Mike’s response to the trigger ‘contact’ – an intriguing opening to a possible future for humanity?
Contact
The atmosphere in Mission Control was tense. This mission was the result of many years of work to fulfill an ambition to find a habitable planet. Earlier missions had established that the planet had an atmosphere and there was evidence that it may have had water. This was the first mission to actually land on the planet and make detailed explorations of the surface. The craft was equipped with sophisticated equipment for analysing any material collected by the robotic rovers, flying drones and excavators.
The craft was making its final approach and, so far, all the systems appeared to be working well. Despite the tension in the room, the operators worked with a quiet and ordered efficiency as they plotted the rotation of the craft to position itself over the landing site.
The controllers had chosen an area on one of the vast plateaus that made up most of the surface of the planet, but within a reasonable distance of one of the larger prominences. This was considered the safest place in terms of landing stability and an easy site for launching the robots. The rovers had the notional range to reach the nearest prominence and take samples and transmit images. None of the technicians at Mission headquarters would be around to see the collection when it arrived, such was the distance and time that the craft would take to return with the actual samples. Nonetheless, they were excited to see the results that were to be transmitted from so far away.
The craft rotated perfectly and began its descent, controlling its speed through the atmosphere of the planet by firing retro thrusters. It seemed that everyone in Mission Control was holding their breath watching the craft sink the final distance towards the planet and with a last hard burst of its thrusters settle gently on to the surface of the planet. There was an audible collective sigh from the operators as they relaxed and went through their final checks, then turning to each other, they let out a cry of triumph. They had done what they had set out to do; they had landed the craft. Now it was the job of the planetary scientists to find and analyse the material which would be beamed down.
Things moved slowly now. Not only did it take a while for the data to arrive at the home planet, but it also took a while for the robots to be deployed. The first images from the craft showed a flat plain stretching for nearly as far as the powerful imagers could see and in one direction in the far distance a raised area which must be the nearest prominence. The only things moving were pieces of the surface which appeared to be disturbed by the strong winds blowing across the surface. The surface of the plateau itself appeared to be multicoloured material of an indeterminate kind.
The drones were sent up to view the prominence and the rovers sent after them to gather material from places considered worthwhile. Meanwhile, the excavator drilled into the surface of the plateau for samples for analysis. It drilled three cores. One near the surface, one below that, and one still deeper just below that. These three cores were brought back to the craft for analysis.
Although these actions were taking place a long time before they were viewed by the technicians at home, they appeared to them as if in real time. This time it was the turn of the planetary scientists to feel the tension as they waited for the analysis of the samples. Firstly they studied the images that the craft sent down. These were inconclusive. The material appeared to be multicoloured and of a strange consistency as if it were an amalgam of different objects, but nothing much could be discerned from these images. The chemical analyses seemed to take a lifetime.
Finally the analysis began to come through. The material taken from the shallowest core was some sort of polymer and was indeed an amalgam of pieces pressed together to form a single solid crust. This would need further analysis before any conclusion could be reached. The analysis of the medium depth core came up with the same initial information. It was the analysis of the deepest core that provided the planetary scientists with the news they had been hoping for; a liquid made up of Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms along with other elements. They had discovered water!
A cheer went up from the scientists. A planet with water! Could there have been life? Was there life still? They discussed this excitedly together as one junior scientist continued to study an image sent back from the craft. The analyser on board the craft had broken up the deep core and the junior scientist was closely studying one of the pieces of the polymer. The image appeared to have uniform markings on it that seemed unlikely to have been made naturally. He called over one of his senior colleagues who, having seen what his junior had seen, asked that the image be transmitted to the big screen. There, for all to see was incontrovertible evidence that intelligent life had once existed on this planet. Marked on the piece of clear polymer was the following image…
Retwords 