Voyager (276 hits)
Category: Science & EnvironmentalRating: -0.33 on 5 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by triangle_man (View user info) at 2007-10-04 16:00:36 EDT
"Father, I have traveled a great distance to meet you". Those words still echoed in my head. The words spoken only moments ago by a young man with a visitor badge who bared an uncanny resemblance to me. The same young man who walked into my office and stood there smiling, waiting for a response. The utterance brought on a wave of emotion and reflection that I cannot describe. Our conversation that sunny August afternoon on the mall at JPL left me with more questions than answers. I learned that his name was Stephen and that he was adopted at birth from a hospital to two loving parents who raised him well. He had only recently been searching for his biological parents to no avail. Then he had received a rather mysterious call from someone identifying himself as his "uncle". The caller informed him that I was his father and where I could be found.
That night as I lay in bed replaying my life over the last 30 years, I was presented with the sober realization of the only possibility and the gravity of my past-unconsidered deed.
June 1st, 1976 6:27 PM
That night's musical selection was Santana Abraxas. The long feedback before "Black Magic Woman" rang as we exited the airlock and entered high bay.
Jose gave thumbs up to the project scientist who watched with anticipation from the low bay test room. I motioned for QA to check us out before we approached the test bed. Gene, the inspector, waved us in from his station on gave us the "ok" gesture. Jose and I carried the QPSK modulator assembly in a hard tote over to Gene. He would check the seals and log its arrival and watch as we opened the tote box and prepared the unit for integration to the spacecraft bus. Jose looked up at me and I could tell he had an evil grin under his mask.
At that moment my mind ran through the events leading up to this night.
Over lunch, three months ago we had hatched the plan. It seemed like a lark then, just a passing joke, only in the last week had the weight of our transgression come to impress us. It had to be done in absolute secrecy. All told there were only Thomas, Jose and I that knew the plan and the execution. We would have the machinist (Thomas) mill an unseen enclosure in the main modulator chassis. The enclosure would be made to accommodate a hermetically sealed titanium box with three compartments. Compartments just large enough to hold items, which we chose from our person. Items we thought would be given to eternity. Thomas manufactured three titanium capsules, one for each of us to place 10cc's of whatever we chose. I have no idea what the others placed. I do however recall my contribution, a small sample of my hair, a fingernail, and a bit of skin that I shaved from my index finger. Just a little shot at immortality I laughed to myself as I screwed the capsule shut. Jose had shot me the same evil grin when the chassis arrived from mechanical inspection without any question. I don't know how they missed the extra volume in the area where the circuit board was to be placed but no matter it was done. As the test lab emptied for lunch Jose and I stayed behind and secured the box in its location and placed the circuit board over it. Barring rework our secret would go undiscovered and it did.
A few days later we attended one of the press sessions at which Dr. Sagan would give a speech to rally the public to our cause for renewing the NASA budget for robotic space exploration. One of the reporters asked a question that made us giggle.
"Dr Sagan' the reporter asked, "What if the spacecraft is contaminated by Earth bacteria. Would we not be putting extra terrestrial environments at risk?"
Dr Sagan assured the gentleman that the harsh interstellar radiation would destroy any lingering contamination and that all assembly was done under strict clean room practices that mitigate the possibility of contamination to almost zero. Not to mention the fact that the spacecraft may travel billions of years before encountering another star system.
No one to this day ever seriously considered interception by another traveler.
A year later when attending the launch party at the cape the three of us toasted our success. We didn't linger on what we had done we just joked about the "other" payload.
Besides it was my birthday and I would celebrate like there was no tomorrow.
After, we went our separate ways and worked on other missions some successful some failures. The modulator we installed had failed shortly after the spacecrafts last planetary encounter and the back-up unit was functioning flawlessly. I had all but forgotten about the message in a bottle I had so carelessly thrown many years ago. Until today.
User Reviews
Submitted by triangle_man (user info) at 2007-10-04 17:31:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by DudeThatsBOSH (user info) at 2007-10-04 16:33:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
space it out.
small paragraphs are easier to read.
alot of people will skip over this because its too cluttered
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thanks, point taken
Submitted by DudeThatsBOSH (user info) at 2007-10-04 16:33:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
space it out.
small paragraphs are easier to read.
alot of people will skip over this because its too cluttered
Submitted by triangle_man (user info) at 2007-10-04 16:19:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
OK my first little story I jotted between floggings at work
before the shredding commences
if anyone has a constructive bits for me
I would appreciate
thx T_m
Submitted by ilikesteak (user info) at 2007-10-04 16:11:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
That album was one of the greatest wastes of money ever.
Submitted by something_or_other (user info) at 2007-10-04 16:02:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Reads like a brick to the face.