Since both ships had landed on the dark side, the side not visible from Earth, there was no way for their radio transmission to be sent back to Earth. They had already anticipated this limitation. During this period, only the two crews would be able to communicate with each other.
“Russell, Allison, Frank, this is Captain Michael Carter of the Orion. We landed and we have a visual of you all approximately 2,000 feet away. Please confirm if you have a visual of my ship.”
“Carter, this is Russell. We’ve got a visual. It would be impossible not to see your ship all lit up in this darkness.”
“Okay, according to my calculations, you all should be here in less than 50 minutes,” Brook said.
“Carter, Brook... Houston said we have five hours, right? We will try to get there in three,” the commander said.
“What are you talking about, Russell? Is something wrong? Are you guys experiencing any problems? Unless there’s something wrong with your suits, or someone is hurt, it shouldn’t take you more than an hour to get here,” the captain informed him.
“Carter, we found something here. We appear to be walking on a metallic structure. There’s a sort of cave, an entrance. But it’s not made of rock. It’s more like metal. I think it could be something left here by the Chinese exploration. Allison wants to investigate, and I’m going to go with her. Frank will stay in place, so that you can continue to have a visual of our position. Okay?” Russell asked.
“Understood, commander. But the Chinese exploration took place on the east side, and we’re on the west side. They never came to this spot,” Carter responded.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” Brook confirmed, as well.
Image 18 – The Orion-II, without its Accelerator Module (the rings), orbiting the moon, where it would later land for the rescue mission.
(credits and details on the final page)
Chapter 23
Allison and Russell walked into what appeared to be some kind of cave. The further in they went, the more uneven the ground became. Then, in one spot, they found the remains of an incredibly broken-down structure.
They both started breathing a bit more quickly. This time, the sweat dripping off of their faces wasn’t a result of the radiation, as was the case with Frank, but fear. Their hearts beat fast. They did their best to walk slowly to keep from falling down in the darkness. The flashlights on their helmets weren’t strong enough for them to see exactly where they were or where the tunnel would lead.
As they continued walking, they felt more and more sure that what they were seeing was not the result of any Chinese exploration. Allison checked her camera again and again to make sure that it was capturing everything they were seeing.
They cautiously walked toward the inside of the moon, still finding it all hard to believe. They had descended several feet, and what had initially appeared to be a cave had started to look more like something with a polished technological design. They were inside of a huge metallic structure that, despite being deteriorated and abandoned, was also incredibly complex. At one point, Allison and Russell found themselves in a large, open area. There were additional corridors that seemed to lead to other wings.
Allison slowly shined her handheld flashlight around the space’s entire perimeter, revealing the nuances and details of that enigmatic place.
“Can you believe this?” she asked.
“I hope we haven’t gone crazy, or started dreaming. The last thing I want is to wake up and find myself in Draco or Andromeda,” Russell said.
“Russ, everything we’ve been through on this mission, all our findings, absolutely everything is irrelevant compared to what we’re looking at right now,” she exclaimed, amazed.
“Who built this, Allison?” he asked, intrigued. “There’s no way it could be a human construction,” she replied. “It would be impossible to create something like this here. It’s something that was dug into the interior of the moon, something very well planned out. There’s simply no way that this could have been done by the Chinese, nor by anyone on Earth.”
They both continued to stare perplexedly at the colossal construction. There were several metal columns in the wing. The center looked like a huge foyer, with other tunnels that seemed to lead to other places within the structure. They kept walking; then, the astronomer saw something on the wall and stopped to analyze it.
“Take a look at this, Russ. Look familiar?” Allison asked as she pointed her flashlight at the gigantic ducts encircling the entire tunnel.
They were in a spherical wing. They could see several rings that went around the entire structure. Given their thickness and angle, Russell concluded that these rings were aligned with the moon’s circumference.
“Do you think those rings are part of some kind of base?” the commander asked.
“I don’t think so. This metallic structure we’re in is surrounded by rock. Whatever it is, its foundation is the moon. I don’t think those rings are structural. Everything we’re seeing right now, this entire apparatus, seems to have been built here, dug out and placed inside here.”
“Then what could it be?”
“They look like the rings we had on the Orion-II,” Allison said, suggesting a new idea to her colleague.
“Do you think the moon could be a ship?” he asked, still confused by what he was seeing.
“Yes. I mean, the moon is a satellite; it’s made up of rock. But, it seems to have been used as a structural foundation for the construction that we’re standing in. Whatever it is, the moon provides a sort of protection. The cosmic radiation levels in here are very low. It’s also not at risk of being damaged by asteroids. If this is a ship, and those rings use a technology similar to the kind we had on the Orion-II, it would seem to be thousands, if not millions of years old... and it looks like a very solid design, very safe and well done,” she said.
They entered a small tunnel. It seemed to be full of equipment, totally different from anything they’d ever seen. It didn’t look like any type of human technology. Then, Russell broke the silence: “If I weren’t here with you, Allison, I would never believe all this. What you said in the other room makes total sense. Whatever this is, it is clearly not human. I think we’re standing in front of the biggest discovery in the history of humankind… we need to start heading back so we can send these images to Houston as soon as possible.”
Allison agreed and they decided to finalize their exploration. They both started rushing back to the surface, but something on the side of the hallway back to the surface caught Allison’s eye. A small, clear dome with something inside.
As they got closer, they realized it looked a lot like a book. Russell careful lifted the dome and picked up the object. It was heavy and many pages long. It was made of a material unlike anything he had ever seen. Its pages seemed to be made out of extremely thin, stiff metal sheets. The pages were full of symbols, and the cover featured a drawing of what appeared to be planets. There were three planets. Two of them were very similar to Earth, whereas the third looked more like Saturn.
“I think these pages are made of Unbihexium. Have you ever felt this material before?” she asked.
“Are you talking about the rare metal used for the rings of the Orion-II, the same one we use to create wormholes?” Russell asked.
“Yes. This has a very similar shine. But we were never able to create anything as thin as the pages of this book. Much less write anything on it. Unbihexium is unique, it is not comparable to any other material. And it’s exactly like this,” Allison concluded.
Russell started to leaf through the object, taking a closer look at the purity of the metal, as well as the symbols, which seemed to form some sort of language. There were tons of symbols. They were like the letters of our alphabet, but with a completely foreign, unknown design.
On one page in particular, they noticed something that immediately sent chills up their spines. Their hands started shaking. Russell let the book fall to the floor
. Then, he reached down, picked it back up, and went back to the figure that they had been looking at. It was an image that was very well known by mankind, but this was the last place they would have imagined seeing it. Its details were somewhat different, but the overall format—the light coming from its center, the religious sentiment it conveyed—was terrifyingly similar.
“Can you make any sense out of this?” Russell asked, his voice frightened and hesitant.
Allison analyzed the page in detail. It certainly was not a human creation. Nothing in that place was human. Could the moon be a ship? And what about that illustration? The perfection of that drawing, the similarity, the profound feelings it provoked… a radiant design engraved on a completely black sheet.
Nothing made any sense. Inside the moon, there was a structure that apparently turned it into a ship, possibly capable of jumping through wormholes, like the Orion-II. The main room of the structure contained some sort of book, made of the only material in the universe capable of interacting with dark matter and distorting gravity. None of this could have been created by humans; and given the deterioration in that place, it had surely been abandoned hundred of thousands of years prior. And that book, written in a completely unknown language, contained something familiar: a black page with an enigmatic cross engraved into it, a drawing of the Christian crucifix, which stood out and shone bright.
Allison wasn’t doing well. She suddenly started to feel weak, and fell to the ground. Russell put the book aside to help his friend. He immediately went to check the readings on her suit; her oxygen levels were low, very low. For some reason, her suit had failed to alert them. With everything that they had seen, Allison hadn’t realized that she had been breathing very heavily, and thus consuming too much oxygen. She was tense, sweaty and perplexed.
Russell helped her stand up, and then grabbed the book before they both started back toward the surface. On the way to the rescue ship, Russell quickly told Frank about everything they had seen down there. The engineer thought they were joking with him. He wasn’t even convinced by the book, although it had made him curious. However, given Allison’s condition, they were focused on getting to the ship as quickly as possible, and thus didn’t talk much.
Russell held the astronaut up with his arm. They tried to walk together toward the rescue point. They couldn’t move very quickly, and the astronomer only had whatever oxygen was left inside her suit to breathe. In the middle of it all, Russell’s alarm started to go off, indicating that his oxygen level would soon become critical, as well. But he stayed focused, walking, jumping, and practically dragging Allison toward the ship.
With difficulty, they both got into the Orion. There were no stairs; there was no lunar model. They had to jump up and grab onto the ship’s structure in order to get inside. Frank helped Allison with a big push. Then, he did the same with Russell. Finally, after a few tries, the engineer also climbed aboard.
The Orion took off with the five astronauts inside. Allison looked out onto the moon’s surface, her eyes fixed on the spot where they had made their discovery. Then, she looked over the horizon, still incredulous, trying to identify exactly where that structure was located. Russell held the book close to his chest as Carter initiated the procedure to put the ship on the route that they would follow.
And so, they activated the engines for the last time, accelerating toward Earth. They followed the same trajectory that the Apollo missions had traveled almost 100 years ago. If everything went according to plan, they would re-enter in three days, landing in the Pacific Ocean.
Three hours after beginning their return trip, after calming down and reestablishing contact with Houston, Russell asked the director for something:
“Jones, we need you to download all of the data captured by the cameras on our helmets, both mine and Allison’s. It has to do with what you requested with regards to the moon… you better be close by when they download the data, I think it will be something you’ll want to keep restricted for now.”
“Okay. Connect your cameras to the ship’s computer and we’ll initiate the transmission. Did you all find any vehicles or probes from the Chinese mission?”
“We found something, but it’s not Chinese. You need to see it with your own eyes. We’re bringing back an object, too. We’ll have to talk once we’re back.”
Jones facial expression went from one of joy to one of confusion. Russell’s final comment had left him extremely curious. Once the transmission was over, he went to Laura’s workspace to download the videos.
In the same room where he had observed the greatest enigma of his career, Jones prepared himself for the data. His heart was pounding. He couldn’t hide how anxious he felt as he waited for the transmission to finish. Laura, although focused on the procedure, felt the same way.
Finally, the process was over. They both watched everything that had been recorded by Allison’s helmet. Hours later, they called Elizabeth. That same night, the presidential plane, Air Force One, landed in Houston.
Image 19 – Astronaut Scott Russell, on the dark side of the moon, approaching the entrance to the large structure they found located there.
(credits and details on the final page)
Image 20 – Photo of what appeared to be a drawing of a cross on the mysterious book found on the moon.
(credits and details on the final page)
Chapter 24
Two years had gone by since the astronauts had returned from the Stellarium-12 mission. The Orion-II spaceship had been left on the moon. All of the crewmembers had gotten home safely; the rescue mission had been a success.
On November 15, 2053, NASA held its first scientific conference to share its findings from that extraordinary mission with the world.
This first gathering was dedicated to the Stellarium Program. All of the agency’s non-confidential findings, which had come as a result of the data captured by the astronauts before landing on the moon, were disclosed. A special agency report was presented to the scientific community, offering a summary of the mission, as well as its findings. At the same time, the three most important Astronomy and Astrophysics journals in the world published special editions will more than 180 scientific articles based on data from the mission.
It was an avalanche of information. And there would be much more to come. NASA worked with all of the American universities and research institutions interested in studying the data collected by the Orion-II, gathering all of the papers that had been submitted and approved during the first 20 months of research. Everything was done in an organized fashion, with the goal of offering a solid rationale for their discoveries, while also providing a full report on the mission.
NASA was still keeping a few things secret, as they searched for answers to unresolved mysteries.
Images, videos, conclusions and new theories were debated extensively over several days. Later, books were written. Documentaries and movies were created. And just when things seemed to be cooling off, in mid-2054, NASA launched its second conference, this time with the press’s involvement.
The second gathering was very different from the first one. The goal was not to talk about the findings of the Stellarium-12 mission. There was only one topic: the moon.
And the media coverage was intense. Even the President of the United States was there. He would speak after the latest lunar discoveries were announced, which led to many rumors and high expectations.
And there was one other difference in comparison to the previous event, one which could be perceived before the conference even began. The huge logo on the main billboard was not NASA’s, but that of a different and unfamiliar agency: “UNSA – United Nations Space Administration.”
Just below this title, one could read the words “Founding Agencies,” followed by the four largest space exploration institutions in the world: NASA (American), ROSCOSMOS (Russian), ESA (European) and CNSA (Chinese).
A little further down, underneath a line of text that read “Members and Partners
,” there was a list of more than 60 space agencies from around the world.
The event kicked off with a welcome speech by Dr. Elizabeth Lark:
I’m here today to tell you about two developments. First of all, to make official the rumors that have been making their way around social media these last few weeks, I am here not just as the Administrator of NASA, but also as the first President of the United Nations Space Administration.
Elizabeth was normally a very calm person. She exuded confidence. But, during this announcement, her body language and speech patterns indicated otherwise. She spoke firmly and composedly. However, just minutes before going out on the stage, as she stood alone in front of the mirror, the head of NASA was wracked with nerves as she practiced her speech. She knew how important her announcement was, and what a big impact it would have. Thus, had she decided to introduce the new institution first as a way of preparing the public for the revelation that would change the world.
On this day, we are making official the creation of an international agency, specifically focused on space exploration outside of our solar system. UNSA is a joint venture made up of the largest agencies in the world; furthermore, dozens of other agencies from the four corners of the world will participate.
UNSA has its own director, who reports to the Board. The Board is made up of the administrators of the four founding agencies.
This new agency will combine the resources of its founders to focus efforts on a single joint space program, Stellarium-II, whose objective is to expand human exploration throughout the universe.
Then, after a short moment of silence, the crowd responded with a round of applause. Up until that point, she hadn’t said anything too out-of-this-world. There had been several collaborative projects and agreements in the past. It was only a matter of time until an institution aimed at improving the focus and governance of the field was created, although the phrase “throughout the universe” did get the public’s attention.
Stellarium (Origins): A Space-Time Adventure to the Ends of our Universe Page 14
