Chapter 29: Derelict

The Martian Explorer I came up alongside the derelict ship. The computer made certain that they did not collide with any debris along the way.

"We are stopped relative to the other ship," Darren remarked.

"Good," Anton replied. "Let's raise the viewscreens and open the port side windows. That will let us see this thing with our own eyes. Also, I am activating the illumination system. The lights can be turned outward so we can see what is here."

It took a moment to open the window coverings so that Darren and Anton could view the wreck with their own eyes and not through a camera. The scene was both fascinating and disturbing. The men stood there for perhaps 5 minutes just looking at it.

"The back half of the ship is where the heavy damage is located. Half of the warp ring is gone. Whole decks are exposed. You can even see through it in one spot. There are bodies everywhere Anton! Some look like they are wearing normal clothing. Some are partially dressed in spacesuits, and others are fully suited!"

"I feel sorry for the ones in full spacesuits," Anton stated quietly.

"Why?" Darren asked.

Anton looked at him and said, "Because they would have died most slowly. In their climate controlled, pressurized suits they would have had plenty of time to contemplate the fact that they would run out of power and air and then slowly freeze or suffocate. There was no one to rescue them. For hours – maybe longer – they simply floated and waited for death."

"You know that is why I like you, Anton. You always are so optimistic and look on the bright side of things."

Anton snorted, "But it is the truth."

"I know," Darren replied.

Anton cleared his throat, "We need to get as many pictures as we can. We have about 30 minutes to spend here and record this scene. Clearly we have no equipment to go out there, much less attempt to dock and board that ship. We will take as many pictures as we can in the time we have and then leave."

"Very well," said Darren. 'We do not want to be off-schedule. They will start to worry about us back on Mars. Now that we know this is here perhaps we can return and really investigate this situation.

"We will certainly need much more equipment, Darren."

Over the next 20 minutes the men used the ship's recording systems and lights to obtain images of the wreck. Anton manipulated the external lights and Darren managed the attitude of the ship to create shadows and angles to obtain the best possible and most useful images.

Darren remarked, "I think the key thing we need to understand is whether this damage originated internally or externally."

"You are correct my friend. That may be hard to determine given our resources here. External damage could lead to a cascading effect that would also cause damage from the inside. I think the larger question is whether or not this was an accident, malfunction," Anton paused a moment and looked at the wreck before intoning, "or sabotage."

"You are certainly always the optimist, Anton!"

"All part of being Russian. Now let's finish this and get going. I have not seen so many corpses since the war back on Earth. This is bringing back memories that I would just as soon forget."

"Understood. Let's finish here and head for Saturn."

It took about 5 minutes to finish and reset the ships system to continue their flight. In just 8 minutes they were headed for Saturn at twice the speed of light.

29.2

Daria and Tom sat in the dining room sipping coffee. In this case it was real coffee. The coffee trees had just borne their first crop and the chefs had dried and roasted the beans. The beans were a robust Columbian variety, which had been genetically modified to thrive under the growing conditions on Mars. Also, the trees would remain short – more like bushes, really – in order to make picking the beans easy.

Tom remarked to Daria, "I have truly missed this. There is nothing like a good brewed cup of coffee!"

Daria smiled and raised her cup, "Coffee. Coffee for everyone!"

Tom chuckled, "Absolutely. Now we will have a constant supply grown right here."

Daria commented, "Poor Anton and Darren are missing the first pour!"

"I think becoming the first humans to travel faster than light is not a bad trade-off for missing out on a cup of coffee. They can have coffee to celebrate their return!"

With a half-smile Daria deadpanned, "I don't know, this coffee is pretty good. Of course maybe I just don't remember what it should taste like."

"Does it taste like what Brittany used to make in the office?"

Daria outright laughed at that one. Then she deadpanned, "No, dear, it does not. I do remember what Brittany's coffee tasted like. It pretty much tasted like varnish remover. One sip of that stuff and you could teach class all day, but never get the taste out of your mouth. It was especially bad if it sat on the burner for 3 or 4 hours. You know, to get nice and concentrated." Looking over the edge of her cup she added, "Now don't bring back unpleasant memories. I want to enjoy my coffee."

Tom changed the subject again, "So, if this test flight works out, then the next ship we build could bring the entire trip to Earth from loading the ship to docking at the orbiting spaceport down to about 30 minutes!"

Daria responded once again in her deadpan voice, "Fine by me. The MTV is really boring. So much of the time what you are watching is just inane. Your job is to provide redundancy to what the computer and artificial intelligence systems are doing multiple times per second. Truly it is 'make work' just to force people not to get into fights. Besides it is cramped. I would much prefer a craft that was more like an airplane. Then we could just take a seat and get up when we arrive."

Waiving his hand in the air Tom mused, "We should paint the ships red, blue and yellow – the colors of the Martian Republic! We also need a good name for our planetary space line. Something better than 'Martian Spacelines' or something like that."

"I can see the headline: Accountant becomes marketer!" Daria said as she winked at Tom. "Seriously, I will suggest to Mia that we have a contest to create a name and livery. You have a good idea."

"We will need to select carefully, though,' Tom added. "Remember when we were in college there was a major airline that spent millions on a new livery and the planes wound up looking like aluminum cans of Coca-Cola?"

Daria corrected Tom saying, "Actually it wasn't cans of regular Coca-Cola. Their planes looked like giant cans of Diet Coke!"

"That's right!"

Daria's phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at it. There was a message from Mia saying that Darren and Anton were on final approach and would land in about 10 minutes. Both she and Tom received the message. They finished the last drops of their coffee and then headed out.

29.3

Daria watched out of an old habitat window as the Martian Explorer I approached the landing pad. She could see Tom's rover parked about a hundred meters (330 ft.) away from the pad. The anti-gravity system made this descent different than any she had ever seen before. As the craft came down it visibly slowed. The rockets didn't fire until it was about 30 meters (99 ft) above the surface. Even then the rockets were for maneuvering onto the pad rather than to slow the craft. The technology that Marcipor had provided was truly amazing.

At about 10 meters above the pad the Explorer hovered and then extended its landing legs. It was centered on the pad and the rockets were off. The whole thing just seemed to settle gently down. It reminded Daria of a feather floating to the ground.

She continued watching as Tom drove over and opened the airlock. He stepped out in his surface suit to connect the communications cable to the craft, since they were maintaining radio silence. Even now their place on Mars was pointed away from the Earth. Once the cable was connected Daria could hear the chatter in her headset.

Daria heard Darren saying,"Secured from anti-gravity." Then Anton replied "Check." this was followed by other checklist items, such as making certain the main power was shut down. Finally, they checked each other's surface suits, came through the airlock, and down the stairs in the forward port landing leg.

Tom walked up and shook the hand of each man, "Welcome home!" he intoned.

"Thanks Tom," Darren replied. "It was an amazing trip. We want to get back to the habitat and debrief with Mia as quickly as possible. We are exhausted and would like to get some food and sleep!"

Anton added, "We are not kids of 40 anymore! When you send old men on trips like this we like our food and sleep!"

Tom nodded and laughed as he escorted the men to the rover. Once they cycled through the airlock and everyone was seated Tom drove them back to the main habitat vehicle entrance. There they cycled through the vehicle airlock, parked, and finally descended to the ground. Daria and Mia stepped into the vehicle area just as the men were removing their helmets.

Mia walked up to Darren and Anton, "Welcome back and congratulations on a successful mission!"

"Thank you," Darren replied.

Anton got close to Mia and said quietly, "We need to talk right now. We have important things to report. It might be useful to have Daria and Tom there as well."

"Certainly," Mia replied. "But first I want Daria to get a picture of us together." As she stood with the men and smiled, Mia was curious not only what they had to report so urgently, but why Anton would ask for Tom and Daria. Certainly they all got along well together, but knowing Anton that was not the reason for his request.

The men went off to change out of their surface suits while Mia and Daria headed for Mia's conference room. Mia stated to Daria, "Something is up. I am dying to know what they saw out there. I have a feeling it isn't good. Anton seems very insistent about reporting. He specifically asked for you and Tom at the debrief. That is just plain strange. When something isn't quite right he will usually insist on talking to me in private."

Daria nodded. "Let's not borrow trouble. We need to hear what he and Darren have to say."

Arriving at the conference room Mia started a pot of coffee – a great way to welcome back the explorers, especially since they had missed the debut of Martian coffee! She had also had the presence of mind to order two dozen cookies from the kitchen. 'Men like their cookies,' she thought to herself. Daria set up the recording systems. Just-in-case she made certain that things were set for recording a top-secret session.

29.4

Everyone made themselves comfortable at the conference table. The chairs were padded and adjustable. The room was well designed for long sessions. Each member of the group poured themselves a mug of coffee and grabbed a couple of cookies. Darren and Anton took four each. Clearly they were hungry after their journey.

"So tell us about your trip," Mia stated. "You were a half hour late returning."

Darren stood up, dimmed the lights and placed a data stick in the screen. "As the ship's commander," he began. "I declare that this briefing to be classified 'top-secret' and that no one may discuss it outside of this room with anyone other than the base commander." His first slide simple had the words 'Top Secret' on it.

Mia looked a moment at Darren and then stated, "I consider your statement rather presumptuous and your claim to the status of 'ship's commander' rather thin. However, since I do know you and have known you for the past three years, I will allow your statement. Please note that everyone in this room has top-secret clearance. Please begin."

Darren began very formally. Clearly he was not comfortable with what he was about to say. "Commander, fellow officers, and senior staff members. At T+2 hours and 45 minutes into our test flight we encountered an alien spacecraft." Darren put a picture of the craft on the screen. "The similarity in configuration to our craft cannot be ignored. We approached the craft and parked next to it." The slide was changed to show a much closer view. "From this angle you can see the debris field and bodies floating in space."

Mia's eyes got quite wide, "What happened?" She asked. Admittedly it was really a rhetorical question.

Anton spoke up saying, "We do not know. We zoomed in." The picture zoomed in closer to the wreckage. "You can see the debris field and the bodies just floating in space."

It was true. They could see those things. Darren went to the next slide, which zoomed in further. It showed machinery parts mixed with electronics and of course bodies, Some bodies were in suits others nearly naked.

"Wow," came out of Daria's mouth. She hardly realized it.

Darren went on, "There is also writing on the side. If we can get a translation that might would help. Although I will admit it may just be the name of the ship."

Anton said, "We need to mount a mission back to this ship. Soon."

Mia responded immediately, "I agree."

Tom turned to Anton and asked, "Anton, I understand why you needed Mia at this meeting as commander and Daria as official recorder. However, I am a bit curious why you asked for me. I drive rovers and manage resources. I am certainly not an engineer or materials scientist, which is the type of person you need to analyze the type of information you presented."

Looking around the room Anton said, "Because I can trust your objectivity, Tom. And I trust your discretion. You are analytical and you will approach things with a sense of needing balance. That is how you think as an accountant. Your perspective is different than any of us who have a military background or even your dear wife the distinguished English professor. As our librarian and archivist, she has a broad perspective on this colony and everything that has happened here unlike anyone else, with the possible exception of the base commander."

Tom replied, "Thank you for the compliments, Anton. I hope that we can continue to live up to your expectations!"

"I have no doubts," Anton responded.

Mia spoke up at this point, "OK, here is what I want to happen. First, we are going to service the Explorer and get it ready for this mission. We should be able to do that in a week. Second, I want the crew to be Anton, Darren, Daria, Tom, Shamus, and Nelson. Third, we have several full spacesuits, so I want you to go over to that ship and explore it. We will also send along materials to form a habitable zone within it if needed."

Anton turned to Mia and stated, "Adding Nelson brings another person into the group that knows details about the aliens. The more people that know the information the less secure the information. Is this wise?"

Mia responded, "We need his expertise. Before coming here he was the best structural engineer in South Africa with a strong international reputation. He has investigated structural failures all over the world. He was one of the first experts on the scene after the 2030 quake in Italy. His credentials in forensic analysis are impeccable. Like the rest of us he came here as much for the adventure as for the work."

"Very well," Anton said.

Daria asked, "What about Marcipor? Should we take him with us?"

"No," Mia stated. "I still do not fully trust our helpful robot. His stated reasons and mission seem simple and straightforward. However, having no point of reference I am willing to trust him only so far. What if it was the robots onboard that intentionally wrecked this ship? Are the aliens truly looking for us to go visit or do they just need a new food source? There is a great deal we still do not know. Thus, I will trust and use Marcipor to a point. But, I am not about to give him unfettered access to this colony and our resources. That said, I will be having a talk with him."

Everyone nodded. A decision had been made. In about a week they would mount a mission to the derelict ship and see what they could find."

29.5

"Hello Mia," Marcipor said in his soft voice. "How are you?"

Mia answered, "Just fine, Marcipor. However, I have been quite busy lately. It seems we have found one of your ships."

In even tones Marcipor replied, "A ship? Where did you find a ship? All of the ships departed about a thousand earth years ago."

"This one is in space," Mia state. "It is caught in orbit around Uranus and was destroyed by some event."

"I have no recollection of a ship being destroyed. What data can you give me?"

Mia noted to herself the response from Marcipor. He said he had 'no recollection.' Did this mean he did not know? Did it mean he knew but did not immediately recall it? Was he hiding something? Humans when they want to hide past behavior or events often would claim to 'not remember' something. This was a way of avoiding purgery in court. This was the type of thing which left Mia uneasy.

"I can show you some pictures that were taken by Explorer I." She fed the pictures – carefully chosen – directly into Marcipor's memory.

"Interesting," Marcipor responded. "This was the ship 'Endurance.' I think that is the best translation. It was the last one to leave Mars. It left about a month after the others. I am somewhat surprised that a rescue expedition was not sent to recover it and any remaining crew. I would have expected that."

29.6

Darren completed the pre-flight checks and Anton assisted. Explorer I had been serviced and rapidly refitted. The week had gone very quickly. In addition to the work on their craft, they had to select their gear, do some minimal training, and get Nelson up to speed on what he needed to know for the mission. Preparing Nelson was probably the most time consuming part. Finally, it appeared that everything was ready to go.

Daria considered her surroundings. This seat would be her home for the next three days. It was at least comfortable for now. She would ride to the destination in it. She would carry out any onboard work in it. She would eat her meals sitting there. Since the seats were designed to lay flat, she would even sleep in it. Tom was across the aisle in an identical cubicle. In some ways it reminded her of some of the long haul flights they had taken in business class 30 years ago. What were the big differences? Well, no flight attendant bringing unlimited beer, wine, and spirits for one. Also, there was no window, unless the pilot opened the coverings. And, of course, there was the matter of riding in a craft which used advanced alien technology which they could build, but not fully understand. Maybe they should serve at least a couple of straight shots of Martian Moonshine on this flight!

Darren announced, "Now we are just waiting for the colony to pass out of sight of Earth. Then we can launch. It should be in about 5 minutes. Make sure you are locked into launch position."

When the craft started down the launch rail there was little sense of acceleration. Darren had set the inertial dampers to negate most, but not all, of the feeling. It was a matter of a very few minutes and they were in a stable orbit around Mars. When the Explorer was once again hidden from Earth Darren initiated the warp drive and they were headed to Uranus at over twice the speed of light.

It occurred to Daria as they were headed to Uranus that she was now the first human woman to travel faster than light! 'Wow,' she thought to herself. 'I am now a footnote in the history books. How thrilling.'