Callisto 2.0, Susan English [i love reading .TXT] 📗
- Author: Susan English
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“Oh, an oversight that needs to be rectified immediately,” she said, shaking her head and attempting a stern look. “Truly unacceptable.” We followed her out and into the corridor. “Look! There’s one.” Kamana pointed at the ceiling a few meters away.
We propelled ourselves down the corridor and stopped right under the spot where Kamana had indicated. I squinted. It appeared to be a black stain.
“Take a closer look,” said Zoe.
Gently I pushed myself off the floor, and Zoe grabbed my foot to keep me in place as I examined the tiny machine. It had the form of a beetle, with iridescent wings and two tiny antennae attached to its “head,” and the “eyes” glittered like green emeralds.
“Oh wow.”
“Isn’t it adorable?” said Zoe, smiling up at me.
I floated back down to the floor and grabbed the railing with my hand. “How did I not notice them before?”
“You have to know what you’re looking for,” Kamana said. “They’re modeled after actual beetles, see? Each bot is a different species. We’re currently using them to test the air. If there’s any contamination or if the carbon dioxide or oxygen levels are off, Quinn gets an alert.” Kamana pushed herself up and rebounded lightly off the ceiling, grabbing the bot in her hand. When she reached the floor, she grasped the rail with her free hand, then turned the bot over and showed me its “belly.” “This is the sample compartment. The bots can be programmed to take in air samples, or samples of dirt, water, small pebbles, whatever, really.”
“What an ingenious little device.” I touched the antennae gently with my finger. “And so beautiful.”
“It’s hard to compete with the beauty of nature,” said Zoe.
Kamana released the bot, which flew back to the ceiling, attaching itself to the cloth.
“Are you both coming to the social?” She asked as we headed toward the hub.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” I said.
172
◆◆◆
I spend the social talking with Elena. She had such a sweet, unassuming demeanor, and I really enjoyed being with her. We sat at a table next to the observation window.
“Elena, I never got the chance to compliment you on your mosaic in the hub.”
Elena looked down at the table, at the image of the Moon reflected on its surface.
“Thank you.”
“The work is stunning. The colors are so vibrant, and what a great idea to use fabric.”
Since my first close-up look with Hadley, I had spent hours admiring her work, inspecting every square centimeter. Even using a cloth printer, it must have taken a long time to complete, not to mention creating the design, the incredibly intricate detail.
Elena was a true artist.
She shrugged. “It’s not so unusual. In my culture handiwork like that is common.”
“Where are you from?”
“Guatemala, from Antigua.”
“It’s a lovely city. Did you study in Guatemala?”
“Yes, we have a good scientific university there.”
“Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. It’s world renowned for astronomy.”
She straightened in her seat and glanced away for a moment. Then she looked at me shyly. “I think it’s the Maya influence. The Maya people have always been astronomers.”
“Oh, I know. I learned about their accomplishments in my undergrad history of astronomy class. And the architecture! It seems every building was constructed to showcase astronomical objects or events.”
Elena nodded.
“Are you Maya?”
“Mostly, yes. There might be a drop or two of Spanish blood flowing through my veins, though.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“But culturally, I’m not very Maya.”
“No?”
She shrugged. “The Mayan priests are given a lot of power. For me, it doesn’t make much sense. I suppose I’m not a spiritual person.”
“Or is it just organized religion that rubs you the wrong way?” I asked gently.
“Yes, I think that’s it. If you want to be a ‘true’ Maya,” she said, using air quotes for the word true, “you’re expected to listen to and heed the priests’ prophetic visions based on interpretations of the celestial cycles.” She grimaced. “They are really astrologers.”
“Ah, and for an astronomer like yourself, astrology is particularly painful.” I thought for a minute, then added, “Well, not only astronomers. Any rational person.
Pseudoscience is a big pill to swallow.”
Elena studied my face. After a moment she seemed to come to a decision about me, 173
and she visibly relaxed. I recognized the signs. She, too, felt the confusion of being an intelligent, rational person in the midst of a religion fraught with superstition, not sure who she could trust not to judge. It looked as though I passed her scrutiny.
I reached out and touched her forearm, wanting to show my support, my understanding. “I’m sure there are plenty of reasons to be proud of your culture.” I thought of my own culture, my family, and realized with a shock that what I had just said was true for me, too. There were many beautiful aspects of fundamental Christianity, like the importance of community, the generosity, especially toward the needy, and in general, they were good-hearted, well-meaning people. Okay, at least some of them were.
“I love my culture’s focus on astronomy and mathematics, and I also like the idea that everything is imbued with a spiritual essence, living creatures, naturally, but even inanimate objects, like water and rocks, and we should respect and honor them.” Her eyes held a faraway look. “I don’t buy the spiritual essence idea,” she continued, “but I can appreciate the implications for the natural world—we are all interconnected, and we are a part of nature. I think that’s something most native peoples share, a sense of belonging to nature, as opposed to holding dominion over it.”
What she said was true. The prevailing world philosophy was one of domination, an attitude that had nearly destroyed our precious planet. “I appreciate the way you think, Elena.”
174
A week and a half later, Hadley and I were in our lab, each staring at our respective computer screens. We had been working for what felt like forever on the expansion of the warp bubble to encompass Soteria, and had hit a brick wall. The problem was the negative energy requirements, which were significantly greater for the probe. The mass of the vessel was an order of magnitude larger than the probe, but the energy requirement wasn’t a linear function, it was exponential! According to our calculations, we wouldn’t need ten times the energy. Instead, we would need the energy required for the probe raised to the power of ten. It was a staggering number. We couldn’t get past it.
We had both been working independently all morning when Hadley blurted out, “I haven’t seen Andrea all week.”
I looked up from my computer screen and rubbed my eyes. “What happened? Are you two okay?”
“Oh, nothing like that. It’s just she’s been busy. She’s working on modifying Charm to include mini-transports for the bots. Elena and the engineering team have been working late every night—Elena is anxious to get her samples.”
“I noticed they didn’t go to the social last Friday night.”
Hadley shook her head. “They were apparently too engrossed in their work and totally forgot about it!”
“I don’t suppose you know how things are going?”
“They should be finished tonight, and the plan is to send Charm out tomorrow morning, and probably every day after that. They’re already done assembling Soteria, except for the warp drive.” She glanced at her screen and sighed.
I had a flashback to when we’d struggled with the bubble collapse issue, how I’d projected my negative feelings onto Hadley. This time I felt none of that intense frustration, despite our setback with the drive. Shambhala, with its culture of love and support, was changing me. I was becoming a better person. I smiled to myself. “We’ll figure it out, Hadley.”
“Yeah, I know we will.” Hadley shrugged her shoulders.
“Anyway, that’s great news about the mini-transports. Elena must be thrilled.”
“Yeah, it’s good they’re almost finished. Then I’ll finally get my girlfriend back.” She looked like an abandoned puppy.
I couldn’t help laughing. “Is my memory faulty, or was it you who was complaining you two were spending too much time together?”
“Okay, Miss Perfect Recall.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s true I don’t want to spend every minute of every day together, but a whole week!”
I laughed again.
She glared at me, then smiled. “Okay, fine, I love she’s so driven and focused, but I miss her.”
175
“And it doesn’t help that our work isn’t moving forward.”
“No, it doesn’t.” She sighed again, and we both turned back to our consoles.
◆◆◆
“Hadley, I have an idea for the enlarged warp bubble!” I said, bursting into the lab the following morning. “It came to me in a dream last night.”
Hadley looked up from her console. “Hey, however the inspiration manifests itself, I’ll take it.”
We sat down at the conference table, and I explained my idea, Hadley nodding her head periodically, saying, “Yes, yes, that makes sense.”
“Should we talk to the engineers?” I asked eagerly.
“Let’s do some calculations and simulations first.”
“Sure, you’re right, don’t want to put the cart before the horse.”
Hadley cracked up laughing. “I don’t know where you pull out your archaic sayings from.”
We worked until the afternoon, refining the calculations. When I decided to take a break, I headed over to Naomi’s lab.
“Hi, Naomi,” I said, moving toward the mouse condo. Asteria was waiting for me, dancing around, bouncing off the sides of the tube. When I opened the condo door, she hurled herself at me. Laughing, I caught her and placed her on my chest, then sat on the couch. “I owe you big time, my little friend!”
Naomi looked at me, eyebrows raised.
“This little rodent was in my dream last night.” I rubbed her tiny head with my fingertip. “Hadley and I have been struggling with the last piece of the transport vessel, trying to work out the modification to the warp bubble generator to account for the larger mass of Soteria, and last night I had a long, crazy dream.
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