“I have just received a priority message from Director William Tuttle. I won’t waste time on any lengthy preamble trying to explain the content of the message. Instead, I will play it back for you, and let you come to your own choices.”
At the use of the word ‘choices’ everyone began to talk at once. Justine waved her hand at them for silence, then she motioned for Helen to begin replay of the message on the large DMR in the Command Bridge.
Director Tuttle’s face appeared when the NASA insignia faded into the background.
“Justine,” the image said. “Conferencing with both the heads of the Canadian Space Exploration, and with the CEO of USA, Inc., we have come to a unanimous agreement to launch a return mission to Pluto, exclusive to both our country corporations. This has been achieved in compliance with a new contract between Canada Corp., its subsidiary, CSE, and with USA, Inc. and its subsidiary NASA. Part of this contract is the creation of a new joint-partnership corporation, Quantum Resources, Inc., which has been set up to exclusively study the phenomenon of the asteroid, Macklin’s Rock, its sole surviving occupant, Alex Manez, and all aspects of the mysterious Element X.
“However, since the bulk of our scientific evidence has been pirated from the Orcus 1, including Alex Manez, the information concerning our plans, and our future agenda, has been brought into the public spotlight. Under amendment of our initial exclusive contract with Quantum Resources and its parent companies, we have agreed to offer limited partnerships on this new mission to Pluto, to be called the Orcus 2 mission, to all original participants of Orcus 1. No doubt the space agencies concerned will be EPSing messages to your crew and scientific team presently; so I have taken the initiative to warn you and inform you of these developments.
“It is our consensus that any members of the crew or scientific team who wish to extend their tour to the Orcus 2, and return to Pluto, may do so. For those who are ordered back by their respective space agencies, or do not wish to participate in the Orcus 2 mission, we have made arrangements for the Orcus 1 to rendezvous with Luna Station, instead of returning home. Flight trajectories will be uploaded into your ship’s navigation computer within a few hours.
“There, at Luna Station, a crew transfer will be initiated, as well as a refit and restock of supplies. There will be a two-week shore leave on Luna Station following a debriefing.
“Both myself and the CEO of USA, Inc. extend our most hopeful request that you should head up this subsequent mission, Captain, if it is your wish. In return, we will be extending your tenure, and offering you a substantial flight and mission bonus. We leave it to you whether you wish to present this news to your crew, or wait until they are contacted by their respective space agencies. Your replies will be required no less than twelve hours from the time of this transmission.
“Director Tuttle, out.”
Justine turned in her command chair and watched as members of the Orcus 1 began the process of realizing that their initial mission, although it had technically failed, still brought reward. Most of them would be given the opportunity to try a second time.
The pall that had settled over the members of the ship over the past six months, and more especially, after the pirate attack, had suddenly lifted with the news that they would be going back to Pluto.
“We all have some thinking to do—” Justine began, but was interrupted by Helen Buchanan.
“Sorry, Captain, but I don’t require any time. The minute the CSE sends me the offer, I’m going to EPS back that I’m staying for the duration. I know I don’t have much to do with the scientific aspects of this mission, but I’ve always been one to see it through to the end. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
One by one, the members of the science team agreed with the First Mate’s sentiments, in their own words. Not only were their careers going to be saved by this opportunity, and their professional sense of duty appeased, but their personal ambitions to unlock the secrets of Pluto and Dis Pater were being granted in a way none of them had even entertained.
In the end, Sakami Chin bowed out when the order from the People’s Republic of China Space Agency ordered him to return to their country, to be replaced by Chin’s esteemed colleague, Dr. Soon Tek.
Justine, however, was going back to Pluto, and nothing was going to stop her.
30
Quantum Resources, Inc. :
Toronto :
Canada Corp.:
George Markowitz had personally traveled to Honduras to get the interview.
Being one of the Senate’s favorite hobbies, NASA benefited from generous government corporate transfers, and was able to buy the latest in high-tech equipment. Quantum Resources did not have an AVOT, or Virtual Tourist Camera (the name by which they were marketed in the private sector), in their inventory, but luckily, the output could easily be played on any DMR casement with a specialized adapter.
Michael had the option of viewing the flat screen output (slightly distorted), or taking in the full 270° visual 3D audio and full factory and tactile experience of the Virtual Tourist operator.
The VT Camera took samples of the air around the helmet the operator donned, and recorded the scents as part of its database of over sixteen thousand smells. When played back, the DMR could, if the option were desired, give off a small spray of one of its twenty-three basic scents, and send electronic pulses to the brain that tricked it into thinking the viewer was experiencing the actual smells from the field.
Normally, those wanting to go on a virtual vacation without leaving their homes or offices on lunch break used the full experience tapes.
Michael’s interest was purely business. He turned off the extra features and just used the VR helmet to watch the A/V interview.
∞
[Copán :
Honduras :
Central American Conglomeration :]
Once a great city of the ancient Mayan people, Copán was now nothing more than a tiny village of less than five thousand residents forty miles outside of the much larger Departmental Capital, Santa Rosa de Copán. It was in a smaller village between the two that Mr. Markowitz first donned his Virtual Tourist and turned it on.
A map of the area appeared superimposed for half a minute over the picture.
“We are here in the mountainous region of Honduras, very near the site of the ancient Mayan City of Copán. This village is the home of the Mayan Indian who originally translated the hieroglyphs we found on the artifact, Dis Pater.
“The man, Yaxche, named after the tree of heaven, is said by the locals to be the only one in Copán Departmental who can still accurately translate the earliest forms of pictograms from the ruins of ancient Copán City.”
The image on the DMR, taken from the perspective of George Markowitz, showed a dirt road defined by a number of ramshackle houses running down its length, the houses themselves on the verge of ruins.
Sitting on a handcrafted rocking chair at the nearest house was an old man, short, stocky, deeply tanned with black hair and a remarkably round head. He grinned as George approached. Not all of his teeth had survived the many decades of the old Indian’s life.
“This is Yaxche,” George said.
Yaxche rocked once, twice, and grinned deeper as George arrived at the front of the house. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and said, “Ahyah. Heloo.”
“Good day, sir. I’m George Markowitz from NASA in the United States. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.”
Still grinning like a fool, the old man blinked and replied, “Ahyah.”
“You are the man who translated some hieroglyphs for us last summer?”
“Ahyah.” He clicked his tongue. “I read some of the old writing. Goozal Kinich Ahua; Inti ba Rahn; Goozal Kukulcan.”
George translated from memory. “Beware the Mighty Door of Kinich Ahua; Eternity is now Before You; Beware the Power of Kukulcan.”
“Ahyah. You remember. Very good.”
“Thanks. No
w, we have heard from some of the scholars in Santa Rosa de Copán that you have in your possession a document that dates back over a thousand years, but they have not been able to appropriate it from you or this village.”
“It is legacy,” Yaxche said, still grinning. “Belongs to Copán. One day I will pass on to Mitnal, maybe go with Hunab Ku—I don’t know where I will go, who will take me. That day, when I pass, it will go to my grandson.”
∞
Michael wondered why Yaxche grinned so, and then he realized that, to this villager, George must look like some kind of idiot with the Virtual Tourist helmet recorder on his head.
∞
George asked, “Could I see the document, sir?”
“Ahyah.” Yaxche turned to face someone off-image, said something in his language, and a boy ran off toward a building down the street.
George turned back to the Indian. “How did this document come into your possession, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Ahyah. I was given this gift of legacy by my grandfather, Chictzi, who was given it by his grandfather, who was—”
“I see.”
“Ahyah. Maybe you do.”
Waiting for the young boy to return, George asked, “And how old are you now, Yaxche, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Ahyah. Don’t know. Many seasons. Too many for this old man to count. Not to worry. Not many more to count. No. Not many more.”
Presently, the boy returned with a polished wooden box, handed it reverently to Yaxche, and disappeared with the alacrity of any pre-teen, no matter their culture.
George paid him little attention, and focused on the parchment scroll the Indian began to unravel.
“Amazing!” was all George could say.
Then: “It’s made from what looks like a kind of bark-cloth. Whatever its source, it has lasted for over ten centuries!”
Yaxche regarded George as a teacher might a pupil. “Ahyah. Made from bark of pine tree; chew until soft and thin, then dry under sun.”
“Wonderful. What does it say?”
For a long while, the old man did not reply, turning his gaze to the scroll. It was as if he were lost in the past. Finally, he began his tale.
“It is a story of the downfall of the Mayan Peoples. Ahyah. For hundreds of seasons, the People were wealthy and prosperous. But we grew complacent. Hunhua, ruler of Mitnal, the realm of the dead, became angry with the People because of their arrogance, and made a plan to gather them to his realm.
“Hunhua whispered in the ear of Ah Hulneb, god of war, and suggested it was time for the People of the South to go to war with the People of the North.
“So the People gathered their women and children, and put them on an island to keep them safe; then they went to war.
“Hanub Ku was creator of the Maya; he had rebuilt the world three times after the three deluges which poured from the mouth of a sky serpent. The first world was for dwarves, who built the cities; the second world was for the Dzolob, the offenders; and the third world was for the Maya. But Hanub Ku was displeased with this war of the Maya, and decreed the world would be rebuilt again a fourth time for the White Man.
“He sent Kinich Ahua, the firebird god of the Sun to come down and burn the Mayan cities while the People were off at war. He sent Kukulcan, the feathered serpent god of all elements, to rise from the oceans and swallow up the island on which all the Mayan women and children were hiding. He took them back into the depths of the sea with him so that the Maya could not breed any more disobedient children.
“When the People came back from their war, they saw their cities destroyed, and their families gone, and they hung their heads in shame and allowed the enemy warriors to come and defeat them, to use them as sacrifices to the gods, and slaves for their kings.
“Kukulcan was so disappointed in the People’s behavior, that he later became Quetzalcoatl and ruled the Aztecs.
“It is said that Hunab Ku went back to his home in the stars to make plans for the fifth world, after the deluge that would destroy the White Man.”
His tale finished, Yaxche looked up at George expectantly.
“Incredible,” the NASA researcher said, the DMR image shaking with his head. “If this is to be believed, then the Mayan gods predicted the coming of the Europeans some five centuries before it happened!”
“Ahyah. It is said to be. And the fifth world is soon to come. But what do I know? I’m just an old man.”
“The fifth world…”
George spoke in an aside to the VR. “Could this be a prediction of the discovery of the light speed element on Macklin’s Rock? Could it be that this ‘Fifth World’ is what lies beyond Sol System? Is it possible, as so many theologians and philosophers have toyed with, that the ancient gods were space travelers who visited Earth and bestowed great gifts upon our ancestors? How else do we explain the hieroglyphs found on Dis Pater if they were not put there by travelers from the stars a thousand years ago who visited the Mayan people?”
∞
The interview went on for a few more minutes, but Michael cut the sound and did not watch the DMR anymore. True, George’s speculations were wild … but no more ludicrous than the other explanations the so-called respected scientific community had brought forward.
Could it be…?
31
Luna Station :
Luna :
“Luna port control, this is Orcus 1, NASA BJN-1145 requesting final approach clearance to Luna Station, over.”
: Orcus 1, this is Luna port control. Please confirm approach vector trajectories, velocity and current payload, over. :
“Luna port control, approach vector at 92 degrees, 14 minutes, 42 point 556 seconds at separation of 92 point 348 thousand kilometers, mark. Payload at 14 thousand kilograms, over.”
: Orcus 1, vector confirmed. Your position is marked on approach radar, submitted to docking governor for calculation. Hold for calculations, over. :
“Luna port control, waiting, over.”
: Orcus 1, authorization granted, logged. Please turn over navcom control to docking governor computer on mark, three, two, one, now, over. :
“Luna port control, navcom control slaved to docking governor, check, over.”
: Orcus 1, slave confirmed. You will be docking at nub 43, station 12, one hour, twelve minutes, fourteen seconds, mark. Authorization number for refit and restock requested, over. :
“Luna port control, authorization number is as follows: NASA BJN-1145 AD-324-19-44-4, please confirm, over.”
: Orcus 1, authorization confirmed. Stopover of 15 days authorized. Departure time scheduled for 01-30-92 at 0923 hours, over. :
“Luna port control, departure time confirmed, over.”
: Orcus 1, please transmit manifest of any goods to be transferred from Orcus 1 through Luna port, over. :
“Luna port control, manifest is being transmitted. Also note an exchange of crew member Sakami Chin, PRC, for Soon Tek, PRC, over.”
: Orcus 1, crew roster change noted, over. Soon Tek confirmed presence on Luna Station, check. —Protocol completed, over. :
“Luna port control… Thank you, Luna port control, over.”
: Orcus 1, enjoy your stay, over. :
32
Quantum Resources, Inc. :
Toronto :
Canada Corp.:
The memo on his computer concerning the confirmation of the Orcus 2 mission was of cursory importance to the Director of Quantum Resources, Inc.
Privately, Michael was glad Captain Turner was commissioned to lead the next mission to Pluto; she had been there before, and was more than competent enough to handle an extended duty in space. It would be good for her career. She had stuck her neck out to give him the information on Alex before it was completely safe for her to do so, and that had put her in Michael’s good books.
He had EPSed a message to Justine through her office at NASA, thanking her for the effort, and offering his future help whenever she felt the need to
call on him.
He was far more occupied, however, with the news Calbert Loche had brought to him a few minutes after he stepped into his office that morning. Although Michael had ordered the bulk of his staff to look into the Alex Manez kidnapping, the small detail that had remained on the search for Element X had worked steadily towards a resolution of the problem. Calbert divided his time between the two teams.
“Michael, I think we’re on to something,” Calbert had said to him.
“What?” Michael asked, standing. “Alex?”
“No. Element X. There is an anomaly in the preliminary survey report. Our new man, George Markowitz, thinks he can extrapolate something that might give us a clue how to find Element X.”
“George! He just started a couple days ago!”
“Yeah!”
Michael was pleased that his recommendation to Calbert had led to the hiring of George. He had hoped he would not be sorry for hiring the man. Retaining the master researcher might have just paid off.
“Let’s hear it.”
Calbert Loche held up a forestalling hand. “His presentation isn’t completely finished yet. He has some back-reports coming in from NASA that he has to verify and compare, and he’s also sent feelers to the Europeans and is hoping for a few replies this morning. I just wanted to know if you could set aside an hour this afternoon to hear the team out.”
“Absolutely!”
“Great, say, about 13:30?”
“Perfect.”
∞
In the conference room, Michael sat at the head of the table facing a large DMR screen set into the back wall. On the left, Calbert Loche leaned back in his chair with a confidence that served to increase Michael’s anticipation.
On the other side of the table, Walter Johnson, Peter Cloud, and Gary McNally sat with folders arranged on the table, pens at the ready, making notes as George Markowitz made his presentation to the Director.
George brought up a display Michael recognized as the preliminary geological survey of Macklin’s Rock performed by the Manez’s.
Forbidden The Stars (The Interstellar Age Book 1) Page 15
