Salvador Mercer - Lunar Discovery

“Negative, Nikolai, this is not possible in the shade of the moon. The ship should be getting cooler, not hotter. There is a problem with their internal heater. We need to get them out of there.”

There was no time to respond. The Gordust suddenly crossed the terminator and into the bright glow of the sun again after a mere forty minutes of crossing the dark side of the moon. They were quickly losing radio and telemetry data on the lander and their target.

“We’ll have to wait till we come around again,” Olga said, leaning over to switch the screen mode to lock so that their last reading would be saved and compared to the new one when they reacquired contact again in fifty minutes.

“Contact Vostochny,” Yuri commanded Olga. “Inform them we have landed on target.”

Bridge, USS Berkshire

Fifteen miles off the coast of China

In the near future, Day 46

Captain Hansen watched as the Chinese rocket disappeared from sight, flying over them in a southerly direction.

“Not exactly discreet, that launch, was it, sir?” his second in command, Lt. Commander Jensen, said, lowering his binoculars.

“No, it wasn’t,” Hansen said, also letting his binoculars rest on his chest and looking north at the spy trawler they were shadowing. “The Orca didn’t need to be this close to observe that launch.”

“Why do you think they just launched one of their rockets right over our fleet?” Jensen asked.

“I don’t know, but I got a bad feeling we’re about to find out. Get the admiral on the phone; he’ll need to know about this.”

“What about Washington?”

“The Orca is probably transmitting everything even now. They already know,” Hansen said, looking north at the small ship as it bobbed up and down in the rough seas, still flanked by a pair of Chinese naval frigates.

“God help us,” was all his second said, walking back to the bridge to relay the orders.

“Indeed,” Hansen muttered under his breath.

White House

Washington D.C.

In the near future, Day 46

“Do you want the bad news or the really bad news?” Director Rose said, closing a folder in front of him and looking at the president from across the conference table.

“You’re kidding?” President Powers said, leaning her head against her hand and gently rubbing the scar on the side of her forehead.

“I’m afraid not, Gloria. This is why we convened the emergency meeting,” Director Rose said.

“I know, I’m just not sure we’re going to get out of this unscathed by the time the dust settles. Go ahead, let me have it in order, then.”

The rest of the executive staff leaned forward to listen intently to the Director of National Security as he put his glasses on and straightened the single page of paper on his desk. “As of 0400 hours this morning, we have tentative confirmation from our HUMINT asset in Russia that their cosmonaut team has successfully landed on target and not only on time, but earlier than anticipated.”

Several sighs and even a groan from one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were heard as everyone waited for the president to respond. “I take it this is the bad news?” Powers said, her tone even.

“Yes, it would appear that we are going to be a day late and a quarter of a million miles short. Sorry to break it to you, but we knew this was most likely going to happen considering our past failure,” Rose said.

Powers finished rubbing her head and looked around the table before her eyes settled on Rose. “I’m dreading to find out what could be worse than this.”

Her National Security Director took his glasses off and looked the president straight in the eye. “Around the same time, we have confirmation that the Chinese launched a nuclear warhead from their Wancheng space base using a southern polar orbit toward the moon. It will arrive in just over thirty-six hours.”

The noise of various staff members felt overwhelming to her, and the president lifted her hand, waving it for silence. The room quickly came to a low hush as the initial shock of the news permeated throughout the executive staff.

“David,” the president addressed her National Security Chief, “is the destination of the Chinese warhead the alien device?”

“We have no way to know as we have no HUMINT on the matter, but our SIGINT and ELINT indicate that this is a high probability.” The man nodded, pulled out a handkerchief, and started to clean his glasses.

“How is this possible, only thirty-six hours?” the president’s Chief of Staff asked.

“We don’t know for sure. Has your team analyzed the track and trajectory of their latest launch?” Rose asked the lead science advisor sitting at the far end of the large table.

“Yes, the delta v,” he started and then stopped, looking into several confused faces. “The speed of the rocket is much higher than any normal acceleration. This would indicate that there are no pilots on the payload, and they were able to sustain a much higher G-force escape velocity, thereby cutting the trip time to the moon by nearly half.”

“But why a southern polar orbit?” the president’s chief personal advisor asked.

“To keep the rocket as far from U.S. territory as possible, either to avoid detection or to ensure that it couldn’t be shot down, or worse, mistaken for a nuclear missile launch against us.” Rose nodded.

“Well, it wasn’t to avoid detection. They flew the bird right over our Seventh Fleet in plain sight,” the naval chief of staff said.

President Powers sighed and looked from her science advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and then back to Rose. “Just give me the impact statement. What are we looking at?”

Director Rose put his glasses back on and looked down at his paper. “Temporal separation is just over fourteen hours.”

“In layman’s terms,” one of the personal advisors asked from near his seat by the president.

“It means the warhead will arrive on target about fourteen hours after our astronauts arrive. May as well just bring them home.”

“So the landing would be aborted?” the Chief of Staff asked.

“Yes,” Rose said, looking at his president.

There was a long pause while Powers thought for a moment. “Notify NASA, keep the mission viable. Have them report once we reach the moon, and someone get Vice President Lee on the phone.”

The room became a beehive of activity as everyone stood and left, leaving Rose and Powers alone, aside from the two Secret Service agents near the door.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Gloria?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let the Chinese run us off with an atomic bomb.”

“Hydrogen, actually, or so our experts indicate in the report,” Rose said.

Powers looked at him cross-eyed. “Bomb or no bomb, we’re going. Just make sure NASA is informed and they know how much time they have when they arrive. Any luck getting through to Moscow?”

“No, we keep getting the usual response. The Russian president is dealing with their internal crisis and can’t accept a call right now. I think they’re using it as cover to buy themselves time while they retrieve the alien device.”

“Perhaps,” Powers said, letting out a long breath of air. “Call them again and let whoever answers know about the Chinese nuke.”

“Are you sure we want to share that information?”

“Absolutely sure. If nothing else, it’ll get their attention.”

“I’m damn sure it will,” Rose said, standing to leave. “It may do a few other things that may not be so pleasant for all of us.”

“Just do it and see to it that NASA is notified.”