Heaven at SETI's Doorstep
* No high caliber rock or soil testing plans were included.
While the SETI-NASA team were making their final plans to launch the work horse probes (named “Master” the Lander and “Collie” the rover), the mainstream media was very busy, both updating the public on how the project was progressing and also monitoring and presenting public reactions and responses. The “Negatives” discouraged the project further. Mass protests, in the form of public demonstrations were seen in many states in USA and many cities in several countries demanding that the project be stopped. The rulers of some countries were pressurized by anti-project groups to request the president of the United States to stop the project and also to take up the matter with the United Nations. There were many incidents around the world as a result of these protests that had in some instances been suppressed aggressively. The mainstream media gave wide coverage to these events. Some of the protests were directly aimed at the United States rather than any specific organization or group, in an attempt to politicize the matter. However the overwhelming world voice was one of support for the project and the protesters were in the main ignored.
After NASA's moon exploration missions in the early 1970s, the present project was projected as the next moon exploration program that most captured the public imagination. People seemed to be totally unconcerned about the project cost and no consideration of cost savings were being talked about. It showed that people were very willing to fund prohibitive sums on a project that would provide answers to deeply embedded and fundamental issues of human curiosity. Countries such as Japan, China and Russia who had long term goals in establishing lunar bases were watching impatiently and with great interest. So were many religious leaders, space enthusiasts and science oriented people.
Amidst protests, cheers, greetings, encouragement and objections the launching of Master and Collie took place as planned and without a hitch. Collie was ensconced in Master’s belly to form a single unit with it; Master was programmed to land on the moon with the assistance of descending rockets. “Hi!” with additional capabilities would remain stationed in Luna-stationary orbit above the signal spot to relay commands from ground control to Master. NASA was able to install both Master and Collie in a single launch rocket. The module would first make communication links with “Hi!” in Luna-stationary orbit and thereafter Master with Collie on board would make a soft landing close to the signal source spot. Since no humans would land on the moon it was left to the robotics to address all the tasks including acting as ambassador from earth if any living beings were encountered on the moon. The Media had free access to most of the information on the project from NASA without restraint. This would also include some of the video streams that were planned to be received from the mission’s probes landed on the moon.
After four and a half days of journeying and half a day in orbit round the moon, the radio links between NASA command center, GBU, Hi! and Master were checked and confirmed to be fully operational, “Hi!” and the “Master & Collie” combined unit were then brought to the ready to seek out their separate assigned destinations. NASA then commenced the countdown for Mater’s descent under coordination through Hi!.
The target was to land Master 500ft away from the signal source spot on the moon. A specific landing place had been selected during the planning sessions after considering many influencing factors. The surface thickness of the cave in this area was well over 40 feet and would insulate the signal spot from any disturbance due to impact. There were also no jagged projections on the rocks around the chosen landing location as had been established from previously recorded data.
On the 5th day after the launch, as planned, NASA was able to land Master almost at the exact spot that they had decided on. Master provided undistorted and high resolution video coverage while Hi! was beaming the commanding signals accurately to Master to ensure a precise landing. The project teams were thrilled at concluding the landing successfully. NASA discovered that maneuvering for landing on the moon was very much simpler than commanding the probes on Mars due to the very much greater proximity to the moon. Within six hours of landing, NASA ensured that all the instruments in Master and Collie were working perfectly. However, Collie had to leave the belly of Master to be able to verify whether its cameras and other test equipment on it were also working OK. The pictures sent to ground control indicated that Master was on flat terrain and that egress of Collie from Master would not be a problem. Commands were issued to Master to activate the ramp to permit Collie to get out and on to the moon’s surface. Commands were next given to Collie to drive down the ramp. As commanded by NASA, Collie was able to clamber out of the ramp and on to the moon’s surface and drive 20ft away from Master without encountering any problems. Like a playful puppy, Collie turned around 180 degrees as if it were trying to look at what Master was doing. It was a possibility that someone in the SETI-NASA team deliberately made this move to emulate a playful act.
These procedures took place at daytime on the far side of the moon and the signal spot area had a moderate temperature. In order to minimize any potential disturbance to the signal source, all these procedures were scheduled to be carried out when the moon signal was in the rest mode. After checking, rechecking and confirming that all instruments on Collie were operational, Collie was ready to get on with its tasks. The very first instructions were to drive Collie to various places located about 100ft from the signal spot and take high definition pictures. The SETI-NASA team ensured that the moon signal was not in operation when the pictures were taken. Collie carried out all the commands sent from earth via GBU, Hi! and Master, and took detailed photos while moving to several specific locations around the signal spot as directed by ground control. The navigational video streams sent to earth by Collie assisted NASA to command Collie where to stop for picture taking.
The LASER beams were clearly seen in the pictures taken by Collie thus confirming that Collie had indeed arrived at the right area. After examining the pictures the SETI-NASA team understood that the major part of the surface in this area was comprised of material of varying degrees of translucency. The moon’s surface at the signal spot was clear and glass-like. At this spot, the surface was also clear of dust over an area of around 30ft radius. The extent of this clear area was not actually circular but of somewhat irregular shape. The area beyond this clear section was mostly covered with moon dust but yet there were some patches here and there without the moon dust. The dustless patches seemed to have a very smooth textured and bottle glass like appearance with colors varying from brown to green. The previous imaging exercises had more or less established that the entire area was a flat terrain devoid of large boulders. Thus it was quite tempting for the SETI-NASA team to send Collie over the signal spot to take pictures of the scene directly underground. However, they restrained themselves as such an act could be interpreted as an invasive move,
The second task assigned to Collie was to use its ground penetrating radar equipment to map a wide expanse around the signal spot to obtain a plot of the surface thickness variations over the cave. This was planned to be done in a 10ft x 10ft grid pattern and the primary purpose was to find an appropriate place for drilling into the cave. Collie was instructed to proceed with this work as the next task. The SETI-NASA team also ensured that Collie would always stay some distance away from the signal spot. The mapping exercise was estimated to need around 24 hours to complete the survey of an area of 300ft x 300ft. At every grid node Collie was also assigned to perform a series of non-destructive tests such as GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) at various frequencies to profile the substrate. All the readings taken by Collie were instantly relayed to NASA, through the Master, Hi! and GBU link.
Using the GPR data, the computers at NASA automatically produced 3D underground images. The SETI-NASA scientists could look at the data as a complete 3D block or also as horizontal or vertical slices sections. Some of the data seemed to point to the presence of liquids, deep under, but it was not a
very strong indication. The SETI-NASA team was greatly surprised by the simplicity of the geology of the area. Multiple layers of different types of material were not seen like on earth. Ninety percent of the area surveyed seemed to be a huge cavity. The naturally formed structures supporting the cave by protruding from the bottom and terminating at the top in random patterns were easily identified. The thickness of the moon’s surface above the cave as measured varied from 4.5ft to 37ft. The data also indicated that the cave roof thickness was decreasing as one moved toward the signal spot and in fact the lowest thickness estimated at 3ft would be encountered exactly at the signal spot. The thickness of the layer of moon dust that covered the moon’s surface varied from place to place and ranged from as little as 0.5 inch to as much as 11 ft. The base of the cavity seemed to exhibit some degree of variation but large flat areas were prominent. The surface material and the vertical supporting structures appeared to be composed of a uniform solid substance. The floor material on the caves gave readings that resembled the data of general soil found on earth, but no conclusive prediction could be made as regards its actual composition.
After referring to the 3D data on the substrate of the cave, and considering several alternative locations at which to drill, the SETI-NASA team finally decided on a location 70ft away from the signal spot as their intended entry point to drill through. 70ft was thought to be an adequate distance away from the signal source spot to make a drill hole without unduly disturbing any activity that might be taking place at the signal source. The thickness of the cave roof at this location was a value of 7ft which was well within the capability of the drilling rig. The dust cover above the surface was about two inches thick at this point. The surface material at this point was also no different to the material at the signal spot. According to the 3D map of the cave interior, the chosen drilling point was situated at an appropriate spot affording a good view to a camera dropped down through the drill hole. The area around the cave as well as the area directly under the signal spot would come into very clear view. The depth to the cave bottom was 37ft from the top of the roof or the moon’s surface and this distance was also well within the reach of the telescopic rod.
The drilling rig was an integral, embedded part of Master. Right now Master was 500ft away from the signal spot and to carry out the drilling Master had to be maneuvered to the exact chosen spot. Though NASA was very confident of being able to move Master to the required location using the rocket thrusters, they were concerned about the disturbance of dust which might then settle over the signal spot. However videos taken during landing indicated that the dust blown away by the thrusters settled back on the moon surface quite quickly and with only a small spread as there was no atmosphere to permit particles to drift to other areas. Therefore NASA felt that there were no constraints to commencing drilling and set about getting ready to fly Master to the drilling spot.
Some days had passed by the time all the preliminary tasks were completed one by one. During this interval the SETI-NASA team had of course continued with the normal communications routine interacting with the moon signal. They had however no way of informing the source that there was now a lunar rover and a lander in the vicinity or to know whether the source was already aware of it. The normal signal exchange took place as usual with the codes for wake up and bye! bye! being transmitted at each session. Now however, the SETI-NASA team had feelings of excitement as well as apprehension over the turnout of their well-intentioned moves which might unfortunately be interpreted as invasive or worse, hostile.
After two days spent on brain storming, planning, simulation testing and making the final decision, the time had come to relocate Master at the drilling spot. Master folded back Collie’s ramp and got ready for takeoff. Collie remained on the ground. The reduction of weight due to Collie’s ‘separation’ helped reduce the burden on the thruster rockets. Collie’s video cameras were made ready to record the entire operation. Under command by NASA, Master moved 430ft in hovering flight and landed flawlessly at the drilling spot. As usual the SETI-NASA team expressed their emotions by their customary cheers, whoops and yells.
Collie had to climb back into Master’s belly to enhance the weight effect required to counteract the up thrust while drilling. After Master leveled itself, the ramp was laid down and Collie easily found its way back in upon receiving a NASA command. NASA estimated that 3 hours were needed to complete drilling based on previous experience with lunar regolith. But they were not quite sure whether the material here might have a different hardness. After ensuring that the signal source of the moon was in rest mode, commands were given to Master to commence drilling. The drill was powered by Nitrogen gas driven motors supported on electrically activated operating arms. There was no plan to recover core material to take back to earth. The adopted mode for drilling was to pulverize the material as drilling took place and not to extract a solid core which might fall in to the cave at the end of drilling and result in disaster. The pulverized dust was to be automatically extracted via the same Nitrogen expended in the drill.
As a preliminary task prior to drilling, Master operated its gas jets to blow away all the dust from its base. The SETI-NASA team did not want any moon dust to fall into the cave even accidentally on penetration. After boring down into the first inch the material was tested by the onboard analyzers and the results were relayed to earth. The specialists who had designed the drill found that the material was harder than lunar regolith but was yet well within the boring ability of the drill to penetrate and the drill was operable. The estimated drilling time was re-evaluated at 5 hours considering the increased hardness and slightly lowered drilling speed to be employed and Master was commanded to continue drilling.
After 3 hours into the process of drilling the SETI-NASA team was informed by “Hi”, that the signal source was issuing the wakeup signal. The SETI-NASA team stopped the drilling immediately and responded with the signal to say Hello! .. Everybody’s attention immediately diverted to the source signal, wondering if it was an indication of trouble. But nothing unusual was noticed. After around an hour of the usual signal exchanges, the source signaled “Bye! Bye!” and the session terminated. The SETI-NASA team was somewhat confused as regards the next step to be taken and suspended drilling operations for two days after which they decided that the only way forward was to continue with the drilling..
Drilling thus commenced again, and as predicted full penetration was achieved after slightly less than 2 more hours of drilling. The last stage of the drilling operation included provision to cause a draft-suction flow to make the particles flow away from the drill hole and ensure that none would fall into the cave. The drill rig also had provision to lower a felt curtain at the bottom of the hole to prevent any dust or light from outside falling into the cave. As the drilling operation had been satisfactorily completed, Collie’s weight was no longer required and it was moved out of Master to get along with its own assigned tasks.
Immediately upon completion of drilling, the head of an investigation probe was slowly inserted into the cave using the telescopic arm. The probe head comprised a micro video camera, high resolution camera and various sensors to assess the physical and chemical nature of the interior of the cave. The probe head was stationed protruding just a few inches below the cave inner roof surface. This was of course a precautionary step to minimize possibility of detection. The video camera was aimed in the direction of the signal spot. As had been anticipated, what the SETI-NASA team through the camera saw was the illumination from their own red LASER beam that was strikingly bright against the dim surroundings. Other than the LASER beam they saw other streams of light entering the cave from background areas. The light sensitivity of the camera had also to be adjusted to see the other objects around. The SETI-NASA team saw some equipment located where the LASER beam fell on the ground in the cave. They presumed that these were the radio and light signal sources. No moving objects were visible. Gas chromatograph analysis indicated the
presence of water and oxygen. The sensors in the probe that sniffed the cave indicated 78% level of humidity. Gases in the atmosphere were recorded at 88.7% Oxygen, 5.4% Carbon dioxide, 3.2% Nitrogen, 1.5 % Methane and 1.2 % other gases. The microphone in the probe picked up various sounds, indicating the cave was not a silent one. The Camera was now turned slowly to get an initial scan of the cave’s surrounding. Even before the camera made a 25 degree rotation the SETI-NASA team had a gut-feeling that it was a living habitat from what they saw. Within a few minutes they realized that the cave they were looking into was not of the type they imagined but was another living world in an entirely different format. Suddenly the camera captured a bird flying across the cave from a small shrub nearby. This was the first confirmatory evidence of life on the moon. The SETI-NASA team was overjoyed and overwhelmed imagining how the public would react to this news. The bird now flew towards the camera, pecked at it and alighted on the camera in a show of curiosity. Luckily the camera suffered no damage! The bird peeped into the lens, blinding the camera for a few seconds and then flew away. The video camera was then zoomed to distant locations. To everyone’s utter amazement a large pool of liquid water about 150 feet from the probe came into view. The water in the pool was shimmering. It took some time for the team to realize that it was due to the reflection of the glowing roof of the cave above the lake. The pool was surrounded by vegetation. A closer look of the shrubs around the water pool showed them to be completely different to what exists on earth. Tiny waves appeared on the water surface making typical, mellow wave sounds. On one of the rock pillars near the water pool, there were some pictorial scripts resembling the hieroglyphs in the Egyptian pyramids. Close up pictures taken by zooming onto these signs showed up the details clearly but did not signify anything to the team. The surrounding areas appeared to be purpose sculptured into dwellings and areas for gatherings with steps, benches, platforms, podiums etc... None of these resembled the ancient structures found in Rome or elsewhere, but seemed to have a unique style depicting a dwellers’ culture. The dwellings resembled man made houses caved out of rocks found in many parts of our world. There were long narrow meandering pathways extending out of the range of view of the camera, resembling pathways commonly seen in hilly terrain. At several places there were big clay pots presumably for storage of water. All this visual information was obtained by viewing in the existing soft light condition in the cave. The special lights carried in the probe and in the camera were not switched on, on purpose so as to avoid detection as far as possible.
NASA extended the probe further down to obtain greater viewing access of partially hidden areas. Probably the same bird pecked at the camera again and flew away. Suddenly the probe picked up the sound of voices from the cave. NASA immediately issued a command to retract the probe head to its original position. Looking in the direction of the voices, they saw something that shook them to their very core. Beings with a basic resemblance of form to people on earth! They saw four of these people carrying a boat like object about 200 feet away from the camera. After a few seconds, their disappeared from view as they moved on to an area hidden to the camera. This was another shattering moment of wonder and joy to the team. Their eyes were glued to the computer monitors and HDTV screens and they immediately replayed the recorded parts of what they had just seen. What these people all wore appeared to be the same kind of uniform all of the same color. The SETI-NASA team thought they were about five and a half feet tall. They walked with a slow and easy gait in somewhat like the bouncing style of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon.
With every passing second, the SETI-NASA team found more and more exciting things as the pictures registered on their high definition screens. They realized that the funding of their project was now more than justified and all their hard work was fully rewarded. Public who watched all these streaming videos were astonished and appreciated.
All these observations were made when communication with the moon signal was in rest mode. The next regular signal exchange exercise was to start in just 10 minutes time. The camera was focused back to the signal spot. So far nobody had been seen around the equipment which was covered under what appeared to be a sheet of fabric resembling canvas.
The SETI-NASA team still could not rule out that the signals were remotely operated. Within a few minutes they would know the answer. The SETI-NASA team was very expectantly observing whether any moon people might come to man the equipment to activate the signals. If there were people operating the equipment, would they see the spy camera? What might be their reaction if they saw the camera? Might they attempt to destroy the probe head? How could all the media information that SETI-NASA installed on “Master” be delivered to the moon people in a friendly manner? Should they retract the probe if the moon people tried to examine it? These were the questions that were going round in the minds of some of the key team members.
Five minutes had passed and “Hi!” was getting ready to transmit the wakeup call. Suddenly the camera captured two people walking slowly towards the signal spot. They wore the same uniform like clothes that were worn by the four people seen earlier. They carried a number of objects in their hands. The camera was able to obtain sharper pictures of their faces. The NASA-SETI team found that these people were almost perfectly white in complexion. They seemed identical at first glance but on closer examination it was possible to make out distinct differences. They had eyes that shone with a greenish glow.
You know that these two were none other than Dooda and Loola. Let us see what happened next.
The two moon people removed the canvas like cover on the equipment. The equipment had a bulky belly-like base from which jutted out a long protruding portion of around 5 feet, in similar fashion to the way long telephoto lenses stick out from a camera. The SETI-NASA team concluded that this was their light signal generating unit. There were three stools nearby that were covered. The two moon people removed the cover and sat on the stools. They started writing something on the clipboard like devices that both of them had in their hands. The SETI-NASA team presumed that they were getting ready for the LASER signal.
“Hi!” was getting ready to activate transmission of the LASER beam. At the same time Master’s video camera was got into readiness to observe the various ongoing reactions of the people in the cave. After completely shutting off the beam for about five minutes, a long “dash” signal that lasted about 10 seconds was transmitted. When the LASER beam was off, the intensity of lighting in the cave dropped considerably. The SETI-NASA team saw the two people sitting by their instrument and looking at each other. They now manipulated their instrument to generate their light signal which was of an extremely bright pale blue color. This beam was about an inch in diameter as opposed to the 0.3 inch diameter LASER signal. It was crisp, bright and impressive and looked very much like a LASER beam. It was a “dash” signal! This was a huge relief for the SETI-NASA team as they now knew exactly what was happening at the moon end brought to an end the uncertainty of the past two years. Meanwhile Collie was positioned at a distance so as to be able to observe the moon’s light signal while being on the moon’s surface. The SETI-NASA team continued their usual signal exchanges while observing exactly what the two moon people were doing. It was apparent that those two were following the signals very seriously. It looked as if they were taking down notes, discussing things from time to time and paying utmost attention to what they were doing. On occasions when the SETI-NASA team deliberately sent confusing signals, the behavior of the two people showed that they were puzzled. On one occasion, one of them got up from his seat and walked towards the other and said something while pointing his finger to the note pad. When the SETI-NASA team restored the normal status quo they seemed relieved and happily continued responding as before. It was clear that they were talking to each other from the time they were there. As their voice levels were picked up very faintly at the probe head, only parts of their conversations were audible to the earth station. The language they
used was strange and had a sing-song style with words that seemed to the SETI-NASA team to be spoken in a long dragging manner. The signal exchange ended after 45 minutes with a Bye! Bye! signal. The two people covered their light beaming instrument with the fabric type cover and headed away in the same direction they had come from. The camera followed them until the view was obstructed by a wide vertical rock structure. The SETI-NASA team knew that they would be seeing these two after about 24 hours at the next session. It was a great relief and joy that the two moon people did not notice the probe head.
In keeping with the decisions taken at the planning stage the SETI-NASA team would avoid as far as possible to divulge their presence to the moon people until they had obtained enough information to solve the mystery of the radio wave. They would have to wait 4 more days for the usual 14th day radio signal to be generated. It had by this time become clear to the SETI-NASA team that the moon people must have another set of equipment that transmitted the radio waves.
Over the next few days very many scenes of the males and females of the moon people who came within view of the video camera were captured. On one occasion, two people were observed filling the big storage pots with water. These two persons were women. Though members of both sexes wore identical dresses, the difference between men and woman could be identified easily by the unique marker that was the beard that all the men had. The people on earth who viewed the recordings of the video cameras could also clearly hear the voices of the moon people and the sounds of birds and insects when they were emitted close to the camera.
The video streams were continuously broadcast to the public by many TV channels and dedicated web sites. No panic was observed anywhere in the world due to the discovery of the moon people contrary to the doomsday predictions of many pundits. People all around the world were keen to know more about the moon people and their living environment than in expressing negative sentiments. Presumably, the people on the earth might have been calm due to their understanding that earth’s people were far superior to those of the moon. The video evidence so far relayed led to the widespread public presumption that the moon’s people were hundreds if not a thousand years behind us. Most people envisaged future manned missions to meet the moon people face to face. There was a building up of various vivid speculations of what such encounters would result in. The discovery of life on the moon provided a huge incentive to many companies interested in venturing into establishing future moon colonies. The proof of the presence of liquid water, oxygen and animals in the moon was a very powerful source of motivation.
Why life on or in the moon was not discovered earlier during the Apollo missions puzzled many people. People also wondered whether the moon people were only restricted to this isolated location at which they were encountered. If so what about the other areas and what would be the population? Suddenly a host of questions started to be pondered over. What do they eat? How are their children raised? What type of social life do they have? Do they have elections? Who leads the community? Are there kings or presidents? Are there animals? How much water do they have? What are their religions or do they have only one or none? Are they kind or arrogant? Are they intelligent? What sort of vehicles do they use? Where do they really live? What type of rituals do they perform? What is their life span? Do they practice polygamy or monogamy? Do they get sick? What type of diseases do they have? How do they produce light? What about electricity and other types of energy sources? These were a small fraction from the enormous list of questions people had.
The SETI-NASA teams had very many brain storming sessions to plan future action in interacting with the moon people. They were keen to get it right at the first go and could not afford to jeopardize the years of hard work that they had devoted to their goals. Their biggest present concern was whether the moon people might destroy their probe head. If everything worked out as planned, “Master” carried with it a large array of items that would be useful to establish a relationship with the moon people. If the moon people are repulsed by any of the initial moves, all the hard work and planning could become futile.
During the two days past, both parties had their light signal exchange sessions as usual. About 10 hours prior to the moon’s scheduled 14 day radio transmission time, the SETI-NASA teams observed a major increase of moon people passing through the area within the view of the probe’s camera. A count indicated that more than 500 people passed through. Everyone who came to the area looked at the incoming LASER beam and the equipment installed in the cave as they had never seen anything like these before. Most people had fun touching the LASAR beam though the area was cordoned off with a rope. At one time, there were about 50 people in the area; some were seated, some were eating food that they brought with them, others were sleeping or looking around idly and a few were chatting. The mood and movement seemed to resemble a group of persons on holiday taking time to relax. Each of them had a small carrying case hanging at their backs or on their shoulders. About 6 hours prior to the moon’s scheduled 14 day radio transmission time all the people left the vicinity. All the people moved in one chosen direction. A few hours later, the same two people who performed the light signal routine came to the signal spot. A little later, they were joined by three more people who carried a device in a hand stretcher like carrier. The SETI-NASA teams were quick to realize that this must be the radio transmitter. The SETI-NASA teams could see the equipment clearly after the cover was removed. It appeared that the equipment was wrapped with tape and had a detachable part that looked like an old fashioned turret gun about 2ft long. The three people who came later were mounting a tower that looked like a scissors lift. They attached the detachable part to the top of the scissors lift. The detachable part however remained connected to the main equipment by wires. These wires were shiny and seemed bare and without insulation. The height above the detachable part to the cave roof was around 25 feet. All five persons were involved in the activity. The SETI-NASA team realized that they were getting ready to transmit the radio signal.
Collie was getting ready on the moon’s surface to video record the dust movement at the top. The video camera on the probe showed moon people coming into the cave again in large numbers. A few electrical discharge arcs that emanated from the detachable unit indicated that the radio transmission was on. This was confirmed immediately by receipt of a signal at the earth station. The three assistants kept moving the tower by small increments in one direction. The video relayed by Collie confirmed the movement of the dust at the upper surface of the moon immediately above the signal spot. The probe too detected a high level of electromagnetic energy emanating from the moon scientists’ equipment. Meanwhile in a steady and continuous stream, moon people flowed pass the area in great numbers. They all had their eyes focused on what their scientists were doing and on the incoming LASER beam. The two scientists explained what they had been doing. The happy and light spirited moon people did not seem to care very much about what they were saying and hopped on. Probably they did not have enough time to listen to them as they bounced along at speed. It would seem that “They were in a different world”. Because of the incessant jabber of the people passing by, the whole cave was very noisy at that time.
The signal session lasted about 70 minutes. At the end of the session the two scientists were talking at length with each other with their hands pointing up a few times to the roof of the cave right above the signal spot. The assistants too joined the conversation. The tower on the scissors lift was brought down and the transmission equipment was moved out. The SETI-NASA team did not have to spend much time in figuring out what was happening. They realized that these two scientists had discovered a method of displacing the dust on the moon’s surface. They would be performing this task on every fourteenth successive day. Why not on other days was a question. The SETI-NASA team realized that this exercise must be of very great importance and significance to the moon people as removal of dust would help bring more sunlight into the cave. It was thus h
ard to believe that there were coded messages in the radio waves. Glitches or cyclic procedures during the transmission such as switching and changing of batteries or perhaps purposely switching on and off the signal to boost the dust move, could be causing effects mimicking coded messages. The SETI-NASA team also realized that the two scientists should be very intelligent for having the ability to prepare a brilliant light beam to respond to their LASAR signal. The source of the powerful pale blue light beam was still a question. As to why the miniature thermal emission spectrometer on the probe did not detect any heat images from the light source, also puzzled the earth scientists. Why people gathered on that particular day in large numbers was another mystery. If they gathered to see the radio wave demonstration, why they didn’t show much interest was another conundrum?
By observing the body language of the two scientists and the behavior of the other moon people, the SETI-NASA team was optimistic that they would be able to establish rapport with the moon people. They decided on trying out moves to get the attention of the two scientists the next day.
As usual, on the next day, the two scientists sat at their places anticipating the wakeup call. The signal exchange took place and went on for about five minutes. After that the SETI-NASA team sent the “Hello!” signal (long “dash”) three times to mean “Hello! Hello!, Hello!” though it was not in the usual signal protocol. Through the probe camera the SETI-NASA team observed that the moon scientists were puzzled as to why they got this unusual signal at the middle of their regular signal exercise. They saw the two scientists talking to each other. The two scientists too repeated the “hello!” signal. The SETI-NASA team stopped their LASER beam transmission. After about two minutes, the moon scientists started sending light signals as they were in desperation to restore the LASER signal. They also then stopped their action and were talking to each other and looking up for the signal. At this moment the probe fired a LASER beam with a “Hello” signal. Immediately both scientists turned their eyes in the direction of the probe. The SETI-NASA team was able to take good pictures of their faces this time. The Moon scientists were surprised to see another LASER beam coming at them from inside the cave. The probe kept on beaming the usual signal pattern that was used on the earlier days. The two scientists seemed to be stunned. They did not reply, move or talk to each other for about five minutes. A few times they took their eyes off from the probe to look at the signal spot where the LASER beam used to come from. They rubbed their eyes with their knuckles a few times. Then one of the scientists gave a hand signal to the other to follow him. Both walked toward the probe.
The two scientists were looking wide eyed at the probe which was about 25ft above the ground surface they were standing on. They began to talk to each other and their conversation was clearly heard by the SETI-NASA team. After about 15 minutes the SETI-NASA team stopped the LASER beam issuing from the probe. The SETI-NASA team now saw one of the scientists saying something to the other. It seemed to be an instruction as the scientist who listened went back to the light signal source and sent out a “Hello!” signal. This was done with their light probe still directed at the cave roof on the moon’s surface. The SETI-NASA team replied with a “Hello!” signal from the probe. The signaling session continued as usual while one scientist was watching from directly under the probe. After 20 minutes the SETI-NASA team deliberately stopped transmitting the LASER beam. The two scientists were together now. They were wondering why the signal stopped. They sent a few “Hello!” signals but the SETI-NASA team did not respond. They tried again and again desperately. They were looking up and at the direction of the probe, but there was no response. The SETI-NASA team then saw the two scientists trying to rotate the light signal in the direction of the probe. They finally repositioned it and sent a “Hello!” signal towards the probe. The SETI-NASA team responded immediately through the probe’s LASER beam. The moon scientists and the SETI-NASA team were both overjoyed. They continued their signal session. The usual LASER signal they received from over the signal spot did not appear any more. The signaling continued via only the probe.
The SETI-NASA team was very happy as they were able to transfer the attention of the moon scientist to the probe and also establish their probe as the new communications center. This was part of the master plan of the SETI-NASA team as will be explained later. At the end of the signaling session just after the Bye! Bye! signal, the SETI-NASA team decided to drop into the cave a poster stored in Master along with a number of other information exchange accessories. Before dropping the poster in, the probe’s LASER beam fired several blinker signals to get the scientists attention. Using the retractable telescopic rod, the poster was lowered and dropped into the cave gently. One of the scientists quickly moved forward and collected the poster while the other was looking eagerly at the telescopic rod retracting back to the top of the cave. It seemed like magic to him. Before they opened the rolled up poster, both scientists gazed at the probe in amazement and their body language seemed to signify “Hey! What is going on here?” The video camera showed the two scientists taking a quick peek at the poster which however they did not open fully and examine. Instead they went back to gaping at the probe. After about 10 minutes they went away with the poster.
The poster was an extension of the idea of the gold plated plaque carried by the Pioneer 10 space craft, which had by now ventured beyond the edge of our solar system. The poster was printed double sided and in color and made of indestructible fire resistant material of texture similar to paper. It had the picture of a naked man and woman copied from the original gold plated plaque. The man’s hand was raised in a gesture of greeting and good will. It had the color pictures of the solar system with a small moon revolving round the earth. There was a big picture of the earth and the moon in color with an arrow indicating that the man and the woman are from the earth. Also in one picture, a curved arrow indicated the robot mission from earth to the moon. There were pictures showing the moon from earth and also pictures taken of the earth by the Apollo astronauts when they were on the moon. The middle portion was devoted to the present mission. There was a cross sectional view of the cave also showing the LASER beam coming from the satellite. Further, the light beam coming out of the moon’s signal spot was also indicated. Just below the cross sectional picture, “dot” and “dash” signals were depicted using florescent paint to give a luminous look. A little lower down, all the signals that were exchanged daily was outlined. This row started with the “Hello!” signal and ended with the “Bye! Bye!” signal. Next came the pictures of “Master” and “Collie” on the moon’s surface. Finally there was another large cross sectional picture depicting the drill hole, the probe, Master and Collie and the new LASER beam issuing from the probe. At the very bottom there were many stamp sized pictures of men and women from many cultures, animals, birds, fish, insects, trees, water ways, landscapes and dwellings and commercial buildings. At the planning stages of the project this was one of the ideas put forward and unanimously agreed upon. The SETI-NASA team believed that these pictures would help any living beings who had the ability to transmit a radio signal, to acquire a broad understanding of what was going on.