Neil reported her report, and Harris remained silently at the outer edge, waiting for her next command.
Jules walked in and saw the same circular console pattern as before on the moon. In the center was the same raised section with similar-looking command buttons and the ancient, hieroglyphic-looking markings scattered all around the alien device. She paced her five steps over to the center of the room at the island console, exactly as she had done before. The green indicator with another data-looking chip sticking out brought goosebumps to her skin under her suit.
She should have reported on it, but she looked in awe again at the room and the device. She hadn’t come all this way for nothing, so as before, she reached for the chip, and the center console’s hologram displayed as before, a beautiful array of colors in a scattering of refracted light that bled over from the table.
This time, however, she was looking at a depiction of what looked to be a human, or humanoid figure in silhouette. The figure had a pulsating red glow where the human heart would be in the chest. Without warning, the silhouette changed and started to rotate through various other silhouettes with similar markings in red. Blue lines intersected each silhouette at various junctions in what looked like indications of vital organs.
Jules was mesmerized by the rotating display from humanoid form to other forms, some familiar looking and many strange and foreign. She had the distinct impression that she was looking at the outlines of lifeforms that exist, or existed, in the galaxy.
She was pulled from the hypnotic-like trance by a radio communication. “Monroe, this is Red Horizon. Sitrep?” Neil’s voice was like an anchor, bringing her to her senses.
“Roger, Horizon, this is Red Rover One. Sitrep is Alpha scenario A. Repeat, Alpha scenario A.” The scenarios were developed for two reasons. The first was to shorten the explanation necessary should the device meet several criteria, and communications were limited. The second was to keep a lot of extraneous radio communications off the air when the entire planet was listening. They were listed in various order, with the first, or A, a repeat of what was on the moon. She’d only need to clarify the data, and that would come via a secure communiqué.
“Roger, Commander Monroe,” Neil said. “Execute mission objective three.”
The mission objectives were predesigned, and Jules already knew what she had to do. “Roger, Horizon, executing objection three now. Detail data communiqué to follow.”
Jules reached into the bag and pulled out several miniature devices and started to place them around the room. They would record various facets of the alien enclosure, including temperature, radiation levels, atmospheric composition, even though the space was now exposed to the weak Martian atmosphere, and it would make a three-dimensional scan of the room and send the specs to their main computer onboard their ship. Video and photographic details were being taken as well.
“I’m setting up the transceiver unit,” Harris said.
“Roger, Harris,” Jules said, knowing that they rehearsed this part of the mission as well. The SEAL would set out a special unit in front of the door, several yards back, that would receive all the data from her small devices and then relay them to the ship, or a satellite, overhead.
Jules worked in silence for several minutes and then stepped back and looked at her work. “How’s the initial feed looking, Red One?”
Maria answered. “We’ve got a good signal. Decibel readings are nominal.”
“Can you make out the markings well enough?” Jules asked.
“Roger, they are clear,” Maria answered.
Jules couldn’t wait to ask. “Can you decipher any of them?”
She knew how Maria would answer most likely, but like several billion other people, she wanted to know, and she wanted to know now. “Ah, negative, Commander Monroe. They have very little in common with anything in our database from what I see. I’m running them through Max now.”
Jules understood that the database referred to every hieroglyphic ever known in the history of man, including writings that utilized forms even considered close to a picture-type marking. Maria would run each symbol through the database, and Max would compare it to every known symbol, including star constellations and other landmarks or other items that could be related. The search would be exhaustive.
Having deployed the units as practiced, she had only one more thing left to do. “Ready for mission objective four.”
“Copy, Commander Monroe. Mission objective four is a go,” Neil said.
“You ready for departure, Harris?” she asked, standing with her back to the doorway.
“Affirm, Commander,” the man said.
“Pulling data chip now.” Jules reached out above the green icon and grasped the clear, glass-like chip with embedded data on it. Pulling it, she winced slightly, waiting to see if the device would activate or start sending harmful radiation from its obelisk like transmitter. The hologram disappeared but there was no other activity.
Pulling out her last piece of equipment, she ran a slender insulated wire from the mini transceiver set near the door and walked back out the ramp-way, letting the mini spool unroll and laying the wire down at the floor at the edge of the path. It was a secondary redundancy in case the doors closed and the wireless datastream was cut off. The wire could handle an immense amount of force and still relay electronic signals, so she could only hope the door wouldn’t crush it beyond its engineering design.
Walking back out into the reddish-brown light, she walked to the transceiver that Harris had set up and plugged the end of the wire into a port designed for it, and then hit a button to set a seal over it, preventing sand and other debris from interfering with the equipment.
“Red Rover One to Red Horizon, be advised. We are returning to Red One, ETA forty minutes,” Jules said, walking over to the rover and climbing into the driver’s position, which was still located on the left side of the vehicle. It wasn’t like they were going to encounter any traffic on the planet, but it was a four seater and had side-by-side seating as the lander did, and they had to put the steering wheel somewhere.
Jules sealed her door and strapped in. She got her thumbs-up from Harris after he did the same, and she turned the wheel to head back down the slope. Harris made a comment and then on the local two way, “Why the same ETA? Can’t this thing coast faster downhill?”
“Negative,” Jules said, flipping her two way as well. The conversation would be private but still recorded, so she chose her words carefully. “The electric motor is gear driven, so it still requires energy to move. No propulsion and the electric motor will act like a brake. There is no coasting on Mars.”
“Roger that, Commander,” Harris said.
Jules nodded and then kept her pace and route, returning to the lander. They still had one more target to investigate, and time was precious. The Chinese were coming.
Chapter 23
Intervention
Red One
93° West, 4° South
Near Tithonium Chasma, Mars
In the near future, Year 4, Day 175
The flight from Pavonis Mons to a flat landing zone near the Tithonium Chasma was only three hundred and ten miles, but it was at the maximum range for the lander. The worst part of the hop was flying over the ragged crags, ravines, and gullies of the Noctis Fossae that stood between their two landing zones. Had they attempted to use the rover, the trip would have taken over fifteen hours, and that would have been traveling in a straight line, which wasn’t possible.
The rover was left at their landing site for potential future use. It was too heavy to place back on the lander, so their approach to the very edge of the immense canyon on Mars known as the Valles Marineris had to be near to perfect. The rockets had fired normally, and they used a ballistic arc, much like an artillery shell would, to reach their new target. The craft never went to horizontal flight, as it would have burned too much fuel, instead using its adjustable wings and smaller gyro-guided rocket motors to keep th
e craft upright. It wasn’t the most aerodynamic of moves, but then again, Mars had almost no air resistance.
Before the jump, Jules had entered the data chip from the alien device into their onboard computer slot specially designed for it based on the one she retrieved from the lunar surface. The computer would send the entire data feed from the chip to the Red Horizon, which made a copy, storing it on its hard drive and then sending the information to Houston for analysis. It would take a few hours to complete the process, though Max could do it in minutes had the chip been inserted onboard the ship. They wouldn’t wait for their return to send the data back. Redundancy was key.
Repeating their steps from Pavonis Mars, they exited their ship in pairs this time and scanned the horizon. “The edge of the cliff is due south,” Jules said.
“Red One, this is Red Horizon. We show you on top of the infrared signature now. Do you copy?” Neil said.
“Roger, Horizon,” Jules said. “We have no visual yet, moving toward the head of the path at the southwest wall.”
“Copy, Commander Monroe,” Neil said.
The group of four headed over to the cliff wall about fifty yards away and looked down. “That looks deep,” Jackson said.
“That isn’t even the main valley either,” Maria said. “This is the western end and relatively shallow at this point.”
“You call that shallow?” Jackson asked, looking down in front of them at the huge canyon and deep floor below.
“Relatively speaking,” Maria said.
“Well, we’re going to find out if our climbing gear works out here. There is no path that I can see, though the overhead visual mapping indicated that we may be able to walk down by using the side edge of this large draw over there.”
The maps that they had all seen showed one large feature, a huge draw that headed north just to their west. “It will take time,” Maria noted, having already had the math calculated by Houston months earlier.
“Suits are rated for four hours. Each extra canister will add two hours. Maximum we can carry is four, if we don’t intend to bog ourselves down. Max EVA, then, is twelve hours. I’m not sure we can make it down and back up in that time,” Jules noted. It wasn’t possible to assess the terrain until they actually viewed it personally. They had detailed photos and high definition topography, but they needed to put feet on the ground so to speak in order to make an assessment.
“Your call, Commander,” Neil said, finally for the first time dispensing with the formalities.
“What’s our TOT?” Jules asked, asking for the Time on Target.
“You have seven hours of daylight,” Neil answered. “We show the side canyon as having a more accessible approach, but you’ll have to put in about a thousand yards to reach it.”
“Roger distance, Horizon,” Jules said. “Heading that way now. Maria, you want to set up the equipment now, then?”
“Affirmative, Commander,” Maria said.
“I’ll lend you a hand,” Jackson said.
“Red One, this is Red Horizon.” Neil’s voice had a tinge of excitement in it. “Hold your position for a second. We’re getting new readings on the infrared.”
The ship had circled twice already and was on the far side of the planet, but the multiple arrays of communications and surveillance satellites were picking up details on them, the planet, and their surroundings. Jules acknowledged. “Copy, holding our position.”
“We’re getting a communiqué from Houston,” Neil said. “Sending it to you once it’s arrived.”
“Roger, Horizon,” Jules said, anxious to do something and not stand on the planet’s surface after nearly four months of travel.
“Patching it through now. Audio only,” Neil said, “streaming it real time.” The last remark indicated to Jules that the ship was hearing this for the first time as she was.
The voice of Marjorie Jones came across the air. With the delay of communications, they had to relay to each other literally in diary-type entries. Having anything close to a two-way conversation was cumbersome if not impossible under the circumstances. “Red Horizon, this is Houston. Be advised, we are sending you updated coordinates to a new heat signature. Authorization to execute mission communications code one over the area. All systems are showing nominal at this time. ETA on party two estimated as thirty-three hours. Houston out.”
“Red One, this is Red Horizon. Did you copy Houston message?” Neil asked.
“Affirmative, Red One copied,” Jules acknowledged. When dealing with Houston, they were formal.
“Coordinates being sent now,” Neil said.
Jules watched the front of her screen as the mini HUD displayed her location with the coordinates sent by Houston. Her companions were receiving the same data on their HUDS. “We’re almost right on top of it,” Maria noted.
Jules turned, as did the SEALS, and faced the target, lining up their HUDS with the data and landscape. “Let’s go,” she said.
The group walked together as quickly as they could along the edge of the cliff, slightly behind it. Their path took them away from the dangerous drop and further back onto flat ground. They were heading in the same direction as the large draw that they were thinking of using to access the canyon floor.
“Red One, this is Red Horizon. We’re showing you right on top of it,” Neil said.
“Copy, Horizon. Readying transmitter now,” Jules said, reaching for her bag and pulling out the small device she used earlier that day on the alien transmitter.
“I’ll head back and set up our portable science station,” Maria said.
“Assisting,” Jackson said.
Before either could move or Jules could use her device, the ground shifted around them and a huge hole opened up beneath them, swallowing the four astronauts and several metric tons of dirt, rock, and soil in the process. The crew hit a mesh screen of some type that arrested their fall, while the sandy soil sifted away, out and down into a pitch black chamber. They could hear a faint hum transmitted electronically by their earpieces, but the immense pressure of sucking air, primarily composed of carbon dioxide, threw dirt and dust in all directions, blinding them.
“Commander Monroe, do you copy?” Neil said, his voice sharp.
Jules could hear but could only gasp for air as she was pummeled around the mesh screen amidst a huge amount of dirt. Slowly the air started to clear as it settled, and she tried to speak. “This is Monroe. Copy . . . Something hit us . . .”
“We’re showing something open at your location on visual,” Neil said.
Doctor Hill came across the channel. “Commander Monroe, can you check on Science Officer Mayer? I’m showing her vital signs low.”
Jules was thrown one more time as the mesh screen moved under her, sifting dirt and rocks past her and causing her to be thrown somewhat violently against the Martian soil and metal material. Luckily, her suit maintained pressure. “Working on it.”
Jules struggled to stand, but found the interlocking mesh too big for that. In fact, if she didn’t know better, she worried they could fall between it; the spacing was gapped enough that a smaller human could do just that. Finally the moving stopped, and most of the dirt and soil had moved downward.
“Over here, Commander,” Jackson said, holding Maria in his lap as he sat straddling two large mesh beams with his legs dangling on either side. Jules took a moment to look up and see that they had fallen at least twenty feet. There was no climbing out of there. Carefully she moved over to the pair and looked at the faint illumination of Maria’s helmet. She could see slight puffs on the inside of her helmet and the readout on the bottom of her display; backward to her viewpoint was showing green. Maria lived.
Jules looked to her side and saw Petty Officer Harris standing, looking overhead, already assessing their situation. “Red Horizon, this is Red One. We have one crewmember unconscious, three alert. Do you copy?”
“Copy, Commander Monroe. You have—”
The transmission was suddenly cut, as
the mesh structure suddenly lowered down a shaft that was perfectly square at a rate of speed barely above freefall. Jules felt as if she was floating on the screen, and Maria seemed ghastly as her limbs raised up, giving the illusion of animation in the unconscious woman. The overhead butterscotch light of the Martian sky receded quickly, and soon darkness overtook them all.
*****
NASA Space Command
Houston, Texas
In the near future, Year 4, Day 175
“Marge, Doctor Navari on video feed for you,” Lisa said over the intracom.
“I’m a bit busy right now,” Marge said from her console.
“He says it’s urgent,” Lisa relayed.
Marge stopped what she was doing to look across the room at Lisa. “Really?” The frustration was evident in her voice.
“What the hell happened up there?” Smith asked Rock for the third time.
Rock looked at Marge first from his console and spoke over the intracom. “Why don’t you take his call in one of the side rooms, Marge. I’ll work with Smith here on updating our executive branch on current events.”
Marge nodded and left the room for one of several small rooms right outside in the main corridor. She would use the equipment there to have a video discussion with Doctor Navari, who was in Maryland at NSA headquarters. Rock turned to Smith. “We’re still working the problem now.”
“It’s been close to an hour. Why haven’t you launched the recovery lander?” Smith asked.
Rock couldn’t blame the man. It seemed like the logical thing to do, but the infrared became so strong that individual readings on their crew were no longer possible. Mars was so cold, even in daytime, that infrared tracking, along with visual, was a good way to keep track of their movements. Now, for all intents and purposes, his crew seemed to have been swallowed by the planet, though they all knew this had something to do with the alien structure.
“We’ve launched a probe, and it’s arriving momentarily. The lander crew can’t launch for another three and a half hours due to the elliptical orbit around the planet. We only have one window to launch with sufficient propellant to return. Mars is smaller than Earth, but it’s not small in general. Do you understand, Mr. Smith?” Rock said as patiently as he could.
Red Horizon: The Truth of Discovery (Discovery Series Book 2) Page 22
