by T I WADE
“Has he thought about the increasing of the Coriolis force in a large round wheel, instead of the small cylinders?” replied Mars, searching out a dot on the sea below them “That was the main reason America One looked as ugly as it did. Unfortunately, Ryan, Igor and Boris knew what they were doing when they built the cylinders instead of a continuous rotating wheel, and the small cylinders were easier to build.”
“Hopefully you remember Dr. Petra’s centrifugal force class during our third-year astro-physics course, Mars?” asked his wife. “Remember the class on centrifugal force versus Coriolis force? Our most commonly encountered rotating reference frame is the Earth, or Mars, or any other planets or moons. Captain Pete used Earth as his example last night. The Coriolis effect is caused by the rotation of the Earth and the inertia of the mass experiencing the effect. In space, when a falling object is traveling toward the outside of a round wheel, the wheel will continue to rotate underneath it until it touches. Because the Earth completes only one rotation per day, the Coriolis force is quite small on this planet, and its effects generally become noticeable only for motions occurring over large distances and long periods of time, such as large-scale movement of air in the atmosphere or tidal water in the ocean.”
“No, I haven’t forgotten, Saturn, but I remember Igor’s class on cylinders versus wheels, and the size the wheel has to be to decrease the Coriolis Effect to equal our small 8-foot-high cylinders. We did that class in Cube One, remember, which wasn’t spinning as fast as the outer level and both forces were virtually non-existent. It is all mass, not weight. As far as anyone knows, there is no way to produce gravity other than with mass. Things that have mass have a certain amount of gravity and will interact with other things that have mass. By rotating any spaceship in space, you would not create gravity, you just simulate it. Remember the mass of a brick in space is the same as on Earth, except the properties of directional pull around it have changed. There, Saturn, I can see Bob’s boat.”
They ended their discussion as Saturn swooped down like an eagle towards the boat at 600 knots. She pulled back the stick and swept over the boat with 200 feet to spare. They could both see Bob waving at them from the fighting chair at the rear of the boat.
“You guys think you can sneak up on us, Saturn Jones?” laughed Beth on the radio. “We also have radar, you know. I saw you twenty minutes ago. We even heard you talking to someone in space. We have five radios on this boat ready to catch anything going on around us. Bob is shouting hi to you from the rear. He told me to tell you to parachute down and get the plane to autopilot home. The Australian Air Force have fancy new autopilot-drone capabilities on all their aircraft. The Israelis invented them a few years ago.”
“We want some of those!” stated Mars excitedly.
“Bob, come home, we are missing you, and we want to invite Martin Brusk and Prime Minister Soames to the island, but we need to have you there as well,” added Saturn.
“Suddenly you guys are in a rush. I want another day’s fishing,” stated Bob, coming to the radio. “Feeding a couple hundred of you weak space guys fresh fish takes a while. We caught 110 pounds of Dorado yesterday, 130 pounds of Wahoo the day before, and I reckon another few hundred pounds of whatever is biting today or tomorrow will give you a few fresh meals when we return to the island. We’ll be back in 72 hours. Saturn, Mars, if you are going to invite Martin, also invite Mary Collins, the third and Canadian daughter of the ex-U.S. President who saved Ryan from jail all those decades ago. She is now Secretary of Defense in Canada, and I think Joanne Dithers needs to speak to her. Between them, you will have three of the most powerful people on Earth.”
“Copy that, Mr. Fisherman, sir! I’m sure my father is rolling in his cryogenic chamber thinking about fishing with you,” Saturn replied.
“I’m sure he would roll around more, young lady, if he knew you were flying his favorite toy!” joked Bob. After a waggle of wings on their next flyover, they were told to get lost, they were scaring the fish.
It was hours later when Pete called Prime Minister Soames. The NextGens had decided to promote Captain Pete to “Head of Foreign Affairs” for Astermine Island, their new country. He offered the invitation to him, and the other two VIPs Bob had suggested. The reply was that it would take a week to set up and they would be all arriving on separate aircraft.
The crew got stronger and prepared the Matts for their first official introduction to the new official human beings of Earth. More than a third of the crew were Matt or had Matt blood. Bob and his crew had been surprised at the number. They had only met ex-Commander Joot on the last visit. That worried Commander Roo, who was being forced by his wife to take the Matt position of Supreme Ruler. If he was going to be the leader of his race and be introduced to three important people, Ruler Roo needed to be a leader of his people, she explained to her husband. He reluctantly accepted his wife’s orders, and Tow, his mother, was extremely proud of her son.
A party was held around the pool that night, with an excited Roo being presented with one of the heavy gold Supreme Ruler cases, one that his wife had stored on SB-III when they had left the planet. It had only became extremely heavy when they tried to pry it out of the cargo hold on Earth.
Since newly-elected Supreme Ruler Roo had been totally ruined by a General John Jones, he got rather drunk that night. His wife Joanne packed him forcibly off to bed, with his hand held by young Jo Dithers Roo, their six-year-old son. He didn’t argue much. His wife’s slightly protruding belly holding their second child gave him a reason not to fight the orders. He was still a peaceful Matt after all.
Bob Mathews returned and put fresh fish on the menu for the next few nights. Every single crewmember, even many of the vegetarian Matts, wanted to try fish for the first time along with many youngsters on either side.
SB-II reentered after its week patrolling space, and SB-I headed up to the Pitt sisters to take their place. This time SB-III also launched for space while the three VIPs would be on the island. Saturn’s shuttle was flown by the Burgos sisters. Jane Burgos, the elder sister to Jenny, was a natural, had more time flying with Jonesy in SB-III than even Saturn, and apart from Mars Noble, was trusted by Saturn to fly her ship. The Pitt sisters needed a break.
Thanks to the blue shields and many of the astronauts now experienced in using them in Earth’s atmosphere, fuel usage on launch, a week of orbit and reentry in one of the shuttles, empty of cargo, was only a tenth of the old-fashioned launches Jonesy and Maggie had done out of Nevada.
The Australians had placed a massive 500,000-gallon above-ground liquid hydrogen Dewar at the side of the southern end of the runway for Astermine which gave the crew more hydrogen fuel than ever before. Next to it stood a much smaller jet fuel tank, as many of the world’s aircraft still relied on jet fuel to fly. The hydrogen system was so large that it even was powered by its own mini Cold Fusion power plant.
Any ethanol needed could be replaced at any time. Mars had asked for a fill-up of Matt juice at the same time the guests were invited, as he had used most of it in his four launches to return the black boxes.
The crew got excited when news filtered through from Martin Brusk in Tel Aviv that he had the plans completed for a new shuttle Ryan and Igor had asked him for years earlier. Many of the outside parts were already made and just had to be bonded together with the thrusters Ryan would choose. Martin didn’t know that Ryan was fast asleep nearly a quarter of a billion miles away.
Captain Pete, who knew about Ryan’s suggestion to Martin to build him a shuttle, was not excited about the news, telling the more senior flight commanders over drinks by the pool at sunset that it also meant that others on Earth would have access to the same shuttle design, and soon they wouldn’t be alone in space.
“Igor,” Mars replied, “although fast asleep, still has a few tricks up his sleeve.” He told Pete that he and Igor had chatted long and hard before the older scientist had gone to sleep aboard DX2017.
“The laser system is
still an Astermine secret,” added Lunar.
“So are the thrusters that Igor had made in a friend’s factory somewhere in Russia,” added Saturn.
“And our new shuttle will be energized by the spare Cold Fusion power system that we returned to Earth in SB-I’s hold until it is needed aboard America Two,” smiled Mars Noble.
Mars thought himself quite knowledgeable until Dr. Nancy, who was standing in the warm water next to her husband, told them that Captain Pete had figured out on their three-year journey back from Mars how the blue shield worked and, with the right equipment, could reproduce them. All their jaws dropped. He smiled as they realized that the most important secret they had could now be reproduced here on Earth. They all raised their glasses to the aging captain, who clinked his glass with his wife first. Nancy reminded the kids that she and Captain Pete might be two of the only astronaut remains of the older generation not asleep, but their grey matter was still in perfect working order.
Three totally different new and modern-looking aircraft arrived within hours of each other. Martin Brusk’s aircraft came in totally silent. Prime Minister Soames arrived first in a small white three-engine jet with an old fuel transporter, an Airbus, tagging along several miles behind. The crew watched its landing with much interest. It was really weird to see a large ancient flying machine land. Bob Mathews recognized the air refueller from his last flight over to Australia.
The Canadian jet, also unmarked and white, was double the size of the first one. Mars assumed it needed to be larger for the much longer range out of Canada.
The Israeli jet came in so quiet that the astronauts thought it had run out of fuel. It was as quiet as their own craft with the shields around them. Mars watched as the jet headed south and entered the downwind leg of the airfield’s pattern. It had two very small rear engines underneath the raised tail. Not the usual size engines a corporate jet like Jonesy’s Gulfstream had slung in the same place. Also, the rear edge of the aircraft’s larger than usual tail glowed blue as if there was an electric field pushing it along.
The jet didn’t use the runway, and Mars suddenly remembered where he had seen the same configuration; it was in an old movie series, Back To the Future. The aircraft came in now with its underwings crackling faintly with the same blue light, its two tiny jets had gone vertical like an old VTOL aircraft, and the small aircraft lowered itself just like a helicopter onto the apron in front of the gawking astronauts. For the first time since the older generation had gone to sleep, he realized that Astermine’s technology, once well ahead of the others, was being matched.
“Ryan giving them that Cold Fusion reactor, I think, has changed everything down here,” stated Captain Pete next to Mars as the captain also watched the new craft.
“I wonder if it is going to bite us in the butt?” Mars replied as the jet, or whatever it was, gently touched down on its own landing gear.
“I think so,” replied the captain. “Our best scientists will be asleep for another 11 years, and the rest of us here are certainly not up to the likes of Igor, Boris, Ryan or Vitalily. It looks like Astermine and Israel might have to work together from now on, whether we like it or not.”
“An interesting new craft,” added Prime Minister Soames, joining the two Astermine men. They had already greeted the Prime Minister, and Mary Collins still hadn’t exited her craft, as it had only landed 10 minutes earlier. Both men nodded. “Thanks to Ryan’s generosity, we have very new equipment in our Freedom Alliance. Martin told me about this new jet only a month before you arrived. It has a mini Cold Fusion plant in its underbelly, produces an unimaginable amount of electrical power, and as Martin told me, is the world’s first hybrid Tesla airplane.
Mars and Captain Pete naturally walked forward as the aircraft’s rear door opened and an older-looking, grey-haired Martin Brusk exited. He waved and hand-signaled them to come over.
“Like my new baby?” he smiled, shaking both men’s hands. “Hi, Captain Pete. You look very thin, nobody feeding you? You, young man, must be young Mars Noble. You have certainly grown into a good-looking young man. Where are Ryan, VIN and Jonesy?
“Still in space, sir,” Mars replied. “Unfortunately they are quite a way away and will not be down on Earth for a little while.”
“Ok, what about Igor and Boris? Is everybody still out there?”
“Yes, sir. Captain Pete, Dr. Nancy Martin and a few of the crew are the only FirstGen to be in our arrival. All due to an alien attack while we were on Mars, and I cannot say any more. Ryan told me to tell you to be patient, and that you would understand, sir.”
“Don’t call me sir, call me Martin. Prime Minister Soames, Defense Minister Collins, good to see you two again,” said Martin, shaking their hands as they walked up. Captain Pete introduced himself and Mars to the lady they had never met.
“Heard much about you, Captain Pete, and your father, Mr. Noble,” she replied smiling. Mary Collins was young, only about 35, Captain Pete reckoned. Pete and VIN Noble had met her father often when he had been the ex-President of the United States of America and when they had been based in Nevada in the early days.
Saturn, Lunar and Pluto Katherine walked up, and Captain Pete introduced the three young girls to all three visitors.
“Looking forward to meeting your fathers one day,” Mary told the three girls in front of her. The girls were very thin, and looked a few years younger than 20. She was surprised when Captain Pete told her that she was among four of the most experienced astronauts in the world. “Any of you three slips of girls offering an old lady like me a ride into orbit and back one day?”
“Captain Mars Noble and Commander Lunar Richmond are the ones to ask, Ma’am,” replied Saturn Jones.
“Excellent, thank you, Ms. Jones. At least I know who to rub shoulders with for a free ride. An old friend of mine, Scott, was with CBS in New York when Ryan—your father, Ms. Richmond—took him up into space more than a couple of decades ago.”
“I’ll be happy to fly you up when I’m given permission, Ma’am,” said Pluto Katherine Richmond. “I have to get the ok from my elder sister, though.”
“May I ask how old you are, young lady? Twenty?” asked Mary of the tiny girl who looked far less than that.
“I’ll be 17 next week, but don’t worry, Ma’am, I’ve been flying spacecraft since I was seven.” Pluto Katherine made Mary’s face go pale, and due to the heat, they all headed in for the coolness while the little robot pulled the aircraft out of the sun and into the second last hangar down the apron.
“I just can’t understand why your parents would start your flight training at so young an age. Could you see out of the windows?” asked Mary Collins to the three girls as they received large glasses of iced lemonade, Saturn Jones’ new favorite drink.
“We didn’t need to for the first year, Ma’am, as we only trained in flight simulators until we could see outside the cockpits,” replied Lunar Richmond seriously.
It was time to introduce the politicians to the Matts. Captain Mars Noble prepared the visitors with a speech once everyone had a drink in their hand.
In the veranda room by the pool, only Lunar Richmond, Mars Noble, Bob Mathews and his two ladies, who had been introduced to the three VIPs, and the visitors were in attendance. The room couldn’t fit in everybody.
“I would like to tell you visitors a story if I may. I would like to introduce Supreme Ruler Roo, the ruler of a Homo floresiensis tribe of people who lived here on Earth over 10,000 years ago. Ruler Roo, as we call him, is the husband of Joanne Dithers Roo, who is the only daughter of the previous U.S. President you all know so well. We call them Matts, why, I don’t know. In turn they call us Tall People.”
There was a large gasp from Mary Collins as Joanne and her short husband walked into the room. The crew had decided to give a little aplomb to the introduction, and Ruler Roo and his wife were dressed in white robes with Ruler Roo carrying the official solid gold Ruler staff and gold pendant and wearing a Ruler’s j
eweled chest brooch. To Mars, who hadn’t seen him decked out, he did look like a very young ruler of a very old country in North Africa or the Middle East. The only part of Roo that now looked out of place was his four-foot height next to his five and a half-foot-tall wife, and the fact his face and head still looked like that of a child.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Supreme Ruler Roo is over 75 years old and was born 7,000 years ago, so please don’t think of him as a child ruler.”
Again there was a gasp from Mary Collins, as she could see Joanne, a girl she had actually met while she was a teenager. Joanne was still in diapers at the time, but now was pregnant by a husband at least 50 years her senior, and he was so short. Then walked in two doctors, one who she remembered as Dr. Nancy Martin.
“Dr. Walls and I are here to answer your questions on why there is a discrepancy in Supreme Ruler Roo’s age, and when he was born, and where this fantastic race of Earth people came from.” The three visitors were still too shocked to reply, except Martin Brusk.
“Are we expected to bow or kneel in front of a Supreme Ruler?” he asked.
“Neither, just shake my hand, Mr. Brusk. I have often seen your picture on our computer screens aboard America One,” replied Roo in perfect English, and smiling kindly.
“Think of our dear friend, Ruler Roo, as you would India’s Mahatma Gandhi without glasses,” smiled Dr. Nancy. “They are both much the same man, peaceful, kind and even with matching skin color. May I introduce Ruler Roo’s mother Tow, and the ruler’s first child Jo, a boy.” Tow was next to enter with young Jo Dithers Roo holding her hand.
“Tow, as we all Tall People and all the Matts call her, is over 110 years old, born in the same time Roo her son was, and Jo was born on Mars six years ago,” continued Mars Noble, saying his introductory lines. “Tow, and then Roo, were the first Matts my father VIN Noble met; he saved their lives on a small blue asteroid/planet we call DX2017. That is where my father is working in space, and will be for just a little while longer with all our FirstGen, our first generation, our parents, and who, for reasons I cannot say, are not with us today. Dr. Nancy please.”
