65, Probes

OK, its time for some backup information, Lucie said to Klype. We are here to do an investigation job. I will organize it all, while you try to reconstruct the events with the information that the probes collect. But first, I will give you a background history, as it is believed to be. Klype did not seem to care much, but figured it would be necessary to pay attention in order to escape this place.

Lucie started to tell the story. There was a tremendous nuclear blast in this solar system half a billion years ago. It made a recognizable radioactive signature. The rays from the collision moved with the speed of light in all directions. However, even with the speed of light, the rays had to travel for 50,000 years to reach the other side of the galaxy. Then the signature was received, but it was very weak. It was interpreted as ignition of a small star.

5,000 years later a probe arrived in the star system. It accelerated with 100 G for a year and then sailed with a speed of 10 light-years. It spent the last year to slow down to normal speed in the solar system. The probe arrived under the star system’s plane to avoid collisions with its objects.

It sailed a round under the Oort belt and filmed it. After the full circle, it sailed on to the eighth and outer planet Neptune. After a couple of rounds, it headed towards the seventh planet Uranus. Likewise it sailed a couple of rounds around the planet before it headed towards the sixth planet Saturn. After two rounds around the planet, it sailed around some of the moons as well. Then it sailed on to the fifth planet Jupiter. The stay at this planet system was considerable longer. It is far the largest planet and its system consists of several large moons. It was all recorded. Then the probe sailed on to the asteroid belt. It sailed two times around the belt, then turned and sailed one time the opposite direction. Finally it sailed on to the third planet Mars. The red desert planet and its two asteroids were filmed too. After that, it sailed to the second planet Terra. The planet and its moon were filmed in details. Finally, the first planet Venus was caught up and filmed.

When all the solar system was recorded, the probed turned towards the star for several days. When the energy finally was charged, it accelerated around the stars several times to gain speed. Then it found its path and to accelerate for a year. The solar system had no further visit for almost 100 million years.

Then a visitor arrived in the star system once again. This time it was an oval ship with advanced patterns on the side. It arrived also under the star systems plane, but from a different angle. It followed approximately the same path as the probe, almost a hundred million years earlier.

Inside the ship, there were three biological robots, biots. One of the biots navigated the ship, the second collected data and the third analyzed the information. While working, they communicated rationally and logically. The twin moons, Pluto and Sharon that sailed at the border of the Kuiper belt, got extra attention. The biots did not seem to find their origin. After completing a circle around under the Kuiper belt, the ship sailed to the eight and outer planet Neptune. They noticed that the planet had gained a large atmosphere and that a moon was damaged. That is normal for a planet close to such a belt of objects.

The biots communication rose at the seventh planet Uranus. The moon Miranda and several others were heavily damaged. However, most peculiar of all, the planet was tipped 90 degrees, so the pole pointed directly towards the star. The biots had great difficulties to accept the collected data that did not match the database.

By the sixth planet, Saturn, the ring and the large number of moons were of special interest. The surveillance at this planet became much profound than the previous. Once again, the database did not match the realities. Reluctantly, they accepted to correct the database despite the great deviations. Once again, moons were registered as damaged, and several asteroids at present could not be explained.

The fifth planet, Jupiter, got special attention because of its enormous size. The biots noticed that also here there were great deviations from the database. The planet had an enormous hurricane center, and a lot of asteroids circled like moons. However, most of all, there were two alien moons. These were considerably investigated. The moon Europe was covered with ice and the moon Io had active volcanoes. They were not recognizable.

Finally, the ship set its course for the asteroid belt. Like the probe, it sailed around it several times. The biots searched for a planet with moons but found only rocks. The ship stopped. The biots were confused. Sometimes they talked simultaneously and sometimes the just sat there quite. Finally, the analyst concluded that the planet had disappeared and its moons were at the neighboring planet. It was an unlikely conclusion, but the only one they could reach.

At the third planet, Mars, the biots found to their satisfaction that mostly was as expected. They recorded the lifeless cold stone. However, the analyst commented that the planet was tipped 25 degrees, and there were to rocks circling like moons.

Then they reached the second planet, Terra. Once again an alien moon was circling a planet. However, most peculiar of all, the planet had atmosphere and oceans. They decided to go through the atmosphere, to record the surface. The pictures were hard to believe. They showed vegetation as well as life forms in the air, at land and in the seas. The biots had given up explaining the deviations between reality and the database. They merely collected data and did not verify it much. They almost ignored that the planet was tipped 25 degrees.

At the first planet, Venus, they circled it a couple of times and concluded that the star had been harsh with it. The surface boiled and was melted. They did not bother to investigate it further, but noticed that it had stopped rotating. It was most probably due to the star’s closeness.

Finally the ship turned towards the star to charge for some days. One final time, they were puzzled that a moon circled the star. The star had its own moon Mercury. However, they recorded the data without doubting reality any more. Finally, the ship accelerated around the star three times, and then set the course at the path it came from.

Lucie stopped telling was looking for Klype’s reactions. He seemed somehow interested and puzzled. How …, he said but could not form a question. Lucie watched him as he tried to start a sentence with “what … “. He kept the “but” to himself and just sat there looking around, not finding any clue to even start questioning.