Lost Sols 1: Ancient Treasure (9 page)

The emptiness of space was interrupted by a sphere on the horizon. The Constellation was closing in on Saturn and her moons. The ship was as black as space itself. The crew had done excellent work camouflaging the ship with the black paint. “Watch for new satellites we haven’t seen before. If my guess is right, surveillance will have been increased as much as possible.” Captain Basso said. The Constellation had been outfitted with a carbon dioxide laser near the tether before leaving Earth. Captain Basso never imagined it would be needed. With recent developments he was damn glad to have it. Throughout his career he never had to worry about any enemies on his trips to Saturn and Mars. He wasn’t comfortable with the new change and didn’t like being hunted.

It was time for the navigator to set a more specific course, but not for Rhea. Captain Basso had another moon in mind. “Sarah set a course for Dione.” Captain Basso said. “Don’t you mean Rhea sir?” she replied. “No, we will be going to Dione for the time being.
It is orbiting close to Rhea at the moment.” The Captain was going to avoid being predictable and planned on a detailed observation of Rhea before approaching. His other option was Titan but the ship would definitely be seen there by the orbiting space station and the ships which were always coming and going. For now the Constellation would hide behind Dione and observe Rhea. “Patrick, alter course when you have the data from Sarah.” he told the pilot.

With the ship tucked in behind Dione,
the Captain ordered full surveillance on Rhea. It didn’t take long to find the lone orbiting satellite. “Do you think we’ve been spotted?” Vincent asked. “We’ve been careful to stay as hidden as possible. It’s a good guess we haven’t been spotted yet.” The Captain said and ordered the navigator to remain behind Dione. “Should we use the laser Captain?” Julia asked. “We’re going to do this the old fashioned way. I doubt if the satellite has any offensive capability. We’ll throw a rock at it. If we’re lucky the satellite will record it’s own destruction. It’s in our best interest if the government believes the satellite was destroyed naturally.”

The C
aptain was as good as his word. The Constellation had previously been in the asteroid belt on multiple occasions. He had some small asteroids in storage. It was a simple matter of attaching a small asteroid to a probe, and targeting the satellite. Once it was locked on target and had sufficient speed, the probe disengaged and returned to the ship. It was only a matter of time. “All of our technology and advancements and we throw a rock at a satellite.” Dalton said. “It was a smart move. The destruction will appear as if it was caused by a small asteroid. They don’t track small ones like this one.” Vincent replied as the small asteroid crashed into the satellite spreading debris everywhere.

The Constellation remained out of sight behind Dione for two more days. No further activity or satellites were found and
the Captain issued instructions to proceed to Rhea. “Captain, we will be arriving in twenty minutes. Are we going into orbit or are we going to land?” Sarah asked. Captain Basso hadn’t seen anything unusual or out of place. “We will be landing. Put us within two hundred yards of the entrance we saw on the video. Stay sharp and keep an eye out. The exploration team will consist of Vincent, Dalton, Monique, Sarah and I. Patrick will be in command in my absence and Isabella will take over piloting duties if necessary. For those of you in the exploration party get your suits on. We leave in one hour.”

The Constellation landed without incident. The exploration party left the ship and travelled in the direction of the opening seen on the video, with their automated cargo container Big Joe trailing behind. Walking was difficult and awkward in the low gravity of the moon. Each member of the party had a communication link with each other as well as the Constellation.

“The video wasn’t very detailed. We saw a large opening which is now closed. Do we have any idea how we’re going to get inside?” Captain Basso asked. “The only thing we can do is look for anything artificial. Keep your eyes out for anything unusual which might lead to the hanger.” Vincent replied.

Isabella was bored on the Constellation. Her duties as back up pilot consisted of waiting for something to happen.
In her youth she had been fascinated with space and longed for more excitement then she could find on Earth. She was quite intelligent and had started working at Leviathan only six months ago. She was the youngest member of any crew in space. She didn’t like being around large groups of people and the peace in space suited her just fine. Looking out the window the surface of Rhea was something to behold. It was barren, cold, and peaceful. She noticed something which didn’t look quite right. There was a slight discoloration on the surface. It was about fifty yards away. The discoloration was twenty yards long and out of place. She called Patrick over to look and he agreed it didn’t look natural. Isabella was given the go ahead from Patrick to leave the ship and check it out.

The exploration party entered the general area where the hanger entrance had been seen on the video.
Dalton located the seam to a door on the surface and notified the rest of the team. “I’m not seeing a hatch or anything simple which might lead us inside. Maybe we can find something to pry this door up.” Dalton said. “There are five of us and very little gravity on this moon. Let’s make this easy and try and lift it.” Captain Basso said. “This door must weigh thousands of pounds. It seems like a pointless exercise to me.” Monique said. “Well today is the day you are a superhero. You can lift what would be thousands of pounds on earth in this gravity. Everybody get a grip and lift on three. Sarah, grab that chunk of ice and wedge it in the doorway if we are able to lift it. One, two, three lift!” Captain Basso said. Surprisingly the door rose three feet off the ground and Sarah wedged the ice into place keeping the door from closing.

Isabella left the
ship and traveled in the direction of the discoloration. As she got closer it was obvious something artificial was covering part of the surface. It looked like a simple tarp had been painted roughly the same color as the surface of the moon. She lifted the tarp and jumped back. Under the tarp was an alien interceptor just like the one on the video. This one had obvious damage. The craft had either crashed or was dumped in this location. Taking a closer look at the tarp she found it had been stamped. “Property of the Air Force.” She began taking pictures and inspecting the wreckage.

The exploration party entered the hanger and lit it up with their headlamps.
The hanger was massive. It took up a large portion of the interior of the entire moon. Their light was reflected by three alien ships which had been abandoned. Each ship was damaged except one. The two damaged ships were mostly shells and most of the interior components were missing. The lone exception was a large transport tucked into the back corner of the massive hanger. The design was beautiful. Each side of the craft had a set of double wings. A massive engine was located in the back of the ship. Ports could be seen on all sides of the ship which appeared to be maneuvering thrusters. Captain Basso spent an hour trying to access the transport without success. Each ship was scrutinized while Monique took photos of the ships and the rest of the hanger. Every member of the party tried to enter the undamaged ship without success. The interior of the ship could be seen, but they were unable to access the transport. “We’ll need to analyze the pictures when we get back. There has to be a way to get inside.” Captain Basso said.

A corridor was discovered in the back of the hanger. It led to a cavernous chamber. One wall in the chamber contained more hieroglyphs.
Dalton took detailed pictures of the wall to review later. The chamber also had parts of alien crafts strewn on the floor. “We need to bring as much of this back to the ship as possible. Now we know what we’re dealing with, let’s go back to the ship and review what we’ve found.” Everyone began picking up as much as they could carry and headed for the exit.

As the
team began to make their way out of the hanger, the undamaged transport silently powered up and rose from the surface. As the transport hovered, the hanger door began to open quickly. “What the hell is going on?” Dalton asked. “I don’t know but the door is opening. Did we trigger it, or do you think a ship is coming in?” Monique asked. Behind them the ship began to move silently toward the door. Monique noticed it first. “Everyone down!” she shouted. All of them got down as quickly as possible. The Captain wasn’t quick enough. Picking up speed, the ship hit the Captain on the way out the door. “Son of a bitch!” Vincent shouted. He rushed over to check for injuries. His suit was not torn, but he was unconscious. He called Patrick on the Constellation. “Captain Basso has been injured, he will need medical attention. An alien ship just left the hanger. See if you can track it. Keep us updated on the vital signs of the Captain.
We’ll be there in about five minutes.” he said.

Vincent,
Dalton, and Monique carried their injured Captain. “You’d better get him back here quick. His heart rate and blood pressure are dropping.” Patrick reported. As the party boarded the ship the Captain flat lined. Julia had Monique cut the suit off the Captain. “Help me get him into the medical scanner.” The scanner diagnosed the injuries. “He has a myocardial contusion, a broken rib, and a collapsed lung.” Julia said. She used the defibrillator on the Captain and his heart started to beat again. “Thank God, he’s coming back.” Julia said. Immediately his heart stopped beating again. Julia continued with the defibrillator without success for the next five minutes. Julia began crying. “He’s dead. His heart was damaged by the impact. There’s nothing else I could have done. I’m not a surgeon and the Constellation isn’t designed for major operations. I’m sorry.” she said.

Isabella continued her inspection of the alien craft. The entire top had been obliterated and was missing. The inside had been burned beyond recognition, and was a melted twisted mess. She was
receiving a message. “Get back to the ship now, I don’t have time to explain.” Patrick said. Wondering what was so urgent, she returned to the ship.

When Isabella arrived back on board she was told the Captain was dead. “Oh my God! What happened?” she asked.
Dalton told her what took place as the team left the hanger. “We lost a good man and a hell of a leader today. Let’s meet in an hour in the command center. We should all use the time to grieve and compose ourselves.” Vincent said. Patrick and Sarah remained in the command center while the rest of the crew went to their quarters and mourned for their Captain.

An hour later the crew assembled in the command center. “The alien ship was unmanned. We have to assume it was automated and we triggered a mechanism to cause it to leave. Would you agree?” asked
Dalton. “To be honest I don’t know what the hell was going on, everything happened so fast.” Monique said. “Patrick were you able to track the alien ship?” Vincent asked. “Yes, for about fifteen seconds. I believe we should be able to figure out the trajectory.” Patrick replied. Isabella shared her discovery of the interceptor she found on the surface. “Well that explains all the blurry NASA photos. Our government didn’t want anyone to really know what was down here. I’m sure the military has conducted similar operations throughout the solar system. There are probably other ships which have been camouflaged in the same way. It’s a good bet our government hasn’t been able to make it to the hanger yet. The Roswell video was only viewed for the first time a few months ago. We didn’t find any evidence other humans had been inside.” Vincent said.

“I’ve been thinking about our mission and how dangerous it’s become. When we get to Titan, I think it’s best if
Dalton, Monique and I continue while the rest of you remain on Titan to be picked up. There’s no reason to endanger more people unnecessarily. We should return to the hanger as quickly as possible and retrieve whatever we can. After we’re done, we’ll get to Titan quickly. Does anyone have anything they would like to say?” Vincent asked. “I think after what’s happened it’s a good idea to take a step back and consider all our options.” Sarah said.

“What should we do with
the body of the Captain?” Dominic asked. “I’ve been thinking about that. We know we’re in danger and the government has at least one ship looking for us. We might be able to buy ourselves a little time. We need to singe an EVA suit, put the Captain inside, and then leave him in the cockpit of the interceptor on the surface. We can try and make our enemy believe we have control and access to an interceptor or two.” he said. “It doesn’t seem right to just leave him out there.” Sarah said. “I think the Captain would agree with me. It’s the right thing to do tactically. Those sons of bitches are trying to kill us. We need to do anything we can to slow them down.” Vincent said.

“I’m assuming command of the ship from this point forward. I know you were next in command Patrick but we will be moving on without you and I need to learn how to command this vessel. After we drop you at Titan, we’ll be on our own anyway. It’s important to recover what we can from the hanger. The Constellation will leave once we’re back on board. The same team will return to the hanger immediately. Prepare the ship for departure.
As soon as we return, we will go into orbit and recover some of the tratium.” Vincent said.

Returning to the hanger the exploration team took a better look at the alien ship parts. Nothing looked remotely familiar. “That piece of equipment looks similar to the data recorder which contained the battle footage.” Monique said. “Make sure we take it. There appear to be duplicates of some parts. Let’s make sure we get one of each. If anyone sees anything else resembling a data recorder make sure you get it. Knowledge is power, and right now we don’t know much. No duplicates of other parts. We can only bring so much back to the Constellation and we need to leave as soon as possible.” Vincent said. Monique found a container with approximately two dozen round spheres. The spheres looked like white billiard balls. “What about these? Should I take the whole container? Whatever they are they don’t take up much room.” she asked. “Yeah take them all, we have space for the container.” Vincent said. With gravity almost non-existent the exploration party was able to load the parts on Big Joe quickly. The team returned to the ship with Big Joe following behind. Small cameras were placed around the hanger and on the alien cr
aft which held the body of the Captain. Should anyone come poking around in the near future the crew of the Constellation would know about it. Vincent would place a small satellite in orbit to relay any activity the cameras recorded on the surface.