Trade World Saga 1: Manual Interpretation (17 page)

"Everyone will be relieved by our departure and will expect us to be unsuccessful in any purposeful mission. They'll try to consolidate their positions as soon as possible," Andrew turned from the remainder of the group and put his hands on Susan's shoulders. "I want you to pick some star, not too many parsecs away that might have some potential for life and we'll go there after we send these messages. We might as well go parsecs since no one could help us one way or another. Desiree and Tod's mathematical model of the ship's operation has been near exact and they showed where we can travel subjectively faster-than-light by altering space,” Andrew said with growing enthusiasm. "See me when you've got the choices," he added.

As the group separated to see to their separate tasks Andrew felt the reaction setting in after a sustained rush of adrenalin these last few hours and suddenly felt very shaky and sleepy. Brad, who saw Andrew stagger and grasp the console rushed up to support Andrew and escort him back to his cabin.

"Do you think I'm right Brad? Are you committed to this?" Andrew asked wearily.

"I resigned my commission when I ignored my last set of orders," Brad said as he took Andrew to his cabin and strapped him in his bunk. "Any further orders, Captain?" Brad asked.

"Captain," Andrew said with a smile as the exhaustion won over him and he went to sleep.

The steaming coffee and aroma of sausage brought Andrew fully awake as Susan brought in a heaping tray of food.

"Morning, Captain," Susan said, "the crew has already eaten but it was decided you deserved this."

"Thanks," Andrew said and launched into the meal with an unconcealed fervor.

"I've found a star for us," Susan said cheerfully.

"Uhmh," Andrew said with a mouthful of strawberry muffin.

"Tau Ceti. It's only about three point six-four parsecs and I've relayed all information into navigation."

"What type star is it?" asked Andrew.

"It's a G8 variable with some odd spectral emission lines. If nothing else, it will be a good trial voyage and should provide some interesting raw data for us. Don't know if it has planets since the sun’s orbit doesn't show any marked variance."

"Sounds good. Check Ling's statement and check whose voice would be best to read it. Maybe we should use a synthesized voice, yes that's probably better. See if you can get with Steve to set up a synthesized voice to read the message. I'll be up to the control room in a little while."

Susan started to leave, stopped short, and turned abruptly and looked into his eyes.

"Andy. Our positions in this project have really changed lately. This mission is complex enough without letting our personal relationship add to the problem. I want to be close to you when we get a chance, but we should wait until we have some privacy and time. Hopefully, that won't be long," Susan said as she went to Andrew, kissed him on the forehead, and ran out the door.

Andrew was a very confused man as he stepped into the refresher and dialed a shower spray with a warm, air-blast combination. The sting of the water helped him clear his head but he found it extremely difficult to switch gears. Thinking about Susan and then switching to thinking about traveling to another star plus all of the problems they were likely to encounter was enough to overload anyone.

Andrew slowed and deepened his breathing to release tension as he dressed. After stretching some more, he headed to the control room.

He was pleased by the light classical music that played throughout the ship. It about seemed right for theorists and engineers though the later tended more to popular instrumental instead of heavy classical music. As he approached, he saw Ling finishing preparations for the broadcast with Steve.

"How much time before we're in position for the first broadcast?" Andrew asked Ling.

"About an hour," Ling answered, "You want to hear a sample for the North American continent?" she asked as she handed a headset to Andrew.

When Andrew had adjusted the headset, he sat down in the command chair and said, "Start."

Andrew sat forward, leaned back, and sat back again. When the short broadcast was finished, Andrew stood up and took off the headset. He looked first at Ling and then the rest of the crew who had not heard it yet.

"That was some broadcast Ling Soo. You had me ready to cry and then built up where I wanted to cheer our trip. I was trying to force myself to be rational. You have more emotional context in that than a politician's speech. It's perfect, except change the part about going to a far star to Tau Ceti. That's going to be our destination," Andrew said.

"Thank you, Captain. I think that having a definite star to direct interest to will only add to the impact of the broadcast. I'll have it changed in five minutes," and she sat down and keyed access to the program.

"Steve. Susan has set up coordinates for our trip. How have you got this broadcast set up?" Andrew asked.

"There are eight main satellites we need to use. We'll simultaneously broadcast to two different satellites and then go to the next pair. We have to change voice patterns and languages four times for different continents. I hear from Ling that the North American continent has the voice of a distinguished elderly gentleman with a deep baritone. How was it?" Steve asked.

"Pretty impressive," Andrew answered and keyed voice response to the ship's computer as Brad and Susan came over.

"Are there any ground-to-ship communications directed at us?" Andrew asked the computer.

"Yes. There have been six decipherable messages directed to this ship and I have monitored military communication channels since your order yesterday. There have been eight, now nine attempts to circumvent my internal control recognition which started twenty minutes ago," stated the computer.

"What do you mean by that statement?" demanded Andrew.

"The statement was clearly stated. There have been nine attempts to take over control of the ship using sophisticated ground and space broadcasts. I have recorded all pertinent broadcasts to the ship. Would you like for me to play back the most repeated one?" inquired the computer.

"Yes," said Andrew who was getting angry at this mass of microelectronics.

A smiling face came into view on the screen almost immediately.

"Why it's old 'Hawkeye' himself?" Brad said. "We must really rate."

"Who?" Andrew said.

"Shh, let's hear what he's saying," Susan said.

"Greetings, Starship One. That is what we call you since we didn't know the christened name of your ship. I'm General H. E. Alexander. Let me take this opportunity to say that your performance from scattered reports seems that your, uhm, project succeeded in more ways than a new power source. Your actions caught us rather flatfooted but we would like to aid you in any reprovisioning or technical aid we could provide. We would prefer that you not land back at the university but rather at longitude 109 west and 34 latitude near Roswell in New Mexico where we've set up a protective enclosure and quarters for your ship and your crew. Please inform us immediately when you plan to arrive," said General Alexander.

"Whew," Brad said, "That was a lot of bull."

"It did sound kind of forced. Who is he?" Andrew asked.

"That is old 'Hawkeye' Alexander. Remember the Libyan Wars. He was the man in command of the World Government troops. He doesn't fool around and that enclosure to 'protect us' doesn't sound too inviting," Brad answered.

"It seems everyone feels we have succeeded a little too much," Andrew states, "Let's get any more messages. How about it, computer… any more messages for us?"

"Yes, this message was just recorded," said the computer.

"To Captain Andrew Williams of Starship One. You are to land your ship at the designated coordinates or you and your crew will face ostracizing from the people and resources of Earth. You have twelve hours from now to reach the designated base."

FLEEING THE EARTH

"What do we do now?" Susan asked Andrew.

"Carry on as we have been. Roll over now. I think not." He paused. "Beam our messages and then hop over to Tau Ceti. Starship One. Not too original. Isn’t that the name Burt Rutan used on his first commercial, sub-orbital spacecraft – and I use the term loosely. I like the 'Wildcat' better. I don't think the general population realizes what has happened and Ling's broadcast will probably get to the population before any coordinated propaganda from the government," Andrew said.

As the ship approached the designated broadcast points, the communication satellites relayed Ling's message, unhindered, to Earth, professing the need for world unity and giving a very emotional farewell to all of Earth and telling of their intended destination.

The ship then preceded to a point where repairs were instigated on the fast-neutron projector and preparations were made for velocity checks and further handling tests to make sure the fine control issues had been corrected. The software updates and new placement for shield projector arrays had smoothed out control noticeably.

"All crew to posts in suits," Andrew ordered over the intercom from the command chair. After receiving acknowledgements from all crewmembers, Andrew had Tod put the ship through its paces. Still being in the solar system, Andrew first did one-minute duration; test runs at various power levels and would then recheck their position in elation to the known orbital coordinates. Since accurate positions for the planets were known, relative velocities could be easily calculated.

Steve turned from the console in front of him, "We exceeded light speed on that run," Steve said.

"Well, good. Give my congratulations to our theorists and mathematicians," Andrew said obviously pleased.

"So far our velocity has increased exponentially with increases in the main field. We can theoretically reach more than twenty parsecs an hour but I'd prefer we run well under that until all our equipment is broken in," Steve stated. "After the first hour we'd be dead meat if it breaks down anyway. It'd be a tedious trip home at best if we did find a way. If the field breaks down for any length of time, the radiation out here would fry us anyway. Don’t know about outside the solar system."

"All right. Let's aim at… " Andrew paused as he calculated with his Mem-Dex, " about three weeks for our trip to Tau Ceti. We'll be able to relax and really get things squared away." Andrew turned to the intercom and keyed ship-wide, "All crewmembers will stand down from posts at 1100 hours. Susan will assign maintenance duties suited to your skills. Our shakedown trip to Tau Ceti is going to last about three weeks. Crewmembers may also work leisure and research hours into your schedules."

Andrew then turned to Steve, "Finish setting our course and speed and put all sensors on automatic." Andrew then started toward his cabin, then stopped and said, "By the way Steve, put all corridor lighting panels on a dim-bright system to coincide with Earth Mountain Standard time."

“Andrew---Captain," Steve said, "Our sensors at this velocity really aren't adequate. We can't view any distance ahead or even around the ship."

"Alright," Andrew said. "You've just named your next project. Try to work out some type of sensor arrangement that will give us a forward view. Could you also make some instrument to register the presence of fields like our drive field? I've an idea I'd like to have some warning if we happen to run into someone else's drive field."

"Yes, sir," Steve said as he turned back to the console Tod manned.

Andrew had only just entered his cabin when Brad came to the door.

"Come on in, Brad," Andrew said.

"I've got a confession to make," Brad said. "I never really thought this bucket would fly...much less beat lightspeed. I've studied physics and I thought that as objects approach the speed of light their mass nears infinity. I didn't feel any different on those runs except a slight disorientation as the external and internal fields were balanced. I never expected any civilian ship to do anything anyway. I figured the military would do it if anyone would."

"You're right and you're wrong," Andrew said. "The formulas are correct in normal space. Our mass, however, remains constant since we are altering the space we are in. If you take into account the rate of change of time - to normal t relative - you will get an idea about how we reach the velocity we do. Does the World Government hold your view that civilians will never really amount to a force to be considered?"

"Not really. I did hear discussions where people were surprised by your progress after all the government money dumped on research to keep the military ahead of commercial technology. A lot of the World Government administration didn’t think you could exceed light speed. Most of them have ingrained habits of listening to people who don’t know what they’re talking about. But aren't we violating some basic laws of nature. I realize that I sound ignorant, but it seems that the more we specialize these days; the less we know about other fields of science," Brad said.

"Look, I may have given you the reciprocal of the correct explanation. If you really want to get enlightened on the subject -- Tod and Desiree made a training module on the topic. We ought to have it available on your MemDex," Andrew said.

"OK. I'll do that. When do we start to Tau Ceti?" Brad asked.

Andrew grinned, "Twenty minutes ago," he said and prepared to work on some computations as Brad left nodding and keyed shut the door behind him.