Life Beyond What We Know.

Flowers bloomed from the strands of his hair as his emotions surfaced. A notable characteristic, too conspicuous for a scientist. On that particular day, Aganisia orchids covered almost his entire head, a sign of the morning stress taking hold. His name was Clancy, a tall, tanned-skinned guy with tired eyes and the look of someone lost in that environment. He made his way to the laboratory, avoiding eye contact with any other living being. He worked at the Center for Earth's Relativistic Studies (CERS), in the department responsible for the application of subatomic particles in "relativistic environments." Today, the place was more crowded than usual due to their latest discovery. CERS was going to showcase to the public, for the first time, a machine that used dark matter as fuel to explore the last stages of the universe. Various comments filled the air, ranging from the most skeptical, thinking it was impossible, to the more paranoid, fearing a black hole that would swallow everything and everyone.

–Ouch,– Clancy felt one of the orchids being tugged, and when he turned around, all he saw was a boy of about 5 or 6 years. The child greeted him with a small smile. His initial reaction was abrupt: –Don't touch my hair. Or the flowers.– The child's mother arrived soon after, practically the same height as him, wearing a long silver dress that matched her grayish hair. She scolded the child while apologizing.

Clancy let out a small sigh, causing the Aganisia orchids to wither slightly, and he accepted the apologies. But before he could leave, she spoke again. –It's just that he had never seen one of you before.– His eyebrows arched, evidently confused; one of the Aganisia orchids fell, replaced by a crown of thorns. –What do you mean?– As he thought about it, he began to understand, his orchids falling as crowns of thorns emerged in his hair. –I'm as human as all of you,– he muttered, although he sometimes had his doubts.

The scene attracted some attention, as the child froze for a few seconds, and his mother tried to explain. –No, I know... what I meant is that he had never seen someone with...–

Before she could finish her sentence, Clancy felt his shoulder being pulled by someone significantly stronger than himself. It was Murphy, a woman from a distant Earth who never stopped talking. She was the head of Clancy's laboratory. –Let it go, ma'am,– Murphy intervened. –He's just excited about the big reveal, right?–

–That's...true, sorry.– he said, turning his head to the side, noticing that many people had stopped to watch the scene.

Both of them continued to the laboratory, with Murphy occupying the only available chair while he settled on the floor. Before they began to talk, Clancy ran his fingers through his hair, noticing the presence of thorns from the crowns of thorns tangled in them. His ring finger ended up pricking one of the thorns, and then Murphy spoke: "Want me to remove them for you?" He sighed and nodded in agreement. –Yes.–

She moved her chair behind him and began to untangle the strands of his hair. It took a little over five minutes, and they preferred not to mention the incident in the hallway. –Did you know that due to the small amounts of gaseous compounds in the vacuum of space, there's a small chance that some form of microbial life may have undergone an evolutionary system of scarce nutrition and developed completely outside our radar?– She laughed a bit, slightly confused. –What do you mean?– Clancy interlocked his fingers, staring at the ground, trying to explain it more clearly. –Well, with the discovery of neutrinos, the idea of dark matter became more supported. Not just the idea of it, but also a question about its possible level of influence on us. Dark matter, or hidden matter, is something with low or no interaction with electromagnetic force, right?– She nodded, though he couldn't see it. –And there are chemical compounds like carbon, nitrogen, and so on. In a primitive universe, when galactic structures were just forming, a set of these compounds might have grouped together in a shape similar to a small air pocket, and it fermented for some years, leading to the formation of some microorganisms. Most would have died, but perhaps some of them adapted, consuming materials like neutrinos and having their future generations gradually reduce electromagnetic interaction. They would be 'invisible,' but they would be there.–

Murphy had heard of something like this before, usually from some specialized ufologist in scientific philosophy. Her area of expertise was particle physics, after all, so she spent most of her time working in one of the more concrete areas of science. It was difficult for her to hear these unfounded speculations spoken so confidently. Her usual responses to such ideas were, –Do you have any data that even remotely supports this notion? Maybe some evidence of microbial life that has developed some minimal reaction to neutrinos?– But this time, she took a deep breath before responding. –Honestly, though I find the idea intriguing, it's too fanciful. I prefer to focus on things like what we do here.–

At first glance, it was clear that they didn't quite understand each other. She was a systematic, realistic, and objective person, while he was more carried away by the moment, dreaming of the time when they would travel through time and had a tendency to sneak out of the laboratory to watch college basketball games. Nonetheless, they enjoyed talking. –Why is this idea too fanciful?– She furrowed her brow, pulling one of the crowns of thorns with force. Clancy's slight moan of pain brought a faint smile to her face. –The kind of apparatus needed to check these ideas hasn't even been invented yet. We would need... I don't know, to ferment artificial life and bombard it with neutrinos? Or suppose their kind of food and try to hunt for reactions? All of this seems too impossible to me.–

Murphy ran her fingers through his hair to make sure no thorns were left. –Discard the second idea, take the first. If we take certain types of microorganisms and certain amounts of neutrinos, or some other dark matter particle, it doesn't sound like a bad idea. But in reality, there's an easier way to do this... specific particles have specific properties. Imagine that today, the cosmic background radiation passes through here, and in the future, someone in some corner of the universe will be able to 'see' our record in history. All of human history is a specific oscillation there. This kind of event would also have its own oscillation, and...–

Silence. Murphy stopped for a while to process what he had said. Clancy was the kind of person who traveled in his own mind but didn't usually speak these things without at least having some idea. She ended up asking, "What does that mean exactly?" He smiled, turning his head in her direction, their eyes meeting as some daisies seemed to form at the tips of Clancy's hair. –If I'm not crazy, maybe we can.–

Still struggling to digest that, Murphy fell silent.

While the two scientists were talking, the crowd around them became increasingly restless, eager to witness the long-awaited Athena. Voices and footsteps echoed in the corridor as people gathered near the exhibition area, which was a huge launch platform. Its warp engines were warming up, and the launch was only a few minutes away.

Clancy, still smiling, said, –Maybe this sounds a bit absurd, Murphy, but imagine what this could mean for humanity. Discovering microbial life in places we've never dared to look.– Murphy remained skeptical, but the passion in Clancy's eyes made her reconsider her position. –Maybe you're right. What if there's a way to check these oscillations in the cosmic background radiation? After all, we're a physicist and an astronomer, right? Most of what we do is question the impossible.– Clancy nodded. –We could start by researching astronomical records of anomalous oscillations and comparing them with our data. If we find something consistent, we'd have a starting point.–

Murphy agreed, finally seeing some logic in the idea. Clancy smiled again, and this time daisies blossomed in his hair, spreading a sweet fragrance throughout the laboratory. As they continued to discuss the details of the plan, the curious crowd began to disperse, realizing that Athena's engines were starting.