Fatal Discovery Read online

  She entered several commands and he computer scanned the shaft again, then redrew the map. Still, the cavern did not register.

  “Anderson to Fletcher,” she said into her comm-band.

  “Fletcher here.”

  “The cavern isn’t registering on the mapping computer.”

  “What are you doing over there Alyssa?” He sounded worried.

  “I promise I’m not going to go down until it’s cleared, I just wanted to see how big it is. But the computer shows soil and rock where there should be an entire room.”

  “Did you try redrawing the map?”

  “Yes, still nothing.” She turned and walked to the door.

  “Maybe there is some type of cloaking device down there.” He laughed as he said this.

  “How can you laugh about this Fletcher? We found evidence of other intelligent life in our solar system. This isn’t a laughing matter.”

  “Right, sorry.”

  Alyssa turned and placed her back against the wall next to the door and slid to a sitting position. “How much longer is the security team going to be?”

  “They should be up any minute now.” Just as he said this, the computer alerted the room that the mining pod had returned and the door slid open.

  “The pod just returned.”

  “Alright, if they give the all clear, you can go ahead down, but I’d rather you wait until the team arrives, they are on their way right now.”

  “I’m sure they can find their way down without me.” She smiled.

  “Your stubbornness is going to get you into trouble one of these days.”

  “I’m counting on that.” She ended the transmission, stood and walked to the pod door. “Is everything good down there?”

  The security chief, Sargent Grant Freemen, stepped out of the pod. “From what we can tell, everything looks good, there’s no sign of life.”

  “I wasn’t expecting there to be any life, it looks like no one has been in there for decades.”

  Sargent Freemen did not find her sarcasm amusing and simply walked away.

  * * *

  Doctor Harold Trinneer typed feverishly on the holo-keyboard in front of him. If his readings were correct, he would have the first proof toward his theory.

  He pushed his feet against the floor and his chair rolled across the room to the medical scanners surrounding Derek Hollister. He looked at one of the three screens he had added to the medical bio-bed, jotted several figures down on the palm of his hand, and returned his chair to the desk.

  The three bio-beds in the medical center came with three standard screens for monitoring a patient’s vital signs, but Dr. Trinneer had added three extra screens to one of the beds. These monitored something called psychoacoustic waves.

  Doctor Trinneer had discovered these waves three years ago and had been working ever since to prove that the could be used to allow people to communicate telepathically. The waves emanated from the brain at such a high frequency that the unaided human ear could not comprehend them. But he had been working on an implant that could translate these waves into thoughts.

  The problem was that the United Earth Ethics Committee would not allowed testing of this implant until it had been perfected and posed no threat to the safety of the user. But the only way to know for sure that it would work would be by testing it. So he was at a stalemate.

  He had almost given up until Derek had been brought to him. After running all of the standard test and finding nothing, he had tried a scan for increased psychoacoustic brainwave activity and found that the levels were increased to over three-hundred percent of the normal level.

  Until now, Dr. Trinneer believed these levels to be lethal, but Derek was still living, just comatose.

  He copied the numbers on his hand into the computer and sat sat back as the computer analyzed the data.

  Data analysis complete, announced the computer several seconds later.

  “Yes!” Doctor Trinneer jumped up as he saw the result. Derek Hollister was not sick, he was communicating with someone... or something.

  * * *

  Alyssa emerged from the pod and walked to the large computer that had put Derek into some type of coma.

  She found the power button and pressed it, instinctively stepping back.

  The computer screen lit up and there was a tone as the operating system came online, but it displayed something she did not expect.

  On the screen was what looked like one of the medical read-outs that were displayed in the medical complex.

  She pressed a button on the side of her comm-band and moved it to her lips, “Anderson to Fletcher.”

  “Fletcher here.”

  “I’ve got the main computer online, but it’s displaying what looks like a medical read-out. None of the other computers have done this so far.”

  “Have you checked any of the others to see if they have changed?”

  “No, I just...” She was interrupted by a beeping on the other end of the line.

  “It’s doctor Trinneer, he’s the one in charge of the medical complex. I need to take this.”

  “Alright, call me as soon as you’re done.” She pressed the button again and turned her attention to the computer screen.

  There were what looked like heart-rate monitors moving across the screen, each with several symbols below it.

  She leaned down to what she assumed was the keyboard and pressed the only red button on it. The screen instantly changed to display a grid of icons. Her heart skipped a beat. Each icon was a depiction of something. She saw what looked like a book and a gear and something that looked somewhat like a camera. If she could find more icons she could identify, she could match them with the symbols below and create a primitive translation algorithm in the lab computer.

  She tapped the icon that looked like a camera and the screen changed to display a list of symbols. She noticed that the first symbol of each of the first words on a line was the same. Ten lines down the symbol changed.

  “It’s a list of contacts in alphabetical order,” she whispered to herself. “Or in order by symbol.” She tapped the first line of symbols and the screen changed. It now displayed an image of herself and a small rotating disk in the middle of the screen.

  After several seconds, a message appeared in red lettering and she was returned to the main screen.

  As she was reaching to tap another icon, her comm-band chirped and she answered it.

  “Alyssa you need to come to the medical center right away, Derek is awake.”

  “On my way.” She turned on her heels and walked back to the pod.

  * * *

  The door to the medical center slid open as Alyssa approached.

  “How is he?” She asked when she saw a man with a tag identifying him as Dr. Harold Trinneer, Chief Medical Officer.

  “He is stable.” He wore an odd expression.

  Fletcher walked in and smiled, I think you are going to find this most interesting.

  Section Seven

  Medical Center,

  1757 Hours

  April 12th, 2167

  Alyssa looked at Derek. The skin covering his temples looked bruised.

  “What happened to him,” She asked.

  Doctor Trinneer stepped forward. “It’s a rather long, slightly unbelievable story, but I believe that that computer he touched down there was set to establish a link between it’s self and Derek’s brain.”

  “What! You mean it’s some kind of mind controller?”

  “Not necessarily, though I believe it could possibly be used for that as well. It uses what we call, psychoacoustic waves, to communicate with him, telepathically.” She gave him an unconvinced look. “I know it sounds farfetched, but I have spent years studying this.”

  “So why would the computer want to make a link to Derek’s brain.”

  Doctor Trinneer smiled, “That’s the beautiful part about all of this. Whoever it was that left all of this behind must have realized that if someone found this place, leaving a traditional recorded message would be of little use because it would be in their native tongue. But by communicating through psychoacoustic waves, the message would be translated into thought pattens understandable by any compatible sentient life form.” The doctor had a giddy look on his face.

  “That’s...” she was cut off.

  “Brilliant!” Doctor Trinneer walked over to a medical display.

  "I have been monitoring the psychoacoustic link from here and have found that the frequency is slightly higher than what it should be for a human; That is what is causing the bruising to mister Hollister’s temples.

  Derek instinctively rubbed his temples. “Captain?”

  Fletcher walked over to him.

  Doctor Trinneer followed the Captain. “You don’t need to be talking just yet, I want you to rest.”

  “I have to tell you something, it’s urgent.”

  “What is it Derek?” Fletcher looked slightly worried.

  “It’s about the aliens. I know why they aren’t here anymore.”

  Fletcher looked at the doctor as if to ask him if Derek was alright. He nodded and Fletcher looked back at Derek. “Go ahead.”

  “They were in the middle of some kind of war with another race from another solar system. They were losing badly so they had a group of scientist work on developing some type of biological weapon that they could disguise, but something went wrong and the virus mutated. It began killing their own people so fast that there wasn’t time to create a counter-virus. They ordered the evacuation of the planet, but by then, only a fraction of their population was left. Those few people fled to the stars, leaving the message that I received.”

  Alyssa, Fletcher and Trinneer stood in shock. Finally Fletcher turned to the doctor.

  “May I speak with you outside, doctor?”

  “Of course, Captain.”

  They walked back into the first room and left Alyssa to stay with Derek.

  “Is there any truth to what he is saying?”

  Trinneer pinched the bridge of his nose. “From all I can tell, he is telling the truth. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the truth. That computer could have been programmed to tell him anything.”

  “How can we be sure that the computer is telling the truth?”

  “I can run some tests for any unknown viruses.”

  “Get on it. God help us if you find what you’re looking for.”

  The Captain’s comm-band sounded and a voice broke the silence that had followed his last statement.

  “Excelsior to Captain Fletcher.”

  “Fletcher here,” he said.

  “Captain, you are needed on the bridge. Scanners are picking up several unknown objects moving at high speed in our direction. It looks like a group of large meteors.”

  “I’m on my way. Fletcher out.”

  “What was that all about?” Alyssa walked toward Fletcher looking very worried.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing. One of the cadets probably just got a little too excited."

  Less than half an hour later, captain Fletcher was walking onto the bridge of the Excelsior.

  Section Eight

  Main Bridge

  1800 Hours

  April 12th, 2167

  Fletcher stood looking at the images on the glass in front of him.

  "Weapons signatures? From meteors?"

  "I think we can assume that these are not meteors," said Commander Marvin Garrett, the balding, stone-faced chief of security.

  "Is it the Russians?" The captain looked at Garrett with fear in his eyes.

  Although United Earth told it's citizens that the Russians did not pose a military threat, reports from agents on the inside confirmed that Russian military technology was more advanced the Earth's.

  "I don't think so sir, I'm not aware of any Russian technology like this. It's to advanced, too sophisticated."

  "What are you saying?"

  Garrett looked uneasy as he spoke, "I've been hearing rumors about what was discovered down on the surface and I..."

  "I refuse to believe that these are alien spaceships coming to destroy us." Fletcher said this, but Garrett knew he didn't believe his own words.

  Deep down Fletcher felt a terrible since of vulnerability. He had woken up that morning, confident that humans where the only sentient life out here, in our galaxy at least. But now, that confidence was shattered.

  "Captain, there's a call waiting for you from the surface. It's doctor Trinneer."

  Fletcher walked to the comm station and saw the doctor's face on the glass.

  "I hope you have good news for me doctor."

  Doctor Trinneer's face was pale. "Sorry captain, but no; mister Hollister has heard something else from the computer. He says it's another message, but he refuses to tell anyone but you."

  "Well put him on screen."

  The screen changed to show Derek propped up on the biobed. "Captain, those aren't meteors the sensors are picking up, their probes. Robot probe. The aliens left them to wipe out any trace of the virus that turned up after they left."

  Captain Fletcher looked alarmed, as did Commander Garrett.

  "Why would they want to eradicate anyone that comes into contact with the virus? That would eliminate the chance of anyone finding a cure."

  "From what the message said, they think they are doing us a favor. They want to spare us from what they call 'the final stage' of the virus."

  "Well I don't know about you, but I'm not about to play the victim of a mercy killing." The captain turned to the commander and said, "I want you to prepare all of the fighter-pods. Get them out there and destroy those probes before they have the chance to see us up close."

  * * *

  Back on the surface, Alyssa watched as Dr. Trinneer peered into the screen of his quantum microscope.

  "Fantastic!" He exclaimed.

  "And what would that be doctor?" Alyssa had an edge in her voice.

  "There does seem to be evidence of a virus, but only at the quantum level. The virus actually attacks the atomic structure of its prey. It's capable of actually rearranging an objects atoms."

  "I'm sorry if I sound rude, but why is that fantastic, shouldn't we be concerned that this virus is going to rewrite our DNA or something?"

  "Well I don't think we have anything to be afraid of actually. The virus seems to be inert. If it was an artificial virus, it must not have strong enough defenses to withstand the elements this long without a host. It's like the robots they use in the deserts back on earth, if they aren't maintained, the sand gets into their gears and corrodes them. Eventually the grind to a halt."

  The doctor turned to a comm panel and placed a call to captain Fletcher. The captain's face filled the screen seconds later.

  "I have some good news this time captain."

  "God knows I could use some."

  "I have found evidence of a virus, but from all I can tell, it is inert. The virus seems to be everywhere, but none of its cells are moving. They just cling to everything they come into contact with."

  "I guess no one bothered to tell those probes that the virus is dead, because they are still closing in on us. Is there anything you can do to mask the virus or better yet, destroy it?"

  "I've been looking into that. So far, it has proven to be quite resilient. It has some kind of outer shell, if you will, that protects it from everything I've tried."

  "Keep working on it and keep me posted of your findings." He looked around as if to make sure he was alone and then addressed Alyssa, "Alyssa, I want you assembly everyone in the mess hall until we figure out what to do about all of this. I'm going to make an address to the entire crew at 1900 hours to explain the situation."

  "What exactly is the situation?"

  "Let's just say 'Houston, we have a problem' is an understatement."

  * * *

  Alyssa walked into the main control room of the base, passing the environmental and power systems, she stopped in front of the comms station.

  "Computer," the comm panel computer activated with a beep, "begin base wide address." The computer beeped twice and a small green light flashed.

  "Attention all crew members, by order of the captain, all personnel are to report to the mess hall until further notice. The captain will make a base-wide address at 1900 hours." She tapped an icon on the screen in front of her and the green light stopped flashing.

  Alyssa left the control room and made her way down the hall toward the mess hall. Just as she rounded the last corner, Tom yelled her name and she stopped.

  "Alyssa, what's going on? Why is everyone being sent to the mess hall? I thought that only happened in the event of an emergency."

  She nodded.

  "Are you saying somethings happened?"

  "I'm not supposed to say anything until the captain makes his address, but yes, something's happened."

  Tom looked shocked as they walked into the mess hall and found a seat near the center.

  The view of the martian landscape through the large windows was now obstructed by large metal shielding that had come down.

  In the event of an emergency such as a hull breech or biohazard, the mess hall had been designated as the gathering point. It had been enhanced with extra shielding and it's own supply of oxygen.

  Alyssa turned to say something to Tom, but he had just seen Kara, his botanist friend, and taken off to meet her.

  Her thoughts turned to Fletcher. She missed him. Yes, she saw him every day, but their relationship was falling apart. They had each become so engrossed in their own respective work, that they had stopped spending time together.

  I wonder if he feels the same, she thought as she watched Tom and Kara embrace.

  Section Nine

  Shuttle Hanger One

  1900 Hours

  April 12th, 2167

  Commander Garrett pulled his helmet on and stepped into the cockpit of the Class 7 fighter-pod sitting on the launch pad.