by Bob Cooper
The Progenitor Project
Book 2 – The Antares Codex Series
Bob Cooper
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. Published in the United States by PingMe Publishing, Tucson, Arizona.
Copyright © 2015 by Bob Cooper
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my editor, Shanna Gregor, for all the technical expertise and to my wife, Viola, for her many hours of proofreading and encouragement.
1
T he hovercraft skimmed across the crystalline particles of black sand and ice kicking up a small haboob from behind, making it difficult to see. With a surface temperature of minus 231°C, the dwarf planet, Eris, located in the Kuiper Belt, was the furthest from the Sun. Even with the protective spacesuit, the cold seeped in. Setting the craft down close to the mineshaft, she unloaded her tools on to a gravity sled and entered the elevator. A slight wisp of dust fell as the elevator creaked and complained about its trip down the four-hundred-foot tube. Red lights flashed, and a loud whoosh sounded as the doors opened to a more Earth-like environment. Taking off her protective gear, Acey breathed the manufactured oxygen and took out the handwritten map that mine supervisor, Joe Turner, gave to her.
Do what you need to do and do it quickly. I know you people like to doddle around examining everything you find, but I've got to get this Iridium ore dug up and hauled away in three weeks. And whatever you do, don't come back and tell me that these things need to be sent back for analysis, he said to her.
With those words ringing in her ears, she walked into the dimly lit shaft. Creaking sounds echoed with every turn in the mine, and it spooked her. When the supervisor asked someone to accompany Acey, no one stepped forward to volunteer. They treated her as a necessary nuisance. The mining laws were very clear about what to do when artifacts were found, but few companies followed the rules—choosing to bulldoze over them and continue with the more lucrative aspects of their operations.
Graduating from the Academy with a degree in Astro-Archaeology over a year ago, Acey applied for work to all the major corporations only to find there wasn't much interest in Archaeology—not much money in it either. Most people in her field pursued teaching or museum work, but she wanted to travel and explore other worlds, so she chose to pursue this route.
The mining company was a small, privately held corporation with headquarters in Central America. The Brothers inherited it from their parents, but unfortunately, neither of them had a clue about running a company or turning a profit. It was at the interview when Acey examined their financial statements and asked pertinent questions about the financial condition of the business, that the Brothers became interested in her. None of the other job candidates asked those questions, and her financial savvy impressed them. Acey tried to steer the conversation back to archaeology, but it became evident they didn’t want to hear any of it. After four hours, she left totally disgusted. No sooner had she walked out of the building when her com-link buzzed. The Brothers asked her to come back. Against her better judgment, she found herself sitting in front of them with their attorney.
"I have a job offer for you," their attorney said, handing her a one-page, hand-written document.
Taking the document, Acey studied the men. This must be some kind of joke, she thought. Reading through the scribbling, she noticed little mention of her archaeology skills. The starting salary was small, but she would get ten percent of the gross profit of any mining operations. They wanted her to spend a lot of her time as their financial advisor. She was ready to decline and walk out when she noted the last sentence; … and accompany each mining mission aboard any one of the five expedition class vessels to survey the site for archeological evidence as required by mining law 24.7-2 of the Federated Mining Treaty.
She signed the document that day. One week later, she found herself on Eris walking down the mineshaft where the artifact was discovered.
The mineshaft wasn’t very long or deep, and the shiny, rounded walls gave the appearance of walking through a lava tube back on Earth. The cylindrical object sat on a pile of rocks laid there by the miners. After photographing the object, she measured it and recorded its physical characteristics.
“The object is seventy-two centimeters long, forty-five centimeters wide and approximately fifteen centimeters in thickness. It has a black, vitreous sheen that changes in intensity as light shines on it, and contains three button-like objects embedded at one end,” she recorded.
Picking up the object carefully, she analyzed it further and determined it was made out of the same metallic compounds that the exoplanet was made of—with one exception—it became transparent at one end when held in a certain way to the light. Gently laying the object down, Acey focused her headlamp at different angles. She caught a glimpse of a red, viscous liquid inside. Running a scan from her diagnostic equipment confirmed the metallic composition, but the red substance showed no chemical signature.
The map documented the area where the artifact had been discovered. It was found sticking out of the wall directly opposite a pile of rocks. The miners examined it briefly and set it on the rocks. Acey found no other anomalies after scanning the area. As she secured the artifact to bring it back to the camp, she heard a rustling noise further down the mineshaft.
“Hello. Who’s there?” she said, knowing all the miners were back at the camp.
No answer came, but loose rocks fell from the ceiling. Shining the light in that direction, she took several steps towards the area. A tremor caused more of the ceiling to collapse. Spooked, Acey grabbed her equipment and the artifact and ran out of the mine, while activating the hovercraft engines remotely. It was ready when she hopped on board, and she quickly engaged the thrusters to full throttle. The hovercraft lifted and spun around, kicking up debris as she sped back to the mining camp.
Entering the shelter, no one paid much attention to her. They were all engaged in an antiquated form of entertainment favored by miners—a card game called Poker. Rygillian whiskey flowed freely as the men gambled away their hard-earned pay. Acey wasn’t thrilled about being the only female on this expedition, but she was able to take care of herself. Some of the men didn’t take her seriously because of her petite frame, short blond hair, and babyface. So, after graduating from the Academy, she enrolled in martial arts classes, honing her one hundred ten pound body into the best shape of her young adult life. Besides, the whole company knew the owners favored her, and anyone that caused her grief would answer to the Brothers.
In her room, she unwrapped the artifact and studied it more closely. Scanning the object, the computer searched all the archeological databases on Earth. When no hits were found, she knew this warranted further study and most likely halting the mining operation. This would not be received well. Updating her findings, she fired off a report to the Brothers explaining she needed at least another day to examine the site. It was daytime on Earth, so she expected concurrence within the next hour.
Acey grabbed her toiletries and headed for the shower to get ready to turn in. She passed Joe Turner in the hallway.
“Hi, Acey. Were you able to get any more insight into the artifact we found?”
“Not really. I have it in my room. Nothing came back from the scans either. I sent my report to the Brothers and copied you in. I asked for another day to survey the area,” she said, knowing he would be upset with the delay.
“Acey, I’m behind schedule already. Another da
y….”
“I know. I promise to do everything I can to get it done. It would help if you came with me since you were the one who discovered it.”
He looked at her, searching for the right words. The men wanted no part of a female on this expedition and considered her bad luck. If they thought he was “fraternizing with the enemy”, he might lose their respect.
“I will break the news to the men after you leave in the morning. I’ll join you shortly after that.”
Acey acknowledged his words with a nod and continued to the shower. Joe designated one stall for her. She felt uneasy when the men were there. There was no one around this time. She showered quickly and made it back to her room, falling into an uneasy sleep.
***
The next morning, Acey was out the door before anyone awoke. Arriving at the mine entrance, Acey looked around, spooked from last night. Once inside, she made her way to the site and headed to the area where the tremor occurred. Cautiously, she surveyed the area but found nothing out of the ordinary except that more rubble had fallen from the top edge of the right wall. Something caught her eye while inspecting the area. She covered her head as more rocks began to fall.
Standing dead still, Acey took the artifact out of her pack and pointed it towards the ceiling. Nothing happened, but when she turned it around, pointing the other end towards the ceiling, the red liquid became agitated and more rocks fell. The three buttons lit up and flashed as she continued to rotate it. One button flashed red; one flashed green and the other blue. Since blue was her favorite color, she held her breath and pushed the button. The side of the wall blew out, knocking Acey clear to the other side. That isn’t going to be my favorite color anymore; she thought before she passed out.
***
Acey’s focus returned in the form of the scruffy, bearded face of Joe Turner. He pulled her out from the rubble. There was one cut on her head, but other than that, she seemed fine. However, the mineshaft had partially collapsed where the explosion occurred.
“Nice going. I’m beginning to believe the bad luck superstition stories the other miners are saying about you,” he said wiping the blood from her head.
Joe had been somewhat skeptical when Acey was hired, mainly because of her youth. The Brothers asked him to introduce her to the rest of the employees, but before he did, he wanted to learn as much about her as possible. He didn’t have to search very hard since the story of her bravery on Antares vindicating Dirk, her Grandfather, from a trumped-up murder charge was still a hot topic. He also knew that if the company was going to survive, they needed Acey’s business skills to keep it on track. They became friends quickly, and he was instrumental in teaching her about the mining business.
“I’m sorry. I pushed the blue button and….”
“You had to push the damn button. You couldn’t bring the thing back to Earth and let the lab people tinker with it?”
“What’s the fun in that? Besides, you would do the same thing,” she said, smiling at him.
Helping her up, they pulled some of the rubble away. A completely new cavern opened up. Joe shined a light into the hazy layer of dust. The acrid smell of burnt electrical wire permeated the shaft. As the dust settled, they saw a metal door at the end. It had a series of glyphs and a small rectangular section, which contained a red liquid that resembled the material in the artifact.
Acey scanned the glyphs with her computer. No hits.
“Where’s the artifact?” she asked.
“Oh no! You’re not pushing any more buttons,” Joe replied, taking the artifact from her.
“Look, you know that your dig is over. I need a team out here to explore this thoroughly, and that’s going to take a lot of time. But we can shorten that time if we open this door and see what’s behind it.”
Reluctantly, he gave her the artifact.
“Just don’t hit the blue button!”
“Don’t worry. I definitely won’t hit the blue button,” she said, aiming the artifact towards the red liquid in the door.”
Once again, the buttons flashed into colors. Acey and Joe hid behind a pile of debris as she pushed the green button. The mineshaft shook violently as the massive doors creaked open. When the dust settled, a pristine white room came into view. Blinking lights came from the front wall with a console directly behind it. All the other walls contained hexagon-shaped cavities filled with cylinders.
Acey slowly walked in, eyeing every aspect of the room. Standing by the console, it responded to her presence with a series of soothing chimes that startled her.
“What can this be?” Joe asked, totally amazed.
“I don’t know, but I have never seen anything like it,” Acey said.
She went to the main console and gently laid her hands on it. It responded with another set of chimes. Symbols appeared as she moved her hands across the console.
“Hey, take a look at this,” Joe said, pushing on one of the cylinders.
The cylinder slowly extended halfway out of its cavity. Joe started to pull it all the way out when a jolt of energy sent him flying across the room and knocking him to the ground.
“Are you alright?” Acey asked, pulling him up.
“Yeah, I guess it doesn’t want anybody messing with those things.
“This is unbelievable. I’ve got to get a team out here to explore this fully,” she said again, turning to Joe while taking videos of the entire room.
“I was afraid that’s what you were going to say,” knowing his work would be put on hold for the time being.
2
D irk couldn’t tell what was going to happen next from the looks on their faces. Ten executives, representing the biggest tech companies in the world, sat around the oval table in a rented chalet overlooking some of the most pristine wilderness in Alaska. He specifically chose this spot because he wanted them to see the beauty of the natural world again. His presentation would show them how he could provide a source of clean energy that would bring Earth back to this natural state.
"I can see I gave you quite a lot to think about. Are there any questions?" Dirk concluded.
The CEO of Prime Energy stood up and looked around the room at his colleagues.
"We are aware of this new technology you and your team deciphered from the Antares Codex. You make a compelling case for all the benefits derived from it, but the implementation of the technology, not to mention the infrastructure associated with it, would take billions of dollars. And the breakeven you predict is 15.5 years. That's an awfully long time to recoup our investments!" Dayton said, looking for concurrence around the room.
Dirk knew Dayton Clifford from his Academy days. He worked with Dayton planning exploratory missions to the Asteroid Belt to look for high-grade energy-producing ores. He also knew money and prestige were the two most important things in his life.
"The return on investment is a very conservative estimate. If all of you put a full-court press on this project, we can see breakeven in half that time," Dirk replied.
"That's asking a hell of a lot from us. What guarantees do we have that we will see any profit at all?" Samuel P. Sturgeon from Global Earth Energy asked.
"What were the guarantees when you invested in the moon ore processing center? Did someone guarantee that the arctic gas extraction project was going to be profitable? Your hard work and gut instinct made you pursue those endeavors, Sam. We did the hard work for you. I want you to reach down and find that fire in your bellies that I know all of you possess. You know this is the right thing to do. You know the rewards outweigh the risks. Let's do this together!" Dirk said, making the most impassioned plea that he could.
Rumbling and side conversations ensued as Cecelia Roberts from the Earth Energy Regulatory Commission quieted everyone down and walked to the front of the room.
"We have quite a proposal to consider thanks to Dirk and his team’s hard work. Before we break and decide amongst ourselves how we will proceed, I have one last question for Dirk. What's in this for yo
u, Dirk? What profits are you seeking from this project?”
Dirk retook center stage next to Cecilia. He turned off the computer, dimmed the lights in the room and pointed to the massive window overlooking the lake and tall pines outside.
"This, this is what I want," he said. "I want to see Earth in its natural beauty once again, to see freshwater for people to drink. I want to be able to breathe in the air without choking on harmful toxins. When I was on Antares trying desperately to clear my name and return with my family back to Earth, I made a promise to myself. If I got back in one piece, I would do my damnest to bring what I learned to the citizens of Earth. I have all the money I need. I'm giving you everything I've learned from deciphering the Antares Codex. That's it," Dirk said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.
He walked out of the conference room with Harold Bentley, his chief technologist.
"That was awesome, Dirk. You were so persuasive," said the somewhat geeky, Harold.
"Well, I hope you're right. Now it’s up to them to decide if this is going to fly."
Relaxing in the back room, Dirk thought back to the events that led him to this point in his life. When teaching at the Academy a few years ago, Earth was a different place. He trained as well as piloted S-Class Star Cruisers on many Academy expeditions. He was well published and highly regarded in academic circles. His six-foot stature and distinguished grey hair made him easy to pick out in a crowd and a big hit with women. Back then, the Earther Movement wanted no further alien contact and used every means possible to push their agenda. Since Dirk was adamant in his beliefs that society would greatly benefit from alien interaction, they framed Dirk for the murder of his best friend. The Earthers had help from some members of the Academy. Dirk discovered these same people were responsible for the death of Acey’s parents. That started a chain of events, which led them to the planet, Antares Proper, to obtain proof to exonerate him and prove to his granddaughter, Acey’s parent's deaths were not an accident as the Academy said, but instead, an act of murder.