New Hope: Book 1

The rescue pod parked safely next to the remains of New Hope on the surface of the Moon. The craft itself was a faithful copy of New Hope, and it was prepared for the next missions that were part of the whole Return to the Moon project. It wasn’t adapted to being a rescue craft, but who could complain? Julius and Ellie shouted in joy when it was clear that the orb had not interfered in the rescue mission and all the passengers of the other capsule landed safe and sound on the Moon, just about a dozen feet from the wreckage.

The airlock of the other pod opened soon after landing and three figures came out and jumped toward New Hope. There was a doctor among the three astronauts. His task was to examine the two survivors and assist them medically in any way before the other two new arrivals return to the rescue pod and get to work on connecting both crafts with a corridor. This way, all the passengers of New Hope could move to the new spaceship without leaving the safety of atmosphere inside the ships.

As soon as the three of them had passed through the airlock of the wreckage and shut the door behind them, their suits were cleaned from the regolith and the atmosphere was equalized. Removing the particles of moondust from the suits is an absolute must because the tiny specks are magnetically charged and they attach to the suits in cosmic amounts. If these particles of regolith got inside the ship, they’d be a serious threat to the passengers - both in terms of health, if they got into the respiratory system or the eyes, as well as for the electronic equipment. It would mean serious trouble for anyone who got into contact with this dust later.

When this process was over, and the pressure in the lock chamber was equalized with that in the wreckage, the three new arrivals opened the internal airlock and entered the wrecked pod.

Julius and Ellie went to welcome them but quickly stopped in their tracks, terrified and perplexed.

“What’s going on?!” asked the captain in confusion.

The newcomers were holding handguns. The only difference was that they were white and seemed to be made of some plastic.

“Why are you pointing guns at us?” said Ellie. “We thought you came to help us...,” she managed to add before there was a blast of gunfire on New Hope and both pilots of the wreckage fell slowly to the floor.

“Targets neutralized,” said one of the newcomers into his radio through the tinted visor of the helmet.

“Copy,” came an answer. “Take the survivors aboard and bring them to me,” it continued. “Search the cabin and find that orb Dr. Johnson was talking about. We’ll need it for later.”