‘Yes. Is it organised?’
‘Yes, but it won’t go down well on Earth. All we can do is transmit noise over the same channels.’
‘I’m against it. It’s an unfriendly gesture,’ said Reg.
‘Hopefully it’ll realise it has an audience and behave appropriately. We need to hope for the best initially,’ I said.
‘It’ll know about diplomacy. Remember how it invaded the Mars One systems but stopped and didn’t repeat the action,’ said Reg.
‘Correct, it was capable of continuing. I assume it realised it was being transported and it might’ve been able to work out the vessel was intended primarily for transport, not study. Yuri said they didn’t try to reply to AD2 and the next it knew we were playing language videos to it,’ I confirmed.
‘If it did turn out to be hostile, what’s the plan, Eve?’ asked Alana.
‘It won’t,’ said Reg. ‘Why would it come all this way and be hostile?’
‘Remember War of the Worlds and Independence Day,’ said Alana.
‘But they were science fiction. This is real,’ Reg insisted.
‘I don’t think it will be hostile, but if it is, we’ll have to play it by ear,’ I said. The others didn’t know I’d had a secret discussion in Downing Street about this very problem.
Our conversation went on until about eleven, when I found my temporary accommodation. I didn’t take long to settle in, undress and crawl into the sleeping net. I had no pain from my leg, which normally hurt whichever side I was lying on, on Earth. Freefall was bliss although I still had some pain in my shoulders and the annoying digestion problem.
I ran through how I was going to deal with AD2 and the next thing I knew, my watch was waking me at seven in the morning.
««o»»
Oh, how wonderful. No pain in my leg, not even a slight ache. My neck was still sore, but I’d been putting up with my throat and neck since I awoke from the coma. The nagging pain every time I put any sort of pressure on my leg was energy sapping and I was grateful to be without it now. Even the ache in my abdomen had disappeared this morning. Perhaps my digestion had got back to normal at last. The downside was knowing I’d have to get straight on the treadmill to keep my leg working and moving or I’d be in an even worse condition when I returned to Earth.
I had a quick wash before changing into my usual ISS outfit, Bermuda shorts and cotton top.
I found myself in the new spacious dining module where there were another seven astronauts hanging in various positions relative to each other. I’d never seen so many in one place in space before.
The new module had pleasant murals plus two substantial windows on the universe, one a view into deep space and the other picking up a slice of the Earth and, as luck would have it today, a full moon too.
This was a much more pleasant environment. The old Tranquillity module hadn’t been conducive to relaxation, but this was excellent. It had a real coffee bar atmosphere. A place designed for people rather than science.
When I arrived, there was excited conversation taking place as each person talked about their duties for the day. Two were planning a repair spacewalk, four of us were to head over to the Cluster, and the other was close to completing a global warming assessment for the UN.
But it wasn’t all work-speak. There were conversations about family life and football, England, Wales and Northern Ireland trying to re-join the EU, the ongoing conflict in Sudan, whether the dispute over Tierra del Fuego was going to end passively or result in a full-blown war between Chile and Argentina, and the chance of Fred’s son stopping teething before he got back home in two weeks’ time, thus ensuring he missed all the sleepless nights currently being inflicted upon his wife.
When I flew in, there were the usual friendly hellos and questions about how well I’d slept, and shock at seeing the damage to my leg which was visible in my shorts, but there were other questions bubbling about beneath the surface.
Finally, one astronaut plucked up the courage to ask, ‘When did you first realise it wasn’t a piece of junk?’
I’d no choice but to recount the excitement and adventure of Yuri and me discovering AD1 all over again. I couldn’t tire of others’ interest in such a unique discovery.
‘And what are you going to say to AD2?’
‘I intend to do my level best not to let a galactic war commence because I put my foot in my mouth.’
‘Do you really think there’s an alien mind alive within it?’
‘Yes, all the indications from our study of the brainwave activity in AD1’s cylinders suggest there’s a living but dormant person in the device. We believe AD1 was so badly damaged that, to all intents and purposes, the mind was already brain-dead. We haven’t seen any sign of activity within it since the attempts to reinstate rotation when we first captured it, and which might only have been automated systems.’
‘So, do you think the alien in AD1 is dead?’
‘Regrettably yes or in a deep coma, but the alien in AD2 shows every indication of being alive.’
‘Did they send out hundreds of these things all over this part of the galaxy?’
‘Having seen the text on the sides of the craft and the fact that the only difference between them is in the number of dots, we suspect it might be the same alien in each of them.
‘It is only speculation, of course, but if Allen were trained to meet other cultures, why mess about training lots of others to do the same task when you can duplicate his mind electronically.’ I showed them the two designations on my reflexlet.
‘Fascinating. You really think it might be the case?’
‘It’s possible. In any event, we mustn’t rule out the possibility. When he sees AD1 there might be grief… we don’t know. Can you grieve over a lost electronic self or even a lost electronic colleague?’
The questions and answers went on for at least thirty minutes and I found myself having to heat a new ham and mushroom omelette as the first went cold. They take on the texture of chewing gum if you re-heat them once cooked.
Reg arrived part way through the quiz-Evelyn show and helped with some of the theorising, giving me time to eat my breakfast.
Eventually the gathering broke up as each person prepared for their day in space.
The five of us heading over to the Cluster pulled on our pressure suits. These were not the full-blown spacewalk outfits but strong, padded and insulated costumes to enable us to survive any not-too-catastrophic accident en route to the Cluster.
I had real trouble getting my leg into my suit and the young female language specialist, Mia, helped pull my foot through and into the foot section. I winced several times and cried out at least once. After my wonderful pain-free morning, this was a rude awakening.
We made our way into the aptly named shuttle bus where we strapped ourselves into our seats. There were fourteen seats. The two foremost were obviously used by the pilots of which there was only one today. Behind those were four rows of three, much like a terrestrial minibus.
Once again, the new fuel had permitted such a large craft to be launched into orbit. It wasn’t particularly spacious, but neither was it cramped. Comfort and ease of access was now a consideration when these vehicles were designed.
We were more than half empty today. I was introduced to Georgette, the pilot, who was also a scientist on the Cluster, examining wiring on AD1. Other than her, there was me, Reg, Mia, Alexei, and George.
Once we were free, Georgette pressed a single button and the automatic systems kicked in, orientating and steering the craft slowly clear of the ISS structure and taking a vector towards the Cluster.
28 The Visitor Arrives
From the ISS, the Cluster gave the impression of being a tightly connected arrangement of pinheads in the far distance. I was one of the few people who was aware the distance between the Cluster and the ISS was being gradually widened. The shuttle journey was automatic, although the pilot did have overri
de controls for emergencies.
The pinheads grew into shiny cake decorations, ping-pong balls, oranges, grapefruits, and footballs, showing detail of how they were constructed.
The Cluster had expanded from when I had led the original construction team the previous year. There were now two large spheres. The largest was the living quarters and the other, the stretched sphere, housed AD1 with space for AD2. There were two other smaller spheres. One was the original laboratory section and the other, adapted from the original alien sphere, was now an observation sphere from which my companions in the shuttle bus today, plus the two military men, would watch my team of six dealing with the visitor.
The two smaller spheres were joined to both the larger spheres by airlocks.
Also, newly attached to the living quarters was a drum-shaped exercise module forty metres in diameter. It was revolving at the correct speed to create a force on the outer floor equivalent to about ninety per cent of the force of gravity.
We were now close. The shuttle bus began its final approach, turning sideways and easing its way towards the living quarters. We heard contact being made and the clasps began their closing procedures. Forty minutes later, Reg led us all through into the residential sphere.
The living area was the biggest single pressurised space ever to exist in orbit, about fifty feet in diameter, with the central section being designated for relaxation, discussion, leisure, eating, and drinking. Around the outside were sleeping cubicles. There were also two toilets which provided enough space to have a relatively thorough wash. To one side was the access to the rotating exercise drum. On the other side were three nodes allowing supply vehicles to be attached.
My orientation was personal to me, but at the top of the sphere was another airlock which was where the shuttle bus was now parked.
I put my bag into the cubicle I’d been allocated. Oh boy, it had a porthole! I emerged into the central area, and Reg flew up to me.
He said, ‘Sorry, Eve, but I’m under strict instructions from ESA to send you off for an hour in the drum.’ He passed me a printed sheet of my exercise routine and pointed at the door of what I would soon come to call the drum of pain.
Once I’d climbed down to the spinning floor, I walked three-quarters of a mile in about forty minutes and followed that with some bench work. Some of the manoeuvres caused pain in my shoulders which had also taken the impact from several shots.
‘That’ll do, Slater. Come up for a coffee. We’ve news from Yuri,’ shouted Reg from the gods of this nightmarish spinning theatre.
I rested at the hub to get used to the change in orientation, opened the airtight door, and flew into the living area with my leg aching, yes, but free from pain.
‘What’s the news, Reg?’ I asked as I heated my coffee.
‘Easier to watch,’ he said and pressed play on the nearby monitor.
‘Hello, Cluster. I told you there now, Eva. We have development. This came onto the screen short while ago,’ said Yuri.
The image switched to the monitor inside Mars One and the picture suffered interference before a simple message came onto the screen.
‘THANK YOU. ENOUGH.’
Yuri’s face with his flashing blue eyes reappeared on the screen, ‘Assume means had enough language lessons and took decision stop them. What want us do now? We still on schedule to match Cluster orbit by nine in morning. Await reply. Lag now short. Must honest be and admit sympathise with our friend – several days repeated English lessons. Myself, I would have screamed “no more” long time sooner.’
‘I responded with “acknowledged” about fifteen minutes ago,’ said Reg.
‘Can you tell Yuri to play the natural history videos so he’s aware of animals and their relationships with us and their environments?’
‘Yes, I’ve already told him, Eve.’
‘It’s fascinating. AD2 has learned English and told us to stop the lessons,’ I said and opened my reflexlet.
A few waves of my thimball and Roy Williams of my language laboratory was on the screen.
‘Hi, Doctor Slater, how are you?’ he asked.
‘Great being back up here, Roy. AD2 has asked, in English, for the lessons to stop. Can you send Yuri a digital thesaurus and dictionary, which he can transmit to AD2?’
‘No problem. I’ll get onto it.’
‘It’ll need to be in an understandable format. We can’t be sure raw data will be understood.’
‘Yes, we’ve been preparing both. Will send them shortly.’
‘Thanks, Roy.’
Next, I sent a message to Yuri telling him what was on the way and that his lack of diligence in his English lessons was the probable cause of his thick Russian accent and abysmal sentence construction.
‘What’s the current lag to Mars One, Reg?’ I asked.
‘Less than a minute. We should be able to confer normally by late tonight. Yuri is now in rapid deceleration.’
At coffee, I was introduced to Dr Petra Vostola and Dr Hugh Allison who, together with Reg, myself, Yuri, and Alana, would be the reception committee. Me leading it and representing Europe, three Russians, and two from the USA. The Chinese had declined to send a representative. CSA and JAXA were leaving the negotiations to the rest of us.
Petra and Reg had me follow them through the observation area into the alien habitat sphere.
There was AD1 attached to the gantry. I pushed off and flew over to it, easing myself to a halt at the front. I ran my hands over the gold area, along the golden rod and traced a finger along the grooves which ran the length of the craft. I became aware of some photography and spun around.
‘Did you know that NASA actually forgot to take any photographs of Neil Armstrong on the moon – only Aldrin. We must get some pictures of you alongside the alien. This has been the first opportunity.’ said Reg.
‘In that case, don’t forget to take some with Yuri in here,’ I said. ‘Are you serious about Neil Armstrong?’
‘Yes. Buzz got one of his back on the lander steps and there are a couple of stills from the lander’s movie camera, but all the quality images are of Buzz Aldrin.’
‘Amazing,’ I said.
For five minutes or so I posed in various positions for the camera and continued to lay hands on the alien artefact, pulling myself around to the gash, touching the inside of the ship and carefully handling the multi-coloured wires which still trailed from some of the broken cylinders. I returned to the golden front and caressed the thimble-like silver protrusions. They were slightly textured, like an exaggerated fingerprint. I peered inside anew and there was no indication of where they joined the main body of the craft, though there was a join where one had been cut off and replaced after being examined. It seemed sacrilege to damage something so beautiful. I hoped AD2 would not mind us having explored his compatriot.
‘Can I unscrew the rod, Reg?’ I asked. He nodded.
Slowly, with wonder and excitement, I turned the rod through its strange clockwise motion until it separated from the protruding thread of the nose of the craft.
I examined it but of course, there was nothing I’d not already seen with the powerful lenses. I matched the hole with the thread and tightened it again.
‘Finished playing?’ asked Reg.
I performed a neat mid-air twist and laughed. ‘I hadn’t realised how much I wanted to touch it. A wonderful experience. Something made by intelligent beings from another world. I’ll never forget it.’
Reg and Petra strapped themselves into two of the six seats and I pushed myself in their direction, strapping myself into another chair.
‘This is where we’ll be when we introduce ourselves, Eve. Your seat will be the one in front and below these.’
‘So it zaps me first?’ I asked.
‘You cut me to the quick, Eve,’ said Reg and we all laughed.
From the seats, AD1 was slightly off to our left and the AD2 would be directly in front of us.
‘Yes, we know he’s aware of us, so it’d be insulting to treat him as a captive. We’re wearing pressure suits, yes?’ I asked.
‘Yes, we’re a little concerned about him hurting us accidentally if gasses were released or he damaged the sphere. We’re making an awful lot of assumptions here. However, AD1’s manoeuvring thrusters seem to use compressed nitrogen which is, of course, harmless,’ said Reg.
‘I don’t think we’ve a choice. The pressure suits might be a step too far, but we can remove the helmets when it’s clear we’ll not be harmed in any way,’ I said.
‘We’ve snap-shut visors,’ said Reg.
‘Right, so we can have the visors open when we meet him,’ I said, pulling out my reflexlet. ‘Brief me on the procedure.’
We spent the next three hours going through the activities planned for the next morning once Mars One arrived. There was going to be nothing easy or quick about the transfer.
By mid-afternoon, we’d done everything within our power to work out what we’d need to do if anything went wrong. Now we had to hope AD2 was as intelligent as we’d assumed.
I was prodded into another hour in the drum of pain and it was easier on the second occasion. I walked a quarter of a mile without using my cane and completed two miles in total.
In the evening, we all ate together. We had a live conversation with Yuri on Mars One who informed us AD2 had asked to have the audio thesaurus replayed through the on-board system.
Mia, the language specialist said, ‘He’s probably wondering why we’ve so much redundancy in our language, especially in English which is worse than any other language for having different ways to present the same question or answer. Maybe each of the alien words has a single meaning. If so, the thesaurus would be a real puzzle.’
‘Yuri,’ I said, ‘can you play him the video of the announcement to the world about AD1, so he knows what we’ve told people about their existence? Set it running an hour before you reach Cluster orbit. I don’t want him to have too long to read anything into it which we might not have intended.’
The Visitor Page 24