New Hope: Book 1
14

Ellie looked at Julius and Dr. Cassandra back and forth in disbelief and speechless. So officially, we’re dead? she thought. “Why?” Ellie asked openly, feeling the anger rise within her. Julius’ face paled, as he fell into deep thought.

“It was necessary, Doctor,” said Cassandra. “Considering what had happened with the alien artifact and my decision to take you aboard this installation, this chain of events was unavoidable,” she explained. “Nobody, who comes to the installation, can leave it without authorization,” Director Yeager walked across the room, approached the table with the snacks, and reached for the coffee. “As you probably know, any means of transport here are strictly monitored, and aside from us, there are no crafts around that can take passengers from the Moon back to Earth. At the same time, taking into account that help from Earth wouldn’t have come anyway...” she paused pointedly.

“Why do you say that help wouldn’t have come? If the real missions control center knew we’re alive, they could have organized a rescue mission! They could’ve at least tried...” said Ellie. “You took away my life!” she said angrily. “You had no right!”

“I was in full rights,” replied the director confidently, showing who has authority. “There is no craft on Earth that could reach the crash site in the time you had left. At least no craft that the governments cared to admit to. How much food did you have? How much air?” asked the director reproachfully. “Even if you had rationed the food, after a month you’d be thinking who’d eat whom first,” she said. “If not for me, you would have most certainly been labeled heroes, that’s for sure. But you wouldn’t have witnessed it yourselves,” she said, clearly ending the matter of explanations.

Ellie’s head started spinning. Her low blood-glucose level combined with the huge blow of losing the life she knew was taking its toll.

“We are grateful to you, thank you for rescuing us,” said Julius suddenly, looking up for the first time since this news.

“What?” asked Ellie in surprise. “What are you talking about? You’re thanking them for making your family believe you’re dead? That you’ll never again see any of your friends or probably set foot on our planet?” she added in disbelief.

“Ellie, Dr. Cassandra is right. I woke up several hours before you and I’ve had more time to think through everything that happened,” replied the Captain. “However painful this situation is for my loved ones, however torn I feel, I know that it couldn’t have ended any other way. If not for Dr. Yeager’s help, we wouldn’t have survived this disaster.” The confidence in his voice was increasing with every uttered word. “Think about it - the next mission to the Moon was planned for months later, the craft hasn’t even been integrated with the rocket, it hasn’t been set up on the launching platform. I don’t even think its prestart tests have begun. You know there’s no chance of a mission launch without it,” said Julius. “Nobody would have risked a serious failure, or the loss of life of more astronauts, even if they knew we’re alive.” The Captain looked at Dr. Yeager first and then said to Ellie, “You know very well that if anybody on Earth had the private technology to reach us in time, they wouldn’t have revealed all their cards now. Politics and national interests don’t work that way,” sighed Julius. He looked back at the director.

“Once again, thank you for the rescue. I understand now the risk you took to take us here without disclosing your presence on the Moon. I appreciate everything.” He stole a glance of the second pilot. “I’m certain that once the dust settles and Ellie has more time to think about my words, she will come to the same conclusion,” he said.

Ellie wasn’t sure she would be able to forgive and accept her situation as quickly as Julius. After all, she was a professional astronaut. Nobody could just walk away from all this. Ellie didn’t have a family. She hadn’t managed to find time for a husband or children, and at her age, she came to accept that her choice of a career could not facilitate starting a family. But it was something else when the decision had been made for her by someone else and there was no going back.

Ellie looked at her interlocutors and nodded slightly. The milk’s been spilled, she thought. “Wondering what would have been probably isn’t the most important and productive thing right now,” she said.

“Excellent...” said Dr. Yeager warmly, “in that case, since we’ve concluded this subject for now, and emotions have started to drop... Let’s move on to the reason why we’re all here.” Dr. Yeager returned to the presentation screen and said:

“The artifact you dealt with, Doctor, is not all.” Captain Cousteau and Dr. Johnson’s interest awoke again. “It’s not the only piece of evidence telling us that humans aren’t the first intelligent beings to set foot on the Moon,” she said.

Ellie and Julius looked at each other in understanding.

“You’ve found other artifacts, right?” asked Julius.

“Yes. Many. Most were damaged, probably too old and destroyed, but we’ve been able to activate and start studying some of them. Or at least catalog them, if the artifacts remained inactive. The technology used in them, in the beginning, was too advanced for us to even think about reverse engineering,” said the director. “Nonetheless, over the last 50 years or so, we’ve been able to achieve certain advancements and discoveries, which, sooner or later will start to change how we live and function,” she paused for a while and looked Ellie in the eye:

“Like I mentioned at the start of our meeting, we’ve dealt with the artifact you encountered, but it’s never emitted any energy or even lit up like in your case,” said the director. “Also, the fact that it somehow took your craft down from orbit and made it land nearby, our scientists concluded that the orb must have seen something of interest in New Hope. First, we thought it was an interest in some technological element, but we quickly dropped this idea. And since you were the only other things on board aside from the technology, it was clear: the orb must have scanned your pod and decided there is someone there who, from a biological point of view, is compatible with the search criteria programmed by the orb’s creators,” said the woman with some excitement.

“When you touched the orb and caused the whole event we were able to observe through our satellite in orbit, there was no doubt. We are certain that you have some gene or sequence of genes that the orb could identify. It gave you a kind of authorization to use the alien technology,” she concluded.

“How do you know all this?” asked Ellie in dismay.

“Because some of the alien artifacts that we have here in the installation activated when you came to our facility as well,” smiled Dr. Yeager. “This technology reacts to you, Doctor. We don’t exactly know which sequence of genes you have that is responsible for this reaction, and it will probably be a while before we find out, however, your presence in our installation has caused the greatest upheaval among our scientists in decades. These scientists have been trying to work out the parts of the devices which have thus far been inactive,” said Yeager. “Imagine their surprise and bewilderment when some of these objects suddenly came to life right before their eyes. They lay there dead 50 years as if they were just paperweights, and now they light up and make strange sounds,” she joked.

“Wow, I’m glad to be of service unknowingly,” said Ellie bitterly. The reality she was facing, despite the incredible nature of the situation, was still unfavorable in her eyes. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d forgotten about something.

“I get your bitterness, Ellie, but it is what it is. I suggest we take as much as we can from these circumstances. I promise, the possibilities of life and work in our installation, are enormous. Much greater than in even the most advanced research facilities or military installations on Earth. Sure,” she remarked, “you were a pilot and an astronaut on Earth. But think about it: you are already on the Moon. You will have access to the most advanced vehicles people have built and I guarantee you - the F35 is a scooter in comparison. Plus, you have learned that we had contact with other intelligent beings at some point in the history of our species,” said Dr. Yeager with delight. “And not just ordinary beings - we’re talking about beings from another world, maybe even from a completely different planetary system. We’re not alone in the universe, and you are a great part of this discovery because thanks to you, we can finally learn who, what, when, and how!” she concluded.

Ellie looked at the audibly enthusiastic Cassandra, trying to digest what she had just heard. She wasn’t wrong. Ellie realized she could have already been dead without ever having known all this. But aliens? No, she had not expected this even in her wildest dreams of the long-term effects of her Moon mission. She smiled to herself. Perhaps there is something to be happy about?

After several hours devoted to outlining the history and its details, Ellie - mostly convinced the situation wasn’t as awful as it seemed, and even intrigued by the possibility of working with technologies out of this world - decided to ask a question.

“Dr. Yeager?” she started in hesitation. “I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but... What would I be doing here exactly? I’m a pilot and an engineer, probably not much of a genius or egghead. Though I hold two doctorate degrees, I’ve never considered myself a scientist. I’m more of a researcher in the topics that interest me: human behavior in the most unfavorable conditions and physics. I mean, I know things, but I’m not sure how I could be of use in a lab. And since I’m here, I’d like to add my two cents and not feel like a fifth wheel,” she explained.

“You took the words out of my mouth, Ellie,” said Julius. “I was wondering this myself. What would you like us to do here? I suspect you usually have certain recruitment procedures. I don’t think being scooped up from a crashed landing pod would qualify as a pass?” asked the captain dubiously.

“Alright, since this subject has popped up...” Cassandra looked at Captain Cousteau, “You have vast experience as a commander. In addition, you are an excellent pilot and you’ve made it to the captain rank in the air forces in your country. I’m certain we’ll be able to take advantage of your unique skills here,” she replied. “We conduct regular flights to places where we study traces of the past on the Moon’s surface, and an experienced pilot, who also has an almost successful Moon landing on his record is definitely useful,” she added with a smile. “What do you think?” she asked.

“Out of politeness, I won’t say no,” Julius winked. “Of course, piloting spaceships on the Moon is a dream come true for any astronaut.”

“And you, Doctor... Well, your situation is a little more complicated,” said Yeager. “There’s no use beating around the bush and pretending it’s about something else than what it is, so I’ll get straight to it: I want you to be our... guinea pig. Kind of.”

Ellie raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean?” she asked, surprised.

“I want you to participate in the studies on the artifacts we’ve found, especially those that seem to activate when near you. I suspect you’re the only person who’d be able to operate them, anyway, so you’re part seems natural. Until now, we couldn’t study many of the objects to see what they’re used for, if for anything. We haven’t been able to learn what they can do. But now, with you here, it should be possible. At least to some extent. I want you to be in the room during these studies and advise the scientists,” she said. “Maybe you’re not an egghead, as you’ve said yourself, but you are intelligent, you have the necessary knowledge and shrewdness that allowed you to survive in the unfavorable conditions of a damaged landing pod. Plus, you make critical decisions quickly and seem to have exceptional intuition. This is sure to help us,” said Yeager.

Julius whistled quietly, clearly impressed. Then he frowned as he felt a sting of pain from his broken arm.

“Ugh,” he moaned silently. “I think my painkillers are waning,” he said. “Everything you’re saying sounds very to the point, but forgive me... I have to mull over all this a little more. And take a painkiller or something, because I’m afraid I might faint from the pain in a moment,” added Julius.

“Of course, I understand. You have experienced several traumatic events in a short amount of time, you have much to think about,” replied Dr. Yeager. “I will make sure someone takes you to the medical ward. They’ll give you an additional dose of painkillers and do something to speed up the healing.” The director nodded at one of the soldiers present at the entrance to the room, who approached Julius and reached out his hand to help him stand up.

“Allow me to take you to the medical unit,” said the soldier.

“Of course, thank you,” replied Julius, supporting himself for a moment on the soldier and trying not to fall flat on his face as his head went spinning due to the low gravity.

“Lieutenant Lassiter, please take the Doctor to her new cabin,” said Dr. Yeager. “Some rest would do you well. Tomorrow, I’ll take you around our installation and show you some of the things our scientists have been working on. Who knows, maybe thanks to your unique combination of DNA, knowledge, and experience, we’ll manage to discover something new and exciting?”

Dr. Yeager left the room leaving only Ellie and the lieutenant. The soldier was past thirty years old, well-built. Every movement he made was trained, though smooth and agile. Even if he had not been in uniform, Ellie would have guessed he was military.

“I must apologize, Doctor,” he said to Ellie.

“What for?” she asked in surprise, only a moment later remembering that he was the one to fire at her on the crashed landing pod. “Oh, right, the situation with the gun, you mean...” she said slightly gutted, though now she was much less offended with the whole thing.

“Yes. It was an order, and orders must be followed, but I feel guilty nonetheless. I rarely shoot at anyone, and certainly not at American heroes,” he said warmly and reached out his hand as a reconciling gesture.

Ellie automatically reached out hers, and when the lieutenant squeezed it, Dr. Johnson suddenly said:

“Call me Ellie, please. After all, since I got my own cabin and don’t have to be in a room without handles, I understand we’ll be seeing one another more frequently,” joked Ellie.

“John,” reciprocated the lieutenant. “That’s true, Ellie, I’m sure we’ll see more of each other and they will certainly be better circumstances than the ones before.”

Ellie, a little embarrassed, asked shyly:

“So, John, will you take me to my new apartment?” asked Ellie lightheartedly, grinning.

“Certainly, Doctor, umm, Ellie,” said the lieutenant. “Come with me. Your cabin isn’t far, but we have to pass through the lobby once more,” he explained. “Once you get to know the place better, it’ll be easier for you to move around here on your own.”

Ellie was clearly enthusiastic upon hearing she’ll be able to see the huge lobby with the transparent roof. “I can’t wait!”

Ellie spent the rest of the day getting used to her new surroundings, thinking about what awaited her the next day, right around the corner.

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