»… as if we’re behind a shield,« Davis finished for her. »Karokan, what frequency did you use when you re-established contact with your lander?«
Karokan looked at the surface anxiously.
»I don’t know. Our technicians took care of it. I only hope that you can trust your instruments about the radiation. I can’t believe we could be that wrong about that.«
Caroline was still trying different frequencies on the receiver, without success.
»This is useless. Random frequency selection doesn’t help. Our suits should protect us against every known form of radiation, but I still can’t detect any abnormalities.« She shot Karokan a hot glare. »I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell us who you were or what you expected. What gave you the right?«
»I’m sorry. Please try to understand. Quaoar was our greatest hope. We had to keep it top secret. I couldn’t send just a technician.«
»What else haven’t you told us about the planetoid?« Davis added harshly, not expecting an answer.
»Well … there’s one more thing …«
Caroline was still edgy.
»Talk, Amdul! I’m more than curious.«
The Hawk was about to land on the planetoid, as Karokan answered with seeming indifference.
»There’s a high probability Quaoar didn’t originate in our solar system.«
Davis shuddered. His finger hovered for a second over the emergency automatic start switch, then he pulled back his hand again and the Hawk gently landed on the rocky surface under the automatic landing control.
The drive slowly stopped and the neuronal computer automatically handled all the landing procedures and anchored the craft to the surface with the landing skids. They all noticed the lesser gravity of the planetoid.
Davis glanced at the cold and dry surface through the windows for a moment. He faced Karokan and said in a whisper, »Explain yourself before we step outside.«
Alert Phase Bravo
Jörgmundson had just received confirmation.
»Don, the signal is now officially classified as a message of unknown origin! We can’t decode it and don’t know who sent it because it’s entirely alien to our frame of reference. I’ve forwarded all available information to the IRS mainframe and requested help from our colleagues on Earth. They’ve confirmed the alien signal and have aligned their antennas with Quaoar. They’ve also confirmed interference on almost all frequencies. There’s a small window open only around Quaoar on the precise modulation frequency of our signal.«
Donald Day frowned as Jörgmundson went on.
»We have no signals from Davis and his crew. Officers of the Solar Union Intelligence Service are currently interrogating the CEOs of Mars Mining to get every bit of information they have about their Quaoar mission.«
Day replied, »I want to know immediately of any new developments. At our last meeting, you mentioned a directional signal. Can you tell me where this signal is being directed at?«
»Yes, that’s clear now,« answered Jörgmundson. »The signal is directed at Sedna.«
Jörgmundson called up a graphic on the monitor
»Yes, that’s correct. Sedna is now at its furthest from the sun, about 134 billion kilometers. The original signals, which prompted us to transfer the Ryan to the Neptune system, may have been directional radio messages as well. We probably only received incomplete messages. This time, however, we were in luck. Quaoar, Neptune and Sedna are in alignment.«
»If I’d had this information a couple of hours earlier,« Day said sourly, »I would not have let Major Davis leave for Quaoar without an escort.«
The wrinkles on Jörgmundson’s face deepened.
»We couldn’t have known, Don. At any rate, he’ll be the first to find out what these strange signals mean. We can only hope that the situation out there isn’t as bad as it looks.«
Donald Day just stared at Jörgmundson in disbelief.
»Take the Ryan out of Neptune orbit and park it over Triton,« he ordered. »Go to Alert Phase Bravo!«
On Quaoar
»How can you make such a ridiculous statement?« Caroline was outraged.
»We know,« Davis said calmly, »that Quaoar is a strange object, but it should contain, for the most part, the same substances as comet cores and everything else out here, dust and ice. Just because Quaoar may not conform to general theory, it doesn’t justify your wild guess!«
»I know this sounds strange, but the drones’ isotope readings didn’t leave us any other options. With no atmosphere, Quaoar is unsheltered from bombardment by the solar winds. Throughout its existence, material has collected on its surface, and that material can yield clear indications about the strength and type of radiation found on its surface.«
»Like the fine dust on the surface of the Moon?« Caroline asked.
»Exactly!« confirmed Karokan. »You can analyze the material and draw conclusions about solar wind radiation. Based on our data, Quaoar has been subjected to a level of radiation much higher than that produced by our sun and earlier it must have been much closer to the source of that radiation than it is to our sun now.«
Major Davis was finished arguing.
»Listen, Amdul, after all these tales you’ve told us, it wouldn’t surprise me to find an eighteen-hole golf course and swimming pool outside the ship!«
If Davis had meant that to be funny, nobody laughed.
»How would you explain the total loss of communication?« Karokan asked.
Davis pondered for a moment and then decided to ignore Karokan’s question.
»Caroline, can you verify the radiation theory using the portable analyzer, as soon as we’re outside?«
»That’s what I had in mind,« Caroline grumbled. She didn’t need to be told standard procedure.
»Then let’s go to the airlock and do the final inspection of the space suits. I don’t want any accidents. It’s not very pleasant out there.«
All three undid their seatbelts.
Major Davis made a few final remarks while they were suiting up in the airlock.
»Move carefully and mind the low G! Stay well away from sharp rocks or objects.«
He didn’t bother to finish his warnings; he closed his helmet and switched on the transceiver.
»The malfunctioned platform is about 800 meters dead ahead. We have to walk about two kilometers, climb a hill, cross a small crater and then we should be able to see it. Everyone’s radio working?«
Caroline acknowledged.
»What if the helmet radio fails?« she asked.
Davis didn’t seem worried about it.
»Remember my idea about a shield? I think our equipment will work on this side of the shield. It seems the planetoid is surrounded by some kind of field that absorbs electromagnetic waves. It must have been pure luck that the lander was able to transmit at all. If our helmet radios fail, we’ll use the glass fiber connection.«
After they had closed their helmets, Davis opened the airlock. The pressure equalized immediately, subjecting them to the rough space-like conditions of Quaoar.
Cold and lifeless
Rough and rocky surface, large and small rocks and ankle-deep red dust dominated the barren landscape. Many small and large craters intersected with each other, indicating the heavy bombardments by meteorites Quaoar had been subjected to over its lifetime.
With no atmosphere, only silence came from their external microphones. Scattered here and there small valleys were filled with hard, nearly metallic-looking ice, formed from solidified methane or ammonia gas. Davis issued a stern warning to Amdul and Caroline, to steer clear of these areas.
Due to it’s small diameter, the horizon of the planetoid looked startlingly close. Their view was limited to a few kilometers and obstructed by outcroppings of sharp, protruding rock.
The sky was unusually dark and clear. No stray light disturbed the stars and even though the Hawk had landed on Quaoar’s day side, the rocky desert lay only dimly lit, like a gloomy dawn.
»Scary! No sun in the day sky!« Davis heard Caroline’s voice and twitched briefly.
»Fantastic!« Karokan commented.
»Our sun is the small star up there at the zenith!« Davis pointed to the sky. »It’s High Noon on Quaoar! Get used to it and let’s go. That’s the hill we have to climb first. Coordinates are on your wrist displays. Take a quick look and move out!«
Davis took the lead, not waiting for an answer. They could have leaped across Quaoar’s surface with its low gravity, but that would not have been smart. Any uncontrolled movement could have devastating results. A firearm hung at Davis’ hip. The grip and trigger were matched to suit the gloves of his space suit. Weapons were kept on the scout-ships only for emergencies. Davis decided that they were in such an unfamiliar situation that being armed was justified and had issued the sidearms from the sealed vault.
Davis carried a small case containing tools and instruments. Caroline and Karokan carried their weapons, as instructed. Karokan remotely steered a small tractor vehicle which followed him like a dog. Since he didn’t know the extent of the damage to the instrument platform, he brought along an assortment of spare parts.
The tractor also included a small pressurized air tent which Karokan intended to erect over the platform, hoping to be able to make some repairs without the restrictions of the bulky space suit.
Caroline carried different scientific tools inside her leg pockets and wore a backpack with various different probes. She had just collected red dust particles in a container and activated the isotope analyzer. The portable unit needed a few minutes to run the tests.
The tractor climbed the small hill as easily as did Davis, Caroline, and Karokan.
»You know Amdul, I’m almost disappointed. The longer we walk through this Godforsaken wasteland, the less mysterious this planetoid seems to me. Quaoar is just a cold, lifeless …«
»Bill, the isotope analysis is done!« she interrupted.
Caroline shook the test equipment as if it was malfunctioning.
»The readout is not conclusive. I have to do it again.«
Karokan stopped.
»What does it show?«
Caroline shook her head.
»There it is, Bill! The isotope ratio indicates that Quaoar has been hit by the surface radiation from a blue giant star, at a distance of something like two astronomic units.«
»Our data were correct!« Karokan spread his arms.
Davis interrupted any impending argument.
»Before we speculate any further, let’s find the lander first and assess the damage. Caroline, repeat the analysis with a new sample and you Karokan pull yourself together. We’ll reach the lander in ten minutes, then we’ll see.«
Caroline had finished her fourth analysis and silently handed the results to Davis. All measurements were identical. She had sunk into a sullen silence, still searching for an explanation.
Major Davis watched her carefully. He began to worry seriously about his girlfriend. Caroline was more than shaken; she seemed unable to come to terms with the facts.
Davis chose a more pragmatic approach.
If this planetoid didn’t originate in this solar system, then there had to be another explanation, he thought.
As they reached the edge of the crater wall, Davis glanced back at the Hawk. They had climbed about five hundred meters and reached an altitude of a hundred meters. Davis helped Caroline and Karokan over the hill. The plain, the blast area of an ancient meteorite impact, lay before them. They could see the lander in the distance.
They stood silently, observing the landing site for a few minutes.
Karokan cracked at the sight.
»That … that is …«.
»… a complete loss,« Caroline said for him.
Davis, peering at the crash site through the magnification lens in his helmet visor, told him, »Amdul, there isn’t much left of your lander! Parts of the platform are strewn all over the place! It must have hit the ground like a rock and was instantly destroyed. Hard to believe it was able to transmit a usable signal at all.«
Karokan was stunned. The debris of the lander was scattered over an area of nearly three hundred square meters.
»It can’t be! I told you, we received the data!«
Davis put his hand on Karokan’s shoulder.
»Let’s leave the tractor here. We’ll climb down and take a closer look. I’m afraid it won’t look any better close up.«
They carefully climbed down the crater wall and stopped at the first pieces of the lander debris.
Davis gingerly lifted what appeared to be a piece of the former shroud. Its edges were sharp and shredded. He inspected every aspect of the fragment.
»Strange. It’s all dented and torn like somebody pounded the lander with a hammer until only pieces of this size remained.«
»Careful!« Caroline warned. »It’s sharp enough to cut through your suit.«
Davis put the piece back on the ground and walked directly into the rubble zone. Caroline and Karokan followed him at a distance.
Karokan was quiet, depressed.
Davis found pieces of the energy fuel-cell, the lab unit, and the landing gear.
Davis stopped after half an hour and slowly turned around. Caroline and Amdul stood watching him helplessly.
»Well … this is really strange. According to the debris scatter pattern, the lander must have impacted at high speed. Why is there no impact crater?«
The astrophysicist and the executive looked at each other.
»The impact point should be over there … wait here!«
Davis walked in the direction of the speculated impact and then stopped, breathing heavily. He motioned Caroline and Karokan to join him.
»Do you see the discoloration on the ground? Clearly the burn marks of the breaking jets, but there’s no crater! Not even a dent!«
»What if the probe impacted at an angle?« Caroline suggested.
»There would still be traces, and the pattern of the debris would look different. Everything seems to be scattered in a circle.«
Karokan walked around the debris field in an ever widening circle until he was about eight meters from the center.
»I’ve found all eight imprints of the landing plates! The platform did set down safely on the surface … just as I told you!«
»Then what else happened, to do it?«
»Very simple, Caroline,« Davis replied. »Somebody or something destroyed it … and did a damn good job of doing it!«
Alert Phase Charley
The conference took place under strict security conditions inside a hermetically sealed room. Due to the inevitable propagation delay of electromagnetic waves between Triton and Earth, real-time communication was virtually impossible. The Ryan had arrived and taken up orbit around Triton. The IRS fixed its antenna arrays directly on Quaoar. The acknowledgment and confirmation of Donald Day’s defensive measures had been received from the Solar Admiralty ten minutes ago.
Jörgmundson and the leading scientists of the IRS had transferred to Triton Base for the meeting. The conference was being recorded and simultaneously transmitted to Earth. Jörgmundson was summarizing the latest information.
»Gentlemen, we have a mystery. Humanity has been searching extraterrestrial signals for many years, but we never expected to find them right here in our solar system! This signal went silent a few minutes ago; so far, we do not understand any of the signals. We were lucky enough to record the whole three-hour message. It contains a tremendous amount of data we need to sift through and analyze. Our greatest problem, however, is in decoding the message. The processing of trigital information is very difficult, even with our computers’ capabilities.«
Donald Day cleared his throat.
»So, what we’re apparently missing is a Rosetta Stone. Is that it?«
Jörgmundson looked mystified. The scientists who knew what Donald Day meant smiled.
»The Rosetta Stone was the key to the successful translat
ion of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The stone depicted written law in three different languages. One of them was Greek. This was a tremendous translation aid, which made it possible to understand the formerly unintelligible Egyptian symbols.«
»I understand. You may be right.« Jörgmundson nodded. »We’re receiving streams of data, but it’s all Greek to us.«
The chairman of the IRS, Wan Mutan, addressed the assembly, visibly shaking with the excitement of this discovery.
»We’ve dedicated the total computational power of the IRS to solving this. We plan to look for information sequences with mathematical associations and try to establish a basis on which we can build our translation attempt.«
Donald Day got up from his seat and slowly walked up and down in front of the conference members.
»Gentlemen, you’re forgetting that we’re not dealing with a cosmic invitation to visit! We received this message by accident. It may have originated in our solar system, but it wasn’t meant for us. These are my primary concerns. Is there any danger for Humanity? Who’s sending this message and to whom, and what do they want? Any ideas?«
A young officer of Triton Command took up the questions.
»The aliens obviously have no desire to communicate with us.«
Donald Day considered this.
»How did you come to this conclusion?«
The young officer seemed to regret his reply because suddenly he was the center of attention.
»Their transmitter is located somewhere inside the Kuiper Belt, far from Earth and our colonies. Its location was secret until Humanity advanced far enough to explore the Solar System. The landing of the probe on Quaoar could have been responsible for this signal.«
Everybody began talking. Donald Day quickly interrupted.
»What is your name, Lieutenant?«
»David Morgenstern, Commander.«
»You belong to my staff? Good! Go ahead, Lieutenant.«
The young officer seemed to think for a moment, then he looked firmly at the conference members.
»I’m assuming that the aliens have been present in our solar system for a long time. We wouldn’t know about them except for the lander that malfunctioned on Quaoar. Once the lander malfunctioned, the aliens have to suspect that we’d send someone to investigate the problem. They may have been watching and studying us for ages. They must know everything about us while we know nil about them. That’s a disadvantage we have to correct fast.«
NEBULAR Collection 1 - The Triton Base: Episodes 1 - 5 Page 5
