Alien Storm Read online

  Alien Storm

  A Novel by

  Don Viecelli

  Copyright © 2002 by Don Viecelli

  Smashwords Edition

  Overview

  The Sun is at Solar Maximum. A large solar flare erupts on the surface of the Sun and races towards Earth. The International Space Station is about to be hit by massive solar radiation event. Commander Bonario is working outside on an EVA and is caught in the storm. A UFO suddenly appears and tries to shield the astronaut from the harmful X-rays. The solar panels overload and an explosion occurs, which cripples the alien spacecraft. It crashes on Earth, killing the four occupants. A Top Secret military crash investigation ensues. The bodies are recovered along with strange looking disk devices with special alien powers, but one disk is missing. A TV reporter finds out about the crash and threatens to expose the cover-up. Meanwhile, the massive magnetic storm hits the Earth with devastating consequences. The world is threatened. The alien mothership appears searching for the lost occupants and memory disks. Only the aliens can help the world protect itself from future solar events. Surprisingly, the Sun’s energy holds the key to the alien’s final journey.

  Copyright Page

  Alien Storm

  By Don Viecelli

  Copyright © 2002 Donald E. Viecelli

  Smashwords Edition

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Ebook cover page image and design is provided by Ebook Covers Designer.

  This is a work of science fiction. All the characters, names, incidents, places and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any errors in editing, formatting or plot will be corrected in the next revision.

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Positive reviews on various book sites are always welcome. It helps independent authors like me to reach a broader audience.

  Smashwords assigned ISBN.

  For Smashwords Readers.

  Published by Don Viecelli at Smashwords.

  First Release in April 2002.

  Revision 3 Released March 2016.

  Suggested Retail Price: $3.99 U.S.

  Dedication

  This novel is dedicated to the memory of David Allen Pendell, a good friend, who also dreamed of writing science fiction.

  Acknowledgements

  I wish to thank my wife, Susan, my two children, Ryan and Kaye, and other family members and friends who helped me on this first novel.

  I also wish to acknowledge the numerous resource materials I found on the NASA, NOAA, SpaceWeather, U.S. Government and other websites for information on the many subjects and places used in writing this novel. I encourage readers to visit these websites to learn more about the real science found in our universe.

  Table of Contents

  Overview

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Author’s Note

  Author’s Page

  Chapter 1

  International Space Station:

  It had been a long, busy day onboard the International Space Station or ISS. Major Jean Helms, Chief Medical officer from the United Kingdom Air Force in London, was tired, and slightly worried. Ground control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston had issued word on Saturday, two days ago, that the sun was acting up. The number of sunspots was multiplying rapidly. Houston wanted to make sure the crew was watching out for solar flares. It would be extremely dangerous for anyone working outside the space station if a solar flare suddenly erupted and blasted radiation their way. However, there was still more work to be done on the Remote Manipulator System outside the space station before the crew could relax for the day.

  It was 7:00 p.m. Central Daylight Saving Time on Monday, June 1. The space station was orbiting 244 miles above the North America continent traveling at 17,157 miles (27,628 kilometers) per hour. It was light outside with a clear view of planet Earth below. Major Helms could make out the entire North America coastline from the port window of the control module. The station was fast approaching twilight and full darkness would appear in less than an hour. This routine occurrence between daylight and darkness occurred every 90 minutes, the time it took the space station to orbit the Earth.

  There were ten crewmembers on board the ISS. Three crewmembers rotated home every three months and were replaced by new crewmembers or previous crewmembers that requested another tour of duty. Some of the current crew was on their second or third tour of duty. It was not unusual to request another trip rotation on the ISS. The work was demanding and dangerous, but it was also unbelievably interesting.

  The space station has been in orbit since the first Russian Proton rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in November 1998. Over 80 space flights had been made since then, delivering much needed supplies and building materials. The original space station was completed in January 2006. It did not take long for the global partnership of sixteen nations to decide that more flights were necessary and they continued to build out the space station to its current size. It was now more than twice the size of the original structure, over 650 feet long and 600 feet wide with internal living space, research facilities, storage space, docking ports, outside airlocks, and two command and control modules. The ISS had become a prized home away from home in space for the crew that lived and worked aboard her. And the work never seemed to end.

  “How’s he doing out there, Kim?” Major Helms asked referring to the commander. She had been monitoring the crew on EVA (extravehicular activity) for the last four hours. The commander was still outside working on the Remote Manipulator System getting ready for the next payload set to arrive in one week.

  “He’s fine,” Major Kim Parker replied. He was the Chief Communications Officer from the South Korea Air Force who was working the monitoring and communications systems in the main command module. “He’s almost done fixing the manipulator arm. Should be done in an hour,” Major Parker added. The arm had been malfunctioning for the past two days and the commander decided to replace the primary communications unit in the mobile base system. It was nothing to worry about, just a routine main
tenance procedure.

  “Okay. Is the rest of the crew inside yet?” Major Helms asked. Two other astronauts were working on the new storage unit bought up last month trying to attach the communication cables on the outside of the module.

  “Yes,” Major Parker replied. “They returned 30 minutes ago. Commander Bonario is still outside working on the arm. It was not functioning properly and he wanted to fix it. Do you want to talk to him?”

  “No, not yet. I think we still have time to let him finish before the next shift goes out,” Major Helms said. She checked the monitoring board for Commander Bonario’s medical signs, saw everything was normal and began pushing herself weightlessly over to the research module to see what the science officer had to report.

  Alex Vladamir was the Chief Science Specialist on board. He was a solar physicist from Moscow brought up to the ISS on the last shuttle mission to study solar dynamics. Alex was taking readings. The sun had been acting up lately with more sunspot activity than usual. NASA had decided it was time to closely monitor solar activity on the space station in an attempt to more accurately predict solar flares and other events. Solar flares are caused by sunspots which are intense, twisted magnetic fields that break through the sun’s surface and, for some reason, always appear in pairs. They can produce powerful magnetic storms that reach well beyond Earth’s orbit. These storms are the source of the solar winds, which can travel well over 1,000,000 miles per hour and can cause vivid auroras, radio and television static, power blackouts and navigation problems for ships and airplanes on earth and in space. It was not unusual to temporarily lose one or two satellite communication systems when the solar storms blew. The sun was nearing the top of its eleven-year sunspot cycle. The last high cycle had occurred ten years ago and the number of sunspots has been increasing ever since the low point five years ago.

  Large solar flares had erupted recently near the sun’s surface and sent powerful solar winds toward Earth and the ISS. Normally, there wasn’t anything to worry about, but some of the solar flares cause geomagnetic disturbances, radio blackouts and produce enough solar radiation to harm humans in space who did not have adequate protection to shield them from the x-rays. Usually, the solar winds just produce beautiful aurora borealis in the Northern Hemisphere and aurora australis in the Southern Hemisphere. You could see the lights from space occasionally and Alex was waiting for the next burst of magnetic energy from the sun to light up the North or South poles with beautiful, dancing curtains of blue, green, red or yellow borealis.

  Alex Vladamir was solidly built, of average height and weight with dark brown hair and eyes and a friendly, extroverted personality. He was very intelligent and spoke his mind whenever he had a chance. He had pulled every string he could to get a tour of duty on the space station during the last rotation. As far as he was concerned, he was in space heaven and was not about to let anyone interfere with his work, which he took very seriously. “Major Helms, it’s so nice to see you again,” Alex quipped with an obvious Russian accent as he saw Major Helms floating his way. “Are you ready for your next science lesson?” He smiled at Major Helms and typed a few keys into the PC laptop sitting on the rack in front of him.

  “No,” Major Helms replied smiling back, amused at the thought. Alex had been trying to get her interested in his studies of the sun ever since he came on board and she was trying to educate him on the medical effects of weightlessness, which he found boring to say the least. The light conversations kept them both entertained during the long work shifts each endured aboard ship.

  “I just wanted to know the latest Space Weather Advisory from NOAA,” Major Helms asked. “Are there any disturbances?” NOAA stood for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NOAA’s Space Environment Center (SEC) in Boulder, Colorado issued space weather warnings and alerts on a routine basis that NASA passed on to the space station via the high-speed satellite Internet connection.

  “I’ve been monitoring that all day,” Alex replied. He picked up the wireless mouse that controlled the laptop and clicked on the SEC weather icon. The ‘Space Weather Now’ homepage popped up on the overhead monitor for both to see. Several pictures of the sun appeared on the page and more detail could be analyzed by clicking on any picture. The current eleven year Solar Cycle was ending. The sun was nearing Solar Maximum. There was a very active sunspot region clearly visible as black spots on the sun’s surface near the equator. Solar flares usually increased during this period of the cycle and NOAA made every effort to try and predict when a storm was about to erupt. It was a lot like trying to predict tornadoes in Texas. The best they could do at the moment was fire off the latest warnings and alerts. It kept you on or off your toes depending on your elevation at the moment.

  NOAA introduced Space Weather Scales many years ago in order to communicate current space weather conditions to the public, government and private sectors. There were three categories and five scales. The three categories are geomagnetic storms, solar radiation storms and radio blackouts. The scales ranged from 1 (Minor), 2 (Moderate), 3 (Strong), 4 (Severe), to 5 (Extreme). The scales listed each category, the effects, physical measures used and the average frequency per eleven-year cycle. It was a very useful measurement for Space Weather Advisories.

  Alex pointed to the NOAA Scales on the monitor. “So far there haven’t been any new advisories from NOAA or ground control,” he said to Major Helms. “But I’m getting plenty worried,” he added. “My observations show major sunspot activity occurring in Region 9393. The last S3 solar flare was a week ago. It’s building up for a blow. We usually get up to three S4 storms and one S5 storm per cycle. We’ve only had one S4 storm to date and we’re approaching solar maximum. Look at this sunspot activity,” he said pointing at a particular pair of large, black dots on the monitor with his finger. “I don’t like the look of these two.” Alex’s concern showed on his face and Major Helms could sense what he was thinking.

  The last Space Weather Advisory Warning was issued two days ago. It indicated major flare activity possible. The flares could result in Severe or Extreme solar radiation storms and equivalent radio blackouts. The solar radiation storms could cause biological radiation hazard to the astronauts on EVA, affect satellite operations and degrade solar panel operation. Strong radio blackout flares disturb the ionosphere and cause wide area blackouts of high frequency radio communications and low frequency navigation signals for hours at a time. None of these events would be pleasant for the crewmembers on the ISS and precautions were necessary.

  All of this crossed Alex’s mind as he studied the monitor screen. So far, there were no new SEC Space Weather Advisories. The NOAA Scales on the screen showed no storms for the past 24 hours and the Solar Wind was holding constant at an average speed of 450 kilometers per second, a perfectly normal workday in space. Still, Alex was concerned. “I think we should hold off sending out the next work crew until I check with the EVA Officer in Houston,” Alex said to Major Helms. “My readings from the solar observatory camera show some new sunspot activity and I want NOAA to look at them first.”

  “Good idea, Alex,” Major Helms responded. “What about Commander Bonario? Should we bring him in?” Major Helms asked.

  “He should be okay,” Alex answered. “Let me check with flight control in Houston and see what they think. It should only take a few minutes.”

  “All right,” Major Helms replied. “I’ll advise Commander Bonario and see how he’s doing out there.” With that she pushed herself away from Alex’s workstation and began her return trip to the main command module.

  ****

  Outside the space station it was getting considerably colder as the sunlight became dimmer with each passing minute. In another 15 minutes, the station would be in complete darkness and the temperature would drop to –250 degrees Fahrenheit. USAF Colonel Julian Bonario, the Commander and Chief Flight Engineer aboard ship, retracted the sun visor on his helmet and turned on the small floodlights attached to the top of hi
s suit called the extravehicular mobility unit or EMU for short. It was getting dark very quickly, and colder, but the spacesuit was composed of several layers of lightweight thermal super-insulation material that keep the body heat in and added protection from the elements. He checked the display and control module mounted on the suit chest for temperature and oxygen levels. All seemed normal. He had enough pure oxygen for another four hours, but he wasn’t planning to be out here that long. The display module also controlled the primary life support system (PLSS) on his back and the manned maneuvering unit (MMU) he was attached too.

  Commander Julian Bonario was 42 years old. He was the youngest of seven siblings in a mixed Italian and Irish family raised in Detroit, Michigan. Being naturally bright and athletic, he sailed through Bloomfield High School and attended Michigan State University for his undergraduate degree in engineering. He continued on to graduate school where he received a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from M.I.T. His dream was to become an astronaut and he joined the air force soon after graduation. He eventually qualified for NASA’s astronaut training program and quickly rose up through the ranks. This was his third and probably last work rotation on the space station. NASA and the air force had bigger plans for his next assignment, which had to do with a planned spaced flight to Mars in 2030.

  In between learning to fly fighter planes for the U.S. Air Force and joining NASA, Commander Bonario married his college sweetheart and they had two boys, both now in high school in Florida. His wife, Mary, was an elementary school teacher. He could picture her right now grading papers in their living room 250 miles below him as he passed along side of the Central American coastline. He could just make out the Florida peninsula thorough the haze below. He wondered what she was thinking about and if the boys were playing any games in high school that night. He never missed a baseball or soccer game when he was home. He reminded himself to send his family a video-message when he got out of the airlock module and back to his cabin.