Chapter 6: Chapter Twelve: Fomalhaut Mission

Chapter Twelve

Fomalhaut Mission

 

FORTUNATELY FOR THE extraterrestrials on Fossil Crater, they were more than capable of piecing together a plan that guaranteed the survival of the spaceport. During the next week the Astrophel children did appear to be a little on edge, but that could have been from doubling up on Tau Ceti fruit punch at the Stargazer.

            At least once a day they’d all walk to the Astraeus Laboratory to make sure nothing had changed and that it was still in one piece. Reuven was rushing about with a nervous demeanor, which for him meant business as usual. Scotty made sure to walk a wide circle around Aldrich and his henchmen, and whenever he spied Tarsus, he’d turn and walk away as fast as his legs would allow.  

            Jasmine and Madison were more concerned with Doctor Voloshin than his data terminal. They both wondered if maybe it would be best for the Star Nexus to be destroyed and deny the exploitation of its data and its secrets. The bad guys will use it to do bad things, they’d both said over and over to Scotty, Joseph, and Diego.

            “We have to protect the Star Nexus, no matter what happens,” Scotty explained. “Planet Earth needs it, we need it.”

            “Well, Zoran will be here in a week, maybe less,” Madison said. “We don’t have a lot of time to prepare.”

            “We have shields and the quadcopters to protect us if he actually attacks. But Zoran will never damage the Star Nexus, so I’m not too worried about him attacking the spaceport.”

            However, Joseph and Diego were just as worried as Jasmine and Madison. They both bugged Scotty about the Cybernetics program and developing Geneware builds every day during lunch. They made it nearly impossible to focus on fertilizing the Altair palm trees by explaining how cool it would be to have skin as hard as metal. Scotty tried to convince them that he was not allowed to broadcast builds such as those; it would lead to trouble he did not want.

            “The docs will never let me write something like that,” Scotty yelled out one evening, slamming the door to the Arcturus honey bees’ enclosure. It was the first cool morning they’d had in days. The sky was a boundless, dark blue, and the shadows were stretching farther to the south, signaling that autumn was on the way.

            Joseph, who was feeding the 70 Ophiuchi mantis, was the first to see him crossing the insectarium. “Sparta, good thing you showed up.”

            Sparta walked to the apiary, his Helix crackling and buzzing as he went. He was wearing his launchpad coveralls.  

            “I need assistance this evening at the launch complex,” he said, in a nervous tone they’d never heard from the androids.

            “Oh cool,” Scotty said, smiling for the first time in days. “What’s going on?”

            “Emergency launch. We are going to begin the Fomalhaut mission ahead of schedule. The onboard computer will be crammed with irreplaceable data and files.”

            “We’ve been wanting to ask you a few questions about the Cybernetics program,” Joseph said. “If we’re allowed to create things that will save our lives during an attack.”

            “That is a question for Doctor Stryker. And sometime tomorrow too. Tonight, we are going to send something important to space, so it will not fall into the wrong hands. It will be the culmination of a lot of hard work. So, you and your faction show at the flight control room tonight at seven and not a minute later.”

            “Sounds great, Sparta,” Scotty said. “We’ll all be there tonight.”

            Sparta left the biodome and made his way to the mission control building to begin preparing Just Five More Minutes, Mom for interstellar travel.

            “What was that all about?” Madison asked.

            “It has everything to do with Zoran.”

            “He might be trying to figure out a way to evacuate the extraterrestrials,” Joseph said. “The programs are important, but the extraterrestrials are on a different level.”

            “We’ll ask him tonight.”

            “Will somebody tell me what’s going on,” Madison said.

            Joseph shook his head to say yes, but Scotty said, “We’re going to help Sparta get the Fomalhaut mission started early, so we can send data into space to be hidden and safe, hopefully.”

            “Uh, I’m not sure we need to be doing that,” Madison said, with a waxing, defiant tone. “It’s a violation of five policies. Only Doctor Stryker can approve the encapsulation of data. Besides, launching anything is a big deal. All launches have to be authorized by the Alien Technology League. You should know that by now. We can’t just launch a spacecraft whenever we want to, it’s dangerous. It’s also a safety violation. A researcher was thrown thirty feet across a launchpad one year when a Centaurus II took off early at a research facility in Hawaii.”

            “Well, here at Fossil Crater we have the Boomerang,” Diego said.

            “Storing data on the ships computer and then launching it is genius,” Scotty said. “But with the cargo capacity, he could hide and safeguard a lot more than our programs. 

            “He could hide secrets in deep space,” Jasmine said.

*

When they walked into the mission control building that evening, Scotty became alarmed after realizing Claudius Copernicus was not in attendance. He thought about it for a few moments and realized that the propulsion engineer hadn’t been seen in over a week. Was he away on business, or had he been removed from the equation?

Sparta called, “Who is it?” from within a bubble of darkness, and then ushered them to the flight control room.

            The place was a mix of green and blue lights. For reasons only Sparta knew of, he allowed only three system terminals and the big screen to have power. It seemed as if he wanted to cover his movements for as long as possible.

            “Thank you for volunteering. It takes a team to manually launch a Boomerang.”

            “We’re happy to help you, Sparta,” Scotty said, but there was a swelling of emotion within him, and his tone told everyone in the room that he was just a little worried. “Now’s my big chance to help with a launch.”

            Sparta could sense his fear. “Do not be troubled, Researcher Astrophel. I know how to function in a clandestine manner.”

            “Well, Maddy claims we’re violating the rules by doing an early launch,” Scotty said.

            “And the hiding of data too.”

            Sparta’s eyes appeared to change color just a bit. “There is the possibility that the spaceport will be attacked and heavily damaged. I would be doing something much worse than violating a few policies if I did nothing for the extraterrestrials. This will be the first step towards the safe evacuation of the biodome. But I first have to conduct a test mission, and a copy of our irreplaceable data will be the logical cargo.”

            All five exchanged expressions of concern.

            “But, Sparta, you said that I have an uplink to the Star Nexus on my Helix,” Scotty said. “Isn’t that enough.”

            “You have a hidden program inside of your deoxyribonucleic acid. A clone of the Star Nexus that is activated by your Helix, and yes, everything that I just said is very top-secret.”

            That bit of information hushed everyone to a worried silence, and it was Diego who asked the most logical question. “Then what are you putting on the hard drive?”

            “I have been downloading an exabyte of data for the last four days,” Sparta said. “All encrypted copies of our programs. In case the servers are destroyed, we will have the blue prints that will be required to rebuild.”

            Scotty sat in a computer chair, still peering into the electronic glow that was Sparta’s eyes. “So, where is all of this data from?”

            “The biodome, the observatory, and the laboratory. Doctor Stratton, Doctor Amherst, Exozoologist Slade, and Doctor Reuven were made aware of my intentions of copying programs.” 

            “Reuven knows about this?” Diego groaned, and then cringed at the notion.

            “Everyone who I just mentioned knows about the encryption project but not the early launch.”

            “What about Mr. Copernicus?” Scotty asked.

            The expression on Sparta’s face mirrored both fear and concern.

            “I am sorry to say that I have not seen Claudius in nearly two weeks. There is the possibility he is on a secret mission.”

            For almost an entire minute no one said a word.

            “Something else I’ll have to take to Doctor Stryker,” Scotty said.

            Then Madison wrapped her arms across her shoulders and peered into the big screen. “So, the Star Nexus won’t be in the Fomalhaut Centaurus Boomerang, because it can’t be moved from Building Zero.”

            “Precisely, it cannot be downloaded to the ship’s computer, because to move the Star Nexus would mean interrupting the flow of information and rendering it useless. A copy of our cartographic information and star system data have been moved to the ship’s hard drive.”

            “But Zoran wants to steal the Star Nexus, he doesn’t want to destroy it,” Scotty said. “He wants to sell the data to the highest bidder.”

            “Nobody knows the true intentions of a tyrant in stealing a company’s research and secrets,” Sparta said. “However, he can use the data to further his machinations.”

            “So how does Zoran know so much about GalReach?” Joseph asked.

            “Zoran Voloshin was once a business partner with Doctor Stryker. But he was caught using our programs as his own to try and make his fortune. He stole a lot of secrets too. He was working with foreign governments, and now he is attempting to commandeer Galactic Research’s priceless data.”

            The five of them said nothing.

            “He is a very successful bad guy.”

            Jasmine and Madison giggled at that.

            “However, Hermes and I are developing a new program that Zoran will surely want for himself,” Sparta said, and energized his Helix. “It is an agricultural program – Extraterrestrial Horticulture on Planet Earth – in Pre-alpha and years away from turning a profit for the company, but someday it will be a million-dollar industry. The Epsilon Eridani strawberries grow to be the size of apples here because of the low pressure of Earth. The Epsilon Indi wine grapes do not require help from insects because they produce flowers that self-pollinate. The Arcturus clover can thrive on Antarctica because those plants do not use glucose for energy. Of course, there will be several publications.”

            Sparta’s tone was waxing with excitement, but Scotty believed the idea was a bad one.

            “Sparta, Fossil Crater is in the middle of a desert.”

            That evoked a mischievous giggle from Sparta, and he turned his attention to the launch system terminal. “It is time to finalize launch preparations. Just Five More Minutes, Mom is on launchpad number three.”

*

Not exactly what the Astrophel children wanted as their first launch. One that was considered illegal and could get them into trouble with the staff at Fossil Crater.

            “I actually didn’t sign up for this,” Scotty groaned, as a chilly desert breeze whipped through the launch complex, turning something as simple as removing a few chains into an ordeal. Joseph and Diego swept the concrete pad to ensure every last stone and pebble had been removed. Madison and Jasmine, however, were helping Sparta with the checklists.

            Then, before they had time to stow away the chains, Sparta sent a message to Scotty’s Helix.

Be sure to inspect the engine compartment, but do not touch the reactor.

            Joseph wanted to rush through the inspection and find a safe place on the catwalk to watch the liftoff. Scotty wouldn’t allow it.

            “It’s not safe to be out here when it takes off,” Scotty said. “You’ll get yourself hurt bad.”

            “No, I’ll be far enough away. It’s not every day you get to see a spaceship blastoff into space.”

            “Quiet!” Diego said angrily.

            Aldrich was at the gates and straining to see what the researchers were up to. He knew there were no launches scheduled on that night, so there shouldn’t have been anyone prepping a spacecraft.

            Scotty and Joseph argued all the way back to the mission control building, and Sparta decided that everyone could stand at the door and receive a perfect view while remaining safe at the same time. Twenty minutes later and Jasmine counted the final ten seconds out loud. When she called out zero, she touched an icon in a display and jogged across the room to where everyone was standing and watching. Sparta took over monitoring the systems’ displays, he’d watched plenty of spaceships blastoff.

            “Oh wow, the engines are firing,” Diego shouted. “It’s about to lift off.”

            The Centaurus Boomerang was slowly rising from launchpad number three. A neon blue light was radiating from underneath, pulsating and creating an odd humming noise.

            They all squeezed in tight at the doorway and gazed in awe at the marvel of technology.

            High above the mission control building, Just Five More Minutes, Mom spun beneath the starlit sky to align itself with the Draco Constellation. Then it gathered a lot of speed and climbed toward the edge of space; a strange-looking exhaust plume shadowing its flight path. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and the researchers thought it looked like a starship in a science fiction movie. When the exhaust plume disappeared, they locked their gazes on the spot they believe the Boomerang to be, attempting to watch it break free of Earth’s gravitational bonds.

             A minute later it jumped into electrosonic flight, marking the transition with a bright flash of blue light and a rumble of man-made thunder that rolled across the ancient crater, rousing most of the animals in the biodome.

            “Was that not something special!” Sparta cheered from a system terminal. He moved his gaze to the big screen and smiled as the Galactic Tracking System generated information. “It will fly past the moon within ten minutes.”

            They walked to the big screen to watch its trajectory.

            “It is a miracle of innovation.”

            “So,” Madison said, “when will Just Five More Minutes, Mom be in interstellar space?”

            Sparta paid her little attention. What he did do was walk to the door. He took the handle in his hands and pulled it shut, hard too.

            “What’s going on?” Scotty asked.

            “Researcher Thompson is outside, keeping an eye on us,” Sparta said, and then paused to open his Helix. He scrolled through a security suite and located the cameras that were mounted on the mission control building. “Now he is walking to a range vehicle parked at the gate.”

            Everyone exchanged expressions of fear and anger.

            Aldrich believed the launch was a violation of at least one of the Alien Technology league’s policies, and a few laws might have been broken too. He would report what he’d seen, and his evidence had been recorded by security cameras and computer software.

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*

At the residencia, Aldrich was nowhere to be found, and that forced Scotty to consider that he was in the process of reporting what he’d seen to Stryker and Stratton. He knew searching for him would take too long, so he took Diego, Madison, Joseph, and Jasmine back to the mission control building to try and convince Sparta to turn the Boomerang around. 

            They stood in the flight control room, peering into the big screen. Just Five More Minutes, Mom, had zoomed past Sedna and was approaching interstellar space. All ten radioisotope heating units were operating at their maximum capability to keep the Centaurus Boomerang’s components from freezing up and becoming useless. Sparta had started writing the rough draft to his extraterrestrial horticulture manuscript.

            “In approximately two hours the Boomerang will be past the point of no return,” Sparta said. “The artificial intelligence will take over, and there will be nothing to do but wait for it to complete its mission and return to the spaceport.”

            “So, it’s not too late to send a command to the onboard computer and force it to return,” Scotty said, sounding upbeat and relieved of a bit of stress. “It can be back here before we get in bed.”

            “Aldrich will tell everything,” Diego said. “I’m with Scotty, we need to get it back here as fast as we can. “

            Sparta shook his head to agree, and he extended his arm to a system terminal and touched an icon floating in a display. Scotty and Diego locked eyes with the android, but Madison and Jasmine were peering into the big screen, and they both could clearly see that Just Five More Minutes, Mom, jettisoned something into deep space.

            “Sparta, what just happened?” Madison asked.

            “Right,” Jasmine said, “what did just happen?”

            “I had to get a copy of our programs hidden in deep space. The only way I could do that was to send one of our spacecrafts into interstellar space. An encrypted copy of our programs has been placed in a six-hundred-year orbit around the SOL star.”

            “Genius!” Diego said.

            “Yes,” Scotty said, “now let’s turn this ship around and sail it home.” 

            Both Madison and Jasmine laughed at his wit.

            Without hesitating, Sparta broadcasted the return to Fossil Crater instruction to Just Five More Minutes, Mom, and all six of them watched on the big screen as it turned to journey back to Earth.

*

It took quite a bit longer to return, as a Centaurus Boomerang is programmed to travel at a much slower speed during the system re-entry phase. An hour later and Scotty, Joseph, and Jasmine were wrapping up recovery preparations on launchpad number three. The Andromeda Galaxy had just appeared on the eastern horizon when a meteor sent a flash of light across the night sky.

            “I wonder if we’ll ever see mom and dad again?” Jasmine asked.

            Both Scotty and Joseph were proud to watch Jasmine behave with courage and inner strength.

            “I don’t know, Jaz,” Scotty said, understanding that his sister had done enough growing at the foster home that she could deal with a difficult reality. “I sure hope so though.”

            “Well, wherever they are, I hope someone is telling them about all the good things we’re doing.”

            “I’m sure they’d be proud of Scott.”

            Then Scotty’s Helix was buzzing out of hibernation.

            “It’s Just Five More Minutes, Mom,” he said, and watched as a series of messages spilled down the display, highlighted with a red color and pulsating. He touched the icons one at a time and attempted to digest the information the spacecraft’s computer was broadcasting to the big parabolic antennas, the blood draining from his face.

            “It’s under attack!” Scotty roared. “It’s taking damage!”

            A series of warning beacons powered up, flashing out winks of red electric light across the launch complex, breathing more life into the sudden twist of reality.

            “Yeah, this is not good,” Joseph said.

            Madison and Diego stood at the door and called for them to return.

            “Real world, guys!” Diego shouted. “Get back inside where it’s safe.”

            All three sprinted back to the mission control building.

            “What can attack a spacecraft!” Scotty snapped and walked to where Sparta was standing.

            He stepped away from the system terminal. “Another spacecraft. One that is clearly piloted by Zoran. However, Just Five More Minutes, Mom survived, and it will limp back to the launchpad.”

            “Well, that’s a relief,” Jasmine said.

            “What do we do now?” Joseph asked.

            “We prepare to make a bit of Galactic Research history. We will receive a spacecraft that has battle damage.”

*

It was no longer a routine mission, and Sparta knew the landing phase would be dangerous. If the spacecraft were to crash land, the reactor would pose big problems for Fossil Crater. It was too late to get Stryker and Stratton involved, so he decided to allow the onboard computer to fly the Boomerang to launchpad number three and land it with damaged systems to include thrusters.

            Scotty and Diego stood at the system terminal and monitored the data as it trickled in.

            “It’s moving really slow.”

            “But it’s heading straight to the launch complex,” Diego said. “The reactor’s activity is five percent though.”

            Sparta moved his gaze to the big screen. “It is using the primary batteries now, so once they are discharged, no more electrical power. If it does not lower the landing legs then it might explode on the launchpad.”

            Madison and Jasmine joined the others at the system terminal to try and lend a hand during the landing phase.

            “It will be on the ground in less than twenty minutes,” Sparta said.

            “In one piece or a million tiny pieces,” Diego said, his tone waning.

            “I think we should manually shut down every system that uses electricity, if it’s not needed. If we can do that from here.”   

            Sparta’s eyes brightened at Jasmine’s ingenuity. “Why, Researcher Astrophel, that is a brilliant idea.” Then he was scrolling through a list of subsystems in a display. “Let us see, rover does not need any power, no need to have any lights turned on, oh, and the hyper sleep pods are empty so I can shut down the life support system. Now, the landing legs should have enough power to deploy.”

*

“We have to get all the fire extinguishers ready,” Diego said. “And remember, these are super powerful so be sure to hang on with both hands.”

            Scotty watched two security drones scurry up from their hiding places and dash toward the interior of the spaceport. “Now, where do they think they’re going?” 

            “Apparently they’re smarter than we are, because they’re trying to get to where it’s safe.”

            “Exactly,” Diego said.

            “Well, hopefully it’ll land safely, and we can get this behind us,” Scotty said.

            “I don’t won’t to have to fight a fire with these heavy extinguishers,” Joseph said. “I’ll probably just hurt myself before I can put any flames out.”

            “Ha,” Diego said, but he wasn’t laughing. “The radiation from the reactor will get you before the fire will.” 

A few minutes passed. All of a sudden, a humming noise emanated from the east. It was incredibly eerie, but Scotty was sure the Centaurus Boomerang was on its final approach. All three heard it at the same time, and they ran as fast as they could back to the mission control building.  

*

They might have been scared when the Centaurus Boomerang started its landing phase if they hadn’t been so busy monitoring the flight controls in the system terminals. Just Five More Minutes, Mom approached with its lights powered down, and a security drone was almost knocked out of the sky as it buzzed over the launch complex, attempting to relocate to the safety of the security building.

            Sparta was monitoring the onboard computer’s flight calculations.

            “The approach angle is nominal,” he said in an excited voice. “Speed is a little low, but it will make it in.”

            From outside the mission control building came high-pitched whooshing noises that sounded to Scotty as though the Boomerang was struggling to stay in the air.

            “The Boomerang is in hover mode. Directly above launchpad number three.”

            Diego cracked open the door to take a look, but Scotty pushed it until it was fully open and stepped outside. The spacecraft was a silhouette before an expanse of stars and planets, as the stadium lights had not been turned on. Its thrusters were firing normally, and its flight controls were functioning, but as Madison and Jasmine stepped outside, something fell from beneath it and clanked down onto the concrete pad.

            “It’s starting to fall apart!” Scotty shouted and ran to Sparta to study the systems display.

            The landing legs deployed, and the Centaurus Boomerang descended to the launchpad. Then suddenly, a dozen security drones zipped over the mission control building, in formation with their weapons deployed. As soon as Just Five More Minutes, Mom touched down, they opened fire at something in the distance. The defense shields were hit and they immediately emitted a cascade of fire flowers down onto the desert floor, creating the crescendo of the evening.

            Without flinching, Sparta touched an icon on the display and manually powered down the engine and electrical system.

            “I have a heat warning. Best get to the fire extinguishers.”

            “Let’s go,” Scotty said, trying to sound brave.

            “I don’t see a fire,” Diego said, as they ran onto the concrete pad. “It’s probably still hot from reentry. Its shields were down to sixty percent.”

            Just Five More Minutes, Mom was speckled with small holes. They counted twenty small punctures and ten larger tears where a strange type of ammunition had impacted the Centaurus Boomerang’s metal skin.

            “The shields were no match for whatever attacked it,” Diego said.

            “And that something could have followed it here.”

            They left Madison and Jasmine to keep an eye on the security drones to conduct the post flight inspections. While they were walking around with their flashlights, an antenna fell away from underneath the Boomerang and crashed against the concrete. Scotty took it in his hands and pulled it to the first piece of debris that fell down to the launchpad.

            “Be careful touching stuff,” Diego said.

            Several minutes later, Madison and Jasmine were both crossing the launchpad, appearing concerned and a little angry. Both Scotty and Diego spied them and their expressions of fear and wondered what was happening.

            Then Electra emerged from the shadows. She moved her gaze to the researchers, and she was sure to hit Scotty with a benevolent smile.

            “So, he was not lying to me,” she said, sounding way too happy. “This could bring on the end of all your careers with Galactic Research.”

            “Not if I have anything to do with it,” Sparta said, walking to where everyone was standing. He’d seen her arrive in a range vehicle with Aldrich in the driver’s seat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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