Guanahani
Early on the last day of the United States, a three-vehicle convoy approached the Dulles airport concourse.
The airport seemed almost deserted. No passengers crowded around the arrival and departure gates. No vehicles jostled for position. There was no bustle and hurry of a prosperous nation going about its daily business. Long gone, all of that, leaving behind only a handful of tired men, laboring to clear away mounds of dirty snow.
Despite the lack of any obvious threat, the soldiers in the convoy’s lead and trailing vehicles did not relax their guard. They protected the middle vehicle: a limousine, black and unmarked, its armor and security features not visible from the outside.
In the rear seat of the limousine, Colonel Madison Parker leaned forward to peer out the window. She spotted a man, standing alone in the arrivals lane, looking rather forlorn. “There he is.”
Game face on, Madison, she told herself. Luke’s not an easy man to fool.
The convoy stopped. An enlisted airman emerged from the front seat, to assist with a bag and open a door.
Luke Somerville was a tall white man, wearing a rumpled business suit and a startled expression. He had the gaunt look of a man who had once been well-fed but had missed a few meals of late. His hair and beard showed traces of silver. “Wow,” was his only remark, as he climbed into the vehicle next to Madison.
“Didn’t expect the armed escort?”
“No.” He peered at Madison over his old-fashioned spectacles, brown eyes alight with appreciation. “I must say, you’re looking very fine in uniform. As usual.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him, knowing what he saw: a blonde woman in her early forties, still in peak physical condition and looking sharp enough to cut glass, wearing a perfectly kept uniform in deep Air Force blue.
More than twenty years since we had our thing, and he still tries to flirt with me every chance he gets. That was a lot cuter when we were both on the right side of forty.
“When did you make full bird?” Luke asked.
“Last year. How are Joyce and the children?”
Luke relaxed into his seat as the convoy departed the airport. “Better than most. We both have jobs, and you know I’m still getting some science done. Security is tight up in New England, so we haven’t seen much trouble. Our neighborhood council has been helping everyone keep a garden, to supplement the ration allotments. The kids are getting a decent education, although I worry about what we’ll do when they’re old enough for university.”
“Sophia is, what, twelve?”
“Eleven.”
“Hopefully, things will be getting back to normal by the time she’s old enough to think about that.”
“Yeah.” Luke glanced out his window, as the convoy roared along an empty highway. He frowned at abandoned buildings, a few of them gutted by fire, and the occasional clusters of tents and makeshift shanties. “I hope you’re right.”
They rode in silence for a few minutes, during which Madison grew increasingly uneasy.
“We’re not heading into Washington?” Luke asked at last.
“No. There’s a FEMA facility up in the Virginia hills, defensible and well-guarded. The President and the core of the federal government have been in residence there, ever since Black Friday.”
He nodded, but his frown deepened. “About that. I’ve heard some disturbing rumors.”
Crap. Poker face time.
“What kind of rumors?” she asked, affecting unconcern.
“A lot of people are wondering about the President.” Luke turned away from the window and gave Madison that look, the one that had seen through her pretenses too often in the past. “He never travels. He almost never appears in public. Sure, decisions are made and his staff issues statements, but no one can tell whether he is the one doing any of that.”
“I’m not sure what you’re suggesting.”
“Do I have to spell it out for you?” Luke’s voice turned cold. “Albright only survived Black Friday because he was attending a funeral away from Washington. The only reason he was in line for the Presidency at all was that he was the most senior member of the majority party in the Senate. The man’s almost a hundred years old.”
Damn it, Luke, why couldn’t you be the kind of scientist who’s oblivious to anything outside his discipline?
“You’re wondering if he’s still capable.”
“Is he?”
“Jesus, Luke, I don’t know.”
His eyebrows climbed in surprise.
“I’m only a member of the Joint Staff. There are four people between me and any possibility of a face-to-face meeting with the President. I’ve never been in the same room with him.”
All of which is true, if also misleading.
“So you don’t know if your bosses in the military . . .”
“Are controlling him?” Madison rolled her eyes in feigned exasperation. “You’re sounding like a conspiracy theorist.”
“It wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen in the last few years,” he muttered.
“Agreed.” She decided to edge a little closer to the truth. “All I know is, we’ve got seven states where civil order has broken down entirely. Nine more are still holding together but have gone into open revolt against the federal government. This administration may be the only thing preventing the United States from shattering.”
“I suppose.” He stared at her for a moment longer, and then turned away with a sigh, to stare out the window once more. “Today, the important thing is getting someone in the administration to pay attention to my findings.”
“Did you bring all your data?”
“The whole dog-and-pony show. You didn’t say who this big shot is, that you think will be able to help.”
“Admiral Bowman,” she told him. “My boss. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
“I’m impressed. Why would he be likely to take an interest in my research?” Luke gave her a sour glance. “Government hasn’t supported the sciences for years, even before everything went to hell.”
“After you told me what you found, I wrote a memo calling it to the admiral’s attention and recommending he take it seriously. The military isn’t in great shape, but at least it isn’t on life support like the rest of the federal government. If you can convince the admiral that what you’ve discovered is important, he should be able to get you what you need.”
“All right.” Satisfied, Luke reached into his valise, to pull out a tablet and begin reviewing his notes.
As soon as his attention was diverted, Madison relaxed a little.
That was a little too close.
Of course, Luke might still end up conscripted to the admiral’s staff. Or confined to a cell block, for the duration of the emergency. I would hate to have to do that to an old friend.
John Bowman was a burly, dark-skinned man, with a cap of short, iron-grey hair and a carefully trimmed mustache. He wore a Navy dress-blue uniform, with one thick and three thin gold stripes at the cuff, and row upon row of colorful medal ribbons on his breast. He rose from behind a cluttered mahogany desk to exchange handshakes. “Colonel. This is the astronomer you told me about?”
“Yes, sir. Admiral Bowman, this is Dr. Luke Somerville.”
“Thank you for giving me some time on your schedule, sir,” said Luke.
“Colonel Parker was persuasive,” said the admiral. He resumed his seat and gestured to invite his visitors to sit down as well. “I can’t give you much time. I’m triple-booked starting in half an hour.”
“Understood.” Luke took a deep breath. “Here’s the executive summary: something strange is going on out in the solar system, it may have serious consequences for us, and I need more resources if I’m going to move any further with my investigation. Colonel Parker suggested that you could help.”
Bowman watched him for a long moment and then nodded. “All right, you have my attention. You should be aware that my own degree is in physics, and I’m somewhat familiar with your discipline as well. Don’t worry about having to dumb down your explanation.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Forgotten for the moment, Madison smiled to herself. Good move, Admiral. Approach him like a scientific colleague and he won’t stop to wonder about politics.
Luke reached into his valise and produced a tablet, placing it on the admiral’s desk where all three of them could see it. “The first thing that attracted my attention is that Psyche went missing.”
Bowman frowned. “Excuse me?”
“Asteroid 16 Psyche.” Luke called up images of an object in space, cratered and pitted, shaped roughly like a potato. “One of the largest asteroids in the main belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Its composition is distinctive, almost entirely metallic. The best hypothesis is that it was the nickel-iron core of a larger dwarf planet, one that lost its outer layers to an impact early in the solar system’s history. NASA put a spacecraft, also called Psyche, in orbit around it in the early twenties. We have plenty of data and images.”
“You say this object is missing?”
“The Psyche spacecraft finished its service life and shut down in 2029. Since then, no one has observed the asteroid routinely, except for amateur astronomers. Sir, astronomy has always been a discipline in which amateurs can make real contributions. There’s too much sky for the professionals to keep watch over everything at once.”
“Understood,” said Bowman, permitting himself a small smile. “I kept a small telescope myself when I was young. Continue.”
“Not quite three years ago, amateurs around the world began to complain that Psyche had vanished. It should have just come into visibility from behind the sun, in the eastern sky before sunrise. Nobody could find it.” Luke shrugged. “It took a while for the news to get around. This was a few months after Black Friday, so everyone had other things on their mind. But eventually, a few amateurs compared notes and became concerned. They contacted me.”
“Why you?”
“I used to work at the IAU Minor Planet Center before we had to shut down for lack of funding. One of the things we did was give out official credit for new discoveries. That was important to many of the amateurs. Some of them still remembered me.”
Bowman nodded in acceptance.
“Sir, the best science always begins when someone stops and says, ‘That’s strange.’ No one knew what Psyche’s disappearance meant, but it presented an intriguing mystery. I got some time on one of the old telescopes at the University of Pittsburgh. Somehow, they were still keeping their observatory in operation. I confirmed it. Psyche simply wasn’t where it was supposed to be.”
The admiral leaned back in his chair. “As I recall, Doctor, minor planets go missing all the time.”
Luke grinned, pleased at Bowman’s alertness. “True, sir, but in almost every case that happens to an object that is small, has just been discovered, and hasn’t been observed across a long enough baseline to fix its orbital parameters. Psyche is one of the biggest asteroids in the solar system, it was discovered almost two hundred years ago, and its orbit was well known.”
“Do you have a hypothesis?”
“Sir, I have too many hypotheses chasing not enough data. The story gets weirder.”
“All right,” said the admiral, glancing at his watch. “What else?”
“I organized a number of amateur astronomers to search for Psyche, under the assumption that the asteroid hadn’t simply been destroyed. It took us a few months, but we found it.” Luke leaned forward to tap at the surface of his tablet again, calling up a graphic image. “Here’s a map of the inner solar system, as of thirty months ago. Here’s Psyche’s expected orbit and position, and here is where we actually found it.”
“It moved outward.” Bowman stared at the astronomer. “How?”
“Sir, I haven’t a clue. What’s worse, when I tried to establish new orbital parameters for it, I couldn’t. Psyche was no longer following a ballistic path. It was accelerating. Not quickly – a small fraction of a meter per second squared – but any acceleration at all would be remarkable.”
“You found no other asteroids behaving this way?”
“None. Only Psyche.” Luke lost his smile, his expression going cold and bleak. “Before we could investigate further, well, that was when everything started going to hell. The war in South Asia went nuclear. The insurrection started, here in America. The global astronomical community . . . it just collapsed. The amateurs I had been working with all dropped off the grid. I lost my job at the university and had to scrounge for a teaching position. I ended up doing astronomy with a personal telescope from my back yard. I guess I had turned into an amateur myself.”
“I understand. What happened next?”
“Well, it was almost two years before the next discovery. I followed Psyche as best I could from my home observatory. Before long, I realized where it was going.” Luke worked his tablet once more. “Here’s an update of the last map, with the asteroid’s full trajectory as far as I could determine. Notice how it was moving with respect to Jupiter.”
Bowman nodded with enthusiasm. “I see it. A close intercept. About six months ago?”
“Exactly. When I realized what was happening, I started watching Jupiter for anything unusual. I spotted nothing from home, so I sent out an alert to what was left of the community. About six weeks ago, I got a message from Jenn Stockton at the University of Hawaii.”
“The Mauna Kea observatories?”
“Correct, sir. They’ve been on the verge of shutting down for years, but they still maintain some of the instruments. Including the only significant facility for infrared astronomy still in operation, anywhere in the world.” Luke called up yet another set of images on his tablet. “Here are some thermal images of the Jupiter system, from the MIRSI instrument. Here’s the planet itself, these two spots are the Galilean satellites Europa and Ganymede, and then . . .”
Bowman frowned.
Madison knew what the admiral was seeing. A set of four specks glimmered in the image, in the same line as the planet and its two moons, evenly spaced. Suspiciously evenly spaced.
“What am I looking at here?” the admiral demanded. “Some kind of imaging artifact?”
“That’s what Dr. Stockton thought, at first. The MIRSI instrument is old, and they’ve been maintaining it on a shoestring for over twenty years. They bumped someone else’s time slot a few nights later, bringing one of the other instruments in on the task too. The specks showed up in both sets of images. Whatever they are, they’re real objects in orbit around Jupiter, between Europa and Ganymede. Small, almost too small to resolve, but bright in the infrared.”
“Which means they’re warm. How warm?”
“Warmer than they should be. They give off more heat than they receive from the sun. Quite a lot more.”
Slowly, his expression gone utterly impassive, Bowman leaned back in his chair. “And nobody ever sighted them before. Not even back when we were sending probes to Jupiter every few years.”
Luke nodded, his poker face matching the admiral’s.
“Colonel Parker, does any of this check out?”
Madison stirred. “Sir, my degree is in cyber operations. I’m not competent to assess Dr. Somerville’s scientific claims myself. I contacted the Naval Observatory, asking them to give me a dispassionate evaluation of the data. There is almost no chance that this is either a hoax or a simple mistake.”
“I see. Dr. Somerville, earlier I asked you whether you had any hypothesis. I suspect you have one which you are reluctant to voice.”
Luke snorted. “Sir, I suspect you are thinking along the same lines. In my field, that hypothesis is always the last one to be considered. We have a methodological bias toward . . . non-intentional explanations for the phenomena we observe. So far, that bias has always proven correct. The problem here is that I don’t yet have enough data to rule out any other possibilities.”
“Which is why you want help from the federal government.”
“Yes, sir.” Luke hesitated, then leaned forward. “It would have been easier back when NASA was still a going concern, but from Colonel Parker tells me, you’re still in a position to help. I want to be clear that this could be nothing at all, only a set of new natural phenomena that no one but we astronomers will ever care about. Or it could be . . . the most important thing in the world.”
Bowman considered for a long moment, then glanced at his watch once more and rose from his chair. “Very well, Dr. Somerville, you’ve convinced me. I will see what I can do. But now I must go to my next meeting.”
Immediately, Luke rose to his feet. “Thank you, Admiral.”
“Colonel Parker will act as our liaison. I want to hear about your results. Even if it’s only word that I can relax and wait for your paper to show up in the Astrophysical Journal.” Bowman smiled. “I must say, Doctor, I’m impressed with your work, especially given the formidable obstacles you’ve faced. As long as America has men and women with your commitment to the truth, there may still be hope for us.”
Pleased, Luke grinned and made an awkward bow.
Nicely done, Admiral, thought Madison. Luke is as susceptible to flattery as the next man. If he still had any suspicions, you’ve killed them.
“Now, why don’t you go on down to the cafeteria on the first floor, and grab yourself a sandwich and a cup of coffee? Colonel Parker will be along in a few moments.”
Madison stood silently, waiting for Luke to leave the office, the door closing behind him. Then she glanced at Admiral Bowman and felt a small shock. For a moment, the admiral looked old and tired.
“How did Dr. Somerville end up coming to you, Colonel?” he asked, his voice judicious and detached.
“We’re old friends, Admiral. We met at university, and yes, we were close for a while. We remained friends after I graduated and took my commission, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.”
“Did he approach you about this?”
“No, sir,” she said firmly. “I don’t think he realized that I could serve as a useful contact, not until I suggested it to him. He’s a smart guy, and he’s not naive, but he’s never been interested in how the military works.”
“I see.” Bowman gave her a sharp glance. “Does he know?”
“I don’t think so, sir.” She forced herself to hold the older man’s gaze with confidence. “He’s heard rumors, and he asked me some pointed questions on the way here, but I was able to deflect them. He only knows that you’re the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Everyone knows that, since before Black Friday.”
“Good. Colonel, I don’t have to tell you that we’re skating on thin ice here. If word gets out of President Albright’s condition . . .”
“I understand, Admiral. I know bringing someone like Luke here poses a risk. I wouldn’t have suggested it, except that I suspect he is onto something of enormous importance.”
“I agree. It was a good call.” Bowman shook his head, like a boxer shrugging off a hard blow to the jaw. “You will be in charge of helping your friend find what he needs to figure out what’s going on out there. Let me know if we need to lean on someone a little. But manage his expectations, Colonel. Even if this turns out to be little green men from Alpha Centauri, really and for true, it’s still some distance down the priority list.”
She frowned. “Why, sir? It might be just the thing to wake people up. Pull us together for a change.”
The admiral snorted. “I’m afraid the people of this country are primarily worried about whether they’re going to survive the next few years. Not to mention whether there will still be a unified country worth living in. Aliens wouldn’t even make a blip on the radar screen.”
“Yes, sir.” Madison sensed the interview was over and turned to go.
“Besides,” the Admiral continued, “if someone is out there, pushing around flying mountains and building colonies near Jupiter, do you think there’s a damned thing any of us will be able to do about it?”
Madison rode the elevator down, feeling discouraged.
The admiral is right. If this is some non-human civilization, they must be from the stars. They’ve come all that way, and now they’re mining the solar system. Our solar system, thank you very much! In which we never managed more than a few tiny expeditions to the moon and Mars.
I imagine those Arawak tribesmen felt a little like this when Columbus first came rolling up to the shore in a longboat, three ships in the harbor behind him. The greedy, murdering bastard.
She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.
We do what we have to do. Maybe a natural explanation for this will appear after all. And if it doesn’t, maybe we humans can still surprise whoever is out there.
The doors opened. Madison stepped out into the atrium and found it alive with hurrying, shouting people. In the first moment, she was almost run down by one beefy, florid-looking man wearing a business suit. He caromed away from her with an apology.
She waded through the mob, wondering what was going on, looking around for Luke. A quick glance into the cafeteria turned up nothing.
There. Out on the terrace.
The astronomer stood motionless, glaring up into the sky, his valise fallen from his hand and lying forgotten on the ground.
Madison stepped out into the sunlight and crisp fall air. “Luke! That went pretty well . . .”
Then she stopped, and also stared up into a sky full of evidence.
A hundred points of bright light crawled slowly across the sky, seeming to diverge from a point high in the west, each of them trailing a thin line of cloud. More of them appeared every moment. Madison guessed that they were miles high.
Then there was a deep, booming roar, and three silver things passed low and fast over the mountains. Not aircraft. They were far too large and lacked anything remotely resembling engines or wings.
Luke sighed deeply. “I think it’s too late, Madison, don’t you?”
Author’s Note
There’s a space-operatic setting I’ve been building in the back of my head for quite a few years now. I usually call it the “Human Destiny” setting, because it’s functioning as an extended personal meditation on what role, if any, human beings might have in the larger universe. So far, my novelette “Pilgrimage” (available from Kindle Direct Publishing) is the only piece that’s actually been published in this setting, but there’s quite a bit more in my reserve files.
The Human Destiny stories do eventually find human characters out in the galaxy, traveling and exploring, citizens in a Star Trek-like interstellar community. Yet that community is anything but human-centered. Instead, we participate as clients of a far older, more sophisticated civilization, one which came to rescue us just as our long record of folly was about to overwhelm us.
It’s a setting that doesn’t allow much room for human bigotry and small-mindedness, in which the issues are far larger and on a much longer timescale than those we’re accustomed to dealing with. It’s also a setting in which the intrepid explorers are not assumed to be White and American, where indeed all manner of people who blithely assumed their own superiority in the 20th and 21st centuries find themselves poorly suited for the real situation among the stars.
“Guanahani” is a kind of origin story for the Human Destiny setting, a tale of the first day on which we human beings are forced to realize that all our petty struggles are only a small part of the picture.
As it happens, I first wrote this story in the fall of 2015, over a year before my native country turned down its current precarious path. As I look forward to the next few months, wondering whether the American experiment in open democracy will survive, I’ll admit this story has been coming back to haunt me.
“Guanahani” © 2020 by John Alleyn (Jon F. Zeigler). All rights reserved.