Visit

Visit

“Brrrrr-Brrrrr-Brrrrr”… “Brrrrr-Brrrrr-Brrrrr”…

“Wha ?...,” barely conscious.

“Brrrrr-Brrrrr-Brrrrr”… “Brrrrr-Brrrrr-Brrrrr”…

“Oh…what is that ?...,” irritated.

“Brrrrr-Brrrrr-Brrrrr”… “Brrrrr-Brrrrr-Brrrrr”…

“Shit…my seat buzzer…Wake-Up Signal …gotta’ wake up…,” groggy as hell.

“Brrrrr-Brrrrr-Brrrrr”… “Brrrrr-Brrrrr-Brrrrr”…

I hate this…really hate this.  Waking up after months of being “in storage” is awful.  First, my eyes are glued shut with months of dried eye-gunk and evaporated tears.  Nasty, painful, feels like they’re stuffed with a handful of sand. 

And my mouth, Lord have Mercy, my mouth !!  Prior to entering Cryo-Rest, I clean my mouth very carefully, then swish and rinse with a fairly nasty substance that’s supposed to manage any remaining bacteria.  Then I have an elastic device that fits over my head and holds my mouth closed while I “sleep”.  If you ever woke up from a night’s sleep and found your mouth and tongue badly dried-out from mouth-breathing, you can imagine how you might have serious issues in Cryo-Rest if your mouth wasn’t kept closed.  But, waking up with any mouth that has been held closed for several months sucks !

The ship starts the Wake-Up Sequence as I near my destination, or as in this case, when Barrow (Deep Space Flight Control, Alaska-Barrow) signals the ship that some situation has arisen, and I need to be brought out early.  That’s why the “Brrrrr-Brrrrr-Brrrrr”…   Out in the Crew Compartment, the system is bringing the ship’s ambient air back up to proper oxygen levels, pressure, temperature and humidity.  While it does that, it’s buzzing to start me waking up.  We must have the ship’s air back in shape before we open the lid of my “bunk bed”, this crappy, cramped, cryo chamber that I’ve been stuck in for some months now.

But the worst part, the really awful part, is waiting.  This chamber is so cramped, I can’t move around, can’t stretch, really claustrophobic.  No big deal when entering cryo, you are only awake for a few minutes.  And as long as you are asleep, who cares, you just sleep…well, you just lie there in an unconscious state as the system constantly monitors you, and corrects oxygen and humidity as needed.  But for me, the few moments between waking up and opening the lid of the chamber are horror.  I want out, I want fresh air, I want to move, I want to stretch, I get in a panic…I want out NOW !!

They tell me others don’t have it so rough.  But they can see in training that my heart rate jumps up during this phase, so they program my wake-up to be as quick as safely possible.  Some like to linger a bit, collect themselves before being “re-born”, but not me, I am in a claustrophobic panic and I’m ready to hit the “get-the-F-out-of-here” button !!!

My hand can just barely reach my waist, down to my belt, I feel for my zipper pack.  I carry a small container of liquid that I put in my mouth to moisten and freshen it.  But several times, when I’ve done that coming out, I get nauseous and throw up, so I want to hold off on the “mouth-grease” until the lid opens and I can sit up.  So first, I’ll try to unstick my eyes.  I feel for my eye wash container and fumble to get the lid off.  It takes several drops and it’s not easy to move my hand up to my face while the fricking lid is still closed, but it gives me something to focus on, helps keep my claustrophobia at bay for a few seconds.  Several drops, lots of blinking, and I can see light out of one eye, but my world is still far from clear.

Through the lid, even though it’s still fogged up, I can see that the Crew Compartment lights are on, and I can make out maybe some flashing red lights on the Communications Console.  Looking over toward the Life Support and Propulsion Panels, I just see green, so I’m comforted that the ship isn’t waking me to fight some urgent equipment issue.  Now I can just focus on breathing steadily until this f-ing lid opens. 

As soon as I’m able to freshen my mouth, I need to start drinking to rehydrate and moisturize my innards again.  Unfortunately, when you do that in your still-groggy state, you then proceed to dirty your diapers.  The problem is the “butt-grease,” as we affectionately call it, that we insert before going to sleep.  It seems to make for difficult control on waking up.  One’s bowels don’t move while we are locked-in, but we wear a diaper to guard against a “rapid re-mobilization” on wake-up.  One of the perks of having my lid open quicker than others is that it not only helps my claustrophobia, but I also get to scamper to the head, and clean up right quick.  Then I can be out in time to make fun of my partner as he wakes up, can’t see, can’t speak, and has to feel his way to the head with all kinds of unpleasant intestinal noises going on.  That is, when I have a partner…this time, I’m flying solo.

Finally, I hear the clunk of the Lid-Locks, hear that beloved hiss, and feel the fresh, cool air of the Crew Cabin.  Son-of-a bitch that feels good !!  I can breathe, I can stretch, I can sit up.  Ahhhhhh, damn, it’s about time !!!

=====

Now to figure out what the hell is going on, and why I’m waking up.  My Mission Clock is operating, counting down:  2 days, 19 hours, 48 minutes to go…but the Date is Wrong…I shouldn’t arrive at Station Delta-One for another seven months.  Then I look at the Destination Indicator: “Baker-Nine-A”…what the hell is that ?

So, I continue straightening myself out from cryo as I quickly try to sort out what’s happening.  One of the flashing red lights on the Communication Panel indicates an incoming message, I push the lit button: 

“Recorded Transmission from Barrow Control Operator 32667 to Calgary-One-Four-Zero-Zero…Message 2248.26.11125 follows:  Calgary-One-Four-Zero-Zero, Barrow Control Mission Monitoring has detected a malfunction in your navigational systems.  A set of incorrect destination coordinates was detected during routine monitoring, and no Pilot Course Alteration Code had been entered.  Your ship is substantially off your planned course.  A Control-Initiated Re-Set of your original Destination Coordinates was attempted, without success.  Fuel Remaining Indication now shows an inability to reach your original destination from your current position.  You have been awakened in order to manually re-set destination coordinates for near-by Station Baker-Nine-A at 211.48.321.293.  Providing that you have no additional malfunctions, you will reach B9A within the new time shown on your Mission Clock.  B9A has mission equipment to re-supply you with fuel, has a compatible Docking Station on its Orbiter, and personnel to assist.  Contact B9A on frequency 236.998.  Use Assistance Cost Code: C1400-2336A.  Control Operator 32667 out.”

Shit.  B9A isn’t famous enough that I have ever heard of it, which means there is a high probability that it sucks.  Well, let’s look it up and see what info we can find.  Library Search: …nothing, hmmm…not a positive indicator.  Company Site Search: 

Colony Outpost Baker-Nine-A, a titanium mining, farming and residential colony.  Earth-like atmosphere and gravity, generally warm, but with a slightly elliptical orbit that makes for a brief, cold winter.  Population when initiated: 42.  Current Population:  27.  Time since initial population:  17.4 years.  Ground Station, residences, two mine sites, metals processing facility, farming equipment, Orbiting Lab-Station and Lander. 

Well, they have an Orbiter I can dock with, and a Lander.  They have fuel-making equipment…let’s hope that means operational fuel-making equipment…

“Recorded Message Start:  Barrow Control Operator 32667, this is Calgary-One-Four-Zero-Zero, acknowledging Barrow Control Message 2248.26.11125.  Other than NAV Status, all system lights are ‘Green’, now setting course for Baker-Nine-A as instructed.  Calgary-One-Four-Zero-Zero out,” I ended, hitting Message Send.

=====

Clearing my throat, I say in my most authoritative, spaceship-captain voice:  “Station Baker-Nine-A…Station Baker-Nine-A…this is Alberta Class Calgary One-Four-Zero-Zero…Do you read?, Over…Station Baker-Nine-A this is Captain T. J. Clark, Commanding… Do you read? Over.”  “Ah…Calgary-fourteen-hundred, yeah!...we read you,” a voice came back, sounding somewhat excited, and in a not-so-professional accent, “Yeah, this is Jack…ah, well, John…John Harris…Equipment Maintenance Lead, Colony Baker-Nine-A”, the voice replied, “Fourteen-hundred, we have a message from ‘Barrow’ about your situation…You are cleared to Dock on Orbiter Port-2…How are things out there ?, Over.”

“Well, my situation is ‘Non-Emergency’, but I need fuel and if possible some repairs to NAV equipment…are you equipped to provide?” I asked.  “Well, likely yes…we have a few issues that, ah, well, I’ll explain when you get here…but, come on, we’ll take a look at it, see what we can do,” again, not sounding like an expert…I’m just brimming over with confidence.

“Affirmative Baker-Nine-A…I have your coordinates entered and will arrive in about sixty hours.  Is your Orbiter manned continuously?” I ask, as it is, well, kind of important.  “Ah…well, that’s one of the issues I wanted to explain when you get here…we have a little ‘Lander Issue’ at the moment,” the voice said, hesitantly.  “Lander Issue?” I asked.  “Well,” he started, “you see, a few months ago, I came up on a regular rotation.  We keep the Orbiter manned some of the time, use it as a hospital if needed, communicate from here, you know, whatever.  Well, our lander can operate manned or un-manned.  So, I sent it back to the surface to load more fuel…see, we generate fuel down at the surface, and resupply the Orbiter…well, I was expecting it to return unmanned, in a few days, then I’d off-load the fuel, and ride it back down.”

“So…I’m guessing…the Lander didn’t come back up?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear why.  “Ah…well, yeah, you see…it developed a fuel leak while loading on the surface,” Jack explained, “there was no fire, thank goodness, but since then…well…I’ve been sitting up here…waiting…wanting, kind of bad, to get back down”.  “Jack, you said ‘a few months ago’…exactly how long have you been stuck up there?”, again wincing as I asked.  “Well, a little more than three…yeah, three months,” came a weak, kind of depressed reply.”  “But,” Jack said, with an increased enthusiasm, “I looked up your ship, and its capabilities…and I think I got a fix!”

“What sort of fix,” I asked.  “Well,” Jack could hardly contain himself, “first, you got any spare fuel line fittings and such?”  “Well, sure,” I said, “I have some fittings, and also some adapters, a full Kit, for different line sizes”.  “That’s great!” Jack said, sounding a bit out of breath, “First, you dock up here at the Orbiter.  Then, you and I ride your ship down to the surface, and use your parts to fix the Lander.”  “But if I take my ship to the surface, it will exhaust my fuel load just taking off and reaching orbit again,” I said, wondering how well he had figured any of this out. 

“Yeah, yeah,” even more breathless, “but after we fix the Lander, we fill up your ship, down on the surface.  Then we fill the Lander and fly it up to the Orbiter to off-load the fuel.  Now, the Lander isn’t that big, so it will take several trips to up-load as much fuel as you will eventually need, but we can do it!”  “Ah, then after several Lander Flights, I take off from the surface, and re-Dock with the Orbiter, fuel-up, and I’m on my way,” I concluded.  “Yep!” Jack said, “We hand all the costs to ‘Alpha’, then you and I each get what we really want!”

“And…what is it Jack really wants?” I asked, starting to get the picture.  “Oh bubba,” barely containing himself, “as I said, I only intended to be up here a few days…three and a half months is a damn long time to be away from…well Captain…you know…a woman.”  Geez, I’m thinking, how am I gonna’ write this in my log?, ‘Received Fuel, Repaired Nav Equipment, got Mechanic-Lead Harris laid.’  Before I risk Control Alpha denying the assist costs, and reprimanding me, I better think about that log entry…

=====

“Oh my goodness, it’s good to see you!!” Jack said with obvious joy, “Come on in Captain… Port 2 is up front there, I got the Guidance Lights on for you!”  “Roger the Lights, I see them, flashing yellow, right?” I ask.  “Roger the yellow…Align your ship so your nose is in the direction of the Green Nav Light, Confirm?” Jack advised.  “Roger the green…rotating around…Final Approach on Radar-Auto,” I answered.  After a minute or so, I hear the clunk and latch that lets me know I’ve docked properly.  “All Lights are Green,” Jack reports, “Service Connections good, Docking Seal is good…pressurizing docking chamber… Captain, Welcome aboard!”

“Thank you, Jack, good to meet you and I appreciate the hospitality,” I greeted Jack over the com, “…would you like to come aboard and see Calgary?”  “Love to!” Jack replied, almost shouting.  Shaking Jack’s hand, I showed him the small Crew Compartment of the Calgary.   “Alberta Class ships have a small crew area,” I explained, “usually, they are used for shorter flights, where the crews are not in Cryo.  For those missions, they remove the two Cryo beds, making the compartment much less cramped for the crew.  For longer, cryo-trips, having less space doesn’t matter.” 

“So, how come you’re alone on this flight?” Jack asked.  “Well, I signed up for duty at Station Delta-One.  That’s where I was headed,” I replied.  “Wow…I’ve looked that station up, pretty cool!  Big, new, and in a growing sector, I’d love to man a station like that!” Jack said, eyes wide open.  “So, part of my mission,” I continued, “is to travel to Delta-One, and part is to transport Calgary there.  They will strip out the cryo-beds, and fit her for transferring raw mining materials from some of Delta-One’s remote mining sites back to Delta-One for further refining.  Then, bigger ships will make the usual run back and forth to Earth, ferrying materials, new personnel, machinery and the like.  Calgary will stay in Delta-One’s sector permanently, handling the bulk of its shorter-run traffic.”

“Yeah,” Jack said, “We’ve been hearing about it…in two or three years, Delta-One’s activity is supposed to be at full speed, and when they are, other Transport Missions will be added.  They will rework one of the flight routes into a loop that will include us here.  Instead of getting a re-supply vessel every second or third year, we will be on an annual, or maybe even a nine-month rotation!”  I’m thinking, gee, stuck out here at this station, with a re-supply ship only stopping by every 24 to 36 months…I was right, this place does suck!  “Well,” I replied, “that definitely sounds like an improvement!  You want to make preparations to go down to the surface?”

“Well,” Jack explained, “…it’s dark down there at the moment.  Now, I know your ship has all the radar and IFR equipment that you need for night-time landings, but down at the Station…well…we basically operate in daytime…landings, traveling to the mine sites, etc.  So, we’ll rest a couple hours up here, and start our flight prep about a half-hour before dawn at the Station.”  “Ok, you’re the host,” I said, grinning, “and if you can stand it for a couple more hours, I certainly can”.  “Cool,” Jack answered, “c’mon aboard Orbiter Baker-Nine-A, and I’ll show you around.”

=====

As the terminator crept toward us, just along the edge of the planet below, it made a beautiful, thin, bright crescent.  We spun-up Guidance, and started the Un-Dock Sequence.  In a couple of minutes, we were away.  “Beautiful,” I said.  “I see clouds out on the horizon.”  “Well,” Jack explained, “it’s similar to Earth in some ways, but one thing is different, we don’t have the oceans, the big areas of water that Earth does.  We think that’s the reason that we don’t really have storms.  Our weather is pretty similar day to day.”

“Do you have water?  Rain, streams and the like?” I asked.  “We do, it rains, and in the short winter, it snows quite a bit.  There are streams and some rivers, but instead of an ocean, well, there is a huge flood plain,” Jack explained, “you see, at the end of winter, with a bunch of snow in the hills, the flood plain will be dry.  As we warm up, the snow melts pretty rapidly.  It takes the water a while to run down through the streams, and it catches in a bunch of ponds and pools along the way, then floods out onto the plain.  By the end of summer, it has dried up again, leaving a huge area of muddy plain.”

“Our Mine Sites and the Station are at the edge of the hills.  We can capture enough water as it runs by during Spring and Summer, to hold us in Winter,” Jack continued, “we don’t go out onto the Flood Plain.  It’s either flooded or a big patch of mud, and we haven’t detected anything out there worth the risk of venturing out onto it.  We keep to the area between the mountains and the plain, where it rains nicely, and really greens-up…pretty tropical and lush…pretty nice really…if we could enjoy it...”  Jacks voice trailed off pretty abruptly, leading me to feel that there was something significant that he wasn’t saying.

“But anyway…” Jack said, making a pretty tight corner on his subject-change, “today is the day I get back to the Station!...back to the only civilization I’ve got…back to the girls !!”  “Well, tell me a little about the people here,” I asked, “why was your original count 42, but you now only have 27 people?  You’ve mentioned women, I assume you had a mixed group, with the intent to have families, raise kids?”  Suddenly Jack seemed quite a bit less talkative, but as we started our approach to the station, he was able to comfortably avoid further comment as we made landing preparations.  “Welcome to Station Baker-Nine-A…,” Jack invited, “Station Manager Williams will meet us, and the others have prep’d for your arrival.”

=====

“Good morning Captain Clark, welcome to B9A, I’m Station Manager, Jim Williams,” the aging Station Manager greeted me.  “Thank you, sir, please call me Tom,” I replied, “how are things going for you out here?”  “Well,” his reply seemed a bit ‘canned’, “not so eventful, just keeping to our mining business, farming a little on the side.”  “The planet sure is green.  We had a nice view coming down.  Beautiful.” I said.  “Yes, it’s generally quiet here, many on the crew would tell you a bit too quiet,” he chuckled, “but the climate is not harsh, the mining is pretty easy, and we manage to keep ourselves entertained,” chuckling again, smiling, “well, we try anyway.”

“Jack has told us of your fuel need and his plan to accommodate you.  So, it looks like you will be with us for a couple of months anyway,” Williams said, “you are of course welcome.  We have plenty of space and the ladies have prepared quarters for you.”  “Thank you sir, I…”, Williams interrupted me, “Jim!,” he said, “please call me ‘Jim’, and if you don’t mind, the crew will call you ‘Tom’, I feel that informality helps the atmosphere in a remote spot like this.”  “’Tom’ is fine with me, Jim,” I replied, “I appreciate the warm welcome.”

“If you don’t mind Tom, since Jack has been off-station for so long on the Orbiter, I’ve had some of the crew on double-duty for a while, making up for his absence…would you mind if I assigned you a few duties tow that you’re here?...it would allow me to relieve the guys, and let Jack remain focused on your fuel production.”  “Sure, that’s great,” I replied, “anything I can help with would be fine.”  “Excellent, thank you,” Jim said, “I’ll show you around the station during the early part of the day, then you can get some sleep in the afternoon, and I’ll have you on Watch Duty during the evening.  The other guys can get a bit of sleep, now that they have some relief.”  “Watch Duty?” I asked, “watching for what?”  “Well, we’ll talk about that as I show you around.  Let’s get your gear stored, your ship secured, and then we’ll take a walk,” Jim said, clearly intending to end the current conversation.

=====

After touring around the compound, Jim and I sat down where we could talk privately.  “Jim,” I started cautiously, “tell me a little about the station…I mean, you have so few people…27, right ?…after starting off 17 years ago with 42?”  “Well, our luck here on B9A hasn’t been good.  We’ve had some ‘issues’… that have resulted in our lower headcount.” Jim said, with a bit of resignation in his voice.  “What kind of issues?” I asked, wanting answers, but trying not to let my impatience show.  “Well, an assortment actually… several things,” he started again, now sounding a bit more willing to discuss it, “on our voyage here, we lost one of our One-Ways…and then after we landed, there was an accident.”

 “You see,” Jim continued, “we are a mixed group.  There were originally 13 men and 9 women, ranging in age from 25 to 30…the core of the team.  Then there were the 8 girls and 4 boys, all about the age of 15.  The company sponsors the young ones to get experience at Station Operations, but they were also to spend considerable time on specialized training, to become the company’s next generation of Station Managers, Pilots, Metallurgists, Engineers and the like.  And of course, there were 4 men and 4 women aged ’55-plus’…the ‘One-Ways’, like me.”

 “But, ‘One-Ways’?”, I asked, with an eyebrow raised.  “Well, yes,” Jim explained, “at the time, and still I suppose, the company recruited older specialists to come out and help start a new colony.  It’s done in particularly remote locations, where ferrying folks back and forth, station-to-Earth, is just impractical.  So we ‘one-ways’ come out to make our lives here, and plan to stay out here, well, you know, it’s a ‘one-way trip’.  As you discussed with Jack, in a few more years, we may get an annual instead of every-second-or-third-year visit by re-supply ships… but even then, there won’t be a lot of berths for 75 to 80-year-olds wanting to head back to Earth.”

 “One of you died on the flight?” I asked.  “William Jennings, aged 61.” Jim replied, “He had a cardiac arrest, during an argument that had taken place, about a week prior to our first making orbit here.  It wasn’t a big argument, just some squabbling among a crew that had been cooped up too long.  But several blamed the stress of the incident for the heart attack, and blamed the other participants.  These things happen, but then, because of our nearness to the planet, we elected to keep his body aboard until we achieved orbit, then he was jettisoned.  It just ended a long voyage on a sour note, and made for a bad start for the new station.  It also started people to grumbling, saying ‘the company should have checked more carefully, and not sent someone with a heart condition out here’, that sort of thing.”

 “And then…’the accident’…?” I asked.  “Yes, well, it was awful,” Jim’s tone drifted down, “we were just starting our farming operations, just plowing some difficult sections for the first time.  Mary Anderson, one of our one-ways, aged 62, came up missing at bed time.  It seems that the plowing crews thought she had come back from the fields at lunch-time, but the station crew hadn’t seen her.  We searched around during darkness, but we didn’t find her until we resumed searching at dawn.  It was really, really gruesome.  Apparently, the plows…” Jim trailed off.

 “Geez,” I sighed, “that’s awful.”  “Well, worse,” Jim continued, “she was a wonderful person.  Two or three of the young ones, you know, since they are out here without parents, had looked to her as kind of adopted grandmother.  They were very upset of course, and there was considerable friction among the group, as the plow operators were accused of carelessness, etc.  It was a big distraction for the group, having just arrived from such a long journey, losing Jennings, and still being quite unaccustomed to their new home.”

“Well” I said, in a consoling tone, “that sounds awful.  I’m sure they were difficult situations to handle, at such a remote station.”  “Well,” Jim replied, finally seeming more open, “it was.  I mean, as a Station Manager, we are trained to handle difficult situations, even minor crimes.  But it’s difficult sometimes, in the informal context of a remote station, or aboard ship.  The group takes on more of the aspects of ‘family’, and so anyone lost...well, it’s hard to handle on an impersonal, professional basis.”  “So,” I continued cautiously, “that’s 2, but the difference between mission-start to now is 15 fewer people…what happened…to the rest?” 

“Well, Tom,” Jim said, actually sounding now like he was glad to have some support, “since you will be with us, and since you are not only assisting with chores while you are here, but are also a trained Ship’s Captain for the company…well, I can let you read through our Station Records, take a look at the investigative files, such as they are.  Maybe there are a few questions that fresh eyes might help resolve…if you would like to take that on.”  “Sure,” I replied, having no idea what I was getting into, “anything I can do to help.”

“Also, Jim,” I started again cautiously, “I could see your fenced-in compound from the air, and I see from the ground that your fence surrounds the whole camp, all trucks and buildings are inside, instead of, well, just a pen to contain your goats.  Why is that?  What are you keeping ‘out’ ?”  “Hmmm…,” Jim looked down at the table, “that’s been a difficult issue.  And, it’s part of what you can look at in the reports.  You see, we had Pre-Arrival Probes and some robotic, Pre-Arrival Exploration, including significant scanning from orbit.  None indicated any significant animal life on the surface.”

“But,” Jim continued, “that scanning and exploring activity is really mostly intended to show metals possibilities,  gather terrain information, suggest mine and station locations, like that…they really aren’t that concerned with animal life.  Really, it would have to be almost as big as an elephant for them to see it…they were not expecting to find any…so they didn’t.  However, as soon as we awakened our cryo-goats, and started them grazing near the new station, they started to disappear.  You can see there are scrubby trees between the station and the open farm fields.  At first we didn’t know if something was taking them, or if they were wandering off.”

“At first, you say…” I said, leading him to continue, “…then what happened ?”  “Well,” he said, “on searching the brushy areas, we started to find ‘remains’.  By that time, we had built a small fence, to contain the goats.  When they continued to disappear, we figured they were not wandering off.  Finding the remains proved it.  So then we built the more substantial security fence around the compound, installed all the external lighting we had, and moved all our equipment, and all our goats, inside the perimeter.  The goats didn’t disappear anymore, and the people could feel safe working around the station, even after dark.”

“But,” I started, again with caution, “I’m not sensing that the fence totally solved your problem.”  “That is a really difficult point, and one that has caused us great concern and tension here at the station,” Jim replied, with considerable resignation in his voice, “You see, on three different occasions, there were ‘Mysterious Disappearances’ of Station personnel.”  Jim now looked most distressed, looked down at the table full time, and even rubbed his eyes as he spoke.  “I feel…I mean,” Jim struggled for words, “That’s where I feel that I let down the people here…I mean as Manager, it was my responsibility…I should have figured it out.”

“Figured what out?” I asked, now treading quite lightly.  “Well,” Jim answered, getting back to facts, and sounding more confident, “back at the beginning, before we put security measures in place, we would travel to and from the Station and Mine Sites casually, at any time of day or night.  Then one night, one of the guys at the mine, needing a tool or something from the Station, decided to walk.  The weather was pleasant, light from the moons was enough, so he started out.  Well, he never arrived at the station.  We found no trace, no remains, no tracks.  Nothing.”

“Nothing,” I asked, “and you don’t think he wandered off ?”  “Well, we certainly had to consider that, but we found no signs, and never saw him again.  Made everyone very nervous.  We hadn’t thought that whatever was taking our goats, generally during the daytime, would be likely to take a human, surely not a fully grown man…I mean he was a Miner, he was no wimp.  Well, clearly, our precautions had not been enough.  We changed our protocols so that nobody walked outside the fences, at all, after dark.  We put up security cameras outside the Mine Doors, and outside the Station.  We ordered a bunch of additional outdoor lighting and installed it all.  We kept an eye out all the time, but it wasn’t enough.”

“You mean…it happened again,” I said, trying not to let my disapproval be heard in my voice.   Both hands rubbing his face, “Yes…yes…,” this was clearly painful for him, “…it did.  It was some time later, more than a year, when a man at the mine site went out of the mine after dark, to the vehicles, to get a tool or something.  Only he never came back into the mine.  Again, no signs, no remains, no traces.  Nothing.  I felt awful, and people were angry.  We should have built more fences, put more procedures in place.  So then we did, we built a security fence around each of the mine sites, to match the Station, we added more cameras, lit the place up like daylight, so people could see it was safe outside, before exiting the buildings.  Nobody was to walk alone anywhere after dark.  We added double gates for vehicles and insisted that everybody be buttoned-up and eyes open any time we were entering or leaving.  All farming was daylight-only and we changed mining activity so we did 24-hour shifts, sleeping at the mine site, with Crew Changes only during daylight.”

“And those changes proved sufficient?” I asked, hearing in his voice a more confident tone.  “Well, yes, it did,” Jim said…but hesitated a bit.  “For almost four years, we had no further incidents.  We farmed, we mined, no security problems.  We cut hay and brought it into the Station Compound for the goats, enlarged the fence a little to give us more room to move around.  It was a pain in several respects, but we did it, and there were no further disappearances of goats, or station personnel.”

“But doing the math,” I said, trying not to show impatience, “we are still a long way from accounting for the full difference between 42 and 27 people.”  “Well,” Jim answered, “you’re right.  But really, the difference is greater than that.  You see, by a point in time about seven years after our arrival, our families had had three children, so our population was up to forty-five.”  “Oh no,” I said, sitting straight up, “you don’t mean…the children?”  “No, no,” Jim said quickly, “…no, it wasn’t that…well, not exactly.  You see, there was one further incident. “

“One night,” Jim continued, “two of our women drove to the mine site to transport one of the teen-aged boys back to the Station.  The boy was feeling sick, and they didn’t want for him to wait at the mine until shift change, since our doctor was back at the station.  Apparently, along the way…it was raining pretty hard, and they drove off of the roadway.  Their vehicle overturned.  There was no radio contact from them.  They must have exited the vehicle…it looked as if the doors were damaged in the crash…apparently, they stated to walk…  This time, we found tracks, since it was muddy, leaving the site of the vehicle…”

“I’m not liking where I think this is going,” I said.  “No, it too, was awful.” Jim continued, painfully, “We could see three sets of tracks walking…the wind had blown a bit, making tracking difficult, and at times they were on the road way, not leaving tracks…but later, we saw tracks leaving the roadway…likely running…and we could only count two sets.  A bit further…we saw only one set, and then those ended.  They were all taken.”

Jim took a moment to collect himself, and then wrapped up, “That was about three months before one of our freighter-resupply ships was due.  When the ship arrived, two of our women, the three babies, one husband and two of the young boys got on that ‘bus’ and got the hell out of here.  Later, we had a suicide…one of the young girls.  Add in one more heart attack plus two more, well-understood, non-mysterious deaths due to work accidents, and you have the full accounting.”

=====

Over the next couple of weeks, I spent a lot of time going over Station Records.  Of course, there were reports of the various accidents, health incidents and disappearances.  But also, there were reports on the goat disappearances, including times of day, how near personnel were at the time, etc.  The reports were well detailed, but then again, this is a very remote outpost, there is plenty of time for reports, and of course the station was most interested in preventing any further incidents.  What I found lacking however, were effective conclusions.

It seemed really unusual to me that no conclusions were ever made about what had taken the missing station personnel, or the goats, or if it was even the same ‘thing’ that had taken both.  The personnel seemed all to have been taken in darkness, but the goats came up missing after daylight grazing.  Unfortunately, the security cameras had been installed outside the mine only after the first disappearance, so no visual records were available for that incident.  The other personnel were all well away from the station or mine when taken, so no help there either.  Also with the goats, cameras were installed just after the change was made to keep them fenced in, so there were no videos of disappearances, of humans or goats.  Even with people “On Watch” regularly…no good evidence had been caught on camera.

The main thing on Jim’s mind at the time, was to make certain additional incidents were prevented.  He, perhaps wisely, didn’t risk additional personnel by going out “hunting” or further searching for the “it”, whatever ”it” was.  He focused on prevention, on procedures, on safe guards, not really on investigation, and his changes had indeed been effective.  At the time, I’m sure that seemed like the prudent move, but now I’m wondering, since the danger still exists out there, maybe it might be time for further study.  Since I’m a trained Company Officer, and less emotionally involved in the situation, I will propose to Jim that further investigation be my main focus until I depart.

=====

“Jim,” I started cautiously, “I’ve been working on some ideas with Jack.”  Jim heard me, but did not answer, he just motioned with his head that we should take a walk.  “After considerable reading…of the reports of the various incidents…I think we should do some further investigating,” I said, again cautiously.  “What do you have in mind?,” Jim asked, a bit warily.  “Well, basically, an experiment,” I replied, “you see, Jack thinks he can build a small cage, using some clear, high-strength plasti-glass he’s got.”  “A cage,” Jim‘s eyebrows raised.  “Yes…for a goat,” I said, “I want to place a goat in the cage, and place the cage outside the fences, during daylight, near the edge of the scrub trees.  Jack will rig some sensors a few meters away from it, all around, so we get an early indication if something is approaching.  We’ll have cameras on it from all angles, each on full-time, not the usual one-frame-per-second security footage.”

“Well… as long as we do it safely…sticking very close to our safety protocols…I don’t object.” Jim said, “We always focused on prevention.  I never wanted to risk anybody…”  “I know that,” I told him, “and that was wise…at the time…but I’m thinking, that for the future of the station, it’s important to try…as long as we do it without endangering personnel…try to find out definitively, what’s going on.  I don’t know if you are aware, but in recent years, part of the training that is available for Captain Certification, is Earth Animal Behavior Studies.”  “Animals?” Jim asked, “but we have our ‘pre-scans’…they didn’t detect large animals.”  “Well, those were ‘pre-scans’.  The resolution wasn’t all that high, and since no issues had been reported up to that time, those guys focused more on mineral detection, as you explained earlier.”

“But you said ‘Earth Animal Behavior’…why Earth Animals?” Jim wondered.  “Well, of course, we aren’t going to encounter any Tigers out here,” I smiled, hoping I was correct, “but the professor who designed those courses felt that there is a wide enough variety of behaviors, among current, and even more so, among past Earth animals, that we might see parallels when encountering new species on new planets, and that those parallels might lead us to a better understanding, and in this case, coexistence, with those new animals.”  “And you took some of these courses?” Jim asked.  “Several,” I answered, “I could have studied Psychology…but I’m not much of a people person,” I joked, trying, cautiously, to lighten the mood a bit.

“I also have something with me, Jim…on my ship,” I explained, “it’s quite old…an antique for sure, but it’s been tested…still perfectly functional.  You see, several generations ago, back on Earth, some members of my family were hunters.”  “Hunters ?!” Jim asked, surprised.  “Yes, just recreationally of course, way back, before the China-plagues, when animals were plentiful, when people had free time, and liked to spend it in the ‘great outdoors’ as they called it,” I said, “…and handed down through about ten or eleven generations, I have …a rifle.”

“What?” Jim asked, “are you kidding ?!”  “It’s not one of the oldest kind, that spit fire and sparks everywhere.  It was considered ‘quite modern’ at the time…I mean, quite modern for 280 years ago.  It’s a bolt action rifle, with a 6.2mm diameter ‘bullet’…but way back then, they were still using inches, so they called it by the fractional dimension, a ‘.243’,” I said.  “My idea,” I continued, “…is to detect the approach of something stalking the goat, sight it, and kill it…giving us the opportunity to study it in detail.”  “Do you think we should do that?” Jim asked, “…with all the focus we have on non-interference with alien eco-systems.”  “Well, Jim, in my book,” I said firmly, “if it’s taking our people, it’s not an eco-system, it’s a hazard to safety.  If we have to make some minimal impact to sort that out, I say we do it.”

=====

“Jim,” I said, standing straight, like a good ship Captain should, “Jack is a good man, knows his business.  He and I have designed a system, and he’s been working over-time to gather and build the hardware we need.  Over the last couple of days, we’ve set it all up, and with your permission, we are prepared to ‘go-live’ tomorrow morning.”  “Well,” Jim replied, hesitantly, “Let’s sit down and go over everything, backwards and forwards, and if Safety is maintained, I’ll give the ‘go-ahead’.”

“Great,” Jack said, “Well, first, we got our ‘Goat Cage’…you know the stuff I made it with, same stuff we use as personnel shielding on the Mine Machinery…pretty tough stuff.”  “Jack,” Jim interrupted, “all due respect to the Goat, but you understand that when I mean ‘safety’, I’m mostly focused on ‘personnel safety’.”  “Oh, sure Chief,” Jack tried his best to sound polished and prepared, “We’re with ‘ya on that… sure…I’m just describing the equipment sir…I know where our priorities are.”  “Sorry,’ Jim said, “go ahead then, continue…”

“Well,” Jack started again, having his typical hard time containing his enthusiasm, “we prep’d a ‘blind’, a hiding place, for Tom…inside the fence, out in that Northwest corner, closest to the ‘test site’…he can lay in there, on his belly, holding that rifle, in full safety.  Then, we got our cage, and we’ll tie it down… don’t want it moving around.  Tom showed me video of a Bear, back on Earth, years ago, and man, they really push and pull on things when they want in, strong as hell, so we built our Goat Cage pretty stout, and will tie it down good…’Controlling Variables’…that’s what Tom said anyway.”

“Ok, what else,” Jim asked.  “Well,” Jack was loving this, “we got some fence sections, and put ‘em up around the cage, so that if the animal, or whatever the hell it is, wants to get close to the ‘target’…you know, the goat…well, it’s got to go through the kinda’ narrow path we left for it.”  “I think I’m following…you mean a ‘Kill Zone’”?,” Jim said.  “Exactly!” Jack replied, “that’s it…we get him into a narrow area, and he’s easier for Tom to hit.  Then we rigged up another section of fence, and suspended it above the entrance of the Kill Zone, and put a trip wire in there, so the section will slam down once the animal is inside, and trap it.”

“You see,” I explained, “we have a lot of ‘Variables’…I mean we have never seen one of these things… don’t know how big or how strong they are… don’t know if they wander in like a Bear, or rush in like a Cheetah.”  “A what?,” Jim asked.  “Well, big cat…a very fast one,” I said, “So, by steering it into a narrow path, and then attempting to trap it, we’re trying to improve our odds as much as we can.”

“Yeah”, Jack jumped in again, “then…I got some motion sensors… from the mine machinery… so they ain’t perfect, but should give us some indication of movement in the brush, before the animal gets to the cage… so Tom is ready.  Tom will be in the ‘blind’, with me back in the Control Room, watching our cameras, checking our sensors, and talking to Tom all the way, so he knows what’s happening, and where.”  “How many?”, Jim asked, “Motion Sensors, I mean.”  “Six,” Jack said, “One will be near the cage path entrance, so we know the animal is moving in, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six are in a semi-circle, back in the brush a bit, so we can figger’ out what direction it’s comin’ from.”

“Well,” Jim asked, “if you plan to trap it, with the falling gate…is it still necessary to shoot, and kill it?”  “Well sir,” I explained, “this situation will be ‘all about the variables’.  Not knowing what we are up against, how strong it is, how fast it will move… well, how violently it will react to being trapped… we feel that we should trap it and kill it as quickly as we can, before it tears up our contraption and gets away.  We are working, in as many directions as possible, to improve our chances of accomplishing our objective.”

“When will you start”, Jim asked.  “Well sir,” I continued, trying to counter Jack’s enthusiasm with some cool professionalism, “If you give us the go-ahead, and restrict activities of Station Personnel in the area, we’ll start tomorrow, just before sun-up, and continue the ‘hunt’ until it’s time for the mid-day Mine Transfer.”  “Ok gentlemen, make it so,” Jim replied, also with a highly professional tone, “you are ‘go’ for tomorrow.”  “But,” he inserted sternly, “one hic-up, one thing happens outside your prepared plan, and you scrub immediately…got it?”  “Yes sir,” we said.

=====

The two moons had a 22-day cycle.  At the time of our first attempt, both were up and it was fairly easy to see in the pre-dawn hours.  I crept as quietly as possible to my blind and did a Comm-check with Jack.  “Got you 5-by-5 Tom”, Jack said in a prearranged quiet tone, to minimize noise that might escape my headphones.  “Mine-bot 4 has the Cage, Goat is aboard…in position by Gate 1A…ready on your command.” Jack said, following his checklist.  “Proceed to 1B,” I said, instructing Jack to have the Mine-bot carry the Goat through the inner gate, and close it behind.  “Inside…1A closed…ready on 1B,” Jack reported.

From my vantage point, I could see the cage’s eventual location, and our kill-zone, but didn’t have a clear view of the exit gate.  Jim was monitoring, and safety was key, so Jack and I kept up the formality of our step-by-step command-and-confirm communications.  I had pressed Jack to keep steady, and maintain as professional a tone as possible, to help convince Jim we were doing a solid job.  Jack was doing great.  “Proceed to open 1B,” I said.  “Roger 1B,” Jack replied, and I heard the quite whir of the gate motor and a squeak or two as the gate opened.  “Go for travel” I said.  “Roger travel,” Jack replied, as I heard the Mine-bot creep forward, just outside the gate, and then stop.  “Closing 1B…checking security,” Jack said, as his partners checked cameras and motion sensors in between the two gates to make certain nothing had crept between them while open.  “Interlock secure,” Jack reported, “Continuing travel to cage site.” “Roger travel” I said.

Now, off to my right, I could see the Mine-bot, clear of the outer gate and moving quietly, mechanically, carrying a goat that didn’t look too pleased about being nominated as ‘bait’.  “Nearing cage site,” Jack reported, ”…nearing, nearing…setting down…tugging to check tie-downs…Cage down and secured,” Jack announced.  The Mine-bot had cameras that Jack had installed.  It disengaged, and moved some distance back from the cage, but stayed outside the gates, to give us one more set of eyes… Jack’s idea, in case we wanted to send it out, searching through the bushes.  “Now…we wait,” I said.  “Roger that,” Jack replied, “all cameras on…all monitors good…no motion on sensors…goat still kickin’.”  Professional, yes, but after all, Jack was still Jack.

=====

Now, to wait.  I’m not much on waiting, would have made a lousy hunter I suppose.  I had my rifle.  Back in the day, this type weapon was only made with a 5-shot magazine, so even fully loaded, I didn’t have many shots available before needing to reload.  Just as well, as I thought of the high cost of these special rounds, handmade for a 280 year old weapon, 5 shots would cost me more than a month’s pay !  So, I guess I shouldn’t just blast away, better pick my targets carefully.  In addition, this was a rifle called a “bolt-action”, you have to manually crank the “bolt”, pulling back the spent cartridge and pushing forward the next round.  This rifle is very well maintained, and even so it seems quite laborious to load a round.  No wonder weapon technology kept on developing…

“Tom?” Jack asked softly.  “Yep,” I answered.  “That rifle has a strap on it…” Jack asked.  “Yes, a leather sling, you could put over your shoulder, to carry it,” I replied.  “…and those initials on it?” he asked.  “R.E.L.” I answered, “…one of my ancestors, many years ago.”  The breeze was gentle, with an occasional slight gust stirring up a little dust.  The ground was pretty dry, having not rained for some time, so we hoped that tracks might be easy to spot afterwards.  The goat just stood there, quietly munching on some hay, wholly unaware that he was bait for a who-knows-what (and unfortunately for me, also a who-knows-when…).  The more I waited, the more I wondered what 21^st century hunters did when they had to pee.

Waiting, still waiting…well more than two hours since we delivered the “bait” to the site.  Still a light breeze, small puffs of dust now and then.  “Tom !”, Jack broke protocol with an excited voice, “we got movement on Sensor 4!”  “Keep an eye on it…still moving?”, I asked.  Sensor 4 was on the opposite side of the cage from me, so I couldn’t see that area clearly.  “Well…no…it was just a short bit, just a little…”, Jack replied.  “Could it have been a branch, moving in the breeze””, I asked.  “Well…maybe…these scanners are made for watching ore on the conveyors, they’re not the best for this kind of set-up”, Jack answered cautiously. 

After a bit longer, with no more apparent movement, Jack spoke up again, “Tom…I was think’n… what if we send the Minebot out to the area in front of Sensor 4… scan the ground with the camera, see if we see any tracks?”  “Well”, I said, “we didn’t get much movement, and it’s been almost 4 hours now.  It would of course be safer than one of us poking around out there…do it… send it out there, let’s scan around a bit, then we recover the goat and try again tomorrow.”

=====

Jack drove the Minebot out there, scanned the ground, all around in front of Sensor 4, and panned the camera around, looking through the brush, seeing what he might see.  After the goat was recovered, I crept back from my position.  We reconvened back in the lunch room, yes, after a short pee break, and Jack showed the video from the Minebot.  “Look here,” Jack pointed to the screen, “I was thinking these scanners would be pretty reliable to about 10 meters out, but because they are for the mine machinery, they might not get out much more than that.  So,” Jack continued, “I videoed carefully, starting from just in front of Sensor 4, working my way outward.  Here, this patch of ground is just about 11 meters out, you can see something…just there.”

“Hmmm…,” I said, “something…but what?...tracks?...pretty hard to tell.”  “Yep,” Jack said, “if they are tracks, they ain’t too clear, but look further,” Jack pointed to the screen again, “this looks a bit like a ‘path’…see there ?”  “Yes,” I answered, “I couldn’t see that from where I was laying, but yes, it does look like a path, and look further down, that’s water, like a small pond.”  “Yes,” Jim said, “on our areal scan, you can see a little pond, just west of where your ‘bait station’ is.”  “Hmmm,” I said, “from the air, it doesn’t really look like a path, but when you peer through the brush at the ‘Minebot level’, about 0.6m above the ground, under the overhanging branches, it clearly looks like a ‘path’ through the underbrush.”  “Yes,” Jim asked, “but a path…for what ?”

=====

“Ok…Ready for Attempt 2…the goat is aboard the Minebot, ready to deploy,” Jack reported.  Since our “movement” had not come early during the previous attempt, we decided to have less of a “dawn launch” and would deploy the “bait-goat” closer to mid-day.  Jack proceeded to go through his double gates, deploy and secure the goat in front of the “kill zone” as before, with Jim monitoring, as before, and with Jack again coached to keep it all as professional as possible.

I lay on my belly as before, as concealed as possible, just inside the fence.  This time I held back on coffee and fluids, so I wouldn’t be distracted by “biological needs” the way I was earlier.  Well, the mid-day time adjustment turned out to be important.  After waiting barely a half-hour from Minebot recovery, with little breeze to give the sensors false readings of movement, Jack didn’t know it, but he was just a few minutes away from pooping his pants.

“Tom!” Jack shouted in a whisper, if that’s possible.  “Movement on 4 again!” …Jack tried to contain himself, ”…more this time, a solid signal!”  “Wait…now it’s 3!…now it’s 2!, shit !! …it’s 4 again…no, no, crap it’s on 2 and 4 at the same time!!, …whatever it is, we got two of em’…” Jack’s attempt at professionalism was a distant memory.  “Calm down Jack…” I tried to break in, “…take a breath, and tell me what they’re doing.”  “Well,” Jack said, “…shit…2 is holding still, 4 is moving around to 6…damn, he’s heading right around to the goat!” 

“F!”, I’m thinking, I can’t see Sensor 4, because it’s on the far side of the goat cage, and I don’t have much of a view of 2, because of a bush, but even still, I can’t see anything at all over there.  He said the object at 4 is moving toward Sensor 6, that should be clearly visible, but all I can see is a bit of dust.  Dust, but also…well, my eyes aren’t clear, the area near Sensor 6 is a bit, well, “blurry”.  “Jack,” I asked quickly, “you still got the ‘thing’ by Sensor 2 holding?”  “Yep, looks steady,” Jack answered, a bit more composed now, “but the one by 4 has slowly moved by 5, and is making a strong signal on 6 now.” 

“Jack,” I said, having a hard time breathing myself, “…if you get a strong signal from Sensor 1, that means it’s in the Kill Zone…I can’t see well…it’s a bit dusty…maybe dust in my eyes…but the area looks a bit ‘blurry’…”  “Blurry?” Jack asked.  “Just watch ‘1’…when it gets strong…say ‘Go’, and I’m gonna’ fire,” I mostly gasped.  “Steady…almost…” Jack sounded like a pro now, “…steady…Go!!”  In practice, back on Earth, the rifle made a huge noise, and punched me in the shoulder each time I fired at the target.  This time, I heard nothing, felt nothing, just watched wide-eyed as the area in front of Sensor 1 erupted in a thick cloud of dust.  I could hear something like…maybe an animal, struggling, thrashing violently around.  It must have hit the trip-wire, because our catch-gate came crashing down adding to the clamor.  “Tom,” Jim broke in, “Get back!...the sensors are going crazy, get back to the station now!”

As I made it back into the Station where Jack was set up, he and Jim were already playing video from the security cameras.  “Look at this Tom,” Jack said, putting up a still image, “as I brought up the video from the Minebot, before hitting ‘Play’, I was looking at the still-image.  I saw this…this just here…and I thought maybe it was a ‘smudge’, you know, something on the lens.”  “Well,” I said, “I can’t tell what it is…looks like it’s maybe a meter above the ground, judging by the height of the goat cage behind it.”  “Yeah,” Jim said, excitedly, “but watch this…”  As Jim hit “play”, the image and the “smudge” began to move.  “See there,” Jim pointed, “it stays around the same height for a few seconds…then you can’t see it anymore.” “And then,” Jim said, “you fired your rifle, and the whole area erupted in dust…we don’t see anything clearly after that.”

“Well,” I said, “we’ve got to get out there and see what we’ve got.”  “Bull shit!,” Jim said in his most authoritative tone, “…it’s late afternoon, it will be dark soon.  Nobody, I mean no body, is going outside the fence until well after dawn tomorrow.  Are we all clear on that !?”  Nobody needed to speak, we all answered with our eyes.

=====

Bob Jackson had the Watch beginning at midnight.  Jack had all the sensors and the Minebot camera still switched “on” and had set his equipment up to record, in case anything happened overnight.  About 1am, the sun was fully down, and the moons had set, making it fully dark outside, Jack’s radio crackled.  “Jack!” Bob yelled, “get in here, something just happened!”  Groggy from the quick wake-up, Jack called me and we headed to the Watch Room. 

“Look at the sensor data!” Bob said, “just a few minutes ago, I saw a strong signal on Sensor 1…the camera isn’t picking up anything…the light out there isn’t that great, just the lights on the Minebot…but look here…you see ‘quiet’, then all of a sudden Sensor 1 goes crazy, and a bunch of dust blows up…when the breeze causes the dust cloud to drift off to the right, again you see nothing…”  “Jack,” I asked, “how can we get motion on ‘1’ alone ?!?...we should see something going through ‘2’ or ‘6’ before it could get to ‘1’ ?!?”  “Yeah, I know,” Jack answered, “that was motion inside our drop-gate… now that I’m pretty sure I ain’t goin’ back to sleep again, I’ll check out all the sensors…I’ll stay here with Bob, you go back to bed and I’ll wake you at dawn.”

Sure enough, Jack called me and jolted me out of a dream, just before dawn.  Strange dream, some kind of animal…maybe something I’d seen in a movie.  I rushed down to Jack and he had us all set up to send the Minebot back outside the fence.  From the Minebot Cam, we could see images, in the Kill Zone, but it was difficult to tell what we were looking at.  We asked Jim for permission to ride out there in one of the vehicles, so we could look more closely at the area.  Jim said “yes,” but only if he could ride along.  “Jack stays on the sensor screens and the radio,” Jim said, “…we stay in the vehicle, doors locked, windows up, until Jack is positive there isn’t any movement.” 

We exited the gates, full protocols as before with the Minebot, and pulled up to a cage with a rather frazzled-looking goat in it…still alive, but looking damn ready to be through with this experiment.  On the ground in the Kill Zone was a wet-looking area, stained with a brown-looking fluid.  On the door of the goat cage, made of the plasti-glass, we saw more of the brown-ish, now dried fluid.  “Blood,” Jim said, “…or something like it.”  “Yeah, there’s also a crack, in the plasti-glass, in the bloody area,” I observed, “…like my bullet traveled through the animal, spraying blood on the plasti-glass as it exited, and then continuing until it struck and cracked the glass.”

“Jack, look carefully at your sensors,” I asked, “…if you can confirm you see no movement, I’d like to open my window and see if I can get a better look.”  “Roger that,” Jack answered, “…looking…good so far…yeah, I say ‘we’re clear’…no movement.”  Jim looked at me sternly, “lower the window, video the zone, then get that window back up.”  “Yes sir, roger that,” I answered as I started lowering the window, “blah…what is that ?”  “Smells like some sort of animal…” Jim answered, scooting up closer to the window.  “Yeah, and…like swamp water, kind of gross,” I said.  “Jack,” Jim said, “maneuver the Minebot around and recover the goat, we need to get back inside the fence.”

=====

Jim called the team into the Living Area, which doubled as a meeting room, “Folks, have a seat…quiet down…have a seat, we have a couple of things to talk about…”  “Alright,” Jim continued, “over the last 72 hours, Captain Clark, Jack Harris and I have been looking and relooking at our data, discussing our findings in detail.  The primary conclusion we have come to, is that we have two threats to our safety and security here on Baker-Nine-A, not one.”  “As I arrived here a few weeks ago, given that I didn’t have any duties, meaning I had plenty of free time, I asked Jim if I might help investigate past security incidents, by pouring over records of the various personnel disappearances, goat disappearances, and accidents that have occurred since the founding of the station,” I explained. 

“After some research, Captain Clark and I developed a plan and rigged up some cameras and equipment, so we could try first to see what might have been taking the goats,” Jack said.  “We tried goats first,” Jim added, “because of course we don’t want to put personnel at risk, any more than absolutely necessary.”  “We succeeded, we believe, in killing some sort of ‘creature’,” I went on, “but then, very strangely, the dead creature disappeared before we could examine it.”  “This was the first evidence,” Jim said to a hushed room, “…that ‘something else’ was out there.  We believe this ‘something else’ is in fact a flying creature, nocturnal, which swooped in during the dark of night, picked up and carried away the more terrestrial creature Capitan Clark had killed.”

“Our photos of the ‘bait area’ seemed to indicate a ‘path’, leading down, along a small stream, to one of the lakes, about 100m west of the area,” I said, “the path seemed to keep close to and a bit under the scrub brush in the area, which is why these paths were not noticed on earlier flights and aerial scans.”  “The Minebot followed the path, all the way to the lake, and noticed what looked like areas of ‘high traffic’, foot traffic, into and out of the lake,” Jack said.  “Into the lake?” one of the audience asked.

“Yes,” I went on, “you see this ‘smudge’ on this photo?  We believe it to be part of the creature, seen here just as it entered the ‘Kill Zone’, just before I fired.  Watching the way it moves…looking at the shape and position of it…we believe it is in fact the nose of the creature.  We think this creature is active by day, and then at night, it hides in the water, with just this black nose exposed.”  The audience stared at us, not knowing whether to believe us or laugh.

“Well,” Jim continued, “that isn’t the strangest thing.  Look at this photo.  Our team zoomed in, enhanced and studied it from all sorts of angles.  As best we can tell, what you are seeing here, or I should said ‘not seeing’, is the hair of the animal.  It looks as if it is ‘clear’, like fiber optic strands growing out of the creature’s skin.  It catches and reflects light so well, you just see this ‘blurry area’ on the video.”  I could see from the faces of the crowd that they were not interested in this discussion getting any weirder.

“Which brings us to the ‘other creature’, which we believe is the reason this ‘terrestrial creature’ hides in the water during the dark,” Jim told faces that were starting to look a bit antsy.  “This ‘second creature’ flies,” Jim said, as faces glanced about, “yes…we believe that this flying creature is active at night, and unfortunately, it seems to have been responsible for the personnel disappearances we have experienced near the mine site.  The audience was now clearly ready to shit its collective pants.

“We are speculating a bit,” Jim continued, “but we think we got lucky when we beefed-up our exterior lighting after the earlier disappearances.  We think perhaps the ‘second creature’ sees well in the darkness, but its eyes may not like the bright light.  We think that may explain why we have no disappearances from the well-let areas of the Mine Site or the compound here.”

“We plan of course to use the information Captain Clark has helped us uncover during his visit to further strengthen our security measures, and I feel confident we will avoid any future incidents,” Jim wrapped up, "unfortunately, now that fuel uplifts to the orbiter are complete, Captain Clark will have to continue on his mission.  I hope you will all join me in thanking Tom.  What he has helped uncover here will no doubt have a long lasting, positive impact on the future success of Baker-Nine-A”.

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- Mark W. Laughlin

14-August-2016

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin