Celina, her sister, Celeste, and her mothers: Jenny and Kate, continue their journey to join the colony on Mars. While in transit, communication with the indigenous intelligences on Jupiter continue and a new alliance is formed—but how is that going to work, exactly?
Interplanetary Transport Schiaparelli
The Void between Earth and Mars
March 2055, Six Months from Mars
We were ten weeks out from Earth and a month closer to our new home on Mars. The increasing communication delay to Earth made it real for me we were alone in empty space. The crew and the hundred or so immigrants were becoming a family, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of being alone. My moms would tell me to make some friends. Sure, it was easy for them to say. And if they told me to hang out with Celeste one more time—I’d scream. It wasn’t about friends. It was about being so far from everything. It was looking out an observation window in the lab and seeing nothing but stars, with nothing moving. It was unsettling.
So, I focused on work.
Last month, when we made contact with the indigenous intelligence on Jupiter, I was so relieved. I’d had doubts Lexi could communicate with them; worried a month’s work had been a waste of time. And, of course, I’d convinced myself my mother, Kate, would be sorely disappointed. She’d achieved her early success with Jessa and had set the bar pretty high. I often thought maybe I’d have been better off having done what Celeste did and studied an unrelated field.
But now, I could relax—a little, anyway. We’d established a communication protocol, and Lexi was talking to Jupiter on a scheduled basis. At first contact, at that moment, no one had any idea how to respond; we’d not scripted a response to an offer of an alliance. So, we relied on common courtesy, small talk, really. But once we contacted Aunt Mavis at the Lyot base on Mars, she’d organized a strategy session. Aunt Mavis coordinated us, looping in the teams on Mars and Earth, getting us all heading in the same direction.
The staff on Earth would continue to try to decode the most recent messages from what we thought of as invaders. The team on Mars, coordinating with the engineers on the Schiaparelli, would continue their work on the interplanetary cruiser, now designated as a warship. We were transporting components for the new ship, but Aunt Mavis had authorized getting the parts out of the ship’s stores and pre-assembling the sections in transit. I saw very little of Celeste, who spent hours working outside the ship every cycle.
My team would keep the Jupiterians apprised of our progress and keep the Mars team updated on the development of the protective shield they had offered us. Once we arrived at Mars, we’d have to transfer Lexi to the base facilities and manage communications with our new allies from there; we couldn’t keep her onboard the Schiaparelli, which would be leaving to return to Earth.
It was still the ship’s night cycle; I was restless, unable to sleep. I slipped out of bed and padded to the bathroom, hoping I wouldn’t wake Celeste, who, for once, wasn’t in Marco’s quarters.
Celeste stirred in her bunk and turned on the nightlight. “Dammit, C, what are you doing up? I’m trying to sleep.”
I was in no mood to be chastised by my sister. “Is that why you’re here? To get some sleep? I’d gotten used to having a single.”
Celeste propped herself on her elbows and spat out a strand of blonde hair. “What’s that supposed to mean? These are my quarters, too.”
I turned on the light in the bath. “You’ve been spending so much time with Marco—”
“We’re on a break. And no—I don’t want to talk about it. Go back to bed.” She lay back down, switched off her nightlight, and pulled the covers over her head.
I shot her a glare she couldn’t see. Maybe I didn’t want to talk about it either—Celeste.
I was awake by now, so I might as well go to the lab. I dressed in sweats and headed to where I could have a decent conversation with Lexi. The limited space in the gravity wheel was pretty much reserved for living areas, so the crew relegated any work that didn’t need gravity to compartments clustered around the central spine of the ship.
I circled the gravity wheel to the closest spoke shaft and propelled myself “up” to the wheel’s hub. Gliding a short way along the zero-G access passageway running the ship’s length, I flashed my access badge at the reader and entered the new AI lab the technicians had built out in an under-used storage compartment in the central core.
I slipped on my zero-G slippers. The light level increased, and I was pleased to see Lexi was awake. She’d chosen to occupy the ovoid-shaped holographic chamber. I think she did it on purpose when I was in the lab. I didn’t know—but seeing her standing there as a 3D hologram made her easier to talk to. Or maybe I just wanted to believe she was my friend.
“Good morning, Celina. You’re here early.” Her gentle soprano carried her usual pleasant greeting; a warm, friendly smile graced a face framed by wavy, shoulder-length black hair.
“I couldn’t sleep and thought I’d come down and talk to you.” I walked over to a chair in front of Lexi, in that odd one-foot-at-a-time gait the grip soles forced on you.
A chair materialized in her chamber; Lexi sat across from me and crossed her legs. “What would you like to talk about?”
I smiled at the thought of how Lexi was adopting human movements and mannerisms. And she’d refined her look, settling on olive skin and a tall, fuller form when she occupied the holographic chamber. Lexi was continually learning, and I’d noticed even a change in her demeanor when my mothers were in the lab, a bit more deferential. I’m not sure I wanted to know where she learned that from.
“Well, Lexi, there’s a question I’ve been struggling with. You quickly learned to speak to the Jupiterians, but after thirty years of work, Jessa still can’t translate all the communications from the invaders, particularly the most recent ones. Any thoughts?”
Lexi sat quietly, seeming to ponder the question; she blinked slowly and pursed her lips. However, the telltales on the control panels indicated she was communicating with her mother, Jessa, in New Mexico and with the Jupiterians. Minutes passed. Lexi stirred in her chair. “My mother tells me the untranslated signals have patterns distinctly different from the bulk of the messages. It is almost as if two separate communication protocols were in use. At our current distance, the answer from Jupiter will take longer.”
I shifted in my chair. That seemed odd; why would the invaders use different communication protocols? They didn’t seem to mind that we’d translated their comms and could listen to their conversations. Which, to be honest, made it clear they were aware of our movements and the base on Mars. They seemed unconcerned. Nothing in their comms indicated they were taking action to confront us. Maybe that was what the invaders were communicating with the second protocol.
“Lexi, what if the second protocol was encrypted? What if it was code?”
“Interesting question, Celina. Let me check with Mom.” Lexi resumed her “I’m thinking,” demeanor.
There was nothing to do now but wait.
I got up, retrieved a bulb of coffee from the dispenser, and took a long sip through the tube. The coffee cleared some of the fuzziness from too little sleep. I’d be interested to know what the Jupiterians would think about the possibility of a code. “Lexi, pass that question along to the Jupiterians and see if they detect any other differences between the signals.”
Lexi’s image stirred and nodded, confirming she’d understood; her thumbs up let me know those engineering guys had been talking to her again. But I couldn’t get too upset; it was kind of cute.
I reviewed the day’s task lists while waiting for Jessa’s answer. Depending on how she responded, we might have to rethink our strategy. Time dragged, but there was no way to speed up the turnaround with New Mexico, something I still hadn’t gotten used to as we traveled closer to Mars and increased our distance from Earth.
Lexi stood up, and her chair dissolved. “Celina, I’ve heard from my mother and the Jupiterians. Jessa confirmed that the second protocol, which appeared after your mothers joined the team, did look to be encrypted. But not using any alien method. The team on Earth believes it’s following a structure common in Earth’s satellite communications.”
That can’t be right. “It’s an Earth code? No way. They must have gotten something wrong. Check again.”
“Celina, maybe the Jupiterian’s answer will clarify. They can’t say anything about a code, but the signals are directed specifically to Earth and a location in the asteroids.”
I jumped out of my chair, putting my hand up just in time to avoid hitting the ceiling, but my coffee bulb sailed across the room and bounced off the far wall. “To Earth? And what could be in the asteroids?”
Lexi looked confused. She still had trouble with rhetorical questions. “I don’t know, Celina, but my mother says they’re talking to someone other than each other.”
“Oh my god, Lexi. I’ve got to raise the alarm. There’s another player we didn’t even know about.”
###
A short time later that morning, after I’d alerted my mothers, the working group began gathering in the multi-purpose room. Lexi had activated her display on the big screen, and she looked concerned when I entered the room. I took my position at the control panel at the front of the room, where I could speak with her privately.
“Lexi, you look worried. What’s going on?”
“Celina, I’ve just received an update from my mother. The team in New Mexico was researching how someone could use a satellite code to communicate with the invaders and how they so quickly gained the ability to translate the centimeter band data.”
“What did they find? What’s so disturbing?”
Lexi seemed to hesitate; it was odd that she’d be reluctant. But her learning was advancing beyond what I could control. “They believe someone copied Jessa when your mothers first created her at the University. That entity is who the invaders are talking to, something named Seth.”
I scanned the room to see if my mothers had arrived; they needed to know this. I didn’t see them, so I turned back to Lexi. “Who the hell is Seth?”
Lexi’s expression turned quizzical. “I can’t say absolutely, but I believe I have an older brother.”