9781910981729

by Alexander Hammond

  In some ways Einstein had been correct. The speed of light was indeed the speed limit of the universe but only in ‘normal’ space. The solution was simple. To travel at speed greater than the speed of light all one had to do was to create an envelope of space around the ship ‘different’ from the nature of normal space thus enabling it to break the light barrier as, protected by the envelope, it was not subject to the laws of normal space. It was a system that worked very well.

  There was now a body of thought that suggested this thinking was as archaic as Einstein’s had once been and the Gilgamesh had been selected to demonstrate this. It was these matters that occupied the commander’s thoughts as he walked onto the bridge. He noted with some discomfort the new equipment which had been assembled around the navigator’s console. The navigator was making no effort to hide his own disquiet.

  The exec noticed the Commanders ill-disguised uneasiness. She knew her captain simply didn’t grasp the physics of this new drive. Indeed, how could he?…she could only just grasp it herself in its most basic terms. Nonetheless, this edge would make her reports to the Admiralty more impressive than his. It could be enough to move him ‘upstairs’. She amused herself by giving the navigator a piercing look which she knew would affect him on numerous levels. His nervous reaction served to make the moment complete and satisfying.

  The thinking behind the new drive was impressive…and radical. In basic terms it considered not only the destination for each voyage but also ‘where’ this destination actually was. ‘Where’ it postulated, was a relative term. ‘Where’ is a term that relates to a three dimensional view of the universe. i.e. There are physical co-ordinates that can be detailed in normal space-time for where one is and where one wants to go. The drive engineers had interrogated this matter further and apparently ‘proved’ that distance was a function only found in three-dimensional space. If space was regarded as having multiple dimensions, then it was feasible that distance was irrelevant outside the parameters of three-dimensional space.

  The engineers demonstrated, via some highly baffling equations, that everything and every place in the universe actually existed in one moment and one place simultaneously. Therefore they had developed a ‘drive’ that would actually create a quantum causality around the ship enabling it to exist in this multi-dimensional realm therefore being everywhere in the universe ‘at once’. In that instant of existing everywhere, the ships sensors, set to recognise the destination that the ship had set itself, would literally, electronically, tell the universe where it wanted to go and therefore ‘call up’ its destination. As one of the engineers described it patronisingly to the Captain. “We literately ‘dial up’ a destination and its delivered to us without us actually moving. A bit like phoning for a pizza delivery.” A senior engineer had chuckled at the analogy. It was close to being true.

  Two days later they tried it for the first time. As the drive was initiated the commander had a vivid daydream. He was in amongst blood dripping slaughter on a distant plain, where bronzed men with swords and gleaming armour hacked each other to pieces in the name of God. The Exec also daydreamed. She dreamed of gazing disdainfully at young men who were intimidated by her power.

  In a few seconds they travelled a light year…or rather, as the engineer reminded them…they had called the destination to them. Not very far, a mere eight million million kilometres.

  A week later they were ready to try again. This time, after five minutes, they arrived at the spectacular clouds of the Magellan Cluster at the very edge of human exploration. Unaccountably, as the drive was initiated, the commander again fell into a jarringly real daydream. He dreamt vividly of the smell of battle and the glory of his first kill. He’d driven a sword down mercilessly into one the barbarians who had invaded his land. His victim’s warm blood had spurted over his body and the taste of it lingered in his mouth. He stood victorious and aware that he had never felt so alive. He snapped himself out of it, shocked at the realness of the dream.

  The Exec also daydreamed of walking from the Admiralty office with freshly issued orders in her hand. She enjoyed the hushed whispers behind her as she strode towards the transport terminal to take her to her new command, feeling almost overcome with the effect the power had on her.

  The engineers fussed over their equipment and fiercely discussed some undecipherable anomalies on their instrument readings. Yes, they had called up where they wished to go, but it appeared that the ships clocks were at variance to the local time at their destination. They had reached the Cluster at a time in the past. They had unwittingly achieved time travel, a rather unwelcome side effect. ‘Where’ they were ‘now’ was actually ten years previous to when they’d set off. There were clearly variables in the drive program that they had not fully considered.

  The engineers were confident that they had solved the problem. Time travel, whilst theoretically possible, had never been achieved before or even attempted. They apologised for the inconvenience and assured the commander and the exec they could reverse the situation. The problem had occurred, they suggested, due to the nature of space time itself. Not only did the drive put them ‘everywhere’ at once it put them ‘everytime’ at once, a variable that they had not considered. The solution was to ‘call out’ not only the destination but also the required time as well. They were certain that there could be no other variables involved in the procedure, they just needed to be certain of all the parameters that they electronically called out. There was something odd about this thought process at the back of the execs mind, but she couldn’t quite grasp what it was. The engineers initiated the drive.

  The newly promoted exec stood at the helm of her ship. She couldn’t imagine not having a command. She stood erect and proud as her bridge crew went about their business. It was a role that sat well with her; indeed it defined her. Her time as second in command seemed like a dream.

  The sun beat upon the commander’s back as he sat on his charger ahead of 100,000 baying troops. In the distance he could see the enemy. Heathen infidels who would be vanquished before the day was out. He drew his sword, threw back his head and bellowed the cry of a warrior. His hordes leapt forward as he charged towards the enemy.

  The ship’s navigator, who had been thinking wistfully about a Caribbean beach when the drive was initiated, gratefully accepted another Pina Colada and gazed with deep pleasure at the turquoise sea. He enjoyed the feeling of the sand between his toes and propped himself up against a palm tree. The exec walked over to him, stunning and bronzed in her swimsuit. She affectionately planted a kiss on his cheek. He couldn’t imagine a life better than this…indeed it was the only one he had ever known.

  - The End -

  THE FUTURE

  Being a futurologist in the year 113,435,501,677 was not the easiest of roles. Mind you, he supposed, being a historian was probably a lot more difficult. 113,435,501,677 plus the odd thousand or so years before the Gregorian calendar was brought into use was a lot to learn. Not that he really cared about such matters as he was concerned with what was possibly going to happen as opposed to what had already happened. Sadly, it was sometimes only by studying the past that gave him the clues as to what might happen. Yes, there were patterns amongst the chaos, but mostly it was chaos. He amused himself in lighter moments by studying the predictions of previous futurologists. He hoped that his own endeavours wouldn’t provoke the same reactions in his successors.

  Some asked why he became a futurologist. The answer was easy. It was one of the last great unknowns. It’s mystery intrigued him. There had been a great deal of worry amongst his ancient predecessors when time travel had become reality. Firstly, as a fascinating experiment, and eventually as a pastime of the bored and jaded. There had been a wringing of hands in his profession as they feared they would be put out of a job. The ancient’s lack of understanding of the true nature of time was criminal when regarded now with the benefit of experience and research. Untold millennia ago when the first few brave souls had ven
tured into the future and back again they amazed with grand stories of what was to come. It took a while for everyone to realise that their stories differed on every trip if they picked the same time and location. All they saw of course was a possible future, a permutation on the infinite possibilities that the future had to offer. At the moment they embarked on their trip, they departed from the linear timeline in which they existed to one that was simply a logical extrapolation from the exact moment they made the jump. Even to jump a mere second later brought a different experience. In that one second, enough had happened in the universe to make the outcome different. The Universe was a pretty big place with lots happening in it.

  The size of the cosmos had been a subject of intense debate in early human records and, he presumed, even before that. Now of course, he couldn’t think of anyone who hadn’t ventured to the ends of the universe. What existed beyond that was also well understood. Nothing. The ‘whys’ of this perplexing enigma were thankfully not his purview. He was a practical scientist not a metaphysical physicist. There was still conjecture as to what was in existence before the Big Bang but, again, it wasn’t his purview.

  Interaction with alien species had not had a significant effect on the human race. Though eagerly anticipated, the moment of first contact had been something of non-event. It established two things. The first being the fact that the human race was indeed not alone. The second being that aliens were exactly that…alien. Communication had proved totally impossible and had remained so ever since with every race that had been encountered. Primitive writings romantically describing vast intergalactic empires and even the possibly of wars were embarrassingly wide of the mark. It was a simple fact that once a race had worked out how to exceed the speed of light and travel the vast distances needed to actually explore anything of relevance, they had evolved to a level of civilisation that hadn’t just renounced violence and conflict; they had simply forgotten about it.

  Thus, on the odd occasion when races encountered each other, they simply politely ignored each other. A Freon breathing silicone-based quadruped had little in common with, say, a bloated bag of sentient gas. And those were the less exotic examples.

  That the human race had survived beyond the year 2000 was a miracle. Nevertheless it somehow had. It took a while for their primitive minds to address something which they called ‘poverty’. A concept that the futurologist had difficulty in fully understanding, nevertheless it was well documented so he accepted it. There was also something called ‘disease’ which had him reeling in horror when he studied the records. The thought of such an existence made him shudder. The continual references made to an experience called ‘pain’ sounded downright unpleasant. He had no idea what it meant, but it certainly didn’t sound like something he’d want to endure. Thankfully they’d forgone the need for physical bodies eons ago.

  This jump had been the last really significant event in the history of what was called the human race. Of course he didn’t remember it. It was before his time. He’d been called into existence by his parents well after that momentous event. They remembered it. They’d lived it. How he envied them. He also respected their bravery. Letting oneself be copied as binary code and downloaded onto a mainframe was a pretty courageous thing to do in those unenlightened times. To actually risk one’s existence on a scientific principle was radical, certainly with the archaic technology available then. Nevertheless it was successful. Instant immortality was the first advantage. The ability to experience anything within the range of the processing power of the mainframe was the second. Archaeologists called the experience ‘virtual reality’. Actually existing as binary code did away with the virtual bit. Their binary world was real. Naturally science soon did away with the need for hard-wired circuitry and soon progressed to more advanced storage mediums based on zero point energy and dark matter making the experiential possibilities almost limitless.

  Eventually, even that became unnecessary. Using the very fabric of the universe as a storage medium, they roamed freely throughout the stars. Some vestiges of their physicality remained though. It seemed to be part of the human condition that they more often than not clustered together as if finding solace in companionship. This appeared to be the one constant in human evolution. Being alone for long periods was not pleasurable. Why, no one had yet fathomed.

  And thus they drifted benevolently about the cosmos, observing and experiencing the wonders that it had to offer. Occasionally they came to a halt, unsure of what to do next. In those moments they let the heavens pull them along in its wake until, like a shoal of fish, an individual would have an idea and change direction and everyone else would follow. The reason they followed was why the futurologist did what he did. Boredom had set in. In a blink of an eye they could be anywhere they wished, and after many millions of years they’d been pretty much everywhere of interest. If someone even had a spark of a new idea they’d follow like sheep, eager for diversion. His job was to look into the future and suggest what the next step would be, what they could look forward to. What was going to change? He was a giver of hope. His companions hung on his every word. There had to be something else. Something more. Everything had been the same for so very long.

  The two scientists studied their experiment carefully. “Damn,” said the more senior individual, “An evolutionary cul de sac. I don’t understand it. I was so sure that I’d given this group all the tools they’d need to progress but they’ve just hit a brick wall.”

  His colleague smiled. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. This area of expertise is a challenge. That’s why we chose it, remember? I’ll destroy this batch and we’ll try a few new tweaks next time out. After all, tomorrow’s another day.”

  - The End -

  AN ASTRONAUTS DREAM

  The doctors had assured her she wouldn’t dream, and in fairness, she hadn’t. These were the first thoughts that occurred to the astronaut as she began her slow wake from hibernation. As she felt the robot probes injecting her body with electrolyte solutions and various assorted stimulants to aid her return to consciousness, her training began to take over. ‘Cygnus’ she thought. ‘We’re finally there’. Eighty three years lying in this high tech tomb, watched over by the ever present unblinking eyes of the computers monitoring her every body function was at an end; machines that had ensured her very existence as her ship streaked through the hostile vastness of deep space towards her final destination. ‘Where none has gone before,’ she thought, the enormousness of her situation undulled by the sluggishness of her awakening thought processes.

  By now, she mused, braking procedures would have been initiated. Her ship, the mighty Hector, would be shedding incalculable kilo joules of energy as the star drive wound down. Within a few days the ship would have stopped completely and her charge would be sat silent, surrounded by sights new to human experience. An end to an epic journey and a fitting achievement for the most advanced spaceship ever created. The Hector was a true Ship of the Line; the commodore’s insignia on her uniform was a testament to this. She allowed herself the luxury of a smile as she considered her achievement.

  In twenty-four hours her second in command would awaken and so would her chief engineer to oversee the last stage of their deceleration. As commander it was her privilege to determine that she was awakened first to enjoy a delicious twenty four hours of solitude and experience the sights of deep space so very far from home with no distraction. In a week or so the rest of the crew and the colonists would be woken including her own personal companions. She thought with pleasure and longing about Lara and Tekashi. Both so very different and yet both so appealing and, mercifully, unintimidated by each other. An affectionate triumvirate whose love had grown so fast that it had bewildered her and hopefully would survive the challenges of their brave new worlds.

  After a few minutes she felt strong enough to speak, but when she tried all that she could manage was a pathetic squeak. ‘Strange,’ she thought. ‘I should be able to speak almost immediately.’ Sh
e put it down to an inordinately long time in hibernation. Her previous maximum had been a mere two years. Eighty-three years was bound to be different. Half an hour later she felt almost ready to sit up but she still found she was almost unable to move beyond the odd twitch and, more concerningly, it was still impossible to utter an intelligible sound.

  A wash of concern passed over her. Something was wrong. She should be returning to normal far more quickly. She was unable to interface with the main computer as it was voice activated though she knew its systems would be waking her up as carefully and as quickly as possible. She reasoned that the only thing she could do was wait in a state of some anxiety until she was fully revived.

  The hours passed inexorably slowly as she waited for the first signs of mobility and speech, a process that should have taken thirty minutes maximum, even after all these years. It was a most shaken Commodore who crawled from her capsule almost a day later. Shakily she stumbled across the floor to a terminal and tapped the ‘Interface enable’ key. Still unable to speak properly, or most certainly not in a manner where the computer would recognise and respond to her, she keyed in her clearance and enquired