2083: “Moonglow” by John A. Almack

11 June: The relief mining crew fidgeted in their chairs, “I thought the 2 weeks prior to launch was our family time. What gives?” Director Murphy of Houston Mission Control calls the meeting to order, “Yesterday, we lost contact with the Shackleton moonbase. A low-level pass by our observation satellite revealed the pressure domes appear to be undamaged and still with power. However, we have not observed movement of the harvesters nor suited members performing activities outside the domes. While hoping this only a temporary technical malfunction, we’ve decided to accelerate your launch. You will launch in 2 days. I know that only gives you 2 days of sunlight on the moon before rotational darkness. Unless you have any questions…”

Commander Cortez asks her crew to stick around, “Suck it up. Call you families and make excuses but then let’s get down to business. Review your checklists, run another flight sim, and brainstorm any ideas what could be wrong so we can bring replacement parts. I understand we already have a spare comm laser and emergency supplies like oxygen candles loaded in the cargo hold. One more thing; say hello to your new Flight Engineer, Captain Stafford. Apparently, our own Captain Reed is sick.”

(Matt) Captain George Stafford (Flight Engineer) nods to his new crew. Little do they know of his past work for the British Secret Intelligence Service. The Science Officer at Moonbase Shackleton, Dr. Nora Weaver, recently made some peculiar inquiries that caught the attention of people higher-up who suspect possible espionage by the Chinese or another party. Which explains his last-minute assignment and him secretly armed with a hold-out pistol.

(Keith) Dr. Oleg Pavlenko (Science Officer) of ROSCOSMOS, the Russian space agency, had heard rumors that René Martel, the French Mission Specialist, had discovered something extraordinary at Shackleton Crater. Oleg momentarily thought of the glory and career advancement for whomever publishes the research first.

(Brian) Erich Hofmann (Mission Specialist) had almost walked when recalled early. But the German engineer couldn’t refuse the H-3 Corp offered, “Triple your regular base salary, if you can get the helium-3 shipments to Earth back on schedule.” Erich takes the opportunity to ask Commander Cortez, “So if I understand, our original six-month tour of duty at the moonbase will now be 6.5 months? With appropriate overtime pay?”

13 June: Hours before launch, Commander Cortez sustains injury climbing the gantry. With Houston at a pause, she stoically commands Capt Stafford, “Take command. You’ve got the piloting skills to see this mission thru. Get the mining back online.”

The 3-man relief mining crew launches from Earth aboard the Altair II rocket. The multi-part spacecraft is comprised of 1) a cylindrical ascent stage housing the four-person crew compartment, 2) the octagonal descent stage containing a larger engine, fuel tanks, landing gear and additional cargo space. 3) the automated Orion spacecraft to be left unmanned in lunar orbit.

During their 3-day journey to the moon they review what they know of the current Shackleton mining operation:

1)   The satellite picture of the area: the habitat moonbase, an adjacent solar farm, the silent comm tower 250yds north just short of the crater rim, the fuel depot 220yds ESE, the Demeter cargo rocket another 120yds ESE, and the Altair landing area 300yds west of the moonbase which is blast-protected by a berm.

2)   A close-up of the moonbase itself:

a.   The Command Dome houses the primary airlock, decontamination area, command ops center and living quarters.

b.   The Engineering Dome has a machine shop with a 3D printer, a control room for the base's power and life support systems, and an auxiliary airlock.

c.    The Laboratory Dome holds the biochemical and geology labs, a medical center with an examination/isolation room, robotically-assisted surgery and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, as well as having additional shielding to act as a radiation shelter during times of extreme solar flare activity.

d.   The Greenhouse Dome is dominated by an automated hydroponics garden for growing fresh produce and also contains plumbing and filtration/recycling systems for the outpost's main water supply.

e.   The unfinished Science Dome is detached and unpressurized, lying partially completed and exposed, awaiting parts for a planned astrometric observatory.

f.     Twin lunar semi-autonomous, robotic harvesters dredge lunar rock to extract water and helium-3 for shipment back to Earth.

g.   A 6-wheeled mooncat rover pressurized for 2 passengers to explore the area.

h.   An un-crewed Demeter cargo rocket that brings food/equipment resupply to then return to Earth loaded with helium-3 bottles and unrefined ore.

3)   The current crew composition:

a.   Commander Dmitry Ivanenkov: a brilliant ROSCOSMOS electrical engineer and a competent base administrator.

b.   Major Frank Thompson: Flight Engineer and NASA resident expert on rocket motors. Considers himself a genuine "Space Cowboy.”

c.    Doctor Nora Weaver: English-born Science Officer, trained medic and an ESA botanist. She is married to her job. A consummate and thorough researcher.

d.   Specialist René Martel: French citizen employed by H-3 Corp; chief geologist in charge of lunar mining operations.

e.   SALI (System-Assisted Library Interface) programmed to provide assistance and info covering a wide range of subject matters, via speakers, microphones and display screens conveniently located throughout the domes. Among its useful functions: SALI can monitor the status of various key systems, keep track of personnel, dim the lights, etc.

16 June: With lunar orbit established, Capt Stafford activates separation from the Orion orbiter as they begin their descent to the surface. The 2-stage Altair lander butt-first as they enter their auto-pilot final approach directly over Shackleton Crater. The blinking lights of the defunct communication tower come into view. ”On glidepath, on altitude, S1 fuel commit.” Suddenly their radio crackles to life with a terrified French vioce, “Altair inbound, Abort landing and return to orbit. I say again, ABORT!” All questions ignored and answered with the same “Abort” instructions. Their only answer, “Fuel commit. Rene, we’ll see you on the surface.”

“Engine shutdown complete. Nothing on the scanners or radio. Let’s go see what Monsieur Martel has to say.” As George unbuckles and opens the hatch, Erich monitoring the sensors announces, “Mooncat just rounded the berm and is approaching. Fast. Straight at us!” George standing in the entryway waving his arms. Erich calling out on the radio only to hear Rene Martel, “I warned you not to land. I must destroy.”

George now hurriedly descending the ladder for the surface 25 ft below. Dr. Oleg grabbing a backpack of supplies before exiting. Throwing the backpack before jumping (to hell with climbing). Except his throw weak…and along the ladder. Ricocheting just above George’s head as the captain one-handedly swats it aside. Oleg’s jump also weak as he caroms off the side tumbling to the surface…miraculously landing on his feet. Unharmed. Erich grabs 2 backpacks to perform the same feat but hopefully more coordinated. Nope. 1^st thrown bag clanks off the hatch, back inside, delaying his own exit-jump. The 2^nd thrown bag successful followed by his own jump far enough out to miss the lander’s side.

The mooncat barreling toward them. Now 10 mph doesn’t sound fast. In Earth standards. But on the moon…closing fast! Seconds away. George grabs the closest bag then bounds (hop-skip-and-a-jump) toward the mooncat frantically waving his free arm. Oleg grabs a bag and runs toward the mooncat…around it; not AT it. Erich also rushes toward the mooncat looking for anything to throw to distract the driver while screaming over his intercom, “It’s our only escape from the moon!”

Throwing the bag for added momentum, George times his final jump aiming for the windscreen. But instead lands short but able to grab the fender. Erich also jumps, landing like a bug-splat on the windshield grabbing the wiper. The looming shadow of the Altair just behind him. Reaching down, Erich grabs George’s outstretched arm, swings him to the cab where George grabs the handle and opens the cab. Knocking Erich off his perch. A breath away from impact, George muscles the steering wheel swinging the cat away from the rocket. Luck that he didn’t run-over Erich. Pushing the screaming Rene out of the driver seat as George tries to find the brakes. “You’ve given it a means to escape!” The hiss of the brakes blend with the hiss of oxygen beside him…a terrified Rene taking his helmet off! Sanity check!

As George swings the cat around, Erich is already climbing the lander to retrieve the other backpack. And makes more calls, “Moonbase, this is Altair. Come-in.” Long unanswered minutes allow Oleg to return to the rocket. Finally, a drunken Ukrainian accent, “Rene? That you? Who is this? Relief crew? Come. Come to my dome and your doom. We drink and die together. Oleg, did you bring vodka?” So much ‘doom and gloom’, Erich takes the time to install a deadman switch on the Altair rocket.

As the mooncat rounds the berm, they spot a harvester parked in front of the habitat entry door. “That’s not standard configuration.” They notice a sweeping video camera attached to what looks like a rifle-barrel atop the harvester. Warily they park then walk to the Command Dome airlock. Locked and pressurized. “Dmitry, what’s going on? Let us in.” Soon the Ukrainian stumbles to the interior window, “You show eyes. Then I let in. Each of you.” One by one they pose at the exterior to stare at Dmitry across the gap. Finally, the hiss of decompression; the airlock door pushes in. They step inside the decontamination area and notice 2 spacesuits (Dmitry’s and Nora’s). Pressurization to then step into the Command Dome finding Dmitry chugging from a bottle. “Vybachte, I thought you the Glow. It kill half my crew. Come, sit, drink. Now it keel you too. Drink? No? More for me.”

All rationale gone. “Thud.” Dmitry now passed out with his head on the table. Capt Stafford seeks answers, “SALI, where is Dr. Weaver?” The calm computerized voice answering, “You will find her in the Laboratory Dome.” Oleg and the captain walk in that direction, while Erich sits at a computer screen to search for his own answers. Oleg and George shocked to find Nora’s dead naked body on an examination table, “Well, that took a turn.” Dr. Pavlenko settling in to do an autopsy while George finds a terminal.

Oleg starts his recording, “Rigor mortis is inconclusive. She appears atrophied throughout, as if mummified. SALI, what can you tell me about Dr. Weaver’s death?” The female voice replies, “Six days ago, Nora was inspecting the greenhouse when she suddenly began thrashing about. Major Thompson happened to be watching a monitor in the Command Dome. He rushed to her aid, only to find her dead on the floor. The Major described a glow, ebb of pulsating colors, over her body that then floated out through a skylight. A smell of ozone. Camera playback shows no such glow or colors in the dome.”

Meanwhile, George finds Dr. Weaver’s research folders, “Nora was researching Earth records. Something about a meteorite falling on a small New England farm over 160 years ago. Something about ‘blasted heath’. SALI, was a meteorite recently found here?” Again, the female voice, “Two weeks ago, a harvester struck a large boulder and jammed while mining inside Shackleton crater. Specialist Martel drove out to repair it and brought back a fragment from a meteorite that had been lodged in the excavator. He began examining the unusual rock in the Lab dome. It is there on the table behind you.” George turns to examine it: a stony–iron meteorite, pallasite matrix, highly malleable, almost plastic, and noticeably warm to the touch. With a smooth, spherical cavity only a few inches across hollowed out of one side.

Erich chimes in over comm from the Command Dome, “SALI’s records show Dmitry purposefully disconnected the laser from the comm tower to construct a laser turret atop the harvester. He and Rene have been taking shifts anxiously patrolling the moonbase perimeter or standing watch in the COC, defending the outpost against ‘a predatory alien presence’. I think the first order of business should be to fix the tower with the spare laser and connect Houston.” Capt Stafford correcting, “First, we need to tie-up Dmitry. Don’t need crazy Ivan stealing our spaceship. Or blowing us up in his own suicide.”

Suited up, the captain and Erich take the harvester (with the laser turret) to the tower. Erich takes time to add a kill-switch to the harvester. Oleg monitors from the Command Dome. Erich climbs the tower installing the spare laser. Neither he nor George notice the form approaching from the crater rim. Back in the harvester, they return to base. Captain Stafford already on the radio to Houston with a comm check then full report. A FULL report mentioning a potential alien. And that’s when Dmitry awakes from his drunken sleep, “What have you done?! They kill us all if the alien don’t. Untie me; let me drink myself to death.” And that’s when they hear a knock at the airlock. The camera links showing a spacesuited man outside. Oleg stepping to the airlock window to see. Glowing yellow eyes stare back from a broken helmet. The nametag, ‘Maj Thompson.’

Dmitry in a panic, “Major Thompson? No, you dead. You the Glow. Kill it! Shoot it! My laser should hurt it. Free me; I help!” Erich remotely controls the harvester turret and almost shoots a hole in the dome. George takes over…and shoots the animated body in the back. Without Thompson’s suit comm working, can you hear a scream in space? The body ambles toward the mooncat. “Recharge damn it!” George fires as soon as the laser comes back online…extreme…headshot. The body collapses. Dmitry screaming, “It not dead. You just scared it away. Free me. I tell you how to kill it. You can track its neutrino scent.”

Everyone surprised when Dr. Pavlenko insists on going outside to check the body. Turret tracking his every move. Erich monitoring the camera feeds, “SALI, monitor his vital signs and tell me if there is any spike.” Oleg kneeling beside the almost decapitated body. Scrapping samples. He returns to examine in the lab.

Erich remembers a neutrino-detector is supposed to be stored in the Engineering Dome. “Follow me.” Dragging Dmitry along, they all enter the machine shop. Where Erich finds a 3D printer, “There’s enough circuit boards here for me to make a laser pistol.” Meanwhile, George finds the neutrino-detector. And Oleg finds a pressure tank with copper tubing and the scent of sour mash, “Ah, Dmitry. Your still. Tell us what else you know about this creature and I’ll give you a drink.”

But Capt Stafford already making a decision, “We’re leaving. Houston can send another armed team to deal with this. Dr. Pavlenko, make the necessary calculations when we need to launch to join with the Orion. Two hours? No, we don’t have room nor weight allowance to bring the bodies home.” Oleg adding his own opinion, “20 minutes to get to the launcher and bucket in. That gives me 1.5 hours to check out the crater to learn more about this thing.”

Oleg climbing into the pressurized mooncat with Dmitry as a passenger, “Here’s a bottle of Vodka to entertain you.” The captain and Erich follow on the harvester; George with a joystick to control the turret as Erich programs the harvester movement. Oleg pauses the mooncat at the crater berm to shine his searchlight…revealing the other abandoned harvester. Then drives forward down the dirt ramp along the 15-degree sloped crater. Oleg snorts at a whiff of ozone followed by Dmitry screaming and contorting in his seat. The scene playing out on George’s monitors on the harvester. His monitor not revealing the scent nor the pulsing glow about Dmitry. Nor his eyes turning yellow!

Oleg pauses as his scientific curiosity soaks in the alien attack. Then sense to reach across, unlock the passenger door, and give Dmitry a shove aiding the depressurization that sucks Dmitry out of the cab. Oleg stomping on the accelerator and almost tipping the cat over as he swings it toward the ramp. “I say it’s time to launch NOW!”

Erich already up the ladder, paused at the entry hatch with the neutrino-detector in hand as he sweeps it across the captain climbing aboard. Then Oleg when he finally climbs the ladder. “Beep, beep.” The detector chirping, pinpointing the doctor’s sleeve. “Must be residual neutrino when I brushed against Dmitry as I reached for his door.”

“BLAM!” Oleg launched backwards trailing a stream of blood bubbles. Erich watching in disbelief as the captain displays a holdout pistol. “We couldn’t take any chances of the alien getting aboard our craft. Mr. Hofmann, let’s start this rocket and get the hell off the moon.”

EPILOGUE: 60 hours later, “Orion, this is Houston. State your status. And why did you program the cargo rocket to follow you?”

As the Altair assent stage rocketed into orbit, no-one saw Dmitry’s body climbing up the crater edge and slowly walk to the moonbase. The Alien had already absorbed Major Thompson’s knowledge. Knew how the major had put a coded lockout on the Demeter Cargo rocket. And with Dmitry’s piloting and Engineer skills, it knew how to reprogram the rocket for launch. The Alien anticipating its opportunity to land on Earth. Feed, grow and possibly reproduce before departing for the void of space.

All space agencies tightly seal their most top-secret record of the two nuclear explosions in space. The destruction of the Orion capsule and the Demeter rocket.

Link to the 2^nd play of this scenario: https://rigglew4.blogspot.com/2022/02/2083-moonglow-2nd-play-by-john-almack.html

Link to the 3rd play of this scenario: https://wjr5oakley.blogspot.com/2022/08/2083-moonglowv3part-1.html