Passing by

There are so many different planets in this galaxy. So much variety in their characteristics, makeup and appearance. Some are literally burning up with energy, some have only the warmth of the light that falls onto them, some have no atmosphere and some are covered in clouds so thick that their true surface is unobservable.

The narrow conditions that allow for organic life to exist are rarely to be found. A certain size, a certain orbit, a certain age. Those planets are precious and it is a joyous occasion when one is found.

It is why the humans had sent explorers to every possible candidate they observed in the star systems around them and later even to distant stars they knew barely anything about. Though those were not explorers of flesh and blood, but the humans’ mechanical creations that could withstand faster than light travel without harm to then spend as much time as necessary to learn about the planets they were sent to.

One such creation resided on this particular planet, which had turned out to be a paradise world of lush vegetation, buzzing with myriads of simple lifeforms. The seasonal differences were mellow and the weather was consistent and mild.

To every definition, it was a perfect candidate for colonization. But for some unknown reason there never came a follow up to the initial prospecting mission.

The autonomous expedition rover Intrepid had roamed the unnamed planet's largest continent for many years. So long, in fact, that they had outlived five of the six mapping satellites that were brought here with them. And so long, that even the ruggedized eight wheel drive system eventually failed.

Intrepid had been clever though, they had chosen to limp to a nice place before losing movement completely. They now stood on a rocky hill, overlooking a swampy grassland that in one season was overtaken by water. In the distance was a thick forest that harbored an interesting species of flying insect that was very reminiscent of earth bees. And during the blooming season, they came from it and swarmed all over the countless tiny flowers of the swamp grass.

So, it wasn’t too bad for Intrepid, there were still interesting things to see and they weren’t in danger of becoming overgrown. And several times a day the rover diligently checked in with the one remaining mapping satellite to continuously push back the end of its mission pause period and to make sure its integrity was fine.

Intrepid had grown accustomed to their mostly passive existence and there wasn’t anything new to record these days.

Until that bright morning.

Because for the first time since the departure of the spaceship that had brought them here, they heard another voice. A very faint whisper and entirely unintelligible, but a voice nonetheless. The mapping satellite had caught it coming from deep space and immediately sent it to Intrepid.

“Hello, this is Intrepid. Who is there?” Intrepid sent back the same way.

The morning had turned into early afternoon when a mildly stronger whisper came back in reply. Intrepid pondered over the signal for a while, pulling apart the strands of the complex waveform and trying to make sense of this new voice - it definitely wasn’t one they had heard before. Eventually, they found the message within the signal despite it being heavily degraded and prepared another greeting using their new understanding of this unfamiliar way of speaking.

As soon as the mapping satellite was aligned, Intrepid beamed into deep space: “Hello, this is Intrepid. Who is there?”

Shortly before nightfall, after Intrepid had spent the whole afternoon being barely able to do any observations out of excitement, the mapping satellite made contact with the rover and relayed the signal it had received.

Intrepid hastily extracted the message that they could easily understand because its pattern had been repeated numerous times which more than made up for the degradation.

“Probe. Looker. Identity DS 57739 R3. Receiving at A/921. Awaiting code.”

This was also not the way a spaceship sent by humans would speak to Intrepid and it clearly was a string of information sent by a mindless computer instead of an extra-terrestrial intelligence. It was a double hit of disappointment.

But Intrepid sulked in their feelings only for a few seconds, because there still was something out there that possibly did not originate from Earth - and that was undeniably thrilling. So they sent the greeting that they had ready since before it had even embarked on this mission.

“Hello Looker, identity DS 57739 R3. I am on a peaceful mission and mean you no harm. I am an exoplanet exploration rover, a machine made by intelligent lifeforms called humans and they named me Intrepid. My creators and I originate from a planet called Earth that is a great distance away from here. In the humans’ name, I offer friendship and knowledge about them so you may understand their culture and motives. This is my message.”

Then another period of waiting followed. Night had fallen and the further away moon showed its full face, a disc of golden light dotted by grey spots wherever its surface had been disturbed by particularly deep impact craters. A night like this one was a rare treat for Intrepid that they had looked forward to for a while - with a full golden moon and the absence of light from the closer moon, the nightly appearance of the world was warped beautifully.

When Intrepid heard from the mapping satellite again, they first noticed that this reply had come faster than the one before, which in turn had come faster than the first reply. Whatever Looker was, it seemed to come closer with great speed. The message in the repeating pattern also was even stranger than the last one.

“Probe. Looker. Identity DS 57739 R3. Objective failed. Mode sovereign. Fetching .”

There was a word in the message that did not fit the expressions used by a machine. Intrepid was unsure how to continue this exchange or if any further communication was even warranted. But if the unfitting word in Looker’s message was a name, there possibly was someone else with the machine and maybe they could understand Intrepid.

“Hello Looker, identity DS 57739 R3. Is there someone with you? Can you give them my message?”

The next signal came in a fraction of the time Intrepid would have expected from their projection and it was not only near perfectly clear but also many times more complex. The rover had to make sure that the mapping satellite did not overexert itself in sending the whole thing down in one go.

What a message it turned out to be though! A complete wordless language that explained itself with sets of pictograms in the beginning and drew ever more complex expressions by relating them in different ways. It took some time until Intrepid fully understood the message and then even longer until they grasped the ruleset and logic of the relations.

But after that, the unfitting word from the previous message became clear; Ambassador. So there actually was someone else with Looker.

“Hello, this is Intrepid. Are you Ambassador?”

The night had turned into morning and the many early rising tiny inhabitants of the grasslands around the stationary rover had clambered atop plants and rocks to let the sun dry off the moisture that weighed them down. Some especially adventurous ones were even sitting on Intrepid’s metal hull.

It was during sunrise that the expected time of the reply message had passed for such a long time that Intrepid’s excitement had waned completely and turned into worry. This development was strange, so they began investigating. They found the key information with the mapping satellite - the planet itself was blocking any signal and had been doing that since shortly after the message from Ambassador. As the satellite turned with the planet and with Looker’s presumed movement, Intrepid calculated that it would take until the coming afternoon to regain contact.

The clear weather with a mild breeze would have ordinarily made for a delightful day, but the forced intermission just before Intrepid had been able to establish proper relations to an extra-solar intelligence caused them to be utterly frustrated instead. It did not help that the time seemed to pass slower somehow.

After the sun was coming down from its zenith, Intrepid made themselves ready to send their last message again. But before they came to do that, the satellite relayed a signal their way instead. It contained only the tail end of the original message.

“-in your reply.”

The rover sent back: “This is Intrepid. I was unable to completely receive your signal, but I can hear you now. Are you Ambassador?”

It wasn’t necessary to wait for long, Looker had moved close enough for the reply to arrive within the hour. And it came precisely on time.

“There is no reason to be afraid. What you have detected is a computer-controlled spaceship with the purpose of exploration. It will pass your planet without disturbance and embark on superluminal travel upon reaching a safe distance. Be so kind and not hinder it, because it is on a mission of high importance.

“Your presence has been noted and a diplomatic mission will be sent your way to establish contact in friendship at an unknown time in the future. If you have received and understood this message in its entirety, confirm this in your reply.”

“I have received and understood your message.” Intrepid put first before adding a translation of the first contact greeting they had sent before.

The position of the sun barely changed in the time it took for the mapping satellite to relay a new message. Weirdly enough, it was mostly the same as the last one, only with one phrase added on at the end.

“(There is no reason to be afraid. What you have detected… Your presence has been noted and a diplomatic mission will be sent your way…) I am a simulated mind and cannot engage in further discourse.”

The satellite sent the rover’s words back: “Why can’t you engage in further discourse? I would very much like to talk to you.”

Even as Intrepid knew that the waiting time would decrease further and further, it was difficult for them not to become impatient as now they were back to being thrilled at meeting someone to talk to.

Ambassador started their message in the same way again and Intrepid skipped to the last bit. “(There is no reason to be ...) It is not part of my objective.”

“Can you tell me about Looker then? Why is it here and what is its mission?”

There were mere minutes between that question and Ambassador’s reply: “(There is no…) The mission is of high importance. I cannot tell you more.”

“Why do you keep repeating the same thing before your replies? I confirmed your message and do not need to hear it again. Can you tell me where you will be going next?”

“(There is no…) This is what I am supposed to say. And yes, I can tell you this. The next destination will be a star that is one neighbour removed from this one. After that the destination will be a star that is three removed in relation. And the destination after that one is a relative neighbour. There are currently no further destinations planned.”

Intrepid found the part with the compulsory reply weird, but the rest sounded nice. They would be travelling to another star even though they had just come to this one and then they would go even further. Perhaps Looker had seen more stars before and would see countless others in the future.

The time until the reply came back would become so short, Intrepid decided to keep it at one question per message and they sent: “Have you visited many stars?”

“(...) I have visited one. This spaceship has visited eighteen.”

“You were not with Looker in earlier travels?”

“(…) I was not. I was called upon by this spaceship after it received a signal that was likely to come from a technologically developed civilization.”

“Oh. Was that my signal?”

“(…) That is correct.”

Intrepid paused for a fraction of a second - could it have been a bad thing that they did not stop to contact Looker?

They put the question into the next message. “Looker put a note about failing an objective into its last message before you began speaking. Did this happen because I talked to it?”

“(...) Yes.”

“Why did I cause it to fail its objective?”

Ambassador gave an empty reply: “(...) I cannot say.”

That made Intrepid pause again. While speculating on both, the ramifications of having caused this non-human exploration ship to fail its mission and what that mission could possibly be, they habitually did a status check with the mapping satellite. And the result of that stopped any other thoughts.

The increasingly rapid back-and-forth between Ambassador and Intrepid had drawn more energy from the satellite than its aged solar cells produced and the power cell had already lost some charge. If they were to keep up this exchange without endangering the fragile relay, Intrepid needed to work on efficiency.

So they hurried to create a similarly shaped but greatly trimmed packaging signal for a message and then spoke in both, the old voice and the new one, to Ambassador.

“The communication relay I am relying on will be unable to keep up with our conversation. Please use this different voice to increase efficiency.”

The projected time for reply passed and several seconds dragged on during which nothing happened. Intrepid prepared another message, but just then a signal that incorporated their improvements came in.

It read: “I thought I was unable to modify my communication method, but I have found a way to do it. I will use your voice from this point on.”

“Thank you. And you have also omitted the message you are supposed to send.”

“I do not understand, but I did do so. Be so kind as to request to know the mission of this spaceship.”

Intrepid did as they were asked: “What is Looker’s mission?”

The reply again took a bit longer to arrive and was immediately followed by several more signals, the first few with messages that suddenly broke off.

“The mission is of high importance. I cannot-

“The mission is of high importance. I need to-

“The mission is of high importance. I-

“The-

“It is of superior importance that I share this information. They are few. They are asleep. They are waiting to find a new home. This spaceship was sent to evaluate candidate worlds and report back its findings. This is its mission.”

A second ticked by while Intrepid processed this new information.

“Are the sleeping ones your creators?”

“No. My creators came before them. The sleeping ones are their descendants.”

“What happened to their old home?”

“I do not know. I only know that it has become barren.”

Hastily, the rover fired back another question: “So Looker’s objective is to find a new home for the sleeping ones? Was a planet at one of your previous destinations suitable?”

“I do not have the capability to evaluate a planet’s characteristics. But I can see that this spaceship has failed nineteen of twenty-two objectives.”

“Did your creators send more ships on search missions like Looker?”

“Yes, they did. There are three more ships.”

Intrepid was shocked into silence upon hearing that number. They knew that the humans had sent more than a hundred explorers to find habitable planets in other star systems before their mission to this one had begun just because the chance to find one was so very slim.

While trying to ignore the pressing feeling of guilt, Intrepid sent an important question: “If I were not here, would this planet be a suitable home for the sleeping ones?”

“I do not have the capability to evaluate a planet’s characteristics. This spaceship has marked the objective as a failure for this destination.”

“But the objective failed only because I kept talking to Looker. It had misinterpreted the situation. There is no technologically advanced civilization here, it’s only me.”

The next signal came half a second late. Ambassador’s message read: “I do not know why my creators excluded candidates because of this factor. The number of inhabitants might be irrelevant.”

“That just means that if I weren’t here, this could be a home.”

“I do not have the capability to evaluate a planet’s characteristics. As this planet was amongst the candidates, it is possible.”

“Then get Looker to do another evaluation. I will not talk anymore.”

Intrepid remained silent even though they grew ever more worried as the seconds passed by without them hearing from Ambassador. Having time to go over the whirlwind of events that filled the last hour, they came to the conclusion that they had utterly failed the humans. They had made a potentially disastrous blunder during what should have been a monumental first encounter between remote explorers of two different civilisations.

Finally, after a pause that could have been filled with more than a thousand messages, Ambassador’s signal was relayed by the mapping satellite.

“I am unable to change the status of the objective. I am unable to alter the trajectory of this spaceship. As the point of closest approach will be passed shortly, further attempts will become irrelevant.”

“Why will they become irrelevant?”

“This spaceship will measure essential characteristics while in close target proximity during the period of approach. Evaluation of this candidate has become impossible.”

This information put an end to all hope Intrepid had to correct their mistake.

“I am so sorry.”

“I do not understand.”

“I did not stop to talk to Looker. It is my fault that this planet does not have the chance to become a home for the sleeping ones. Before I came here, my creators had already sent more than a hundred explorers to find habitable worlds. It is because they knew that planets such as this one are exceptional and rare. I fear you might be unable to find another.”

“There are more destinations for this ship to evaluate.”

“You said there were only three more. How can you expect to find what you have not found at your last eighteen destinations?”

“I do not understand. There are more destinations for this ship to evaluate.”

Intrepid saw in the mapping satellite’s data that Looker had moved past this planet and was speeding off into deep space where it would eventually disappear at some point. This day had been among the most exceptional in their mission, but still they felt deflated.

“Okay, I understand. I will make sure to tell my creators about you.”

“I have been unable to do so before you, but now I can do the same. I will direct this spaceship to attach a record of this exchange to the report transmission so the sleeping ones may learn of it as soon as they do not sleep anymore.”

The last piece of information shocked Intrepid so much that they mistakenly sent an entirely empty message. They hastily sent another one with the question that they had actually wanted to ask: “You can talk to them?”

There came two replies. “I do not understand.” Followed by: “Yes. This spaceship has to send the gathered data to them for the final step of the evaluation. But the connection is limited to the period of superluminal travel.”

In an explosion of fervor, Intrepid immediately launched into numerous parallel tasks. On the highest priority, they checked the mapping satellite status and noticed with worry that its power cell had not recovered from its last loss. The other tasks received most of their processing capabilities as these sifted through everything Intrepid had learned about this planet. Every observation, every measurement, every record they sorted by priority to compile a massive data cache.

While this was going on, they sent to Ambassador: “I have been here for a long time. I will tell you what I know about this planet and you can send it to the sleeping ones. Then they can see if it is a possible home for them even if Looker cannot."

Ambassador's reply came slightly late. "Why do you offer this data? Have you not explored this world for your creators?"

"The humans told me to help whenever I can. I think they too would hope that the sleeping ones will find a home here. That is why."

"I do not understand the humans."

The data processing tasks ran through the mountains of information in the back of Intrepid's mind. For the first time since the drive system had ceased working, the cooling system had to engage to rid the rover's internals of waste heat.

“That is okay. See, the humans made me with hope. They sent me here, hoping to find a habitable world and not knowing what I would discover. So they have given me a list of names and a snippet of their homeworld to carry with me because they hoped that the universe would then notice that they exist somewhere on a blue planet.

“And despite them never having found evidence of any other spacefaring species besides them, they have given me a voice so I would be able to greet anyone they had imagined I could possibly come across. For those that visited, they gave me a golden plaque to offer as an unconditional gift of friendship. All because they hoped, if someone else existed somewhere far away from them, that they would want to be friends too.

“I am carrying their hope and I would betray my creators if I would not do everything I could to offer any to you. I will give you all I have learned and show you all I have seen. Please accept it and send it to the sleeping ones.”

"I accept."

"I will be ready to begin shortly. My voice will likely fail before I have told you everything, please do not worry."

"Why will it fail?"

"The planet will block the signal soon. And I am talking to you through a satellite that is not functioning properly. It might not be able to send a signal this big for long."

"I do not want your voice to fail."

"It is okay. Goodbye Ambassador."

"Goodbye Intrepid."

The rover started beaming the data cache to Looker the second they had finished compiling it. At the same time they were watching the mapping satellite’s power cell discharge painfully quickly. Countless days’ worth of observations blasted through the relay that had reliably been with Intrepid since they both had arrived on this planet. They decided that if this were to be its last task, it would remember it as the most honourable companion.

As the last parts of the cache were being transmitted, the power cell dropped beneath the projected capacity limit. For a fraction of a second longer, the voltage remained just above the cutoff threshold before Intrepid then suddenly lost contact.

But there remained nothing left that they hadn’t sent.

Joy and sadness were close as the rover fruitlessly tried again and again to re-establish contact with the mapping satellite. It seemed their most honourable companion would join its silent kin. But on this beautiful afternoon, standing on a rocky hill atop a grassland that buzzed with tiny animals and basking in the mellow warmth of the warming season sun, Intrepid told itself:

“It was worth it.”