Or should he calmly talk to Celestial and ask for a thorough search of the facility? Who ever placed them there would have to be in authority to gain access, perhaps it would be best not to say anything until he could investigate the matter further? He became paranoid about the situation.
The Magellan's spent the next two hours mulling over what had happened in the secure location under the hot artificial sun, thinking up scenarios until they were exhausted by the possibilities. Mars and Wolfe eventually fell asleep covered up by towels, while Capella went for a walk with Sweeney into the shrubbery of the park to try and find other hidden alien species. It had become an eventful family day out which had excited Mars with the possibilities of tracking down the mysterious figure who had confronted him, he felt sure he was a friend.
In the other part of the Eco Zone, the park was full of people enjoying themselves unaware of the Magellan's worrying discovery. Eventually the sun began to fade into an orange glow, and there was a slight chill in the air. The drop in temperature stirred Wolfe from his snoring whilst Mars began to fidget in his dreams.
Minutes later as the sun started to set, Halley felt goose bumps on her arms, as a refreshing breeze blew in the air; it reminded her of Earth’s weather conditions like a thunder storm. She glanced down at her book to continue reading, but the birds in the trees were chattering constantly and distracting her, suddenly a raindrop fell and absorbed into the paper. Halley’s eyes widened in surprise, she tilted her head back slowly to look up into the sky and felt another raindrop fall on her face. In the distance she could see a blanket of rain working its way across the hills in the backdrop over the artificial lake, moving directly towards them. She screamed and in the process of gathering their picnic things together, woke Wolfe and Mars who looked at one another with bleary eyes.
‘What’s going on?’ Wolfe asked.
Before Halley could answer they all felt the first drops of rain on their faces. They quickly gathered the last of their belongings as a heavier blanket of water rained down on them. In the distance there was also a scream as they glimpsed Capella sprinting from the undergrowth with extraordinary speed in their direction. ‘Run! It is a down poor we’re going to get soaked!’
They all started to run for cover towards the Eco Zone out of the secure area and into the park in front of them, the exit was two hundred yards away. In no time Capella had sprinted past them to the finish line, coming a close second was Sweeney who could move when he wanted too. Halley put in a sprint, but Mars and Wolfe who by now were ladened down with belongings decided to walk the distance, after all they were still wearing their wetsuits.
The Magellan’s all gathered together in the annex of the Eco Zone. Capella laughed at her father and brother as a puddle of water trailed behind them. ‘This is the second time today that you have look like drown rats,’ she said. Sweeney also chirped in a mocking way to add insult to injury.
Mars smarting from this remark started to grind his teeth and scowl. The two men of the family flush with embarrassment dumped their belongings on the floor and made off to a rest room to change into damp clothes. On their return Wolfe insisted he would wine and dine them with a treat at Giuseppe’s restaurant. Mars and the girls agreed with a cheer.
As they made their way through the precinct a lazy day’s afternoon abruptly became shattered. Before them was a scurry of activity as Astro-technicians made their way from the residential zone towards the main docking bays. Wolfe grabbed the arm of one of them. ‘What’s going on?’ He pointed toward the activity around them.
‘Commander Celestial has been relieved of his command,’ the young man replied.
‘What on Earth are you talking about,’ Wolfe said with annoyance.
‘There are orders from MSE and the UN to stand down all space exploration,’ the man elaborated. ‘A new commander has taken control of the station Sir, and has asked the technicians to report for duty. The new commander boarded late yesterday with a new support team and presented a report from the UN to Commander Celestial an hour ago!’
Wolfe looked in shock. ‘My god, this means that the project is over, all that we’ve worked for has finished.’ Halley’s eyes filled with tears as the reality-hit home.
In a somber mood the Magellan's entered the restaurant and approached Giuseppe and slammed the net bag on the counter. ‘Please see to my wife and family, they deserve a night out, can you provide them with what they need, while I try to get to the bottom of things. I need to see Celestial to find out what is happening.’
Wolfe turned quickly to walk out of the Cafe when Giuseppe gripped his arm and spoke quietly. ‘There’s no need to go anywhere, make your way to the reserved booths at the back of the cafe, you will find the Commander there.’ His eye’s pointing the way secretively.
Wolfe turned to his family and brought them through the busy restaurant to the private booths to the rear.
Later that evening Giuseppe walked into the room and displayed four starter dishes expertly balanced on his arm for their approval. Wolfe nodded and smiled at his friend.
Halley passed out small plates so everyone could share the pasta dishes, whilst Commander Celestial poured a bottle of red wine for his colleagues, before the main meal of dressed Eve lobster arrived in all its splendour.
Through out the evening Mars and Capella quietly played games on their consoles in the corner of the booth whilst their parents chatted about the days events. The Commander ordered another bottle of wine and over its consumption detailed his meeting with the new commander. He described his anger as he disclosed he had been stripped of his command and that the stations’ and indeed IGE were now with immediate effect SHUT DOWN. The operation had been mothballed and every member of the organisation was required to return to earth in a week’s time. It would start with immediate evacuation of the non-essential Astro-technicians, followed by the scientific community once the labs work had been catalogued and finished.
The group of professionals quickly sat down to discuss the events of the past few hours.
‘I can not believe our project, the exploration programme has been cancelled so quickly.’ Halley slammed her fist on the table.
‘Well we did know it was coming, but for it to happen like this is a disgrace. Wolfe acknowledged.
‘Relieving you of command does not make any sense.’ Halley said sympathetically.
‘It’s Gonzalo all over; he has got a reputation for this kind of stunt. He likes to aggravate and intimidate his commanders. So he can get his own way.’ Celestial replied.
Wolfe nodded. ‘That’s all very nice for him, but he cannot be trusted with what we have shielded for the ministry for so long.’ He looked over to the boy and smiled.
‘I’m sure if he can get his own way with the recall of staff to Earth everything will be OK – but everything is happening so quickly.’
The adults huddled together. ‘Another thing is that we have an alien aboard.’
‘I know that and if Gonzalo ever finds out we will be court-marshalled, I thought we decided not to talk about this with the authorities.’ Celestial asked.
‘Not me!’ Mars interrupted their not so private chat.
‘There seams to be someone from Mars’s homeland onboard.’ Wolfe explained.
‘We need to find him, he might be extremely dangerous!’ Halley was concerned.
‘Has he tried to harm the boy?’ Celestial asked.
‘He had the opportunity but did not.’ Wolfe added.
‘I believe he is a friend.’ Mars said.
‘Well then he is not an enemy, we have nothing to worry about.’ Celestial announced.
Halley was more cautious. ‘It’s strange that he should show up at the same time as we find explosives planted on the station.’ She had a point.
Celestial suddenly showed more interest in the conversation. ‘Where?’
‘On the lakebed near some water pumps.’ Wolfe explained.
‘My god this is terrible, what have you done with the
m?’ the commander asked.
‘They have been disarmed, they are safe.’ Wolfe nodded.
‘In a place like that it would only mean one thing. Someone wants to render the life support useless and that would mean the station inhabitable.’ Celestial was concerned.
The evening, which had, begun so anxiously, had raised more questions than answers about their future as space personnel. It overshadowed Wolfe’s discovery of the explosives that afternoon, but more importantly it revealed the heavy-handed arrival of Commander Marco Gonzalo, the new commander of the space station.
Much Later Mars retired to his bedroom, he began to wonder what powers the metallic aid could provide. He pulled out his console and a computer pad and hacked into the station’s servers, to search through surveillance camera recordings of the last twenty-four hours. He also brought IGE’s personnel files online to check up on the new Commander. He learnt that Gonzalo had risen to his high-powered position remarkably quickly; he had attended the established Cosmic University and passed out with flying colours. He had been the best candidate officer of his generation, and had been closely watched and encouraged from a distance by a sponsor named Templar. Mars dug around and found Templar had been generous in setting up Gonzalo with the best networking opportunities available, and rewarded him well for his achievements. This was backed up by a number of photos he had found in the