CHAPTER 1 – The Trembling Planet
New measurements from the Federation’s space observation systems surveying distant regions brought the specialists at the science center back to the records of a planet examined many times before. A slight movement had been recorded on a rocky planet in one of the outer orbits of a star system known to have no life. The specialists opened the new data alongside earlier observations.
The planet’s atmosphere was unsuitable for the development of living organisms. Surface scans had revealed no liquid water, vegetation, or remains indicating that a civilization had once lived there. None of the previous examinations contained a finding that changed this assessment. Federation records classified it as a lifeless celestial body.
The movement in the new measurements was too small to notice through ordinary observation from the surface. However, the systems continuously monitoring the planet’s orbit, rotation rate, and mass distribution had recorded the change. As the specialists searched for the point where the movement began, they placed readings from different surface regions on the same timeline.
The initial assessment was that the vibration might have been caused by an earthquake. Old fracture zones and deep valleys in the planetary images supported this possibility. The surface had experienced powerful geological movements in the past. But when the specialists tried to determine how the new vibration had spread, they found something that did not fit that explanation.
An earthquake should begin at a particular point, with waves spreading outward from it. The measurements showed no such starting point. When movement began in the northern hemisphere, the readings in the southern hemisphere changed too. There was no time difference. The specialists continued the comparison with other surface regions. The vibration appeared everywhere at once, lasted briefly, and then stopped completely.
When they added subsequent records to the same timeline, the interval of repetition also became clear. The planet made the same movement every one hundred forty-two hours. The time from the beginning of one vibration to the next did not change. After checking its duration, the specialists compared its intensity and the change at the surface. These were also identical with every repetition.
Finding the earthquake explanation inadequate, the science center calculated the gravitational effects of celestial bodies around the planet. They compared the positions of passing objects with the times of the vibrations. There was no moon in the system large enough to cause this movement. Records of the star’s activity also showed no change that could explain the regular vibration.
The specialists sent their calculations and measurement comparisons to the Federation’s central scientific council. The council began reviewing all earlier observations of the planet. The aim was to find the first record in which the movement appeared. They opened the old measurements in sequence and searched them for the change in the new data.
The review provided no definite starting date. Older observation systems had not been designed to measure changes this small. The absence of vibration in an old record therefore did not prove that the planet had been motionless at that time. However, the measurements that could be compared showed that the movement had grown stronger in recent years.
The council had reached the limit of what remote observation could reveal. Direct measurements on the surface and in the inner layers were needed to investigate the source of the vibration. The mission was assigned to the research team under Marduk’s command.
Marduk opened the records sent to him in the ship’s main analysis section. A three-dimensional image of the planet appeared in the center. Its dark surface was covered with cracks and deep valleys. At first glance, it looked no different from rocky worlds they had encountered before.
The science officer placed measurements from different surface regions over the image. Marduk watched the northern indicators first, then the southern ones. As the recording progressed, the values changed together.
“Show the beginnings at the same time,” Marduk said.
The science officer rewound the recording. The officer stopped the image just before the movement and then played it again. The planet expanded slightly for a few seconds and returned to its former state. Following the surface change through the indicators, Marduk checked the starting values at the end of the recording.
“The surface isn’t shifting. The entire planet is expanding by a very small amount,” the science officer said.
Marduk had the two states of the image opened side by side. He moved from one region of the cracked surface to another. The expansion was not confined to a single area. When the movement ended, the planet returned to its previous volume.
“Open the next repetition,” he said.
The science officer played the next vibration. This time Marduk watched the measurements more than the image. The onset, expansion, and return to the original volume occurred in the same sequence. The interval between the two recordings was one hundred forty-two hours. It remained unchanged in the next comparison.
Marduk reviewed the science center’s earthquake assessment and the calculations that followed. The old fractures showed the surface’s geological history, but they did not explain the movement before them. The gravitational calculations and stellar activity data had left the same question unanswered.
“How far back could they go in the old records?” he asked.
“They couldn’t establish the beginning. The earlier systems weren’t sensitive enough,” the science officer replied.
Marduk opened the section comparing old observations with new measurements. He considered the absence of recorded movement in certain periods separately from the finding that it had strengthened in recent years. The date of the first vibration was unknown. They would have to preserve that uncertainty in the next stages of the investigation.
The expansion across the entire planet might have resulted from regular pressure applied from within. Marduk returned to the three-dimensional image. It did not seem possible for all the layers of a natural planet to move with such coordination. Even so, the records they had contained no information identifying the source of that pressure.
“Compare all the old records during the journey. Even if we can’t find when the vibration began, we need to determine how it has changed over time,” Marduk said.
As the science officer opened the earlier observations for another comparison, Marduk brought up the part of the mission concerning surface and internal measurements. They would examine the movement on site, where the remote data had failed to explain it. The research ship changed course toward the lifeless planet in the star system’s outer orbit.
