by Rick Chesler
James held Blake’s eye contact for a moment and then jotted something down in his notepad.
Dallas said, “As soon as Caitlin’s done, I’ll see what’s up with Mission Control.”
#
Caitlin sat on a fixed stool in front of the communication station, talking to Ray a quarter million miles away. The quality of his transmissions was terrible, and she told him so.
“Severe dust storm about to hit Mission Control, Caitlin. We’ve already lost a bunch of antennae, have some broken windows...I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be in communication.”
Caitlin flashed on the impressive steel and glass monolithic structure that was the Spaceport America Mission Control building, and shook her head in disbelief. For some reason, she couldn’t imagine those windows breaking due to a force of nature. But by some quirk of atmospherics, she heard Ray’s voice come in loud and clear for the next few seconds.
“Listen: keep this between you and me, but someone’s been tampering with my station computer.”
Caitlin turned her head to see if she was alone, or as alone as one could possibly be in such cramped quarters. Martin and Asami were out of sight and earshot in the lab, but she could hear Blake arguing with Dallas over in the control alcove. She spoke into the transmitter. “What? Ray... Who would do that?”
“Caitlin, I can’t discuss it in detail now, but software’s been installed that tracks everything I do, logs my keystrokes. And it looks like it’s being sent to—someone’s coming! Gotta go. But listen: are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yes, Ray, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. I’m concerned about you down there in that dust storm, and you should be, too.”
“C’mon, Caitlin. Tell me the truth. Are you really okay?” Something in his tone made her shiver. Did he know something about what was going on up here? She didn’t want him to think she was hiding anything from him, but she also didn’t want him to worry. Not to mention Blake’s orders not to spill the beans on the Negative Terrible Thing that happened up here, to jeopardize—no, to completely obliterate—Outer Limits’ Perfect Safety record.
She whipped her head around again to make certain Blake wasn’t paying attention. “I am okay, Ray, but Suzette is not.” She went on to hurriedly explain how the marketing guru had gone missing in the tunnels and then been left behind.
“—et...isten—me...” The radio waves became static-filled again.
“You’re breaking up, Ray, make it quick.”
“—ver go in those tunnels again, ...me?”
“What’s wrong with the tunnels? What do you know, Ray?”
He started to explain something, but it was a garbled mess, the transmission ravaged beyond all semblance of recognition. Practically, the only words she recognized in all of it were Strat Knowles.
And then the line of communication was severed completely.
She sat there staring at a dead radio console, thinking about Strat... He was the astronaut she had replaced. If it wasn’t for him leaving, she wouldn’t have her current position here. Blake had said he was a good man—a great one, even—and he was more than sorry to see him go, but that he had quit to start his own aeronautical consulting firm. High dollar stuff. He’d chosen the big bucks over the adventure, Blake had told her. The moon wasn’t enough for Strat Knowles, he guessed.
Caitlin reflected on Strat. She had always wondered why an astronaut in his or her prime would leave a position that put them where an astronaut belonged—in space. She was still thinking about that when she heard Blake calling her name.
23 | Once More unto the Breach
Caitlin walked over to the control alcove, where Blake and James both stood with arms folded. Dallas occupied the console seat, but currently faced away from the controls. Caitlin could tell that Dallas had that look, the one that was as close to concern as she had ever seen him come. Just an intense sort of concentration. Blake addressed her as she walked up to them, while Dallas nodded to acknowledge her but then turned around to the console.
“We need to get back into the tunnels to look for Suzette.”
Caitlin met his gaze. “I agree. But at the same time, Blake, if our oxygen supply was almost out by the time we got back here, then hers is out by now for sure.”
Blake nodded. “I know that. However, there is a stash of Outer Limits equipment from earlier missions up here, including extra EVA suits and full oxygen canisters, some spare electronic parts.”
“Where are those?”
“Deep in the tunnels. Deeper than we went today. But she might know how to get to them, or come across them by accident. She went deeper than we did today, that’s for sure.”
“If she even survived that...fall,” Caitlin said, not sure how to describe what had happened to Suzette in that hellish video scene.
Blake shrugged. “As long as there’s a chance—and with the additional gear, I think there is—then we have to assume she survived until we know otherwise.”
James Burton nodded at this.
Dallas turned back around from the console. “I can’t reach mission control. Transmission’s not getting through.”
Caitlin told him about her conversation with Ray, omitting mention of his suspicions in front of Blake, but telling him about the dust storm and the static-ridden connection.
Dallas nodded. “I’ll try again later after doing some more work on the ship repairs. First, let me get a look at Suzette’s video.”
Blake handed the imaging device to him, but Burton leaned over his shoulder, intent on watching the content. Blake put a hand over the screen.
“I’m not sure you need to see this, Mr. Burton. It’s intellectual property belonging to Outer Limits.”
James narrowed his eyes. “The fact that I know it exists means it’s going into my report, regardless. If someone higher up than me wanted to, they could demand to see it and subpoena you if necessary.” Blake fumed and looked like he was about to retort but Burton kept going. “Not only that, but my personal safety is at stake up here, too, so I’d say I have a right to see it from that standpoint alone, to better understand what I’ve gotten myself into.”
Blake reared his head back in frustration. “You’re not going back to the tunnels with us, Mr. Burton. So your safety is not at stake.”
“Still not true.” Burton raised his pointer finger in the air. “If something happens to you two—especially her—” Burton added, taking great pleasure in emphasizing the fact that Blake himself wasn’t actually needed for operating the spacecraft, “then I am in danger. I bet Dallas could fly this thing up to the Command Module on his own if he absolutely had to, but I doubt it’s an optimal situation, am I right?” Burton stared directly at Dallas, who nodded matter-of-factly.
“He’s right.”
“I know that!” Blake’s face reddened. “But we need to make an effort to find Suzette, damn it! One more trip!”
“Why can’t Asami or Martin go?” James asked.
Blake shrugged. “They can go, if we can pry them out of the lab with their discovery of a lifetime, that is. But I can’t go back with only them. Martin is a biologist, for Christ’s sake. Of the two, Asami has more lunar experience, but she’s still not an astronaut. Caitlin is specially trained on lunar EVAs, including the rovers, and that’s who I want coming with me.”
“Jesus, what is this?” Dallas cringed as he watched Suzette’s video.
Caitlin pointed to the screen. “Looks like the floor just opened up.”
“I see that. But…what’s in there? It looks...”
No one had any words for him, himself included. Those who had already seen it watched the footage again to see if they could notice anything they had missed the first time around, like any sign of Suzette herself, but there was nothing of the sort.
Blake grabbed the video camera from Dallas as soon as the recording ended. “Now that we’ve reviewed the footage again, it’s time to get underway. Caitlin, suit up, please.”
She
exchanged a wordless glance with Dallas before turning on a heel and heading for the airlock. But then she spun back around and directed her gaze to Blake. “What happened to Strat Knowles?”
The Outer Limits CEO, who had been looking at the video machine, looked up at Caitlin, his expression unreadable. “Strat? He left us to start his own company. Was doing quite well last I’d heard. Why—he’s not working for Black Sky, is he?” He gave a lopsided grin.
“No. Seriously, Blake. What’s the name of his company?”
“Why are you bringing this up now? Never mind. Tell you what.” He looked at his watch. “I’ll tell you the whole story on the way back to the crater, but we need to move now for Suzette’s sake. Okay?”
Caitlin said nothing but nodded and this time left the alcove for good. James Burton stared at her while she walked away, while Blake watched him.
“Still not able to reach Mission Control.” Dallas’ back was turned to them as he worked the radio. James and Blake eyed one another behind his back. After an awkward stare-down that neither man looked away from, Blake spoke.
“Why don’t you join us on the EVA, Mr. Burton? Since you weren’t really uncomfortable out there after all, right?”
James shook his head. “I’ve already seen how the moonwalks work, and this time I want to stay in the lander to monitor the process of repairing the ship.” At this, Dallas froze for a second but he said nothing and soon returned to pressing buttons on the console.
“Fine, Mr. Burton. Dallas, I’m going to the lab to see if Asami and Martin wish to accompany Caitlin and me on the EVA.”
“Got it, Blake. Let me know when you’re prepped for EVA so I can check you out.”
Blake glared briefly at Burton before leaving for the lab.
24 | Encounters of the Last Kind
Martin adjusted the overhead lamp to better illuminate the specimen container now sitting on the small lab bench. The lab wasn’t a proper laboratory; there wasn’t the space, but instead was another alcove curtained off from the ship’s main cabin. On the opposite side of the cramped lab, Asami worked on the only other bench, analyzing the moon rock and regolith samples she’d collected from the tunnels and crater.
Martin hunched over to stare eye level at the...creature, he’d taken to calling it, for lack of a better term at this point...which had burrowed into the moon dust so that only a small part of it was visible pressed up against the side. “Let me get a look at you, little guy...”
He picked up the box and upended it, forcing the creature out of the dust, where it immediately wriggled its way beneath it again. “It absolutely does not like being out of the dust,” Martin concluded.
“I’ve got my first test results on the soil samples from the tunnels.” Asami glanced at the readout of a flow injection analyzer.
“And?” Martin turned around.
“They’re somewhat higher in oxygen content than the samples taken from our landing site.” Both of the scientists were well-aware that although there is no oxygen in the moon’s atmosphere, there is a small amount dissolved in its soil.
Martin turned back around to look at the organism, examining it closely. “I wonder if it may extract oxygen from the soil.”
“How would it do that?”
“I note a series of frill-like appendages, sort of hair-like structures. Perhaps they could be something analogous to a fish’s gill? A ‘sand gill,’ if you will?”
“Interesting...” He and Asami discussed the merits of this theory for a time, until Martin focused on the actual specimen again.
“You know, it hasn’t moved for some time now.” He upended the box again, which had been causing it to wriggle wildly back into the dust, but this time it remained still. Although it gave him a better view of the entire creature at once—with its bristling ‘sand gills’ running its entire length, and its apparently segmented body—he was concerned that it had died.
“Shock of being transported?” Asami suggested, examining a rock sample under a microscope.
“Possibly. But what I fear—if it does in fact obtain its oxygen from the soil by whatever mechanism—is that by now it’s consumed all available oxygen in the cube.”
Asami turned to stare at the creature as she replied. “It has been in there for some time now.”
“Yes, and just as a fish in too small a bowl or tank with no air added to the water from a pump will run out of oxygen and die, I fear that could be happening with this little fellow.”
“Hmmm...” Asami pointed to her bag of collected regolith. “We could add some more dust to its container and see if that revives it.”
Martin nodded, still staring at the unmoving creature. He put his hand on the lid and was about to remove it when Blake and Caitlin entered the lab space.
“Hello, Martin, I’m sorry to interrupt your work.” The exobiologist paused, his hand still on the box. Asami turned around from her rock samples while Blake continued.
“Caitlin and I are heading out on an EVA back to the tunnels to look for Suzette in the hope that she found the equipment stash there and may still be alive. We need for one of you two to accompany us.”
Asami stood from her lab stool. “Martin should continue working with the specimen. I’ll go. Not only that, but...” She paused, as if uncomfortable about voicing her thoughts.
“What?” Blake asked.
“I feel bad now about what happened with the camera during our takeoff. I was a little hard on her...”
“Don’t worry, you’ll have the chance to patch things up with her after we get her out of there,” Blake said, before turning to Martin without skipping a beat. “I wish I could hear what you’ve learned so far, but for Suzette’s sake we need to get going.”
“Understood.”
Blake and Caitlin left the lab with Asami. Martin turned back to the alien specimen.
“Now, where were we, little fellow?” He frowned as he noticed the life form was still motionless on top of its familiar dust. He slid the bag of Asami’s lunar dust closer to the container so that he’d be able to have the lid off the minimal amount of time for the transfer. He thought about other ways to introduce the dust into the box without opening the lid—what if the germs from the astronauts’ exhalations somehow contaminated the specimen? But short of exotic drilling tools and specialized tubing and suction equipment that he didn’t have access to—not to mention time to use, since the creature could be dying—he decided the best way to proceed was a rapid manual transfer of the dust into the container via the open lid.
Martin readied a scoop of dust to pour inside. Then he removed the lid. But by the time he raised the scoop laden with lunar regolith and eyeballed the specimen again, he saw that it was swelling rapidly. In a flash he realized it: the pressurized air environment of the lunar lander was so oxygen rich compared to the animal’s lunar soil environment that it had saturated it to the point that its cells were bursting.
He dropped the scoop and moved to put the lid back on the specimen box.
Too late.
The strange animal ballooned in size until its body nearly filled the entire cube, particles of dust sprinkling into the air outside the container from its swelling body. Then it burst, exploded, really, the entire organism forcefully coming apart and releasing its inner contents.
A bluish liquid splashed across Martin’s face, freezing to the touch. He instinctively backed away from the creature, spitting as he felt liquid enter his mouth although it had no taste or effect that he could discern. He almost tripped but regained his balance. He stared at the sample container. The moon animal was now nothing more than a messy sludge of strange matter slopped all over the lab bench. Martin brought a latex-gloved finger to his face and it came away wet with the bluish liquid. He brushed his fingers through his hair and felt it clumping together with the sticky wetness.
He brought his hand up to his face again, over his eyes. At least he had his clear plastic safety goggles on. He went to a supply cabinet with a
shatterproof plastic door and stared at his reflection. Weird, he thought. The glasses were covered in the blue stuff, but he could still see right through it even though it looked blue. And Jesus. That thing had exploded all over him. He looked like he’d been sprayed with silly string or some kid’s art supplies.
He spotted the chemical shower hanging in a corner and ran to it.
25 | Now You See It, Now You Don’t
“Caitlin, can you slow down?” Asami bounced around in the back of the lunar rover, descending in slow motion back to the seat with each bounce.
“Sorry, I know I’m going a little fast, but Suzette’s life is at stake, Asami. I’d do the same for you, and hope you would for me, too.”
Blake pointed ahead at the rover tracks they’d left earlier. “A little extra speed makes sense in this case, Asami. We’ll be fine.”
They approached the crater and Caitlin brought the rover to a stop on the slope, but not as high up as before. “I don’t think I need to spell it out for you what would happen if our transportation gets tampered with this time,” Caitlin said, exiting the vehicle. “So better to walk a little farther up the hill, because a roll from this height might not be catastrophic for our little buggy.”
Blake and Asami agreed and the three of them trudged up the crater’s outer slope, following their earlier tracks. They crested the rim and took a look out over the plain below, where the Black Sky lunar lander squatted in the distance. They saw no unusual activity and so continued on their way down into the crater.
On reaching the tunnel entrance, they paused and conducted a check of their suits. Satisfied the life support systems were in working order, Blake looked into the tunnel system, his headlamp illuminating the dark passage. He paid close attention to the walls and floor, but detected nothing unusual. He spoke into his helmet transmitter. “Suzette, I don’t know if you can hear me, but we are coming into the tunnels after you again. If you can hear, please transmit something. Keep trying, your transmissions may be intermittent, over.”
