Solar Express (30 page)

NOT WITHIN THE ARTIFACT.

Tavoian guided the ISV to the adjoining hexagon, which had similar fused protruding lumps, as did the two chambers flanking the first two.

The “door” to the fifth chamber had been frozen in a position that left an entry space of little more than half a meter. Tavoian found himself holding his breath as the rover's lights penetrated the dimness. He couldn't help but smile as he saw an unmelted shape affixed to the outboard bulkhead/deck. He guided the rover closer, noting that the shape was an elongated hexagon that extended roughly seventy centimeters from where it melded seamlessly with the bulkhead/deck. The surface was green, but a lighter green than that of the rest of the chamber … and absolutely featureless. There were no signs of the metals that were swirled through the melted and fused masses in the first four hexagons.

Tavoian had the rover scan the entire chamber, but it was empty, except for the extruded/protruded hexagon. What he did discover at the far or lower end of the hexagon was another “door,” also jammed open the same amount as the one through which the rover had entered. When the rover went through that opening, the view was identical to the passages through which Tavoian had guided the spy-eyes earlier. Further exploration of the maze of corridors could wait until the rover had investigated the remaining “open” hexagons, Tavoian decided.

Sending the rover into the remaining thirteen hexagons identified by the ship's AI took another three hours, and discovered no other protrusions, either fused or intact, by which time Tavoian's head ached, and his eyes burned. Absently, he checked the time. It was 1937 UTC.

No wonder you can hardly see straight.

At that, he had the rover clamp itself to the ISV, then turned control over to the ship's AI. “Return ISV to the lock. Refuel the ISV and the rover.”

COMMENCING RETURN.

When he checked the message queue, Tavoian found another message from the colonel, whose arrival he had not even noticed when he had been directing the exploration of the alien artifact. The gist of the colonel's communication was contained in one sentence: “Request immediate update on your progress and findings.”

Do they think that there's wonderful technology laid out with a manual for them to follow?
Tavoian wasn't feeling terribly sympathetic to the colonel's urgency. After almost three hours of following the rover in and out of hexagons, and only four to six hours sleep out of the past thirty-six or so, Tavoian's eyes were so heavy he could barely keep them open, and his vision was blurring if he didn't concentrate on focusing.

The body of his response was short and simple.

Have spent almost thirteen straight hours investigating artifact. To date, have found great evidence of technological prowess but no immediately identifiable and replicable technological artifacts. More information attached. No longer able to concentrate. Will resume efforts after getting some sleep.

Regardless of what the colonel thought and wanted, Tavoian couldn't do anything more without some sleep.

He didn't even have to dim the control area lighting before his eyes closed.

 

41

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10 N
OVEMBER
2114

[O
TTAWA
] “Getting involved in a fight between the Sinese and the Indians is total idiocy.” That was Senator Castenada's opening statement in the debate over emergency funds for the Department of Off-Earth Activities. Castenada (CP-NY) called DOEA Secretary Luvalle's report of a “potential” alien artifact a “blatant ploy” to funnel more money into the military functions of DOEA, adding that Luvalle's middle name ought to be “Serendipity if he thinks the Senate is gullible enough to swallow the idea of the sudden appearance of an alien spacecraft just when DOEA needs money to embark on deep space military adventures at a time of overwhelming national needs that are far more pressing.” The Senator also dismissed as “pure propaganda” the news reports that the Sinese Federation has already dispatched a probe to investigate the mysterious body that is now halfway between the orbits of the Earth and Mars.

Castenada is currently under investigation by the Noram Inspector-General's office in regard to charges that he revealed classified DOEA material to the media after the Administration failed to provide additional disaster relief to New York City.

Senator Kim Greywinter (D-ALB), chairman of the DOEA oversight committee, just finished holding hearings on the Administration's request. Greywinter suggested that failing to take advantage of the “startling information” provided by the Space Service would be a grievous mistake. He also noted that Castenada had a “perfect record of deliberate misinformation.”

Castenada could not be reached for further comment.

EC Chancellor Rumikov chided both Noram and the Sinese Federation for failing to inform other nations about the potential alien spacecraft, and stated that it would set “a terrible precedent” if either failed to share fully any scientific information recovered from missions to investigate the object.

DOEA Secretary Luvalle declined comment on whether the Noram probe was manned and whether it had actually reached the mysterious object, despite reports from various astronomical facilities that a small body has been sighted orbiting the mysterious object that rotates slowly, showing alternatively a shimmering brilliant white side and a dark side.

Sinese Minister for Space Wong Mengyi let it be known through ministry officials that no comment would be forthcoming until the Sinese probe reached the object and relayed preliminary information to ministry scientists. A Sinese official who declined to be named also stated that any interference with Sinese space operations and research would be considered “hostile military action” and would invalidate all nonmilitarization of space treaties and agreements …

 

42

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10 N
OVEMBER
2114

Tavoian slept longer than usual, at least longer than he had been, but that made sense given how he'd collapsed the night before and given the fact that he was sleeping in weightless conditions. It was still comparatively early—0537 UTC—when he woke and checked the time, but after some initial grogginess, he felt much better. He felt even more refreshed after eating, prepared foods or not, largely from squeeze type containers, which indicated that whoever had stocked Recon three had known that most of the provisions would have to be consumed in weightless conditions, rather than under acceleration or decel. The orange juice even tasted remotely fresh.

He cleaned up quickly, then settled in front of the controls. There were no messages, either from the colonel or anyone else, and he wanted to get started before there were any. The next step was to run a systems check on the AI rover, before sending it down to the artifact on the ISV and then through the open doors of the hexagon to see where the passages might lead. Because he believed in backups, he'd decided to have the rover go as far as it could under his direction. Then when it reached the end of the fiber-optic line—or if the line snarled or broke—it could proceed on its own. Tavoian intended to use direct control and linkage as far as he could so that he had real-time visuals, even though he knew that to get into the depths of the alien artifact he'd have to set the rover loose on its own. He only had two rovers. He could likely cobble together a third if necessary, but he certainly didn't want to hazard the rovers unnecessarily or quickly, not when he was likely to be on station for more than two months, although he had the feeling he probably wouldn't be the only Noram ship around the artifact before that long, not after the colonel transmitted images and data to the head of Space Command.

Then again
 … With all the possible hostilities between the great powers and the position of the artifact on the far side of the sun from Earth, even the colonel might have trouble gathering the necessary resources for a full scientific team, especially doing so quickly enough to allow them sufficient time and resources.
But that's not your problem, and you've got enough to deal with without worrying about his difficulties.

Getting the systems check done, and then transmitting the programmed instructions and guidelines inputted to the rover's AI took close to an hour, and close to another hour passed before the ISV hovered above the half-open door to the hexagonal chamber that had held the unmarked equipment still anchored to the floor. Tavoian eased the AI rover, using its fully charged thruster pack and trailing the fiber-optic line, through the opening, past the protrusion that might be some form of equipment or technology—or might not—and then through the second opening. The idea was to guide the rover in the direction of the outer hull, hoping to find another passage there leading “down,” the idea being to see if there might be a way close to the hull that led around the barrier at the bottom of the central hexagonal shaft.

If that failed, Tavoian could look for other “doors” that had been left open, but in his estimation, there were over twenty thousand hexagons in the artifact, assuming the places where he hadn't yet explored were like the others. Trying to send the rover through all those passages would exhaust all the thruster propellant before even a fraction of the hexagons were investigated. The next possibility was remote, but he could try beaming various lights and electromagnetic wavelengths at the doors to see if that created any reaction …

One thing at a time.
He pulled his thoughts back to the rover. Once through the second opening, the one out of the first hexagon, because he could only go parallel to the outer hull, he guided the rover to the left. Some twelve meters farther on he came to a four-way junction—left or right, each at sixty-degree angles, or toward the rim and where the silvery hull ended or away from it, at a ninety-degree angle. He guided the rover toward the hull, for all of about eight meters, when it reached the layer of hexagonal chambers closer to the hull. The next junction was a stretch of twenty-five meters away, but the short passageway “out” toward the hull ended in a blank wall of the dark green material.

“Are there any color differentiations?” he asked the ship's AI.

NEGATIVE.

“Are there any other differentiations not visible to the human eye?”

THE SURFACE PARALLEL TO THE FLAT SIDES OF THE HEXAGON AND CLOSEST TO THE OUTER ARC OF THE ARTIFACT IS FRACTIONALLY ROUGHER. WITHOUT IR CAPABILITIES, MORE DISTINCTION IS NOT POSSIBLE.

Another indication that they did spin the larger sphere.

Tavoian supposed that was progress. After quick inspection of the blank wall, he headed the rover back to the last passage split, and turned the rover farther along a passageway parallel to the rim of the artifact, looking for another passage leading back out toward the rim, but when he guided the rover outward once more, passage was blocked by another blank wall.

Once more he guided the rover back to the last junction and went parallel along another twenty-plus-meter stretch … and, abruptly, the image from the rover vanished.

“What happened?”

THE SIGNAL WAS LOST. MOST PROBABLE CAUSE WAS TENSION ON THE LINE. SECOND MOST PROBABLE CAUSE WAS PRESSURE ON THE LINE AGAINST A SHARP EDGE OR OBJECT.

Tavoian mentally calculated. The ISV carried five hundred meters of line on a largely frictionless spool. According to the ISV readouts, a little less than 140 meters of line had paid out. He had a good general idea where the rover was, but no way to track it where it might go. He could only hope that the AI guidance would enable it to get farther along, perhaps even to find a way past or through the barriers seemingly built into the artifact everywhere to restrict access to whatever lay immediately under the outer silvery hull. Because that hull was so strong that human technology that could be transported to the artifact was unlikely to break through it, the only real hope was to find ways into that section of the ship without using force. Of course, doing that was essentially useless if the AI couldn't also direct the rover back to the ISV.

Thinking of that, he focused on the images from the ISV. Nothing had changed. It remained over the open door, occasionally using its thrusters to hold its position. As he studied the image, Tavoian wondered if there was any way he could figure out to simply attach the ISV in position …

Then he shook his head. He could simply put it inside one of the hexagons against one of the walls where the rotation would hold it—except he couldn't do that and maintain control without a fiber-optic line to a repeater outside the hexagon. Nothing was simple, given what the massive artifact was, including being totally opaque to any transmissions. Belatedly, he had the ISV retrieve the severed line. He'd take a look at it once the ISV returned to Recon three.
Assuming it does.

For the moment, he had to hope for the best.

His thoughts went back to the alien artifact.
How did they communicate within the original sphere?
There had to be a comm system built into the walls of the structure. Would the areas around the “doors” respond to electronic signals? Light or laser pulses? Various levels of electromagnetic radiation?

Tavoian heard his stomach growl. He did feel hungry, and a little light-headed. He checked the time—0957 UTC. That late already?

“Notify me if there's any sign of the rover … or anything else, including any other spacecraft that might be approaching.” Tavoian didn't expect the Sinese longliner for another day, but relying on expectations wasn't a good idea, especially given the situation between Noram and the Sinese. Since there was little point in sitting and waiting, he decided he might as well check to see if any new messages had arrived and then take a break and eat something, especially since it had been hours since breakfast.