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They made their way back to the
base camp where they had a small analyzer and some other
basic lab equipment. Frank and Judy had taken a small
tracked vehicle to a nearby ice glacier to take measurements
on the oxygen contents to determine the best location for
the oxygen generators. The plan was to set up a small
oxygen/water generating station there to support the base
camp until a more permanent base could be established. They
were expected to be back to the base camp before dark.
"Run the specimen through the
analyzer and let's see what we have", said Joseph to Gloria.
Meanwhile he was surfing through the computer banks
researching all the data bases for ancient artifacts. Even
though he couldn't identify the material of the alien artifact, he felt as
though he had seen a similar artifact many years ago while
working a dig in a remote Central American jungle.
Bill
and Sue were busy constructing temporary living quarters
from a maze of plastic pipe and a special radiation blocking
plastic film that would cover the pipe Skelton. Bill noticed that Joseph and Gloria
had returned abruptly from their scheduled all day dig a
short distance from the base camp. It was imperative that
they completed the temporary housing before sundown as the
temperatures would be -100 degrees below zero in a few short hours. The
success of the entire expedition depended on
Bill and Sue being able to
quickly construct the temp quarters. Eventually they
would carve out blocks of ice from the frozen permafrost to
build more permanent individual living quarters for the
entire team but for now the solar tents would have to keep
them warm and protect them from the dangerous radiation. The
moon Sierra did have a light
atmosphere but would not support humans without supplemental
oxygen. The plan was to pipe oxygen and water from the
generators to the solar tents. The process would take
several days to complete.
"I hope everything is ok", Bill
said to Sue as he drew the plastic tarp tightly over the
pipe framing and secured it with special fasteners.
"They were not due back at the base camp for several hours.
We're almost finished with the solar tent. Maybe we should
go back to camp and see what's up". Bill said to Sue as she
was finishing up inside the solar tents installing a small
portable nuclear heater.
"Let's finish up with the solar
tent first." Sue replied. We're
going to have a real problem if the tent is not completed by
sundown." Sue continued
the finishing touches inside the tent without even glancing
back at the base camp. Bill also reconsidered after
reflecting for a moment on the projections the Earth
scientists had made regarding the night temperatures on
Sierra.
Frank and Judy had just completed the initial setup
of the oxygen generators when they received a message from
base camp requesting that they return to the base camp
immediately. Although the oxygen generators were necessary
for their long term survival on this strange new world, it
was the solar tents that had to be completed before
nightfall. They had enough oxygen to make it for several days. They figured Bill and
Sue must be having a problem with the newly designed solar
tent so they headed back to the base camp.
"Joseph. Come look at this!"
Gloria said with noticeable excitement in her voice.
Joseph was examining some images on his laptop computer
screen that resembled the alien artifact.
"This thing has an unidentified
molecular structure. The elements in this specimen are
not native to this moon or this solar system. I'm not sure
what to make of it."
Gloria sounded to Joseph. "There's little chance
of contamination considering we're
trillions of miles from Earth."
It had been Joseph and Gloria's lifetime dream to discover a
trace of alien life on a new world, but they had expected to
spend months, even years before uncovering undeniable
evidence. They had discovered this artifact within a couple
hours of landing for the first time.
In the years leading up to this
distant interplanetary expedition to the end of the solar
system, many artificial satellites had been sent from Earth
to orbit Sierra and build an extensive data base on the
moon's surface, mineral makeup, gases and possible landing
sites. Maybe one of the orbiting satellites had crash
landed on this barren world and through a unique combination
of heat and cold had changed the molecular composition on a
small piece of the craft that lay before them. Surely
intelligent life had not existed on this world before they
landed recently. Could this small artifact have come from
their own spaceship as it landed earlier that day? Did
the 3 year flight through the vacuum of space and time
somehow affect the molecular Chemistry of their own ship.
Its true this mission to the outer limits of their solar
system was the longest flight man had ever undertaken.
Earlier satellites sent into deep space had never returned
to Earth for analysis so no one really knew how space and
time could affect a ship on a interplanetary mission.
Scientists knew the effects of space travel on the human
body and had prepared them by injecting microscopic medical
robots into their bodies prior to the mission liftoff. The
bots would fight off and kill any disease at the molecular
level. They also had a very demanding daily workout routine
to offset muscle loss, but what about the spaceship.
Had anyone considered how the ship might be affected?
Nightfall was closing in on this lonely world at
the end of the solar system. The temperature continued to
drop as the Earth based scientists had predicted. The six explorers were
cuddled up in the solar tent being warmed by the small
atomic heater as they looked at a night sky that had
never looked so beautiful before. Everyone pondered with
questions about the alien artifact but it would be hours
before the communications with the data they had send back to Earth would
be received. Many more hours before they would receive a
response. They wondered how the scientists back on earth
would evaluate the data they had forwarded them. Perhaps
they would have some reasonable explanations for the alien
artifact. They planned on doing a complete analysis of the
landing probe in the morning to see if their theory that space
and time had modified the spaceship's molecular structure, but for now all was good. Tonight they were
warm, the night sky was intoxicating and they were with friends.
Joseph and Gloria, also known by Mat and Francis,
Ken and Lynda, Fred and Marsha and many other names looked
at each other and grinned. Tonight they would be joining
their true friends and family. They had spent decades
looking for the alien artifact. They had been sent to
recover the alien artifact by the extragalactic counsel
almost 100 years ago. Now they had finally recovered it and
sent the data to their home race in another Galaxy. Tonight
their race would return to collect the alien artifact and
take them back home.
As the night grew darker the Sierra landing
team huddled in the solar tent, excited at the idea they may
have just discovered the first remnants of intelligent life
in the solar system. They were unaware that they were about
as close to alien intelligent life at this moment in the
solar tent as the human race would be for centuries.
The End
 Roy
Fuller, Short Story Writer
Another Science Fiction Short Story by Roy Fuller below:
"Maldor Prime, New Eden"-
Visit another world where settler's have ventured to find an
escape from everything they dislike about the Earth.
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