Voyager’s Rest Ch. 03

Chapter 3 --

It was a beautiful moment to take my students for a walk outside of the classroom. Prima star, our Sun, blazed above us and illuminated all of the intricate shapes and activities taking place on the surface of our world. The collection of continental chunks of rocks that once was our unified world rotated beneath the solar flame in a counter clockwise spiral relative to the direction of our orbit. Every six hours darkness falls as we face away from our star and then the light returns again.

I had 7 junior students with me the day the world changed for me with the detection of your probe. I didn't know it then, of course, but I would miss the simplicity of that afternoon for the rest of my days.

"Who can name this species?" I asked, pointing to the shimmering blades of grass reaching up to the height of my knees and the waists of my students. All the students raised their hands at once as this was an easy question to answer.

"9J?"

"It's P231-986", 9J answered. His faceplate lighting up with the symbols of language.

In the absence of atmosphere our people speak with light and not sound. We certainly understand the concept of pressure waves that can pass through material, like seismic waves during a quake, but it is not something we use in our daily life.

"That's right 9J. Can someone else tell me if it is native to this area prior to the Calamity?"

"No." Several students say in unison.

"Ok. Yes." I chuckle at their enthusiasm. "That's correct. Now please, raise your hand. Who can tell me where this species originated?"

13B raised their hand tentatively.

"Yes?" My face screen glowed with encouragement towards him.

"The continent of Burchan?" 13B said without confidence.

"Yes! Absolutely correct. Far to the tail of our worlds. Yet here it is. How could this growing plant find its way here?"

13B shrugged and 9J reasserted the assured hand of a pupil who knew the answer long before the question was asked.

"Is there anyone else who would like to take a chance at answering?" The communication patterns of the students were silent. Only 13B beamed his enthusiasm to answer. "Fine, 13B, please enlighten us."

Buchanan was hit with an asteroid 40 years ago. It blasted everything into space spraying us with all of its stuff. Even people. They live here now. Not the dead ones but the ones that lived."

I was a little bit lost to respond to 13B's enthusiasm for death and destruction. "Yes. That is correct, but remember that the event was very terrible and those who now live amongst us lost a great deal and we could just as easily have been our community to suffer." I admonished 13B's momentary slip of empathy, but did so as a lesson to the group and not just to him.

13B just nodded solemnly. I couldn't tell you if I had imparted the weight of history into his thoughts or he was just giving me the expression he thought I was looking for.

"Prima can't suffer like they did because we're at the front of everything. All the debris swirls down over those other places. That can't happen here. That is what my senior says." There was confidence in the new student, 1L, who was speaking up, but there was concern in the messaging as well. He wanted to be assured that he was right.

"Ok. First. Prima is at the pole of our rotational axis. And that axis is perpendicular to the rotation of the Prima Star. Kalut is at the opposite pole of our world but is not at the bottom or the back. Secondly, much of the debris storms do swirl between continents and cause more damage the farther away from Prima you travel, but, the dangers of debris is a concern for every part of our world." I looked into their young eyes and hoped that this lesson would sink in. I also knew that this lesson would need to be given again.

"Professor 23Standard is from Burchan! Some students say he's a bottom person." One of the other students blurted out. The group giggled at the phrase, bottom person.

"And is that how we see Professor 23Standard?" I asked with as much disappointment I could muster in my response signals.

"No." The group muttered in embarrassed unison. They knew the term was a slur and a breach of respect for one of their teachers.

"But my senior says that any sibling after 20 isn't...", 1L stopped talking when he saw my expression of stern displeasure.

"And has your senior met Professor 23Standard?"

"Well, no. But.."

"And have you had any interaction with Professor 23Stadard that was subfunctional, unkind, unserious, and undedicated to providing you the best education possible?"

"No." 1L said with contrition. His biases, unlikely to be erased within a single exchange but he will be less likely to blurt them out in class.

"Alright. Our session time has ended for today and I need you to walk back to the classroom. Grab your learning materials and head to the next learning station. Have joy in your moments." I smiled and watched them disperse with much more energy than I am capable of accessing in my middle age.

Once I saw that the students were safely on target to find the classroom, I headed to the astrolab where my friend was already working.

As I walked through the campus I couldn't help but soak in the beauty around me. There wasn't a hint of dust or debris in the sky. The light from Prima Star made all the silver and copper plants glisten and sparkle. Many people were sitting on the grounds around the buildings for no other reason than to watch the silicon based reproductions of ancient animals fly and skitter around the grounds. A normal day, but a beautiful one that might otherwise be easily dismissed and unappreciated.

Upon entering the astrolab building my vision needed to adjust to the far dimmer lighting than what was available outside. Our technology for entering and storing data glowed and shimmered around me. The astrolab was an important center of research and monitoring because predictions of debris storms or asteroids coming in on intercept course from elliptical orbits could be catastrophic. The work that was done in this building had the potential to save lives, the potential to save whole communities.

I saw 3Stan leaning over a display table with a three dimensional display of our world. His expression was that of concern and concentration but that was his default. 3Stan was a serious person that did not give way to silliness or fits of mirth. One of the great joys of my life has been any moment when I could coax a chuckle from my friend.

I called him 3Stan out of habit as a way to avoid the issue of his late birth order. His family had been on Burchan at the time of an asteroid hit and most of his siblings were destroyed in the blast. He and his progenitors were blasted into open space and landed in the rocky and unstable areas of Prima. They suffered greatly as they made their way into a Prima community and began to rebuild their family.

In honor of his fallen siblings he retained the sibling order number of the youngest as the family rebuilt. He was the first of 11 siblings and then through tragedy became the only and as time healed the family he became the twelfth of the new family. 23Standard was a name reserved for nobody in society. He represented to many an outsider family that was promiscuous with regeneration to the point of overrunning the established social order.

To me, he was the best friend I had ever had. There were biases in me as well though. I couldn't bring myself to call him 23Standard to his face. It felt unfair to him and uncomfortable to me. 3Stan was a term of endearment. Or, it was intended to be. 3Stan was always too polite to tell me what he really thought of the name. Extolling about his tragic unfairness and absurdity of life was not something 3Stan spent his energy on.

"It is a gorgeous day out there you fool!" I called out to him as I approached.

"Yeah. I'm sure everyone is stretched out and bathing in the glory of it all." He retorted with a distracted smirk.

"What are we working on?" I asked as I leaned in with him against the table edge.

"There is a cloud of material coming in from a hard elliptical orbit. It looks as though the continents of Sastugi and Grabon will be hit with small debris in the next month or so." His expressions glowing from his body shifted from greetings back to focused attention to the incoming data.

"You've already called the action stations I assume."

"Of course." 3Stan stands up and paces over to the side of the room and seems to be lost in thought. "Have you thought any more about my projectile idea?"

"What? Hurling rocks against rocks to deflect them from Prima's orbit? I love the idea. You should write a wave play. People would flock to the public display theaters." I was teasing him but I knew he thought the idea was a serious potential solution to our ongoing threats.

I would feel his expression and demeanor change out of the corner of my eye but I had locked into something on the holoscreen projection that I found puzzling.

"Why couldn't it work?" 3Stan asked flatly.

"Because there is no precedent for such a thing. You'd never get funding approval. The council authority would hate the idea that something, even a light dusting, might get deflected to Prima. As soon as it failed it would be repurposed to be used against the people of Skerry. I can go on, but first you have to tell me what this is." I said pointing to a faint white dot floating in a cork screw pattern in a tight orbit around Prima.

3Stan came closer to look. He thought for a moment. Tilted his head and shrugged.

"A bit of debris struck out into a weird orbit from striking another something or other I suppose."

"But why is this dot white and all the other pieces of debris represented in tones of lower wavelength?" I asked in earnest.

"It's metallic. Reflecting wavelengths that suggest, I don't know. Aluminum, Titanium maybe. I'd have to look it up." Again, 3Stan didn't seem to find the anomaly that significant.

"That's weird right? I mean just not ordinary, and the orbit is all wrong. Like Prima moved into its trajectory?" I get excited when asking questions. I can build from one mystery to the next and get frustrated when the answers aren't easily forthcoming.

"And your hypothesis, Professor 6Question?" He was amused now at my rapid fire wanting to know.

"Well. It could be a relic. Debris from before the cataclysm."

Now 3Stan did chuckle. Score one for me, despite not intending to be funny. "Now who's writing fiction for the wavelength shows?" I liked when 3Stan smiled. It was charming and made me feel good when it was because of something I did. In this case however, I was a little frustrated at his dismissiveness.

"It is odd that it is made of rare materials, yes?"

"It is out of the ordinary, yes, but not unheard of. Most metals in the debris are iron." He confirmed.

"And Aluminum and Titanium together? Odd right? And that orbit? What if it has been drifting, ahead of our orbit for tens of thousands of years and just now found itself captured into our gravity well?"

"A billion to one maneuver if you let the most complex computation device in the world work for a million years. Sure." When 3Stan falls into hyperbole, I know I am on to something.

"Then you admit there is a chance then?" I laugh. It was absurd. The thought of a remnant of the old world floating gently into a stable orbit for us to find by chance.

"Sure. 6Q. The cosmos is full of possibilities. Let's take a closer look." He says with more seriousness as he focuses in on the object.

There isn't enough resolution to provide any details but at this focus level we can detect the materials with greater accuracy.

"Alluminum. Almost 100% purity. Odd. Titanium. Hmm." 3Stan focused his attention further at the readings.

"What? What is it?" My curiosity is peaked as I see through 3Stan's expression that he has now become intrigued.

"It's just weird. Those elements together along with, gold, copper and..." 3Stan trails off and recalibrates the device to check the results of the examination.

"And? And, and, and. That's the interesting part right. What is the, "and"?" I say with all the masks of my enthusiasm removed.

"And. There are materials here. Heavy materials. The spectrometer doesn't identify them. I don't know. It's a puzzle."

"Give me an explanation. If not a relic of the old world, then what?" I say with excitement putting my hand against his arm. These moments of discovery had always felt best when I was with 3Stan and this discovery could be like nothing we had ever imagined.

"You are a crazy person." 3Stan states flatly and clearly without another explanation.

"Is that your professional analysis of the data? It's my insanity bleeding into the world?" There was humor in my words but also a bit of sarcasm as well. I did want 3Stan to provide a real answer to this intriguing question.

"Your insanity has never known limits 6Q. If anyone could make the world crazy it would be you. Seriously. I don't know. I can't explain it and your rash and reckless hypothesis of a relic from the before times; I have no data to disprove it."

"Yay!"

"Yet. I need to say, yet. 6Q. We can't just go to the board of governors or 10Ant himself and shout, "I've found an ancient relic that has made an orbital arc that is beyond the void!"" 3Stan was more serious now and had real concern for my reputation, future employment and even potential freedom to exist within society if I were to get on the wrong side of the Ministries of Prima Truth.

"Ok. So. Plan?" I asked.

3Stan was the pragmatic one. Why not let him come up with the plan forward if he were so concerned.

"We'll bring it directly to 10Ant." 3Stan declares as if it is a perfectly reasonable option.

"Oh, yes. Fine. That way 10Ant skips the bother of a trial and separate us from the soil himself until we wither to dust in his chambers." I really love to be sarcastically overdramatic when I can but especially when it is a potentially realistic outcome.

"We bring it to 10Ant privately. We don't editorialize. We simply say we are having difficulty cataloging an anomaly. He won't be able to deny the data is strange and will have to agree for further investigation. Right?"

"Sure. We'll put the most powerful man in the territory in a corner and hope for the best."

"6Q. This is dangerous. I hate to even suggest your possibly right, but if you are, this is dangerous. And worse. I had a terrible and ridiculous idea pop into my head that is even worse."

I wanted to believe that 3Stan was setting me up for a joke. His seriousness as a person and the grave dread that I could feel in his tone made me certain this was not a time for humor. At least he was taking me seriously finally.

"What could be more disruptive than a relic from our past?" I asked in earnest.

"A relic from somewhere else entirely." 3Stan's tone had gone dark. It was as though he was telling a scary story to children in the depth of the night. The tone itself sent a chill through my systems.

Then my brain caught up with what he was suggesting and I laughed. Laughter fell out of me releasing the tension of my body and mind. Laughter caught me unexpectedly as the most incredible comedic timing and expression came from the one friend I had assumed that humor was a mystery.

"Oh wow! Of all the people to smack me with the absurd. I didn't think you had it in you. Talk about fantasies and children's tales. Not in a million years, 3Stan. Not in a million years.

"It was just a potential theory that happens to fit the facts."

"Well. If you think talk of ancient relics could get us into trouble," I had to shake the giggles out of my system as I spoke. "Let's not bring up space people from beyond as a runner up on our hypothesis list, shall we?" I grinned and shook my head, still laughing internally.

"Fine. I will call ahead and make an appointment with the Governor 10Ant."

"Who knows he might be delighted we came across this mystery and provided all the resources we need for an expedition. Wouldn't that be fun?" I said smiling and still full of positive excitement.

"Fun. Was not the adjective that came first to mind." 3Stan turned his attention from me to the communicator. "9E? Yes. This is Professor 23Standard. Is the Governor available for a conference this afternoon?"