Mental Contact

by Beth Martin

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

  Copyright © 2018 Beth Martin

  Cover design by Beth Martin. Starscape image provided by NASA. Cover portrait and interior illustrations provided by Shutterstock.com

  Beth Martin Books

  Po Box 2191

  Columbia, MD, 21045

  BethMartinBooks.com

  To my husband who listened to me talk about this story way too much.

  PREFACE

  A Note on the Science in Mental Contact

  I do a lot of research while writing to ensure as much scientific accuracy as possible. For the setting of this novel, that was easy. In February 2017, astronomers discovered planets orbiting Trappist-1, the first star discovered using the Trappist telescope. There were seven planets found—the first six with potentially temperate climates and the seventh too far away and too cold to be inhabitable.

  When these planets were announced by NASA, I had already drafted Mental Contact. But by fortunate coincidence, the fictional planetary system I had crafted also had seven planets with the seventh being icy cold. Without making too many changes, I was able to transport Jake and his crew to the Trappist-1 planetary system.

  A particular detail that I wanted to handle delicately with a consideration to special relativity was the handling of warp travel—that is, space travel at speeds faster than the speed of light.

  It’s easy to consider space and time as independent, but they are actually intimately connected. If an object moves quickly through space, it actually moves slower through time. From any reference frame, time is experienced the same, but if the reference frame—say a spaceship traveling at high speeds—accelerates more than another—mission control on a planet—than the spaceship will experience less time passing than mission control. So while the people on the planet live out their lives at a normal pace, the space travelers on that space ship will actually age less.

  In order to take this phenomenon known as time dilation into account, space travel in Jake’s universe works differently than in other fictional stories.

  If you want to learn more about spacetime, special relativity, and time dilation, I highly recommend reading A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking.

  Aside from the science involved in the crafting of this novel, I hope readers will be able to take this work for what it is, a work of science fiction which examines the human mind while also asking, “What if...?”

  I see things that aren’t really there. Well, not things. Just her.

  Lola.

  Just the thought of her name pulled at the corners of my mind. You could stop taking the pills. I could hear her voice whispering from within my brain. One silvery-blue pill each day kept my affliction under control. For that I was thankful. The side-effects, however, were steep. Sometimes I would wonder if it was better just to have the delusions. But it was a silly idea. No it’s not. You would finally be able to reach your full potential, and I could help.

  I shook my head, trying to push her out of my mind. Consciously thinking about her could spiral into all-consuming obsession. If I dwelled on it too much, I’d start to hear her voice and convince myself that I would find her waiting just around the corner.

  “Yo, Jake.” Adam’s face peeked through the doorway of our cabin, snapping me back to reality. He had the darkest complexion I’d ever seen. He was average height with short black hair, the same cut all of us Paradido crew members wore. “Stop playing with that tattered piece of junk and come out with me and the boys.”

  “First, this is not a junk, it’s a book,” I said, holding up my novel. It was well worn and the binding was coming apart, but it still served its purpose. “Second, I’m busy.” I rolled over on my cot to turn away from him.

  Adam shook his head. “Right, right, grandpa. You’re too old to hang out with us youngins.” At thirty, I was much older than most of the crew, but that wasn’t why I didn’t enjoy spending time with them. They reminded me constantly of what I wasn’t and what I couldn’t have.

  “Maybe I am,” I muttered to myself.

  Adam seemed to ignore my comment and continued, “We’re going to the movie theater—”

  “I can’t see movies.” One of the many side-effects of the damn pills: I couldn’t make out holograms which included movies.

  “I know. You didn’t let me finish.” Adam walked into the tiny, white, sterile room and sat on the edge of his cot so that he was right in my face. Other than the two cots, the only other piece of furniture in each of the cabins was a single white metal desk. “We’re going to the movie theater followed by the cantina on Baltic Street.”

  “Everything on this planet is on Baltic Street.”

  Adam nodded, and spoke slowly like I was some sort of idiot. “I know, but it’s our last night on Delta. You’ve spent way too much time on the surface cooped up in this ship reading your books. Get some fresh air while you still have a chance. Plus, I heard Alice is going to be there.”

  I hated that my crewmates kept trying to push Alice on me. Every time we’d make deliveries and pickups on Delta they’d orchestrate some way to force me to spend time with her. I was hoping to avoid her this trip since we were only here for two days, but when Adam got like this, I knew he wouldn’t give up. “Fine. I’ll meet you fellows at the cantina.”

  “Great,” Adam said as he stood up. “Movie ends around ten.”

  I focused back on my book. I was more than ready for Adam to leave, yet he hung at the door.

  “I expect to see you there, or we’re coming back to haul your ass out.”

  I shrugged my shoulders in response while still concentrating on the page in front of me.

  “All right, gramps. See you then.”

  •••

  I carefully climbed down the flimsy steps off of our spaceship, Paradido. My vertigo was worse on the surface, though for some reason it never bothered me while weightless in space. As I walked toward Baltic Street, I pulled my leather jacket close around my neck. I had forgotten how cold Delta could get at night. At least it wasn’t windy.

  Looking behind me, Paradido was the only vehicle parked in the air-yard. The spaceship looked like a bloated pancake and was in desperate need of a new paint job. Patches of green had peeled away to show white underneath. At least there weren’t any other vessels nearby to compare it to. Delta didn’t get a lot of space traffic.

  The gravel crunched under my boots as I walked up to the paved road. The sky was a cloudy gray above me. Everything about the planet was gray. Even the people looked ashen. It wasn’t merely an illusion; the mineral dust in the air coated everything in a thin dusting of drab.

  The night was quiet, so I could hear the cantina’s noisy interior from far away. It appeared to be the only establishment open, and a warm glow filtered through the dirty windows.

  I sucked in a deep breath before pushing the door open and entering the small bar. It was remarkably crowded. The air was full of loud conversation, laughter, and sloppy music played by a local band. I was ready to turn around and leave when I heard someone call out my name.

  “Jake, over here!” I looked for the person shouting and saw Van waving at me. He was sitting at a table with Adam and all of the other crew members. There was a crowd of young women, and even a few men, fawning over them. Spacetravelers were novel to these simpletons. That reason alone made me dislike them.

  I saw a woman in a short gray dress break away from the group and walk toward me. She looked dull amongst the colorful crowd, and disappointment washed over me when I recognized her. Alice smiled broadly as she approached me. She wasn’t the prettiest girl—her eyes were too far apart, her face w
as marred with freckles, and her two front teeth overlapped a little. But if she wanted to have sex with me, I’d say yes.

  “Buy me a drink?” she asked.

  “No thank you,” I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest. “Actually, I don’t feel too well. I might go back.”

  She grasped my arm, keeping me from leaving. “Why don’t I buy you a drink? I bet it would make you feel a little more steady on your feet.” I hadn’t noticed that I had been wobbling. I nodded my head and let her lead me through the crowd to the bar. We stood there for a while waiting for the busy bartender to notice us.

  After a few minutes, the bartender nodded at Alice and yelled, “What’ll you have?”

  “A fizzy-pink, please. What do you want, Jake?”

  I responded directly to the bartender, “Scotch, straight up.”

  When we got our drinks, I slammed mine down and set the empty glass on the bar while Alice sipped at her glowing cocktail. “Want to go hang with your mates?” she asked.

  “It’s a bit crowded in here. Why don’t we go for a walk instead?”

  “Sure.” She set her still-half-full glass down on the counter and gave me a wide grin. Ugh, those overlapping teeth. “Let’s go.”

  The air outside tasted gritty, but was still better than being inside the cantina. I’ve never done well with people, and loud crowds were even worse. Alice wrapped her hand around my arm and led me down the street back toward the air-yard.

  “Your life must be so exciting. What’s it like? Flying in a spaceship?”

  I shrugged. Every time we were together, she’d ask me mundane questions like this. She really needed to get out more. “I don’t know how to describe it.”

  She hugged closer to my arm. “I’ve heard it’s like falling.”

  “Eh, I guess.” There were worse ways to describe it.

  “Have you ever gone faster than light?”

  “Warp? Several times, actually.”

  “That must have been so exciting,” she gushed.

  “Not really.” I hated this kind of small talk. My mind was already scrambling for an excuse to get away from this woman.

  “My friend told me that going that fast—faster than light—gives you the same feeling in the pit of your stomach as an orgasm.” She turned her head down, hiding her flushing face.

  I laughed out loud. “Your friend’s wrong.” Achieving warp felt like a hand reaching down to your gut and ripping your stomach out. Maybe it felt similar to a really bad hookup. The last time I flew warp was over ten years ago, when I first arrived at this sad little planetary system. I hadn’t gotten a chance to leave. I probably never would. There was no way to keep my disappointment from leaking into my expression.

  “What’s wrong? Did I upset you?”

  I stopped walking and she turned toward me, her eyes examining my face. I wrapped one arm around her back and dramatically bit my lip. “Space travel isn’t as glamorous as most people think. It’s hard work and all the travel makes it impossible to keep lasting connections.”

  “I thought people who work on spaceships get to take their families with them.”

  Only those with high enough rank. But Paradido was a puny spaceship in the grand scheme of things. Not even our pilot could take his wife along with him. “Not always.”

  Alice bit her lip, considering all of this. “Well, I’m not looking for a lasting connection right now.”

  I placed my hand on her cheek and guided her lips to mine. My other hand slid down her back to the bottom hem of her dress and pulled it up.

  She grabbed my roving palm. “I know somewhere we won’t be seen.”

  We were almost back to the spaceship, but the desire to be physically close to another person took over. “Lead the way.”

  We walked a little farther until we reached a set of storefronts with small apartments stacked on top. She ushered me to a small alley between the two brick building. Against one of the walls was a bin full of scrap metal large enough to hide two people. As soon as we were concealed behind the bin, Alice grasped my jacket and pulled me to her, kissing me deeply.

  The sky was dark now; the only light from the safety lamps at the mines about a hundred yards away. Aside from the endless gray, my least favorite part about Delta was that the constant cloud cover obscured the stars.

  After a few minutes of kissing, Alice finally worked her way down, her fingers fiddling with my pants. I leaned back against the wall, trying my best to simply enjoy.

  “You ready?” She looked up at me, and the way the light caught her eyes made them look icy blue.

  They reminded me of Lola’s eyes. Lola…

  The blazing flash of white filled my vision while a stabbing pain pierced my head, stopping all of my thoughts. I can’t remember if I screamed or held onto my head with my hands.

  I heard Alice’s voice. She sounded like she was shouting through a tunnel from far away. “… Jake… okay?”

  I was sweating and freezing cold at the same time. My heart raced while my breathing became more and more difficult. I tried to concentrate on forming words through the searing pain in my head. “Get. Crew member. Fast.”

  Everything went black as the gray ground rushed toward my face.

  •••

  “Did you pack your toothbrush?” My mother was peeking through the door to my bedroom in our family suite, the pilot suite. This would be my first time I’d spend more than a couple weeks off the ship.

  “Yes.”

  “And your underwear?”

  “Of course, Mom,” I said as I pushed the last of my clothes and pad into my already overstuffed bag. “I’m not a little kid anymore. I’m nineteen. I think I know how to pack.”

  “I just worry, that’s all.” She leaned in to give me a kiss and I offered my cheek. “I’m so proud of you.”

  “And Dad? He’s coming to see me off, too, right?”

  A frown crossed her face, but she quickly recovered back to a look of maternal concern. “You know your father has to work.”

  “He’s still upset I didn’t get into Aldrin Academy.” I hefted my bag over my shoulder and tried not to show the strain of its weight on my face.

  Mom stepped back from the door making room for me to pass through and followed me out of our suite and into the hall. “He’s proud of you. Trappist has an excellent academy.”

  “But not enough to take two minutes off to say goodbye,” I muttered.

  Mom didn’t comment and just kept walking toward the air-dock. Spaceship Titanium was huge. I knew my way around the parts that were pertinent to my life, but the rest of the ship was a mystery. My favorite place on the spaceship had been the bridge. It had a strict ‘no children’ rule, but since my dad was the pilot, he had made an exception for me. I had never been to the air-dock, but Mom seemed to know the way. We traversed several hallways before taking an elevator down.

  The air-dock wasn’t nearly as impressive as I had imagined. There was a row of the smallest passenger warp spaceships I had ever seen, along with a collection of even smaller vessels covered in Universal Military symbols.

  When we got to my gate, Mom stopped me for a moment and adjusted the collar of my uniform. “You’re going to do great things, Jake.”

  My voice wavered as I asked, “Will I see you and Dad again?”

  She patted my shoulders. “Of course you will.” I could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn’t sure either. “Be good.”

  “I will. I should get on.” I hugged Mom goodbye, then boarded the small vessel.

  Since the shuttle had been chartered to take me to Trappist, there were no other passengers. Reserving warp transportation was expensive, but my family could afford it. I had this shuttle booked to take me to Theta Academy on the planet Theta in the Trappist system, and another scheduled to bring me back on my projected graduation date.

  The distance between our current location and my destination was five light-years, which translated to an eight-hour transit time. T
ime works weird when traveling so much faster than the speed of light. The current students at Theta Academy would all graduate before I’d even get there. My parents would also age more than me during my flight—unless they were also traveling at warp. Since my dad was a pilot, he was frequently traveling that fast. In fact, I could potentially age more than them while going to school as they travel around the universe at warp speeds.

  I tried to calm all the racing thoughts on relativity as the ship took off, preparing myself for the acceleration to warp by clenching my hands around the armrests. I had done the jump so many times, but no one ever really gets used to it. Still, I wasn’t going to be one of those people puking their guts out after we reached cruising speed.

  Once the ship was steady, I let myself relax. I had been so anxious the night before, I had barely slept. Now that I finally had a chance to loosen up, I dozed off and only woke up when we were slowing down.

  “This is your pilot speaking. We are approaching our destination, planet Theta of the Trappist planetary system. It is now year 3127, day 17, hour 8:42 in universal time, and year 60K 142, hour 26:07 local time.” Those numbers didn’t even make sense. I thought everyone used universal time, which consisted of roughly 365 days in a year and 24 hours in a day. I knew that the system had been settled within the past few centuries, so their year must have been much shorter than a universal year.

  I watched the terrain whiz by as we landed. An uneasy feeling grew from the pit of my stomach as I took in the location of my academy. Theta appeared to be deserted. I didn’t see a single plant, animal, building, or structure.

  By the time I had my bag and had found the shuttle to the academy, I was convinced that coming here had been a huge mistake. But during the shuttle ride to campus, a beautiful girl wearing the academy uniform turned and stared at me with clear blue eyes. I looked up and as soon as I made eye-contact with her, she rolled her eyes then turned back to face forward.