Galactica: Book 1 - Via Lactea

 

It took another month to clear up Colony Four, more because of the amount of water that needed to be removed than anything else. Finally, the task was done and the last Colony of Atlantis One was set in the cross-hair of Thebes, some 50 light-years away. It would take a little more than 27 days to reach the Planet at warp seven. The time was spent reorganising the material recovered from the visited colonies and making them accessible for study or use should they be of value. The Princes also speculated on what surprises lay in wait for them at Colony Three.

Nestor had taken to the new task with a lot of interest and spent countless hours designing a College Campus that he would like. An empty segment of Thebes was assigned for reorganisation, which included classrooms, sports and exercise facilities, arenas for testing, training areas and all that came with a top-of-the-line College. Meanwhile, another segment right next to the newly assigned campus was being readied for the soon to be released Colonists.

The target was a dwarf star catalogued as type M5, almost ruby in colour and a surface temperature of less than 2,800° Kelvin. Its spectra contained a high number of metal absorption lines.

"I wonder where that colony planet is?" asked Timor, Captain for the shift, as he looked at the front screen and the vast number of rocks flying around.

"There is a lot of garbage around. Maybe we should ask the Cyborgs to clean up the system?" teased Ian from the Admiral’s seat.

"And there would be no system left once you are done dealing with these flying digestive systems."

"I found what appears to be four rocky planets," said Alexander from the radar station. "Harp, can you confirm? I am transferring the locations to your station."

"I got them. Three are definitely out of the life zone. One is located properly, with an almost circular orbit. The albedo matches ice. Samson, plot a path for it."

"I have been on it. It will take a few minutes, there is just too much flying junk around for a straight-line approach."

"I got the data from Navigation," Enron said.

"Engage ion drives, half-impulse," Timor ordered.

Two days later, the planet appeared in the front screen, a stark red colour.

"I thought you said this was ice?" Williams said, looking at Harp.

"The albedo matches ice. But I think the reddish colour is due to the nature of the light being reflected off the surface. The star is very red, as we can all see, so it is normal the ice takes that colour."

"You have a point. That is the biggest snowball I have ever seen."

"I have atmospheric composition: Oxygen 40%, the rest is Nitrogen, with traces of Carbon Dioxide, and water vapour. The surface temperature is an average -40° Fahrenheit with some areas well below that. Paschal, drop a sensor. We need seismographic data."

"Okay, Harp."

"I have additional astronomical information. The Planet is in gravitational lock with the star, always presenting the same face to the Primary. Its orbital period is 22 hours. It rotates on itself as it orbits the star at an angle of 2.2°, presenting a faint wobble. There are eight small Moons, more Asteroids than Moons, orbiting the Planet in its equatorial plane. There is a faint ring, where the Moons act as herders to keep the rest of the stuff in line."

"Thank you, Samson." replied Williams, now acting Captain.

"The sensor has landed, the data is flowing in," noted Paschal. "At first glance, the Planet is seismically active."

"The presence of a magnetosphere was a good indication already," said Harp. "And the aurora that covers the entire Planet is a visual confirmation of the intensity of that magnetosphere. It is probably why the star has not eroded the Planet’s gaseous atmosphere by radiation pressure; that planet is damn close to the Primary."

"There is more: the ice is eight miles thick but covers an ocean of liquid water. The energy needed to keep that water liquid seems to come from two sources: the magma that drives the magnetosphere, and the gravitational energy of the star that drives the ice tides," Paschal continued the systematic analysis of the seismographic data.

"Who read the records from the Colonists? I do not really understand how they might have considered this Planet as viable," Williams asked.

"I did not," Ian said. "I paid a visit to our rescued Erigonians to check on their guided evolution."

"And I have been working with the Dolphins and the Octopuses’ elevation project," Colibri said.

"And I stabilised the genome of the Australopithecus Regressi for the next few generations while we implement the next stage of their evolution in their gene pool," replied Enron, just as he fired off a torpedo to demolish a meteorite on a collision course with Thebes. "I tested the upcoming changes on a numerical model of Tom and Jerry. The next change will be seamless, and allow us to include the resulting species fully into Atlantean population. The two Boys are ecstatic. The propagation rate is determined by the medical exam schedule for that population. There is only one thing that seems to pain the two Boys: They have outlived every single one of their contemporaries. The selective pressure in their Tessaract has kept the natural life expectancy of the Australopithecus Regressi fairly short at 15 years, barely enough to insure they reach reproduction age and produce offspring. By gradually taking them out of their environment, I think we can expect them to live well within Atlantean norms."

"I thought this was occurring already?"

"Yes, Sitar, but we have reached a ceiling. It is only about one out of three that can leave the forest and adapt to the environment of Thebes, even if we have a lot of virtual open space. It is more like culture shock, and they regularly fall back to their familiar ties and smaller tribal mental sets. Until this is left behind, the contribution of the Australopithecus Regressi to the general culture will be limited. Even Tom and Jerry admit to this and are trying to find a way to help their kin out of that dead end. It is the females that create the greatest challenge. They all want to have Babies within their habitat, not within the safer and more secure General Hospital environment. We have much less troubles with the Equines, Felines and Canines than with the Australopithecus on this account. But it does not stop there: They also insist in raising their Children in the wild, which exposes them to predators. Unfortunately, cultural mores are not subject to genetic reprogramming."

"Let us get back to the current issue. Thebes? What can you tell us from the Colonial Archives concerning this colony? Two things are of interest for the immediate: Why was this Planet chosen? And what kind of development had it reached?"

"I am currently cross-indexing the documents to extract the answers to the questions. Please wait..."

After five minutes, Thebes came back with answers.

"The Colonists began the colonisation process in the standard fashion. They built the requisite number of caves and filled them with the appropriate material. At the time, the Planet was much hotter than it is today. Its orbital period was 15 hours compared to today’s 22 hours, and it was in the inner reaches of the green area where liquid water can subsist. Their astronomical data is formal on the orbital period. Their biggest issue was the daily tide that washed the lowlands. They built their colonial establishments in the mountains and kept away from the coasts."

"What could have happened to produce such a dramatic change? A cooling of the star?" Enron asked of the artificial intelligence.

"No. That star will be stable for another 10,000,000,000 years."

"Then what?"

"AI-6 has been simulating the orbits of the three other planets along with this one. At regular intervals, they align themselves and exert a combined gravitational force that pulls the planet away from its primary, elongating its orbital period; then, some time later, they again align themselves differently and bring it closer to the primary, while accelerating its speed and shortening its orbital period. It is a complex dance that puts into play all four Planets dancing a delicate ballet. The other Planets’ orbital periods are also affected by the other Planets, and it makes for a very strange kind of motion that is reminds me of a corkscrew. It is the tidal forces exerted by the Star and three other Planets that sustain the presence of a massive liquid iron core. It also probably plays a major role if the fracturing of the ice cover when the Planet moves closer to its Primary."

"Have you been drinking, Thebes?" asked Ian, much to the amusement of the others.

"Some days, Little Heir, I wish I could."

"So, the Colonists set foot on this Planet during an interglacial period," said Colibri. "I wonder what happened to the Caves?"

"There is no trace of them, Brother. I have been using the sounds emitted by the movement of the ice as a kind of sonar, and the base rock is solid. In a way, I am not surprised. They probably were unaware of the upcoming ice age, and built their caves using the classical method. It only weakened the rocks and let the ice eat them up faster. The caves collapsed, their contents was crushed and is now resting either deep within a glacier, or, if we are lucky, at the bottom of the sea, where it will be recycled by tectonic plates. No one, not even us, can recover that technology now."

"How can you be unaware of an impending ice age?"

"It was not so impending, Enron," said Thebes. "This ice age is less than 2,000 years old. And it began quite suddenly: the temperature went from tropical to deep Arctic in less than two orbits, the time it took for the Planet to move back from the star to its current location."

"What?"exclaimed Ian, shocked. "Two orbits? Less than 48 hours? That is insane!"

"No less insane than the time it took for the Earth to produce the Wisconsin Ice age, that froze the Wooly Mammoth standing in place, in whole herds! It is estimated the temperature dropped to -120° Fahrenheit in Siberia and the Canadian high Arctic literally overnight. The poor beasts did not even have the time to fall over. All that because the Sun happened to cross path with a carbon dust stream of exceptional density. You guys really need to look at the data Paschal’s time-travel sensors collected, and the memory of the Pyramids."

"You know, Harp, I think you were right when you said we were giving too much autonomy to the Artificial Intelligences. Now Thebes is giving us a kick in the posterior for our lack of preparedness," said Paschal.

"I kind of feel like dunking that Artificial Intelligence..." said Ian.

"You did at the previous Colony, Ian. I needed the bath anyway."

"So, Ian, what is your take on this Colony? Do we try and see if life survives below that mantel of ice?" asked Williams.

"We take a month to look at the life-forms, study the ecosystem, and try to understand how life is possible below that thick layer of ice. We missed our chances with Jupiter’s Moons due to the pesky Eatees, but now we try again. Paschal, find a way to reach the water stuck below he ice."

"That is easy: a derrick and a drill."

"That is the apparent solution, but think of the movement of the ice produced by the gravitational tides," said Harp.

"What do you suggest, then?"

"We can drop a laser beam and drill a hole into the ice. Then it is a piece of cake to drop a pocket submarine and a control array through the hole with a copper wire to carry the signals up and down. I saw one in your design laboratory a month or so ago."

"Okay. I do not know how long it will survive under the ice... The power cell is Nickel-Cadmium. There is likely very little on that Planet. The autonomy is 12 hours."

"Who cares? Once it is dead, it sinks to the bottom and gets crushed. After all, your model was made of bronze, something that is not known to have a lot of resistance to pressure. Once the mission is finished, we send a powerful electrical pulse along the copper wire, burn the sensor array that controlled the submersible, and drop the wire through the hole. By the time this Planet melts, everything will be oxidised and unrecognisable as technology. All we need is for the cameras and biological analysers to function long enough to get an idea of what lays under that ice. As for the Nickel and the Cadmium, what are the chances the battery pack will be intact when that ice melts? The container is fragile and easily corroded; once that happens, the plates will easily separate, and, remember, by definition, the process of producing power is done by a corrosive chemical reaction that leaves the two materials more fragile than a dust mound."

"Do not add more. I am already convinced!"

"Is 12 hours enough to get an idea of the life available under that ice?" asked Ian.

"For a local survey, yes. For a Planet-sized inventory, certainly not. But I doubt we need to do such an inventory. We just need to drill maybe 15 holes in well-chosen emplacements, and do a local study," Colibri said.

"How many of these miniature submarines do you have?"

"Enron, I have only one prototype. I could manufacture 15 in a week."

Everyone looked at Ian expectantly.

"Manufacture them. We are not at a day close to leaving this system. Especially since we need to discuss our next goal before we leave. Colibri, help Paschal in designing the life detection laboratory. Harp, get to work on the laser and find a way to insure it stays pointing straight down whatever the motion of the ice. Enron, come with me, I need to discuss the Dolphin’s elevation project with you. We might as well do it while we are with them. Williams, Dunbar just asked to see you. I wonder why he did not use telepathy to do so?"

"I told him I was on the Bridge crew this afternoon, and he probably decided to send the request via official channels. I know he is working on the Pterodactyls, so I have to wonder if it is related to his pet project."

"Okay, keep us informed. I wonder what Dunbar has to do with the Pterodactyls."

"I wish I knew."

"Timor, when you are done with your shift as Captain, Dad wants you at the Privy Council. Bjorn is already there."

"Okay, Ian. I have to pick up Iridia and Harold-Ian, it was their check-up, and I shall join him."

***

Williams made his way to the Pterodactyls’ tessaract with some trepidation. What could Dunbar have found? As he made his way through the locks, he found himself in the watch tower used to monitor the Pterodactyls. He could see they were readying for their winter migration.

"Hey, Dunbar! What keeps you here?"

"I have been studying the growth of the Pterodactyls. Apart from getting bigger, a new sub-species is emerging. That in itself is not surprising. What has been the focus of study is the gestation of a Pterodactyl during its stay in the egg."

"And what could be so fascinating?"

"Nothing if it were not that they pass through a mini-Dragon stage. It might be nothing, or simply convergence, but for a period of three days, they look like miniature Dragons."

"How did you find that out?"

"Not all eggs come to their conclusion. I have managed to collect eggs from their first day to the last day before hatching. It took me several virtual years in this tessaract to gain enough trust from the Pterodactyls to be allowed near a nest. I have spent every free moment I had watching the nests and finally figure out why some eggs were left by their parents. The Pterodactyls have fine hearing and seem to be able to hear the heart-beat of a living egg. Once that beat stops, they push it out of the nest and ignore it. That is when I picked it up. Colibri has let me access a laboratory where I stored the eggs before beginning the careful and smelly process of dissection. I have made numerous discoveries concerning the Pterodactyls."

"Wow."

"The only issue is that I cannot backtrack to fertilisation. The eggs stays in the female for 48 hours before getting laid, and by then it is either viable or dead. And these 48 hours are where the primary structures are set."

"I hope you are not expecting me to help you practice a Caesarian section so you could access these eggs?"

After laughing his head off, Dunbar managed to talk some more.

"Oh. No. I just need to talk about the real discovery to you first."

"I thought it was the passage through the Dragon stage?"

"It is related to this, but... Well, let us go sit down in the Tessaract. I need to expand energy and the observation tower is not the best place to do so."

After leaving the observation tower and making their way through the thick grass that bordered the fishing grounds of the Pterodactyls, Dunbar turned to Williams.

"I am really too excited. Would you mind running with me? We can shift shape to Wolf form. I really need to burn up the excitement."

Williams was getting more and more curious. It just was not Dunbar to act that excited, so he obliged and took on his preferred Wolf form, presenting a dark tan and black Wolf coat, as Dunbar took a deep lustrous black Wolf form and began running around in the soft grass, expanding vast amounts of energy, and scaring Rabbits and Ground Squirrels senseless.

After spending an hour frolicking in the tall grass and the forest, Dunbar sat and took his basic form, followed by Williams.

"Take a sip, and listen. I have discovered..." began Dunbar.

***

Timor walked in the Privy Council Chamber without much concern. Had something big happened, the Emperor’s convocation would have been much more forceful and not to his discretion as to when to show up. He remembered the first and only time such a request had come his way from Harold, and he shivered.

At the time, the Rebellion was in its infancy, and they had not yet discovered that Nestor was held hostage. One of his distant cousin, whose name was now removed from the Royal Archives to be replaced by The Traitor, had been trying to set up a religion with himself as ultimate leader, or, as he called himself, the Ulmat. He had managed to garner a dozen disciples and was trying to undermine Timor, and ultimately the Emperor. He preached the execution of Harold-Ian as an aberration, and had managed to get some support from some obscure members of Fairy Princess Iridia’s family, who wanted her killed as well.

Harold had exposed the situation to Timor, expecting the rather calm giant to take it in stride. He had forgotten how protective of family the young Male Troll was. Timor had turned around, made his way to the forest where most of the Trolls resided, seeked out The Traitor, and dismembered him on the spot with his bare hands. He had then done the same to the disciples and, still covered with blood and guts, moved to the Princess’ Court, picked up the Fairies that had dipped their fingers in the ploy, and literally crushed them by rolling them like wet towels from foot to head, all this right in front of the shocked members of the Fairy Privy Council. He had then told them that the next instance of betrayal would translate is a summary execution for the entire Council. He had then returned to the Imperial Privy Council to report that the problem had been dealt with. The matted fur, the bits and pieces of gore and the smell had told Harold and the Privy Council all they needed to know about how Timor had dealt with the issue.

"No one threatens my family and gets away with it!" had simply said Timor, before turning around to get cleansed up. Iridia had followed her husband home, intent to help the huge fur ball get clean. To her utter surprise, he resolved the issue with a quick shape shift to her favourite Fairy-Man and taken her to their love nest, leaving on the floor of the entrance huge smudge of bloody fur, guts and bones that were disposed of by magic with a wink.

Timor came back to reality when Iridia called his name from her seat. He sat down beside her, keeping his imposing Troll form, which now towered over Bjorn, his dad, by a full two heads.

"You seemed pensive when you walked in?" asked Harold.

"I was travelling memory lane and remembering the last time you called on my presence, my Lord."

"It is nothing of the sort. Do you remember your request to merge the Fairy and Troll Courts, some time back, well, after the Rebellion?"

"Yes."

"I have come to a decision. Merging the two Courts would be counter-productive. It would bring your voice to a single one, and the Trolls are a minority, a very small minority in numbers if their individuals are some of our biggest constituents. You would get lost in the mass of the Empire. I understand you fear issues with Harold-Ian’s place and the possibility of conflict with either the Troll or Fairy court when he comes to his powers and inheritance. I have spent months looking at Atlantean laws concerning the passing of powers, trying to find a precedent. I admit that things did not look good. But then Ian told me that we never did rescind the laws passed by Atlantis One and that, by principle of law, ours found their roots in theirs."

"And you found something?"

"Yes. There were three forms of laws governing the passing of powers: the Elder law, which is what governs Ian’s status as Heir to the Empire; the twins law, that fixed the status of twins, both fraternal and identical, and the blood adoption law, that governed the transfer of power to a child adopted by an Imperial family."

"Can you expand on these laws?"

"Sure. The Elder law is the most commonly use: the eldest of the siblings inherits the Throne. It is simple. At the arrival of the Colonists on Earth, that was the law used; it drifted somewhat to allow Females to inherit if no Male survived to produce an heir. Initially the Elder law was so strict that if a single Male came to be in the descent of the Pharaoh, it was he that inherited the Throne, even if he was the youngest. However, the number of fratricides was so high that the law was changed to rescind that provision."

"Family members are always more dangerous than strangers in a like situation."

"It seems so, Timor. The Twins law is derived from the Elder law: the eldest twin wins the prize of governance. Again, fratricides were common, both in Atlantis One and Atlantis Two. But since twins are rare, the issue was never addressed."

"Okay."

"The last change to the Elder law was enacted by an old Emperor of Atlantis One. All his Children killed each other and tried to kill him as well. The only survivor was so depraved the old Emperor had him beheaded rather than give him the Throne. It saved the Crown from an open rebellion that might have cost his dynasty the place it held. However, he was too old to Father a Child, and his Favourite Concubine could not bear Child anymore. He also figured that she had played a major role in the depravation of his Children, driving them to murder, and favouring her own Children, going so far as to have some of the most recalcitrant to her manipulation killed. Reading that part of the History of Atlantis One gives cold sweat. Anyway, to keep things short, he picked a young Man for the Throne after spending the last few years of his very long life searching far and wide in the Empire. To insure no one could contest the Throne to the young Man, he performed a Blood adoption. The ritual is complicated, and, to be honest, based on assumptions we now know as false. But what matters is, these assumptions were commonly accepted by the people of the time."

"Okay."

"That selection gave rise to the most successful period of Atlantis One, and led to the first interstellar travels. The Sciences and the Arts benefited immensely from the Imperial patronage of successive Emperors. The last of that lineage signed the Colonisation Decrees, before getting killed by the Palace Mayor in a palace coup. The coup marked the beginning of the decline of Atlantis One, with a lot of bloodshed, and culminating with the removal, by us, of the last gelatinous mass of incompetence."

"That is all very interesting, my Lord, but I am sure there is something you are not telling me."

"Impatient, are we not? Yes, there is one thing that I am not telling you. As you know, we did a magical adoption for everyone some time back, making you and everyone else part of the Imperial family. It is, in effect, a Blood Adoption with the real effects. If you look into your gene maps, you will find my and Annabelle’s genes are mapped, even if we did not, ever, exchange body fluids with you. You are, and so is Harold-Ian, our Son. I did that search after finding out about the Blood Adoption Ritual, and wondering how Magic would have interpreted the Ritual we did. It did what was expected of a Blood Adoption but never really achieved by the Atlanteans of old."

Timor was going to interject again, but Harold lifted his right hand, asking for the King of the Trolls to keep silent for some time still.

"Yes, all this has deep consequences on inheritance, Timor. It means one thing: We can, and shall, assign who inherits what in due course, much like that Emperor did. We can anchor that power on a law that predates us by a long, very long, shot, a law that has never been contested since. It gives the Emperor power that transcends any blood line. And we intend to use it to insure that no one will ever contest Harold-Ian’s rights to represent two Crowns on the Council and to have the two votes, should you and Iridia both resign your respective Thrones. It also allows us the discretion of assigning who will occupy one or the other Throne should Iridia bear another Child. But there is one thing that no Emperor ever did. They never split the Empire amongst their Children. There was only one Emperor, and one Empire. That was so the Empire never weakened by division, but, unfortunately, the nature of Power is such that divisions occurred anyway. Internal fighting, factions, fraternal gutting were so common the Empire never needed an official division to be divided. They had an obsession with centralisation that verged on the paranoid. We hope never to fall into this trap, and by setting a precedent and keeping the Fairy and Troll Kingdoms separate, we hope that our successors will not fall in that trap by virtue of the precedent we now set."

Timor looked at the forceful attitude Harold was displaying and felt a surge of admiration. This was the one that had saved him from death’s grip, and once again, he was reminded of why he had vowed deep inside himself he would give his life to the Emperor and Ian without even thinking about it.

"Are you not afraid, my Lord, that the problem that plagued Atlantis One will one day plague Atlantis Three, as the roots of division rest deep in its intrinsic diversity?"

A large grin appeared on Harold’s face.

***

"I have found the solution to insure the stability of the laser beam, Harp!" said Paschal as they entered one of the numerous laboratories that were the domain of the Architect of Atlantis.

"From your grin, it must be rather ingenious?"

"Yes, I think so. Let me show you this model. I based my idea from the petroleum industry’s deep-sea drilling. They had to keep the drill aligned perfectly with the hole that was drilled several miles down on the sea floor. They used flotation chambers that sank deep below the waves, acting as energy absorbers. Unfortunately, this being ice, that trick will not work, so I decided on using air cushions. The laser platform will be several feet above ground, sitting on airbags. The entire platform can then be moved to stay aligned with the hole, as long as the ice does not move beyond a certain security level. The bigger the airbag, the bigger the move can be without topping the derrick."

"Okay. How fast can a laser drill through that ice?"

"I selected a low-power one-megawatt laser, tied to a sixty-foot derrick and a micro-fusion reactor. We have all that off the shelf. The micro-fusion reactor containment field is driven by Ianium. That will not even leave a trace of radiation behind. I have three teams assembling the kits for teleportation to our selected drill sites. They should be on-site in an hour."

"That is all technological jargon, I asked how fast it drilled not how it was assembled!"

"Grumpy today? Had no sex last night? I wonder who made all those grunting noises then?"

"Shove it, Paschal! You were as noisy as any of us!" replied Harp, glaring at his Brother. "I thought the house would melt from hot Dragon sex!"

"Given you had Dragon breath this morning, I think you have nothing to talk about! Anyway, before you combust, the drilling of the hole will take 15 minutes. It will allow for one of my mini-subs to slide down vertically. The slide itself should take another 15 minutes. The control array goes next and expands under the ice like an inverted umbrella. That stage is the longest, at 30 minutes."

"So, from touchdown to first signal, we have an hour?"

"Yes. That is the best I can do."

"How do you plan to protect the control cable?"

"I think the best is to let the ice take hold. When there is tension, we send out a shock pulse to heat it up, and it realigns itself. The control umbrella interior is probably going to stay liquid and will not need any such pulses, but if it does, the ribs and stretchers can heat the water the same way the outer insulator of the cable can do for the hole. The cable is on a free-roll drum with the umbrella tied and closed at one end and the control and energy sources at the other. The umbrella stretchers exert a pressure on the hole’s sides and pop open the umbrella when they no longer have ice to push them back. It is a one-way trip, much like the micro-submarine."

"Have you notified Colibri and Enron?"

"Yes, and a dozen Elves specialised in exobiology, those that monitor the Erigonians."

"Call in a couple of Ichthyologists, a Carcinologist, and a Malacologist. They might help us classify what we find and even identify things that we would otherwise miss."

"Okay. Let us get to the control station. Thebes, contact the specialists required."

"It is done, Paschal. They are on their way to control station six."

"Paschal to Bridge. Thirty minutes to first drop zone. Transfer co-ordinates and timing to Control Station Six. All technicians report status of sensor arrays, drop-offs, and submersibles!"

Everyone began moving to their proper workstations. Thebes moved over its first drop zone and took a geostationary orbit under the fine control of Rockhook.

"We are in position, Paschal," reported Ian, from the Captain’s chair. "You have release control. Current altitude 42,000 miles, speed 18,890 miles per hour, decelerating by 120 miles per minutes. Orbital eccentricity at less than 1%."

"Copy orbital data to Controls."

"Acknowledged. Copying data stream to Controls in real-time," reported Greywolf from the Science Station.

"Harp? Ready?"

"Yes. I will materialise the platform at 500 feet above ground. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes, we planned for a free-fall of twice that."

"Porting in five, four, three, two, one, port!"

"Accelerometer at 1.8 G," reported one technician.

"I am breaking the fall,"

"Accelerometer at 1 G, .5 G, .25 G, -.25 G, platform gaining altitude! Fall resumed, .1 G. current speed six miles per hour, altitude 100 feet, 50 feet, 25 feet, we have touch-down. Vertical stability assured. Derrick deploying. Platform 12 feet above the ice."

"Platform sensors?" asked Paschal from another technician.

"All report within normal range values."

"Controls?"

"All report functioning in test mode. Camera one on the derrick is sending data. Under-platform cameras two and three are displaying the ice. It is a gentle slope that seems to have been eroded by wind."

"Open the drill ring."

A circular iris slowly opened, and stabilised.

"Iris open."

"Power?"

"Optimal."

"Feed power to laser. Begin pre-firing sequence."

"Laser heating, charge at 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%. Ready to fire."

"Fire!"

"Firing! Depth 10 feet..."

The technician kept reporting drilling depths every ten seconds, until the hole suddenly emitted a powerful geyser of steam.

"The hole is finished. The depth is 8.2 miles. Ready for the next stage, Sir."

"Raise the laser. Lift the submarine and align it with the hole."

"Done, Sir. Ready to drop."

"Drop!"

"The submersible is sliding in, pulling the umbrella behind it. The surface of the hole is highly polished. The atmosphere in the hole is exerting a breaking effect, as expected, Sir."

After seven minutes, the technician monitoring the drop came back with more information.

"Sir, the submarine is slowing down. The compression of the gases is now putting the brakes on its free fall. Calculations indicate the submarine will hit the water surface in one minute thirty seconds at approximately 120 miles per hour. The submarine will have two more miles to travel before exiting the hole. Its maximum operational depth is 12,000 feet, Sir. We therefore have a margin of 1,440 feet."

"I just hope the sea bottom is not deeper," said Harp.

"I know, we did not anticipate that the hole would fill up with water. That is what happens when you forget basic Physics. Communicating vases apply here as well as on Earth."

"Sir, the umbrella is opening. We have confirmation of contact. The control of the mini-sub is established. The sensors are reporting. The signals from the mini-sub are clear, Sir. The front camera is active. I am turning on the front lights. The front lights are activated. The ballasts are filled to ⁴/₅ of capacity. The buoyancy is neutralised. The diving planes are neutral. The engine is on idle."

"Project from the camera on our big screen."

A rather dark area appeared in the camera field, empty except for some form of snow that seemed to be falling to the bottom slowly.

"Oceanic snow seems to be common everywhere," said one of the Exobiologists.

"Can we collect some?" asked another one.

"Sure. I am porting a sterile and empty petri dish in the water just ahead of the submersible," Colibri said, just as a small open dish with an auto-clapper appeared in the visual field of the camera. After holding it in place ten minutes, Colibri brought it back to Thebes in a level ten containment field.

"The composition of the water is highly saline. It is at 13%, clearly indicating that the ice has acted as a separator for the brine," said Enron.

"Activate the motor. Is the cable free of ice?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Drop the rest so we can move the submersible around without worrying about the cable getting caught in the ice."

"The drop is in progress. We will have a radius of 5,000 feet to explore around the hole. The cable is now down. The submersible is pulling the cable down behind it."

The controllers moved the submarine slowly in circles around, gradually pulling the control cable taut. The submarine was then allowed to drop deeper by 100 feet, and another 100 feet, shortening the exploration radius progressively. Nothing seemed to be visible.

"Turn the lights off, and use photon multipliers." ordered Colibri.

Suddenly the sea became awash with fluttering, blinking lights that seemed to swim in schools, changing direction randomly. The show was beautiful and shocking.

"That is what I thought, Chromatophores! Millions of Chromatophores! The light we emitted drowned theirs, and since they are no bigger than bacteria, we were unable to detect them visually."

"Do you think this is the only life form available?" asked Harp.

"No. thinking so would be like claiming the only thing that lives in our oceanic tessaracts Plankton. What we see here is this world’s Plankton."

"Did you notice the bluish-red hue flickering above the submarine?"

"That is the light game. I heard the Ancients mentioned this phenomenon when they sent divers below ice shelves like this one, Colibri. Dive deeper."

"Sorry, Sir, we are at the end of the tether."

"It is time to activate the sonar data exchange stream. Calibrate it with the current image."

A second monitor flicked up to life, displaying a fuzzy sandwich of images.

"Ahem, we have sound rebounding from a cold layer, some 50 feet below us, Sir."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Neutralise the rebound," said Paschal.

After some more adjustments, the sandwiching disappeared but the image remained fuzzy.

"Adjust for a salinity gradient! It is quite apparent that not only is this water more saline than we expected, but it has a bigger salinity gradient as well!" Paschal grumbled under his breath, wondering if some needed to be kicked in the butt to wipe it clean.

«Is that why you wear steel-capped pointed boots?» Harp asked.

"And maybe why you wear a steel helmet, little brother?" replied Paschal.

"Ah, no, I learned that your laboratory is a dangerous zone. You never know when something might not fall from the ceiling!"

"I figured as much, but did it need to be in flashy rainbow colours?"

"I tried all sorts of colours, Paschal, and I just could not decide which one I liked best."

After some more tinkering, the image recovered by the sonar transmitter-receiver was as good as the image transmitted by the cable connection.

"Test submersible controls via sound!"

"The tests are underway, Sir. We are at 80% of validation. The tests are complete. The feedback on controls is sluggish, but within acceptable parameters."

"Activate the umbrella transmitter-receiver."

"It is active. We boosted the signal power to compensate for the distance. The signal lag time is in conformity with the adjusted curve for salinity and temperature."

Harp looked at Paschal and almost burst a nut from trying to hold back his laughter. It seemed the technician had heard Paschal’s low grumbles and decided to be a bit more proactive.

«The excuses to use Mighty Foot are slipping, big Brother.»

«On him, maybe, but on you is an entirely different matter!» Turning to the technician with narrowed eyes, Paschal ordered "Release the tether!"

A few bangs marked the destruction of the explosive bolts.

"The submersible is autonomous, and the battery charge is at optimal. The load monitoring is activated."

"Dive, slope at 10%, five knots!"

The electric motor now deriving its energy from the batteries began diving to get closer to the sea floor. The submarine met the thermal gradient and engaged slowly in its unknown thickness.

"Adjusting for the cold layer," reported the technician. "Sir, the cold layer current adds a transversal movement at 15 knots. This is one Hell of a powerful current."

"Increase dive angle to 15%, and compensate the current as much as possible."

"How far can we detect the signal?"

"Twenty or so miles, so we need to reach the bottom before the submarine gets out of range. It increases in proportion to salinity, but there is a limit."

"Sir, we are seeing the bottom, but it is washed by that current. However, there seems to be an edge to that underwater river. I see a flow line mark on our left. I am brining the submarine about to use the current to push us toward it." After another five minutes, the same technician reported the submarine was out of the water flow.

"Full stop! Brake by inversion!"

The submersible’s propeller was brought to a full stop then sent into reverse to speed the slowdown.

"We are 20 feet above the seabed. It is time for the marine biologists to earn their keep. Get to work, guys."

"Smart arse!" said Enron.

"I was going to say smart-pants, but since it has been years since I have seen you wear anything but these work clothes, and then only in the context of laboratory work, I shall not," added Colibri, smirking.

"You are just jealous of my equipment!"

"Brother, if you stopped wearing rosy glasses, you would notice it is you that should be getting jealous!" Harp commented.

Paschal flipped the Bird to Harp and the others, much to their hilarity and numerous catcalls.

"Pick up that Crustacean, it seems to be one of the big predators of the sea bottom," asked one of the Elves. "And pick up that Mollusc. It seems to be its basic food staple. Oh! Do not forget to dig out that Worm the Mollusc was trying to eat up!"

The collection of life samples continued unabated, while cameras recorded the ecosystem dynamics. Rock ridges and outcrops were searched systematically. An Exogeologist was brought in, and the Fairy Lady almost fainted when she saw the scenery.

"That is absolutely fascinating!" she gushed. "See these parallel gouges in the rocks? They are the result of a glacier eating up the rock as it moved perpendicular to our current axis of displacement. And these white spots we are seeing between the cracks are salt crystals in the process of precipitating! The level of salinity must be very high!"

"It is. We are now at 45% and climbing," said the technician after taking a look at the salinity gauge.

"Life will always surprise us, will it not? Who thought it could survive in that kind of brine!" wondered Enron.

"All is a question of adaptation. I believe there must be two types of fauna and flora on this planet: one for the conditions that are coming, with water imprisoned in ice with pockets of almost liquid salt, and the other where there is fresh water and low salinity, when the ice melts. Each switch produces a major extinction, but there are always some that manage to survive. Maybe their evolution has made it so they change configuration depending on conditions. After all, Earth had such life forms, especially in bacteria."

"I know of bacteria, but there is a world of difference between unicellular life and multi-cellular life. That kind of adaptation was the prerogative of low-lifes."

The debate continued between the different Biologists, the Exogeologist and the crew at large. No one’s idea was dismissed off-hand.

Finally, the area had been thoroughly sampled, and the submarine was getting low on power.

"Get it to that trench we saw earlier today. We shall use it to test the true resistance of the submarine to hydrostatic pressure," decided Paschal

"Trench? No one mentioned a trench?" asked the Exogeologist.

"We are almost there, Sir. Have a look."

The flood lights were brought back on and the Exogeologist whistled in shock.

"That trench is produced by the motion of tectonic plates of a type I have yet to see! The vertical cliff on the right is humongous, like someone was trying to extract a tooth. Usually, the pressure comes from below, but this is radically different."

"Could it be you are seeing tectonic plate movement caused by gravitational tides?" said Harp.

The Exogeologist froze on the spot then looked at Harp. Her gaze scared the Prince, and her next moves confirmed the Lady had a couple of loose nuts.

"Yes, yes, yes! That fits!" said the Exogeologist, as she did a dozen wheels around the control room before jumping on Harp and kissing him on the mouth, much to his surprise, deep blush, and sputtering cough.

"May I remind you that I am accounted for, Lady?"

The Fairy Lady blushed a deep crimson, and jumped back on the floor.

"Oh! I am sorry, your Highness!"

"Do not take it too badly. I have had to do my duty to the Crown and Thorsten will not hold me to a kiss. We all have to serve the Empire in intimate ways, but it does not necessarily allow for all liberties."

Overcoming her embarrassment, the Fairy returned to watching the dive in the trench. She began commenting what she was seeing.

"That is another interesting feature. From what I understand, the ice penetrates the trench. It seems to me the ice tongues scrape the side right to the bottom. Hey, slow down! Can you go up to that ridge, on the left?"

The technician made the submarine move up and stop.

"That is strange. Above the ridge, a little further left, you see the ice groves. Below, it looks like there are none. Yet... This seems like a two-phase geological evolution, much like life. What I think I am seeing is the last upsurge produced by the last ice age coming to an end. I would not be surprised to see another ridge below this one marking the onset of the current ice age."

"Where would all the rock come from?"

"Oh, that. See, I suspect that the gravitational tidal wave heats up the interior to a very intense level, thus making some of the highest mountain ranges collapse catastrophically at each cycle. What we are witnessing is mountain building in its infancy. When this pile gets too high, it plunges in the magma at a phase change."

"Can you estimate the frequency of these phase changes?" asked Harp. "I want to see if they match the orbital changes our astronomical model predicts."

"To do that, I would need to get mineral samples and do studies of the nucleotide ratios in the rock. We know that the amount of certain elements is dependent on what conditions they met."

"Paschal?"

"Unfortunately, the submersible is running short on energy. We are at 2% and we need to save what is left for its death dive." Looking at the pouting Fairy, Paschal added "We will focus on geology the next time we find a water hole, Lady. There is a good chance it will be near a trench. There must be quite a few, given the current ice age dates around 2,000 years ago. You have 14 more chances of getting geological samples."

"Will you always target that kind of terrain?"

"I do not think so. We choose the lowest point on the planet to start with, expecting it to be the most probable emplacement to find water. There are others of similar altitude, but there are also some that are several miles high. And we will have a look at some high mountain ranges, even it means we cannot use a submersible to do the research. Pin-point sampling is as useful as wide-area scanning. We are also looking for fossils, and those are more likely found in mountains."

"Sir, we lost contact on some peripheral sensors."

"What is the depth?"

"Sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-two feet."

"Continue the dive."

A few minutes later the same technician reported:

"Contact lost at 16,828 feet. The last sensor readings were compatible with a sudden collapse of the integrity of the hull. The on-board sonar indicated the submersible was still 1,105 feet off the bottom."

"That is not too bad, given the deepest trench on Earth reached 36,138 feet," said the Exogeologist. "I would have thought it went deeper."

"That might be due to the fact that this trench is the product of a gravitational tide, whereas the trenches on the Earth were the product of plate tectonics folding oceanic plates under continental plates. We might find those as well, you know."

"Actually, I expect those. It is the unexpected that adds to knowledge and interest me. A magnetosphere engine powered by gravity and a snowball planet combined in one is such a case."

"Jettison the cable!" ordered Paschal, followed immediately by "Harp, recover the platform from the surface and put it in quarantine for decontamination. Helm, we are ready to move to the next point of interest."

"Okay, Paschal. We shall be in geostationary orbit in five minutes," replied Rockhook.

"Decontamination in progress. Gamma ray surge complete. New cable drum in place. New submersible in place. Team one connecting cable to submersible. Deck clear. We are waiting for release," said the Load Quartermaster.

"We have signals from the submersible," said the Control Centre Technician. "The connection validation is in progress and is now... complete. All report green."

"Inserting in geostationary orbit now. Stabilising. Data stream to control monitor, Harp. Orbit stabilised."

"Data stream confirms stabilisation. Thanks. Paschal?"

"Port at your convenience."

"Porting in five, four, three, two, one. Port! Shit! The ice is experiencing an earthquake, it will be some time before the platform becomes stable enough. Earthquake magnitude is estimated at 9.5 on the Richter scale. That is beyond the security margin. I am keeping the platform above the mess by levitation."

"What is the cause of the earthquake?"

"An ice slide on the other side of the mountain range," reported Greywolf from the Science station on the Bridge.

"It must have been one Hell of a slide."

"Yes. It covered 1,350 miles in length and involved the displacement of a tectonic plate dropping vertically by 89 feet. The ice just added to the mess and the glacier split along a moraine. I expect several aftershocks of comparable magnitude to the original earthquake in the following hours. Sorry, Harp, putting the platform down in those conditions is not advisable."

"Do we have a fallback drop zone?"

"It is as badly shook up. That planet is resonating like the Liberty Bell after someone used a mass to strike it. It will be some days before the ice stabilises anywhere... Port the platform back up into geostationary orbit, at the L1 point of the Thebes - Planet gravitational wells and we can wait this out."

"That is the best, Harp. It is useless losing material because we rush into things," said Enron. "We are not at a minute close."

"I just hate delays."

"That is not a sticky wicket. Put a cap on your volcanic temper and wait it out."

"Okay," grumbled a fuming Harp, all the while porting the platform up in space and adjusting its orbital speed to match the L1 displacement speed. "It is done."

"Let us go rest and rest in the Imperial Baths. I heard Zen has taken residence there because he loves the warm tiles," said Colibri.

"That is to be expected for a Snake. How is he doing?" Enron asked.

"He is hard at work taking control of the Ophidian Kingdom. He takes his role as King Cobra very seriously, and has been busy bringing every genus of Snakes under his umbrella. Typhoon is helping him with that."

"Typhoon?" questioned Harp.

"Yes, finding out they were distant Cousins seem to have brought the two very close. That bond is a positive development. Zen is also collecting genetic maps at a frantic rate."

"I wonder what will happen when Zen visits the Pterodactyls. They too are distant cousins of the Dragons."

"Another love fest?" snickered Colibri.

"Probably. Okay everyone, we shall call you back to the controls as soon as conditions improve below. Do not involve yourself in any time-critical work," ordered Harp. "Rest, because, as you saw, things can get pretty heavy pretty fast."

The three Princes ported to the Imperial Suite, and literally ported out of their work clothes to the Imperial Baths, materialising six feet above the deepest part of the pool and water-bombing Harold and Annabelle, who were sitting on the side of the pool discussing.

Annabelle looked at the three Boys with a smirk. "You know, Boys, this means war?"

"Sure, sure, Mom. You never..." began Harp, suddenly sputtering and shivering as the water turned icy instantly.

"Do you really think I have not studied thermodynamics, Son?"

The three pranksters swam to where the two Adults were sitting, and suddenly pulled them by the legs to make them fall in the cold water as well.

"See? Vengeance is always cold!" said Harp as the two Adults surfaced beside them, sputtering. A formidable water battle ensued.

***

It took two months to do all that was of interest on the last Atlantean Colony. Finally, Thebes left orbit and began a slow cruise toward the Galaxy halo. It was time to bring the Colonists out of the freezer. Genetic studies had been done, and family lines established; power levels were assessed by measuring magical core size and pathways. Mental scans had been done, and a number of pathologically criminal individual terminated. Atlantean laws were applied mercilessly, especially against murderers for gain and Child abusers. The time was ripe to take the next step.