14 December, 2015:
Our fifteenth day of transmitting our cry for help out into space, and there’s still no reply.
Anton and Rick continue to report in shifts every few hours from the Candor transmitter site: Everything still appears to be working perfectly. And though the signal reaching Earth will not be much stronger or more sophisticated than those sent by the early lander missions, someone should have heard us by now.
At least what we can pick up on our tinkered receiver array lets us know that the human race is not dead and gone: There is background noise, a chaotic buzz of orbital chatter leaking from what appear to be global communications. Anton occasionally manages to filter the barest snippets of recognizable language, but not enough to make sense of. Most of it appears to be deeply encrypted, and beyond what UNMAC had used to defeat corporate or Eco eavesdropping and hacking.
But what’s most discouraging is that there’s absolutely no sign of any kind of signal aimed out into space. Earth seems to have turned itself entirely inward. (And we all wonder what’s become of our home world, across a scale of possibilities from tragic to terrifying.)
There’s nothing else to do but keep trying, so we keep beaming our call across space, varying our message every day or so, trying to tell our tale, trying to get someone to respond. I find it hard to believe, even if some totalitarian government ruling in absolute fear of contamination has put a draconian ban on interplanetary communication, that not one rogue hopeful soul has been keeping an ear out for us (and has the means to send at least a ping back in our direction).
(Anton speculated that maybe their technology has become so advanced that we would be heard as just so much meaningless interference to be filtered out. But the idle speculation game gets us nowhere—we’ll either find out when we get a reply, or we’ll never know.)
There has been no further interference with our relay system, just as the ETE assured. But there have been attempts: We monitored the Guardians responding to “threatening approaches” by the Air Pirates three times within the first ten days after they broke up our little confrontation.
The ETE must have set up a remote monitoring system, because we haven’t seen any flights that look like patrols or detected any regular Guardian presence near the transmitter sites or during our supply flights, yet they respond to anything that approaches our outposts within minutes. The outcome is always the same: Zodangan ships damaged and repulsed by force, their weapons deflected harmlessly. No apparent loss of life. The pirates limp away.
That should be comforting, but it isn’t. And of course I realize the obvious irony: This is exactly what I asked them to do, from the first time I faced their Council.
And it will save lives, is saving lives.
But that’s probably not how Earth will see it. Assuming they ever respond.
In a few more months, the conjunction window will close, and we’ll be out of call range for another two years, if we still have the means by then.
That might not be the worst outcome.
###
Map of Central Valles Marineris
(If image does not work or is poor quality, you may view the original and more images on my Facebook page.)
The God Mars continues in Book Two: Lost Worlds
About the Author:
Michael Rizzo is an artist, martial artist, collector (and frequent user) of fine weaponry, and has had a long, varied and brutal career in the mental health and social services battlefield. (He is locally regarded as the Darth Vader of social work.)
His fiction series include Grayman and The God Mars.
He causes trouble in person mostly in the Pacific Northwest.
For updates and original art, visit Michael on Facebook.com.
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