Beyond Uranus

by Stewart Bruce & Nigel Moreland

  “No mum they are not,” Claire started to bite the back of her hand to try and stop herself from laughing.

  “Are you sure there is no romance going on between Claire and Adams?”

  “Mum I can guarantee it.”

  “Good then there’s nothing stopping you and Claire getting married.”

  “Mum! Will you please stop doing this?” I cupped my head with my other hand to try and hide my red face and whispered loudly down the phone “We are not getting married.”

  “Why are you talking like that Roy?”

  “Because it’s embarrassing. Did you want something?”

  “No. I was checking up to make sure everything was OK with you. I remember when your father first went away to work he was terribly homesick.”

  “Thanks mum but I’m fine. I’m not homesick and I’m having a wonderful time here in...”

  “Riviersonderend,” helped Adams again.

  “...Riveiersonderend.”

  “Well as long as you’re fine I will leave you to it. I will phone in a few days again. Bye.”

  “Bye mum,” and I hung up the phone.

  “So Roy,” started Adams “when’s the happy day?”

  Claire started laughing again “Shut up Adams,” I said, “or you’ll spend the rest of the evening in a drawer.”

  *

  The following day was the last day of work before having two days off. Before I left the station Dai and Mark were standing by my ship and we greeted each other.

  “Do you still want to have a drink with the crew?” asked Mark.

  “I’d love to. What’s the best day and time for everybody?”

  “A couple of days from now. How is Sunday at eight for you? We thought we could have a bite to eat before starting our shift at ten.”

  “Can I bring Claire?”

  “Of course you can bring your girlfriend.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  “Oh I’m sorry it’s just that everybody thinks you’re a couple.”

  “Well I haven’t got to the asking out bit yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “There never seems to be a right time. What’s on the menu today Dai?”

  “Have you ever had tripe and onions?”

  “Tripe is offal and sounds, looks and smells disgusting.”

  “That’s correct so I’ve given you pizza.”

  “Dai you are a super star.”

  “Thanks butty.”

  The shift was routine with no freighters. Claire and I had a long chat in the first part of the shift and after my pizza I had a very interesting talk to Amelia and Peter about Hyper Travel. It was useful having two Astrophysicists on the team because most of my question could be answered by at least one of them.

  “Is there no way to travel at Hyper Travel without bending the light around the ship?”

  “No light will ever reach the hull sensors,” answered Peter.

  “But can’t you capture the light and then slow the light down so you can see it?”

  “You can slow down light because it travels at different speeds through different mediums but you are in the vacuum of space. Anyway, it’s not the speed of the light that’s the problem it’s the speed of the ship inside Hyper Travel and the warping of space.”

  Amelia joined in “Imagine you’re travelling up a river in a boat going at a hundred miles an hour. You want the water to stay still in relation to the hull but it’s a very fast speed and the water flows around the boat very quickly. You cannot slow the river down and even if you could it would make very little difference because you are travelling so fast. The only thing you could do is make the river run backwards at a hundred miles an hour and that’s impossible.”

  “Make the river run backwards. That’s a very good idea Amelia.”

  “It’s impossible.”

  “So is travelling faster than light but I seem to be doing a lot of that recently.”

  Peter asked “Why are you so interested Roy?”

  “I would like to see where I’m going.”

  “Good luck. If you crack it I think you’ll steal Michael Kay’s title as Galactic Über Geek”

  “Do you know about the meeting with The Architect?”

  “Yes I’ve heard you were summoned.”

  Amelia added “The rumour is that you kept your computer and your job by the skin of your teeth.”

  “That’s no rumour,” I said, “Doctor Death has a lot to answer for.”

  “John D’Eath?” questioned Amelia. She seemed a bit confused about my mispronunciation of the name D’Eath.

  “Yes, that’s what I said, Doctor Death”

  *

  After the patrol we had a quick debrief and Simon told us we were going to stay in the same team and have the same shift after our two days off. He finished with “See you all at noon on Monday.” After a shower I met up with Claire and headed for the Pilot’s Bar for something to eat and a chat. I really wanted to ask her out so that I could officially say she is my girlfriend, but the fear of her rejecting me kept me from doing it. Everybody tells me she fancies me and we’d make the perfect couple but I don’t know what I would do if she said no.

  *

  The following two days were very pleasant. On the first day I had breakfast at the Pilot’s Bar and a walk around the square chatting to Adams about Hyper Drive. Adams had access to vast amounts of information but wasn’t as good as Peter or Amelia at making it simple enough for me to understand. Then I saw the long haired stranger again, turning my back, I got Adams to scan the vicinity to see if he could tell me who the man was but curiously Adams couldn’t detect any life signs close to us and when I looked back he was gone. I popped into see Gary for a chat and then met Claire for lunch at one. After lunch Claire asked if I would like a walk over to the observation area.

  “What is it?” I enquired.

  “It’s a big room that looks out into space.” I hadn’t been there but agreed because it was somewhere new. Although the UK sector of Earth Station Three seemed massive when I first came to the station it soon seemed quite small after three weeks of living there. We walked over to the corner between the pilot’s facilities and the support crew’s apartments. There was a narrow passage way that Claire took me down and after walking for a minute or so we stopped outside a door.

  “Are you ready?” she asked.

  “I think so.”

  She entered the door and walked through and I followed. As I entered the area she closed the door behind me. We were in a very large cathedral sized room that looked as though it jutted out of the side of the space station. The whole structure including the floor and ceiling looked like glass so it was like walking through space. Claire took my hand and walked me down to the end of the room and I stood in awe looking at the stars. Because there were no internal lights I could see everything in its full glory. Claire pointed into the distance.

  “That’s the sun but it looks like one of the background stars because we are so far away.” She then went on to point out some of the planets. “Would you like to see something amazing?”

  “I think I already am looking at something amazing.”

  “This view is good Roy but have a look at this. Computer, magnify the wall in front to a view of Saturn.”

  The whole wall in front of me changed to a view of Saturn as if we were in orbit. Although Saturn must have been several billion kilometres away it looked like we were there in orbit. I couldn’t say anything as I was stunned by the beauty of the planet in front of me. After several minutes I said “This is impossible. Are we looking at live pictures of Saturn or is it some sort of recording?”

  “This is live Roy.”

  We spent the afternoon in the observation area. I wanted to see all the planets and when I’d seen them all I wanted to see them again. Claire also showed me other parts of the universe and some of the more interesting nebulas like the Horse Head, the Pillars of Creation from the Eagle nebula and the Crab nebula. I�
��d seen photos of them in documentaries and on the Internet but that was nothing compared to the resolution of what I was currently looking at. The Pillars of Creation always looked nice in a photo but what I didn’t realise is how big they are. They are massive. Claire explained that they were actually four light years tall. The next time I looked at my watch it was six thirty and it felt the whole afternoon had gone in a second.

  “What shall we do about eating?” I asked.

  “Do you fancy going to the restaurant?”

  “That would be great. Tomorrow night I promised to meet the ground crew in Sam’s Bar at eight. The crew said you’re more than welcome to join us.”

  We started walking towards to exit.

  “I think I’ll leave you and the boys to yourselves if you don’t mind.”

  “One of the crew is Michelle Morley.”

  “Oh, OK but I think I will let you go by yourself. What time are you meeting them?”

  “At eight but they are on duty at ten.”

  “That’s good. Why don’t I come round your place at ten thirty and we can have a long chat as we don’t have to be in Simon’s office until noon. I’ll hang out with Gary from eight ‘til ten.”

  “Ok sounds good.”

  We left the observation area and went for a meal in the Pilot’s Restaurant. It was Russell who served us with our drinks.

  “Are you not in the bar tonight Russell?”

  “No,” he answered, “We’re a bit short handed in the restaurant as a couple of staff have shore leave. The bar is going to be closed in the evening for the next couple of days.” He placed the drinks and left.

  “No Pilot’s Bar for us tonight then Claire.”

  Claire said “Why don’t you come back to my apartment tonight for a change. We always seem to use yours and mine has some advantages over yours.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t have a computer games console.”

  “Ouch.”

  After eating we did go to Claire’s. Although it was right next door to my apartment I’d never been there. It was a lot different to mine. Although I’d lived in mine for a couple of weeks I hadn’t done anything to it apart from keep it tidy, Claire’s looked more homely. There were a few plants, personal pictures on the walls, cushions, coasters and small wooden pots with bits of smelly dried plant matter and some holding candles. It all looked so much more comfortable than my place and if I’d known earlier perhaps we would have spent more time here. At half two in the morning I left to go and sleep in my own apartment. Maybe one day I wouldn’t have to but I still wasn’t ready for that possible rejection if I asked her out.

  *

  It was lunchtime by the time I got up the following day.

  “Where’s Claire, Adams?”

  “She’s getting her hair cut in Gary’s Salon. Do you want to speak with her?”

  “Yes please Adams.”

  Ten seconds later I heard “Hello Roy.”

  “Hi. Have you had lunch?”

  “No. How about the Pilot’s Bar in half an hour.”

  “Great. I’ll see you there.”

  I spent the day with Claire again. We went bowling, which I lost again, and spent some time in the observation area. I left her at seven to go and get a shower and I reminded her that I’d see her at ten thirty after I’d been out with the ground crew.

  *

  I entered Sam’s Bar on time and the ground crew were in the corner at the back of the bar. As I was almost at the table I heard Dai saying “I told you Buck Rogers would be here on time. Alright Butty? Take a seat. What you drinking like?”

  “Thanks Dai I’ll have a coke please.”

  “Well the bar is over there and we’re all having lemonade. While you’re there can you order five burger and chips.”

  “I get it. I’m on your turf so the tables are turned. OK lemonade and burgers coming up.”

  Five minutes later and I was sat back down with four lemonades and my coke.

  “Sorry Dai they only had four burgers left so I got you something else”

  “What was that like?”

  “Tripe and onions.”

  “Now I know you’re taking the piss.”

  Michelle added “Dai will eat anything except for lamb because it reminds him too much of his girlfriend.”

  “Sheep shagger,” said Mark pointing at Dai.

  Jamie broke in “We’re not all sheep shaggers in Wales and besides there are more sheep in England than in Wales but you English are all too busy watching your national team losing at football to do anything about it.”

  Michelle looked at me “Mark’s from South Yorkshire, am’t ya m’duck? That’s proper sheep shagging country but wi’ flat caps n whippets. Gi ‘em a right good thrumpin up there they do.”

  “Aye, tha’s reight lass, I’s from God’s own county in propa north. Derby’s near as damn it one o’ them soft southerner cities tha knows.”

  “I’d like to see you stand in middle o’ Derby and holler that on a Sat’day night,” responded Michelle.

  The banter went on all night and had me in stitches. The ground crew were obviously very good friends because you couldn’t get away with saying the things they were saying with people you didn’t know very well. Each person came under the spotlight at some point in the evening and was picked on by the other three. Mark did this brilliant soliloquy about how tha best telly, up north, wer’ four-a-side rattin and how it wo’ regliar sat’day neight viewin and ‘ow thi’d all sit round telly wi’ a bottle of Newky brown and a ring o’ black dagger (which turned out to be black pudding), an dunna take tha cap off lad, s’turned reight starvin’ out theya brrrrr . Sometimes it was two against two but the sides always changed depending on what they were talking about. Even though some of it could be considered racist or sexist they all took it in the humorous way it was intended without any bad feeling towards each other. I got called Buck Rodgers, Royston, fly boy, nerd and geek quite regularly. The two hours I had with them went very quickly and I was sorry the night had finished and they had to leave.

  At the end I said “Thanks guys for a brilliant evening.”

  “Who are you callin’ guys?” questioned Michelle “Haven’t yer seen Mark going t’ girl’s loo?”

  “Tha’s true,” said Mark, “But only ‘cos a wanted t’ borrow your razor.”

  “I’ve got to do this again,” I said, “I’ve had the best time tonight.”

  “We won’t tell your girlfriend you said that butty,” added Dai. “I mean your girlfriend who isn’t your girlfriend that everybody thinks is your girlfriend but isn’t, like.”

  With that they said their goodbyes and left for their shift. I took all the glasses and plates back to the bar and set off for my apartment.

  *

  Previously in the evening a dark figure sat in the Pilot’s Bar all by himself. It was nine thirty when the figure spoke to his computer.

  “Computer where is Roy McCormack?”

  “He’s in Sam’s Bar.”

  “Is he by himself?”

  “No John he is sat with four other people.”

  “Dam it. OK, I can wait.”

  At ten fifteen John D’Eath spoke to his computer again.

  “Computer where is Roy McCormack?”

  “He’s in his apartment.”

  “Is he by himself?”

  “Yes John there is nobody else there.”

  “Good, at last. Put me through to him.”

  *

  I was sat in my apartment waiting for Claire to come round for our usual chat when Adams interrupted by train of thought.

  “Roy I have a call from John D’Eath for you.”

  “That’s strange, put him on.”

  “Hi Roy it’s John. Look I agree with you about this situation and I think that we have misjudged each other. I wonder if you could come over to the Pilot’s Bar for a quick chat. I promise I won’t take up much of your time.”

  “OK John I’ll come over n
ow.”

  I reckoned I could get to the bar and back in time to meet Claire and if I couldn’t she’d call and I could tell her I wouldn’t be long. It was really strange John calling me like that but if it meant we could patch up our relationship I thought it might be worth a try. Perhaps I misjudged him and perhaps I shouldn’t have been so rude. I decided I should apologise whilst I was there. I got up and went to my door and opened it to find Claire with her hand raised about to knock.

  “Hi Claire.”

  “That was good timing I was about to knock.”

  “Oh yeah, sorry I need to pop out. John D’Eath called and asked me to pop over to the Pilot’s Bar for a chat. I think he wants to sort things out between us. If you like you can stay here and I’ll see you in about twenty minutes.”

  “It’s OK I’ll walk over with you if you don’t mind.”

  I closed my door. We linked arms and started walking towards the pilot’s facilities.

  “How was your evening with the crew?”

  “It was so funny. They are full of banter and obviously very good friends. Maybe it was a good thing that you didn’t go because it got quite rude.”

  “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. It’s good to go out with other people although don’t do it too often Mister McCormack.”

  “I promise not to Miss Seabright.”

  We carried on walking and Claire told me all the gossip she’d heard from Gary. It was like living in a small village and finding out about everybody’s business. As we approached the Pilot’s Bar Claire said she would wait outside and watch through the doors.

  I entered the bar and saw John at the other end of the bar sitting at one of the low tables with his head bowed. I walked over to him and as I got closer he looked up. In front of him were two glasses and a hammer.

  “Hi John. What can I do for you?”

  “Hi Roy. Look, I’m really sorry for what’s happened over the last few days. I think the job has got to me a little bit and I’ve been taking it out on you. I know it’s wrong but at the time I couldn’t help myself. I hope you can accept my apology and I hope our relationship can now move on more positively. I completely understand if you say you don’t want anything to do with me but I hope you accept my apology.”

  “John, what can I say? I’m really glad you had the guts to say all that. I also need to apologise to you as well as I said some things I really shouldn’t have said.”

  “That’s quite alright Roy. Let’s make a breaking toast.”

  “What’s that?”

  “My father was a simple peasant from Romanian who was a builder by trade. He spent his whole life struggling to find money to send me to the best university in England so that I wouldn’t end up like him. My family sacrificed everything for me and I am eternally grateful. I still keep my family traditions living. My father would seal every deal and finish every family occasion with the breaking toast. We say a few words, drink from the glass and then break the glass using the tools of his trade, a simple hammer.”