Chapter 24: Is There Life In Sirius?

 The wormhole had delivered us to a safe distance of 12 billion kilometers away from the Sirius System. There, the brightest star in the night sky could be clearly seen. The main-sequence star was a giant blue star with a volume equivalent to about five suns. Its entire body glowed with a bright bluish-white radiance, and one could almost mistake it for a massive, boiling white moon in the night sky.

A mesmerizing blue halo surrounded the star, and the central and white part of the star roiled violently due to the nuclear reaction within. Countless white particles of an extreme temperature surged like an endless volcanic eruption, creating something similar to solar flares that reached as far as hundreds of millions of kilometers from the star. The loud explosions could be heard as far as 2 billion kilometers away.

When we three laid eyes on Jupiter, we felt fear. But compared to the star before us, Jupiter was nothing. About 3 billion kilometers away from Sirius A was the companion star, Sirius B, a white dwarf. It was dark red in color and was about the size of Blue. Compared to the berserk Sirius A, the companion star seemed unnaturally calm. The two celestial bodies slowly moved in accordance with their orbits. Before these majestic celestial bodies, everything, including time itself, seemed to have stopped moving.

After receiving the notification about the pre-mission meeting, we went to the meeting room. There, Captain Angela and Chief Maerdo were laying out the mission arrangements.

Chief Maerdo said, "Captain Zhang Han went silent about 8 billion kilometers from Sirius B's orbit. That place is near the boundary of Sirius B's escape velocity. We are to perform a detailed search at the area between 6 billion kilometers and 8 billion kilometers from the star and return with either clues or our missing comrade. This operation is code-named White Storm."

"White Storm? Since we're at Sirius, why not Blue Storm instead?" muttered Zhang Bao'er.

"Sirius B's surface temperature reaches 10,000 degrees, and its surface pressure is 190,000 times higher than Blue's, with constant electromagnetic storms around the surface. from these storms, we discovered a consistent pattern of electromagnetic waves. This will be one of the clues that can help us in our search and rescue operation. Remember, do not go nearer than 5 billion kilometers from the star at all costs. That is the nearest we can get safely. Any farther and the massive gravity of the white dwarf will pull your ship into it. You won't be able to escape. Mimas I and Mimas II will be the modes of transportation for the two teams moving out," said Maerdo.

Then, Captain Angela named the team members. "First team will be headed by Major Zhang Xingxing, with team members Li Canyue, Old Du, Zhang Bao'er, and Dodo. The second team will be headed by Lieutenant Colonel Chen Qiang, with team members Maerdo, Xiaoming, Li Dahai, and Jiajia. Everything is ready. The operation shall commence now."

"How little do they think of us to have a young lass lead us? Have they forgotten that we're the genius explorers of Jupiter II?" mumbled the three of us.

We weren't too happy about our leader, but rank was everything in the military. We had to obey our orders. With everything ready, the two shuttle ships were launched from the mothership.

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"Dodo and I will be in charge of piloting. Canyue and Old Du will be in charge of scanning our surroundings. Bao'er will be in charge of security," commanded Leader Xingxing.

I immediately started scanning our surroundings with the laser probe. Compared to Sirius A, Sirius B was much less dazzling. Despite this, my gut was telling me that a great danger was hidden within this star. 

Everyone started carrying out their tasks faithfully. Due to the large area we needed to search, it took us 24 hours before we covered our assigned area. No wreckage was found, and no signals were picked up either. Chen Qiang's Mimas II found nothing either. Everyone was weary after the long search, but our leader, Zhang Xingxing, did not intend to stop. She, Maerdo, and Chen Qiang started discussing the next course of action.

Meanwhile, us three brothers slumped lazily in our seats. Zhang Bao'er even started snoring while Old Du was deep in thought.

Suddenly, Old Du said, "Those electromagnetic waves! We only scanned Sirius B's surface earlier. What if the patterns are actually distress signals or signals of some other intelligent life forms? How did they overcome the surface pressure? Is it possible that the pressure is one-sided and one will be fine after going through the surface? You know, a shield for the life forms within like Blue's atmosphere?"  

"That is possible," Dodo joined in. The android still looked as simple-minded as ever.

Dodo continued, "In Mali, West Africa, there is a tribe called the Dogon. According to one of their legends, a high-level intelligent life form lived on the faraway Sirius II. The Dogon named this life form the Nommo. After arriving at Blue, the Nommo landed at the Dogon tribe and imparted upon them a vast amount of knowledge pertaining to astronomy, medicine, and warfare."

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"Take that legend with a grain of salt. If the Dogon were really so incredible, they would have conquered Blue in its entirety long ago," Zhang Bao'er retorted. Our conversation seemed to have awakened him from his nap.

Dodo glanced at Zhang Bao'er with their robotic eyes and said, "Sirius B is known to them as Po Tolo, and in their language, po means smallest seed and tolo means star. They also believe that Sirius B is the heaviest star and is white in color. In other words, they have accurately described the three characteristics of this star. Small, heavy, and white, since Sirius B is indeed a white dwarf."  

"When did the scientists on Blue discover Sirius B?" asked Old Du.

"1844," Dodo replied. "The German astronomer, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, deduced from the changes in the proper motion of Sirius that it had an unseen companion. Further studies revealed that it had a companion star with an orbital year of 50 years."

Dodo paused shortly before continuing, "In 1862, Alvan Graham Clark and his father, Alvan Clark, saw the companion star with their self-manufactured telescope. After years of advancement in astronomy instruments, humanity finally concluded in 1928 that the companion star was a small white dwarf with a high mass. The first picture of the star was taken in 1970." 

Old Du said, "In this aspect, Blue's technology had truly progressed rapidly. At Gliese, we had been gazing at Sirius for a very long time. Unfortunately, without advanced telescope technology, we had assumed that Sirius was an active fixed star. We did not realize that it actually had a companion star."

"The primitive Dogon obviously do not have access to these advanced telescopes. In that case, how did they learn of the companion star?" I asked.

"That might be the question we need to answer this time," said Old Du.

Dodo continued the lecture, "It's not that simple. The Dogon even managed to draw out the orbit trajectory of the companion star with high accuracy. According to the Dogon, the companion star has an orbital period of 50 years. The Dogon also believed that there is a third star called Amma, with a planet orbiting the star." 

"Amma? Isn't that the other name for Sirius I, the planet we suspect has a high amount of iron?" I asked.

"Exactly," answered Dodo.

"This is inconceivable," Zhang Bao'er exclaimed. "Sure, they can probably discover the two stars. But with how bright the stars are, how did they manage to discover the planet?"

"In the ancient records of the Dogon, their ancestors described that their knowledge of astronomy was learned from the Nommo, not from their own observation. More importantly, they also claimed that the Nommo came from the northeast of their ancestral lands. The Nommo arrived in an ark that spun as it descended with great noise and wind, leaving great marks on the ground. The Nommo was an ugly, amphibious life form resembling mermen and mermaids that live in water. The legends of the Nommo frequently appear in the drawings and dances of the Dogon," explained Dodo.  

‘So did the Dogon really gain their incredible knowledge of the stars from the intelligent life form of Sirius? Did a Sirius spaceship really visit Blue in the past? If not, how had the Dogon learned of Sirius? Legends aren't supposed to be so accurate, right?’ 

I told myself in excitement, 'The researchers of Blue have been perplexed by these questions for many years. But if Sirius B really contains extraterrestrial life forms, that will be good news for our search and rescue mission. Not only can we find more clues of the captain through the aliens, but we can also even solve an unanswered question in science. Furthermore, the name Li Canyue shall grace yet another chapter in the history of stellar exploration.'

"Dodo, bring the ship to 5 billion kilometers from the star," Zhang Xingxing commanded firmly.

'I knew it,' I told myself.

'Zhang Xingxing definitely isn't going to give up. With our fruitless search, she will definitely search closer to the star. That's understandable. If it were my father lost, I would have done the same as well. In that case, I'll just have to do my best,' I encouraged myself.

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