Third Moon Rising Read online

  Fremont noticed his glance at the table, so first summarized the team structure. There would be twelve crew members. The twelve candidates included people having extensive knowledge and experience with all critical systems aboard the New Horizon, and many had been working on the spaceship upgrades for several months. The team also included scientists with backgrounds complementary to the others on the team, ensuring all areas of expertise essential to the success of the mission were covered.

  Needless to say, an essential criterion for selection of each member was his or her ability to get along well with others, and this was not just to minimize friction during the training and subsequent journey to Zilia. The team would provide frontline diplomatic and technical representation for Earth, and it was critical that personnel be selected that would perform best in a team effort when interfacing with the Zilans.

  Carlos relaxed a little as Fremont started his summary, but the mention of the diplomatic element of the mission raised a concern. “Wait a minute, are you expecting a bunch of space jockeys and scientists to represent Earth in a major diplomatic mission?”

  Fremont smiled. “Don’t worry, by the time we get through, there will be no better diplomats than your team, and in particular you and your personal partner.”

  What personal partner? He wasn’t married, nor had he ever given it serious consideration. He was one of the few professional people in the colony who focused more on a career than having a family life.

  “What do you mean…?”

  “I guess it’s time to get on with the sticky points,” Fremont said dryly. “You’ll hear the rest during the meeting. First, Earth wants to impress the Zilans with our technological superiority. We must handle this carefully to not overpower or anger the Zilans. Earth believes that if the Zilans think we can travel to their world in a very short time, it will strengthen our position in dealing with them.

  “This will be accomplished by waiting to contact Zilia until you are within a year and a half of arriving at the planet. You’ll be brought out of the sleep tank to participate early on in discussions with the Zilans, as if you were the diplomatic and technical team just chosen to make the journey to Zilia. Our communications will be relayed through one of our space probes that will be circling within their solar system by then.”

  “But why…?”

  Fremont raised his hand to cut off questions. “There is clearly deception involved in doing this, and it’s something of an issue for most of us here, but we have agreed to proceed as directed. Earth’s scientists may very well have much faster space travel soon based on recent research success, and this deception could become a moot point. In my opinion it’s the wrong way to start a relationship with another civilization. I have to grit my teeth and bear it, and you and the team must as well.

  “You’ll become the primary interface with the Zilans after we have staged your mission launch to appear to occur twelve to fourteen months before your expected arrival at Zilia. The timing of your introduction as the primary point of interface will depend on how the discussions go with the Zilans.”

  Carlos started to inject another question, but Fremont cut him off again. “Yes, you heard me right, discussions between Earth and Zilia. We’re not to let the Zilans know about the Messier Colony until Earth says we can. You’ll undergo extensive education and training the last year and a half of your journey, while monitoring communications with the Zilans. And at the right time, you’ll be assigned direct liaison responsibility.”

  Carlos didn’t like this at all. Starting out with deceptions was no way to build a solid relationship, be it a diplomatic mission or a personal relationship. And there was too much risk that a crew member would let the secret slip out once the team arrived at Zilia. And once the Zilans knew about Earth, they would surely begin scanning the heavens for signs of other intelligent beings. They would soon discover the Messier Colony on their own, if they had not already done so.

  “I’ll state the remaining conditions very simply,” Fremont continued, “for the others should be waiting outside. These conditions all have to do with the personal lives of the team and could be real showstoppers for some individuals. The first is that crew members must accept partners. We have selected six compatible partnerships among the crew candidates, inasmuch as possible, while also ensuring the skills necessary for success are inherent in the team.

  “The second condition is that the Ferguson Relationship Bonding Process will be administered to those in each partnership. This is to increase the probability of success in their relationship, and to minimize risk of interpartner liaisons and conflicts.

  “The last condition is that all team members must be sterilized to avoid complications, particularly in the last year or so of the journey. This team must be stable and focused fully on the mission, without any distracting personal issues.”

  Carlos shook his head in amazement. Not only were they assigning him a partner, they were going to make sure the relationship was a close, personal one, whether the individuals would have arrived at that position eventually or not. And they could not conceive children!

  “I see you are concerned, Carlos. Let me give you one other thing to worry about as well, and then I must have your decision as to whether you still want to lead this mission.”

  Fremont paused, then continued. “In all likelihood, this will be a one-way trip for the team. The best scenario is for your team to be successful and establish a long-term diplomatic embassy on the planet Zilia. We’re going to get you there as quickly as we can, and therefore the New Horizon will consume most of the fuel collected during transit. It’s not likely you will find a way to refuel as needed to achieve transition velocity for open space ramjet operation. If you could, it would be a moot point unless you also replaced the ablation shield material worn away during the journey.”

  “Talk about incentives to have a mission be successful,” Carlos said. “Establish a diplomatic embassy on Zilia to survive!”

  “Well, it’s not that extreme,” replied Fremont, somewhat defensively. “You could always point the New Horizon back toward Messier using whatever fuel you have left, turn on a homing beacon, and go back into hibernation until someone finds you.”

  “Yes, but not very practical,” Carlos said dryly. “What priority would be given to rescuing a team that failed to establish ties with a newly discovered civilization?”

  Fremont answered with a shrug.

  It was a lot to absorb, but Carlos knew deep down that he must make this trip, for himself as well as for the people of the Messier Colony and Earth. It didn’t really matter who his personal partner would be. He abhorred the thought of someone else deciding that aspect of his life permanently but could rationalize accepting this in light of the importance of the mission. Moreover, he had a strong distaste for the approach Earth was taking to deceive the Zilans. He could only see the downside to this deception. However, a select team was going to make this trip, and he wanted in. He suspected most of the other candidates would feel the same way.

  “I agree to all the conditions, as hard as some of them are to accept,” Carlos said solemnly. “Will you require all those coming today to agree during the meeting?”

  “We want decisive people on this team. But they’ll all have one advantage you didn’t have; they will know who their partner will be before they must make their decision. Three of the partnerships have already been formed through the natural course of events. We found two married couples and one other couple recently engaged that meet mission needs. All others will learn early in the meeting who their partners will be.”

  Carlos started to ask who his partner would be, but Fremont walked over and pushed a button on the conference table console. An aide opened a side door and looked in, and Fremont said, “One down and eleven to go. It’s time to bring in the other candidate crew members.”

  The aide came in and began placing nametags at positions around the conference table. The nametags also indicated team positions. C
arlos’s position as mission commander was to the left of the mission coordinator. The other team positions were set around the oval table, closing the loop to the right of the mission director.

  Carlos was straining to see who the other team members were, and in particular his partner, when Fremont again captured his attention.

  “Now that you’ve accepted, there is one other little matter specific to you. Earth wants you to retain your embedded neural interface. You are the only one with such an implant on the team, and only the doctors and EVECI will know about us leaving it in.”

  “Doesn’t this inject unnecessary risk?” Concern about Earth’s motives came to mind.

  “Frankly, this was a surprise to me considering how sensitive the Zilans are regarding anything invasive to one’s body. If they should find out, it would most certainly destroy your credibility as the team leader and undermine the entire mission. When we advised Earth of your selection, they directed the NI be left in and its programming be upgraded. I know it will be valuable to you in absorbing massive data files, but I believe the risk outweighs the advantage.”

  Carlos did as well, but if Earth directed it, then it was a closed issue if he wanted to be on the crew. He shrugged his shoulders in resignation and turned again to look at the nameplates being setup around the table.

  Gloria Ceyam! Carlos sucked his breath in sharply when he saw her nameplate next to his. She was the candidate engineering officer, also First Officer, and his personal partner for the mission. Maybe he was going to get to know her better after all.

  The candidate for the third team position also pleased him, for it was George Sayer. He was the propulsion system engineer, Second Officer, and team astrophysicist. Carlos knew immediately the second name in the partnership, his wife, Amanda. She had a strong background in life-support systems and was an excellent biochemist and self-taught horticulturist.

  Looking at the remaining positions, he personally knew individuals in two other partnerships. Doctors Alexander and Laura Brown had been married for two years, and Carlos knew that Laura really wanted to have children, which could be a problem today. He’d first met them when undergoing physical examinations, and he had attended several social functions with them. He enjoyed their company, and they appeared to feel likewise.

  Both Alex and Laura had considerable medical experience. Alex was a surgeon with extensive internal medicine education and experience. He also had significant knowledge of nanomedicine techniques, the art of using extremely small, active devices injected to perform specific internal body repairs. Laura was an internist and excellent general practitioner, and one of the few specialists in nanomedicine at the colony. She had considerable experience in gynecology as well, and was skilled in minor surgical procedures.

  He knew Samuel Osborne and partner Karen Sarkofsky very well. Samuel was the candidate communications officer and a sociologist. Karen was the candidate team psychologist and assistant communications officer.

  He only knew the other candidates professionally. Jorge Shivaro was a mission scientist with a doctorate in environmental engineering and a minor in atmospheric science. His partner, Licia Wells, was a mission scientist whose specialty was exobiology. She had made inroads in cataloging species on the planet Hope.

  The last partnership was comprised of Sharon Ling, a sociocultural anthropologist, whose specialty was evolutionary history, and Maxwell Williams, who had a doctorate in geology and a minor in archeology. Carlos thought it likely that Sharon and Maxwell were who Fremont had in mind when mentioning a couple engaged to be married. Every time he had seen one of them in the recent past, the other was close by.

  The prospective team members were ushered in, interrupting his reflections. George’s face lit up with a broad grin when he saw Carlos. He came around to give him a hearty hug, with Amanda following close behind to do the same.

  Gloria greeted him with a reserved smile and handshake, and then took the seat next to him. He exchanged greetings with Laura and Alex Brown as they took seats across the table.

  Joseph Fairling walked through a door at the front of the room and began the meeting.

  “I seldom get to address such a select group of talented people. Congratulations for passing our screening process to become crew candidates for the mission to Zilia. I am the mission director. You’re here to finalize the screening process to form a committed team.”

  This statement caused some shuffling among the group, and Carlos glanced around to see how the others were reacting to the director’s pointed greeting. He didn’t sense any real concern in anyone’s body English, only expectation.

  “This mission is critically important,” continued the director. “This is our first attempt to directly contact another intelligent race in our galaxy. Please keep this in mind as you face what will certainly be a difficult decision today.

  “You are all aware of the advanced race of extraterrestrials Earth detected almost eight decades ago, located some 175 light-years on farther into our galaxy from Earth. Earth has monitored signals emanating from that region of space for almost a century, and it’s clear that civilization is technologically more advanced than ours. They may have faster-than-light space travel, as hard as that is to believe, and they surely know about us. It’s distinctly possible they already have a presence in our neighborhood of space, unknown to us. We don’t know much about their true disposition, except they are aggressively expanding into regions of space around their home solar system.

  “As a counter to whatever this distant civilization might eventually do, we believe establishing close ties to the Zilan civilization will greatly strengthen our presence in this region of space. We have learned considerably more about the Zilans in recent months and believe they are not aware of our existence. Nor do we think they are aware of the other intelligent race we are so concerned about, but they will be soon enough, and we want them as allies.

  “The Zilans have a very peaceful civilization, one that has a central religion that provides a strong common bond within the global population. The philosophy of working to better the community over individual interests is a dominant trend throughout their society. We believe this bodes well for our future relationship with them.

  “You must learn as much as possible about this civilization before we make initial contact. This will help ensure we can establish a strong alliance quickly after making contact, and that is the primary objective of the mission. In addition, you’ll provide us a much better understanding of their civilization through first hand observations.

  “I’ll turn this meeting over to Fremont Jones, your mission coordinator. Many of you have worked with him in the past, as I have for many years, and share my respect for him. From now forward all mission related communications with the team will flow through Fremont.”

  “I’m pleased to have this opportunity, Director Fairling,” Fremont said as he rose. “And it’s a great honor to address this most worthy group.”

  Then he added with dry humor, “Today I’m here to sweet talk you into making a firm commitment, and tomorrow I’ll be there to drive you to meet that commitment.”

  He waited for the chuckles to die down, and then began the serious discussion.

  “You’ve previously received summary information addressing the mission plan, and today you’ll receive more detailed information in the briefing books on the table in front of you. What you will not find in the briefing books is what we are here to address.

  “There are special conditions that each of you must accept to be a member of the team. If you cannot agree to the conditions, there will be no negative ramifications for you. Earth is not yet aware of our candidate list, except for that of mission commander. It should be apparent that if one party of a married couple declines to join, the other party of that couple will also be withdrawn from candidacy.

  “Before I go over the special conditions, I want to introduce Mission Commander Carlos Geraldo Sepeda,” Fremont said, with a nod to Carlos. “I
f it were not for his leadership and insight on the mission to Democritus, we would not be here preparing for this mission today. As you know, his team first detected signs of intelligent life on Zilia.

  “And to his credit, Carlos firmly committed to the additional mission requirements without knowing who would be on the team. We are fortunate to have him leading this mission.”

  Without further ado, Fremont began summarizing the additional requirements and conditions. To their credit, there was no noticeable change in demeanor of the attendees, that is, until he concluded by summarizing the sterilization requirement for all team members. This caused a noticeable stir around the table and pained expressions here and there.

  Gloria turned and eyed Carlos thoughtfully. He pretended not to notice as he looked around at the other candidates. The one most troubled appeared to be Maxwell Williams, who was looking down and shaking his head. Sharon Ling was quietly trying to console him.

  It was apparent that Laura and Alex Brown were also concerned, and Laura was the first to break the silence. “I would like to pose three questions to make sure we understand the extent of the sterilization condition. Are we talking about sterilizing both male and female members? How extreme a procedure do you have in mind for this process? And do you plan to ever authorize reversal of the sterilization?”

  “It will be applied to all members of the team,” Director Fairling injected before Fremont could respond. “The procedure restricts creation and flow of components required for fertilization. Regarding the last question, I cannot give you a definitive answer. Even if we authorized reversal, it would be much later in your lives when having children would be risky.”

  “But are you saying a sterilization process will be applied that would be medically impossible to reverse?” Laura’s pointed question indicated just how concerned she was.

  “No, we are not,” replied the director firmly. “But at the same time, we don’t want to raise any false hopes. This mission could hold in balance the future of the human race. All steps possible must be taken to ensure its success.