Salvador Mercer - Lunar Discovery

Gordust Space Station

Low Moon Orbit

In the near future, Day 46

“Prepare for detaching,” Yuri commanded into the intercom radio system. “Detach now!” he said, a bit loudly considering the small confines of his command module.

Olga nodded at him and then checked the screen to obtain visual that the lander had separated from the rear of the space station. Well, space ship now , Yuri thought. The module viability display had gone from green to red, indicating the main station computer no longer was receiving data on the lander module.

“Detached, commencing systems check,” Gregori said, excitement in his voice, and why not? He and Ivan would be the first cosmonauts, if not humans, to land on the moon.

“ Zvesda detached, delta v at minus one meter per minute,” Nikolai said, monitoring the lander from his own control console at the rear of the craft. Yuri and Olga would control the Gordust , Nikolai would be mission coordinator with support from Viktor, who had just returned from the refueling EVA and was changing his suit to the interior coveralls they usually wore. Ivan was piloting, and Gregori was in overall command of the lunar mission. Everything in order as planned , Yuri thought.

Olga looked at him sideways, and then Yuri nodded to the main communications radio. Olga flipped the frequency from intra-module to interstellar. “Vostonchy, this is Ruski Gordust . Lunar detachment complete, orbital insertion in ten minutes. Do you copy?”

The radio signal time delayed by a few seconds before a technician’s voice came over the speaker. “Copy, Gordust , proceed per schedule.”

The schedule packet had been uploaded thirty minutes earlier and was basically the same information Gregori had transmitted earth-side for approval. The lander would detach and land immediately without an orbital period to stabilize and plot a more accurate trajectory for the lander.

The landing was way riskier this way, but the lander had extra fuel onboard and could maneuver if necessary. In fact, Gregori was counting on this as part of their overall plan.

The radiation alarm activated with a loud whooping sound throughout the entire station, and several small red lights in various pods activated and started to blink.

“Turn that alarm off,” Yuri ordered, looking at Olga.

Olga reached over and deactivated the alarm. “Scared the hell out of me,” she said, giving Yuri a rare smile. Her hand shook ever so slightly after pressing the button to turn it off, and she clenched it into a fist and brought it down to her side.

“Check the readings to be sure they are still within nominal levels,” Yuri said, nodding and ignoring her display of anxiety.

“ Gordust , this is Zvesda . What was that alarm?” Gregori asked.

Yuri flipped the mike. “ Zvesd a this is Gordust . The radiation alarm was triggered. Checking readings now.” He paused, his mike still open, and he looked to Olga, who was scanning the readout before she nodded. “ Zvesda , all readings nominal, proceed.”

There was a very long pause before Commander Gregori responded. “Confirm the readings, Gordust .”

Yuri saw Olga give him one of those looks, the look that said: we screwed up . Yuri keyed the mike again. “ Zvesda , this is Gordust , readings are nominal, I repeat, nominal. We failed to update the alarm trigger level after adding the additional shielding. Disregard and proceed with the landing.”

“Roger, Gordust , Zvesda proceeding.” Gregori sounded more content now that he knew the Gordust crew had simply failed to dial up the radiation threshold reading from the sensor. It had triggered the alarm at a low level that was normally used in cases of solar flares and usually intended to have the cosmonauts suit up to have a safer level of protection from cosmic radiation.

“Those readings are higher than we calculated, again by a factor of four,” Olga said, looking at her monitor.

“Well, we are arriving closer to the alien transmitter than our orbiter. We’d expect the signal to be stronger,” Yuri replied.

Olga nodded, her face, however, more serious. “Yes, but we are calculating a linear progression in signal strength, not an exponential one. Our readings should show the signal strength at twice the normal level, but it’s twice that again.”

Yuri thought for a moment and then he heard Nikolai’s voice come over the command frequency. “ Zvesda , Commence braking.”

“Commencing braking now,” Gregori responded, only using the term Gordust when communicating with Yuri or Olga.

Yuri nodded to Olga, and she brought up the rear camera screen to show the video of the lander as it had dropped behind the Gordust by nearly three meters. The compressed oxygen on board was vented slightly from the lander toward the Gordust , slowing the lander’s relative velocity by a factor of ten.

“Initial braking complete,” Gregori said.

“Velocity now delta v at minus ten meters per minute, point-one-six meters per second.” Nikolai read out the rate of distance separation between the lander and the Gordust . This was very important as the two crafts needed a safe distance between them before the lander ignited its rocket motors to slow its decent and begin its landing on the moon. The slower speed would allow the force of the moon’s gravity to pull the craft toward itself as the inertia from the orbital velocity diminished.

Yuri thought about calling an abort so they could extrapolate the signal data and update their reading estimates of the planet’s surface, but he knew immediately that the lander commander wouldn’t agree. He had too much of that Spetsnaz in him to play it cautiously. No, he would land, and to hell with safety protocols or discreet caution. The mission was priority number one. Still, Yuri thought they should give them the option, so instead of calling for an abort, he keyed his mike to relay the data Olga had given him.

“ Zvesda , this is Gordust ,” Yuri said.

“Go ahead, Gordust .” Nikolai sounded annoyed.

“Be advised that the signal power readings here are two times our estimates, four times normal,” Yuri said into his mike.

Olga gave him another one of those looks, indicating that Yuri should be more forceful with his information, but Yuri had dealt with the Spetsnaz’s commando for several days and Gregori’s reply was not a surprise.

“Understood, Gordust ,” Gregori said curtly. “Commencing with burn.”

“Burn in ten seconds,” Nikolai said, his monotone voice, devoid of emotions, sounding like a computer or disembodied soul.

Olga nodded at Yuri, indicating agreement. The Gordust had tried. Time to get to work. “Yuri, we’ll be entering orbit in five minutes. Any altitude adjustments?”

“Considering the signal strength, keep us on the higher side. I’d feel better having more distance between us and the device,” Yuri responded.

Olga nodded. “At least we have an entire row of extra shielding.”

Yuri looked out the side viewport at the stanchions holding the shielding panels out toward the moon. Each one looked like a solar panel, but they were made from lead and compressed carbon panels designed to prevent electromagnetic and atomic radiation from penetrating into the station’s interior. They were mounted on the left side only, thus the reason for the Gordust using a retrograde orbit of the moon. They needed to keep the panels between the ship and the surface.