UMO: A Chilling Tale of First Contact Read online

  CONTENTS

  A NOTE TO READERS

  PROLOGUE

  1: BLACK OPS

  2: MARS APPROACH

  3: SEPARATION FAILURE

  4: CROSSED WIRES

  5: FIRST CONTACT

  6: BLACKOUT

  7: BARKS AND BITES

  8: TAKE THE HILL

  9: BAITING THE BEAST

  10: FOR THE GREATER GOOD

  11: ABANDONED

  EPILOGUE

  BONUS CONTENT: SKYWAVE PROLOGUE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  COPYRIGHT

  A NOTE TO READERS

  Greetings, friends, fans and new readers! Thank you in advance for choosing to read UMO, the novella prequel to Skywave, the first book in my new sci-fi thriller series, The Rorschach Explorer Missions.

  The Rorschach Explorer Missions series is my first foray into the realm of science fiction, and readers familiar with my mystery/thriller/suspense series, The Anlon Cully Chronicles, will observe similarities in storyline elements between the two series. I like to blend mystery, alternative history, fantasy and suspense-twists into my plots, and UMO is no exception.

  I conceived the UMO story while writing Skywave and decided to separate it into a stand-alone novella because it didn’t fit well in Skywave’s timeline, but I liked the story too much to scrap it. While it isn’t necessary to read UMO to understand the Skywave story, or vice versa, UMO does provide a deep dive into a backstory referenced at various points in Skywave. As an aside, the Prologue for Skywave is included in UMO as a bonus chapter after the UMO Epilogue.

  The term UMO is an acronym for unidentified magnetic object, an unexplained phenomenon observed by astronauts and spacecraft cameras since mankind first “slipped the surly bonds of Earth.” In my story, UMOs are small, bright lights that travel at supersonic speed near the edges of Earth’s atmosphere. They appear capable of nonballistic motion and seem attracted to spacecraft of all kinds.

  Space exploration authorities have, at various times, provided alternative explanations for these bright lights: melting frost shed by spacecraft caught in sunlight, solar wind particles or flaming meteors bouncing off the Earth’s atmosphere, to name a few. Conspiracy theorists have suggested the bright lights are an alien life-form visiting our lonely planet. Some have even claimed space exploration authorities have been suppressing the truth about the mysterious lights, a stance they say is reinforced by sudden cuts in video feeds every time one of the bright lights zooms by the cameras of an orbiting spacecraft.

  Whom should we believe? The authorities or the contrarians? You be the judge…

  P.S. To readers who are astrophysicists, aerospace engineers, astronauts, astronomers, biologists, radio engineers, space agency employees or military members…take it easy on me regarding the leaps of fancy baked into the story. It’s fiction. Well, most of it is.

  PROLOGUE

  In July 1989, the Soviet Union launched two space probes destined for Mars and one of its two moons, Phobos. Dubbed Phobos-1 and Phobos-2, the two spacecraft were armed to the teeth with diagnostic equipment and ambitious objectives.

  The early part of Phobos-1’s mission was mundane. It was supposed to deploy its array of instrumentation soon after leaving Earth and report back readings of solar and interstellar radiation levels. Once it reached Mars, however, it was to survey the planet and tiny Phobos and then drop a smaller probe onto the moon to drill core samples as a prelude to the arrival of the mission hero, Phobos-2.

  The latter probe was supposed to study Phobos at much closer range, its mission culminating with the deployment of two smaller probes that would attempt to land on the tumbling clump of rubble and perform more intensive diagnostic assessments.

  Neither Phobos probes accomplished their intended missions. Phobos-1 mysteriously went silent fifty-three days into its two-hundred-day journey to Mars. The Soviets claimed a bad computer command had been sent to Phobos-1, triggering a diagnostic program that instructed the probe to turn off its attitude control. In so doing, the probe’s solar panels lost their orientation with the sun, causing Phobos-1’s batteries to drain instead of recharge. Communication was never reestablished and the probe drifted off into space. It has never been found.

  Phobos-2 made it to Mars, but communication with the vessel was inexplicably lost as it approached the final phase of its mission — the deployment of its two landers. Soviet authorities declared the lost communication was attributable to a computer malfunction. The mishap occurred almost nine months after the loss of Phobos-1, and like its sister ship, neither Phobos-2 nor its debris has ever been located.

  Enter the United States into this drama. After the successful Viking mission to Mars ended in 1980, the U.S. turned its space exploration focus to other priorities, leaving Mars as an afterthought until the 1992 Mars Observer mission. Much like the Soviets’ Phobos probes, Mars Observer was packed with instruments to examine the Martian atmosphere, climate and magnetic field. And like its ill-fated predecessors, Mars Observer failed in its mission.

  Three days before it was to insert into orbit around Mars, NASA lost communication with the unmanned spacecraft. As was the case with Phobos-1 and Phobos-2, attempts to reestablish communication were unsuccessful. NASA’s explanation for Mars Observer’s demise? A fuel leak caused the probe to spin out of control, and much like Phobos-1, Mars Observer’s solar panels were unable to maintain orientation with the sun, causing the eventual drain of its batteries. Neither Mars Observer nor its debris has ever been spotted. It was believed to have drifted off into space like its Soviet counterparts.

  1: BLACK OPS

  United States Space Command

  Peterson Air Force Base

  Colorado Springs, Colorado

  Date: 04.27.1995

  Time: 0438 UTC

  Eyes glued on his computer screen, Lieutenant General Timothy Ferris scanned the closing of his message to the secretary of defense one last time.

  “The time for theories and finesse have passed. We have wasted a year and untold millions of dollars on NASA’s boondoggle and we are in no better position today than if we had followed my plan from the get-go. Given the XGEN test results, there is only one plan of action to deal with the UMOs that makes sense. I seek your support to put that plan in front of the president, and the authority to see the plan through to its successful execution.”

  Ferris clicked the print button and pushed back from his desk. Would SECDEF support him this time? Or would Karen Wells get the better of him, again? NASA’s chief administrator was three times the politician the estimable George Wentworth on a bad day. On a good day, she made SECDEF look like a third-grade thumb sucker.

  With the printout in hand, Ferris returned to his desk to review it again. It had to be perfect to overcome Wentworth’s “get along to get ahead” attitude and Wells’ crafty sidesteps. As he read the opening paragraph, Ferris thought aloud, “At least there’s no dispute about the facts.”

  “Phobos-1, Phobos-2 and Mars Observer all met the same fate at the hands of the same foe. A foe that just obliterated our XGEN satellite. A foe that has been at our doorstop from the moment we entered outer space. A foe we are ill-prepared to defeat. Yet, we have the means and opportunity to change our circumstances if we have the courage to act decisively.”

  Scanning ahead several paragraphs, Ferris made a note on the printout to bold the sections of the CIA interview that spurred him to recommend more drastic measures. He still found it remarkable that the two Soviet scientists, code-named Spud and Nick, had willingly parted with such valuable intelligence.

  “Spud stated official versions of CHARIOT-A
LPHA and CHARIOT-BETA losses are bogus. Spud claimed both were destroyed by unidentified entities. When asked to clarify what he meant by ‘unidentified entities,’ Nick produced photographs showing balls of light surrounding CHARIOT-BETA.”

  Ferris slid a copy of one of the referenced photographs from the black-taped SPUDNICK envelope on his desk. In the grainy image, Phobos-2’s camera had captured bright lights gathering around the Soviet probe. As he looked at the photograph, Ferris recalled his reaction when first briefed on the scientists’ story. He had glared at the Air Force intelligence officer providing the briefing and said, “What a load of steaming horse shit.”

  But he had changed his tune after the intelligence officer shared another set of photographs. The pictures showed the demolished remains of Phobos-1. The Soviet scientists explained that Phobos-2 had launched a week after Phobos-1 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and had passed through its debris field within days of losing communication with the lead probe.

  After reviewing copies of the second set of photographs, Ferris revisited his excerpt of NASA’s analysis of the photographs and data supplied by Spud and Nick.

  “Instrument readings reveal a significant spike in electromagnetic radiation in Phobos-1’s final moments. Taken in conjunction with the photographs, it appears a ‘swarm’ of the lights generated an electromagnetic pulse, destroying the Soviet probe.”

  Damn right, they did. No question about that now, Ferris thought.

  Turning his attention to the next section of the memo, Ferris decided to strike the CIA memo passages related to the Soviet military’s “bad computer command” cover story for the loss of Phobos-1. The president, SECDEF and Wells were all familiar with the story by now.

  “Spud said military convinced CHARIOT-ALPHA destroyed by U.S. SDI asset. Nick said the last instructions communicated to probe ordered it to activate its instrumentation to begin taking radiation readings. Spud said military believes activation of CHARIOT-ALPHA’s devices was detected by U.S. asset and said asset neutralized CHARIOT-ALPHA to prevent its instruments from detecting the U.S. asset’s presence.

  “Spud was visibly upset when discussing military theory. Based on photographic and instrumentation evidence, Spud is convinced both CHARIOTS were destroyed by the lights. Nick concurred, saying he believed the lights attacked CHARIOT-BETA in response to the activation of its electromagnetic-radiation detecting instruments, just like they had with CHARIOT-ALPHA.”

  Ferris circled the last line of the statement and examined the Phobos-2 picture again. Hundreds of the lights formed a bee-like swarm near the probe’s communications array and instrumentation. He murmured, “Damn swarm looks just like the one that took out our XGEN, only bigger.”

  Skipping past the rest of his documented support, Ferris zeroed in on the crux of the debate between Space Command and NASA.

  “For decades, NASA had publicly disavowed the existence of so-called ‘unidentified magnetic objects,’ despite a growing catalog of videos and astronaut reports of UMO ‘fireflies’ flitting around spacecraft and satellites. Even among those in-the-know, NASA persists in its stance that UMOs are benign, inanimate particles trapped in Earth’s ionosphere.”

  Ferris wrote in the margin, “Lies!”

  UMOs were neither benign nor inanimate. They were an alien life-form that fed on electromagnetic radiation, and despite NASA’s decades-long contention that the UMOs were harmless, the Phobos-1 and Phobos-2 photos showed otherwise…as did the XGEN test results.

  He decided to bold and underline the thrust of his argument.

  “Now that we’ve seen what they can do firsthand (re: XGEN), what happens if a swarm of these things hits one of our surveillance satellites? Or a nuke guidance satellite? They could leave us blind to attack. Or, worse, what if they take out a Russian satellite? The Russians are bound to think we did it and before you know it, we will have a full-scale nuclear war on our hands! We cannot ignore UMOs any longer! They represent an imminent threat to our national security.”

  It would be hard, if not impossible, for NASA’s chief to disagree with that conclusion now, Ferris thought. Not after the XGEN results. But it didn’t mean Wells wouldn’t try. She’d probably trot out the same arguments she’d used to send Mars Observer to its doom, and the same logic she’d used to secure the president’s sanction of the Cetus Prime mission.

  The problem with Phobos-2 and Mars Observer had been an issue of time, not objective, according to Wells. Given the communication-loop delay between Mars and Earth, both probes had been overwhelmed before anyone knew about it. Her solution? Send a manned mission to Mars.

  “What an asinine proposal!” Ferris lamented. “And now look at the mess we’re in!”

  This time, Ferris prayed, would be different. This time, the president would have to see it his way. No more pussy-footing with the alien creatures. It was time to show them teeth!

  As he finished rereading his proposal to that effect, Ferris was left with one open question — would the crew of Cetus Prime man up and do what was necessary?

  Laying aside the draft to SECDEF, Ferris opened another classified envelope on his desk labeled CETUS. Inside were details of the spacecraft, its mission and crew. Ferris flipped pages until he reached the crew bios.

  The commander of the mission was Lieutenant Colonel Avery Lockett. The black Air Force fighter pilot was a decorated veteran, including several covert military operations during the 1980s. He had not aspired to be an astronaut, but Ferris had demanded the selection of an active military officer with combat experience to lead the mission. When presented with the assignment, Avery had been given the chance to decline, but he opted to go, saying it was the opportunity of a lifetime.

  The same sentiments had been expressed by the other two members of the skeleton crew, Captain Nick Reed, the flight engineer and copilot, and Mission Specialist, Dr. Christine Baker. Of these two, only Nick was a career astronaut. Though he’d never been into space, Nick had trained for several Shuttle missions and knew the ship’s systems, inside and out. Ferris had supported Reed’s inclusion more because of his reputation for being cool under pressure than his technical knowledge.

  Christine, on the other hand, was a liability in Ferris’ mind. Neither a member of the military nor a career astronaut, she had been nominated for the mission by NASA given her expertise in predatory animal behaviors. More at home on the African safari than a laboratory or spaceship, the biologist viewed the mission as a chance to examine the first known alien species rather than an operation to preserve national security. Despite his reservations about her, Ferris had agreed to NASA’s choice of Christine in exchange for the space agency’s assent to Avery’s appointment as commander.

  A motley crew, to be sure, Ferris thought. Could they be counted on to do as ordered? Or would it prove necessary to force their compliance?

  2: MARS APPROACH

  Cetus Prime

  Flight Deck

  Date: 04.28.1995

  Time: 1200 UTC

  Avery Lockett floated through the hatch and propelled forward to reach the flight deck ladder. With a gentle tug on a rung, he glided up the length of the ladder and into the cockpit. Grabbing hold of the commander’s seat, Avery curled into a ball and guided his body into place.

  After strapping in, Avery paused to gaze at Mars through the cockpit window. A month ago, the planet had been little more than an orange pebble against a black backdrop. But now, only days from inserting into orbit, Mars dominated the horizon and Avery could see its surface features in vivid detail. He was most impressed by the sight of Olympus Mons, the planet’s massive volcano. Purported to be the largest volcano in the solar system, the northern hemisphere behemoth looked like a giant eye keeping watch over those who approached.

  The previous night, Christine Baker had been the first to spot Phobos as it appeared from behind the planet’s shadow. She’d called Avery and Nick Reed to the lab and together they’d watched the tiny spec zoom around the planet’s midsection
through a porthole window. Avery had been amazed by the moon’s diminutive size and by how close it orbited its host planet. He had been aware of the moon’s dimensions and proximity to Mars before the mission jumped off, but the descriptions and pictures didn’t do justice to either the disparity in size between the two orbs or Phobos’ atmosphere-scraping altitude.

  As Avery tried to locate the moon again through the cockpit window, he found it hard to believe a chunk of tumbling rock less than seventeen miles across had been the source of so much trouble. For NASA and the Soviets, Phobos was the Bermuda Triangle of Mars, an analogy that had drawn hisses from Christine when Avery coined the phrase during their porthole viewing.

  “This mission is eerie enough without you adding more voodoo to it,” she had said, touching her head, heart and shoulders to invoke holy protection.

  She had been right to describe their mission as eerie, thought Avery, although she could have attached other adjectives as well. Crazy, dangerous and desperate were three he had come up with during the seven-month journey, but he kept these descriptors to himself. Christine’s superstitions had already risen to obsessive-compulsive levels, and he didn’t want to encourage any further expansion this close to beginning the important tasks that lay ahead.

  Yet, he was concerned about Christine. The freckle-faced redhead now spent hours at her station in the lab, staring at the instrumentation displays, waiting for the first sign of the UMOs to light up her screens. All the while, she tapped her foot and fidgeted with her Chicago Cubs cap.

  It was quite a contrast to the nerves-of-steel reputation that preceded Christine’s selection for the mission. As Avery had heard it, Christine had once stepped between poachers surrounding a wounded black rhino during a safari expedition, daring them to shoot her. The game hunters had scattered when the fallen animal took advantage of the respite to rise to its feet and signal a charge, leaving Christine alone with the angry beast. She turned to face the rhino as it snarled and huffed, standing her ground during several feigned charges until eventually the animal lost interest and ran off. Thereafter, she was known among her Kenyan guides as “Tamasha ya Rhino,” the rhino tamer.