The International Council of Astral Reconnaissance and Unification in Space, also known as ICARUS, has been working round the clock since the data from the latest solar scanners came back. No one knows what to make of it, but everyone agrees that there must be some mistake. ICARUS is the largest international cooperation in history. It was formed after a series of events on earth suggested that everything, we knew about the sun, was completely wrong. The Council was founded with the purpose to find new ways to explore the sun and all its secrets. After several years of scanning the sun and trying to predict sun storms, solar flares and black spots, the results are finally in. The latest generation of highly technology advanced scanning probes have generated a report on the status of the sun. The only problem is that the report cannot possibly be true. It clearly states that the sun is decaying much faster than what was ever before predicted. But more importantly it states that the behaviour of the sun can be predicted, not just enough to help earth, but with 100 % accuracy down to the millisecond. It was always the general consensus that the sun, and all other stars for that matter, would be unpredictable to some extend, due to the nature of fire and dynamic, natural events. But the report from the latest scanning is conclusively proving the opposite and includes an algorithm to predict any and all events occurring on the sun. The discussion now is, weather that is possible with any natural phenomenon, and the answer from all scientists, is no. We cannot even predict our own weather, or the tides of the ocean with that precision. This has led to a range of theories on what is controlling the sun, and if it is mechanical or technological in any way.
To further explore this, a team of highly trained astronauts have been put together to go on the first manned mission to the sun. Just a few decades ago the idea of even flying close to the sun was completely unheard of. Now the Council is discussing weather the solar mission should attempt to land on it. The team of astronauts has been carefully selected for the mission, but given the nature and risks of the mission, they have not been allowed to use their real names, since they were invited to the mission. Every member of the team is referred to by the name Icarus, and a number.
Icarus 1 is the mission commander, who is responsible for the overall success of the mission. Icarus 2 is a communications engineer. His task is to keep a live feed back to NASA. Icarus 3 is the weapons and technology officer. He makes sure the team has any gear they need for whatever they face on the mission. The last member, Icarus 4 is a biologist with expertise in foreign flora and fauna, as well as classification of new species. The entire team has been isolated in a training facility for almost two and a half years leading up to this mission.
When everything is ready the mission and the team are prepared, and the spaceship is launched from the International Space Station, on course to the sun. With state-of-the-art booster technology and an AI pilot the craft reaches a low solar orbit in just a few days. The first part of the mission is to survey the surface of the sun from orbit in an attempt to figure out if the surface is solid, and if so, if there is a suitable landing site. It is quickly confirmed that the surface is solid, but in spite of that it is constantly moving, like sand dunes, shifting in a strong wind. Only the sun surface is moving much faster. As the team survey the surface further, they come across several small spots that have a different texture and are significantly darker. They confirm that these areas correspond to the coordinates of the dark spots that have been observed from earth. Eventually though, the craft moves around the sun, to where it cannot be observed from earth, as the sun is rotating to always have the same side facing earth. After about seven hours the team spots an area that looks like the other dark spots they have observed, but with a much larger diameter. As they grow closer it seems like there are different colours on the ground, and what looks like structures. They don’t hesitate long, but decide to set the craft down, when they get to the area.
After a smooth landing the team exits the craft and start moving over the completely blackened ground. It looks and feels like solid rock but is black as coal. The entire team is in awe, not just about walking on the sun, but a few hundred meters away from the landing zone, there is a house. It is a big white house, with a black roof, a porch, and a small balcony on the first floor. In front of the house is a lawn, with a small fountain, spewing a slow-moving green liquid, and around the lawn is a white picket fence, with a gate facing the team.
The commander, 1, walks in front of the rest of the team. Right behind him is 3, the technology officer, with a fancy tool for measuring air pressure, toxins, radiation, and roughly 800 other parameters. After a while 3 stops and calls 1. “If my measurements are correct, and they usually are, the air here is perfectly breathable. We can take of the helmets, and we will be perfectly fine.”
The commander looks back at him, sceptically. “No. That’s too dangerous. There could be things in the air we don’t know to measure for. Helmets stay on.” Unfortunately, 3 was never one for following orders, or even waiting for them to be given. His helmet is already off. “Well, commander, it seems fine. Smell kind of funny though.” The commander is shaking his head, but soon the rest of the team remove their helmets as well, before moving on towards the house.
As they enter the front lawn, they notice the grass has a slightly bluish tint to it that you don’t see on earth. 3 is taking samples from the fountain and the grass and the other are preparing to go into the house.
As they enter, they find themselves in a large hall leading to a living room. Everything seems eerily like a regular house you could have found back on earth, only everything feels a little off. The colour of the leather-ish couch is a little off and the smells are not quite earth-like. As the team explores the house, they find it to be very similar to a large suburban family home. It has bathrooms, an office, and bedrooms.
As 4, the biologist, opens a door to a room, he finds what looks like a little girls’ room, decorated with pillows and bright colours. And at a small writing desk under the windows, sits a young girl, with her back to the door. As it opens, she turns around to face 4. “Hi. Do you know anything about trees?”. 4 is completely baffled by finding a girl, or any lifeform in fact, on the sun. It takes him a few seconds to find the words to answer her question. “Uhm. Yes, I know quite a lot about trees and plants. But who are you? How did you get here?”. He speaks as he is slowly moving closer to the girl. She has long brown hair, gathered in a ponytail. Her eyes are a deep blue, and she has little dimples when she smiles. Suddenly she jumps out of her chair and walks up to 4. “I’m Maggie. I live here.” She extends her hand and 4 hesitantly sakes it.
“Come on then, we need to go plant a tree”. She walks past him out to the hallway, and as 4 follows they are met by the rest of the team, coming around the corner. Everyone freezes in their tracks. At first the team is confused, but after quick introductions, they all go outside to the large garden behind the house.
At the far side of the garden, they find a small tree in a pot, standing on the grass. Next to it is a spade, and Maggie explains that she needs help digging a hole for the tree and planting it safely. The team decides to split up again. 4 is helping Maggie with the tree, as the rest of the team explores the large, gorgeous garden and all the different plants, trees, and flowers.
While they all work, 4 decides to try to get to learn more about Maggie. “I have got to ask you this, and it might seem a bit strange, so please bear with me. Are you human? Or are you an alien?”. Maggie looks at him with her big, beautiful eyes. “Of course, I’m not human. That would be weird. But I’m also not an alien. Technically, you are the aliens here. Even though you are also humans”. 4 has to think about this for a while, but in the end, he realizes it makes perfect sense.
“All right. So, do you live here on your own, or with your parents or something?”. Maggie glances towards the back of the garden. She looks a bit worried. “There are no other people that live here. But I’m also not living alone exactly. The little helpers are here too. I’m sure you will meet them soon enough.”
4 is just about to ask another question about the little helpers, when the rest of the team come running around a corner. They all hold weapons and scream at 4 and Maggie to get back in the house. They all run to the house as about fifty robots on wheels follow them, shooting at them the entire time. As soon as the team get into the house and lock the doors, the robots drop the pursuit, but they keep roaming around the garden, as if patrolling it for other intruders.
Maggie is hiding behind the couch in the living room with 4. “Now you met the little helpers. They protect the garden from outsiders. Only they also attack me when I try to do garden work. Look.” She pulls up her shirt to reveal a small scar on her pale belly skin. “They almost got me a while back. Still hurts sometimes. They don’t like it when I dig in the grass or flowerbeds. I wish I could set them to passive mode, but I don’t know how to use the panel.”
3, the technology officer, joins them behind the couch. “Hi. What panel is that exactly? Like a control panel?”. Maggie looks up at him and nods. “Yes. In the basement. The panel controls everything here. I think something is wrong with it though. There’s a red button that has been flashing for quite some time now.”
3 grabs Maggie’s hand and pulls her on her feet. “Show me the basement!” he says enthusiastically. The team and Maggie run through the house and soon find the stairs down to the basement. It is a large rectangular room with concrete walls, and nothing in it, but a massive control panel in the centre. The panels have hundreds of buttons in various colours and almost as many switches and knobs. 3 immediately starts pressing buttons and hooking up some of his own gear to the panel interfaces. After a few minutes the panel plays a loud beep and 3 cheers. “Yes! I cracked it. There is a damaged flash sector that forces one of the protocols into a constant boot-loop, making the gravitational vectors unstable.” The rest of the team stares at him confused and he realizes they don’t understand tech talk. “The sun is a computer and some of the software is not starting. That makes the rest of the software malfunction, and that is the abnormalities we have seen on earth. A quick reboot of the control software. Hold on.” The team stares at 3, patiently. “There we go. The sector is repaired, the protocol is booting properly, and the software is automatically correcting the rest of the errors caused by this. We saved earth! Also, I set the defence system to recon and report only. So, the garden robots will be much friendlier now. No more shooting little girls.” He smiles at Maggie, and she smiles back at him.
Back in the garden, Maggie and 4 help each other finish planting the tree. Even though they don’t know each other, they have grown quite close over the last few hours. But now it is almost time that the team must leave, to return to earth. They have all gone out to the spaceship, and the team is preparing for launch, while 4 and Maggie says their goodbyes.
“I’ll see you soon, right?” she smiles and looks around at him. He looks her in the eyes as his smile fades a little. “Maggie, you know where you live. We can’t come here again. This was a one-time mission”. She looks up at the spaceship and then at 4 again. “Oh. Ok, I just thought you would come visit sometimes.” She seems sad. 4 squads in front of her and opens his arms for a hug. Maggie immediately wraps her small arms around him. “I’ll miss you.”