“Yeah; stay here in this lander alone and I will go space happy,” spoke Greg, shaking his head. “I would rather take my chances with you. Besides what would your sister say if something happened to you and I was safe back here in the lander? How would I ever explain that to her?”
Jason smiled at Greg. His sister definitely wouldn’t be happy about that. If they made it back to Earth, Jason knew he would get a long, I told you so, lecture from his sister. If they made it back, that lecture would be worth it.
The two settled down, ate a light meal, and drank some of their precious water. They lay quietly on their couches, both lost in their own private thoughts.
Greg finally stood back up and made his way over to his spacesuit. “No point in delaying this.”
“You're right,” responded Jason, moving over to help Greg put on his cumbersome spacesuit. Once Greg’s suit was on, Greg helped Jason with his.
A few minutes later, they were both back out on the lunar surface. Jason took his seat in the vehicle and Greg climbed in beside him. They had both spent many long hours training in the rover in the Arizona desert. Their training was now about to be put to the test.
“Let’s go,” said Greg, buckling the harness that secured him inside the rover.
Jason pressed the accelerator, and the rover began to move. Jason drove slowly at first, trying to get the feel of driving in the light lunar gravity. He had to be careful to avoid small boulders and the occasional shallow crater. After a few minutes, Jason began to feel more at ease driving the rover over the desolate lunar surface.
“Just like driving a car,” quipped Jason, trying to sound lighthearted. He knew that Greg was still extremely concerned about his family.
“Without shocks,” groaned Greg as they hit a small rock.
-
For several hours, Jason drove the rover across the rough lunar surface. He carefully picked his way between the boulders and small hills that blocked their path. After each detour, he always came back to a bearing of due south.
“What do you think we will find?” asked Greg, breaking the silence. “Do you think the probe was sent from a country, or a rival company?”
“I don’t know,” Jason responded as he drove around a small boulder, stirring up more lunar dust. “It just doesn’t make a lot of sense if you really think about it.”
“What do you mean?” asked Greg, looking over at Jason feeling puzzled.
Jason hesitated as he tried to organize what he wanted to say without worrying Greg too much. “I can’t see the probe being from another country. It could cause some serious international problems if it was ever discovered that our landing had been sabotaged. I’m not sure any of the ones wanting to reach the Moon and Mars would risk that.”
“What about another company?” asked Greg, agreeing with Jason’s assessment of other countries probably not being involved. “Do you have any in mind that might want to take us out in order to get one of the contracts?”
“A couple, possibly,” responded Jason, thinking about the half dozen rival companies that were competing for shares of the lucrative space contracts. “There are only two that might be willing to take such a risk. What surprises me is that no one detected the probe being launched.”
“It could have been launched from a ship out on the ocean,” suggested Greg, trying to think of how a launch could have been accomplished in secrecy.
“Possibly,” Jason said. “Even then, it should have been detected. Someone should have noticed. There are a number of tracking stations that should have picked up an ocean launch.”
“Or they didn’t mention it,” added Greg, knowing that money sometimes had an extremely long reach. “Someone could have been paid to look in the other direction.”
“It’s a possibility,” Jason replied as he drove the rover up the slope of a small hill and then back down the other side. So far, the rover was responding very well.
-
Three hours later, Jason brought the rover to a stop at the base of a long ridge. He looked to his left and then to his right, seeing that the ridge extended as far as his eyes could see.
“I don’t think the rover can climb over that,” commented Greg, frowning. “It’s too steep.”
“Way too steep,” Jason replied in agreement. Everything had been going too smooth. He should have expected to run into some type of obstacle.
He took out the map of the lunar surface for this area of the Moon. It was difficult to unfold with his thick, insulated gloves. After struggling for a moment, he finally succeeded in opening the map. He gazed at what he thought was their location. The suspected location of the interference was in a crater just on the other side of the obstructing ridge. He had noticed the ridge while still in the lunar lander, but he had hoped to find a way to cross it with the rover.
“Looks as if we’re walking,” muttered Greg, reaching forward and unbuckling his safety harness. They had come too far to turn back now. “It’s time to find out what’s causing this interference.”
“Make sure your oxygen tank and power supply are topped off,” spoke Jason, agreeing with Greg’s assessment. They would have to walk from here. If the map was correct and he had properly pinpointed the location of the interference, they had about a mile to go.
Jason reached forward and unbuckled his safety harness. As he did so, he checked his oxygen supplies and suit power levels. Both were topped out and should last for six hours, there was also a two-hour emergency supply if needed.
The two men exited the rover and walked over to the base of the ridge. It wasn’t too terribly steep. However, the rover wasn’t designed to climb such a slope. Being careful, the two began their ascent. They had to watch for loose rocks and small patches of lunar dust. Some of the dust was several inches thick in places. More than once, they dislodged small stones and caused patches of dust to begin sliding down the ridge. Due to the low gravity on the Moon, everything moved as if it were in slow motion.
Jason was the first to reach the top of the ridge. He turned and grabbed Greg’s hand, pulling him up the last several feet. Then they both turned and looked down at the crater in front of them trying to spot the probe. From the top of the ridge, Jason knew it should be easily visible.
“Oh my God!” Greg spoke, his eyes growing very wide. He felt a cold chill run down his back. “It can’t be!”
Jason looked down at the crater and the massive amount of wreckage strung across it. This was a crash site. A crash site that extended for nearly a mile, with mangled wreckage everywhere. It ended at the far side of the crater. Jason felt stunned by what was in the crater.
On the far side of the crater were the remains of an extremely large spacecraft. Only the front section of the spacecraft seemed to be intact. The rest was scattered across the crater. Jason estimated that the intact front section must be nearly four hundred feet long and two hundred feet wide.
“That wasn’t built on Earth,” Greg spoke quietly. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. This was the last thing he had expected to find. Hell, he hadn’t even considered this possibility.
“No, it wasn’t,” agreed Jason, wondering what to do next. It had taken them nearly forty minutes to climb to the top of the ridge. He figured it would take another twenty minutes to climb down and about thirty more to reach the main part of the wreckage.
“I wonder how long it’s been here?” asked Greg, trying to estimate how big the spacecraft had been from all the wreckage scattered in the crater.
“For quite some time,” responded Jason, turning to look at Greg. “A crash like this and all the dust it would have stirred up would have been spotted from Earth. For all we know, this thing has been here for hundreds of years or even longer.”
“What do we do now?” Greg asked, still gazing at the wreck. Exploring a crashed alien spaceship wasn’t in his job description. But did they have any other option? “That ship must still have an active power source and some type of working transmitter on boar
d that’s causing all the interference.”
“We have no choice,” answered Jason, trying to sound calmer than he felt. “We go down there and see if anyone’s home.”
“You think someone might have survived that crash?” Greg asked, taken aback at the thought. Greg didn’t know if he was prepared for a first contact scenario. “You think someone in that wreck activated the transmission that caused us to crash?”
“I doubt it,” replied Jason, looking at the wreckage. “This was a very bad crash. I don’t think anyone could have survived. That transmission didn’t start until after we began our descent. It might be some type of emergency beacon that was activated when our lander came within range.”
“An emergency beacon!” Greg said, worriedly his eyes looking upward toward the stars. “I wonder who they are signaling.”
“Probably no one,” said Jason, trying to sound confident. “That wreck's been here for too long. If someone had been searching for it, they are long gone.”
“I hope so,” responded Greg, gazing back down into the crater. Here they were stranded on the Moon with a wrecked alien spacecraft. Could the situation get any worse?
“Let’s go,” said Jason, starting down the steep slope. “The sooner we get there, the better.”
Greg followed Jason down the crater wall. Every so often, he glanced at the alien shipwreck. He felt an icy chill run up and down his back at the thought of what they might find. They had just learned a startling fact, one most astronomers had always predicted: they were not alone in the universe.
Chapter Two
Jason and Greg quickly descended the steep slope, being careful not to trip or stumble. They had to work themselves carefully around boulders and avoid the steeper areas. Their protective, bulky spacesuits made this difficult, and they had to be careful not to trip and fall. Neither of them wanted to roll uncontrollably down the slope and risk tearing or damaging their spacesuits. They finally reached the bottom of the ridge and headed off for the first large piece of wreckage. It was about one hundred yards from the base of the ridge.
“It looks like the ship came in low over the ridge and then hit here,” stated Jason, glancing at a shallow depression in the ground. “It was a rough landing.”
The depression hadn’t been that noticeable from the top of the ridge. From the crater floor, it was obvious the spacecraft had struck the crater floor with some force and then slid all the way across, coming to a stop nearly a mile away at the far wall of the crater. The force of the impact had caused tremendous damage to the ship.
“This definitely happened a long time ago,” commented Greg, gazing at the wreckage and the indentation in the ground. He had an advanced degree in geology and several other sciences. “When the ship struck, it must have sent a cloud of dust high above the lunar surface. When the dust fell back down, it covered everything with a thin, camouflaging layer. That’s why this wreck isn’t visible from Earth.”
They reached the first big piece of wreckage and stopped to examine it. It was about twenty feet across and looked to be part of the ship’s hull.
Jason reached out and put his gloved hand against the strange looking surface. It was slightly pitted; another indication it had been here for quite some time. The pitting had probably been done by micro meteors. The piece of metal itself had a slight curve to it and several large dents, probably caused by hitting the lunar surface.
“This metal’s about twelve to fourteen inches thick,” commented Greg, looking at one of the rough edges. “That seems awfully thick for a spacecraft. Why would they use such thick hulls? It would make the weight of the entire ship nearly astronomical.”
“It’s a big ship,” replied Jason, looking around at all the scattered wreckage.
From the looks of the wreckage around them, a large part of it seemed to be from the ship’s hull. There was a much larger piece several hundred feet away that seemed to have some sort of rocket engine attached.
Jason and Greg walked over to the larger piece and stood, mystified. It resembled a rocket engine, but it was unlike any they had ever seen before. It obviously didn’t burn any type of chemical fuel.
Greg examined the rocket engine section for several minutes before turning to face Jason. “Whatever this thing used for power, it’s far greater than anything we have ever thought about. I would guess we are looking at nuclear fusion, or perhaps even anti-matter.”
“I’m not surprised,” responded Jason, wondering what type of advanced science they were dealing with. He was familiar with numerous theories about advanced spacecraft design and what would be needed for power. This looked as if it was far beyond anything that he had studied. “Look how large this ship is. Conventional power sources like those that we use currently would never be able to move it. It has to be something exotic.”
“There’s a lot to learn here,” Greg spoke in sudden realization. “We could advance several fields of science by hundreds of years from what is in this crater.” He turned and faced the larger, nearly intact front portion of the ship. “Jason, do you realize that there is no way this ship ever originated in our Solar System? The secret to interstellar travel may be waiting for us over in that front section of the ship.” Greg had always dreamed of someday traveling to the stars. He felt a thrill of excitement run up his back as he realized that tantalizing secret might be resting right here in front of him.
“Don’t get your hopes up too high, Greg,” Jason cautioned. He knew why Greg was feeling so excited. He was feeling the same way. “We don’t know what the inside of the ship may be like. Keep in mind that we are on the Moon, not down on Earth. This ship will be very difficult to study. We also need to find the transmitter that is sending out that signal or the people down on Earth will never know what’s here.”
“You’re right,” Greg replied with a heavy sigh. “But the transmitter is working, and that means there is still some power in that wreck. That front section looks mostly intact.”
“I wonder why they crashed?” asked Jason, looking at Greg. “A ship as advanced as this one evidently was should not have crashed on our moon.”
“The more complicated a ship becomes the more likely it is for problems to pop up,” Greg replied. “It could have been a navigational error or some type of serious mechanical problem with the ship. We may never know why they crashed.”
“Let’s go on to the main section,” suggested Jason, gesturing toward the crater wall where the front of the wrecked spacecraft was. “We’re not going to find any answers out here.”
The two began walking across the crater toward the main part of the wreckage. They had to be careful because there were numerous pieces of wreckage laying everywhere and some of those were quite jagged. It would be easy to fall and rip a hole in one of their spacesuits. After carefully making their way through the field of wreckage, they found themselves at the main part of the wreck.
“My God, it’s huge!” Greg spoke in awe, staring upward. The wreck towered above him. “It's over one hundred feet high.”
“It must have had a large crew,” added Jason, trying to imagine the technology it would take to build such a large spaceship. “I wonder where this ship came from and how it ended up here on the Moon? The bodies of its crew could still be inside.”
“Bodies?” uttered Greg, stepping back away from the wreck. That was something he hadn’t considered. He looked at Jason with sudden worry. “What do you mean, bodies?”
“If no rescue ship ever came, there will be bodies inside,” replied Jason, looking at Greg. He was surprised that Greg hadn’t realized this possibility.
The thought of finding alien bodies made Greg feel uneasy. Was it right for them to enter what was in reality an alien tomb? However, what other choice did they have? The transmitter inside had to be shut down. Greg took a fortifying breath. He knew they had to go inside.
Greg looked along the hull of the ship. There were several hatches visible above them on the higher levels, but none down where t
hey were. “I don’t see any way in.”
“Let’s walk around this section of the wreck,” Jason suggested. “There has to be an entry somewhere. We just need to find it.”
One thing Jason had noticed immediately was the conspicuous absence of portholes. The hull was solid except for what looked like numerous indentations and hatches. Why were there so many hatches?
The two slowly walked around the massive wreck. It was obvious that several large explosions had occurred in the rear section, but there was so much tangled and loose metal that Jason didn’t feel it was safe to enter. On the far side, they finally came to a hatch that was within easy reach. It was about fifteen feet high and about the same width.
There was a large handle on the hatch at chest level, and Greg reached out and pulled on it. He nearly stumbled and fell as the hatch swung easily open. “It’s not sealed!”
“No,” responded Jason, looking inside. The inner hatch door was partially open. “This might be an indication that a rescue ship did come and the surviving crew was evacuated. That could be why we saw no bodies outside.”
“That’s great!” Greg said with obvious relief in his voice. “No live aliens and no bodies.”
“I said it might indicate a rescue,” Jason reminded him.
Jason turned on his suit lights and carefully stepped farther into what was obviously a very large airlock. A few more steps and he reached the inner hatch. Jason put out his hand against the partially open hatch and pushed. The hatch swung open easily with no noise. The silence was eerie. However, they were in a vacuum, and it was to be expected.
“Do you see anything?” Greg asked from where he was standing directly behind Jason.
Jason cautiously stepped out into the corridor and slowly turned to look both ways. He could see a closed hatch toward what would be the front of the ship. In the other direction, he could see what looked like several large metal beams and tangled wreckage blocking the corridor. Looking back toward the closed hatch, he could see what appeared to be several doors or possibly corridors leading off deeper into the ship.
Slaver Wars 1: Moon Wreck Page 2
