CHAPTER 1: ANOMALY
2017 A.D. Mars I Space Shuttle. In orbit around Mars?
"Commander, I'm picking up some strange gravimetric anomalies."
Commander Adrian Palmer heard the report from his Physics Officer, Isaac Cooper, but he couldn't pull his gaze away from Mars, just outside the plasma shield that separated him and the rest of his crew from the vacuum of space. The view of the red planet below was simply breathtaking and a surge of energy tingled up his six-foot-one toned frame. The thought that he would soon be the first human being to set foot on Mars was surreal.
"Commander?"
Adrian turned, his deep-set azure eyes locking them onto Isaac's. Isaac shifted on the leather sofa on which he sat, within the recreation room of the Mars I Space Shuttle and flipped his computer pad around to face him. Adrian walked over to the pad, glancing at the numbers and geometric figures scrolling across the screen. "What do these numbers mean?" he asked, pointing at the screen.
An uneasy look flashed across Isaac's hazel eyes. He rubbed the dark stubble of his shaven head and then flipped his pad around back onto his lap. "I have been monitoring the gravity on Mars. The numbers have been consistent as we prepare for our landing tomorrow. But within the last hour, the numbers have increased by a power of one thousand."
A knot formed in Adrian's stomach. Isaac rarely showed concern. He was unflappable. "One thousand?" Adrian questioned. "Where?"
Isaac shrugged. "I'm not sure."
"Are we in any danger?"
Isaac looked up with the same worried expression on his face. "I don't know, but I'll keep looking into it. In the meantime, you should get ready to talk to your family back on Earth."
Isaac was right. In a matter of minutes, Adrian and his crew would be communicating with Kevin, his brother, and Jake, his five-year-old son, via the communication satellite orbiting Mars. It was a technological miracle really. Prior to the Mars I crew mission, NASA figured out a way for instant video communication from Mars to Earth. And now they were about enjoy the fruits of this miraculous blessing once again.
Adrian turned and met the gray eyes of his computer officer, Sean Gibson, who was seated in the leather recliner adjacent to the sofa. His computer pad rested on his lap as well. Sean reached up and adjusted his glasses with his index finger. "There's a problem with the signal. It may be because of the anomalies that Isaac has discovered," he said.
"Keep on it," Adrian ordered.
Sean nodded and went back to work on his computer pad. Adrian glanced up behind the sofa at the pool table where his Medical Officer, Dr. Charles Porter, and his Geologist/Botanist Officer, Skyler Green, were playing pool. They were locked in heated competition, oblivious to what he had just discussed with Isaac and Sean.
He then turned and made his way back to the plasma shield and looked above Mars at the docking station, orbiting the red planet. The station was a gigantic circular space station where Mars I would stay in dock while the crew performed various missions on the planet below. The center of the station contained the docking bay and the command bridge. Ten corridors extended to the outer portion of the station to separate living quarters and observation decks in what looked like a giant wheel with spokes in space.
As he stared at the station, he saw movement on the underside of the command bridge. A sense of fear flushed through his body as he pushed the comlink in his ear. "Gloria, I almost forgot you were still working on that thing. How long have you been out there?"
Gloria Jackson, his communications officer, floated over the silver metallic surface of the command bridge in her white spacesuit, which was securely tethered to the station. "I've been out here for almost five hours now. Gotta make sure everything is ready to go for our big day tomorrow."
Adrian bit his lip. "We're going to swing around to pick you up. I'll have Scott extend the arm with the cable so you can latch on to it. It will be faster to get you in here through the payload-deck."
"Wh . . . the rush?" she questioned as her transmission cut in and out.
Adrian didn't want her to sense his trepidation. "No rush. I just thought that you would want to talk to Jake, that's all."
"Well, then come get me. I miss that little guy."
Adrian smiled as the comlink disconnected. He felt the butterflies in his stomach in anticipation of seeing Gloria again. Not long after his wife's death, Gloria Jackson was the first person he confided in. A strong friendship developed, and just two months ago, that friendship gave way to a full-blown romantic relationship.
It was obvious why Adrian was beginning to fall in love. At thirty-four, Gloria was a brilliant communications analyst and mechanic, in addition to being compassionate, athletic, and competitive. Often during the physical training required for the mission, she would hold her own with the men of the crew and at times beat them in timed drills.
Not only did she have these admirable qualities, she was drop-dead gorgeous. From her parents, she inherited the genes of an athlete, the intelligence of a top-notch lawyer, and the looks of one of Hollywood's A-list actresses. She had silky smooth dark skin, bright blue eyes, long brown hair, and a body that would make any man palpitate in her presence.
Adrian pushed his comlink again. "Donald."
Donald Garrett, Adrian's copilot, responded with the condescending arrogance with which he usually answered. "What?"
"We need to swing around to pick Gloria up from the station."
"Sure," Donald answered with indifference.
Adrian rolled his eyes. His perspective of the red planet began to change as Donald veered Mars I toward the station. He pressed the comlink again to alert his Payload Commander of Gloria's impending pick up. "Scott."
"Commander?" Scott Hauler answered from his station in the payload-bay.
"Get the satellite arm ready. I want you to extend a cable out to Gloria. We're going to pick her up through the payload-deck."
"Roger that," Scott replied.
Adrian watched as the shuttle made its way toward the station. His mind began to drift again as he thought about the mission at hand. At thirty-five, he never would have dreamed that he would be in this position. But it was the memory of his late wife, Melissa, and his desire to be a positive example for his son that drove him to this prestigious honor. And now, here he stood on one of the most sophisticated technological wonders ever created by man.
Not only was the computer system of the Mars I Space Shuttle entirely interactive, but these new NASA shuttles were marvels of technological ingenuity as well. The design and shape of Mars I was similar to the old shuttle designs of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This new shuttle was ten times larger and could travel four times as fast as the originals - roughly 72,000 miles per hour, which cut the journey from Earth to Mars in half.
The scientists and engineers who designed the shuttle also solved the problem of prolonged weightlessness that astronauts experienced during long periods in space. Within the center of the shuttle and completely covered with the shuttle's outer skin was a wheel that spun, which accurately created the gravity felt on Earth. The wheel-deck also contained the individual quarters of the nine crewmen - a kitchen, laundry, exercise room, and the recreation room where five of the nine members of the crew were now enjoying some needed time off before the big Mars landing the next day.
Above the wheel-deck rested the payload-deck, which contained the mission's vital supplies, gear, and tools. The payload-deck also contained the Martian landing vehicle, appropriately called NightHawk - a modernized and larger version of the old F-117 Nighthawks of the late twentieth century.
The aft section of the shuttle contained another spinning wheel, which contained the nuke-deck. It held the most sophisticated nuclear reactor ever built by mankind. This reactor was the shuttle's main power supply and used pyroprocessing technology, which recycled the actinides recovered from the spent fuel back into the reactor - creating, in turn, one hundred times more energy from the uranium fuel rods. In theory, this new
reactor could power Mars I for the next thousand years.
Of course, the bow of the shuttle contained the flight deck. Besides the payload-deck, the flight deck was the only other part of the ship that did not have artificial gravity. Furthermore, if a person watched Mars I fly through space, he or she would see what looked like a slender, silver shuttle with up-curved wings cutting through space like a knife. The NASA emblem adorned each side of the vertical stabilizer on the tail of the craft and an American flag was emblazoned on each wing.
"Adrian."
Adrian snapped out of his daydream and turned his gaze from Mars back to Sean Gibson.
"Do you have a signal, Sean?"
Sean looked back down at his computer pad and touched one of the small applications on the screen. "Yeah, I think I finally do."
"Are you sure the signal was lost because of what Isaac detected?" Adrian asked.
Sean looked up toward the ceiling of the room. "Maggie?"
Maggie was the nickname for the Mars I Artificial Intelligence Entity, which was the artificial voice of the shuttle's computer system. She, the pronoun Sean affectionately used, was integrated into every system within the spacecraft. It was the most sophisticated artificial intelligence ever developed. Kevin Palmer, Adrian's brother, was the inventor.
The smooth, seductive voice of the shuttle's computer system spoke. "Yes, Lieutenant."
"Are the satellite's systems working properly?" Sean asked, referring to the communication satellite orbiting Mars.
"Negative, Lieutenant, the signal is being disrupted by gravimetric anomalies."
Isaac looked up. The concerned look on his face had almost turned into one of fear. "Maggie, can you isolate where the anomalies are coming from?"
"The data is inconclusive, sir. Diagnostics will continue to run until the problem is found. In the meantime, power has been rerouted from the propulsion systems to the communication array to improve the signal."
Dr. Charles Porter, whom everyone called "Doc," dropped the pool stick with which he was about to hit the cue ball. "Well, we better establish a link fast before we lose it."
Adrian gave a small smile toward his best friend in the entire world. Doc, who was selected for the astronaut training program as a flight surgeon a year after Adrian, flexed his bulging biceps, nearly ripping his shirt. His dark skin accentuated his white teeth even more as he flashed a smile toward Adrian. To a person that didn't know him, he would appear menacing. But to the people who knew him best, Doc was a large teddy bear, willing to do anything for anyone.
Doc walked around the pool table toward the front of the sofa and plopped his 283-pound frame right next to Isaac. Isaac tried to move his own 175 pounds out of the way before impact, but failed. His computer pad dropped to the floor. He let out a small murmur of annoyance as he picked up his pad. He then stood, turned, and faced Adrian.
"Commander, if you don't mind, I would like to go to the flight deck to see if I can isolate where these gravimetric anomalies are coming from?"
Before Adrian could respond, Skyler Green, the mission's geologist and botanist, spoke in his heavy southern Texas accent. "What? You're gonna miss talkin' to Jake."
Isaac glanced toward Skyler with an obvious look of irritation and quickly turned back to the commander. Adrian nodded his head in approval and watched Isaac scamper out of the room.
As Isaac made his way out of the room, he nearly bumped into Peter Sanchez - the shuttle's nuclear engineer. Petey, as the crew called him, quickly threw his small five-foot, seven-inch frame beside the entrance. "Whoa! Watch out there, Coop."
Isaac looked at Petey. "Sorry, Petey. Got to head up to the flight deck to look at something." As fast as he said it, he turned and began to trot down the corridor.
Petey yelled after him. "Try to make Don smile while you're up there!"
"I'd have better luck finding a wormhole!" Isaac yelled before disappearing around the corner.
Petey turned back and walked into the room. "Wormhole. That was a good one." Everyone in the room chuckled except for Adrian.
It was obvious the dislike Petey and the crew had toward their copilot, but Adrian never expressed his opinion about Donald Garrett. He walked around to the front of the sofa, looking for a seat. Doc playfully pushed Petey aside. "Move out of the way. The commander needs a place to talk to his family."
Petey moved to the other side of the sofa, allowing Adrian to take his seat between them. Skyler hit the cue ball and then threw his stick on the table. He reached up and took off his grease-stained cowboy hat that he always wore for luck and rubbed his hand through his blond hair before placing the hat back on his head. He then took his place, standing behind the sofa facing the television.
Adrian looked at the reflection of the four astronauts in the blank screen of the 64-inch high definition television mounted on the wall directly in front of them. He smiled at their appearance. They looked like a bunch of space nerds dressed in their blue NASA fatigues.
Adrian then looked at Sean. "I think we're ready."
Sean nodded and pressed another application on his computer pad. The television flickered on. Kevin Palmer appeared on the other end of the link, dressed in a white dress shirt that fit perfectly to his toned frame and blue dress slacks. The resemblance to Adrian was uncanny. Both men had dark brown hair and the same facial features. The only difference was that Adrian had blue eyes and Kevin's were hazel.
Kevin, the billionaire and inventor of artificial intelligence, smiled and called out, "Jake, your dad is on!"
The back of a young blond-haired boy scurried into the picture. Jake was wearing a white polo shirt and blue denim shorts. He jumped up onto his uncle's lap and turned around.
Adrian almost felt the tears come again from the guilt he had for leaving his son for this yearlong journey. But he knew that Jake understood.
Jake's blue eyes met his father's. "Hi, Daddy."
Adrian felt a small tear fall from his eye before responding. "Hi, son. I miss you."