Planet Gliese 581d, viewed from space.
CHAPTER 7 – A BIG, BLUE PLANET
13:18 (Universal Time)
Monday, May 17, 2320
Command bridge of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA
Approaching the planet Gliese 581d
Hardly anyone was speaking on the bridge as its crew watched the big, blue planet now nearly filling their forward viewing holographic screens. Tina, like Shanandar and Gerald Holmes, could only admire the deep blue orb of Gliese 581d, with white streams denoting atmospheric cloud formations blown around by winds. There were however no apparent land masses to be seen.
‘’An ocean planet!’’ said softly to herself Tina, captivated by the image of the blue planet. ‘’It is beautiful! Please, Patricia, tell me that it has a breathable atmosphere.’’
‘’Well, I can’t certify for the exact composition, temperature and pressure of this planet’s atmosphere from this distance, but our spectrometers definitely are detecting large amounts of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide forming a thick, significant atmosphere. We can also detect a strong planetary magnetic field, something that would protect its surface from solar and space radiations and give a chance for life to develop. Preliminary calculations give us a mass of approximately 3.1 Earth Masses, orbiting the red dwarf star at an average radius of 0.218 AU in approximately 67 days. The planet is tidally-locked to its star, with one half perpetually illuminated by the star and the other half perpetually in the dark. We can see four large, round and rocky moons orbiting the planet, which would explain why the planet’s mass, as calculated from Earth, had been estimated previously to be of a minimum of 5.6 Earth Masses. The surface water on the illuminated side appears to be liquid, while much of the dark side is covered by solid water ice.’’
‘’This planet should have been of very high interest for the SHUNDAR.’’ said Shanandar, who was standing behind Patricia’s seat. ‘’At a minimum, it would have thoroughly mapped and scanned it before moving on…unless the ship was already out of control and unable to land.’’
‘’Let’s assume that the SHUNDAR was still fully functional and that its crew at least surveyed this planet.’’ replied Tina. ‘’On my part, I certainly want to know anything that could be learned about this planet and want to be sure that the SHUNDAR is not here right now, entombed in ice or at the bottom of the ocean. Patricia, call up some extra help for our sensors stations. Me and Shanandar will also lend a hand.’’
With up to six persons manning the sensors stations of the bridge complex and with Spirit, the ship’s central computer, helping to analyze the data from the various ship sensors, the crew’s knowledge about Gliese 581d quickly grew, while that new knowledge only stimulated their interest in what was proving to be a true ocean planet. A pair of robotic probes sent down to the planet soon brought in some critical information, information which pleased greatly both Tina and Shanandar.
‘’The atmosphere is breathable, Captain.’’ announced excitedly Anwar Duharto, who was controlling the probe flying inside the planet’s atmosphere. ‘’Its pressure at sea level is 1,136 millibars, only a bit higher than on Earth, and it is composed of 69 percent of nitrogen, 23 percent of oxygen, seven percent of carbon dioxide and one percent of a mix of noble gases, most of it argon with traces of neon, xenon and krypton. Atmospheric temperature near the surface of the ocean at the equator, in the half facing the star, is turning around plus 21 degrees Celsius, higher than what the planet’s distance from its star would make us expect. I would say that the carbon dioxide in the air is causing a moderate greenhouse gas effect which raised the temperature above water freezing point. However, the surface air temperature drops significantly on the dark side, with a temperature of minus six Celsius at the equator and with the ocean mostly frozen up. However, the conditions around the Terminator zone are still quite mild, with a sea-level average temperature of plus sixteen degrees Celsius.’’
‘’We could go around without spacesuits.’’ said Shanandar while smiling to Tina. The latter however shook her head at that.
‘’In terms of livability, yes, but I won’t risk contaminating this planet with Earth germs until we know more about the possible life on the planet. Our first surface exploration teams will go around with sealed suits and while breathing recycled air. They will also go through decontamination both before and after going down to the surface, and that will include their shuttles.’’
Ingrid Holtz, one of their specialists in sensors and communications, then spoke up, cutting off that exchange.
‘’Captain, our maritime exploration probe has splashed down near the equator, in the southern quadrant of the planet. I am now getting some firm data about the planet’s ocean. First off, the water temperature around our probe, at a depth of ten meters, is surprisingly high, being plus fourteen degrees Celsius. This is completely unexpected for a planet sitting just outside of the outer edge of the system’s habitability zone. As for the degree of salinity, it is about the same as found in the Pacific Ocean on Earth. The probe’s sonar is giving an average depth of more than 9,000 meters, much deeper than on Earth, with the bottom looking very uneven, with innumerable peaks, ravines and underwater summits. Some of those summits rise up to a depth of 1,800 meters, still quite deep by Earth’s standards.’’
‘’Wow! That is what I would call an ‘ocean’.’’ Exclaimed Gerald Holmes. That made Tina look at him and Shanandar, her expression sober.
‘’I think that a proper name for such a planet would be ‘Oceana’? What do you think?’’
‘’That it would be a perfect name for such a splendid ocean planet, Tina.’’
‘’I concur!’’ added Shanandar. ‘’This ocean IS the planet. With luck, it will prove to harbor life. In fact, I would be very surprised to see that no life would have developed in such an ideal environment.’’
That prompted Tina to look down at Ingrid Holtz’ station.
‘’Do you have any indications of marine life, Ingrid?’’
‘’Uh, maybe, Captain. The probe’s sonar is actually experiencing some kind of acoustic interference. I am now switching on its passive hydrophones.’’
‘’Put them on the bridge speakers: I would like to listen to them for a moment, Ingrid.’’
‘’Switching our probe’s hydrophones on speakers.’’
A near constant cacophony of noises was suddenly heard around the bridge, making Tina’s skip a beat: there were many clicking noises, plus what sounded furiously like loud lamentations.
‘’Whale songs! Those noises sound exactly like whale songs I heard from an excursion boat off Vancouver Island. There is life in Gliese 581d’s oceans! Ingrid, make sure to record those sounds from now on. Spirit, could you start listening to those sounds and songs, to see if there could be some pattern to them?’’
‘’I will devote part of my analytical capacity to that, Tina.’’ replied the soft female voice of their central computer, an artificial intelligence entity of immense capability. On his part, Gerald Holmes was now nearly gleeful.
‘’This planet looks perfect for colonists, either Humans or Koorivars, Tina. I would be very surprised if the SHUNDAR did not at least explore it.’’
‘’If it didn’t, then it would possibly indicate to us that the SHUNDAR was already in a poor state and unable to stop its course.’’ replied Shanandar, looking and sounding worried. ‘’I do agree with Gerald that this world would have warranted an extensive exploration program by the SHUNDAR’s crew. If they indeed conducted such a program, then we are liable to find some traces of it, like expendable probes, beacons and the like.’’
‘’Our probe’s sonar is now detecting something approaching it.’’ suddenly warned Ingrid Holtz, her voice tensing up. ‘’It is massive and approaching at a speed of about 25 kilometers per hour. Judging by its constantly changing path, I would say that it has to be some kind of marine life form.’’
As she said that, a loud sound wave similar to that from a sonar was heard on the speakers, followed some six seconds later by a second, louder one.
‘’Echo sounding! That marine life form is using echo sounding to locate our probe and approach it. Ingrid, does our probe have cameras?’’
‘’Of course, Tina! I am now pointing one of them at the incoming being.’’
At first, they saw only blue-green water, made murky by particles suspended in the water. However, Tina saw some of these ‘particles’ moving around by themselves.
‘’Hey, some of those particles in the water are actually alive: they are moving!’’
‘’I see that too, Tina.’’ said Gerald Holmes, captivated. ‘’There is definitely life under many forms in this ocean planet. I… WHOA!’’
Gerald nearly jumped out of his seat when a huge, dark mass suddenly appeared from the murky water and sped at the probe, what looked like a huge mouth opened wide. The image from the probe then went dark, as if it had entered a dark oven.
‘’THAT THING JUST SWALLOWED OUR PROBE WHOLE!’’ exclaimed Ingrid Holtz, her eyes bulging. That prompted Tina into giving a hurried order.
‘’QUICK, MAKE THE PROBE BOUNCE AROUND ITS MOUTH, USING ITS GRAVITY SAIL UNIT.’’
Ingrid obeyed her at once. A positive reaction followed a few seconds later, with the image from the probe’s camera lighting up and showing from very close the long, hydro dynamically shaped of a huge marine creature with dark gray skin as it swam past the probe.
‘’IT SPAT OUT OUR PROBE!’’ announced the blonde sensors specialist. ‘’I have regained control of the probe.’’
Before she could say more, the camera of the probe then showed at least a dozen more dark gray masses which swam by it, apparently following the first creature. Tina watched that with utter fascination.
‘’A whole pod of whales… What a fantastic sight!’’
‘’Something else is approaching our probe now.’’ signaled Patricia O’Neil. ‘’It however seems much smaller than those…whales.’’
Effectively, what next approached the probe measured about three meters in length and was shaped like a torpedo with large swimming fins. It proved very agile and speedy, turning around the probe as if to examine it. Four more similar creatures soon joined it around the probe, exchanging clicking noises between them as they twisted and turned in the water, watched by the fascinated bridge crew. Finally, probably deciding that it didn’t look edible, the five marine creatures swam away. Tina then took a few deep breaths to lower her excitement level.
‘’God! This was amazing! Our biologists will go bonkers when they will watch these images. Apparently, marine life is quite common on Gliese 581d. Too bad that there are no lands above the ocean.’’
‘’We may have been wrong about that, Captain.’’ announced Anwar Duharto, pointing at their holographic display sphere. ‘’I see a large, dark plume rising from the horizon, near the western terminator. I am redirecting our flying probe in that direction. It is still far, but I would bet that this is a plume of dust and smoke from a volcanic eruption: I saw two similar plumes in the past, when in Indonesia during the eruptions of two separate volcanoes.’’
‘’Hum, volcanic activity could certainly explain the unusual amount of carbon dioxide in the air, along with the elevated temperatures. Underwater volcanoes and deep ocean bottom thermal vents could also explain the high water temperature of the ocean and could be an abundant source of minerals and nutrients for the local marine life. Let’s hope that your volcano will be part of a substantial land mass, Mister Duharto.’’
The bridge crew anxiously waited as the flying probe sped towards the distant plume on the horizon, while continuing to check the data and images sent by their underwater probe. Those images soon showed yet more marine life, with huge schools of fish of various sizes and shapes swimming around. One school of fish in particular was filmed as nine of the dolphin-like creatures which had turned around the probe rushed through the fish formation, gulping dozens of fish in the process. That sight made Gerald Holmes nearly glut.
‘’This ocean planet is definitely full of life and has everything to offer as a new home. If I would have been the captain of the SHUNDAR, I would have landed on the icepack of the dark hemisphere, established a base camp there and then built floating cities with hydroponic gardens for his people.’’
Shanandar couldn’t help sigh on hearing that and gave a dubious look to Holmes.
‘’That would have been the perfect scenario…if he would have been the captain of a ship like the KOSTROMA, with plenty of storage volume and vast industrial facilities. But he had only the SHUNDAR, designed like my VEON SHOURIA in a hurry with one single goal: to carry as many Koorivars as possible to a new world that could welcome us. It has very little storage capacity, apart from its 20,000 plus cryogenic sleep chambers, and carried only the minimum in terms of shelters and survival equipment. This planet, while ideal for a big Human ship like the KOSTROMA, which would also be able to quickly return to its solar system to go fetch more equipment and construction materiel in order to build floating cities, would unfortunately prove a false hope for the SHUNDAR.’’
‘’Oh! Sorry for the over enthusiasm.’’ Said Gerald, prompting a gentle reply from Tina.
‘’Don’t be, Gerald! Your thinking was typical of that of most Humans. Only experienced space-based engineers and scientists are accustomed to analyzing in depth the potentials of some space body or system. However, I agree with Shanandar about this planet which, while ideal for us and the KOSTROMA, would be a dead end for the crew of the SHUNDAR…unless they had to land here due to a malfunction, something that is still quite possible. We will thus look carefully for any sign of the SHUNDAR while mapping and exploring in detail this planet and its ocean. Just from what we have already seen, I would say that we will be here for a good two weeks, at the least. That could turn out to be even longer, if those volcanoes prove more interesting than we already hope.’’
Some two hours later, their flying probe arrived in direct line of sight of the volcano which had caught their eyes, while the KOSTROMA itself was arriving above it as it flew in a polar orbit around Gliese 581d. Its orbital path, which made it overfly at intervals all the points of the planet, also revealed a crucial piece of data: emerged volcanoes were actually common at the surface of the ocean planet, with no less than 178 active and 659 presently inactive volcanic summits emerging from the sea. Some of those volcanic summits, like the active one the probe was approaching, had existed long enough to form sizeable islands made of volcanic ash and rocks. The volcano the probe was now close to was in fact the center of a large island covering a good 130 square kilometers. What was at the surface of that volcanic island was however what captivated the most the bridge crew.
‘’I SEE TREES, VEGETATION!’’ Announced excitedly Shanandar, making Tina look in awe at the display screens.
‘’My god, you are right! That’s it! We definitely have to send down a surface exploration team. Shanandar, would you like to direct that team?’’
‘’I would love to, Tina.’’
‘’Then, take Kazmiriel, Doctor Janus Kadar, Michel Koniev, Leo Sanchez and at least six specialists in geology, biology and botany with you and go down on that island as soon as you are ready. In the meantime, we will continue to accumulate data and images via our probes and ship’s sensors.’’
‘’Thank you, Tina! Thank you very much! I’m on my way!’’ replied the happy Koorivar while nearly running down towards the elevators rotunda of the bridge complex.
16:33 (Universal Time)
Light shuttle ‘GRASSHOPPER’
At the surface of the volcanic island in the western equatorial quadrant
Planet Gliese 581d
‘’You can lower the aft access ramp, Yasmina.’’
‘’Ramp lowering now, Captain Shanandar.’’ replied by intercom Yasmina Jumonji, the young Europa-born pilot of the exploration team’s light shuttle. Shanandar looked around him inside the aft airlock to do a last visual check of his team companions. Like him, they all wore light sealed suits with air masks and closed cycle breathing systems of the kind bio-hazard technicians wore inside high containment level laboratories. Those suits, while ensuring that no accidental biological contamination would occur either way, were much lighter and less bulkier than spacesuits and allowed much greater freedom of movement, as they were not pressurized like spacesuits. He then pressed a button on the control panel of the airlock, making dozens of gas vents blow a strong decontaminant all over him and his companions. Only after that did he open the outer airlock door and stepped on the lowered access ramp. With his companions following him with their bags of equipment, he walked down the ramp and stopped once both of his booted feet rested on the black volcanic sand of the beach on which their shuttle had landed. For safety reasons, Yasmina Jumonji had landed her shuttle on the point of land farthest from the smoking summit of the island’s volcano, in case a sudden, violent eruption would occur. The beach they were on, apart from giving them direct access to the ocean, was also bordered by trees, bushes and long grass, which the team intended to study. Looking up, Shanandar watched a pair of large birds fly over them, smiling at that extra proof of life on this ocean planet. They had in fact sighted many birds of various species during their approach and had also been able to discover from the air that the island nested a number of large bird colonies, something that had added to the high interest the shuttle occupants already had for this island.
While a bit strong at 1.14 G for his Human companions, Shanandar found the local gravity to his liking, as the gravity on Shouria had been 1.3 G. As for his immediate environment, it strongly reminded him of what he had seen during a past visit he had made to Iceland. Looking towards the sea, he watched as moderate waves kept washing over the black sand of the beach. Some distance away, a bird dove steeply down towards the sea, splashing in it and then reemerging with a fish in its mouth. A few flaps of its wide wings and it was airborne again, its diner firmly held in its jaws. Shanandar had seen a similar scene countless times while walking down the beaches and shores of northern Vancouver Island, where the Koorivar colony from his ship had established itself, thanks to the generosity of President d’Arcy of the Northern Alliance. This planet decidedly pleased him more and more as time went. Hopefully, his team would not discover some biological hazard that would then close off this planet for both Humans and Koorivars. Personally, if he would have been in the place of Captain Kurkan and would have landed the SHUNDAR on this island, he would have elected to stay and settle his sleeping passengers here, even though this ocean planet could hardly provide much of the mineral resources that a highly technical colony would typically need. Minerals could always be mined on other planets and moons of this solar system, using the SHUNDAR and its shuttles. However, that process would have taken time, lots of time, as the quantity of equipment and mineral processing machines on the SHUNDAR was severely limited. An idea then came to Shanandar’s mind, giving him one option to use this world if the KOSTROMA ever found the SHUNDAR and SHANIZAR, along with their 43,000 Koorivar occupants. Now feeling much more optimistic, he turned around to watch his companions as they spread out to collect samples of air, water, soil and plants, with Michel Koniev and Leo Sanchez standing guard, pulse rifles in their hands. This island may be looking at first like a welcoming one but there was no way to know what it contained in terms of local life of the predatory kind. Looking back towards the sea, Shanandar suddenly felt his heart skip a beat: he could have sworn that he had just seen some movement at the shoreline, where waves washed over the volcanic sand. A few more seconds of observation were then enough to confirm his first impression, making him shout to the chief biologist of the KOSTROMA.
‘’DOCTOR KADAR, I SEE AN ANIMAL CRAWLING OUT OF THE WATER, OVER THERE.’’
That brought Janus Kadar to the side of Shanandar in seconds.
‘’Where is it, Captain Shanandar?’’
‘’There, forty meters away, at the water’s edge.’’
‘’I see it! Let’s get closer to it.’’
Shanandar was too happy to follow Kadar, as he was dying with curiosity right now. Walking to within ten meters of the creature now plainly visible to them and then stopping to keep a safe distance from it, the duo watched and filmed the newcomer as it slowly crawled on its belly out of the water and up the beach.
‘’It is similar to a giant sea turtle from Earth.’’ said in a low voice the biologist, not wanting to scare away the creature. ‘’It must weigh close to half a ton. This is fascinating.’’
‘’It certainly is, Doctor Kadar. Decidedly, this planet is full of life of all kinds.’’
Something strange then happened: the giant turtle stopped crawling up the beach and instead pivoted on the spot to face Kadar and Shanandar and look at them with its three eyes, its expression impassive. That made Kadar open his eyes wide.
‘’My god! It is showing curiosity towards us. Maybe it is an intelligent creature. Sea turtles on Earth are known to have long life spans, some of them living up to and even past one hundred years. Turtles have also been evolving for tens of millions of years. That is plenty of time to develop their brains. In fact, the head of this turtle is quite voluminous, apart from being protected by a sort of shell acting as a helmet.’’
They were then joined by Michel Koniev, who cautiously examined from a few meters away the giant turtle while keeping the muzzle of his rifle pointed down at the sand.
‘’It is not showing any signs of aggressiveness…up to now.’’
‘’Sea turtles on Earth are actually like gentle giants and were never seen attacking a person, either on the ground or in the water.’’ replied Kadar. That was when Jennifer Scott, a young Canadian marine biologist and sea explorer hired by Tina Forster a mere three weeks ago, arrived at a run to look excitedly at the giant turtle.
‘’Ooooh, it is magnificent! It actually looks a lot like a Leatherback Sea Turtle.’’
‘’Do Leatherback Sea Turtles stare at Humans the way this creature does, Miss Scott?’’ asked Shanandar, sobering up a bit the young marine biologist.
‘’Uh, no! Normally, they do as if we didn’t exist. This creature may however possess a higher degree of intelligence than Earth turtles. I will have to watch its behavior for a while before I could say more on this. With your permission, Captain Shanandar, I will finish taking seawater samples, then will change into a diving suit and go for a swim in order to examine the kind of marine life that is to be found just off the shore. I will take a waterjet unit with me, so currents shouldn’t cause me problems.’’
‘’Very well, but be cautious, still: we don’t know what kind of marine predators may lurk in these waters.’’
‘’I dove with Great White Sharks off Australia, Captain. I think that I will manage…but I promise you to be careful.’’
Jennifer, an athletic woman of 25 years with a most sexy body, then ran back towards their shuttle. Shanandar followed her with his eyes while smiling.
‘’Aaah, the exuberance of youth! I am unfortunately long past that stage.’’
The giant turtle then decided at that moment to resume its original course up the sloping beach, watched from a distance by Kadar, Koniev and Shanandar. Arriving after long minutes of slow crawling near the limits of the vegetation bordering the beach, the sea turtle then started digging a hole in the sand with its two pairs of wide fins. Kadar opened his eyes wide on seeing that, understanding in a flash what it was doing.
‘’A nest! It is digging a nest, probably to lay eggs in it. The more it goes, the more it behaves like an Earth sea turtle.’’
The giant turtle effectively pivoted its body over the hole it had just dug, then small brown eggs started dropping at the bottom of the hole.
‘’I was right!’’ exclaimed Kadar. ‘’If I could just get my hands on one egg, to study it…’’
‘’You will refrain from doing so, Doctor Kadar.’’ countered at once Shanandar, using a most definitive tone. ‘’If we collect samples of local creatures, then it will only be from dead ones. Captain Foster and me are in agreement about interfering as little as possible with the local life and ecosystem. You may look and examine from a distance, but you may not touch or hurt in any way living creatures.’’
Kadar, quite disappointed, looked back at the turtle as it was now piling sand over its eggs in order to protect them from predators. A large bird somewhat similar to an albatross then dove on the nest, probably hoping to grab an egg or two before they could be covered with sand. To the surprise and shock of the Koorivar and the two Humans, the turtle’s head then sprang out as if mounted on a long coil spring, shooting up to two meters in the air and with the parrot-like beak of the turtle clamping shut around the legs of the bird. The latter screamed out with pain and panic as the turtle’s neck coiled back inside its carapace, the bird still held in its mouth. The next move by the turtle was to crawl over the hapless bird, immobilizing it under its enormous mass, before snapping the bird’s neck in two with its beak. It then calmly finished filling the nest with sand and, grabbing the dead bird in its beak again, started its return journey to the sea.
‘’Holy shit!’’ exclaimed unceremoniously Michel Koniev. ‘’Talk about an unexpected move!’’
With now increased respect for the turtle’s abilities, the trio stayed a good five meters