Powers finished rubbing her head and looked around the table before her eyes settled on Rose. “I’m dreading to find out what could be worse than this.”
Her National Security Director took his glasses off and looked the president straight in the eye. “Around the same time, we have confirmation that the Chinese launched a nuclear warhead from their Wancheng space base using a southern polar orbit toward the moon. It will arrive in just over thirty-six hours.”
The noise of various staff members felt overwhelming to her, and the president lifted her hand, waving it for silence. The room quickly came to a low hush as the initial shock of the news permeated throughout the executive staff.
“David,” the president addressed her National Security Chief, “is the destination of the Chinese warhead the alien device?”
“We have no way to know as we have no HUMINT on the matter, but our SIGINT and ELINT indicate that this is a high probability.” The man nodded, pulled out a handkerchief, and started to clean his glasses.
“How is this possible, only thirty-six hours?” the president’s Chief of Staff asked.
“We don’t know for sure. Has your team analyzed the track and trajectory of their latest launch?” Rose asked the lead science advisor sitting at the far end of the large table.
“Yes, the delta v,” he started and then stopped, looking into several confused faces. “The speed of the rocket is much higher than any normal acceleration. This would indicate that there are no pilots on the payload, and they were able to sustain a much higher G-force escape velocity, thereby cutting the trip time to the moon by nearly half.”
“But why a southern polar orbit?” the president’s chief personal advisor asked.
“To keep the rocket as far from U.S. territory as possible, either to avoid detection or to ensure that it couldn’t be shot down, or worse, mistaken for a nuclear missile launch against us.” Rose nodded.
“Well, it wasn’t to avoid detection. They flew the bird right over our Seventh Fleet in plain sight,” the naval chief of staff said.
President Powers sighed and looked from her science advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and then back to Rose. “Just give me the impact statement. What are we looking at?”
Director Rose put his glasses back on and looked down at his paper. “Temporal separation is just over fourteen hours.”
“In layman’s terms,” one of the personal advisors asked from near his seat by the president.
“It means the warhead will arrive on target about fourteen hours after our astronauts arrive. May as well just bring them home.”
“So the landing would be aborted?” the Chief of Staff asked.
“Yes,” Rose said, looking at his president.
There was a long pause while Powers thought for a moment. “Notify NASA, keep the mission viable. Have them report once we reach the moon, and someone get Vice President Lee on the phone.”
The room became a beehive of activity as everyone stood and left, leaving Rose and Powers alone, aside from the two Secret Service agents near the door.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Gloria?” Rose asked.
“I don’t know, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let the Chinese run us off with an atomic bomb.”
“Hydrogen, actually, or so our experts indicate in the report,” Rose said.
Powers looked at him cross-eyed. “Bomb or no bomb, we’re going. Just make sure NASA is informed and they know how much time they have when they arrive. Any luck getting through to Moscow?”
“No, we keep getting the usual response. The Russian president is dealing with their internal crisis and can’t accept a call right now. I think they’re using it as cover to buy themselves time while they retrieve the alien device.”
“Perhaps,” Powers said, letting out a long breath of air. “Call them again and let whoever answers know about the Chinese nuke.”
“Are you sure we want to share that information?”
“Absolutely sure. If nothing else, it’ll get their attention.”
“I’m damn sure it will,” Rose said, standing to leave. “It may do a few other things that may not be so pleasant for all of us.”
“Just do it and see to it that NASA is notified.”
“Yes, Madam President,” Rose said as he was about to leave the room.
“One more thing while we’re at it,” Power said.
“Yes?”
“Order us to DEFCON One.”
“Yes, Madam President, DEFCON One.”
“God help us,” muttered President Powers under her breath.
NASA Space Center
Houston, Texas
In the near future, Day 46
* * *
“A goddamn what?” Tom said, half standing from his chair in the conference room just off the main control center floor.
“An atomic bomb,” Rock said.
“Hydrogen, actually,” Mr. Smith corrected.
“Whatever,” Tom said, clearly flustered.
“Well, how will this affect Craig and Julie?” Lisa asked, picking her pen back up and looking directly at Rock.
“We’ll have to get them to the surface and back in less than twelve hours from what I’m reading,” Rock said, referring to his notes from his private meeting with Mr. Smith and the vice president not more than thirty minutes prior.
“Can you still perform the complex landing?” Mr. Smith asked from where he stood near the door next to Mrs. Brown, not wanting to interfere with their discussion but definitely wishing to monitor it.
“Marge?” Rock asked.
“It’s going to be awfully close, Rock. You sure you want to risk their lives on this?”
“Not my call, Marge. The president ordered the mission to continue, right?” He nodded to Mr. Smith, who returned the nod.
“Surely they would call it off if it risked their lives, wouldn’t they?” Lisa asked. Jack nodded in agreement as well.
Rock looked at Mr. Smith, who just shrugged. “I don’t know what the president is willing to risk, but I think Craig and Julie need to know what they’re up against. We need to inform them.”
“What’s the difference if the Ruskis already landed?” Tom asked.
“Well, we’ll have to make a determination on that once we circle the moon. First let’s get into orbit and then make the call,” Rock said.
“Richard, the orbital inclination won’t take Blackjack over the device. We’ll be blind, literally, until and unless we land,” Marge stated.
“Is it too late to change the orbit to a normal one?” Mr. Smith asked uncharacteristically.
Everyone looked at the man before Rock answered. “Yes, it’s too late. We’ve already burned most of our maneuvering fuel to reach the lunar orbit once they reach the moon, but that’s not the only issue. Tell him, Marge.”
Marge looked back to Rock for a second before returning her gaze to their oversight leader. “If our calculations are correct, then any prolonged exposure to the emissions emanating from the device will have catastrophic if not fatal consequences to both crew and equipment. The reading levels are not linear and instead rise at a stepped exponential ratio, becoming strongest at the point of broadcast.”
This was a bit much for Mrs. Brown, who lowered her tablet and returned the intense look they were receiving from the NASA team. “What do you mean and how does this affect the mission?” she said.
Jack leaned forward, returning the glare. “What Marge is saying is that anyone or anything that stays in close proximity to that thing up there is going to get fried. Do you understand that?”
“Yeah, do you?” Tom added.
“Calm down, you two.” Rock motioned with his hands to get his team’s attention.
This did not deter the NSA woman. “Then what was the purpose of the shielding? Why won’t that protect the ship and crew?”
Rock looked to Marge, indicating she should continue. “The shielding does work and is essential, but i
t’s not the entire story. The gamut of signals coming from the device include all spectrums, from the longest wavelengths to the shortest, and they include microwaves.”
“As in microwave ovens?” Mrs. Brown asked.
“Yes,” Jack jumped in, “but we call them microwaves only because they are considerably smaller compared to radio waves, but technically they are much larger than the smallest waves, light waves, x-rays, and gamma rays, for example.”
“So? What does this have to do with frying things and people?” Mrs. Brown retorted, her voice sounding flustered as it was obvious she wasn’t accustomed to not knowing things and this took her out of her comfort level.
“Well, we have a theory on all of these waves,” Rock said, motioning and looking at Marge.
Jack leaned back, allowing Marge to continue. “We first discovered these signals’ source when the neutrino detector lit up like a Christmas tree. If you don’t know, physics describe neutrinos as literally having no mass and therefore capable of passing right through solid bodies, including entire planets.”
“And?” Mr. Smith said, allowing for his companion to catch her breath.
“Our theory works when we take the entire spectrum of emission waves and piggyback them on a master neutrino wave. They are intermittently introduced into normal space as the neutrino wave propagates outward from the device,” Marge said.
Smith looked at Brown. “Are you getting this?”
Brown looked down at her tablet and started typing away, answering without looking at Smith. “Don’t wait for me, go on.”
Smith looked back to Marge. “So why the shielding again?”
“The shielding,” Marge began, “works to prevent the spectrum of waves from directly entering the protected or shielded space. Normal physics still work fine, as does the preventative properties of the shielding. However, once the waves are released from the propagated neutrino wave, they begin their journey from that specific point, even if it’s inside a space ship.”
“Yeah,” Jack said, “once they begin inside a special compartment, they bounce around, and the shielding on the craft actually keeps them inside the ship, preventing them from escaping. Preventing all waves from escaping dependent on the shielding type and efficiency.”
Smith looked back to Brown to make sure she was getting all this before addressing Rock’s group. “Why didn’t you notify me earlier?”
“We just came up with this theory late last night and wanted to test it first,” Rock said.
“You should have told us earlier,” Smith pressed his point.
“Well, we’re telling you now, Mr. Spook,” Tom said, his tone one full of disdain.
Smith ignored the man. “What will it do to our ship?”
“In a polar orbit where our orbiter won’t fly over the device directly, it will minimize the impact, but the lander, as it gets closer, will feel the effects of the piggyback propagation,” Rock said.
“I thought the moon itself was supposed to block these dangerous waves,” Brown said without looking up from her tablet.
“Well, the moon will block the direct propagation of the waves, but not the ones that are piggybacked,” Marge said. “In fact, the larger the interior space, the worse the effects of any piggybacked waves after they drop into our dimensional space.”
“So why didn’t the Russians detect this with their orbiter? Do you think they were able to withhold this data from us?” Smith asked, his face conveying a scowl now matching Tom’s at the mere mention of the Russians.
“No, they probably didn’t know because their orbiter has no internal space or compartments that are worthy of note,” Marge continued. “It’s just equipment packed together, and at most, the internal computers and other electronic equipment may have run hotter than normal, but not enough to inform them of this theory. They would most likely interpret the data as a lack of efficiency in their electronic coolers and heat sinks.”
Mr. Smith looked at Brown for a moment and then back to Rock’s group before speaking his next words very carefully. “What does this mean for the Russians?”
Marge looked to Rock and gave a slight nod for him to continue. Rock took a deep breath and looked at Smith in the eye before answering. “It means the Russians are in serious danger if our theory is correct.”
“And what do you think your chances are of being correct?” Smith asked.
Rock looked at Marge and nodded. “With Marge and Jack proffering the theory, I’d bet money that they are right.”
Smith rubbed his chin and made one last response. “Then the Russians are in trouble.”
“Big trouble,” Rock said.
“About damn time,” Tom finished.
26 Microwaves
Gordust Space Station
Low Moon Orbit
In the near future, Day 47
* * *
“We’re in trouble down there,” Nikolai said via the intercom system as the Gordust made its seventh orbit of the moon.
“Pulling up the infrared again,” Olga said, flipping a switch and activating the FLIR, Forward Looking Infrared, camera mounted on a mast high above the ship.
Yuri looked and didn’t need to ask for the last reading to be brought up and overlaid on their shared screen to know that his two comrades hadn’t moved the last two orbits. “Olga, make sure this visual data is sent along with the radar signal and other data on our next communications window.”
It was a meaningless order. Olga would do this the same as she had the last six orbits, but it made Yuri feel better to vocalize something after seeing their comrades unmoving on the surface. Gregori lay near the alien device, his infrared readings now cooling as he lost what remained of his body heat. Ivan had managed to get back to the lander and strap himself in, but hadn’t moved since then.
“Thermal readouts are cooling for both cosmonauts,” Nikolai said, his voice barely audible.
“Understood. Let’s keep collecting data for Vostochny,” Yuri commented, trying to get the man’s attention and focus back onto something productive.
With the mike closed, Olga leaned over and whispered to Yuri, “What happened down there?”
“Your guess is as good as mine, though I’d say the thermal readings are playing a major role in all this. What are we at now?” Yuri asked, looking at their screen again.
Olga swiped away the infrared and brought up a schematic of the Gordust, color-coded for heat readings. “We’re up by over four degrees Celsius so far, from twenty-two to twenty-six.”
Yuri nodded and reflectively grabbed his small towel and wiped his brow for the umpteenth time that day. “Are the radiation levels increasing?”
“Nyet,” Olga said, looking at a separate readout on her personal console monitor. “Those have stabilized at elevated levels but within normal operating parameters.”
“Viktor wants to EVA again and do a visual on the lower heat sinks and lateral radiative fins,” Nikolai said over the system, breaking the command’s crew private conversation.
“Negative, we know our cooling system is working properly. This has a different root cause. Run another scan of the receivers. Let’s see if we’re missing something,” Yuri said.
The first few orbits had been promising despite their issues. Gregori and Ivan had prepped to make a moon walk, and indeed, the video showed them stepping down onto the moon’s surface, the first Russians to perform that feat in history. They managed to send the video feed and pictures to Vostochny for confirmation, and things looked promising. Then came the failures.
The first system to go was the communications module on board the lander. The monitoring system showed the internal temperature of the lander increasing dramatically, and the cooling fans for the electrical equipment couldn’t keep up. The microprocessors overheated and started to fail.
Nikolai was brilliant as he improvised and used a powerful lighting mechanism to pulse and send an equivalent of a Russian Morse code to the surface when communications were gone.
Ivan had read the code and responded by pulsating the overhead navigation beacon in reply. The Morse message from the surface was that Gregori was attempting to use the cutting blade on their circular portable saw to cut the prongs holding the white stone in place atop the black obelisk-sized mount that it was sitting on. Yuri was amazed at the man’s determination to secure the object and return to the lander for lift off.
Then the lighting on board Zvesda failed and all communications were lost. The Gordust could only orbit and watch on infrared as the men worked below them. Yuri had requested that they abort more than once, but each time Gregori had overruled him. As mission commander on the surface, he had that right. Yuri disagreed, knowing that they had a spare fuel pod at the rear of the Gordust and could refuel the lander and return to the surface when they had a better handle on what was happening with their thermal readings, but paranoia ruled the surface mission leader and he was fixated on accomplishing the mission before the Chinese could get there.
That was two orbits ago. Since that time, there had been no movement, and this pass it was obvious that their bodies were cooling; however, Ivan’s was doing so at a slower rate because he was in the closed lander which had now reached sixty degrees Celsius, at the low end of a baking oven. At that temperature, Yuri understood that no electronic equipment would operate without immense cooling systems in place, and the lander just didn’t have that capability.
“How long are we going to stay here?” Olga asked without looking up, continuing to pull data from various collection systems and compile them into a single compressed file for transmission to earth once they cleared the dark side of the moon.
“Probably until Vostochny orders us to burn back,” Yuri said. “I’d prefer to stay as long as possible until we can ascertain what is happening to our craft. Is the recon orbiter still nominal?”
“If you’re referring to the temperature readouts, then yes, it has barely registered the elevated readings that we have,” Olga said, reviewing the latest data from their reconnaissance satellite.
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