Julian had secured EUNICE in the drill chamber for Reese. Even through the difficult time, and working around the wreckage of the machinery in the drill chamber, Julian had managed to maintain secrecy about the samples he had taken from the sub.
Hanson continued to protect their secrets in the lab. When asked about it he had told Mara he simply wanted the mission over quickly. She suspected he was frightened to be here and would rather leave on the Zephyr at the earliest opportunity. Whatever it was, he was keeping her secret for them. He had been carefully giving instructions to his men without mentioning the nature of her findings, which had left a positive impression on her. She was grateful to him for his confidence, but always uncertain, and she watched him closely, expecting and preparing for the worst.
During the few days in quarantine Mara had set several of the shrimp-like bugs they had collected on her observation table, each of them in their specimen container. They had remained there for several days as she cataloged them and observed their behavior.
She noticed that each of the creatures had begun carrying a very small crystal, not unlike the ones they had seen below. She hadn’t tested the material for fear she would interrupt them. She would wait for the right time to investigate, she thought, but she knew they were diamonds like the ones they had recorded under the ice, and she couldn’t wait to determine exactly what it would all mean.
Sol 13; Mission time - 19:30
“I need more observations, but I think I know where this research is leading,” Mara said to the conference room through the camera monitor. “I am fairly certain these are intelligent creatures, and highly communal. At the very least they can communicate quite a bit of information through their light pulses,” Mara told them. “I’m not certain how intelligent they are, but it is more than the average creature on Earth,” she said.
“Intelligent?” Dr. Aman asked. “How intelligent?”
“I told you I can’t determine that. But they are trying to communicate. It is a very sophisticated language, or message, whatever it is.”
“We should look at all possibilities we are familiar with,” Julian added. “It could be mating calls, territorial disputes, or where to find food…”
“My gut tells me it is something less mundane than a mating call or territorial dispute,” Mara said. “I believe these creatures are communicating sophisticated messages to one another… something beyond mere biological needs.”
“If you have some observations to back that up then let’s hear it,” Stenner asked.
“I told you, it’s a gut feeling,” she said, shaking her head back and forth.
There was little response from the other scientists that were present. Stenner gave Dr. Aman a quick look. They had remained silent, not willing to believe Mara until she had more evidence.
“Do you have anything else we can go over regarding the creature’s biology?” Dr. Aman asked.
“Yes, I can start with the basics,” Mara replied.
“Good, please continue.”
“The creatures possess DNA, and it is based on standard ATCG protein sequences just like on Earth,” she said.
Dr. Aman appeared surprised. “Almost makes one wonder if we are not related?” he posited.
Mara shook her head in agreement. It’s remotely possible the same genetic material from Earth ended up here, somehow. Or, even less likely, our genetic signature came from Europa.”
“That is some wild speculation,” Stenner interrupted, appearing as though he wished to continue.
“Any further information, Mara,” Dr. Aman asked.
“Yes, the creatures are Lithotrophs. They take the minerals
from…”
“They are what?” Stenner blurted.
“Lithotrophs. They process mineral deposits for food in place of organic material. They can break down minerals from the volcanic vents for energy. They can literally survive off the volcanic activity of the moon. Mineral compounds are abundant here. They don’t appear to need any other food or energy source, just the minerals and the energy from the volcanic vents.”
“It’s a fairly common trait to see on Earth, at least in microbes,” Julian said to the group, some of whom were not as familiar with biology as he was. “But on Earth the only lithotrophs are single-celled.”
Mara agreed. “Yes, but apparently, not here. Also, I said the specimens are highly communal. They constantly emit light at the same frequency as the other creatures in the room. It’s a shared, common frequency, like some sort of… ritual. As I said, it is something important… sophisticated in nature. I would need to see them in their natural environment to know more. Maybe see if it ties into natural features or events?”
“I would like for you to do that Mara, but you are not going to come out of the lab until you are cleared, understood?” Dr. Aman told her.
“Yes, I know,” she said, dropping her head.
“Mara, I understand you had an interesting observation of your specimen?” Dr. Aman asked. “It seemed to heal itself?”
“Yes. These animals are highly evolved, adapted to the extreme environment here. In a very dangerous and rapidly changing ecosystem, you might expect to see this ability to heal quickly as a counter-measure.”
“I think we need an assessment of what you mean as highly evolved,” Julian told her. “You are using that term to describe how adapted these creatures are to their environment; but that is going to play a lot different to people on Earth,” he said. “They might think you mean they are super-intelligent.”
“That’s a matter of semantics,” Mara told him.
“Semantics are lost on most people,” Commander Stenner said. “Let’s get this straight so people don’t misconstrue what you are saying. Describe what you mean to me without using the term highly-evolved,” he asked.
Mara thought for a second and composed a response. “I mean these creatures are perfectly suited for their unique environment. They have had time to perfect their adaptations to the risks, dangers, and advantages necessary for survival here. I wouldn’t just say they are surviving, I’d say they are thriving, despite the dangers and extremes. That’s highly-evolved,” Mara stated. “It has nothing to do with intelligence,” she stated.
“I know that,” Stenner said. “But what I want to know is if what you just said means these creatures need to be intelligent to survive here, or if they are simply highly-evolved. I’m concerned for what we have found here if they are of advanced intelligence.”
“Concerned?” Mara asked. “Why?”
Dr. Aman interrupted them. “We’ll get to that in a minute. Julian has run a cursory examination of the diamonds and he has some interesting findings. We will need to see if what he is finding has any corollary with the intelligence you observe.”
“What exactly is it?” Mara asked.
Julian pulled his glasses off his nose and folded them in his delicately aged hands. “Well, something, or someone, is building the large formations we found below. They are made of diamonds, just as Reese indicated from the spectrographs. We don’t know exactly how that is accomplished, so I was hoping you had some insight from your end,” he said.
“You want to know if I’ve seen anything to verify the structures are built by the creatures?” Mara asked him.
“Have you?” Dr. Aman said.
“I believe they are beginning to rebuild the structures here in the lab. They each have a very small crystal they are building in their containers. It fits what I was saying about them living off the minerals from the vents. I believe the crystals may be the byproduct of their metabolic processes. They may be using carbon extracted from the mineral deposits to build them, or they could simply be the leftovers of their digestive system. Those are my best guesses.”
“That seems to fit what I’m finding,” Julian responded. “The carbon arrangements we’re seeing in the c
rystal formations are not created geologically, at least not in any way we’ve ever seen on Earth. What I can tell you that it’s formatted, or coded. It’s as if there is a message within the crystal structure.”
“Coded?” Mara asked.
“Yes,” Julian said. “Let me explain. Think of the crystal lattice like a three-dimensional puzzle. Each carbon atom can connect with other carbon atoms at certain points to create a three-dimensional chain. In typical crystallized form the carbon atoms would connect at all six points of a cube, like the six sides of a box, and they would build a complete structure by filling in all the spaces, like a chain.
But what is happening here, it is as if some of the puzzle pieces appear to be intentionally left out. There is a blank space in the crystal lattice where a missing carbon atom should be, and in its place is a nitrogen atom… I can’t tell you what the meaning or purpose is yet, but, it’s not random. It’s coded, like a hidden language. Hard to know.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Mara said. “So, you are saying the bugs may be using the diamonds to construct hidden messages?”
“Possibly. Or, maybe the light these creatures emit is sent through the crystal matrix to convey a certain meaning? Like a language? It would be something so specific to that one location that it may require a very particular atomic structure to create. A unique diamond crystal structure. We’re talking about a very complex system, and it would require a very specific series of atoms within the structure.”
“I feel like we are getting a little ahead of ourselves,” Mara said to Julian.
“It’s a lot to take in, and it will require a lot more study, but there must be some reason for it,” Julian added. “There’s no other reason the crystal lattice would be constructed like this. It isn’t natural. I’m certain there is a code, or a language stored within these crystals,” he said.
“But you aren’t even sure these creatures are responsible for the structures in the first place.”
“What you are finding seems to confirm that it is the creatures. It’s not a natural occurrence to have carbon crystals, diamonds, in this kind of environment. If I had to make a guess, and it’s just a guess, I’d say these creatures are taking raw carbon from the environment and building these massive structures atom by atom and turning them into…”
Julian paused for a second to make sure he wanted to make the suggestion. “Either these are giant libraries of information, or they are beacons they can use to send information across vast distances, using their light to send it. Or — they could be both.”
There was silence as the crew listened to Julian describe his hypothesis. They gave him a second to make sure he was finished speaking. They respected his intelligence enough to take his suggestions seriously.
“They could be recording anything,” he continued. “Saying whatever they want or need to. Imagine if you lived on this moon, what would you want to keep a record of?” Julian asked. “If it is true that they are building those things, I’d say these little critters are intelligent. Very intelligent. Real Einsteins.”
“Yes, they seem smart,” Mara added. “At least by primitive standards,” she corrected. “But as far as the structures go, it wouldn’t be that unusual to build something like this. Bees on Earth can build complex nests. They have rather complex social systems too. Spiders build webs. Beavers build dams. It’s all ingrained in their DNA. Nobody tells them how to do it.
Bees even use a hexagonal structure to manage just the right engineering for their honey. It’s been refined through the ages, through evolution, to work just right. It doesn’t make them geniuses, or math whizzes, or Einsteins,” Mara said, taking a breath. “What it demonstrates is a highly-evolved adaptation. A practice that is so thoroughly replicated over every generation that it’s been ingrained into their DNA.”
“Right, that’s all true, Mara. But, working at an atomic level?” Julian asked.
“It’s just a matter of scale,” Mara retorted.
Commander Stenner interrupted them… “I hate to say this, but with the limited time we have, I’d like to operate on the assumption we are dealing with an intelligent species. We should act accordingly and with caution. Formulate our plans upon that basis until proven otherwise,” he ordered.
“Why would we need to be more cautious around an intelligent species? They have shown no signs of being dangerous,” Mara asked.
“I understand, Mara,” Stenner responded. “But if these creatures have in fact developed a level of intelligence to survive here, they may have begun to use their intelligence for other means besides survival, and that could mean danger,” he said. His military background was on display, guiding his thoughts.
“Other means besides survival?” Mara asked. “What other means would be necessary other than survival?”
“Plenty,” Julian answered. “Look at humans. We are the perfect example. Did we need to look up to the stars and track them through the heavens to survive? Did we need to plot the paths of the planets or discover how the insides of stars work? Did we need to understand something as complex as nuclear fusion… to survive?”
Mara was taken aback. “No, but astronomy helped us navigate the planet and spread across the continents. It helped us develop agriculture… and agriculture helped us survive.”
“Yes. So, don’t you think there may be a corollary with those structures you saw below? Maybe those creatures are farming crystals the way humans began to farm wheat?” Stenner proposed. “Maybe there are a hundred reasons we can’t even fathom? If they can build those structures, they may serve a purpose other than survival. They may even pose a threat.”
“I have a hard time believing they are a threat,” Mara answered. “For what reason would any creature farm diamonds or build weapons with them?”
“Mara,” Stenner said firmly, gaining her attention and holding it for a few seconds. “What else drives our thirst for knowledge, besides survival?” he asked her.
Mara thought for a second. “I’d say… curiosity, a sense of adventure,” she responded.
Stenner was quick to reply. “Possibly. Or, is it something darker and more sinister? What about competition? Humans have always pushed for knowledge, but it’s often as a means for competitive advantage. Sadly, we use it against each other; for competition,” he said, demonstrating more of his military thinking.
“Think about it… Why is a nuclear weapon necessary for human survival? Is a nuclear weapon necessary for hunting a deer or a buffalo… for providing food for a tribe?” Commander Stenner shook his head as if to indicate no. “It’s a bit overkill for mere survival, wouldn’t you say?”
He took a breath while Mara patiently waited for him to make his point, and he began to speak in a softer tone. “The only reason nuclear weapons become necessary is if you are talking about a different kind of evolution, Mara. Not one against nature, but against other humans. It’s competition… the way evolution intended it. Don’t you see? We strove for knowledge not because we needed it to survive… We were competing against ourselves.” He paused for a moment. “Exactly the way evolution compels it.”
Mara’s brow furrowed as she listened to him. She wasn’t sure she agreed with his assessment, but after a short moment of silence the point remained uncontested. She lowered her head briefly.
“There is no reason to believe that anything like that is happening down there,” she said, trying to hold back her disappointment. “These creatures do not seem to be at war with each other, or in competition, nor do they possess weapons that pose a threat to us.”
“Mara,” Stenner continued. “Competition is what drives evolution… between species and even within them. Fastest, strongest, smartest… It doesn’t stop just because the weapons get bigger. What if that has happened here? What exactly are these creatures capable of if they can build complex structures like we are seeing?” He held his place on the screen for a mo
ment for her to consider his point. “I’m saying we need to consider all the possibilities when we go poking around down there. Ok?” he asked her.
“I just don’t think we are in any immediate danger from the creatures,” she added.
“Immediate danger?” Stenner asked. “You forget we’ve had three violent quakes already. Let’s just consider that if these creatures are highly evolved or intelligent it may have led to any number of advances. Some of those advances may not have been well-intentioned. Some of them may be intended to do harm. To do outsiders harm…”
Mara kept her head down. She had no rebuttal to his argument. There was a pause in the conversation, and it was clear the issue would be left at an impasse.
Julian decided to interrupt the awkward silence to keep the meeting moving. “I think we’ll have an answer if we can crack the code in the diamonds. Let’s find out what those crystals mean,” he said.
“Yeah, copy that,” Mara said as she nodded into the monitor.
“Stenner, out,” he said, and the bank of monitors went black.
Mara turned to Reese and the others on the monitor. “Can you believe that shit?” she exclaimed. “Is there anybody here that wants to actually go under the ice and explore down there?”
“Stenner may have a point, Mara. We should be cautious,” Julian said.
“If those animals were smart enough to turn those diamonds into weapons and they’d wanted us gone, we’d be dead already,” she replied.
Her colleagues remained silent, acknowledging her point.
“Julian,” she called, regaining his attention. “Do you have any theories other than the diamonds are storing data or contain coded messages?” she asked. “We should think about it in terms of evolution,” she said.
“It appears to simply be an effective method to store information. That is my best guess,” he said. “But for what?”
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