Coiper Belt. Valery Konstantinovich Bulygin
judging by their movements. Of course, I am far from thinking that this is something reasonable, but I think we should continue to scan them and send some information just in case.
– What information do you want to send? – Scan asked.
– As usual, what we sent before. Standard set: who we are, what we are, where we are. These signals in any case indicate that they are of artificial origin. We will wait for an answer if he follows. If there is an answer, we are kind of going to have to deal with something reasonable. Oddly enough, this will be the first contact with something similar to the mind. In the history of the Earth, it was not possible to hear signals similar to artificial signals from the Cosmos. I still have no confidence that there is anything reasonable in the nearest Cosmos. For almost 200 years, we have been listening to Cosmos and everything in vain.
A week later, the head of the navigation department again invited the commander.
– We can inform you that our requests have received clear signals and they are of great interest. The response signals were received at the same frequency. The first packet we received was the same as the one we sent. It was actually repeated. They are probably some kind of ship. Who is in them? Machines or sentient beings? That is the surprise. Is there going to be a meeting of sentient beings?
Is there going to happen to be a meeting of sentient beings on the edge of the solar system? It seems to be early to fantasize. It will be necessary to decide how to exchange information.
The whole department of cryptographers worked three shifts. The communication algorithm, which was developed on Earth, was improved. After two weeks of intensive work, the following
– 94 ships fly from another system, which, by the way, is in our Milky Way galaxy. According to the coordinates that we were given, we roughly identified this place. Almost all ships are living creatures, inhabitants of this system. Their system has become subject to the attraction of a local black hole, and after a while, this process will become inevitable.
They (like us) decided to build ships and look for a better place to live and colonize.
Now they are sent to our solar system, because according to their calculations it is suitable for habitation. Living creatures on ships of protein origin.
Here, in short, is such information. It is going to happen, we are leaving the solar system, and they are flying to it.
Captain Scan made this decision:
Let the aliens know what awaits them in our solar system.
Find out where they are coming from so we do not go there.
It was also decided to refrain from close contacts for the time being. It is not known what their intentions are. What we can expect: friendship or hatred, understanding or competition.
After a while, the following message was received: the exact coordinates of the place from which they fly, do not want to give.
The tone of the message alerted Scan. Turns out it is not that simple. Something is wrong. In connection with the current situation, it was decided to stop all contact with aliens and go on a given route. Contacting a stranger is not a predictable thing. Imagine you are walking alone in the desert for three days. You do not have any more power. Then on the horizon, you can see some settlement. You think that is salvation. Come to the settlement, and there live cannibals. In addition, they are very happy to see you. What are their intentions? Who are we for them? Friends, brothers of mind or competitors? At the dawn of our civilization, we were very naive. We thought that the brothers would come in mind, share their achievements, technologies. However, does it really have to be that way?
Chapter 6
(In orbit Ross 128 b)
/Meeting in the Committee on Planetary Development/
/Chief, assistant – Strokov, biologist – Litovskaya, physicist – Klarsen, chemist – Ji Li/
– First, I want to congratulate you all on the success of our mission and the achievement of our goal. It may be finite, or maybe intermediate. We are the fifth generation of forced travelers. We all come from planet Earth. Our predecessors cherished the memory of her. They passed on the knowledge accumulated by the humanity of the Earth, preserved culture, literature, and art. We will keep this knowledge forever, without it we will not survive in the vast spaces of space. We will always treat with great appreciation to those people who prepared the expedition and built ships. Billy spent a huge effort to organize mass flight
Now we are at the first point of our target and it is the planet Ross 128 b, which revolves around the red dwarf Ross 128.
Our ancestors could not determine with certainty whether it was possible to make this planet our home. We have to decide and draw conclusions about the possibility of staying there. All of you have sufficient knowledge. All this knowledge has been accumulated on Earth and carefully transferred to you. Now you have a great responsibility. We will not hurry, it is not necessary. The slightest mistake will be very expensive.
We have already sent robots to the planet. In the first stage, they will explore the planet and gather the information we need. Some of the information has already arrived, and your task is to handle it.
It has been three months. The Development Committee met for a preliminary meeting.
– I ask you to provide a general characteristic of the planet Ross 128 b, – said Mr. Saripov. Let us start with the chemistry department. Please, Ji Lee.
The chemical composition on the planet is not the same as on Earth and it was expected. The composition of the air is about 2% – oxygen, 90% – nitrogen, 2% – carbon dioxide. This composition of air was on Earth about 300—400 million years ago.
– As a biologist, I can explain the small amount of oxygen, – Litovskaya said.
– There is water on the planet, although not in large quantities. There are algae and on the rocky surface found primitive plants in the form of lichens. They give such a small amount of oxygen. However, the composition of the air suits us quite well. We have technical solutions to bring it to normal. Something else is unpleasant. Ross 128 b has only one side facing its Star. In addition, it is hot on this side. Solid stone deserts devoid of water. The opposite side is covered with ice, as in Antarctica on Earth. Only a strip of 2—3 thousand kilometers wide is of interest to us.
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