by Ali Yazan
CHAPTER TWO-THE FIRST CONTACT
As the astronauts explored, Houston watched via satellites that had been set up before the astronauts went to space. The astronauts headed north. There was just an endless desert with small hills everywhere. “I feel at home, it seems like Arizona,” Richard laughed.
“So take off your clothes and sunbathe,” Phil responded.
“Fellows you must be having so much fun, would you like a drink?” John asked from the ship. His attention went to the other monitors. It seemed as if there was a problem on the asteroid. One of the drills was broken. All the attempts to restart the machine failed. “Couldn't you start this up?” John asked Bang.
Bang answered, “No, Commander. There’s probably a mechanical problem. We need to check it by going there.”
“I want you to get your suit on and repair this drill,” John said. “We will take care of you and watch you from here. If any problem occurs, I will let you know.”
Bang nodded. “Ok, Commander.” Bang suited up and headed to the pressure room before launching into space. Igniting the suit’s thrusters, he headed for the asteroid.
After the five minute trip, he stood next to the broken drill. Bang saw the other drills were in good condition. Bang murmured, “What the hell is going on with this machine?” Bang opened the gate arm of the machine and the automatic staircase opened, and he climbed inside the machine. Locating the command button, he tried to start it, but it didn't work. He thought that the batteries might be empty because the machine couldn't get any electronic response. Checking electrical connections under the command module, but there was no problem. So he decided to check the batteries on the backside.
What kind of problem are we facing? He thought. Then he saw a disconnected cable under the batteries, which was probably a result of vehicle vibration. Bang needed to go back to the ship to replace with a new one.
“Bang, be careful there was a rolling rock,” John’s voice warned as he got out of the vehicle. “Get out of there, immediately.” Suddenly, there was a big gas eruption next to the drill and one of the big rocks came rolling towards him. Bang sped up and quickly climbed out of the vehicle. As soon as he did, a big rock crashed into it causing the vehicle to run him over.
His boots’ magnetic mechanism broke, and his emergency rope was split from the ship. Untethered, he passed out and started a journey into endless space. John and other crew members tried to wake him up. John read the data coming from Bang's suit. Pulse and blood pressure were very low, and his oxygen level was dropping quickly. He could maybe survive half an hour at most. They needed to rescue him soon. If he didn’t wake up fast, the suit thrusters wouldn't take him next to the ship.
“Put on your spacesuit immediately,” John said to Anderson. “You must reach him before he gets into outer space.” John turned to Gauger. “You - help him get his suit on.”
“Two people have more of a chance, so I should go, too,” Verhoeven said.
John shook his head. “If both of you were injured, how could I rescue the people on Mars? I just can’t risk two crew members.” After Gauger's helped him suit up, Anderson went to the pressurized room. “Ok. I'm ready.”
After the emergency rope was tied to him, Verhoeven opened the gate. Anderson needed to get to Bang before the asteroids collided into him and he died. Anderson ignited his thrusters towards Bang’s floating body above the asteroid.
“Anderson, blood pressure and pulses are decreasing,” John said into the mic. “He probably has internal hemorrhaging. You need to reach him now.”
“Okay Commander,” Anderson answered as he set thrusters to maximum speed, decreasing the distance. “God, please let him be alive,” he prayed.
Anderson spotted a two-meter sized asteroid headed straight for Bang. In fifteen seconds the asteroid would crash into Bang, and he wouldn't be able to save him. He relayed the situation to John.
“Oh, my god!” John shouted as the entire crew tried to wake Bang. The asteroid was fifty meters away from Bang, then something circular, edged with different lights came between Bang and the asteroid. They had never seen anything like this before. They stared at in shock.
The asteroid crashed into it, but didn’t cause any damage. While they were watching, a diaphragm-shaped gate opened on the object. A human-shaped creature, in a space suit, headed straight for Bang. “Anderson, try to speak with that creature,” John sputtered into Anderson’s mic.
Anderson started to move towards Bang, and then a foreign voice came over the radios.
“We know that your friend Bang has internal hemorrhaging. We will help him because your devices may not be enough for this treatment. Anderson, you can come and escort your friend.” Anderson hesitated. The foreign creature spoke perfect English. As Anderson moved toward Bang, the hatch behind the foreign creature released more beings that collected Bang and went inside the gate. “Are you coming with us?” the foreign creature asked.
“Go with them,” John ordered.
Anderson flew inside the foreign vehicle. Now he could see the strange being clearly. It wasn't much different from a human. After Anderson went inside, the gate was closed.
“God help you all,” John said. While the crew tried to decide what to do, an image appeared on the ship’s screens. Bang was lying down naked and Anderson was next to him, without his space suit. Someone dressed like a doctor injected Bang with a liquid. After this treatment, the creature they had seen first appeared again, without a suit or helmet. It was blond, with blue eyes and an athletic body.
“Hello, my name is Jorgensen,” the creature said. “I know that you worry about your friend. Please, don't worry, our doctors stopped the internal hemorrhaging and sent some Nano treatment devices to cure the internal organ damages. These devices can stop internal hemorrhaging and provide quick treatment on the damaged parts. We saw a bloody situation in the brain area, too. The device will cure this too. You will be able to talk with him in roughly five minutes. If you have any questions, I will try to answer.”
“Who are you and where do you come from?” John demanded. “How do you know our friends' names?”
“We are human, like you,” Jorgensen answered. “As soon as you have reached the asteroid, we began listening to your communications. About where we come from, I can say that we will reveal this information when we contact Earth.”
“Thank you for the rescue, but I can't understand why you listened to our communications,” John said.
“Commander Carpenter, you could’ve come here for any purpose that we did not certify.” Jorgensen smiled.
John raised his eyebrow. “So, what would you do if we come here for that reason?”
“I guess we wouldn't let you complete that mission, but we wouldn't hurt you.” Jorgensen gestured behind him. “Commander Carpenter, as you see, our technology is very developed. This wouldn't be any problem. But it doesn't matter now. We consider your friends a priority. Please get ready for docking. We are going to settle it now.” After that, Jorgensen turned off the video, moved away from the screen and went next to Bang, who was rubbing his eyes on the bed.
“Hi, my name is Jorgensen, how do you feel Mr. Bang?”
“Where am I?” Bang looked at Jorgensen and Anderson as he explained about the disaster and other incidents. Bang was lost for words. “So you are an alien? Am I in a UFO?”
“If you want, you can say that,” Jorgensen smiled. “Can you walk? Are you okay?”
Bang sat up with a little difficulty, holding his head in his hands. “I think I'm okay. So what now? Will I stay here? Or will you let me return to my ship?”
“We will hand you over to your ship,” Jorgensen said. “Your emergency has been alleviated, so you can continue your treatment on your ship. We are next to your transport. You don’t need to wear your spacesuits; you can pass through a transit gate that will be established between the two ships.”
Bang quickly got dressed as the transit gat
e opened. A few minutes later they saw John and other crew on another side of the gate. Bang was on a flying chair, and Anderson was next to him. They both boarded the ship, and Bang was transferred into another chair and taken to the infirmary. John and Jorgensen met in the middle of the transit gate.
“Would you like to come on our ship? We can talk a little?” John suggested.
“Thanks for your polite invitation but we should delay this meeting, Commander Carpenter,” Jorgensen answered.
“So, what you are going to do now? Why didn't you introduce yourself before? Or should we ask what changed to make you suddenly come out?”
“Commander Carpenter, I just can answer the first two questions. We haven’t come out because you haven’t been ready. We are here because your countries are on a road of no return. Your leaders have enough power to destroy the whole world, and they are very close to this decision. Our leaders want to share some information with them because they worry about a nuclear conflict. Of course, this type of information sharing will be conducted by us. For this meeting, your countries will deny the situations but later we will contact you directly, so countries won’t deny this reality. We will see you again at that time, Commander Carpenter.”
After Jorgensen finished speaking, the two gates closed at the same time. The foreign ship left silently. John watched them from his command station for a while, mulling over the information. Before he could tell them about what Jorgensen said, Phil came on screen excitedly. “Commander, you won’t believe what we have found here.”
John looked at the others, “We can believe, Phil.”
“I don’t understand what you mean, Commander.”
Carpenter explained the incident to them. Phil and Richard were shocked
“So what about your story?”
Richard spoke. “Almost half an hour ago we saw what we thought was a hill, but as we got closer, we realized it was nearly as perfect as the pyramids on Earth, but newer and cleaner. We took some photos. I’m sending these photos to you now.” After a few seconds, the pictures appeared on the screen. The crew examined the pictures carefully; there was no gate or anything like that. Carpenter decided to explain the situation to NASA and told to the crew on Mars to wait for a new order.
While Carpenter waited for an answer, he discussed the incidents with the crew. “What do you think, men? Is there a relationship between Mars and the foreigners that helped us?”
“I think it’s possible, Commander,” Anderson answered. “If it is, that creature would inform us. If they have already watched us, they know we have a crew on Mars, too. We have to consider if they will prevent our crew from getting closer to the structures.”
“I think they want us to learn more about them,” Verhoeven said.
Carpenter agreed. “I think these creatures want us to learn more about them, too. Otherwise, they wouldn’t help us, and they wouldn’t get as close as they did. As they said, their technology is very developed, and they can hide from us successfully.”
They were interrupted by Joshua Star calling from NASA headquarters. “Commander Carpenter, there is a new mission for your crew: infiltrating the pyramid and exploring the inside. Please inform your crew about this. John, please be careful! If you feel any danger, leave the area. Make sure your crew understands this.”
“Understood, Mr. Star”
After disconnecting from NASA, Carpenter contacted the Mars crew and gave them the necessary instructions. With their new permission, Richard and Phil traveled closer to the pyramid using the rover. The surface seemed smooth and metallic.
Richard said, “It could be a liquid alloy.”
“See if there is a gate that will allow you to reach inside and take photos.” Carpenter ordered in their mics.
“Okay Commander.” Phil started to go around with the rover, slowly. It was like the pyramids of Egypt, but it wasn’t as tall. At the backside of the pyramid, there was a gate shaped like another small pyramid.
Richard touched the surface slowly, and the gate opened. Carpenter saw the gate from Richard’s and Phil’s helmet cams. Before Richard and Phil could speak, Carpenter said, “Only one of you can go into the pyramid.”
Phil and Richard looked each other, and then Richard entered. After a few steps, he looked around carefully. It was like an empty salon with shiny white floor that held its own light. When he looked back, he saw the gate was still open. Suddenly, he saw a hologram in front of him. Startled, he took a step back. The hologram displayed 12 planets orbiting around a star, the solar system. One of them was very far away, bigger, and rotating in the opposite direction.
“Commander, can you see what I see?”
“Yes, I can see.”
“This is clearly our solar system,” Richard mused, “but I can’t understand that the solar system consists of 12 planets and 12th planet turning opposite from others.”
“There is nothing weird, Richard.” Carpenter responded in the mic. “These creatures can explore every planet in the solar system so we have to consider there are some other planets that we haven’t discovered yet. When it comes to the far away planet …” Carpenter inhaled, “I think it is the Nibiru planet which was hidden by NASA, even though they know of its existence.”
The crew was shocked. Phil said, “Commander, do you think that myth is true? Can we assume the Annunaki tribe legend is true as well?”
“Not all parts of legends are true. But it does make sense that these creatures are living on that planet because they helped us. As a result, they have established contact and I think they have put this pyramid on Mars because they want us to know something. We need to be ready to introduce them, so we can overcome this cultural shock easily.”
Richard asked, “So, what do you want from us, Commander?”
Carpenter thought for a moment. “I want you to look around carefully. This way, we can see everything and record it as videos.”
Richard explored every part of the area, but it was no avail. “I haven’t found much of anything Commander.”
“You and Phil can go back now, Richard. It seems like these creatures thought this was exploration enough.”
Richard answered, “Okay, Commander.” He returned to Phil’s side. “Phil, we can go back now.”
Phil held up a hand, “Wait a minute!” He looked closer at the closed gate. “Can you see these writings? These were not here before. I saw it on the gate when we were about to go.”
Richard ran a gloved hand over the ancient lettering. Carpenter asked, “Is there anyone who can understand this language?”
Verhoeven answered, “It’s like the ancient writings on Earth, but I can’t determine which one.”
Carpenter said, “We recorded this too, you can come back now.” They got into the Rover and the pyramid disappeared. After a moment of stunned silence, Carpenter spoke into the headphone, “I want you to explore that area again.”
Phil said, “Understood, Commander.” They explored the empty, sandy area that had housed the pyramid. Nothing could be found. The radiation device did not indicate anything either. It was like the pyramid had never existed.
Richard shook his head, “I can’t believe this. I was inside of that thing, I touched it. How could it go away like this? If it were a hologram, I wouldn’t feel it, would I?”
Verhoeven replied into the mic. “I think this tribe can affect things even at an atomic size. They could transfer this pyramid easily to another place.”
Carpenter said, “So, kind of like teleportation?”
“I think yes, Commander. I can’t think of any other explanation.”
Carpenter tapped his chin thoughtfully as he watched the screen. Phil’s voice from Mars jolted him back to reality. “What do you say, Commander? What do you want from us?”
“Come back to the ship, Phil.” Carpenter replied, “I don’t think we can do any further explorations now, without Houston’s permission. Even though I don’t s
ee any risk, I can’t risk any personnel now.”
“Okay Commander.” Phil and Richard loaded the Rover onto the landing capsule, conducted the necessary checkpoints, and ignited the thrusters. In the meantime, Carpenter sent his reports to Houston.
Star examined the report carefully. He forwarded them in an email to Professor Hoyle, an archaic languages expert from The George Washington University. Within minutes, Star’s video chat rang and the perplexed face of Professor Hoyle popped on the screen.
“Where did you find these writings, Mr. Star?”
Star smiled. “As you know, I can't tell you, professor.”
Professor Hoyle leaned backward and clasped his hands together “These writings are almost the same as Sumerian handwritings that existed 4,500 years ago.”
Everyone in the room gasped. Star asked, “Are you sure Professor?”
Hoyle nodded. “Yes.”
“So, can you tell what is written on this lecture, Professor?”
Professor glanced at his laptop and cleared his throat. “‘Our precious guests of the World, Goodbye!’ I think you owe me another explanation, Mr. Star.”
Star cautiously explained all the incidents to Professor Hoyle. He told him that nothing he said could leave the room.
Hoyle nodded. “Don't worry, all of the information will be kept as a secret.”
After the conversation with Professor Hoyle, Star wanted to talk with the President. As the secretary made the necessary arrangements, Star turned to his vice chairman, Ron Masterson, “From now on, the President must know about the incidents, making decisions on this point is above our authorization. What do you say, Ron?”
Masterson nodded. “You are right, Mr. Star.”
The secretary said, “The President is online.”
Star picked up the receiver. “Good afternoon Mr. President. I need a meeting with you to talk about an important issue, Sir.”
President George Mason said, “Couldn't you give me a clue, Mr. Star?”