Chapter One
“In space no one can hear you scream,” cautioned the tagline for Alien, a blockbuster science fiction movie of the 1970s.
But it is not true.
Oh, technically it is accurate; the vacuum of space has no atmosphere composed of molecules to carry sound waves from mouth to ear. In fact, two unprotected humans would not last much longer than it took for their mouths to form that first exclamation of surprise before their eyes clouded, their lungs burst, and nitrogen gas boiled out of their blood, rendering further communication moot.
On the other hand, the catchphrase is not true because the predominant mode of communication in the universe is not via sound waves but via thought, and no mind is immune to, nor physical medium necessary for, telepathic transmissions.
Though Professor Daniel James never heard the alien messages screaming in his ears, once he realized nonhuman beings’ thoughts were manifesting inside his head, the effect was as if they had stood beside him and bellowed sound waves onto his ear drums.
But let us start at the beginning.
On a LED screen before us is an image of the vastness of space where shines a bright point of light, Teegarden’s Star, a red dwarf in the constellation Ares. As the camera zooms in the scene resolves into a system of planets; we close on one, Teegarden’s B, until the star’s red globe nearly fills the screen and the small planetary disk that hangs beside it. A measured scholarly male voice speaks:
“Habitable exoplanets are the Holy Grail in the search for extraterrestrial life.”
As the camera zooms closer the planet grows larger and larger until a bright halo appears, the atmosphere.
Our narrator continues, “Direct imaging of atmospheres for bio-indicators: oxygen, carbon dioxide, ozone, and water vapor can tell us if a planet supports life.”
Moving closer still reveals a red-tinged sky with clouds and a surface of water.
“’Are we alone?’ Mankind has taken a giant leap toward answering that question with a new era of astronomy.”
Reversing its trajectory, our camera pulls back until Teegarden’s Star is just another bright light in the firmament then pans to two impressive, unmanned spacecraft.
“Advanced space telescopes.”
The larger, a reflector with 18 brilliantly shining gold hexagonal mirrors mounted perpendicularly on what looks like a platform of stacked fabric kites.
“The James Webb Space Telescope is our newest tool to study the cosmos. But that’s not all…”
Panning to the smaller craft reveals a refractor-type telescope resembling a giant SLR camera with a long telephoto lens.
“Its companion THEIA is a valuable addition to the giant Webb.”
On screen our grand tour now picks up, proceeding beyond the two spacecraft, past the Moon to Earth where we stop to admire a beautiful shot of the Big Blue Marble; we then zoom in successively to North America, the West Coast of the United States, a mountain range in Southern California, to…Palomar Mountain. From a panoramic shot of the Palomar Observatory complex centered on the main Hale Telescope dome we pivot and zoom in on the Greenway Visitor Center.
“Yes, the era of space exploration is an exciting time in astronomy, for together Webb and THEIA may at last find proof of alien life in the Universe.”
Finally, the camera pulls back to reveal a large LED screen mounted on the wall and the video ends with the title “The Search for ET” frozen on the screen.
As the lights came up and the music faded a man in his mid-thirties rose to address the small crowd gathered around the famous Schmidt Telescope in the main room of the Palomar Museum. Along the left wall was a large group of Japanese tourists, many wearing souvenir T-shirts and baseball caps newly purchased from the adjacent bookstore. The rest of the crowd was composed of a mixture of blue collar and white-collar Americans.
Astronomer Daniel James, PhD, addressed the crowd. “As we have just seen, the Kepler Telescope surveyed over a half million stars and discovered more than 2600 planets outside our solar system before it ran out of fuel. But the vastly improved optics and advanced instrumentation of Webb and THEIA will enable humans to learn details about these and new exoplanets as never before. Perhaps we will finally answer that age-old question: Does life exist outside of planet Earth?”
The lecture ended to polite applause.
“Now I’d be happy to take your questions.”
From the front of the room, an older Japanese man, the tour guide, raised his hand and spoke when Daniel acknowledged him. “Given the vast distances, so many light years, how would other civilizations ever get to us?”
“An excellent question and one of the conundrums to the argument of humans ever making ET contact. Einstein’s Special Relativity places a speed limit on the universe at light speed, or 186,000 miles per second in a vacuum. But it also says physical matter can only approach light speed and never achieve it, for at the speed of light the mass of the traveling object becomes INFINITE! So, you can see the problem. A rocket ship carrying human beings to the stars, or alien beings coming here for that matter, can never achieve light speed. And at lower speeds it could take hundreds of years, if not thousands, to make the trip from the nearest stars … one way.”
Professor James enjoyed this interaction, a chance to demonstrate how science could explain the universe and explode myths and misconceptions in the popular ken, especially around certain topics like extraterrestrial visitation. As a man of science, he was an eternal skeptic, his duty to truth was consummate, and though as a youth he had been raised Protestant, he’d never really accepted the fantastical stories, the belief in the unseen, that formed the basis of Christianity, and indeed most religions. Observed reality, even when he was a child did not comport with the realm of faith. In science, the simple rule was if it can’t be measured, it doesn’t exist.
Another hand rose in the back, and Daniel quickly acknowledged it.
“If it’s impossible to get here, what do you say to the experts on shows like Ancient Astronauts that say we’ve been visited by spacemen throughout earth’s history?”
Another audience member piped up. “Yeah, I watch that show. They said the Great Pyramid was built by extraterrestrials.”
“You’re referring to UFOs and aliens?” Professor James chuckled. “Folks, that is fiction masquerading as science. In real science there is no room for theories unsupported by evidence.”
Undeterred, the questioner continued, “What about Roswell? A crashed flying saucer and bodies. Wasn’t that evidence?”
Dr. James, of course, had heard this argument before citing the most famous legend of UFO contact in modern history, and was ready. “That’s been explained by the Air Force as nothing more than a misidentified high-altitude balloon and crash dummies,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
The whole crowd roared at that one. Sprinkled comments were heard like “They want us to believe that crap?”
Daniel was shocked at the strong audience reaction, which seemed to indicate that popular TV pseudo authorities were winning the war with scientific fact. He was proud of his identity as a debunker of popular misconceptions, especially in the realm of UFOs and aliens, a particularly fertile ground for myth-busting. But he quickly surmised he had few rational allies in this crowd and his irritation now showed. “I’ll take one more question,” he snapped.
“Professor, you ever see anything in the sky you couldn’t explain?”
Relieved at the opportunity to bring the conversation back “to earth,” Daniel became professorial again. “In all my years of studying the night sky, I’ve never seen anything that wasn’t a natural or manmade phenomenon.”
“Would you admit it if you did?” sneered another audience member, which got an echoing rise out of the crowd.
Daniel bristled at the attack on his authority. Science was sacrosanct to him, especially in such matters of pseudoscience or outright fiction. No one had ever presented any credible evidence of unidentified flying objects of extraterrestrial origin. He felt like his predecessor in the field, astronomer Carl Sagan, who famously said “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
To him there was no legitimate evidence, let alone extraordinary, outside of bogus conspiracy theories pumped up by the tabloids and spurious TV shows, the likes of which had just been referenced.
When the audience continued to waste his time with their infantile arguments for unsubstantiated “facts,” he finally lost his tenuous composure completely. “I deal in facts, not Big Foot and Little Green Men!” he bellowed, a little too forcefully, then caught himself and lowered his voice. “I don’t waste my time on childish fantasies…nor should you.”
The audience collectively groaned, and there were even a few scattered boos. The lecture was over and as a body they moved toward the door; only scattered applause was heard.
Emblazoned on the T-shirts of several of the Japanese tourists was the cryptic phrase “Adamski Lives!”
From the back of the pack a co-worker Siddhartha Sharma, an Indian man about Daniel’s age, joined Daniel, mocking him, arms extended forward in the “Pelosi clap.” Sidd greeted Daniel, his voice dripping with irony, “That went well.”
“People are so gullible. Can you believe the crap they’ll believe?”
“Yeah, the thing is, Danny, in a PR event you oughta leave’em laughin’…or at least not booing.”
“I won’t indulge that kind of nonsense.”
“Just toss it off, hey, water-duck’s back …and not a good idea to insult them. You never know who’s in an audience.” With that, Sidd’s cellphone pinged and he paused to check the text message as Daniel began to pack up his lecture materials.
Suddenly hyper-animated, Sidd yelled, “Buddy! I just got the text! Deepa started her contractions!”
“Man, that’s great! You’re gonna be a papa!” They hugged it out. While Daniel was genuinely happy for his friend, his demeanor also betrayed a hint of envy. They started toward the exit; the news had energized them both and now quickened their pace. “And I’m guessing you won’t be going to Joshua Tree.”
“Sorry to bow out at literally the last minute.”
“Don’t worry about the hike. I don’t mind going alone.”
They walked out of the building and into the parking lot.
“You know I hate to miss it. There’s no one else you can take?” asked Sidd.
“Not on this short notice. I’ll be fine. You just get Deepa to the hospital before the blessed event. No birthing in the back of your pickup.”
“Have I ever been known to cut things close?”
“Present situation excepted, but have you ever been on time for anything in your life?”
“Ah, my reputation trails me.”
They reached Daniel’s red Polestar Precept. Daniel opened the front trunk, which was bulging with travel bags, pulled out a duffle bag and plopped it on the asphalt at Sidd’s feet. Sidd grabbed a knapsack.
“So close, huh?” said Daniel in mock lamentation.
Sidd tossed the knapsack into the white Ford F-150 pickup truck backed in the slot beside Daniel and quickly reached for the duffle bag.
“What if I’d got the call after we got to Joshua Tree?” Sidd reasoned, tossing the bag into the bed also. He opened the cab door and climbed in, pausing before closing the door. “Be careful out there alone. That high desert is unforgiving even in November. I know service is spotty but try to stay in cellphone range.”
Daniel nodded and closed the trunk.
“Give Dee my best …”
“Will do. Melanie is with her now.”
Sidd paused for a reaction but did not get one. “I’ll make it up to you some way, buddy,” he said while slamming the door and starting the engine.
Daniel shouted back, “Daniel’s a great name for your kid!”
Sidd had pulled out but stopped to reply through his open window, smiling broadly. “Yeah, we’re thinking more Hindi, you know, less Hebrew prophet.”
Daniel laughed and waved goodbye as Sidd gunned his engine and exited in a roar of internal combustion.
In contrast, Daniel climbed in his car, energized the Polestar’s electric motor, and quietly hummed out of the parking lot down the winding mountain road.