The Lost Civilization

Chapter One

The Lost Civilization

John Carpenter was excited about the news he had received. NASA had not only informed him about the asteroid mission, for which he had been chosen from among seven other candidates, but he was also assigned to be the mission’s commander. He was only 37, and had been to the Moon once before and twice been to the International Space Station. Now NASA was organizing this manned mission as the second mission in line with the objective of the former President Obama and as a successful result of the first robotic asteroid mission. On the first mission in 2025, a satellite had been sent to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. That satellite had brought a meteor the size of a bus into the Moon’s orbit by catching it with the help of a bellows system. After a thorough examination, it had been concluded that the meteor was relevant for mining. Twelve years later, a mining mission was finally planned to the newly discovered asteroid Andorra 85, and financial support was provided by Congress with difficulty. Congress also provided that financial support by evaluating the asteroid’s material value — approximately two hundred trillions US dollars! That was a jaw-dropping amount. The cost of the mission could be borne hundreds times over.
Mining of the estimated iron, nickel, platinum, cobalt, and other possible minerals in the asteroid was going to be extremely beneficial both for its material income and for technological developments. Another advantage of the mission was that the first manned Mars mission wasn’t going to a separate one. As soon as the mission was completed the same astronauts were going forward to Mars. According to the calculations, when the first mining job was completed, Andorra 85 would be in the orbit of Mars. So NASA was going to kill two birds with one stone. When NASA had explained its decision as a combined mission, it was met with a strong reaction from some scientists and the media. They said that it was going to be too hard and dangerous. NASA was accused of putting astronauts’ lives in danger to reduce the cost. However, NASA managed to defend itself by explaining the situation technically and convincing them.
Lost in thoughts about everything that had happened since, John tried to imagine his first mission. It was going to take a month, thanks to the newly developed plasma pushing system. Analysis would be made with a robotic probe when they arrived on the asteroid. If results were positive, they were going to start the mining process with autonomous robot excavators. The only point of the criticism was how to carry the mines they extracted from one place to the other. That point was the most important one because sixty or eighty tons of minerals were expected to be extracted each time. To carry all these minerals, a robotically controlled ship had been considered. That ship was going to be launched before the astronauts and orbited in the asteroid. Its motors were composed of ionic motors, slower than manned ships. Since it didn’t carry humans, speed wasn’t a priority. Therefore, slower but more economical ion motors were preferred. If it worked well, this first part probe and mining job would be completed in thirty days. In this period of time, at least thirty tons of minerals were expected to be extracted. During that process, two astronauts were going to control the job, and the robots and other four astronauts were going to leave for Mars. The journey was going to start when the asteroid was closest to Mars. According to the calculations, the distance between Mars and The asteroid would be short and the astronauts were expected to step on Mars without the need to organize an additional journey.
After NASA developed the necessary technology for asteroid mining, they considered transferring the job to private sectors and focusing the attention on discoveries. If private sectors desired the production of necessary equipment, selling or hiring, as well as providing required consultancy service, were among the plans.
However, even if all those calculations were made thousands of times, there was always a fudge factor. The astronauts were authorized to leave Mars or the asteroid as soon as they felt something went wrong.
John was informed he would begin the journey after a four-month-long intense training. He checked the names under his command and recognized at least three of them. All of the astronauts had been chosen among the people who had made a space journey beforehand. A good list, he thought to himself. Working together with such experienced astronauts was going to be a pleasure.
After a month, the group was gathered together at Houston Space Center’s training department. The ones who were already acquainted greeted each other warmly, while the rest made introductions. John, as journey commander, knew that he had to socialize with them. They were going to spend a long time in space together.
Slowly, John observed each of them in turn. Paul Gauger, having traveled to space three times, was an experienced astronaut. Nelson Verhoeven had been in space twice – once he had been free in space when the rope broke while he was walking in space, but he’d managed to turn back to his spaceship thanks to mini thrusters on his spacesuit. Those thrusters provided pushing power for nearly half an hour, which was enough time for an astronaut in an emergency. Michael Bang had been in space three times and had been in command once. Bryan Anderson had been in space twice, staying in the International Space Station for four months on his second trip. He’d received recognition for being the person to stay there the longest. Richard Stronghold had been in space twice and had once investigated a meteor drifting in the Moon’s orbit. Phil McKenzie had been in four space travels, and in one of them had escaped death during an accident. During his spacewalk, some unnoticed space junk in orbit had hit him and tore his spacesuit. Phil hadn’t been injured but because of the rip on his spacesuit, he had begun to lose oxygen fast. He was fortunate to be close to the spaceship and managed to return to safety before his oxygen dropped to a dangerous level.
John met each of the six brave men with a sincere handshake. “Welcome,” he greeted them.
“Dear gentlemen, I hope you are aware of the fact that you have been chosen for an extremely important and proud journey. If everything works well, you are going to be the first people landing on both Mars and an asteroid in history.”
The astronauts, listening to him from the comfort of their chairs, looked at each other and moved in discomfort. Nobody had told them about the asteroid, too.
Phil disapproved. “Wait a second, Commander Carpenter, we were told we were just landing on Mars. Nobody gave us information about landing on an asteroid.”
John took a deep breath. “There was a change by order of President Mason at the last moment. He asked if it was possible to land on an asteroid and he got the answer. Yes, this is more dangerous than landing on Mars, but it is possible. We couldn’t wait for NASA to say no to the President. Therefore, it’s upon us, brave astronauts, to complete this mission.” He tried to smile, hoping to soften the effects of his speech. But, he couldn’t and the astronauts began to grumble. He continued hesitantly. “Gentlemen, please calm down. Think about the fame you will get.”
Richard spoke up. “Who cares about the fame if they’re dead? If a bad situation comes up on the asteroid, can anybody rescue us? Or after this will there be a new Armageddon film?” All the astronauts started to laugh.
John dodged his question. “I hope it won’t be something like that.” Then he began to focus on the details of the journey. Otherwise, this discussion would never end.
During the first month, they did training in weightless conditions. Although the astronauts were accustomed to working in space, returning to space after a long break and no practice could be difficult. In the second month, command module training was the core focus. Both command module management and work to be done during the journey were simulated.
While the astronauts continued training, the cargo ship was blasted off to the asteroid. It would be waiting for astronauts when they landed on the asteroid.
When training was completed and launch day finally arrived, astronauts and people over the world were excited. When countdown was completed, and the space shuttle blasted off with its full strength, the entire crew let out a collective exhale .Everything from the rocket blast off to reaching orbit was successful. After checking initial controls, plasma boosters were ignited, and the space shuttle began to move with full speed to the target.
After the spaceship entered its route completely, the crew completed all of the controls one by one and their one-month journey began. John passed from command module to life module which was at the backside of the module and ordered everybody to gather there. After the crew had moved backward by gliding and got their positions, he began to speak.
“Men, we have started our historical journey. I hope that we can complete all of the missions without any problem, and return home safely. Would anyone like to say anything or make any suggestions on this historical day?”
Stronghold, the geology expert of the crew, said, “Commander, I have a question. When we get there, before landing on the asteroid, we presume that the necessary drill tests are positive, and we start mining. The plan is going smoothly, and we land on Mars. But if we have a problem there, or on the asteroid, what would we do? We have examined the escape plans, of course. But the asteroid will be going on its way in space. In that proximity, there are chances of an asteroid will hit us, both our ship and the asteroid itself.”
John answered calmly, as they had been over this before. “As you know, all the large asteroids which are in proximity to crash have had their routes calculated. We couldn’t see any of them hitting our asteroid.”
But Stronghold insisted. “What about the ones that we couldn’t see? Or small size asteroids? One of them can be just as dangerous for us, you know.”
John sighed. “Yes, I know that. But remember, we are trained for these probable and existing risks. If humans were afraid of risks, there wouldn’t be any explorations at all. We will do our best at our training branch through the mission, we will use all the knowledge and talent we have, and most importantly, we will pray to God.”
Stronghold conceded. “I hope your good thoughts will become real, Commander.”
John looked at the other members of the crew. “Any other questions?” The crew was silent. John clapped his hands and ended the meeting. “Ok, everybody get to work.”
The first fifteen days of the journey were calm and without problem. The crew completed their daily work and when they had free time, they video chatted with their relatives, played sports, or made conversation in the meeting room. But not matter what, all of them were watching the deep and silent view of the space every day. Although there wasn’t any change in their view, the awesome structure of space gave them reverence and tranquility.
In the last three days of their journey, they had to be careful because they were getting close to the asteroid belt. Both their devices and Houston’s radio telescopes were strictly watching the various sized asteroids around them.
On the final day of the trip, the target asteroid could be seen at defined coordinates by Houston. The ship was twenty kilometers upward of the asteroid and parallel with its orbit. The asteroid was moving slowly compared to astronomical criterions.
Bryan Anderson said, “Look at that, it’s moving like a coy bride.” Though he meant the statement humorously, he couldn’t get rid of a deep, trembling feeling. He didn’t like the idea of landing on a huge thing moving through space. It was different than landing on a planet; the asteroid had little gravitation so they wouldn’t have gravity and atmosphere there. Because of that, when they landed on the asteroid, it would be necessary to use magnetic boots. Additionally, after leaving the ship there might be small meteorites that could crash into them, and they could be exposed to radiation, two hazards that also needed to be considered. Though their outfits were designed to withstand such dangers, unforeseen events were always a possibility. Space wasn’t a friendly area.
John started an approach procedure to the asteroid according to Houston’s orders when the ship was fifty kilometers away from the asteroid. They had to adjust their speed to exactly the same as that of the asteroid. The cargo ship did this automatically. But if any problem occurred, they could connect and solve the problem. The ship was one kilometer away from the asteroid. At that distance, it stopped approaching due to safety issues and started following a route at the same level as the cargo ship and parallel to the asteroid’s orbit. They didn’t get too close because they had to consider the small meteoroids affected by the gravity of the asteroid, which could be dangerous for the ship. There was nothing that could make the meteoroids slow down because there was no air in space. This made everything in space dangerous, even if it was small.
After approaching maneuvers were completed, John gave the order to enter coordinates into the main computer for tracking. The crew loaded the necessary data so the ship could follow its route automatically according to cargo ship and the asteroid. At the same time, radio and optic sensors were scanning 360 degrees. Early warning systems could be activated if there were any dangerous meteoroids.
John gathered his crew to address them. “The easy part of the work is completed, now the hard part begins. If anybody wants to come back after this, I can indulge that behavior. Let him go.” The crew smiled and John nodded. “Then Start preparations for sending the robot drill.”
“Robot drill is activated,” Michael Bang answered He pressed the drill’s button online, activating the drill at the cargo ship’s hangar station. John ordered that the systems of the drill be checked, and Bang said, “Drill is active, nuclear power area is ok, both drill and sampling tools are normal, route data is loaded to drill computer. We are waiting orders to move.”
“Send,” John ordered.
Bang pushed the hangar button and the robot drill’s move button. “The hangar doors are opened, and the drill is going to the asteroid.”
Meanwhile, they monitored the drill going up and passing through the hangar doors towards the asteroid. Including their ship, all of the machines were working with clean and cold fusion energy. People called fusion energy the “Invention of the century” because it was clean and could be used extensively. This energy type would soon be used all around the world, in factories, houses, and vehicles.
The crew had a feeling that the drill was going slowly for the asteroid, but it was very fast for world conditions. Bang’s hands were waiting on the joystick to respond. The drill moved automatically as it was programmed. After a little journey, five hundred meters to the asteroid, it ignited opposite boosters to slow. After fifteen minutes, it landed on the asteroid without any problem. It was the first spaceship after Philae that had been launched from Rosetta and landed on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet on 12 November 2014. After landing had been completed, the crew cheered and high-fived. For few seconds, they continued to watch the drill. The drill didn’t share their happiness naturally and started to scan the environment by its radio antenna. Then it used sampling tools to get samples from the asteroid and collected some. On the other hand, it had a melting surface and collected melted examples inside itself to examine.
This journey, was not only arranged for mining issues but also examinations about life molecules. So, the drill’s examination would take a long time. After completing one excavation, it moved a distance and collected samples again. It moved on free-floating wheels that were designed for the asteroid’s environment. As a result, it collected a survey of mineral samples from various places on the asteroid, and that could make mineral data clearer. After ten hours, the crew was tired, but the first data collected by the drill was hopeful. The drill moved two hundred meters and found plenty of cobalt, nickel, platinum, and iron. There were also some elements that weren’t on the periodic table. Their classification would be made later by scientists. The drill evaluated the radiation level of the samples to determine whether or not they were dangerous for the astronauts. No organic molecules were found. John told the crew they could rest after they transferred the data. They were tired from the stress and work of the day. Evaluation at Houston and getting new instructions would take a long time. During that free time, astronauts could take a rest or work on their hobbies.
While they were under these conditions, Houston was analyzing the data carefully. Results were very hopeful and better than expected. They had found what they expected and more. Samples for radiation and other reports were positive. Also, new elements reports were positive too. NASA ordered the crew to continue their mission as planned. As soon as the Asteroid crew received the order, they directed two more drills to begin mining. Now they had three total drills working. The crew watched and managed the process. The process of landing on the asteroid would be completed later. The drills collected materials inside themselves then returned to the main ship and unloaded the materials into a transport ship which was connected to the main ship while the drills were working. The asteroid’s gravity pull was low, so it didn’t affect the process much. With a little pushing power, they could rise from the asteroid and connect to the ship. This was all done automatically. At the same time, NASA analyzed the collected materials. When they came across materials that weren’t on the periodic table, and they assessed the radiation level to decide whether or not they were dangerous for the astronauts.
Five days passed with all work being completed as planned. There was no problem. One day, while John was watching the process at the command console, he saw a notification about a video message from NASA. He clicked on the “Show message” button, and the video message began to play. Joshua Star from NASA’s headquarters was on the screen. “Hello, John,” he said. “The reports so far have all been positive. We can now continue to the next level of our mission, landing human on the asteroid. Although we could have made the choice while you were still on Earth, we decided to give the responsibility of this decision to you. At the first stage, we want two people to land on the asteroid. These astronauts will stay there for a short period because of the activity on the asteroid’s surface. If there aren’t any problems, others can land on the asteroid as well.”
The message ended. John called the others. “Hey fellows, the boss has sent a message. Two lucky men will be going the asteroid. Are there any volunteers or should we draw matchsticks?”
As the crew laughed, Paul Gauger stepped forward. “I’m the one, commander.”
Nelson Verhoeven stepped forward as well. “I can’t miss this opportunity.”
“You were in a dangerous position in space before,” John reminded him. “You sure you want to go for a spacewalk?”
“Yes commander,” Verhoeven answered. “I can’t overcome my fears if I flee from them, can I?”
“Ok, friends, get dressed, and when you are ready, get into pressure room. After that, I will send you to the asteroid. You will be honored as the first people to ever walk on an asteroid. Don’t forget this.”
“Like Neil Armstrong and Edwin Buzz Aldrin,” Bryan Anderson said.
“Yes,” John answered. “This might even be more important than what they did because you have come moons much further than the moon. But I should say that the people who land on the asteroid will not be the first people to land on Mars. I think we should give this honor to another two astronauts.”
After the crew murmured their confirmation, Gauger and Verhoeven went to the dressing room. They put on their spacesuits and helmets. Then they went to the pressure room. After all preparations were completed they gave the thumbs up. Even though their spacesuits had their own pushing power and direction joysticks, they were connected to the ship by a rope made of fiberglass Kevlar and a special resin mixture to overcome any problems. Phil opened the outer gate of the pressure room when he got the okay. Then two astronauts faced the solitude and silence of space. The horrible scene of the asteroid filled the view beneath them. Because there was no drag in space, the suits’ power would be enough to land on the asteroid.
Carpenter’s voice was heard from helmets’ mic. “How are you guys? Is there any problem?”
Gauger and Verhoeven answered at the same time. “No, commander. Everything is ok.”
“With my command, you will ignite the back thrusters for three seconds and head towards the asteroid,” John said and started countdown. “3, 2, 1, now!”
The astronauts ignited the thrusters, and they split gas backward. After three seconds. John told them to stop. They cut the gas and started to glide towards the asteroid. The asteroid grew bigger and more horrible as they got closer. “What do you say, can we do this?” Gauger asked Verhoeven.
Verhoeven smiled. “Have you ever seen me fail? Don’t worry, we can handle this.”
A few minutes later, John ordered them to start the reverse thrusters. As they did, they started to slow. If they didn’t slow, they could crash into the asteroid. The last seconds of landing seemed like a decade for them. Verhoeven touched down first. Like a parachute landing, he bent his knees, and landed gently on his feet. He struggled not to bend over because his suit could be a torn and that was very dangerous. Two seconds later, Gauger landed next to him. He overcame the same danger and looked around. Both of them had landed a hundred meters backward of the drills. When they looked around, they could see a small planet in the distance. John’s voice was heard again “Men, please walk around so that we can get a live broadcast from your helmets. Video and sound is being recorded now. After your mission is complete, all the people on Earth will watch these.”
“Okay, Commander,” answered Gauger. Then they both started to follow the extracting vehicle slowly as they examined their whereabouts. They were both alert for every danger they would face and did their best to present people different scenes to watch on television. Of course, this trip wasn’t only for people to enjoy the view, but also for scientists to make an analysis on the images and make them useful for mapping. One of the first things that drew their attention was the craters and elevations on the asteroid. As there was no gravity on the asteroid, they walked using electromagnetic boots. The rope they were bound to was three kilometers long. They were able to travel around on the asteroid as much as possible since the diameter of it was only 2.48 kilometers. While they were walking, a gas blow-out attracted Verhoeven’s attention. Gas sprang out under his feet and burnt but didn’t harm his boots.
“Hey, wait a moment,” said Verhoeven, stopping his friend. He bent down and looked at the crack under his feet.
“What?” said Gauger and when he looked in the same direction as his friend, he couldn’t hide his surprise. Verhoeven knelt down and examined the crack. Gas and a red liquid was flowing slowly from the crack. “What is that? Is it lava?”
“It seems to be,” replied Verhoeven. “But we had better take a sample of it.” He took out his heat proof sampler tube and, with the help of a holder, he took some of the liquid and put it into the tube. The tube showed the heat as 2,000 degrees Celsius. In normal conditions, no metal could resist the heat, but the tube was made of a special ceramic blend matter, so it was durable against heat. Besides, it was easy to hold in hand as it didn’t transfer heat outside.
Verhoeven established radio communication with John. “Commander, we have found something interesting. A red colored liquid is leaking through a crack. It is similar to lava on the Earth.”
John was really surprised when he heard the word lava. The crew on the ship looked at each other in amazement. “Did you say lava? Did you take a sample? ”John asked.
“Yes, we did, and we’ll bring a sample back, but I don’t understand it. On the analysis, have any seismic motions been seen?”
“They have, but they were thought to be the results of meteorites that hit the asteroid, so we didn’t pay attention to them. However, the last discovery you made will mean the revision of discoveries about the asteroid. Because volcanism brings forward the possibility of the asteroid’s being detached from a planet in the process of the Solar system’s formation.”
Gauger, listening to him carefully, interrupted. “Maybe…”
“But I think that if so, some living molecules should also be present,” Verhoeven said. “Up until now, we haven’t encountered these. Maybe when we dig deeper, we will. Or the organic molecules on the asteroid may have disappeared during the expedition in space as a result of excessive radiation.”
“Possibly,” said John. “But there will be plenty of time to search and debate this. Just continue your expedition half an hour more. If you find any other interesting things, take samples of them too and then return. You have recorded this discovery, right?”
Verhoeven replied, “Sure, the world has to see this.”
The two astronauts walked on the surface for half an hour more. Except for a couple of earthquakes, they didn’t encounter anything original. The earthquakes were from volcanisms, according to estimations. On the other hand, of course, there was a possibility that some meteorites, falling on the other side of the asteroid, might have caused them. After their expedition on the asteroid was finished, they departed to the ship by firing the jets on their suits for a short time. On their way, they passed by the extra escape pod, which in the case of an emergency could carry all the astronauts and enable them to survive for a month. It was the upgraded and improved version of controlling module.
Five minutes later, the astronauts arrived at the gate. The gate opened, and they entered and waited for the necessary arrangements. After the pressure and the rate of oxygen was stabilized, they took off their suits and entered the controlling module. John and the others were standing to greet them, and they shook hands. They all cheered and whistled. After everyone was seated, John said, “All right men, tell us. How does it feel walking on the surface of the asteroid?”
The astronauts exchanged looks and then Gauger spoke up. “To tell the truth, at first I was very excited. But after a few minutes, I got used to it.”
Verhoeven nodded. “I agree. At first step, being on a different meteorite, even if it is a small one, gives indescribable alienage and panic feelings. But after a while, the curiosity of discovery wins and you get used to it. In fact, although a lot of astronauts are used to that because of the expeditions on the Moon, walking on an asteroid is very different because the celestial body beneath your feet is smaller and more active. As a result, you don’t feel as confident.”
After a few similar questions, John said, “At this stage, as long as everything is in order, the main expedition will start tomorrow. But, of course, only after you post the data and the story to Houston and we receive the necessary orders.”
With that, the conversation was over and everyone got back to work. While Phil was taking the samples that astronauts had brought for analysis to the lab, Bryan combined the images that the astronauts recorded with their cameras on their helmets and sent them to Houston. The only thing left to do was wait for the orders from the head office. Meanwhile, the extracting machines were in full flow and loading the asteroid soil, full of mineral ore, onto transportation ship.
The next day, permission was finally given by Houston. John instructed the crew to make all the necessary arrangements for the Mars expedition. As everything had worked well until now, Mars and the asteroid were as close as they could be. The crew was in a hurry since this was the opportunity they had been preparing for during the entire expedition. The two chosen astronauts were going to use a smaller vehicle, similar to an escape pod, to reach to Mars. The vehicle used a pushing system in combination with a liquid fuel. This was an old system, however, that saved expenses for short travels. All the astronauts, except for Verhoeven, Gauger, and Commander Carpenter, drew straws for the expedition. In the end, Phil and Richard were the lucky people. As soon as they picked, the astronauts began to prepare. They were going to stay on Mars for about twenty days and do some scientific experiments. They would stay in capsule and eat there. At this point, no permanent accommodation would be built on Mars. The astronauts were going to experience the living conditions there and then go for the expedition. If they found any data, they would share it with Houston right away. If everything worked well, they were going to return to the main ship again and continue to take part in other duties until the extraction was finished. When the first part of extraction and loading jobs were finished, the crew would end the expedition.
Phil and Richard returned to the capsule as soon as they completed their preparations. All the necessary equipment, as well as sufficient food and water for a month, was loaded into the capsule. The capsule’s door was shut and then countdown started. As soon as John commanded, “Fire!”, and the capsule fired its rockets and departed for Mars. Since the expedition wasn’t going to last long, the crew was fairly calm. On the other hand, the destination was Mars and that made them feel excited and a little anxious.
After the ten-hour-long travel, they were in the orbit of Mars. The red planet, which they’d only seen in photographs before now had been the subject of many stories, novels, and legends and it was now in front of them. The astronauts were beyond excited. After their travel to the Moon, playing the leading role in this was a source of endless happiness and pride for them. The heat which formed on the vehicle while entering the atmosphere was quite low compared to the Earth, as the atmosphere of Mars was sparser than that of Earth. As they got closer to the surface, Mars got bigger and bigger in front of them. They slowed down by firing reverse pushing vehicles as they were instructed from Houston and landed on the surface of Mars without any problems. At first, they stayed in their vehicle and evaluated the composition of the air and the radiation level of the outside. After they saw that everything was as they had predicted, it was time to land on Mars. They flipped a coin, and the luck was on Phil’s side. Phil opened the capsule’s door and stepped down as the stairs opened automatically. At the same time, Richard recorded him with the camera on his helmet. Phil was also recording everything in front of him with the camera on his helmet. Although the people in the main ship and in Houston was following them live, the people on Earth were going to watch a recorded band. They were said to be cautious of every possible misfortune they might face.
When Phil stepped on Mars for the first time, the people on the ship and in Houston brought the house down with their cheers. Everybody was happy and excited. The chief of NASA, watching Phil live in Houston, asked his feelings and Phil answered, “Like Christopher Columbus.” The answer amazed him and made him smile, because he had expected he would answer “Like Neil Armstrong.” Right after Phil, Richard exited the vehicle and joined him. They were both on the surface of Mars now. Even though the gravity on Mars was lower than Earth and made their steps turn into jumps, this was different from walking on the Moon. After a short walk on the surface, they took the mini rover out of the capsule with Houston’s instruction. They were going to make discoveries, collect data, take samples fast, and recorded distances with the camera. This vehicle was similar to the one they had used on the Moon but smaller and lighter. There was a camera charged with solar energy, batteries, and two seats for astronauts to sit in it. In addition, it had a bag to collect samples, too.
As the astronauts went to exploration by vehicles, Houston was watching via satellites which were in orbit of Mars. These satellites had been sent for this mission before the astronauts went to space. Until the astronauts arrived, they sent videos and photos as new information for NASA. NASA, as a part of Mars 2020 project, sent the last autonomous space vehicles and revealed the next mission as “Landing Human on Mars” at 2020. Now it would be real. The astronauts headed north. There was just an endless desert with small hills everywhere. Richard, who was from Arizona, said, “I feel at home, it seems like Arizona.”
Phil said, “So take off your clothes and sunbathe.”
They both smiled. John, who heard them laughing, said, “Fellows you must be having so much fun, would you like a drink?”
After that, they got to work and saw something shiny. They both got excited at the shining metallic thing. Immediately, they got out of the vehicle and moved closer to shiny thing. When they observed it, they understood it was a human-made device under the sand. They were disappointed when they realized it was a piece of Spirit, the vehicle which had lost connection with Earth on 22 March 2010. At first, they thought this was a sign of life on Mars, but after a few minutes they realized differently.
Commander John transferred this information to the center. After that they got an order to leave the device. NASA didn’t need it anymore. “Goodbye, old friend,” they said and continued the exploration.
At this time, there were some problems on the asteroid. One of the drills was broken and halted. All of the attempts to restart the machine failed. John asked Bang, “Couldn’t you start this up?”
Bang answered, “No, commander. There’s probably a mechanical problem. We need to check it by going there.”
John said, “I want you to get your suit on and repair this drill. We will take care of you and watch you from here. If any problem occurs, I will let you know.”
Bang said, “Ok, Commander.” He went to the dressing room and, after pressure was stabilized, the door was opened, and Bang went into space. Igniting the suit’s thrusters, he headed for the asteroid.
After the five minute trip, he stood next to the broken drill. Bang looked for the other drills around and saw they were in good condition. Bang murmured, “What the hell is going on with this machine?” First, he walked around the broken machine. He couldn’t see any problems outside. After that, he opened gate arm and the automatic staircase opened, and he climbed inside the machine. He closed the gate. Before this mission, there had been training for these kinds of problems, so he found the command button quickly. He tried to start it, but his attempt didn’t work. He thought that the batteries might be empty because the machine couldn’t get any electronic response. He checked electrical connections under the command module, and found no problem. So he decided to check the batteries on the backside. What in the world kind of problem are we facing? He thought. Then he saw a disconnected cable under the batteries. This disconnected cable was probably a result of vehicle vibration. It could be connected to the main electrical transfer unit and caused an electrical short circuit. This cable and the whole short circuit area should be changed. He needed to go back to the ship. He heard John’s voice as he got out of the vehicle.
“Bang, be careful there was a rolling rock. Get out of there, immediately.” Suddenly there was a big gas eruption next to the drill and all of the rocks collected from the drills were spread out. One of the big rocks came rolling towards him. John and other crew members warned Bang as soon as they realized the situation. Bang sped up and quickly climbed out of the vehicle. As soon as he did, a big rock crashed into it. With the effect of the crash, the vehicle was driven across Bang. Bang was shocked by the effect of the crash. His boots’ magnetic mechanism was broken, and he couldn’t land. He started a journey into endless space. His emergency rope was also split from the ship and couldn’t save him. John and other crew members were trying to wake him up, but Bang couldn’t hear them because he had passed out. John read the data coming from Bang’s suit. Pulse and blood pressure were very low. But the real problem was oxygen level. There was a torn part on his suit because of the crash. He could maybe survive half an hour at most. After that, he would run out of oxygen and die. They needed to rescue him soon. If he didn’t wake up fast, the suit thrusters wouldn’t take him next to the ship anymore. This could be a disaster.
John said to Anderson, “Put on your spacesuit immediately. You must reach him before he gets into outer space.” After that, John turned to Gauger. “You – help him get his suit on.”
“Two people have more of a chance, so I should go, too,” Verhoeven said.
John disagreed. “If both of you were injured, how could I rescue the people on Mars? I just can’t risk two crew members.” Anderson and Gauger hurried to the dressing room. After Gauger’s helped him suit up, Anderson went to the pressurized room “Ok. I’m ready.” The emergency rope was tied to his dress. Verhoeven opened the gate, and Anderson began his journey to rescue Bang. Anderson’s on time arrival for Bang was very important because there were many small asteroids that could crash into Bang. Because Bang couldn’t see the small asteroids, they could tear his suit and cause his death. Anderson ignited his thrusters towards where Bang was gliding in space. Bang was very high above the asteroid and about to leave close space. Anderson immediately directed towards him.
“Anderson, blood pressure and pulses are decreasing,” John said. “He probably has internal hemorrhaging. You need to reach him now.”
Anderson answered, “Ok commander,” and he set thrusters to maximum speed. “God, please let him be alive,” he prayed. There was not much distance between them. “Bang I will save you.”
Suddenly, Anderson saw a two-meter sized asteroid headed straight for Bang. Anderson couldn’t believe what he saw. In fifteen seconds the asteroid would crash into Bang, and he wouldn’t be able to save him. He relayed the situation to John.
“Oh, my god!” John said, but he couldn’t do anything else. The entire crew tried to wake Bang, but they didn’t succeed. The asteroid was fifty meters away from Bang, then something happened. Something circular, with different lights on edges came between Bang and asteroid. They had never seen anything like this before. They stared at in shock. The asteroid crashed into whatever it was, but didn’t cause any damage. While they were watching all this, a diaphragm-shaped gate opened on the object. A human-like creature, wearing a comfortable space suit, headed straight for Bang. Moving past his initial shock, John said, “Anderson, try to speak with that creature. Try to understand Bang’s situation.”
Anderson heard this and started to go for bang again. Then there was an announcement on all of the radios.
“We know that your friend Bang has internal hemorrhaging. We will help him because your devices may not be enough for this treatment. Anderson, you can come and escort your friend.” Anderson heard these words and hesitated. The foreign sound spoke perfect English. While he moved toward Bang, the foreign crew collected bang and went inside the gate. “Are you coming with us?” the foreign creature asked.
“Go with them,” John ordered.
Anderson flew in front of that foreign vehicle’s gate. Now he could see the foreigner clearly. It wasn’t much different from a human, but its suit and helmet were very comfortable and user-friendly. After the foreigner invited Anderson inside, the gate was closed.
“God help you all,” John said as he watched. While the crew on the main ship tried to decide what to do, a scene appeared on the ship’s screens. Bang was laying down without his clothes and Anderson was next to him without his space suit. Someone dressed like a doctor injected Bang with a liquid. After this treatment, the creature they had seen first appeared again. But this time, it had no suitor helmet. It was blond with blue eyes and an athletic body. The foreigner spoke. “Hello, my name is Jorgensen. I know that you worry about your friend. Please, don’t worry, our doctors stopped the internal hemorrhaging and sent some Nano treatment devices to cure the internal organ damages. These devices can stop internal hemorrhaging and provide quick treatment on the damaged parts by using squirted liquids. We saw a bloody situation in the brain area, too. The device will cure this too. You will be able to talk with him in roughly fifteen minutes. If you have any questions, I will try to answer.”
John immediately spoke his thoughts. “Who are you and where do you come from? How do you know our friends’ names?”
Jorgensen answered, “We are human, like you. As soon as you have reached the asteroid, we began listening to your communication. About where we come from, I can say that we will reveal this information when we contact earth.”
John said, “You are friend because you have rescued our friend, but I can’t understand why you listened to our communication.”
Jorgensen smiled. “Commander Carpenter, you could’ve come here for a military mission.”
“So, what would you do ıf we come here for that reason?”
“I guess we wouldn’t let you complete that mission, but we wouldn’t hurt you.”
John was surprised. “But how could you do this without hurting us?”
Jorgensen answered, “Commander Carpenter, as you see, our technology is very developed. This wouldn’t be any problem for us. But it doesn’t matter now. We consider your friends a priority.” After that, Jorgensen moved away from the screen and went next to Bang.
“Hi, my name is Jorgensen, how do you feel Mr. Bang?”
Bang looked at Jorgensen and Anderson.
“Where am I?” Anderson told him about the disaster and other incidents. Bang was lost for words. “So you are an alien? Am I in a UFO?”
This question made Jorgensen smile. “If you want, you can say that. Can you walk? Are you okay?”
Bang sat up with a little difficulty. “I think I’m ok. So what now? Will I stay here? Or will you let me return to my ship?”
“We will hand you over to your ship,” Jorgensen said. “Your emergency situation has been alleviated, so you can continue your treatment on your ship. While we are speaking, our ship is getting closer to your ship. You don’t need to wear your space suits, you can pass through a transit gate that will be established between the two ships.”
As soon as Jorgensen finished speaking, the gate was opened. A few minutes later they saw John and other crew on another side of the gate. Bang was on a flying chair, and Anderson was next to him. They both boarded the ship, and bang was transferred into another chair and taken to the infirmary. Now John and Jorgensen were standing against each other.
“Would you like to come on our ship? We can talk a little?” John suggested.
Jorgensen answered, “Thanks for your polite invitation but we should delay this meeting for a while, Commander Carpenter.”
“So, what you are going to do now? After this incident, your life has been revealed. Why didn’t you introduce yourself before now? Or should we ask what changed to make you suddenly come out? Actually, there are thousands of questions, but I can see you are not ready to answer now.”
Jorgensen said, “Commander Carpenter, I will answer the first two questions. We haven’t come out because you haven’t been ready. We are here because your countries are on a road of no return. Leaders have enough power to destroy the world, and they are very close to this decision. Our leaders want to share some information because they worry about a nuclear conflict between countries. Of course, this type of information sharing will be conducted by us. For this meeting, your countries will deny the situations but later we will contact you directly, so countries won’t deny this reality. We will see you again at that time, Commander Carpenter.”
After Jorgensen finished speaking, the diaphragm gate, and the other ship’s gate were closed at the same time. The foreign ship left the area silently. John watched them for a while. He was trying to reach a decision about them. Then he went to the command area and sat down in his seat. The crew waited for him to speak. While he was planning to tell them about the speech Jorgensen had made, Phil came on screen suddenly. Phil was very excited. “Commander, you won’t believe what we have found here.”
John looked at the others and said, “We can believe, Phil.”
Phil was shocked. “I don’t understand what you mean, commander.”
Carpenter realized he should explain what he meant and told him about the incident. Phil and Richard were shocked. They didn’t know what to think.
Carpenter said, “So what about your story?”
Richard started to talk. “Almost half an hour ago we saw a hill, far away. Firstly, we thought it was a hill, but then we saw that it was as perfect as the pyramids on Earth, but it was newer and cleaner. So we moved closer, as much as 500 meters, and took some photos. I’m sending these photos to you now.” He uploaded the high definition photos to the main computer on the ship. After a few seconds, the pictures appeared on the screen. The crew examined the pictures carefully. At close-up, there was no gate or anything like that. Carpenter decided to explain the situation to NASA after looking the pictures and told to the crew on Mars to wait for a new order.
Carpenter waited for an answer from Houston. During that time he discussed the incidents with the crew. “What do you think, men? Is there a relationship between Mars and the foreigners that help us?”
Anderson answered, “I think it’s possible, commander. If it is, that creature would inform us. If they have already watched us, they know we have a crew on Mars, too. If we can accept this, we have to consider if they will prevent our crew from getting closer to the structures.”
The other Crew members agreed. “So what is the meaning of this?”
Verhoeven answered, “I think they want us to learn more about them.”
Carpenter was like-minded. “I think these creatures want us to learn more about them, too. Otherwise, they wouldn’t help us, and they wouldn’t get as close as they did. As they said, their technology is very developed and they can hide from us successfully.”
At this time, an answer came from Houston. It was a video message. Joshua Star was calling from NASA headquarters. “Commander Carpenter, f there is a new mission for your crew: infiltrating the pyramid and exploring the inside. Please inform your crew about this. John, I know there is no need to remind you, but please be careful! If you feel any danger, leave the area. Make sure your crew understands this clearly.”
“Understood, Mr. Star”
After disconnecting from NASA, Carpenter contacted the Mars crew. He gave them the necessary instructions. After that, Richard and Phil travelled closer to the pyramid using the rover. Now they could touch and make a close-up exploration. There was no roughness on the surface. When they touched it, it felt metallic but not like the ones on Earth.
Richard said, “It could be a liquid alloy.”
Carpenter ordered, “Explore and see if there is a gate that will allow you to reach inside and take photos.”
Phil said, “Ok commander.” He started to go around with the rover, slowly. It was like the pyramids of Egypt, but it wasn’t as tall. At the backside of the pyramid, there was something weird. There was a gate shaped like another small pyramid.
When they looked carefully, they understood it was a gate. It was big enough for a human being to pass through, but it had no bulge around. It was like a line drawn on the pyramid. Richard touched the surface slowly, and the gate opened. There was no noise as it opened. Carpenter saw the gate from Richard’s and Phil’s helmet cams. Before Richard and Phil could speak, Carpenter said, “Only one of you can go into the pyramid.”
Phil and Richard looked each other, then Richard entered. After a few steps, he looked around carefully. It was like an empty salon. There was nothing impressive to be seen. When Richard looked down, he saw a shiny white floor. It was neither hard nor soft. He searched for a source of light but couldn’t find one. The light allowed him to see everything, though. When he looked back, he saw the gate was still opened. Suddenly, he saw a hologram in front of him. Startled, he took a step back. After he had overcome the shock, he examined the hologram. It was planets orbiting around a star, the solar system. When he saw the planets, he counted 12, so it was weird. One of them was very far away. He looked carefully at that planet. It was bigger than the others. Another weird thing about this planet was its direction was opposite of the others.
“Commander, can you see what I see?”
“Yes, I can see.”
This answer made Richard realize the pyramid wasn’t an obstacle for transferring video. That illuminated information about the pyramid’s metallic specifications. Richard continued to speak. “This is clearly our solar system, but I can’t understand the 12th planet turning opposite from others.”
Carpenter answered calmly, “There is nothing weird, Richard. These creatures can discover every planet in the solar system so we have to consider there are some other planets that we haven’t discovered yet. When it comes to the far away planet …” Carpenter took a deep breath and continued, “I think it is the Nibiru planet which was hidden by NASA, even though they know of its existence.”
The crew was shocked. Phil said, “Commander, do you think that myth is true? Can we assume the Annunaki tribe legend is true as well?”
“Not all parts of legends are true, Richard. But it does make sense that these creatures are living on that planet because they helped us and they are cleverer than us. As a result, they have contacted us, and I think they have put this pyramid on Mars because they want us to know something. We need to be ready to introduce them, so we can overcome this cultural shock easily.”
Richard asked, “So, what do you want from us, commander?”
Carpenter didn’t answer for a while. Then, “I want you to look around carefully so that there is nothing you can’t see. This way, we can see everything and record it as videos.” Richard explored every part of the area, but he couldn’t find anything interesting. He concluded his exploration and asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“You and Phil can go back now, Richard. It seems like these creatures thought this was exploration enough.”
Richard answered, “Ok, commander.” He returned to Phil’s side. “Phil, we can go back now.”
Phil said, “Wait a minute!” He looked closer at the closed gate. “Can you see these writings? These were not here before. I saw it on the gate when we were about to go.”
Richard and his crew saw the different language on that writings over the gate. Carpenter asked, “Is there anyone who can understand this language?”
Verhoeven answered, “It’s like the ancient writings on Earth, but I can’t determine which one.”
Carpenter said, “We recorded this too, you can come back now.” Both of them got into the Rover. Suddenly, the pyramid disappeared. The crew was shocked. After a moment of silence, Carpenter said, “I want you to explore that area again.”
Phil said, “Understood, commander.” They both decided went to the empty, sandy area that had been housing the pyramid. They searched all around but nothing could be found. The radiation device did not indicate anything either. It was like the pyramid had never existed. Richard said, “I can’t believe this. I was inside of that thing, I touched it. It was soft, but hard. How could it go away like this? If it were a hologram, I wouldn’t feel it, would I?”
Verhoeven said, “I think this tribe can affect things even at an atomic size. They could transfer this pyramid easily to another place.”
Carpenter said, “So, kind of like teleportation?”
“I think yes, commander. I can’t think of any other explanation.”
Carpenter was full of thoughts as he watched the screen. He sat there in silence for a few minutes, thinking deeply. He woke up to the sound of Phil from Mars. “What do you say, commander? What do you want from us?”
Carpenter said, “Come back to the ship, Phil. I don’t think we can do any further explorations now. It can be wrong, doing things without Houston’s permission. Even though I don’t see any risk, I can’t risk any personnel now.”
Phil said “Ok, commander.” Phil and Richard went to the landing capsule. They loaded the Rover onto the capsule, and conducted the necessary checkpoints, including the main ship and ignited the thrusters on Carpenter’s order.
At that time, Carpenter decided to report all the incidents to Houston.
Star looked into the report carefully and to explain these writings on the pyramid, he called an archaic languages expert from The George Washington University, Prof. Hoyle. Star asked, “Professor Hoyle, what do you think about these writings?”
After a silence, Hoyle looked to Star and asked: “Where did you find these writings, Mr. Star?”
Star smiled. “As you know, I can’t tell you, professor.”
Professor Hoyle leaned backward and clasped his hands together “These writings are almost the same as Sumerian handwritings that existed 4,500 years ago.”
All the people in the room, including NASA headquarters, were shocked. Star asked, “Are you sure professor?”
Hoyle answered with confidence “Yes.”
“So, can you tell what is written on this lecture, Professor?”
Professor answered confidently, “Our precious guests of the World, Goodbye! I think you owe me another explanation, Mr. Star.”
Star explained all the incidents to Professor Hoyle worriedly. He told him that nothing he said could leave the room. Hoyle said “Don’t worry, all of the information will be kept as a secret.” Star relaxed.
After Professor Hoyle had left, Star wanted to talk with the President. While he was giving orders, he asked his vice chairman, Ron Masterson, “From now on, the President must know about the incidents, making decisions on this point is above our authorization. What do you say, Rone?”
Masterson answered, “You are right, Mr. Star.”
When the secretary said, “The President is online,” Star picked up the receiver and with a respective voice said, “Hi, Mr. President. I need a meeting with you to talk about an important issue, Sir.”
President George Mason said, “Couldn’t you give me a clue on the phone, Mr. Star?”
Mr. Star answered, “I can’t do that, President.”
President Mason said, “We can arrange a meeting on Friday at 14.00 hours. I think one hour will be enough for this.”
After he ended the call, Star returned to his vice chairman. “If only he knew. He would leave more time and arrange an earlier meeting.”
Masterson said “No doubt Mr. Star.”
Star informed the astronauts who were on their way back to Earth about the situation. This was their exploration, and they had rights to learn everything about these incidents except the information running security. It was weird that these writings were in Sumerian language and their meanings were weird, too. This made them ask even more questions about the incidents. They still had a twenty-five-day journey, and were still making their daily jobs and investigating the exploration that was done.
Anderson and Bang’s words were more important than anything else because they had contacted these creatures very closely. As the ship was closing in on Earth, Carpenter asked Anderson while he was analyzing the data, “Anderson you said that lights were everywhere, but I couldn’t see the source inside the foreign ship. Phil and Richard had the same feeling inside the pyramid. These creatures are using another energy source that we haven’t found yet. These lights and the energy they use to move their ship is making me wonder. It doesn’t make sense that they use free molecules in space. Because these molecules’ energy is not enough for this kind of energy. I think they use the energy that we call black energy. I want you to investigate this.”
Anderson was shocked. “Ok, commander. But how do I do that?”
Carpenter said, “We can find the coordinates and exact time that we met with this ship, right?”
Anderson answered “Yes, this can be done. All of the things, inside and outside of the ship, were recorded automatically.
“So I think you can get the data of meeting time with that ship and you can analyze the records about outer space for the UFO’s area.”
Now Anderson lifted his eyebrows. He was thinking of whether or not these analyses could be done. “I guess it is possible. The computer was programmed for preparing a report for the captain, about unusual things around the ship.”
This time, Carpenter was shocked. “So, how can we explain that it didn’t report anything to me?”
Anderson said “Computer only serves for this reason when you ordered it. For this, you should order it. Otherwise, it is just recording all the information inside.”
Carpenter “But, why I wasn’t informed about this? As a commander, I must be aware of this specification, right?”
Anderson said “This is normal, because your education about the ship was only management and basic functions of the ship. You did know that the report would be ready for you when you ordered the computer but you didn’t know the computer has a specification about unusual incident recordings. This information is detailed engineering information.”
Carpenter sat up and went to Anderson. “We have that capability, so let’s use that.”
“Exactly, what do you want me to search?”
“As a result of our conversation, I understand that the computer has recorded all of the change in space and around us when we met that foreign ship If so, there must be a change in space around us when the UFO used its’ energy. Magnetic area, spreading molecules, or something like these incidents that aren’t normal for space. Because of this, I want you to compare our ships and the UFO’s environmental molecules. By doing this, we can find some differences and understand what the UFO uses for energy. Also, the ship’s computer should be analyzing at that time, too. Can you do this?”
Anderson said, “Of course,” and started to look at computer recordings. They all relaxed when they saw recordings were ready for that time. After Anderson had given the command to the computer, it reported all of the information about space-time changes by graphics. When they looked carefully, there was a flowing plasma that couldn’t be seen by the human eye. It covered the UFO. When Carpenter saw this, he asked, “Can you find the reason for flowing plasma?”
“I will try, commander.” Anderson gave the necessary commands to the computer, and everybody was shocked at the resulting data. Gauger screamed, “Oh, my God. What is this? Is this a game of my imagination or is that real?”
Carpenter answered, “No, this is totally real Anderson. As I understand, the UFO is transferring some molecules that produce black energy. Then it uses molecules to produce that energy, too. I explained the situation this way because of natural space and our ship’s environmental conditions, except the UFO’s plasma, were the same. Because if they used known molecules for this process, it wouldn’t give similar results. So that unknown molecule produces this energy. It uses this energy to bend space-time configuration and move. The space-time configuration delay found by the computer is a result of intense plasma around UFO. There is no any explanation makes sense for my mind. It can bend the space-time configuration as much as it wants so it can go fast as much as they want.” Carpenter added, “Of course, these are my explanations to what we see. I will be glad if anybody else wants to say something.”
Gauger said, “It’s like Star Trek.”
“Not exactly. The Enterprise was using dilithium crystals in Star Trek. These crystals accelerated the ship to warp speed through the energy which came from the reaction of matter and antimatter in the warp core. Regular boosters were used for speeds less than the speed of light. And as far as we can see, the impulse in this ship can only be provided by this reaction. But apparently, they managed this in a different and more sophisticated way. In the end, the theorem of Miguel Alcubierre has been proved although in a slightly different way. This also explains why we couldn’t find the source of light in the ship and the pyramid although it seemed like it was coming from everywhere. A civilization which can use the particles and dark energy in space can control the molecules in regular air, of course.”
“So you mean that they put the molecules in the air into interaction which leads to a photon spread. Thus, there is light everywhere without needing a source,” said Verhoeven.
Carpenter nodded his head approvingly. “Just like you have said.”
Verhoeven whistled. “Wow, I wouldn’t want to go into combat with a civilization like this.”
Carpenter said, “They don’t seem to have such intentions, but we had better still be cautious. Anderson, I want you to send the last data and our deductions to NASA. We need to give them some time to make the necessary decisions. Our government needs to be ready before these entities expose themselves to humankind”.
“Roger that, Captain,” said Anderson. He got on the computer and started to prepare the report he was going to send to NASA.
After reading the last report sent from the ship, NASA President Star turned to his assistant, Ron Masterson. “What do you think, Ron? This information indicates that the civilization is much more advanced than ours. Do you think we can cope with them if they cause any trouble?”
“Considering the science and technology we have, unfortunately, no. However, as we have understood from the previous report, they seem like peaceful beings,” he answered.
Star drew a deep sigh. “I hope so. Let’s go to our appointment with the President. We don’t want to be late and cause him trouble, right? He must have important persons to meet after us”.
Masterson laughed. “As far as I am concerned, to him, we are the most important people in the world right now, Mr. Star.”
“You are right,” said Star and they walked out of the room together and got in the car waiting for them. A short while later, they were climbing the stairs of the White House. They were met by Stewart Granger, the Chief of Protocol of the White House. “Welcome, gentlemen. The President is looking forward to your arrival.” He took them to the Oval Office right away.
President Mason greeted them. “Welcome, please,” he said, pointing the sofa. Then he sat down in his chair and asked, “So, Mr. Star, what is this important matter that cannot be discussed over the phone?”
Star cleared his throat and launched into an explanation of the incidents that the ship had encountered without going into much detail. He didn’t neglect to add the comments of Commander Carpenter.
President Mason was speechless. “I want to perfectly understand two things, Mr. Star,” President Mason said.” First of all, because this writing is almost identical with Sumerian cuneiform, you must assume this civilization from outer space visited the earth thousands of years ago and helped to found the Sumerian Civilization, maybe even pioneered it, right?”
“Just like you’ve said,” answered Star.
President Mason went on. “So to my understanding, these entities came from a planet known as Nibiru and helped the development of our civilization and then returned to their planets. Like some sort of cosmic mission. But if this planet is part of our solar system and even bigger than Jupiter, how come we have never detected them despite our advanced astronomical observation power? This is the second matter I want to understand”. He sat back and waited for the answer.
“Mr. President, when we consider the orbit of this planet, it is obvious why the planet hasn’t been seen until now. Because it is so far away and also concerning its orbit, it was out of the sight of our telescopes until now. However, in a short time, we expect it to enter the sight of the James Webb telescope. When it does, we will turn this telescope to where the planet should be. By means of high image quality of James Webb, we hope to capture a clear image of the planet.”
“So, what do you suggest, Mr. Star?” asked the President.
“I am afraid there is not much to be done, Sir” answered Star. “The sudden appearance and disappearance of the pyramid and the swift movement of the UFO without any visible drive system shows us that this civilization is extremely advanced. I think that our attempts to contact them will be futile unless they want to contact us. In my opinion, we don’t have much to do except wait and observe.”
Just when the President opened his mouth to say something, the intercom rang. The President lifted the receiver, and after a couple of seconds of listening, asked, “Did ours give the proper response?” Star understood from the look on his face that something troubling was going on, but it wasn’t right to ask before the President made an explanation, so he stayed quiet. “I understand, thank you.” President Mason hung up the phone. It was obvious that it was bad news when he started fiddling his fingers. After a couple of minutes of silent waiting, President Mason said, “These aliens of yours had said it right, Mr. Star”.
“About what, Sir?”
Mason stood up and said “The international diplomatic situation is extremely bad. I can say that we have never been in situation like this since the Cuban crisis. I am aware that you are intrigued. The caller was Wilson Garcia, the Chief of Staff. A Russian aircraft got in a dogfight with our F-35s on the Baltic, and the Russians performed a radar lock on. Ours retaliated in the same way. There wasn’t a hot conflict, but this doesn’t mean that there won’t be. Anything can happen at any moment. Russia has been creating tension since the Syrian crisis. We hoped that after Putin, Kruchenko would fix things, but it turned out to be hot air. Anyway, I am going to order a move to Defcon 3. According to what you have told me, even if there is no apparent threat, seeing that these entities -I can’t call them humans before I know them well- have intentions of manifesting themselves and Russia is trying to create tension, we had better be cautious. Thank you for notifying me. When will the astronauts return to earth?”
“They will be here in about 10 days, Mr. President,” said Star.
“I would like to speak with them when they arrive. You’ll arrange a meeting for me, Mr. Star.”
Understanding that the conversation was over, Star said, “Of course, Sir!” and left the room with his assistant.
As he was walking down the stairs of White House, Star turned to his assistant and said, “I want you to report this meeting to the astronauts, Ron. But remind them this has to stay as a secret.”
Masterson was surprised. “But Mr. Star, should we let the astronauts know about a secret meeting?”
Taking a deep breath, Star responded, “There was no secret in the meeting actually. As the ones that made this significant discovery, our friends have every right to know about the contents and the meeting held with the President.”
“As you wish, Sir.”
One hour later, Commander Carpenter listened to what Masterson said. “Well, is there anything they want us to do now?” he asked
“Nothing but return back to the Earth safely and keep your mouths shut.”
After Masterson closed the transmission, Carpenter turned to the crew and said, “You heard Mr. Masterson, lads. We’ll keep our mouths shut. Not even our closest friends, especially our spouses, I mean no one, will ever know what happened at the Mars and at the asteroid.”
Carpenter’s emphasis on the spouses caused giggles in the crew. Carpenter said, “What are you guys giggling at?”
“Everyone knows that telling your spouse is the exact same thing as broadcasting it live for the whole world, right?”
While everyone was giggling together, Gauger raised his voice and pointed at the main screen. “Guys, look over there!” The whole crew looked at the UFO on the main screen.
“I want a full distance report now!” said Carpenter. “Also, I want a radiation analysis and a “Hello” message sent in all frequencies.”
“Roger that Commander!” Gauger and the crew got down to work immediately. “The distance is almost 10.000 yard. There is nothing on the radiation readings except the plasma flow – just like the last encounter.” Gauger looked back at the Carpenter to check if there was anything else.
When Carpenter looked back at him, a sound came over everyone’s headsets. The sound belonged to Jorgensen, who had saved their friend Anderson. “Hello there, gentlemen. Sorry for bothering you again.”
Carpenter responded. “You’re quite welcome, Mr. Jorgensen. It is our pleasure. To what do we owe this communication? To be honest, we weren’t expecting you to contact us so soon.”
“There have been new updates since our last transmission and our leaders wanted to inform you about the recent changes. We will approach your ship and initiate a lock. No need to be afraid, we’ll have you as our guests for a short time. You can report this to your headquarters. In the meantime, we’ll complete the approaching maneuvers and wait for your headquarters’ approval.”
“As you wish,” said Carpenter and ordered a transmission to Houston immediately. Shortly after, he explained the situation to Star. Star didn’t want to miss this opportunity. He gave authorization and ordered visual and voice recordings of everything. During contact, the ship drew quite close to the UFO and everything was ready for locking procedure.
Jorgenson appeared on the screen before Carpenter was even able to send a signal and said, “We know you’ve got the authorization, Captain. We monitored your transmission closely. Now tell your pilot to start the necessary procedures to lock. Our ship is ready now.” he said.
Carpenter raised his eye brow in doubt but quickly figured out that an advanced civilization like theirs could easily monitor their transmissions, so he gave Gauger the necessary orders. In a mere five minutes, both ships doors were opened wide and the whole crew was standing ready. Jorgensen and Carpenter stepped forward and greeted each other.
Jorgensen said, “Don’t worry, Commander.” He extended his hand to Carpenter. “I won’t be transmitting any disease to you.”
Carpenter shook his hand. “I’m honored.”
“I want to invite your crew into my ship,” said Jorgensen. “Commander, allow me to say that the visual and voice record features of your helmets are disabled temporarily. We don’t want you to gain any information about our technology without permission.”
“What is going to happen to our ship?” asked Carpenter.
“No need to worry about your ship, Commander. It will continue to its journey at the same speed, under our control. Besides, it will take nine days to reach Earth at this speed. In the meantime, we will have you as our guests and inform you of some matters and then, when the time comes, we will transport you to your ship which is quite easy for us to do.”
Carpenter was relieved to hear that. Still, when going aboard Jorgensen’s ship with the crew, he checked his helmet. Jorgensen was right; the recording features were not working. “I understand and agree with you, Mr. Jorgensen,” replied Carpenter. “There is no reason not to believe you after the things I have seen.” On the other hand, he understood he was on this extraterrestrial ship for the first time and he was would be investigating it all the same. Jorgensen accompanied them into the elevator-like booth after a short hallway. A couple seconds the later the door opened and they came into a section which resembled a bridge. They met three more people which were likely part of the crew. They were working quite seriously. They were working by touching a five-dimensional holographic screens suspended in the air. At least this was what Carpenter thought.
To satisfy their curiosity, Jorgensen said, “Actually we can do all of this with our minds easily. But that leads to inertia and sluggishness and therefore we don’t prefer that,” he said.
“So, you can read people’s minds and move objects by telekinesis?” Carpenter asked curiously.
“Partially yes commander. We have the power to move objects telekinetically, but about mindreading, we can technically do it, but we don’t want to do it. On behalf of people’s privacy, we have not attempted to do it. There might be some who would take advantage,” Jorgensen said while showing the crew where to sit.
It never came to Carpenter’s notice that there were no compartments in the ship which he guessed was nearly two hundred and fifty square meters. When he questioned Jorgensen about this, he answered, “Because Nibiruian or Agarthians have nothing to hide from each other, and there is no necessity for individual compartments.”
“Niburu and Agartha? So, you are admitting you are coming from those mythical civilizations?”
“Yes, I am,” Jorgensen replied.
“I hope you are planning to enlighten us. Actually, I’ll ask you something that I’ve been wondering about. Where does one take care of his natural needs? I do not see any bathroom around.”
Jorgensen pointed to the back. “We use that area back there.”
Carpenter didn’t see anything when he looked. “I can’t see anything”
“They give a command to the computer when they use it, the computer covers the area and opens the toilet automatically, and it all and disappears again after use when they send mind command to the computer, returning into the wall. Before you ask, let me answer, the waste breaks into atoms and they are sent into deep space.”
“I think you are describing yourself as a human. I would like to ask something if it’s okay. Is there any difference between us biologically? I mean, do we share the same ancestry?” Carpenter asked.
“I can easily say yes,” Jorgensen said with a smile.
“Can’t you make a more detailed explanation?” Carpenter insisted.
“All in good time, Commander. I am asking you to be more patient. Don’t worry, you are going to get answers to all of your questions.”
“I apologize; I can’t even tell you how excited we are right now.”
“I understand you very well, Commander,” Jorgensen said, He gestured with his hand and a huge screen opened. They watched a planet getting bigger and bigger. “Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the planet we live on and the planet in your legendary stories, Nibiru.”
The whole crew was shocked. They had guessed that these strangers had come from that planet but they did not hope to arrive so fast. Moreover, they did not feel any quake, shake or acceleration from the ship.
“I hope you don’t mind if I ask what kind of propulsion system you use this ship, because if what they say about your planet is true, we got here even before we realized, after thirty-six billion kilometers,” Carpenter said.
“Of course we don’t mind, Commander” Jorgensen replied. “But don’t expect us to share everything with you right now. It’s better for all of us if we extend some things over time. Especially about the distance between our planet and earth, when we are at the furthest point from the earth, it’s nearly forty billion kilometers.”
When Carpenter checked his timer, he realized only five minutes had passed since they had come aboard the ship, which meant the speedwasten times more than light speed. “I’m glad Einstein is not alive. If he saw his theory crushed like this, he’d probably die of a heart attack.”
“This speed is nothing for us if you’d like to know,” Jorgensen admitted.
“I would actually like to know your speed limit if you’re saying this is nothing for you,”
Carpenter said.
“It’s better if you don’t,” Jorgensen said with a smile.
During the conversation, the landing had begun. The crew watched as the ship glided toward the planet and felt really excited because they thought they were returning to earth. After the ship had traveled through the clouds, the view of deep blue sea expanded in front of them. After a few minutes of hovering, they passed over land covered with the deep green trees. After they flew over the trees for a bit, they landed at a spaceport near a city with buildings that looked like crystals.
“We are now on the surface. If you wish, we can head for the city,” said Jorgensen. “We can speak freely over there,” he added and led the way. The crew followed Jorgensen out of the ship and they went down the stairs which had appeared from the bottom of the ship. They took the airborne drop head car. Seats of the vehicle immediately grabbed the passengers and took the shape of their bodies, automatically massaging them. Thus they had a brief moment to relax. There was an instrumental sound coming somewhere in the vehicle which made them feel even more relaxed. Carpenter started after seeing the city on the horizon. “That city on the horizon is your capital!?” he asked in surprise.
“Yes, you can say that,” said Jorgensen. “Our hierarchical structure is a little different than yours, Commander. We have an authority starting from the top too, of course. This is necessary to get things working properly. But our system is tenderer than yours because we also have a council of masters. They make sure things go smoothly and consistently. These masters are chosen at certain periods by a special council.”
“Some kind of democracy, you mean?”
“You can say that.”
The vehicle moved quite fast and entered the city. Now they had the chance to see the high building that they’d seen on the horizon in all its magnificence. Buildings reached hundreds of meters and shined like diamonds. When Carpenter examined them closely, he saw that they were made of small crystals. But he couldn’t see any kind of screw or any connecting clip. Also, there was nothing like plaster either. He couldn’t figure out how these crystals were assembled altogether. Jorgensen started to give some explanations.
“Yes, gentlemen,” said Jorgensen. “These building that you see were made partly for work and research and partly for habitation. Now we’re heading to see the President of the Council of Masters. He will explain the things I don’t have the authorization to. Please listen carefully to what he says and try to understand them as much as you can.” They arrived at the entrance of the building as he finished speaking. The crew watched the people passing by, but the Nibiruians didn’t pay them any attention. It was as if they knew the crew was going to come here in the first place. They simply greeted them, “Hello, welcome,” when they passed by.
They took a transparent lift in front of the main entrance. The door gently opened by itself when they approached and gently closed after everyone was in. When Jorgensen said, “Master”, the lift started to go up, but stopped in a couple seconds. Apparently, they had reached their destination. They didn’t felt any kind of jolt or acceleration. They saw someone else in the great hall as they entered. This was a tall, blonde person. He greeted them with a warm smile and said, “Welcome, gentlemen. I am Ulrik. I will take over from here and accompany you.”
Jorgensen respectfully withdrew and sat on one of the seats in the hall. “I will wait here for the result of your meeting, Commander,” he said. “Later we will be on our way to get back.”
“As you wish,” said Carpenter and followed Ulrik who led them onward, saying, “This way, please.”
Ulrik stopped in front of a big door and as he raised his hand a little bit, the door opened wide. “Please.” He stepped aside for the guests to go in. Then he left the room.
There was a long table in the room and at the other end, there was another tall blonde person waiting for them. There was exactly the right number of chairs around the table prepared for the crew. There was also quite a beautiful view from the window of the room looking through the city and a marvelous green forest in the distance. The crew was deeply affected by the person who was waiting on the other side of the room for them, shaking everyone’s hand one by one and welcoming them. They all felt an aura of happiness around themselves.
“My name is Stian, the President of the Council of Masters. I hope you were pleased with the companionship of our friend Jorgensen throughout your journey.”
As he spoke, the crew looked at each other, wondering who should respond, when Verhoeven replied, “The journey was so quick we didn’t even have time to enjoy his companionship along the way.”
With a smile on his face, Stian said, “So you had a chance to see a little fraction of how vast our science and technology is. I am sure you have a lot questions on your minds. Do not worry. When the time comes, all of them will be answered. But now we have more important matters to talk about.” He paused. “If you wish, let’s move on to more important matters.” He pointed at the seats for them to sit. “Our seats will analyze the user and automatically change their shapes for the best position,” he said. “So I believe you’ll be in comfortable hands.”
As the crew began to sit on the specially made seats, the seats began to change their shapes immediately.
After everyone was comfortably seated, Carpenter took the lead and said, “We are listening to you, Master.”
Stian stood up and started roaming in the room. He spoke at the same time. “Yes, gentlemen. As you know, we’re on the planet known as Nibiru or Marduk. This is our home. We have been here for a very long time. We had guests before, just like you, and also in the places we’ve been before. One of them was Admiral Byrd in a place you call Agartha on your planet.
Stian continued, while the crew stared at each other in confusion. “I understand that you’re confused. You thought the published logs were fake and never expected that I would confirm them?”
Anderson cut in. “Forgive me, but you wouldn’t expect us to believe without any solid proof, right?”
“You’re right, of course. You couldn’t be absolutely sure about these claims. It was our previous master that spoke with the admiral in Agartha. He gave him some messages to deliver. But as the time passed, we’ve seen that these messages were never understood or brought to life like they were supposed to be and your leader did the exact opposite.”
Carpenter said, “So you’ve been observing us for a long time?”
“We don’t only observe but also intervene in very extraordinary situations,” replied Stian.
“Can you go into detail about these extraordinary situations?” said Phil.
“I’m sorry,” replied Stian. “You shouldn’t learn some things before the right time comes.”
“All right, why did you bring us here? Just to meet each other can’t be the only reason. As far as I can tell, something extraordinary happened after our first encounter.”
There was a change in the face of the master, indicating that things were bad. He took a deep breath and said, “Unfortunately, yes. We thought we had time, but after the things happened we had to act quickly.”
He raised his hand and said, “Von system.” In between him and the crew, a three-dimensional hologram of a solar system appeared. In the center of the hologram, there was a binary star system and a rocky planet floating around it.
Stian continued, “You call this an M-class planet which is habitable for humans. Von civilization, which I just pronounced, were born and evolved on this planet. The solar system they’re in is what you call a twin cluster, 16.539 light years away from Earth. Unfortunately, this civilization doesn’t have peaceful intentions like us. They are following an aggressive and expanding policy. They have destroyed many peaceful civilizations near them and invaded their planets. Now they are heading this way. It didn’t take long for them to notice you because of your planet’s spreading electronic signals. Their civilization is almost at the same level with us so you could never stop them by yourselves.
Carpenter cut in. “By the things you say, I assume that you have known this for quite a long time? Well, what is the reason you brought us here today so suddenly?” he asked
Stian scratched his head gently. “That is the point I was about to mention. After our first encounter with you, our listening unit brought us an intelligence report. They caught one of your introductory messages that you sent via Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program. They are trying to figure it out right now. They still haven’t figured out why and where the message was sent, but with their technology it won’t take long. When they figure out about the message, they will send expedition units first. And when they realize how important the Earth is, they will begin invading and exploiting the sources you have. That is their standard procedure.”