Check out the first Chapter of Gold Storm Rising here:
Year 2081, on the Mars moon of Deimos….
The deep space NASA program has recently been losing many of its high-tech probes. With the increasing costs to mass produce this technology, NASA is desperate to find an answer as to why so many of their probes have either gone missing or become unresponsive in this area of space, particularly around the planet of Saturn and its many moons…
“Deimos Base, this is search team Alpha-One. We are approaching the wreckage now.”
“Acknowledged, Alpha-One. Your instructions are to retrieve remains and upload results for analysis.”
“Should not take long, Deimos. It appears that most of the unit is intact. It does not seem to be consistent with an asteroid strike. Requesting permission to use the clamping arm to retrieve vs manned spacewalk.”
“Permission granted, Alpha-One, but keep crew ready in case a spacewalk is still warranted after retrieval.”
“Acknowledged, Deimos. Clamping arm is deploying as we speak.”
“The clamping arm has secured the probe, and we will have the unit within moments. Stand by for initial analysis.”
The Captain turns and says to his Ops Officer, “Make sure the bay is sealed after the probe is retrieved. No one in or out with proper gear and all safety protocols must be followed.”
“Yes, Captain, I will head down there now with a tech team.”
“I will have the monitor running… I want to see for myself what happened to that probe.”
A short time later, a tech team enters the bay. The interior set of doors opens and then shuts while the room is purified. The team stands there with nothing to do but wait for the next set of doors to open. Finally, a green light appears over the doors and it slides open. The team walks into the bay and over toward the probe, which is now sitting in the middle of the bay floor. When in the vastness of space, the NASA probe appears so very small, but sitting here in the bay, the team realizes how large these probes truly are. This particular probe weighs in at about two tons and is the size of a pickup truck. It is not aerodynamic, like a missile might look, but instead is filled with angles and miscellaneous objects protruding from every side. Up close, it looks more like a piece of space junk that broke off some other vessel, but in reality is an extremely expensive and sophisticated piece of machinery that can function within the depths of space for well over one hundred years without any maintenance or new energy requirements. It comes equipped with its own solar panels and self-repair programming that allows itself to stay functioning and travel through space with ease… as if it were born from space itself.
The Captain is sitting in the bridge watching his team on the large monitor above his workstation. He zooms in a little closer as to get a better view of their space visitor. He then asks, “What on Earth is that whole? Am I seeing this right? Any ideas on what could have caused something like that? And more importantly, what could have caused that, which didn't also completely obliterate the probe? I have never seen anything like it."
“I don't know, Captain,” replies the lead tech, but I've never observed anything even remotely like this. It almost seems as if the pieces have been melted away. This is definitely not an asteroid strike. It came into contact with something of extreme heat… that is the only thing I can think of."
“Hmmm… the Captain groans out. If this were Mercury, I could buy into it being a solar flare, but not this far out. Is there anything that we can think of that would produce that sort of heat that comes directly off of the planet or something possibly thrown off by the rings?”
“I don’t believe so, Captain. Saturn is freezing, below -200. The rings are made-up of mostly rock and ice. Nothing hot. The same is true for most of Saturn's moons.”
He replies, “So, if this wasn't anything naturally occurring, then we have to assume it was something that was man-made. Is it possible that there was an internal component that might overheat to the point where it can burn itself out?”
“I don’t want to say an absolute no to that yet, Captain, seeing as I was not on the engineering team that created these probes. From past experience, that would seem doubtful due to layer upon layer of internal controls built into these sorts of units to prevent that exact thing from taking place. As a matter of fact, these probes are built to work with very cold running parts to accommodate for the temperatures in space. So, it would be doubtful that any of the mechanics that were built into this even have the capability of producing any significant amount of heat.”
“So,” asks the Captain, “how will you be able to determine what has caused it?”
“We will have to tear this thing apart, and that will take a while, Captain. Even if this was in perfect working order, it's very complicated, but with this giant hole burnt through in the middle, cutting it open ourselves might cause further damage.”
“Well, do what you need to do because NASA wants to know what happened to this as soon as possible. Also, while you're tearing it up, keep in mind that if it is not something internal, we still need to discover what the external factor is that could cause something like this to happen. So, let’s not presume anything until we have ruled out what didn't cause it.”
“We will get right on it, Captain.”
The Captain looks away from the monitor as he hears an alert from the communications station. The latest communication and scanning tech has brought their abilities to the next level, so when the ship picks up on something, he knows it is worth looking into. He walks over to where the Comm officer is seated and asks, “Do you have something?”
“I am picking up a signal that I don’t recognize. It is kind of weak, but it is definitely not a NASA signal.”
“Who else would be out here? Do any private companies have ships out this far?”
“None that I am aware of, Captain,”
“How about any of the other space agencies? The Europeans, maybe?”
“It is not matching any code or frequency that I am aware of, Captain. It kind of comes and goes, like something being turned on and off.”
“Make sure you are recording this and start transmitting to NASA for their review. It might give them something to do while we are tearing their probe apart.”
“The signal is gone now, Captain. Do you still want me to send what I have? Maybe it is just some cosmic interference.”
“Possibly, but I would rather check it out. I would hate to realize later that we discovered something important and didn't have it checked out.”