The Orthogonal Galaxy
Chapter 25

Six years had passed since Joram Anders, KatherMirabelle, and Reyd Eastman began their graduate studies at CalTech. Since then, all three of them had receivedtheir doctorate degrees in astronomy and had filled post-doctoral positions asresearchers with Carlton Zimmer. Duringthose years, they had helped discover a superluminal comet as well as the firstextrasolar planet with specifications nearly identical to that of Earth. While each had opportunities to work fordifferent research institutions, all had decided to stay on for the time beingwith Zimmer, mainly because they were interested in continuing the study of thesuperluminal comet and had a host of experiments lined up to gain a greaterunderstanding of its origins, construction, and operation.

At the moment, however, they had set their workaside to be a part of the event that their research had made possible. They were filled with nostalgia as they beganto realize that their years of research were about to be put to practice. Reverently, each took positions in the backrow of the room. Even though they werethe most responsible for the discoveries, they were too absorbed to notice theirony of being placed in the position of least prominence among the crowd. 0020`Ahead of them, several rows of paddedfolding chairs held occupants of diverse backgrounds. Some were huddled in pleasant conversation,while others waited intently for the table ahead of them to fill. The vacant table was covered with a blackvelvet cloth and skirt. Four blackchairs sat empty behind the table, while four microphones and two tumblers ofice water had been prepared for the panel that was to assemble presently. Name placards located on the front of thetable indicated the two scientists and two astronauts who would shortly beattending the press conference.

Behind the table, a wall-sized banner provided aphotographic backdrop. It depicted thedeep blackness of space, its depth implicated by the thousands of stars ofvarying brightness and color. A thinyellow beam cut through the mural at a gradual curve, while a smoothsilvery-black spaceship with three blue-white rocket engines thrust the vehicletowards a rendezvous with the beam. Inthe middle of the mural, the artist had placed a depiction of Earth in athree-quarter illumination. A spotlightrecessed in the center of the ceiling acted as the imaginary sun shining downon the blue planet with its swirling white clouds. At the end of the yellow ray, was an identicallyapportioned planet almost too small to make out. Written in brilliant gold letters above werethe words:

Earth2 Mission – ST3

Joonter / Slater

The researchers studied the banner, admiring theartist’s efforts in capturing the essence and emotion of the mission. Just as Kath’s eyes began to moisten withemotion, she noticed a few heads turn towards the door at the front of theroom. She elbowed her colleagues oneither side of her, in order to focus their attention on the spot that everyoneelse was now monitoring. Through thedoor, Dr. Gilroy led the procession to the table. Paol Joonter and Blade Slater followed, withCarlton Zimmer in close pursuit. Thecrowd now stood and in unison respectfully began to applaud this historic groupof individuals.

All four men had become household names in theUnited States and throughout most of the world for the roles they assumed inthe Earth2 mission now in its sixth year of its preparation and twelfth digitof its funding. The media portrayedthese individuals as both champions of space exploration and consumers of $267billion in wasteful spending for which nobody would reap the benefit for atleast a dozen years, even if the low-percentage mission actually succeeded.

Only after the men took their seats at the table,did the applause taper off. Throatscleared, and the shuffling noise of chairs on the tile floor indicated theadjustments being made to settle comfortably into the press conference. Gilroy spoke first and addressed the audiencewith prepared remarks, which he read from a yellow manila folder that he openedflat onto the table.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the press, esteemedcolleagues of NASA, and dear dignitaries, we thank you for your presence heretoday, and trust that you are as excited as we are to enter the second phase ofthe Earth2 mission. These two unlikelyand yet extraordinary astronauts—” Gilroy paused while gesturing to his leftwhere Paol and Blade sat donning their teal spacesuits. “These two astronauts have been examples ofinspiration to all of us. Even in themost desperate and unfortunate of circumstances, their stories have given ushope to overcome our difficulties, to correct our own courses with courage anddetermination. In the last five and ahalf years, these two fine gentlemen have become some of the highest caliberastronauts that I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. Perhaps it is the nature and complexity oftheir mission, but I can say without any reservation that they have doneeverything humanly possible in preparing themselves to face any obstacle theyshould encounter on this mission. Tomorrow, we will bid farewell to these men, as we send them on ajourney of more than 150,000 light years. We commend them to the far reaches of our galaxy as ambassadors ofEarth1 to the inhabitants of Earth2. Never in the history of scientific study does one mission have thepromise of so much learning. We areeager to take our learning of this universe in which we live to new heightspreviously unanticipated.”

Addressing the astronauts directly, Gilroyconcluded, “Mr. Joonter, Mr. Slater, may God speed you on this journey tobridge the inhabitants of the Milky Way.”

Paol and Blade bowed graciously to their programmanager and to the audience as an even more generous ovation ensued.

Through the din, Kath turned to Joram. “Look… I have goosebumps.”

Joram nodded understandingly. “I know. It’s overwhelming to be a part of this. We all feel it, Kath.” Throughthe years, Joram had to proverbially pinch himself for the role he was takingin the scientific community. Under thetutelage of Professor Carlton Zimmer, some of the most exciting andunprecedented research of the century was taking place. And he—a humble farm-boy from Kansas with apassion for star-gazing—was a part of that effort.

Joram leaned forward and looked over at Reyd asKath’s eyes followed. Without words, heconcurred knowingly through a wink and a single nod of his head. The experience was clearly surreal for each.

“Now,”continued Gilroy, “we will be pleased to hear a few remarks from our esteemedastronauts, and then we will open up the session for questions andanswers. Mr. Joonter, you have ourattention.”

“Dr. Gilroy, thank you. Thank you for your leadership of thismission, your encouragement through the difficulties, and your meticulousoversight of so many details along the way. Your example and efforts over the last few years have given me greatconfidence that everyone involved has made every effort to provide the missionwith the highest opportunity for success.”

Turning to face the audience, Paolcontinued. “Ladies and gentlemen of thepress, I thank you for your attendance here today. Because of your efforts in following thismission from its most unlikely beginnings until this very moment, you have madethe worldaware of the exciting future facing Earth, our galaxy, and indeed the universe. While I know there have been skeptics, I donot scoff. There certainly were manyoccasions when I found myself in their camp.”

A few chuckles filled the room, mainly because ofthe way in which Joonter rolled his eyes, conveying the overwhelming nature ofthe preparation which he and his companion endured.

“Your reporting of this mission, both encouragingand critical has helped fuel a healthy and needed debate over the necessity ofthis effort. I applaud each of you inraising awareness of the issues, the difficulties, the risks, and the benefitsthat such a mission could entail. Tomorrow, we turn the page in the history books to a new chapter. Many of you will be in the envious positionto write this chapter, and I can assure you that my companion and I will do ourpart to give you the best possible material. Thank you.”

The audience applauded vigorously as Paolexpressed his gratitude with a slight bow of his head, and a tip of thebaseball cap, emblazoned with the ST3 mission logo.

Once the applause died down, Dr. Gilroy spokeclearly and proudly into his microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, please give your attention to Mr. Slater for afew comments now.”

Blade had been scanning the crowd the entiretime, and had mapped out those who were friendly to the mission and had easilyhoned in on those who were clearly antagonistic. He was encouraged that the overwhelmingmajority of journalists were proponents of the mission, and this gave him theability to speak comfortably.

With deep, yet hushed tones he began, “Ladies andGentlemen, this is a most humblin’ experience. Many years ago, I made a mistake—a most terr’ble mistake. I thought I’d pay fo’ that mistake the restof my life. As I sat in a cold concretecell, while many my age was makin’ somethin’ of their lives in school andcollege, I suspected that my life was over befo’ it’d begun. But somehow, fate plucked me outta that cell,and put me here. It is a position I donot deserve—a position I did not earn—a position fo’ which there’s many morewho’d qualify better. I ain’t the mosteloquent, and I ain’t the most learned, but seein’ where my life was and whereit is today, I am the most fo’ knowin’ that where there’s breath, there’slife. And where there’s life, there’shope. And that’s what I bring to themission. In a world where doubt anddespair are more common than hope, I intend to use the latter in thismission. I’ll work with my colleague anddear friend, Paol Joonter, every day we’re together fo’ the next twelve yearswith hope. I’ll fight to make thismission a success, and bring back hope to all the world. When we come back to ya’ a dozen years fromnow, my hope is that the word ‘impossible’ will be replaced with ‘hope’, ‘cuzif two average guys can safely travel so far at speeds which should tear us tomicroscopic pieces, then I think Mr. Joonter and I certainly have a case tomake fo’ hope!”

With this last word, Blade realized that hisvoice elevated gradually throughout his speech. What began as a soft tone, ended in a piercing trump. The contrast and intensity of the ensuingmoment of silence was broken by a controlled whisper: “Thank you.”

The audience leaped to their feet and applaudedvehemently. Each felt the emotion anddetermination in Blade’s delivery. Whilethe applause continued, videographers raced to upload their recordings overwireless links to a mass of vans, buses, and trailers outside. In a flash, Blade’s speech was deliveredaround the world, interrupting television programming everywhere. His speech, while delivered in simplicity, wouldbecome instantly famous, and media, would latch onto the word ‘hope’ as anendearing connection to Blade Slater, and the ST3 mission.

Once order was restored to the room, Gilroy laidground rules for the question and answer session. Each individual was entitled to ask onequestion of any of the four panelists when he gave them the floor to doso. With hands aloft, Gilroy selected afront-row participant to begin the questioning.

“Mr. Slater, thank you for reminding us ofhope. Can you tell us of a time when youneeded to reach deep to replace hope while preparing for this mission?”

“One time? Why I could tell ya’ of a hundred fo’ sure.” Blade stated sincerely while shaking hishead. His voice softened as he continued. “But, I can tell ya’ of one time where I hadto reach very deep. Paol and I—we had todo some wilderness survival trainin’ in some very rugged areas. The worst, fo’ me, had to be the time we weretold to jump out of a plane in the Arctic Circle. It was a long cold drop to the ground. As the ground rushed up at us, I have to saythat I’s too ‘fraid to enjoy the view, but when we landed, my breath was takenaway. We was in this small valley, withmountains towerin’ ‘bove us on either side. A lake at the end of the valley met a glacier comin’ down the chute‘tween two mountain peaks. As we walkedto the edge of the shore of the lake, there’s icebergs so big I had to look upto see the top of ‘em. I never sawanythin’ so amazin’ and beautiful, and was taken back such that I didn’t evenremember that it was darn cold and I was put into the middle of the wildernessto survive on my own.

“Well, Paol pulled me back to reality, and weused our global positionin’ devices to locate where we were and where we neededto go. As we studied the terrain, we sawthat we had a fifty-mile journey to get to our destination—the AnaktuvukPass. There’s an airport there where oursupport team would be waitin’ fer us to take us home. We located a valley pass connectin’ the lakewith the Anaktuvuk valley, where the outlet of the lake cut through. It was at the end of Spring, so the river waspretty swollen, and there’s all sorts of ice blocks floatin’ down the river,but we needed to make good time, so we pulled out our sponge kayaks—littlethings in the pack, but when ya’ put ‘em in the river, I’s surprised at how bigthey swell up, and make a perfect floatin’ craft.

“At first, it was a nice float, but then theriver picked up as we went through a narrow steep part of the valley. Over a small rapid, I didn’t even see thatlarge chunk of ice churnin’ at the bottom of a small drop. When I hit it, I flipped over into the river,and slammed my shoulder ‘gainst the ice. Pain shot through my arm, and at first, I tried to swim to the shorewith my good arm, but I knew that the current was too strong. I had to use the other arm. Reachin’ overhead, I could feel my whole armconvulse in pain, but with big strokes, I’s able to power myself over to theshore with as few strokes as possible.

“I fell down onto the shore exhausted andhurtin’, but worse, I started realizin’ that I was freezin’. Within moments, Paol brought his kayak toshore, and was by my side, warmin’ me up with a fire and a wrap. As dusk was settin’ on, we had no choice butto camp right there that night. I slepton my other side, to make sure I didn’t put any pressure on my shoulder. In the mornin’, I was still in pain, but wasglad to discover that it was just a nasty bruise. We were just six miles into our journey, andI was devastated when Paol mentioned that we’d lost my kayak—it floateddownstream, and our only hope was that we’d replace it just a little way down.

“Mile after mile we walked that day. We never did replace the kayak. In the afternoon, the valley started to openup, and I heard a splash just behind us. Spinnin’ ‘round, I saw this monster of a grizzly bear, splashin’ acrossthe river ‘bout 30 yards behind us. Isuspected that he was comin’ to get his dinner. When he dragged himself on shore, he shook his fur of the icy water, stoodon his hind legs and stared at us intently. He stepped slowly towards us, and I was just standin’ there frozen. I mean—where’s I goin with a ragin’ river toone side of me and a sheer cliff on the other. Good thing my partner had the sense of mind to climb onto a ledgenearby, wave his arms frantically, and make some noise. I thought it would just agitate him, and atfirst, he looked to charge, but then he got a sniff of us, turned and bolted.

“I thought I’d never be so scared again, but thentwo days later, as the canyon started widenin’ into a marshy plain, I sawsomethin’ outta the corner of my eye across the river. I looked across to see a gray wolf scramblin’down a mountain. At first, I wasn’t sureif he’d seen us, but then he bolted towards the river, and stood erect on thebank, just starin’ at us, and bearin’ his yellow-white teeth at us. We continued to walk, as if to pay him noattention, and he simply followed along the bank, keepin’ an eye fixed onus. I could also see some frothy droolin the corner of his mouth, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was plottin’to get at us fo’ some meat to chew on. My heart raced, and my stomach was all in knots fo’ nearly an hour, ashe continued to follow on the other side.

“At one point, Paol here stopped and turned tome. He pointed out that the river waswidenin’, and we knew that it also meant it was gettin’ shallower too. We worried that the current would be easy totraverse fo’ the wolf if we went much further. In fact, we could see ‘bout three miles downstream, where the canyonopened up to the Anaktuvuk valley that the river was splittin’ up into adelta. Had we continued on, the wolfwoulda had no problem gettin’ to us had he wanted us bad ‘nough. So we waited there to see what the wolf’d do,and he waited to see what we’s gonna do. There we was at a tense impasse, and we could do nothin’ but wait untilthe sun set. We don’t know when the wolfleft, as we could see an occasional reflection of light off of his eyeballs,even after it was pretty dark. But I doremember sleepin’ next to nothin’ that night, worried ‘bout where that wolfwas. Maybe he was gonna work his waydownstream, cross over and then come up to greet us. Then, very early in the mornin’, we heard themost eerie and hauntin’ group of howlin’ in the distance. By our recknoin’ the pack was high up on themountain across the other side of the river, but my skin crawled with each newchorus of howls that echoed across the canyon walls fo’ the rest of the night.

“At the first sign of light, we peered across theriver. There was nothin’ there. As the light grew brighter, we grew moreconfident that the wolf had gone on—moved up hill with the rest of his pack, wes’pposed. We packed up as quick as wecould and made fer it downstream, where we hoped to reach the Anaktuvuk valleybefo’ that wolf came back.

“’Round noon, we had left the mouth of the canyonand entered into the vast expanse of the Anaktuvuk. We saw loads of caribou that day, and weworried ‘bout whether they’d cause us any trouble. While they knew we were there with ‘em, theykept their distance, and in some cases, bolted away from us when they thoughtthey’s gettin’ too close. Miles passed,and we didn’t feel like we was makin’ good progress, ‘cuz the valley’s so long. We’d hoped to come ‘cross the Anaktuvukvillage, but we saw no signs of it that day. When we set up camp that night, however, we could see in thedistance—only ‘bout ten miles away the dim electric lights of the tinyAnaktuvuk village. It was such a welcomesight as I never thought I’d feel. Itwasn’t much of civilization to be sure, but it was more than we’d hoped fer infour days of adventure.

“While we sat there enjoyin’ the shimmerin’lights, we were treated to a light show of even more impressive caliber. The Aurora Borealis—wow! I was awe struck at the curtains of yellow,green and electric blue that waved ‘cross the sky. It was mesmerizin’, and at some point durin’the light show, I drifted off to sleep, and I done slept better that night thanany while I was in the Arctic, I’ll tell ya’ that much.

“Well, to make a short story long,” Bladechuckled to himself for his inversion of the common cliché, “The next day, wemarched on and arrived at the pass late in the afternoon, where the Nunamiuteskimoes was waitin’ fer us and took us in—quite hospitable they was… Well that was it—the most frightenin’adventure of my trainin’. It took awhole heap of faith and hope to get through that.”

The room stood still, riveted by Blade’s dramaticstory-telling. All felt as if they hadexperienced some of it for themselves, and so they remained rooted in theirseats. After a brief moment, a tentativehand raised into the air. And thenanother, until most were clamoring to ask the next question. With a point of his finger, Dr. Gilroyyielded to another for the next question.

“Mr. Joonter,” beamed an eager journalist withlarge spectacles in the front row, “Since your colleague has shared his mostconcerning experience with us, how about you? Can we hear about your biggest trial?”

“I suspect that most would assume this to be theplane crash in Nevada, and I will attest that it was my most frightening momentto that point in my mission, but there were worse. The Alaska experience that Blade shared withyou was truly bothersome, but remember that we had to endure many differentwilderness survival training adventures over the last few years. One very big concern with our mission is theunknown elements of Earth2, and while the highest powered telescopes have beenfocusing their attention on that planet for the last several years, there isstill very little that we really have come to understand about the geographyand climate of that planet. Besides,since we are 27000 light years away from there, the data we do have is from thevery, very distant past. Whilescientists believe that we will be subject to very similar conditions that wehave here, we don’t know if we’ll be subject to generally warmer or coolerclimates, and whether we will have to face more extreme biomes than here onEarth1.

“Because of this, we received wilderness trainingon the most extreme of all environments our planet has to provide us. Blade has given you one example of this byrecalling the Anaktuvuk as his most harrowing adventure. I will share the Anavilhanas for mine.”

Paol looked at his companion with a smile, andnoticed the very expressive Slater grow wide-eyed at the mere mention of thisword. He exhaled strongly through pursedlips while nodding in agreement with Joonter.

“Once we had completed our tundra adventure,mission trainers sent us to the Amazon for our rain forest adventure. Leading up to the experience, we spent monthsstudying up on the resources and dangers of that area. Our task was to parachute into a very remotearea a couple of miles away from the Black River, navigate through the denseforest maze of archipelagos called the Anavilhanas with our sponge kayaks (andby densely, I’m talking as much about insects as I am about trees or theislands along the river!) and replace our way down to the Amazon and on towardsManaus, nearly 50 miles away.

“As we broke through the canopy on our way to theground, we remained for a few minutes in the underbrush taking in thescene. Never had we anticipated such adiverse environment. Dark even atmidday, we could not look up through the trees to see any portion of the sky,and while at first, we could see no life, we knew the forest was rich withhiding birds, insects, and other animals. The incessant cooing, whooping, chirping and burping made us reel, as welooked without success for the source of this orchestra of sounds.

“Leaving our parachutes, we ventured towards thewest, where we had seen the river on our way down. What at first was a minor annoyance quicklybecame an unbearable bane—insects! Allshapes, sizes, colors. Some airborne,some under our feet, some dropped from tree branches. At one point, I quipped to Blade that theremust be a million insects out here, to which he knowingly replied, ‘thirtymillion, Paol.’ He pointed out that itwas a fact that he had discovered during his study of the region. At first, I laughed, assuming he was simplytrying to lighten the situation with his trademarked humor, but once wereturned home, he proved it too me in the book he had read. To this day, however, I still wonder how on earththere are so many insects in that jungle, considering the number of birds thereas well. I would think that thethousands of birds we heard on our trip would’ve had to make a dent in theinsect population.

“At any rate, we did receive some respite fromthe insects, and I’d like to say that it was welcomed, but it was not. During several occasions, our focus oninsects was diverted to predators. Shortly after reaching the Black River, we launched our kayaks along theriver, and were engulfed in a maze of long thin islands that run with thecurrent of the river. Some of theseislands were just several feet wide, but miles long. Navigating through them was a chore. At first, we assumed that as long as wecaught a downstream current, we would be safe, but on a couple of occasions,the channel between two islands became too narrow to navigate, and we wereforced to walk our kayaks across the island to another channel on the otherside.

“Anyway, as tense and stressful as it was to walkalong that river in Alaska with a wolf on the other side, this river didn’texactly protect us from predators. Ourfirst predator experience was preceded by a high-pitch screeching that raisedthe hair on the back of my neck. Lookingover at the bank, I saw leaning on a branch of a tree in the river, a jaguar eyingus with clearly malicious intent. I wasrelieved to be on the river instead of on the bank, and I thought that we weresurely safe from the big cat, but much to my horror, the animal lurched andthen dove headlong into the river. Seeing the thing swimming straight towards us, I nearly panicked. We couldn’t out-paddle him, for he waspaddling with much more ability than we could.

“Not knowing what to do, we had hoped that thebeast couldn’t take on our kayaks, but we continued to look behind us with thecat in pursuit. Blade was just ahead ofme and to the right, and I saw him look often over his left shoulder. Eventually, the thing gained on me and clawedat my kayak. I swatted at it with mypaddle, but I didn’t have a good swing since the thing was directly behind me,and I dared not try to stand or pivot my body for fear of capsizing in theriver, where the jaguar would certainly have the advantage over me.

“I was so focused on the cat that I hadn’t noticedthat Blade had slowed and pulled behind my foe. Likewise, the cat was so focused on me that he hadn’t noticed Bladeeither. Then I noticed Blade lift hispaddle high over his head and bring it down on top of the jaguars head withcrushing force. The cat howled in painand instantly relinquished its grip on my kayak, sinking into the water.

“Blade quickly pulled beside me, and the riverseemed deathly quiet while we looked all around for evidence of the cat’slocation. Would he spring up from theriver and fly at us for our attack? After about a minute, I noticed an object slowly emerge to the surfaceabout fifteen feet behind us. The catglared at us, opened its mouth to reveal sharp fangs and bellowed in a mannerthat seemed to rattle the entire jungle. Worried that he would recover and make a fresh attack, we preparedourselves with handguns. We weren’teager to unload ammunition so quickly, because we still had at least three daysahead of us, but we certainly didn’t want to deal with this cat anylonger. Fortunately for everyoneinvolved, the jaguar thought better of its plan, slipped back to the shore, anddisappeared into the dense vegetation.

“As dusk settled over the river, we found a beachon one of the Anavilhanas islands and set up camp there. With all of the scares in the jungle, we didtwo things to survive each night. First,we lit and kept a fire burning, in the hope that nocturnal predators stayed awayfrom light, perhaps out of fear of human populations. Second, we took turns sleeping, or at leastthat was the theory. I found it verydifficult to sleep at all. With thecalls of nocturnal animals, and the sound of rustling brush on one side of our campor the splashing river on the other, my attention was constantly focused ontrying to gaze into the darkness to assess the source of each new sound ormovement.

“One night, while Blade was sleeping, I saw ananaconda try to sneak into camp. Whilethrowing a rock into the sand on one side of it, I diverted its attention whilerushing to the other side with my switchblade. I stabbed down with the blade clenched tightly in my fist, thrusting theblade clear through the snake about a foot below its head. I rushed away as the thing started writhingall over the place with my knife staking it to the ground. It wasn’t until the morning when I went backto reclaim my knife, and I had noticed the snake, and my knife missing. After a search of the surrounding area, wefound the dead snake draped over the branch of a tree with my blade stilllodged tightly in its neck. It took someexertion to reclaim my weapon, but I was not about to leave it behind. I figured I might need it again, and againbefore this was all over.

“As we were preparing to launch our kayaks forwhat should have been our final morning, a black caiman shot out of the waterfrom underneath my kayak. This thing wasfrightening beyond all belief. With thebody of an anaconda and the head of an alligator, I was completely unpreparedfor this attack. Quickly, the thinglatched onto my arm with powerful jaws and sharp teeth. I dropped to my knees in pain. My arm burned as teeth bore down tobone. Thanks to Blade’s quick acting, Iwas spared from certain amputation, as he got behind the monster and stabbedhim with his switchblade. Turning todeal with this new threat, it dropped to the ground and slithered aggressivelytowards Blade. With one shot of his gun,Blade ended the threat as quickly as it began with an efficient shot betweenthe eyes. The last thing I rememberedwas looking up to see Blade’s horror-filled expression, a bloodied blade in onehand, and a smoking handgun in the other.

“Blade quickly dressed my wound, wrapping a toweltightly around my arm to stop the bleeding, but the damage was significant, andI figured I would not be able to use it to continue paddling down theriver. With some thick vines and othermaterials that we had available in our packs, Blade fastened a makeshifttow-line between the kayaks, and tugged me down the river slowly. That day, we didn’t make it to ourdestination as we had expected, so we camped one more night. I was finally able to get some sleep, but wasawakened by a call and nudge from Blade. Gaining my senses, I noticed that Blade had just whacked my good armwith a long stick he had in his hand. And then I saw him thrashing at the ground with the same stick. I looked down at the ground and noticed thatwith each jab at the earth, Blade’s stick was driving a bright blue frog backinto the jungle. Here while we had dealtwith predators of such a large scale, we were completely unprepared to dealwith such a little menace as was the poison dart frog that Blade had discoveredclimbing up my arm.

“The next morning, Blade knew he had to get me toManaus for medical attention. If thedamage done by the caiman wouldn’t start a threatening infection in my rightarm, the growing deep purple spot on my left arm left from the toxic secretionsof the frog would do me in.

“So, while I was completely helpless, here was mypartner, paddling with all of his strength to get us downstream as quickly aspossible with my dead weight dragging behind. Well, fortunately for me, as you know today, my partner did deliver meto Manaus quickly, where I was attended to, and then rushed by air back to theStates for continued attention and recovery on not one, but two badly damagedarms.”

“So, clearly, I have to say that if we do land insome harsh environment on Earth2, I’ll take Alaska over the Amazon any day.”

The astronauts continued to be probed on theirtraining experiences for about thirty minutes. Questioning varied widely from light-hearted to optimistic, toskeptical, and occasionally downright angry. The nation, and indeed much of the world had formed vastly polarizedopinions of the mission, and that became all too apparent, when the professorof astronomy was drilled by an antagonist reporter.

“Professor Zimmer,” called out one reporter, as acorner of Zimmer’s mouth turned downward almost imperceptibly in recognition ofthe tone with which his name was called.

Zimmer’s eyes quickly located the reporter,standing tall over the seated crowd. Hisforehead was wrinkled as his brow reached for a receding hairline. Salt and pepper hair coupled with thickinquisitive glasses indicated that this was a seasoned veteran, and Zimmerthought he recognized the individual from one of his many press conferencesover the years.

The reporter introduced himself as “CartierLandry, of the NPC.”

Zimmer managed a cordial smile, as he thought to himself,“Ah, yes... how could I forget Mr.Landry of the National Press Corps. Wasn’t it just two, maybe three years ago, when we butted heads over theparallel Earth. What was the word? Preposterous? Ridiculous? I would’ve thoughtthat I’d convincingly won that battle now that Earth2 has been discovered. And yet here he is.”

“Yes, Mr. Landry. Go ahead,” Zimmer was pleasant in outward appearance, but was preparingfor verbal fisticuffs inside.

“Pundits, statisticians, and actuaries all overthe world have placed their odds on this mission, and yet NASA has not come outwith any official statement against these individuals. Nor has NASA released any mission prognosisthemselves.” Landry paused, to shoot abrief glance over to Dr. Gilroy turning his eyes only, not wanting to wasteprecious energy on moving neck or body muscles to physically turn towards themission manager. “I understand that NASAwill maintain a veil of secrecy over what is really being said about theprospects of this mission, but you,” his eyes now shifted back to Zimmer, as acondescending smile formed on his face in at attempt to goad the astrophysicistinto saying something newsworthy. “You,professor, are not accountable to that organization. Are you willing once and for all to stateyour gut feel as to the success of this mission? What odds would you ascribe in light of whatthe world is saying.”

“Mr. Landry, it would be rash and imprudent of meto give you a number that would indicate my personal belief on the prospects ofthe mission.

“Assume with me that I give you a number, anynumber. If I give you a number that isless than 50%, and the mission fails, then it looks like I called it. If I give you a number greater than 50% andthe mission succeeds, likewise, I must’ve known what I was talking about. If I give you exactly 50%, you will complainthat I’m not courageous enough to take a stand on the matter. Let’s say, I believe the mission willsucceed. Why would I give you any numberother than 51%? If I say 80% or 90%,don’t I get just as much credit for calling it right as I do for saying51%? Further, 51% is a safer number ifthe mission should fail, because then my reputation has some leeway for havingsome doubt in its success. So, I amunwilling to give you a number.

“To be honest with you, however, this is amission without precedent. We have neverattempted anything like this in the history of man. We have invited experts from professionalastronomical and cosmological organizations the world around to brainstorm,troubleshoot, and review critical mission data. We have given this mission every level of success, but there is noempirical data from which any statistician could reasonable ascribe odds to itssuccess. They can make guesses about howreliable specific mission components may be, but these are justthat—guesses. And when you add guessesto guesses, you get nothing but numbers from this community of experts between0% and 100% which are just that—guesses.

“Now, I know that this answer isn’t going tosatisfy you or your readers, so let me tell you a little about what I believeto be true. I believe that this missioncan succeed. If it does succeed, we willhave gained priceless scientific, cultural, and sociological knowledge. We will learn more about the universe that welive in certainly more than any other mission in our history. And isn’t that something we can all agreeon? Don’t we all desire to betterunderstand this universe in which we live. I truly believe that we do, and that I have attempted to dedicate mylife’s work to this cause.”

After Landry studied a set of facts on theclipboard he was holding, he continued. “Professor, my data indicates that this mission will have spent at least$230 billion conservatively. Can you saythat the gain will compensate the discretionary loss of so much money?”

“First, Mr. Landry, I wouldn’t use the word loss,but rather investment. Second, I think Ialready answered that question with the word ‘priceless’. You really can’t put a price tag on learning,since knowledge isn’t purchased or sold—it is earned. That said, we have invested billions, and ifthe mission fails, then if nothing else, we will learn from those losses, andthen take another stab at it. I willagree with you, Mr. Landry that money can be used to purchase goods andservices that we need as individuals, but does money really mean anything inthe grand purpose of the universe? I amno philosopher, but my guess is that we will not take any of our money with uswhen we depart this life. I do, however,strongly believe that as we depart, any intelligence that we have obtained andshared will be left to the inheritance of our children. They will benefit much more from ourknowledge than they will our money.”

Landry refused to back down, and grew impatientwith Zimmer. “Yes or no, Professor. Do you believe that this mission can fail?”

“Absolutely, there is chance for failure, but asI’ve stated, I believe there is a chance for success. What we gain from the success is priceless—I repeat—priceless. What we lose is money. But let’s not forget that with every failedmission in life, comes learning in and of itself. And that learning can be applied to increasethe odds of success the next time around.”

“Professor!” barked the irascible reporter. “We would lose more than money. We lose two exceptional men. Does their lives not count for anything toyou?”

Zimmer stood and rebuked Landry with calm yetvehement tones. “Mr. Landry, you havefalsely accused me of negligence of human life. The entire team have spoken directly to both Mr. Joonter and Mr. Slater,and the risks—which they have assumed of their own volition—have been acceptedby both individuals.”

Zimmer looked at both astronauts, and each noddedaffirmatively.

Backing down from that angle, Landry asked “Youmentioned that there would be a next time. When you say that, I trust you are referring to the next time we throwhundreds of billions at ST4, right?”

“Throw, Mr. Landry? Is that a synonym for the word lose that youused earlier? I think I was clear thatthis is an investment of money, not a waste of it.”

Raising his voice in agitation, Landry began toborder on dramatic. “Investment?! Why not invest it in food for the hungry,shelter for the homeless? Instead, you havechosen to ‘invest’ the money in the execution of a pair of lowly criminals!”

“Mr. Landry!” It was Gilroy’s voice which objected. He launched himself out of his chair, and buried his fists on the tableas he leaned over to peer hotly as the insolent behavior of thejournalist. “That is enough. You have gone beyond objective reporting infavor of setting personal agenda, and even beyond that you have now slanderedthese two astronauts. Your questioningis complete.”

The word ‘complete’ was offered with irrefutablefinality. Landry glared back at hisopponent, but eventually slinked into his seat, as the nearby security detailtook a couple of steps out of the darkened corner of the room, prepared topounce on anyone to whom Gilroy gave the order. Gilroy sat down slowly, but refused to takehis eyes off of Landry, until the latter broke off the staring contest with anawkward attempt to scribble notes on his clipboard.

Utter silence was broken by a deep parched voiceat the front of the room. “Dr. Gilroy,may I say somethin’ to answer the question?” All eyes turned to Blade, whose face was expressionless. Gilroy, not sure of whether Slater would helpthe cause of the press conference or not, hesitantly yielded to the request.

“Mr. Landry, I don’t think ya’ meant those words,and I suspect ya’ might regret havin’ said ‘em later. Fo’ yer benefit, I’ll just say that I assumethese was spoken in the heat of the moment. I do see where you’re goin’ with the concerns over the financin’ of themission, but let me allay any and all concerns as to the motivation of mycompanion and me in acceptin’ this mission. Neither of us was forced to do this, and there was no premeditateddecision by the government to seek a couple of felons as lab rats in some super-warpexperiment. Paol made his decision inthe presence of his lawyer, and I made my decision in the presence ofPaol. No government agent spoke to us‘bout this opportunity until after the decision had already been made.

“What’s more, if you’re worried ‘bout me takin’this course of action just so I could break outta the pen’, then let me justremind ya’ that I would be free of my obligation to society in just under ayear right now. Why would anybody chooseto go on a 12-year mission away from his home planet when he’s just a year awayfrom purchasin’ his freedom. It makes nosense. So, let me say now, on the eve ofmy departure from Earth1, I am not doin’ this fo’ any selfish purpose. I’m doin’ this fo’ the good of mankind.

“Let me say somethin’ ‘bout my companion heretoo. While I have got to know PaolJoonter in the last few years, I can tell you that this is a man who wasconvicted of a crime he did not commit. He was setup, plain and simple. I’ve talked to him in confidence, and I can assure you that hissacrifice is great. What’s more is thesacrifice of his family. They was nottoo terrible interested in the idea at first, and I mean, who would be? They won’t see their husband and father fo’twelve years! But in time, I saw ‘emchange their attitude. They went fromconsternation to utter pride. When theylook at Paol, they see a hero who is makin’ a tremendous sacrifice fer hiscountry and fo’ scientific discovery and progress—and he’s doin’ it at greatrisk, as you point out, sir.

“So, Mr. Landry, believe whatcha will ‘bout thismission, and ‘bout the pair of us who’s goin’ out there tomorrow. Paol and I know in our hearts the reasons ferus doin’ this thing, and that’s enough fer us.”

After this speech, the atmosphere was tense andelectric, and all were glued to their seats, except for one person, who stoodslowly in the back and began to slowly applaud this astronaut for his stirringwords. Kather Mirabelle was quicklyjoined by Joram, who propelled himself out of his seat and began applaudingeven more loudly. Within moments, allwere on their feet, applauding with excited anticipation for the mission. Landry alone remained seated, with a glarethat bored down on Blade. How dare thiscrude, uneducated man best him in his attempts to spread his doctrine and gainmore disciples to his ridiculous cause?

…

The press conference had been a success, evenbeyond Gilroy’s wishes. All of the majortelevision stations were broadcasting video clips, quotes, and commentaries onthe event, while Americans remained glued to their television sets. Talk was animated and cheerful around thewater cooler at work, over the fence with neighbors, in shopping malls withcomplete strangers.

“Where did you get that ‘Paol and Blade’T-shirt?”

“I grabbed one of the last ST3 bumper stickers onthe store shelf just yesterday.”

“OFFICE MEMO: Don’t stay home to watch thelaunch! We’ll broadcast it live in ourlarge conference room.”

“I heard the President is going to meet with theastronauts in the morning to wish them well.”

All were cheering for Paol and Blade. There was so much support that the skepticswere compelled to hold their peace until after the excitement wore off. They figured that they’d get their chanceafter the spaceship disappeared into the yellow beam. After a few weeks, life would be back tonormal, and they could again begin to sow their seeds of discontent.

Carlton Zimmer’s research trio thoroughly enjoyedbeing at the press conference. Excitement and energy proliferated the room, but they were even moreexcited for their next opportunity.

“Blade, Paol, I’d like you to meet some friendsof mine.” Carlton Zimmer was beaming tomake the introductions, and had looked forward to doing so for years. “This is Kather Mirabelle, Joram Anders, andReyd Eastman—my post-doc research students, who helped to discover thesuperluminal comet, shortly after the Camp Mars incident.”

Hands were extended warmly between the astronautsand students. Blade was the first tospeak after greetings had been fully exchanged. “I’m so pleased to meet all of ya’. Thanks fo’ yer hard work in discoverin’ Earth2 and makin’ thisopportunity possible.”

“You’re thanking us?” Kath queried in stunned appreciation. “You two are making the hero’s journey alongwith a tremendous sacrifice that few could ever step up to.”

Paol stepped forward and put a hand on Blade’sshoulder. “You know, Kath, I replace thatsome of the most important heroes in life are those unsung heroes who nevermake the headlines. It is a shame that mypartner and I garner all of the attention from the media, when it is allbecause of your efforts that we are even in this privileged position to beginwith.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Joonter,” Reyd interruptedsoftly.

“Oh, you can call me Paol.”

“Paol, then—there’s something I’ve been curiousabout.”

“Go on,” Paol smiled.

“I’m a bit perplexed about your attitude—actuallyboth of your attitudes. Tomorrow, thetwo of you leave on an extremely dangerous journey, ranging through expanses ofthe galaxy that just a few years ago, nobody thought ever to be possible. At best, you won’t see your family for adozen years, and at worst, you’ll suffer a horrendous death in the expansesbetween stars, or maybe you actually reach Earth2, replace it to be hostile, andsuffer death there, or the Star Transport fails in one of a million waysleaving you to float endlessly through space, or—”

Kath stabbed Reyd in the ribs with herelbow. “Would you get on with thequestion? What are you trying to doanyway—convince them to back down now just 24 hours before launch?”

Reyd blushed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

Blade laughed heartily at the exchange betweenKath and Reyd, while Paol simply gestured for Reyd to proceed with thequestion.

“Well, you say this is a ‘privilegedposition’. How have you formed such anattitude?”

Paol tried to ease Reyd’s embarrassment. “Thanks for asking, Reyd. It’s always good for me to remind myself ofmy personal reason. Let me assure youthat I’ve thought through every horrible scenario that you have, and many more thanthose. Further, let me state that thedecision isn’t as easy as I might let on with my language. Leaving my family behind like this is a very,very difficult thing to do. But, I takecomfort in believing honestly that there is more purpose in a life given inservice to others. Sure, I could waitfor my acquittal in prison, and then return to the business sector and continueto build products and earn profits, but how does that help my fellow man? This is a fulfilling opportunity that I trustwill give more to the world than I otherwise could contribute. In short, this is what will make my lifemeaningful.

“That said, it is easy to think that I am justdoing this to save my own skin—meaning, I have been convicted of a murder I didnot commit, and this buys me time for my name to be cleared. However, it is harder to make a case for myfriend here. When the opportunity waspresented to him, he scoffed at it—didn’t even give it a thought before sayingit was crazy. He did the numbers, heknew that he would probably be out of prison before the spaceship even left theground. He might have his freedom todayon parole. But, in the end, he couldsense what a big opportunity this was for this country, indeed this world.”

“Off the record,” Joram spoke up for the firsttime during the interchange. “The mediais frenzied about the odds of this. Youcan’t turn around without seeing some update on the odds in Vegas. Does it bother you guys that most think thiswon’t succeed?”

Blade let out a groan.

“Every time I hear the naysayers, I remind myselfof Christopher Columbus. Most peoplelaughed him to scorn, and fo’ six persistent years, he tried hard to convincepeople that you could sail a ship towards the west to get someplace that’s inthe east. Ludicrous, ain’t it? It’s no wonder nobody believed him. Finally Spain took a risk on him and providedhim with the support he needed. It wasawful brave of him to do it, but I remember readin’ a quote from Columbus thatshowed me why he had faith that his mission would succeed. He said:

“With ahand that could be felt, the Lord opened my mind to the fact that it would bepossible to sail and he opened my will to desire to accomplish theproject. This was the fire that burnedwithin me, the fire of the Holy Spirit urging me to press forward.”

“Now, I’m not much of a religious man, and Icertainly ain’t felt no Spirit urging me towards Earth2, but I believe thatthis mission—this exploration—can succeed. First, Columbus—as an insider—believed in himself and his mission. He knew things that the critics didn’t everknow. I can tell ya’ that with what I’veseen in the last few years, what the critics don’t understand, is that everypossible brainstormed problem, issue, and hurdle have been addressed. The odds fo’ success are certainlymaximized. Second, there’s no questionthat we have the technology to succeed. Columbus was able to succeed with far less. Further, Columbus set sail into unchartedwaters—there was no evidence that this new path would get him anywhere, letalone to the discovery of a new world. On the other hand, we actually did discover our new world befo’ we’resettin’ sail. We also know the exact pathto take to get there, and the computer’s all programmed and ready to go. And that’s that, friends. There’s no use in thinkin’ it can’t be done,because it can.”

“Thank you, Blade, for the Columbus analogy,”Joram congratulated, shaking his head at his own lack of faith. “For the first time, you’ve given me hopethat our work of discovery won’t be in vain, because until you return with allof your stories, data, and materials, I’ve often felt that this discovery isreally meaningless.”

“Well, Joram, you just keep discoverin’ thoseamazin’ things out there, and when we return, you’ll have to catch us up on allthat we missed out on, ok?”

“Deal!” Joram nodded and smiled enthusiastically.

The door opened to the room where the group wasconvened, and all attention was diverted to a rather anxious looking missioncommander.

“I know that this has been a rather briefmeeting,” Vurim Gilroy directed his comments to Carlton Zimmer and hisstudents, “but there is a busy preparation schedule ahead for these two, andthey are going to need their rest for the big day tomorrow.”

Zimmer reached out his hand to theastronauts. “Gentlemen, thank you forthe interview. This has been a mostpleasant exchange. Godspeed on yourjourney tomorrow. We look forward toseeing you about twelve years from now.”