Solar Express (20 page)

“Marcel, what additional data do we have right now, on our anomalous asteroid with the dual nature?”

“The object is approximately one point six AU from the sun. It is not off-gassing. That would confirm that it is a solid body. The only heat signature is that of re-radiated sunlight. The intensity off the white side indicates a reflectivity of point nine nine.”

“What does the spectrometer analysis show?”

“Rayleigh scattering and Raman shift indicate a mixture of silver, silicate, and carbon.”

“What about the dark side?”

“The spectroscopy is indicative of carbon.”

“Carbon nanorod or nanotubes with diamond nanorods?”

“It is close, but not identical.”

All that
has
to be artificial. The white side might as well be a mirror.
“You need to make up a report for transmission. I'll look at it in a moment.” She went back to the message to her father, changing part of what she had written.

So far, while it appears unusual to me, those to whom I report have not yet found it remarkable, although a friend who is a pilot finds it very exciting. I think I'm glad he does, but I hope my discovery doesn't outshine me in his eyes …

She smiled wryly, realizing that she actually meant the words and wondering if she should change them. She shook her head.

Anyway, except for clearing a minor obstruction in the water recycling system the other day, there's not much else to say. I'm doing well, and I hope to make some progress in my solar research, but you can never tell, although I'd really like to develop a better methodology for what I'm doing …

She finished off the message and sent it. After reviewing the report Marcel had generated, and altering the language slightly, she began the next message, the one that had to offer more than reassurance.

Chris—

Everything here remains largely routine. It's busier now that it's night here. It always is. I haven't had any major repairs, not with the observation systems, but I did have to do some intensive maintenance on the base water recycling system this past Sunday.

The latest analyses of solar multi-fractal mini-granulations are suggestive of something, but “suggestive” in a way that doesn't constitute proof or even hope of proof in the strictest astronomical or astrophysical context. I'm convinced that there's something there, but it could be that others have seen the same phenomena over the century since multi-fractals were discovered and been unable to discover anything more, either. Am I banging my head against a wall? I hope not, but even if I'm not the one to discover the reason or cause or solar mechanism behind the multi-fractals, I do believe that there's something more than massive convection.

I've enclosed the latest information on the “abnormal asteroid.” It's definitely not a typical small solar system body and might possibly be what I suspect we both feel. Over the next few months we should get much better information, at least until it gets too close to the sun, which appears will be in January.

Now, for the near-obligatory quotation, once more from
The Passion of Science:

How can you not be passionate when you discover that the Earth's plasmasphere reacts to coronal mass ejections in a way that protects the planet? Whether it's a systemic reaction or something more, the plasmasphere is protecting, or trying to protect, the planet.

As always, my best to you.

She took a deep breath and sent the message. What the Space Service could do, or would do, she had no idea, but it was all too clear that the Foundation didn't care that much, nor, apparently, the IAU.
Unless they're only pretending not to care because the Sinese have leaned on them, or on IAU members or staff.
That was all too possible, given that SINOP had been a co-discoverer of the mysterious object … or alien artifact.

Then she dispatched copies of the report to the IAU and to Director Wrae, who likely would take days to get around to reading it. She still had very mixed feelings about sending copies to Chris, even though she felt that if she didn't, especially if the object turned out to be an alien or out-system artifact, the Sinese might well find something to their advantage … and that couldn't be good, not the way the great powers were acting.

Not at all.

 

27

D
ONOVAN
B
ASE

29 O
CTOBER
2114

It was 0258 UTC, and Tavoian continued to study the screens at the duty officer's console. They showed nothing out of the ordinary—the Lunar L1 Station little more than ten kays away, the other drum-shaped storage facility ten beyond that, a shape that matched Donovan Base in all particulars. At that moment, there were no fusionjets docking anywhere, and the only motion outside any of the facilities was the continual arrival and departure of the elevator climbers coming up from the lunar polar base and then returning. The screens showed no incoming vessels or anything else. The only sounds were faint hums, and the hissing of the air being circulated into the duty center.

Tavoian was standing watch from 0000 to 0400—what the surface ocean navies called the midwatch—which seemed pointless in a way on a station that never saw darkness in its corridors, but which still made sense in terms of maintaining security while most of the station slept in order to maintain biological circadian rhythms. While he certainly had free time, reading or composing nonofficial messages was strictly frowned upon. That left a lot of time for thinking.

He'd passed on the attachment from Alayna's message, but not the message itself, to the colonel, although the colonel could have read it himself, and probably had. The colonel hadn't acknowledged the transmittal, and likely never would. From Alayna's report, the object was either an incredible astronomical phenomenon or an artifact. Yet how had it ended up in a cometary orbit? From the reports Tavoian had seen, the artifact was only part of a larger structure, and that raised other questions. What sort of force had been used to slice it apart? Had there been a war somewhere? Or had the larger body collided with something? What sort of technology had built the object? Were there any traces of it left?

All those questions had swirled around in his mind, along with several others. What was Space Command going to do about it, if anything? The Sinese were already trying to exploit something on Europa. Would they attempt to send an expedition to the object? Why wasn't Space Command? Or were they, but keeping it secret from everyone? That was certainly the most likely prospect, but these days … who would know, except those involved?

He'd sent a reply to Alayna, but one that expressed appreciation and congratulations without being specific, along with a brief quote from
Observations.
He smiled as he recalled it.

Political science came into being as alchemy was being discredited, although history has since proved that alchemy had a better record.

The screen bleeped, but Tavoian had already noticed that the detectors had registered a Noram fusionjet inbound for either L1 or Donovan Base, although the ETA suggested that he would be off watch by the time that it locked at whichever was its destination. The timing suggested urgency of some sort, because all Noram space installations operated on UTC.

“Log possible incoming FusEx,” ordered Tavoian.

“Logging FusEx.”

Tavoian then checked the official message log, but there were no station-alert messages or warnings, except for the notice from the previous day to restrict EFAs and to shutter sensitive equipment until 1800 the previous evening from the effects of a strong CME. The news summaries didn't hint at anything that hadn't already been occurring, except the UAAS charged the Sinese with an attempt to steal sensitive energy research project data. The Sinese predictably had denied any such activity.

Energy research project? Particle beam research?
Was that the purpose of the unfinished station near the Indian installation he'd observed? But the Indians hadn't said anything at all publicly about his “observation.”

He shook his head. As even a moderately senior captain, he wasn't going to find out the answers to his questions until the entire human solar system did. Then there was the problem with his parents. His father had replied to his last message, when his mother was usually the correspondent.
Kit was right about that.
At the moment, though, he didn't know what else he could do except message them frequently … and hope Kit could find out more, since she could visit them, and even when she couldn't, she could do real-time face-to-face, which he couldn't.

 

28

HOTNEWS!

30 O
CTOBER
2114

[Image Deleted For Off-Earth Transmission]

A Sinese coup! That's right. They have a permanent base on Europa. They're not saying why, but it might have to do with deuterium, the magic stuff that makes fusion easier and cheaper. They've just locked up one of the sources. Might make them the energy czars of this century. They're serious. By the way, the code name is Jade Spear. That tell you something?

[Image Deleted]

Sleazal Easel! Neidreich Nazi, the slash parodist … did he go too far with his nude satire piece on Pres Yates? CP-ers in Ottawa are fuming, and it's not hash-haze or Elerium dust. Beyond the pale? Who knows? Could be dear Dyana's really a sexy prexy beneath all that somber garb?

[Image Deleted]

Three Indra scramjet missiles are missing. Or maybe five. Yes, indeedy. An official audit says three of the armed missiles have vanished. Our sources say five. Gone, just like that. Sinese Defense Minister Wu Gong screams that it's a plot to foist off blame on benighted Bhutanese terrorists inadvertently acting as Indian agents. Or maybe Kyrgyzstani terrorists. He's not mentioning Mongolia First! Got to be the Bhutanese. That's what he says, HotNews fans. Wonder why?

[Image Deleted]

Brit pop-opera diva Mamselle insists on current realtalk for her role in
Hillary.
She claims fans won't identify with the period language a century old. Why would they care, with all the sex and power? Especially given Mamselle's talent for, shall we say, exposure …

 

29

D
ONOVAN
B
ASE

31 O
CTOBER
2114

Wednesday morning at 0755 UTC found Tavoian walking into the colonel's outer office, and nodding to Spacer3 Riske. She smiled slightly more than politely and gestured for him to go through the pressure door.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome, Captain.”

Tavoian managed not to smile at the pleasant use of his rank as a polite reminder of the Service's discouragement of fraternization between officers and techs. He thought Riske was an attractive woman, but appearance wasn't everything. After meeting Alayna, he'd come to realize that—not that Alayna wasn't attractive. She was. She just wasn't physically stunning. Mentally however … and that was far more appealing to him, he realized.
If belatedly.

He stepped into the colonel's inner sanctum where he took the chair offered and waited to hear what the colonel wanted.

“I understand you have some past experience in building AIs.” The matter-of-fact tone the colonel used suggested he was in no way asking a question.

What does that have to do with anything we've been doing?
Tavoian hoped he concealed his surprise as he replied, “Very small and modest ones, sir.” His words were cautious. “That's how I helped pay for university.”

“You programmed them as well?”

“Yes, sir. In AdMek.”

“Yourself or with a compiler?”

“I had to learn it myself. I couldn't afford the kind of compiler that would do that.”

The colonel nodded. “What do you think of your training and mission?”

“I like the challenge and learning new techniques. I hope they're not necessary.”

“So do I, believe it or not.” A slight frown appeared and vanished. “Would you be interested in an even more challenging mission?”

“I'd be interested, sir.”
How interested depends on the mission.

“A little caution. Good.” An amused smile appeared. “What do you think of your friend the astrophysicist's discovery?”

“I think it's possible it might represent an alien artifact. If not, it's certainly the most unusual asteroid I've ever heard of. That's just an opinion, sir.”

The room darkened and an image filled the wall. Most of it was shimmering silver-white and curved. The demarcation between the silver part and the smaller darker section was sharp, like a knife edge. The object appeared as though it had once been a small section of a huge silver ball with a black interior.

“That's the best image we've been able to obtain of your friend's discovery. It's slightly fuzzy because we enlarged it beyond clear resolution. What does it look like to you, Captain?”

“Like it's a piece of a much larger sphere, almost as if this part got sliced off. Or maybe what was left after most of the sphere was destroyed.”

“The astronomers tell me that the odds of a natural body being formed with a curvature like that combined with a perfectly flat side are so high that it's preposterous. And it's far too regular. It's a piece of a perfect sphere. It's hard to tell, but the dark portion has holes or indentations in a flat surface. There's no visible pitting or indentations on the silver-white side.”

“As if it were an impenetrable hull.”

“Your words, not mine. But I'd tend to agree.” The colonel paused. “How would you like to go take a look at it?”

“You want an armed FusEx ship … because of the Sinese? What about scientists?” Tavoian's eyes went back to the screen.