synopsis of the Series and Second Book
In Volume 1, Captain Mona Ann Lisa had several working titles, responsibilities and accomplishments [in chronological order: child prodigy, Olympic Gold Medal winner, Captain of the World Alliance Mother Ship Leviathan, Commander of the Earth Fleet, Director of the colonization of Ceres, Defender of the Human Species, the Commander that defeated Chaos . . . the destroyer of Solar Systems, savior to a race of Amphibians and finally the newest Cloud Queen of some 30 Billion Scavengers].
First, she saved a remnant of around 200,000 humans out of over 500 Million from the ravages of the first global war on Earth in over eight thousand years. She led the evacuation from Earth of most of the survivors, transporting them in a fleet of fourteen, two-mile-long asteroid mining mother ships to colonize the interior oceans of the Planetoid Ceres. Ceres is a moon shaped body the size of Texas found in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Her strategy was crafted with the help of her parents and the two near sentient computer entities Moonbeam and Levie (The Sisters). These two super computers were created through the genius of her parent’s Doctors Ben and Peggy Lisa. This team was later augmented by other war survivors and the Prometheus Council of the Earth’s Guardianship. This secret organization is made up of humans and pre-human hybrids hidden for eons in the underwater complex of Shambhala.
The unimaginable and bizarre confederation above saved the Earth, Mars and Ceres from destruction by an ancient Robotic Rehabilitation and Demolition Drone (RR&DD) later known as Chaos. This totally evil lifeform is redeemed by Mona and becomes an ally. Chaos then helps Mona deliver the human species from total enslavement by an alien race of humanoids (the Scavengers) who follow Chaos’s path of destruction through the galaxy. These nomadic scavengers pick up the pieces of civilizations within the Milky Way that have been methodically destroyed by him. The human remnant discovers this cycle of devastation has been ongoing for two billion years and the ruin was preprogrammed in a cycle unleashed by an ancient civilization (Chaos’s creators). They vanished and became extinct; however, ironically, it is learned this evil civilization was annihilated by Chos himself.
During all these events, a race of Amphibians was rescued by Mona from slaughter by the Scavengers. It was hoped the Amphibians would help the human race rehab Mars and Earth for surface habitation once more. However, as this saga begins once again, the Amphibian’s already transported to Mars have disappeared, along with the human colonists who had made contact with them. As this volume starts, Mona just sent her father and a team of forensic geologists to the largest moon of Mars (Phobos) to investigate clues discovered in an ancient manuscript. This V-Manuscript was encrypted by Prometheus, an ancient benefactor of the human race who had left Earth along with the rest of pre-humans (an Elfin like species) tens of thousands of years before.
Later in Volume2, Mona and her team discover that Phobos is really a rookery for a new life form to be named Thunder Moths. These beings feed off solar wind and asteroids. They are enormous and Mona and her crew are faced with the challenges of how to protect the galaxy and all sentient life. Her team develops new technologies discovered in their quest to subdue these creatures. Humans along with their Scavenger allies, become the benefactors and protectors of the entire galaxy. Many new challenges are encountered and overcome with each foray into the unknown.
Chapter 1, Phobos, WHY?
The Shuttle from the WAMS Condor sent
to inspect Phobos had landed on the skyscraper sized Monolith on Phobos. The
Team commanded by Ben Lisa (Mona’s father) and his party landed, secured the
craft to rings and rails at the summit of the formation and proceeded with a
three-hour investigation which included the interior of the Moon. On completion, they simply returning to their
craft and lightly lifting their shuttle off the floor. The walls of the landing
bay slid down. Then, using harbor thrusters the team slid their craft out and
away from the monolith. Unexpectedly, the thrust was a bit too much and both
O-rings and the rails the ship was attached to ruptured. Never-the-less, egress
was accomplished and Ben and his crew returned safely to the mother ship Condor.
Upon learning about the incident, Silver (Mona’s second in command) demanded a
new inspection of the monolith on Phobos be made as soon as possible. She felt it important that a thorough
examination of the damage caused by the excursion be documented. Unfortunately,
this investigation was delayed due to some technical issues.
***
Mona was apprehensive. This was an
uncomfortable lull. Since the
Guardianship’s previous successes in protecting the human remnant from
extinction had been rapid and constant, the present slow pace of events was
maddening. It seemed there was no word on the one thousand missing humans on
Mars (not to mention the two million Amphibians). Add to this, all the data collected about
Phobos was massive but not fruitful in resolving the disappearances. Also, there had been no more images or clues
embedded in the ancient manuscript deciphered beyond the one identifying Phobos
as important by the Sisters many weeks ago.
Lars2 (the designated Amphibian leader and representative to the Guardianship)
was a few days from reaching Mars’ orbit and the WAMS Leviathan (Mona’s flag ship) accompanied by the mother ships WAMS Eagle #1 and #2 were closing in as well.
[WAMS Eagle #3 and #4 carried Lars2 and
the seven million amphibians in stasis rescued from the Scavengers by the
Guardianship months previously].
Long distance talks between Mona and Lars2 centered around finding a place to
bring together his scattered species into one location. That is, bringing
together the seven million rescued from deep space with the two million
individuals presumed still on the surface of Mars. The Guardianship calculated
the interior of Phobos was large enough to allow all the Amphibians to gather
and to decide how to proceed in their own best interests.
***
The Swarm (a collection of thirty billion
Scavengers, enormous hominids capable of destroying solar systems) had agreed
to proceed to a position on the opposite side of the sun from Earth’s orbit.
From this location the Guardian (aka Chaos) would oversee the Collective’s
progress and watch for any possible threat to Earth.
Their new Cloud Queen, Mona, (Captain Mona Ann Lisa) of the Scavenger Swarm had
every right to feel good about surviving “the succession competition” defeating
the vicious and enormous Queen Gilda. In her many unexpected victories, Mona
conquered the evil monarch and freed her Amphibian slaves from slaughter.
However, Mona’s intuition was now telling her something was very wrong, the
calm before the storm?
***
Upon nearly simultaneous arrival into Martian orbit, Lars2 requested a private
conversation with Captain Lisa. He indicated he had been in contact with the
two million Amphibians on Mars and he knew where the missing humans were. He
gave no location but hinted that the humans could be contacted if certain
pre-conditions were made. He would get back to give Mona further details later.
Mona immediately contacted her parents (commanding the defense of Mars on the
battle group Condor) to see if they
could detect any activity on Mars. Their
report was negative.
***
Silver (Mona’s second in command and the 115 year old concubine of Prometheus)
was in discussion with Moonbeam and Levie (the Sisters). She was talking about
the most recent image they deciphered from the V-Manuscript (authored and encrypted
by Prometheus) and reminded the Sisters that all the previous images were
either keys to subsequent images or were warnings to be feared. [the
sisters got a hit on the Voynich manuscript. This occurred after 121,560,098
passes through the almost infinite possible number of permutations. The image
was a close-up shot of Phobos, Mars’s largest and closest orbiting moon.] Silver was convinced this new
image was a warning. She knew how Prometheus’s mind worked and she was sure she
was correct.
***
Seems, Lars2 was not actually telling the truth. He had not contacted his
people . . . they had contacted him. The Amphibians on Mars demanded he give
the Guardianship an ultimatum; either they were given control of their own
destiny or they would hold the human’s hostage or worse.
Lars2 was holding back from discussions with Mona, he was looking for a
compromise that his rebellious amphibians might accept. He proposed demanding a
total ownership of Phobos and the two Mother Ships (Eagle #3 and #4). Since, he
presently occupied along with his fellow Amphibians the ships in question; this
seemed like a good starting point.
He wanted to consolidate his two million fellow Amphibians on Mars with the
seven million in stasis on the two Mother Ships. As in his preliminary
discussions with Mona, his target was Phobos. He wanted total control and
ownership of the moon. Consolidation within the asteroid was so practical. The only real problem was getting the two
million form the Martian surface to the small moon. He like his fellow Amphibians felt no need to
stay on Mars and work themselves to death doing another species work for them.
Phobos was his ace in the hole. With his species knowledge of terraforming, the
moon could even become their permanent home.
Lars2 was familiar with the Guardianship’s Phobos’ analysis. The Moon had
accommodations for millions having adequate water, air and fish to support the
totality of his species indefinitely. The lakes were all fresh water and the
temperature and climatic conditions were perfect for the amphibians. With their
knowledge of terraforming and Aqua-forming this interior controlled environment
was a paradise.
The pre-existing but so far unexplained technology contained within Phobos was
simple but very adequate. Compared to the horrible conditions his race had
experienced within the Scavenger Collective, this asteroid was a haven. It
might not be perfect but it was certainly an excellent start.
***
Mona suspected the Amphibians were potentially treacherous and sought help from
the Planning Council. She told the Council that Lars2 would most likely demand
the Guardianship allow them to keep the two Mother Ships and have some
territorial haven on Mars, Earth or other location of their choosing. Mona was most happy she removed all weapons
from Eagle #3 and #4 (before the deep
space rescues).
Mona informed the Council the Guardianship
could possibly rescue the approximately 1,000 human colonists from Mars but
presently could not detect where they were being held. The Council agreed with
Mona. Since they could not locate the human hostages, they needed to decide on
a different strategy.
Since, the Guardianship intended all along to generously compensate the
Amphibians for any assistance in transform the planets, negotiating on the
ownership of territory was not unacceptable. However, the Amphibians present
behavior put a bad taste in their mouth.
What was previously going to be a business agreement was now a hostage
negotiation.
***
The Council gave Mona the lead on all negotiations and she wanted Lars2 to
negotiate for the Amphibians. If he was unable to negotiate, she wanted to know
right away. Thus, Mona asked Lars2 for a
list of what they wanted. She demanded he give her assurances his people would
do as he agreed. If they did not stand by their agreement, she assured him the
consequences were grave. There would be no room for mistakes.
***
At first, Lars2 had difficulty getting a single voice from Mars’ but eventually convinced them they needed one individual to speak with the humans.
Lars2 arranged the following: all amphibians would evacuate to Phobos and their
race would retain the two Mother Ships. He required a treaty which guaranteed
the Amphibians’ independence and a ban of slavery in the solar system for all
eternity. He demanded a guarantee from any interference from either the
Guardianship or the Scavenger Collective.
Mona agreed to the demands but required the following: first, an immediate release of one hundred
humans as a good will gesture. Also, the amphibians would release one hundred
more humans for each 200,000 of their people reaching Phobos. The last one
hundred humans would be released as the last 100,000 Amphibians left Mars. Lars2 and the Amphibians agreed
***
Presently, the first one hundred humans were
released as agreed and the Amphibians are about to take initial control of
Phobos.
Lars2 wanting to bring all two million surface Amphibians up to the hollow moon
quickly, so he approached Mona for the use the shuttles from The Condor Strike Force as well as those on Eagle 1 and 2. If she agreed this would
give him 40 ships to move his people.
Mona agreed with Lars2 as long as the Guardianship maintained control of
the shuttles. She also required the immediate release of one half of the
remaining nine hundred human hostages..
Lars2
and the Amphibians agreed and things were beginning to look very promising;
however, Mona knew something was very, very wrong and it involved something
sinister about Phobos.
Then it happened. Mona’s intuition was confirmed, the Sisters who had previously decoded a close-up shot of Phobos from the V-Manuscript discovered a new image. The image was a plant commonly known as a Fly Catcher. This was disturbing. [Moombeam and Levie are the near sentient advanced computers known as the Sisters because they shared the same DNA used in their core processors, their DNA is from Peggy and Ben Lisa]
***
Moonbeam began
the emergency meeting. Note: The
surface amphibians are all now on Phobos and the seven million in stasis on Eagle 3 and 4 are being brought over in
large groups
“Levie and I decoded this image from the V-Manuscript. Our renewed effort to
search was motivated by Silver’s insistence that the previous image decoded of
Phobos was a warning from Prometheus. And we now agree.
The entities you see in the image is a plant called a Venus Flytrap. They have
a unique system of catching prey. We must not ignore this warning. Phobos may well be an attractive trap!
“The plant catches its prey—chiefly insects and spiders—with a trapping structure formed by the end portion of each of the plant’s leaves, the leaves close forming a cage trapping their prey when triggered by tiny hairs on their surfaces. When the prey crawls along the leaves it contracts a series of well-placed hairs, the trap closes if two different hairs are contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The plant lures their prey with some type of attractant, possibly a nectar or some food source.
Another thing, Silver requested we recheck the damage done by our first exploration of Phobos. That is, the ruptured O-rings and rails damaged when Ben left the monolith. We assumed they were repaired by the amphibians when they first unloaded their people there. However, surprisingly they told us the structures were all intact when they got there. People, no one made the repairs. The monolith repaired itself.”
Mona left the meeting and contacted Lars2. Mona asked Lars2 to attend a private meeting on Leviathan as soon as possible. At the meeting, Mona made sure Lars2 had all the information and analysis the Planning Council had. She recommended they stop relocating the amphibians immediately. She didn’t know what or when the trap would trigger but she knew it could happen anytime. Mona pledged to help Lars2. They would relocate his people to an alternate location but needed total cooperation to do anything.
Lars2 believed Mona but doubted his rebellious counterparts from Mars now
settled within Phobos would. He realized it was probably only a matter of time
before some trigger would be pulled and the consequences would be unimaginable.
He presently had two million Amphibians from Mars within Phobos including
another six million from Eagles 3 and 4. Only one million still remained in
stasis on Eagle 4. However, most of his people in Phobos were still in
hibernation.
He felt he must act but it required the most delicate of interaction with his
people and quickly. The two knew they must find out more about Phobos, how it
functioned and what might trigger it?
Mona felt she had no other choice than to send a research, search and rescue
team. She asked for volunteers. Sue, C.E. and Kevin volunteered to accompany
she and Lars2 to Phobos to try to avert tragedy. Silver as usual had to remain
behind as second in command.
Lars2 was able to halt temporarily the move of his people to Phobos from the
remaining group on the Mother Ships.