“So?”
“They didn’t get buried like the first craters on Farside. They’re
intact.”
“Sure-but they won’t tell you anything new. They’re from recent
impacts, same as everything that’s on the surface of Farside.”
“But you said some of them showed radiation anomalies. That’s just
what I want to know more about.”
“But nobody ever found any suggestion of ‘what you’re talking
about.”
“Maybe they weren’t looking for the right things. They never had
any reason to.”
The physics department had a comprehensive collection of Lunar rock
samples, a sizeable proportion of which comprised specimens from
the interiors and vicinities of the young, anomalous craters on
Nearside. Under Hunt’s persistent coercion, Steinfleld agreed to
conduct a specially devised series of tests on them. He estimated
that he would need a month to complete the work.
Hunt returned to Houston to catch up on developments there and a
month later flew back to Omaha. Steinfield’s experiments had
resulted in a series of computer-generated maps showing anomalous
Nearside craters. The craters divided themselves into two classes
on the maps: those with characteristic irradiation patterns and
those without.
“And another thing,” Steinfield informed him. “The first class,
those that show the pattern, have also got another thing in common
that the second class hasn’t got: glasses from the centers were
formed by a different process. So now we’ve got anomalous anomalies
on Nearside, too!”
Hunt spent a week in Omaha and then went. directly to Washington to
talk to a group of government scientists and to study the archives
of a department that had ceased to exist more than fifteen years
before. He then returned to Omaha once again and showed his
findings to Steinfleld. Steinfield persuaded the university
authorities to allow selected samples from their collection to be
loaned to the UNSA Mineralogy and Petrology Laboratories in
Pasadena, California, for further testing of an extremely
specialized nature, suitable equipment for which existed at only a
few establishments in the world.
As a direct consequence of these tests, Caldwell authorized the
issue of a top-priority directive to the UNSA bases at Tycho,
Crisium, and some other Lunar locations, to conduct specific
surveys in the areas of certain selected craters. A month after
that, the first samples began arriving at Houston and were
forwarded
immediately to Pasadena; so were the large numbers of samples
collected from deep below the surface of Farside.
The outcome of all this activity was summarized in a memorandum
stamped “SECRET” and written on the anniversary of Hunt’s first
arrival in Houston.
9 September 2028
TO: G. Caidwell
Executive Director
Navigation and Communications
Division
FROM: Dr. V. Hunt Section Head
Special Assignment Group L
ANOMALIES OF LUNAR CR1~TERING
(1) Hemispheric Anomalies
For many years, radical differences have been known to exist
between the nature and origins of Lunar Nearside and Farside
surface features.
(a) Nearside
Original Lunar surface from 4 billion years ago. Nearly all surface
crater- ing caused by explosive release of kinetic energy by
meteorite impacts. Some younger-e.g., Copernicus, 850 million years
old.
(b) Farside
Surface comprises large mass of recently added material to average
depth circa 300 meters. Craters formed during final phase of this
bombardment. Dating of these events coincides with Lunarian
presence. Origin of born- bardment uncertain.
(2) Nearsicle Exceptions
Known for approx. the last thirty years that some Nearside craters
date from same period as those on Farside. Current theory ascribes
them to overshoots from Pars ide bombardment.
(3) Conclusion From Recent Research at Omaha and Pasadena
All Nearside exceptions previously attributed to meteoritic
impacts. This belief now considered incorrect. Two classes of
exceptions now distinguished:
(a) Class I Exceptions
Confirmed as meteoritic impacts occurring 50,000 years ago.
(b) Class II Exceptions Differing from Class I in irradiation
history, formation of glasses, absence of impact corroboration and
positive results to tests for elements hyperium, bonnevilliuin,
genevium. Example: Crater Lunar Catalogue reference MB 3O76/K2/E
currently classed as meteoritic. Classification erroneous. Crater
MB 3076/K2/E was made by a nucleonic bomb. Other cases confirmed.
Investigations continuing.
(4) Farside Subsurface Intensive sampling from depths approximating
that of the original crust indicate widespread nucleonic
detonations prior to meteorite bombardment • Thermonuclear and
fission reactions also suspected but impossible to confirm.
(5) Implications