《Enceladus Contact》


 Chapter 1 – Contact in BInary?

    THE WHINE of air escaping from a punctured space-suit was unmistakable.


    Viktoriya¡ª¡®Vikki¡¯ to her friends and crewmates¡ªknew that her time was up: it was only a matter of seconds. The suit¡¯s oxygen level would fall to below breathable level in less than a minute, judging by the rate at which air was leaking out¡ªand after that she would have a bare thirty seconds of consciousness before she passed out from anoxia. And worse would come after that, with blood vessels rup-turing in the near vacuum.


    If she could but grab an emergency patch from her backpack and slap it on the puncture in time ¡­ but her arms were pinioned.


    Her thoughts were crowding in on her¡ªfor in extremis, at the point of death, one¡¯s thoughts race through one¡¯s head like a hurri-cane¡ªwhereas in relaxation thoughts can be as sluggish as a glacier. She remembered her decompression drill¡ªso often repeated during training, but so utterly useless now. Don¡¯t try to hold your breath against the vacuum¡ªyou¡¯ll only burst your lungs. Exhale deeply, then exhale again, shut your eyes, and wait for rescue.


    Some hope!


    She had been out investigating the mysterious hummock, shaped more or less like a giant slug¡ªabout four metres high and wide and thirty metres long¡ªthat stood out conspicuously from the otherwise almost level plain that made up much of the icy surface of this region of Saturn¡¯s moon Enceladus. And¡ªfoolishly¡ªshe had set out on her own, defying all the protocols. After all, the hummock was only about one kilometre away from where the Valentina lay moored to the ice, alongside the semi-permanent base which the crew were busy erecting. She was the expedition¡¯s chief geologist and glaci-ologist, so it was surely her duty¡ªand she was eager to investigate any unusual surface phenomenon. Besides, no-one else could be spared from their work. In the end, Alex Zygmond, the mission commander, had reluctantly allowed her to go¡ªprovided that she remained within sight and, of course, with her radio switched on.


    So she had ¡®walked¡¯¡ªinsofar as walking was possible in the weak gravity of Enceladus, little more than a hundredth of Earth¡¯s¡ªit was more like gentle hopping. She had made her way with the help of crampons towards the strange hummock. Possibly it was just a snowdrift¡ªbut the expedition¡¯s base was several tens of kilometres away from the nearest geothermal vent which might spew liquid water and methane out into the vacuum, to fall gently as ¡®snow¡¯ in the surrounding area. If this was a snowdrift it was nowhere near where it ought to be. And moreover, normally on a world like Enceladus, the ¡®snow¡¯ would tend to settle in a level layer, there being no wind to whip it up into drifts.


    Vikki had arrived at the hummock and was carefully examining it by Saturn-light¡ªit was night-time but Saturn, at full phase and vastly spanning almost one-sixth of the sky overhead, cast enough light to work by. Certainly the feature looked at first sight like a heap of snow¡ªwater snow, not methane snow¡ªbut snow that had part-ially melted and then re-frozen forming a granular surface of larger crystals. A common enough occurrence on Earth, but here she could not think of any explanation. Enceladus was one of the coldest places in the Solar System: no way could the feeble sun¡¯s heat have melted the water-ice during the brief daytime.


    Should she collect a sample and bring it to the base for analysis?


    Tentatively she had prodded the hummock with a gloved finger.


    It was not friable like snow. The surface felt like some sort of integument, softly yielding under pressure¡ªlike the skin of some large animal. But a skin with a granular texture. Hastily she drew her hand back.


    Something was happening. An edge of the hummock, where it made contact with the surface ice, had lifted, and a vertical fissure was opening: a dark slit-like aperture. Startled, Vikki took a hasty step backwards¡ªbut in the negligible gravity the only result was that she launched herself into the ¡®air¡¯¡ªor would have if this moon had any air.


    At least she hoped to evade whatever might emerge from that dark slit.


    But she was not quick enough. A black glistening tentacle, tipped with what appeared to be a nasty-looking appendage like a lobster¡¯s claw, whipped out of the slit and coiled itself around her like a snake, pinioning her arms; then it retracted, pulling her back to the ground.


    It was then that she knew her suit was punctured.


    Her screams would be heard over the radio, of course, but there was no chance that help would arrive in time¡­


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    It was pitch dark.


    Vikki gradually slipped back into consciousness and took stock. So she was alive! Or was this some sort of afterlife? No¡ªa staunch materialist and agnostic, she had never believed in any of that stuff. She was in air¡ªshe could breathe. She was good at sensing the ambient pressure, and this felt like the pressure that was maintained aboard the Valentina, as well as in the space-suits. Forty kilopascals, about 0.4 atmospheres, made up of a mixture of about 70% oxygen and 30% inert gases, with a trace of CO2 and water vapour.


    Familiar air¡ªstandard across all SSSA (Solar System Space Agen-cy) in-space facilities. So she must have been rescued, and be back aboard the Valentina. But why was it so dark¡ªor had the vacuum exposure blinded her? And how long had she been unconscious? In a panic, she shakily groped the space around her. She was lying on a cold, slightly yielding surface¡ªbut not soft like a blanket, instead it felt scaly, like a snake¡¯s skin. None of the bunks on the Valentina were covered in material like that¡ªso perhaps she wasn¡¯t back aboard ship. But she was still feeling the microgravity, so she must still be on Enceladus¡ªbut where? Had her crewmates finished setting up the base, and had it been equipped with this unusual bunk material? And where was her space-suit¡ªher punctured space-suit she now recalled? Had it been taken away to be repaired?


    At least she still had her jumpsuit on: just as well, because she realised that she was feeling rather cold¡ªshivering even.


    How had she survived; how had she come to this? And how could she ever find anything in this blackness?


    Suddenly it wasn¡¯t completely dark. Several rows of dim green shapes¡ªsquares¡ªgradually formed in what appeared to be a ceiling above her head. Whatever they indicated, they conveyed no inform-ation she could understand. Just long arrays of squares.


    ¡õ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö


    ¡õ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö


    ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö


    ¡õ¡õ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡õ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö


    ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡õ¡ö


    ¡õ¡ö¡ö¡õ¡ö¡õ¡õ¡ö


    So she wasn¡¯t blind, thankfully. But was this a message of some sort? An alien message?¡ªbecause it wasn¡¯t in any language she could understand. Or was it? There appeared to be only two different symbols: a solid square and a hollow square, in a seemingly random sequence.


    But was it quite random? Morse code¡ªdots and dashes? Vikki knew a few characters from the long-obsolete Morse system: a single dot for ¡®E¡¯; a single dash for ¡®T¡¯, dot-dash for ¡®A¡¯, and so on. No, it didn¡¯t look like Morse. But she looked at the squares more intently and then it dawned on her.


    They were arranged in groups of eight, with gaps between each group. Two different symbols ¡­ ¡®0¡¯ and ¡®1¡¯ bits?


    Bytes!


    Bytes written out in binary code. ASCII code? Now, which were the ¡®0¡¯s and which were the ¡®1¡¯s? Time to start decoding. Luckily, Vikki recalled that she had a notebook and a pencil in the pocket of her jumpsuit. Were they still there? Yes! She tried tentatively decoding the groups, starting from the top left.


    01101001. She counted: 69 in hex¡ªletter ¡®i¡¯ in ASCII. Yes! we are getting somewhere: this could be a message. Time to write down a table of all the letters of the alphabet in order, and then their ASCII-hex representations. She knew that the lower-case letters began with 61h¡ªthanks to the basic science and IT segments which were part of general spaceflight training.


    Next group: 00010001. 11 in hex. Vikki couldn¡¯t remember what 11H stood for in ASCII, but it wasn¡¯t in her table: it wasn¡¯t a letter: it wasn¡¯t even printable, she thought.


    All right. Swap the ¡®0¡¯s and the ¡®1¡¯s. Then we get 10010110 11101110. 96H followed by EEH. Even worse: this made no sense at all.


    So much for being the first human to make contact with what seemed to be intelligent alien beings! If this really was the work of extraterrestrials, maybe they were sending her a message. Vikki might well be the most important person in the Solar System at this moment. But if she couldn¡¯t decipher the ¡®message¡¯, what was the use?


    What did she know so far? These beings grouped bits into bytes¡ªthat seemed evident. Had they picked up that format by listening in on messages between Valentina and Earth, or Valentina and Ceres, or Valentina and Ganymede? Or other traffic criss-crossing the Solar System? There had been a lot of radio communication, and the data was indeed grouped in bytes.


    But perhaps grouping of data into clusters of eight bits¡ªa power of two¡ªwas intuitive anyway. A completely alien species might well have hit upon the same system. After all powers-of-two were relatively easy for binary computers to work with¡ªand these aliens must surely know about computers.


    Vikki sighed. She put the notebook back in her pocket. Sitting up for a moment, she surveyed her surroundings as best she could in the dim light shed by the ¡®squares¡¯. She was in an enclosed space, some-what irregular in shape but roughly cubical. Floor, walls, and ceiling all had the same scaly texture. It was almost as if a huge reptile¡¯s (dinosaur¡¯s?) skin had been turned inside out, and she was inside it. Everything had this greenish tinge, but that was probably due to the colour of the illuminated squares. No sign of any doorway, nor furn-iture of any kind. No visible food or drink¡ªnor in fact anything that might serve as a toilet. If she was going to be confined here for long, she would certainly die of starvation and thirst¡ªair or no air. She might have made First Contact¡ªbut be doomed never to tell anyone about it¡­


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Unless she could figure out the message¡ªand somehow reply to it. How long had she spent puzzling over it? About half an hour she reckoned¡ªshe didn¡¯t have her watch on her¡ªbut she was dog-tired. Best to rest for a while. Vikki lay back again: the surface she lay on was quite comfortable, if a bit chilly, and she soon dozed off.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Vikki woke with a start. She had been dreaming: dreaming that she was trapped in a hall of mirrors¡ªtrapped and running frantically this way and that, colliding with her own reflection, unable to escape. She shook herself and waited for the disorientation which comes with sudden awakening from a dream to ease off. She rubbed her eyes. At least the green squares were still there. Time to address herself once more to the task of trying to figure out the ¡®message¡¯.


    Was there some arcane clue buried in the dream? Had her sub-conscious been trying to tell her something? Hall of mirrors! What was it about mirrors¡­?


    Of course! Mirrors reverse right and left. At least, if you hold written text up to a mirror, you see it in reverse. English words would run from right to left. Why hadn¡¯t Vikki thought of this before? If the aliens had no knowledge of human written orthography, they could not tell whether any particular language was written from left-to-right or vice-versa. Grab that notebook again and get scribbling, reading the groups from right to left. Let¡¯s assume that the solid squares are ¡®0¡¯s and the hollow squares are ¡®1¡¯s.


    79H, 6FH, 75H, 20H¡­


    Three lower-case letters followed by a space! ¡®y¡¯, ¡®o¡¯, ¡®v¡¯, then a space. ¡®Yov¡¯. Well, whatever that means, it isn¡¯t English. No¡ªwait! Vikki had miscounted: 75H is the letter ¡®u¡¯, not ¡®v¡¯. ¡®You¡¯. Excitedly, Vikki painstakingly worked out the rest of the message:


    ¡®you will release one orbit¡¯


    That was certainly a message in English, although it didn¡¯t make a lot of sense. So the aliens (Vikki was convinced she was in the grip of aliens, now) had somehow ¡®learnt¡¯ a form of English by listening in on messages sent out or received by Valentina. The data would have been compressed, Vikki thought¡ªso the aliens must have also figured out the compression system. Clearly they must be super-intelligent!


    But their grammar wasn¡¯t quite up to the mark. Vikki would ¡®re-lease¡¯ what? Perhaps it meant, she was to be released after one orbit. Presumably one orbit of Enceladus about Saturn, which was also the length of Enceladus¡¯ day¡ªabout 33 hours. That was encouraging¡ªif she could survive that long. But how to tell the ¡®aliens¡¯ that she needed her space-suit¡ªand food and drink?


    She stood up carefully in the low gravity. She was feeling really chilly now, and she did her best to warm up by hugging herself and gently lifting and lowering her legs. The ¡®ceiling¡¯ was only a metre or so above her head and she had to be careful not to bang her head on it by too much exertion.


    She surveyed her surroundings more intensely. Ah! There was something on one of the ¡®walls¡¯¡ªsomething she¡¯d missed until now. Two symbols side by side: faint representations of a solid square and a hollow square, in black against the greenish background:


    ¡ö ¡õ


    Unlike the symbols on the ceiling, they were not illuminated. Were they the input interface: some kind of keyboard? Tentatively she reached over and touched the solid square. Then she looked up. Beneath the ¡®text¡¯ she had already seen, there was a new illuminated square¡ªbut this time it was in red:


    ¡ö


    Very good. User input. Vikki could type in binary¡ªtedious but it would get her somewhere. But a keyboard with just two ¡®keys¡¯ wouldn¡¯t be much use unless she could backspace over any errors. Surely the aliens must have thought of this¡ªor were they so super-intelligent that they never made a mistake? No: there ought to be a way to backspace. She touched the solid square again, but this time held her finger on it for a few seconds. Yes: the red square dis-appeared. So she could correct any errors. Time to put a question to them.


    Would the aliens understand her request? And what should she ask for? Did she need to ask for anything? If the aliens were keeping her alive in a breathable atmosphere¡ªand if they were really promising to release her, surely they were benevolent? But would they under-stand a human¡¯s basic needs?


    Her space-suit was probably the first priority. Even if it hadn¡¯t been repaired, it would contain a small supply of water and com-pressed emergency rations. Enough to keep her alive for what was left of the 33 hours, perhaps. And wearing it would keep her warm. She would need to relieve herself at some point¡ªusing the hideous-ly uncomfortable space-suit catheter¡ªbut that could wait. She was still shivering: she must get a message out without delay before her fingers became too numb.


    Out with the notebook again. She tentatively wrote down a mess-age:


    i need my space suit


    No: perhaps ¡®space suit¡¯ wouldn¡¯t be understood. And the ¡®my¡¯ was superfluous. She crossed out what she¡¯d written and wrote:


    i need pressure suit


    Using the lookup table which she¡¯d already written out in her notebook, she laboriously converted each character of her message into ASCII hex,:


    69 20 6E 65 65 64 20 70 72 65 73 73 75 72 65 20 73 75 69 74


    Now to get to work. Would it be high bit first or low bit first? Vikki looked at the green ¡®text¡¯ and reasoned that it was probably the former¡ªalthough if she was wrong the aliens would probably figure it out. She started ¡®typing¡¯, gingerly with one finger:


    ¡ö, ¡õ, ¡õ, ¡ö, ¡õ, ¡ö, ¡ö, ¡õ, ¡ö, ¡ö, ¡õ, ¡ö, ¡ö, ¡ö, ¡ö, ¡ö ¡­


    and so on, until the whole message was out. As expected, the text built up on the ceiling in red squares running from right to left. Barring a few mistakes which she carefully corrected, she was doing it right.


    Now all she could do was sit and wait.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    It was over an hour before something did happen. As before with the strange hummock, a part of one of the walls curled up at its base, a dark vertical slit formed¡ªand sure enough, a dark glistening tentacle slowly emerged from the slit. Vikki shuddered and hopped back to the further wall, but this time the tentacle made no attempt to grab her. Instead it looped its claw-end back into the slit and then re-emerged drawing in a bundle, which it deposited in the middle of the room; then the tentacle retracted into the slit which promptly closed. Vikki cautiously approached the bundle and sighed with relief: it consisted of her balaclava, socks, and space-suit¡ªneatly rolled up. No sign of the backpack or helmet, but maybe those would come later So her request had been understood.


    She thankfully donned her balaclava and socks, relieved to gain some protection from the cold, and reached into the suit for an emergency ration bar and drink bubble. She was both thirsty and ravenous. She also¡ªuncomfortably¡ªmade use of the catheter in the suit to relieve herself. The ration bar was tasteless and uninspiring¡ªsome sort of high-energy synthetic food¡ªbut that was what it was meant to be: for emergency consumption only: not something to be relished!


    Examining the suit closely, Vikki discovered that the puncture had been patched¡ªbut not with a patch from her backpack: this patch was entirely alien, hexagonal in shape, and appeared to composed of the same scaly material as the room¡¯s walls, floor and ceiling. Never-theless it seemed to adhere well to the suit¡¯s surface, and hopefully was stopping the leak. She wondered whether to put on the suit¡ªit would hamper her but it would keep her warmer, although without helmet or backpack she couldn¡¯t turn on the heater or display, and it wouldn¡¯t be much use outside. In the end she made up her mind and wriggled into it.


    Where were the helmet and backpack? Why hadn¡¯t they been returned to her at the same time as the suit?


    Vikki waited for what she reckoned was another hour. At least she wasn¡¯t shivering any more¡ªalthough being able to switch on the suit¡¯s heater would have been welcome. She was still hungry but thought it best to conserve the remaining ration bars for now.


    Now another slit opened in a different wall, opposite the one where the first had appeared. Vikki stood still and waited to see what might be delivered this time. But the tentacle that emerged was different from the others: it ended not in a claw but in a bunch of smaller tentacles, almost like fingers. It reached out towards Vikki¡¯s face. Seen in close-up, she could see that each ¡®finger¡¯¡ªthere were six in all¡ªended in a small hemispherical swelling rather like the sucker cup on a toy arrow. She shrank back but the tentacle was deter-minedly closing in on her face. Best to submit, she decided, not without a shudder. Whatever these aliens were, they didn¡¯t appear to be hostile. But why wouldn¡¯t they show themselves, instead of just extending their tentacles out through a dark slit? Perhaps they reasoned that the sight of the complete creature would be too disturbing? Vikki could well understand that. She had read Arthur C. Clarke¡¯s Childhood¡¯s End, in which the devil-like aliens wait fifty years before showing themselves¡­


    The tentacle¡¯s ¡®fingers¡¯ deftly probed her face. They felt warm and dry¡ªnot quite like human fingers but close enough. Perhaps they were performing some sort of medical check on her. But then, all of a sudden, the fingered tentacle slithered down into the collar of her space-suit¡ªand not only that, it wormed its way inside her jumpsuit and even her underwear.


    Vikki managed to suppress an impulse to squeal in protest, just in time. She reasoned: how could these aliens understand anything about human modesty and immodesty? They were only being help-ful. Best to pretend she was being intimately examined by a gynae-cologist. In fact, that seemed to be a pretty good analogy: she was sure now that the aliens were just performing a ¡®medical¡¯ to assure themselves of her well-being before they released her. And the sensation was not unpleasant.


    After a few minutes the ¡®examination¡¯ stopped and the tentacle withdrew into its slot. Almost at the same time, the slot on the other side re-opened and, to her relief, her helmet and backpack appeared. Hastily she strapped on the backpack and connected it up, then she donned her helmet, clamped it down, and powered up the suit. Batteries still showed nearly full charge, and plenty of oxygen reserve. Good. They must be planning to let her out, and she would have no trouble getting back to the Valentina. It was nowhere near thirty-three hours since she had woken up, but perhaps the ¡®one orbit¡¯ the aliens had mentioned, meant the maximum time she would have to wait.


    There was something odd about her suit¡ªbut for the moment Vikki was too excited to notice.


    Sure enough, the head-up display showed her that the pressure outside her suit was dropping. The aliens must be operating this ¡®room¡¯ as a sort of airlock. When the pressure had dropped to almost zero, a much wider aperture opened on one of the walls. And through the aperture, instead of complete darkness, Vikki could see the bleak surface of Enceladus, dimly lit by Saturn-light, stretching out ahead of her. She was free! Excitedly she hopped through the ¡®door¡¯ and onto the Enceladean ice. She was standing right next to the ¡®hummock¡¯¡ªso her place of captivity had indeed been inside it. Somehow¡­


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    It was only as she was rounding the ¡®hummock¡¯¡ªor alien spaceship, not of Enceladus, as she must surely now regard it¡ªthat it clicked with Vikki: what the anomaly was. The date and time indications on her head-up display showed that she had been out of contact for nearly fourteen days! And all that time, equipped with a space-suit that held only six hours¡¯ worth of oxygen. Was her suit lying? If not, what would they have been thinking at the Valentina? They must surely have presumed her dead¡­


    Should she tell the truth? That she had been held captive by aliens inside some sort of spaceship? Vikki stopped and considered her options as she stood by the hummock, hidden from view from the Valentina. No! Firstly, she would surely never be believed. Then¡ªeven if her crewmates did believe her incredible story¡ªthat she was indeed the first human to make contact with an alien intelligence¡ªsurely that odious Dr Murielle d¡¯Anterre, the expedition¡¯s exo-biologist, would take the credit to herself.


    Vikki needed a cover story. She took her time trying desperately to think up something plausible, before she showed herself. Not with much hope¡ªshe would have to try her best.

 Chapter 2 – Doubts and Frustration

    ¡°WHAT THE fuck have you been up to, Dr Viktoriya Andreyevna Rozhkova?¡±


    It did not need the profanity to make clear to Vikki Rozhkova that Mission Commander Alex¡ªAlexandra Zygmond¡ªwas in a fury. Usually she addressed Vikki¡ªlike any other crew member¡ªby her familiar first name ¡®Vikki¡¯. To use her full name, Russian patro-nymic even, was quite exceptional. Alex¡¯s face was almost purple with rage, her lips drawn back in a snarl, her face so close to Vikki¡¯s, that Vikki almost gagged on that dreadful perfume (not as obnoxious as Murielle¡¯s, luckily. Vikki loathed perfume and never used it. Why was it even allowed on space missions?).


    Vikki was used to Alex¡¯s authoritarian persona at the best of times, but she could not help recoiling, sweat beading from her hairline, as she cowered on the bridge of the Valentina. She was struck dumb. She hadn¡¯t expected this sort of reception, not after the apparent ¡®miracle¡¯ of seemingly ¡®coming back to life¡¯ days after she¡¯d been presumed dead¡­


    It was some time before Vikki spoke up.


    ¡°It¡¯s complicated, Alex ¡­ Commander Zygmond. I hardly know where to begin¡­¡±


    ¡°Indeed it must be ¡®complicated¡¯. Have you the slightest idea how complicated it¡¯s been for the rest of us? So you promise to stay within sight and with your radio on, while you examine that ¡®snow-drift¡¯, or whatever it is. You prance off, and promptly dive behind that thing¡ªvanish from view. We hear what sounds like a shout or a scream over the radio¡ªthen silence. Your tracker cuts off too. Of course we send out a search party at once. Our guess is, you¡¯ve fallen into a crevasse or a sinkhole¡ªbut we found no crevasses or sinkholes in the neighbourhood when we last checked and we found none this time. We search all round but can find no trace of you. After some six hours¡ªremember, your suit only holds six hours¡¯ oxygen¡ªwe have to assume that you¡¯re dead. We notify Earth. We notify the SSSA and are still awaiting instructions from them. Your parents and your brother have been told of your sad demise. What do we tell them now? Of course we go on searching for two whole days¡ªEnceladus days, that is: nearly three Earth-days¡ªhoping to recover your body. No luck. We even dig into that snowdrift of yours¡ª¡±


    ¡°You dug into the snowdrift? But you couldn¡¯t have!¡± interrupted Vikki. ¡°It¡¯s not a snowdrift, it¡¯s a¡ª¡± She caught herself just in time. It would not do to reveal her discovery that the ¡®hummock¡¯ was in fact some kind of alien artefact: a spaceship even. Not yet!¡ªnot until she was more sure of herself and could claim the credit. ¡°It¡¯s rather more solid than a snowdrift¡ªlike a mound of re-frozen water-snow,¡± she continued, lamely. The lie was not far from the truth, after all.


    ¡°Not what we found,¡± continued Alex. ¡°We checked all over. Just a loose pile of CO2 snow, with a trace of methane snow.¡±


    ¡°Water snow, you mean. That¡¯s what it looks like.¡±


    ¡°We took a sample, and it¡¯s definitely CO2 and methane snow.¡±


    ¡°You think I can¡¯t tell the difference, Commander?¡± retorted Vikki. ¡°One glance was enough to tell me, it looked like partially melted and re-frozen water snow, just like on Earth.¡± She stopped. Had she run away with her remarks? It would never do to sound patronising¡ªespecially not with Alex!


    But Alex was unfazed. ¡°I can only surmise,¡± she continued, ¡°that you were imagining things. Were you drunk, or otherwise dis-oriented? Had you been fiddling with your oxygen¡ªgiven yourself hypoxia or hyperoxia?¡±


    ¡°I had done no such thing. But I was disoriented, certainly. I thought I was starting to lose air. Maybe my suit was playing up?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with your suit. We checked¡ªor rather, Dr Ye, here, checked it over as soon as you took it off. Plenty of oxygen reserve.¡± She nodded to Dr Ye Wu-Jia, the mission¡¯s medical and life support officer, standing beside her: he nodded back.


    Had they noticed the patch? The aliens¡¯ patch? Vikki would have to invent a cover story for that¡ªas soon as she could get her hands on her suit once more.


    ¡°Well¡ªanyway, I must have passed out, I suppose. How I stayed alive ¡­ how long was it?¡±


    ¡°You were out of contact for fourteen days. Ten Enceladus-days, that is. Without oxygen! That¡¯s incredible, to say the least. Neverthe-less, we have to find out how it is you managed to survive that long without air, food or water. Have you any more to say, Vikki?¡±


    At least Alex was addressing her by her familiar name once again. Her aggressive stance had softened somewhat! Vikki was silent for a while. If she had ever contrived any sort of cover story, it was falling apart. She tried a desperate ploy:


    ¡°Alex¡ªdo you believe in miracles?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t believe in miracles. Are you about to tell us how some sort of angel or god descended on Enceladus and nurtured you for fourteen days?¡±


    ¡°Well, Alex¡ªI hardly know how to explain it, either. Can¡¯t people exposed to extreme cold go without air or water for many days?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s possible¡ªbut you don¡¯t show any visible signs of hypo-thermia, Vikki,¡± put in Dr Ye. ¡°I shall of course be checking you over thoroughly¡ªbut for now I can only say, I find your survival inexplicable.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t argue with that. But, somehow, I¡¯m alive. Can we move on¡ªcan I get on with my work, then?¡±


    ¡°You can catch up on your reports, Vikki¡ªbut you¡¯re confined to the ship, or to the base once we¡¯re ready to occupy it¡ªuntil I give further orders. And furthermore, you¡¯ll report to sick bay for the next two days, to give Dr Ye a chance to give you a proper check-up.¡±


    ¡°But¡ªAlex¡ªI really need to investigate the features outside¡ªespecially the hummock. That¡¯s my primary assignment on this mission, surely? Please can I go outside, Alex?¡±


    ¡°You are confined to the ship and base until I decide otherwise, and that¡¯s an order, Viktoriya. So no more arguments please. I¡¯m sure you understand the need for this.¡±


    ¡°Y-yes: I suppose so,¡± muttered Vikki, disconsolately. So much for having an opportunity to learn more about the artefact! And surely one or other of her crewmates would go exploring, and learn its secret. Dr Murielle, in all probability. Would Vikki still be able to claim priority: claim First Contact for herself? After all, it hadn¡¯t been much of a contact: just a few words tapped out laboriously in binary. Could the aliens be ¡®taught¡¯ somehow to communicate more readably?


    And Vikki knew that she could not just ask for her space-suit back. Alex would surely suspect her of wanting to go outside again, and would discipline her more severely. ¡®Insubordination¡¯ or whatever. But perhaps Dr Ye would be more sympathetic.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Dr Ye Wu-Jia, who preferred his crewmates to address him as ¡®Dr Ye¡¯, spent much of the next two days checking Vikki over, in the sick-bay. He, at least, did not order her around: he, a softly-spoken, kindly little man in his late 50s, was perhaps the most self-effacing, modest and sympathetic crew member of them all. Just what was needed in a ship¡¯s doctor, Vikki mused to herself: he reminded her of ¡®Bones¡¯ (alias ¡®Dr McCoy¡¯) in the vintage Star Trek TV series¡ªalthough he was far less tetchy than the latter.. He was charmingly tactful and discreet. On examining her intimately, he noted that her pubic hair had not grown despite her fourteen days absence (female cosmonauts were advised to shave regularly, to avoid the problem of urine collecting in the hair). That was puzzling. After hesitating for a while, Dr Ye ventured, shyly and with some embarrassment, to ask Vikki when her next period was due. With a start, Vikki realised that it should have begun just three or four days into her ¡®disappearance¡¯. But it hadn¡¯t: there had been no sign of it when she ¡®woke up¡¯. Since Dr Ye was a doctor and a professional, she wasn¡¯t shy about explaining these things to him.


    Another mystery. More than just being unconscious. Suspended animation?


    Although Dr Ye had his suspicions, Vikki did not put him under more pressure by trying to concoct a plausible story for him¡ªand certainly she dropped no hint as to what she had experienced. Indeed she was beginning to wonder whether she¡¯d been dreaming, or suffered some sort of hallucination. Had she accidentally adjusted something in her suit?¡ªhad she been getting too little or too much oxygen?¡ªand had that interfered with her sense of reality. It seemed improbable: making such an adjustment, even intentionally, was not normal procedure and it was by no means easy to over-ride the automatic controls.


    And if it was all a dream or a hallucination, it was extraordinarily detailed for that. All that figuring out of messages in binary!


    Dr Ye was mainly interested in determining how she had survived for ten Enceladus-days¡ªnearly 330 hours¡ªstarting with only six hours¡¯ oxygen. His best guess was that she must have somehow entered some near-frozen state, in which all the bodily functions including metabolism, respiration, and heartbeat, would have slowed down to a mere fraction of their normal speed. A process akin to the hibernation seen in many terrestrial animals. In a human such a state was inconceivable¡ªbut strange things happened in space and Dr Ye kept an open mind. He carried out every test on her he could think of, making use of almost every piece of equipment at his disposal in the sick-bay¡ªbut nothing shed any light on what could have caused this condition. Nor for the fact that she seemed to have recovered sufficiently to walk back from the hummock to the ship, unaided and seemingly in perfect health. He was baffled, but maintained an even expression, concealing his unease.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    The semi-permanent base on Enceladus was not yet ready for occupation, so after her sick-bay confinement was over, Vikki was sitting in the cramped cabin on the Valentina that she shared with Murielle (who, to her relief, was elsewhere at present), tapping out her report. Dr Ye had, of course, passed her as perfectly fit and discharged her from sick bay. What could Vikki possibly write? There was no way she could reveal anything about the aliens¡ªnot yet! She concocted a more or less plausible description of the hummock, detailing its composition as being of partially melted and then re-frozen water-snow, and postulated one or two theories as to how this could have happened. Nothing, of course, about the flexible yielding ¡®skin¡¯ of the hummock.


    With luck, if Alex ordered another team out to examine the hum-mock, all they would discover would be consistent with her report.


    But then Vikki remembered, with a jolt, that Alex had told her that she had sent a search party to look for her¡ªand that they had dug into the hummock.


    How could they, if it had a sort of skin, without noticing and perhaps tearing the skin?


    Perhaps the aliens could change the outer texture of the hummock, and even its composition, to disguise its nature when they didn¡¯t want it to be investigated.


    Perhaps Vikki was the only person the aliens trusted. After all, they appeared to have saved her from death, and they had somehow repaired her suit.


    Her suit!


    Vikki got up and made her way to Dr Ye¡¯s cabin. He wasn¡¯t there, but eventually she found him in the Mess room, helping himself to a bulb of tea. Luckily he was alone.


    ¡°Dr Ye, may I have a look at my space-suit for a moment?¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh. Sorry Vikki, Alex has given strict orders that you¡¯re not allowed outside for the time being.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to go outside. It¡¯s just that I think I recorded a message while in the suit, and I¡¯d like to retrieve it. I can¡¯t remember what I said, now: it was just before I blacked out. It may be import-ant.¡±


    ¡°We checked everything in your suit, and we didn¡¯t find any message.¡±


    ¡°You may have missed something. Please, Dr Ye!¡±


    Dr Ye was an affable and kindly soul¡ªin stark contrast to Alex. Vikki was fond of him and wasn¡¯t shy of asking him a favour. ¡°All right. Let me finish my tea first,¡± he said. Having downed his drink, he led Vikki to the suit lockers and opened one of the doors.


    Vikki lifted out the suit and looked at it carefully. There was no sign of any patch, nor of any repair work.


    ¡°Are you sure this is mine, Dr Ye?¡±


    ¡°Of course it¡¯s yours, Vikki. Look, there¡¯s your name: ¡®Dr Viktoriya A. Rozhkova¡¯ printed across the front. What made you think otherwise?¡±


    ¡°All right, sorry, it must be mine,¡± muttered Vikki. She connected the helmet to the backpack, powered up the suit, and fiddled around for a while with the controls, pretending to search for a saved mess-age. Of course there wasn¡¯t one. In the end she returned the suit to Dr Ye. ¡°I thought I¡¯d left a message, but I suppose I must have been mistaken and confused,¡± she said, feigning contriteness.


    And with that, she thanked Dr Ye and returned to her cabin.


    Time to think.


    She could only surmise that the aliens¡¯ patch must have somehow ¡®blended¡¯ in with the fabric of the suit, forming an invisible mend. And this despite the fact that the suit was made of purely terrestrial materials! Whatever technology the aliens possessed must be far beyond anything of Earth¡¯s.


    She must find a way to investigate the aliens¡¯ ship further, before she was forced to reveal her discovery to the others. Alex¡¯s ban wouldn¡¯t last for ever, surely! But if she was ever to communicate anything more meaningful with the aliens, she couldn¡¯t go on typing in messages in binary. Could she find a way to persuade the aliens to use ordinary text?


    Of course she could! The aliens were evidently eavesdropping on the Valentina¡¯s communications. She could transmit something ¡®edu-cational¡¯ and with luck they would pick it up and figure things out¡­


    Best to send too much information, rather than too little. Vikki made her way to Paul Udike¡¯s cabin¡ªand not finding him there, on to the communication hub of the ship. Paul was the crew¡¯s IT and communications specialist, and was the only crew member of about the same age as Vikki¡ªwho felt attracted to him. She found him busy at work over the main computer console, and hesitated at first about interrupting him. Paul could get irritable at best, if he was disturbed whilst working on something complicated.


    After a while Paul paused in his work and looked up at Vikki.


    ¡°Oh, hi, Vikki, so you¡¯re out of sick-bay, yay! Are you feeling all right then?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Paul. Never felt better. But I¡¯ve got to get down to some work. Tell me, is there a copy of Wikipedia on the computer?¡±


    ¡°Wiki? You¡¯re pulling my leg, surely, Vikki! Have you the slightest idea how many petabytes Wikipedia takes up these days? This isn¡¯t a quantum supercomputer we¡¯re running here, you know!¡±


    ¡°Sorry Paul. I wasn¡¯t thinking straight.¡±


    ¡°You could access Wiki back on Earth. It¡¯d have to be a relay via Ceres: Earth is out of direct contact at the moment, on the far side of the sun. And you¡¯d have to be patient: the lightspeed turnaround would be around¡­¡± Paul paused to do a quick calculation ¡°¡­three-and-a-half hours. What do you need Wiki for, anyway? I¡¯d have thought all those papers you brought along in the Geology database¡ªwhich we do have stored here¡ªwould meet your requirements.¡±


    Uh-oh, thought Vikki. It wasn¡¯t the turnaround delay¡ªbetween putting out a request and getting the response¡ªthat bothered her. No: it was the sheer impossibility of getting Earth to transmit the entire contents of Wikipedia to Enceladus. SSSA would never allow her that much bandwidth! So her wild scheme of ¡®educating¡¯ the aliens would have to be scaled back. ¡°I just wanted to do some additional encyclopaedic research¡ªoutside what I¡¯ve got in my database. Have you any suggestions?¡±


    ¡°Well, Vikki, we do have a copy of a rather archaic encyclopaedia called ¡®Britannica¡¯, which Dr Murielle insisted on bringing along. I guess she had the same reasons as you have.¡±


    ¡°Murielle? Uh-oh¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s in English. Yes, Murielle wanted the French version, of course, but Alex over-ruled her. Anyway, if you want to consult it, I¡¯ll send you the file name.¡± And Paul tapped out a message on his console.


    Half the job done! Now Vikki had to search for an ASCII table, render it into a bitmap graphic for the aliens¡¯ benefit, and append it to the Britannica file. Having done that, she had to wait for a quiet moment to carry out the other half of her plan. Best to wait until Paul and Alex, at least, were asleep¡­


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    It was almost two days later that Alex summoned Vikki. She sounded angry once again: though nowhere near as angry as she had been a few days before. Vikki made her way to Alex¡¯s cabin with some trepidation. She had guessed what it would be about!


    ¡°So what tricks are we up to now, Viktoriya? I¡¯ve just had a very brief communication from Ceres. All it said was ¡®WTF?¡¯. So I asked Paul to look into the communication logs, and lo and behold, a huge transmission from us to Ceres just prior to that¡ªcompletely unauth-orised of course¡ªof an entire encyclopedia. And Paul tells me he passed you a copy of this same encyclopedia the day before. What can you have been thinking of? Surely you realise that communica-tions use up power, especially over the distance from here to Ceres. And we haven¡¯t got an unlimited resource of solar energy to generate that power¡ªand it¡¯s needed for other systems. Don¡¯t you realise you are putting the whole expedition at risk?¡±


    Vikki was floundering. Best to play it dumb. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Com-mander. I thought I was just copying the file to my tablet, not send-ing it out. I must have tapped in the wrong place. Silly me!¡±


    ¡°Well, you must have tapped several ¡®wrong¡¯ buttons in success-ion. Seems improbable to me. Were you out of your mind?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Alex. Maybe it¡¯s still the after-effects of my four-teen days ¡®under¡¯. Once again, I¡¯m very sorry. But I don¡¯t feel as if I¡¯m going crazy¡­¡±


    Vikki¡¯s contriteness had the welcome effect of softening Alex¡¯s mood. In a more kindly voice, she said ¡°All right, Vikki. But I¡¯d like you to go and present yourself to Dr Ye once again. Perhaps he can pick up something he missed. And don¡¯t worry¡ªI can¡¯t afford to lose your expertise, so we¡¯ll hope to have you back in action as soon as maybe¡­¡±


    This sounded more hopeful. After some hesitation, Vikki ventured:


    ¡°Does that mean I¡¯ll be able to go outside once more. I really need to, Alex¡­¡±


    ¡°When I give you my permission, Vikki. Not before.¡±


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Being grounded in the ship indefinitely was far harder for Vikki to endure than being imprisoned in the ¡®hummock¡¯ for¡ªhow long had Alex said?¡ªfourteen days. At least she had been out cold for most of those fourteen days¡ªpossibly literally. She itched to sneak out and learn what was going on outside; she felt peeved at not even being allowed to help in finishing off the base. But she had no wish to annoy Alex even further, and she was not the kind of person to disobey orders.


    At least¡ªnot unless she felt she had to¡­


    As well as writing her report, Vikki took time to reflect upon herself and what her real role was in this mission. She was a small woman, slim, in her early thirties, with short straggly black hair and piercing green eyes. She had a considerable knack for arguing her case¡ªand for feeling frustrated and impatient when she lost the debate, like on this occasion; she often had bouts of ill-temper. She had been chosen for the mission on the strength of her profound expertise in geology, especially in ice formations. Was she also there to make First Contact with any ETs that might show up? Assuredly not. The mission¡¯s prime directive was to examine the liquid water which was now known to lie beneath the ice, in the hope of picking up evidence of primitive life-forms¡ªalmost certainly nothing more advanced than Earth¡¯s archaea and bacteria. That was what the mission¡¯s exobiologist, Dr Murielle, was tasked with.


    Aliens who could, after a few days¡¯ eavesdropping, figure out how to speak in English¡ªalbeit not-quite-perfect English and only in binary code? And displaying said ¡®English¡¯ text on the ceiling of a room in their spacecraft (if it was a spacecraft¡ªor was it a semi-permanent habitat similar to what the Valentina¡¯s crew were at work constructing?) Completely off the agenda! Which means that anyone ought to be able to claim the credit for such an amazing, stuff-of-science-fiction discovery. Why can¡¯t it be me? thought Vikki.

 Chapter 3 – Witness

    VIKKI KNEW that her ¡®rustication¡¯ could not last forever. She was an important member of the team, and the team could not afford to go without her skills outside the ship. She had filed her report, and she bided her time for a few days. After all, if the aliens had indeed intercepted the encyclopedia transmission as she hoped, they might need some time to decipher it. What would they make of it? Vikki was beginning to have misgivings about having given them the entire Britannica¡ªtoo much information and not all of it pleasant reading!


    At length Alex summoned her to the bridge. ¡°Well, you seem in damn¡¯ fine fettle to me, young Vikki!¡± was Alex¡¯s first remark¡ªevidently in the mood for banter and more friendly than she had been at their earlier confrontation. ¡°So we¡¯ll pass over, for the moment, getting to the bottom of what actually happened with you. I¡¯m sending you to join Joachim and Gustave checking out the life-support in the base. You¡¯ll just be offering them a helping hand when needed¡ªdoing what they tell you to do¡ªyou are not under any circumstances to work on the system yourself. I hope I¡¯ve made that clear¡ªand that¡¯s an order. So go and suit up.¡± Alex clearly still suspected Vikki of tampering with her own suit, despite Vikki¡¯s strenuous denials¡ªand she was not about to relinquish her adherence to military-style discipline, not while she was in charge.


    ¡°Please, Alex, may I not have another look at the hummock. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s something strange about it. Why should a heap of snow¡ªwhether it be water or CO2-methane¡ªform unexpectedly on an otherwise featureless ice plain? We¡¯re a long way from the nearest vent or geyser.¡±


    Alex thought about this for a moment. ¡°Very well,¡± she said at last. ¡°I suppose if I don¡¯t let you go, you¡¯ll be pestering me for the rest of the mission. But not until the work on the base is complete and we¡¯re ready to move in¡ªunderstand?¡± And just to re-emphasise her firmness, she turned and radioed Joachim and Gustave to expect Vikki within minutes.


    Joachim Gr?z, deputy commander of the mission and navigation officer; and Gustave Quincy, the chief engineer. Why not Dr Ye, the life support specialist¡ªseeing as they were fitting out the life sup-port system in the base? But Ye would have declined the task¡ªVikki knew that. He¡¯d say he was more needed on board ship for his medical skills¡ªand he was right. Indeed: not only did Vikki think of him as ¡®Bones¡¯, but his rebuttal might very well have come from the very lips of that fictional medic: ¡°I¡¯m a doctor Jim, not an engineer¡­¡±!


    No: Dr Ye would go over to check out the systems once the instal-lation was complete. Not before.


    It took four more frustrating days before the base was pronounced ready for occupancy, and Vikki was able once again to put in her plea. In this she was backed up by Gustave, who had listened sym-pathetically to her continued insistence that she couldn¡¯t account for her ¡®disappearance¡¯¡ªwhereas Joachim had been indifferent. Both of them had smiled at each other, but they hadn¡¯t laughed at her.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Vikki knew that Alex would impose conditions on any future EVA. She would have to take a companion. To her relief, Alex didn¡¯t nominate Murielle as ¡®chaperone¡¯: instead she proposed that Hal McManus, the mining, drilling, and excavation specialist, should accompany her. Vikki was rather disappointed at this: she would much rather have had Gustave, with whom she got on quite well. If there was anyone whom she felt she could trust with her great secret, and not to steal her moment of glory, it had to be Gustave. But Alex was adamant.


    Still, there were ways round the difficulty. Hal was a rather stand-offish and impersonal individual, at age 43 somewhat older (but not that much older) than Vikki herself¡ªwhereas Gustave was in his late 50s. He was also fairly attractive. Perhaps she could use her charms to persuade Hal to do her a ¡®favour¡¯. Not by going too far, of course¡­


    Sure enough, a couple of days later, just as Vikki was suiting up (under Alex¡¯s supervision), Hal came limping up¡ªas best one could limp in the almost zero gravity.


    ¡°Er, sorry, Alex: I seem to have badly banged my knee. Those damned wrenches floating about all over the place! Could someone else go instead of me?¡±


    ¡°All right. You can go with Gustave then, Vikki.¡±


    Success! ¡°Thanks, Hal,¡± Vikki mouthed when Alex had her back turned.


    Once they were suited up and out of the airlock, Vikki quickly switched her radio to a private channel and gestured eagerly to Gustave, hoping he would get the hint. Gustave, being unable to hear her, soon realised what she¡¯d done and flipped through the channels until he made contact.


    ¡°You know we¡¯re not supposed to use a private channel for more than ten minutes, don¡¯t you, Vikki.¡±


    ¡°Yes¡ªI know¡ªbut Gustave, this is really important and it¡¯s just between you and me for now. When we reach the hummock, I¡¯m hoping to show you something absolutely amazing. Unbelievable, in fact. But I¡¯ve not told the others¡ªand I want to keep it a secret for now.¡±


    ¡°Well well, Vikki! A mystery, and I¡¯m supposed to keep mum? I¡¯m not promising anything, mind. If what you show me is important to our mission, I¡¯ll have to tell Alex in due course. You understand, surely?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡± Vikki was encouraged: Gustave wasn¡¯t refus-ing point-blank to keep a secret. ¡°I guess we¡¯d better switch back to the Valentina channel, before Alex sends out a posse after us.¡±


    They continued their trek to the hummock in silence. Once there, they made their way to the far side, out of sight of the Valentina: to what Vikki reckoned was the spot where the original ¡®fissure¡¯ had appeared. She tentatively prodded the surface of the hummock. It felt friable, just like partially melted and re-frozen water-snow. Indeed a handful of this snow came away in her glove. Nothing like what she had encountered earlier. Overwhelmed with disappointment, she turned to face Gustave: but he wasn¡¯t there; he had moved to a spot about five metres to one side.


    ¡°Come here and take a look at this, Vikki,¡± he radioed.


    What he was pointing at was clear footprints in the ice: crampon marks made by a fairly small pair of crampons. They led away from the hummock and looped around its far end, apparently curving back to the ship.


    ¡°Make a footprint next to these marks, Vikki.¡± Vikki complied, and Gustave brought out a tape measure and compared the new mark to the old ones. ¡°Yes, they certainly look like your footprints,¡± he con-tinued. ¡°They¡¯re the right size. But here¡¯s the strange thing. One of the footprints appears to be half covered by the edge of the snow-drift: as if you¡¯d walked out of the drift¡ªor rather, as if you¡¯d walked away from something under the drift. But if the drift has been there all the time, how could that be?¡±


    ¡°This must be the spot!¡± exclaimed Vikki, eagerly, without answering Gustave¡¯s question. Eagerly she prodded and prodded at the hummock, but still felt nothing but the same crumbly texture. She tried hard to suppress a groan. It seemed as if the hummock had somehow ¡®sealed¡¯ itself against all visitors.


    Unless¡­


    ¡°Gustave, would you do me a big favour please? Just walk around to the other side of the hummock for a few minutes. Please!¡±


    ¡°All right. But only for five minutes, mind. And if I don¡¯t hear from you, I¡¯ll be back.¡±


    As Gustave was rounding the end of the hummock, a patch of its surface nearest to Vikki shimmered slightly, as if it were enveloped in a heat haze. But there could be no heat haze in a vacuum. Some-thing was happening!


    Sure enough, when Vikki prodded the hummock once again, it had changed its texture and become the familiar yielding ¡®skin¡¯. And then the familiar vertical fissure was there, just as it had appeared before. Not tentacles this time: just the opening. As before, just large enough for Vikki to squeeze through. Evidently the ¡®aliens¡¯ weren¡¯t prepared to let in more than one ¡®visitor¡¯. Vikki couldn¡¯t suppress a yell of delight¡ªbut then she realised that she couldn¡¯t hear Gustave. Had she accidentally switched channel again? No: she was definitely still on the public Valentina channel. The hummock must be blocking radio signals.


    Eager as she was to venture inside, Vikki wasn¡¯t going to push her luck. No alien ¡®conversation¡¯ this time: she would have to work out a way to visit the hummock alone.


    The scream. The Valentina¡¯s crew had heard her screams when she¡¯d been seized by the tentacle before, standing on this exact spot. So the hummock didn¡¯t block signals all the time¡­


    Best to get back to Gustave before he gets worried.


    As she bounded or skipped round the hummock, she almost ran into Gustave bounding towards her. They narrowly avoided a collision. So Gustave had been getting worried. She watched as he flipped through the radio channels until he finally found the right one and spoke.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t hear you, Vikki. Is everything all right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Gustave. Just that I need a really big favour now.¡± Vikki knew that she had no option but to tell Gustave the truth. But secretly! ¡°Could you please¡­¡± She broke off and switched to the private channel again. Gustave took the hint and located the channel.


    ¡°Once again, this is strictly between us,¡± continued Vikki, once they had resumed contact. ¡°This ¡®hummock¡¯¡ªI discovered that it isn¡¯t a natural feature at all. It¡¯s an alien spacecraft or habitat. Yes¡ªreal live intelligent ETs! I¡¯m almost sure they¡¯re not native to Enceladus: they must have come from another world. I know this because I was taken ¡®inside¡¯ the hummock and held a sort of ¡®conversation¡¯ with the aliens. They appear to have learnt English somehow. And they kept me alive all those fourteen days¡ªalthough for most of them I was unconscious.¡±


    ¡°Aliens? You¡¯re kidding me surely! What did they look like?¡±


    ¡°All I saw of them were sort of black shiny tentacles coming out of cracks in a sort of wall. Never the complete being. Yes: I know it sounds corny¡ªtentacular monsters from another world. Stuff of those historic pulp fiction mags! I¡¯m only saying what I really saw, Gustave.¡±


    ¡°So these creatures actually¡ªspoke to you?¡±


    ¡°Not with sound. They projected a sort of text onto the ceiling of the internal chamber. All in binary: I had a devil of a job figuring out what it said. But it was in English, all right. They must have been eavesdropping on the signals from the Valentina. So I contrived to ¡®educate¡¯ them a little¡­¡±


    ¡°Aha! The encyclopedia. Alex mentioned that you¡¯d been playing silly-buggers with the link to Ceres, while Paul¡¯s back was turned. So you thought these¡ªaliens¡ªmight be able to ¡®learn¡¯ from an encyclopedia. Learn what? Absorb the whole content?¡±


    ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t have sent them so much: I admit it. I just wanted to teach them to improve their English, and to project proper text, not just binary code. But Gustave, we have to be quick. These aliens won¡¯t open their ¡®door¡¯ if more than one person is standing outside¡ªat least, that¡¯s what I suspect. Could you wait here for about an hour while I go and try to make contact? I¡¯ll be inside the hummock. And I¡¯ll be looked after: I promise you that! OK: switching to the Valentina channel now. Please tell Alex that I¡¯m all right: just investigating something.¡±


    Gustave¡¯s a brick, Vikki decided. Good man! It took him only a minute of pondering before he agreed to her request. ¡°But not more than an hour, Vikki, please! Otherwise I¡¯ll have to alert the ship, and then I¡¯ll have to answer for your actions. And I need to see whatever you¡¯ve seen for myself, if I¡¯m to be convinced.¡± Since they were now on the open channel, he was careful not to hint at what they were looking for.


    Vikki almost skipped round the hummock in her glee. At least, it was like skipping and one could perform impressive bounds. Luckily, since Enceladus¡¯s escape velocity was over 860 km/h, there was no danger of launching herself into space. Landing near the spot she remembered, she searched carefully until she found the footprints outside the ¡®entrance¡¯. She prodded the surface and, sure enough, the aperture formed and, having switched on her chest lamp, she made her way inside.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Vikki could only laugh! Of course, she now remembered, the aliens would not have been able to figure out which was ¡®right¡¯ and which was ¡®left¡¯, merely by scanning the encyclopedia. And their earlier binary messages had been right-to-left oriented, so no doubt they had followed the trend. They could have worked it out by scanning her name written on her space-suit¡ªor the lettering on the side of the Valentina¡ªbut evidently they had omitted to do that. She wondered whether this was a minor lapse.


    This was the first message that greeted her as she entered the chamber, after she had waited for the aperture to close and the pressure to equalise. At least they were displaying text now, not binary. A huge improvement: so her ¡®education¡¯ ploy had worked! And the mirrored text was on one of the ¡®walls¡¯, not on the ceiling. Much easier on Vikki¡¯s neck! Furthermore, there was a sort of keyboard in black symbols displayed on the wall below the text¡ªa QWERTY layout indeed!¡ªalthough this too was ¡®mirrored¡¯. Well, she could soon change that. She typed, rather clumsily with her gloved hand:


    After a few seconds the text faded and then re-appeared, correctly oriented.


    ? Welcome. You may remove your space suit.


    along with her input:


    ? Please reverse left and right


    The ¡®keyboard¡¯ also realigned itself. Now we are making progress! Vikki removed her helmet and unzipped her gloves, but kept the rest of her space-suit on: the room was still chilly. Time to start asking some questions.


    ? Why did you hold me prisoner here?


    There was some delay before the answer came through.


    ? I only wished to make contact and greet you. I am sorry about the damage you and your space suit suffered. It was an accident. I had to suspend your metabolism until your body could be restored to its fully functional state.


    Well! thought Vikki, these aliens sure have improved their English (even if it¡¯s a bit stilted) and their knowledge. They must have gone through the whole of Britannica: my scheme has worked! Time to ask some questions:


    ? Who are you? And are you willing to show yourselves?


    The answer came soon enough this time:


    ? I am showing myself.


    That couldn¡¯t be right. All she had seen were a bunch of tentacles emerging from various slits. And on this visit there wasn¡¯t a sign even of them. She typed:


    ? I have only seen your tentacles. And how many of you are there?


    ? There is only myself. And you have seen the whole of me. The tentacles are a part of me. You are now in a cavity inside my body.


    Whoa whoa! This, Vikki just couldn¡¯t make sense of. She asked:


    ? You mean: the pile of snow that we can see from outside: that is the outer part of your body?


    ? Yes.


    Vikki was thunderstruck. So she was inside the body of a living organism? Was the whole of the ¡®hummock¡¯ one living creature? Jonah inside the whale! Vikki couldn¡¯t absorb any more information for now. She must share what she had seen with Gustave, waiting patiently outside. There was one question she had to ask. She typed:


    ? May I bring another of my species here?


    ? I cannot answer that question myself. I am only authorised to make contact with a single individual of another species. I shall have to consult with my superior.


    ? Your superior?


    ? Yes. The leader of our mission to this star system. He is in space, some distance from this world. I should have an answer in about one quarter of an orbit. Eight of your hours.


    So there were more of these¡ªbehemoths¡ªout there! Did they pose a threat to Earth? Vikki had already guessed that they were not of Enceladus, and may well have voyaged from another star system. Now she was certain. Interstellar travel! Humankind would be itching to learn their technology¡ªif these beings were willing to pass it on. Gustave, the engineer, must be introduced to them.


    But eight hours was far too long to wait. And Gustave was waiting outside in a suit with only six hours¡¯ oxygen. Vikki typed:


    ? I would like to leave now. But I will return, and if you permit it, I shall bring a companion.


    ? Very well. Please put on your helmet and gloves.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    When Vikki had rejoined Gustave¡ªto the latter¡¯s great relief¡ªshe signed to him to switch to ¡®private¡¯ yet again.


    ¡°You won¡¯t believe this Gustave: I can hardly believe it myself. The aliens¡ªcorrection: ¡®alien¡¯, singular¡ªtold me that there is only one of them here¡ªand that that entire hummock is in fact its living body. And it comes from another star system. What are we to make of that?¡±


    ¡°First of all I need to know what to make of you, Vikki. Are you sure you¡¯re not hallucinating?¡±


    ¡°Do I look and sound disoriented?¡± retorted Vikki, rather peeved.


    ¡°No¡ªI suppose you don¡¯t. But really: how can this be? If this ¡®snowdrift¡¯ is really one enormous creature, how does it survive in a vacuum? How does it feed? What ship brought it here¡ªif it¡¯s not native to Enceladus? Too many impossibilities, Vikki! Are you sure you aren¡¯t pulling my leg?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s exactly why I want you to see for yourself. But the alien told me it¡¯s not yet allowed to let two people into its¡ªinterior. It needs to seek permission¡ªand that¡¯ll take time. OK, let¡¯s switch back to ¡®public¡¯: time we went back to base. Not a word, mind!¡±


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Alex was clearly in a more congenial mood than she had been on previous occasions: possibly relocation from her cramped cabin on the Valentina to the more spacious quarters in the semi-permanent base had helped to raise her spirits and make her more amenable.


    ¡°So the two of you are requesting another EVA to that snowdrift? I can¡¯t imagine what you find so interesting about it. Well¡ªI suppose it¡¯s your job, Vikki, so I have to let you go. But do you really have to take Gustave? I¡¯ve got jobs lined up for him right here, and we¡¯re already running behind. Wouldn¡¯t Hal¡­?¡±


    Gustave put in: ¡°Vikki has a point, Alex. I can¡¯t explain fully, not yet¡ªbut there are things to study, out on the hummock, that really will need my input. Not Hal¡¯s¡ªnot yet. Mine. We shan¡¯t be too long: we¡¯ll promise to be back well before we run out of air¡­¡±


    ¡°If the two of you come even close to running low on air, you know full well what will happen.¡± Commander Alex was showing her irritability once again. ¡°I¡¯d send the crew to scoop you up and then confine you to your cabins for the rest of the mission,¡± she continued. ¡°You know that full well, Chief Engineer Gustave Quincy! Or are you not the Chief Engineer we assumed you were?¡±


    ¡°Two hours, maybe three: tops. That¡¯s all we¡¯ll need,¡± put in Vikki quickly, before Gustave could react to the mild slur. ¡°Promise! You know we came back in good time today.¡±


    ¡°So when do you want to go?¡±


    ¡®One quarter of an orbit¡¯, the alien had ¡®said¡¯. Allow them some margin. ¡°Give us half a day¡ªEarth days¡ªthen we¡¯ll go.¡±


    ¡°Very well. Both of you, take some rest ¡­ catch up on your sleep before then.¡±


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    It was never completely dark on this side of Enceladus. Some at SSSA had suggested an expedition to the ¡®far¡¯ side of the moon¡ªthe side which always faces away from Saturn, where ¡®night¡¯ would be truly night¡ªbut that proposition had been firmly vetoed¡ªfor the current expedition, at any rate. So there was always some illumin-ation over the Valentina and the base, alternating between the weak-ened sunlight (a hundred times dimmer than it appeared on Earth, but still brilliant), and Saturn-light which, when Saturn was at full phase, was many times brighter than full moonlight on Earth. Saturn was never below the horizon, of course, and could never eclipse the sun in the present epoch, with Saturn currently close to a solstice. The Rings were barely visible since Enceladus¡¯ orbit lay almost exactly in their plane: just a thin dark line appearing to cut across Saturn¡¯s equator.


    Having gone through their imposed rest, Vikki and Gustave stood once again at the point on the hummock¡¯s far side where the old footprints emerging from beneath it were still visible. Would the aliens¡ªno: ¡®alien¡¯¡ªlet them both in this time? Vikki hesitated for a long time before she tentatively extended a glove towards the ¡®drift¡¯. It still looked like re-frozen snow.


    She gave a nervous prod.


    Success! The familiar texture of slightly-yielding integument. ¡°Wait!¡± she yelled at Gustave over the radio: he was standing a little way back from her, feeling a bit bemused. They didn¡¯t have long to wait: the familiar slit-shaped aperture appeared within a minute¡­


    ¡­and also a couple of the black tentacles. These appendages had not put in any appearance since Vikki¡¯s first visit. She was moment-arily terrified. The tentacles took no notice of her, but swiftly coiled themselves around Gustave¡¯s torso, before he could leap back.


    ¡°Don¡¯t struggle, Gus!¡± yelled Vikki. ¡°This happened to me, first time here. And I think they¡¯ve got the sense not to puncture your suit this time, as they did mine. Just let them draw you inside.¡± And indeed that was exactly what the tentacles appeared to be doing, gently lifting Gustave bodily and pulling him through the aperture. Vikki followed, by her own efforts, having once again remembered to switch on her chest lamp.


    They were standing in the same chamber as before. No text was yet visible on the wall, but they could see their surroundings by the light of Vikki¡¯s lamp. The tentacles which still wrapped themselves around Gustave¡¯s suit were of the ¡®fingered-and-suckered¡¯ type, not the clawed type, Vikki noticed with some relief. The alien had learned by its mistake! After probing around the suit for a while, the tentacles released Gustave. Meanwhile the aperture had sealed itself and external pressure was building up.


    ? Welcome, visitors from Earth. You may now remove your space suits.


    Vikki doffed her helmet and gloves and signed to Gustave to do likewise. As she waited, more text appeared:


    ? I am sorry that I had to manhandle the new visitor, but it is our standard practice to closely examine any alien whom we come into contact with for the first time. You have not been harmed. I observe that the newcomer is a male of your species, whereas the other one of you who came before is a female. Do you intend to demonstrate your reproductive process to me?


    Vikki could not restrain herself from giggling and blushing. She glanced at Gustave. He appeared hypnotised¡ªbut through his helmet visor she could just make out a blush on his pale face too. Yes, she was fond of Gustave; they were good friends¡ªbut not that fond! And in public? Besides, he had a wife and family¡ªgrandchildren too¡ªback on Earth. She merely typed:


    ? We are not paired for reproduction.


    hoping that would explain things.


    Then she glanced at Gustave. He had still not taken off his helmet. He was standing there, open-mouthed, as if hypnotised. Vikki tried the radio but it didn¡¯t seem to be working here. She gesticulated frantically: pointed to her own unprotected head and hands. At last, Gustave seemed to snap out of his trance and get the hint. Slowly he unlatched his helmet and took several deep breaths in the thin atmo-sphere.


    ¡°You see, the air is good here. We can breathe. That¡¯s how I survived so long,¡± explained Vikki.


    It was a long time before Gustave spoke.


    ¡°We are actually inside some sort of giant¡ªcreature? How can it live? How does it eat ¡­ breathe? Is it planning to digest us?¡± It looked as if Gustave was about to panic. Vikki hastily put in:


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it isn¡¯t. It appears to be friendly. But you can ask it for yourself. Use the keyboard. It will answer in text.¡±


    ¡°Can it hear us, do you think?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Its species seems to be able to survive in vacuum: maybe they live their lives in vacuum. But you can ask it that¡ªand anything else you like.¡±


    Gustave collected himself, recovering from his paralysis at last. He stepped in front of Vikki so that he was facing the keyboard, and typed:


    ? Who are you? Where do you come from? How do you survive here, unprotected against the vacuum?


    The alien answered after a pause:


    ? I cannot express my name, or the name of my species, in your language. My companions and I come from a world orbiting another star, some distance from your sun. My kind, unlike you, do not need protection against vacuum. The world we come from has no atmosphere and low gravity.


    Gustave continued:


    ? But where is the spaceship you came in?


    The alien replied:


    ? We do not use spaceships. We are fitted with an implant that enables us to traverse large distances in space.


    Both Gustave and Vikki were thinking, Wow! What amazing tech-nology these creatures must possess! But Vikki now took over the typing again:


    ? Where is the star you come from?


    ? I cannot give you a catalogue number in your databases, but I can tell you that it is a Red Dwarf, about sixty of your light-years distant, and lies in the direction of the constellation you know as Auriga.


    Sixty light-years! Impressive indeed! Vikki typed:


    ? What is your reason for coming here?


    ? The same as yours. To seek out life on other worlds and to make contact with any that may be intelligent. In that we appear to have both succeeded. I expect to have a fruitful exchange of information with your species.

 Chapter 4 – Naming and Examining

    AS THEY made their way slowly across the ice, back to the base, Gustave broke the silence. Both of them were feeling the numbing effect of information overload, especially after that last Star-Trek-like announcement, and Vikki had made the right decision in asking for a break in the ¡®conversation¡¯ and for the two of them to be allowed a hasty exit, to which the alien had consented. The suit radios were now working again, and they were on the private channel:


    ¡°You¡¯re going to be famous¡ªyou know that, Vikki.¡±


    ¡°Maybe I am. I don¡¯t know, Gustave. When I first discovered¡ªwhat I discovered¡ªI was thinking to myself, wow! The first human to make First Contact with intelligent aliens. Greater than Yuri Gagarin¡ªgreater than Valentina Tereshkova, after whom our ship is named¡ªgreater even than Neil Armstrong! I¡¯d be remembered in the history books for millennia. But after a while, I got cold feet. All those countless appearances I¡¯d have to make on holoTV, on the Web: facing interviews from every journo in the Solar System¡­ Children, generations from now, being taught in school about ¡®Viktoriya Rozhkova, great pioneering cosmonaut¡¯. I¡¯m scared, Gustave! Perhaps I don¡¯t want this. Perhaps I just want to be me after all: a humble geologist and glaciologist, serving on a not-too-sensational space mission.¡±


    Gustave stopped walking. ¡°I think you¡¯re right, Vikki. You¡¯re not the right sort of person: you don¡¯t relish all this attention-getting. Nor do I. I¡¯m still not sure I believe what I¡¯ve just seen. But if it¡¯s for real, perhaps someone else should claim the credit. Murielle?¡ª¡±


    ¡°Please, Gus!¡± Vikki interrupted. ¡°Anyone but Murielle! I loathe her. You haven¡¯t had to share a cabin with her all through the voyage. I have.¡±


    ¡°I understand, Vikki. Murielle¡¯s¡ªwell¡ªnot very popular with the rest of us, either. But she¡¯s excellent at her job, and the right person for this mission, like her or not. Alright: for the time being we¡¯ll keep our secret. Perhaps it should be for the whole team¡ªnot one individual¡ªto take the credit?¡±


    As it turned out, Vikki and Gustave were not questioned in depth about their excursions to the hummock. Other matters were com-manding the crew¡¯s attention and causing some excitement. Hal had tested extensively with sonar, with some help from Vikki, and had estimated that the ice beneath their feet was about seventeen kilometres thick in this region of Enceladus¡ªand that underneath lay an ocean of liquid water some eight kilometres deep. He had already set up their drilling rig, some 500 metres from the base so as to keep clear of any contamination from the Valentina. He had announced that he had reached a depth of nine kilometres already with the 20mm thermal drill bit¡ªmore than halfway if his thickness estimate was correct. And once they hit liquid water: who could tell what they might discover?


    Murielle, of course, was exultant in her eagerness to get results. Indeed she was almost crowing¡ªmostly in French¡ªover the pros-pect of being the first to discover extraterrestrial life (Vikki was being careful not to disillusion her!). She had already analysed some of the water brought up from about five kilometres deep, and had proudly announced that she had detected traces of amino-acids¡ªalthough with structures somewhat different from the amino-acids found in terrestrial life. She was hoping that deeper down, the bore-hole would yield up actual proteins¡ªand then what next?


    Vikki was, as always, finding Murielle¡¯s conduct insufferable. Persistently murmuring to herself: ¡°Mes petits m?mes! My leetle darlings! Ne crains pas! J¡¯suis bien s?r qu¡¯vous ¨ºtes l¨¤!¡± and so on. It got on Vikki¡¯s nerves and she did her best to give Murielle a wide berth.


    Nevertheless, the time was not ripe to drop her bombshell: both she and Gustave were agreed on that. Murielle may be a pain in the neck, but there was no call to upset her nor make an enemy of her. Let her make her mighty discoveries without us forestalling her!


    The drilling to such extreme depths was a slow process and the crew¡¯s impatience was evident. Vikki, unsurprisingly, was the most jittery: not so much at the drilling progress as at the burden of keeping her secret. The more cool-headed Gustave was far less so. At their debriefing they had told Alex and the other crew members that there was nothing more of interest to discover in the ¡®hummock¡¯¡ªand the lie had been readily accepted¡ªeven more so because Alex had gone out herself along with Paul and Joachim. They had checked out the hummock¡ªand luckily the hummock had not revealed its secret to them.


    In the end Gustave came to have a quiet word with Vikki in her cabin. ¡°You¡¯re on edge, Vikki. I¡¯m not surprised, but you¡¯re not handling it very well. I suggest you spend as much time outside as you can, away from the base. I¡¯ll put in a word with Alex.¡±


    So it came about that Vikki was tasked with going out on the ice to search for meteorites. As the mission¡¯s geologist, she would normal-ly have the duty of examining native rock formations on Enceladus¡ªbut the nearest outcrop was nearly thirty kilometres away, and the buggies with the necessary range were not yet in service. On the other hand, much could be learned about the outer Solar System by examining such meteorites as may have come to rest on the icy surface. She would be accompanied by Paul: Vikki guessed that his ulterior duty was to ¡®chaperone¡¯ her and ensure she didn¡¯t get into any more trouble¡ªbut she was comfortable with this. More than comfortable in fact: she was secretly pleased because she still felt attracted to him. Indeed, she was minded to flirt with him, just a little! Inasmuch as flirting was possible when encumbered by a space-suit¡­


    The alien being¡ªthe hummock¡ªcould wait: she was becoming scared of it anyway, and wasn¡¯t sure she was ready for another encounter. What if the alien turned out to be less-than-¡®friendly¡¯ after all? Having to go right inside its ¡®body¡¯¡ªif that was indeed what she had done¡ªwasn¡¯t that a bit too close to the stuff of nightmares? What if it had refused to let her and Gustave out?


    Best to turn to the meteorite-hunt for now.


    To search the ice, they rode a short-range buggy with enough battery power to allow them to explore up to ten kilometres from the base. Finding meteorites on the surface was not easy: any which might have impacted directly at full speed, unchecked by any atmo-sphere, would have buried themselves deep in the ice, forming an impact crater perhaps but not retrievable. The best chance was to find shrapnel from a meteorite which had burst on impact: some of the fragments may have been ejected horizontally and skimmed across the ice, eventually coming to rest without burying themselves.


    After five days of searching, Vikki and Paul had recovered six meteorite fragments. Not an impressive haul but Vikki was pleased enough with their result. She recalled the time she¡¯d spent, several years ago, doing exactly the same thing in Antarctica. In the course of a three-week stay she¡¯d collected nearly fifty meteorites. But six fragments on Enceladus¡ªunder the far dimmer light and hampered by space-suits¡ªwas some achievement, even if none of them was bigger than a pea.


    Vikki was still tensed up, though. She knew now that she was also lonely: she wanted the comfort of being in Paul¡¯s arms. Not Gustave: she got along with him too well: more of a father or uncle to her. Not Hal: he wasn¡¯t bad-looking and she had snogged with him briefly in order to extract a favour from him¡ªbut she didn¡¯t think they¡¯d really get along if she did try to date him.


    And, naturally, Dr Ye and Joachim were out of the picture. Too old.


    Paul then!


    But Paul wasn¡¯t reacting to her glances, so far as she could tell by peering out of her space-suit visor into his. She planned to catch him back at the base, hopefully with more success. But that could wait until the meteorite-hunt was done.


    Paul insisted that they spend a few more days out on the ice. He seemed somewhat surprised when Vikki suggested calling a halt after only five days: surely she was eager to collect as many meteor-ites as possible? But she quickly changed her mind, and in the end they went out for three more days and collected another four pieces¡ªone of them about the size of a walnut, a big improvement!


    Vikki was careful not to contaminate the fragments by bringing them into the base¡¯s atmosphere. She put them into the sterile cham-ber just inside the base which Murielle had set up. It was open to the vacuum of Enceladus, and was equipped with extendable waldos, so that she could handle and test the fragments in their pristine state.


    But analysing their composition would take time. And ten frag-ments was far too small a sample for any statistical assessment. Vikki was keen to discover whether the ratio of chondrites to achon-drites and iron meteorites was the same as that found on Earth. Meteorites collected here in the outer Solar System, close to Saturn, were likely to originate from the Centaurs¡ªrocky bodies orbiting between Jupiter¡¯s and Neptune¡¯s orbits¡ªor maybe even from the Kuiper belt, home of many comets and dwarf planets. But with the small sample she had to work with, it was impossible to make any precise judgement.


    Should she suggest another sortie?


    At least she was ¡®keeping up¡¯ with Murielle! Two of the fragments had shown up minute traces of amino-acids¡ªmaking Vikki wonder whether they were in fact derived from ejecta thrown up from Enceladus itself. She showed the fragments and explained her discovery to Murielle, much to the latter¡¯s delight: Murielle too was feeling frustrated with the slow progress in the drilling.


    In the meantime Vikki¡¯s attempts to win over at least some interest from Paul were getting nowhere. Of course standard wear inside the Valentina and the base didn¡¯t help matters: jumpsuit and trainers. Not exactly flattering! Should she do something about it? She rum-maged through the small clothes-locker which was all that crew members were allowed in their cabin. She¡¯d packed a short cotton dress among her belongings, but that would hardly do: dresses and skirts went haywire in microgravity¡ªmuch to the embarrassment of the wearer! In fact Vikki wondered why on earth she¡¯d included it.


    Searching a bit deeper, she uncovered a pair of booty shorts¡ªand a skimpy crop-top with a good measure of d¨¦collet¨¦. That would do! There was also some make-up: something she rarely used but perhaps this was the time. Was there a chance of catching Paul in the Mess room¡ªor should she just breeze into his cabin?


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Perhaps better not be too direct. And best to wait until the prescribed mealtime (Alex had made that a rule: meals to be taken together if possible. Not strictly enforced but a help towards getting the crew to interact socially).


    Accordingly, at the appointed time Vikki changed into her shorts and crop-top, and applied a bit of lipstick and mascara. Mustn¡¯t overdo it, she mused¡ªno way did she want to be compared to Murielle; that fruitcake! Making her way to the Mess, she found she was the first one there. Sighing, she helped herself to a coffee bulb, a vegetarian hot-dog, and a pouch of salad; and strapped herself into a chair to wait.


    The first to arrive¡ªjust her luck!¡ªwas Alex. She cast a brief glance at Vikki, then gazed at her more intently, with a grin.


    ¡°Ah, young Vikki, so we¡¯re thinking of becoming like a teenager once again, are we?¡± she chuckled. Vikki blushed but did not reply: she knew better than to snap at Alex¡¯s annoying banter. After a moment, Alex shrugged, ordered herself a meal, and sat down in one of the other chairs.


    Next to arrive were Gustave, Dr Ye, and Joachim, who came in together. Gustave and Dr Ye exchanged brief smiles with Vikki before going to order their meals, while Joachim didn¡¯t even glance at her (he rarely spoke to her at any time). She could have sworn that Gustave winked at her as he passed, but she said nothing and continued eating.


    At length Paul turned up. All eager, Vikki gave him her sweetest smile, crossed her legs enticingly, and leaned towards him, exposing a bit more of her cleavage. But alas! Paul barely glanced at her before turning away, and after collecting his meal he sat in one of the chairs furthest from her. Vikki pouted and finished her meal despondently. As for Hal and Murielle¡ªneither of them turned up: evidently too busy.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Back in her cabin, Vikki was just changing back into her jumpsuit when there was a knock on the door. She called out ¡°wait!¡± while she made herself decent, then she let Gustave into her cabin. She was relieved that it was he.


    ¡°You look troubled again, Vikki my dear,¡± he began. ¡°Is it about Paul?¡±


    ¡°How do you know that?¡± Vikki retorted, somewhat peeved.


    ¡°It¡¯s as plain as if it were written all over your face, Vikki. Don¡¯t think I haven¡¯t noticed! You going all gooey-eyed at him all the time. But you may be out of luck with him, I¡¯m afraid.¡±


    Vikki didn¡¯t mind Gustave coming across so personal with her. More than ever, she thought of him as a kindly father, someone to be trusted with her deepest secrets.


    ¡°Do you think he¡¯s gay?¡± she ventured, after a pause.


    ¡°Not as far as I know. Alex is gay¡ªbut I¡¯m sure you knew that already. She¡¯s got a wife back on Earth. And I think Joachim is gay¡ªthough that wouldn¡¯t matter to you. But Paul? No¡ªnow I recall, when I was with him on Ganymede a few years back, he had a girl-friend with him. Carla her name was; I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s still seeing her. She was Black like him: maybe Paul prefers to go with Black women?¡±


    Vikki was silent. In her heart she¡¯d already guessed this, though she was reluctant to admit the fact to herself.


    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t really be saying this,¡± continued Gustave, ¡°but I can¡¯t help noticing that Hal seems to have an eye on you. My guess is, he rather fancies you.¡±


    ¡°But he¡¯s nearly ten years older than me,¡± put in Vikki, quickly.


    ¡°Does age matter?¡± said Gustave. ¡°I¡¯ll say no more: I can see that you want time by yourself for a while.¡± And he quietly slipped out of the cabin, leaving Vikki with tears starting from her eyes.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Crying wasn¡¯t a good idea in microgravity: instead of running down your cheeks, the tears remained lodged in your eyelashes giving you blurred vision. Vikki dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief, removing most of the mascara in the process, and sat on her bunk deep in thought.


    Hal?


    Vikki knew that she was lonely and would find comfort in the company of a boyfriend. Hal was in his forties, true, but he wasn¡¯t all that bad looking. And she had kissed him¡ªalbeit with an ulterior motive¡­


    She made her way to his cabin but he wasn¡¯t there. Probably out at the drilling rig, half a kilometre away from the base, she guessed. Try the space-suit lockers. Yes: Hal¡¯s suit was missing, and so was Murielle¡¯s. Damn!¡ªshe must be there too. No help for it. At least, with all of them in space-suits, she wouldn¡¯t have to breathe in Murielle¡¯s obnoxious perfume!


    Vikki wasn¡¯t supposed to go outside without permission, and not without an escort. But surely the short trek to the rig didn¡¯t count? She suited up and then sought out Alex.


    ¡°I just want to watch the drilling for a while. There¡¯s always the chance something interesting might pop up,¡± she lied.


    ¡°All right, Vikki: but mind you go straight there and then come straight back. No wandering off!¡±


    Vikki had some misgivings as she trekked across the ice. Did she really want to form a liaison with Hal? He wasn¡¯t very approachable and didn¡¯t talk much. Well, she would try.


    The drilling was paused for the moment, and Murielle was indeed there, looking excited. A sample of melted ice from the thirteen-kilometre level had just been drawn to the surface, and she was eager to secure it and get it back to the base. And she was certainly crowing about it!


    ¡°Il y aura ¡­ there vill be ¡­ prot¨¦ines ¡­ how you say it?¡±


    ¡°The same. ¡®Proteins¡¯,¡± Hal explained.


    ¡°J¡¯en suis s?r ¡­ ¡®proteins¡¯ ¡­ in this leetle sp¨¦cimen! I must test it tout de suite! I go back to base maintenant¡­¡±


    And she was gone. Vikki hoped no-one heard her sigh of relief over the radio.


    ¡°Annoying, isn¡¯t it?¡± commented Hal, as he prepared the rig for resumption of drilling. ¡°Why does she always speak like that? French all the time¡ªor English all the time¡ªOK¡ªbut why the mixture? Why this Monty Python crap?¡±


    This was the first time Vikki had heard the normally taciturn Hal voice an opinion on anyone. She was impressed¡ªand secretly encouraged. But one thing puzzled her.


    ¡° ¡®Monty Python¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Ah, you probably wouldn¡¯t know. A British comedy film from back in the twentieth century. Lot of it filmed in Scotland¡ªnear where I come from. There¡¯s a character in it who talks in a silly faux-French accent¡ªa bit like Murielle. I¡¯m a¡ªsort of a fan.¡±


    ¡°I never knew that, Hal. So you¡¯re into old movies, are you?¡±


    ¡°One of my guilty pleasures. Apart from work. Not that I have many¡­¡±


    ¡°You have family, back on Earth, do you? In Scotland?¡± Vikki ventured.


    There was a long pause. Hal didn¡¯t seem disposed to answer.


    ¡°All right,¡± continued Vikki. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to upset you. Mind if I stay and watch a while? There¡¯s always a chance you might strike something of interest¡ªand I¡¯m always game for any more meteorites if they show up.¡±


    Once the drilling was under way, Hal spoke again.


    ¡°Sorry Vikki, I didn¡¯t mean to be rude. Just that things have been¡ªdifficult for me, lately. Split with my wife just three months before coming on this mission. And she¡¯s got the kids. All the time. Two splendid lads: both in their teens now: both mad on football. I can¡¯t even see them. Won¡¯t even let me have access¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh dear, Hal, I¡¯m so sorry about that. Did she¡ª?¡±


    ¡°Was my fault, I guess. Don¡¯t really want to talk about it.¡±


    ¡°Not even to me, Hal? I¡¯m sure I¡¯d be a good listener. If you don¡¯t want to talk now, how about back at the base? When do you go off duty?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got just three hours left in my suit, so I¡¯ll certainly be back before then. If I¡¯m not, I¡¯m dead¡­¡±


    ¡°All right. I¡¯ll head back now. Talk later.¡±


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Back in her cabin, Vikki was fingering the clothes in her locker. She pulled out the dress once again. What the hell! she thought to herself. I brought this dress along, why don¡¯t I use it? If it fits¡­


    She stripped off her clothes, all except her underpants, and squeezed herself into the dress. Yes: it just about fitted her, even if it was pretty tight round the body. And the hemline was well above her knees. Good! She wished she had a mirror, but didn¡¯t feel inclined to venture into the communal bathroom dressed like that. No makeup: she guessed Hal wouldn¡¯t appreciate it¡ªbut she tidied her hair meticulously. She was sure she looked good. And she¡¯d go to Hal¡¯s barefoot.


    Holding the hem of her dress down with one hand, so that it wouldn¡¯t billow up, she made her way carefully to Hal¡¯s cabin and knocked.


    Hal was sitting on his bunk. He glanced at Vikki as she came in¡ªthen his eyes did a double-take.


    ¡°My God, Vikki, I¡¯ve never seen you looking like that!¡± he blurted out, before he could stop himself.


    ¡°I decided I¡¯ve had it to here with these wretched jumpsuits. I wanted to put on something different, just for now. So I tried this on: my one and only dress. Don¡¯t you like it?¡±


    ¡°Yes I do¡ªof course I do¡ªyou look gorgeous¡ªbut¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t argue then. But it¡¯s a bit tight round my b¡ª ¡­ round the upper part of my body. I¡¯m wondering if the fabric¡¯s got caught up in the zip. Would you be an angel, Hal dear, and check it for me? Pull it down first¡­¡± She could sense the effect she was having on Hal, as she turned her back on him.


    Hal duly obliged. ¡°Seems OK to me,¡± he muttered. But as soon as she felt the zip was down, Vikki twisted around to face him and clamped her mouth over his. At the same time she wriggled out of her dress, leaving it floating in mid-air. Then she grabbed the toggle of his jumpsuit zip¡­


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    ¡®Not paired for reproduction¡¯! Later, much much later, as they relaxed, exhausted, on Hal¡¯s bunk, Vikki on top, she couldn¡¯t help giggling as she recalled those words she¡¯d typed for the alien¡¯s benefit, about her and Gustave. If only the alien could see her with Hal now, what would it think? She playfully pushed herself up with her hands¡ªeasy in Enceladus¡¯ negligible gravity¡ªthen let herself sink slowly back onto the half-asleep Hal¡¯s chest. It was a comfort-ing feeling.


    She was content.

 Chapter 5 – Pillow Talk and ETs

    HAL WAS triumphant, of course. He had ¡®opened up¡¯, over-coming his reticence, as he started telling Vikki all about himself.


    ¡°It was my fault really¡ªthe screw-up, me and Moira, I mean. Moira¡¯s my ex-wife. That other girl¡ªshe couldn¡¯t have been much over eighteen. One of my students in the SSSA corps training school: she must have been almost the youngest there. She was so damned pretty! And she just went for me: I couldn¡¯t resist it. I just couldn¡¯t control things¡­¡±


    ¡°You were at the training school then, Hal, my love?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I was a lecturer there: training in asteroidal mining proced-ures. Of course I shouldn¡¯t have had anything to do with the trainees. But it would have been all right: I could have got away with it, if that girl hadn¡¯t boasted of her ¡®conquest¡¯ to her room-mates¡ªand word got out. The Principal got to hear¡ªand I got sacked. And of course Moira was bound to find out. The rest¡ªwell, Vikki, darling, you don¡¯t really want to hear all the sordid details now, do you?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all right, Hal. You¡¯re right, you don¡¯t need to tell me. But you¡¯ve still got your job here. That¡¯s something to be proud of.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I was finished as a lecturer, but SSSA felt I was still of use to them as a drilling engineer, working out in Space. And I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°And then you met me. And I¡¯m so glad you did. And I¡¯m pleased that it was I who hit on you this time, not some eighteen-year-old student. I¡¯m nowhere near eighteen anymore!¡± Vikki pulled him down on her, wrapped her arms and legs round him, and gave him a brief kiss. Hal gave out a contented sigh.


    ¡°I guess I was always too shy about women,¡± he admitted. ¡°It was like that with Moira, all those years ago. She picked on me, not the other way around. I¡¯d never had a girl before her.¡±


    Vikki felt honoured to be the recipient of Hal¡¯s openness, but felt his reluctance to say more. Best to change the subject. ¡°Tell me about your sons instead,¡± she urged.


    ¡°Sean¡¯s the older. Seventeen now¡ªand he¡¯s aiming to get into Raith Rovers juniors team¡ªthat¡¯s a football club near me¡ªsoccer, I mean. Near where I used to live, before Moira kicked me out. Sean¡¯s been to one or two trials with the club, and he¡¯s quite hopeful he¡¯ll get in. We do exchange e-mails now and again: Moira doesn¡¯t mind that. The younger one, Anthony, he¡¯s thirteen and still at school. Also keen on football, but he also wants to follow me into Space. I¡¯m not sure I like that idea. Still, he¡¯s a young lad: he might change his ambitions as he gets older¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, Hal, I just hope you do get to see them once you¡¯re back on Earth. Your ex can¡¯t hold out against you for ever. And surely, once Sean turns eighteen, he¡¯ll be his own master: he¡¯ll be able to choose freely whom he wants to visit. His mother won¡¯t be able to restrict him. And anyway, once she learns that you¡¯re in a steady relationship¡ª¡±


    ¡°Are we in a steady relationship?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly, Hal. Of course we are. I wasn¡¯t sure about you at first¡ªbut I am now. And I¡¯ve had difficult times, myself. Not as bad as yours,¡± Vikki added, reassuringly. ¡°I split with my boyfriend about a year ago. It was an amicable separation: he just didn¡¯t feel comfortable dating a cosmonaut like me. But I missed him at first. I haven¡¯t slept with anyone since then¡ªuntil you. And I want you.¡±


    ¡°Are we in love, then?¡±


    Hal¡¯s questioning was off-putting, but she had to answer. ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure about that yet: too early¡ªbut I think so. Alright: I fancied Paul for a while¡ªbut he¡¯s not in the least interested, and I¡¯ve gone off him. It¡¯s you now, Hal, no mistake. Only you. And I¡¯m sure you want me, too¡ªand that¡¯s important to me.¡±


    ¡°Y-yes. Honestly, Vikki, I didn¡¯t know how to approach you. But¡ªthat time you kissed me! Yes¡ªeven if the reason was to make me lie to Alex. Of course I forgive you for that¡ªnow!¡±


    ¡°Poor Hal, my darling. Well, no need to be shy any more¡­¡±


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    There was excitement at the base. Vikki had urged Hal to get back to his drilling¡ªand it was only a matter of a day or two before he announced that he had struck gold. Well, all right, not exactly ¡®gold¡¯: he¡¯d struck liquid water, but it might as well have been gold¡ªand they might equally have been a gang of Californian forty-niners¡ªfor the excitement the turn of events aroused.


    Murielle set to work at once. They needed to draw many samples, and she needed plenty of time with the electron microscope, but finally she called the crew together.


    ¡°We ¡¯ave life! There is life in ze water!¡± Vikki noted that Murielle, when she had to communicate important matters with the entire crew, made an effort to speak in her less-than-perfect English. Just as well! ¡°What I ¡¯ave found is micro-organisms¡± continued Murielle. ¡°I would au mieux describe zem as Archaea, similar to the Archaea we ¡¯ave back on Earth. Similar but not quite ze same. Or maybe zey are Bacteria. But I think zey are Archaea.¡±


    ¡° ¡®Archaea¡¯?¡± queried Alex, whose aptitude in biology was fairly elementary. ¡°Bacteria I¡¯ve heard of, but¡­¡±


    Dr Ye chose to intervene and clarify, so as to spare Murielle further effort. ¡°One of the three domains of Earthly life: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryotes,¡± he explained, simply.


    ¡°Archaea¡ªEukaryotes¡ªnow you¡¯re being really obscure, Dr Ye. What the hell are Eukaryotes?¡± demanded Alex.


    ¡°You¡¯re one¡ªand so am I. And so was that tomato I ate earlier today. All the familiar ¡®higher¡¯ living organisms: animals, plants, fungi, algae, many single-celled creatures, they¡¯re all Eukaryotes. Organisms whose cells contain a nucleus. Bacteria, and all other organisms which lack a cell nucleus, were once put into the domain ¡®Prokaryotes¡¯ but that¡¯s been deprecated now; there are two domains called Archaea and Bacteria proper. But Murielle says she doesn¡¯t know for certain which of them we have in the sample.¡±


    ¡°So this is the proof: we have life on Enceladus! But Earth-like life having evolved here?¡± asked Alex, in some amazement. ¡°Nearly one-and-a-half billion kilometres from Earth and with no physical contact, not ever? Surely that¡¯s impossible! How can we be sure they evolved here¡ªor were they perhaps dropped by Lassell, Cassini, or the Voyagers? Accidental contamination?¡± She was referring to the twentieth and early twenty-first century flybys¡ªwhich were not sup-posed to make any physical contact with Saturn nor with any of its satellites¡ªapart from Titan. But mistakes could have been made¡­


    ¡°Highly doubtful,¡± put in Joachim, contributing to the discussion for the first time. ¡°None of those spacecraft ventured anywhere near going below escape velocity with respect to Enceladus. Anything dropped would have drifted away from here, not towards here.¡±


    ¡°But Cassini went below Saturn¡¯s escape velocity, didn¡¯t it,¡± said Alex. ¡°And so did that more recent probe¡ªLassell. Stuff could have been dropped into orbit around Saturn, and then later on crashed into Enceladus.¡±


    ¡°Any matter that did that would lie on the surface, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± continued Joachim. ¡°Not below thirty kilometres of ice. And you didn¡¯t find any life forms on the surface, did you, Murielle?¡±


    ¡°Vous avez raison, Joachim, I ¡¯ave so far found no life on ze sur-face. But we must not entirely discount ze possibility that these are Earthly organisms accidentally introduced to this world. I must study them in more detail.¡±


    ¡°Do we message Earth about this?¡± asked Paul.


    ¡°Not yet. I must complete my detailed technical report, and then I put it for peer review ¡¯ere¡ªbefore we tell Earth. I vill write in both French and English.¡±


    ¡°That is quite right, Murielle,¡± added Alex. ¡°Dr Ye, and Dr Vikki, you two will independently, and separate from each other, carry out peer reviews of Murielle¡¯s document once it is ready. OK with that?¡±


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    Vikki suppressed a groan, but she nodded. It was certainly the right approach. And both Dr Ye and she would be able to correct Murielle¡¯s imperfect English!


    ¡°So,¡± remarked Alex, in conclusion, ¡°we have discovered the first extraterrestrial life-forms anywhere in the Universe. The first! We are going to be famous. Feted all around the Solar System!¡±


    ¡°Not the first,¡± murmured Vikki under her breath, with a quick glance at Gustave.


    Not quietly enough.


    ¡°Did you say something, Vikki?¡± asked Alex.


    Vikki looked imploringly at Gustave. He nodded.


    ¡°Come on, Vikki. If there¡¯s something you want to say, out with it!¡± said Alex.


    ¡°All right. There is another life-form here on Enceladus. Gustave and I have seen it. But it is not native to Enceladus¡ªnot even native to the Solar System. It has come from another star-system.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re talking about your precious snowdrift. Your ¡®hummock¡¯, aren¡¯t you?¡± remarked Alex.


    ¡°Yes. You¡¯ll all find this hard to believe. At first I deduced that it must be some kind of alien spaceship¡ªbut then it revealed to me¡ªyes! it can ¡®speak¡¯ English; it has learnt our language¡ªthat it is an entire living organism: a sort of interstellar ¡®whale¡¯. Something that can live in vacuum and travel through space unaided.¡±


    ¡°Oh come off it, Vikki!¡± exclaimed Alex. ¡°You¡¯re just obsessed with that stupid fucking snowdrift of yours. Now you make out that it¡¯s an ET of some sort! What crazy notion is going to enter your silly head next? I¡¯ve half a mind to send you to sick-bay¡ªpermanently.¡±


    ¡°May I put in a word, Alex?¡± Gustave intervened, calmly. ¡°I too have seen what Vikki says she saw¡ªand I can confirm her account. Do you want to hear me out? Or are you going to ¡®section¡¯ me as well?¡±


    Alex had no answer to that. ¡°All right, Vikki, continue,¡± she muttered weakly.


    ¡°And to communicate with us,¡± resumed Vikki, who seemed un-disturbed by Alex¡¯s outburst: ¡°Gustave and me, that is: here¡¯s how. It opens up a sort of aperture in its side, and lets us enter a sort of room-shaped cavity inside its body. Then it talks to us by displaying text on one of the walls of this ¡®room¡¯, and we can reply using a sort of keyboard. At first it ¡®talked¡¯ in binary, which was very awkward, but I ¡®taught¡¯ it how to write proper English.¡±


    ¡°Aha!¡± put in Paul. ¡°The encyclopedia. That¡¯s why you wanted it, why you transmitted it towards Ceres for no meaningful purpose.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I was hoping that the alien would be eavesdropping on our signals. And it seems that I was right, because it¡¯s learned how to write our language¡ªand a lot more about us. Too much¡ªperhaps¡ªbut it¡¯s too late to go back now. At least that shows that it¡¯s hyper-intelligent.¡±


    ¡°But this is incredible,¡± put in Dr Ye. ¡°Alien, yes¡ªET intel-ligence, yes¡ªbut has it not occurred to you that it might be some kind of AI-driven device? A robot?¡±


    ¡°It could be that I suppose¡ªbut I¡¯ve a hunch that it really is a living creature.¡±


    ¡°I must take a look at this¡ªcreature,¡± remarked Murielle. ¡°I vill do so, when I ¡¯ave finished my paper on my Archaea. What do we call this monster? We must give it a name.¡±


    ¡°Good thinking,¡± said Dr Ye. ¡°Have you named your ¡®Archaea¡¯ specimens?¡±


    ¡°Yes. In my paper, I give them names. I think I ¡¯ave two distinct species, and I ¡¯ave given them ze Latin names Enceladium danterrii and Enceladium mcmanusii. Provisionally, of course.¡± Hal blushed at hearing his name immortalised in this way.


    ¡°That¡¯s quite a pair of mouthfuls you¡¯ve given us there, Murielle¡ªbut we¡¯ll have to get used to them,¡± said Dr Ye. ¡°Meanwhile, what about this¡ªmonster¡ªas you call it? Vikki¡¯s and Gustave¡¯s dis-covery? Vikki just now referred to it as a sort of ¡®interstellar whale¡¯ and that seems apt: look at the size of the thing! Why not name it after the (alas! extinct) Blue Whale. What¡¯s the Latin for a Blue Whale?¡±


    ¡°Balaenoptera musculus,¡± put in Murielle, helpfully. ¡°Bien¡ªvery well, we name it Balaenoidus enceladi. Comme une baleine¡ªlike a whale, but not quite like a whale, and of Enceladus. D¡¯accord?¡±


    ¡°Not actually of Enceladus, according to Vikki¡¯s theory¡ªbut OK for now,¡± Alex agreed. ¡°Nevertheless, we perhaps ought to defer bestowing a scientific name until we¡¯ve ascertained whether it really is a living creature. But we could give it a common name for now. How about ¡®Bala¡¯ for short. Everyone agree?¡±


    There was murmured assent. So ¡®Bala¡¯ the mysterious creature became.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    It would take some time for Murielle to complete her technical report, so Vikki and Gustave had time to visit the ¡®Bala¡¯ once again. Others, Hal and Dr Ye especially, wanted to come along too, but Vikki explained that the Bala was rather shy of receiving visitors, so Alex ordered that it should be just Vikki and Gustave once again.


    This time they were admitted to the Bala¡¯s interior without ceremony. The message on the wall read:


    ? I have been waiting for some time for your next visit. You are both welcome.


    It was Gustave who did most of the questioning this time.


    ? You told us, you do not use spaceships, instead you travel through space by means of some kind of implant. Can you elaborate?


    ? I am not permitted to describe in detail our technology to a less advanced species. But I can reveal that the implant generates thrust by means of a beam of neutrinos.


    ¡°That sounds plausible¡ªalthough way beyond human techn-ology,¡± remarked Gustave to Vikki in an aside. ¡°Do you follow all this?¡±


    ¡°I know what neutrinos are. They¡¯re those little particles that can pass straight through you without doing any harm.¡±


    ¡°Correct. Zillions of them pass through Earth¡ªand through your body¡ªevery second¡ªand almost nothing can stop them. They zip along at lightspeed and can in theory produce thrust opposed to their momentum: Newton¡¯s Third Law and all that. How these beings manage to harness it is beyond me. But I must ask some more questions.¡± He resumed typing:


    ? All right then. This implant: can it enable you to travel at near lightspeed, relative to your home system?


    ? Nowhere near lightspeed. The best the implant can achieve is about 0.1c: one tenth of lightspeed.


    ? But that means that the voyage from your home world must take some six hundred of our years.


    ? We can tolerate that. Our lifespan is far longer than that of your species.


    ? So you have been travelling towards the Solar System for the past six hundred years?


    ? More than that, because my companions and I stopped at other systems on the way.


    ¡°This is incredible,¡± whispered Gustave to Vikki. ¡°We must get hold of their technology somehow, whatever the cost. Although if their interstellar drive only generates 0.1c, it won¡¯t be so much use for human interstellar travel. Forty-three years just to get to Alpha Centauri would be a bit tedious! Still, a helluva lot quicker than the Voyagers.¡± He began typing again:


    ? You say you have companions of your kind. Where are they? Are they on this world?


    ? One of them is on the moon you call Nereid, and another on the minor planet you call Chiron. Neither of those worlds turned out to be suitable for our extended stay, so they may move to this world in due course. The rest of the group, including our Leader, are drifting in space at present.


    ? Have any ventured further into the Solar System?


    ? Not nearer your sun than the orbit of Jupiter. We cannot tolerate high temperatures and excessive radiation from your sun. Nor the high gravity on your larger worlds.


    ¡°That means, Earth is probably safe from an invasion by Balas,¡± remarked Gustave to Vikki in another stage whisper. ¡°No War of the Worlds stuff, if you were hoping for that!¡±


    Vikki scoffed. ¡°It¡¯s a long time since I last read any H. G. Wells. And I know what Nereid is: it¡¯s a moon of Neptune. But where is Chiron?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a moon: it¡¯s what astronomers call a Centaur: a comet-like minor planet orbiting the sun between Saturn and Uranus. Not a very hospitable place for humans, whatever the Bala makes of it.¡±


    ¡°OK, thanks. Now I¡¯d like to put a question, please,¡± replied Vikki. So Gustave relinquished the keyboard, and she typed:


    ? I would like to bring another of my species to visit you. A female this time. Is that all right?


    ? Very well. But only the two of you: this male must remain behind. And bear in mind that I must perform the inspection of any newcomer.


    ¡°So next time, it¡¯ll be Murielle,¡± remarked Gustave as he and Vikki trekked back to the base. ¡°I hope she¡¯ll be received as warmly as we were.¡± Vikki could see him grinning through his helmet visor. There was a hint of irony in his voice.

 Chapter 6 – Calamity

    MURIELLE¡¯S detailed scientific report was a long time coming, but in the end copies of it, in both French and English, appeared in Vikki¡¯s and Dr Ye¡¯s inboxes. Vikki wondered at first whether to work from the French version, putting it through an AI-based translator: but on reading a few pages of the English text she decided it was well enough written to use. Evidently Murielle was better at writing English than speaking it!


    But before Vikki had even started proofreading the text, Murielle came to her cabin.


    ¡°You remember I said I must ¡¯ave a look at ze ¡®Bala¡¯,¡± she began. ¡°If it really is a living creature, it¡¯s my duty to learn all about it. Shall we go together?¡±


    ¡°You want to go now? Before Dr Ye and I have finished reviewing your paper?¡±


    ¡°Yes. If we really ¡¯ave another life form here, I must find out what it is and begin my report on that too. I can do it while you are reviewing my other paper.¡±


    So a little while later, having advised Alex of their intentions and obtained her consent, the two of them were making their way across the ice to the Bala.


    ¡°I should warn you,¡± Vikki said, over the radio, ¡°that the Bala will want to manhandle you into its interior. It will use its tentacles. You need not be startled: it will not harm you. It did not harm Gustave, and it only harmed me because it did not realise I was wearing a space-suit that could be punctured. It¡¯s not much worse than going through spaceport security,¡± she added. This last was a little lie, but Vikki wanted to get her own back on Murielle for being so pushy. Let her get scared out of her wits for once!


    Sure enough, once they were standing outside the ¡®doorway¡¯ and Vikki had dutifully prodded the skin, the aperture appeared and a tentacle coiled out and wrapped itself around Murielle. She squealed and wriggled, but the tentacle firmly and with determination pulled her inside. Vikki followed, again remembering in time to switch on her chest lamp.


    ¡°That was very ¡¯orrid,¡± complained Murielle over the radio, once she had been released.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but it can¡¯t be helped,¡± was Vikki¡¯s reply. ¡°Just wait.¡±


    The pressure in the chamber built up again, and the text appeared.


    ? Welcome. And I am sorry I had to handle you in that way, newcomer: it was necessary to check you over. You may remove your space suits. You wish to ask me more questions?


    ¡°I certainly do,¡± exclaimed Murielle, once she had recovered from her shock¡ªwhich took less time than it had with Gustave. She had copied Vikki in removing her helmet.


    ¡°Use the keyboard,¡± said Vikki, pointing. ¡°Just type your quest-ion.¡± So Murielle peeled off her gloves and started typing:


    ? Are you really a living creature, or are you a robot?


    ? I am a living being, just as you are. What makes you think I am a robot?


    ? It seems so strange, that you can live in a vacuum, without food or anything.


    ? Why do you think I do not take in food?


    ¡°I need to check this out,¡± Murielle whispered to Vikki. ¡°I am not convinced this is a living being.¡± And before Vikki could utter a word, she had whipped a small plastic bag and a scalpel out of her backpack.


    ¡°Murielle¡ªwait!¡± yelled Vikki. But she could not stop her. Murielle had deftly sliced off a small sliver of tissue, about twenty centimetres long by ten wide, from the wall of the chamber, and slipped it into her bag.


    ¡°No, Murielle! We should have asked¡ª¡± shouted Vikki, but she got no further. All sorts of things were happening at once. Fissures in the walls appeared all around them. A riot of tentacles emerged, some of them fingered, but some of them clawed. Suddenly Vikki realised that she was gasping for air.


    ¡°Mure! We¡¯re losing air!¡± she screamed, but her voice barely carried in the thinning air. She reached for her helmet at the same time, slammed it down on the collar of her suit as quickly as she could, and twisted it. To her relief, it latched first time, and she took deep breaths as the helmet filled with air once again. But Murielle was struggling. She had managed to put on her gloves, but could not reach her helmet since the tentacles had pinioned her arms. Vikki made a grab for it and tried to attach it to Murielle¡¯s collar, but a tentacle wrapped around her and pulled her back. Murielle¡¯s face was turning blue, and blood was starting to well up at her nose and around her eyes and ears.


    ¡°No! NO!!¡± shrieked Vikki over the radio, but to no avail. She was pushed out of the ¡®doorway¡¯ by the tentacle, and deposited on the ice outside. The aperture shut instantly. Vikki hammered on the Bala¡¯s skin, trying to induce it to open up again, but even as she did so the texture changed. It was now that of friable frozen snow, not the skin she was used to. Vikki was numb with shock, and she barely noticed that her legs were buckling under her and she was sinking slowly face down on the ice. With her last breath before she lapsed into a dead faint, she cried out ¡°Help! HELP!!¡±


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    ¡°Lucky we got to you this time, before your air ran out.¡± The voice sounded faint and indistinct in Vikki¡¯s ringing ears, but it was calm-ing and reassuring. She tried opening her eyes, but all she could see was a blur. She shut them again, and winced as she felt some sort of cold liquid dropping onto her eyelids. But when she opened her eyes again, she could see more clearly. The buzzing in her head had also subsided.


    Dr Ye was standing over her.


    ¡°You¡¯ll pull through all right¡ªbut we couldn¡¯t find Murielle. Where is she, do you know?¡±


    ¡°Oh, Dr Ye!¡± Vikki moaned faintly, ¡°I think she¡¯s still inside the Bala. We were trapped¡ªshe was, I barely got out.¡±


    ¡°Inside? We searched everywhere. Alex, Hal, Gustave, Paul, Joachim¡ªthey¡¯re all out there, scouring the place like hell. Digging into the mound¡ªthe Bala. It¡¯s just like a pile of snow¡ªit can¡¯t be a living being. But it¡¯s a hell of a hard job digging into it. They¡¯ll go on until they start running out of air: then they¡¯ll come back, re-charge, and go out for another sortie. We¡¯ll find her: don¡¯t you worry.¡±


    ¡°Dr Ye,¡± said Vikki, more or less composed now, ¡°I think she will have asphyxiated. We were suddenly out of air: the Bala just depressurised the chamber without warning. I managed to get my helmet on, but Murielle couldn¡¯t reach hers. Last I saw of her, she¡¯d started bleeding, probably from vacuum exposure. And was turning blue. I¡¯m very afraid¡­¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s still hope, Vikki¡ªbut we¡¯ll get her back, dead or alive. What happens if we lose her¡ªI dare not think. But I think the search party are coming back now.¡±


    They could hear the airlock cycling, and snippets of conversation. Vikki pushed herself out of bed, ignoring Dr Ye¡¯s protests, and shuffled woozily towards the suit lockers. The rest of the crew were there, plugging their space-suits into re-charge stations.


    ¡°Find anything?¡± she ventured, weakly.


    ¡°Not yet,¡± replied Gustave. ¡°That Bala¡ªit¡¯s just turned into a regular snowdrift again. Damned tough to dig into: we¡¯ve not made much progress. If only we had our digger¡ªthe backhoe. But it¡¯s still in pieces: I didn¡¯t ask for it to be assembled: didn¡¯t think we¡¯d be using it around here.


    ¡°But you shouldn¡¯t be up, Vikki. Dr Ye said¡ª¡±


    ¡°Damn the doctor! I need to know. It was I that was the last one with Murielle. Why can¡¯t I help with the search?¡±


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    ¡°Absolutely not,¡± intervened Alex. ¡°You just go back to sick-bay, Vikki. It¡¯s our job now.¡±


    Vikki complied. But she was restless. She found her strength gradually returning. Why couldn¡¯t she be up and about? She waited until Dr Ye was called out of the room, then slipped out of bed. She made her way to the suit lockers: luckily there was no-one there. It would take about half an hour for the others¡¯ space-suits to be re-charged: she had time. She took out her own suit¡ªfully charged¡ªwriggled into it, fastened her helmet, worked the airlock, and was away.


    She¡¯d gone about ten metres in the direction of the Bala when she noticed the anomaly.


    The Bala wasn¡¯t there any more.


    Vikki was thunderstruck. Had the crew managed to dig away the entire ¡®drift¡¯? But no: Gustave had just told her they¡¯d made little progress. So maybe the Bala had ¡®taken off¡¯¡ªwith Murielle still inside it?


    She could see something small and indistinct, out on the ice at the exact spot where the Bala had been. Something that had been left behind. She must go and investigate. She¡¯d get there before the others caught her.


    As she came nearer, she could make out what the object was.


    It was a space-suit.


    A space-suit torn in several places. But she could make out the words Dr Murielle d¡¯Anterre written across the chest. The helmet, smashed, was about three metres further on. And there was some-thing else, some ten metres beyond that. A pile of elongated white objects. Vikki took them at first for a pile of ice crystals.


    They were bones. Among them was a human skull.


    Vikki turned away. She was gagging and retching. Throwing up in a space-suit is never a good idea, but she couldn¡¯t stop herself. She shut her eyes and tried not to breathe in the foul stench. Her visor was smeared with vomit and she couldn¡¯t see a thing. She stumbled about for a few moments, then sank down to the ice once again. All went black¡­


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Alex, Gustave, Hal, and Dr Ye were all standing around her. She was lying on a bed in sick-bay, and had been cleaned up and given a clean jumpsuit. That was a relief. But then she remembered what she¡¯d seen, and burst into tears.


    ¡°Well, you sure are the one for narrow escapes, Vikki,¡± said Alex, more kindly than expected. ¡°But of course, we¡¯ve got big problems now. I¡¯ve sent a message to Earth via Ceres: we¡¯ll be getting our instructions direct from SSSA directorate¡ªbut it almost certainly looks like mission abort. I¡¯ll get a definite answer in about four hours. We can¡¯t carry on, not after this tragedy.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯s true¡ªabout Murielle?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so,¡± said Dr Ye. ¡°I¡¯m still running the DNA test, but there isn¡¯t any doubt that they¡¯re her remains. And of course, SSSA will want to run a full enquiry once we get back to Earth. You¡¯ll be questioned intensively. Are you up for that?¡±


    ¡°No matter whether she¡¯s up for it or not, she¡¯s got to face it,¡± put in Alex. ¡°I just hope it doesn¡¯t turn into a murder or manslaughter enquiry. For the record, Vikki, I, and all the other crew, firmly believe in your innocence¡ªthat what happened wasn¡¯t your fault. It¡¯s just that this alien¡ªthis ¡®Bala¡¯¡ªwe just didn¡¯t take it seriously enough.¡±


    ¡°I still feel I¡¯m to blame,¡± wailed Vikki. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have taken her to¡ªto that thing. I didn¡¯t think it would turn against us. B-but¡ª¡±


    ¡°But what, Vikki?¡±


    ¡°Maybe it was what she did. She cut a slice out of the Bala. Wanted a sample to test¡ªsee if it really was living tissue, I guess.¡±


    ¡°She did what?¡±


    ¡°As I said: she cut some of the Bala¡¯s tissue away. She had a scalpel and a plastic bag with her.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure you saw that?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m positive. Off the wall of our chamber. It was just after that, things went crazy.¡±


    ¡°Had it not occurred to either of you that this Bala might feel pain?¡± asked Dr Ye.


    ¡°It certainly seems that way to me¡ªnow. At the time, I just tried to stop her. But I wasn¡¯t quick enough.¡±


    ¡°If I just stuck a scalpel into you for no reason, Vikki, wouldn¡¯t you react?¡± continued Dr Ye. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you try to stop me?¡±


    ¡°Of course I would. I see it all now. Murielle hurt the Bala, and it hit back. It killed her.¡±


    ¡°Damn right it hit back,¡± said Alex. ¡°This puts a whole new complexion on the situation. You¡¯ll have to repeat all you¡¯ve told us at the SSSA enquiry, Vikki. It¡¯s important.¡±


    ¡°I will. I promise. So you think we¡¯ll be ordered back to Earth straight away?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll know in a few hours. It¡¯ll be a long trip: Earth¡¯s badly placed for us at present. How we manage it: that¡¯ll be Joachim¡¯s decision. Probably several stopovers. In the mean time, everyone can pack their belongings and make sure all files are saved and archived.¡±


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Vikki was restless. She¡¯d packed her meagre possessions¡ªall but one. She still had the file from Murielle in her inbox: the report on the ¡®Archaea¡¯. She supposed she was still tasked with peer-reviewing it¡ªbut she couldn¡¯t bear to even look at it. It can wait.


    She badly wanted Hal¡¯s company, but he was busy out at the drilling rig, dismantling it.


    There was one thing she needed to do. Survivor¡¯s guilt was overwhelming her: why hadn¡¯t it been she whom the Bala had some-how sucked all the flesh off? She¡¯d been the insubordinate one. If she hadn¡¯t investigated what they thought was just a hummock, in the first place, Murielle would still be alive. The fact that she¡¯d been at odds with Murielle on some occasions made no difference: she still felt responsible and remorseful.


    She took a treasured possession of hers that she hadn¡¯t packed. It was a small Russian Orthodox cross: a parting gift from her parents who were devout churchgoers, given to her just before she left Earth. No matter that she was an unbeliever: it was still precious to her. She looked at it closely. Made of ebony, it was little more than twenty centimetres high, with its three crossbeams, the lowest one slanted in the Russian tradition. A perfect piece of craftsmanship. And she knew what to do.


    She suited up and cycled the airlock. No-one tried to stop her: everyone else was too busy. She slowly made her way to the place where the Bala had been. There was a slight depression in the ice marking the outline of the alien. All the debris had been cleared away, but she remembered the exact spot where Murielle¡¯s remains had lain. Kneeling down, she planted the cross in the ice, using a small hammer from her backpack to drive it home. Then she stood back and crossed herself in the Orthodox fashion, as she¡¯d been taught as a child.


    She had no idea whether Murielle had been at all religious, and if so she would probably have been Roman Catholic¡ªbut no matter.


    ¡°Farewell, Murielle. I¡¯m so sorry I deserted you. May you rest in peace.¡±


    She stood awhile thinking about events, and as she did so tears welled up in her eyes. In the low gravity the tears clung to her eyelashes, and in her space-suit she could not rub her eyes to get rid of them. She shook her head and blinked several times, and that helped to clear her vision somewhat. She looked around her, and then she noticed it.


    There was something strange about the ice at the exact centre of the Bala¡¯s impression.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    ¡°I¡¯ve got the instructions from Earth. We evacuate as soon as we¡¯re ready: in about six hours¡¯ time. Joachim will provide the details.¡±


    ¡°No, Alex, please, can we wait a little longer? I¡¯ve just found something really interesting.¡± Vikki had just rushed in to join the meeting, having bounded back from the Bala site as fast as she could. She was still wearing her space-suit.


    ¡°Not another alien, is it?¡± asked Alex, visibly annoyed at the inter-ruption.


    ¡°No no, nothing as spectacular as that. But someone must really come with me and inspect the Bala site. Hal, especially: this will interest him no end. Can I at least take him to have a look?¡±


    ¡°If you can be there and back, and still be in good time for our departure, then all right, you can go. But take care. And don¡¯t be late!¡±


    ¡°Thanks a lot, Alex. Come on Hal, suit up and come with me. I¡¯ve something to show you.¡±


    It did not take long for the two of them to reach the Bala site. Vikki led Hal to the exact centre of the impression, and pointed.


    There were three holes in the ice, each about ten centimetres in diameter, arranged in an exact equilateral triangle about fifty centi-metres to a side.


    ¡°Not made by us,¡± was Hal¡¯s first remark over the radio. ¡°You know full well I haven¡¯t been drilling anywhere near here. Not that I could have, with that Bala creature sitting right on top of this spot, anyway. Also, I haven¡¯t been using a drill big enough to make those holes. But they certainly don¡¯t look natural.¡±


    ¡°Then they were made by the Bala,¡± replied Vikki. ¡°That¡¯s the obvious conclusion isn¡¯t it? Perhaps it too was drilling through the ice to get at the water beneath. Perhaps that¡¯s how it was feeding itself. And perhaps there¡¯s something down there. We have to find out!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back to base. I¡¯ll have a word with Alex. You¡¯re right: this looks very interesting. I¡¯m sure two or three days¡¯ delay won¡¯t unduly mess up our flight schedule.¡±

 Chapter 7 – More Critters

    ALEX INSISTED on being shown the mysterious holes in the ice for herself, before she agreed to postpone lift-off. But once she had seen them, she too was intrigued¡ªalthough with Murielle dead, the prospect of in-depth analysis of anything that might be found down the holes was limited. She agreed to a postponement of three Enceladus days¡ªabout one hundred hours¡ªand instructed Hal and Vikki to do what they could in that time.


    It took Hal, Gustave, and Vikki about four hours to move the entire drilling rig from its original site to the Bala¡¯s location, and at the end of the exercise they were all exhausted. Although they had made as much use as possible of the short-range buggy, some of the parts were too large to be transported that way and had to be lugged over by hand. Of course they weighed almost nothing on Enceladus, but it was still an effort in space-suits. Once the whole rig had been set up and Hal had initiated the lowering of a sampling probe into one of the holes, he suggested the three of them should return to base and take a few hours¡¯ rest. The probe could continue its descent automatically in the meantime¡ªprovided it didn¡¯t run against any obstruction.


    The others couldn¡¯t argue about that. It was an exciting moment, but they had to be patient.


    It was some four hours later that Hal roused Vikki and Gustave out of their bunks. ¡°The probe should be close to the bottom of the ice by now¡ªif it didn¡¯t hit anything on the way down,¡± he explained. ¡°Of course, we have no idea whether the Bala¡ªif it was the Bala that made those holes¡ªwent right down to the water. But it seems likely¡ªit probably wanted a drink! Anyway, by the time I get there, the probe should be through, and I need to secure a sample and then start pulling it up. There¡¯s a small infrared camera in the probe, and it may show something. Want to come along, either of you?¡±


    ¡°I assume the raising will take as long as the lowering¡ªover four hours?¡± muttered Gustave, wearily.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m afraid so.¡±


    ¡°Then, if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll stay behind for now. I think I¡¯ve had enough EVA for the time being.¡±


    But Vikki was willing to accompany Hal¡ªand it wasn¡¯t just because of her interest in what the probe might reveal. Spending time with him while wearing space-suits wasn¡¯t exactly romantic, but at least she was close to him, and alone with him¡ªand that meant something.


    Had Gustave been putting on an act, for their benefit? He didn¡¯t make a habit of complaining of tiredness¡­


    They found that the probe had indeed reached the water level, at the same depth as the first borehole: about seventeen kilometres. But the IR camera showed nothing. Vikki was disappointed, but Hal said it was only to be expected: a ¡®shot in the dark¡¯¡ªliterally! He hadn¡¯t even deployed the camera in the first borehole. There was obviously no visible light down there, and the liquid water was so cold that nothing gave off any infrared. They would have to wait for the sample to be brought to the surface.


    Hal busied himself with setting the rig going so as to winch the probe back to the surface, then he turned to face Vikki who was looking him up and down intently.


    ¡°So ¡®Hal¡¯ is short for ¡®Harold¡¯?¡± she remarked, having noticed the inscription on his space-suit. ¡°Funny thing: I never knew that. Never looked. I¡¯d always assumed it stood for ¡®Henry¡¯¡ªyou know, like the prince.¡±


    ¡°Harold it is,¡± replied Hal. ¡°But I¡¯ve always been called ¡®Hal¡¯, ever since I was a wee lad. Nothing princely about me, I fear.¡±


    ¡°Well, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m going to go on calling you ¡®Hal¡¯. Just as I don¡¯t expect you to call me ¡®Viktoriya¡¯,¡± she added with a giggle. ¡°And you¡¯ll always be my ¡®prince¡¯, whatever I call you.¡± Vikki was getting in a flirtatious mood once again.


    They continued to gaze at one another. Reading facial expressions while enclosed in a space-suit isn¡¯t exactly easy, but they could sense each other¡¯s expectations. The ¡®chemistry¡¯ was sky-high! The time it took then to get back to the base must have broken every record as they raced each other with giant leaps and bounds: it was a marvel neither of them overshot or injured themselves. And the wait for the base airlock to cycle, so they could get out of their suits, seemed interminable.


    At last there were the two of them in the cabin¡ªVikki¡¯s this time. And there were the two jumpsuits and the two sets of underwear gently drifting to the floor, and the two bodies gently bouncing up and down as they intertwined with one another on the bunk¡­


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    ¡°We mustn¡¯t miss the probe reaching the surface,¡± remarked Hal, much later, as he got up and dressed. ¡°Ready, Vikki?¡±


    Vikki was still recovering from their exertions, but she insisted she was ready. So it was a few minutes later that they were in their space-suits again and passing through the airlock. The trek back to the rig wasn¡¯t hurried, this time: Hal had said they¡¯d probably have a twenty minutes¡¯ wait before the probe surfaced.


    As things turned out, they had to wait over an hour. The probe had hit an obstruction on the way up, possibly a piece of ice detached from the borehole, and the winch had automatically stopped. Hal had to remotely manoeuvre the probe until it freed itself, then re-start the winch. It seemed an age, but finally the probe emerged.


    The probe was fitted with a small observation window, but it was hard to see anything while wearing a space-helmet and in the dim light. Peer as she might, Vikki could make out nothing. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Hal reassured her. ¡°We¡¯ll get it back to base and then everyone can take a look. Dr Ye especially¡ªhe¡¯s the only one we have left with in-depth biology know-how.¡±


    But Vikki was not to be deterred. Detaching her chest lamp from her suit, she switched it to maximum brightness and angled it to shine directly into the window.


    ¡°I can see something there now!¡± she exclaimed, in some excite-ment. ¡°Little white dots moving about.¡±


    ¡°Could be just flecks of rock, or ice crystals. Let me have a look.¡±


    ¡°No: they¡¯re jittering about as if they were alive. See for yourself.¡±


    Hal peered into the window intently. ¡°Vikki, you may be right. We must get this sample back to base and into the observation habitat. If there are living creatures in there, no way to tell how long they¡¯ll survive.¡±


    So it was another hurried trek back to base, gingerly bearing the precious sample probe.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Vikki was given first look through the microscope, followed by Hal, but all they could make out was that there were wiggly, leggy things moving about very fast. So Dr Ye took the matter in hand.


    ¡°Yes, definitely some kind of arthropod,¡± he muttered, after study-ing the sample for a long time. ¡°I can¡¯t be more precise than that, but definitely a big step up from poor Murielle¡¯s Archaea. If only she were here to see them! I can¡¯t be more precise, but my guess is, we¡¯re looking at something resembling a copepod. Wait, Alex, I¡¯ll explain,¡± noticing that Alex was about to interrupt. ¡°On Earth, cope-pods are a type of tiny marine crustacean, typically not more than two millimetres long. Very abundant: they make up the bulk of zooplankton¡ªthe animal-type plankton. So¡ªbarring the possibility of contamination by space probes¡ªwe have something which has evolved in parallel with Earth-life. This is really exciting! If there are copepods, there may be larger predators feeding on them. Fish, even! If only we were not leaving Enceladus so soon! Yes, Alex, I under-stand of course, it¡¯s necessary after what happened¡ªbut it¡¯s real ill luck. If there¡¯s ever a return mission, I¡¯d love to be on it. I¡¯d make sure to gen up on my biology. Though I¡¯m not getting any younger...¡±


    Alex considered for a while. ¡°I¡¯ll allow time for two more sampler probes to be sent down and retrieved, before we lift off. I don¡¯t suppose SSSA will object¡ªnot when we tell them what we¡¯ve found. And Dr Ye¡ªI¡¯ll certainly put your name forward to SSSA¡ªthough I can¡¯t promise anything.¡±


    Dr Ye was still studying the specimens. ¡°I think I can make out at least two distinct species here. Or possibly they are male and female of the same species. Always assuming that Enceladus life has sexual reproduction. If so, we may be lucky enough to have a breeding colony. Though whether they can survive the voyage is doubtful.¡±


    ¡°It seems that the Bala found a far better drilling site than we did,¡± put in Hal, somewhat crestfallen. ¡°If it really was an intelligent being, was it searching for Enceladean life like us? Or was it just hungry? And why three holes? I think we¡¯d all like to be back here on the next trip.¡±


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°Oh¡ªthe Bala,¡± said Alex. ¡°I never got round to telling you, Hal, Vikki. We¡¯ve located our friend. It¡¯s still on Enceladus, though now three hundred kilometres away: nearly a fifth of the way round the world. If it¡¯s the same one.¡±


    Vikki was taken aback. ¡°You mean it¡¯s still around? How did you find it? Surely our buggies¡ª¡±


    ¡°No chance of a buggy reaching it,¡± explained Joachim. ¡°No, it was one of our drones, hovering at the L1 Lagrange point between us and Saturn, got a picture of it. It¡¯s almost on the limb with respect to the drone, so we got a nice profile view. It certainly looks like it, and it doesn¡¯t show up on earlier images.¡±


    Vikki was about to speak, but Alex forestalled her. ¡°Sorry Vikki, absolutely no chance of us going to visit your friend. It¡¯s got to be now regarded as dangerous, and any return trip will have to check out Enceladus and maybe neutralise any Bala encountered¡ªor at the very least steer well clear.¡±


    Vikki couldn¡¯t let that remark go unchallenged. ¡°Isn¡¯t that rather disproportionate?¡± she commented. ¡°Waging war on a super-intelligent species when they only want to exchange knowledge with us? This isn¡¯t a War of the Worlds scenario, Alex.¡±


    ¡°Oh for heaven¡¯s sake, Vikki! That monster killed poor Murielle. And she¡¯d never meant any harm: she only wanted to take a small sample of the creature¡¯s tissue to test. Maybe it felt pain¡ªbut we feel slight pain when we get our jabs¡ªand we don¡¯t go about murdering the nurse in revenge!¡±


    Vikki did not respond. Maybe Alex was right. And the survivor¡¯s guilt was still overwhelming. She couldn¡¯t be sure she was thinking straight.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    The second and third probes retrieved from under the ice yielded more of the copepod-like life, but no other creatures: if they were expecting something fish-like, they were in for a disappointment. But Dr Ye was quite convinced, now, that there were several distinct species¡ªas well as males and females of the same species. This was progress!


    As to the Bala¡ªwell they were all agreed now that their ¡®friend¡¯ had to be abandoned for the present. And searches had to be initiated on the other human-settled worlds: Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, Ceres, and above all, nearby Rhea¡ªto see if any of those had been ¡®visited¡¯. So there was no other reason to delay their departure from Enceladus. They dismantled and stored the drilling rig, sealed up the base leaving it ready for future occupation, boarded the Valentina, and lifted off.


    Joachim had detailed their itinerary to the gathered crew. The Valentina did not have enough fuel for an interplanetary voyage, so they would first have to make for Rhea, another somewhat larger of Saturn¡¯s satellites. There they would take on fuel from the depot there¡ªand in the meantime the crew could take the opportunity to acclimatise themselves to the slightly greater gravity: one-fortieth of Earth¡¯s, as against Enceladus¡¯ mere one-hundredth. Ideally, they would then have wanted to make a stopover on Ganymede¡ªbut Jupiter and its satellites were badly placed at the moment, so they would head straight for Ceres.


    Alex announced that once on Ceres, three of the crew, Hal, Paul, and Dr Ye, would be given the choice: they could remain on the colony there, take the shuttle to Ganymede when available, or con-tinue to Earth. She and Joachim would be accompanying Murielle¡¯s remains to Earth where, after an intensive postmortem, they would be passed on to her family to be given a proper funeral. Vikki and Gustave were required to come to Earth too, since they would need to participate in the enquiry into Murielle¡¯s death.


    Now that they were in flight and Vikki had more or less recovered from her ordeal, she wondered what a postmortem on what amount-ed to no more than a skeleton would reveal. But it was not her business to inquire.


    The trip to Rhea took only a couple of days. Once they arrived at the small human settlement there, the crew had a chance to disem-bark for about a day whilst the Valentina was serviced and refuelled. Vikki¡ªwho had never visited Rhea before¡ªfound it not much dif-ferent from Enceladus: both moons were mostly covered in ice, both were tidally-locked so that they always kept the same side towards Saturn (the human settlement was on the Saturn-facing side), and Rhea¡¯s gravity was only marginally greater than that of Enceladus. Vikki felt some sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu, and felt little urge to go exploring¡ªeven if she¡¯d been allowed the time to do so.


    Alex was bound to issue a warning about possible Bala attacks (Vikki hated hearing the word ¡®attack¡¯)¡ªbut she was careful not to give too much away¡ªeasy enough for her because she half dis-believed what she had seen on Enceladus. She made no mention of any extraterrestrials¡ªmerely advised the Rhea base team that if they should come across any unexpected pile of snow or ice (of certain dimensions which she specified), they should stay away from it, photograph it, and contact Ceres or Earth.


    Then it was back aboard ship for the much longer voyage to Ceres. This leg would take several months¡ªgiving Vikki plenty of time to reflect on her recent experiences. Would the enormity of them overwhelm her?


    At least she had the comfort of Hal¡¯s company¡ªwhich was good for her sanity. Alex agreed that she and Hal could share a cabin. Hal had already promised that he would stay aboard for the onward trip to Earth. Not only was there no need for an extra drilling engineer, either on Ceres or on Ganymede, but he felt that it was best for Vikki that he stay with her.


    Dr Ye had also pledged to return to Earth. Although there were good testing facilities on Ceres, they did not have an experienced exobiologist there¡ªand he wanted the specimens examined in the best possible conditions.


    Hence it was only Paul who volunteered to stay behind on Ceres. He explained that he would await the first opportunity to transfer to either Ganymede, Callisto, or Europa¡ªwhichever came first. Gustave, passing close by Vikki in the Mess, gave her a quick wink. They both knew what was drawing Paul back to the Jovian moons! But Vikki was secretly relieved. Even now, whenever she passed close to Paul, her heart raced a little. Just a little! She was thinking about what might have been, if Hal hadn¡¯t come into her life. And the pain of Paul¡¯s indifference still troubled her. Better that he should be nowhere near.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    Since the Valentina was missing out on the stopover on Ganymede, with its gravity of about one-seventh gee, instead heading for Ceres with less than one-thirtieth, Dr Ye was discussing with Alex and Joachim how to help the crew to adapt to Earth gravity when they finally reached there. All of the team, of course, had been subjected to intensive zero-gravity training, to ensure that none of them would fall prey to space-sickness. But the sudden jump to terrestrial gravity would be hard on them, after months of near-weightlessness. Alex asked if it was practicable to spin the Valentina. Joachim said no, but he suggested the crew spend some time in the centrifuge on Ceres, set to deliver one-fifth gee at first, slowly rising to one-half.


    Vikki and Hal were both disposed to grumble at this: both of them had been in the centrifuge before and it wasn¡¯t a pleasant experience. Why couldn¡¯t they just experience the brief bouts of gravity when the Valentina accelerated or decelerated? But Dr Ye said that wasn¡¯t enough: he agreed with Joachim that the centrifuge was the better option.


    In the meantime, there was the long voyage to endure, most of it coasting in free fall after the ship had accelerated away from Saturn¡¯s orbit. Vikki and Hal couldn¡¯t spend all the time sharing a bunk. They occupied themselves with writing reports, reading, and watching holos. Vikki tried her hand at writing poetry¡ªwith limited success. Hal was playing a vintage computer game. Dr Ye¡ªthey had no idea how Dr Ye occupied himself when he wasn¡¯t with them. And Alex and Joachim were busy taking care of the ship.


    But they also had time to reflect upon what the Bala could possibly be. To discuss that, Vikki and Gustave called upon Hal and Dr Ye to join them. Alex occasionally sat in on those meetings, but did not participate. She was still sceptical about the whole thing.


    The biggest puzzle was: how did a creature as large as that survive in a total vacuum and with no apparent food source? Hal surmised that it could have at least drawn up water through the three boreholes it had made. And the water contained nutrients: indeed it was richer in nutrients than that obtained from Hal¡¯s borehole. But surely that wouldn¡¯t be enough to sustain a living creature thirty metres long!


    Vikki suggested, perhaps the Bala, being sessile most of the time and presumably inactive, didn¡¯t need much intake. But Gustave¡¯s argument was: look at those tentacles! They were immensely strong, as he knew from his own personal contact with them. Manoeuvring tentacles like that consumed energy¡ªlots of it. And how many tentacles were there?


    Vikki didn¡¯t like to answer that. During that terrible final moment with Murielle, more tentacles than she could count had emerged from fissures in the wall.


    Dr Ye put forward this point. Perhaps what they had seen was the adult form of a metamorphosing creature¡ªeven if its physical shape more resembled a prodigious larva! Maybe in the adult stage it did not feed, but merely survived on its stored fat: existed only to repro-duce. This was common on Earth in many species of moths and mayflies, as he was sure the others knew.


    Vikki remarked that, in that case, it would have to survive the adult phase without feeding for an awfully long time! Its voyage from its home planet had taken six hundred years¡ªand if it ever returned home, it would be facing an equally long trip. And if it wasn¡¯t to take in food or water, what had it drilled those boreholes for? Research into possible life on Enceladus¡ªjust as the Valentina¡¯s crew had been doing?


    Possibly the ¡®adult¡¯ phase¡ªif what they had seen was indeed the adult phase, wasn¡¯t for reproduction, Dr Ye remarked. Perhaps for gathering of knowledge? Maybe the Bala reproduced in an earlier manifestation. And there was no reason to assume they had sexual reproduction. There might be other ways of distributing genetic data.


    And there was still the possibility that the Bala was some kind of robot¡ªin which case it had lied to poor Murielle.


    They debated many times. Nothing made sense. All four of them remained baffled.


    It would be a long wait to reach Ceres¡ªand then after the centri-fugal ordeal there, an equally long time to reach Earth. There was no help for it: they just had to be patient. Perhaps there would be answers to the mystery once they reached home.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    At last the ship docked at the spaceport on Ceres: the largest member of the asteroid belt and one of only two asteroids with a substantial human presence¡ªthe other being Vesta. Here the crew bid farewell to Paul, and Vikki felt impelled to give him a hug and kiss him tenderly on both cheeks: he could hardly refuse her that! Gustave remarked ¡°Give our regards to Carla, won¡¯t you,¡± at which Paul looked a bit bemused; Gustave wondered if he¡¯d committed a faux pas¡ªperhaps Paul wouldn¡¯t be seeing Carla any more. But he kept his composure.


    Once again Alex delivered her ¡®warning¡¯¡ªwhy she hadn¡¯t radioed ahead was puzzling¡ªbut again gave nothing away. That would have to wait for Earth.

 Chapter 8 – Extract from Bala’s Journal

    NOTE: this covers the first spell of contact between myself, named [untranslated word], and the human explorers. This translation into one of their languages (English) has been made at the request of human cosmonaut Dr Viktoriya Rozhkova and human cosmonaut Gustave Quincy. I have inserted, for reference, the humans¡¯ names for planets, satellites, etc. in their star system. I have also used the name supplied by the humans, ¡®Bala¡¯, to refer to myself. I cannot, however, provide English equivalents of the proper names of myself and my companions, nor of our home world.


    IN MY previous report I gave a detailed overall description of the planetary system which [untranslated words] and myself have been charged with exploring, with a view to learning whether there exists life in that system, and whether any of the worlds have potential for colonisation. Here follows a brief summary.


    The four innermost planets are rocky and of no use to us: far too hot and with far too high a surface gravity. We at once realised that we could not venture closer to the star [Sun] (a yellow Main Sequence type G2 in the humans¡¯ classification) than the orbit of the innermost gas giant¡ª¡ªthe fifth from the star¡ª¡ªwhich is also the largest planet in the system [Jupiter].


    That gas giant has a promising satellite orbiting [Europa]: large and covered in water ice with clear evidence of cold liquid water beneath it¡ª¡ªjust what we need for a successful habitat. But unfortunately its surface gravity¡ª¡ªat nearly fifteen times that of our home planet, [untranslated word]¡ª¡ªis still too great: it is likely that if any of us were to settle there we would never be able to escape its gravity. We have sent an urgent message to [untranslated word] requesting that, if any further envoys are sent to this system, they must be equipped with a more powerful neutrino-drive implant.


    Planet number nine [Pluto] which orbits the star slightly further out than number eight [Neptune], the outermost ice giant (although with an eccentric orbit which intersects that of number eight) was also considered, since it is another small ice-world. But it too was ruled out because of its excessive gravity (about seven times that of [untranslated word]), which although survivable would be uncomfortable. However, we may consider it again if none of our chosen worlds check out.


    In the end we decided upon three suitable candidates, and my assignment was to the most promising: an icy satellite [Enceladus] orbiting planet number six¡ª¡ªthe second gas giant¡ª¡ªthe one with the most prominent ring system [Saturn]. This has a mostly water-ice surface which again appears to cover a liquid water layer¡ª¡ªand its gravity is suitable for us at just a little over that of our home world. [untranslated word] takes on a satellite [Nereid] orbiting the eighth planet [Neptune] while [untranslated word] is to visit a minor planet orbiting the star independently [Chiron].


    Having agreed on the allocation of worlds to visit, we parted company and I began my descent to the ice world [Enceladus]. Then I noticed something unexpected. An artefact of some sort, apparently a kind of space vehicle (such as we used to use before we developed the neutrino-drive implant) was orbiting that same world. One of our directives is to establish contact with any intelligent alien species we may encounter¡ª¡ªand this artefact certainly looked as if it was constructed by intelligent beings.


    I observed this spacecraft carefully and was able to detect low-frequency modulated electromagnetic radiation emanating from it¡ª¡ªas well as very low-energy incoming radiation of the same kind. This seemed to be the aliens¡¯ signalling method, and it was a simple matter for me to analyse the signals and hence gain some knowledge of their relatively simple language. It was unfortunate, however, that I am not equipped to respond to them in like manner: the aliens evidently have not developed a neutrino-pulse signalling system equivalent to ours.


    Nevertheless I immediately contacted [untranslated word], the leader of our mission, and was directed to remain close to the alien spacecraft and see what it would do.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    After a short delay the spacecraft did indeed de-orbit and start a gradual descent path towards a point on the world¡ª¡ªalmost the exact locality which we too had chosen as the most favourable spot for exploration. I therefore arranged to settle myself on the surface a short distance from the spacecraft¡¯s expected landing position, and await its arrival.


    Once on the surface I took the opportunity to replenish my water reserves by making boreholes through the ice. I observed primitive life-forms in the water which appear to be native to this satellite.


    I observed small bipedal beings [humans] emerge from their spacecraft and set up equipment. Not having had orders to approach them directly, I waited¡ª¡ªand in due course one of the beings came close to me. I had prepared an internal chamber for the purpose of communication so I drew the human into my interior.


    Unfortunately I accidentally damaged the human in doing so, by exposing it to vacuum which its species cannot tolerate. Accordingly there was a delay, amounting to ten orbits of the satellite about its primary, before I could restore the human and its protective covering to full functionality. Luckily the biological structure of the human was relatively simple to analyse and manipulate, and it was a straightforward matter to keep it alive during restoration.


    During my restoration work other humans approached me and attempted to damage me. I had to use my [untranslated word] mode to protect myself. Eventually they withdrew.


    Once the human I had taken in was functional, I attempted to communicate using visual symbols. The human appeared to have difficulty in working with the binary representation I used¡ª¡ªand appeared to be anxious to rejoin its companions¡ª¡ªso I released it.


    I had of course continued to monitor the signals emanating from the humans¡¯ spaceship, and to my surprise I detected what seemed to be a large database containing much information about the species, most of it not relevant to their current mission. Since it seems unlikely that they would have had any occasion to transmit this database to their home planet, I deduced that the signal was sent for my express benefit. Using the extra data, I was able to improve my understanding of their language and culture, and also to employ the more succinct representation of the language which the humans appear to use among themselves.


    I was also able to determine, using this enlarged information, that the humans experience binary sexual reproduction, and that the human who visited me was a female of the species: that is, one equipped to directly bring forth young.


    In due course the original female returned, and using the improved communication system we were able to exchange information. The human then requested that another of her kind be admitted¡ª¡ªand I agreed to this, subject to obtaining permission from [untranslated word]. The second human turned out to be a male of the species: one equipped to supply its genetic material to the female, who then combines the material in her body to produce young. I asked whether the two of them were prepared to demonstrate their reproductive procedure, but they declined. It seems that the process is a very private matter among the humans, which they do not willingly reveal to others.


    The two humans made a second visit, during which I supplied them with such information about ourselves as we are permitted to disclose to beings of a species less developed than ourselves. Then the female requested that she be accompanied by a different human for the third visit. To this I consented¡ª¡ªbut the outcome was unfavourable. The newcomer¡ª¡ªa female apparently with expertise in biology¡ª¡ªappeared hostile and attempted to cut away part of my body. At this point the stress caused me to go into a state of [untranslated word], in consequence behaving irrationally for a while. When I became rational again, I observed that the first female was no longer present and the second female was damaged beyond recovery. I retrieved all the soft tissue from it but it was evident that repairs were impossible: the human was dead.


    Shortly afterwards, other humans came and attempted to attack me. I assumed my defensive mode but they persisted, so I thought it best to relocate to a more distant locality on the same world.


    Thus far, I have received no further visits from humans. I have reported all my experiences to [untranslated word] and I await further instructions.


    Report submitted by [untranslated word].

 Chapter 9 – Trial

    THAT SHE would stand trial for murder as soon as she set foot back on Earth, came as an unexpected shock to Vikki.


    Of course she should have seen it coming. Alex had strongly urged her to get herself a good lawyer, even before the Valentina docked at the space station ISS4 and the crew transferred to the ground-to-orbit shuttle for the descent to Earth. Vikki had disregarded the warning. ¡°Me! Guilty of anything? You¡¯re kidding!¡± was her only response to Alex¡¯s admonition. And now it was too late. She had only just come out of quarantine and barely acclimatised herself to Earth¡¯s gravity, when two security guards materialised at her sides, took her by each arm, and gently but firmly conducted her to a locked room.


    Vikki could do no more than wait patiently. What was all this about? At last, after an hour or two, her brother and her parents were allowed in. There was a tearful reunion.


    ¡°We¡¯d all been told you were dead!¡± her mother exclaimed, through her tears. It took a moment for Vikki to register¡ªthen she remembered that during her fourteen-day ¡®disappearance¡¯ Alex had relayed the sad news to Earth.


    If only there hadn¡¯t been any other ¡®sad news¡¯ to report!


    ¡°Do you know why I¡¯m being locked up here?¡± Vikki asked, fearing the worst.


    ¡°We haven¡¯t been told,¡± her brother replied. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re sure it¡¯s just some sort of formality.¡± Evidently the news of Murielle¡¯s death had not been circulated at large.


    Vikki was left alone again. After some hours she was taken elsewhere, before an imposing official she assumed was the chief prosecutor or investigating magistrate or whatever he was called¡ªand she was formally charged with the murder of Dr Murielle D¡¯Anterre, on the moon Enceladus, on or around such-and-such a date. Vikki half-listened to all this, in a daze. She was duly cautioned, whereupon she burst out with pleas of her absolute innocence, citing the utter impossibility of her having committed the alleged crime.


    She was allowed access to a phone, and she made a panic-stricken call to Alex, begging her assistance. Alex duly obliged, and within a few hours a middle-aged, smartly-turned-out woman with long black hair was admitted to Vikki¡¯s cell. She introduced herself as Ms Vihansh Kumar, and explained that she was the attorney tasked with representing Vikki in the forthcoming trial. She urged her to tell her everything she could recall about her experiences.


    ¡°I hardly know how to begin,¡± said Vikki. ¡°I guess¡ªthe first thing to ask you is, has anyone mentioned anything about intelligent extra-terrestrials?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± replied Vihansh.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really surprised at that,¡± was Vikki¡¯s response. ¡°I doubt if even SSSA have been told everything. Probably Alex¡ªit was Alex who sent you wasn¡¯t it? I¡¯m very grateful¡ªprobably Alex is keeping the whole story under wraps for now. Too sensational. If we told the whole world we¡¯d just be branded as crackpots.¡±


    ¡°You can tell me,¡± urged Vihansh. ¡°I keep an open mind about such matters. That¡¯s my job. And I have heard something. Something vague¡ªabout a snowdrift?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s part of it. Alex issued a guarded warning to the folks on Rhea and Ceres, and they must have passed it on. But she held back on the truth. What I¡¯m about to tell you: you too will probably agree that it has to be kept secret for the time being.¡± And with that, Vikki launched into a full account of all her experiences¡ªkeeping back only the intimate details of her relationship with Hal...


    Vihansh was staring at her, open-mouthed.


    ¡°Well, well!¡± she exclaimed at last. ¡°Your story holds together: I can see that. I can tell you¡¯re not making this up. Whether a jury will believe a word of it: that¡¯s a different matter. And whether we¡¯ll even be allowed to mention all this in a public court¡ªwhether it¡¯ll be deemed to be Top Secret¡ªthat¡¯s another question we¡¯ll need the answer to.¡±


    ¡°Could Alex¡ªand Gustave Quincy, my crewmate¡ªcould they come and join us? Gustave, at least, will corroborate my story.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Vikki: you¡¯re not allowed to meet with potential wit-nesses. But I shall certainly go and consult with both those people, and with Dr Ye Wu-Jia. And Harold McManus too¡ªI understand you were friendly with him¡ªmore than friendly, in fact.¡±


    ¡°Who told you that?¡± retorted Vikki, a bit peeved. ¡°Ah¡ªI suppose it was Alex. Yes, all right: we were dating during the trip. He was lonely, and I was lonely. If that¡¯s relevant.¡±


    ¡°Everything¡¯s relevant, Vikki, when you¡¯re on trial for murder. You must understand this. Hold nothing back from me. I¡¯ll decide what has to be said in Court¡ªif it comes to Court.¡±


    ¡° ¡®If¡¯? You¡¯re saying, ¡®if¡¯? Do you mean I may not come to trial after all?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s possible, given the sensitivity of the circumstances, and the potential impact on global security. I shall have to consult with others. Please don¡¯t worry too much at present.¡± And with that Vihansh took her leave, promising to report any developments.


    So Vikki was alone in her cell once again. At least she was well-treated. She had a separate tiny bathroom, a holoTV, a computer, and a phone (though the numbers she was allowed to call, and websites she was able to access, were limited). The food was adequate if uninspiring: at least it was better than some of the rations aboard Valentina. She was allowed out into a garden at times. The main handicap was that she wasn¡¯t allowed any visitors, apart from Vihansh, the prison officers, and a doctor.


    Would there be a trial? Had her incredible story now been circulated among SSSA¡¯s senior directorate? Among top brass at the World Government? What would they make of it? Would she be consigned to the loony bin?


    Vikki waited. Altogether, it was a comfortable existence, although she felt stifled. What would the others of her erstwhile crewmates be up to? Had any of them blabbed to the world at large? And how about the little ¡®copepods¡¯ that Dr Ye had so carefully nurtured during the long journey to Earth? The last she heard, only five of them were left alive at the end of the voyage. Had they been kept alive, since then¡ªand had any specimens of the ¡®Archaea¡¯ survived too? As the sole representatives of extraterrestrial life from the Solar System (nothing had been discovered on Europa, yet), surely they must be the focus of intense study. They would not have been kept secret¡ªat least, not from the scientific community. What had humanity learnt about alien biology by studying such minute creatures?


    Too many unanswered questions. She could only wait.


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    At length Vihansh reappeared. ¡°Well, Vikki, there is going to be a trial after all. SSSA were insistent. But it¡¯ll be in camera. The Press will be barred. There will be a judge, Counsel for the Prosecution, myself, the Court officials, and a jury consisting of eight positively-vetted humans and four AIs. You will not be allowed to object to any of the jurors¡ªbut I don¡¯t suppose you would think of doing so anyway: they have been carefully chosen. Don¡¯t worry: I think it¡¯s all for the best.¡±


    On the due date Vikki was led into the courtroom. It was far less imposing, less impersonal, than she had imagined. She was given a comfortable chair to sit on, facing a table, with Vihansh at her side. Prosecuting Counsel, introduced to her as Bal¨¢zs Szekeres, was at a separate table, and the Judge, named Andrew Hough, sat at a larger table facing them, flanked by two officials. And the jury sat at a long table over to one side: two men, six women, and four AIs represented by holo-monitors. At present the holo-monitors were blank.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    As the introductions were made, Vikki found it hard to suppress a giggle. The prosecutor¡¯s first name, Hungarian-sounding ¡®Bal¨¢zs¡¯, sounded very much like ¡®Bala¡¯ to her ears, and set her wondering: what had become of her late interlocutor? Was it still on Enceladus?


    The prosecutor¡¯s statement was brief. He stated that Dr Murielle D¡¯Anterre¡¯s body¡ªor rather, her skeleton, was found exposed on the Enceladean surface, and that Dr Viktoriya Rozhkova was the last person known to have been in her company. The cause of Dr D¡¯Anterre¡¯s death was almost certainly space exposure, but the exact circumstances¡ªincluding the removal of soft tissue from her body¡ªremained a mystery.


    He called no witnesses. It seemed that he was not fighting particularly hard to win his case.


    Then Vihansh stood up. She explained that, incredible though it must seem, the Enceladus expedition had indeed met up with an intelligent alien creature, improbably shaped like a huge snowdrift or whale. There was a small probability that it might be a robot instead of a living being, but most of the crew had now discounted that theory. It was clearly not of Enceladus, not even of the Solar System. It had somehow learnt our language and conversed¡ªin a manner of speaking¡ªwith two of the crew. She would now call upon cosmo-naut Gustave Quincy who also witnessed at first hand the alien, which they had provisionally named the ¡®Bala¡¯ .


    Gustave gave his account without a hitch, and then it was then Bal¨¢zs Szekeres¡¯s turn to cross-examine him.


    ¡°Mr Quincy: you are well acquainted with and good friends with the defendant, are you not?¡±


    ¡°Yes I am.¡±


    ¡°Would it be correct to say, she regards you as some sort of father-figure? Someone to turn to for advice and counsel?¡±


    ¡°Yes: I suppose that would be a fair assessment.¡±


    ¡°So is it possible, then, that you may have¡ªer¡ªslanted the testimony you have just given, so as to place the defendant in a more favourable light?¡±


    ¡°Why should I want to do that?¡± replied Gustave, testily. ¡°I have merely told the court exactly what I saw and experienced.¡±


    ¡°Mr Quincy, please answer the question: yes or no.¡±


    ¡°In that case: no.¡±


    ¡°Very well. No further questions.¡±


    Dr Ye was then called. He gave only a cursory and non-committal account of his impression of the alien, and then, in reply to further questioning, stated that he had examined the skeleton found on the ice and could confirm that it was the remains of Dr D¡¯Anterre. He was not cross-examined.


    Alex was summoned. She gave Vikki a good character reference, and testified that she had been a good and industrious member of the crew. Nothing about insubordination, much to Vikki¡¯s relief. Alex too was not cross-examined.


    Now it was Vikki¡¯s turn. In response to Vihansh¡¯s careful questioning, she gave a full account of all her experiences with the Bala, including that final dreadful moment when it had attacked and killed Murielle; then she gave an account of her discovery of the skeleton after the Bala¡¯s disappearance. When she had finished, Vihansh requested an adjournment¡ªbut both the prosecutor and the judge refused her request. So it was the turn of Bal¨¢zs Szekeres to cross-examine her.


    ¡°Dr Rozhkova: on the outward voyage to Enceladus, you shared a cabin with Dr D¡¯Anterre, did you not?¡±


    ¡°Yes I did.¡±


    ¡°What was your relationship with her during that time?¡±


    ¡°Just like it would be with any crew member I might share with.¡±


    ¡°Was there any strain in the relationship?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean exactly what I said. Were your relations at all strained?¡±


    ¡°Well, I suppose¡ª¡±


    ¡°Dr Rozhkova: Dr D¡¯Anterre¡¯s grasp of English was not good, was it?¡±


    ¡°You could say that, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°Please answer the question.¡±


    ¡°No. I mean, yes: her English was rather poor.¡±


    ¡°So she spoke much of the time in French, her native tongue?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And do you speak French, Dr Rozhkova?¡±


    ¡°Not very well. School French, mostly. I understand quite a few words.¡±


    ¡°So if you had to converse with Dr D¡¯Anterre, it was not easy?¡±


    ¡°No¡ªsometimes it wasn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Did you bear a grudge against Dr D¡¯Anterre because of that?¡±


    Vikki paused for a long time. She recalled the words she¡¯d spoken to Gustave, so long ago it seemed now. ¡®I loathe her¡¯. She couldn¡¯t possibly admit to that in court!


    The judge intervened. ¡°Please answer the question, Dr Rozhkova.¡±


    ¡°I suppose, I have to admit, I didn¡¯t like her very much. But not enough to want to kill her! Honestly, how can anyone suppose I¡¯d want to kill anyone!?¡±


    ¡°Very well. Dr Rozhkova, were you aware that Dr D¡¯Anterre was carrying a sharp knife amongst her equipment?¡±


    ¡°A scalpel, you mean. No. Not until she brought it out. It took me by surprise.¡±


    ¡°And you do not carry such a knife yourself whilst on EVA, Dr Rozhkova?¡±


    ¡°No, I do not. I carry a small geological hammer and some chisels. Part of my work as a geologist. Nothing with a cutting edge. There¡¯s always the risk of puncturing one¡¯s space-suit.¡±


    ¡°So Dr D¡¯Anterre¡¯s action of cutting a slice out of the ¡®alien¡¯¡ªthat came as a surprise to you?¡±


    ¡°It certainly did.¡±


    ¡°Did you try to stop her?¡±


    ¡°I already said it before: yes I did.¡±


    ¡°Just checking. So is there a possibility that you might have grabbed her scalpel and used it to slash her space-suit? An extreme measure, but necessary to prevent her from harming the alien?¡±


    ¡°No¡ªNO! I would never have done that. Never. NEVER!!¡± Vikki was almost screaming at this point. Vihansh leaned across and whispered to her, reassuringly.


    Bal¨¢zs Szekeres gave Vikki time to calm down before continuing.


    ¡°So how do you suppose the space-suit did indeed get slashed, and the helmet broken¡ªas other witnesses have testified?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve already said: I don¡¯t know. But the alien¡ªthe Bala¡ªsome of its tentacles were equipped with sharp claws. It could have done all those things. I didn¡¯t stay to watch.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Dr Rozhkova. No further questions.¡±


    Vikki gave an audible sigh. But Vihansh winked at her.


    Seeing that there were no further witnesses to be summoned, the judge directed the prosecutor to summarise. But even as he was standing up, the four AIs in the jury intervened. They spoke in unison:


    ¡°We see no reason why this trial should continue. In our view, the prosecution has presented no evidence to prove the defendant¡¯s guilt. We ask the human members of the jury whether they agree.¡±


    The judge addressed the jury. ¡°Do you wish to retire and consider the matter?¡±


    There was some quiet nodding and muttering amongst the jurors. Then one of them stood up. ¡°We all agree: we concur with the AIs¡¯ assessment. The defendant has no case to answer.¡±


    ¡°Very well¡ªthough you should have advised me earlier. Case dismissed.¡± The judge sounded his gavel.


    Both Vihansh Kumar and Bal¨¢zs Szekeres shook hands with Vikki. Her ordeal was at an end!

 Chapter 10 – Post-Trial Discussions

    ¡°I THINK Bal¨¢zs gave you a fairly easy ride back there,¡± was Vihansh¡¯s first remark, once Vikki was seated in her chambers shortly after the trial, at Vihansh¡¯s invitation.


    ¡°Easy? I wouldn¡¯t call that easy! He threw all kinds of awkward stuff at me,¡± retorted Vikki.


    ¡°Listen, Vikki, I know Bal¨¢zs well: he¡¯s an old friend of mine and we go back many years. He¡¯s a hard attorney¡ªone of the best there is. I¡¯ve seen him tear a witness to shreds during cross-examination. But I get the impression, he knew you weren¡¯t guilty right from the start. He put on a show because SSSA wanted him to put on a show, but it was a very soft touch by his standards.¡±


    ¡°Why should SSSA want me to be put on trial?¡±


    ¡°They want to cover their asses. They can¡¯t be seen to be res-ponsible for losing cosmonauts left right and centre, and if they think they can pin the blame onto some individual, they¡¯ll try their damnedest. After all, their record isn¡¯t great. And their predecessors, NASA, fared even worse. In their first fifty years of operations, latter part of twentieth century and beginning of twenty-first, they lost seventeen astronauts¡ªas you¡¯ll know if you read up your history.¡±


    ¡° ¡®Astronaut¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Sorry: that was an early term for ¡®cosmonaut¡¯. All to do with what was known as the ¡®Space Race¡¯. The Americans called their space travellers ¡®astronauts¡¯, the Russians called them ¡®cosmonauts¡¯¡ªbut in the end the word ¡®cosmonaut¡¯ prevailed.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. Yes I did read something about those early disasters. Ground-to-orbit vehicles exploded, or something?¡±


    ¡°Yes. One, called Challenger, exploded just after take-off. Another, called Columbia, burned up on re-entry. Seven casualties in each case. Before those two, another three men were killed in a fire in an Apollo spacecraft on the ground. And much more recently, there was the disaster at the Arthur C. Clarke base on Mars. The dome suddenly burst and depressurised for no apparent reason. Eleven people killed. You heard of that one?¡±


    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s why SSSA are not sending missions to Mars at present, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°I believe so. Although all those disasters occurred during NASA¡¯s tenure, SSSA have had their share of accidents. Not so deadly: space flight has become far safer overall over the years. Until Murielle, they lost just three cosmonauts. But Murielle¡¯s death has got them mighty shook up and worried.¡±


    ¡°Excuse my saying so, Vihansh: you do seem very knowledgeable about space topics.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re quite right,¡± replied Vihansh, a bit embarrassed. ¡°I used to work for SSSA¡¯s legal department¡ªand I¡¯ve spent some time on the board investigating space accidents. And I¡¯ve read up on all the history. That¡¯s why Alex picked me to represent you. Though in the end my services were hardly needed.¡±


    ¡°So what happens now? Will I be able to get back into space any time?¡±


    ¡°That, I can¡¯t answer for now. But shall we say, enough of history for now? We¡¯re going to join in a meeting. The judge has asked me to bring you to his chambers this evening, along with others. Don¡¯t worry about it: it¡¯s no longer a trial. More like a general discussion on the question ¡®where do we go from here?¡¯ ¡±


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    When Vikki and Vihansh arrived at Judge Andrew Hough¡¯s chambers, they found several people there already. Alex, Gustave, Hal, Joachim, and Dr Ye were seated around a large table, along with Bal¨¢zs Szekeres. Also there were two men and a woman, all of late-middle-age, none of whom Vikki recognised¡ªalthough she guessed they were probably from high-up in SSSA. In addition there was a slightly younger woman whom Vikki couldn¡¯t place¡ªthough her face seemed vaguely familiar.


    It was Bal¨¢zs who greeted Vikki first of all. ¡°You did very well, Vikki, in court today. Far better than some witnesses I¡¯ve questioned in my long career.¡±


    ¡°Did I, Mr Szekeres? I thought I was being given a mauling.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s pronounced ¡®Sekeresh¡¯. But please call me Bal¨¢zs. That¡¯s with a ¡®zs¡¯ like the ¡®s¡¯ in ¡®leisure¡¯. This is not a trial: we can dispense with formality.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, Bal¨¢zs. But I did feel a bit drained at the end.¡±


    ¡°You have to understand, Vikki, that none of us really believed you were guilty. But we had to go ahead with the trial, to avert the risk of mass panic should¡ªwhat you discovered¡ªleak out. A heavily redacted transcript of the Court proceedings will go out to the Press, isn¡¯t that right, Andy?¡±


    The judge nodded. ¡°Yes, well done Vikki,¡± he confirmed. ¡°And please, everyone, call me Andy. That¡¯s a name everyone can pro-nounce!¡±


    With the mispronouncing of names out of the way, the introductions could continue. The two men were introduced as Duke Weaver, Chief Executive of SSSA, and Luis Mend¨¦s, Chief Scienti-fic officer, while the older woman was Lavinia Morel, head of SSSA¡¯s exobiology division. Vikki knew the names but had never met any of them. An impressive gathering indeed!


    Then it was the turn of the younger woman to introduce herself. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Estella Beeston, but most people know me as ¡®Stella Strange¡¯. You may have read one or other of my books¡­¡±


    Stella Strange! Of course! Vikki realised who she was at once. One of the brightest up-and-coming writers of ¡®hard¡¯ science fiction in the business. Vikki had read her debut novel Dawn of Phobos with enthusiasm: indeed it was partly that book that persuaded her to go ahead and sign up with the SSSA Space Force. Of course, Stella¡¯s picture as seen in the front pages of her e-books must have been taken some years ago, which was why Vikki hadn¡¯t quite recognised her.


    But why was she in this meeting? This wasn¡¯t a science-fiction congress: it was here to discuss hard facts. Vikki was about to ask ¡°What are you doing here?¡± but she bit back on her words in time.


    It was Duke who came to the rescue. ¡°I should explain,¡± he began, ¡°that we asked Stella to come along because her vivid imagination might very well be useful when it comes to understanding these out-of-this-world phenomena. We¡¯re hoping she might come up with some ideas we¡¯ve missed. Even a writer of fiction has to draw some of their material from fact.¡±


    That made some sense, even if the premise was somewhat bizarre. But then¡ªthey were there to debate a topic which had plenty of the bizarre about it. That was, of course, assuming that discussion about the Bala was on the agenda.


    Vikki held her peace while Judge Andrew, who appeared to be chairing the meeting, made his opening statement.


    ¡°I should explain that I, and my legal colleagues Bal¨¢zs and Vihansh, are here mainly as observers, and because we were concerned with the trial which has just concluded. We expect to comment only in the event that any legal matters crop up. We shall leave most of the discussion to the experts and the witnesses. Only those present in this room, plus the jurors in the trial and the court officials¡ªall of whom have been sworn to absolute secrecy¡ªare cognizant of the extraordinary circumstances which bring us together. I therefore pass on to Duke here who will present the issues.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, Andy,¡± Duke began. ¡°Well, we¡¯re here to discuss the events surrounding the Valentina¡¯s recent mission to Enceladus. All of the surviving crew of that mission are present, except for Paul Udike who is at present on Ganymede. But Paul is listening in on this meeting via video link.¡± Duke pointed at the holo-monitor set in the corner of the room, which Vikki hadn¡¯t noticed until then. It was currently blank, so Paul hadn¡¯t yet joined in. ¡°Unfortunately,¡± continued Duke, ¡°the lightspeed time-delay to and from Ganymede is currently almost an hour and a half, so if Paul wants to make any contribution we¡¯ll have to wait a while for it!¡± Everyone smiled at this, especially Vikki.


    ¡°First of all,¡± continued Duke, ¡°we¡¯ll be dealing with the verified life-forms, apparently native to Enceladus, which were collected from beneath the ice. For that I¡¯ll pass over to Lavinia here.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Duke,¡± Lavinia began. ¡°I¡¯m afraid some of my report is rather technical: I hope you will all bear with me. As I¡¯m sure you know, two distinct families of what we¡¯re almost certain are native Enceladean life-forms were collected and brought back to Earth. One of them, a single-celled microorganism, is somewhat similar to Earth¡¯s Archaea. A number of specimens were still alive when the sample reached Earth, and a few have survived up till now. We were able to confirm the late Dr D¡¯Anterre¡¯s conclusion that there are two distinct species. Since she was the first to describe them, we are retaining the taxonomic names she assigned to them¡ªbut after lengthy discussions with the ICZN, we have agreed to prefix the generic name with a lower-case ¡®x¡¯ to indicate that these are extraterrestrial genera. So they become xEnceladium danterrii and xEnceladium mcmanusii. Their metabolism currently remains a mystery. We suspect that they exchange genetic material by conjugation, since we have not detected any viruses in the sample.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s ¡®conjugation¡¯?¡± interposed Vikki.


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m being a bit technical. It¡¯s a process whereby a bacterium or archaeon transfers genetic material direct to another of its species. Non-sexual genetic diversity. There¡¯s also a process called ¡®transduction¡¯, in which a virus is involved in the transfer¡ªbut we have not observed that.¡±


    Several of her audience remained nonplussed¡ªbut they made no further comment.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± continued Lavinia, ¡°we¡¯ve definitely determined that there is genetic material in these specimens, in double helix structure similar to DNA¡ªalthough it¡¯s not true DNA.¡±


    ¡°Double helix but not DNA?¡± queried Gustave.


    ¡°That is correct. Of course, in a species evolved on a planet¡ªall right, a satellite¡ªmany millions of kilometres from Earth with no possibility of interaction, it¡¯s hardly surprising that a different genetic structure has evolved. We¡¯ve determined that this ¡®pseudo-DNA¡¯ is made up of nucleotides each containing one of six distinct nucleobases, as against the four found in Earth-based DNA. All the nucleobases are exotic: none of them match the ¡®C¡¯, ¡®G¡¯, ¡®A¡¯, and ¡®T¡¯ bases we¡¯re familiar with. So this is exotic material. Perhaps we ought to call it ¡®xDNA¡¯ or something.¡±


    ¡°This must have been a very exciting discovery,¡± put in Alex. ¡°So we have finally proved that this really is native Enceladean life, not the result of contamination by Earth-based probes?¡±


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    ¡°Absolutely. We also found proteins present composed of exotic amino-acids: not surprising seeing as they were assembled under the guidance of exotic messenger RNA. Altogether our team has done excellently and I am thrilled at these developments.¡±


    ¡°You can say that again, Lavinia,¡± commented Duke. ¡°We may be at a turning-point in human history.¡±


    ¡°What about our other ¡®exciting discovery¡¯?¡± put in Vikki. ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to move on to that?¡±


    ¡°All in good time. Lavinia, please continue.¡±


    ¡°I now come to the slightly more macroscopic life-forms discovered under the ice. As I said earlier, only five specimens were still alive upon arrival on Earth, although there were several almost intact dead creatures which we were able to dissect. The live specimens consisted of what we believe to be a male and three females belonging to one species, and a separate species of which only one female survived. Yes: we have determined that these creatures possess a form of sexual reproduction, which I shall come to later. Unfortunately, all these specimens have since died. We had hoped to observe breeding from one of the species, but in this we were unsuccessful.


    ¡°The creatures are of basic arthropod pattern, similar to the copepods which are present in abundance in Earth¡¯s oceans. There are similarities but also some differences: these specimens possess five pairs of biramous appendages, three pairs for locomotion and two for feeding. The locomotive lower appendages are singly-jointed and the outer segments are paddle-shaped for swimming. On terrestrial copepods there are usually no appendages at all on most of the abdominal segments, and only a single pair on the final segment for swimming. On the Enceladean specimens, the upper branches of the biramous appendages appear to function as some kind of gill, although their function is obscure: there is very little oxygen dissolved in the water at that depth. We surmise that they feed on the same Archaea-like organisms which I have already described, although we were unable to observe any feeding behaviour.


    ¡°The cells of these creatures have a nucleus, comprising the same exotic DNA-like material that we saw in the Archaea types. We strongly suspect that certain of these cells can undergo meiosis to create haploid cells for the purpose of sexual reproduction and genetic diversification, although we have not yet observed this. And since we have no living specimens left, our scope for further study is limited. Nevertheless, we are rating this as a discovery as exciting¡ªif not even more so¡ªas that of the Archaea-like specimens.


    ¡°We have given scientific names to these two arthropod-like species. We at first asked Dr Ye here if he was prepared to have them named after himself¡ªbeing the first person to study them¡ªbut he has declined.¡± Dr Ye nodded, shyly. ¡°So we decided to honour our colleague who sadly lost her life on Enceladus. They have been named xDanterria gracilia and xDanterria hirsuta. Provisionally placed in the same genus¡ªalthough that is subject to possible revision, following further study.


    ¡°Thank you, everyone, for bearing with me,¡± Lavinia concluded. ¡°I hope my report was not too technical.¡± Several of her listeners had shown blank expressions during much of her speech, though they brightened up at the end of it.


    ¡°Thank you Lavinia, that was fine: an excellent summary of your team¡¯s work,¡± said Duke. ¡°Before you ask, Valentina crew mem-bers,¡± he continued, just as Vikki was about to interpose, ¡°yes: we intend to send another mission to Enceladus. It is now considered to be the most important extraterrestrial world in the Solar System. We shall be putting a lot of effort into the voyage, and of course we hope there will be no casualties this time.¡±


    Vikki felt a surge of delight on hearing this. A chance to meet up with the Bala again? She couldn¡¯t refrain from asking ¡°Who will be chosen to crew the second mission?¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t answer that for now,¡± said Luis, speaking for the first time. ¡°Nor can I give a date when the mission will launch. On the Valentina mission we took advantage of a gravity-assist from Jupiter to save time and fuel. For your unheralded return trip, Jupiter was out of position, and you had to collect up almost all the fuel reserves on Rhea in order to reach Ceres, leaving the base on Rhea seriously short. We may have to send an uncrewed spacecraft to Rhea first, to replenish their fuel dump before they get desperate. After that we can consider launch options for the crewed mission.¡±


    Vikki was rather crestfallen at hearing this equivocal response, but she held her peace. Surely, when it came to selecting the crew, Alex would put in a good word!


    If Alex herself was chosen to lead the mission, that is.


    Duke was speaking again. ¡°Now we come to the more enigmatic part of our discussion ¡­ yes, Vikki, we¡¯ve all noticed how eager you¡¯ve been to move on to this topic! So what are we to make of this supposed visitor from outside the Solar System, this ¡®Bala¡¯ as you name it? Only two of those present here today: you, Vikki, and you, Gustave, claim to have actually made contact with this being. More-over, it appears to have played a part in the death of Dr D¡¯Anterre, which obviously imposes a restriction on any future attempts to approach the object. But I now ask Luis to fill us in on what we know up to the present.¡±


    ¡°First thing to emphasise,¡± began Luis, ¡°is that all matters relating to this phenomenon remain Top Secret, and no word of the subject is to pass outside this room, without express instructions from Duke, Lavinia or myself. I¡¯m sure you all understand the reason for this. The last thing we want is to spread mass panic worldwide.¡±


    Luis referred to his tablet. ¡°I can report that we have so far located six objects in the Solar System which approximately fit the description of a ¡®hummock¡¯ or ¡®snowdrift¡¯ as described by the Valentina¡¯s crew. One of them is free-floating in space, orbiting the sun in an almost circular orbit a few million kilometres outside Saturn¡¯s orbit. This one is roughly cylindrical rather than hummock-shaped, but that may be its adaptation when it is not grounded on a planet or moon. It is about fifty metres long by six metres across¡ªthat is, considerably larger than the object encountered on Enceladus. We were fortunate to be able to re-direct one of the drones from the Saturn system to make a close encounter with it, so we were able to observe it in detail¡ªbut it shows no surface features.


    ¡°The other five are all grounded on separate worlds. The one on Enceladus, almost certainly the same one the Valentina encountered, is still at exactly the same position it took up when the mission departed, some three hundred kilometres from our base. It has been under constant observation from the L1 drone which was left behind in the neighbourhood, and no activity of any kind has been reported. Indeed, I would put it that ¡®it shows no signs of life¡¯. Of the remaining four, one has been spotted on Nereid, Neptune¡¯s third-largest satellite. It appears to be the same size as the one on Enceladus, and like it has shown no movement. It is being monitored by the only drone we have anywhere near: the one which occupies the L2 Lagrangian point outside Triton¡¯s orbit, some distance from Nereid, so close inspection has not been possible. I remind everyone here that Nereid¡¯s rotation is not synchronous with its orbit, so sometimes the object is on the side facing Neptune, sometimes not¡ªif that has any relevance.


    ¡°The next we found, on Uranus¡¯s moon Miranda, we were able to study more closely, thanks to the uncrewed base we have on Ariel. It looks very similar to the one on Enceladus, and likewise has shown no activity. Then we discovered one on Enceladus¡¯s near neighbour Mimas: that one was hard to spot since it was partly hidden by a crater wall. And the last one turned up on Charon¡ª¡±


    ¡°You mean ¡®Chiron¡¯, don¡¯t you?¡± Gustave interposed. ¡°Chiron the Centaur.¡±


    ¡°No, not Chiron. Charon, Pluto¡¯s largest satellite. What made you think of the asteroid Chiron: were you expecting there to be one there?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just that the Bala actually told us that one of its companions was settled on Chiron. It also mentioned Nereid¡ªbut it said all the rest of its companions were drifting in space. But I suppose it may have re-grouped after the ¡®accident¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Whatever¡ªwe¡¯ll come to that,¡± Luis resumed. ¡°All the grounded apparitions are new, in the sense that they don¡¯t show up on earlier photos of the respective moons. This lends credence to the theory that they may be some kind of space vehicle¡ªor even, according to what you postulate¡ªa space-travelling extraterrestrial being.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you don¡¯t dismiss our account out of hand,¡± remarked Vikki, rather condescendingly. ¡°So what do you make of the Bala, from what we¡¯ve told you? Or rather, from what I said in my testimony at the trial?¡±


    ¡°Indeed we have all read the transcripts,¡± Luis continued. ¡°This concept, of a living creature having some sort of cavity within its own body, drawing you humans inside, creating a breathable atmo-sphere for you, and then conversing with you by displaying English text on the wall of this cavity¡ªthis is what we find hard to stomach¡ªif you¡¯ll forgive the pun. But of course, we know nothing about any intelligent life beyond the Solar System. Stella, do you know of any such concept having been dreamt up in Science Fiction?¡±


    This was the first time Stella Strange, the novelist, had been addressed, and now she spoke up for the first time.


    ¡°Certainly not in any of my writing¡ªthough it certainly sounds like an interesting albeit weird idea that an author could work on. Nor do I know of anything similar in mainstream sci-fi. Not that I¡¯m familiar with every one of the thousands of different stories out there, of course! There is a very amateurish piece on one of the fanfiction sites: not derived from any of my work, I hasten to add. It describes a cosmonaut who¡¯s kidnapped by tentacled ETs¡ªand yes they puncture his space-suit¡ªwho imprison him in a room in their habitat and communicate with him first by writing on a wall, then by speech. There are similarities.¡±


    ¡°Enough for our two friends to have concocted their account from this source?¡± asked Luis.


    ¡°Mr Mend¨¦s: I resent that aspersion,¡± Vikki exclaimed, angrily. ¡°I was under the impression that everyone had come to this meeting with an open mind.¡±


    ¡°Vikki, calm down, please,¡± interposed Judge Andy. ¡°All right, Luis, we are not in the business of accusing anyone present here of lying. This is not a trial. Please continue.¡±


    ¡°All right. Are you saying, Vikki, and you, Gustave, that neither of you have read the story Stella refers to?¡±


    ¡°Not that it¡¯s in the least relevant, but no,¡± replied Vikki. ¡°Nor have you, Gustave, I assume?¡±


    ¡°Certainly not,¡± said Gustave. ¡°Fanfiction isn¡¯t my ¡®thing¡¯. What was the story called?¡±


    ¡°That, I can¡¯t remember,¡± said Stella. ¡°I didn¡¯t read very far into it. As far as I recall, it involved time-travel, one of the impossibilities which I¡¯ve studiously avoided in my own fiction, along with faster-than-light travel. Do these ETs of yours have faster-than-light travel, Vikki, Gustave?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± replied Gustave. ¡°The Bala explicitly stated, they do not. Its home planet, it claims, is sixty light-years from here, and they can only attain one-tenth of lightspeed. That¡¯s a long trip!¡±


    ¡°And conducted without the benefit of a spaceship, I gather. Propulsion by means of some sort of neutrino-drive implant in their own body. Anything on that, Stella?¡±


    ¡°Once again, no. Not even the most inept of amateurs have dreamt up something like that. Larry Niven, whose work I greatly admire, has something called a ¡®starseed¡¯ which can travel in space across the Galaxy unprotected: that¡¯s the closest I can think of. But it doesn¡¯t have any inbuilt propulsion: it employs a sort of photonic sail.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± said Luis, ¡°all I can say is, if all this isn¡¯t the product of a vivid imagination¡ªsorry, Vikki, Gustave: two vivid imaginations¡ªit¡¯s so weird, so fantastic, I for one feel convinced it just has to be based on fact. There is an alien intelligence out there, and it wants to contact humankind. Whether for mutual benefit, I don¡¯t know. It appears not to have ventured closer to Earth than Saturn¡¯s orbit, and you, Vikki and Gustave, tell us that it cannot tolerate Earth¡¯s or even the Moon¡¯s gravity, nor the temperature here. And it does not appear to be able to communicate over long distance by radio¡ªor any other frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum. Otherwise I¡¯m sure it would have done so by now¡ªand we would have detected it. So any contact with it has for now to involve face-to-face contact and spaceflight. That¡¯s a good thing in itself, because it means we can keep this discovery under wraps.


    ¡°So we¡¯ve decided: a mission to contact this being is imperative. But, bearing in mind what happened to Murielle, we have to take precautions. Those who are to approach the being¡ªthe ¡®Bala¡¯¡ªwill be wearing special space-suits made of reinforced material which cannot be punctured by any sharp object using reasonable force. These suits will be very heavy and awkward to move in, even in low gravity, so we may have to develop special servos to assist with walking. Any questions? And, Vikki, please don¡¯t ask ¡®who¡¯s going?¡¯. We know you¡¯re eager to meet up with your ¡®friend¡¯ again: all I can say is, we have to do a full risk-assessment first.


    ¡°And, once we do contact this being, the first questions we shall have to ask are, why did it react to Murielle¡¯s actions so violently¡ªand is there any risk of it doing so again? And what is its purpose in settling on small icy moons on the outskirts of the Solar System. What are its thoughts about Murielle¡¯s death? We need to be very careful in what we ask it.


    ¡°Once again I ask, are there any questions?¡±


    No-one spoke up. Evidently the meeting had come to an end, with much for everyone to think about.

 Chapter 11 – Earthbound

    IT WAS CLEARLY going to be weeks before any decision would be taken about the return trip to Enceladus¡ªbut before long Vikki had another matter to think about. Something that would make it harder for her to get a place on the mission.


    She and Hal had decided to move in together. She did not want to stay where she had lived beforehand, in the suburbs of Los Angeles¡ªand Hal was especially eager to return to his beloved Scotland¡ªalthough not too close to where Moira his estranged wife lived. So they bought a modest cottage a few miles outside Stirling, on the edge of the Highlands. Much of their time there, in the first few weeks, they spent hiking and climbing some of the ¡®easier¡¯ Munros. Also Hal insisted on showing Vikki around nearby Doune Castle, the setting for the Monty Python movie he¡¯d joked about¡ªso long ago it seemed now! They found time for an outing to Loch Ness and the visitor centre there¡ªbut no ¡®monster¡¯ showed up for them. They had a good laugh about that: Vikki wondered whether to proclaim to other visitors at the centre, that she¡¯d actually conversed with a real live monster, out in space...


    But common-sense prevailed: after all everything about the Bala was still Top Secret. And Vikki was longing for the day when she¡¯d have a chance to meet up with it again¡ªif that day ever came.


    Then she discovered that she was going to have a baby.


    This wasn¡¯t according to plan. She and Hal had taken precautions, but evidently they weren¡¯t careful enough. What was she to do? While the prospect of motherhood thrilled her to bits, at the same time, how on earth could she take a tiny baby on a space voyage?


    When she broke the news to Hal, he was about to erupt in raptures of delight¡ªbut he checked himself when he saw the troubled expression on her face.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, my darling? Aren¡¯t you pleased?¡±


    ¡°Of course I¡¯m pleased,¡± replied Vikki, but the tone in her voice conveyed a different message. Hal didn¡¯t miss the implication.


    ¡°You don¡¯t sound it, Vikki, my love. Is it because of Enceladus¡ªof Bala?¡±


    It was a long time before Vikki spoke. Tears were starting in her eyes.


    ¡°Oh Hal, my love, I so wanted to be on that return trip! It would have meant everything to me. But how can I now, with a child to bring up?¡± And with that she burst into an uncontrollable flood of tears. ¡°What am I to do?¡± she whined pitifully, between sobs. At length the sobs became less frequent. ¡°Of course I¡¯d love to have a little one to look after!¡± she continued. ¡°Don¡¯t imagine that I¡¯m not thrilled about that¡ªeven if it wasn¡¯t what we were prepared for. I¡¯m torn in two over this!¡±


    ¡°We must think about this,¡± said Hal, trying to sound reassuring. ¡°Anyway, none of the crew for the second trip have been chosen yet. You might have been left out of the team anyway.¡±


    Vikki had stopped crying altogether. Now she sounded annoyed. ¡°Hal, how could you say such a thing? So you think I¡¯m not good enough for the team? Is that it?¡± She was almost shouting as she said this.


    ¡°I never said that, darling. Just that others¡ªthose big-shots we met at the meeting: Duke and his buddies¡ªthey may take a different view. We can¡¯t be sure.¡±


    ¡°Would you go, Hal, if they choose you and not me? Leave me on my own, earthbound?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. Where you go, I go. I want to be with you, what-ever happens.¡±


    ¡°I want to talk to Alex. Sorry Hal¡ªI¡¯m not shutting you out, but I think I need a woman¡¯s input. And she¡¯s the only one left...¡±


    Late that evening, Vikki tried putting through a call to Alex, who had returned to her home in Brookings, Oregon. But her holophone returned the Do Not Disturb message. Vikki tried again the following day, and then the day after, but with the same result. Finally on the fourth day, Alex answered. She looked upset, and although her wife was mostly out-of-frame, Vikki could see a comforting arm over Alex¡¯s shoulders. Something was wrong, Vikki guessed. Should she wait, or should she put her predicament straight out?


    It was Alex who broke the silence. She brightened up somewhat when she saw it was Vikki. ¡°What can I do for you?¡± she asked.


    Vikki explained the situation briefly.


    ¡°Ah! I see congratulations are in order,¡± was Alex¡¯s response. ¡°All the best wishes to both of you. Is that Hal standing behind you?¡ªI can only see a bit of him.¡±


    ¡°But Alex¡ªthis means¡ª¡±


    ¡°So you can¡¯t go on the return mission: that¡¯s what you¡¯re trying to tell me. And you think you¡¯re the only one with problems? I can¡¯t go, either.¡±


    ¡°Oh Alex! I didn¡¯t know! Whyever not?¡±


    ¡°Just had my medical. It turned up a slight heart murmur. Nothing life-threatening, they assure me¡ªbut I¡¯m grounded.¡±


    ¡°Oh no Alex! I¡¯m ever so sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have¡ª¡± Vikki broke off in embarrassment.


    ¡° ¡®Shouldn¡¯t have told me you¡¯re having a baby¡¯? Of course you should. I¡¯m delighted to hear it. Really I am. But Vikki, the mission can¡¯t take off for over a year, when we get a suitable launch window. That¡¯s what Joachim tells me. There¡¯s plenty of time to work things out. For you I mean¡ªnot for me. Whatever happens, I¡¯m fucked. No way they¡¯ll let me go into space again.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Alex, I¡¯m so very sorry to hear that. But: ¡®work things out¡¯! Yes, I suppose there are plenty of things we could ¡®work out¡¯. I could have an abortion. Or a miscarriage¡± Vikki intoned all this in a dead-pan voice.


    There was no reaction from Alex. She just stared at Vikki, lost for words. Then she was gently eased to one side and another, consider-ably younger woman moved into frame. She was very attractive, with long dark hair and somewhat elfin features. Vikki thought she looked a bit like her.


    ¡°Hello Vikki,¡± the newcomer began. ¡°We haven¡¯t met. I¡¯m Jocelyn¡ªbut everyone calls me Jo. Alex¡¯s partner.¡± ¡°Wife!¡± Vikki could hear Alex hiss, off-screen. ¡°OK: wife,¡± continued Jo. ¡°Yes, we¡¯ve been together for many years now. Please, Vikki, Alex and I both implore you, don¡¯t visit those dark places in your mind! Yes, it¡¯s been hard for Alex, quite a shock to both of us. And you¡¯re in a turmoil too: I can see that. You must take your time thinking about things. And believe me, there are options. We have a little girl of our own. My child. Alex had to leave her alone with me, several times. In fact, I¡¯ll introduce you. Terri!¡± she shouted, off-screen. ¡°Are you up yet? Come down here, please darling, will you?¡±


    There was a pause, then a little girl of about six years, equally as pretty as her mother and also with long dark hair, appeared. She was dressed in pyjamas.


    ¡°Terri, this is Vikki on the holo. One of the ladies who went on the space trip with Mom Alex. Say hello to her.¡±


    ¡°Hello, Auntie Vikki,¡± intoned Terri, shyly.


    Vikki replied ¡°Hello Terri.¡± She couldn¡¯t think what else to say, but she was charmed. ¡°She¡¯s adorable,¡± she added, once Terri had scampered off. ¡°Is she your only one?¡±


    Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°Yes,¡± replied Jo. ¡°I know Terri would love to have a little brother or sister, but I¡¯m too old.¡±


    ¡°Too old? Surely not!¡±


    ¡°Yes. At thirty-eight, I¡¯m too old, so I¡¯ve been told. They won¡¯t offer AI at my age.¡±


    Vikki began to wonder what Jo was implying by mentioning that. Was she suggesting...? Best to keep her thoughts to herself.


    ¡°Listen, Vikki,¡± continued Jo, ¡°we¡¯ll have to disconnect now. I have to get breakfast and then get Terri ready for school. But do please take time to think things over. Bringing a child into the world is a wonderful thing. I should know!¡±


    ---¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    There was indeed plenty of time for Vikki to collect her thoughts. As soon as Alex and Jo were offline, she remembered that she hadn¡¯t even told her parents, back in LA¡ªnor her brother in Phoenix. Was it the right time of day to call them, she wondered? But she and her brother were slightly estranged. He had got married during the time Vikki was incarcerated¡ªand she hadn¡¯t been able to go to the wedding. Indeed she hadn¡¯t even been invited. All she knew was, that she¡¯d never met her sister-in-law and knew next to nothing about her.


    Well, there was at least one duty to perform. Vikki put through a call to LA.


    Her mother answered the holophone almost at once. As soon as she heard Vikki¡¯s news, she came close to going into hysterics. But she retained enough composure to yell for her husband.


    ¡°Andy! Come here at once! It¡¯s Vikki on the line. We¡¯re going to be grandparents, Andy!¡±


    There was a sound of footsteps, and then Vikki¡¯s dad was there in the frame.


    ¡°Well done, Vikki. You¡¯ve done us proud. We only wish Peter and Louise would hurry up and do us the same favour.¡±


    ¡°Give them a chance, Dad,¡± protested Vikki. ¡°They¡¯ve only been married a few months. And they¡¯ve both got their jobs to keep them busy.¡±


    Now her mother stepped in again. ¡°Vikki, you will take care, won¡¯t you, darling? Isn¡¯t it rather cold where you¡¯re living now? Scotland! You must keep warm. And all those mountains! You mustn¡¯t overdo things, my dear¡ªthere are two lives to consider.¡±


    ¡°Mother, it¡¯s the middle of July. It¡¯s quite warm here at present. And Scotland isn¡¯t Siberia. We¡¯re quite civilised here, you know.¡±


    ¡°Yes, dear, but¡ªsurely life is more comfortable in California...?¡±


    Vikki gave a sigh. She knew she¡¯d never been able to win an argument with Mother. They kept up the bickering for several minutes more, Mother not letting up until she¡¯d elicited a promise from Vikki to invite them to Scotland before the due date.


    After the call was ended, Vikki couldn¡¯t help wondering how she¡¯d fit her parents in. Their cottage was rather small, with just two bedrooms. Ah well¡ªthere¡¯d be time to think about things like that once the baby¡¯s delivery approached.


    If she kept the baby, that is¡ª


    No! Vikki couldn¡¯t even think about the possibility of not going to term. Not without a shudder. She wasn¡¯t in league with those anti-abortion activists who would still sometimes pop up, illegally, and harass women on their way to the clinic¡ªbut she did feel that terminating was tantamount to destroying a life¡ªeven if it was only a latent life. No: she couldn¡¯t do it. Anyway, she felt some sense of elation at the thought of bringing a life into the world, after the horror and remorse of witnessing a life being taken from the world.


    Vikki did not let her mind dwell on that awful memory constantly, but there were still times when she would wake up in a cold sweat from a nightmare: a nightmare in which she was once again standing confronting a heap of bones lying on a desolate icy surface. Sometimes the bones would magically assemble themselves into a complete skeleton which would rise up and rush at her. Like in those old first-person-shooter games¡ªbut this was too real... In her fright, she would clutch at Hal beside her, seeking reassurance, but often enough he would merely grunt and then go back to sleep.


    Would she ever get over it?


    --¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    The holo-call came as a complete surprise; and something of a shock. Vikki was now almost halfway through her pregnancy and her ¡®bump¡¯ was showing nicely. The buzzer sounded in mid-morning. Hal was out at work¡ªhe had been reinstated as space mining instructor with some restrictions placed on him¡ªand Vikki was alone in the house. On the holo there was the figure of a strange woman in early middle-age, elegantly dressed and made up¡ªbut she didn¡¯t look like a journalist (Vikki had been warned to stay clear of the Press). She looked rather solemn and distressed. Then Vikki noticed the text beneath the holo, showing where the call came from. It was Toulouse. And the caller¡¯s name looked French.


    Already guessing what this might be about, she pressed accept.


    ¡°Hello: is that Dr Viktoriya Rozhkova?¡± The caller spoke perfect English but with a marked French accent. Vikki nodded, too sur-prised to speak. ¡°You don¡¯t know me: I¡¯m H¨¦l¨¨ne Calvet. Murielle d¡¯Anterre¡¯s sister. I expect you can guess why I¡¯m calling.¡±


    Vikki found her voice at last. ¡°How did you get my address?¡± she couldn¡¯t help blurting out. Did that sound rude? she wondered¡ªbut it was too late.


    H¨¦l¨¨ne was unperturbed though. ¡°Oh, your mission commander Alex Zygmond gave it to me¡ªnot before a lot of badgering though. I hope you don¡¯t mind. I really do want to talk to you. I understand that you were the last person to see my sister alive, were you?¡±


    ¡°That is correct,¡± replied Vikki, dully. She did not feel disposed to elaborate. H¨¦l¨¨ne appeared to sense her unease.


    ¡°I am really sorry to have to bother you like this, Dr Rozhkova¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh please, call me Vikki.¡± Trying to buy time while she agonised as to what she could tell her.


    ¡°As I said, Vikki, I am really sorry, but I am trying to get the answers to some serious questions.¡±


    ¡°And you are Murielle¡¯s only next-of-kin, I guess?¡±


    ¡°There is only myself, my husband and children, and my father. Murielle was une divorc¨¦e, you must know, and she had no children. Her ex-husband came to the funeral, but even he wasn¡¯t told any-thing. Alex didn¡¯t tell us much. All she said was that Murielle died because of a space-suit malfunction, and that SSSA are investigating. SSSA have told us nothing more. We were not even allowed to see poor Murielle! The coffin was sealed when we received it. Alex said that the body was too disfigured to show. I am sure that was a kindness on her part, but Papa and I would still have wished to offer our adieux. Please can you tell us any more about it? I know that space exposure can do things to the human body, but we would have been prepared for that. Please, Vikki...!¡±


    Vikki hesitated for a long time. She could hardly admit that all that remained of Murielle was a dismembered skeleton! And she knew that, melodramatic accounts in pulp fiction notwithstanding, vacuum exposure did not lead to much visible disfigurement of the human body, beyond a certain degree of bloating. But she was not much good at lying. Best to tell as much of the truth as she was able to.


    ¡°I wish I could tell you more, H¨¦l¨¨ne, but I¡¯m not allowed to. Some of the happenings during our mission are being kept secret. Not my secret! What I can say is, yes, I was with Murielle on her last EVA, and her space-suit got ruptured somehow¡ªhow, I don¡¯t know: I wasn¡¯t near her at the time. By the time I got to her, it was too late.¡± Well¡ªthat was true enough, if rather an understatement, Vikki thought¡ªseeing as all she found was a skeleton. ¡°But I¡¯m sure Murielle died quickly and suffered very little,¡± Vikki continued. ¡°I wish I could help you more, but I can¡¯t.¡±


    H¨¦l¨¨ne looked upset at Vikki¡¯s response: she said nothing but her facial expression told volumes. Vikki wondered if she was about to burst into tears. This was certainly a tough holo-call to get through, and Vikki was now wondering if she had done better not to accept it. But at that moment a man appeared beside H¨¦l¨¨ne in the holo: pre-sumably her husband. He looked fairly composed by comparison.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± he said, ¡°it is not your fault, and this has been a difficult time for all of us. H¨¦l¨¨ne will be all right. But answer me one question: did you meet with aliens? ETs? Were they respons-ible?¡±


    Had he guessed something? Vikki could not speak: she just shook her head: then she broke the connection. She could take no more of this. To her relief H¨¦l¨¨ne did not call back. Vikki hoped she was satisfied¡ªand if her husband was about to spread rumours, he¡¯d soon be stamped upon.


    --¡ì¡ì¡ì---


    As things turned out, no rumours about ETs erupted¡ªand there were no more ¡®awkward¡¯ moments during the following months, much to both Vikki¡¯s and Hal¡¯s relief. Alex called several times to ask how she was doing; also Vikki¡¯s parents¡ªbut Mother was not as overbearing as Vikki had feared. Her bouts of morning-sickness soon subsided, and all seemed well with the baby.


    It was a cold blustery day in early March, with sleet falling outside, when Vikki was safely delivered of a healthy three-and-a-half kilo baby girl. She and Hal had had a bit of a friendly argument about names: Hal at first wanted to bestow upon her a traditional Scottish name like ¡®Eilidh¡¯¡ªbut Vikki protested that no-one would know how to pronounce it.


    In the end they settled for ¡®Lorna¡¯.