SL Huang - Up and Coming - Stories by the 2016 Campbell-Eligible Authors

The amber light above the airlock turned green. She heard a hiss, and the door slid open. A freezing breeze blew on her face.

Hayek skipped into the science vessel, leaving dusty footprints on the white plastic floor.

“I have wonderful news. We found…” Tatiana wanted to tell him about the RNA, but her gaze fell on his EVA suit. It was covered by a thin layer of ice crystals. She smelled the ionized water vapor and knew what it meant. A cold geyser had erupted while he’d been digging. What was he thinking? He shouldn’t have risked his life like that. Especially not now, while she was expecting.

“I’ve got a present for you.” Hayek clicked his suit’s release button and took off his helmet, a big smile spread across his face. He reached for his insulated side pack and took out a small transparent container, about the size of a fist, and laid it on the table.

“You’d promised you would never drill again near the active zone.”

“Oops.” Hayek nodded, smiling. His eyes, partly covered by his blond hair, sparkled.

“Don’t do it again.” Tatiana examined the container. “Oh my God.” She paused. “Another sample of liquid water?” She snatched the container and inspected the transparent tubes within. It felt slightly warmer than her fingers. The material inside was liquid water all right. It had traces of green color—definitely not pure.

This mission was the first in history to have obtained a sample of extra-terrestrial water in liquid form. And now they had done it twice from two separate locations ten kilometers apart. “If this sample also contains traces of RNA…” Tatiana mumbled to herself. She tried to suppress her thoughts, wanting to avoid disappointment in case the scan turned negative. “A second RNA sample would mean that life is present throughout the liquid sea underneath the Enceladus ice sheet. This would be the greatest scientific discovery of the century.”

“Absolutely.” Hayek unzipped his ventilation garment. “We hit the jackpot.”

Four weeks had passed since Tatiana and her husband had left the human colony on Titan aboard the Herschel . It wasn’t a big ship by any account. It contained a small habitat that could facilitate two people, a medical bay, a lab and some drilling equipment. Eight days ago, the Herschel had landed on Enceladus, a tiny moon with a surface area about the size of Texas.

“How are my baby twins?” Hayek, who had taken off his EVA suit, hugged her from behind, touching her big belly.

“Both are fine.” Sample or no sample, Tatiana was still angry with him. She moved her free hand across her abdomen, touching his hand. Through her lab coat she could feel the babies moving. She turned her head, and found his lips waiting.

Tatiana and Hayek had had many arguments before accepting the mission to Enceladus. She hadn’t wanted to leave the colony and take unnecessary risks during her pregnancy, but she was the only xenobiologist on Titan, and with all the political problems on Earth and NASA’s budget cuts, this might have been their only chance to send an expedition to explore Enceladus' underground sea. To convince her, the Titan mission director had agreed to equip the Herschel’s medical bay with one of the colony’s A.I. doctors. Knowing that the A.I. could address almost any medical condition, including child-birth, Tatiana and her husband had agreed to the mission.

“While you were out trying to get yourself killed, the A.I. doctor did a thorough examination.” She frowned, hoping Hayek would realize she didn’t approve of him gambling with his life, not even for priceless water samples. “The twins are healthy.”

Hayek didn’t say a word. He kissed her full on the mouth. After a long moment, he freed her.

“Please,” she pushed him away gently, “not now. This is big. I need to analyze the sample.” She lifted the small container.

“Nothing is more important than you and the babies.” He threw his gloves to the floor and hugged her from behind while she calibrated the resolution on the electron microscope. “Hey, I felt something,” he said.

Tatiana chuckled. “They kicked like…like…Well, like you.”

“I’ll take a shower and change into something more comfortable.” Hayek gestured at his sweat-soaked coverall. He lifted his EVA suit from the floor and left the lab for the habitat module.

My c hildren…I wish I could see you grow, I wish I could be there for you. Regrettably, circumstances made me choose my own demise. My children, you and this message are all that is left of me.

“Madam, I found a similar abnormality in the second sample.” The A.I.'s mechanical voice sounded indifferent.

The monitor displayed the weirdest RNA mapping Tatiana had ever seen. She could identify the function of about 40 percent of the molecule in front of her—build enzymes, break carbohydrates and replicate the RNA. But the other 60 percent…it looked like…She couldn’t even think of an appropriate word. Biologically, it meant nothing. Gibberish. But her gut feeling told her it couldn’t be completely random. She sighed. If scientists during World War II could decipher the Enigma code using primitive computers and slide rulers, she had no doubt that with enough time and the immense computing powers at her disposal she could break this mysterious RNA code.

Tatiana wished Hayek was in the lab with her. She wanted to hear his sweet voice, to feel his hand touching hers. But Hayek was a geologist and not a xenobiologist like her. He preferred to spend his time running outside on Enceladus' surface, collecting ice and rock samples. To her, that whole notion seemed so counterproductive. For God’s sake, they stood on the verge of the greatest discovery in her field.

“Computer,” she switched the electron microscope scanner to a higher resolution, “please provide possible scenarios as to the purpose of the abnormal RNA coding.”

“A tiny percentage of the abnormal RNA coding represents mathematical series such as prime and Fibonacci numbers.”

“I beg your pardon?” Tatiana thought she had heard wrong.

The monitor zoomed in on a long string of adenine and cytosine, two of the four building blocks that existed in any RNA and DNA molecule. She could clearly see one adenine component, followed by one cytosine, then two adenine followed by one cytosine, then three adenine, five, seven, eleven…

“Dear mother of God.” Tatiana made a cross gesture across her chest. “This is bullshit. Run another test.”

“I already ran the analysis eleven times,” the A.I replied.

“What on Earth can produce RNA coding ordered in prime numbers?” Tatiana scratched the back of her head. “Normal evolutionary processes could produce meaningless junk, no doubt. But prime numbers? What were the odds for that?”

“This sample is not from Earth.” The computer colored the abnormal section in bright green. “Speculating about a process on Earth is irrelevant. I calculated a 99.94 percent likelihood that the unexplained RNA genome is artificial. There is still a 0.0546 percent likelihood that the unexplained RNA genome has a natural function that is yet unknown. 0.0052 percent likelihood that…”

Suddenly, the world around her shook violently. The Herschel spun, as if the vessel was inside a giant blender. Tatiana fell to the floor.

“Hayek!” she screamed in terror.

The science vessel tilted. In spite of Enceladus' low gravity, Tatiana rolled down-slope toward one of the walls. She gripped her swollen belly. Her first maternal instinct was to protect her unborn twins.

Flashing yellow bands of damage lights flooded the compartment. Electrical sparks flashed in front of her as lab equipment and life support electronics tore off the wall. Tatiana shut her eyes and screamed in horror. “HAYEK!” She crashed into the wall and rolled across it, finally colliding with a cold surface.