10 SERIOUS GAPS IN INTELLECT

10 SERIOUS GAPS IN INTELLECT Lunar day 252 T minus 22 hours to evacuation Once word got out that we were leaving Moon Base Alpha, school was canceled for the day. The adults all realized that we kids wouldn't be able to concentrate on our classes—and that we could be better used helping with the evacuation procedures. It didn't take long to pack our own things for evacuation, but prepping the rest of MBA was a great deal of work. Lots of delicate scientific equipment had to be carefully packed, while other

experiments had to be configured to continue running while we were gone. Since the second wave of rockets would only be a week behind the first, we also had to begin prepping all the remaining equipment for "hibernation mode," and there was a great deal of equipment: evaporators, rehydrators, air-circulation systems, maintenance robots. Most of us had our hands full helping out. Meanwhile, Roddy Marquez was spending his last day on the moon the way he'd spent every one of the 251 days before it: playing veeyar games. Now that we didn't have school, the rec room was wide open. Although I was worried about the depleted oxygen, overall I was happier than I'd been in weeks. Months, maybe. I had been expecting to spend another twenty-eight months on the moon. Now, in only a day, I would be leaving. Suddenly, all the things that had made life miserable on the moon didn't seem so bad, because I wouldn't have to experience them much longer. My lunch of rehydrated pepperoni calzone may have been lousy, but at least it was probably my last lunch of rehydrated pepperoni calzone. A visit to the space toilet was far less awful knowing that I would only

have to visit it a few more times. Assuming the evacuation went off properly. I had lived on the moon long enough to know that things there rarely worked out exactly as planned. I could only hope that this would be an exception, that the rockets would arrive on time, that there wouldn't be any malfunctions, and that nothing would get worse with our air supply before we left. I had just polished off that hopefully-the-last pepperoni calzone when Zan appeared. I was in the mess hall, putting my garbage in the recycler for what was almost the last time. Zan instantly gleaned that I was in a far better mood than usual from reading my emotions. "What's going on?" she asked. "We're evacuating the moon tomorrow," I told her, doing my best not to say it out loud. "Why?" Zan asked, understandably surprised. I glanced around the mess hall, which was a bigger hive of activity than usual. "Let's talk about this in my residence," I said. I could see Violet helping my parents in the science pod, so I figured our room would be peaceful for once. "All right," Zan said.

I quickly dumped my used food packets in the recycler, then hurried through the base to our room, and told Zan everything I knew about the evacuation along the way. "I can't believe you're going," she said, once I'd closed the door behind us. "This must be quite a present for your birthday." While she sounded happy, there was something I couldn't quite read beneath the surface. The interface of our emotions went both ways when we were in contact, although I wasn't quite as adept at reading hers as she was at reading mine. "Is something wrong?" I asked her. "It's nothing to be concerned about. You might not have enjoyed being here, but this moon base is special to me. It is the only place I have ever communicated with humans." "But that doesn't mean you can't contact me when I'm back on earth, right?" "I have had contact with life on earth before." "Hold on. I thought Dr. Holtz was the first human you ever spoke to." "Who said I could only speak to humans?" I sat down on an InflatiCube, surprised. "You've communicated with life that wasn't human?"

"There are millions of different life forms on earth, Dashiell." "Yes, but most of them aren't very good at conversation." "That's true," Zan admitted. "However, I felt it was worth trying to understand them when weighing the fate of your planet. After all, their lives hang in the balance too. I don't talk to them, exactly, but I can experience what they do." "And what do they experience?" "It varies. Your elephants and dolphins have an astonishing array of emotions. In fact, they feel some things even more strongly than you do. Whereas a wildebeest doesn't seem to have much on its mind except grass." "You've been inside the mind of a wildebeest?" "Yes. And moose and honeybees and tiger sharks and sea otters and dozens of other animals. I must admit, the otters were quite fun." "Did the animals understand what you were?" "Even less than you do." Something about that statement struck me as a bit insulting. "Zan, are you saying that I don't understand what you are?" "That's correct."

"Well, that's not my fault! You've barely told me anything about yourself!" "I know. And as I promised you, I am going to try to rectify that. That's why I have come to you again today." "Really?" My annoyance quickly gave way to excitement. Zan sensed this. "However, I have to warn you, I still won't be able to answer everything you want to know about me." "Why not?" "Because you won't understand it." "You can't even try?" "It wouldn't be worth our time." I wondered if I should feel insulted by this, too. "Is this because I haven't been able to figure out how to transmit my thoughts the way you do?" "It's more complicated than that." "What do you mean?" Zan sat down across from me and looked directly into my eyes. Her eyes were so blue I almost felt lost in them. "Have you ever heard of Fermi's paradox?" "Sure. The idea is that if there are hundreds of millions of planets in our galaxy, then the probability is that at least one of them should have