by Ivan Svogor
Well, councilor, said Jess, you are correct about the first part, for the latter part, I think that...
Krueger interrupted Jess by continuing, interestingly we didn't see much of the results in that respect. Would you provide us with some insights as to how fast the Rock can actually grow, and whether it has an agenda?
Jess was a bit confused now, as those are the results that she should have by the end of her stay, and not several weeks after her arrival. She looked at Dr. Quill was rubbing his eyebrows with his fingers, and Carlo and Lee were speechless on the other side of the lab.
“Councilor Krueger”, she started, “we have made remarkable results with the datasets that we have, however, we are getting some very interesting readings from our current equipment. And by interesting, I mean counter-intuitive and unexplainable. We have just finished the installation of the new sensor grid that will provide essential data necessary to answer your questions.”
You’ve made your own sensors? - asked councilor Krueger, looking at Dr. Quill with a frown. He continued, “Dr. Winson, do you have an estimate of the growth rate?”
“Only with the reliability of 20 percent at the moment”, she replied.
“Do you know whether it is of any threat to our Planet?” - he asked.
“At the moment we are investigating some earthquakes and how they can be related to the external stimulus of the Rock”, however she was interrupted again.
“So, no would be the answer”, concluded Krueger, and continued with the question, “Dr. Winson, considering your extensive knowledge of chemistry do you know how to slow down the Rock, or even how to destroy it? “
Jess was a bit confused by the question and repeated, how to destroy it?
Councilor Krueger raised his eyebrows and repeated, yes Dr. Winson, did you perform any research into destroying it?
Jess mumbled, but this is the only life form we have discovered so far throughout the entire history. Wouldn't destroying it be immoral?
Krueger shrugged and said, well now Dr. Winson if I understand this correctly, we don't understand why are the earthquakes happening, we don't know the growth rate of the Rock, we don't know whether how it grows, in which direction, it happens to sit on one of the most potent water supplies of our planet and we don't know whether it has intentions or how to slow it down or destroy it?
From the inside, Jess was falling apart, not quite sure whether it was because councilor Krueger was for some unknown reason trying to humiliate her, whether because Dr. Quill just stood there and watched or whether the questioning was completely misplaced.
Jess finally said, councilor Krueger, all of those are excellent questions, and we here are also eager to find answers, however, this needs time. All of those questions could be answered in about 8 to 14 months.
Krueger thanked Jess for her presentation, made a remark to the rest of the lab members, and went outside. Commander Hewitt, though a scary military persona, had a very sad and comforting look and for a moment his eyes met with Jess’s. After a brief moment, he said thank you for all the good work you have been doing here and went outside.
Jess noticed Kent’s satisfied smirk on his face just as he was going out from the lab. Only a moment after all the visitors left the lab, Lee and Carlo rushed towards Jess. That was a great presentation but a brutal questioning by councilor Krueger said, Carlo. Yes, it almost looked like he wanted to discredit you for being too slow with your progress here, Lee said. However, that is weird, you've arrived just a couple of weeks ago, and so far our progress has been exponential.
Jess stood quiet for a moment and shrugged, well, if he is not satisfied with my progress, that is OK. I've been following the plan that has been agreed with Dr. Quill and actually if our progress is not in accordance with the wishes of the Council, Dr. Quill is the one that is directly responsible. Everyone here knows that we are doing a hell of a good job.
You are right, said Lee proudly. I think that this has been a very stressful day so far, so I'll order a couple of drinks and snacks and I suggest that we chat for a while.
Chapter 12
Back at Dr. Quill's office, with an increased tone of voice and clearly upset, he said, “There is no need to bash one of my top scientists like this. A clear, concise, and ambitious plan was made the team is following it by the letter. In fact, they might be already ahead of the agreed schedule. The show back there was completely unnecessary.”
Councilor Krueger calmly replied, “Dr. Quill, we have agreed that you will have a top scientist working on the Rock growth prediction and that you will have all the information on its growth, stimulation, usefulness, and also a way to destroy it. So far, you have failed to do that. Furthermore, there are bigger things in motion and you do not have the full disclosure and information necessary to judge whether your progress is satisfactory.”
“What are you talking about?”, asked Dr. Quill. “I have regularly reported all that's happening, the plan was made to the best of our effort and the results so far have grown exponentially.”
“Dear Dr. Quill”, continued the councilor, “I have also been updated by Kent Garcia and it seems to me that everyone here has been taking a bit of a laid back approach. A lot of time is wasted without need and as I said there is an urgent matter to address the questions at hand.”
Dr. Quill directed a piercing view towards Kent who, for a moment there, was embarrassed. “Councilor Krueger”, started Dr. Quill without taking his eyes off Kent, “Mr. Garcia is a very good associate of mine, very ambitious, but also a young fool and a poor scientist. He doesn't understand what makes scientific progress and is blinded by his ambition to take over the facility. I think that my career and life achievements are witnessing that we are in full control of what we are doing here.”
At that moment commander Hewitt broke the tension. “Dr. Quill, I understand that you are in full control of processes here, but we have new insights into the history of the Rock, and it came from our friends at the Lunar observatory 9. A team of scientists there have been working hard on reverse-engineering the trajectory that led the Rock here, and they have had a breakthrough. Following their simulations and analysis, they discovered that a nearby solar system has perfect conditions for the chemistry that would suit the Rock. They found a planet in the habitable, so-called goldilock zone that looks completely frozen. They are hypothesizing that a larger meteorite might chip off a part of this planet and that it has found its way to Earth. Now, living here and growing, and potentially fully covering it, and thus destroying this planet."
Dr. Quill sat down, and he was trying to process this new information. Kent was also pretty surprised and he asked several silly and unimportant questions. Finally, this was interrupted by Dr. Quill.
“This is why you would like to know how to destroy it”, he asked.
“Precisely Dr. Quill”, responded commander Hewitt. “There is a reason to believe that it could be potentially dangerous for us."
“But that is very weird”, said Dr. Quill. “Why would a planet in the habitable zone be frozen solid? Or even more, why would a silicon-based life develop there. Looking at the chemistry, silicon can deceptively be a candidate to create building blocks for life, but it would need a very different environment.”
“That, Dr. Quill”, started councilor Krueger, “is what researchers at the Lunar observatory 9 are working hard on, and some findings are classified at the moment. We would like to open up a separate facility right next to this one. It will be operated by military personnel, and in no way will it interfere with your research here or the Rock."
“So, you would like to have a tighter grip over us, is that what it is all about”, asked Dr. Quill. “Hum, and the classified information. Is the Council now a secretive organization in charge of the mysteries of this Planet? Already we are hiding information, and history hasn't been clear enough to teach you, people, that this is a dangerous game to play?”
Krueger calmly said, “Dr. Quill, this is bigger than
every single one of us, that is why we need to be careful with the information. Though we are well aware of the history, with exception of climate problems, never before have our people been in the prospect of losing a planet to a system that cannot be controlled. The military research facility that we want to start here is not envisioned to have a tight grip on your operations, but to supplement your research to find weaknesses of this Rock. While it is an exciting research prospect and an answer to the great question of are we alone if it comes down to us or it, I would really prefer us. Wouldn't you Dr. Quill?”
Dr. Quill just stared at his bookshelf, managed to stretch out a broken smile, and he replied, “The questions like that are never binary and the outcomes are always inconceivable. Be that as it may, you are a councilor, and I can disagree, but my role here is to do research, so, let us do research.”
Councilor Krueger stood up to leave, “Dr. Quill, thank you for this meeting, I am looking forward to our future collaboration here at the Antarctica research facility.” Dr. Quill nodded, as did commander Hewitt and the party started walking towards the exit.
* * *
It was a cold Monday morning, then again, so was every morning on the South Pole. Dave Winson was sleeping in his heated tent as he was awakened by one of his robotic helpers. Lying on the bed, he was checking up on some of his personal correspondence when he heard har noises. As he looked at the sky he noticed some high profiled hars heading towards the Antarctica research facility he could see in the distance.
Ah, if the politicians are awake, that means that it is time to wake up Dave said to himself. Today is a big day and he is supposed to set up a camera array to take some imagery that will be used for synthesizing the southern sunset, and most likely for holo-rooms. Right next to his tent was his transporter har full of photography equipment. Along with this, he had a robot helper, which was a kind of a dog looking robot with a robotic arm, capable of handling the icy surfaces of their current surroundings and also, capable of dispatching micro drones for mapping out the area. Though great maps were available, considering the snowfall and wind, one is never certain about the icy desert.
Dave wore an article of tough southern clothing and had a special vehicle just for snow that he used to move around. He wanted to do a pretty good job, and on his schedule today was a sight very close to the Antarctica research facility, that is why it was convenient to visit Jess. There were eight locations that he needed to cover, each having four distinct cameras.
Almost the entire day had passed and finally, the evening came, he was installing a camera several hundreds of meters near the research facility. As it turns out, they have placed it in a good location for those winter sunsets, almost on the way for his photo, however, he managed to find a scene that would fit. Dave was finishing up by installing the last camera pole. His robotics helpers were holding down the pole while he was adjusting the camera and checking the angles on his computer. The weather was freezing and while he did have protection gear, he was looking forward to finishing and then continuing from home, remotely.
The camera set on the pole beeped and projected a light that was slowly fading away. Great, all calibrated! Dave said, boys, we are done here! The robotic helpers remained indifferent while Dave sighed and continued, uh, tough crowd tonight, let’s start packing up. He jumped down from the ladder and went to his filming tent to perform the final, as he called it, extrinsic calibration of the entire system. While capable of taking stills, nowadays all the cameras took a video that was later on processed in all kinds of ways. Dave started the final calibration which again, caused some of the poles to project light.
Dave laid back and waited for the system to finish the task, while every now and then we checked the screen to verify the numbers. His work continued, as he was casually reading the latest news.
* * *
Dr. Quill stayed in his office, while Kent immediately rushed to follow councilor Krueger. It is not clear what they talked about however they proceeded to the exit, even towards the hars. Commander Hewitt interrupted briefly by excusing himself from the remainder of the evening.
“Gentleman, I am in a bit of a rush here”, said Hewitt, “as there is increased work that awaits us, I need to leave to attend yet another meeting this evening. Farewell!”
While the commander’s har was leaving, Krueger and Kent distanced themselves from the rest of the crew, and Krueger's pilot Ryad joined. “Mr. Garcia, I would like to introduce you to my personal pilot Ryad Cox”, said the councilor. “He is a person of utmost trust and also a person who, let's say, takes care of business for me. He is very skilled and extremely efficient.”
Cox faced Kent, while councilor Krueger continued, “And this is Kent Garcia, a man of a bright future here at the Antarctica research facility. I believe that together we can make great things. First of which is finding an efficient way to stop the growth of the Rock, and actually to learn how to completely kill it without consequences. I trust that two men like you are aware of the importance of the actions that need to take place. One thing you also need Mr. Kent is that, not only did my team discover the potential origin of the Rock, they have identified a potential incoming threat, from the same system as the Rock.”
A smirk that Kent had up to this moment, suddenly vanished and was replaced by genuine concern and fear. “Sir, I don't think I understand what you are saying”, asked Kent.
Councilor Krueger smiled and replied, “That thing that is under our feet, it is not here by accident, it was sent here to lay grounds for what is coming, and something is coming our way. Our scientists on the outpost on the dark side of the moon identified a moving object that intentionally adjusted its course towards earth, and by our calculations, we have about 80 years until it arrives. We need to know whether the Rock will spread to half of our planet until then and whether someone decided to, quote, terraform Earth for their own needs.”
Kent was completely dumbstruck by this and their conversation was interrupted by a flashing, not so distant light. Te councilor looked in surprise and irritation at this, and said, “Mr. Cox, I believe this is one of those automatic scenery recording setups, would you be kind enough to handle this?” Cox smiled and said, “Yes sir, we will do it on our way back.”
“Mr. Garcia”, started the councilor, “What we talked about here is classified”. At that moment Cox grabbed Kent by the neck and raised him in the air. While Kent was choking, Krueger continued, “I believe that you are aware of what is at stake here, and let this just be a reminder of the importance of everything that we talked about and why it must remain secret.”
Cox threw Kent on the floor, and as he was coughing, he nodded in tears and Krueger left together with Cox towards the har parking.
* * *
At the parking lot, Hank just landed and saw Cox. He started laughing and said, “Well, well.”.
Cox looked in surprise, smiled, and started walking to Hank. “In a million years, it wouldn't cross my mind that I would see you here. How are you doing? Or even better, what are you doing here?” - asked Cox.
Hank replied “I am picking up someone very important for a family visit, so they let me enjoy a couple of days on solid ground. How about you?”
Just as Hank asked this, councilor Krueger appeared from around the corner and just as Cox was to introduce him to Hank, he just said “Mr. Cox, I believe we are in a hurry, let’s get moving.”
The councilor went away to sit in the har, while Hank just said, “Must be someone important. You better get going”. As Cox slowly started moving away, he asked “How long has it been? Since the college, right?”
Hank just noded at that remark, while Cox asked, “who did you say you’re picking up?”
“I didn’t”, replied Hank.
“Alright”, said Cox and smiled, “You be careful now. Take care!”
Hank walked away, and turned to say, “Have a good one!”. He raised his hand and went inside.
* * *
That
evening, Hank surprised Jess with an early visit, however, she was exhausted from the day and needed relaxation for the evening. They went to meet up with Lee and Carlo to play some games and have dinner. Just as they started to eat, she remembered that she is supposed to have a rendezvous with her brother, so she called him.
Unfortunately, the device you are accessing is unavailable, would you like to leave the message?
“Hum”, Jess said, “This is very odd. Hank asked, what is?”
“Well, I am trying to reach my brother who is setting up a camera array for some project that he has here on the South Pole, but I'm getting a message that the device is not available”, replied Jess.
“Aha”, started Hank, “On my way here I saw some flashing on the ground, so he is probably testing his equipment. Why don't you leave him a message?”
Jess shrugged and said, “I am worried that he is alright, what if he had an accident or something?”
