by Laer Carroll
Jane noted that their spacesuits had plastic over-slippers with a Velcro patch on the heel and ball of each foot. This let them "step" and "stand" on the floor of the bay, which was a floor only by convention since there was no real floor in zero gravity. Only a few of the enlisted wobbled in their walk. As Jane had specified when requesting personnel every one of them had at least a few hours experience working in zero g.
When the 24 were arrayed in an eight wide and three deep array before the Gang the sergeant called them to parade rest. At that 12 officers marched out of the exit tube of the spaceplane and arrayed themselves six wide and two deep in front of the enlisted men.
When the senior of them called parade rest a final officer marched out and went to a position in front of the Gang, made a sharp right turn to face Jane, and came to attention. She saluted Jane. Jane returned it and spoke to the compact Latina of not quite forty years, Major Mercedes Fresedo.
"Welcome to Quadrant One Station, Major. Will you have your crew fall out and follow us? We have a briefing to go to, following which we'll proceed to our duty stations."
The woman did an about face and relayed Jane's request to the next-most senior officer, a short thin man whose family Jane knew was second-generation Ukrainian.
Jane took a step forward and turned right, gesturing the Major to accompany her. Behind them came her crew and behind them the newly arrived people.
The bay wall to her right had a sliding door about fifty feet further on. Jane approached it, it slid open, and she and the major entered a long wide hall. Some distance on this crossed a slightly narrower hall. She made another right. This dead ended into another door. This slid open, revealing a small auditorium which could seat a hundred people. All chairs were wide enough to accommodate people in spacesuits.
Jane went to the stage, one barely a foot high, and gestured for the major to join her in the two center seats of a row of ten. The rest of the Jane Gang went to stand against the wall behind the row of seats.
Jane waited till the new arrivals were seated in the auditorium, then stood and approached the lectern near the front edge of the stage and off to one side to give a better view of the large wall screen at the back of the stage. She adjusted the microphone rising out of the lectern to a good height for her, then clicked it on. A tiny green light near its base lit to indicate it had power and that the public address system was working.
She eyed her audience for a few seconds, giving them time to look her over. She was in a gold spacesuit liner which hugged her trim figure. Atop her head she wore a blue beret.
"Welcome to the Station. I'll cover a few matters, then we'll board our duty station for the next few months to a year. This will be the deep-space craft DS 17, named Seeker.
"I requested people with certain qualifications. I reviewed the files submitted to me and OK'd each of you personally. I wanted outstanding individuals and I got them. I got you. In case any of you doubt that you belong here, quit doubting."
She surveyed the 36 people. Some of what she said might not sink in right away. She believed it would eventually.
"That includes your commanding officer. I rejected seven other recommendations for your boss. I was inexpressibly happy when her dossier came across my desk."
Jane turned half around and nodded at the major, receiving a slight nod back, then turned back toward her audience.
"In case you're not sure of the chain of command, it's one similar to most research vessels. The captain is the ultimate authority of how to get to places, get around in their vicinity, and getting us back home. I'll make REQUESTS to her. She will decide whether to follow them or not, and how to carry them out.
"I am in charge of the targets to study. About that, I am now at liberty to tell you about them. Just briefly. You'll get more information later after you're all settled in and doing your jobs."
The wall screen behind Jane came on. It showed the solar system against the black of space from above out to the orbit of Jupiter. That giant planet was positioned correctly in relation to Earth and the other planets toward the Sun. The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter was indicated by a wide ring of frost or fog.
Between the Belt and Jupiter was a circle indicating an orbit. On equal distances on it were four bright Os. The two nearest ones to Earth were colored red. The two furthest around the circle were orange.
"We call the Os Objects. We aren't sure what they are. But we're sure they are artificial. And not created by humans."
Jane waited for the exclamations and whispers to die away.
"The two red Os on the map were discovered by an astronomer who realized their importance and notified her friend, Captain Riku Kobayashi, of them. She couldn't pursue an enquiry because she had been promoted and had to take up new duties.
"She was doing research on similar sized asteroids, wondering if they shared other qualities than size. Chemical composition, for instance. These two were like twins, down to the meteorite impact craters on their surfaces."
The screen behind her changed to show the two grey potato-shaped asteroids side by side. The view of one changed as it rotated until the photo matched that of the other. Then they moved together. A pattern of bright red and green lights sprinkled the surface.
"If you judged the craters on the asteroids from the normal grey colors you'd estimate their age as millions of years. The red and green show where different impacts occurred on one or the other not shared. They suggest that the objects are only about 95 years old."
A murmur arose in the audience.
"That's right, people. If the estimates are right aliens--or their robots--came here 95 years ago and dropped off these fake asteroids. So, have we been spied on all that time? My guess--and it's only a guess--is, not by these devices. They're too far out. But maybe by closer devices."
She paused to let the revelations and guesses sink in.
"We'll have to let other people look for such spy sats, or whatever. What we're going to do is investigate the ones we know exist. That is these two."
The two superimposed images on the screen behind her were replaced by the first image. This time the two red Os blinked a few times before settling back to a steady brightness.
"And the two indicated by orange. Those DO exist. We know because as soon as Ricky brought all this to my attention I bought four drones from one of the companies that supply deep-space probes. I sent them out to get a closer look at each of the two known objects and the two guessed-at objects."
She deliberately used Riku's nickname because she wanted the Air Force people to begin thinking of her and her crew as colleagues if not friends.
"We guessed at their existence because the two known ones were exactly a fourth of their orbit around the sun. That suggested that at the other two quarter points were siblings. And the drones found that they were there.
"The four drones were first positioned 10,000 miles away from the objects. We didn't want the objects to identify them as threats. Who knows what defenses they might have and deploy if they decided the drones were a danger?
"In the year or so since the drones were put in place we've had them slowly approach each of the objects. Never on a course that would intersect with it. That would suggest a threat. We can only hope the drones will be viewed as neutral if not friendly."
She paused again. What she saw of the Space Force people was encouraging. Most of them were sitting forward in their seats and closely watching her and the images on the screen.
"We picked one of the objects for us to investigate first. Why? Because of this."
The image behind her showed one of the objects and was slowly zooming in on it. White rulers blinked into existence. They showed that the fake asteroid was about 300 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 100 feet "high."
"We're calling the side closest to us the 'top' because of this."
At THIS it could be seen that on the top there was a big crater. It was not bowl-shaped as one might expect but a long narrow gash. Somethi
ng had struck the object a glancing blow not a direct one.
"Our 'top' designation is just because it's a convenient label, not because we think it's true in any way.
"We selected this object for a closer investigation because it may have disabled the object's defenses, if any. Also because it may have opened it up so we can send drones inside for a closer look.
"So there you have it, folks, what we're going to be doing for probably a year. Poking our noses into alien business and hoping not to get it cut off.
"Now, let's go get you settled into your new digs.
"Oh, and one last matter. All this is classified. No one is going to spy on your emails back home. But if any of you break security you will be prosecuted and maybe spend the rest of your lives in jail."
She grinned at them.
"I just KNOW how that thought must cheer you up."
She got a few chuckles at that.
<>
Inside of the week the deep-space vehicle had settled into a new routine. It remained tethered to the zero gravity core of the fort and connected by a tunnel between an airlock on the spacecraft and an airlock in the side of the fort. This allowed personnel easy travel between the two.
The four cans remained clustered to the vehicle's hub, the configuration they would have when traveling.
Two officers were on watch in the control room in the hub for each of the three eight-hour duty periods of each day, which was synchronized with that of the fort and of the World Space Station. No one would be visiting the WSS but small groups would be able to visit the fort after that first week of settling in.
Major Fresedo had a suite in one can which included an office and a bedroom which doubled as a living room. She shared a meeting room with her executive officer, who had a similar suite. So did Jane, though smaller, and likewise had a shared meeting room with Kate.
Crucial to any successful military mission was food. Seeker had been assigned an environmental specialist who doubled as a kitchen manager. Riku soon made his acquaintance and pronounced him to the rest of the Gang as a true artist, a high compliment coming from him.
There was a medical doctor specializing in space medicine who shared the environmental-systems duty. Nicole, who had a biology minor in addition to her chemical engineering major, worked with her.
There were likewise a power, communication, radar/lidar/optical officer as well as several others.
Each officer was aided by several enlisted people, all of them smart, ambitious, and dedicated. Jane was pleased with the crew of Seeker. Their dossiers had proven to be accurate.
After another week Jane received five NASA-hired astrophysicists on board, one of whom was from CalTech and knew her from when she was giving lectures to CalTech professors in mathematics while still in high school. She settled them into private guest rooms which shared a public living area and an office for them.
Jane allowed them a week to settle in also, then declared it time to go on a shakedown cruise by visiting several near-space locales.
<>
At 8:00 on a Tuesday morning personnel were in place in the control room. On the low command dais sat the captain, Major Fresedo. On her right was Major Danilo Kravchenko, her second in command and executive officer. To her left was Jane, the science officer while the ship was under acceleration and maneuvering to its duty station. When it had arrived and likely to stay in place for an extended time she would then become the officer in charge of the research for which the ship had been assigned.
In an arc before the dais were eight work stations for piloting, observation which included radar and so on, communications, environmental and structural monitoring, and several other functions. This day all eight stations were filled with officers.
Jane's four sidekicks and the five NASA scientists were in the nearby mission control room. Until Seeker was at rest they were only remote observers of activity in the control room.
The Gang and the scientists paid close attention to what the observation officer was doing and seeing. They had repeater view screens of the much larger view screens at the front of the control room next door.
The rest of the crew had duty stations about the ship, most notably in the power room monitoring the four antimatter power generators and the solar panels.
The two commanding officers had relieved the two night watch officers. Now Fresedo gave her first commands of the day.
"Ship, secure to day stations. Day duty cycle beginning. Subsystems report."
In an established order the eight work stations before her reported "Up and nominal, Sir."
"Subsystems, prepare for acceleration."
Each of the eight officers changed from station keeping mode to travel mode. When done they reported "Ready."
The only one taking more than a few seconds was Configuration. That officer and her subordinates elsewhere in the ship were responsible to sending the four cans out to the end of the arms to prepare for spinning the ship to simulate gravity. Or for bringing them in and docking them with the core of the ship.
The habitats were already docked in place so the Configuration panel simulated reducing spin to zero then bringing the cans "up" and docking them. For one full minute it emitted a quiet pinging sound. When the sound quit the Configuration officer reported "Habitats stowed and ready for acceleration, Sir."
"Pilot, ready for undocking and transition to takeoff station."
"Sir, beginning undocking and moving to takeoff station."
The pilot paused and opened communication with the fort.
"Quadrant One Traffic Control, DSP 17, named Seeker, requesting permission to undock. Number One is Senior Major Mercedes Fresedo, Number Two is Junior Major Danilo Kravchenko. Purpose, shakedown cruise."
The titles of Senior and Junior Major were not official ranks. Rather they indicated who of several majors in a group were in command or subordinate in any operation.
"Seeker, Quadrant One, permission granted. Your filed flight request is still granted."
"Quad One, Seeker. Thank you and complying."
Pilot Captain John Hoskins, who would be called Commander Hoskins while on duty, went through several steps, announcing them before and their completion afterward.
These included warning anyone in or near the long tunnel which connected the ship to the station that a disconnect was to take place, ensuring no one had been trapped in or near either end of the tunnel, and retracting and stowing the accordion-like tunnel.
Next he cast off the tethers to the station and verified they'd been safely and properly uncoupled and had automatically stowed themselves in their housings. He started the maneuvering space jets and pushed the ship away from the station.
At a safe distance from the station he gave the command to power on the close-up force shield that protected Seeker from impacts with meteorites. Then when that stabilized he powered up the farther force shield which gave them even more protection. At the highest velocities of which the ship was capable this was needed.
Finally he fired the main space jets in a pre-programmed pattern which would take the spacecraft on its way to its destination.
At each step a second officer observed his actions and verbally repeated the commands he'd given. Leaving the station and uncoupling from it this was the environmental control officer. Flying away from the station and establishing shields this was the observation officer. If any of the observers failed to backstop him he had to cease operations unless given verbal permission by the captain or the acting captain to go ahead.
Slowly the deep-space ship Seeker accelerated, first at one-tenth gravity, then in increments to one-third gravity. It pulled further and further away from the fort, its orbit rising away from the planet which had birthed it.
<>
For nearly a half hour Seeker accelerated. Then it did a J or fishhook maneuver to swap ends. Now its space jets were slowing the vehicle. Most of a second half hour brought Seeker to rest near Earth's Lagrange Point Three.
&n
bsp; The Lagrange points were spots where the gravity of the Earth and the Moon canceled out. Objects put there tended to stay there.
Of the five Earth-Moon L points 1 through 3 were in a direct line with Earth and the Moon. L1 was something over 30,000 miles between the Moon and Earth. L2 was a similar distance but beyond the far side of the Moon. L3 shared the Moon's orbit but on the side opposite the Moon.
One through Three were only partly stable. Objects moved even a little distance from them would drift further and further away. Unlike L4 and L5. Those two shared the same orbit as the Moon but 60 degrees before and behind it. At L4 and L5 objects drifting away from their positions eventually drifted back to them.
The several thousand objects near L3 were invisible to the human eye. Most were tiny meteorites verging on microscopic. Some were pea sized or marble sized. Only a couple dozen were larger.
"Science officer," said the Captain, turning her head to the left toward Jane. "What're radiation and Solar wind levels today? And likely to be for the next couple of days?"
"Not good, Ma'am. Not only is L3 nearly on a line with the Sun at this time of the month but we're approaching a Solar maximum in Sun spot micro-cycles."
"Too bad. I was hoping we could extend the cans and let us sleep in gravity for a while."
Fresedo was unlike many captains who never explained the reasons for her decisions. Jane saw this as a sign of confidence. The woman would accept corrections better because her ego was not hurt by dissent. That meant she'd get the best advice available rather than the advice which would please her and possibly lead her and all who followed her into disaster.
"All of the cans have enough water shielding to protect us, Sir. Plus the outside force shield is adequate except for extreme solar flares. For those we get up to a day's advance warning. We have robot monitors near Mercury with hyperspace communicators. We'd get several hours warning for radiation, a few days warning for plasma."
"I still have to remind myself that we have FTL communications."
Jane nodded and spoke again.
"Basically we can't send manned craft outside our shields. Our drones, on the other hand, are extremely rad-hardened. I made sure of that when I ordered them."
