Trappist-1_The Tree of Life

by Todd Fries

  Hannah interjected.

  “So maybe his arrival had nothing to do with General Reynold’s death? Maybe they arrived at that moment to inventory and clear his apartment?”

  “Maybe, but it’s odd they didn’t react to his body on the bed. Unless they thought we had something to do with it and were investigating our possible involvement.”

  Hannah answered.

  “But we didn’t call anyone, so how’d he know? And why not wait until we were all at the wedding. They could have gone through our apartments in the space of a few minutes and we’d have never known until the ceremony was over.”

  Nickolas shook his head.

  “I don’t know. In my opinion, this has all the earmarks of a hostile takeover. We need to figure out who this guy is and get some answers. But it won’t be easy. They control everything, including internet access and social media. It’s like being in a maximum security prison. We can’t make a move without them knowing.”

  Just then they heard a knock at the door. It was Jacob Logan with a trickle of blood running down his forehead. They rushed over and helped him to a chair while Kathi dabbed his head with a paper towel. They stopped in amazement to suddenly see her taking on the role of a nurse, but she ignored them.

  “The man’s hurt and I need to make myself useful.”

  Jacob inquired about General Reynolds.

  “I need to see the General.”

  “Which one?”

  “Reynolds! Who else!”

  “I’m sorry to say, but he’d dead.”

  “Dead? When? I just saw him.”

  “About an hour ago. Kathi found him slumped over the bed. We think he was murdered.”

  Jacob contemplated the words for a few moments. Murdered? Who would do such a thing? If he was dead, then what about the project? Before he could ask his question, Nickolas continued.

  “Someone broke into Hannah’s room and took everything related to SM1. Even her laptop.”

  Jacob answered.

  “I think I know who. General Taylor. That’s how I got my head injury. He forced his way into my room with two of his goons and did the same thing. When I tried to recover my personal bible, he must have struck me. I don’t remember much, other than being on the floor.”

  The four of them looked at each other. Nickolas broke the silence.

  “If I were to guess, my room is probably in the same condition. The same with Major Brooks. I bet every one of us has had our personal space violated today.”

  “Some of us have had our very lives violated.”

  It was Kathi referring to General Reynolds and to herself. And she was right. This new guy seemed to stop at nothing, even assaulting Jacob when he wasn’t resisting. What kind of man were they dealing with and did he really have anything to do with the General’s death. They had many questions, but few answers. If the Government wanted them off the project, there were much better ways to announce it. Why hurt the people involved?

  Nickolas sat down and felt the bulge in his pocket again. This time he reached in and retrieved an envelope that contained a message written in General Reynolds own hand. As he slowly unfolded the page, he began to read the words and what they told him spoke volumes. By the time he finished reading, he felt sick to his stomach. This was a valuable piece of evidence and one that General Taylor would probably kill to possess. He put the letter down and cleared his throat.

  “I found this in the General’s pocket.”

  Major Brooks appeared confused.

  “When? I never saw you take anything.”

  “I picked up his coat and when General Taylor came in, I put it on as if it were my own. This is his tuxedo jacket.”

  “So what does it say?”

  “As he promised to us earlier, he was going to reveal his decision after the wedding. Perhaps he felt that he owed us a final answer before releasing it up the chain of command. The long and short is that he planned to recommend that SM1 be fitted for a new expedition, to return to Proxima b for the purpose of growing experimental crops and during the time between planting and harvest, if practical, to explore the planets of Trappist-1, to determine if any of those worlds were an acceptable location for a future colony. And finally returning to Proxima b to pick up the remaining researchers.”

  Jacob held the paper towel to his head and offered his opinion.

  “If the military disagreed, do you think they’d take some sort of action to secure SM1 for themselves?”

  Nickolas replied.

  “Maybe, but how did they know he wasn’t going to announce in their favor?”

  Kathi turned around and checked Jacob’s head one last time.

  “My fiancé was always in touch with those above him. It’s very reasonable that given his recent actions, they feared he was either losing his mind or would decide against reverse-engineering the craft, or using it for defense purposes. This ship is a one-of-a-kind treasure that’s more valuable than all the gold in the world. The temptation for control is a strong one.”

  Everyone agreed, but what could they do about it? They had no investigative abilities and no authority to turn to in this situation. The ultimate authority was now General Taylor and he wasn’t about to do anything to help them; or would he? They had never talked to the man, so how could they make assumptions about his intentions. There might be some other reason for his actions. Nickolas thought long and hard and wondered if he should approach him with his concerns.

  “What if we talked to General Taylor? If nothing else we should meet with the man and voice our concerns. What could it hurt?”

  Major Brooks remained quiet, but Hannah expressed her doubts.

  “I don’t know. Do you think he’d even meet with us?”

  Nickolas continued.

  “He’s already got everything regarding the project and has access to our personal files. I bet he knows everything about us and we don’t know a thing about him. It appears that he literally just arrived, so maybe he intends to meet with each of us in the near future. It would make sense.”

  Major Brooks added his thoughts.

  “Maybe he’d assign us to a new project. It’s possible.”

  Hannah reacted.

  “So you’re saying that a decision has already been made to take us off SM1 and put us somewhere else? If so, then General Reynold’s last wishes have already been usurped? That doesn’t sound ominous to you?”

  She was being sarcastic, but she had a point. If this was some sort of hostile take-over, he didn’t have to tell them anything. If this was true, the last thing he needed were voices of dissent and anything related to their former commander would need to be erased.

  In his own mind, Nickolas related it to archaeology. In ancient Egypt, when a new king came to power, he often had all references to the former king erased. He would order the destruction of temples, deface statues and eradicate his predecessors name from all the carved hieroglyphics. Every memorial and even the former king’s tomb were fair game when it came to asserting his new power. It reminded him of how little man had changed over the millennia. It was a never ending cycle of power and control.

  He thought to himself. If this man was intent on establishing his absolute sovereignty over SM1, there was little to be done to stop him. They were at a huge disadvantage. More importantly, they had no information, no control and no voice. They were subject to his jurisdiction and he had the power to both imprison and kill. They signed their lives away long ago, but who would have thought those same papers could be used against them in such a manner. It was a scary situation to say the least. His train of thought was interrupted when Major Brooks offered a plan of action.

  “I think our next step is to have someone touch-base with General Taylor while the rest of us make contact with the balance of our team. Let’s see what everyone knows and then meet again to discuss. Kathi deserves some answers and so do we.”

  It sounded logical and Nickolas was volunteered to find General Taylor. He could just imag
ine that meeting. If he played his cards right, perhaps he’d explain his actions. But even if he didn’t, at least they’d know where they stood with the new administration. Time would tell.

  ASTROPHYSICS

  Mark Sallsmann read the orders posted on the bulletin board.

  By order of AFFTC (The Air Force Flight Test Center)

  Edwards Air Force Base.

  Effective immediately - Groom Lake Detachment 3 (DET 3) of AFFTC is now under the command of General Alfred

  Taylor. Any questions regarding the change of command can be communicated to the BOS (Base Operating Center).

  It was short and to the point, but there was no mention of General Reynolds. It had been several days since his death and there had been no news about the cause or if a funeral had been planned. While Mark barely knew the man, he knew enough to know the guy was well liked.

  When he met him, he was working on a project for the military on a different part of the base. Both he and his wife shared the same educational background and found themselves working on the same assignment, which was both a blessing and a curse. It was one thing to see each other every day at home, but another to work side by side during the day. There were many times they needed a break from each other and on this job, there was little time for privacy.

  They had requested to be assigned to different components of the program, but even that didn’t help because they were constantly interfacing on engineering theories and concepts. The problem was that they worked so well together and were so productive, that General Reynolds (Samuel) took them both for his little venture. However, this new undertaking was anything but boring.

  When he first saw the space craft, he assumed it was some secret government project, but as the briefing proceeded, it became clear that this was of extraterrestrial origin. The capabilities of this ship were far beyond current human technology. If he could believe what they reported, this was capable of reaching nearby stars in a matter of hours. As an astrophysicist, he understood the massive power requirements involved.

  Nothing could exceed the speed of light, but this thing was bending space and time. While the ship was fast, it didn’t travel anywhere near the speed of light. To do so would require an almost infinite power curve and nothing in the universe could supply that much energy. So understanding this power plant was a top priority. The only rules were that he couldn’t break it. He couldn’t conduct any invasive or destructive tests. In this case, he had unlimited funding and every tool available to him, so it was a scientist’s dream when it came to research.

  Over the past several months he’d been over every inch of the vessel, but his only real interaction with the system had been to turn on the reactor and observe and measure. They used everything from X-Ray technology to Sonar in their effort to view the interior of the propulsion system.

  As he worked to understand how it operated, he remembered his days in high school. When the other kids were working on their cars, he was experimenting with an engine driven by compressed air. He would fill the air-tank and run the motor until it formed a cold frost on the metal components. All he needed was a chassis and he could drive around the neighborhood without as much as a sound. Unlike combustion engines, this was quiet and clean and required very little in the way of maintenance.

  As he progressed to bigger and better things, he designed remote control airplanes and constructed them out of foam and even built a blacksmith shop in his garage. He graduated with a degree in Engineering and Advanced Physics and eventually moved up to jet engines, developing new and improved designs. In the end, his work led him to Area 51, where he worked on jets of all types, including the new pulse-detonation machines. It was here that he toiled on the cutting edge of technology and proved his value to the military.

  Once he understood the nature of Samuel’s request, he was eager to get started and being able to share it with his wife was a bonus. If he had to take this home as a secret every day, he couldn’t have done it. This was just too exciting to hide. So every evening they had long conversations; discussing theories and throwing out ideas. In this instance, it was a match made in heaven and he understood how their collaboration was an integral part of why they were chosen. They were literally working non-stop and having two heads to sort through ideas was an indispensable value that probably couldn’t occur outside of marriage. He just hoped this wouldn’t end theirs.

  So as he sought to understand the fusion reactor, he attempted to measure energy output and look for signs of stress on the system. If this had a limited supply of fuel, he should see a gradual downward curve as the reactor attempted to recover after each test of the system, but nothing ever seemed to change. Since this was impossible, he had to conclude that somehow the unit was harvesting energy from another source as it ran.

  He struggled to come up with an answer. If it could somehow reap power from the universe itself and had no internal moving parts, who knows what it might be capable of doing and how long it might last without requiring maintenance. He had his own theories, but they were yet to be proven.

  He reasoned that the three pulsars identified in the navigation room, might not only provide navigational reference points, but might be the source of power that drives the ship. Pulsars were an interesting breed of stars. A pulsar was a highly magnetized, rotating sphere, emitting beams of electromagnetic radiation. This radiation could be observed when the beam of emission was pointed toward the Earth, much in the same way as a lighthouse could only be seen when the light was facing in the direction of the observer.

  Mark understood that neutron stars were very dense and had short, regular rotational periods. When he studied the three pulsars, he found that they had very precise intervals between each pulse and those ranged from milliseconds to seconds for an individual pulsar. These strange stars were believed to be one of many candidates for high and ultra-high energy astroparticles.

  When he studied the drive in the ship, he theorized that the acceleration of astroparticles to relativistic energies might take place in rotating astrophysical objects such as pulsars. It was well known that the magnetospheres of pulsars were characterized by strong magnetic fields, which in turn forced the charged particles to follow field lines. But his wife Lori argued that if the magnetic field lines were rotating, the particles should be undergoing centrifugal acceleration.

  This was an ‘Aha’ moment for him. It was this type of interaction that gave him an edge over other researchers. While most couples talked over dinner about normal things like finances, interior design or social interactions at work, they were discussing physics. It was her vision that gave him another perspective; which in turn lead him to consider the ripple effect in the curvature of space-time; known as gravitational waves.

  He reasoned that while gravitational waves transport energy as gravitational radiation, they might also affect dark matter. If dark matter did exist, the universe might be full of it and the empty spaces between stars might not be empty at all, but tightly packed with matter. If so, might pulsars be creating giant waves, much as wind creates waves on the oceans of Earth? All of which could be amplified and focused like a laser beam through a magnifying glass?

  It was this concept that lead him to re-name the fusion reactor. In his research paper, given to General Reynolds, he described it as a Pulsonic Amplifier. A device that rode up and down on the pulses like waves. Waves on Earth were generated by wind passing over the surface of the sea. As long as the waves propagated slower than the wind speed above the waves, there was energy transfer from the wind to the waves. Wave height was determined by wind speed, the duration and time the wind had been blowing and the distance over which the wind excited the waves. While larger waves were more powerful, actual wave power was determined by wave speed, wavelength and water density.

  Mark remembered that when Nickolas described his trip to Proxima b, he explained how the space in front of him seemed to fold and it was similar to riding a wave. He equated it to throwing a stone int
o a calm body of water and then being able to skip from the top of one ripple to the next. When he viewed the star-field in front of him, the stars were bending and disappearing and reappearing as if moving into and out of the folds of a large piece of fabric.

  If his own theory was true, the ship itself wasn’t bending space. Space was already bent because of the pulsars. The spaceship only needed enough energy to skip across the tops of the waves which were already there, but invisible to the eye. This ‘dark-matter-transport’ was a revolution in engineering design and took advantage of natural pulsar waves, constantly being created with each rotation of the host star.

  So by applying his calculations to the waves created by the pulsars, he determined that the amount of energy being created was astronomical and covered every square inch of space. The resonance produced, by focusing the unique intervals of each pulsar, created a high frequency modulation that was amplified in the core of the reactor. What he needed now, was a full blown test of the system by flying to a distant point, such as a star or planet. This would confirm his theories. It was a brilliant revelation and he had Lori to thank for it.

  The title of his paper was:

  “Pulsonic Amplification and Dark Matter Transport. A treatise on the subject of interstellar navigation using sub-light technology. By Dr.’s Mark & Lori Sallsmann.”

  This was cutting edge research and held in the highest security by the US Government. There were very few people in the world who could understand their complex equations, but their theory held water because it didn’t break any of the laws of physics. Ultimately, the ship never travelled faster than the speed of light. It simply took advantage of deep troughs in the fabric of space by using the crests to bridge great distances in a matter of hours.

  He marveled at how far they had come in just a few months. When they first arrived, they were awed by the mystery of this alien ship and now, they were on the verge of understanding how it operated. While he doubted that mankind could replicate the technology, they now had a firm basis for understanding how it worked and that was a first step to copying the design.