by Doug Farren
As they worked together, Kauffman formed a new respect for Tyrone. Both men shared an intense interest in mathematics and together could easily discuss problems of a complexity that would baffle many highly educated mathematicians. To someone unversed in the language of mathematics it would have appeared as if the two had been talking to each other in an unintelligible foreign language. Several hours later, the problem had been solved and a new friendship between the two had been formed.
5
The Mission is announced
“Are you ready?” Anita asked as she prepared to address the crew and support staff of the Starfire project.
Jay straightened his notes one more time as he replied, “I guess.”
“You’ll do all right,” Anita replied, placing her left hand on his shoulder. A week earlier, she had called and told him she wanted him to break the news to the crew of the Starfire project as to the actual nature of their new ship. At first Kauffman had refused, but Anita felt she owed him at least this much since she had banned him from being on the ship’s maiden flight. Eventually he agreed but admitted that he had never felt comfortable speaking to large groups.
A moment later an assistant approached and asked, “Mrs. Kingston?”
“Yes Billy?”
“All attendees are now present.”
“Thank you. Please have security bar all access to the auditorium and secure the door when you leave.”
She watched as the assistant, who was not cleared to hear the ensuing discussion, left the room. Kauffman heard the distinct snick of an electronic lock as it engaged. He knew the small auditorium was now sealed and shielded against all known forms of surveillance. Anita confidently stood up and approached the podium. The dull murmur of voices ceased and silence filled the room. She carried no queue cards and looked out into the faces of the audience with calm assurance.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” she began. “Gathered in this room are the men and women who make up the crew and support staff of the Starfire project. Each of you have been carefully selected, screened, and prepared for what is to hopefully become one of the most important advances in space travel since the invention of the rocket. For security reasons, nobody in this room has ever been told the real truth concerning the Starfire's capabilities. The purpose of this meeting is to ensure that everyone involved in the project from this point forward is aware of what we have been working on for all these long months.
“Before doing that, however, I would like to go around the room and introduce everyone just to make sure we are all clear about who has been on this project. Please stand up as I call your name. I would like to begin by introducing the commanding officer of the Starfire, Captain Gerald Shoemaker.”
A short, 165-centimeter tall individual wearing the uniform of a spacecraft captain, confidently stood up and nodded to the crowd. Jay could tell the captain was a man who was extremely confident in himself by the way he held his poise while the whole room looked at him. As he sat back down, Anita continued to introduce the rest of the crew until all eighteen had been named. She then proceeded to introduce the project's support personnel. In the end all 56 people in the room had been briefly introduced. Jay was amazed that she could recite each person’s name and position completely from memory. Jay himself was horrible at remembering names.
“What you are about to hear,” she went on, “is classified as top secret and not to leave this room. I am confident that each of you will maintain this information in the strictest secrecy because if it leaks out, the entire project could be jeopardized. Until now, you have been told that the new drive system being installed aboard the Starfire is highly experimental and untested. Every member of the crew has been told there is a chance this mission could end in failure with the loss of all hands. This is your final chance to walk away. I will not look badly upon anyone wishing to do so even now. If you choose to remain, please remember that from this point forward you will not be allowed to leave the premises and you will be under very much increased security. If anyone feels they are not one hundred percent committed to this project or is unwilling to abide by these rules then please exit the room at this time.”
Anita paused for about thirty seconds. During the wait, everyone looked around to see if anyone was going to leave. Seeing that nobody was going to take her up on the offer, Anita continued. “I’m glad to see everyone has decided to stay. I would now like to introduce the man behind the new propulsion system. Some of you may know of his past successes with AST. Many of our current space propulsion systems are the direct result of his expertise in the area of mathematics, magnetic confinement and plasma fluid dynamics. Ladies and gentleman please welcome Jay Kauffman.”
Accompanied by a light applause, Jay got up from his seat at the edge of the stage and walked toward the microphone. He carefully placed his stack of notes on the podium and took a deep breath to calm himself. Only then did he look toward the audience. The applause ended and after a moment Jay began reading from his prepared commentary.
“Thank you. Mrs. Kingston has asked me to explain exactly what it is we are about to attempt. For most of the last two years I have been working on the design of a revolutionary propulsion system. It is based on techniques and theories unlike no other propulsion system in existence. It is untested and it may not work. In fact it might even be lethal to operate. The theory behind its operation is incredibly complex but it has been thoroughly simulated and I believe it will do the job for which it has been designed. This new drive has been installed aboard the Starfire.
“Because of the possible dangers and because of how it works, the new drive will have to be tested at a distance of ten million kilometers from Earth. The crew will be taking the ship to the test area using a more-or-less standard propulsion system. Once there, the drive will be thoroughly tested to see if my equations have adequately described its operation. Once the testing is complete and the drive system is aligned we will make history by attempting to make a short trip of several million kilometers at a speed greater than that of light.”
Kauffman paused here to observe the audience’s reaction to his last statement. For a moment there was complete and utter silence and then Kauffman picked out several simultaneous utterances of disbelief and awe. Jay was focusing on the captain and as he watched he stood up. The captain had a look of astonishment on his face as he looked around him and met the eyes of every member of his crew. The crowd grew silent wanting to hear what the captain had to say.
Looking directly at Jay he asked in a very loud and clear voice, “I want to make absolutely sure I heard you correctly Mr. Kauffman. Are you telling me that we are going to break the light-speed barrier?”
Kauffman could barely contain his own enthusiasm. The look he had seen on the captain’s face was worth every moment of discomfort he had felt talking to a crowd of people. Grinning from ear to ear, his voice quavering, he replied, “You are absolutely correct. If this drive system works, as I believe it will, we will be going to the stars.”
There was a second of complete silence then one of the crew members raised his arm slightly, made a fist and pulled his arm down as if he was pulling down on an invisible lever. As he did this he yelled out a single word—“YES!” The result was an instantaneous outpouring of emotion. There were cries of wonder, a couple of people made whooping sounds, several people were just smiling and Jay saw more than one person with tears in their eyes. Someone stood up and started to clap and soon the entire room was on its feet giving Jay a standing ovation. He had not expected this and as he stood dumbfounded Anita, came up behind him and said, “I think your idea is a hit.”
Anita allowed the applause to continue for almost a full minute before motioning for silence. It took another thirty seconds for calm to once again return. After making sure she had their full attention Anita continued. “Now that you are aware of the Starfire’s true nature, I would like to continue this mission brief. The crew will board the spacecraft on October fourth. The ship is s
cheduled to depart on October twenty-third. The normal drive system aboard the Starfire is an enhanced fusion plasma drive capable of providing enough thrust to take the ship to the testing area in 45 days. Testing of the faster than light drive will then begin.
“The ship itself is an old oar hauler which has been gutted and outfitted for this mission. It will be provisioned with enough air and supplies to allow the crew to remain away from Earth for at least four months. One of the cargo pods has been converted into a pressurized, rotating living space. It will be spun up before departure to provide a simulated zero point eight gees of gravity. The ship has been outfitted with an improved magnetic cosmic ray shield and is being equipped with the most advanced guidance and communication systems available today. The main plasma drive has been upgraded to the most advanced and reliable system we can build. Most of the ship’s critical components have redundant backups. Every effort has been made to ensure the safe return of the crew. It is an ugly ship, but it is also the safest we could possibly have built.”
Anita paused and seemed to stare off into the distance for a moment then continued. “I would like everyone to know that Jay Kauffman is the sole creator of this wonderful new opportunity and, until recently, he had expected to be aboard the Starfire when it makes history. As with many people who are interested in space travel, it has been his dream of a lifetime to be a witness to such an event and by all rights he should be allowed to do so.
“But, if I allow him to fulfill his dream and there is an accident during this first mission then humanity’s chances of gaining the stars during our lifetime would be quite slim. I have therefore prevented him from going on this mission. In order to assure that Jay’s name is forever attached to this discovery I am officially naming the faster than light drive the Kauffman stardrive. As its sole architect I would like Mr. Kauffman to explain the testing procedure that must be followed once the Starfire reaches the test area.”
This was an unexpected development for Jay and he was completely unprepared for what Anita had asked. Another round of applause had erupted and Jay had no choice but to approach the podium. Anita put her lips near his ear and said, “I had to do something. Otherwise I would be feeling guilty about keeping you here. Just pretend you are explaining the test procedure to a group of colleges who want to know the highlights of the test.”
Anita made sure the applause had subsided before turning the podium over to Jay. He nervously looked into the crowd for a few moments then said, “I want to thank Mrs. Kingston for such an honor. I had not asked for this nor did I expect it. I am also unprepared to talk about the testing but I will try to give you a brief overview.
“There are many reasons for testing the stardrive so far from Earth. One involves the physics of space-time. Another is safety. Even though the drive has been rigorously analyzed, it has never been powered up. The risks are too great. Because of how it works, it might explode with the force of a multi-megaton atomic bomb or create a disruptive effect that could obliterate everything within several kilometers or even perhaps thousands of kilometers. The other reason for such a great distance is that, by its very nature, the drive is extremely susceptible to the effects of gravitational fields and we need to be as far as possible from any large planetary bodies.
“Once the Starfire has arrived at the designated test site, an external pod carrying nearly seventeen hundred micro-probes will be opened and the probes activated. All of these probes except eight are specially designed self-guiding sensors each approximately ten centimeters in diameter. They will use micro-thrusters to position themselves in a predefined pattern surrounding the ship. The probes are designed to monitor the drive field created around the ship and to send the data to one of the eight data concentrators. Four of these concentrators are equipped for long-range communications and are capable of automatically establishing a link with Earth.
“Once the probes are deployed, the drive system will be powered up and a very low-power field will be established. This low-power field will not actually do anything other than to confirm that the drive is capable of creating and controlling the fields. I will analyze the results of this test here at AST and alignment instructions will be sent back to the ship. This process will be repeated at higher and higher power levels until the drive system is precisely aligned. During this pre-alignment testing no actual drive field will be established around the ship.
“Once the testing is completed, a zero velocity full power test will be run where the drive system will be operated at full power but without the modifications of the field dynamics needed to create movement. Finally, after all testing has been completed a pre-programmed test run of six point five million kilometers will be attempted. If all of the equations and physics hold true and our alignment is successful, the distance will be traversed in just under fifteen seconds at a speed of one point three times that of light. Further testing will take place after the results of this run have been analyzed.”
Jay paused at this point, unsure of what to do next. “Mr. Kauffman,” came a voice from the crowd. Jay glanced toward the sound and located its source by the slightly raised arm. He immediately recognized the blond hair and thin features of Kyle Norland, the chief engineer of the Starfire. Recognizing he had been noticed, Kyle continued, “May I ask a question?”
The meeting had already gone astray of what Kauffman had expected so he felt a question would be fine at this point. After receiving permission, Mr. Norland continued, “Under normal circumstances the acceleration required to travel over six million kilometers in only fifteen seconds would be sufficient to destroy even the most creatively designed ship. I am curious to learn how this new drive system gets around this problem.”
“An excellent question,” Jay replied. “The stardrive does not use any method of propulsion we are currently familiar with. It works much like how we have always thought such a drive would operate; that is, by manipulating space itself. Call it a warp drive, hyperspace drive, or any of the other names that have been used throughout the history of science fiction and you will describe the general principle of how it works.
“Basically, the drive uses a series of complex fields that surround the ship and essentially bends the space-time continuum to generate a bubble within what we perceive of as normal space-time. The ship, in essence, is no longer in our space-time continuum and for all intents and purposes it ceases to exist. But, space-time itself cannot be negated and the fields around the ship maintain a link to the fields that make up normal space. In order to move, the relationship between the ship’s space-time and normal space-time is adjusted and the bubble surrounding the Starfire will move relative to normal space. But, because the entire space-time continuum surrounding the ship is moved, our perception of movement is zero. In addition to this, because an essentially non-existent object is being moved, there are no relativistic effects and the speed of light no longer applies.”
Another voice spoke up, “If space itself is moved and no acceleration is felt then how are we to navigate? Inertial guidance systems will be useless!”
Anita, who had remained close by, stepped up and said, “I will answer that question. All aspects of this flight have been taken into consideration. We realized early on that inertial guidance would not work with this type of drive system. In fact, any guidance system relying on inertia or external data would be totally useless. So, we’ve had to develop a rather unique approach. As of right now, we can move the ship in one direction only. Trying to control the drive fields to give us 360 degrees of movement is currently beyond our capabilities. Don’t ask me why. Jay could tell you but the answer would be over the heads of everyone in this room.
“To move the ship we first point it in the direction we want to go and then use the Kauffman stardrive to move us in that direction at a specific speed for a predetermined amount of time. When we shutdown the drive, a small navigational device will be released from its clamp on the outside of the ship. This device will maneuver itself away from
the ship to a distance of several kilometers and begin looking for known reference stars and planets. It is basically a highly sophisticated sextant with complete knowledge of thousands of stars and planets that can be uniquely identified by their spectrum. Using its knowledge of the location of these objects, the navigational computer can then determine where the ship has stopped.”
The man who asked the question chuckled as he thought of Anita’s answer and replied, “Sort of like driving with your eyes closed and then trying to figure out where you ended up when you stop.”
“A perfect analogy,” Anita replied. “But at the moment, it’s the best we can do.”
Captain Shoemaker got the next question. “How fast can this drive propel a ship?”
Anita turned to Jay indicating the question was his. Jay thought for a moment before replying. “I honestly do not know. In order to develop the stardrive I had to create an entire new branch of mathematics to describe the interrelationships between the drive fields and the fields of space-time. I call it continuum calculus and it is still evolving. The math I developed was created to assist me in the development of the drive but it has not yet evolved to the point where it is capable of representing the complex relationships between two moving spacial systems. In fact, the initial test run of the drive is being done at such a low velocity because I cannot calculate the field dynamics needed to go faster. Once we know the drive works, I can refine the mathematics based upon the data collected by the Starfire and then we can manipulate the drive fields to achieve higher and higher velocities.”
“Please remember,” Anita chimed in. “The Starfire is only a test platform for a revolutionary method of space travel. It will be quite some time before we can attempt a trip to the nearest star. We must develop this technology in steps.”
