by Ezra E Manes
He called Ceripe’s office, and Serintha answered with a crisp hello. Once she recognized him, her voice softened and she advised him that everyone was extremely busy after the miraculous Third Moon Rising event. She normally took the time to chat with him, but not this time. Ceripe and top aides were meeting with Pteleg Bnethem and other senior leaders to establish the official position regarding the miracle, so Serintha would leave a message for Ceripe that he had called.
He and Gloria need not have worried about being late to the afternoon meeting. The others were just shuffling in as well, which was reasonable considering the late night they had experienced. Carlos was surprised to not hear discussion ongoing about the strange Third Moon Rising event. There were many questions in his mind, including wondering if the event would repeat and if they could attend that night at the temple.
George was already in contact with the New Horizon when Carlos and Gloria walked in. He turned, frowning.
“Jorge, Licia and Eve are set up to attend by conference call,” he said, pointing to the communicator, “but they have something really strange to tell you.”
“We have a communications problem like I’ve never seen before,” Jorge injected. “We queued the message you sent for retransmission this morning, and then Licia and I went to get some sleep. When we got up this afternoon, we found the system still trying, but for some reason it could not transmit the message.”
“Before you ask, we ran thorough diagnostics,” Licia quickly added, “and found nothing out of spec in the system. Eve also looked at the system and couldn’t find anything wrong. We then sent a routine status report on New Horizon’s systems to Messier, and the message went through with no problem. Still, all attempts to send your message about the Third Moon Rising event were unsuccessful.”
“We’re continuing to run tests but haven’t found anything yet,” Jorge advised. “You might want to send Samuel up to check the systems out with Eve. He knows them better than we do.”
“Thanks for the status,” Carlos said. “Keep trying to send the message. I’ll draft another one just in case there’s something in the message that is causing a problem. Samuel will come up in a few days if we’re not successful in communicating with Earth and Messier regarding the Third Moon Rising event. But now, please stay connected for our meeting.”
He turned and called the informal meeting to order. He advised them of his call to Ceripe’s office and his assessment that the Zilans would probably not call with an invitation for that night. However, they should be prepared to go on short notice just in case.
He paused before continuing. The team looked different today for some reason. He looked more carefully around the room and noticed that several of the couples were sitting close and holding hands. It was not unusual to see signs of affection between couples during the workday, but it was unusual to see such open affection by so many of the team in a scheduled meeting.
He glanced at Gloria, and she smiled at him. It was almost as if she were glowing! He hoped no one else could see that in her, but then, that didn’t matter. Perhaps the Holy Third Moon Rising event was influencing the team, as it clearly had the Zilans the night before. The group was unusually quiet for there being so many strong willed individuals present.
“What do you think was behind the Third Moon Rising event?” Carlos said.
Alex cleared his throat and started the discussion. “You know that Laura and I have strong Christian beliefs. In spite of this, I find it hard to accept that anything beyond something explainable by science is behind the events last night.”
That’s a surprise, thought Carlos. He would have expected Alex to say the opposite.
Laura spoke for herself. “I tend to go right to the belief that it was a miracle of sorts, something of extreme importance to the Zilans and us. But I wonder, was it simply to notify the Zilans that the period of advancement and good times has started?”
George, ever the direct one, commented next. “It was either a miracle, well executed technical wizardry, or induced mass hallucination. I don’t believe it was the latter because of the observations made from the New Horizon. Regardless, we ought to focus on what it means for us. I’m concerned about the timing of this event considering the prophecy it would be preceded by the arrival of people in Zil’s own image—us!”
“There really was something up here,” Jorge stated firmly. “We think it’s some kind of spacecraft that has the ability to cloak itself and to adjust the reflectivity of its surface.”
That comment immediately stimulated several discussions around the room. Carlos started to call the meeting back to order, but his portable communicator alerted him to an incoming call. He asked for quiet in the room and then took the call.
He could see Ceripe was very tired. It was apparent she had slept little if any since the events of the past night.
“I apologize for not calling earlier. Thanks for calling my office. It prompted me to get back to you more quickly. How is your team taking the events of last night?”
“We are meeting now on that subject and are trying to look at the events practically, but with limited success. It has caused us to look at the prophecy section of the Book of Zil a little differently.”
Ceripe smiled at this. “I hope you looked at the prophecy about the coming of Zil being preceded by representatives made in his own likeness. Your role in fulfilling this prophecy occupied considerable time in our discussions today. Everyone believes your team fulfilled that prophecy, so that aspect of your arrival did not take much discussion. The main discussion was on what to expect from your team now and what your future role will be on Zilia.”
“We would certainly like to hear your conclusions on that,” Carlos said.
Ceripe shook her head negatively. “I wish I could provide you a definitive answer and help you in finding direction from today forward, but I cannot. After hours of discussion, we decided to wait and see how your team reacted in the period after the Holy Third Moon Rising event. Your actions will define the team role.”
That was a curious position, but understandable.
“In the meantime,” she continued, “we invite you to continue observing the holy events from the Temple of Zilerip. However, we ask that you reduce the number attending to the smallest group you would feel comfortable bringing. I am reducing my staff representation considerably as well to make room for more senior members of our religious order on the observation level.
“In addition, our leader wants to have a few words with you early tonight about the exchange agreement you formally provided. Do not be surprised if he accepts it as is, considering the Third Moon Rising event.”
They concluded the conversation by agreeing three team representatives would meet Starke Pelanah at dusk at the temple side entrance where he had met them the night before.
Carlos decided Alex and Karen would attend with him that night. He wanted Gloria to go along, but decided not to after she caught his eye and shook her head negatively. The team wanted one individual from each of the partnerships to attend, but it could not be.
Carlos chose Alex because of his deep religious interest and Karen because of her sociology and psychology background that would help in assessing the Zilan reactions. The others would coordinate with those on the New Horizon to try to make sense of their collective observations, and to decide on additional tests and observations if the spherical object appeared again.
Carlos was sure that Starke had been waiting for some time when they arrived several minutes after sunset. However, he showed no irritation and escorted them directly to the south observation terrace. The Zilans had taken seats, except for the supreme leader. He joined the group as the last light of day faded, and came over to greet Carlos and the two with him.
“We appreciate your attending tonight, Ambassador Sepeda,” Pteleg Bnethem said sincerely, including the others with his eyes and a sweep of the hands. “Ceripe tells me you are aware of the prophecies in our Book of Zil, and of
the role your team has played in fulfilling a key aspect of the prophecies. For this we are very grateful and look forward to even better things in our relationship with you.”
He paused, giving Carlos the opportunity to respond.
“Your Eminence, it has been our great honor to come to Zilia and to work closely with your people,” Carlos said, using the formal salutation for the leader as Ceripe had instructed him was proper. He avoided acknowledging directly that his team had fulfilled the prophecy.
“We share in your desire to expand exchange of scientific knowledge between our two civilizations,” Pteleg said. “To that end, we agree with the terms and conditions you worked out with Ceripe’s office, as represented in the formal documents presented to us last night. I have signed both copies and return one copy to you to formalize the agreement.”
The leader handed the document to Carlos, bowed to him and stepped back, and then turned to assume his position in front of the assembled group. Ceripe caught Carlos’s eye and winked before turning with the others to face the southern sky.
Now we begin the real work, Carlos thought. He couldn’t help feeling chagrined at the direction he was under from Earth to give the impression they were being cooperative but without really giving anything major away until they solved the infertility problem.
The third moon rose again from the west as it had the night before, to the excitement of the assembled group, completing an arc across the sky and eclipsing first the inner moon and then the outer moon. Carlos, Alex, and Karen stayed the entire night. They attempted to control their excitement enough to make objective observations about the bright object moving across the sky.
The third moon appeared to rely on reflection of the nearby star’s radiation for illumination, with its outer edges less bright than the center. It was reddish while close to the horizon and then became bright off-white as it rose higher. It was strange to see a moonlike object having no meteor impact craters, with the surface uniformly smooth and brightly illuminated.
The inner moon was significantly closer to the outer moon in the sky this night. The third moon maintained a steady velocity as it eclipsed the inner moon; however, it slowed as it aligned with and eclipsed the outer moon, as those in the New Horizon had observed. The third moon then resumed its faster movement, tracking on toward the eastern horizon.
At first light of dawn, the Zilans unceremoniously departed from the temple observation platform. Ceripe thanked Carlos for attending and invited him to have representatives in attendance each night until the holy event culminated in the full eclipse of the inner and outer moons. This would occur in another five nights. Carlos thanked her and advised her that team representatives would gladly attend each night.
They returned to the embassy and in spite of their tiredness met briefly with the others to discuss events over breakfast. Nothing additional had been determined about the spherical object from observations made from the surface or from the New Horizon.
Efforts had continued overnight to communicate to Earth and the Messier Colony information regarding the Third Moon Rising event. All such efforts failed. They sent other messages but not any containing even oblique references to the third moon. They were able to send general information about the Primary Two-Moon Phase event and the increased religious fervor of the Zilans. In addition, they conveyed that communications systems problems had occurred, but they were able to transmit all vital data about conditions and relationships on Zilia.
Carlos provided a new message describing attendance at the Primary Two-Moon Phase and made no reference to the Third Moon Rising event. He also advised that the supreme leader had signed the formal exchange agreement. He asked if Earth and Messier were monitoring activities using the three deep-space probes. If they had not, perhaps this question would stimulate them to do so. If they were monitoring Zilan communications, they would surely intercept references to the Third Moon Rising event.
Carlos knew what to expect in Earth’s reply, which came in right after breakfast. It directed they provide more data and analysis results for the infertility problem. Earth reserved authority to make the decision to proceed with the exchange agreement, and directed the team to be cooperative in providing expanded nonscientific data to gain the Zilans’ confidence.
The message also indicated that the Messier Colony was monitoring activities on and around Zilia via the deep-space probes, and verified that information had been obtained regarding the events related to the Primary Two-Moon Phase. He was surprised at no mention of the third moon, but was not surprised that the message asked if Messier should look for something specific in monitoring Zilia via the probes.
It was beyond Carlos how to answer this question if they couldn’t send any information about the unusual third moon event. Four distinct communications systems could not send any information regarding the Third Moon Rising. They could check out sensors aboard the probes, but this would likely not prove anything, because the sensors aboard the New Horizon checked out OK. They just could not communicate anything regarding the Third Moon Rising!
Carlos gave the team until the evening of the following day to provide and justify recommendations for nonscientific areas in which the Zilans would value getting more information. Everyone then dispersed to their private quarters for some much needed rest.
Once in bed, he and Gloria talked quietly much longer than they should have about the puzzling reaction by Earth to events on Zilia. Fatigue finally claimed them, and they drifted to sleep, snuggled close.
When Carlos, Gloria, and George arrived at the temple on the third night, Starke escorted them directly to the observation level. They had just settled in when Pteleg Bnethem arrived with an entourage. He welcomed Carlos warmly before taking his seat on the platform.
The Third Moon Rising event was a repeat of the first two nights, except the inner moon had progressed closer to the outer moon as viewed from the temple and was well into its waxing gibbous phase, almost three quarters illuminated.
Carlos was particularly happy to have Gloria with him to observe the event and the Zilans’ reverent reaction. He had to admit that his own beliefs were coming into question as he continued to participate in the holy seven-year event.
As the night waned, he began feeling it was time to withdraw and assess where they stood in their relationship with the Zilans. It was also time to address team concerns about Earth laying a heavy hand on plans for continued interaction on Zilia. Moreover, he wanted to investigate the third moon sphere personally from the New Horizon.
Carlos intercepted Ceripe as the Zilans began departing. Her eyes shone with emotion from the fervent group prayers. Something in his demeanor made her pause.
“Is everything all right, Carlos?”
“Yes, but since both parties have signed the formal agreement, perhaps my team should withdraw to prepare for interaction with your people.”
She reached out, grasped his hands, and looked closely into his eyes. “Are you being touched by the Holy Third Moon Rising, Carlos?”
He returned her deep look for a suspended moment, and then pulled his hands back, somewhat embarrassed by the personal encounter in public.
“I must admit my beliefs have been roiled, but that is not why I suggest we withdraw. We received direction yesterday about proceeding with our responsibilities, and your leader has high expectations from us in the near term. We have problems with some New Horizon systems that we must resolve before proceeding fully with expanding relations. And I want to make additional observations from aboard the New Horizon during the remainder of this event.”
Ceripe frowned, so he decided to soften the request. “If our withdrawal is inappropriate, we should drop the matter. We have great respect for this event, in particular with the appearance of the Holy Third Moon, and do not mean to diminish it in any way.”
“In being caught up in the extraordinary events these past three days, I have not given thought to what might be observed from your spaceship,” Cer
ipe said. She gave no hint she saw his embarrassment or heard him suggest politely they forget the discussion. “What can you tell me about observations from that perspective?”
“The spherical object does indeed exist in space around Zilia. It has an odd characteristic that we cannot understand. Its image shimmers, or jumps back and forth extremely fast between two locations side by side in its path through its visible orbit.”
He held back for a moment before continuing, for he was uncertain what her reaction would be to his next statement. “The third moon popped into existence from nowhere and departed similarly after completing an arc across the night sky over Zilerip.”
“That is indeed odd,” she replied, “but it may explain something else we have learned. The third moon appears the same from the southern Temple of Oehinaz as it does from the Temple of Zilerip, and it only appears during the nighttime period of the Primary Two-Moon Phase. This is a remarkable manifestation of Zil!”
Her statement about how those at Oehinaz viewed the event stimulated questions in Carlos’s mind. Could the spherical object simultaneously maintain two orbits, or intermittently with a fast oscillation, making it appear from both cities to track directly in line with the other two moons? Still, wouldn’t observers in these widely separated locations also see the other track of the third moon? It would take something actually blocking the view of the object from the respective zones. He knew the two moons appeared slightly offset as viewed from Oehinaz. His engineering mind was becoming confused trying to make sense of what it would take to accomplish such an extraordinary feat.
Ceripe was talking, which brought him back to reality.
