by T I WADE
AMERICA ONE
Return to Earth
By
T I WADE
AMERICA ONE – Return to Earth
Copyright © 2013 by T I Wade.
All Rights Reserved.
Published in the United States of America.
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Library of Congress Catalogue-in-Publication Data
Wade, America One / T I Wade.
Library of Congress Data.
Editor–Sherry Emanuel, Write2Right Editing, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Cover design– Jack Hillman, Hillman Design Group, Sedona, Arizona
EBook edition layout by eBooks by Barb for booknook.biz
Dedication:
AMERICA ONE – Return to Earth
Is dedicated to NASA, and all the men and women who have dedicated their lives to space travel and research.
***
One day we humans might be shocked to find out; that we are the only warlike life form in the universe, and that others we meet might look down at us, and our stupid insecure habits of self-destruction.
T. I. WADE
Note from the Author
This novel is only a story—a story of fiction, which could or might come true sometime in the future.
The people in this story are mostly fictitious, but since the story takes place in our present day, some of the people mentioned are real people.
There were no thoughts to treat these people as good or bad people—just people who are living at the time the story is written.
***
The author is not an expert in the field of space travel. The author is only a storyteller.
Even though hundreds of hours of Internet research were completed to write this story, many might find the scientific description of space travel lacking, simple, or simply not accurate. The fuels, gases, metals, and the results of using these components are as accurate as the author could describe them.
***
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
I saw a hole… I saw a hole!
Chapter 2
What is buried under the cliff on Mars?
Chapter 3
Déjà Vu
Chapter 4
What is that?
Chapter 5
Wow! Never seen that before!
Chapter 6
So that is how you open these doors
Chapter 7
Time to leave Mars, and a reminder of a day on Earth
Chapter 8
The little round blue planet, or is it an asteroid?
Chapter 9
Combs, mirrors, scrolls, jewelry and blank photos
Chapter 10
What is the meaning of life, and back to DX2017
Chapter 11
Bonanza! Mars, Ganymede, Europa and Titan
Chapter 12
Puzzles deciphered
Chapter 13
A new home
Chapter 14
Smelly astronauts
Chapter 15
Aliens found!
Chapter 16
Roo, Tow and Put
Chapter 17
Ganymede in sight
Chapter 18
The biggest geyser ever seen.
Chapter 19
Titan
Chapter 20
Where is the life?
Chapter 21
Damn, it’s cold in here!
Chapter 22
Commander Joot, Enceladus and two little, old people
Chapter 23
Secrets revealed, back to Mars
Chapter 24
Mars
Chapter 25
Sad Farewells
Chapter 26
Earth
Chapter 1
I saw a hole… I saw a hole!
“I saw a hole… I saw a hole, and there is no spider in the asteroid’s cavern!” explained VIN Noble on the shuttle’s scratchy radio to his boss, Ryan Richmond, who was still orbiting Mars in America One 270,000 miles away.
Lieutenant VIN Noble, ex-Marine Force Recon, saw this second hole in the asteroid. The first had been excavated by the team’s automated mining spider a few months earlier to dig out a cavern.
“Okay, okay, Mr. Noble, just clam down,” replied Ryan, perplexed that this hole had freaked out this Marine. He had known VIN for a couple of years, but had never known him to be shaken by anything in all that time. “Just go through what you saw, and tell me every action of yours,” continued Ryan. His international team of aging scientists listened in through the intercom as VIN described every part of the new cavern.
Jonesy, VIN’s pilot, and Boris, who had gone with the two men as backup, listened in on Sierra Bravo-I—SB-I for short—the shuttle that transported the three men from Mars to the asteroid. This small, round asteroid, only 60 miles across, was still on an incoming trajectory to Mars, and would pass by the red planet in several days, only 115,000 miles out.
“I knew it would be there! I just knew it!” VIN exclaimed. Jonesy was shocked to hear his partner so emotional, and kept quiet as VIN slowly recounted his story. “Jonesy and Boris lowered me through the tunnel the spider dug. It was four feet lower than I expected and 38 feet deep when my feet touched ground. The sides of the tunnel were clean and smooth, not a danger to my space suit. The cavern is circular, about 40 feet in diameter, its roof eight feet high, or two feet above my helmet. The cavern walls are as smooth as the tunnel, and the material looked to be the same type and color as the asteroid’s surface matter. The floor is flat and horizontal, and the spider, wherever it is, did a fantastic job until it hit the hole. The hole, which is about three feet wide, is in the side wall of the cavern, exactly where I saw the same type of hole on the surface, the first time we landed on the asteroid.”
“Is the break in the wall where the spider disappeared, vertical or horizontal?” asked Ryan.
“Both,” replied VIN. “I didn’t get any closer, but I could see when I shined my light into the hole, that there seemed to be two shafts; one is vertical and a second, small area just above the break, seemed to head off in a horizontal direction. I didn’t get any closer, and asked the guys to pull me back up to the surface.”
“Well, you are in charge there, Mr. Noble. What do you want to do now?” Ryan asked.
“Hell! I don’t know. The hairs on the back of my neck told me to get out of there, but I suppose part of me wants to find that spider and bring it back.”
“Can you get into the hole? I will suggest that the vertical hole is impossible to go down into, as all three of you can’t get down into the cavern, but the horizontal tunnel would be the first I would check out,” suggested Ryan. “Mr. Noble, you do what you think is best.”
“Ryan, as I told you, the hole the Rover got stuck in on Mars, on the cliff above the ledge, is exactly above the area you are excavating. If you keep the spiders digging, you should hit the vertical tunnel sealed with the molten rock.”
“I stopped the spiders when we heard of your find, Mr. Noble,” Ryan continued. “While we wait for your findings, the dozen crew members I left on Mars are completing the safety chamber. It wi
ll be ready for testing for atmospheric conditions tomorrow. As of yet, no one has been inside the tunnels the spiders have completed, and I will hold off until you tell us what you find.”
“I don’t know what to say, but it’s not worth doing another spacewalk today; I only have 70 minutes of time left, so I’ll go back in on my next walk in 20 hours,” VIN responded.
“I agree,” replied Ryan. “I will stop our spiders until you report back. By the time you report in, we will be testing our new safety chamber with breathable air and atmospheric pressure and, I will seal off our two internal tunnels to prevent our atmosphere from dissipating into the dug tunnels. By the way, Martha Von Zimmer and Petra Bloem have produced new breathable air from your acquisitions on the first two stops you made on Mars. The water and frozen nitrogen has been turned into three full tanks of breathable air and, there is more. Frau Von Zimmer tried the new air through a scuba-type breathing system yesterday and reported back alive and well. She breathed the new air for twenty minutes, and showed no signs of being negatively affected by it. Her team estimates that the new product will add 20 100-pound tanks of breathable air to our supplies, enough to fill our new safety chamber and the tunnels, if there are no leaks. Mr. Noble, check out the horizontal hole, and then return to America One. It doesn’t matter if you don’t find the spider, we can close the tunnels by hand; so, reconnoiter and then get the hell out of there.”
“We still have eight days before the asteroid gets as close to Mars, so you can head back to the asteroid if need be, after you return back here,” added Igor from the Bridge, standing next to Ryan.
“I would prefer that you check out the tunnels at your location first, Mr. Noble. The crew on Mars is sealing their tunnels as we speak,” continued Ryan.
Jonesy poured VIN a large stiff tot of space-made vodka and gave him a pouch of Earth-made scrambled eggs. With the more powerful gravity on this asteroid than on Mars, it was possible to pour liquids into a shot glass, something Jonesy didn’t leave home without. VIN calmed down and thought about what he was going to find down there, and whether this was his last day on Earth or in space.
Eighteen hours later, after a sleep filled with dreams of monsters and horrible creatures, VIN headed out of SB-I with a quiet Boris and Jonesy to lower him into the shaft for the second time. They had discussed a choice of weapons and, after careful thought, agreed, that an old-fashioned space-mining shovel was the best, and only weapon he had. The laser Taser would just put him to sleep inside his suit and, for the first time in his life, he wished for the Bowie knife he always carried in Iraq. The knife was in his apartment back on board the mother ship, and he reminded himself to always carry it in the future, if he lived through this day. A knife at a laser gun fight wasn’t much, but at least it was good for defense and close combat.
After gathering his courage, he was lowered down the 38-foot shaft to the cavern below. Boris, being an inquisitive scientist, had pleaded with Jonesy and VIN to allow him to go down as well so he could help protect VIN or at least have his back, and Jonesy was strong enough with the weak gravity to pull Boris back to the surface. On this asteroid Boris weighed in at around 40 pounds Earth weight. Jonesy had already warned them, that there was no way he could come down to save them. They needed radio contact at the surface to call for backup, and SB-I would have to be flown off the asteroid; they were on their own.
Jonesy slowly lowered Boris into the seemingly endless tunnel, with Boris pushing himself off the round walls. Jonesy struggled to keep the scientist’s descent down to a slow crawl; he could feel perspiration on his brow inside his helmet when his arms were finally relieved of the weight. He was getting too old for all this excitement.
“You okay up there, partner?” VIN asked Jonesy, once Boris stood next to him.
“Sure, a billion miles from nowhere and no U.S. cavalry to ride in when we need them. I think I will just keep quiet up here and make sure I don’t attract that space shark, in case it’s flying around here somewhere,” Jonesy replied, a little concerned about his solo status.
“Check in with Ryan, tell him that Boris and I are now out of direct communication with him, and stay around so that we can talk to somebody out there,” replied VIN. “I’ll check in every few seconds to make sure that we have contact.”
Down in the cavern it looked exactly to VIN as it had looked the visit before. He directed his light at the hole in the cavern wall so that Boris could see it when he was lowered down. VIN carried the shovel, and a 4-foot nail used to tie down the shuttle on Mars. He felt better having two weapons.
For several seconds both men said nothing as they looked at the empty hole in the wall, a million miles from nowhere.
“No welcoming committee?” Boris joked, to make sure that VIN and Jonesy could hear him.
“Expecting one?” VIN replied, with Jonesy again mentioning the possibility of the space shark. VIN, smiling, told Jonesy, now alone at the surface, to also keep a look out for his favorite friend and smiled at Boris’ helmet, nervously. “Glad I have company. Who knows what we are going to find down here. I’m sure nobody on Earth will believe me when I tell them. Stay behind me I’m going to inch towards the hole.”
Slowly, he headed towards the hole in the wall. He had only moved halfway to the wall when he called Jonesy again. The chief astronaut could still hear him, and he transmitted to Ryan whatever VIN said to him.
He moved forward again and stopped five feet from the hole. He couldn’t hear anything in the spacesuit other than his own breathing, and, with no atmosphere, he could only use his eyes, and sixth sense, to detect anything about to pounce.
Lifting the shovel a little higher, VIN closed in on the hole. Boris’ light, at a slightly different angle, helped him see into the second tunnel—the tunnel that was not supposed to be there.
The inside walls of the second chamber had a dull metal look to it, compared to the shiny walls inside their cavern. He got to the hole, and saw the shaft led upwards, exactly where he had first seen it from above; the molten rock above his head kept it sealed. He could also see that the shaft headed further down, deeper than they were currently standing. VIN then shone his light towards the small gap where he could see a smaller two-foot wide hole heading off horizontally to the left of the vertical shaft. It was large enough for the spider to get through, but he would need to increase the size of the hole to accommodate his cumbersome spacesuit before he could climb inside. The tunnel to the left was in the roof corner of their cavern and he decided to look inside the downward shaft before he banged on the cavern wall to open the hole wider.
Carefully he bent forward and leaned over the hole. He handed Boris the shovel and, very slowly, allowed his helmet to enter the alien area. Nothing happened. He didn’t know what to expect from within, but he slowly moved his right hand in, and shone the second light at the opposite wall of the round shaft; it was a little smaller than the one their own spider had dug out.
“The vertical shaft leads further down, and is about six inches narrower than our spider’s shaft. Jonesy can you hear me?” VIN asked. He got a faint crackly response from Jonesy above, but a clear response from Boris behind him. His helmet light was only three feet away from the opposite wall, and he was too apprehensive to look down at first, so he looked across at the dull wall of the shaft. Something wasn’t right. The dull metallic material did not reflect back anything, even the light from his helmet.
He scraped the opposite wall with his handheld light, and he felt it touch the metal surface. He couldn’t hear anything, so the sound of metal scraping on metal eluded him.
“This wall is smooth and perfect. It’s like the inside of our cylinders in the space craft or inside the barrel of a smooth shotgun. It reminds me of the inside of the canisters, Boris, except that there is no shadow or even my reflection on it. I’m going to touch it again.” Boris relayed the message upwards.
VIN gently touched the wall. It was there, and it was solid. He couldn’t maintain thi
s view any longer and slowly directed both his handheld light and his helmet light down, along the opposite wall; gradually, the shaft below him lit up as the light descended farther and farther.
It came to an end about twenty feet below; it was like looking into the bottom of an open beer can. The shaft was perfectly round, its floor perfectly flat, and there was something down there.
For the first time, he got a reflection from a metal surface as his light shone on the spider. He knew it was the spider, as it was lying in close-down mode, and like a sleeping Black Widow at the bottom of the shaft. Also, there was no exit from the round tube, and the spider looked trapped.
“I found the spider,” VIN reported to Boris, who again relayed the message. “The shaft heads down 20-odd feet, and I bet it fell in; the sides are so smooth, that it was trapped and couldn’t get out. It is in dormant mode at the bottom of the shaft.”
“What is above your head?” Boris asked. VIN slowly turned and allowed the light to shine upwards. It was fascinating that no reflections shone off the surface of the shaft. It was as if the light didn’t touch the walls. The light had reflected off the walls inside their cavern.
“The same molten rock about ten feet above my head and I see one horizontal shaft just above me, about five feet tall, heading in two directions. The floor is about two feet above my head. I can’t see any farther as there is absolutely no light bouncing off or any reflection from any of the walls,” VIN reported. “Shall Boris and I rescue the spider first?” VIN asked High Command.
Ryan suggested that the rescue was a good start, and Jonesy went back to the shuttle to retrieve a couple of cords.
Boris was about 90 pounds lighter than VIN on Earth, but 40 pounds in dead weight on this asteroid. VIN, with the added strength of his metal legs, suggested that he lower Boris down the shaft to the spider to tie a cord to the sleeping metal robot; then, he could pull Boris back up, and finally rescue the spider.
It went off without a hitch, the spider weighing only 100 pounds on this asteroid.
“I have a great idea,” VIN remarked excitedly to Boris, when they were back in their cavern, resting. “I’m sure I can lift the spider up into the horizontal shaft through the hole. It can open the hole wider so that I can get in, and then we can send it off down the corridor. If it comes back all tangled and broken, I’m not going in there. Can you activate it, Boris?”
