by Ezra E Manes
Carlos found this exchange amusing since the complement of the crew and their capabilities had been irreversibly set almost eleven years before. However, in light of Earth’s deception about how long it would take to travel to Zilia, he felt guilty by association.
Ceripe Largena now managed communications from Zilia and advised she would ultimately be in charge of the office coordinating all aspects of interfacing with Earth’s contingent coming to the planet. Carlos had developed a liking and respect for this aggressive though diplomatic advisor. He doubted if he or anyone on his team could have pulled off what she had achieved in quickly convincing her superiors to resume communicating with Earth. It would be interesting interfacing with her as the diplomatic mission progressed.
The message traffic between Earth and Zilia quickly evolved to an exchange of missives working out diplomatic treaty terms. Both parties were hesitant to include any agreement regarding the exchange of advanced technology until the contingent from Earth arrived on Zilia. This would give both governments the opportunity to assess what technology they were willing to exchange after gaining a better understanding of the other society’s social mores and future objectives. Then the New Horizon team and the new Zilan Office of Diplomatic Affairs, headed by Counselor Ceripe Largena, would work out an agreement.
Carlos focused on catching up in the structured training program. He still monitored the interchange between Earth and Zilia but only in a cursory way as the team pushed to complete the program.
It was heartwarming for him to see how the team members worked together smoothly and how the partner relationships continued to mature. He felt good about spending the majority of his remaining life in close relationships with these individuals. In particular, he felt a warm glow anytime he came near Gloria or thought of her. He had never realized a relationship could be so satisfying and did not care if what they felt was enhanced by the Ferguson Relationship Bonding Process. If that process resulted in a relationship this good, then everyone should undergo it when making a lifelong partnership commitment.
Carlos studied Ceripe Largena via the messages she was sending, many of which included video sections. He could tell she was educated and mature. It was hard to determine her true age from the videos, but he guessed she was about his biological age of thirty, however that worked out in Zilan years. She was articulate and sincere, and was very convincing in presenting her message, whatever the topic.
Counselor Largena was also a very attractive woman, which was not lost on him. However, he did not feel the rush of adrenaline formerly experienced when encountering an attractive female, probably because of his close relationship with Gloria. But he still appreciated how beautiful Counselor Largena was in her own right, with dark brown hair down over her shoulders, hazel eyes, and a slender, slightly curvaceous figure. Not having a frame of reference to judge her height, he assumed she was about his height. She had the bearing of a person having high confidence in her capabilities, and she did not come across as arrogant. She projected sincerity and the air of a good listener. He looked forward to meeting this enchanting woman.
NINE
TRANSITIONS
“Carlos, I’m sorry to convey the sad news,” Fremont Jones said, “but I’m sure you would want to know. Professor Alexi Stavonoski passed away yesterday. I know you were an ardent student of his, and he a good friend of yours.”
Carlos was taking the message in his private quarters. The professor would have turned ninety-three on his next birthday, or 119 years old if you counted time spent in hibernation on the trip from Earth.
Carlos had attended several of Dr. Stavonoski’s courses while in graduate studies and had come to know him well. The philosopher had started the first class with several questions: “What caused humans to push out on long interstellar voyages from Earth? What were they thinking? What did they believe in? Why would they send forth the best of their younger generation with no hope of ever seeing them again?”
Dr. Stavonoski did not answer these questions; he posed them to make his students think. He continued by summarizing the religions of Earth in a very intriguing way. He asserted that religion had always played a pivotal role in major exploratory excursions throughout human history, and that was what his course would examine. This introduction captivated Carlos. He completed the course and all others of the professor’s he could find time to take. In a way, his bending the rules to directly examine Nepali C arose from questions raised early in Dr. Stavonoski’s classes.
Received abruptly in the confines of the spaceship, the news was a startling reminder of his mortality. This, coupled with the feeling of loss, pushed Carlos into a mild state of shock. He listened numbly as Fremont continued.
“I talked with Alexi a week ago. He believed his most valuable contribution in life was the impact he had on our eager young minds, what he called the future hope of humankind. Of those he taught, he said you stood out, and he had a parting message for you. You’ll find it appended to this message. My thoughts are with you, my friend.”
There was a short pause, and then Alexi Stavonoski’s image appeared, looking very pale and frail compared to when Carlos last saw him.
“My young friend, when you receive this I’ll be gone. Don’t grieve for me; just look at my life and rejoice!
“Having one last philosophical discussion with you, but this time without your many interruptions and questions, was irresistible.” Alexi smiled after this statement, as did Carlos.
“There were two questions you asked before leaving on your long journey, and my answer to each was an honest ‘I don’t know.’ I’ve had another eleven years of information and thinking, and now I want to give you better answers in the hope they’ll help you on your mission and perhaps enrich your life.
“You first asked, ‘How could a modern civilization maintained over several thousand years not have advanced any further than the Zilans have, particularly in technology areas?’
“My view is that the Zilan civilization has indeed advance far, as you will soon discover. The Zilans have achieved a level of understanding of themselves and their world that is far beyond anything imagined here. They exist in as close to a state of nirvana, or acceptance and joyful union with nature, as can be achieved for that many people in one society. They have developed technology, and knowledge in general, to levels necessary to support and enrich this existence. The oldest and longest running civilizations on Earth did not come close to achieving this.
“You then asked, ‘What could my team do to significantly improve the probability of success for the mission to Zilia?’ My answer is we have already done so. Perhaps my age was catching up with me when you asked, because it took me until much later to realize this.
“Let me explain. The Messier expedition, of necessity, set up a communal colony upon arriving at the planet Hope. There is no currency, no luxuries, no major entertainment business, and essentially nothing of the so-called free enterprise system of Earth. The colony functions as required to survive, with everyone doing his or her part to establish, sustain, and expand the colony. We continue to share for the betterment of all. Even until your departure, there was a close, caring, and cooperative society growing and thriving here. If you think about it, this society has all the evolving elements of a rudimentary Zilan-like society. Unfortunately, this is changing with the influx of colonists from Earth.
“So, the selection of our best and brightest from the Messier Colony is what gives this mission the best probability of success. I shudder at the thought of the outcome if Earth had sent a team directly from there.
“Carlos, growing up in the Messier Colony environment groomed your team from birth for this mission. Your team members are much closer in mindset to being Zilans than they are to being citizens of Earth, and this greatly enhances your probability of success.
“So I bid you a fond farewell, and wish you Godspeed on your journey. I’ll go and prepare for mine. You will come to understand what I’m about to say,
so remember it well. You and your team are now the conscience of humanity.”
The conscience of humanity, now what does that mean? Carlos sat thinking of his old friend and what he’d said until Gloria came in a half hour later. She could see his mood of sadness mixed with wonder, and encouraged him to share his feelings.
It was a few moments before he could respond. His throat constricted as emotions welled up from fond memories and a growing feeling of great loss. Gloria hugged him close and waited patiently as he regained a modicum of control.
“A great man has passed,” he whispered hoarsely. “I was honored to know him.” Carlos struggled for words. “His last message provides insight about how advanced the Zilans are and our preparedness to meet them. Maybe it’s best I just play the message for you.”
They watched the message silently, with Gloria’s encircling arms comforting him. He couldn’t tell through his ragged breathing and rush of tears if she focused on the message.
Two months later Mission Control alerted Carlos to monitor Earth’s message advising the Zilans that the diplomatic mission team was en route there. Earth sent the message when the New Horizon was ten months out from Zilia, and it included individual video images and summary descriptions of each team member, including education and experience. The message also identified the team partnership arrangements.
Counselor Largena sent a reply message extending a welcome to the representatives of Earth and reciprocated with summary descriptions of her key staff members who would be working closely with the team. Carlos was surprised that no representatives of religious organizations were identifiable in the liaison staff.
The message revealed Counselor Largena had an advanced education in government administration and sociology. She had rapidly worked her way up in government service to become a senior aide to the Zilan Supreme Leader, Pteleg Bnethem.
Two others on her staff stood out as those Carlos would need to know well. They were Starke Pelanah, senior aide to Counselor Largena, and Serintha Meterah, administrative assistant to the counselor. Serintha was a middle-aged, matronly woman who looked to be a very efficient and loyal individual. Starke was about the same age as Counselor Largena, and of medium build and somewhat muscular. He sported a dark-brown mustache, which was almost long enough to be of the handlebar design still sported on occasion by some Earth colonists. Both were educated in government and business administration, and had significant experience.
In addition, Starke Pelanah had the equivalent of an electronic engineering degree, and he had worked as an engineer before entering government service. After completing his engineering studies and spending several years in government service, he took a leave of absence to obtain an advanced degree in government administration. He could be a very strong ally of the team, particularly if he saw the merit of technology exchange with Earth.
The message also indicated the Zilans were constructing an embassy compound for team use, per basic requirements worked out in messages with Earth. The embassy was situated on a low knoll adjacent to a large public park in the southern outskirts of the capital city, Zilerip. The compound would have a sizable landing pad on its southernmost perimeter to accommodate the New Horizon’s shuttlecraft.
After the crew completed the training program, Earth planned to transition the day-to-day liaison with Zilia to the deployed team. This would occur when they were three months out from Zilia and in the latter stages of decelerating the spaceship as it entered the Arzét solar system.
It was a good thing the team had completed training as scheduled, for they soon became preoccupied with observations of the orbiting planets, moons, and asteroid belts in the Arzét system. A surprising discovery was a small planet located just inside the outer asteroid belt. The Messier scientists had not detected this planet, likely because of the interference from Nepali B and because the planet was so small and close to the asteroid belt. The planet was in a position relatively close to the New Horizon’s trajectory.
The planet reminded them of the dwarf planet Pluto in Earth’s solar system. However, this planet did not have moons in orbit like Pluto did. Instead, several smaller chunks of matter orbited the small planet. The team provided recorded observations of the planet and orbiting objects, including visual imagery, to the Messier Colony and Earth. As far as they knew, the Zilans did not know about this planet.
The New Horizon team continued collecting and sending a steady stream of data to the scientific teams at Messier and on Earth, chronicling their observations as they entered the Arzét solar system. If nothing else was gained, the data made the trip worthwhile to the scientists; it was the first such data collected from a solar system in which intelligent life appeared to have evolved independent of that on Earth.
Two events occurred right before transition of liaison responsibilities to the New Horizon that greatly disturbed Carlos. The first was that Eve intercepted an encoded message that appeared to contain a software program change, or command sequence, for Carlos’s embedded neural interface unit. He had Eve continue blocking and storing the message until they could gain insight into what its purpose was. Surprisingly, Eve was able to discretely access files back at Mission Control to acquire detailed design information for his neural implant.
The next disturbing event was a private message from Fremont Jones advising that the liaison transition was imminent. Carlos was curious as to why Fremont had elected to notify him by private message. He had grown accustomed to sharing all information with the other crew members, but considering the way the message had been sent, he decided to review it in private first.
“Carlos, I sent this message in a private, secure fashion because it will probably be the last time I can do so without high risk of having the message intercepted. Please do not be alarmed by my beginning this way. Considering all that has happened here and on Earth in the past few years, I just wanted to have one private correspondence with you before beginning the official liaison transition. However, be assured I’ll delete my copy of this immediately after it’s sent.”
What a way to start a message. Why the cloak and dagger approach by his old friend and mentor? As far as Carlos knew, there was no reason to be secretive about anything among the mission team members, on the New Horizon or the space station.
“I won’t be in the position of mission coordinator much longer. My biological clock has been running while you slept over the past decade, and politics are such that I must give up this seat soon to a member of the younger generation, a recent immigrant from Earth. Even if I insisted on staying, they would likely replace me because the mission is entering a different phase. My job was to get you there.
“Now for some advice. When you find yourself in a difficult situation with nowhere to turn for help, apply basic common sense and make your own decision about how to proceed. As a former spaceship commander, I can tell you sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness later than to wait for approval for every major action you must take.
“This may sound trivial, and you probably already adhere to this philosophy, but I have to say it to satisfy my own conscience. Imagine if you will that you face the choice of providing detailed technology information to the Zilans or risking the health and safety of your team. Earth would say, ‘Don’t give them anything until authorized to do so.’ Even if they later said yes to your request, the delay would likely have already caused some grievous effects. Use good common sense as a field commander to make this liaison with the Zilans work!
“I will not confuse you with details about what has been going on here and on Earth. All I can say is you’ll likely find yourself out in space at times with respect to support and cooperation from this direction. So, learn to depend on yourself and your excellent team, and stay focused on the future.
“And one last bit of information, although I don’t know what you can do with it except be forewarned. The new management team excluded me from several meetings as they took control here. However, I overheard one sh
ort discussion that in a way I wish I had not. It had to do with some kind of sensing and control via your personal, embedded neural interface unit, something about attitude monitoring and behavior adjustment. I heard enough to deeply worry me but not enough to help you decide what to do about it.
“You could just scratch this message off to paranoia of an aging mission coordinator. It’s your call. My objective is to sensitize you to watch your step very closely when dealing with the Zilans and our people back here. As sailors used to say, ‘Have fair winds and following seas.’ But don’t count on it. So here’s wishing you and the team success.”
Carlos sat dumbfounded as the message ended. What had Fremont been talking about, sensing and control via his neural implant? Fremont was clearly worried that someone would indeed intercept the message, or he would have included more specifics in the cryptic communication. Carlos was glad he’d reviewed the message privately.
“Eve, erase Fremont’s message.”
“It is done, Commander.”
“What Fremont said has implications with respect to the message you intercepted that targeted my neural implant,” Carlos added reflectively. “Continue to monitor closely for any additional messages targeting me.”
“I will do so, Commander.”
He was indeed sensitized. What would Fremont think about the action he had already taken with respect to the software changes in Eve and the ICP? He was already practicing what Fremont was preaching about making decisions considered best for the mission.
He decided to carry the independent decision making one step further by telling Gloria about his neural implant. If anyone should know about it and his being subject to remote behavior control, she should. He needed her to monitor his behavior for any subtle changes caused by encoded messages sent to his NI, if they somehow made it through Eve’s screening.
