Third Moon Rising Read online

  Gloria was familiar with such implants, so his having one was no major concern to her. Nevertheless, she was quite upset that he had not told her about it before and very concerned about the implications of what Fremont had overheard. Carlos did his best to reassure her and insisted she tell no one else.

  The message arrived the next day officially transferring liaison responsibility with Zilia to the crew, and more specifically to Carlos. The video revealed five individuals seated in a message conferencing room on the Messier Space Station. An aging Joseph Fairling was present, as was Fremont Jones. The current president of the Messier Colony, Jared Solinsky, was also present, and he introduced the incoming mission director and mission coordinator, Charles Wheeler and Rachel Locksley, respectively.

  Joseph and Fremont offered their thanks and best wishes to the New Horizon crew, and then remained quiet. If Carlos had not received the earlier private message, he would have viewed this as appropriate. He now thought their comments sounded more than a little scripted.

  The new mission director offered his congratulations for their success to date, and indicated how pleased he was to be involved as this great historical event continued to unfold. He indicated the mission was entering the diplomatic phase, which was why he and Rachel Locksley were now leading the team. He went on to enumerate the reasons why the mission was so important, including opening new vistas for human exploration in the cosmos. He summarized his and Ms. Locksley’s credentials, and then turned the session over to her.

  The more the new director talked, the more Carlos disliked him because of his pandering to win over the crew’s confidence. Carlos looked around and could tell most of the others were feeling as he did. It did not help that the director was a new arrival from Earth.

  Rachel Locksley was a different matter. She presented herself very professionally and was to the point in her comments. Carlos thought he might have seen a brief expression of disdain in the look she cast the mission director’s way as she began addressing the group. She did not dwell on personal comments but simply indicated she was indeed pleased to be joining the team, and only hoped she could become as good a team player as Fremont Jones was.

  She then proceeded to the business of transitioning liaison with Zilia to the team. She indicated that two of the probes orbiting Zilia were now in near-planet orbits to enable interactive communications between the New Horizon and Zilia. The relocation of the probes was coordinated with the Zilans.

  She next indicated the Zilans had been informed a week earlier that the New Horizon was entering the far reaches of their solar system and that communications between the spaceship and those on Zilia were imminent. The Zilans had also been informed that it would take the spaceship approximately three months to enter orbit around Zilia.

  Locksley made it clear that initial communications were restricted to Carlos interfacing with either Counselor Largena or her senior aide, Starke Pelanah. She indicated that the counselor wanted to be personally involved in most communications until the team achieved orbit around the planet. In case Carlos was indisposed, Gloria was to keep communications going as appropriate to meet mission objectives.

  The mission coordinator reiterated that transfer of liaison responsibility at this point was to enable the crew to get acquainted with the Zilans firsthand and to work out the details for arrival, quarantine, and initial meetings and ceremonies. Locksley expected the crew to be comfortable interfacing with their Zilan counterparts before reaching Zilia, and ready to step immediately into their roles as diplomats from Earth.

  The mission coordinator then paused and looked intently at the assembled team. “Commander Sepeda, there are a few specific points I’ll make to you and your team; then hopefully we’ll not have to return to them in the future. We expect to monitor all communications between the New Horizon and Zilia until you are safely on the surface of the planet. Please make sure your systems are set up to accommodate this. We will not interject ourselves between you and the Zilans from this point forward unless some unforeseen, extreme situation arises. Our goal is to monitor your evolving relationships with the Zilans and provide guidance whenever necessary. It’s your responsibility to successfully establish an excellent working relationship with the Zilans.

  “I’m sure there will be periodic direct correspondence between the leaders of Zilia and our leaders on Earth, but these will be coordinated in advance with you, as we expect the Zilans to coordinate with you when their leaders want to initiate correspondence with Earth. I have communicated with Counselor Largena in this regard, and her government agrees.

  “We’ve reached agreement inasmuch as we can from a distance on a diplomatic treaty establishing an Earth Embassy on Zilia. We sent you the final version of this agreement. Any future changes will be coordinated through you. Please discuss with me any changes you would like to see made once you have gained a better understanding of the situation on Zilia.

  “I want to emphasize that for now, you are to continue keeping the existence of the Messier Colony a secret. The Zilans will learn about our colony soon enough, but we don’t want to worry them about our presence in their neighborhood, so to speak. We’ll reveal this information at the appropriate time, probably right before committing to expanded technology exchange activities.

  “I understand you’ve maintained a separate chronological time in your systems synchronized with Zilan time. Counselor Largena is expecting your call at 0300 their time tomorrow, which is approximately 1000 our time. We are the ones who initiated contact, and protocol calls for you to contact them in this situation as well.”

  The mission coordinator provided details regarding expected periodic status reports, and then tasked the team doctors to conduct a thorough examination of each crew member in preparation for the transition. The message concluded with her thanking them for their dedication.

  As if we could halt things now, Carlos mused.

  “Samuel, coordinate with Eve to get our communications channels set up for monitoring by Earth and Messier Mission Control,” Carlos directed. He then addressed the entire team. “What do you think about the changes back home?”

  The ensuing discussion was somewhat subdued as the team relaxed over breakfast. They felt allegiance to Joseph Fairling and Fremont Jones and would all have preferred to have them stay involved. However, the changes were logical, and it was appropriate to make them at this time.

  Carlos noticed that Alex and Laura Brown were not eating, but instead were conversing quietly and looking at him occasionally. Alex finally motioned to Carlos to follow them as they got up from the table. He excused himself and followed them to their private compartment. Alex began speaking before the door closed.

  “Before mission launch we were told that if thorough individual examinations were requested when liaison responsibility was shifted to the New Horizon, it meant we should run particularly thorough diagnostics of your embedded neural interface unit. There is no other reason to conduct the examinations since we monitor the health of the crew closely.”

  “We don’t know why they want this,” Laura added, “but felt we should advise you even though it goes against our instructions. It just seems ridiculous to be secretive about it now.”

  “Thanks for telling me,” Carlos said. It was indeed a close-knit team, and getting closer. He wasn’t surprised the two doctors knew about his NI. Then he thought about Fremont’s message. “Do you know if the neural implant has remote monitoring features?”

  Laura shook her head no, but Alex shifted uneasily. As the silence extended, he finally said, “You have the most advanced neural implant available when we launched, a thalamic implant. It interfaces with the reticular nucleus, the thin layer of neurons partially surrounding the thalamus, and through which most conscious thought circuits pass. Your NI has features to enable monitoring and changing attitude subtly, and it can exert some other behavioral influence through the reticular nucleus. It’s illegal to include software to exercise these changes, for ob
vious reasons. As far as I know, this software was not included when the mission launched.”

  Eve, are you monitoring this conversation?

  Yes.

  I think we now know what the intercepted software changes might be.

  Yes, Carlos, and I find it disturbing.

  Those at Messier can tell the changes did not make it to my implant. Keep the changes quarantined, and intercept any other attempts.

  I will do so.

  The private dialogue with Eve took only moments to complete, and the two doctors simply thought he was contemplating what they had said.

  “I appreciate you sharing this with me. Don’t worry. I don’t think I’ve been messed with since launch. Conduct the examinations as requested. However, I would appreciate your monitoring me for any aberrant behavior. I would hate to become someone’s robot.”

  His statement broke the tension, and they all laughed and headed back to breakfast.

  Concerns about his neural implant surfaced again a few hours later after a thorough physiological examination, including a complete test of his NI and a full-body scan. Alex approached Carlos privately about discovery of an undocumented feature of the NI.

  “I doubt we would have noticed the thin probes extending past the reticular nucleus on into the thalamus if not for being sensitized by our previous conversation,” Alex said. “To be correct, I should say Eve discovered the probes. I didn’t see them.”

  Carlos frowned. “What’s the significance of this?”

  Alex was clearly struggling with how to address the issue. “There are two microextensions from the NI, each ending in an intralaminar nuclei subsection of the thalamus in each hemisphere of your brain. Even a minor lesion in the intralaminar nuclei will cause irreversible loss of consciousness. We suspect the probes could induce such lesions. Carlos, I didn’t know about this feature of your NI until now.”

  Carlos felt lightheaded as he tried to assimilate the implications of what Alex said. His behavior could be remotely manipulated, and he could be permanently disabled if those in control thought it necessary!

  Eve, what do you make of this?

  It is as Alex indicates. The design information for your neural implant acquired from the Messier Space Station does not show the two probes.

  “Thanks, Alex,” he finally choked out. “Who else knows about this?”

  “Just Laura, and of course, Eve, who has access to all test results.”

  “Let’s keep it that way.”

  “But shouldn’t we at least tell Gloria?”

  Carlos could imagine Gloria’s reaction and the great worry this would cause her. “No, not yet. Make sure Laura doesn’t say anything about it. Do you see any way to disable the two thalamic probes?”

  Alex hung his head and spoke so softly that Carlos had to strain to hear him. “No, and I don’t know what to do about this.”

  “You are not responsible for this,” Carlos said as he rose and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Eve will continue to block any attempts for external control of my implant. Everything is going to be OK, Alex.”

  After Alex departed, Carlos wished he felt as positive as his statement to Alex implied. What those at the Messier Colony had done without his knowledge and consent was reprehensible. From his perspective, it was fortunate indeed that Eve had been able to intercept covert attempts to interface with his NI. That would have to suffice for now.

  Eve, do you see any way to disable the probes?

  No way is evident to me. I will review the implant design information and will discretely search Messier Colony archives for such a program procedure for our autosurgical unit.

  Good. Let me know of any additional attempts to interface with my neural implant.

  He could do nothing else now. After regaining his composure as much as possible, he went to join the others for lunch.

  “I suppose we should switch to the Zilan reference time and calendar to be our primary chronological system,” Gloria said as the crew finished lunch.

  “Yes, it’s time,” Carlos replied. “Eve, make this switch, but maintain Messier Colony time separate for reference. In addition, begin incrementally increasing our artificial gravity over the next month to that of Zilia.” That would give two months after that to adapt to Zilia’s gravity before arriving on the surface. The Zilia gravity was about 3 percent higher than on the planet Hope, so they shouldn’t have much trouble adapting.

  Adjusting to the Zilan calendar would prove difficult. The Zilans divided their year into fifteen lunar cycles based on the inner moon orbit of slightly over twenty-five days and the approximate 380 days annual orbital cycle of the planet around its sun. Every third lunar cycle had a day added to compensate for the actual inner moon orbit of 25.33 days. Each Zilan week was five days long, and each day was further broken into twenty increments. Each of the twenty “hours” was broken into one hundred smaller units, in keeping with the Zilan practice of applying a base-ten numbering system everywhere in their society. They made any necessary adjustments to the annual calendar every seven years, a practice adopted to coincide with the outer moon orbital cycle.

  It would be impossible to stay synchronized with time at the Messier Colony or Earth in their everyday activities. One Zilan day was almost twenty-six Earth hours long, with each of the twenty “hours” in the day being approximately 1.3 Earth hours long. The Zilans had set up their daily time sequence based on the twentieth hour ending and the first hour of the new day starting at sunrise on the first day of spring. The vernal equinox occurred that day, when day and night on Zilia were of equal length everywhere on the planet.

  This was also the first day of the Zilan calendar year, and a First Day of the week. The Zilans labeled each day of the week simply First Day, Second Day, and so forth, simple and practical.

  The next day Carlos initiated the call to Zilia promptly at 0300 Zilerip time, midmorning there, and was surprised when Counselor Largena personally responded to the call.

  “Greetings, Counselor Largena,” Carlos said in the Zilan language, with a note of formality in his voice. He had to coach himself mentally to avoid using contractions when speaking the language. “I am Carlos Sepeda, commander of the New Horizon and leader of our diplomatic mission to your planet. Our diplomatic team is looking forward with great anticipation to meeting you and your people.”

  “Welcome to our solar system, Commander Sepeda,” the counselor replied, also in a formal manner in her native language. There was only a slight delay in response due to the position of the relay probe. “We look forward to your arrival on our planet. We admire the courage and commitment the twelve of you have demonstrated in making the long journey to Zilia. We anticipate a long and rewarding relationship with you and the people of Earth.”

  “Our team is very pleased to be a part of this historic event,” Carlos said. “We are committed to doing whatever it takes to make this as rewarding a relationship as possible for both our civilizations. Earth provided general information about our team, but if I may, please let me introduce the members.”

  “Please do so,” Counselor Largena said appreciatively, “and I will then do likewise for my immediate staff.”

  Carlos proceeded to introduce each member of the team and his or her role, giving one or two personal observations about each that he knew were not in the information provided earlier. He could tell Counselor Largena viewed this approach positively.

  When he finished, Counselor Largena introduced an equal number of her team, starting with Starke Pelanah and then Serintha Meterah. The others included a doctor, Caron Cenenteh, and several scientific and industrial representatives.

  It was clear the counselor had loaded her staff with more technical and industrial representatives than diplomats, and this impressed Carlos, for it was what he would have done. However, it was curious that no specific representatives of the Zilan religious order were in the counselor’s staff. An answer as to why would have to wait until their arrival on the p
lanet.

  After introductions, Counselor Largena paused to see if Carlos had anything else he wanted to address, which he did. In light of the message from Fremont, he was going to be aggressive in establishing open communications with the Zilans. If the people on Earth or at the Messier Colony had any problem with it, they would surely let him know.

  “Counselor, observations of your solar system are captivating,” Carlos said, as he prepared to reveal where the New Horizon was located in its trek to Zilia. “We approached your system at an angle of approximately ten degrees from the orbital plane in which the planets and major asteroid belts are located. This afforded us a spectacular view of the Arzét solar system!

  “We were fortunate the fifth planet of your system was in a position relatively close to our trajectory, or we would not have detected it because of its small size. We were surprised to find the planet, for it went undetected by our sensors until we were close to your solar system. The planet’s location close to the outer asteroid belt kept us from differentiating it from the asteroids while still at significant distance.

  “We also recorded observations of the outer asteroid belt in the region closest to our approach. We have begun detailed observation of the fourth planet, which we are able to view much better now that we are a distance from your star about equal to that of the planet. I estimate we will orbit around Zilia in approximately eighty-five of your days.

  “We will record observations of the first and third planets as well; however, detailed observations will have to wait because they are currently located on the far side of Arzét. We will obtain additional information about them as we enter a braking orbit around Arzét, and will make additional observations of your star as we traverse this close orbit. We will provide you our recorded observations, including visual and full spectrum recordings and analysis.”

  “We would appreciate the information,” Counselor Largena said enthusiastically. She did not appear overwhelmed by what Carlos was saying, nor did she appear to take umbrage at his providing such information at the outset of their discussions. She seemed to sincerely appreciate getting such independently collected data about their solar system. “The information is more important than you might think. We did not know about the fifth planet, and for the same reason your sensors were unable to detect it until you were close to our solar system. Our scientists would appreciate having this information transmitted to us first.”