We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a special report. There has been a nuclear explosion in western Alaska. I repeat, there has been a nuclear explosion in Alaska. While the site of the explosion is remote, we understand that there have been casualties.
—Richard Anders, ABC News
FLAMSTEED CRATER, THE MOON
Dear Nick,
You are in my debt forever, although it looks like I will never be able to collect what you owe me.
After I sent you the message about finding the bomb, I was captured and taken inside the facility in Fox Valley. Since you are reading this, I can assume that you know the building you were interested in contained a pyramid. The pyramid is constructed out of a composite material that attracts orgonic energy. Read Dr. Kawabata’s letter for details. Unfortunately, I arrived during a mutiny. Dr. Vince Walters, the executive director of the project, took control. He had stolen and planted three twenty-megaton nuclear warheads around the facility. His motives for doing this are not clear. We believe he hopes to influence the time disruptions in some unspecified way. He never intended to be transported to the moon but was stuck here after we were attacked by velociraptors that came out of the pyramid. I believe I have you to thank for sending the Russian soldiers who saved us. Why you sent Russian instead of American soldiers, I’ll
never know. Unfortunately, the velociraptors killed four of them. In fact, fourteen people died from velociraptor attacks. I won’t dwell on that horror. The names of the dead are listed in Dr. Kawabata’s letter. Their personal effects and identification are in the lower desk drawer.
At first we thought there was no way out for us. Then we discovered that insects were coming from the pyramid to feed on the dinosaur carcasses. We decided to follow an ant trail back to its source. We are sure the source is on Earth, but we don’t know where or, most important, when.
There are twelve of us left, although five are prisoners. Since I am writing this ten years before your time, I can only assume that wherever we end up is not in the recent past otherwise I would have found a way to get a message to you. Perhaps we will journey to the future, if so, I’ll look you up and meet your grandchildren.
I love you. I don’t think I knew how much until I realized I would never see you again. I know this is an unfair way for you to find out, but I couldn’t let my last chance go by without telling you.
Love,
Elizabeth
P.S. Would you look up a woman named Eilene Stromki for me? She was my guide in Alaska. Vince Walters may have killed her in a mineshaft near Murderer’s Lake. If she is alive, thank her for me and let her know I got out safely.
Nick read the letter again with a deep and profound sense of loss growing. By the end of the second reading he was dealing with grief and guilt. He had sent Elizabeth down the road that led to this, and like Elizabeth, only now did he realize how important she was to him.
Reluctantly, Nick relinquished the screen, letting Emmett read Elizabeth’s letter. Until then, no one on the team knew of Nick’s suspicions about the secret building that Elizabeth discovered in Alaska. Emmett’s expressions while he read ran the gamut of emotions—surprise, wonder, concern, anger, sadness.
“This is the building that Elizabeth found in Fox Valley—wherever that is?” Emmett said.
“Elizabeth discovered that the structure on the moon looked similar to the one she found in Alaska. They have to be the same building.”
“Russian soldiers?”
“Elizabeth sent me a photo of a nuclear device. It turned out to be Russian. I shared it with Nev on the space station. She made a contact for me. I suppose that’s where they came from.”
“Nick, there’s a lot you haven’t been telling me,” Emmett said, his anger growing.
“The connection seemed so remote,” Nick explained.
“What have you held back from my wife? Is she going to get blown to the moon too? Or just blown up?”
“Believe me, Emmett, I didn’t know anything about nuclear weapons being involved. I’m sure Carrollee is safe. John is with her and he took a hunter and three rangers.”
Emmett wouldn’t be mollified, but he let it go. The others had been listening intently, fascinated by the cryptic references to everything from Russian soldiers to nuclear weapons in Alaska. Clearly worried, Emmett slipped out of the chair and went back to work on the computer he was refurbishing. Rosa, Reggie, and Phil all rushed to fill his spot, tilting the screen this way and that until they agreed on an angle where they all could read at the same time.
Rosa’s reaction was wonder. Phil’s was puzzlement. Reggie began to cry.
“Reggie, what’s wrong?” Nick asked.
Reggie wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Just the stress, I guess.”
“Maybe you should prescribe something for yourself,” Nick suggested.
They carried a small supply of pharmaceuticals.
“After reading this I could use a hit myself,” Phil said.
Reggie ignored him, hurrying from the room, her sobs receding down the corridor. They gave her the privacy she needed.
Emmett finished reassembling the second computer. The computer belonged to the Vince Walters mentioned in Elizabeth’s letter. Those files not corrupted were correspondence, internal memos, and work schedules.
“Let’s take the hard drive with us. I can recover any wiped files when I get back to Earth,” Phil said.
“Nick, I need to go outside and contact mission control,” Rosa said. “We’re long overdue.”
“I’ll go with you to the lander,” Nick said. “We can carry back food and water and then spend more time going through these records.”
Nick also wanted to contact the vice president to find out whether there had been an explosion. Phil and Emmett would stay and continue to work on recovering files and refurbishing computers.
Downstairs they helped each other into their PLSS suits. On the way to the exit they found Reggie standing in front of the pyramid, looking inside. Reggie’s reactions continued to puzzle Nick. They seemed out of proportion and often inappropriate. Letting Reggie work through whatever issues she had, they headed for the exit, then suddenly stopped, startled by loud noises.
Reggie backed away from the pyramid opening, the low gravity giving her an exaggerated, slow-motion movement. Then, from the dark doorway two men burst, arms around
each other, rifles in their hands. Tumbling out of the door, they lost their footing, bouncing, releasing each other. Then there was a booming bellow that echoed through the chamber, and out of the pyramid came a tyrannosaur.