Lily wiped her eyes and cheeks with the absorbant cloth Chen handed her.
“It changes nothing,” she said, her voice solid and determined. “His original archive stays. If we restore him he will have no idea that any of this occurred and none of us will ever tell him—agreed?”
Aubrey wiped the tears from her eyes with her fingers. “I’m not sure, Mom. Maybe we should respect his wishes. It’s possible there was more damage to his brain than we thought. Maybe we need to stop trying.”
Lily looked at Chen. “What do you think?”
“Anything is possible. We know there was some minor damage and it could be affecting him in some way but we got a really good transfer this time and he has been remarkably stable…just a few headaches and some minor memory issues but nothing major.”
“Adee?” Lily asked.
“You know me, Lil. I think it’s the man’s right to decide his own fate. If he doesn’t want to be restored again, then I think you have to respect that…but he’s your father.”
“Alright, I’ll think about it. For now, his original archive stays. I guess I’ll have to wipe him after we’re done here though.”
“Really?” Aubrey was surprised. “Does it have to be so soon? I haven’t really gotten to spend much time with him and I was hoping…”
“I'm sorry honey but it has to be now. We can’t take the risk that the Peacekeepers get their hands on him. He knows too much…just like the rest of us.”
“Which,” Yin interjected, “brings us to the last two decisions we need to make…what do we do with Kutanga for the next six hours until its fully spun up and can jump the hell out of here…and what do we do with ourselves?”
“And when do we update our archives,” Aubrey added.
“Let’s decide on Kutanga first,” Dylan said. “What do you think, Adee? Can it get far enough away or do we keep it in orbit where we can defend her?”
“That’s a good question,” Adee replied.
He gestured across the holodisplay in front of him and changed the image floating above the table to a real-time view of Ceres and the space surrounding it. Kutanga and Endeavor were highlighted in blue and just at the edge of the display was a small ship highlighted in red. Numbers next to it showed that it was less than 52 million kilometers away and traveling at 107.9 million kilometers per hour—or about one percent of the speed of light.
He continued, “Aneni estimates they will be in orbit in one hour and twenty-three minutes. They are going to have to decelerate hard in order to slow down enough to make orbit.”
“Can they drop that much speed that fast?” Yin asked.
“Well, it’s a relatively small, low-mass transport ship so I’m thinking they will wait until the last possible second to initiate their final deceleration pulse…probably somewhere around here.”
A red circle appeared on the display 30,000 kilometers out from Ceres.
“Once they hit this point, we’ll have no more than thirty minutes…and probably more like twenty to act if we want to keep them from reaching orbit.”
“We could use the anti-asteroid missiles,” Yin said.
Both the station and the ships overhead were armed with high-explosive anti-asteroid missile systems that could be re-purposed as anti-ship weapons.
“My preference is to avoid bloodshed, if possible,” Adee responded.
“What about the gravitational field projectors on Endeavor? Could they be used to bump them out of orbit?” Dylan asked.
One of the side effects of gravity pulse drives was that they radiated gravity waves away from the ship when active. The more helium-3 fused in the engine core, the more powerful the gravity waves. When the ship was stationary, the waves radiated outward evenly in all directions, like ripples on the surface of a pond. However, the wave pattern could be shaped and directed by the field projectors to increase or decrease the amount of attractive or repulsive force being created in any direction around the vessel.
That was, in fact, how the ships were able to accelerate and decelerate so quickly. By creating a strong repulsive force at the back of the ship, coupled with a strong attractive force at the front, a ship would be simultaneously pushed and pulled through space. The relative strength of the gravitational effect was based both on fuel consumption and proximity to other gravity-producing objects.
What Dylan was proposing was to use Endeavor’s gravity drive to create a repulsing wave that would knock the transport out of orbit, which would buy them some time as the Peacekeepers repositioned their ship for another try. Of course, if it worked the first time, then Endeavor could just bump them again when they came back around.
“Perhaps. It depends on where they enter from. If we are too close to Kutanga, we could disrupt its orbit as well.”
“Not if it’s not there,” Lily said. “We could send Kutanga toward the Belt…somewhere they won’t find it and at the same time get it out of our way. It’s a win-win.”
“Except that the nearest cluster of asteroids big enough to hide Kutanga is nearly 3.2 million kilometers away,” Adee replied. “On thrusters only, we are looking at something like ten hours to reach it. Her gravity drive will be spun up long before then.”
“Yes but at least she won’t be in orbit and it will take them some time to figure out where she’s headed, which still slows them down,” Dylan added.
Adee thought about that for a minute. “I still have some crew on board, we’ll need to get them off first.”
“How long will that take,” Yin asked.
“If I tell them to stop what they are doing and evacuate? Probably twenty minutes…maybe a little less.”
“So, that will give Kutanga about an hour head start, that’s better than nothing.”
“Alright, that’s the plan then. One second while I send the evac order.”
Thirty seconds later the order had been sent and acknowledged.
“Okay, all fourteen crew members have acknowledged and are moving toward the transport shuttle now. I’ve also ordered Endeavor to move to a higher orbit. Hopefully, we can bump them before they even notice Kutanga is gone.”
“So, that just leaves one more decision,” Yin said. “How are we getting out of here?”
“You and I need to be on Endeavor,” Adee said. “We have to make sure that the Peacekeepers are sufficiently delayed. The rest of you should go straight to Kutanga, we'll join you before the first jump.”
“Okay,” Lily acknowledged. “Chen, Dylan, Aubrey and I will go say goodbye to Dad and then we will take a shuttle up to Kutanga.”
“So, we update our archives once we are safely away?” Aubrey asked.
“Yes,” Lily answered. “We don't have time to do it now, anyway.”
Lily looked around the table to confirm everyone's agreement.
“Agreed,” Adee said as he got up from his chair. “Meeting adjourned. Let's go, Yin, we have some planning to do.”
Lily took Dylan by one hand and Aubrey by the other as they entered the hallway.
“Let’s go say goodbye,” she said.
As they approached the elevator, Chen stopped and pointed down the hallway. “I will be right there, I need to go get the injector.”
Lily nodded and she, Dylan and Aubrey stepped into the lift. Chen watched as the doors hissed shut. The lab where the nanite injectors were stored was only a short distance away. He walked slowly down the hall, almost matching Evan’s snail-like pace as he carefully took each step and listened for the telltale “thump” of the magnets engaging. He could have moved faster but doing so would only reduce the time Evan had left—and Chen was in no hurry to see him go.
As he walked he couldn't help but think about Evan and all that he had been through. Not only this time but the other times as well. What must it be like to be gone for so long, only to be brought back for what amounted to little more than brief visits—each one more traumatic than the last.
It was almost a shame they didn't have time to create a new a
rchive for him. At least then, in the event there should be a sixth time, Evan would remember the events of the last three days; first the extreme effort that strangers had made on his behalf and then the outpouring of love that his child and grandchild had shown him.
I wonder if we’ll dream? Chen thought, realizing that he would soon follow in Evan's path.
CHAPTER 36
APRIL 6, 2075 11:55 AM GST
GFN Transport Ship
Mars-Ceres Transition
Luanne floated down the access tunnel to the lower section of the ship where her crew was preparing their assault suits and checking their gear for the coming operation. When she reached the bottom, she pushed off of the ladder toward the front of the ship where Sam and Jaime stood with Bravo team leader, Senior Chief Boldisar Novak (everyone called him “B”).
“Ryan confirms final decel pulse in ten minutes, everyone needs to be back in their pods in nine. Is everything ready down here?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Sam replied. “We just finished re-initializing B’s suit. It was throwing an AI interface error, but it looks like Jaime’s just about got it fixed.”
“Good, Jaime you keep working. B, can I see you and Sam over here for a minute?” Luanne pointed toward the rear of the ship where the other members of GFN Special Operations Team Epsilon 6 were organizing their kit. The three leaders floated across the ten meters of cargo space between them and the rest of the crew.
Luanne grabbed a handhold and planted her feet on the metallic deck.
“Can I have everyone’s attention?” she asked.
The seven team members stopped what they were doing and turned to face their commanding officer.
“As you are all aware, Command has authorized us to use every resource at our disposal to complete this mission. They have made it clear they want these fugitives apprehended if possible, killed if necessary and—most importantly—they don’t want Kutanga leaving this system.
“I was hoping for a stealth option but we just got word from the BGSI operative on board Kutanga that Gbadamosi evacuated the ship, for what reason we do not know. Based on Kutanga’s energy output and gravity signature, she estimates that the ship will not be ready to jump for at least another five hours, possibly longer. So, that’s our window…if that ship jumps we’ll never catch her. Questions?”
“What was the decision on fleet support?” The question came from Chief Petty Officer Talia Yates, otherwise known as Bravo Two.
Although the Earth-Mars treaty prohibited heavily armed military vessels beyond planetary orbit, the GFN maintained a small fleet of lightly armed interceptors that patrolled the shipping lanes between the two planets.
Their main job was to intercept and detain smugglers (and the rare pirate ship) and they were permitted to carry a small compliment of non-nuclear missiles for defense. Luanne had requested that two of those ships be assigned to her command after Captain Bachmann redirected her team to Ceres.
“It took too long for them to make up their minds,” Luanne replied with more than a hint of agitation on her face. “Command finally approved my request but at max speed they are still four plus hours out. They can help with the mop-up but we’re on point for the heavy lifting.”
“Figures. So, what do we do if they try to run? Ram 'em?”
Luanne smirked. “This isn’t a suicide mission, Tal. Your AIs are syncing now. Review the mission plan during the deceleration cycle. You all know your jobs and I am confident we’ll get it done. Sam…B…anything you’d like to add?”
Sam shook his head no as Boldisar stepped forward.
“Just that Bravo team is ready,” B said, “and we aren’t ending up in a cargo container this time. Right, team?”
“Hooyah!” the five members of Bravo team replied in unison.
“Hooyah!”—Luanne smiled—“Okay, let’s wrap it up, team, everyone back in their pods in five.”
Luanne grabbed a rung on the ladder and pulled herself up the shaft to the crew deck above.
“Coming, Sam?” she called down.
“Right behind you.”
The two Peacekeepers floated the short distance to their pods near the front of the ship.
“So, which option are we going with, Lu?”
“Command authorized Charlie, so that’s what we are going to do. I just received confirmation from agents Sewell and Govender, we’ve got access to both ships.”
“So, three four-man teams then?” Sam asked.
“Yep. Emma is syncing now and Zelda should confirm momentarily.”
“She’s got it,” he said.
Sam took a second to scan the mission plan. “So, I am on Kutanga and B is taking Endeavor while you hang out here and sweet talk the Admiral…what happened to just sneaking in before they know we are here?”
“Emma didn’t like it and neither did I. There is no way to get close enough without them detecting us and nothing we came up with had a higher projected success rate than what Command sent us.”
“Any idea what you are going to say?”
“I was thinking something along the lines of 'Come out with your hands up, we have you surrounded. Surrender now and nobody gets hurt!'”
“That should do it, I am sure he will be shaking in his boots.”
Luanne chuckled. “Like you said Sam, we are going to have to wing it. There are too many unknowns and the opposition is too far ahead of us.”
Boldisar floated up from the lower deck. “Gear is secure and ready to go. Crew’s coming up,” he said.
It took less than two minutes for the crew to secure themselves in their pods. Luanne did a quick headcount and then locked herself in.
“Okay Ryan, ready when you are,” she said.
Ryan glanced at his holodisplay, confirmed that all pods were secure and that the gravity drive was fully charged and ready to pulse. All indicators showed green as he made the sequence of gestures required to activate the drive control system. The display shifted to show the ship and the gravity field surrounding it.
Being a relatively small transport ship at just 38 meters long, the craft lacked the sophisticated gravity management systems of larger vessels like Endeavor and Kutanga. It also carried significantly less helium-3 fuel, which meant that it could achieve only a fraction of the speed of those much larger craft. Still, the transport was traveling at nearly one percent of the speed of light (more than 10 million kilometers per hour) and it would take a significant deceleration pulse to slow them to a safe orbital sped.
The first deceleration pulse had reduced their speed to one percent of the speed of light, and the last four hours of reverse-thrusting had shaved another couple of million kilometers per hour off of the speedometer, but they were still going much too fast to enter orbit around Ceres.
This pulse would slow them enough to achieve orbit around the small protoplanet and, based on the calculations on the screen in front of him, they would enter orbit around Ceres in 37 minutes and 22 seconds. Satisfied that everything was correct, he touched the area of the display labeled “Initiate.”
The Hellfire engines shut down a second later and all noise and vibration inside the cabin ceased. After several seconds of dead quiet, a distant whining sound began to emanate throughout the cabin—seemingly from everywhere at once. The whine increased in pitch rapidly and after about twenty seconds it was beyond the range of human hearing. The cabin went eerily quiet and Ryan felt his body go limp as his pod induced a temporary paralysis to keep him from straining against the massive jolt that was to come. He comforted himself knowing that everyone else on board was experiencing the same sensation.
Ryan's eyes were still open and he could see the holodisplay projected in front him. He watched as the shape of the gravity field surrounding the ship shifted and grew. It started as concentric rings of force that slowly moved away from the ship in all directions but it quickly shifted to a pattern that reminded Ryan of waves crashing on a beach. The waves got larger and faster with each passing
second and after just a few seconds they came so fast he could no longer see individual waves—just ripples of energy pulsing around the ship like a strobe light.
Over the next several minutes the pattern on the display shifted as the pulsing ball of energy surrounding the ship divided and narrowed. Ryan looked on as two balls of energy materialized—one significantly larger than the other. The larger of the balls migrated toward the rear of the ship. The smaller ball slid along the ship to a point about sixty meters in front of where he was sitting. Although the ship’s orientation didn’t matter to the gravity drive, he had pointed the rear of the ship toward Ceres so that he could use the Hellfires to fine tune their approach speed.
He closed his eyes to prepare for what came next. Even though the transport had state-of-the-art acceleration pods and gravity compensators, there was simply no way yet discovered to shield the conscious human brain from the sensations induced by a massive burst of gravity waves.
Had Ryan been watching, he would have seen the pulsating balls at either end of the craft suddenly shrink to pinpoint dots of infinitely concentrated energy. A few seconds later the dot at the front of the craft collapsed into nothingness and seemingly disappeared from the universe while the one at the rear simultaneously “exploded”—the massive amount of energy contained within it released suddenly and violently from its gravitational prison.
An outside observer watching this process would have seen the ship appear to grow by several meters in length during the first part of the process, only to contract by as many meters as the gravity wells reached maximum density.
Several hundred meters of space at the front of the ship turned pitch black as no light could pass through the massive gravitation field emanating from the collapsed gravity well. Essentially a moveable, microscopic black hole, this area of space was referred to as the “counter mass field” because it had the effect of hiding a large portion of the ship's mass from the universe. The ship's mass didn't actually change but the extreme gravity emanating from the black-hole pulled the craft toward it with considerable force; thereby increasing the ship's total energy and simultaneously reducing its mass relative to local space-time.
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