The Voyage to Eeb Duat
By Peter Murphy and Joan James

Chapter 1

Lunar orbit 2141.

The Moon's Docking Platform Aldrin was quiet now. Lunar City sparkled in the distance on the cratered and chalky surface of Earth's ancient moon. Commander Rennie Khan looked out over the Moon's surface as intently as a sentinel of the now defunct Lunar Guardians. But no, his mind was not assessing the possibilities of lunar invasion, instead, his thoughts were of the possibilities of the coming task.

The Mission, his Mission, was everything. It had been everything for almost two years now, ever since the probes had sent back their images of distant planets far from Sol and its satellites. Yes, they had already known that planets were there. Radio waves and infrared signals from Earth had identified them long before the probes had been sent on their lonely journeys light years from Earth. Of course, what they didn't know was, were they habitable, did they contain life?

The job of the eight probes sent out years earlier was to check out that very possibility. And surprisingly, four hit the mark. Matet, Balder, Sumeru and Asuras, all single stars with orbiting planets. And above all, planets with atmospheres similar to Earth's. They could be the stepping stones for Man's journey throughout the Galaxy. But more importantly for the scientific community, they had visible signs of oceans and land masses with vegetation and thus a good possibility of other life forms. Mankind might have intelligent neighbors after all.

He leaned forward until his nose almost touched the polymer pane in the giant porthole. He looked down into the docking bay at the four huge interstellar spacecraft named after the target planets. Balder 1, Matet 1, Asuras 1 and Sumeru 1, were starships in the true sense of the word, built exclusively for interstellar flight. They had cost the Space Corps plenty. They were more than two hundred feet long, seventy feet wide, with seven decks, massive Warp Drive engines and auxiliary Jump Drives. Light speed and beyond.

These ships represented the greatest engineering feat ever undertaken by the human race, there was no doubt of that. Thousands of highly skilled people had worked to bring them from concept to reality. And now it was Khan's turn and that of his fellow travelers. They were assigned to complete this monumental human undertaking. The responsibility and the sheer magnitude of the task was breathtaking, and frightening. Their job was to travel to the target  stars and planets and prepare the way for future settlement, all without any assurance that they could ever return to Earth.

In time honored fashion, the four destinations were written on pieces of paper and each Commander drew lots. Commander Khan's lot was Matet. Not that it mattered, whatever the final destination, this was a dream come true. More... this was the culmination of his life's work. He had worked his way up the chain of command, always in the hope that when he became Commander of his own ship they would be ready to travel outside Sol's solar system and begin the exploration of the Galaxy.

The hard part was yet to come. He, along with the other Commanders and crews, held the hopes, dreams and desires of humanity hostage to their ability to complete this imposing task

The launch loomed with too little time left for preparation. The final media conference was due to start at any moment, he had paused here while waiting for the call. Facing the Press was a task he feared more than anything else he was required to do concerning the mission. Vaudeville time he coined it. Fielding the questions of the Press was both intimidating and irritating. The pager on his right sleeve vibrated.

"Commander Khan here."

"One minute to press time, Commander," a female voice announced."

"On my way."

<>---<>Two Months Later<>---<>

Commander Khan walked out of the control room, bouncing slightly with each step in the reduced gravity. The ship was quiet, the first time in nearly two months. The launch had gone to plan. Over a twenty-four hour period, each ship uncoupled, floated up to the launch zone, and accelerated past the Moon on their preordained trajectory.

He was headed for the cryo bay. The rest of the crew was already there waiting to be placed in their assigned cryo-cribs. It would take almost five years--- the crew in cryo-sleep while the ships engines drove on for Matet.

Cryo was like dying, he mused, but that metaphor for the experience was not popular with anyone about to undergo the process. They would each be rendered unconscious and tucked into an electronic wonder-coffin to sleep the sleep of the justified while they were ferried through the darkness to the other side. There, they would begin another life in another world.

The crew, including the Commander, comprised twenty people, half male, half female. There were seven married couples.  The Commander was not one of these, he was married to his career. Space Corps had thought the married couples were a good idea, for morale and for recruitment. He wasn't so sure, but each ship included married couples in its complement.

It was his job to make the crew into a cohesive team. So far the couples vs. singles thing had not been a problem, but the "shake down" period had kept everyone busy and focused. Time would tell whether it was good or bad policy. It would probably work out differently on each ship, each crew facing their own unique adventures and their own ultimate destinies.

The last two months had been taken up with tests for the "shake down". Testing and retesting every operational unit on board had stretched the ship's capabilities almost to their max. Warp drive was new, untested for prolonged periods on long journeys. And so far it purred like a kitten, not a glitch. Theoretically, it could travel faster than the speed of light and  part of the testing process had been a run up to Warp 1.5. The drive had come through with flying colors. A good reason to break out a few precious bottles of bubbly for a mini celebration on board.

The big concern, however, was the ship itself. Would it fall apart under prolonged propulsion at more than Warp 1. A thorough structural diagnostic check revealed no apparent damage. The skin remained intact, and the structural elements had held fast. However, it was agreed that the ship would keep to light speed, Warp 1, with periods up to Warp 1.5. Later, when they had reached their destination and set up a ground control center, they would test the ship to its full potential.

All up, it would take approximately five light years to reach Matet. Ironically, in the five years it would take for the Matet 1 to reach it's destination, further development of Warp technology on Earth could make it possible for faster ships to be developed and built. One of these faster ships could get to Matet first and be waiting for them when they arrived. But that was just too depressing to think about. He and the crew wanted to be the first to explore this uncharted planet.

As he drew nearer to the cryo bay, he could hear the buzz of the crew's animated conversation and shuffling feet. He couldn't believe how much space twenty people could take up. This was a big ship, there were rooms and labs everywhere, yet during the tests he was aware of constant movement of comings and goings, and talking and human inspired noises of every conceivable kind. Cryo was no laughing matter, but he was looking forward to the temporary oblivion that it provided. Peace and quiet at last, even if he was unconscious.

"Guys, listen up," the Commander spoke as he entered the bay.

Various heads turned his way and conversations stopped briefly and then restarted.

"Are we all ready to surrender ourselves to the void of prolonged deep sleep?"

"Yes, Commander, except for you." And with that Doctor Odetta Maar pushed a pressure gun to his neck and fired, he felt the cool spray enter his skin.

The Doctor was an amazing woman, both in stature and temperament. A tall, solidly built African American, somewhere in her early forties, not that she looked it. She was efficient and straight to the point, which suited Commander Khan to a "T". When it came to medical matters and the well-being of the crew, she ruled. Everyone simply did what they were told to do. She was also one of the six singles. Her specialty was tropical disease, viruses and bacteria---indispensable knowledge when entering a new environment. She was also equally concerned with the effects of human contact on alien species. Humans, with their range of symbiotic organisms, could destroy every living thing on the planet they were about to occupy. A bit of a Greenie at heart, she was fully in agreement with their directive to preserve, catalog and study. She was a person used to giving orders, having had a long career administering many disease research institutes across the world. In fact, if she had been in the military, she may well have been running this present mission.

"OK everybody lock and load" He attempted a bit of dry humor. He was rewarded with a few sardonic chuckles.

Couples embraced and kissed, hands were shaken. Overalls were discarded. For safety, everyone was required to enter the crib totally naked. They quickly stepped into their cryo cribs and the  polymer doors hissed shut. As he reclined back at an angle, in a standing position, he could see the heads, shoulders and feet of his crewmates in the other cryo cribs, each discretely clothed by the opaque modesty sections of the otherwise clear doors, then... nothing.

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