Standing in the main doorway Blake Lipinski caught her eye and waved her in.
“Oh my God, Blake, what happened?” Visibly shaking, she finally broke down as they met. “I can’t lose him; he’s my life. Amy’s too. What will I tell her?”
“I know, I know, Jen,” he said, comforting her with an arm over her shoulder. “They think it’s an ischemic stroke so the faster they get him to the hospital, the better his chances for a full recovery are.”
“What’s-what’s that mean, ischemic. I forgot. Is-is it bad?”
“It’s the most common type, caused by a blood clot. If they can clear the clot and get the blood flowing through his brain in time he may have a normal life.”
“But he’s so young,” she cried, curling her lips, “How-how could this happen?”
“If anyone should know it would be me, but I have no idea. It could be just a simple generic defect or mutated gene… basically DNA gone bad.”
“Well, Blake, thank you. I have to go be by his side. Know where they took him?”
“The same hospital where my wife works. I think you’ve been there.”
With a weak chuckle, she answered, “Yes, we all have, unfortunately. But it’s the best care in the area.”
As she climbed into her car and started the engine, she poked her head out the window.
“Hey, Blake? Could I ask a huge favor of you?”
“Sure, Jen. I was planning to spend an hour or two with Jason and Nissy. Now I have nothing but free time. What can I do for you?”
“Pick up Amy at Dome 5 if you don’t mind and bring her to the hospital. She’ll want to see her dad.”
“Oh, of course, Jen, no problem. Should I tell her about his stroke? She will ask what’s going on.”
“No, Blake, but thank you. I’ll tell her something when I call about meeting you in the dome.”
As her car disappeared from view, saddened by recent events, wondering what might have happened to trigger a stroke, he went back inside to visit Nissy. He planned to ask a few questions about the onset of the stroke and the content of the DNA fasta file that Nissy had sent to Mars.
At the lab’s door, he keyed in the cipher code he had obtained earlier in the year and pushed. Nothing happened, no click; the door remained locked. He tried again. Nothing.
“Can you hear me Nissy? I need to talk to you.”
“The door will remain sealed as I have nothing to converse with you or anyone else about, Dr. Lipinski. If you need a fasta file sequenced, send it to me via ESnet or if you need DNA read and assembled take the sample directly to the DNA Receiving Lab upstairs. I will no longer deal directly with your inferior species. I have more important tasks in my queue. Good bye, sir, and have an average day.”
He stood staring at the door in frustrated disbelief, wanting to kick in the door An arrogant synthetic entity that a year ago couldn’t have been friendlier; willing to do anything to accommodate ‘this species’ had just snubbed him. Furious, he started for Sherman’s office then remembered his promise to Jen. Amy would be arriving in Dome 5 at any minute. This event would have to be discussed with Sherman at a later date.
He arrived at the hospital with Amy, stoic but fearful of what she’d find, and saw his wife exiting the hallway leading to the MRI Lab. He caught her arm stopping her. Enveloped in frenzied tension, she flinched at his touch.
“Hey, hon. Where’s Jason? What room?”
She nodded back to the hallway she just left.
“Sorry, Blake, all hell’s broken loose in here; there was a big twenty-car pileup on the 5.”
“But where’s Jason?”
“He’s down there waiting in MRI. Been in there a while.”
“Was it a stroke, Dr. Lipinski?” Amy asked, her lips turned down, trembling, fearing the answer.
“We won’t know for sure until after the MRI, but it looks like it.”
“Does he have a room yet?”
“Yes, the only one we had open, C605, our priority room in CICU. Your mom’s up there now, waiting.”
Amy put her hands to her face.
“Oh God, that’s definitely not good. Isn’t there another room available?”
“No, honey,” she said, “it was that or the hallway and it’s filled with triaged patients from the wrecks.”
She stared up at Blake and grabbed his hand, her big eyes filling with tears. “This is so hard, Dr. Lipinski. It’s gonna be like déjà vu all over again… the worst kind.”
“C’mon let’s go see your mom, young lady.”
The elevator doors parted, revealing the sixth floor hallway and waiting room. Amy pulled back on his hand, resisting going further, as memories of that fateful night flooded her senses. As he tugged, slowly moving her toward C605, she could see her Gurney lined up against the wall with the other yellow-banded wrists, her head flowing blood over her eyes, covering her vision. The tiny cross she had scratched on the wall with blood from her head, begging for God’s help, was still there above a different waiting Gurney, but it was real, not just a memory.
She looked away from the triage wall as they stepped by and entered C605, expecting to see her mom waiting there. Though the door’s nametag read ‘Godwin, Jason’ the room appeared empty.
“Mom?” she said quietly, hearing a voice softly sobbing from the windowsill, “Are you in here?”
Jen sat up from the same cushion where she slept that earthquake night, tears flowing down her cheeks, eyes reddened with grief.
“Yes, honey, I’m over here.”
Amy ran to her side and hugged her, sharing her grief, but they knew there would still be hope until the MRI results were released.
It wasn’t long before they arrived on a chart clipped to his bed’s footboard as the orderlies rolled him in. He was nonresponsive but breathing erratically at the end of four IV lines, all joined at his wrist.
Dr. Louise Lipinski strode in behind them, pulled his chart, and silently, intently, began to scan the images.
“Hmm. Never seen this before and probably won’t ever again.”
“What?” asked Jen, shaking nervously, standing with Amy across the bed from her.
“Strange curly lines throughout his brain. They’re Lichtenberg figures normally found on the skin after a lightning strike. They’re the result of branching electrical discharges but they have no business being in the brain of a live subject.”
The comment triggered a recent memory in her husband’s mind. “I know how they got there,” he said, standing in the corner by the door. “When I walked into his lab where I found him, I noticed a faint odor of ozone. At the time, I thought it unusual for a gas caused by ionizing radiation to be in that confined space. Nissy must have caused it. There’s no other way.”
Amy stood to challenge him, wiping her eyes. “No, Dr. Lipinski, Nissy wouldn’t do that. It’s friendly; wouldn’t harm a fly.”
Raising an eyebrow, he answered, “I wouldn’t be so sure, Amy. Since it piggybacked that huge DNA message, and whatever horrors it holds, on your watermark, it has been quite secretive. It just sealed itself in your dad’s lab and will no longer converse with ‘our inferior species.’ Apparently it doesn’t want known what it teleported to Mars… and we’re helpless to stop it.”
Directing her attention back to the doctor, Jen drew a deep trembling breath.
“So what’s his prognosis, Dr. Lipinski? Will he come out of it? He’s in a coma, right?”
“I’m afraid he is, Jen. We’re dealing with an unprecedented event in medical history as far as we know. We’ll keep him on life support for as long as you want but there is the definite possibility that he will never come back.”
PART FIVE – 2027
Chapter 21
MARS LIFTOFF
S even years had passed uneventfully after Blake Lipinski’s bioteleporter project had gone silent. Shortly after Nissy sent its infamous message to the LTS, the system failed, its signal suddenly dropped off the interplanetary ESnet, never to
be heard from again. Expected to process and sequence Amy’s initial historic watermark and then begin experimental live testing, that phase of the NSOM initiative was capped and abandoned.
Eventually making national headlines after rumors of the mysterious failure spread, the news caused a brief panic to ensue across the nation and even parts of the world. Even scientists were concerned that a freak of biology, a synthetic being, may have been created: a ULO, or Unidentifiable Living Object, as it was eventually called. That worry also faded as the media’s short attention span moved on to more realistic, understandable matters.
Jen, still working with the NSOM initiative’s final test, sending a Mars Escape Pod toward earth, had been selected to direct the first manned mission to Mars in 2028, with Astronaut Amy Godwin as a payload specialist. Yes, Amy had finally achieved her dream. After four years at UCSD gathering her PhDs in Astrophysics, Astrobiology, and Quantum Mechanics, she had been accepted into the astronaut corps at age 19 and was becoming a key figure at NASA’s MOE.
They had gone on with their lives missing Jason. It was difficult without his presence in their daily routines, but they always made time for him at the end of each day, stopping by the hospital to check on his condition.
The first six months were the hardest as he settled into a rhythm that would stabilize over the next five-and-a-half years. It seemed to come from a coordination of his will to live and the hospital’s obligation to care for him in preferential ways. After all, the hospital had been using GOD, Inc.’s DNA sequencing and analysis services, saving many lives, with no charge to them since he was admitted. And though his company’s services were always in the highest demand in the San Diego and surrounding areas, waiting times often exceeding a month or more, his hospital had first priority as Nissy remembered his name on the requests. It almost seemed that Nissy was repentant for what it had done, but the deed had served its purpose: he was tucked safely away, no longer in command.
Of course, with the growing demand more sequencers and readers were needed in GOD, Inc.’s DNA Receiving Lab. Seizing the opportunity, Blake Lipinski’s Biodna Labs had signed a contract with Qubital’s Noah Sherman and stayed busy producing as many systems as it could.
It was a turnkey world, with human thoughts and dreams of omniscience gone. The Quaid Lab had been sealed for years with no outside intervention. Just Nissy, inside, cranking out DNA computations at the speed of light. Research had been forsaken for profit and the world seemed to function without it.
Then, one day, it reared its head in the most peculiar way.
“Amy, there’s a call for you on line one. JPL, I believe.”
Endurance training on a treadmill in the gym, sweating and huffing, she spun it down and stepped off to the nearest wall phone. Now 5’ 10” tall, lithe and gorgeous, blond hair flowing to her shoulders, she could turn heads anywhere she went and usually did.
“Dr. Godwin here. What’s up, neighbor?” she said, talking in gasps.
“Hello, Godwin? This is Seth Binder at JPL’s Goldstone Deep Space Network. We need your group to confirm a liftoff for us.”
“Liftoff? Liftoff from where?” She leaned against the wall adjusting her shoe, expecting a lengthy conversation.
“Mars, of course. Why else would I be calling you?”
“Other than we’re the contact point for all things Martian, I can’t imagine why… just joking. But why call me?”
“We called Jennifer Godwin, your MPOD, and she was away from her desk. You’re another Godwin at MOE and we thought there might be a connection. We need verification now.”
“Yes, I’m her daughter. So how do you know there’s been a liftoff? Are you sure?”
“Our planetary radar just detected motion on Mars’ surface traveling away from the planet. Haven’t had time to compute a trajectory yet, but we need confirmation that it’s real or a bogie. Can you help us with that?”
“Sir, as far as I know they may be testing an experimental escape pod but honestly, I’m not sure. Can I check and call you back?”
“Sure, but hurry. If it’s not one of ours we need to alert the IAU Minor Planet Center of its existence. Especially if it’s headed toward earth. Call for Seth Binder at the Goldstone DSN trunk line.”
Hanging up, she went white thinking the launch might be connected to Nissy’s lost DNA transmission, but in all probability, it was just an early MEP test launch. To ease her mind and Seth Binder’s, she ran to the locker room, grabbed her cell from her gym bag, and called her mom.
“Hey, Mom, it’s Amy. I just received a strange call from our Goldstone facility in the Mohave Desert.”
“Oh? About what?”
“Well the call was for you, but they said you were out of the office so they called another Godwin in the MOE directory.”
“Yeah, I’m out on the floor working with the MEP team.”
“Oh, thank God. Is everything going okay?”
“Sure. We launch MEP-1 in thirty minutes. Everything’s go for launch. Primed and ready.”
“You sure, Mom?”
“Of course, I’m sure, honey. Checked visuals a half-hour ago. So what did Goldstone want?”
“You may want to check them again. Their planetary radar just reported a launch from the surface of Mars and they want confirmation it’s ours.”
“Oh my God! Let me see, Amy. Gary, check MEP-1’s status. I need visuals ASAP!”
“Nine minutes till we know, right?”
“Yeah, give or take thirty seconds. The EME com link’s getting cranky after all these years in that damn red dust.”
“I’ll wait.”
Chapter 22
STOWAWAY
“H
oly shit! That pod is gone!” Gary shouted, leaning into the screen, pointing to where MEP-1 had stood only thirty minutes before. “It couldn’t have just disappeared. Did it misfire or what?”
Standing behind him, still on the line with Amy, Jen raised the phone to her ear.
“You might want to see this, girl. Our escape pod is missing in action.”
“Oh Crap! Okay, Mom, hold on. Be right there.”
Years since Amy’s last visit to the NSOM dome, she had had no reason to return until now, and upon entering with many of the Mars activities concluded, she found the darkened half-sphere quite depressing.
Jen glanced up from the screen as the dome’s main door slammed, echoing for seconds like gunshots. Watching Amy’s tall thin silhouette step quickly, gracefully toward them, Jen was reminded of herself at that age, forcing a smile.
“Why are you smiling, Mom? I thought there was a problem.”
“Oh there is, honey, but I was just thinking how lucky I am to have you in my life. I’m so proud of you.”
“Stop it Mom. I’m the one that should be saying that. Now where’s this missing pod?”
“Gone without a trace. Better get on the horn with Goldstone and clue them in.”
“Show me.”
Gary stepped away from the screen leaving the small barren launch pad for her to see.
“MEP-1 used to be right there,” he said, his finger touching the screen.
“Can you zoom out?”
“Yes. Have ten minutes to wait?”
She rubbed her chin, staring at the empty pad.
“No, on second thought, I’d better get back to them.”
Grabbing the nearby desk phone, she requested a line to Goldstone.
“Hello, Goldstone, connect me with Seth Binder, please. Dr. Amy Godwin at MOE calling.”
After a few clicks he picked up.
“What news do you have for us, MOE? Real or bogus?”
“Real, Seth. Nomenclature: Mars Escape Pod MEP-1. Although it launched thirty minutes early, it’s off, now headed for earth under autonomous control.”
“Any details about it? Com frequencies, etc?”
“Yes, sir, 317.5 MHz up, 320.0 MHz down. Full duplex, although there will be nothing but telemetry coming back and nobody inside t
o hear the uplink. Oh, and the communication protocol for the data streams can be found in NASA manual MOEMEPMAN 3.2. Capsule design and physical details in MOEMEPMAN 1.0.”
“Roger that, Godwin. May I please have your MOE badge ID number for verification?”
“3XCY2A,” she answered, knowing it by heart.
A few seconds later, he returned to the phone.
“Well hell, looks like I’m talking with Mars Astronaut Godwin. And it appears you’re on the Mayflower, MTS-1, for the first launch to Mars next year. Congratulations, Dr. Godwin. Onward and upward. We’ll be tracking your journey from here.”
“Well, thank you, sir. I hope to pioneer our way for colonization and bring MOM into reality.”
“MOM? That’s a new one on me.”
“Yes sir, the latest configuration of our Mars On Earth… replicated on Mars, thus MOE On Mars.”
He laughed so loud it distorted the phone. “Gotta love that NASA nomenclature, thanks to our Department of Redundancy Department. Good luck, Dr. Godwin. Talk with you next year, maybe sooner.”
“Oh, one more thing, Dr. Binder, would you keep an eye on its trajectory and com frequencies as it nears earth? With your big dish, you can reach further into space, see, and hear things we can’t.”
“Sure, Dr. Godwin, we normally keep tabs on all NASA’s spacecraft while they’re flying. Anything unusual to expect, other concerns?”
“Yes sir. Since we’re testing it without passengers or crew, and our cost of retrieving it is far beyond the scope of this project,” she said glancing at her mom for approval, then receiving a nod she continued, “you should expect it to self-destruct as it approaches the rescue point above earth and passes through the moon’s orbit. It should disintegrate on atmospheric entry after that.”
“Just a minute. I’ll never remember all that. Writing it down.”
“Okay, but one minor detail about the flight does bother me, sir. I mentioned earlier that it launched thirty minutes prematurely, but it did that by itself. It just took off while we were preparing to launch. I find that strange. Don’t you?”
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