by AZ Kelvin
“Hopefully not. Gina, tell me about the readings.”
“Sometimes it reads solid rock and then it shows an open space behind it, and then it goes back to solid rock again.”
“Intervals between the readings?”
“Random and erratic, Captain. It’s like a display screen shorting out. It started right after you opened that hidden compartment.”
“Copy that. Is it holographic?”
“No, sir, scan shows something physically there.”
“Hold it here, Cal. Gina, we’re almost there. Bring the ship up slowly and take up position just behind us.”
“Roger that, moving up.”
“Okay, Cal, let’s go,” CJ said.
The two spacewalkers drifted up to the end of the chamber until they came to the wall itself. The lights of the thruster suits illuminated what appeared to be a rock surface. CJ selected a short-handled adz from the work frame with a hammerhead on one end and a stout point on the other. He lightly tapped on the rock, being careful not to push himself away from the wall by rebound in the process. The rock itself felt strange as he tapped on it, even through the layered glove of the EV suit. Usually solid rock has a density that can be easily felt, especially by a smushy and frail Human being. This rock felt hard, yet it didn’t rebound the hammer strike the way solid rock would.
“Cal, come up here a sec,” CJ said through the comms.
“Whadda ya need, Cap?”
“Tap on that and tell me what you think. Gina, bring the lights back up, slowly.”
Everything around them brightened as Moonshadow’s exterior lights came on. Cal pulled out his own adz tool and tapped a couple of times on the rock surface, then looked over at CJ through the helmet faceplate. “It doesn’t feel real. There’s no bounce.”
“Right, that’s what I thought too.”
“Captain, you’re close to the bottom edge of where the scan keeps fuzzing in and out,” Gina said.
“Hmm, thank you, G.” CJ thought for a moment. “Cal, move down from where you are and I’ll do the same, keep tapping along the way.”
“Aye, Cap. What’re we lookin’ for?”
“A clue of some kind, a difference in the rock, maybe? I’m not exactly sure.” CJ kept tapping little by little while he used the thruster pack to move down and stay close enough to the wall to reach it.
Cal moved in close to CJ’s position. “We can do a scrape analysis. I don’t think that it’ll set anythin’ off.”
“Yes, good thinking, Cal. Go ahead. Boss, Gina, heads up; we’re going to do a particle scrape test.”
Boss and Gina both acknowledged his message.
Cal removed the sample vial from the chemical testing kit and used the spooned blade to collect small scrapings of the spot in question. He pushed the vial back up into the kit and started the analysis. The little unit worked for a few seconds then displayed its findings. “It’s an elastocerametallic compound with traces of titanium, boron carbide, and alkoxysiloxane among others.”
“Oh, yeah, that explains it.” He was being sarcastic. “Which means?”
“It is a synthetic casting material, Captain,” GABI answered over the comms.
“It’s fake, then. It’s either a wall or a door.”
“Should we try removing a section?” asked Cal.
“No,” CJ said quickly. “No, we take our time with this one.” He thought for a moment before addressing the crew, “Okay everybody, listen up; I need more personnel over here. GABI, you take command of the Moon. Boss, Cat, and Katy, you guys suit up. Gina will pick you up. Load extra O2 and pack a lunch—it may be a long day.” Affirmatives came from all involved. “G, did you copy that?”
“Aye, Captain. Already on the way.”
“Cal, I want you and Cat to go over those containers with a fine-tooth comb. Double-check and double-check again. Run micro scans if you have to. Report everything that you find immediately. Don’t open anything! Got it? Get started and I’ll send Cat when she gets here. And keep an eye on your O2 level. We’ve been out here a while already.”
“Roger that. I’m at sixty-two percent now. I’m good for another five hours. My chrono shows ten-fifty.”
“Check. Sitrep at eleven-thirty. Go carefully.”
“Understood.” Cal spun about and headed back to the mouth of the chamber to begin the search of the cargo containers.
CJ rotated around to face the distant outer wall. He could see Moonshadow moving away to pick up the other crewmembers coming out to play, as well as the dozen or so status lights on the back panel of Cal’s thruster suit. He spun back around again to face the wall and clicked off the lights on his own suit. He turned off his comms unit and just hung there in the velvety black nothingness. The only sensation was the quiet sound of the respirator pump recycling his air.
One of CJ’s favorite memories of his early space training was when he would hang in the EV simulator with his eyes closed and pretend that he and an alien sidekick surfed through the galaxy on waves of solar winds. CJ let his mind wander off past his EV suit, back to the days of his youth, and out into space with his alien friend egging him on. He mind surfed until the emergency comms alert interrupted his non-thoughts. He turned his comms unit back on in time to catch Gina in mid-transmission, “—do you read? Captain, come in, please.”
“Evermore, here, go ahead, G.”
“Is everything all right, Captain?”
“Yes. Just a momentary loss of communication,” CJ white lied just a little.
“Riiight, surfing with the alien again, were we, sir?” Gina teased.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” He had forgotten he let the story of his younger days slip to his crewmates after too many rounds of a drinking game called Three Man.
“Mm hmm,” she hummed knowingly. “Additional personnel suited up and ready for EVA, sir.”
“Roger that, Moonshadow, release the hounds,” CJ said playfully.
“Copy that. Here they come.”
CJ spun around partway so he could see the shuttle. He watched as the light that streamed from the airlock seemed to be sucked into the empty space, and three suited crewmembers drifted into the heavy black of the unlit chamber.
“Wow! That really tickles your innards,” Katy said.
“Oh, man, this is weird,” Boss said.
Cat inhaled sharply and her stomach wrenched up into a ball as soon as she left the airlock and floated into the deep darkness. It felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff in the middle of a moonless night. Vertigo grabbed onto her mind with a paralyzing grip and immediately she felt dizzy and nauseous, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She wanted to spin around and face the shuttle to give her brain something to latch on to. Her hands shook uncontrollably and she hit full forward thrust by mistake.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa—Shit—SHIIIIT!” She sped away from the shuttle in an ever-quickening triple-axis spin. Cat’s anxiety bordered on panic because she couldn’t figure out how to stop the rotation. Her trajectory was like a punctured balloon, free to go where it would under its own power. Her body spun head over heels while she rotated horizontally and vertically at the same time. She could barely tell which way she was going, let alone which way to thrust to stop spinning. Cat continued to overcompensate, which only made things worse, as she attempted to regain control.
“Counterthrust, Cat! Counterthrust to your spin!” Boss called over the comms.
The centrifugal force of the spin rate rushed all the blood in Cat’s body out to her extremities, making it harder and harder to move or even think. She knew she was going to lose consciousness in a matter of seconds. “HELP!” Cat called out, as she managed to hi
t the emergency cut off and shut down the thrusters. The spin rate lessened when she cut the thrust. Her blood flow began to normalize and she passed out cold still tumbling through the cavern.
“Zhu? What’s happenin’? I’m comin’!” Cal shouted over the comms.
“CJ, she’s spinning too fast to know which way she’s going! We have to stop her before she hits the wall!” Katy said as she spun around to face Cat’s direction and hit full forward thrust.
“Katy no! You won’t be able to stop in time!” Boss called out.
“Katy!” CJ’s heart stopped in his chest and refused to beat again, his mind racing with options of what to do. He wasn’t about to lose either of his friends, let alone both, but he was too far away to get there in time. All he could do was watch as the woman he loved raced ever faster toward an immovable rock wall to catch their out-of-control friend. Katy was a set of small lights from CJ’s perspective, closing in on another set of lights twinkling randomly, which had to be Cat as she spun around and around. CJ snapped his immobility and started off as fast as he could to do whatever he could. He could see in the distance yet another set of lights moving in from the far wall. That’s gotta be Cal. Neither one of us will make it in time. It’s up to Katy now. Go girl.
Katy could feel a slight vibration build up as she kept the thrusters on full forward, meaning her speed had increased to a point past where it was designed to safely go. I’ll have to adjust those later. She fought off her own anxiety and focused on what she needed to do. She plotted Cat’s trajectory, which was basically an elliptical spiral now that the thrusters were off. Okay, good job, Cat. If I move up a little I’ll be in the center of her spiral. That’s it. Come on, a little faster. All right her spin’s gonna take me along with her when I grab on. I’m gonna have to counter first and then brake our momentum.
Katy ignored the increasing vibration and kept the forward thrust full on. She never once thought of backing off, although she had no idea how far she and Cat were from the wall. The lights on her thruster suit were nowhere near powerful enough to reach the wall from here, and when they were, it would be too late to stop at this speed. She and Cat would splat into the rock like two bugs on a windshield.
Katy closed in and made an attempt to grab on to Cat. She matched Cat’s spiral motion as well as her forward speed, but Cat also spun head over heels and that was the tricky part. Katy had to grab on without taking damage to either of their EV suits or being thrown off by Cat’s momentum. She knew there probably wasn’t enough time to close in again. This was her only chance.
“Cat, if you can hear me, I’m coming in now,” Katy called over the comms. No reply. “Okay, here we go,” she added for anyone listening.
“Go, Katy!” CJ said through the comms.
“You got it, Chief!” Cal’s voice was heavy with emotion.
Katy timed Cat’s forward roll and made her move for a frame brace on the work pack, as she saw Cat’s head and upper body roll up from under her. She reached out with the cleat of an anchor line in her left hand and stabbed for the frame brace. She missed!
“NO!” Katy growled as she stretched out her body like she actually had something to push against. The combined force of her forward thrust and the extra effort as she reached out put the cleat cleanly and securely on the frame brace of Cat’s thruster pack.
“YES!” Katy exclaimed in triumph, as she pulled on the anchor line to arrest the majority of Cat’s spin. She slowly engaged the reverse thrusters of her own EV suit to avoid any harsh backlash effect. The mass of Cat’s body, thruster suit, and work pack came to a slight jerk and rebound as the anchor line reached its end. Katy put the thrusters into full reverse, just in time to take up the slack and bring herself and Cat to a relative standstill with a slight drift backward.
“Got her! We’re good!” Katy called out when she got a grip on Cat’s work pack.
“Yes!” Cal practically blew out the comms system with his yell.
“Yeah! Katy! Yeah!” CJ’s exclamation was a close second to Cal’s. The rest of the crew, even GABI from the outer cavern, all put in their cheers for the Chief and Cat both.
Katy was breathless. She hadn’t realized the effort she had put forth to catch up with Cat. Her pulse raced and she was dripping with sweat. “Oh, boy.” She sighed away some of her tensions, as she pulled Cat in toward her and spun her around to look into her faceplate. She had no visible sign of injury and the suit was intact. The chest panel readout showed that she was alive.
“She’s okay, but out cold,” Katy said over the comms.
Everything around them brightened, as Gina pulled Moonshadow into position just above and behind the two women and turned the lights on them. Katy was uncomfortably surprised at just how close she and Cat had come to the side of the cavern. They were just outside the range of the lights on the thruster suits. A few seconds more and Katy wouldn’t have been able to save herself from impact, let alone Cat. Katy turned them both around and almost had Cat back to the shuttle by the time Cal, and then CJ and Boss, arrived at the scene.
“Is she okay?” Cal asked as he pulled up to the two of them.
“Don’t know, Cal, but her bio-signs are normal.”
“Thanks, Chief! That’s the gutsiest thing I’ve ever seen.” Cal’s tears of relief floated around inside his helmet.
“I’m just glad I caught her. C’mon, we have to get her back to the Moon.”
“No, ugh…” Cat was groggy as she regained consciousness, “I’m okay—just have a hell of a headache.”
“Doctors are always the worst patients.” Holding up two fingers, Cal asked, “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Two—my name is Zhu Katsu—and NO, you can’t give me a physical,” Cat joked softly. “What happened?”
“Chief ‘Speed Queen’ Latimer, here, just chased your ass down from halfway across the room! That’s what! Whoooo!” Cal regained some of his characteristic flair.
“Really?” Cat asked Katy who was still holding on right next to her. “You raced to my rescue?”
“You bet I did! You know how hard it is to find a good doctor these days?” Katy joked.
The five of them drifted and laughed, circling together like kids in a lake at summer camp.
“You okay, Doc?” CJ asked after the laughter subsided.
“I’m fine, Captain, thanks, but I think I’ll just hang with Gina in the shuttle for a while, if you don’t mind.”
“Not a bit, Cat. Cal, take her in and get her settled. Change out your O2 while you’re in there, then get back at it.”
“Aye, Cap. I think I need a new diaper too, after that.”
“Chief, need a break?” CJ asked Katy.
“With all due respect, Captain, I’m just getting my second wind.”
“Okay, you’re with me, Boss, you too. Let’s see if we can find out what’s behind Door Number Two.”
*~*~*
Chapter Six
CJ, together with Katy and Boss, poured over every centimeter of the synthetic rock partition. In addition to the bottom edge, they found the side and top edges. The façade took up a fair portion of the entire wall at the inside end of the chamber. Intermittent scanner readings showed enough of the internal mechanisms for CJ and Katy to identify some of the components. In contrast to the complicated and explosive technology of the outer wall, the inner wall seemed to be linked to a very simple radio frequency receiver.
“The only problem now is finding the right frequency out of, oh say, about three billion,” Katy said with dry humor.
“Only the range of thirty megahertz to thirty gigahertz operates consistently in open space, which reduces the number of frequencies to twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and seventy,” GABI added over the comms.
“GABI, can you ping those frequencies using the Moon’s transmitter?” CJ asked.
“Yes, Captain. Shall I begin?”
“Hold on a sec. Katy, watch for an activation ping.”
Katy set
her scanner to monitor the receiver for activation and gave a nod when she was done.
“Okay, GABI, go.”
“Commencing transmissions.”
Several minutes went by, then a blip showed up on Katy’s scanner. “Wait! GABI go back, slowly,” Katy said.
“Acknowledged.”
“Stop! Right there. We’ve isolated the frequency at three hundred-fifty-seven-point-six megahertz. Now all we need is the activation sequence.”
“We should move away in case this actually works,” CJ said.
“We have to figure out the sequence first,” Katy said, as they moved away. “It could be anything.”
“If I may, there are one hundred and twenty-three standard RF activation codes. We should eliminate those first and then move on to emergency override codes,” GABI said.
“Very well. Get started as soon as you can, GABI” CJ answered.
“Yes, Captain. Be advised, this could take up to an hour or longer.”
“Understood, proceed.” CJ spun to face Katy and Boss. “Let’s check some of these containers while we wa—” A warning alert sounded as a display came up on the HUD of his helmet showing only twenty percent of his O2 supply remained. He hit the dismiss icon on the control pad set in the arm of his EV suit. That gives me just under two hours of air. I could get in one container before I have to change out.
“Just change it out now while we’re still close to the ship,” Katy said as if she had read his mind.
“Yeah, yeah,” CJ snipped, but he knew she was right.
“You know that makes eight hours. You’re the one who really should take a break,” Katy said, even though she knew what his answer would be.
“Ha, and let you guys have all the fun? I think not.” CJ laughed and spun around toward Moonshadow. “Cat, think you could meet me in the airlock with an O2 pack?”
“Sorry, Captain, I’m up with Cal checking containers.”
“Oh, excellent! Glad to hear it.”
“Get back on the horse and all, right?”
