CHAPTER 10
They could clearly see the Artifact through the habitat’s window as they approached. Everyone took turns looking through the onboard optical telescope as soon as they had closed to a distance of almost one hundred and fifty kilometers, watching the image get sharper and clearer as they approached. Now that they were approaching to within a kilometer, they could see much of the stunning detail with their naked eyes. If it had been an asteroid, then they wouldn’t have thought twice about its size. But, it being clearly artificial, they were mesmerized. The Artifact was black, and if they hadn’t been approaching from the sunward side, they might not have seen it against the backdrop of stars. In the visible spectrum of light, it was well camouflaged.
“It looks just like it did when we sailed by. The computer is comparing the images taken then with what we’re seeing now and there are no significant differences,” Chris said as he continued to look back and forth between the window and the data stream that was demanding his attention.
“It looks like it has seen better days,” said Janhunen as he floated toward the window, taking in the view. They were all staring out the window now. They were the first human beings to ever see a piece of technology built by aliens and the significance of what was happening now was not lost on them.
“The surface is textured into some sort of repeating pattern. It resembles the wall coverings used in anechoic chambers. You know, ones that absorb all the sounds so that you can hear your own heartbeat,” said Fuji.
“All stop,” said Robyn.
Chris knew the rules of engagement for the encounter. Each step was meticulously defined by the first contact team back on Earth and practiced by the crew several times before launch. They were now at the next milestone and stopped the ship relative to the Artifact at a distance of one kilometer. They were to conduct a series of observations here to determine their next steps, which could include proceeding to a near-rendezvous with the object. It was Chris’s job, as the discoverer of the Artifact and the person most knowledgeable about it, to examine the alien object with the ship’s many sensor systems and make a recommendation regarding that next crucial step.
“It’s glowing fairly uniformly in the infrared and emitting a lot more heat than can be accounted for by pure solar radiation absorption and emission alone. Whatever this thing is or isn’t, it’s still functional enough to produce heat,” said Chris.
“Any sort of electromagnetic emissions?” asked Robyn.
“None. The computer has been scanning across multiple frequencies since we left home and there hasn’t been a peep. We’ve been using radar returns to navigate and so far, they’ve been normal and what you’d expect from a metal-rich object in deep space.”
“I wish this thing hadn’t fried our LIDAR. I’d rather use the automated rendezvous and docking system algorithms than fly by the seat of my pants using only visual and radar data.”
From what Chris knew of the colonel, he found it hard to believe that she would rather let a computer fly the ship. He couldn’t help but think Robyn was playing to the brass back home by making such a big deal about not being able to use the much-ballyhooed automated systems.
“Fuji, what are our Chinese friends doing?” asked Robyn.
“They are closing on the object from about thirty-degree starboard. I’d say they are still about three hours out from rendezvous.”
“That settles it, if we’re going to take advantage of being here first, then we’ve got to go in,” said Robyn. She bore a look of determination, and, for the first time since they’d launched into space, Chris felt the butterflies in his stomach as the stress level increased.
Robyn moved her hands across the virtual control panel that only she could see. Moments later they felt the gentle bump of acceleration as the good old-fashioned hydrazine thrusters used for controlling the attitude of the spacecraft and for low thrust maneuvers like this one kicked in to push them closer to the object.
“Juhani, I want the main engines in standby mode and ready to go at a moment’s notice. If this thing so much as looks at us funny, I want to be able to get us out of here.”
“The reactor is operational and the primary engines are ready to burn with all she’s got if you give the word. We’ve got plenty of fuel and all systems are nominal.”
The ship inched closer to the black, elliptical alien Artifact. The Chinese were now clearly visible on their starboard side making Chris wonder if the alien ship would perceive their simultaneous approach as a friendly or hostile act. How would he react if two foreign ships were approaching his position and he had no clue as to their intentions? He didn’t like the thought.
The damaged areas of the ship were now clearly visible and they looked even worse in person than they did in the images brought back by the robotic spacecraft only a few months ago. Also visible was what they all were assuming was an iris-shaped door near a relatively undamaged portion of the object. That was their target.
Chris checked the radar return on this virtual dashboard and saw that they were within one hundred meters of the Artifact and slowing. There was no indication that it noticed the human ships approaching, which, to Chris, seemed like a good thing. When they were within fifty meters, the ship stopped.
“Okay, here we go,” said Robyn as she activated the ship’s broadband radio transmitter. “This is Captain Robyn Rogers-White of the Earth ship Resolution. We come in peace. Is there anyone there I can speak with?”
The Resolution hung in space, watching and waiting to see if the Artifact would respond.
Nothing happened.
“Juhani, suit up and get ready to go over there in the Flexcraft. Fuji can handle monitoring the engines while you’re away.”
Janhunen launched himself from his station toward the aft deck and the lockers which housed their spacesuits. Chris, as Janhunen’s handler, also moved from his station to help the Finnish astronaut get into his suit and complete the pre-EVA checklist. Chris was the only crew member who wasn’t an experienced astronaut so he had the unenviable job of supporting whoever was tasked with suiting up for EVA. It made him feel like the ball boy for the high school football team.
In the time it took to get Janhunen in his spacesuit and ready to leave the ship there still wasn’t any sort of reply or visible activity from the Artifact. If Chris hadn’t been busy helping Janhunen, the silence and the waiting would have been excruciating. He was in deep space on a nuclear-powered rocket, visiting an alien Artifact, perhaps about to make contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, and a nuclear bomb was coming toward them at eighteen kilometers per second to blow them, and the alien Artifact, to oblivion, perhaps starting an interstellar war in the process, and all they could do was wait.
“Juhani, it’s show time. Get on out there and see what you can learn about this thing,” said Robyn.
Janhunen lowered his visor, sealing his spacesuit, and moved to the airlock separating the ship from the attached Flexcraft. It took another twenty minutes to cycle the airlock and get him settled into the small confines of the spacecraft and perform the necessary systems checks.
The Flexcraft was a hard-skinned miniature spacecraft that resembled a deep-sea submersible more than a spaceship. The one-person vehicle was designed to allow its occupant to leave the main spacecraft in shirtsleeves or spacesuit and perform almost any repair or assessment that could be accomplished on a traditional EVA—only better. Janhunen stood in the Flexcraft with only his head and arms visible through the 360-degree glass dome on top. On each side of the Flexcraft were two manipulator arms, each equipped with a different grappling fixture or manipulator. Two of the arms terminated with what resembled human hands, complete with opposable thumbs. The upper arm on the right side came with a pincer instead of a hand; the upper left arm resembled a Swiss Army Knife with its multiple tool options that included screw drivers, knives, a corkscrew and at least four additional custom wrench fittings designed to work with various spacecraft subsystems that might need repair from outside the ship.
The Flexcraft flew untethered using cold gas impulsive thrusters that were now taking Janhunen away from the Resolution and toward the Artifact. Chris could see that Janhunen wasn’t taking full advantage of the comfort afforded by the Flexcraft—he was in his EVA suit with the helmet on and locked into place. Janhunen was controlling his flight using the Flexcraft’s version of a virtual control panel, which made him look like an orchestra conductor, sans baton.
“Juhani, take a look at the top and bottom of the thing but don’t take yourself out of my line of sight. At least not yet. And pay special attention to the iris,” Robyn instructed Janhunen as she once again looked at the complete set of sensor data provided to her by the computer aboard the Resolution.
Chris moved toward where Robyn was anchored and locked his feet in the hold-downs close to hers. They watched as the Flexcraft gracefully maneuvered around the top, sides and bottom of the alien Artifact without ever losing sight of the Resolution. At times, Janhunen was upside down in relation to the crew cabin of the mother ship. The flight from the Resolution to the Artifact and Juhani’s initial reconnaissance took nearly two hours. No one wanted to move too quickly.
The three-hour lead they had remaining over the Chinese ship evaporated as Fuji abruptly announced that the Chinese ship had arrived and was wasting no time sending out its own astronaut. There was still no reaction from the alien ship that hung in space before them. Chris wondered if that would change now that there were two spacecraft in the vicinity.
Instead of the Artifact, the main display screen in the ship’s control center now showed an enlarged image of the Chinese ship and a small figure emerging from it. The taikonaut, looking incredibly small against the massive backdrop of infinite space, moved slowly away from the Zheng He using what appeared to be an untethered maneuvering unit. Chris knew that the Chinese had developed an extensive set of tools for in-space assembly, construction and repair, so he wasn’t surprised that they’d opt for using the maneuvering suit, which basically provided an individual astronaut with propulsion capability in the form of a powered backpack. The United States tested such systems back in the days of the space shuttle and then briefly discarded them as being too risky until the advent of space commercialization had driven innovation to the point where they were now back in active use—by NASA and by private companies who were operating and maintaining hotels in Earth orbit.
The taikonaut cautiously and very slowly approached the Artifact by using his maneuvering unit’s propulsion system in short bursts. Forty meters. Thirty meters. Twenty meters. Ten meters. Chris held his breath as the figure used the maneuvering unit to stop. There was still no reaction from the Artifact.
Wasting no time, moving much faster, and with much less caution, the Chinese taikonaut began moving toward the iris.
“Juhani, please follow our Chinese friend toward the iris,” said Robyn.
“On my way,” said Janhunen. These were his first words spoken since leaving the ship. Chris surmised that his quietness was a result of him either being too busy flying the Flexcraft, ogling the Artifact, or both.
Both humans were now within just a few meters of the iris. The Artifact took no visible notice of its visitors.
The taikonaut closed the final distance to the Artifact and reached his hand toward it; Chris held his breath. He didn’t know what he expected to happen when the object was touched, but he was able to breathe again when absolutely nothing happened. The taikonaut was now running his hands across the iris and the surface of the ship around it, apparently searching for some way to open it.
Janhunen, taking advantage of the extra tools available to him by using the Flexcraft’s manipulator arms, also flew closer and began cautiously tapping on the surfaces on the other side of the door, being careful to not come too close to the Chinese astronaut who was, quite literally, at his side.
“Fuck this shit. I’m here and the politicians at Earth aren’t,” said Robyn as she turned to speak with Fuji. “I’m going to contact Captain Zhong and tell her we’re accepting her offer to collaborate. It makes absolutely no sense for our two astronauts to be side-by-side, each trying to get into the ship and not working together to do it. We don’t have much time until the Caliphate’s nuke gets here. That’s not enough for us to be playing political games fifty million miles away from home.”
“If you are asking for my blessing to violate our mission orders, then you will not get it. My orders are clear, whether I like them or not. And I do happen to support them. Working with the Chinese is absolutely out of the question,” Fuji said, moving from his neutral space posture to a more aggressive stance.
For a moment, Chris thought the Japanese scientist might launch himself physically toward Robyn. Chris felt his adrenalin pumping and was surprised by the urge to intercept and give Fuji a shove. She could probably whip both of us at once, he thought as he forced himself to relax. Fuji stayed put.
“I’m sorry to hear you say that, Yuichi. You are free to lodge your complaint with your government and I’ll deal with it when we get home. But for now, I’m commanding this mission and from this point forward we will be working with Captain Zhong and her crew.”
Fuji clearly didn’t like the news and his face began to redden. “I will certainly follow your orders, even if you aren’t following your own. Discipline must be maintained. But, for the record, I object and I will file a report with my government.”
“I’m sorry, Yuichi, but this transcends normal politics and we’re going to present a united human front to whatever this thing is before the Caliphate’s missile gets here and fucks things over.”
Robyn turned away from Fuji with a look of determination and activated the radio link to Captain Zhong.
“Captain Zhong, this is Captain Robyn Rogers-White. If your offer to collaborate is still open, then we are interested.”
“Captain Rogers-White, I’m very glad you and I are now in agreement. Given the lateness of the hour, and the time our people have spent fruitlessly trying to gain access to the Artifact, I suggest we bring them back to our respective ships and collaboratively assemble a plan to move forward.”
“I agree. As soon as we go over the data from Dr. Janhunen’s EVA, I will contact you.”
“I look forward to it.”