Blue Planet Rising (Pebbles in the Sky Book 2)

by Jeffery Bagley

  Jason strapped himself into the jury rigged pilot’s seat that he had made. He had ripped the pilot’s seat from their original lander, and with some drilling and scavenged bolts, managed to mount it atop the Barbakath pilot’s seat in the alien ship. Behind him in the crew compartment, Donald had done the same with another of the old lander seats.

  Jason looked back at Donald. “You ready to go for a ride and make history?”

  “How’s that?” Donald said with a grin. “We’ve been making history since we landed here.”

  “Well, we’ll be the first humans to fly in an alien spaceship,” Jason said.

  “Just be careful not to make this a one way trip for us,” Donald joked. “I don’t want to be one of the first people to die in a crash of an alien spaceship.”

  Jason held up a middle finger behind his head as an answer.

  “You’re not my type,” quipped Donald. “Just get on with it, why don’t you?”

  Jason shrugged. “Amelia, what’s the status of the ship’s power cell?”

  “Power storage cell is at ninety seven percent capacity,” the ship answered him.

  “Ok, here we go. Amelia, initiate fusion core startup.”

  A low hum could be felt through the hull of the ship. “Containment field is up and intact. Initiating plasma ignition sequence,” Amelia, the ships computer said.

  Jason knew that back in the engineering room of the ship, that a very strong magnetic field had been erected in the fusion containment dome. Hydrogen isotopes had been injected under extreme pressure into the field and now powerful lasers were heating that gas to close to the temperature found in the sun. The hydrogen atoms in that containment field would reach the critical point where they would fuse together releasing heat and energy that would perpetuate the process. That heat would be used to generate electricity and heat propulsion gases.

  “Plasma formation detected. Power core temperature rising. Fusion initiation anticipated at fourteen point seven million degrees centigrade,” Amelia informed them.

  “Damn, that’s a little hot,” said Donald.

  “Yea, let’s hope that containment field holds. I doubt we’ll live long enough to realize it if it fails,” said Jason. “Amelia, please maintain one Elpis gravity in the cabin while we’re maneuvering.”.

  “You have previously requested that,” the ship told him.

  “Sorry, I’m a little nervous, I guess,” said Jason.

  “Fusion detected,” Amelia said. “Adjusting plasma field feed for self-sustaining reaction. Plasma formation lasers are now off-line. I am no longer drawing power from reserves. Power core is stable. Ships power is now being produced by on board generators. I am now capable of flight operations.”

  “Ok, here we go,” said Jason.

  “Amelia, activate the outer hull gravity plates,” Jason ordered

  “Gravity plates are energized and set to neutral,” Amelia informed him.

  Jason looked out the cockpit window. Nothing was happening. He could see the rest of the expedition team standing on the hill overlooking the compound watching. “Amelia, apply fifty percent repulsive power to the hull plates.”

  Jason felt the rear of the ship start to rise. The ship was rapidly tilting down toward the nose. “Amelia, the forward landing strut must still be stuck in the ground where it has sunk. Can you compensate with the plates on the forward part of the hull? Try and level us out!”

  “Attempting to compensate,” the ship said.

  There was a shuddering vibration through the ship and suddenly the nose of the ship came free and the ship became level. “Apply full repulsive power and raise the landing struts please Amelia.”

  “Full repulsive power applied,” Amelia replied.

  Jason looked out the cockpit window as the ship rose about three meters off the ground and then just hung in the air. “Amelia, why are we not still rising with full repulsive power?”

  “Gravity field effect is approximately three meters. Applying more power to the plates will not change the range of the effect and may overload the plates,” the ship warned him.

  “Ok, Ok, I forgot that the field is very short ranged. Let’s see what this baby will do. Transfer control to my manual controls.”

  “Manual control is not recommended at this time,” the ship warned him.

  “Please transfer control to me, Amelia.” Jason was getting alarmed. The ship was floating about three meters off the ground and the light breeze was pushing the ship toward the main dome. Although the ship was effectively weightless due to the gravity plates, it still had mass and a large cross section to the wind.

  “Ships maneuvering controls are in manual override,” Amelia told him.

  Jason applied forward thrust to the maneuvering thrusters. The ship slowly started moving forward. Jason visually calculated their speed and the length of the ship. They were going to hit the dome before they cleared it. He applied full forward thrust on the maneuvering thrusters. The ship started rapidly picking up speed. The ship cleared the dome and now the overlooking hill loomed ahead. Jason applied full reverse thrust too late as the nose of the ship hit the hillside and the ship slewed around to the side.

  Jason’s PA beeped at him. He tapped it to hear Kristy ask him “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Amelia, will you please take control again and take us to an altitude of one thousand meters and hold us there?” Jason asked. He felt quite embarrassed.

  The ship started rising straight up and as they came even with the hill top Jason could see all the other expedition members standing there. Little Freddie, the Barbakath, was cowering behind Brianna with its arms wrapped around her legs.

  “Are you sure you read the manual on this thing?” Donald called from his seat behind him.

  “Very funny,” Jason said. “This is the first time any human has piloted this thing. Give me a break.”

  “Amelia, please turn controls back over to me,” Jason told the ship.

  “Manual control is not recommended at this time,” the ship replied.

  “Just do it, Amelia,” Jason ordered.

  He was rewarded with the ship dropping straight down toward the ground. Cursing Jason applied full vertical thrusters until the ship stopped dropping and started rising again. Jason slowly applied forward thrust from the main engines and the ship rapidly gained speed. In less than a minute, they were over the coast and out over the sea. As the ship gained speed, the body started to develop lift and Jason was able to completely ease off the vertical thrusters. He put the ship into a right bank and then turned it back into a left bank until they were pointed back at the coast.

  Jason put the ship into a steep climb and eased the throttle forward.

  “Amelia, what’s our speed? I have a hard time reading these instruments,” Jason asked the ship.

  “Approaching three times the speed of sound,” Amelia said.

  “Damn, this baby moves,” Donald said. “Don’t forget that the exhaust from the main engines is a heavy mix of energized protons and neutrons though. That plasma is heating the fuel until it is nothing but a stream of hyper-velocity energized particles. I would hate to be right behind the ship at this speed.”

  “Amelia, I know the oxygen tanks are empty but how long can we survive on the air that is in the ship now?” Jason asked.

  “Approximately sixteen human hours at present rate of crew consumption,” the ship said.

  “Jason, don’t do it,” Donald warned.

  “Amelia, take control and take us into a low orbit just above the atmosphere,” Jason instructed the ship.

  The ship’s nose pointed upwards toward the sky and the engine noise increased to a noticeable but subdued roar. In less than a minute the blue sky started becoming black and Jason could see the curvature of the planet fall away below them.

  “Orbital velocity achieved,” the ship announced after a few minutes.

  Donald unfastened his seat harness and crawled up to look out the cockpit wind
ow.

  “Amelia, roll the ship one hundred and eighty degrees please,” Jason said.

  The ship rolled until they were looking straight down at the planet. Donald grabbed on to Jason’s seat. “It’s going to take some time to get used to this artificial gravity,” Donald said. Here we are in orbit looking down on the planet but standing upside down at normal gravity.”

  They sat there gazing down as the planet rolled beneath them. They were interrupted by Jason’s PA beeping. Jason tapped it to answer.

  “Jason, this is Odysseus. I am relaying a communication channel from Kristy to the ship and to your PA.

  “Uh, Oh,” Jason winced.

  “Jason, what the hell are you doing? Where are you?” Kristy demanded.

  “Well, we’re experimenting with the Barbakath ship as planned. At the moment, we’re in low Elpis orbit,” Jason said. He grinned at Donald and winked.

  “Did you say that you’re in orbit?” Kristy demanded.

  “I do believe that’s the planet down below us,” Jason laughed. I really need to get me one of these ships. Do you think Odysseus will sell it to me?”

  “Just bring the ship back in one piece, Jason, when you’re done showing off,” said Kristy

  “Ok, I was just having a little fun. We have that one little task that we promised Odysseus we would do before we come back,” Jason said. “Amelia, please take us out over the middle of the southern ocean and hover just above the surface,”

  “Plotting course. Course set and executing,” stated Amelia.

  The ship flipped over and dove down into the atmosphere. Twenty minutes later they were serenely floating stationary above the surface of the ocean.

  “Amelia, please hold this position and open the lower access hatch,” Jason ordered.

  “Holding position. The hatch is open,” Amelia informed them.

  Jason and Donald unbuckled from their seats and went aft to the cargo hatch in the bottom of the ship. They loosened the straps over the pallet they had built and gave the pallet and its load a huge shove. The pallet rolled over the edge of the opening and plunged into the sea. It was out of site in the depths in seconds.

  “I’m glad to see the end of that thing,” said Donald.

  Jason nodded. “I never did like carrying out those orders. It was sheer paranoid stupidity bringing a fusion warhead to this planet.”

  They stared down at the blue water for a minute or so and then Jason spoke up. “You can close the hatch and take us back to base camp Amelia. Please tell Odysseus that we kept our promise.”

  Chapter 57

  June 1st 2048

  Groom Lake Testing Grounds

  Peter was sitting with the President. There was also a group of military officers and an entourage of engineers from NASA and McDonald-Grumman Aircraft Corporation present for the demonstration. On the runway in front of them sat a new experimental fighter jet developed with the assistance of engineers at NASA. Its design was totally unlike any previous fighter jet produced before. It resembled a flattened egg. It had two very short, stubby wings and a small V-shaped tail. The jet’s turbine intake was a small slit just underneath the cockpit. It sat on the runway on three short stubby legs without wheels.

  “You don’t look every happy, Doctor Rockwell,” President McClain said.

  “I didn’t envision that this technology would be used in a military application so soon,” Peter said. “We’ve only had this technology for eight months and humans have already found a way to put it into a weapon of destruction.”

  One of the Air Force generals looked at him in surprise. “Dr. Rockwell, by using the antigravity technology in our fighter aircraft, the United States is merely ensuring that we maintain a credible defense. We need to ensure that our country remains free to continue our way of life.”

  Peter shook his head, “Defensive weapons can be used just as easily as offensive weapons.”

  “I find it remarkable that we can design and build a new aircraft so quickly, General,” President McClain said.

  ‘It’s all done with computers now. What used to take years can now be done in a matter of months,” the General said.

  “The design process still requires some human input,” explained one of the engineers. “We’re not totally out of the loop yet. For design purposes, we have to determine quite a few things such as what the plane is for, how fast does it need to go, what weapons systems will it need, how high does it need to go, where does it land, take off from, etc. In this case, the process was very simple. Since the plane can take off and land from a small parking lot, there’s no fancy landing gear or need for aircraft carrier fittings. This particular plane design is strictly for air superiority. It’s built for speed and uses lasers and internal missile bays as weapons. By fitting the body of the plane with gravity plates, it can land anywhere. While in the air flying, the plane is all but weightless at ground level. It still has mass however, so it’s subject to the ordinary laws of physics in that manner. Unfortunately, the gravity reversal field only has a range of about twelve feet. This makes the field impractical for a means of propulsion.”

  The pilot gave a thumbs up to his ground crew from the cockpit and shut the cockpit canopy. The jet’s engine turbine started up with a whine. After about thirty seconds later, the fighter lifted about ten feet off the ground and raised its landing gear. The plane hung there for about twenty seconds. The pilot then applied maximum throttle as the plane lifted its nose to the sky and in less than fifteen seconds it was gone from sight. The assembled watchers were talking excitedly when there was a blur and the plane went flashing past.

  Moments later, they were all knocked over by the sonic boom. Peter helped the President re-gain his seat as several secret service agents hovered protectively.

  “Damn,” the President said. “How fast was he going?”

  “Just over Mach two,” and engineer said. “At this altitude, the air is too thick for it to go much faster without overheating the airframe and hull. At thirty thousand feet it can do Mach four. As a matter of fact, the plane must slow down at that speed to launch missiles. Otherwise, it’s faster than the missiles it’s launching. Guns are impractical for use due to the planes speed so it is fitted with high powered pulse lasers as a main weapon system. Here it comes back for a weapons test.”

  About a kilometer away there was an old fighter jet sitting on the lake bed. Moving so fast that the eye could hardly track it, the experimental fighter flashed by and the old target jet exploded into a ball of flame. The plane appeared again at the far end of the test area and slowly moved in to float in front of them. The landing gear lowered and the plane settled onto the lake bed. The spectators all broke into excited chatter.

  “One of these planes will easily be the equal of twenty conventional fighter jets,” the lead engineer bragged. “Once we can figure out how to miniaturize and put the antigravity plates in the cockpit as a type of inertial stabilizer, it should be able to maneuver even faster. The amount of G-force the pilot can withstand is the limiting factor at the moment.

  “I had hoped that this technology would be released to the general public,” said Peter dejectedly. “The peaceful applications would be enormous.”

  “That’s too big a risk right now, Doctor Rockwell,” one of the Generals said. “If we can apply this to military uses, so can others, if they got their hands on it.”

  “I’ve been informed that the anti-gravity technology is being incorporated into the next generation of ships for Space Force, is that correct, Dr. Rockwell?” asked President McClain.

  “Yes, Mr. President. NASA engineers are helping Space Force incorporate the technology. The anti-gravity and artificial gravity technology is something that was at least decades away if we had been left to develop it ourselves. Although we were getting very close to developing fusion power technology, the designs and operating procedures that Odysseus supplied us has let us start manufacturing the compact fusion plants immediately. In addition to the anti
-gravity and fusion technology, the Barbakath were quite advanced in artificial computer intelligences. Their energy storage technology, and the deep core geo-thermal power design is years ahead of our own. Roughly speaking, they were about fifty to a hundred years ahead of us in technology.”

  “Doctor Rockwell, can you explain how these new batteries work that we’re copying from the alien’s designs?” the President asked.

  Peter laughed. “I can give a rough explanation, Mr. President. I’m an astronomer and astrophysicist by training, not an engineer. The concept and theory is driving our best physicists crazy. It utilizes something like the anti-gravity technology. It should not work, but it does. Basically, the alien battery consists of two metal plates of an alloy that we have never developed. By sandwiching these two plates between two of the gravity plates and separating them with a thin layer of pure carbon, the actual electron spin of the atoms in one plate is reversed by applying power. The spin state of those atoms is not stable however. They want to return to a normal stable state. The energy that was used to reverse the spin initially is then liberated again as the atoms revert their spin to a normal state. There is almost no inherent energy loss in the process. The Barbakath had developed a battery that can be charged nearly an infinite number of times. The charge time is dictated by the amount of power you have available to reverse the atomic spin and that is only limited by the amount of power you can apply to the gravity plates without melting them. The larger the alloy plates, the more electricity that can be stored.”

  “You will be happy to know that we’re trying to figure out a way to release that particular technology to the general public, Dr. Rockwell,” the President said. “The problem is doing so without also releasing the antigravity technology at the same time. The design of the holographic memory banks that the artificial intelligence Odysseus uses has also been released to several of the major universities to study the feasibility of us building a computer like this Odysseus.”

  Peter was about to ask about what the long range plans were involving Odysseus when the crowd started breaking up. The President stood and was ushered toward his waiting helicopter by his security detail. Peter stood and watched him go in frustration. This President was not as easy to work with as President Walden had been. Information was being sequestered and he didn’t like the way that some of the Barbakath technology was being put to use in military applications with no thought of how it could benefit humanity with its peaceful uses.