Ice Planet

by Nicole Stuart

  The screen remained static, displaying that message. Cora turned to Savi.

  “That’s an amazing story, Savi. It accords with my knowledge of the history of our people, as far as that knowledge extends. It also matches my guesses of what happened, although nothing exists to confirm that the civilization was as advanced as it seems to have been. There is no record of this level of science having been in existence at any time in our past.”

  “Our oldest records go back only about eight thousand years, Cora, and I suspect that this place is a lot older than that. I wonder what the reanimation process involves. I would guess that it is fairly complex. The books and movies with suspended animation as a subject all depict it as a process involving many doctors, machines, blood transfusions and so on. We don’t have any of that capability.”

  “I don’t believe it will be necessary. Everything we’ve seen about this place suggests that it was designed and constructed by experts. I can’t believe that they would have left anything to chance, certainly not in something as important as reviving the scientists who designed it. Why don’t we ask the computer what will be required of us. It seems to have some intelligence.”

  A voice came from the desktop.

  “There will be nothing required of you in the reanimation process. However, it is expected that you will care for the persons so reanimated, in terms of providing comfort and sustenance. In the event that the reanimation is premature, the process can be reversed.”

  Startled, Cora looked at Savi. She was reassured to see that he was just as startled.

  “It seems that the computer is listening to us, Savi. Computer, are you aware that the world is heading towards another ice age? We expect that it will be in full swing within the next thousand years.”

  “What is the population of the planet now, Cora?”

  “I estimate about twelve million, down from a peak of about a hundred million.”

  “That is sufficient. It is recommended that you choose to reanimate the scientists.”

  Cora looked at Savi, a question in her eyes. He smiled.

  “I don’t think that there really is a choice, Cora. I think that we must reanimate them. They may save our civilization from what is coming.”

  Wordlessly, Cora turned to the computer and entered her name in the space provided.

  Chapter 8

  There was a blur on the screen as symbols flowed down in a torrent. Savi and Cora looked on, wondering what the next step would be. After a wait of more than three minutes, the torrent of symbols stopped abruptly, and a line appeared.

  “Quantum computer 1 activated.”

  The voice came again from the computer.

  “Transport process complete. Please attend to Cabinet 1.”

  Surprised, Cora and Savi looked at the row of cabinets. A green light was flashing on the one closest to the back of the chamber. As they watched, there was a slight movement and the front of the cabinet swung open.

  “Let’s see what we can do, Savi. The person in the cabinet may need help.” Cora sprinted to the cabinet. She arrived seconds before the person inside stepped out, looking around uncertainly.

  The person was a young woman, about three years older than Cora. She smiled as she saw Cora standing there, closely followed by Savi. She raised her hand in greeting, smiling more broadly.

  “Do you speak my language?” The woman’s voice matched her appearance. It was refined and melodious. The words were spoken in the archaic language, one that Cora and Savi had studied in order to understand the records they accessed as part of their work. They found that they could follow it, although the pronunciation was a little strange to their ears.

  “We do, although not well, I regret. I am Cora, and this is my associate, Savi. We are pleased that you appear to be well, and we welcome you back to Kinair.”

  “Thank you, Cora. I am pleased to hear that our planet has retained its name. That would appear to indicate that the disaster caused by the advance of the ice was not as complete as we feared it might be.”

  “It was nearly complete, although we recovered some of what appears to have been lost. Unfortunately, the ice is advancing once again, although we anticipate at least another few hundred years of livable conditions. May we know your name?”

  “I apologize. I am Aria. I am a scientist in the field of quantum physics. That is the field which developed the method of transporting people across time. Unfortunately, that development came too late to save most of our people. It was sufficiently uncertain that only a few adventurous people were willing to take the chance of using it. I was chosen as the first, as I was the scientist most heavily involved in the development of it.”

  “You said that you were transported across time?” Cora was astounded. Everything she knew that most scientific theory spoke against the possibility of a movement across time, although some of the more advanced scientists agreed that time was simply another dimension, and so should be subject to substantially similar laws to those applying to the other dimensions.

  “Yes.” Aria smiled. “So far, we have been able to move matter only forward in time, not back, although I believe that the reverse movement is possible. We did not have enough time to develop the science as far as I believe we can go. We were held back to a great extent by having only our group to participate in experimentation. If we could have communicated with another group of people at a great distance, it is possible that our work would have progressed much more quickly.”

  Savi, listening to the words, found his head swimming. Aria had come from another time! At last, he was able to formulate a sensible question.

  “Aria, may I ask when you left your own time?”

  “I left only a fraction of a second before I arrived now, Savi. The science needed a connection with a fixed place in another time. That is why we built this facility. It served as the fixed point that we needed. After you activated the computer to initiate the transport, it sent out a signal that enabled it to communicate with itself in an earlier time. The computer then was looking for the signal after I initiated the transport out, and when it received the signal, it transported me to this time immediately. There is no loss of subjective time. I initiated the transport, and a fraction of a second later I was here.”

  “That means that you were not actually placed in suspended animation?”

  “That is correct. We used the term to explain the concept in a way that people would understand. ‘Suspended animation’ is a concept that people have been familiar with for many centuries, and we expected that concept would remain familiar, whereas ‘matter transport’ is a concept that might be familiar only to quantum scientists.” Aria paused to allow any further questions. There were none right now, although she could sense that both Cora and Savi had many questions. “May I request that we authorize the computer to initiate the further transports? The conditions in my time were very threatening, and I do not wish to endanger my colleagues. My safe arrival in this time appears to indicate that the transport system is safe.”

  “Please do that, Aria. I apologize for not thinking of that.”

  “Thank you, Savi. You have nothing to apologize for.” Aria led the way to the computer and sat at the desk. She spoke.

  “I am Aria. Is there any reason to hold further transports?”

  “The data are all within normal parameters. It is recommended that you initiate the further transports.” The voice of the computer, talking to a human in the same way as another human would, seemed strange to Cora and Savi.

  “I authorize the immediate transport of all remaining personnel at Mount Kina facility.”

  There was no response to the command for a second, then there was the familiar torrent of symbols down the screen, followed by the comment ‘Quantum computer 2 activated’. A light came on at the cabinet. Aria walked over to the cabinet next to the cabinet she had used. In the background she could hear the confirmation from the computer that each of the remaining quantum computers had been activate
d, followed by a green light appearing on each of the remaining cabinets.

  “Welcome Bian. The technology works, it seems.”

  “It seems so, Aria. Let us attend to the others, and then we can meet your new friends.”

  The work was quickly completed, and the group of newcomers moved over to where Savi and Cora were standing.

  “Cora and Savi, these are my fellow scientists. This is Bian, my co-leader in the project, Nina, who was responsible for programing each of the quantum computers, Selon, who planned the security systems to ensure that only intelligent people would be able to activate the system, Doral, who constructed the cabinets, Grea, who developed and executed the construction of the monuments in the valley, Tera, who constructed this facility, Kiria, who was responsible for the conversion of the theory of matter transport to time transport, Petros, who is the mathematician behind the development of that theory, Solon, who managed the inter-time locations of the system and the communication between times, and Adin, who developed the artificial intelligence system to enable the computer to communicate with whoever activated it. Every member of the team was vital to its success. Without any one of them, none of us would be here now.” Aria looked around at the members of her team, pride in them evident in her face.

  “I think it is fair that we introduce ourselves, and give you some background to our time,” suggested Cora. “Both Savi and I are lecturers at the University in Vidia. It is now the only university still in existence on the planet. We are both qualified in archaeology and geology, which is why we were retained by a mining company to evaluate the structures below the mountain, which we understand were created by you to draw attention to this chamber. The mining company is one of the few that believes it to be necessary to observe the laws on the conservation of ancient relics and natural wonders. Our task was to evaluate the structures, and to report on the possible damage to them of mining activities. At that time, the company was planning to open an open cast mining operation near to the structures, but it has since decided to mine the ore body from the valley side, so enabling them to access the ore at the lowest cost, as well as having the valley to dump their waste from the mining and processing operations. With that change in plan, our report will no longer be important, since the structures will almost certainly not be affected by the mining.”

  “I apologize for interrupting you, Cora, but it seems that the pollution to the city in the valley resulting from the dumping of waste would be a significant reason not to do what you are suggesting.”

  Cora smiled at the words.

  “It would, if the city were still there, Aria, but the valley has been almost filled with ice for at least the last thousand years. It is unlikely that there are even any remains of the city, because the ice there forms part of a large glacier which is moving towards the sea at the rate of a few hundred feet per year. I understand that a seismic survey of the valley found no traces of structures there.”

  Aria was visibly shocked at the words. An academic knowledge of the forces of nature does not prepare one for a graphic illustration of those forces. Cora felt sympathy for her. Her home was probably in that city, and had almost certainly been lost with the rest of the city. She wondered how she would feel if she were suddenly to be informed that her family home, with everything from her childhood in it had been removed from the face of the planet.

  “We found that the structures were not natural, as several people believed. One can understand why they believed that, because the snow covered them to almost two-thirds of their height. The indications of weathering on the top section indicated that the ice had been that deep for at least several thousand years, and the parts that protruded might have been mistaken for a natural rock formation. Savi and I looked more closely at the formation of the structures, and found that they made a pointer in this direction. A search of the mountainside revealed the platform outside, so we climbed the mountain yesterday to investigate the platform more closely.”

  “When we arrived, as it was becoming dark yesterday, Cora noticed the crack where the door meets the cliff face. We investigated that this morning, in daylight, and we found the way to open the door. I believe that you know the rest of the story.”

  “You mentioned that the valley is filled with ice. How long has that been so?”

  “We don’t know exactly, but it is probably at least several thousand years. The last warming peak was more than two thousand years ago. The records of our civilization, such as they are, reach back only about seven thousand years, when, according to the established religion, the world was created for us to inhabit.” Savi smiled. “Neither Cora not I subscribe to that belief, although to admit doubt about it may bring down the ire of the State, which supports the religious leaders. I estimate that the cold period before that time lasted about five thousand years. That would take us back about twelve thousand years.”

  “We have estimated that each cold-warm cycle spans about four to seven thousand years,” said Cora. “There appears some variability in that, probably caused by the variable orbits of our sun and its partner sun. It seems that the close approach of the partner sun causes Kinair’s orbit to destabilize, resulting in its elliptical orbit becoming more pronounced for a time. When that happens, the cold weather is precipitated, and the snow and ice reflects the sun’s heat, causing the planet to cool. Gradually, the orbit restabilizes, the ice melts, and the planet warms up, until the next close approach by the partner sun. It is surprising that humans were able to evolve on the planet at all, given the frequent severe cold.”

  “Humans did not evolve on the planet,” replied Bian. “Our history, which reached back to the first settlement on the planet, indicated that a colony of approximately a thousand people was transported here from the home planet, with a complete set of equipment and information. They had knowledge of the technology that was used to transport the colonists here, essentially the same technology that we used to transport to here from the past, except that they had not advanced it to the ability to travel across time, but used it instead to transport huge distances, inter-stellar distances, to save some of the human population of the planet from extinction by a wandering giant star. Unfortunately, the scientists who developed the technology were under threat from the religious leaders of the planet. They had to transport the colonists without the equipment that would enable them to transport back to the home planet, or even to communicate with it, except by radio, where the distances involved would make a radio conversation to be drawn out over an impossibly long period. Our group had the knowledge that was used to develop the transport technology, but much of that knowledge was lost over the first few thousand years, by the death of the scientists who had the detailed knowledge, and the degrading of the knowledge before the colony was sufficiently advanced to recover it fully, and to take it further. You will understand that, in a field as specialized as quantum physics, a very large team of dedicated scientists is usually required to put an advanced theory into practical application. The early colonists were too busy simply learning how to survive in the conditions they found here to be able to afford more than the absolute minimum investment in advanced physics. It was initially hoped that the various colonies would be able to communicate with each other, and even to transport between colonies, but the haste required to save at least a small part of our civilization from decline was too great. In the end, it required about six thousand years to redevelop the matter transporter technology that brought us to Kinair, to the point where communication could be reestablished over inter-stellar distances, but, it appears, by then the other colonies had lost their way. Although we worked hard to develop the quantum probe that allowed our ancestors on Kiron to investigate the destination planets and then to fix a marker on the suitable planets in order to transport matter to them, we have never been able to reach that goal. That failing prevented an active search for other civilizations. The best we could do was to search the particle universe for signs of other groups attempting to mak
e contact, so that we could have a fixed point for the destination of a matter transporter, but we were unsuccessful in that as well. Either our technology was faulty, which I doubt, or there were no other groups at the same level of advancement as us. When the cold came, our society faced the most serious problem it had encountered. Some of our people set out in the hope of finding a place to survive the cold. Others simply did not believe that the conditions would become so bad that we would not be able to simply muddle through. I suppose that Humanity has a tendency not to believe the worst. Our small group decided to attempt to save ourselves, with the knowledge that we have, by developing the matter transporter into a time transporter. The work required several years, during which the conditions became rapidly worse. Many of the people working with us quit, not believing that we would reach our goal. That forced us to divert some of our effort into devising machines and technologies that did what those people had done, but that was also beneficial in the end, because it enabled us to produce machines that cleared the platform below this mountain and left behind the rock columns that attracted your attention. That solved the last problem but one: how to ensure that we would transport to a time in which there were people with sufficient knowledge alive on Kinair. The final problem was how to fix a point to which we could transport, in time as well as physically.”

  Bian paused. Seeing a lack of understanding on the faces of Savi and Cora, Aria came in to provide the explanation.

  “The transporter uses the ‘address’ of a quantum particle to instruct it to construct a replica of an entity that is being deconstructed at the transmitting end. It uses the fact that, when a particle is split into two, one part of that particle retains a close contact with the other part of that particle, no matter how far apart they might be. An instruction given to one part is carried out by the other part, as though it had been instructed directly. The link between the two parts is instantaneous, operating through a dimension in which distance and time are not parameters. Therefore, when we transport an object from somewhere to somewhere else, we need to find a particle that is linked to the one that we control, and to know the exact location of the two places.” Cora nodded slowly as she absorbed the information. “Each location is moving at huge speed, around the axis of the planet, along the orbit around the sun, along the orbit of the sun in its galaxy, and with the galaxy as it moves through the universe. If we wish to transport in time, the location of each point in space-time must be known exactly. In order to have that knowledge, we constructed this facility. By then, our team had reduced in numbers to those who are here now. We decided to construct a Transporter cabinet for each one of us, to minimize the risk to the team of one cabinet developing a fault. If that happened and the faulty cabinet was the only one available, it would have been the end of the project, because we would have no way of knowing about the fault. With a cabinet for each of us, that risk was reduced, although not eliminated, because any fault of reasoning, design or construction that was common to all the cabinets would have had the chance of killing us all.”