, no, Suzette is not here, over.”
Goosebumps travelled up Caitlin’s legs and arms as she looked back to the hole in the wall. She stepped closer to it. It didn
’t lead straight back more than a few feet, but went down. With great care and while calling out Suzette’s name, Caitlin eased onto her hands and knees. She crawled to the entrance, where a few larger rocks jutted up through the rim of the opening like crooked incisors in a gaping mouth. Careful to avoid them, Caitlin stuck her neck through the hole. Nowhere to go but down, although the hole widened the deeper it got. And then she saw it.
Suzette’s video camera, lying on the ground about ten feet below. Its own light source fanned out across the tunnel floor, illuminating a greater swath of the chamber than Caitlin’s piercing but narrow headlamp beam. At the outer edges of the camera’s light, Caitlin saw movement. It wasn’t Suzette, but in the back of her mind she realized she was still calling her name.
The ground itself was moving, rolling.
17 | … Reaction
Caitlin backed away from the hole and stood. When she turned around, Asami and James were rounding the corner.
“Did Suzette go though there?” Asami asked, pointing into the ragged passage.
“Not sure yet. It leads straight down. Asami, James, I need you to follow me, please.”
James silently nodded his helmet up and down.
“Sure,” Asami said, still eyeing the hole. “You know, that doesn’t really look like geological upheaval,” she said, starting to walk over to it. “Was there any kind of digging or drilling activity by Outer Limits on the earlier missions? Because I could swear—”
“There wasn’t,” Caitlin said. “There were some preliminary tunnel walks like we’re doing now, that’s what I was—”
Caitlin cut herself off as Martin Hughes’ voice trilled in his upper registers. “What the fuck is that, Blake? If this is some kind of hoax it is not the least bit amusing.”
“It’s not a hoax.”
“Then what is it?”
“That’s what I was hoping you could tell me,” Blake said. “You’re the exobiologist.”
Caitlin, James and Asami stared for a moment at their own space-suited reflections in each other’s helmets before Caitlin took the lead into the tunnel that led around the corner to the one Blake’s team was in.
