Solar Express (35 page)

THE ATTACHED FILES ARE CLASSIFIED MATERIALS INTENDED FOR THE RECIPIENT SOLELY FOR PROFESSIONAL USE. THEY ARE NOT TO BE RETRANSMITTED OR COPIED. NOR ARE THEY TO REMAIN IN PERMANENT STORAGE. FAILURE TO OBSERVE THESE PRECAUTIONS COULD RESULT IN PROSECUTION UNDER THE NORTH AMERICAN SECURITY ACT OF 2109.

Alayna immediately created a special temporary directory in her own personal directory and shifted the files there, rather than copied them, although technically she knew she'd actually copied and then destroyed.

She was speechless as she read the report Chris had sent, as well as the images.
A fragment, just a section, of an immense spacecraft … and who knows how long …
She stopped.

“Marcel … what do your calculations show now for the probable orbital period of 2114 FQ5?”

“Thirteen thousand fifty-three years.”

“I thought you had calculated eleven thousand…”

“There is more observational data. The object's speed is also faster than originally calculated.”

Alayna frowned. “There shouldn't be that much difference. Even if the object is more massive, gravitational acceleration doesn't vary. Albedo might…” She shook her head. Reflecting shouldn't matter with the number of observations they had.

The AI usually wasn't that far off in calculations. Then again, neither she nor the AI had ever run across an alien artifact before. No one had.

After her first quick reading of the attachments and another reading of Chris's message, she had even more questions. His message to her had been delayed almost a full day, and the preface to the attachments was official, and in a different type style, suggesting that either someone else had added it … or that Chris had done so in a way to suggest that. She had her doubts that he would have done that, but the delay did indicate to her that his messages were being scanned before being transmitted, and that suggested they had been initially sent by a more secure means.

So why are they letting you see this material?
Alayna feared very much that it was because the Space Service didn't have any good suggestions for Chris. The problem was that, at least at first, and second, reading she didn't either. Materials so hard lasers couldn't leave a mark on them, but materials doped or modified so sections exhibited selective photosensitivity, linked to a wavelength differential of perhaps as little as a nanometer? After more than fourteen thousand years?

Who or what built something like that? And who or what was so much more powerful than those builders that it could slice through such materials?
Alayna shivered, very conscious of just how insignificant she felt after considering those questions.

She also had no answers for Chris—or for whoever had let her see all the documentation, an indication of how worried and desperate the Space Service had to be. Yet … she had to see if she could come up with something … somehow.

 

46

HOTNEWS!

12 N
OVEMBER
2114

[Image Deleted For Off-Earth Transmission]

There's an alien spaceship headed our way. Does it have real aliens? That glittering white object you see is what's left of an ancient spacecraft. You heard it here first! It's just a piece, and it's two kilometers across! The Sinese and Noram exploratory ships are both circling the remnant. No one's saying anything. Maybe they can't. Meanwhile, it's headed toward our sun at more than one hundred forty thousand kilometers per hour and accelerating. Might better be called the Solar Express. Did we say that before? It's worth repeating …

[Image Deleted]

T'Yara Dya claims she's the first Mongolian of the realies. The first most highly exposed diva from Mongolia—that she can claim. With what she shows, anyone can see why she's a refugee. She's also said that there is no such thing as Mongolia First! She wants to expose that as a Sinese fabrication to justify killing successful Mongolian businesspeople and blaming the Indians. Did we mention that Dya has had her own tiffs with the execs in Bollywood … over exposure, no less?

[Image Deleted]

The Nielsen-Kelly Religious Freedom Foundation has been sued by a woman claiming to be the great-grandniece of one of the women for whom the Foundation was named. Seraphina Nielsen sought damages for defamation of her family name—or did until
Hot Phoenix
outed her, for the simplest of reasons. The original Nielsen was a scarlet woman—that is, she was a redhead—but she repudiated the LDS faith early in life. That's religious freedom. No one's heard of Seraphina since the court summarily dismissed her suit as frivolous, and won't, unless she wants to make a personal exposé. She might not be up for that kind of freedom.

[Image Deleted]

Indian Prime Minister Narahaj Ravindra isn't saying much. No one in New Delhi is. But the preparation of hardened command centers across India says enough. Did we mention a deep space impregnable fortress armed with doomsday missiles? Perhaps Sinese Head of State Jiang Qining should reconsider? Except he keeps saying that he's only protecting Sinese interests and property. Could it be he thinks the entire solar system is Sinese property?

[Image Deleted]

Those oily slicks seen in the middle of the North Pacific? They're the work of a rogue GMO outfit called Clean Earth. Seems that they've successfully engineered microbes that feed on plastic, especially on tiny grains. The only problem is that they break down the plastics into a version of the petrochemicals from which they were initially made. No more plastics, it appears, just natural oil slicks. But what happens if they reach Ottawa? No problem, claims Clean Earth. Those little bugs can only survive in salt water … for now, anyway.

 

47

R
ECON
T
HREE

12 N
OVEMBER
2114

When he woke up, for several moments, Tavoian had no idea what day of the week or month it was, and for a moment, as he found himself weightless, he even wondered what had stopped Donovan Base from rotating—before his memories dropped into place and he recalled that he was aboard Recon three, struggling to find a way to discover something meaningful about the alien artifact. Before he did much of anything, he fumbled with the pressurized heating tube that substituted for a kettle and made a strong batch of tea. After the third long swallow from the squeezebottle, when he felt as though his thoughts were slightly more focused, he checked all the monitors and systems, even though he knew the ship's AI would have alerted him if anything had been seriously amiss. Still, he was thinking fuzzily, and he immediately checked the CO2 level. According to the monitors, the level was point five percent, below the long-term Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentration standard of point seven percent. So his problem wasn't CO2. That, at least, was good.

There were no new messages, and the Sinese longliner remained in the same position as it had been relative to the artifact and to Recon three.

“Report on anything that the Sinese ship has done.”

AT 0140 UTC, THE SINESE SHIP LAUNCHED A SMALL CRAFT SIMILAR TO THE ISV. IT HAS BEEN METHODICALLY SCANNING EVERY EXPOSED SURFACE OF THE ARTIFACT. AT THE PRESENT RATE OF COVERAGE, IT WILL TAKE 206 HOURS TO SCAN THE ENTIRE EXTERIOR.

“That long?”

IT COVERS THIRTY THOUSAND SQUARE METERS AN HOUR. THE EXTERIOR SURFACE OF THE FLAT SIDE EXCEEDS THREE MILLION SQUARE METERS, WITH THE CURVATURE—

“Enough. I trust your calculations.” Again, Tavoian hadn't been alert enough to recall just how huge the artifact was, especially for being just a part of a spacecraft. “What else?”

THE SINESE LAUNCHED SMALL EXPLORATORY MODULES. THEY ATTEMPTED TO SETTLE ON THE ARTIFACT. THEY WERE NOT SUCCESSFUL.

“What happened?”

THE ARTIFACT ROTATED OUT FROM UNDER THEM. SOME WERE STRUCK BY THE SURFACES AND WERE PROPELLED AWAY FROM THE ARTIFACT. OTHERS REMAIN IN ORBIT AROUND THE ARTIFACT.

Tavoian couldn't help but smile, recalling what had happened with the AI rover's first attempted excursion.
The artifact might show the Sinese that they don't know as much as they think they do.
Tavoian had already been made well aware of his own shortcomings—and that of the technology he was using—in dealing with the artifact. “How many did they launch?”

FIFTEEN.

“That's all the Sinese have done so far?”

IT IS.

“They're waiting for instructions. Have you detected any communications?”

RECON THREE IS NOT IN A POSITION TO IDENTIFY OR ATTEMPT TO INTERCEPT TIGHT BEAM BURST TRANSMISSIONS. NO OTHER KIND OF COMMUNICATION HAS BEEN DETECTED.

“Has anything else changed?”

THE INBOUND SPEED HAS INCREASED MORE QUICKLY THAN PROFILED. RECON THREE AND THE ARTIFACT NOW HAVE A VELOCITY OF ALMOST FORTY KAYS PER SECOND.

“Has additional power been required to maintain position?”

NO.

“Good.” Tavoian nodded. He'd been briefed on the fact that the closer they got to the sun the greater the speed that both Recon three and the artifact would attain. Apparently, the calculations had been a little off. That happened, no matter what anyone thought. He went on with preparing his makeshift breakfast, something called an egg croissant that tasted like it had a nodding acquaintance with yeast and fowl. It did stop his stomach from growling. Then he cleaned up, as much as he could, and went aft to his work spaces where he used the special splicing tool to rejoin the fiber-optic line severed by the previous day's exploration. He wished the fabricator had been designed so that he could make more of the line, but that was beyond its capabilities. He had five hundred meters of fiber-optic line, but that wasn't sufficient to go very far into the artifact, even if he used it all. Who would have thought that five hundred meters would be woefully insufficient?

Then, everything's turning out to be insufficient in one way or another.
He went back to work, modifying his space anchor system.

Two hours later, he was watching as the ship's AI guided the ISV through the set of passages that bordered another of the partly opened hexagons. The ISV encountered nothing new, and the test results were identical to the ones of the day before. By 1900 UTC, the ISV had tested the open doors on another five hexagons, and Tavoian's eyes were bleary, especially when he thought about the eleven with open doors remaining … and the thousands of sealed hexagons. The ISV had discovered nothing new, and the laser photosensitivity tests remained maddeningly identical.

He had just ordered the ship's AI to recall the ISV and recover the signal repeater when a chime announced an incoming message. Tavoian called it up. The body text was direct and to the point.

Your report from yesterday received. Suggestions noted and appreciated.

Please report soonest on Sinese expedition and any additional findings.

Oversized and heavily shielded Sinese spacecraft departed high Earth orbit 2100 UTC yesterday, presumed to be crewed expedition to the artifact. ETA not yet determined.

Trying not to grit his teeth, Tavoian began to fix more tea before replying to the colonel.
He either doesn't understand what's out here or doesn't care.
Except that there was more to it than that, even if Tavoian couldn't verbalize it. And now he'd have to deal with a crewed Sinese expedition before long.

A chime announced another message, this one from Kit, but Tavoian decided not to read it until he replied to the colonel. He couldn't do anything about whatever Kit might say, and if it held bad news, he didn't want to deal with it before dealing with the colonel's “request,” and if it held better news, he'd enjoy it more later.

His reply to the colonel, when he completed it a half hour later, was not that much longer than the colonel's initial message.

Sinese expedition has sent fifteen [15] miniature rovers to artifact. All failed to maintain physical contact. Some propelled away by contact with the artifact's surface as it rotates, others in orbit for now. Sinese remote vehicle scanning all surfaces of artifact. AI calculates scanning will take eight more days [206 hours total].

Additional investigations of other doorways to hexagonal chambers reveal no contents within and photosensitivity identical to that determined by previous tests of other doorways. Detailed results attached.

Only after dispatching the reply and finishing his tea did he open and begin to read the message from his sister.

Dear Chris—

Father and I were glad to hear that you are fine, wherever you are. Mother sends her best, but she thinks you're still piloting FusEx ships between Noram station and the Moon. Father and I tried to tell her you had a different duty, but she was insistent. She's increasingly frail, and we decided not to argue or persist. I do wish you were here, but I know that's not something you can change.

Tavoian nodded. Even if he had turned down the alien mission, he'd still have been stuck on Donovan Base … or worse.

One of the more sensational media outlets—that's
HotNews!
—has announced that the asteroid your friend discovered is an alien spacecraft. They've even taken to calling it the Solar Express, and all the other media outlets are using the term. The whole idea of an alien spacecraft, or the remnant of one, is too ridiculous to consider. We live on a nondescript planet circling an unremarkable star in a galaxy that has over 200 billion other stars. Even if aliens did develop a means of propulsion that would attain a speed that made travel between solar systems vaguely practical—years instead of decades or generations—why would anyone want to come here? If I had to guess, I'd say that both the politicians and the media types are looking for a deus ex machina to rescue us from our own incompetence and paranoid selfishness. At least you're not involved in that foolishness.