“Do you know how crazy that sounds?” Kalico asked. “We’re talking billions of specific cells.”
Dya pointed at the TriNA molecule projected above the table. “That molecule can process three times the information your own DNA can. We estimate there may be a million TriNA molecules in Talina’s body. And, unlike your DNA, they recombine with each other, sharing information, before returning to reconstitute the original molecule to integrate what they’ve learned. Given that kind of computational ability, maybe figuring out how to run a human body isn’t that difficult.”
“Shit,” Trish Monagan muttered.
Kalico asked, “Can TriNA combine with DNA? Is that how it’s doing it?”
“No.” Dya pointed to the third strand. “Remember that while it’s chemically the same molecule, TriNA uses a different polymerase that bends the base pairs one hundred and twenty degrees out of alignment. You might get a short segment of TriNA strand that might bind through a Hoogstein bond in human DNA, but that would be it.”
“Unless we start exchanging polymerases, too,” Yvette noted.
“Won’t matter even if it does,” Dya said. “The codons won’t come close to matching up.”
“That’s all fine, but what about Tal?” Trish asked. “She going to be all right?”
Dya tapped her fingers rhythmically on the table. “We can’t make any predictions at this point. It would help if we knew what the quetzal in her wanted. Rocket and Kylee lived for four years in a symbiotic relationship. Until Rocket’s murder, Kylee was fine.”
Dya paused, jaws knotted, and took a calming breath. “That was one quetzal and one little girl. Talina has the molecules from a host of different quetzals interacting inside her. We’re just going to have to wait and see.”
“Anything you can do to exorcise them?” Kalico asked.
“Not yet.” Dya pursed her lips.
“Hey!” Trish leaned forward. “This is Tal we’re talking about. I know you’ve got history with her, and, yeah, Tal hasn’t been the same since she got infected by that damn quetzal. But she saved this whole colony. Most of us owe our lives to her.”
“Easy, Trish,” Shig said with a benign smile on his face. “Your tamas is showing.”
“No Buddhist crap,” Trish shot back. “I just want to be sure that Dya takes what’s wrong with Tal as seriously as we do.”
“Oh, you can be sure I do, Officer Monagan.” Dya gave the woman an icy stare. “You see, my children, Su and her children, Damien, Sallee, and Tweet? My whole family? Just like me, they, too, test positive for quetzal molecules. Not to mention the rest of the Wild Ones. So, whatever is happening to Talina? In the end, that could be the future for every human on this planet.”
13
The call to the conference room—once again—came in the middle of Dortmund’s sleep cycle. What was it about Vixen and its crew? Did nothing happen during the hours when he and his team were awake? Or did the spacers purposefully wait until everyone else was asleep as a means of demonstrating their mastery of the environment? Perhaps a sort of snub? A means of putting the scientists in their place?
Nevertheless, he sighed, dressed, and made his way to the conference room where, again, Torgussen was staring at the holo projection. The mysterious ship orbiting Capella III could now be seen clearly on the optical image.
Commensurate with his status as head of the scientific team, Dortmund stood resolutely at the captain’s side as the others crowded in. He enjoyed a moment of gratification when Advisor Benteen seated himself off to the side.
“What have you got, Captain? Especially given that you’ve interrupted our sleep yet again.” Dortmund emphasized his statement by squinting at the projected image.
“We think it’s ours,” Torgussen said by way of introduction.
“Ours?” Dortmund asked, barely aware as Shimodi, Sax, and Jones took seats at the table. He remained standing by the captain.
“Human. Not alien. At least, it is built the way we build them.” Torgussen pointed. “Those two counter-rotating sections that look like stacked discs on the forward aspect? The topmost contains the cargo bays and storage, the second is the living quarters. That big round ball beneath them contains the reactors and generators. The pods on the sphere’s sides are the reaction engines for in-system maneuverability. Our call after studying the engineering is that we’re looking at a ship from Solar System.”
“Why didn’t they answer a photonic hail?” Benteen asked.
The Advisor’s hair was pillow-mussed. He should have been as sleep-muddled as the rest of them, but to Dortmund’s surprise, the man’s eyes and expression were as sharp as ever.
“For the moment, I have no answer,” Torgussen told him with a shrug. “We’ve even blasted the thing with a directional photonic signal. Should have triggered every sensor onboard. Same with hyperlink and microgravity. Nothing. All we get is a radio-emitted locational beacon every thirty seconds. It’s like that bucket’s dead in space.”
“So the mystery’s solved?” Dortmund asked, feeling a sense of desolation building in his chest. “Our aliens are just another ship from Solar System?” He swallowed against the building frustration.
Damn it! Who are these three-thumbed fools? Drifting around out here, playing games. That’s a pristine planet down there. My planet!
Torgussen rubbed the back of his neck. “Dr. Weisbacher, I don’t know what to tell you. Looks human, it’s built with our engineering, our technology, but the thing’s huge. Bigger than anything built to date in Solar System for interstellar travel. To have made such a vessel would have required the shipyard at Transluna. It would have taken a year or more to build along with a massive reallocation of resources, and sure as hell we’d all have heard about it.”
“And if it is from home, why didn’t it answer a hail? Someone should be onboard, monitoring the systems, correct?” Benteen asked.
“That, Advisor, is the central question. And why’s it emitting a navigational warning? Ships have had AI since the mid-twenty-first century. Even if the crew had abandoned it for dirtside, the ship should have been talking to us from the moment we reverted symmetry and started scanning the system.”
“So, maybe it’s not human after all,” Shanteel Jones said softly. “Listen, there are parallels in technology, right? Can’t we assume that basic laws underlay engineering? Metals and ceramics are limited by their very nature in how they can be formed to withstand stresses. How many ways can a starship be built? Just like so many of the Donovanian life-forms recorded by Tempest have terrestrial analogs: things like limb length corresponding to a Fibonacci ratio; comparable morphology; all built on organic chemistry; and with basic RNA. Occam’s razor.”
Torgussen countered by asking, “Then what are the statistical chances they’d broadcast on the same frequency? That they’d use Solar System navigational code? Because that ship out there is broadcasting its location and ID just the same as if it were sitting in a Jupiter orbit. Right down to the required interval.”
“But only on radio?” Benteen stared warily at the dot on the holo. “As I understand it, they should also be sending out on hyperlink and photonic.”
“Yeah,” Torgussen admitted. “And even if it were abandoned, the ship’s AI should have immediately responded to our ping.”
“There are improbabilities in the universe,” Shimodi reminded. “It’s a really big place.”
Benteen said, “The thing had to have arrived after Tempest left the Cap III system, right? No way they could have missed it being in orbit?”
“Tempest had the same sensor array we have. They couldn’t have missed that navigational beacon. No, if we’re really in the Capella system, this ship arrived sometime after Tempest inverted on the way home. It’s the only explanation.”
“You tried a photonic hail to the planet? Maybe they took their com dirtside with them.”
>
Torgussen crossed his arms. “Not yet, sir. We thought we’d see what your orders were first.”
Dortmund kept coming back to the aliens. “You say you’d know if a ship that size had ever been built in Solar System?”
Torgussen gave him a flat stare. “You’re a planetologist, Doctor. Would you know if a second moon had been discovered orbiting the Earth?”
“Don’t be silly.”
“I’m not. If that ship had been built anywhere in Solar System, I’d know about it. But it’s here, broadcasting a Solar System navigational beacon on an obsolete technology. So, you tell me, Doctor.”
“Parallel evolution and technology, it has to be.” Dortmund felt the rise of excitement.
“How’s that, Doctor?”
“Photonic coms go back to the twenty-first century. It’s a simple technology. If that was a human ship, they’d have the technology. Shanteel has to be right. We’re looking at an alien vessel built with similar technology to ours.”
Torgussen warily asked, “Just how, exactly, do you know this?”
“By thinking rationally. As you say, anything this size built in Solar System would be in the registry, not to mention common knowledge among the spacing fraternity to which you belong, Captain. We know it has arrived in the last ten years, a period during which The Corporation was planning the Vixen mission. So why would they have sent us if they’d already dispatched that huge behemoth? Additionally, even if the crew was dirtside, they would have left someone on board. And if this ship was one of ours, the AI would have responded to our hail. The only viable conclusion is that no matter how improbable, that ship did not come from Solar System.”
“Which leaves aliens,” Shanteel finished.
Dortmund felt a wash of relief run through him. “People, consider. Whatever kind of life we’re dealing with—but for some traits like photonics—their technology is remarkably similar to ours. Eerily so. All of which leads me to wonder if they haven’t been observing us. Perhaps for a long, long time. Maybe that’s why their technology is so similar to ours. They copied it.”
“I don’t follow.” Torgussen was watching Dortmund through skeptical eyes.
Dortmund shrugged. “I’m just trying to anticipate all the possibilities. Maybe they’ve observed us from afar. Have seen our gross technology, things they could infer from visual observation at a distance, like the general shape of our deep space vessels. Maybe things like photonics, which operate at an atomic level, are unknown to them.”
“Aren’t you grasping at straws here?” Lea Shimodi asked. “I mean, come on.”
Dortmund saw it all unreeling in his head. “Who are we to know their motives yet? Maybe they observed Tempest when it made its call here. After it spaced for Solar System, our aliens placed this ship here. What better place for us to find it? In neutral territory? Yes! Perhaps as a way of making contact without putting themselves at risk.”
He blinked. “Dear God, how incredibly clever! They know how volatile and dangerous we are. But here, at Capella III, they leave the startling proof that they exist. A statement that says, ‘See, you are not alone in the galaxy. When you are ready, we will make official contact, and by then you will be so used to the idea it won’t come as a destabilizing surprise.”
His heart beating, Dortmund continued before the others could interrupt. “Remarkable! By doing it this way, we can’t feel threatened. They’ve kept themselves at a safe distance. Nor will we be frightened by their superior technology. That ship out there says, ‘See, our technology is not a threat to your safety. Were our motives otherwise, we could have just come and conquered your Solar System.’”
Dortmund swallowed hard “I wonder if that means they’ve been monitoring our stories. I mean, all the way back to the twentieth century radio show when the Martians supposedly invaded Earth. They understand the trope that deep down, humans fear other intelligences.”
“I call that over the edge, Doctor,” Torgussen told him.
Dortmund noted that even Shanteel had a skeptical expression on her face.
“People,” Dortmund told them, damping down his enthusiasm, “perhaps I’m indulging wild speculation. Nevertheless, we’re about to embark on a new world. We have a ship in orbit around Cap III that looks like it could have come from Earth, but didn’t. If we assume it’s impossible that it came from Solar System, then the only alternate hypothesis is that it came from an alien culture.”
Benteen was watching him through stony eyes that sent a shiver down Dortmund’s back. What was it about the man?
“What about the radio beacon?” Torgussen retorted.
“We have to keep an open mind about a great many things in the coming days. The old dogmas need to be shattered, discarded as potentially meaningless in this sudden and unexpected circumstance. We need to embrace the impossible.”
“Nice speech,” Torgussen told him. “Sounds like a lot of work for an alien race. Building a big ship like that. Leaving it in Cap III’s orbit for us to find. If they know us well enough to employ our navigational codes, why not a broadcast that says, ‘Greetings, humans. You are not alone’? No threat in that.”
“Don’t be naïve. There’s always a threat, implied or not.” Benteen was studying Dortmund, an amused smile playing at his lips. Might have been a cat watching a mouse. “Let’s go back to assuming that it’s human. Maybe manufactured by some rogue station by mysterious means. What’s it doing here? I mean, why Cap III?”
“For the resources,” Shimodi said.
Dortmund wondered: Dear God, didn’t the man understand what was at stake here? And Benteen was supposed to be the Advisor?
Shimodi continued, “Capella III may be the wealthiest concentration of rare-earth elements, metals, and fine-grade clay in the galaxy. If the preliminary survey samples withstand our scrutiny, Capella III could be the richest find in human history. This one planet may contain more exploitable resources than are found in the entire Solar System.”
Braced by his passion, Dortmund jabbed a finger at Benteen. “Sure, it’s rich. But it’s up to us to ensure that Capella III isn’t turned into a waste like so much of Earth was. Unlike some airless and frozen moon, we’re talking about a remarkable ecosystem and a stunning variety of life. Our job, Advisor”—he couldn’t help but emphasize the word—“is to ensure that the ecosystems are preserved and protected.”
He ignored Shimodi’s irritated smirk, but found himself unsettled by Benteen’s response to his tone of voice. Despite no change of expression, something inside the man seemed to coil like an angry cobra.
What the hell? Didn’t Benteen know who he was? What it took to rise to the top of his profession? To become a department head at Tubingen?
Benteen’s voice remained calm. “So they would only have come for the minerals? We might have stumbled upon an illegal mining operation?”
Dortmund gave the man a dismissive shrug.
Shanteel Jones said, “That’s just part of it. No telling what we’re going to learn from the planet’s wildlife.”
“Pharma, alone, could be worth billions once we start to get a handle on the plant life,” Sax agreed.
“All in good time,” Dortmund cautioned. “We’re here to design a protocol that protects the planet while at the same time allowing us to carefully access some of its wealth.”
Shimodi pointed. “If that ship’s really one of ours, they’re here as looters. Maybe some rogue Boardmember who’s managed to keep that ship off the books? Some criminal element? If that’s the case, we’re going to have to take action.”
Benteen nodded, expression veiled again. He turned his attention to Torgussen. “Since the ship didn’t reply to your initial hail, and since we don’t know who or what it represents, I want no further communication with it. Bring us in silently. Passive surveillance only.”
Torgussen nodded.
Benteen added, “On the chance that we have stumbled upon a rogue operation, I want you to use the utmost caution. People discovered in the commission of illegal activity will often do anything to avoid the consequences. I remind you, we are on our own, without backup, and a long, long way from home.”
Dortmund gestured toward the holo projection, a slow rage building in his blood. “If anyone has dared to corrupt that planet, its ecosystem, or, God forbid, hasn’t taken the appropriate measures to mitigate their impact, I swear, I will see them broken! Do you hear?”
That was his planet! The first of its kind in human history, and he’d be damned if he’d see it ruined. Not by Shimodi, and certainly not by a bunch of looters.
Or, better yet, pray it was aliens.
14
Curiosity filled Talina as she stalked through the forest twilight. She had been watching the little girl for days now. Dappling her skin with the unique greens of the alien vegetation, she’d hidden among the oddly spaced plants in their unusual rows. But then, the aliens did many odd things.
She had watched and learned.
Now, for the first time, the child had wandered away from the adults and other children. Distracted by three young roos, the child had followed them into the tree line, and then into the forest margin.
In shadow, the girl’s hair had gone from golden to yellow, and she stared around with wary eyes. Yes, she knew that she shouldn’t be out of the others’ sight. Inhaling the damp air, Talina could scent the girl’s change, that slight shiver of fear.
Even so, the girl completely missed the skewer, looking as it did like an old root.
Talina crept closer.
Now the girl had fixed her attention on a cluster of invertebrates, their chime harmonic as they rotated in a breeding circle.
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