2 at the Dome: Black Box

Contents

SYNOPSIS

Chapter 1

CASEY IS BORN

Chapter 2

PAUL WESTFIELD LEAVES

Chapter 3

THE TEST AT CYDONIA

Chapter 4

TROUBLE FOR MAGELLAN

Chapter 5

CASEY IS SELECTED

Chapter 6

CASEY ARRIVES IN TRALIK SYSTEM

Chapter 7

TUL BEGINS THE STORY

Chapter 8

THE TRALIK SYSTEM

Chapter 9

THE DOME FLYOVER

Chapter 10

CASEY THE TOURIST

Chapter 11

CASEY COMES HOME

Chapter 12

THE DECISION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SYNOPSIS

Paul Westfield had left for the longest mission in NASA history, Magellan, the first manned mission past the orbit of Saturn and his son Casey was only ten years old. A mission long enough that internment into stasis was necessary. Shortly after the wake up call the Magellan mission went MIA, and Casey would be wondering what actually happened to his dad and that mission for a long time to come.

Now Casey has become an astronaut himself and thanks to the discovery of a chamber inside the face on Mars, he has been chosen by the United World Space Agency to go on the most prolific mission in human history. 80,000 light years to the other side of the galaxy, to visit a society that predates humans by well over a billion years.

With a tour guide to help, he has to remember as much as he can because it’s a one time offer to exist in a completely alien world, and then return with all his experiences and information. Then an opportunity arises and Casey feels he should roll the dice. Everything is not quite what it seems though, and Casey must survive the court appearance of a lifetime, along with making a decision that could reduce the human race to a footnote in the galactic history log.

Chapter 1

CASEY IS BORN

Casey Paul Westfield was born on February 19, 2014, to Meredith and Paul Westfield. They had been trying to have a baby since they married and settled in Cocoa Florida 4 years previous. The doctors had been adamant that there were no physical reasons why they had not been successful and to just be patient. It was difficult for Meredith to see other young mothers who didn’t seem to have to try hard at getting pregnant. However the patience paid off and they had a son.

They chose the names Casey and Paul with the help of both sets of parents. Paul’s parents Joe and Sara Westfield, and Meredith’s parents Fred and Rose Duncan. Everyone agreed that Casey looked like his dad did when he was a child, and if he followed suit he would probably end up around 6 foot 2 like his dad. Paul has the tall somewhat lean look with black curly hair, hazel eyes and a distinct jawbone. While Meredith is 5 foot 6, has dirty blonde hair and is slender with a more rounded face. Casey would inevitably end up displaying varying features and traits of both parents.

Thinking back, Meredith was a little apprehensive about having a husband in the space program, after all it wasn’t exactly the safest way to make a living. She also realized that Paul was in line for the next major mission, something that people in and around NASA get used to. How people seemed to be groomed for certain things, by the powers that be, and given enough time they usually happen.

It was the first marriage for both Meredith and Paul, something of a rare thing in these times but they were both kind of old fashion so neither of them had jumped at the first offer to come along, and now they both felt it had paid off. Although Paul was a little more reserved in his emotions about being a dad, such was not the case with Meredith.

Her joy was evident every time she looked at young Casey. No matter what happens down the road she will always cherish the times she was enjoying at that moment. She never did conceive again but that was ok with her and Paul since they had Casey, although Meredith could foresee at least one dark cloud on the distant horizon. That being the scenario where Casey would follow in his fathers footsteps, it was a thought she tried not to have too often though.

Casey grew up like most kids, with bumps and bruises and the various assortment of learning experiences. However he did realize shortly after turning four and starting preschool, that not every kid has an astronaut for a dad. He had been exposed to kids in the neighborhood whose dads did not have high profile jobs and even at that young age there was some animosity. But Casey’s dad had always told him that the way you feel comes from inside you, and not from the conversation of the moment or your surroundings.

Paul Westfield had been exposed to a little of this himself at the neighborhood barbeques. Not that it was ever continuous or downright mean but it was obvious that there were some people who seemed in need of pointing out different ‘social standings’ as far as jobs were concerned. Paul didn’t like it but put up with it in the interest of peaceful relations with the neighbors, since most often the person objecting to unreasonable statements is usually made out to be the bad guy.

So when Paul felt Casey was old enough to understand he started helping him build self confidence with the knowledge that your disposition is entirely up to you. He felt that this would be Casey’s best defense against what he knew his son would inevitably run into sooner or later. He also noticed that Casey seemed to be very logical, left brain oriented, not prone to emotionally based mood swings, a trait that helps make a good astronaut.

Paul was also trying in an off hand way to prepare Casey for a day that he wasn’t sure would ever come, when Paul would be assigned to leave on a mission of significant duration. Meredith had caught on to what Paul was helping Casey with, and had encouraged Paul to continue while doing the same herself. Because Meredith knew, if nothing else, having Casey be strong in light of his father leaving would be a good thing. Neither of them realized just how prophetic this would be.

BUILDING OFF WORLD BASES

While Casey was growing up a lot happened in the space business. The United Off World Agency had been developed in 2020, and its headquarters was located in Iceland, called Genesis. It was quickly become one of the busiest places on Earth. There was a continuous media presence along with endless meetings among numerous professionals from a multitude of different countries. The future of human exploration in the solar system was being decided in this place.

Man had gone back to the moon and established several manned bases there in 2022. The main administrative base was called Armstrong. It was located in the Sea of Tranquility, just south of the old Apollo 17 landing site. There were several buildings for various logistical purposes, 3 landing pads, 2 launch pads, a solar power station, and a control tower. There was a science building with garden domes and an observatory as well as a communications facility, isolation units, decontamination units, emergency services, recycling center, security offices, a vehicle garage and many other offices and shops. The average population was about 2400 people of all different nationalities and disciplines.

There was another smaller base that had been built to the south near the old Apollo 11 landing site. This one was called Aldren and it was a scaled down version of Armstrong, but it was as important since there must always be a back up in case the primary base should need to be evacuated. This base had about 740 people. There was regular vehicle traffic between the 2 bases and friendly sports competitions as well. There were many small satellite bases, some manned, some not, and some manned only when there was a need as in the case of a special science study or communications experiments.

All the knowledge and experience gained from building the moon bases allowed for an accelerated schedule for building the bases on Mars and also provided a launch platform that significantly cut down on the lead time for flights. Ironically, the terrorism at the turn of the 21ST century had actually acted as a catalyst for space travel. The powers that be reasoned that if there was a terrorist attack, the likes of which had never been seen before, it could theoretically trigger a nuclear war. Hence even the hardened bunkers and survival locations of the world’s elite would not be enough to survive the worst case scenario. So they realized that a real escape could only be achieved by leaving the planet.

However when they looked around they came to the conclusion that the existing capabilities for space travel would fall short, in both ability and quantity, for the rich to save themselves and their families. So they began to push very hard for acceleration in the R and D of space travel, as well as actual missions, to work the bugs out. In the sole interest of having a reliable exit strategy should they need to vacate the earth in short order. And we all know when most of the rich are pushing for the same political objective very little will successfully stand in their way.

On the other end they wanted more than just a couple of tents to live in once they got to the moon or mars. All the more reason to send as many people as possible to the various locations selected as reasonably suitable for habitation. If enough people were living there, then the infrastructure would have to be in place. The rich also concluded that the more people that are living off world, the more mistakes would be made and addressed, before they themselves would be at the mercy of these mistakes. Since in their view it was far better to have someone die from a mistake, who had actually signed on to take potentially dangerous risk, then someone just looking to get away.

NASA suddenly found no problems in financing their manned missions and associated R and D, much to the delight of the director and most of the staff. There was however a small portion of the staff that felt the reason for the now limitless budget was all wrong, and that it constituted a complete sellout on the part of NASA. They were told in short order that it doesn’t matter why the money comes, just so long as it keeps coming.

MANED BASES ON MARS

They only place on mars that made sense to build a central command base was just north of the edge of the polar ice cap, to facilitate taping the ice fields for the most precious of resources, water. They named the base Oxidian and a site was selected in the southern Noachis region within walking distance of the ice cap. The local topography was evaluated and they selected a region of relatively flat ground with a small hill nearby to protect against the wind storms that routinely occur on the Martian surface.

Some of these storms could get quite vicious, so the average wind direction had been extrapolated from years of data, and used in the precise location of the base. It was reasoned that some storms would definitely not follow the average, but if they could at least shelter the facility from the majority of storms they would sustain the least damage. They had run the numbers and found it took 16 times more labor hours to fix structural wind damage on mars than it did on earth.

Getting the central command base up and operational was the first priority. Once that had been achieved then the focus shifted to second tier projects like the landing pads, numerous other buildings and projects, and the various satellite bases. Some of these bases were for science and some for military objectives, the later being kept off the books in the interest of avoiding large scale demonstrations back on earth objecting to the militarization of mars.

One of the benefits of having done so much research and development on the moon was a key discovery that allowed for the manufacturing of a synthetic beam, for use in building structures. It was found that with the right mixture of soil, adhesives, and water one could use a mold to pour this mixture into and when it hardened you would have a very strong, very resilient composite beam. There was also an option to add a concentrate to the mix to obtain a certain color. Its weight was formidable so it would not be blown away by dust storms. It would have been impossible to build the bases without the advent of such a process, since the weight of all the building materials alone would have required thousands of flights from Earth.

Earth was now affectionately called the old place by off-worlders and they considered themselves lucky to be in the first generation of astronauts living on another planet. This mindset was really established with the birth of the first human ever on another planet, in the evening of April 17 2034. There had been several births on the moon, but those were in the interest of science, and the moon didn’t qualify as another planet. After a request was made to the parents by the United Off World Agency the tiny little girl was named Eve.

Chapter 2

PAUL WESTFIELD LEAVES

Paul heard on the sly that his name had been mentioned a couple times in consideration for the big mission, but he tried not to dwell on it since you can hear just about anything at any given time. It would be foolish to live life being swayed by every little piece of gossip that comes along. However there was something that he felt he should do for Meredith and Casey, just in case he was chosen. It’s a funny thing packing a trunk that you hope will not have to be opened for a very long time. The trunk Paul was packing was for his son Casey to open at his discretion, but not before it was certain that Paul was not coming back. Paul put a fair amount of sentimental items in the box that would not be immediately missed by any of the family. Like the pocket watch that used to belong to Paul’s grandfather, a copy of declaration of independence, a Bible, the family crest, and a few other items.

Paul also put in some period print items, like time magazines and a few of the local newspapers, as well as a copy of the New York times after 9/11. He also included items from his early days with NASA, an old glove from a shuttle mission, a piece of chipped tile and pictures of Forrest, Paul and Casey fishing. He then remembered an odd little box that an old astronaut had given him, so he threw that in the trunk too. The old man was in his last stage sort to speak, and knew it, he had no family and just a few friends, and since they were roughly the same age he didn’t see much point in giving it to any of them.

Paul had been one of the few active astronauts who had given the old guy an ear to talk to when he needed it. The old timer liked being around the ‘young guns’ even if it was just at the Pad, the local watering hole just off base. Paul had a pretty good idea that might be the only thing getting the guy out of the house. So when Paul had been cornered at the bar by the old guy, and he knew the story he was about to hear, he quietly let the old timer go on. Each an every time Paul could see a twinkle of excitement in the guy’s eyes while he remembered his glory days.

It was after one particularly late stop at the bar. Paul usually didn’t bother stopping by after second shift but Meredith and Casey were visiting relatives and he figured he would just have a beer and catch the latest scuttlebutt. Paul noticed the old guy on one of the bar stools with no one around him so he went over to say hi.

‘What’s up Pete’? And before he could answer, Paul noticed he seemed depressed. ‘Not much’ Pete replied, looking at Paul and realizing he was the only man willing to give him the time of day. What Paul didn’t know is what had transpired earlier in the evening between Pete and some of the hot shot rookies. They had overheard Pete’s stories way too many times and had started ribbing him a little. Which was fine by Pete, he could hold his own, but then one of them had started loudly finishing Pete’s stories for him every single time, even if he didn’t have it right. They had finally left shortly before Paul walked in.

Paul had also noticed that Pete looked like he had more than his share of beers in him that night, so he offered the old guy a ride home. Pete replied ‘sounds like a good idea’. When they got rolling Pete wanted to forget about the BS back at the bar so he asked Casey why he was out late instead of home with his family. Paul explained it to him and continued with small talk until they pulled into Pete’s driveway. Pete looked at Paul and asked if he had a minute. Paul said ‘sure’ then Pete said ’I’d like to show you something’.

Paul had no idea what this was about, but since Pete looked kind of down he figured why not go in for a few minutes, then head out. Maybe it will help whatever is bothering Pete. Pete walked into the kitchen and got two beers, handing one to Paul he asked ‘Have you ever brought anything home from work’? Paul replied ‘just some junk mostly for the boy’. ‘Well back in my day things weren’t so official and rigid, you could borrow stuff to show off as long as you brought it back. And of course eventually some things got lost which led to the new policies. But one day before the big clamp down I was throwing something in the trash can by the guard house and noticed a space glove in there. I didn’t think much of it so I grabbed it and brought it home for a conversation piece’.

THE LITTLE BLACK BOX

‘When I got home I put it on the coffee table and more or less forgot about it. Then one night I couldn’t sleep and I was checking around on the feed. I knocked the gloved off the table by accident and this weird looking box fell out’. Pete had handed Paul the small box and Paul looked at it without speaking for a few seconds. It was pitch black and didn’t seem to have a solid surface, more like a physical fog if there could be such a thing.

‘What is this thing’ Paul asked? Pete smiled and said ‘I don‘t know, I never found out, and I never heard that anyone was missing it at the base. I never told anybody about it since they probably wouldn’t believe me about finding it in the trash. Even the weight doesn’t seem to be specific, although it is less then 3 or 4 pounds’. Pete looked at Paul and said ‘I want you to have it Paul’,’ are you sure‘? ‘I’m dead serious Paul, you’re the only friend I got, who else am I going to give it to‘?

Paul had tossed the box on the work bench in his garage when he got home. He included it in the trunk thinking that maybe Casey could someday figure out what it was. He wrote a short note to go with it, ‘I never found out what this thing is, maybe you’ll have better luck. But don’t show it around NASA, it came from there in an indirect way, many years ago. It is possible that they wouldn’t look at it as a simple missing trinket’.

CASEY IS TEN, DAD LEAVES

March of 2024, Paul Westfield was called to a meeting at the new NASA facility in central Florida. Meredith had picked up on the apprehensive vibes her husband had been putting out, without him even realizing it. She knew this was no ordinary meeting, even though Paul thought he had concealed the gravity of it fairly well.

When he got to the Missions building he went through security and took the elevator to the 7th floor. This particular floor is a little more secure than the other floors due to the nature of what goes on. There are meetings and briefings on this floor that concern the future of most NASA missions along with the military end of things that would be difficult to explain to the general public. Most people like to think of NASA as scientist instead of soldiers. Paul checked with receptionist and was told to go right in.

When he walked in to the office there were 4 men already in the room. An air force general, a business type in a suit, the director of personnel for NASA’s Flight Operations, Steve Bolens, and Paul’s immediate supervisor, Carl Kinnes. Carl spoke first introducing the 2 that Paul didn‘t know. He then asked ‘do you know what this is about’? Paul answered ’I assume it’s about a mission’. Steve said ’yes it is, ’the’ mission to be precise. NASA has over a decade invested in the Magellan mission and it is time to select who is going. The process of selection is no small task. This interview will help in the final phase of that process.

No doubt you have already heard but I’ll go over the mission briefly just to make sure we’re all on the same page. It will begin with the standard 4 stage launch. Liftoff, second and third stage burns, and then when the all clear is given the Magellan spacecraft will jetison the third stage vehicle and be on its way.

The voyage ship will house the stasis chamber, supply modules, fuel vessels, the communications and navigation station, etcetera. After the all green condition is determined, the crew will intern themselves into stasis for approximately 6 years. After which they will be awoken from stasis for the beginning of the next phase of the mission.

This will consist