Orpheus

32

A few hours later, everybody had assembled in the dining area; everybody except Owen. Elise informed that he was on the Intersect, doing some checks, but the small of her gut told her he was trying to ignore her. Sitting there, with the others, round the table, Riley felt a real sense of de ja vu. Behind them on the window loomed Mars and the wormhole, the sporadic flashes of light constantly reminding them of their destiny looming just beyond.

"So everyone else is here." Connor began. "Now, out there is the wormhole, and we, humanity's last hope. If things go according to plan, by this time tomorrow we will be passing through the neck of the wormhole; if you want to contact anybody on Earth, this will be the last chance you get to do so."

'Last? Oh right, the waves; Pratham had mentioned they can't get across...'

Another huge streak of lightning flashed across the inky expanse. Riley couldn't help but stare at the swirling wormhole; it seemed that the others couldn't help but do so too.

"Is it even safe?" Elise asked. "The lightning?"

"As long as we're inside here, or wear our suits, I think we'll be fine." Pratham answered.

"Think?" Elise asked back.

"We don't know, okay? Sure this wormhole's always been behind the orbit of Mars, but its never been big enough to like, suck in the atmosphere and cause lightning storms."

"It should be fine, I guess..." Olivia added. "Mars's atmosphere is 90% carbon dioxide."

"But isn't CO2, like, an insulator?" Riley asked. "How the lightning then?"

"Yeah..." Pratham replied for Olivia. "but that's not the thing causing the lightning; its water."

"Water? In space?" Elise scuffed.

"It's because of Phobos." Olivia seemed slightly defensive; it was her turn to reply for Pratham. "Deimos, the outermost moon, was just rock and got sucked right into the wormhole. Phobos though was much larger and closer to Mars, so it didn't get sucked right it."

"No; it got torn apart," Connor interjected. "Bit by bit." A small part of Riley's throat fell to her stomach.

"We always speculated Phobos had a large reservoir of ice underneath the surface." Olivia continued. "And now it's just out there: floating in space."

A silence fell over the room. Riley couldn't help but feel small; small, against the infinite face of the universe.

"But isn't ice a bad conductor?" Elise asked. "How does that work out?"

"I'm not entirely sure..." Pratham replied. "But I have a theory: the wormhole has gravity, and it also acts on both sides; stuff is going into the wormhole, but it can also coming out. This swirl of matter going in and coming out must be enough to generate enough heat to melt the ice into water near the mouth of the wormhole. Combine that with all the dust, and now we have an interstellar lightning cloud." He gave a feeble smile at that.

'We left Earth to escape the dust, yet now it awaits us by the gates of our fate.'

"But that's not the most interesting part; it's the stuff coming out the wormhole:" Pratham continued "Exotic matter."

Riley turned her gave back towards the window; she didn't see anything out of the blue (anything other than the fact that a wormhole was ripping apart Mars's atmosphere).

"I don't see anything." Riley spoke.

"Yes, but look closely." Pratham insisted. "See that slight blue tinge in the cloud?"

Now that Pratham had mentioned it, Riley could make out the halo of blue around the twisted browns of the cloud. It was so faint, Riley half suspected it was her imagination.

"That... is exotic matter." Pratham added. "It'd be pretty awesome if we could get some samples before we jump in; I don't think humanity's gonna get another shot at examining this stuff any time soon."

Another silence filled the room as everybody contemplated about it. Riley thought the cloud looked dangerous, almost alive; an intergalactic monster with a wormhole for a maw.

"Okay, how about you take one of the ships now, collect some samples." Connor decided for all of them.

"Now?" There was a hint of shock on Pratham's face.

"Now. We have no time to lose, and I can't afford us losing time while our mission is at stake. Olivia, would you accompany him?"

"Huh?" It seemed Olivia had been lost in thought. "Oh yeah, sure...". Riley wasn't sure if it was just her head playing games, but underneath his unease, Pratham's eyes seemed to twinkle at the mention of Olivia.

"Be careful," Connor concluded, his voice steely. "And remember: nothing is more important than this mission. Whatever you do, do not screw this up for me."