The Blue People of Cloud Planet (4 page)

Scott watched the graphics on the dome head as they showed multiple scenes of the craft and the base. Also displayed were all the vital speeds, distances and vectors. But the view that always fascinated him most was the vertical alignment of the lander above the dock and the oval-shaped locating hatch which grew steadily larger as they descended. This reminded him of the conning tower on the old nuclear submarines. Now 100 metres up and descending at half a metre per second, the mimic showed the multiple outlines of the docking hatch, one above the other but still slightly out of perfect alignment. Zec-1 now carefully applied minute amounts of thrust to the appropriate horizontal rockets until at 50 metres the ‘ovals’ were synchronised.

‘ROL-1, you are correctly positioned and cleared for final landing at 3A.’

‘Confirm final landing at 3A.’

Scott now watched as the docking oval loomed large on the dome screen. He knew that it was perfectly aligned with an identically sized shape on the underside of ROL-1. Mating was male on the lander to a double ring on the roof dock. At 10 metres above the roof ROL-1 was slowed to 0.1 metres per second and just before docking the caterpillar tracks on the four legs of the lander touched the reinforced roof around the ring and took its weight. Final mating was as light as a kiss. The silicone seals then inflated and hydraulic locks clamped into place and the craft was now firmly sealed to the Moon Base roof.

‘ROL-1, you are now secured at 3A.’

‘Confirm secured at 3A.’

‘Command astronauts - prepare to disembark ROL-1.’

They clutched their small flight bags and the command seats were retracted and lowered into the air lock. After checks by Zec-1 that pressures were equalised, doors opened and the seats were lowered into the elevator.

Olivia and Scott then left their seats after receiving final instructions from Zec-1 and the flight controller. The seats were retracted into the air lock and both doors above them were closed and sealed. Once confirmed, the flight controller now activated the lift carrying the two astronauts and it descended 50 metres to the floor of the maintenance module of Moon Base.

When the doors opened, a lunar flight attendant made a smart salute to Olivia and Scott and welcomed them back to the base. They made their way through to the reception module where the receptionist handed them envelopes.

‘Where are we training next?’ thought Olivia.

But when they opened them they found an invitation to attend the main conference room at 10 am lunar time the next day to be briefed on ‘Project Omega’.

Training over!

The General

‘I particularly remember this day because Moon Base was rife with speculation about this meeting and nobody knew the agenda. They do not even know who is chairing this gathering. I include the detailed transcripts of this discussion because of their vital importance to Project Omega and my story.’

By 09:55 am lunar time, five pairs of astronauts were assembled in the main conference room of the Research module. Olivia looked around her, surprised that only 10 remained from over 50 who had started training three months ago.

She was not surprised to see Alison and Steve in the same room and there were Jane and Tom and Melanie and Angus, but she could not name the fifth couple, only recognising their faces from earlier training sessions.

Scott was staring upwards and Olivia followed his gaze to the lunar sky so perfectly framed in the hexagonal sectors of the module roof. But what held their attention was the lovely sight of Earth, with day and night so clearly defined, and the wonderful blues and whites as sea and cloud gave glimpses of the huge land mass of Africa.

Suddenly the conference room door hissed open and the ten astronauts stood smartly to attention and saluted as, to their astonishment, no less than General Patrick L. McFarland entered the room.

‘This must be some serious mission.’ Scott whispered knowing that this was the supremo of space travel and exploration.

‘The General is Commander-in-Chief of the World Space Exploration Council based here at the McFarland Research Centre at Moon Base. He was the first man to have set foot on Mars with, as it happens, Scott’s grandfather Ralph. He also pioneered the establishment of the first Moon Base now named after him. Now in his sixties, the General is an imposing, strong-featured man, still lean and fit, and with a striking head of hair.’

‘At ease, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for your prompt attendance here this morning.’ He was always extremely polite with all personnel at the Moon Base and commanded huge respect with the way that he managed people. However, look out if he raised his voice slightly or lifted an eyebrow – you were probably in trouble.

Then, surprisingly, he took off his uniform jacket, put it on the back of a chair and joined the stunned astronauts at the round table.

‘Please feel free to remove your coats and make yourself comfortable.’ This was unheard of in the presence of the General and none of the teams moved until Scott led by example and removed his.

‘Today and tomorrow,’ he continued, ‘there will be no status in this room and everyone will be entitled to say exactly what they think without prejudicing their rank or position on this Moon Base.’

‘So what is going down, Sir?’ Scott asked, ‘This is highly unusual.’

‘You can drop the ‘Sir’, but I would like you to call me ‘General’. You must all be wondering what you are doing here and the reason for the extraordinary training sessions that you have come through.’

The General then pressed a button on the small remote in his hand.

‘Shit! Shit! Shit!’

Olivia’s head shot up as her voice suddenly boomed out of the multi sound speakers.

‘What the hell am I doing in this stinking forest – I’m a top astronaut!’

The astronauts exchanged smiling glances but before Olivia had time to feel embarrassed the General quickly went on.

‘What indeed and doubtless you all harboured similar thoughts and before we go on I make no apologies for the fact that you have been monitored every minute of the day and night for the last three months.’

Olivia turned and saw that colour had risen up Melanie’s neck. She smiled knowing that Melanie had a thing for Andy. What a relief he hadn’t made it through jungle training!

‘I know you are the best technical astronauts we have produced,’ he continued, ‘but we needed to find the best possible teams for Project Omega.’

He operated the remote again and this time Scott’s voice reverberated around the room.

‘It’s not in the instructions but I know we have to cross the river. Olivia, you have to trust me.’

‘You were all given common instructions for your teams in Borneo,’ the General explained, ‘but each of you was also given one piece of vital information which you would know when to use. You were also asked not to reveal how you came by this knowledge but to use your powers of persuasion to get your partner to trust your decision. Trust, respect and finding the couples most suited to one another is vital for this mission because some of you are going to be together for the next 50 years!’

The silence was palpable as the astronauts looked at one another and tried to take in this astounding revelation.

The Search for Life

 ‘You will not be surprised to learn that Project Omega is the search for life, hopefully intelligent, amongst the star constellations that light up our night sky. What may surprise you is that I have been active in this project for the last 25 years. Back then we focused on stars with known planetary systems and within 20 light years of Earth. We also needed strong evidence that Earth sized planets at the right distance from their star were likely to exist.’

He paused and then operated the remote.

The lunar sky in the dome above them suddenly vanished and was replaced by a myriad of stars and constellations, resplendent in their unique colours. The astronauts adjusted their seat backs and admired the spectacle.

Suddenly three red arrows appeared at different parts of the sky.

‘The constellations of Agamemnon, Vercingetorix and Hercules,’ the General’s quiet voice played over the visual display and each constellation’s name appeared beside it, ‘have stars with known planetary systems and fall within the distance criteria. In the constellation Agamemnon, the star Capitulan has a very interesting system.’

The overhead display changed to show the detail of this star and its attendants. Gas giants, ringed planets and barren rocks swirled around their central energy source.

The General moved the pointer over a small planet. ‘This one has possibilities and it is roughly the same distance away from Capitulan as we are from the sun.’

‘However, in Hercules, two stars have very promising planetary systems but they are 20 light years away and at the limit of reachable space travel. But in Vercingetorix, 10 light years away, the star, Seren, gives us the most excitement.’

 Then the overhead display filled with Seren and her orbiting family. The astronauts looked up in awe as colourful gas giants, multi–ringed planets and smaller orbs circled around an intensely red star.

‘Excuse me, General,’ interrupted Scott, ‘are these computer simulations?’

‘No, they are real time because what you don’t know is that 25 years ago we sent high speed ion engine probes to each of these constellations and they are now returning distant but clearly definable images.’

The General now moved the pointer to a small planet with a strange looking ring structure. ‘This planet is approximately 140 million kilometres from Seren and its infra-red and x-ray analyses show significant water, ice and oxygen. The ring is not dust or small rocks like Saturn but composed entirely of water, so we think this is a cloud collar, which is most unusual.’

‘Are these the most recent pictures and how old are they?’ asked Steve.

‘Good question, and no they are not the most recent. They were received 15 years ago and subsequently focussed our attention towards investigating this planet. I will tell you later about the programme to build two, yes two star ships and the development of Mars Base which is, in fact, dedicated to Project Omega.’

The astronauts sat speechless at this revelation.

‘So that explains the extreme security when we shuttled to Mars?’ queried Olivia, ‘I thought it was going to be a duplicate of Moon Base.’

‘Yes, this project was only privy to the World Council and a handful of senior personnel at Mars Base. Now I want to show you two events that completely changed our plans and timescale for Omega.’

‘The images we received 10 years ago started giving a much clearer picture of Cloud Planet as it became known,’ continued the General, ‘and we could discern the unusual ring more clearly with seas and ice caps to either side.’

The picture above them now changed to a planet of striking white and blue with a collar of cloud around the equator.

 ‘A beautiful sight isn’t she and can you imagine our euphoria when we started picking up small points of intense light around the equator?’ The excitement in the General’s voice was palpable as the display then showed these pinpricks of light in the cloud.

The silence in the room was broken by Olivia, ‘Are these points of light real or an aberration caused by signals passing through such vast distances?’

‘Good question and one which we constantly tested ourselves. However, over the next year, and as we got closer, these light specks increased in intensity and smaller ones started appearing alongside the stronger sources. And don’t forget we couldn’t monitor the planet for long periods of its ‘year’ – about 10 of our months - as our probe couldn’t always see its day side.’

‘Are you saying that there were no pin pricks of light on the night side of the planet?’ contributed Angus. ‘So they could merely be reflections of the planet’s sun?’

‘Yes, but look more closely, what do you see?’

‘Why, there’s a pattern!’ cried Scott, ‘They seem to be in equally spaced lines along the equator – how can that be?’

‘Exactly!’ agreed the General, ‘Now, can you see why we got so excited?’

‘But General,’ Olivia persisted, ‘you said two events occurred but you’ve only described one.’

‘Yes, I’ve left the best to last and this occurred 5 years ago,’ he paused and the silence could be cut with a knife, ‘look up now!’

The astronauts stared up and there were audible intakes of breath as one of the stronger points of light started blinking......

–off – on – off – on – off – on– off – on– off – on -