Continuing the serial release of The Plainsrunner under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license – (CC-BY-SA).
They finally get to see what is at the L1 Lagrange point. This chapter is a little longer.
Please join in the conversation. If you like this, let someone know so they can enjoy it, too.
rjb
Chapter Forty-Four – The Thing at L1
“Everything is fine, Mom.” Tallgrass was talking to his mother during their free radio time. They were just past the halfway point. The flip maneuver was done, including all the observations and calculations to make sure they were still on course. The ion engine was back on and they were in deceleration mode. The next major point in the mission would be arrival at L1, in half a week.
“Of course everything is fine,” said Sage, after the three second light speed delay. “I want to know about you. How do you feel? What’s it like to be so far out there?”
Tallgrass knew that his crewmates were listening, even if they were trying to look as if they were doing something else. Blunt wasn’t even trying. He was staring and smirking. “I feel fine, Mom. What’s it like? I haven’t really had time to think about it. We’re halfway, so I guess we’ll be there soon.”
Another pause, with Tallgrass trying to ignore Blunt’s smirk. Then Sage said, “So you’re getting close. Can you see anything at L1?”
“Not really. We’re still half a million kilometers away, and we don’t have much of a telescope.” He called up their latest image on his screen. “It kind of looks like there’s something big there, but it’s really blurry. It could be anything.” He dismissed the image and said, “You’ve got the same pictures there, Mom.”
“I know,” she said. “It’s just that I waited so long to talk to you, and now I can’t think of anything to say to my brave hero.”
“Mom!” he said. “You know we’re on an open speaker here, don’t you? And I’m no brave hero. If there are any heroes, it’s Seagrass. And this isn’t brave compared to what you did.” He saw Supervisor Steel raise his head and look at him.
“You’re right. Seagrass is a hero. He’s right here beside me with a big smile on. But you’re a hero, too. All four of you That’s what everybody down here thinks, so you’d better get used to it.” Tallgrass moaned, and his mother went on. “And you are so brave. If what I did was brave, then so is this, if in a different way. On my trek I had to meet immediate, personal danger every day. Then there was the city, which was its own thing. On the other hand you seem to have compressed it all down into this two week period.” She paused briefly, keeping her microphone open. “This is at least as big as what I did, son,” she finished.
Tallgrass saw Steel nod and put his head back down. He said, “Okay, Mom. I’m a brave hero.” He smirked back at Blunt, then said, “So, how’s everybody there? Moonshadow? Digger and Street? Seagrass’s mom and dad?”
“They’re all fine, and they’re all pulling for you. Do you remember after Moonshadow moved out, when she went into business for herself? Well, just this week she opened a franchise in another city. She calls the company Moonshadow Services, and she takes on people who have worked for me, like her. Or she takes some straight from Digger.” She snorted. “Of course, you know all that. But she’s doing really well and I’m so proud of her. And get this. Digger has set up a kind of franchise over there, too. You know he’s been training people to do what he does. Saving newcomers. Well, now he’s doing that in another city.” She sighed with satisfaction, and he could hear the smile in her voice when she said, “So, yes, everybody here is fine.”
Tallgrass said, “That’s great. I’m really happy for Moonshadow. She was always nice to me. And Digger. If anyone is a hero, it would be Digger. With all the good he does, and hardly anyone notices. How many lives has he saved?”
“Yes,” she said after the delay. “A lot. Mine included, probably. I keep thinking there should be something more I could do for him, but he won’t let me. He brings people to me when he needs to, and he’ll take a little money once in a while when someone needs it, but he won’t accept anything on a regular basis. Nothing official or permanent.”
“He told me once that he didn’t want it to become like a job,” said Tallgrass.
“That’s right,” said Sage. “If it ever got to be like a job, then it would be time to pack it in, he said.” She sighed again, then said, “It looks like my time is up, so I’d better let you go. Be safe, Tallgrass. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom. Say hello to everybody for me. It was good to hear your voice.”
By the end of the next day the big object at L1 was getting clearer. They weren’t able to tell for sure whether it was a single object, though. It could have been two or more things lined up to look like one from their angle. That was improbable, but couldn’t be ruled out. One thing they could tell, even though the image was still blurry, was that it had an irregular outline.
As they got closer it became obvious that it was a single object. Its shape didn’t change. If it were several objects then they would have expected them to move relative to each other, changing the overall shape. With that mystery solved, two big ones remained. First, how could something that big get captured at the Lagrangian? The interactions of the gravity of Grasswind and its star would be too small to stop something that massive, unless it was hardly moving at all. Tallgrass calculated it and decided that the only way it could have happened was if the object’s speed almost exactly matched Grasswind’s orbital speed, precisely when it was passing through that small volume of space. Improbable, but not impossible.
The other mystery was more difficult to solve. In the whole time they had been observing it, from the first blurry blob until now, it hadn’t changed its shape. As the image gradually improved, they were able to tell that it was an oblong, with a length to width ratio of about five to one. That ratio hadn’t changed in several days of observations, which defied all probability. It meant either that the object wasn’t rotating at all, which was highly unlikely, or if it was rotating, it had to be a disk or a square with its axis of rotation exactly vertical relative to them. The odds of that were practically non-existent.
The improbabilities were adding up, and there was more. They weren’t able to pick out anything else there. In spite of near-continuous observation, they hadn’t found even one other object trapped at L1. Again, there was a barely plausible explanation. It was possible that the big one had destroyed all the smaller ones in collisions, or even ejected them right out of there. Another thing that had to be just-so to be true. But even worse than that was the size of the thing. They ran the calculations many times, double-checking and triple-checking each other’s work. They didn’t want to report back to Mission Control with something this ridiculous, and then turn out to be wrong. Finally they had to accept it. There was no other explanation. The long axis on the object was a hundred kilometers.
“That’s impossible,” said Specialist Wayfarer.
“Yes,” said Tallgrass. “Not literally impossible of course, since it’s there, but I know what you mean. The chance of this happening naturally is effectively zero.”
Steel stared at him. “Are you saying somebody put it there?” he snapped.
Tallgrass hesitated. He didn’t want to say that, but what choice did he have? He said, “Given all the possibilities, I think that one is the least unlikely.”
Blunt said, “Whoa, Run- … Runner. Don’t commit yourself or anything.”
But Steel was nodding his head. He said, “I have to agree. It is the least unlikely explanation. But who was it? Was it our ancestors when they were going to space? When they went to Sunward? Or did someone actually come here from another star way back when and destroy our civilization?”
Tallgrass said, “And if they did, where did they go? And why did they leave this behind?”
Wayfarer gasped. “What if they didn’t go anywhere?” she said. “What if they’re still here, living in that thing?”
Everyone was quiet, then Blunt said, “We don’t have the weapons to fight something like that.”
“We’re not in a position to fight anything,” said Steel. “We’ll just have to hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“You’re still planning to go there?” said Blunt. “To go up against that thing?” He pointed at the display, still showing the huge, ominous object.
“I’m planning to complete our mission,” said Steel.
“But that’s crazy,” said Blunt. “I think we should abort the mission and go back to Grasswind.” He pointed at Wayfarer. “Call Mission Control,” he said.
Wayfarer looked at Steel, who said, “Yes, Specialist Wayfarer, call them.”
Mission Control left it up to them. They wouldn’t be ordered to continue with the original mission. If they thought it would be too dangerous to confront whatever was at L1, then they could alter their flight plan and return to Grasswind. No one would censure or discipline them for their decision. It would be good to have as much information as possible, of course. Future missions would need to know as much as possible so they could prepare adequately. Grasswind itself needed the information so it could assess the danger, if there was any.
Supervisor Steel asked them all for their input, but he made it clear that the ultimate decision would be his. He just wanted their opinions to factor into it.
Blunt was first. “I vote we turn back,” he said, “before they see us.”
“Thank you, Blunt,” said Steel. “Wayfarer? What do you think?”
She thought about it, her head turned in the general direction of L1. She glanced at the display, still showing the object, then said, “I don’t think we have enough information to decide. We need to get closer and find out more.”
Blunt muttered something, and Steel glared at him before saying, “What about you, Tallgrass?”
“I agree with Wayfarer,” said Tallgrass. “But there’s something else I think we need to consider.”
“Go ahead,” said Steel.
Tallgrass took a moment to organize his thoughts, then said, “Given how long that thing has been there – thousands of years, if we’re correct – it’s not likely that it would have maintained this stable configuration.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning either it has excellent automatic control mechanisms, or there’s someone there making sure it keeps station.”
Steel nodded. “I’ve been thinking the same thing,” he said. “It leads to some obvious conclusions. If it has automatic systems good enough to keep it on station for that long, then it might have equally good defensive systems. Conversely, if there are people living on it, then they might want to protect it. Either way it’s possible we could be flying into trouble.”
Tallgrass nodded, and Blunt said, “Yeah! We should turn around now.”
Steel said, “You’ve had your say, Blunt. We all know what you think.” To Tallgrass he said, “But you agree with Wayfarer. You think we need to know more.”
“Yes,” said Tallgrass. “We need to gather as much information as we can. For future missions and for Grasswind.” He smiled. “Mostly, though, I just want to know. I can’t come all the way out here and see that, and then just leave it.”
Steel smiled too. “I know just what you mean,” he said. “I didn’t come all the way out here to turn and run at the first sign of trouble.” He drew himself up formally and said, “So that’s my decision. We continue. We gather as much information as possible. We review our options as we go.”
Tallgrass and Wayfarer nodded and murmured their agreement as they headed back to their stations, but Blunt said, “I’m going along with this, but I’m officially registering my disagreement.”
“That’s your right,” said Steel. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my alcove. Wayfarer, advise Mission Control of our decision.”
The information kept coming in. By the last day, when they were well under a hundred thousand kilometers from it, they could see that it looked like a collection of bits and pieces. It looked as if someone had taken all the debris there and stuck it together. Closer yet, it became clear that there was a structure underneath the rubble, which had just been stuck onto it. They were looking at something – a habitat or a huge vessel – built by someone, who then went to the trouble of gathering up all the material around and attaching it to the hull. They were in awe of the accomplishment, but they were still able to wonder why anyone would want to do that.
In the final hours, when they were only a thousand kilometers out and their thrusters had reduced their speed to nearly match the velocity of the object, Wayfarer gave a surprised shout.
“What is it, Specialist Wayfarer?” asked Steel.
“There’s something else there, sir,” she said. “Here, I’ll put it on all your screens.”
“What …” said Steel. “Oh, I see it. Extending away from the long edge. What’s that, about a thirty degree angle? It’s thin. Just a line. The Sun must have caught it just right.” He looked at her. “Can you estimate how long it is?”
“No, sir,” she said. “It just keeps going until it kind of fades out.”
“Can you estimate the part you can see?”
“Yes, sir. Right where it fades out, it’s just under three thousand kilometers from the main body.”
“Three thousand!” Steel shook his head. “Who were these people?”
“I don’t know, but they sure built big.”
“They sure did,” said Steel. “Right. Specialist Blunt, please alter course to bring us to one hundred kilometers from this thing, right where the line joins the main body.”
“Yes, sir,” said Blunt, his hands trembling slightly as he worked his controls.
Over the next few hours the object grew until it seemed to fill half the sky.
Like this:
Like Loading...
