Captain Tex Skaarsgard is sure he sees something out past the Martian orbit, away from the sun. There is something oscillating, vaguely fading in and out of opacity.
Hello, new follower
. Thanks for the follow. Timothy understands some of the things I discuss in some episodes. It’s a weird coincidence that he followed me. Or is it! lol. I wonder what Timothy thinks happens to people whose minds won’t allow them to be controlled by external forces like the targeters and their whatnots. I can tell you, it’s no fun either.
I knew I had something interesting when I came up with this during Flash Fiction February. I wanted to jump back into this and pull another tooth. I wrote this in two roughly 20 minute sessions. I will allow it. I’ll qualify it as Flash Fiction. Even though it was a previous thing, I had no idea where it was going until well after I had established the mystery/ problem. That’s why this qualifies. I’m going to get this figured out. I’m going to figure out how it is that Tex introduces time travel to human civilization. That’s the Arch mystery. The blue lights are the mystery of this episode of T&V. OK. Thanks. I’m Commercial Herschel, and I’m here to help.
Time & Vigilance, PART 3
Tex Sees His First Sign
Tex has some cool equipment. This vehicle doesn’t know what it wants to be. It can do pretty much everything. It has big wheels, each of which has it’s own motor, but it also has jets that can elevate it enough to move it over large boulders or over craters. It has options for ice and water as well.
After his journey to Mars, Tex is already acclimated. He has his routines and chores, and for now all he’s doing is confirming any of the survey data he can and then making the adjustments on the ground to correct the errors from the remote protocols.
Once this is complete, he will move on to lining out the signal array according to the results of the work he’s finishing up now. This array on the surface of the planet is the control relay for the entire grid. One way to think of it is as a two-way light switch. It’s a key part of the system’s many fail-safes.
As Tex is setting the heights of the transmitter, he uses a laser-pointed level line, then calibrates each point remotely. Beyond that view is the horizon of the planet and deep space. His eyes are peering further into the universe than any known human. He knows that, too.
He’s looking at the sky, and just as he looks back down at his equipment, he double-takes, because he sees something. At least he thinks he does. Again, he looks down, and as he does something, it grabs his attention. It’s the movement of his head that causes something in his purview to leave light trails. Something has a frequency of light that is mildly revealed when the eyes move across it quickly.
When he shakes his head, Tex can see something that looks like a grid, of sorts. An orderly grid that seems to expand and fade as it goes deeper into space. The lights on this grid are indigo, and they vary in brightness in equidistant patterns.
Radio signals take an average of around 10 minutes to travel to and from Mars and Earth. That’s interesting trivia from history. Photonic transmission move light as fast as light. Tex contacts home:
“This is the Martian, can I get a read, over?” Tex calls home.
“Go ahead, Colonel." Admiral Robson is there to respond.
“Uhh, this is Captain Skaarsgard,” he replies.
“Fudge, I spilled the beans.” The admiral says.
“Roger, we can discuss that later, I have a thing here.” Tex explains.
“You have a thing? What do you mean?” Robson asks.
“Sir, there’s some kind of light anomaly. Tex explains. It’s pretty weird. It’s like a grid or some kind of pattern, but it’s not constant; it varies in visibility, depending on how hard I shake my head.” The lights are a rich blue color. The grid fans out from the horizon. I want permission to send a jobber around the pole. It’s the same when I test with a camera, sir. If I shake the display, I can see the grid.”
There’s some silence.
“Son, can you recall ever seeing this, or anything like this before?” Robson asks.
“Admiral I’ve never seen anything like this at all, but I think I can understand the nature of light oscillation and how shaking the eyes to perceive the light might be explainable.” Tex says.
“That’ll be a negative on the jobber request.” You finish up your lists over the next couple of days. That’s priority. Sleep on those lights tonight, see what you come up with in the morning.” You’re a long way from home; who knows what the heck, son! You signed up for weird, it might be weird.” The admiral says.
“Yes sir. I understand, sir. I hope we’ll get a chance to revisit the light anomaly before I’m done here, sir.” Tex replies.
“All in good time, Colonel.”
“And thank you, Admiral," Tex says.
“You as well.” Let’s do this again soon, Robson out.”
Tex wraps up this round of shift tasks. He’s riding the rig back to the ship. As he bounces and shakes on the Martian terrain, he can see the blue grid in the rear-view camera that’s vibrating from the ride. He slams on the brakes, and the camera is still. There are no lights. He squeezes the accelerator, and the disturbed camera displays the blue light grid on the rear-view screen again. He’s curious. He punches it. He launches his rig over the ridge of a crater, and his jets kick on to boost him all the way across. He lands with a bounce, and he’s free and clear to his craft.
The End.
I can be reached here: commercialherschel@proton [dot] me
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