Winter World (The Long Winter #1)(50)

“And we could be going faster.”

“Has cost,” Grigory mutters.

“Which is?”

“Less energy for drones. Reactor can only produce so much. We need the excess for Midway.”

Charlotte is exasperated. “I can’t believe we’re even still thinking about launching the Midway fleet. I mean seriously.” She looks around at the group. “We’re talking about launching a fleet of drones to look for other artifacts when we’ve got one right in front of us that’s already talking to us?”

I shake my head. “Midway is about more than that, Charlotte. We can’t just make double time to Beta and put all our eggs in one basket.” I get blank stares from Min and Izumi. I have to dial back the idioms. “We need to take action that prepares Earth for all possibilities. One successful communication with one artifact isn’t the end of this.”

Harry offers a welcome break in the argument. “Remind us, Charlotte, what the next step is in your first contact protocol.”

“Right.” She inhales. “The scout drone was programmed to return to us the minute first contact was made. The comm drone actually received the Fibonacci response fifty-two hours ago.”

“And while the scout drone returned to us, what’s the first contact drone been doing?” Emma asks.

“Following protocol,” Charlotte replies. “It’s advancing to more sophisticated vocabularies, trying to establish a rich communication method. The primary goal is to convince the artifact that we’re intelligent and peaceful.”

In my thirty-six years of experience with the human race, I’ve found both points debatable.

“We’re closing the distance to the artifact quickly,” I say. “The original plan was to send the scout drone back to Beta, observe any further progress in communication, then return to us. Based on our speed and distance, its next round trip would be about forty-four hours—if we dispatch it now. So I favor sending the scout drone back, keeping our planned rendezvous with Fornax, and continuing the construction and launch of the Midway fleet. Thoughts?”

“I agree,” says Grigory.

Min: “I do too.”

Emma: “Yeah, same here.”

Harry: “Charlotte’s point is worth considering, but I still feel we need to find out what other artifacts may be out there.”

Izumi: “I agree with James.”

Lina: “The observation drone arrives in twenty hours, correct? It will have full data from the fly-by of Beta?”

I nod. “Correct.”

“And the scout drone will return in forty-four hours with more data on first contact. In that case, I favor following our plan unless the data from the observation drone reveals a reason to change.”

With that, the meeting breaks. Charlotte isn’t happy, but we’ve all had our say. This mission is a lot more complicated than I ever imagined.

Every section of the ship and every department lead to the bubble. The energy of the crew coalesces there. Our opinions clash there. And in the storm, we make our plans better. Consensus is forged.

But back in the lab, Harry, Emma, and I are mostly on the same page (with the glaring exception of balancing Emma’s health and workload). When the three of us get back to the lab, the tension from the bubble is gone. Harry pulls me into a bear hug. Emma joins us, and I pull her close.

“We did it,” Harry says. “Can you believe it?”

“I can’t,” Emma whispers. “I went into space hoping to do work that would lead to a human colony someday. But this—contact with an alien life form—it’s beyond my wildest dreams.”

I like seeing her like this: happy, inspired. A kid again.

This moment is the best I’ve felt in a long, long time.





I can barely sleep the night before the observation drone arrives.

We’re all sitting in the bubble, staring at the widescreen, when it comes into view. It looks just like a small asteroid. Min issues docking instructions via the comm patches on the outside of the Pax. The drone maneuvers alongside us and into the open bay we’ve prepped for it. When the exterior hatch closes, Izumi floats in, suited in her EMU. She plugs the drone into the ship, and Lina’s software interface begins pulling the data in.

“Don’t wait for me,” Izumi says over the comm. We’re all excited to see the artifact, and every second counts now.

Lina’s fingers work furiously, sorting the data. The screen switches to a video feed from the drone. All eyes are glued to it. Everyone is silent.

Beta hangs in the distance. The sun is behind the drone, illuminating the front of the artifact. The previous image, taken by the probe, was from the rear, the sun in the distance, the artifact simply a dark blur before the blazing sun. The drone zooms closer to the artifact, and several things strike me. First, its size and shape. From this angle, the outline of the object appears circular. I can’t tell yet whether it’s a sphere or if perhaps we’re looking at the end of a cylinder. But it’s large. It must be a mile across. Maybe two. The drone does the math. In the lower right-hand corner of the video, white text appears against the black of space:

Estimated width: 2.4 km





Estimated height: 2.4 km





It’s a mile and a half across.