Even though we have results on our hands, those are not the ones we were hoping for. We were able to collect water samples from a nearby pond. Well, the good news is, it actually is water, and not, for instance, mercury. It's chemical composition is close to what we've expected, based on what we saw so far. It could be an indirect evidence of the fact that there is life, but it's far from enough. Until we face something, that can be recognized as an actual living creature and not a blurry spot, our ship stays on the orbit. Any landing is an extremely expensive procedure, so we are not going to waste the resources until we're sure of what to expect there. If we don't find anything alive in a week, were going to plan our colonization here. This will be a major disappointment for me — that's not what I was hoping for, when I assigned to this expedition.
I'm also very tired of all the searching. It's starting to get me, emotionally, I feel more doubt with each passing moment. I think I'm going to get a nice sleep today and visit a therapist after the lunch, so that my condition doesn't get worse. But first — to the pool, I want there for several days now.
вторник, 6 декабря 2016 г.
Day 13
вторник, 8 ноября 2016 г.
Day 14 (our goal is near!)
Today, around 5AM by Earth time (this is the time our ship clock is set on) everyone, who was asleep, has been awaken by an emergency call from our deckhouse, where our monitor that is connected to the probe is located. As usually, it was surrounded by a crowd, somewhere around eight people, and everyone, except for Phil, archeologist, whose duty was at that time, was looking at the screen, glancing at the door from time to time. As soon as we entered, they started talking all at the same time, so it was simply impossible to understand them, and I didn't even try. I went straight to the monitor, to see the record because of which we were all here. It was done two minutes before we arrived, meaning, that Phil called to us as soon as he noticed. At the record we could see some creature coming out from the right of the probe, looking at it for a while (at least that's what I thought; I was unable to spot any eyes) and then hurries back.
Right now, many people are trying to understand reaction of this thing to our probe. It was seemingly scared of it, which is why our main theory is that the planet holds a civilization developed enough, because it is familiar with machinery. Another, less likely theory, suggests that we accidentaly recreated a local predator. Right now we've sent the probe back into desert, to pick a landing spot. Since this planet has multicellular animals, we are extremely likely not to cause too much damage by landing: our main worries were related to the fact that we could've disturbed a developing microcosmos. Also, because we have a chance of facing an intelligent life, we have to be careful: it is unknown, how we will be greeted here. I gotta say, I have very good feeling about this. It is likely that, since we could be carrying similar ways of evolution, we might as well have close society, and the way we think, and even physiology.
According to our captain's order, we begin our descent immediately: it is a painstaking process that requires a lot of effort from our team as well as our onboard computer.
Right now, many people are trying to understand reaction of this thing to our probe. It was seemingly scared of it, which is why our main theory is that the planet holds a civilization developed enough, because it is familiar with machinery. Another, less likely theory, suggests that we accidentaly recreated a local predator. Right now we've sent the probe back into desert, to pick a landing spot. Since this planet has multicellular animals, we are extremely likely not to cause too much damage by landing: our main worries were related to the fact that we could've disturbed a developing microcosmos. Also, because we have a chance of facing an intelligent life, we have to be careful: it is unknown, how we will be greeted here. I gotta say, I have very good feeling about this. It is likely that, since we could be carrying similar ways of evolution, we might as well have close society, and the way we think, and even physiology.
According to our captain's order, we begin our descent immediately: it is a painstaking process that requires a lot of effort from our team as well as our onboard computer.
Day 13
Scanning of local terrain gave as some results, even though they weren't exactly what we were expecting. We found a pond, and we were able to get water samples. Well, the good news is that it is actually water, and not, for instance, mercury. Its' chemical composition, in general, corresponds to our expectations, based on what we saw before in the local soil. It can be considered an indirect proof of the fact that we should've seen a living creature before, but this is not enough. Until we face anything that doesn't look like a spot, the ship stays on the star's orbit. This decision was made because we still can't be sure that our landing won't cause too much damage to a local ecosystem, provided that it actually exists. If we will not face anything during next week, we will commence our landing with a purpose of founding a colony here. Personally, I would take that as a major disappointment, because I flew here hoping to face life forms that originated outside of the Solar system.
I am also really tired of all that surrounding scannings. It affects me psychologically — I am getting less and less sure about the success of our expedition. Today I plan on getting a good sleep and seeing our therapist to, hopefully, get better. But first I'll go to our swimming pool, I wasn't there for several days now.
I am also really tired of all that surrounding scannings. It affects me psychologically — I am getting less and less sure about the success of our expedition. Today I plan on getting a good sleep and seeing our therapist to, hopefully, get better. But first I'll go to our swimming pool, I wasn't there for several days now.
воскресенье, 6 ноября 2016 г.
Day 12 (?)
Now we're witch hunting. Our turn of duty never came into place — the shift before us noticed some movement on the screen, which couldn't be explained by the dust. For the last twenty hours, I think, all of us were sitting in front of the monitor, rushing for a coffee or a tea every once in a while. I haven't been able to close my eyes yet and got very tired, so I decided to go into my room, make notes and sleep for a couple of hours.
We've re-checked the tape for a thousand times, I guess. It was a nighttime on the planet, which makes it more difficult for us. Adding lights onto the tape didn't really help — the colors on moving object are similar to those of the local ground. We stop can't be certain, whether it's some geological effect or a living creature. Of course, we've already established a circle with two kilometres long radius, which we're scanning through. So far we went through the central part, but we didn't find anything, except for those weird bubbles, that are now almost trying to get on to of each other.
I'm going to bed now; John promised to wake me up in two and a half hours, if I won't get up on my own. I hope if something happens before that, he won't feel sorry for me, so that I won't miss anything.
Day 10
Today the probe has finally reached the soil after this desert, but so far it's been the only good news. Analysis didn't show any organic materials, only a higher amount of phosphor and sulfur, like it was at the landing zone. In this new area the landscape is pretty odd — the surface is covered with some kind of partially bursted balloons, like it used to be a place of volcanic activity, that just freezed in a few instances. Not even our specialists can tell right now what it is. Until we can be sure that those things are safe to approach we will keep our distance.
We keep on looking around the probe through its cameras. Sociotherapist separated us into teams, two people each, so that we could keep track of probe's movement for four hours straight. I was accompanied by my assistant, which means, that I won't be able to, most likely, become friends with the guy — all the teams were made in a way that there will be no conflicts as well as no other forms of behavior that will distract is from the task. It's a bit sad, really: I was hoping I will be able to get to know Chen better on the surface at least, during our work — after all, who knows how long we're going to stay here, and working in silence all the time seems to me as extremely boring perspective.
We keep on looking around the probe through its cameras. Sociotherapist separated us into teams, two people each, so that we could keep track of probe's movement for four hours straight. I was accompanied by my assistant, which means, that I won't be able to, most likely, become friends with the guy — all the teams were made in a way that there will be no conflicts as well as no other forms of behavior that will distract is from the task. It's a bit sad, really: I was hoping I will be able to get to know Chen better on the surface at least, during our work — after all, who knows how long we're going to stay here, and working in silence all the time seems to me as extremely boring perspective.
Our shift starts in four hours, so I'm going to see John, while I still got time. We can always find something to talk about.
воскресенье, 16 октября 2016 г.
Day 9
During the last 20 hours we've got 500 images from the surface. We established video contact with the probe, and everyone is on their watch, scanning through records in hopes of seeing something alive. Several times already we would take a moving shadow as an animal running away from our probe and would disturb or operators for false reasons.
Everyone is nervous, because it's been quite some time since the probe has started operating, but we haven't seen life so far, not even water — only ground painted with cracks in the hot. According to our sensors, the temperature is at +38.4 C.
Besides, we've faced a technical problem as well — for some reason, one of top cameras isn't working. Right now it doesn't affect us, but if anything happens to its second top camera, we will lose our ability to get panoramic views of the ground. Although there is not much to see, and some of us are even starting to think that this is all we're going to see here. Of course, we can't search through the entire planet to prove them wrong; we can only hope that the parallel chosen isn't a desert going through entire planet, because that would mean that we managed to pick the spot that won't show us anything. Optic observation from the ship doesn't prove this theory — we can see different colors on the surface.
Soon will be my turn to check the data from camera, so I'm going to grab a tea in order not to be too hungry at the screen.
Everyone is nervous, because it's been quite some time since the probe has started operating, but we haven't seen life so far, not even water — only ground painted with cracks in the hot. According to our sensors, the temperature is at +38.4 C.
Besides, we've faced a technical problem as well — for some reason, one of top cameras isn't working. Right now it doesn't affect us, but if anything happens to its second top camera, we will lose our ability to get panoramic views of the ground. Although there is not much to see, and some of us are even starting to think that this is all we're going to see here. Of course, we can't search through the entire planet to prove them wrong; we can only hope that the parallel chosen isn't a desert going through entire planet, because that would mean that we managed to pick the spot that won't show us anything. Optic observation from the ship doesn't prove this theory — we can see different colors on the surface.
Soon will be my turn to check the data from camera, so I'm going to grab a tea in order not to be too hungry at the screen.
суббота, 8 октября 2016 г.
Day 8 (later)
Well, today we have started the scientific part of this expedition. The probe already sent us several ground samples' test results, both from the surface and underneath, controllable stratoplane was launched to have photos and additional air scans. We also received several photos from the surface. However, we ran into an issue here — we have no connection with the probe's top cameras, both of them, and now several operators are trying to figure out what's wrong.
The latter samples prove the original data, with one slight correction for atmosphere: oxygen makes up to 16% of it, carbon dyoxide — 0.7%. This change is explained by the capsule's burning during the fall.
In general, it seems like life should be here, but we didn't see anything yet. We either seated ourselves in desert, or our hopes are not to be confirmed. I think we'll see soon enough.
The latter samples prove the original data, with one slight correction for atmosphere: oxygen makes up to 16% of it, carbon dyoxide — 0.7%. This change is explained by the capsule's burning during the fall.
In general, it seems like life should be here, but we didn't see anything yet. We either seated ourselves in desert, or our hopes are not to be confirmed. I think we'll see soon enough.
Подписаться на:
Комментарии (Atom)