On to Tau Ceti

by David McCahan

  Jeff keyed his com to address the full ships compliment, “When we left Sol system to travel to the stars we did not have a proven faster than light Gravity Drive system at our disposal. We had plenty of science and simulations at hand but we had never engaged the drive and accelerated beyond 1 C. We accepted the risk and provided proof of concept. We expected it to take over 8 months to travel the second leg of our journey but stumbled on a wormhole shortcut that brought us halfway in under 5 minutes. The ramifications to our colonization program are staggering. We have already proven that we can enter and exit a wormhole safely but now we are about to prove the controlled exit near a targeted singularity. The science seems as solid on this step as it was when we entered interstellar space the first time. We’ll have confirmation and be at the Tau Ceti system in about 5 minutes. Prepare for Jump. All departments report ship’s status.”

  The excitement among the crew was evident but also plenty of apprehension to go with the exhilaration anticipating what they were about to accomplish.

  Glory merged with the ship’s systems and reviewed the status updates and confirmations. “General, all systems are green for Jump.”

  Jeff looked towards Eva and keyed his com to her “Nav, is escape exit programmed in case we do not naturally exit?”

  Eva responded “Yes Sir. If the wormhole doesn’t drop us then we’ll drop out near the Heliopause. Could be a bumpy exit if it comes to that but well short of planets and star.”

  “We don’t have an SPF high enough to cover our entry into Tau Ceti itself so I’ll take bumpy over burnt should it come to that.” Jeff replied. He now keyed ship wide com again. “All systems go. Nav, Jump!”

  At that, Eva activated the navigation program that had been plotted. The Gravity Drives locked onto Tau Ceti, the sensors found the Event Horizon of the wormhole as well as the frequency and then matched the frequency of the drives to the wormhole frequency. With that Columbia entered the wormhole.

  Glory merged with the ship systems but true to her word kept a link with the Collective at just the edge of her perception. Her link with Saoi as always was present in her thoughts but she was fully aware of the present and physical world. “General, we have entered the wormhole successfully. All systems are fully operational. No anomalies detected. Columbia’s position and trajectory is being tracked and we are proceeding at approximately 1 light year per minute as per simulations and previous experience.”

  On the main plot a timer was counting down the seconds to planned exit as well as the escape exit on a 4 second longer timer. Currently the projected exit time was 180 seconds. The tension was palpable and C&C was completely quiet. Everyone at a work station was intent on their tasks. Nobody wanted to overlook anything at this critical time. Anyone not on a work station was laser focused on the 3d plot.

  Another 30 seconds ticked by. Glory monitored all systems to the maximum capabilities of her cybernetic systems. Sweat beaded up on her forehead, ran down her nose and then dripped onto the desk in front of her. She didn’t notice. Saoi and the Collective were fully merged and listening forward into the wormhole as best they could.

  Slowly the clock continued on. Now it went past 60 seconds. Jeff edged closer to Glory and quietly asked “Glo, systems?” He wanted an update and also wanted to be sure she was with him in the systems and not in space with Saoi.

  “Yes Sir, all systems still optimum. No anomalies detected. We’re scanning ahead to try to detect the end but nothing yet. Escape program standing by to drop Grav Focus 4 seconds after projected exit if needed.”

  “Thank you, noted.” Jeff replied.

  “Right here with you Sir.” Glory gave him a quick wink and then back to her serious seer stare.

  “Would not have you anywhere else.” He replied and gave her a pat on the shoulder in reassurance.

  45 seconds …. 30 seconds …. 15 seconds …. 10 seconds. “We see the end!” Saoi proclaimed.

  Glory poured over the sensors to confirm. “Systems cannot confirm.”

  5 .. 4 .. 3 Suddenly Gory looked at Jeff “Endpoint spotted!” 2 seconds, 1 seconds, 0 seconds but still no exit.

  Jeff was about to say something when Eva keyed her com. “Wormhole exit, Grav Drive all stop. Ion Drives braking, confirm all stop and holding station at 82 million miles from Heliopause.”

  Jeff looked from Eva to Glory with his mouth open and hands wide. Glory had his answer to his obvious question but hesitated a second to prolong his agony and then finally “Confirm exit and station keeping. Welcome to Tau Ceti Sir.”

  Military decorum be damned; this was time for celebration. Cheers, high fives, chest bumps and hugs were everywhere on the ship. Once C&C settled back down Jeff turned to Glory and Saoi. “I know you two would love to merge with the Collective and explore but I need Cyber Glory first. Colonel, if you would please get with Javier and prep a data dump for CentCom.”

  “Absolutely Sir. Saoi is going to get the Collective to work with engineering as well to see if we can figure out why they were able to spot the exit when our systems did not.”

  “Very good. We’ll hold station here until we’ve had a chance to review the data. Report back once you have some details.”

  “A light year per minute is just beyond amazing. Since your ship discovered the wormhole shortcut we’ll have to leave the naming rights to that measure of speed to your crew. Our teams are pouring through the data you sent. This is like Christmas in July to them and now we have to totally revamp the timelines on Discovery’s mission once she’s completed next year but congratulations Columbia on an astounding achievement and here’s hoping for a successful outcome on Tau Ceti’s Atlantis.” General Emerson concluded as the CentCom video ended.

  The senior staff were meeting in the Commander’s Conference Room to watch the video response from CentCom and to discuss the approach to Tau Ceti 5 which is to become the second colony planet to be known as Atlantis.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen I second the congratulations of General Emerson. How ever we got here it is still a monumental achievement.” Jeff commented and then continued “So with the help of the Collective we established our outpost on Eden almost a year ahead of schedule and now we transited to Tau Ceti in 2 days instead of 8 months. Those of us not staying on Atlantis could be home by next Christmas at this rate. However, we have our current mission at hand and I’m not forgetting the other Collective that we are going to try to locate after we settle Paititi.”

  Paititi was a legendary lost Inca city or utopian rich land said to lie east of the Andes and was chosen as the name of the new outpost.

  “Captain Anderson, could you give us a run down on the Tau Ceti system please? Jeff gestured to Bonnie Anderson, Chief of Astrometrics.

  “Yes Sir” Bonnie began “Tau Ceti is a G-class star like Earth’s Sol system with about 80% of sol’s mass. It’s an older star but very similar to the sun we humans evolved in. The system itself has about 10 times more dust than Sol system. This means that the planets should have experienced many large meteor impacts that would have caused more extinction level events and prevented sentient life from evolving. However, Tau Ceti 7 and 8 are both gas giants and should have mediated some of the meteors reaching the inner plants from the Debris Disk. Even so we will need to place meteor sensors and a grav station in orbit to protect from large meteor impacts.”

  Glory relayed the background and science behind the briefing as Bonnie continued “Tau Ceti 5, Atlantis, is very similar in make-up to Earth. Slightly less Oxygen content, about 18% instead of the 21% we are used to. The mass is 1.2 times that of Earth so good for our bones but ladies we will be 20% heavier. Also Atlantis is in a slightly closer orbit to Tau Ceti and so the year will be 310 days and we’ll look a lot better when we’re 100 years old.” Bonnie paused for a moment to let the chuckles in the room subside. “Ok on to the more serious items, overall Atlantis is a bit more arid with only 60% ocean coverage with slightly cooler overall climate owing to the less energetic star and orbit close
to Earth norm. Even with these slight environmental differences Atlantis should be a very suitable home for our populous.”

  “Thank you Bonnie” Jeff then turned to Eva Svenson “Nav I think we are all eager to move in system. What’s our time to Atlantis?”

  “General, Tau Ceti has a Heliosphere about 80% that of Sol system so once you give the order we are looking at 22 hours in transit allowing for some course changes on the way in to stay clear of dust and debris.” Eva replied.

  Looking then to Glory “Colonel ships status?”

  Glory quickly queried the ships systems and then replied “All systems show green Sir.”

  “Very good then let’s get underway. Everyone to their stations and report into Colonel Callaghan when ready. As soon as we get notice from all departments we’ll launch.” Jeff looked around the room and saw nods of approval. “Dismissed then.”

  Index

  Chapter 5 - Atlantis

  The eagerness to get to Tau Ceti seemed to radiate from everyone. Instead of declaring a time to launch Jeff had merely announced that Columbia would launch as soon as all department heads were at their stations and checked in with Glory. All the better to get underway ASAP.

  “General, Columbia is go status for launch.” Glory announced when all personnel had completed check-in.

  “Thank You Colonel.” Jeff keyed his com “Engineering bring up Grav Drive. Nav you may launch when ready.”

  “Grav Drive online with positive Gravity Bubble. Ion drives ready” Javier acknowledged his commander.

  “Course plotted and laid in. Turning in system at .75 C.” Eva commented into the commlink as Columbia began to move into the Tau Ceti solar system.

  Glory, already merged into Columbia’s system, kept a close watch on their progress. She felt the ever present and reassuring presence of Saoi beside her.

  “I will make sure that you stay in the physical. I’m always here for you.” He thought to her.

  She let her emotions of gratitude and security be felt by him across their connection. She thought back on how things were before this mission and wondered at how she managed alone back then. With a mental shrug she roused herself back to the cyber merge and the fast approaching heliosphere. Normally this transition could be a bit bumpy with the dust and turbulence of the transition between the solar system and interstellar space but Tau Ceti had 10 times the amount of dust/debris that Sol system does.

  The wormhole had dropped them well outside the Heliopause and so transit time to the Heliopause was over 10 minutes. Then finally; “Approaching Heliopause. Dropping to .5 C for the transit.” Eva announced via her commlink.

  “Acknowledged Nav.” Jeff confirmed.

  Even with the reduced velocity and the gravity bubble surrounding the ship it was still a bumpy ride for a few minutes, but except for a couple course changes to stay out of dense areas the passing was uneventful.

  “We’re clear of the Heliopause resuming course at .75 C. Tau Ceti arrival estimated in 22 hours.” Eva announced.

  Jeff looked over at his second in command and winked “Sure glad the wormhole spit us out on time. I would have not enjoyed hitting that soup in FTL.”

  “No bumpy FTL and no need for SPF 10,000. Things are looking up.” Glory dead panned back.

  Jeff walked over to Glory and Saoi. “Glo, I’ll take the first watch. Why don’t you two get some lunch and rest and then relieve me at 1900?”

  “You could hear Saoi’s stomach rumbling over there too?” Glory winked at Jeff while looking for Saoi’s response.

  “Actually I thought that was your hunger pangs I was hearing Glory.” Saoi responded.

  “Well I knew it was one of you so off you go. Enjoy your meal and your time in the Collective.”

  Together “Ok Ok Ok sheesh pushy much” as glory took Saoi’s arm in hers and skipped out of C&C like Dorothy and Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.

  Jeff looked over to Eva with arms open wide “Oh, great not just corrupted him I think he’s becoming a clone of her.”

  “We can only hope General.” Eva responded trying to keep from laughing out loud.

  “Well at least it won’t be boring. Although I could do with a little boring for a while.” Jeff replied as he headed back to his workstation.

  Even though Columbia was coming in system 90 degrees above the elliptical plane there was still plenty of dust and asteroids to maneuver around. As Eva was being relieved from a shift at her navigation station she stopped to chat with her commanding officers as she passed.

  “I feel this is more like flying a plane around thunderstorms than piloting a space craft. At least it looks like things are thinning out now and should be a pretty straight shot in now.” Eva said while reaching back to try to massage her stiff neck and shoulders.

  Saoi noticed her attempts to relieve her tight muscles and then while mentally reaching out to help said “Colonel Svenson may I help you with that?”

  Eva could feel her muscles being massaged and relaxing even though no hands were touching her. “Ohh my, oh my, that feels wonderful. I think we need to open a massage therapy office for you. Thank you!”

  “You are most welcome.”

  At that moment Glory spoke up. “General, I just received a message from Bonnie Anderson requesting a meeting.”

  “Please don’t tell me she’s spotted another Basel Confederation ship!” Jeff replied.

  “It’s not marked urgent but I guess we had better find out. I told her to come right up.” Glory said while looking past everyone concentrating on her cyber connection.

  “Well let’s go have a seat in the conference room then. Eva you never can tell if this might involve you so you’re welcome to sit in if you wish.” Jeff said as he looked over at his Navigation Officer.

  “Well I was looking forward to boring but now I’m curious to see what’s next so I’m coming to.” Eva chuckled to herself as they all headed for the Commander’s Conference Room.

  They had no sooner taken their seats as Bonnie and Maggie entered the room. Jeff’s eyes lit up and called for Maggie to join him. The robotic Beagle wagged her tail and hopped up on his lap. She sat looking up at him while he stroked her fur.

  “I still can’t get over how life like she is. You tell me she’s robotic but I have a hard time believing it. Bonnie I was going to go see Robotics tomorrow to spec one out for me. Is your news going to change my plans?” Jeff asked while rubbing Maggie behind the ears.

  “Oh no Sir I think this is good news not bad.” Bonnie exclaimed while blushing in embarrassment over the confusion in her asking for the meeting.

  “Well then, I’m always up for good news. What do you have?” Jeff looked anxiously for the news.

  With that Bonnie keyed her tablet to display an image of the Tau Ceti system on the plot over the conference table. “We had surmised from the probes and initial scans that asteroid hits on Atlantis would probably have caused many extinction level events similar to that which killed off the dinosaurs on Earth. Now that we’ve gotten through the Debris Disk and been able to scan and model the asteroids we believe that the incidents of asteroids at the inner system would have historically been much lower than anticipated. The two gas giants do a remarkable job of gobbling up asteroids headed in system. Much better than our previous observations led us to believe. I won’t say that there have not been large asteroid impacts historically just that they are much more in keeping with Earth history than we thought. The planet is much safer than we expected and maybe even harbor a stable ecosystem and animal life.”

  Jeff turned white and looked at Saoi “The Collective has been listening on Atlantis and not heard anything from there?”

  “Yes General, we have been listening on Atlantis very much. We detect no sentient life there but will continue to listen in earnest and will alert you if we hear anything.” Saoi replied.

  The remaining transit to Atlantis was uneventful. True to Bonnie Anderson’s impromptu briefing the closer Columbia got to her des
tination the less dust and debris they encountered. Now as Columbia was approaching Atlantis orbit all senior staff were gathered for final briefing.

  “General we are just over one hour out from Atlantis. We just need the final charting of the planet to determine geo-synch orbit.” Eva reported.

  “I believe Astrometrics have completed their scans and charting. Captain Anderson?” Jeff asked for the report.

  Bonnie Anderson brought up Tau Ceti 5, Atlantis, on the conference room plot. “Yes Sir, as you can see Atlantis has 60 percent ocean cover, 6 major continents, with 3 of those with large areas that are both in temperate zones and with adequate annual rainfall. One of those also has large areas of grassy plains in those moist habitable areas. We are suggesting this area on that continent as a likely location for Paititi to be located owing to the favorable climate, grassy plains and proximity to both a large lake and also the ocean.” Bonnie concluded as the plot showed a blinking green dot next to a large lake. “That would make geo-synch orbit at these coordinates.” The plot now zoomed out to show the planet with a round icon showing Columbia’s parking orbit location and the coordinates in space for that location.

  “Geo Sciences didn’t have a chance to participate in landing site selection on Eden. It looks like you will here. Colonel Unbuntu I take it you have worked on this with Captain Anderson and concur?” Jeff asked his Chief of Geo Sciences.

  “Yes Sir, we obviously do not have a lot of data specific to this planet to properly model the climate but using what we have scanned of Atlantis and applying Earth climate to fill in the data this appears to be the best location in the heart of the ‘goldilocks zone’. Not too hot, not too cold, not too dry, etcetera. Obviously this is subject to onsite surveys as well as refining our climate models as we are now able to observe the planet properly.” Jasper Unbuntu concluded.