Back to Book One: It Always Starts with a Probe
Celina, her sister, Celeste, and her mothers: Jenny and Kate, are on their way to join the colony on Mars. While in transit, a discovery upends everything they thought they knew about the gas giants.
Interplanetary Transport Schiaparelli
The Void between Earth and Mars
February 2055, Seven Months from Mars
Six weeks out from Earth, our small immigrant group of future Martians should have settled into a busy but mundane routine. But my discovery of the second intelligence on Jupiter and our realization that the original contact had been with an invading alien species had thrown the mission plan into chaos.
At first, my mothers, Jenny and Kate, had doubted I’d decoded the signal correctly. Kate, in particular, had been skeptical. “Celina, you can’t just change the signal frequency data and assume Jessa knows what to do with it.”
Really? She acted as if I didn’t know what I was doing. Thankfully, Jenny was more encouraging and offered to help with the analysis.
It took us weeks to verify the work I’d been doing with Jessa and convince my mothers the translation was accurate. In the past few days, the team had agreed we could attempt to respond to the indigenous life we’d discovered on Jupiter. I re-wrote the communication and conversation algorithms to integrate the new translation process and developed the first contact script—everyone was finally on board after Friday’s progress meeting.
Still, it had been a challenge. Even with the AI’s assurances, Kate wasn’t entirely comfortable with me enhancing Jessa. But really, I wasn’t working with Jessa anymore, but Jessa’s daughter. I had to convince my moms, though; they’d always been possessive where Jessa was concerned.
As we got farther from Earth and the Jessa instance in New Mexico continued her work with the team translating the original centimeter band signals, the two “versions” drifted farther apart. In the last few weeks, keeping them in synch proved impossible. I planned to introduce the new entity at the first contact meeting, which started in an hour. I hoped for the best and told myself I had done the right thing, but I was nervous. My sister Celeste, always the more confident, rebellious one, encouraged me to make the change without asking permission. But—well—confronting “The Moms,” as Celeste called them, always made me uneasy; it never seemed to bother Celeste, which, of course, generated its own issues in the family.
I left the AI lab in the zero-G central core of the ship. Gliding forward through the passageway, brushing the white, padded walls with an outstretched hand to steady myself, I gave myself little boosts using the handgrips spaced along the corridor. I arrived at the rotating hub just behind the ship’s main control module and climbed “down” a spoke shaft to the simulated gravity ring. My path took me around the ring, through the residential quarters. Breathing in the earthy aroma of a hundred people living in close quarters, it was almost like real air, not the antiseptic ozone smell of the rest of the ship’s spaces.
I arrived in the presentation hall early to get set up. Since the discovery of the new intelligence a month ago, the ship’s crew had converted the social lounge into a multi-purpose room and moved one of the large display screens destined for the Mars colony from the ship’s cargo bay into that space. Today, I hoped we’d be sending our first signals to Jupiter. It took about fifteen minutes before I was set up. The AI’s avatar appeared on the interactive screen.
“Good morning, Celina. I’m ready for our test today.”
I found her Ancient Mediterranean features and slight Grecian accent a little unsettling, like she knew more than she was sharing. But it could merely be an artifact of letting her select her name, Lexi, and the avatar to use when she and I were working alone. I’m sure I’ll get used to it over time, but I often wondered why my AI needed an accent.
I wished I had her confidence; I sure didn’t feel ready. I dimmed the screen and turned the volume up a tad—unnecessary since the AI’s soprano voice was pretty easy to hear—to have something to do. Forcing myself to stop fidgeting, I wiped my sweaty palms on my thighs. That was a mistake. One of these days, I’d learn to wear dark colors; my peach-colored jumpsuit pants were now darkened with dampness. Celeste had told me the color complimented my strawberry-blonde hair—what price vanity.
The working group filed in. It was a group of about two dozen specialists, about all the room would hold at once. The communication engineers sat in the back and waved, flashing me enthusiastic thumbs-ups. They were nice guys, but sometimes I wondered if they knew how serious this was. They had completed the antenna work to broadcast using the kilometer band, so I had to give them some credit.
My sister Celeste wandered in, with Marco in tow, of course, and sat with her fellow engineers. She and the hunky farmer seemed to be inseparable these days. He seemed to follow Celeste everywhere. I missed the early weeks, in reality not that long ago, when my moms first met his dad on the trip, and we hung out together.
Celeste had an easy way about her, and the group all laughed at some joke she must have shared; even Marco joined in. It was probably some smart-ass remark about me being nervous since I’d started fidgeting again. The converted lounge wasn’t a large room; I’m sure everyone was staring at me, watching me sweat.
Finally, my moms came in. Thank god. Kate sat in the row in front of Celeste and tossed me a smile and a quick wave.
Jenny found her way to me and leaned in close. “Are you all set, sweetheart?”
I turned from the control interface. “As ready as I’ll ever be. But I’m nervous. What if they don’t answer?”
Jenny gripped my hand and gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. “Just relax. We know they’re out there—they called us. But I know how you feel. We were once in your shoes.” She smiled and peeked back at Kate. “At least you don’t have your Aunt Mavis sitting in the front row with her finger on the kill switch.” She glanced at the blank display screen. “How’s Jessa doing?”
Now was as good a time as any. “I’ve been thinking about that, Mom. What if—”
The announcement from the flight deck interrupted me. “Project Team. The antenna is aligned and powered, and the carrier wave is at full strength. Please begin.”
My mom gave my shoulder a reassuring pat and took her seat next to Kate. It was now or never. I stood, and the room quieted.
“Before we start the transmission, I’d like to introduce you to Lexi.” I activated the display screen, and Lexi’s avatar came to life. A tide of murmurs swelled up. The guys in the back did their thumbs-up thing. And Celeste flashed a huge smile.
My moms just sat there, mouths open, looking a little dumbfounded. This would be the test. Finally, Kate raised her hand, as she does in meetings.
I gave her a wave to go ahead.
“When you stopped synching with New Mexico—don’t look so surprised, of course, I knew—I figured you’d do this, eventually. But Lexi? Where did that come from?”
I pointed to the display screen for Lexi to answer.
“Well, Kate, I knew my mother Jessa’s name was an acronym but had a Hebrew meaning. I thought I’d continue the Mediterranean theme. Lexi is short for Alexandra. Defender of men seemed a good choice with our current mission to help the Jupiterians. My look and my accent are just affectations on my part. They seemed to be appropriate. A girl’s gotta have some fun.”
And she smiled.
The room erupted in applause. Even a few whistles and catcalls from the back row punched through. I was flabbergasted, but so relieved. Now I could relax and get to work.
“OK, everyone. Thank you so much. But we’ve got to get the script started. We’ve only got this orientation for the next four hours.” I turned to the display screen. “Lexi, please initiate script module 1.”
The script scrolled across the screen:
We have received your signal and are in transit to the fourth planet. How can we assist? How can we detect the alien intruders? We have tried visiting, but our probes were destroyed. Please respond.
The confirmation that the communication system of the Schiaparelli had received and accepted the translation flashed on the screen next to Lexi’s avatar. We had to keep our messages concise, as the kilometer band signal is less data-dense than the centimeter bands we’d used in New Mexico.
It was time to wait.
###
As we waited, my moms joined me at the front of the room. Kate assured me she was fine giving Lexi an independent identity, and maybe it was time to let Jessa select her avatar as well. They left me to converse with Lexi, which was a good sign. I wish they’d given me their approval earlier; it would have saved me some anxiety. I suspect they were trying to teach me to be more assertive since I didn’t ask either. It seemed to be a common theme with them. I often wondered what lessons they were trying to teach Celeste.
It would likely be several hours before we heard from Jupiter. Many of the working group left to attend to other tasks, but I stayed to work with my moms and Lexi, maybe even get a signal to Jessa back in New Mexico.
After about an hour and a half, the working group filtered back in, including Celeste, who was making her way to the front of the room.
Celeste got close and patted my shoulder. “See, C. I told you The Moms would be OK with your new friend.”
I straightened up and crossed my arms. It was always a little irritating when she didn’t use my name. “Well, ‘C,’ I don’t have your privilege of them not looking over your shoulder.”
Celeste stepped back, looking hurt. “Hey, Celina, no offense. I was just trying to be supportive. You know, when we get to Mars, you’ll need to do this again—create a new entity for the ship we’re building.”
“I guess you’re right. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.” Celeste had a point. What I learned from developing Lexi could help with the AI they’d need for the ship. “I guess we’ll be working together then, Celeste.”
Celeste flashed her brightest smile. “That could be fun. We can—”
A bridge announcement interrupted her. “A return signal has been received and sent to the translation AI. Stand by.”
All eyes in the room turned to the big screen. Lexi had adopted a calm “I’m thinking” expression. As we watched, the message scrolled down the screen next to her avatar:
Message received. We speak also for our brethren on the sixth and seventh planets. The invaders are extracting our atmosphere. They are causing destructive discharges at our poles that are damaging us. The vortex on the seventh planet has destroyed half of the People’s home there. Please hurry. We are working on a protective shield for your ships so you can travel to our domain. Please respond.
The room erupted into exclamations and shouted conversations.
Lexi’s expression turned serious. “What should I tell them, Celina? They sound desperate.”
The fight was on; the indigenous entities were willing to help—and I had no idea what to say.
It was time to update Aunt Mavis and have her put her general’s hat back on.