AMERICA ONE - Return To Earth (Book 4)

by T I WADE

Captain Pete calculated that DX2017, which they hoped carried the needed parts, would be within three million miles of Saturn and Enceladus in about 15 months. Commander Joot was overjoyed at the information. With what he already knew about the mechanical problem, it would only take a few weeks to rectify the problem, and the needed parts were stored in the flight chamber on the little round transport planet, not in any of the rooms VIN and friends managed to open. He also explained that only Roo’s father, a commander, would have known about the third cavern; it held a complete supply ship in case of emergency and was separated from the living base, by several hundred yards.

  Commander Joot, Tow and Roo were stunned and saddened when Martha and Petra showed them the array of jewelry found in the gold boxes at the end of each bed on Mars. Up to now these valuable brooches had been forgotten in the excitement. Commander Joot confirmed that the two scientists were correct in discerning that the jewelry signified rank. The only rank not there was “Commander of the Tribe”, or “Ruler” a diamond spaceship that, if it wasn’t on Mars, was still on Earth with its owner.

  The beautiful eagle was handed to Tow, as it belonged to her late husband, and then Ryan asked that everything collected in all the bases be turned over to the three visitors. The items did not belong to his ship and crew.

  VIN, who had attended all meetings, was dismayed that in his endeavors to open every room it didn’t occur to him that there would be third chamber, a flight control center or space port, on Mars, DX2017 and on all of the moons they visited. He was even more perplexed when he was told from Roo’s translation that there was an underground corridor that actually connected the two control systems. Again, only commanders knew how to get to these systems, and Commander Put had not told his son of the ship on DX2017 before his death.

  Ryan asked the commander to ask the base what they needed. Their only request was for medical supplies; three of their cryonic chambers displayed red handles instead of the usual blue, or sometimes green, and the two members of the tribe who were guards were too old help the occupants when the cabinets opened. Ryan and the rest of his crew were astonished to learn that the two awake members on Enceladus had been on guard for close to 200 years.

  Twenty-four hours later SB-III left America One for its first flight to the moon. Jonesy, Allen Saunders, VIN and Commander Joot were on the flight deck. Traveling in the forward compartment inside the crew cabin, were Roo, Tow, Igor, Fritz, Boris, Vitalily, Martha, Petra, and the two doctors, with as much equipment and supplies they thought they might need. The rear cargo bay was stuffed with as many empty canisters as they could fit; they wanted to return with as much water as possible to begin supplying the nearly dry ship.

  From a 200 mile altitude it would take five orbits and twelve hours to get to the shield, which could be seen with the naked eye from the flight deck on the fourth pass.

  Twelve hours earlier Ryan scheduled a meeting with the two astronauts, VIN, Igor, Boris, Fritz, Vitalily and Captain Pete.

  “I know it’s stupid and disingenuous to meet these people with weapons, but I think old habits of distrust and protection die hard in us Homo sapiens,” he said. “Mr. Noble, you are in charge of security. Stay close to the commander. Carry one of the Plasma Tasers. Mr. Warner, you carry the other, and Mr. Saunders, you are welcome to belt up with your .44 Magnum. If these people are what we think they are, then they won’t know what a weapon is, and don’t tell them. If there is a problem, Mr. Noble, handle it as gently as you can.” VIN nodded.

  “Other than reviving the cryonic occupants and the doctors tending to them, I will dispatch two pilots in SB-II two hours after you depart if patients need to be lifted up here. I would prefer to tend to any wounded down there and the doctors are taking down the necessary equipment to do so. It seems that there are causalities already, with the red handles on three of the cryonic cabinets. Be alert. The doctors will check their inner atmosphere for any airborne diseases, Vitalily will do the same, and Mr. Noble will be everyone’s backup. Now let us get to landing on the moon itself.

  “As you have already noticed, this moon is extremely small, seven times smaller than Earth’s, but five times bigger than DX2017, and about 300 miles across, which means very low gravity. Remember astronauts, DX2017 had a powerful magnetic gravity which this moon does not have; expect gravity to be around 11 percent of Earth’s. Captain Pete believes that the gravity is about what you encountered on Titan. We haven’t done as much research on Enceladus as we have done on the other moons we were expecting to visit, but it does have an atmosphere. The 2007 Cassini flybys of Enceladus, revealed that it has a significant atmosphere compared to the other moons of Saturn, besides Titan. The source of the atmosphere may be volcanos, geysers, or gases escaping from the surface or the interior like we observed on Jupiter’s moons. The atmosphere of Enceladus is composed of 91 percent water vapor, 4 percent nitrogen, 3.2 percent carbon dioxide, and 1.7 percent methane. It should be totally safe to fly in but, Mr. Jones, heavily reduced forward speeds around Mach I will be important to compensate for possible drag from the thick water vapor. Captain Pete, your report on Enceladus, please.”

  “Visual confirmation of water venting from the surface, like on the two Jupiter moons we visited, came in November 2005 from NASA images of permanent geyser-like jets of icy particles rising from the moon's South Polar Region,” began Captain Pete looking at freshly organized notes. “So, astronauts, be prepared for more sudden geysers, perhaps as high as 50 miles above the surface. Information so far shows only permanent water jets which have floated off into orbit; scientists now believe that the outer ring of Saturn, the E-ring, was formed from this vapor. I don’t want any craft close to the south pole of Enceladus until we have tested the drag from the 91 percent water vapor. Other than that, your approaches to Commander Joot’s base on Enceladus should be as easy as Mars. Boris you have some facts as well, I believe?”

  “Thank you, Captain Pete. Additional observations were acquired during a flyby on March 12, 2008. Data from this flyby revealed additional chemicals in the South Pole plume, including simple and complex hydrocarbons such as propane, ethane, and also acetylene; this means that the composition of Enceladus’ plumes is similar to that seen behind most comets. This finding further raises the potential for life beneath the surface of Enceladus. In July 2009 it was announced that ammonia had been discovered during flybys. Last, Cassini observed the presence of liquid water under the crust, which implies that there is an internal heat source. It could be a combination of radioactive decay and tidal heating, important for saving all energy bills down there. That ends my short report.”

  “Thank you, gentlemen. Astronauts, I believe we are subject to a greater threat from a trap, or something going wrong inside the base, than from the atmosphere of the moon itself, so I’m ordering that all personnel wear complete space suits until further notice,” added Ryan to end the meeting.

  As SB-III reached the last orbit, about 40 miles above the surface, Jonesy could feel a change in the shuttle’s flight, as though the craft was being dragged forward by the atmosphere; he kept the speed down to 700 miles an hour, as ordered. As they descended, he watched as the speed dropped by several miles an hour for every mile they descended. The ride was smooth though, and the drag helped him decrease forward speed to the final twenty minutes of flight.

  At less than 20 miles an hour forward speed, his thrusters on hover, he approached the blue shield. He could talk to Roo in the back, who informed him that Joot had telepathically communicated that their arrival was expected, and there was a complete atmosphere inside the shield ahead of them. His English with regard to numbers wasn’t that good yet, so he couldn’t tell the humans aboard what the temperature was. He did say that they could survive easily in it, thinking back to his and VIN’s frostbitten fingers.

  Both Roo and VIN were now back in action, their fingers healed. They had been in the hospital for a couple of days during which time Doctor Rogers kept their hands well-oiled and moist
to promote healing.

  There was no movement from inside as Jonesy slowly penetrated the shield wall. Jonesy couldn’t see much inside the shield and on the surface, but it looked like there was soil and he thought he could see beds. He did his best to park causing the least amount of disturbance and brought his thrusters down to idle.

  VIN was already in the docking port and the outside readouts showed an atmosphere rich with the right gases, slightly heavy with oxygen and helium, and a temperature of 67 degrees Fahrenheit. VIN exited and Allen Saunders helped Commander Joot, without a helmet, into the port.

  Twenty minutes later both men were on the ground, the rear cockpit door to the cabin was open and Roo, also not helmeted, was about to exit the docking port in front of Vitalily and the two doctors. Fritz, Martha and Petra would be next. Even though there was oxygen and it was warm, Ryan his crew all followed orders and wore full spacesuits. Still, there were no people to welcome them onto the white moon.

  Roo explained to VIN that he had been told by one of the two people awake in the underground base that they were too old to climb up the shaft; they had not left their underground base for many years.

  VIN and Joot went to the shaft. It was closed, and it took Commander Joot a second to open it. Dressed in the ungainly space suit, teenager size, he descended first; rungs were already installed in the side of the vertical tunnel. Roo went down next, while VIN waited for the doctors and Vitalily to join him. When they were all together, VIN went first, then Doctor Nancy, Dr. Rogers and finally Vitalily with a large doctor’s bag.

  The two tunnels leading off in the two opposite directions were exactly where VIN expected them to be. The tunnels were lit and, as anticipated, his height required him to walk stooped over inside the forward tunnel.

  “Roo, where are you?” VIN asked seeing nobody.

  “In forward control room with Commander Joot. Our two people are very old and scared. I am talking to our scared people.”

  “Mr. Noble, crew, the commander can do as he pleases, but you are all to stay suited up,” Ryan ordered from America One.

  “Roger that,” replied VIN helping the pretty doctor down into the tunnel. Doctor Rogers joined them and then the larger Vitalily and bag came into sight. Once he was helped onto the tunnel floor, the four proceeded forward, and then around the corner.

  The forward cavern was exactly the same as the others, except that all the doors were open in this one. VIN walked towards the room that would lead towards the command center and caught up with Roo and Joot. The commander was tending to two very old blue-suited tribesmen in the doorway to the control room. VIN immediately noticed that the room to the power room was closed and also the door to the cryonic chamber. Joot and Roo, and the two old men were excitedly clicking to each other. VIN could hear the clicks of communication in his head, hundreds of them in rapid succession, just like rapid machine gun fire.

  The two old men stared at the newcomers, and they seemed to relax slightly. They had been warned that four very tall Homo sapiens were coming.

  “You need to take off your helmet,” stated Roo telepathically. “The air is totally safe in here VIN, the air is good and clean, and it won’t hurt your fingers.”

  “Ryan, permission to remove my helmet. I need a wider view for our protection. Over,” VIN communicated as he walked towards his friend.

  “Negative,” was the reply. “I want you to be in there a little longer before I allow the first helmet removal. VIN let Roo breathe in the cavern’s air for at least 15 minutes, and then you alone may take off your helmet. The next group of four is exiting SB-III and I want Mr. Warner and Mr. Saunders in there with Vitalily before you remove your helmet.”

  This was the first time Ryan was being extra careful, and VIN knew that at worst, it could be a trap. He was 99 percent sure it wasn’t, and Tow had been ordered to stay in the shuttle with Jonesy, in case it was.

  VIN watched as Roo looked up at him questioning why he couldn’t help VIN off with his helmet. VIN mentally told him that he would take it off very soon, and Roo nodded.

  The two old men were calmer at seeing two of their own people. They seemed to know Commander Joot, but not Roo, who was at least a century younger, or more, than they.

  “Roo, ask Joot about the cryonic chamber,” thought VIN and seemed to get an acknowledgement thought from Doctor Nancy. Roo heard him and the three old men headed for the control console. VIN knew what they would do next. Joot turned over the console to the buttons hidden underneath, and immediately the room began to vibrate and shake under VIN’s feet. He remembered the vibration, the same vibration when Commander Joot had been roused from sleep. That was one, one-minute vibration. This time the vibrations started and stopped for ten minutes, until they stopped for a longer period.

  “I think people are beginning to wake up,” stated VIN quickly over the intercom “but the vibrations suddenly stopped. Ryan, crew, I think when the computer, or whatever is operating the system, reached one of the red handled doors the sequence stopped. Ryan, I need to talk to Roo and Joot. Permission for me to remove my helmet? Both Roo and the commander seem fine and are puzzled about the stoppage; they don’t understand what is happening. I think a red chamber is screwing up the system and both doctors need to be ready when the door opens in twelve hours, and our suits can only last six. Over.”

  “Roger, Mr. Noble, test the air. Breathe it for five minutes. Then allow the doctors to remove their helmets. Mr. Saunders, it is going to be a long wait, you and Vitalily head back to the shuttle once everybody seems happy, and not in a provocative attitude. Mr. Noble, when the doctors are attending to the two older people, look around.”

  VIN was helped off with his helmet by Roo, who was happy that he could help. Once his helmet was off, the two older tribesmen, immediately looked shocked at the six-foot monster’s white face and it took Roo a minute or so to calm them down. VIN felt dizzy from the higher than usual amount of oxygen in the air; Roo had felt the same in the lessor oxygen air of America One for the first few days. VIN tried hard to smile as sweetly as he could at the two older men, who now looked well over 100 years old without his helmet obscuring his view. Joot was telling them something, and the two old men, their faces caked with age, and their bodies wracked and bent, slowly relaxed, but didn’t take their eyes off the giant who towered over them by two feet.

  “Glad you can’t see my lower half,” VIN thought as he smiled at them sweetly. Suddenly clicks went off in every direction. Crap! He forgot that they could “hear” him.

  VIN breathed the oxygen rich air as ordered for five minutes, then allowed the doctors to remove their helmets. Allen and Vitalily disappeared to return a few minutes later with two more bags of medical supplies which they left at the feet of Martha, Fritz and Petra, who had just arrived, Allen saluted VIN to tell him he and Vitalily were leaving and they headed back down the tunnel. Again, clicks went off like machine gun fire and VIN turned to see why. The two old men were looking at Nancy’s blond hair as it fell out of her helmet.

  “They are looking at you,” said VIN.

  “So do all the old, horny men, you and Captain Pete included, Mr. Noble,” laughed Nancy helping Doctor Rogers off with his helmet. Roo spoke to the men, and VIN could hear his name mentioned as well as the names of the two doctors.

  “Tell your friends that they are medical doctors,” VIN said to Roo.

  “Already did,” was the reply.

  “Tell them that the doctors want to check them over, like they did you and Commander Joot,” VIN continued.

  “I already did,” Roo replied smiling.

  “What did they say?” VIN asked.

  “The two men asked if they had to be checked all over,” smiled Roo.

  “I understand what you mean,” laughed VIN back remembering the checkup the pretty doctor had given him years ago in the International Space Station.

  It would be nearly twelve hours before the doors would open to allow the first of the moon’s crewme
mbers to exit, and Commander Joot could then enter to see what had halted the system.

  With the doctors walking over to the two wiry old men to check them over, and Commander Joot and Roo laughing at the men’s embarrassment at the monster white doctors about to attack them, VIN went back down the tunnel to check the rear cavern.

  Fritz followed him, and they checked all the open doors to find nothing but dried food, dozens of urns of water and tons of other supplies. They found nothing of interest, and Fritz relayed the information up to Ryan who after a few new orders, allowed VIN to remove Fritz’s helmet.

  Ryan ordered them to reattach each other’s helmet every hour to file a report, or he would send in the cavalry: Jonesy, Allen and Vitalily.

  The lights were on, the doors open and Fritz and VIN returned to question Commander Joot; from what source did these bases obtain their power? The answer would surprise the whole of Ryan’s crew, and the answers were already down on Earth.

  Chapter 23

  Secrets revealed, back to Mars

  Twelve hours after the first vibrations rocked the floor, the door to the cryonic chamber opened and five small figures stumbled out into the arms of the waiting group. Each wore the regulation blue suit and helmet. Three were small, really small. VIN thought they looked like children as they were less than three feet tall. One was as short as his own son Mars, who was close to six years old.

  VIN and Fritz had already carried beds into the room from the dormitories above the storage rooms. There was just enough space for 12 beds outside the cryonic room and each person was laid down on a bed; IVs had already been attached to poles next to each bed.

  While Roo, Tow and Joot detached their helmets, and the two doctors prepared IV liquid and food to be piped into the frightened little people, VIN pulled Fritz into the cryonic room to assist any others out. VIN was surprised to see double the number of cabinets as inside the other bases. It looked like this room had the equipment of two bases put together, two walls of 12 cabinets each. It was crammed but only the cabinets on one wall had opened.