"Helena?" 
   "Three completely independent life forms", said the 
female doctor, just confirming what he had picked out 
from the symbols. 
   "What type of life?"
   Helena Russell shrugged her shoulders. "If I didn't 
know that it's impossible, I would say. . . human life." 
   While the words of the female doctor opened new doors 
and avenues of speculation, John Koenig thought sharply. 
And if the humans were actually. . . Alphan? It was 
completely normal that crew members would be on the 
lunar surface. Research teams, patrols, geologists and 
prospectors, who dug for the vitally necessary Tiranium. 
However, such excursions from the Command Center were 
usually announced, and that was not true in the current 
situation. 
   The Commander gave instructions for each 
individual Alphan to check in from their place of 
residence. Within a few minutes the messages from 
the different departments came in. Then he was 
certain, free of any doubt, that all crew members 
were within the base complex. 
   Inevitably, Koenig had to now also take refuge in 
speculations. Actually, the only possibility that was 
probable was that an alien spaceship had landed. 
As this should have registered on every monitor in 
the base, this left him completely puzzled. Normally 
a meteor could not impact on the Moon's surface without 
having already been detected beforehand. In this 
instance, nothing could be read from the optical 
observations. None of the satellites, nor any of the 
remote stationary cameras had registered any 
approaching spaceships. Additionally, the infrared 
pictures relayed by the satellite near the location

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