Mission Mars

by Janet L. Cannon

  The Council president, Karen Beckwith, gaveled the meeting to order and said that the Mars CEO had a matter of extreme importance to discuss. Her stance gave nothing away, and Forrest wondered how much she’d been briefed. Her raspy voice and sardonic questions were well known from the newsvids, but this was the first time Forrest had seen her in person.

  Nakamura began by introducing Forrest and the academic, a Dr. Aleyn, who had led the team of experts who had examined the cave. Nakamura said he had brought them along in case someone had questions. But he began the proceedings on his own, with deliberate authority.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen,” he said, “I have invoked section 19.12 of the New Mars Charter and called an executive-level meeting. I remind you of the Charter agreement forms you all signed when taking office. What we say here today may have to be kept secret for some time. Investigator Forrest and Dr. Aleyn have also signed our strictest non-disclosure agreement. Everyone else who has seen the phenomenon we’ll be discussing is being detained for now, and is temporarily deprived of communication with the rest of our colony.”

  Nakamura continued. “I don’t think I am being overly dramatic when I say that we may be at one of those pivotal moments in the history of humanity. What we decide here today could well be remembered longer than anything else we have accomplished on Mars since our hard-won independence from Earth’s corporate control. I want to give you my best assessment of the situation, but the decision of what we do next is, of course, yours to make.”

  Forrest stroked his mustache as Nakamura laid out the broad outline of Ciotti’s story for the Council. He couldn’t help thinking about how the news would affect his own career—and when, if ever, he would be able to tell Anna about his role in it.

  Nakamura explained that Ciotti had entered a “skylight”—a round opening on the side of Arsia Mons, whose network of lava tubes had drained naturally long ago, leaving a web of empty tunnels and caves. This area had not been extensively explored before. Few, if any, of the caves had been top priority for the early Mars survey teams. “Now, of course, all tubes and caves will have to be explored.”

  Several of the Council members, curiosity obviously piqued, sat forward in their chairs. Nakamura turned down the lights, switched on his projector, and a series of holographic images appeared, giving everyone in the room clear details of the cave. “These images were captured by the science team sent to investigate,” Nakamura said over a collective gasp. Forrest stood up to get a better look. The paintings on the cave walls, in vivid hues, were distinct and easily visible. A murmur spread through the Council chamber.

  Nakamura spoke over the hum as he scanned through the images taken from various perspectives, “Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the reason I have called this meeting. You will note that the paintings Mr. Ciotti discovered tell a remarkable story. An alien being, clearly intelligent and, most likely more advanced in technology than we are, seems to have spent time living or working in that cave many years ago. According to the paintings, as best we can tell, it expected to live out its life on Mars and to die here.

  “Of course, there is always the possibility of a hoax by some earlier human Mars explorers, but the location of the paintings and the level of detail argue against it. I want to stress that we think the creature was not native to Mars, but came from another star system entirely. Like humans, it may have found the unshielded ultra-violet radiation on the surface of Mars dangerous. Perhaps it didn’t have the technology or equipment to build shielded domes like we use. So, the alien sought shelter underground.”

  At this point, Beckwith could no longer restrain herself, “Do you mean to tell me, Mr. Nakamura, that the first evidence for intelligent life beyond Earth, after all the years of searching, is in some cave, inside a Mars volcano? Why there? Why now?”

  Forrest could sympathize with her surprise.

  Nakamura hesitated and then replied with courtesy, “Well, Madame President, I certainly agree that few scientists would have predicted that our first communication from aliens would take this form. And we don’t believe that this is an official message from one civilization to another. It’s more like those old Earth stories, where a shipwrecked sailor puts a message in a bottle in a desperate attempt to preserve some record of his existence.”

  Beckwith asked, “But why only one alien? And why Mars, rather than Earth?”

  “Our best guess at this point,” Nakamura responded, “judging from the contents of the paintings, is that the alien who made them was some kind of refugee or exile from an interstellar ship that was passing through our solar system a long time ago. But really, we just don’t know very much at this point. As to why it came to Mars, perhaps the environment here was more congenial for this species than the Earth’s. In any case, Dr. Aleyn’s team estimates the paintings were done hundreds of thousands of years ago.”

  A younger Council member interrupted, “Excuse me, but how do we know it was that long ago? Don’t tell me the creature left us some kind of calendar.”

  Nakamura gestured to Aleyn, who stood up and came toward him, as he spoke. “In a way, Councilor Oluseyi, he did. I am going to let Dr. Aleyn explain how his team estimated the time.”

  Aleyn had to clear his throat a couple of times, but then found his voice. “What helped us determine a timeline was that some of the paintings include scenes of the night sky with detailed renderings of constellations. As you all probably know, the constellations seen from Earth or Mars are accidental arrangements of bright stars on the dome of the sky. We connect the dots to make familiar patterns, such as Ursa Major, the Big Bear.

  “As any star moves through the galaxy, part of its motion may be toward us or away from us, but some part will always be sideways to us. Any such sideways movement can, over thousands of years, mean that the star is then seen in a different position in the sky. As the stars move, the constellation patterns slowly change with time, and we can use those changes to date any record that shows the constellations.

  “Of course, we don’t know how accurately the alien artist is portraying the positions of the stars. Did it make sketches from the surface of Mars, and then transfer them to the paintings, or was it relying on memory? Even if the positions are accurate, we want to do some additional research before assigning a more precise time. But from the ten or so different night paintings we have quickly analyzed, we arrived at a tentative date of some 300,000 years ago.”

  Images on the chamber dome revealed the night sky in the paintings alongside the modern constellations. The differences were readily apparent, and Forrest found himself awed by the time scales they were discussing.

  “Thank you, Dr. Aleyn.” Nakamura went on, “To continue, then, our first guess is that we are seeing a personal record left long ago by a single artist. There is the possibility that the alien was dispatched, or left on Mars, specifically to create these paintings.”

  Aleyn touched Nakamura’s arm and interjected, “However, Councilors, we—the team—think the paintings may not necessarily be the reason the alien ended up on Mars.”

  Beckwith broke in again, “But I don’t understand! How can something this important have gone undetected and unreported on Mars until now?”

  Nakamura replied, “Madam President, I would respectfully remind you that the surface of Mars is roughly as large as the surface area of all Earth’s continents combined. Many places on the Martian surface have not yet been explored, to say nothing of places under the surface.”

  Beckwith shook her head. “OK. But you’re assuming these paintings depict real events. What if this is fiction or propaganda? What if the creature was remembering one of its favorite stories? Or what if it went mad in that cave?”

  Nakamura thought for a moment and said mildly, “This is all very preliminary, Madam President, and all those options will need to be carefully considered. But if it’s just a story, why bother portraying the correct constellations at all? And we see many other clues in the paintings that portray the Mars we
know, including pictures of the four Tharsis volcanoes.”

  Oluseyi put in, “So, you’re saying some spaceship from an advanced civilization traveled through our solar system and dropped this cave-painting artist off? So, how many other ships of theirs have done this? Why don’t we have other records or evidence about them?”

  Nakamura replied, “We have no idea if more than one ship ever came. All we know so far is what we can see in these paintings. If Dr. Aleyn’s constellation time frame is correct, they were created much earlier than the development of human writing on Earth. So, even if our remote ancestors somehow observed the mothership seen in these paintings passing by the Earth, there would be no record of it on our home planet. We are very lucky that these paintings are in such good condition after all this time. The fact that they are in a deep cave, and therefore, have not been exposed to Mars’ atmosphere and dust storms, has, I’m sure, helped to preserve them

  “I don’t know,” Beckwith said. “This is a lot to absorb. I keep thinking I want to go to that cave and see the paintings—with my own eyes—before I believe that this is real and not some fantastic story.”

  Forrest found himself nodding. He felt the same way. He, too, wanted to see the paintings first-hand before he was ready to accept the idea that the first Mars settler had not been a human.

  Nakamura tried to move on, “Madame President, I think we all sympathize with your feelings. This discovery is completely unexpected. But before we consider what to do next, please allow me to finish my report.” A new image appeared, and before anyone could interrupt again, he continued. “You can see on the close-up image I am showing you now, that the alien coming toward Mars is in some kind of vessel. But its precise landing spot on Mars is not depicted on any of the paintings. We will, of course, search for what might be left of its ship after all this time, particularly in the Arsia Mons region. But the team thinks it’s possible that the alien eventually dismantled much of its ship and used the parts and equipment to survive on Mars.”

  Forrest’s thoughts jumped to all the scavengers who would descend on Mars, once word got out, searching in all kinds of unmonitored places for bits and pieces left by the alien, and how this would make the job of Mars Office a hundred times more complicated. They would surely need more police and investigators. Could it mean an earlier promotion?

  Nakamura continued. “As you can imagine, it’s frustrating how much we don’t know and may never know. Was the alien an especially talented illustrator in their culture, or did everyone in that species have the skill to make such a clear record? Were the paintings made merely to be a journal, a record of its existence, or do they have some religious or social significance?”

  Oluseyi interrupted, “I imagine many big companies from Earth would be glad to assign expert staff to ‘help us’ figure out the meaning of the pictures, if they learn of their existence. We managed to remove ourselves from under corporate control once. We may not want to give them an excuse to attempt to take us over a second time.” Murmurs of agreement could be heard around the Council chamber.

  Nakamura hesitated, but didn’t take the bait. He went on as if Oluseyi hadn’t spoken. “If I may, I want to share a few more of the team’s first tentative ideas.”

  Nakamura’s projector displayed new holographs as he continued, “Here, in the first few panels, the aliens are seen aboard their ship. Unless it’s artistic license, the aliens are either part of some group organism, or they are crowded together in ways that would be intolerable to us. Different aliens are decorated in different colors, but we don’t know if this is skin color, some kind of clothing, or just artistic embellishment. At present, we are unable to discern if they have different sexes. However, the different colored crests do help to differentiate our alien, the one who eventually comes to Mars, from its companions.”

  Forrest was seeing the details in the pictures for the first time along with the Council. He didn’t know much about art, but he had to admit the paintings were clear and beautifully done.

  “In the seventh painting,” Nakamura continued, “the Mars alien goes, or is put aboard the smaller ship that separates from the main vessel. Then we see the alien on the surface, setting up a tent-like structure near his ship. The next few paintings seem to be a survey of some of the more interesting sights on Mars. It’s hard to miss the contrast between the crowding in the earlier paintings of the mother ship and the sense of being alone in these later pictures.” Nakamura turned again to Dr. Aleyn. “Dr. Levinson, the psychologist who accompanied Dr. Aleyn and his team, has a theory about this particular aspect of the pictures. Dr. Aleyn?”

  Aleyn had remained near Nakamura during the discussion, and spoke with less hesitation this time, “We all wondered why, among the thousands of aliens crowded into the mother ship in the early paintings, this particular one came to be on Mars alone. It’s hard to know from the pictures if it was here by choice, or if it was being punished. Why would they leave only one of their number behind? Even if they don’t reproduce the way we do, one is a very small number for founding a colony. So, Dr. Levinson had a suggestion. Maybe this alien was not normal in some way. What if the aliens inclined toward group living or were some kind of group or hive mind? If that was the case, the one left on Mars had been born different, perhaps it needed to be alone. So, it could have been a merciful act, leaving it behind on some planet where it could be by itself without going mad—and without threatening the stability of the group.”

  Just like Ciotti, Forrest thought. Maybe the black-crested alien couldn’t take crowded conditions and had to get away, too. He wondered if Levinson’s suggestion would ever get back to Ciotti, and if he would see the irony in his making the discovery.

  Aleyn continued, “Of course there are many other possible explanations, some of which we haven’t thought of yet. Maybe the Mars alien was sick and had to be quarantined. Even so, it must have lived a long time to create all these paintings, especially the ones that show the sights of Mars, which would have required considerable travel across the surface. So, sickness may have had nothing to do with it being here alone. Besides, a species that can travel between the stars probably has more advanced medicine, too.

  “Our biggest question, then, is whether the Mars alien had a specific mission to fulfill. Were the paintings part of that mission? It could be some sort of religious testimony or sacrifice the aliens require as they pass new stars in their journey. So far, our preliminary analysis has found no clear explanation as to the Mars alien’s goal, or if it even had one. But those who have thought deeply about extra-terrestrial life in the past have always warned us to anticipate aliens being really alien. In other words, we should not expect another life form to conform to our modes of thinking.”

  “Dr. Aleyn,” Beckwith said, “one reasonable scenario could be that a single alien, dropped off on Mars, was there to spy on Earth and report back to its home planet in some way. Do any of the paintings show the alien building some sort of communication device or machinery?”

  Aleyn exchanged glances with Nakamura and replied, “No, nothing that would be recognizable as a communication tool. But,” he quickly added, “we do have to be prepared for the possibility that its technology might not resemble ours in many respects.”

  Beckwith shot back, “Well, its spaceship was clearly recognizable, wasn’t it?”

  Aleyn thought about the president’s question. “Ye… Yes, Madam President. So, it is reassuring, at least for now, that none of the paintings show the alien building any type of radio antenna or messaging device. On the other hand, 300,000 years ago, there was no evidence of intelligent life on Earth that could be seen from Mars. So perhaps it didn’t have much to report.”

  Oluseyi spoke up again, “I had a different, but related thought, Madame President. I know it sounds like a plot from science fiction, but we do seem to be having a discussion that reminds me of the science fiction vids I used to watch.” He turned his attention back to the science team leader. “Dr.
Aleyn, could there have been some kind of trip-wire in that cave, which we humans set off by going in there? Could some underground machinery, left by this alien be notifying its species of our existence right now?”

  Nakamura stepped in. “If I may, we are now in the realm of sheer speculation. Let’s return to the team’s conclusions. It appears that the alien who did the paintings must have died here on Mars a very long time ago, but thanks to the depth of the cave and the quality of the pigments used, the paintings have been preserved across the millennia. For now, the paintings are all we have. In a way, perhaps they are enough.

  “Because of them, we have learned of the existence of an extra-terrestrial species, giving us our first proof that intelligent, technological life evolved elsewhere in the cosmos.” Nakamura began to pace back and forth along the dais. “Whether this species of alien is still alive somewhere or not, their existence in these paintings is very likely the evidence that so many have looked for. It shows that humanity’s place in the universe is not unique.

  “It’s possible that further study will reveal what star system the aliens came from, or whether they occupied more than one star system at the time of their visit. However, we do know that this species had technology that we do not yet have, such as travel between the stars. The issue now before you, ladies and gentlemen, is what we do with that knowledge.

  “As you may remember from the briefings you received when you approved the independent SETI experiments for Mars surface operations, our experts are divided about the effect the discovery ofadvanced intelligent life elsewhere would have on our world view. Some said that their example, or possibly their eventual help, could spur us on to a new era of discovery….”