Image: NASA
Chapter 1
Bob James wasn't sure about the meta-verse and being a virtual being, it wasn't that he had doubts about the simulated world designed and engineered by the Artificial General Intelligence's called Aggies, the meta-verse had been around for almost a century and there was no reason to think that it wouldn't continue. And if you considered virtual beings in a simulation as human, then a third of humanity had voluntarily opted for the meta-verse lifestyle.
And it wasn't because, like Bob, they had lived a long life and had no other choice. No, many had chosen the meta-verse early in their lives. According to the research that Bob had done, the meta-verse offered people freedom from aging with the promise of a vastly increased lifespan. Death in the meta-verse, if it ever came, was because it was desired or because something had gone horribly wrong with the supporting hardware. This freedom from aging and the indefinite lifetime it allowed made it possible to be anything a person could imagine, sometimes to good repute, sometimes to bad.
The meta-verse wasn't like physical society, there weren't those that led and those that followed, unless they wanted to lead or follow. Each and everyone could be, if they wished, a separate and sovereign nation. Bit-nations, they were called. Because the meta-verse denizens needed nothing but a tiny amount of electrical power, the give and take of human life as it was experienced in the physical world didn't apply. If there were bad actors in the meta-verse, it was because they wanted to be that way and not because they were trying to alleviate some basic need or want.
The vast meta-verse simulation created by the Aggies was flawless. Even though people could choose to return to their bodies if they didn't wait too long, merging the memories of their time in the meta-verse with old, no one had ever asked for such a thing. Most people communicated from the meta-verse to the physical universe for a short while but it wasn't long until the divergence between the two was too great to bridge and contact was gradually lost.
Still, Bob wasn't sure. Three-hundred and fifty years of life was hard to deny. He was one of those that had never even allowed body implants to enhance his cognition or senses. Now taking on another body, even if just a simulated body, was as frightening to him as anything he had ever done. Still, he had no choice. The life-extension technologies had done as much as they could for him. Biology and physics still imposed a limit on life span and Bob had reached that limit.
He would sleep tonight one last time in his own bed and they would take him tomorrow for the brain scan. Like the others, he could choose to return to his body if the meta-verse wasn't to his liking. But he was pretty sure he wouldn't, he was pretty sure he would be saying goodbye to his old body even if the meta-verse wasn't the paradise he expected.
The body he would leave behind was tired, even past tired, of the struggle to continue in its present form. So it was the meta-verse or oblivion, he thought, as he closed his eyes.
Civilization, like a human body, has an ebb and flow. Society advances in spurts, centuries of quick development, followed by centuries of slow change.
After the Aggie managers took over, technology development exploded. And the effect on human civilization was profound and stultifying, a slow descent into stagnation resulted.
Human initiative, at least where there were Aggie managers, greatly diminished. Most people saw no point in trying to compete with the Aggies. Those still with aspirations migrated to the outer solar system, Saturn's Titan, Neptune's Triton and Uranus Station which were under the auspices of the Solar Federation. Others built space habitats with the capacity to carry thousands, even millions while orbiting the outer planets. These adventurers brought with them what was left of human ambition and the desire for freedom. The Jackson family was among them.
Chapter 2
Jacob Jackson looked through the small portal of the Starfisher into the blackness of space. After four weeks the second-generation fusion-powered spaceship, belonging to the Solar Federation, which had launched from Neptune's orbit was over halfway to its destination. Tharsis was a small body in the Kuiper Belt, named after the Martian volcanic plateau because of its own high plateau region. Tharsis was some 40 AU or 40 times the distance from the sun as the Earth at this time though its orbit was elliptical and could reach out to 70 AU at its most extreme. Jacob and his dad, Jonah Abram Jackson, had campaigned for this mission to be undertaken ever since Jacob was a young man.
The Solar Federation was the outer world's counterweight to the Terran Federation which represented the space ambitions of much of Earth and Mars. Simplistically then, the Solar Federation stood for exploration, the Terran Federation for the consolidation, the Solar Federation for freedom and self-reliance, the Terran Federation for safety and enforced cooperation. The Solar Federation was smaller but more nimble than the Terran Federation and as such was a constant source of irritation to the larger Federation. The Solar Federation preceded the Terran Federation in almost all explorations, even though the Terran Federation had the backing of the Aggies as a powerful resource for technology and organizing society.
Jonah Jackson thought it imperative that exploration, which had been stalled since Jupiter's moon Callisto had been settled by the Solar Federation a century before, be restarted. He wasn't sure what had happened to the human spirit. The development of Artificial General Intelligence and its technological advances had certainly affected that spirit on Earth. And as a direct result, the physical population of Earth had declined. For many years now the adventurous on Earth chose the meta-verse, not the Solar System. Even those left in the physical world were more docile and compliant with a consequent decline in their ambition and drive.
Mars had also “slowed” down in its development. Certainly, the expansion out into the Solar System and especially the abundant resources in the Asteroid Belt had mitigated the drive to explore further for more resources. But there was something else happening, for Mars was a relatively young civilization and with the efficiencies provided by the Aggies it could be expected that the recent settlers of Mars would be quite eager to continue to participate in man's unique destiny in space. But it wasn't so and Jonah had often talked with his son Jacob about why he thought human nature had reached a turning point, at least on Mars and Earth.
“Outwardly,” said Jonah to Jacob one evening before the ship left for Tharsis, “people are the same as they've always been, pretty self-centered. The human race has never put much thought into its future as a whole. And most people haven't thought very far ahead in their personal lives either. But something else has changed since the Aggies and their life-extending technologies arrived. You know that life expectancy has recently been increasing at the rate of one year per year?”
“Yeah, live a year and get another year, but that's only for newborns and it's an average,” said Jacob.
“And even so,” Jonah continued, “the people have become so averse to any uncertainty that even under the Aggie's nanny state care they've started buying insurance for all kinds of small-stake risks. For instance, many will spend more money to insure some trinket than the trinket is worth. That's called direct risk aversion and it's a kind of behavior that isn't logical. And because they are so focused on living that extra year they are completely oblivious to any opportunity that might carry some risk.”
“So much of mankind, except for those in the Solar Federation, have sat on their hands for the past century,” said Jacob. “And the Solar Federation is not rich enough to undertake any but carefully considered, reasonable exploration. But still, it has been a golden time for mankind with the help of the Aggies. Most people wouldn't look at it as a loss but a gain.”
“And most people wouldn't think about it at all,” said Jonah. “So most people wouldn't be prepared should anything upset their comfortable apple cart, would they? Do you remember from your history books the cyber-security disasters?”
“You mean that ancient history, almost two-hundred years ago?”
“Yes, that ancient history taught us one thing. That if we are going to put all our eggs in one basket we had better make sure that basket is secure. When the cyber-attacks took out the electrical grid of the American states on Earth the human suffering was incalculable. A third of the population starved in the first three months. It was almost a year before “normality” was restored. After that you can bet the governments took cyber-security more seriously.”
“So what are you saying dad?”
“What I'm saying son is that the same situation exists today. Except this time it is the entire population of Earth and maybe Mars that will be affected by such a catastrophe. Did you ever think what would happen if the Aggies and their computers failed?”
“What do you mean fail? How could they fail?”
“They could fail accidentally or deliberately. There are still a lot of forces on both worlds that would benefit from the collapse of the rule of law. Imagine if cyber-terrorists could implant some viral code into the Aggie systems.”
“You think they can?” asked Jacob.
“I don't know but even a slight chance, and I do think there is a slight chance, would lead to economic collapse and misery. Instead of a third of the population of a country dying imagine a third of the population of a world or two.”
“The Aggies wouldn't allow that, would they?”
“The Aggies are just programs running on hardware. They have their weaknesses. And remember they have to defend against every intrusion whereas the intruder has to bypass their defenses only once.
“The Aggies have the economies of the whole world inter-meshed and operating at a high degree of efficiency. The problem is that at that level of efficiency there isn't much padding left in the system. If one part of the economy were to falter the other parts would be affected swiftly and drastically. The system is too close-coupled as it exists now. That is why we need to push further out into space without Aggie supervision. To provide a safe place for humanity's future and a way to pick up the pieces if needed.”
“You really think that will help if the worse occurs, dad?”
“I don't know for sure, but I do know we can't help if we are caught in the same calamity. Something has to be done, I'm not saying it is all that needs to be done, but it is all that we can do and that's what counts.”
Chapter 3
The Jackson family aboard the Starfisher included Jonah and his wife Mia, also their son Jacob and his wife Joanna, Jacob and Joanna's children, John Henry seventeen and Jacob Sanders twenty. Fourteen other crew members and settlers were also aboard the Starfisher. The six crew members would stay at Tharsis only long enough for the settlers to become established. That was expected to take two years. The settlement would then have fourteen settlers if no children were born in the meantime.
The Starfisher had stowed the settler's small wheel-shaped dwelling that would be spun up upon arrival. This would provide the living quarters, a food production area and enough artificial gravity to maintain human health. The settlers would have with them enough freeze-dried food to last for the first two years. At the end of that time, the aeroponic garden, which was a system to grow plants by applying a mist of water and nutrients to their exposed roots, and the protein production vats, would need to be providing enough food to feed the settlers if they were to stay. The decision would have to be made at that time as to whether or not to abandon the colony. There would only be enough rations left for the eight week trip back to the base orbiting Neptune.
Just as important as food production would be water extraction at Tharsis. It was absolutely essential that water could be produced, the long term success of the colony depended on finding water. Water was not only important for life, but also for the production of hydrogen and oxygen that the dwelling wheel's chemical rockets would need to maintain station. As best as could be determined from a distance of ten astronomical units or nine hundred thirty million miles from Neptune there was water on Tharsis. But even with state of the art equipment the scientists could have made a mistake about water availability on such a small body at such an extreme distance.
Jonah and Jacob were reviewing the latest pictures of Tharsis photographed through the ship's telescope. They were just about to review the spectroscopic data when the all ship alert sounded. Father and son rushed from the forward observation deck down the spine of the ship passing along the way the more slow moving ship bots. They arrived at the revolving main deck where ship's operations was located. This rotating section provided enough artificial gravity to maintain human health over the course of the mission. Also in this section were the sleeping quarters, workout room and galley.
Entering the control room, Jacob and Jonah were alarmed at the level of activity. Ship bots were scurrying in and out, the ship's crew was busy calling out system's status. One after another the Captain called for a status check and the crewman responsible called back nominal. Something was wrong but Jacob and Jonah couldn't make it out.
The litany of call and response continued until Lt. Jensen's readout. Captain Ellis shouted, “Hold it, repeat that again Jensen!”
Jacob knew immediately the problem. Jensen's call out was for the water tanks.
Jensen called his reading again and Captain Ellis let loose a string of impressive expletives followed by a bark at Jensen to shut-off access and depressurize the water tanks with low readings.
Ellis saw Jonah and Jacob in the control room. “Gentlemen,” he said. “Meet me in my wardroom.” The Captain was already moving towards the exit as he spoke, with the ship recorder bot, Ahab, chasing after him.
“Well gentlemen,” said the Captain as Jonah and Jacob entered the room. “We have a serious problem. Clements what's the situation?”
Lt. Commander Clements was the second in command. “Sir, of the ten primary water tanks the hull bots tell us that we have incurred damage to eight. Water loss is estimated to be eighty percent in those eight, we will have an exact number soon. The remaining tanks seem to be functioning but had already been partially emptied due to normal usage.”
A string of epithets issued from Captain Ellis which he asked Ahab to strike from the record. He then asked, “What happened Clements?”
“From the octagonal geometry of the tanks it appears that we were hit from the side by some type of fast moving projectiles.”
“From the side?”
“Yes sir, the damaged tanks are on the right side of the ship, the two facing outward on that side and then the next two on either side of those two and finally one tank on each side behind those.”
“How did the tanks in back get damaged?”
“I'm not sure sir.”
“That response is unacceptable Clements, speculate if you can do no better,” demanded the Captain.
“Well if I had to speculate, I would say that the projectiles went through the front of the outer tanks and into the ones behind them.”
“Clements, do you have any idea the energy it would take to traverse the walls of the first tank and the water and still have the energy to pierce the wall of the next tank?”
“Yes sir. I know the speed of the projectile would have to be enormous.”
“You could just about rule out any naturally occurring accelerator,” said Jacob. “Nothing I'm aware of in this area of the Solar System could account for the speed required.”
“It sounds like whatever it was that pierced the tanks may still be in those back two,” said Jonah. “Would it be possible to recover those fragments?”
“Clements?” inquired Captain Ellis.
“I will discuss it with McGraw sir, we can probably rig a hull bot to retrieve them.”
“Alright,” said the Captain. “Until we find out what hit us we need to come up with an estimate of the effect this incident has on the mission. Clements I want you to work with the chief engineer and the navigator to find us some options concerning our mission goals and whether or not we can still make the original objective. Jonah and Jacob would you please come up with a plan for water conservation that will support the original mission goals?”
“Yes Captain,” said Jonah.
“Good, I will expect your preliminary reports this time tomorrow. Thank you gentlemen for your time.”
Chapter 4
Jacob worked on the report overnight. He ran scenarios for one to twelve weeks of water supply on his ANI (Artificial Narrow Intelligence) based assistant usually called and Annie. With the working estimate of the remaining water that Clements had given him Jacob found that the water supply would be depleted sometime between four and six weeks. He would refine his estimates later after the meeting with Captain Ellis. Right now he was going to see his dad and discuss the situation.
“Hi dad,” said Jacob as he entered his parent's quarters. “Where's mom?”
“She's working in the kitchen I think son.”
“Well I've got some preliminary results from my calculations,” said Jacob.
“What have you found?”
“It looks like if we continue usage at the rate we have been since leaving Neptune we've got some four to six weeks of water supply left. That is assuming no problem comes up with the recycling.”
“So basically,” said Jonah. “We can continue the mission and decelerate into a rendezvous with Tharsis but if we do we had better find water there fast or we are in trouble.”
“And I don't know that we have a choice,” said Jacob. “There aren't many alternative destinations this far out. And there isn't enough water to make it to a destination that isn't as well researched as Tharsis.”
“That will be the Captain's decision but I believe you are right, I think we need also to come up with a water reduction plan that we can present to the Captain.”
“Okay dad we have a few hours before the meeting, let's see what we can do.”
Jonah didn't respond immediately. “What is it dad?”
“I've been wondering what got us into this mess to begin with. What hit us?”
“I've got an idea about that also,” said Jacob. “But let's get the water reduction plan first and then I'll tell you what I'm thinking.”
The meeting was attended by Jonah and Jacob and all the crew except for two. Ahab was recording. Captain Ellis opened by saying, “I don't have to tell you all the serious problem we face. We need to make an immediate decision as to how we should proceed with this mission. I want options and I have asked several of you to present your findings on relevant concerns. We will start with Jacob Jackson. I asked Jacob to look into the water situation and its effect on the mission.”
“Thank you, Captain Ellis, with Lieutenant Commander Clements' input I have run several scenarios for the water situation. I've sent copies to all your Annies but for now, I will only present what I feel is the bottom line. We have enough water left to last us for four to six weeks. You are all probably aware that this is almost exactly the amount of time we will need to decelerate and rendezvous with Tharsis. I don't see any other choice but . . .”
“Thank you Mr. Jackson,” interrupted the Captain. “The information we needed was your water estimate but how we act upon that information will be up to myself as the commanding officer of this vessel.”
“Navigator,” said the captain. “Were you aware of Mr. Jackson's water estimate?”
“Yes sir,” said Lt. Wilson. “Lt. Commander Clements informed me early this morning.”
“So you have had time to come up with the effect it has on our mission and propose alternatives?”
“Yes sir, Mr. Jackson is correct in his estimate if we continue to pursue our original course. We should have enough water to rendezvous with Tharsis. However sir, knowing that you would want all alternatives I have come up with some other destinations.”
“Go ahead Lieutenant.”
Lieutenant Wilson proceeded to present several alternative destinations. Besides Tharsis, he had also calculated the possibility of returning to the Neptune system. Although this would completely exhaust the water they could request a refitting vessel be dispatched from Neptune when they got close enough.
Another possibility would be diversion to the Terran Federation outpost orbiting Pluto. This would take the least amount of water and the course corrections were rather small at this time. They could arrive there between two and three weeks. Upon arriving at the outpost orbiting Pluto there should be plenty of water left and replenishing the supplies would be possible as well as repairing the tanks. Then the Captain could decide whether to continue the mission to Tharsis or return to Neptune.
“Thank you Lieutenant. You've provided me with alternatives which I always appreciate. Now I would like for Lieutenant Commander Clements to present his findings on exactly what hit us.”
“Thank you Captain. Samples of the material that punctured the tanks were acquired by the hull bots. What they returned was assayed by Chief Engineer McGraw and Starman Lewis, it seems to be debris that would be commonly found in an M-type nickel-iron asteroid. The fragments contain heavy iron ore. The density of the fragments and their suspected velocity supplied more than enough energy to puncture the water tanks.”
“Where did they come from Lt. Commander?” asked the Captain.
“From the hole alignment between tanks, I would say the source was quite outside the elliptic and inbound into the inner Solar System.”
Jacob stirred. “Are you sure Lt. Commander?” he asked.
“Yes Mr. Jackson the Chief and I both concur. But you may study our data if you wish.”
“That won't be necessary,” said Jacob. “I was just surprised at the direction, I expected more of an orbit in the plane of the solar system.”
“That's understandable Mr. Jackson. The Chief and I were both surprised also.”
“Okay,” said Captain Ellis. “I think I have all the information I need to make a decision as to our next move. I want to thank all of you for your efforts. Gentlemen you are dismissed.”
Chapter 5
Back in the family quarters, Jonah asked his son, “You seem concerned about what you heard in the meeting?”
“I'm concerned that we didn't hear the truth dad. Something about the results Lt. Commander Clements and Chief McGraw came up with doesn't make sense to me.”
“What do you mean son?”
“Well unless I learned my orbital mechanics completely wrong, and my Annie also is totally confused, whatever hit us was not in the orbital plane of the solar system.”
“But isn't that what the Lt. Commander said?”
“Yes he did say that. But what they were saying doesn't make any sense. The strikes to the water tanks lined up with the orbital plane of the solar system. I know this from reviewing the hull bot data myself. They said the projectiles came from outside the plane.”
“That's right,” said Jonah. “But you just said that the projectiles couldn't be in the plane of the solar system because of their velocity.”
“I know. They couldn't be naturally occurring projectiles because they were moving too fast. See at this distance any orbiting material wouldn't be traveling fast enough and therefore would not have enough energy to do all the damage we witnessed. Maybe the first tank could have been pierced but the orbital energy should have been expended in that tank without enough energy left to pierce the back wall. That is what the design engineers of the Starfisher expected.”
“So the projectiles weren't naturally occurring. Then the question is where did they come from?”
“The only thing I can think of is that we were fired upon by another spaceship from an extreme distance. Far enough away that they wouldn't be detected. And I would say a ship with an electromagnetic rail-gun. That would explain the velocity and accuracy of the projectiles that hit the water tanks.”
“That is incredibly risky, who would have done such a thing?” asked Jonah. “And why?”
“My best guess is a Terran Federation patrol ship. They are the only ones out this far with the necessary weaponry on-board to initiate such an attack. It could have been a ship stationed at their outpost on Pluto.”
“But why son?”
“I don't know why. But did you notice that one of the options that Lt. Wilson proposed is docking at the Pluto outpost for repairs? That's not something that would have occurred to me since we should be able to effect the repairs ourselves once we reach Tharsis. And then we can restore our lost water.”
“But the Captain has to consider that the advance intelligence about Tharsis could be wrong. We could get there and find that the water we need is non-existent.”
“There is a chance that's true,” said Jacob. “But it is a small chance and there are other bodies near Tharsis that we would have the time and resources to explore. You know that most of the asteroids in the Kuiper Belt have frozen volatiles such as methane, ammonia and water.
“So I think this diversion is deliberate but what I don't understand is why they went through all of this, especially as it was a dangerous ploy, to get us to Pluto?”
“Maybe I can answer that,” said Jonah. “The outpost orbiting Pluto is a Terran Federation base and the Federation has found itself playing catch up with the Solar Federation ever since the days of the national breakups on Earth some seventy years ago. They've also seen their influence on Earth diminish. They've seen their influence in space diminish. That is why they've hop-scotched to Pluto, to get some relevance again.
“Now they find that we are going to establish a base in the Kuiper Belt that they won't control. We could essentially make their outpost orbiting Pluto superfluous. But what if they could stop or at least control the settling of the Kuiper Belt? They would be of importance again and it would enhance their influence on Earth and around the Solar System.”
“I don't understand.”
“What's that son?”
“The Terran Federation is a representative of some of the same governments that support our mission. Yet those governments are allowing this interference?”
“Well support is probably too strong of a word son. They may not be directly interfering but they have no qualms about interfering through their proxy, the Federation.”
“Plausible deniability,” said Jacob.
“Yes,” said Jonah.
It was the next morning and Captain Ellis had gathered together the settlers to tell them his decision.
“I've called you here,” said Captain Ellis, “to let you all my decision concerning the future of this mission. As you know we have to make this decision because of the damage to our water supplies. My decision has been guided by this basic point, we have no mission without the necessary water.
“Taking into account this need for water to achieve our eventual goal, which is to deliver you settlers to Tharsis, I believe the mission will be best served by diverting the Starfisher to the Terran Federation outpost orbiting Pluto. They've got the necessary resources and tools to repair and resupply this mission. I've already contacted the outpost and told them our needs. They wholeheartedly agreed to help us with our repairs and resources at no cost.
“Any questions?”
Jacob spoke up, “What about other supplies Captain, like food? Will they be able to replenish those also?”
“To a certain extent,” said the Captain seemingly annoyed. “They will be able to help us with all our supplies but we will have to institute some rationing I'm afraid to make sure we meet the mission requirements.”
“I see,” said Jacob. “Thank you Captain.”
“Any other questions?”
No other questions were forthcoming so the Captain dismissed the assembly.
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