“I think it’s about time to go back in,” Greg complained over his suit radio. “I’ve walked all over this crater today. I didn’t realize there was so much wreckage.”
Jason laughed and nodded his head in agreement. It had been a long day. “Get over to that next large piece that looks like part of an engine assembly. Once we have that one recorded, we can go in. Mission Control wants images of everything.”
Greg trudged over to the indicated piece of wreckage. After reaching it, he turned to face Jason. He could just barely make out Jason’s white, spacesuited figure on top of the ridge.
After the last photograph was taken, Greg waited patiently as Jason made his way carefully back down to the floor of the crater. Once the two were together, they turned and started walking toward the large wreck against the crater wall. They had discovered the wrecked human spaceship a little over four weeks ago after their lunar lander had crash-landed on the Moon. The wrecked spaceship had detected their descent and activated an emergency beacon. Its broadcast had disabled all the computer systems in the lander, causing the crash.
“I still can’t believe this ship is here,” spoke Greg, looking at the looming wreck.
“Well, it is,” Jason replied.
It had been a busy four weeks, which had been a good thing. That had helped to take their minds off their families down on Earth. Even so, with everything they were trying to accomplish they still thought about their loved ones, knowing it would be months before they saw them again.
A few minutes later, the two approached the wrecked spaceship. For the last three weeks, the two of them had been photographing and exploring the accessible sections of the wreck. In two more days, the refurbished lunar lander from Earth would be landing with four more explorers. Then all six of them would be stranded on the Moon for at least another three months until a new lander and command module could be made ready for the rescue mission. The U.S. government had stepped in and furnished literally unlimited funding for the current mission and the retrieval. The technology inside the wrecked spaceship had been incentive enough to get the government heavily involved.
They entered the ship through the large airlock they had discovered when they first found the wreck and made their way down several long corridors. They had rigged up some emergency lighting powered by several large solar panels to furnish a dim light in the corridors. The solar panels had been sent up on one of the supply drones after Jason and Greg had reestablished contact with Mission Control.
They reached their destination, which were two small rooms with a portable airlock attached. The airlock had also been sent up on one of the supply drones. After a few minor modifications to the airlock, they had managed to seal off several rooms to live in. The idea of being cooped up in the lunar lander for a number of weeks had been extremely unappealing.
After passing through the airlock, they entered the sealed compartments and began removing their suits. They were in a small, 12 by 14 foot room, with another room of the same size visible through an adjoining door. These two rooms had been their living quarters for the last several weeks.
“Home sweet home!” said Greg as he sat down in a comfortable chair, glad to be able to get off his feet. He reached down and began massaging his right ankle. “Glad we’re still not cooped up in the lander.”
“I agree,” Jason replied as he sat down behind a desk they had managed to carry in. The desk had a laptop and printer on it as well as other documents. There were numerous photos spread out across the desk of some of their more interesting discoveries.
They had found several chairs and other furnishings which they had moved into the rooms to make them more livable. Power for the rooms came from another solar power bank they had set up outside, and a small air recycler kept their air fresh and breathable. A small self contained heating unit kept the rooms warm.
“I want to try to go deeper into the center of the ship tomorrow,” said Jason, studying some printouts he had made of their explorations so far. He laid the tip of his finger on a photo. “If we can get through this large sealed door, we should be able to access the center section.”
Greg nodded his head in agreement. “I wish we could power up that computer in the Command Center. It’s bound to have a lot of stored information we could access. Maybe we could find out what happened to this ship and where it came from.”
“I agree,” replied Jason, laying down a printout and looking over at Greg. “But we don’t dare risk activating the emergency beacon again. One of the people coming up on the lander is a computer expert, and the other two are engineers. Hopefully, they can help us to bypass or turn off the emergency beacon so it won’t come back on. Colonel Marten Greene is the pilot, and he has a pretty solid background in communications.”
Greg nodded. It had been a good idea to move into the ship. They had managed to explore several areas, but the center section, as well as the weapons areas, were still locked down. They had stayed out of the damaged areas for the time being, not wanting to risk getting trapped by the wreckage. Tomorrow, they would try one more time before the other crew arrived to access the center section.
So far they had found no more bodies in their exploration of the crashed spaceship. It was obvious that all the bodies had been removed except the commander, who was in the small room off the Command Center. The big question was, had the bodies been removed by a rescue ship or were they waiting for them inside the center section? The more they had explored, the more obvious it became that this was a ship of war. It was heavily armored with numerous bulkheads and hatches. From their explorations outside, they estimated that there were over sixty weapon emplacements behind the sealed hatches. That was assuming that each of the hatches contained weapons.
“Who do you think they were fighting?” asked Greg, picking up and looking at several photographs of the hatches on the outside of the ship.
He could just imagine laser cannons or some type of sophisticated plasma beamers hidden behind the closed hatches. He had watched numerous science fiction shows as a kid, and he knew he was letting his imagination get the best of him. But it was still intriguing to think about.
“It’s hard telling,” replied Jason, leaning back in his chair and looking over at Greg. “It could have been other humans or even aliens. We won’t know until we can access that computer.”
“I hope it wasn’t aliens, and I hope this crash occurred a long time ago,” spoke Gregg, feeling an icy shiver run down his back. That had been his biggest fear when they had first found the ship. Finding alien bodies or even a live alien wasn’t on his agenda.
“I just hope we have enough power to activate the computer when the others get here,” added Jason, rubbing his forehead with his right hand.
The isolation from their families had been difficult for both of them since the crash. Staying busy had helped, but they couldn’t stay busy all the time. There were times when it was difficult not to think about their families down on Earth. Especially when they were done with their explorations for the day and they had a little spare time.
“We have two energy sources that Mission Control has sent up on the most recent supply drones,” reported Greg, looking at an inventory sheet, which listed all of the supplies that had been sent up so far. “They seem pretty sure that these will be able to supply the energy needed to power up the computer and the other equipment in the Command Center. They are similar to the RTG power sources of a few years ago. These are supposedly more efficient and don’t have the heat problems.”
“Have you talked to your wife today?” asked Jason, knowing that Greg was really missing his family.
The truth was they were both missing their families back down on Earth. To communicate with Mission Control they had to go outside and use the radio on the lunar rover, which was parked just outside the large airlock.
“Briefly,” responded Greg, feeling the loneliness of being separated from his wife and son. “Elizabeth’s doing fine, and I hope to have a lon
ger talk with her tomorrow. She’s having a difficult time considering the situation.” It had been hard being away from his family for so long. The occasional conversations set up by Mission Control helped. But they were still separated by nearly a quarter of a million miles.
Jason nodded his head in understanding. He had talked to his brother briefly the previous day over a secure com line. His brother had told him there were all kinds of rumors going around about what had happened to the New Beginning’s mission. Trevor had also mentioned that their sister Katherine was still highly upset. She had taken it extremely hard when all contact had been lost initially with the lander as it was descending to the Moon. Katherine had camped out in Mission Control until contact had finally been reestablished.
Once he got home, Jason knew he was going to get an earful from his sister. He couldn’t blame her. This also wouldn’t be the first time. She had been extremely upset when he had volunteered to be a military test pilot. It had put a strain on their relationship for quite some time.
“The last two drones also have a lot of different tools and equipment on board that we may be able to use to get into some of those sealed compartments,” Greg continued as he studied the supply list.
They had found numerous compartments that seemed to be locked down and wouldn’t open. Greg guessed that the more sensitive and interesting equipment the ship contained were behind those sealed hatches. They had yet to find any power sources or weapons.
“Let’s get some rest; we can get a good start in the morning,” replied Jason with a yawn.
He would have to go outside in the morning and send the latest photos and a report to Mission Control of their most recent explorations. Their communications didn’t work well from inside the ship. The hull was just too thick.
Unknown to either of them, the ship’s AI was monitoring their conversations. It was still evaluating these new humans and trying to decide when it should make its presence known. The AI’s internal power source was rapidly weakening from its increased use since the humans had arrived. At its current depletion rate, it would be too low to sustain the AI in another two weeks. The AI desperately needed a new power source and that might force it to contact the humans before it was ready.
-
Early the next morning, Jason and Greg were standing in front of the large hatch, which led to the center section of the ship. The lights from their spacesuits lit up the hatch and the corridor around it. They had walked through a number of dark corridors to reach this point deep inside the ship. Reaching forward, Jason grasped the handle and turned it. Much to his surprise, it turned easily and the hatch swung open.
“What the hell?” exclaimed Greg, looking over at Jason.
Just yesterday morning the handle had refused to budge. They had tried everything they could think of to open it, and it hadn’t moved an inch. Now it opened without any use of force at all.
“Well, it’s open,” commented Jason, shining his lights inside the open hatch. It showed another corridor leading off in opposite directions.
“That’s just it. It shouldn’t have opened,” Greg muttered.
Sometimes he had the eerie feeling that something or someone was watching them. He felt an icy shiver race up his back. That was happening too often recently. Even though this ship had crashed years ago, Greg still found himself jumping at shadows. He didn’t believe in ghosts, but sometimes he felt as if there was a presence inside the ship watching their every move. He couldn’t explain the feeling; it was just with him constantly.
Jason stepped inside the open hatch and then, as an afterthought, laid a small tool across the hatch wedging it open. Shining the portable light down the corridor, he saw numerous doors, all of which were shut. “Let’s check several of these rooms and see what they contain.”
Greg walked over to a door and opened it. Shining his light inside, he was surprised to see a small desk, several chairs, and two bunks. The chairs and the desk were heavily damaged from being knocked around. He knew they had probably been damaged as a result of the crash. “These look like crew’s quarters.”
Jason stepped inside and looked around more closely. Going over to the desk, he set it up and opened one of the drawers. The drawer had a small catch on it that had kept it closed. There were a few papers inside, but he didn’t see anything of interest. Looking around, he didn’t see any personal items either. He had hoped to find some photos or something that might have given a hint as to the life style of the crew. Most crewmembers on Earth military ships had pictures of their families around somewhere. He didn’t see any of that here.
They checked a few more rooms and found them all to be the same. This section must have been where the crew lived. The quarters were small but still spacious by military standards. It was also obvious that everything of a personal nature had been removed.
As they walked down the corridor, Jason placed small magnetic LED lights on the wall every fifty feet or so to furnish some illumination. They would allow them to find their way back more easily, and all you had to do was press their lighted surfaces to turn them off.
For several minutes, they made their way deeper into the heart of the ship. Some of the rooms now contained more sophisticated equipment, much of it damaged or hopelessly smashed. The crash had wrecked almost everything that wasn’t anchored down. They stopped and examined some of the equipment, but for the most part it was difficult to tell exactly what it had been used for.
“I’m surprised anything survived intact,” Greg commented as he looked into a room containing numerous boxes and crates that were in shambles. These were obviously supplies of some kind. He rummaged through several damaged boxes, finding them all to be empty. Whatever had once been here had been removed.
Going into another corridor, they found another large, sealed hatch in front of them with some sort of writing on it. It didn’t look like any form of writing either of them were familiar with. They looked at each other, wondering what could be behind this one.
“That looks like a warning of some kind,” Greg said uneasily as his eyes studied the strange letters.
“It could be,” replied Jason, wondering if they should attempt to open it. “We have come this far; we might as well have a look.”
Most of the hatches had some type of writing on them. On this one, the writing was much larger. In Greg’s mind, he could hear his wife saying, “Don’t go in there!”. She had always been the cautious type. Just thinking about her made Greg wish that he could see her and their newborn son; he really missed them. But that was at least another three months in the future. He let out a deep breath and turned his attention back to the hatch.
Jason hesitated for a moment. Greg was right; there was something about this hatch that didn’t feel right. Fortifying himself, he reached out and turned the handle. He had to use a little more force than he expected, and then the door swung open. Stepping inside, he froze when brilliant lights flashed on, illuminating the entire area.
“Lights!” exclaimed Greg, his eyes opening wide. How was that possible?
“Emergency lighting,” responded Jason, studying the lights on the wall. “Probably battery powered, and they turned on when we activated a hidden sensor as we stepped in here. I doubt whether they will last long. Over the years, most of their charge has probably bled off.”
Jason turned his own lights off and noticed what looked like long glass windows that stretched along both sides of the corridor. This had to be some type of heavy-duty safety glass to have survived the crash. He walked up curiously to one of the windows and looked in. He stepped back, shocked at what was on the other side. “We just found the rest of the crew!”
“What?” responded Greg, walking over and looking inside the brightly lit room. He shuddered involuntarily at what he saw inside.
There were dozens of beds with crewmembers laid out. Someone had taken the time after the wreck to bring the dead crew down here for their final resting place. He wondered if it had been the comman
der. Going over to the other window on the opposite side, Greg saw the same thing. There must be over a hundred bodies laid out.
“This looks more like a hospital,” spoke Jason, taking out his camera and photographing what they were seeing. It looked as if there were monitoring equipment and other specialized medical devices against the walls.
“Jason,” Greg said quietly as he studied the inside of the room behind the glass, “I don’t think these people all died from the crash. Some of them don’t look to be that injured.”
Studying the men and women in the room, Jason realized that Greg was right. “A disease?” Jason asked.
“That would be my guess,” responded Greg, turning around to face Jason. “I don’t think we want to open any of these doors. Whatever killed these people should be gone by now due to the extreme cold. Colonel Greene, the pilot flying the specialists up, has some medical experience. Perhaps he can give us a better idea as to what happened here.”
Jason took a deep breath. It seemed that everywhere they went in the ship they found more mysteries and unanswered questions. If they could get the ship’s computer back up and running, once the specialists arrived perhaps they could find out what had happened.
Let’s go back,” spoke Jason, stepping back away from the glass and turning to face Gregg. “We’ll come back when the others get here.”
“Sound fine to me,” replied Greg, looking at the lighted rooms. The emergency lighting was already starting to dim. “This ship is spooky enough. Now we have all these dead bodies.”
The two started back down the corridor, shutting the hatches behind them and retracing their steps by following the LED lights they had placed on the walls. They would write their report up and then wait for tomorrow. The inbound lunar lander would be arriving and Jason and Greg had a lot to show the four new explorers.
Slaver Wars 1: Moon Wreck Page 5
