[ WP ] New subsurface readings from the moon have uncovered an alien megastruture under the moon 's surface . You lead a team to explore the inside .

`` All teams, this is Sigma Six-actual. Comms check.'' 
 
 *'' Sigma 1, readin' you five by five.'' 
 
 *'' Sigma 2 receiving loud and clear. `` * 
 
 *'' Big Sky has you five by five, chief. `` * 
 
 `` Alright then. Deploy when ready and rendezvous at Waypoint Alpha. Sigma Six out.'' 
 
 I look over my shoulder at the men under my direct command, six Army Rangers sat uncomfortably in EVA suits they only qualified with a month ago. I know how they feel; even after two years of quiet semi-retirement commanding the token garrison at Aldrin I never did get comfortable in the damn things myself. 
 
 The civilian scientists sitting opposite them on the rover's bench seats do n't look any happier. I ca n't say I really blame them, given the high-handed way the Department of Defence invited itself along with a probably-excessive security detail, but I hope they are n't going to make my job any harder than it has to be. 
 
 * * * 
 
 It's a two hour ride to what we're calling `` the dig-site''. A small freelance mining operation looking for nickel-iron asteroid impacts got a strong Magnetic Anomaly Detector reading extremely close to the surface, with no sign of an impact crater. They broke out their excavator, cleared the loose regolith, and found what was quite obviously an airlock. An airlock that did n't belong to any lunar settlement on record, past or present. 
 
 Fortunately for the scientists we were escorting to the site, the miners had enough sense to talk to the authorities before showing the pictures to anyone, so the local police and civil defence had been able to cordon the area off to keep gawpers or treasure-hunters out of the way while they figured out just what they were dealing with. A preliminary sweep with ground-penetrating radar quickly ruled out the possibility of an off-the-books listening post or unlicensed mining operation; the tunnels spread out for four square kilometres and extend at least the same distance downwards. Either someone built all that in the last century of permanent lunar occupancy without anyone else noticing, or it's been there since before the first landings way back in the 1960s... 
 
 * * * 
 
 You'd think a probable alien artefact would look, well... *alien*. Weird geometry, proportions subtly off, exotic and oddly-coloured alloys; that sort of thing. It's rather anti-climatic to find that the thing just looks like an airlock. It's pretty big, wide enough for two of our rovers to pass through it side by side, and unpainted save for a green and black checkerboard pattern that apparently denotes the bottom edge of the door and some sort of writing over what I assume is the control panel. 
 
 Well, I *think* it's writing. Even from forty metres away it's clearly no alphabet I've ever seen. 
 
 We seal our suits, depressurise the rover and approach on foot. `` Looks like it's made of regular nickel steel,'' I remark idly to Dr Horrell, the senior scientist. 
 
 `` Yep. Ca n't say for sure unless we run a piece of it through a mass-spectrometer, but I expect whoever built this place used local materials the same way we do- Hey, be careful with that!'' she calls out to one of my Rangers, who's just opened the control panel. 
 
 `` Remember your fieldcraft, kid,'' I admonish. `` Until we know otherwise we treat this as a threat environment. Now with that outta the way, what we got?'' 
 
 `` Pretty standard airlock door panel, sir. Two buttons, a slot for a key of some kind and a lever behind a glass panel that must be some kind of manual override. No lights.'' 
 
 `` None of our preliminary surveys showed any thermal readings above ambient. Whatever this place used for electrical power is totally offline,'' Horrell adds. 
 
 `` Then I guess we'd better try that manual override first. Private...'' I check his suit's IFF marker for his name. `` Haskins, do the honours.'' 
 
 `` Yes sir.'' He examines the panel for a second, then unslings his service weapon and brings the stock down hard on it to smash the glass. Several of the scientists wince noticeably. `` Was that really necessary?'' one of them complains. `` This is an archaeological find of incalculable value!'' 
 
 `` Oh, cut it out Frank,'' Horrell retorts irritably. `` It was that or use a plasma torch on the door. Now let's break out some crowbars and a jack, I wan na see inside!'' 
 
 * * * 
 
 TBC if there's sufficient interest.
