Discovery (Terran Chronicles)

by Jackson, James

  Everyone on the bridge is surprised at the conviction in her voice. Peter quickly confers with Radclyf and Hayato to arrange for crew visits. The next few hours find people coming to the bridge, being frisked, then allowed entry. One man objects to being ‘mauled’ but once he is facing the barrel of a gun decides that his morals have been properly re-adjusted. Peter makes no explanation nor apology to the crew about the security precautions. He had hoped to draw out any remaining terrorists. He does not believe for one second that they got them all. That would be just too easy and convenient. Finding no one of interest actually bothers him more than he cares to admit.

  Patrick is one of the crewmen that come to the bridge, his toolkit is confiscated during his visit. He is quite awed by the spectacle, and offers a few private thoughts to his lost workmates. Feeling a little better that their deaths were not for naught he leaves the bridge in higher spirits than when he arrived. For the first time since the launch, he finally understands why they had to do this. He offers the bridge crew a nod in respect as he leaves.

  Once the last of the ship’s crew have left Cindy gets down to business.

  “Andrew, Joe, plot us a course for Scorpius. John, take us out of this system.”

  While the alert sounds throughout the ship that they will be departing soon, Andrew and Joe confer. After a few minutes of debate they provide John with a course to follow. Engaging the upper thrusters only, John pushes the Terran away from the useless planet, then in a maneuver he has been wanting to practice, rolls the ship using her lateral thrusters. The spinning stars make Cindy queasy again as she watches. With the planet now below and behind them, John engages the sub-light engines then ramps them up to eighty percent. The entire process having taken mere minutes. He is pleased with the efficiency of the ship, for despite its size it can maneuver well. A short fifteen minutes later, he turns to Cindy.

  “There is nothing between us and Scorpios, main engines are charged, awaiting your order.”

  “Punch it.” She says authoritatively.

  The bridge crew smiles as John engages the main drive. He studies the Gamin console carefully this time, watching as various systems activate in sequence. Dampening shields visibly glow as they engage, enveloping the ship. Hmm the RMC, engages then this other icon changes. He quickly looks to his notes again and finds, ‘IGD’. Alright!, What the heck is that? He has to refer to more notes to find out. Internal Gravimetric Dampeners, ok but what the heck do they do? He keeps reading in fascination. Oh they work with the Dampening Shields. So if they work with the Dampening Shields why do they come on after the RMC? Damn what is that thing again. He is getting hopelessly confused as he flicks through more notes. Ahh “RMC’, Relativistic Mass Compensator, ok that’s what it is, but what does it do? He scratches his head oblivious to the looks from those around him. I must understand how this all works, the monkey see monkey do philosophy is not for me. He continues to ponder the process even as more of the bridge crew looks to him curiously.

  Cindy watches John with admiration as he flicks from note to note. He is so intent he misses the shift as the main drive engages. The boring looking white dots are instantly replaced with a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors that seem to besiege them.

  “John, you look puzzled. Don’t be, you got this.” She states quite confidently.

  He looks back at her a little blankly, his concentration broken. “Uh, oh, well, anyone can push a button. I just want to know what’s really going on.” He returns to his notes for a second, then pauses as he realizes sheepishly that he has forgotten to set a higher speed than the default of one block. Sliding the main drive bar to five he watches the forward view as the colors increase in their intensity.

  “You spend as much time as you need, as long as you’re fresh upon our arrival at Scorpius.” She frowns a little and asks curiously. “Just when will we be arriving?”

  Distracted by the beauty of their flight, both Andrew and Joe are caught completely off guard. It takes them over five minutes before they come to a consensus.

  Andrew is the one that finally answers, his voice full of uncertainty. “Well our best guess is three days, give or take. We will have to drop to sub light when we get closer to make a course correction.”

  Cindy does not like the lack of confidence that emanates from her bridge crew right now. Time for a pep talk, she thinks. “All we have to do is fly to a few systems until we find at least one Earth-like world. That’s our mission people.” She smiles as she relays what they already know to be true. “Our reactors can power us for twenty years. We have food for at least one year. The two hydroponics experts feel that they can expand this further, if need be. Our zero gravity stint made a real mess down there, but they are getting things back in order. Besides I don’t expect this mission to take more than a couple of months, not at this rate anyway.”

  George silently whistles to himself. Well fifteen years on the reactors now, give or take, we really purged the cores for that power boost. We won’t be needing them for long anyway. This thought may yet come back to haunt him.

  Location:

  Starship Terran

  Scorpius, GJ667C

  The next few days allow John the opportunity to train both shuttle crews on the Terran’s flight systems. They are even present for the mid-flight course adjustment. Dropping to sub-light once again causes GUS to work at maximum as the influx of data threatens to overwhelm its systems. This time however, the computer technicians are a little more prepared. Additional cooling systems have been put in place, complements of George and Olaf.

  The crew all settles into a routine as life aboard the starship slowly turns from a novelty to a practicality. The only issue is that the slightly heavier gravity is still causing an unusual number of minor injuries. People tripping, dropping things, spraining wrists and ankles as they misjudge the weight of objects. The kitchen staff have the worst of it, spilling pots of hot liquids and dropping trays. They have to adjust from years of what was normal, to this new environment. Thankfully the atmosphere is no longer that ghastly thick and foul smelling stuff the Gamin call air.

  Due to a combination of factors, the trek to Scorpius actually takes them five days. But no one minds the additional time. The mess hall becomes quite a popular place as there is little to do during the flight.

  Cindy awakens to the annoying sound of an off-beat metronome, the room’s communicator. She touches a panel that’s next to her bed. “What is it?” She says stifling a yawn.

  Joe responds quite excitedly. “We’re close to Scorpius, and one of the planets may be Earth like.”

  Cindy is wide awake now. “Assemble the bridge crew.” She looks down at what she has on, hmm can’t wear this to the bridge. “I will be there shortly.” Why does everything have to happen when I am sleeping. She ponders, not really annoyed.

  “Ohh take your time, we’re close to three hours out.”

  She sits down on her bed and rubs her forehead, she is mildly annoyed now. What is this, hurry up and wait?

  Cindy arrives at the bridge twenty minutes later to find the rest of the bridge crew all talking very excitedly. Even George is over at Joe’s terminal, encased in his suit as always. He even eats wearing that thing. She realizes. The thought fades quickly as everyone seems to be talking to her at once.

  Finally, after a few moments she lifts a hand up and waits for everyone to quiet down.

  “Joe, what have we got then?”

  “Well the symbol that tells us of a planet’s suitability, well it’s, well come look at it. When we dropped to sub-light, the planet symbol changed to this.” Joe is pointing at his console.

  Cindy gets up and walks over. Looking at the panel she can understand now why she had to look. Indeed the Gamin symbols build on each other, and if she is understanding this right it shows that the planet they are headed to is similar to Earth. She looks to George questioningly.

  He replies with assuredness. “According to the Gamin systems one planet in this sys
tem is habitable.”

  She looks back at the symbol, then ahead at the small white dot in the center of the screen. A few brief flashes of light accompany the view.

  The next couple of hours go by very quickly as the bridge crew tries to gain more information. Frustrations build as all they can do is wait. John pushes the sub-light engines to ninety-five percent, then ninety-six percent, in his quest to get answers sooner. No one seems to notice that the dwindling energy reserves are now below one percent.

  The reactor crews watch with concern as one after the other, the nuclear reactors ramp up beyond one hundred percent. Knowing the bridge crew is monitoring the situation, the control team just observes as temperatures slowly climb. Soon enough they are injecting coolants and diverting as much heat as they can to purpose built heat exchanges. As the reactors pass the one hundred-ten percent mark they just shake their heads in displeasure at the stress being put on their systems.

  The computer technicians are also kept very busy keeping GUS cool as it operates at maximum performance for hours. The additional efforts by George and Olaf, though helpful, only help to slow the inevitable shutdown, unless they can cool everything down.

  It is not until the Gamin systems divert additional power to the life support systems that George becomes aware of their potential plight. With all of them focusing ahead, they failed to observe Cindy’s order of having power reserves upon their arrival. George rechecks everything to be sure as he can’t believe the power drain at sub-light speeds.

  Finally he has to speak up. “John, you may want to slow us down, and let’s all give GUS a rest for a while, we have been pushing our systems too hard.”

  Joe switches his display to view the power situation, his jaw drops as he turns to Cindy.

  For his part, John brings the Terran down to twenty percent of light speed while he wonders what is happening.

  The hairs on the back of Cindy’s neck rise as she asks with trepidation. “OK George, what’s going on?”

  “We forget that our systems are poor substitutes. These controls, this ship was designed to run with far better.”

  Cindy sighs, she was thinking along these very lines so recently. “OK, Joe what’s our power reserve.”

  Joe is reluctant to respond, but does so. “The reactors are running at one hundred-fifteen percent, yet our reserves are down to below one percent. I can barely read what we have anymore.”

  Another flash of light, but this one catches everyone’s attention. They all look forward at the view outside. They are shocked to see that they have flown into an area filled with tiny particles. Sometime in the past, the gravitation forces of this triple star system either ripped apart a planetary body, or merely prevented one from forming in the first place. Whatever the case, the Terran now finds itself being peppered by hundreds of tiny particles and occasionally larger ones that disintegrate in bright flashes.

  Cindy does not have to ponder her decision for long. “Divert all power to the navigational shields, get us out of here.”

  John plots a course upward, the shortest path out of this orbiting debris field. Lucky for them all, he brought them into the system from above, and thus it should not take them long to get out. Joe is about to cut the power to GUS when he notices that life support is diverting additional power to that area. Oh my, if GUS is that hot, I dare not shut off its power, it has to cool gradually. He is in the same dilemma with the reactors. Damn, he mutters to himself quietly.

  Joe taps a few commands onto his laptop then with a sinking feeling reports his findings. “We will lose power to the navigational shields in thirty minutes, but it will take us longer than that to get out, and before you ask, changing speed won’t help us, not enough anyway.”

  Cindy is known for her lateral thinking, but she is way out of her element right now. Turning to George she almost pleads, “Tell me you have something.”

  George has been going over system after system, but he too has run out of ideas. There is just too little time to do anything. The minutes tick by as a solution eludes them all.

  John has been trying to focus on the shortest path out of the debris field when he looks down at his console in surprise. “The main drive is almost fully charged. Can’t we divert that power?”

  George answers depressingly. “That system draws power automatically, we can’t even stop the drain, nor can we divert power back.”

  Something about this clicks in Cindy’s head, she speaks her mind hoping her thoughts generate an idea. “The Gamin designed this system so that no matter how dire the situation, the main drive gets power….” Her voice trails off bleakly.

  Joe, his light brown eyes frantically watch as the flashes of light from outside suddenly increase in intensity, draining the very life from the ships failing energy reserves. As the level drops lower and lower he can’t help but tap the screen before him, as though it will make the graph move. “Power levels will be depleted in three minutes. That last volley took almost everything we had left.

  Cindy frowns, the others misreading her thoughts. Can’t be that simple, can it? She looks at John as the seconds tick by.

  “Punch it!” She blurts.

  Almost everyone stops what they doing to look at her incredulously. John however, his training taking over, complies with her order. “Hope your right, let’s find out.” He says as he touches the main drive symbol.

  Joe’s jaw drops in surprise, while all Andrew can do is look outside as he faces certain death. Peter lights his pipe, filling the bridge with smoke momentarily as he draws on it, then puffs. The filters draw away the smoky ‘toxin’ in short order.

  The ship leaves behind a fiery trail as it escapes the debris field, the energy reserves in the main drive being sufficient to propel them safely through the debris. Once safely away, John shuts the main drive down, then sets the sub-light speed to zero as well, allowing them to simply drift in space.

  Peter raises his eyebrows in surprise, then puts his pipe out. “Apologies.”

  Andrew, his wide eyes still transfixed on the view ahead, his finger tips white where they grip the console before him.

  Joe looks to his Gamin terminal, then his laptop and can’t help but voice a celebratory cheer. “We made it! Power reserves are virtually zero, but all the reactors are still operating, so we will be fine.” He is surprised to find that during those few short minutes the dampening shield drained virtually all it had.

  Cindy feels quite relieved that her act of desperation was in fact the right decision. “How long until everything is charged up? And I mean everything, every capacitor for every system!”

  Joe scratches his head as he tries to fathom a way to even calculate a time. He shrugs his shoulders as he ventures. “My best guess would be, twenty-four hours.”

  She gazes around the bridge in disappointment. Her crew let her down today, and they know it. “We’re still learning how to fly this alien ship, let’s stay focused people.” With that she gets up and leaves the bridge.

  Twenty-four hours is barely enough time. The main engines took four hours to charge up, pretty much taking all available power, next came the capacitors for the thrusters. Finally the sub-light engines charged their reserve power cells. During this time George, Olaf, and a number of maintenance crews scour the ship from stem to stern examining every section for damage. Cindy returns to the bridge. Where she has been, no one can really say for sure. She sits down in her chair and scrutinizes the crew with a new intensity. She fills the silence with a commanding tone.

  “Yesterday we screwed up, all of us. But we learned more about this ship in the process. We also leaned a little of each other, thus I have made notes in my mission log regarding each of you.” She makes eye contact with each of them, then smiles warmly. “I am recommending you all be given bravery awards.”

  Andrew returns her gaze sheepishly. “Cindy, thank you, but I practically had to change my shorts.” He looks at the others who all share his sentiment.

  Cindy stands
up and paces the bridge. “My decision was not an easy one, but it came down to a single factor. I gave an order, and it was executed not questioned. You all accepted the decision and were willing to face the consequences, no matter what. That is the hallmark of a team that is coming together.”

  John pilots the ship on a long route, avoiding the expansive dust cloud until the massive planet is before them. Easily four times the size of Earth, the planet’s swirling grey clouds elusively hide the surface below. The Gamin system reports the planet as habitable, but with its thick atmosphere and very heavy gravity it would not be a pleasant home.

  Cindy does not have to review the data for long before she comes to a decision.

  “Let’s not waste our time here. Andrew plot a course to Gliese 581. John get us out of this system.”

  Andrew and Joe spend a lot of time discussing the data from the planet while John again takes them upward and out of the system.

  Location:

  Starship Terran

  Gliese 581d

  The next few days find the crew with little to do as the ship speeds on to its next destination. This time, John drops to sub-light speeds well clear of the system. They spend the next twenty hours making sure all systems are recharged before making a relatively quick jump closer to the target planet. Even at this extreme distance, Andrew and Joe gather enough data to get them to talk excitedly about the planet’s potential.

  The quick jump lands them mere minutes from the planet. As they enter orbit and glean additional information, joy turns to disappointment.

  At three times the size of Earth the planet has a rather unusual feature. One side of the planet perpetually faces its sun, which would make it a difficult place to live. Again, the Gamin systems report the heavier gravity and thick atmosphere as acceptable.

  With yet another planet failing to be what the crew had hoped for, John once again pilots the Terran away.

  Andrew and Joe glean even more knowledge about the Gamin systems. Though the planet’s symbol simply changes to habitable or not, they discover that the symbol itself has subtle variations.