Visions of the Future

by Brin, David

  “Yeah,” Hep agreed. “But what does that get us? What could it mean?”

  Adam shrugged helplessly.

  Ivar interrupted them. “Lark, Ed, and Zoe are here.”

  The visitors came in on his heels.

  Ed said, “We’ve got a preliminary report.”

  Adam and Hep looked up in surprise. “So soon? We weren’t expecting a report for another few months.”

  The trio selected a group of easy chairs and Zoe explained. “We’re still in the theory-tinkering stage, but the climate is changing faster, the ozone layer and the forests are depleting faster, and the extinction rate is rising faster than we expected. Plus the religious thugs look like they’re getting close to producing a nuclear weapon. It appears that they’re getting the raw materials from Pakistan.”

  Lark added, “They’re probably only five years away from starting a nuclear holocaust. We’d better do some things simultaneously.”

  “Like what?” Hep inquired.

  “Like building a couple of spaceships,” Ed answered. “I need one to get within range of our destination and Zoe will need a small one to do some close-in exploration. You can order the small one from one of our companies and Lark can find an excuse to order the other one to be built at another of our companies.” He opened a large portfolio and drew out some drawings. They all walked over to a center table. Ed carefully laid and smoothed the drawings. “These are the specs.”

  The older couple inspected them. “The larger ship has two thrusters,” Hep observed. “Why?”

  Zoe grinned. “To get us to our destination and get us back. Unless you want us to stay there and phone home.”

  Adam said, “I’ll think about it.”

  Hep said, “If your destination is close enough so that you can get there and back in a year, how come nobody’s found it.”

  “Look, Mom, the government rocketeers have studied and inspected everything there is that might possibly be habitable. They picked the best available spot, but even if Mars proves habitable, if we try to land there we’ll not only get into a war with the settlers, but with every other voyager who tries to colonize the place. We can’t win a war. We don’t have and can’t get the firepower.”

  “You still haven’t answered the question,” Hep pointed out.

  Lark entered the discussion. “Near the end of the last century, some astronomers in Hawaii, on the basis of celestial observations, asserted that one of the physical constants wasn’t so constant after all. The change wasn’t very great, but any change was a shock. This observation was greeted with boos and catcalls by the astronomy establishment. Then in 2011, a couple of Australians made similar observations and came to the same conclusion. Their findings were received with the same skepticism.

  “Now fast forward to about a year ago. A Georgian astrophysicist, Viktor Marashenko, figured that with two sets of astronomers coming to the same conclusions, they might just be on to something. And he started to wonder what conditions in the universe might cause physical laws to require reinterpretation. He came up with a theory, which he called Marashenko’s Exceptions. But not wanting to ruin his fine reputation, he decided to bounce the theory off someone he respected before letting the rest of the world know about it. He sent his paper to me.”

  “Why you?” Adam asked.

  Lark actually blushed. “Viktor was in the States for a conference a few years ago—before I met Ed, of course—and, well, uh, we had a couple of rolls in the hay. Nothing serious. But we’ve kept in touch.”

  Hep didn’t quite succeed in keeping a straight face.

  “Anyway,” Lark went on, “Viktor was a dissident in Georgia. He did not like the government and, what’s more to the point, the government did not like him. Just after he sent the manuscript to me, he fell out of a tenth floor window. I think a more accurate term might be ‘defenestrated’. He was killed instantly. The government mourned the loss of this great scientist.

  “Viktor’s paper was never published. I’m the only one who’s seen it. The theory, as he laid it out, seems plausible. And it might just might give Ed and Zoe what they need to find a planet no one else has found.”

  “Can you give us a hint?” Adam asked.

  “I don’t think we have time for a course in physics,” Lark said, “but in a nutshell: Kepler’s three Laws relate to planetary motion. According to Kepler, if any object has the same orbit as another object of equal mass, this is an unstable configuration and it won’t last long. Viktor’s paper postulates that under certain rare circumstances, the configuration will be stable.” 1

  “Hold it, a minute,” Jenny interrupted, “Are you saying that some obscure Georgian astronomer claimed that it’s okay to break Kepler’s Laws?”

  Lark laughed. “Physical laws don’t get broken. They’re not like laws passed by some Earth-bound legislature. Physical laws are based on observation. What is is what is. What changes is our interpretation of the laws. Kepler stated his laws based on his observations. His explanation of why the planets behaved in that manner was way off base. Later astronomers corrected his explanations, but the laws didn’t change. Then along came Newton. He didn’t describe how gravity worked just because he got clunked on the head by an apple. His explanation didn’t break a physical law. It just reinterpreted the earlier explanations. Then came Einstein and another reinterpretation.”

  “So you’re saying…” Hep trailed off.

  “I’m saying that Viktor may have a further, valid reinterpretation. It’s a very very long long shot. But those circumstances might exist here. There may be another planet tagging along after us. If that’s true, I can’t now explain why no one has found it. Zoe and Ed may find the explanation.”

  Zoe added, “Long shot that it may be, I don’t think we have a choice. If those government idiots somehow do get into space and they do manage to land somewhere, with the people they’re putting on board, they’ll just destroy that planet, move on to another planet again and again until they’ve destroyed the entire universe.”

  Ed stuck his oar in. “Let’s get back to practicalities. The Earth revolves counter clockwise around the sun. In order to find a trailing planet, we’d have to circle the sun clockwise in order to intercept it. When we spot a planet, we’ll stop and get as much information as we can from a spectrometer and a photometer. Then I’ll keep hovering while Zoe takes the scooter and goes in for a closer inspection.”

  Adam asked, “How much time do we have to get the ships built?”

  “As close to four months from now as you can manage,” Ed replied.

  “We can get the shells built quickly in the States by one of your aircraft companies,” Hep said.

  Adam nodded. “It’s a simple order for the smaller craft. For Ed’s ship, they can be told that it’s for an amusement park we intend to build in Thailand.”

  “Won’t they wonder why you’re building an amusement park with Armageddon closing in?” Zoe wondered.

  “Since when has commerce allowed facts to muddy its quest for gold?” Adam snorted. “We can get the shells delivered to an intermediate point and from there brought here. While all that is going on, we can have the interiors fabricated and installed when the shells arrive. We might make it in four months.”

  Ed was worried. “Won’t that leave a visible trail to our island?”

  Hep shook her head. “As far as the US vendor is concerned, the intermediate destination is the final destination. We’ll have native sailors tow the things in our direction but won’t give them the final coordinates until the last minute. They’ll unload, wrestle the shells to the staging area, then get in their craft and sail toward home.”

  Adam laughed. “Pity the ship will sink before they get there.”

  Time: Four months later

  Place: The conference room and in space

  The entire family was seated at the table. Adam was in a self-congratulatory mood. “We got those suckers built a week ahead of time. Your companies helped a little.” H
e stood up and took a bow. Hep smacked him on the behind.

  “When are Ed and Zoe going to take off?” Judy wanted to know.

  Zoe responded, “As soon as you rubberneckers finish looking the ships over.”

  “You mean today?” asked Randy.

  “Everything’s done,” Ed said. “What would we be waiting for?”

  “Well,” Judy said, “it might be nice if you told us what you plan to do.”

  Ed gave a quick synopsis. “We fire a humongous rocket to send us clockwise in our orbit. Then we use one of the on-board thrusters to give us a push. We keep going until we encounter another planet.”

  “As in if you encounter another planet,” Bryan was skeptical.

  “You got a better idea?” Zoe asked.

  Bryan shook his head and looked glum.

  Ed continued, “We’ll stay as close to the found planet as we can, as long as we can, getting as much information as our instruments will give us. Then I’ll hover over the planet while Zoe takes the scooter in close and gets whatever else can be found. The scooter is equipped with a booster rocket which we hope will allow her to get back to me. Once she docks, we fire our last booster, and happily settle into our normal orbit.”

  “What if Zoe isn’t able to dock?” Charley asked.

  “Then,” said Zoe, “I won’t be so damn happy. I suppose I’ll land and see if the planet can support me. If it can, I’ll just wait for the rest of you guys to catch up.”

  The family contemplated this. It was not a comfortable contemplation.

  Finally Hep asked the group, “Would you like to see the ships?”

  That’s just what they would like. They trooped over to the staging area and poked around.

  “What’s that on the computer screen?” Blake asked.

  “Reading material,” Zoe replied. Blake took a look and scrolled down.

  “Jesus,” Blake said, “you’ve got enough books here to stock an old time library.”

  Zoe gave him the fish eye. “We’re going to be in this thing for a whole year. This isn’t a general research mission. We won’t have a helluva lot to do until we find the planet. Then we work like crazy for, at most, a couple of days and head home, spending maybe a month writing up notes and analyzing whatever information we manage to bring back. We can’t play Twenty Questions for the whole dead time.”

  “But these are all thrillers and a few dumb old cozy mysteries by Peg Kay. Couldn’t you find something that would improve your minds?”

  “Tell you what,” said Ed. “While we’re gone, you make a list of mind-improving books and give it to us when we get back. We’ll rush right out and stock up on them for the final trip.”

  “Gee,” Blake said, “thanks. I was hoping that you would give me a meaningful assignment like that.”

  There were hugs and kisses all around. Then the gang wheeled the craft into position. Space-suited, Zoe and Ed climbed in. Adam and Ivar fired the rocket and they took off.

  They checked and rechecked their instruments. Many times. The instruments were always okay. They also did what they did at home. They ate their rations. They brushed their teeth. They went to the bathroom, using a toilet that worked much like those on Earth except that air, instead of water, moved the waste through the system. And then, there were all those thrillers.

  After about five months, as Ed was checking the instruments yet again, he cried, “What the hell!”

  Zoe abandoned the spyglass and joined him at the instrument panel. “What’s going on?”

  “We seem to be in the middle of a hologram which is blanketing an electronic shield.”

  Zoe looked at the instrument panel. “Geez. The shield might possibly be a natural phenomenon, but the hologram, no way. Something sentient developed it.”

  Ed said. “If there’s a planet being hidden, that would explain why no one has spotted it.”

  “Only one way to find what’s there,” Zoe said. “I’ll take the scooter down.”

  “Uh uh,” Ed said. “Safer to bring the big ship down.”

  “Absolutely not!” Zoe was adamant. “If something bad happens, this ship has to be able to let the family know.”

  Reluctantly, Ed agreed.

  They put the craft on automatic while they prepared the scooter. The little ship had been outfitted with a minimal instrument panel—some navigation tools plus a spectrometer and a photometer. Both ships carried powerful electronic magnets which had been developed in one of Lark’s companies. The scooter’s magnet, located on top of the hull, was negatively charged. The mother ship’s magnet, attached to the far end of a tether, had a positive charge. Each ship could activate and deactivate its magnet.

  The scooter would be affixed to the tether. When she thought it was safe, Zoe would deactivate her magnet and continue her descent. They opened the exit bay. Zoe got into the driver’s seat, revved up and headed toward the electronic field. The little ship hummed, buzzed, and bucked as it traveled downward through the field, finally breaking through.

  Zoe deactivated the magnet and found herself peering at something that looked a lot like Earth. It had large areas of what seemed to be trees. She dropped down a bit further. They were indeed trees, but not any variety familiar to her. Possibly good as building lumber, but not certain. There were mountains to the right, not big ones. They weren’t majestic, more like the eastern ranges. Their tree line was close to the crest. That was interesting—a subject for later exploration. She moved the craft leftward to a point where the trees weren’t blocking her view. She saw no sign of animal life, nor did her instruments indicate such life. It was possible that critters existed who were composed of materials beyond the range of her instruments. She wondered if she dropped something on the ground, a curious animal might pop up to see what was there. The only thing that came to hand was her seat cushion. She wrestled it free, opened the porthole, and pitched the cushion out. She observed its fall. It hit the ground and stayed there. Nothing came to greet it.

  She stuck her head out of the porthole. She could breathe easily. Good sign! She yelled, “Helloo out there!” There was no response. She closed the porthole and moved on. Still farther to the left there was liquid that appeared to be a sizable lake. She made a pass. She tried to see if there were fish, but the lake was opaque. For all she knew, there could be a whole coterie of water breathing mammals playing pinochle down there. She still saw no animals; still no birds.

  By this time Zoe’s ship was below the tops of the trees she had seen initially. Better not get any lower. It would be most unfortunate if she crashed into something. “It’s like this, officer…”

  Should she try to circle the planet? Better not. She might not be able to get back to Ed. Between what she’d seen and what the more sophisticated instruments of the mother ship revealed, they would have a very good idea of whether the planet was habitable.

  She turned the scooter upward and made her way toward the electronic field. Her thruster had just enough juice to shake her free of the field. Without a seat cushion, the trip upward was a tad uncomfortable.

  She activated the magnet, checked the coordinates, and browsed space until, with a jolt, Ed’s magnet grabbed her and the tether hauled her to the bay.

  As she was reeled in, the magnitude of what happened hit her and she burst into tears. Against all odds they had probably found a safe haven for civilization.

  Ed opened the scooter’s door. He observed Zoe and said, “What’s wrong, Big Sis?”

  Zoe brushed the tears away, sniffed and grinned.

  “Not a thing wrong, Little Bro. I think we found what we were looking for.”

  Ed burst into tears.

  When they had finished their teary celebration, Ed asked, “Any idea how the shield and hologram got here?”

  “I can think of two possibilities,” Zoe responded. “First, there is sentient life there. If that’s the case, it’s probably not hostile. There was no effort to interfere with the scooter. Second, there used to be sentien
t life but for some reason it is no more. I think that’s more likely.”

  Ed nodded. “It was either obliterated or left the planet voluntarily. My guess would be obliterated. The Mayan civilization was destroyed by drought. Something like that could have happened here.”

  “Yeah,” Zoe said, “but neither scenario explains why there are no buildings of any kind. I didn’t do a lot of exploring—getting through the shield drained a lot of the scooter’s juice and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get back. I may have landed in something like a park. There could be buildings in another part of the planet.”

  Ed started to laugh.

  “What?”

  Ed said, “Did you ever see re-runs of that 20th century television show, ‘The Addams Family?’”

  Zoe joined the merriment. “That’s what we’ll name the planet!”

  The two of them put Zoe’s observations and data through the hoops of the big ship’s instruments. Her data were confirmed.

  They looked at what their instruments had gathered. Nitrogen comprises a little less than 80 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. The next largest component is oxygen—about 21 percent. And then small amounts of lots of other elements. The new planet was similar. A smidgeon less nitrogen. A bit more oxygen. The ground was solid. The lake was uncontaminated fresh water. And most astonishing, the planet was just about the same size as Earth. Assuming that the settlers were more sensible than the current human occupants of Earth, the place could hold and, with hope, feed a reasonable sized population.

  While Zoe had been sightseeing, Ed had positioned the ship to chase after their home planet. They streaked off.

  The months going back passed a lot faster than the months going out. They both wrote up voluminous notes, read them, re-read them, and passed them to one another for additions, corrections and admiration.

  And just a little shy of a year after they left, they landed back in the staging area.

  Ivar heralded the landing of the craft. The family quickly assembled in the conference room and waited for Ed and Zoe to arrive. The two voyagers entered the room. They were disheveled, smelly, and grinning like lunatics.