Alpha 1472 (6 page)

Captain Daniels acknowledged all of them and turned the briefing over to Marius Hatch.

“What I am proposing now will ultimately decide the type of landing we will be affecting. I propose that once in orbit we will complete three circuits around the globe, eventually, using the flight path that I have recommended, we will have successfully quadrated the sphere giving us a complete panoramic view of the terrain. Once we have evaluated the potential for landing sites, we will then be in a position to choose the method by which we will touch down. The captain then addressed everyone,

“Does anyone have any objections to any of the reports made, or do any of you have anything to add”

No one spoke,

“O.k. then, Mr Hatch, please make ready your orbital path, and Mr Watkins, prepare to fire a series of probes through the atmosphere as we make our passes. As we can plainly see there does not appear to be any form of satellites in or above the outer atmosphere and as yet the only radio emissions detected are all of a natural occurrence. Well so far it seems that we shouldn’t have any problems here so let’s get to it”

As they neared the planet, everyone was carrying out their duties in clockwork, precise fashion. Mary had fed into the computer the flight path given to her by Marius Hatch and was preparing to take them into their first orbit when she heard J.D.’s voice.

“Oh oh Captain, we seem to have a little problem”

“Go ahead J.D.” He said. “Well, I’m not sure but the surveillance and infrared cameras have detected signs of civilisation down there and it seems to be….”

He pressed a few buttons on his console to confirm what he had found,

“....quite widespread and fairly advanced” Mathew Watkins interrupted.

“Yes sir I can also confirm that”

Captain Daniels turned to his co-pilot and instructed him to send a message back to ground control to inform them of their findings. Having done that, he called another conference. Everyone once again turned to face the centre.

“Unfortunately we now have a dilemma on our hands. Because we now have a first contact situation on our hands with a race that has, we assume, not yet even mastered basic communication or transmission skills, our entire mission must take on a radically new dimension. Because we believe in a policy of non interference, it is imperative that we are not visually detected during the landing or take off. I can show you the options that are now open to us. This is option one. We approach from a high orbit and take a direct descent path to the surface, however, if we take this option, to minimise detection we would have to travel at approximately twice the normal approach speed and would need three times the landing strip length that we would normally require. Moreover, upon landing we would have to find a way to camouflage the craft as to avoid its discovery. Because of the time factor involved this would obviously be a last choice situation.”

Hatch fidgeted in his seat before outlining the second option.

“Option two is equally as risky. I am now authorized to release a part of your briefing programme that you have not yet seen. Please pay particular attention to the simulation that you are now about to watch. I will talk you through it. This is a touchdown method that, up until yet, has not been tried. Captain Daniels and I have simulated this type of landing on numerous occasions, but this will be the first actual attempt. Firstly it will require our navigator to select a suitable site. The parameters for this site are held within her document brief. Having decided upon the ideal place we will then place 1472 into high geostationary orbit above the site and commence descent. The descent will take the form of a descending spiral, utilising a circumference of fifteen point three miles. As we approach the surface, the spiral will, under computer guidance, change course to match the axial rotation of the planet. At the point where we pass through the magnetosphere into the exosphere all engine power will be placed on standby, effectively cutting all propulsion. The remainder of the descent will be an unpowered glide. The only time that the engines will be used will be for course corrective purposes. The attempt will take place on the dark side of the planet, whilst the area around the landing site is experiencing their night time phase. On a spiral descent there will be less likelihood of any life forms witnessing our arrival. The second phase of option two is another innovative manoeuvre. The actual landing will take place in one of the seas of this planet. During the final circuit of the descent spiral this craft will perform a yaw manoeuvre, thus bringing the wing horizon to an angle of forty five degrees to the level state. This will have the effect of allowing the wing surfaces to become hydrofoils, enabling us to continue our course sub aquatically. Once under the surface, navigation would switch to sonar detection to find us a suitable resting place. This option is the one that the agency prefers. However, the final decision rests with the captain. The captain sat and considered the options, and for the few moments he took over his deliberations, everyone sat, all eyes fixed firmly upon him, awaiting his decision. He knew that aborting the mission was not an option and that he had to choose the best option to ensure success. Finally he raised his head, regarded each of the crew and announced his decision.

“Taking into account the non interactive policy, I don’t see much choice we will have to go with option two. Mary
, take us into orbit and scan for possible landing sites. Apart from that people, its business as usual”

At this everyone resumed their position and duties. During the orbital phase a series of meteorological probes were shot through the atmosphere the information that was relayed back had confirmed that the atmosphere was well within acceptable parameters to
sustain their needs. They had all breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect that they would have no need for the breathing apparatus that they had half expected would, as usual, hamper progress on the surface.

All of the monitoring and surveillance systems were operating the navigation station and within the space of an hour Mary had at her disposal a complete topographical display of the entire surface and was now selecting possible landing sites. She was taking into account that, where there are signs of civilisation, it would be more than probable that an area of such demographics would yield greater rewards for the mission.

She had selected nine possible locations, but the one she favoured most, was the one which lay thirty two point eight degrees inside the northern hemisphere. It was a small inland body of water situated in an area which offered both desert and vegetated regions. The probes had confirmed that the current temperature in the region was above what they were used to, but it was well within the prescribed comfort zone.

Mary had fed the complicated data for the descent into the navigation computer and they had all secured themselves into their seats. She had positioned the craft in its final orbit. The cabin crew silently went about their business; no one spoke, each of them held certain trepidation towards the impending attempt.

“Twenty seconds to inception”

Hatch said. They could feel their tension levels rising, apprehension was at fever pitch as they physically felt the craft veer off into the descent. “Manoeuvre commitment confirmed”

They were now irrevocable committed to the landing pattern.

The shuttle had completed three circuits of the dark outer atmosphere and had begun to enter the exosphere. All of the sensors on the outer shell of the craft were busy collecting all possible information they could about this alien environment. They were now firmly under the influence of the gravitational forces of the planet and it was at this point, that the engines were cut. The action of switching the engines to standby seemed to crate an audible void. The familiar deep rumble had now been replaced by virtual silence. They were gliding unpowered through the night sky. As they fell through the various atmospheric layers Mathew Watkins shouted out the different attributes he was discovering. At the same time each of the crew was in turn reporting from their respective stations in much the same manner, this had the effect of crating a highly organised cascade of vocal information exchanges concerning the descent and their present surrounding.

“Thermosphere confirmed”….“altitude 270.5”….“life signs stable”….“hull temperature rising”….“heat shield holding stable”….“spiral adjust on line.. .now...”…“mesosphere confirmed”... “Altitude
53.9
levelling out to fifteen degrees”.... “Hull temperature stable”

“Shields stable”…“detecting moisture at altitude 49.1”...“stratosphere confirmed”…“altitude 30.4” “target located and locked in…now”…“life signs show stable”…“troposphere confirmed”... “Altitude 9,
8.5,
8, initiating yaw manoeuvre, impact in 6,
5,
4, 3, 2, 1,”

As the shuttle crashed through the surface of the water, all of the crew were violently jarred in their seats. The impact had been much worse that any of them had anticipated, but once they were submerged, everything went into slow motion as the inertial dampers bought them to a full stop.

After a few moments Mary had managed to recover from the splash down and, having switched to sonar was now busy scanning for a suitable place for the shuttle to rest for the next few days. It was not long before she had located the ideal site. Confirming her find with the captain and the co-pilot, she inputted the information into her terminal and with a triumphant final stab at the controls, leaned back in her seat and left the two officers to begin the final phase of the landing.

As they descended through the black waters, the visibility through the cockpit windows was nil. It was as if the window surface had been blacked out. Travis Wheatley leaned over his control panels and activated the outside lighting systems. As soon as he had done this, their field of vision was instantly extended to allow them to see everything picked up within the
beams of the lights. It was a whole new world, a strange, silent, aquatic theatre of which they were now a part. As they went deeper and deeper, Travis was feverishly typing at his terminal, making as many notes about this environment as he could. His terminal was time linked to cameras positioned around the shuttle. He would revise these later to make a more detailed study. As the captain guided them trough the waters to their resting place, everyone sat and marvelled the wonders they were now witnessing. The deep blue exterior played host to a myriad of different life forms, each of them of interest to Wheatley, who was becoming agitated by the intense rush of information, he wanted to slow things down in order to have more time to collate all of the data he was receiving. Unfortunately for him, the descent rate had been predetermined and was now near its end. In the final moments of their descent, Captain Daniels bought the craft to within six feet of their resting place. Hovering over the ledge they had selected. This was the last stage of the landing procedure. The co-pilot announced that it was time to create the moorings that would hold them firm for the duration of their stay. At the flick of a switch, six, six foot bolts shot from around the shuttle’s underside with such force that they embedded themselves into the igneous rock that made up this plateau. Each of the bolts was attached to cables which led back to the craft. The winches began to pull them into the rock and before long they were securely anchored into position. “Craft secured at 0200 hours all system checks complete, good job everybody” said the captain.

All engines were cut and everyone sat back and breathed a sigh of relief. As they looked through the windows into the calm waters, they could see that they had come to rest on a plateau that led to a vast precipice that fell away into the dark abyss below.

All of the excitement connected with the landing was now abating and they were now finding time to reflect upon what they had just achieved and upon where they now were.

They had finally reached their goal, and now they were
actually on Epsilon Omega, ready to begin their great adventure.

Time on epsilon omega was at a premium and there was to be no time for the luxury of a rest period even after what they had all experienced. The medic, Anne Homer reached for her med kit and proceeded to inject all of the crew members in turn with an inoculation of sleep inhibitor this would ensure that they would be able to take advantage of every single minute of their stay here. They could sleep on the return journey. It was now time to prepare to do the job that they were sent here for.

The first probe that was actually deployed from the surface was released from the topmost part of the shuttle it was sent to the surface attached to a cable, as it ascended, the crew prepared for the more detailed assignations that were to follow. The up coming assignments were outlined in their individual briefs all of which the captain had released to them now that they were on the surface. As the probe reached the surface the six glass petals unfolded around the sensor mechanism of the probe and relayed vital information back to the shuttle.

“Well, it seems that we now have confirmation that the atmosphere of this planet is within acceptable levels to support
all of our life support needs” Said Marius Hatch,

“Oxygen levels normal, hydrogen levels normal, nitrogen levels normal and carcinogens minimal, so all in all it seems that we have green lights to go for all of the experiment that we have scheduled.”
The captain confirmed this and retracted the probe. The next few hours would be critical, they were about to encounter who knew what. Each of them had obviously given this matter some thought. They wondered, would the inhabitants of this world be civilized, or would they be little more than savages? Would this world yield great, invaluable information and research material? Or, would it be a virtual barren wasteland? Would their lives be at risk? Or, would they return to the home world safe? These and many more questions played on their minds. Whatever the questions may have been, they would find their answers over the next few hours. Each of the crew had read their final briefs and was well aware of what was expected from them, and as if by clockwork they set about their individual tasks.