by Blair Wylie
Suddenly, for the first time, the panel turned a dull blue colour. Then a very high-resolution image of New Earth appeared. They could see about one-eighth of the New Earth orb. The image filled the bottom centre of the panel. It was then obvious to the two astronauts that the panel was actually a sophisticated projection screen, or a high-definition television-like device.
Then they heard a tenor monotone voice say, “Sorry to interrupt your dinner, Maldonado and Knudsen, but we thought you would like to see what just happened. Please observe the viewing screen carefully.”
After a few moments, an intense green flash in the form of a starburst appeared in a localized spot over a brown-coloured land region on New Earth. The green starburst then slowly dissipated over the course of a minute or so.
The fact that the starburst was very distinctly green, and not red, did not go unnoticed by the two astronauts.
Then a soprano monotone voice said, “We believe that green-coloured explosion is a clear signal to us from your leaders on New Earth. We conclude that they have just fully accepted our contractual proposal. Do you agree with our assessment?”
Knudsen smiled broadly at Maldonado, and then he nodded quite emphatically at her. She looked back at him first with an expression of disbelief, but as acceptance grew, she visibly relaxed, and smiled back at him. Then she said calmly, “Yes, we totally agree. It looks like our New Earth leaders have just fully accepted your offer, and all of your conditions.”
Then they heard a baritone monotone voice say, “That is very good. So, as a result, we will be leaving you soon.
“We have found the only comfort we can find in this immense and dangerous galaxy is the support we derive from each other. That may sound overly cynical to you. But we have noted that similar sentiments have been expressed in your historical literature. And meeting with you has not been as difficult to bear as we had feared. All of this gives us hope, for you and for us.
“You will not know when we leave, and you will not be able to observe our departure. We will not elaborate.
“But exactly one of your New Earth days after our departure, your computer interface devices will become fully functional. You will hear a high-pitched tone in this room, and a passcode will appear on this viewing screen. The passcode will remain on this screen until you determine how to change it. To begin accessing the full computer database, copy the passcode, exactly, into the access port on one of your interface devices, and then change the passcode to one of your own. Then this entire facility will become yours in every respect.
“We urge you not to use electromagnetic communication devices for intercourse with your friends and leaders on New Earth until we are, say, a month away on our long journey home. We realize that will be hard for you. But we ask you to respect this last request.”
Knudsen nodded to Maldonado, and whispered, “Go ahead, Francis. Tell them about our security plan.”
Francis nodded in response, and said calmly, “We promise to maintain complete communication silence until an expected ‘rescue’ team arrives. Hopefully Lieutenant Colonel Weismann will be part of that rescue team. We do not yet have a reserve of suitable spacecraft to call upon to expedite such a mission. A suitable vehicle will have to be constructed using ancient Earth plans stored in a secure archive. Therefore, the arrival of the rescue team might be a year away, or more.
“Our hope is that the people on New Earth will believe we are dead, until our rescuers ‘discover’ that we are still very much alive. Then we will claim we never met you, but we discovered this wonderful place. In addition, we will say our communication system failed for some reason, and we were unable to communicate with people on New Earth until our rescuers arrived.
“Our government will then control the messaging to the people of New Earth, so we can subsequently fully exploit this fantastic facility and everything in it. Eventually, we will no doubt turn it all into our own ‘human-like’ base.
“Now, before the arrival of the rescue team, Weismann suggested we could turn the infrared light on and off in the crater every ten days or so, in long and short pulses, to show the highest leaders on New Earth that we are actually still alive, and in control of this facility.
“We have been thinking that we might flash the letters ‘M’ and ‘K’ in an old, simple system known as ‘Morse code’. Those are the first letters of our last names, of course.
“Will that be possible, and does all of that sound all right to you?”
There was a long pause, and then the soprano monotone voice said, “Yes, you can do anything you want with this facility after we leave. And thank you, your infrared light flashing plan introduces very little additional threat to us.”
There was another pause, and then the soprano voice added, “We believe you would make a very compatible mated pair. You clearly like each other, a lot. We hope you truly enjoy your year or so alone together.”
Knudsen reached for Maldonado’s hand. She squeezed back hard, and looked him straight in the eyes. Her eyes were suddenly tearing-up, so Knudsen gulped, “Yes, we are quite sure we will enjoy being alone together. But it is with some regret that we must say good-bye to you now. We will never forget you. Thank you for everything!”
After another pause, the baritone voice said, “Good-bye, and we wish you good fortune. All of our futures depend upon it.”
16
Ibrahimović: Minus 15. 1/2 down. Picking up some dust. Right on the crosshairs.
Chamberlain: We still have a good com-link with First Town.
Weismann (interior sound only, no radio microphone): Visibility good.
Ibrahimović: Minus 40. I see our shadow. Lights still on in the crater.
Weismann (sound only): Drifting aft a bit, that’s good.
Chamberlain: Contact light.
Weismann (sound only): Shutdown.
Ibrahimović: Okay. Engine stop.
Weismann (sound only): Mode Control, auto. Descent Engine Command Override, off. Engine arm, off.
First Town Mission Control: We copy you down, Stork.
Ibrahimović: First Town, Addy Base here. The Stork has landed.
First Town Mission Control: Roger, Addy Base. We copy you down on the ground inside the crater. That was a really nice bit of flying.
Ibrahimović: No sweat, First Town, thanks. No sign of the Osprey. No extra room in this crater anyway.
Weismann (sound only): Okay. Let’s get on with it. Weird. Place looks exactly the same. Still clean too.
Ibrahimović: First Town, we’re going to be busy for a few minutes. No reception committee. Not unexpected I guess. Sad though. We will holler at you again when we can. Out for now.
The three astronauts then went about methodically completing their elaborate post-landing checklist.
The Stork was about the same diameter as the Osprey lander. It was egg-shaped however, and about seventy percent taller than the spherical Osprey. It was an old Earth space-station to Moon shuttle design, originally intended for six occupants. Since it had only arrived with three astronauts, it was carrying a lot of additional supplies.
The Stork had been assembled from three modules that had been sent separately into New Earth orbit. The three astronauts had to travel in a separate, smaller spacecraft to reach the Stork’s primary module. They had put on their EVA suits and transferred to that module. Then they docked it with the secondary and tertiary modules to form the completed, fully operational Stork spacecraft.
They had left the smaller spacecraft in New Earth orbit in robot-mode. It could be used again to take returning astronauts back to the surface of New Earth. But by design the Stork could only function as a shuttle craft, working between New Earth orbit, and the surface of the moon, Addy.
Colonel Weismann was technically in command of the mission, but officially he was already on Addy, and presumed dead.
Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo ‘Ted’ Ibrahimović was officially in command of the rescue/investigation mission from an ‘optical persp
ective’. He was the only astronaut on the team that had been allowed to communicate with New Earth. He was an accomplished Air Force pilot, and very fit. He was short and stocky, with a fair complexion. When he was a kid he had been covered in freckles. He had always sported a military-style brush cut, and it looked good on him. He was thirty-five years of age, but he could have passed for twenty. He was single, and once divorced.
Major Mustafa ‘Musty’ Chamberlain was a forty-two year old Air Force reservist, and a computer hardware and software specialist. He also had a couple thousand hours of flying time. But like Colonel Asher Weismann, he also had a PhD, and was a full Professor of Applied Mathematics and Electrical Engineering at Abubakar University. He was about average in height, and lean, with dark skin and short, black, curly hair. He had recently become a widower. His sister and her husband were currently looking after his teenaged son.
About twenty minutes after they landed, Chamberlain glanced out of a small circular window in the Stork, and said, “Hey, guys, a big door has started opening up out there on this side.”
Weismann moved over beside him to take a look himself, and said, “Yep, and it’s not the same one the Osprey used. It’s a bit taller, and on the other side of the crater. I bet there’s a hangar in there that can be pressurized, and we’re about to get moved into it on a sliding cart like last time. I’m sure glad we landed smack dab on the crosshairs. Just by eyeballing it, it looks like we’re properly centred, and can get through that door okay.
“So, how are your checklists coming along?”
“I’m done with mine now, Skipper, and all is A-OK,” replied Chamberlain with a big grin. “That’s why I was looking out of the window.”
“I am too,” replied Ibrahimović, also with a grin. “Everything is also A-OK, Skipper. I just started double-checking things, actually, for no good reason.”
Weismann then smiled back at both men, and said, “Guys, I think the timing of the door opening is highly significant. Let’s take it as more confirmation that Colonel Knudsen at least is still alive and well in this subsurface complex. He was always a stickler in mission simulations for fully hibernating the Osprey lander in twenty minutes or less. And he gave us exactly twenty minutes! He must be the same guy that I knew so well, and that is truly a hopeful sign.
“And we did get another Morse code letter ‘M’ and letter ‘K’ flashed at us during our descent! So, hopefully that means we’ll also be seeing Major Maldonado again shortly, too.”
After a few minutes, the astronauts felt a slight vibration, and through the viewing ports they could see that their landing platform was indeed moving the Stork through the now fully open hangar door.
“Skipper, should I notify mission control what is happening?” asked Ibrahimović quietly.
Weismann paused for only a second, and then he said, emphatically, “No. Definitely not! We have to start working with our cover story now.
“Firstly, and hopefully, we will soon discover that both of our astronaut friends are still alive and healthy, and that I am in the same condition, and that I have been with them all along. And then we will ‘spill the official beans’, so to speak, with a prepared speech that I’ve brought along with us for this occasion. Actually, those are my direct orders, and those are now your orders, too.”
Chamberlain and Ibrahimović quickly glanced at each other, and then they barked, “Yes, sir!” almost at the same time.
It took about ten minutes for the cart carrying the Stork to complete its transit from the base of the cylindrical crater to a parking position inside the hangar. Then the hangar door slowly closed.
Chamberlain watched a suite of instruments intently, and after another minute he declared, “We just lost our com-link with New Earth. I suspect the closing of the hangar door has severed the cable to our antenna that we shot out on to the surface of Addy on the way down.”
“Right, but that’s okay, I hope,” replied Weismann calmly. “Knudsen and Maldonado may know how to use the alien’s communication system by now.
“You know, that hangar door obviously has to be airtight when closed, so I guess the seal must be metal-to-metal, and easily able to cut a thin wire.
“We should start seeing some pressure build-up outside of the Stork shortly. Yes, you can hear a faint hissing sound now. Keep your eyes on those gauges for us, Chamberlain.”
After about thirty minutes, Chamberlain declared, “Everything has been fairly stable out there for five minutes or so now, Skipper. Looks like it’s a New Earth standard atmosphere, with a temperature of about twenty-one degrees Celsius.”
“Thanks,” replied Weismann. He went back to looking out of a viewing port. He noted again that the hangar was similar to the one that the Osprey had been moved into. It was a barrel vault, or a horizontal tube with a flat bottom. As they had found within the other hangar, there was a flat wall on the far side of the chamber, opposite the hangar door. This hangar was clearly longer than the other hangar however, and perhaps eighty metres in length.
Weismann could vaguely make out the outline of a human-sized door in the flat wall, beside a dark, flat-black, flush-mounted rectangular wall panel. He figured the panel was a combination one-way window and television-like viewing screen. He had observed many similar panels on his ‘guided tours’ of this elaborate, fascinating subsurface facility.
“Okay, guys, a door in the flat wall is opening now!” Weismann announced loudly. Then a moment later, he somehow said more calmly, “And there is Colonel Knudsen entering the hangar area, wearing just his astronaut coveralls. God, it’s really great to see him again! And there is Major Maldonado now, right behind him. And now they’re both waving at us!
“Okay, guys, it is high-time time you met a couple of really great people! Open up the hatch for us, Chamberlain.”
17
“First Town Mission Control, this is Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahimović calling from Addy Moon Base, do you copy? Over.”
There was no reply to the verbal, analogue, standard-frequency radio query. After exactly one minute, Ibrahimović followed up more loudly with, “Mission Control from Addy Moon Base, do you copy? Over.”
“Roger, Addy Base, First Town reads you five by five!” came the immediate and excited reply. “Boy, we’re sure glad to hear from you guys again! Your signal is actually incredibly strong! Ah, can you start by relaying your current status? Over.”
“Conditions at Addy Base are nominal, First Town,” Ibrahimović replied with restrained excitement. “Much better than that, actually. You see, we have found that our three predecessor explorers are all alive and well up here!
“So, with that bit of astounding news out of the way, I will now turn our end of this radio exchange over to our ranking Base Commander, Colonel Nils Knudsen, who will provide a brief report for you.”
There was a short pause, and then Knudsen said calmly, “This is Knudsen. Chamberlain, Weismann and Maldonado are listening in, as is Ibrahimović, obviously.
“Everyone is in excellent shape. Our two lander radio systems are inoperative for different reasons, but otherwise both landers are in nominal shape. They are safely tucked away in separate pressurized hangars within the alien facility that we discovered up here.
“The subsurface facility we are in is completely abandoned. It must have been this way for a very long time. But most of the stuff inside of it seems to be working okay, amazingly! In fact, we are using the alien communication system to talk with you just now.
“This facility is truly incredible, and obviously life-sustaining. But we will not elaborate over this unsecure radio link. Instead, we will first upload a new code-deciphering algorithm for you to use, that links to our own Air Force top-secret code number twenty-four. Then we will upload in code our full report to you. Will that be acceptable? Over.”
There was a long pause, and then the five astronauts heard a different voice reply, “Roger, Addy Base. We are so glad to hear this truly fabulous news!
“We copy and approve your proposal to upload two files. Agreed you will start with the decipher algorithm, then your status and update report. Ah, please give us about twenty minutes or so to get ready for all of that. We will need to get some code people over here in a hurry. And it’s not your fault, of course, but you caught us between shifts, as it is midnight around here. Over.”
Knudsen replied, “Roger, First Town, we will start uploading file number one in exactly thirty minutes. Over.”
Knudsen then took his headset off and set it aside. He looked carefully at all of the others in turn. They were all smiling back at him, so his stern expression quickly melted into his own broad smile. Then he started finding it really hard to stay composed.
But he cleared his throat, and managed to say, “Major Maldonado and I have been waiting a very long time for this day. We’re just so damn glad you guys got here okay!”
Francis Maldonado wiped a tear from her eye, and laughed quietly while nodding in support. She looked radiant, and very healthy. Knudsen looked just a bit older, but equally as healthy.
Weismann then forced a cough and asked, “Ahem, so, can you give us an overview of what’s in your report, Skipper?”
Knudsen paused for a long moment to subdue conflicting emotions, and to organize his thoughts. Then he said with some lingering excitement in his voice, “It’s the daily log of our entire stay here, guys. And it will definitely stir them up down there, believe me!
“This place really is incredible! Everything is governed by artificial intelligence. The alien machines can all think independently. But they also work in unison within an overarching, controlling architecture. It’s a bit like our very best quantum, parallel computing technology, only on steroids. A lot of steroids!
