Beckman is loitering near the small-arms locker, but James catches his eye and shakes his head no. They will not be armed for this encounter.
James attaches several accessories to his belt and clips on Ananke’s slate. It swirls a peaceful blue.
“James,” she says. “What we’re about to do is Bernard’s dream.”
“I know,” James says. “I’m sure he’s watching.”
When everyone is ready, James takes the lead. He looks over at Ava, and she smiles, carrying a special slate they’ve prepared for the Stars. Everyone’s body language is filled with a mixture of excitement and nervousness, and James gives them a reassuring nod, then reaches for the panel and runs the airlock sequence.
The nitrogen cycling into the room is brisk, and if they weren’t wearing breathers, their breath would billow. James’s ears pop from the increased pressure. After a moment, the airlock icon toggles green, and James opens the door.
The Star’s airlock umbilical is white, constructed from the same corduroy-patterned metal they use for their walls. At first, it’s completely dark, and James unclips the hand light from his belt, shining its beam along the umbilical’s surfaces, but then a thin rod running the length of the hallway’s roof brightens to a soft blue. James extinguishes his hand light and stows it. “Looks like that’s our cue,” he says, his words slightly muffled by his mask.
As he approaches the wall at the end of the umbilical, its rods slide away like parting fingers. The main chamber is a semi-sphere with a flat hexagonal-patterned floor. The walls and roof are interlocking twelve-sized polygons. The polygons at the roof’s apex have their edges illuminated blue, casting dim ambient light. The primary light source, however, is the Stars.
Eight Stars fan out in an arc at the room’s center, each pulsing blue patterns like sunlight rippling underwater. The Stars are amorphous, about the size of a small child, with smooth peaks and valleys. Long, organic protrusions extend like fingers or perhaps feelers, undulating in hypnotic patterns. Their surfaces are silvery-white, sparkling like ice crystals in the sun, and they look to James like living, packed snow that’s emitting blue light. No two are alike. In fact, each Star changes from moment to moment, its feelers retracting and smoothing out or its body growing broader or taller. It’s a bit like watching a water globule wobble in zero-gee.
James’s pulse is up, his breath fogging the inside of his mask. He’s sure he’s not the only one.
The Stars glide towards them, their bodies stretching up like taffy until they are the same height as the humans. James steels himself.
The air cools noticeably in front of James as his Star stops short of him, its translucent light patterns flickering like neurons. Abruptly, it pulses brightly.
Ananke translates: Exotherms. How do Humans sustain such heat output?
“Julian, want to take this?” James says.
Julian responds, “Through oxidation of sugars we consume daily.”
Oxidation is very destructive for Stars.
“How do your bodies gain energy?” Julian says.
Primary source is betavoltaic conversion of tritium from water Stars consume. Stars have secondary chemical sources that are less efficient.
James’s Star extrudes a tentative tendril towards Ananke’s slate. This Human is different. Is this Human evolved on a different world?
Ananke responds, “I am not evolved. Humans created the technology for my substrate, and the conditions were right for consciousness.”
How can Ananke-Human be technological if Ananke-Human is alive?
“Those conditions are not mutually exclusive.”
The Star extrudes another pair of tendrils and reaches all three towards Ananke. James stiffens slightly, but Ananke says, “It’s okay, James. They’re just looking.” The tendrils brush across the slate, and ripples of orange and green spill down Ananke’s face. The Star remains silently there for a full thirty seconds, James’s chest rising and falling with each worrying breath. He observes Ananke’s screen, but its colors never fade. Finally, the Star retracts its tendrils.
“We spoke,” Ananke says. “It directly manipulated my qubits and asked me about my origin and how I live with humans. It’s going to touch you next.”
“James,” Julian says. “You don’t know what that will do to you. They can manipulate electric fields. It might disrupt your nerve signals.”
James watches the undulating Star in front of him. He takes a deep breath, reaches for his left glove, and pulls it off. The air chills his fingers. “Only one way to find out.” He holds out his bare palm facing the Star.
The Star’s three tendrils stretch out to meet him. When they contact his palm, they’re intensely cold, numbing his skin nearly instantly. They have a texture like fine-grit sandpaper. As they wrap around his hand, a tingling crawls along his arm like a low-level electric current passing through his skin. It’s different, though. A current would be continuous, but this sparkles in random spots like fireflies. It doesn’t hurt. If anything, it tickles.
The Star retracts its tendrils. Humans surface is too hot. Further contact will damage Star. Humans are curious. Electrically organized. Stars are different from Humans, but some things are similar.
James slips his glove back on. His hand feels like it’s almost frozen. “It is true that we have things in common. We were able to work together to achieve something great.”
The Star pulses silently for a second before replying: Humans risked Promise and death of Human crew to help Stars. Do all Humans act in this manner?
James smiles. “Most humans do.” It was an honest answer.
Why do most Humans do this?
“It was the right thing to do. Humans try to help others. We believe we’re stronger when we work together.”
Stars understand. Humans helped Stars fix ship, so Stars will help Humans fix jump drive.
“No,” James says. “We fixed our jump drive seven days ago.”
The Star pauses, shifting its shape subtly for a moment. Humans could have left?
“Yes, but we wanted to help the Stars, so we stayed.”
Curious. Humans are not like others we have met.
James smiles. “We hope to continue to work with the Stars. There is much we can learn from each other.”
Stars are leaving soon. Ship is repaired and must jump to next location.
James was hoping there would be more time to talk. “Will any remain on Sao?”
No. Tower is intelligent but not alive. No Stars are needed for it to function. Will Humans remain at Sao?
“For a short time. Next, we will jump to Tau Ceti and then Epsilon Eridani.”
Stars have designated these systems as dangerous. Star ships that have gone there have not returned.
James hesitates, glancing at Hitoshi. Hitoshi grimaces. James says, “Do you know what happened to them?”
No. Star ships that do not return have ceased. No further Star ships will go to these systems.
He pauses. “When will the next Star ship come to Sao?”
Fourteen months. It is impossible to tell other Star ships about Humans before the ships arrive. Still, we will instruct the tower to tell them that Human status has been changed to Accepted, and Human designation is Generally Non-Destructive.
Lin smiles and says quietly to Hitoshi, “Earth is Mostly Harmless. That’s awesome!”
“Promise needs to return to Neso for titanium,” James says. “Do the Stars have any concerns with humans using Neso?”
Neso has a toxic oxygen atmosphere. Stars are not interested in it or any worlds orbiting Luhman 16A. Worlds are too warm. Humans may use any of those worlds. Stars will use worlds of Luhman 16B.
“Thank you,” James says. He knows there is no translation for that, but Ananke will whip up something. “We would like to give you something.” He looks over at Ava and nods.
Ava lifts the slate and offers it with both hands to her Star. The slate displays images alongside Star words. “This
slate is similar to the one you used in space,” Ava says. “These are images of Earth.” The display indexes through green mountains with misty waterfalls, glowing skyscrapers at night, and people walking through a sunny park. “Earth has many languages, and are there are samples of each.”
The Star reaches out and wraps its tendrils around the slate, lifting it from Ava’s hands.
She continues. “There’s also technology instructions, such as how to make and encode radio waves that we can understand. There is a satellite here in orbit around Luhman 16A that can be used to speak with Earth or us. The slate will show you how to use it.”
The Stars accept this gift. We will now give something to Humans.
The Star in front of James reaches out and touches Ananke’s slate. Her screen ripples with orange and purple.
Ananke says, “It’s placing an image into my memory. I see a world covered in snow with a dark blue sky. The sun is a giant red ball in that sky. The crescent of another planet rises from the horizon like our Moon, but I can see clouds and oceans on it. It’s the sister planet to the Star’s world. On the Star’s world, there is a crater, hundreds of kilometers across, with cities built into its walls, glowing with thousands of blue lights. I see Stars, endless Stars, gliding in lines crisscrossing the crater. Now it’s fading to black, and I see pulses of light shimmering like a mirage, and I hear…music…music made of light, in my mind. It’s beautiful.”
The Star maintains contact for another few seconds, then withdraws its tendrils.
“Thank you,” Ananke says.
Humans are interesting. This meeting was beneficial. Stars will evaluate Human gift and may talk again. Stars predict Human expeditions will be successful.
Not a bad first contact, James thinks. I’ll take that.
Promise accelerates to break orbit from Sao, the planet growing imperceptibly smaller with time. James stands on the bridge beside Ava, his arm around her shoulder and her arm around his waist. The Silver Star’s cylinder ship has been rotating up to speed for the past thirty minutes. All Stars are tucked inside with their lights out as prismatic trails flash around the ship. Its exterior lights strobe a final message. Successful expeditions. It’s Star for goodbye and good luck. As the rainbow lights overtake the ship, it collapses in a brilliant flash.
James watches the flickering fade. “Successful expeditions, my friends.”
29
Shore Leave
Compared to Sao, Neso is downright balmy at ten degrees Celsius. Promise is parked at a different location than their first visit. After surveying the planet from orbit, they picked the tourist spot — the sweet intersection of titania beaches, fantastic cliff views, and temperate weather. From their beachfront location, the massive orange embers of Luhman 16A are a perpetual sunrise, its light rippling on the waves. A few rocky peaks chiseled in sunlight rise out of the ocean.
James wears his gray jacket with a pair of blue jeans and a tee-shirt. That’s it. No exosuit, no respirator. The air is a bit thin, but with each day spent, he’s getting used to it, the same as acclimating to a high altitude on Earth. Neso’s gravity is like Earth’s, and if you stand with your back to the massive sun it’s easy to believe that you’re actually on Earth. He’s got his slate clipped to his belt, and today he’s been wandering around recording log entries with all of the crew:
9:32 - Mission Day 43 - Neso “Sunrise Bay” Upper East Beach
Hitoshi, Isaac, and Betty II are on the beach. It’s a nearly comical sight with the giant treaded robot framed by the red sphere of Luhman 16A, as if Betty II were on vacation with the two men. She’s not on vacation; instead, she’s carrying around what looks like an oversized pressure cooker and depositing it near a collection of other tanks and devices that are connected by pipes and cables.
When Hitoshi sees James coming up with the slate, he smiles for the camera. “Two men and a robot walk into a bar…”
Behind the camera, James says, “There’s a bar on Neso?”
“It’s a sand bar.”
James smirks. “I should’ve known better. How’s the project going?”
Hitoshi motions to Betty II. “Almost ready. Bunch of piping to hook up. This was a lot of stuff to fab, but it’s not too complicated.”
“When do you think we’ll have our first batch of titanium?”
“If I said by sunset, I’d be guaranteed to be right because the sun never sets here, so I guess I’ll go with dinner.”
“How are you getting the titanium out of the sand?”
Hitoshi holds up his index finger. “Isaac has been dying for you to ask that. Mister Isaac, take it away.”
Isaac seems tickled that someone wants to know. “Electro-calciothermic reduction of titania into titanium and calcium oxide. Uses a carbon anode, cathode, and molten calcium chloride bath.”
“That’s pretty cool,” James says.
“Pretty much unlimited titanium here. Only limitation is the reaction compounds needed to extract it.” He points at the ocean. “Neso oceans are full of minerals, including calcium carbonate, so we could probably even make more reaction components by farming the water if we need to.”
“That’s right. We have an entire planet of resources to work with.”
“Yeah.”
“Good work, guys.” He looks up at Betty II. “And robots.”
10:10 - Neso “Sunrise Bay” Lower East Beach
Beckman is in gray running shorts with a Navy tee shirt worn over a black long-sleeve thermal shirt, jogging at a good pace along the beach with the ocean lapping up along the sand a few meters from where he runs. James’s slate view takes on the bouncy rhythm of someone running.
“Hey, big guy,” James says. “I’m doing a video log for Will.”
Beckman keeps his head pointed in the direction he’s running, darting his eyes towards the camera. “Really, right now?”
“Yeah, really. You want to say hi, growl, or grunt in the camera’s direction?”
Beckman returns his eyes forward. “Will,” he begins, “you ever been locked up with someone for forty-three days, then you finally get a minute to stretch your legs, and that person finds you with a camera and asks you for a quote? What do you think you would say in a situation like that?”
“Okay, point taken. Enjoy the jog, big guy.”
James slows, and Beckman continues down the beach, receding away from him. As Beckman departs, he yells back, “Good job on the shore leave. We all needed it.”
11:40 - Neso “Secret Garden” Northeast Plateau
It was a bit of a hike getting up here, but the view is certainly worth it. Rocky cliffs and mountains frame the panoramic landscape overlooking the bay. Ava, Willow, and Julian are here kneeling in the dirt, surrounded by gardening equipment. One of the ship’s surface rovers that Lin has repurposed as a robo-gardener also rests nearby, collecting sunlight with its solar panels. A small Lost in Space B9 robot is painted on its side. The garden bed is two meters by three meters — about the size of something you might find in your backyard — and contains four rows of reddish-black sprouts.
Ava wears her gardening hat. “Hi, James!”
“Hey!” James says. “Look at all those little guys. I’m doing a log for Will. Want to tell him what you’re doing?”
Ava points at one of the sprouts. “These little guys are the augments. Before we left Earth, we genetically modified seeds for a variety of sunlight conditions. These were made specifically for Luhman 16A. You can see they’re almost black, so they soak up as much of the red light as possible. We’ve been growing them in the Solarium on the way here, and we transplanted them complete with their soil beds.” She waves her hand over the soil. “The soil is a big experiment itself. What turns dirt into soil is living things, so there’s plenty of microbes we transplanted with this. If the plants and microbes survive, they may propagate and convert the adjacent dirt into soil. It’s its own little biosphere. It’ll be interesting when people return here. There may be a green
field waiting for them.”
13:45 - Neso “Lower Arch View” Lower East Beach
A magnificent stone arch juts from the ocean a half-kilometer away, waves crashing against it. Lin is here, sitting on a small beach chair that rests beneath a matching umbrella, both of which have cheerfully striped fabric. She holds a hardcover book and is merrily reading the story. She spies James approaching and smiles. “Hey, James! Welcome to the resort.”
“That is an awesome umbrella. Did you make that?”
She waves a hand. “This little thing? A couple of carbon-fiber rods and some nylon. Added the color scheme myself.”
“You know, with the jackets and patches, I think you’ve got some fashion design skills.”
“Yeah, I did think about that for a while when I was a teenager. I always loved sketching clothes. My love of spaceships won out, though.”
“What are you reading there?”
She holds up the book. “Dune. Like, for the twentieth time. All the sand here got me in the mood for it. Watch out for sand worms.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for ‘em.”
14:20 - Neso “Three Arches View” Northeast Plateau
Ananke’s hologram sits in a folding chair, looking out over the ocean. James has brought the slate with the holo emitter modification, enabling her to be here with him. From the elevation of the Northeast Plateau, they can see not only the arch that is visible from the beach but two more further out west. Nearly all of the crew has been here to take photos from the Three Arch spot. Ananke wears a space jacket — the whole crew has been calling them that — and a baseball cap. James sits beside her.
Bernard's Dream: A Hayden's World Novel (Hayden's World Origins Book 8) Page 27
