Gone - Chapter 3

Gone – is a serial short story that will be released here over the next several weeks. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to follow my blog in order to get the latest.  - Peter-John Campbell

If you would haven't read chapter 2 feel free to click here.

Chapter 3

In the quiet endless night of space, a small constellation of dust particles danced slowly in the red glow of refracted light from the Martian day. Deimos, the outer guard, crept silently by like a watchmen on patrol. Rounding the crimson planet he looked on and spotted, far off, the small familiar pale azure sphere of Earth somberly drifting on in the blackness.

Then to his surprise a blue spark flashed, a twinkle, almost unseen to those not watching closely. A moment later, in a wink, with fit-filled speed a strange creature passed by. The dance of dust scattered here and there, forming new ballets in the void.

Deimos, fearing nothing, looked on unscathed by the small voiceless disturbance. But wondered, “To what end does Terra plot? A Griffin, perhaps? Carrying a message to her ringed son? That voyager in far desolate reaches?” For this was not the first time Deimos had seen a messenger of Terra flung to the stars. All this he would have thought, if not a rock, and silently he crept on his watch once more.

Inside the Sphinx was another tale all together, as silence was a forgotten sound. Every light on the control panels was lit. Every alarm sounded with a piercing shrilling beat. “Warning: System Overload” blinked in red on all the screens.

Jackson swore. His fingers flew on the key pad, but the computer would not respond. “Come on! Come on!” He threw his fist down. “Ethel, disengage Burt!”

Ethel did not respond.

“Ethel!” Jackson only then realized that a moment before he had turned the voice command off. Quickly he flipped the switch on.”Ethel, disengage the light speed engine!” The interior lights blinked off and on.

“Un..a....le...c....ply” Ethel's voice broke in and out. Then, without warning, the ship went completely dark and everything shut down. Hurling through frictionless space, the Sphinx, now dead, was set adrift at an incalculable and uncontrollable speed.

At this speed, the light of the distant stars do not bend into elongated beams as one might assume. But rather the small glowing dots of the stars grow brighter and brighter. And as the Sphinx passed by particles reached they pealed away almost without notice. And if one were to turn and look back behind while traveling, they would see nothing of these lights, but only that of the quickly fading radiance of the sun.

Jackson had no time to observe any of this. Frantically he unbuckled himself from his seat and tore his helmet off. Feeling in the darkness he found the storage compartment and pulled out a small flashlight. Then pushing himself down the long thin channel behind the cockpit, he opened panels on the walls and the floor, exposing the mainframe. Gripping a handle he steady himself and, reaching in, pushed the Hard Reset button. Nothing. The ship did not respond.

Looking in, Jackson could see that the main circuitry was fried. “You got to be kidding me.” Thinking fast he turned and began pulling parts from the landing system.

The Sphinx began to rattle, like turbulence on a plane. Jackson anxiously looked around but had no time to consider what was causing this. Ripping the burnt out cards he quickly reset the parts borrowed. Then looking over the rest of the systems and seeing no other visible damage he skittishly put his finger on the red reset button again. He took a long nervous breath and depressed it.

Click. A moment passed; Jackson sat in the darkness. His air would run out soon enough and he would either die on the edge of the solar system of suffocation, or be struck and blown apart by the first object whose path he crossed. The next few seconds seemed like an eternity for Jackson, and just when he was about to begin coming to terms with his fate, the faint small whistle of the computer booting up begin to sing.

The interior lights blinked on. And one by one the various systems began beeping and ticking away. Burt was back on, and the petals were humming again.

Jackson leaped from his spot and pushed himself back to the captain's chair. “Ethel, are you with me?'

“Affirmative.”

“Then disengage the light speed engine!”

“Confirm.” The lights on Burt immediately powered down and the soft oscillating woop-woop-woop of the petals were no longer heard.

“Ethel, all reverse full.” Blue flames fired from the front of the Sphinx, the petals illuminated once more, only this time from the front. “Bring her to a full stop, Ethel.” Quickly Jackson rebooted the secondary systems, starting with the short range scanner.

“Confirm. Full stop in five-thousand meters.” The Sphinx, in full reverse, quickly brought itself to a hard stop. Petals Four and Seven flickered in and out and then went dark. “We have stopped, Sir.”

On a monitor to Jackson's right, a radar-like screen appeared and began displaying objects within range on the three-dimensional grid. “Where are we?”

“Unknown, Sir. The long range sensor is damaged.” Ethel was silent for a moment. “But my current estimate is we are somewhere in the edge of the Oort Cloud.”

Startled, Jackson looked up from his screen and out the window. “What?” The endless blackness, sprinkled with the light of distant stars and galaxies, gleamed with a clarity never before seen with human eyes. Jackson, overwhelmed, looked on with wide-eyed wonder.

Finally, coming to his senses, he spoke. “Are we recording?”

“Twenty-eight seconds after the re-boot we began recording all functioning sensors.”

“Good...good.” Jackson, memorized, pulled himself away from the sight, knowing that he couldn't last long in his present condition. “Ethel, run full diagnostic. I'm going to take a look at the long range sensor.”

“Confirm.”

A day passed, in Earth time, as Jackson repaired the essential parts of the ship with Ethel's help.

Finding that the long range sensor was beyond fixing, Jackson eventually gave up. He opened a small hatch and slid himself down into the lower deck below the cockpit. A small narrow cove which hardly had enough space for Jackson to breath, let alone turn around. This was the heart of the Burt. Floating down to a computer station, Jackson reported to Ethel. “Well, the primary core is shot. We'll need to switch to the backup.” Jackson booted down the primary core. The glowing red box to his left powered down and the light faded.

“Sir, the secondary core has not been fully tested.” Ethel protested.

“We're gonna have to risk it.” Pulling himself up a few feet, he opened the secondary core. Reaching in, Jackson manually turned it on. Then shutting the door he pushed himself back down to the computer station. “Initiating secondary core.” The red light from the core filled the chamber. The oscillating sound of the machine begin to humm. Woop-woop-woop.

“I'll start calibrating. How are those coordinates coming?”

“I have generally estimated our position based on our relation to the sun. But without our long range scanners I am unable to truly judge our distance.”

Jackson powered up the first petal. “Then I guess we'll have to eyeball it.”

“I'm sorry, Sir, but I do not understand the phrase eyeball it. Can you please restate.” Ethel replied.

Jackson smiled, thinking how to explain it to a computer. “Uh, it just means we'll have to take our best guess.”

“You have not programmed me to guess.”

Jackson continued calibrating the first petal. “Well, then I'll do the guessing and you can keep me honest--”

Suddenly Ethel interrupted. “Excuse me, Sir, but we are receiving a message.”

“What?” Confused and concerned. “From who?”

“Stand by....stand by...” she said.

Jackson pulled himself out of the hatch and back into the cockpit. His heart began to race a little.

Ethel spoke slowly, almost as if questioning her own words. “It appears... to be a message... from Pioneer 10.”

Jackson, perplexed, “Come again?”

“The American space probe Pioneer 10, launched on March 3, 1972--” Ethel respond.

http://science1.nasa.gov/missions/pioneer-10-11/

“Yeah, I know what it is,” Jackson said cutting her off. “How is that even possible?” He climbed back into the pilot's seat and begin reviewing his monitors. “Where is it?”

“Short range sensors place it approximately sixty-five hundred meters off the starboard bow.” On the monitor a small green dot blipped. Jackson sat up and peered out the window.

“Can I see it?”

“No Sir, it's too far. The signal is faint. Do you wish for me to download the message?”

“Yes, yes. Of course.”

The information poured in; readings of temperature, radiation, magnetics and more appeared on the screen, along with several pictures. Jackson, scanning through the report, smiled from this unexpected encounter with history. “How did they ever pull this off back then?” he thought to himself.

“Sir,” Ethel spoke. “I believe using these rudimentary coordinates from the probe, I would be able to calculate a path home. Without the long range sensor.”

Jackson didn't respond. He was lost in thought, not of going back but of pressing onward to explore. His stomach growled in protest at the idea. It was a foolish thought; there was, at most, two days of water on the ship and no food. Jackson was kicking himself for being so unprepared.

“Sir, shall I calculate a path?” Ethel asked again.

“Yes.” He answered grievously.

An hour later, the test and re-calibration were complete. Unsure of his work Jackson tenuously engaged Burt for a brief low power burn. The petals performed without error. Left with no other options than to trust his instruments and his work, Jackson set his course. He looked out once more on the canopy of stars that laid before him, wishing. And then with a small simple press of a button, the blue spark flashed.

Tearing back into the solar system, the light of the sun grew larger and brighter. The turbulence rattled the ship as the Sphinx passed through the Bow Shock. The next several hours passed while Jackson closely monitored their position and speed as he reentered the heliosphere. With every orbital threshold passed, Jackson breath a little easier.

“Sir, we have reached the orbital plain of Mars,” Ethel reported.

“Excellent, now take us home.” The ship pitched ever so slightly to the left and headed inward towards the sun. As they approached the coordinates, Jackson looked up from his monitors to take a look upon his home. But what he saw was nothing; not an azure blue dot glistening in the distance, only endless blackness. “Ethel...” Jackson looked back at his screens, but the green dot blinked steadily, indicating that they should be within range of the Earth. “What's happening?” Jackson powered Burt down and brought the ship to a halt.

“Stand by, Sir. Calculating... calculating... calculating.” Ethel was quiet for a moment. The screen from the short range sensor glitched off and on several times. “Rebooting the short range sensor,” she reported. The screen reappeared giving a localized view of the inner solar system. “I'm sorry sir, it appears that I miscalculated. We are approximately five and one quarter months off of the Earth's rotation.”

Jackson, anxious, “So you know where it is?”

“Affirmative.” The screen adjusted indicating the new coordinates of the Earth. A yellow line appeared showing the path past Venus and the Sun.

Jackson reengaged the engine and quickly made his way around the sun. The blistering light poured into the cockpit from his left. “Ethel, dim the windshield.”

“Confirm.” Gradually the windshield darkened from a billion little pixels within the window.

It was not long after this that Jackson could see the blaring white shine of the far side of the moon in the distance. “Hello there, old friend,” he said smiling. Then turning into the Moon's orbit, the Sphinx rounded the sphere and, on the quarter edge, the Earth rose into full sight.

Jackson's eyes widened and his mouth fell open at the startling scene. For what was before him was not the planet he left; blue, green, and white. Now shrouded from pole to pole in blackness, the entire globe seemed to be covered in one massive storm. Lighting jumped here and there, snaking it's way across the blanket of gray.

With a press of the button Jackson called out, “Ground, this is Sphinx, come in.” The channel fuzzed. “Ground, this is Sphinx.” His voice was tense and anxious. “Ground?” He looked down over his instruments. “Ethel, are we on the right channel?”

“Affirmative. You are broadcasting at 125.463 Megahertz.” Ethel replied.

Jackson quickly looked over his screens. “Ground, this is Sphinx. Do you copy?” Static was the only response. “Elise, can you hear me?” A snap of lighting flicked across the clouds. “Ethel, prepare to orbit.”

“Confirm.”

The ship rolled until the cockpit faced downward towards the planet, exposing the underside of the ship. Blue flames ignited from all sides, guiding the Sphinx into a stable orbit. “Orbit complete.”

“Ethel, scan all known broadcast frequencies, and put it through to my earpiece so I can hear.”

“Confirm.” Static click after static click, the numbers quickly sailed upwards across the screen as Ethel tuned through the light spectrum, listening for any sign of communication. Jackson listened impatiently. His heart beginning to pound. Finally, “I'm sorry, Sir, but I am unable to find an active channel.”

Jackson closed his eyes, not sure what to fear. “Then let's fire a Spurts.”

“If I may protest,” Ethel returned. “It is illegal to broadcast on every known frequency. You would be in violation of at least fifty U.S. Laws alone, not to mention breaking the WIOP treaty--”

“Well, they can come and get me,” Jackson said anxiously as his typed on the keyboard. Then hitting the enter key, Jackson opened his com-link. “This is Jackson Price sending a full spectrum broadcast. My primary channel is 125.463 Mhz. I have lost contact with my ground crew am an in need of assistance. I am currently orbiting at approximately 30,000 kilometers above sea level. Just now passing over...” Turning to his screen, he discovered it was an empty sphere as the patterns of the continents jumped about. “Ethel, where are we?”

“Unknown sir. At this point I am unable to find any identifiable landmarks to gauge our position.” 

“Switch to the thermal scanners.” The screen flipped displaying the Earth with various shades of red.

“Confirm. The thermal scanners are reading an extortionately high radiation count in the atmosphere. Higher than the sensors are even calibrated to register. Which would account for our inability to penetrate.”

Exhausted Jackson sat back in his chair and took a long nervous breath. “What is happening?” he whispered to himself. His mind raced. He thought of Elise, Danny, and the billions of people who lay beneath the veil. How did this happen? What could have done this? I was only gone a day. Are they alive? Elise...

He thought all this and more as he stared out onto the once vibrate globe, now nothing more than a darkened shell of its former self. Life, snuffed out under the seething, twisting, raging storm.

In the quietness of space, the Sphinx passed over the endless sea of swirling black and gray. Licks of lighting and exploding pops skipped across the roiling wake as the ship sail above the tempest's squall, when upon the the belly of the Sphinx a shadow fell.

“Standby, receiving transmission.” Ethel announced.

Jackson jerked his head up and looked at the screen. “Where?”

“It's from a communication satellite, AMC-3. We are passing directly under it.”

Jackson turned to the geo-positioning screen and, using the the position of AMC-3, calibrated the map. The continents displayed in yellow outlines overtop of the churning red thermal array. Jackson could now at least make a general estimate of where they were.

“There is a fair amount of data, would you like me to download it?” Ethel asked.

“Yes, yes, go ahead.” Jackson turned to monitor the download when unexpectedly the interior lights blinked off and on. “Ethel? What's going on?”

“I'm sorry sir,” Ethel's voice spoke slowly and deliberately. With each word her voice became deeper and less understandable, “the down...load... see...ms... to... be... ov...er... loa...d...ing... my... sssss....ystem....s.” With that the Sphinx went dark, again.

“Crap!” Jackson leaped from his seat and quickly found the reset button. Hard booting the Sphinx was never Jackson's intention when he designed the ship. He reached the button and depressed it, then pushing himself he floated back to the pilot's seat. One by one the systems turned on.

Suddenly he heard a voice. It was a women screaming, “Are we still on!? Are we on? New York I don't know if you can hear me but I'll keep going.” Jackson pulled up the screen and a second later the video feed appeared. A news reporter, covered in dirt, bruised, and bleeding, spoke quickly into the camera. “We are live here covering the Philadelphia marathon when just a moment ago a flash of light from the north filled the sky. Followed by a percussive shock... As you can see behind me, all of the windows in this neighborhood are shattered. I was literally knocked to the ground by the blast. I have no idea if this was from a gas explosion or--” she stopped at the sound of the air raid siren. Looking up the camera followed a trail of white smoke in the sky; an object, high up, was approaching. “Oh God! Oh God! Bobby, Bobby we got to run! We got to run! Run!” The camera dropped, shaking every which way, catching glimpses of a crowd running, pushing, fleeing, screaming. A deep fierce rumble overwhelmed the cries. Then a moment later the signal froze, clicked in and out, and then disappeared.

Jackson watched, breathless; hand over his mouth, heart pounding, body trembling. Reaching with his right forefinger, he timidly clicked the button to view the next file. The image was of that of a burning city; red and black filled the screen and sirens echoed at a distance. Jackson played the next file.

Two news anchors spoke, terrified, from their news desk attempting to remain calm as images of more carnage poured in from around the world. “If you are just now joining us, we are broadcasting to you live from our Houston offices. New York has been attacked. We have lost all communication from our network offices there. If you would bear with us, we are attempting to piece together what has happened. But it appears that New York is again the victim of a terrorist attack. Pardon me...one moment, my producer is saying something....We have conformation that Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Boston, have also been attacked. And we are getting a report now that London has also been attacked. It is now seeming to be a coordinated attack. By whom we don't know, but we will stay here live as long as we can, bringing the information as it comes in. Right now we turn to--” The file ended.

Jackson watch as file after file played out the horrifying truth. The sum of all fears of generations had come to pass. A world torn apart by madness was all that remained below. The never ending feed of destruction played out thirty seconds at at time. Shaking with fear, tears blinked from Jackson's eyes and floated about the cockpit. His stomach was in knots, sickened by guilt and regret of not being there for Elise.

His head hung low and, playing the next file, a familiar voice cut through, “--if you can hear me--” The voice broke in and out. “Sphinx, this is ground...” Jackson looked up at the sound of Elise's voice. It was an audio feed, the file marked 125.463, “Jackson, if you read me, please respond, over?” Jackson sat up, watching the curser pass over the waveform. “Something's happened...an... at...ork.”

Jackson reached forward and turned up the volume. “--not sure how... but... think... it's our fault.”

---

To read Chapter 4 click here.

Would you like to learn more about how our Solar System works? Then Check out this interactive map by following this link. http://www.solarsystemscope.com

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Gone by Peter-John Campbell @2014