Artifact: A Planetfall Expeditionary Force Adventure (Book 1)

By Jason Timothy Bushell

As the starship Lincoln was passing through a large pocket of space on its way to explore a new planet for humanity a new planet appeared on the long range sensors. Odd because the exploratory probes had completely missed it. Commander Jax of the Planet Fall Expeditionary Force volunteers to lead a solo expedition to secure the new planet. Per the Extrasolar Treaty the planet must be explored and proven to be safe before habitation can begin. Midway through the expedition an alien ship crashes on the planet and all hell breaks loose. The fate of humanity and more is at risk. Jax must survive at all costs against the threat as the fate of billions rests in the balance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jason Timothy Bushell
• Release date: Sep 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463373682

Jason Timothy Bushell

My pen name is Jason Timothy Bushell. I’m a Ph.D. physicist with interests in Astrophysics, Cosmology, Nuclear Physics, and Precision Metrology. I work as a physicist in a lab on the left coast of the United States. I have had a lifelong interest in science-fiction and adventure stories. I especially enjoy the storytelling abilities of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Fred Pohl, Robert Heinlein, and Kim Stanley Robinson. I believe a book should entertain, educate, and make you perceive the world around you differently. I hoped you enjoyed this adventure with Jax, Sam, Kreeta, Kay-Tee, and Roland. It was my first endeavor to write a complete novel. Stay tuned for book two, and thanks for your support. I hope you enjoyed the read.

Book preview

In Medias Res

I crept forward in a loping crouch with my rifle at the ready. I was only fifty-seven meters away now. I froze as my external microphone amplified the noises around me, and I heard muffled grunting. I got spooked at the sudden noise and hugged up next to a thick purple vined tree trunk. I poked my rifle around the trunk and used my HUD to tell me which direction to look. Through a small break in the foliage and undergrowth, I could see branches rustling.Best not to spend too long thinking about an improvised plan. I readied my rifle and made sure I had a full charge one more time. A lot of people were depending on me to not die on this planet.

I opened up on full auto mode and put out medium power pulsed plasma bursts. I raked the enemy position at the what I guessed was center-of-mass height. The holes in the foliage clearly lead back to my location. I heard muffled grunts, and a scream as a few bolts of plasma found their mark.

I turned and started running loudly through the foliage away from the threat. I had covered about twenty meters before I heard the first signs of pursuit behind me. These aliens were not subtle. I swapped out the charge on my rifle for a fresh one.

Closing fast! Sam blurted into my ear.

I turned and sprayed the forest with more plasma bolts but on full power this time. I shot less, but hopefully it would slow them a bit. Sam updated the HUD, showing a number for meters behind me that the closest enemy was. These aliens were fast! Not quite double my speed.

I swore under my breath as the wave of about twenty or so aliens started coming right towards me through the forest. How had it come to this in only a few weeks from landing on Neb?

Chapter 1 Discovery

Captain, we are midway through the nebula, and new scans indicate a Goldilocks planet two lightyears out, Ensign Ken Walton reported from the sensor station.

Captain David Wu sat up a little straighter in the command seat of the starship Lincoln, There was always a possibility that the nebula was hiding planets from our sensors. Concentrate long-range scans on the planet and go dark on all stations, engines to standby.

Aye, Captain, the pilot responded. Within moments the shipboard lighting changed to a dull red, and all non-essential systems were powered down, reducing the electronic emissions from the ship to zero.

Call the X.O. to the bridge, Comms, Captain David Wu said to the communications officer, and alert the Planetfall Expeditionary Force to report to my ready room ASAP.

Aye, Captain, Communications Officer Petra Jones responded crisply, as she began to enter the requests into the shipboard communications network.

Grant, Aaron and I were in the workout room doing our regular high repetition weight workout when the alert chimed on all three of our comms at the same time.

Grant had just finished a set of bench presses and read the alert to the others, Captain wants us in his ready room ASAP. We must have seen something in the nebula. That would explain why the ship went dark.

Could be anything, but we aren’t going to find out sitting around in the weight room, I replied.

Well, he wants us there now, Aaron said, looking at the comm. No post-workout shower for us, let’s go we’ve got some ground to cover.

Winding through the corridors from the workout room, off the main Hi-Bay in the aft belly of the ship, to the forward bridge added a bit of a leg workout to the end of our routine. Given that Lincoln’s habitable space was over a kilometer long, it took us just under five minutes to arrive at the Captain’s ready room. Normally a kilometer run wouldn’t be a big deal, but with all of the narrow corridors and the five levels that needed to be navigated, we arrived sweaty and out of breath from the effort. We paused at the door as the Captain’s guard detail looked us over.

Captain Wu was alerted to our presence at the door by our comms and the personnel tracking system which interfaced via the ship A.I.. The ship A.I. announced that we had arrived, Captain the team covered the distance from the aft workout area to the ready room in just under five minutes. I do believe that is a new stern to bow record, sir.

I’ll be sure to let them know Hartley. Please open the door and let them in, Captain Wu said to the Lincoln’s A.I..

Yes, Captain, Hartley responded in a firm, soothing tone as the door opened to reveal the sweaty trio in their skintight black workout gear.

Captain Wu said, Enter and at ease Commanders, as he surveyed our well-conditioned bodies and the fact that the guards were giving the team a wider berth than usual. His nose quickly told him why. Sorry for interrupting your workout. Fortunately, you don’t smell as bad as you look.

Sorry about that, Captain, I responded, We came straight from the gym when we got the comm message.

I can see that. We have a unique situation unfolding. Please take a seat. As you are aware, we have been traveling through this nebula for weeks now. Our course took us through a rather large pocket of open space that seems to contain a Goldilocks planet. Our earlier probes must have missed this particular region or the sensor never made it close enough to get a clear scan of the planet that is orbiting the star there.

Interrupting by holding up my hand, Sorry, what kind of planet and how far away are we?

Jax, I would normally advise the crew not to interrupt a superior officer in the middle of a briefing, but you three are well aware you live outside of the regular chain of command. Being Commanders in the Planetfall Expeditionary Force, you run your own show. Never the less, please let me get through this because you three need to make a choice, the Captain replied.

Sorry, sir, I replied, shifting my weight in the chair.

Well, we are approximately point two light-years away and drifting on a grazing approach to the planetary system. Hartley, please bring up a local map on the wall screen, The Captain ordered.

Yes, Captain, the A.I. responded immediately, We are blue, and the dotted trajectory is our current path without engaging the engines. I have included all known gravitational influences that the sensors have detected. We will accelerate as we enter the outer gravitational well of the sole star which has been designated S14675AZ. Captain, should we give the system a more palatable name? I know you humans do like to name…, Hartley went on.

Thanks, Hartley, that’s a good idea, the Captain interrupted rolling his eyes upwards to look at the ceiling, Let’s keep it simple, we will name the star and planet Neb for the moment since the system is buried inside this Nebula. Please continue Hartley.

Thank you, Captain, Hartley responded cheerfully, As I was saying, the current trajectory will bring us close enough to Neb to launch a Planetfall ship in two weeks if we so desire. We will have a one-day window to launch with an optimal trajectory window of approximately one hour at that point. I will, of course, continuously refine the trajectories and keep optimizing the flight solution as more data becomes available from the sensors.

Okay, Hartley, I’ll take it from here, the Captain said, stopping the A.I. before it got into too many details. The shipboard A.I. had once gone on for over an hour discussing optimization algorithms, and sub-routine minimization techniques before the engineers managed to fine-tune the feedback protocols. A.I.s could be touchy little personalities sometimes. The three of us shifted our attention to the star map and the dotted trajectories that kept updating every few seconds.

The Captain continued, You three are a team, but a planet like this cannot be flown by without consideration. We know next to nothing about it, but the temperatures look suitable for human habitation, and there appears to be liquid water on a large majority of the surface. Jax, you have the most experience in hostile environments. Aaron and Grant need to stay together. Aaron only just recently qualified for a Planetfall team and will need Grant’s guidance on the primary mission, the Captain paused, looking us over for any signs of disagreement. We all nodded, taking it all in.

As a reminder, an uninhabited planet is claimed by the first country to land successfully and establish multiple outposts, as stipulated by the Extrasolar Treaty. We knew about this star through earlier surveys, but we had no idea we would find a Goldilocks planet. I will be sending a strongly worded report back to the Extrasolar Exploration Sensor team’s leadership, the Captain paused, the mission planners provided us with triple the equipment needed for surveys, as well as the two Planetfall ships. As Captain, I’m simply a ferry service for your team, and I cannot order you to accept this new development. What do you think we should do given this discovery? the Captain left the question hanging in the air.

As the senior member of the team, I responded, Well our primary goal is to search for planets for habitation, provided they are not already populated by another sovereign nation or any form of sentient life. Since this one was not on anyone’s maps, I would say there is a really good chance it’s clean. It has to be because the other countries would have had to declare it and enter it into the planetary registry. However, per the Extrasolar Treaty, we are only allowed to land pre-approved and qualified Planetfall members on a potential planet. Do we detect any radio, microwave, photon emissions from Neb or see any geometric structures, indicative of a prior civilization yet?

Hartley, what is the latest status on the scans? the Captain asked. Hartley immediately changed the wall screen view.

We detect only the expected infrared variation due to the heating of materials by Neb. No radio or microwave patterns are observed. Data scrolled along the wall showing scan results besides a slowly rotating planetary image as details were updating in real-time. The planet’s rotational period is twenty-nine hours Standard Time. We will not have a full rotational scan until then, and it will take another week before I can get enough resolution to search for structures. Sorry Captain, but that time delay is required to give the confidence levels in the results required by the Extrasolar Treaty, Hartley explained.

Understood, Hartley, the Captain responded, Jax, please continue.

Well, if we see no signs of habitation, then I don’t see how we can pass up this opportunity. Commanders? I said, looking at Aaron and Grant.

Aaron replied, I know all the laws and procedures, but I am the junior person here. I defer to Grant.

Grant piped up, I agree with the Captain. It took us years to plan this mission and build in multiple redundancies. It was a very remote possibility that we could come across something unexpected, but here we are, He said looking at the wall screen, We know there are approximately 100,000,000 stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Of those stars, only a fraction is the correct size, temperature and most importantly at the proper stage of evolution on the Hertz-Sprung Russell diagram to be stable without any major flux events. Then you also need to factor in the size, distance from the star, and rotational period of the planet; then the number of viable planets starts to get a lot smaller very quickly. Fortunately, the elements on the planet are usually within a reasonable terraforming range of abundances. Hartley what is the preliminary elemental abundance in the star and planetary system? And the average temperature of the planet for that matter?

Near Sol standard stellar temperatures and elemental abundance, Hartley responded, as more data scrolled along the wall in a dark shade of green to represent the chemical analysis.

And the planet’s water content? I asked, getting a little more excited as I studied the chemical composition scrolling and updating on the screen.

Updating now, Hartley, responded as the wall began to render half the surface of the planet in more detail. Water began to shade in blue on the slowly rotating orb.

Holy crap! Aaron exclaimed.

Well, that does it for me, the Captain added.

The central region of the planet was half-covered in water.

Hartley added, I am adding data to the model in real-time but extrapolating in for the size and surface temperature. I project the planet has twice the water content of the Earth and double the habitable landmass. However, sensors are seeing a lot of shadowing at the divider, indicating mountainous regions. I am unable to determine the planetary tilt with respect to the plane of the ecliptic at this time, Hartley concluded.

We looked at each other quickly. The planet was not just a Goldilocks planet; it was the ideal Goldilocks planet covered with liquid water. The mountains were a bit of a concern. They indicated crustal plate movement and possible earthquakes. People did not realize that the true valuable commodity in the Universe was liquid water, not the old precious metals on Earth. Once space travel became a possibility, asteroid mining followed quickly. Nearby stars almost always had some asteroid belt containing iron and silicates, but liquid water was difficult to find.

We have to go for it if we don’t detect any electromagnetic broadcasts or structures of course, I said.

Agreed, Grant and Aaron replied nodding their heads in unison.

If you are all in agreement, I concur with the new Planetfall mission to Neb, the Captain said. Hartley document the discovery and send a compressed Top-Secret Encryption message back to the Admiralty and Planetfall headquarters. Alert them to the pertinent details and tell them we are continuing with the original mission and providing an additional drop to allow Commander Jax to explore the planet orbiting Neb.

Done Captain, Hartley responded.

Begin prepping the Planetfall Alpha Shuttle. Alert the support crews that we have a tight schedule, and the Commander will need extra supplies as this will be a solo mission of extended duration. We have ten days to be ready and put the shuttle into standby alert for departure, the Captain stated.

Duty rosters are with the Chiefs right now, Captain. They are mustering to the bays as we speak, Hartley replied. The A.I. was tracking the location of the crew members through the onboard ship network and could easily locate every living being on the ship and monitor their vital signs.

Thanks, Hartley. That is all, the Captain responded, ending the conversation with the A.I., Jax, you and the team, get what you need ready. Up your rations, as you see fit. Take two to three times what you think you may need. We have plenty of extra food, water, filters, etc. Use the additional space created by this being a solo mission to stock up. We will continue to update the files on Neb as the scans improve. For now, plan on being ready to depart in ten days.

Understood Captain, I replied.

Well, you better get moving. You have a lot to do. Dismissed, the Captain said out of habit as we were already beginning to stand.

For good measure, we all saluted before turning and heading down to shower and start prepping the Alpha Shuttle for the mission.

Chapter 2 Preparation for Departure

The next week was a blur of activity as the engineering crews prepared the Planetfall Alpha Shuttle for the potential mission. As a Planetfall Commander, I was part scientist, army ranger, surveyor, governor, and explorer, who had to survive on unknown planets for approximately three months while I conducted bio-sampling of the plants, animals, soil, water, and atmosphere. The shuttle would also deploy a network of micro-satellites in three different low orbits that crisscross the planet. The satellite network would allow me to document the weather and atmospheric conditions as I was performing the bio-sampling and establishing outposts on the planet. I would effectively become the sole human resident as well as the governor of the planet until others arrived, once I gave the all-clear.

Humans had learned the hard way that exobiology mattered. There were some nasty viruses and bacteria out there in the Universe that flourished in our carbon-based life forms. Particularly nasty were some bugs about a decade ago that managed to digest calcium phosphate if they got into your bloodstream — not a good way to go having your bones eaten and turned to pulp from the inside. Your muscles need something solid to hold them in place so you can breathe. That particular bacteria went immediately to the top of all of the bio-engineers’ lists to eradicate or immunize against, once that story broke in the media. It is amazing how motivated researchers get when billions of dollars flow in from a scared public. As a Planetfall Expeditionary team member, we had every immunization and gene therapy treatment available injected into us. I had not had a cold in over eight years. Every once in a while, something slipped through, but immunology had come a long way in the past forty years since the first extrasolar planet landing had occurred.

Aaron broke my train of thought as he came up and stood next to me and said, Hi Jax, busy week. Have you had much sleep? It seems you are always here with that datapad in your hand, staring at the shuttle.

Hi, Aaron. Just making sure we have everything I can think of stowed aboard. If I get the go-ahead, I’ll be on my own for three to six months before any kind of assistance arrives. The Lincoln will be off on its prior mission for about that long while it drops you and Grant off on the other planet, on the far side of this nebula. Even a fast carrier would take four months to get here from the nearest major space station at top speed. I’m going to make sure I at least have food, water, shelter material and med-kits stowed properly, I replied.

I don’t blame you, but if you are worn out before you start it is going to be tough going, Aaron said.

True but remember I will have nearly two days of free fall into the planetary orbit before I have to do much. Lots of time to rest and get ready for the actual landing, I said. Landings either went well or were a complete disaster. Landing on an unknown structural surface or in the middle of a predator's hunting ground was always possible. Once we lost a shuttle to a big sinkhole. Clear and level ground did not always mean a safe landing area. Fortunately, the Planetfall team of that mission had been out of the ship when the sinkhole swallowed the shuttle. They lost most of their supplies but survived.

Well, I’m pretty good friends with Master Chief Armorer Melanie Vargas, and she says she has a couple of going away presents for you. I’ve gotten pretty close to the Master Chief on this trip as she’s been training me up on a couple of unique firearms, Aaron said.

We did get pretty fortunate with Master Chief Vargas being assigned to the Lincoln. Even my scores at the range have gone up under her watchful eye, I agreed.

I’ll welcome anything the she brings along for me short of a nuke, I joked with Aaron.

Yeah, she does like her heavy-duty firepower. I’ll see you in the morning for the briefing, Aaron said in parting.

I went back to my lists and double-checking of the Alpha Shuttle’s supplies. I finally turned in late, after going over the inventory for the sixth time that day. The next day was going to start early.

Commander Jax, your briefing will begin in twenty-minutes in the Captain’s conference room, Hartley’s voice called from the ceiling of my small cabin. Being a Planetfall Commander did have the small perk of getting a single room billet.

I’m up, Hartley, I responded groggily marveling at how the A.I.’s voice always sounded cheery. Didn’t the programmers have any consideration for the time of day? Just once I would have liked to hear an A.I. not be perfectly perky, I thought, as I stumbled over to the tiny shower. I took my one hundred second shower, suited up, and headed to the mess hall. I grabbed some breakfast and a much-needed coffee. Coffee was a priority on a deep space ship like the Lincoln. The military could skimp on the décor and accommodations, but the food and coffee were always top-notch. Survival rations were a whole different matter, calories without any other appeal. With a quick meal in me, I refilled the coffee mug and made my way forward towards the Captain’s conference room.

Aaron, Grant, the Captain, the Chief Engineer, and the Master Chief Armorer were already there. I reminded myself again that if you are just on time in the Fleet, you are already late.

Morning, Commander, the Captain greeted me as the others nodded hello.

Sorry, I’m on time, I joked, and the rest of the room chuckled.

You’ve been pulling some long hours getting ready. Honestly, all of us woke up early anyway and couldn’t wait to get the final updates from Hartley. Have a seat you are going to want to see this, the Captain said.

I put myself into the nearest available chair and took a sip of my coffee.

Hartley let’s begin from the top, please. What’s the latest status from the past few days of scans? the Captain asked.

Good morning everyone, Hartley began much too cheerfully for the time of day. Hartley’s cheerful voice wasn’t only saved for me, apparently. I looked over at the Chief Engineer Seng with tired eyes, and he simply shrugged. I’d really like to have a chat with him sometime about how the A.I.’s head programmer chose the tone of voice for each time of day.

Today is a great day for the crew of the Lincoln and the Planetfall Expeditionary Force. Things look promising on the planet we are calling Neb, Hartley continued. Over the last twenty hours, the scan resolution has sharpened considerably, and we now have clear imagery of the planet's geography and topography. Cloud cover has obscured some features, but I have pieced together the low-resolution data with the latest scans to create a complete map of the surface.

Let’s get to the point Hartley, the Captain said, also now looking at Chief Engineer Seng.

Yes, Sir, Hartley responded quickly. We have confirmed the atmosphere is breathable with a twenty-four percent oxygen to seventy-five percent nitrogen ratio with trace elements making up the remainder. We have detected small amounts of helium and methane as well. No radio or microwave emissions are being detected from Neb or any of the other planetoids or moons orbiting it. No structures of any kind were detected.

Why are you noting the methane gas particularly? There are other gases present, the Chief Engineer remarked, as the latest data scrolled along with the wall display in the conference room.

Animal life, I responded. Organic decay or warm-blooded animals may be on the surface. Have we seen any heat signatures or trail signs near watering holes?

Hartley continued, No Commander Jax and we are unlikely to pick up any signs unless the creatures are very large. The tree canopy cover on Neb puts the Amazon rain forest to shame. The amount of rainfall appears to be phenomenal from the little data we do have from the scans. The forest has enormously tall trees compared to those on Earth. I estimate the average forest canopy is 70 meters deep, except near the shorelines of the coastal areas. It also decreases extremely rapidly on the slopes of the mountain ranges as expected. Towards the poles, the temperature drops off as expected.

The average surface temperature is two hundred and ninety-eight Kelvin, and the temperature variation is minimal due to the moisture in the atmosphere, Hartley explained.

The Captain and Chief Engineer looked over my way at that statement.

No worries there, I responded.

That’s right Hartley. The Planetfall Expeditionary Force shuttle is capable of operating in a temperature range of three hundred and fifty-three Kelvin down to two hundred and twenty Kelvin comfortably, Aaron explained.

All a Planetfall shuttle really needs is a moderate water supply to make up for gradual losses from the recycling system, I filled in, That’s not a problem from what we are observing so far. The environmental suit will take care of any other issues as I’m conducting the surveys.

Never the less, it is going to be a bit of a warm visit for you, Commander. Neb is not tilted very much on its rotational axis, only ten degrees relative to the ecliptic. There won’t be much seasonal variation. The poles are cool of course and are almost permanently frozen in the highest most latitudes, Hartley finished his thought.

The Captain broke in, Hartley we have only a few days to the optimum launch window. While I like the banter, we need to make a decision. Hartley, is there any evidence indicating that a Planetfall mission should not proceed to Neb?

No, Captain. There is no sensor data that indicates that Commander Jax will be in any type of immediate danger. No toxic chemicals have been detected in the atmosphere; the temperatures are within a habitable range; the spectrum of light from the star is viable for human vision and photosynthesis. Water is abundant, and multiple possible landing sites have clear approaches and yet are near interesting geographic regions suitable for surveys, which are needed for claiming the planet. The orbital approach and planetary insertion should not use too much fuel. There are no major asteroid fields or dust clouds to navigate around that will affect the shuttle’s integrity, Hartley explained.

Then we are a go, the Captain stated.

I concur, Captain, Hartley agreed.

Looks like you have a planet to explore, Jax, the Captain said, smiling and standing.

We all stood in response. This was going to be a first in Planetfall Expeditionary Force history, and I was looking forward to the challenge. We said our goodbyes for the moment, and I left to get back to work.

Chapter 3 Final Check

It was nearly eight o’clock ship time at night.

We’ve got all your survival gear stowed and accounted for, Chief Engineer Seng said as he handed me the final shuttle supply record on several sheets of paper.

Thanks, Chief, I said. Kind of old school with the paper hardcopy. I have a data-pad I’m taking with me, the ship A.I., and my wrist interface as well.

Well, the paper doesn’t need any power to run it and who knows, you may want some reading material for the insertion trip. If this pays off, you’ll have claimed one of the largest most hospitable worlds in the entire human sphere of existence, the Chief stated.

No pressure, I joked.

I know a lot could go wrong with the planet’s bio-sphere making it uninhabitable, but seriously this is a big deal. A solo landing, reconnaissance, and claim a whole world... It’s never been done to my knowledge, the Chief added, scratching his thinning hair. I went through the stores, provisions and equipment checklists even though I know it’s your job. I feel like I’m giving away part of my ship when you leave with that Planetfall Alpha Shuttle. I just want to make sure you are all set and then some. Don’t tell the rest of the shuttle task crew members. I don’t want them thinking I’m second-guessing them. They’re a great crew, and they’ve been working extra shifts to make sure everything is perfect.

I know it, I responded, I can’t believe they got the Alpha Shuttle all prepped and provisioned in ten days. I have been going over the lists, and everything looks great. I can’t see anything they missed, and I noticed they crammed in even more food rations than normal. It seems like they filled every spare bit of room with food.

"Well, we decided to load you up a bit more since