said Molina, a trifle pompously. “We’ll have to bring in teams to search the planet’s surface extensively and bore deeply into the crust.”
“Looking for organisms underground? Like the extremophiles that have been found on Earth?”
Nodding, Molina replied, “And Mars. And Venus. And even on Io.”
Alexios smiled thinly. “I wonder what Bishop Danvers will think about this? The thought of extraterrestrial intelligence seems to bother him.”
“Oh, I don’t expect we’ll find anything intelligent,” said Molina, with a wave of one hand. “Microbes. Bacterial forms, that’s what we’re looking for.”
“I see.” Alexios hesitated, then asked, “But tell me, if you bring in teams to scour the surface and dig deep boreholes, how will that affect my operation? After all, we’re planning to scoop ores from the surface and refine them with nanomachines so that we can—”
“All that will have to stop,” Molina said flatly.
“Stop?”
“We can’t risk contaminating possible biological evidence with your industrial operation. And nanomachines—they might gobble up the very evidence we’re seeking.”
Alexios sank back in his chair. “Mr. Yamagata is not going to be pleased by this. Not one bit.” Yet he was smiling strangely as he spoke.
Torch Ship Himawari
But that could ruin us!” Yamagata yowled, his usually smiling face knotted into an angry grimace.
Alexios had come up to the orbiting ship to present the troubling news personally to his boss. He shrugged helplessly. “The IAA regulations are quite specific, sir. Nothing is allowed to interfere with astrobiological studies.”
The two men were standing in Himawari’s small observation blister, a darkened chamber fronted by a bubble of heavily tinted glassteel. For several moments they watched in silence as the heat-blasted barren surface of Mercury slid past.
At last Yamagata muttered, “I can’t believe that any kind of life could exist down there.”
Alexios raised his brows slightly. “They found life on the surface of Venus, which is even hotter than Mercury.”
“Venus has liquid sulfur and silicone compounds. Nothing like that has been found here.”
“Not yet,” Alexios said, in a barely voiced whisper.
Yamagata frowned at him.
“We won’t have to stop all our work,” Alexios said, trying to sound a little brighter. “We still have the power satellites coming in from Selene. Getting them up and running will be a considerable task.”
“But how will we provide the life-support materials for the crew?” Yamagata growled. “I depended on your team on the surface for that.” Alexios clasped his hands behind his back and turned to stare at the planet’s surface gliding past. He knew his base on Mercury was too small to be seen by the unaided eye from the distance of the Himawari’s orbit, yet he strained his eyes to see the mound of rubble anyway.
“Well?” Yamagata demanded. “What do you recommend?”
Turning back to look at his decidedly unhappy employer, Alexios shrugged. “We’ll have to bring in the life-support materials from Selene, I suppose, if we can’t scoop them from Mercury’s regolith.”
“That will bankrupt us,” Yamagata muttered.
“Perhaps the suspension will only be for a short time,” said Alexios. “The scientists will come, look around, and then simply declare certain regions to be off-limits to our work.”
Even in the shadows of the darkened observation blister Alexios could see the grim expression on Yamagata’s face.
“This will ruin everything,” Yamagata said in a heavy whisper. “Everything.”
Alexios agreed, but forced himself to present a worried, downcast appearance to his boss.
Fuming, trying to keep his considerable temper under control, Yamagata repaired to his private quarters and called up the computer program of Robert Forward. The long-dead genius appeared in the middle of the compartment, smiling self-assuredly, still wearing that garish vest
“Looking for organisms underground? Like the extremophiles that have been found on Earth?”
Nodding, Molina replied, “And Mars. And Venus. And even on Io.”
Alexios smiled thinly. “I wonder what Bishop Danvers will think about this? The thought of extraterrestrial intelligence seems to bother him.”
“Oh, I don’t expect we’ll find anything intelligent,” said Molina, with a wave of one hand. “Microbes. Bacterial forms, that’s what we’re looking for.”
“I see.” Alexios hesitated, then asked, “But tell me, if you bring in teams to scour the surface and dig deep boreholes, how will that affect my operation? After all, we’re planning to scoop ores from the surface and refine them with nanomachines so that we can—”
“All that will have to stop,” Molina said flatly.
“Stop?”
“We can’t risk contaminating possible biological evidence with your industrial operation. And nanomachines—they might gobble up the very evidence we’re seeking.”
Alexios sank back in his chair. “Mr. Yamagata is not going to be pleased by this. Not one bit.” Yet he was smiling strangely as he spoke.
Torch Ship Himawari
But that could ruin us!” Yamagata yowled, his usually smiling face knotted into an angry grimace.
Alexios had come up to the orbiting ship to present the troubling news personally to his boss. He shrugged helplessly. “The IAA regulations are quite specific, sir. Nothing is allowed to interfere with astrobiological studies.”
The two men were standing in Himawari’s small observation blister, a darkened chamber fronted by a bubble of heavily tinted glassteel. For several moments they watched in silence as the heat-blasted barren surface of Mercury slid past.
At last Yamagata muttered, “I can’t believe that any kind of life could exist down there.”
Alexios raised his brows slightly. “They found life on the surface of Venus, which is even hotter than Mercury.”
“Venus has liquid sulfur and silicone compounds. Nothing like that has been found here.”
“Not yet,” Alexios said, in a barely voiced whisper.
Yamagata frowned at him.
“We won’t have to stop all our work,” Alexios said, trying to sound a little brighter. “We still have the power satellites coming in from Selene. Getting them up and running will be a considerable task.”
“But how will we provide the life-support materials for the crew?” Yamagata growled. “I depended on your team on the surface for that.” Alexios clasped his hands behind his back and turned to stare at the planet’s surface gliding past. He knew his base on Mercury was too small to be seen by the unaided eye from the distance of the Himawari’s orbit, yet he strained his eyes to see the mound of rubble anyway.
“Well?” Yamagata demanded. “What do you recommend?”
Turning back to look at his decidedly unhappy employer, Alexios shrugged. “We’ll have to bring in the life-support materials from Selene, I suppose, if we can’t scoop them from Mercury’s regolith.”
“That will bankrupt us,” Yamagata muttered.
“Perhaps the suspension will only be for a short time,” said Alexios. “The scientists will come, look around, and then simply declare certain regions to be off-limits to our work.”
Even in the shadows of the darkened observation blister Alexios could see the grim expression on Yamagata’s face.
“This will ruin everything,” Yamagata said in a heavy whisper. “Everything.”
Alexios agreed, but forced himself to present a worried, downcast appearance to his boss.
Fuming, trying to keep his considerable temper under control, Yamagata repaired to his private quarters and called up the computer program of Robert Forward. The long-dead genius appeared in the middle of the compartment, smiling self-assuredly, still wearing that garish vest
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