“If you’re going to suggest that we don’t load the system to its design maximum, then—”
I slapped the table with enough force to not only shut Luther up and make the guards take a step forward, but to raise me several inches out of my seat. “Hear me out! Regardless of what you think of me and all grounders, please just consider this simple alternative. I propose that we do both.”
Luther glowered, crossed his arms and sat back in his seat. “We brought you all the way up here. Of course we’ll listen.”
“Our biggest concern with magnetic locks are power requirements, keeping the pads on the carriages clean and the lack of mechanical fail-safes should the system lose power. We can divert power from the lift drive to the mag locks for two tenths of a second, during the actual momentum shift when the mechanical locks fail, providing that extra robustness, then we engage the mechanical locks and shift power back to the drive system and start the lift.”
Luther stared at the wall screen with narrowed eyes and I could see the gears of his mind whirling. He might be an asshole and a manager, but according to Sofie, he was also an excellent engineer.
“This way we don’t have to add a dedicated mag lock power system and we keep the mechanical lock system,” I said. “We just have to add the controllers and mag pads to the bridge and carriages. A far smaller design change.”
Luther’s lackeys smiled and glanced at each other. He sighed and said, “We’ll work up some new stress and power models for this option and let you know.”
* * *
Once back home on Støvhage, the flight medical team seemed satisfied with my progress, so they handed me some thick gloppy stuff to drink and left me alone. Aside from my stomach being a jittery mess and my head throbbing like a dust rock bass line, I had survived reentry without a problem. At least until the door opened and Lund slipped in. And that probably explained why they immediately separated me from the flight crew after we landed.
“Hello, Judel.”
“Hi, Alvin. What a surprise to see you here.” I had to be careful. Too much vitriol and he would doubt that I’d be so cooperative. Not enough and he’d suspect I was up to something.
He raised an eyebrow. “We’re obviously concerned that the mission was cut short and you were sent home due to a security violation. Care to explain?”
“You’re the intelligence expert. Shouldn’t you have this information already?”
Lund sat down and crossed his arms. “We don’t have assets among their people. That’s why your trip was so important. We’re limited to what our signal processing people can glean from their electronic communications.”
I shrugged, took another drink of the nasty goo and made the appropriate face. “They had confined me to certain corridors and sections. Sofie took me to unauthorized sections and we both got in trouble. She was thrown in prison and they asked me to leave.”
His eyes flared with excitement before he locked the stoicism in place again. I knew he wanted to ask what I’d seen, but he held it in check. “Why did she betray her own security to show you things she shouldn’t?”
“It could be the fact that she, and they, know about your twelve heavy launch vehicles and the plan to put troops on their moon.”
He flinched and went pale, but said nothing.
I’d caught him by surprise. Hopefully it would rattle him enough to believe the rest of my lies.
“She wanted me to see their preparations and hopefully avoid an invasion, but their military wants us to come. And be wiped out to the last man. It would evidently be an effective deterrent against future aggression.”
“And what did you see?”
“She led me out of my section via a service tunnel. Every other corridor and section we visited contained armed soldiers. I saw hundreds. She said they’d been expecting an invasion for a long time and their military service is compulsory for every young person. If she told the truth, they have about forty thousand armed and active.”
I surprised him again. He blinked and then leaned forward. “Their population is that high?”
“All I know is what I saw. The corridors she took me to were shoulder-to-shoulder people. It was like a hive. Maybe what you said about them breeding like animals is true.”
He gave me a sick leering grin. “And is it true? Did you finally consummate your little long-distance love affair?”
I glared at him. My disgust wasn’t in the slightest bit faked.
He rolled his eyes and snorted. “So. They just let you go? Knowing what you’d seen.”
“That part baffles me, too,” I shrugged. “I really don’t know, but I suspect if they kept me, it would’ve given us a good excuse to attack and they’d prefer it to appear unprovoked. Maybe Sofie knew what she was doing and forced their hand?”
He stared at me for a long time without speaking. With his mask back in place he said, “You went out on the surface the night before you left. Why?”
I considered telling him a half lie, about visiting the Amundsen and seeing a super weapon. Maybe the old ship’s asteroid deflection beam I’d read about, but instead decided it would be better to keep its existence secret. I could see these dumbasses firing a barrage of missiles to destroy it and we’d lose that wonderful technology due to lies and stupidity.
“To see the bridgehead from the outside,” I said. “That is one of the main reasons I went, remember? But if they had military facilities out there, they were well disguised. I saw nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Hidden from our telescopes and probes,” he said with a knowing nod then stood up. “I may be back later for more details. But I have a lot to do based on the information you provided.”
“I bet,” I said and smothered a smile.
* * *
The goats arrived, bells jingling and bleats filling the air as I set out the last salt block. Only a few of them rushed over to lick the salt, which was a good sign. It meant they were probably getting enough. The rest milled around my legs hoping I had something more interesting and tasty in the cart.
Frank barked and circled us all, bouncing on his front legs and tail wagging madly. Then he stopped, raised his ears and took off at full speed toward the house. I looked that way but saw nothing. In an irrational move driven by hope, I pulled the AllBox from my pocket to check for messages, but it still displayed a red X meaning that my home repeater was out of range. I sighed and looked out at my inherited family farm. My gaze fell on rolling hills spotty with tough grass and knee-high bushes. Something an Earther would call scrub or trash or ugly, but considering that this world had been devoid of all life when we arrived, I thought it was quite beautiful. Someday, this would all be grass, and covered in cattle and need fences, but not in my lifetime.
I could hear Frank barking in the distance, so I nudged the goats aside, crawled onto the cart, and started back toward the house to see why he was raising such hell. As I topped the next rise I saw him circling what could only be a Sigvaldite wearing one of those spider-like helper suits. My pulse quickened. We saw many more Sigvaldites since the bridge was completed, but if one were visiting me out here then it was either very good news or very bad.
I pushed the cart to max speed and bounced over the rocky ground until I could skid to a stop a few yards from the contraption. The occupant had lowered their composite frame close to the ground and was petting and cooing over a quite enthusiastic Frank. I recognized her voice immediately.
I knelt next to them. “Sofie?”
When she looked up there were tears in her eyes and dust turned to mud smudged on her cheeks.
“Hi, Judel.” Her voice, while familiar, also held the strained wheeze common to Sigvaldites visiting the surface.
“I didn’t know you were out of jail. When did that happen? I’ve been watching my… I’ve been kind of wondering.”
“Two days ago. I should have let you know, but I wanted to come down here. I thought if you knew, you might tell me not to come.”
; “Of course not. But this has to be hard on you.”
“You said I could meet your dog after the bridge was finished. I’m here to make you keep that promise.”
I knelt down and wrapped my arms around Frank’s neck. “Did you hear that, Frank? You, my boy, are a very lucky dog. This pretty lady came down from space and all the way out into the dusty badlands to meet you.”
Frank bounced with excitement and licked my face in reply.
“I might have had other reasons, too,” she wheezed. “The last time didn’t really work out as I’d hoped.”
A lump formed in my throat. “Yeah, me either.”
We started a slow walk back to the house and the wind picked up, surrounding us with dust devils. Sofie gasped and stopped. “Will they hurt us?”
“No. Too weak,” I said with a laugh. “Like if you were to try and pick me up.”
She smirked and shook her head. “Some things never change. By the way, I love the solution you came up with for the bridge carriage locks. I’ve really missed working this last year, so indulge me and tell me what you’ve been working on. Your next big super project!”
“The bridge will be my last project for a while. Upon the insistence of the Government Security Agency, more specifically Alvin Lund, I’ve been fired and pretty much blackballed.”
“Oh no. Why?”
“Once the bridge was finished and their agents started snooping around up on Sigvaldi, they realized I had unabashedly lied about your forty thousand troops.”
Her eyes opened wide. “Forty thousand troops? Did you really do that?”
I nodded.
She started laughing, then stopped and gasped for breath. I didn’t know what to do and fluttered around her like a scared hen. With elaborate hand gestures she waved me away and eventually regained her breath.
“Don’t get me wrong,” I said. “I’ve missed you and I’m very, very glad you came, but it sounds like this gravity is killing you. When do you go back?”
“You missed me?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Hell yes, I missed you! Talking to you every day was the best part of those difficult years we spent designing the bridge. Then just as I thought… I mean you were suddenly gone.”
“It must look like I’m an invalid down here, but I can get in and out of this contraption on my own. And tend to my basic needs, so I’d like to stay. At least for a little while. If that’s okay. And if it’s okay with Frank.”
“Of course it’s okay. It will always be okay.”
* * *
“Pappa?”
Her voice was muffled by the scarf around her mouth, but I thought I detected a trace of worry.
“What is it, Squeaker? Are you scared of the dark?”
“I’m a little scared,” she said. “But not of the dark. Some of the kids at school said the fødselsvind picks up kids and blows them away.”
I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed. “That isn’t true. If the wind blew little kids away, then there would be news reports about it on the feeds all the time. Besides, you’re six now and very tall even for six, so the worst that could happen is it would knock you off your feet. And I’ll be here with you to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Okay. But I’m just newly six. Remember that.”
I tried to stifle my laugh and made sure her goggles and scarf were tight. “I’ll remember that,” I said. “We can go back in the house and do this some other time if you’re not ready.”
“I think I’m ready. Will mamma be proud of me?”
I could see the pale wall rising in the east and could faintly hear the building roar. I shifted my bare feet, making sure of my footing and positioned my daughter in front of my legs. “Oh yes, Squeaker. She is always proud of you. She was very excited when you told her.”
“Are we still going up the bridge to see her tomorrow? To celebrate?”
When Sophie got pregnant, she insisted that the baby be gestated in Støvhage’s full gravity; even then it nearly killed her on multiple occasions. The birth had been so hard on her already frail constitution, that she could never come down the gravity well again. Long-distance marriages were difficult and Squeaker and I missed her terribly, but the three of us made it work. “Yes, baby.” I tightened my arms around her as the wind picked up. “We’ll see her tomorrow.”
Her hands tensed on mine as the dust wall towered over us and the wind howled. “You and mamma built that bridge,” she yelled.
“Yes. We sure did.”
The Future of Intelligent Life in the Cosmos
Martin Rees
Martin Rees is a space scientist and cosmologist based in Cambridge, UK. He has the title of Astronomer Royal and has studied black holes, galaxy formation and the multiverse. He has also written extensively about science policy. His latest book is entitled On the Future: Prospects for Humanity (Princeton University Press).
Exobiology is a burgeoning research field. In recent years, the discovery of exoplanets has proven both transformative and morale-boosting; furthermore, implying billions of locations in our galaxy where signs of life could have emerged. There is a realistic prospect that in a decade or two we will have the capability to detect biosignatures: nonequilibrium atmospheric chemistry, vegetation, etc. Undoubtedly, the most interesting of all would be techno-signatures: electromagnetic transmissions that suggest evidence of intelligence, or manifestly artificial artifacts. So, what might we expect to detect if the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is successful?
If intelligence emerges on another Earthlike planet, we are unlikely to have any perception of its nature or motives. So, I will offer conjectures on Earth’s post-human future, where we can theorize the psychology of the dominant species and speculate future technological trends. The most likely scenario will depend on three advancing technologies: Biotech—issues of genetic modification and whether humans can redesign themselves; Artificial Intelligence (AI)—generalized machine learning, and the extent to which machines become adept at sensing and interacting with the environment; and space technology—specifically, new propulsion systems. Moreover, it matters which of these advances fastest. The order in which technologies develop could make a big difference.
First, a cosmic cameo. Let us suppose that aliens existed and were watching our planet since it formed. What would they have seen? Over most of that vast time span, Earth’s appearance altered gradually: Continents drifted; ice cover waxed and waned; successive species emerged, evolved, and became extinct. Yet, in a small part of Earth’s history—the last hundred centuries—patterns of vegetation altered much faster than before. This signaled the start of agriculture, followed by urbanization. The changes accelerated as human populations increased. Then, rapid changes continued to occur. Within a century, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere began to rise abnormally fast. There were anomalous radio emissions, and something else unprecedented happened: Rockets launched from the planet’s surface and escaped the biosphere completely. Some rockets were propelled into orbits around Earth, while others journeyed to the Moon and surrounding planets.
Thus, humans became more conspicuous. If the hypothetical aliens continued to watch our planet, what would they witness in the next century? Will a final spasm be followed by silence? Will the planet’s ecology stabilize? Could there be massive terraforming? Moreover, will an armada of rockets launched from Earth spawn a new source for life elsewhere? Think specifically about the future of space exploration: Remember that Cassini, New Horizons, and Rosetta were all last-century technology. Recall the computers and mobile phones of the 1990s and realize how much better we can do today. During the twenty-first century, the entire solar system—planets, moons, and asteroids—will be explored by flotillas of tiny robotic craft.
The next step will be the deployment of robotic fabricators in space that can build large structures. For example, giant successors to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will have immense gossamer-thin mirrors assembl
ed under zero gravity. These structures will further enhance our imaging of exoplanets as well as the cosmos. Will there be a role for humans? It cannot be denied that NASA’s Curiosity, trundling across a giant Martian crater, may have missed startling discoveries that no human geologist could overlook. However, machine learning is advancing fast, as is sensor technology. In contrast, the cost gap between manned and unmanned missions remains vast. The practical case for manned spaceflight gets increasingly weaker with each advance in robots and miniaturization.
The motive for the Apollo program was superpower rivalry. In the 1960s, NASA received about four percent of the federal budget, against 0.6 percent today. If there were a revival of the Apollo spirit and a renewed urge to build on its legacy by manned projects, a permanently inhabited lunar base would be one option. (An especially propitious site is the Shackleton crater, at the lunar South Pole—twenty-one kilometers across with a rim standing at four kilometers high. Because of the special location, its rim is always in sunlight; therefore, it escapes the broad monthly temperature range experienced on almost all the Moon’s surface. Moreover, there may be a large amount of ice inside its perpetually dark interior—crucial for sustaining a colony. Therefore, it would make sense to build on the side of the Moon that faces Earth. However, there is one exception: Radio astronomers suggest placing a substantial telescope on the far side of the moon to shield it from artificial emissions from the Earth.)
Since Apollo, NASA’s manned program has been financially constrained and impeded by public and political pressure into being exceedingly risk-averse. The space shuttle failed twice in a total of 135 launches. Astronauts, or test pilots, would willingly accept this level of risk—less than two percent; however, the shuttle had, unwisely, been promoted as a safe vehicle for civilians. Ultimately, each failure caused a national trauma. This event was followed by a hiatus in which costly efforts were made (with very limited effect) to reduce the risk in the future.
Due to its “safety culture,” NASA will confront political obstacles in achieving any grand goal within a feasible budget. Additionally, it is understood that China has the resources, the dirigiste government, and possibly the inclination to undertake an Apollo-style program. They already plan to land on the far side of the Moon; however, a more ambitious plan would involve footsteps on Mars. If China desired to assert its powerful status with a “space spectacular” to assert parity, they would need to vastly surpass what the United States achieved fifty years earlier.
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