10. Area 51

by Vincent Pet

  There was a long pause. Bob could almost see the stunned faces at Mission Control back on Earth despite the enormous distance separating the two planets. For the moment, as far as the general population was concerned, Bob was still in command of the mission. As long as Mission Control felt that the situation was in hand with Ted and that Bob was cooperating, he doubted that they would reveal to the press that they had a command problem. It would be perceived as a tremendous blow after all the years of planning that had gone into the selection of the three astronauts for the Mars mission.

  Bob froze in his tracks as a sudden thought hit him. Did someone know what they would find? Did Ted know about the presence of aliens on Mars? Or was it personal? Had Ted flipped? The trip to Mars had been amiable and professional and they had melded well as a group. He knew, though, that Ted was deeply religious and did not believe in intelligence other than that of humanity in the universe; but would he go as far as taking command because he didn’t want it known that God had also populated the stars? Was the gamma code still valid in this case? Or had Ted been instructed to take command as soon as an alien presence was detected? Surely, this could be why the military wanted their man on this historic mission. Did they suspect an alien life form on Mars? Bob was short of answers and not even his intuition provided much help.

  “This is Mission Control. Acknowledged. Gamma code in effect. How is the mission to Mars proceeding, Bob?”

  Bob knew that Mission Control wanted to assure itself that he was cooperating and had not become a liability. For the moment, Bob adhered to protocol. Somehow, he had to find out more before assessing his moves. He had to know what Ted had in mind.

  “Everything is beautiful today, Mission Control. I’m within seconds of spotting Spirit.”

  “Samantha, this is Mission Control.”

  “I hear you. All’s fine for the moment.”

  Samantha’s voice was uncharacteristically tense. The concern and fear in her voice was undeniable.

  “O.K…we’re going live around the world. Turn your video cams on, please.”

  Bob activated the camera on the top of his helmet. Moments later he heard Ted’s voice.

  “Mission Control, we’re having technical problems. Samantha’s live feed is down. Voice down too. I’m trying to re-establish contact.”

  A knot formed in Bob’s stomach. He would never forgive himself if something happened to Samantha. It had to be Ted jamming the signal, he told himself. He couldn’t let the video of Samantha filming alien footsteps get through to Earth. If they were as clear as Samantha had said they were, no natural phenomenon would be able to explain the images. It seemed that Ted was adamant about not providing any proof of an alien presence back home. Bob wanted to speak out. He felt like yelling to the world that they had found something, but he knew that his message would never reach Earth. Their signal was first transmitted to the orbiter. From the orbiter there was a ten second delay before the signal was then re-transmitted to Earth. If he said anything, Ted would use this time delay to his advantage and cut off the signal. There didn’t seem to be much Bob could do at the moment but continue his path towards the probe.

  Bob was still searching for solutions when Spirit appeared before his eyes. A lump formed in his throat. It was astonishingly beautiful, a tribute to the glorious dreams of mankind. The sight of it was better than anything he had ever fantasized in his youth. Until that moment, the mission to Mars had been an adventure shared with the whole world. Now it became something more. For an instant, his life was complete, as no man’s life had ever been. He had no more wants, no more dreams, no more needs. He had reached his life’s goal. Nothing else existed but the object in front of him. A few moments passed before he remembered that he was in communication with Earth.

  “Mission Control, this is Bob. Can you see it? Isn’t it amazing?”

  As Bob approached it though, a frown started to form across his face. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. He had been sent to enhance the unit and make it operational again, but he soon saw that it was going to be impossible. He circled close around it, making sure the camera was well pointed towards it. He didn’t say a word in order not to alarm Ted. He hoped it would take Ted more than ten seconds before he realized what he was staring at. By that time, the signal would already be on its way to Earth and seen by over seven billion people.

  Surely, he thought to himself, they wouldn’t think that the missing two wheels came off by themselves? Surely, someone would be able to spot that pieces were missing and others disassembled? How would any skeptic be able to explain the pieces neatly lined up to the side of Spirit? As far as Bob was concerned, there was only one possible conclusion. Someone had been there, and it wasn’t man.

  ***

  Ted tried again. He had lost all contact with Bob and Samantha. He didn’t know what made him feel worse, the fact that he couldn’t reestablish contact with his fellow astronauts or that he hadn’t been quick enough to recognize the gravity of the images being transmitted to Earth. Mission Control had tried to jam the signal but it had been picked up by spy satellites and the images had already leaked to the press. People were beginning to panic around the world.

  “This is Mission Control to Oasis Orbiter. Any new development Ted?”

  “Negative.”

  “Standby.”

  There was little Ted could do but wait. They had prepared him for this eventuality, but he had never seriously considered the possibility that there could be life out there. He did not understand how God could allow it. If man was made in God’s image, in whose image would an extraterrestrial be made from? As he thought about man’s place in the universe, he tried thinking to what could have possibly happened to the astronauts on the planet, but he feared to think too long. He refused to imagine what must have surely been their end.

  Now, all he wanted was to turn the orbiter around and head back home. He had never wanted to go on the Mars mission. Ted had not come to the space program as an astronaut aching to discover unknown horizons. He had been assigned by a secret part of the government to make sure no information reached Earth in case extraterrestrial life was discovered. He had failed, but at least he was still alive. He hoped the signal to break orbit would come soon from Earth. He had never felt less safe or more alone in his life. He clutched his bible and stared hard at it. For the first time ever, Ted Louis was unable to read one line from it.

  ***

  When Brad arrived in his office, he didn’t find anyone on his floor but a secretary who had been recently hired.

  “Ah, Brad!”

  Brad turned around. He should have guessed. If he had to wager on only one person who would be at work come any situation that may, it would be Allan, the senior vice president of marketing, and his boss. Allan followed Brad to his office.

  “I know Robert Ross.”

  Brad refused to talk about Bob as if he was no longer alive. Allan didn’t reply. He walked over to the window panes covering Brad’s office and stared outside in his usual arrogant pose. Bob followed his gaze. In the distance, he could see the deserted streets. It was eerie. Brad put his briefcase on his desk and didn’t open it. He doubted he would get any work done today. He really should be getting back home but he was still shaking inside from the news and needed to piece himself back together before taking the road. He couldn’t keep his mind off Bob. What had happened to Bobby? What had happened to the mission?

  Allan finally turned around towards Brad and waved his hand towards the city.

  “Can you believe this? There’s nobody working! Can’t people think anymore? This is all crap! All I’ve been hearing since this morning is aliens here, aliens there, aliens everywhere. What aliens? As far as I’m concerned this is all a government conspiracy!”

  Allan continued his monologue as if Brad wasn’t there; or as if finally glad that there was someone at last he could vent his thoughts to.

  “There’s been an accident and they’re trying to cover it up. The gover
nment is trying to pass the blame on something that doesn’t exist but people are gullible and they believe it. You know why they believe, Brad? Because the government has to justify more military spending, that’s why! The military folks need a reason for the people to support big taxes. People will dish out the money without complaining if they think aliens are at our doorstep. The government will hand out huge contracts where everyone will get rich, everyone except the ordinary people like you and me who pay those darn taxes! You think anyone will complain? Of course not! They’ll be too scared that the aliens will come and get them so they’ll be only too happy to pay whatever the government wants them to pay! In the end, when the aliens don’t show up, we’ll be led to believe that it’s all because of our strong national security and of the great weapons that scared them off!”

  Allan, who had been pacing while talking, stopped momentarily in front of Brad’s desk and put his knuckles on the surface and leaned forward. Brad stared bluntly back.

  “Allan, it doesn’t make any sense. You are implying what? That they had already planned for the astronauts to have an accident? They went all the way to Mars to justify a tax increase? Come on, be serious!”

  Allan’s eyes lighted up.

  “Why not? I wouldn’t be surprised if their astronaut suits were booby-trapped! One small signal and poof! Anyway, I’m going for some coffee. Want to join me?”

  Brad shook his head as Allan left the room. He held his breath for a few seconds and exhaled slowly. His mind ran wildly on all the possible explanations he could think of. Could Allan be right? Were aliens a fabrication of a few powerful men who, to achieve their goals, would stop at nothing? He logged on to his laptop to find out the latest news.

  Brad stayed for about an hour sifting through the major media sites around the world. There was a general trend of incredulity and helplessness underlining each article he read. Certainties about life were already changing. The last images transmitted by Bob were hauntingly sinister. There was no doubt in Brad’s mind that Spirit had been tampered with. Still, there were many, like Allan, who refused to believe anything that they couldn’t accept. It was as if their denial would make the world remain as it was. They tried to find any explanation that seemed plausible. Try as he might, Brad could not ignore what the facts pointed to, even if he was reluctant to admit it. He had always been one of those who believed that life existed on other worlds, but he never thought the question would be answered during his lifetime.

  The next few days were as surreal as any Brad had experienced. The whole world seemed to move in a stupor as people tried to comprehend what had happened. Various hypotheses were put in circulation by the media and experts to explain the images that had been transmitted. Most of the world’s population had refused to believe that there could have been an alien intervention. People invented all sorts of reasons to try to explain the images transmitted from Mars. They ranged from simple explanations like strong winds, even if the pieces weren’t scattered but arranged neatly in rows, to more elaborate ones, like a secret mission from China that had landed on Mars before Oasis. Some people thought that the Chinese had been to the Spirit site and had dismantled the probe in order to analyze it. This last hypothesis was rather popular even if the Chinese government had fervently denied it. It didn’t make much sense to Brad, though. First, why would anyone waste precious time on Mars analyzing outdated technology? Second, why would anyone keep such an historic moment secret from the rest of the world? If China had been the first to arrive at Mars, they would have reaped tremendous benefits both politically and economically. Brad strongly doubted that China had ever sent a secret manned flight to Mars.

  The explanation that most of the world accepted was the official version of the space agency. In a statement released to the press, they stated that Bob had already been at the Spirit site an hour before the live feed and had started repairing the probe. He had then left Spirit to collect soil analysis around the site and was approaching Spirit again the moment they had gone live. Still, some skeptics wondered why the agency had waited half a day to get this information public. By that time, the damage had already been done.

  Still, the most detrimental evidence that something sinister had happened on Mars was Mission Control’s inability to get in contact with the astronauts. Was it just a pure coincidence that they had lost contact with both astronauts at about the same instant those eerie images were being transmitted? Or was it, as the agency was saying, a problem of transmission from the Mars landing module to the orbiter due to unspecified damage to the module on Mars entry? If it was only the case of a communication malfunction, it was assumed that the astronauts were proceeding along with their two-week mission and would get back in contact with the orbiter as soon as the problem was identified and fixed.

  The world held its breath during that time as a sense of normality slowly started to return. No aliens had showed up and most people were starting to believe that it was, after all, as the space agency had reported. Communication between the orbiter and the landing module had malfunctioned. The astronauts were surely alive and proceeding with repairs. It wasn’t until the end of the two weeks that it finally dawned that the mission to Mars had become the biggest tragedy in space exploration. The orbiter had not been able to reestablish contact with the two astronauts on the red planet. When the module failed to return to the orbiter, it was evident that the astronauts would be stranded. The orbiter remained an extra three days. By that time, it was a mathematical certainty that the two astronauts were dead. They would have no more oxygen if they had survived that long. As feared, the Mars landing module must have been damaged on entry and was unable to lift-off. It was the only valid explanation. Ted Louis, the only remaining survivor, was finally instructed on the fourth day after the two week period to break orbit and come back home.

  ***

  Brad didn’t know what to feel. The best friend he had ever had was dead. Their childhood dream had ended in the cruelest of ways for Bob. A month had passed since the orbiter had left the red planet. The mood on Earth since then had been very somber, as if everyone had been thrown in a meditative mood debating on existential questions that were too difficult to clearly answer. The confidence of a nation, if not a world had been jarred. Most times when lifelong dreams die, there is something else to replace them. One struggles to find an idea worth dreaming about, hoping for, an idea capable of lighting a passion and leading to greatness. Mars, though, was unique. Mars had been one of mankind’s greatest dreams for centuries. When such a dream fails, one comes face to face with his limits. Settling for dreams with limits was not an option for man’s creative and ambitious mind. It was like dying. Brad felt he had died on Mars.

  As time passed and other problems emerged, the world slowly shifted its attention away from the Mars mission. The space agency’s future missions were suspended until a full investigation of the Mars tragedy was conducted. This time, the wait for man to return to space was going to be longer than usual, if at all. There were already many people who thought that along with the cost involved, the further sacrifice of lives for the exploration of space was not worth the rewards.

  Brad had entered a more serene phase of his life. He was starting to appreciate more of what he had. Unfortunately, as it usually happens, it had taken a tragedy to make him aware of his surroundings. He had been brooding on his missed ambitions instead of feeling satisfied with what he had in life. Just because, he thought, reality was more attainable than dreams didn’t mean it was less desirable. Reality happened and one learnt to live with it. Dreams on the other hand were flights of the imagination. They were wonderful to look at until they remained within view. Once those dreams disappeared from the horizon, one could waste a whole life pursuing, what in the end, becomes unreachable.

  The years went by but man did not return to space. Funding was slashed significantly as the space program was slowly phased out. All ambition man had to reach the planets was postponed to another era. Some tho
ught that those involved had simply given up and that this was very unrepresentative of a country which had built their image in overcoming adversity. The majority, though, felt it was foolish to continue when the astronomical amount of money needed to attempt another Mars mission was better served elsewhere. There was the aging population that needed attending to, there was the educational system that needed restructuring, in short, there were so many other important issues that needed to be addressed before even considering the space program again. Eventually everything in the world returned as it was before the Mars mission, as it became a distant memory.

  Brad, like most people, simply moved on and forgot. He had learnt to rationalize his feelings on the matter and looking back, he told himself that it had been such an ambitious goal that the risk of something catastrophic happening during the mission had been significant. The thought of there ever being aliens to explain the mission’s failure had become somewhat ridiculous with time, even if some events were left unexplained.

  Then one day, long after Brad had removed the Mars mission from his everyday thoughts, it all came vividly rushing back.

  It started with a phone call on a late afternoon. Brad was getting ready to leave his office. It was his turn to pick up his daughter at school and bring her to ballet class. His private line beeped.

  “Mr. Brad Walsh?”

  The voice on the other side of the line was deep and scruffy.

  “Speaking.”

  “Let me introduce myself. My name is Walter Bonk and I represent SpartaSpark, an employment agency. I’m sure you’ve heard of us. We are…”

  “It is very considerate of you to call, but I am not interested in a career move.”

  “Mr. Walsh, let me continue. I only need a few minutes of your time.”

  “That’s just the point. I am extremely busy at this moment.”

  “Then may I call you at some other time.”

  “Listen I am not interested. I…”