by James Rosone
Hunt got out of the way as the next traveler presented their documentation for inspection. He made his way into the promenade beyond immigration control, where there was a massive sixty-meter-tall open-air causeway of bars, restaurants, hotels, and shops all lit up with neon lights and decorations. It was a symphony of artistically designed sights and sounds that greeted everyone when they entered the promenade. This part of the colony mainly catered to the tourists who flocked to Mars just for the experience of being on another planet.
Along the metal walkway, planters one meter tall by two meters wide were spaced every fifteen meters. Inside the planters, tall trees, underbrush, and flowers grew. Some of the buildings even had decorative hanging plants or vines that crawled up the sides of the structures, adding a charming ambience to the area. To the more discerning eye, they represented a significant part of the oxygen system for the biosphere, scrubbing carbon while enhancing the oxygenation of the colony.
Captain Hunt made his way through the crowds of people and synthetics, eventually reaching the first entry control point that led to the government and military district, away from the colony. After presenting his ID and orders again, Hunt was allowed to pass into the restricted area.
Once he was through the checkpoint, he made his way over to one of the hyperloop boarding stations and waited for the vehicle to arrive. About a dozen other military members joined him. Judging by the patches on their uniforms, they were stationed on the planet.
When the vehicle arrived, the doors opened, and two dozen passengers got out. Hunt and the others got on and strapped themselves in.
One of the military members must have noticed his anxious look as he fixed his own straps.
“Just in from Earth, sir?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Hunt replied.
The man smiled. “I take it you don’t like these things?” he said as he snugged his own straps tight.
Hunt shrugged. “I like them better on Mars than Earth, that’s for sure.”
“Attention, passengers. We will be leaving shortly,” a voice announced over an intercom. “Please ensure you are firmly strapped in.”
Moments later, the cabin doors closed, and the vehicle began to levitate above the track as it progressed into the cylindrical tube at the end of the bay. Captain Hunt heard a couple of clicks and then a soft hissing noise—the tube was being cleared of oxygen and any other gases that might cause friction.
Once the passenger compartment was ready to depart, it shot through the see-through cylindrical tube like a bullet, picking up speed until it reached a little more than fourteen hundred kilometers per hour. They traveled along the surface of the planet until they entered the side of a low-lying mountain range at the edge of the polar cap several hundred miles away. The area around the mountain was a densely built-up military base, which was part of the Jonathan Kim Military Complex, with the military base in orbit above.
Surrounding the perimeter of the facility was a nine-meter wall with guard towers positioned every few kilometers, built to shield the facility against the harsh winds and dust storms more than anything else. Captain Hunt could also see the planetary defensive weapon turrets interspersed throughout the base and the top of the mountain range. The weapons consisted of large ground-based laser weapons and magnetic railguns, primarily designed to intercept meteors or debris that might endanger the civilian colonies and to defend them from an orbital threat. Planetary defensive weapon systems were still relatively untested.
As the hyperloop vehicle neared the sprawling base, it slowed down immensely. It went into part of the mountain as it snaked its way into the military base, eventually pulling up to a station platform where a small crowd of people were waiting to board.
As Hunt disembarked from the cabin, he saw his long-time friend and Academy classmate Commander John Niles standing there, waiting to greet him, with a couple of RA soldiers accompanying him. The soldiers weren’t tricked out in their exoskeleton combat suits, but they were carrying sidearms.
Commander Niles extended his hand. “Miles, it’s good to see you again. I understand this mission took you away from celebrating your thirtieth wedding anniversary?”
Hunt grimaced at the mention of it. “It sure did, John. Lilly wasn’t too happy about it. But here I am.”
John nodded. “The sacrifices our wives make when they marry a man in uniform.”
The two of them laughed and then started walking toward the DARPA facility, their security minders falling in behind them.
“So, what’s up with the increased security?” Hunt pressed. “Aren’t we secure on the base?”
“We are, but these guys and the rest of their squad are going to be accompanying you until you reach Space Command back on Earth. Once you get briefed, you’ll understand why.”
Nodding, Hunt shifted topics until they were in the SCIF, or secured compartmented information facility. “How’re Linda and the kids liking Mars?” he asked.
John snickered. “The kids love it. They’re calling themselves Martians now. Linda, on the other hand, she misses her social circle from back home.”
“My kids did the same thing. They liked the idea of calling themselves Martians,” Hunt replied with a chuckle. “I’ll tell you, John, I’m frankly impressed with how quickly the place has grown. When our family was here more than a decade ago, this was barely a colony; now we have almost two million people living out here.”
“FLT travel, my friend. It’s made the growth and expansion of the colony possible. Add in the new mining colony Deep Space Industries finished building a few years back, and this place is crawling with new arrivals. Wait till BlueOrigin gets their new station built. I hear that thing is going to house some nine thousand permanent residents.”
“Amazing, John,” Hunt replied, shaking his head slightly. “We live in an incredible time. Oh, before I forget to ask—what’s this I hear about piracy becoming an issue out here? I thought that had been largely tamped down a few years ago.”
Space piracy was a growing problem. Organized criminal elements would jump some of the smaller mining vessels in the Belt, transports ferrying new immigrants to Mars or resources transiting between the colony, Mars, and Earth. The three major powers on Earth had done a poor job of stamping it out. The governing bodies had pledged to construct military frigates and patrol ships to hunt the pirates down and police the main transit routes better, but it was going to take some time. The value of the resources being mined in the Belt was considerable. A single mining ship could be carrying a billion dollars or more in minerals, making them tempting targets for those with no scruples.
“You saw those new frigates being built in the shipyard, didn’t you?” asked John. “They’re slated to be completed in a few months. Once they’re done, another three will start construction. I suspect we’ll only have to deal with the pirates for a little while longer.”
Ten minutes later, they made their way into the DARPA facility, which was a controlled SCIF. This was the same facility Hunt had worked in when they were developing the FTL drive. The government found that some of their best R&D efforts were happening on Mars, away from prying eyes and all the distractions on Earth. Some experiments were also best done on a desolate planet or in deep space, for safety reasons.
Making their way through the facility, the two of them found their way down one of the hallways while the security guards waited outside. Eventually, they made it to the secured lab where Dr. Johnson and her team worked.
Dr. Katherine Johnson was originally from Houston, Texas. Her great-great-grandmother and namesake was the famed Katherine Johnson of NASA, the African American woman who had helped to land the first humans on the moon. She was far and away one of the most brilliant scientists and inventors of the twenty-first century.
Katherine had led the way in advancing Mexican theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre’s theory of warp drive or faster-than-light travel, which he had first proposed in 1994, some ninety-six years ago. When sh
e’d solved Alcubierre’s theoretical problem with the help of a quantum computing AI, she was appointed to be the head of all Space Command R&D efforts at DARPA. The facility also oversaw a small section of the military known as the National Reconnaissance Office. The NRO was an old agency with a long and secretive history. In the last twenty years, they had been tasked with an important new mission: exploring nearby star systems in hopes of finding a suitable planet the Republic could look to colonize.
Although Katherine had solved the initial FTL problem, she had three teams working independently of each other to find ways to advance FTL travel speeds. Space was a big place. If humans were going to explore and colonize other star systems, they needed to develop a means of reaching these faraway places. Right now, at the current FTL speed, it took fifteen days to travel one light-year.
When John reached the sealed door leading to Dr. Johnson’s work area, he entered a randomized code and looked at the iris scanner. Moments later, the door beeped as it unsealed.
Hunt smiled when he saw Katherine. She was looking at something with an intensity few understood but every scientist envied.
Looking up at the new arrivals, Dr. Johnson smiled and immediately got up and walked toward Hunt. Of course, they hadn’t worked together in more than a decade, but the two of them had become good friends during the eight or so years they’d worked together on Mars, which had cemented a solid working relationship.
“Miles, it’s good to see you again,” she said warmly. “I’m so sorry we had to drag you away from your vacation. I hope Lilly wasn’t too mad at me. There isn’t anyone I trust more with what we found than you. That’s why I asked Admiral Sanchez to send you specifically.”
Hunt smiled as he sighed. “I understand, Katherine, and I’m happy to oblige. I can’t say the same for Lilly, though.”
Katherine knew his wife. She probably felt bad about dragging him away from his long-planned second honeymoon. She’d been the one who’d told Hunt he should take Lilly to Bora Bora for the milestone wedding anniversary.
“Well, I hope your trip was pleasant,” she said apologetically.
“It’s a lot better with FLT than the old-fashioned way,” he responded. “So, what’s so important I was sent out here to see you in person and report back to Space Command as opposed to you traveling to Earth?”
She motioned for him and Commander John Niles to follow her, then opened a folder on her computer and moved a file to the holographic interface. Two things appeared. The first was a system he wasn’t familiar with, and the second was a planet. Next to them was a floating box of text that contained data on the system and the planet that continued moving in a slow rotating circle in front of them.
“A week ago, we received a message from one of our NRO probes when it returned back to Sol. Let’s just say it delivered some unique information. This is 42 Rhea, a star system twelve light-years from Earth. It has three suns. The first is a K-type main star known as Rhea A, and two smaller brown dwarf stars, Rhea Ba and Bb, revolve around it roughly 1,460 AU away. However, Rhea also has a planet orbiting it that we’ve been trying to get data on for the last several decades,” she said excitedly as she brought up more images and data points the probe had brought back for them.
Hunt lifted an eyebrow. “NRO, really? OK. I’m curious, and you obviously have me here. So what was so important that Admiral Sanchez had me sent to personally retrieve it?”
She zoomed in on the holograph image of a planet. “This—this is Rhea Ab. It’s a planet with a mass of 1.05 times that of Earth. Meaning the gravity on the planet is roughly five percent more powerful than on Earth, but not enough to really affect humans or cause us many problems. More than that, Hunt—the probe has determined that this planet can sustain human life.”
Hunt let out a soft whistle. “You said it could sustain human life? What’s its atmosphere made of?”
She clicked on a data tab that opened up next to the image of the floating planet: 78.09 percent nitrogen, 20.95 percent oxygen, 0.93 percent argon, 0.04 percent carbon dioxide. As Hunt read it, his mind raced. It was practically an exact copy of Earth.
Katherine studied his facial expressions. “My thoughts exactly, Miles,” she commented. “It’s a replica of Earth. Believe it or not, it takes fifty-two years to circle its star, so we estimate its four seasons to be rather long. The planet also has two moons.”
“Wow. What’s the length of a day?” Hunt asked, his interest now piqued.
“Roughly thirty-two hours, by our standards.”
“Great, just what we needed, John. An extra eight hours to each day,” Hunt joked, elbowing his friend, who laughed as well.
“Hey. Get serious here, Miles. This is a huge discovery. Not only is Rhea Ab able to support and sustain human life, it has a smaller sister planet less than two astronomical units away that can also support and sustain human life. This is perhaps the biggest discovery of the twenty-first century—these planets could very well have life on them.”
“How much more data was the probe able to collect before it returned home?” Hunt inquired.
She picked up her tablet and thumbed through a couple more folders. “Here,” she said when she found what she was looking for. “The probe stayed in the system for a month before it returned home. Mind you, this was with our first-generation FLT drive, so it took four months to travel one light-year. That means the probe spent a total of eight years in transit and two years collecting data.
“The probe was able to collect atmospheric samples of both planets and carry out dozens of lidar and radar scans of the planets and moons nearby. It collected an immense amount of data. But what really caught our eye was this.”
She pointed to one part of Rhea Ab and zoomed in on that area of the planet. It was a densely covered jungle area that edged up against a large outcropping of rock along a small mountain ridge. Captain Hunt felt a sense of awe at seeing plants on another planet. Zooming in further, they were able to spot several openings in the rock.
“What the hell is that?” Hunt said as he touched a spot on the holographic image floating in front of him.
“That is why you’ve flown out here in person,” Katherine replied. “That’s not a natural entrance in that mountain. As you can see from this image here, that looks to be a mining cart. Over here is probably a mining tool, and that right there—well, those are entrances into the mountainside that look to be about three meters tall and at least two and half meters wide. Two of them, in fact. One here, and one here.
“That, my friend, is proof that either there is intelligent life on the planet or there used to be,” she asserted with pride. She was practically giddy with this discovery.
“Did the probe find any cities or signs of life on the planet, any electronic emissions of any sort?” asked Hunt, his heart racing a bit at the implications of what they had just found.
She shook her head disappointedly. “Unfortunately, no. That’s not to say there isn’t life down there. The probe just wasn’t able to find it. Mind you, the probe was only able to scan a small segment of the planet’s surface. Frankly, we got lucky finding what we did, Miles. We’ve obviously dispatched more probes to the system to carry out a host of additional scans and tests, but even with the second-generation FLT drives, it’s still going to take time to get there, so we won’t have any new data for a while.”
Hunt paused for a moment and read the data on the planet. He’d spent the better part of two years preparing to be a part of the Alpha Centauri expedition, reading every tidbit of information they had collected on that system and its two planets that they were going to land on and colonize. His mind was comparing what he knew about those planets to what he was reading on this one.
A couple of minutes went by with no one saying anything. Finally, he came to the same conclusion they had—this was a more significant find than Alpha Centauri. Turning to look at Dr. Johnson and Commander Niles, he asked, “Who else knows about this discovery?”
Th
e two of them shared a look and smiled. “No one yet, Miles,” Katherine replied. “Not even the rest of our research staff. Aside from a few folks in the NRO office down the hall, no one at the lab knows what we discovered. That’s why we didn’t transmit this via normal channels, and we told Admiral Sanchez he had to dispatch a trusted person to take possession of this information immediately. We couldn’t take the risk of it being intercepted. It’s too valuable.”
Ever since FLT travel had been made possible, the three major world powers had been sending hundreds of FLT-equipped drone ships and probes into deep space in all directions. The drone ships would warp into a known solar system, perform a series of scans of the system, and then send a communication probe back to Sol with the newly acquired information. Most of the focus had been on Alpha Centauri. Still, the Republic had been secretly exploring other regions of space, which had apparently yielded this new discovery.
John used his hand to brush away the holograph images so he could look his friend in the eye. “This is a huge breakthrough, Miles. Everyone and their brother is going to want to send a ship there. If it truly pans out, then we could see the largest emigration of humans in history to this new Earth.”
Hunt was already trying to figure out how they’d hide this information from the other members of the SET. More importantly, his mind was racing with how they’d be able to lay claim to these two new planets. After a moment, he offered, “If we can keep this a secret long enough and settle it first after SET expires, then the Republic can legally lay claim to it and not have to share it with the other powers.”
Katherine nodded. “Pretty much. Which is why this needs to go directly to Admiral Sanchez. They’ll need to decide if we’re going to continue with the Centaurus mission or not.”
Hunt ran his left hand through his hair. “What about Alpha Centauri?” he asked bluntly. “That mission’s been in the planning for two decades. The Voyager and my own ship, the Rook, were specifically built for that expedition. What happens now?”