Hey everyone, so I return with anothe chapter, still keeping it short, as college for me comes to an end I still have quite a few bits of work to do, and I've been quite busy with my actual job in preparations for summer and Uni for next year. So for now chapters will be relatively short but packed with enough to keep you guys in the game.
This chapter isn't the full thing, I've decided to cut it short because I don't have enough time to sit down and write everything I wanted to, but rest assured the next chapter will be longer with more things happening. Thank you and enjoy the read, as always do let me know if there are any mess ups or anything of that nature.
Chapter II:
Roll With the Changes
The sun had just begun to rise over Cape Canaveral, casting a golden hue across the vast expanse of the launchpad. The early morning of July and the air was still and crisp, with only the distant hum of activity breaking the tranquil silence. People gathered around the countdown clock, and at the stands to watch the return to the Moon after a long delay following the Apollo 13 incident. Despite their past hardships, NASA persevered, now being assisted by the USAF, with their funds, NASA will make a swift turn for the Moon, now more than ever…
The time is now. Step by step the Air force is assuming control of the Apollo program. Apollo 14 is officially the next manned moon mission in line for NASA. After the horrific failure and subsequently the terrific success of Apollo 13, 14 was sure to be an absolute spectacle. Despite the fact that everything seemed quite normal and routine, US intelligence knew something the mission crew were not aware of, and their subsequent discovery would change the course of the space race drastically. Nik Andreson, a new hire for NASA, comes from the Airforce, but he’s different to all the NASA guys, he has received specific training and a form of “fast tracking” into the astronaut corps. Technically, he will be the first “Lunar Marine'', a key group which will take the frontier in defense in space, this will be his first major spaceflight. Alan Shepard, the first American man in space, will also make his first steps on the Lunar Surface and Stuart Roosa, the Command Module pilot will await for them in orbit, doing orbital reconnaissance of the Soviet “Luna '' sites as well. Godspeed gentlemen.
Apollo 14 is a mission like no other, carrying a member of the United States Air Force to the Moon.. Apollo 14 is also the first mission to carry a so called "Lunar Buggy" the LRV, a two personnel rover to extend the range of EVAs on the Moon, once on the surface, the mission continued similarly to all the other Apollo missions which preceded 14, this time with the addition of the LRV, which involved a lengthy process of unfolding and a sort of assembly of all the additional parts, antennas, racks and pallets. The crew has of course received adequate training for assembly, yet doing it on the moon doesn't make it any less mundane.
The countdown clock had finally reached zero, and with a deafening roar, the five enormous F-1 engines at the base of the Saturn V rocket ignited, sending Apollo 14 hurtling towards the moon. The standing ovation was incredible, back on the ground the people in the stands cheered Apollo 14 on, and despite the fact that this wasn’t the first mission in the Apollo program, the excitement and the energy was comparable to that of the great Apollo 11
“Tower cleared!” The announcement is heard as the cheering continues…
By this time, everything back on Earth has cleared up, people have mostly dispersed and the press have finalised their main activities for the day. However, back up in space, not everything was over just yet, the crew were coming up on TLI, soon enough they would be on their way to the Moon, and for the rookies on the mission this was quite an exciting moment, neither Nik nor Stuart have flown to space before.
It was time for TLI, over the next 3 days the crew would cruise over towards the Moon, covering a couple news broadcasts and in general just relaxing, since, as of yet, not much was needed to be done...
Not much exciting happened during the transit to the Moon and the deorbit burn for their landing site, but the events that would transpire on the Moon would prove to be absolutely groundbreaking...
Al- "Okay, I see a good patch over here, flat area, relatively"
Nik- "Good: 500 feet"
CC- "GO for landing"
Al- "Roger go for landing"
Nik- "250; you're at 9% fuel"
Al- "right I see dust now"
Nik- "80 feet, 60, 50, 40, 30, 25 feet now, 7% fuel"
Al- "gotcha, bringing it down now"
Nik- "okay 20 feet now, 15 feet, 10, 8"
Nik - "Contact light, alright shutdown"
Nik- "ah how bout that"
"Great, Houston, kitty hawk is parked here at Fra Mauro, she's upright!"
CC- "Roger kitty hawk"
Al- "hey you guys we're Fra Mauro base from now on, write it down or something" Nik and Al share a laugh together.
"Okay Al I'm looking out the window here, there's this hill I see-"
"Yes that's a hill alright" Al chuckles.
"No I mean I'm trying to figuring out exactly where we are and if there are some targets for 'sightseeing'" he gestures the quotation marks with his fingers, Al rolls his eyes
As time passes on, the final checks are completed. The crew are finally ready to get some Moon dust on their boots.
"Okay Nik I'm just stepping out now, I can see a rock over by the leg, just watch out when you climb out"
"Roger"
"Oh fuck-" Al exclaims out, Nik takes a rushed peek out of the LM door
Nik burst out laughing at what he saw, Al just took a tumble off the LM ladder, didn't look like anything was damaged, but Nik rushed down to check on him.
While still laughing he says "shit are you alright down there?"
"Stop laughing at me be serious for a second will you? Come down here take a look at my suit, check for damage of any kind" Al ordered at Nik, meanwhile Nik still couldn't stop giggling at Al's misfortune.
"Geez alright coming down now"
"Houston, Al had a bit of an accident, during his descend down the later he took a bit of a fall, I've inspected his suit, no damage anywhere, minor scratches on the gloves, tiny bit of fabric tear, nothing major"
"Copy that Nik, tell Al to clean his visor next time, keep a lookout on him during the next EVA's, the minor damage could evolve into major damage, have you checked the life support system?"
"Uh negative, I'll take a peek now"
Unpacking the LRV was the next activity on the list, quite an exciting event to see a car being driven around on the Moon, even though it was less of a car but more of a buggy. Nonetheless, the addition of the LRV would prove instrumental to traversing the deserted landscape, and making the job easier for humans, less work for their little legs which are not designed for long distance travel in such conditions...
By the second day on the Moon mostly everything was done, most expriments set up and quite a magazine of photos collected, still a coupe small bits and pieces left to do here and there, nothing major.
As Nik was scouting around the area colleting a few more rock samples from marked out locations, he spots something shining in the distance, he stores his pick and looks to the distance with a glare of confusion upon his face.
"Alan, will you turn around for a second? I think I see something in the distance and it doesn't look like it should be there." Nik calls over the radio, as he stares off into the direction of the mysterious shiny object.
"Alright looking. Seems like it's reflective, metal perhaps? That's strange, I don't believe we've landed anything close to here"
"Hey Houston, we are just spotting something in the distance here, I don't exactly know what it is, it seems to be made of metal, white or maybe light grey? Somewhat blends in with the surface but is reflective. Do we have any ideas" Alan reports.
A long pause follows, not just because of the signal delay but because mission control is stunned, left with no words and not a single clue in anyone's head, the entire room is quiet.
"Uhhh okay negative Alan, we do not have anything in mind at this moment, maybe something Stuart can see from orbit?"
No, no one could confirm what this was, not from orbit and not from the ground. Was it worth it to take a look in person? It's a long way out, the EVA time allows it, what is there to gain if anything, to satisfy the curiosity, the craving to know.
"Okay, I think the best course of action is to try to drive that way, there has been no movement over there of any kind, we would have seen any activity" Alan says while looking around.
"If we do this, we gotta figure out how long the drive to there will be, I estimate 7-8 kilometres, no one has made a trip this far from base yet, what do you think?" Nik sits there looking with a completely blank stare at Alan.
"Well say something I need opinions!" Alan snaps, almost like he's losing his patience under a completely stress-free situation.
"I say let's do it, why not, we want to identify this object anyways, I have my suspicions though, I don't want to be correct here"
The trip is long but curiosity reaches the best of the crew, the decision is made, to take a drive down to that spot, the terrain was favorable, nothing really got in the way of making this trip, with the approval of mission control they made their way down to investigate. Nothing too crazy was on the minds of anyone at that moment, maybe it was a piece of debris from either the Americans or the Russians, it was no secret that Russia launched their own Moon missions, albeit unmanned and robotic, still it was worth investigating as this site was not mapped or recorded yet.
However, the discovery to follow would soon prove to be world-changing…
It couldn't be, how would they be able to pull this off? "God damnit!" Alan screams into his suit, with his radio off. "God fucking damn it!"
"Those Russki fuckers, how could they have done this, it just can't be" He now speaks directly to Nik.
"And no one knew, what would the president think of this situation? We are the ones to relay this information, god I hope we don't have to speak to anyone apart from mission control until we get back" Alan thinks to himself.
The metal shines brightly, a set of 4 landing legs and an empty cradle, a lander stage of some sort, a Russian flag and footprints off to the side. A pile of rocks with a photo lay next to a rock, presumably to protect it from dust from the ascent engines, looks like one of theirs died during this program. A way to show respect to one of their fallen brothers, this is true comradeship, yet Alan cannot face away from the anger.
"I spit on these damn Soviets, commie pigs how did they do this in secret"
"Al, Houston, word from down here is, please don't touch a thing"
"Okay, we are staying clear, not touching a thing" He stands up and proceeds to hop his way towards the discarded landing stage, he puts his fingers on the charred area of the metal and drags them down, looking at his fingertips.
"I touched something"
His sense of humor is still present, and the anger was fading away, as the severity of the situation began to set in, everyone back at mission control was scratching their head, no one could really say how the Russians got there, and if they got there first why weren't they boasting about this landing to everyone? Was it the death of a crew member? Did someone die on the Moon? Well…
"Hey Nik could you look around, see if you can find anything else?"
"Yeah alright I'll have a peak around"
"Houston, this is Al, now I think we understand the situation a bit more than before, we don't know if this is their first and only landing, however, by the looks of it, something had to go terribly wrong here for them to abandon so fast."
"Al sorry to interrupt but holy shit you have to just look at this" Nik sounds shaken, his voice trembles over the radio
"Huh? You're better off telling me I'm a distance away from you"
"Al that's a dead body, this is a man laying down with his helmet wide cracked open, he's here in the dust, how long has he been here?"
"Oh fuck guys he's right. Alright Houston this is 14 we have a dead body on the Lunar surface"
"I'm sorry Al a dead body?"
"Yes that's a dead man here on the floor, god he looks terrible Jesus H. Christ"
"Okay copy that Al" Bruce McCandless was the one talking to Al and Nik on their EVA, he looked over his shoulder at everyone else in the room, everyone was looking back at him, not a single idea in the room on what to do.
"Houston this is Al, uh now what do we do with this one"
"Roger Al, uhm we don't really know, the president will contact the Russian President soon is my best guess"
