Early next morning, I along with a half dozen other men packed up a moon rover and set out for ant crater. A quick check with opps indicated that nothing unusual was happening at the site. After a two hour ride that jarred most of my teeth loose, we parked just out of site of the cave. Leaving two sentries hidden outside, the rest of us cautiously entered the tunnel. Slowly we inched our way along looking for any clue as to what was happening there. The walls of the cave were smooth indicating an advanced method of drilling, almost like glass. A hundred yards down the tunnel, we encountered a door, which opened as we approached, talk about being unnerved. As we peered inside we could see controls on the wall, an air lock. None of us were prepared for what could be on the other side, this could be a living colony. The sergeant decided that we should back out of there very cautiouslyy. were we seen? Did they know we were there? and what would they do if they did? All kinds of thoughts were racing through our minds as we scrambled back aboard the rover

On our return to base, we were immediately debriefed and a message was sent to earth requesting military personal. Upon approval and the XT being repaired, we could jump a hundred men to the moon in under an hour.

Other things had been happening at the base too. With the discovery of frozen water, it was possible to create atmosphere and grow food in specially built rooms. Another concern was the sounds that were coming from the ice. Sencers were set up and feed through a computer as to isolate and separate different sounds. Some of the sounds that we isolated were drilling, crunching or chewing and clicking sounds. Sounds to me that we have a live colony of ants mining water

That night I was in my room planning a memorial service for sugarmags when trapper came running in all excited.

" Captain Captain, remember how that ant made us jump ahead in time eh, well I figured out how to go back in time, a couple more days and ill be able to control it"

" Great, we'll be able to go back and rescue sugermags, get right on it"

"Aye Captain" and with that he was gone again. I notified the others of the good news to which a bottle of Champaign was added

The next day, a group of about twenty five solders led by General Gray was transported to the moon and briefed on the situation. Some thought we should run right in and blow the place to bits while others said to try and communicate with them. Not wanting to start an intergalactic war, it was decided to try and make contact. A communications module would be taken out along with three cameras and placed inside the cave. Also what they call a moon bug which is a very small mobile camera about the size of a small stone, would be placed in by the air loch where it could get in when it was open. That way we could see what they were doing, how many of them there were and what technology they had.

The next day on the second watch, the ant ship returned, gliding in and sealing its self to the entrance of the cave. We were glued to the monitors to catch the first glimpse of these incredible ant creatures. They walked upright with two legs and fore arms and wore what looked like leather uniforms. There speech was a jumble of clicks and squeaks. At first they seemed shocked to see the equipment that was left there, then outraged to think that someone would dare enter there domain. The equipment was gathered up and destroyed except for the little stone. As the airlock opened, it was maneuvered inside undetected but as the second door opened it was noticed by one of the ants. He picked it up , looked at it closely then put it in its pocket. Was this a lucky break or were we going to lose it too. Only time would tell

As we were sitting in the observatory that night watching the Earth turn and sipping moon shine, a messenger came in and handed me a note. It read "XT time warp ready". I had the rest of the crew paged and headed for the ship. Once on board I had trapper brief us on how it works

"All you do" he says,"is dial up the time and place, It shows up on that monitor, You press this button and zapp, were there"

"OK, we know the place and the time the ant ship left, that gives us a five minuet window.m Once there dial us back here one minuet after departure, places everyone, lets do it"

Trapper dialed in the location and when we saw the rover coming, trapper pushed the button. The ship made a strange groaning sound then a flash of light that left us momentarily stunned. The rover came to a screeching halt just inches from the ship

"Sugermags, you copy"

"Yes, what's going on"

"Abandon the rover and get on board as fast as you can, will explain later,over"

'On my way,out"

Once aboard, trapper hits the button again and we find ourselves back in the launch bay exactly one minuet later.

"Glad to have you back Sugermags, you wouldn't believe what's been happening.

                                        Chapter 4