Hathor on Mars

By Terry Plotkin

Hathor on Mars is a 69,000-word science fiction novel. The book opens with a crash landing on Mars that kills two of the three astronauts and condemns the third one to certain death once his oxygen supply is gone. The conflict surrounds a pyramid that has been found on Mars and a wealthy businessman who finances the trip. The United States Government, who wanted to keep the information of the pyramid secret, sabotaged the ship. The information that the pyramid holds and the scandal of the ship’s demise cause upheaval and eventually a paradigm shift on an already crisis-driven Earth. The novel moves between Earth and Mars, connects to ancient Egypt (Hathor is an Egyptian God), and to another star system that is connected to the pyramids. The characters are tested in extraordinary and desperate circumstances. It incorporates mysticism, political intrigue, social upheaval, and suspense.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Terry Plotkin
• Release date: Sep 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465913340

Terry Plotkin

Terry Plotkin is athletic director and coach at a charter school in New England who has taught physical education and coached team sports since 1996. He has been a practitioner of yoga and meditation for over thirty years. His articles have been published in the Institute for Consciousness Research Journal and The People’s Voice of Franklin County. He has raised two children to adulthood. He has written 3 books. For further reading, please see his blog about human liberation at www.freethehuman.com.

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Hathor on Mars

By Terry Plotkin

Copyright 2011 by Terry Plotkin

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Terry Plotkin

Smashwords Edition

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happens to them all.

The words of Solomon

Chapter 1

The planet formed from dust four and a half billion years ago. A number so staggering that it was nearly meaningless to those humans who stared at the red planet from Earth, and noticed that it was different than the other points of light in the sky. Humans named the planet Mars, and over the centuries they concocted fantastic beliefs about their neighbor. But advancing knowledge erased the myths. It was now accepted that Mars had nothing to do with Greek Gods, there were no sophisticated aqueducts with running water on the surface built by the intelligent inhabitants, or that warlike Martians planned to invade the Earth.

If Mars were self-aware, it would notice that three human beings had just rocketed into the outskirts of its thin atmosphere. Except for one other time, the only visitors that had ever come were meteors. The frozen balls of debris main contribution to the planet were to obliterate the atmosphere, thus precluding any possibility of life evolving on its own and to pockmark the surface. The only other time life forms came here, which occurred not long ago compared to the ancient age of the planet, they had established their presence by building.

The structure they built understood that reality is the eternal present. Thus the human year means nothing. From its’ beginning little had happened; yet it was never restless, never waiting, never wanting. Observing but not observed. Knowing the surroundings, but not known by them. Conscious of red mountains and plains, pink sky with sun, and black sky with stars; it marked the daily cycle of 24 hours 37 minutes. It registered the summer and winter solstice of the 685-day year. It knew the wind that swirled around and scattered dust particles everywhere. Yet it had no skin to suffer from frigid temperatures and no lungs to bum from the low air pressure. Incredibly heavy, even in gravity that was less than half of Earth, the structure was anchored squarely on the ground, pointed towards heaven, and acknowledged the four directions. Insight sitting alone in vast space, humming the universal vibration, it is pure awareness.

No moisture, no life. Yet the edifice was never lonely. When rockets with a robotic crew landed years earlier to explore, it was without anticipation. Lacking the five senses the structure still witnessed the present drama occurring in the rocket above, as three humans came on a mission that would shape the destiny of many. Although the outcome was in doubt, and truth mandated that nothing was inevitable; the awareness of the structure had no reaction, no desire.

Jeremy, will you put that letter away. We’re moments from orbit and I’ve got enough to think about without having your sentimental emotions peering over my shoulder, Major Williams forceful words were spoken without looking up from his console.

You’re right, Jeremy turned off his hand held view screen, folded it, and placed it in his pocket. He forced his mind away from his wife, Leona, who now was a100 million kilometers away.

Li Qwon, did you double cheek your calculations for firing the rocket to bring us into orbit?

Firing rockets in five minutes and ten seconds. All is ready. Li Qwon did not answer the question directly because it puzzled her. In seven months of flight, and months of training before that, she had never overlooked even the smallest detail. She knew Williams trusted her. She turned her head to the left and glanced at him to make sure he was okay.

William’s answered her glance. I always get like this before something big happens. I apologize. Do you know what Belmont wants me to say when I step onto Mars?

When did you hear from him? Jeremy asked.

A few cycles ago. It’s a sound bite to make headlines with, Williams continued.

What does he want? Li Qwon remembered that Williams was easily irritated and unusually talkative before any major event; it helped him dissipate the tension. She had forgotten, because in their seven-month flight there had been so few important moments.

We are here to expand our horizons, seek out the truth, and share it with the world. Williams announced in an exaggerated dramatic voice that made them all smile.

Jeremy, what will you say? Williams asked.

Who cares, no one remembers what the second person says.

What would you say if you had a chance to land, Li Qwon? Williams asked.

Li Qwon paused and then said with a high-pitched Chinese accent, We’re all just pipsqueaks. Both men laughed.

Doesn’t it bother you to be missing out on the chance to make history and to see what’s out there? Jeremy said pointing out the window towards the now big red globe.

Li Qwon paused, as she pondered her answer. Sure it does, but I remind myself of what the Tao says: ‘In the end The Way does not seek greatness, and in that way the Great is achieved. I also remember an old Chinese poem. The last line goes: This life is mist. What fame? What glory?’

Li Qwon, Major Williams said, you are better adjusted than I. How much time until firing?

Two minutes and... Li Qwon was interrupted by a beep from her console.

What in hell was that about? Williams barked.

I don’t know, but whatever it was it also caused my console to seize. I have no control, Li Qwon’s voice was calm, in spite of the frightening ramifications of the malfunction.

The radio command could only have come from our base in Russia, someone must have shot a pulse, Williams shouted to his comrades using the slang for unwanted computer interference.

Jeremy go into the shuttle and use the radio in there to contact the base. Send them all the data we have from her console, and try to find out what the hell that beep was about. Li Qwon try and get control of your computer. I’ll fire the rockets from my station in one minute and forty-three seconds. God Damn the Bastards!

Jeremy and Li Qwon exchanged nervous glances. Even though it would take twenty minutes for the signal to travel round trip, Jeremy was glad for something to do, because unlike the other two, his work was to be done on the planet surface. As Jeremy floated out of sight of the on-board camera towards the shuttle, all the viewers from Earth lost sight of him. Only the awareness on the planet surface went with him. It noted Jeremy strap himself into the seat and turn on the console.

This is Sylvia, at mission control, someone from here has sent an unauthorized command to your ship. We are investigating now. Do you have any information about this? Is everything okay on board? Please respond.

Well that’s just great. Williams said in loud sarcasm. We’re less than two minutes from orbit and she’s starting an investigation.

I don’t know what that pulse was about or who sent it, Major, Li Qwon said as she stared at her console, but you are on your own.

I have my strong suspicions of who is responsible, but so be it. The tense seconds passed. Three, two, one, - firing rockets to bring us into orbit, Williams said.

Orbit achieved. HAHHAHHAAAAAH! Li Qwon’s high pitched voice first screamed and then squealed a penetrating blast that only lasted several seconds, but registered in the minds of the listeners on Earth for all time. Some heard shock, some terror, others detected agony. Many who heard it felt their bodies shudder. The witness from the surface of Mars knew it as a cry of death.

Her scream drowned out a series of four popping noises, as thick black smoke began to billow from her console. The dark cloud engulfed Li Qwon like the Grim Reaper in vapor form. It would take a full laboratory and a clever chemist to discover what was in the lethal mix, or the maker of the toxic smoke bomb could tell you, but both the chemist and the assassin were another planet away. Li Qwon was incapable of wondering what had invaded her lungs or in contemplating her next move. She had lost consciousness and was slumped in her chair.

What the hell! Major Williams bellowed, and then began to cough without ceasing. He grabbed an extinguisher and shot its contents at Li Qwon’s console, but the vapor continued to flow. The cabin rapidly filled with black smoke until the people

watching from Earth saw nothing else. The alarm went

off, drowning out all other noise.

Startled by what he heard, Jeremy unbuckled his seat belt and moved towards the short corridor that separated him from his crewmates. The hatch door automatically sealed when the alarm sounded and blocked his way. Major! Li Qwon! He yelled into the metal door. Major! I can’t get in, Major! No answer. No human anywhere could hear him. He banged his fist on the hatch, and pulled on the handle. Nothing. He tried again. He realized he could open the door only by giving an override command to the shuttle’s computer, something he had never done before. He had gotten used to having plenty of time for everything, now seconds were critical.

He typed in a command but spelled override with one r. The computer printed, ‘cannot read command.’ He studied it, inwardly cursed his poor spelling acumen, and typed it again, this time with the correct spelling. The computer printed, ‘command is insufficient.’ Jeremy pounded his fist on the console. He turned on the voice activation and yelled, Computer, release the hatch door.

The hatch door is sealed due to smoke in the main compartment. It is dangerous to open it. If you wish to circumvent the safety control you must give proper identification. The computer said in a mechanical female voice that tried but failed to sound soothing. Davis despised her voice.

Jeremy Davis, he barked.

Identification code.

6473429.

There is no one on-board with that number. Would you like to try again?

Jeremy suddenly heard Williams, coughing convulsively and kicking at the sealed door. Damn it, Jeremy yelled.

The phrase, damn it, is not a number or a command, the computer said. Do you wish to sever communication?

Hold on, I’ve almost got it. Davis yelled to Williams as he found his identification code where he had recorded it on his electronic view screen that had been folded in his pocket.

I do not comprehend your request. Are you sure you want to continue conversing? the computer responded.

Jeremy, ignoring his desire to smash the console with his nearby heavy geology equipment, paused trying to think but his mind in his frenzy his mind was blank. After moments, who could say how long a time that is in such an environment, the code appeared in his brain. He blurted out 6474359.

That is correct. The safety override is removed.

Williams was losing consciousness. During the time it took Jeremy to give the right code, Williams had a flash of insight and conceived a desperate plan. He knew it was sabotage that had ended his quest, and he knew who the perpetrators were. He spread his long arms and grabbed the two levers that held the shuttle and the main ship together. The thickness of the smoke obscured the majestic stature of the dying adventurer to the viewers on Earth. If there had been no smoke, they would have seen a man with a full red beard, long brown hair, tightened muscles tensing his pale face, and determined eyes that were about to roll back into his head. All the strength of his 6-foot frame now focused on his hands. William grasped the levers that were on both sides of the narrow passageway. Summoning all his effort, he yanked on the levers and severed the connection between the mother ship and the shuttle. He inwardly cursed his former employers from NASA and then lost consciousness.

Jeremy went to the hatch to open it, and realized that the alarm noise had stopped. Perhaps, he thought, Williams and Li Qwon had gotten control of the situation. But then his glance out the window revealed that the mother ship was drifting by. He stared in disbelief as the dark hulk that had been his home for the last seven months floated by his field of vision, drifting into nothingness.

The witness on the surface of Mars was conscious of Li Qwon’s life force leaving her poisoned body. Her spirit drifted out of the capsule, saw the two ships separate, and understood what had happened. She looked down upon her death scene and her lifeless body that had surrounded her for her thirty-nine years of embodied existence, and, suddenly blissful, abandoned it for a welcoming light that beckoned her.

The structure Williams had come to explore on Mars was also conscious of the life energy that was in his body and now hovered in the shuttle, refusing to leave, ignoring the peaceful light. William’s spirit had determined that he was not finished with his work.

Jeremy Davis’ brown eyes stared out the window at the floating derelict until it was out of sight, then he gazed into space, and then at Mars. His dark curly hair that had not been cut since he left Earth was matted and hung to his shoulders. His graying beard and moustache circled thick lips that showed sadness and disbelief.

He had no idea how much time passed. He became aware of his breathing. It seemed as if it came from outside of him, like the sound of the hum from the on-board electrical equipment. Short shallow gasps of air. More minutes passed. Then an inner command jolted him out of his trance, Jeremy, land the ship! Complete the mission! It was Major Williams. Jeremy did not know how it was possible, but he knew the voice. He looked around the small cramped space knowing the search had no logic. He tried repeatedly to make radio contact with the main ship, The Seeker, but he had no success. Again he heard the telepathic message. Land the shuttle. Jeremy knew Williams had no belief or interest in psychic phenomenon, but he theorized Williams, who he thought had a will that was stronger than the hull of the ship, had somehow found a way.

Time passed. He could feel Williams hovering over him, although his reason assured him he was alone. Suddenly, the words of a lecture that Williams had delivered just days before they orbited Mars came into Jeremy’s mind. Williams had said, The shuttle has enough oxygen and supplies to support two people to live on for seven days. It will use propane gas for heat and electricity. The computer on board the shuttle can fly the craft. It will tell you what angle to enter the atmosphere and what course to set. It will also tell when to fire the retrorockets. We’ll have to choose our landing site at the last minute, and hopefully not sink into soft sand. Jeremy remembered Li Qwon’s raised eyebrows at that remark.

The general landing site is programmed into the computer. The day before we go into orbit around Mars, the shuffle’s systems will be activated. It will tie in with the main ship’s computer, so it can calculate its exact position when it separates from The Seeker. Jeremy, during the next few weeks, until we get to Mars, I want you to practice the descent on the shuttle’s computer simulator. Also, practice the return trip to The Seeker. If something happens to me, you’ll have to be prepared to go it alone.

With these prophetic words replaying in his memory, and the sense that Williams was with him now, watching him, urging him on, Jeremy’s sense of purpose returned. He strapped himself into the pilot’s seat. With the use of the data in the computer, he calculated his position in relation to the landing site. Jeremy reflected on the bizarre situation he found himself in. He had never flown anything but a simulator in his life, and here he was attempting something no one had ever done: landing on Mars.

I can do this, he said aloud, believing in his heart that Williams could hear him. He fired the rocket.

For Jeremy, descent was a strange concept because the past seven months up or down held no meaning. He monitored the screen and then did something very unusual for him. He prayed. He prayed for his friends, for the mission they believed in, and for himself. The moment ended when he panicked from a thought that he might have no supplies. He got out of his seat to check the inventory and remembered that they had moved all the necessities for survival from the cargo bay into the shuffle just the day before. The craft descended into the Martian atmosphere. He looked out the window as the computer guided him towards his destination, and he saw the red planet fade into black. He had orbited into nighttime, away from the Sun and the Earth. He felt like a condemned man in solitary confinement awaiting execution. The discomfort was jolted away by another thought; The people back home think I’m dead!

He yelled out, What an idiot I am! He turned on the radio and said. This is Jeremy Davis. Something went wrong aboard The Seeker. The ship is adrift in space. Li Qwon and Williams are aboard. I fear the worst. I am in the shuttle descending to the surface. The shuttle was undamaged in the accident. Although I’m shaken by the incident, I’ve sustained no physical injuries. Do you have any information? Do you read mc, Russia? Sylvia, are you there? The shuttle had orbited away from Sun and Earth so the radio waves meant for Earth collided with the planet below, bounced off the surface, and headed towards Jupiter. When Jeremy realized his voice was heading in the wrong direction, he felt a desperation that he dared not indulge. Then another wave of fear pounded into his consciousness when he understood that he would be setting down at night. There was no way he could pick out a flat landing site. He broke into a sweat, and felt a strange sensation in his body as gravity began to take hold. His heart pounded and his stomach felt like a live electric wire ran through it without a ground. In his altered state he could hear Williams voice and it did not register how strange that was. The voice said, Focus on the most important thing. The matter at hand, put everything else aside. Jeremy realized that line was vintage Williams. He took a deep breath and as he exhaled the computer signaled to fire the retro-rockets to slow his speed. He responded and then looked out the window and saw only a black abyss. As he descended into what seemed like nothingness, he screamed to the desolate planet: Here I come. Catch me!

Ten minutes or two hours, Jeremy had no idea how long he dropped into darkness and silence. Easy. Easy. Be aware. Be ready to act quickly, was what Jeremy thought he heard Williams say, but his presence was no help, it felt as tense as Jeremy did. The shuttle jolted as two of the shuttle’s legs touched land. The other two kept moving down. The slope of the angle increased and then the whole thing rolled. With all that he was contending with, Jeremy had forgotten to strap into his seat after checking the supplies. His head crashed into the ceiling and as the shuttle completed its roll, he flew to the floor. If the shuttle punctured he knew he was a dead man. The inside of the ship was intact, but the passenger was injured. The blow to the head and the shock of what he had gone through caused Jeremy to lose consciousness.

Williams’ spirit understood that the shuttle had landed. His life force rose towards the ceiling and out of the shuttle. He could not stop it from happening. The last thing Colby Williams viewed as he rose upwards was a massive pyramid.

Chapter 2

Robert Belmont’s long, slim body slumped in his oversized chair as he watched another replay of the disaster in space.