Chap. 276 Pandora’s Box

Chap. 276 Pandora’s Box

“Should we open them?” K’ndar asked.

“Um, probably not a good idea, mate,” Orlon said, “I’ve not had much experience with finding artifacts, but that’s what these are. Let’s clean up this mess, first, then brush them off and see what those markings are.”

“But..”

“K’ndar. You’re going to have to clean up in here anyway, and I’m here to help. Brush ourselves off, too. There’s a small mountain in here and it’s probably not good to be inhaling this stuff. Business before pleasure,” K’ndar.”

“You’re right, but…..”

“Besides, who knows what’s inside them. If there’s something like paper, it’s going to be twenty five hundred years old and might break into little pieces and then we’ll lose any information. So we’ll take them to Acquisition, like we should, and let the experts crack open these eggs. I want to see what’s in ‘em just as badly as you do.”

So they swept up the dust and detritus and placed it in a pile outside. K’ndar noted many bones and what appeared to be relatively fresh reptile egg shells.

“Those teeko lizards are reproducing,” he said, after examining them closely. “Somehow that feels like trouble in the offing.”

“Hope they’re not like tribbles.”

“Shards, no, I hope not.”

Siskin had returned and searched the now cleared shelves. The images he sent showed no more artifacts.

“Should we take down the block and tackle?”

“Not until after we use it to load the crates on the wagon. That first ‘un is heavy and I’d rather load it using leverage rather than our backs. THEN we’ll disassemble.”

________________________________________________________________

Leana was just as intrigued as they were.

She climbed into the wagon with a small bag of tools, a camera, a meter measuring tape and began to document the crates.

“Whoa, K’ndar, this is terrific, artifacts in your quarters? Maybe this will get everyone to do a good cleaning.”

“That’ll be the day, ma’am,” Orlon said. They laughed.

“Hello, there’s writing on the sides of this big one, but it’s so covered with dirt I can’t read it.”She pulled a stiff brush from her toolbag and cleaned it up.

“Ah, no use. They’re worn almost to illegibility,” she said.

“There was a lot of volcanic ash mixed in with the dust,” Orlon said, “Every building I’ve helped restore had ash in it, I’d be astounded if the ash didn’t wipe the printing off.”

“I DO see a yellow triangle here, with a symbol in it, I can just barely see letters..they say…L…r……c. That’s it.”

_________________________________________

Days later, an impromptu symposium was called.

K’ndar recognized many of the same folks from when the turbine at the bottom of the Strait was discussed. Many were there solely out of curiosity. Like me, he thought. Orlon was in the back, attempting to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Jansen was grinning at him from across the room. Grateful that this time he was merely a spectator and probably would not be questioned, he joined her at the pastries table.

“No raisin cookies for me,” he said. Jansen grinned.“If you note, there’s none here. I did the ordering, this time. Lefsa usually does that, but she’s not here. She rode dragonback to the west coast. The farmers are reporting they’ve some odd thing attacking the oat crop. They grow a lot of it out there, and this could be bad news, both for us and our horses. But K’ndar!! How exciting, that you found these crates in your quarters! I wasn’t there when they opened them. Good thing you didn’t, there were papers in them, fragile, and Leana was able to get them out without too much damage. They fell apart, but I was able to scan them and fed the information into the database,”

“What’s in the crates?” he asked, excited.

“Now, K’ndar, that would be telling, what? I’ll let the Chief Engineer tell, she’s coming in now. She and her crew have been poring over it all week. They refused to let just anyone in, so all these people here, are just drooling in anticipation at learning just what the artifacts are.”

“Before you give me any more credit, it was Orlon who told me to not open them. I wanted to, right away.”

“That was smart,” she said. “I have to get to work, K’ndar, I’m working the datalinks.You DO have yours, yes?”

Resignedly, he pulled his out and waved it at her.

“Good. And by the way, be prepared, you might be asked some questions.”

“Me? I’m just one of the blokes who got a dust bath.”

She winked. “Yes, but you also got them down in the first place. So just be prepared. I think there’s a loose end or two that will be tied up with this.”

“”Good morning,” Valena, the head of Engineering, called to the once again crowded meeting room. D’nis was behind her. K’ndar could see from clear across the room that he was delighted in the find.

The room quieted. Valena said, “Last week, K’ndar, our staff biologist, along with Orlon, our maintenance chief, turned in two crates that were in K’ndar’s quarters.”

Unbeknownst to him, Leana had taken their picture with the wagon as they unloaded Orlon’s equipment.

I hate having my picture taken, he thought, look at my ears! They look like wherry wings.

The next picture was of several people wearing masks and coveralls, opening the larger crate in a ‘clean room’.

“Leana, our Acquisition chief, collected data and turned it in to Jansen, who pinged the database. The crates were opened using precautions against any possible contamination or destruction of their contents after being inside a sealed crate for over 2500 years.”

“Excuse me, but aren’t you jumping a bit ahead of things? I see some markings on the side of the crate,” said one person. “I would like to see them first, please?”

Valena laughed. “I guess I’m busted,” she said, “I’m trying to make this into a mystery.”

“Ma’am. We’re engineers. We don’t DO mystery,” said another.

The audience roared. Jansen laughed, then brought up a picture of the enhanced markings. “The markings on the outside of big crate had been eradicated by volcanic ash. However, the database was able to read them.”

Beacon, Interstellar Laser, 2 mW Arirang Labs, Seoul, Korea

“Whoa.” The audience was silent for several stunned moments.“A beacon? A laser?”

“What’s a beacon?”

Every datalink in the room chorused “Beacon. Noun. One. A sign, a signal. Two. To gleam or shine. Three, any light for warning or guiding, to act as a summons. Four, a hill, station or tower from which signals are given. Five, a light to warn of navigational hazards …”. Fingers stabbed to shut them up.

“A beacon for what? For who? And what is a laser?”

“Sshh, look it up, mate, we don’t want Data Knows Everything to interrupt again.”

Valena let the crowd chatter for several minutes, then motioned for quiet.

“If I may, I am turning this over to D’nis. He has examined it for several days and has come to a theory. My lord?”

D’nis strode to the front of the room. “Jansen, please, show the first of the series?”

A picture of the beacon appeared. It was a silver colored tube, a little over a meter long and half that in width. At one end was what appeared to be a lens, at the other, two large connectors.

D’nis cleared his throat.

“My colleagues, good morning. After opening the crate and taking the precautions needed for paper that’s almost three thousand years old, I and several others were asked to examine this beacon. I’ve learned, mostly from Jansen, that the database has all sorts of information on it, you just have to ask the right questions.”

“Sir. Please. I’m dying to know…” said one woman.

D’nis put up his hands. “The database, as well as the markings, indicate that this is an interstellar laser beacon. A laser is a device that stimulates atoms or molecules to emit light at particular wavelengths and amplifies that light, typically producing a very narrow beam . When calibrated to the substance, a laser beam can easily cut solid metal, even solid basalt. Or it can transmit information, such as data. This beacon’s laser uses a great deal of electrical power, about 2 megawatts. That’s far more than any of our solar panels can produce. The beam of light is generated back here,” he pointed to the connector end, “and is then sent through this end, a telescopic lens. Jansen, please?”

A drawing of Earth appeared on the screen. A beam of light rayed from it out into space.

“That’s…Earth, right?”

“Correct.”

“It says it was drawn by MIT? Who is mit?”

“Before the database interrupts, it’s a what, not a who. MIT was a school on Earth in a place I cannot for the life of me pronounce. One for bright lads and lasses who specialized in things like physics, technology and…engineering.”

Several people pumped their arms and cheered.

Valena said, “Much of the information on this beacon was generated by mit.”

K’ndar could almost hear the brains whirling.

“I’m guessing that this..this beacon was intended to communicate with Earth?”

“I believe you are correct, that’s what I came up with.”

“You said, ‘interstellar’. How far is interstellar? Could it reach Earth at 170 lightyears?”

“The data collected from the papers indicate it had a range of twenty THOUSAND lightyears.”

There was stunned silence for many moments.

“We could talk to the galaxy with that thing?”

“I don’t know what sort of information it could transmit. But it probably would have no problems reaching Earth.”

“Why was it still in the crate? Why wasn’t it ever installed? And where?

D’nis shook his head. “I don’t know, maybe the ancients ran out of time. It was covered with dust and volcanic ash, so I believe they vacated Landing due to the eruption before it was installed. As to where? Well, I’ll get to that.”

“I have to add that there was a handwritten note on the papers. It said, “Permanently disabled by Pandora” Leana said.

“Disabled?”

“Yes.”

“Why would this Pandora disable it?

She shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s all it said.”

“You said 2 megawatts? How on Pern could we generate that much power?”

Again, there was silence. Suddenly a young woman jumped to her feet.

“I know! I know!!”

Everyone looked at her, a young journeyman in Engineering.

She was so excited she could barely get the words out.

“Sir, my lord councilman D’nis! I was at the symposium discussing the the um, the turbine at the bottom of Western’s strait. Could that be the power source for this..this beacon?”

D’nis laughed in delight. I so love seeing them make that intuitive leap, he thought. “Give her a bonus! Aye, ma’am, I think you are correct!”

“Jansen, Jansen, call up the picture of the turbine, please?” someone cried.

Jansen was half a heart beat behind the request. Her fingers flying, the lidar diagram of the turbine appeared.

The room burst into discussions. D’nis caught K’ndar’s eye and winked.

Someone called above the noise, “But where would it be mounted?”

“A bit of background, as you may not have been in on the symposium on the turbine. My colleague, K’ndar, there, and I, along with another engineer and a geologist, conducted a survey of Western Continent. The survey encompassed not only biology and geological data collection, but also, and primarily, was searching for a suitable site for the second Observatory. While that site was ultimately found on the southern side of the continent, we did find this bulwark on the northern side of the Strait,” D’nis said.

Jansen called up a picture-the same picture, he noted-of K’ndar looking over the edge of bulwark down into the strait.

“I believe this bulwark was built expressly for a shuttle to bring in the beacon and cables, and then as a base for the beacon. The materials had to have been brought in by cargo shuttle, as there is no indication of paths, roads, no signs of it being constructed on site. It may even have been poured elsewhere and then transported to Western by shuttle. I am not an astronomer, like Rahman-if I can ever catch that peripatetic man, I’d have him identify the precise coordinates. But I believe the bulwark was sited at precisely this point, at precisely the right angle, to aim the beacon towards Earth. On the vertical cliff face just below the bulwark, two channels had been cut in the rock to accommodate power transmission cables. At the bottom of the strait is not just the turbine, but as you can see, a framework just to the side of the turbine.”

Jansen put the lidar photo alongside that of the bulwark. “I believe the framework was meant to support the beacon on the bulwark. How it came to be on the seabed I have no idea. Obviously, something went bad wrong before the beacon could be installed, and perhaps, it was then that time when the colonists had to abandon Landing and the project itself.” D’nis said.

Again, the voices filled the room.

“Sir, there is one problem that I see,” said one. “No, two. Three.”

“Please, sir.”

“I can imagine that the power generated by the turbine had to be transmitted to the beacon, probably by electrical cables, that’s one. Do you know where the cables might be? Two, is the turbine working? and three, if this is a beacon TO earth and maybe beyond, is there a receiver for transmission FROM Earth?”

“That’s four, mate,” someone called. The crowd snickered.

D’nis nodded. “It had to be cables, and I don’t know why they weren’t hooked up, or if they even exist anymore. The problem would be attaching any sort of cable to the turbine. It’s on the seabed of the Strait. There is no way we can hook up cables to it, even if we had them. We’d get a better sense of how if we could have a look at the turbine, but we just can’t do it. Not with the winds and the currents. The dolphins won’t and ships can’t go there. For all I know, there may be cables already attached but have either been buried or deteriorated. And, mind you, you need a LOT of cable to reach the bulwark. Does the turbine still work? I don’t know that, either.”

The crowd emitted a disappointed sigh.

“Was there a receiver?”

Jansen smiled. The second crate appeared on the screen. “The lettering on this crate indicates it held a receiver.”

“Maybe we could set them both up, maybe?”

“Sorry to say, there was nothing in the second crate other than paperwork.”

The room went silent.

“But..as you said, sir, the problem with getting data out of the database is asking the right questions.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Does the database have a diagram of the receiver? Perhaps we could build one? Maybe we can’t send a signal but we could receive one?”

Jansen grinned. “I can answer that. Yes, there is a diagram and a schematic for the receiver.” Then her face changed.

“Um…” she paused. “Excuse me, but, Lord Lytol has been watching this symposium from his quarters and would like to add his thoughts. If you would all please, be quiet?”

As one, every voice shut up. The councilman emeritus’s voice came over their datalinks.

“My colleagues, good morning. I have been listening with great interest. I would like to interject my thoughts on this amazing technology.

It is curious that there is no receiver, no cables, that the beacon is said to be ‘disabled’, and that the turbine is in the one place on Pern that is inaccessible. I wonder if, back then, someone understood out what a danger this beacon posed. I believe that this Pandora purposefully destroyed the system. I think the receiver is on the seabed, below the turbine, or perhaps under the framework. It smells like willful sabotage, to me.”

“Danger?” said one.

The young journeyman said, “My Lord, WHY?”

“Why? Think of it. I am convinced that using the bright minds we have here at Landing, that we could build a receiver. We may be able to repair the beacon. We could find a way to use this ‘laser beacon’ to send a message to Earth, or even to the galaxy at large. Therein lies the danger.

Why are we here? The colonists, volunteers all, left a poisoned, war torn, dying planet. The oceans were dead, water was undrinkable. The environment was poisoned. People died by their millions of starvation. The rest fought over carrion. The climate had been so distorted it finished off what humans had started. I wonder if there still humans on Earth. I doubt it, but, we are a remarkably adaptable animal. I wouldn’t want to live that life, though.

The colonists were gamblers. They’d volunteered, knowing they’d never see Earth again, and they had no assurance they’d survive here. They came here hoping that the Nathi wouldn’t follow us. Remember, the starships we came here in, the Yokohama, the Bahrain, the Buenos Aires, were Nathi ships. The Nathi were colonists, too, ones Terrans foolishly invited, thinking they could fix Earth’s ills. They wanted the Nathi’s superior technology. They got it, but at the price of genocide, slavery and war-which they lost. What defeated the Nathi was Earth’s microbes. It took a few years, but it finished them off. However, their home system is still quite alive, I’m sure.

Can we restore the ability to communicate with the galaxy? Yes. I’m certain that the laser beacon makes it possible, and we have the bright minds and the database to make it work. But, look at that beam. It has two points. It works both ways. If it can, indeed reach out twenty thousand light years, it also pinpoints where WE are.

The question, then, is not ‘can’ we. The question is ‘should’ we?”

We are lucky that the Vulcans and the Aldebarans are peaceful people. Because the colonists met them before arriving here, they know OF us, but they don’t know where we are. But not every race of beings is like them. Many of them are like the Nathi. Do we WANT to be found by a predatory people like the Nathi? Or one even more advanced?

They had starships. We’re still using horses for transportation. We have a feudal system with a charter. They transported millions of Terrans to mine their asteroid belt and killed millions more. Do we want to repeat the mistakes our forbears made that forced our ancestors to abandon the only planet they’d ever known? Earth is dead. Pern is alive, she is good to us, and if we treat like her like a partner rather than as something to exploit, she will continue to support us until Rukbat goes nova. I’d rather stay a backward culture than risk being found by beings who might consider us as nothing more than something to be eaten. I’d rather Pern be voiceless in the vastness of the galaxy than stand up and shout Here We Are. Pandora saw the danger in this beacon, and took the brave step of destroying it. For which I, for one, will be forever grateful.”