Cassandra and the Unknown World

future…

Eden Prologue

It is an early morning. An astronomer David Smith sat in his office and turned the coffee maker on while he was watching the monitor in his office in Turku, Finland. He was a tall and a slender man who brushed his blonde hair. He was overseeing the Exoplanet Seeker satellite on his turn together with astronomers from Britain, Canada, Japan and Australia. He had a protected connection to the satellite´s server which was in USA. The satellite orbited the Sun in the Earth´s Lagrangian point in which Earth´s gravitational pull equalled Sun´s gravitational pull. The satellite had found dozens of new planets but up to this point they were either large gas giants like Jupiter or small rocky planets like Mercury which were too hot for the life based on carbon.

Smith oversaw the satellite since last night. He was tired and a bit irritated but his mind became clearer when he saw the picture of his wife Aino. He was a planet seeker astronomer who was ambitious and curious. He knew that a part of his job was being patient. He had personally found several planets orbiting different stars. Some of his discoveries have been confirmed but the rest still waited for the confirmation. Smith knew that the large telescopes on the surface of Earth were useful but their problem was the atmosphere which filtered away much of radiation and light from the starts. Discovering planets next to the stars was a very difficult task like seeing a flame of the candle next to the large spotlight with distance of a kilometre or so. It is easy to see to light from the spotlight but the same time it covers the light from the candle. It was much easier for the satellites to detect very weak sources of light or surfaces reflecting lights than observatories located on the surface of Earth.

At least one unknown planet orbited the star Kappa 1 Ceti. Smith knew that several large gas planets orbited that star from further distance. However, the gentle wobbling of the star around the centre of gravity point indicated that there were probably more planet orbiting the star and those planets remained undetected. Smith had calculated that one possible planet orbiting the star would emerge between the star and Earth in any day now which would mean that they could evaluate the size of that planet. Smith had used a computer model on the Kappa 1 Ceti system and it supported the assumption that the planet exists. It would mean that they should check that possibility, Smith thought.

Smith hoped that the planet would come between the star and Earth so that they could also evaluate the composition of the planet´s atmosphere. They knew the patterns of that star´s light very well. When the planet comes between the star and Earth then some of the star light would travel through the planet´s atmosphere and finally coming to Earth. The molecules on the planet´s atmosphere would leave their marks to the light from the star.

The satellite could be able to analyse that mark when the original composition of the star light is known. However, there were three weaknesses in that method. First they should have a well-defined target. Secondly, there should have a known source of light behind the planet by the satellite´s database. Thirdly, the source of light should be as close at the planet as possible that no other source of light could mess the star light from that source.

Smith made another pan of coffee. During the night he drank several pans of coffee to stay awake. Overseeing the satellite was very boring job because he had watched the monitors for hours. He had used his time to send text messages to the other astronomers. Other astronomers had answered him quite diligently except the Australian one.

Suddenly, there was an alarm on the monitor. The satellite had detected that the brightness of Kappa 1 Ceti had decreased slightly. Smith´s first thought was if this is the planet he was looking for? He felt the conflict between being excited and being sceptical. He felt that now he was fully awake and didn´t need to cup of coffee. He remembered how he had predicted the existence of that planet according to the computer model and calculated when the planet will reveal itself. According to his calculation the planet should have revealed itself a day earlier. It would mean that there was something wrong in his calculations or the satellite just now detects the decreasing brightness of the star. Smith quickly looked at his calculations at the monitor but he couldn´t find what was wrong.

Smith glanced at the monitor and at the same time the computer stated to define the discovery based on the planetary system model. The task for the computer was to calculate how well this discovery correlated with the model. The computer both calculated the model and analysed the light from the star. It took couple of moments for the computer to confirm the fact that the mysterious planet on the model actually existed. Smith knew that he has been correct on his calculations.

Smith realized that the computer was able to determine from the light the distance of the planet from the mother star and the composition of the planet´s atmosphere. He noticed that the planet orbited the star on the so-called habitable zone. According to the computer the composition of the planet´s atmosphere was about 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen. In addition to that the mass and the size of the planet were comparable to Earth.

That is not a certain observation, Smith thought. If the computer was correct on the analysis, then he had found the first planet which can maintain life. Smith knew that, this observation must be confirmed first. If other astronomers can confirm this observation, then he had indeed found the first planet which can maintain the life based on carbon like Earth can. If that is true can humans can theoretically live in there.

Smith knew perfectly well that this observation was very interesting. He checked that both the computer and the satellite worked as they should work in order to eliminate the possibility that there was something wrong the equipment. Smith thought if the computer interpreted the light and the radiation from the star correctly. Smith noticed that other astronomers had send him messages congratulating him. However, the Australian astronomer didn´t send a message while everyone else congratulated Mr. Smith. They have the same information which Smith saw on his monitor. Then Smith quickly replied on those messages and observed how the computer continued the validation calculations.

Are you here? You were at home last time three days ago. I have clean clothes to you, a female voice said. Smith turned around and he saw his wife, Aino Toivonen and he nodded. His wife much shorter than he, slender and she had a dark hair. He was also an astronomer but she was specialized on observing the Sun.

Come and see what the satellite has discovered, Smith said with enthusiastic voice and with his hand told Aino to look at the monitor.

There is a planet orbiting Kappa 1 Ceti on the habitable zone and that planet can sustain life based on Carbon?, Aino said with a clear surprise on her tone and asked: He you confirmed that information?

I am doing that now, Smith replied and stated: It seems to be a genuine thing but it needs to be confirmed. If it will be confirmed, then I have found the first planet which can sustain life.

I am certain that the you would be remembered for a long time, Aino said and then asked: Have you though how people would reach that planet?

That planet is about 30 light years away. Reaching it would take centuries or even millennia. One option would be to send there a spacecraft and the allow the robots to bring up people in there, Smith explained.

You mean the Embryo Space Colonization -theory?, Aino noticed.

Yes. Reaching the level of technology that theory demands will probably take at least couple of centuries, Smith wondered aloud.

Why did you choose that theory? Wouldn´t generation ships be better option for long distance stellar exploration and colonization?, Aino asked curiously.

The trip would take too long by using generation ships, perhaps even millennia. At the same time, the needs of the passengers like food, water, oxygen and shelter should be provided. Living the whole life from birth to death would require a lot of mental spirit, Smith explained.

Would it be possible to extend the life span of the people?, Aino inquired innocently.

That is possible in theory but it will not remove the basic needs of the people, Smith replied concisely.

Is it possible to use cryonics to put people in sleep?, Aino suggested.

That could work in theory but waking them up would be difficult because water tend to crystalize when it freezes and it will break the cell structure, Smith noted bluntly.

How about travelling fast than light?, Aino proposed, again innocently.

Then we should deal with the Einstein´s theory of relativity. Remember that the energy is as much as the mass multiplied by velocity squared. The speed of light is a very high figure and squaring it would make it even much larger. There would be the same problem with energy regarding the wormholes, Smith replied.

Hah hah. My teasing was successful, Aino said laughingly.

I suspected that much. When you are so smart then would be kind and tell me why did I choose the Embryo Space Colonization – theory?, Smith asked with slightly annoyed voice.

Many things such as the robotics, the artificial intelligence, the artificial wombs and the computers which will endure centuries or even millennia and the power sources of those ships should be available for that kind of mission, Aino stated and then quickly continued: One should not forget biological and ethical issues such as the preserving of DNA material and the question whether it is ethical to allow robots to bring up people. Also there is a question about which values will be taught to the children. Have you thought about the name for that new planet?"

What do you think about Eden?, Smith asked enthusiastically and said: "It must be a paradise compared to the other planets which have been discovered earlier.

1.

The bell rang and the pupils came to the classroom. There were 49 of them. They were all 16 years old. There were 25 girls and 24 boys in the classroom. Originally, there were 50 of them but one boy died in an accident 2 years ago. That boy was meant to be her companion. The pupils had tables in front of them, altogether 25 of them which meant that one table was for two pupils. Each row and column had 5 tables. During the class she looked outside and there is a bright weather out there. Looks like that Kappa 1 Ceti shines so brightly. That is the strange name for a star which shines on the sky. They call that star as Kappa.

They don’t have human as a teacher but their teacher is a robot and that robot´s name is Mr. Erudio. They see him as a person but in fact he is just a machine. He is around 1,5 meters tall and he has wheels for moving. Their school and residential building is designed that it is possible to move in there by using wheels. They have many elevators in that building. They were told that those elevators were made by the leading elevator manufacturers in the Earth.

Her name is Cassandra and she has long yellow hair and blue eyes. She is also quite tall and her body is slender and muscular at the same time. She is very fit physically. Her plans for the future are to study the biology of this planet. If they want to live in this planet, then they need to be able to exploit all the local natural resources. At this moment, they have less than 800 people at their ship because every annual class has no more than 50 people. Soon, 17th annual class will be born and at that point Cassandra´s class, the first class, will be out and making this planet habitable.

Suddenly, Cassandra´s thoughts are disrupted when Mr. Erudio asks her: Cassandra, do you remember what is the theme of this class? Cassandra thinks a short moment and answers:

The theme of this class is how we ended in here, this planet.

You are correct Cassandra. Today´s topic is that how and why we ended in here. This year, it has been 6482 days, 18 years, since our spaceship arrived this planet which we call as Eden. The first class, you are now 16 years old. You are coming to the age to leave the safety of the spaceship and start exploring Eden. Before that it is good for you to know how you ended here and what you can expect to meet out there, Erudio said.

One boy, Laocoon raises his hand and asks: How are we here and how have we travelled from the Earth? I have never seen elder people. How old can people live?

Laocoon has dark hair, pale skin and dark eyes. He is slightly taller than Cassandra and a bit sturdy. Physically he is strong but his endurance isn´t that good.

Mr. Erudio answers to Laocoon´s question: Those are quite complex questions and I cannot give you a direct answer, however I know that in good circumstances people can easily live over 80 years old. The best answer for our origin is to watch the documentary film that I have planned for our class.

After saying this Erudio pushed a button in his teacher´s table. The white screen lowers and he tunes down the lighting in the classroom. Then he pushes other buttons in order to get the documentary film ready to be shown. Then he says: After this documentary film we will discuss about it and another class will be used go through the Eden´s local environment again.

Cassandra thinks that this is very expected because they are going to be the first class which will be allowed to leave this building. It is funny in a way that they don´t know what their school looks like outside. There is a joke that their school looks a like factory. There are some machines for production so they know what the word factory means. They have also seen pictures about factories as well. However, they don´t know if that factory claim is true. Cassandra knows that they have been kept indoors for 16 years. It was said that this was for their own good. During that time, they have received the basic education and then they have been trained for their assigned jobs. All of them have also trained to have some basic military training as well. The most important exception are the soldiers who are trained to kill.

When Cassandra pondered this, the film started. The name of the film was Looking the Extra Terrestial Life. They knew that their origin was from the place that they call as Earth. They know that this is planet which is in another solar system some 30 light years away.

The document starts and it mentioned that the first exoplanet was discovered in 1988. The next thing to mention is that to the beginning of the year 2016, some 2047 exoplanets were discovered. Cassandra quickly calculated in the paper. She divided 2047 with 28 and the result was around 73. She thought that discovering 73 planets per year on average was quite an achievement.

After this the documentary focuses on the methods to discover new planets. The center of gravity method is mentioned and the documentary tells that it is not the same point that the center of the star. Because of this, the astronomers see the star wobbling and this reveals that the star does have a large planet orbiting it generally very close. It is possible to see this movement from lightyears away.

In Cassandra´s ears that sounds quite unbelievable because if discovering new planets is so important then wouldn´t it be the best idea to send satellites to find them? Earth´s atmosphere will not disturb satellites looking for new planets in any way.

Soon after this, the document tells that an American astronomer David Smith years later discovered a planet orbiting Kappa 1 Ceti in the Goldilocks zone which allows the water in that planet to be in the liquid form. This planet was named as Eden because it was the discovered planet first that may be able to support life as humans knew it. If the planet would be closer to the star, then it would be hotter and the water would simply vaporize and if the planet would be farer then the water would freeze to ice. As a technology to detect new planets, Smith used new satellites designed for that task. Cassandra realizes that Smith quite tall and he has got yellow hair which seems to be slowly turning gray. However, Smith then started to tell about problems regarding space flight between stars.

Mr. Smith very enthusiastically tells that his group of astronomers estimated that the planet orbiting Kappa 1 Ceti was roughly as large as Earth with similar mass. Their preliminary analysis on the atmosphere indicated that the atmosphere contained mostly nitrogen and oxygen. According to Mr. Smith the relation between them was that there was around 80% of nitrogen and 20% of oxygen. The technology that his group used couldn´t give any more detailed information. According to Mr. Smith, this means that there are probably plants which can either photosynthesize or chemosynthesize in that planet. Finally, he said that Eden looks like a very promising candidate to colonize if humans can somehow travel that 30 lightyears distance.

Mr. Smith said that it would be very difficult to send a spaceship with hundreds, maybe thousands of people to travel the distance of dozens of lightyears. As a biology expert, Cassandra knew that a group of that large would need a lot of food, water, shelter and oxygen. In space, they should be able to produce all of that by themselves and the spaceship should be self-sufficient. It would take centuries or millennia to travel that kind of distances which means that dozens of generations would born and die during that journey without seeing Earth or Eden with their own eyes. Mr. Smith mentions that these are the reasons why he is so skeptical towards manned flights between stars.

Then Mr. Smith started to talk about an alternative theory to travel that distance. His idea is to use either fertilized human egg or frozen egg and sperm fertilizing them after arriving to the target. They would be allowed to born and then to develop as adults after the ship would have arrived its destination. According to Mr. Smith, this of course requires that human eggs and sperm could be protected from the changing temperatures, cosmic radiation and injection of energy from different stars. Those human eggs and sperm would be the most important material during the journey. Suddenly Cassandra realized that this was how they arrived to Eden. That also explains why they are the first class. They were fertilized and they have no information about their parents. Cassandra is very displeased about the fact that they are possibly carrying inheritable diseases in their genes but they have no information about that.

Their basic education was that they were taught to write, to read and to calculate. At the same time, their robot teachers observed what special interests did they have. Cassandra was always interested about animals and plants. That is why she was chosen to specialize in biology and later in astrobiology, which means that she has professional education to handle unknown plants and animals. In practice, it means that Cassandra should be able to determine if plants and animals they discover could be useful or harmful for the colonists. That is a challenging task because when they will start the colonization of Eden then there will be demand for Cassandra´s skills. Cassandra knew this when she watches out of window and saw robots treating fields and more distant forest.

At this point, Cassandra´s thoughts focused on the documentary. Mr. Smith continued telling about the space travel concept. He told about risks sending genetic material from Earth to the other planet. Then he mentioned that one very important issue to deal with would be the inadequate training or language in the foreign planet. Another issue would be to create a cultural background for the colonists. Cassandra thought that they at least avoided that risk. They have 49 people in first class, who are