by Ricky Sides
The second breakthrough that they would have needed to invent is that, instead of the drive pointing backwards to generate thrust, the field that it generated would be a rotating electromagnetic field that went around in an oval like a tank tread or bicycle chain. Imagine that the drive in the Peacekeeper is like the pedals of a bicycle. The field it generates is like a chain that goes down from the Peacekeeper to the ground, then along the ground backwards, and then back up to the drive. And since the field goes along the ground, it is like a tank tread pushing on the ground generating forward thrust! And you only need to twist the field sideways to change your direction.
I came up with two terms for the two effects of the engine. ‘Engine Lift Thrust’ was how hard the engine pushed the chain down towards the ground, thus providing lift. The turning of the bicycle chain field was the ‘Engine Forward Thrust Cycle’. The Peacekeeper pilots would have to have a separate control for these two thrusts or a single control where they input height and speed, which the computer would then translate into the two thrust elements.
The controls would work something like this. Say you set the dials or the computer determined to use 50% power for lift so that you flew at lower than maximum height. Then, you can cycle the forward thrust field up to 2 times to get 2 x 50% or 100% of your power applied to forward thrust. If you are at 25% lift power, then you can cycle your electronic tread at 4 times or 400% so that you can get maximum forward speed. However, note that the max engine lift thrust percent, times the max forward thrust cycle percent cannot go over 100%. There is no going at 100% power AND 500% forward cycle for example -- the engine would blow.
So there you have it. Picture the field generated by the Peacekeeper drive as a bicycle chain going down to the ground. How hard the drive pushes the chain straight down determines how high you go, and since the field only spreads out similar to a laser beam, it doesn’t dissipate much the higher you go, making the power requirements reasonable. The field also goes around in a circle to provide traction along the ground. There is a maximum speed because the engine can only put out 100% power in total, so just like gears on a bicycle, depending on which gear you use determines how fast around your feet can go on the pedals, and you can only go so fast around depending on the power of your legs.
Some of the ramifications of this are quite interesting. As you read the novels, you’ll see a progression in how the peacekeepers discover new uses for the capabilities of the drive. It is not unlike Einstein after he created his Theory of Relativity. There followed many new discoveries and ideas, such as gravitational lensing, time dilation, black holes, and even new possibilities like worm holes and time travel that followed long after the theory’s creation, all by new applications of the logic of the theory. So also in my collaboration with Ricky on the ramifications of these two simple ideas, I think you’ll see many more novels in the peacekeeper saga that unveil surprising new aspects of this ever fascinating technology. Good luck and good hunting to the peacekeepers!
For the mathematically minded - calculating the Peacekeeper drive
1) Draw a flying saucer with an oval bottom, representing the Peacekeeper.
2) Give it a radius of r = 5 feet. This is the engine’s drive pointing down. The power of the drive is spread out by Pi times r squared or 25 Pi or 78.5.
3) Now draw a vertical line down from each end of the Peacekeeper so that you have a cylinder. The lines going down are 200 feet (the height of the Peacekeeper). The circle at the bottom (ground) has a radius of 5 feet.
4) Draw another line down from the left of the Peacekeeper and angled slightly to the left. Mark that angle as 1 degree. Where the left line (a diagonal) hits the ground, complete the triangle with a horizontal line and that leg is “delta r”.
5) By trigonometry, Tangent of 1 degree = “delta r” divided by 200. So delta r = 200 Tan 1. Delta r = 3.5 feet.
6) So the drive, spreading out by 1 degree on each side, creates a circle on the ground that has a radius of 5+3.5 feet or 8.5 feet.
7) Thus the area of the circle on the ground is Pi times 8.5 squared = 227
8) The ratio of the new circle’s area on the ground compared to the starting circle area (step 2) = 227/78.5 = 2.9
9) So the drive dissipates by about a factor of 3 going down from 200 feet.
Note: versus an inverse square law where 200x200 = 40,000 dissipation
Pol Responds:
Hello,
My good friend, Mr. Bob Lee, is quite close to discovering all the secrets of the peacekeeper drive technology. The one thing that Bob has yet to discover is what happens to the Huxley alloy when it is exposed to the electromagnetic drive field. The field reacts with the alloy as a sort of supercharger that aids in providing both lift and forward momentum. In layman's terms, the drives generate additional power that the hull feeds back into the drive system. This reaction cannot add to the battery power, because the energy is channeled back into the field being generated. It never reaches the battery because it is contained outside the hull.
Now that my friend has the missing key, I’ll let him describe the math if he’s so inclined. I wanted to do so myself, but Jim is glaring at me.
Bob, you’ve intuitively gotten so much right that I couldn’t resist giving you the key to complete comprehension. You’ve earned the right to know the truth.
Sincerely,
Pol Bleakman
Bob Lee Responds:
Dear Mr. Bleakman:
Ah, most excellent, and thank you for the information! It seems that I also missed explaining a few other discrepancies, which were pointed out by my friend and author Mr. Ricky Sides. Apparently in book 4, it was explained that the emitter arrays needed to be angled to provide push and guidance. And in both books 4 and 7, the beam is described as spreading out over water, but at increased altitude, the beam is widened sufficiently so that it is possible to maintain stable flight using less energy than is required closer to the surface.
I think I can reconcile these for the readers as follows. Since the beam spreads out by only 1 degree (after you improved the drive to allow higher flight), the new beam was now too narrow for a firm foundation at low altitudes. Thus, you ALSO needed to send a portion of the beam out angled to the sides, front and back to provide stability. Readers can think of them like outriggers. When you provided these extra beams at low altitude, pointing out at an angle, they also provided push as you would expect. However, these extra beams used up energy. At higher altitudes, with the main beam spreading out more, you did not need these “outrigger beams” and so the drive is more efficient.
Now that I have the secret, if only I had some of that wonderful alloy -- Jetsons here I come!
Most thankfully,
Mr. Bob Lee
The Peacekeepers
Descent into Madness.
Book 5
By Ricky Sides
Copyright © 2009
Cover art by Todd Aune
Preface
Four years had passed since the night of the quakes. In the weeks leading up to that horrible night, the world had been devastated by natural disasters of unprecedented scope and fury. Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, gargantuan hurricanes of unbelievable strength, swarms of killer tornados, and thunderstorms on a magnitude never before seen by man had overwhelmed the people of the world. All over the world, untold millions died as a result of these natural disasters. Nations struggled to cope with the sheer magnitude of the problems. Some governments collapsed when they simply could not cope with one disaster after another besetting their nations.
At the height of these calamities, the American intelligence agencies reported to the government that a rogue nation, with nuclear capability, was planning an attack on the United States to take advantage of the weakened condition of the nation. Soon the nuclear nations of the world picked sides and moved their troops into hardened sites to protect them as the nuclear clock wound down.
A few civilians knew about the impending attack and took
measures to survive the nuclear confrontation, but as the moment for the war approached, the earthquakes began before a single nuclear missile could be launched. There was no precedent in existence for the earthquakes that occurred in that moment. They occurred on a global scale, and the survivors soon discovered that they seemed to be especially bad in the locations of all military bases. The loss of life that night was horrendous.
In the aftermath of those earthquakes, the beleaguered United States government collapsed. Rumors had it that all senior government officials had entered hardened bunkers to ride out the nuclear war and never emerged. It was believed that the unprecedented earthquakes that had affected every square foot of the planet to one degree or another, had destroyed these bunkers. While some sections of the country seemed to be almost totally destroyed, others seemed relatively untouched. Things were especially bad in the biggest cities where the people had little knowledge of how to survive without their infrastructure. In rural areas, where people were accustomed to working vegetable gardens and otherwise leaned more toward self-reliance, the people faired better.
In the weeks that followed the night of the quakes, three men and one woman played key roles in the birth of the peacekeepers. Tim Wilison met Patricia Huxley who had been one of the developers working on a top secret government project. Traveling together, they found the secret prototype vehicle, which was later named the Peacekeeper.
The vehicle was an ultra modern form of transportation designed to carry Special Forces troops into battle. The ship was ten feet tall, twenty-five feet wide and fifty feet long. The vessel utilized electro magnetic propulsion and flew through the air. It was armed with the latest in laser weapons technology, and powered by solar energy. The hull of the ship was made of a special alloy that Patricia’s father had invented. That grayish-white alloy worked as a super efficient solar collector and stored the electrical energy in the large battery of the ship. That battery was five times more efficient than anything on the commercial market. The alloy was also bullet proof, to a degree.
Tim and Patricia took the ship from storage in Missouri, and decided to travel to Alabama, to seek out Tim’s brother Jim. Along the way they had encounters with men they termed marauders. Those people were willing to kill anyone to take what they wanted from the survivors. After several such encounters, Patricia overheard a radio conversation in which the ship was referred to as the Peacekeeper. The name struck the couple as appropriate so they adopted its use.
In Chicago, Illinois, an army veteran named Pete Damroyal had organized a few hundred survivalists. Things were so bad in Chicago that Pete decided to return to Alabama where he had lived a few years. It was during that period of his life that Pete had met Jim Wilison, and trained him in the art of survival. He had his people to board a hodgepodge of transports and they headed for north Alabama, hoping to find a better environment. But they were pursued by a large band of outlaws led by a traitor who had turned on the survivalists.
Jim Wilison tried to find his brother Tim in the aftermath of the quakes. The martial arts, and survival expert was gone for weeks, but he finally returned to Athens, Alabama, a few days after Pete had arrived. He located Pete, but during their reunion, the outlaws who had pursued the survivalists caught up with them and launched an all out attack. The Illinois survivalists fought off the attack, and while the outlaws were regrouping, the survivalists made a run for Jim’s farm. Nevertheless, the outlaws followed them to the farm and a battle soon followed.
In the Peacekeeper, Patricia intercepted communications being made by the marauders. In a desperate flight to reach the farm before the outlaws could slaughter his brother, Tim poured on the speed on the harrowing journey across northeast Alabama to the city of Athens.
At the height of the battle, Tim and Patricia arrived in the Peacekeeper and defeated the enemy tanks with the firepower of their ship. That night around a campfire, the key people who would form the peacekeepers spoke of using the ship to defend other Americans being targeted by the outlaw segments of society. Jim was nominated and elected to become the captain of the ship. Tim would be the pilot. Patricia, a former child prodigy who specialized in computer programs and communications, would serve as their communications and computer specialist. Pete would serve as their weapons expert and gunner. Bill Young, Pete’s right hand man among the survivalists, joined as well. So did Lacey Carteen, the woman Jim was planning to marry. This could be said to be the real birth of the peacekeepers, for now the organization had a structure and the ship had a crew.
A couple of days later, the entire group of survivalists who’d followed Pete from Chicago to Athens, voted to become peacekeepers as well. A talented Sergeant Jack Wilcox, volunteered to come aboard with a hand picked team to become the first strike force of the peacekeepers. These men would provide security for the ship and take on missions where ground forces were needed. They were in effect the equivalent of Special Forces, and had been specially trained to handle a myriad of mission types from urban warfare to deep woods combat.
Maggie Peterson was the final addition to the crew that night. Maggie was an attractive woman in her mid-thirties with short black hair worn in a short shag. Maggie had been a trauma care specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She was known for her volatile temper and her occasional unorthodox approach to saving lives. She had been brought up on charges upon three separate occasions for deviating from protocol. In each case, her unorthodox approach saved the lives of her patients whereas following the protocols would have failed to do so, therefore, the Chief of Staff ordered the incorporation of her new techniques into standard treatment protocols. Maggie would be the crew’s doctor. Maggie and the medics assigned to the strike force team saved the lives of various crewmembers upon several occasions during the first four years of the peacekeeper’s history.
The peacekeeper base was established on Jim’s one hundred acre farm that he had bought the same day he’d found Pete in Athens. He’d bought the place from Bob and Sarah Baker. That base would become known simply as Base 1 to the peacekeepers. The people of the base were housed in below ground family oriented dwellings constructed from modules of prefabricated storm shelters of varying sizes. These units were custom designed for each family and if not luxurious, they were comfortable. The centerpiece of the base was a very large concrete bunker built below ground level. That bunker contained offices, communications equipments and beds sufficient to accommodate all of the Base 1 personnel should the need arise. After its construction, the bunker was covered with dirt and grass seed was sewn as was the case with all of the family dwellings.
The city of Athens provided power and water to the base in exchange for the protection and stability that the organization provided.
Shortly after the base was constructed, Pol Bleakman turned up at Base 1. He was one of the original developers on the project that had created the Peacekeeper. He’d brought with him the components necessary to give the ship an upgrade that would greatly enhance its capabilities. He’d asked to be made a member of the Peacekeeper crew and was accepted. Pol’s addition proved a blessing to the peacekeepers. The brilliant scientist revealed where they might obtain body armor, and working with Patricia, he discovered the secrets of Malcolm Tidwell, who was the weapons development man for the project. They discovered the minigun that had been secretly installed, without the permission of the head of the development team, and how to access the unit.
Pol also created the first two peacekeeper drones by utilizing the two scale models of the ship they found at the Hannibal, Missouri, development center where the team had first built and tested the ship. He armed the drones with miniaturized lasers, cameras and an audio system, so that the drones could relay messages to people on the ground. He also manufactured lasers for the base defense system. Pol supervised the reopening of the California factory where the alloy hull of the Peacekeeper had been fabricated. Presses located in that facility had formed the alloy. Pol discovered that additional drones
could be manufactured and he worked to help the peacekeepers build the additional drones.
The crew also discovered that the government had stolen some of the development team’s work and launched a black project, code named phoenix rising. This doomsday project was to build a secret fighter group that could operate after a nuclear war, and would not be dependant upon normal fuel supplies. Although they were inferior to the top of the line fighters in the American arsenal the fighters would offer a viable alternative should nuclear war be waged. They were relatively cheap to build with a price tag of just four million per unit, as opposed to over one hundred million for the F22-Raptor. Working together, utilizing the supply of alloy and chemicals found at the factory, the two brilliant development scientists Pol, and Patricia helped to form the peacekeeper air force.
By that point in time, the peacekeepers stretched from California to Georgia.
Utilizing almost all of the remaining supply of alloy, Pol oversaw the construction of a battleship drone. That drone was the size of a basketball court, but was tear-shaped with a rounded aft section and a narrower nose, as were the twenty-one foot long fighters.
When the crew of the Peacekeeper located the Saginaw, Michigan, based factory that manufactured the alloy invented by Patricia’s father, a trade arrangement was made. The peacekeepers would receive two very large shipments of the alloy and a percentage of the future alloy production of the factory. In exchange, Pol traded the factory owner the plans for building flying cars that would use the same propulsion system that he had invented for the Peacekeeper, and Patricia helped develop some of the computer software that would make it possible to link to the global positioning system. Reager Industries also got the information on how to construct the revolutionary battery system for utilization in the cars. Pol also explained to the company president and board of directors that the auto applications were just the tip of the iceberg. He mentioned roofing and siding, which could be tied to a battery system and thus power homes.