by Tom Holloway
As we make our way, I explain to Anna that we have already traveled about ten million miles since we left Earth. I tell her about the Cyclone’s propulsion using hydrogen fusion or nuclear energy. The Cyclone is currently running at a slow speed, probably half the speed of light, about 350 million miles an hour. I need to kick it up a couple of notches if we are to see this solar system in our time frame. I explain to her the Cyclone uses three propulsion systems in three stages: hydrogen fusion rockets, external pulsed plasma propulsion, and a dark-energy hyperdrive. The hyperdrive uses massive negative dark-energy creation, which is also the same energy that gives the Cyclone its antigravity capabilities. For example, we use it when traveling on planets with heavy gravity issues, allowing us to hover or float in midair. It also takes immense energy to travel effectively for just short distances in space, as we need to be running about seven hundred million miles an hour, or just under light speed, which can be done if carefully navigated.
Anna asks, “Is this all dangerous? Is the speed an issue?”
I smile. “Anna, you just asked two very large questions, which means you are going to get your first tutorial session on starship travel; please stop me when you have had enough.
“Yes, starship travel is dangerous, very much so, to answer your first question about the danger, which is constant, every second a problem. One big difficulty, there is no atmosphere. It is a vacuum. The universe is not easy, much more than just dangerous. Most critical to us, it is a hostile environment for all living creatures, especially if you are human, as you are made of carbon, hydrogen, and water. It is not a forgiving place; you either freeze or evaporate in the heat. Yet we have many tools, and we have the technology to resolve most issues. As long as we are in this ship, it protects us or is close enough to enclose us with shields. Or by using our protective suits outside the ship, we can survive. Not a chance otherwise. First of all, the temperatures are extreme both ways, very hot or very cold depending on the time and place. The human body can’t survive either. Then the radiation from all the stars, meaning all suns in the universe, is off the charts at times, which means certain death. The Earth’s sun supplies lots of radiation, and it is a hot place, too. The sun’s core temperature averages about 5,770,000 degrees—hell-storm hot!”
Continuing, I say, “There are a lot of stars, trillions of them in this galaxy alone. If you took every grain of sand on Earth and multiplied it by one million, it would be less than the number of stars in the universe. Yet, amazingly enough, the total physical mass of all entities in the galaxies is only two percent of the universe. The universe is mostly empty with no safety net. There is a lot of nothing. There are no lifeguards to protect you.”
“Anna, as you know, outer space is a vacuum, has no air pressure, which also makes it impossible to survive without a suit; death is quick, within ninety seconds. Your body decompresses; the liquids and gas in your body simply vaporize, giving you about ten seconds of consciousness. In addition, as there is no air to breathe, there is the suffocation problem. There is also no gravity, thus no control of your movements without some kind of propulsion, thus you drift off, maybe pulled into some kind of gravity field. One thing that might be interesting to you is there is an odor in space. You can’t smell it until you are back on board; it comes from the dust on the suits. It smells like a badly burned steak or welding fumes. The dust is composed of burned carbon particles, probably stardust left over from the Big Bang. There is also no sound in space because there is no air, which is needed to have sound. There is total silence out there, only the sound of you breathing.”
“You asked about our speed or velocity being an issue. Let me explain. Because of the long distances, a critical hazard of starship travel is the massive speed needed. Hitting things becomes a problem. We need a shield to deflect the objects we hit, as we are going at millions of miles per hour. These objects can be real starship killers, even small ones, some just the size of a coin. We need and have a bumper, so to speak.”
“The Cyclone has been building a front shield bumper in the last two hours, starting as soon as we left the Earth’s surface. The ship uses water with a synthetic mineral, making a type of ice mixture that becomes frozen hard, sort of like an asteroid surface, which is mostly ice. We do so by creating a bumper that looks like a long funnel torpedo made of ice. Our spraying out ice crystals for miles in front of us creates it, going on constantly until we are completely encased in ice. These ice crystals are manufactured internally in the front hull’s broad spear. The crystals are ejected forward out the nose, entering space at 350 degrees below zero. No fluid will exist in space, as it vaporizes instantly; yet ice, or water in solid form, is compatible. It makes an efficient practical bumper for the Cyclone, and when it’s not needed it is easy to shed—just warm it up. When it returns to liquid, it vaporizes into space and is simply gone.”
Continuing, I said, “The only exception is when we are traveling hot, close to a Sun, then we use our colossal solar shields, made from our security grids, created by the energy from the same Sun we are passing, the one creating the heat.
“When we are iced up, we look strange, as we end up having a fifty-mile, or longer, pointed ice shield, in the shape of a funneled spear in front of us. It makes us look like a miles-long spaceship or a very long, slender asteroid. The Cyclone’s navigational pilot keeps us from hitting big things. However, when traveling at high speeds we will hit small things hard and fast. The ice shield deflects and absorbs the shock, resulting in a safe journey for us.
“Another real problem for the Cyclone is not the speeding up but the slowing down. It takes millions of miles to get the speed up. It also takes millions of miles to bring it back down, which is always an issue. We have many times used the gravity of large passing planets to slow us down.”
“Building speed is a big deal. Usually the Cyclone starts its acceleration progression by shooting forward on billions of horsepower from the fusion rockets, the blasting force produced by controlled nuclear explosions. It creates a powerful pure-white thrusting fire stream that is thirty-six thousand degrees—nuclear hot—with a dangerous tail four thousand miles long behind us, sometimes longer. We are building speed, and then the plasma generators hit out. They fire our nuclear laser particle weapons backward, releasing explosions equal to thousands of nuclear bombs. This shoots back additional blinding light waves, brighter than the sun, a megaforce tail maybe five thousand miles long, thrusting backward, doubling the Cyclone’s forward speed.”
“The last jolt of propulsion forward is our negative-gravity drive, a hyperdrive using gravitons, the same energy particles that create black holes. Using extreme gravity, we compress atoms tighter and tighter, resulting in the creation of titanic high temperatures, causing atoms to fuse together and releasing massive amounts of energy. We will also bend space with extreme gravity using the extreme energy we created. We are creating a deviation, a black-hole corridor in space, a ripple that we slide through, then no fire tail, no light or sound. The ship is invisible at such enormous speeds, much faster than light. To oversimplify the concept, bending space is like the reaction you get when you put two magnets together positive to positive, impossible to hold together. They strongly repel each other. The Cyclone uses gravity in the same way but on a massive scale to force a bend in the dimension of space.”
Anna has a funny look on her face. “I don’t understand. How do you travel faster than the speed of light? My understanding from my college physics class is it is impossible, as the weight increases dramatically approaching light speed for all objects. Time can also change.”
“Anna, you’re sort of right. The speed of light can be nature’s speed limit. The key is energy. Gravity is God’s energy machine. Across the universe all mass is moving, organized by the laws of gravity, much of it at massive velocities. The universe uses mammoth amounts of energy, yet amazingly enough, it is in mathematical equilibrium. We alter that equilibrium, creating negative-gravity energy. That powe
r changes the rules, so we can open corridors. This is a simplified answer.”
Anna does not look convinced, more like confused.
Continuing, explaining further, I say, “OK, I admit I’m not much of a teacher. It’s not easy to understand. We overcome inertia with the forces of this negative gravity, pulled forward by the massive energy from our dark-energy drive, where we actually alter gravity, or your college concept of weight. We use the gravity as the gravitons are charged or the defined weight of it is actually reversed. Then, by using this massive infinite energy, we can travel faster than the speed of light, first by using the progressive acceleration then also, at the same time, creating a black-hole corridor or a created path, as I said, by punching a hole in the fabric of space. This hole has no light, as light particles are also sucked in by the gravity, and is also free of objects we might collide with, the objects there are reduced to molecules, reduced by the enormous gravity in the hole and our destruction avoided. The result is we travel or develop an aggregate speed of billions of miles per hour; the longer our distance, the faster our speed. We also use the measurement of the length of time from the beginning of our trip to the actual time traveled rather than current time at the end location, thus the real length of the voyage. There can be time-gap adjustment or an alternate-reality time, to adapt to the current time at our destination. Time can be an issue. Maybe think of it as complicated jet lag. It’s mind-blowing, but traveling on really long-distance trips could have a finish time before the time we started, achieved at our destination point.”
Anna asks, “What about this trip?”
“Not a problem on short trips. For example, the nearest star to Earth, other than the sun, is Alpha Centauri, which is twenty-four trillion miles away. Without the dark-energy drive, it would take us four and a half years to get there traveling at light speed. By using all three propulsion drives in stages, finally in the gravity drive, we can do it in sixty-six days. We use another day to loop back slowing down, then some time to look around. Finally we head home, taking the same trip back in the same sixty-six days.”
“Anna, it is extraordinary. Even after many times, I am always thrilled at the startup of the first stage, then the escalation of speed. First there is a growl, as the engines warm up, then turning into a thunderous roar, the terrific vibration, the first surge, the earsplitting explosions, the blinding light. Then there is a surge again. Finally, you feel no sensation of speed. With the blackout and total silence, we are now between dimensions of time and space using the hyperdrive.”
Anna and I have finally made it to the captain’s bridge, and she seems disappointed as she looks around. I surprise her as I light up the 360-degree visuals, and, as planned, Mars is right in front of us, coming close. I execute a low-altitude flyby, making her feel like ducking. It is totally spectacular. We see the unending red, rocky desert-looking terrains, sky-high mountains, old riverbeds and miles deep canyons or even larger craters, a massive unending horizon, a dramatic sunset with gigantic red dust storms below. The planet is impressive in terrain and color, magnificent, and the feeling of speed is terrific as we eat up the surface below.
Anna is impressed, maybe awestruck, trying to see it all, excited by this massive planet she has never seen, enthralled that she is actually seeing a vision no human eye has ever seen in person, and amazed by the velocity of our flight.
Traveling thirty-eight thousand miles per hour, we are in the middle of it, flying close enough to make it easy to see everything, even if fleetingly. Anna’s eyes get larger, and I can see the sight amazes her.
I explain, “The atmosphere, or air, is thin here, mostly carbon dioxide. There isn’t much friction, which allows us great speed without turbulence. Mars is small, about half the size of Earth, the gravity about half, too. At this speed we will soon be beyond Mars and heading for this solar system’s biggest boy: the massive Jupiter. It is twelve times bigger than Earth. We are maybe four or five hours away from it.”
Anna is deep in thought, trying to take all this in, impressed by everything, maybe even entranced. Yet she still feels some real fear. Who has built this ship? Not humans. Aliens? She thinks she could be in trouble. The starship thing is truly overwhelming. She is also thinking she is crazy to be here. How could this be happening to her? She feels the need to reassure herself, to think positive thoughts: Life has always put me in the limelight. In the past I’ve been given amazing opportunities. I have always felt ready for anything, always confident in my strength, and I have always been smart enough to achieve success.
She again feels overpowering anxiety, and then the fear is there. Then she starts to panic, her stomach flutters, and she thinks, This is more than anything I could have ever imagined, maybe more than my capacity can handle. Maybe much more than my confidence will carry. Can I do this? Who is Henry really? Should I be doing this? How much trouble can I get into? A bunch!
She recalls moving through the tunnel, meeting one of my soldier clones, friendly to her, looking like me in an odd way. She could communicate using telepathy, talking about the ship, saying hello, all clear as day. Yet he did not feel human, not like me. He was alien. She could just feel the difference. It frightened her. Nothing had ever prepared her for this, and she felt sick to her stomach. All of it is incomprehensible when she thinks about it. No one on Earth knows I’m here. No one on Earth has done this. I’ve made contact with an alien civilization. Damn, I think I am in real trouble!
Yet Henry is amazing, she thinks. He is some kind of superman, a creature from the heavens and way beyond her capacity to understand: his life, the Cyclone, the visit here from out there, coming from outer space, coming from other alien worlds. The universe is here now. It is all magic, some kind of dream world. All hard to take in, yet life will never be the same for her. She is sure of that; also there will be big changes for every man and woman on Earth. Henry does not realize it yet. There is no turning back for him. She knows his life will not be the same, either; she is absolutely certain. She can feel it. There is no going back for me. I need to face this.
She thinks of Henry, his smile, his laugh, and his kind eyes, which makes her feel better. Now calmer, the stomach flutters are gone, too.
She knows she needs to see everything. It seems really important to Henry for her to see his life. All of this is astonishing. Seeing other planets in this solar system is impossible, yet here she is. Everything seems so close and so clear; colors are so vivid. Looking farther into space, the night stars look as if she can touch them.
I am motioning her toward the ship’s captain’s chairs in front of the screens. There are several she could use; two are a little smaller, build for a petite frame.
She looks at me and thinks, How do you sit in these chairs?
My eyes are smiling, looking at Anna, trying to sit in the weird ship seats, confused. I am not able to contain my amusement and start laughing. She is holding on to the chair, floating above it. She can’t figure out how to sit in it with no gravity. The seat is flexible and will automatically contour itself to Anna’s body, a perfect fit. I motion how to pull into the seat, and I tell her the chair does the work.
“Just let it help you,” I say. “It will also automatically wrap you with featherlight, silklike strap tethers and then will hold you in comfortably.”
I think, It is hard not to enjoy every minute with Anna. To be with such a beautiful, charming woman is a delight and a blessing. Feeling a wave of gratitude, I say a quick prayer of thanks.
As she looks out into the vastness of the universe, up on the ship’s screens, she is feeling overwhelmed again. She now looks at Henry with a homesick look on her face. She feels the concern and the awful anxiety about being so far from Earth.
She inquires, “Henry, where is the Earth? Can we still see it?”
I smile again. “You can still see or make out Earth off in the distance. It looks tiny and somewhat insignificant, just a bright bluish light point now. Yet look at it magnified. It is stil
l a colorful blue and white. We will be back there soon. Not to worry, Anna. I feel your fear, I know you are homesick, and you will be fine. You are capable of great feats, and you are more than ready for this.”
I highlight Earth’s location on the screens for Anna, pointing to it, enlarging it, as it is hard to see at 418 million miles away.
She smiles.
Chapter 15
Anna
“Anna, I need to introduce you to G-BE, F-LA, M-HO, and K-HO, you might say the Cyclone’s computers, although they are really ancient beings, the brains of the ship, and my very good friends, like very old uncles. Please don’t be shocked, as you might scare them; they have never met a human woman in real life, although they know the concept and know you by reputation. They are not what you are used to in your expectation of a computer.” I laugh. “First of all they can be emotional at times and opinionated. You can talk to them using telepathy, as they are telepathic; however, they will not talk until you do.”
Anna is looking around for them. I call for them, and then they materialize out of thin air, really dazzling, showing off. Each is a cloud of a billion colored-light pinpoints, like fireworks without explosions, G-BE in front, F-LA and K-HO to the left side, and M-HO on Anna’s right, floating silently, startling her into a big yelp.
I say, “Anna, sorry, I was not sure how to describe them. They are pure energy, magical, like a big network of electric neurons connected. However, you cannot see the connections, as there are billions of them so tiny you would not know they are there. All four are integrated, making them the sum of their parts. They are really one even if separated, kind of like the frontal lobes of your brain, left and right yet one brain. Please tell them about yourself, and they will return the favor. I know they already like you.”
