Origins 5

The Chinese mission arrived at the derelict first in hopes of staking a claim to salvage rights. The U.S. Expedition arrived just days later and took up a parallel course 100 kilometers away to observe. Mission Commander Ronald Levingson (Colonel, U.S. Air Force) transmitted his impressions of this amazing vehicle back to a global audience on earth.

"It's probably about the size of an aircraft carrier." He commented, "Light gray with irregular protrusions along the course of the hull. I'm not sure which end is forward but if I had to guess, I'd say it's the back end that is torn off. And not cleanly by any estimation."

"Aside from that it seems to be fairly intact. It resembles a giant sea animal, the hull plating reminds me of a lobster. We've had no indication that it's powered or controlled or that it is responding to our presence. I'm guessing the Chinese 'delegation' would have noticed something by now, anyway. (Mission Specialist Takahiro) Tanaka is getting ready to launch the probes to get a closer look but from this vantage, if the Chinese can't get it slowed, I think we've got a good shot at it ourselves."

Robotic probes launched to study the derelict closer revealed a slowly tumbling, battered hulk more than 300 meters long. One end had been severely damaged and sections of its interior structure were visible. The exposed tangle of conduits and passages resembled the entrails of something once alive. Along its hull were occasional meteor punctures and radiation damage. Clearly, it had been in space a very long time-perhaps even longer than 10,000 years.


The Chinese expedition had prepared a trio of robotic rocket packs to attempt to slow the derelict. Unfortunately, it seemed that they would claim the prize and the U.S. Expedition would have to be content to escort the victors back to earth. However, as the Chinese expedition began their operation, only one of the three thrusters functioned properly. At best the Chinese would only be able to cease the tumbling. Then a second thruster exploded violently forcing the Chinese to retreat to a safe distance. Once they were out of the way, robots from the U.S. expedition initiated a risky move to discard the malfunctioning packs and attach their own.

Victory was brief, however. The robots had succeeded in halting the tumbling and even nearly slowing the derelict but the forces necessary to alter it's orbit placed stress on the fragile hull. A 100 meter section broke away and the Chinese expedition moved rapidly to claim their consolation prize.