I was 85 when we received the bad news that Ra had been canceled. The Seeder 3 vessel would never depart. After that, we only received three more messages from Earth.
Kyla stopped reading. Her cabin was illuminated only by the light from the display.
She read the last sentence again.
After that, we only received three more messages from Earth.
Kyla scanned the next paragraph.
The last two messages arrived only months apart. It would take two years to get an answer to either one.
“Evaluate all your options to change your trajectory and immediately map the area for rogue planetary objects.”
Then the final one.
“The Seeder Project has been canceled. Central Command will shut down its operations next month.”
Kyla stared at the screen for a moment.
“Logminter.”
> Ready to record entry.
“Henry Solariam said Helios received three more messages from Earth after Ra was canceled,” Kyla said.
> Correct. Based on ‘2338: How We Got Here,’ Helios received three messages after Ra was canceled.
“But he only quoted two of them. Are there entries that contain all three messages?” Kyla asked.
Logminter paused.
> The final two messages are quoted in other entries corroborating Henry Solariam’s account. No entries containing all three messages were found. Helios has received no further communications from Earth since the Disconnect.
“When did we receive the message announcing that Ra had been canceled?”
> Based on the Captain’s logs, the message announcing that Ra had been canceled was received on 2337.363 at 17:53.
Kyla looked at the date.
“If it took about a year for the message to arrive, Ra was canceled before 2336.363, correct?”
> Based on the estimated communication delay, the message was transmitted approximately 427 days earlier, on 2336.301.
In the Gregorian calendar used on Earth, the equivalent date was December 26, 2336.
Kyla read all the dates again.
“Give me all communication records received after 2337.363. Search the Captain’s logs, the mission logs, and the content library.”
> There are only two accessible communication records after 2337.363.
“What do you mean by accessible?”
> One additional communication record is sealed, dated 2338.061. Two records are accessible and correspond to Henry Solariam’s account, dated 2338.147 and 2338.213.
“Computer, call Julian.”
Kyla’s Whisperzend pulsed.
“Hello, Sweetie. I’m on my way there,” Julian said.
“Okay, I’ll wait until you arrive.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I just want to show you something. See you soon.”
A few minutes later, the cabin door opened.
“Hi, I’m here.”
Kyla turned toward him.
“Come look at this.”
Julian walked to the desk, kissed her forehead, and pulled the chair beside her.
His hand moved instinctively to her belly.
“How is Alex doing?”
“He’s fine.”
Julian kept his hand there for a moment.
“You sounded serious when you called me,” Julian said.
“I found something serious.”
Julian exhaled.
“You scared me.”
“Sorry.”
He gave her belly a gentle rub before turning toward the display.
“What are we looking at?”
“Do you remember Henry Solariam’s story?”
Julian smiled.
“Of course. We read it with Instructor Mendez.”
Kyla pointed toward the display.
“Henry Solariam wrote that after Ra was canceled, Helios received three more messages from Earth.”
Julian leaned closer.
“He only quoted two of them,” Kyla said.
Julian’s smile faded.
“And you went looking for the third one.”
Kyla nodded.
“I think I found it, but it is sealed.”
“Let’s go to my desk. Maybe I can see what is going on,” Julian said.
They moved across the cabin. Julian sat in front of his workstation and activated the display.
A projected keyboard appeared above the desk.
He did not use his Whisperzend.
Kyla noticed.
Julian entered his credentials manually, then opened the Data and Information Office archive interface.
“Why are you typing?”
“I want to see the record directly.”
His fingers moved across the projected keys.
Kyla pulled a chair beside him.
“Do you remember the day of the record you found?”
“2338.061,” Kyla said.
Julian searched for the communication date.
> Query communication data where Created at = 2338.061.
The result appeared almost immediately.
“Here it is,” Julian said as he tried to access the entry.
The log entry information filled the display.
LOG ENTRY
Action type: Log retrieval.
Integrity check: Validated. Mission archive.
Access status: Sealed. Created at: 2338.061.0635.
Julian studied the information.
“Can you open it?” Kyla said.
Julian nodded.
“A sealed record only needs authorization. If we get authorization, the seal can be lifted. It seems to be classified as restricted.”
“What does that mean?” Kyla said.
“It only needs authorization from a Council member, the Captain, or the First Officer.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Julian did not answer immediately.
“This record is different.”
“How?”
He turned slightly toward her.
“We may not be able to read the message.”
“Why not?”
“Because this record predates the biometric encryption system. Authorization won’t decrypt it. It needs a separate key.”
“Who has the key?”
Julian returned to the keyboard and searched for additional metadata.
“No key reference. No decryption information. Nothing accessible from this level.”
“So someone went through a lot of trouble to hide this message,” Kyla said.
“No, not really. Sealing a record requires an extra step, so that part was deliberate. It can look suspicious, but encryption shouldn’t be.”
Kyla looked at him.
“Why not?”
“Because we use encryption every day.”
Kyla frowned.
“Medical records. Private messages. Log entries. Your diary.”
“My diary is encrypted?”
Julian glanced back at the sealed communication.
“Encryption can protect the Captain’s orders. It can protect the Council.”
He paused.
“But it also protects your entries from unauthorized access.”
Kyla looked at him.
“I never really thought about it.”
“Most people don’t.”
Julian rested his hands on the edge of the desk.
“Encryption doesn’t care who you are. It’s an equalizer. Powerful or powerless. Captain or child. If you have the key, you can read the information. If you don’t, you can’t.”
Kyla considered that.
“So the same technology that protects people from authority can help authority hide something from everyone else.”
“Exactly.”
“That seems dangerous.”
“It can be,” Julian said.
“Then why use it?”
Julian smiled faintly.
“Because the alternative is worse.”
Kyla looked back toward the record.
“I should talk to Sheila about this.”
Julian looked at her.
“She’s on the Council, so she should be able to authorize access. Or I could ask Director Prescott, if you want.”
“If there was something in this message from Earth that someone wanted hidden, Sheila should know before we present a proposal to reconnect,” Kyla said.
Julian did not answer immediately.
Then he closed the archive interface.
“Yes, I think you should talk to her first.”
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###
I talked to Sheila this morning.
I told her about the three messages Helios received after Ra was canceled, but only two were quoted in Henry Solariam’s story.
She remembered the story.
Then I showed her the sealed record.
At first, she did not seem as concerned as I expected.
She said records had been sealed before. Council deliberations, investigations, medical information, security reports.
A seal meant someone had decided access should be restricted. It did not necessarily mean they were trying to hide something forever.
Then I told her what Julian found.
The record predates the biometric encryption system, so we would still need a separate key to decrypt it.
That changed her expression.
She asked me if Julian could find the key.
I told her he had searched the metadata and found nothing. No key reference. No decryption information.
Sheila was quiet for a while.
Then she asked the question I had been trying to answer since I found out about this.
Why would someone seal a communication from Earth and then leave no accessible way to open it?
She asked if Director Prescott knew about it.
For a moment, I thought she was going to tell me that Julian should have reported it immediately. Instead, she looked at the record again and asked me who else knew.
Julian and me.
That was it.
She told me to keep it that way for now.
I did not like hearing that.
I told her keeping information from other people feels wrong.
She said there is a difference between hiding information and taking enough time to understand what you have found before making it public.
I suppose she is right.
She also reminded me that we are preparing to introduce a proposal to restore deep-space communication.
That is the part that worries me the most.
We argued during the election that restoring communication could help Helios.
I still believe that.
But now there is a message from Earth that someone aboard Helios decided to hide.
Maybe it has nothing to do with the Disconnect.
Maybe it is just an old restricted communication that became inaccessible as the systems changed.
Maybe somewhere along the way, someone forgot to document how to open it.
I keep repeating those possibilities to myself. I keep thinking that there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this.
Before I left, Sheila asked me one more question.
“How did Henry Solariam know there were three messages?”
I did not understand what she meant at first.
Then I did.
So either Mr. Solariam knew the message existed without knowing what it said…
or he knew what was inside.
I have spent most of the day thinking about that.
“Logminter, save this to my diary.”
LOG ENTRY
Action type: Log archival.
Integrity check: Validated. Data saved by authorized user.
Authorized user: Anwar Cloutier Soria, Kyla. Created at: 2788.026.2009.
Thanks for reading Kyla’s Diary, a novel from the Theogenic Universe. New chapters will be published weekly. Subscribe to continue the journey aboard Helios.