Fatal Discovery

Chapter 1

Three years ago a research team of ten people had come to Mars in search of deutronium, a major source of fuel for space vessels. The team discovered, as they had expected, a rich deposit of deutronium and set up what was now called Mars Base One. The mission of the Excelsior’s crew was to complete Mars Base One and begin excavation of the deutronium.

Alyssa turned to the door and pressed a small silver button next to it. In response, the door slide open with an obnoxious hiss and granted passage to the hallway it guarded.

The hallways on the Excelsior were actually rather disturbing. They were all exactly six feet tall and four feet wide. They were covered, floor, walls and ceiling, with a metal alloy only broken by doors every few meters. Each door was adorned with a small black plate with white lettering identifying the occupant and the suite number. The halls were lit by extremely bright halogen lights every ten or fifteen feet. Oddly, the lights gave no reflection in the metal alloy that was covering everything.

The space program needs an interior decorator, she thought as she walked out the door and down the hallway. As she rounded the corner she passed someone she knew and stopped to converse for several minutes. Finally, she reached the door of the turbo-lift, pressed the button next to the door and leaned against the metal wall as the lift sped toward her.

As she stood waiting, a rather tall and well built man walked up.

“Going up?”

“Yes I am.”

“Thank goodness. I was going to be late if I had to wait on the next lift. Name’s Derek, Derek Hollister.”

“Nice to meet you Derek Derek Hollister,” She smiled as she proffered her hand and he shook it, firmly. “I’m Alyssa Anderson”

The lift arrived and the two stepped on to it. They pressed their respective buttons and were on their way.

“So your the leader of this whole crazy goose chase, huh?”

Alyssa laughed, “I guess you could say that. Why do you call it a goose chase?”

“Well I know for a fact that scientist found out years ago that the Greyson comet it full of deutronium and it’s a heck of a lot closer than here.”

“But New Russia has already claimed the Greyson comet.”

A strange look came over Derek’s face. “Well I think...”

But before he could say what he thought, the lift reached his floor and he bade her goodbye. The door slid closed behind him and the lift resumed its accent.

Alyssa thought she knew where he had intended to go with his comment. In 2132, when Earth United had formed, Russia had been the only nation to refuse to sign the peace treaty. To prevent a war from breaking out, the United Earth Counsel decided to give the moon to Russia for population. With modern technology, the Russians were able to produce their own food and water in airponics labs on the moon, and, according to satellite intelligence, they had begun to tera-form parts of it.

By 2137 the moon became officially know as “New Russia” and Old Russia became part of England and joined United Earth. But in resent years, New Russia had been doing some questionable things, including sending spies to the United Earth Counsel meetings.

Earth responded in kind by sending it’s own spies to New Russia. There were groups now that opposed New Russia and held the opinion that United Earth should declare war and take over New Russia.

After the comet, named after it's discoverer Marcus Greyson, was discovered on a direct collision course with Earth, The Counsel formed the United Earth Defense Force. The Defense Force safely altered the path of the comet and brought it into orbit around Earth. New Russia quickly took possession of this comet, angering the people of Earth even more, but Earth still refused to take any action against them.