A Path in the Darkness

A Path in the Darkness Page 5

by M. D. Cooper

The captain expanded the holo to forty light-years. The vector didn’t even come close to intersecting any other stars. The Intrepid would be adrift forever.

  “Is there any chance we can correct that vector after the burn?” the captain asked.

  “We’ll have plenty of D2, but no lithium. Our fusion engines aren’t designed to run without lithium and with the primary scoop emitter damaged we’re not going to have much on the way out,” Priscilla supplied.

  “What a miserable little star.” Andrews rubbed his jaw.

  “I may have a way out of this, sir,” Joe said as he walked around the holo and zoomed it back in close to the star.

  Tanis gave him a smile, which he glanced at and returned.

  Tanis said.

  Joe replied.

  “How accurate is this in regards to how the star will look when we pass it?” he asked Bob.

  A slider appeared displaying a timeline and the ship’s position.

  the AI replied.

  Joe nodded and adjusted forward to where the ship was closest to the star. He altered the display to shift the Intrepid several lines of latitude north as it passed by Estrella de la Muerte.

  “I see what you’re suggesting,” Priscilla said.

  Bob didn’t sound entirely convinced.

  “Explain it for the rest of us, then,” Tanis said.

  “First—” Joe glanced at the node core “—maximize whichever is the opposing magnetic polarity to the star on our port shields at this position.” His finger pointed to the representation of the ship on the holo.

 

  The ship’s outsystem trajectory shifted ever so little, with the breakaway velocity significantly higher than before.

  “I get it now. You’re going to push us off of that sun spot’s magnetic field and use it to… well, I don’t know what to.” Tanis stepped away from the railing and walked around the display, trying to see if changing her view would reveal Joe’s plan.

  Joe zoomed the holo out again to a ten light-year radius around the star. It had them lined up with New Eden again.

  “With the bounce off the sun-spot we’ll be able to save the extra fuel to course correct and get to New Eden,” she said appreciatively.

  “Right and right,” Joe nodded.

  “Clever thinking.” Captain Andrews was smiling; it was the first time Tanis saw him do so since they pulled him from stasis.

  Bob adjusted Joe’s trajectory to show them once more missing New Eden and passing out of the human sphere without intersecting any other system.

  “You’re right,” Joe said. “We need more fuel, specifically more lithium, but we don’t need it until after we pass the star.” He adjusted the display back to his original projection and then added a second path.

  “We’ve been over this,” Priscilla said. “The scoop isn’t working well enough to pick up the lithium we need, and even if it were, there’s not enough on that vector to fuel the burn you propose.”

  “Yes, but we have more than one ship,” Joe said in agreement. “I’ll take one of the heavy lifters and do a hard burn out to this asteroid ring at 30 AU. Signatures indicate that there is a high likelihood for lithium in some of these rocks. I find a big one, or net some smaller ones and boost like all-get-out to meet the ship on our outsystem vector.”

  “That’s a risky proposition,” Andrews said. “If you don’t make it back in time Estrella de la Muerte will be your grave.”

  “I’m aware of that, sir, but if I don’t try it, then things are a lot worse. Without this we drift forever.” Joe’s somber words reminded everyone of how dire the situation was.

  Tanis felt a tightness in her chest, worry making it hard to breathe. If Joe didn’t make it back, she would be left on the Intrepid without him… forever. She knew now, had known for some time, that she loved him. Loved him and hadn’t even said the words to him yet.

  “I’ll go with you,” she said to Joe.

  “You’re not built for it, you couldn’t handle the acceleration.” His voice was sure, but his eyes were sad.

  “It’s what, a max of seventy g’s?

  “Initial peak, yeah. Average closer to four or five.”

  “First”—Andrews gave both of them an unreadable look—“we have to decide if this is the plan we’ll be pursuing. We need Ernest and Abby for this.”

  THE LONG SHOT

  STELLAR DATE: 3241791 / 08.16.4163 (Adjusted Gregorian)

  LOCATION: GSS Intrepid, Bridge Conference Room

  REGION: LHS 1565, 0.5 AU from stellar primary

  Over the next hour, a frantic wave of organized chaos swept over the Intrepid as hundreds of crew were brought out of stasis. Repairs began immediately; the first to the upper command area’s dedicated fusion plants. Abby delegated decision making to Earnest and organized a team of specialists—both human and AI—to re-initialize more of Bob’s nodes and set to work with a vengeance.

  Any plan other than burning up in the star required Bob to have control of the engines. Getting his nodes back online was the first step in that process. Only he could effect the precise burns needed.

  A servitor poured coffee for the command crew sitting around the bridge’s conference table. Joe and Tanis sat next to Mick Edward, the first mate. He stroked his beard as he examined the holo of the local system while muttering to himself. Captain Andrews was discussing Joe’s plan in low tones with Terrance while Ernest appeared engrossed in the three holos and two hyfilms in front of him. At the end of the table, Hilda Orion, the ship’s chief navigator, stared at the table’s main holo projection of the LHS 1565 system like it had some secret it was hiding from her.

  After everyone prepared their drink to their own satisfaction, Andrews called the meeting to order.

  “We have just over twenty hours until we need to make the first burn. However, if Joe is to leave on his mission to pick up some rocks his window for departure is in seven hours.”

  The captain’s words were serious and an additional weight settled over the room. Tanis reached under the table and found Joe’s hand. He squeezed it in response.

 

  “You’ve all had some time to mull over the events of the last few hours, as well as examine Lieutenant Colonel Richard’s report. Bob has put together a precise timeline necessary to pull off Commander Evans’s plan and it’s up to us to decide if it is the best option, and if it is even feasible.”

  “Oh it’s feasible, all right,” Earnest said. “Totally insane, but quite feasible.”

  “There’s also the extreme risk to you.” Hilda looked at Joe and Tanis. “You will have to do an extremely hard burn to break free of the star’s gravity well and then reach nearly 0.20c, decelerate hard at the far end, then capture a rock or two and boost very hard to meet up with us. One mistake and you’re permanent residents of this system.”

  “We know the risk.” Joe’s expression was resolute, though he had expressed private concerns to Tanis about the danger to her.

  Hilda snorted. “There’s a far safer option. We rotate the ship and fire the engines to slow our approach to the star and break free. We coast to the system’s scattered disk, collect what we need, repair, and then start a standard outsystem slingshot back on course.” She projected her alternate plan on the table’s holo system.

  Earnest shook his head. “That requires a level of certainty that there will be the materials we need to properly fix the ramscoop. Without those, we’ll have to dip into colony supplies to repair it. Even so we may not have what we need without creating industry and I really don’t think there is enough material in this system to do that.”

  “But if Joe doesn’t make his rendezvous then we won’t be able to course correct and make it to New Eden,” Terrance said.
/>   There were somber looks all around and Earnest enlarged the holo. “If we don’t get the lithium, we’ll have to convert the engines to D2-only fusion. It’ll take a few years with what we have on hand, but we’ll be able to correct and make it to Epsilon Eridani.”

  Hilda pulled up data on the system. “A colony is setting up there, but the system is too young and hot for terraforming. It’ll probably take us three hundred-forty five years to drift there.”

  The statement drew a whistle from Joe and an incredulous look from Terrance. “How long will it take to get to New Eden if Joe’s plan works and we get the lithium?” he asked.

  Joe adjusted the display. “Just under one hundred seventy-two years.”

  Terrance shook his head. “This is going to mess things up. Our timetable will be drastically altered.”

  “Our total journey will take roughly ninety-two years longer than expected.” Earnest nodded his head in agreement. “It’s unfortunate.”

  “Is it a large concern?” Tanis asked. “Most everyone will be in stasis for the duration. For all intents and purposes they won’t care that it took an extra hundred years to get to New Eden.”

  “There’s the Dakota, or whatever the next GSS ship is,” Captain Andrews said. “If we take that long to get there, they’ll take it from us.”

  “So we don’t let anyone know, not until it’s too late for them to beat us to the system. We can even send a probe from here along our original path and speed sending updates as though nothing went wrong.” The solution seemed obvious to Tanis.

  “There are other concerns,” Terrance said.

  Andrews cast an appraising look at Terrance; Tanis spotted the tells they both gave when having a protracted Link discussion. The captain nodded and Terrance slowly looked into the eye of each person sitting around the table.

  “What I’m about to tell you does not leave this room. I want it classified at the highest security level in your internal systems.”

  Everyone nodded, though Tanis knew that only Joe, Hilda and Mick were unaware of the Intrepid’s secret cargo—and the colony’s secret purpose on New Eden.

  “This ship is carrying the technology to manufacture picotech—pico bots, to be precise.” Terrance let the bomb drop without any further preamble.

  Nanotech robots were part of everyday life. The tiny machines were everywhere, and in everything. Picotech bots would be a thousand times smaller than nanotech. In the previous millennium they had been the holy grail of a million research projects.

  Much of the research had been done on Juno, but the picotech broke containment and a pico-swarm devoured half the asteroid before fail-safes destroyed it and the swarm.

  It wasn’t the first pico disaster and afterward every government in the system placed a ban on all picotech research. Many corporations still carried out secret research at the edges of the Sol system, but with all of the data from Juno lost, most had started from scratch, and no breakthroughs had been made—at least none that were publicized.

  “When you say carrying the technology, you mean functional tech?” Joe asked.

  Earnest nodded. “Indeed. I worked it out over a decade before we left Mars. But it was impossible to do any manufacturing in the Sol system.”

  Mick sat back and ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this.” He looked at the captain. “I think I had a right to know. Hell, the colonists have a right to know.”

  “It’s not like we’re going to make pico on New Eden, we’ll use one of the other planets for it. However, the tech is quite safe,” Terrance said.

  “Yeah, I bet that’s what the guys on Juno thought before their bodies were consumed as raw resources, before half the world was eaten by the things.”

  Earnest scowled at Mick. “Those researchers had no idea what they were doing. My pico is rock solid. In fact, I’m certain I can use it to create femtotech.”

  Terrance shot Earnest a quelling glance. “That’s just conjecture at this point. We have a lot of work to do with expanding on the picotech.”

  Hilda whistled. “Now I get why we’re running such a massive mission, and why this ship is reusable. It makes so much more sense now.” She smiled as she looked around the table. “Don’t you realize? New Eden will become the economic center of the human sphere!”

  Terrance smiled. “That’s the plan at least.”

  “This is nuts!” Mick stood up, his eyes flashing with rage. “I can’t believe you lied to everyone. This colony is a one way trip to death.”

  “If we don’t die here first,” Joe muttered.

  he said privately to Tanis.

  she replied.

  “Mick,” Captain Andrew’s voice boomed. “Sit. Down. Now.”

  For a moment it looked like the first mate would comply, then he took a step backward. “No, hell no. There’s no way. I have to stop you.”

  He turned and ran toward the conference room door. He was two steps away when the stun shot from Tanis’s pistol hit him. His body fell to the floor and Joe rose to check on the man.

  “He seems to be OK. Nothing a painkiller won’t fix when he wakes.”

  Hilda looked pale; her voice trembled. “Why did he do that?”

  “There’s no record of mental instability in his record,” Tanis said, after looking it up on the bridge net.

  “I don’t know.” Andrews shook his head as he looked at the mate. “I’ve worked with him for over three hundred years, seen him do some death defying things, I didn’t think he’d react like this.”

  Two servitors entered and lifted the first mate. Tanis sent them instructions to put the man into stasis for the time being. It was a mystery which would have to wait. It wasn’t lost on her that she was now third from the top of the Intrepid’s command structure as a result.

  “This doesn’t change the fact that time is wasting,” Earnest said, apparently unfazed by the first mate’s mental breakdown. “It’s only a matter of time before someone else works out what I’ve discovered. We need the fastest route to New Eden.”

  “Then it’s Joe’s plan.” Captain Andrews fixed the commander with his unflappable gaze. “You’re sure you’re up to this, son?”

  Tanis looked between Joe and the captain. Joe appeared convinced, but Tanis saw the slightest bit of tension around his eyes. He didn’t want her to come. Not like he would have a choice.

  “I am, sir. However—” he glanced at Tanis “—I think I should do this alone.”

  “I find myself in agreement,” the captain nodded. “With Mick out of the picture, I need you here, Tanis.”

  Tanis knew that anything she said would sound petulant and selfish. The captain was right; she should stay behind. Even so, she wracked her mind for a reason she should go with Joe.

  Bob entered the conversation.

  “I find myself in agreement with Bob.” Earnest cast a puzzled look at his holo displays. “For some reason, with Major…err…Lieutenant Colonel Richards on the mission, I project a significantly higher chance of success. Perhaps due to Angela’s abilities.”

  “Glad to know I’m wanted.” Tanis tried to cut the tension.

 

  “She’s not enhanced to handle the high g burns.” Joe shook his head.

  Tanis said to Joe.

  He cast her a searching look, found her hand again and nodded.

  “Ok, we’ll go together.”

  “I’m not sure about this.” The captain shook his head. “We’re having trouble regaining control of parts of the ship and there are still rogue servitors and bots all over. I may need you here.”

  “You have Ouri and Amy, and don’t forget that I organized a Marine division under Major Brandt. They’re more than capable of regaining control of the ship.”

  <
They will be sufficient,> Bob said, his tone more forceful that usual.

  The captain cast a quizzical look at the ceiling; Tanis suspected he was inquiring about the AI’s strong insistence that she go. She also wondered why.

  Angela said.

  Captain Andrews eventually nodded. “You’ll go. I’ll have Ouri get the Marine company out of stasis and we’ll take care of things here.”

  “It’s settled, then.” Earnest shuffled his hyfilm together. “Tanis and Joe will take the Excelsior; it’s our fastest heavy tug, which can boost a billion tons to 0.20c. You’ll need to begin your initial burn in six hours and thirty nine minutes.”

  THE LONG DARK

  STELLAR DATE: 3241791 / 08.16.4163 (Adjusted Gregorian)

  LOCATION: GSS Intrepid, Bridge Conference Room

  REGION: LHS 1565, 0.45 AU from stellar primary

  19:46 hours to Intrepid escape burn

  6:28 hours to end of Excelsior mission launch window

  Abby and her team had been hard at work during the meeting. Thankfully, one of the first systems brought back online was the dorsal maglev. The train would shave at least an hour off their journey.

  Joe and Tanis had visited an armory on the way to the train and both carried pulse rifles. Joe found light body armor while Tanis had opted not to add to her flow-armor, other than to strap two sidearms to her hips and throw a bandolier of power cells over her shoulder.

  They sat beside each other as the train took off toward a station that would place them six kilometers from the A1 dock where the Excelsior waited.

  With all the other maglev trains offline an easier route would have been to take a shuttle from the A3 dock, but when Collins left he had destroyed the other ships and much of the dock.

  It was going to be a long hike to the Excelsior.

  They hadn’t spoken much since the decision to include Tanis and her discomfort at the silence was turning to annoyance. In the military, rank dictated decision-making. If you had a lower pay-grade, you shut up and did what you were told. The extra dynamic of a relationship added exhausting nuance to every conflict.

 

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