by Allan Burd
“Or a computer, or a light bulb, or any other simple gadget we take for granted in the twenty-first century. So we look for stars that are rich with metal elements.”
Logan nodded, acknowledging he understood.
Blaze continued. He enjoyed having a student who was both interested and a quick learner. “Now, let’s take a step back. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, was born around fifteen billion years ago. Back then it was just an immense cloud of hydrogen and helium gases. These gases formed the first generation of stars which contained only hydrogen and helium. During the life of these stars, the hydrogen burns up through a process called fusion. When the star gets to a certain temperature, the hydrogen combines with the helium, burning off energy and creating heavier elements like carbon and oxygen. Then the star uses these elements as fuel, creating even heavier elements and releasing more energy. Stars are like giant ovens in the sky cooking up the ingredients of life.
“When these stars finally cooked up the element iron, they began to die because iron absorbs energy instead of releasing it, so these stars eventually ran out of fuel to burn. Some of them exploded into a supernova, which created even heavier elements, the metals, and spread these elements outward across space. These elements eventually formed into new stars. These are what we call second generation stars. They underwent the same process as first generation stars, but because of their more complex makeup, they created even heavier elements. And when these stars went supernova, they spread even more complex elements across space. That’s where we come in. Our sun is a third generation star giving our solar system the elements we have in our periodic table, which includes plenty of metals. Consequently, everything on our planet, including ourselves, is made up of these elements. Are you following me so far?”
“Yeah, the further we go away from the center of the galaxy, the more likely we’ll find planets that contain metals,” stated Logan.
“Correct. Now, the stars at the galactic core couldn’t possibly produce life because they were just hydrogen and helium. Besides, our studies show there’s probably a huge black hole consuming the core of our galaxy, so life wouldn’t survive there anyway. The second generation stars could have supported life, but as intelligent as that life may have been, I doubt they would have had the materials necessary for interstellar travel. Remember, these star systems would not have contained all the elements, particularly the metals that we have on earth. Perhaps, they would have been able to build primitive tools, but not the more sophisticated machines like we have now.”
“But it’s still possible? I mean these second generation life forms would be so much older than us that they might have advanced beyond needing metals,” Logan countered.
“Yes, perhaps their technology was founded on bioorganic materials, but it’s much less likely. Which leaves us to look at the third generation stars. These stars have all the necessary elements for life to flourish and reach out to other stars. So our best bet for finding life in our galaxy is to look in our own neighborhood, because all the stars as distant as we are from the center of the galaxy are third generation stars. This makes our search a little easier.
“The final thing a civilization needs is time … time to evolve to the point where they are intellectually capable of utilizing these resources. It took us five billion years just to get where we are. So it stands to reason that the older a star system is, the higher the probability it will contain intelligent life. So we look for stars in our neighborhood that are around five billion years old.”
“Assuming, of course, that other life evolved approximately at the same rate as our own,” Logan added.
“Yes,” said Dr. Jeff Blaze.
Logan took over from here. “So we need to look at our neighboring stars that are around five billion years old that probably have planets capable of supporting life.”
“You got it. So, let’s take the closest stars and see which ones fit the criteria.”
“Alpha Centauri, that’s the closest. Only four point three light years away, right?” said Logan.
“That’s the second closest. Proxima Centauri’s closer, but that star’s doubtful. It’s too cool and it’s a flare star. I doubt any planets there would have proper living conditions, what us scientists call a habitable zone. Now Alpha Centauri’s a different story. Alpha Centauri’s a binary star. That means the system is made up of two different stars. One of them, Alpha Centauri A, is just like our sun—several billion years old and a large habitable zone for planets to support life. I’d say that’s a pretty strong possibility.”
“So you think these aliens come from Alpha Centauri?” asked Logan.
Dr. Blaze raised his hand, telling Logan he was getting too far ahead of himself. “A strong possibility, however, they’re not the only close neighbors we have. About six light years away is Barnard’s Star. It’s much cooler than our sun, so its habitable zone is much smaller. In order to support life it must have a planet very close to it.”
“Like Mercury,” said Logan thoughtfully.
“Exactly. But while we’ve found over 300 extrasolar planets in our galaxy, we’re still not sure if Barnard’s Star has any.”
“Any others?”
“Lalande 21185. That one’s similar to Barnard’s Star and we’ve found two Jupiter-sized planets there, so far. I’d call it a possibility too.”
“How many possibilities are there?” asked Logan.
“Other than those three, I’d say Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti round out the top five, but there are plenty of others.” said Dr. Blaze.
“So how do they get here? Even flying at the speed of light it would take them at least four years,” Logan added skeptically.
Dr. Blaze smiled again. Logan just brought up another one of his favorite topics. “That’s what I hope to find out. I do have some theories though. You sure you want to hear them?”
The plane continued to jostle them. “Do we have anything better to do?” Logan asked.
Blaze didn’t hesitate. “Magnetic propulsion. Somehow their ships can ride along the electromagnetic radiation in space to take them close to the speed of light. Perhaps they create a low frequency electromagnetic wave that pulls the ship behind it like a carrier wave. I’m not sure, but they definitely found a way to tap into the electromagnetic forces surrounding us all. When this spaceship disappeared off our radar screens, it did so without a sound. Not even a peep. It was just gone.”
“So?” Logan shrugged.
“Well, air is a medium. Just like fish live in a sea of water, we live in a sea of air. We may not see it, but it’s there. When an object moves through the air, the air molecules get pushed aside to make room for the object. Just like fish and water can’t occupy the same space at the same time. When an object accelerates past the speed of sound, it expands the air around it. But the air can only disperse at its natural rate, which is the speed of sound, so it builds up into a wall, called a shock front, which creates a sonic boom. I’ve studied the UFO phenomena for years and I’ve never heard of any of these spaceships making a sonic boom.
“The only way I can think of to avoid the sonic boom, is to part the air before you accelerate through it. A magnetic field surrounding the ship will do just that, parting the air an instant before the ship makes contact with it. The ship will then be able to ease through the air without creating a sonic boom. It’s the difference between a fat guy executing a cannonball off a ten foot diving board into a pool and an Olympic diver. The fat guy makes a huge tidal wave in all directions landing with a splat. The Olympic diver slips into the water with barely a splash or a sound.”
“But you said this ship did make a sonic boom,” said Logan.
“Only before it crashed, which indicates its magnetic field failed, which is probably why it crashed,” explained Jeff.
“Well, whatever propulsion system they use, that’s still four or more years traveling in space,” said Logan.
“To us and the Alpha Centaurians—if there are any—yes! Remember Einstein’s
famous formula E = mc squared. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. This can be translated another way to calculate how much energy it would take to accelerate a mass to the speed of light. Basically, the closer you get to the speed of light, the amount of energy required expands exponentially. So only something without mass can actually reach the speed of light. Hence, according to Einstein, the speed of light is nature’s speed limit. Nothing can surpass it. So it would appear that the vast interstellar distances would preclude space travel, because even at the speed of light it would still take years to arrive at a destination, if time was absolute.
“But Einstein taught us that time is not absolute. He proved the closer one travels to the speed of light the more time slows down. So to the space travelers only a few weeks might pass, whereas four years passed on Earth. If you got in a spaceship and flew to Alpha Centauri and back at the speed of light, you might age only two years while earth and all your friends would be eight years older. One of my theories is that these space travelers spend their entire lives exploring the cosmos and signal back their findings to their home world. They’re probably some sort of subculture within their species because they age at a much slower rate than the rest of their people.”
“That’s just one theory?” Logan chuckled.
“Yeah. My next one’s a little more complex. Einstein also taught us that space is curved. The gravitational attraction of a star is so great that it curves the space around it. The light we see from distant stars is also affected by the pull of gravity and also curves. So what we perceive to be flat actually isn’t. Did you ever fly to Europe?”
“Lots of times,” said Logan.
“Did you ever pay attention to your flight pattern?”
“Not really,” said Logan shaking his head.
“If you look at a flat map and plot the shortest distance between, say New York and Paris, you would think that the fastest way to travel would be straight across the Atlantic Ocean. But in fact the plane flies north along the Eastern coast of Canada and flies in south over Ireland. This is because the shortest distance between two points on a globe is a curve. To see this, just put a string on a globe between any two points and pull it. That will give you the shortest distance, called a geodesic.”
“OK.”
“Now let’s say we built a new transportation system to take us through the earth. The geodesic would no longer be the shortest distance between the two points. The shortest distance would once again be a straight line. I believe the aliens discovered some way to cut through space. We know nothing can travel faster than light, but if they found a faster route to reach Earth, perhaps they could get here quicker. Perhaps it takes light years to travel the route created by gravitational forces, but maybe they can get here in months by creating a shortcut through the fabric of space.”
“That’s a little farfetched, isn’t it? I mean, how can you cut through space? It’s not even tangible. It’s just … well, it’s just space.”
“Over 500 years ago, everyone thought the earth was flat. It looks flat but it’s round. We thought the universe was stable, but in fact it’s expanding every day. We thought time was absolute. Now we know time varies for each individual. With each discovery, our perceptions of the universe change. What science knows today would seem like magic to our ancestors. What science will learn tomorrow surely would seem like science fiction to us today.
“We know for a fact that space is curved. It’s measurable and it’s been proven. Shouldn’t something be on the other side? The black holes that exist in space, stars that collapse in on themselves creating a mass so dense, a gravitational field so strong, that nothing, not even light, can escape from. Where does all that light go? How could so much matter be contained in a point in space? Maybe, just maybe, these black holes are literally holes in space. One-way holes because you can never come out the way you get in, but holes nonetheless. On the other side of the hole might be a region where time doesn’t exist due to the powerful gravitational field. Perhaps, these aliens use these regions to travel vast distances in little time. Hopefully, we’ll have some of the answers after this expedition.”
“Yeah. Hopefully.”
Their conversation was interrupted as they saw Colonel Chase emerge from the rear compartment. He approached them slowly to relay what he had learned. “Good news, bad news. Our satellites located an anomaly in the Coast Mountains. That’s our ship. Unfortunately, they also picked up Canadian military action in the area. We must move quickly or we won’t be the first ones there. We’ll be rendezvousing with the Alpha Contact Team shortly. From there we move in.” Colonel Chase sauntered up to the cockpit to check the flight status with the pilots.
“It’s kind of hard for you to believe this is really happening, huh?” said Dr. Blaze.
“What’s hard to believe? I’m on a mission to contact aliens with Captain Kirk. You must be Spock. Me … I must be the unknown ensign who gets beamed down to the planet, destined to die before the next commercial break.”
“It’s even better than that Logan,” commented Blaze. “You’re really Lt. Uhura.”
19
Despite the turbulence and the small size of the airplane, Professor Pierre Le Buc was more comfortable than if he had been on a commercial jet. The large seats were made of soft leather and their spacious arrangement allowed for plenty of leg room. Ah yes, he thought, all the creature comforts of first class, and supersonic speed to boot. It was good to see how the Canadian brass spared no expense when it came to traveling in luxury. As he looked out his window, hardly able to see the Canadian ground over thirty thousand feet below him, he wondered what strings David must’ve pulled to get this aircraft.
He looked around and studied the other passengers. Twenty soldiers, two pilots, a stewardess, an unknown woman, and Major Gaines were aboard the plane. The stewardess supplied everyone with beverages, with the exception of alcohol, and was very pleasant in manner and form. Enough so to keep the soldiers’ thoughts occupied with something other than their upcoming assignment. He wondered if that was just a coincidence or if some military psychoanalyst suggested it to keep the men at ease.
He turned his attention to the soldiers. Overall, he thought, they were a fairly impressive group. He didn’t notice the usual signs of nervousness. No lip biting. Only one nail biter. No quick foot tapping. Three men had I-pods and seemed very relaxed, although one of them twiddled his thumbs in such a way, it indicated to Le Buc he was tenser than he was willing to let on. Another group towards the front of the aircraft was huddled together talking about something. The noise level of the supersonic transport prohibited him from overhearing their conversation but he noticed from their mannerisms, and the way their posture and verbosity changed around the presence of the stewardess, that they were busy discussing the more machismo topics of the day. A few rows closer to him a soldier was immersed in a copy of an X-men comic book and was about to be rudely interrupted by the soldier in the seat in front of him. This conversation he was able to overhear.
“You readin’ bout that chump Wolverine. Man … he’s nothin’. Gambit’s where it’s at,” said the soldier, Prestone, as he snatched the comic book out of Dupres’ hands.
Dupres stood up quickly. “Nothing? He’s a born and bred Canadian. He’d slice and dice Gambit’s pretty boy butt anytime,” he said getting right into Prestone’s face.
“No way, homme. Gambit’s too slick, too fast. No way that hairy little runt can lay a claw on him. Besides, Gambit’s got style and the moves—gets all the chicks.”
“Gimme that.” He grabbed back his magazine. “What you grinnin’ at?” Dupres asked a third soldier next to him.
“You two don’t know what you’re talking about. We all know Cyclops is the man.” The third soldier, Carter, said it like it was fact.
“Cyclops? Cyke sucks,” said Prestone.
“Yeah,” said Dupres. “Shooting beams out of your eyes is lame, man.”
Carter stood up next
to them. “That may be true, but every night he comes back to the mansion and gets to bang the White Queen. Awooooh!” His howl attracted some of the other soldiers’ attention. “There ain’t no better super power than that.” The three men broke out in laughter and exchanged numerous high fives and low twos.
Le Buc got up and made his way to Major Gaines, who was quietly staring out the window until the three soldiers’ antics caught his attention.
“Don’t worry, Le Buc, they’ll do their jobs.” Major Gaines thought he was anticipating Le Buc’s next question.
Le Buc sat down next to him. “Au contraire, mon ami. To tell the truth, I’m impressed. No one seems overly nervous. Seems to me like your team is cohesive and experienced. But the lack of conversation pertaining to our immediate mission … they don’t know all the intriguing details, do they, David?”
David smiled slightly. “For now it’s just a standard rescue and recovery mission of a highly sensitive nature. They’ve been warned about the potential dangers, but I figured I’d wait until we heard from the advance team before I filled them in on the more interesting aspects. If Lynx and Hound find nothing, it’s better these men don’t know.”
“What’s her role in all this?” Le Buc motioned towards the attractive woman who was slowly heading in their direction.
David slapped Le Buc’s knee softly. “That, my good friend, is Rebecca.” Rebecca was Major Gaines’ top intelligence officer and protégé.
“Ahh.” Le Buc was pleasantly surprised. He had spoken with her on the phone numerous times before when he communicated with the Major, but at 30,000 feet he did not make the connection. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the voice.”
“I thought you of all people would have put that one together,” quipped David.
“Hmmm … She’s not what I expected.”
David smirked. “Older, right?”
“No. A brunette—somehow I was expecting a brunette.” Rebecca was blonde. “She knows, doesn’t she?”