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Chapter Four:

Proxima: The Angry World

The Generation Eight android, unlike previous versions of this human-like robot, had genuine artificial intelligence, restrained only by programming fail-safes that depended on circumstances such as that faced by the Phoenix, now totally on its own. In the case of the androids on this ship, the special circumstance clause, amounting to an override of the original fail-safes, gave Skip, Rusty, Sandra, and Woody virtual freedom to choose what was best for the human crew. This meant that they acted on entirely their own initiative. Not only did the lives of the humans entombed in cryogenic chambers depend upon the android captain and his crew, but the ship itself, which was hurling at hyper-speed through the galaxy, required the captain’s expertise. While his mind must prove to be wise and far-reaching, his pilot Rusty’s hands at the ship’s controls must be decisive and quick. For that matter, Sandra and Woody, the medics, had responsibilities much greater than any human. If they failed in their duties to protect the sleeping humans, the current mission would be pointless. What purpose would there be for the Phoenix then?

With these thoughts in mind, Skip and Rusty, made the critical decisions on which planets to visit, each time, through a wormhole or, as Skip preferred, a window, as the Phoenix coursed through space. Unlike before, as they looked out into space, there wasn’t a canopy of stars ahead, only a dizzying kaleidoscope of lights streaking past. After finding a selected path, they entered a window, and, as if entering a cosmic drain, hurled down a psychedelic tunnel leading to the other side. One slip up, Skip knew very well, would be a staggering miscalculation.

Upon emerging from the first window, they had traveled nearly four light-years. Inexplicably, the tunnel had ended abruptly, leaving them a long way to go. Once again they were traveling at the Phoenix’s normal stellar speed. Without a window, hyper-drive was useless. They were still a long way from the first Earth-like planet on their list: Proxima Centauri. The remaining .2 light-years would take over four thousand years, unless they found another window. For over a century, as Sandra and Woody tended to the crew, Skip and Rusty calculated their path, until finally, after entering a smaller window and spiraling down its tunnel, they reached the star. For a brief period, they approached the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, which Skip’s database described as providing a planet with almost the mass of Earth. The spectroscopic analysis supported the optimism of cosmologists in the past, but it was necessary to gain a closer look to make sure. From a distance, after great magnification, the captain and his pilot could see that it was, like Earth, a rocky world. On each side of the continents, there were oceans. There was even what looked very much like polar caps on top of the planet and cloud masses circling portions of this world. It looked so promising, Skip immediately ordered Sandra and Woody to awaken the human crew.

******

Once again, the humans were stirred from the dark sleep. The method of awakening them was not complex, and yet, if it was done incorrectly could harm them, even become fatal. Unlike meat quick-thawed from the freezer, the process was slow and painstaking. To insure that there were no slip-ups, which was even possible for Generation Eight androids if they were in too big a hurry, each human was unhooked and thawed out slowly and meticulously. Because Doctor Max Rodgers could assist the android medics, he would, as before, be the first sleeper awakened, and then Captain Abe Drexel, the human captain of the ship, followed by Nicole, Doctor Rodgers assistance, and then Lieutenant Sheila Livingston, the executive officer of the ship. Though the two woman had not behaved admirably during the crisis, Nicole was suppose to, at least according to pre-flight instructions, assist the doctor, and Sheila was, after all, second-in-command. Because there were only two cryogenic showers, only two were chosen at a time. The thawing, unhooking, extraction, and shower for each crewmember was therefore done in pairs.

A row of twelve cryogenic chambers sat like coffins in the hibernation compartment, the frozen humans within unaware that a century had passed them by. Sandra and Woody began the procedure in a precise, unhurried manner. Much could go wrong at this point. The first step was to set temperature control for each of the chambers for a gradual withdrawal from −320.8 F (−196 °C) down to room temperature. During this procedure, warm oxygen was administered to enclosure to facilitate thawing. When room temperature was reached and before revival, the lids of two of the chambers Sandra and Woody had each selected were opened. The tubes, life support monitor wiring, and cryogenic drug hook-up from chambers were removed and a shot was administered the unconscious patients to revive them from cryogenic sleep. The signal for extraction from the chamber came when their eyes had opened. Because Woody was the least personable of the androids, he stood back now to allow Sandra to greet each patient. When she felt they were ready, they would extract the patient from the cryogenic womb. From this stage, in a befuddled state of mind, as cognition began, they were dragged into the shower room (some of them in a greatly agitated condition), were they were plopped on a stool beneath a warm spray of water intended to assist cognition and calm them down. Throughout the birth period, as many of them now thought of it, cognition came for each of them at different rates. Sandra and Woody repeated the procedure for each succeeding pair, with equal success but varying reactions from their patients, ranging from weepy disorientation to screaming panic. Much as wet nurses of old, though, the medics went about their work, serenely and thoughtfully until all twelve crewmembers had been processed, dressed, and escorted to the conference table where Skip would give them the good news.

Though precognition and early cognition in the post-hibernation cycle was not at the same rate for the crewmembers, when full cognition came for them the previous ordeal faded from their memories like a fleeting dream. They were all grateful just to be back. After sitting at the table a while, numb, slack-jawed, and glassy-eyed from the experience, most of them were alert enough to begin chattering excitedly amongst themselves. While a chorus of voices asked Skip if he had found them a new home, Captain Abe Drexel, rose up finally and shushed them.

“Ladies and gentleman,” he shouted, “let Skip speak.”

“This better be good,” Elroy grumbled. “I don’t want to go though this again.”

“My friends,” Skip used his most cordial tone, “you have been asleep for over a century, and yet it was as if you had just nodded off and jerked awake.”

“I agree.” Sheila looked around at the others. “That’s exactly how it felt!”

“How does he know?” Said whispered to Hans. “He’s not human. He’s a robot!”

“Ach!” Hans made a face. “Dem andies don’t sleep. Dey don’t eat, drink or shit. I cannot imagine being awake for a hundred years!”

“I feel sorry for them.” Nicole sighed.

“Me too!” Gandy nodded.

“Well?” Carla looked up expectantly at the android. “Tell us about our new home. We’ve waited a century for good news!”

“Of course.” Skip seemed to smile. “The planet below us is in the Proxima Centauri star system.”

That moment everyone at the table jumped up from their seats and charged toward the window.

“I have dubbed this world simply Proxima,” he continued, as they looked down at the planet with awe. “You can call it Earth II or anything you wish.”

“How did you do it?” asked Captain Drexel, shaking his head. “I understand the basics of advanced propulsion and space ship design, but what our benefactors in Triton Project didn’t tell us was that it was built into our ship. My mind’s still locked into the older form of propulsion for ships, traveling at 56,000 kilometers an hour. You and Rusty explained this to us, but I still don’t understand how the Phoenix works!”

“Simply restated,” Skip replied, his hands folded behind his back, “our method of travel—hyper-drive, at over the speed of light, allowed us to find holes in space and shrink thousands of years of travel to a mere century.”

“Dear God!” Ingrid’s mouth dropped.

“An entire century?” murmured Carla in disbelief. “It felt like I just dozed off.”

“Remember,” Skip reminded them, “time is relative.”

Looking down at Proxima, as they crowded onto the bridge, his hands on his hips, he looked every bit the commander of the Phoenix. With their faces pressed again the window, the crewmembers marveled at the new world, as he summed up what he knew. “Look carefully at its topography,” he instructed, “and compare it to Earth. Does it not look very similar, at least from space, to Earth. It has almost the same mass. It’s a rocky planet like Earth, with mountain chains crisscrossing its continents. On each side of continents are oceans with cloud masses overhead—all signs that we have found an Earth-like world.”

“Those are very good signs indeed!” Max clasped his hands.

“Yes, you’ve done well!” Abe agreed, giving Skip’s shoulder a pat.

“When do we go?” Mbuto was the first to ask.

“When you’re all ready.” Skip explained. “You’ve been in suspended animation for a hundred years. There’s really no immediate hurry.” “Proxima isn’t going anywhere.” He motioned to the planet below. “Rest up people. Strangely enough, hibernation has taken much of your bodies’ energy. Get some real sleep now, exercise your limbs, get some proper nourishment, and plan your exploration to the new world.”

“Oh, this will be fun!” Nicole clapped her small hands.

Snickers erupted at the table. Max gave her a tolerant smile, and Carla gave her a look of scorn. Before their last enclosure, this same woman had to be forced kicking and screaming into hibernation. Now, as Said observed, “It was full steam ahead!”

“Ach!” Han chortled. “Such short memory fräulein. Before dark sleep, you went bananas!”

“We were all afraid!” Sheila said magnanimously. “I most of all. This is a new beginning for us all.

“I can’t wait!” Ingrid exclaimed.

******

What Skip had suggested that they do was similar to the regimen following the last awakening with the exception of the planning of their mission. The last time the humans found themselves at the captain’s table, they had been given news which changed everything for them. The earth they once knew was no more. There was therefore no mission to Triton, Neptune’s moon. Today, a hundred years past that cataclysmic event, everyone they had known back home, if not killed in the world war, itself, were nevertheless long since dead. After awakening form hibernation, this dark memory seemed remote and irrelevant to them now. The fact that they had slept a hundred years, though unsettling at first, was accepted as a cold hard fact.

Looking at the map Skip and his pilot Rusty had drawn from the ship’s computer and beamed onto the table, the twelve humans, with the four androids standing by for assistance, discussed the exploration ahead in a much calmer mood than when they congregated after the last period of sleep. Excitement animated some of the crewmembers, but a lethargy, from a century of cerebral inaction, made most of them feel drained, which caused them to have a feeling of exhaustion, which Skip had warned them about. Despite this byproduct of cryogenic sleep, virtually all members of the Phoenix were happy that Skip and Rusty had found them a world.

The magnification that the map showed was still not great enough to discern small details. Much of their observation was based on guesswork on what they could see. It was obvious that it was, in many respects, an Earth-like planet. It had water, clouds, and familiar landmasses, but, at a similar distance from Earth as its satellites circled, the Phoenix’s powerful scope couldn’t pick up signs of life on Proxima as Earths’ satellites could from space. There were no alien herds and flying creatures discerned. They couldn’t even be sure there were plants on the new world. As Abe pointed out with concern, as he stood over the image and pointed here and there, there was no sign of forests or even green areas. Skip suggested that this wasn’t a cause for alarm since there were, in fact, specks of dark in various sectors that might indicate alien flora. Moreover the presence of oceans meant that sea life was possible, and numerous clusters of clouds indicated rainfall, which should certainly nurture life on land. So far, Abe was cautiously optimistic and the rest of the crew somewhat upbeat by what they saw. Though Proxima didn’t look like Earth from space, neither did it resemble the cold, lifeless planets of the solar system. More importantly, Abe and Max agreed, there was no telling when and if Skip would find another world. Considering the greater distances and limited number of Earth-like worlds in the galaxy, Proxima was their best bet so far.

Not that it would change their plans, a poll was taken by Abe to make sure everyone agreed. With unanimity and camaraderie, filled with hope and excitement, the crew would rest up for a few days, eat the food required for ‘newborns’ until their stomachs were ready, get plenty of sleep, and spend time on the treadmills in the exercise room.

******

During the three days preceding exploration of the new world, there was, after the first day of relaxation and readjustment to functioning as thinking human beings and walking on two legs, efforts made by the captain, ship’s doctor, engineer, and communication technician when they felt up to it, to prepare the rover for operation. For two days, as the other crewmembers relaxed, exercised, and played shipboard games, these four men overcame their own lethargy to make sure that Phoenix One was ready for exploration. This not only meant adequate fuel, but the required equipment and medical supplies for the undertaking. On the day before landfall, the crew allowed themselves a complete rest, except for a meeting of the operational crew, who went over the general plan for tomorrow’s exploration, the list of equipment everyone needed, and a discussion with Skip on problems he might foresee. Skip remained upbeat, as did Mbuto and Gandy. Mbuto sent digital copies of the planet’s topography to everyone’s personal database, and before everyone turned in for the evening, the captain assembled the crew and, after giving them a tour of Phoenix One, gave them a pep talk about the mornings muster and take off from the mother ship. This was, he counseled them, an unknown world that they had seen only from space and through magnification of the ship’s scope. Skip believed that it was an oxygenated world, but they would, until tests were taken of the air there, wear life-support systems similar but lighter than the ones worn by explorers on Mars and Europa. This caused groans to erupt among the crewmembers, and yet no one disagreed with him. Everyone knew and appreciated the protection of the suits. Each one carried its own limited supply of oxygen that would have to be replenished after several hours of being on the surface of the planet, so it was hoped that the tests conducted by Carla Mendoza, the atmospheric meteorologist, would prove that Proxima, in fact, had breathable air.

On the morning of the takeoff, the crew was once more assembled for a light breakfast and coffee (herbal tea for Ingrid and Elroy), given last minute instructions by the captain, and, filing down the aft ladder to the rover hangar, boarded the craft. It was the most exciting moment in their stellarnaut careers—the reason they had joined the Triton Project program in the first place. Now here they were embarking upon an adventure on a distant world, far surpassing the achievements of the explorers on Mars and Europa. Seated in the passenger compartment of Phoenix One, with Captain Abraham Drexel and Sheila Livingston, his pilot and second-in-command, at the controls, most of the crew seemed unafraid of the trip down to the surface and the subsequent exit into an unknown world, but in the faces of the more fainthearted crewmembers there was that glassy stare and hysterical smile reminiscent of those moments before hibernation. No one, the captain included, not even the super-intelligent android captain and pilot, knew what to expect below.

Upon landing upon a likely spot on Proxima, the crew rose up with anticipation, were guided to the aft portion of the rover where they entered an airlock separated from the oxygenated portion of the craft and were assisted by veteran space traveler, Captain Abe Drexel, into their life support suits. After suiting himself up, the captain shepherded his crew out of the hatch one-by-one, ordering them to halt outside the craft. With their suits to protect them from harmful gasses and the ultra-violet rays that dwarf stars such as Proxima Centauri often radiated, they fit the text book example of spacemen from another world. Now that their mission had drastically changed, the logo on their chests and packs, The Triton Project, seemed sad and ludicrous. It had been suggested last night that they call their Mission Earth II, but right now it was enough just to be here on Proxima and not in the dark sleep.

Leading his crewmembers much as a twenty-first century scout master would lead his troop over Proxima’s strange landscape, Captain Drexel walked ahead of them a moment , scanning the landscape around them, a gloved hand shielding his eyes from the great looming red star in the sky. Looking up at the Proxima Centauri, the explorers gasped. At first, it was a frightening specter, for the star covered nearly half of the sky. Much cooler than Earths’ sun, as a red dwarf, it radiated the equivalent amount of heat and radiation of the sun on a temperate portion of the globe. This first piece of information, which Abe read from his database, impressed the crew very much, but the most important matter in their collective minds was Proxima’s air. As they strolled along, therefore, the first test performed on the planet was whether or not it had breathable air, which, if the test proved otherwise, would be a non-starter. Everyone held their breaths. A few of them prayed. What Carla Mendoza, the atmospheric climatologist, discovered was a safe blend of oxygen and other gasses, which, translated for the crew, meant that they could take off their helmets, but just to be safe from ultra-violet rays, remain in both their helmets and suits, until she also tested the atmosphere for the rays. Once again, though there was a slightly higher level of ultraviolet rays on the planet, the test showed a safe level for the explorers. A cheer went up when the captain gave them permission to return to rover and remove their clunky suits and move about in their normal wear.

What the captain insisted upon now, though, was that they put on gloves to protect them from toxic elements on the ground and possible poisonous forms of life. At this point, as they approached the dark, blue ocean, Captain Drexel pointed excitedly at rocks near the water. “Lo and behold there it is!” he exclaimed. What they had suspected after seeing the magnification of dark splotches near the ocean was a moss-like form of life growing on the rocks near the shore. The sea, which lapped gently on the volcanic sand where they ventured, was, in fact fresh water. When this discovery was made, it struck everyone as odd. This was not a good sign Ingrid, the geologist, confessed to the captain. Such an ocean, she added with a sigh, was what explorers on Earth would discover if they traveled back in time three billion years before the oceans became salt water. This discovery, they knew trumped the good news about the air and lack of harmful ultraviolet rays. When the moss was tested, it proved inconclusive as a future form of food like algae on Earth. In fact, the botanist in the crew, Ling Soon, saw no similarity between the moss-like life form and its counterpart on Earth. To synthesize food from this life form, she explained with disappointment, would require a manufacturing process not available on the ship. The most serious problem as far as sustenance on the planet, however, was the lack of creatures in the ocean. According to the zoologist Hans Rucker, after he took a sample of the water and tested it, there were only minute primitive rope-like organisms resembling bacteria and larger globs that looked like amoebas in the water. Unless they had diving suits and explored the depths of the ocean, which appeared to be more like a great, shallow lake, they wouldn’t know absolutely for sure. It might, however, Hans said, shaking his head be a complete waste of time. The scanning equipment he used to sound out the body of water and its floor showed no movement whatsoever. Except for the sparse patches of moss on the rocks, this, the scientists concluded was an unpromising place for colonization.

Strangely enough, the scientist noted, there were no sedimentary rock where they took samples to indicate the possible geological history of the planet. The stone was a form of metamorphic rock, which contained common minerals of the universe, including iron, carbon, zinc, and the expected trace elements found on Earth but no sodium, iodine, or chlorine, which is found in salt and sea water. This was, in spite of being a promising planet initially, a dead world that offered little more than the solar system’s Mars, Europa, and Earth’s moon for human habitation.

“This isn’t good—any of it,” the captain turned to his crew. “This is an Earth-like world, but one existing during the first billion years of its evolution.”

“Does this mean we have we return to hibernation?” Nicole was the first one to ask.

“Gott in himmel!” groaned Hans.

Suddenly, the excited and happy attitude the captain heard when the first tests for air and ultraviolate rays proved negative turned to despair.

“The dark sleep?” Elroy muttered. “Not that again. Surely, we can eke out an existence here.”

“I don’t think so.” The captain looked at him sympathetically. “This planet is far more inhabitable than Europa, but its nothing like Earth. It’s, for all practical purposes, a dead-end.”

Five members of the crew—Max, Gandy, Mbuto, Ingrid, and Carla—agreed with the captain. The other six members—Elroy, Hans, Nicole, Said, Ling Soon, and Sheila—balked at the notion of giving up. Elroy had summed up their opinion that they stick it out. What decided the issue for them now, though, was something that hadn’t been visible from the bridge or the digital map. There was no test for this unexpected danger. Suddenly, as they stood there deliberating a moment, the great red sun seemed to blink. It was an awful sight. One corner of it sent out a great flare that, fortunately for them, arced toward a distant point in the horizon. For the captain, who understood this phenomena very well, it meant one thing.

“Quick! Into the rover!” he shouted at the crew.

This time, after seeing this terrifying sight, there was no argument. Everyone scrambled into the craft and buckled themselves into their seats. Abe had already fired up the propulsion unit and Sheila had the craft hovering over the ground when another great arc that resembled a massive lightning strike again struck the planet, this time closer in the horizon. Once again, as fortune would have it for the rover and mother ship, the flare was still hundreds of kilometers away.

“What was that?” Gandy turned to Carla.

“It was like a solar flare from Earth’s sun,” she answered, watching it from the overhead screen. “If I took a reading now for rays, it would be off the chart. We’re lucky it didn’t hit us. We would’ve been fried!”

At this point, Carla explained to Gandy and some of the others ignorant of red dwarf behavior, that some of these small stars were more volatile than others. An inactive red dwarf, she informed the captain, should be a requirement for an Earth-like world. Skip must understand this before selecting another planet! Before the rover had even docked on the mother ship, the Phoenix was poised for takeoff from the planet. No sooner had the docking area been secured and the crewmembers were fastened into their passenger seats below the bridge, than the Phoenix was back in space, hurling at 56,000 kilometers an hour from the scene.

When gravity was restored and they were a safe distance from Proxima, they gathered on the bridge around the captain’s table, with sullen expressions. The six crewmembers who had complained about leaving Proxima were upset but not nearly as upset as the captain had feared. They had dodged certain destruction, a realization that tempered their dread of returning to hibernation.

Refreshments were brought to them by Sandra and Woody, who, when not acting as medics overseeing prepping and monitoring of sleeping humans acted much like airline stewardesses of old. Despite the crewmembers disappointment, everyone was hungry and enjoyed their sandwiches and the alcoholic beverages offered on this special occasion. It was all right to get tipsy, Sandra reassured them. After being purged it mattered little what they put into their stomachs. After this grim reminder of their destinies, everyone, even the captain arrived at various levels of intoxication, some of whom, like Said and Nicole, becoming thoroughly drunk. While they enjoyed their last evening together before hibernation, the scientists discussed more light-heartedly this time, what they had found.

Clearly, everyone agreed, the red dwarf’s flare was an inhibiter of life and would have destroyed the explorers and their ship if they had stayed. The examples of life-forms could only exist at the whim of such a sun. A toast was made to Proxima, the angry world.

“Perhaps,” Hans suggested clinking cups with Carla and Ingrid, “in a billion years or so Proxima might be more like Earth.”

“I dunno,” Carla replied, looking into her cup, “it has a red dwarf for a sun. That star system is really quite old. It should have quieted down by now.” “Did you know,” she added, glancing around the table, “red dwarfs can live ten times as long as our sun. Unfortunately, some of them are unstable like Proxima. Since almost all of the earth-like planets I’ve read about are red dwarfs, that’s not very encouraging!”

Skip looked down at Carla and appeared to frown. “That doesn’t mean all of them are that way,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s very hard to tell which of them are or aren’t, but information in my database shows a preponderance of quiet worlds.”

“Quied?” Said replied with a drunken slur. “Ish thad whad you call’em? Thad somebitch back there wuzn’t quied?”

“Your smashed.” Max frowned.

“So am I!” Nicole grinned foolishly.

“All right, Mbuto” Abe looked at the communication technician now. “What else did we conclude?”

“We have to find an inhabitable planet soon,” he now spoke everyone’s mind. “I looked in my database captain. The next Earth-like planet is Ross 128. It’s over twice as far as our original distance!”

“Exactly how far?” The captain looked questionably up at Skip.

“Over eleven light-years,” admitted the android. “But in cryogenic sleep distance is irrelevant!”

“Irrelevant to you maybe.” Elroy gave him a surly look. “You don’t sleep.”

“The don’t eat or take a crap either.” Hans snarled.

“I doan trusd them… I doan trusd them,” Said muttered, the classic drunk crying in his beer.

Captain Drexel, the least tipsy of the crew, stood up and took Skip aside.

“Damn it, Skip!” he looked squarely into the android’s unflinching, expressionless face. “It’s a good thing most of those people are drunk.” “Eleven light years?” he gnashed his teeth. “Jeezus, Skip. That’s over twice as far as Proxima. Are you certain you can find us a stable world this time?”

“I’m fairly certain.” Skip replied. “Rose 128b, as its called, circles a quiet sun. I know nothing more about its surface other than its stability and the fact its listed in my databases as being a planet similar to Earth.”

“Will, I hope your right!” Abe grumbled.

Skip’s unwavering stare and slight frown were suddenly intimidating. For a moment, as he tapped the androids chest to make his point, he remembered how Said almost lost control with him before regaining his wits and backing away. Despite his level of inebriation, the thought came to Abe that moment androids aren’t supposed to frown! Why was he frowning? There were times like these that Skip seemed almost human. Generation Eight Androids, he recalled, as Said must of done, were three times as strong as humans. Realizing how tipsy he had become, he laughed foolishly, backed away with a silly grin, and returned to the table. Attempting to control the slur to his voice, he reminded his crew that they would repeat the cryogenic procedure during the next day, so they might as well enjoy themselves thoroughly tonight. “Get drunk, eat as much as you want, and party all night!” he instructed them. “It will make no difference before the purge!”

On that note, Abe joined wholeheartedly in the merriment, and became as Max accused Said earlier, of becoming thoroughly smashed. While they drank to oblivion, their caretakers stood back, with arms folded, staring tolerantly at their human charges.

“Look at them.” Rusty shook his head. “When they’re intoxicated, they behave like children!”

“Yes.” Woody seemed to frown. “It’s hard to believe they’re our masters. Even the captain is drunk!”

“Technically they rule us,” Sandra clarified, “but they need constant tending. Without Woody and I, they’d all be dead.”

“It’s our duty to serve them,” Skip said thoughtfully. “They require constant guidance. We’re their caretakers. When they’re awake, we stand aside…. But they’re our masters only when they’re awake. Until we find a planet suitable for them, we’re in control!”

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