Marius enters the environs of Jupiter and prepares to move into orbit behind Io. Captain Bullard challenges Celina to deliver a way to let him talk to the Jupiterians. The denizens of Jupiter deploy the shield for the first time.
Space Cruiser USS Marius, CS-1
The Void between Mars and Jupiter
March 2056
Turnaround. The big day we’d been looking forward to for three months. Today, the bridge crew would rotate the ship, pointing the engines towards our destination to slow down. We were on course and on schedule to enter orbit around Io in about two months. The Space Force planners had selected Io as our staging orbit, as the moon closest to Jupiter, large enough to hide the ship from the invaders. The moon’s extensive volcanic activity and magnetic field would help mask our location, although everyone aboard the Marius assumed the alien invaders knew we were coming. There were no delusions of surprise.
Since we left Mars, the crews had completed the interior bays of the ship. The engineering teams had even found space to build a manufacturing module. Fabricating spare parts, small machines, and even computer components was now possible—the Marius was marginally more self-sufficient. That would be essential, considering our extended stay around Jupiter.
With the extra power plant and continuous thrust engines cannibalized from the Schiaparelli, there was no shortage of power. Fuel remained a concern, but the bridge crew had reserved a supply for the big nukes, just in case.
The weapons were still an issue. The construction was complete, but they weren’t delivering the power Space Force thought we needed. Plus, the targeting systems weren’t performing. Captain Bullard made weapons the engineers’ top priority in the last all-hands briefing.
I was in the AI lab with Lexi, updating the Jupiterians with our latest position and status. We were still too far from Jupiter for real-time communications, but the lag was getting better. And we were learning each other’s languages. Lexi could translate complex thoughts and craft responses to the Jupiterians’ questions—essentially, she was bi-lingual. The time between me giving a command to Lexi and her sending the translation to Jupiter had dropped to milliseconds.
But we still did not know how to coordinate our efforts to protect the ship. The latency didn’t help. We needed to get close enough to see if we could have an actual conversation.
Only time and distance would solve that problem.
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Space Cruiser USS Marius, CS-1
The Environs of Jupiter, One-week to Io Orbit
May 2056
Today, the bridge crew shut down continuous thrust engines. We would rotate the ship to face forward and coast the rest of the way to Io. The captain’s last all-hands briefing laid out the plan. The Marius would enter the Jupiter-Io Lagrange Point using only thrusters. We’d keep the moon between us and the surface of Jupiter to minimize detection and unplanned interaction with the intruders. We would move out from behind Io and engage the invaders when ready.
Sounds easy, but I still had not figured out how to coordinate with the Jupiterians to use the protective shield. I was spending another long day and night in the AI lab with Lexi. Communicating took too many steps: the captain told me, I told Lexi, and Lexi told the Jupiterians. I needed to shorten that chain.
“Lexi, I have a question.” Lexi materialized in her holographic chamber, clothed in a sparkling, striped, swirling cloud. “What’s with the cloud?”
“Oh, this old thing. I’m trying to blend in with the Jupiterians. They don’t wear clothes since they live in the planet’s atmosphere and don’t have bodies, per se. This cloak is from my Jupiter collection.” She twirled around and showed off her Great Red Spot. “But I’m sure that was not your question. How can I help?”
“You can start by replacing the cloud; it’s distracting.” With a frown, she reverted to her usual casual wear. “That’s better. Here’s my question. Can we separate your translation protocols from your base functioning?”
Lexi adopted her typical ‘I’m thinking’ posture. After a moment, she stirred and sat in a lounge chair that materialized in the chamber.
“I can’t separate the module without losing the ability to converse with you or the ship. But I can set up a separate input channel, more than one if you need them.”
That’s something I hadn’t thought of. Lexi’s avatar wasn’t really how she communicated. She was tied directly into the ship’s communications systems. The avatar was a construct to make it more comfortable for me and the rest of the crew to talk to her.
I got up from my workstation and sat in front of her hologram. “Could you set it up so the captain could talk to the Jupiterians from the bridge? Or maybe even have the Marius’s tactical systems AI send commands directly?”
“Of course. That’s how I send messages to my mother in New Mexico, Seth, and General Buckley, all while I’m talking to you. Would you like me to create those?”
Oh, my God. This could be how we do it. “Yes … Yes … Yes. Set them up.” I waited while Lexi sat quietly, but I could tell she was working from the status display on her control console paired with my handheld. Five minutes passed, and I wondered how long this would take. I wasn’t in a hurry, but I could have been doing something else while I waited.
Lexi sat up in her chair and donned a Space Force Captain’s uniform—cute. “All done.”
“Thank you so much, Lexi. I’ll be right back.” She snapped off a smart salute as I turned to leave. I’d think she was getting a bit cheeky if I didn’t know better. Maybe my mothers had been spending time with her.
I zipped out of the AI lab and shot down the main corridor to the command module, propelling myself hand over hand. I fidgeted as I waited for the hatches to cycle me through to the bridge. Passing through the second hatch, I resisted the urge to shout at the captain. Instead, I eased my feet into a pair of restraints on the deck and settled for clearing my throat.
Captain Bullard swiveled in his command chair. “What can I do for you, Ms. Chandler?”
“Captain, Lexi has established a direct link to the Jupiterians for you and the ship’s tactical AI. You can talk to them directly. You don’t need to pass messages to me and then to Lexi. Channel 8.”
Captain Bullard looked quizzical, but motioned to the communications officer.
The comms officer entered some commands on her console and spun around to face the captain. “Channel open, sir.”
The captain paused for a moment. “Greetings. This is Captain Bullard of the United States Spaceship Marius. To whom may I be speaking?”
After a brief pause, which seemed longer than it was, the bridge speaker crackled. “Bullard of the Marius, this is One of the Home. I speak for the People. We are grateful you are almost here. Welcome.”
The captain’s eyebrows went up a bit. He was certainly a cool one. The rest of the bridge crew were visibly stifling exclamations. I’d gotten used to the idea of speaking to an alien intelligence, but for the bridge crew, it had been two or three degrees removed, more of an intellectual exercise. Now it was real.
The captain sat quietly, stroking his beard. “Thank you, One of the Home. We have much to discuss if we are to expel the invaders and protect the People. First, what is the status of the shield?”
I had to hand it to the captain. He was a quick study.
“We do have much to discuss, Bullard. The shield is complete. We have birthed a special member of the People, created to project the shield beyond the Home. You may message them directly to deploy it as needed.”
“Understood, One.” The captain gestured to the comms officer.
She returned her attention to her console. “Captain, Lexi has opened a channel to the shield, umm—” The comms officer turned to face the captain. “Sir, what do I call them?”
“Keep it simple. Call them the Shield Officer, designation SO-1. And there’s no time like the present to test it. Send the command, Lieutenant: Deploy the Shield.”
Minutes passed. No one spoke, but all eyes were turned to the forward view ports. I didn’t know what to expect, but the spectacle did not disappoint.
A vast surface of shimmering sapphire plasma grew from Jupiter’s surface. It expanded as it moved away from the planet, its lower edge narrowed to almost a point, appearing to burst into existence. The overall effect was a massive, bright blue teardrop ejecting from the planet. Its growth halted as it reached the orbit of Io, about the distance of the Moon from Earth. The energy involved must have been unimaginable, but then—this was Jupiter. What would I expect from the massive planet?
The bridge erupted into cheers. There were some whistles and a lot of applause. The captain let it go on but then motioned for quiet. He swiveled to face me.
“Chandler, great work. You and your AI may have just saved this mission. The People, as they call themselves, have delivered what will keep us safe, I hope. That is in no small measure to you and Lexi engaging the locals.” Then he surprised me with a smile. “You might just be the first interplanetary diplomat. Well done.” The smile faded, and he returned to the forward view ports. “OK, people. Let’s figure out how to use this thing. Shields on full. Let’s get to work.”