~ELEment 115 [Jan2014]

“I’ll say it once more. This is Commander John Kevin Monroe aboard the International Space Station. I need to speak with the President. So get him on the line NOW...”





It all started like any other January day. The research was ongoing as planned. We were on the verge of recreating an extraterrestrial energy source called Element 115, after meticulously following the reverse engineering process taken from the same Element found on an alien artifact discovered in Antarctica.

By all means, this research was classified Above Top Secret and only two chemistry specialists, three specifically chosen scientists and a handful of astronauts aboard the I.S.S. knew of the secret experiment taking place within its outer space walls.

For all others on board, this was just a regular mission, with its normal medical experiments.

The Element 115 had been around for years, kept under cryogenics* experimentation, as no one knew how it would react to air; and fundamentally, oxygen. The fact that it had been found on an unknown mechanism made of an alloy nonexistent on Earth, in the deep freeze of Antarctica and under miles of ice, led scientists to believe that it would remain under a certain safety state of existence as it remained deeply frozen.

Experimenting aboard the I.S.S., thus avoiding the dangers of an experiment that could turn awfully wrong on Earth, seemed like the logical solution.

I find it highly ironic that the only ones back on Earth that knew of the existence of this Element 115 were a few conspiracy theorists, and only after the information had been leaked by an engineer working at Area 51 in 1989*. I understand that the Disinformation Teams had their hands full with this guy.

Our best scientists had tried to reproduce the element back then, under cryonic conditions but the new element would break up under instability, so it was finally decided that the next experiments would take place in the future, and in the vastness of vacuum space.

Unfortunately, the future is today, January 12th, 2014.

It took years to build an exterior research lab, attached to the I.S.S. The secrecy factor had been hard to keep, as the info fed to the Media was always of an exterior problem that aroused, dissimulating the reality of a covert construction of a secret Lab.

Since we got our mission underway, we were now able to monitor, under strict and reserved observation from inside the station, our best of the best, Dr Jensen, Dr Willard and scientific nominee Holt as they reproduced the Element.

But none of us were expecting this outcome.


“Commander Monroe, I have the President on the secure line...”

“About time...Thank you.”


“Mr Monroe, this is President Gray, I hope this is important. I am in the middle of a very important meeting...”

“Listen up Mr President, nothing is more important than what I am about to tell you right now and there is very little time. I am fully aware that you have no knowledge of the current experiments going onboard the Station at this very moment so I’ll make this short and simple. “

“Go on...”

“As you know, the latest team of scientists left a month ago from Russia in order to conduct secret experiments aboard the I.S.S. As of now, i have been cleared to lift the veil of secrecy, as the experiment has gone terribly wrong. You, Sir, are now under an ATS Clearance and on a need to know status.”

“Go on...”

“The purpose of this latest mission was to reproduce an extraterrestrial energy called Element 115. The experiment is a success as it was indeed recreated.”

“Okay...”

“Unfortunately, the Element has become uncontrollable, taking a life of its own and is now feeding off external energies.”

“What?”

“I don’t have much time left, Mr President. All I can tell you is that the Element has eaten all electrical sources of the external tank that we used as a Lab. As we humans are made of electric impulses, the Element has also killed four of our men that were in the said Lab. It is now slowly proceeding inside the Station, eating up the energy, little by little, as we speak.”

“Have you taken Security Measures to seal off the Station?”

“Yes Sir we have, but the problem we are encountering now and this is the reason for this call, is that the Element seems to be able to travel in the vastness of space and has already hit two nearby satellites.”

“Are you sure about this? How can that be?”

“We are not sure as of yet, Sir. All we do know is that the Station here is doomed. All satellites in the vicinity are doomed. When all electrical systems shut down, the trajectories of both the Station and surrounding satellites will fail.”

“And fall back to Earth? Is that what you are saying?”

“Sir, what I am saying is that once re-entries happen and once the Element gets back to Earth, it will start eating up energies, electric, nuclear and human.”

“My God...”

“What I am saying Sir, is that we have created an ELE, an Extinction Level Event. When all energies disappear, the nuclear facilities will go on absolute meltdown one after another; imposing a Nuclear Winter and therefore causing an acceleration of the extreme cold climates around the planet. This will precipitate mankind into an Ice Age like never imagined before in the known history of our world. Whoever survives won’t last long. The only temporary solution we can think of, at the moment, is to shoot down all satellite re-entries, including this Station, and not miss one. If that were to happen, it would be the end of life on Earth.”

“Dear God...”

~To be continued...

Nice!

Bring it over to the guys at SCP, they love Keter-stories!

ELEment 115 ~ Part II

For Mark Gerardson, it all started like any other snowy, icy and cold as heck January day. His nomination as spokesperson for the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP)* this last week wasn’t as much a surprise as the shattering news that he got this morning. A call from the White House just doesn’t happen every day.

As he was on his way there to meet President Gray for a National Disaster Urgency meeting, not knowing any details except for the fact that possible global catastrophe alarms went off, he couldn’t help but wonder what the ramifications were and why it was such an emergency.

Acknowledging that the ESIP had been summoned was both exciting and frightful at the same time. He couldn’t stop thinking that something must have gone awfully wrong somewhere for us to get called in for consultation. National Disaster meetings are normally supported by NOAA, NASA, USGS and the Military to name a few but us??

He had called various colleagues on the way and no one was aware of any disaster situation that could have risen. The Media was also just having its normal boring negative news stories...much the same as usual but with the names changing, same old same old, different characters. Nothing, anywhere, mentioning any catastrophe. Not a word.

It didn’t take too long for him to figure out that something went terribly wrong somewhere and that it had to be from some secret project.

Yet, the last thing he was expecting was that it was a threat from Space.

As soon as he was introduced in the Security Room, he was handed a written “briefing” of what had occurred, a written scientific essay carrying the title “Element 115” and a notification that the Extra-terrestrial Exposure Law* had been reinstated. Now, there had to be a serious increase in security measures as the Exposure Law had been revoked back in 1977 when there was no longer a threat from outer space, at least from a lunar point of view. He had the afternoon to read it all and be up to specs as the official meeting was being called for 7:00PM.

For a quick second there, Gerardson reminded himself that, finally, he was surprisingly happy that a call from the White House just doesn’t happen every day.

~ Continued...

The meeting started on schedule and mere minutes were just in when the bickering launched. The NASA Administrator was dumbfounded to find out that covert and possibly secret military experiences were being held aboard the I.S.S.

The Military, in this case represented by General Langdon, was adamant. The no need to know basis was still very prevalent and he was urging the assembly to take action. The fastest the threat would be taken care of, the better.

Bloomfield, from the European Space Agency, specified that the I.S.S. was legally under a Global Partnership* , that the military had no jurisdiction and that in any case, Roscosmos (the Russian Federal Space Agency) had already sent rockets up to reach the remaining scientists and crew to get them out of the I.S.S. before it would be too late. To which Langdon, rising from his chair, vehemently disagreed. The returning rockets would have to be shot down as a precaution. No chances should be taken. He proudly stated that they had technology in the Near Earth Atmosphere to take care of the problem and that StarCom was just awaiting his orders.

Gerardson was flabbergasted. StarCom? Really? Are we that deep in secrecy? Then again, it would explain the trillions of dollars that go missing every now and then, was he merely thinking.

The bickering continued back and forth as opinions were shared across the table. Eventually, his turn would come up, and it finally did.

“Mr Gerardson,” the President said as he turned towards him “I have asked for the ESIP to send me their wisest representative so that he could make light of what has transpired here tonight and that he may make recommendations. I am all ears.”

“Thank you, Mr President.” he said as he stood up to have a look at everyone around him and to make sure that they also would have him within their eyesight. “I fully understand the crisis facing us. The rockets sent by Roscosmos will obviously save the remaining crew, Dr Jensen, his team and the crew of the I.S.S. Let us not forget that lives were lost recently, namely Dr Jones and three astronauts that were doomed in the outside Lab. At first glance, it looks as though they died in vain as the Element went outside travelling to nearby satellites.”

“Mr President, I must, once again, reinforce my position.” Replied Langdon. “The threat is imminent and we must act now.”

“Absolutely not.” As Gerardson glanced over to him. “Mr President, our very best scientists had researched the resurrection of this Element here on Earth, under cryogenic procedures. They also tried working on it in Antarctica, under freezing conditions. The Element broke up at every step, except for the vacuum of space but there is one Element that it’s never encountered.”

He picked up the Scientific Essay “Element 115”, turned around and showed it to the General.

“It’s all here.” As he turned back to the President. “Sir, when satellites have their re-entry, I only recommend shooting them down if they are a threat to cities or any smaller communities. I would also recommend waiting that the said targets get under a 69,000 feet ceiling to do so.”

“Nonsense... Mr President, we are wasting precious time...” rebutted Langdon, once more.

“Please, hear me out.” Gerardson reaffirmed. “Here are the facts. The unknown Element travelled to earth, inside an extraterrestrial vessel fabricated from an unknown alloy to us. It survived the entry as it was protected by its outer core. It then landed in Antarctica and froze, only to be found under miles of ice and God knows just how long it stayed there. When found, it was tested under cryogenic experiences, which is still a deep frozen state. The Element always broke down. The only possible way to reverse engineer it was in the vacuum of space, where Dr Jensen and his team finally succeeded. Mr President, through all the essays and research done before and up to the last minute of this crisis, it appears that the Element 115 has never been in touch with”

“Oxygen.” Replied President Gray, as he turned around to face him, smiling for the first time.

“Precisely” Gerardson replied, offering a smile to the President in return. “To destroy the threat in space would only multiply it in the vacuum of space. Early teams of scientists were unsure of what oxygen might do to it. In this case, elemental instability could mean our very survival and this is a chance I’d be willing to make. Sir, this Element was comatose until we touched it.”

General Langdon sat down and picked up the Element 115 Essay, suddenly realizing that perhaps he should have read it.

~

As Gerardson was being driven back home, courtesy of the United States Government, he hoped that he was right and that his conclusions were accurate. Yet, no one really knew for sure.

The next few days would reveal the results.

Perhaps it could be the end of the world, an extinction event, he thought to himself, perhaps there isn’t anything anyone can do to prevent it, if oxygen fails but still, in this freezing January day, there is one thing Gerardson knew...

It won’t be today.

reply to post by SonoftheSun


Amazing story!

Well done!

reply to post by beezzer


Thanks Beez, I was reading your story and wanted to post in the Contest thread that the conclusion was up and ended up posting it in your short story hahaha....

Gave you a flag already but will comment laterz.... Sorry for the edit in your thread..

reply to post by SonoftheSun


LOLZ

I saw that and thought, "Hell. If he wants to promote his story in my thread, great!" Mine was goofy.

Yours was good.

reply to post by SonoftheSun


That was really good, you're a very good writer.
Star for the story and flag for working in the word 'flabbergasted'; a much under-used word in my view!

reply to post by beansidhe


Thank you so much !!

Glad you enjoyed it. I appreciate the kind words and for the record, I think I do much better writing in English than Speaking in English lol...

C'est la vie !

reply to post by SonoftheSun


Wow, I would read your book, well done.

reply to post by whatnext21


Thank you very much !!!

Glad you enjoyed !