The Alien Relic (3.2)

"Wow, so you mean to tell me that an alien ship may have been here on the moon?" Laurie replied as Captain. Mitchell finished his far-fetched story "Do you think there really are aliens out there?"

"Other than the weird blip on the lunar base's radar and some strange patterns in the lunar dust that were found in this area, no further evidence of a ship was found," Captain Mitchell answered, looking toward Laurie. "Do you think that the story is real?"

"I think we have more reason to believe it now than ever," Dr. Smith replied as he came moon-skipping over the lunar landscape behind the Kingston Family and Captain Mitchell.

"What do you mean?" Captain Mitchell asked in confusion, struggling to stand slowly from his chair.

He turned to face Dr. Smith, who looked startlingly pale under his suit's helmet.

"Did you find something, Dr. Smith?" Laurie asked, turning around in her chair.

"I'll show you. Come on," He replied, turning and bouncing slowly away in a daze.

Captain Mitchell started after Dr. Smith, and the whole Kingston family followed closely behind. Laurie hop-skipped up to Captain Mitchell and tapped the sleeve of his suit.

"What do you think he found, sir?"

"I don't know Miss Laurie… whatever it is seems to have astonished him greatly."

After a few moments of walking over the dull lunar landscape, the group came upon a cylinder sitting in the dust. It was covered in archaic symbols that resembled none of the ancient or modern scripts of Earth. The cylinder certainly appeared to be of alien design.

Dr. Kingston took out her own small handheld MTD computer and proceeded to try to get her infrared scanner to focus on the cylinder. The object turned out to be the same temperature as everything else on the lunar landscape; it looked like just another rock on her MTD. Laurie took out her own MTD and, looking up at her mom to see and copy what she had done, Laurie came up with the same results.

"I already tried; it shows up on the infrared scanners as nothing other than a rock," Dr. Smith replied.

"Perhaps that is why the Earth and lunar satellites didn't discover it before we did," Eli suggested.

"Do you think we should take it back to the colony ourselves, or bring out some of our superiors first?" Dr. Kingston asked.

The adults stepped away to discuss what they should do about their find. Laurie was too curious about what the cylinder contained. Setting her MTD on top of the cylinder, she crouched down to inspect the symbols around the base more carefully.

Suddenly, a pinging sound was heard from her MTD. The screen blinked as though it were syncing with something and then a bright light shone over her head. The adults all turned around and Laurie stood and backed away, mystified. The light turned into a holographic projection of a screen floating in midair. A text scrolled by from the bottom to the top of the screen followed by a large map, all transcribed in English!

*****

A year later, Laurie Kingston found herself tossing and turning as she once again desperately tried to go back to sleep. She turned over and glanced at the countdown clock that sat on the bureau across from her bed. The clock indicated that there were seven hours left before the midnight launch. In another three hours, she would have to be up and get prepared. But she couldn't rest; she was wide awake. Rolling over she rested her arm across her butterfly-filled stomach. She was amazed that she was so anxious and nervous about the flight. She stroked her forearm and the team's mission patch on the uniform she was already wearing. Laurie had earned her place on the mission organized as an interstellar treasure hunt. She had worked hard for her place, and yet, the feelings that were keeping her from sleeping refused to go away.

Laurie swung her legs over the side of her bed and sat up. She reached around in the dark, feeling for the switch that would turn the lamp on her bedside table on. As the light came on, she rubbed her eyes, stood, and paced the room trying to figure out what she could do.

Laurie crossed the room and lifted the curtains on the only window in the room. She rolled her eyes as she saw the "view" exposed through the curtains. A lush, rural Earth landscape with stars twinkling gently in the sky. She touched the cool LCD screen gently creating ripples in the image.

Why did the designers put fake windows inside the EASA's Lunar Quarantine Facility?

Laurie left the bedroom and walked out into the living room of the Quarantine Facility. Captain Mitchell sat on one of the three couches in the center of the room. He didn't appear to be thinking about the mission they would all soon embark on.

"Can't sleep, Miss Laurie?" Captain Mitchell asked, not taking his eyes from the newspaper he was reading.

"Yeah," Laurie replied, walking over to sit down as well.

"Many of Earth's astronauts and cosmonauts throughout history have found it hard to sleep in quarantine. Too excited about the launch."

Laurie laughed to herself, trying to imagine the astronauts that had come before her rolling around restlessly in their beds.

"I, however, have found that reading helps me get the launch, whether from Earth or from the Moon, out of my mind long enough to relax," Captain Mitchell suggested, passing the newspaper over to Laurie. "Here, look at this." Laurie took the paper and began to read:

"Three years ago, a group of lunar campers stumbled upon an alien relic.

After further inspection, it was found that the object contained a map to an intergalactic 'Holy Grail.' The object claims to be able to lead to the location of a Universal Bible. The first stop on the map is a moon in orbit around a planet in our solar system which the object claims is occupied by an intelligent life form.

EASA has decided that, all religious matters aside, the fact that another inhabited planet may exist is reason enough to form an expedition party to follow the trail outlined by the map. It has been years since EASA has sent out a crewed exploration expedition.

The five members of the team, Captain Mitchell Mitchell (Captain), Laurie Kingston (Engineering Technician), Dr. Anna Kingston (Laurie's Mother and Crew Physician), Eli Kingston (Botanist), Dr. Eric Smith (Astrobiologist), have all undergone rigorous training, on top of their previous experience, in preparation of this mission. These five people will be humanity's bridge for exploration of other worlds. Who knows what adventures they will face? We shall have to wait and see.

Laurie peered down at the picture of herself standing with her family, Captain Mitchell, and Dr. Smith. The five of them stood smiling against a backdrop depicting Earth as seen from space. They each wore green t-shirts embroidered with the EASA logo and mission patch. The picture was taken two weeks ago but their khaki cargo pants, utility belts and shiny black boots made it appear as though they were ready to explore an uncharted planet at a moment's notice.

Turning the page, she found more pictures of the crew from various stages of their training. There was a picture of her father, light glinting off his glasses, sitting at a lab table with some plant samples transcribing notes he'd scribbled in his notepad over to his MTD. Her mom, her hair caught up into a neat bun giving Laurie her immunizations during the last crew physical. Dr. Smith in his laboratory, looking through a microscope at some soil samples, his desk littered with research notes. Laurie's photo pictured her with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, holding a soldering iron, bent over a pile of various circuit boards that she was trying to fix. Captain Mitchell's photo was taken by a remote drone during their wilderness training as he repelled down a rocky cliff.

Laurie continued reading…

Meanwhile, word of the new spaceship that has been designed expressly for this mission is spreading fast. Those who have small telescopes may be able to sight it on clear nights as it is periodically launched from the lunar surface for short orbital test flights in the days leading up to its first mission. Its twin engines and sky-blue triangular fuselage will be almost impossible to mistake for an ordinary satellite against the starry night sky.

The Star Traveler EX-001 is certainly magnificent. Its rear main engines and five underbelly liftoff engines are all designed with state-of-the-art propulsion technology. There is an engineering room for each of the main engines on opposite sides of the ship. Crew quarters include a sickbay, a laboratory, a cargo bay, a mess hall, and a main deck. There are six rooms equipped as private quarters.

The sickbay is fully equipped and stocked to handle all predictable medical events. The laboratory has equipment and storage places for samples analysis and experiments. The cargo bay, which runs down the center of the ship, also serves as the ship's launch bay. It holds the ship's supplies, cargo, and six emergency shuttle pods.

This ship is truly a wonder to behold. Best of luck, and God be with the crew of the Star Traveler. Launch date is December 31, 2344."

Laurie looked once more at the picture of the ship she had come to know like the back of her hand, and then back again to the inset picture of her with the rest of the team. Her parent's calm gazes punctuated by her father's gold rimmed glasses. The way their hands laid protectively on each of her shoulders. Captain Mitchell's firm military posture making him look stricter than he really was. Laurie smirked at Dr. Smith's far off look, knowing that he would rather have stayed in his lab, absorbed in his notes, than wasting his time with promo shots.

"This reporter made it sound like we all know exactly where we are going. We only actually know where our first stop will be," Laurie muttered, rolling her eyes and turning to look at Captain Mitchel.

"That just shows how much faith they have in what we will accomplish, they just want to show their support for our mission. They probably don't want it to sound like we're going out there unprepared."

"Okay, I'm going to try to go back to sleep, before you make me even more nervous!" Laurie laughed, as she walked back toward her room.