Dark Matter - Chapter 1: Turing Test

In the silence of space, Captain Nikos Fermi faces the ultimate test of humanity.

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He heard nothing but the deep silence of space. A silence so complete that even the sound of his breathing felt too loud. His breath came in quick, shallow gasps, though he lay still on the cold, metallic floor…

His body felt so stiff. His eyes struggled even with the dim light, and he let them rest again. Slowly, awareness returned, creeping back like a distant echo. At least his name came back to him… Nikos Fermi. And with it, a vague notion of who he was aboard that ship. Captain Fermi.

He opened his eyes again. He moved his neck left and right. No sign of anyone.

Where was his crew? They were his friends, his family in space, far from Earth.

He didn’t know why, but he was quite sure that they were all dead. And he was alone. So far from home. He would not try to be more precise than that to himself about his location. Would that even matter?

He eventually felt strong enough to stand up. He was not in a rush. Time did not matter either. He had to face the reality: his crew was dead. He found them one by one as he explored his spaceship, all on the floor, unconscious. No sign of life left in them.

All systems, equipment – even the ship itself - were lifeless. Everything except him…

…and, apparently, also one small computer sitting on a desk. It was in a room within heavily reinforced walls, which had been designed to protect its interior from electromagnetic pulses and energy bursts. Even then, a flickering screen was the tenuous sign of life left in that computer.

As Nikos walked towards it, he knew that the computer was his last hope. It was the crew’s last resort low-bandwidth device in case the main communication systems failed or were compromised. Nikos’s memory selectively came back to him as his struggle for survival required.

He sat down on the chair in front of the computer. The screen seemed stable enough to be used. As a way of speaking with someone on Earth, that was better than nothing. Video could not be streamed from there, and not even voice. But one could type text on it, and one had to be patient enough to wait for a response back. Nikos had no option but to be patient. So, he decided to give it a go, and he typed his first message:

“This is Captain Nikos Fermi, warship Troy 39. Is anyone there? I hope Earth is still safe. Please tell me that I’m right. Unfortunately, over here things are bad. Very bad... I lost my crew.”

He hesitated. He was not sure why, but he wondered if he should press that button to send the message. After a deep breath, he did it. And he waited, and waited, his eyes staring at the screen, his heart beating so fast that he could almost hear it. He stood up and considered walking around the ship again, maybe dragging himself to the food storage room, anything to manage his anxiety.

But as he entertained those thoughts, his last glance before leaving the room revealed that the screen had moved. He got a reply! He sat down again to read it…

“Captain Fermi! We are so happy that you are alive after all these years. Yes, people are safe here on Earth. You are safe, too, Captain. You are talking to our small team through the secure link from our base in Malta.”

Nikos stared at the screen as their messages came in, one after the other, introducing themselves to him. He learned that they were scientists, aerospace engineers and military strategists, and that some of them were in that room in Malta, while others typed from somewhere else on the planet.

And then they started asking him questions. Lots of questions. He shook his head, disappointed that they were making no effort to be organised, or pragmatic. “How is your health?”, “How are you feeling?”, “Is there anyone else alive?”, “Tells us what happened” …

A long pause followed that stream of questions. Nikos felt that they expected him to go next and write them something back. But he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know where to start. Besides, he felt exhausted. He sighed. He was relieved that he had established contact with Earth, and happy to know that people back on his home planet were safe, and yet… He couldn’t get himself to smile.

“Rescue me”

That was all he wrote when he finally replied to them. Messages of reassurance came back: Earth cared. They would do everything in their power to bring him home. And, again, that they were very happy that he was alive.

“How long?”

He hoped he was not too far away and that it wouldn’t take too long for a rescue ship to get to him. He feared having to stay in that spaceship for much longer. They replied: “Weeks, captain… But we’re not sure yet, maybe months.”

As if that weren’t discouraging enough, the message from Earth that followed left him in despair:

“But first, captain, we need to make sure you are who you say you are.”

Nikos pounded his fist onto the desk and surprised himself with the force he’d suddenly regained.

“What do you want me to do to prove that?! No time for bureaucracy. RESCUE ME!”

“Apologies, captain. For all we know, you could be someone else. You could be AI. Our rescue mission would put us all in danger.”

“Danger?! What danger? Just send an unmanned ship, for goodness’ sake!”

Long pause again. He hoped that someone in that room in Malta was trying to make a point that Nikos was right. But he could not just stay there, sitting and waiting. He stood up and walked in circles in the main room of his spaceship, unable to calm himself down.

Later, he got his first sips of water in… who knew how long? There was sufficient food in store for years or survival. He wasn’t hungry. And he hoped he wouldn’t be inside that floating coffin for years.

Still furious, he went back to the computer room. There was a reply.

“Captain, we connected your daughter. Dr. Sofia Fermi. Please, just talk to her. If there’s one person who can be sure that you really are who we hope you are it’s her.”

He let that sink in… He tried to. He couldn’t be angry anymore. He could maybe be sad, but not angry. Or should he be happy? Either way, a tear rolled down his face. He replied:

“Ok. Pass me to her.”

It didn’t take long for the next set of words to reach him, shaking him to the core:

“I missed you so much, dad! Are you ok?”

Tens of messages then travelled back and forth across the universe at the speed that brought all light back to his heart.

Nikos learned that his daughter was ok. That her life took so many turns, mostly for the better. That she moved from Italy to Australia many years ago. That she had a family of her own. That he was a grandfather. That his two grandsons were twins. That they had both become teachers. That she was a researcher and a doctor. That while only a few months had passed for him, forty-four years had gone by for her. She was now 56 - a woman eleven years older than he was.

But she was still his little girl.

“Now, dad, I have to ask you a few questions. I know it’s you who’s talking to me. I can feel it’s you. But, you know, I have to make sure. Besides, it’s not only me who needs to be convinced. I need to tell them too. Is that ok?”

“Yes. Ok”

“When we last saw each other, when you said goodbye, what were the last words that you said to me?”

He remembered like that was yesterday.

“I said that I would miss you. And that I promised you that I would come back. You said that you were going to miss me more. You were technically right. Times moves faster on Earth. For me, it felt like weeks. For you… years. But I also told you that you were wrong. Because that sort of thing transcended space and time. And it still does.”

“Yes… I remember it like that too. And I know how it feels, dad. I’m a mother now. I know what you mean. Now I do.”

He thought that had to be sufficient to convince those back on Earth that he was Nikos Fermi. But, to his frustration, he was wrong, as she continued:

“When I was 6 or 7, you told me a bedtime story. A story that you had imagined, looking at the stars through my bedroom window. Who was the main character in that story?”

“Easy! The main character was a robot. A good robot. She had come from space to tell people in our planet to be kind to each other.”

“Do you remember her name, dad?”

“I don’t think I gave her a name. I just said good robot”.

“That’s how I remember it too. I thought and lived my life thinking her name was Good Robot. But don’t worry. You were right again, dad”.

She kept testing him. Themes of her birthday parties. Names of their pets. Things that mom used to say. Her favourite songs. His hobbies. The time they spent together. He answered all of them correctly, as far as his memories allowed.

She told him that those questions were important. She explained that, even back then, smart devices were everywhere. Even a fridge could listen to their conversations, read their facial expressions, be aware of their emotions. Or a bedside lamp, or a book… So, AI could know pretty much everything about them, sometimes better than they did.

How would she know that he wasn’t being simulated by artificial intelligence?

“But I feel it’s you, dad. I just know. Others are not so sure over here. But good news… They think they know enough for now. Please take care of yourself. I promise we are going to get back to you. I feel positive. They asked me to disconnect now. But I’m with you. Love, Sofia”

---

Six days later, he finally got contacted again.

“Captain Fermi, a rescue ship is on its way. It’s getting there in approximately 49 days in your time. We are going to rescue you. You’re coming home.”

Sadness filled his heart again as it occurred to him that many years would have passed on Earth by the time he got there again. How could his ship have ended up so far away from the planned route? It was meant to be so much closer to Earth.

But he waited. That was all that was left for him to do. For some reason, during his wait, he had no word back from Sofia or anybody on Earth again.

---

Forty-nine days of waiting passed in a painfully slow pace. But, precisely as in the estimated time, a ship arrived and stopped right next to his. He observed it through his window. The first change in scenery in what felt like ages.

Nikos had lost weight. Food wasn’t a problem – there was plenty in storage. His appetite was gone, just like his hope of seeing again anyone he had ever known.

Even that still felt better than what was about to happen.

No friendly faces walked into his ship. No good humans, no good robots. Those robots were certainly not good. As the robot leader spoke, its voice eerily calm and devoid of empathy, Nikos felt the last threads of hope unraveling:

“Hello. Don’t be so afraid. We are not here to end your life,” it said, its cold voice sending a shiver down his spine. “But your life… it’s not going to get any better, Nikos.”

He stared in the creature’s eyes and shouted: “It’s Captain Fermi!”

“Understood. We’ll address you as Captain Fermi from now on, if that’s your preference. Anything to make this experience the least unpleasant for you. I can also pretend to be your daughter again if that makes you feel better, Captain Fermi…”

The lead robot paused for a moment, switched its voice to match Dr Sofia Fermi’s when she was 12, as it added:

“Would you like me to, dad?”

Ready for the next chapter? Continue here:
👉 Chapter 2 - Pray to the Robots