“About an hour. I’m not in any real rush.”
“Radiation is nonexistent inside the jumpers, the magnetic field around Saturn is hellaciously strong compared to Earth and there’s not much debris in the area at all,” Piper reported. “How’s the data transmission back to the lab?”
Sam replied, “It’s reading our transmission five-by.” Lois confirmed the same.
Both crews went silent as they watched Titan grow larger on approach. Benjamin was not pushing their speed, the responsibility of leading the mission beginning to weigh on him. His mind began to go over the “what ifs.” He understood his father’s behavior when he and the others first visited the moon a lot better now. He momentarily turned off the radio and turned around in his chair to face Joy and Lois.
“In the service of full disclosure, I have to admit I’m a little worried about something going wrong. The last thing I want to happen is for anyone to get hurt—or worse—on the mission.”
Joy laid a hand on his shoulder, “It’s not just you. We’re all worried, no that’s not right, concerned is a better word, about how the mission goes. There’s not one of us who isn’t mindful of what’s at stake. Let’s just do what we always do and keep an eye out for each other.”
“It’s what we’ve always done, Ben, and it’s gotten us this far,” Lois added. “Be vigilant, but don’t get nuts about it,” she leaned over to give him a hug. Joy smiled and squeezed his hand.
Benjamin exhaled deeply. “Thanks, you guys,” he said, then stopped, lost in the emotion of the moment.
“Okay then, on with the mission,” Joy announced, turning the radio back on.
The chat between the jumpers focused on observations about Titan. Lois periodically checked the data being transmitted back to the hab, ensuring that their progress was constantly being updated on their server.
When they reached Titan, they settled into orbit around the moon that had them circling every hundred and ten minutes, they began to probe the atmosphere and radar map the surface. Their mission plan had them observe from orbit for at least twenty-four hours before deciding whether to proceed to the surface.
Piper dipped into the atmosphere to collect samples and run them through the gas chromatograph to determine its exact composition. They stored a few samples to take back to the hab, they even preserved several samples for return to the colony for even deeper analysis. Lois was mapping Titan’s gravitational field to measure the density of the moon below its surface and Virginia was looking for any electromagnetic signals, emanating from the planet’s surface or atmosphere.
The consensus was that if they were going to find any organic compounds, they would be either on or below the liquid surface of the planet. But that would have to wait until the orbital mapping was complete. Sam declared that if they found a big, black monolith, they should keep the information to themselves and get the hell out of Dodge. The comment drew chuckles, but not without some serious speculation on what finding evidence of life from beyond would herald for the colony.
After a full day of observation, Benjamin magnetically attached the skids of his jumper to the bottom of the hull of Jumper 2 so they could have dinner together.
When Benjamin, Lois and Joy exited the jumper to transfer to the other, Joy said, “Kind of spooky looking down and seeing Titan just hanging there.”
“Be glad you’re not a guy. Excuse me for saying so, but my balls are trying to climb back inside me. I never should have looked down! Come on, let’s get inside,” he said.
The three made their way to the airlock with Benjamin waiting outside for the lock to cycle, letting the two women go first. When he got inside, Piper helped him get out of his suit.
“The ladies said you were having some sort of testicular difficulty out there. Need Virginia to look to see if you’ve sustained any kind of injury or permanent condition?” she said, chuckling at his blushing face.
“Thank you, but I’m fine,” he said, seeing both woman grin at his obvious embarrassment.
Once everyone was out of their suits, they sat down to eat; the smells of the prepared meal making everyone’s mouth water. Sam and Virginia had prepared salmon, butterbeans, and coleslaw.
Over the meal, they talked about the upcoming tests. Benjamin also briefly shared his concerns about safety to find that those in Piper’s jumper already had a similar conversation.
“Even though we went over this issue before we left the colony, it’s real now,” Sam began. “We’re going to double, even triple check, all our suits before we venture out on the surface. Plus, we’re not leaving either jumper unattended, someone’s going to have to be at the controls every second we’re on the surface. No offense, Ben, but your Dad is going to be a meek church mouse compared to how I’m going to be about safety.”
“None taken. I just wanted you all to know how I was feeling. But I see it’s all going to work out, we’re all on the same page. So, let’s talk about tomorrow,” said Ben, changing the subject.
Lois said she needed two more days of orbiting to complete full gravitational field mapping. Sam suggested that they break the mission into two scientific sorties, one remaining in orbit, Benjamin, Lois and Joy, with Piper and her crew heading down to the planet. But as soon as he suggested it, everyone started expressing their misgivings.
“Okay, that was a stupid suggestion, especially in light of what we just talked about. And now that I think about it, I would like backup for whatever we’re going to do down there. I’m just anxious to find organic compounds on the surface. It would be the first real life we’ve found off Earth,” Sam explained.
“Yeah, since you mentioned it, I’m holding out for my big, f-ing monolith down there with a little tiny civilization at its feet like something out of the Outer Limits,” Lois laughed.
The discussion went on for another hour until Piper started clearing the table. Sam joined her and they were done in no time.
“Even though we’re still going to stay in orbit tomorrow, I would like to see everyone try to get a good night’s sleep every night. No need for anyone to get so tired they get careless,” Piper said.
Joy agreed and the three got into their suits to return to the other jumper. After at least two different people inspected Joy, Lois, and Benjamin’s suits, Benjamin headed into the lock with Lois. When the lock had completed its cycle, Joy found Benjamin and Lois waiting for her just outside.
They returned to their jumper and got out of their suits with Lois claiming the first shower. When she was done Joy went next, with Benjamin waiting until she was finished. When he exited the small cubical, he saw that the women had pushed two of the bunks together.
“You don’t mind if we all sleep in the same bed, do you?” asked Lois.
“And she means sleep. I know we teased you before, but in all honesty I’m just exhausted,” added Joy.
“But we’ll take a rain check on everything else,” said Lois, giving Benjamin a hug.
“Sure thing. I sleep better with someone else, someone special mind you, with me. And both of you are very special,” he said, drawing Joy into the hug.
They got into bed, Benjamin in the middle, snuggled close and Joy waved the lights out. A handful of minutes later all three were fast asleep.
Voices Inside My Head (Everything Is Everything)
The barn where Harmony’s telescope was housed was of typical three floor construction. The barn was heavily insulated to keep it warm during winter months and cool during the summer. The first floor was devoted to agriculture, and the top floor was devoted to general science projects and their optically advanced telescope in the turret. In the lower level, where livestock would have spent much of the winter months protected from the elements, several computer-related projects were housed.
Aidan decided that rather than install Valerie’s projectors in his home, he would build a VR suite downstairs in the barn. It was private and more out of the way than the data center housed in t
he community center, but if others wanted to work with the hardware, they wouldn’t be traipsing through his house.
He enlisted a couple of his protégés, Esther and Xavier, to assist in installing the projectors, upgrading one of the community’s graphics workstations. and calibrating the new system. It took them two days to complete the installation and calibrate the projectors. Once done, he decided to take them for a test drive.
The fifteen-foot by fifteen-foot square room was painted in bright white paint for maximum reflectivity. When Aidan logged into Valerie’s server and began to tour her neighborhood, Xavier went over to one of the walls, touching it in disbelief. “This is unbelievable! It’s so real.”
“And what do you think?” Aidan asked Esther.
“I think I feel like the first person to ever see a television picture,” she replied, in awe.
“That’s pretty much how I felt too,” Aidan admitted.
“The practical applications for this level of reality are countless,” said Xavier. “Who is she going to peddle this technology to first? The military?”
“Not sure. But, whatever she does, it’s going to be to her benefit. When you think about the implications of the tech, she is already at the stage of VR display design that’s described in Stephenson’s Snow Crash. Her current software works perfectly with VR goggles, and now with her hardware/software compression add-on, all that remains is for someone to start to build the digital domain. Here, come up on the platform and move around Val’s neighborhood, Esther,” Aidan offered, getting down from the VR stage, and handing her the control glove.
Esther mounted the platform, donning the glove. She started “walking” through the virtual neighborhood.
“What resolution camera did she use to get all this?” Xavier asked.
“All I can tell you is that she had a camera stand built into her car that grabbed the full panorama around it as she drove around,” Aidan explained.
“Imagine if we did the same set up and like, drove all through Denver or something?” Xavier suggested.
“Could be cool, although you already have several of the mapping companies covering that kind of application. I think Val is a lot more interested in specialty applications for big-ticket clients, especially with the military. Or finally achieving the reality factor in distance medical operations, or exploration with remote-operated drones. Imagine the next Mars or lunar rover being operated with this level of detail available to its controller.”
“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Xavier said as Esther was tooling around Valerie’s neighborhood.
Aidan turned to Esther, “What do you think?”
“This is fantastic! I could play with this all day,” she replied. “I see this as invaluable to the military, especially for drone control,” she said, climbing down off the platform. “You guys have a thing going on? This is quite the haul for her to give a casual friend.”
“Yeah, what’s up with that? Do the two of you have something going on? Because if I had to guess, that’s tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of hardware and software at retail pricing, that is if something like that kind of VR system would even be offered retail,” said Xavier.
“If you must know, we’re just very good friends. Did you know Constance invited her to move here?” Aidan asked.
“Then she must be something!” said Esther, paging through the code for the projector’s display drivers.
“She really is. We’d be hard pressed to find much better to join us,” Aidan said, looking over Esther’s shoulder at the code scrolling up the screen.
“Damn skippy! You can’t argue with results,” said Xavier as he moved closer to the wall to examine the resolution of the image.
“Do me a favor, both of you. Could you keep the capabilities of this system quiet? I want to give Val a call and see what level of exposure she’s comfortable with,” Aidan requested. Getting assurances from both his protégés, he thanked them, then shut down the program.
* * *
The Titan mission team was up early the next morning, too excited to sleep. When everyone was dressed and had eaten, Piper called the other jumper and led the briefing.
“We caught a break; the gravitational survey will be completed by midday. Once all the data has been transmitted back to the hab, I’ll notify the Ops team we’re descending into the atmosphere. Ben and I have decided to hold at fifty miles above the surface to begin a visual survey of the land. We’ll be looking for a spot on the shore of one of the lakes where we can collect as diverse number of samples as possible.
“EVA protocol is simple, no one ventures outside without a partner, and that you remain no farther than ten meters away from your partner. The gravity is less than that of the moon. Now that we’re here I’m a little pissed off I didn’t think to train in our suits under Titan’s surface gravity before we left. That was a stupid mistake on my part,” she said, shaking her head.
“Hey, we all overlooked it. Hell, I should have thought of it given how my dad was when they all first landed on the moon. Let’s shorten the distance we stray from each other to a couple of meters, I’ll feel a lot better,” confessed Benjamin.
“And under no circumstances will either jumper be without a pilot aboard. Since we’ve all had pilot’s training, any one of us can be on the surface, but even in an emergency, no one leaves either of these ships unmanned,” commanded Piper.
For the next few hours, while waiting for the gravitational survey to complete, both jumper crews were pouring over video of the surface, much of it obscured by the cloudy atmosphere. Lois was trying to correlate denser readings from the gravitational survey. Gravity readings showed parts of the moon where the density of the rock below the surface was greater, indicating where portions of the moon’s core were concentrated closer to the surface.
Ultimately, they chose a location on the shore of one of the hydrocarbon lakes not far from Titan’s south pole. There were some darker features that piqued their curiosity. Titan was full of unexpected anomalies, it had a nitrogen atmosphere, the other constituents were minuscule in comparison. Their second waypoint on the surface was a huge, five-hundred-kilometer river in the north, close to the other pole. Perhaps there would be some current flow erosion exposing many different layers of soil, saving them the effort of digging into the ground for samples, although they did bring a portable excavator modeled on those used to create their underground colony on the moon.
This was one of the first serious surface exploration missions the colonists had undertaken, to be followed by the mission to Jupiter’s moons. Peanut’s astrophysics team was on the verge of manned exploration of a dimension completely outside their universe.
What America squandered in its racism, in its misogyny, in its perpetual class struggles was incalculable. There was no comparison between the achievements of the black colonists and the entire family of man left behind on Earth. Regardless of what the Titan mission found; the die was cast. The colonists were on a path of exploration of the solar system that the people of Earth would most likely never be able to duplicate in the foreseeable future.
* * *
The mission to Jupiter’s moons was on hold until the hab returned from Saturn, provisioned with its needed water. In the meantime, Christopher, the Ops crew, the parents of the Titan mission team, were all kept informed of the progress of the mission via the A.I.’s data link to the hab’s Genesis clone.
Sydney, along with Peanut and his wife Bernice, were visiting with Patricia and Christopher, talking about the Titan mission.
“They don’t know it but the Ops team on the hab is holding the whale in reserve should the kids need backup,” said Peanut.
“I didn’t know that!” Christopher said, surprised.
“No one really does. Just a handful on the hab, and a handful of the Ops staff here. They’re doing it as a favor to me. Not that I really had to ask, they surely would have anyway as a matter of good practi
ce,” Peanut confessed.
“All of them are mature, rational, and well trained for this kind of mission. The people of our community are some of the most remarkable folks in the solar system. They all respect and love each other, and as much as Ben would be scandalized if he had any idea we knew about his various relationships, he and the rest of the team are very close, very extraordinary people,” Patricia said.
“Given how Chris was when we first went to the moon, I have to say I’m pretty impressed that you let them go,” said Peanut, punching Christopher in the shoulder.
“Hey! I am a work in progress. I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders back then. Ben’s smart, he’s not an unnecessary risk taker. That’s why I didn’t go on the water collection mission. And you know what? If you’ve been to the rings once, the blush is really off the rose!” Christopher said, as everyone laughed.
“You were pretty wound up back then from what Peanut told me. But looking at everything we’ve accomplished, all stemming from your dream, it was well worth it,” Bernice said with a smile.
“Genesis?”
“Yes, Christopher. How may I be of assistance?”
“What’s the status of the Titan mission?”
“One moment, please.” After a moment the A.I. continued, “The gravitational survey of Titan is almost complete. The mission crew has selected two waypoints on the surface of Titan, one near the South Pole and a second near the North Pole. Is there anything else I may assist you with, Christopher?”
“Thank you, not at this time. It looks like they’re moving right along.”
“As a mother, it’s difficult to wait, especially when I have no way to influence the outcome of the mission,” said Sydney. “But they’re all looking out for each other, and that’s the best anyone can hope for!”
Patricia covered Sydney’s hand reassuringly, “They grew up so fast, didn’t they?”
“Oh, by the way, we’ve been having fun testing out the projectiles from the navy’s railgun design,” Peanut said to Christopher.
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