Salvador Mercer - Lunar Discovery

Hun thought about his family, his wife, his grown children. No, it wouldn’t be worth it. Not for such a long shot. Then he sat as his desk and pulled up the state website link where they had announced Colonel Sing’s heroic appointment. There standing next to him was his wife. They must have been in their late fifties. Who was that in the background? Clearly several children who at first Hun thought were simply bystanders admiring their hero, but no, those were his grandchildren and his daughters and sons. This was taken at his family estate.

Looking one last time at the picture, Hun closed the web link and stood up. Sing’s family demanded a full accounting of their actions, and didn’t the general just tell Hun to do his duty? Hun walked out of the control center, nodding at Chon to take over without saying a word. He would do his duty, even at the risk of his life.

Gordust Space Station

Low Moon Orbit

In the near future, Day 48

“Microwaves?” Yuri said, shaking his head in confusion. “That’s impossible. We’re shielded against them as well as gamma and x-rays. What Vostochny is saying isn’t possible.”

“I’m just relaying the message,” Olga said. “Do you want to talk to them?”

“No, I go away for a code ten, and when I get back, everyone is turning the law of physics upside down,” Yuri said, tightening the straps on his seat. A code ten was the polite term they used when they took a bathroom break.

Nikolai’s voice came through the intercom, and Yuri made a note that next time, he’d pay the man a visit instead of hearing his constant droning over the com channel. “Clearing LOS in thirty seconds.”

“Already?” Yuri asked, looking at Olga.

“You took a long time in there,” Olga said. “We’re about to lose line of sight again. They are only ninety-minute orbits.”

“ Blyad , woman, I know our orbital rotation. I’m just vexed at Nikolai’s constant stream of data. He sounds like a computer.”

“The man just lost two of his closest comrades. This probably helps keep him focused,” Olga said.

“ Gordust now dark, reacquisition in forty-eight minutes,” Nikolai said in his monotone voice.

“Code ten, Olga?” Yuri asked.

Olga just shot him a glance and went back to aiming their radar and infrared back to their forward angles. “What’s that?” Olga said, motioning to the main screen between them.

Yuri looked up and saw a heat signature about twenty-five kilometers from the alien device and Zvesda . “Is the Chinese lander still in the same position? It didn’t take a bounce, did it?”

Olga switched the monitor to show the Chinese landing site on a grid about thirty kilometers farther west relative to the new contact. “Yes, it’s still at its original site. This is a new lander and new signature. It’s much stronger than the Chinese one.”

Yuri looked and saw stronger reds and oranges coming from the new signal and instantly knew it to be American. “I think those Yankees have landed.”

“ Da , it seems that Vostochny was correct about their arrival time but not about their LZ,” Olga said. The crew had monitored reports that the Apollo 21 ’s arrival was imminent, but Vostochny knew ahead of time their flight path and approximate landing zone or LZ. The former was correct while the latter wasn’t. The news reports seemed to be accurate, though delayed just a bit as events unfolded.

“They landed a healthy distance from the target,” Yuri said, continuing to look at their shared monitor. “They must have a rover for them to EVA in, otherwise that would be an impossible walk.”

Olga nodded her head. “They may be stranded as well if their rover breaks down on them, and that’s a high likelihood given the new signal data from Zvesda .”

“Speaking of which, we need to vent the excess heat and figure out a way to mitigate the microwaves if the analysis from mission control is correct,” Yuri said.

“Way ahead of you on that one,” Olga said, keying her internal mike. “Nikolai, are you and Viktor ready for decompression?”

“Affirmative,” Nikolai’s voice responded. “We are fully suited, and all equipment and gear is secured back here. We really going to do this?”

“ Da ,” Olga responded. “Prepare for emergency venting in two minutes.”

“We’re ready. All systems go for emergency venting,” Nikolai said.

Olga looked at Yuri and nodded. “We’ll see if opening the two main space locks will allow the station to cool off. I’m more worried about equipment failure from exposure to the vacuum of space at this point.”

“Agreed, Olga, but the equipment was designed for emergency exposure just in case of a hull breach or leak of some kind,” Yuri said, adjusting his helmet and using his own mike since they couldn’t talk face to face inside the command pod.

“We’re almost done with the station compression,” Olga said, referring to the fact that their atmospheric pumps were working hard to compress the current atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen from the station into several storage tanks so that the exposure to the vacuum of space would not violently destroy any part of the station. “I’d have preferred not to test those safety specifications.”

“Agreed again, Olga,” Yuri said. “I hope this works, otherwise we’re going to have to abandon our mission and return to earth before the next orbital rotation. We can’t risk losing any of our computer systems.”

The two sat in silence until their own internal timer hit zero, and Olga punched the space interlocking bay door overrides. In silence, on their internal monitors, they watched as the doors to space opened while the internal locking doors remained opened, exposing the entire internal cabin of the Gordust to the vacuum of space.

“Mission crew, five by five,” Nikolai said over the intercom system.

“Copy, Nikolai, we show all systems still go, temperature at thirty-nine degrees and holding,” Olga said, watching the digital readout now taking the place of the lunar surface on their shared screen.

“Come on, baby, drop…” Yuri said, absentmindedly opening his mike.

It seemed like an eternity before the temperature started to drop, first by tenths of a degree and then finally by full integers.

“It’s working,” Nikolai’s voice said, a touch of static still present.

“ Da , this is fortunate,” Olga said, her voice expressing obvious relief. “How long do we need to maintain vacuum, Yuri?”

“Let’s get it below thirty degrees, and then we reseal and check for atmospheric pressure,” Yuri said. “It may take a while as the heat is radiated away. It’s not like there’s an atmosphere to dispel it.”

“I guess we stay a bit longer, eh?” Olga asked, a slight upturn to her lips visible through her helmeted faceplate.

“I think so, Olga,” Yuri said. “Perhaps long enough to see what happens down there. Perhaps.”

Apollo 21

Lunar Surface, Marianas Plain

In the near future, Day 48

“Houston, this is Blackjack . Rover successfully deployed. Request authorization to commence lunar operations,” Julie said, using her internal mike system as she stood outside the lander and took in the vast display of grey dust, illuminated by the intense overhead lights of the lander.

“ Blackjack , this is Houston. We copy rover readiness, and authorization to commence lunar operations approved,” Jack’s voice came across the main channel.

“Roger that, Houston, commencing first stage to target. Will update at waypoint one.” Julie clicked her mike.