The Alien Artifact 8 (2 page)

The problem was
they had not fully checked everything with the equipment, and its
reactions to everything, even though it had been tested back on the
Earth, and they were sure that something was ahead! The equipment
was more powerful and sensitive at detection than ever before, and
had even been modified before the trip, for detection at distances,
which they had to work at there, which would speed up future
searches of the vast terrain.

The shuttle
rushed on across the immense desolate landscape and the equipment
gave increased strange reactions and accounts, and they checked for
equipment problems, and they gradually perceived that there was
definitely something ahead that had similarities to something
artificial with immense proportions

Chapter 2

The Attack

Cronenberg never got who was the most baffled
by the situation, and if they were in danger, and how they should
proceed to deal with what they had! No danger to them had arisen
and nothing showed they would crash but they sensed something!

They had
gradually realized something was emerging, with them studying the
slightest reactions created by it, while still trying to prove the
new equipment had nothing wrong with it.

Nothing seemed
to be visible ahead and where the disturbances had been found to be
generated.

Was it a
coincidence that the equipment was malfunctioning at the same time?
He knew there could easily be still hidden flaws in the technology!
It was valuable and might still need to be advanced further, in its
new state!

He checked
Deputy Commander Campbell’s map, which he claimed was the most
accurate up-to-date map available, and Rosenberg helped, but they
found little ahead, and the facts showed little existed there, and
the region had not been explored by anything other than
satellites.

Their records
showed nothing had been recorded of such a disturbance, even though
he was sure there had been mentioned past events discovered on the
Earth, but they were too vague and too proven to be false for him
to be believe.

It was then
that he realized that all the communications from and to the
outside world had gone and the pilots reported it to him when he
asked, and he expected them to offer help or at the least their
scientific theories, and they just looked confused.

They just left
pilots on their own to handle all the problems themselves, with the
shuttle’s flight! They were better off without them being in the
way.

It was
incomprehensible and crazy, and would surely be recorded as such a
discovery! Investigations proved that nothing could be there!

Would they even
survive to see what was there? The equipment and plane had
increasing signs of being dangerous, at an alarming rate, as they
advanced forwards, and they surely would have to land, and their
constant attempts to turn back had failed.

Something was
either wrong with the shuttle equipment or something was taking
them forward, and its power was increasing as they went forward,
and the pilots seemed to lose more and more control, and he kept on
believing it was the new equipment, and even considered if they had
deliberately invented the situation to test their ability in
handling such a scenario and were also trying to test the shuttle,
or someone needed the information.

Shudders and
fluctuations ripped through the plane and him and the others as
what seemed like strange unknown energy surges swept through the
region, threatening to rip it to shreds and scatter it and them
across Mars, and he imagined his remains being recovered days later
half buried away in sand.

The rest of the
crew also started to realize it and that they might not even see
what was there, but he decided to insist in ignoring it! He gasped
when he realized that they should have turned back as soon as there
had been evidence something was occurring, and even because it was
getting dark! Surely there was a way to change the course of the
shuttle, and the new shuttle and equipment had only confused them!
Perhaps it was a built in programming that had been somehow
activated, which had not been known by them, and had perhaps been
on an earlier version of the programming or was used for some other
reason.

He considered
what it could be and what would happen and how to combat the
occurrence! Whatever it was it had control of controlling the
shuttle!

He decided to
ignore the dangers and to examine everything that was occurring to
try to explain things, and fit things together and get a proper
picture of what might happen, and if they could do anything. In the
past he, and surely the others, had pulled themselves out of
dangerous and tricky situations, and he thought that they could do
it once again, even if there was a slight chance.

He
examined
the
strange
alterations,
with
erratic
characterizations,
in
the equipment and realized there had been a change, and they all
started examining how it was now affecting the shuttle and its
performance, and he checked the pilots and saw that they had seen
something in the increasing darkness ahead and wondered what the
shuttle was going over, and was surprised at how fast it was
getting dark and he managed to adjust his eyes and followed one of
the pilot’s eyes to a location ahead.

He joined in
examining there in detail. It was incredible! There was nothing
visibly there but he knew there was something! He had seen nothing
like it! At that distance it seemed normal though, and he was left
confused as he was sure something was going to happen there, and he
and the pilots started preparing for something to occur, and he
decided to ignore the dangers and to handle everything he could as
best as he could as it appeared.

The area was
not properly charted and there was nothing shown there, and the
satellite photos showed nothing but another area of Mars, and he
suddenly wondered what was there and where the hell it had come
from!

Areas
surrounding the region had a volcanic appearance, and it was
definitely old.

Campbell
discussed it with Stanley the pilot and tried to get anything he
could from the pilot.

“
We
should get someone to
check out what’s there as soon
as our communications return
!” Stanley replied. “It seems to be where the disturbances
are from!”

“
That
looks empty?” Orwell announced, looking into the front window with
high powered binoculars, hardly able to see in the blackness
there.

Campbell took
the binoculars and searched where he was looking, and stood
confused, and replied, “What happens now? How the hell could
anything be there?”

“
I think
we’re going down …” Stanley shouted, and the shuttle started going
downwards.

“
I’ve
recovered control of it!” he gasped, after a few minutes of
struggling to control it.

“
We’ll
have to land!” Lyndon announced, checking everything about him,
preparing himself.

Cronenberg gasped at the situation and rushed into his
shuttle commander’s seat, one of their impact protection seats,
designed for him, and the shuttle started reacting crazily and
viciously shuddered, as if caught in some force, and they started
descending swiftly and he realized like most of the crew that the
worst outcome could become real, and he saw them reacting and
preparing themselves for their
worst fears.

He copied
positioning himself in his seat and prepared for what was ahead,
and considered using something for violent impacts.

As
it
hurtled down
wards
he spotted the last shreds of sunshine
illuminating the sky on an area of the
horizon, and he spotted the startled faces of the two pilots
recalling emergency procedures,
and
others
swiftly
securing
equipment or themselves.

He wished he
had a better view at a main window of what was happening! He
imagined it bursting into flames with the powerful fuel and the
entrance being blocked.

The
last
shades
of
weak light
pulsated
, in
various
motions,
through the front pilots window
,
and he
considered what could happen! Would it ruin everything if the
shuttle was destroyed and they survived?

Yet they had
revealed something, and with incredible powers, powerful enough to
take down a powerful large shuttle, with such high technology, and
he wondered if they could discover what it was and save the day! If
they survived to see what was there!

All they could
do was wait for the outcome, and try to do everything they could,
and he realized he was actually part of a real drama and
occurrence, perhaps for the first time in his life!

He started
realizing how professionally skilled and proficient the crew
actually were, and how far they had gone out of their way to get
them and carry out the Mars operation, and he realized why they had
chosen him, and had realized the dangers!

Everything on the shuttle
appeared in order,
and it was only being influenced by something clearly
below, somewhere, and he wondered if it was a natural phenomenon,
and if it could be a danger to flights over that region. He was
sure it was forcing them to land – or was it their imagination, and
some force like gravity, and he wondered if there were disturbances
like it on the Earth.

He saw that
they were having a hard time controlling the speed of their
descent!

How could
anything take control of such a powerful shuttle, and at such a
distance? What form of technology was behind it? Could they use it
in warfare? Was it a form of military technology? Could they
figure
out a way to
block and stop it?

Surely there
had to be a way to obstruct it or just weaken it?

One of the crew
called out, “It’s not increasing in power!”

He realized
that some of them were holding back information about it, and he
considered if he should try and get it!

The pilots
tested
and did
what they could perceive
and he realized that it was a
more interesting trip than he had even imagined! Nothing anywhere
seemed enough to understand it, and he was sure none of them had
anything to properly explain it!

There had to be
something irregular,
visible, and solid behind it, and he wondered if he could
get it if he had long enough and the right means
!

“
We’ve
still
lost all
contact
with the
base
!
”
Campbell
confirmed
loudly
, as
he
examined
his equipment
.

He
noticed as it got lower to the ground the crew started
avoiding
looking at each other, with
occasional
horrified glares,
realizing
they
that they were going to land
soon
and they might not
be
any
longer in control of their
fate!

“
I
don
’t
get this!
”
one of the
pilots
uttered,
as he looked up startled
.
“It is
as though something kicked in there and has started landing it, and
I
cannot discover why
and why it is going to a
different destination than we were set to land
!
”

“
Is there
anything visible there?” Cronenberg asked curiously.

“
Nothing
visible! I
t seems to be carrying
out some form of alternative plan
–
to land
us!
”

The
shuttle shifted
down
low,
but still at a
regulated pace, almost
as though it were
being overwhelmed by
something
.

Occasionally the crew started monitoring what was happening
about them as it happened, and Cronenberg realized that they
liked to handle things rather than ignore
them,
and they were not
fully confident of surviving!

Even the most
professional pilots on the Earth would have a hard time finding a
landing site below, and they were allowing it to land them
there.

The shudders
from
turbulent energy
surges made them jerk forwards and backwards, making them all go
silent and stop silent conversations, and they started putting on
their spacesuit helmets.

At times he felt as
if
he
were drifting
down to a hideous death!

It plummeted
and suddenly
administrated
what
was
a
n almost
perfect
landing,
but smashed hard into
something, and h
is eyes
bulged brightly,
and
he barely believed the destructive forces lashing
out
at the
shuttle.