Finding a jungle home for their reptilian friends wasn’t quite as easy as Mati had imagined. She thought they could just be loaded into a transport ship and delivered to a jungle on her home planet.
Instead, she and her shipmates were invited to observe a much more complex process. Scientists began huddling around knowledge processors and combing through the hundreds of planets in Satamia with a tropical rain forest — a jungle. Twisted molecules glowed on big screens as the biochemical signatures of the planets were compared with that of the homeless reptiles. Simulations allowed the molecules to interact. Many Nebador citizens of flesh and blood discussed the results with each other and with the mysterious beings of color and light who came and went. Eventually, after nearly two Satamia days of work, many planets were eliminated, including, to Mati’s disappointment, her own Sonmatia Three.
Silmula Sorafax explained that on those planets, the reptiles simply couldn’t eat anything. Every insect grub, every mushroom, and every piece of fruit would be, at best, empty fiber without nutrition, and at worst, poison.
The specialists turned their attention to the hundred or so planets that had, in theory, a biochemical design that would allow the homeless reptiles to become part of the ecosystem.
Mati, Sata, Rini, and Boro were encouraged to recall any further details
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about their reptilian dreams. Birds listened, ursines took notes, and fuzzy balls of light observed.
Boro became very frustrated. Nothing was happening that he could sink his teeth into. “Watch, listen, and learn,” Silmula Sorafax coaxed. Boro tried, but it wasn’t easy. He even started to wish for a simple cargo run, but the Manessa Kwi remained at dock, while every other crew on the station, it seemed, was busy.
Finally, to Boro’s relief, after another Satamia day of work by the scientists, the lists came out. The Manessa Kwi and Drrrim-na’s life-monitor ship, the Tirilana Kril, were going to work.
Four biochemists — reptile, arachnid, fanator, and ursine — each with an assistant, gave Kibi eight passengers to look after. They set to work with knowledge pads at Manessa’s big table, long before the crew had the ship ready.
Kibi felt a little nervous at first, but the guests soon proved they could take care of themselves and stay out of the way. Seeing that Ilika was on the bridge, working with Sata on a flight plan that would take them to twenty different worlds, Kibi relaxed and strode through the hatch to get the supplies she needed.
She slapped hands with Boro in the waiting room as he guided a pallet of fuel canisters toward the boarding tunnel.
Mati and Rini emerged from the medical center, the pilot wearing an especially big smile. Did you see how short my no-no list is getting? I’m so happy!
I bet Boro and Sata will take us swimming after we get the lizards re-settled.
Yeah! Let’s head for the ship. I need to review docking tunnel rules. It’s been a while.
And I have to replace a sensor crystal before we go. It should be on the pallet with Boro’s fuel.
Finally, about two hours later, the steward declared the ship stocked and ready, the navigator sent the flight plan to the pilot, and the docking
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controller cleared them for departure. The Tirilana Kril, with six scientists, their assistants, and thirty worlds to visit, would soon follow.
Ilika smiled with pride when all his crew members quickly relaxed and cleared their minds for the first star transit.
The crew of the Manessa Kwi settled into a routine that lasted an entire Satamia day. Ilika rotated station assignments, with Kibi sometimes covering watch, Boro taking navigation on easy flight legs, and Sata piloting during non-critical maneuvers. Ilika would cover one or two stations, and send a couple of crew members below for sleep, baths, or play, as they needed.
At each planet, after locating a tropical rain forest, the huge bird and her assistant took wing with plenty of sample bags, the lizard and bear explored on foot, if safe, and the spider crept into dark places, returning with bags of mushrooms and grubs.
When walking around was not safe, Kibi extended a small porch and the scientists picked fruit from trees and vines while Manessa hovered.
Every sample bag was carefully labeled and placed into temperature-controlled boxes in the rear of the passenger area.
As soon as each specialist’s task was completed on a planet, they would curl up in a passenger seat for a nap before arriving at the next planet.
The five crew members from a medieval world paid close attention to how real Nebador citizens did their work on a real mission. They all knew that little cargo runs were easy, but they guessed that someday their missions would be much more challenging.
When the ship arrived back at the star station, the scientists and their helpers guided the pallet of sample boxes toward the laboratory, and Silmula Sorafax greeted the crew with a serious look in her eyes. “I have to talk to you about the next step, so you will all . . . be prepared for what might happen.”
They followed the cat to a small conference room.
“Eight years ago, the sapient reptiles’ population was two thousand one hundred and forty-three, and very slowly, year by year, dropping by two or three — hardly enough for them to notice — as the climate grew hotter and drier.
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“When their star began to experience rapid shifts in mass and gravity, all of the planets of the system were affected. As tremors and earthquakes caused their caverns to collapse, most of the reptiles died. When our ships arrived, less than a day later, only one group of three hundred and twenty-five could be found, wandering in the desert, dazed, confused, and hungry. We put them to sleep, brought them into our ships, and collected every plant and animal we could find that might be important to their survival.
“When Mati took pity on them and left an access door open . . .”
The pilot closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and wondered what she had been thinking.
“. . . the lizards’ population was down to two hundred and seventy-five, mostly because the birth rate is nearly zero. Four of you understand why, even better than I do. Today the population stands at two hundred and forty-seven. At this rate, they will be unable to function as a society in a year or two, and completely extinct in less than a decade.”
Sata made a slight whimpering sound, and Boro put his arm around her.
“With the help of what you learned in the Great Transformation, our scientists began using every possible tool to find our friends a new home.
Many planets, as you know, were removed from the list because we could predict the biochemical reactions. Now, with the instrument readings and samples you and the Tirilana Kril brought back, we will be able to eliminate many more planets. That work will begin immediately, and proceed as quickly as possible.
“But I must prepare you for the final phase of the search, for it will probably cause you some grief. Not all biochemical problems can be detected in the laboratory. Before a planet is selected, we will have to offer its possible foods to your reptile friends. They will be able to eliminate some by taste and smell, of course, but not all. Some of the reptiles will probably get sick, and we will care for them as best we can. A few may die.”
Boro’s hand shot into the air. “I think you should offer stuff to the big group first, you know, the thick-headed adults.”
Silmula Sorafax cracked a slight smile.
The scientists on the two ships had been able to eliminate almost half the
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possible planets from their instrument readings and observations in the field.
Once the samples were analyzed in the laboratory at Satamia Star Station, another fifteen worlds dropped away. Eleven remained.
The females of the simulated desert environment chatted happily as they gathered cactus fruit. An egg had hatched that morning, bringing new hope for the future to their hearts. One cactus they came to bore a strange fruit they had not seen before. An elder female sniffed it, found it sweet, and took a bite. She moaned in pain as her stomach twisted and she vomited the fruit, and everything else she had eaten that morning, back onto the sand.
Eight planets remained.
A large male looked at the gourd full of grubs he was handed, big and juicy, but a slightly different color than usual. He found them quite delicious so he ate them all, got a drink, and curled up for a nap. His strange dreams faded into a darkness from which he never awoke.
The list shrank to seven planets.
A new mushroom appeared in the supply cave, right next to those for shmur, and of a similar color. A young male, newly arrived at manhood and looking for a mate, grabbed a claw-full of mushrooms and the other ingredients he needed. An hour later, he and his friends began drinking the heady brew and rolling the bones. But unlike the usual evening laughter and harmless wrestling, they were all soon fighting to the death and had to be separated and restrained by older males.
Another planet was crossed off.
The following day, simulated desert environment time, Boro and Sata joined a scientist at an observation window. Two half-grown lizards sniffed at some fruit they didn’t recognize.
Sata frowned. “Even though they’re not in the group of kids who visited the star station, I hope they don’t get sick.”
Suddenly both reptilian youth turned around, backed up, and peed all over the new fruit, then walked away.
Boro and Sata rolled with laughter, and the bird taking notes honked and flapped his wings.
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Deep Learning Notes
As far as we know from observation through light and radio telescopes, the entire universe is composed of the same stuff we have here on our planet and in our sun:
- 82 elements that have stable forms, and their isotopes.
- a few heaver elements that do not have stable forms.
- electromagnetic energy that ranges from very low frequency radio waves to very high frequency “cosmic rays” (and includes, in the middle, visible light).
- a handful of mysterious energy particles, such as neutrinos, that we know little about.
But when it comes to the composition and structure of living things, we have only one sample: life on Earth. Life here uses 30-40 of the stable elements, but the vast bulk of it is Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Calcium, Phosphorous, Potassium, Sulfur, and Sodium.
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(from Book Two, chapter 7)
The “trace” elements that seem to be necessary for most living things, in small amounts, are Magnesium, Copper, Zinc, Selenium, Molybdenum, Fluorine, Chlorine, Iodine, Manganese, Cobalt, Iron, Lithium, Silicon, Vanadium, Arsenic, Bromine, Chromium, and Tungsten.
A few other elements may only be necessary for life in extremely small amounts, or only for certain species. These include Aluminum, Strontium, Bromine, Gold, Silver, Lead, Cadmium, Tin, Germanium, and Boron.
We often call life on Earth “carbon-based” because Carbon is the most common element in life that is not common in non-living things. Oxygen is the most abundant element in living things, but it is also abundant everywhere else, such as in the atmosphere.
We have a fossil of a bacteria-like microbe that we believe came from the planet Mars, but no other information about life on other planets yet. This leaves open the possibility that life elsewhere may have a different chemistry than on Earth.
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The essential structure of life on Earth is based on sugars (glucose, sucrose, lactose, etc.), amino acids (in proteins and enzymes), and ribonucleic acid (RNA, DNA, and similar long-chain molecules that can encode genetic information). We know so little about how this arrangement came to be that arguing about “evolution” and “creation” reveals a great deal about our egos, and very little about the origins of our biochemistry.
