Chapter No.21
Chapter No.21.
It wasn't long after that conference that the trio was called to headquarters. What George told them was surprising.
"We have collaborating evidence that backs up your claim," he told them. "We've decided that we need a mission to the Moon to determine the danger that we face. I want you three to take two of our top engineers to that Moon crater to determine what must be done to mitigate any danger to Earth."
George gestured to two men. "Harrold Fisher and James Neils are experts on nuclear and fission power as well as quantum physics. Since you have proven your expertise with the spaceplane and have already gone to the alien device location, we want you to pilot the mission. Your two scientists will go along to translate any possible alien inscriptions."
"When do you want us to go?" Carl asked.
"As soon as possible. The spaceplane has been checked out, fueled and is ready to go."
Carl looked at both Margaret and Janet and could see that they were committed to the mission. "Ok, let's get it done."
The sendoff took place the next day. As they waited for clearance for a takeoff, Harold and James seemed on edge.
"How did you become proficient with this spacecraft?" Harold asked. "It's a completely new design."
"It was the only way we had to get to the Lunar space station and then to go to the Moon. I read the manuals and winged it. Fortunately, most of the course corrections are done by the computer."
He didn't know if that impressed them, but it didn't matter. They were committed. He fired up the jet engines and moved the ship down the runway before pulling back on the stick. The spacecraft attained altitude quickly. When he had it to the edge of space, Carl fired the main rocket engines to accelerate into space and on a course to the Moon.
"I have to admit that this is a much smoother way to take off," James commented.
"Yeah," Carl said. "And it makes sense to do it this way. This should have been tried a long time ago."
"I can't imagine what it must have been like to return to Earth and find that all humans had vanished," Harold said. "I would have thought it was a bad dream. I don't understand how cosmic rays could do that."
"You're not alone," Carl said. "It doesn't make sense, but then again, we know little about exotic nuclei cosmic rays. They're mostly small nuclei or protons from far away supernovae."
"You claim you've seen people reappear. How could that have happened?"
"Good question. It had something to do with cosmic rays producing anti neutrinos when they struck water molecules, and the weirdest part is that it only occurred with women."
"How did you reverse the process and make everyone reappear?"
"Janet here was able to translate the alien markings on the device. She determined it was time markings. We moved the timer back and activated the device. It blasted cosmic rays on Earth, and it changed everything back to the timeline we're in now."
"This timeline concept is weird," James said. "Does it mean that there is an infinite number of timelines?"
"I don't know. It could be."
"If I get kicked into another timeline, I hope it's one where I don't owe alimony," Harold said.
They laughed.
The journey to the Moon was boring, but it gave everyone time to relax before they arrived at the crater. Carl managed to put the spaceplane down in almost the same location that he did before. After getting into their spacesuits, the human crew began a bouncing walk to the spike feature in the middle of the crater. However, what they found outside the spike was frightening.
"What the hell is this?" Carl cried. "This looks like some sort of weapon!"
"It's leaking out radiation," Harold said after looking at his handheld scanner. "This is a fusion device and it's fully armed."
"What power level?" Carl asked.
"I would estimate at least a hundred tons," James said. "It could be more."
"If that thing detonates, it will blast large chunks of rocks back to Earth and it could move the Moon out of its orbit depending on its power," Carl said.
"Why would an alien species put something like this here?" Harold asked.
"Maybe, in this timeline, they're angry because of something humans did," Margaret said.
"This device has inscriptions that are similar to the ones we saw on the first visit," Janet said. She pointed at one of the symbols that were etched into the bomb's side. "This word would translate as revenge."
"Revenge for what?" Carl asked.
"It's rather vague. My guess is it's for the destruction of one of their vessels."
"Well, it doesn't matter. We need to get this deactivated."
"I don't think that's possible," Harold said. "It's already armed, and I don't see any way to disarm it."
"It that's the case we need to get it the hell off of the Moon and out into space where its detonation would be much less effective."
"How the hell can we get it off the Moon?" James asked.
"We could hook it to the ship with a cable and drag it off," Carl replied.
"That sounds risky," James reacted.
"It's the only option we have in the short term, and we don't have time to waste," Harold said.
No one argued with his idea.
What they had to do to pull this off wasn't easy. Carl had to go to the spaceplane, fire it up and move it to a position in front of the alien explosive device. He then extended a large cable made from both metallic and polymeric strands flexible and strong enough to pull it, or so he hoped, and then connected it to the alien device, which was surrounded with a metal cage.
Once they were all in the spaceplane, Carl used the positioning rockets to slowly move the spaceplane up off the Moon's surface before he fired the rockets to begin a slow escape from the Moon while towing the alien bomb. Once he had the bomb up off the surface, he increased the rocket power to begin pulling the bomb away from the Moon and back away from Earth.
"Okay, I'm going to release the bomb and then turn the ship so I can put as much distance between it and us as possible. Hang tight!"
Carl released the cable and used breaking rockets to slow up, allowing the bomb to speed off while he used the positioning rockets to turn the spaceplane on an angle to the bomb's trajectory. Once he was sure he was on the right course, he fired the main rockets to go around the Moon on a course back to Earth.
After what seemed like hours but was only minutes, the supposed alien device exploded in a brilliant flash of gamma rays. Despite being in space, the spaceplane experienced a buffeting that shook it around. It seems that photons, especially gamma ray photons, have mass and momentum and can exert pressure against objects. The good news is that it was far enough away to avoid damaging the spaceplane and the Moon.
Everyone on the spaceplane let out a sigh of relief.
Harold was especially amazed. "I had my doubts about your idea of how to prevent that alien device from causing the Moon to crack apart. You definitely know how to fly this spaceplane, which is, in itself, a huge deal. You are now the only person who really knows how to fly it."
"I had no other choice than to learn fast," Carl said.
"I just got a confirmation from Mission Control that they witnessed the explosion," Janet said. "They said that there was no damage on Earth from it. They congratulated us for saving the Moon."
"Yeah," Harold said with a sarcastic tone. "Saving the Moon was more important than us."
Everyone realized that he was right.
The journey home was more relaxed. There wasn't much they could say that would shine light on what had happened. No one was concerned about the why of what happened, except for Carl. He had his reservations about what had just occurred, but he decided to keep it to his self.
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