Black Infinity

by Salvador Mercer

  “He won’t leave his ship unattended, said it was his duty to defend it,” Carter said. “Also, he won’t allow us to take his captain prisoner.”

  “Isn’t that what’s he’s doing on his own ship?” Hill asked.

  “Yes, but he sees that as his business, not ours. Overall, I get the gist that he’s a straight-shooter. It will be only us and the Spetsnaz when we go.”

  “Enough talk, then,” Jules said. “Neil will take your team planetside, and I’ll stay with Maria to help guide you.”

  Carter looked at her closely. “I’m surprised you’re taking second seat on this one.”

  “I’d prefer to go with you and finish what we started, but after yesterday, both Houston and I agree that I need to be ship side in order to coordinate.”

  “Was Houston agreeing with you before or after the attack?” Hill asked for the record.

  “After; it was a sub-part of the text that wasn’t shared. Operational security and all that,” Jules said, less than enthused.

  “Is there something you’re not sharing with us?” Neil asked.

  Jules sighed, taking a moment to meet each of the three gazes peering intently at her. “I had a private discussion with Craig.”

  “Two-way?” Hill asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “It took a while, but we agreed that there may only be one solution to this mess, and it involves me being alive and ready to help him.”

  There was a pause before Neil spoke. “You’re planning something ... something big.”

  “We’ll need approval from Houston, but we’re actually counting on them ordering something like this,” she began. “Black Infinity is monitoring the Jovian planet with the Hubble Two telescope as well as the Kiplinger Array from the asteroid belt. Craig is certain that the attack will not be a one-off.”

  “What do you mean by ‘one-off?’” Hill asked, his head tilting slightly.

  “The basic rotation of Jupiter around its axis is almost ten hours. However, the Great Red Spot, where the disabling attack came from, circles the planet in just under a week. We’re both certain that when it comes around again, it will hit Earth a second time.”

  “You can’t say that,” Hill objected. “Where did the two of you come up with that idea?”

  “Doctor Marjorie Jones actually sent an encoded message to Craig before the strike. She laid out her concerns and Craig came to its logical conclusion. After sharing it with me, I concur.”

  “That’s just great,” Hill said. “So we get whacked a second time?”

  “Not just a second time, but a third, a fourth, and however many times until they decide they don’t need to crush us into the stone age.”

  “You or Doctor Jones?”

  “Jones.”

  “Damn it,” Hill said.

  “What?” Carter asked, not understanding.

  Jules answered for him. “He’d hold out hope that I was wrong, but if this hypothesis is from Marjorie Jones, then he knows we’re screwed.”

  “What else did Doctor Jones anticipate?” Neil asked, wanting to learn more and slightly hurt that his commander had kept this from him till now.

  “The neutrino wave, as written in the scenario, was cone-shaped, based on telemetry gathered from the Moon incident four years ago,” Jules said. “If this hypothesis holds true, then the wave from Jupiter to the Earth was also cone-shaped, although with a very narrow arc ... and this makes sense from a physicist’s point of view.”

  “You’re going to have to educate me on the laws of physics,” Carter stated firmly.

  “No matter how advanced their technology, they have their limitations as well and must follow laws of physics that are known to us,” she explained.

  Neil added, “They must also follow any laws unknown to us as well.”

  “Yes,” Jules agreed. “The laws of physics would support the conservation of energy as well as the propagation of any wave, whether it be radiation, radio, or an unknown signal or energy. To that end, they had to concentrate their wave to hit the Earth and only the Earth. That is why Craig and the Black Infinity are unharmed. They lie outside the width of the wave.”

  “Why didn’t they just blast the Moon, too?” Carter asked.

  “Look, it’s a common misperception that the Moon and Earth are fairly close to each other. Fact of the matter is that the Earth has a diameter of nearly 8,000 miles,” Jules began. “This neutrino wave, and its carrier electro-magnetic pulse, had to cover that width, and I’ll bet that took a lot of energy. The Moon, by comparison, is nearly 240,000 miles away at any given time. That’s the equivalent of thirty Earth diameters, not an easy scale to achieve if using an energy weapon, since the cone would have to be exponentially larger in order to hit both with the same blast.”

  “Then why not hit the Earth then re-aim and hit the Moon?” Carter asked.

  Jules answered, “That might be like me asking you to shoot half your bullet at one target, and then half at another. Who knows, maybe it will alternate and hit the Moon when it comes back around again ... perhaps it didn’t have enough energy for more than one pulse at a time.

  “It could be that they thought the Moon was barren and devoid of life or technology, and simply ignored it. Then there’s this: perhaps they will wait for the Moon to cross in front of the Earth relative to Jupiter. Then they get two targets for the price of one. There could be any number of reasons why they’re doing it this way.”

  “You’re starting to make, like, very scary sense,” Hill said.

  “Agreed, too logical and depressing,” Carter complained, a rarity for the man. “Who knows what they have planned next?”

  “What do you propose, then?” Neil asked him.

  Carter looked serious. “Let’s do our part while we still can, before they turn their weapon towards Mars.”

  “I don’t think they can, and I don’t think we can,” Jules said, cryptically.

  “Explain.”

  “Their technology is impressive, but their logic and planning seem lacking,” Jules began. When no one spoke, she continued. “Nothing we speculate can be proven one-hundred percent, but based on their technology, I’d say that if they hit Mars with that weapon of theirs, it would damage if not destroy their own base. I feel relatively confident that we’re safe here, at least from that.”

  “And your other comment,” Neil chimed in.

  “We can’t move until the Spetsnaz receive their orders. Last we heard, our intelligence services were working to rectify that problem. I had a very short conversation with their commander on board the Red Star, and he was determined that they would stay on mission. I also heard the translation that the second-in-command of their Spetsnaz gave you, Major Carter, and that didn’t sound like they were going to cede the ground they took ... not without orders from Moscow.”

  “You’re saying we sit up here until Hell freezes over?” Carter asked.

  “No, I’m saying, we make sure Hell does freeze over, then we move,” Jules said, gracing the trio with a rare smile.

  “Then we celebrate,” Doctor Hill said.

  No one laughed.

  “Commander, I think you better see this,” Dakos came across their internal communication system.

  “What is it?”

  “Look planetside and pull up the radar track on monitor three.”

  Jules twisted and floated a few feet to the nearest monitor and changed the data stream from log entries to the radar screen pulsing away. A distinct ping was heard as it hit something metallic exiting the Martian atmosphere.

  “What the hell is that?” Neil asked, looking out a portside window towards the planet.

  “Where did that come from, Dakos?” Jules asked, pulling up the tracking history and seeing it at the same time that her engineer answered.

  “Bravo Target, Commander.”

  Jules pushed off and went to a second porthole window, and Carter backed away so she could look out. There was a faint black object barely visible against the planet�
��s orange background, and once it crossed into space, it was lost to sight. “Is that a missile?”

  “I don’t think so, Commander,” Dakos said. “We register no exhaust trail, though the object is highly thermal. It’s showing clearly on infrared.”

  “Can we get a visual on it using the telescope?” she asked.

  “I got MAX working it now,” Dakos said. “It’s moving at a high speed so give it a second, so the servo-motors can catch up to its trajectory.”

  “Speaking of trajectories, where is it headed?” Neil asked.

  “Unknown,” Dakos said. “Waiting on MAX.” It took only about a half minute before Dakos answered. “MAX has its trajectory calculated. Destination is Earth. Visual is on screen now; I manually overrode your monitor.”

  All four of them looked at the other wall where a still video frame, on the sole monitor, clearly showed a black orb. It was egg shaped and eerily too familiar.

  “What is that?” Hill asked. “It’s them, isn’t it?”

  “I think you’re right, Doctor,” Neil said.

  “Actually, Major Carter was right.” Jules said.

  “How so, Commander?”

  “Hell has frozen over.”

  Chapter 16

  Rescue

  BLACK INFINITY

  Moon orbit

  In the near future, Year 4, Day 191

  “ABOUT DAMN TIME, HOUSTON. I read you loud and clear now,” Craig said, joy evident in his voice.

  “It’s been rough,” Rock said over the radio. “You have been receiving our simple texts, though?”

  “Those came through, yes, sir,” Craig answered. “But it’s not the same as hearing a voice.”

  “We concur,” Rock said. “Be advised that your sons are alive and well. We’ve located both of them. John isn’t too happy at being grounded, but they’re doing well. I thought you should know that.”

  “Thank you, sir, it’s good to hear.”

  “How are you and the crew holding up?” Rock asked.

  “As well as can be. Listen, Rock, I hope you don’t mind me being informal at a time like this?”

  “No, go ahead Craig. Our recorders are shot to hell anyway, so this is off the record.”

  “Good, but these ’nauts are rookies. They work like hell and are the best damn people in every way imaginable, but they’re not the same as a flight crew. I hope I don’t sound like I’m complaining, but you need to know this.”

  “Completely understood, Craig, but you also understand we had no warning and no contingency plan to swap a crew out under these conditions.”

  “I get that,” Craig said. “These folks up here are great engineers and programmers, but they’ve been pressed into service, and quite frankly, they’re scared.”

  “A lot of folks are afraid down here, too,” Rock said. “We read your latest reports and we have news for you.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  “I hate to ask this of you, Craig, but we need you.”

  “Yup, I knew it.”

  There was a long silence, and then Marge spoke, “Craig, it’s completely your call. We can try to launch an emergency transport your way, but the risk would be fairly high.”

  “Don’t bother,” Craig said. “I won’t allow you to entertain it for a single second. There is no way you’re going to put a single life at risk on my account. I may not like it, but I’m in, so let’s skip the pleasantries and get down to business.”

  Another pause and then Rock spoke. “You’re going to Jupiter.”

  Craig scratched an itch on his arm absentmindedly from where his suit oftentimes chafed him and asked, “Alone?”

  “Of course not. In fact, we have an idea that you may like,” Marge said.

  “Does it involve Commander Monroe?” Craig asked.

  “It does. How did you know?”

  “I didn’t, but while you were putting Earth back together again, Jules and I had a rather interesting discussion and we came to only one conclusion.”

  “Which was?”

  “That you’d order the Black Infinity to Jupiter by way of Mars.”

  Marge confirmed the thought. “You both are most astute.”

  “We’ve had the best training.” Craig chuckled. “You also forget that Jules is an orbital mathematician and calculated the best trajectory from Earth to Jupiter, and it included a flyby of Mars.”

  “We forgot no such thing,” Marge said. “I think it’s almost a mathematical impossibility that, at this exact moment in history, the planets are even aligned for such a transit.”

  “Either that, or divine providence.”

  “Whatever it is, we must take advantage,” Rock said. “We don’t know how wide the neutrino wave is from Earth, but we’re sure it’s not more than 25,000 miles outside the Earth’s radius.”

  “Sounds like you’re talking geosynchronous,” Craig said.

  “Yeah,” Rock said. “The satellites on either side of Earth relative to Jupiter survived intact. The ones in front and behind were fried.”

  “So, this thing has a narrow but long reach,” Craig noted.

  “Exactly. This means that, in less than three days, the orbit of the Moon will take it and you into the path of the cone and disable your ship.”

  Craig let that sink in. “My ship, eh?”

  “It is now,” Rock said. “There is the issue of rations as well. We need to leave enough for the remaining moon-base crewmembers to survive, until we can effect a successful rescue. This means we have limited provisions at this exact moment, so the plan is to send you to Mars . . . alone, then pick up one or two crewmembers and head to Jupiter.”

  “Which members?”

  “We’ll decide that later; we’ll have nearly six weeks,” Rock said.

  “And then?”

  “Look, Craig, do you really want me to spell it out for you?”

  “Nah, Rock, I wouldn’t do that to you, though I thought setting off a nuclear device required presidential approval.”

  “It does, and you’ll have it,” Rock said. “The admiral down here has said the fact that you’ll have full autonomy over both weapons will forever be classified. It’s not protocol to allow that kind of variable, but circumstances have forced our hand.”

  “Understood. Is there anything else?”

  Rock let the man’s words sink in for a moment and then decided to give him some space and time to digest it, despite the fact that they had been out of communications for a couple of days. “No. We can reconvene our chat at 0700 tomorrow morning. I want you to get some rest. In the meantime, prepare your technicians for a trip back to our moon-base.”

  “Consider it done. I’ll discuss this further with you tomorrow . . . sir.”

  “Roger that; Houston out.”

  BLACK INFINITY

  Moon orbit

  In the near future, Year 4, Day 193

  “THREE, TWO, ONE, IGNITION,” the computer voice said.

  Craig felt the gravitational force of the rocket motors pressing him back in his seat and knew he’d be that way for a considerable time. The military wasn’t kidding when they set up the rocket assist motors to give the ship’s plasma drive a running start.

  “Well, we didn’t explode.”

  “Roger your last, Black Infinity,” Lisa said.

  “Did you also copy that I said this seat isn’t comfortable?” Craig half-joked.

  Lisa was curt but polite. “Also received, Commander.”

  Marge had her headset on and spoke to Craig. “We’d like to tell you that the world is watching, but I’m afraid there’s probably only a few dozen people viewing your takeoff right now.”

  “I prefer it that way,” Craig said, watching as the Moon’s gravity curved his ship slightly, pointing it towards Mars as his escape velocity was easily achieved.

  “We’re doing the right thing,” Marge said.

  “I know we are,” Craig replied. “What’s our status back there? Are we making much progress o
n replacing our electronics?”

  Rock fielded this question, sensing that Craig was eager to talk about anything other than his boost from the Moon’s and Earth’s gravity wells. “It’s alright, Craig. We have most of our emergency services up and running, as well as our military assets, though I daresay no one will be watching television or using their smartphones anytime soon.”

  Craig chuckled. “I guess it will take some time to swap out a trillion micro-processors.”

  “That it will ... not to mention the probable surge in births nine months from now,” Rock said. What he didn’t say was that, despite their quick reaction and over an hour of warning time, there had been fatalities worldwide of over ten thousand souls. That number had quickly risen tenfold as the effects of non-working electrical equipment were felt, reaching six figures.

  Medical devices couldn’t be put online quickly enough, emergency calls weren’t fielded, heaters and furnaces failed, transportation ground to a halt stranding millions away from their homes and loved ones, and the entire supply chain for everything from food and clothing to coffee and hardware was interrupted in the proverbial blink of an eye. The disadvantage of such a complex supply chain was that, once turned off, there was a serious lack of inventory waiting in the wings that could be utilized.

  Each country had ensured that its military, government offices, and critical support and emergency agencies were back up and running quickly, but for most of the civilian world, it was literally a logistical Armageddon on a global scale.

  Shortages of fundamental items quickly became acute and martial law was being enacted in almost every country on the planet. Things would get much worse before they got better, and Rock wasn’t going to put that kind of pressure on the man at a time like this. He didn’t need to know how bad it was; he didn’t need to be told that he was responsible for saving the entire world.

  “I have direct comms with Red Horizon,” Craig said. “I’ve set the constant feed on auto so that they can monitor this in as close to real time as possible.”

  “Great news,” Rock said.

  “Any updates on the alien object?”