Lamont gulped down the dregs of his cold coffee and grimaced. "Have you noticed," he asked, "that we keep stumbling across humans?"
"The primary purpose of Westward's expedition is to successfully plant a colony, on a planet," Francis replied emphatically after a moment's consideration. "My intention has not been to sacrifice the colonists for the sake of the crew, nor to put them in any danger. Just the opposite. I'll speak with the rest of the senior staff and re-examine our priorities."
Rosemary offered the captain a small smile and nodded. "Thank you."
"Splendid," Lamont said, sitting back.
Francis looked at the newspaperman. "Did you come here to support Miss Wells' request, or was there something else?" His fingers lifted the sheet of paper he had been reviewing meaningfully.
"I came here for the coffee," Lamont explained. "But while I'm here, I do have a question. For both of you, actually."
Rosemary swiveled her chair in his direction, crossing her legs, and joined the captain in regarding Lamont expectantly. Lamont gulped down the dregs of his cold coffee and grimaced. "Have you noticed," he asked, "that we keep stumbling across humans?"
"What do you mean?" Francis asked.
"As Rosey was pointing out just now: We've found artifacts and architectures in the tower that could indicate any number of alien physiologies. But when we found actual remains, they were human. Or at least proportionately indistinguishable from humans. Right?"
"That's right," Rosemary agreed.
"And back on Epiphany Rex, we found human bones too, albeit small ones. And we met the humans that they belonged to."
The medic and the captain were both grim-faced at the recollection. The people that Lamont was referring to had, after all, been responsible for the death of young Rex O'Neil.
"I'm not sure I would call them human," Francis ventured.
Rosemary looked at the captain with an indignant expression. "They were. You know they were. We've talked about it."
"You have?" Lamont asked.
Rosemary turned back to him. "It's true that we didn't collect any samples for testing, but Milo and I are confident that what we saw were recognizable homo sapiens, with physiological defects consistent with the effects of malnutrition and long-term exposure to exotic radiation. We've seen it before."
The newspaperman nodded. One thing he knew about Rosemary is that prior to joining the Westward expedition, she and Milo had been engaged in researching the aftereffects of the Epiphany event. "That's two out of two, then. We've made two stops on our journey so far, and in both cases, we've come across signs of recognizably human life."
Francis shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "That's hardly enough for a scientific sampling," he suggested.
Lamont and Rosemary both regarded him with expressions of disbelief.
Lamont applied more pressure. "Francis, in your time with Phobos, has he said things to indicate that we would be finding other human beings out here? Hundreds of light years from Earth?"
"He's said that we should expect the unexpected," Carter replied. He sounded tired. "After all, the Martian charts were mapped a very long time ago. A lot can happen…"
"…in 50 million years," Lamont finished dryly. He had already pointed out that the statement had become something of an unofficial motto.
Two hypotheses are:
1 Humans have gotten around a lot. But not necessarily starting with Earth. *
2 Human form arises independently - an universal archetype.
Carter is either dissembling or reverting to his previous incarnation where "It's probably nothing" was his mantra. A sample of 2 is indeed sub-optimal. But finding humans anywhere at all but Earth is not just "unexpected". Finding them twice out of 2 is beyond extraordinary. It's probably something.
Side issue: Does one consider Martians "human"? Where is the division between human and "humanoid" (human-ish)?