As they were going over the laser specifications, Valerie asked, “What if they don’t have sensors that monitor the x-ray band, and if they do, why would they have them pointed toward Earth?”
“Yeah, there’s a lot of ‘ifs’ and there’s too many circumstances where the ability to get their attention is based on a chain of luck that’s almost impossible to realistically expect to work. But I have a two-tiered plan,” Aidan explained.
“It sounds more like an experiment,” said Valerie.
“I suppose it is. I’m first going to aim the laser toward the space station orbiting the LaGrange point and transmit in plain ASCII until I get a result, or I’m convinced they cannot or will not answer. Phase two is to point the laser at their colony orbiting out by the asteroid belt. I have to believe that they have a vast array of sensors, even in the x-ray band. Perhaps they will see my signal and respond. Even if they don’t, there are applications here on the ground where running cable isn’t financially practical, or as backup to cables that might be a single point of failure. So, my work’s not going to go to waste no matter what.”
“So, when are you planning to test the rig out?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. Constance and Silas definitely have to be in on the project, especially if I get a response.”
“I can see that. Given that Harmony is about self-determination for our people, we’re only a step removed from what they’ve accomplished. You all are proof of concept, Harmony and a handful of other communities across the country right under everyone’s nose,” she said.
“I hate to say it though, but if offered the opportunity to live with the colonists in space, I would have to think long and hard about not jumping at the chance. What do you think about the idea?” Aidan asked her.
“I never really gave it much thought. Even now, it seems so completely different from how I’m living now. I guess I really don’t know what it’s like up there, no one does,” she replied.
Aidan thought for a moment, “What if we were offered the chance to immigrate to space, together. Would you go?”
“Jesus, Aidan! Put a girl on the spot why don’t you.”
“It’s just a hypothetical. If you prefer, take me out of the equation.”
Valerie mulled over the idea; her burgeoning relationship factored in despite Aidan’s suggestion.
“There’s a lot of factors to be figured into giving you an answer. First of all, it looks like I’m going to make enough off the military to not have to work for the rest of my life should I decide to retire,” she said.
“Yeah, but you’re never going to retire. Not really. I just don’t see you sitting around doing nothing,” he said.
“No, but I might want to travel the world. Although that’s not as exciting a prospect as it once was.”
“How about traveling in space?”
“I admit, it would be the ultimate trip. But it doesn’t really seem likely. They haven’t been back to Earth as far as anyone knows for years. I guess I must admit that the idea is intriguing. So yes, I would seriously consider it,” Valerie admitted.
“Now all I have to do is figure out how to get an invitation!” Aidan said triumphantly.
“Pretty damned pleased with yourself, aren’t you?” she chuckled.
“Not like that. But there are black folks living an adventure unprecedented in the history of the entire human race, unless you believe that aliens meddled in human evolution in the distant past. I would give most anything to be one of those people,” he confessed.
“I do understand,” she said, laying a hand on his shoulder. “It would be the grand adventure, extremely hard to turn down. I wonder how they chose the people who live there in the first place. There’s so much we will never know.”
“Unless we get to ask them directly.”
Valerie laughed. “You’re never going to give it up, are you?”
“Nope. It’s why I built this system. If they deign to communicate with me, I have a lot of questions for them.”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you, sweetie”
“Thanks. What would you like to see next?” he asked.
“I didn’t see the heat sink installation last time. Is that all right?”
Aidan checked the time, “Sure. I think we have enough time to take a look, get cleaned up and then head over the dinner.”
It was right on the stroke of seven when Aidan knocked on Constance’s door.
Silas let the couple in, hugging Aidan and shaking Valerie’s hand. Leading them to the dining room, the table was elegantly set. Constance breezed into the room from the kitchen, bringing in a covered serving dish to place on the table.
“Everyone sit, I won’t be but a minute. Silas, would you open the wine?” she said, as she immediately headed back to the kitchen.
Silas filled their glasses as Constance returned with one more covered dish and a basket full of cornbread fresh from the oven. When she sat, she gestured to Silas to say grace and they all bowed their heads. The food was then passed around.
Constance immediately asked what Valerie was up to, and why Aidan had spent so much time with her on the West Coast.
Valerie launched into a description of the new display system, as well as the possible applications for which it was suited. She was very complimentary about Aidan’s role in the development of the final display array, to which he protested that he was only following her directions.
When there was a break in the conversation, Silas asked, “If I understand this right, the earning potential of this technology is extraordinary, right? In terms of tech company entrepreneurs, you’ve jumped to the head of the class.”
“I never looked at it that way, but maybe so. I was telling Aidan that the government contracts alone will give me the freedom to take some time off to go traveling,” Valerie replied.
“Or maybe, relocate to Colorado,” Constance added, grinning broadly at Valerie.
“Yes, it is something to think about, isn’t it, Aidan?” she said, causing him to blush.
“Hey, I can admit I’d love for you to move here, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do! Although, I think it would be hard to give up your place in Frisco, the view is spectacular!” he replied.
“Let’s not pressure the poor woman. What I want to talk about is Aidan’s laser project. There’s a lot of ground to cover here before he starts shooting the thing off out into the heavens,” Silas said. “According to the science literature, the most powerful x-ray lasers have been used on the atomic level. Aidan’s turned the whole thing around and is planning to use it to communicate out into the solar system.”
“Not just anywhere. Communicating with another star system would take years, too many years. But for damn sure I want to try to converse with the colony out there,” Aidan announced.
“What do you plan to say? What’s going to be your entrée to them?” Constance asked.
“That’s kind of what I wanted to talk about. Right now, I haven’t the foggiest idea how to start the conversation. Any ideas?” asked Aidan.
Silas said, “It should be a lot easier than talking to an alien intelligence, you already have a common language. So, it comes down to what to say.”
“That’s what Val said. They haven’t tried to communicate with Earth except when they brought back the two spaceships and everyone else in space, everyone who wasn’t them, I mean. So what do you think would elicit a response?” he asked.
“Okay then, let’s break down opening statements. We could offer or ask for help, right?” Constance offered.
“Like what?” asked Aidan.
“Let’s put aside specifics for now. Let’s just concentrate on form. We could offer and ask for information. We could offer or ask for material assistance. But other than that, I’m kind of at a loss. The only other intellectual leverage we have is the fact that we’re about self-determination and self-rule in this community,” Constance r
emarked.
The conversation continued through the meal and three bottles of wine. Aidan borrowed a tablet to record suggestions and observations for later consideration. They even discussed what it would take for each of them to consider leaving Earth. It was an easier idea to consider for Aidan and Valerie, mostly because they were both younger with fewer emotional entanglements than Constance and Silas. Constance admitted that there was little that a move to the colony could offer given the responsibilities she had leading Harmony. Silas was of a similar mind, and at the age of sixty-two, he was beginning to feel his age.
The notion of living in space was right out of the realm of science fiction for the world. And with virtually no details on how the colonists lived, speculation was all anyone had. Silas did mention that he believed the colonists’ lives couldn’t be completely different than those on Earth. They still needed food, air, water, and a host of other amenities. It was his opinion that the colonists had a lifestyle very similar to those on Earth, but most likely with a much higher quality of life in health and education.
What Valerie was most interested in was the gravity-based technology. The fact that they did not have to use chemical reaction propulsion had always fascinated her as a child. As a science fiction fan, she saw the colonists as something out of the Golden Age of science fiction, being able to travel the solar system with ease. She had dreamed about being one of them and visiting every planet and major moon as the preeminent space explorer of all time, with her gravity propelled spacecraft flitting from one body in space to another. Valerie was reluctant to expose her child daydreams. But when Silas revealed he too had the same kinds of daydreams about being one of the colonists they shared a companionable laugh.
None of the others expressed anything negative when Aidan confessed that if offered the opportunity, he would probably go. All Constance said was, “If you do, please don’t forget your friends.”
Too Late To Turn Back Now
The hab was mere hours away from returning to the colony. While the hab was in orbit around Saturn, the environmental and engineering teams had outfitted the colony with the same external collector the hab used to collect water from the ice asteroids. They were awaiting the hab’s return so that the ice being brought back could be melted and added to the colony’s new reservoir.
The Titan mission team was still running tests, with several members of the Ops team assisting in testing the samples as well. With the additional help, the most complete survey of Titan to date was shaping up nicely. And even though most countries on Earth were moving away from the use of fossil fuels, Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes could have supplied the world’s 20th Century energy needs for hundreds of years. The colony’s chemists were anxiously awaiting the samples to test if they were suitable for the manufacture of plastics or other polymers. And though they found scores of organic compounds, there were no signs of life as was generally accepted. The balls on the seabed were a complete mystery and would be subjected to extremely deep analysis once they were brought to the colony’s much more extensive laboratories.
The mission team was consumed with preparations. Much of the lab equipment would be packed up and stored to be used when permanent laboratory space was finally built out in the hab. As in most trips, it appeared as if what the team originally brought along had doubled in size.
Meanwhile, the construction crew had completed the principle environmental systems during the mission, including air circulation and purification, water recycling and distribution systems, as well as all the many miles of fiber optic cable needed for the A.I.’s full audio and video coverage. Once a permanent A.I. was installed, it would be using 8% of the power as the network in the colony, as all her communications and remote systems communicated by light. The new hab greatly benefited from a half century of improvements to the technologies needed to operate the space station. Structurally, the compressed metal alloy exterior of the hab was even stronger than the many feet of compressed rock forming the wall of the original colony.
It was estimated that at full living capacity, it could hold 15% more residents than the original colony. Christopher, Chuck, Peanut, and all the rest of the colonists were now truly a space-faring race, with little in common with the relatives they left behind. They were the cream of the crop, not just in their race, but in all humanity, as evidenced by their accomplishments since they left Earth. And now they were in a growth phase that called for additional living space, though mostly for redundancy, and several hundred new recruits to increase their genetic diversity. The latter was a thorny issue that the colony had struggled with for decades, but with the colony’s Originals preparing to put the colony on a war footing, there might well be opportunities to recruit new blood. The overriding issue was how to vet anyone, to ensure that they were not bringing a mole, or rat, into the fold.
Lucius, and later on Sydney and her predecessor, spent as much time with each potential candidate as necessary to ensure each one they screened would not only be an asset to the growing population of the moon-based community, but wouldn’t be likely to change their mind should the going got tough. However, with the colony orbiting so far away and all of America’s law enforcement on permanent alert for any possible contact with colonists on the ground, so far there seemed no safe way to screen candidates.
The colony’s A.I. could infiltrate any network on Earth to do as thorough a background check on any American, but that wasn’t enough. Lucius knew just how thoroughly he had to interview the men he believed would be a good fit. And even with all the care he invested in the process, less than one in a hundred made it to the moon, the rest were referred to top Fortune 500 companies across the nation never knowing they missed making the cut for the greatest adventure in mankind’s history.
But with the comm lag, and no means of directly interviewing anyone, the problem of recruitment of new candidates was kicked down the road every time it came up. Should the military adopt an actively hostile posture with the colony, that would definitely put recruitment even further out of reach.
When the hab arrived at the colony, Benjamin joined the jumper crews detaching the ice to ferry it to the new collection port on the exterior of the colony. The rest of the crew packed their gear in the whale. The construction crew rode to the colony for some R&R and to visit with family; Ops had given them a week off.
It took the jumper crews nine hours to get all the asteroids pushed into place, the ice melted, and stowed in the colony’s new reserve tank. By the time Benjamin made his way to his quarters, he was surprised to find his bags sitting on his bed.
“Benjamin?” the A.I. called out.
“Yes, Genesis. What’s up?” he asked.
“Joy left word that she and the others would be in the commissary if you are not too tired once you returned to your quarters.”
“Thank you. Are they still there now?” asked Benjamin, seeing the time was a little after 9 P.M.
Genesis paused a moment, then answered, “Yes, Benjamin. The Titan mission team is there with several of the hab’s Ops crew.”
“Let her know I’m on my way. Thank you, that will be all.”
Benjamin grabbed a quick shower, then made his way to the commissary. When he arrived, he was beckoned over to the tables. He then detoured to get something to eat along with some herbal tea with no caffeine, then brought it back to the table to sit between Joy and Piper.
“Hard day, jumper jockey?” Piper asked once he sat.
“Mostly just long. I did have to chase down a big ball of ice that broke off and tried to get away, but otherwise just tedious,” he replied, then turned to Milton, one of the Ops crew. “What’s up with all the jumpers being serviced in the hanger?”
“I heard they’re all being outfitted with a digging ray that can be used on ice. It breaks the molecular bonds at the atomic level instead of compressing them like the other beam Peanut developed. Chris ordered all of them to be equipped, and those without enhanced shields a
re also being upgraded.”
Benjamin immediately thought that his father was gearing up the fleet for combat but kept the thought to himself. “Is there a date for Jupiter’s moon mission yet?”
Milton shook his head, “Not yet. Probably a month or so off, last I heard.”
Benjamin nodded, concentrating on eating. Piper was describing navigating under the liquid hydrocarbon seas and the little balls they found, and on his other side, Joy was explaining what the next battery of tests were to be performed on the samples collected.
About half an hour later, Christopher and Patricia dropped by to welcome Benjamin and the rest of the Saturn mission crew home. When Sam spotted them entering, he rose to his feet, the others followed.
“Welcome back everyone,” said Christopher. “Please sit down.”
“I heard that both missions were a complete success, congratulations,” said Patricia, smiling.
“We did all right,” said Benjamin.
“Well don’t mind us, we just came by for some ice cream,” Christopher said.
“I’ll catch you later, Mom, Dad,” said Benjamin.
The conversation turned into a bull session. Sam insisted that there was a big, black monolith somewhere on Titan that they missed in the vastness of the largest moon in the solar system. Then Joy insisted that because of the monolith, the little balls on the seabed were nascent Pacmen just waiting to evolve to eat everything in the solar system. Lois explained the sights in response to a question about the mission, describing the landscape and visuals along the bottom of the lakes. While she was talking, Benjamin tried to hide several yawns.
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