The Sun shone over white clouds of ammonia ice, beneath which were clouds of solid ammonium sulfide or ammonium hydrosulfide in different colors: yellows, oranges, reds, and browns. The colors were caused by sulfur compounds, produced by complex photochemistry, which the visitors from above discovered when they first descended into the clouds and collected plenty of samples. Deeper into the clouds were clouds of water ice and water droplets, as well as ammonium hydroxide. In this layer of clouds waited the scavengers, where they waited for any life falling into the depths of the atmosphere before they burned up due to the heat.
Deep in the lower half of second the layer of clouds and near the last layer of clouds were gigantic beings that spent their days floating. The floaters spent their days taking in hydrogen gas and expelling helium and other heavier gases to stay afloat. Some of them just took in the molecules from the atmosphere and fed on the photosynthetic sinkers, pigmented the same way as they were and which headed their way if the wind currents were favorable, while others used sunlight to make food for themselves.
Just recently, they noticed a disturbance. A visitor from above had flown through the clouds. This visitor wasn’t the hunters from whom they avoided — they didn’t move swiftly and towards their direction, and the visitor didn’t prompt them in their vast, lazy herds to huddle up to prevent. They also moved rather slowly, if curiously — they floated past their herds with a sense of wonder and as they did, some of the microscopic sinkers from high above rained down on them. The floaters could also sense them scanning the disturbances that came from the churning of the sea of very, very compressed air, the one that produced the electrifying sensation that they felt that extended outwards and that they used to communicate with one another. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t feel the presence of the visitors for long, they had started to ascend.
“Who are these visitors?” the floaters collectively asked as they connected with one another. An invisible connection connected them even if they floated far from one another and the clouds flowed between them.
“We may never know,” one such floater responded. The consensus of the floaters was that of agreement, and they had begun to hope the visitors came back some day. Clouds of orange flowed between the floaters as they ruminated on the recent events…
The blue fur of the famous professor Henry Philipp McCoy rustled from the air conditioning of the university room, blasting him in the face. Many people were gathered to hear his lecture. He was a professor of biology, and had scribbled a large number of notes on the whiteboard. He had continued to lecture, many members of the audience bored and or tired college students wearing casual clothes. Other members, particularly those in front, wore eyeglasses as they couldn’t see, or they were interested in hearing whatever it was the professor had to say.
Henry, or Hank as he preferred, was an unusual man: tall, large, and blue. He had an animal-like face and blue fur all over his body. He wore glasses on his face and was smartly dressed in a black suit, white button up shirt, and red tie.
He spoke very confidently as he lectured, describing the neurobiology and gene therapies a squid underwent to obtain an equivalent to human intelligence. The squid in question was in an aquarium that he had placed on the table in front of him. He described how the genes of the animal could not be obtained somewhere and had to make them himself, and learn exactly what genes in a squid that either needed to be made or could be found elsewhere in other organisms, contributed to the squid's intelligence.
“And everyone, I’d like to introduce you to Sheena,” he gestured towards the rusty pink squid swimming in the pool.
“Now, Sheena is the latest of my attempts to uplift a squid and make it capable of human intelligence and cognition. We have come a long way since we mapped the brain of C. elegans.” The audience was getting increasingly bored, save for some of those in front, although they were losing interest as well. The ones that managed to maintain their interest was the fact a blue furry man was talking to them.
“Now, I will drop this communicator so that Sheena will be able to communicate with us better.” He dropped a cylindrical device into the tank of water. The squid grabbed it with its tentacles. As the lecturer continued, he saw four people enter the room, one of whom was wearing large, round, rimless eyeglasses and a blue T-shirt with a white drawing of Jupiter with hexagons on its pole and with Saturn’s rings on it, and a caption that said “Jaturn.” McCoy nodded at the guy with the glasses.
“Now, would you like to say a few words, Sheena?”
“Yes,” she said. “Thank you, Dr. McCoy, I will take things from here.” The squid started to lecture.
“Fantastic…” the man in the blue T-shirt muttered to himself, putting his fingers on his chin and rubbing it.
“Pay attention, everyone, especially the ones in front,” she alerted the people. They were all shocked as the squid’s voice reverberated throughout the room. McCoy let the squid finish the lecture, nodding and explaining some things as she continued to lecture. Finally, the squid ended the lecture, earning a round of applause. As the audience dispersed, the four individuals made their way to the front stage.
“Ah, Dr. Richards,” Dr. McCoy reached out his hand to the man in the glasses.
“Dr. McCoy,” he gave a firm handshake. “That was quite a fantastic lecture you gave. The neurobiology of an enhanced squid was interesting, it’s giving me new insights into cognition. I’ve never realized that the basis of intelligence of a squid was that simple.”
“Agreed, the basis of its intelligence is quite simple. To think that we can extrapolate from this and figure out new ways to enhance it, although the psychological factor remains unknown. I take it you’re here for the conference later?”
“Yes, I am admittedly unfamiliar with methods of communication to different forms of intelligence, or how to communicate with animals, it’s a blind spot for me, but one I hope to overcome.”
“And why is that?”
“Simply put, Hank, I want to try and contact the Jovian floaters. I reviewed the data I collected on them and I overlooked some magnetic field patterns.”
“But it’s understandable you’d miss something, you were so keen on seeing if the colors of Jupiter’s clouds were caused by sulfur compounds. Crazy how you cracked FTL alongside all those side discoveries and developments just to see for yourself if they really were, and to find aliens in its atmosphere. Your research on the former was marvelously meticulous, I must say.”
“It’s why I overlooked a few things about the planet’s magnetic field, I didn’t find them too important back then.”
“But you did find aliens.”
“Yeah, I did. I didn’t know what to expect finding aliens, it’s a whole new interdisciplinary field, it’s like opening Pandora’s box and getting far more than I bargained for.”
“So what exactly did you overlook with regards to the magnetic field? You think you can find life there?”
“It came from a review of the magnetic field emissions coming from Jupiter. If these patterns are indeed alien, we can communicate with them. I’m hoping to send a fleet to monitor the magnetic field, which could also be a good GW detector.”
“Aren’t they setting up LISA [1] already?” McCoy asked.
“Yes, but one around Jupiter could make use of its magnetic field disturbances to detect gravitational waves. I know that I can figure out a million ways to contact aliens but I don’t know how to contact or communicate with the other forms of intelligence already present on Earth, which would provide an excellent basis to figure out communication.”
“And that’s why it’s a perfect opportunity for you to be attending this conference. The vast majority of us are primarily experts in the fields of neuroscience, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, animal intelligence, etc. I'm sure that there will be no shortage of the things you could learn from us. One of the things I’m looking forward to is the discussion on intelligence. I suppose it could help you get a broader definition of intelligent alien life, we have no idea what intelligence even is!”
“Dr. Pym will also be present, as will Van Dyne, Ms. Storm, I’m sure the two of you will have a well-earned break from science,” Hank joked to the blonde woman.
“Yep,” she chuckled, “and it’s about time, I haven’t seen Jan in ages!”
Reed and McCoy then continued to talk ideas, as Johnny, Sue, and Ven watched as they chatted like there was no more. Ben chuckled, looking at Reed, while Sue smiled.
“It's like we’re not even here,” Johnny whispered to his sister, arms crossed as he watched them talk in amusement.
“Oh, let him have this, Johnny,” said Sue.