The Rover
Since the time of the ancient Greeks, there have been speculations of the mystery planet that resides on the opposite side of the Sun. Though it seemed illogical that the Sun would have an opposite side being that it is spherical and that the Earth revolves around it. However, this planet was theorized to have an L3 point which counter balanced Earth's orbit. This planet would never be seen visually, but could be detected by the effects on gravitational pulls of other planets coming near it such as Venus or Mars. Though the Greeks only theorized this planet to exist, it was not until the mid 40s that such a planet was discovered to be effecting the orbits of Venus and Mars. Earth knew there was something out there that resided on the counter side of Earth's orbit, but because of the Sun's position, the celestial body was completely obscured from it. But Earth knew it was there. And so, it was given the name of Antichthon, after the mythological planet that was supposed to be the counter weight of Earth during the cosmology of Ancient Greece. Antichthon means 'Counter-Earth' in Greek, and it was a suitable name for this mystery planet. Though because of the sun obscuring the view, Earth's astronomers could only speculate what the planet looked like. It would be a few more decades before they could send anything out that could get a good picture of the planet. Though that did not keep the imagination of humans from making up various stories about what came from the planet or conspiracy theorists from speculating that the alien sightings seen could be from that planet. One particular conspiracy revolved around the Roswell incident. The myth stated that an alien craft crashed in New Mexico and three aliens were found. Both they and their space craft were taken to Area 51 for study. Two of the aliens died in the crash, the third died a few days later. The United States Government made an official statement that the incident was a weather balloon, but that did not keep people from searching for more alien life. Various probes to Mars and Venus swung around the sun and even saw Antichthon as they headed for their destinations. The images that were brought back showed that the planet looked very much like Earth. It had blue oceans and sky, two moons, and various large land masses and continents. The probes detected that it even had breathable oxygen. But these images were blurry at the most. Galileo going to Jupiter managed to take some quick snapshots of the enigmatic planet. However, all the snapshots and readings these probes managed to get only found that the planet was habitable, but no evidence of intelligent life—or so the average Joe thought. Much of NASA's images that were taken of Antichthon were hidden from the public. Still, in order to placate them, some wide shots of the planet were made. It was a pretty blue ball, just like Earth. It was practically Earth's twin, even more so than Venus was. So, Antichthon was often referred to as Sister Earth.
Though many probes were sent out to the various points of the Solar System, no probe had yet landed on Antichthon. Finally, NASA had decided to send a probe to Antichthon. A team was selected for this job, a mixture of civilian and military scientists gathered together to create this probe. One of the scientists among them was a physicist with a background in computer programming named Major Jane Spencer. She was also a Ph.D, though however when she was in uniform, she was called 'Major' not 'Doctor'. Outside the uniform she was called 'Doctor' and she made that clear to anyone who spoked to her. Jane was a pretty, nicely sculpt woman with golden blonde hair that hung below her shoulders. On the job, she normally wore it in a bun behind her head. She had a husband who was a computer programmer named Ben, who currently worked for a bank, and two children, fraternal twins named Ryan and Sarah. Both kids shared their mother's blonde hair, though Sarah had a shade lighter than her brother. Jane's job soon got in the way of her relationship with her husband and children and they finally left her. Ben signed the divorce papers and took the kids with him. He could not stand the fact that the kids would have to move where ever their mother got an assignment. It was best they would stay in one place. Jane felt it was best as well and gladly gave up custody of her children, only seeing them ever so once and a while during vacation time and holidays.
The probe was called Trojan. The project itself was five years in the making and it took two months for the probe to even reach its destination. The first thing it was programmed to do was to go into an orbit around the planet and then drop a rover onto its surface much like its cousin did for Mars. Then, it would just continue orbiting, taking pictures of the planet's Earth-like surface. From NASA's base in Florida, Jane and the other mixed batch of scientists and military personnel watched as the rover descended down. The transmission was lapsed. They new that the rover had already sat down onto the planet's surface many hours before they even received the transmission. They watched intently as the rover hit and flipped over onto the rocky surface. It bounced a few feet before settling down and the balloons deflating. Finally, the rover was about, set loose from its protective shell and rolled around, commanded by an engineer back at NASA. There was a 6 minute lag between the commands of the operator and the movement of the rover, but it was good enough. Images came back to NASA showing a dry, desert landscape with a few tumble weed brush plants scattered here and there. They new that the rover had landed in a badlands area of the planet. They started taking soil samples of the planet, finding that it was rich in nitrogen and various other nutrients that were needed to even grow plants. It was indeed an Earth-like planet. Antichthon proved without a doubt to be a planet that NASA tended on sending a manned mission just as soon as more money came in later. Already they started to record the video they received from the rover.
"The images look good, Major," said one of the scientists.
"I know," Jane replied. "I'm really happy about this. Robert, see if you can get the rover to climb over that rock."
"Yes, ma'am," Robert replied, typing in the commands for the rover to start moving. A few minutes later, the commands were received and the rover started moving. It reared back on its rear wheels and inched its front wheels upon the rock, using its center wheels to help guide it up. As soon as it was level, the camera glanced around again, zooming in on the land formations that were scattered across the landscape.
"Looks like Utah," said Robert.
"I wouldn't doubt it," said Jane. "The atmosphere is so very similar to ours, I wouldn't doubt that Antichthon would have similar rock formations like Earth does. But look at those plants though. They almost look—prehistoric."
"Different planet, different looking plants, Major," began a voice walking up behind her. Jane swung around to find Major-General Wallace Emerson walking up behind her.
"General, sir," she turned to face him and saluted.
"Major," the general saluted back. "How are we?"
"Going good, sir," she replied. "So far. The rover landed in badlands country."
"Well, there seems to be enough for it to look at," he sighed. "Though I was hoping for a forest or a jungle."
"More biodiversity there," said Robert. "But this is as good a place as any to look around."
They gathered the data that the rover sent back. More and more the general began to suspect that a manned mission could be plausible. Jane crossed her arms and leaned against the table behind her, watching the screen as the rover continued to look around. Then, the a shadow suddenly move towards it, coving part of the rover up.
"What's that?" Jane asked.
"A cloud?" asked Emerson. "Robert, have a look round."
"Yes, sir," he said as he commanded the rover's camera to glance up. The camera began to shake at the sound of vibrations coming towards it. The camera managed to look up and saw this shadowy form standing in front of it.
"What is that?" Emerson asked.
"Local wildlife?" Jane asked.
The shadowy figure appeared to stand on two legs and it even had a tail. Robert commanded the rover to take as many pictures as it could of this strange creature. Just then, the creature raised its foot and slammed down upon the rover, abruptly ending its transmission.
"Holy hell..." breathed Robert. "Uh, sir?"
"Sir," began Jane.
"Did you get a picture of what that was, Robert?" asked Emerson.
"Yes, sir," he said.
The other scientists standing around and personnel at their stations stood up in their seats with slack-jawed expressions.
"General?" Jane asked. "What was it?"
"I don't know," he replied. "But did you see what happened? That thing paused for a moment to look at the rover. Then, it stepped on it. An animal wouldn't do that. We'll need to gather a team together. Biologists mostly."
"Uh, sir?" began Robert. "That thing kinda looked reptilian. It had a thick tail like a reptile would have."
"But it stood on two legs, with its legs underneath its body," said Jane. "What reptile do we know of that does that?"
"Alive today?" Robert asked.
"Alive any day," said Jane.
"Dinosaur?" Robert shrugged.
"Alright, so we'll bring in a paleontologist," Emerson sighed. "It couldn't hurt. I wanna know what that thing was." Then, he turned around and walked away, his weathered face holding a deep somber expression. My God. It's them.
"The press will be wanting to know what happened to the mission," began Jane.
"Tell them we were off on our calculations and the craft burned up in the atmosphere," Emerson replied. "It failed. These images are not to leave this room, understood? What you saw here also doesn't leave this room."
"Yes, sir," Jane nodded. "What about Trojan? The satellite in orbit around Antichthon?"
"We are still getting images from it," said Robert. "Hey, Quincy, see if you can get any feedback from Trojan."
"Sure," Quincy said over his monitor as he pulled up the data from Trojan. "Well, we've got a good look at the surface. Pretty, blue, just like our planet."
Jane glanced up at the large screen in the front of the control room. Then, she saw some sort of bright flash emanating from the side. The camera turned and saw a dark shape and a blue-white light heading straight for the lens. After that, Trojan's images fizzled and then blacked out.
"Uh," Quincy began. "That wasn't supposed to happen."
"Can you get the feed back?" Robert asked.
"No," said Quincy. "It's gone. It's like—Trojan was shot out of the sky."
"That too doesn't leave this room," said Emerson. "Camera malfunctioned due to debris in its orbit. It's not repairable. The mission is lost. We'll put together our scientists to see what that thing was. That is all. Nothing more." With that, he left the control room.
"I guess we chalk this up to Pentagon's File 13," Robert sighed. "Just like the UFO incidents and Area 51."
"Man, Roswell never happened," said Quincy. "It's just some story the UFO nuts made up because they're sad, lonely, and have too much time on their hands."
"What do yo think, Major?" Robert asked.
"After what just happened," she began. "I don't know."
"Major, could I speak with you in my office," began Emerson as he walked with Jane down the hallway.
"Yes, sir," she nodded. Jane followed him down down to his office which was at the far end of the hallway. As she walked in, she took notice of some paper clippings on a bulletin board showing Roswell's incident in 1947. She saw the weather balloon that the military men were holding up to show that it was a weather balloon crash and not some space craft from another planet. Emerson motioned for her to sit down as he sat down as well. He glanced behind him and placed his hand on a black filing cabinet with a numerical bad on it. Jane suspected that this was a filing cabinet that he kept a lot of his secret documents in. Then, he pressed in the code and the cabinet opened up. Feeling around for the file he wanted, he shuffled through the vanilla folders until he reached one and pulled it out. It had a red stamp on it that read 'Top Secret' and a yellow tape seal. With one snap of his finger, he broke the seal and glanced back up at Jane. Emerson still held that somber expression.
"This is not to leave this office," he began.
"Yes, sir," she nodded.
"You know of the Roswell incident?" Emerson asked.
"Yes, sir," she said. "It was a weather balloon that crashed."
"Well, that's what the government wants you to believe," he stated flatly. "But what do you really believe?"
"Maybe they weren't all that off about UFOs, sir?" Jane asked.
Emerson nodded and opened the folder. He pulled out a black and white photograph of a large, metallic ship leaning on its side. It was shaped somewhat saucer-like, but a bit more advanced looking than anything any 50s science fiction movie of that time could pull out. The front end was smashed. The ship was parked at an Air Force base. Jane suspected that was Dreamland, also known as Area 51.
"That's the UFO," said Emerson. "And these are the aliens who drove it."
He pulled out another photo and handed it to Jane. It was a picture of the three aliens that operated the craft. There were three aliens. They looked reptilian at first to Jane, but upon closer inspection, they were actually saurian. One of the creatures had a symbol on its chest, some sort of dragon-like creature coiling up in the shape of a letter 'D'.
"Sir?" she asked.
"Dinosaurs," said Emerson. "Intelligent, anthropomorphic dinosaurs—from another planet. I had a paleontologist look at these and also swear to secrecy. This one, he says, is an Edmontosaur, this one over here is a Mosasaur, and over here, this one is an Albertosaur, a close relative to the Tyrannosaurus Rex."
"With all due respect, sir," began Jane. "That sounds like some horrible B-movie or a plot for some tripped-out 80s cartoon."
"I know," he sighed. "But they are real."
"Where are they from?" she asked.
"Where do you think, Major?" Emerson asked.
"Antichthon?" Jane asked.
Antichthon, the Counter-Earth," Emerson nodded. "In more ways than one. It's like our opposite. While mammals are the dominant species here, it seems that dinosaurs are the dominant species there. Whatever it was that killed the dinosaurs here didn't happen there."
"Then, that creature that stepped on the rover was..." began Jane.
"A dinosaur," Emerson nodded. "Bringing in a trustworthy paleontologist would be a good idea. We can identify what that thing was with his help."
"Why are you showing me this, sir?" she asked.
"Because," he replied. "It was on a need to know basis, and for you to continue your work, you need to know."
"I understand, sir," she nodded.
"We studied the craft," began Emerson. "Found out that it was actually a scouting space craft from Antichthon. They were just observing us, apparently. The space ship didn't have any heavy weapons, just a few cannons here to of course defend itself in case it was attacked. Which is what happened. We found carbon scoring from some sort of plasma weapon that was fired at its aft section. Something shot that craft down. We don't know what it was."
"Why was it observing us?" asked Jane.
"Same reason why we sent a probe to their world," said Emerson. "They're curious about us. It's possible that they've visited Earth a few times before, observing from afar, never really landing. They probably don't want to upset whatever balance that's on our planet, or cause any type of scare among us."
"So, why was this ship shot down?" Jane asked.
"I don't know," replied Emerson. "But before the Albertosaur died, he whispered something to one of the personnel who took him to the base. He said 'Tyrannos'. I have no idea what that meant. It's probably their language for 'enemy' or something. It's all in the file. These guys were obviously not military themselves. Just a civilian science ship. But from their ship's technology is how we were able to augment and boost our own."
"Sir?" Jane asked.
"Everything, from stealth bombers and tanks right down to PDAs, cell phones, wrist watches, iPods, computers," Emerson said. "All came from that ship's technology. We can't reproduce their propulsion system to make their ships go, but their computer hardware, we were able to reproduce. That ship was built for stealth flight, keeping themselves out of our sight so that they could observe us without disturbing us." He glanced down at the images. "If they wanted to take over our planet, they would have already done so. So far, they've just left us alone."
"Do they pose a threat?" Jane asked.
"With their type of technology?" Emerson began. "It's no doubt. But I as I stated, if they wanted to conquer us, they would have already done so. They probably just want to leave us be. And it's a good idea that we would do the same."
"Yes, sir," she nodded.
"Major," he began as he put up the photos and the file back into the cabinet. "Go home for tonight. Get some rest. Have a day off tomorrow to get you mentally prepared for the meeting the next day. I'm bringing in every specialist I can think of and I want you prepared for it."
"Yes, sir," she nodded.
"Remember, not a word about this," Emerson said as Jane got up.
"Yes, sir," she nodded again.
"Dismissed," he said.