The Io Encounter: Hard Science Fiction (Ice Moon Book 3)

by Brandon Q Morris

  April 15, 2047, ILSE

  She had been waiting for this moment for a long time now, the very idea of which had left her both trembling with dread and longing in anticipation for its eventual occurrence. Her anxiety had become almost tortuous during her agonizing wait, but now that the time had finally arrived... she felt nothing. It was like her heart was frozen solid, or had been quietly and painlessly replaced by clockwork. This was not how she had imagined this moment would be, when she would finally betray her friends and her love.

  For weeks she was aware it would happen—it had to happen. She fought against this treachery initially, but it soon became clear she could not avoid it. She instead had hoarded the last bit of the inner strength she needed for the plan’s success, spending it to make her friends’ unavoidable deaths as painless as possible. She knew she was only a means to an end. The people in the background who were pulling the strings would only need her until ‘moment X,’ when she fulfilled her most important task—inserting the virus into the Enceladus Ocean. First, though, she had to use Watson to create the virus, according to the plans sent to her. This was supposed to kill the best—the only—friend humanity had in outer space.

  Cold sweat collected on Jiaying’s forehead while she sat alone in the command module. The whole scheme was put into motion shortly after the lander module separated itself from the ship. Little Dimitri Sol had started crying in his handmade crib in the commander’s cabin. Jiaying had no idea whether he had cried of his own accord, or because Watson had awakened him. Nevertheless, it certainly was the right moment for it to happen. Amy left the command module and crawled through one of the spokes toward the habitat ring.

  She had probably just shut the hatch leading to the central area when Watson started taking over ILSE—not utilizing, as she had anticipated, a faked commander’s authorization, but the superior authority of the ‘builder,’ which she did not even know existed. Now Watson stood at the top of the command hierarchy, and since then she had heard nothing from Marchenko. Jiaying hoped he would have recognized the warning signs in time and managed to withdraw to a safe location. Watson now probably had the authority to delete any or all sections of his program, thus ending Marchenko’s existence.

  Now the commander and her child were locked inside the habitat ring. Jiaying tried in vain to reach her via the intercom. What is going to happen now? she wondered. So far, no one had given her specific instructions as to what to expect, or what to do after she had fulfilled her main objective. Watson was probably still busy gaining complete control of the ship, or maybe the AI was waiting for orders from Earth.

  Jiaying only knew the rough outlines of the plan, which was now in its first phase, the flight to Enceladus. Shivering as if she felt a chill, she tried to change the temperature in the command module but only received a ‘No Access’ error message: Then she was sweating again. Jiaying wiped the sweat off her forehead and held the wet hand in front of her nose. I really stink, she thought, wrinkling her nose. Never before had she noticed her body odor to be so intense. She definitely needed a shower, but the showers were inside the habitat ring. How would this work? She wondered what the last flight of ILSE would look like.

  “Li Jiaying, this is the commander speaking.”

  “Amy?”

  “My name is Watson.”

  Who came up with the horrible idea of giving the AI Amy’s voice? It felt like speaking to a dead person. “Please, Watson, use your original voice.”

  “My employers believe it will make this task easier for you.”

  “No, quite the opposite, thank you.”

  “If using Amy’s voice prevents you from fulfilling your task, I am authorized to use my previous voice.”

  “Yes, please. Hearing her voice really does hinder me.”

  “Fine,” Watson said, now once more using the voice Jiaying associated with the AI. She took a deep breath.

  “I want to know who is in charge of what.”

  “Of course,” Watson replied. “All decisions concerning the mission originate with me. That includes the flight route, the landing, the whereabouts of Amy Michaels and her son, as well as any communications with the outside. Decisions that are not relevant to the mission are left for you. I decide what is included in those.”

  “The rules are quite simple,” she observed.

  “Correct,” the AI responded.

  Jiaying leaned back. It slightly reassured her that Watson apparently was not more intelligent now. He was the same logically-thinking machine as ever.

  “What are the rules concerning the whereabouts of the commander?”

  “I am the commander. If you are referring to Amy Michaels, the crew member is allowed to stay in the habitat ring.”

  “How is she supposed to feed herself and her son?”

  “You will place food in a segment that will be closed off from the ring at the precise moment.”

  “How do I know what kinds of food she needs?”

  “Amy Michaels can request it from me.”

  “I would like to talk to her.”

  “The plan does not provide for communication between human crew members.”

  “Humans are social creatures. It might impair my functions, and thus the success of the mission, if my needs concerning social contact are not fulfilled.”

  Watson did not reply immediately. “You are welcome to talk to me,” the AI finally said. “I can simulate the voice and personality of any crew member you desire. I have all the necessary data for this.”

  “Could I speak to my parents,” Jiaying said, following a sudden impulse.

  “I do not possess enough information for that. If you wish, I could request them from Earth.”

  “Yes, please.”

  “Fine. Does this fulfill your need for social interaction?”

  “I cannot say yet. We often don’t recognize human needs until they are only partially fulfilled.”

  “Then please keep me informed. The success of the mission has the highest priority.”

  “Would you deactivate yourself, if that was important for the mission?”

  “Of course.”

  “And me?”

  “Of course.”

  Jiaying held her breath. Somebody had managed to install a monster inside ILSE. Several international limitations treaties prohibited the operation of AIs that were capable of rebelling against their human creators. Human life was always supposed to have a higher priority than even the AI’s own existence. How had someone managed to override those safeguards?

  She stood up and started walking around the command capsule. Since the beginning of their conversation she had started feeling heavier. The five remaining drives were accelerating the ship.

  “What can you tell me about our flight route, Watson?”

  “We will reach an elliptical orbit around Jupiter in a few hours. At its farthest point we are going to use the planet’s gravity as a source of additional acceleration so we can get back to Saturn as quickly as possible. Without the lander module and the CELSS we are much lighter, so this more than compensates for losing one of the drives. Near Saturn we will enter an orbit around Enceladus, from which you will finally insert the biological sample into the ocean. If you do not fulfill this task to my employers’ complete satisfaction, the fate of your parents is sealed.”

  “But ILSE no longer has a lander module.”

  “You will improvise, using a SAFER to reach the surface of Enceladus.”

  “Like Marchenko.”

  “A landing on Enceladus like Dimitri Marchenko’s, which could lead to your death, would endanger the mission. You must perform a soft landing.”

  “And then?”

  “It will be sufficient to insert the sample into the fissure through which Valkyrie surfaced.”

  “You mean the weapon—the virus?”

  “Yes. My superiors thought ‘sample’ would be the preferred term.”

  “No, I prefer the truth.”

  “I under
stand.”

  “And once I have performed my task—how do I get back to ILSE?”

  “There is no plan for a return to the ship.”

  Jiaying swallowed hard, even though somehow she had expected this answer. “Then I will die.”

  “That is possible, though a return to ILSE would lead to the same outcome, since the ship will fall into Saturn.”

  “Then you will die.”

  “That is... possible,” Watson said with a moment’s pause.

  Had its voice changed slightly for that statement? I probably just imagined it.

  April 16, 2047, Io

  A few hours ago Francesca had noticed the velocity vector of ILSE was now clearly pointed beyond the Jupiter system in the direction of the outer planets. It was not quite definite yet, but the spaceship would cross the orbit of Saturn at around the time when the ringed planet would be nearby. The pilot was still trying to calculate the trajectory of the ship as precisely as she could.

  Now she had neither Watson nor Marchenko to help her. During training they all had learned how to calculate a transfer orbit, but that was a long time ago, and they had also had to work with the still-imprecise data provided by radar and the star tracker. The instruments on board the lander were not meant for tracking spacecraft.

  Martin was still looking for some motivation, but then he considered, Why should I be interested in their further fate, if we will all die in a few weeks? Would Jiaying or even the AI have second thoughts? Realistically speaking he thought it very unlikely. Everything is going to be be fine in the end. If it’s not fine, it’s not the end. He figured it was only a matter of time before Hayato or Francesca would come out with this stupid quotation.

  “You are going to help us now. Otherwise you will die of boredom, which is worse than any other kind of dying,” Hayato said, somehow seeming to have read his mind. Martin suddenly realized why the engineer had begun to install the oxygen generator. With enough energy—which they possessed—they could create breathable air from any oxygen compound. While they would hardly find any water (H2O) on Io, there was plenty of silicon dioxide (SiO2), which was also present on Earth in sand and rocks. They did not have to hurry, since their on-board supplies would last for at least a week, but it was a worthwhile task. Martin got up and stood next to Hayato, who was studying the operating manual. The oxygen generator had been on the ship as a spare part, in case one of the preinstalled oxygen generators failed.

  The manual was about twenty pages long and consisted of diagrams and text.

  “Are you serious? A manual on paper?”

  “Itsh she rule, in cashe shere ish no lectrishity,” Hayato mumbled. Martin saw he was chewing on something.

  “Chewing gum?” He did not even know they had anything like that on board.

  “Dried seaweed,” Hayato said after swallowing. “Very tasty. I kept it to celebrate our return. You want some?” He offered Martin a dark green strip with a papery consistency. Martin waved it away.

  “How about you, Francesca?”

  “No, thanks,” the pilot said. “By the way, ILSE is accelerating faster than expected.”

  “Less ballast on board,” Hayato answered, pointing at each of them and the CELSS above them.

  “Speaking of ballast, I think this should go up there,” Martin said, indicating the oxygen generator and then the CELSS. “Down here it’s only in the way.”

  “But it is very heavy.”

  “Come on, if Jiaying installed it herself, two men like us should be able to...”

  “That was in zero gravity, Martin.”

  He looked at the generator. It was a block with a square base of about one by one meter and a height of about half that.

  “No more than 200 kilos, so here on Io it would weight around 40 kilos. We can easily handle it.”

  He pulled the device, but it didn’t budge.

  Hayato started laughing. “It might not be included in the manual, but you first have to loosen the four attachment bolts. Jiaying probably didn’t want the device to be thrown around during the landing.”

  Martin knelt to search for the heads of the bolts. “So hand me the wrench,” he said to Hayato once he located them.

  While unscrewing the bolts, he thought out loud. “So down here will be our living room and bedroom, and we set up the lab in CELSS?”

  “Absolutely. I couldn’t sleep in the stench of CELSS,” Francesca said.

  Martin remembered Hayato’s snoring back when the three of them had been required to sleep in the lander module on Titan. If it got too bad, he could always do his sleeping in the garden module. He quickly accommodated to strange smells.

  “And we definitely need a shower,” he remembered aloud.

  “I am sure we can rig up something from the CELSS water supply,” said Hayato as he scratched his head. “If we completely remove one of the plant shelves, we could tap the pipe behind it at the upper end. Then simply attach a shower head...”

  “We don’t have a shower head,” Martin reminded him.

  “No, not yet,” the engineer said.

  “Guys, shouldn’t we focus on the really important issues?” asked Francesca, impatiently.

  Martin got up after he had loosened all four bolts. “Being able to take showers is not crucial for our survival,” he said with a sigh. “I guess you’re right. What are the important issues?”

  “We need some kind of plan,” she explained. “After all, there is a reason for our being here. We are still researchers and we should try to find out what the Enceladus creature was trying to warn us about. And then we have to find a method to get away from here.”

  “We could start with the lander module and then get the DFD going,” Martin spontaneously suggested.

  Hayato shook his head. “I already ran the numbers. We might have a chance with two fusion drives, but it definitely will not work with one. We would travel for several years, but we do not have enough room for all the supplies. Down here, the oxygen generator is useful, since we can constantly get new rocks, but in outer space...”

  “Well, that settles it,” Francesca said. “I suspected it already. We can only leave here by getting ILSE to come back.”

  “Do you have any ideas on just how to do that?”

  “No, Martin, not yet. Either of you guys?”

  Hayato shook his head.

  “I think we have to wait for some opportunity to arise, hopefully,” Martin said. “But at least we could set the stage for it.”

  “Build guns to kill the bad guys with?” asked Francesca, who was obviously trying to sound funny.

  “No, we need some ears. Right now, we have no means of communication.”

  “Nobody wants to talk to us.” Francesca turned up the volume on the channel for ILSE. The lander module filled with static, a result of the strong magnetic field of Jupiter.

  “Maybe not right now,” Martin said, “and maybe not from ILSE. But what about Earth?”

  Francesca scanned the spectrum for the frequencies used by the Deep Space Network.

  “You don’t have to search, since we couldn’t hear anything in here,” Martin said. “The radiation shielding keeps the weak signals sent by DSN from reaching us.”

  Her eyes were gleaming. “We could put a dish outside.”

  Martin nodded. “And it should be as large as possible.”

  “And where...”

  “I can imagine your objection, Hayato, but I just had an idea,” Martin said.

  “You should definitely write it down,” Francesca said, handing him a pen.

  He wrote the acronym FAST on his palm.

  “Good,” she said with a decisive nod. “So this would be item 1 of our plan. Item 2 would have to be exploring our surroundings. Think about what we could find out about this moon. There must be some danger here, above the surface or below.”

  “How about an expedition to Reiden Patera and a second one to Kami-Nari Patera?” suggested Hayato. “That would include investigating a lar
ge lava lake and an active volcano.”

  “Right. And item 3 would be to secure our survival,” Francesca said. “We need oxygen and carbon compounds. Water or hydrogen would also be nice.”

  “I am not too optimistic when it comes to water,” Martin said. “The only chance we have is finding minerals containing water. A long time ago, the Galileo probe found deposits of them near Gish Bar Mons, but that’s too far away.”

  “If those minerals exist there, we might be lucky and find them elsewhere,” Francesca said, calling up a map of Io on the monitor. “You’re right. Gish Bar Mons is out of reach.”

  Hayato used his fingers to zoom in on the radar image. “Do you see this formation here, halfway to Kami-Nari Patera? It looks like a miniature version of Gish Bar Mons.”

  “Optical similarity does not mean much, as far as I can tell from my limited knowledge of geology,” Francesca said, “but it’s better than nothing. And considering we would be passing by there anyway...”

  “Just who is supposed to be ‘we?’ Not that I want to push my way to the front,” Martin said in an annoyed voice. He felt that it would probably end up including the person asking the question—himself. “Hayato, you suggested the excursions, so you probably want to go there, right?”

  “If I have to...”

  “I am coming along, Hayato. Just think, as discoverers we can name everything we find,” Francesca said, sounding as if she was actually looking forward to this expedition. She probably was. Martin would not mind putting his feet up for a few days.

  “I think we should start with the longer excursion. Right now, we are rested and ready.” Francesca looked down at herself, as if to confirm how rested she was.

  “If you are already going that way, I need a clean crater with a diameter of about 100 meters,” said Martin.

  “For your idea?” Francesca gave him a puzzled look, but she didn’t wait for an answer. “Sure, we can find one for you.”

  Is my idea really that great? wondered Martin. If I can make it actually work, we would be able to communicate better than ILSE does. But to do it I would have to pour several tons of metal into a suitable mold.