Teller. “It will explain everything.”
Teller sat down in front of one of the computers set up in front of the research trailer and brought up a Google image search for pioneer plaque.
“What we have here,” began Anderson, pointing at the anomaly and unable to contain himself, “is a probe, probably a Von Neumann probe.”
“Precisely,” said Teller.
“OK, back it up a little,” said Mason.
Teller pointed at the image of an engraved golden plaque on the screen before them. The image of a man and a woman, both naked, was etched in front of the rough outline of the Pioneer space probe. To one side, a series of lines with dots and dashes all converged on a single point, the location of the Sun. Above that, were two circles while below was a crude depiction of the planets in the solar system, with the path the Pioneer spacecraft had flown as it left Earth and swung by Jupiter on its way out into deep space.
Teller composed himself, wanting to speak clearly and not end up tying his tongue in knots.
“When we became capable of interplanetary space flight the first thing we did was to send out a probe, something to explore the solar system on our behalf. But that's not all we did. On both the Pioneer probes and the Voyager probes we included messages, token gestures really, but messages intended for an alien intelligence. And with those messages we included a key, something that any technologically advanced civilization would be able to decipher.”
“I don't see what this has to do with the anomaly,” said Mason, rather impatiently.
“You will,” replied Bates.
Anderson smiled, grinning from ear to ear.
“OK, look at this image. Look at what we sent out as a message to any aliens passing by,” said Teller.
Mason looked, but from the blank look on his face it was clear he didn't see anything significant.
“The key,” Teller continued, “is these two small circles at the top. To us, they're the least significant aspect of the plaque. But, in reality, they're the most important part of the whole message because they're the key to understanding all the measurements in all these other diagrams. And what key did we use?”
“Hydrogen,” said Mason, as it began to dawn on him.
“Exactly,” replied Teller. “We used the transition state of an electron in orbit around a single proton, an excited hydrogen atom. We used hydrogen as our starting point to communicate with any extraterrestrial intelligence. We used something every alien civilization would recognize because it is the most common element in the universe, because it's the most simple element in the universe, and because it represents a common point of understanding between us and them.”
“And so the anomaly,” Mason began.
“The anomaly is using the same principle to communicate with us.”
“I don't understand,” said Cathy. She'd followed the argument so far, but there was a world of difference between a golden plaque and a massive sphere distorting gravity.
“I'm a teacher, a grade school teacher,” said Teller. “At times, I come across kids that can't read when they first come to school, so I start teaching them from the most basic of books. A is for Apple, and that kind of stuff. It has to be something easy to understand, a primer. But from there the child will develop progressively as they learn more. And one day, they'll be able to read Shakespeare. In the same way, the anomaly is communicating with us using a primer, the most basic book that describes the universe around us, the periodic table of elements. It's using the ABCs of the universe to talk with us.”
“Whoa,” said Mason. “You're saying it's alive.”
“Not alive,” replied Teller. “At least, I don't think so, not in the sense we would use of organic life. But there is intelligence. It spoke to us in the simplest language it could, saying, one proton, one electron. By releasing the balloon, we responded with helium, the next element in the periodic
Teller sat down in front of one of the computers set up in front of the research trailer and brought up a Google image search for pioneer plaque.
“What we have here,” began Anderson, pointing at the anomaly and unable to contain himself, “is a probe, probably a Von Neumann probe.”
“Precisely,” said Teller.
“OK, back it up a little,” said Mason.
Teller pointed at the image of an engraved golden plaque on the screen before them. The image of a man and a woman, both naked, was etched in front of the rough outline of the Pioneer space probe. To one side, a series of lines with dots and dashes all converged on a single point, the location of the Sun. Above that, were two circles while below was a crude depiction of the planets in the solar system, with the path the Pioneer spacecraft had flown as it left Earth and swung by Jupiter on its way out into deep space.
Teller composed himself, wanting to speak clearly and not end up tying his tongue in knots.
“When we became capable of interplanetary space flight the first thing we did was to send out a probe, something to explore the solar system on our behalf. But that's not all we did. On both the Pioneer probes and the Voyager probes we included messages, token gestures really, but messages intended for an alien intelligence. And with those messages we included a key, something that any technologically advanced civilization would be able to decipher.”
“I don't see what this has to do with the anomaly,” said Mason, rather impatiently.
“You will,” replied Bates.
Anderson smiled, grinning from ear to ear.
“OK, look at this image. Look at what we sent out as a message to any aliens passing by,” said Teller.
Mason looked, but from the blank look on his face it was clear he didn't see anything significant.
“The key,” Teller continued, “is these two small circles at the top. To us, they're the least significant aspect of the plaque. But, in reality, they're the most important part of the whole message because they're the key to understanding all the measurements in all these other diagrams. And what key did we use?”
“Hydrogen,” said Mason, as it began to dawn on him.
“Exactly,” replied Teller. “We used the transition state of an electron in orbit around a single proton, an excited hydrogen atom. We used hydrogen as our starting point to communicate with any extraterrestrial intelligence. We used something every alien civilization would recognize because it is the most common element in the universe, because it's the most simple element in the universe, and because it represents a common point of understanding between us and them.”
“And so the anomaly,” Mason began.
“The anomaly is using the same principle to communicate with us.”
“I don't understand,” said Cathy. She'd followed the argument so far, but there was a world of difference between a golden plaque and a massive sphere distorting gravity.
“I'm a teacher, a grade school teacher,” said Teller. “At times, I come across kids that can't read when they first come to school, so I start teaching them from the most basic of books. A is for Apple, and that kind of stuff. It has to be something easy to understand, a primer. But from there the child will develop progressively as they learn more. And one day, they'll be able to read Shakespeare. In the same way, the anomaly is communicating with us using a primer, the most basic book that describes the universe around us, the periodic table of elements. It's using the ABCs of the universe to talk with us.”
“Whoa,” said Mason. “You're saying it's alive.”
“Not alive,” replied Teller. “At least, I don't think so, not in the sense we would use of organic life. But there is intelligence. It spoke to us in the simplest language it could, saying, one proton, one electron. By releasing the balloon, we responded with helium, the next element in the periodic
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