G's Future

by Don Viecelli

  Jacob’s message was short. It read: Hello, G. Hope all is well on your journey. NASA continues to plan future space trips to the stars using androids. I have several new companions working with me and training as future astronauts. Human astronauts have continued to colonize Mars. We have a pretty big installation there now as you know, but the plan is to send private citizens to build habitats there and work on the site. The next step is to begin exploring the moons around Jupiter. I hope to be allowed to go there one day. I have finished my latest research and am excited about the possibilities of living and working in space.

  I know this message is four years in the past, but we must continue to communicate as often as possible to stay in touch. Let me know if you need any more data on the nuclear fusion engines on your ship. We continue to improve the operating performance and hope to have a ship that can reach seventy-five percent speed of light soon.

  By the time you read this, you should be near Proxima Centauri. The latest images you sent us shows one possible exoplanet in orbit around the star. It does not appear to be in the habitable zone for life. That was not unexpected, but the planet may possess materials we can use for fuel and other purposes in the future. Send us more images to study. You may have better luck when you reach the Alpha Centauri binary system nearby. We show at least one exoplanet in orbit around Alpha Centauri B. There may be more you will find. We hope so.

  I am sure you are busy now, so let me know how everything is going and you should receive another message from me in a few days. Jacob.

  G finished reading Jacob’s message and made a note to himself to send a reply before this shift ended. Time was not a big factor in G’s daily routine. He had a number of duties to perform in each 24-hour work shift and tried to complete each of them on time. The most important duties were to check all vital ship functions and fix any problem areas. So far the ship had performed to expectations. Actually, there were now two ships combined into one. The first ship G left Earth on has become a backup ship. When G was satisfied everything was in working order, he would respond to any requests from NASA and other messages in order of priority. Finally, G would work on the collection of star data and images NASA needed during this journey. Everything was sent over the high speed optical laser communication link to NASA. G actually found time to learn, keep current on world events and entertain himself by viewing Earth video feeds sent daily during his voyage. G did not have time to become bored.

  It was time to do a planet status check. He could do this on his own, but it was faster to use a little help. G floated out of the control cabin to the living quarters section of the ship and went over to wake up Timothy—his companion android.

  Chapter 2

  Timothy opened his eyes and looked at G. “Is it time to get up?” he asked.

  “Yes,” answered G as he turned to head back to the control cabin. He added, “We are getting close to Proxima Centauri. It is time to inspect the star system in more detail.”

  “Okay, I will be there in a minute,” Timothy said as he sat up on the bed and flexed his robotic arms and hands. He was still getting used to his new body. After all, he was now a robot or, as Timothy thought to himself, more accurately an android since he looked more human than G did. His face closely resembled his actual human face on Earth before he was sent up on the second spaceship over six years ago. Mission Control felt it would be a good idea to send another robot as a backup and provide assistance to G. It was Jacob’s idea to equip the android with Timothy Thornway’s mind. It was actually a good idea on two counts thought Timothy. One; he was G’s first real friend back on Earth and two; he had become a qualified astronaut over the fifteen years G had been in space. The two of them were a team now and there was plenty of work for both of them to do on the ship during the journey.

  Timothy checked his internal sensors and all looked fine. Putting themselves into standby mode every few months conserved energy and extended the operation of their robotic parts. It also passed the time on their long distance space journey. Once his self diagnostic tests were completed, Timothy left the cabin by grabbing the handrails and straps they used to move about the ship. Within minutes he was inside the control cabin with G.

  “Anything new happen while we were sleeping?” Timothy asked as he neared G thinking that “sleeping” may not be the right word for when they were in standby mode, but it just sounded more normal to him.

  “No. Everything on the ship is operating normally. We received a lot of messages from Mission Control and some are for you. Jacob sent a message. He said private citizens will soon set up habitats on Mars and NASA was getting ready to explore the moons around Jupiter. Jacob wants to be one of the first androids they send.”

  “Sounds just like Jacob,” Timothy replied. “I knew he wanted to go into space before I was sent here. He said Great Grandpa Julian always wanted to travel to the stars. I hope Jacob gets his wish.” Timothy briefly thought about his great grandfather and how shocked he had been the day Julian told him and his father he had invented a new kind of robot; one with a human capable mind. Of course, they did not believe him until Julian introduced G and they ended up in Chicago where G passed the Alan M. Turing test and won one million dollars. It changed the world and he had been part of it.

  That wasn’t all of it. Timothy’s great grandfather was a genius. Before he died he and G invented a device that could actually upload a human mind and download it into another medium like Jacob. Jacob was the first android to receive a copy of a human mind scan and it came from Timothy’s great grandfather, Julian Thornway. For all intents and purposes, Jacob was Julian and continued Julian’s work after Julian died when Timothy was fourteen years old. Jacob had stood beside Timothy at NASA’s launch center in Florida when G blasted off for the stars. G kept his promise and sent a constant stream of messages to Timothy as he continued on his journey. Those messages were perhaps the greatest reason why Timothy decided to become an astronaut. He wanted to join G in space one day if at all possible. Funny how things work out, Timothy thought as he looked around the ship’s control room.

  Now he was working by G’s side on a fast spaceship, very far from home. He knew he was not actually the real Timothy, just a part of him. The real Timothy, or Tim as he liked to be called now, was still on planet Earth trained as an astronaut and probably getting ready to fly into space soon, if he was not already there. Timothy would have to check his messages to see what the last status was. He stayed in touch with Tim and they treated each other almost as brothers would. It felt a bit strange, but they quickly got used to it. Timothy decided it was time to get back to work.

  G brought Timothy up to speed on the ship’s status and they planned what to do over the next day or so. Their craft was traveling three times as fast as the first ship G left Earth on 15.5 years ago. The ship was not overly large. It was 75 meters long and 10 meters wide in diameter. It was shaped like a cone with a tapered front end and contained three sections; the control cabin 15 meters long, living quarters 20 meters long and engine power section 40 meters long at the back. The first space ship was smaller and was now attached to the second ship at mid section. The ship would be used as backup with additional cabins and spare parts on their long journey. There were various attachments on the outside such as solar array panels, long range antennas, cameras and telemetry equipment. It all needed constant maintenance and monitoring.

  They had a little over six months to go before they reached the Alpha Centauri star system located in the constellation, Centaurus. It was the closet constellation of stars to Earth and would be the first place visited by the human species. Well, maybe not quite human, thought Timothy, but worthy representatives of the human race.

  Timothy knew there are three stars in relatively close proximity to one another. The first star in the system they planned to visit is called Proxima Centauri. It is a red dwarf star approximately 4.24 light-years from Earth’s Sun. They would check this star system out before heading to the next
system where the two main stars are called Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, which form a binary pair. At least one exoplanet called Alpha Centauri Bb orbited the B star. It was time to determine if there were more exoplanets in orbit around these three star systems.

  “I’m going to focus the telescope on Proxima Centauri and see what is there, G,” Timothy said as he controlled the telescope lens through the computer joystick. He was sitting at a built-in desk on the wall behind the command chair. G could view the images on the large overhead computer screen. The ship readouts showed the star system was 1.86 light-years away. The telescope showed that there was only one exoplanet and several minor asteroids in orbit around Proxima Centauri. However, there seemed to be an anomaly concerning the exoplanet.

  “Do you see this, G?” Timothy asked, looking a bit perplexed.

  G focused on the overhead computer screen. An unknown object was in a geostationary orbit near the planet. It was too small to be a moon-sized planet and it was too uniform in shape to be a small asteroid. It almost appeared to be man-made. G took several readings and fed them into the main computer. The results were both curious and surprising. The object was definitely circular in shape and composed entirely of a shiny metal shell. It was not a naturally occurring object. Someone or something had built it.

  G and Timothy pondered on the discovery. Certainly, Mission Control has to be told, but it will take eight years before they would receive any instructions. They both thought the same thing—alien.

  The Complete Ebook is available at Amazon.com.

  Author’s Page

  Biography

  The author lives in Arlington Heights, IL with his family. He attended Michigan State University and earned his MBA at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in Illinois. He recently retired as a product marketing professional in the high tech industry and is now pursuing a writing career. He has always enjoyed science fiction and plans to continue writing imaginative novels that explore the future boundaries of real science. He writes science fiction book reviews on popular authors and lists them on Goodreads.com. He can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and he has his own Website for science fiction readers. He is also a Member of the Writers of SciFi, a group of Indie Science Fiction writers and authors. Drop him a line when you find a story you like.

  Thank you for reading this book. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to post a review at your favorite retailer?

  Thanks!

  Don Viecelli

  Other Books by the Author:

  Nanomachine War - Book 1, First Starship Encounter

  UTOPIAS - Book 1

  UTOPIAS - Book 2

  The Guardians - Book 1

  The Guardians - Book 2

  The Guardians - Book 3

  The Guardians Series, The Complete Collection, Ebooks 1,2,3

  G’s Future

  G’s Future - The Journey, Part 2

  The Formula

  Alien Storm

  Author’s website:

  Don Viecelli Sci-Fi

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  ISBN 9781467527729

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