Down they fell, driven headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down into the deep, and in the general fall, I also.

            - John Milton - Paradise Lost -

Marty squinted as he gazed out of the Humvee's passenger window. The Mojave Desert wasn't a very hospitable place. In fact, it could be downright nasty. Heat rippled air boiled from the rugged rock strewn landscape and long shimmering shadows flowed away from squat barrel cacti, banana yucca and ragged basalt rocks. Luckily, the sun was melting into the horizon, and sunset in the desert had the finality of a gunshot.

"I don't see why we have to practice out here," he said to Angie. "We certainly know how to work in these suits."

"You and I know, but our two volunteers don't."

He turned to offer them a placating smile. "Sorry, I forgot."

His eyes were first attracted to the woman. She was some sort of Indian with a first name of Uma. He couldn't pronounce her last name. She had jet-black hair pulled tight around her head and a dark complexioned face with large dark penetrating eyes. Her qualifications included a PhD in Geology and Astrophysics from Cal Tech.

The man was older than he, and that made him feel good. George Taylor's thinning gray hair attested to his age, but it was his deep blue eyes that hinted of his experience in something as complicated as Planetary Physics. Such a boring profession, but apparently NASA considered him an expert in how water on the moon was even possible.

In his opinion, they were either expendable or suicidal. He wasn’t sure which, but he knew that NASA wouldn’t risk any top astronauts for this crazy mission.

He turned back to Angie. “Oh well, we could all use some experience driving the moon buggy.”

 “The ATEV,” she said, correcting him.

 “Yeah, the All Terrain Excursion Vehicle. I know.” He paused to glance out at the rapid nightfall. “This is going to be a real trip doing this in the dark. We don’t have any idea what this crater looks like or how deep it is.”

 “Same situation we'll face on the moon.”

 “True, but I hope we don’t end up jumping down into quicksand or something.”

 “I’m sure that NASA wouldn’t have chosen a dangerous location for this test.”

 “No telling what Clarence would do to test us.”

She frowned at him, but it had no effect. He smiled, his usual response to criticism. She had no idea if he was just joking around or using flippancy as a defense mechanism. She was aware of the reputation he had as a prankster and a ladies man, but she didn’t care. She could handle any man, no matter how badly he behaved.

The entourage of vehicles came to a stop on a gentle rise near a rock-strewn cliff. They climbed out and assembled near a half-track transport. Technicians began to retrieve the ATEV from a truck while the astronauts got into their MMU suits.

The Manned Maneuvering Units were designed to literally fly around without the need for any separate machine. Strapped to an astronaut’s back, the unit was powered by solid fuel rockets that, unlike conventional solid rockets, could be started and stopped at will.

The ATEV looked like an overgrown dune buggy. It had large tractor wheels that could be individually controlled. Ideally suited for rough terrain, the vehicle was perfect for tooling around the desert or the moon.

Marty let Angie drive. She was the pilot and driving an ATEV was easy. The embedded computer control prevented a human driver from messing up.

Powerful Xenon lamps cut into the pitch-blackness of a moonless night, casting eerie shadows and reflecting from scary creature eyes.

"Hopefully, we'll stop before we go over the crater rim."

Angie gave him a disgusted look. "Can't happen. The forward-looking radar spots drop-offs."

"Thank goodness.” He paused to give her a grin. “Although, we'd get to the bottom faster."

"Very funny."

He laughed, but his laughter came to an abrupt halt when Angie stopped.

"We're twenty meters from the rim. You're teamed with Uma and you get to go first."

Marty gave her a big grin before he climbed out. "Showtime."

Uma leaned over to Angie. "Is he usually this crazy?"

Angie smiled. "Don't worry about him. It's just his way of quelling his anxiety."

Uma shook her head. After attaching their helmets and checking both short and long-range communication systems, Marty and Uma activated their MMU controls.

"We shouldn't have to go more than fifty meters high to clear the rim," Marty said. "When we begin the decent, we should throttle back to a half meter per second."

"Do we have enough fuel for that?" Uma asked.

"The computer claims we do. We can always step it up if we have to." He began a count. "Go in ten seconds."

The countdown ended with ignition. They were immediately airborne on plumes of smoke and soon moving forward toward the crater's rim.

"I just love flying like superman at night," Marty said.

"We're over the rim," Uma said. "But, I can't see the bottom."

"Into the abyss we go," Marty said as he began his decent.

Uma caught up to him. "I can see the bottom now. It doesn't look too bad."

"And they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

"What?"

"Sorry," Marty said. "I was just hoping for some divine protection."

"Do you pray often to your god?"

"Only in times of need, although, of late it's becoming more frequent."

The ground came up fast, necessitating further reduction in speed. After a few minutes, they made soft contact and powered down.

"The eagles have landed," Marty said into his long-range helmet mic.

"What's your fuel level?" Angie asked.

"Mine's at seventy," Marty said.

"I read seventy two," Uma said.

"Good," Angie said.

Uma began a search by sweeping her lamp around the floor of the crater. Rocks of various sizes littered the flat sandy ground.

"What are we looking for?" Marty said.

"Fragments of meteorites. They'll be black for the most part."

"The whole place looks black. Wouldn't this be easier in daylight?"

Ignoring his quip, she picked up a rock. "Here's one. It's an Octahedrite."

"A what?"

"It's a form of iron meteorite. Meteorites are either stone or iron or a mix."

"How come it's shiny?"

"The meteor that formed this crater exploded before it hit the ground. The resulting heat caused fusing."

"Oh."

Uma pointed at a similar rock. "Why don't you grab that one?"

He did so, pausing to examine it before placing it in a collection box attached to his suit. "We're ready to come back up now."

"Proceed," Angie replied.

Marty and Uma powered up and ascended from the crater floor. When they landed, Angie and George approached.

"How deep is it?" Angie said.

Marty grinned. "That's for us to know and you to find out."

"Not quite a hundred meters," Uma said, giving Marty a scolding look.

"How's your fuel?"

"I read forty percent," Uma said.

"Same for me," Marty said.

"Good," Angie said. "We'll use much less on the moon."

You hope, Marty thought as he watched Angie and George fly off.

###

The hangar off runway-3 was abuzz with activity. Engineers and technicians were in the process of making last minute checks on the X-1001. While trying to stay out of the way, Marty watched George approach, noting the unexpected anxiety in his otherwise stoic face, He couldn't recall George saying anything during the training session at the crater. He wondered if old George was having second thoughts.

"Ah, Martin, I wanted to ask you about this Antigrav device."

"Ask and ye shall receive."

That earned Marty a strange look. "Yes. Well you see . . . how well does it work?"

"It cancels most G-force effects within a half-G. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you see . . . well, my blood pressure is a bit on the high side and I was wondering how much--"

Good grief! The old geezer's going to have a heart attack on us.

"I wouldn't worry about the G-forces. I would be more concerned about the fact that you have to exercise on a tread mill breathing pure oxygen after you get into your suit."

"I know about the pre-breathing routine. I can get through that."

"Well then, you have nothing to be concerned about."

Angie approached with Uma in tow. "Hey you guys! Get ready to mount up. We're going to launch."

Marty grinned at her. "We're ready to rock. Right, George?"

George nodded, but Marty thought it wasn't a very enthusiastic response.

They proceeded to the X-1001 and rode the elevator up to the cockpit. Angie sat in the pilot’s chair and immediately powered up the computer.

 “Good morning, Angie. I am ready.”

 “Good. Please run the Moon Mission plan M-1, Delphi.”

 “Yes, Angie.”

 “The engines are ready,” Marty said. “Plasma flow is at full power.”

 “Inform Houston that we are ready to start count-down,” Angie said.

 “Yes, Angie.”

Marty turned around to address the passengers. “Relax. You won’t feel a thing.”

That didn’t really have much effect. The passengers appeared to be on edge. However, Uma did manage a weak smile, which Marty gladly returned.

 “Launch in two minutes, Angie,” Delphi announced.

Those minutes elapsed with tense anticipation, which the astronauts accepted with professional perseverance. The X-1001 moved out onto the runway and sat silently in the morning mist, which the sun was in the process of dispensing. A dry breeze disturbed flags flying over the control tower. A half moon loomed above, definitely daring mere men—and women—to reach for its ancient pockmarked surface.

 “Launch in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two . . .”

The X-1001 lurched down the runway and rapidly ascended into the sky. The image on the main view screen soon showed a shrinking planet earth.

 “We’re going to accelerate to one hundred sixty thousand kilometers per hour in twenty minutes,” Marty said. “Please remain in your seats until the burn is finished.”

 “A hundred sixty thousand kilometers per hour?” George said. “How is that possible?”

 “We can easily accelerate to more than two million kilometers per hour,” Marty said. “This will be a cake walk.”

The main screen showed a split image. One half showed the rapidly fading Earth and the other half displayed the zooming image of the moon.

 “Hey, George, what makes NASA think that there’s ice on the moon?”

 “There have been several attempts to find ice on the moon,” George said. “The Lunar Prospector mission hinted that there are pockets of ice in permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s poles.”

 “I don’t understand. How could ice exist on the Moon in the first place?”

 “During the late bombardment period 3.9 billion years ago, comets and asteroids collided with both the Moon and Earth delivering water in massive quantities. Since the Moon has a much lower gravity and no atmosphere, most of this water was lost into space. However, there are craters that are permanently shadowed in the Polar Regions. The temperature in these craters is not much higher than 100 degrees Kelvin. Despite billions of years, this ice should have been preserved, assuming little solar wind sputtering and low sublimation.”

 “So what you’re saying is that we’re going to find out if the theory is correct?”

 “Yes. If there are large deposits of ice on the Moon, it will make a permanent Moon base possible.”

 “Then, this is important?”

 “Very important,” George said. “Our discoveries would make possible the development of the Moon, not to mention major advancement in our understanding of early planet formation.”

"That's interesting," Marty said.

Not! Who cares how it got there.

 “Velocity is at eighty thousand kilometers per hour, Angie.”

 “Thank you, Delphi.”

 “You are welcome, Angie.”

The next ten minutes were silent until a sudden bang startled the two passengers.

"Nothing to worry about," Marty said. "That's the navigational system reacting to a rock or something. It adjusts velocity to avoid collision."

"Does it happen often?" George asked, the color slowly retuning to his face.

"Not really. As we approach full speed, we may experience a few more, but who knows: It's a random universe out there."

"Thank goodness," George said, wiping his brow.

"Velocity is at 169,000 kilometers per hour Angie."

"Thank you Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

When the steady engine whine ceased, Marty unbuckled and stood up. "You are free to move about. We will start retro burn in fifty two minutes."

After he observed George making a swift dash to the toilet, Marty turned to Angie. "I believe the avoidance system scared the you-know-what out of George."

"I'm surprised that he's so easily spooked. NASA training usually excludes people like that."

"Perhaps, NASA has lowered its standards."

Angie frowned. "I doubt that."

George returned to his seat looking shaken. "Why do we have to go so fast? The moon isn't that far away."

Marty looked at Angie and smiled. "That's true, but Angie and I have a need for speed." He high-fived her.

George stared at them as if they were crazy.

"They're just kidding you," Uma said. "The reason we hurry to the Moon is for expediency. This space craft is being evaluated, as are we."

"Isn't that life?" Angie said. "We're constantly being evaluated, judged, and tested."

"I agree. We are pioneers and the whole world is watching us."

The computer lamp flashed. "Angie, Houston Control is requesting a status report. Do you want COM?"

"Yes, Delphi."

"You have COM, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

"This is X-1001," Angie said. "Go ahead, Houston."

"We have you at the half-way point. Your signal is at optimum. We wish to conduct a press interview."

"Proceed," Angie said.

"Transmission will commence in five minutes," the Houston flight controller said.

They gathered together in front of a remotely controlled camera. When the camera light activated, an image of a panel of correspondents appeared on a small monitor directly above the camera. Marty smiled when he spotted Larry in the moderator's chair.

"We are broadcasting from the space plane X-1001 on its way to the Moon. Would you identify yourselves for our audience please," Larry said.

"Angelina Sarasota, Commander."

"Martin Sinclair, pilot."

"Uma Bharatiya, Mission Specialist."

"George Taylor, Mission Specialist."

"Martin, you were on the final Orion mission to the Moon."

"Yes, I was."

"What are your thoughts about returning to the Moon?"

"It's great. This mission is more ambitious, but not having to spend days getting there is a big relief."

"I'll bet that not having to endure zero gravity is a plus."

"It certainly is."

"Ms. Sarasota. You've never been to the Moon. How does it feel to be one of the first women to go there?"

"That hadn't crossed my mind. The mission is more important than any individual, although, I look forward to the opportunity to represent my sisterhood on this historic mission."

"Ms. Bharatiya, you represent India on this mission. What do you expect to accomplish?"

"I hope to find ice deposits. My country is very proud of my accomplishments, and I will not disappoint them. Water is the very essence of life. Finding it on the Moon means that it is everywhere, and where there is water, there is the possibility of life."

"Dr. Taylor, you've published several papers on this subject. How certain are you that there's significant quantities of ice on the Moon?"

"Oh, there's ice there. The probes have unequivocally demonstrated that. Quantity is the real question. Personally, I am very excited about this mission. Hopefully, I will see for myself what many--including myself--have claimed."

 “Well, whatever you find, we all wish you luck and thank you.”

The astronauts nodded. Marty smiled.

###

Angie made an announcement. “We’re five minutes from retro. Please buckle up and remain in your seats.”

 “Engines parameters are at optimum, Angie,” Delphi said. “Burn will commence in four minutes and twenty two seconds.”

 “Acknowledged, Delphi.” Angie said.

The main view screen was filled with an image of the Moon, and individual craters and mountain ranges could be clearly seen now. The target-landing site was not visible.

The engines powered up and soon resonated with a high-pitched whine. Any G-forces associated with this breaking burn were not noticeable to the passengers.

 “This is almost like flying on a jetliner,” George said. “It’s hard to imagine that we’re going to de-accelerate from a hundred thousand miles per hour to orbital velocity in only ten minutes.”

 “We could do it in less time, but this is compromise between time and safety.”

 “Are we going to orbit the Moon for a while before we land?” Uma asked.

 “No,” Angie said. “We’re going to go directly to the Aitken Basin and sit down near Shackleton crater.”

 “Wow!” George said. “That’s a very ambitious plan. That’s means that you have to de-accelerate down to zero in only a few minutes.”

 “Yeah,” Marty said. “Sure makes for a quick ride, doesn’t it?”

After a few minutes of silence, Uma said, “Are you going to go to Mars after this?”

 “I hope so,” Marty said.

 “If you do, I would like to be considered for the crew,” Uma said.

 “That’s not our decision,” Marty said. “But, I’ll put in a good word for you.”

 “Thank you.”

 “How long would it take to go there?” George said.

 “About two days or so,” Marty said. “We could do the entire mission in a week.”

 “That’s amazing,” George said. “When NASA discussed trips to Mars, they talked about months or years, not days.”

Marty threw a smirk at Angie before he turned back to George. “That’s because they didn’t have a need for speed, like Angie and I.”

 “You two are not like any astronauts that I’ve known,” George said. “You seem unfazed by all of this.”

 “It wasn’t like that at first,” Marty said. “When Angie and I were first recruited by the Consortium, we had no idea what we were getting into. The first flights in this beast were very scary. We had no idea what it was capable of, and it took us quite some time to get used to it.”

 “I can imagine,” George said.

 “We’re inserting into orbit,” Angie said. “We’ll have to quickly decide where we want to sit down.”

Marty activated the main navigational console. “I have a location that looks good. It’s situated on a small flat near Shackleton.”

 “Select it,” Angie said.

Marty did so by pointing at the location on the navigational console screen. The computer took over to execute the complicated maneuvers to accomplish it. The main screen displayed a rapidly zooming lunar landscape that alarmed the passengers. However, it was soon obvious that the computer had everything under control, and the craft slowed to a gentle landing.

Marty unbuckled. “That’s it. Now, the real fun begins.”

"No," George said. "Now the hard work begins."

###

The Earth peaked above a starkly barren landscape. It appeared as a blue and white swirled marble gleaming in a star speckled black sky. Paying little attention to this visual splendor, Marty and Uma skipped along in front of Angie and George on the way to Shackleton crater. Powdered regolith fluttered about from their boot falls as they left cleft marks in their wake. Behind them sat the ATEV, its bright yellow parts brilliantly sparkling in the light of a low-hanging sun.

"You should be within fifty meters of the edge," Angie said. "Time to power up your MMU units."

"Mine is ready," Uma said.

"Ready," Marty said. He glanced over at Uma before starting his countdown. "Ten, nine, eight, seven . . ."

Uma joined him. "Six, five, four . . ."

Marty noted his unit's ignition warning. "Three, two, one, launch." He felt a sudden increase in G-force as he and Uma shot up and forward.

"We're over the edge," Uma said. "But, we should fly at least a kilometer before dropping down."

"Agreed," Marty said as he moved to within twenty meters of his partner. He looked down. "Wow! I thought that our practice crater was dark. This one is pitch black."

"That's because there's no atmosphere," Uma said. "You don't have refraction here."

"Oh."

"We can begin our drop now," Uma said. "The radar indicates that the bottom is two kilometers down."

"Two kilometers?"

"Begin assent in ten, nine, eight . . ."

The drop into darkness was unsettling. There was no frame of reference and the bottom was too deep to reflect back lamplight. Only their radar units showed the bottom as a shadowy blob.

At two hundred meters to go, Marty and Uma slowed for a soft landing. Their lamps indicated a smooth surface.

When Marty's boots made contact, he bounced about two meters before coming to a full stop. "Shit. This looks just like the rest of the Moon. No ice here."

Uma ran a probe stick along the ground. "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you? We're going to have to dig."

Marty unhooked a small shovel from his belt and adjusted its telescoping handle. The regolith was dry and powdered, making it difficult to pull away from the hole he was trying to make. Worse yet, the damn moon dust stuck to everything--boots, gloves and tools.

"I feel like I'm back in basic training attempting my first foxhole in sand." He stopped to look at Uma. "How far down do we have to go?"

"That is a good question. We don't know. I'm sure we're still not deep enough."

Marty's shovel struck something hard. "Hey! I've hit rock."

Uma brushed away regolith. "I think you've hit pay dirt."

"That's ice? Why is it black?"

Uma gestured with her glove. "Give me the saw."

Marty pulled a long tube from his belt, pushed a lever to reveal a three-inch serrated round blade, and handed it to Uma. She powered it up and began to saw into the solid black material they had uncovered. No sound emitted from this, but they could see that the diamond-cutting wheel was slowly biting into the material.

"While I'm doing this, why don't you set up the core drill?"

"Uma, this is Angie. Have you found anything yet?"

"I am sorry, Angelina. I was too excited to report back. Tell Mr. Taylor that the layer is under about eighteen inches of regolith."

"This is George, Uma. How do you know that it's ice?"

"Because it is black and the saw is revealing crystalline edges."

"Ah, yes. It would be black from the carbon. That's wonderful."

"I am very happy," Uma said.

 “I’ve got this drill ready,” Marty said. “But, we can only go down about twenty meters.”

 “That’s okay,” Uma said. “We need to determine the thickness of this ice layer.”

Marty activated the drill. He had to stop and add a link every meter, but there was no hurry because the drilling was progressing slowly.

 “I don’t understand,” Marty said. “Why would the drill have this much trouble going down through ice? It should be able to penetrate stone.”

 “This ice has been here for over three billion years and it’s very solidly frozen. The drill has to melt the ice as it penetrates it, and at 100 degrees Kelvin, that process is not very easy.”

 “We need a bigger drill,” Marty said.

"Dr. Taylor has a better drill," Uma said. "We will make do with ours."

"I've reached the end of the line."

"Pull the bit back up," Uma said. "We will take the core for a sample."

The process of extracting the core required a similarly long process, but when it was up, Uma smiled.

"The ice is at least fifteen meters thick," Uma said.

"That's fantastic," George said. "I would guess that it's a hundred meters."

"How can we determine that?"

"We'll have to take sonar readings. Unfortunately, they're only reliable up to 200 meters, but it will have to do."

"We're ready to come up," Marty said.

"Good," Angie said.

Marty powered up his MMU and received a green light for ignition. Uma received a flashing red light.

"I am seeing a warning! There's something wrong with my ignition. Oh Martin, do not leave me."

"I would never leave you, Uma. Here, let me connect into your logic board and see what's up."

He plugged a cable into a socket on her MMU. His screen scrolled through a status report.

"Hey Angie, we have a problem with Uma's ignition circuit."

"What is it?"

"Error 203: low voltage on T-17."

"You can access that from a plate just under the connectors," Angie said.

"Yeah, I see it." Marty opened his tool kit and attached a star socket to his glove driver. After removing the eight screws holding the plate, he removed it, revealing the main logic board.

"Refer to the circuit image," Angie said. "T-17 is near the top left.

"Yeah, I see it. Wait. I think I see the problem. It's a loose connection. Yeah, it should be okay now, but I'll have to put the panel back."

"Let me know," Angie said.

After reattaching the plate, Marty patted Uma's arm. "Re-boot your system."

"Oh Martin, It is fine now. You saved me."

"We're good to go now, Angie."

"Good. See you upside."

The trip back up was satisfying. Marty was glad to get out of that dark pit and back to where he could see light and Angie’s smiling face, even thought it was behind a helmet shield.

 “I have good samples,” Uma said. “I am happy.”

 “If we find ice in Faustini crater, we’ll make NASA happy,” George said.

 “Why is that?” Marty said.

 “Because Faustini is more than twice the size of Shackleton and it’s more shadowed.”

 “I’m glad I’m not going down there. Our crater was dark enough.”

 “Houston control wishes a report, Angie.”

 “Patch them through, Delphi.”

 “This is Mission Control. What is your status?”

 “Martin and Uma have returned from their inspection of Shackleton crater. They’ve taken samples of what they believe is ice. We’re going over to Faustini and George and I will inspect it.”

After a delay: “You’re making a lot of people excited here. How deep is the ice?”

 “Uma says it’s more than fifteen meters. We intend to take sonar readings at Faustini.”

 “Great. Keep us informed.”

 “Roger that, Houston.” She turned to the others. “Back to the ATEV.”

Marty increased the tempo of his hopping movements to catch up to Angie. “How far is Faustini?”

 “About ten kilometers.”

 “We had better pick it up. We don’t want to run out of O2.”

 “There’s more on the ATEV.”

 “Good.”

After arriving at the ATEV, they climbed in for the one-hour trip to Faustini crater. Traveling over lunar terrain was difficult at best and any higher speed could result in disaster.

 “Think you’ll find ice in this crater, George?” Marty said.

 “I’m certain we will, and I believe that it will contain more than you found in Shackelton.”

 “Who would have thought that there was this much water on the Moon? I was always taught the Moon was drier than old bones.”

 “That’s what’s so exciting about science,” George said. “You never know what you’ll discover. All you have to do is look under that next rock out there.”

 “Yeah, and just hope you don’t turn up something nasty in the process.”

 “You have to take the good with the bad,” Uma said. “That is the life of a scientist.”

 “I wouldn’t know,” Marty said. “I have to deal with the known, not the unknown.”

 “You are in the wrong place,” Uma said. “We are in the unknown.”

That ended the discussion. When they arrived near the crater, Angie and George fired up their MMU’s for the trip into the unknown.

 “Are you ready to launch, George?” Angie said.

 “Yes. System is green.”

 “Launch in ten, nine, eight, seven, six . . .’

 “Five, four, three, two, one, launch.”

George lagged five meters behind Angie. She was busy checking out the radar display. “We should go about four or five kilometers out over the rim before we drop.”

 “Agreed,” George said. “We want to be away from the rim but not all the way to the sunlit side.”

 “The radar indicates the bottom is three kilometers down.”

 “I’m not getting a reflection from my lamps,” George said.

 “We should be far enough,” Angie said. “Start your drop.”

Short upward blast from the MMU’s jets sent them downward.

 “We’re less than a kilometer,” Angie said after several minutes of decent.

At two hundred meters, she fired breaking jets. “I’m picking up some sort of a mound. We’re going to have to move forward to avoid it.”

 “Yes, I see it,” George said. “It’s huge.”

They fired jets to move laterally before finishing their drop. They both made bouncing landings. George stumbled to his knees. Angie helped him up.

 “What is that mound?” George said. “Ice?”

 “No,” Angie said. “I’m picking up a hard signal.”

 “Is it metallic? What the hell?”

 “Hey Angie,” Marty said. “What’s going on down there?”

 “We almost landed on a large metallic object.”

 “What the hell is it: an old space probe?”

 “I don’t know. We’ll have to check it out.”

 “Keep us informed,” Marty said.

 “Will do.”

Angie hopped up near the edge of the object and hesitated before touching the regolith covering it. Moving Moon dust away revealed shiny metal, or at least what looked like metal.

 “What is that?” George asked moving up near her.

 “I don’t know. It looks like smooth metal. Is this a meteorite?”

 “I’m not getting an iron reading,” George said, holding a small instrument up. “In fact, the gamma probe is not giving any signal back.”

 “Is that possible?”

 “If this was made from any known metal, this instrument would give an appropriate signal.”

 “That doesn’t make any sense.”

George began digging near the edge of the object. He didn’t have to go very far down to hit solid ice. “Whatever this thing is, it caused the ice layer to come up nearer to the surface. My guess is that this thing crashed here, causing some ice to melt and percolate up.”

Angie began taking sonar readings. “Most of it is below the surface. I make it to be at least three hundred meters in diameter.”

 “Diameter? Is it round?”

 “Yes,” she said. “It’s shaped like a saucer.”

They looked at each other for several seconds in silence, but the silence was broken by radio.

 “What’s up, Angie?”

 “We’ve found a large saucer shaped object imbedded into the ice layer. It’s made out of some metal that doesn’t register on the neutron gamma probe.”

 “Ah shit, Angie. You get to have all the fun.”

She ignored that. “You had better contact Houston and ask them what they think of this.”

 “Okay, Angie, but they’ll think that we’ve lost our marbles.”

 “Just do it. We don’t have all day.”

 “Yes, ma’am.”

 “I’m getting sonar readings on the ice layer,” George said. “It’s at least a hundred meters thick and extends a thousand meters out.”

Angie brushed more regolith off of the object. “I can’t find any markings or seams on this thing. I wonder when it crashed.”

 “That would be difficult to determine,” George said. “If I could get a reading from it, I might be able to make a guess.” He made a few adjustments to his neutron beam analyzer. “Wait, I’m picking up a strange signal. It appears to be triplet hydrogen. How could that be?”

 “Hey Angie, Houston says that you shouldn’t mess with that object. They said it could contain dangerous materials. They said that they’ll send a team of experts up to investigate it.”

 “Understood. We’ll finish up taking ice samples and return.”

 “Okay. See you when you get back.”

###

"Ten minutes until retro burn, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

Marty glanced back at Uma and George before turning to Angie. "I'm surprised that none of you commented on your find."

"What's to say," Angie said. "We were sent to the Moon to find ice--which we did--not to find a flying saucer. Let NASA worry about it."

"Yeah, but doesn't it disturb you that aliens have visited us, especially in light of the fact that we'll soon be able to travel to the stars ourselves?"

"There's nothing we can do about it. If extraterrestrials want to come here, we can't stop them."

"Are you two going to go to stars?"

Both Marty and Angie turned to Uma before looking at each other.

"We're not supposed to talk about it," Angie said.

"They can't go to the stars," George said.

"Why not?" Uma said, giving him a frown.

"They'd have to travel faster than light, and Einstein said that was impossible."

"Einstein didn't believe in wormholes," Marty said.

"You're referring to Schwarzschild geometry," George said. "The Kruskal space-time diagram shows that a Schwarzschild wormhole is unstable. Besides, finding one would be damn near impossible."

Marty grinned. "Who said anything about finding them."

Angie frowned. "Marty!"

George smiled. "You've got to be kidding. You can generate wormholes?"

Uma' eyes grew larger. "If you're going to the stars, I definitely want to go along."

Angie eyes grew steelier. "Don't you two say anything about this or you can forget going anywhere else."

George laughed. "It's a deal. I haven't had this much fun since I joined NASA."

Uma nodded her approval.

The engines fired, effectively ending the discussion.

###

Tindale's eyes reflected both concern and pride, but it was the concern that boiled to the surface when he scanned the Moon mission crew with heavy eyes. "We want you to remain silent about your lunar find. Disclosure at this juncture would invite wild speculation and hysteria. We'll talk about the fact that you've discovered water on the Moon and wait until we can send an investigation mission before we reveal anything about the object." He paused to check his notes. "On to your next mission: Mars. Your engineers assure us that they can have your ship ready by the sixteenth. Your mission will consist of three goals. The first and foremost is to find water. Your second task is to repair Adventure and place a more advanced probe on the planet. Lastly, we want you to gather samples."

Uma raised her hand. "Are we to assume that we are the crew?"

"Not exactly. We're adding a new member: Ferris Sani. Ms. Sani has PhD's in paleontology and exobiology."

Marty frowned. Another female to deal with. As if we don't have enough already.

Tindale frowned. "Is there a problem, Martin?"

"No, not a thing." He added a smile as a reinforcement, but Tindale could sense that it was just show.

"Are you objecting to our crew assignment?"

"Not really. I was just wondering why you can't find any men."

Uma gave him a scolding look. Angie rolled her eyes. George smiled.

Tindale frowned. "We're not sending your buddies, if that's what you mean. We need hard science and guess what: It appears that there are more women than men scientists who are in shape to endure the rigors of planetary work."

Marty held a placating hand up. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your talk."

Tindale continued. "Ms. Sani has written several papers on extraterrestrial life and on Mars in particular."

Uma raised her hand again. "Does she believe that there is life on the Mars?"

"I think she has proposed that life did exist there. She hopes to find fossils."

Marty smiled. Fossils! How much can we do on Mars in one week? It's just like NASA to jam too many tasks in a short time span. And they're going to do it with three women and old George and me. Damn.