She worked the numbers with increasing agitation.
With such a system, you could space to an enemy system, come in hot and hard, blow their whole navy to smithereens, and be home tomorrow.
Of course, the enemy could do that to the Commonwealth, too.
If they implemented it first.
"Bill, what's your clearance?"
"Jan, I can't tell you even that much."
"Let me phrase it another way. I have something that should be Top Secret - Eyes Only, totally and completely black. It poses an existential threat to the Commonwealth. I'm going to call it that right now, pending approval from higher. Can I tell you?"
"What subject area?"
"Propulsion systems."
"Yes, you can tell me about it, but not here. Not on Catalonia. In Sigurdsen, I can take you to a place where we can talk."
"OK, I can wait, I guess."
"In the meantime, destroy any notes, wipe any files. Right now. Did you do any work on Catalonia's systems?"
"Yes, my preparatory work. Some of the calculations."
"OK, I can deal with that."
"What are you going to do?"
"Impound the ship when we get to Sigurdsen. Have a cleaning team come aboard and wipe her systems. Change out memory modules and reload her systems from scratch. Physically destroy the existing memory modules. The works."
"Really?"
"You said it was an existential threat to the Commonwealth, right?"
"Yeah, it sure is. It's terrifying."
"Then, yeah. I can do that. In fact, I have to do that. For an existential threat, it would pay to scrap the whole ship."
"Sir, Catalonia has come out of hyperspace and is heading for Sigurdsen, but we've just received an encrypted Blackball message from Lieutenant Commander Campbell."
Admiral Pavel Birken, head of the CSF Intelligence Division, just stared at his chief of staff, Vice Admiral Jake Durand, for a minute. No one had ever issued a Blackball message. It was the Intelligence Division's equivalent of an invasion code. There was unsecured information on the Catalonia that constituted an existential threat to the Commonwealth itself. What the hell?
"A Blackball message? What's Campbell's mission?"
"He's deadheading back from Calumet, Sir. But Captain Childers is his companion."
"The Childers who did the hyperspace work? Wrote the proposed standard Fleet Book of Maneuvers?"
"Yes, Sir."
"All right. Pull Campbell and Childers off the Catalonia and bring them down here. Then implement Blackball procedures. By the numbers, Jake."
"Yes, Sir."
CSS Catalonia was ordered to establish orbit fifty thousand miles above Jablonka, way outside the normal orbital distance. It was met there by the CSS heavy cruiser Jane Paxton. The two ships swapped shuttles. Five minutes later, a shuttle left the heavy cruiser for Sigurdsen.
The shuttle from the CSS Jane Paxton carried a forensic data team, a debriefing team, and a replacement bridge crew for the Catalonia. They relieved the captain and bridge crew of the Catalonia and began the systematic replacement and reprogramming of the ship's memory systems. The crew was confined to quarters and all computer interfaces in the crew spaces were disabled. The debriefing of the ship's crew had to wait until Jan and Bill could be debriefed.
The shuttle from the Catalonia carried Jan and Bill to the Jane Paxton. The shuttle and its pilot were kept sequestered from the ship while Jan and Bill were transferred to one of Jane Paxton's other shuttles, which departed directly for Sigurdsen.
The shuttle with Jan and Bill aboard landed on a pad next to Intelligence Division headquarters. They were ushered into the building without a word, to a Class 1 secured facility in one of the basements. Admiral Birken and Vice Admiral Durand were waiting for them in a secure conference room.
"All right, Commander. What have you got?" Birken asked.
"I don't know, Sir. What I have for sure is that Captain Childers told me that she had something she was classifying, on her own authority pending higher approval, as Top Secret - Eyes Only. 'Totally and completely black.' Her words, Sir. She said it involved propulsion systems, and that it represented an existential threat to the Commonwealth. Further, that she had done some of the work on the Catalonia's systems. As there is no Class 1 secured facility on Catalonia, I silenced her at that point. I further directed her to destroy all notes and files pertaining to the subject. I then queued the Blackball message on Intelligence Division priority for transmission on re-entry to the system. That's where we're at, Sir."
"All right. Good work, Commander. Getting a cork in the bottle early is important with these things. Captain, am I to assume that this is some further mathematical work of yours? Given that you said propulsion systems, I assume something about hyperspace?"
"Yes, Sir," Jan said.
"Without telling me the kernel of it, can you tell me the impact of it? Why it represents an existential threat?"
"Yes, Sir. It could reduce travel times at interstellar distances from weeks to less than a day. Further, the operational system periphery would move in to approximately one fifth to one tenth of what it is now."
"So somebody could hyper in here to within hours of the planet, blow everything to hell before we could respond, then hyper out and be home for supper."
"Yes, Sir."
"And this is something do-able by anyone? Not just us, but by Earth, or an outer-colony polity?"
"Yes, Sir."
"So my little scenario there could happen tonight, or tomorrow?"
"Or could have happened last week, or fifty years ago. Yes, Sir."
"OK. That's all I need to know. Good work. Both of you. I'll pass on my compliments to Admiral Stepic on your behalf, Captain."
"Thank you, Sir."
Birken turned to his chief of staff.
"Jake, can we make a completely black project on this? Get together with the Propulsion Division folks – probably Science Division, too – and put a team together? I'm not sure I want it here, but I don't know where else to put it."
"I'm sure we can black out a team here, Sir."
"Captain, what's your availability? Do you know your next assignment?"
"The last time I talked to Admiral Stepic, Sir, which, granted, was a year ago, he had a six-month assignment waiting for me on my return. Finishing the re-design of ATS."
"So you'll be here anyway. Excellent. That's what we do then, Jake. For the time being at least, we put the team together here. Get the theoretical people going with Captain Childers' help while she's here. Then we can ship them out somewhere as the team grows."
"Works for me, Sir."
"And now we know what we have, we should release Catalonia's crew. Have the forensic team make sure Captain Childers' shipboard accounts weren't accessed from anywhere but her cabin –"
He looked at Jan, and she nodded.
"– and then let them all go. But we should continue to sterilize the ship."
"Understood, Sir."
"Oh, and make sure the captain of the Catalonia knows this isn't anything to do with them, but nothing specific. Some misdirection, maybe. Somebody lost a secure data chip or something. Thank them for their cooperation, and let them know we will let Admiral Stepic know about their being so helpful."
"Yes, Sir."
"All right. Dismissed."
"Well, that was exciting," Jan said when they got to their couples apartment on Sigurdsen.
"Yes, but we still can't talk about it."
"We couldn't talk about it here, anyway. What was surprising to me is that Admiral Birken didn't want to know anything about it, either."
"The fewer the better."
"You'd think CSF was full of spies or something."
That got a start from Bill, and he looked at her sharply.
"We assume that Earth and the larger outer-colony polities have active agents within Sigurdsen, Jan. Despite a rather large counter-intelligence operation."
"Really?"
"Really. But best not to talk about such things."
Jan took the hint and changed topics. She looked around the empty apartment.
"I wonder when our baggage will arrive."
"Probably within a day or two."
"Well, why don't we walk over to the commissary and pick up some things? This shipsuit is gonna smell of flop sweat after all the excitement, and after three weeks aboard ship, I want a bath, for which soap would be helpful."
"Well, that certainly tamped things down in Calumet. Your last eight months there were awfully quiet, Captain," Vice Admiral Stepic said.
"Yes, Sir. It was starting to get boring. But Admiral Chang took advantage of my presence to help her get the standard book of maneuvers fully implemented throughout her command, and to design maneuver drills. I got to play Red Force commander from planetside, and I was pretty fiendish in some of those attacks, but once they had drilled up, they were able to defeat me because I had to use the published system periphery. Admiral Chang's now redeployed to active patrolling of the outer envelope rather than holding forces at the planet. They'll be a much tougher customer going forward."
"No doubt. And Admiral Chang pulled no punches in her AAR. She gave you full credit for the tactical plan that defeated the Samaran raid on the system, and then amended it to note your training of her command in addition to your assigned duties. I was happy to recommend your third DSM on that basis, and she signed off on it enthusiastically. I must say, the second cluster on your DSM looks good on you, Captain."
"Thank you, Sir."
"It will also help me in my own fiendish plans. The new ATS course is ready for your review, Captain. I want you to tighten it up for me, make it be the best training and sifting class you can. Then I have to sell it to higher, but your direct involvement, and your recent success with a system-wide view, will help immensely."
"I'm looking forward to reviewing the materials, Sir. And I may have some extra wrinkles from Calumet, from training up Admiral Chang's captains and staff."
"Excellent. Then I'll let you be about it. Dismissed, Captain."
Totally Black
Jan had not reported in to Vice Admiral Stepic until her third day back on Sigurdsen. He didn't say anything about the delay, and neither did she. He didn't say anything about the Intelligence Division, and neither did she. He didn't say anything about another, hidden, assignment in addition to the finish work on the new ATS course, and neither did she.
When Intelligence Division said black, they meant it.
As a captain assigned to work on the ATS course, her time was her own. No one punched a clock on her. And if there were large periods of time when she was completely unavailable to the Tactical Division people working on the course, no one ever said a word.
Her absences were spent in the basements of the Intelligence Division.
It was a small team to get started. Including Jan, there were only ten people in the room for the kickoff. She knew a few of them from past projects, but most of them she did not know at all.
They had taken over a small corner of one of the Class 1 secure basements of the Intelligence Division headquarters. This section had its own isolated computer systems, its own supplies, and its own secure disposal bins. There were two doorways into the section, one at either end, for fire exit safety. Both were guarded by MPs who checked their IDs but also checked their faces against a small book of photos on every entry and exit.
They met in the conference room within the newly walled-off section. Vice Admiral Durand gave a brief opening statement.
"This project does not have a project name or a code name. This project doesn't exist. This project is more black than anything you have ever worked on. I don't even know what it's about, and I don't want to know. After I leave this section today, I won't be let back in. The ten of you are the only people who will be let in here. The ten of you are the only people who will know anything about what goes on in this section of this basement. When you move out, we will probably incinerate everything in it down to the concrete walls.
"This project is not to be discussed at all – at all, ladies and gentlemen – with anyone else, ever. Not your companions, not your superior officers – no one. It is not to be discussed among yourselves anywhere else but within this section, not even in another Class 1 secure facility. You will not be relieved of any of your other responsibilities, because we don't want to assign anyone to this, because it doesn't exist. You are all senior enough to get away with that. People will probably think you're playing cards over here, just coasting along toward your retirement. That's fine with me. We actually have several card games on a regular basis in the building just for that sort of excuse.
"No electronics or papers or books of any kind will be allowed to leave this section. So if you bring anything in here, kiss it goodbye. It's not getting back out.
"We are deadly serious about this, ladies and gentlemen. This whatever-it-is poses an existential threat to the Commonwealth, and it's your job to remove that threat. I would sooner order all of you executed than to have this leak out. I would weep at every one of your funerals, but I would not regret my decision one bit.
"Any questions?"
"What is it about? What are we going to be doing?"
"I don't know. One of you does. Once I leave, they can tell you."
Admiral Durand left, never to return, and Jan took the floor, though she was not the highest ranking person present.
"Hi, everybody. I'm Captain Jan Childers. I'm the one person who knows what this is about. The only one, anywhere. It was my idea, and I classified it Top Secret - Eyes Only without telling anyone else what it is. Admiral Durand and Admiral Birken know what it's potential is, but not the 'it' itself. So once I tell you, we will be the only ten people who know anything – literally anything – about it.
"And Admiral Durand is not joking when he says he would rather execute us all than have this get out. I would make the same decision myself, and I'm one of the ten for the firing squad.
"So let's introduce ourselves first, and give a little background, and then I'll tell you what's going on.
"I'll start. I'm Captain Jan Childers. I formalized the hyperspace mathematics that led to the calculation of the inner and outer system envelopes for hyperspace navigation as my doctoral dissertation, I wrote the proposed standard Fleet Book of Maneuvers, and I am currently polishing Tactical Division's new Advanced Tactics School course."
Jan's biography was punctuated by her appearing today in uniform, with all of her decorations. Jan waved to the man next to her, and he introduced himself. Around the table the introductions went. It was clear that Admiral Birken and Admiral Durand had assembled some of the brightest, most trusted, and most accomplished people within the CSF, mostly from the Propulsion Division and the Science Division.
Then Jan walked them through her discoveries on board Catalonia. There were some gasps as she hit the critical points in her reasoning.
"And so you see the danger to the Commonwealth. If the hyperspace-n postulate is true, an enemy fleet could transition out of hyper, mere hours from the planet, destroy everything before we could possibly react, and hyper back out. A single fleet could do that to every Commonwealth planet within a month. And it could happen at any time. It could happen today.
"Our job is to figure out whether the hyperspace-n postulate is true, and, if so, can we transition into the other hyperspaces or not. Before we can even do that, however, we have to figure out how we decide whether the hyperspace-n postulate is true or not.
"The mathematics works just as well for all powers of 4πe, and the mathematics does not work for other values of the hyperspace constant. That much we know.
"But just because the hyperspace mathematics works for those values does not mean those hyperspaces exist. Or can be made to exist. But they might, and that's the issue. We need to know."
When Jan got back to the apartment that evening, Bill had big news. He was wearing it.
"Well, hello, Commander Campbell. I think that middle bar on your shoulder patch has gained a little weight," Jan said.
"Indeed it did. Promotion to full commander. It's in the zone, so not a reward for being so bright and on top of things on the Catalonia, but welcome nonetheless."
"So where are you taking me to dinner?"
"I don't know. What do you think? Tactical Division mess, or Intelligence Division mess?"
"I'd punch you, but, actually, either sounds good to me. I'm beat."
The biggest breakthrough in the early stages of the project was when one of the ten, a woman in propulsion whose hobby was technical antiquities, brought in a memory chip of things copied from her collection. It had digital copies of hundreds of pages of notes from the earliest experiments on hyperspace, from three hundred and more years ago. There were anomalies in some of their early experiments, when experimental probes were lost, or did not perform as expected. The researchers had concentrated their efforts on the experiments that produced the desired results, hyperspace speeds that made interstellar travel possible.
Reading the notes, Jan realized that the failed experiments were proof that the hyperspace-n postulate was true. The early experimenters were stumbling around, and had inadvertently sent probes into several different hyperspaces. The 'failed' experiments did not have the speed ratio they wanted – to get hyperspace speeds that were in the best range for interstellar travel – or resulted in the probes being destroyed. These last were probably transits into hyperspace-4 too close to the planet, given that without hyperspace travel it would have taken them weeks to get far enough out for the sheer forces to allow successful transitions into and out of hyperspace-4.
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