Scout Force (40 page)

      
He took a while longer than usual to find a shuttle.
 
He would find out later that some lieutenants in the 68th had acquired a large number of them and programmed them for racing.
 
The central computer would need a bit more time to reestablish communications with them and reprogram them to their original function.

      
Kelly got back to the ship before the day deck watch came on.
 
Chief Watson met him on the quarterdeck with a cup of black coffee.

      
“Must have been quite a party last night, sir.”

      
“That it was, Chief.
 
I imagine it’s still going on somewhere.
 
You know how folks are after a long deep space patrol.”

      
“Yes, sir, I’ve been on a few of them myself.
 
Tell me, sir, do you happen to know what happened to the captain?”

      
“He’s not back?”
 
Kelly started laughing.
 
“You might want to draft up a message to Fleet to requisition a new captain, just in case.
 
I left him in the capable hands of my former flight leader.
 
Chief, he may not survive.”

      
The chief laughed and walked off, leaving Kelly to retire to his quarters, change into his coveralls, and go get some chow.
 
The captain didn’t make it back to the ship until midmorning.
 
He immediately retired to his cabin and wasn’t seen again until lunchtime.
 
Kelly and the chief kept the crew busy on quiet tasks until he resurfaced.

      
Kelly and the captain went to the chow hall for lunch.
 
The captain was still a little unsteady on his feet.

      
“Exec, what was in that horrid concoction they referred to as rocket fuel?”

      
“Ah yes, rocket fuel, it’s an old squadron tradition.
 
You know that the fighting 68th traces it ancestry to an old earth squadron formed in the mid 20th century.
 
Well, its tradition is to make a punch using alcoholic beverages associated with every major campaign the squadron has been in.
 
There are 79 ingredients as of last count.
 
If we ever find out what the K’Rang drink, there will be 80.
 
Some of the ingredients are damned hard to find.
 
Some of the ingredients are illegal now.
 
I think you get the picture.”

      
“My God, I drank two full glasses of that stuff.
 
It’s a wonder I’m still alive.
 
Those fighter jocks know how to party.
 
At least I think they do.
 
I don’t remember too much after that.”

      
“How did you and Janey get along?”

      
“Well enough that we’ll be seeing each other again while she’s here.”

      
Kelly didn’t say anything.
 
He just smiled.

* * * * *

      
On Saturday, Admiral Craddock called a meeting of the officers of the Vigilant and the 68th Fighter Squadron, to discuss the upcoming experiments with the Blakes’ transport system.
 
The captain and Kelly headed over to the large briefing room in the Scout Force HQ.
 

      
Kelly and Timmons were the first to arrive.
 
The conference room was paneled with some exotic deep-grained local wood and had a conference table of the same wood.
 
Plush carpet covered the floor.
 
It was unusual in its opulence.

      
Captain Hasselrode met them at the door and escorted them to their places at the main table.
 
Kelly saw that there were also places for LTC Matthews and the senior officers of the 68th.
 
The four flight leaders had seats in the front row of the theater seats at the back of the room.

      
Kelly heard a clatter in the hallways and saw Captain Hasselrode move to meet the 68th as they entered the room.
 
The 68th officers and their support transport pilots noisily filed into the room and into their seats.
 
LTC Matthews and MAJ Brown sat down at their places across from Kelly.
 
MAJ Brown beamed a broad smile at Kelly.
 
Kelly looked over and saw Angie also smiling at him.

      
The room was called to attention as Admiral Craddock and the Blakes entered the room.

      
Admiral Craddock stood while the Blakes sat down and said, “Be seated, please.
 
Good morning.
 
I’ve brought you all together to give you some information on the experiment that you will be taking part in.
 
The briefing you will receive is Secret and the information should not be discussed outside of secure areas.”

      
Admiral Craddock paused a moment to let that sink in and then proceeded.
 
“The great limitation of movement in space has been how much we can push beyond the speed of light.
 
At maximum sustainable speed, a journey from the center of the Galactic Republic to the K’Rang frontier will still take up to two weeks.
 
The experiment you are about to take part in will reduce that travel time to seconds.”

      
A murmur of incredulity spread through the room.

      
Admiral Craddock continued, “Let me introduce Doctors Andrew and Moira Blake.
 
They will brief you on their experiment.”

      
The Doctors Blake stood up and moved to the front of the room.
 
Admiral Craddock sat down.
 
The lights dimmed and a holographic imager rose from the floor in the front of the room.
 
An image of a large ring-like free space object appeared.

      
Andrew began.
 
“I’m not sure how many of you are aware how FTL communications work.
 
As you may know, we have the capability to send messages from one frontier of the Galactic Republic to the other in seconds.
 
We accomplish this feat by using a fourth dimension.
 
This dimension exists parallel to the three physical dimensions we are used to dealing with.
 
In simple terms, this dimension is the dimension of time.
 
We take messages and send them from a transmitter into the dimension and receive them at a far transmitter.
 
The transmission travel time is practically instantaneous.
 
The speed of transmission is only limited by the time it takes to format the message for transmission and process the message into useable form at the far end.”

      
“What we have been working on is a means to digitize solid matter and transmit it through this same dimension.”

      
Moira said, “With electronic data, it’s simple to move it through this fourth dimension.
 
If you garble a message, you just send it again.
 
With solid objects, if it gets garbled in transmission, you’ve lost the entire object.
 
If the object you are trying to move through this dimension is a living being...well, let’s just say there is no margin for error.
 
The living being has to be sent through safely and when it arrives at the far end, it has to be more than a recreation of what went in at the transmission end.
 
It has to be exactly the same living being that comes out at the receiver.
 
With people, what comes out at the far end has to be the same person, with the same memories, the same knowledge, and the same personality.
 
Whoever goes in must come out at the far end unchanged in every aspect.”

      
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have accomplished just that.”

      
Kelly looked around the room.
 
All eyes were focused on his mom.
 
She had their complete and undivided attention.

      
“In our lab at Gagarin in Tau Ceti, we have transported ourselves within the lab.
 
We’ve transported ourselves up to Tau Ceti Station.
 
We’ve even transported ourselves in shuttles within the system.
 
We have transported approximately 35 people with no problems.
 
Andrew and I have personally transported over 160 times apiece.”

      
Andrew said, “Your part in this experiment will be to transport yourselves and your craft from here to Tau Ceti.
 
You should get to Tau Ceti ahead of the Bolivar Battle Group.”

      
Kelly looked about the room.
 
He could tell some people were having difficulty accepting what his folks were saying.
 
He saw disbelief in some faces, fear in others, and enthusiasm in yet others.

      
His father spoke again.
 
“I can see mixed emotions in the crowd.
 
We have a little demonstration to give you some idea of what we are speaking about.
 
Admiral?”

      
Admiral Craddock motioned to Captain Hasselrode in the back of the room.
 
Hasselrode opened a side door and Kelly recognized two of his parents’ lab assistants wheeling in two seven foot diameter ring-shaped objects.
 
One of the rings went to the right front of the room, the other to the left.

      
Andrew walked over to one of the rings, Moira to the other.
 
Andrew made some adjustments, flicked some switches and turned to the audience while Moira did similar things to the other ring.

      
Andrew said, “What we have here are the transporters we built and tested in our lab.
 
We will give you a demonstration of what we are talking about.
 
Switch on the rings.”

      
Both rings started to hum.
 
The hum increased in frequency, sounding like a turbine engine warming up.
 
A shimmering haze appeared inside the two rings, as if a diaphanous silver veil had been draped over them.
 
Andrew stationed himself in front of one of the rings, Moira in front of the other.
 
Andrew took a small ball out of his pocket, bounced it on the floor, and tossed it in the air.

      
He said, “Moira, are you ready?”

      
“Yes.”

      
He threw the ball into the ring.
 
MAJ Brown, sitting on the other side of the ring threw his hands up to catch the ball, but it didn’t come through.
 
It appeared from the other ring and Kelly’s mom caught it.

      
“Moira, would you send the ball back to me?”

      
Moira, instead of throwing the ball, stepped into the ring, and handed it to Andrew as she stepped out the other ring.
 
A gasp exploded from the assembled crowd.

      
“What you are seeing is actual teleportation.
 
This is not some stage magician’s trick we are doing here.
 
Admiral Craddock, could we borrow you for a minute?”

      
Admiral Craddock joined them at the ring.

      
“Tom, we’d like you to walk through the ring right behind Moira.
 
You’ll feel a slight tingle as you go through, but no harm will come to you.”

      
Moira stepped through the ring, Admiral Craddock followed behind.
 
They both appeared, one behind the other, on the other side of the room.
 
There were no gasps this time.

      
Andrew asked Kelly to come up and follow him through the rings.

      
Kelly got up, walked over to his father, and followed him through the ring.
 
He felt a slight electrical tingling, similar to a large static charge and he saw blackness, deeper than he had ever experienced before, and a chilling cold.
 
Then he was standing on the other side of the room, looking at his mom and Admiral Craddock.

      
Andrew slapped him on the shoulder, and turned back to the room.
 
“Now, if you wish, we offer the opportunity for all of you to experience the future of travel.
 
If you have no objections, would you line up and walk through the far ring single file.
 
If you will just allow a second between people you will be fine.”

      
To the credit of those in the room, all rose, lined up, and walked through the rings.
 
Looks of amazement were on most of the faces as they emerged at the far end.

      
Admiral Craddock said, “Thank you, Moira and Andrew.
 
Now if everyone will return to your seats, please.”