The shuttle continued toward Earth, its stealth fields having been activated as the shuttle left the Moon. As it approached Earth’s atmosphere the shuttle began to slow, then entered a gentle arc toward its destination.
Jason looked down at the Earth below. It was dark over the United States, but the country was lit up by all the city lights. This was his home, and he was glad to be returning. There was a time a few weeks back when he had wondered if he would ever see this sight again.
“It’s beautiful,” Greg spoke, wistfully. “I wish Elizabeth could see this.”
“Perhaps someday she might,” responded Jason, looking over at his close friend. “With the technology we’re going to learn from Ariel and from the Avenger, space travel might become extremely common in a few more years.”
The shuttle continued its descent. A few minutes later, the landing lights at White Sands came into view. The shuttle followed them and then entered a large, brightly lit hangar. As soon as the shuttle was inside, it gently landed and the hangar doors slid shut.
“We’re here,” said Greg, standing up. He hoped his wife and son were waiting. He could hardly wait to see them.
“Let’s go out and see what type of welcoming party we have,” Jason replied. It felt good to be back on Earth.
Moments later, they stepped out of the shuttle to be greeted by a large crowd of military people and technicians. Tom Hays was the first one to greet them.
“Welcome back,” he said enthusiastically, pumping their hands, and then looked over at the shuttle. “This is great! It's a new day for our world, all thanks to the two of you!”
Jason nodded. It might be great for today, but the Hocklyns waited in the future.
Tom led the two outside the hangar where a vehicle was waiting. Minutes later, they found themselves inside an office. Jason looked over at Greg, suspecting that their debriefing was about to begin. The door opened and, much to his surprise, his sister and brother stepped through. Right behind them was Greg’s wife, carrying their infant son.
“Elizabeth!” yelled Greg, jumping up. He rushed over and kissed his wife, then gave both his wife and son an affectionate hug.
“Oh, Greg,” responded Elizabeth, starting to cry.
Jason walked over to his sister and brother. Trevor reached out and shook Jason’s hand. “I’m glad you’re back, big brother. I don’t understand how, but I’m glad.”
Katherine stepped forward and hugged Jason. “I don’t know how you can always get into so much trouble. I warned you about going to the Moon. What happened?”
Jason took a deep breath. How could he explain all of this? Tom Hays had told them not to talk to anyone yet about what had happened on the Moon. There would be a briefing in the morning in which Greg and he would be told what they could reveal. “You won’t believe it,” he responded with a big smile. “I will tell you about it in the morning. Now I just want to hear what you and Trevor have been doing while I’ve been gone.”
Greg was holding his infant son. Deep in his heart he knew that someday his son would be flying a new generation of spaceships. They would soon be building spaceships capable of traveling to the stars. His son would see things that Greg could only imagine. But for now he was happy. He took his wife’s hand and looked down at his son. Life couldn’t be any better.
-
Back on the Moon, Colonel Greene and Lisa were talking to Ariel. There was a question Colonel Greene had been meaning to ask the AI.
“Ariel, do you know what solar system your people went to after they left ours back in 1917?”
Ariel looked back at Colonel Greene in surprise. “I never said they left this solar system. They are still here.”
“What!” Colonel Greene exploded, his face turning pale. “What do you mean they’re still here?”
“My people came here to seek refuge on Earth as well as to build a new military base. When it became obvious that due to the diseases down on Earth they couldn’t live there, they went on to build the new base.”
“Where is this base?” Colonel Greene asked, slowly. He looked over at Lisa. Her eyes were wide in disbelief.
“It’s inside the asteroid Ceres,” replied Ariel, looking at Colonel Greene, confused. “I told you at the very beginning that they were going to establish a base in this solar system.”
“Have you heard from them since the crash?”
“No,” Ariel replied.
“This is going to be big news back on Earth,” commented Colonel Greene, shaking his head in disbelief. How was he going to explain this to the people in Mission Control? Tom Hays was going to be stunned at this news.
“Ariel, can one of the shuttles make it to Ceres and back safely?”
“Yes, Colonel; it shouldn’t be a problem. I have been curious myself as to why there has been no contact with the base since the survivors went there.”
“I think we have a new mission for Commander Strong. As soon as he has taken a few weeks off, I think he will be flying to Ceres.”
-
Back on Earth, Jason and Greg were going out to eat with their families. Tom Hays had told them that a special meal had been prepared to celebrate their return in the cafeteria. Little did Jason suspect what was waiting in his future. If he thought the Moon had held a surprise it wouldn’t compare to what was waiting inside the asteroid Ceres.
The End
Moon Wreck: Secrets of Ceres
Chapter Seven
Jason Strong was relaxing on the front porch of his home, watching the sunset. His house was located in a quiet suburb away from most of the noises and crowds that plagued the city. It had been six weeks since Greg and he had returned from their perilous Moon mission. The clouds above the horizon glowed red and orange-red in the fading light. The colors were a stark contrast to the blacks and grays of the lunar surface that he had become so familiar with.
Even now, he still had occasional nightmares about the lunar lander and the crash landing. Letting out a deep breath, he watched curiously as a car pulled into the driveway. His eyes narrowed, now who could that be, he wondered. He wasn’t expecting anyone and very few people even knew that he was home. He heard the front door open and sensed that his sister Katherine had stepped out onto the porch. Glancing at her, he saw that she was watching the car as if a dangerous predator had just arrived. She had been overly protective since he had returned from his Moon mission.
The car door opened, and Tom Hays climbed out. Tom was the director of Mission Control in Houston. He waved at Jason, and then turned to say something to someone else in the car. The passenger door opened, and a man dressed in a military uniform appeared. Jason stood up, frowning. What was Tom Hays doing here with a military general?
“Jason, whatever they want, tell them no,” Katherine spoke in a low and concerned voice. “You’ve already done enough.”
The two men walked up to the porch and climbed the steps.
“Hello Jason,” Tom Hays spoke in a pleasant voice. “This is General Adamson from the Pentagon.”
Jason shook the hands of both men. “We finished my final debriefing two weeks ago,” Jason said, wondering what the men wanted. “I believe we covered everything that occurred on the Moon.”
“This isn’t about your debriefing,” General Adamson replied in a firm military voice. “Is there somewhere we can go and talk privately?”
“I have a small office in the house,” answered Jason, looking over at his sister. He could tell from the dark look in her eyes that she wasn’t happy with these visitors.
“Remember what I said?” Katherine spoke, her eyes turning dark. “You’ve already put yourself in enough danger.”
“Jason’s done a great service for this country,” spoke Tom looking at Katherine. “What he accomplished on the Moon was a miracle.”
Tom understood Katherine’s anxiety. He could still remember her living at Mission Control when they had lost contact with the New Beginnings mission. She had waited with a haunted look in her e
yes for any word from her brother. She had been there almost the entire time until Jason and Greg managed to shut down the emergency beacon on the crashed spaceship and reestablished radio contact with Mission Control.
“Just remember that,” replied Katherine, looking directly at Tom. “He doesn’t need to do any more!”
“Relax, Katherine,” Jason said with a reassuring smile. “We’re just going to talk.”
“That better be all,” replied Katherine, giving Jason a warning glance.
Jason led the two men into the house and through a door that led to his office. He sat down in his favorite chair and gestured for the other two men to take a seat on the comfortable sofa that was against the wall in front of the window. During the day, the window let in just enough light to make Jason’s office more inviting. “What can I do for you?” asked Jason, looking over at Tom Hayes. “I’m sure you didn’t come all this way just for a social call.”
“You’re right, Jason. Something’s come up,” admitted Tom, glancing over at General Adamson. He took a deep breath before continuing. “What I am about to tell you is top secret. Right after Greg and you left the Moon, there was a startling discovery.”
“I imagine there will be a lot of startling discoveries in that wreck,” Jason replied with a slight smile. “It’s not every day you find a wrecked spaceship on the Moon and an AI like Ariel.”
“No, it isn’t,” agreed General Adamson, leaning forward. “You did a fantastic job up there, Commander Strong. But now we have something else we need you to do.”
Jason leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. He had hoped to spend at least a few more weeks with his sister and brother before going back to work. From the look on the faces of Tom and the general, that wasn’t going to happen.
“What’s going on?” he asked, his eyes narrowing. “What’s Colonel Greene discovered now?”
Tom took another deep breath before beginning. “Immediately after you left, Ariel made a shocking statement. It was something that Colonel Greene and Lisa Gordon were not expecting and couldn’t believe.”
“Ariel has a way of doing that,” responded Jason, recalling the gorgeous AI. “She’s not human and doesn’t think like we do.”
The AI on the Avenger had surprised him on several occasions. Particularly the first time she had appeared in the Command Center and told him and Adam Simmons that Greg and Lisa were trapped behind a sealed hatch in the ship.
“You remember that she explained that the survivors from the Human Federation of Worlds came down with the Spanish Flu when they arrived here,” spoke Tom, knowing that Jason was familiar with this. They had discussed this during Jason’s debriefing.
“Yes. The flu spread through their fleet, killing hundreds. They gave up the idea of setting up a colony on Earth and left. That’s why the Avenger crashed. A sick engineer destroyed or damaged their drive systems, disabling the ship as it passed the Moon. The Moon’s gravity pulled it down, causing it to crash in the crater.”
“The problem was we forgot to ask Ariel where the survivors went when she first mentioned this. Everyone assumed they had gone on to another solar system,” General Adamson said with a troubled look in his eyes.
“Of course they did,” Jason replied with a confused look. “Where else could they go? There isn’t another habitable planet in our Solar System. It only made sense that they find another solar system with a suitable planet they could colonize.”
General Adamson shook his head slowly and his eyes narrowed. “We all forgot why they came here. They came here to set up a colony on Earth and to establish a new military base.”
“I don’t understand,” Jason replied, suddenly feeling uneasy. He looked intently at Tom. “The colony on Earth wasn’t feasible due to their lack of immunity to Earth diseases. They had to go on to another solar system.”
“That’s not what happened,” replied General Adamson, shaking his head.
“According to Ariel, these humans never left the Solar System. They’re still here,” Tom spoke in a level voice, gazing into Jason’s eyes.
“They’re still here!” Jason sputtered, his eyes growing wide in disbelief. “That’s not possible. There has been no trace of them on Earth. If they were here, we would know about it. You can’t hide ships as big as theirs.”
“They’re not on Earth,” explained General Adamson, shaking his head. He let out a deep breath, and then continued. “According to Ariel, they went on and built their military base here in our Solar System.”
“Where?” asked Jason, feeling a chill of excitement run down his back. Was it possible some of these humans were still alive? Was there some way they could be contacted?
“According to Ariel, the military part of their fleet had always planned on building a new and powerful military base in our Solar System as a means of protecting Earth,” Adamson continued. “They had planned on leaving most of the civilians down on Earth in the new colony, and then the military ships would go on and construct their new base. The base would be responsible for defending Earth until we were ready to defend ourselves.”
Jason could hardly believe what the general was saying. “So you’re saying that somewhere in our Solar System is a fully operational military base of the Human Federation of Worlds?”
“That’s just it,” Tom broke in, shaking his head worriedly. “Ariel has never heard from nor seen any of their ships since the Avenger crashed. The AI had a few short-range scanners still working immediately after the crash. In recent years, as her power supply dropped, she could only scan the area immediately around the Earth and the Moon. There were even times when she was in a standby mode and was awakened periodically by the ship’s computer. However, in the 100 years since the ship crashed she has never detected another ship. It’s as if the survivors vanished.”
“It’s a shame we don’t know where they went,” Jason commented, feeling disappointed. He would give anything to see one of their warships intact. Even the civilian ships would be amazing. An intact ship could mean so much to Earth’s future war effort against the Hocklyns.
“We do know,” General Adamson said, gazing intently at Jason. “They went to the asteroid Ceres.”
“Ceres,” spoke Jason, drawing in a sharp breath. For a moment, he was silent, thinking about what the general had just said. He knew that Ceres was the largest asteroid in the Solar System. “Surely if they’re on Ceres we could detect or see something. Their ships are too big to stay hidden.”
“We’ve tried searching for signs of artificial structures on Ceres, as well as their ships,” Tom replied with a heavy sigh. “We’ve used telescopes and every detecting device we have. There’s nothing! No sign of their ships or any artificial constructions on or around the asteroid.”
“Perhaps after the flu struck them, they decided to change their plans and go on to another solar system,” Jason suggested. “Not being able to plant a colony on Earth may have left them with no other choice.”
“Perhaps,” Tom replied, doubtfully. “But I just can’t see them leaving Earth undefended. Not with their knowledge of the Hocklyns and what Earth would be facing in the future.”
“This all sounds interesting,” spoke Jason, leaning forward and placing his hands on his desk. “Ariel never mentioned any of this while I was there. I want to go back up to the Avenger someday to help with the research, but how does this missing fleet involve me?”
General Adamson looked down at the floor and then gazed directly at Jason with an extremely serious look upon his face. “We want you to take one of the Raven shuttles that are on the Avenger and go to Ceres. We want you to find out what happened to the survivors of that fleet after they left Earth.”
Jason sat silently, not believing what he had just heard. His head felt as if it was spinning. Then focusing, he thought about what the general had just said. “Why me?”
“You’re familiar with the Avenger and the situation up there,” Tom began. “You handled the situa
tion up on the Moon extremely well. We need someone like you to lead this mission.”
Jason looked at the two and had a feeling they were not telling him everything. “What else is there? There has to be another reason.”
Tom looked extremely uncomfortable. He looked over at the general, who nodded.
“It’s Ariel,” confessed Tom sounding slightly annoyed “She will not allow us to use one of the shuttles unless you command the mission.”
“What?” Jason spoke, surprised, his eyes growing wide. “Why is she demanding that?”
“She says she trusts you,” Tom replied. “If there are survivors in Ceres, Ariel feels you will do the right thing. I know you wanted some more time off, but this is really important.”
“Is she demanding anyone else to go on this mission?” Jason asked with a sudden suspicion.
“Ariel wants Greg also,” Tom admitted uncomfortably, looking over at General Adamson. “Lisa Gordon and Adam Simmins are also among those she wants.”
“How many others will there be?” asked Jason, trying to think if he actually wanted to do this. Those shuttles were over 100 years old, and Ceres wasn’t exactly close to Earth.
“There will be eight on the shuttle,” General Adamson responded. “We are still deciding on the other four.”
“How safe will this trip be?” asked Jason, thinking about what they were asking him to do. It was one thing to fly those shuttles between the Earth and the Moon. Ceres was millions of miles away!
“Ariel has a group of our technicians going over one of the shuttles, checking all of its systems. It should be ready in two more weeks. She has assured us that the shuttle will have no problems making the trip to Ceres and returning.”
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