“There won’t be time. Here, have a look at this,” began the first voice. Keys began clacking. The first voice continued, “We will have little time to act if their intentions are adversarial. We have a massive amount of matter headed toward us from Orion. The difficult question is whether it’s going to pass by harmlessly or whether it’s aimed to collide. Unfortunately, their trajectory is close enough to the plane on which Earth orbits. With the earth, the sun and this massive object aligned, it’s impossible to tell whether they’re targeting the sun or us.”
“There are other unknowns. We don’t know the size or reflectance ratio of the approaching object or objects. If this hypothetical Builder cannonball absorbs light instead of reflecting it, observations in the visible-light spectrum will be difficult no matter how close they get. Infrared is a possibility—everything has a heat signature after all—but I hardly need to explain the economic difficulties of such detection. Nearly every observatory and satellite still in operation is oriented toward the Ring. Using the most powerful radar would only allow us to spot this potential catastrophe once the ship is in the inner solar system,” said the nasal voice.
“Assuming the problem of detection requires new technology, what are our options for target destruction?”
“It depends on our ability to detect it. The most optimistic scenario allows detection at eighty astronomical units, roughly eight days before it reaches Earth. Cruise missiles in low orbit can travel at ten kilometers per second. If cruise missiles are launched, contact would be achieved at five minutes and thirty seconds before impact with Earth. If they miss, there’s no time for second chances. Even if they destroy the target successfully, fragments from the explosion would impact the earth, unless we could move them 6,400 kilometers out of the way, essentially half the diameter of the earth, in five and a half minutes. In other words, we would have to accelerate every last fragment to a speed of twenty kilometers per second along a path perpendicular to their original trajectory toward Earth. I don’t think I am being a pessimist to say that it is impossible. To put the scale of such a task into perspective, the electromagnetic railgun developed by the U.S. military accelerates a bullet-sized object that quickly, but the railgun requires a launching device the size of a building.”
Despite the bar on oral participation, some grumbling from third parties could be heard over the network.
“We need not only detect the object at a long range but also begin deflecting it at this distance as well. A missile attack would by no means be fast enough. The best weapon of defense would be some kind of high-strength beam, though human technology isn’t capable of creating such a device.”
“You’re saying that our only choice is to sit tight and hope for the best?”
After a long silence, one of the members, most likely a third voice, interjected. “Going along with Shiraishi’s proposal might be the wisest route.” There was a long moment of silence, due to both the breach of etiquette and the audacity of the suggestion.
“You’re suggesting we give in to her?” the first voice said finally.
“Not quite. How does a judo master bring down an opponent twice his size? He uses his opponent’s strength against him. That’s what we need to do. Shiraishi is calling for this Vert-Ring to be rebuilt. We give her what she wants, then use it to get what we want, and she doesn’t even have to know.”
“I’m afraid I’m not following.”
“You’re saying we need a beam strong enough to deflect them? If we rebuild the Ring and take control of the Island, we’ll have just that.”
ACT V: JULY 12, 2026
THE UNSS CHADWICK decoupled from the base station, setting its course for a Mercury approach. Commander Kindersley’s biggest concern was to keep the forty billion dollar ship from being contaminated by the ring material. While scanning the local area with the laser radar system, the commander placed the ship into a five million–kilometer orbit around Mercury. The ship’s gigantic solar shields were pointed toward the sun, allowing only the sensor mast to absorb sunlight due to the intensity of the solar radiation.
The unmanned cargo rocket that carried the two-kilogram probe had already been launched. It was about to cross the path of ring material emanating from Mercury. From her cocoon, Molly kept a close eye on the video being sent back by the cargo rocket. A silver stream of material flowed diagonally across the screen. Although she could not make out individual particles, Molly could see slight gradations of color indicating how quickly the stream flowed. The mass drivers ejected the ring material from the surface of Mercury at a rate of eighty thousand tons per second. Molly was somewhat surprised to see the color of the ring material become lighter as the rocket approached the stream. The material disappeared into the blackness of space once the rocket was inside the flowing sea of ring material.
“It’s like being in fog. You don’t notice when it’s right in front of you and you’re in the thick of it.”
“What was that, Molly?” Anastacia asked.
“Nothing. Just mumbling to myself.”
The probe’s speed relative to the stream was fifty meters per second. The probe detected three thousand collisions per second.
“Let’s go another two hundred kilometers toward the center.”
“Even if it doesn’t hold up to the stress for that long?” Anastacia asked.
“That’s right.”
“I’ve set the course to the waypoint.”
The onscreen image began to deteriorate, and the screen that monitored the rocket’s sensors flooded with warnings. The ring material was consuming the rocket.
“Prepare for separation.”
The screen flickered, finally stopping on a still image with the words “Transmission Error” flashing in red.
“Telemetry readings are still generating. We’ve reached the waypoint. Separation complete. Probe engine firing. Separation signal confirmed.”
“The UNSS Chadwick has successfully completed deployment of the probe,” Commander Kindersley announced to Central Command. “Proceeding with the observation phase.”
Moving along the orbit, the probe entered the flow of material being ejected behind Mercury. The flow of material continued for another five million kilometers before disappearing behind the sun. The probe would record data as it followed the material around the sun back to its starting point.
The visible-light and infrared cameras were linked to the wideangle telescope and set to auto-track mode. All observational systems were functioning normally. The commander breathed a sigh of relief. “Good job, crew. All we can do is sit back and watch. Feel free to relax. You might want to avoid newsfeeds from Earth. I’m guessing we’ll be center stage for a few days. I don’t want your heads to swell.”
“Too bad some people aren’t on our side. And I don’t mean that one presenter who always shows that picture of me with the bad haircut,” Anastacia said.
“Even Aki Shiraishi’s reputation met its limits when she tried convincing people that this was our safest bet,” said Commander Kindersley.
“I’m not sure she has as many allies as she’ll need if her plan fails,” Molly said.
The mission had been an uphill battle. Molly and Anastacia had managed to decode less than 1 percent of the ring material’s mechagenetic puzzle. Nonetheless, the information Molly and Anastacia deciphered contained instructions for both the Ring’s size and orientation. The code for the formation of the Island, however, remained beyond the grasp of the decoding. Even with experts in nanotech working on the project, an understanding of the complex processes responsible for the creation of the Island would take another decade—tinkering with the existing code would not be enough to reconfigure the structure of the Island.