To Touch the Stars (Founding of the Federation Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

  “And the other ships?”

  “Well, Nina and Pinta are out and doing builder’s trials as you know,” he said. She nodded. She like a lot of people were aware of the status of both ships. LGM had filed suit to take Prometheus or Nina under the contract they'd signed with the company. Jack Lagroose and his legal team had laughed it off. They'd still tied it up in court for a while, souring the relations between the two companies. Now things seemed to be on the move as LGM's president made a show of dropping the suit and holding out an olive branch. It remained to be seen if the Lagrooses would take it or not.

  “She's not really set up as a colony vessel as planned though. She's another terraformer,” Bret said with a frown. She pursed her lips thoughtfully and then nodded. She'd heard that part too.

  “I'll try to look into the stasis problem sometime,” Hannah said. “No promises when though,” she warned. “I was into it a bit but …” she shrugged helplessly.

  “Understood,” he said gruffly. “Does that mean I'm going to lose you to the stars eventually too?” he asked as the line moved forward slightly. A woman behind Hannah turned in surprise to look at them. Hannah looked at her and eventually she turned back with a slight sniff.

  “Maybe,” Hannah admitted. “I don't know. I've put it off,” she admitted.

  “Because of me?” Bret asked softly.

  “Something like that,” Hannah admitted.

  “Well don't, kiddo. Follow your heart and your dreams. Don't let your old fogy of a father stand in their way,” he ordered.

  “Yes, Papa,” she said, catching his hand and squeezing it tightly. After a moment he squeezed back.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  A month after Icarus returned her yard survey was completed. Jack and the crew received the grim news with as much dignity as possible. He'd expected it, as had the ship's engineering compliment and senior officers. The yard recommended that the ship be retired and scrapped.

  Some of the crew demanded to know why, but the engineers knew. The crew not responsible for the maintenance of the main systems protested in the media, sparking a storm of protests across the system.

  She had been badly beaten during their thirty thousand light year trek across the galaxy. Her hardware was in bad need not just of an overhaul but a complete replacement. So many critical systems were in bad need of replacement that it would be more cost effective for the company to scrap her and start over.

  Jack refused to do that, nor sell her as some on the board suggested. Instead after the ship's systems were saved and she was stripped of her hyperdrive and radioactive reactors, she was docked with a new space station orbiting Mars. She would become the centerpiece of a new interstellar museum.

  “Icarus may have been felled by a sun, not outside but within her guts, but she will not go down completely,” Jack said in an address when the museum was announced. “She will live on. Live on in the hearts and minds of her crew, and in the imagination of those of us who watched her fly. And in the imaginations of those who wish to fly as far as high and far as she did. Tomorrow she will inspire a new generation in exploring the depths of our galaxy.”

  Shortly after the announcement each of the crew were amused to find lifetime passes to the museum in their e-mail.

  Icarus's and Daedalus's discovery of hyperbridges created a fire storm in the hyperphysic sciences. Doctor Kershall and his fellow Star Reach scientists were vindicated posthumously. That kicked off an additional investment in the company as well as Lagroose Industries.

  The use of hyperbridges would be profound if used properly. They would allow ships to jump farther and faster than thought feasible with the current technology. It would, however, limit them to stars near the poles of a bridge … and of course they had to find a route going in each direction. Corporations and governments began exploring star charts to find class O, A, B, and F stars as well as any nearby black holes or quasars. Fortunately singularities like black holes and quasars were few and far between.

  Scientists at station 34 as well as at other facilities searched for the local end point of the B-92c bridge. It was speculated to end in Sirius but the scientists insisted that was unfounded. An alternate theory was Altair, but again it was unfounded.

  There was a great deal of speculation about how the bridges worked, and why this one ran all the way to the outer arm while others were short affairs. The possibly of a current of some sort, a loop in hyperspace was put forward by a young physicist. She stated that the poles may not be poles at all, not the beginning and end of the bridge but struts like Icarus encountered during her journey. Her hypothesis was immediately attacked by some in the science community before she formally published it.

  While the scientists debated Jack Lagroose insisted the hyperbridge be labeled the Daedalus Bridge in honor of the lost ship. Some of the scientists insisted on an alpha numeric system but then fell to rancor over how such a system would be set up, let alone implemented. Jack ignored it and had the bridge renamed in all of the company's documents. “At least he didn't name it after himself,” Alphones said in an interview with Doctor Hemdail and other talking heads as they discussed the bridge network and its implications.

  The Daedalus Bridge was in one direction, so ships moving out to the Rho sector moved faster than anything that could return. They had to return through the bridge network as well as the conventional way, which made Jack and a few people joke about it being a catapult to fling people to the stars. Physicists and engineers speculated that entering or exiting the bridge put a lot of wear on the ship's drive systems and structure. “No duh,” Chief Roak was heard to comment in the media. “Like we didn't learn that the hard way on Icarus,” she grumbled. The problem was they weren't sure if it would remain anchored to allow ships to exit at B-92c for long or if the bridge/current would eventually migrate.

  Using the bridge would prove a boon to colony ships, Jack thought. They could take it like a one-way freeway, jump out at their exit, then go along to their destination at a more conventional speed in hyper once they got their bearings in sub space.

  Wally, Taz, Jeff, the late Doctor Kershall, and others of the Icarus's impromptu hyper-physics group shared a joint Nobel Prize. They went to Zurich to pick it up. Anita accompanied her husband and wasn't the only one elated over the achievement. Wally did point out that Jamey Castill and Daedalus had stumbled onto the bridge first; they had just worked out how to use it effectively.

  Doctor McReese was put out that she'd been stiffed on the Xenobiology and botany field. She had written an impressive paper on the growth rate of xenolichens and worked out a chart on how they functioned under different lighting and planetary conditions. Instead the Nobel had gone to a scientist studying ice lava worms on Titan. “Unfracken believable! I got shit on while those amateurs stumble on the prize? There really is no justice in the universe.” she was caught saying by a blogger. Her sour grapes went viral across the solar system. Wally ignored it as well as the requests for follow-up comments. Instead he took his lovely wife on a long overdue honeymoon.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Jack and others had thought that since they had the design down the construction of the follow-on ships would be an easy thing. That had been proven wrong. The projected five-year construction rate for colony ships had proven woefully inadequate. It wasn't just a matter of design faults but also lawsuits.

  The as yet unnamed LGM ship and Mars University science vessels had yet to finish construction. Part of the problem was that their designs kept being changed by the customers, which led to cost over runs and other issues. The second problem was that LGM contracted with a European consortium of European states and corporations to find and terraform a planet for them as soon as the ship launched. Since they were supposed to pay for the ship by terraforming four planets for Lagroose Industries, Jack was rather put out by that plan and called a halt on the ship's construction. A series of law suits were working their way through the Mars court system.

  Mars University
kept their planned ship small, along the size of Prometheus, but kept changing what they wanted in the ship. Since Lagroose was only providing the ship, not the scientific instruments in it, they were a bit put out over how to fund the outfitting of the ship. That led to design change after design change until the entire project was frozen like the LGM ship.

  Pinta was undergoing her first series of working-up exercises. She was supposed to be a true colony ship but Jack doubted that. Santa Maria was still in yard hands but a month away from her revised completion date. Unfortunately for those involved, construction was frozen when Icarus returned. Levare wanted to go over Icarus's data to see if they could squeeze in some new tech for the ship before her hull was buttoned up.

  Nina had been in space for three years; she had been sent to the red dwarf Gliese 876, fifteen light years away from Sol. The extended UK, including New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the Falklands had scraped up the cash to help finance her expedition. Although none of the planets were capable of being colonized, there were some tantalizing clues of possible exomoons that might. If they did find a planet or moon or even multiple worlds, they had enough terraforming equipment and materials in their cavernous holds to do a thorough job. Since she hadn't immediately returned, the assumption was that she had found something worth investing in.

  Stars like Groombridge 34, Epsilon Indi, Teegarden's star, Kapteyn's star, Gliese 687, 674, and 834 were written off as not worth exploring. Each were known to host a planetary system, but there were various factors that prevented those planets from being suitable for colonization.

  Star Reach had yet to field a second ship though one was in the works. Their Pathfinder was short legged and still in port after her first and so far only jump. Star Voyager was Star Reach's planned second ship, a dedicated science vessel. According to media reports the company was having a hard time paying for ship's construction. There was some question in the financial circles if Star Reach's business model was viable. Building science vessels for the pure sake of science was a losing financial proposition.

  Pavilion was still struggling with their own ships, though they'd managed to make great strides with Mayflower, their first colony ship. She was a modest affair, half the size of the Prometheus class, but viable. Mayflower had been contracted by an American group to go to Epsilon Erindani. For the time being she was in Erindani terraforming the world and getting it ready for the eventual colonization.

  Three other ships were still out exploring. The Chinese ship Zeng He had been considered overdue some time ago and her sister ship Gan De had been sent along her projected path to find her. There was some concern that the two ships may have hit a bridge current and been swept up in it.

  The second Chinese explorer ship Xu Xiake had managed a modest jump to and from Proxima and then she'd been laid up in port for repairs and refit. Company intelligence had observed that all work on the three colony ships that had been under construction had stopped shortly after the ship had returned.

  Company intelligence believed the Chinese would take advantage of any news of a habitable world as quickly as possible, possibly even using force to stake a claim on it. The government may have even ordered their people to hold off on further exploration to let the “westerner's” do their work for them, even the terraforming. Roman was supposed to look into the situation, but Jack put him on the upcoming conference the kids were supposed to attend.

  He sighed, shaking his head in annoyance. Another thing to worry about. The good news was that the Chinese and other corporation ships weren't sturdy enough to handle a bridge, or so Levare and his people insisted. They also didn't have the long legs that Lagroose ships had. That meant they wouldn't easily follow them to the Rho sector to try to take advantage of things there. He rubbed his brow and then set the thought aside.

  Prometheus had returned from her mission to Wolf 359 and beyond years ago and then gone out again after a light refit. The two systems had been dry wells which had been expected. Disappointing, but expected, Jack thought. They had been a good test of the new drive system, and if someone wanted to do a bit of investing, either of the systems would be good places to plant a couple hundred space colonies he reminded himself. If only the board saw it that way, he thought darkly. They saw it only as a financial drain and loss.

  He shook his head. Well, this second mission had gone slightly better. The ship had been sent out to Tau Ceti to map and explore the star system under the contract of the US and the UN governments. Their contributions hadn't paid the full costs of the trip, but it was a joint effort, therefore more political than financial. Jack had judged it was a step in the right direction and therefore had authorized the trip.

  Tau Ceti had been a long shot but considered a major contender for an Earth-like world by the astronomy community for nearly two centuries. She had five super earths, all quite large but her thick dust cloud meant she had a lot more asteroid impacts for her planets to contend with. Tau Ceti had been confirmed to have two super Earths in the habitable zone of the star, too large for people to live on as they were however. It was frustrating; such beautiful worlds just sitting there and yet too large for people to live on. It had been hoped that one of the planets would have harbored a moon capable of being terraformed. That hadn't been the case; all four moons had turned out to be slightly larger than Phobos. There were two dwarf worlds that might be moved into the star's habitable zone with a bit of effort and investment.

  Prometheus had returned two months after Icarus's triumphant arrival with the mixed news. Speculation on genetically engineering people to live there had started up almost as soon as the planets had been announced and shown to the media. Such thoughts had been going on for centuries he reminded himself. Even Aurelia had gotten into the act by mentioning the possibility to him. He had shrugged the idea off.

  He shook his head. He doubted either government would organize a terraforming expedition. It would be smarter and cheaper to finish moving Venus and then finish her terraforming from their perspective.

  Earth was still stumbling along; her population was hovering just under thirteen billion souls. The population in the solar system at large was just over 100 million. Nearly half that number was on Mars now, with the rest scattered within orbital habitats or on the moon of all places. Apparently the lava tube caves on the moon were quite popular with some folks.

  Plymouth had been the first lava tube town turned city. She was named after a fictional moon town in an ancient science fiction show apparently, or so the story goes. He frowned thoughtfully, realizing he'd digressed.

  Venus was yes indeed the smart investment. The moon was getting saturated by her population. Recycling only closed part of the environmental loop but not completely. They were hemorrhaging hydrogen and water at an increasing rate despite their engineering teams’ efforts. Company Intel projected they would be stepping up hydrogen imports within the next two quarters if the trend continued. If it did the cost of living on the moon would double within a year or two, which meant people would seek shelter elsewhere.

  There was a lot of pressure on the big companies to come through with another world. A lot of pressure now. The annoying thing was people still couldn't figure out a way to pay for the trip, let alone the gear they would need on the other side. And since terraforming took decades or even centuries … it was considered a long term investment and therefore a risky venture.

  Unfortunately, no matter how he looked at it there wasn't many ways to relieve the pressure. Venus possibly, but that was about it in the short term. He sighed and closed his eyes.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Icarus's return had sparked a renewed discussion with the UN on amendments to the colony agreement. Wendy and Yorrick were both sent to represent Lagroose Industries; this time Wendy was classed as a medium level negotiator. Negotiations were to be held on the moon in Bova-ville, the old moonbase named after author Ben Bova. Their father had owned a stake in the moonbase early in his career before he'd sold it off. He
r brother immediately excused himself and went flying within the massive atrium, throwing all the work on Wendy. That elicited some amusement and sympathy from the various factions as well as contempt for her brother.

  If only they knew she'd arranged for that, she thought with a slight pucker of amusement. She wanted the spotlight to herself.

  She was quite proud of her achievements to date. She still hadn't gotten her parents to release her inheritance early but that was okay. She had invested wisely within the company, and she'd invested in other ways as well. Long term friendships and the occasional favor for deferred favor to build relationships with a carefully selected group within the company.

  One of her father's main points was a renewal of the Venus terraforming project. She was on the fence about it, on the one hand it would be great for the company, but on the other they would have to share credit and only receive a small percentage of profit from the endeavor. But it would be highly visible. If they kept it as a contract with payment up front, it might be considered worth doing.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Working with moonbase security, Roman and his people intercepted chatter of a possible bomb threat. It was to be expected, there were plenty of Luddites and nut jobs out there. Dozens of threats were picked up daily, but this one was judged a credible threat.

  He put everyone he could spare on the case, even attempting to task Trevor's cyber division to backtrack the source. Unfortunately for years the company had been pulling its assets or selling them off in the area. The nearest help was at the L-5 and L-4 colonies, too far away to be of much use.

  The company people on site were recruiters not security. All he had was the contingent he'd brought along for the safety and security of the negotiating team. He alerted his counterparts in the UN and then dug in.

  The threat turned out to be a distraction; the real attack came from a robot army sent to destroy the colony's communications, power, and life support. Fortunately they were stopped before they could destroy the base's life support. Work crews managed to patch together wiring to the solar panels and fusion reactor. A call for help was sent out by a pair of volunteers on a rover.