The Interstellar

by David Lund

  “Captain,” he said, straightening up. He had been bending over Jameson, who seemed to be unconscious.

  “How are they?” Michael asked nodding towards the two people in the beds. He did not want to look over in the corner where the three bodies lay, covered in a sheet.

  “Jameson took a severe blow to the head, he is unconscious. I’m monitoring his condition, I’m afraid there might be some brain damage. But I’m hoping it’s just a concussion. Time will tell.” Hensen had a flat expressionless voice, which betrayed no emotion. “Wither has a broken arm and collar bone, but she’ll recover in time.”

  “Who died?” Michael asked, inwardly wincing, but trying to sound as calm and neutral as possible.

  “Gareth, Joanne and Kirk, sir.” Michael deflated inside, grief threatening to overcome him as he heard the faint note of sorrow enter the doctor’s voice. Hensen, Michael knew, had been close to Gareth Bates.

  “I’m sorry Adrian. What happened?”

  “They were blasted by consoles,” Hensen shrugged. “Wrong place at the wrong time.” He bent over Jameson again. “What’s our situation?”

  “We appear to have been transported, somehow, to another solar system.” Michael said flatly, trying to force his mind to the present situation and away from the three dead crewmen. Hensen straitened up again, scrutinizing Michael’s face, looking for some flicker of a joke.

  “What?” he said sharply.

  “I know it’s hard to believe, but it appears to be the case.” He told the doctor about the two suns and fifteen planets.

  “My god,” he said after a while. “This is incredible. This means we might be the first people to discover extra terrestrial life.”

  “Don’t get too excited, Doctor, we don’t even know if these planets are capable of holding life.”

  “But we are going to investigate?” Adrian asked sternly.

  “Of course, but we also need to find out where we are exactly and figure out how to get home.”

  “I’m just a Doctor, Captain, but I’m pretty sure that if we are in another solar system, one that is a binary star system, light years away from Earth; then we have no chance, with our current technological means, of returning home before we die of old age. Neither, for that fact, will our children or even our grandchildren.”

  “Something brought us here Adrian, I intend to find out what it was and where is it, so we can use it to take us back.” Hensen scratched his grey hair.

  “This is a lot to take in, Captain.”

  “Get some rest, Doc, they will be fine for a while.”

  “Yes Captain.”

  *

  Michael’s next stop was the engine room. Jean, the main engineer, was resting with the others, so the engine room was empty. Jean had assured him that the engines would be operational within the hour. They were on: Michael could hear the humming, telling him they were going through their warming sequence. The first stage of this sequence needed to be supervised by the engineer, but the second stage was done automatically and needed nothing but time.

  Michael had worked as an engineer before being made Captain, and knew how the engines worked. It was very complicated and would take a long time to explain to the laymen. Suffice to say, that through a complicated mathematical equation, renewable energy, and a lot of luck from inventors of the past, the Newton engine became a brilliant piece of machinery. It used existing chemicals that it renewed constantly, allowing them to have an endless supply of fuel. They tended to be quite fragile though, and often needed tweaking. Jean was constantly having to fiddle with them.

  Michael listened to the gentle hum of the engines for a while. The sound soothed him. He was terribly afraid of what was happening to them, and yet another part of him was really excited. They were in a different solar system, one that may hold life. It would be amazing to discover an alien race. On the other hand, if it was full of dead planets, and they never found the ‘wormhole’ again, then they would eventually die of hunger.

  They had enough food to last for years. Waste was recycled and burnt into the ‘food preparator’

  which transformed the burnt energy into nutriments. It wasn’t glorious, and often tasted of cardboard, but it was at least edible. However, it made less food than the amount of waste used to create it, therefore – it would take many years – but eventually, they would run out of food. They also had packs of frozen goods which would last a couple of years, because weight wasn’t a problem, thanks to the Newton Drive, they had plenty extra. It still wouldn’t be nearly enough if they had to make the trip back to their solar system. A trip which could take thousands, if not

  millions of years. They had no idea where they were after all.

  But they had to worry about one thing at a time. If there was life on one of these planets, they might be able to help. That was a big If. There would be plenty of problems. Language would obviously be a barrier. Maybe they wouldn’t be capable of intelligent thoughts, or they may be mean and vicious, or the planets may simply be barren dead worlds, he reminded himself sternly.

  He needed to rest, to be alert. The next few days, weeks or even years were going to be tough.

  He needed to be tough, for his sake and the sake of the crew. He could not let them down. He would get them home, even if it was the last thing he did.

  4

  After a few hours sleep, Michael was back on the bridge. To his surprise, he found Caitlin sitting alone in her chair, reading her console.

  “Couldn’t sleep,” she explained as he sat down next to her. “I’ve been going over the data collected from the scans. We are ten million kilometres from the nearest planet, which is a gas giant, and sixty five million from the nearest ‘habitable’ planet.” She raised her hand in mock quotation marks as she said the word.

  “You don’t believe that there may be life on it?”

  “I just don’t want to get my hopes up.”

  “Fair enough. How long will it take us to get there?”

  “About a week to the gas giant, the nearest planet, and probably two months to the rocky ones.”

  “Do you think there’s anything of interest at the seventh planet?” he asked.

  “Who knows? There might be, it’s a chance to see a gas giant up close. Here take a look.” She pressed a few keys and the planet came up on screen.

  It was a mass of swirling blues and greens. It looked like a huge ocean swirling around at great speed.

  “Don’t be fooled,” Caitlin said, looking at him, it’s not water,” she said, reading his thoughts. “It’s a mix of hydrogen, helium and methane, and some other elements I haven’t been able to identify.”

  “It’s beautiful,” he said.

  “Michael?” Caitlin looked at him, sorrow in her eyes. “Are we stranded out here?” He took her hand in his own and smiled at her.

  “We’ll find a way home.”

  “I hope so. And Michael, it’s not your fault, there was nothing you could have done differently.” She smiled at the look on his face. “I know you blame yourself.”

  “I’m responsible for you,” he replied thoughtfully. “It has to be my fault.” She squeezed his hand.

  “It was an accident. Gareth, Joanne and Kirk, they were good people. I had lunch with Joanne just yesterday.” Caitlin’s eyes reddened suddenly. Michael, although surprised once again by this emotional display so unusual for his first officer, still thought about hugging her but just then the door swished open and Lindsey walked in, and Michael released his first office’s hand, as though he had been caught doing something wrong.

  “Wow that’s nice,” Lindsey said, pointing at the screen.

  “I’m glad you think so Lindsey, because we’re going for a visit.” She sat at her console.

  “Jean,” Michael said, pressing the comm button. “I need you in the engine room, we are about to depart.”

  “Already ‘ere Captain. Engines are ready and waiting.” Michael sat back in his chair.

  “Lindsey, se
t a course for the 7th planet, maximum speed.”

  “Yes sir.”

  The engine noise increased and the ship vibrated slightly as they accelerated gently. It took an hour for the ship to reach maximum velocity. They would reach the planet within five days if they maintained maximum speed. To get into a synchronous orbit with the planet though, they would have to slow down before reaching it, adding two days to their journey.

  During this time, repairs and equipment checks were made. The ‘wormhole’ - for want of a better word – had caused only minor damage, and all ships systems were fully functional within a day.

  Michael ordered continuous scans of the area in search for the phenomenon, but so far, nothing had shown up on sensors.

  The crew were deeply affected by the loss of their three crew mates. They had all bonded in a way that no one could really understand. They had spent years training together for this mission, left alone in isolated places, with only each other for company, always looking out for one another. The closeness was beyond friendship. Sure, there were disagreements and conflicts, but never anything serious. The crew knew that a trip to Mars held many risks. They were also all well aware that the two previous missions had failed resulting in the death of everyone on board. They also knew that The Interstellar was by far a much safer ship than the tin cans previous astronauts had used. They had all expected problems; problems TEC had envisaged. Never had they trained for the eventuality of being transported light years from home, with no apparent way of getting back. Morale was at a low. Three crew members were dead, and for now, they had absolutely no way of getting back to their families.

  They held a service for the three dead crewmen on their second day of travel. They gathered in the main hall, which served as a dining room and recreational area. Gareth Bates, Joanne Francis and Kirk Gemanson lay on the floor in the centre of the room, covered in sheets; they didn’t have any coffins on board. The seventeen remaining crew members were gathered in a circle around them. They didn’t have any flowers to put down, as there was no need to bring flowers into space.

  Michael said a few words of remembrance and the crew took it in turns to say a few nice things about their lost friends. The bodies were then taken down to one of the freezers in the cargo bay to be stored until they could be returned to their families.

  Michael thought about TEC and all the other people on Earth who had been following their progress. He imagined how the ship must have disappeared from their sensors much like the probe had from theirs. He assumed they thought them dead. He supposed a great funeral service took place, much like the ones held for the two previous Mars missions. Millions of people glued to their televisions, watching the great tragedy play out. He thought of James Henderson, who had put so

  much effort into this mission, and how crushed he must be to see it end this way. If only he could let them know they were alive. But it was impossible, until they could pinpoint their location, they had no way of knowing how far they were from Earth, or indeed, how long a message would take to travel there.

  Michael had asked Lindsey to study the stars around them in an attempt to chart their location.

  So far, she had not recognized anything, which did not lift Michael’s spirits. Surely if they had been near Earth, they should have seen something familiar. He met with her in his office on their third day of travel. As she entered, she looked excited.

  “I’ve found something, at least I think I have,” she said, before Michael could say a word. She had brought a pad with her and set it down on his desk. “You see this star formation here?” She pointed at a constellation, then brushed her fingers on the screen to enlarge the picture. “The second star, this one, I think it might be our sun.” Michael stared at her.

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Well, I’ve measured it’s intensity and transit. It has eight planets orbiting it, the inner four appear to be rocky, and the third one is in the habitable zone.”

  “I’m sure this is true of many systems,” Michael said carefully.

  “Yes, but these stars here,” she said pointing to ones next to the supposed sun of their home world, “Have all the characteristics of Alpha Centauri. I’ve also recognized other star systems close to ours.

  I’m pretty certain that this is our Solar System.”

  “Well, now that we’ve localized it, any idea on how far we are from it?” His hopes were not high. It didn’t really matter how far they were, even if they were only a light year away – which wasn’t possible seeing as the nearest solar system to Earth was Proxima Centauri, at 4,5 ly - it could still take them thousands of years to get back.

  “Well, that’s the snag,” she answered. “We’re about twenty seven light years from Earth.” She still seemed excited, and Michael, who felt thoroughly depressed at this news couldn’t help but wonder why.

  “What are you so chirpy about then?”

  “I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I guess it’s kind of exciting. Discovering new planets, perhaps aliens; a whole new species, can you imagine it?” Michael looked at her patiently.

  “Lindsey,” he said in a soft voice, “I really need you to listen to what I’m about to say. There is a chance, a big one, that there is nothing at all of interest on these planets. No life, no vegetation, no bacteria, no atmosphere. Nothing. If that is the case, we’re heading in the wrong direction for nothing. On top of that, there is little or no chance of us ever getting home. It’s just too far. We don’t have the means or the technology to do it.” Lindsey’s smile did not fade.

  “Captain, I grew up an orphan. I wasn’t very sociable when I was a child and had few friends. My

  true friends and family are here on this ship. I don’t care about anybody on Earth. The thing I’ll miss most is the beach, but I can do without that. I’ve always wanted to be in space, to discover new things. This is a dream come true. It doesn’t matter to me if we spend the rest of our lives in space, exploring new worlds. This solar system alone has enough to occupy us for a long time.” Michael sighed at her words, and spoke carefully.

  “I can understand your point of view Lindsey, but I would advise you to not go around telling the others your opinion just yet. The news that we are twenty seven light years from home will be devastating to everybody, including me. It means that we will never go home, and never see our families, our children, our friends or even our pets, ever again.” Michael could tell that Lindsey had not thought of this, however beautiful she was, she was also really quite weird. She had lost her smile at last.

  “Yes, I suppose,” she answered, shooting a fleeting glance at the picture on Michael’s desk. His daughter, Jade, was smiling at her.

  “Still,” Michael said, smiling suddenly. There is one good thing to come from this discovery.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, we can send a message to Earth, it’ll be twenty seven years before they get it, but still, it’s a good thing.”

  5

  The next day, Michael asked the crew to compose personal messages to their families to send to Earth. They all knew that it would take years before anybody received them and even more until they got an answer but it still lifted spirits to know that their families would at least know what happened to them, and that they weren’t dead.

  The crew had taken up staring out of the windows at the huge planet looming in front of them. It was quite a sight. Sensors showed that it was twice the size of Jupiter, but apart from that it was fairly similar. The blue and green clouds that covered it’s surface were an amazing thing: a centuries old storm that swirled all around the planet.

  “We can’t get too close,” Lindsey had warned. “It’s gravity is very strong.”

  They had started slowing down. They needed to be at a quarter of their speed to synchronize with the orbit.

  Franck Jameson, who had been lying in the medical bay with a head injury, had been reported to be out of danger by Doctor Hensen, who said that Franck should make a full reco
very, but needed to rest for a couple of weeks. Franck was a bit grumpy about this, insisting that he felt fine. Michael told him that he was to stay in his quarters, and that they didn’t need him right now. The other patient, Abigail, was going to have to wait for her bones to heal before going back to work, so she was also resting in her quarters.

  Michael made a point of walking all around the ship, talking to everyone, trying to gauge their morale. He was worried about them, but they were strong. Astronauts had a high rate of acceptance.

  After all, they all knew that space travel was risky. They had accepted their fate and were catching Lindsey’s enthusiasm. Most people were excited about the prospect of possibly finding an alien race.

  On day five, Michael asked the crew to gather in the rec room for a rare meal together. John Browning, who was handy in the kitchen, defrosted some steaks and cooked them all a delicious meal. This communal feast had the effect Michael had hoped for. His crew were laughing and joking together, and having fun as if they didn’t have a care in the world. As they finished dessert, feeling full and relaxed, silence fell around the table.

  “Will we be staying in orbit for long, Captain?” Randy Foreman, one of the engineers asked after a while.

  “No, I think we will take a few scans and then get going towards the inner planets. Probably only a day or two.” Michael answered. He had thought about it. He very much wanted to find out if there was life on any of these planets. Being in orbit of a gas giant, something he would have relished a mere week ago, now seemed pointless and a waste of time in the face of possible alien life. He

  knew his crew felt the same way.

  “Could we not skip the gas giant?” Randy insisted.

  “I’m as curious as you are about the inner planets, Randy. But it’s still a two month journey, I don’t think a few days will make much difference. Plus the data can be sent to TEC, they will thank us for it.”