Pangaea- Eden's Planet Page 2

  "I've gone through all the training, Colonel," Major Cooper said. "I know how everything works —or is supposed to.

  "Once we have the oxygen ducts attached between the ship and bio-dome, the atomic engines will provide an atmosphere inside the dome for us to breathe. We'll only need the spacesuits while working outside."

  "All of us have gone through the training, Major," the commander snapped. "That's not the point. We'll go through the procedures again and again before we actually perform the tasks. I don't want any mistakes. And most of all, I don't want some stupid injuries because someone forgot a simple step."

  "I'll do my job, Colonel, you don't have to be concerned about me making any mistakes," he growled.

  "Part of that job, Major," she told him, "is insuring that everyone under our command knows their job, and does it efficiently, always keeping safety in mind!"

  "Yes, sir," he said, still angry.

  "Get over it, Major!" she ordered. "I need everyone under my command working in harmony on this mission."

  "Don't worry, Colonel," he said more pleasantly, "I know how to follow orders."

  "Then let's get back to the crew, and prepare the ship for its destination."

  "Are we finished with our inspection already?" he asked.

  "Yes," she told him. "I mainly wanted to have our little talk away from the others. I wanted you to understand our relationship on this mission, in case you get the idea that our affiliation is more than commander and second-in-command."

  "Don't worry, Colonel," he said, "I can't see past those eagles on your soft, shapely shoulder!"

  "That's good," she said, "keep that in mind at all times, and we will get along just fine." Nodding his head, Major Cooper turned and started back towards the main cabin of the ship.

  "Is that all, Commander?" he asked.

  Catching up to him, she didn't reply, just fell into step as they traversed the ship's artificial gravity walkway. Science had made giant strides during the long war. Atomic engines and artificial gravity systems were now commonplace in rocketry. While the military had cried for more destructive weapons, NASA had been content to experiment with the existing technology, and push forward in their plans for colonization of the stars. With half the Earth lying in radioactive wastelands since the final confrontation, America had been able to recover sufficiently to start anew. But there was now no room for population expansion, and if mankind was to continue, thoughts had to be directed towards the distant planets. Mars seemed to be the only chance that mankind had for any kind of growth. And the red planet would require years of terra farming before an atmosphere could be created that would support life. This mission was the beginning of those long-term plans.

  Entering the control cabin, they found the rest of the crew sitting in their assigned positions, their seats leaning backwards at a comfortable angle, each viewing the computer system in front of them.

  "Is everything in order?" Colonel Peterson asked them.

  There was a loud chorus of affirmatives from everyone at once.

  "I am surprised that so much data has been made available to us," Professor Plymouth said. "Everything we know about the universe and the Martian weather is programmed into my system."

  "I have medical data from the age of Nostradamus to Benjamin Spock," Doctor Terrill said. "I can treat anything from a minor sprain to open heart surgery-and we have the medicines and equipment aboard for any emergency."

  "I have zoological records for the past two hundred years," Sheri laughed, "and could probably identify a Martian T-Rex, if they ever had such a creature!"

  "If they did," Major Cooper laughed, "they'd probably be red, like everything else on Mars!"

  "My job will be an easy one," Captain Mercer said, looking up with a grin. "The computer has everything mapped out and fed into its system. I'm only here in case there is a malfunction."

  "How about you, Manning?" Major Cooper asked the engineer.

  "If anything goes wrong with the ship, sir, we can repair it," he said. "I have everything listed, including the size of each nut and bolt, and where the spark plugs go!"

  "Spark plugs?" Sheri asked, grinning.

  "Just a form of speech, ma'am," Roger Manning told her. "There are even several versions of the Bible on each of the computers," he added.

  "Well, that does it," Sheri laughed, "the Gideon's have finally brought Bibles to outer space!"

  "That's not so bad," Roger Manning said. "I have a feeling that before our mission is over, we'll be ready for spiritual guidance."

  "Take your seat, Major," the commander ordered, as she put headphones over her ears, "and check your controls."

  "Aye, aye, sir," he saluted, as he strapped himself into the copilot's chair, adding his own set of headphones. Punching several buttons on the panel in front of him, a view screen suddenly opened up, and the crew could see the stars outside the spaceship, sparkling in the oxygen-free vacuum of space.

  "Atomic engines are ready when you are, Colonel," he advised.

  "Coordinates have already been programmed into the computer system, Commander," the navigator said. "We are waiting for your command."

  "As my generation used to say," laughed Professor Plymouth, "let's Rock 'n' Roll!"

  "Then let's go to Mars!" Colonel Peterson ordered, starting the atomic rockets. As she spoke to NASA control, there was the smallest of vibrations when the powerful engines came alive and the ship shot off through space. Although light speed was not yet possible, incredible momentum was achieved with atomic energy. The faster an object traveled, the more mass it obtained, thus making a ship's speed limited in space. Yet, even with these limitations, great distances were now possible in a matter of weeks, not months or years, allowing more time at the destination to perform what tasks were needed before heading back to Earth. The lesser gravitational pull of the red planet would allow them to set the giant spaceship down on the surface, instead of leaving it parked in orbit, and then return to space when the mission was complete. It was a risky procedure for such a large space vehicle, but the pilot and copilot had been well trained in the maneuver in simulation machines.

  They were not expecting any problems on Mars.

  The problems began much sooner!

  Chapter Two

  Pangaea

  "Sir, I'm picking up something directly ahead of us on the radar. It appears to be some kind of an anomaly," Captain Mercer said after only a few hours into the flight.

  "I see it, Tony," Major Cooper said a second later. "Damn, whatever that thing is, it’s big!"

  "What the hell is that thing?" Colonel Peterson asked. The view screen was showing a wavy distortion ahead of them, but no solid object could be identified in the mass.

  "Can we go around it?" the engineer asked no one in particular.

  "I can't see any end to it, Colonel," Major Cooper said. "It looks like some kind of space storm, and it’s headed straight for us!"

  "My sensors are picking up a large energy plasma field, Commander," Captain Mercer said. “It’s not only big, but damn powerful, too.”

  "It looks like the thing is moving towards us as fast as we are towards it," Professor Plymouth said. "There's no way we can avoid hitting it!"

  "Prepare for impact. Brace yourselves!" Colonel Peterson yelled, just as the outer wave struck the giant ship with incredible force.Suddenly, they could see nothing but ebony blackness in the view screen, and then the ship began to shake and vibrate violently as waves of immense energy tossed the Galileo Two from side to side like a small boat in a hurricane. The controls fought them, and the machinery whined like a screaming Banshee on a dark, moonless night. Warning lights flickered, dimmed, went out, came back on with a flash, and then repeated the sequence like a floundering fish out of water.

  Someone screamed, but it was impossible to tell whether it had been a man or a woman. The safety harnesses held everyone safely in their seats, but a few loose objects had been lying near some of the computers, and these went f
lying through the small cabin, colliding with seats, computer panels, and sometimes—an unprotected hand or head.

  Lightning bolts of pure energy sparked and crisscrossed the tornado-like funnel in a spider-web of violent beauty, at the far end appeared to be a gaping monster's mouth. But the plasma would not let them go, tossing them around like the prey of some monstrous space creature.

  How long they were within the immense cyclone of energy, they couldn't tell. They weren't even sure if they had held their breath all the time, or if somehow they had been able to breathe throughout the ordeal. But suddenly they were spit out as violently as they had been sucked in, their ship rolling like a child's tiny toy top; the motion making them disoriented and nauseous for the moment.

  With strength and determination, the pilot and copilot brought the ship back under manual control, Colonel Peterson ordering the Galileo Two to stop until they could check for damage, and to make what repairs were needed.

  "Is there any need for Doctor Terrill’s medical assistance?" she asked the crew, her eyes searching each member for signs of bruises or other injuries.

  A chorus of, "I'm all right," came from everyone on board.

  "Then check your individual systems before we proceed," she ordered. "Major, how are the engines?" she continued.

  "The engines aren't responding normally, Colonel," he said. "In fact, we appear to merely be drifting now, being pulled towards a strong gravitational point somewhere, and I can't get enough power to pull away from it."

  "Engineer!" she yelled. “What does your systems register?"

  "The engines are okay, Colonel," he said. "But there has been a break in the command system, and they're not responding because the controls are not receiving the commands properly!"

  "Can you fix the problem?" she asked the engineer.

  "Given time," he said. "If we're not pulled into a collision with whatever it is that's pulling us like a magnet!"

  "Get to work on the problem, and we'll do what we can to stay afloat out here!" The colonel gritted her teeth as she stared into the dark sea of space around the ship.

  "Colonel, I can't raise NASA," Major Cooper said, removing the headphones and turning on the speaker system for everyone to hear. "There’s nothing. Just a lot of static, probably solar activity, or that storm we just passed through left a hell of an interference out there!"

  "Keep trying," she told him. "Let me know if you raise someone."

  "Colonel," Professor Plymouth called to her a minute later, "maybe you should look at the view screen."

  "That looks like Earth," she said. "We're being pulled back to Earth by its magnetic field!"

  "Look at it closer, Colonel," Carl Plymouth told her. "It may look like Earth, but ..."

  "Something doesn't appear right ..." she started.

  "Professor," Major Cooper said, "run an astronomical reading on the star systems, please." "The continents don't look right, sir," Captain Mercer said.

  "I don't see any continents, Captain," Major Cooper said. "I only see one continent—a big one!"

  "Did that thing—whatever it was—warp our speed to another solar system?" Sheri asked.

  "Let's wait for Carl's analysis, Sheri," Major Cooper told her.

  "Dammit, engineer, we're still being pulled towards that planet," Colonel Peterson said. "What's the status on repairs to the system?"

  "Colonel, I'm trying to reroute the instructions now," he told her. "That's the best I can do until we can look at the wiring. And that will take more time than we've got!"

  "Commander," Professor Plymouth said a few minutes later, "that planet below will be as good as any other to set down on—if we can."

  "I would rather not have to set down on an unknown planet, Professor, if it can be helped," she told him.

  "In this case, it doesn't appear to matter much, Commander," he told her. "Sheri was partially correct. That storm did send us into a warp of sorts, but not to another solar system. It sent us to another time!"

  "What the hell are you saying, Professor?" she asked.

  "If my computer calculations are correct, and I see no reason why they shouldn't be they’re the best NASA could supply us with, we have traveled back in time—not distance. Below us is—Pangaea!"

  "Then it isn't Earth?" she asked.

  "Pangaea!" Sheri gasped.

  "Think back to your Paleo studies in college, Colonel," Major Cooper said. “Geology isn't that much different from paleontology."

  "Professor, are you telling me that we've gone back millions of years in time, before the continents broke apart?" she asked.

  "If my calculations are correct, Commander," he grimaced, "we may have gone back a lot more than a few million years. My computer shows 250 million years, or thereabouts!"

  "That's the Paleozoic Era down there?" Major Cooper ejaculated.

  "Yes," Professor Plymouth stated, "actually, it's the Permian Period of the Paleozoic Era, I believe, if these calculations are correct."

  "How is that possible?" Tony Mercer asked.

  "Whatever that thing was that we went through, Captain Mercer, somehow it caused us to slip through time," Major Cooper said. "We're not smart enough to explain it."

  "Can't we go back through it, coming out where we went in?" the navigator asked.

  "Even if the ship could fly, I'm not sure we could find the plasma again, Captain," Colonel Peterson told him.

  "Or if we would even want to re-enter the thing," Major Cooper added. "Besides, how do we know where we would come out the next time?"

  "He's right," Professor Plymouth said. "There would be no guarantee that we would even survive a second time.”

  "What you're saying is ridiculous," Doctor Terrill said. "I don't believe any of that nonsense!"

  "Suit yourself, Doctor," Professor Plymouth said, "but I assure you, my computer evaluation doesn't lie. It has charted the star system as it currently is, and tells us that this is the placement of the stars 250 million years before our own time."

  "Say, I always wanted to see a T-Rex!" Captain Mercer said.

  Laughing, Major Cooper told him, "I'm afraid you won't see any this trip, either, Captain, the dinosaurs didn't exist this far back in time!"

  "Whew! Thank goodness," Roger Manning said. "At least the animal life won't eat us!"

  "Don't be too sure of that," Major Cooper grinned. "This period had some pretty dangerous predators as well."

  "I thought fish and plants were the only life that existed before the dinosaurs," Captain Mercer said."I think Major Cooper is referring to the relatives of the dinosaurs, Captain," Sheri Thompson said. "Lizards, frogs, and amphibians were abundant in the early stages of life in the Paleozoic. In fact, there appears to have been reptile-like mammals, as well."

  "Wasn't there a big extinction or something 250 million years ago?" Colonel Peterson asked.

  "The Permian-Triassic Extinction," Major Cooper said. "Almost all life was completely wiped out, and it had to start all over again. A few of the reptiles survived, and they eventually gave rise to the dinosaurs."

  "Until God created man," Roger Manning said.

  Everyone turned to look at the engineer curiously.

  "Perhaps, a few pockets of mammals survived the extinction," Major Cooper continued, "such as small rodents, which may have lived underground. What ever the case, the reptiles ruled the world for the next 170 million years—until man came along!"

  "If we don't escape from Earth's magnetic pull," Professor Plymouth said, "we may be included in that extinction. It looks like we're going to have to land, regardless."

  "At least Pangaea had an atmosphere," Major Cooper added. "I would suggest, Colonel, it is our best hope for the present. Maybe we can repair the ship down there."

  "And then, go where?" Colonel Peterson asked.

  "I don't know," he admitted. "But right now, we don't have much choice in the matter."

  "The major is right," the commander said, turning and addressing the crew. "I think we
better prepare for entry into the atmosphere. Once we're safe on the ground, we can make our plans for the future. Everyone stay at your post, and be prepared to assist each other if anything goes wrong with the landing. Major Cooper and I will do our best to bring the ship in safely."

  Already the giant rocket ship, Galileo Two was touching the upper layer of the atmosphere, being pulled downward by the powerful force of Earth's gravity, and the ship was experiencing atmospheric burn. But the protective outer shell absorbed the heat, and the big spaceship glided in at an angle, descending gradually, the commander and copilot struggling with the controls to keep it from crashing.

  "The engines aren't receiving any commands, Colonel, we won’t be able to land it correctly," Major Cooper growled. "We can only glide it down as best we can."

  "I know, Major," she said. "Just try to keep the nose up, we don't want to hit too hard, if we can help it."

  "I'm trying," the major said, his muscles straining with the steering mechanism.

  "All I see down there is ocean," Doctor Terrill yelled. "I thought we saw land from space?"

  "It's down there, Doctor," Professor Plymouth promised. "Lots of it. But Earth is only one giant land mass and one giant ocean right now."

  "I don't want to drown," Doctor Terrill cried.

  "Aim for the landmass, Major," Colonel Peterson ordered her copilot. “I don’t think this ship will float.”

  "If the ship will cooperate, ma’am," he said through clinched teeth as he fought the steering mechanism.

  "I hate the water!" Doctor Terrill screamed. "I can't swim. Please don't land in the water!"

  "We should sight land again in a few minutes, Doctor," the commander told her. "Stay calm, we're trying to reach it now!"

  "I see land!" Sheri Thompson yelled suddenly. "There!"

  "We're not going to make it, Colonel," Major Cooper warned. "We're coming in too soon, we're going to hit the water!""Can't you slow it down?" screamed Captain Mercer. "We're coming in too damn fast. The ship will break apart!"

  "We don't have any control over the ship, Captain. Be prepared for anything!" Colonel Peterson ordered.

  "Land, just ahead!" Major Cooper yelled. "Maybe we can reach it. Hold on, everyone!"But the tail of the rocket was too low, and the ship was coming in too fast, it struck the water and began dragging in the ocean long before they reached land. Still, it only skimmed the water, causing a giant spray to fan out as the Galileo Two sliced through the sea at several hundred miles per hour. And then the ship's body lowered to the surface, and bounced like a sled as it careened roughly towards land, slowing as it quickly lost momentum.