the center of the circle of men and saw something at her boots. The general saw it at the same time and both bent over to dig. When three of her men came forward to assist, she ordered them back to their line.
“Hold position, Will,” she said over her radio, as she and the Chinese officer dug at a rapid pace.
“Be careful not to pierce your gloves, Lieutenant. I wouldn’t want to lose you now.”
“Yeah, we took the same classes,” she said. “Whatever this thing is, it’s sitting in an impact area.”
They uncovered a hard, silver-looking surface.
“My God,” she said as she stood up. “It’s round.”
The Chinese general staggered as he saw what Sarah was pointing out.
“Oh, shit,” Will Mendenhall said. “It’s a damned flying saucer, Lieutenant.”
The men were silent as they realized that they were standing on wreckage. The round shape made Will’s words understandable to everyone.
“There is something here also,” a voice said over the radio.
The men turned and saw one of the ESA men waving a short distance away. They covered the distance in a brisk hundred steps. Another object. This one was elongated, far larger than the round form in the dust. She could see the remains of massive steel-like rails that ran on for six hundred feet. Compartments of some kind? Was the wreckage of this behemoth lying on its side?
The general and several of his men started uncovering something else. When they were finished, they stepped back and became silent as Sarah approached. The Chinese general pointed at the mangled mess that was buried half in and half out of the lunar surface.
“From historic photos I remember seeing the very formidable ships of the world war. If I didn’t know any better, Lieutenant, I would say we are looking at a gun turret-a rather large one.”
Sarah looked up at the general and then her eyes saw the shape her lineup of men had created. Then she looked down at the bent and protruding barrel of a large bore weapon. She saw the cannon as it disappeared into a housing like a giant gun turret. Long and shaped like an elongated arrowhead.
“General, I think what we’re standing on is a warship.”
Sarah, the general, and the French colonel stood off to the side as the American and Chinese broke down the four American sleds and the six Chinese transports.
“The mineral is a main concern. It seems all our governments want this item more than anything. They seem to think that it’s here on the Moon in some abundance. I for one will not chance the safety of the men here for the sake of bringing back such a dangerous material. We will bring back only samples, along with an estimate of its availability. We’ll leave recovering larger quantities for another, better-equipped expedition. Are we agreed on this?”
General Kwan bent at the waist inside his bulky space suit, indicating his agreement with Sarah’s proposal, as did Captain Jarneux.
“I suggest that we break into two groups, one to uncover as much of this warship as possible for closer study, the other to continue into the crater to examine the remains of the base,” Kwan suggested.
“Agreed,” Sarah said, and then looked at the Frenchman.
“Captain,” Kwan continued. “may I suggest that you and half of the men remain here and excavate as much of this vessel as you can, while the lieutenant takes the other half and reconnoiters the crater?”
“Yes, I can do that, General.”
Sarah hit the COM switch on her wrist.
“Will, bring me four of our men and half the equipment. Make sure we have the magnetometers and Geiger counters. We don’t want to run into anything that will contaminate our ride home. Tell Sergeant Andrews he’s to be our scout and he will be accompanied by four of General Kwan’s men.” Sarah looked at Kwan, who nodded inside his helmet.
“Roger,” Mendenhall said as he chose the men and started making sure of their supplies.
“A wise precaution, Lieutenant,” Kwan said. He turned to his second in command and issued orders for five of his men to get ready to enter Shackleton.
Then, the Moon moved.
Sarah saw the dust underneath her shadow jump and then settle back.
“I don’t believe we were briefed on the possibility of moonquakes,” Jarneux said. He looked around nervously.
“There can’t be a moonquake, because there’s no seismic activity on the Moon in any form,” Sarah said, as she looked to the others for a possible explanation.
“You don’t think there could be a power source still active on whatever it is we have uncovered here, do you?” Jarneux asked.
“All I can say is that I doubt very much this thing is active. It’s hard to tell its age because there looks to be no deterioration of the metal properties due to the lack of an atmosphere. And since this is no earthly design, unless the colonel here has been hiding a Chinese leap in technology we didn’t see coming, I would say it’s old. I doubt anything on it could possibly be working.”
“I hope you are right, Lieutenant,” the French captain said, and went to begin directing the efforts of his men.
Unlike Jack in Ecuador, Sarah didn’t connect the use of her electronic communications equipment to the strange vibration. She never even felt the first effects when she tried to contact Jason in Altair.
“Will, General Kwan, we should be off,” Sarah checked her chronometer. “I would like to send two men back to the Altair soon to make contact with Ryan and find out who could be jamming us.”
“I wish to send someone back also, Lieutenant, and since our two landers are on the same compass heading, may I suggest a joint effort? It would leave us shorthanded, but I would rather err on the side of caution in this instance,” General Kwan said, looking around the area.
Sarah again nodded her head. “Sergeant Tewlewiski,” Sarah said over her shortwave. “Join us, please.”
The general called over one of the men who was preparing for the short trek into Shackleton. The two men joined them and they were given instructions.
“I suspect we’re far beyond secrets here,” Sarah said as she looked the two men over, “and since Altair is closer, you should replenish your air there before moving on to Magnificent Dragon. Regardless, continue to try to raise Ryan as you go. Maybe this jamming will let up.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the sergeant said as he half bowed to his Chinese travel companion and gestured that they should start out.
“Shall we go, General?” Sarah said.
The Chinese general looked around the airless void, then turned to McIntire. “Yes, Lieutenant, because in all honesty, I would wish to conclude our business here as quickly as possible.”
Sergeant Tewlewiski tried to make small talk, but with the two communications systems sounding scratchy at best and the two soldiers unable to speak the same language, he had given up any attempts at conversation as they trudged through the lunar dust toward Altair. He knew that the Chinese soldier was a sergeant too and that his name was Chao. He didn’t understand the man’s first name so Tewlewiski just called him Chao; for everything else he used hand gestures. He would point to his wrist when it was time for Chao to attempt contact with Magnificent Dragon. The signal transmission was still being jammed, but by what they didn’t know. All of their attempts to raise Altair or the Chinese LEM were being made while they were on the move. Like Sarah, the two soldiers never felt the vibrations coming through the lunar dust. After attempting contact, they would simply bound away, actually enjoying the walk toward Altair in the light lunar gravity.
Finally Tewlewiski saw the Altair, only sixty-five feet away. He saw no movement at the large triangular windows on the upper deck, so he assumed Ryan was either on the crew deck or going through his preflight checklist as ordered by the lieutenant. He pointed his gloved hand almost proudly at the LEM. Chao nodded in the exaggerated way necessary in the bulky environment suits. The sergeant raised his left wrist and pushed the blue
