The Jezero Threshold - Part 1: The Tsukuba Breach - Chapter 1

        My name is Vivek. I'm an astrobiologist by training and an archivist by circumstance. My life has been irreversibly changed by terrific forces that I am only now beginning to understand. The world around me is just as alien. Things can never go back to how they were, lest we risk catastrophe. Anvesha still lives with us, she still walks, she still talks, she still smiles, but she's not the woman I married. I made a choice. Everyone paid the price.
        What follows is a reconstruction of events from interviews, mission logs, media archives and personal experience. I want you to see how the beautiful world I grew up in turned into the world you were born into.

10th June, 2044
Tsukuba Space Centre, Japan

        Dr. Ichika Ren closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her team had been waiting for almost a year to see what JEM would find. It was a stroke of luck that the first pictures were received when she was on duty. Her hand hovered over the mouse. One click stood between her and revelation.

         The picture loaded slowly, line by line, but Ichika never made it to the bottom. The first few lines were enough to make her mind go blank. She quickly gathered her thoughts and clicked the 'Record Video' button with a trembling finger. The image she'd just seen showed hundreds of rod shaped artefacts with thick sheaths around them. The first word that came to mind was 'bacilliform'. 

        It would take an hour for JEM to receive and carry out her order and then send the video back. Her shift ended in half an hour. That was okay, she was sure Dr. Sato wouldn't mind some company. Is this how it would happen? Would she be the one to announce it to the world? She found herself drowning in questions.

        I should probably tell you a little about the Jezero Exploration Mission, JEM as it was called. The mission was a joint venture between ESA, JAXA and ISRO, born out of frustration. NASA's sample retrieval mission, Project Lazarus, originally planned for 2033, following repeated budget cuts and a number of technical setbacks, had been delayed for eight years. The world grew impatient. By 2043, the three agencies had pooled in their resources and launched their own mission. Lazarus had made it to Mars in 2041, but wouldn't make it back until 2046. We would be first.

        "Sorry for making you wait, Dr. Ren." 

        Ichika looked up, startled. Dr. Sato hurried into the room, looking sheepish. Ichika hadn't even noticed the time. 

        "I've made a video request," Ichika said, "Take a look at this picture JEM sent."

         Dr. Sato gave her a confused look. Recording video had been an expensive process, and normally she would consult someone before ordering it.

         Any confusion Dr. Sato had had was swept away by what he saw on the screen. 

         "Is that..." he trailed off.

         "I think it might be"

         A message flashed on the screen. The video was here. The grainy footage gradually cleared up. The rods were moving. Ichika's fingers went numb. They weren't just drifting, they had purpose. They flexed, wriggled and glided. 

        They were alive.

          I remember what I was doing when this news reached me. I imagine everybody does. I was putting away the dishes while Anvesha was trying to get four year old Sowmya to sleep. 

          "Can you get the phone? It's making Sowmya restless," Anvesha called from the bedroom.

           I hastily dried my hands and hurried towards my phone.

           "Dr. Ren and Dr. Sato just called," Nischay, my colleague at ISRO, said. He sounded out of breath. "They think they have video footage of life on Mars."

            I froze. My chest thumped. The voices from the bedroom sounded distant.

            "Vivek?" Nischay's voice pulled me back, "are you there?"

            "When can we see it?" I asked.

16th April, 2045
Tsukuba Space Centre, Japan

          Nischay and I, along with a few other scientists from around the world stared at a monitor, our breath catching with excitement. We were watching a live feed of Dr. Ren and Dr. Sato opening the sample container from JEM.

           "One small twist for me, but a giant turning point for mankind," Dr. Sato chuckled. Nervous laughter filled the room. The group applauded as Dr. Sato opened the capsule, but all of us were thinking the same thing. How soon would we be able to see it with our own eyes?

            Nischay and I had the first slot at the lab. Dr. Ren joined us as a guide. We weren't allowed to do much; it was more like an exhibition. We'd have to wait a few more months to receive samples at ISRO to run our own tests.

            "What did you do in Japan, papa?" Sowmya asked, her words tight with excitement.

            "I met an alien, baby," I said, pulling a funny face. Her eyes were wide with wonder.

            "Can I meet him too?"

            "You can meet him after you do your homework!" Anvesha chastised playfully, patting Sowmya on her back.

             "Mother knows best," I shrugged.

             "Are you sure it's a good idea for you to experiment on those xenobacteria?" Anvesha asked one evening. She'd always been a cautious person, aware of what could be hiding in the shadows. It's what made her a good teacher. "You have no idea how they'll react."

              "That's exactly what we need to find out," I answered.

              "But does it have to be you?" she asked, her voice laden with caution, rather than fear.

              "I've spent my whole life preparing for this day, darling. I'll be safe," I tried to put her mind to ease. She leaned closer and went back to looking at the TV, but she wasn't really watching. I could tell that she still had many questions to ask, but decided to save them for later. Her hand found mine, and held it tightly, as if trying to keep me from drifting away.

               I could tell you in detail, the experiments my team and I conducted. The conclusions we drew, the new ground we broke. I won't. Early on, I realized that these organisms were hiding a lot more than what can be seen in a lab.

26th September, 2045
ISRO, Bengaluru

               "The Japanese are being selfish" Nischay said impatiently.

               "I think it's time they sent us some samples," I echoed.

               The director's eyes avoided ours. He pursed his lips, deep in thought. He'd been thinking about it too, but hadn't wanted to discuss it.

                "We have Europe's support on this. I spoke to Dr. Edwin Clarke, ESA's lead astrobiologist, yesterday. They're tired of sitting on their hands," I pressed on.

                "We haven't seen the organisms. I trust the judgement of Dr. Ren and Dr. Sato. They could still be dangerous," the director tried to pacify us.

                "We've all read their reports. They didn't affect the mice, the monkeys, or even the plants. It's like they weren't even there," Nischay added, "We contributed to JEM just as much as they did. We deserve access."

                The next day, Dr. Edwin and I joined a video call with Dr. Ren at Tsukuba. She chewed on her lip and fidgeted with her lab coat. 

                "I need to show you something. It's why we haven't sent samples out to anyone yet." Her words tumbled out, faster with each breath. She shared her screen. Long sequences of base pairs stared back at us. Gene sequencing data.

                "We sequenced the xenobacterial genome. Take a look at the structure." She highlighted some sections. "It's very organized. Everything grouped by function. Metabolic proteins here. Repair proteins here. Structural genes, replication machinery, all neatly segregated. Like little functions or modules in a computer program."

                Dr. Edwin and I tried to wrap our heads around this new information.

                "Bacterial genes can be naturally organized. They're very efficient- "

                "Not like this," Dr. Ren cut Dr. Edwin off. She pulled up another group of data. "Look. No pseudogenes, no redundant copies, no evolutionary scars. There's nothing here that doesn't actively serve a purpose."

                The silence stretched. I felt a knot form in my stomach.

                "What are you suggesting?" Dr. Edwin asked slowly.

                "This didn't evolve over billions of years. It's been designed."

                Her words hung in the air. Neither person knew what to say. Life on Mars was staggering enough. The possibility that it could be designed re arranged the whole picture.

                Dr. Edwin regained his composure first. "All the more reason to study it thoroughly. With international collaboration," his voice cut through like ice. 

                Dr. Ren looked stunned "No, you don't understand. If this is artificial, we don't know the purpose. We need to be extremely cautious." 

                "We'll take all the necessary precautions. ESA's containment protocols are on par with JAXA's," Dr. Edwin stood firm.

                Dr. Ren looked bewildered. She turned to me, eyes pleading.

                I was torn between the two choices. It was true that more research was needed. I knew that Anvesha would tell me to pause and listen to the warning. But I'd walked into the meeting with a promise of procuring the samples. My team was waiting. "I agree with Dr. Edwin. ISRO will take utmost care to keep the samples secure. Global research and co-ordination may lead to new insights." I said flatly. The words tasted like ash even as I spoke.

                Dr. Ren's shoulders sagged. She looked defeated. "I'll have the samples ready in a week. I hope you change your mind by then."

                I didn't change my mind. A week later the samples had been shipped. We thought we'd been careful. We hadn't been careful enough. I'll never know what exactly went wrong. I do know one thing. Billions of lives could've been saved. Anvesha could have been saved.