Chapter 17: Chapter 17: TRILLION – Planet 3.0

Trillion and her team spent the journey experimenting. They tested how slow and fast they could make time appear. Trillion thought watching the universe fly by deserved to be on the list of experiences everyone got to enjoy. It was bucket-list worthy.

She found there wasn’t much of a limit on how slow she could make time. She equally hadn’t reached a practical limit on how fast she could make her perception of time.

Trillion arrived in the new solar system after what felt like a few months of travel. It was different from what she expected.

Standing on the bridge of her spacecraft she pinched to zoom in on the planet. She wasn’t close enough to see anything small, but she felt there was life there. She didn’t know why, but she had a feeling there was life on it. ‘She wondered just how common life was in this universe.

Trillion looked out the port window. She was at the perfect angle to see the planet down there. She could see half the planet bathed in starlight – the other half was covered in darkness. She scrutinised the planet and could see it getting brighter and darker. “What is that?” she said to herself. It looked like the planet was flicking a light switch on and off. She blinked a few times, not quite believing what she was seeing. “Is that a fire down there?”

She wondered if it was possible for an entire planet to be on fire. “Lex, is that light showing up under infrared?”

The orb flashed red.

Trillion noticed something else was happening to the planet. It was changing colour. “Is that planet turning purple, Ship?” She said, confusion clear on her voice.

*

 

The Ship of Trillion had been cruising towards the planet for several hours, firing engines to slow down their approach. Trillion had been fixated on this planet for hours.

It repeated a pattern. Orange. Green. Purple. The whole planet, that she could see, continued to rotate through that same pattern of light.

Ship walked over to Trillion to show her what he had learned about the planet. “Trillion, I’ve been doing some research. Those colours we’re seeing, they’re only showing in a very narrow band of the electromagnetic wavelength.”

Trillion turned her head. “Does that mean it might be intelligent life creating that? Or is it natural?”

Ship shook his head. “If it’s natural it’s not giving off heat like a fire. But animals like glow-worms give off light without heat.”

“But they aren’t that bright,” Trillion said, thinking about it a little more. “It could be some sort of gas. That changes colour as it changes altitude in the atmosphere.”

Trillion was a bit cautious about getting closer. “If it is intelligent life, they might think we’re an asteroid. They might repel us away.” She scratched her head. “Let’s take bets.” She pointed at each of her companions. “Ship, Lex, do you think it’s intelligent life?”

Ship was willing to bet it was life. Lex refused to answer. It even refused to give a probability.

Before they came on this journey, they weren’t sure just how common life was. They had always assumed it wasn’t common at all. Humans hadn’t yet encountered any aliens, although humans hadn’t been around that long.

“Here are all the aliens.” Trillion smiled at her joke. “Ship, do you think aliens are the ones that built the pyramids?”

Ship laughed – He actually laughed at that.

Trillion noted the response. She thought it was nice that Ship was becoming more human. He was gaining a personality, different from the one he started with. “Ship, can you get us into orbit around the star?”

Trillion wanted to get a better understanding of what she was dealing with. “Ship, I want to get a complete picture of the planet without putting anything in orbit.”

Ship deployed ants. One every eighty minutes. Five hundred in total.

Ants were perfect with tasks like this. They were expendable and small. After what they had done on Steel World they had an unlimited supply of them too. They would continue through the solar system, past the planet and send back images and data on the planet below.

 

They arrived into orbit around the local star. They had only been here a few days, but the ants were already sending them interesting data.

They continued orbiting the star. There were six other planets in the solar system, and one of them clearly had life on it. It was a glowing planet, almost as if lights were scattered all over it. They had ruled out fire as a potential cause, but hadn’t yet ruled out gas or some sort of chemical reaction, although Trillion had her doubts about that too.

She pointed at the planet she was sure had life on it. “Ship, pull up the ant footage of that planet.”

Ship live-streamed what one of their ants was showing.

Trillion watched as the planet pulsated and changed colour. “Do we have a closer view?”

Ship changed the view, streaming the live feed from an ant closer to the planet. From that ant’s perspective the planet wasn’t changing colour at all – it appeared to be grey and brown.

Trillion stepped closer to the screen. Wondering why she couldn’t see any pulsating colours on the planet. “Ship, is this video feed live?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, why isn’t the planet changing colours? Are our ants using any different kind of camera from the ones we’re using?”

Ship shrugged. “I’m not exactly sure. I’m as confused as you are.”

Trillion opened her hands as if to catch a basketball. A hapticgram of the planet appeared between her hands. “Lex, map the lights and colour change onto this globe.”

She spun the globe around in her hand. She noticed that only one side of the planet was changing colours – the other side remained grey and inert.

Trillion pointed at the projection of the planet she was holding. “It’s the colours. The pulsating colours are orbiting the planet. They’re drifting.”

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Trillion let go of the planet. It floated where she released it. “Where is our ship in relation to this pulsating colour pattern?”

A copy of her spacecraft appeared in front of the planet, right in the centre of where the planet was changing colours and lighting up. Trillion took a hold of the ship. “Lex, as I move this spacecraft projection, show me what the planet looks like in relation to the spacecraft.”

Trillion moved the projection of their ship back and forth. The planet’s pattern changed and moved, yet the ship sat in the very centre of the pulsating colours on the planet.

As Trillion moved her hand back and forth, she noticed that the colours followed the ship. She froze. She couldn’t think of any other plausible explanation. “They know we’re here.”

Trillion’s jaw dropped. Aliens were communicating with her. “They know we’re here,” she repeated, almost not believing it as she spoke.

She wondered if this was the first time life had ever spoken to humanity. “Is this communication? If so, what do we say back? How do we communicate back?”

Ship pointed out the window of the bridge. “I don’t think we’ll have much time to communicate, we’re about to cross onto the other side of the star. Out of sight from the planet.”

Trillion threw the holograms up in the air. The projection flew up and hovered above her head.

She looked out the window of the bridge. “We will be out of communication status of the ants too. We won’t be able to see the planet for a good while. What do we do now? It will take us five days until we see the planet again.”

Ship just shrugged. He was lost for words too.

Trillion turned away from the window. She looked at the looping pattern of the floating hologram. “There has got to be a message in that pattern. If that pattern was following us around the planet, then that message was meant for us. It’s communicating that they know about us. And it’s communicating a message. But what does it mean?” She scratched her head. “Lex, do you know what they’re saying?”

The orb flashed blue.

Trillion frowned. When he flashed blue it meant he didn’t know what to say. She knew Lex hated dealing with uncertainty. He liked to be certain about it or he wouldn’t say anything at all.

Ship started to list the facts. “We know they know about us. That says a lot.” He nodded, speculating some more. “They know about directions.”

Trillion knew Ship was right. “We can infer a lot of meaning from what little they showed. They also showed that colours have some meaning.” Trillion stared up at the ceiling. “If I were an alien, how would I communicate?”

Ship pointed at Trillion. “They’re also signalling they have control of the whole planet.”

Trillion nodded. “What sort of civilisation has the ability to quickly communicate at a planet level? Earth wouldn’t do that. Too many competing countries. Not even New Zealand could pull that off. Even with all their resources.”

Trillion stepped away from the window. “I remember when New Zealand became a super power. After the Kiwis created our first truly general artificial intelligence. It was game over for other countries. The singularity had begun. And even though the US and China managed to build much stronger artificial intelligences, the eighteen months it took them to get there meant it was too late.”

Ship nodded. “I always find it funny when you plot out humanity’s progression. It’s so sudden. Your world changed in such a short amount of time. Six months is a long time to an artificial intelligence, let alone eighteen months. New Zealand had already patented almost every idea and built massive organisations.”

Trillion looked back at the screen. “We have three pieces of data. What else can we infer?” She looked at the orb. “Lex, what can we rule out?”

The orb flashed blue, signalling it did not want to speculate.

Ship filled the silence by raising a finger to list out what they knew. “One, they have a concept of Us and Them. And Two.” He held up two fingers. “They also understand space and time.”

Trillion wore a confused look on her face, not quite understanding Ship’s logic.

Ship elaborated. “We were seeing light from sixteen minutes ago. But the pattern showed no lag.”

Trillion made a gesturing motion with her hands, encouraging Ship to continue.

“They pointed to us. They understood that we were sixteen minutes away. They understood the direction we were travelling. They understood that to show us their pattern they had to be sixteen minutes early. That means they could predict where we were in space and time.”

Trillion was trying to process everything. She still struggled to believe that she had received a message from an alien. “If I were an alien, I’d be saying hello. So are we the first humans to receive a ‘hello’ message?”

Ship shrugged. “There’s a saying in astronomy – ‘it’s never aliens’.”

Trillion raised an eyebrow. “You’re saying you don’t think they’re aliens?”

“No, I definitely think it’s aliens. But we need to keep our minds open to the fact there might be a natural explanation for this.”

“Okay then, tell me?”

Ship laughed. “Okay, I’ve got nothing. It’s aliens.”

Trillion laughed back. “Okay, so as I was saying, I assume it’s hello. It’s not like we have a common language yet. And it’s not like we have any shared meanings yet. If this is truly an alien civilisation, then it will truly be alien. Alien in thought. Alien in beliefs. Maybe it’s impossible to communicate with them. Maybe they don’t speak in a linear language. Ants communicate through smells. Bees communicate through dances. Is it possible to translate humans’ words into smells or dances?”

Ship nodded. “Lex suggested you start collecting as much data as possible.”

A touch of worry crept onto Trillion’s face. “Do you think staying here is dangerous?” She shook her head, answering her own question. “I don’t think we’re at risk. But when we spoke about the Kiwis building the first AI it got me thinking … New Zealand was very chill. They were content with getting rich and inventing things for all of humanity. But what if they weren’t happy with just money and fame? What if they wanted to take over all of Earth?”

Ship looked at her, a little puzzled. “What does this have to do with aliens?”

“Well,” Trillion took a deep breath, “let’s say a terrorist organisation invented AI first. They could have taken over the whole of Earth. It would be easy with an AI’s help. At least back in the days before AIs were everywhere. What I’m saying is that we might be encountering an alien species ruthless enough to take over its entire planet.”

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