BEYOND SPACE Part two

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

BEYOND SPACE

by Thomas Wm. HAMILTON

Part Two: In the Dark

     "This hearing is called to order. The chief hearing officer is Agron Ndama of the Federation Security Office, assisted by Dr. Lowell Tyler of the University. This hearing is called to investigate the circumstances of an explosion aboard the Spaceship Ejnar Hertzsprung one week ago. Two persons were killed, and 28 injured to varying degrees.The first witness is the last person known to have touched the subject chair. Please state your name, occupation, and home planet for the record."

     "My name is Siddathamon Priddikachorn, called 'Pretty' by those who find that hard to say. I am a paleontologist from the planet Pradang."

     "You were the last to handle the subject chair?"

     "So far as I know. The blast knocked me unconscious and gave me several nasty injuries."

     "You had not been sitting in the chair. Why did you touch it?"

     "Wu Mai Ling had been sitting there. She was bored with the reports, which had nothing to do with her area of interest, so she left. I wasn't too involved either, and stood up to stretch. The chair was sort of in the way, so I shoved it over to another table."

     "Where it exploded. Were you responsible in any way for causing the explosion?"

     "Certainly not!"

     "Did you notice anything unusual about the chair? Did it have any unique markings, additions, or coloring, and did it have the same weight as other chairs?"

     "It looked just like every other chair, and I noticed nothing odd in its weight."

     "Have you any idea at whom this explosion might have been aimed?"

     "No."

     "Have you any enemies aboard who may want to see harm done to you?"

     "Absolutely not."

     "You are excused for now. We may recall you. Next, the only survivor at the table where the explosion took place. Name, occupation, and planet of origin, please."

     "I am Guillaume Eudes, a geologist specializing in objects of less than 200 kilometers, and my homeworld is New Normaundie."

     "You were sitting at the table where the chair exploded and were gravely injured?"

     "Yes. The two people sitting with me were killed."

     "How is it that you survived where they did not?"

     "They were sitting on either side of the chair. I was on the opposite side of the table."

     "Are you aware of any reason why someone might want either of them harmed?"

     "No, I barely knew either of them. One was some sort of specialist in the reaction of charged hydrogen to magnetic fields in interstellar nebulas, and the other studied planetary formation."

     "Did you or had you at any time taken note of the chair?"

     "No."

     "Is there any reason why someone might want you harmed?"

     "My sister is involved in politics back on New Normaundie, but we don't have assassinations as a political tactic there. No, I can't imagine being a target."

     "Are you acquainted with either the paleontologist who insists on being called Pretty, or the sociologist Wu Mai Ling?"

     "No."

     "You may go. We may call you back. Next we hear from the last person known to have used the chair. Your name, occupation and planet of origin, please."

     "I am Wu Mai Ling, sociologist from Tien Hua."

     "You were sitting in the chair before the incident. Why did you leave?"

     "The reports were all on things like background magnetic field strength, velocities of atoms and electron densities. Even in the rare cases where I had a vague idea of what they were talking about, I was totally disinterested. Sitting there was a waste of my time, so I left."

     "Did you notice anything odd about the chair?"

     "No. It was a chair. Its comfort level was the same as all the other chairs I've sat in on this ship."

     "Do you know of any reason why anyone would want to do you harm?"

     "Not at all. Sociology is not a profession given to hostile attacks, and Tien Hua is a civilized planet."

     "What gave you the qualifications to be on this ship?"

     "I had recently completed an in situ study of an abandoned 400 year old base on a very cold location, Miranda."

     The hearing officer blinked, and then pounced. "I've been to Miranda. It's about one and a third AU from an F4 star, and so hot few humans live far from the polar regions.  How could you do anything cold there?"

     "I'm talking about a pre- and immediately post-Mulvey base one of the old Earth nations had on Miranda, a moon in the Solar System of the seventh planet, a transitional gas giant. It is nearly 20 AU from Earth's Sun, which you'll recall is a G2 star. The temperature on the Miranda I visited runs around minus 200."

       "Oh, sorry. Duplications of names can be confusing. Were you in any way responsible for causing the explosion?"

     "Certainly not!"

     "Would you know or have an opinion as to the possibility that the explosion was aimed at someone other than yourself?"

     "I have no idea who it could have been aimed at, myself or anyone else. How could anyone have anticipated which chair I would choose to sit in?"

     "A profound question, and one we hope to be able to answer. You may go, subject to possible recall. Next we will hear from the medical doctor who was on the scene of the explosion. Your name, occupation, and planet of origin, please."

     "I am Helmut von Holtz, a medical doctor from Sternfestung."

     "You were sitting at the table the chair was moved from?"

     "Yes. I was on the far side from where it was shoved to and partly shielded by the table. so I got less of the blast than some others, but I did suffer some injuries."

     "Had you taken note of the chair before the explosion?"

     "Just that Dr. Wu had left it partly blocking the aisle when she left. But Pretty got up before I could comment, and moved it. I saw him start to stretch, and then the explosion."

     "Did it seem to you that his act of moving it set off the explosion?"

     "Mmm. Hard to say. There was definitely a lag of at least five or ten seconds after he moved it before the explosion."

     "What did you do after the explosion?"

     "First I had to overcome my surprise. Then, when I realized I was not too seriously hurt, I went to the other table. Two people were clearly dead. I then attempted to stop bleeding on a third person, who seems to have been Guillaume Eudes, and next turned to Pretty. By the time I had stopped his bleeding other medical personnel had arrived, and insisted on treating me."

     "Is there any reason you can think of why you might have been the target of this bomb?"

     "No."

     "Were you responsible for the bomb?"

     "Don't be a fool!"

     "That is not a denial."

     "Alright, I deny it. Vehemently and totally."

     "Can you think of any other person who might have been a target?"

     Von Holtz thought about this for a moment, and then said, "No."

     "You are excused, with thanks for your rescue efforts while injured yourself. We may call you back at some future time. Next we hear from another person sitting at the same table. Your name, occupation and planet of origin, please."

     "Parvin Jamsheedi, data recovery specialist, from God's Victorious Warriors."

     "I note this is an unaffiliated planet. Could this explosion have been aimed at you, as a defector?"

     "It's possible but unlikely. I understand there is no one else aboard any of the three ships from an unaffiliated planet. I can't imagine anyone not from my homeworld being interested."

     "Have you any idea who the target might have been?"

     "No."

     "What is your relationship with Dr. Wu?"

     "She is a member of a group that I have enjoyed conversing with."

     "And the other members of this group?"

     "Raoul Cassetto, Pretty, and Helmut."

     "You and Dr. Wu are female, while the others are male. Have there been any relationships within the group that might have created jealousies or other interpersonal stresses?"

     "Not at all. It's obvious Helmut has an eye for blonds like himself [the man mentioned twitched, and developed a pronounced blush], Raoul is married, and very conventional in his attitudes [this man looked a bit surprised, and then had self-satisfied expression], and Pretty takes no for an answer [Pretty looked annoyed]. And Mai Ling has mentioned having a family back on her homeworld, so I doubt any of them have approached her."

     The hearing continued for hours, drawing pretty much the same responses and lack of information.

     Meanwhile studies of the region around them continued. It was determined that they were located in an elliptical galaxy with a mass about one third that of the Milky Way. However, not a single star could be found that was still radiating anything beyond the far infrared. Age estimates placed the galaxy at something over two trillion years. Parvin was called in to help with the next stage of search.

     "Dr. Jamsheedi, we have established a basic set of data on this burned out galaxy, but we want to start studying its planets. Everything we've collected is available. Can you help find some planets?"

     Parvin began running numbers on proper motions of burned out stars, while others took various approaches, even seeking hard to detect planetary transits of burned out stars. Gradually over a period of days it was found that in the course of evolving, as had been theorized, most stars lost enough mass through a planetary wind or similar process that planet orbits were shifted radically, and many planets drifted from their stars. But a list of possible planets began to be developed. Robot probes using the third level of the University's recently developed enhanced drives were sent to check these. They could reach any point in the galaxy, which had expanded its outer regions as it aged, in accord with the centuries old virial theorem, in five seconds.

     The three ships headed for the first Earth-mass planet to have been found. Parvin as discoverer was offered naming rights. With a slightly twisted smile, she suggested "Dilbar".

     Nothing was to be seen in visible light from the ship's viewports, but enormously enhanced infrared, shifted to visible, made the planet they orbitted a dim and uninteresting globe. Scans in dozens of radar and other wavelengths found nothing suggesting ruins left by a civilization. Initial landing parties included Pretty and two other paleontologists with a number of geologists, low temperature experts, and others.

     "Now hear this!" The announcement blared through the complinks of all those selected for the initial landing party. "Measured temperatures on the surface of this planet are below one degree Kelvin. All personnel are to use maximum caution. The surface is a mix of helium, argon and nitrogen in ice form, with traces of neon mixed in.  Sensors may have detected small traces of carbon dioxide and oxygen. A few small sites have been detected which may be puddles. These would have to be liquid helium. They are to be avoided by all but designated personnel. Landing will be attempted on any smooth rock outcroppings, if such can be found during the next two orbits. Surface gravity is 0.96g."

     Pretty turned to Cassetto, and said, "I thought the background radiation was close to 4 degrees K. How can the planet be colder than that?"

     Cassetto snorted. "That's the temperature in our universe. This one's a lot older, and cooled down more."

     "Oh." Pretty felt foolish. To cover, he turned to Parvin, standing nearby. "Do you feel a proprietary twinge, having named the place, but not being in the landing party?"

     "Heavens, no. I had enough adventure for a lifetime just escaping my homeworld. Maybe after you dauntless explorers," she smiled to indicate she was only partially serious, "have created a nice warm base down there I'll be willing to visit."

     Pretty mockingly puffed out his chest and assumed a pseudo-heroic stance. "I shall demolish the dreaded ice worms, and slay the helium shark-monsters to make swimming in helium pools safe for you."

      Parvin giggled, but Raoul snorted in contempt. Mai Ling slowly said, "The surface must present some unique hazards at such a low temperature. If you do get the chance to go down, be careful."

     Cassetto kept an eye on further results as they were reported to the waiting scientists, providing a running commentary. Scans indicated little oxygen or carbon dioxide in the layers of ice covering the rock surface. Cassetto nodded to Pretty. "That's a good sign for you. Back home, planets like this either have lots of CO2 in their atmospheres, and no life, or they have oxygen and life. It looks like this one had life, and then as the star aged, the life died out and the oxygen recombined chemically with surface rocks, so no frozen CO2 layer and no frozen O2 layer."

     Cassetto was annoyed at not being named for the first landing party, but as a specialist in stellar physics, he had no role to play there. The watching group was broken up when Parvin was summoned to help with analysis of readings on the surface smoothness and materials, and Pretty was told to stand by for reporting for preparations in joining the landing party.

     After a boring four hour wait, it was announced that while no suitable rocky landing sites thrust themselves above the ice, a couple locations had been found where reasonably flat rock surfaces were not too deeply buried. Adm. Tibirk announced that these were craters, one about eight kilometers in diameter, the other just over ten. The ice layers were considerably thinner in each, no more than ten meters thick.  The larger crater was selected, and landing parties were ordered to their shuttle craft. The Wilhelm Olbers released a specially prepared missile. As it passed low above the selected landing site, it ignited a heat bomb which sent the ice layers quickly subliming back to gases, revealing a fairly smooth crater floor for the landing zone. The gases froze back to ice within minutes, but little coated the crater's interior, which briefly glowed in the deep red.

     Pretty was part of a geology team. They would have to wait aboard the shuttle as a trained First Landing Team from the Federation Spacefleet deployed. Before they left, Mai Ling said to him, "If you do find fossils, try to make sure they are signs of a civilization, so I can come down to work also." Pretty grandly promised to bring her a skull whose braincase proved intelligence.

     "Thank you, but an artifact would be more convincing." Pretty shrugged, as if to say neither was very likely. He headed for the landing shuttle.

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On to Part 3

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