Proxima Trilogy: Part 1-3: Hard Science Fiction

by Brandon Q Morris

  Eve, whom he has known for so long, the only human being he knows, and the one whose reactions he can predict almost as well as his own, is not really his sister? That’s impossible. Marchenko 2 must be up to something, must be trying to stir up trouble between them. Adam massages one hand with the other, making his joints crack.

  “I will gladly tell you what I found out about the Creator, our shared mission, but also about Eve and you. However, I have to insist that we meet for that purpose.”

  This is it. He wants to get one of us in his power. What is Marchenko planning? Does he need leverage?

  “You can’t imagine how much I long to see your familiar face again. Therefore please forgive an old man this harmless request.”

  A harmless request—who would be naive enough to believe that?

  “For obvious reasons we cannot meet near the station. Your Marchenko would prevent it. I am not entitled to criticize his motives. Yet you might ask yourself sometime why you asked me to tell you the truth, and not him. I don’t want to interfere with your decisions, though. It is your life, and you are an adult. The fact is, we need to meet on neutral ground for practical reasons.”

  Adam hesitates. He can’t simply sneak out of the station. Plus, they are about to leave on their journey to the dark side of the planet. How can they arrange a meeting, then? They can’t. Somehow, he must persuade Marchenko 2—the fake Marchenko—to communicate what he knows.

  Adam’s thoughts suddenly stop. He just called the banned AI ‘fake.’ Is this just force of habit, or is there more behind it? What is the real relationship between the banished Marchenko and their own Marchenko, who is currently testing his new body in the ocean?

  He goes on reading.

  “I am already more than 100 kilometers from the station, and I cover 5 to 10 additional kilometers every day. If you want me to, I will slow down so you can catch up with me. Once you are ready you should contact me, preferably via this channel. I am sending you an attachment listing other frequencies you can use to reach me if you are unable to stay on this one. These frequencies are outside the commonly used spectrum. Therefore your Marchenko won’t be monitoring them. However, you will have to manipulate the communication system in order to transmit on these frequencies. You need to come up with an idea. I know you can do it, and I am sure we will meet again. Best wishes, Marchenko.”

  Adam collapses. Crouching becomes too exhausting, so he sits on the floor. A meeting in the middle of nowhere, how would that even work? He can’t escape their Marchenko’s supervision that easily. However, it might be possible once they are on the way. Marchenko won’t always be able to focus on him and Eve simultaneously.

  But what would be the use of meeting with Marchenko 2? Adam can never be sure Marchenko 2 is telling the truth. When they arrived at the station, he definitely lied to them. He only had one goal. Who knows whether it would be any different next time? Adam knows he should not have sent that message four days ago. It would have been better to ignore the digital journal. What right do I even have to read a stranger’s diary? Yet don’t I also have the right to know the truth? Adam sighs out loud. His thoughts are muddled like never before. As soon as he thinks he has developed a logical series of arguments, he comes up with a refutation, which makes it all appear meaningless.

  He has to formulate a reply. By now he’s been sitting down here for three-quarters of an hour. He should have gotten Eve up a while ago. Time is running short, and their Marchenko will probably return soon.

  “Marchenko,” he starts to write. That sounds neutral. He isn’t actually writing to his own Marchenko, even though the two Marchenkos are probably based on the same elements of consciousness.

  “We are going to leave the station in a few days. Our destination is an object in the center of the dark hemisphere. I hope we can meet along the way. I will try to contact you during our voyage using one of the frequencies you mention. Have a nice journey. Adam.”

  He reads the text one more time. While doing so, he feels a faint rumbling in the floor of the station. Their Marchenko has probably just closed the airlock door from the inside. He has to go up again. How will Marchenko 2 interpret his text? Adam hopes it won’t trigger any unfounded expectations. He knows, though, that he can’t completely avoid the possibility. He has no control over what his recipient is going to read between the lines.

  There is another noise. Marchenko is back inside the actual station.

  “Send message,” Adam says. Francesca confirms his command. “Delete logs.” Then he ends the connection.

  Adam gets up and climbs the ladder to the command module. Adam looks around, but he is still alone. Therefore he won’t need an excuse. He carefully closes the hatch leading down. Then he knocks loudly on the entrance of the cabin above him.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead,” he says. “Marchenko is back.”

  Ten seconds later the door is opened. The robot body carrying Marchenko’s consciousness enters the room. One can see Marchenko is in a hurry, as there are still some water-streaked areas on his torso.

  “What is going on?” Adam asks.

  Marchenko stops abruptly. The robot’s mouth region opens and forms a kind of smile. “Oh, nothing,” he says. “I just suddenly started to worry. I had the feeling something happened to the two of you.”

  The cabin’s hatch opens and Eve climbs down the ladder. Eve, the woman he always considered his sister, but who supposedly is not even related to him. What does this mean for the future, if it turns out to be true? He studies Eve carefully. With every step she takes down the ladder, the thin fabric of her pants stretches over her backside. It is nice to watch. So far, Adam has never dared to look at her this way. No, that’s not right, he simply had not thought of doing so. It never bothered or worried him when she sat topless next to him on the bed. He hopes that won’t change! Is it the fault of Marchenko 2? Has he ruined their relationship? Perhaps he should talk to their Marchenko, who has always behaved like a father to him. Yet Adam does not dare to do so. What he is now doing feels like a betrayal.

  “Why are you looking at me as if I were a ghost?” Eve asks.

  Adam is glad she cannot interpret his gaze correctly. He turns toward Marchenko. “So, is everything working?”

  “Yes, the body works excellently. Good work from all of us.”

  Eve steps closer to him and wipes a few drops of water from the metal. “I don’t want you to get any spots,” she says.

  Marchenko laughs. “As you are already here, we might talk about our expedition, okay?”

  “Good idea,” Adam says. He finds a place to sit down. Eve sits on the table, dangling her feet.

  “I took a look at it. We can reach our destination by crossing the ice or by going underwater,” Marchenko says.

  “Really?” asks Adam.

  Marchenko looks at him. “I mean, in principle. Unfortunately it is impossible to predict whether the path across the ocean floor is free all the way to the center of the dark hemisphere. We simply lack the data. However, we know that the entire rear side of the planet is covered by ice. And the model of global circulation I calculated assumes that there is a continuous ocean below the ice, with a depth of at least one kilometer. There might be a mountain range blocking the way, though, that reaches all the way up to the ice layer.”

  “If we go below, wouldn’t we have to drill through the ice to reach our destination?” Eve asks.

  “Maybe. We don’t really know what kind of object this is. Perhaps it is a gigantic tower that has a door at its base on the ocean floor? In that case we would have to drill through the ice from above while being able to enter it easily from below.”

  “A tower? You think that, Marchenko? A black tower?”

  “It could be black, Eve.”

  “I am for going through the ocean,” Adam says. That would offer me the only chance for meeting Marchenko 2, he thinks. Marchenko 2 would stay in the ocean.

  “Can you give a reason for that, dear brother?”
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br />   He feels a stab of pain in his chest. Damn. If only he had left that electronic notebook alone. No, he will never again be able to listen to Eve’s words innocently.

  “It concerns the resources,” he says. “We have everything we need on the ocean floor. Or Marchenko can create it from the available compounds and elements.”

  “But what about the energy we require? Without it, the fabricators can’t work. I would think our chances would be better on top of the ice. And oxygen is freely available up there, while we have to generate it down here,” Eve argues.

  “The oxygen is an important argument,” Marchenko agrees. “As far as energy generation is concerned, we would get about the same amount above or below. On top of the ice we have wind energy, down here the ocean currents. But if we travel across the surface of the ice, we have more than enough air and fresh water, without having to expend energy. We don’t need to worry so much about energy during the voyage if we pack plenty of food supplies. We would travel faster and return sooner. We always have to monitor our air supply in the ocean. If an obstacle shows up... well, I experienced this once and would like to avoid it.”

  “And if we have to get below the ice layer nevertheless?” Looks like I won’t be able to meet Marchenko 2, Adam thinks. He feels disappointed, but somehow relieved at the same time.

  “Then we will have to come up with something. But perhaps we won’t have to get through the layer of ice.”

  “What do you think we will find at our destination, Marchenko?”

  The robot turns toward Eve. “A building, I hope. Something the inhabitants of Proxima b created, something that fulfilled some function for them.”

  “And why didn’t they build it at some location that is easier to reach?”

  “Maybe they didn’t want everybody who just happened to come by to find it.”

  March 14, 19

  Eve is tossing and turning on her bunk. Marchenko and Adam had insisted on leaving the station two days ago, much to her regret. If she’d had her say, they would have taken a break there, for a year or two. Why are the other two so eager to continue this expedition? Whatever awaits them in those icy wastes will wait for a few more months or years. And nobody will be there. The famous emergency signal that lured them here to Proxima b was certainly misunderstood. Perhaps it was meant for someone else, or it wasn’t a request that they should come here, but rather a warning telling them to stay away. Who could know?

  She closes her eyes, but there is a recurring sound that keeps her from falling asleep. It is a cracking sound, very faint, which repeats about every 30 seconds. The hissing of the jets driving Valkyrie forward is much louder, but she simply can’t ignore the cracking.

  Crack. There it is again. Eve presses her eyes shut. If she could only fall asleep quickly enough! Now she has 30 seconds of quiet. Sleep, Eve sleep! Crack. Too late. She opens her eyes. Would it help if she turned onto her other side? Eve tries it, though she knows it won’t make a difference. I hope we get there soon!

  Something touches her legs, just for a moment, but noticeably. What was that? Eve opens her eyes. She must have actually fallen asleep. The second bunk, closer to the stern, is empty. Adam should be sleeping there. Where did he disappear to? She sits up cautiously. His bed is definitely empty. Is he also having a hard time sleeping? Eve closes her pajama top.

  Recently, Adam has been staring at her in a strange way. Actually not at her, but at her breasts. Since then she has stopped sleeping topless. She will have to talk to him about it. Maybe it’s all a misunderstanding. Nudity was never an issue between them, so why should this change now? Eve is reminded of that famous story from Earth in which an animal—a snake?—causes a young woman named Eve to feel ashamed about being naked. What animal is behind this?

  She stands up. The floor feels cold beneath her bare feet. In the bow, numerous small lights shine on the robot. Marchenko has deactivated the robot body. In the evening he announced he would try to calculate and plot the entire route based on data from orbit. Eve slowly walks around Adam’s bunk. She does not want to scare him. Or perhaps he has fled from the cracking sound and is now sleeping in some recess.

  After two steps toward the stern, Eve realizes that her brother is obviously not sleeping. The cover of the engine room shaft is open. A faint light shines from below. Eve knows how crowded it is down there. That is not a place where you would lie down to sleep, even if the cracking sound bothers you elsewhere. Adam must be up to something.

  She approaches until she can look down into the shaft. She recognizes Adam’s legs. Slowly, she crouches. Should she touch him? What is he doing down there? Eve listens. She hears the sound of typing. Adam is writing something! But why down in this hole? She ponders this question. If she confronts him now, he will feel like she is spying on him. She does not want that. Perhaps she can talk to him about it tomorrow without Marchenko noticing.

  Adam’s right leg is moving. Eve is startled. Has he noticed her? He definitely shows signs of trying to crawl out of the hole. She gets up as quietly as possible and tiptoes back to her bunk. She turns around before sitting down. Adam is already standing over the hole, looking in her direction. Damn. She sits down on her bunk, cross-legged.

  Her brother slowly comes closer. He seems to be taking a lot of time. He looks like he feels guilty about something. What was he doing down there? He reaches Eve and sits down next to her. She turns sideways and looks him in the face. His brow is furrowed. His gaze is aimed directly at her cleavage. She raises her left hand and gives him a slight slap on the cheek. He looks at her. It is obvious he doesn’t know what to say. She can feel his thoughts wrestling inside his head. There is something he wants to tell her, and at the same time, something else keeps him from doing so. She knows this well and gives him an encouraging smile.

  Unfortunately, she gets no answer. “I had to check something,” Adam says. “The system reported a potential malfunction down there.”

  Eve knows this is only a made-up excuse, and he must be aware that she knows this. Yet he still attempts to lie. What does this mean? She shakes her head. If he wants to keep the truth to himself, oh well. But he can spare himself the excuses. He wants to say something, but she places her index finger on his mouth. While she is moving forward, he retreats.

  He smells good. She briefly inhales through her nose, and yes, he really smells good. It must be the scent of the engine room. Eve has to laugh at herself. Is she going crazy now? With her right hand she gives him a slight push against his shoulder. It is supposed to mean he should go to his bed, and he understands her gesture. Adam gets up, walks five steps to his bunk, and settles in. Eve also lies down. She pulls the blanket over her body and rolls up in a fetal position. Soon she is asleep.

  March 16, 19

  Valkyrie is bobbing up and down in a black hole that seems to have suddenly appeared in the ice. It is a painful memory. Everything looks like it did back then, on Enceladus. Even the environment is similar. It is icy cold, and the sky is black. At first we tried to moor on the edge of the ice layer, where you can still see the expanse of the ocean, but the ice was too thin there. Therefore I had Valkyrie dive and continue underwater a few more kilometers before melting a hole through the ice. Here the ice is three meters thick and can therefore support my heavy body and the even heavier sled.

  Now it is time to load the sled with everything still stored inside Valkyrie. In order to unload the vessel more easily, I set up two strong searchlights, lighting a scene that looks rather eerie in black and white. But there are a few differences between this place and Enceladus. On the ice moon, for instance, Saturn always hung above the horizon, so it never became completely dark. I am afraid we will encounter darkness in its most severe form on Proxima b. The planet does not even have a moon. If the clouds hide the stars, we will feel like we are deep inside a dark cave.

  On the other hand, the air up here on top of the ice is breathable. While it is icy cold—in the center of the hemisphere it might drop to
minus 80 degrees—Adam and Eve can just wear warm clothing instead of their spacesuits. Marchenko 2 put lots of supplies in the station, and they will now be used to good purpose. The distance we have to cover is unbelievably long. On Proxima b the eternal ice starts about 3,000 kilometers past the borderline between day and night. Therefore we have to cover almost 8,000 kilometers. If we manage to travel 50 kilometers a day, our voyage will require 160 days. And that is only the way to our destination. We will spend almost a whole terrestrial year in continuous darkness, a strain I can hardly imagine.

  Our most important means of transportation will be the sled I built. I can’t force Adam and Eve to walk the whole way. On the platform of the sled I constructed a small, well-heated tent where Adam and Eve will spend most of their time. It does not offer a lot of room, but enough to stretch their legs and sleep. I hope this will allow us to move without taking long breaks.

  According to the surface conditions I might not just cover 50 kilometers a day, but 100 or even 200 kilometers. My robot body, as I have tested, can reach a speed of approximately 12 kilometers per hour if the sled carries its maximum weight, including the two passengers—at least on level ground. One-sixth less might not be an unrealistic value. This way we might reach our destination in as little as 40 days.

  Adam emerges from the hatch. He turns around and bends down. One hand—it has to be Eve’s, of course—passes him a sack. He pulls it up, holding it in front of him. I am standing at the edge of the ice, using my third arm like the boom of a crane in order to take the sack from him. I have to be careful not to lose my balance, so I simultaneously lean in the other direction. My spine is more flexible than that of a human, so I can bend it in any direction and at almost any angle. I trained for days to master every function my body offers. I toss the sack onto the sled.