Exodus (The Exodus Trilogy) (17 page)

Waking up from Sleep
the second time around was not nearly as bad as the last time. The first time she woke, about two decades into the journey through space, the experience had been more painful, and she had been coughing and spitting for almost half an hour, as her body tried to empty her lungs and stomach of fluids, a ripping, agonizing fight back to life from a near-death existence. Shivering cold, wet from the life-sustaining but nevertheless quite awful liquids that had surrounded her since leaving Earth. It had taken days before she felt normal again, and even then, the memory would occasionally make her shiver. Yes, she had quietly dreaded the moment she would have to experience all that again, back when she let herself slip into her second dreamless sleep, although the adventure, of course, had always taken precedence.

But for Maria Solis, the second waking couldn’t have been farther from
the horrors of the first time around. Her expectations were based on her knowledge at the time, and since then, something extraordinary, or maybe not so extraordinary, had happened; time had passed. A long time had passed. When she later thought back on it, she realized her surprise was due to a simple fact one should not overlook, namely the fact that human minds are shaped to expect the known. And the known at the time had been her own experience; anything else would have been theoretical. But by the time she was woken again, several lifetimes had passed, and the ongoing labor of the scientists and engineers and technicians, combined with the most advanced AI ever created, had developed a better way of reviving its sleeping inhabitants. For more than a century, that work had steadily progressed, and when considering the technological development in the last century back on Earth, there was no reason to expect any of it to be even remotely the same as it had been.

It could probably best be described as waking up, fully rested, on a sunny day in spring, to the smell of fresh
-brewed coffee, in a house on the beach, where the sounds of seagulls would compete with the surf breaking on the smooth sands. Of course, it wasn’t entirely like that, but that was how it felt anyway, and it was the best way to describe it, Maria thought. Nice. After a few minutes of coming to terms with where she was, and what she was doing there, she stood up from the soft bed, she couldn’t describe it in any other way, and took the cotton-like blue coveralls laid out for her. She was alone in a square, warmly lit room, not spacious by any means, but unlike what she remembered from before Sleep, and there was a single door, through which she could hear subdued voices. She quickly got dressed and walked toward the door. For a second, she let her hand run across her shaven scalp. Why hadn’t they found a way to fix that? She almost laughed out loud and shook her head at her girlish notions. It would grow back, of course, but she still felt naked without her hair. She paused before the door, then opened it and stepped out into the corridor.

Outside, she almost bumped into her parents. They seemed surprised, but happy to see her.

“Maria,” her mother said, hugging her fiercely.

“
We didn’t think you’d be up yet. We’ve been out here for half an hour.” Her father chuckled, while joining his wife and daughter in a loving group hug.

“
It’s probably easier on you young people. Me, I guess it took hours before I could even move. It was a whole lot easier than the first time, but my muscles were still sore and my joints stiff. Turns out your old man has gotten older after all.” Maria smiled fondly at him. It seemed he had a point. His half-inch long hair showed a few more grey patches now. All of them had been awake once during the flight, which meant two years, and cryo sleep didn’t completely halt metabolism, just slowed it considerably. From what she’d learned, they would all have aged from two to three years while deep in Sleep. That meant she would be what, thirty, thirty-one? Ramon’s tablet pinged, and he looked down at it. At the same time, Isabella and Maria received messages on their tablets as well.

“
Ah, it’s a message on the common channel. There will be a big meeting tomorrow, for everyone to attend via the screens.” There was nowhere to gather everyone on board, so such meetings would have to be conducted by everyone gathering in small groups in the various living quarters that each contained conference equipment.

“
I guess there will be some info on what Aurora looks like,” he said.

“
So I guess that most people are already awake then?” Maria asked. Her father nodded, smiling, and Isabella took her hand.

“
Actually, you were the last, Maria. Everyone’s awake now.”

“
Let’s all go to the viewing gallery,” her father said.

“
We can see Aurora from there. It’s an amazing sight, Maria. Our new home.” Somehow he looked like a schoolboy, his expression at least thirty years younger than his age. Maria couldn’t help but laugh before she hugged her father again. Serious businessman or not, he had always been a lot of fun, she thought. The eight years of preparations, from when Devastator was discovered until the Exodus left Earth orbit, had taken a huge toll on him, but somehow he seemed to have regained his youthful energy as the burden of responsibility had been replaced by a spirit of adventure. She thought she’d never seen him as full of life and anticipation as now. She kissed him affectionately, while thinking how lucky she was. Most of the others on board had left someone back on Earth, and of course she had left friends as well, but she had her family around her, which was something few others had. And now she looked forward to her new life, and whatever discoveries awaited her on the new world.

Kenneth Taylor was standing in a crowded room, where the large screen on the wall showed an image of the main science lab. The
man standing next to him was that young administrative employee of the Consortium, Thomas Dunn, whom he’d become acquainted with just before the Exodus left Earth orbit. A strange young man, Kenneth thought, but he sort of liked him. Even after talking to him several times, he still didn’t know much about him though. It seemed Mr. Dunn was the kind of man who valued his privacy, and Kenneth respected that. It was a trait they both shared.

The camera zoomed in on a man about
Kenneth’s own age, obviously the admiral, who smiled beneath a thick mustache, and proceeded to introduce some of the other people standing beside him.

“
Dr. Karin Svensson here, our astronomer, will explain what we have found so far when it comes to the star system and atmospheric conditions on Aurora. On her right, you have Professor Jeremiah Lowell, who will go through the findings on planetary conditions, geology, and so forth. My executive officer, Major Tina Hammer, will be leading the first landing party, and she will tell you a little of what will await you on the ground. Well, enough talking on my part, let me just tell you how pleased I am that we managed to get here.” He took a brief pause.

“
Aurora … It’s been a hell of a journey … And it’s not over yet. So let me just remind you to pay close attention to what is said here today. When we’re entering the new world, there may be dangers that we’ve missed, but the more information you’re able to absorb beforehand, the more prepared you will be for whatever may come.” He smiled again and gestured toward the others.

“
All right then, I think that’s enough bullshit. Let’s get down to business, shall we?” The first to take a step forward was Dr. Svensson, who gave the camera a brief nod as it zoomed in on her.

“
As you should know by now, the 55 Cancri system consists of two separate stars; a yellow dwarf star and a smaller red dwarf star. If you’ve paid any attention to what was known at the time of our departure, you would know that the yellow dwarf, 55 Cancri A, is quite similar to the sun. It is smaller and slightly less massive than our sun, and so is cooler and less luminous. However, since Aurora is closer to its star than Earth was to our sun, the temperature on the ground will be about the same, possibly a just a little colder. Now, the star has little or no variability and only low emission from its chromosphere. This is important, as it gives us a stable environment so to speak, with a very low chance of flares. We still know little about 55 Cancri B, as we have focused primarily on the star that will have the main impact on our destination planet. But what we know is that 55 Cancri B is a red dwarf star, located at an estimated mean distance of 1,065 AUs from its primary. One astronomical unit, for those who didn’t pay attention, is equal to the mean distance between the sun and Earth. This star is both small and dark, compared to both the sun and the primary, but we will be able to see it at times, when its alignment and the atmospheric conditions on Aurora are just right.” Kenneth hadn’t seen the Swedish astronomer before, but he recognized her brisk and stern mannerism for what it was: insecurity and nervousness. She had stopped for a moment, and coughed lightly before she continued. Yes, she seemed nervous all right.

“
Let’s move on to the planetary system of 55 Cancri A then. So far, we have found seven planets, but we can’t rule out the existence of more, even though they would likely be located at a very great distance from the star. Aurora is the fifth planet from the primary, and has a mean distance from the star of 0.92 AUs. It is a little smaller than Earth, with about 90 percent of Earth’s gravity, which means you will feel lighter and stronger, at least initially, until your body adapts to the conditions. Its year has 325 days, and it rotates around its own axis in twenty-eight hours. That means we’ll have longer days, while the years will be shorter. Aurora has an axial tilt that is somewhat less than that of Earth, but close enough that there will be seasonal variations.

“
As to the other planets, the three closest to the star are gas giants, and too close to support life. The fourth, also a gas giant, lies within the habitable zone, and although it is covered in water clouds, it is not especially hospitable to humans, as it has no solid surface. It does have at least three moons though, and at least one of them has liquid water, and there might be life there. This is our closest neighborhood, so I guess we’ll look into that once we’re fully established on Aurora. Okay … The sixth planet is located at 5.74 AUs out, and has a mass of almost five times that of Jupiter. This is very good, because this planet’s gravity will suck in a lot of the dangerous objects that would otherwise be drawn toward the star. Who knows what they might hit on their way.” Kenneth thought of what had happened to Mars, and later to Earth itself. Yes, he thought, that sounds good.

“
And at last, close to 10 AUs out, we have a rocky planet of about five Earth masses. This is an extremely cold, dead world, and we have not focused as much on it so far.” She paused again, and looked at the admiral, who smiled and nodded for her to continue.

“
So let’s move on to atmospheric conditions. I guess you are all eager to know more about that. The science teams have just finished analyzing the data from the probes that were sent down when we first arrived. I'll go through the main results, and bear with me that we do not have all the data ready yet, but we do know a few things for certain at this point.” She lifted her head from her notes, and looked straight into the camera for the first time, and then, surprisingly, a smile lit up her face.

“
The atmosphere is not very different from Earth, and as we have always suspected, but didn’t dare to believe until we came here, it is breathable.” That brought cheers and applause from all the rooms where people were watching the presentation. Kenneth thought that breathing fresh air was something profoundly human, and the thought of wearing space suits for the rest of their lives had always been a little depressing, at least subconsciously.

“
All right, all right, this is great news, I agree. Just … Let’s not get all carried away yet.” The noise subsided as the Swedish astronomer carried on.

“
So far, the probes have found no dangerous microorganisms or trace elements that would constitute a hazard to humans, but nevertheless, we have to be careful. So what will happen is this. The first landing party will be wearing airtight suits, just in case we have overlooked something. We are taking no chances here; there is too much at stake. So Hammer and her team will take a lot of samples that will need to be analyzed before we can be certain of anything. You should expect to be wearing facemasks for some time. These masks will filter out any organic material, which is what we fear the most. It seems the air itself won’t harm us.

“
And lastly, I want to mention that back in 2078, while most of you were in Selection, we found that there is photosynthesis at work here. That led us to believe that there is vegetation, and this has now been confirmed. There are other signs of life too, such as heat signatures recorded by the probes, but that is as much as we can possibly detect at the moment. There seem to be no structures that are in any way built or created, so the likelihood of intelligent life is low. But again, I will not rule it out, as it may just be different from what we associate with intelligence.” She took a step back and the camera shifted to Professor Lowell.

“
Right, first of all, I’d like to say to y’all that geology is a crucial element as to the long-term viability of inhabiting this planet. What we wished for when we came here was an active world. Earth is active, which means that the core is alive, which is an important element in giving the planet its magnetic field, a feature that has many uses, but most importantly, protects Earth from solar flares, which would otherwise cause radiation that could kill all life on the planet. We have found this on Aurora as well, which is a good thing. It means that when 55 Cancri A flares, which isn’t as frequently as the sun, but still, we have something like a force field that will protect us. And we have plate tectonics. There seem to be both active volcanoes and tectonic activity down there. Less than Earth, but enough to enrich the surface with resources and nutrients that support life.

“
There are four major continents, which seem to have some major differences. We’ll need to decide on where to land, as that will be our home for a long time, until we are able to explore more of the planet.” He brought up a roughly sketched map, and held it up for the camera.

“
As you can see, there is a large amount of water here. In fact, about half the planet is covered by water. The rest is mainly split up between the four continents, although there are other landmasses as well, a couple of mini continents and several large islands. Now, the eastern continent, which we’ve decided to call Cerula, consists mainly of rocky deserts, highlands, and mountains, with one large inland sea. It doesn’t seem to have as much vegetation as the others, but there are numerous indications that there may be large deposits of important resources in the ground. The northwestern continent, named Rossi, has an area in the south with dense forests and rivers, while the greater part is covered in ice. Just south of this continent is a smaller landmass, Verdi. We chose to call it a continent because it appears to have a different topography altogether, that seems more temperate, with varied topography. Here we found grasslands, rivers, mountains, forests ... The last continent, Viola, is the smallest, and it is separated from the others by the planet’s largest ocean. It is located west of Verdi, on the same latitude, and seems to have a similar topography.”

The camera shifted again. This time it was the
executive officer, Major Tina Hammer, who greeted the camera. She went on to tell them how they were planning to enter the atmosphere of Aurora and make the first landing, and the importance of choosing a good spot that could support the population, as they all would gradually be transported down to the surface. By then, Kenneth was lost in thought, and when Tina finally finished, he discovered that he couldn’t remember anything she had said.