Prelude to Extinction

by Andreas Karpf

  They continued for another few moments in silence before Alex pointed ahead and said, “Jack! Over there, I see something.” About a hundred meters away was what appeared to be a hand rail. It started about ten meters from the dome and went straight to the wall.

  “I see it,” Don said as they walked cautiously in its direction. “It looks like a railing.”

  Two parallel sets of metal tubing were supported about a meter off the ground by evenly spaced posts. Jack could easily imagine them flanking some grand walkway. Any trace of pavement though was no longer apparent as the ground was uniformly covered with soil, small plants and dried leaves. At about three meters from the dome’s edge, the railing angled downward, connecting with the wall just above the ground. There were no steps; however, the ground did slope slightly at the end.

  Don kicked at the soil near the wall’s edge. “It looks like it’s been abandoned for quite some time.”

  “But how long?” Jack responded. A large panel, lighter in color than the others, was centered between the handrails. It seemed safe to assume that it was the door. He pushed at it, even though he knew it wouldn’t do any good. The wall didn’t budge. There was no apparent control panel. Jack dug his fingers into the gap between it and the adjacent wall, scooping out finger-fulls of grime, but didn’t uncover any buttons or other hints about how to open it. The answer was in front of him but where? Taking a small shovel from his tool bag, he began digging at the base of the path. The soil was dark and fertile, similar to peat moss. Alex quickly joined him. As they progressed downward, the earth became heavier and more compressed, evolving into a thick layer of clay that took some effort to remove. Within a few minutes though, they found the hard, stone floor that lay beneath. Its thirty-degree slope matched the adjacent railing.

  They kept digging until they cleared away most of the debris from the base of the door. Jack stepped back while Don crouched down, examined the strata lining the side of their excavated path, and said, “The layers are distinct, and seem like natural deposits, except for this thin, black layer coating the stone.”

  “It looks like soot,” Jack offered.

  “I think so too. Maybe evidence of a large fire.” Don scraped a sample into a small container, and then without a word walked back to level ground, picked up a shovel and started digging.

  Jack joined him and asked, “What are you looking for?”

  “That area’s about eighty or ninety centimeters deep, but that’s a recessed ramp leading to a wall. Debris could easily accumulate there from wind and storms. I’d like to get an idea of how deep it is here, away from a windbreak.” They hit bottom about a thirty centimeters down. Don knelt down to examine the side of their new trench, and said softly, “The layers look the same; just not as thick over here.”

  “So, how long do you think it took for all of this to accumulate?” Jack asked.

  “It’s tough to say. I’d need to know a lot more about the weather and geologic history of this area.”

  “I mean roughly, Don. Are we talking decades or centuries here?”

  “I can help you with the weather part,” Alex offered. “All you have to do is look at the plant life here.” He took a broad leaf in his hands from a nearby dwarf tree and tore it. “It’s no stronger than a palm leaf back home. That means to me that the worst storms here can’t be much more severe than what we have in the Caribbean. That should at least help you estimate the maximum rates stuff could be blown in and deposited.”

  Don nodded in agreement. He poked a bit more at the lower layers, before climbing out of the trench. “We’re talking centuries here. Maybe two…maybe ten, I can’t say for sure...” his voice trailed off. He then muttered something Jack couldn’t quite make out.

  “Say again Don.”

  “Nothing.” Don took a few steps away before adding, “It’s just that this really seals it. There’s no one here.”

  “Come on,” Alex said. “You’ve got to admit that we’ve known that for a while already.”

  “I know it doesn’t make any sense. It’s just that ... I was still hoping that we’d find someone. A survivor, I don’t know.”

  “Let’s just focus on what we have here.” Jack pointed to the dome and continued, “First, let’s find a way into that.”

  “I guess I could try an ultrasound of this area” Don offered, “just to see what’s under this dirt and confirm that there’s a void on the other side of that panel – you know, see if it really is a door.”

  “Good.” Jack stepped back as he watched Don retrieve the equipment from his pack. There really wasn’t much to do: the ultrasound device was no bigger than a lunchbox and connected wirelessly to Don’s computer.

  “I’ll start over here,” Don said as he placed the device on the soil near the edge of the railing. He activated the machine; a split second later a black cloud of dust rose from the surrounding soil. Don took a stepped toward it, but jumped back as the cloud moved directly toward him. “Jack? What the hell is this?” he said as he backed away. The cloud quickly caught up and surrounded him. “Jack?”

  “Stand still,” Alex called out. “It’s behaving like a swarm. They’re probably analogous to insects back home.”

  Don ignored him and started swatting at the creatures.

  Alex shouted again, “Don, just stand still for a moment. Your suit’ll protect you.”

  As Don finally stopped flailing, Alex calmly walked over to the ultrasound unit and said, “It looked like the high frequency output from this thing disturbed them.” He picked it up, pointed its base at Don and walked directly toward him. When he came within a couple meters, the cloud slowly backed off. Alex stepped closer while waving the device with outstretched arms; the creatures quickly dispersed, seeking refuge in the near-by brush.

  Don backed away from both the railing and the brush and said, “What the hell is all of this?”

  “It’s nature Don,” Alex shot back. “The world isn’t limited to the dry equations you use in physics and planetary science.”

  Don replied with a frustrated grunt as he tried to dust off anything that might have stuck to his suit.

  “They were too small to see individually,” Alex said as he stared longingly into the tree line.

  “What?” Jack said.

  “The creatures in that swarm. That was definitely insect-like behavior, but they were much smaller than back home.” Alex took a look around before continuing, “Don, come here, I want to get a closer look at your suit.”

  “Sure,” Don replied as he stepped toward the man.

  Alex leaned over him with a flashlight, and carefully inspected the folds in the near-frictionless fabric. “It doesn’t look like anything stayed on you. But we should thoroughly decontaminate your suit.”

  Jack nodded in agreement as he called into his radio, “Kurt, have you been getting all of this?”

  “Yes, it seems like it was a good idea to bring Don along as bait.”

  Jack chuckled as Don muttered, “Shut up. I don’t think you’d do any better down here.”

  “Anyway,” Kurt said, “I thought I’d let you know that you’ve been out of the shuttle for an hour and a half, and you’re over a kilometer from the landing site.”

  “I was already thinking about that,” Jack replied. “It’s time to head back. In any event, we’re going to need some more equipment before we can start excavating around this area.”

  “And, I’m going to want to leave some cameras and other monitoring equipment out for a few day-night cycles, for when we come back,” Alex said. “I’d like to get a better idea of what goes on here when we’re not around stirring things up.”

  Chapter 12 – July 16, 2124

  Kurt stared intently at Alex’s array of biological samples while the others filed into the lab. Each specimen was carefully sealed in a petri dish-like container, with all of them held in an air-tight glove box. Twenty in all, the specimens were obviously arranged in some sort of order – though the reasoning escape
d Kurt for the moment. No sample was larger than a few centimeters across, and all looked to be at least somewhat plantlike – except for the ones he assumed to be soil samples. Don walked up next to him and said, “Dried bits of plants and dirt – exciting, isn’t it?”

  Kurt had a wise-ass comment to shoot back, but held his tongue as Helena, Jack, and Palmer entered. They immediately moved forward, forcing Kurt to reluctantly take a step back: there was only so much room in the lab. Don joined him in the second row as Alex started speaking.

  “Ok, so these are our first samples. Keep in mind that all I did was collect a few representative specimens during our excursion yesterday; so, this is far from the detailed study that we’ll be doing over the next few weeks. Helena has a portion of each as well – that should allow her to start looking in greater detail at any threats, potential allergens and other issues that we’ll face.”

  “Keep in mind, that’ll take some time to figure out,” Helena added.

  “True,” Alex continued. “So, for the time being, please don’t ask me for any real details either. Let me start by just summarizing some of our findings. First, and probably most interesting, life on Epsilon Eri-D is much more similar to Earth life than I thought possible. It is cellular based, where their cells use a variant on DNA. We still have work to do, but it actually looks like they use the same amino acids and base molecular structure that we do. In retrospect, this shouldn’t be that much of a surprise since the environment here is so close to that of Earth. What it does mean, however, is that we should likely be able to synthesize the necessary serums and vaccines to let us roam free on this world.

  “Now, of course, there are some significant differences. The first one that caught my eye is that the difference between plant and animal life here is not quite so distinct. All of the organisms I’ve sampled so far have a variant of Chlorophyll, but lack cell walls and seem to have structures that allow for mobility. I wouldn’t call them true muscles. But, as Don was able to demonstrate, these organisms were able to move in a controlled manner toward him and just as quickly retreat when they were threatened.”

  “He’s just not going to let that go, is he?” Don muttered to Kurt. “Doesn’t he realize I’m the one who makes his duty assignments?”

  Kurt smiled and said, “But he’s a scientist. You know how they are: they don’t have a clue about how to deal with the people around them.” He paused for a split second to let his words take hold before continuing, “Oh, but wait, you’re one of them too, aren’t you?”

  “You better watch what you say,” Don shot back with a smile. “Remember, Jack was one of us scientists too. I’ll tell him what you just said – and maybe add an extra detail or two just for a little effect.”

  “Kurt, did you hear what I asked?” Alex said.

  “Sorry, just discussing some technical details here with Don.” Don shot him a dirty look as he continued, “What did you need?”

  “We observed some very small, airborne creatures. I’m betting they’re insect-like. I’ll need you to put together a small sampling device to catch some of them. I was thinking of something along the lines of a low power vacuum with a filter to catch them.”

  “No problem,” Kurt replied.

  “Also, we found that some of the life here is particularly sensitive to high-pitch noise – stuff in the ultra-sound range above thirty-kilohertz. Could you piece together a couple of variable pitch speakers with triggers. I was thinking they might be useful as a non-harmful repellant of sorts.”

  “Not a problem either,” Kurt said as he noted the requests in his hand-held computer. “When do you need them by?”

  “We’d like to head back down tomorrow morning. Can you have them ready by then?”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “Good,” Alex said. “As I was saying, the plant-like life here has some similarities to animal life back home, but there are differences. For one, the metabolic rate of the cells I analyzed from Don’s vine is much faster than that of a typical plant. I honestly don’t think photosynthesis, or its analogue here, is capable meeting all of its energy requirements. This would explain the organism’s predatory behavior: it needs some external source of energy.” Alex pointed to the dish containing the vine sample and continued, “You’ll notice the maroon fluid that’s oozed out of it. It’s less viscous than sap, and is probably the core of a more advanced circulatory system. This small fragment doesn’t tell us that much, but the behavior we observed when I cut it suggested that it was part of a much larger organism. I’m willing to bet that its main body has some sort of pumping organ, along with other organ systems. I’m not sure how centralized all of it will be, but it should be really amazing to investigate.”

  “Alex,” Don said.

  “Yes?”

  “Will you be sending around a written report of all of this for us to read?”

  “Definitely. In fact, it’d be a great way to get some feedback in terms of what we want to do next. There are literally a myriad of opportunities here – I’m really not even sure where I want to begin.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Jack said. “For now, why don’t we stick to the information most relevant to preparing for our next surface mission.”

  “OK,” Alex replied. As the scientist started talking, Kurt leaned over to Don’s ear and whispered, “Pretty slick. I guess you were getting a little bored?”

  “I can skim through most of that stuff later,” Don answered. “All I really want to do is get inside that dome.”

  “Listen up please,” Alex called out in a slightly raised voice. “Because these organisms show advanced predatory behavior, and because none of the potential prey have shown themselves, I think it would be wise to be very cautious when we’re down there. To put it simply, the prey is hiding for a reason. We don’t want to stumble into anything dangerous.”

  “A wise precaution,” Jack replied. Turning to his first officer, Jack continued, “Palmer, I understand that you’ve been working closely with Masako about the alien object in orbit?”

  “Yes, Lieutenant Fukuhara’s planetary science background was the best match for this. We have spent a reasonable amount of time observing the object, but have only come up with more unanswered questions. I think I’ll let her explain.”

  Kurt turned as Masako started speaking from the back of the lab. “First, we were able to refine the estimates of the masses of the rings. The outer rings are identical. Each has an inner diameter of twenty-five kilometers and a circular cross-section with a thickness of one kilometer. We now estimate their masses to be three times ten-to-the-seventeenth kilograms which as Don reported earlier, is in line with the mass of a small asteroid. The central ring is still puzzling. It too has an inner diameter of twenty-five kilometers. We have refined our estimate of its mass to a little more than five percent of an Earth mass or three-point-two times ten-to-the-twenty-third kilograms; in other words, this seemingly small object is four-and-a-half times more massive than our moon. What’s particularly interesting is that these measurements mean it’s made of some entirely new form of matter. Something we’ve never even theorized. We’re talking about matter over ten-million times denser than lead. So in short, I’ve got no idea what it is.”

  “Were you able to solve the ring-position problem?” Kurt asked.

  “Actually yes,” Masako replied. “That was one of the few answers we were able to come up with. For those who don’t know, the problem we were dealing with is that the gravitational field from the central ring is so strong, that it should have pulled the outer ones into it. However, we found what appears to be an elegant example of celestial engineering. The whole object, outer and inner rings, are spinning on an axis perpendicular to its central axis. Basically, the outer rings are orbiting the central one; but the central one is spinning as well, so that they maintain their alignment. They make one orbit every seven-point-four minutes. That’s what’s keeping them in a stable, aligned configuration. Unfortunately, that’s abou
t all we’ve been able to learn so far.”

  They stood in silence until Palmer said, “At this point, we’re not really sure how to even study it.” Palmer waited a moment for comments and continued when the room remained quiet. “We were, however, able to completely map the debris clouds. Our best guess is sort of obvious: they’re what’s left of an orbital structure or ship. However, the particles themselves seem remarkably uniform. Like the ones near the asteroid, they’re comprised of some sort of metal. The individual pieces seem rounded, and range from centimeter-sized to chunks a half-meter across. But there’s no sign of any actual fragments of larger structures: No broken up hull, solar panels or anything at all.

  “The main debris cloud is in an orbit that trails the massive rings like a tail. We found a second, more diffuse cloud in lower orbit near E-Eri-D. We were aware of part of it when we plotted your course to the surface. It looks like it’s part of a larger cloud that’s really more like a ring around the planet. The center of the distribution is about a thousand kilometers above the planet’s surface. Now that we’ve mapped it, it’ll be easy to stay clear of it.”

  “Good,” Jack replied. He looked once around the lab before asking, “Are there any questions?” When no one answered, Jack said, “OK, then we’ll proceed as planned. Alex, Don and myself will conduct a second surface mission tomorrow. Hopefully with the appropriate equipment, we’ll be able to get into the dome. Once we have a better handle on the environment down there, we’ll start regular daily trips to the surface.

  As the others nodded in agreement, Jack said, “Palmer, I have something else I want you to do.”

  “Sir?”

  “We need to get more information about the orbiting object. Do you want to take shuttle-two in for a closer look?”

  Though he looked for it, Palmer’s face didn’t show a trace of emotion. The man just answered. “Yes sir. May I choose who I take with me?”

  “Who do you want?”

  “My first choice is Masako.”

  Jack looked to Don and asked, “Any objections?”