The Pathfinder Project Read Online Free PDF Page B

planning to have you temporarily park her on the surface. From there, we
could make direct adjustments to the hardware and software in a non-atmospheric
environment.
    “Then we don’t go to Neptune,
at least not yet,” decided Kaufield. “We’ll find another location, and hook up
with surviving vessels later.” He turned his attention to Mary. “How many enemy
ships are we dealing with?”
    “Just one now,” she reported.
“The larger vessel has completed its attack on the complex and has transited
away. I’ve got one enemy transport ship on its way down – everything else has
left the area.”
    “I suppose they know about the
underground part of the base, too,” Thomas ventured nervously.
    “Affirmative,” Mary responded.
“The transport is setting down less than 100 meters from the edge of our
overhead hangar doors.”
    “Looks like it’s time for me to
find the Colonel,” Kaufield said. “Everyone else get into the ship. And have
the command crew prep the ship for liftoff.”
    “We’re nowhere near ready to
use the CAS Drive,” Thomas objected, “Captain, we could really damage
our systems if we don’t make proper adjustments to the software first.”
    “Don’t worry,” Kaufield
replied, patting the nervous computer specialist on his shoulder.
    “We’ll use the standard PTP
drive for now. You’ll get your chance to complete the work; it’ll just have to
be done out in space instead of on the lunar surface.”
    *    
* * *     *
    “Those uniforms don’t look like
Russian or Chinese to me,” Colonel Neeland said flatly, turning to regard the
Captain thoughtfully. “Just who the devil is responsible for all of this
chaos? It couldn’t be us… right? ”
    Kaufield chose not to respond,
for the moment. The two of them were standing near one of the airlock entrances
that opened out onto the lunar surface. On one of the monitors they watched a
squadron of forty or so white, space-suited soldiers marching directly toward
them. They were closely following a leader wearing a completely black colored
space suit. None of the suits appeared to have any recognizable types of
identifying marks or emblems. Approximately fifty meters from the door the
encroaching soldiers halted their approach. The person leading them continued
forward and stopped just outside the airlock. There was no other signal of any
kind… whoever it was just stood there patiently waiting.
    “Do we let him in?” asked
Kaufield, glancing uncertainly at the Colonel.
    “As long as his troops stay
right where they are, yes,” replied Murray. “You did say you wanted us to stall
them as long as possible?”
    “That’s an affirmative,” the
Captain replied. “As far as intelligence goes, unless they’ve directly
interrogated our President they should believe our project is way behind
schedule. They also shouldn’t know that the Pathfinder has a backup PTP
drive, in addition to the brand new CAS system.” He looked quickly at his
watch. “However, Thomas and the others will need a few more minutes to complete
the pre-flight process. We’ve been planning to land the ship on the moon’s
surface anyway, so it shouldn’t take him long.”
    The Colonel motioned to the two
marines on either side of him. Both immediately took up defensive postures and
raised their weapons cautiously. Murray then turned back to Kaufield and
nodded.
    There was a loud hiss audible
as Kaufield released the lock on the outer door. They heard it open and close –
followed by a long pause as the airlock re-pressurized. Glancing cautiously at
the Marines, the Captain shook his head in frustration and released the lock on
the inner door. It opened slowly, and the space-suited figure entered the inner
corridor. As soon as the airlock door closed tightly shut, the newcomer
unlocked and removed the suit’s helmet.
    The man in the space suit had
long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and handsome, Eurasian features. He
was extremely