Peter Cawdron - Xenophobia

“Can we talk?” Dr. Ambar asked.

“Yes,” Bower said, turning and walking away from the film crew as they packed up their equipment.

“Are you in touch with Elvis?”

“From time to time,” she said. “He’s been seconded by SETI as part of a global awareness campaign and spends even more time on the road than me. He’s so gregarious and outgoing. The NASA guys love him, especially when he strikes up an old Elvis Presley classic at the end of a rally.”

Dr. Ambar smiled.

“I’ve got something I’d like you to see,” He said, pulling a photograph from a plain manila folder and handing it to her.

Bower looked at the glossy sheet of paper in front of her as she walked along the path by the river. The image was grainy. A moon orbited Saturn, just outside one of the major rings.

“I don’t get it. What am I looking for?”

Dr. Ambar grinned, handing her another photo that showed the same image enlarged, but the resolution was so poor the enlargement was pointless.

“I thought NASA’s budget had been increased,” she said. “Surely you can afford digital photos on a tablet.”

“Ah,” Dr. Ambar replied, with a subtle tone in his voice that suggested he was uttering a secret. “These images are far too important. Even the digital versions are individually tracked.”

He was smiling like a kid in a candy store. Bower could see he expected her to notice something, but she thought the telescope lens needed cleaning.

“There,” he said, pointing at the picture as they paused.

“Is that…”

“Yes.”

Bower stepped off the path, walking out of the shade of a tree to allow the sunlight to highlight the subtleties in the image.

“Are you sure about this?” Bower asked.

“Yes,” Dr. Ambar replied, walking beside her.

“But how? Why?” she asked, not sure which question she wanted answered first.

“It’s been six months,” he said.

“I don’t understand?” Bower replied. “I thought they left our solar system. We watched them go. We tracked them as far as Neptune.”

“We did,” Dr. Ambar agreed.

“So what does this mean?”

“Interesting you should ask,” he replied. “Given your experience with the aliens, we were hoping you might be able to provide some insight.”

Bower thought for a second.

“Which moon is this?”

“Enceladus. It’s an ice moon. We think there’s an ocean down there beneath the frozen surface.”

Dr. Ambar handed her some more photos, saying, “Their activity doesn’t match anything we saw when they first approached Earth. This mothership is in a highly eccentric orbit around Saturn, reaching out as far as the distant moon Titan, while never approaching closer than the orbit of Enceladus and the outer rings as she swings around the planet. The thing is, their free-fall is exquisitely timed so as to pass within a thousand miles of each of these moons on each of their orbits.”

“I don’t get it?” she said.

“They’re buzzing these two moons,” Dr. Ambar replied. “Titan orbits Saturn once every sixteen days. Enceladus orbits once every day and a half. The alien craft is, in effect, conducting a fly-by of Titan and Enceladus roughly once a week. It’s almost as though she were chasing them.”

Bower was silent, lost in thought.

“There hasn’t been any surface activity on Enceladus, at least none we can detect. Although they could have floaters on Titan and we wouldn’t know it. Whatever the case, they’ve been at this for a while, probably for a couple of months before we noticed them. As best we understand this, though, the alien activity around Saturn commenced well after their encounter with Earth, and with a different mothership.”

“Are there any spacecraft that can take a closer look?” Bower asked.

“We’re trying to re-task Cassini. She went quiet several years ago, but if we can coax her back online we’ll get a better look. Personally, I don’t like our chances.”

Dr. Ambar examined one of the photos as he stood beside her, saying, “Can you think of any reason they’d be out there?”

“There’s only one thing that interests them,” Bower replied. “Life. If they’re exploring Enceladus and Titan, then they’ve found life down there.”

“That’s what I thought,” Dr. Ambar replied. “But NASA isn’t convinced. Why linger? Why sit in such an eccentric orbit? It’s almost like they want us to see them.”

“It’s like they’re waiting,” Bower said.

“Waiting for what?”

“For us.” Bower handed the photos back to him, saying, “It’s an invitation. They found life in our backyard and they’re waiting for us to join them.”

The Beginning

I’d like to thank the following people for their support in writing Xenophobia. In no particular order, thanks to Commander Mike Morrissey (USA, Retired) for his assistance in the military aspects of this novel, my unofficial editor Brian Wells for his patience, Jae Lee for convincing me to delete 25,000 words in the rewrite, John Walker (Autodesk/Fourmilab) for his keen eye and assistance with editing, Ellen Campbell for following up on everyone else, and my ever encouraging wife, Fiona, for putting up with my crazy ideas.

The cover art for Xenophobia has been graciously provided by Jason Gurley.

The reference to the Elvis Presley song, Viva Las Vegas, was deliberately crafted in such a way as to avoid any copyright infringement with none of the actual song lyrics being used. Copyright for Viva Las Vegas is held by Mort Shuman Songs and Pomus Songs Inc. In the same way, the only reference to any other songs performed by Elvis Presley are their titles.

The major premise within Xenophobia is that the way we treat each other on Earth will impact how we approach an intelligent alien species. In other words, if we can’t get it together between ourselves, we’re not going to get on well with the neighbors.

There are no easy answers to the dilemma of xenophobia, as is borne out by the social, religious and cultural clashes that occur in regions like Africa and Central Asia, or in Chicago and London for that matter.

Here in Australia, elections always seem to herald a fresh round of xenophobia as politicians seize on the fear of foreigners and the bogus concept of “border security” to secure votes. With 170,000 immigrants arriving each year, a few thousand arriving by boat makes no difference. The only real concern is that migration through unauthorized channels is a dangerous proposition. Asylum seekers with a genuine case should be accepted regardless of whether they arrive by boat, by plane or on a sleigh from the North Pole, but fear is seldom rational, and that’s the perspective I’ve tried to capture in Xenophobia.

Any visiting alien would be astonished by the interconnectivity and interdependencies of life on Earth, and this concept extends beyond what we’ve dared imagine until recent times.

The science of biology is continuing to learn more about the intricacies of human life. One aspect touched on in this novel is the concept of the microbiome, or the influence of the microorganisms inhabiting the human body. Technically, they are distinctly separate lifeforms, but in practice they have a profound influence on our lives, one that has parallels to our genome, having a profound impact on our health and physiology. There are ten times as many microbial cells in and on the body as there are human cells, although they are small in size by comparison. Some consider the microbiome as vital as any other organ of the body. If you’re interested in learning more about this fascinating, emerging field, check out Jonathan Eisen’s blog.

We live on a remarkable planet. For us, life is commonplace, but as best we understand the universe at this point, life is astonishingly rare. Hollywood has aliens attacking Earth, plundering mineral resources or sucking water from our oceans, but the reality is, these commodities are found in absurd abundance throughout space.