David F. Capps
Meteor Storm
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As much as a writer might like to think this is the work of the writer alone, nothing could be further from the truth. Each book that you read is the combined effort of a number of people who have all contributed to the end product. First I would like to thank my wife, Miriam for her endless patience and suggestions. Next is my wonderful editor, Katie Reed and my talented publicist, Rebecca Berus. A special thanks to artist Natasha Brown for her cover design.
I would also like to thank Denise Keith and many others who contributed their opinions and suggestions to the story.
DEAR READER
On Apollo 17, the last manned moon mission, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited and photographed Shorty Crater on their second EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity). In one of the photographs an object appears the size and shape of a human skull. In their book, “DARK MISSION — The Secret History of NASA” (Feral House, ISBN: 978-1-932595-48-2, 2009), Richard C. Hoagland and Mike Bara examine that photograph and speculate on the images and implications of what is clearly there (pgs. 558–561). They also speculate that Cernan and Schmitt could have brought the skull-shaped object back with them. That speculation forms the basic premise for this novel. Some of the dialogue between the astronauts in this novel is fashioned after the transcript of Cernan and Schmitt at 145 hours, 26 minutes and 25–54 seconds into their mission. Most of the description of Shorty Crater comes from Hoagland’s and Bara’s analysis of the NASA photographs.
The planet Mars is also discussed in the novel. Much of the description of conditions on Mars also comes from Hoagland’s and Bara’s analysis of NASA photographs and data sent back from the Mars Rovers and the Mars Observer. Mike Bara’s book, “Ancient Aliens on Mars” (Adventures Unlimited Press, ISBN: 978-1-935487-89-0, 2013), was also used as an information source for this novel.
Later in the story two advanced technologies are highlighted; the Magnetic Effect Generator, (Chapter 28), originally developed by British engineer John Searl in the early 1950’s, and a resonant motor design (Chapter 30) based on the personal engineering experience of the author. These are very promising electrical technologies for highly efficient and inexpensive energy production for our future.
METEOR STORM is a mixture of fact and fiction. I hope you enjoy reading the story.
D. F. Capps
PROLOGUE
Commander Scott Nancer and his teammate, Smitty, would be the last two men to walk on the moon. This was their second Extra Vehicular Activity, and as exciting as it was to walk on the moon, this excursion was about to turn shockingly unbelievable.
“Whoo! Look at this!” Smitty called out. “It’s orange, really orange!”
“Wait until I get there,” Nancer replied. With all the gray dust and rocks, something orange was exciting. Nancer put his gold-plated sun visor up as he approached the edge of the crater. “Hey, it’s orange all right!”
Smitty kicked at the orange soil. “There’s a lot of it here!”
Nancer peered over the edge of the crater and signaled Smitty to go to channel two, the secure channel for classified communications. Orange soil meant highly oxidized titanium, which would be critical for recovering metals and oxygen that would be needed to colonize the moon. “Houston, we have a vein of what appears to be bright orange soil, one meter deep and approximately three meters wide. Taking a sample for analysis now.”
“Roger that, Nancer,” Houston Control Center replied.
As Nancer placed the sample into a storage bag he noticed Smitty was staring into the crater, not moving or making a sound. Smitty slowly reached over and grabbed Nancer’s arm, and pointed into the crater. Totally stunned at what he saw, Nancer felt frozen in place.
The meteor impact that formed the hundred meter diameter depression called Shorty Crater had uncovered not only the vein of orange soil, but hundreds of pieces of broken machinery and shattered pieces of glass. There was nothing natural about the contents of the crater. Everything inside had been crafted and manufactured. One piece looked like a pump housing with tubes inside a glass-like case and connectors for various applications. Beams with round holes to reduce weight were scattered throughout the debris, broken at odd angles. Pieces of what appeared to be sheet metal stuck out in jagged points. At the deepest point of the crater was a tunnel leading back into the rock, dark and foreboding. The sharp points and edges of the debris made access into the tunnel impossible in their space suits. One snag or cut would mean certain death within minutes in the vacuum on the moon’s surface. Near the shallow end of Shorty Crater, the object that held their complete attention was the size and shape of a human skull.
“Is the video tape still running?” Nancer asked.
“Yeah,” Smitty replied slowly, “but the camera’s aimed at the Rover.”
Nancer turned and evaluated the angle of the video camera. The skull shaped object would be at the edge of the camera’s field of view.
“Turn it off,” Nancer said, “I’m going after it.”
Nancer worked his way around the perimeter of the crater to a shallow spot and cautiously started down the gentle slope. The ground was soft and shifted unevenly under his feet. As Nancer approached the skull shaped object, he saw that it had two eye-sockets, brow ridges, a forehead, a nose with nostrils, obvious cheek bones and an upper jaw. The edge of the upper jaw was marked with a red and white striped band running horizontally along the edge. The skull itself was metallic gray in color.
Nancer gently picked the skull up and examined it. The skull wasn’t human but appeared to be a part of a robot of some kind. The eye-sockets contained convex lenses, now cracked and partially covered in dust. One hole on each side of the skull took the place of ears, also filled with dust. Dozens of fine wires extended from the neck, obviously snapped by whatever force tore the head from the body of the robot. There were connection points for a lower jaw, but the jaw itself was missing. Nancer looked around to see if there were any other parts of the robot nearby. There weren’t. He gradually made his way back up out of the crater and stowed the robot’s head in the rover.
After their return to Earth, NASA scientists examined the robot’s head and determined that it was very old and non-functional. The head was placed in a wooden box, sealed, given the Inventory Control Number of 42919, and sent to the Clark Street Storage Facility where they believed it would never be seen again. Not wanting to be too explicit with the description in the inventory log, the skull was simply labeled as “artifact.”
CHAPTER 1
I swiped my NASA ID card through the card reader at the Clark Street Storage Facility and opened the door. The uniformed guard who sat behind the small desk watched me as I entered the lobby. He looked Irish to me, with pale skin and freckles. He was very tall and thin with short, slightly graying hair. His uniform was clean and crisply pressed which gave the impression of a past member of the Marines. He looked oversized for the desk they had given him.
“ID?” he asked, as he held his hand out.
I handed him my ID card and waited. He scrutinized my card and glanced over, checking to see that I looked like the photo on the ID card.
“So, Carl Palminteri, what’d you do to piss off Woolser?” he asked.