To the Stars V-1

by D. W. Patterson

  “I see what you mean,” said Grace.

  The Captain had called a meeting of her officers and engineers.

  “What happened Chief?”

  “Ma'am as far as I can tell we came out of wormhole traverse earlier than expected.”

  “That's apparent Chief.”

  The Chief fidgeted.

  “Yes ma'am. We estimate we are only two AU away. That's less than one-tenth of one percent and we can be there in a little over six days ma'am.”

  “As small as that may be Chief it still doesn't explain why I can't look out my wallscreen at the star we should be orbiting.”

  Jerome was in the meeting wondering if he should speak up. It didn't seem that anyone else even had a theory.

  “Well,” said Captain Young. “Does anyone have anything to say?”

  Jerome squirmed in his seat. The Captain turned to look at him. He could see that while still commanding she was also imploring anyone for help. Even a lowly engineer.

  “Ma'am,” said Jerome his voice almost cracking. “I have a theory that may have some bearing on this incident.”

  “You seem to be the only one engineer, proceed.”

  Jerome could see the Chief rolling his eyes, this was going to cost him.

  “You see ma'am I have found a discrepancy between reported helium 3 usage and my calculations.”

  “Really, and you reported this?”

  “Yes ma'am,” said Jerome not stopping for a response. “I believe that the fusion Emmies are in error and that we will run out of helium 3 before Trilos if we don't begin to conserve it.”

  The room exploded with shouts and accusations. The Chief was yelling straight at Jerome and pointing his finger. Freddie was protesting. Most were protesting that it was impossible.

  “Quiet, quiet!” said the Captain. “You gentlemen will maintain protocol!”

  The room quieted although the Chief was still pointing at Jerome.

  “Chief did the engineer report his findings to you?”

  The Chief put down his arm but hesitated to respond.

  “I'm asking you a direct question Mr. Carlos and I am ordering you to answer now!”

  “Yes ma'am,” said the Chief quietly. “But ma'am we ran a full diagnostics and found nothing wrong.”

  The Captain interrupted him and turned to Jerome.

  “Dr. Jackson, how did you come up with this, ah, theory?”

  Jerome was more confident now having weathered the assault he knew would come when he reported his findings.

  “Captain, I downloaded the fuel calculation program from the fusion Emmies and ran it on my Emmie and one other. Both independent Emmies came up with the same numbers and the numbers say that we are using fuel at a much higher rate than expected. There is something wrong with the efficiency of the engines and the fusion Emmies have not been able to correct it.”

  “Chief did you verify Dr. Jackson's procedures for yourself?”

  “Well no ma'am. Like I said the diagnostics showed no problems and the readings from the fuel tanks show no unusual fuel usage.”

  “Ma'am,” said Jerome. “The fuel Emmies could be intercepting those readings and changing them before they arrive in command.”

  “Hogwash!” said Chief Carlos.

  The Captain held up her hand for quiet.

  “Okay, I think I see what we should do. Dr. Jackson you are to choose someone to accompany you to the fuel tanks and get us a manual reading. Not a reading through your Emmie but a manual reading. Understood?”

  Jerome felt his stomach turn, “Yes ma'am,” he said weakly.

  “Meeting dismissed,” said the Captain who then stormed from the room.

  Jerome was almost the last one up. Not again, he thought.

  Jerome chose Homer's replacement, Alvin “Andy” Andrews, to go on the EVA with him. Jerome made sure Andy knew what had happened on the last spacewalk.

  “So you really don't know what happened?” asked engineer Andrews.

  “No, I was knocked on my back or shoved I don't know which and then I blacked out. When I came to I was inside the ship. Turned out my air supply had been compromised.”

  “And this happened just as you were beginning to head back?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well we should definitely watch ourselves at that point.”

  Jerome nodded in agreement.

  6

  The spacewalk was going well. Andy had chosen to check the deuterium oxide tanks while Jerome checked the helium 3.

  Just like before, thought Jerome as he opened up the access port to the manual readout.

  Tapping the numbers into his Emmie.

  Just as I suspected.

  He called to Andy when he was finished.

  “Andy you ready to head back.”

  “Roger.”

  “Okay, meet you at the walkway.”

  Jerome was there first with Andy not far behind. This time Jerome took the lead heading back. Even though he had promised himself he would keep his eyes on the walkway he couldn't help but look up at the spinning crew wheel, spinning as the ship had ceased motion until the readings were taken. This time it wasn't as overwhelming without the habitat in the background.

  He continued walking but before he had taken a couple of steps he felt a shove from behind that sent him sprawling. When he rolled over he saw Andy standing back and the robotic fuel service arm returning to its neutral position.

  “What happened Andy? Did you push me?”

  “Yeah I saw the arm there swinging towards us and pushed you to keep it from hitting you.”

  “Okay Andy, I think you just found out what killed Homer. Let's get back and report.

  The Captain had called another meeting of her crew and the engineers.

  “First I'd like to thank our ship's psychologist, Dr. Maccoby, for sitting in. As you will see we will need her expertise.”

  Dr. Maccoby nodded her head in response.

  “Okay, we've got a couple of things we have to cover people. First, we have to establish what we should do about these fuel readings. We can't proceed with business as usual. We are going to have to make some changes to our mission plan. We may even decide we will have to scrub the mission.”

  A look went around the room.

  “Next we have to find out how this fuel discrepancy arose and how that robotic arm decided to move just when engineers Andrews and Jackson were passing. And why we can't get any vid of this latest incidence either. There is just too much coincidence involved.

  “Okay, what do we do about the fuel situation?”

  Seeing no immediate response was forthcoming the Captain turned to the Chief.

  “Chief you want to tell us about your idea?”

  “Of course Captain,” said Chief Carlos. “I've run the numbers using the readings that engineers Jackson and Andrews returned. We have enough fuel to continue the mission if we cease to use the fusion engines in the recharging operation.”

  “But what does that do to the schedule?”

  “It adds about one hundred thirty-five days to our schedule.”

  “That means two hundred and five days rather than the seventy days of the original mission.”

  “That's true ma'am but we do have the ability to generate enough food supply for an extended mission and we have all the other stores necessary.”

  “Thank you Chief but I am more concerned with the impact on the crew and colonists than the ship's supplies. They, especially the colonists, didn't sign up for seven months aboard this ship. And I have to worry about keeping up their morale. Dr. Maccoby would you care to comment.”

  “Thank you Captain. I would say that you should consider getting the crew and colonists to buy into whatever decision is made.”

  “Okay Doctor how would I go about doing that?”

  “Well off the top of my head I would suggest that after you explain the situation to them you allow them to vote on the alternatives.”

  “And if they vote to r
eturn?”

  “Then Captain I would think you would want to take them back. After all, you don't want to continue on such a historic mission with people that are not committed to its success. But I think I can assure you that you will get a majority voting to continue. They have been chosen for their enthusiasm and dedication.”

  “Very well Doctor I will consider your advice and thank you for coming.”

  Dr. Maccoby nodded and left the room.

  “Okay that's handled. Now for the second problem. How did we get in this mess in the first place? Does anyone have any idea about what has happened to the fusion Emmies, the apparently homicidal robotic arm, the surveillance cams at the far end of the walkway?”

  There was silence.

  “Anyone?” said the Captain looking disappointedly around the room.

  Jerome didn't want to do it but he raised his hand.

  “Don't just raise your hand engineer speak up,” said the Captain.

  “I believe Captain the same agency that miscalculated the fuel status is at work here.”

  “You mean the fusion Emmies?”

  “Yes ma'am.”

  Jerome could feel the Chief's stare.

  “The fuel Emmies have priority over that section of the ship. They control the refueling arm and if needed could get control of the surveillance cam, I checked in to it.”

  “Is this true Chief?”

  “Captain it's possible but highly unlikely. There are no known incidences such as we have witnessed involving the fuel Emmies and a fusion ship. Similar incidences were always traced to human agency or error.”

  “The Chief is right about such incidences aboard a fusion ship,” said Jerome. “But such incidences have occurred in the past involving Emmies. Shortly after the first Emmies were introduced into human society one of them was compromised to such an extent by a ruthless psychotic that the Emmie became involved in a plot to hurt and possibly kill people.”

  “Why haven't I ever heard of such a thing?” asked the Chief skeptically.

  “It's not common knowledge in the literature Chief and safeguards were imposed after the incident to prevent it from happening again.”

  “This is absurd Captain,” said the Chief. “I have years more training and years more experience with fusion Emmies than the engineer here and I've never heard of such a thing.”

  “That may be so Chief but I have experience that you don't. You see, I know about it because the targets were ancestors of mine.”

  “Engineer if what you say is true then we are all in imminent danger. The fusion Emmies could terminate this mission anytime with whatever loss of equipment and lives they believe is necessary,” said the Captain.

  There was quiet, then the Captain's Emmie alarmed.

  “Yes,” said the Captain.

  “Captain we have a problem.”

  “Go ahead Lieutenant Aaron.”

  “Captain, Grace Patrick has been found dead.”

  “Where?”

  “Her apartment.”

  “On my way,” said Captain Young.

  “Lt. Commander if you will follow me.”

  “Dismissed,” she barked as she left the room.

  The “crime scene” was roped off, at least the door had a warning not to enter.

  Captain Young found her Security Chief and a couple of his temporary deputies inside.

  “What have you found Lieutenant Aaron?” she asked as she entered.

  “Just Ms. Patrick in her bed. She appears to have been dead for a few hours. Lauren Bremen called me when Grace failed to show up for lunch with Lauren and did not answer the door. As far as I can tell there's been no struggle, nothing indicates any kind of altercation in the apartment. Dr. Misner is in there now examining the body.”

  “Very well Lieutenant Aaron I'll just see if Dr. Misner has found anything.”

  Captain Young stopped at the door to the bedroom and asked, “Dr. Misner have you found anything unusual?”

  “Only that there doesn't seem to be anything visibly wrong Captain.”

  “So the next step?” asked the Captain.

  “The next step is to get the body to the infirmary and perform an autopsy. Perhaps that will tell us something.”

  “Very well Doctor but do one thing for me please?”

  “Yes Captain?”

  “Be as discreet as possible we don't want a lot of wild stories going around.”

  The Doctor nodded his head.

  7

  “I don't know Lauren, I just don't know,” said Jerome. “Andy helped take the body into the infirmary. I thought Dr. Misner was going to start right away but I haven't heard anything.”

  “It's pretty hard to accept Jerome,” said Lauren. She had sought Jerome out after dinner the following day. They were having coffee in the cafe.

  “Jerome I have a bad feeling about what happened to Grace.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that Grace, me, you, all of us had probably the most thorough physical in the world before being chosen for this mission. There couldn't have been anything wrong with Grace, the pre-flight physical would have caught it.”

  “You may be right Lauren, I know my physical was too thorough for comfort.”

  “So how does a young woman such as Grace who just had the most thorough physical known to mankind end up dead? Especially since so far it seems there was no foul play.”

  Jerome leaned in and whispered a bit too loud.

  “Foul play! You don't mean what I think you mean do you?”

  “Jerome,” said Lauren shaking her head, “you of all people should be suspicious. You were the target of two attempts on your life.”

  “You mean the robotic arm incidents?”

  “What did you think?” said Lauren somewhat at a loss.

  “I hadn't thought much about it Lauren, I just thought they were accidents you know.”

  Lauren just stared.

  Eventually it registered with Jerome, he opened his mouth but closed it.

  “You get it now?”

  “You might be right Lauren, but if all these incidents are related then someone is trying to deliberately compromise the mission.”

  “Deliberately compromise the mission,” said Lauren averting her eyes, “that's a polite way to put it. How about killing people?”

  Jerome looked distressed.

  “I'm sorry Lauren I didn't mean to be so flippant. I know that Grace was your friend.”

  Dr. Misner downloaded the pre-programmed routines into the nanobots he would be using in the autopsy. Once injected into the body of the deceased the bots would return a plethora of information. It was unusual if they did not pinpoint the cause or causes of death.

  The robotic arm injected the bots into Grace's body. A blood volume expander rich in energy for the bots had already been introduced into the body's circulatory system. The heart was caused to beat and distributed this expander throughout, allowing the nanobots to go almost anywhere searching for the cause or causes of death.

  From the beating of the heart and the waste energy of the nanobots, the temperature of the body started to rise. After ten minutes the bots were pooling in the temple lobes. There they were forming an antenna lattice that would be used in conjunction with the externally applied radio field to transmit the results of the autopsy to the doctor's Emmie.

  Dr. Misner began to review the results, kidney failure, liver failure, heart failure, the list went on. Nearly every organ in the body had failed or been compromised as if the body had attacked itself.

  Autoimmune. But there's no indication of unusual antibodies.

  He sat back a minute, then he queried the Emmie. Then it dawned on him.

  An aerosol.

  “So if I follow what you are saying Doctor, you think someone used this same nano-technology that you used to do the autopsy?”

  “That's right Captain,” said Dr. Misner. “The same nanotech I used to perform the autopsy on Ms. Patrick could have been us
ed to cause her death.”

  “You said could, are you not sure?”

  “The autopsy nanobots found no signs of nano-technology in the body. Which is unusual nowadays. So no I can't be one hundred percent sure but I can't think of any other way to explain the autopsy results.”

  “Dr. Misner, could you speculate on who aboard this vessel would have the skills to manipulate such nano-technology?”

  “Well, of course, myself, Dr. Wilson, Dr. Maccoby probably, and maybe the engineers. That's all I can think of.”

  “Thank you Doctor, that's enough for now.”

  The Captain had called an all-hands meeting in the assembly hall. The crew was sitting up front, Jerome was with Lauren and the other colonists in the back. The Captain called the meeting to order.

  “As you know we have had an unfortunate loss of life. Nurse Grace Patrick has died. As of now, we are ruling it a natural death caused by an autoimmune response. But our medical team is still investigating. Let me just say that although I did not know Grace well those that did have only the highest opinion of her character and professional demeanor. The mission has lost a very important person. I understand that there will be a memorial for her at sixteen hundred hours tomorrow.

  “Now to other business, some of you may already know what I have to say next but I suspect this is news to most of you. We have become aware of a problem with our fusion engines. It seems they have not been as efficient as expected. The result is that we will have to conserve our fusion fuel. This means precisely that we will no longer be able to use our engines to shorten our stay around a star. We will have to rely solely on the star's energy for charging the isotopic reservoirs.

  “The result is that the mission to get to the Trilos system will take two-hundred and five days instead of the original seventy. That is if we choose to continue the mission. Since there has been such a huge change in mission duration I've decided to let you, the colonists and contractors, decide as to whether we continue the mission as planned or turn back now. The ship's permanent crew will follow my orders.

  “You each will vote using your Emmie devices. Yes, we continue or no, we turn back. I give you twenty-four hours from now to decide. At that time the isotopics will be recharged sufficiently to make a jump, whether that jump is towards Trilos or back towards Earth is up to you.