Read Moonbase Crisis: Star Challengers Book 1 Online
Authors: Rebecca Moesta,Kevin J. Anderson,June Scobee Rodgers
With the winch turning and the cable taut, King kept pace with Fox. Soon they reached the lip of the crater, where he felt incredibly relieved to see the rover.
King turned for one last glimpse down into the crater and saw with a sinking heart that the buried termite robot was moving, dragging itself free from the rubble. Its legs were damaged, and it walked with a drunken gait. King couldn’t see the alien creature inside the control bubble, but as the termite machine struggled back toward the covert alien installation, King knew the mysterious base inhabitants were not going to be happy.
King’s oxygen was close to empty now.
Fortunately, Major Fox’s life-support systems hadn’t been damaged in the fall. By now, he was awake enough to try walking with help. Breathing hard, King unclipped the tether, and they staggered toward the rover … and air.
“We’re at the airlock, Major! We’re safe. Let’s get you inside.” He and Fox cycled through while JJ backed up the rover and turned it around. Even before the two emerged from the airlock, JJ was driving away at top speed.
Moonbase Magellan—and Earth—had to be warned.
In the crater adjacent to the moonbase, Dyl was inside the
Halley,
with the hatch sealed and the oxygen tanks filling the compartment. The Multi-Axis Rover had maneuvered the damaged supply ship onto flatter terrain. Together, the team had repaired the breach in the hull, adding patches and new plating to seal the seams. They had also replaced the landing strut and the broken imager. Concerned about the unidentified threat that had brought the
Halley
down, Chief Ansari had also engineered a way to add an extra fuel tank, for good measure.
While the compartment pressurized, Captain Bronsky tested the engines, and Cushing and Ansari checked the
Halley’s
exterior for any further signs of leaks. Dyl monitored the instruments, watched the pressure increase normally.
“No sign of any air loss. We’ll be ready to go soon,” Cushing said, sounding surprised.
“Systems nominal,” Dyl said. “Told you it would be a piece of cake.”
Then a message broke into their communications circuit. JJ’s voice. “Mayday! This is the rover!” Coming over the crater’s edge, they saw the rover’s bright lights. “Major Fox is injured, and we need help! That place is definitely an alien base—we were attacked!”
Ansari wasted no time. “Everybody, we’d better get ready for company.”
***
Twenty-One
The drive back from the alien base to Magellan had been grueling. JJ and King split the driving duties and alternated taking care of Fox, who had a broken arm and deep bruising from the fall. Using basic First Aid he had learned as a Scout, King splinted the arm to keep it still. The major spent most of the trip in a fever, and the cadets gave him pain medicine from the rovers medical kit. Although they saw no sign of aliens, neither King nor JJ slept much.
After JJ and King brought the rover back to Moonbase Magellan, Major Fox was taken inside and now lay on a raised table while Dr. Romero and Song-Ye tended his injuries. Everyone gathered in the base’s small medical center, which was a partitioned-off area in the hab bubble.
“It could have been much worse,” Dr. Romero said. “Medipack sixteen, please.”
Song-Ye handed her a medipack. “I think Major Fox’s suit did a good job of maintaining his body’s integrity.”
Chief Ansari looked almost as exhausted as JJ felt.
“Do you have a headache, Chief?” Dyl asked.
“This whole situation is the headache.” The chief leaned against the module partition, pressing her fingers against her closed eyes. “I spoke with CMC and showed them the images that Major Fox and the cadets brought back. They don’t doubt it anymore, but they can’t do anything for us from Earth, either.
“Even if they wanted to send us help, there are only a few other ships capable of traveling from the space station complex to the Moon. And none of them are ready to fly. They weren’t expecting to send another ship here for half a year. They say it would take
weeks
for the most slapdash emergency launch, and then several days in transit.”
King gave a low whistle. “Weeks, huh? And that’s for an
emergency.”
“You sure they believed you about the aliens?” JJ asked.
Ansari gave a heavy sigh. “They can’t deny the presence of the other installation, but I’m not sure they’ve fully accepted that non-humans are behind it.”
“We saw them with our own eyes!” King protested.
“Pfft,”
Song-Ye said. “I’m not sure
I
would have believed you, if I were at CMC instead of here. It does sound kind of crazy.” She had put Newton back in his cage in the ag bubble for this emergency meeting.
Major Fox drew in a sharp breath as Dr. Romero moved the broken bone back into place. JJ was amazed that the major’s suit was less damaged than he was.
“That’s one of the problems of being an astronaut,” said Fox. “A lot of the people back home think we’re crazy to begin with. They don’t understand why we’re interested in space.”
“But aliens attacked us,” JJ said. “Somebody on Earth needs to wake up and
do
something!”
“I can give them astronomical proof that ships are flying in the vicinity—and not from an Earth trajectory,” Dr. Wu said. The introverted astronomer had come over for the meeting in the hab bubble.
Dr. Romero used a medical laser to fuse the ends of the broken bone together. “My uncle is on ICSA’s board of directors. He says there’s so much negotiating involved in every decision that it takes a month just to agree on who’s allowed to attend the meeting. Actually, he said it takes a month to decide whether or not they’re allowed to blow their noses.”
“In other words, we’re on our own to solve this problem. Business as usual.” Ansari nodded wearily. “The occupants of that base are bound to come over here. They know we’ve located them, so there’s no point in them hiding any longer. I’m open to ideas. Anyone?”
“We could go into our emergency shelters, try to wait it out,” Romero suggested. “We don’t have the option of all leaving.”
“The cadets could take us back to Earth the same way they got here,” Fox said, grimacing again as the doctor placed an immobilization wrap on his arm.
“We don’t know how!” Song-Ye said.
“How are the repairs going on the lander?” JJ asked.
“Pretty much finished,” Dyl said. “Systems are nominal.”
Captain Bronsky shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. The lander’s built for a
maximum
of four passengers, and we brought only enough fuel to get two people back.”
“There’s a stockpile of fuel here,” King pointed out.
“We do have plenty of fuel,” Ansari agreed, “even to fill the extra tank I added. But there are ten of us and only four seats.”
JJ pursed her lips. “What would they do on
Star Trek,
Dyl?”
“They’d think their brains out until they came up with a brilliant solution just in time,” Dyl said. “Usually the first couple of things they try don’t work, but there are always alternatives.”
“The lander seems like the most obvious choice, but it can’t hold ten,” Cushing said.
“Why exactly is that?” Song-Ye asked. “Isn’t fuel the limiting factor in spaceflight?”
“No seats, no passenger room,” Bronsky said. “We’d all have to wear suits for the entire trip. Physically, there is not enough room in the cockpit cabin for more than four.”
“But it’s a
supply
ship,” Song-Ye pressed. “It must be able to carry more mass than that.”
“Is the cargo area part of the main compartment?” JJ asked. “Does it have oxygen and pressurization?”
“Yes … ” With a frown of concentration, Ansari grabbed a datapad and began making calculations, while Dyl got out a notecard and pencil and sketched the interior of the lander. Ansari pointed to the sketch. “There is pressurized cargo space here, and here, behind the seats. If we took out these two panels … ”
Ignoring Dr. Romero, who was tending his bruises, Major Fox sat up and started working on another datapad. “That would change the oxygen requirements, of course. As you said, we have the extra fuel capacity.”
“But still only four passenger seats,” Bronsky insisted. “You can’t just dump people in an empty part of the craft and expect them not to get thrown around.”
“I may be able to rig something,” Dr. Romero said. “We have plenty of ways to secure cargo, which means we can certainly come up with a work-around to secure some human beings. So we’ve got spacesuits, fuel, oxygen, restraints and … I could use some extra cushioning.”
“What about the pads in the bunks?” JJ suggested. “They’re lightweight.”
“Perfect,” Romero beamed. “Now that’s what I call problem-solving.”
“It’s not good enough.” Ansari shook her head. “I’ve done the calculations over and over. Even if we use cargo space, there’s only room for six.”
“I’m afraid she’s right,” Fox said, setting his datapad aside.
Just then proximity alarms went off, but this time it was no meteor shower.
Above Moonbase Magellan, a swarm of flickering alien lights appeared.
***
Twenty-Two
The triangular enemy ships looked like razor-edged arrowheads flying over the connected modules of the base. After running into the MCC from the hab module, Chief Ansari rushed to the comm station and transmitted on all possible frequencies. “Please communicate with us! Identify yourselves. We mean no harm! Do not attack this base.”
Dyl muttered to his sister, “You know, I’ve seen movies where stuff like this just turns out to be a big misunderstanding.”
“Right,” JJ said. “I’m sure they’ve got a perfectly good reason for trying to
kill us.”
“This is reality, Junior, not a simulation,” Song-Ye said, but JJ didn’t notice any sarcasm in the girl’s tone.
The exotic ships released a cluster of golden spheres that exploded with a flash as bright as sunlight. JJ instinctively covered her eyes. When the flash faded, she saw that the blast had shredded the new solar-power array the Star Challengers had erected only two weeks ago with Major Fox.
A second bombardment took out three more solar collectors.
The lights in the Moonbase Control Center flickered. Ansari muted the persistent alarms, but emergency readouts flashed. The chief continued to shout into the comm microphone, hoping that one of the alien pilots would hear and understand. “Listen to me! We are
peaceful
—we have no defenses! Please cease fire!”
Major Fox groaned. “Never in my wildest imaginings did I think we’d need weaponry to protect this outpost. Moonbase Magellan was established for the good of all humankind.”
“I don’t think those attackers have anything to do with humankind,” King said.
The ominous ships circled back, firing on the moonbase modules.
Song-Ye suddenly gulped. “I have to save Newton!” She bolted out of the MCC.
“Don’t go to the ag bubble. It’s too danger—” Dyl yelled after her.
Song-Ye kept going. “Those ships are hitting the whole base. Every module’s dangerous.”
Dr. Romero ran after Song-Ye. “We’ve got to lock down what we can.”
Explosions coughed up slow-motion plumes of rocks and debris. Indignant, Dr. Wu cried out as he watched a cluster of the sunlike energy bombs strike his isolated astro bubble, wrecking the observatory dome and shattering the perfectly arranged hexagonal mirror segments. “Why?” he wailed. “What do they want?”
The next strike hit the bright greenhouse, shattering the interlocked crystalline roof plates.
“Song-Ye and Dr. Romero are in there!” King shouted. The cadets headed toward the corridor connecting to the ag bubble, only to encounter a harried-looking Song-Ye and Romero racing back toward them to the MCC. Their faces were flushed, dark hair blown in all directions.
“Rapid decompression,” Song-Ye panted. “We got out and sealed the bulkhead in time.”
“All the plants are destroyed,” Romero said. “The entire harvest! How are we going to survive?”
“Let’s worry about surviving this attack first,” Ansari said.
Though breathless, Song-Ye proudly produced the squirming hamster. “Newton’s safe.”
Once they were all back in the MCC, King stated the inescapable conclusion. “As long as we’re at the base, we’re a big target.”
“And what do you suggest we do, Cadet King?” Ansari said.
“Suit up and get to the
Halley,”
JJ answered.
“The fuel’s already over there,” Dyl pointed out. “It’s practically ready to launch.”
Fox considered the idea. “The ship is in the next crater. The aliens might not have targeted it yet.”
“How would we get all the way over there?” Bronsky asked. “A caravan out in the open?”
“We still haven’t solved the passenger problem.” Chief Ansari turned to the cadets, her face beseeching. “Please, all our lives are at stake. Activate the transportation system Commander Zota used to bring you here. We
must
evacuate. There’s no sense in keeping secrets anymore!”
Dyl locked eyes with her. “Don’t you think we’d whisk ourselves and all of you out of here if we could?”
“My brother’s right. We
want
to help you.” JJ couldn’t believe that Zota would have sent his Star Challengers up here to certain death. He’d told Dyl he came from the future. If that was the case, he would have known the moonbase was going to be attacked. It didn’t make any sense.
“Earth must be watching all this in horror,” Cushing said, his voice heavy with resignation. “We asked for their help. We warned them. Now, whatever they do will be too late.”
“We’re out of time,” Captain Bronsky said.
Ansari nodded. “We’ll hole up in the emergency bunkers. Once the aliens are gone, we can try to make it to the lander and take off.”
Major Fox remained grave. “We’ve been through all this, Chief. Even with an extra fuel tank, we’ve got too many people. Four of us will have to stay behind.”
“And without life support or the greenhouse or the solar-power panels, nobody can last long.” Dr. Wu groaned.
JJ tried to make sense of the situation. This couldn’t be what Zota had meant to happen. It
couldn’t!
The mysterious commander wanted to save Earth and change the future.
She came to a decision and spoke, her voice shaking. “You weren’t expecting us—a bunch of cadets. Maybe there is another way for the four of us to escape. When it’s clear, you all should get to the
Halley
without us and—”
“I will
not
leave children behind, even if I don’t know how you got here,” Ansari insisted. “You didn’t ask for this.”
“None of us did,” Dr. Wu agreed.
“We could draw straws,” Fox said quietly. “It’s an unbiased way to choose. In any case, I’ll stay behind. I have a clipped wing, so I’m not much use as a pilot, and—”
“Worry about that
after
we survive the attack.” Ansari turned to the cadets. “We’ll have to separate. You four, to the storm shelter in here, right now. Seal the hatch—you’ll be as safe as you can be. The rest of us will use the shelters in the hab bubble and ESM. Good thing the moonbase was designed for a much larger crew.”
“I sure hope the aliens run out of ammunition soon,” Dyl said as Song-Ye climbed down into the armored underground chamber that had protected them from the meteor storm. “Go ahead,” he said to JJ and King. “I’m less coordinated, so I’ll go last.”
The storm shelter would shield against typical hazards on the Moon, but JJ knew that the bunker hadn’t been designed with an alien attack in mind.
As the moonbase crew scrambled to get to other shelters, Ansari helped Dyl down through the hatch, and prepared to close it on the cadets. Her eyes rested for a moment on Dyl.
“Goodbye … if it comes to that, Chief,” he said.
“Let’s just get through the next hour, cadets. Once we see how many of us are left and what equipment we can still use, we’ll deal with the next problem.” Another bright flash lit up the MCC’s windowports as Ansari sealed the four of them into the bunker.
Even through the ground, JJ could feel the shudders of heavy explosions outside. The friends huddled together in silence as the interminable bombardment continued. Song-Ye held Newton, petting him to calm the creature as well as herself.
“Not quite what I expected from a Challenger Center simulation,” King said quietly.
“The invitation did mention it would be exciting,” Song-Ye said wryly.
Dyl leaned against his sister. “We aren’t going to get out of this, are we?”
She put an arm around him. “Donovan Dylan Wren! I don’t have the slightest idea how we got
into
this, but we
will
make it out.”
The heavy shocks continued, then a much stronger one. JJ hoped the rest of the crew were secure in the other bunkers. JJ refused to admit even to herself how afraid she was. She closed her eyes.
Moon, sweet Moon.
Then came the sharpest jolt of all. Dyl yelped involuntarily as the bunker walls shuddered.
The power failed. The lights went out, plunging the bunker into the deepest blackness imaginable.
***