Temporal Incursion
Stellar Flash Book Three
By Neil A. Hogan
© 2019 Maldek House. All rights reserved
Also available in print
Find out more at:
www.StellarFlash.com
Names, characters, places, businesses, products, situations and events portrayed in this title are fictitious, and any similarities to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. No part of this release may be transmitted or reproduced in any form without the express permission of the author and publisher, except for fair use in relation to reviews.
The image of Proxima Centauri B featured on the cover has been released by the European Southern Observatory under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and originally comes from the video: ESOcast 87: Planet found around closest Star. Please visit: eso.org/public/announcements/ann16056/ to watch the complete video.
For Nathanial and Ida
Active Table of Contents
Prologue
Introduction
Episode 1: The Hand
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Episode 2: The Hive
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Episode 3: Space Force
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Episode 4: Clouded
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Episode 5: Builderbots
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Episode 6: Past Mistakes
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Episode 7: Trapped
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Episode 8: Future Corrections
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Episode 9: The Quincunx of Time
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Episode 10: Convergence
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Epilogue
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Prologue
2129/02/15/01:43 Tuesday
A bright object cut across a section of the Kuiper belt, broke apart a tumbling two-piece proto-comet, then shot out of the Solar System at high speed. Explorer satellites in the area reported it as traveling close to the speed of light.
*
An explosion rocked the little island of South Bimini, flattening palm trees, shorting out power cables, and collapsing buildings. A group of factories dissolved into a crater, then sank under a tsunami. A tiny object exploded from the center of the carnage, climbed quickly into orbit, then blasted past the moon. Luna satellites recorded a white streak but were unable to determine origin or destination.
*
Drone 478 detected the intruder as it sped past Saturn and immediately activated its staccato flash drive, materializing further along the tiny object’s estimated path. The drone recorded it as it passed, predicted its trajectory, then repeated this several times before the object entered the Oort cloud. 478 quickly flashed back to Monitoring Station Z and delivered its composite video.
*
The images faded to black, and the lights came back up to reveal a small, oval room, with a tiny porthole looking out onto a section of Saturn’s rings.
"Interesting, don’t you think?" Doctor John Patel scratched his short, graying moustache, and glanced across the leafy table at his colleague, Admiral Rasskator, an attractive, green, mantis-like being from the planet Preyos.
Rasskator remained silent, a slight movement of one antennae the only sign she had heard him.
“We’ve since been able to confirm the objects are heading to Proxima Centauri B,” Patel continued. “They’re mostly moving at light speed but pause whenever they encounter something. Best estimates suggest they’ll arrive in just over four and a half years' time.”
Rasskator chirped quietly, and her translator Englished. “They will be in the F.R.I.’s jurisdiction, then. Why see me about these?"
Patel smiled thinly. "Admiral, you plan to retire in four years' time. If these objects are likely to cause a problem around then, I'd like there to be a faster transition between you and the new person here, so that we have time to prepare for anything that might eventuate."
"Always planning ahead, John. Don’t you ever get tired? Live for the now!”
“Not a detailed plan, just a, well…”
“You’d like a recommendation for my replacement in 2133?"
Patel nodded.
Rasskator, rubbed her claw across one of her long green antennae, twisted her bulbous eyes a few times, then chirped. "Well, firstly I recommend building a new and more powerful Space Station. I doubt this throwback is going to last much longer. Certainly, if there are going to be more of these particles passing through, we need to have some kind of research center nearby."
Patel sighed, looking about at the tiny space, knowing the monitoring station was barely 500 meters across. "It's in hand. The project will commence at the end of 2132. We've received enough complaints from, ahem, your station, to bring things forward."
"Acceptable. I do recommend Captain Victoria Heartness. She will have been working as a captain for ten years by then. An ideal time to be considered for promotion, and as my replacement."
Patel leant back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "Interesting choice. We'll see how she goes, and maybe I'll put in a good word. Anything else I should know?"
Rasskator pointed a claw at the time stamp at the bottom of the last video. "You might have missed something with the last recording. Hard to see tiny Earth numbers in a hologram.” Her proboscis twisted back and forth in amusement, knowing Patel knew Preyosians had much better eyesight than humans. “Let me play the images forward for you again. Watch the clock."
The composite drone footage played again, and Patel's eyebrows raised as he realized what he was seeing. "The image is forward but the time stamp is running backward? How did I not notice that?"
"You have billions of projects on your mind. Impossibl
e for you to notice everything. That’s why you are always happy to get a second opinion. In any case, whatever that object is, it is surrounded by a reverse time field. If that hits a populated area, there are going to be many beings in a lot of trouble. You saw what happened to that island in your Bermuda area. You were lucky it wasn’t a lot worse."
"Well, let's hope it passes safely through the Proxibee system and keeps going," said Patel. "Otherwise, it won't just affect one world, it'll wipe out the entire flash ship project."
Introduction
It is the year 2133, just one hundred years after Alien Shift. Humanity can now perceive the trillions of alien races that live in the galaxy, having finally increased their frequency speed to Zero. Now a member of the Interdimensional Coalition, humanity works with alien races from all over the universe on Flash ships, exploring realities on higher level frequencies, and instigating First Contact with new alien races. The Stellar Flash Frequency Ship is the newest addition to the universal mission.
Episode 1
The Hand
Chapter 1
2133/10/18/08:45 Sunday
The violet underside of the twelve-meter-sided, triangular interdimensional ship passed through the ceiling of the North Australia Space Port monitoring center in Darwin, and continued obliviously on its way. Admiral Wei Zhou watched it with awe, then smiled at the circumstances that had brought her there.
She had joined the Earth Council long ago and worked her way up the ranks. But as is the habit of Earth Council, once you’ve been a captain for ten years, you’re offered a promotion to allow the next recruits their chance at a captaincy.
She did miss it, but now she was monitoring the interfrequency and interdimensional ships that crisscrossed Earth's orbit, ready to offer assistance if anything Earth was doing interfered with their journeys. If she couldn’t go out into space, then at least space could come to her.
Billions of ships passed through the Earth every day, and it was rare for one to pass along the surface of the planet, let alone through the actual monitoring station in Darwin. Most went through the upper atmosphere or through the crust of the Earth itself. Since Frequency Shift in 2033, most of these vehicles could be seen by the general population, and had long since become part of the background. But, occasionally, like this one, they were worthy of attention.
Now that it had faded through the wall, it was time to return to answering her staff. Admiral this, Admiral that. Sadly, that wasn’t as exciting, and she was tempted to flash back to Guangdong province for a quick cup of tea.
"Admiral," called one of her assistants. Zhou looked up and recognized the brown hair, weathered skin and long beard. Bruce Jones, one of her Australian staff.
"Yes, Bruce, what is it?"
“Another delivery of powdered iridium from Saturn, just flashed into the base. Begging your pardon, ma’am, but, don’t you think we have enough now?”
Zhou raised an eyebrow. “You do know how much this stuff is in demand on Earth, right? All those people getting their mindview systems removed. That’s a lot of medical equipment.”
Jones frowned. “I do. It’s just that, there’s no more room in storage. Would you like me to organize storage in Sydney?”
Zhou had had no idea that they’d already filled all their storage areas in Darwin. The Stellar Flash ship must have brought back quite a lot. But she’d promised she would take it off their hands, and a promise is a promise. “Very good, Bruce. Yes, Sydney for the rest of it. Was there anything else?”
“Going to go fishing on the weekend. Was wondering, you know, if you’d like to come along?”
Zhou could tell he was trying to be casual about it, but his voice went a bit high at the end. She gave him a winning smile. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m strictly an indoors gal. Steel walls, lots of conveniences, and an A.I. not far away. Not sure what I’d do in an outdoor area. Probably get sunburned. I can’t even swim!”
“No worries!” he replied. He was about to turn away when he noticed something and pointed at Zhou’s left arm.
Zhou looked down to see that a light on her flash sleeve was blinking. "Oh! Thanks, mate."
He smiled shyly, then turned back to his hologram.
She knew he had a thing for her. Not her type, though. She preferred her men to be a bit more feminine, thinner, hairless, and spend much of their time in space.
But now she had something else to attend to. She looked quizzically at her flash band. She usually got messages at her station stand. Why did it come directly to her sleeve? And who has that channel, anyway?
She quickly opened the message.
"Admiral Zhou, Admiral Heartness has disappeared. Please meet me at Heartness’ office on Space Station X-1a asap."
Victoria had disappeared?
Again?
It was like anyone on Space Station X-1a would eventually disappear for one reason or another. She was beginning to think that the station was bad luck. Especially as it was being constructed with the number 1 on it during a snake year.
But she knew what she had to do, and quickly began getting ready.
She noticed the message was from Doctor John Patel and quickly understood the secrecy. He didn't like to do things that were too public.
She checked her appearance in the mirror. No makeup smudges. Foundation was holding, short black hair shone healthily and didn’t need a comb, black jacket fitted well, long black pants were unlined. Should she put some bright red lipstick on? No. She grinned quietly to herself. She didn’t want to distract anyone else.
She quickly gathered some essential items into a handbag, set up a 'called away on urgent business' message at her console, then hit the relocation button at the bottom of the message.
A bright white light enveloped her, and moments later she was one billion kilometers away, inside one of the corridors in Space Station X-1a circling Saturn. She quickly stepped out of the way of a bloated blue balloon-shaped alien that floated past her, and did her best to adjust to the slightly different gravity, air pressure, and smells.
The coordinates she'd been given were directly outside Heartness' office. She waited until another blobby alien squirmed and squelched past her, then reached out and tapped the door.
5:30pm in Darwin translated to 8:00am on the Space Station. Flashlag was going to be a bitch, she thought. Then she fell into a sneezing fit as her nose began to react to all the differences.
The door dissolved, and Patel appeared, standing in the center of the room. He handed her a tissue. "Wei, so good of you to come!"
Zhou took it gratefully and wiped her nose, before putting it in a pocket. “Sorry. You know it’s thirty degrees Celsius in Darwin. What is it here? Twenty?”
Then she realized that Patel was holding his hand outstretched indicating Heartness' seat.
"Please,” he said, as though expecting no debate.
Immediately annoyed, Zhou threw her bag down on the table and turned on him. "Cryptic message, and I flashed here quickly, as agreed. But you can't just expect me to take over the station at a moment’s notice every time. I have other responsibilities at the Space Port!"
Patel carefully lowered his arm and frowned. "Wei, I'm sorry. With Heartness gone, we need you here. You’re the best for this position."
Zhou put her hands on her hips. "I've done research since then. Admiral Rasskator is best for this position. Pull her out of retirement."
Patel shook his head. "I don't want to sound sexist, but some delicacy is involved. And you have proven yourself time and time again that your feminine energy is superior when it comes to mediation. We haven’t forgotten your help with the Mars-Earth treaty. Basically, I need you to take care of this station of families, and any cultural conflicts that may arise. In fact, it is why I usually recommend a female for this role. I’m really not good at looking at anything other than the big picture, and males can be, how shall I put it, a bit too logical? We forget to allow our emotions to have a say."
Zhou low
ered her tattooed brows and stared at him. "Get that fabulous Admiral Klimova from the Russian outpost near Barnard's star, then. He's more feminine than I am! Even my muscles are bigger than his! And you should see his dance moves!"
Patel held up his hands. "I need you here. The station needs you."
Zhou frowned, then walked around the table and slowly slid into the seat. "Fine. I'm here, again.” She sighed. “Fill me in. What’s happened to Victoria?”
Patel took the seat opposite and grinned as though the exchange never happened. "Excellent! Now, changing the subject. You know, I’m always tempted to take advantage of my power here, but I do my best not to let it get out of hand."
Zhou almost laughed. "Really? Did you disable to cameras on the way here, again?"
Patel opened his mouth, then closed it again. "How did you... Never mind. Yes."
Zhou smiled to herself. A point to her. Patel was the most intelligent person in the Solar System, but he allowed his hubris to get in the way - a lot. He did his best, but he could forget the little things. She'd feel sorry for him if he wasn't so obliviously arrogant about it.
She took a deep breath, relaxed, and focused on the task at hand. "I guess the reason you needed me here so quickly is because you need something from this room before Earth Council sends its investigators. Something that only I can give as the admiral now in residence."
Patel nodded again.
Zhou snapped her fingers. "You want me to officially access her files first! See if something is there that could tell you where Victoria went without Earth Council knowing you had looked!"
Patel sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "I'm impressed. You should be a detective."
Zhou smiled, despite herself. "I might have been, if the A.I.'s hadn’t already taken all the detective jobs. Holographic scan of the crime scene, evidence analyzed in seconds, images sourced from recordings of wall reflections, DNA, fingerprints, faces located in the database in minutes, maybe two to locate the criminal, five minutes to arrest her, him or them and lock them up. That’s if the crime hadn’t already been predicted, or caught in the act first. Detectives disappeared decades ago. Not to mention the drop in crime since Frequency Shift."
Temporal Incursion Page 1