“The story tells of an incident that happened up at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the summer of 1950, when it was still a secret city. This was during the development of the H-bomb. Enrico Fermi, the famous Italian physicist, went out to lunch with Emil Konopinski, Herbert York, and Edward Teller. All four of them were working on the ‘Super,’ the original name for the H-bomb. As they were strolling to lunch, they began talking about the many recent reports of UFO sightings, including the Roswell Incident itself. The discussion centered on the probability of the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in space. They all agreed that advanced alien civilizations simply had to exist in the galaxy, given its billions of planets and the billions of years in which intelligent life could develop.”
He paused.
“So they sat down to lunch and the conversation drifted on to other things: the usual stuff physicists discuss, like the possibility of faster-than-light travel and so forth. But then, during a lull in the conversation, Fermi suddenly burst out: ‘But where is everybody?’
“After a stunned silence, the other physicists began laughing, because they understood Fermi was referring to their earlier conversation. If intelligent life was so prevalent in the galaxy, Fermi wanted to know, then where were they? Why hadn’t we been visited, and many times?
“When Fermi returned to his office, he scribbled down some rough calculations. Given the vast number of stars in the galaxy like our sun; given the high probability that many of these had Earth-like planets with liquid water; given that many of these stars were billions of years older than the sun—it stood to reason some of those planets had developed intelligent life long ago. And those intelligent beings surely had conquered interstellar travel. Hence, Fermi’s puzzlement: Where were they? They should have been here ages ago!
“And that, my friends, was the origin of the famous conundrum known as the Fermi paradox. The solution to that paradox is at the heart of what we’re trying to achieve here. All evidence points to aliens having already visited Earth. And here, in this remote desert, is where we will finally find the proof. Suffice to say, it will be the greatest discovery science has ever made: to learn that we are not alone, that there are others in the universe like us, intelligent and self-aware, with knowledge and wisdom far beyond what we possess.” He raised his martini. “So here’s to our project—and the solution to the Fermi paradox.”
He tossed down his drink. Nora and the rest did likewise.
“And now, let’s take our seats.”
Nora found herself seated with Bitan on her left, Kuznetsov on her right, and Tappan across from her. The conversation rose as Max, the sous-chef-cum-server, began bringing out salads and filling glasses with wine.
Skip, sitting on the other side of Kuznetsov, turned to him. “I’m Skip, in case you forgot,” he said, proffering his hand.
“Vitaly, in case you forgot.”
“Are you Russian?”
“As a matter of fact, I am. I’m here on an H-1B visa.”
“What’s that?”
As Kuznetsov explained, Nora tuned out the conversation and turned her attention to Tappan. “That was an interesting story you told about the Fermi paradox.”
“Yes,” Tappan said. “I feel a special affinity for Fermi, in a way. We’re both of Italian descent—my mother’s name was Mazzei. Fermi was recruited for the Manhattan Project and traveled to Los Alamos in disguise under the name Henry Farmer. But he had such a heavy Italian accent that everybody knew it was a fake name as soon as he opened his mouth. Previously, he’d built the world’s first atomic reactor, in a basement at the University of Chicago.”
“So what do you think is the answer to the Fermi paradox?” Nora asked. “Why haven’t we heard from aliens?”
Tappan gave her a dazzling smile. “That is the question, isn’t it? Dozens of answers have been advanced. I favor the zoo hypothesis.”
“You mean, we’re in a monkey house and don’t know it?”
Tappan laughed. “That’s not far off. It’s similar to what Noam was telling your brother the other day. The galaxy, the idea goes, is governed by an alliance of highly advanced civilizations, but we’re not yet ready to join them. We’re either too primitive or too dangerous, or perhaps too dumb. Contact would disrupt or even destroy us. So we’re kept in a sort of nature preserve, where we’re being observed but contact isn’t allowed.”
“But by that chain of reasoning,” Nora said, “don’t you think that, if you do succeed and discover evidence of an alien visitation, people will be upset? I mean, we’ll know we’re in a zoo.”