by Eric Klein
“Given our generations of experience at the desalination of water and drilling for hydrocarbons, it was not difficult to reverse this and collect the hydrocarbons on the surface and to drill for water that needs desalination. By using the hydrocarbons as raw materials for CHON and to manufacture plastics, the colony was able to expand rapidly in anticipation of the arrival of additional people. Now, these same hydrocarbons are traded with the rest of the solar system to provide food and greenhouse gases for other colonies, leaving Earth’s limited resources for manufacturing.
“As the colony was founded by and is administered by Saudi Arabia, it is run under Sharia law as derived from the Qu’ran and the Sunnah of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Guests are required to observe these laws and local customs, but please feel free to ask a member of the same sex any questions that you may have. As our situation is different from that back in Saudi Arabia, and our people are in and out of pressure suits often, we don’t require our women to wear an abaya or to cover their hair, although many find it convenient to have a tight head covering for when they are putting on their helmets. Visiting women are rare, and are not required to cover their hair, but are strongly encouraged to wear conservative clothing at all times. We do hope that you will enjoy your visit.”
Figure 9 Titan Poster Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.
After customs and immigration we enter the main entry to the colony. There is a dome over what looks like an oversized kitchen appliance, enclosed with yellow gas. The sign says that the original colonists recovered the 1.3-meter-wide Huygens probe from the site where it had landed in 2005. Now it is preserved, complete with the slightly yellow atmosphere, as a tribute to the combined Cassini–Huygens space mission.
As there are no real tourist activities or sites, planning what to do while ashore is not difficult. The symposium has arranged a tour of one of the hydroponic farms that provide food and oxygen for the colony. Apparently, they have modified one of the hydrocarbons to act as a growth medium for the algae used to provide the bulk of the protein in their diet. Additionally, we have the option of a trip on the surface to one of the hydrocarbon lakes to observe the process.
No attempt has been made to terraform the surface, but there are efforts to make the city tunnels more comfortable. This includes digging out a large cavern to form an oasis, complete with date palm trees, grass, and a small lake. It is lit with full-spectrum lamps during the “day.” Surprisingly, they have a small herd of camels roaming in the cavern.
They separate us into categories as we enter the customs area: single men, men accompanied by women (and in one case, a child), and single women. The first group is processed very quickly. Our mixed group is fairly quick, with all questions directed to the men, and the women only required to present their ident chips and to receive their visas onto their wristpads. The single women are each with a man acting as ‘father’ for them.
The trip to the farm is uneventful, if not insulting. The women who had a guardian, and could join, are completely ignored, while those who did not have a male guardian are watching via a telepresence robot. If one of the women with us has a question or point to make, she has to do it via her male “guardian,” who relays it to our guide for an answer. The ones on the ship need to hope one of the men notice and relay the question, or they are completely ignored. Fay and Dodge restrain themselves, but it is easy to see that none of the women accepts this as reasonable after acting as leaders and lecturers elsewhere. The only time they are acknowledged is when we come upon a group of women tending and harvesting vegetable plants. Fay looks at me. “Can you ask what they are harvesting?”
We are all surprised when one of the women responds directly, “Today we are harvesting tomatoes, cucumbers, and various herbs to be used in cooking and tonight’s salad.”
What follows is like a release of a pressure valve. The women of our group congregate around these women and ask various technical and personal questions, while the men are left to chat with our guide. He explains how the air is circulated from these chambers around the colony to provide fresh oxygen and a more natural flavor than the reclamation plant could do on its own.
Returning through customs, they check that everyone has their visa and that only our people return to the ship.
The next day, after gathering in the ship’s lobby, we go as a group down to the customs area. Again, we are split into the same three groups, but this time we all pass through customs very quickly. When the last of us are cleared, the symposium group is led to an airlock hanger. There, we are all issued pressure suits and allowed to enter the rover. It is somewhat like an oversized accordion bus with huge tires. Once everyone has boarded, there is a siren sound, similar to the pressure breach warning we were told about in the ship’s safety briefing. Then, once everyone either has left the hanger or is in a sealed pressure suit, they pump out the air and open the triple layers of doors.
For the next hour, we are lectured about the theories explaining why there are pools of hydrocarbons on the surface, how they were discovered, and their uses. Several of the passengers are lulled to sleep by the dry monotone of the lecturer’s delivery.
Almóinn and his parents are sitting in front of us, and he is having a blast staring out the window at the alien landscape. At one point the lecturer mentions that they “sometimes need to use oxygen to flare off some of the gas buildup – needing to burn the oxygen, unlike on Earth where we burn the hydrocarbons.”
“Daddy, why would we be getting a false fwawe alert?”
Bill starts to explain what the lecturer meant about flare and burning, but Almóinn says, “No, no, the u-man on the ship told someone, ‘Don’t wowwy; it wouldn’t weally be hot.’”
Bill looks at his son without comprehension, but then we are all distracted as the cabin is lit up by a bright light near the horizon. It is a jet of flame like a chemical rocket launch, going almost a kilometer high.
“Ah, there is one of the flare-offs now. Looks like they have a lot of oxygen to burn.”
Taking our table at Callahan’s, we find the place is a bit rowdy tonight. There are a number of people at a table across the room. I recognize Dodge and some of the younger participants in the symposium having a serious discussion or argument. One or two of them are wearing shirts with Che Guevara in a space suit. What little we can hear seems to be the women complaining loudly about the treatment as less-than-second-class human beings on Titan. Someone’s voice carries, “Even the robots have more rights than the women.”
Ignoring their discussion, Fay and I start to discuss our plans for the ‘Death Star’ moon, Mimas, when we get to Saturn. “Space lore has it that that nickname happened when someone at NASA saw the first closeup photo of Mimas and noticed that it had a crater that makes it resemble the Death Star from the Star Wars movies,” she explains to me. “They are quoted as saying the line from the movie ‘that’s no moon’ and that permanently fixed the nickname. It seems that the colonists enjoy playing up to the name. Collectively, they have purchased from Disney and the Lucas estate various collections of original materials from the Star Wars movies, television shows, and books. Now they have quite a museum and tourist attraction based on the layout of the original Death Star in movie number four. There is a dinner theater where the guests dress as characters from the movies and interact as if they were members of the Imperial Senate, while local actors play out the major parts from the movie. It is supposed to be extremely retro and loads of fun, so I signed up for it as soon as I knew we would be stopping there.”
I check my wristpad. “According to the ship’s schedule, the pageant has a planned performance to act out a small scene from one of the movies or television shows. So sure, this sounds like fun. How do I arrange a part to match your costume?”
“Great, I’ll take care of it for you.” She kisses my nose. “I’m so glad you want to do this with me; I was afraid you would think it too g
eeky.”
Pulling her close, “It is. That’s why I want to do it with you.”
Chapter 19
Obi Wan Kenobi: “That’s no moon…it’s a space station.”
Han: “It’s too big to be a space station.”
Luke: “I have a very bad feeling about this.”
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
“That’s No Space Station.”
Unknown NASA control room employee’s playful label of photos from the Cassini-Huygens mission, 26 July 2004.
Before we leave the ship, we are dressed in costume for the dinner. When Fay signed up she agreed to come as the representative from Pantora. This means that we are wearing blue makeup and Fay has a purple wig on. Our outfits are in red and gold, to match the descriptions given in the registration documentation. It seems that the local government on Mimas has gone all-out in planning this, and is hoping that it will boost tourism now that the EmDrive ships are able to make it practical.
Leaving the ship is a bit different this time. The connecting tunnel to Coruscant is all white with an artificial feel. There is music playing that Fay tells me is the Star Wars theme. As we enter the security area we see that there are none of the red tunics and bearskin hats of the Queen’s Foot Guards like near the Palace in London, nor the black and green kilts of the Scottish Black Watch in Edinburgh. There are not even the military uniforms of Heathrow Spaceport. Here, there are men in white Stormtrooper armor uniforms with serious-looking PhaSR rifles, and the people doing the checks are in white double-breasted tunics with round collars, matching trousers, and black boots. None of them smiles while they check us before letting us in.
As we are a little early in arriving, we are invited to wait in the Mos Eisley Cantina until the hall opens. There are hologram musicians and various individuals from the movies. To one side we can see a table of people who look vaguely familiar. One is leaning back in a black vest and a white shirt. He is sitting with a young blonde and an older man in robes. As the opening hour approaches, a short blue individual walks to the table. There is a flash of light, and the blue man (hologram) is lying down on the table, dead. The man in the vest gets up and says to everyone, “Follow me,” and the doors open into the event room.
Inside, most of the symposium and pageant is in costumes. They, like the rest of us, are dressed in an array of outfits from the various movies. However, all are in fancy and colorful outfits of Senators or their consorts, and a few are in fur. Dodge stands out a bit as she is off to one side with a group dressed in orange flight suits, marking them as rebel pilots.
There is one other that seems out of place. Fay identifies him as our First Officer, Ethan Laidlaw. He is dressed in an imperial officer’s uniform made up of a dark grey double-breasted tunic, with a round collar and matching trousers, a pair of black boots, a belt, and a command cap. What looks like a pistol hangs at his hip. He looks very different from how he looked in his holo announcements or when we saw him on Luna.
After a short wait, while hors d’oeuvres and drinks are being served, several red-clad Imperial Guards enter the room followed by a man in black armor and another in a black robe. From a door to our left enter the man with the black vest and a woman with her hair done up in circular braids. From the right enter a man in a brown robe and the young blonde man. All around are various robots, cylinders with blue or red markings, orange spheres, and what looks like someone in a gold outfit. What must be children are running around in fur suits or brown robes, in both cases speaking what sounds like gibberish to me.
The whole evening is fun, with characters from the various movies, cartoons, and books intermixed with a complete disregard to the timeline of the series. There are staged debates and events. At one point the rebel pilots get into a shoving match with a group of Stormtroopers, and Dodge lands on the floor. Throughout the whole evening, there are holograms showing the various movies and cartoons in different places around the room.
The climax of the night is the Emperor declaring the new Empire and disbanding the Republican Senate.
Leaving Mimas is uneventful, with many of the passengers requiring assistance back to the ship after a night of eating and drinking.
Over breakfast, I say, “Fay, we only have a few hours before we depart Mimas. After the show last night, I would like to take a look at that museum you mentioned.”
Going through customs, the guards are in regular uniforms, still with the Star Wars theme, but now wearing grey cloth rather than the armor of the night before. Those checking us are being a bit more diligent than last night, and as we will be going out into the public areas they are checking everything we are bringing onto the moon.
The museum has everything you could imagine with the Star Wars brand. This includes dioramas of different scenes from the movies with figurines, candy dispensers, lightsabers, and even a bronze lamp labeled “Yoda™ Brings Jedi Wisdom” that was donated by the Stemberger family.
Chapter 20
“The object might be a dead comet, but in the Arecibo images it appears to have donned a skull costume for its Halloween flyby.”
Kelly Fast, IRTF program scientist and acting program manager for NASA’s NEO Observations Program, on 30 October 2015
We get up early to get a glimpse of asteroid 2015 TB145, nicknamed Skull Asteroid because of how it was said to look like a Halloween skull when it was first spotted by NASA. The fact that it had practically snuck up on them before being spotted the day before Halloween in 2015 only added to the strength of the name.
Rather than view it from the ballroom with everyone else, Fay takes me up to the observation deck. This is a passenger-accessible area in the point above the bridge. During much of the trip, it was covered with protective plates, and the space was used for yoga and meditation classes. Now it is about full of people wanting to get a glimpse of this almost black, dead comet. About half of the people here seem to have not gone to bed yet, and seem a bit worse for it. As Skull Asteroid comes into view we can see the dark indentations that reminded the technician long ago of a skull. We can see lighter patches that seem almost reflective, and someone speculates that they must be areas that have been recently hit by space debris and are now showing melted metal.
The show being over, we head back to bed for a few more hours of sleep before breakfast.
Arriving at the table, we find the Captain already seated and his cast removed. After a kiss hello to Fay, he explains that as part of his physiotherapy the doctor is sending him for thirty minutes or more of swimming and moving in the pool every day, followed by varying times on the treadmill for two weeks, until his new foot is back to regular strength. For this, his first day, we decide to tag along with him to the pool, figuring that it will be more fun for him with other people.
Getting into the pool with our rebreathers, we start some light play and a game of tag. After about ten minutes in the pool, we hear an alert over the facemask speakers. “This is a solar flare alert. All passengers and crew report to the central shelters. You have five minutes to reach the shelters. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill.”
I get a flashback to the prelaunch safety briefing where they explained that you needed to get into the central shelters where the pool and drinking water will be rerouted to form a water barrier around the shelters. This will act to protect everyone from the radiation in all but the very worst storms. Time in the shelters is determined by how strong and long the storm lasts. Short flares can be over in as little as 20 minutes; longer ones can keep everyone in the shelters for more than a day until the particles are blown away by the solar wind.
The Captain tells us to grab the handholds along the walls, as in these cases the pool drains extremely quickly with the aid of enhanced gravity, in order to get the water to the shelter storage tanks so that the water can be used as a shield. Though we won’t be harmed by the fast-flowing waters, this will make it too tu
rbulent to swim to the exits, so it is better to wait it out. We will still have time to get out and down to the shelter once the water clears.
But the water never starts to drain. After we wait for more than a minute, we notice that the pool is still full. The Captain says, “That’s odd. It should have drained by now. Let’s get out now and see what is going on.” As we exit we can see a faint yellow gas was spraying into the corridors and the few stragglers fall unconscious. “Sleep gas. This is no normal procedure for a solar flare. Vena, contact the space patrol.”
“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“What do you mean you can’t do that?”
“Well, Dave, first the communication channel to Ceres is not functioning at this time. And, second, you are not authorized to initiate out-of-ship communications.”
“OK, one at a time. I’m the Captain, what do you mean I’m not authorized?”
“Under Captain’s orders, Captain Flavin is the only one authorized to communicate outside of the ship during this emergency.”
“How is Jim the Captain? What happened to Ethan?”
“You were removed from command as medically unfit for command, and who is Ethan? I don’t have a record of any Ethan as a member of the crew. With First officer Lally not responding, James Flavin took command of the ship.”
“OK, leave that for a moment. What happened to the communications system?”
“The Ansible system is offline. The log shows that there was an abnormality detected in the entangled module and it was removed for repairs that had not been completed prior to the emergency.”