Blue Planet Rising (Pebbles in the Sky Book 2)

by Jeffery Bagley

  “Which is exactly what’s going on,” laughed the President. He gestured at the news feed. The commentator was showing some artists renditions of what the aliens may look like. “They’re showing renditions of creatures that look like everything from a circus pony, to a baby elephant with arms.”

  “It’s a shame that the suit that the team found had never been used,” said Susan. “If we could isolate some DNA samples we could really do some investigative research into their species. It would be very interesting to see just how different they are from us at the molecular level.”

  Peter grinned. “My wife wants to be up there investigating that planet so badly she can barely stand it. She’s personally acquainted with Brianna, the Xenobiologist on the expedition. Susan’s also good friends with the young woman’s parents.”

  The President thought for a moment. “That would be the young Doctor Driskall then. I’m acquainted with the elder Driskall’s. They have both had very productive careers.”

  “Doctor Rockwell, I’m concerned about the safety of the Elpis expedition personnel. With the tragic loss of two of their supply ships, are they going to be ok?” asked the President.

  “I believe they’ll be fine, Mr. President. The alien structure they’ve moved into is actually a much better habitat than the one that they would have originally used. There was quite a bit of redundancy built into every aspect of the expedition’s equipment and supplies. It was a bizarre misfortune that both of the supply ships that were destroyed, were the ones carrying almost identical equipment. The expedition team has already erected their hydroponic greenhouses and will be able to produce their own food within just a few months.”

  “All of the expedition members have adapted quite well to the slightly lower gravity and the different atmospheric composition. Other than a few bruises and blisters, there have been no illnesses or injuries at all among the crew. The only medical issues, barring some unforeseen accident, will probably be the odd smashed finger or other mild injuries. All of the expedition team members were given very intense physicals before they left.”

  “The main issue they have at the moment is the production of hydrogen and oxygen for fueling the ascent ship. We’re trying to come up with a way to get around the loss of the two large hydrolysis units. We will either send them another one on a robotic lander or figure out how they can use the two small ones to get the ascent ship’s tanks filled. The biggest disappointment is that they won’t be able to stockpile fuel for any future expeditions.”

  The First Lady and Susan got up and excused themselves. Mrs. Walden had offered to give Susan a tour of the Magnolia house and Susan had graciously accepted.

  After they left, the President turned back to Peter, “I had a conversation with Admiral Ellis a couple of days ago. Are you aware that they have identified a half dozen more space rocks that are on convergence trajectories with Earth?”

  “Admiral Ellis and I communicate just about every day, Mr. President. Only three of those asteroids are big enough to be of concern. The other three are small enough that they’ll burn up in our atmosphere. The others have all been designated to have their trajectories altered. I believe that there are two of them that are suspected of having a high metal content and are slated to be steered into lunar orbit for processing. The Space Force is starting to earn the money that was spent on them.”

  The President hesitated. “Peter, you and I have worked together for almost twelve years. My time here in office is almost up. There will be a new president sitting here in January. None of the three candidates are very supportive of the Space Force. You’ll have to be strong, and very judicious in your advice to ensure that we maintain the ability to shield our planet. The funds from our new allies are helping tremendously, but many still see the Space Force and space exploration in general as a huge drain on the economy. We mustn’t lose what we have worked so hard for.”

  Peter sat quietly for a moment, and then spoke. “Mr. President, I was around twenty two years old when I discovered the Brown Dwarf. Thirty years have gone by since then. I figure I’m good for at least another fifteen to twenty years as long as Congress doesn’t replace me. I’ll do what I can to keep the next president focused on the dangers we face as well as the opportunities that exist for us above our atmosphere.”

  “As a matter of fact, I wanted to let you know that the assembly of the central truss for the next low orbit space station has started. If construction goes as planned, it will be complete in about three years and Space Station Alpha will be turned over to the commercial mining conglomerate that has agreed to buy it. As agreed, we have shared some of our propulsion technology with them and they are developing some exploration ships that will have the endurance and range to reach the asteroid belt. I was amazed that they are seriously looking at setting up a base of operations on Vesta or Ceres. They plan on setting up a permanent mining operation out there in the asteroid belt.”

  “I’m afraid you’ve lost me. What are Vesta and Ceres?” interrupted the President.

  “I’m sorry, sir. Those are the two largest asteroids that we know of in the inner solar system.”

  “Why do they want to build a base way out there?” asked the President.

  “Those two asteroids are big enough to be considered dwarf planets. They have a small gravity field which would help tremendously with smelting metals. By having a base out there, the miners could easily move other asteroids into orbit around the bigger ones and not have to alter their trajectories to bring them near Earth. It would be much more cost effective. They could make metals and materials on site and then deliver them where they are needed in the solar system. Although expensive to build, it would also be a logical place to build the hulls of future spaceships. A large mining operation would open the door to humans moving out through the entire solar system,” Peter explained.

  “So, Benjamin Greco’s dream is coming true then,” mused the President.

  “I thought that he was in poor health and living out his days in Bolivia?” Peter asked.

  “Although he has failed to do so, I agreed to let him back into the country on the condition he resigned his position from the corporations that he owns. I suspect he’s still running the show by proxy,” the President said.

  “He has to be in his eighties,” said Peter. “He needs to retire.”

  “A lot of us do,” laughed the President. “I’m number one on that list as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Doctor Rockwell, is that large comet that was diverted using the nuclear warheads still heading for Mars?”

  Peter nodded. “Impact is expected in about five years. I’m not sure of the exact date. The collision should be an impressive show. We’re trying to plan a manned expedition to the surface about six months after it hits. There should be some major changes to the Martian atmosphere by then. If we could crash about ten more that size on the planet we could make it much more habitable for humans. At the least, adding all that heat and water to the planet would make it much easier to terraform.”

  “Just make sure it keeps going that way after I’m out of office. I want my grandkids to be able to grow up,” said the President.

  The ladies returned and Peter stood up. “We need to be going Mr. President. It’s getting late and we have a plane to catch back to Houston in the morning. Thank you for you hospitality.”

  The President stood and shook Peter’s hand. “Doctor Rockwell, it’s been an honor to work with you the past twelve years.”

  “I’ve enjoyed working with you also, sir,” replied Peter. “You’ve served our nation well and you provided leadership during its time of need. After your successor takes over, you and Mrs. Walden need to come visit us in Houston.”

  “We just may do that,” said President Walden.

  Chapter 37

  May 10th, 2047

  Elpis

  After four days of mundane housekeeping tasks and some basic science work, the whole expedition crew was anxious to continue t
he exploration of the alien site. All of the equipment and supplies had been moved from the supply ships to the new base camp. Most of it had been stored under tarps or put in one of the small alien domes. They had explored the entire area within one kilometer of the base camp. Samples of the planets soil confirmed it to be sterile except in the area of the seed probe that they had stumbled upon. Analysis of the samples collected by Jason and Brianna at that site showed that the terrestrial bacteria that had been released were flourishing. Terraforming of the planet at the microscopic level had been started and could no longer be stopped.

  Some test seeds that had been started in the planet’s soil by Beatrice were starting to germinate. If they showed no problems with growth, then the team would plant the first food crops in the green houses in about a week. Brianna had planted the specimens that she had dug up at the seed probe site in the sun near the dome they were using for a shelter. She had added a little fertilizer from their latrine to the surrounding soil and they seemed to be flourishing. She had suggested that they go back to the site of the seed probe and try and get some more specimens and transplant them to the area around the base camp. Since they had the equivalent weather of an endless spring at this latitude on the planet, she and Beatrice agreed that they should spread very quickly.

  Albert had been very excited with the results of his geological surveys. Examination of the deep gullies that had been cut by the uninhibited erosion from rain run-off showed that the entire area of the base camp had once been underwater in the very distant past. This confirmed the suspicions that the planet had at one time had a much warmer climate. Due to the lack of any organic material in the soil, he and the geologists back on Earth agreed that the planet had become very cold and inhospitable to life very early in its history. Life had never had a chance to spread onto dry land. A future expedition to the ocean bay south of them would hopefully reveal more information about any life forms in the sea.

  The expedition crew had experienced its first squabble and survived it, although there were still some simmering bad feelings. Kristy had confronted Jason about his suspected relationship with Brianna. Jason had told her that since Brianna was civilian, what he and she did when he was not on duty was none of Kristy’s business. A shouting match had followed and the rest of the group had become involved. No one else seemed to have any problem with the pair’s relationship. Most of them already knew of it, or had suspected it, so it was no surprise. The confrontation had passed with Brianna in tears, Jason furious with Kristy, and Kristy in shock that no one else seemed to mind that Jason and Brianna were sneaking off together. In the end, they agreed not to discuss it again unless it affected the duties or responsibilities of the individuals involved.

  The NASA psychologists had predicted that relationships would start to development among the male and female personnel on the team. If a mixed group of humans were placed in isolated post, and left alone for an extended period of time, human nature would start to exert itself. The relationships were just bound to happen. Normally, there was some inhibition of this in all military commands due to the command structure and regulations. The Elpis expedition team however, was a mix of civilians and military personnel. As Beatrice had pointed out to all of them, no one had taken a vow of abstinence. The situation had come to a head when Beatrice and Frederick had been caught in a compromising position on one of the seating benches in the alien excavator by the Master Chief. He had raised a stink about his new toy being used as a romantic rendezvous point. Kristy was sure the behavioral psychologists back on Earth would have their jobs cut out for them when discussing the group dynamics of the expedition after the team got back home in four years.

  Today, though, they were all standing in front of the large alien dome except for Donald who had the communications watch on top of the hill. NASA and Alpha control had given them permission to enter the main dome. There had been a debate which to enter first, the alien spaceship or the dome. Due to the likelihood of encountering equipment of unknown nature, they were holding off from entering the ship for the time being. Master Chief had connected the charging cable to the ship several days ago and they were able to open and close the access hatch on it so they knew that it had some internal power available.

  David had been tasked with recording every aspect of today’s entry into the main alien dome. He stood ready with a video camera. After their experience with the lighting in the smaller domes they fully expected there to be lighting present in the larger dome. It appeared that the aliens preference for the light spectrum was very similar to what humans liked. They had verified there was power to the building by opening the outer door. As expected, the boxy like structure attached to the main dome was an empty chamber with another door on the other side. It had been anticipated that the small chamber attached to the large dome was an airlock.

  Kristy, Master Chief, Albert, and Brianna entered the airlock. The others waited outside, watching in anticipation. Kristy nodded and Master Chief operated the inner door mechanism. Nothing happened. They stood there perplexed. So far, all the other doors had opened. However, this one refused to budge.

  “I think I know what the problem is,” Jason called in. They had placed a large empty container in the doorway to keep the outer door from shutting. “There’s probably a safety interlock that prevents both doors from being open at the same time. We have the same type feature on all of our airlocks.”

  He stepped into the airlock and pulled the container into the airlock with them. The outer door shut in about thirty seconds. They noted that there was subdued and diffuse lighting emanating from the ceiling in the same manner that they had seen in the smaller domes.

  “Now, try the inner door,” he suggested.

  Master Chief tried the inner door mechanism again and the iris leaves of the door expanded in sections and opened. They slowly entered a larger chamber just inside the airlock and looked around. The walls of the room were covered racks of pressure suits of the same design as the one they had found in the box in the first small dome. These however, had the helmets hanging with them. They were startled when the inner door shut behind them. Kristy found the operation mechanism beside the door where they expected it. She verified that the door would open from the inside and they breathed a sigh of relief.

  Brianna went over to one of the space suits and took a helmet off the wall. The helmet was about twice as large as a human helmet would be. It was oval shaped rather than round. She looked in it and then handed it to Jason and stared looking in the others. Jason put the helmet on his head and whinnied like a horse. The others burst out in nervous laughter except for Kristy who just glared at him. Brianna was going from suit to suit looking in them.

  “What are you doing?” asked Jason.

  “Looking for some hair, fur, or some type of tissue that may contain DNA,” said Brianna.

  They spread out and searched the room. They found a rack of oval cylinders that were attached in pairs on a frame with a harness that they deduced would fit one of the four legged aliens bodies.. The frame also contained several boxes and some smaller round metal balls.

  “These are probably their life support packs,” speculated the Master Chief. “If we could analyze the gas in these cylinders that would probably let us know about the atmosphere they normally breathed.”

  “Kristy looked at the meter she held in her hand. So far, the air in here is the same composition as the outside air. That’s too coincidental. There has to be some sort of ventilation system operating and mixing the air. The outside air must be close enough in composition to what the aliens breathed or the life support system should not have exchanged air with the atmosphere outside.”

  Just then the inner airlock door opened, and Beatrice stood there in the airlock.

  “Donald just called down,” she said, “The beacon from the structure has stopped.”

  “Everybody get out,” ordered Kristy. “Now!”

  They all rushed into the airlock, shut the inner d
oor and rushed outside when the outer door opened.

  Kristy called Donald up at the communications station on her PA. “What’s going on Donald?”

  “I was watching you through binoculars. About two to three minutes after you shut the outer door the beacon just stopped. There’s been no further electrical activity that I can detect from here,” he answered.

  Kristy thought for a moment. “Let’s go sit and talk about this before we proceed. It makes me nervous that the beacon just stopped after it has been going non-stop since the first expedition entered orbit around the planet. Everybody take a break and meet back at the dome.”

  …

  The computer intelligence that resided in the main electronic arrays of the large alien dome was fully alert now. Sensors indicated that biological life forms had entered through the airlock and were now in the suit storage compartment. There were five biologicals in the chamber. Sensors in the room were feeding information rapidly to the computer intelligence. The five life forms were searching the room in a purposeful pattern. They were also using electronic equipment. Their behavior fit the algorithms that indicated that they were highly intelligent and had a technologically advanced culture. Following its prior instructions, the computer turned off the beacon. The site had been discovered by an intelligent biological species as its builders had hoped. The beacon was no longer needed.

  The sensors in the suit storage compartment indicated that the life forms were ingesting oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. These life forms were using similar metabolic chemical reactions as the computer’s creators had. There were different chemical signatures in the air in the room indicating a high probability that there were two major classifications in the life forms. If they were of a similar evolutionary pattern as its masters, then one type was Sabba and one was Ranor. The computer followed a subset of previous programing instructions and activated the life support and lighting systems in the upper level of the complex. Learning stations one through four were activated. Power levels in the main storage arrays were noted to be near full capacity. The computer then entered into a state of watching and learning. Although it was an artificial intelligence, it felt an emotion almost like anticipation.