The starchild compact, p.16
The Starchild Compact, page 16
The entire operation had been "on-the-record" to this point. Jon tapped his control panel, stopping the record, and said, "We're gonna go outside now, but we have to do the appropriate formalities. As we rehearsed, okay? And Ginger, try not to giggle."
#
The broadcast arrived "live" at Houston, and was immediately channeled to the media for their live presentation of the first man to step on the surface of Iapetus. Rod was well aware that the event had actually happened ninety minutes earlier, but neither he nor the standing-room-only crowd in Mission Control cared.
With the entire world watching, the external holocams on the lander recorded the side hatch of Rover One opening. A white-suited figure stood in the opening, waved at the holocams, and jumped lightly to the surface. Two small plumes of dust rose to about knee height, and then seemed to float back to the surface. Jon Stock's voice traveled throughout the world for the second time in his career: "For the children of the World who chose this landing site, and for humankind everywhere…Iapetus!"
Jon tilted his head up to take in Saturn – its colorful bands and clearly distinct rings easily the most dominant object in the sky. Then he turned and reached out a helping hand to Ginger, who graciously accepted the unnecessary gesture, and then he waved Ari to the surface. The three space voyagers stood for a holographic portrait, Jon to Ginger's left and Ari to her right. Then, led by Jon, they moved to a rise a few meters from the rover. Jon planted a small American flag, saying, "We come as free men, in peace."
"We join our northern brothers in a celebration of liberty and peace," Ginger said, planting the new Australian flag next to the Stars and Stripes. It consisted of a blue field with the Union Marc of the old flag in the canton replaced by a gold seven-pointed Commonwealth Star, and displaying the Southern Cross on the flag as before.
Ari stepped forward and planted the Star of David to form a triangle with the other two flags. "We join our American and Australian brothers to form an endless circle of freedom and peace," he said, and turned toward Earth with his right hand laid across his left breast.
The screen in Mission Control went dark.
The din of happy people drowned out any broadcast from Mission Control for a full five minutes. As the people settled down and the noise quieted, individual broadcasters began to provide their personal comments on this unprecedented event. They all noted, of course, that Jon Stock was now the only human in history to open two new worlds. They also noted that Ginger Steele was the first woman in history to be in the initial landing party on a new world. In America and Australia, the Israeli Ari Rawlston's accomplishment was celebrated in a more subdued manner, but Israelis danced in the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
#
While their signal beamed to Earth on its ninety-minute journey, the three suited figures roped themselves together with about three meters between them. By unspoken agreement, Ari and Jon put Ginger in the middle with Jon in the lead. Ari picked up a rock about the size of a grapefruit, and dropped it to the ground from waist height. In the slight gravity of Iapetus, only 2.3% of Earth's gravity, the rock took nearly three seconds to reach the surface. Ginger stooped and duplicated the act with a second rock. Ari picked up another rock and threw it as hard as he could toward the one-point-two kilometer distant horizon. It really appeared no different than throwing a rock on Earth, except that it rose higher, and came down slower. It struck the surface about 700 meters out – over half the distance to the horizon, kicking up a small plume of dust.
Ari wondered aloud why it didn't fly faster and farther. Ginger answered, "You're no stronger here, so you can't give it more speed, but because the gravity is so much less, you can throw it higher. It takes about four seconds to fall to the surface from your throwing height, plus the additional time to travel the parabolic path of the throw. The downside of the parabola is impelled by only two-point-three percent of Earth's gravity, so put it altogether, and you have what you see." Her eyes twinkled through her clear helmet. "Do you want to see the equation?"
"Smart ass!" Ari quipped as he joined Jon and Ginger at the edge of the depression. Saturn and its rings dominated the sky overhead, giving Ari a feeling of apprehension. He shook it off and turned his attention to the edge of the depression. It didn't look like much, really. Ari could barely integrate the edge into a line stretching away from them both ways. About a kilometer behind them, the rim mountains formed a curtain of jagged rock against the backdrop of stars. Directly in front of them, the surface dropped down about a half-meter, and then continued a gentle slope into what appeared like nothing so much as a shallow very wide meteor crater. With the horizon only one-point-two kilometers distant, the floor sloped right over the horizon, running in virtually the same direction as Saturn's colorful bands. To Ari's eyes the entire scene appeared entirely natural, as opposed to some kind of artificial construct, especially with the jumbled mountains ringing the depression – just like so many lunar craters.
Jon announced that they would commence a traverse along the right edge of the depression, spiraling inward from the edge as they move forward, looking for something artificial. He wanted to remain within about 500 meters of the edge. "Ginger," he said, "range off the edge as best you can, and keep us moving inward."
To Ari, their path forward looked like a boulder-strewn field, although when he tried to move a boulder, it appeared to be well attached to the regolith. Only the smaller ones were loose, and everything was covered with a powder-like layer of fine dust. Their progress quickly became a series of light hops, covering about ten meters each time. It was very much like walking on the sea bottom in a hardhat outfit, Ari decided.
An hour passed, and Ari could not tell any distinguishing difference between where they were and where they had been, although the edge – now about a half-click away – appeared to have more definition than when they started. He increased the magnification of his heads-up viewer to examine the wall more closely. The edge appeared to be nearly two meters high at this point. Ari focused on several dark shadows. As he concentrated, the shadows seemed to resolve into depressions in the wall.
"Jon, Ginger – take a look at this." He pointed the shadows out to them. "Whadya say we check it out?"
"Good idea," Jon said, putting Saturn at his back, and heading in the general direction of the wall shadows.
By the time they were a hundred meters away, it became clear that they were looking at a slight overhang of the rim. It was just another disappointing natural phenomenon. "Let's make our way to the top of the ridge and head back to the rover from there," Jon said. "We don't want to overexert on the first day." He turned and hopped about a meter above the surface, timing himself to land on a spot several meters in front of them that was free of everything but dust. His feet met the surface, and kept right on going as Jon dropped out of sight.
Chapter 16
The Caliph's visible fury continued unabated until he slammed the door to his private quarters, leaving his quaking advisors outside the shut door. Obviously, his communications channel had been compromised. Did these fools think him stupid?
He bellowed, and two young women scurried into his chambers with sweet tea and a plate of fermented fig bars. Alcohol could, of course, never pass his lips, but the Caliph allowed the natural fermentation process in his favorite delicacy to proceed until a dozen helped him mollify his periodic moods. The young women, a fourteen-year-old just beginning to show signs of budding womanhood and a sixteen-year-old who was ripe and ready, were his latest wives. The Caliph's senior wife had provocatively dressed them in burkas made of many layers of transparent fabric. Their bodies were clearly visible through the material, but in a diffused manner that drove the Caliph to distraction. As the young girls ministered the tea and fig bars to the still smoldering Caliph, they danced teasingly into and back out of his reach – exactly as instructed by the senior wife.
"Let him remove your veils one at a time," she told them, "and snatch articles of his clothing as you dance close." As she set their outfits for easy removal, she added, "Remember, you must excite his mind until he forgets his rage and can think only of the pleasure each of you will bring him…when he is ready, let him do as he wishes." And she whispered softly, "Your lives depend on this…"
As the little beauties danced away his anger, the Caliph sipped his sweet tea and nibbled on the fermented fig bars while he worked out the details of how he would handle the situation on Iapetus, but before he could complete his thoughts, the little nymphs had captured his imagination and redirected his energies to more immediate and pressing needs.
#
When Ginger saw Jon vanish through the surface, she placed herself in a belaying position to accept the surge when Jon reached his three-meter limit. Ari grabbed the line just behind Ginger to stabilize her when the weight hit. About five seconds after Jon disappeared through the surface, the rope went taut. In Iapetus' light gravity, Ginger easily handled the belay by herself – despite his extra mass, so Ari went gingerly to the edge and peered through the hole, turning on his spotlight. In the vacuum the light showed no beam, but Ari could see a bright circle where the beam struck a moving something directly below him.
"You okay, Jon?" he asked as he recognized his friend spinning slowly at the end of his rope, beam brightly lit. Jon looked up.
"I'm fine, Ari. I'm seeing obviously artificial support pillars when my light hits them, but I'm spinning too fast to make out any details. I see a smooth floor that seems to support the pillars, but directly below me is nothing but black." He paused. "I must be suspended over some kind of shaft." He paused again. "I think we just answered the big question. Can you guys haul me up?"
When he was standing the surface next to Ginger and Ari, Jon said, "I have no idea how far down that shaft goes. I was about three meters from a ledge on the side toward the edge of the depression – where I saw the pillars." He pointed toward the two-meter wall that marked the border of the depression. "Completely open on the other side and below me."
"Are you certain the pillars were artificial?" Ginger asked.
"Nothing here to create stalactites," Jon said with a broad grin. "Besides, they were perfectly cylindrical – there's no question."
"One explanation for Iapetus' low density," Ari said, "is that it is made up of a lot of ices…they could make stalactites. But," he added hastily, "I believe you! I just need to see them for myself."
"You will," Jon said, "we all will."
"Rover One, this is Cassini. Do you copy?" Demitri's accented voice interrupted their conversation.
"Roger, Cassini. We have just discovered what can only be artificial structures – regularly spaced pillars holding up the ceiling of a cavern."
"Say again, Rover. I thought you just said you found artificial pillars…"
"Roger, Demitri…that's exactly what we found, perfectly cylindrical floor-to-ceiling pillars holding up the roof of a vast cavern."
"I copy…so what's next?"
"We are some distance from our landing spot, and it's been a long day. We'll head back to the rover, eat something, and sack out for several hours. We'll call you when we get there."
"Roger that, Rover One," Demitri said as his transmission faded in a burst of static.
#
Houston was on a watch cycle that maintained only CapCom and four other regular watch standers in Control. Except for an emergency, there was really nothing Houston could do to help the distant space travelers. Even in an emergency, Houston would not know about it until over ninety minutes after it happened. If Jon Stock had not solved the problem or at least gotten it under control by then, it probably would not be solved. Rod Zakes did not put himself on the watch rotation, but he could be found nearby virtually any hour of the day or night.
By the time Demitri had relayed Jon's colorful description of his fall through the surface, and their discovery of what could only be artificial pillars holding up the roof of a large cavern, the surface crew had long since returned to the rover, eaten something, and retired for a well-deserved sleep. As it happened, Rod was sleeping himself when the message arrived. Nevertheless, he responded with instant alertness when he awakened to the cryptic announcement over the building system: Zakes to Control…Zakes to Control.
He arrived a minute later, and CapCom replayed the message. "Can you believe it," Rod muttered, "the greatest discovery in the history of the human race, and only we six know about it!" He reviewed the message again. You live a charmed life, Jon my friend. "We'll await their next transmission before making any announcement." The last thing he wanted was for the exploration party to discover that their initial determination was wrong. A few more hours wouldn't matter.
When he returned to his room, he pulled out the message Alex had handed him earlier that day. He read it for perhaps the twentieth time:
Mr. Zakes:
The facts clearly indicate that you have penetrated my communications link. Consequently, there is no further need for subterfuge. I demand an uncensored communication link with my subject, Saeed Esmail. Failing that, I will unleash nuclear holocaust against your ally, Israel.
Khomeini
He had, of course, informed State the moment he received it. Despite an admonition to maintain total security, he had made a secure call to Daniel Ben-Gurion. He was not going to have the blood of several million innocent Israelis on his hands if State bungled this one.
A detailed encrypted message was already waiting for Jon on Iapetus, but Rod was uncertain whether or not Jon had brought his decryption program with him to the surface. Damn the waiting! He poured himself a stiff Scotch and went back to sleep.
#
The next morning, Rod walked into Control, to find it filled to capacity. Obviously, the word had gotten out. Since he would be making the announcement shortly anyway, Jon decided not to make an issue of the matter.
Within an hour, the first images started to arrive, images taken by Jon's suit equipment as he hung ignominiously over the shaft, twisting in the dark on the previous day. These were followed by new ones being transmitted directly from the site as the Cassini II passed overhead. As the Mission Control computers reassembled the incoming data, everyone watched as the three explorers placed a high intensity cutting rope in a two-meter wide circle near the base of an overhanging two-meter high wall. Following a bright soundless flash, a neat two-meter hole penetrated the surface where the charge had been laid.
Ginger rolled out an inflatable polyaramid pattern that quickly hardened into a four-meter high ladder. She and Ari lifted it and lowered it into the hole. It hit bottom with about a meter to spare. Jon descended first, carrying a bright illumination source. His helmet holocams transmitted what he saw. The entire assembly in Control held its collective breath. Once on the floor, Jon activated the illumination. A collective gasp emanated from the assembled Control personnel.
Their eyes beheld a forest of evenly spaced clearly artificial pillars extending to the limits of the illumination. Spaced between the pillars were mounds of something – machines perhaps – but there was no way to tell from the transmitted images. Stunned silence followed the termination of the transmission as Cassini II passed around Iapetus' limb.
Rod picked up a phone and directed that his prepared press announcement be released. Two minutes later, news of the discovery flashed around the world. In every place that holovision reached or radio was heard, the world's billions stopped their activities to watch or listen to the incredible news. Humans were not alone in the Universe. Someone else was out there, or at least had been out there at one time in the distant past.
#
Jon stood at the base of the ladder and looked around him in total astonishment. "Ginger, join me. Ari, you remain topside for the time being." He watched her descend the ladder, slim and graceful, even in her suit. They tethered together with a three-meter stretch. "We're going to penetrate about two-hundred meters," Jon said to Ari. "Keep my holocast on your viewer. Should we get into trouble, don't come down unless it's absolutely necessary."
"Roger that."
"I'll take the lead," Jon said to Ginger. "Keep the tether taut, but still a bit loose. Know what I mean?"
"Got it."
As they moved forward, Jon kept his eyes on the floor, not wanting to go through another dropping incident. Their footsteps stirred up a small cloud of dust that settled back to the floor over a matter of seconds. They stopped to examine the first lump. It was covered with a thick layer of fine dust. Jon wiped some of it to the floor. Beneath the dust appeared a surface that looked like metal. "Do you see this, Ari?"
"Sure do. What is it?"
"No clue. Ginger, help me remove more of the dust."
Together they worked for five minutes clearing most of the dust from the top of whatever it was. Their suits and helmets automatically repelled the dust particles. The device was constructed of three intersecting cylinders all crossing or passing through each other at the middle. Apparently it was a machine of some sort. It rested directly on the deck. When Jon stooped down to examine how it was attached, he could see nothing. It seemed to blend into the deck as if it had been molded from the deck material, but there was no clue as to its function. There were no controls, no panel of any kind, no doors, drawers, or anything else that could be manipulated in any way. Jon shook his head. "Whatever this is, it's incredibly old. Why would anyone expect to make anything of it?"
"Even without atmospheric corrosion," Ginger said, "I cannot imagine any machine lasting for as long as this must have lasted."
"Roger that," Ari commented.
"Come on, let's look at the next machine," Jon said. In his mind that's what they were, machines of unknown age, with unknown purpose. The next machine was identical to the first one, except it was oriented at what appeared to the eye to be a sixty-degree angle to the first machine. They examined several more machines. Each was oriented at sixty degrees to those surrounding it.
"Ari, transmit the images to Cassini II as soon as possible. Ask Demitri to run a geometric analysis of the machine placement pattern."
