Mission Orion: The Travel through Time

Chapter 2 | Orion

"This is Orion Three to Atlanta Space Control, we are under attack. Our weapons are no match for theirs. Do not attempt to come here, ever again. We are going down. May God bless us all. And, beware of time...AAAGGHHH!".

"Orion Three, do you copy?"

The whole room was pin-drop silent.

"Orion Three. This is Atlanta Space Control. Do you copy?"

Nothing except static could be heard over the communication system. 

"Flight, we have LOS.

Flight, telemetry we have LOS here too.

Flight, we have LOS all over the place.

There is complete Loss of Signal with Orion Three."

"Searching for signals from the ship... No signal has been found in the solar system."

"We have complete LOS from Orion Three. All departments, the satellite imagery shows no sign of Orion Three in the solar system."

One hour went by and there was absolutely no contact of any sort with Orion Three. Nothing to show us that Orion Three had survived, whatever it was. The satellites had stopped looking for the ship and were being shut down to brace for a solar flare heading right at us. The signals from our solar system, for some reason, were not able to get to the Xandion System, where Planet G was located. 

"As per protocol, a ship must be declared lost in space if there is no contact with it due to unusual circumstances for one whole hour. Putting together the last message from Orion Three and the protocol, I regret to inform you that Orion Three has been declared lost in space."

Several people groaned and the one communication technician threw his headset onto the ground in frustration. The project head, who was standing beside me shook his head in disappointment. I look back at the observation room to see the family members of the crew of Orion Three breaking down at the news.

"You're next." Martin said, in a deep voice. Martin was the project head of Mission Orion. "Till when are you going to send these missions to space? Till all of us are dead? We need to stop and think about how we are going to proceed henceforth. Did you listen to the last message? This is the third ship we have lost!" I exclaimed, frustrated at the sudden turn of events."Mission Orion will continue until we reach our objective. Moving on to more important things, you have a new crew member who will be joining your team after Rahul chickened out. Her name is Anna, Anna Kate. She has completed her training and joined our program just yesterday. She has shown unbelievable performance in all the tests. It's the best we have seen in quite a long time." He said, clearly indicating that any arguments regarding my objection to his way of thinking were over. "She's standing right over there" he continued, pointing towards her. I realized it's no use arguing with Martin.

"And by the way, what did Captain Jack Coulson mean by beware of time?" I asked him before he could turn away. "This is not the time for the discussion." He replied. "Are you kidding me? This is absolutely the time for the discussion. This is a lost ship for god's sake! Deep in our hearts, we know it's over. We just lost five lives. If this is not the time to think about it, then when is it? Seriously.." I responded, just before he cut me off. "You are not the boss here, Rithvik. Shut your trap and just do what you are told to do. During the time warp, all sorts of instrumental malfunctions take place and several anomalies crop up. This is the fourth dimension we are talking about. The number of unknown variables in this technology we have is far too great, and we would not have used this technology if not for the level of desperation we are in right now. And this time warning was probably just another anomaly which the captain took too seriously. If we have time, we will set up a separate committee to look at it but we have several other issues to take care of. So, here is what we do, you do your work and I will do mine." He replied, gritting his teeth in anger. "This argument is done. Just go to Anna and introduce yourself. And don't be a dick." He continued, walking away with one stern glare.

 If there was one thing I had learned with all these years with Martin, it was that nobody in the world would succeed in change his mind once he had decided over something. It was useful in securing funds for our mission but other than that it was a bane. I looked over at Anna, who was standing there, with her arms crossed, looking shocked at the grieving people. The room was filled with the feeling of doom and gloom. And the way things were going on right now, I would say the doom isn't quite far away.

"Welcome to Mission Orion. My name is Rithvik. I will be the captain of Orion Four." I greeted Anna, extending my hand for a handshake. "I have a doubt." She started, without even bothering to acknowledge my greeting. "If this is Orion Three, then there should have been Orion One and Two, right?" "That's right." I replied, knowing where this conversation was heading. "What happened to them?" She asked. The Orion missions were usually kept top secret for reasons I was not aware of. After the World War Four, the few surviving governments had come together but had become very secretive about their actions and the people were usually kept in the dark in a lot of matters. No one knew about these missions except the people involved in it, and of course, the government officials. "Well, here's how it all started. This mission was planned to be a very simple task. Going to the planet. And confirming the finding. But that's not how it went. The Launch of Orion One was successful. Everything was successful and all instruments ran admirably well. Until when they were leaving the solar system. Suddenly all communications were lost. We had nothing about the ship. It was as if it completely disappeared, not leaving a single trace. Whoosh! It's gone. No one knew how it happened. No one knew what took out an entire ship. Some scientists put the blame on some anomalies in the other solar system. Most of the others didn't buy it. We sent out another spaceship, Orion Two. Fitted with Solar Flare resistant structure and with harder and more pressure withstanding body. But yes, it went down the same way Orion One did. No communication. No distress signal. The United Space Research Agency, the controller of the Orion Missions had to take a decision. Whether to scrap away the Orion program, or upgrade it. The agency went with the second one. Some scientists now put their bets on aliens. And they fitted Orion Three with a few weapons. And this is how it ended." I told her. "What different are we? What good does it do if we're going to do the same thing as they did?" She asked. She had a point. She had spoken exactly what I had in mind.

"Except that you are getting the best weapons we have right here on Earth." Martin interrupted, smiling. "There are some things even you don't know, Rithvik. Even though you stand right below me in the chain of command. You're getting the best of the best. Some things, even the governments of other countries don't know. We're giving you the best of the best. First of its' kind, the new generation MO-650WA series. The best anyone can get. And you get everything. That's what's different, Anna." He completes. "Well, I can't disagree, given the number of times he mentioned 'best of the best'." I said to Anna, with my shoulders shrugged.

"When are we launching?" She asked Martin. I looked at him too, waiting for an answer. "We don't have time, Anna. We're running out of time. Things are getting worse with each passing day. We have three months. Orion Four and Orion Five are going to be launched together as a back up in case the other fails. The clock is ticking. We're up against aliens now fellas! Be prepared to meet a few green, single-eyed people! Anyways, I've got a meeting with the President. Hope you will excuse me." He said, giving his signature smile and he walked out of the door. "Come on with me." I said to Anna. "Let's meet the rest of our crew. You'll love them."

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