M. Thomas Apple's Blog, page 26

Upcoming future events (according to a time traveler)

Remember, it’s a video on TikTok, so it must be real. (link below to The Independent, a completely trustworthy sources of snarkiness).

https://www.indy100.com/viral/time-traveller-meteor-earth-tiktok-2658417934

Bringer of Light, Chapter 36: Transit, Luna to Ceres

What has gone on before: The Artemis asteroid mining ship crew and Weng, architect turned water reclamation plant engineer and part-time politician, have arrived to train the afflicted United Mars Colonies residents how to cope with their condition. Meanwhile, retired Captain Sergey Bardish suffered a stroke as he and Elodie Gagnon fled the fighting on Luna Base. But someone has now caught up to them…

They couldn’t possibly outrun the hunter ship. Sergey couldn’t identify the vessel, not from his prone position, certainly not in his physical condition. But he knew from experience that any hunter ship could run faster than them, even if the lunar skiff had more maneuverability. And he had a strong suspicion who it was, anyway. Someone he probably should have dealt with in the past.

Music was playing now. He caught just a few refrains. Piano. Ah. Moonlight Sonata. A bit melodramatic, he thought, but appropriate.

He returned his thoughts to this Elodie person who had chosen his adopted daughter’s favorite composer. He still had no idea why she had rescued him from Lunar Base. Or even why he needed rescuing in the first place.

Somebody wanted him. Badly. But why?

In the end, it mattered not to him. All that he wanted was what he had always wanted.

To remain free and independent. Owned by and beholden to no one.

Not even his rescuer, no matter her taste in music.

“El-Elo-die,” he croaked. “W-what now?”

There was no sound from the front of the little ship. He tried again, a bit louder. Still nothing. The music swelled.

He closed his eyes, making a fist with his good hand. No, he wouldn’t die like this. Lying down and useless.

With every ounce of willpower he could muster, Sergey struggled to his feet. Foot, he corrected himself, grabbing onto anything he could to get upright. It took considerably longer than he thought. After a few excruciatingly long moments he found an arm looped round him, assisting him the length of the ship. He was helped into the navigator’s chair, next to the pilot’s chair.

No captain needed on a two-person ship. He would’ve smiled with chagrin, if he could still smile.

“I guess you just aren’t the kind of person who is willing to stay still,” Elodie said. She had sat next to him, almost as if by magic, without his noticing.

He flickered his eyes at the console.

“Where is the approaching ship?” she guessed. He tried to nod his head, but it hurt too much. But at least he could still grunt.

She called up the flight and intercept trajectories and overlaid them so that he could clearly see them. 

“No ship registered ID. Most likely hunters. Perhaps pirate.”

He examined the readout, then tried to shake his head, slowly. It came out looking more like a twitch to the right.

“No? Do you know who it is?”

He grunted.

“Captain, before you tell me what you’re thinking, I want to tell you something.”

He continued to gaze at the trajectories in front of them. The dot representing the hunter ship slowly closing in.

“I received a transmission from Ceres. The mining council was briefly taken over by a hunter captain named Ildico. I think you know her.”

He blinked his eyes to show that he did. And waited.

“Ultimately she was unsuccessful. The Artemis showed up. Helped depose her. Now it’s on its way to Mars. The Sundering has begun. We will no longer bow to the whims of the old order, no longer be their mining slaves. No longer be powerless, controlled by—”

He sighed, waved his hand. Enough with the speeches and politics, he thought. It had nothing to do with him. At least he knew that Riss was safely away from whatever coup, whatever powerplay had occurred. She had chosen independence, as did he. He was satisfied.

Only one thing left to do now.

“Captain,” Elodie said forcefully. “You must come with me to Ceres. The remaining hunter ships will listen to you. They respect you.”

He tilted his head to the side, waving his hand again. Then gestured at the screen in front of them.

“Yes, I am not sure how to evade this ship, if it proves hostile. The message I received did not talk about any kind of rescue ship coming. I think the mining council still believes I am on Luna, safe and soundly hidden. But somehow, somehow—”

He gestured with his right hand. “Pen. Pen.”

She complied, setting down a pad and stylus for him. Sergey tried in vain to write a few letters, managing only to scrawl indecipherable scribbles. He seemed on the verge of tossing the pen when Elodie said, “Captain. Don’t write. Draw.”

He stopped, then began to draw images. Two ships. One small, one large. Lines between them. An even smaller, tubelike ship. An asterisk, covering the tubelike ship.

He pointed to the asterisk, then to himself. Then from the small ship to Elodie. Then drew a circle and added stick figures around it. He made one hold what looked like a pad or some similar device. He then drew a line from the small ship to the circle again pointed to Elodie.

“You want me to go to the circle? Is this Ceres?”

He blinked.

“You want to stay in the small ship. This one we are in?”

He tilted his head to the side.

“No? Then, you want to go to the big ship?”

He tilted his head again and closed his eyes.

She suddenly grasped his design.

“Captain, I can’t let you do that. My duty is to prevent your capture and escort you safely to—”

He grabbed her arm with his good hand and held it firmly. Looked her in the eyes. Then said as clearly as possible, “Elo. Dee. Give. Mess. Age. All. Hear.”

He kicked his right foot on the floor and pointed at it. She looked down at it, then up again at him. He gestured again and grunted. Carefully, she removed his boot.

Bardish couldn’t see her remove the chip from an inner pocket in the back of the boot, but he was sure she would find it with little trouble. An old hunter tradition. A final, farewell message. He had always carried it with him, occasionally re-recording it before he thought he might meet his fate. He couldn’t remember when he had last done so. Probably well before the attempted coup. Possibly before Riss had left to track down her rock.

It was just as well. His mind hadn’t changed about many things. Especially since the trial.

The trial that had never should have happened.

Elodie showed him the transponder capsule, with the chip inside.

“Captain, do you want me to broadcast this?”

He blinked, grunted, and pointed at the image of the tubelike ship.

“I understand,” she replied. She held his good hand with both of hers. “You are a legend, Sergey. To all of us. I will make sure that everyone will hear.”

He smiled. Only half his mouth moved, making it appear more like a grimace.

“Well, at least those who care to hear, at any rate.”

He grunted, then looked at the console. Their pursuer had gained considerable ground on them. Most likely would demand to board them. For what purpose, he did not know. But at least this way he would stay free.

If only he knew where Riss was. And that good-for-nothing fiancé of hers.

As the clone pilot assisted his entry into the pod, he prayed for their success. For Riss and Weng. Not for himself. He cared not whether the stratagem worked. This clone, Elodie, she was capable enough of defending herself. 

He lay in the tiny pod, hands clasped together in prayer. He only wanted to sleep. Sleep, and to face the darkness on his own terms.

Elodie paused.

“Farewell.”

He nodded in response.

The door above his head closed. The music stopped. The pod launched.

Sergey closed his eyes.

Green grass, flowing light blue banners and red rising spires floated before them.

The dirge began.

Beside his old horse a soldier is lying

Beside the soldier his mother is crying…

Above them in circles the bird is flying…

My body pale white, like seeds of poppy–

wounded sore in desperate flight.

O mother mine, do not sorrow so

To see your son in such plight…

Search for a doctor, a carpenter, as well.

The doctor cannot help but

The carpenter a small house will make…

When all is lost and all is finished,

My builder and my war, farewell and good-bye.

O mother mine, cease all your weeping,

Because your poor son is going…

Next: Bringer of Light, Chapter 37: Transit, Ceres to Luna. Gennaji and Karel finally come to an agreement, and things do not go well.

Onward and upward, Excelsior!

Just passed 200 followers on WordPress. Thank you, everyone!

I know I should be posting a whole lot more often than I have. There are LOADS of new science articles and events happening recently, so I’ll see if I can get caught up over the next couple of weeks.

Plus a new chapter of Bringer of Light by the end of the week! I promise!

(And it would be VERY helpful if WordPress didn’t “refresh” while I was adding tags and categories to posts, and then hiding those tags and categories afterward so that I couldn’t update them…Sigh…what was wrong with the older version that worked just fine?)

We could live together / crystals on the Moon…

Half of a dilithium crystal? (It’s a new type of crystal called “Chang’esite” (after the ancient Chinese moon goddess).

I should be posting another chapter from Bringer of Light, but I don’t feel like writing that right now, what with a humongoid typhoon slowing churning its way here.

So here’s an article about what Chinese scientists found in Moon dirt.

Also H3. Yay. Let’s make fusion reactors and walk on the Moon together…

Now accepting…uh, what?

This is how good our local hospital reception used to be.

(Pre-pandemic photo, 2015 or 2016. I think it’s been fixed since then. Shortly after I took this photo we started going to another hospital instead…)

Spectacular image of Jupiter’s auroras and moons

Courtesy NASA. Note that the blue, white, green, yellow, and orange colors are artificial, only added to make features revealed by infrared stand out for human eyes. You can see the planet’s rings, aurora, and two “tiny” moons (at left; they’re not really that tiny!).

“We’ve never seen Jupiter like this. It’s all quite incredible,” said planetary astronomer Imke de Pater, of the University of California, Berkeley, who helped lead the observations.

“We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be honest,” she added in a statement.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/james-webb-space-telescope-shows-jupiters-auroras-tiny-moons

The above is supposed to be in “quote” format, but WP really messed up this feature when they switched to so-called “block” mode (which I can’t stand).

Anyway, the image is fairly spectacular, from the new James Webb Space Telescope which is positioned 1 million miles away from Earth (i.e., in the second LaGrange point, or L2).

Will NASA call it all off? PSYCHE!

First of all, stop calling it “the golden asteroid.” That’s confusing people (the headline of the article linked below even uses the phrase “gold mine.” Come on, lazy journalists.)

If 16 Psyche is worth mining, when could such operations proceed? Citigroup thinks that space mining, including from the moon and asteroids, will be a $100 billion-per-year business by 2040. Launch costs will continue to decrease and experience in operating in space will continue to expand until such a business makes economic sense.

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/3597381-nasa-might-cancel-mission-to-massive-gold-mine-asteroid-heres-why-it-shouldnt/

So is asteroid worth it?

Sure.

Is it horribly expensive right now?

Sure.

So why do it?

Well, how heavy do you think the materials to make buildings and ships in outer space are?

If we’re serious about putting people on the Moon and Mars, then it makes much more sense to set up robotic mining factories and assemble everything in space.

All this needs is a little incentive…like a new space race…

Bringer of Light, Chapter 35: United Mars Colonies (pt 3)

Previously, in Bringer of Light…

The crew of the Artemis have admitted that the water brought from Ceres was contaminated. And yet they deny it was dangerous. Only different. And requiring training…that may stretch the rationality and scientific understanding of the current “United” Mars colonists…

“Delegates,” Martin began. 

No response.

“Delegates, we must accept the help of the Artemis crew. We have little alternative. We must face the facts. The UN, our home countries, our home planet has abandoned us.”

“How can we survive?” another delegate asked, voice quivering. “Captain, how can we feed ourselves? Maintain heat, power?”

“These are legitimate questions,” she replied. “Coop, a small demonstration?”

He nodded and looked back and forth. Spotting a cup on a small table to the side of the console desk, he raised it above his head.

“Empty now. See?”

He stooped and scooped up a handful of regolith from the chamber floor. Dropped it to the cup. In an instant, water appeared.

“Sorcery,” a delegate whispered.

“No,” the geologist said. “I thought so, too. At first. But God works in mysterious ways. Is this not another manifestation of his will?”

“Heretic!” someone shouted. A number of voices rose in support.

The captain silenced them again, this time with a hard stare. Martin wrung his hands again and glanced at her. He needed this woman on his side. But he could hardly make enemies of the faction heads. How many would support the Artemis crew? Could such a small number really control two and a half thousand colonists?

“Riss. Captain. I think we will need to take a vote.”

“A vote?”

The spacer laughed. “Of course, take a vote on whether we all die or not.”

“Enoch,” Kragen said quietly.

She turned to the Overseer. “We brought enough foodstuffs from Ceres to last us several weeks. Long enough to ensure that the hydroponics are fully functioning for most of the colony.”

“Most?”

“Unless you permit us to use our abilities to make food and water, using the regolith beneath our feet, there won’t be enough to sustain the colonies without external help. And there are probably more refugees on their way.”

Martin nodded. “Indeed. Four ships are due in a just a few days.”

Kragen turned to the delegates again.

“Hold your vote. We are here to help and to teach, not to harm or to prevent you from deciding your own fate. But you should know that the process of terraforming Mars will not be affected by your decision, either way.”

“What do you mean by that?” Martin asked. “Have you found a way to increase the terraforming rate, as you told me before landing?”

Riss nodded. “You all heard and felt the blast. Just before we touched down, the Artemis dropped an asteroid filled with ditrium over the North Pole.”

Martin gaped. Was the woman insane? The polar ice cap, if it were to melt…

“Yes,” Sanvi said, as if she could read his mind. “There will be flooding planet-wide. But the settlements here are safe.”

“How can you know that?”

Riss gestured at Martin’s wrist. “Perhaps you should get in touch with your security chief and ask.”

He hesitated, then touched the wrist panel. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Hamels? Hamels, are you there?”

Silence. Then a crackling noise. “Here, sir.”

“Hamels, by god, are you all right? That explosion—”

“I’m fine, sir. We’re fine. The ice factories have been secured and are fully under our control.”

The delegates murmured. Martin paled, again. Things were rapidly spiraling out of his control. Who was this woman? What made her think she could just land here, drop an asteroid on his planet—

“Overseer?”

“Hamels. Are the settlements safe?”

“Yes. We have seen to it.”

“We?”

Martin shook his head. Something was not right here. She had clearly gone behind his back. What on earth was going on outside the settlement perimeter?

“I am afraid, sir, that we will need to find another location for the next Landers Marsball game. The field has been inundated.”

Martin spun to Riss. Planetary flooding. Ditrium. Had it begun?

“Yes,” the captain replied. “There is another task at hand. It will require as many colonists as can be spared. And trained.”

He held up a hand and spoke into his wrist patch again. “Hamels, bring your forces here to the Receiving Station and prepare to arrest the crew of the Artemis.”

“Sir. I’m sorry, sir. I can’t do that.”

“You can’t?!”

“I’m afraid I haven’t been entirely forthright, Overseer. I, too, have been afflicted.”

“Afflicted?”

“Call it ‘affected,’ then. I request that Captain Kragen and the Artemis crew be given free rein to train the security forces and as many colonists as possible. Our future is at stake, sir.”

He closed the channel, fuming. A coup!

“Overseer,” Riss said. “We have no intention of overthrowing the duly elected government of a free Mars Colony.”

“You act as if everything has been already decided!” Martin shouted. “What about all the faction heads? Will they be able to speak? Or have you decided to keep them shut up here while you just waltz in and take over?”

“Just a little while ago you looked extraordinarily pleased to see them shut up,” Enoch said.

Martin glared at the spacer. Damn his artificial eyes, the man was right. The United Mars Colonies were anything but. How could they possibly run a planet with no agreement of any kind?

“I think we should focus on the matter at hand,” the geologist said. “Clearly we cannot agree on everything, but we do agree that survival comes before all else.”

But at what cost? Martin wondered. He folded his hands behind his back and paced. The room was silent. He dared not even think. Somehow they could sense his feelings. Had they learned that from Gen? Only enhanced clones could do what the Artemis crew could do.

No. Not even clones could create water from regolith without reclamation equipment. But if they trained the infected colonists, where would that leave him?

He supposed they were right. First came survival. Politics could wait. For now.

“Captain,” he said, coming to a stop at the far side of the room. “The Artemis crew is free to move about the United Mars Colonies. We rely on your good will for our future.”

She nodded. “We will help all those factions who ask for our help. We will not impose on those who refuse us.”

Martin shrugged. “The factions that refuse help won’t make it past the next three weeks. I see little choice in the matter at the present.”

He turned to the delegates. “As you know, all colonists have been sealed in their respective factions for their own safety. We need to secure our water and food supplies before we can permit free movement between the settler pods. Captain, will you allow us to help distribute what you have generously brought from Ceres?”

She nodded. “We will need the help of the delegates to portion out the supplies fairly. I will leave the arrangements in your capable hands. Enoch and Cooper will show you to the supplies.”

Enoch and Cooper looked at each other, then at their Captain. “What will you and Sanvi be doing?” Cooper asked.

“Training,” Sanvi said. She cocked at eyebrow at Riss. “I assume?”

“Yes,” Riss said. “The sooner we help the affected colonists, the sooner we can put everyone’s minds at ease.”

Martin sighed. Here the five of them were discussing the future of the Mars colonies, and he had no idea how they were going to help colonists who by all appearances had entirely lost their minds.

Weng suddenly spoke up. “Overseer, I believe it makes sense to see if as many colonists as possible could be treated. That way, they could help with the regolith reclamatory, or with the ice factories or hydroponics production.”

“‘Many hands make light work,’?” Martin said.

“More like, ‘Hesperus is the same as Phosphorus,’” Enoch replied.

“I—I don’t understand,” Weng said.

The spacer nodded. “No, you do not. But that’s OK. The meaning will become clear with time.”

Now it was Weng’s turn to look uncertain. Martin got the distinct impression that his former water plant supervisor was not entirely happy with the way things were going. He had heard rumors that the Captain was his fiancée—and the adopted daughter of the famous Sergey Bardish, no less—but he had blithely assumed that Weng would be pleased at the chance to be reunited with his lover.

Body language told him otherwise. Things were amiss.

What was the cause?

“Overseer,” Weng said, “I request permission to go with Riss and Sanvi, to see what help they can offer the affected colonists.”

Martin agreed. “See if you can convince some of them to come to areas where they can put us back on firmer ground. Those supplies from Ceres won’t last forever.”

He turned to the delegates, still silently assembled in the room. “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, that it has come to this. I implore you to assist us, for the sake of all.”

There was no answer. They shuffled back to their pods, one at a time or in pairs, whispering amongst themselves. It was as if all the fight had gone out of them. Deflated. Emotionally controlled? He found himself thinking again of Gen. What had he and that woman done, creating a clone like that?

“Overseer,” Enoch called. “This way, if you please.”

Martin nodded and fell in behind the spacer and geologist. An unlikely pair if ever there was one, he thought. And yet how like Mars to unite completely opposite personalities!

He toggled his wrist console as they walked. “Hamels, this is Martin.”

“Yes, sir. I assume you would like to talk this time rather than cutting me off?”

“Sergeant Major, I do apologize. We, we have come to an understanding.”

He looked up at the two men walking in front of him, seemingly unaware of his existence. The spacer looked over his shoulder briefly and flashed a grin.

“Yes, sir. What next?”

“Meet me and two crew members of the Artemis at, uh…”

“Emergency Airlock 5,” the geologist said.

“You heard that?”

“Yes, sir. Airlock 5.”

“How many officers do you have with you at the ice factory?”

“Twenty, sir.”

“Can you spare four or five?” 

“Four, sir. Will that be enough?”

Martin looked askance at the spacer, who nodded.

“Yes,” he replied. “We need their assistance bringing supplies from the Artemis to the faction settler pods.”

“Aye, sir. Out.”

Satisfied, Martin toggled the console off. He would find out what happened with Hamels later. In the meantime, he had brains to pick. Survival may be paramount, but he was still a politician, after all. Somehow, some way, he would turn this to his advantage.

Next: Bringer of Light, Chapter 36: Transit – Luna to Ceres. Sergey Bardish meets his destiny

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Looking for aliens in all the wrong places?

Our search for alien life is getting serious. With better telescopes and a growing scientific consensus that we’re probably not alone in the universe, we’re beginning to look farther and wider across the vastness of space for evidence of extraterrestrials.

But it’s possible we’re looking for too few signs in too few places. Having evolved on Earth, surrounded by Earth life, we assume alien life would look and behave like terrestrial life.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/alien-hunters-need-to-start-rethinking-the-definition-of-life?

I agree that we are biased, simply based on the basics of what we understand as (carbon-based) life (i.e., ourselves).

And I agree — in principle — that scientists need to keep an open mind when looking for other life forms on exoplanets.

However, they also need to retain a sense of skepticism.

That’s what science is about. Not blindly following whims and flights of fancy like those of Ari Loeb — quoted extensively near the end of the linked article.

Someone who continues to argue that the extrasolar asteroid fragment called ‘Oumuamua that came flying at breakneck speeds through our solar system in 2017 was a “spaceship.”

(99.9% of astronomers are pretty sure it was a rock, and while they can’t say with 100% certainty that it wasn’t a spaceship, that’s not the same thing as arguing that it could have been one. That’s not how science works.)

It’s true that non-Earth life forms might be wildly different than what we expect. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. It’s just not there — and while scientists tend to be conservative when they explore, invent, and investigate, it’s also true that they are terrible at keeping secrets.

If they discover life, we’ll know. But only once they have independent observed proof from multiple sources.

In the meantime, science writers and show producers should keep on speculating…

South Korea goes to the Moon

If successful, it will join spacecraft from the U.S. and India already operating around the moon, and a Chinese rover exploring the moon’s far side.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/south-korean-spacecraft-launched-moon-countrys-1st-rcna41778

Looks like Lunar Base is going to be a crowded place soon…