by Blair Wylie
Gunter took three quick sips from his coffee cup before continuing. Then he smacked his lips and said, “One thing they eventually did appreciate from us was the suggestion that the key to a successful mission was a comprehensive investigation below the ice sheet on the moon we call Adatia. If there is any life there, it will almost certainly be in the ocean below the ice. That is, if the ocean there is anything like we think it is.
“The real problem is that we don’t have any idea how thick that ice is! It could be kilometres thick!
“One would need much more than a ‘typical’ lander from a space probe to drill a hole through that ice, or I suppose melt a way through it. And the no doubt intense natural radiation on the moon’s surface precludes expanding the Project into a far more elaborate and costly manned mission.
“One fool of a Colonel actually proposed using a nuclear bomb to blast and melt a hole through the ice so we could then deploy a remote-operated mini-submarine! General Kepler, to his credit, pointed out that intelligent life on the moon, if it’s there, would not be very impressed with us as a species if the first thing we did was set off a nuclear weapon right over their heads!
“So, what they seemed to have finally arrived at is a rather pathetic compromise, but one that could at least tell intelligent lifeforms that we have the ability to send a probe to their moon, and that we are moderately intelligent ourselves, in spite of our political foibles.
“The compromise solution is a two-and-a-half tonne spacecraft with two parts, an orbiter and a lander. The orbiter will have a dual-frequency ice-penetrating radar instrument to see if a thin spot in the ice exists, or maybe a fissure of some kind. If so, we will then have a place to target to see if we can penetrate or bypass the ice sheet to reach the underlying ocean.
“Thankfully, from a science perspective, other passive sensors on the probe will include a thermal-emission imaging system, a mapping-imaging spectrometer, a mass spectrometer, a visible light and ultraviolet radiation imaging system, and a magnetometer. And also, thankfully, the military-types saw the logic, or humanity I guess, in not using active sensors, like proton or neutron beams, because they could potentially harm native lifeforms, even simple lifeforms.
“Even if a thin spot or crack in the ice cannot be found, the lander will still descend to the surface. It will actually be a very advanced rover, with artificial intelligence. It will be able to plunge into water, and even swim down a hundred metres or so. It will have a few instruments that might help us to detect simple carbon-based lifeforms.
“But mostly the lander will just send out sonic, radio and microwave messages of greeting in many Earth languages. The idea is to attract curious lifeforms, and hopefully intelligent lifeforms, close enough to the lander to be captured visually with an elaborate array of multi-frequency cameras.
“There was absurd talk about installing a telephone of sorts on the lander so an intelligent being could talk with us back on New Earth directly! Aside from the obvious language incompatibility issues, there is the huge time lag issue of course. The place is about one-billion three hundred and fifty million kilometres away! So, just one-way electromagnetic communication will take seventy-six minutes!
“So, instead, we will have the ability to speak our welcoming gibberish in a number of different ways, then listen with microphones and antennas, and carefully observe with cameras what happens in response. We will be able to do all of that with the lander, on the surface ice in the very thin atmosphere, or underwater if it manages to find a way to get into the underlying ocean.
“As I sort of mentioned before, there is an intense magnetosphere around the gas-giant planet of Tarantino. On the plus side, the radiation should effectively sterilize any New Earth microbes that manage somehow to cling to the surface of our lander, and survive the long journey through space. After all, we would not want to kill any native lifeforms on Adatia with a nasty little assortment of free-loading New Earth microbes!
“Titanium shielding will help protect the electronics that will be located towards the centre of both the orbiter and the lander. The orbiter and the lander will both be powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators, fuelled with plutonium two-thirty-nine. Plutonium is, of course, highly radioactive, and highly toxic. But hopefully, any lifeforms that we might find on Adatia will not try to eat, breathe or even touch our fuel!
“Everyone is hopeful that a huge, three-stage chemical rocket will start the probe on its journey from New Earth to Adatia in about two years’ time, assuming no significant funding, engineering or construction problems arise.
“To gather sufficient momentum, the probe will have to do close fly-bys of planet Fisher, and our planet New Earth, and the planet Abubakar. So, the probe will take almost seven years just to get there! And then, it will probably require a few months to conduct elliptical and transverse orbital surveys of the Adatia moon to adequately map its surface, and help us to select a prime landing spot for the lander-rover.
“So unfortunately, Sita, we may be nine long years away from learning anything useful from the mission!”
“My goodness, that long?” gasped Sita in response. Then she said, “But maybe an experienced engineer or space-scientist would not have been surprised by that physical reality? Yet more proof, I guess, that I should never have been involved with the planning of this mission.”
“Well, another reason I wanted to talk with you today is to warn you that the government does not quite see it that way,” replied Gunter very quietly. Suddenly there was a high-pitched squawking sound just at the edge of hearing. He stopped and listened carefully for a long moment, and then he shook his head and said hopefully, “Just an Iguanoraptor, I think. They can glide to the ground from treetops. They’re harmless, and not very big, thankfully.
“Listen, Sita, they’re not going to let you stay on the outside any longer. They’re going to tell you tomorrow that you’re back on the Project team, fully.
“You see, they have realised that if intelligent life is actually discovered by our probe, they’ll want a professional like yourself to help them to understand it, and to communicate effectively with it. They know you’re kind of unique in the academic world with your vast knowledge of social, cultural and linguistic anthropology.
“But nine years is indeed a long time! So, you might want to bring someone else into the picture, or at least start considering that. No offense, Sita, but none of us are getting any younger!
“Maybe there is a promising graduate student in your program that you could discreetly start mentoring for the job? If so, when it makes sense to proceed to the indoctrination step, I’ll help you make the formal pitch to the government to get your selected protégé’s full inclusion on the mission team.
“Frankly, I’m doing the same myself now. I mean, starting to groom my own successor, that is. However, I don’t think archaeology will play an important role going forward. But I hope I’m completely wrong about that, of course.”
Sita stared straight ahead into the nearby bushes for a long moment, clearly deep in thought. Then she replied quietly, “Yes, I can see the logic in all of that, Gunter. And I do have someone in mind that I’ve been closely mentoring, for other important projects, obviously.
“So, okay, Gunter, that all sounds good. Now, is there anything else on your mind today? I must admit, you’ve given me a lot to think about as it is!”
Gunter laughed heartily, and a bit too loudly. He stopped himself abruptly, and looked around sheepishly. Then he said, “No, Sita, that’s about it for today, I guess. I hope we can start enjoying a cup of coffee together soon, in somewhat more hospitable and open surroundings. I’m thinking about some place as stuffy and mundane as our faculty lounge. Geez, I haven’t been in that little nook for a very long time!
“Oh my, that was quite a shiver, Sita! I can see you’re starting to feel the raw cold like I am. So, why don’t you start heading back first, and I’ll head out right after I have another cup of coffee, usin
g a different path of course? And I think you should take your time going home, you know, make it look like you’re actually on a nature appreciation walk. And, hopefully you’ll feel a lot warmer when you start moving again.”
“No problem, Gunter, thanks!” Sita replied with a chuckle. “And thanks for all of the really interesting news. Sincerely! It was a very brave and considerate thing to do, meeting with me like this.
“And maybe I actually will have a nice, relaxing nature walk on my way back home now!”
4
Everyone in the mission control centre was feeling a degree of frustration with the long wait. But everyone also knew there was nothing anyone could do about it.
They were waiting for a ‘check-in confirmation signal’ from the orbital part of the probe that they had recently helped guide into orbit around the distant moon they called Adatia. It was possible, but probably unlikely, that the orbiter would also tell them that the lander-rover part of the probe had succeeded in reconnoitring the ocean under the ice sheet that covered the entire surface of Adatia.
Of course, whatever the signal told them would be seventy-six minutes in the past. One could never overcome the physical fact that the speed photons travel in a vacuum is very fast but finite, and that speed is exactly the same everywhere in the universe.
Some of the scientists and engineers in mission control had pondered the bizarre world of quantum physics. Photons were very funny creatures. They either were completely stationary and invisible, or they travelled at light speed. There was nothing in between for a photon. Furthermore, experiments could prove they were particles of matter. And other experiments could prove they were electromagnetic wavelets! So, what the heck was a photon, really?
Professor Sita Mugabe knew nothing about photons and quantum mechanics, but she knew a whole lot about how human beings had behaved within many different cultural settings. And she knew with certainty that human beings were a lot less predictable than photons.
Her young protégé, Assistant Professor Francis Maldonado, believed that one could accurately predict how very large groups of people would react to specific stimuli. The theory might have been first popularised by an ancient Earth science fiction writer. She thought that all one needed were the right equations and algorithms arranged logically in a properly designed computer program.
Sita was sceptical of the theory, and she thought that Francis was a bit naïve to buy into it. But she also did not want to curb her protégés’ youthful enthusiasm by openly expressing pessimism and doubt. After all, historically, great discoveries had been made by people who had ignored peer challenge, and endeavoured to persevere.
But Sita and Francis now had to divert their full attention to the Probe Project. They had been allowed, or rather strongly encouraged, to sit at one of the many monitoring stations in the over-crowded control room.
Sita was aging well, but she was glad the youthful and energetic Francis was with her. They had agreed that Francis would be taking the lead should they ever be asked to contribute something tangible to the Project.
There was of course no way of knowing where any of this might be leading them.
Sita looked at the young male engineer sitting directly to her right. He was busily working away at a complicated-looking console. After a few moments, the young man realized he was being watched. He turned and smiled at Sita. Sita seized the opportunity, leaned closer to the handsome young man and whispered, “So, how much longer will it be, Sergei?”
Program Engineer Sergei Kharlamov was wearing an ear-muff type of headset, but through context, he thought he could guess what Sita had just asked him. So, he closed his right hand over the little microphone in front of his mouth, and whispered, “How much longer, I think you asked me?” Sita nodded back with a smile, so he answered pleasantly, “About five minutes, ma’am, at least for the preliminary ‘alert part’ of the signal.
“What it says next depends on how the artificial intelligence parts of the machine on the surface of the moon, and in its companion machine in orbit, interpret sensor information, and jointly figure out what to say to us. It’s all a bit complicated, sorry…” He trailed off, and looked embarrassed at not being able to offer a more definitive answer to a layperson.
Sita just nodded politely and whispered, “Thanks, Sergei, that’s really all I needed to know.”
Then Sergei for the first time had a close look at Francis, who was sitting on the other side of Sita. Then he blushed before quickly turning back to monitor the console in front of him.
Sita figured yet another young man had been instantly smitten by the very pretty and fascinating Francis.
Then Sita had a quick look herself at Francis. She was wide-eyed, and clearly excited. Francis seemed to be excited about everything to do with the Project. And her excitement had obviously just peaked. This was a totally new experience for both of them.
Francis was twenty-eight years old, but she could have passed for nineteen. She was petite in stature, with short, thick, dark brown hair. She was also a brilliant linguist as well as a renowned social and cultural anthropologist.
Francis had many other interests, too. Her favourite hobby was tracing the roots of the many first and last names in use on New Earth. The cultural norm for the last century or so had been for young couples to search through the old Earth historical archives for names that they thought they could identify with in some way. Francis had been glad to help her young friends find just the right first name for their babies. One could now also choose to adopt a new last name or family name, however that practice rarely occurred.
The activity at the many consoles in the large room was no doubt purposeful, but totally baffling in its complexity. Sita wondered how everyone could possibly be working cooperatively together.
Sita wished Gunter could have been here on this milestone day. But tragically, he had passed away about a year before after suffering a heart attack.
Sita remembered sadly that the Project leaders had basically phased out Gunter’s role. No one could see why an archaeologist would be needed going forward. Frankly, neither could Gunter, but his interest had never waned. And really, how could anyone possibly know for sure what would be needed?
Sita now knew she had a bit of time, so she mused to herself about the last nine years. Remarkably, the Project had progressed as originally planned with very few difficulties. The media had accepted and promoted the idea that the probe was considered absolutely necessary ‘for the advancement of science’. Coverage had been sporadic, but many updates had been provided on where the departing probe was in relation to New Earth, and to the distant moon Adatia.
But media coverage had really intensified over the last few weeks. The orbital mapping phase had yielded a fantastic discovery. Amazingly, right after orbital insertion around the distant moon, a kilometre-long fissure had opened up in the moon’s surface ice sheet!
But even stranger, the fissure now seemed to be continuously opening and closing, on a cycle of about one New Earth day. Whenever the fissure opened up, a geyser of condensed water vapour would spew into the near-vacuum surrounding the moon. The vapour would instantly freeze into a cloud of ice crystals, which would dissipate as the ice crystals gradually fell back to the moon’s surface.
So, selecting the landing site for the lander-rover had been easier than anyone had anticipated. The lander had descended smoothly, and successfully made ‘moon-fall’ close to one side of the fissure.
The lander had then turned itself into a rover. Human ‘drivers’ on New Earth instructed the rover to move back and forth along the side of the fissure to gather data. The rover sent acquired data back to New Earth via the part of the probe that had remained in orbit around Adatia.
Some of these data included optical images. Uploading data to New Earth had to occur in bunches, because line-of-sight contact was required between the transmitter and the receiver. The same constraint applied when relaying new instructions to the rover via the orbital
probe.
The lander-rover continuously announced its presence on the surface of the moon by emitting an ‘introductory message of greeting’ in radio and other electromagnetic frequencies. The message was just a repeating series of beeps corresponding to the prime numbers up to seventeen, those being two, three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen and seventeen. Unfortunately the same message could not be delivered in sonic frequencies because the atmosphere on the moon was essentially non-existent. But a sonic form of the message would be delivered when, or rather if, the rover somehow managed to enter the ocean.
Analysis of the data received on New Earth suggested there was about a thirty-metre drop from the undisturbed part of the ice sheet to the ocean surface exposed by the fissure. When the fissure opened, the widest gap was in the order of two hundred metres. However, the opening and closing of the fissure was creating a rubble zone. But when the fissure was fully opened, the slope down to the water looked to be something the rover might be able to traverse.
So, the rover had recently been told to carefully make its way down to the ocean surface, drive itself into the water and then submerge itself deep enough to avoid being crushed when the fissure closed again.
Because of the need to steer around obstructions and select the best path to traverse in real time, the rover had to perform everything by itself, using its artificial-intelligence control-module. It was told to collect data continuously when submerged in the water and under the ice. It was also told to use its own judgement about how and when to re-surface in open water, establish line-of-sight contact with the orbiter in space, and upload the data it had collected for further transmission to New Earth.
Sita and Francis were suddenly aware that people had begun talking quietly together in little groups within the mission control centre. After ten minutes or so, some of the group discussions in the room became loud, and even a bit heated or angry. And then everyone, everywhere, was looking very anxious and very worried.
