by Jeff Sims
The half-moon struck the smaller moon and bounced it out of orbit. The technicians checked its trajectory. It was a perfect hit and put the newly formed comet squarely on its targeted path. In just over two days the comet would pass through the defensive forts and be bound for Earth.
Banolie exclaimed, “I can’t believe that actually worked!”
Solear thanked Banolie and her team profusely. He and Arean returned to their corvette. Solear said, “Set a course for the defensive forts at speed .3 light. Engage.”
It was too dangerous to make a micro jump with all of the cosmic debris formed by the splitting moon and its resultant collision, so they had to travel to the comet on impulse power. Fortunately, the corvette was the fastest ship in the Alliance fleet, so they would quickly overtake the asteroid at that speed.
As the corvette was coming to a stop near the Earth defensive forts, it was hailed by the station.
…Unregistered ship, you are not cleared to pass. Please reverse course. If you approach any further, you will be vaporized for your safety…
Solear sent his credentials and assured the forts that the cruiser will not be traveling to Earth in the near future. Solear said, “Commander, calculate a hyperspace course to Earth and run a simulation. Arean programmed the jump and said, “The simulation says there is a 42% percent chance of failure. Wow! That is already extremely high.”
Solear said, “Let’s see if we can get it a little higher. What is the cause?”
Arean answered, “There appears to be a source of gravity approximately 10 hours into the jump. It is destabilizing the hyperspace lane.”
Solear said, “Perfect.” He then paged the guardian asteroids. He asked, “Can you generate a hyperspace field.”
…Yes, I am able to generate a field and jump if required…
Solear said, “Traffic control computer, please rotate your forts 180 degrees and create a hyper field approximately 500 meters in front of you. Then target the gravitational anomaly and fire 5 ion cannons at it.
…Calculating. 91.3% chance this shot will increase the gravity produced by this anomaly versus eliminate it…
Solear said, “Fire.”
The forts rapidly spun 180 degrees on their axis to face the hyper lane. This rapid spin feature had been designed by Lorano. He had placed plasma jets around the exterior of the forts. This feature allowed the forts to track any ship on any trajectory in mere moments. There was a small drawback to the design though. In order to get an accurate shot, the forts had to spend about 4 minutes stabilizing themselves at the new coordinates.
The forts stabilized, then generated a massive hyperspace field and fired the 5 required shots at the unknown gravity source.
…Shots fired. Result of the shot will be known in approximately 1.35 days…
Solear said, “Now, fire your ion cannons in a grid to cover the entire approach to Earth. How many shots will be required?”
…Calculating. It will take 64 shots to cover the entire lane…
Solear said, “Fire at will.”
The two forts began firing. It would take a few hours to complete because each ion cannon would have to fire four times and recharge. Technically, the plasma from the ion cannons would clear the hyperspace path of debris. It will slowly dissipate over the course of the next century as it hits space dust and eventually loses cohesion. The plasma should make it about a tenth of the distance to Earth before disappearing.
However, a nice, clean path will be of little comfort to anyone attempting to use this hyperspace lane. The ion pulse does produce gravity, but very little. Therefore, it will be extremely difficult to detect. As a result, unshielded ships in hyperspace will fly directly through the plasma burst and be instantly destroyed.
When the forts had completed the ionization of the hyperspace lane, Solear said, “Great work. Now, target the comet after it passes by and pulverize it into small pieces roughly 1/3 meter (12”) in diameter.” Solear thought that a rock that size should be big enough to destroy a ship, or at a minimum keep it from navigating through the lane.
Two days later the comet passed directly between the two forts. Solear was still amazed at the accuracy the mining team had been able to accomplish when they crashed the two moons together. The forts fired 20 missiles at the planetoid, smashing it into little chunks.
After the massive explosion, Solear said, “Arean, scan the area. Are they any asteroid chunks threatening the Conron system?”
Arean performed the scan and reported, “Captain, there are no asteroids in the area. The system is clean. The chunks are all following the hyperspace path.”
Arean then positioned the corvette in the center of the former Conron-Earth hyperspace lane and programmed in the coordinates to Earth. He ran the simulation and got a 100% chance of failure. He reported the numbers to Solear and added, “It appears we have succeeded. The lane is effectively closed.”
Solear put in a request to the Alliance Navy to have the traffic control forts refortified. He wanted the missiles that had been used to destroy the comet replaced. He told Arean to set a course back to Advranki Prime.
He then contacted the mining satellite and thanked Banolie a final time. Solear told her that everything had proceeded better than expected. He concluded by telling her to release the article that they had prepared to the news networks. The article read:
‘Yesterday at 10:20 am there was an accident at the mining colony in Conron. A mining drill accidentally cut through an entire moon; causing it to have an unstable orbit. The moon struck another, smaller moon and turned it into a comet. The Alliance military acted quickly and was able to pulverize this newly formed comet before it hit anything. Unfortunately, the debris flew into the Conron-Earth hyperspace lane, effectively closing it. The Alliance military will begin seeking a new path to Earth, but it could be years before contact is reestablished.’
Chapter 7
After completing the video game and the technology transfer, correction the strategic initiative to realign the manufacturing of sub-components to lower-cost, higher capacity local suppliers, Carank and Lorano started to work on the Vista. This was going to be a difficult, time consuming task because they were the only ones who could do it. They certainly couldn’t sub-contract rewiring a spaceship to the locals.
They started by installing a metal detector at every entry way into the ship. It wasn’t for the humans – it was intended for Crista. She was not allowed to enter the ship with pistols or knives, but seemed to ignore the rule with regularity. Now, if she entered armed, an alarm would sound and it would also trigger Victor’s implant with a small electrical impulse. Victor would respond by slapping himself in the afflicted area.
Once their safety from Crista had been assured, the two scientists removed everything remaining item in the main and secondary holds. After only 15 minutes, Lorano already complained, “Why do we have to create a special hold for the humans?”
Carank replied, “So there will be enough food and air to keep them alive during the journey home.”
Lorano responded, “Hmmm, maybe we could just put them in cryostasis. I doubt they would mind getting freeze dried for a few weeks.”
Carank pretended to think and said, “No, we don’t have a baseline. We would have to run tests to ensure we could revive them. Besides, we don’t have any chambers.”
Lorano responded, “They aren’t terribly hard to make. Too bad we can’t practice on Crista.”
Then they installed the new power generation unit as a standard backup unit. The unit was about half the size of the Vista’s primary power unit. Although it could power the entire ship in an emergency, its primary purpose would be to power the additional life support unit for the extra people. Secondly, or perhaps primary to some, its other purpose was to create an energy barrier that would isolate the two main holds from the rest of the ship. No one wanted the humans leaving the area and wandering throughout the ship.
That afternoon when Victor and Crista retu
rned they tested the energy barrier. Lorano showed everyone how it worked. He had constructed the barrier so that it blocked the hallway leading to the two holds. He showed them the simple touch panel he had installed on the wall to activate it.
Victor touched the panel and the barrier instantly appeared. Victor could tell that it was on because there was a small red tint to it. Victor carefully ran his hand along the barrier, feeling the energy flow, but making sure he didn’t actually touch it.
Lorano explained, “If you don’t install the refractors, then the barrier will be completely invisible.”
Crista asked, “What’s wrong with an invisible barrier.”
Lorano responded, “Well, most importantly, you could forget it is there and walk into it.” This made Crista laugh. She doubted that she would forget about the barrier. Lorano continued, “Second, it also shows the humans that it is present. We wouldn’t want them banging into it all of the time.”
Victor asked, “How are you going to monitor the humans. You won’t be able to get past this barrier.”
Carank suggested, “Maybe we could hook up remote cameras. That should work.”
Victor was still running his hand back and forth against the barrier, just barely feeling the electric shock in his hand.
Crista was wiggling slightly, but hadn’t told Victor to stop. She said, “What happens if we lose power for a moment?”
“Simple,” Lorano said, “The barrier will temporarily shut down, then reappear once power has been restored.” He thought about his statement and then said, “Oh, I see what you are saying, the humans could figure out that the power generator on their side of the wall is powering the barrier. They could simply shut it down and gain entry into the rest of the ship.”
Crista smiled and said, “I guess you aren’t that smart after all.”
Lorano waited until Crista turned around and gently bumped Victor into the barrier.
As Crista screamed in pain and collapsed on the floor, Lorano whispered to himself, “I guess the collar still works.”
The next day they had a solution. They cut a doorway between the two holds, thus eliminating the need for the humans to walk out of one hold to enter the second. Next they created a steel cage in the inside of each hold. It looked something like monkey bars, or perhaps more accurately a cage for viewing sharks. Now a crewmember could enter either hull about a meter to visually check on the humans and speak to them face to face if the need should arise. Carank would weld it into place just before launch, but for now it was just sitting in beside the door to allow entry to the ship. Lorano left the energy barrier in place as a last resort, but rewired it to the main generator instead of the backup located in the 2nd hold.
Over the course of the next week, the two scientists worked on the main hold. They installed the food processor and a dining area and loaded it with the preserved packets. Carank asked, “What if the humans don’t like the food or can’t digest it?”
Lorano answered, “Well, the Solarians can.”
Carank asked, “Do you really believe that the Solarians are tiny, blue humans? They don’t act like humans.”
Lorano responded, “Well, looks can’t be deceiving.”
Carank answered, “Yes, but Solaria was settled 4,000 years ago and Earth was only discovered 300 years ago. Also, humans haven’t invented interstellar flight yet, so how do you propose they got from Earth to Solaria, turned blue, and shrunk about 15 – 25 centimeters.”
Lorano responded, “It truly is a mystery. We may never know.”
They decided that since they had some additional room, that they would add a pantry and stock it with more than enough human canned, bottled, and dried food to last the three week journey back to Advranki Prime. Technically, they had packed enough food to last for months. However, since Crista had pointed this out to Lorano, he had become adamant that they have an adequate reserve just in case.
Next they installed a bathroom. Neither had seen the concept of an upright urinal before, but decided to include them. They made an 8 stall bathroom, 4 upright and 4 stools. They also added sinks and 4 sonic showers. They were concerned that the humans would not understand the concept of a waterless shower, but there was little other choice. There certainly wasn’t enough water aboard to waste it on a shower,
Lorano made a mental note to ask Victor to make a training video for the humans, but later decided against it. He instead posted instructions. The humans could figure it out for themselves.
They next focused on the sleep area. They created a semi-walled of area in the hold and installed separate lighting. This way the lights could be turned off or dimmed in the sleep area while the rest of the hold could stay lit. Carank had reasoned that perhaps they all wouldn’t want to sleep at exactly the same time. Inside they assembled 10 sets of bunk beds and 20 closets. Each person would have their own private area. The beds and cabinets were designed especially for space travel; they could be moved while the freighter was not moving, but would automatically seal to the floor when it moved.
Finally, they installed a TV / entertainment area in the back of the hold. They had to use human furniture for this area. Carank looked at it and said, “How are we going to keep it secure during flight?”
Lorano said, “Perhaps we could install electro magnets under the couch seats and use them to keep the furniture in place.”
Carank responded, “That won’t work. The magnets will interfere with their electronics. They will short out the minute you turn them on.”
Lorano said, “Computer, how do humans secure one thing to another?”
…Scanning videos. Here is one of a human drilling a hole and using a large bolt to secure an item to the floor…
Lorano watched the video, then looked at Carank and said, “Why not, I doubt Victor will mind a few holes in his main hold.” They secured the furniture, completing the remodel to the main storage area.
In the second hold they installed a recreational area. It consisted of ½ of a basketball court, a fair number of exercise machines, and the four flight simulators. Lorano was completing wiring them into a panel in the control room when he noticed a small sensor malfunction.
He checked the sensor a second time. Then a third. He slowly started to realize that it wasn’t a malfunction, but his brain still refused to accept it. Finally, he called to Carank to join him in the control room.
Carank was just finishing the last portion of the air exchange system. Its primary function is to scrub the carbon dioxide out of the air as well as maintain the temperature at whatever setting the humans desired. It was separate from the rest of the freighter and only fed the two holds.
Plus, Carank had added a hidden feature. By pressing a button on the control, the entire area could be flooded with sleeping gas. He hoped between the gas, the cage, and the energy barrier they could prevent a riot. He wondered what the Alliance personnel aboard the cruiser would do to keep themselves safe from the humans.
Carank heard the call and joined Lorano in the control room. He said, “I have the air exchanger completed, what’s wrong?”
Lorano showed him the sensor reading and said, “We have a real problem!”
When Victor and Crista returned from the bank, Lorano called a meeting. He showed them the sensor data and said, “The sensor reading shows that something big happened to the hyperspace lane. I think that whatever gravitational issue we experienced on the way here has gotten significantly worse. I don’t think that we can take the same lane home.”
“What are our options?” asked Crista.
Lorano responded, “Well, we could try the current path, but I don’t predict much success. We will have to drop out at least once, if not several times to try to navigate around the gravity disturbance. However, I have been reviewing the star chart and I think there may be another way.”
Victor asked, “Where?”
Lorano had the computer show the star map of the local area. He pointed to a star not terribly far from Earth and sa
id this is Waylon. I think it is safer to try to jump from Earth to Waylon than from Earth all the way back to Conron. We will be more successful if we try a series of small jumps than long jumps. From Waylon, there is a known jump path to Uselon, and from there we can jump to Conron.”
Victor said, “We can’t just jump blind, we have to try to test it first.”
Carank responded, “There may be a way to test them. I believe that I can reconfigure our defense missiles into hyperspace charting missiles. We can them launch them in a pattern from here to Waylon.”
Victor said, “It normally takes thousands or tens of thousands of missiles to chart a path. How are you going to do it with only seven?”
Lorano answered, “We are going to have to get extremely lucky. But don’t worry, I really think that luck is on our side.”
“Why?” questioned Victor.
Lorano answered, “Well, we know exactly where we are in space and we also know exactly where we are going. This will give a tremendous advantage. All we really have to do is determine whether there are any gravitational anomalies between here and there that we will have to avoid.”
A real hyperspace charting missile was in essence a tiny ship. It was the largest missile in the Alliance fleet, mainly because it had a self-contained hyperspace drive. Operators would program a course for the missile and fire it on its trajectory. The missile would jump to hyperspace, fly to the assigned location, scan the general area, turn around, and jump back to the cruiser.
The next day Lorano began the arduous task of converting the seven current defense missiles into a version of a hyperspace charting missile. The first task was to roll the each missile to the lab. It was further complicated because only Crista was available to help him.
