Solar Express

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  “Can you determine where that drive or engine chamber is from the rover’s track and data?”

  AFFIRMATIVE.

  “Display it.”

  An image of the silver side of the artifact appeared. After an instant, the false color image of the thirty-two circles appeared. Then a red dot appeared midway beside one of the circles closest to the edge of the silver circle, although that slightly discolored circle was a good fifty meters inboard of the long-severed edge.

  It had been hard to judge the distance between the outboard end of the hexagonal pillar—or drive/engine shaft—and those massive hexagonal clamshell nozzle-doors or energy-focusing devices, or whatever they were, apparently just beneath the hull of the artifact, but it appeared to Tavoian that the barrier wall between the drive or engine output devices was more than fifty meters thick.

  That can’t all be wall. Are the drive systems or controls within that space? He didn’t have an answer for his own question.

  While he waited for the ISV and rover to warm up so that he could prepare them for the next investigation, he began to compose a message to the colonel, informing him of the latest findings. After he dispatched it, he noted that he still had no messages. That suggested not that he had none, but that any he did have were being delayed.

  The colonel doesn’t want you distracted.

  With that thought, he went to find something to eat and drink.

  He’d barely finished what passed for a sandwich—a chicken spread squeezed onto half a bagel, topped with a cheese spread, and captured by the top half of the bagel—when the message system chimed and a horn squawked loudly enough that Tavoian almost spit out the last bite. He had no doubt that the urgent message was from the colonel.

  It was.

  Tavoian, Christopher A.

  Major, NSC

  NSS-21/Recon Three

  Re: Last Report

  Last report received, along with data and images.

  More detailed information absolutely necessary. Request greater investigation of technological capabilities embodied in artifact.

  Estimate arrival of Sinese longliner at artifact at approximately 0814 UTC on 11 November 2114. Sinese Federation readying full exploratory expedition. Timetable currently unknown.

  More detailed information absolutely necessary? Tavoian shook his head. Hasn’t anyone read or understood what you’ve sent? More likely, no one believed what he’d sent. After all, how could anything manufactured or created be so strong that no human tool could penetrate it?

  Tavoian realized that he was being excessively cynical. The colonel was likely under great pressure to produce results. He immediately began to compose a reply.

  While all of the passageways connecting the hexagons in the section of the artifact entered from the dark green side appear to be open, so far investigations have revealed no objects at all in any passageways. The section of the artifact below the dark-entered side appears to be separated from the section beneath it by a bulkhead barrier extending across the entire artifact. Beyond the barrier is a space ranging in “height” from fifty to approximately 150 meters, as calculated along the center hexagonal shaft. Neither the laser nor the diamond nanorod drill will even scratch any of the material. To make matters more challenging …

  Tavoian smiled wryly. Challenging was an understatement.

  … all the surfaces of the object, interior and exterior, are so smooth that nothing adheres to them. With the rotation of the artifact no device can maintain position without power and thrusters.

  In addition, there are over ten thousand separate hexagonal compartments. The smallest measure twenty-five meters on a side and are five meters in height/width. So far, as noted in previous reports, searches have only found eighteen intact that also were left open, either deliberately or as a result of the event that apparently severed the artifact from a much larger craft. Of the hexagons that could be entered, the only objects found were those protrusions in five of the partly open intact hexagons. Since each hexagon is surrounded by passageways, it appears unlikely that all passageways can be explored within the time and resources set for the mission.

  While the rover and ISV are being repowered, another investigation is being prepared to probe other possibilities for obtaining entrance to sealed areas. Will report on the results when that probe has returned.

  What else can you say?

  Tavoian sent the message, then headed to the main lock to mount the tunable laser and the sampling module on the ISV.

  Positioning and mounting the tunable laser on the ISV took Tavoian more than half an hour. Surprisingly, setting up the sampling gear took slightly less time, but he also had to load two signal repeaters. When he closed the airlock and returned to the control section, he immediately checked for another message from the colonel. Thankfully, there wasn’t one. In fact, there were no messages.

  Still wanting to keep you undistracted and on task.

  A scan of all screens and inputs from the cubesats revealed nothing new about or around the artifact. There was also no sign of the Sinese longliner. After satisfying himself that there was nothing requiring his immediate attention, Tavoian did a last check to make certain the ISV was fully repowered, then opened the outer door of the main lock and dispatched the ISV to return to the artifact.

  Once it neared the artifact, he guided it back to a position less than a meter from the first opening that the rover had investigated.

  “Tune the laser to the same wavelength reflected by the surface immediately adjacent to the opening,” Tavoian ordered the ship’s AI.

  LASER TUNED.

  “Direct the beam across the surface adjacent to the opening. Monitor results at all wavelengths.”

  THERE IS NO REACTION.

  “Have the laser run the test and reaction pattern.”

  PROCEEDING WITH TEST.

  The test pattern was merely a preprogrammed series of wavelength pulses.

  Less than two minutes later, the AI reported, THERE WAS NO REACTION.

  “What about reflected light? Did the amount of light reflected vary at any wavelength from the amount expected?”

  THERE WAS A DECREASE IN EXPECTED REFLECTIVITY WHEN THE LASER BEAM MATCHED THE COLOR OF THE SURFACE BESIDE THE OPENING. THAT DECREASE WAS LESS THAN ONE PERCENT.

  A slight decrease in reflectivity? “Was that the result of scattering from a rougher surface?”

  THE SURFACE DOES NOT VARY NEAR THE OPENING.

  “What about absorption and retention as heat?”

  THE SURFACE TEMPERATURE REMAINS UNCHANGED.

  “Conduct the same test on the surface three meters farther away from the opening.”

  After several moments, the AI replied, COMMENCING TEST.

  Tavoian waited.

  THERE WAS NO REACTION. THERE WAS NO DECREASE IN EXPECTED REFLECTIVITY WHEN THE LASER BEAM MATCHED THE COLOR OF THE SURFACE OR THE COLOR OF THE SURFACE BESIDE THE OPENING.

  “Try the tests on the openings to the next chamber.”

  The AI directed the ISV to the opening of the adjoining hexagonal chamber. The results were the same. While Tavoian had hoped for a more definitive reaction, he wasn’t surprised. Even if his hypothesis happened to be correct, the odds were that all the “doorways” on the exposed section of the former interior of the original sphere had been extensively damaged by the force that had severed the artifact from the larger sphere. If so, chambers farther from the severing might exhibit a different response. But then, his hypothesis could be wrong … or the damage could have affected the entire artifact.

  “Move the ISV to the center shaft.”

  MOVING ISV.

  Tavoian had the ISV deploy a repeater just inside the shaft so that it should remain for a time despite the artifact’s rotation. Then he directed the ISV down two levels where he deployed the second repeater before moving the ISV down the passageway to the nearest “doorway,” as indicated by the false color image overlay provided by the ship’s AI.

  “
Direct the laser beam across the surface adjacent to the opening. Monitor results at all wavelengths.”

  THERE IS NO REACTION.

  “Have the laser run the test and reaction pattern. Then report on reflected light.”

  THERE WAS A DECREASE IN EXPECTED REFLECTIVITY WHEN THE LASER BEAM MATCHED THE COLOR OF THE SURFACE. THAT DECREASE WAS FIVE POINT FOUR PERCENT. THERE WAS NO CHANGE IN SURFACE TEMPERATURE OF THE AREA WHERE THE LASER FOCUSED.

  Five point four percent? Compared to one percent at the first two openings? “Repeat the test at twice the focus time and report.”

  REPEATING TEST.

  Once more, Tavoian waited.

  DECREASE IN EXPECTED REFLECTIVITY WAS SEVEN POINT SIX PERCENT.

  “Was there any increased scattering?”

  NEGATIVE. LACK OF RETAINED HEAT AND LACK OF SCATTERING INDICATES QUANTA TRANSFER BENEATH SURFACE.

  What Tavoian would have called the door-frame section was actually absorbing some of the light. After how many years in deep space? He definitely had something … but what? From what he recalled of his physics, generally only metals exhibited the photoelectric effect … But that’s increased reflectivity, not decreased. He frowned. If the greenish material absorbed the light, then it was photoconductive … but how could it absorb just part of a single wavelength light? From what Tavoian knew, that was contrary to physical laws of reflectivity, or certainly not normal. All those photons had to be going somewhere, but they weren’t heating the material. What was the material doing with the light? Where was it going?

  Since only the “door frames” exhibited that apparent photoconductivity, at least so far, they had to have been engineered that way, especially since the longer the exposure, the greater the decrease in reflectivity, and presumably, the greater the absorption. Greater absorption would have made sense for a solar cell gathering sunlight, but how could the material only accept part of the photons at a given wavelength? How did that make sense on what would have been the interior of the spacecraft? And the artifact had to have been part of a spacecraft, Tavoian was convinced.

  Because he worried about maintaining signal contact with the ISV, given the rotation of the artifact, Tavoian immediately moved the ISV down the shaft to the barrier bulkhead, where he again searched the openings directly off the shaft until he found one that showed the false color hexagon suggesting a doorway, this one displaying the large backward “Z.” When he focused the laser on it, though, and began to run the tests on it, the “Z” flared a color that Tavoian could only have described as fluorescent headache purple, a color that certainly conveyed, at least to Tavoian, that proceeding was unwise, if not forbidden. It certainly made him not want to proceed.

  SIGNAL STRENGTH WEAKENING.

  Tavoian immediately recalled the ISV, instructing it to recover the repeaters on the way back. He’d barely issued the commands before the images from the ISV vanished. Then he worried. Ten minutes passed before the images resumed, as the ISV cleared the center shaft on the dark side of the artifact.

  At that moment, he realized he’d done nothing to gather samples, or even look for them. He checked the power remaining to the ISV, then decided to investigate the possibility of debris, detritus, or small fragments of anything, first, around the partly open hexagons where he’d begun the laser testing, and then, if the first locale proved fruitless, around the edges of the dark green material, where the silvered hull ended.

  The ISV’s scanners and even enhanced images revealed nothing in either place.

  The entire day’s events, along with the loss of IR capabilities, suggested that the green material was not only incredibly smooth and hard, but also nonconducting. Except how can a material that’s photoconductive, even selectively so, be so nonconductive that it doesn’t even generate static electricity after all these years of being bombarded by various forms of electromagnetic radiation?

  Tavoian had the ISV attempt sampling in other areas, but it fared no better. There didn’t appear to be any loose material anyplace where the ISV could reach it. That meant rigging up the rover with fiber-optic line and looking in the corners of the open and more accessible hexagonal chamber. With the ISV’s power running out, he recalled it to Recon three.

  By the time the ISV was back in the lock, it was well after 1900 UTC, and it would be another standard hour before Tavoian could even begin to ready it for another reconnaissance foray. That would give him time to send another report to the colonel. But how could he word what he had discovered in a way that made sense but that was neither sensationalistic nor excessively understated?

  With a long breath that was not quite a sigh, Tavoian settled himself in the control couch and considered how to word his report. Then he began to compose it. When he finished, he displayed it on one of the screens and began to read it over, concentrating on the key sections.

  … Certain surfaces appear to be entry points. They are identifiable, as noted previously, by a minute and barely detectable difference in coloration. When a laser tuned to the frequency of the reflected light is focused on those surfaces a portion of the directed light, but only a portion, appears to be absorbed, rather than reflected or scattered. This suggests some form of photoconductivity. One “doorway” exhibited a bright purple symbol similar to a reversed “Z” when the laser focused on it at the selected wavelength … Further investigation of this will be undertaken, but a more complete examination may require high-powered and intensive light sources greater than those used in the initial investigations … also, the green material shows no differentiation under IR scans … renders IR useless to date inside the artifact … So far no loose material of any sort that could be sampled and analyzed has been discovered. Searches for material that can be sampled will be continued … All images and records since the last update are attached …

  After reading the message again, Tavoian thought about changing it, decided there was no need to, and sent it. Next came a message to Alayna. He’d decided that she might be able to offer some insights—assuming the colonel agreed and would allow Tavoian’s message and attachments to go through—and possibly even some suggestions. Since you’re going to need all the intelligence and help you can get.

  Alayna—

  As you must know by now, I’m part of the Noram effort to investigate your discovery. It is definitely an artifact, and does not appear to be anything created by any known human civilization. So far, no tool I have will make an impression on any surface, and there are no obvious artifacts or technological objects, except for the entire artifact itself. Certain surfaces seem to exhibit photoconductivity, since the total of reflected and scattered light from a laser focused on them at certain wavelengths shows a decrease in energy from that reaching the surface, and there is no corresponding increase in surface temperature …

  Should you go into more details? He decided against it, not in the body of the message.

  My initial feeling is that any technology that exists is subsumed within the interior bulkheads and decks, although that could be wishful thinking …

  When he finished the message, he attached some, but far from all, of the images and data he had sent to the colonel, and then dispatched it. He had no idea whether the colonel or the Donovan Base censorship would allow its retransmittal, but hoped they would.

  Then he pulled himself down to the passenger section and the main lock, where he began to reprogram and reequip the AI rover and repair the fiber-optic line system in order to allow the rover to view and scout corners in the upper-level hexagons. By the time he finished, the ISV had warmed enough for him to open the inner lock door and to begin to reconfigure the ISV. Since the ISV had not finished recharging when he finished, which included reprogramming the AI rover and repairing the fiber-optic line, he fixed a sandwich of various substances, ate it, which amounted to washing it down with water from the squeezebottle, and then tidied up the air of the control space with a sticky pad.

  By the time Tavoian got the ISV ready for another sortie
and sent it off, it was well past 2130 UTC. He sat, as much as floating half-strapped to the control couch could be considered sitting, in front of the screen displays and ate what passed for cheese-flavored crackers and sipped water from the squeezebottle while he watched the artifact grow larger in the image relayed from the ISV. The sampling module mounted on the ISV contained a gas chromatograph, a mass spectrometer, and a tunable laser spectrometer, all of which focused on a sampling drawer that, when material was placed in it by the rover, could supply a wide enough range of heat to enable the analyzer to identify a wide range of chemical compounds and determine the ratios of different isotopes of key elements.

  Once the ISV was in position just above the opening into the hexagon that contained the apparently undamaged protrusions, Tavoian turned the controls over to the AI. “Investigate the corners. Have the rover gather any debris or particles possible.”

  The rover, again trailing fiber-optic line and guided by the AI, used its thrusters to maneuver through the meter-wide opening, then turned toward the corner closest to Recon three of the two that were nearest to the opening. Needless to say, there wasn’t a trace of anything large enough to be picked up by the rover’s scoop or sticky pad, and the ship’s AI guided the rover to the other upper corner.

  MATERIALS DISCOVERED. FIRST SAMPLE PLACED IN DRAWER.

  While the sampler heated, Tavoian checked the screens and long-range radar. There was still no sign of the Sinese longliner, not that he expected it before the following morning. He kept waiting until the data stream began.

  “Summarize the results from the first sample.”

  SAMPLING ANALYSIS INDICATES THE PRESENCE OF SILICON CARBIDE, WATER ICE, POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDOCARBONS, CARBON GRAINS, AND SILICATE PARTICLES.

  “That’s just standard circumstellar dust, isn’t it?”

  AFFIRMATIVE.

  “Nothing else?”

  NEGATIVE.

  “Try the second sample.”

  SAMPLER CYCLING.

  Tavoian waited.