2120-2126

by Russell Fine

  They were watching the Crosus ship on the monitor when it was hit by a particle beam from one of the shuttles. The Crosus ship stopped firing at the warship and Commander Streb ordered his weapons officer to immediately open fire on the Crosus ship. They dropped their shields and fired at the ship. The result was targeted ship appeared to lose all power; even the life support systems.

  Commander Streb ordered the weapons officer to fire a full-strength electromagnetic pulse at the ships on the surface. He didn’t want to destroy the ships unless he had no choice. However, the electromagnetic pulse had no effect. They fired it again, but the results were unchanged. He ordered the ships on the surface to be destroyed. There were three loud bursts of noise when the weapons were fired. They were watching the monitors when suddenly the whole ship shuddered. The Crosus ship in orbit above the moon had fired on the warship. It did sustain some damage, but the shields were brought up before the Crosus ship could fire again.

  The ships on the surface were badly damaged, but their crews were still working around them, assembling a large piece of equipment. Commander Streb ordered the weapons officer to target the equipment they were building. A moment later it was destroyed. Most of the crew on the bridge were watching the monitors to see what was happening on the surface, but one officer was watching the ship that had just fired on them. He said, “The Crosus ship that just fired on us is powering up its engines.”

  Commander Streb said, “Do not let them get away. Their ship is faster and more maneuverable than ours. I do not want to destroy the ship, but if they power up their wormhole generator I will. Weapons officer, if they make any move to escape, try to target their propulsion system.”

  “Yes sir.”

  They watched as the Crosus ship began moving away from the moon. As the Earth came into view, it suddenly starting moving very fast toward the Earth.

  “Navigator, follow the ship, but stay ten thousand units back.”

  “Yes sir.”

  They followed the Crosus ship until it stopped about five thousand units above the Earth.

  “Sir,” the weapons officer said, “there was just a large energy surge on the Crosus ship. I think they may be powering up a weapon.”

  “Destroy them,” Commander Streb ordered.

  “Yes sir.”

  The weapons officer fired a full energy particle beam at them. There was a small explosion on the Crosus ship and it began to fall toward Earth.

  “Sir, it appears they are still powering up a weapon. But the ship is out of control, so there is no way to fire it accurately,” the weapons officer said.

  “Where is it going to fall?”

  “It appears it will fall into the ocean about one hundred and fifty units east of New York City. It will hit the Earth in point-twelve-hours.”

  “Communications officer, contact NASA and tell them where that ship will impact the Earth. There may be a large explosion which could result in a tidal wave.”

  “Yes sir.”

  There was nothing more they could do except watch. The energy from their weapons would be dissipated by the Earth’s atmosphere, making them useless. They watched as the ship hit the ocean and exploded. The energy from the explosion was far greater than what they had expected. Their view was blocked by a thick layer of steam created by the explosion. As the view cleared, it became obvious New York City was in trouble. The explosion had generated a wave point-zero-five-units high (more than three hundred feet) and one unit wide. That wave would hit New York City in less than point-five-hours. There was no way to evacuate the city quickly enough.

  The communications officer contacted NASA again and told them what was going to happen, but they already knew. The falling ship was being observed by both planes and space ships that were flying over the area. New York City’s hurricane warning system activated. There was simply not enough time to do much about it. By the time the wave reached the New York City area a lot of the initial energy had dissipated, but the wave was still point-zero-two-units high (almost one hundred and thirty feet) and just less than one unit wide.

  The wave caught the western most tip of Long Island before slamming into Brooklyn. It destroyed every building in its path. The wave crossed into Manhattan headed for Hoboken, but it lost all of its energy before that could happen. By the time the carnage was over, more than ten thousand people were dead. Far more than that were homeless since the wave destroyed more than one hundred thousand homes and buildings.

  In an emergency meeting of the World Council, they were ready to blame it on Commander Streb. When he told them the intention of Crosus was to destabilize the moon’s orbit and what that would mean to Earth, they realized if not for Commander Streb and his ship, Earth might well have been destroyed. They debated what to tell the public because they didn’t want them to know how close they had come to total destruction. Additionally, they didn’t want to jeopardize Earth’s membership in the trade group. In the end it was decided it would be blamed on a large meteor that was undetected until it was too late to warn anyone.

  Most of the people of Earth accepted the explanation of the incident. The few people who knew the truth never said anything to contradict the official explanation. It took over three years, and more than twenty trillion dollars, to rebuild the area destroyed by the wave. The truth about the incident was finally revealed in 2504, almost four hundred years later.

  During the year that followed the incident on Earth, Crosus was expelled from the trade group. They never attempted to retaliate against Coplent. Torblit received permission to reopen the mine on Procolt 4, and as a result of that mining operation, Torblit replaced Crosus as the richest planet in the trade group.

  There was one other casualty from the attack on Earth. Crosus had proved it was now possible to travel at speeds far greater than five hundred times the speed of light. That made the communication system obsolete before it really got started. If ships could travel faster, messages could too. As a result, the communication system designed by Brandon Simpson was cancelled. Crosus had figured out how to travel faster than anyone else, but they refused to reveal how they did it. Brandon Simpson would not give up. He made up his mind to figure out how they did it no matter how long it took.

  As a result of the cancellation of the communication system, Jeffery received permission to return to Procolt 2 on the Star Rover. With Garlut’s help, he requested permission from the Trade Council to build a vacation resort there. That process would take at least two standard years for approval because the process required the request be made at one meeting, but no decision would be forthcoming until the following meeting one year later. The procedure gave the members of the Trade Council time to evaluate the request.

  After his psyche evaluation was cleared, Ron Rice was accepted into the training program. The crew members of the Star Rover gave him a big party at the space station the night before he was scheduled to begin training. Toby Grayson was promoted and replaced Ron Rice as Chief Engineer. NASA assigned Peter White to take Toby’s place as Assistant Chief Engineer. Peter had worked with NASA for more than ten years in various engineering positions and he was thrilled with his new assignment. Jeffery, Debbie, and Toby all thought he would be an excellent addition to the crew.

  Anne Perkins was promoted to chief communications officer to replace Cathy Carter. Diane Thomas, who spoke several languages and had a Master’s degree in electrical engineering, was selected to fill Anne’s previous position, and Mark Jackson would replace Sheila as the ship’s botanist and one of the exo-biologists.

  The Return to Procolt 2

  September 2122

  Jeffery and Debbie were sitting in the dining room on the Star Rover. Frank walked in to take the seat across from the couple. As he sat he said, “I’m sure you know that I’ve been running tests on Cathy and Sheila to determine if being away from Procolt 2 is affecting their increased strength. So far neither of them has exhibited any changes. We’ve only been gone four months, so I can’t say for cer
tain changes won’t occur in the future, but based on what I’ve seen, I doubt there will be any. However, I suspect the mutation process will resume when they get back there.”

  “Do you have any explanation as to why we have increased strength without any increase in muscle mass?” Jeffery asked.

  “My guess is the genetic changes allow you to use your muscles more efficiently. Think about the squirrels for a moment. There’s no doubt their enhanced intelligence is due to exposure to the radiation, but the size of their brains didn’t increase. They’re using their intellectual capacity more efficiently.”

  “I guess that makes sense. I wonder why the other animals living in the area don’t seem to be affected,” Debbie wondered.

  “Perhaps they have been affected, but in ways we can’t recognize. Think about the squirrels again. Remember they have hands, but we don’t know if they always had hands. Perhaps the hands are also the result of radiation exposure. If the other animals in the area have developed physical changes, we would never know it.”

  “Right! You can’t tell from looking at us that we have increased strength. So, I suppose if

  the changes were physical or only moderate changes in intelligence, we wouldn’t be able to detect it,” Frank stated.

  “Do you know our schedule for this mission yet?” Debbie turned to Jeffery questioning.

  “Yes, we’re going to Procolt 2 first. We’ll probably stay there for thirty days. Then we’ll go to Coplent. We’re delivering some custom-made power modules for Commander Streb. We’ll probably be there for ten days. Then we’re going to Torblit to discuss trade issues. I have no idea how long we’ll be there, but when we finish at Torblit we’ll be going back to Earth. I think we’ll probably be gone for at least a year.”

  “Did you find replacements for Cathy and Sheila?” Frank asked.

  “Yes, their replacements will be arriving tomorrow. They’re both well qualified and I’m sure they’ll be excellent additions to the crew. They don’t know anything about the squirrels yet and will be surprised. Debbie and I are thinking about moving to Procolt 2. I haven’t told anyone else about this, but we’re thinking about opening a resort there. Garlut will be submitting a request to the Trade Council at their next meeting requesting permission on our behalf.”

  “I think that’s a wonderful idea. If you decide you want a doctor as part of your staff, let me know.”

  “Actually, I was planning on asking you as soon as we receive approval from the Trade Council.”

  “Good, I think I’d like that.”

  Debbie had been sitting mostly quiet during the conversation. “Frank, do you think our life spans will be increased too?”

  “I have no idea. Just because Mr. Brown experienced an increased life span doesn’t mean we will. Let’s see how we feel after we’re on the planet for fifty years. When are we leaving for Procolt 2?”

  “We have to wait until the power modules are delivered to the ship. That’s scheduled for the day after tomorrow. I would guess we’ll be on our way in three days. If you need any medical supplies, you’d better order them immediately.”

  “Okay, I’ll do that. I’ll see you later,” Frank said as he got up from the table.

  After Frank left the dining room, Debbie said, “I’m not sure it was a good idea to tell him about the resort. We don’t know if it will happen.”

  “Garlut said there’s no reason for the Trade Council to deny our request. He also told me we shouldn’t be concerned about financing.”

  “Does he have that much money?”

  “I don’t know, but I think he has some. He also indicated that he knows other people who would be interested in investing in the resort.”

  The trip to Procolt 2 was, for the most part, very relaxing. The ship functioned perfectly, the crew was comfortable, the food was good, and for the first time on a long trip nobody complained about being bored.

  Jeffery and Debbie spent time discussing how they wanted their resort built. Frank also got involved in the planning. By the time they arrived at Procolt 2, the three of them were sure what they wanted to do. They all were in agreement about how the resort would be built, but there were some differences between them on where. Frank thought they should look for a site where the effects of the radiation would be minimal. But both Jeffery and Debbie didn’t think the radiation would be a problem. However, they all agreed that when they were on Procolt 2, they would try to find the source of the radiation and determine if the effects were localized. If the radiation was limited to a specific area, they would build the resort in another section that wasn’t affected.

  When the Star Rover was in a stable orbit above the planet, Jeffery said to Mike, “Commander. Debbie, and I are going down to the surface. Contact Cathy or Sheila and let them know we’re coming. You have the bridge. I’m not expecting any trouble, but if the scanners detect anything let me know immediately.”

  “Yes sir. Have a good time.”

  “Thanks, Debbie and I will be back aboard in less than eight hours.”

  Jeffery left the bridge and went to his cabin to get Debbie.

  As they walked to the shuttle bay, he said, “Tomorrow Frank will come with us and we will look for the source of the radiation. Somebody from NASA gave him a directional radiation detector that should help us find it.”

  Debbie sat at the pilot’s station and Jeffery sat in a passenger’s seat. The shuttle left the Star Rover and Debbie landed the shuttle a half hour later. It was early afternoon, the sun was shining, and the temperature was a very comfortable twenty degrees. When the shuttle door opened, they found Cathy and three squirrels waiting for them.

  Cathy said, “Admiral, Captain. It’s nice to see you again. We’ve been waiting for your return. Something amazing has happened. Please follow me.”

  While they were walking to the shelter, Cathy said, “While you were gone two squirrels were born. Both births occurred about one hundred and fifty days ago. By the time the newborn squirrels were one hundred days old, they were speaking English. But even more surprising is that all the knowledge of their parents was passed down to their offspring. They could not only speak, but they could read, write, and do basic arithmetic. They recognized their elders and called them by name. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been an instance where children inherited learned knowledge from their parents.”

  Jeffery and Debbie were silent while they thought about what had occurred. Jeffery said, “I knew they were very smart, but if they have the ability to pass down learned knowledge from the parents, they’ll surpass the intelligence of every other species in the galaxy. Think about this for a moment in human terms. If a couple both had advanced degrees in physics when their children were born, they wouldn’t need any education because they would know everything their parents knew. They’d actually be more knowledgeable than either of their parents because they would have the knowledge from both of them. We have to inform Frank.”

  “Having knowledge is important, but are they smart enough to know how to utilize their knowledge to solve problems?” Debbie asked.

  “That’s a good question. Over the next few days, Sheila and I will give them problems that will require both logic and knowledge to solve. Then we’ll have the answer to your question.”

  “I’m not sure I’d like the idea of my kids being more knowledgeable than I am.”

  “You aren’t a squirrel, so I wouldn’t worry about it,” Jeffery said with a smile.

  “I’m not a squirrel. But squirrels might feel threatened by their offspring.”

  “Debbie, I think you should to go back to the ship, get Frank, and bring him here,” Jeffery suggested.

  “Okay, I can do that. I’m very interested in his reaction.”

  Debbie went back to the shuttle. Before she took off, she contacted Frank and told him to meet her at the shuttle bay. He wanted to know if there was anything wrong. She told him there was nothing wrong and she would explain everything when she saw him. All
the way back to the ship, she kept thinking about the squirrels. She thought it was obvious the squirrels were continuing to mutate, and she wondered what other abilities they might develop over the next few years.

  As soon as she landed and the shuttle bay was pressurized, Frank knocked on the door to the shuttle.

  He boarded and asked excitedly, “What’s going on?”

  “While we were gone, two squirrels were born. They appear to be a little higher on the evolutionary scale than their predecessors.”

  “You’re going to have to explain that,” Frank said.

  “Frank, it appears they inherited learned abilities from their parents. By the time they were one hundred days old, they were able to speak English. I haven’t seen them yet, but I was told they appear to have all the knowledge of both their parents.”

  Frank reflected on that statement. “I know of documented cases where some animals transfer some learned tasks to their offspring. However, these are simple tasks, like using a rock to break the shell of a nut. That isn’t even remotely similar to transferring the ability to speak a language to your children.”

  “It’s much more than that. The new generation can also read and do simple math problems.”

  “This has to be the result of continued mutation due to radiation exposure. I wonder where it will end.”

  “I was thinking about that on the way here,” Debbie admitted. “If their mental ability continues to develop, will they have telekinetic capabilities or even the ability to read minds?”

  “I really don’t think either of those things are possible, but I could be wrong.”

  Debbie started the engine and a few moments later they were on their way back to the surface of Procolt 2. They were silent for a while. Then Frank asked, “Are there any pregnant females now?”

  “I have no idea. You’ll have to ask when we get there. Why?”

  “Because I’d like to see if there’s a difference in the brain scans between the parents and the fetuses.”