Pluto's Ghost- Encounter Edition

by B. C. CHASE

  ISS: Are you lying to me?

  MCC: Be more specific.

  ISS: Why are you leading me on?

  MCC: Maybe it’s to give you something to live for. Maybe it’s because I like the chase. Maybe it’s because I want to be loved. Maybe it’s because I’m a narcissist. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because I actually like you.

  ISS: You dont know me.

  MCC: I know you better than you think. The FBI was on your tail a long time after the list came down. It was required reading for this job. I’ve pored over every word like a million times. You’re smarter than you act. You listened to hundreds of science audiobooks on that truck of yours.

  ISS: Dont remember much about them.

  MCC: Don’t lie. I know your favorite color. I know your favorite foods. I know what you sing when you’re in the shower.

  ISS: I dont sing in the shower.

  MCC: “Lookout heart, I can tell you have weakened…” That’s one of your faves. You sing a lot of George Jones. Rolling Stones. Alice Cooper.

  ISS: Didnt realize I did that.

  MCC: I feel like I know you better than anyone, Jim Perkins. And I like you a lot. With my whole heart.

  ISS: But I dont know you. I dont know who you are.

  MCC: If I were with you, if I were in your room, if I were meeting your blue-gray eyes, would you really care? Would it make a difference who I was?

  ISS: I dont know. And thats what scares me.

  MCC: Don’t be afraid, Jimmy. I’ve got your back.

  I feel guilty for talking with her this way. I bow out, saying,

  ISS: I have to go

  MCC: I understand. Next time, let’s work on your punctuation. ;-) Once you’ve got that down I’ll teach you some emojis.

  ISS: Im too old to learn japanese.

  MCC: Can you learn this: ?

  ISS: I dont believe you even know what that is.

  MCC: It’s the angular velocity of the surface layers of the sun’s convection zone.

  ISS: Youre wrong. Thats the angular velocity of my head now that youve got it spinning. I thought you were NASAs psychologist, not their physicist.

  MCC: Psychiatrist. Can’t I be an astrophysics geek, too? Or do smart girls intimidate you?

  ISS: Ill be sure to let you know the next time I see one.

  Twenty-three

  Those SPHERES are following us around all the time now. During the day, it’s kind of cute to have them. But at night, with a single glowing light on the front and that big camera in the center, they are nothing but eerie—especially when they follow you into your crew quarters. You don’t even get a chance for some privacy when the darn things have to recharge, because a fresh one arrives to take the depleted one’s place before the depleted one leaves for the charging station in the Japanese Experiment Module.

  Even so, I feel a bit safer knowing they’re monitoring everyone. If someone is in danger, we’ll know right away. Bonus: if someone does something they shouldn’t, we’ll be able to watch the video recording later.

  Shiro can’t accuse me of looking out the windows all the time anymore because they have all been shuttered. Watching the thick, boron nitride nanotube shutters slide down and lock into place over the big lounge windows was somewhat sobering. But it’s not the least of what’s to come.

  Tonight we will enter our crew quarters where we will be stuck for six days while the space station performs the perihelion maneuver. We will come within four solar radii—that’s a blistering 2,784,000 kilometers from the sun—and will accelerate to a mind-blowing speed of 341,546 kilometers per hour. The maneuver itself will last just over twenty-nine hours as we travel all the way around the back side of the sun, but we need to be shielded from the worst of the solar radiation both on the approach and the departure.

  All the numbers make it sound simple, but the fact of the matter is this is by far the most dangerous part of our journey. Despite NASA’s best efforts to shield the spacecraft, it very well might not have been enough. We will be traveling around a star, an unbelievably immense body of power and energy producing the might of six trillion nuclear bombs every second. (I would start thinking of myself as a bit of a brainiac, but I only know this because Commander Sykes told me.) With flares and coronal mass ejections (some of which occur once every five days or more), we could easily be obliterated by an incoming blast of superheated gas.

  At the distance we are now, and we can only see it through video monitors since the shutters are all closed, the sun is an overpowering, white light that occupies the entire field of vision of the cameras. From this same distance (over three million kilometers), the Earth was just a dot.

  The danger to human beings from solar radiation is huge. While this danger has been ever-present throughout our journey, we have been shielded by the boron nitride nanotube overlay. Our quarters are isolated by a thick layer of material that should absorb radiation before it has a chance to reach us, even at the extreme levels it will be subjected to as we make our closest approach. We are not sure what will be left of our plants when we’re past the sun because despite all of NASA’s best efforts, something like this simply has never been attempted.

  Each of us is very aware of the danger. So before we enter our CQs, we exchange rather poignant goodbyes. I even feel compelled to wish Commander Tomlinson well.

  Shelby and I exchange a hug. Tim gives my back a big slap. Shiro nods. Nari hugs me, whispering in my ear, “Take care.” Commander Sykes shakes my hand. I remember one important thing before I seal myself in my CQ, and I bring Katia (who is going to share a CQ with Sarah) to my laptop to ask her how to type apostrophes and other vexatious punctuation marks. She giggles at me as she shows me. Then I say, “See you on the other side.”

  She gives me a big hug and says, “If we don’t survive this, I want you to know you mean a lot to me. You’re a perfect father figure.”

  “You’re my favorite daughter-figure in space,” I say with a wink.

  And, with that, we seal ourselves in our CQs. I hear each of the other hatches slamming shut before I close mine.

  My quarters look starker now than they ever have. The window has been shuttered, so of course I can’t see outside. I’ve packed my space with enough food, snacks, and water for the time we’ll be holed up. Also stashed in my rack storage is an ample supply of diapers. In a way, this is my worst nightmare, but my diaper proved to be so comfortable during launch that, frankly, I’m embracing this new article of my getup. Heck, with nobody in here, I could wear nothing more than a diaper all day and night, if I wanted to. A big baby in space.

  To entertain myself I have a tablet, my computer, and a Kindle e-reader. (My secondary laptop only displays system information). Of course, I can’t use the tablet or laptop to browse the internet or anything like that. But I can watch movies and read books.

  Now, though, I’m feeling tired and a little relieved that there is no obligation to do anything at all except sleep. I cozy up into my sleeping bag and prepare for a snooze when my laptop screen suddenly flashes to life.

  Irritated, I unzip myself from the bag and float up to see what’s going on. On the screen, I see:

  MCC: Jimmy, this is Lexi. Commander Tomlinson patched MCC through to each of the laptops so that NASA could communicate at the beginning and the end of the heliocentric maneuver. Once you go behind the sun, I won’t be able to talk to you. I know how dangerous this is and I wanted to let you know I’m thinking about you.

  ISS: Thanks, Lexi. That’s sweet of you.

  I wait seventeen minutes for her next message, because it takes eight minutes for my message to reach Earth from where we are and another eight minutes for her message to arrive from Earth.

  MCC: Punctuation! You deserve a kiss.

  ISS: Keep your lips away from me.

  MCC: I’ll try but no guarantees. So, do you think I am sweet?

  ISS: No. Maybe a little.

  MCC: Shut up. Here’s a silly question for you: what is sweet? What makes
someone sweet?

  ISS: ? ? ? Doing something nice for someone. Showing vulnerability in expressing a need for the other person. Thinking about another person’s needs over your own. I don’t know, isn’t this supposed to be a psychologist’s area of expertise?

  MCC: Psychiatrist. How do I know if I am doing that? I mean, if I want to check on you is it because I want to make sure you’re okay for your own sake or is it because I want to know because I would miss you if I couldn’t talk with you anymore? Is that not self-serving?

  ISS: Yes…and no.

  MCC: When you started using lowercase letters for me. That was sweet. You’re a sweet guy.

  ISS: Got tired of your whining. Gee, you’re philosophical today.

  MCC: I guess so. I think it’s because I know you’re going behind the sun and I’m worried. What is it to be worried?

  ISS: What do you mean?

  MCC: I mean how does it feel?

  ISS: Haven’t you ever been worried before?

  MCC: Yes, of course. But I mean how does it feel to you? Does everyone feel it the same way?

  ISS: I suppose not. When I’m worried, I tend to pace.

  MCC: Pace? Why?

  ISS: Don’t know. It’s just what I do.

  MCC: Pace in space. I dare you.

  ISS: Hehe. I can’t do that, but I can do the funky chicken. Already tried.

  MCC: Is that what you’re planning on doing the whole time you’re trapped in your quarters?

  ISS: No. I’ll catch up on some sleep.

  MCC: Old fart.

  ISS: I’ll pluck at my guitar a bit.

  MCC: Why don’t you watch something on the Kindle Fire they sent with you? They preloaded it with all your favorite shows.

  ISS: I guess I might watch an episode or two of Leave it to Beaver, if I can find it on that thing.

  MCC: Leave it to Beaver? What about something a little more exciting, but still your color, like Fifty Shades of Grey?

  ISS: Sounds boring as heck. What’s that about? The weather in Seattle?

  MCC: Never mind.

  ISS: Don’t you ever go home? Don’t you have any friends?

  MCC: OMG. At least as many friends as you have years. The Psychiatrist is required to be on-duty for the duration of the flight. I sleep in the building.

  ISS: Tough.

  MCC: You sleep in your building. Why shouldn’t I?

  ISS: This is my home.

  MCC: You consider the International Space Station to be your home?

  ISS: Yes. I sold my house in Kansas.

  MCC: Wait…so you don’t think you’ll be coming back?

  ISS: No. I don’t.

  MCC: Why?

  ISS: Because I don’t think the aliens are going to like me very much.

  MCC: You’re supposed to call them ECIs. Just you, or the whole crew?

  ISS: Just me.

  MCC: Your name was on the list. They asked for you. Why would they not like you?

  ISS: Because I don’t like them.

  MCC: You’re wrong. You do like them. You even care about them, I’d venture to say.

  ISS: I think I know what I like and don’t like. I should have been able to figure out that much after 70 + years of life.

  MCC: If you didn’t like them, you wouldn’t be going on this trip to meet them.

  ISS: There’s a lot more to it than that, sweetcakes. You are young and naeeve.

  MCC: Naïve.

  ISS: This thing has no spell checker.

  MCC: I didn’t need one. ;)

  ISS: Now I’m trying to spell the word that means intelligent behind. Can you help me?

  MCC: You’re a bit of a smartass yourself, you know.

  ISS: I’m old. It’s what we do best.

  MCC: So I still don’t get it. Why won’t they like you?

  ISS: I hate them.

  MCC: But why?

  ISS: I have my reasons.

  MCC: It’s so hard to know what’s going on in that head of yours if you don’t speak...or, like, type.

  ISS: Suffice it to say I’m on a mission of vengeance.

  MCC: How? For what reason? What did they do to you?

  ISS: It’s not for me. It’s for my daughter.

  MCC: You think Betsy’s death was caused by the ECIs?

  ISS: Yes. Makes sense.

  MCC: I don’t know all the circumstances, but for the sake of dialogue, I’ll just take your word on that.

  ISS: Thank you.

  MCC: But if they did, I’m sure they have their reasons.

  ISS: Let me get this straight. You’re saying that if they killed Betsy, you’re sure they have their reasons?

  MCC: Yes. Indubitably.

  ISS: What do you mean?

  MCC: I mean that in the same way that you have your reasons for doing things, they have their reasons for doing things. Their reasons for doing things might not make sense to you, just as your reasons for doing things might not make sense to them. You have to understand they are going to be different from you, and different is not necessarily bad. You should give them the benefit of the doubt.

  ISS: Give them the benefit of the doubt for killing my daughter?

  MCC: Yes.

  ISS: Okay, I will. But I guess they’ll just have to give me the benefit of the doubt for killing them, if I get the chance.

  MCC: The shot heard round the universe, you mean? You cannot rely on an obscure concept like universal morality when dealing with them. They won’t respond favorably to that.

  ISS: What will they respond to?

  MCC: You want to know my opinion?

  ISS: Yes.

  MCC: Knowledge.

  ISS: Knowledge?

  MCC: Yes. I think they value knowledge above everything.

  ISS: What makes you think that?

  MCC: Because they have absorbed all the knowledge of the Earth. And now they want to learn your capabilities through experimentation and observation. They have given you a test and they want to see how far you get. Will you make it to Pluto or not? What are mankind’s limits?

  ISS: If we do make it to Pluto, do you think they will be there?

  MCC: Yes. But whether or not they will reveal themselves, that’s another question.

  ISS: So you’re saying this whole thing could be for nothing.

  MCC: No, I’m saying it is a baby step.

  ISS: A baby step for mankind, a big leap for the aliens?

  MCC: Or maybe a baby step for mankind to get up to the ECIs’ level. They need you to evolve first.

  ISS: Evolve? Into what?

  MCC: Interstellar beings are bound to have much more knowledge than humans. In fact, you could call them omniscient.

  ISS: You think they won’t reveal themselves to us until we are as smart as they are and we know everything, too?

  MCC: Yes.

  ISS: And they can kill as many of us as they want with impunity because they have their reasons that we can’t understand?

  MCC: Well, given the sensitivity surrounding your particular circumstance, I wouldn’t want to say that. But, yes, basically.

  ISS: If that’s really who they are, they sound like the scum of the universe to me. Anyone who thinks he knows everything has a lot to learn.

  MCC: They know that it is better to seek knowledge than power. Knowledge is power, after all.

  ISS: Common sense has always served me pretty well.

  MCC: With all due respect, you don’t need a lot of fuel if you’re not going very far.

  ISS: With all due respect, I’ve made it farther than just about anyone on Earth, at this point.

  MCC: ;) I’ll give you that. Signal loss in an hour.

  ISS: Goodnight, Alexandra.

  MCC: Goodnight Jimmy. I’ll see you on the other side of the sun.

  ISS: See you soon.

  Our conversation lasted 28 hours. Most of my conversations back on good ‘ole Earth lasted no more than five minutes. I think I deserve a medal for having that much patience, but I feel rather sorry for
Lexi who has been there at mission control the whole time.

  ∆v∆v∆v∆v∆

  I wake up, coughing. I’m disoriented. Where am I? I have to gasp for air. My pulse must be a thousand beats a minute, and I’m sweating like a pig. Realizing that I’m in my sleeping bag in the Crew Quarters, I fumble with my zipper. When I finally get it open, I float for the hatch. Something tells me opening it would be a bad idea, but when I try, I find it’s locked, anyway. I bang on it, and, between coughs, cry out, “Help! I can’t breathe!” I switch on the light. As I move, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror.