by Cliff Ball
Chapter Thirteen
“Houston, the Hubble Space Telescope is now successfully in orbit and operating at peak efficiency. May we see amazing things that we’ve never seen before. Discovery out.” stated the commander of the mission.
NASA turned over the Hubble mission to the Space Telescope Science Institute, where they began to search the stars. Area 51, in the meantime, had planned a space searching mission for the Hubble. The Area 51 scientists were given an allotted time to use the telescope, they didn’t give an exact reason for wanting to use the telescope, but they were given the time to do so anyway. In the control center, General Bridger said, “With this new super telescope we can now search for the Ragnor star system. Has the coordinates Ostoro given us been uploaded to the Hubble?”
“The upload is nearing completion now, General. After the upload, it’ll take a few minutes for the computer on board the Hubble to adjust the lenses and locate the exact coordinates of the Ragnor solar system. Once we’re able to search out that part of space, we will know exactly where to find the Ragnor. Would you also like for us to focus in on Alpha Centauri, sir?”
“Not right now, Dr. Travis. Ostoro’s home system is our first priority. Once we make our detailed scans, Alpha Centauri will be the next system we scan on our next scheduled use of the telescope.”
Twenty minutes later, the computer informed Travis and his associates that Hubble had located the coordinates of where the Ragnors’ home solar system was supposed to be located. The real-time scan of the Ragnor solar system was projected onto an enormous screen at the front of the control room. The telescope lenses focused on the target, only to come up with what appeared to be an empty sector of space. There were stars near the sector, but not one located where Ostoro said that one would be. For a few minutes longer, Travis tried to re-focus the Hubble and make sure they weren’t imagining an empty sector of space, but it was to no avail. General Bridger, who was a very hands-on kind of boss, was nearing the end of his patience, when he said, “Someone bring Ostoro up here. Now!”
Ten minutes later, Ostoro came into the control center accompanied by two human guards bigger than him. He walked over to the General, glanced over at the screen, a small smirk appeared on his face, and asked, “What can I do for you, General?”
“What can you do for me, you smug alien? Would you care to explain why there isn’t a star system at the coordinates you gave us?”
“General, you seem to have some vaguely intelligent people who work here, why not ask them?”
“Ostoro, stop with the sarcasm. Unlike Yeager, I will not tolerate it. I want answers and I want them now.” Bridger ordered, who was on the verge of losing his temper.
“Please think about the kind of technology my people have created. This is one thing I will not help with, revealing everything about my home star system. Figure it out on your own, General.” responded Ostoro.
Bridger was fuming, his face was beet red, and if his ears could steam, they’d be steaming like a teapot. Before Bridger could say anything that he might regret, Travis spoke up, “I think I know what’s going on, General,”
“Well?” asked Bridger, crossing his arms across his chest, began tapping one of his shoes, and waited for Travis to continue.
“Uh, right. I think the Ragnor star system is cloaked, like their starships. If true, then maybe that’s why we can’t see their star. The cloak has a frequency to it that can reveal everything being cloaked if the frequency is targeted at whatever is invisible to the naked eye. Unfortunately, we have nothing in space or on Earth that can direct a powerful enough signal through space to bounce back at us so we can see the star system. So, for now, the Ragnor are hidden, even though we are fairly certain where they are located in the galaxy.”
“We do have the Very Large Array in New Mexico, Dr. Travis. Why won’t that work?”
“The VLA won’t work because they’re not powerful enough for what we need and would take nearly a century before the signal returned back to Earth. I would suggest that since we know the frequency of the cloaking field, we should wait until we have a working starship that can visit the Ragnor and then we can de-cloak their system. Until then, we’re just going to have to work on the technology we need, General.” remarked Travis.
“Since we’re close to having some of the advanced technology that the Ragnor have, I want a starship capable of traveling that far with all the advanced technology available to us through Ostoros’ ship to be worked on faster. Get to work, people.” ordered Bridger.
Meanwhile, NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and other science labs were working on advanced space probes to land on and then study Mars, its atmosphere, the weather, and even possibly landing other robot probes near the poles to study whether or not the planet had water similar to water on Earth. The Mars Pathfinder probe was launched on December 4, 1996, and it had a rover on board that would conduct experiments on Martian soil, it was called Sojourner. The probe landed seven months later on July 4, 1997, in Ares Vallis. It was the first to use airbags for a soft touchdown and automated obstacle avoidance for the rover. Soujourner conducted chemical analysis of soil and rocks and studied the prevailing winds. NASA came to the conclusion that Mars was wet and warm at one time in its past, having had liquid water and a thicker atmosphere. Soujourner lasted longer than predicted and contact with it was lost on September 27 of the same year, mainly because its batteries had a hard time recharging in the cold weather. Or so NASA thought.
Prevailing orders for the Terrans on Mars were that probes from Earth were to meet with what appeared to be catastrophic failures. The Pathfinder was allowed to drop its cargo on Mars, while other probes before it had been targeted by computer viruses directed from the Mars Base that would cause the probes to fail, thus having a complete mission failure. Unfortunately, the Earth humans kept on being relentless about sending their probes, while the Terrans could never figure out what was so special about a dusty, desert planet that had horrible dust storms and dust that clogged up everything with machinery in its wake, even with a dome covering the base. The Terrans finally let the next two robot rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, proceed with their missions; even though the Terrans tried to shut down Spirit as it was on Mars.
The Deep Space Network on Earth received a communication from Spirit that was transmitted with no data, and JPL thought a thunderstorm over Australia was at fault. Then, Spirit missed a communications session with the Mars Global Surveyor, which was orbiting Mars. The next day, JPL received a beep from the rover giving a message saying it was in fault mode. The Earth scientists went to work trying to fix the software malfunctions, but, unbeknownst to them, the Terrans had hacked into the rovers’ computer to try to derail its mission. In the Mars control center, Commander Lomanco who, for once was overseeing this attempt at sabotage, asked, “Is there any way to prevent the rover from receiving any updates from Earth without appearing that its signal is being jammed from an external source?”
“No, there isn’t, Commander. If we continue to hack into this robot rover’s systems and prevent more data from being sent, whoever is trying to fix the software problems will eventually find our computer signature, and then try to hack into our own systems, which would probably turn into an even bigger problem for us and our systems. Everything on our base is networked to one mainframe, life support, weapons, communications; pretty much all of our technology. I can install firewalls, which will prevent our computers from being hacked into, but that may delay the inevitable, sir.”
“Go ahead and install firewalls, Mr. Traynor. Make sure you leave no trace of our interference in that rovers’ computer. I think from now on, we should leave the Earth space programs alone, because it’s beginning to get harder concealing our presence here on Mars. I’m returning to my office, if you need me, I’ll be there.” Lomanco then walked out of the control center.
Traynor installed firewalls for the Mars Base network, just in case the humans on Earth became advanced enough to ha
ck into the computer and install a nasty computer virus, even though he really didn’t think it was all that necessary. On Earth, JPL fixed the software problems on Spirit, but the rover wasn’t able to conduct any kind of scientific activities for a week and a half. They discovered part of the problem was with the Flash memory subsystem, which can be easily erased and re-programmed. JPL wrote a patch for the software and upgraded the software so the subsystem wouldn’t be so vunerable to crashing. Both Opportunity and Spirit worked beyond their planned lifespans, giving scientists on Earth plenty of valuable data about Mars to pore through.
One of the computer engineers did find a strange fault by accident in some of the lines of code, it wasn’t written in any of Earths’ computer programming languages, and it appeared that someone had tried to delete most of it. He made a note of it, passed it along the necessary channels, which was intercepted by an Area 51 computer programmer, who had his team begin work on figuring out the entire sequence of the Terran computer language. Which they hoped would lead them to crash not only the computer network on Mars through viruses, but those viruses would unknowingly be transmitted to the computers on Terra, causing the planet itself to be defenseless without the computers controlling the planetary defenses. Unfortunately, they had no idea when they’d be able to crack the Terran codes.
Chapter Fourteen
Five years later, the engineers at Area 51 finished the prototype starship that General Bridger had wanted fast-tracked. It was equipped with the latest technology patterned off of the Ragnor, but it was uniquely American made technology and everything was built by American workers. Bridger needed astronauts to test the new starship, which was housed in a cloaked hangar on the base, since too many satellites passed overhead, and far too many people had access to maps provided online by Nanotech and Infinity, the online search engine. He had to inform the Secretary of Defense about the completion of the starship and the need for qualified astronauts, so Bridger called the Secretarys’ office directly at the Pentagon, “This is Secretary of Defense Chris Carson, can I help you?”
“Mr. Secretary, this is General James Bridger at Area 51. I want to inform you that Project Ares has been completed. I now need qualified people to test the ship, sir.”
“Good job, Bridger, to you and your team. My predecessors had been highly skeptical we’d ever get this far, and the Pentagon had to make sure Congress didn’t notice all of the money diverted to this whole project since 1947. I will inform the Air Force Chief of Staff of your need for qualified personnel to fly your ship. We will also have to equip the ship with weapons, Marines, and supplies, which I will take care of. When we’re ready, I’ll inform the President and he’ll make the ultimate decision regarding what to do next.”
The next day, Carson called the Air Force Chief of Staff Frank Pike to his office. When the Air Force Chief was comfortably seated in his chair, Carson began, “Frank, I called you in here because I need to reveal to you a secret that not even the President of the United States yet knows, even though I would say that most everyone in the United States probably already knows about this,” Carson handed the Chief of Staff a folder stamped with a big, red “Classified” stamped on it that appeared to be a few hundred pages thick, then said, “take your time, it can be a bit overwhelming to take in all at once.”
Pike opened the folder, his eyebrows shot up when he read the subject of what the folder contained, and then he began reading the documents for the next fifteen minutes, until he decided he had the general idea what was going on. He asked, “Mr. Secretary, this is amazing. Where, may I ask, do I fit into this scheme?”
“I need detailed reports of qualified astronauts or Air Force personnel who can be counted on to keep this a secret for the time being and those who have the ability to be in space for extended periods of times. They’ll be transferred to Area 51 for extensive training, not only for space travel, but in the new technologies we’ve gained from the Ragnor ship that crashed in Roswell. Please have your recommendations on my desk within the next two weeks. Once we have the crew trained, Marines on board, and the ship supplied, I will inform the President. Get to work, Frank.” ordered the Secretary.
Two weeks later, after he and his staff pored through personnel records and psychological profiles, Pike sent Carson the files of who he thought should be transferred to Area 51. The Secretary of Defense, after reading through the recommendations, sent out orders for all those who were to be involved in this, to report to Nellis Air Force Base within seventy-two hours. He himself would travel across the country to speak with the officers, astronauts, Marines, and Airmen to give them the clearance to know this secret and tell them of their specific orders and why they were all there. Carson also ordered General Bridger to show up at Nellis with buses to transport everyone to Area 51, that way everything was done in a nice, orderly fashion.
Three days later, the Secretary of Defense arrived at Nellis, where he and a couple of his staff promptly made their way to the hangar where Carson would meet the recruits and inform them of their mission. There were two black Yellow Bird buses with absolutely no insignia of any kind parked outside the hangar, with four equally painted black, unmarked Humvees armed to the teeth. Carson assumed they were from Area 51, since that installations’ personnel were all about maximum security; although, he thought it brought them more attention, what with a couple of movies and television shows referencing Area 51 and all. He stepped inside the hangar, where all the personnel were seated, with a podium in front of them with the insignia of the Secretary of Defense on it, and various high ranking military officers sitting in chairs facing the crowd. He noticed that in the darker corners of the hangar, and in the rafters, there were heavily armed men in black military garb. He knew he didn’t request security of this magnitude, nor had the commander of Nellis as far as he knew, so this must be part of the paranoid culture of Area 51 that he had heard so much about, which had served them very well since President Truman and the Majestic-12 had created the cloak of secrecy for Area 51.
Carson walked over to the high ranking officers and shook their hands, then walked up to the podium, and began, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nellis Air Force Base. I’m sure you are all wondering why you were transferred here. All of you should be getting the folders my staff is distributing as we speak. What I’m about to tell you is the highest state security secret the United States currently has, and all of you were considered trustworthy and reliable enough not to ever let this information get out until the government decides to let the rest of the world know,” the staffers let Carson know all the folders were distributed, “now, if all of you will please open your folders, we will begin the briefing.”
Two hours later, Carson finished up the history of Area 51 and what the new assignment was for all of the personnel who were currently in the hangar. He looked over the room full or recruits and noticed that some of them looked shocked, and for some others, shocked would be considered an understatment. Carson then said, “I know all of you probably have many questions, but there will be no answers at this time. General Bridger here will escort all of you to Area 51, where I’m sure you’ll find most of the answers you seek. Good luck with your training.” with that, Carson and his staff left the hangar and headed for their plane.
The personnel who were going to Area 51 loaded up on the buses and started out for that secret military installation. Two Humvees were in front of the buses and the other two guarded the buses from behind. The convoy made their way ninety miles north in the hot Nevada weather, and an hour and a half later, they arrived at Area 51. To the personnel who had never been to Area 51, all they saw was a runway, control tower, a two story building, and a small hangar. Once they got closer though, they could see that most of it was not real, designed to appear as though the buildings were really used from a distance or from satellite photos. The vehicles entered the small hangar, and as soon as the vehicles stopped, the concrete floor began to move downwards, which Bridger informed them that i
t was a freight elevator taking them to the actual Area 51 installation underground. Five minutes later, the elevator stopped, and everyone was told to get off of the buses.
Everyone departed the buses and they were awed by the massive underground complex they were seeing. Bridger led them to a conference room near the elevator, where laptop computers were sitting on the tables, and a screen was set up in front of the room. Everyone sat down, as Bridger began, “On your laptops are the specifications of the spacecraft all of you will be assigned to. I want all of you to know everything about this ship backward and forward. Also, your assignments are listed if you would click on the personnel file on the desktop screen; all of you will know who goes where, and in case of an emergency or death, the next one in line can take over the position. Now please direct your attention to the screen at the front of the room, where you will be shown what the training will entail when it comes to this mission.”
An hour later, Bridger asked anyone if they had questions. An Air Force officer raised her hand, Bridger motioned for her to speak, and she said, “Sir, I’m Commander Rachel Kell, and I see here that I’m the captain of this new starship. I was wondering why this was kept a secret for so many years; after all, I know a great many people who believed Area 51 actually existed without actually knowing and thought aliens had crashed at Roswell without the actual proof. Can you explain that to us, sir?”