The SkyReach Prophecies: BOOK 1: AN ICEBERG ON MERCURY

By JEFFREY GREY

The SkyReach Prophecies chronicles the interplanetary adventures of Duncan and Olivia Grey, teenagers who live in HUB space station orbiting Earth in the 21st century. Their parents make a scientific discovery that could create the first interstellar drive, allowing mankind to travel to the stars in the blink of an eye. The interplanetary Mining Guild holds a monopoly on space travel - the Guild will do anything to stop development of the interstellar Drive.
Duncan and Olivia travel with their parents to the Mercury colony, code name ICEBERG, to find a rare metal needed to make the interstellar drive work. The teens are given two nano-bot Androids with special abilities to help accomplish their mission to outwit the interplanetary Mining Guild agents who stand in their way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tablo Publishing
• Release date: Aug 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781649692269

Book preview

Chapter 1: The birthday present

Olivia Grey opened her sky blue eyes just as the collision alarm went off. WARNING! WARNING! shouted the tinny voice from the commlink near her bed. COLLISION THREAT! SPACE OBJECT APPROACHING THE HUB NEAR SECTOR SEVEN! FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, ACTIVATE EMERGENCY EXO-SUITS IMMEDIATELY! The warning began to repeat itself in the same metallic tone - everyone in the HUB must have been jolted out of bed.

Olivia fumbled with the zipper of her bunk cover and scrambled out as quickly as she could. She had just swung her feet over the edge of her bunk when her brother Duncan floated down from the top bunk above. His boots attached to the floor, nullifying the low gravity. He hastily shuffled over to the viewport, which overlooked the western part of the HUB.  Come on, Liv! Sector Seven is our side of the space station. If we hurry, we can see the action! Duncan said excitedly. He waved her over to the viewport.

Duncan had forgotten to activate his exo-suit of course, so Olivia reminded him by saying, Turn on your exo-suit, Dodo bird! 

Olivia touched one of the silver circles on the wall. Immediately the circle detached from the wall, crawling up Olivia’s arm and engulfing her from head to toe in a shiny suit of silvery armor. She was tall for fourteen, so her exo-suit was adjusted for her height. 

The suit was smooth and form fitting over her torso and back. But at the shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles the suit was layered with lobster-like slats, to allow range of movement. When the exo-suit was in place, only Olivia’s pale, oval face and long chestnut hair were uncovered. She usually wore her hair unbraided, but now it wound halfway down her back in a braid - long hair was tough to manage in an exo-suit, unless it was held in place. She tucked the braid inside the exo-suit, just in case the helmet activated.

The exo-suit felt tingly all over her skin, a pleasant feeling once you got used to the fact that several trillion micro-machines called nanites were spread over every inch of her body. But the exo-suit was a necessity in space - it functioned as a life support system in emergency situations, and would protect the wearer in case the HUB’s hull was breached. Duncan’s exo-suit had formed into a gray-scale suit of armor that covered him from neck to toes. the suit had the flexibility of silk, but was harder than diamonds. A hood hung from the back, which could be pulled over if a real emergency happened, like a loss of breathable air.

Duncan hurried to the viewport. Olivia thought he looked impressive in the suit, which filled out his tall frame so that he looked very muscular. He resembled a knight from the middle ages, like the videos portrayed in Olivia’s history lessons. Duncan was a skinny fourteen, but almost six feet tall, and had matching blue eyes like his sister.

 Look, there it is! Across the titanium-hulled arm of the HUB’s western arm, there was clearly a shiny metal object approaching. The object reflected the Sun’s rays, its shape perfectly outlined and almost blindingly bright against the jet-black background of outer space. The endless emptiness made the object look small. But so did the Western arm of the HUB against the blackness of outer space. Olivia and Duncan had learned that distance was hard to measure in space, without the usual reference points like they had on Earth. Even so, the twins could tell that the object was on a collision course with their part of the space station.

As the object moved closer, they could see that it wasn’t an asteroid, which is usually what triggered the alarm. It looked man-made, a pear shaped object that had several metal arm-like appendages sticking out randomly from its body.

Do you think they’ll zap it with the laser guns? Duncan asked eagerly. Duncan always liked it when they used the lasers to destroy space debris that wandered into the HUB’s path.

Olivia shook her head. The Human Urban Base, or HUB, had an automated meteor deflector system. But Olivia knew that the scientists aboard would want to reclaim the artifact intact. If it’s man-made, then they’ll capture it with a tractor beam and try to salvage the metal, at the very least. It looks like an old satellite, like the ones that circled Earth before the Great Collision.

As they watched, an almost invisible golden beam hit the satellite, which visibly shuddered. In moments, the beam had stopped the satellite dead in space, so it could no longer hit the HUB. In less than a minute, they saw one of the small, spidery two-man shuttles come around the western arm, attaching itself to the golden beam. Then the shuttle began towing the salvaged satellite to the nearest hangar.

The sliding door suddenly opened behind them. Miranda Grey entered their cabin. Happy birthday, Duncan and Olivia! she said happily.

Mom! they both turned and shouted at once, and ran to give her a hug.

How are my favorite children doing on their fourteenth birthday? Miranda asked. Miranda turned her tall, curvy frame to the viewport, her shoulder length mane of strawberry blonde hair waving slowly behind her in the low gravity. Her attractive features, porcelain skin and big smile made her look beautiful. Enjoying the salvage operation, I hope? she asked, pointing to the viewport.

The shuttle had just reached the western arm, where the space station’s hanger waited. As they watched the shuttle, Duncan noticed the Earth appearing over the HUB. By this time, the space station had rotated enough to see Earth from their view port. The top third of the planet was mostly white, while the bottom seemed mostly a brownish tan. Very little green was showing, like in the old images from their history class vids.

Duncan smiled brightly as he said, Mom, this is like a birthday present for us, this satellite. I mean, it showed up outside our window on our birthday, right? Duncan looked at his twin, Olivia, who rolled her eyes. What a childish comment, she thought.

Miranda smiled back kindly. I suppose it is, Duncan. But in a way, it’s also a present for your Dad. 

That was an odd statement, thought Olivia. Dad is an Astro-Geologist - why would he be interested in an old satellite?

Oh, your father has quite an interest in Old Earth technology, and that satellite may have some interesting data for us. We suspect it was orbiting Earth before the Great Collision. You will hear all about it tonight from your Dad, replied Miranda, with a small smile on her face. Her blue eyes twinkled.

The collision alert stopped suddenly, and the Station Master’s voice came from the commlink. Attention, HUB citizens! I am pleased to inform you that the debris has been safely cleared - the danger is passed. Please resume your normal schedule. That is all. Thank you.

Miranda nodded. That’s good - the satellite should be safely secured. I need to join your Dad now. And you two need to get ready for school.

Olivia sighed as they looked at the Earth and said, Do you think we’ll ever live on Earth again, Mom?

Duncan chimed in, Olivia, we just moved to the HUB three months ago. Do you miss the Earth that much already?

Olivia rolled her eyes again. I meant all of us, everyone on the HUB. Even the colonists on the outer planets could move back to Earth. What do you think, Mom? 

Miranda sighed and said, That’s what we’re all working for, Olivia. That is why we decided to leave Earth three months ago and move to the HUB, to help research ways to make the Earth more habitable. The HUB and all its inhabitants are dedicated to repopulating Earth.

I know all about the repopulation effort, Mom, Olivia said. But why us? Why did we have to come here? I was really happy on Earth.

Me too, Duncan chimed in. Up here, it’s like living in a giant tin can - no fresh air, no trees, no Earth people. Only Spacers.

Miranda looked sharply at him. Now Duncan, I’ve asked you not to call them Spacers. The people in the HUB are our friends, and they are residents of the Earth just as much as we are.

Duncan was embarassed by his comment. I know Mom - I didn’t mean it. It’s just that, well, it has been so hard to adjust...

What Duncan means, Olivia interrupted, is that we’re having a hard time fitting into this new environment. A new place to live, a new school, and we’re trying to make new friends. This is the first time we have been off-Earth. That’s a lot of change.

I know, Miranda said, a little sadly. It has been a difficult transition for you both. I know you miss Earth. I do too, to be honest. But for now, our home is the HUB. In the meantime, you have school and I have to get to work in the Nano-Lab. But we’ll have a proper birthday celebration tonight, after your dad finishes examining the satellite.

For now, Miranda continued, let’s focus on getting you two off to school.

SUBSPACE COMMUNICATION #1

INCOMING MESSAGE: Sent by Nano-bot Projection Interface Protocol  

MESSAGE TRANSMISSION: To Nano-Bot Deconstruction Earth Valuator : Incoming Message for Dr. Gregory Grey

The following subspace message was intercepted on 6/07/2064, 03:00 hours HUB local time on Guild frequency 7.5. Message sent from unregistered commlink located in cargo bay three. No way to ascertain who transmitted message, although message was signed with code name 'JANUS'. Message was encoded with level 5.1 encryption program, which is used only for top secret communications between high level Guild leaders. Decryption time: 1.11.09 hours. Computing power used in decryption: 1.2 Teraflops.

Message reads as follows:

Magellan satellite recovered today at 08:02:34, 06/07/2064. Satellite is intact, along with data on REE mineral search project. Four additional satellites identified from data as being part of REE project. Dr. Avery Jenkins and Dr. Greg Grey are reviewing data to determine orbital path of each satellite. Initial data suggests satellites were equipped with probes to search for REE's on planet surface. Recommend you initiate search team for probes as soon as possible. Four most likely planets to contain REE's are Mercury and Mars. Additional data on probe locations will follow shortly.

JANUS

Message Reply Intercepted 1.27 hours later. Message reads:

So, the mythical Magellan satellite has finally been found. The legend must be true - there were rumors of a last ditch effort to find Rare Earth Elements, just before the Great Collision. There must be some specific reason why Dr. Greg Grey is interested in this satellite, and in the Rare Earth Elements. 

Janus, your next objective is to determine what Dr. Grey and his wife Miranda are researching. What is the name of their current project? What is the scope and purpose of his research? I must know what is happening on the HUB.

It is time to live up to your reputation, Janus.  Learn what I need to know and I will reward you with a high position on the Guild Science and technical council. 

I will travel to Mercury immediately to handle the search there. Send all further communications to me there.

E.S.

Conclusions/ Recommendation: The message confirms our suspicions that there is a Guild spy aboard the HUB. Top Priority Task: determine the identity of Guild spy designated as JANUS, before probe locations are transmitted to Guild agents. 

According to Dr. Greg Grey, only three members of the HUB research team know the real purpose of the Mercury expedition. The three members are Dr. Avery Jenkins, Dr. Janice Hubermann, and Dr. Peter Garrity. I suggest that Dr. Grey send individual messages to these three members about JANUS. This information will force JANUS to communicate with the Guild via subspace transmission. MIM and I will track all transmissions from the HUB via the main communications console. Once message is intercepted, we will be able to identify which team member is JANUS.

Transmission End:

MESSAGE REPLY: I concur with your conclusions and recommendations. I Will inform Nano-Bot Construction Aggregation Module now of your plan. Dr. Grey will awaken at 07:00 hours; CAM will make your recommendation to Dr. Grey at that time. 

Request Mineral Integration Module search background profiles of all HUB personnel for reference to ‘JANUS’. Thorough search may reveal identity of Guild spy. 

PIP to continue to monitor subspace transmissions and relay decoded text as instructed. Good hunting. END REPLY

CHapter 2: The history Lesson

Since there was only one Freshman High School class, Duncan and Olivia were, unfortunately, stuck in the same classroom. Duncan, Olivia, and a dozen other fourteen year olds sat together in the last period of school, hoping that the clock would speed up and release them for the day.

The classroom was round, like most of the rooms in the HUB. Unlike Earth classrooms, where the students faced one wall where the teacher stood, the students in this class faced the center of the room. Their teacher, Peter Garrity, was displaying a three dimensional image of the HUB. Professor Garrity was a tall, lanky man with dark brown skin, curly gray hair and wise brown eyes. His wide brow furrowed as he described how the HUB had been built. The HUB image itself looked like a ladder that had been twisted into a curving shape, where the top and bottom of the ladder were joined.

The Hub was completed in 2024, almost forty years ago, Professor Garrity announced. "The structure is a double helix, which is the same structure of DNA, the genetic material that makes us human. The original builders found that this ladder-like structure, with short horizontal rungs attaching two long, vertical rails on either side, was the perfect design for space living. It was formed into a circle to allow the space station to rotate, which creates a low gravity effect equal to one-third Earth Gravity. Once