Dark Star Rising Second Edition (Pebbles in The Sky)

by Bagley, Jeffery

  Resuming his narrative he exclaimed, “I bet this is the main hatch for getting in and out of the ship. The bottom of the hull is about two and a half meters off the ground. Unless the builders can jump really high there is probably some sort of gangway or ramp that must come down. I have no idea how they opened it. Probably by remote control, or someone inside opened it. He moved over to the front landing strut that was sunken about a meter into the soil. About a meter and a half above the ground was a small round structure that was on the side of the strut. Moving the centaur in for a closer look he saw a recess, and then one of the recessed door operation mechanisms. “Well, I guess that explains how they open the hatch from outside the ship when it is on the ground. There is also another iris covering what I would think is the forward landing and takeoff thruster that is right in front of the landing strut.”

  Allan moved the centaur out of the ship’s shadow and back over to one of the small domes. He extended one of the centaur's manipulators and applying as much pressure as he could, he attempted to scratch the iridescent coating. The manipulator left a gouge in the material. As he started to comment on that, the coating flowed together and covered the gouge. “Wow, look at that. The coating is self-healing. That explains why there is no micrometeorite damage on the domes that would probably have occurred from when there was no atmosphere to protect it from small meteorites. I bet it is some sort Nano-particle membrane.”

  He moved the centaur back around in front of the small building’s door. “Ok, mission control. I have done the grand tour. What next, do you want me to try and open one of the doors?”

  Back on Space Station Alpha in the mission control center General Seale was listening to Mike Banscott from NASA headquarters. “We have encountered no activity at the site at all except for the beacon General. Our experts here believe that the site is abandoned. We believe that he should try and open one of the smaller buildings if he can with the centaur's manipulator. It might just fit in the recess. If it does not then we have lost nothing in the attempt.”

  General Seale nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. I will have him go ahead, and we’ll see if anything happens.” Switching to the communication channel for the David Honstein pressed his microphone activator. “Lieutenant Greco, go ahead and attempt to operate the door mechanism on one of the small buildings. If it does not easily operate don’t force it.”

  Allan Greco received the go-ahead from Mission Control about ten minutes after they transmitted it. “Here we go, hope this works,” he announced to everyone. He moved the centaur back to where it was facing one of the suspected door mechanisms. Putting his hands in the manipulator control gloves he flexed his right hand. A few seconds later the right manipulator on the Centaur imitated the movement. Moving very slowly he flexed his wrist and slowly guided the Centaur’s manipulator in to the recess and grasped the handle there. “Ok, I have hold of it. Clockwise or counter clockwise, anybody have a guess?”

  All the crew watching on the operations deck remained silent. “Thanks for the input guys. Let’s try counter clockwise first.” Slowly, he rotated his wrist and the centaur's manipulator arm did the same. The mechanism did not budge. “Ok, no luck there, I am trying to turn it clockwise.” Again, Allan turned his wrist. The centaur's arm could be seen attempting to turn but the mechanism did not move. Allan then tried pushing and turning and pulling and turning with no luck. “Mission Control, I am striking out here. No movement, no matter what I try.”

  The General’s voice came back over the radio in ten minutes. “Lieutenant, stop trying to open any of the hatches. Since time is limited, we want you to use the Centaur to ferry the three big instrument packages from the landing pod and set them up in front of the large dome. Then, there are some smaller weather monitoring packages that need to be set up back at the lander site. It will take at least a week to get all those set up. If we have time and the technical gurus back at NASA come up with any ideas we will try the doors again.

  You should have a list of instructions for setting up the monitoring stations. That last heavy package you are not to try and open. You are to pre-stage it underneath the alien ship and leave it. When and if we get a manned expedition back there some day it will be there for them to use as necessary. Get started on that work list as soon as possible. We need to get you guys headed back this way within two weeks. Good work on the reconnaissance, General Seale out.”

  Up on the flight deck Jason was grimacing. He knew that the last large package they were putting under the alien ship was not instruments. It was a fusion warhead powerful enough to vaporize the entire site. He truly hoped it was never going to be needed. What a shame it would be to lose the chance to really study the buildings and the ship left at the alien site.

  Chapter 55

  March 14th, 2043

  Houston, Texas

  Peter came home from his office at JPL late again. It was nearly six thirty in the evening and it seemed like this was becoming a routine for him. His days were spent analyzing data from the instrument packages left by the David Honstein mission to Elpis. The Elpis probe still in orbit around the planet was relaying readings from the various weather stations and instruments left behind by the ship when it left Elpis to return to Earth. The Honstein had started its trip home about two weeks ago and was not due to arrive until around the first of May. That did not mean that the study of the solar systems newest planet had been put on hold though. There were mounds of data that still had not been examined. And if that was not enough, preliminary planning for a manned expedition that would actually land humans on the planet had begun.

  As Peter came in the front door he nearly collided with little Eric, his son, who was hell bent to get out the front door. “Hold on there, Speedy,” said Peter. “Where do you think you’re going in such a hurry?”

  “Sorry Dad, I am going to meet some of the guys over at the gym to play some battle ball. I already had supper. I will be home before dark. See you later.” Eric turned and ran down the sidewalk. He turned and yelled back at Peter. “Oh dad, mom is crying, just thought you should know before you go in.” With that, Eric turned and ran on down the sidewalk.

  Peter went in the house cautiously. As far as he knew he had not done anything to upset his wife Susan, and she had been fine when he had talked to her earlier. Searching the house and not finding her, he looked in the backyard and found her sitting in the shade of the big oak tree there. The tree was the most redeeming feature of an otherwise boring stretch of cracker box style houses that had been built in the early twenty first century. Susan was sitting wiping her eyes and was obviously distraught. Peter went up and sat down on the ground in front of her.

  “Oh Peter,” Susan sobbed “I just talked to dad. He says he is not going to leave California. They are trying to evacuate all the people still left in the fault zones and along the coast. He is refusing to move. He has signed an evacuation waiver and says he is staying right where he is, come hell or high water.”

  “Did he say why he was staying and refusing to move?” asked Peter. “He can always move back after the encounter if it is safe to do so. He needs to come stay with us for at least the next six months, and then we can see about him moving back if he wants.”

  “He said that he still feels closer to mother there. He says he is too old to leave and start somewhere else. I tried to explain to him that he lives right on a fault line and that he is way too close to the coast if there are any large tsunamis. He said that he was not stupid and did have a Doctorate in science. He knows quite well what the risks are, and not to treat him like he was ignorant or something,” said Susan in a fresh rain of tears. “What am I going to do? I think I need to fly out and try and talk to him.”

  “Absolutely not,” exclaimed Peter. “Southern California has not always been the safest place in the best of times and now that most of the population has left it is getting downright dangerous. Even with the military patrols, gangs are roaming right in the heart of Hollywood. Y
ou would not be safe. Besides, they are not letting people go into the areas being evacuated. Only those signing evacuation waivers are allowed to stay and once you sign that waiver the police or military is not obliged to come help you if you get in trouble.”

  “Peter, I cannot just sit here and leave my dad there. Anything could happen to him. He could be injured in an earthquake, some gang could murder him, and he could even drown if there is a huge tidal wave. I have to do something.”

  Peter sat silent. He felt miserable and powerless about his wife’s despair. There had to be some way he could help. Suddenly an idea hit him. “I have an idea,” he said. “We are sending an air force transport out to get what little equipment still remains at the old JPL site in Pasadena. There is some plans and a small scale mockup for a proposed Mars lander that was developed back about twenty five years ago that Mike wants to re-examine. We might be able to adapt the concept for the next Elpis mission. I will get a seat on that flight and when I get out there I will try and go talk to your dad. I cannot promise you that will change anything, but I will try. Will that cheer you up?”

  Susan sat up with hope in her eyes. “Oh Peter, could you do that, will they let you on the plane?”

  “I would hope so,” said Peter, “I am the head of JPL after all. I can probably even talk one of the Military Police patrols into escorting me out to your father’s house. If he will agree to come, I will get him on that plane when it returns. I will lie or something and say he is an important science consultant or something to get him back on board.”

  Susan jumped up and gave him a big hug. “I love you, Peter. I hope you know that. Let me know when the plane is leaving and I will call and tell him you are coming by to see him. Thank you so much Peter. I found dad so late in my life; I just cannot bear to lose him this soon.” Susan hugged her husband tightly and prayed that her dad would listen to reason.

  Chapter 56

  March 17th

  Greco Estate, Bolivia

  Geoff let the butler guide him to the veranda in the back of the estate house. He had been there hundreds of times before, but somehow the old habits of formal house staff was re-assuring in these troubled times. Benjamin was sitting in a hammock chair underneath a tree by the reflecting pool. Walking up to his old friend, Geoff laid the package in Benjamin’s lap. “Happy Birthday my old friend, I found this covered with dust in my wine cellar and thought you might enjoy it.”

  Benjamin un-wrapped the wine bottle and looked at the label. “La Modreas Bordeaux 1996. Oh, my friend, this is a very rare gift you give to me. There cannot be many bottles of this wine left. Please join me for dinner Geoff. I will have this opened and decanted so we can enjoy it together. Rare exquisite wines such as this should not be drunk alone. Stay and have dinner with me. You can help me celebrate my seventy eighth birthday.”

  “I would be happy to help you celebrate your birthday, my old friend. You have more than your birthday to celebrate also. I received this from one of my sources,” Geoff said as he handed over a printed sheet of paper. “It seems your wayward sons are making a name for themselves, and not quite in the manner that you and I did.”

  Benjamin read the message and looked up. “This is a classified Space Force document. I did not realize that you had sources in the command structure of Space Force.”

  Geoff smiled and said, “Let’s just say that I was very helpful in assisting a member of the communication staff on Space Station Alpha getting his extended family moved from Germany to the United States. He still had a sister, a niece and a nephew over there and they could not afford to immigrate to Africa. They were going to be facing hard times after the encounter when the weather will turn bad. In exchange for getting the required paperwork completed and Visas for them to get in the country, he keeps me up to date on any pertinent news from up in orbit. The crew of the David Honstein is not being allowed to talk to family on Earth, or anyone else for that matter until they return from their supposed mission to Mars.”

  Benjamin squinted his eyes at Geoff. “You know as well as I do that the Honstein did not go to Mars on any medical emergency relief mission. It went to Elpis with both my sons on board. I am still not very happy about that. Now this message is saying that the mission commander is dead from a stroke and my son Jason is in command? The boy is smart, but he is much too young and in-experienced to be in command of a space ship. And the real question we must ask, is why all the secrecy around this mission? Why make up a story about some emergency on Phobos base and then send the ship to Elpis? They could just have said we are sending the ship to Elpis to study it.”

  “My source tells me that something was found on Elpis that is not being shared with the general public. Another rumor I have heard from an acquaintance at NASA suggests that some sort of ancient building or ruin has been found on the planet. It that is true, then there will be some considerable shake up in the beliefs of the still very numerous number of people that are members of humanity’s religions. I do not think that the Bible, the Koran, or any of the other religious writings can explain evidence of an alien civilization on a planet from thousands of light years away.”

  “I have also heard a rumor of something being found there, but the rumor I heard was that some type of primitive life form had been identified in the ocean on the planet,” said Benjamin. “If you start adding all these rumors up, then maybe the real story will start taking shape. I have also heard from a NASA acquaintance that the planet is going to be very habitable by humans once all the ice melts, but all the fool scientists are dragging their feet about any plans for colonization. They want to spend years studying any primitive life forms found there to make sure that we do not disrupt any ecology that may exist. They should be building ships to take colonists there instead. They should have already started terraforming the damn planet. Things are still going to get very crowded here on this world when the glaciers start forming.”

  “Benjamin, your impatience with humanity is why we still live in exile here in Bolivia. Your political contacts were able to get your sons permission to go home and enter the Space Force Academy after your help in getting General Walden elected president, but only on the condition that you never try to come home yourself. The world has never forgiven you, me, or the rest of our friends for forcing birth control on the third world countries that were breeding out of control.”

  “Dammit Geoff, I am seventy eight years old. I had hoped that I would have lived long enough to see humans set foot on Mars. Unfortunately, the discovery of the Dwarf put a brake on that endeavor. Mankind cannot wait to start terraforming this new planet. Space Force is a nice dream, and better than nothing, but if a really big comet or asteroid gets thrown Earth’s way and they cannot stop it then civilization and possibly all of humanity is doomed. We have all our eggs in one big basket. One big rock and they all get broken. Now, they want to wait and examine this new planet for primitive life when we should be trying to get a foot hold there to help prevent a calamity if Earth gets walloped by a dinosaur killer of an asteroid. This is just another example of how small minded scientists can be sometimes. Primitive life is one thing, humanity is another. We cannot sit around and do nothing.”

  Geoff looked at his friend and shook his head. “Just what do you propose doing? Bribing all the politicians to push for a colonization expedition? For one thing, the effort itself would be more than we could afford to finance, and that would be assuming that Space Force would allow us to do so. I would also think that bribing that many politicians would be horribly expensive.”

  Benjamin grinned and said, “You know I do not trust politicians. I wonder what type of space program Bolivia has?”

  “Are you kidding, Bolivia with a space program? They have to buy their fireworks from China just to celebrate their independence day down here.”

  “Well, maybe it is time that they had one,” said Benjamin. I think that every third world region needs one, and besides, it would be good for the economy. I think I will hav
e a talk with the minister of science or whatever they call him in this country. Hell, if they don’t have a science advisor I may even have to fatten the Presidente’s bank account a little bit and get him to let me recommend one for him to appoint.”

  Geoff waved a finger in warning at Benjamin. “I do not know what kind of scheme you are hatching, but it cannot be good. All of us are already persona non gratia in just about every country in the world. Don’t make it worse than it already is. Let’s just live out our days drinking fine wine and talking about our adventures with beautiful women when we were young and strong.”

  “I do not think that I am ready for a rocking chair and an old man’s diaper just yet, Geoff. I think that humanity may need another nudge in the right direction, and I may be the only one willing to do it. Are you interested in another adventure?”

  Geoff laughed and shook his head. “This is why you are my dearest friend, Benjamin. Life is never boring around you. What can possibly be worse than making half the female population on our planet sterile?”

  Benjamin just grinned back at him. “How about making an entirely new world fertile?”

  Chapter 57

  April 8th, 2043

  Macon, Georgia

  Brett sat in the break room at the DNA Ark Project headquarters with several of the molecular biologists that were on his staff. They were watching the news feed as they ate their lunch. There was a big discussion going on in the news feeds. It was calculated that the Brown Dwarf had now entered the solar system and it would only be weeks before the effects of its gravitation field would start to be felt here on Earth.