INVASTION EVASION
AN: I was happy to see all the updates and new stories this week! Love it! Keep 'em coming. And please don't forget to leave reviews for all the writers. It's the only reward we get for publishing. Thanks bunches!
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Paige tried to call for help, but the words were forced back down her throat by the momentum. She slammed her eyes shut hoping to see the autopilot indicator illuminated when she made herself open them again. Instead she only saw the rocky lunar surface looming closer through the windscreen.
Happy's voice sounded tinny and distorted in her ear, "Hey, waitress! Open up the hatch!"
She strained to push an answer out of her mouth, the vibration making her teeth chatter. "What-t-t hatch?"
"Behind you. On the floor."
Paige rocked her body in the chair so she could look behind her. Sure enough, she spied a metal ring and could see the rectangular outline of a door. A rhythmic thumping was coming from underneath that door. She'd assumed it was caused by unsecured tools or supplies escaping their containers in the low gravity.
Her reach wasn't quite long enough to turn the ring and release the hatch door. Her fingers scrabbled uselessly a few frustrating millimeters away from the goal. She would need to unfasten her shoulder belt.
"Hurry it up!" Happy's warped voice urged.
Paige released the catch on her harness, but clung with all her might to the strap so she wouldn't be tossed around in the tiny cockpit. If she stretched, she could just touch the ring, but couldn't exert enough pressure to turn it.
What the hell. If she didn't do what Happy said, and soon, she was going to crash land anyway.
Paige threw herself out of the chair, trying to pounce on the hatch. Well, it was a good thought anyway. Until she found herself flipped upside-down and pinned to the back wall of the cockpit.
By the tips of her fingers, she clawed her way back and gripped the ring. It took her a couple of tries, but she was eventually able to twist it in the correct direction.
The hatch door snapped open, flinging her back against the wall again. A bubble-headed stowaway unfurled and rose from the opening.
It took her a few moments of serious freaking out to realize it was Walter in a fishbowl space helmet like hers. Paige called his name but he ignored her as he struggled to pull himself toward the pilot's seat. She blinked hard a couple of times, hoping to prove to herself he was more than a hallucination.
Real or imaginary, Walter grabbed the armrest and wrenched himself into the seat, fastening the harness one handed while he held himself in place with the other hand. He yanked a bundle of wires out from under the instrument panel.
All the while, Paige could hear Happy yelling rapid fire technical terms, suggestions and instructions. He didn't reply. His eyes darted around the panel as he disentangled the thick wad of electrical pasta. He shut a length of wire in the metal covering of what looked to be a fuse compartment. He used the little door to strip the coating then twisted the loose copper threads to another wire. The instrument panel flickered once then the lights came on solid before flashing numerous warnings. No Christmas tree had ever been so beautiful. Even with all the alarms blaring.
Walter flipped some switches and punched some buttons. When nothing changed, he slapped both sides of his helmet.
"The autopilot didn't come back on line with the power. Sly! See if you can switch to remote and get that stupid pile of crap the hell down to the surface. Preferably in one piece," Happy ordered.
Sylvester's terrified voice came through next, "I'll have to reboot. My screen is frozen."
"We don't have that much time!" Happy yelped.
Ralph calmly responded, "It's okay. I'm in. I'm taking over control… The rover should be leveling out right about… now."
Sure enough the lander began to decelerate and it steadily came out of the almost vertical nosedive.
Everyone was murmuring compliments and encouragement to the boy as he got the craft under control and executed a near-perfect touchdown. There were many relieved whoops sounding through the comms.
The young genius said nonchalantly, "What's the big deal? It really wasn't much different from playing a video game. I probably coulda done it in my sleep."
"Would you listen to that? He's a total Walter Junior. With cheese," Toby muttered.
No one but Paige seemed to notice the rover was continuing to coast once it set down and a huge crater was yawning about a hundred yards in front of them.
"Walter! Look!" she cried, pointing out the window. "We're still moving!"
"Yes. You'll have to engage the land brakes, dummy! Pull back on the stick," Happy exclaimed.
Walter grabbed the stick and pulled back with all his weight. The rover gradually began to slow as the crater grew ever closer.
It finally came to a halt inches from the lip.
Everyone exhaled.
Paige tore her eyes from the dark pit and loped over. She threw her arms around Walter's shoulders causing their helmets to crack together. "I don't know how you're here. I don't know why you're here. But I'm so glad you're here!"
Walter touched a fat, gloved finger to the front of his helmet in a hushing gesture. "Not now," he mouthed.
Paige frowned, but nodded, "Can someone tell me how far off course I am? How far is the alien base from here?"
"About 8 kilometers, give or take," Sly answered.
"It's just us Americans now. Can you give that to me in miles?" Paige asked.
"That's roughly 5 miles," Florence explained.
"Oh. That won't be too hard of a hike, I guess. Even with heavy equipment, since the gravity is so much less."
Everyone started laughing.
"What? What am I missing?"
"Mom, it's over 200 degrees outside that rover," Ralph said, still snickering, "We were supposed to land it at sunrise a few of our days ago. That would've helped some with of the heat. But thanks to the captain's long delay, it's about mid-morning there. And while your suit and the lack of atmosphere will disperse the heat some, you still don't want to be outside the capsule or the base for long periods."
"What am I supposed to do?"
Walter was gesturing, but she couldn't tell what he was trying to show her.
"The rover is equipped to drive too. Kinda like a big-ass dune buggy." Happy clarified. Paige could hear the rolling of eyes in her tone.
Tired of being dismissed as the ignorant 'normal', Paige was about to bite back when she took a stumbling step backwards. Walter had thrown the vehicle into reverse. She stomped on the hatch door to close it before turning to plop down into the co-pilot/passenger seat. It was a much more comfortable spot for her for many reasons.
Clouds of dark gray dust billowed up all around them, making visibility lousy, as if they were enveloped in a dense, swirling fog bank. It didn't appear to bother Walter. His eyes never left a small screen on the instrument panel. Green lines bisected, waved and curved across it. It would occasionally beep some sort of warning and he would swerve right or left presumably to navigate around obstacles or deep craters. The ride was jarring and bumpy nevertheless. And slow. It seemed like they crept along for hours.
When they finally came to a halt, they watched in silence while the dust gradually dissipated, settling and clinging to every exposed surface of the lander. Walter pointed, and through the dirt-encrusted windshield, Paige could just make out the hazy outline of a sprawling structure. Honeycombed domes were connected by tunnels fanned out in a circular pattern, not unlike a wagon wheel or a spider web.
She shivered picturing herself as the fly about to be caught for a hungry alien spider's dinner. Exactly how long had this base been here observing Earth undetected?
Walter removed his comm and gestured for her to do the same. The thick gloves were cumbersome and awkward, so it took her a few tries to be able to wedge one under the helmet and pluck the device from her ear.
They traded unsure smiles.
"Sorry," he said at the same time she said, "Thank you."
With the electronic communications turned off, it was difficult to hear each other. They had to lip read and use hand signals a lot.
"I want to keep my whereabouts a secret as long as I'm able. It won't be long before the captain figures it out, but for now I want her to think you're down here alone."
That made sense. "Okay. I understand. What do we do now?" Paige asked.
"We figure out a way to send a robot into that structure. Before we can set foot inside, we must test for pathogens or toxic gases, radiation, that sort of thing. Also, it would be helpful to map the inside as much as possible. Let me get Virgyl up and running."
"Virgyl?"
"Yep. Same general design as the device we used at Chernobyl. Virtual Reality Gyroscopic Laborer. Remember?" Walter grinned at her.
"What I remember is Happy naming it 'Randy'." Paige smiled back, teasingly.
"Well, Virgyl is superior in every way. He does much more than simply register radiation levels, so the old moniker doesn't fit. Besides, Randy is melted. The only Scorpion Team Member that's a permanent resident of Chernobyl."
"May he rest in peace." Paige chuckled.
Walter squatted down and started digging through the tool bins in the hatch. She peeked over his shoulder into the opening.
"How in the world did you fit in there?" She asked.
"It was tight, I assure you. Happy concealed me in here this morning when she was loading in the other equipment. Toby created a distraction. He excels at that particular skill. It's a good thing I did." His expression turned grim, "because even after all the checks we did, someone managed to sabotage the autopilot. I-I hate to think… Never mind. It's illogical to dwell on what might've happened." He unearthed a carefully insulated packing crate and began unwrapping robot parts, setting them one by one on the floor.
Paige tapped her helmet against Walter's and patted his arm with one pudgy-gloved hand. "It's not your fault. You and Happy both went over this lander with a fine-toothed comb yesterday. I know you did. How did it happen, do you think? How did someone get to it?"
He began to snap the parts together. She became his scrub tech, handing him tools or components as he indicated. "It had to be someone with very high clearance, that's for sure. And some knowledge of engineering or mechanics. I sent an encrypted message to Cabe via satellite. He's checking a few things out for me."
"Cabe? The same Cabe I know? The one who thinks Instagram is hot cereal? And Google is something you wear to protect your eyes? That Cabe? He's not exactly a tech-savvy hacker."
Walter tried tightening a screw, but his fingers were made too clumsy by the gloves. He stripped them off and tossed them aside. "I get that, believe me. But since we already know the culprit has high clearance, it's too risky to research anything ourselves. We have to assume every keystroke is monitored aboard the shuttle. Besides, Cabe has law enforcement contacts and I mostly have him running background checks. He's just gathering intel on certain other crew members for now."
"Who?"
"A few that Toby noticed were acting shady."
"For instance?" Paige prodded.
Walter glanced around as if looking for more stowaways. "My bet's on…" he mouthed the rest, "Captain Huang." His lip curled in disgust.
"Well, that would make things a whole lot more complicated."
"Agreed. Another reason we can't discuss our suspicions in the open." He snapped the last loose part on the robot and switched it on. He picked up the remote and tested a few functions. Looking pleased, he said, "Virgyl's adequately assembled and ready for the mission. Make sure your suit is airtight before we let down the ramp. Breathing in the regolith is dangerous for humans."
Walter stood and opened the cockpit door into the aft portion of the lander while Paige checked the fastenings on her suit. They made their way past the bunks and entered the airlock leading to the exit ramp, the robot trundling between them like an obedient mechanical dog.
"Regolith?"
"Yes. Moon dust. It is mostly created by mechanical erosion caused by impact, so the particles have sharper edges. It's completely inorganic so there's no oxygen or moisture content like there is in Earth's soil and dust. Regolith is easily electromagnetically charged, so it clings to everything. It's very irritating to the eyes and the respiratory tract and it's even thought to be harmful to the nervous system with long-term exposure."
Walter switched the remote to his right hand and grasped the ramp's release with his other hand.
His bare hand!
"Walter, stop!" Paige warned just as he pulled the lever.
The ramp eased open while he looked at her in askance. "What?" It dropped heavily on the ground and a large eddy of moon dust shot into the airlock, some of it jetting straight up the sleeves of his space suit.
Paige watched in horror as the inside of Walter's helmet turned a smoky gray, obscuring his surprised face.