Here's the WHOLE thing. Enjoy! Or else... :-)
C&C will be gleefully translated into ancient greek and
carved onto large stone tablets for posterity.
--
Guardian Knights
Prologue One: Here There Be Dragons
Geology Station 6, Taurus-Littrow Valley, The Moon
1972 December 14 00:25:50 UTC (Mission Time 165:32:50)
Apollo 17 Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright � 1995 by Eric
M. Jones.
Eugene Cernan, Harrison "Jack" Schmitt and Robert Parker belong to
themselves. All other characters belong to their respective authors.
Characters and situations used without permission, not for profit, and
remain the property of their respective authors or reality (not
necessarily in that order).
165:32:50 Schmitt: Hey, get uphill a little bit, if you can, for the
pan, so that you don't...so you see my other pan station.
165:32:59 Cernan: Where was it?
165:33:00 Schmitt: It was over there in that crater, just uphill from
the Rover.
165:33:03 Cernan: I'm going up there.
165:33:05 Parker: Hey, and, 17, we aren't all that gung-ho about that
particular crater, if it's that much of a job to get down to it and
back up. We just need a decent place for a rake soil sample and a
single core.
165:33:18 Schmitt: Okay.
165:33:19 Cernan: Bob, we don't move around from here too much. I tell
you, these slopes are something else.
165:33:23 Parker: Yeah. We agree with that, from what we see on the
television. So use your judgment, and get them where it's the best
place.
165:33:30 Cernan: Well, you might take a look at me walking up. But I
don't think I can get to the top. (Pause)
165:33:38 Cernan: I just got to get a place I can get a pan from.
(Pause) Next crater up. (Long pause) Jack, you have got to see this.
165:33:59 Schmitt: What, where?
165:34:01 Cernan: Up over... up above your pan station. (Pause) I
think I'll go and save some water, back on Intermediate. Okay.
165:34:14 Parker: Copy that.
165:34:16 Schmitt: What did you find?
165:34:21 Cernan: A puzzle.
165:35:57 Schmitt: Hey! (Pause) It's regular!
165:36:04 Cernan: That too. (Pause) Okay. I just ran out of film at
160. And I'm about four pictures short of the pan, and they're
upslope. I think I can cover most of that with the 500. (Pause)
165:36:40 Parker: Okay, Gene. You going to go to the Rover and change
your mag now?
165:36:47 Schmitt: Get some shots of this from other angles.
165:36:51 Cernan: Yes. (Pause) So, what do you make of it? (Pause)
165:36:59 Parker: What are you looking at? The terrain is in the way.
165:37:04 Schmitt: Bob, I'm looking at a flat, circular slab of
blue-gray rock on the anorthositic gabbro, it's about seven or eight
meters across. The shape is very similar to a pancake, including the
rounded edges. It looks like a boulder dropped here while hot enough
to flow flat. (Pause) There are five tan-gray stones on the slab, each
about 10 to 20 centimeters in from the edge, spaced evenly from each
other and forming a regular pentagon. The stones are all conical and
about one meter tall. (Pause) The slab is bare aside from the stones;
there's little dust.
165:37:48 Cernan: I'm going to go get the gnomon while I'm down here.
165:37:52 Schmitt: Okay. (Pause) I'm taking a closer look at the
blue-gray rock... It does get some vesicles in it, tan-gray like the
stones. I think they'll show up in Gene's pictures.
165:38:01 Parker: Okay. We have that, Jack. (Pause)
165:38:18 Schmitt: I'm on- whoof! I'm not on the slab. (Pause) Hey!
Oh, man. What's with the dust, too? (Pause) Oh.
165:38:26 Parker: Dust? (Pause)
165:38:33 Cernan: Jack?
165:38:35 Schmitt: This is not normal.
165:38:38 Cernan: What? (Pause)
165:38:44 Schmitt: It'll wait. (Pause) This is all breccia, in and on
the slab.
165:38:53 Parker: Copy that.
165:38:54 Schmitt: No sign of intrusion into, or enclosure by, the
slab... No sign of melting around the contacts, but the five stones
are immobile.
165:39:18 Parker: Schedule's getting tight.
165:39:20 Cernan: Holy Smoley! Oh me, oh my! What have we here?
165:39:24 Schmitt: You see what I mean?
165:39:27 Cernan: Yeah, it's certainly unusual.
165:39:32 Parker: The dust?
165:39:33 Schmitt: And not just that, watch this!
165:39:36 Cernan: Oh. Oh, no. It shouldn't do that, no.
165:39:41 Parker: What? 17, what is going on?
165:39:46 Cernan: The slab has a... has a... Um.
165:39:50 Schmitt: Air bubble.
165:39:51 Cernan: Yes. Air bubble.
165:39:54 Parker: Say again?
165:39:56 Cernan: Okay... How... thick is the surface?
165:40:04 Schmitt: Feels about like 10 to 20 centimeters. I think the
pressure tops out at the outer edge of the standing stones.
165:40:11 Cernan: Need to leave slow...
165:40:14 Schmitt: And don't run into it (garbled).
165:40:18 Cernan: Go for it. (Pause) Bob, Jack has just entered the,
um, air bubble over the slab.
165:40:26 Schmitt: Feels like about 10 PSI.
165:40:27 Parker: Say again. Gene?
165:40:30 Cernan: Jack is standing inside the air bubble over the
slab.
165:40:34 Schmitt: Should we move the Rover up here so this is in view
of the television?
165:40:39 Cernan: I think... Yes.
165:40:43 Schmitt: Okay... Just so I only have to leave once...
Standing Stone One... looks weathered.
165:40:55 Parker: Weathered?
165:40:57 Schmitt: Weathered, like with wind, rain and the whole ball
of wax.
165:41:02 Cernan: Where'd you get the wax?
165:41:09 Schmitt: Standing Stone Two... same thing. (Pause) Stone
Three is identical. (Pause) As is Stone Four. (Pause) And Five.
(Pause) Double checking one... Yes, identical.
165:41:38 Cernan: There's a breeze in there.
165:41:41 Parker: Say again?
165:41:44 Cernan: There's a breeze in the air bubble stirring up dust
into a dust-devil.
165:41:48 Schmitt: Definite air moveme-
165:41:53 Parker: Jack! Gene, what happened to Jack!
165:42:00 Cernan: Jack... vanished.
_________________________________________________________________
"I am not going on national television to say that one of the
astronauts on the Moon just stepped through a fairy ring."
_________________________________________________________________
Prologue Interlude
Dr. Schmitt's Office, Washington, D. C.
1982 December 6, 14:26 EST
Harrison "Jack" Schmitt belongs to himself, all other characters belong
to their respective authors.
Characters and situations used without permission, not for profit, and
remain the property of their respective authors or reality (not
necessarily in that order).
"Well, certainly, the next part of the record has Gene's actions in
it, but you were... out of touch then." The interviewer leaned back in
the chair and brought his pen and paper back together.
"That's certainly true." Jack laughed. "And it was certainly... I
think surprise is too mild a word for the experience.
"You see," he continued, "the thing you have to remember here is that
during the entire mission we were in almost constant contact with
Earth. Being in a direct line of sight for radio with half of the
world has a tendency to do that. We... both Gene and I, had gotten
used to at least getting an... getting some kind of response within
five seconds of saying anything. We were farther away from humanity
than anyone else, but we were far more in touch with it than a lot of
explorers.
"When I 'tripped the latch', so to say, on that gate, everything was
cut off. And suddenly I was farther away from the world than anyone at
all."
The interviewer scribbled on the paper for a few seconds, then leaned
forward. "What was your impression of the... other side?"
"Whoo! I was wondering when that would come up..." Jack looked
thoughtful for a second. "It's hard to come up with a short answer...
"Okay, the first thing I noticed was that I and my suit were suddenly
a lot heavier. Gravity on the other side is about four times stronger
than the Moon's natural gravity, and all of a sudden I was lugging 200
lbs. around instead of 50. That, and the much more... much dimmer and
even daylight. The sunlight wasn't shining unfiltered on things
anymore, and with my outer visor down it was fairly dark in
comparison.
"Mostly, I remember being hot, weighted down and very uncomfortable in
a suit designed to keep air in and cool well in a vacuum. The other
side has air pressure like on some of the higher mountains on Earth,
and the suit's cooling system was just weight. And the extra air
pressure just ruined the tailored fit.
"I flipped up my sun shield and took one long look around before I
started working on getting... on opening the gate from the other side.
Even being the first across, I really know less about it than the
others who have gone since.
"The things I recall... The sky was blue, pale blue like at a high
altitude, and there were clouds. I could make out stunted looking
plants scattered around the area, and trees here and there. The trees
provided more of a measure of scale than either Gene or I had gotten
much of up until then, and put the mountains around the valley into
perspective.
"They also put my view of the Earth into perspective. From
Taurus-Littrow, Earth is about 30 to 35 degrees above the tops of the
mountains around the valley. And with everything there, it suddenly
did look four times the size of the Moon as seen from down here.
"On the other side though, and I think everyone who's been there has a
similar impression. Earth as seen from the other side is black under
the clouds. I don't mean 'much darker than the sky dim' I mean black,
like the black of the sky over the normal side of the Moon. It looked
like something cooked it, long ago. It was very... it gave me lots of
incentive to open the gate and get back.
_________________________________________________________________
Prologue Two: Splinters
Somewhere on the slopes of Olympus Mons, Mars
1989 August 20, Mid-afternoon (local time)
All characters belong to their respective authors.
Characters and situations used without permission, not for profit, and
remain the property of their respective authors or reality (not
necessarily in that order).
Joan Carter, an attach� from the Australian Embassy, gasped for oxygen
in the thin Martian air and managed to stagger a few more steps up the
slope of Olympus Mons. She paused for a second to check the makeshift
bandage on her side and noted absently that it didn't seem to be
making any difference.
Blood dripped steadily through the fabric, freezing almost instantly
in the bitter cold at the current altitude, almost halfway up the
mountain. Without the noise of her climb, a steady tinkle could be
heard as the frozen droplets shattered on the ground.
Carter was white Australian, with slightly tanned skin and short brown
hair in a pageboy cut. She was short by local standards, though that
didn't necessarily mean much. With a musculature honed on Earth, she
was much stronger than the natives.
That didn't mean much at the moment, either.
"Damn," she said under her breath, having looked back after checking
her useless bandage.
A trio of six-legged beasts, described by one of the others at the
Embassy as "all teeth and claws" effortlessly carried their riders up
the slope. They weren't as fast as she was in top condition.
But she wasn't in top condition anymore.
Carter realized she had stopped moving for a moment while looking back
and willed herself to start moving again. Her body rebelled and she
remained standing on the slope. Move! she demanded of her legs, and
looked back again for a second.
They were closer, and now Carter could see just who was giving chase.
Three men, fair-skinned human in appearance, though with slightly
angled eyebrows, rode the beasts with the grace of long practice. They
were wearing thick clothes to protect themselves from the penetrating
cold of the altitude, and their overcoats each had a regular
multi-hued pattern on the front.
"Painted Martians," she spat. Angry adrenaline surged through her, and
her legs finally gave in to her demands.
Minutes of climbing took her to a somewhat level area, with five
conical stones in a pentagon in the middle of it. She stepped through
to the area between the stones, and slapped a hand on one stone,
willing it to activate. It did so a second later and she moved to the
stone clockwise from it, leaving a bloody handprint on the first
stone.
Carter repeated the process with all five stones, her face taut with
the strain of willing the stones to activate by the time she returned
to the first stone. She slapped her hand back onto the stone, adding
to the smear of blood and willed the circuit closed.
The ancient magic of the circle activated, opening a gateway from the
fantastic Mars where she now stood, back to the more familiar Mars
observed by Earth's astronomers for centuries.
A breeze swirled up around around her, restricted to the interior of
the circle, and her vision fogged. Gravity dropped as the fog rose,
moving from something reminiscent of Earth's gravity to the natural
low Martian gravity, and standing became much easier. Seconds later,
the fog cleared and the wind stopped, leaving her in a circle with now
unstained stones. The sky had shifted from the pale blue of the
relatively thick atmosphere of other side to a faint purple haze.
Stars were visible through the near vacuum outside the circle at this
altitude.
Hands shaking, and her vision slipping into a different kind of fog,
Carter shrugged off her backpack and pulled out a small, rugged box.
She worked it open, flipped the switch inside, then snapped it shut
and sealed it. "Hope the Americans have one of their birds listening
up there," she said, taking a moment to look up into the sky.
Here's the wind up, she thought, bringing her head back down. An old
daydream of pitching softball settled into her mind and she wound up
to throw the box. The fog in her vision thickened and the chatter of a
softball game filled her ears. And the pitch, her mind added as she
threw the box out into the near vacuum natural to this altitude of
Mars.
The ball flew through the air, slowly getting closer to the batter.
He swung at her perfect pitch and...
CRACK!
Oh darn, he hit it. Wait... Oh, yeah.
Carter's body started to crumple to the ground.
Shot again... Sorry dad, won't make it home for Christmas.
The three Painted Martians caught Carter's body before it hit the
ground. They searched her pockets and backpack for a moment, then
finished and threw everything out of the circle.
When Carter's body cleared the circle, the cold near-vacuum suddenly
grabbed it greedily and pulled at the air and moisture inside.
Explosive decompression took its toll, and before her body finished
tumbling down the slope only a mangled corpse remained.
The trio still inside the circle tapped each of the five stones in
sequence, closing the circuit, and vanished in a mild swirling of air.
Far away from the circle, resting anonymously on the dust of Olympus
Mons, a small box dutifully broadcast its message to the skies.
People, Places and Things
Mission Time
Hours:Minutes:Seconds as measured from the scheduled launch
from Earth.
UTC
Co�rdinated Universal Time. Used as reference Earth time since
1972 and based on time measured by atomic clocks. Used here
when no local (meaningful) time zone is available.
Apollo 17
Last Apollo mission to the moon. Launched 1972 December 7,
returned to Earth 1972 December 19. In this tale, it wasn't the
last Apollo mission.
Challenger
Lunar Module of Apollo 17, piloted by Harrison "Jack" Schmitt.
CMDR Eugene Cernan
Apollo 17 mission commander and assistant geologist.
Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt.
Geologist-Astronaut and pilot of the Challenger.
Dr. Robert Parker
Mission scientist and EVA CapCom --- One of three individuals
who served as Apollo 17's primary radio contact in Houston.
Taurus-Littrow Valley
The Apollo 17 landing site in a spectacular valley on the
southeastern edge of the Sea of Serenity (Mare Serenitatis).
Challenger landed about a kilometer east of Camelot Crater
between a trio of small craters named Poppie, Punk and Rudolph.
Earth would be visible at an elevation of about 45 degrees from
the valley floor.
Olympus Mons
Largest mountain on Mars and in the Solar System. The peak
practically sticks out of the thin Martian atmosphere on this
side of reality.
Author's Notes
Lemme see, the Apollo 17 transcript measures altitude in nautical
miles, ground distances in metric, small objects in inches, velocity
in feet per second... Sea of Serenity, Camelot Crater... Doctor! My
brain hurts!
Kudos to the slave driv- individual who sent the link to the Apollo 17
transcript. Special kudos to the villai- individual who sent the
description of Taurus-Littrow Valley; may your chewing gum get stuck
in your tonsils.
Extra special thanks to my prereader. Your comments are still making
my head spinspinspin.
--
Delusion of Reality
delusion@galaxy.plethora.net
This and other stuff available at http://galaxy.plethora.net/fiction/