Into The Void (16 page)

              “Jamie send me another two droids. I'm going to try and stabilize the rotation of the lab,” Captain Steele said.

              “Copy that John. Two droids on the way,” Jamie replied.

              Captain Steele leaped from the ship. He immediately felt his heart rate jump substantially.

              “Is everything okay John? I'm picking up your heart rate jumped substantially,” Jamie asked.

              “Yeah, I'm just concerned about this going wrong and causing more problems,” Captain Steele said.

              “You will do fine. You have survived much worse on this mission and even before this mission.”

              “Yeah, I know.”

              Captain Steele floated carefully around the object looking for spots to grab on and push so he could stabilize the rotation. He found the spot he needed and two others for the droids. He ordered the two droids to take their spot and he took his. He carefully pushed the object using his DSSM suit's stabilizers. The two droids pushed against the object as well. One droid, the one Jamie programmed to talk, overheated and stopped responding causing the lab to rotate in a different direction than he intended. Captain Steele was able to correct the rotating of the lab before it caused any damage but he was frustrated because the droid almost caused a significant problem.

              “Jamie. It broke again. This poor thing is dying. I know you love it but sometimes you just need to club a baby seal.”

              “That's terrible John!”

              “Hey, just remove its voice program, getting it running stable, and I'll paint it so it looks different than the rest of the droids. That way it remains unique.”

              Jamie paused for a second. Captain Steel was right and she knew it.

              “Fine... but I want it to be like a cat,” Jamie replied.

              “Okay. Any kind of cat in particular?” Captain Steele asked.

              “I want it to be a tiger John.”

              “Alright, a tiger it is.”

              Captain Steele, along with first droid and another droid that Jamie sent out, got the object to slowly came to a point where it almost stopped rotating from front to back. Captain Steele got himself into position and pushed it so as to try and slow the lab from rotating bottom to top. He was able get it to do that and started to work on cutting the pieces of the lab's bulkhead that jutted out.

              “Hey Jamie, can we get some tunes running?” Captain Steele asked.

              “What would you like to hear?” Jamie asked.

              “I'll let you choose.”

              “How about this one?”

              Captain Steele listened to it for a second. A good classic one from the 20
th
century.

              “Great pick Jamie. Keep the list on stuff like this,” Captain Steele said.

              Captain Steele worked listen to a song that stated war is good for nothing. He worked there when another song from the 20
th
century came on about kung fu fighting. He appreciated the upbeat music.

              “How long have we had this stuff on board Jamie?” Captain Steele asked.

              “The entire time,” Jamie replied.

              “Huh, whadda know, You still have secrets even after all these years,” Captain Steele said smiling.

              “I thought you would have come to think of me as something other than 'just the ship' by now John.”

              “You are more than the ship. I just thought I knew everything about the ship and you, but I guess I should have known better,” Captain Steele said.

              “You should have John. You really should have,” Jamie said.

              “Your right. So, tell me, what compelled you to return to check on me?” Captain Steele asked as he continued to work on the lab.

              “You sent a message. I came as fast as I could,” Jamie said.

              “But you showed up way to fast. It should have taken years to return even if you did go faster than standard FTL speeds. I only sent it a week or so before you showed up.”

              “That's when I received it,” Jamie said.

              “How did the message travel so fast?” 

              “I'm not sure. I am puzzled myself.”

              “I don't suppose it really matters. I have you to thank for saving my life.”

              “I was just doing my job John,” Jamie said.

              “Thank you Jamie. I mean it, I really do. But if you could look into how you received it almost instantly I would appreciate it,” Captain Steele said.

              “Sure thing John. As long as you continue to piece the ship back together.”

              “Of course,” Captain Steele said.

              Captain Steele finally cut off the last piece of the bulkhead that was sticking out from the lab.

              “Bring this ship around Jamie. Try to sync the rotation of the ship to the rotation of the lab,” Captain Steele said.

              Jamie got the ship synced just right and pulled the ship as close to the lab as possible.

              “That's as close as I can move the ship to the lab without hitting it,” Jamie said.

              Captain Steele, along with the two droids, pushed the lab against the ship causing it to hit the ship and bounce off. He had to quickly move to keep the lab pressed up against the ship. After the ship was rotating with the lab he had the two droids hold it in location as he started to wield it in key locations. After that he had the two droids start working on wielding the lab to the ship. He moved around the outside of the lab wielding the two pieces together. After he was finished he went back and double checked his work. After seeing everything was fine from the outside he then went back into the ship.

              After going back into the ship, Captain Steele took some spare parts and wielded them onto the inside of the ship making sure it was double fortified. He worked on the electrical systems to make sure it was all in place and working, that air was flowing to it, and that it had artificial gravity. After all that was done he went into the rec room, and sat down.

              “It's good to be home,” Captain Steele said.

              “It's good to have you back,” Jamie replied.

              “So, you ready to continue our mission together Jamie?”

              “I would be honored to continue it with you,” Jamie said.

              “I wouldn't want to continue it without you Jamie,” Captain Steele replied.

              “So, lets get out of this debris field and then check out the rest of this system,” Jamie said.

              “As long as I don't have to go down there to examine it. I'm more than ready to leave this death hole.”

              “I agree completely John.”

              Jamie activated the engines as Captain Steele took his seat in his captain's chair. He and Jamie were headed out into the rest of the solar system to look for any anomalies and proceed on with their mission.

Chapter 14

Prepotency Of Existence

              Captain Steele went to the lab to check on the progress of all the research projects to see if they were still able to be processed. Amazingly, most of the projects could still be worked on. He checked on the status of the alien gorilla creature's tissue. After all these years it just finished processing. Ether the equipment was broken or it was an amazing piece of technology to be able to process things for so long. Probably a bit of both.

              “Jamie, I'm not sure what to make of this. You seeing these readings?” Captain Steele asked her.

              “Yes, I'm looking at them now,” Jamie replied.

              “Well?”

              “This is revolutionary. We might need to reclassify biological science as a whole if this is scan is correct.”

              “Can you explain it to me Jamie?”

              “The results had found that the tissue's biochemical makeup is not made up of carbon, silicon, baron, or even titanium. It is of Thorium Dioxide. The creature also isn't water or liquid solvent but gas and solid mixture solvent. The gas and solid mixture was a mixture of neon krypton and rubidium bromide.”

              “Okay. I didn't really get all that. Can you explain it a bit more layman's terms?” Captain Steele asked.

              “What this means John is that we have a life form that's basic building blocks are Thorium Dioxide, and it breaks down chemicals, food for example, with both a gas and a solid. Out of the 1,000 different intelligence races in the Milky Way, there are 42 different alien types in the Milky Way and they all break down chemicals with just one type of matter, either liquid or gas. This is the first species ever discovered that takes two types of matter to break down chemicals and they just happen to be two very different types of matter.

              “The fact that this alien's basic building blocks are not the common types as we know it but a very specific and complex type of Thorium is really amazing. Thorium Dioxide is really multiple elements combined, much like how water is really oxygen and hydrogen atoms combined. When multiple elements are combined they become a chemical compound. For this creature's basic building blocks to be a chemical compound means the creature is ether very fragile, which we know its not based on how tough a fight it was, or that it has highly evolved to such a point where it only needs one kind of element, like oxygen or water, to survive because of its incredibly complex chemical makeup would be extremely difficult to meet naturally.

              “What's even more incredible is that we know that the creature needs more than one element because the scanner picked up that it requires both a gas and a solid element to break down chemicals. Or maybe there could be yet another subsection class on how atoms are built up that have yet to be discovered. To think that a such a complex chemical compound could be the basic building blocks of life for a living creature is incredible. Normally it takes just one basic element that can be built off of to create life, but this creatures basic building blocks are as complex as Thorium can get!” Jamie explained.

              “So what about the gas and solid solvent. Where does that come in?” Captain Steele asked.

              “What that means is that it takes a gas, neon in this case, and a solid, rubidium bromide in this case, to break down anything that enters the body. Rubidium bromide and neon krypton are both chemical compounds. Rubidium bromide is a synthetic compound but apparently it's naturally created where they came from. Both should be very difficult to create but for some reason appear naturally enough where they are from to evolve life. This discovery makes us rethink so much about the universe and where it came from and the structure of everything. This discovery has lots of incredibly large implications on science,” Jamie said.

              “So, in summery, this creature is redefining the laws of science as we know it?” Captain Steele asked.

              “It's much more than that John. This creatures molecules are built with 12 sides, each side being the shape of a pentagon, giving the creature an incredibly strong molecular structure. For its body to have a chemical compound of Thorium Dioxide means the creature itself is radioactive. It's own body produces radioactive material! The creature's molecular structure can withstand a minimum of 3,300 degrees Celsius, that's just under 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This creature could very well walk on the surface of our sun without melting, with nothing more than a suit to contain him. This creature's basic building blocks of life could also, theoretically speaking, be used to store and release electricity. This creature's building blocks are both a gas and a solid. The creature can literally change the type of matter that it is made of. Nothing like this has ever been discovered. The creature can change just a part of its body to gas while keeping the rest solid. It's incredible!

              “Think about the incredibly harsh world this creature evolved in! For it to put out radiation is incredible. For it to withstand such extreme temperatures at the very core of its being, to be able to easily control states of matter to the point you can change part of something to another state of matter while keeping the rest what it was, and the complexity of it having two solvents working together as one is incredible! There is nothing like this! I can't even begin to think of a realistic planet that would cause such evolution. I can't even think of a model for one.

              “It would have to be subjected to intense periods of heat and extreme radiation to be able to have its body adapt to such conditions. It may have been a genetic mutation at first caused by the radiation then passed down to the next generation. The implications of such possibilities is vast. The planet was probably close to their star, with strong electrical storms and violent, unpredictable weather patterns. The creature would be evolving rapidly for longer than one could think possible. It would be amazing to see what they would have evolved into if they hadn't built that black hole that ruined their galaxy. Sadly, we may never know what,” Jamie said.

              “Wow. I guess I'll not tell you to scan the next finished test. It's the 'Dark Space Dragon' scale. It just finished as well,” Captain Steele said.

              “I think I might die if I see anymore!” Jamie said.

              “Your an AI, how can you die?”

              “My system my overload.”

              “It better not. I need you.”

              “I was being sarcastic, John.”

              “Well fine then, just take my sincerest cares and throw them them down the toilet like it doesn't even matter,” Captain Steele said with a great deal of sarcasm.

              “I'll be glad to.”

              “Hey, I said I was going to destroy you if you destroyed my ship. So you better watch out. You did destroy my ship. Technically you did worse, you almost eradicated it.”

              “But I saved your life John.”

              “Yeah, okay, I will give you that. Is there any chance your not going to remind me of that the rest of the journey?”

              “Nope!” Jamie said.

              “Great...” Captain Steele said, “Now, do you want to read that next test results or do you want me to read it to you?”

              “I would like you to read it to me. I don't think I could contain myself if I read it.”

              “I can't really tell if that was a joke-”

              “It wasn't,” Jamie said.

              “I'll get to reading then,” Captain Steele said before continuing on, “The scan says its composed of dark matter, dark energy, and super heated super condensed plasma. It appears to be in the form of plasma but not in the typical sense that we know. It can also put out lots of energy. Like massive amounts.”

              “How much?” Jamie asked.

              “A level of power which is above the current scales we have. Interesting thing about it is that it puts out a type of energy that is unknown. It says that it appears to be a gravitational, magnetic, elastic, radiant energy, and intrinsic rest energy. It also says 'time dilation error'. Not really sure what all that means,” Captain Steele said.

              “It seems to be several types of energy combined into one. Simply put, it has the power to be gravitational, magnetic, has the type of energy needed to distort objects, is the energy of light, and is the characteristic of the total energy and momentum of an object at different moments of time. The 'time dilation error' is what is really exciting though. It means that time has been distorted and the scanner has not properly done calculations due to a time flux,” Jamie explained.

              “Time flux?”

              “Time flux meaning a split in the space time continuum,” Jamie said.

              “With all the Holographic Space Gorillas, Dark Matter Intergalactic Space Dragons, and things that end up breaking the laws of physics, I didn't think I could ever be surprised at anything anymore. But, this does truly does take the cake. You said a possible tear in the space time continuum?” Captain Steele asked.

              “No. It is a not a 'possible' tear. The scanner says that the object's material doesn't react normally to linear time. This could mean many things, but the most probable is that this material acts as if its on another slope of time. In other words it uses time differently than us. More testing needs to be done to confirm that though,” Jamie said.

              “In other words, all of this is worlds more complicated than that?” Captain Steele asked.

              “Substantially,” Jamie replied, “It's impossible to truly understand the amount of energy that could be harvested from this thing, but a good probable starting ground would be to take the energy that we do understand, outside of any time flux calculations, and add gravitational forces, magnetic forces, elastic forces, light, then the total mass of all of that multiplied by the speed of light squared.”

              “Thank you for keeping it simple. I never did enjoy math. Although it's kinda funny how they send me out here when I loathe math as much as I do,” Captain Steele said.

              “You used it in your career as a soldier though. You loved it then,” Jamie said.

              “Yeah, but that was fun math. It was needed math. That math allowed me to shoot stuff, drive fast, and blow stuff up. This stuff sounds like a bunch of hypothetical math crap,” Captain Steele said.

              “You have
such
an under appreciation for the finer things in life,” Jamie said.

              “I appreciate lots of finer things.”

              “Like what?”

              “Lots of things.”

              “Like what?” Jamie asked again.

              “Oh, you know, things like nice furniture, good food, and gloating over the dead bodies of my enemies.”

              “My point exactly.”

              “Sarcasm, some get it and others piss themselves over it for no reason,” Captain Steele said, “Continue on with your analysis please.”

              “Very well John. The energy type is one of multiple types and yet of one we have yet to discover making its use and how to harvest it very peculiar and very dangerous. However, because the energy boarders on things we already know it is possible to utilize it for our travels, at an unknown cost of course,” Jamie said.

              “You destroyed my ship once, I don't want it happening again. This sample needs to be preserved anyway because were not going to be finding another one anytime soon, if ever,” Captain Steele said.

              “I agree,” Jame replied.

              Five planets out from the sun was a very large gas giant. It was about 25 times the size of Jupiter: a little over 1,075,000 miles in diameter. Jamie flew the ship into its orbit and Captain Steele noticed several large objects floating in the sky then float lower toward the core of the planet. Jamie sent a scan downward towards it and found nothing. Captain Steele did a visual scan one more time and thought he saw something glowing rise slightly above the clouds. He looked closer and saw what he thought was a set of giant glowing objects sink beneath the clouds.

              “There are giant land masses inside the planet's atmosphere John. This is... strange,” Jamie said.

              “How so?” Captain Steele asked.

              “The clouds are moving around the land masses. The clouds are a giant storm that should be tearing apart the land masses. The land masses don't appear to be connected to the core of the planet making them very strange.”

              “I am NOT going down there. Those clouds will shear me in half,” Captain Steele said.

              “If I drop you onto a land mass you should be fine,” Jamie said.

              “No Jamie. Let's just move on please.”

              “What's the matter John? You are always wanting to leave the ship.”

              “I just... don't want to,” Captain Steele said, “Besides, we have lost enough time. What could possibly be down there anyway?”