[Plot Thread 3.1] Opening Doors

[Shameless]

Ryan's enhanced intelligence allowed him to process everything he'd just been told and correlate it to everything he'd learned in his decades of service. It all fit, and he held back the chuckle.  "God, when this all gets out, because you know it will, soon enough now, The conspiracy buffs are gonna have a field day with the "I Told You So's"  
 

"So we have set foot on it, and that caused it to decloak.  That's something, probably a system to monitor our progress as a civilization, at least Best case it's that.  Something that might have a greeting or something similar once we reach it and open it the correct way.   Worst case us reaching it sends out a signal to whoever put it there, causing them to come back."
 

He sighed.  "So you want me to move it.  Where am I taking it?   I imagine it will be a joint operation to research the object.   Do you have a new sensor package you want me to bring up to it?  If not, I do know someone who could actually help with that?"

[Nina]

"There's a lot more to it but cutting to the chase, What we want you to do is move some retrofit equipment up to the current orbit so we can attach them to the Object. Nothing more than some bolt on thrusters so we can adjust its orbit once we get it in place. we could launch those ourselves but it would take to long and consume resources. 

 

After we get the thrusters mounted , we want you to move it to the dark side of the moon for now." Grant seems more animated that he can talk openly to Ryan about this stuff now.

[Shameless]

"Will there be some sort of control for me to establish it in stationary orbit once I put it there?"  He looked at Grant. "Why exactly do we need to move it?"

 

He was intent on this, knowing it was important.  "Up until now, the interaction has been limited compared to what you're asking of me, but we're talking about actually attaching equipment to it and quite forcefully moving it from where it's been for who knows how long."

 

[Nina]

"Like I said there's more to it." Grant leans forward with his elbows on the table, "Look the US and the Russians have been studying this thing for almost fifty years. We are already inside it, they have learned things from it from observation and some reverse engineering. But it still has a lot of secrets.

 

They, we, feel the need to move it now is so that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Hands that may not have the interest of the human race in their minds.

 

Once we have the thrusters on, you will move it and we will use the thrusters to put it into a geosynchronous orbit over our facility." He gives Ryan a knowing look.

[Shameless]

Ryan looked at him, nodded once, and chuckled. "Alright, so all you want from me is to move it, and attach the thrusters then. I imagine I need to remain onsite to ensure it achieves orbit, and that you can provide me an image of where I need to go?  Does this job entail me doing anything beyond this, other than keeping my mouth shut about this whole conversation?"

[Nina]

Grant nods vigorously, "From the reports I have read from the testing you volunteered for right after the storm, You can open these doorways from one location to another location as long as you can see them visually."

 

"Portal."

 

"Portal?"

 

"Yes we don't refer to them as doors. Portals"

 

Grant looks dumbstruck for a few heartbeats then nods, "Okay, portals then, So if the report is correct, we will open a...portal from our base here in the States, into the object itself. From there, after the thrusters are mounted you will move the whole object to the far-side of the moon using visuals supplied by Space Force. Once there we will disembark the object while they maneuver it into a geo-orbit over the moonbase. Once that is done you can come home."

 

Grant smiles his charming smile.

[Shameless]

There was a flash of annoyance as he recalled the testing.   "That all seems far too simple, Grant."    he sighed.   "So when is this going down, and I'm guessing that this job isn't something that I'll be compensated for in the normal way."  He wasn't willing to do this for free, and to be honest, money wasn't his preferred means.   A Favor or two, however, a well-positioned "friend," those things could help immensely, as he'd learned from a long career.   

[Nina]

Grant chuckled, "Well buddy, you make it simple. If we were to do this the old fashion mere mortal way, we would need larger trusters to boostthe thing out of eart orbit and get it to the moon, fuel, man power, trying to keep it from being noticed. The days of secret space activity are coming to and end. If were were to do it the old way it would cost millions if not billions. So yeah you will be compensated, how is negotiable.

 

Is there something specific you had in mind?"

[Shameless]

"Well it is nice to have friends in a variety of high places." Ryan said, his meaning clear.  "I may not be military anymore, but I do believe in this country, and I want to see us continue to be world leaders.   I don't agree with everything the government does, but I do want to make the lives of our citizens better.  I think Novastorm and the government can do that much better working hand in hand."

 

Ryan smiled at the other former pilot, and nodded.   "To a fruitful relationship going forward. I'd be willing to handle supply runs for the station, should you need it, as well."

[Nina]

Grant and Ryan finalized some plans and departed for the evening. Ryan would take a few days off and fly to Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado which was one of the  Air Force base's had been designated for Space Force operations.

 

When Ryan arrived he was taken to a remote building, newly constructed from the looks of it, on the far east side of the base. There he was met by Grant and a female space force guardian, a Cpt. Angela Garcis, who was introduced as Grant's aid. After a few minutes of small talk, Grant told Ryan that he was leaving for some other duties and that Garcis would take him where he needed to go, that hey would meet again at the operation center.

 

Garcis, a fit, attractive woman of Latin decent, gave Ryan a nod once Grant was gone, "If you will follow me, sir, we will go inside here and get you fitted for a space suit. Once we are done here I show you to your quarters and where most of the places you may want to visit are and then we will go down to the Operations center." She said all this while not looking Ryan in the eye, she seemed somewhat nervous.

 

"Is everything alright lieutenant," he asked.

 

"She looked back at him surprised then blushed, "Yes sir, sorry sir. it's just... you're the first Enhanced Person I've met. I guess I'm a little awe struck."

 

The next thirty minutes was taken up with suit technicians taking measurements so that they could modify a suit for him. Then, after that, Garcis was true to her word, she took him to the BOQ, where he was shown to a room pretty much like the ones he had spent almost twenty years living in, then she showed him around the base before they headed back to the same clump of buildings on the east side of the base, but not to the same one. 

 

They both went through a thorough security check before being allowed to enter this build which the sign on the outside wall read USSF OC OPS. Inside they were again checked to verify Id before passing through a set of double doors which led down a short corridor past what appeared to be empty offices. At the end of the corridor was an elevator. Ryan wasn't surprised.

 

In the elevator, which only went down from here since this was a single story building, at least from the outside, the two rode the elevator down what Ryan estimated to be about six hundred to eight hundred feet under ground. When the doors opened Ryan was greeted with the real operations center.

 

"How on earth did they build all of this in less than a year without anyone knowing," he asked? He looked around taking in all that he was seeing, a very busy office full of personnel.

 

"They didn't have to. These were built back in the fifties, bunkers in case of nuclear war with the soviets' or others. We just repurposed and modernized them. That didn't take long and really wasn't noticeable. All of the bases that we use have similar facilities, except for Patrick in Florida. The Colonel will be waiting for us in Ops.

 

Spoiler

Captain Angela Garcis   

 

[Shameless]

He didn't need the space suit, and was fairly certain they knew that.   Still, a backup wasn't a bad thing to have, especially in space.   When Garcis admitted to being awestruck, Ryan had smiled. He didn't say anything as they got started measuring him for the modifications, and he enjoyed the tour.  He didn't really get tired or fatigued like before, and when they finally made it to the real ops center, he nodded.  
 

"Lead on Captain."  Ryan was taking it all in, he'd dreamed of being somewhere like this often enough, and now that it was reality a part of him was satisfied, and happy.   Still, another part warned him to be wary.   God only knew what would happen when he used his abilities near the object.   Something he wondered if they'd even thought about themselves.   It could all be a trap of some kind, but he really didn't want to believe that.  Being straight and honest would get his willing help, and not doing so would see him vanish. 

Ryan smiled.  "You know I always dreamed of being an astronaut."

[Nina]

Garcis led Ryan through a security door labeled Mission control and the room beyond was just that, a miniature mission control like he had seen in pictures and video a thousand times. It was smaller and maybe a bit more modern and everyone but he. Were in uniform.

 

Grant was there talking to a enlisted Guardian, and waved Ryan and Garcis over, “You ready to see it?”

 

“Yes I am,” Ryan replied.

 

“Bring up the Object on the main feed.” Almost immediately at Grant’s order the big viewscreen which had been showing the ISS switched to a view in higher earth orbit and much further north.

 

Dominating the picture was the Object, the Black Knight.

 

 

It floated serene above a field of white and blue below it, the distant polar ice cap, Rayan noted that the orbit seemed a bit off kilter. He also noted at least two other objects, obviously human made satellites, each one about a quarter the size of the Object. They looked like small space stations like the old Skylab or Mir stations.

 

“It’s orbit doesn’t look right?”

 

“Its not. The object orbits the magnetic pole which is in the process of flipping. Black Knight is following it. That is why we need to move it. Even if none of your kind, spot it in a couple of years it will have shifted enough that it will be visible to any amateur astronomer in the northern hemisphere,’ explained Grant.

 

“They are doing a rush job on your suit, but even so it won’t be ready until tomorrow so our first bit will be moving the engines up to the BK orbit. Then we will go up ourselves while they attach them.

[Shameless]

Ryan beheld the Black Knight, and inwardly he was quite excited.   This was actual proof of alien visitors to the planet, not hypothetical, actual proof.   Man had touched this object, and soon enough, he himself would.   It was hard to not show his excitement at that, and he nodded.   "So, we have the Engines here, and I'll be sending them up to the stations, where they'll be ferried over to the object and attached.  Or is the plan to bring the stabilizer engines up into or near the object?   They're self contained I'm sure, with more than enough power to maintain orbit once it reaches its  new home."   He knew the physics, and wondered how big the engines were, even as he was looking at the screen and calculating the size of the object itself.

He considered saying he could do it without the suit, but he was cautious.   They had no idea how it would react to an Enhanced, so the extra precaution of taking a spaceworthy suit was necessary, just in case. Deezy of course could have made it in an hour, but in their wisdom, they'd not let her in on this project.   

"I'll just ask this now, are we certain this is the only object?   Did anyone check the other Pole?   I realize it's alot of area to check, but it occurs to me that this is likely part of some system put together by someone quite advanced."

[Nina]

"Oh yes that much is a given. From what I understand they do believe there was another one orbiting the south pole, but its not there now.  Some of the scientist think it crashed and is buried under the ice. 

 

As for the engines.  The station will do an EVA and set some markers where the engineers want you to place the motors. Which brings me to a question. Have you ever... what did you call it warp? Have you ever warped something off planet?" Grant gives Ryan a serious look.  "What the engineers need to know is does what you send through your portal maintain is intrinsic velocity? I mean we are moving at basically a thousand miles an hour here, so do you set the speed or are we going to have to match the objects speed?"

[Shameless]

Ryan nodded.   "I can choose how it works."   It was an important bit of information, but once they actually started putting things in orbit it would be revealed.  Besides, in the demonstrations of his abilities already, he'd been shown to allow people to walk through, and had stopped some from falling using a gate, that deposited them on the beach without slamming them into the sand.  

He smiled. "We've run some tests, in anticipation of working with NASA, you understand.   Didn't want to offer a service I couldn't actually deliver."

[Nina]

After a quiet dinner alone Ryan got a good nights rest. The next day was a perfect. They warped to the staging area which was located in New Mexico, and it was there  that Ryan saw the engines for the first time.

 

The op was set up, the astronauts in orbit set the markers at the coordinates that they wanted the motors placed and Ryan did his thing to the amazement of those present. Surprisingly it went off without a hitch.

 

The next step was going up to orbit themselves. Grant would accompany Ryan, who would warp them to orbit. Ryan kind of secretly wished he were going into space the old-fashioned way just to say he had done it but, in the end this was okay too.

 

Using a live camera feed for location targeting Ryan opened a portal and he sent grant through first hen followed himself.

 

It was Ryan’s turn to be surprised, while never implicitly said, Ryan had assumed he would be warping to the station and that they would EVA to the object. He was wrong.

Ryan found himself stepping into a half spherical room which held an eerie resemblance to the  warp room back at NovaStorm. He immediately knew that he was on the object.

 

“Welcome to the Black Knight,” said a man dressed in a light gray jumpsuit with a Russian flag emblem  on his left upper arm. The man looked to be in his mid-forties and there was barely a detectable accent in his otherwise perfect English. “I am Viktor and let me say how great a pleasure it is to have you aboard Major Hawke. That was truly and amazing thing to witness.”

 

 

[Shameless]

Ryan smiled slightly.   "Thank you, and the pleasure is mine.   It was a dream of mine to travel into space, and never did I think I'd set foot in a place like this.   As to my ability, I've sorta gotten used to it by this point, so it's not as impressive to me anymore.   Now, when I set foot on Mars, that will be something to talk about, I would think."  

He held out his hand, which Viktor took and shook enthusiastically.   "Not a man to stay content with how things are then, are you Major?"  Viktor grinned back at him.   

"Not anymore.   Things are only going to get more and more interesting from here on out.  Case in point..."  he said gesturing to the fact they were inside an alien construct.  He was somewhat concerned about everyone calling him by his old rank.  He wasn't in the military anymore, and he wouldn't be rejoining.   

[Nina]

Grant stood silent during this initial exchange then spoke up, “Ryan this is Dr. Viktor Karansky, he is the current head of the Black Knight Expedition. Dr. Karansky it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

 

“Yes that is right this is your first time up as well. Good let me show you a tour. We will start with the outside.’ Karansky pulls a mic from his belt. “Ms. Prentis please meet us at the pod we ant to make a fly around.”

 

The scientist leads Ryan and Grant through a dark hallway lit by small electric lights, obviously earth made, attached to the walls. Karensky points at them and laughed, “HAHA… fifty years and we still have not figured out how to turn on the lights!”

 

They came to a large Airlock where a young woman who looked barely out of her teens wearing a space suit with a British flag on the shoulder was waiting. “Gentlemen this is Flight Lieutenant Prentis and she will be our pilot, “ Karansky introduced the pilot. They entered the airlock, whose doors were operated by a generator. And a vehicle attached to the outer airlock.

 

The shuttle pod looked remarkably like the shuttlepod from the nineteen seventy-nine film Star Trek the Motion Picture. When asked about that FLT Prentis gave a pretty good run down of it capabilities. “ The original pods were actually based on those movie designs. They had a couple that were based on the ones from 2001 but they were not practical for larger personnel transfers. They put the first habitat up over there BKH-1 over there,” She pointed out the larger front window at a distant speck, “in ’84. They  didn’t want it  to close to the object so its way out there and they needed something to ferry people back and forth so the made these little blighters. This one that we are riding in, is third gen and was built in 2004. We have two more and of course the new habitat was put up in 2012 and is a lot closer. We only use one for bulk storage now.”

 

While Prentis talked, she expertly piloted the small craft around the Object. Ryan realized now that he was close to it that it was much larger than he had thought. It was 198 meters long and 60 meters wide, at it’s thickest it was 36 meters, but it tapered down to just 6 meters at each end. Its hull looked strange, not like metal at all.

 

Spoiler

Karansky  Prentis

 

[Shameless]

"Do we have any idea what it's made of?   Just looking at it now, It doesn't look like any metal I know."  Ryan asked quietly.   He knew he could move it, and likely, would move the two stations as well after the fact.  This was still going to be a major undertaking, all done in near perfect secrecy.
 

"You guys must have been laughing up your sleeves with all the alien invasion movies, and hell, the entirety of the X-Files."   It was a rare half-joke from him, and he nodded.   "I'll be moving the stations as well I gather?   Certainly don't want to leave them here for someone to inadvertently find."

"I admit, the part of me that grew up watching Star Trek is very, very excited right now.  It's just a shuttle ride, but that's just part of it.   If this were a simple ride around a new stellar craft we built, that would be exciting in and of itself, but this is a ship that's been in our planet's orbit long before we ever took to the skies.   I have so many questions."

"You mentioned difficulty turning things on, but clearly at least some systems function.   I find it hard to believe it maintains its orbit, let alone the modifications to follow the shift of the Poles.   Clearly some things are working on the ship. "   Inwardly, he was already thinking about just how much fun Deezy would have with this, wondering if she'd sign the NDA to come up here.   It was something to mention to Grant later.     

[Nina]

Prentis piloted the small pod with practiced skill bringing the object within  just a few meters.

 

“It is not metal, as far as we have determined it is a graphite/ceramic composite of some sort. Very light, very strong, much of our advances in that area are due to what we have deduced and can recreate. There are elements which have no corresponding relation to anything we have so far discovered on earth, moon, or mars,” said Viktor as the pod zoomed around the front of the object.

 

“As for it working ,” he continued, “yes it functions as it was designed to as far as we can tell. The problem is we have no interface with which to work with. It is, hmm, reluctant to allow us to modify or improvise. We do not know how to turn on the corridor lights, we know are there yet when we enter one of the two control rooms the lights come on automatically. “

 

As he was finishing Prentis spun the pod around and backed it up against another man made docking ring. In minutes, the pressures were equalized, and they disembarked back onto the object. The pilot stayed with the pod while Viktor led Ryan and Grant to a large room with  two other scientists working with a large portable computer.

 

“This we believe is the main control room,” Viktor ushered them inside. It was large it greatest feature was a full wall sized window showing the polar region below , Ryan didn’t recall a window from outside. As soon as he stepped into the room additional lights came on and a column rose out of the floor. It was octagonal in shape, about eight inches across, and had risen to about forty inches in height.

 

Everyone stared at the column. “That is new,” said Viktor.

[Shameless]

Ryan caught it instantly, and it was likely a slip.  Even confronted with the control room, with its view of the outside where he couldn't recall seeing a window outside, he homed in on it.  "So we've already been to and back from Mars?  You guys just keep setting the bar higher and higher."
 

Ryan looked the octagonal column, and nodded.   "I'm the first Enhanced you've brought here." it was a statement and a question all at once, and he wondered what would happen if he touched the column, and fed some of his power into it.
 

Still he made no move to do so.   He wasn't in charge here, and looked to Grant, then Viktor.   He was curious, but in space, an excess of caution was called for. 
 

[Nina]

Viktor looked at Ryan pursed his lip then nodded, "Yes, it hadn't occurred to me that that might make a difference, and it could just be coincidence" He moved toward the column and the other scientists and technicians did likewise but stayed a back a bit letting Viktor approach closest.

 

When he was a foot away he stopped. "The top is recessed," he observed out loud, " looks about twenty millimeters and it seems to contain some sort of liquid or gel. there are small lights I can see under the gel.  Get exact measurements, do a full spectrum analysis, see if it is emitting anything and last I want a sample of the gel. Call doctor Simms we need to set up a containment lock at this door before anyone exits in case this has contaminated us."

 

He turns back to Ryan and Grant, "Sorry gentlemen this will take a while try and make yourselves comfortable. once the lock is in place we can exit into some suits and but we will have to be tested."

 

 

[Shameless]

Ryan sighed.   "Not like I'm unused to the government running tests on me."   He shrugged, and began to take a closer look around.

"Once you've gotten your sample, and run the tests, I know this isn't standard procedure, but would you like me try anything with it?"   He looked curious.   "Judging by the dimensions, I'd almost assume it would be normal for someone to place their hand in the gel."   

Viktor looked at him, and then Grant.   "This isn't science  fiction, Ryan."   

"No it isn't, or one of us would have stuck our hands in already.   I'm asking, because Viktor's the resident expert, and at the end of the day, I'm just a civilian Contractor/Consultant.  I am curious if it would respond any differently to me, as opposed to either of you, but there are a great many variables in play.   I won't do anything, without your "Okay" first."

[Nina]

“Dr Karansky,’ the scientist at the column spoke, he was holding a long probe with a small scoop attached, “I can’t get a sample the…gel, or whatever it is just deforms, I can’t get the scoop to penetrate.”

 

Karansky moves that way, Grant and Ryan go with him.  “Well Major Hawke, it never occurred to me that this object could be connected with... umm,” he waves a hand up and down in front of Ryan, “ with this, your enhancements and the…umm, the Storm. We were all up here when that event occurred, and the object gave no reaction at all. But maybe it is something we should have considered.”

 

He looks at Grant and back at Ryan then at the gel, he shrugs and steps back as he gestures for Rayan to proceed.

[Shameless]

Ryan looked at them, and nodded, "Alright then."   He smiled at Grant.  "You know, Deezy would sign the NDA too.   This is all right up her alley as well."

It was a fact she was better prepared than he was for this, but at the same time, he was glad he was here first.  If something went wrong it was better that he be lost.   Deezy's ideas, her knowledge and skills could do so much more for other enhanced, for Humanity at large than what Ryan himself could do.   He prepared himself visualizing the portal room, just in case they needed to get out, hoping he'd be able to get grant and the scientists out, since they had no idea what was going to happen when he did this.

Ryan moved to the pedestal and placed his hand atop it, in the gel, and let some of his own energy flow to his hand, hoping for the best, even as he prepared for the worst.   "Hold onto your butts."  He said, quoting one of his favorite actors from a favorite movie from his childhood.