“You mean Marsquake?” asked Keller over the intercom.
“Yah, I suppose that’s what I meant. It’s stopped now.”
Adam was flustered, but he continued removing sand from one side of the circular door. His plan was to dig a shallow depression and hopefully the door would roll into it.
After a few minutes, the round door began to roll toward the low point, albeit slowly. Adam tried to push it, but it didn’t budge. He took a break and gave the shovel to Yeva. After digging some more, the disc rolled far enough to the side that the two astronauts could probably squeeze through if they turned sideways.
“Hey Yeva, how much oxygen do you have?” asked Adam.
Yeva looked at the gauge on her wrist and said, “About 15 minutes. We’ll have time to go in and take a few pictures.”
Adam spoke over the intercom, “Okay. This is it everybody. We are now going to enter a room built by aliens. Can you believe it?”
“Go for it,” came a message back from Molly.
Adam walked back to the golf cart to grab the tripod-mounted floodlight. He planned to use it to illuminate the interior of the pyramid. Adam hefted it up and laid it against his shoulder. When he turned around, Yeva was gone.
Chapter 17
“Yeva! Yeva! Where are you? Yevaaa!” yelled Adam into his headset microphone. He frantically spun around looking for her. His eyes searched the ground for footprints.
“Relax mutton-head, I am inside the pyramid. I wanted to be the first at something,” said an irritated Yeva over the headset.
Adam complained excitedly, “We gotta work as a team and not lose each other. Just like in training, we’re using the buddy system.”
“Seriously? Okay, we will work as a team from now on,” she said sarcastically.
Adam could see her flashlight beam moving around just inside the doorway. He jogged over to the opening and peaked into the darkness. His right hand reached up to his helmet and flipped two switches. The first engaged a helmet-mounted flashlight. The second turned on the helmet-mounted video camera. It would record all the amazing things they were about to see.
Adam turned sideways and squeezed through the door opening. “Think thin!” he said to himself. Once through, he walked over to the middle of the room. His flashlight sent an erratic beam all over the floor.
Adam put the floodlight down on the dust and spread out the tripod legs one by one. This was no normal floodlight. It contained a large omnidirectional LED bulb that was brighter than most normal floodlights back on Earth. He reached just beneath the bulb and turned on the power switch. The entire room lit up like Texas at lunchtime. The two explorers immediately realized that this building was split into two rooms. The room they were in was much larger than the other room. With limited oxygen, they decided to focus on this large room today.
Gray granite walls surrounded them; all polished flat and filled with meticulously engraved carvings. This was not caveman art. With all of the sharp angles and elaborate curves, this was the work of intelligent beings.
Adam and Yeva both found themselves drawn to the walls to experience the feel of the precisely cut characters. The indentations were large enough for their gloves to follow them.
Adam pondered out loud, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this is an advanced written language. Discrete characters with only a few strokes and dots each. More like English than say Chinese. What do you think Yeva?”
“It is so beautiful. Not sure what to make of it. It actually looks a lot like proto-Elamite. In style at least.”
Adam agreed, “Yes, yes. And what is proto-Elamite?”
Yeva turned and looked at him incredulously.
“And you call yourself a scientist?” she asked.
Adam jokingly replied, “No, I’m half-geologist and half-engineer. An engeologist.”
“And a complete traitor,” she said accusingly. She looked back to the glyphs and explained, “Proto-Elamite is the oldest undeciphered written language on Earth.”
Adam raised his eyebrows, “Wow. That is something.”
Yeva rubbed her gloves on the smooth granite, “How has the granite not lost its polish after millions of years?”
Adam and Yeva walked along the walls recording as much as they could on their helmet-mounted video cameras. At the same time, each of them was taking high-resolution photographs with hand-held digital SLR cameras. Eventually they found themselves standing next to a granite block near the back of the room roughly the size of a dinner table. Adam stared at it in confusion.
“And then there’s that thing,” he said curtly.
On the four exposed sides were groupings of letters. Words perhaps, organized into paragraphs. On the large top surface was a string of characters all evenly spaced with large gaps in between each one.
Adam said, “These carvings on the top must be the alphabet. Each letter is so delicately drawn.”
Under each letter was a column that contained tightly packed horizontal grooves, like the cross-section of an old vinyl album with tiny hills and valleys.
Yeva was photographing all of these while Adam, in a trance, slid his finger along each of the engraved letters.
He counted them. As he traced each letter, he realized that he was the first sentient being to do this in millions of years. The person who carved these must’ve done the same thing with his fingers, thought Adam.
“Twenty-nine letters. Amazing, eh? Millions of years and millions of miles apart, and yet, our alphabets are so close in size.”
Yeva motioned for him to move his hand away so she could take more pictures.
“Hey Yeva, what do you think of all the writing on the side of this block?”
Yeva paused to think about Adam’s question. She nodded her head and answered, “It appears to be some type of Rosetta stone, perhaps. You know, the same story told on all four sides, but each side in a different language to help some future translator. Unfortunately, we now see four stories that we can’t read.”
A slow beep started.
Adam looked down at his beeping oxygen gauge.
“Ah crap. Ten minute warning; gotta get going. We’ll leave the floodlight here. Did you get a lot of photos too?” asked Adam as he walked over and turned off the floodlight.
Yeva nodded her head in confirmation.
“Yes. Lots of pictures. When we get back to the Big Turtle, we can upload them to the NASA servers. Maybe the NSA guys can work their magic on this alphabet.”
They squeezed through the doorway and trudged over the red dust toward the golf cart. Adam picked up several rock samples to bring back to the Big Turtle. Yeva once again hopped into the driver’s seat before Adam had a chance. He climbed into the other seat. She pressed the accelerator pedal and they took off up the hill sending a rooster tail of cloudy scarlet dust.
“Hey Molly. Hey Keller. Do you hear me?” asked Adam over the main headset communication link.
“Yup, loud and clear,” replied Keller.
“Well, Mom and Dad are on their way back. Hope we won’t be interrupting you two,” Adam said over the intercom as he grinned and winked at Yeva. She did not smile.
Keller was sitting down with his boots up on the main table when he saw a red cloud of dust in the distance give birth to the golf cart. He casually wandered over to the airlock control panel, ready to let the weary travelers back into the life boat.
Keller was humming the lyrics to the song Rocket Man when he saw the golf cart finally arrive. At first it stopped next to the ramp, but then Yeva drove it out into the direct sunlight. She hopped out and gathered up the cameras and fossil samples. Adam deployed the solar array to charge the batteries on the golf cart.
The two explorers made their way up the ramp and into the airlock. Keller pushed a sequence of switches which flooded the evacuated vestibule with breathable oxygen. He opened the door and Yeva walked in first and removed her helmet.
Keller asked, “Did you see any little green men?”
/> Yeva quickly answered, “No, but did you see what this arrogant monster did to me during our walk down to the surface?”
Keller felt like he was in the middle of a messy domestic quarrel. He said, “Um, yah, we noticed that. Fortunately, nobody at Mission Control knew what was supposed to happen. And may I congratulate you, Yeva, for not punching Adam in the stomach on live TV in front of billions of people.”
Adam redirected the mood and said, “We did take a lot of photos. Let’s get them uploaded to NASA, pronto.”
Yeva added, “We have some samples from the fossils too. Let’s get them into the thermal ionization spectrometer right away and find out how old they really are.”
Molly hooked up the cameras to her laptop. After some fiddling with the software, she started the upload process that would move gigabytes of photograph files through the long void of space to the antenna on the International Space Station and then finally to the NASA servers at the Mission Control Center in Houston.
This process took over two hours. The data link was quite slow due to the distance and the error correction involved. When it was all done, they had a teleconference with Chris Tankovitch to discuss what they’d found.
“Thank you everybody. The media is itching to get ahold of these images,” said Chris excitedly as he was viewing them on a nearby monitor.
The ten minute round-trip delay made communication very difficult. At the end of the disjointed discussion, Chris congratulated them and assured them, “We have top mathematicians and paleographers here in this building trying to decipher this language as we speak. Wish us luck.”
After ending the teleconference with Chris, they started the night-time process of shutting things down. The astronauts had been awake for a long time now and could barely keep their eyes open.
“I have a feeling we’ll find something amazing in that other room tomorrow,” admitted Adam to the group.
“Hopefully. Good night,” said Molly.
The Sun set and pitch black darkness took over the cabin interior. They fell asleep quickly and easily for the first time in over a month.
Chapter 18
“Rise and shine slumber heads,” said Adam as the automated window blinds rolled up. “I’ve got hot liquefied waffles and milk for everybody.”
Rays of morning sunshine cascaded through the Big Turtle’s interior. One by one the other crewmembers pried open their eyes to see breakfast set out on the main table.
“Yummo,” said Keller.
The astronauts gathered around the table and ate their boxes of goo and drank their bags of milk, water and coffee.
Molly asked Yeva and Adam, “Did you have time to think more about what you saw in the pyramid?”
Adam glanced at Yeva and then said, “I still don’t have a clue what those engravings meant, but I’m sure it was an alphabet. Very similar to the pronto-Laminate language.”
Molly laughed and said, “I’m sure you mean proto-Elamite.”
Yeva interrupted, “Yes, that is what I taught him yesterday. His inflated head makes him forgetful. Please pass the coffee bag.”
Adam tried to redirect the conversation.
“Anyhow, inside that pyramid it felt like we were surrounded by tombstones and epitaphs. I suppose they had to write in stone to preserve the information for so long.”
Keller looked at Molly and said, “Tombstones and epitaphs? On that cheery note, Dr. Life Support, do you have our oxygen tanks ready to go?”
Molly smiled and put her hand on his arm
“Why, yes, Keller Murch, they are ready for you to use on your pyramid adventure today.”
Adam interjected, “Great. We’ll get cleaned up and get ready to go. Today’s job is to photograph the secondary room in the pyramid. While we’re away from the Turtles, why don’t you two drop the caisson and start on the soil experiments?”
They cleaned off the table and ran through the daily checklists. Adam set up the video chat link with NASA for their first post-Mars-walk interview with the media. Only Yeva and Adam were required for this event.
They once again realized that a ten minute roundtrip delay wreaks havoc on interpersonal communication. NASA arranged for the astronauts to receive a list of questions ahead of time and would answer them nonstop in a stream. The questions ranged from the mundane (How do you pee in space?) to pretty extraordinary (What color is the sky on Mars?).
Adam completed the media conference with, “Okay, folks, I hope you enjoyed our little talk, I know that we did.”
Adam looked over at Keller and said, “Are you ready to walk on an alien planet?”
Keller smirked and asked, “Are you going to jump in front of me too?”
Adam stared at Keller and said, “Anyhow.”
They walked over to the airlock and put on the rest of their pressure suit. Adam opened the airlock door and stepped in followed by Keller. Each astronaut inspected his oxygen gauge and then gave Molly the thumbs-up sign through the window. She flipped a big switch and turned the handle that evacuates the airlock. They heard the air escaping moments before the outside door popped open.
Keller walked out only to be blinded by the Mars sunrise. The sky was a brilliant solid gray with slight red tinges along the horizon. This odd morning sky was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Keller was transfixed and could not move.
Adam stopped short and said, “Wow, now that is a sight to behold. Let’s go.”
It was obvious to Keller that Adam didn’t really care about what they were doing anymore. Instead, he got the impression that Adam had completed his goal of being first on Mars and now had the urge to get home and cash in those chips. This was just a stop on the journey; an item on his bucket list to check off.
Adam folded down the solar arrays and they both climbed into the golf cart; Keller sat in the driver’s seat.
Adam pointed toward the sunrise and commanded Keller, “Just follow our tracks from yesterday.”
Keller accelerated and followed the tracks exactly. It was the easiest path he’d ever driven and his wheels threw up a rooster tail of red dust.
“Man, this is just like driving on my beach back home.”
They crested over the ridge and rode down toward the pyramid. Keller stopped just a few feet from the big circular stone door.
“Where’s the Curiosity rover?” asked Keller.
Adam answered, “I guess it already left on another adventure. That new power generator gave it a new lease on life.”
Each astronaut grabbed a handheld camera from the golf cart and crawled back into the pyramid through the small door opening. They both turned on their helmet-flashlights and video cameras. Adam turned on the floodlight-tripod. Bright light illuminated the entire pyramid interior.
“Wow,” said Keller as he drank in the ancient museum ambiance.
Adam replied, “I agree. Look around. Check out all of these engravings. It’s amazing stuff.”
They both examined the walls carefully just like the day before. After showing Keller all that he and Yeva had found, Adam walked over to the floodlight and picked it up.
“I gotta move this over to the other side. Follow me.”
Their shadows wobbled all around as Adam carried the floodlight. They eased around the large divider wall. The style of the symbols carved into the new walls was different. These looked more mathematical in nature; lots of right-angles and circles. Adam couldn’t decide if it looked more like geometry or chemistry. He set down the floodlight.
“What the heck is that?” asked Keller as he pointed to a small black cube floating just a few inches above what looked like a granite nightstand.
They walked directly over to it and stared quizzically. The small black cube was floating above the table surface. Keller poked it and the cube drifted across the top of the night-stand. He poked it from the opposite side to keep it from falling off.
Adam lifted one eyebrow and then he repeated what Keller had done. He poked the cube with his finger a
nd it started to drift across the table. However, he didn’t stop it. He let it drift. And it didn’t fall off the table. In fact, it just kept on gliding at the same height. Adam poked the bottom and it started to drift upward at an angle. This little cube seemed to completely ignore gravity.
Keller and Adam looked around again and noticed that this room seemed to be dedicated to this cube.
Adam pondered, “You know, I can’t figure it out. Is this room a gift to future explorers or some kind of shrine to this cube? I mean, this thing looks like anti-gravity, but that’s not possible. If I remember my physics class, Einstein’s General Theory states that anti-gravity can’t exist.”
Keller put his glove on Adam’s shoulder and said, “Either you’ve got a crappy memory or Albert was wrong.”
With new excitement, Adam took a slew of photographs of everything on the walls. Keller continued playing with the floating cube.
Adam stopped and expounded, “Wow, wow, wow. This could be the biggest thing to ever happen to science. I don’t understand the drawings here, but they must be trying to explain how this cube works.”
Keller quipped, “I’ll admit, this is probably bigger than sliced bread or the keyless chuck.”
As they were photographing the peculiar cube, a crackly message from Yeva arrived over their headsets.
“….. Adam…. Kell…. We just got some news from the NSA on the language. They cracked it overnight. They sa… that it is a short hist….”
Adam and Keller looked at each other and shook their heads side to side. Neither one understood her message.
“Yeva, we’re having a hard time hearing you. Hang on, we’re going to walk over closer to the door.”
The two astronauts walked over toward the door opening and Yeva’s voice became crystal clear.
“Okay, Yeva, you said they cracked the language code already? How’d they do it so fast?”
Yeva explained, “The NSA paleographers sent the photographs out to universities around the planet. A grad student at the Moscow State University cracked it. My alma mater. Go me!”
Red Hope Page 13