pulled as hard as he could. When Charlie Ellenshaw saw what he was doing, he stepped up to assist. Finally, the facing of the large stone gave way and they jumped back when they saw what fell free.
“Good lord,” Charlie said, and felt his bladder weaken.
Lying half in and half out of the stone was the space suit everyone had come to know from the pictures from the Moon. The white helmet was smashed and the skull inside crushed. Pete rubbed his hands on his pants. The remains were so old that they had turned to stone and had become a part of the rock that had killed whoever this was. As they looked on, they nearly screamed aloud when Jack and Niles stepped up behind them.
“Why were they wearing suits?” Jack asked. “Do you think their kind may not have been accustomed to this climate?”
“That’s puzzled me ever since the senator told us his story,” Niles said as he knelt down to examine the upper torso of the body. “I think I’m beginning to understand. When these beings arrived here, the Earth was a young place, as evidenced by the upheaval of the Andes that swallowed them up. But it was also a planet that spewed poisonous vapors everywhere from the planet-wide volcanic activity on what had to have been the supercontinent. During a large eruption, they may have resorted to the use of their environment suits.”
Charlie looked over at Niles and wiped sweat from his brow.
“If that is the case, why would these people colonize such a hostile world?” he asked as he looked from face to face.
“Maybe because they weren’t colonists in the sense we may understand,” Jack said. He looked at the petrified bone smiling back at them through the smashed helmet.
“Meaning?” Pete asked, also staring at the ancient astronaut.
“Meaning maybe they hadn’t a choice but to be here,” Collins answered.
Before anyone could follow up with another question, they were approached by a young Marine.
“Captain Everett sends his regards. He would like you to join him right over there, sir.”
Jack and the others turned and followed the Marine. They stopped when they saw Carl leaning over a body. This one wasn’t petrified nor was he wearing a uniform.
“I think we may have found the man of the hour,” Everett said. He stood and examined something. Jack walked over and looked down at the remains. They were also skeletal, but not nearly as old as the others. There was a black suit jacket and what caught his attention more than anything was the white collar wrapped through his once purple shirt collar. The head had been smashed to oblivion just above the minister’s shoulders.
“I take it this is the Reverend William T. Rawlins, father of Samuel Rawlins, who disappeared many years ago.”
Carl tossed Jack the wallet he was holding and nodded.
“Good guess. I imagine the Reverend went into private practice after the war. He had his son, Samuel, and years later curiosity got the better of him,” Everett said, looking around nervously.
“He met the same fate as the others,” Pete said, looking at the remains but feeling not the least bit sorry for the good Reverend.
“Look at this, Jack,” Niles said, as he straightened from the body. He tossed an object over and Collins caught it.
“A radio,” Jack said as he examined it.
“It was in his hand.”
“He may have been using it when attacked,” Jack said and put the ancient walkie-talkie down.
“It looks like your hunch about the vibrations being linked to the electronic radios may be correct,” Everett said, looking toward the top of the chamber.
“Gather up the men. I want to talk to them as soon as possible. Warn them that we may be in an extremely hostile situation. Also, pick a four-man team and get them back to the surface. Call in more help. I don’t care if it’s Ecuadorian National Guard or their soccer team, just get them here.”
As the men surrounding Jack listened, they realized that they could sense fear in the colonel’s words, and that in turn made them start looking around for anything other than the technology they were seeking.
Something was inside Gallery Number Two with them.
16
Three of the Chinese approached cautiously.
It had been hard to control the soldiers as they took up defensive positions on the low side of the sloping area. As Sarah looked around, she knew that the depression they were in wasn’t like the rest of the terrain. The Moon had no hills. Sarah mentally slapped herself and brought her thoughts back to the current situation.
The first Chinese astronauts reached the bottom of the depression and stood there. Their gold-tinted visors were down. The first man stood with his legs apart. He had his comrades lower the weapons.
Whew. No shootout.
The lead man stepped forward six tentative steps. He raised his gold visor. Sarah watched him closely. His red space suit was not unlike theirs. Their weapons were simpler, explosive-driven kinetic-energy weapons, but far more compact than DARPA’s design.
“Colonel Kendal?” the man asked in passable English.
Sarah stepped forward, her hands still held out.
“The colonel was killed by debris in space. I am Lieutenant Sarah McIntire, U.S. Army.”
“You are in command?” the man asked looking over at the others, who were in various positions around the base of the incline. “Do you speak for the ESA contingent also?”
“I am a geologist. I have command of the American unit.”
One of the ESA men stood and shouldered his weapon over the large oxygen package on his back.
“I am Captain Philippe Jarneux. We are under the command of our rescue team. Our lander was severely damaged upon touchdown. Thus I offered the lieutenant the services of my command, since she is the only surviving mission specialist.”
“I am Major General Kwan Xiang, commander of the People’s Republic spacecraft Magnificent Dragon. ” He took a few steps forward. “On orders of our new chairman, and the people of my country, I am to offer you any and all assistance in the mission as outlined by your president to our chief of staff.”
Sarah saluted the general. The general returned the salute.
The Chinese force shouldered their weapons and started down the incline. A sigh of relief passed through the allied ranks as they too stood and relaxed, making it much easier to breathe the tanked air.
“General, I bow to your superior rank,” Sarah said as she lowered her hand.
“That will not be necessary, Lieutenant, as I doubt very much we will run into a military situation on this floating rock. I believe you are better suited to carry on the mission as commander of the ground teams. We have other work to conclude. We need to create space aboard two spacecraft for the addition of the ESA team.”
Sarah nodded, then realized that the general couldn’t see her head bob in the large helmet. She just gestured, hoping the general would follow her. As they moved toward the area where the men were, the other eleven Chinese soldiers joined the group of astronauts. Sarah was happy to see men shaking hands and patting one another on their backpacks.
“Lieutenant, I think you’d better see this.” Will Mendenhall addressed Sarah by her rank for the benefit of the Chinese general. “Sergeant, show the lieutenant and the general what we’re standing on,” Will said.
Forty feet away, a French sergeant scraped away some of the lunar dust. When that didn’t seem to do the job fast enough, he went to his knees and clumsily started shoveling handfuls of dust into the light gravity. Metal tubing. As her eyes followed the shape under the lunar surface, she could now see what had caused the rise in the moonscape. There was something buried just under the surface.
“You men spread out and follow the line under the surface. Stand as far apart as necessary, until we can figure out the shape of this thing.”
As she spoke, the general ordered his men to follow the American lieutenant’s instructions. Sarah walked to
