Blue Planet Rising (Pebbles in the Sky Book 2) Read online

  In memory of those who have already fallen, and those will fall in the days to come, we are here today to open this new National Cemetery. Magnolia National Cemetery will come to hold a place in our hearts, and those of future generations. Just as Arlington, Gettysburg, and the other national cemeteries have in the past, Magnolia National Cemetery will provide our nation’s fallen heroes a last resting place. I pray that they find it a place of peace and eternal rest. There will be monuments erected here celebrating and honoring the lives sacrificed as well as the deeds accomplished by those who have served their country. Behind me is the first of those monuments. This monument is dedicated to those who will make the ultimate sacrifice to their country in the cold and unforgiving space above our planet. At this time, I would like to present to you, the Space Force Memorial.”

  Behind the president a large canvas tarp was lifted off a twenty foot bronze statue. The statue depicted a man and woman in Space Force uniform holding a large shield over the globe of planet Earth. The statue was mounted on a circular rose colored granite base that was over twenty five feet in diameter. Mounted on the base, and circling around it, were brass plaques. The first plaque had seventeen names inscribed on it. The names were those of the seventeen men and women who had died in space while serving in the Space force. The names were listed sequentially by date of death. Colonel Mike Pierce was the last name.

  Across the country, people watching the ceremony on one of the news channels could read the names of the seventeen men and women that had died in space while serving in the Space Force. As the President read the seventeen names, a camera zoomed in on the plaque. After zooming in on the image of the plaque, the camera image backed out to show the statue with flags waving in the wind around it. Then the view changed to a panoramic view to show the surrounding national cemetery and the dirty grey skies above. Finally, the view faded back to the President standing behind the podium.

  The President looked out over the mass of before him and then into the video cameras recording and transmitting the ceremony. “I want to take this opportunity to tell the citizens of this great country, and especially the members of our armed forces and the emergency relocation organizations, how proud I am of you. Thanks to you, we will re-build our nation in this new world that is changing even as we speak. Our world is going to grow colder, but we will adapt and build a brave new world that our children will be safe to grow up in.”

  “The citizens of this country have always strived to have a vision of the future where our children are safe to prosper and live out their own lives. A country that encourages its children to constantly ask questions, seek answers, and find solutions. Just as our ancestors went exploring and found this continent that is now our home, future generations of Americans will go forth and explore the unknown that’s above our planet’s atmosphere. That future is part of the reason why we’re here today.”

  “Today, I want to tell now you how and where Colonel Pierce died. By my orders, the true place and manner of his death has been kept a secret until today. I had decided that releasing that information prior to the encounter with the Dwarf Star would not have been beneficial for our nation or the world. There was an urgent need to minimize any more confusion and panic while we were trying to protect as many of our citizens as possible. A false cover story was given to hide the true details regarding Colonel Mike Pierce’s death. As your President, I took the responsibility and ordered this secrecy until such time as I felt the country was ready for the truth. That time is now. What I am about to tell you is going to rock the very foundation of what we believe humanity is, and will generate many theological and philosophical questions that will have to be answered.”

  “Colonel Pierce did not die on a space ship dispatched to the Mars moon of Phobos, as was explained in the news. Colonel Pierce actually died of a brain aneurysm at the controls of the David Honstein, a spaceship that was in orbit above the newcomer planet Elpis. The David Honstein had been dispatched to Elpis on an exploratory mission about three months before the brown dwarf started affecting our planet Earth. The reason it was dispatched is that a robotic probe launched several years earlier to Elpis had made a momentous and marvelous discovery before that planet became shrouded in clouds as its atmosphere warmed up from our sun’s rays.”

  “I can stand before you now and tell you and the rest of the world, that humanity is not alone in the universe. We have found unequivocal evidence that at least one other intelligent race exists in our galaxy. The robotic probe in orbit around Elpis found a site with ancient alien artifacts on the surface of that new world. The ship that Colonel Pierce commanded was sent to gather further information on these artifacts. We now know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the artifacts discovered were not built by human hands. They are very old and abandoned, but the artifacts exhibit a level of technology very similar, and in some ways more advanced, than our own. We now know that we are not alone in the universe.”

  “I know at this moment there are countless questions rushing through your minds. You may be feeling emotions of fear and doubt. I want to reassure you that the artifacts we found pose no threat to us. They were abandoned thousands of years ago and may well be an archeological treasure the likes of which we have never seen.”

  “Our first priority in the days ahead is re-building our own country. We must start adjusting to the new climate that we will soon be experiencing. Even so, I have authorized another mission to go to the planet Elpis and do further exploration of the artifact site we have found there. I would also like to assure the rest of the world that we will share any knowledge and discoveries that are found there. I have authorized NASA and Space Force to release the images and information regarding the artifacts and our findings on the planet Elpis to the press after the completion of today’s ceremony.”

  The President stepped away from the podium and walked beside General Seale as the honor guard took the casket of Colonel Pierce and carried it to his grave two hundred yards behind the Space Force Memorial. A graveside military service was then held. After the twenty one gun salute, a missing man formation of F-35 fighters flew overhead and a solitary soldier played taps on a bugle.

  Chapter 3

  October 12th, 2043

  JPL Headquarters, Houston

  Peter Rockwell sat in his office at JPL headquarters in Houston, Texas. He rubbed his temples to try and ease his headache as he prepared to go home for the day. He had been looking at personnel files all day and his head was pounding from the process of trying to shorten the list of prospective candidates for the position he had just vacated as Director of JPL. He had been confirmed as the new Director of NASA by the Senate Oversight Committee two weeks ago and his first official task was trying to determine who to nominate as his replacement.

  His close friend Robby Tully had been the acting director of JPL since Peter had taken on the job of NASA director. The untimely death of Mike Banscott at the hands of an unknown gunman had necessitated the personnel changes. Peter had never realized the amount of administrative paper work and non-productive time his late friend had been forced to tolerate as part of his duties as the head of NASA.

  Peter had a dilemma with Robby Tully’s application for JPL Director. As bright and intuitive as Robby was, he had the misfortune of only having his Bachelor’s Degree in Astronomy and a Master’s degree in Robotic Engineering. Robby was a mastermind at mission planning and design, and could easily take on any project that JPL threw at him. The federal government unfortunately, was very hung up on what pieces of paper a candidate could decorate their walls with. It did not matter if the person could not figure out how to put on and tie their shoes as long as they had a least a doctorate degree in something. It seemed that a piece of paper was more important than years of experience when looking at job qualifications. It didn’t even matter if the candidate’s degree was in a totally un-related field like third world pottery making. That doctorate degree obviously made them better than someone who had learned th
eir experience the old fashioned way of hard knocks. It irked Peter that all the candidates for the position that had their doctorate degree were not worth a rat’s ass and would be more of a liability than a help to him.

  Peter finally reached the conclusion that he wasn’t going to make a decision today. He had other things on his plate and hopefully he could come up with a reason to drag out the selection process as long as possible. Robby was doing just fine as interim director, and for the time being, Peter was content to just let things stay as they were. He glanced up at his wall clock and saw it was nearly time for the news broadcast he had been waiting for. The data and images from the Elpis orbital probe and the David Honstein’s recent mission to the planet Elpis were being released to the press today as promised by the President.

  Peter had to grin to himself. The thing that the press didn’t know was that the pictures had been heavily censored and altered by some of the best photo reconnaissance people the National Security Agency had on its pay roll. The President was keeping true to his word, but wasn’t willing to tip off the new Russian Republic and the public at large as to the full extent of what was found at the alien artifact site on the planet. The President was trying his best not to initiate another space race with the Russian Republic similar to the moon race back in the last century. The breakup of China had effectively removed the threat of any expeditions to the planet by that country, but there was still the concern that Russia was going to get back into the space exploration business. Peter tapped his wrist PA and told it to turn on his wall monitor for the newscast.

  The newscast had already started and Peter had to rewind back to the beginning to see what he had missed. The newscast was showing the altered images that had been released to the public and there was somebody who claimed to be an expert on alien civilizations explaining to the people that were watching the newscast what they were seeing. “Expert my ass,” thought Peter. “How could you be an expert when you have only known that there was another intelligent race out there in space for less than a day?” The images showed the two storage sheds at the alien artifact site with their unusual coating that everyone assumed to be some type of solar cell. There were also plenty of images of the large structure that was the main building. There were various shots of the surrounding hills and ground as well as a few of the frames from the airship’s imager as it arrived at the coast.

  The most interesting thing to Peter were the features that were not visible in the pictures. There was no indication of the tracked excavator or the alien space craft in any of the pictures. The so called “expert” narrator was trying to explain how these building came to be where they were and his explanation was totally full of crap. The recon and computer gurus had done a wonderful job making the ship and excavator disappear from the released photographs and video. When the news cast showed the video clips from the airship over the alien coast there was also no images of what the NASA biologists were assuming to be some sort of alien seaweed. Peter thought that the guys who doctored those images should be given a substantial pay raise. He had seen the un-censored photos and he could not tell that the images that had been released to the public were altered at all. He reluctantly turned off the news broadcast and went back to his paperwork.

  …

  “Isn’t that interesting?” Benjamin Greco said to himself as he turned off the newscast. President Walden had kept his word about releasing the information on the alien artifacts to the general public. The President had not mentioned that the images and video being released were a very heavily censored and altered version. His inside sources at NASA had long since obtained all the actual imagery taken by the Elpis Probe and the Space Force Ship David Honstein for him. He switched off the newscast and turned back to his guests.

  “That my friends, is the reason we must act quickly. As you can see, the President is not being totally truthful regarding what was found by the Elpis expedition. I can understand why the video imagery of the site was altered. The true technological value of the alien ship and artifact site is not something that the United States will want to share with the rest of the world, at least not right away. The Russians are rapidly consolidating their position in the Middle East and with the removal of China from the picture, there’s probably going to be another space race. Since the United States Space Force is already up there with a considerable head start and substantial assets in place, the Russians are going to have to play a big game of catch up.”

  Geoff cleared his throat. “Benjamin, it would be unwise to count all the other players out. There are still a lot of very good Russian aerospace engineers out there who have some pretty extensive experience with space flight. The New British Commonwealth has come through the encounter in fairly good shape and they are also talking about starting back up a space program. Neither one of those countries is going to sit idly by and allow the United States to reap all the benefits from exploring the planet Elpis and the artifact site.”

  Benjamin waved his hand dismissively. “It will be years before anyone can match the technology of Space Force as it stands now. The US Space Force is not going to be sitting on their asses waiting for the other nations to play catchup either. The United States is already in the advanced stages of planning a manned expedition to Elpis. Launching a manned expedition to the planet cannot be done without having an orbiting station as a jumping off point. Right now Space Force has a big monopoly on those. Besides, many of those former expert Russian and European space engineers now have a new employer, thanks to all of your contributions.”

  Isaac Richardson leaned forward and looked at several of the others sitting at the table. “We would like to ask you a few questions on that subject, Benjamin. I think this group has coughed up almost two hundred billion dollars on this new endeavor of yours. We’re all very excited, and we agree that the private mining of asteroids has a huge profit potential. However, we’re still concerned about the risks involved. There’s basically no private space industry in existence anymore since the United States nationalized all the private companies with the advent of the Space Force. I think we deserve to know how you plan on accomplishing what you’re proposing to do. It’s our money also that you are risking.”

  “As I was saying,” Benjamin continued. “Many of the best minds and engineers from the former Russian Space program and the European Space Agency now have a new employer. They now work for Orbital Resources Incorporated. We have gathered together a group of the top minds from those agencies as well as a few from NASA that we lured away with a promise of a better salary. Most of the employees from the previous private space players such as Space X would much rather work for a commercial organization rather than deal with the government bureaucracy that still encumbers NASA and the Space Force.”

  “Our new corporation, Orbital Resources Incorporated, is based here in Bolivia. The President of Bolivia and the other power brokers here in South America were overjoyed that we’re going to invest in a space launch facility here that will rival those of the United States. The facility and associated support industry will pay huge dividends in employment and infrastructure development opportunities here. It will help fill the coffers of these struggling third world countries that have very little in the way of resources to trade to the outside world.”

  “Not to mention filling the pockets of some of the local politicians with bribe money,” laughed Geoff.

  “Call it encouragement, not bribery,” said Benjamin. “We have obtained the technical engineering plans of the magnetic rail launch system that the United States has built and we have an ideal location here on the high Bolivian plateau to build a similar system. The launch system can be used to put personnel into low Earth orbit. We have also purchased about a dozen old ESA and Russian heavy booster rockets that we are going to experiment with prior to developing our own heavy booster. We can use that new booster to put the heavy equipment that we will need to start our mining enterprise into space. We can develop the ability to mine captur
ed asteroids and meteors for valuable materials just as Space Force has since international law prevents the United States and the Space Force from trying to maintain a monopoly on the resources above our planet’s atmosphere. The projected profits are estimated to be very generous for all of our investors.”

  “Exactly how do you propose doing that?” asked Isaac skeptically. “We have no space station for a base and no ships to capture the asteroids with.”

  Benjamin grinned. “Why, we’ll let Space Force do the hard part for us, at least until we develop our own capabilities.”

  The others stared at him in confusion. “Maybe you can explain how you’re going to get them to do that,” said Isaac.

  Benjamin shook his head sadly. “I’m very hurt that you have so little faith in me. Have I ever led you astray?”

  Geoff rolled his eyes. “Only the time you talked us into sterilizing about half the female population of the world. There was also the time that you removed a certain United States Senator from the Presidential race. Or the time…”

  Benjamin slammed his fist down on the table startling them all. “Stop whining! I took action when it was needed because nobody else would do what had to be done. All people want to do is complain about what needs to be done. Well, I do more than that, I take action.”

  The men gathered at the table sat in stunned silence. Benjamin finally calmed down. “I’m sorry. Geoff, my old friend, I apologize for my outburst. I shouldn’t lose my temper with my friends. You don’t deserve that. I’m not sorry, however, for having done what needed to be done. We’ve endured so much together, and we have accomplished so much. I feel that there is much more that we can and need to do. So, let me explain.”

  “NASA and Space Force are the only players in space at the moment. They control everything that goes on in space above our planet. Granted, they are very important to all of us here as well as all the other living things on our planet. Without them, we would probably go the way of the dinosaurs in some huge meteor strike. However, per its own constitution, the United States isn’t a corporation, and abhors monopolies. There are also international laws addressing the use of resources above our atmosphere. I firmly believe that with a few well-placed donations to some Senators that need a little help getting re-elected, that the people of the United States would come to feel that private industry should be much more involved in the expansion of humanity into outer space.”