Caves of Aṭlāl Bābil

By Henry Sipes

Sara Lafeete struggles to complete her work shift installing wiring in the ship's tunnels on the asteroid Psyche. Exhausted and suffering from the initial stages of radiation poisoning, she takes a detour back to the base through an ancient lava tube. Suffering from radiation brain fog, she takes a wrong turn and becomes lost as her radiation le

• Language: English
• Publisher: Author Henry Sipes
• Release date: May 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088188781

Henry Sipes

Henry Sipes became interested in space as a kid, using money saved from cucumber sales to fly Estes rockets. Carl Sagan's TV series Cosmos fueled his interest in astronomy and science. After graduating from high school, he received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Purdue University School of Interdisciplinary Engineering.For ten years, Henry volunteered for the Jefferson Community and Technical College, presenting astronomy programs at local observatories near his hometown of Flaherty, KY. He was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel for his dedication to the community by Governor Steven L. Beshear. He completed a Master of Science in Astronomy from the Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. He also served his community as a NASA Solar System Ambassador.He lives with his wife and family on a 25-acre tree farm in Oldham County, raising chickens and honey bees in his spare time.

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Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2023 by Henry Sipes

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-0881-3068-1

ISBN: 978-1-0881-8878-1 (e book)

Independently Published

The Beginning

The sun began to rise, with the regolith coming to life like a field of fireflies ready to take flight. Except these were no insects, these were reflections of the sunlight off metal-infused grains of regolith. The asteroid Psyche had been pounded by stray meteorites and rogue asteroids for millions of years.

Credit: Henry Sipes

It was theorized that perhaps Psyche was left over from the great bombardment that had occurred three billion years ago. Perhaps it was truly the core of a long-dead planet pulverized from that time. If one had an astute eye, even bits of gold could be seen shining brightly in the sun. They were not here for the gold. Something else far more valuable drove these explorers.

One more mile, just one more mile! You've got this, girl! Sara Lafeete had been crawling through the maintenance tunnels for over three hours. She had long passed the pleasantry of just perspiring; she was sweating profusely. Her mind was getting numb. Having trouble focusing on her work, she watched as the beads of sweat gathered to form small pools in the bottom of the tunnel.

The section in which she worked had been pressurized to a comfortable one atmosphere, like Earth. That was the only similarity. The air was stale, and one could almost taste the recycled gases. Sara was a very petite woman for her family line of the French blue class. Struggling to reach 4'5", she barely qualified for the mission. In