“It’s a mental thing. I don’t physically talk to them. They don’t talk to me. But we are on the same wavelength, so to speak. I get different vibrations from them that give me a sense of what they’re trying to say. I think of things I want to say to them and I guess they get vibrations back from me. It’s hard to explain. It’s like a dog and its person. You can’t really communicate with each other, but somehow you understand each other.”
The level of communication was rudimentary, but it had been effective enough for Nick to gain the UMOs’ assistance to fly to Callisto, land in the crater, explore the spaceport, commandeer one of the Calliston ships docked there, and depart Callisto with their own hive of UMOs leading the way. These facts implied the Mars UMOs had either brokered an introduction to the Callisto UMOs, or Nick had been able to directly interact with both colonies.
Unfortunately, no one aboard Rorschach had Nick’s ability to communicate with UMOs. Shilling had demonstrated an ability to train them to perform basic tasks, but that didn’t involve any interactive, back-and-forth communication — just basic conditioning techniques. Do this and get fed. Dante had hoped Shilling would gain further insights along the way that might assist the crew in interacting with the Callisto UMOs when they reached the moon. But that wouldn’t be possible now. Rorschach’s trained colony was gone, and the BLUMOs who’d chased them off had demonstrated nothing but hostile intentions. At this point, Dante agreed with Shilling. It wasn’t worth risking the crew and ship any further.
It was time to abort.
At the waiting room outside the door to Amato’s office, Dante approached Mark Myers, Amato’s assistant. “Is he available? I need to talk with him.”
“He’s on the phone with the Rorschach families right now.”
“Oh, right. Please have him call me when he’s free. Tell him it’s about Dr. Shilling’s pack report.”
Myers scribbled down a note. “Is it urgent?” he asked. “He’s got the interview with Jenna Toffy after finishing with the families. Then a call with Anlon Cully. But if it’s urgent, I can have him reschedule.”
The mention of Anlon Cully surprised Dante. Amato must have already read Shilling’s report and Morgan’s preface. “Yeah, it’s urgent. Tell him I’d definitely like to touch base before he speaks with Dr. Cully.”
“Will do.”
As Myers entered the office to pass the message to Amato, Dante felt his cell phone buzz. It was a text from Dennis Pritchard.
Just received a new downlink from TRE. The first Recon has arrived.
Myers stepped out of Amato’s office and gave Dante a thumbs-up. “He’s wrapping up now. You’re up next.”
Cargo bay airlock — the Rorschach Explorer
Drifting at all-stop above the ecliptic in the asteroid belt
While Morgan held the spacesuit’s lower shell, Carillo shimmied her legs inside. “How hard did you have to twist Bob’s arm to get him to help?” she asked.
“It was a piece of cake,” Morgan said.
“Ha! I doubt that.”
“No, really. It was a quick and easy negotiation.”
“Let me guess. You promised to give him back his comms access in exchange for helping us with the EVA.”
Morgan smiled and winked. “Nah, it was a little more stick than carrot.”
“Well, whatever you did, I’m glad you worked it out. I’ll feel better out there with another pair of eyes keeping watch.”
“You and me both. I really hate the idea of either of us going out alone, but we don’t have a choice.”
Standard procedure for an extravehicular activity dictated that a minimum of two astronauts participate in any spacewalk. That way, in the event one of the astronauts incurred an emergency, a second was available to provide immediate assistance. But in Rorschach’s present circumstance, standard procedure wasn’t an attractive option. The only two people onboard with spacewalk experience were Morgan and Carillo; the others had only performed simulated EVAs in NASA’s training pool, and that training had been truncated due to Amato’s decision to move up Rorschach’s launch date. Morgan and Carillo agreed the tasks associated with this EVA were too important to add managing a rookie into the mix. And Morgan and Carillo couldn’t perform the EVA together without delaying the redeployment of the converted probes by a full day, because of another standard procedure that called for a twenty-four hour recovery period between spacewalks by any given astronaut. This practice existed to ensure an astronaut replenished his or her blood oxygen levels after completing a spacewalk. Attempting another EVA in less than that time would increase the risk of decompression sickness-like symptoms.
Given Shilling’s conviction about the likelihood of another BLUMO attack, no one aboard wanted to wait a second longer than necessary to redeploy the Shields and get Rorschach moving again. That meant the only realistic option was to send out one astronaut to dock the two probes, then send the other astronaut out to relaunch the probes once they were converted from Recons to Shields. Since Carillo had been trained as Kiera’s primary backup to repair the fleet’s CubeSats, it made the most sense for her to perform the initial spacewalk. Morgan could then begin prepping for his EVA while the two women worked on the probes.
As Morgan assisted Carillo into the top shell of the suit, he noticed she was shivering. “Cold or nervous?”
“A little of both.”
“Well, not to worry. We’ll have the sky covered from every angle. If any of us detects a whiff of the BLUMOs, I’ll order an abort. You just make sure you get your butt inside the airlock as fast as possible. Don’t delay.”
“Easier said than done. I can’t exactly stop in the middle of docking a probe. It could ram the ship or damage the bay.”
Morgan clasped a hand on Carillo’s shoulder. “Kiera can take over the probe from the engine room. You just hustle for the airlock. Understood?”
Carillo nodded.
Morgan patted her shoulder. “All right. Let’s get this over with.”
CHAPTER 7: HUNTERS OR FORAGERS
Cetus Prime Callisto Task Force
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, California
September 3, 2019
Standing inside the ‘U’ configuration made by six folding tables, Dr. Ed Chen leaned over to examine the first of the seventy-two photographs that had been laid out. The pictures, showing various sections of the Callisto spaceport, had been shot over the preceding three days by Cetus Prime’s cameras.
The particular photograph Chen was studying depicted a familiar scene. Streaks of light — the UMOs — were massed over an ice-covered area of the building, and chunks of fallen ice littered the floor of the crater below. For months, Cetus Prime’s cameras had observed the UMOs performing this ritual around the clock. Chen’s team, having calculated the approximate square footage cleared over the course of each Earth day, had one of Cetus Prime’s two rotating cameras tracking the UMOs’ progress, snapping hourly images of the de-icing. Occasionally a newly cleared section revealed an interesting feature of the building, and another of Cetus’ cameras, one with an operational zoom, would capture a more detailed image.
Chen moved six photos down to study one such zoomed-in image. It showed what looked like a docking bay, the first one uncovered by the UMOs during their months of labor. Chen found it curious that the bay was open, for all other doors, hatches and windows they had found were fortified by coverings that reminded Chen of storm doors. And not only was the bay open, it was empty. The immediate speculation on Chen’s team was unanimous: this was the first physical proof that the crew of Cetus Prime had successfully launched one of the Calliston ships docked in the facility.
When the photo was released to the public, Chen knew it would ramp up demands for answers to questions about the crew that had been circulating ever since Amato discovered Cetus Prime. Where had they gone? Were they still alive? Would they ever come home?
Chen skipped the next dozen photos, but chose to stop
and study a photo he believed was destined to be the number one shared image on the Internet as soon as it was released. He marveled at the scene. If a thousand of the world’s foremost photographers had all been standing on Callisto with unlimited storage space on their digital cameras, he doubted any of them would have surpassed the splendor of the image.
Twice a day, Chen’s team ordered one of Cetus’ cameras to capture a panoramic view of the four-kilometer-wide facility in order to record the UMOs’ overall progress. Some of the previous shots were already worthy of magazine cover treatment. In one, sunlight coated half the facility while the other half was obscured by darkness, save for a small cluster of glittering light that looked like a Christmas tree. In another, the ice surrounding the structure sparkled so brightly it created a glow around the spaceport. Some of Chen’s colleagues thought the glow gave the impression the building was floating.
But none of the panorama photos compared to the one Chen stared at now. It was shot two days ago, when Callisto was on the far side of Jupiter. With the Nuada crater facing a vista of black space, the entire image would have been dark if not for two swirling trails of light streaking up above the spaceport. To Chen, those streaks looked like rocket contrails, one arcing to the northwest of the crater, the other to the northeast. The number of UMOs in each streak must have totaled in the millions, dwarfing the small clusters previously photographed.
Where had the UMOs gone? Why did they leave? When would they return? Those would be the questions everyone would ask.
Chen scanned the remaining photos lining the tables. None of the ones taken after this one showed a single UMO. The aliens had seemingly packed up and vacated the facility, their de-icing job left unfinished.
Chen had sent Brock a digital version of the image earlier and had included a short note. Not sure if it’s a good sign or a bad sign, but recommend forwarding this to A3I ASAP.
Augustus Amato’s office
A3rospace Industries Command and Control Center
Mayaguana Island, The Bahamas
Dante had been convinced Amato would support his recommendation to turn Rorschach around and return back to Earth. After all, his boss and mentor had been teetering on the edge of aborting the mission ever since the initial damage assessment from the first BLUMO attack.
But Amato now appeared hesitant to accept Dante’s recommendation.
“Is it because of Colonel Morgan’s comments?” Dante asked.
“Partially. I think his advice to seek other opinions is wise,” Amato said.
“That’s why you’ve set up the call with Anlon Cully?”
“Not just Anlon. I’ve also talked with Helen Brock.”
“Oh? I wasn’t aware NASA had sent us their analysis yet.” Dante had circulated the pack-hunter report to NASA’s UMO research team, but he was surprised to hear that Brock had contacted Amato instead of him with NASA’s findings.
“They haven’t,” Amato said. “I called Helen to discuss the Cetus Prime image she forwarded to us. Have you seen it?”
“No, I’ve been focused on Shilling’s report.” Dante retrieved his cell phone and scrolled through his email to find the message from Brock. “What does it show?”
As Amato described the photo, Dante located the message and opened the file.
“How bizarre,” he said. “And you say the UMOs haven’t made an appearance since this was taken?”
“That’s right,” Amato said.
“What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know. I thought it might be a reaction to another gamma burst. Anyway, in the course of my conversation with Helen, I asked her about their progress on the report. She said there’s dissension among her team about some of Shilling’s conclusions.”
“They don’t think it was a pack hunt?”
“No, on that point, the whole team agrees with Shilling.”
“Then what’s the debate?”
“The aim of the hunt. Some agree with Shilling, that the purpose of the hunt was to eliminate territory invaders. But others think their prey was our UMO colony.”
Dante considered this alternative interpretation and quickly deduced what had led the NASA dissenters to form this opinion. Where had the Rorschach colony gone after the attack? Why hadn’t the UMOs returned? “They think the BLUMOs killed our UMOs?”
“More like ate our UMOs,” Amato said. “Remember, Shilling points out packs exist due to scarcity of food. Might UMOs themselves be a more attractive food option than ions from our engines?”
If this theory was correct, then Rorschach was never the target of the BLUMO attack, which meant another attack was less likely. But Dante saw a flaw in that logic.
“How do they explain the BLUMOs returning a second time?” he asked. “There were no UMOs around by then.”
“Therein lies the debate,” Amato said.
He explained the dissenters’ main counter-arguments. First, if the BLUMOs viewed the fleet as a territorial threat, why did they leave some probes untouched while destroying or disabling others? And second, if the BLUMOs are such sophisticated hunters, why did they give up so easily on Rorschach?
Both points were valid, Dante thought. And as he pondered this UMO-eat-UMO theory further, he thought of another counter to Shilling’s conclusions. The scientist had pointed to the scouting party attack on the fleet of CubeSats last year as an example of UMOs protecting territory. In that incident, the UMOs zapped some of the probes and then flew away. Shilling believed the zap-and-go encounter showed that the UMOs viewed the small contingent of probes as an insignificant threat. But if, instead, the attack had been precipitated by a search for food, the UMOs’ decision to bypass the fleet after zapping a few probes might have meant they didn’t find the probes appetizing.
“In any event,” Amato said, “I think there’s merit on both sides of the argument. Enough to pause any discussion of scrubbing until Shilling and Morgan have a chance to chew on NASA’s report.”
“Okay, that’s fair. When does Helen expect to send over their report?”
“She didn’t commit to a time, but she understands the urgency.”
“I’ll call her when we’re done to pin down a time.”
“Good,” Amato said. “Meanwhile, I thought it would be of value to run Shilling’s report and data by Anlon Cully.”
“Makes sense. What time is the call?”
“In fifteen minutes. Will you join me?”
“Absolutely. I’d like to hear what Dr. Cully has to say. And I’m sorry to make you bump your meeting with Jenna Toffy.”
“This was more important. I’ll fit her in later tonight. Mark is already working to set up a new time.”
“By the way, how did your conversation with the families go?”
“They were hard to read, to be honest,” Amato said. “I think they were appreciative of the update, but they’re apprehensive. They were quiet. They didn’t ask many questions.”
“Do you think they’ll talk to the media?”
Amato shrugged. “I hope not, but they’re the least of our problems. They don’t have access to the kind of information that’s been leaking out. Speaking of which, have you made any progress isolating the source of the leaks?”
“Unfortunately not. Our IT security guys are working it hard, but it’s likely there are multiple leakers given the information has been popping up in multiple places. The IT guys don’t think the leaks are coming from anyone at Mayaguana. Could be someone at HQ in Orlando, people from NASA or one of our other subcontractors, or all of the above.”
“They shouldn’t discount the possibility the leaks are coming from Mayaguana. Make sure they don’t.”
“Roger that.” Dante shifted the conversation back to the UMO exodus photo. “I’m curious. What did Dr. Brock think of your suggestion of another gamma burst?”
“She agreed it was a possibility, but questioned why the UMOs didn’t react the same way during the first burst. I suggested a potential reason for the
discrepancy. She was skeptical.”
Amato described his theory. The initial gamma event occurred as Callisto’s orbit approached the dark side of Jupiter. But six days later — the day the exodus photo was taken — Callisto was at the midway point of its crossing of the planet’s dark side. Thus the Nuada crater, and the hive of UMOs in the spaceport, had been shielded from the burst on the first occasion, but not during the second burst.
“But if Nuada was exposed to the second burst, the gamma rays would have affected Cetus Prime,” Dante said.
“Yes, Helen pointed that out. She also questioned why the UMOs would leave the spaceport. Presumably it has adequate radiation shielding. Why not stay inside until the gamma rays dissipated?”
“Hard to argue with that logic.”
“True,” Amato said. “But something disruptive occurred, wouldn’t you agree? The UMOs stopped in the middle of their de-icing and left. They haven’t returned. Therefore, it seems reasonable to believe something caused them to flee. If it wasn’t another gamma burst, then what triggered them to bug out?”
Aboard Sol Seaker
Port Denarau, Fiji
September 3, 2019 (September 4 on Fiji)
From the upper deck of his yacht, Sol Seaker, Dr. Anlon Cully looked toward the marina inlet, hoping to catch a glimpse of two Jet Skis. His companion, Pebbles McCarver, and their mutual friend, Jennifer Stevens, had taken the Jet Skis out into Nadi Bay earlier in the morning. Anlon had texted Pebbles as soon as he received Amato’s text requesting a phone conference, guessing both she and Jennifer would want in on the phone call.
He pulled his cell phone from his boardshorts pocket and texted Pebbles again. Tick tock. Call starts in 10 min.
He knew the chance of Pebbles hearing the text chime above the roar of the watercraft’s engine was nil, but she was wearing her smartwatch, and hopefully she would see the message alert notification and hustle back.
After another minute of fruitless surveillance, Anlon retreated inside, descended to the main deck, and settled in at his desk in his office cabin. He put his phone on the desk pad in front of him and reopened Amato’s text message.
Magwave (The Rorschach Explorer Missions Book 2) Page 10