Doctor Abernathy pulled his arm from her grasp in indignation. “Commander, I seriously doubt an intelligent alien race would plant a beacon to attract attention, and then set traps for those that responded. And don’t forget, I’m the only trained archeologist on this expedition.”
“All of you listen to me.” Kristy looked around the group. No one enters that site until we get the ok from Earth. Do I make myself clear?”
No one answered, and even Albert lowered his gaze. “I apologize, Commander. I had intended to just look around, but I did discover why the robot from the last expedition could not operate the door mechanism.
Jason pointed down the hill at the alien building. The large iris door was no longer open. “It must have some sort of time delay, the door is shut again.”
Kristy turned and started down the hill back toward the ascent ship. “We need to set up camp before it gets dark.”
Chapter 29
April 26th, 2047
Elpis Orbit
“Admiral Ellis, Doctor Abernathy is loose cannon. Those damn Europeans are going to endanger the whole expedition,” said Hank angrily. “We should never have allowed civilians to go. The whole expedition should have consisted of military personnel.”
Hank slammed the headset down. He had been arguing with Alpha Control about the lack of discipline that had been exhibited by the civilians on the landing party. It was damned hard to argue with someone when the round trip message took almost forty minutes. Admiral Ellis had pointed out that the only civilian that had been a problem to this point was Doctor Abernathy. He stated that even Doctor Abernathy, as the only trained archeologist on the expedition, should be given the benefit of the doubt for his actions. As an archeologist, he had been trained how to investigate ruins without disturbing the dig site. Archeologists were trained to observe without changing anything that could contain vital information.
Hank looked over at the communications operator, who avoided his gaze. The poor woman probably thought he would take his frustration out on her. “What do you think they should do with Doctor Abernathy?”
Petty Office Sheila Collins answered carefully. “Draw and quarter him, and feed him to the wolves, sir?” She grinned sheepishly.
“Damn right,” Hank growled. “The problem is there isn’t any wolves down there. Unfortunately, drawing and quartering also went out of style several hundred years ago.”
Hank looked up as Allan Greco floated head first down the ladder.
“I went and pissed out all the coffee from this morning. I’m ready to land the next ship,” Allan said.
Hank was actually very pleased so far with Allan Greco’s piloting of the supply ships. Of the five supply ships, three were down on the surface. The last two he had actually managed to put within five hundred meters of each other in The LZ. They were going to put one more down today. That would leave one ship to do at first light tomorrow. Then, the Colonel Pierce would have to leave orbit and head toward Mars. The David Honstein had departed ten hours ago after unloading the other two supply ships it had transported. Lieutenant Greco was having increasing problems with the data feeds controlling the robotic supply ships. The charged particles from the solar storm were bombarding them at increasingly higher levels. The aurora in the planet’s atmosphere could be seen from orbit and internal radiation levels were slowly rising, even with the protection of the ship’s EM shield.
“You have permission to proceed, Lieutenant. I’ll notify the landing party,” Hank said.
…
Commander Kristy Nichols tried to stretch and work the soreness out of her shoulders and back. Except for Lieutenant Greco, the entire expedition team had slept on the discarded parachutes from the robot landers. They had agreed that the make shift tent erected beneath the ascent ship was still much better than sleeping in the ascent ship. Jason had stayed in the cockpit of the ascent ship monitoring communications all night and was exhausted. Although softer than the seats in the ascent ship, the parachutes had made poor beds and the entire team was tired and irritable.
The morning had been spent watching the landings of two more supply ships. One more was coming down today and then the last one in the morning. After that, the expedition crew would be left on their own when the Colonel Pierce left orbit. Chief McGill, Petty Officer Chamness, and Doctor Abernathy had left that morning to hike the several kilometers to the supply ship that contained their ground transports. She had sent Doctor Abernathy along with them to keep him out of trouble.
Master Chief Simms and Petty Officer Mullen had opened one of the supply ships and hauled out some rations and one of the solar panel arrays. They had been busy setting it up on the hill above the ascent ship so that it could keep the ship’s batteries charged for the next four years. They wouldn’t activate the ships fuel cells until it was almost time to use the ship to climb back into orbit.
They watched the third supply ship today come down. It landed at the base of the hill across from where they were setting up the solar array. That was the last one for today. They were going to pull out the communications station that was on board the supply ship that had just landed and set it up. That ship was also the one that contained one of the crew habitats. They would have to haul that out in the next few days and set it up to give themselves more comfortable sleeping quarters. It would be a big improvement to sleeping on the ground beneath the ascent ship. A rain storm had come through in the middle of the night and had soaked them all and made the rest of the night miserable.
…
Chief McGill, Petty Office Chamness, and Doctor Abernathy trudged up the next hill. Although it was only two kilometers from the LZ to the distant supply ship, their lack of conditioning and atrophied muscles from the ten week voyage to the planet were letting them know how out of shape they were. The lower oxygen concentration and slightly higher carbon dioxide level was also contributing to their lack of stamina.
“I think this is the last hill,” said David.
“I hope so Chief, this is killing me. I haven’t been on a forced march since the academy.” Donald complained.
“Donald, I think we should have argued with the Commander to wait a few days to do this trip,” Albert said to Petty Officer Chamness.
“I would advise you to lay low around Commander Nichols for a while,” David replied. “She’s pissed as hell at you right now.”
“I was merely trying out a hunch I had about the door mechanisms,” explained Albert.
“I still cannot believe it opened,” said Donald. “Those buildings have to be thousands of years old.”
“They may be old, but don’t forget that they haven’t been exposed to any weathering except for the past couple of years after the atmosphere here melted.” said Albert. “The cold vacuum of deep space is an excellent preservation environment.”
“I wonder where the power comes from,” asked Donald.
“Those solar cells all over the building most likely,” said David
“Be careful not to assume that everything is what it appears,” said Albert. An alien race will probably have a totally different thought process than us. What looks like one thing to us may have an entirely different purpose. The civilization that built those things isn’t human. Their philosophy and intellect may be totally different from ours.”
“Well, I can sure recognize that lander ship and the bulldozer thing,” said David. “A hammer is a hammer no matter who makes it.”
They crested the last hill and saw the supply ship below them. About a kilometer down the small valley from the supply ship was a small patch of green.
“Damn, look at that,” exclaimed David.
“It must be where one of those seed probes landed,” observed Albert.
David pulled up his sleeve and tapped on his PA. “Base, this is Chief McGill. We’ve reached the lander. I will contact you later and give you an update.”
“Roger Chief, is Doctor Abernathy still with you?” Command Nichols’s voice asked.
The three men walked down the hill and circled around the squat robotic supply lander. It was sitting on a slight slope on its four short landing struts. At about twelve meters wide and eight tall, it was short, fat, and stubby. David walked around the ship until he found the strut that had ladder rungs. He climbed up and opened a recessed control panel. Reaching inside he turned a release mechanism and there was a grinding noise and then the hissing sound of hydraulics. Two sides of the ship popped open like the petals of a flower and lowered to the ground as the large springs on their hinges pushed them open. Built in hydraulic brake pistons controlled the rate of opening until the capsule sides hit the ground. The two sides now formed two ramps. Stored neatly inside the capsule were two ground vehicles with their six wheels folded up into a retracted position.
David motioned the other two to come give him a hand. They swung out an overhead support beam, and using two small chain falls that were stored in a side locker, they pulled the first transport out along the support beam and lowered it to the ground. The frame of the vehicle weighed around nine hundred and twenty kilograms. Once it was on the ground they lifted one side and locked the three wheels in place, then repeated the procedure for the other side. Albert and Donald pushed it out of the way while Donald started pulling the other one out. The second transport was significantly bigger and had a much heavier frame. It took some effort and a lot of grunting to get it to the ground and get its wheels locked. This second transport was built to have an excavation blade and other assorted plows or tools attached to it. It was basically a tractor while the first transport was a four person ground transport. The smaller transport had already been given the nickname of “Jeep” in reference to an off road utility vehicle that had been popular in the late nineteen hundreds.
After both vehicles were on the ground and resting on their wheels, they sat down in the shade of the supply ship and ate a lunch of freeze dried carbohydrate and protein bars. They washed the disgusting things down with water from their hydration packs.
Donald made a face as he ate. “We need to get the green houses up and get some real food growing as soon as possible. I don’t know if I can eat this crap for six months straight.”
Albert chewed his slowly, rolling it around his mouth. “Actually for dried boot leather it does not taste that bad.”
David washed out his mouth and spit the water out. “These are just the emergency ration bars from the lander. We haven’t unloaded the real rations yet. They should be a little more palatable.” He stood up and motioned to the others. “Come on, we still have to mount the fuel cells and fill them. Then, we have to mount the motors and transmissions. After all that is done, we need to pull the trailers out. If we bust our assess we should be done by lunchtime tomorrow and can get back to the landing site for some hot food.” He climbed back up in the lander and starting releasing the protective boxes that held the transport’s motors and transmissions. Donald and Albert climbed up to assist him and they began the tedious work of assembling the rest of the two transport’s equipment.
Chapter 30
April 27th, 2047
Elpis Landing Site
Kristy Nichols climbed down the ladder from the ascent ship’s cockpit. Master Chief, Jason, and Sarah Mullen were setting up the scaffolding for the communication array on top of the hill between the ascent ship and the artifact site. Doctor Doucette and Doctor Driskall were stacking boxes they had unloaded from the closest supply ship. There were water proof boxes of rations, plant seeds, clothing, and various tools they would need for the next four years. Many of the heavier boxes would have to wait until the other group returned with the ground transports and trailers to help move them.
Beatrice Doucette looked up and asked Kristy, “Any word from the guys with the cool cars?”
Kristy laughed. “They’re packing all the attachments for the heavy transport and the spare parts right now. They should be back by lunch. “They said they found something interesting about a kilometer off and wanted to check it out on their way back. I said no, but Chief McGill insisted that they needed to break in the transports anyway. So, I reluctantly gave them permission to detour.”
“They’re probably are going to race each other,” laughed Brianna. “Men do love to drive things fast and dangerously.”
Kristy nodded. “Speaking of fast, they just released the last supply ship. ETA is about ninety- seven minutes. I’ll call on the radio when you need to take cover. I need to get back up and monitor communications with the Pierce until then.” She turned and climbed back up the ladder. She noted she was already getting some strength back. Each time she climbed the ladder it didn’t seem quite as high as it had the time before.
…
On the Mike Pierce, Allan Greco was sitting at the VR control panel getting ready to land the last supply ship. Captain Jenkins was in the cockpit going through the pre-departure flight checklist for the Colonel Pierce. As soon as the supply ship was down, they were breaking orbit and making for Mars. The radiation levels were starting to spike dangerously. Already, all but the most essential personnel were sleeping in the storm shelter.
At the moment, the last supply ship was still under computer control and streaking down through the atmosphere. It had just about reached the point above the LZ where it would deploy its parachutes and Allan would take over. Allan was starting to get nervous. He couldn’t establish the VR control link with the squat supply ship. He should have been able to access its control systems but he was only getting an intermittent at best signal lock with the robotic ship due to all the interference from the solar storm. At the moment, all he could ascertain was that the ship was descending rapidly under its parachutes.
Allan called up to the command deck on the communication circuit. “Captain, I’ve got a problem. I can’t establish a good control link with the last supply ship. It’s hanging on its chutes and going down fast.”
Allan kept trying to initiate the control sequence but just couldn’t get a solid telemetry lock on the supply ship. Hank came gliding down the ladder head first and pulled himself over to Allan.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t get a link. It’s the interference from the solar flare. The ship’s descending under its chutes. If I can’t get a link in the next thirty seconds I won’t have time to jettison the chutes and fire the landing engine.”
“Where is it in relation to the LZ,” asked Hank
“Close, real close, as far as I can tell,” said Allan. “The ship’s computer has been right on the money with all but the first ship. All the landers have beacons so the computer has been able to triangulate position better with each additional ship we’ve landed.”
Hank keyed the control circuit for the radio. “Elpis ground crew, this is Captain Jenkins. Do you read?”
There was a rush of static then a faint answer. “Roger, this is Commander Nichols, go ahead.”
“Kristy, the last ship is coming down without VR control. It’s under the chutes and we may not be able to fire its engine. Give your people a heads up.”
“It’s too late, it’s going down without control,” Allan told him.
“I copy, Elpis out,” came the reply from the planet.
Hank looked at the pale faced and stricken Lieutenant who was taking his VR helmet off. “It’s not your fault Lieutenant. Get to the storm shelter. I’m initiating the computer sequence to break orbit. We have to get in the shadow of the planet and get out of here or we’re going to fry ourselves.”
“Kristy, this is Hank. If you can hear me, we have to break orbit get the hell out here. We’re sorry about the last ship. We can’t get control of it, but you should be ok even if it is lost. It was the redundant ship with the second crew habitat, some spare parts, and additional rations. We’re leaving orbit and then I have to go to the storm shelter. You may not be able to cont
act us or Alpha Control for a few days until the flare dies down. Good luck and be careful.”
…
Kristy heard the last communications from the Mike Pierce but did not answer as she was climbing to the ground as fast as she could. She had radioed to the work party on the hill to keep an eye out for the ship. As she reached the ground she saw Beatrice and Brianna shading their eyes and looking up at the sky. Following their gaze, she saw the last ship hanging beneath its large parachutes and coming down fast…very fast. The ship slammed into the ground on the hill across the valley from them. It must have been traveling seventy to eighty kilometers an hour when it hit. It tottered on the side of the hill then fell over on its nose and started rolling. Because it was conically shaped, it didn’t roll straight. It rolled sideways and hit a large rock. It started to flip upright, but then fell over and rolled the other way right into another supply ship that had landed at the bottom of the hill. That ship leaned over from the impact, and then two of its landing struts buckled and it fell onto its side.
“Shit!” Kristy exclaimed.
She heard the crew members who were working on top of the hill yelling. Then the last supply ship down exploded. The concussion knocked them all to the ground. Dirt and rocks rained down around them, but none of them were injured. Kristy stood up. There was smoke and flame from the wreck of the last ship that had crash landed. Evidently, its full fuel tanks had ruptured and then exploded. From this distance, she could not see how much damage had been done to the second ship that it had rolled into.
She stood there watching the flames. All she could think to say was, “Damn.”
…
Chief McGill was driving the heavy transport and Albert was riding beside him while cradling his miraculous finding. Donald was in the small transport just ahead of them. As they drove toward the base camp they saw the last supply ship coming down. It looked as if the parachutes had not released and it was coming down with no power. It disappeared behind the hills ahead. About twenty seconds later a ball of fire and smoke rose into the sky.
Blue Planet Rising (Pebbles in the Sky Book 2) Page 17
