“Instead of competition driving evolution, as it does in survival of the fittest; this ecosystem appears to be driven by a completely opposite set of forces. It’s… It’s driven by a sort of mutual cooperation. We might call it… natural collaboration, or survival of the… munificent, or something like that.”
“Munificent?” Mara asked.
“It means generous, or charitable…” Dr. Aman said. “I had to look it up…” he added, smiling at her.
Julian appeared proud of his findings, standing tall before them, and his face was beaming with discovery. He turned to look toward the other scientists in the room. “Look here. The structures are clear, the instructions on making the corrective and regenerative enzymes are clearly shown here.” He pointed and then folded his arms in front of the monitors.
“Amazing, isn’t it? This forces us to completely rethink how evolution could work,” he said. “And the potential is astounding. Who knows what other abilities these creatures could have? It could literally be anything. We’ve…” Julian paused and pushed his glasses back up onto his nose once more. “We’ve opened Pandora’s Box on an endless genetic experiment that’s been occurring down there, and it’s all been recorded for us in the diamonds.”
Mara’s mouth dropped wide open. She studied the crystal structures on the monitor. She thought she had a good handle on how the creatures could interpret the code biologically, incorporate it into their natural biological processes, and then create the necessary enzymes to survive, but the magnitude of such a unique evolutionary system was almost hard for her to comprehend. The scale and scope of the discovery, and the astounding potential; it left her breathless.
“Such an ingenious method of survival for all. One dependent on sharing, like a sort of mutually assured survival.” She realized she had already benefitted from this evolutionary philosophy herself. Her thumb had been healed in a matter of hours. And the information to recreate these miracles was stored right here, inside the diamonds, for them all to learn from.
But something was bothering her. It was her sensations and feelings since the cut was made on her thumb. She was worried. It had healed her flesh, but what about microbes, or foreign pathogens that would have been present? What about the strange feelings she had been having?
“Dr. Aman,” she said. “You said the creatures seem to be immune to our microbes?”
“That is right, at least so far they appear to be.”
“But what about my blood sample? Shouldn’t I be worried? It seems that we would be the ones in the most danger during a cross-contamination event,” she asked.
“Yes, I thought about that. And, I think you are extremely lucky in that regard, Mara. From what I have seen you were the one very much exposed during that unfortunate exchange,” Dr. Aman told her. “The biology I’m seeing here… it could wreak havoc on us. Fortunately, you had taken several immune-boosters before and after,” he said. “They likely saved you from any foreign microbes that were present.”
“Is that all that it takes? A few immune-boosters?”
“It is also possible there were no microbes or pathogens that contacted your bloodstream. You may have been extremely lucky and not infected yourself at all. If you had… Think about the environment here, Mara. It is one of extremes, and the biology here is on a level to match it. It would require rapid biological evolution to counter it, something we would never have seen on Earth, never even acquired,” he said. “Comparatively, we are the privileged children of a fairly benign environment. Comparatively speaking, of course.”
Mara understood what he was saying but had remained silent. Dr. Aman took it as a signal for him to further explain.
“Look at it this way… Our biology, our immune system… is playing checkers,” he said. Then he motioned to the monitors with his eyes. “Those creatures below us are playing grandmaster-level chess.” He leaned back in his seat as he made his point, placing his hands together, content that he had made the correct analogy.
“Then we don’t need to worry about contaminating the creatures from our end? You are saying they can defend against contamination from Earth-based microbes?” she asked.
“I would assume just to be safe that is not the case. But I have yet to discover a bacterium or virus that will affect the creatures. So far, they appear to be immune to Earth-based microbes. Their defense mechanisms, their ability to change and adapt, are simply far beyond Earth’s biology,” Dr. Aman said. “And we need to be much that much more careful,” he continued.
“Then we need more of these specimens. When can we get the sub down there?” Mara asked.
“I am nearly out of the small amount of enzyme you were able to produce, and I will be removing it from the laboratory so I can work on it here at the Hab. I would like for you to acquire more of the samples immediately. Reese is working on EUNICE now at the Zephyr, but we think we may be having problems with your friends there. We need to see if we can buy more time,” Dr. Aman said.
“That will be entirely up to Johan,” Hanson said. “And he’s not likely to agree to stay much longer,” he added.
“We could tell him we’ve learned to predict the quakes,” Julian suggested.
“I think we will have to keep him around,” Dr. Aman added. “We can tell them what we know if it benefits the mission.”
Mara rolled her eyes. “Now we are telling them some things and keeping others to ourselves? Are we scientists or salesmen?” She looked over to see that Hanson was already shaking his head.
Dr. Aman spoke before Hanson could say anything. “It is for the best,” he told him. “We may have the sub operational by the middle of next sol. You do want to keep the miners here with us?” he asked, looking at Mara. “Maybe the two of you can head over after dinner and talk to your friends for us?”
“I can already tell you that Johan will be determined to leave,” Hanson said. “He won’t listen to anybody, especially not Mara. And he’ll never believe her if she says you can predict the quakes.”
“What does it matter who tells him? You can’t argue with the science,” Mara said.
Hanson looked intently at her, and his eyebrows raised quickly. “Yes, you can argue with the science,” he said. “Especially when you don’t trust the scientist… or you don’t like them. Sometimes you can refuse to believe what a scientist says just because you want to. And sometimes… the scientist wants something so badly they withhold information from you to get what they want.” He sent a slightly accusatory look at the team in the room with him.
None of the scientists had a response for Hanson, and they stayed quiet.
“We will need you to speak to Johan for us then,” Dr. Aman said. “You have seen what we are uncovering here. Please explain to Johan that we need to be able to finish the mission,” he asked. “You would do that for us, correct?”
Hanson was immediately uneasy, shifting his weight in his boots. He swallowed hard, and his head lowered as if it would take the attention and the pressure from him. He still hadn’t answered Dr. Aman, and it was causing Mara to feel less and less confident about their prospects.
“Hanson,” she said. “Please talk to him. We just need these next two days until Ganymede comes into orbit. We’ll be safe from the quakes until then. Then we all leave safely… together. Explain that to him.”
Hanson nodded unconvincingly and then turned toward his bio-suit that had been left hanging near the airlock. He had left half a plate of uneaten food behind. Although Mara could tell he was unhappy about being asked to speak to Johan, he hadn’t resisted her requests.
She watched him approach the airlock, and she had an uneasy feeling. She knew they were asking a lot from him. She did not view their prospects as good.
Mara walked toward him when he began putting on his bio-suit. She stood near him, helping with the suit and the hoses and buckles that worked around it.
&
nbsp; “Hanson,” she said. “Get some rest before you speak to Johan. Talk to him in the morning. Maybe he’ll be more agreeable,” she suggested, and then she reached for the button to release the doors, and he began to exit the facility by walking into the chamber.
When he walked through the opening, Mara noticed that he hesitated. He turned to her to say goodbye.
“Maybe this is your chance,” she said. “It’s your chance to do something good for your crew. Stand up to him,” she suggested. She looked down at his arm. “He’s taken so much from you,” she said.
Hanson followed Mara’s eyes to his arm. He looked down at it for just a moment, and then he turned and walked through the airlock without saying another word, and the door closed between them. Mara watched as he left on the icy path that she had walked several times before, and he disappeared around the corner. Mara felt the strange sensation that she was sad to see him leaving.
She walked into the mess hall to the table where they had just eaten, and she looked through the window toward the Zephyr. She saw Hanson’s solitary figure walking toward the giant mining vessel. She knew the odds were against him. She watched him walk underneath the giant frame, and she knew that the Zephyr would be leaving them soon.
Sol 15; Mission time - 14:08
Reese was at the console in the drill chamber working to prepare EUNICE for one more voyage when she felt a tapping sensation on her leg. It had momentarily startled her, but when she looked down, she saw only a small box with strange shiny appendages coming from its brick-sized body. It was moving, which caused her to jump again slightly. A very dim light came from within the box. It backed away from her and out into the open so she could see it better.
She bent over to get a closer look at it. When she did, she saw that it was a small robot. It had sex legs, like an insect, and they sprang stiffly from the main compartment. But as it moved, she noticed the appendages could bend into nearly any shape they needed to. It had a pair of cameras on the front end, and it was looking directly at her. She stared at the small machine, trying to determine from where it came, and what it could have been doing under her console.
The small bot moved one of its appendages and grabbed at its back, and when it did, it opened a small compartment and retrieved an odd-shaped item from its rear. It stood up on its hind two legs and extended the object onto its two arms for Reese to take. The arms grew and reshaped themselves as they reached for her.
She was captivated. Its legs and arms seemed to move like a fluid, bending into any shape they needed. When she grabbed the item, it set itself back down, and the arms and legs retracted with the same peculiar fluid motion.
She looked at the object she now held in her hand. It was a stone, a small sculpture, and it was speckled in appearance. The speckled portions of the sculpture reflected tiny slivers of light from the overhead lamps. The object was in the shape of a flower… a rose, if Reese guessed correctly.
She checked around the drill chamber wondering who had given it to her. As she scanned the room, she noticed that Murphy was walking towards her with the same awkward smile she remembered from their first meeting.
Reese held the rose in her hand as he approached. It caught the light just right, and she noticed its exquisite beauty. “It’s beautiful,” she said as he came near. “Did you… did you make this yourself?” she asked him.
Murphy prominently displayed his large and awkward smile to her, eyeing her until he was very close. He nodded when he stopped near, and she was still holding the rose-shaped item in her hand.
“It’s a chondrite,” he told her. “You’ll have a hard time finding one on Earth, but they’re pretty common on your everyday asteroid. That… is one of the more colorful I’ve seen. look at the colors there,” he said, pointing down into the petals of the flower.
Reese looked down into the center of the sculpture. There were reds and yellows within the rock. “Probably iron and Sulphur deposits,” she thought to herself. “So, you did make it?” she asked him.
“Not the chondrite, no… but I carved the flower from the stone,” he said, still smiling. He looked down at his work as he stood nearby.
Reese was startled by the simple beauty of the flower sculpture, but she had sudden doubts about what accepting it might mean. “I can’t…” she said, holding it out for him to take.
“Forget it,” he said with the brush of his hand. “A man’s got a lot of time out here sometimes,” he told her, waving her off. “Whadda ya think of my bot?” he asked.
Reese was caught off-guard. She had been focused on the flower and not the robot that had delivered it to her. “The bot… oh, he’s cute… impressive, actually. The motion is so smooth,” she said. “How… How does it move like that?”
Murphy kept his eye on the robot as she complimented him. “I did it all myself,” he said. “The arms and appendages are a metallic fluid. Keeps the motion smooth. I have about twenty of ’em,” he told her. “This is one of the repair bots I made.”
“It’s a repair bot?” she asked.
“Yep,” Murphy said proudly. “I program them to know what to look for on our equipment, and they go about their business fixin’ the stuff we send ’em to fix.” Murphy continued to smile as he described his machine.
Reese began to wonder if he was smiling all the time when she wasn’t around. She looked at the robot curiously. “How do they move like that?” she asked. “It bends like a liquid.”
Murphy smiled again even more awkwardly. “I’d like to tell you, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”
“Surprise?” Reese asked.
“I’ll set something up if you want,” he said. “I’ll show you everything.”
Reese looked suspiciously.
“We should talk,” he said. “There’s a lot to gain by having these guys on a space mission. Less exposure by the astronauts to radiation, less danger, less risk, and more science.” He mentioned the science with an emphasis, still looking at her with a wide smile.
Reese considered what he was saying, but what she was interested in was how the arms and appendages of the robot were accomplished. “I’m impressed,” she said, “What do you mean about setting something up?”
“I can set them up to work a repair for you. You should watch them work the machines over here,” he said, pointing. “See them in action.
Reese wondered what she would be agreeing to. There didn’t seem to be any harm in watching a demonstration. At the very least she wanted to know more about how the robots functioned and managed to operate with what appeared to be arms and legs that were extremely pliable and maneuverable.
She nodded to Murphy, tepidly agreeing that she wanted to see them again. “Let me know,” she said. “I’d like to see what you got.” She turned her attention back to the sub.
Murphy flashed a satisfied smile, and when he left, his little robot turned to follow him, leaving her with the rose-shaped stone he had carved. As he walked away, she looked deeply into the sculpture, and she saw the specks of iron and other metals glistening like snowflakes within the stone.
When she looked back up at Murphy he was walking happily back toward his bunk and his little robot was following closely behind, walking on its strange fluid-like appendages. They had nearly matched step for step as they climbed a series of stairs and went into the heart of the large rig, disappearing mysteriously into the dark corridors of the mining vessel.
CHAPTER 14
Sol 15; Mission time — 16:21
There were yells and hollers when Hanson came into the drill chamber. He shouted to his men as he walked through the rig toward the galley. “There’s nothing to tell,” he said as he entered the large space.
Rumors had been spreading through the room like a cloud of mining dust. The men were hungry for details. Their imaginations had gotten the better of them. The more Hanson denied it, the more they pr
essed for details.
“C’mon boys… Hanson won’t be kissin and tellin,” Murphy shouted. “He’s got no use in talkin about it… Naw… he’s all action.”
The room filled with laughter.
It seemed all the men were eager to tell a joke at Hanson’s expense.
“We hear you were stuck in a shelter with her during the eclipse,” one of them yelled. “How romantic!”
There was more laughter. The crew had worked themselves into a fever fantasizing about what had happened. They made kissing noises and laughed. Hanson did his best to ignore them. They didn’t seem to consider they would have had their bio-suits on the entire time.
“Skin’s looking a little flush there, Hanson,” someone else said. “It’s an ice burn. Someone check his back for more!” one yelled.
The drill chamber was filled with jokes that were easy for the picking, and it was quickly saturated with yells and pats on tired backs.
“It’s the radiation,” Hanson told them, brushing the comments off. “Hate to ruin your good time, but let’s get some work done.” He steered away from the commotion as his face was blushing. He shook his head at the men and walked toward his Captain, expecting to debrief him on his excursion to the fissure.
Johan was ignoring the badgering that Hanson was getting. He stood under the metal framework at the perimeter of the vessel. He had a leg propped up on a bench, and he was resting an elbow on his knee. He was looking out at the icy plains beyond the bay windows.
“Good to have ya back,” he said without turning. “Wasn’t entirely sure we were going to see you again.”
“It’s good to be home,” Hanson answered.
“Home…?” Johan said, scoffing at the word. “Yes, it is… Fuel tanks are topped out. We can leave when you’re ready.”
“The tanks are full?”
Johan nodded affirmative. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the landscape outside. He seemed fixated on something on the horizon.
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