The image vanished for a few moments and when it reappeared, he couldn’t
understand what he saw at first. Scowling, he ordered the image to rotate
slowly. Still nothing. Then he asked it to reverse the magnification again
until the entire satellite was visible. Even then, he couldn’t identify
anything until the image grew to include the entire airlock.
That was when he gasped as the image of a Human-scaled being shaped like a
dolphin – in the same way a Human was shaped like a chimpanzee – floated in the
air. It turned to face the camera and it was at that point that he’d passed
out.
“The hell?” he muttered. He stared for a long time before he finally said,
“Looks like the alienologists were right.” He stared at the image of the
creature. Without the computer changing the ultrasound image into a visual
image, he’d be blind to it. It was logical to assume then that they would have
been blind to him.
Or would it? Might this alien been able to see him
and be invisible to him at the same time? Or would it have been stranger than
that? He couldn’t think of a reason to have a satellite that was able to
project ultrasonic images, either. Gathering orbital data, for sure. But why
would it be able to project an image?
Unless
it was a first contact device.
He
pursed his lips, studying the satellite. Maybe it was meant to send a message
to someone else. He leaned forward and brought up the ‘bug’s data base,
searching for a program he might be able to use to find out what he wanted to
know.
Half an
hour later, he’d answered enough questions that the computer was ready when he
tapped, “Go.” The initial series of tests needed the airlock waldoes to attempt
to take samples of the surface of the satellite. After a few moments, it
reported to him that it would need two hours to both collect enough samples and
run a detailed analysis. He was lucky it had the geological survey package
still intact. Not all ‘bugs were still able to do it.
He sat
back, staring at the airlock, unable to see the alien satellite but knowing it
was there. Aquatic beings, delphinoid, who communicated in a frequency beyond
Human hearing – who once had an interest in a planet essentially devoid of
water. Ho were able to build advanced satellites that may or may not have
orbited Mars at some time. He stood up with a sigh.
He
needed to get moving again. Even though Chen and Chumani had been after him to
preach to them, Mars Authority wasn’t benign. He was a wanted man, certainly a
rabble rouse if nothing else. He glanced back at the airlock. What if the Free
Martian belief in the Watchers was true? What if these aquatic beings were the
Watchers? Without a doubt, Mars had once had both ocean and atmosphere. What if
these beings had watched from the ocean?
He
sighed. Too many questions to ask that depended from…nothing. He went back to
the controls and engaged the ‘bug’s drive, rolling forward again. He’d have to
wait for the satellite’s analysis to figure out WHAT set of questions he needed
to pursue.
Whether
the logical set that led to some faction or another from Earth, the Moon,
Venus, or Mars losing a spy satellite – or the irrational set that led to
evidence that Humanity was not alone in the universe. The second set of
questions also begged an answer to the question of “when did they watch?”
The ‘bug
had been rolling for ten minutes before Paolo realized that there were two other
questions that depended from that answer: were they still watching and WHO were they trying to contact? He shivered
and turned up the ‘bug’s heater.
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