Chapter Zero

by Phoenix Hays

  An expansive room greeted them. Staff members, who were either working on the computers in front of them or conversing with others, filled row after row of workstations. Monitors full of data from the different ship systems lined the walls. Video feeds on a couple monitors showed various angles of the rocket. Two large windows above the monitors provided a view of the launch pad.

  “All systems are green, sir,” Sanjeed said. “We are just waiting on the final word from you.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Duke said, addressing the room.

  The sound of chairs turning filled the room as the various conversations that had been going on were cut short.

  “Shush,” someone said near the front of mission control, trying to get the last two people still talking to be quiet. Everyone turned to hear what the CEO had to say.

  “Thank you so much for your hard work in getting this next stage of the Stargazer Project ready. This is the fastest Space Vision has ever brought a mission from planning to launch, and that is directly because of each one of you and your teams back in Memphis. Let’s have a successful launch. Mr. Burman, please start the final countdown.”

  Sanjeed reached up to the panel in front of him and pushed a button.

  01:00 appeared on a monitor on the wall and began counting down. A cacophony of sound exploded in the room as final checks were made to the rocket’s systems. Duke sat down and smiled at the organized chaos playing out in front of him. The noise died down as the last system checks were completed.

  Sanjeed’s headset broadcasted his voice from speakers inside the room and throughout the launch site: “Thirty seconds to launch.”

  “Throttling up secondary engines,” a female flight controller said.

  White smoke began to roll out from the bottom of the rocket and glided off the edges of the pad. A slight vibration in the floor reached the control room and kept a steady presence.

  “Ten seconds to launch on my mark,” Sanjeed said. “Mark. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five.”

  “Primary engine engaged,” the flight controller said.

  A hint of red fire glowed through the smoke pouring from the rocket’s base. The vibration in the floor increased.

  “Three. Two. One.”

  Fire and smoke created a pillar that lifted the rocket away from the pad. Duke watched the craft through the windows until it raced away from the smoke around the launch pad and out of view. He turned to a monitor showing a live feed from a downward facing camera mounted on the side of the rocket. Both the launch pad and mission control building grew smaller while it hurtled upward. Numbers in the screen’s corner scrolled quickly as they reported the altitude and speed.

  “Stand by to throttle back boosters,” Sanjeed said.

  “Standing by,” the flight controller said.

  “Throttle down.”

  “Yes, sir. Approaching Max Q.”

  Silence filled the room. Duke leaned forward in his chair.

  “OK, we’ve passed Max Q. Go ahead and throttle boosters up again.”

  “Boosters are back up,” the flight controller said.

  “Closing in on stage one separation,” Sanjeed said.

  Three short beeps pulled Duke’s attention away from the screens at the front of the room. He glanced down at his wrist and read the message on his watch. Duke stood up and headed out of the room.

  After the door to the control room closed, he touched the watch and spoke into it. “Yes, Clarence?”

  “My apologies for interrupting the launch but Adam insisted I call you,” a man said.

  “Is he done analyzing the anomaly?”

  “Yes. And he wants to hold a meeting as soon as Sanjeed is done coordinating the launch.”

  Duke frowned. “He can’t wait for me to get back to Memphis?”

  “It doesn’t sound like it, no.”

  “Fine. I’ll remote in with Sanjeed as soon as he’s free.”

  ***

  Duke held the conference room door open and let Sanjeed enter first. He walked to the center of the table and punched in a code on the phone sitting there. Sanjeed turned on the monitor mounted on the wall and sat down. A beep from the phone preceded a man’s voice.

  “Can you hear me?”

  Duke nodded. “Loud and clear, Clarence. What did Adam learn about the anomaly?”

  “You will recognize this image from the Stargazer Project,” Clarence said.

  An image of a star field showed on the monitor in front of them. A circle faded into view at the center of the screen. Inside it was a small white line.

  “Our initial thought was correct: This is an object outside of our Solar System. Adam took additional measurements of its movement.”

  The circle faded away into nothingness, and the line of the object lengthened.

  “Adam believes this object is actually larger than our first estimates,” Clarence said. “He thinks this object is larger than Ceres.”

  “Whoa,” Sanjeed said quietly.

  Duke raised his eyebrows. “And where is the object headed?”

  “Adam needs more measurements to pinpoint its trajectory but he can at least confirm it is headed in the general direction of the Sun.”

  “How soon will the satellite that just launched be capable of tracking this object?” Duke asked, turning to Sanjeed.

  “Within a few hours, sir. We are still powering up its systems.”

  “What can we do to expedite the process?”

  Sanjeed stood up. “I’ll see what we can do.”

  Duke turned back to the phone as Sanjeed left the room. “Clarence, please make sure Adam is ready to interface with the satellite as soon as it’s online.”

  “We’ll be ready for it, sir.”

  “Good. I want to know if this object is just passing through or a potential Oppenheimer as soon as possible.”

  “Duke, there’s something else you need to know.”

  “What?”

  “This thing isn’t alone. It’s the first in a series of similarly sized objects.”

  “Are they all headed toward the inner Solar System?”

  “Each one is on a slightly different track but they’re playing a really good game of follow the leader.”

  “All right,” Duke said. “Keep me updated.”

  “Yes, sir. We will.”

  Duke turned the monitor off. He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin.

  A knock at the door interrupted the quiet in the room.

  “Come in,” Duke said.

  The door opened to reveal a man in his fifties. He wore a yellow shirt and khaki shorts. His silvery white hair was slicked back over his head and a lanyard holding a media identification card hung around his neck. He smiled when he saw Duke.

  “Mr. Evensen, this is a great pleasure,” he said, stepping into the room. He reached out to shake Duke’s hand.

  Duke stood up and shook the man’s hand with a puzzled look on his face. “Do I know you?”

  “I’m Anthony Car from Channel 13 News,” he said, holding up the lanyard card. He dropped it back down, where it fell on top of his round belly before Duke had a chance to study it closely. “I was covering your launch today for the evening news. Do you have a few minutes? I’d love to get an exclusive with the CEO of Space Vision.”

  “You’ll have to make it quick,” Duke said, sitting back down. “We are very busy right now.”

  “It won’t take more than a few minutes,” Anthony said sitting in the seat directly across from Duke. “That was a nice rocket launch just now. What was the payload? Anything important?”

  Duke shrugged. “Not really. We thought it would be cool to put a car in orbit.”

  Anthony sat back in his chair and smiled. “Come now, Mr. Evensen. I’m not some wet-behind-the-ears rookie you can B.S. and then dismiss. What was on that rocket?”

  “Mr. Car—”

  “Just Anthony, Mr. Evensen.”

  Duke smiled and leaned back. “Anthony. Space Vision is constantly
carrying out various experiments and recording observations involving spaceflight. I hardly think the payload on one of our rockets is of any interest to the Channel 13 viewers.”

  “I have contacts inside NASA,” Anthony said and leaned forward over the table. “I know there was a special satellite on that rocket.”

  The smile on Duke’s face melted away.

  “My friends inside the space agency say there are a lot of white coats nervous about something,” Anthony said. “I just can’t get them to tell me what it is that has their feathers ruffled. Then I hear today’s launch wasn’t even scheduled a month ago and that got me wondering. Is Space Vision nervous about something too?”

  Duke brandished his smile like a weapon and put his hands on the table in front of him. “Space Vision, my company, isn’t nervous about anything. We are a research company specializing in carrying out experiments in space. There is nothing out of the ordinary about my company bringing an operation from planning to the launch pad in a short time frame.”

  “Maybe so,” Anthony said. “But you still haven’t said what you launched today.”

  “I already told you,” Duke said through gritted teeth. “We run experiments in low orbit.” He took a deep breath and relaxed a little. “Today’s launch was just another in a long series of tests we are conducting to learn how we can cook meals similar to what we would have here on Earth.”

  “Isn’t spending the money it must cost to send a rocket into space a bit of an overkill for such a mundane experiment?” Anthony asked, bringing a hand up to his chin.

  “Try telling that to the astronauts who have to eat freeze dried food meal after meal,” Duke said with a chuckle.

  “I can understand how that might get old.” Anthony smiled at Duke. “So how do you conduct those experiments in an unmanned rocket?”

  Duke shifted in his chair and lowered his eyes. “Mr. Car,” he said. “I do not have the time nor the interest to go over the logistics for our operations.”

  “OK, OK,” Anthony said, standing up. “I can see I’ve worn out my welcome.”

  “Have a good day,” Duke said, unconvincingly.

  “You, too.”

  Anthony walked to the door and began to open it but stopped and turned back to Duke. “One more thing,” he said. “How do you test food preparation with a satellite equipped with a high powered optical telescope?”

  Duke glared up from his data pad. “Get. Out.”

  The reporter smiled and walked out the door.

  Once the door closed, Duke opened an email on the data pad and dictated, “Adam, Richard is going to be contacting you about increasing our security. Make it a priority. Someone is leaking information to the press about our operations.”

  He sent the message and brought his hands up to cover his face as he took a deep breath. Duke wiped his furrowed eyebrows with his thumb and index finger. Turning the data pad off and tucking it into his leather portfolio, the CEO stood up and stormed out the door.

  ***

  Author’s Note:

  I hope you enjoyed the beginning of the LINEAGE series of novels! If you did, I would greatly appreciate it if you would post a review where you got the story. This helps authors reach more readers.

  This story has been a long time coming and I hope you join us on this ride. The first novel – LINEAGE The Long Way Home – will be out soon and I'm excited to be able to share it with you. Please go to PhoenixHays.com to sign up for updates on this book's upcoming release.

  About the Author

  Phoenix Hays lives in southwest Ohio with his wife and three kids. He has two Great Danes and his wife has three cats.

  He is the author of the upcoming science fiction series called LINEAGE.

  Read more at Phoenix Hays’s site.