Survive!: First Alien Contact

By Charles P. Graham

Twelve light-years from Earth, Lieutenant Commander Valory Jeanne is alone in the astrophysics lab when an unexpected meteor storm strikes the United Earth Space Force ship, Copernicus, after just four orbits around a newly discovered planet in the Tau Ceti star system. Now stranded onboard without any means of escaping to the planet below, the PhD astrophysicist must struggle against insurmountable odds to stay alive on a dead spaceship.

While relying on ingenuity, perseverance, and hard-won knowledge, lone survivor Valory finally manages to revive the ships state-of-the-art equipment and devise a method of sending communication to Earth. As the faster-than-light message speeds through the universe, Valory knows it is her last hope of rescue before the ship enters the atmosphere and crashes in a shallow sea. Unfortunately, Earth is not the only recipient of her message. As rescuers Chris Elliott and Caitlyn Carver race to the crash site in a problem-plagued new spaceship, hostile aliens circle the Copernicus, transforming Valorys predicament from bad to worse.

In this continuing science fiction adventure, an astrophysicist trapped in her spaceship awaiting rescue unwittingly makes contact with aliens who quickly reveal the hazards and benefits of sharing the universe with other beings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491783818

Charles P. Graham

Charles P. Graham is a chiropractor in private practice since 1980. He served in the United States Navy nuclear submarine force from 1968 until 1972, and presently serves as a lieutenant colonel and pilot in the all-volunteer United States Air Force Auxiliary, Civil Air Patrol. Dr. Graham lives with his wife in St. Johns, Michigan.

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SURVIVE!

FIRST ALIEN CONTACT

Copyright © 2015 Charles P. Graham.

Cover Artist: Steven J. Catizone

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4917-8380-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-8382-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-8381-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015919328

iUniverse rev. date: 02/19/2016

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Prologue

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I could not have taken the time to write this sequel to my first book, Survive! Marooned on Planet Tau Ceti g, without the support of my wife, who put up with me sitting at my laptop as soon as I arrived home from my day job, and with my late night writing.

Writing a novel takes more than one person. Yes, the ideas for the story line come from the author, but it is the behind the scenes people who help the author make the book a great read. I would like to thank my friend, Lynne, who helped tremendously with the editing process. She was instrumental in getting me to use stronger verbs and more descriptive adjectives to make the story come alive. Also, my thanks go to Pat Smith and my copy editor Cassandra LaPorte for a last minute line-by-line edit to catch errors that are easily missed. I would be remiss if I also didn’t thank Sarah, my editorial consultant from iUniverse, who encouraged me through some tough editing trials.

Lastly, I want to thank those who waited patiently for this book to be published.

I value your opinions. You may visit my website, www.charlespgraham.com, to leave a comment.

Online reviews are like word-of-mouth advertising for authors. Please write a short review on your favorite online retailer. Thank you!

Dare to dream the impossible for someday the impossible will become the new reality.

Charles P. Graham

PROLOGUE

Five months ago.

Twelve light-years from Earth, Lieutenant Commander Valory Jeanne was alone in the astrophysics lab when the United Earth Space Force (UESF) ship, Copernicus, started to lose atmosphere. She shut the airtight compartment hatch and put on her emergency breathing apparatus as required per the emergency procedures manual, just as an explosion rocked the ship. She lost her balance, struck her head on a computer console, and was rendered unconscious. The meteor storm struck while the ship orbited a newly discovered planet in the Tau Ceti star system, and was destroyed. Valory never heard the abandon ship alarms.

When Valory awoke, the lab was dark, quiet, and getting colder. Her head hurt, and her ribs and left arm were sore from lying in an unnatural position. The only illumination emanated from an emergency lantern on the bulkhead that cast ominous shadows throughout the compartment. She pulled herself to a sitting position, using the computer console as a backrest. Gingerly, she rubbed her ribs and arm and checked for broken bones. Although painful, she found only bruises. She attempted to stand, but grasped the console for support when the room began to spin. The lean, forty-two-year-old PhD astrophysicist paused for a moment while the dizziness abated. She attempted to use the ship’s intercom to call for help, and realized that all the circuits were dead. Out of frustration and fear, she shouted, Help! Can anyone hear me? She regained her balance and approached the hatch. She saw that the pressure meter above the entrance to the adjacent compartment read zero. Great! Now, what do I do? she said to herself.

The adjacent compartment was without air, so she couldn’t open the hatch without losing atmosphere from her compartment. Valory considered her options She donned a spacesuit from one of the storage lockers and used the lab’s airlock to go outside the ship where she eventually found a hull breach from one of the explosions that was large enough for her to reenter the ship. The size of the breach minimized the chance of snagging and ripping her spacesuit, and allowed her access to the airless portion of the ship. Valory made her way to the Emergency Departure Compartment to discover that five of the capsules had successfully launched, but that the others were damaged beyond her ability to repair. Her next thought was to use the shuttle to escape. Not being a pilot, she anticipated that she could use the onboard computers and autopilot to land in a safe area, hopefully near the other escape pods on the planet below.

On her way to the shuttle bay, Valory discovered that one of the power cores on the ship was still producing power, but only to the battery backup system. All the regular power connections had been severed by meteors that punctured the spacecraft, or were burned through by surges in the system before the circuit breakers were able to engage. In some cases, the power surge was so intense, arcing across the circuit breakers fused them before they could trip. The excessive power caused massive damage and fires in equipment. With no atmosphere or power in the bulk of the ship, the flames extinguished, and the environmental controls were off-line. Artificial gravity was spotty, dependent upon where the graviton power junctions and plates weren’t destroyed. During the first hours of her exploration, she had found two crewmembers that were still alive and trapped in one of the smaller compartments. Communication with them was established by touching her helmet to the hatch. Air on the other side carried sound through the hatch and into her helmet. The sound was muffled, but understandable. The two crewmembers had no food or water, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Valory was powerless to help them. After a day and a half, no sound came from that compartment. She mourned the loss.

When she arrived at the shuttle bay, she discovered that the damage the shuttle had suffered the week before from a thruster failure while entering the bay had only been partially repaired. In addition to the non-completed repairs, she found several baseball-sized, ragged hull punctures that would present a problem from heat build-up during reentry. There were also many heat ablative tiles cracked or missing on the wings and fuselage. She suspected the damage was due to meteor fragments ricocheting inside the hanger. Unfortunately, the destruction required more than she could fix to make the shuttle flight-worthy.

Needing a place to eat, sleep, stay warm, and that had sanitary facilities was an immediate problem. The spacesuit could provide most of what Valory required, but only temporarily. She could charge the spacesuit batteries and exchange oxygen tanks while wearing the suit, but that was a cumbersome and time-consuming task. Refilling the suit’s liquid food and water containers, and emptying the sanitary holding bags required her to open her suit, which could only be done in the astrophysics lab where there was an atmosphere. The process had to be completed quickly because of the extreme cold. The food and water containers would take several hours to thaw once inside the suit, so planning ahead was essential. She knew her situation was dismal, and the longer she put off figuring out how to stay alive, the more dire her circumstance would become. She realized that even if there was heat in the astrophysics lab, with the environmental controls off-line, rising carbon dioxide levels would eventually make the air toxic and unbreathable. Thus, the shuttle became her focus for living quarters.

It took several days for Valory to make enough repairs to the shuttle to maintain atmospheric pressure inside, and turn on the heat. The shuttle was designed to be used by a crew of four and accommodate up to sixteen passengers, sustaining them for voyages up to thirty days’ duration, so it was relatively comfortable in a Spartan sort of way. With the onboard anti-matter drives, power would last for many years. Wastewater could be recycled providing her with virtually an unlimited supply of water. There was enough food to sustain her for twelve months, which could be supplemented with food packets from the ship. She was grateful when she could finally remove her spacesuit to shower and get a hot meal with solid food.

After restoring pressure to the shuttle, Valory had found that all its systems were working properly except the flight controls that were damaged beyond her ability to repair. Power, artificial gravity, heat, sanitation facilities, computers, and air and water regeneration modules, all worked within acceptable parameters. However, during her investigation of the onboard systems, she discovered that the inertial dampeners only functioned when the shuttle was in flight. She also noted that the onboard computers had not been updated with the latest information about the planet since all systems were off during the repair. The communication console seemed to work well according to the display. However, when she tried to contact the escape capsules that had departed for the surface, she wasn’t sure if the signal was getting through the hull of the Copernicus, or if no one had made it alive to the surface to respond to her hails. As far as she knew, she was the lone survivor.

During several extra-vehicular activity excursions, Valory had taken her time to examine the outside of the Copernicus and discovered that all main compartments had been compromised. There were a few smaller areas of the ship that hadn’t sustained damage, but she wouldn’t be able to open the hatches to those compartments without explosive decompression occurring. There was also the possibility of being killed or seriously injured in the process.

Within another week, Valory had completed mapping all the damaged areas on the outside of the ship, and discovered an undamaged airlock in the after section that still had backup power. The intact airlock allowed her access to the airless part of the spaceship, without the danger of tearing her spacesuit on a snag or sharp piece of metal. By the third week of being stranded on the doomed ship, she had the inside mapped. The blood and gore from the crew killed in the maelstrom had frozen and sublimated, so all that was left were stiff and desiccated bodies and body parts that she collected and put in an out-of-the-way room. Freeze-dried blood marked where her shipmates had died, leaving a grisly reminder of the once thriving life aboard the Copernicus. Moving the corpses and body parts was a gruesome task, and it wasn’t until she had finished that abhorrent job that she allowed herself to grieve over the loss of her friends and shipmates.

Valory documented her progress the old-fashioned way—with pencil and paper. She found them in a box of supplies that was labeled, Marking Tools. She was amazed that in her day and age such old-fashioned ways of taking notes were still used. After all, she did learn to write by hand, but until now rarely used that skill. Dictation to a tablet computer and using touch screen icons was the preferred way, and learning to type with a keyboard was still a required skill. With the temperature hovering around minus seventy degrees Celsius everywhere except in the shuttle, the pencil was the only writing instrument that worked well, but it took her a while to learn how not to break the brittle pencil point with her heavily gloved hand. When she returned to the shuttle, she transferred her notes to the shuttle’s computer, and printed a copy to take back to the lab for reference when needed.

Determined to make the best of a bad situation, she worked diligently to restore partial power and heat to the astrophysics lab. To her advantage, she was a fully qualified Copernicus crewmember and knew the inner workings of the ship like the back of her hand.

She thought of the qualified astronaut emblem that was stitched on her uniform. She closed her eyes and recalled every aspect of the ship, writing it down as she went. Just like sailors in the submarine service on Earth earn their dolphins, astronauts on spaceships had to learn the details of every onboard system. Every major piece of equipment and how to operate it in case of emergency was memorized; every hull penetration; major wiring runs and junction boxes; hydraulics and plumbing systems; and how to execute the emergency procedures in all compartments had to be learned. Each crewmember had to pass rigorous testing to win the coveted Yuri Gagarin Astronaut Badge that could by proudly worn on their uniforms.

Valory tinkered with the computers in the astrophysics compartment until she had hardwired them to the backup battery power from the emergency lighting system. Grunting in frustration, she forced herself to focus on the next hurdle: the computers would not function below zero Celsius. She was starting to shiver. The temperature outside the ship fluctuated from minus 160 degrees Celsius when in shadow, to 200 degrees Celsius on the sun side. Judging by the amount of frost collecting on the viewports, the ship was heading into shadow. She gazed at rest of the compartment and visualized what it looked like before the extreme cold covered everything in a white fuzzy frosting. Valory was suddenly grateful that the lab’s insulation was intact, keeping the ambient temperature inside the lab at minus seventy degrees plus or minus twenty.

I’m so tired of being cold! The constant cold reminded her of the minus thirty-five-degree Celsius temperature that froze and broke the water lines to the calving barn and flooded the stalls back home. That forced her to deliver three calves outside where the wind-chill was minus seventy, and the snow was almost a meter deep. How well I remember that night! The plumber had told her that he couldn’t get his diesel truck started and wouldn’t be able to make it over until sometime late in the morning or early afternoon. She knew that he kept his truck in a heated garage and didn’t want to take the call in the middle of the night that would force him to deal with the snow and cold weather. Heck, I didn’t want to be outside to deliver calves that night either! Other than some frostbite on the calves’ ears, they all survived. Why my parents wanted a cattle ranch in northern Minnesota is still a mystery to me. Well, at least here there’s no wind, she thought, consoling herself.

She thought of her elderly parents that needed her support more than ever. Her mother’s illness and father’s injuries prevented them from working for the last six months. She knew that if she hadn’t enlisted in the United Earth Space Force before they became physically challenged, she would be home taking care of the ranch and them. I can’t fail now. I have to be strong for them.

Valory had been diligently working on a solution to get the lab’s equipment running. She shivered. If I can only get some heat here in the lab, I’ll be able to turn on the computers and get some of the sensors operating. Then I can figure out what my present status is in this wreck of a ship. She finished documenting her progress and tucked the notepad into a pocket on the leg of her spacesuit and yawned. Her stomach growled reminding her that she hadn’t eaten in many hours. I think it’s time to rejuvenate and refresh.

Valory spent most of her time in the astrophysics lab. She allowed one hour of travel time from the lab to the shuttle, even though it only took thirty minutes. With a thirteen-hour supply of air in the EVA suit, she could put in a ten-hour workday that began when she sealed the suit, take an hour to travel between the shuttle and lab for each trip, and still have an additional sixty minutes of reserve air. There were extra O2 tanks in the lab, but they were difficult to exchange while wearing the suit.

Valory slowly drifted out the lab’s airlock with a short burst from her EVA pack and aligned herself along the exterior of the ship. She paused a few moments to gaze at the magnificent view of the planet below. It’s so beautiful and peaceful looking from here. She took her time navigating aft to the other airlock. Just before she shut the airlock hatch, she turned to look at the sharp black and white contrast of space with the stars shining brightly. She formed a wistful smile knowing that home was out there—twelve light-years away.

Once inside the ship, Valory made her way to the cargo space where the emergency rations were kept. Cherry picking some of the tastier provisions, she helped herself to several of the swollen packages that had burst through their storage boxes. She made her way to the hanger bay, entered the shuttle, and sealed the airlock behind her. Once inside the pressurized cabin, the packages returned to their normal vacuum-sealed appearance.

Valory shook her head, and chuckled out loud, "The makers of these rations have no idea what vacuum packed really means."

She removed her spacesuit and hung it in the storage locker, squeezing it between six suits she had previously worn. She savored a deep breath of what she thought was going to be clean, warm air, and gagged after getting a whiff of the insides of the suits. She vowed to service them all later.

After resting for six hours and eating a quick meal, Valory serviced three of the suits and donned one. On her way to the astrophysics lab, she paused to enjoy the vista below again. I’m going to miss this view when I get rescued … if I get rescued. She had to suppress rising emotions as she entered the forward airlock. She immediately went back to work to finish rigging a portable power supply to a heater she obtained from a damaged escape capsule. She double checked the connections before she pressed the power button with her thickly gloved hand. She didn’t know if the exposure to the extreme cold would prevent the unit from starting, and whether or not all that work was for naught. Diodes on the environmental unit began to glow.

Yes! she shouted, punching a victorious fist into the air and taking a step to high-five a nearby column with her other hand. The unit started warming the air around her. Valory, with an ear-to-ear grin, studied the unit’s display for several minutes before she decided it would be safe to let it run unattended.

She had already supplied the room with dry cleaning cloths, and hummed to herself as she removed as much frost as she could from computer screens, consoles, keyboards, and electrical sources before the melting started. It helped tremendously to minimize the amount of water that clung to the equipment as it transitioned from ice crystals to a liquid. The rest evaporated as the room warmed.

Eight hours later, she removed her thick gloves and helmet and tasted the crisp but warming air. She crossed her fingers before she pressed the power button on the computer. She hoped that exposure to the extreme cold for an extended time didn’t damage any sensitive components inside. The computer slowly came to life. Going through its long and complicated boot sequence, the familiar screen finally displayed when the process finished.

Yes! she grinned, while dancing an awkward, spacesuited happy dance. Now I can get to work and figure my way out of this mess!

It had been eight weeks since the destruction of the Copernicus. With the lab’s computers working, Valory was able to get the passive sensor array functional because that part of the ship was spared from the carnage of the meteor storm. All sensor data had been entered, and the results of her computations were finalized. She stared unbelievingly at the computer screen. Her calculations proved that the ship’s orbit was in slow decay. She had an estimated eight to nine weeks before atmospheric entry.

She shouted, No! No! No! and repeatedly pounded on the small workstation desk with her fists in anger and frustration. She gripped her forehead in the palms of her hands, elbows on the desk. Why now? After all that work! Why couldn’t I have just died with everyone else?

She slumped in the chair, buried her head in folded arms on the small table, and wept. Exhaustion overcame her, and she fell asleep. She dreamed …

Valory startled awake. She brushed her shoulder length blond hair from her face. Her tears, long dried, left a salty residue on her cheeks, as well as on the surface where she had laid her head; her hazel-green eyes still bloodshot. Using the sleeve of her jumpsuit to wipe away the itchy salt from her face and workstation desk, she turned her attention to the computer controls with renewed determination.

Her search took two weeks.

1

Present Time.

The one-month journey back to Earth after being rescued from the surface of the planet, Tau Ceti g, went by quickly. Too quickly, if you asked the survivors of the destroyed Copernicus. After four months of fleeing gigantic carnivorous land and aquatic animals; enduring cold, rain, floods, food shortages, and hordes of flesh-eating insects; the trip aboard the Josephine A. Brookfield, United Earth Space Force spacecraft, was one of pure luxury.

Chris said, In a few hours we’ll be docked at Earth Station II, and pushed his empty coffee cup aside.

I know. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of my leave time on Earth, replied Caitlyn, as she thoughtfully ran her fingers through her medium-brown hair.

Caitlyn, the former Copernicus executive officer, and Chris Elliott, the PhD xenobiologist that led the survival group while stranded, sat at the table in the Brookfield’s wardroom.

Are you going home? asked Chris.

She shook her head. "Not exactly. I sold my residence when I accepted the executive officer position on the Copernicus, knowing that within a few months I’d be gone on a five-year exploratory mission. So in a sense, I guess you could say my home was destroyed when it crashed on Tau Ceti g. I’m going to miss that ship."

The Copernicus was near the end of a five-year mission to explore nearby star systems for life and habitable planets for human colonization, but was destroyed after only four orbits around the planet by an unexpected meteor storm. Only seven crewmembers survived to make it to the surface. Four months later, the Copernicus crashed into shallow water about two hundred kilometers from where the survivors were being rescued.

She paused for a few moments before continuing, My parents passed away ten years ago in a horrific traffic accident, but I do have a sister in Chicago. I’ll contact her when we arrive to make arrangements to stay with her for a while.

Chris folded his hands and rested them on the table. You mentioned her once before. She’s married with three kids isn’t she?

Caitlyn toyed with her empty cup. Yes, two boys and a girl.

That’s not too far from Lansing, Michigan. I have an uncle just north of there in the small rural town of St. Johns. I’d like to spend some time with him, maybe do some salmon fishing on Lake Michigan. He loves to fish and is always looking for an excuse to go, reminisced Chris. He visualized catching a nice king salmon from his uncle’s twenty-four-foot boat, Hungry Man, but left the hint that he would like to be with her while on Earth.

Chris and Caitlyn discovered their love for each other just before the Brookfield rescued the survivors. The problem, they knew, was that she outranked him, and military regulations prohibited intimate relationships unless the couple was of the same rank or married before enlisting.

She pushed her cup to the center of the table, smiled and made eye contact. I’d like to go with you sometime. Do you think your uncle would welcome another passenger?

Chris grinned. Sure, except that it would be more fun if you were to try your hand at landing one of those monsters, instead of just watching as a passenger. I can guarantee it’s a lot more fun than the way we had to do it a month ago.

Caitlyn’s expression softened. She glanced down at the table for a moment, and then directly into Chris’s hazel-green eyes. Actually, I’m more interested in just being with you.

Chris felt a thrill in his chest and wanted more than anything else to be able to hold her in his arms, but military rules specifically stated that there will be no public displays of affection on any military installation, especially shipboard. Her eyes crinkled, and she smiled a smile that said, Later. As they rose to leave, Miranda Stevens entered the wardroom.

With surprise in his voice, Chris said, Miranda! It’s so good to see you! After they wheeled you to sick bay when we arrived, they wouldn’t let us visit you.

"It’s great to see you too, both of you. I was so very lonely in there. I couldn’t have visitors because the medical staff