Jupiter's Reef (7 page)

But Johnny remained cool. “Not at all, Alex. There’s no doubt about your efforts and I have no doubts about the reef. But, empirically, you have no proof. What’s going to be necessary is a return to the Great Red Spot.”

“For empirical reasons,” snarled Alex. “Sure. Well, no surprises there. No matter what one does it’s never enough to convince a skeptic.”

Johnny shook his head. “It’s not like that, Alex,” he explained . “You have done the groundwork. I have no doubt that your story will inspire people or the reef will get named after you. But science demands proof. You’ve heard that extraordinary claims require –”

“I know, extraordinary proof,” said Alex.

“Well, that’s what Stubbs said,” said Johnny.

“You contacted him?”

“Didn’t you want me to?” Johnny looked perplexed. “I thought that’s what you wanted from me. Since I was his colleague years ago.”

“I guess so,” said Alex. “I guess I was going to.”

Mary was doing one armed push ups off a metal bar affixed to an overhead rack. She wore a red stretch suit during her workouts.

“I put in a call to him, too,” she said. “We sensors can do some things, you know. He wasn’t in. I did some inquiry and found his lab at the Massachusetts Institute. He’s on vacation. Did you suppose he’d be sitting around waiting for an arrival of people he doesn’t expect?”

“I was going to wire him from the spaceport,” said Alex.

“She’s right,” said Johnny. “He’s out of town.”

“Dingers, we can land anywhere!” said Alex. “Point the way.”

Diver
’s computer voice interrupted them. “EARTH INSERTION BURN IN TWELVE SECONDS. THE BURN WILL HAVE A SEVENTEEN SECOND DURATION.”

Everyone moved to a seat as red lights lit on the console and the bright yellow word “ALERT” flashed on the viewscreen.

Diver
’s engines ignited for the correct duration.

They were halfway to Earth and bored. The conversation turned inevitably to their destination and Mary, it turned out, was brimming with questions.

She and Alex had had the impression that Johnny knew Professor Stubbs. Johnny told them that they had never really met. Their relationship, while covering many years, had been conducted entirely via the interweb. Mary didn’t let that stop her.

“Tell me, Professor,” she asked somewhat timidly, “what can I expect from Earth? Are the clones accepted there?”

“Well, they weren’t even allowed back there for a while, you know,” said the Professor.

Mary nodded but her expression said she wanted more.

Johnny settled back in his chair and thought for a moment. “I think it all really started with the Artemis League. They were the old society, the ones who set up Luna’s first hotel.” He snickered. “They carted people from earth in a tin can, let them sleep in another tin can and then shipped them back the way they came. People paid a million a pop for that.” He laughed.

“What’s so funny?” asked Mary. “It has to start somewhere.”

“Well, they never lost anybody, even though it was a stripped down operation.”

“What does that have to do with clones?” asked Alex.

“The Artemis League restricted them to Luna and Mars. Denied them access to Earth.”

“Then they must have created the first clones on Luna,” said Mary.

“Of course,” replied Johnny. “Most Martians think the cloning originated on their home world. That is true of the ones born there. But the older ones, like your progenitor Mary One, came from Artemis City on the Earth’s moon.”

“She never told us that,” said Mary. “If that’s true, then when were we allowed to go to Earth?” asked Mary.

Alex listened with great interest. He realized two things; that his knowledge of the clone history was lacking and that the subject wasn’t normally discussed.

The Professor’s voice lowered a bit as he paused to choose his words. “Artemis is the gateway. And it was a private concern. They owned the first big operational mass driver and eventually started dictating terms to the World League. You know that? Right?

Alex nodded. But Mary looked disgusted. “I wanted to hear about Earth, not clone history.” She got out of her seat and pushed off the floor with her toes. She glided past Alex and Johnny like a sleek swimmer, headed for the back of the cabin. “Where is Stubbs? What is it like there? Is it wet? Talk to us.”

The Professor bit his lip. “They’ll have to certify you, Mary,” said Johnny assertively.

Mary grabbed an overhead compartment handle, stopping her flight and wheeled around to ask a question. But before she could speak, Johnny tried to explain.

“MarsCorp saw you as a renegade. For a while, at least. Until I spoke to them.”

The Professor paused to consider his words. Alex urged him to continue. Mary remained frozen spread-eagle in space held by fingers and toes as she stared back at the Professor.

“When I certified the ship in Alex’s name I had to give the reason,” continued Professor Baltadonis. “I told you that science rules on Mars. Christine found records of several Inter-space Com links between you and Stubbs about the reef. They were enough, along with a small description of your discovery, to make you a certified arm of science.” Johnny rubbed his chin doubtfully and continued. “Though you and Mary are without letters. I called Mary a bio-electrical Sensor and specialist, and, perhaps even more important, a translator.”

“Translator?” asked Mary.

“Your clicker men, of course,” said Johnny. He paused to think for a second then continued. His eyes looked deep into Mary’s as if he was looking for a reaction. “Don’t forget, Mary. Not every clone can visit Earth. You need certification. It’s nothing more than a formality but it can’t be avoided. Call it an in-depth passport evaluation, I guess.”

Mary righted herself and placed both feet squarely on the floor. She looked at the Professor sadly. “You’re avoiding telling me about Earth. Why?”

Johnny smiled. It’s not so ominous as that, Mary. I just wanted you to know everything. I covered you more than you know. They were talking of shipping you to Ceres. They needed a Sensor.”

“No one contacted me,” said Mary. “There was no chatter about us ... about me ... even after I visited the Marys’ compound.”

“That’s right,” said Johnny. “But it doesn’t matter. You now fly under the protective wing of MarsCorp with their full blessings. There are no records to corroborate how you took the ship or whether you did or didn’t survive the Ra Patera disaster. Fact is, they’d rather think of you as survivors than thieves. The fates were good to you. You couldn’t have picked a better time to spring for Jupiter.”

Alex frowned. “People died, and if I could have saved them I would have. We arrived too late.”

“I want to hear about Earth,” interrupted Mary. “You haven’t said that we’re not going there. Or that we won’t meet Stubbs.”

“Oh, you’ll meet him,” said Johnny. “I never said you wouldn’t. He’s in a small Massachusetts town located on a hill that sticks out into the ocean. It’s on the new shore. It used to be miles inland, before the oceans rose.”

Mary asked Johnny to describe the ocean. But the Professor shook his head and apologized, saying that he felt his descriptions couldn’t do justice to real thing. “Besides,” he reminded her, “You’ll be seeing it for yourself.”

Later, over dinner, the Professor told them what he knew of Earth’s recent history.

“The climate and the political climate are locked together,” said Johnny. “They teach that the Mumbai meteor changed everything. The climate particularly. But that’s the official story. That’s what we want to think. It could be argued forever, and probably will, but the oceans rose because of a weather glitch that happened at the same time we started using fossil fuels to power high atmosphere flight. For sixty years they pumped huge amounts of aircraft exhaust into the stratosphere and, even though the sky was regularly full of clouds that were seeded by contrails, people believed that the CO2 haze and ozone depletion were caused by automobiles.”

Mary sat in the co-pilot’s chair listening to the Professor. All she could remember of Earth were pictures in the libraries. She expected to hear about green lands and trees. And animals that roamed wild in vast areas of thick vegetation. “You sound like all the terraformers. Full of negativity about the Earth. There are still forests, aren’t there? Aren’t there?” she asked. “I’ve read about it all my life. But the planet is still blue and it’s full of water. Water is life. It’s everything.”

Mary was trembling.

“Easy, my sweet,” said Alex. “You grew up on Mars but the prof, here, and I are old Earthers. You diss Mars like we diss the Earth, and so it goes. Dingers, Mary, it’s just human nature.”

Mary looked at the cabin floor and breathed deeply. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I have these ideas, dreams, whatever.”

“I’m sorry for my negativity, Mary,” said Johnny. “Alex is right. We criticize the things we love, I suppose.” He smiled engagingly and looked at both Mary and Alex. “I’ve been away from Earth through all of your young lives. It will be as new to me as it’ll be for you, I’m sure.”

“Don’t patronize me, Professor Baltadonis,” said Mary. “And you can diss the Earth all you want. It makes no difference to me. I’ll see for myself.”

Despite a raised eyebrow from Alex the Professor took Mary’s statement literally. “There are some experiments going on on Mars that will have an impact on Earth. We decided on the long road to Terraforming because Earth was on a similar road, also slow, but in the other direction.”

“Slow route?” said Alex.

“The original plan called for a comet to impact Mars. Kick off the effort with a bang. A jump start, you might say. The slow way meant establishing the Fusion Palaces – the smoker cities. Installing the superstructure of a future society ... almost communistic because it is such a long-term thing. No elections. You know ... a feudal state.”

“Full of clones,” added Mary. “They live in a different universe.”

The Professor nodded. “Genetic engineering was a must,” he said. “People, I’m sorry, regular people need short term gratification and change. Clones can ...”

Mary was eyeing the Professor like he was a bug in her soup. Johnny saw her expression but kept his composure.

“But that’s another story,” he said, still smiling.

“Don’t forget the miners,” said Alex. “The spacers who mined the water that you guys on Mars need so bad. Without the mini-comets we bring in you guys are dead in the water.”

The Professor nodded. “I know that. And you’re right. But my point is that none of us would be here if mankind hadn’t needed to get into space. The toughest part was to get a biosphere working. That’s my field.”

“We know,” said Mary.

“Well, I hope you’ll excuse the narrow minded words of an over-zealous old coot. But I have to say again that I envy you so, having actually been INSIDE a gaia bundle.”

“What?”

“Gaia bundle, a self contained ecology. Like, say, Earth. Or Jupiter’s reef.”

Alex shook his head. “You’re way off my screens, Professor.”

“I have to see it. I have to be part of this. Your return to that place,” said Johnny. “It’s what I’ve dreamed about for years. Now, here you two are. And I can’t help wondering if either of you really can appreciate the opportunity you had.”

“Oh sure. I’ve only been dreamin’ of it for dingin’ ever!” shouted Alex. “Why did I go to Io? To suck sulphur and pick up bodies? I don’t think so. This is my reef. I knew it was there. I outfitted this vessel. I did my homework and got an
A
. I found my reef.”

The Professor smiled. “That you did, my boy.”

Alex didn’t seem to hear him. It was as though steam was venting from him as he kept speaking. “I looked at that spot and knew something was under those clouds. Something that explains why the system has been there so long. Then it hit me. It’s a big whirlpool where heavy atoms collect. Like a slow cooker. I realized that if the storm was old enough, life could get started there.”

“Life did get started there,” said Mary.

“But it could just as easily have come from Earth, too,” said the Professor, raising an eyebrow and a finger at the same time. “Life’s been on Earth a billion years. Plenty of time for chunks to get blasted off the planet and migrate out here. Time enough to seed the whole solar system.”

“These weren’t Earth creatures.” said Alex.

“Of course. They developed on Jupiter. Life adapts,” said the Professor. “It becomes unique, wherever it plants itself. Now, it’s pure Jovian life.”

“But we don’t know where it’s from. It could as easily originate on comets,” said Mary. “How could we ever tell?”

“Good question,” said the Professor, “and if you’d thought to bring back even one tiny sample, we would have the answer.”

Alex and Mary were silent.

Johnny continued, “But perhaps you were wise not to do so. A special team should bring out samples, I guess.”

“I guessed so a long time ago,” said Alex, sounding annoyed. “I never said I was a biology expert or a team of scientists. I had an idea that was dinged by science ... by Stubbs. He said I was wrong. He said, ‘Life could find no purchase in a hurricane’. His exact words. I’ll show you the note.”

“He’ll be thrilled to be proved wrong, I’m sure,” said the Professor. “I guess he’s already aware of it.”

Part 3

1
By the time
Diver
reached Earth, the three souls aboard were more than ready to face Earth’s gravity. Alex focused exclusively on his role as captain of the ship, wanting only get them to Earth without a war of wills breaking out.

He became more authoritarian each day, occasionally giving orders like a dictator.

Alex hated authority reflexively and so did Mary. He felt doubly guilty. But he knew
Diver
needed a captain, and when they had to act quickly to evade a field of micrometeorites, his efforts were redeemed.

They learned later that the meteor shower was an annual event called the Perseids. But to Alex they were just dingers; the type of meteorite
Diver
’s hull was designed to deflect. The Professor reminded Alex that they shouldn’t be a problem. But
should
wasn’t good enough for Alex, considering that explosive decompression was at stake.