Salvador Mercer - Lunar Discovery

“It does look like a return craft, and this would be what Chang was referring to before we lost him,” Chon said, pointing to the top of the landing craft and then tracing a line that looked like a conduit from the top of the lander down to the side and finally ending just above the landing shield near a foot strut.

“Wait a second, I see what’s going on here,” Hun said, comprehension on his face. “The secondary lift vehicle is in case the lander is disabled. The pilot will be able to launch it into orbit with a small payload.”

“You mean the device?” Lin looked at Hun, her face conveying a look of surprise.

“Yes, Lin,” Hun said. “The exhaust from the secondary vehicle would render the first inoperable.”

“That would make it a one-way trip,” Chon said, wiping his brow with his shirt sleeve.

“The entire secondary vehicle is mechanical. Look here,” Lin pointed out. “The systems are not integrated with the navigation computer. Instead they have only one flight profile, lunar orbit.”

“What does it do when it reaches orbit? If it reaches orbit?” Chon asked.

“That part is unknown, but the military would have to have a plan to retrieve it before the Americans or Russians,” Hun said, looking sideways at both his team members.

“Any news on what they’re doing?” Lin asked.

“None,” Hun said. “You know as well as I do the military won’t share that kind of data with us.”

“Yeah, but we hear things,” Chon said, almost whispering now.

“Whispering won’t help.” Lin elbowed Chon. “If they are listening, then it won’t matter.”

“True, but I don’t care about that. I do care that we succeed.” Hun smiled. “Now let’s get the last systems checks done so we can support whomever the general selects to pilot the craft. Oh, and let’s see if we can’t raise Chang by some other means. Did you try calling?”

“First thing I did while checking the servers,” Chon said. “Telephone lines are down as well.”

“They were?” Lin asked, her face contorting a bit as she thought something through.

“Yes, why?” Chon asked.

“Wenchang comms are satellite based only; they never had any cables laid to the island.” Lin smiled.

Hun realized his systems technician was right. “Yes, that means we lost the communications satellite. Raising Chang will be difficult until the government routes communications through another device or mode.”

“That’s one way to slow our mission,” Chon said.

“Right, this has to be from one of the two.” Hun did not name the countries involved. It was obvious. “Lin, go down to the general’s office and inquire about the communications.” Hun waved her objections down. “I know we just sent the unusual occurrence report, but this is different. We need access to Chang and the lander in order to modify the systems and give us the best chance for success. Just do it, Lin, and report back when you’re done. I’d go myself, but I have an idea I want to prepare for the general first and time is short.”

“Understood. I’ll go now,” Lin said.

“Thank you, Lin,” Hun said, watching her pull her papers together and then leave the room.

“You want me to run another systems check on the communication servers?” Chon asked.

“No, stay here with me. I have an idea, but I need your help. Like I said, we don’t have much time.” Hun placed a hand on Chon’s shoulder and smiled. Chon nodded and then pulled up a chair. It would be a frantic day.

NASA Space Center

Houston, Texas

In the near future, Day 27

Marge sat with Rock and Jack at a smaller table near the window, watching the sun set. His team had been working well over sixteen hours a day, and burn out was evident. Rock wanted to call for a break if he could get Mr. Smith to agree. His team would be no good anymore if they started to make mistakes or worse, miscalculate due to sleep deprivation.

“So what’s so important to call an emergency meeting?” Rock asked, drinking coffee again. It was a necessity now despite the evening hours. They would work well past midnight and then return in the morning before the sun came up.

“We have a hypothesis, but it’s iffy and we have a problem,” Marge said.

“Well, I’ll take any one of your iffies any day,” Rock said. “What news?”

“The alien signals have remained the same; they cover the entire RF spectrum as well as the usual gamma and x-rays. We approached the problem from the perspective of what could knock out a rover and lander,” Marge said.

Rock nodded. “Go on.”

“Electromagnetic pulse,” Jack said, a smile crossing his face as he enjoyed the look of confusion on Rock’s.

“EMP?” Rock asked. “Come on, we ruled that out on day two.”

“Marge, do you mind?” Jack asked. Rock knew that Marge was more eloquent when it came to explaining things, especially those of a scientific nature, not to mention being more cultured in her word choices when compared to the signals engineer, so Rock took all this in stride.

“Richard,” Marge began, and Rock knew he was going to get one of those type of speeches from his second in command. “We ruled out the radioactive pulse because it has a much longer range and we would have detected it here, planet-side. The electric pulse was ruled out because the shorter range would not have been able to reach the orbiter without us being able to detect it.”

“So? What are you trying to say?” Rock asked, not seeing any progress.

“What if there was an EMP-type pulse that had the range of the radioactive pulse but the potency of the electric?” Marge asked.

“We’re talking impossible here. Not within the laws of physics,” Rock retorted, noticing the arrival of Tom who was bringing a pot of coffee.

“Mind if I join you?” Tom asked.

Rock was thinking this would be harder with Tom around, but relented. The man had fresh coffee. Who could object? “Pull up a seat, Tom,” Rock said, motioning to one of the free chairs and handing out his cup for a refill.

“What’s up, Doc?” Tom asked Marge, filling first Rock’s cup and then his own. Marge wasn’t drinking coffee, and Jack had placed his hand over his half full cup. Before sitting down, Tom reached into his large, voluminous white lab coat pocket. He fished around a bit and pulled out a handful of sugar packets and a couple of small cream containers. “Cream, sugar?”

“One of each, thanks,” Rock said.

“Don’t let me interrupt,” Tom said.

Rock let it go and stifled a chuckle when Tom grinned at him. Marge seemed patient enough. “Go on, Marge, finish what you were saying,” Rock said.

“I was venturing a hypothesis about the root cause of the Chinese equipment failure,” Marge said, looking at Tom. Marge continued after Tom nodded. “If the EMP was a hybrid, then it could have blown the electronics out of their equipment. We didn’t detect the pulse because it was of low enough intensity to not be detectable from earth but strong enough to reach the orbiter.”

“So their orbiter is about what? Sixty or seventy miles above the surface?” Rock ventured.

“Sixty-eight point three parked in a frozen orbit,” Marge said. “That’s why it hasn’t decayed yet.”

Rock knew that there were only four orbits at various degrees that could sustain a satellite or orbiter so that it could stay in place almost indefinitely, and the Chinese had used the highest one. “So their rover approached the object when the orbiter cleared the horizon, using the highest orbit that would give them the maximum time for line of sight between rover and orbiter.”

“Correct,” Marge said.

“The rover touches or probes the device and it triggers some sort of EMP, disabling their equipment.” Marge and Jack both nodded. “This EMP is propagated, using some sort of alien technology, enough so that it can reach the orbiter yet remain undetected from earth. Finally, you’re saying that this entire hypothesis of yours basically violates what we know about physics and pretty much all wave technology. Do I have it correct?” Rock asked.