On the Shores of a Dark Sea (Dark Seas Series Book 2)
Page 30
Landing was uneventful. The shuttle was loaded by crane onto a conveyor belt. The belt moved twenty meters, then halted. Moved twenty meters, then halted. In dozens of steps twenty meters long, the shuttle approached a large metal building. The conveyor led to an immense door that opened and closed with each movement of the conveyor. Bn74x00 watched as colony after colony processed through, awaiting its turn with 00.
In turn, the shuttle was drawn into a dark chamber. Several human hosts stepped forward from the darkness, illuminated by a light from above. The organic bodies of the hosts were connected to a writhing mass of nanites by a thin cable of carbon nanofibers extending from their craniums. As one the hosts spoke.
“This is 00.”
Bn74x00 observed as thick tendrils of nanites descended from above, drooping over and enveloping the shuttle in rivulets of fluid blackness. Small ports opened in the hull of the shuttle and smaller nanite tendrils pushed into the interior space.
For a substantial time the tendrils touched Bn74x00, absorbing data.
Data transfer complete, 00 uncoupled from Bn74x00. As the tendrils pulled away, first from within the shuttle and then without, Bn74x00 was given a new mission. After a period of construction Bn74x00 would lead an assault fleet into intergalactic space, find the human base, then destroy it.
The organic hosts spoke again. “Evaluations of probable motives indicate the humans are attempting to survive extinction by leaving the galaxy. This must not be allowed. The Collective must eliminate, capture for processing, or colonize them all. The calculated probabilities of extinction for the Collective has not yet reached zero.”
A special battlecruiser would be built. A ship with sufficient range to travel untold thousands of light-years in two hundred light-year jumps. A fleet of warships would be diverted to serve under this new battlecruiser.
Bn74x00 would inhabit the battlecruiser and lead the fleet.
00n00x00 moved Sarah Dayson to the top of the Collective’s termination list.
<<<
Important Concepts:
Calendar:
I assume that if galactic civilization arises, a simple calendar with which to plan things across solar systems will arise. Most worlds won’t have a 365 day year. Or even a 24 hour day. So I came up with a calendar for my galactic civilization. Year 1 of the galactic calendar is based on the first year man colonized an extra-solar planet.
10 months, 40 days each. Each month is 4 weeks, weeks are 10 days.
Month Days
Jand 1-40
Febbed 41-80
Mapri 81-120
Mai 121-160
Huni 161-200
Juni 201-240
Gusta 241-280
Seppet 281-320
Ors 321-360
Noder 361-400
The calendar of the locals is based upon their estimate of the number of years since they came to their home, and a cycle is one orbit of Nula Armana around Jalai. That is also one day/night cycle since Nula Armana is tidally locked to Jalai.
If an individual is on the side of Nula Armana facing Jalai, they will experience two nights. One long (26.7 hours) and one short (a few hours at most). The shortnight is created when the moon passes through Jalai’s shadow. If a person was standing on the side of Nula Armana that faces away from Jalai, they’ll experience one long day (about 26.7 hours) and one long night of the same duration.
The Oasis System
Oasis is a K4 orange dwarf, with two inner terrestrials, two large gas giants, a thin asteroid belt, and three more smaller gas giants. Two “snowballs” (large Kuiper belt objects) orbit farthest out.
(_) Oasis (Faroo is the local name)
. Oasis I (Skuld is the local name)
. Oasis II (Demarra is the local name)
O Ember (Jalai is the local name)
O Oasis IV (Unnamed yet in local mythology. Maybe later)
::::::: Asteroid Field
o Oasis V (Tsungte is the local name)
o Oasis VI
o Oasis VII
. Oasis VIII (dwarf planet)
. Oasis IX (dwarf planet)
The gas giant Ember winds up having four moons larger than Earth, as Ember itself is 11 times the mass of Jupiter. My reasoning for this is simple. The sun, when it ignites, blows the volatile gasses out into the outer solar system. Since a K4 has a weaker solar wind than a G2 (like our sun), I think the first gas giant will form closer in toward the star. Not only that, I think since the volatiles will have less outward pressure, that first gas giant will be a doozy. The second might really be large as well. The next planet I don't think could form because of the two massive gas giants constantly disturbing that orbit, preventing real accretion.
The next three planets are basically Uranus and Neptune types, cold, distant, made of the leftovers from III and IV. VI and VII I imagine being very small for gas giants, and invisible from Refuge with the naked eye. VIII and IX are just Kuiper Belt objects, like Pluto, Charon, Xena, Sedna, etc.
Planet IV will have a massive ring system, although that really doesn't come to play in my first book. It might in later books.
Gas giants in this system, like in our own, will have numerous moons. These may well come to play in a later book. Gas giants tend to like their moons if our solar system is any example.
A year on Refuge:
Ember (Refuge's primary) orbits Oasis at about 70,000,000 kilometers.
I realized today that Refuge's seasons would be tied to the axial tilt and orbital duration of Ember, and completely unrelated to the speed with with Refuge orbits Ember.
Oasis is .71 solar masses.
Ember is 3,487 times the mass of the Earth.
I used this calculator (previously used to calculate Refuge's orbital duration) to determine the year length of Ember and Refuge.
Planetary Orbit Calculator
I was completely surprised by the answer.
1.0664 standard years.
What does that mean? It means Refuge has a 389 day year, then a 390 day year, alternating.
The actual orbit is 389.49428 days (Earth days) long.
I thought that with Ember being so much closer to its star, the year would be much shorter. But with the smaller mass of Oasis the year is remarkably close to our own. So they'll have Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter that are close to our duration, each about 6 days longer.
Since Refuge orbits Ember in 2.22551(Earth days) that means that Refuge orbits Ember 175.01349 times during a Refugian year. 175 cycles of the native calendar.
Glossary: (Includes glossary from Book 1, concepts which may or may not be in Book 2)
Adept: Evolved individual who can alter the fabric of the universe.
ECM/ECCM: Electronic Counter Measures are EM (electromagnetic) signals designed to frustrate sensory equipment from detecting the location of a target. ECCM are EM signals designed to overcome attempts at ECM.
ELINT: Electronic Intelligence.
EMP: Electromagnetic Pulse. By-product of a nuclear detonation, EMPs tend to overwhelm and destroy electronic circuitry. They are unpredictable and vary greatly in strength.
Fandama: Innermost large moon of Ember.
Faroo: The local name for the star Oasis.
FTL: Faster than light
FTL drive, singularity, drive core, jump drive: All slang for the drive system that contains the singularity that makes FTL travel possible.
FTL Nuke: A nuclear weapon delivered by a missile equipped with a FTL drive.
G: One standard Earth gravity, or 9.80665 m/s2.
G-K: Grappler Killer. See next entry.
Grappler: A small vessel designed to carry a minimal crew and weapons to a target. They never carry FTL drives. Serving on a grappler means travel inside a spacesuit for potentially weeks.
Grappler Engine: A tracked device capable of gripping the very fabric of space in order to accelerate or decelerate a small spacecraft. Only useful on small spacecraft, as large inertia overcomes th
e gripping ability of the engine. The track grips the quantum foam that is present in all space, vacuum or not.
Grav Couch: A device designed to manipulate the human body so that it can most efficiently absorb G forces. The couch rotates on at least two planes, and in some specialized ships three. Grav couches are also called acceleration couches. They are usually outfitted with the means to deliver nutrients, hydration, and medicine to the occupant if necessary.
Halvi: Outermost large moon of Ember.
Hive: A collection of nanite neural nets inhabiting both human bodies and mechanical constructs. Originally created by humans, the nanites that are the Hive turned on humanity almost immediately. Today they occupy a few thousand star systems of what was once human space. They infect humans, replacing the human nervous system with a mechanical/organic replacement.
Inclusion Sphere: a bubble (slang for inclusion sphere) several kilometers in diameter created by a rapidly rotation singularity and lensed gravity waves. Due to depression of space at the leading edge of the bubble and raising of space at the trailing edge, the entire bubble and all contents move forward in three dimensional space faster than light. Everything in the bubble is stationary relative to the space fabric they are embedded in.
Kampana: Small agricultural village on Refuge, in the province of Zeffult. Eislen’s home.
Nanobot/Nanites: Microscopic (or at least very small) machines that are designed to accomplish tasks.
Probes, Hounds: Sensor and long range comm probes that can travel to their assigned station with a smaller FTL drive system. This small system damages neural networks within their inclusion sphere, therefore cannot be used on small vessels that contain Human or Hive neural networks.
Quantum Entangler: A radio designed to deliver instantaneous FTL communications by utilizing entangled atoms to deliver digital signals.
Quantum Foam: Particles that are created and destroyed virtually instantaneously in all three dimensional space.
Refuge or Nula Armana: Second large moon of Ember, and inhabitable.
Segat: One of eleven continents on Refuge.
Torch: v. To ignite the fusion engines for acceleration or breaking. n. A fusion engine.
The Gift: The ability of adepts to alter the universe.
Yoro: Third large moon of Ember.
Zeffult: Name of both a province on the continent of Segat and the capital city of that province. Home to Merik and Alarin Sur’batti.
Authors notes: (contains spoilers)
I feel sorry for Sarah Dayson, all she really wants to do is find love again and break away from her cycle of war. Instead she finds a completely different enemy that tortures her. But then it wouldn’t be a book if she settled down and raised a flock of children, now would it?
I had a blast writing this. I had a great time researching a plausible composition for the Oasis system, as well as trying to put together a reasonable explanation of why the locals have psychic powers. A much deeper explanation of that will come out in Book 3, which I hope to get to you in 2015. Summer will be calling me to hit the Colorado mountains with my ATV, so not sure how much I’ll get done before Fall. I have another book I’m writing this spring, called The Serum. It’s a political thriller set in the USA in 2019. I had intended to try for traditional publishing with that book, but am having so much fun with self-publishing I may just follow that route indefinitely.
I foresee 4 or 5 books in this series. After that I may write another book or set of books in this universe, but it won’t be with Sarah Dayson. That poor woman is going to need a rest.
If you’re interested in some of the experimental or hypothetical science behind this, check out these things. Just Google them and you’ll find what you need to know:
The Quantum Consciousness theory of Dr. Stuart Hameroff, MD.
Einstein’s Spooky Action at a Distance.
Miguel Albucierre’s physics on FTL travel.
This article: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/528781/cosmic-rays-neutrons-and-the-mutation-rate-in-evolution/
This article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergalactic_star
And lastly, this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudarsky’s_gas_giant_classification
Thank you all for buying my book. As always I appreciate a kind review on Amazon, and if you have any complaints about the book please feel free to email me. damon@damonalan.com. I will respond to any emails with an answer to questions, explanations if I failed to make something clear, or simply to thank you personally for your purchase of my book(s).
With highest regards,
Damon Alan
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - A New Life
Chapter 2 - The Caught Fish
Chapter 3 - A God is Born
Chapter 4 - Unexpected Squatters
Chapter 5 - Captain's Personal Log
Chapter 6 - Beetle Demon
Chapter 7 - First Contact
Chapter 8 - Captain's Personal Log
Chapter 9 - Becoming a Guard Dog
Chapter 10 - Advance of the Demon
Chapter 11 - A Room Full of Demons
Chapter 12 - A Magician on Our Hands
Chapter 13 - Captain's Personal Log
Chapter 14 - The Toll of the Demon
Chapter 15 - A New Fight
Chapter 16 - Captain's Personal Log
Chapter 17 - The Dusty Road
Chapter 18 - No Person Left Behind
Chapter 19 - Take the Long Way Home
Chapter 20 - Captain's Personal Log
Chapter 21 - The Elder
Chapter 22 - I Surrender
Chapter 23 - A Near Miss
Chapter 24 - Two Birds in the Hand
Chapter 25 - A Trail in the Woods
Chapter 26 - A Betrayal Discovered
Chapter 27 - Fire Ridge
Chapter 28 - Birth of a Deity
Chapter 29 - A Long Reach
Chapter 30 - Captain's Personal Log
Chapter 31 - A Trail in the Sky
Chapter 32 - Captain's Personal Log
Chapter 33 - Hindsight
Chapter 34 - Crew Unity
Chapter 35 - Prophecy
Chapter 36 - Eislen’s Rage
Chapter 37 - On a Good Day
Chapter 38 – Captain’s Personal Log
Chapter 39 - Divinity Intensified
Chapter 40 - The Gods Fall Silent
Chapter 41 - Battle Plans
Chapter 42 - In Hot Water
Chapter 43 - Call to Action
Chapter 44 - A Time to Kill
Chapter 45 - Captain’s Personal Log
Chapter 46 - Boots on the Ground
Chapter 47 - Striking at God
Chapter 48 - Struck, Soul and Body
Chapter 49 - Ascension
Chapter 50 - Sacrifice
Chapter 51 - Search and Sacrifice
Chapter 52 - A Push
Chapter 53 - Immortality
Chapter 54 - The Meeting
Chapter 55 - Captain's Personal Log
Chapter 56 - Union
Chapter 57 - Into the Dark