Silence in the Shadows ~ 1

“You’ve already been exposed to excessively high radiation levels,” Yerik stated matter of factually. “Any further exposure… it’s too dangerous. You’re not going.”

Yelena* rounded on him angrily, a growl in every breath.

“You should have told me!” He continued, ignoring her furious protests and the wolf flaring in her eyes. “How long did you think you could hide the truth from us? No one knows the exact amount you were exposed to – do they?!! Nothing was ever recorded. An inconvenient, dark secret those concerned were paid to forget. I do not wish for you to die in the land of wolves!

– If you walk in the land of wolves you may not be able to return…if the contamination is too great there would be no choice but to leave you there. It is too high a price to pay for walking in the land of wolves.”

“I am not afraid to die in the land of wolves!! And I have no intentions of doing so, so you have nothing to fear!”

* (The light of the Sun)

____________________________________________________________________________________

Cutting-edge Geiger Counters rattled incessantly clicking with increasing rapidity in the irradiated silence that marked the desolate aftermath of the nuclear war zone – painfully evident in the silent ghost cities; uninhabited but otherwise undamaged, surrounded by dead zones and lines of black skeletal trees. Sludge-ridden radioactive rivers flanked the route that led to the N-plant, a tall silent sentinel standing eerily against the sky line; the Land of Wolves. Yelena walked quietly listening to the silence; a strange, unearthly stimulant, chillingly unnatural.

The sheer alien, otherworldliness of the Zone sent shivers of something tingling through bones and spirits unsettling even the most hardened amongst the accompanying Astro-Biological Research Team. Stalked ever by the invisible radioactive enemy they gathered their data quickly, ever mindful of the Geiger counters warning of rising radiation levels – dangerous miliseiverts, as they made wary progress deep into the contaminated heart of the Zone of Exclusion.

Halting for a moment outside an abandoned security building entrance, Yelena gazed upwards at the imposing tinted glass walls and the pyramid-dome entrance, absorbing the unnerving, empty calm it exuded in the alien sun. Dark, distorted shadows flitted uneasily high on the smoked glass windowed building overlooking the ghost cities of the exclusion zone.

A tainted wind breezing gently, brooding alien skies off-setting dark clouds roiling on the horizon; in the distance dead satellite monitors, looking out over the rusting rails of deserted office buildings from lofty heights.

Once a tall tastefully designed modern building, state-of-the-art, now a deserted, sightless reflection where the sunlight was a strange mirror-image in darkened, dusty glass windows.

Yelena gazed up at its sunlit front disquieted, at the roof-top tracking probes lying idle and silent. They would never work again – ever. There should have been life here but there was none. Activity, but the building was sealed, locked in time, its inhabitants long gone, and the silent tracking probes still and lifeless, and on closer inspection corrupted by corrosion. No birds would sing here, no chitter of unseen insect life. No calls. No cries. Just a still, empty silence where there should have been life, and the shivering of the wind.

The Sounds of Mars, Venus and Titan –

Symphonic Orchestras of the Stars

Source: University of Southampton press release

Despite many years of space exploration, we have no evidence of the sound of other planets.

Many years of space exploration, in huge diversity of forms has taken place but in all that time, and despite all the technology available to us no-one, ever, has heard the “sound of another world.”

“Hearing the sounds communicates ideas about the different atmospheres and highlights the sheer alienness of the other worlds in our solar system.”

~Dr. Jenny Shipway, Planetarium Manager at INTECH

Venutian lightning, Martian whirlwinds, Titan’s (Saturn’s largest satellite-moon) icy volcanoes – the natural sounds of other worlds all from the utilisation of maths and physics! Proving that there really is a valid point and reason to our enduring long and torturous maths classes and endless hours spent in the school physics lab!

A Southampton University team led by Professor Tim Leighton of the University’s Institute for Sound and Vibration Research have, using unique transforming software been able to model the sound of a human voice on Earth to one on another world/alien planet.

Mars, Venus and Titan all have very different and varied temperatures, atmospheres and pressures. These factors all play a valid role in affecting how the human vocals sound in different off-worldly environments.

“We are confident of our calculations; we have been rigorous in our use of physics taking into account atmospheres, pressure and fluid dynamics.” ~ Professor Leighton

“On Venus, the pitch of your voice would become much deeper. That is because the planet’s dense atmosphere means that the vocal cords vibrate more slowly through this ‘gassy soup’. However, the speed of sound in the atmosphere on Venus is much faster than it is on Earth, and this tricks the way our brain interprets the size of a speaker (presumably an evolutionary trait that allowed our ancestors to work out whether an animal call in the night was something that was small enough to eat or so big as to be dangerous). When we hear a voice from Venus, we think the speaker is small, but with a deep bass voice. On Venus, humans sound like bass Smurfs.” ~ Professor Leighton

The latest research has led to the capturing of the sound of the Martian and Venutian atmospheres – extending the science further and also adding to the portfolio, the sounds of Martian thunder and dust storms, Venutian thunder, and the sound of thunder on Titan and of it’s ice cold cryo-volcanoes.

~ Research conducted by MSc students Nikhil Banda and Benoit Berges working with Professors Leighton and White

Professor Leighton and Dr. Andi Petculescu at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette have also investigated in detail how musical instruments accompanied by human singing would sound if conducted in an alien planet environment. In the future, if mankind is able to create Martian settlements they might well decide to take the “sounds of Earth” with them in the form of music and instruments or maybe design something new during their time on Mars. Perhaps even creating a galactic orchestra with Martian symphonies! It would be interesting to hear how they would sound and be affected by such an extreme environment. The song of the stars!

There is also another sound not heard before on Mars… Chickens Smile It is worth noting that the Galactic Olympic Stadium on Olympic Host World, Mars has currently been converted into a “Super Chicken Coop”… They have since been eaten…by Clowie the Pyrenean Mountain Dog so there is only one left…. Winking smile

chicken on mars song “curiosity has a friend” remix

“Chicken on Mars Song” provides the sounds of the one remaining chicken on Mars (There were a lot more before Clowie arrived ) This Martian Chicken is also clear evidence that there is indeed life on Mars!