Star Fields

Chapter No,12 Explanation

Chapter No,12 Explanation

Fool me twice, Shame on me!

The alien intelligent species list did have a Trojan. I doubt that the enemy aliens anticipated how intelligent our androids are at detecting computer attacks. The androids are essentially sentient computers and very little escapes them.

What I found fascinating was the detail in the list. It not only identified each species as to their level of intelligence and technical development, it also gave precise location data for their home worlds by means of pulsar triangulation.

"I've been checking some of these locations," Molly said. "They do have habitable planets."

"Interesting," I said, looking over her shoulder at the document's display. "Hopefully, they'll check out."

"Oh," she said. "I've done a scan of Huntsville, and I can't find the Space Command headquarters. However, there is a curious cement foundation where it once stood."

"Let me see it."

The foundation was huge and covered by debris from the original structure. "What do the X-ray scans tell us?"

"The structure is shielded," Molly said. "We can't penetrate it."

I leaned back in my chair. "Well, that means that we'll have to go down there and check it out." I turned to Judy. "We wish to go down there as soon as possible."

"You may leave as soon as you wish, Jason," she said.

I stood up. "Let's go see what's in that foundation."

Molly and I went to the flight deck and boarded a shuttle.

"Are you ready," Alice asked after we got buckled in.

"Yes we are," I replied.

Alice and Ellen flew us down to the surface near the foundation in Huntsville, Alabama, a city that started out as NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center before it was converted to Space Command Headquarters. The complex was large and covered a lot of ground. The foundation that we see was where the original main building once stood.

We exited the shuttle and made our way to the foundation with Alice and Ellen protecting us. The sun was shining brightly making it hot and humid. When we made it to the base of the foundation, it was obvious that there was no way to enter it. The structure appeared to be constructed from reinforced concrete.

"I can't penetrate this," Molly complained, working with her scanning unit. "It must have some barrier shielding it."

"Maybe the entrance is underground," I said.

"Why would they put an entrance underground?"

"I don't know. This thing appears to be something that's not a normal part of any building. It's almost as if it's a bunker. Maybe they built this to hide from the effects of an asteroid collision." I pointed to a slight mound of dirt near the middle of the foundation. "Scan here and see if there is a bulge or depression down below the ground level."

After several minutes, Molly pointed. "I'm getting an anomaly right there about seven feet down."

I turned to the androids. "Is there some way that we could evacuate the dirt around there?"

"We will unload the excavation unit, Jason," Ellen said.

After a few minutes, Alice and Ellen unloaded a robotic device with a back hoe and maneuvered it over to where we were standing. With a few clicks, they had the unit shoveling out dirt like a ditch digger on steroids. It didn't take all that much time to create a ditch large enough to expose a door that was recessed into the side of the bunker.