We Are Not Alone in the Universe: A Science Fiction Story

May 28, 2068: Former NASA astrobiologist Richard Mason tells his 13-year-old grandson, Bobby how he discovered life on Saturn's largest moon:

"Bobby, you may not believe me when I tell you I worked for NASA and discovered life on Titan, Saturn's biggest moon."

"No, I don't believe you." The grandson said.

"Well, I'll tell you the story anyway," replied Richard.

Bobby rolled his eyes and said, "OK... Go ahead... "

"In 1997, we launched the spacecraft, Cassini Voyager into space to explore Titan-the largest of Saturn's 58 moons. In 2004, after almost seven years of traveling 58 million miles, Cassini got close enough to orbit Saturn. After numerous orbits around Saturn that collected atmospheric data, Cassini then visited Titan, where NASA and the ESA (European Space Agency) gathered as much information as possible about Saturn's most intriguing moon. In 2005, Cassini orbited Titan several times before it launched Huygens-a circular land rover onto its surface from one thousand kilometers from space. When it touched down on to the moon, its camera took pictures of Titan's surface for two hours before the Huygens was destroyed by the moon's freezing atmosphere at -290 degrees Fahrenheit temperature. The only picture taken of the terrain showed a thick, black and white atmosphere of nitrogen and frozen rocks.

In January of 2016, transmission from the Cassini space station was lost. Apparently, a comet had flown by Cassini 30 kilometers away, pulverizing it by flying debris. Within months, a meeting was called with NASA and the ESA to launch another mission to Titan.

In May 2024, a new space station named Goliath was launched from NASA. It carried a more sophisticated land rover named Polaris. Its mission was to get more advanced photos of Titan. Seven years later, in June 2031, Goliath arrived very close to Saturn. After several long orbits around Saturn, Goliath flew to Titan. As it approached Titan, Polaris was launched from Goliath. After dropping through dense layers of methane and other gases, Polaris jettisoned a specially made parachute so that it could safely land on to Titan's surface. Unlike the first land rover, Polaris had a movable camera, which could rise up to four feet and rotate 360 degrees in order to transmit more detailed pictures of the surface.

One day after it landed, new images of the moon's surface were sent back to NASA. These surface images were of much better quality than those taken in 2005, but Polaris only had two hours until it would be destroyed by the freezing atmosphere. More photos were taken as the camera raised itself above the Polaris, panning all around the surface. They brought back five photos to Earth of the moon's landscape. Suddenly, transmission failed for ten seconds. Then a sixth, unexpected photo was uploaded to the space agency. But these pictures were of Polaris itself without its tall camera! The camera had been removed! Four subsequent photos were "taken" of the Polaris, panning 360 degrees around it!

The mouths and eyes of the scientists were wide opened-completely stunned! Within hours, news spread around the world. By the next day, newspapers around the world read, 'We Are Not Alone in the Universe!'"

Bobby looked at his grandfather. "That's all probably true except for the last part."

"You don't believe me?" Richard asked. "You think I'm Issac Asimov telling you a science fiction story? Well, we're gonna take a little ride."

"To Titan?" Bobby said sarcastically.

"Ha ha!... No."

After a twenty minute ride, they approached a large observatory. They got out. Richard took out some keys, unlocked the main door, and went in. Richard told Bobby to step up to the huge telescope.

"I'll tell you when to look into the telescope."

Richard activated the telescope. After turning some knobs, the huge telescope moved to the right and up, glancing in the night sky. Richard spoke in some sort of unintelligible language. He rotated a few more dials and pushed several buttons.

"OK. Look up in the telescope," he told Bobby. It was Titan.

Robert said, "Look carefully when I tell you to... Now!"

Bobby stared at a rocky outcropping on Titan, he saw a group of strange-looking red and green creatures. Each had five eyes, eight hands and three feet. They looked up where Robert aimed the telescope and began waving their eight hands.

Bobby fainted.