Mission Origin View (Final Days Trilogy) (43 page)

“
Did any of them say anything?” Wong asked.

“
No, Thomas, but a few smiled at me,” Joseph said with a big grin.

“
Really?” Thomas asked with excitement. “That’s a good sign, Joseph. I’m done here. I’ll go tell Doctor Pettway the good news.”

As soon as Thomas left, Joseph pulled a chair close to Xia
’s bed and used his Anna to access the pages in his book he wanted to read to Xia. “You’re going to like this story, Gunny. It’s about a great military commander leading his army against an enemy army. The enemy has lost a battle and is trying to withdraw in darkness to regroup and plan their counterattack. The great commander wants to pursue them and destroy them before the sun goes down. He orders his army to pursue and destroy the enemy forces before it gets dark, and an amazing thing happens; Earth stops turning, and the sun doesn’t set for a day! This gives the great army commander’s army plenty of time to totally destroy his enemy,” Joseph said as he waited for the text to appear on his Anna’s display. Then he began reading.

Mission Control Center, SRS
Stephen Hawking

1415
—March 4, 2372

The
mission scientists sat at different workstations in the MCC, familiarizing themselves with the systems they’d be using when they reached the first observation point. Dr. Harper had Stephen
prepare a theoretical simulation of Earth as it may have been 3.8 billion years ago. Then the scientists could ready themselves to efficiently process the information they would receive from the ship’s long-range sensors when they indeed viewed Earth as it was billions of years ago.

“
Attention, everyone,” Dr. Harper said as he stood in front of the main MCC holographic display and addressed the other scientists. “Before we begin the simulation, I just wanted to say how excited I am to be working with the best scientific minds of our era. Fate has put us together so we could merge our superior intellect to answer the question of how life originated on Earth. Although each of us has our own ideas and theories on the matter, we want to know the truth and share it with all mankind on how life truly originated and began to evolve on Earth. Our discovery will be the most important and celebrated discovery in history. Our names will be known through the ages as the men and women who discovered the origin of life!”

The other scientists stood and applauded D
r. Harper’s speech. They also seemed to be applauding their own future success and fame.

“
Thank you, thank you!” Dr. Harper said with a smile as he motioned for the scientists to sit. “Let’s begin. Stephen, start the simulation.”

“
Yes, Doctor,” Stephen said. A
few seconds later, the main holographic display sprang to life, creating a distorted display of a planet, as Stephen analyzed the 3.8-billion-year-old simulated data. Starting as an unfocused display, the planet’s focus improved as reports of the analysis began displaying below the holographic image. The reports included types and quantity of gases, mass, radial velocity, and other information. Seconds turned into minutes as the image began to focus and reports continued to be updated and streamed below the image.

Fifteen minut
es later the planet was focused. Details showed and reported a single large continent surrounded by water and an atmosphere with sparse clouds. Mountains and erupting volcanoes covered the continent as gases of all types seeped from the volcanoes and ocean.

“
We have the data. Now let’s determine if there’s life on Earth at this point or not,” Dr. Harper said as the scientists began working at their consoles. “Remember, depending on what we discover, we will have Stephen calculate the location of the next observation point location we will observe from. If there is life, we will go to a more distant observation point, and if there is no life, we will go to a closer-to-Earth observation point.”

H
ours later the scientists determined that no life existed on the simulated Earth Stephen had created and requested that Stephen calculate an observation point closer to Earth.

Stephen continued to create simulation after simulation
, as the scientists requested, until they discovered when and how life originated on Earth. In these series of simulations, the scientists proved life began from the classic
primordial-soup theory. Next Stephen created a series of simulations that took the scientists ten hours to establish that life originated on Earth per the panspermia theory caused by continuous comet bombardment.

After several days of simulations
, the scientists were confident they could and would determine the origin of life on Earth. Their state-of-the-art technology and their superior intellect ensured success.

Captain Bowser’s Quarters, SRS
Stephen Hawking

0654
—March 7, 2372

Mary
awoke when she was flung from her bed. She hit the wall next to her bed with a thud and fell to the floor. As she sat up, collision alarms sounded, and Stephen
began
calmly reporting over the ship’s intercom
, “
There has been a collision. All crew members report to your damage-control stations and perform damage control procedures. The antimatter power system and propulsion systems have been damaged, and we have exited the time-speed dimension. I have shut down all but essential support systems to avoid the risk of the ship’s destruction. Life-support systems are damaged but remain operational. All other systems will be brought back online as they are evaluated and repaired.”

Mary stood, took a deep breath to calm herself
, and rushed to her console. “Bridge, what’s happening?” she said as calmly as she could.

“
Not sure, Captain. We’re trying to find out now,” Commander Steward said.

“
Any catastrophic damage?” Mary asked.

“
No, Captain. The hull is intact, life support is operational, and the emergency nuclear reactor is supplying power,” Steward reported.

“
Have all initial damage-control procedures been completed?” Mary asked as she walked to her closet and began slipping on a jumpsuit.

“
Yes, Captain. Stephen reports that all ship bulkheads have been closed, and all ship’s compartments have been sealed,” Steward reported, paused, and then continued. “The crew is now reporting in from their damage-control stations.”

“
Very well. I’m on my way to the Triple C,” Mary said and switched off the console.

“
Anna, have the scientists and
Lieutenant
Klaxton report to the Triple C,” Mary said aloud as she exited her quarters.

“
Yes, Captain,” Anna responded.

Mary ran thro
ugh the ship’s corridors to the Triple C as the collision alarm continued to sound. She soon noted a slight odor of burning electronic equipment in the air and hoped whatever had caused it had stopped when Stephen shut down all the systems. She soon reached the Triple C, entered, and sat at the closest console. She brought up the console and started reading the damage-control reports now coming in. “Stephen?” she asked aloud to see if the AI could communicate via the ship’s intercom system.

“
Yes, Captain,” Stephen said.

“
Prioritize problems and coordinate repairs,” Mary ordered.

“
I have already started that task, Captain. I will contact you directly if there are any problems that require a decision that has to be made by you,” Stephen said.

“
Very well,” Mary said as she continued to read the reports.

“
What happened?” Gideon asked over the alarm as he entered the Triple C.

“
We hit something,” Mary said. She paused as she finished reading a report on the antimatter system and continued. “And we have a lot of critical systems damaged.”

The collision alarm stopped
a few seconds later, and Stephen again spoke over the ship’s intercom system. “All ship’s bulkheads are closed and compartments sealed. Each damage-control station has reported in, and there is no catastrophic damage to the hull or the structure of the ship. Systems will be restored per my prioritization and availability.”

“
Commander Vanderver?” Mary said after she selected a communications link to the engineering damage-control station.

“
Yes, sir,” Vanderver said.

“
Have someone perform an external hull inspection as soon as possible,” Mary ordered.

“
I’ll have the master chief get on it right away, sir,” Vanderver said as the Tripe C door opened again and the five mission scientists entered.

“
Can we help, Captain?” Dr. Harper asked.

“
Yes, each of you, use a console and let Stephen know you’re available to assist,” Mary answered.

The scientist
s hurried to a console and contacted Stephen. Stephen began preparing and filtering damage reports to the scientist who could best work on the problem.

“
Anything I can do, sir?” Gideon asked.

“
Grab a console and get to work. Let’s put that genius mind of yours to use,” she said.

Gideon sat down and began working on anything
Stephen sent to him.

The crew
and scientists worked for hours, isolating and repairing various system problems. Nearly every ship’s system was damaged, including communications, life support, antimatter, nuclear, and propulsion. A power surge had caused most of the damage. This had resulted in systems’ electronics being burned out.

“
Captain, Master Chief Ostrow would like to speak to you,” Anna said.

“
Go ahead,” Mary said.

“
Captain, I have Sipes suited up, and he’s ready to perform a hull inspection. I wanted to get the okay from you directly before I send him out.”

“
Proceed with the inspection,” Mary said. She paused, and then requested, “Tell Sipes we’re going to pipe everything he reports directly to the Triple C.”

“
Yes, sir,” Ostrow said.

“
Stephen, pipe Petty Officer Sipes’s communications to the Triple C intercom,” Mary said.

“
Yes, Captain, the channel is connected,” Stephen said.

“
Sipes, this is Captain Bowser. Report the progress of your inspection per protocol,” Mary said.

“
Yes, Captain. I’ll report any damage I see immediately and report when I’ve completed an inspection of a section of hull,” Joseph answered. He had performed the standard hull inspection process hundreds of times.

***

Joseph entered the air lock, and the inner door closed behind him. The gravity plates in the air lock were disabled as soon as the air lock was depressurized, and Joseph was able to move around in free fall. The outer door opened, and the inky blackness of space filled the opening. Joseph pulled himself to the open hatch, using bars mounted on the wall, and stopped just before exiting. He then connected his safety lanyard to a double-catch system located just outside the outer hatch and pulled himself out of the hatch and into space.

All the ship
’s hull lights were illuminated so he could perform the inspection. Before he began, he looked, as he always did, into the void of space. He saw nothing. Shocked, he began breathing faster and shouted, “Turn off the hull lights!”

“
Is there a problem, Petty Officer?” Mary asked.

“
I don’t know. Just turn off the lights,” Joseph said as his breathing became heavier.

Mary turned the lights off
using her console, and Joseph looked into space. He began to panic, and his heart rate jumped. His suit’s health biometrics system detected the sudden increase in heart rate and sounded an alarm. Hearing the alarm, Mary asked, “Sipes are you okay, is there a problem?”

“
The…the…the…the stars are gone!” Joseph said, trying to speak and catch his breath at the same time.

***

“Stephen, turn on all the external camera systems,” Mary said. She manipulated her console and routed all external displays to the Triple C’s main holograph display. The displays came on-every display was pitch-black.

“
Stephen, what’s wrong with the external cameras?” Mary asked. She again tried to route the information to the display.

“
All external cameras are operational, Captain,” Stephen said.

“
Where are the stars?” Mary asked aloud, not really directing her question to anyone.

“
I don’t know, Captain,” Stephen calmly answered.

Combat Control Center, SRS
Stephen Hawking