[66256] ChaeyoungCelosiaChaeyoung jolted awake on the public auto vehicle. She caught cold glances from her fellow passengers and somewhat nervous stares. People generally did not like sharing a public auto with a passed-out woman with whiffs of soja out-gassing from her jacket this early on a weekday. She could almost hear the judgmental murmurs from the commuter crowds. Her head was pounding.“Ughhh,” she groaned.With a flick of her wrist, she caught the time on her EAR. She had been asleep for nearly an hour on the PAV, taking her total for the night up to three and a half. A few more dazed gestures to navigate her EAR interface, and she had pulled up the PAV network map. The back-and-forth wobbles of the centipedal autonomous vehicle unsettled her stomach, and frustrated her efforts to see where she was on the map.Violent cramps wracked her abdomen, along with occasional shooting pains of nausea. She hunched over her legs and stared at her boots to stave away the feeling—the EAR map followed her gaze.When she realized where she was, she jumped up and shouted. “Ah, fuck!”She grabbed her bag and ran to the middle door. A clique of youths laughed—she wondered if it was at her sudden outburst of profanity. Chaeyoung shot them a scowl to rival the disapproving looks she had received earlier, then pulled her seal from the metal bracelet on her left wrist. Balancing herself against the handrail, she delicately tapped the red, maze-like, engraved end of her seal against a flat circular receptacle near the exit door. “Stop Requested,” an autonomous voice announced.Chaeyoung braced her head against one of the stabilization bars for standing passengers and burrowed her face into the blue synthfur of her long-padded coat. A jingle played over the speakers announcing the stops in Upblanda, and each of the four most common Spanning World dialects.“The next stop is…Bukman History and Culture Park,” the auto said.She shook with impatience and nausea as the PAV slowly scuttled to a stop. It paused, bent to the side of the walkway with a hiss, and the doors slid open. She squeezed through like air released into vacuum, then, like a cut knife, slid through the crowds waiting on the platform. She had five minutes to get to her talk, and she had slept through her stop.Wind caught the unfastened flap of her coat as she ran. Brutal Celosian winds sliced down to her bone with a chill. In a handful of steps, she was shivering.The PAV platform and surrounding walkways were two or three stories above the latticework of struts and walkways connecting the tall buildings of Celosia’s capital city, Tiantang. Green walls covered most buildings, which kept warm beneath glittering spinel ceramic panels, making the buildings that boxed her in seem like a crystalline serpentine forest rising through the undergrowth tangle of metal latticework. And just like the root system of a veritable forest, the lattice a few stories below had commercial PAVs and rapid intercity transit systems which exchanged people and resources around the planet.She wheezed for air, her head pounded, and her teeth chattered in the thin and cold atmosphere, but she had finally made it to the correct PAV stop on foot. A large sign above the station read “Bukman Institute of Biological Sciences,” Beebs to the Celosian locals.Chaeyoung wove a manic path through the throngs of people, reached the entrance, and burst into the main lobby. As she walked ahead, from a near-field transmitter on the lobby desk she pulled open her EAR navigation for the main Beebs building and followed the arrow that appeared before her. It directed her to a sealed security kiosk. Without stopping, she pulled her seal out of her bracelet, pressed it into the receptacle, and let the rest of her body continue forward. Her arm and seal became like a tether, and she was stretching it out as far as she was able. Her body moving toward the glowing yellow sealed door. Just in time, the zero-knowledge proof system of sealing technology acknowledged her identity, beeped, and opened the door as her body made contact. She pulled her seal out in one smooth motion forward. It was a practiced move that would not have paid off with even the slightest delay in seal verification, which was not infrequent. She took it as a good sign that she had not slammed into a closed doorSania was waiting outside the conference room, impatiently waiting for Chaeyoung. She was not early, or late, but exactly on time, she told herself as she slid her bag into her hand and slithered out of her coat. Sania was in a neat professional dress suit that was monochromatic and simple—the contemporary standard of Tiantang fashion. In the natural light that filtered in through the windows along the hallway, Sania’s brilliant and rich copper skin glowed. Chaeyoung’s childhood friend urgently beckoned.“Ah! Chae! Sharmoota!”[23][Ahtashi]: Bitch! ↑ Sania cursed in an Ahtashian dialect as she retrieved a small bio-plastic packet from her dress pockets and jabbed it toward Chaeyoung. “For your hangover!”“Thanks.” Chaeyoung ripped open the packet with its metal O-ring zipper and downed the bitter white contents, which instantly fizzed in her mouth. She coughed as it went into her mouth and nose.Sania clicked her tongue playfully. “Careful, Chae. You wouldn’t want to choke right before our big break.”“Aren’t they weapons dealers or something? I think they are fine with dead clients.”Sania clicked her tongue. “Chae. Take this seriously?”Chaeyoung put her hands up. “Oke oke. I’ll do my best.”Sania bowed her head. “That’s all I ask…oiya![24][Spanning Words]: Hey! ↑ One last thing…our audience looks well steh.”“Oke, so? We are both from Ahtash. That makes us well steh too.”“I mean…avoid the Di Lingua?”Chaeyoung pulled out her portable computing block from her tan satchel and handed the emptied bag to Sania. “All the best—”“Universities use Di Lingua. I think I’ve heard that before,” Sania gave Chaeyoung an eye-roll and a smirk. Chaeyoung looked down at the portable computing unit and picked dust from a cooling grating along its face. “I met someone last night,” she awkwardly blurted out.“Tell me everything—just not now!” Sania smiled and opened the door for Chaeyoung. “For now, focus on the talk!”The conference room was little more than a reclaimed classroom. Instead of an amphitheater design, or a central conference room table, or a setup for video streaming, it was a scattering of desks and chairs. Besides a wall-covering reactive ink display, the room had desks organized into small groups, with each group having their own dedicated computer units in the center for various guided, human-in-the-loop, autonomous learning sessions. The hint that this was a conference room was the arrangement of the chairs, all facing the large ink display. Most seats were empty.Chaeyoung took a breath and walked to the table nearest to the reactive ink display, set up her portable unit, activated it with a wave of her hand, and turned toward Sania. “I’m ready.”Sania positioned herself between Chaeyoung and the audience, formally bowed, and introduced Chaeyoung.“Welcome to our esteemed guests. As you know, today we’ll be hearing from Dr. No. She received her undergraduate degree in astrobiology, xenobiology, and biochemistry from the Huygens University at the Andiri Ring in 2361, Earth reckoning, and at once began her work on the Doctor of Philosophy degree in AXB that same year. Her time on Titan culminated with a two-year research project on the salt plains of Ahtash in the Vega system. She graduated with honors from HU in 2364, Earth reckoning. She then worked for two and a half years on the Joint Earth Saturn Europa Astrobiology project, or Jay Sea—”“After a fortuitous opening among the research staff!”The audience politely chuckled at Chaeyoung’s interjection.Sania rolled her eyes but smiled. “As I was saying, she has been our most distinguished and—might I add—second youngest postdoctoral fellow here at Beebs since she started in 66165, Sol Universal. She also has the distinction of having the most tau time of the scientific faculty at Beebs. She’s well-traveled! Without further ado, I leave it to Dr. No.”Chaeyoung looked at the gathered faces in the room. Besides Sania, there were six representatives from Acheron Private Capital Group. All smartly dressed in fashionable masculine formal wear. All black and white with gold flourishes and accents. Scattered across a few desks, every representative faced her. Notably, the two people in the center of the group looked much older than the others. Wrinkled and weathered and gray. One in a white suit, the other in black—one feminine, one masculine. The femme representative in the white suit had intricate, geometric, golden strips along their face and neck. The masculine representative in the black suit had strange dark gray ovals that entirely covered their eyes. These ovals seemed physically embedded in their eye socket to Chaeyoung. Those lidless dark gray pools pointed in her direction, and she sensed something staring back at her from the shadows. Chaeyoung cleared her throat and began. “Thanks for the introduction, Dr. Qureyshi.” She then turned and looked behind her at the projected images to make sure they were correct, then smiled at her audience.“We live in an incredible age. Seven billion people have never set foot on Earth in their lives and every single one of us in that number depends on biological support from thin, synthetically constructed, ecosystems—mere approximations of the depth of complexity that exists on Earth.”Chaeyoung’s slides shifted autonomously as she spoke certain keywords pre-programmed into her talk. Initially, the slides showed the Sun, then they shifted into the impressively large Elysium Lake on Mars, the bubble farmlands of Titan, the public parks on Callisto’s ring habs, a quick collage of Wolf’s megacity seascapes, Jin’s moon-habs on Vas and Skarda, and finally the mega celariums near the Vermilion Cape in Tiantang on Celosia. Each represented immense human ingenuity. Each is a complex system critically important to life outside Earth’s biosphere.“Many say this is an age of xenobiology, with exobiology, the search for life that cannot trace its evolutionary origins to Earth, left to scientific navel gazing,” Chaeyoung took a deep breath, held it, then let it out. “We even use the air we breathe here on Celosia as evidence for this, as an explanation for why we find nothing living out here, only fossils, ourselves, and the things we have created. Dr. Qureyshi and I both believe the study of the evolution and origins of life should look outward again.”The audience member in the black suit leaned forward. “Are you referring to the Oxygen Hypothesis explored in your Great Filter paper?” they asked in a thick, unplaceable accent. “Your paper about Early Ahtash evolutionary models?”Images of the fossilized microbes of Mars, the fossil beds of Ahtash, and the nearly self-replicating protein strands—which were technically non-living structures—of Europa appeared on the screen automatically. Chaeyoung paused the slides with a frown, as she felt misunderstood. She collected her thoughts, paused, and picked her words carefully.“I don’t think we actually mention the Great Filter once in that paper,” she said. “But yes. Our conclusion was that finding fossils on Ahtash is deeply shocking if we also believe the Milky Way is mostly lifeless.”“You don’t believe the theory that abiotic oxygen production around most stars, particularly M-dwarves, acts as a sterilizing force in the universe?” the audience member in the white suit asked. They had a similar accent to their colleague, though their voice was higher pitched and soothing.“There’s no denying abiotic mechanisms produced the bulk of the very oxygen we are breathing right now. What I am denying is it is a universal sterilizing force. We found fossils on Ahtash, which is an extrasolar capture, so we know multi-cellular life can still evolve. Oxygen reduces the odds of this happening for most planets but doesn’t eliminate the possibility.”“And so, we must resurrect the idea of the Great Filter?” white suit pressed.Chaeyoung’s hand shook with frustration, but she kept her cool under the pressure.“If evolution progresses through steps from self-replicating molecules to our current state, where we build ERR–AL drives and expand, and the vanishing probabilities at each step explain the absence of significant evidence of intelligent life, discovering fossilized non-terrestrial life should prompt us to reassess the likelihood of oxygen being a universal sterilizer. That’s the argument. Because Ahtashian life existed, we need to re-open the debate and explore the idea of the Great Filter.”“So, you are arguing we need to know where Ahtash actually came from, and study that system?” black suit asked.“Precisely. But more than that, there is some urgency, as if the Oxygen Hypothesis isn’t as strong as we thought, then the Great Filter could be ahead of us, not behind us.”White suit frowned. “What would it mean if it was a step ahead of us?”“That there’s some choice, some biological force, or some external force that threatens humanity with omnicidal total extinction in our future.”Black suit stroked their chin. “How far in the future?”“Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a million years.”White suit nodded. “What systems would you check, Dr. No, for the origin of Ahtash? Assume resources did not constrain you?”“Well, from my own simulations…I would check Mu Herculis.”“And you think this project is urgent and a higher priority than, say, extending the human lifespan, preventing interstellar war, or the various social, political, and economic issues that still plague us?” white suit asked. “Why not explore uninhabited systems in all directions? Put resources into exploration again. After all, we have not explored every planetoid and ocean in inhabited space.”“Ahtash came from another star system. That is a certainty, not a chance. Plus, it would involve putting resources into exploration again, but in a focused way.”“What if the Great Filter is external?” black suit asked with a raised eyebrow. “As in, beyond the human?”“Yes. What if ERR–AL capable life is rare, but not because of microbiology or oxygen or some natural evolutionary process, but because there is some galactic policy choice we don’t understand? Maybe the lack of signs of non-human technology is because leaving signs is dangerous, and the only species that make it are those that can hide?”“Why search at all, then?” white suit asked their counterpart. “Wouldn’t it be like sweeping with active radar? We discover why it’s dangerous, but also reveal ourselves to that danger.”“If we live as if there’s nothing looking for us, we could just as easily reveal ourselves, and have no warning,” Chaeyoung said. “Instead, if we search in a targeted and small-scale way, we might learn that some of these fears are unreasonable. We might find they were conjecture and speculation that would only fit inside the space of our ignorance. And if we can shrink that space, even a little, there’s a lot less hiding room for fear, paranoia, and danger.”There were murmurs as all six of Chaeyoung’s audience spoke quietly among themselves. Whenever the conversation was loud enough for her to catch a word or two, it was in a language her EAR did not translate, and she did not even recognize.She shifted her weight nervously between her feet and picked at the vent grill on her computer unit as she waited. She was sweating, and she was giddy. Almost in her element. Everyone at Beebs had made her, and Sania too, feel like fringe researchers, fueled by concentrated hubris—but as she looked at the audience, they seemed interested, and serious.Black suit put a hand up, and the discussion stopped abruptly. “Dr. No, do you have any idea why we’re interested in your ideas?”For a moment, there was an impulse for her to say the first thing she thought, but everyone in the room looked at her as if they were holding their breath, hoping, or fearing, she would say the right thing. She tilted her head and considered the question. Acheron Private Capital Group was, primarily, a defense contractor to the Cooperative Aerospace Defense Services of the Spanning Worlds, known more commonly as CADSS or Cooperative Defense. She was doubtful they were interested in her research for a purely altruistic reason of defending all humanity, but perhaps they saw it as an opportunity.“If you think I might be right, then it’s important for a defense company to be aware of, however,” Chaeyoung tapped her fingernail against the scar across her cheek. She paused, considering her next words. “Neither the public nor regulatory bodies are very interested in exploration in uninhabited space and doing it under the guise of exobiology research might be enough to get a foothold in some new systems before there’s broader interest. Get the lion’s share of claims registered on IBIS before anyone knows there’s anything worth claiming.”“Ah, Dr. No,” black suit chuckled. “Nothing so cloak-and-dagger as that, but you’re skeptical. I like that,” black suit said with a nod at white suit, who returned the gesture. “Dr. No. Excellent presentation—and argument. I will send you our proposal shortly, but the bottom line is we want to outfit a multiple year expedition looking for exobiological signatures in uninhabited systems. We can easily adapt one of our spacecraft for the expedition, under your advisement, of course. Our initial plan is to begin with Mu Herculis as you suggested and… I believe argued in your paper with Dr. Qureyshi…this is still the best candidate for Ahtash’s origins?”Sania excitedly nodded and smiled at Chaeyoung.“Uh, yes,” Chaeyoung nodded. “Yes, Mu Herculis is the best candidate for the origin of Ahtash.”“Good. You understand with the distances involved, we cannot rely on autonomous systems alone? Time lags are too large, and the environments are too uncertain. It’s easier to have an in-system base of operations supervising autonomous probes directly.”“Of course, that is standard practice in inhabited systems, too,” Chaeyoung said.Black suit tilted their head in acknowledgement. “Good. We would like to train, outfit, and fund you and your chosen scientific crew to oversee this expedition to Mu Herculis using our spacecraft, SSV Jiuhe.”“How long do you expect this expedition to take?” Sania asked, bluntly. “We would fund the expedition for upwards of ten years, in tau time, fifteen in proper time. We expect an initial excursion of three Solar years, proper time.”“When?” Chaeyoung asked as her stomach lurched, though what she had wanted to ask most was, why?“I believe your postdoctoral appointment renews soon?”Chaeyoung nodded. “Yes.”“Ideally, we’d begin the planning stages as soon as you seal the contract. Training with the crew as soon as your postdoc contract lapses. Reach Vega no later than 68150, Sol universal, then on to Mu Herculis within twenty days.”Chaeyoung’s blood left her face, and she saw Sania expectantly turn to her for an answer, but her skin had gone cold. Warmth was spreading up into her throat.“Erm, ye…yes! Yes, absolutely. I will lead your expedition. I will seal the contract. Excuse me, sorry.”Chaeyoung burst out of the conference room into the hallway, and almost made it to a waste unit before she vomited everywhere.