To: johnirvine@uac.phobos.com

Subject: re: An amazing discovery!

We have analysed the message, and come to the conclusion that it originates with the military; they began re-using radio waves for what they believed to be 'private' communication several months ago.  It is our opinion that the message somehow entered another of these dimensional tears, one which leads to the same dimension, and you simply picked it up as it came back out again.

And yes, the military are well aware of our occupation of their former base on the asteroid, although as they have no need for it they are content to simply let us have it.  As you say, the message mentions project alpha, but we predict that there is only a 0.93% chance that anyone outside the UAC knows of its true purpose.  They most likely think that it's just some kind of mining operation.

By the way doctor, your shuttle arrives tommorow afternoon; your people's shuttle will come two days later.

To: #######@uac.mars.com

Subject: An amazing discovery!

I would normally be expressing my extreme irritation at this re-assingment right now, but I have something much more important to tell you.

I have been re-calibrating my equipment so that they can better monitor the dimensional tears .  One in particular, located just outside the Phobos hangar, intrigued me, as it showed no signs of the reality warping effect that all the others I've observed do.

To my amazement, I picked up what appeared to be an old earth style radio signal coming from the dimension at the other side of the tear! I managed to tune into the signal, and the words "gateway", "asteroid" and "alpha", all in perfect English, can clearly be made out! I could swear that I recognize the voice from somewhere too...

I have attached the message for you to analyse more closely...

That radio message I got a couple of days ago was very interesting.  Apparently there's a bunch of survivors holed up way down in New London, and they've been promised aid by a group calling themselves the "Solar Council".  They're calling on other survivors to try to make their way down there and join them.

Well, it's one heck of a trek from where I am right now, but apparently this wasteland I'm stuck in isn't quite as big as I thought it would be.  I saw the first sign of grass a couple of hours ago, and I'm holding out hopes that I'll stumble across a relatively intact town or village where I can find some form of transportation.

To: johnirvine@uac.phobos.com

Subject: re: Earth, Phobos, gateways

My apologies for the delayed reply, doctor.  The other administrators and I have been extremely pre-occupied with project alpha, and haven't had much time for the other projects.

In fact, I'm afraid project epsilon is being cut short.  You are to finish collecting all available data on the dimensional gateways, and if possible these dimensional 'tears', and evacuate the base.  We will require your presence on Europa for about a week, to advice project omega on your terraforming theory, and then you will be transferred to your long term post on P3x-93 to oversee project alpha.  Your men will return to the Mars HQ.

The entire Phobos moon will, in the meantime, be placed under quarantine.  This shouldn't be a problem as the prior to the 'incident', the UAC was quietly purchasing all the shipping lanes within a vast radius of Mars.  Only authorised vessels will therefore be allowed near Phobos.

Also, if the moon really is being warped by the reality of other dimensions as you say, it should prove for very interestinging studying in a couple of years time.  Perhaps you would be interested in heading up this future project when the time comes? It would help you to further develop this terraforming theory of yours, I am sure.

By the way, we are well aware of the conflict of interests between the Solar Council and the military, and as you suggested, we are remaining neutral in the situation.  However, both the other administrators and myself fail to see the relevance this situation has to you; please restrain your interests to the matters at hand.

To: MacKenzie, Corporal Simon

Subject: Return to the motherworld?

Hey Mac, hows it going over there in area 19? All seems quiet here in 43, although some of the boys have been talking about 'the natives getting restless'.  They seem fine to me though, the poor bastards.  But what's with this fake computer core shutdown?

Apparently the brass are planning to start shipping folks back to earth soon, just as soon as they've finalized their reconstruction plans.  Problem is, they've got to make sure they don't have a run in with the survivors the so-called 'Solar Council' have got holed up on earth's moon.

Man, it's like east versus west all over again, isn't it? Not that you or I were around then, of course, but the stuff I heard in military history class...

One other thing, something which has been bothering me lately.  What do you reckon happened to ol' Doomy? Last I heard he was being shipped to the UAC Mars HQ after the "accident" involving his SO.  Never heard from him since.  What about you?

To: #######@uac.mars.com

Subject: Earth, Phobos, gateways

It seems that the 'incident' that occured in our bases on Phobos and Deimos has led to some kind of power struggle.  A coallition of several former governments is proclaiming itself as the 'solar council', while the military seem to be trying to gain control of the solar system as well.  I strongly recommend that the UAC remain neutral in this; if we become involved, it might interfere with our long term plans.

Apparently both the SC and the military are planning on rebuilding and re-settling earth.  Perhaps the adminstrators should consider establishing a presence there as well; being confined to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and their various moons, as we are currently, is rather restricting to say the least.

But on to more important matters.  The re-occupation of the Phobos base goes well, ahead of schedule in fact.  There's very litle structural damage; it seems even the extra-dimensional beings realised that opening the base to what little Phobos atmosphere there is would be a bad idea.  The main problem is all the bodies; we've got the incinerators going 37 hours a day, but even still it will take us several days to get rid of them.

By the way, it seems that your initial suspicions may well be confirmed.  My equipment has picked up traces of the dimensional gateway between Phobos and Deimos, and I should be able to get readings accurate enough to be able to create new ones without the data that we lost when Deimos was sucked through the gateway.

There also seem to be a number of what I'm calling 'dimensional tears' around the Phobos base, although all the ones I've come across so far are much too small for extensive examination.  While these tears are invisible to the naked eye, and the men haven't noticed anything unusual, this may well change, given enough time.

As with the gateways, these tears appear to have the side-effect of warping the destination point into the reality of their origin points.  I'm going to have to find some way to seal them, unless we want the base turned into a dimensional quagmire.

This warping of reality does give me an idea though.  If we can create a large enough dimensional gateway from earth itself, we may be able to use it to terraform other dimensions, so that they're more suitable for human life.  Don't mention this to the other administrators though, as it's currently only a theory.  A very promising one though...

Jupiter Station is the biggest space station ever created (by humans anyway), although the planned Saturn station was apparently going to be even bigger.  The damned place is still cramped though, even after they dumped most of the mining equipment into space.

It was made worse by a major hull breach in the delta sections of areas 31 and 32 just after we arrived.  Luckily no-one was in either place at the time; all that was there was a couple of hundred boxes marked 'samples'.  I don't know what was in them, and to be honest I don't really care.

If the overcrowding problem wasn't bad enough, the main computer core went down a few hours ago, taking the main power with it.  We're now on emergency power, and can't find out what's going on.  The military guys, who of course have placed themselves in charge of the station as soon as we got here, refuse to comment on anything, except to say that the computer should be fixed soon.  If you ask me, they took it off-line on purpose.

This lack of 'official' information has got the rumour mill going at full speed.  I've heard that the main 'dimensional gateway' that the creatures were using to invade earth has somehow been closed.  According to the military, that information is 'classified', but how exactly can the fate of mankind's homeworld be classified?

One of the guys in the room next door says he used to work for the UAC, and he was helping to construct one of two new facilities for them until he got fired, apparently for no reason whatsoever.  The base he was working on was in the depths of Europa's frozen oceans, and the other base, which he says is pretty much complete, is on Io, built inside one of the more violent volcanoes and protected by some new 'meta-phasic shielding' or something.

He also told me that some marine blasted his way through the Phobos base, went to these creatures' own reality through one of the dimensional gateways, came back to earth, blasted his way through one of the more infested cities, shut down the forcefield that was holding us escapees in orbit, and then simply disappeared.  Could he be responsible for closing the gateway on earth?

Anyway, it doesn't look as though we're getting out of this place soon, and there's talk among the other escapees of taking over part of the station and running things there themselves.  What with the rationing, the secrecy, and the general contempt the marines and officers seem to have for us.

I've decided that I might as well join them, and I've been asked to try to find some of the station's original crew.  There's something like a dozen of them here, and all of them should have access to some useful information about the station.  Hopefully they'll know things about the place that even the military don't...

Until I looked at my DataPad just now, I'd almost forgotten how many days it's been since I escaped from what was once my home.  The place was crawling with creatures so evil I can't even begin to hope to reason with them, or even understand their motives.  The few other survivors I've met say they come from hell itself, and I'm inclined to believe them.

I'm currently making my way along a highway, across what was once prime farming country, but can now only be described as barren wasteland.  You remember those old Mad Max films from the late 20th century? Well, imagine somewhere like that, only without the radiation but about ten times worse anyway.  Its almost as though the reality around me has been warped, twisted through some unnatural process.

Only the emergency rations I managed to scrape together before my hasty departure are keeping me going, and it looks like even they are going to run out soon.  If only I... wait! There's someone on my radio!