REPORT 2: The First Message
 On the 3rd of September 2098 an unexpected radio-wave broadcast began to be received around the world, eventually determined to be emenating from the planet Jupiter. At that time men had never been farther than Mars, a transmission by humans from within the atmosphere of Jupiter was impossible: therefore the Messages had to be from an alien intelligence. They were digital programs, raw data, almost no information. Mathematics, beginning with simple addition and gradually expanding beyond human comprehension in higher abstract algorhythms. Incomprehensively advanced versions of physics, chemistry, enginering, science in general, all available on the monitors of anyone who tuned in on that radio frequency. When the program ended, it repeated itself, and has done so for years. With the advent of the Messages the planet Jupiter had also emitted a physical Sign: a light as powerful as the sun shining out of the Great Red Spot. On Earth, it could be seen with the naked eye for 3 months.  But there was no information about the Jupiterians, who or what they were. Or why they were sending the Messages, or what they wanted. We sent many radio messages to Jupiter, greetings, questions: no response, no interruption in the data-flow. That data was recorded, studied, and eventually, understood. Breakthrough: MEST-Curvature Application. This was the fabled Unified Field Theory Einstein had sought, control of gravity/time. If you can curve MEST (Matter-Energy-Space-Time), then you don't need gobs of power, you just go with the flow. The militant survival government couldn't suppress the data, everyone had access. Gravwarp Engines began to show up, in various designs but all running on Jupiterian principles. Suddenly the world had efficient transportation again; flying machines, air trucks, space ships, starships. SpaceCity was modernized and expanded, and now houses 1800 residents and up to 200 tourists. The moon is being mined, as is Mars and the asteroid belt. Space flight is easy--even Interstellar destinations --several expeditions are already under way. But JUPITER is still technically unreachable: the heavy gravity is no longer a problem now that we have antigravity capabilities, but the physical aspect of the planet itself is, being a gas giant with an atmosphere so dense it would crush any spacecraft that somehow got through the surrounding aura of deadly radiation. Robot probes have been sent into that sea of gas, been ripped apart by the storm winds, and gone lost. An observation base has been established on Callisto, 2nd largest of the 79 known moons, monitoring the endlessly repeating Message broadcasts. As of now, being March of 2116, we still know nothing about the Jupiterians.
2nd & 3rd Messages |