Earth to Centauri: The First Journey (Captain Anara - Antariksh Book 1)
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‘Hey Gomti. I need some help. Please retrieve records related to space probes launched from Earth from 1950 onwards.’ he stated his request.
“Doctor Aryan, give me a moment to check that.’ There was a short pause and then Gomti spoke again. ‘There are sixty-five records of interstellar probes sent from Earth since 1950. Fifty of them have stopped transmitting with the last one going offline in 2065. The remaining fifteen are online and were launched between 2025 to 2050.’
‘Hmm, run a combination check on the probes which carried information about Earth’s location, Morse code and are the likely to be farthest from Earth based on last know location.’
‘There are five which fit the three parameters - Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and New Horizons. Of these, it’s expected that Pioneer 10 and Voyager 1 are farthest from Earth today. Contact with New horizon was re-established 10 years back through our radio telescope on Pluto.’
“Thanks. Now, I know each of the probes carried scientific instruments to carry out analysis of planets and the solar system itself, capture images and all that. But they also carried various messages from Earth, right?
‘You’re right Doctor. Most probes carried data plates showing where originated including messages from Earth and mathematical formulae, which are regarded as a universal language any intelligent species would recognize. I can pull some data on that if you want.’
‘Not right now. Just tell me, what was the common reference point used for these probes to show the location of Earth?’
‘In general the reference points used were the galactic centre and 14 pulsars within a relatively short distance from Earth. The information on the probes showed the distance and direction to the centre of the galaxy and the periods of the pulsars. However, I must point out that the naming and identifying conventions for pulsars were not standardised at the time the probes were launched. Further considering various factors including space motion of the pulsars, it may not be possible to exactly identify all 14 original pulsars, even by me. The information available is just too limited.’
‘Okay Gomti, I understand. Can you reference the last known locations of the probes, the location of the 14 possible pulsars and the galactic centre and send the information to Doctor Sneha please? Also, please download the contact data which was on each of the probes and send it to my station. Thanks for your help.’
‘You are welcome, Doctor. Thank you.’
‘So, Doctor Sneha. Have you managed to confirm the information?’ asked Dr. Aryan once the team had assembled back in the conference room.
‘Yes Sir. We proceeded as discussed. The direction and distance seem to indicate the origin as approximately 4 light years away in the proximity of our nearest triple star system Proxima Centauri.’
‘As you will recall Doctor,’ said Dr. Sneha, ‘this is the same place where we discovered Proxima B nearly 80 years ago. Since that time, we have a better understanding of that star system and the possibility that a habitable planet exists within it. However, there has been no evidence found to validate this hypothesis. The earliest we can expect a confirmation is when the Chinese deep space probe Yang L5 will reach it in 50 years or so.’
‘That would fit in with my findings as well.’ said Aryan and he told them briefly of his information on the deep space probes. ‘Records from that era are sketchy and most people who worked on the programme are long gone, however I have found that each of those probes carried substantial records about Earth, its people, origin etc. Particularly noteworthy is the Golden Record on Voyager 1. This one had a lot of information including the spatial references that you guys worked on. You can see the details, whatever is available, on your displays and Gomti has more data for you to go through later. Suffice to say, I believe we have a few answers and a location to go along and it’s time we meet Director Srinivas again.’
‘Gomti, please ask the Director to meet us in the conference room.’
The meeting broke up and three of them headed toward the conference room. It was late in the evening and the short walk to the main block was pleasant. Each of them wandered along thinking about the implications of their discovery over the last two days not knowing what it heralded for humanity.
25th April 2117
Complications
Just like most commanding officers who have risen from the ranks, the Captain hated the routine admin tasks she had to handle. Some however, could not be delegated and protocol required her to manage them personally. One of these was the daily roster and going through the personnel assignments.
She sighed and put away the last file on her screen. Sitting across her was Ryan, making the necessary notations and changes which he had to execute. Theirs was a good team. Over the last two years during the fit outs and trials they’d both learnt to understand and trust each other.
Ryan was ambitious but not overly so. He knew he had a lot to learn and Anara with more than 50 space missions under her belt was a good mentor. Her ability to logically think through problems and his ability to execute to perfection made them a good fit. They did argue on a regular basis but none of those arguments would derail the mutual respect they shared.
Anara had grown up in the foothills of the Himalayas. For her home would always be Kasauli, a small town in the hills, still relatively untouched by the face of technology. She had been born in a family of bureaucrats and so had a good understanding of politics, local and international. The world had changed in the last 100 years and she had seen quite a bit of it first-hand.
The conflicts in the early part of the 21st century had fortunately been contained by a combination of diplomacy and military might by 2050 and an all-out third world war had been avoided. Relative peace reigned across the globe but these events had led to changes in power structures. The expected coming together of nations had not happened and with the complete breakup of the EU in 2040, no other nation-states were willing to try that experiment again. Walls still remained across international borders and a few new ones were build. Exchange of people became difficult but exchange of information flourished and that is what contributed to the successful launch of this mission.
She pulled herself out of her reverie and asked, ‘Do we have anything else to cover else we can get into staff meeting.’
‘No, that’s it,’ replied Ryan, ’but I hope you remembered to go through Doctor Khan’s request and approved it.’
‘Yeah, I did manage it. I have a couple of questions for him though.’
They walked through the door into the staff room. The core operations team of Antariksh was already assembled there. Besides the Doctor, it included the engineering head Madhavan, defence specialist Major Rawat and science head Dr. Lian. Lt. Manisha as propulsion and comm specialist completed the team.
‘Good morning everyone. We are now in our 32nd week in space and we have crossed 2.2 LY from Earth as you know and that puts us at 2 LY from destination,’ said Anara pointing to the navigational display.
‘From now onwards I would like increased focus on system readiness and weekly drills to ensure everything is in order for our final approach,’ she continued. ‘Please plan for those.’ Turning to Dr. Khan she asked, ‘How are we on the radiation study Doctor?’
‘I have it under control Captain. I have identified ten of the crew from various sections who I would like to study. I already have the baseline data of each crew member and Narada has compiled the changes over the last thirty two weeks. There is no cause for concern as of now. Looks like the Dome and the shielding on the ship are doing their jobs well.’
‘Good. So, what exactly are you looking for in these ten people?’
‘This is part of the protocol set up before we left as everyone is aware. This is the first manned space flight into interstellar space and we have to further study the effects of humans staying in the dome for extended periods of time. The study basically helps us determine if there are any adverse effects of travelling at FTL speeds on human physiology. I nee
d to run those tests more frequently and adapt the ship’s shielding in case any ill-effects are found.’
‘Ok. That sounds doable. Any other concerns?’
‘I also require space in the science lab to store some samples and carry out tests. As we are aware, the medical bay can only accommodate half the number.’ said Dr. Khan.
‘No way,’ retorted Dr. Lian. ‘I had already informed the medical team that I cannot allow any experiments in the science labs. Captain, you’d promised to work this out.’
‘I know Lian, but unfortunately there is nothing else available and this was the original plan. Moreover, your detailed work will not start till we reach the destination and I am sure Dr. Khan’s ‘patients’ can be taken care of till that time.’
Dr. Lian agreed reluctantly but looked daggers at Khan for having brought this up again. He could have very well waited another couple of weeks.
‘Now about those power drains, do you have an update, Madhavan?’
‘No Ma’am. We have checked most of the systems and I have not noticed any anomalies. The strange fact is, even though the power consumption is higher than expected, the reserves are not getting stressed. I can’t explain it. I believe, there is more at work than a system failure but unless I get into the depth of the engines, there is very little I can do, and that is not possible unless we are at dead stop.’
‘Narada, do you have any inputs on this issue’, asked the Captain. There was no reply for a second and then Narada responded, ’No Captain. I have not detected any significant anomalies and the rest is as Madhavan stated.’
‘There is another thing I want to discuss Captain but in private,’ said Madhavan.
‘We will meet up in the power plant later today, Madhavan. Right now, let’s go over the communications protocols.’
Anara had been briefed intensively on this front before leaving Earth. Not wanting to leave this critical task to anyone else, it had been deemed necessary that the Captain should handle all inter-species communications if any. Anara had been first exposed to the work done over the last 100 plus years in interstellar communications.
Communications with Extra-terrestrial Intelligence or CETI as it had been known since the late 20th century was a favourite among astronomers, scientists and science fiction writers. Mostly it was deemed that two civilizations from different planets would not be able to talk to and understand to each other unless large amount of language samples and reference were available and sufficient time provided for analysis and learning. Then again mathematics was deemed to the universal language in the universe and most messages were composed with this in mind.
A number of projects in the 20th and 21st century including the Arecibo message, Lone Signal, Contact Humanity amongst others, had attempted to send signals to star clusters in hopes they will be captured by aliens and translated, leading to contact with Earth. Most messages were based on simple and universal understanding of mathematics and physics. Based on calculations most messages would have been received at the destination before the year 2100. However, replies, if any, would still take decades to reach Earth.
She was carrying a standard set of greetings and basic data to be transmitted if contact was made. Vetted by a set of scientists, historians, astronomers and linguists, this set was determined to be the first line of making contact. Starting with simplest form of data 1s and 0s, it increases in level of difficulty going up to complex mathematical equations and algorithms. It included images, sounds and videos and Anara had learnt that these were similar to the Voyager Golden Record though much more voluminous.
‘So, we have the data set ready and tested multiple times. Madhavan, what about the transmission methods?’
‘We have set up three types of signalling systems with built in redundancies, Captain. Visual, audio and electromagnetic. I will be carrying out checks on them over the next two days. I don't anticipate any issues,’ said Madhavan.
‘When will you be carrying out trials for the system, Madhavan?’ enquired Anara.
‘Already underway. We have been using the given protocols and transmitting them across the three sub-systems and have not found any issues so far.’
‘Good. So, we are set. Manisha, please plan and inform the crew about the next jump. Madhavan, walk with me.’
‘Yes Captain,’ replied Manisha as everyone stood up to go to their respective station.
‘So Madhavan, what’s the trouble with the power consumption?’ asked Anara as they walked out of the Ops and down the stairway to the engine room on level 3.
“Captain, I believe there is systematic drain on our power resources. I have been unable to trace it to single source. It’s not a coincidence or a failure but a leakage. Come over to my station and I’ll show you.’
They entered the power plant. It was a large but quiet place with most of the action happening behind shielded areas with no human access. A few portholes allowed physical viewing of the power plant. A few drones moved in the workspaces carrying out various tasks while a multitude of monitors and displays glowed with activity, showing status of the subsystems in the control room. Most systems had multiple redundancies and two engineers were sufficient to keep manage the entire apparatus.
They moved across the hall to Madhavan’s workspace. He called up his monitor and manipulated the controls to pull up some data.
‘You see these subsystems, Captain and the power consumption getting recorded here?’ Madhavan asked pointing to the numbers and graphs. ‘Those numbers add up to the overall power consumption for the ship displayed here,’ he pointed to another number.
‘Okay, ‘said Anara, reading the numbers but not getting their significance, ‘but what exactly is the problem?’
‘See here, if I take the readings from the field instruments, I find a 0.1% variance across all systems. That adds up to a total of 2% loss in power which we cannot account for,’ said Madhavan showing her the readings from the instruments.
She understood what the engineer was trying to say. If this was correct, then there was some cause for worry.
‘Did you ask Narada to analyse these numbers?’
‘No Captain, I thought over getting him involved. You see, Narada is connected to every single system on board including the field instruments. There is no way he could have missed this. But has he raised a single alarm? No! In fact, every time I have asked him to check the numbers, he has replied in the negative. To tell you the truth, I have been working the old-fashioned way to avoid him,’ and he showed her a stack of handwritten notes.
‘If we assume that your data is correct, do you have any theories where the power is being diverted to?’ asked Anara.
‘No Captain,’ replied Madhavan, shaking his head. ‘The drain seems to be hardwired into the primary power distribution. Unless I physically open the cables, I will not be able to locate it. Opening the cables will require stopping the engines and purging the engine space of radiation. I can’t do that while we are cruising and no way that can be hidden from Narada.’
‘You might just be overreacting where Narada is concerned but let’s keep it this was till we get a better idea of what we are dealing with. For all we know, this might just be a calibration issue. Keep your paper data for now and we will confront Narada when we have some more evidence.’
Did the ship’s AI have a system error or worse had started working on his own agenda for his own reasons - she wondered as she walked out of the room.
Meanwhile, Madhavan went back to work at his station. He knew he had to find the source of the power drain soon. He was ready to stake his professional reputation on his gut feeling that this drain was by design but there was no reason to do so. The plant could generate enough power to take care of any eventualities. Anyway, he needed to get to the bottom of this mystery. Maybe he could get Manisha on the job to help him. The kid was smart and knew her engineering principles. Besides she looked up at him with the kind of respect which was damn difficult to get from the young people t
hese days.
Jan 24th, 2110
Plans
Director Srinivas sat in the waiting room outside the cabinet briefing room. He had arrived quite early for his meeting with the Prime Minister.
As he waited to be called in, he went through his notes starting with the first time the signal had been recognized. His team had done a solid job bringing together fragmented bits and pieces together to form a complete and logical picture. The probable location of the source of the signal was quite probable and had been confirmed by astronomers to be a possible host to harbour intelligent life. Proxima B was going to get very famous very soon.
Based on all the available data, he was going to recommend a very ambitious project to the Prime Minister. His only regret was that he would not be personally able to join the mission but he had just the person in mind to lead it.
The door to the cabinet room opened and he was ushered in by the PM’s secretary.
‘Good Morning, Director Srinivas,’ said the Prime Minister, pointing him towards a chair. There were four other people in the room that Srinivas recognized.
‘You know the Minister of space exploration and the Defence Minister. This is Dr. Subramanian, Director of Defence Research and Dr. Priya, Director of Institute of Astrometric.’ Srini acknowledged each in turn. This was a high powered meeting but judging by the absence of other ministers, he assumed the PM wanted to keep the information contained for now.
‘So, Srinivas,’ said the Prime Minister, ‘I believe you have made progress in deciphering the mysterious signal and you have some recommendations for us. However, before you start can you give us some more background and what’s the current status? These four are a bit behind on the updates so far and I am afraid I am not the best person around to explain the technicalities.’
‘Yes of course, Mr. Prime Minister,’ said Srini and collected his thoughts. ‘Ministers and Doctor,’ he said formally, ‘You are all aware of the signal that was received at GMRT one week back and what it represents. Let me bring you up to speed to what we have discovered since then.’ Srinivas connected his handheld to the conference screen and brought up the schematics of interstellar space up to the Proxima Centauri three-star system. He explained how his team had extracted the second set of numbers from the signal and extrapolated the data available to locate the most probable source.