AMERICA ONE - Return To Earth (Book 4)

by T I WADE

  “Will do,” replied VIN.

  Maggie exited the docking port first and helped the scientists through, one by one; Suzi was outside ready to help. Mars was asleep. VIN and Fritz opened the rear cargo bay in the second shield to unload the cargo, and the dozen air tanks.

  Jonesy was exit number six to come through the port to help the scientists. VIN and Fritz’s three allotted spacewalk hours were nearly up and Jonesy helped complete the offloading of the cargo.

  It would be twelve hours before the VIN could venture out to air test the shield, and during that time it would be sardine-tight in the cylinder with the new visitors and the crew returning from the caverns. Boris and Igor needed to return on SB-III which gave everybody staying a little more elbow room.

  Boris and Jonesy and family would be heading back down in twenty-four hours with more air in one of the mining craft. Igor needed a break and wanted chance to study the black box already up there. He hoped his team had found something out.

  Once there was an atmosphere in the shield, no more craft could be unloaded inside the shield, as the vacuumed spaces inside the sealed cargo bays would not open. It was exactly the opposite when the team had opened the treasure canisters with a vacuum in them, down on earth.

  “A little tight in here,” VIN said, once everybody was unsuited and inside the cylinder. The tightness would last for twelve hours until VIN and a few others could go outside to begin loading the docking port inside the shaft with supplies. They needed two hours of spacewalk time before they could begin helping the crew into their new underground home.

  As Jonesy flew back up with Boris and Fritz aboard, Ryan was the last to have his helmet unscrewed; as an experienced spacewalker inside the cylinder, he welcomed the new crew aboard DX2017. Three of them were first-time spacewalkers.

  “VIN, the pressure in there is perfect,” continued Ryan looking at his head of security. “The caverns are certainly heating up; temperature should be in the seventies by tomorrow, and the pressure was down to 5,000 feet above sea level when we left. The bottles are still half full, so we expect near sea level conditions, or at most, pressure for a 3,000-foot altitude. Perfect for Nevada conditions. Crew, once we, the canisters, and you crewmembers are inside the caverns, we can take off our suits and do a tour; we’ll figure out sleeping arrangements, and show you how to use the bathroom. By the way, a space shower will be aboard the next flight for use down there. It will take a day or so to erect, and to get the pumps and infra-red heater connected, so there are no showers for at least 72 hours. You were all told to shower before departure. If you didn’t, tough luck,” he said, turning to the new arrivals. “Also, we have two bottles of my last champagne in one of the cargo canisters. We are going to celebrate new life on a new planet, and our two-year anniversary since we left Earth.”

  Dr. Petra Bloem was one of the crew in the cylinder, as were Dr. Martha and Mr. Rose, looking the worse for wear having completed his first spacewalk. He couldn’t resist the opportunity to view alien life.

  With everybody trying to stay out of each other’s way, the 12 hours passed and, thankfully, VIN, Fritz, Ryan, and Vitalily who had arrived with the new crew, went back out to begin hauling the canisters through the docking port. Now that there would soon be atmosphere in both “departure” and “arrival” cargo halls, the canisters could be used to move food, water, equipment, clothing, bedding, and everything else the crew needed. There were a dozen canisters and a dozen air tanks to get through the docking port, all done by cords. Even though the gravity was much lower than on Earth, several of the canisters were heavy, and so were the air tanks.

  Two men lifted each canister into the docking port, tied a cord to it, while two men waited at the bottom of the shaft below. The outer hatch was closed. Through remote control, a small electronic pulley system inside the docking port allowed the canister to descend the thirty feet once the inner hatch was opened. This had been done many times by the crew in orbit, but it was the first opportunity they had used the new pulley system designed aboard America One to lower and raise cargo on a planet. It worked like a dream.

  Within two hours, loading of the canisters and one set of air tanks was complete.

  Now the crew was ready to help the others to descend, this time down the rungs VIN had hammered into the wall of the shaft.

  VIN went down first to join Fritz and Vitalily; the crew would be helped into the docking port by Ryan. The caverns were lit up, looked pretty with glowing walls, and were ready for occupancy. He was quite surprised to see both men with their helmets off carrying the last canister down the tunnel to the rear cavern. Since the crew had decided to bed down in the rear cavern, where all the supplies and rooms with equipment were situated, VIN decided that the spacewalk crew would sleep in the forward cavern.

  He needed to take off his helmet to talk to the others, and he helped the next person, Mr. Rose, off with his helmet. At least the spacewalking time limit wouldn’t be of concern anymore.

  The crew arrived. The second to last person was Ryan, who helped Suzi through the docking port. Suzi had Mars ready, and with Ryan’s help she expertly exited the cylinder’s port with her son in her arms, was helped down the ladder by her boss who then helped her into the shaft’s docking port by going first and then taking Mars from her once the inner hatch opened.

  Carefully, one rung at a time, he holding little Mars, who weighed next to nothing, Ryan descended down the shaft with Suzi right behind.

  Ryan and Suzi had their helmets removed before they unscrewed little Mars’ helmet. The air smelled weird, a little stale and with a very slight metallic taste, but the others were still alive and breathing normally, for the first time ever in a planet’s atmosphere away from Earth.

  “So, what is the verdict on the air quality?” Ryan asked the crew. He was quite surprised that his voice had risen an octave or three, and VIN told him that it was probably due to higher than usual amounts of helium in the air; four times more than normal, but still within a safe zone for humans to breathe.

  Everybody was happy, and Suzi unscrewed the last helmet.

  “Let me give you a quick layout of these alien caverns,” VIN began. He led the group into the command center or control room. There were gasps and excited comments about the hologram above their heads. “We still don’t know how it works,” explained VIN looking upwards. “Like a car’s rear view mirrors, the distance is not accurate. The hologram appears to be a foot or less above the roof. Please understand that we are 30 feet below ground. This is the control room, or command center, as we call it. From now on this room is called the Alien Command Center. We unscrewed our helmets in the forward cavern,” squeaked VIN continuing, Suzi rather surprised how high her husband’s manly voice had become. “On the opposite wall in the room where the five globes are placed is the power room. That is where we found the black box being scrutinized by your fellow crew in the mother ship. To the left of the Globe Room, its new official name, is a room that I haven’t managed to open yet, and unless we figure out a way to open the door, we might have to resort to the spider’s laser.

  “The forward cavern has the room leading off to the Globe Room. That was the exact same room where we found the three suited alien figures. It has cabinets inside two walls, 24 in total, and each of you will be allocated a cabinet to store your supplies, clothing or whatever you need to store so that others don’t fall over anything. Safety down here is the most important factor. We will be bringing three of the spacesuit recharging systems down here on the next cargo load. The Forward Cavern is the cavern’s new name. The tunnel we walked through to the Forward Cavern leads to the rear cavern. The Rear Cavern is its new name, and leads to the three rooms you guys want to get into and research, but first we must clear away the supplies. In each cavern there is the staircase you noticed. We haven’t found much else apart from the three rooms up there yet, but I’m sure new doors might show up once we learn more about these people and their systems. The most recent doors
we found connect the supply rooms between caverns. The actual storage area of this base is between the caverns on the upper level, and the rooms open from both caverns. The very interesting bathroom, the only one, is to your right as you walk into the Rear Cavern,” and VIN explained to the crew how it worked.

  Ryan took over when VIN was finished and elaborated about living on DX2017.

  “As Mr. Noble has stated, we are going to run a tidy ship down here, as tidy as America One. Each scientist or crewmember will be allowed to stay down here for the first few months in 10-day durations. The first few teams will be you scientists wanting to research what is down here. When you are finished and have researched everything you can, and all items of importance have been taken up for storage on our mother ship, these caverns will become a sort of resort; a home away from home for anybody wanting to travel down. The only person who might not want to visit is our captain, who I’m sure won’t leave his ship. I’m sure Mr. Noble and I, running the ship with Mr. Jones’s company, might change his mind.

  “There is not much to do down here yet, but there will be. I would like to make the Forward Cavern our first place of residence. The Rear Cavern and storage rooms will be completely opened up for greenhouses and Suzi and Mr. Rose will tend our gardens. All of the crew will work with them helping grow our food down here. As Dr. Martha’s latest research shows on the soil currently in the storage rooms, it can be returned to rich growing soil with a few additions to it coming down on the next flight. Igor has suggested that the glow from the metal walls and roof are actually within the sun’s light parameters, even better than our lighting systems aboard ship. It seems that the aliens had the same idea, about growing food; the caverns or rooms, or even a part of this base we haven’t found or opened yet, might be even a bigger growing area for vegetation. We know that these people came from a fertile area in North Africa thousands of years ago and, like us, wanted to grow everything themselves. This planet, DX2017, might have been their transportation system, and also their supply system for frontier bases across the solar system; this ‘bus’ as we call it, grew supplies even while in transit.

  “We must assume that the other bases are identical to this one, and the one on Mars. The globes you have all seen photos of are here for your inspection. We now know that Globe One is Earth, two is Mars, three is Europa, four is Ganymede, and five is Titan. We are going to visit these planets in the order of the globes. The red dots on the globes are of different sizes and brightness, and we don’t yet know if they correspond to base size, population or health, but we might find out if there is life out there somewhere.

  “America One will be orbiting DX2017 for two more years. Our orbits will change as we pass through the Asteroid Belt, now only three months away. Things could get rocky, as it were, as we transit through this belt of millions of rocks and asteroids. We will try and keep our ship out of the way of debris passing by, and I’m sure this asteroid will take hits as it passes through. DX2017 has probably passed through this belt twice every complete orbit, and it has been orbiting on this exact path for thousands, maybe millions of years, and it is still in prime condition. Of course a larger asteroid might end the free ride at any moment, but the asteroid belt, once we are in it, is not so heavily populated with matter as to give us too many problems. Many of you have told me that this asteroid’s survival is due to its makeup. Like granite, this planet is like a cannon ball flying through space, and apart from the odd hit every now and again, has kept to a reliably constant path. Computer analysis and suggestions of its past and future orbits show that it has never diverted from its original path and the combination of planets and moons it passes by more than a million miles or so. Saturn, for example, realigns its flight trajectory. That is until something much bigger hits it, and disintegrates DX2017, or propels it out of the solar system.

  “So we will use this base as a supply base and for a free ride, just like the people before us did. Dr. Von Zimmer and Dr. Bloem have asked me not to call these people aliens, as they have proved that they did come from Earth, but until we have a better name for them, we will continue to call them aliens. Aliens from Earth, and not aliens from outer space.

  “Mr. Noble, our illustrious Head of Security, has suggested that this forward cavern is high enough, and big enough to play volleyball in. With the much lower gravity levels, it could prove to be a newly designed form of volleyball, maybe more like racket ball, bouncing the ball off the roof; if this game is possible, we are going to give it a try. Better than running around the airfield back in Nevada! A ball and a net are being made out of cargo netting in the mother ship and will make their appearance down here soon.

  “Nobody gets into, or out of a spacesuit without permission from Mr. Noble or me, or any person in command down here at the time. In the next cargo manifest, is the second half of the air for the outside shield. If everything goes to plan it will serve three purposes. First, it means that the docking port above us can be programed to stay in an atmospheric positive position. It will be fitted with an emergency mechanism to sensor any major changes in atmospheric pressure either in here, or out there. Second, the travel between America One and DX2017 will soon be made without using spacesuits. For many of you that will be a relief and far more comfortable than having to suit up every day.” Ryan needed a bottle of water to help his scratchy throat.

  “As some of you know, we are currently designing temporary atmospheric controls for the forward cargo bays of all six craft until we have a steady atmosphere inside a new atmospheric positive loading dock we are putting together aboard the mother ship. These bays will work on the same basis as the docking ports. Air will be pumped into the vacuum inside the cargo bay up in orbit once the bay is loaded and sealed. The air will be retracted once the craft returns to America One, to reuse the air. The shuttle, or mining craft, park with the forward cargo bay inside the atmospheric positive shield. Once there is the same air pressure on each side, the cargo door will open. The rear cargo bays will be outside the shield, in the second non-atmospheric shield and will continue to be non-atmospheric cargo bays. This means that the crew and forward cargo can be extracted in atmospheric conditions. Spacesuits will be used to extract rear cargoes, if any. The build team, under Vitalily’s direction, is preparing one of the last of our extra cylinders strapped outside the mother ship to be turned into an atmospheric cargo loading system, which the ships can attach to, but that is still on the drawing boards. Once ready for use, that means that the forward cargo as well as crew can travel in complete atmospheric conditions.

  “Third, Suzi, Mr. Rose, and the biology team will be testing possible growth of vegetation inside the atmospheric shield. We believe that with the atmosphere inside the shield, the shield could heat up the area, and since hot air rises, we can also control the inside heat in the shield from inside here. We will begin on the shield’s atmosphere release on our next spacewalk in twelve hours.

  “Finally, whatever you need down here, we will send down. We already have an infra-red oven for meals in our canisters and a refrigerator, gladly donated by the biology department. We have a bathroom, and remanufactured toilet paper and towels. A space shower will be installed in the Rear Cavern. Suzi will bring down liquid refreshments for Mr. Jones and others, and we have a dozen camp beds to use until we decide to bring down the 30 extra beds aboard America One. There are lightweight room panels and dividers coming down on one of the manifests, enough to make living down here relatively private, and we will have a ship with cargo every ten days, so get what you want on the list. Emergency evacuation drill is: first spacesuits, then an organized move to the cylinder, which will remain as an emergency center, and exit one by one through the shaft and docking port in the shield outside.

  “And one last thing; Suzi will be growing grass and flowers in the shield, and once the shield is secure and operational, each person will be free to go out at any time. To start with, and as with all spacewalks, a three-hour limitation will be in place for o
utdoor visits. Thank you.”

  VIN opened the air tank twelve hours later and sprayed a shot of compressed air directly at the shield wall. Holding the tank a foot away, the usual bubbles of air escaped in a multitude of millions. Ryan was on the other side of the shield, and his heart was pounding. If the aliens’ ideas proved correct, and they had been thinking like all humans who had ever lived, the air would be corralled inside the shield when they designed it.

  “No bubbles escaping yet,” Ryan stated over the intercom to VIN’s spacesuit a few feet away, and inside the shield wall. Ryan was standing in the blackness of space, as the other temporary shield hadn’t been activated by the approaching supply ship yet. It was still an hour out, and on its second to last orbit forty miles above the surface. “Bring the tank closer to the wall,” Ryan ordered and VIN shortened the distance to six inches. The ball, or main bubble of air was growing, now ten feet across and he opened the tank a little more and actually inside the bubble of air forced the escaping air directly at the shield wall.

  “Like an asteroid, or rock hitting the shield, it will repel anything hitting it hard, the same is happening with the air blast,” VIN observed.

  “Seems so,” responded Ryan. “Get the stream of air as close and as hard against the wall as possible, see if you feel a resistance. That will tell us that the shield is resisting the air blast. Then reverse the tank and stream until it is gently cascading onto the wall. Maybe that would be a better test,” suggested Ryan. VIN did as ordered and the air bubbles, now several large ones filling his area of the shield, began spreading out.

  He tried his best to slow the air down to connect with the shield wall as softly as possible and Ryan told him that still no air had escaped. Escaping bubbles of air were easily seen in the vacuum of space.