by Harp Truman
The theoretical possibility of a nano core was something Brady and Huck had talked of often. They’d fantasized about the power and performance that a nano engine would give, and the maneuverability of a ship equipped with one. Huck had never for a moment known that Brady was actually working on one.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it,” Keller said, patting Brady on the back again.
“I couldn’t have done it without Huck, sir. He gave me all the ideas for the power routing.”
“I did?” Huck said.
“Of course you did. Why do you think I was asking you all those ion questions?”
Huck smiled. “You’ve got a very talented engineer here,” he said to Keller.
“I’ve got a hell of a team with the two of you,” Keller said. “That’s what I’ve got.”
“So how come you never told me about this?” Huck said.
Brady looked to Keller.
“He was sworn to secrecy,” Keller said. “I had him working on this personally. It was one hundred percent classified.”
“He gave me all the resources I needed,” Brady said. “We reckon we can put this puppy on a small chassis and achieve 0.95 light speed.”
“No craft has ever gone that fast,” Huck said.
“Until now,” Brady said, a glint in his eye.
“That will be one hell of a test flight,” Huck said.
“And we’d like you to be the man to fly the first test flight,” Keller said.
Huck was stunned.
“Why me?”
“You remember that small prototype you built back on Io? The one that got wrecked when you stopped those terrorists?”
“I think about her all the time. Why?”
“That was a snazzy design. And I remember when I saw that you’d put an ion core on the chassis, that you’d be the man to try doing the same with a nano core.”
Keller pushed a button and a door opened, revealing a replica of his old cruiser on Io, completely custom built by the armada.
“What do you say? We haven’t got long before we hit the Centauri system so time is against us,” Keller said.
Huck had to sit down and think things through. If everything went according to plan, they would make history. They were literally on the cusp of ushering in an entire new way of flying. A whole new class of craft, based on his old cruiser from Io.
It was incredible. He could barely believe it.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said.
“You’re the only man for the job,” Keller said.
Huck got to this feet with fire in his eyes.
“Let’s do this,” he said.
Over the next few days, Huck worked his ass off getting the nano core fitted to the cruiser. It was a fun project but there seemed to be an urgency around it that he didn’t quite understand.
He spoke to Brady about it.
“Why is Keller so hell bent on getting this test flight done so quickly?” he said.
“I’m not sure,” Brady said, “but the whole project has been picking up pace lately. Something’s going on.”
They didn’t have to wait long to find out why.
Huck was ready for a test flight after a few checks of the core, and he was confident it would be a success. Even still, there was a very high chance that he wouldn’t be coming back. The test flight wouldn’t only mean testing the nano core, and the risks that entailed. It also meant leaving the slip stream of the convoy entirely. If anything went wrong, anything at all, Huck would be at risk of being left behind, as the convoy rushed on at 0.5 the speed of light. He’d be more alone than anyone had ever been in human history.
“Ready for take off,” he said into his comms.
He was looking out the open bay at a star-scape different from any ever seen from earth. Even on Io, when you looked at the sky, it was through the haze of the sun’s influence. Out here, far from the solar system and with Alpha Centauri still just a blip in the distance, the constellations, and the Milky Way itself, looked brighter than ever. Even at the speed they were traveling, the stars were clear and still.
“You are good to go, nano cruiser,” the flight controller said.
Huck revved the thrusters and felt the power of the nano core flow through the entire craft. He’d never felt anything like it. The engines howled and vibrated, the jets pushed against the position lock, and when he released the locks, the whole world became a blur as the cruiser hurtled forward.
“Holy shit,” he cried into his comms.
“You are clear of the slip stream,” control said.
Huck looked to his left and right and was amazed that the distant stars still looked the same. There they were, as constant and dependable as ever.
He got his bearings and looked at the control panel.
“Control, I’m at fifty percent thrust.”
“Speed is 0.52 light speed, nano cruiser.”
“Jesus,” Huck said.
If he could go that fast at fifty percent, he wondered what would happened when he really put his foot down.
He set a course almost parallel to the convoy. He was going at about their speed and was easily able to keep up, even though he wasn’t in the slip stream. As far as he knew, his was the only craft on the mission other than the capital ships who could leave the slipstream of the convoy and still keep up.
“How’s the core?” Commander Keller’s voice said through the comms.
“Everything’s perfect,” Huck said. “Power’s steady. Mass is steady.”
He had to be careful not to allow the core to consume itself as it emitted energy. The way it was reacting now, with steady power and steady mass, it would never burn itself out. At least, not for millions of years. It was a near infinite fuel source. As long as it was stable.
If it began to consume itself, it could be gone in a matter of seconds, leaving him out there alone without a paddle.
“Time to see what this puppy can do,” he said, and opened up the throttle.
The craft leapt forward and instantly, his velocity began to push into record setting territory.
“I’m at 0.9 speed of light,” Huck said, straining to contain his excitement as the craft hummed with a raw power, the immensity of which had never been tested before.
“You’re going faster than the corvettes’ top speed,” Brady said through the comms.
Huck continued increasing the power and the speed kept going up, 0.95, 0.96, 0.97.
At some point, Commander Keller’s voice congratulated him on becoming the fastest man in history.
Huck just kept pushing. Everything he was, was focused on keeping control of the craft and carefully putting more and more of the core’s power through the craft’s engines.
“That’s 0.98,” flight control said. “Maybe you should start pulling back, Huck.”
Huck was no longer listening. He kept his course, kept the craft steady, and continued increasing power.
“That’s light speed,” control said.
There was an air of awe in the voices now as they spoke to him.
Keller said, “Huck? Are you still with us.”
Huck wasn’t sure. Everything felt strange. The light of the stars began to blur sideways, as if he was rushing by everything. The dials on the craft seemed to be slightly confused. Some of them beeped. A few alarms went off.
But the core seemed to be holding up perfectly.
Huck kept pushing the craft and by the time he got back to the convoy and was safely docked in the bay, they told him he’d reached a max speed of 1.1 light speed. He was officially the first man to surpass light speed, and the news was already being beamed back to earth.
When news of Huck’s achievement reached the rest of the ship, everything became festive and celebratory. Combined with the fact they were approaching Alpha Centauri and the end of their six-year-long mission, people were beginning to feel the enormous sense of achievement that a successful mission gave.
Huck as an instant celebrity
and had just got off a holo-call with Fern when there was a knock on his door.
“Open,” he said.
When the doors opened, he was very surprised. Standing there in the hall, right outside his modest private quarters, was Admiral Keller, and the other admirals who commanded every other capital ship in the convoy.
Huck had a towel around his waist and was shirtless.
“Perhaps you’d like a minute to get more presentable,” Keller said.
Huck was so surprised he let the towel fall to the floor. He grabbed it, mortally embarrassed, and ran into the bathroom. A moment later he re-emerged with some clothes on.
“Sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting … company.”
“Have a seat, son,” Keller said.
“I think I’d rather stand,” Huck said, sensing he was about to receive some life changing news.
“The other admirals and I are all very proud of your recent achievement,” Keller said.
Huck nodded, waiting for whatever the commander was building up to.
“And the truth is, that test flight was not just something we were all doing for fun.”
“I understand,” Huck said.
One of the other admirals stepped forward with a tablet. She pulled up a map of their quadrant. In the center was the convoy, moving imperceptibly slowly toward its final destination. Between the convoy and Alpha Centauri was a red blip.
“What’s that?” Huck said.
Commander Sutherland cleared her throat.
“That, my friend, is extraterrestrial activity.”
“What?”
“Yup, and we need you to go out ahead of the convoy and scout it out.”
“Me?”
“You’re our pilot,” she said. “You’re our guy.”
Keller broke in. “You’re the best pilot on the mission, Huck. Countless tests have proved it. Trust me, we’ve run the numbers, and the nano cruiser is the only craft fast enough to leave the convoy and break ahead, check this out, and get back to us before we reach it.”
“We could be flying into an ambush, for all we know,” one of the other admirals said.
“Or it could be a perfectly friendly scouting party,” Keller said.
Huck was bowled over. He’d only just managed to get his head around the fact he’d broken the speed of light barrier. Now, they wanted to send him out in the tiny one-man cruiser, to meet an alien fleet.
“What can you tell me about the alien presence?” he managed to say, getting his head around the fact that they were putting all their trust in him.
“Not much,” another commander said. “From the reads we’ve gotten, there are a number of craft. None have flown faster than light speed, although we wouldn’t necessarily know if they had some unknown technology.”
“They appear to be using ion cores,” Keller said. “The signatures are definitely consistent with ion cores.”
“Which would make you faster than all of them,” the other admiral said, “if they proved to be hostile.”
“And if they don’t have some other power source we haven’t detected,” Keller said.
Huck was overwhelmed, but he realized that he didn’t have the luxury to hesitate on this. They were up against something none of them had foreseen, and they were asking him to go check it out. It was as simple as that.
And he decided then and there that he was the man for the job. He would risk his life for this, and he would fly better than he ever had in his life, if the shit hit the fan.
“I understand,” Huck said.
The admirals all looked at him, surprised at how confident he was.
“Are you sure you know what you’re getting into?” Keller said.
“I understand the safety of this mission, and the safety of everyone I know and love, depends on me being a good pilot. That’s something I can get my head around. The rest, I’ll leave to you admirals to figure out. Just tell me where to be, and when, and I’ll be suited up and ready to fly.”
Huck didn’t have as long to wait as he imagined.
Within an hour, they had him suited up and down on the flight deck, in the cockpit of the nano cruiser.
“Nano One, you are clear for take off,” flight command said through the comms.
“That is affirmative, flight command,” Huck said, taking hold of the controls and powering up the thrusters. “Nano One, taking off.”
He engaged the nano core and felt the force of the acceleration press him back into his seat. He set a course for the alien fleet. Then he flipped a switch and sent the vast power of the nano core through his engines. A moment later, the world faded to a blur and he was hurtling at super-light speed toward the alien fleet.
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