Robert Sawyer - The Blue Planet

The round door to the office in the underground city irised open. Teltor! Teltor!

The director of the space-sciences hive swung her eyestalks to look wearily at Dostan, her excitable assistant. What is it?

Another space probe has been detected coming from the third planet.

Again? said Teltor, agitated. She spread her four exoskeletal arms. But its only been a hundred days or so since their last probe.

Exactly. Which means this one must have been launched before we dealt with that one.

Teltors eyestalks drooped as she relaxed. The presence of this new probe didnt mean the people on the blue planet had ignored the message. Still ...

Is this one a lander, or just another orbiter?

It has a streamlined component, said Dostan. Presumably it plans to pass through the atmosphere and come to the surface.

Where?

The south pole, it looks like.

And youre sure theres no life on board?

Im sure.

Teltor flexed her triple-fingered hands in resignation. All right, she said. Power up the neutralization projector; well shut this probe off, too.

That night, Teltor took her young daughter, Delp, up to the surface. The sky overhead was blackalmost as black as the interior of the tunnels leading up from the buried city. Both tiny moons were out, but their wan glow did little to obscure the countless stars.

Teltor held one of her daughters four hands. No one could come to the surface during the day; the ultraviolet radiation from the sun was deadly. But Teltor was an astronomerand that was a hard job to do if you always stayed underground.

Young Delps eyestalks swung left and right, trying to take in all the magnificence overhead. But, after a few moments, both stalks converged on the bright blue star near the horizon.

Whats that, Mama? she asked.

A lot of people call it the evening star, said Teltor, but its really another planet. Were the fourth planet from the sun, and that ones the third.

A whole other planet? said Delp, her mandibles clicking in incredulity.

Thats right, dear.

Are there any people there?

Yes, indeed.

How do you know?

Theyve been sending space probes here for years.

But they havent come here in person?

Teltor moved her lower arms in negation. No, she said sadly, they havent.

Well, then, why dont we go see them?

We cant, dear. The third planet has a surface gravity almost three times as strong as ours. Our exoskeletons would crack open there. Teltor looked at the blue beacon. No, Im afraid the only way well ever meet is if they come to us.

Dr. Goldin! Dr. Goldin!

The NASA administrator stopped on the way to his car. Another journalist, no doubt. Yes? he said guardedly.

Dr. Goldin, this is the latest in a series of failed missions to Mars. Doesnt that prove that your so-called `faster, better, cheaper approach to space exploration isnt working?

Goldin bristled. I wouldnt say that.

But surely if we had human beings on the scene, they could deal with the unexpected, no?

Teltor still thought of Delp as her baby, but she was growing up fast; indeed, shed already shed her carapace twice.

Fortunately, though, Delp still shared her mothers fascination with the glories of the night sky. And so, as often as she could, Teltor would take Delp up to the surface. Delp could name many of the constellations nowthe zigzag, the giant scoop, the squareand was good at picking out planets, including the glaringly bright fifth one.

But her favorite, always, was planet three.

Mom, said Delpshe no longer called her Mamatheres intelligent life here, and theres also intelligent life on our nearest neighbor, the blue planet, right?

Teltor moved her eyestalks in affirmation.

Delp spread her four arms, as if trying to encompass all of the heavens. Well, if theres life on two planets so close together, doesnt that mean the universe must be teeming with other civilizations?

Teltor dilated her spiracles in gentle laughter. Theres no native life on the third planet.

But you said theyd been sending probes here

Yes, they have. But the life there couldnt have originated on that world.

Why?

Do you know why the third planet is blue?

Its mostly covered with liquid water, isnt it?

Thats right, said Teltor. And its probably been that way since shortly after the solar system formed.

So? Our world used to have water on its surface, too.

Yes, but the bodies of water here never had any great depth. Studies suggest, though, that the water on the third planet is, and always has been, many biltads deep.

So?

Teltor loved her daughters curiosity. So early in our solar systems history, both the blue planet and our world would have been constantly pelted by large meteors and cometsthe debris left over from the solar systems formation. And if a meteor hits land or a shallow body of water, heat from the impact might raise temperatures for a short time. But if it hits deep water, the heat would be retained, raising the planets temperature for dozens or even grosses of years. A stable environment suitable for the origin of life would have existed here eons before it would have on the third planet. Im sure life only arose once in this solar systemand that it happened here.

Butbut how would life get from here to the blue planet?

That world has prodigious gravity, remember? Calculations show that a respectable fraction of all the material that has ever been knocked off our world by impacts would eventually get swept up by the blue planet, falling as meteors there. And, of course, many forms of microbes can survive the long periods of freezing that would occur during a voyage through space.

Delp regarded the blue point of light, her eyestalks quavering with wonder. So the third planet is really a colony of this world?

Thats right. All those who live there now are the children of this planet.

Rosalind Lee was giving her first press conference since being named the new administrator of NASA. Its been five years since we lost the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander, she said. And, even more significantly, its been thirty-five yearsover a third of a century!since Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. We should follow that giant leap with an even higher jump. For whatever reason, many of the unmanned probes weve sent to Mars have failed. Its time some people went there to find out why.

The door to Teltors office irised open. Teltor!

Yes, Dostan?

Another ship has been detected coming from the blue planetand its huge!

Teltors eyestalks flexed in surprise. It had been years since the last one. Still, if the inhabitants of planet three had understood the messagehad understood that we didnt want them dumping mechanical junk on our world, didnt want them sending robot probes, but rather would only welcome them in personit would indeed have taken years to prepare for the journey. Are there signs of life aboard?

Yes! Yes, indeed!

Track its approach carefully, said Teltor. I want to be there when it lands.

The Bradbury had touched down beside Olympus Mons during the middle of the Martian day. The seven members of the international crew planted flags in the red sand and explored on foot until the sun set.

The astronauts were about to go to sleep; Earth had set, too, so no messages could be sent to Mission Control until it rose again. But, incredibly, one of the crew spotted something moving out on the planets surface.

It was

No. No, it couldnt be. It couldnt.

But it was. A spindly, insectoid figure, perhaps a meter high, coming toward the lander.

A Martian.

The figure stood by one of the Bradburys articulated metal legs, next to the access ladder. It gestured repeatedly with four segmented arms, seemingly asking for someone to come out.