The Clouds of Venus: Hard Science Fiction

by Brandon Q. Morris

  He scraped off some of the coating. “Do you want to analyze this?” he asked Nuria. “Just for practice?”

  “I’m busy right now,” she replied. “But place it in a sample container and I’ll look at it under the microscope when I get a chance.”

  “Okay.” Erik used the brush again and scrubbed away the stripes. He started to sweat.

  “Commander to spaceship,” Charles called over the radio.

  “Hi, Chuck. We’re all right down here,” Ethan said. “And you?”

  “It’s a bit boring, at least until just now.”

  “Why until now?”

  “Do you remember Tarasov?”

  “Institute of Planetary Research, somewhere in Siberia?” Ethan asked.

  “Precisely. He had hinted at something back when we communicated with him. It looks like he was right.”

  “C’mon now, don’t keep us in suspense.”

  “The sensors say we’re getting visitors. The DFDs are clearly visible via telescope. It’s the RB ship.”

  “Impressive how quickly they caught up with us,” Ethan said.

  “It would be interesting to know what they’re doing here,” Charles said. “They can’t be serious about landing on the surface, can they?”

  Erik was listening attentively. “Why don’t you ask them?” Erik suggested.

  “Chuck Norris doesn’t ask questions. People ask him questions,” Ethan said.

  “Haha. You’ll laugh, but I asked,” Charles said. “A woman called Maria answered. She said it was a routine inspection and wouldn’t reveal any further details.”

  “Then it’s time to talk about the agreement with Tarasov,” Ethan said.

  “We’ll wait until Nuria gets some results,” Charles said.

  “Tomorrow... Tomorrow I will have something,” Nuria said.

  Erik was just about to go to sleep when Charles spoke again. “The Russians are quick off the mark,” he said without an initial greeting. “A lander of some sort has left their ship and is headed for the surface.”

  “Do you know if there are humans aboard?” Ethan asked.

  “It’s hard to tell. But they aren’t accelerating a lot, which leads me to think there might be people in there, and they don’t want to expose them to excessive acceleration.”

  “Well, on the other hand, perhaps the engine just can’t accelerate any further.”

  “Anyway, Ethan, the lander’s orbit is offset by a quarter, in other words, 45 degrees against the equatorial plane. Therefore, their destination could be anywhere, apart from the poles. It is impossible to accurately predict where they’ll land.”

  “That’s okay,” Ethan said, “maybe we’ll see them from here. They will be wise enough to land near the equator, won’t they?”

  “The lander’s path seems to indicate that they won’t be landing in that region,” Charles said. “I think they want to go north or south. Otherwise they wouldn’t have spent energy on changing the orbital plane.”

  “Do they already know that there are unpleasant downdrafts there?”

  “They can see that. But one definitely doesn’t notice the wind on the ground. Maybe they don’t want us to be able to reach the area with the spaceship. The whole world knows that we’re sailing here in the clouds. If they don’t want us to know about their activities, they just have to land somewhere besides the equator.”

  “I see. We’ll try to keep an eye on them anyway.”

  “Good luck with that. I’ll keep you posted.”

  June 8, 2079, Venus Base

  Although they had both intensively studied their temporary home planet during the outbound flight, it was nevertheless a strange feeling to be carried along on the wind through Venus’s atmosphere. They sank quickly, but again and again the engines slowed the descent so as not to burden the heat shield unnecessarily. Peter’s stomach could not cope with the changes, and he vomited into a bag. He was keeping a second bag within reach, just in case.

  After they crossed the lower border of the acid layer, the turbulence decreased. There was hardly any wind on the ground. Peter looked at the instruments, which indicated a maximum wind speed of two meters per second. On Earth, that would be a light breeze, but because of the higher density of Venus’s atmosphere, it corresponded to a wind force of 4—no problem for the transporter and its engines. Just before landing, Peter clutched the armrests, but they touched down surprisingly gently.

  The landing module scanned the environment, with the screen in front of them continually updating the results. It was hot outside, just under 460 degrees, and the pressure reached 90 bar, equivalent to 90 times the pressure on the Earth’s surface.

  Peter changed to the camera picture. The colors were awe-inspiring. The surface consisted of rocks of volcanic origin, which should look dark gray to black. On the screen, however, a brownish-yellow plain was visible on which a few stones were scattered, some smaller and others larger. The atmosphere, which filtered sunlight, was responsible for the effect. Peter wiped the screen and then felt annoyed at his stupidity. The plastic wasn’t foggy! The fact that visibility was limited to a few kilometers was due to the dense atmosphere.

  “Pretty dark here,” Maria said.

  “No wonder—the atmosphere only lets five percent of the incoming sunlight through to the surface,” Peter said.

  “Smart aleck. Do you realize that we’ll always see Venus’s surface in a twilight state? I wonder what that might do to our psyche.”

  “At least we’ll have permanent daylight while we’re here.”

  “Small consolation,” Maria retorted.

  “Well, just imagine if we had arrived during the night phase. It would have been hardly any cooler, but there would have been constant darkness!”

  Both of them had been wondering how it would feel to walk outside in their pressure suits. They hoped to embark on their first excursion soon. It was a pity that, due to the clouds, they would never see the sun moving from west to east instead of east to west. Where else would one get to see such a sight?

  Peter released the seat restraints and stood up. “Well, then, let’s take possession of the planet. If you get off first, I can take a picture of you. After all, you will be the first person on Venus’s surface!”

  “That’s not worth a lot to me. Now that I’m being hunted on Earth, I can’t have any publicity,” Maria said with a sigh.

  “Then let’s go outside together. We’ll let the transporter’s photosensors take the pictures. We each get a file as a private memento, and we can subsequently delete the pictures. Okay?”

  Maria nodded and got up. She then hopped a few times.

  “Are you all right?” Peter asked.

  “I’m doing fine. I just wanted to see if that exercise regimen was worth it.”

  “And?”

  “Yes. I’m as fit as an athlete.”

  In front of the airlock they found four pressure suits that they would need when going outdoors. Although the suits were not intended for day-long outdoor excursions, they could endure a few hours on the surface if they wore them.

  “They look like those ancient Newtsuit tank diving suits,” Peter said. “Only the helmet is more stylish.”

  “Newtsuit?”

  “A metal shell that the diver had to step into. Basically a one-man submarine,” he explained.

  “Then let’s go diving,” Maria said.

  Katarina helped them into the pressure suits. The process of donning the suits took a while. Peter first had to slip on the soft, inner suit that adapted to his body shape. Afterward he climbed into the outer, steel shell, which retained its shape even at 90 bar. Katarina placed his helmet on his head and then helped Maria. Their helmets were different colors, probably so that one could easily distinguish the wearers. Peter raised his arm and almost slapped his own face. The engines of the exoskeleton reacted much more quickly and powerfully than he had expected. They would have to practice moving around in the suits.

  Maria waved to h
im. She was wearing a red helmet. “Can we leave?” she asked over the helmet radio.

  “Wait a minute,” Katarina said. She packed Peter and Maria’s necessities into a special pressure-resistant box, which she attached to Peter’s suit. Then she also climbed into a pressure suit.

  “You too?” Maria asked.

  “My body was not built for functioning at 90 bar. Therefore, like you, I can only tread upon the surface in a pressure suit.”

  All three of them entered the small airlock. The breathable air was pumped out as soon as the door closed. After a few minutes the airlock had been flooded with air from Venus’s atmosphere, and the bulkhead in front of them opened. They stepped onto the already-extended ramp, which sank to the ground. RB’s autonomous robots were already waiting. Peter took Maria’s hand in his, and together they stepped onto Venus’s surface. Katarina waited, as if she knew about their prior agreement, and then followed them.

  As soon as Peter, Maria, and Katarina had left the extendable ramp, the robots pushed transport boxes onto it. The loading ramp was raised and the cargo disappeared through the airlock into the transporter.

  Peter looked at the robots. Compared to them he was a dwarf, even when wearing the pressure suit. The robots each moved by using several short tracks that they could control independently. What materials did RB use to enable these machines to withstand the extreme conditions here on Venus for extended periods of time? he wondered.

  “Come on, we have to go,” Maria said, lightly nudging him with the arm of her suit. Peter turned to her and imitated the gesture. The huge arm seemed to move of its own accord, although he had triggered its movement with his own arm.

  He forced himself to stop gawking at the machines. The road was clearly marked. Robots were transporting freight like ants moving in lines. They were moving numerous small boxes from the base to the transporter.

  Peter next programmed the display in his helmet to estimate the distance to their accommodation. The helmet showed 432 meters, but he guessed that would be ‘as the crow flies.’

  He had already observed from the lander just how rugged the plateau was. In front of them lay slabs of solidified lava, partially broken and tilted against one another, as well as a row of rocks and boulders, presumably also of volcanic origin, which they would have to get around.

  Slowly, they started to move. With each step he found himself able to control the suit with greater proficiency. As one might expect, Katarina handled her suit with perfect mastery from the start.

  The transporter had landed near the edge of a slab of lava. They left the wide hill and moved a short distance on the adjacent, flat terrain, until they reached a solidified lava flow. It was evident that robots had dug a cave and built the base station at the bottom of the next hill. The three of them frequently had to yield to RB’s machines.

  The base lay below an embankment, but a transporter was blocking their path.

  “Should I ask Marchenko to move the transporter out of our way?” Katarina asked.

  “No, don’t bother. We will just look for a different route to get there,” Peter said.

  Katarina moved her head from side to side several times. Apparently she was scanning the sloping area. Then she went ahead of them. Everything went well until they were about halfway. Suddenly, Katarina toppled over.

  Peter saw a big stone shoot forth from under her foot, and he knew she must have stepped on loose pebbles. He gasped. With a loud clatter, Katarina rolled in the direction of the valley, toward a lava flow. Peter switched to infrared and could see the lava was hot. This flow had not cooled yet. But Katarina’s suit reacted quickly. First, her body tilted in the direction of the leg that triggered the rock avalanche. Then the shell of the suit stiffened, and as quick as lightning it shifted its center of gravity so that the suit came to a halt.

  “That was an acrobatic feat,” Peter said. Sweat born of fear was running down his temples, so he turned up the ventilation.

  “Thanks, but the suit did it all by itself,” said Katarina. “As soon as the acceleration sensors noticed me falling, the suit took control and stabilized me.”

  “Very reassuring,” Maria said.

  Peter was not so sure about that. Would the machine take control of him? That made him uneasy. But he didn’t say anything. After all, the quick reaction had saved Katarina from being seriously damaged.

  They reached the base station’s gate a quarter of an hour later. Peter looked at the clock. It was now after midnight, Moscow time, and he was not at all tired. Adrenaline had a strong effect! They let one more of the machines pass them, and then entered the vestibule of the station.

  June 9, 2079, Venusian Atmosphere

  It was dark again outside. This circadian rhythm thing still bothered Erik. He had been yawning all day. They had been unable to find out where the RB expedition had landed. The lander had disappeared under the cloud cover at just the wrong moment, so they could only roughly estimate the landing region. It was definitely on what was at present the day side. If there are people on board, they must really be sweating.

  Erik was having breakfast alone. Nuria was where he had last seen her yesterday, at the analyzer. He hoped she had not been foolish enough to forego her sleep! At that moment, Nuria turned around and came toward him. She dropped onto the stool next to him and closed her eyes.

  He could see from her face that she had not slept. “Well? Was it at least worth it?” he asked.

  She opened her eyes—there was no need to answer. Despite the fatigue, her big, dark eyes were shining. Erik felt the urge to fall at her feet and ask her to marry him—just because of her radiance at that moment—but he remained calm and seated. She had discovered something, and it must be rather significant.

  “So, what’s up?” he asked.

  She handed him her universal device. There were a few graphics to be seen on the screen. “That’s the composition of the atmosphere,” she said.

  Erik scanned the numbers. He found nothing unusual. So he was probably missing something.

  Nuria kept scrolling forward. “You get these numbers if you just count all the atoms. But that isn’t important. I picked out the organic molecules and determined their distribution.”

  He looked again at the graphic. There were many simple compounds composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. He had already seen data like this from Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. The molecules formed under the influence of sunlight in the upper atmosphere. They kept forming and then separating into their components, over and over again.

  “You’re right, Erik, that’s nothing special. Such molecules are even to be found in interstellar space, sometimes in even larger quantities. I have to admit, I was disappointed.”

  “But then you...” Erik said, because he was sure there was more.

  Nuria smiled. “Then I stopped focusing on carbon, which was just distracting me. I studied other interesting elements. And can you guess where I struck the goldmine?”

  Erik had a hunch, but he did not want to be a spoilsport, so he shook his head.

  “With sulfur! Like carbon, sulfur forms long-chain molecules. However, they have no branches. The lack of branches is unfavorable to life. But when thinking in terms of primarily sulfur-based biochemistry, we should consider the possibility of other elements being present as well. These elements could enable branching.”

  “That would be fantastic,” Erik said. “A completely different biochemistry!”

  “It is fantastic. I used up eighteen of the nineteen samples to isolate the various sulfur-based molecules. But molecules alone are, of course, no proof. That’s why I did not open sample nineteen. I distributed its contents into two tubes. I irradiated only one of the tubes with yellow light—and only then did I count the molecules in the tubes.

  “Believe it or not, there were fewer molecules in the illuminated sample than in the other one—and the illuminated sample contained long-chain molecules that were longer than in the other sample. This means that s
omething in the illuminated sample absorbed energy and stored it in the transformed molecules, just like a plant.”

  “You believe you’ve caught life in the act?”

  “Yes, don’t you think so?”

  “Yes, Nuria. We have to report this result to Earth.”

  “Right now we’re in the radio shadow of Venus. We’ll only be able to reach Charles again in a few hours.”

  “Then tell Ethan now exactly what you’ve found.”

  “And then I’ll figure out what kind of life this is.”

  June 9, 2079, Venus Base

  Peter and Maria entered an elongated cave that was dimly lit with organic LEDs. Although the robots could orient themselves with ultrasound, it was apparently easier to do so with the help of optical sensors. Perhaps the LEDs had only been installed for humans’ sake. In the light of the LEDs the walls, ceilings, and floor looked wholly black.

  The very back of the cave was used as a storage and sorting room. A robot was at that moment pouring rough diamonds into a container. Then the opening closed. Presumably, Venus’s atmosphere was being pumped out before the stones were analyzed. Only rough diamonds that could be processed into gemstones were worth the expensive trip to Earth.

  Maria pulled him toward the airlock on the right side. She must have surmised that their quarters were there. Peter followed her. But when they stood in front of it, the airlock remained closed. No opening mechanism was visible. Peter was confused, but Maria seemed to have an idea regarding what to do. She pressed a few buttons on her suit.

  “The doorbell is virtual,” she explained. “You have to peer through the visor, and then you will spot it.”