The Capsule by Maurice Ellis (crime books to read TXT) 📕

what was happening to them. They had no idea of their speed, nor did they know if they were still heading towards Mars. The ship was still surrounded by the blue bubble. The chief engineer suggested they restart the engine and try to slow the craft down. It was agreed and they set to work. After a few minutes the engine was up and running. The ship started accelerating and gathered speed so quickly that the crew were caught by surprise and were thrown back against the bulkhead. They were soon back at the controls. To decelerate, they needed to turn the ship around using the side-mounted thruster jets. The thrusters did not respond. So they shut down the engines. Alien-one continued on its course, no longer accelerating but still moving at high velocity, destination unknown.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 8 – Lost in Space

 

 

August 19th. 2042, fifteen days since Alien-One had left for Mars. Moon-base had tried everything they could to find out where the ship was. No radio contact and no visual from the two space telescopes stationed in orbit around the Moon and Mars. All further tests, using the alien fuel, were suspended until they found a solution to the disappearance. There didn't seem to be much else they could do, except wait.

 

*****

The crew, and Professor Maynard, still had no idea exactly how fast they were going. Neither had they been able to work out in which direction they were travelling. Had the ship stayed on course for Mars they realised it would be many millions of miles behind them by now. There was sufficient life support, such as food and water, to keep the crew alive for another three months. Nobody wanted to talk about what might happen once their supplies ran out. They went back to work, trying to fix the thrusters.

 

* * * * *

 

Two months had passed since Earth lost contact with Alien-one. They now had no choice but to declare the ship as lost in space. They also had to declare the crew as missing and possibly dead. A decision was also made to stop experimenting with the alien fuel because of the unknown hazards. It was therefore locked away in a secure military facility.

 

Meanwhile, Alien-one continued to coast through space at an unknown velocity. They had been travelling into deep space for more than two months. No further contact with Earth or Moon base had been possible. The crew had one more month's supply of food and water. All efforts to make the side-thrusters work had failed. They had tried to go outside the ship to look for thruster problems but couldn’t open the hatch. It was surmised that the bubble surrounding the ship was exerting too much pressure on it. There was nothing more to do but wait and hope. On the plus side, they were delighted to find their physical condition was excellent. The crystal-mist was definitely working.

* * * * *

 

At 0530 hours on the morning of October 17th. (Ship time and calendar) the crew of Alien-One were still asleep when a loud rumble worked its way through the ship. All were instantly awake. Nothing seemed amiss until the chief engineer told them to look out through the port-holes. The blue bubble had disappeared. They could now see clearly into deep space. As they stared out a planet came into view. They guessed that it was about five-thousand miles ahead on the port quarter. The ship suddenly changed course and headed straight for it. They now realised that they were no longer in control of their ship. Something, or someone, was guiding them down to the planet. The crew strapped themselves into their seats and waited.

 

As the ship was guided through the planet's atmosphere it slowed down to about five hundred miles per hour. A broad expanse of land came into view. They slowed down even more and the ship turned through one-hundred and eighty degrees. Their spacecraft finally came to a halt when it landed upright on what appeared to be a large concrete landing pad. The crew gathered at the portholes and stared out. Futuristic looking vehicles made their way towards the ship. Were they back on Earth, or had they landed on an alien planet?

 

There was a knocking sound on the outer hatch. With some trepidation, the captain opened it. A rush of sweet-smelling, fresh air filled the cabin, making the crew feel almost dizzy. They realised that, despite the carbon dioxide scrubbers and oxygen recyclers, their two months in space had considerably fouled their air.

 

Gratefully breathing in the new atmosphere, they saw a taller-than-average, fair-skinned human being standing just outside the open hatch. Certainly nothing like any alien they had envisaged. The man thrust his hand forward, smiled and said, “Tanna vi su”. Which the captain took to mean something like welcome in the other language found on the documents.. Then. Maynard spoke to the man in the old Norse language saying, “We are very pleased to meet you.” The man laughed out loud, clapped his hands and grabbed hold of Maynard’s shaking his hands warmly then he entered the cabin and shook hands with everyone on board, welcoming them in their newly learned language. After the greetings the man lead everyone out and ushered them into very advanced looking vehicles parked right next to the ship. The crew had seen nothing like them on Earth. They were quickly, and almost silently, whisked away and taken to a nearby building which turned out to be a medical centre. Many aliens were gathered outside, waving enthusiastically to the new arrivals.

 

Chapter 9 – Tellius

 

 

Ten months had passed since the crew of Alien-one had landed on the planet; it was now August the 14th. 2043. They had learned that the planet they had unintentionally travelled so far and so long to find really was called 'Tellius. During their ten month stay they had gathered a great deal of information about the aliens and their planet. The crew concentrated mainly on increasing their language skills at first, which turned out to be quite easy for them as Maynard had done a good job. They had also managed to teach the Aliens a lot of the English language, and communication was fairly easy. The joke among the crew was that, unlike a TV series back on Earth, the Aliens didn’t all speak English with an American accent.

 

The planet itself was approximately twenty-five percent smaller than Earth which meant its gravity was lower. Because of this the inhabitants would grow taller than those on Earth. All the adults had the willowy look of some of the East African tribes from Earth. But they were also weaker than their shorter, stockier guests. The main effects of this difference were that the Tellus people could reach higher and run faster, but the Earthmen were stronger and had more endurance. There were three land masses on the planet, plus about one hundred islands. The total population of the planet was in the region of forty-million. The ecology and geology were similar to Earth, but more stable, with less seismic activity and calmer weather patterns. The atmosphere was thinner than that of Earth, which was like living at an altitude of about two thousand feet back home, but they soon adapted to it.

 

Most of the people on the planet spoke the same language, old Norse but some had kept the original alien’s language going. About two-thousand years ago the planet was populated by a completely different race of beings. They were highly intelligent and very advanced technologically. However, they were dying out rapidly because of an extremely vicious virus. Concerned that their race would be completely wiped out, they decided to experiment with interbreeding. They sent spaceship out into the galaxy to find others similar to themselves for this purpose. Originally the planet was called Onawenta but the new inhabitants had decided to change it to a more Earth-sounding name, hence Tellius.

 

What the visitors learned next astounded them. The Tellius had searched for over one-hundred years until they found Earth. The Aliens landed in northern Europe and forced five-hundred humans to go back with them to Tellius. At that time the Earth's population was low, technology had not been developed, and it was easy to persuade those they wished to take that they were going to a far better life. In spite of such massive preparations, all attempts at interbreeding failed and within forty years of the return they had become extinct.

 

 

 

The people captured from Earth were not affected by the virus. Over the next two-thousand years they flourished. Their offspring adapted to the lower gravity and evolved. They grew taller than they would have done on Earth; they were healthy and rarely suffered any illnesses. Their original language was not forgotten and they now mainly spoke Old Norse. Meat was never eaten and there were no such things as tobacco or alcohol.

 

 

They had been taught technology by the original inhabitants and had become extremely advanced. Knowing their roots they wanted to let others know of their existence. Over the past one -hundred years they had sent out hundreds of capsules hoping that someday one might land on their original home planet. And, of course, they had now succeeded. “So we are actually cousins!” the Captain said with wonder. “Our differences are no more than the differences between Earth folk who have adapted to varied environments on their own planet – pygmies versus the very tall Maasai, for instance. “ The Aliens were also filled with wonder to see the Earthmen and know this was how their ancestors had looked before their exodus all those thousands of years ago.

 

*****

 

Professor Maynard had been working and studying alongside an attractive Tellus Matian woman name Guilden. She was six feet tall, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He had to admit to himself that he had fallen madly in love with her. He was sure that, because of the way she acted when they were together, Guilden had developed deep feelings for him too. The fact that she was six feet tall and he only five feet six inches didn’t seem to bother her at all. It certainly didn’t bother Maynard.

 

Much had been learned from the Aliens by Maynard and the ship’s crew. They had all been made more than welcome but decided that they should return to Earth. They would take with them documents outlining plans for technology never before imagined on Earth. With the use of such information scientists back home would be able to make tremendous strides in the manufacture of engines suitable for interplanetary travel. There was also much information in other areas which would thrill scientists back home.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10 – Homeward bound.

 

 

Three ships were made ready for the return trip. They were far in advance of anything produced on Earth and had been fitted out with rejuvenation pods so that the crew could sleep for most of the journey. There was sufficient space on board to carry one hundred travellers on each ship for the return journey to Onawa. Two crew members from the Earth ship would accompany each alien ship, along with four Aliens. Professor Colin Maynard had decided to stay behind. He couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing Guilden again. She too wanted him to stay. So it was decided.

 

“Will you be making use of the “Blue Bubble” technology for the journey to Earth? And if so, please explain how it works.” the Captain asked. The whole crew were paying close attention; they were keen to understand this apparently miraculous technology. The same Alien, who had greeted their arrival over half an Earth year ago, and whose name they later found out to be Elnoa, answered this important question. “Yes, Captain. It's the only way to cover the enormous distances involved in a reasonably short time. We