Inside the ship, they were watching Alex's attempt at sabotage.
“That's it," said the crewman monitoring the magnetic screens and rockets. "A very small blip in thrust output.”
“He knew what he was doing just miscalculated his course by a small amount,” said Arn.
“We were lucky,” said Ajax.
20
“Aft sail stowed,” called a crewman.
“Very well,” said Ajax. “Prepare for swing by of A Centauri.”
The sun-like star Alpha Centauri A would assist the Starway Centauri in changing its direction. The spaceship was still traveling too fast for orbital insertion but the maneuver would help them reach that goal eventually. The spaceship would keep thrusting its fusion rocket with its nose pointed at the star as it maneuvered its way around the binary system. Eventually, as it swung around Alpha Centauri B the rocket would be lined up to decelerate the ship into a large elliptical orbit around the pair. Then the job of changing that orbit to a circular orbit around Centauri A would begin.
The science group cataloged the six planets around Centauri A and the three planets around Centauri B. Other parameters were noted and all the information was sent to Corporate where it would be distributed to outside scientists in a little over four years. The company considered it a public service to do as much science as possible on the mission as long as it didn't interfere with the mission's goals.
Ajax was even more enthusiastic about the findings and had the information presented in a forum to which anyone on the ship could attend including the volunteers. It was a gesture that secured a lot of goodwill for Ajax.
Just a little over three months from the time the Starway Centauri began orbiting around Centauri A/B it was able to transfer from that orbit to an elliptical orbit around Centauri A only. Now it was up to the volunteers to provide burn parameters to circularize that orbit.
“The volunteers have turned out to be a real blessing to this mission,” said Horace. “I mean we could have done the calculations ourselves with the help of the computers but with them doing the calculations and then us checking them I feel a lot more confident in our eventual success.”
“I agree Horace. I feel like we really have the right crew and the right ship to pull this off. It sure hasn't gone as smooth as I had hoped but we're almost ready to start the building that we came here to do, the beam lasers and the first of the beam relay stations from this end. And we've only lost one crew member in the almost six Earth-years we've been away. I'd say we have been very successful so far.”
“I agree Ajax, I agree,” said Horace with a rare smile.
Once in the desired orbit, the tricky job of separating the ring-like living quarters from the rest of the fusion ship began. Even though designed for separation the sheer masses of the components required painstaking efforts to ensure a safe separation. And a safe, successful separation was absolutely critical in accomplishing the mission goals. More importantly, should something go wrong during the operation all the lives aboard the ship and ring could be endangered.
When separated the ring and the front of the ship which had provided a storage area and shield during travel would become one part. The storage area would remain at zero gravity, its fusion-powered electrical generators would provide the power needed by the ring section. The fusion rocket and the center section would now become a separate spaceship. The duplicate control center in the center section would serve as command and control for the spaceship now. The ship would be in zero gravity except during acceleration.
After checking that the needed systems would work, separation of the ship began. The actual separation was automated, still, Ajax in the ring area and Horace in the ship section were anxiously monitoring the procedure.
“Separation commencing,” said Horace over the communications channel.
“Roger,” said Ajax.
The giant pin and hook mechanisms began to move. The hooks relaxed their hold on the pins as the pins began to retract slowly. The system had been used for some time in assembly of the huge freighters that had become common in the Solar System for moving volatiles and metals from the Kuiper Belt to where they were needed. These ships, assembled from sections as they orbited Earth and Mars, proved the technology.
The vibration of the pins and their movement could be felt in both the ring and ship sections. The vibration stopped when the pins were completely separated.
“Centauri Station, this is Starway Centauri, we are ready to undock.”
“Understood Starway Centauri.”
The fusion ship began backing away from the docking section of the ring. The small docking section was non-rotating and would continue to serve as the docking port for the ring section.
The ship had backed off far enough for Ajax to see its entirety on the wall screen.
That's a sight. I wondered if I'd ever see. We might pull this off after all. We might get this Starway working. We might get other Starway's working. This frees us from the Solar System. From domination. Freedom or stagnation seem to be our only choices. It's not about economies or riches or trade, it's about freedom, some of us will sacrifice all we have for freedom.
21
Days later the astronomers had found a nearby asteroid only two and a half AU away that looked like a good candidate for development. The fusion ship, now called Centauri Clipper, could be there in a few days.
“We'll be there in about five days,” said Horace Mann from the ship's control room. “Once there we should be able to get the asteroid underway in a couple of weeks at most. But it will take almost four months to get the asteroid back and in the same orbit as the station because of the mass and velocity changes needed. Anyway the bots will already start the mining and construction while we're moving it. So we should be far along in construction by the time I see you again face to face.”
“Sounds good Horace,” said Ajax. “I'm excited and I think everyone here on Centauri Station is excited also. Good luck.”
For once the mission went as planned. The Centauri Clipper guided the asteroid into the proper orbit. Even though only one-hundred meters across the roughly spherical rock had a mass of over sixty-million tons. The asteroid mostly contained metallic ores such as iron, cobalt, platinum with a little oxygen and water. But even that little was a large amount because of the huge initial mass.
The Centauri Clipper would refuel and take off again to find an asteroid with a greater amount of volatiles, oxygen and water. It would continue making voyages until enough material had been obtained to finish construction and supply the colony.
As Horace had said the construction bots were quite far along in their task by the time the asteroid was in the desired orbit. The framework of the lasers was being quickly completed. And at the speed the bots were working, the beam laser would be ready for tests in a couple of years, comparable to the time required to build a large ocean-going ship back on Earth with a similar mass.
Even with Em copies being made and the two volunteers (one volunteer, Rachael, had gone with the Centauri Clipper), there was enough work to keep the crew of the station busy. The boredom of the journey had been replaced with the hectic activity of the destination. Two years flew by.
At one-hundred AU the Centauri Clipper was too far away for normal conversations, instead, Ajax was sending a message which would be received almost fourteen hours later by the ship.
“Horace, we have done all the preliminaries we can. Tomorrow we test the beam laser at noon, our time. I'm told that we are at a point in our orbit that you should be able to see it distinctly and separate from the star. I look forward to your report.”
The construction of the first relay-station at one-hundred AU from Centauri A was proceeding well. It would still be several months before the year-long project was complete but the framework and station keeping systems were already in place. Horace was actually out on the frame inspecting a dead bot when he realized that the beam laser should be visible now. He left the bot an
d positioned himself next to the scope he had attached to the frame to get a view of the beam. From this distance, Centauri A was a point of light but much brighter than any other star, almost two-hundred times as bright as Earth's moon. He checked his chronometer and as he returned his attention to the scope he saw the laser blink on. A dim point source barely but distinctively separate from the star.
Horace smiled. Then he felt the pinch. The bot had resumed its activity, framework cleanup. Horace was an obstacle the bot was determined to remove. Horace was just about to key his mic and call the ship when the bot's pincer-like attachment breached Horace's suit. The tear was long enough that the air in the suit almost fully evacuated before it sealed. Horace passed out but was still alive when the bot pushed him from the framework. It was almost an hour before anyone noticed that he had not checked in. By then it was too late.
A message was sent from the Centauri Clipper to the station for Ajax only but he read it out loud: “All we know is that Horace was working out on the framework and had not contacted anyone for an hour. All attempts to communicate with him failed. We found his scope. We have to assume he is lost and probably dead.”
The message in a matter of fact manner reported the death of Ajax's closest confidant. The man that next to Ajax had done more than anyone to make the Centauri mission a success.
“Winston,” said Ajax. “This mission is getting too costly.”
Winston knew that Ajax was just talking out loud but he wanted to say something.
“Sir, I know you are talking about the death of your friend but don't forget baby Centauri. A life that owes its existence to this mission.”
Ajax was surprised at what Winston said but it was a comfort.
It wasn't much longer and beam relay station twenty-eight hundred went online. A sail and passenger pod were being constructed back at Centauri Station for those that would be returning to Earth. Just a couple more months and Starway Earth as the sail was named would be on its way.
“Are you sure Lindsey?” asked Ajax.
“Yeah, I want to stay. You see me and Jordan have gotten close. I wouldn't want to split us up.”
“I understand but I'm going to miss you, with Horace gone and you and Arn staying it's going to be a lonely trip.”
“Why don't you stay Ajax?”
“I don't know I guess I've got things to do on Earth.”
“What?”
“Well I've been thinking that while the Starway is a good solution to interstellar travel it might be too slow in the long run. It might serve well for freight but I want to find a faster way to get to the stars.”
“I should have known, you never rest.”
AFTERWORD
My first awareness of the concept of the Starway was found on the Centauri Dreams blog.
There the author, Charles Quarra, of the Starway paper presented his reasoning. I followed up this presentation with everything I could find that Dr. Robert Forward had written about using lasers to drive light sails. I also found some information in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.
The way I have presented it is I believe compatible with all those sources. The concept is simple, the audacity to conceive it is not. But still it requires no new physics only engineering.
In another story of mine called “The Cloud” I write about the early years of the Starway. In that story I found that just maintaining a chronological narrative was difficult because of the distance this light bridge entailed. How do you write a coherent story about events that are separated by light-years but eventually influence each other? Fortunately, in this story most of the events unfold on the starship.
There is always a question as to how much background material to include in a story. As in the other stories of the Future Chron Series I took the following technologies (and others) to exist and provided little or no explanation for them:
Self-driving cars.
Personal electronic assistants using advanced AI.
Foldable display screens.
Fusion power and fusion powered spacecraft.
Advanced medical therapies such as gene therapy.
Ubiquitous robotics.
Even when I gave an explanation for some technical development such as Emulated Brains (Ems) it was brief. My goal was to keep the plot and character development moving.
Next In The Future Chron Universe:
Mach's Metric Book 1
The wormhole drive could finally give humanity the stars, if it didn't destroy them first.
An accident with the drive had killed thousands by disrupting the entanglement of spacetime and its continued use could lead to further disruptions unless a solution could be found.
Young Elias Mach, physicist and inventor of the drive, took on the challenge with the help of a supportive few. He would have to find a solution to the drive's dire side-effects before it was too late.
This is hard science fiction – old school.
This story is the first novel in the Future Chron Universe.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
futurechronology(dot)blogspot(dot)com
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