Apollo 18 - Part 1

April 1973

“Houston, approaching Copernicus Crater, initiating landing procedure in minus 90 seconds.” Commander Richard Gordon looked out of the viewport as the Mare Insularum raced beneath the Eagle Lander.
The radio crackled in delayed response. “Roger Eagle, please be aware that due to the height of the surrounding mountains you will be out of radio contact until the Command Module, Lightfoot, crosses the horizon. However it is advised to maintain radio silence at all times until lift off. Remember your mission is to record images and take soil samples and liaise with the Command Module in approximately 21 hours. Do not stray from your mission parameters.”
“Understood Houston, see you on the other side, Eagle out.”
“Roger Eagle. God speed to Apollo 18, Houston out.”

The radio subsided into a hum of white noise; Commander Gordon flicked the switch to silence it. 
Gerald Carr, the pilot nodded his approval. “Thank you Dick, that noise freaks me out. Well, we’re on our own now.” 
“It’s even worse for Vance,” the Commander replied, “When he takes the CSM into the dark side he will be the loneliest being in the universe.”
“He hopes…”
Carr grunted. “I still can’t believe the orders we were issued hours before take-off; I thought I was following in the giant steps of Armstrong.”
“You are, don’t you think the earlier Apollo missions saw strange things? They were recorded but the knowledge was never made public. Even Neil saw stuff, have no doubt about that. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here; Apollo 17 was put in the utmost danger by its chance discovery when it overflew Copernicus.”

In his mind’s eye the Commander remembered the briefing, he and his crew had been summoned to the secretive meeting with NASA Director James Fletcher and Vice President Ford just prior to their pre-flight quarantine. The Vice President’s face was ashen and he was wreathed in smoke as he nervously smoked his briar pipe. The Director played the recorded observations that Apollo 17 had made. He read the report that the Astronauts who had landed had been observed by humanoid entities and that the Command Module had been buzzed by unidentified craft that were clearly under intelligent control. The crew were originally supposed to spend 3 days on the surface but when their parked rover was destroyed by non-human hand, they quickly abandoned their base.  They then saw the photos that the Command Module had taken. The buildings and structures and of the large, half buried craft that lay, seemingly abandoned in the Copernicus crater. He remembered the words of the Vice President, his hand shakily holding his pipe. “These entities are clearly hostile; they are warning us away from our moon. We need to know why.”

Back in the Lander the Commander turned to the pilot. “You’ve seen the photos, think you can land in that hilly area?”
“Yes Dick I can do it. I wondered why I was trained to approach at a low trajectory. I guess to be as subtle as we can? Entering final approach vector.”
The Commander reached for his helmet and snapped it on. He flicked switches as he co-piloted the Eagle. He looked at his companion. “Gerald, put on your helmet.”
The pilot shook his head. “I can fly better without it. It’s bad enough having to wear these gloves; I need to be in tune with the bird. Ok here’s the Crater’s rim, engaging radar.”
“Check, damn we’re mere meters above these mountains; we’re coming in too fast!”
“relax. Hitting retros, five second burst.”
The Eagle shook as the retro rockets burst into life, slowing the craft. Carr skillfully swung the Eagle into an upright landing position and frantically looked for a clear landing site amid the hills and mounds of the southern half of Copernicus. Concentrating on his job in hand he didn’t notice the Commander scanning the area. 
“Sweet Jesus the reports were correct. There are buildings set into the northern rim. Gerald put us down, I see movement to the north, we’ve been seen. Get us down, now!”
Carr wrestled with the controls; the Eagle twisted this way and that. “The auto-pilot is engaged, it needs to find a clear landing site. You don’t know that they’ve seen us, I kept us low amid the hills. I can’t take us down too quickly…” 
Through the viewports the inky blackness turned brilliant white and the Lander shook. Alarms sounded and lights flashed. The Commander looked out of the portal northwards as the Pilot flicked switches trying to silence the alarms. “Manual Override, take us down, now, that’s an order.”
Carr, visibly shaken, nodded. “Starting rapid descent. Disengaging autopilot. Landfall in 10 seconds, “9, 8...”
He was interrupted as another flash lit up the outside of the Lander and strident sounds of alarms overpowered the roar of the retros.
“We’re under attack! They’re detecting us somehow.” Carr shouted. “It’s the RADAR…”

Carr’s scream and all other noises ceased abruptly as the hull breached, exposing the interior to the vacuum of space. The Commander looked on in horror as he saw Carr try to catch his helmet that shot towards the rupture along with other loose items. Strapped to this chair the struggling Carr’s body began to swell contained with his suit. The dying man’s eyes met the Commander’s one last time, their stare eternal as Carr’s eyes, nose and mouth instantly froze over. Carr’s face and close cropped scalp turned blue as the oxygen in his bloodstream reversed dissolved and his struggling ceased. The Commander quickly turned off the radar and two seconds later the Lander crashed heavily. He felt one of the legs buckle with the impact, his head slammed against the interior of his helmet and he knew no more. 

To be continued.

Planet Fall

“Somebody do something about these ants, I thought this was a hermetically sealed bunker ?” the woman said, brushing away the insects that  gathered around the coffee rings on the desk.

“They get everywhere Madam President. Apparently ants have more effect on the entire globes’ ecosystems that any other organism, even ours’. I heard one theory that an alien intelligence would view them as the dominant lifeform on earth,“  the servant said, placing the coffee on the table. “I’ll see if we have any insecticide.”
“Thank you Abby, that will be all for now."

Alien intelligence? Yes indeed. President Helen Clayton took a deep breath, as the enormity of what she had to impart to her fellow Americans and the world beyond hung over her, leaden and crushing. She had been in touch with the heads of state of her allies and the Presidents of Russia and China. Ever since the standoff at the Spratly Islands there had been a return to a cold war that threatened to burst into open conflict at any moment. She had grown used to the constant bellicose rhetoric from the now aged President Putin (dictator of Russia in all but name) with regard to the Ukraine and the usual national assertiveness from President Jinping of China, forever pushing against their geographical neighbours. Such nationalistic attitudes seemed of little import now, although the two carrier fleets were still positioned within striking distance of the South China Sea. Despite the decision of issuing joint communiques there was every chance that a hothead in the PLA would use the coming chaos and distraction for personal and nationalistic gain. On the walls plasma screens showed live feeds of the panic beginning to grip humanity.

The President looked up from her carefully worded script, sipped her coffee and looked over her half-moon reading glasses.  She had the greatest speech writers at her disposal; the most expert specialists in cognitive linguistics and Psychoanalysis, yet none could cushion the impact of what her chief scientific advisors were telling her.

She turned to her Security Advisor, Donald Robertson and the NASA liaison officer Dr Davina Newman. “It shows no sign of altering course or of replying to our communications?”

Dr Newman shook her head, “Mrs President, the signal from Comet 67P remains the same. Our colleagues at ESA are constantly monitoring for any change with the Rosetta probe and there has been no change in the singing comet’s song, or a change in direction since it put itself on a collision course with Earth.”
“Has this ‘song’ been translated as yet?”

“Negative Madam President,” the Security Advisor said grimly, “Despite running it through numerous binary algorithms, as yet it has not yielded to translation.”

“Yet it’s transmitting to earth?”

“Indeed Madam President,”  Dr Newman chided in,” We picked up the signal from behind  background Neutron Star bursts back in 1985. They were growing in intensity and very soon were found to be adopting an unknown mathematical pattern. Fortunately this was back in the 80’s prior to the explosion of the internet. With use of HAARP we were able to mask it to the great degree; not before the Soviets had detected it. Fortunately the USSR was in its death throes at the time however hardline Communists passed on the information to China…” Dr Newman looked at the Security Advisor, unsure about continuing.

The President drummed her fingers. “Well? It’s a little late in the day for secrets now don’t you think?” She glared at the Security Advisor. “You were in the CIA, Mr Robertson, what do you know?”

He sighed. “Indeed it is Madam President. When the signals were first detected we were in the midst of the Cold War. Your predecessor Ronald Reagan had initiated the Star Wars policy by way of looking into the possibilities of guarding against extra-terrestrial threats under the guise of global security. This policy continued under Bush Senior but the costs were spiralling. The Clinton administration toyed with making it public and introducing the idea into popular culture with shows like the X Files etc,  especially as  the signal was getting stronger and beginning to overpower the HAARP blockade. Under Bush Junior more investment was thrown at the HAARP technology, strengthening it by use of adding Aluminium and Barium into the atmosphere by the use of the so called Chem Trails. We covered our tracks by first denying this was happening and then, in deep code encryption, stating that this was to counter global warming. This was later revealed through WikiLeaks to the Conspiracy theorists and thereby doing our job for us. However…”

“Yes?”

“This had the effect,” Dr Newman said helping her colleague, “Of creating a residual hum and also these trumpets of the apocalypse – much loved by internet conspiracy theorists.  Not to mention causing health issue in soils and water supplies across population centres. ”

“So,” the President said, “Far from reducing panic it created panic of its own?”

“This coincided with Iraq and the worsening Middle East situation. We were able to blame this toxification of soils and aquifers on Fracking which became popular as if freed our energy policy from that area. Meanwhile our European allies had launched the Rosetta probe in 2004 so we could get a measure of this Comet; our own space resources were tied up in building a defense grid coordinated with ISS.”

“Talking of conspiracy theorists what about this explosion of crop circles, are we behind that as well?”

Robertson and Newman looked at each other. “No Madam President,” Dr Newman answered, “ That isn’t us. That is way out conspiracy tin-foil hattery. They are made by pranksters.”

“But they globally all have the same fractal design, even those in the canopies of forests”

“Just dark web paranoia and mischief Madam President; CGI creations, nothing more.”

“I’m glad to hear it. So why can’t we activate the defence grid?  Mr Robertson?”

“It’s not ready is the simple answer,” Robertson answered, brushing an ant off his trousers. “The comet wasn’t due to intersect with the Earth’s until 2018, however…”

“It changed course when Rosetta launched its Philae lander, “Dr Newman answered. The pictures it collected were extraordinary; it soon became clear it was no comet, but an alien construct built to mimic one. There were structures hidden among the rock and ice. “

“A mimic?”

“Yes, like insects and arachnids do on earth: caterpillars evolved to look like snakes, spiders like ants, drone lies like bees, that sort of thing.”

“Why does no-one know this?”

“The ESA cut the live feed. The story was that the probe had gone into hibernation as Philae was in a canyon out of the sunlight to power its solar cells.”

“So here we are. An alien spacecraft is about to crash into the earth. Its impact will cause a global massive extinction event.”

“It is due to make planet fall  anywhere along the Tropic of Cancer, “ Robertson answered, “To counter any unrest, after you make your announcement we have instigated Operation Jade Helm; this exercise will rapidly be converted to impose martial law in the southern states in the target area if required.”

“Ok, all is in place. I had better make my announcem…”

“Madam President!”

“Yes Abby, what is it?”

“This has just arrived,“  the servant said handing the President a printed email.

President Clayton read the email, her already pale features drained even more so of blood. “My god…” she said handing the email to Dr Newman.

“What does it say?” Robertson demanded.

“It’s a report on the transmissions from 67P,” Dr Newman answered, “They were run through a fractal program and they gave a formic based pheromone message. The Fractals matched the crop circles.”

“What was the message?”

“One word; eradication!”

“Formic? Isnt that…?
On the walls the plasma screens flashed and flickered as they all began to show the same image overpowering all other transmissions. It was a face, insectoid, ant-like.