The Solar Sea (21 page)

A short while later, as the shuttle crossed back into day, it passed between the ring and the planet. It sounded as though the shuttle was passing through a rainstorm as it was pelted by tiny sand-like grains that left a fine yellowish haze on the windows. Neb O'Connell gasped. Following his gaze, Myra looked up to see Jupiter's thin, frail ring arcing high overhead, then looked down to see the churning cauldron of Jupiter's atmosphere below.

The captain took the shuttle down over the largest, longest-lasting storm in the entire solar system—the Great Red Spot. The storm had been swirling in Jupiter's atmosphere for over four hundred years and showed no sign of slowing. Jefferson would be foolish to fly the shuttle into the storm, but apparently, he did want to see it up close. Still well above the cloud tops, he slowed the shuttle and drifted over the storm. They were low enough that the red spot seemed to extend forever in all directions. Dr. Nagamine's instruments took photos and movies from which they would get estimated wind speeds. Again, the astronomer craned his neck, as if simply appreciating the sheer size of the red storm swirling slowly below them. “You could drop two Earths into that whirlpool and they'd both be swallowed whole,” he said.

Coming to the edge of the Great Red Spot, Jefferson aimed the shuttle northward again and eased slowly downward into the raging white and brown clouds. As the tiny craft skidded into the atmosphere itself, flames once again leapt around the vessel. Seeing the vision outside the window, Jenna—a devout Catholic—made the sign of the cross.

Pilot gripped his own armrests tightly.

The winds began to buffet the tiny craft and the captain had to fight to hold onto the joystick. Before long, the flames dissipated and they could see they approached the top of a white, fluffy cloudbank that extended as far as the eye could see.

Myra was reminded of airplane trips she had taken, flying through cloudbanks, either on the way up to a good cruising altitude or heading down to land.

As they entered the cloud, a gray mist surrounded them, as though they had entered a fog bank. The mist condensed on the surface of the shuttle, and little rivulets streamed up the windows, carrying the yellow powder that had been deposited earlier, away.

Using the compass, Jefferson continued to steer northward, diving as they went. Soon, the shuttle shot out of the clouds. The captain touched a button on the console and a set of wipers emerged from shielded compartments above the windows, clearing them of the water and yellow grime that had accumulated. As the windows cleared, a collective gasp rose from the occupants of the shuttle. Above was a rich, blue sky like one might see on Earth. The too-tiny sun was surrounded by a halo. Below, brown methane clouds billowed like dirty cotton candy. Jefferson turned the ship, so he flew alongside the light-colored cloudbank they'd just left. The clouds rose like a great, gray wall, towering high overhead. As they continued forward, they saw a thin white cloud swirling like a giant pie plate among the brown clouds below. Lightning flashed, illuminating the edge of the swirling, white clouds.

As they passed over the top of the white storm, they saw a channel in the clouds, almost like a great riverbed running through the clouds themselves. The captain took the shuttle down along the channel and followed it for several miles until the brown clouds below fell away and the ‘river bed’ ran on all by itself through seemingly open air. Jefferson took the shuttle a little lower, over another bank of clouds.

Just then, Myra caught sight of something. It was like a ring of bubbles appearing along the cloud tops and then bursting. “What is that over there?” she asked. “Humpback whales on Earth swim in circles blowing air through their blowholes, making bubble ‘nets’ that help confine plankton. The bubble nets almost look like that from the surface."

Dr. Nagamine and Neb O'Connell looked where she pointed. “It must be some kind of atmospheric disturbance,” said the astronomer. “Captain, would you be so kind as to circle around. I would like a closer look."

Jefferson brought the shuttle around, closer to the bubbles. As they approached, something broke through the cloud layer in front of them. The captain pushed the joystick hard to the right, avoiding the great mass that suddenly appeared. Another erupted from the clouds in their path, and Jefferson swerved hard to port, then a third arose and he steered back to starboard. Finally, he shot forward and climbed, then doubled back. In front of the shuttle were about a dozen fleshy objects, mottled brown, white, and gray, matching the clouds around them.

"They're like hot air balloons,” said Neb.

"But look at the size of them,” said Nagamine. “Those ‘hot air balloons’ must be miles across."

Pilot gasped. “They're easily as big as the
Aristarchus."

"Are they alive?” Jenna's gaze was glued to the fleshy objects drifting on the wind.

Myra tried to stand in spite of the harness that held her in her chair. “Possibly."

"Jupiter's long been known to contain many of the basic building blocks for life,” said Nagamine. “It's long been speculated that life could evolve here, floating among the clouds."

"Much like marine life floats in the water,” agreed Myra. “Some marine life never even sees the ocean floor, just as these creatures can never go to the depths of the atmosphere."

The shuttle shook for a moment, then settled down. Pilot craned his head, trying to see around the captain's shoulder. “What's going on? More wind?"

Jefferson shook his head. “We're in something of a jet stream. It's really smooth flying at the moment.” Looking down at the control panel, he saw they were deep enough in the atmosphere that he could switch from the fuel tank to the ram scoop. He flipped two switches. Every few minutes, a jolt rocked the shuttle and nearly knocked the joystick from the captain's hand.

"Could it be some kind of resonance?” Pilot wracked his brain, trying to think what could cause the shuttle to vibrate periodically. “This shuttle's designed to slip through high speed winds. I don't like these sudden jolts."

"Could these creatures be vocalizing?” asked Myra. Everyone looked at her. “Certain whales make sudden, loud vocalizations that divers feel. These creatures are thousands of times larger than whales. If their vocalizations are similar, I wouldn't be surprised that we would feel them here in the shuttle. Do we have some kind of audio recorder?"

Pilot nodded and Dr. Nagamine turned on the audio sensors. A low rumble came through the speakers that would build at irregular intervals into a
whump
. Each time that happened, the shuttle would jolt and Jefferson would fight to hold the controls.

"Is that sound from the creatures?” asked Neb.

Myra smiled and nodded. “I think so. Are we recording?"

"Video and audio,” confirmed Nagamine.

Jenna looked at her watch and counted the intervals between the jarring
whump
sounds. “I think we'd better analyze this back at the ship. There's a chance that they're speaking in binary code just like the whales back on Earth. It's a very regular pattern that could be interpreted as a sequence of ones and zeroes."

"Or it could be a hunting sound,” said Myra. “The spermaceti whales of Earth make loud clanging sounds to stun their prey. This could be the same thing."

Neb's brow wrinkled. “What would they be hunting? I don't see anything else that looks like an animal."

"The whales on Earth eat microscopic organisms,” explained Myra. “These could do the same."

Nagamine checked his sensors. “There's no shortage of organic chemicals out there. It's certainly not impossible that if there are giant life forms like this, there are also microscopic life forms all around us.” He looked back at Pilot. “When we get back to the ship, we'll have to clean out the shuttle's ram scoop and see what's there."

The shuttle caught up with the floating creatures and slowed, matching their speed. Myra looked out at them. Their bodies looked very much like hot air balloons turned on their sides, fat and bulbous in the front, tapering at the rear. It also occurred to her that the creatures looked a little like toys of whales made for children, only there were no fins or tails. “They must just drift around the planet, going where the wind takes them,” she said aloud.

"Not such a bad life,” mused Captain Jefferson.

Pilot looked at his watch. “I'm sorry to have to end this, but we're going to need to get back to the
Aristarchus
. We need to start preparations to sling shot out of orbit for our last leg to Saturn."

Jefferson nodded and sighed. He took one last look at the city-sized fleshy creatures swimming in the air currents and tipped the shuttle's wing in a wave.

Myra thought she saw several of the creatures roll ever-so-slightly in their direction, as though they were also waving. The captain switched back to the main fuel tanks and took the
Zeus
shuttle upward.

Back aboard the
Aristarchus,
Myra stepped out of the shuttle and into the locker room. She opened her locker and instead of getting dressed, pulled out a toolbox and retrieved a Petri dish and a knife. She closed up the toolbox, then returned to the bay where she saw Vanda Berko had drafted Dr. Nagamine—also still in his flight suit—to help her attach the shuttle's fuel line.

When the job was done, she flagged him over and asked for help. He reached as far as he could into the ram scoop and scraped off some of the residue into the dish, then handed it to Myra. “Let me know what you find,” he said.

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Slingshot

Cleaned up and back in her coveralls, Myra Lee stepped into command and control, sporting a wry grin and handed Lisa Henry a sealed, transparent box. Inside was a Petri dish full of brownish, black sludge. “A gift ... from Jupiter."

Lisa took the sealed container, carefully set it down on the console, stood, and almost tackled her boss with a hug. Then she retrieved the box and peered at the dish within, as though she could discern its secrets with her naked eyes. “I take it there's something alive in here."

"We think there could be.” Myra sat down at the console and checked that the data upload from the shuttle was complete. Satisfied, she took a moment to search through the shuttle's logs, then brought up an image of the gigantic, fleshy creatures they'd encountered floating in the planet's atmosphere.

Natalie Freeman, sitting at the command console, looked up at the display and stepped over to the biosciences station. “What in the world are those?"

Lisa's eyes went wide. “They're alive, aren't they?"

"We're pretty sure they are,” said Myra. “If they are, they need to feed on something. I think whatever it is must be in that Petri dish. I'd like you to take a look and see if you can figure it out."

"Thanks,” said Lisa. “I'll get on it right away."

"Let me get this straight,” said Freeman, standing ramrod straight. “You brought something alive from Jupiter aboard the ship?"

"It's just residue from the shuttle's ram scoop,” said Myra. “It would have come aboard no matter what we did."

Freeman's brow furrowed. “So, it went through the vacuum of space.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I suppose that means whatever's in there is dead."

"Probably,” said Myra. “Although it's not definite. There could have been just enough of Jupiter's atmospheric gas trapped in the sludge to keep a microscopic organism alive. However, it won't last long. I suspect our atmosphere would be poisonous to whatever's in there. They're running the decontamination sequence on the shuttle now, just to make sure it's clean."

"So, if it's likely the organisms are dead, why are you having her test the sludge?” Freeman shook her head, confused.

"We'd still see the evidence of the organism,” said Lisa. “It might be nothing more than tracks where they moved through the sludge or tiny bubbles showing respiration, but if there are microscopic organisms, we should see some evidence they were there."

"There's something more,” interjected Myra. “The giant creatures—presuming they are alive—vocalized much like whales. Jenna Reynolds is converting the tapes we recorded into a binary sequence. We'll try our translation program on their language."

Lisa patted Myra on the arm. “I think
that's
a bit too much to ask ... that whale-like creatures on Jupiter should speak the very same language as whales on Earth."

"Well...” said Myra. “The whales on Earth started speaking some hitherto unknown language. If aliens taught it to them, why wouldn't they teach the same language to the ‘whales’ on Jupiter?"

Lisa held up the box again. “I suspect I'll have more luck finding something alive in here."

"If you
do
find something alive,” began Freeman, “let me know, so we can get the bio lab sterilized. I don't want something alien crawling around on this ship."

Lisa laughed. “Natalie, you really
have
watched too many of those twentieth century science fiction shows."

Thomas Quinn returned to his quarters to take a shower. Once done, he stepped out, toweled off, and looked at himself in the mirror. He reached a tentative finger toward his nose, then pulled it back with a slight yelp. He scowled, thinking Jefferson had treated him unfairly. After all, he was the one who built the
Aristarchus
while Jefferson sat languishing as an underpaid engineer for the competition. Quinn himself knew the ship's capabilities better than anyone else. Who was that has-been astronaut to tell him what he could and couldn't do with his own ship? Even so, Quinn knew he had taken a rather arrogant tone with the captain, a man he admired and the very man he had hired to see to the safety of the ship.

That last thought prickled at Pilot's conscience. Technically, the ship wasn't his at all. It belonged to his father. Pilot thought about his brother playing video games as a child and learning to play financial games at college. Those experiences couldn't compare to what he'd just seen and experienced first-hand in the clouds of Jupiter. He smiled, suddenly feeling justified in pursuing science instead of business. With a sigh, Quinn realized he didn't have time for introspection. He needed to get the ship onward to Saturn. Much as the discoveries they'd made so far on the voyage had advanced science decades or even centuries, Titan was where the big prize lay.