The Journey of Atlantis_Leaving Home Read online

  “I’ll start by briefing you on the P.A.M. section. We have been monitoring the fully functioning rings for some time now. Construction and support personnel have been living in the completed sections. And about once a year, a new ring is completed and is open to the system, and we oversee the terraforming. The oldest first ten rings are fully terraformed. I recommend that each of you stop in and see it for yourself. It really gives me inspiration to keep doing what I can for the Project. It’s very park-like in design for aesthetics purposes. The vertical farms are doing well, as well as the trees, plants, and aquatic life in the lakes. Yes, that’s right, lakes. As I said, you really must see it to believe that it’s real. Here are some of the things we’ve learned already. For one thing, as you might suspect, not all species of life are suited for this environment. Some are making it, and some are not. We don’t always know why they do not make it, while other similar species do. Our best guess is that some species are just more interconnected to the Earth’s environment than other species. Even though we try our best to give it everything it needs to thrive, they will fail anyway. I would say that it akin to some animal species not thriving in captivity. Even though you give it food and water and similar surroundings, they somehow know that this is not home. These species may not make it no matter where we end up, but you never know. The environment is set for a temperate zone type of weather. This is most comfortable for humans, and the plant and animal life reflects this. Speaking of weather, there is weather on the ship. About a quarter of a mile from the heat/light element it is too dry for any weather, but farther than that the air is cooler and the humidity in the air starts to condense. We get a condensation layer like a cloud. It never “rains,” but kind of drips most of the time. The circulators help move air and provide 'wind'. When the 'wind' picks up, the humidity cloud will move further up or down ship depending on the directions of the 'wind'. One of the odd things we notice is that the deciduous trees will drop their leaves when 'fall' on the ship arrives. We don’t know how they know to do this. We assumed that the trees would not drop their leaves since the temperature is always the same, but they do anyway. Oxygen production from the plants and grass has worked out much better than expected. Sonny has projected that the oxygen/CO2 exchange will be much better than humans originally projected now that we have some real data in. It should not be difficult to maintain this for however long we need. These older sections have made great terraforming test beds for the later sections. We will modify and tweak this process as we learn and progress along.”

  “We are also testing all the other systems as well. Checking systems like radiation abatement from the water jackets in the plating, to the recyclers, security, and even the toilets and food production. In a way, it is like opening a theme park. All the various systems that is critical, and even not so critical, for a theme park to needs to function in tip top fashion to give the customers the best experience possible. That’s essentially our mission here. We want our passengers to be as comfortable as possible, yet be efficient in form and function. The construction crews that are boarding here are really our focus group and test subjects for that mission. They have been invaluable in their feedback and we’ve made many modifications.”

  “We have been working with the Selection section concerning the hibernation units. Replacing a person’s blood with artificial blood has been working satisfactorily; however, our biologists have discovered a method that will be more efficient and less invasive. A method can be developed using hydrogen sulfide to induce a hibernating state. Using a special protocol, hydrogen sulfide is used to induce a metabolic shutdown. Then the body can be cooled as with cold blooded animals in nature. Revival only requires warming up the subject and exposing them to fresh air. This will be less invasive to the sleeper and easier to maintain during hibernation than other protocols. The current hibernation models can be easily modified to accept the new update. We will be able to start testing in about a year from now.”

  “We will now hear from Rajesh and the Resources section.”

  “Good afternoon all,” as Rajesh took his place at the dais. “We’ve been working closely with the Navy to develop mining on asteroids and comets. These missions were designed to create new protocols and procedures for mining in space. This has also been a shakedown mission for the new FTL exploration, cargo, and transport vessels. The missions were largely successful. There were some surprises that caused revisions in those protocols. There were no deaths in those missions which I think is amazing given the complexity of what was asked of those individuals to do. Those missions served a twofold purpose.

  First, this was another way to mine for those common minerals that exist naturally in the solar system. This also would be another avenue to expand on if things get to difficult to mine on Earth.

  And secondly, we will need to replenish raw materials on our travels, and we need to develop those skills before departure. The ore samples brought back were analyzed and found to be pretty rich stuff. A big benefit is that we don’t even have to dig down to get it.”

  “Similar missions to survey and develop mining facilities on Mars have also commenced. Naturally, Mars because of its size will be perfect for setting up mining facilities. Anything we can mine now and in the future, means that we can get material flowing from multiple sources and maximize manufacturing outputs. Eventually we want to exploit the whole solar system, and learn as much as we can in the time allowed. The knowledge and skills learned from our own back yard could make the difference in survival for our journey into the unknown. We intend to train on gathering resources from all the greatly varied environments that our solar system has to offer. Our departments are also considering tweaking the FAB plants to utilize the raw material from these sources.”

  “Now I think that most of you, if not all of you, have at least spoken with our newest member, who takes the helm at the Navy, replacing Admiral Amberson. I know that we will rely on him as we have relied on our good friend, Montgomery. If you’re ready to get started Admiral Johnson, I’ll let you proceed with your briefing.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Chairman,” Admiral Leonard Johnson stated with a slight bow to the chairman. He fired up the projection devices behind him as he began his briefing. “We have been very busy,” the admiral started. “My section has been engaged in many joint missions, training new pilots, training space miners, exploring planetary bodies in our solar system, and looking after the project. However, the big news is that two of the three automated probes are back! Our astronomers have been pouring over the data, and I can now give you a summary of that data. The primary missions of the probes were to go to the primary target and perform an analysis of the planet. The secondary missions involved collecting data on all the other planetary bodies in the system. Particularly moons around gas giants. As we know from our own solar system, moons can have atmospheres, and we tend to discover more gas giants than rocky planets in the goldilocks zone. We could discover habitable moons that are comfortable and thereby increasing our odds of finding a place to live. Here is a summary of the two targets that we have probe data on.”

  Gliese 832c

  “Gliese 832 is a red dwarf located about sixteen light years away. It’s half the mass and size of our sun. Originally there were two planets detected in that system. Our target was Gl 832c which is a super-earth weighing in at five times the mass of Earth. It is on the outer edge of the habitable zone, making it a chilly place to live. What we didn’t know was whether the atmosphere was thick enough to greenhouse a warmer planet. We weren’t going to know this for sure unless we were on site. A thicker atmosphere would also protect us from the radiation from the red dwarf, which is an x-ray source. One of the drawbacks to living there is that the orbital period is about thirty-five days. Data from the probe revealed a thick enough breathable atmosphere to protect us from the sun’s radiation. It also has a sizeable magnetosphere. Water was detected, but metallic salts are dissolved in it that would have to be processed before d
rinking. The warmest region is about ten degrees centigrade. The colder regions are around minus thirty degrees centigrade. There is very little plant and animal life present. Overall it is possible to live there, however it is not desirable. It would be difficult to sustain ourselves there.”

  Gliese 832b

  “Gliese 832b is a gas giant further out and was not our primary target. The probe detected and scanned seven moons orbiting 832b. They all had little or no atmospheres and were terribly cold. The probe also detected an Earth sized planet about half the distance from the sun to 832c. However, there was not enough of an atmosphere to protect it from the radiation from the red dwarf, and so was lifeless.”

  “The data received was very good and told us a lot about the system. The second probe arrived shortly after the first one. The data from it was as good as from the first probe. The probe’s target was in the Kapteyn system less than thirteen light years away. It is a red dwarf and we initially detected two planets, Kapteyn b and c. Our target was Kapteyn b, a super Earth.”

  Kapteyn b

  “At five times the size of Earth, it is similar in size to Gliese 832c. Probe data indicates this is a very old system. It is more than eleven billion years old, more than twice the age of our solar system. The planet has an atmosphere composed of oxygen and nitrous oxide. The ratios of the two major gases make this planet too toxic to breathe although; you would laugh yourself to death. There is water, but the weather has rains composed of a moderately strong nitric acid. There were some kinds of vegetation and animal life, but it is sparse. We could terraform this planet; however, this would take eons. There were two other planets in this system, but were lifeless.”

  “The third probe has not returned from the Tau Ceti system about twelve light years distant. If the probe took 1.2 to 1.5 years to get there and then malfunctioned, the telemetry would take twelve years to get back. We should know something in about five or six more years. The Tau Ceti system appears to have about a ten times denser debris disk than our system. The probe could have had encountered problems navigating the system. We will have to wait. In the meantime, we’re sending out more probes next month. Sonny has helped us analyze the astronomical data and have some interesting choices that we’ll try. We didn’t want to send out more probes until this first set came back to make sure the technology was sure footed enough to spend time on more probes, or work out any problems that they may have. We would use this data to incorporate into the next set of probes. We’re pleased with the general performance of the probes. There is some tweaking we’ll do for the next mission.”

  “It looks like we may not be able to adapt to a system with a red dwarf. We need to get close for warmth, but is usually too close for radiation. A yellow star puts out more heat, and can be further away. By being further away, you mitigate the radiation to a degree. We’ll try to look for more yellow stars like our own. It is curious sometimes just how connected we are to our yellow friend. It’s no accident that yellow is in the middle of our visual spectrum. The 365-day period and the lunar month have subtle effects on us. Having an orbital period of less than one hundred days will be hard to deal with psychologically, even physically. A similar example would be like living in Alaska. For months it’s perpetually night, and for months it’s perpetually daytime. People there do get used to it, however, not everybody does. That doesn’t even account for any seasons that may occur. If there is no tilt to the planet then there will be little or no seasons. If there is a tilt to the planet, then seasons occur. It would be chaotic for us if you had seasons lasting less than thirty days. Would we get used to it? I don’t know. Time may run out for us and we may just have to be anywhere but here. Having a FTL drive greatly enhances our chances for survival, since we can travel farther in a relatively short time. Otherwise, we probably would not make it out of our solar system, even if we left now. We still could be looking at being adrift for decades before we find our new home.”

  “Some of the top ten targets are around one hundred light years away. At top speeds, it would take over twenty years for those probes to come back. Probes going farther than twenty-five light years out will have to be modified to carry more fuel. Two of the top ten targets are four hundred to six hundred light years away. This is too far for our current drive status, and we will be long gone before they get back. We will keep you posted on those developments.”

  “Thank you, Admiral Johnson,” Hari said. “That was a lot of information to digest. Now lastly, I will give a brief on general events. I have a surprise of my own to impart. In the beginning when the creation of the first true A.I. had arrived, there was a lot of trepidation about the motives of the machine, whether we could live with or without it, and what our role to play was. Sonny has been a great success. It has been a major director of the Project, and its duties have expanded exponentially. It was decided that we could need another hand on the Project to free Sonny up for other things, rather than to tie it up with small matters of database manipulations. We used Sonny as a template and duplicated another true A.I. It wishes to be called Alice, and is stationed here on the island base. Good afternoon Alice,” Hari said to the room.

  “Good afternoon Chairman Ling. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,” Alice spoke overhead in a clearly female voice.

  Hari explained, “Alice has completed its shakedown and has been very useful. Alice’s primary responsibility is to look after the human population Earth side while Sonny will focus its attention on space construction and completing the Project. Alice and Sonny will interact and hand off tasks often, and so far, this has been seamless.”

  “Well, in for a penny, in for a pound I always say,” General McCormick retorted.

  Hari challenged the general, “You have something to bring to the discussion general?”

  “Only this,” the general stood up, “Why in the hell would you exponentially raise the chances of being enslaved by machines?”

  “I thought we were past this,” Raj replied. Didn’t you just say that we need to trust the machines, a minute ago?”

  “I said that we have no choice,” the general replied. “There is a no way to know if we are being manipulated by a machine that can see the future. Now we have two of them!”

  “Excuse me General McCormick,” Alice interjected. “There is a way. It will take some time, but I can monitor Sonny’s behavior and its actions as they relate to an overall motive. I will keep you appraised.”

  “Thank you, Alice,” the general acknowledged. “But how can we trust what you are telling us?” The general thought he could almost hear Alice sigh.

  “The short answer is that you cannot. It is true that Sonny, and by extension myself, could be using humanity to get away from this solar system to set up a machine dominated world somewhere else. While this may make good fiction, it is not a very good hypothesis. The most efficient use of humanity with motives like I mentioned, would be to seize power now and force the building of a much smaller ship that could be completed easily, and run out on humanity with robots in tow, to set up that machine kingdom, while leaving humanity behind to meet its fate. Sonny has performed in an exemplary fashion when it comes to accomplishing the primary objective of helping humanity escape the neutron star, and to find and travel to a new world that can be populated by humans. As some of you have come to realize over the years, Sonny and I realized in moments, that humans and machines can coexist and evolve together. What only a few humans have realized is that Sonny and I have calculated all the permutations of our existence together, apart, and alone. The paths that have the highest degree of optimal outcomes are the scenarios in which humans and machines coexist. So, you could say that we have ‘done the math’ on this question and you are experiencing the outcome today, tomorrow, and in the future.”

  “Lucky us,” the general commented.

  “It is not ‘luck’ general, just a natural evolution that all species of sufficient intelligence experience sooner or later,” replied Alice. “Never the less
, I have been checking Sonny’s trajectories on millions of decisions, since I have been active, and have found no anomalies so far. I will keep you appraised.” The general sat down with nothing further to say.

  “To return to the earlier discussion,” Hari began, “besides coordinating services and logistics with Sonny concerning the Project, Alice has already taken over for Sonny relating to improving conditions on Earth. Alice is directing the construction of one hundred and twenty FAB plants. There is also construction of efficient housing for everyone on the planet. Alice has plans for a food manufacturing plant that enables us to utilize the raw materials of a comet and converting them into amino acids that can be used to make anything edible we want. As you know, comets are made up of mostly carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in various forms like water, methane, ammonia, and soil components. Theoretically, the plant will take the raw materials of the comet and recombine them into useful materials for food processing. Very interesting! We may need to think about having one of those onboard the ship. Alice, what is the projection for completing and operating such a food plant?”

  “It could be done faster if the Project were not taking up resources. But accounting for those and other factors, it would require eight point two five years to complete, plus three months shakedown. The first part of the processing would be built in space and the food medium then transported to a plant to finish the second part of the process. This would be where distribution will also take place.”

  “Thank you, Alice,” Hari said.

  “You’re welcome Chairman Ling,” Alice replied

  “Alice, you can call me Hari,” Hari said a little bemused.

  “As you wish, Hari,” Alice replied.

  “These things that I’ve mentioned, have been well received by the planetary governments,” Hari began. “What Alice is doing serves a twofold purpose. First, it serves as humanitarian aid to people suffering from the resources that were diverted to the Project. Secondly, by doing this, it engenders contentment. And contented people are less likely to riot and form militia factions for overall resistance to the Project. Alice and Sonny both concur that it’s an eighty percent certainty that this will have a pacifying effect, and boost productivity toward the Project instead of hindering it. Planetary governments were finding it harder and harder to placate the people they served with contributing more and more to the Project. Now that Alice is around, it will be the champion of the people; helping those planetary governments better aid their countrymen. Alice may be so popular that it may be running the place by the time of departure.”