Alpha 1472 (12 page)

He assured him that he did and signed off.
Feeling that this could take some time he got up from his bunk and made himself a drink then sat at his desk to see what had, up until now, been kept from him.

He inserted his ROM into the computer and was almost immediately presented with the opening screen and the mission logo.
It was a representation of the ship featuring two ellipses to represent the separate orbits of the two worlds with ‘Alpha 1472’ underneath the image, the exact same logo that had been embroidered onto their uniforms. Firstly he placed his cursor over the logo and before clicking it, he made sure that he had the numbers 1, 4, 7 and 2 firmly depressed. It was a little awkward but when he was comfortable that he had the correct combination he clicked the logo. The computer whirred and clicked and after a few seconds he entered his code and the screen revealed its secrets. The familiar face of Major Peter Hooton appeared, over his face was superimposed a small play button. Daniels took a sip of his drink placed it thoughtfully on the desk and began to watch the video.

“Captain Daniels this recording is for your eyes only, what you are about to told is top secret and should not be discussed with any member of your crew. I am sure that as a matter of course you have researched all of the Alpha missions and have found
nothing untoward since the 106 mission. 106 were reported as being one of the most tragic accidents of our space program since its inception. This, however, was not strictly true. Yes it is true that no-one returned, and it is also true that we lost three good men who have since become legends. But what became of them is unknown and this forms part of your new mission. We have known, for generations that Epsilon Omega falls within our orbit path every two and a half thousand years or so and 106 was in fact your predecessor. Their mission brief was very different from yours. They were a crew of three who had joined the academy from orphanages across the globe. They were, originally kids who showed outstanding degrees of learning and for their age they were leaps and bounds ahead of their contemporaries. The Alpha project had been alerted to their abilities and after extensive checks to determine that they had no families they were taken into the project. At first there were six of them selected but only the best three were selected to stay with the project. The corps took these kids and nurtured them through their education, grooming them specifically for the 106 mission. By the time Epsilon Omega was due to enter our orbit the crew were aged about twenty one years old and had been kept segregated from society, the only thing they knew, was how to do the job they had been selected for. You see, Jason Alpha 106 was always meant to be a one way ticket; there was no return for this crew. I know that you are sitting there a little confused by this but all will become apparent”.

Daniels paused the playback and took another sip of his drink which by now had become a little tepid. He knew that there was a part of this mission about to rear up that he had not expected. He reached over and restarted the video.

“At the time that 106 was due to embark upon its mission our world was going through a little turmoil there was unrest and our governments were finding things a little hard to control. The people needed heroes, something to look up to, and something to give people common ground and more importantly the populous needed a focus. The crew of 106 were just that. Not only did they become an integral part of our history they also had a specific purpose to fulfil. This is the main reason that this must remain confidential. If the truth were to be revealed it would mean re-writing all of the history books, not to mention the general world wide feeling if people found out that for millennia they had been lied to. But enough of that back to the purpose of 106. To all intent and purpose the crew were little more than scribes their sole purpose was to observe and to keep a diary on their findings. They were to find out as much about this planet as was possible and to create records. The problem we have is that we do not know whether they survived or whether they really did perish as history would have us believe. Their take off from this planet went according to plan and we maintained contact right up until the point they had initiated their landing procedure. Their craft orbited Epsilon Omega as planned and they committed themselves to enter into the atmosphere. Two minutes into the manoeuvre we lost all communications. What happened, no one knows and all future connection to Alpha 106 was lost. So we have no idea what became of them. What we do know is what their mission brief was. Their brief was to simply document everything they could about the planet. There was another problem however, the life expectancy of the crew was at best 120 years, and so to continue the mission, the second part of their brief was to recruit new members to the crew from the indigenous peoples to continue their work. What we need to find out now is if they actually survived and just how good those kids were.

This is how it works. When you have finished with this report you will contact me and I will give you your next set of instructions
they will in no way detract from the mission as it stands…consider this a little extra adventure”.

Daniels watched as the words ‘End Report’ flashed across the screen.
He picked up his cup and drank the rest of his drink, which by now was cold. Walking from his quarters into the main rest room his mind was full of what he had just heard. He refilled his cup and quietly spoke to Hatch,

“Listen, something has come up that I have to deal with urgently so I don’t want to be disturbed for the next hour or so. Any problems you are in command”.

Hatch acknowledged the order without question and returned to what he was doing.

As he entered his quarters he turned and secured the door then sat at his desk to contact command.
Very soon a secure link with Major Peter Hooton was established.

“Hello Jason
, are you ready for your instructions”. He asked. Daniels said that he was and sat back in his seat to receive his orders for the new part of the mission.

“OK, this is a need to know situation so the fewer people aware of this information the better. We have selected John De Vie and Mathew Watkins to be your operatives for this so as soon as we are finished you will have to brief them and for god’s sake make sure that they understand the importance of secrecy and the delicate nature of what you are about to undertake.

The original mission instructions were that all records made should be sealed and stowed safely away from discovery. Into each of the containers used there should be placed a homing beacon and that the containers should be hermetically sealed to protect against deterioration, so if there are any surviving documents they should still be in a readable state. Now, we are aware that the crew were not equipped with enough beacons to last a millennia but we are hoping that enough survived to allow us to get a lock on them and for you to recover the information. To make this happen we have installed into Alpha 1472 a device which will deliver a long range tracking device into a geo-stationary orbit above your position the firing mechanism for this probe runs directly through the heart of the ship. The probe is pre-programmed and all you need to do is to activate it. Once in orbit it will transmit data to the mainframe. This data can only be accessed by us and by yourself once the beacons have been located you will despatch your team to make the recovery. We are aware that you will need specialised equipment that you believe that you are not carrying, but if you take a look in the aft equipment room of the shuttle you will find a floor panel located to the far back left of the room next to the departure chamber. Lift the floor covering and unscrew the floor plate this will reveal a locker that has a computerised locking device it is only accessible by inserting your dog tag and your thumbprint. This locker contains all of the equipment that we think you will need for the mission. A lot of this tack is brand new and so on each of JD’s and Watkins mission ROMs’ there is details instruction as to their use. The release code is the same as yours was, their codes are held within your orders, as are the firing codes and instructions for the probe. The probe will stay in orbit for as long as we need it and then you will destroy the probe when you leave. Do you have any questions at this time?”

Daniels said that he did not, bid his commander farewell and began to set about his task.

The two crewmen were busying themselves with various tasks concerning the forthcoming shore based foray when the captain’s voice came over the intercom.

“JD, Watkins could you please come to my quarters immediately”

Without hesitation the two men stopped what they were doing and headed towards the captain’s room. JD knocked on the door and they were requested to enter. Once they were inside Daniels told them to shut the door and motioned them to take a seat on his bunk. The room was hardly big enough for one let alone to hold a meeting in but this was the most private place on the ship. When they were seated Daniels stood up turned around and locked the door, then re-took his seat, and began to address the men.

“I’m sorry to have to talk to you here but what I am about to tell you must go no further. I have to remind you that you have
both signed the standard secrecy contract at the start of this mission. We know that you did not think that this would extend to you fellow crew members but you have been selected for an extra mission that may or may not have far reaching consequences for our entire world”.

With this he began to outline his previous conversation with the Major and briefed them on what would be expected of them.

They would be expected to locate any documents that may exist, to open any containers and to digitize all of the information held within. The document would then be resealed and left in situ for future generations. The information that they would obtain would become part of a highly protected library of information that had been compiled by the military since the dawn of time. As he spoke to them Daniels activated the launch procedure for the probe. As he pressed the button the entire craft was subjected to a mild shudder which prompted Hatch to communicate with the captain.

“Sir we have just experienced something that has caused the ship…” Daniels interrupted him mid sentence, “Yes sorry Marius that was me just doing some adjustments, orders from command should have warned you first” the conversation paused for a second, then Hatch said, “roger that sir….out” Neither Daniels nor Hatch believed for a second that it was the truth, but Marius had to accept the feeble explanation.

Daniels continued the briefing,

“The one strange thing is the fish. For some reason the way the original crew were instructed to identify each other with the call sign fish, fish one, fish two, fish three, we don’t know why, it may be something or nothing, but I am to brief you on everything that we know”

At the end of the meeting the captain gave each of them their release codes for the extra information held within their ROM discs and told them how to access the extra files. Finally, he asked if there were any questions. JD spoke first,

“How are we to keep this from the rest of the crew? This is a pretty small place sir”

“And how are we to get the equipment off the ship” added Watkins. Daniels said that they should leave these details to him and that they were just to concentrate on their mission ahead.
Most of everything they needed to know was contained within their brief.

“We will meet one more time before your depart, so if that is all you two have some homework to do”

With this the two men left the captain’s quarters and returned to their own.

It seemed that the fact that JD and Watkins were billeted together was far from a coincidence. They entered their room and each sat behind their monitors and began to study their briefings. They sat in silence for about an hour each of them ingesting all of the information they would need. They finished reading at about the same time
, closed down the programme sat back in their chairs and looked at each other; neither of them could believe the web of lies and untruths that had been propagated by their governments and their military. Little was said between them they were both aware that anyone could be listening to any conversation they may or may not have. They simply contacted their captain and arranged their final meeting.

When they were all together again behind closed doors Daniels addressed them for the last time.

“The equipment locker is located under the floor panel to the left of the release pods I have contacted command and added new release codes to the locking device. You are to load the contents into one of the pods and you two will travel in the other. I know that it will be a tight squeeze but we have no other option. You will travel under the cover of darkness, get your kit ashore and take it to the cave you found JD. Get yourselves set and await further instructions.”

As he spoke a communiqué came through from command. Daniels answered the call.

“Jason, this is Peter are you alone”

He said that he was with JD and Watkins, the Major was OK with this it could save a little time.

“We have just received information from the probe and its good news we are picking up a signal, very feint but its there and it is about one hundred and thirty clicks south of your position so if you are ready you have a green light to commence your mission, good luck guys Hooton out”

Although the communication was short and abrupt they knew that command was probably a hive of urgent activity and that time was indeed short.