The Dark Freeze

by Peter Gregory

  ‘Photon sails to collect starlight, solar energy, and convert it into power?’ queried Rupert.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Liz. ‘To use the energy that powers the Universe, an unlimited supply of free energy, to power your ship as it travels through space.’

  ‘Like they’re doing now,’ said Rupert, ‘using the stars as ‘‘petrol stations’’ to fill up their starships.’

  ‘That’s a good analogy,’ said Liz.

  ‘What you’ve all said is perfectly true,’ said Frank, ‘but I think the question of how the aliens arrived here boils down to one of two possibilities. One, they’re travelling, cruising might be a better word, the galaxy at sub-light speed in a mini world, a mini planet, the asteroid, taking thousands of years; or two, they’ve found a way to transcend the speed of light.’

  ‘And which is your preferred option?’ asked Rupert.

  ‘By the way the asteroid suddenly materialised out of nowhere, I’d have to say they’ve found a means to travel faster than light.’

  ‘I don’t think people realise just how vast and empty and lonely space is,’ said Viv. ‘For instance, if we shrunk the sun to the size of a golf ball, the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, would be at Istanbul, some 1,700 miles away. Space is empty. A vast nothingness, just like an atom. Empty space. In fact everything, you, me, our surroundings, the planets, the stars, the entire Universe, is essentially composed of empty space. Even things we consider heavy and solid, like a lump of lead, are really just empty space.’

  ‘It’s a sobering thought,’ said Liz.

  ‘What is?’ asked Viv.

  ‘That we and everything else are nothing more than just empty space.’

  ‘Frank?’ queried Rupert, changing the subject, ‘are you saying that the meteorites came from the bulge of stars at the centre of the galaxy? It would have taken them millions of years to reach Earth.’

  ‘No, I’m not saying that,’ said Frank. ‘I think the meteorites were sent from the asteroid, but I think the asteroid itself originates from a star system in the galactic bulge.’

  ‘Couldn’t we ask Myles to check that?’ said Viv. ‘It might not be possible to give a definitive answer, just an indication that the meteorites, and therefore the asteroid, originate from the bulge. It might give us something to work on.’

  ‘We’ve got nothing to lose,’ replied Frank. ‘I’ll ask him.’

  30

  Asteroid Belts

  ‘They can’t be absolutely sure,’ said Frank, ‘but Myles and his team believe the meteorites could originate from the galactic bulge at the centre of the Milky Way.’

  ‘In that case,’ said Viv, ‘it’s almost certain that the asteroid originates from there too.’

  ‘But it’s 26,000 light years away!’ said Rupert. ‘That’s one hell of a long way to travel.’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ said Frank, ‘but since the presentation by Myles I’ve been reading up on asteroids and asteroid belts.’

  ‘What for?’ asked Rupert.

  ‘Partly to answer a question I almost asked him,’ replied Frank, ‘but primarily to find out more about the alien asteroid.’

  ‘I remember,’ said Liz. ‘You started to ask him something then said it didn’t matter. What was it, Frank? What were you going to ask him?’

  ‘I was going to ask him at what size a meteorite becomes an asteroid.’

  ‘And have you found the answer?’

  ‘Yes, I have,’ replied Frank. ‘Asteroids range in size from a few metres to hundreds of kilometres across. From boulders to mini planets. Anything less than that is a meteorite.’

  ‘I see,’ said Liz. ‘Something else I didn’t know.’

  ‘But how did the aliens travel 26,000 light years in an asteroid,’ said Rupert, bringing the discussion back to the central theme. ‘It’s a bloody long way.’

  ‘I’ve thought about that,’ said Frank, ‘and I think I may have an answer. I said before that I thought the aliens had found a way to travel faster than light. Now, I’m not so sure. Having read about asteroids and asteroid belts, I think there’s a more plausible explanation.’

  ‘And what’s that?’ asked Rupert.

  ‘Well,’ said Frank, ‘asteroids and asteroid belts are extremely common throughout the galaxy. They’re everywhere. Most solar systems have them. The star, Epsilon Eridani, just ten light years away, has not one but two asteroid belts, and another star has an asteroid belt 25 times larger than our own. Asteroid belts are the fragments left over after planets have formed, so they tell us a lot about their solar systems. By studying asteroids, we are studying relics of the distant past.’

  ‘Isn’t an embryonic solar system just a mass of asteroids orbiting a star?’ said Viv.

  ‘It is,’ replied Frank. ‘All rocky planets are formed from the accretion of asteroids. As they orbit the star in the same direction, they collide with each other, slow collisions that result in accretion, a sticking together of the asteroids. It’s a bit like two cars travelling in the same direction having a bump – they stick together. However, it would take billions of years for a planet to form just by accretion of asteroids, but we know that isn’t the case. Planets are formed over millions, not billions, of years because of another force. Gravity. When the accreted asteroids become large enough, about the size of a large mountain, gravity joins in and greatly accelerates the process. That’s the reason our rocky planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars – were formed over just a few million years.’

  ‘So why didn’t the asteroids in the asteroid belt coalesce into a planet?’ asked Liz.

  ‘That’s a good question, Liz,’ said Frank. ‘The reason why they didn’t is because the gas giant Jupiter disrupted the planet-forming process. Its strong gravity caused the asteroids to zoom off in different directions, colliding with each other and forming millions of smaller asteroids, the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Most asteroids remain in the asteroid belt but occasionally bits break off and fall to Earth. They’re seen as flaming fireballs as they plunge through the Earth’s atmosphere, burning up and hitting the Earth as meteorites.’

  ‘So are all the asteroids in the asteroid belt small?’ asked Liz.

  ‘No, they’re not,’ replied Frank. ‘That’s a common misconception about the asteroid belt, that things are very small. Some of the biggest asteroids are really more correctly thought of as minor planets – they’re several hundred miles across. For example, Vesta, the second largest asteroid in the belt at 326 miles across, has a mountain three times higher than Everest. It almost became a planet before Jupiter’s massive gravity stunted its growth. Now, it’s a miniature world.’

  ‘You said that Vesta is the second largest asteroid in the asteroid belt,’ said Viv. ‘What’s the largest?’

  ‘Ceres,’ replied Frank, ‘but I’ll come to that later.’

  ‘This is all very interesting,’ said Rupert, ‘but I don’t see how it’s connected to the alien asteroid.’

  ‘You will,’ said Frank. ‘Just bear with me a little longer.’

  ‘Didn’t we send a probe to the asteroid belt?’ asked Liz.

  ‘We did,’ said Frank. ‘The Dawn probe arrived at the asteroid belt in July 2011 and beamed back pictures of Vesta. That’s how we know it has a mountain three times higher than Everest. The probe also discovered that Vesta has an iron core similar to Earth, showing that the Earth’s core formed when the planet was still young. In fact, Vesta is very similar to the embryonic Earth in its first few million years.’

  Continuing, he said, ‘The asteroid belt is an ancient, violent and remote place located just 300 million miles from Earth. Unfortunately, not all the asteroids stay in place – they can roam all over the solar system. The moon’s pockmarked, disfigured surface is evidence of that. It records a violent past of a massive, sustained bombardment, an intense rain of asteroids and debris from outer spac
e. Millions of craters cover the moon’s surface, including the largest one in the solar system, some 2,500 kilometres across, and it too is covered by thousands of smaller craters. Most of these were caused by a storm of asteroids that blasted the moon about four billion years ago, and if that happened to the moon, then it must have happened on Earth too. The Late Heavy Bombardment, as it was known, lasted for 200 million years. The impacts generated earthquakes bigger than any in recorded history, way off the Richter scale.’

  ‘I still don’t see where this is leading,’ said Rupert, getting more and more frustrated.

  Frank ignored the interruption and carried on. ‘The asteroids not only brought destruction, they also brought materials – minerals, organic matter and ice. Lots of ice. Ice which melted on impact and became liquid water. Ceres, the solar system’s largest asteroid, which comprises half the total mass of the entire asteroid belt, is composed mainly of ice. It has a rocky core surrounded by a large ice mantle. Compared to the Earth, Ceres is relatively small at 1,000 kilometres across, yet contains more water than all the fresh water on Earth. In fact, asteroids are the reason why the Earth has so much water. Why 70 per cent of our planet’s surface is covered with water. It was the incessant bombardment of Earth four billion years ago that brought all the water. Not just the water in the oceans, but the water in the clouds, the rivers and the glaciers has all come from space.’

  ‘Does Ceres have any liquid water?’ asked Viv.

  ‘That’s what the Dawn probe is trying to find out,’ replied Frank. ‘Some scientists think there’s an ocean of liquid water beneath the ice, formed by the hot inner core. Life as we know it depends on liquid water so, wherever there is liquid water, there may be life. Ceres may be home to primitive life forms flourishing in a sub-surface ocean.’

  ‘So, if the asteroids brought water, they could also have brought primitive life to Earth?’ said Liz.

  ‘That’s what some astronomers believe,’ said Frank.

  ‘In addition to water,’ continued Frank, ‘asteroids are rich in precious minerals. They could be mined for zinc, aluminium and platinum, even gold. Just one average-sized asteroid could contain minerals worth thousands of billions of dollars.’

  ‘So that’s why President Obama announced in 2010 that the Americans hope to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025,’ said Liz.

  ‘I’m sure it’s a major factor,’ said Frank. ‘The dream is that one day we could build cities on asteroids. Everything we need is there. Water, minerals, even oxygen and hydrogen from electrolysis of the water. Asteroids could be the stepping stones to outer space. And,’ he continued, looking straight at Rupert, ‘advanced civilisations may well use asteroid belts as bases to explore the Universe. Use them like we use service stations on motorways. Use them to replenish their supplies on their journey around the galaxy.’

  ‘And you think that’s what the aliens on the asteroid are doing?’ said Rupert, ‘using the resources on asteroid belts to explore the galaxy?’

  ‘Yes, I do,’ said Frank. ‘I think it makes perfect sense. A mini world, a miniature planet, in a spheroid shape, the shape with the smallest surface area for any given volume and the reason why the stars, planets and moons are spheres, is ideal for interstellar exploration. There’s no atmosphere to hinder its progress, it can rotate on its axis to simulate gravity, and house lots of scout ships to explore the planets. The asteroid could be completely artificial, built from scratch and assembled in space, or it could be a modified asteroid. For example, an asteroid that had a hollow interior.’

  ‘But even if it travelled at 0.1c (ten per cent the speed of light), it would have taken 260,000 years to reach Earth, over a quarter of a million years,’ said Rupert. ‘And that’s without any stops along the way,’ he added hastily.

  ‘That’s true,’ said Frank, ‘but it probably doesn’t matter. Those on board the asteroid will regard it as their home. Their planet. Whole generations will have lived and died on it. Only the first few generations will have remembered their original home. As far as the other generations are concerned, the asteroid is the only home they’ve ever known. In a way, they’re like space-travelling gypsies.’

  ‘But why are they doing it?’ asked Rupert. ‘For what purpose?’

  ‘Ah, that’s the 64,000 dollar question,’ replied Frank. ‘Why are we exploring space?’

  ‘Out of curiosity,’ said Liz. ‘And to expand our knowledge. To satiate our thirst for what’s out there.’

  ‘Precisely,’ said Viv. ‘All of that and to see if we are alone.’

  ‘Well, now we know we’re not,’ said Rupert. ‘We know there’s at least one other technologically advanced civilisation in the galaxy.’

  ‘I still think they’ve come to conquer us and colonise the Earth,’ said Liz.

  ‘So do I,’ said Rupert. ‘I’d bet my bottom dollar on it.’

  ‘Do you think they’ve left a dying planet?’ asked Liz, ‘and are looking for another suitable home, or are they just a warlike race of predators who destroy everything they encounter?’

  ‘I’d like to think it’s the former,’ said Viv, ‘but I fear it might be the latter.’

  ‘If the asteroid didn’t travel faster than light,’ said Rupert, changing the subject, ‘then why didn’t we detect it earlier?’

  ‘Because I think the aliens have developed some sort of ‘‘cloaking technology’’,’ replied Frank, using Star Trek speak and winking at Liz, ‘some means of making the asteroid invisible.’

  ‘Then how come we managed to detect it?’ said Rupert.

  ‘To test our capabilities and response,’ said Frank. ‘I believe the aliens allowed the asteroid to become partly visible to see how technologically advanced we were, and now they know. Having witnessed our feeble attempt to divert the asteroid, they probably intend to eradicate us and colonise the Earth.’

  The asteroid was humanity’s nemesis. Its worst nightmare. It was like the Death Star in the Star Wars movies only infinitely more powerful and destructive.

  ‘There must be something we can do,’ thought Liz, thinking of Baby Blu and Charlotte. ‘There must be something.’

  31

  Desperation

  Rob, Baby Blu and Charlotte were running out of what little supplies they had left. Even though they’d been very careful, their only fuel, wood, had shrunk from a bonfire-sized pile to just a small mound. The wood fire was central to their survival. It kept them alive. It provided light and heat; it melted snow to provide essential drinking water; it kept them warm; and it provided warm food from the few remaining tins in the larder.

  The larder was almost bare. Fresh food was a distant memory. Tinned beans, tinned soups and the odd tin of corned beef was the order of the day. Gourmet dining it wasn’t but it was better than the alternative – starvation and death.

  Rob had set traps in the garden and, more recently, in the apartments, to try and snare any remaining wildlife. Birds were scarce but there was little meat on them anyway. He’d caught the odd squirrel but they too had become a rarity. He’d also caught a feral cat, and they’d even eaten a frozen grass snake! But it was the mammals that lived underground that survived the longest – rabbits, moles, mice and especially rats. It was these that provided the meat to supplement the tinned vegetables. As the dark freeze intensified, the rats had moved into the apartment block to take advantage of the plentiful supply of food on offer – dead humans. As these were consumed, even the rats had all but disappeared.

  The garden where Rob set his traps resembled a sewage works, a frozen sewage works. It was stacked high with piles of frozen urine and faeces, piles of the bodily excrement from the denizens of the apartments, those still alive and those that had perished. The only consolation was that the freezing temperatures ensured there were no smells. Or disease.

  The energy supplies had dwindled so much that each household was restricted to j
ust 30 minutes of electricity per day. Gas and oil supplies had dried up long ago, and it wouldn’t be long before the electricity supplies dried up too. Just a few weeks, or maybe months, at most.

  To conserve their body heat, Rob, Baby Blu and Charlotte slept in a huddle wrapped in bundles of duvets and blankets, but even that didn’t protect them completely from the freezing cold. The precious electricity was used to heat the oven, an oven containing pans of snow to produce water, a tin of beans and, if they were lucky, a skinned rat. The oven also contained a couple of large cobbles. The hot cobbles were wrapped in blankets to conserve their heat and placed in bed to help keep them warm. It was something that Baby Blu’s parents had done, a trick that had been passed down from her grandparents, a trick that she had remembered. A trick to extract the maximum benefit from a heated oven. To waste nothing.

  Rob and Baby Blu had discussed the future many times. The bleak future. Discussed what would happen when the food, or the drinking water, ran out. Or, if it ran out first, the precious wood needed to make the all important fires. What would they do? It was something they didn’t want to think about, but something they couldn’t avoid. They knew they’d have to confront it sooner or later.

  They’d considered eating the dead people in the apartment block. Those who’d succumbed first – the elderly, the infirm and the sick – but decided against it. The very idea of consuming your fellow human beings was abhorrent to Baby Blu, especially after the rats had been at them. Even if they could have brought themselves to eat their neighbours, Rob worried that the rats might have infected the bodies with disease. Thankfully, Charlotte was still too young to comprehend any of this.

  Another option, said Rob, was to eat him. For Baby Blu and Charlotte to eat parts of his body when the food ran out. He’d willingly sacrifice his body to let them live a little longer. First his fingers, then his toes, followed by his hands and feet. He could give them up and still live. Living without his limbs, his arms and legs, was a different matter. And he certainly couldn’t live without his torso. But he didn’t mind. He’d gladly sacrifice his entire body to give Baby Blu and Charlotte a few more weeks of life, enough maybe for the scientists to come up with an answer. It would be fresh meat free of disease. He deemed it better than all three of them dying needlessly.