Stars & Empire 2: 10 More Galactic Tales (Stars & Empire Box Set Collection) Read online

  “This might be it,” spoke Jason, putting his gloved finger on the spot.

  Jason sure hoped it was for Greg’s sake. He had promised his friend he would get him home. Only by finding and shutting down that transmitter would it be possible. The front section of this ship was so large it would take days for them to search it. Having to drive back and forth from the lunar lander to the wreck would make that almost impossible.

  Climbing up to the next level, Jason checked the map and then indicated for Greg to follow him. They were both becoming tired from their exertions. Following the corridor, they finally came to a large sealed hatch.

  “Is this it?” asked Greg, breathing heavily.

  “I think so,” replied Jason, putting his hand on the handle and praying that it would open.

  Jason grasped the handle firmly and turned. Much to his surprise it turned easily, and the massive hatch swung inward. This hatch was twice as thick as the others.

  “Said the spider to the fly,” Greg mumbled over his suit radio.

  “If there were any spiders here, they’re long dead,” Jason responded as he stepped inside and shined his light around.

  The room he was in was obviously a Command Center of some kind. The walls were covered with instruments and viewscreens. There were consoles with chairs in front of them and numerous computer screens. In the center of the room was an upraised console, where possibly the ship’s commander and his second in command would have sat.

  “This is it!” Greg said excitedly, looking around. “The transmitter has to be here somewhere!”

  “Turn your suit lights off,” Jason ordered. He turned his off as well as the portable light.

  Greg did as ordered and looked around the darkened room in surprise. There were numerous dim lights glowing feebly on several consoles.

  Neither of the two noticed that behind them, the massive hatch they had just come through slowly swung shut and sealed itself. A sensor in the Command Center had detected human life forms. Following an ancient program, it slowly began activating the ship’s AI.

  Jason turned his light back on and slowly swung it around the room. He froze when he saw the hatch behind them was closed.

  “How did that happen?” asked Greg, feeling bewildered. If neither Jason nor he had shut the hatch, then how the hell was it now closed?

  Jason suddenly had the creepy feeling that they were no longer alone in the ship. He stepped back over to the hatch and was about to grasp the handle when the lights in the Command Center began to blink on, one by one. He stopped in mid motion and turned back around. Consoles seemed to be coming alive and the overhead lights were now on.

  “What’s going on?” asked Greg, suddenly wishing he were back at the rover. He was beginning to feel as if he was in one of those old science fiction horror movies.

  “I don’t know,” replied Jason, thinking furiously. “We must have activated something when we opened the hatch to the Command Center.”

  A light began flashing on Greg’s wrist where a small sensor pad was located. It was used to show breathable atmosphere in the airlock of the lunar lander. “Jason, I’m showing a breathable atmosphere in here now.”

  “What, that’s impossible!” exclaimed Jason, walking over and looking at the sensor on Greg’s wrist.

  “Nevertheless, it’s true,” replied Greg, looking around the Command Center nervously. He had a sinking feeling that they were no longer in control of the situation. All they needed now was for one of the alien crew to make an appearance.

  Jason stood perfectly still for a moment and then reached a decision. He slowly reached for the hasps that would allow him to remove his helmet.

  “Jason, what are you doing?” spoke Greg frantically, realizing what Jason intended.

  “I’m taking my helmet off,” Jason responded as his hands found the two outer clasps and popped them open.

  Once they were unfastened, there was one more inner hasp he had to undo. Hesitantly, he reached for it and slowly popped it open. Then, taking his helmet with both hands, he twisted it and it came loose. Jason tensed, and then relaxed as nothing happened. He slowly took his helmet off and stood in the alien Command Center, breathing the air. It was a little cold in the room, but other than that, the air seemed just fine.

  “Are you okay?” Greg asked with concern in his voice. He couldn’t believe that Jason had risked his life like that. He didn’t know what he would have done if something had happened to Jason.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” replied Jason, taking a deep breath. The air seemed fresh and perfectly normal.

  “Well, I guess we know now that these aliens breathed an Earth normal atmosphere,” Greg stated as he began reaching for his own helmet fastenings.

  Jason stepped over and helped him. Soon both of them had their helmets off. They both turned off their suits' air to conserve it. They would need it later when they left the Command Center, assuming they could find some way out. Right now, the internal atmosphere would be holding the hatch securely shut. For the moment, they were trapped inside this room.

  Jason saw another open door on the far side of the Command Center. He walked over toward it and glanced curiously inside. He froze at the sight in front of him. “Greg, you need to come over here! You have to see this!”

  Greg came over and stood next to Jason looking into the small room. It looked like a small office with a large desk on the far side. However, what was shocking was what was sitting in the large, comfortable chair behind the desk.

  “That’s a human!” Greg cried in shock. “How’s that possible?”

  Jason gazed at the body sitting in the chair. It was mummified, but there was no doubt that it was indeed a human. “It must be the ship’s commander,” Jason suggested. “We haven’t seen any other bodies anywhere. I would guess there was indeed a rescue mission that found the ship. They left the commander here for some reason.” Jason reached out and pulled the open door closed behind them. The commander of the ship could rest in peace. They were not going to bother him.

  “Sprk, crackle, cmdr, crackle, Earth,” suddenly came from a speaker somewhere in the Command Center. “Human, crackle, recu, here,” the strange voice continued.

  “What’s that?” asked Greg, looking around trying to find where the voice was coming from. It sounded artificial, like one of the voice programs on a computer or phone. He wondered what else they had activated by coming into the Command Center.

  “I am crackle, ship’s compteer,” the voice said unclearly.

  “We need to talk more,” Jason said in sudden understanding. “I think it’s trying to learn our language.”

  For the next fifteen minutes, Jason and Greg talked about everything they could think of. They even walked around the room pointing to different objects and speaking their Earth names.

  Then suddenly, for the first time, the voice spoke clearly.

  “Ship’s status report follows.

  Life support operational in Command Center only.

  Sublight drive is offline.

  FTL drive is offline.

  Weapon systems are offline.

  Long-range communications are offline.

  Emergency beacon has been activated.

  Main power sources are offline.

  Emergency power is at .05 percent.”

  “Stop,” ordered Jason, hoping the computer would obey him.

  “Ship’s status report stopped,” the voice replied obediently.

  “Emergency beacon,” repeated Greg, looking over at Jason with renewed hope in his eyes. “That’s what we want to turn off. It must be the source of the interference.”

  “Computer, turn off the emergency beacon,” Jason ordered. He waited for a moment, but all that met his ears was silence. He looked over at Greg and then tried again. “Computer, turn off the emergency beacon.”

  “Emergency beacon will not turn off,” the voice replied. “Damaged circuits are not allowing the necessary commands to reach the beacon.”

&n
bsp; “Crap,” Greg muttered. “Now what do we do?”

  “Computer, where is the emergency beacon located?” asked Jason, wondering about their next move. The logical thing would be to locate the emergency beacon and turn it off manually.

  “Deck seven, section four, communications room two,” the voice responded. “There is currently no viable access available to this area due to structural damage to the ship.”

  “What about from outside the ship?” Jason asked. If they could find a hatch close enough to the damaged area, perhaps they could gain access that way.

  “All access hatches have been sealed in that area and will not open due to a lack of power,” the voice responded.

  “Now what?” asked Greg, worriedly. It sounded as if they couldn’t get to the beacon to shut it off.

  Jason stood next to the command console, thinking. They had come all this way, found an alien or human spaceship, and now were at an impasse because there was no way to shut down the beacon. He just felt as if he was missing something. However, what it was he couldn’t quite pin down. It seemed to be just at the edge of his mind.

  “I don’t know,” replied Jason, looking around the room. “There has to be some way to shut that beacon down.”

  Jason and Greg spent several minutes walking around the Command Center, examining the various consoles. They found navigation, propulsion, weapons, sensors, and various other stations they asked the computer to identify. They found nothing that would help them to turn the emergency beacon off.

  Jason asked the computer about the weapons the ship was armed with but was told in a polite voice that he didn’t have the proper security clearance to access those files.

  “Computer, why are you responding to my voice commands?” Jason asked.

  “You are human,” the computer replied.

  “Was your crew completely human?” Jason asked.

  “Yes, this was a human ship.”

  “Where did this ship come from?” continued Jason, seeking more information.

  “That information is classified,” the computer responded.

  “I still don’t see any way to reach that beacon,” Greg stated, unhappily. If they could shut down the beacon, they could use the radio on the rover to contact their orbiting command module and speak to Mission Control on Earth.

  “There has to be a way,” replied Jason, feeling angry with himself and refusing to give up. What was he missing? He knew that there had to be a way.

  “We’re going to have to start back shortly,” Greg said, glancing down at the power reading on his suit. “It took us quite some time to get to the Command Center, and we have just enough power to get back to the rover with some still in reserve.”

  Jason stared at Greg, wide eyed in astonishment. How could he have overlooked the obvious? “Computer,” he said quickly. “What is the ship’s current power level?”

  “Emergency power is at .045 percent,” the voice replied.

  Greg looked back at Jason with renewed excitement in his eyes. “Power,” he said excitedly. “It’s almost out of power.”

  “How long until all power is exhausted and the emergency beacon shuts down?” Jason asked.

  “Four hours and twenty-two minutes at current power usage,” the voice responded.

  Turning to Greg, Jason smiled. “I think it’s time for us to return to the rover. Once the power fails and the beacon stops, we can contact Mission Control through the command module.”

  “We’re going to survive then?” Greg asked. He realized with immense relief that he would indeed get to see his wife and son again. It might just take a while.

  “I think so,” Jason responded. He then turned and faced the console where the computer voice had been coming from. “Maintain current power usage until the emergency beacon shuts off.”

  “Affirmative,” the voice answered. “Power levels will be maintained until emergency power is depleted.”

  Jason and Greg helped each other put their spacesuit helmets back on. The air in the room was pumped out and the hatch swung open. Carefully following their marked path, they retraced their steps until they found themselves back at the large hatch. Stepping outside, they walked over to the waiting rover.

  They both sat down in the rover and hooked their suits up to the rover’s air and power systems. Now they just had to wait until the interference disappeared from their radio receiver. Once it was clear, they could send a message back to Earth. For several minutes, both men sat staring at the massive spaceship that lay against the crater wall in front of them.

  “How do we tell the people back on Earth what we’ve found?” asked Greg, gazing at the ship in awe. It was hard to imagine something this large flying in space, much less between the stars.

  “I don’t think we say anything until we get back to Earth,” replied Jason, thinking about the ramifications of their discovery. This would turn the scientific world upside down. “This discovery has the possibility of advancing the human race hundreds of years in a relatively short time.”

  “It will have to be shared,” Greg responded. Their find was going to shake a lot of things up down on Earth. “This discovery is too big for any single country.”

  The hours passed quickly and then suddenly the static on the radio receiver vanished. For the first time in several days, the radio was clear of the ever-present static that had been with them since they started their ill-fated descent to the lunar surface.

  “The static's gone,” Greg said with relief in his voice. The power in the ship had been exhausted.

  Reaching forward, Jason set the radio to transmit and took a deep breath. His signal would be relayed by the command module to Earth.

  “This is lunar mission New Beginnings to Mission Control. Do you read? Over.” Jason repeated the message several times and then waited, hoping for a response.

  -

  Down on Earth, Elizabeth Johnson was in Mission Control holding her infant son. She was sitting in the observation room gently rocking her baby. For several days now, she had stayed in Mission Control waiting for word on her husband Greg. Her brother’s wife sat next to her and was helping to take care of the baby. She had slept very little and had spent a lot of time praying for the safe return of her husband. Commander Strong’s sister had just stepped out to get them something to drink.

  They both looked up startled when screams and yells of excitement suddenly erupted from the men and women in Mission Control. The director of Mission Control, Tom Hays, turned and sprinted toward the observation room, then swung the door open.

  “They're okay!” he said excitedly, his eyes glowing. “We have Commander Strong on the communications channel!”

  Elizabeth looked at her sister and started crying tears of joy. Then she looked down at her infant son. His father was okay.

  “Where’s Katherine?” asked Tom, excitedly. He couldn’t wait to tell Jason’s sister that her brother was on the communications channel.

  “She stepped out for a moment,” Elizabeth’s sister replied. “I’ll go get her.”

  -

  Jason and Greg were back in the lunar lander. They now had continuous communication with Mission Control. Jason had spent over an hour explaining the current predicament they were in with the lander. Several mission specialists had been called in to evaluate the dire situation.

  “We’re going to spend some time evaluating your situation, Jason,” Tom said over the radio. “For the time being, we want you to get some rest. We’ll contact you as soon as we know something.”

  “Confirmed, Mission Control,” replied Jason, shutting down the transmitter.

  “They didn’t ask about the interference,” Greg commented with a puzzled look upon his face. “I wonder why?”

  “They had to have picked it up,” Jason responded. He also had wondered why they hadn’t asked about it. “I don’t want to say anything unless they bring it up first.”

  “So what now?” Greg asked. Tom had arranged for him to talk bri
efly with his wife. Greg felt as if an immense load had been lifted off his shoulders. Jason had also talked briefly with his sister.

  “Let’s get some sleep,” suggested Jason, feeling exhausted from the day’s events. Tom had promised to get word to Jason’s brother that he was safe. He knew his sister was relieved. He also knew he was going to hear about this when he got back home.

  -

  When their sleep period was over, Tom contacted them again.

  “It’s the opinion of the experts that it’s not worth the risk to try to set the lunar lander back upright. The risks of more damage, or even a hull rupture, are too great.”

  “Then what’s the plan?” Jason asked.

  He had been afraid it would be impractical to try to put the lunar lander back in an upright position. It was beginning to sound as if they were going to be stranded on the Moon for quite some time.

  “We can launch several supply drones to the Moon,” Tom replied in a calm voice. “Both can be landed close to your current position. However, it will take us nearly two weeks to get them ready. They’re going to have to go through a lot of modifications.”

  Jason looked inquiringly over at Greg. That would be putting them right on the edge of their food and water supply. It would take some tight rationing.

  “We can do it but just barely,” replied Greg, doing some quick calculating.

  “Affirmative, Mission Control,” Jason responded. Then, after thinking for a moment, he continued. “We have some special equipment we would like to request. It looks as if we’re going to be stranded here for quite some time.”

  “At least four months,” Tom said. “It will take that long to get another lunar lander ready that we can land and then get it back up safely to the command module.”

  Jason and Greg looked at each other and then looked around the inside of the cramped lunar lander. Four months in here was going to seem like an eternity.

  “We understand,” Jason responded. “That’s why we’re requesting some special equipment so we can get by until then.”

  “We’ll do what we can to accommodate you,” Tom replied. “Just remember, we only have so much room on the two supply drones.”