by Ed Thrush
Probe
By Ed Thrush
*****
Probe
A Short Story By Ed Thrush
Copyright © 2012 Ed Thrush
Cover:
Object Detail from “Garden of Earthly Delights” c1505 by Hieronymus Bosch
Published:
Type:
Science Fiction Short Story
Abstract:
A mysterious space craft lands on Earth. A scientific and military team rush to determine how to deal with an unknown and changing situation.
ISBN:
9781476472638
*****
Table of Contents
Chapter 1, Monday 7:30 AM _ ENTRY
Chapter 2, Monday 2:00 PM _ THE SHELTER
Chapter 3, Monday 3:30 PM _ PREPARATION
Chapter 4, Monday 4:30 PM _ THE LANDING
Chapter 5, Monday 5:30 PM _ IT’S ALIVE
Chapter 6, Monday 7:30 PM _ DATA
Chapter 7, Tuesday 6:30 AM _ INTRUDER
Chapter 8, Tuesday 6:35 AM _ COLLECTION
Chapter 9, Monday 7:30 PM _ PACKING
Chapter 10, Monday 7:30 PM _ JOURNEY
Chapter 11, Monday 7:45 PM _ MIRRORS
Chapter 12, Monday 10:00 PM _ FINAL CUT
*****
Chapter 1
Monday 7:30 AM _ ENTRY
“A bat out of hell on steroids.”
That was the first thing that came to mind as Rhea watched a display reveal a fast moving high-energy object.
"Jim! Tom! Take a look at this." Rhea had seen a huge magnetic fluctuation while looking at live scans of the sky with the new energy collecting telescope located at the Martin R. Scott Science Institute in Frederick, Maryland. The position shifts were fast.
Jim was mesmerized looking at the numerical readouts on the display, "Its huge, the field is enormous and whatever is generating it must be fairly sizable."
Tom was dumbstruck, "Have you two lost sight of the fact that we have a rather large object traveling at...let me see that (clicking the mouse to update the selected region in space) ...Oh Boy! That comes to about 480,000 miles per hour heading straight for us! That is about three times the fastest meteorite rate recorded, we have an anomaly, not rare for speed but for size, speed and uh… target"
Rhea was studying another screen. "But it is slowing down,"
Tom just stared at her., "Oh… I feel much better now!"
"No, no", she continued, "It’s slowing down real fast, in fact, at the current rate, it looks like it will just about stop when it gets here."
Jim was suddenly apprehensive, "But how can that be, a highly magnetic or otherwise charged asteroid would deflect or crash, not make a descent, it must be a controlled device. I don't like this at all. Now we have to start thinking friendly or enemy? Or worse, it does not even acknowledge us. And that is a whole different ballgame.”
Rhea was moving across the room throwing her phone headset quickly on, "We have to call people, we are the only ones who can detect energies at this range, but if my figures are right it will be here in about 10 hours. Set a countdown clock on a monitor."
The call was made. NASA was now alerted. There were very few telescopes that did detect that kind of magnetic disturbance, even when it got closer to Earth. The object did not follow a straight path when it arrived above the planet. It sought a landing site.
Professor Rhea Hyris gathered the papers, her long dark hair reflecting off shiny tables, the she grabbed various computer discs, scooped up half a dozen little flash drives, stuffed them into her bag and grabbed the special laptop and remote sensing accessory bag. She ran out to meet a cab that rushed her to the airport where a NASA jet would escort her to the landing site (as best as could be determined by updated readings). On board was Dr. Ed Nomos, a physicist who had perfected the recent NASA mission robotic vehicles sent into deep space.
"So Rhea, I knew you were dying to see me again," he said looking whimsically at her.
"Oh please, we were only together 6 months, and this is..." Suddenly she was waving her arms about. Ed got serious.
"Whoa, hold on, okay…You need to loosen up a bit. Listen, I know we got the real thing here, but getting all wound up doesn't help. After all, you left me saying you needed to relax more." She just lay back in the seat.
"You're right. I’m reacting too much. But I always told everyone we would be visited and it might not be like anything we have ever thought of before. Nobody listened to me! And now we are totally screwed. Don’t forget that I argued just as hard for land and space defensive weapons as for the research equipment. I don’t know how many idiots I told that we need fast moving robotics that not only collect data but carry protective armament and a lot more. Why did I even write the paper on it!
Ed nodded in agreement, “I sure as hell didn't think of this, by the way it's headed for the Bonneville Salt Flats. There is a lot of activity going on today and it will be a real job to clear everyone out of the target area. One thing I'll say, if you're a space vehicle looking for a big flat stable area to land, the Salt Flats have 159 square miles of it, that is definitely the place that space travel agents will send you." Then he straightened up In a mock advertising voice, “You want to go to Earth but you need an incredibly vast landing strip? Well if you arrange travel with us in the next 60 seconds, we will have the coordinates of one of the largest flat, stable land surfaces on the entire planet downloaded with reservations to your spacecraft!”
Rhea was laughing, “Ed, that was one thing I really did like about you, how crazy you are!” With that she poked him hard in the side several times.
“Hey! Easy now!”
As she looked out the window, she could not help but think, “Why here, why Earth?” The odds are completely against extreme remote visitations, but here it is. There had to be a reason, and if it was remote.
*****
Chapter 2
Monday 2:00 PM _ THE SHELTER
Rhea grabbed all her gear and made her way off the plane. The wind was blowing hard making moving and talking difficult.
"Professor Rhea Hyris? I'm Major Ladon Detrick. We have installed an underground observation shelter with communications and cameras. We also installed the monitoring equipment you asked for, we had to strip some of our best labs to be here in a few hours, but it is basically ready!" There was a loud thud and metal crunch. “As I said…we are almost there.” Looking around he continued. "The NASA team should be here shortly. You do understand we have extremely heavy weapons nearby but they are out of sight as you recommended...and I fully agree, no need to frighten anyone new to town so-to-speak, but if there's trouble...were ready, and we continue to ratchet up our capabilities."
"Thank you; I do appreciate your efforts." Major Detrick showed Rhea the lid to the capsule in the ground. The lid was actually for a 100 foot tunnel to the capsule with several dense hatch gates. It was basically a huge cylinder they had dropped into a deep hole by helicopter; they blew the hole out with explosives to save time. As they made their way down the stairs into the chamber, the Major gave a tour.
"TV cameras all around the area feed into this console, motion detectors, infra-red, all types of radiation and wavelengths, sound plus all the high energy detection equipment you requested. This huge module was taken from the preparation for the next space station. This allowed us to quickly provide the electronics, as everything else is already installed along with backups. Here is what we have: batteries for over a week, fuel cell generators for six months – which will recharge the batteries, bathrooms, food, water and self-contained air when needed. The capsule is already heavily shielded by design but we lined the hold with extra plates of lead, steel, concrete and copper mesh. We already had those for nuclear and electromagnetic pulse
shields. The latest projections show this area to be in the range of landing targets, but you should be prepared to know that it could actually land on top of you. There are emergency exit ports we can dig to if need be."
"Not a problem, Major, in fact, I would look forward to it." The Major and Ed looked at each other. Ed tried to explain. “You just have to know her; she would bungee jump into an active volcano if she could scoop a really good sample of lava.”
The Major nodded his head and began to climb the ladder. "The NASA folks will be here soon as well as my assistant Mike Seaport who handles military coordination. I think you will get along just fine, he's as excited as you are."
Rhea immediately tested all of the major equipment and power levels. Everything looked good. There were still a few hours to go, she tried to relax, gritting her teeth to calm her racing mind. She began planning how to record the event with Ed.
A rush of thought hit Rhea as she looked around at the ceiling with wires, pipes and junction boxes running like spider webs constructed on psychedelics. She remembered her older brother back in Pennsylvania, Danaus. They used to go out on the clear nights and look at the constellations. Wondering if we were alone in the universe, and if not, does that neighbor live close enough to make a house call. "One thing I know.” She recalled him musing, ”We'd better try to be as smart and civil as they are, at least enough to make a good impression." Danaus left unsaid what might happen if we made a bad impression with a short silence, but pointed out. "Any civilization with the technology to travel far and fast in space is not one that you would want to make mad." Rhea resolved then and there that if the unlikely day ever came when a space ship from far away would land, she would be polite, stand at a distance (just in case they had ray-guns) and offer the warmest welcome. She would try to accommodate the most unusual culture we would ever see.
*****
Chapter 3
Monday 3:30 PM _ PREPARATION
They got a briefing on the specially rigged space suits they would use to first explore the craft -- if they got a chance.
Comus Gaia, who had been on the NASA Extravehicular Mobility Unit design team, laid the space suit on a table. "Besides the extreme heat and cold, we added extra radiation shielding. The outer skin has cushion-backed Kevlar with titanium, polyurethane, and carbon fibers embedded in case of explosions or impacts. Even with the lightweight materials this makes one heavy suit at 78 pounds, and that’s without any gear attached. “ Then pointing to the inside of the suit, “But it is fully air-cooled and we have put springs in the joints to make rebounding easy as you walk. Complete communications, four video cams, voice switching frequencies, and suit telemetry. We designed these for high risk repairs on the space station."
A short reserved red haired man had been waiting on the side and spoke up, "Hi, I’m Mike Seaport. We have communication links patched not only back to this event monitoring module but out to our command post behind the hill, directly to a strategic center in Washington and to the feeds for NASA. I link in the military, but I'm civilian. My job is to make sure everyone keeps talking." Pointing to a box in the corner, "I also brought some primitive communication devices in case we lose regular transmission. They’re based on simple light, sound, and radio beacons if needed."
Rhea twisted her lip, "How about decontamination, in case we get some alien dirt on us?"
Another figure against the wall stepped forward; The NASA name tag said Mark Cron. "We have a full mobile lab ready at a moments notice. We are also carrying an inflatable football field sized lab if we need it. There are other crews here to deal specifically with chemical and radiological hazards. Since we don't know what we are dealing with we brought just about everything, and are bringing more at this moment."
With the final briefing over, everyone but Rhea, Ed and Mike left the shelter to get behind the hill with the rest of the equipment and communications center. Mike and Comus would return as needed. All communications were activated, outside cameras were turned on, and sensing devices became alert. It was time.
Rhea looked at Ed and grinned. Ed twisted his head, “Now Rhea, I know you are pumped up about this, but our first job is not to lose Earth” Rhea slowly nodded In mock disappoint, “All right.” Mike looked over at the two and really started to worry.
*****
Chapter 4
Monday 4:30 PM _ THE LANDING
It sounded like a washing machine off balance with a heavy load threatening to slam the whole works over to one side. Only this was on a huge scale, an earthquake scale. The noise was like a mad pile driver slamming into your head. Everyone in the capsule heard and felt the probe before it was seen by the cameras. It just sounded all wrong.
"It appears to be emitting some kind of sonic pulse disruption, probably a side effect, along with some other methods for landing,” Rhea noted. The Salt Flats were being hammered from the atmosphere with visible distortions in the air. The entire sky buckled in a heavy metal rhythm. Above the heat wave type pulses, the probe started to emerge. The vehicle reflected lights everywhere. It was like watching spotlight illuminated crystal under shimmering water. The effect was like the endless scattering of a huge white laser spinning out of control in disco out of control.
The hammering of the landing engines got louder and faster. The pulses were at such an intensity and high frequency it drilled through the acoustic shielding and threatened to drive everyone insane. It vibrated directly into their brains. The pain was too great; everyone fell to the floor clutching their heads, close to passing out. And then it stopped.
They team started getting off the floor from the shock, trying to focus. Professor Rhea Hyris was the first to the video monitor. "Come on, let’s get dressed, we have company!"
Climbing up the ladder was a real effort with the suit on, everyone was struggling with it. Even without out all the gear the suits could carry, they all felt mummified. Ed could not contain himself. "This had better be good." Rhea was too restrained by the protective space suit to look back and make a face, but she made one anyway.
"Good" was not quite the word. Something more along the lines of incredible would be more appropriate. It was an object of fantastic design. The craft was difficult to look at first in the sun. All they could see was a hazy brilliance that hurt their eyes. Then they pulled the light gray polarizing visors down and the shape was much clearer. It was right out of surrealistic artist Hieronymous Bosch's nightmare. Both Ed and Rhea loved artwork and recognized the shape from the Garden of Earthly Delights right away. The top was a gently sloping smooth clamshell held up by two tapering walled legs on the right and left sides. There was even tendon like connectors similar to the painting – except these were symmetrical. The whole structure was like some futuristic chair design that looked great but no one would ever be able to actually sit in except the cat or dog. The most astounding part was the "skin". It looked like facets of crystals shooting off subtle colors. Rhea walked directly up to the leg and examined the texture more closely. It did actually appear to be some type of diamond with a fibrous metal mixed in that was equally brilliant. She touched it and the surface appeared hard, she knocked it with the knuckle of the glove. Ed came over and did the same and discovered, "It's almost like a kind of combination carbon glass and spring steel, probably gives thermal protection as well a structural integrity all in one package." Behind the see-through diamond hybrid metal skin they could make out another material that looked something like plastic chain mail. Ed was impressed, "If we could look at these closer I think we would find these two are connected at the molecular level, there is another purpose here, but I don't know what it is yet."
Rhea looked down the length of the ship, "It must be about one mile long and just as high. Let’s take a closer look."
*****
Chapter 5
Monday 5:30 PM _ IT’S ALIVE
It was then that they heard the sound. It was faint, but it was there, a very fine-tuned humming. They followed the sound up
towards the sky. The clamshell was opening. It opened just enough for three round pink orbs to protrude. The globes began to glow brighter and brighter. The air felt like it was charged. By some instinct Rhea knew what was going to happen. "Ed, the other visor!" Just as he pulled it down it hit, a prolonged flash you could feel though your bones. 'Whoa," Rhea was completely dazed. "I think we just had our picture taken; only my guess is they got a little more detail than that." A bird that was sitting on the ground was smoldering from the flash, but it was still alive, as if it went through a wall of fire for a second.
"Can you two confirm you are completely all right, and we have no threat at this time? That light flash burnt out a few of the cameras and sensing devices," Mike said into the headset.
Rhea replied. "We are fine, it appears to be taking a look around, and my guess is we will see more action soon." ”At least I hope we will see more action”, she thought. “I wonder what else is inside that craft and where did it come from. “
"We’re probably thinking along the same lines, who or what made this." Ed mused. "Hey...Looks like that action you predicted."
There was a very low stomach-churning rumble. The mouth of the shell opened wider and a huge dark swarm of what appeared to be dust emerged. It was not dust; it was a plague of robotic spores. Both of them were experiencing a tingling all over their body. “I can feel it right through the damn suit!” Rhea yelled. It was from the massive amount of tiny vibrations in the atmosphere. The flying spores went off in all directions way overhead at incredible speed. Suddenly they were all gone.
Rhea was dumbstruck, "There had to be billions of those things!"
"No, I think much more. We are dealing with incredible numbers of information gatherers. It doesn't matter if only a fraction makes it back, the mission will be accomplished and for their technology it's a minor expenditure of resources to risk." Ed was really impressed now, almost giddy.
The clamshell mouth remained open with the near setting sun reflecting like lights from a rock show off the diamond skin. Rhea used the remote control strapped to her side to aim the telescopic video at the entrance of the mouth and hoped to maybe get a look inside later. Then that sensation was back, the spores were returning already and hardly 20 minutes had passed. The dense cloud grew darker and darker and funneled into the probe, which then closed. Just as it closed the sun started to set. Swirls of fiery reds, oranges and purple reflected off the craft.