Voyager’s Rest Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"And you think, this is what, exactly?" 10Ant went straight to the question we were desperate to avoid.

10Ant's office was spacious and the walls curled around us in an oval as the ceiling curved in a parabolic arch which seemed to accentuate 10Ants height and looming authority. I felt small at that moment and suddenly worried that there would be consequences for simply bringing this object to his attention. 10Ant's word coding reflected on the walls like an echo making his authority in the room a physical presence.

I was stunned into silence and raced through versions of a response that would unlock the reaction from 10Ant we were looking for. Nothing plausibly useful came to mind.

"Well, there isn't enough information to make a clear identification. The trajectory is unusual and the spectrographic information is..." 3Stan was the more senior of the two of us and more steady in his interactions with authority in general and 10Ant in particular. I was glad he spoke up but I could feel the uncertainty in his voice as well.

"Gentlemen. I have always thought of you as both intelligent and competent individuals. I would hope that you would do me the courtesy of speaking to me as if I were held with the same esteem. " 10Ant's words were quiet but not whispered.

Stagnant silence held the moment beyond breaking. 3Stan was now searching his thoughts for an appropriate response. I was panicking as each moment ticked by.

"I had thought it could be an artifact. From before," I tightened my body as if to brace for impact. "From before the cataclysm."

"And this thought is based on?" 10Ant's response wasn't hostile. He was quiet and measured. It was a phonological blow I had not anticipated.

3Stan spoke up, "The material analysis is consistent with metallurgy."

"Mixing of elements happen in nature, do they not?"

"Yes, of course, but there is a purity to the aluminum signatures that is puzzling. Materials mix in nature but rarely separate so thoroughly."

10Ant stood silent studying the materials report. Once again the long silence was too painful for me to stand it.

"And the orbital trajectory is completely out of sync with locally captured debris clouds. The only explanation that makes sense is," As soon as the words left my body I knew I had made an error in my enthusiasm. "An explanation, that would fit the facts, would be if it came from a distant orbit within the ejection field. Sir." It was an awkward recovery, but successful enough for 10Ant to lighten his expression.

When I'm nervous I metabolize minerals at a much faster rate than normal. In this moment I could feel the lattice frame of my body drawing the bulk of my mass into itself to feed my heated core. I throbbed with anxiety as 10Ant weighed his response and action. I looked over at 3Stan and he stood, serene in my eyes. In retrospect he was likely feeling the same turmoil of uncertainty that I was. The look of calmness in him was enough to calm me down as we both waited for the expected rebuttal of our wild theory.

"From the Burchan observation outpost visual data. Its orbit trajectory puts this object almost exactly over it in 4 cycles." My brain raced to process what 10Ant was saying. What was his underlying agenda? Was he agreeing with our assessment? Was this a trap? "From there data could be collected and your theory would be closer to confirmation."

"It would allow for a reduction in speculation certainly." 3Stan chimed in as if to add to the certainty of 10Ant's suggestion.

"Oh there won't be any speculation on this topic. I think we can all agree to that. Nothing will be said to anyone. All information will be stored within your own memories for retrieval at a later date." 10Ant said with the conviction that comes with authoritative certainty.

These were declarative statements by 10Ant and 3Stan and I had no real sense of what we've just been assigned. There was happiness and relief that we were not going to be punished, reprimanded or fired for suggesting that this anomaly might be a disruption to the established truth of the ruling council.

"10Ant? What does that mean in terms of next steps and action. We could..." 3Stan tried to get clarity of intention from him.

"You and your assistant here are going to Burchan. There is an transport asteroid which has an orbit close enough to Burchan that you can get there a full day ahead of this anomaly. Your classes will be substituted or disbanded to other professors until this is dealt with." 10Ant spoke as if it was all decided and our tickets on transport were already purchased. 3Stan and I were stunned.

"And if our investigation determines that this in fact an artifact?" I asked because the question needed to be asked, not because I wanted to.

"There will be no such determination by you or anyone else. Is. That. Clear."

"Yes. I understand. But what if it's true?" I am a foolish and naive person, always have been, always will be.

"Professor 6Question 23 Prima. You will find that this is an anomaly of natural occurring material that has unique and unlikely properties but naturally occurring none the less. If you do not, you will have invented data that is inconsistent with the truth as we already know it to be true and therefore cannot be true!" 10Ant's words reverberated around the room and silence slowly seeped back into the space as we all stood quietly.

3Stan, once again found the diplomatic thread from which to pull us back to the good graces of the governor. "We would be delighted to collect this data and prove that, as you say, truth is indeed truth."

10Ant did not respond. He continued to stare at the data and the holographic map of the anomalies trajectory. I watched him as his inner light rose and fell in intensity. He was heaving in anger and worry and failed to hide how much this new information disturbed him.

I was concerned. He was a powerful person and we were pulling on threads of dogma that would have deep consequences for everything we knew if it turned out to be a fact. However, my overwhelming emotion was to be thrilled. I was excited about the adventure. Being able to share it with 3Stan made it all the more thrilling. We would be heroes striking out into the unknown and seeing our world as few had been able to. For me this was going to be an adventure of a lifetime.

3Stan was more reserved. We had gotten what we wanted, there were nothing but positives to report with the exception of 10Ant's foul mood, but nothing would have made that sour being smile. 3Stan knew and had faced real danger in a way that I had never done. To me it was all adventure. To 3Stan it was stepping back into the fire after being fortunate enough to have navigated through dark times once.

We were given passes for the transport that was leaving that very day. Back at my domicile I created lessons for my students and put my messaging on hold. I told my other colleagues I was taking some time to do some independent research. They were puzzled but not overly nosy. My people do not have noses so this is a bit of an attempt at a joke, one species to another.

Transportation from continent to continent happens in two ways on our world. If our species loses touch with the soil we can only metabolize from our bodies. We begin to eat into our reserves of energy and if we do not reconnect to a nutrient source we will eventually perish.

The most dangerous way to pass from one continent block to the other is to traverse the girders which bind the giant masses of rocks together. Many of the inhabitants of smaller less material and mineral rich continental pieces move along these corridors in order to find better lives somewhere else. They will pull minerals into their bodies until there is so much mass they will build a kind of armor around them. Using this as a reservoir of sustenance they will climb the girders until gravity takes hold from the other side and then it becomes a descent down to the land they are trying to get to.

Debris storms can knock a person off or the trip can take too long and they become weak and will fall from the girder and become inert debris themselves. There is no such thing as an equal distribution of life giving minerals on Prima and the search and fight for life can be brutal.

The other way to pass from one rock to the other is to board a passing asteroid which circles in close proximity to the continents. There is a trebuchet style device which we use to fling people out into the void at a parallel velocity to the passing stone. A skyhook is used to capture the capsule and then we ride it until we are near our destination. Reversal of the operation will bring us to our destination.

I meet 3Stan at the jettison station. I can tell he is concerned about this journey. What it could mean for us. Underneath that concern I can sense that he shares the excited expectation of adventure that I feel. It is possible that I was projecting my own exuberance at the time but I know that he is a good scientist and that discovery is the great goal of us all.

3Stan shuffled and moved restlessly with nervous energy. As for myself, I was reveling in my sense of adventure and trying to take in every strange and wondrous sight and sound around me.

"This is amazing!" I said, trying to get 3Stan out of his internal worries.

There were people from all 9 continents moving from one space to another. I had never seen so many different cultural expressions in one place.

"It is amazing." 3Stan said flatly.

"I wish you could enjoy this more."

"I worry. You know me."

"This thing, is, likely nothing. You realize this." I say with the hope to reassure.

"Is that what you think? Is that what you are hoping now? We are being given a paid adventure by the university and, hurray for our good luck, it was just a weird piece of rock we discovered? Pat on the back by 10Ant, and back to our classes and debris research?" 3Stan's emotions start to bubble out of his normally controlled self.

"Well it would be amazing if it turned out to be the discovery of the millennium, sure, but..."

"It wouldn't be, "amazing", it would be dangerous. Dangerous to us. Dangerous to anyone that happened to agree with our, interpretation!" 3Stan admonished me.

He didn't talk like this. This kind of anger wasn't his way. "This thing we are seeking out isn't supposed to exist. The council has decreed. Anything that goes into the void is lost. This thing. If it is a thing." 3Stan loses his emotional steam and quiets himself.

"It would contradict doctrine. 10Ant was clear on that. But only if it was shown to have come from beyond the void. It may have found a way to stay within our gravity without being detected." I continued to argue my optimistic position that everything will be fine.

"6Q. We are not the only researchers scouring the space around us looking for every scrap of debris that could be dangerous. Are you saying I overlooked this anomaly?

"Well I am the one to notice it." I said with humor, trying to break the tension of the conversation.

"I didn't. It wasn't there before. It's new. It's dangerous." He said without heat in his voice and a slight smile in his expression.

"So. What can we do? Should we not go? " I ask simply.

We shuffle forward in line to the capsule. The moment we are to get aboard, we are asked to draw as much extra mineral from the soil as we can. My body tenses and I feel the ground beneath my feet heat and rise along capillaries in my body designed for drawing nutrients for life.

"That will be more than enough for the quick shot to Asteroid 1. Just above us. Please step aboard." The attendant beacons me forward and I step into the capsule. I look up into the sky as I enter. For just a moment I see the asteroid above us hurtling though the sky and I become woozy from the thought of such extreme motion.

There are slanted planks for our bodies to lie against and another attendant straps me in as 3Stan approaches and finds a plank next to mine.

He sees I'm nervous, and as I am strapped in without any way out of what will soon be a ball of metal rocketing towards a ball of rock, 3Stan takes my hand in his and I am reassured.

"Should we really not go? It's not too late." I say with a smile already knowing better.

"Nothing to be done now my friend but find our way through. We'll be alright." He turns his attention from me to the front of the cabin as they close the door and prepare to sling us into orbit around the speeding stone above us.

"Ok then. Here we go." Is the last thing I say before the tension is let loose and we rocket into the void.