First Interstellar

by D. W. Patterson

  "This is preposterous!" shouted Council Member Gomez. "We are all supposed to stop our lives and prepare for this movement immediately? Are you crazy Martin?"

  "Council Member Gomez I assure you I am not crazy. And the Starway Corporation is not crazy. We have waited for years for this highway to the stars to be finished haven't we? So that we will be a real member of a historic undertaking? Not to mention the remunerative value such a completed Starway would mean to the settlement."

  “Mr. Martin I realize that a completed Starway would mean a lot for this settlement. But our agreement with the Starway Corporation calls for it to be completed here at our present location. Where are we going to get the money to make this move? You are talking about a move of roughly forty-two thousand AU. Have you any idea how long that will take?”

  “Yes Councilman I do have an idea of how long that will take. We will be working on this move for over six and a half years. I realize it is a gigantic undertaking. But it is necessary if we want to remain a relay station on the Starway. And if we don't then I have to ask you a question. How will we fill our energy needs if the beam relay station goes offline?”

  “I'm sure we have some options,” said Gomez weakly.

  “Not at the power levels we need to keep this settlement running at full productivity. And what do we do when our industrial complex goes down? If we can't trade with the other settlements, we get no money. If we get no money, we can't buy what we need to keep going. Our economical well-being is intimately linked to the other settlements we trade with. They need what we supply, we need what they supply. Do you really want to throw a monkey wrench into that setup?”

  “Well no, of course not, I just don't like being told what to do unless we vote on it.”

  “Okay, then why doesn't the council take a vote?”

  The council voted four to one in favor of the move.

  It was almost two months later that Luis and his Chief Engineer had the relay station ready to go.

  “Another two weeks says Wilson over at settlement engineering,” said the Chief Engineer. “They won't be ready to start until then.”

  “But we're ready?” asked Luis.

  “Yeah. Anytime. As soon as the settlement's ready all we have to do is change the lenses' pivots and we're off. Like a solar sail. The combined laser beams impinging on the pivoted lenses will easily be enough to maintain any acceleration the fusion ship can give the settlement cylinder.”

  A year and a half later.

  “They should be passing here soon,” said the Chief Engineer.

  “Is the experiment ready?” asked Luis Martin.

  The settlement still had a long way to go but the Starway Centauri would be passing their location before they had finished the move.

  “Yes the experiment is up and running. As the Starway Centauri passes by they will be sending us and we will be sending them a signal at one millisecond intervals. We and they will receive and measure these pulses and see how well they agree with the time dilation predictions of general relativity.”

  “How about the beam redirection?”

  “We are as prepared as possible. The working beam lenses will redirect the beam to the ship's light sail as it passes relay station thirteen ninety-four, taking over for that relay station. The Em's have done the calculations and simulations. I expect we will do at least as well as the stations before us.”

  “They're in the deceleration phase now, aren't they?” asked Luis.

  “That's right. They've been decelerating now for about half a year our time.”

  “I wonder how well that went?”

  14

  It was time to decelerate the ship. This was a well-planned maneuver, it should proceed automatically, overseen by the volunteers and the Em's. But Lindsey was uneasy. The ring had to be turned as the ceiling would become the floor during deceleration if not. This would require many of the crew to prepare, the robots could not do it all. Yet there were still too many aboard not taking the changeover seriously and not getting their jobs done.

  The years of flying time had taken a toll on many of the crew members. Some had essentially drifted away into their own worlds, sporadically participating in their assigned duties and interaction with others. Many had joined a ship-wide role-playing game that had deteriorated into an us versus them mentality.

  Jason was a game player. He was an Auggie, an augmented reality enthusiast since his teen years. This gave him an advantage over those that viewed the game through their Annies. He was always plugged into the game even when he was busy with his duties.

  He was busy on the agricultural deck making sure that the plant holders would pivot when the changeover came. The plant holders would self pivot as their center of gravity had a preferential direction. The pivoting mechanism was locked now but would be unlocked automatically during the changeover.

  Jason was boringly checking the mechanism of yet another plant holder when he saw something out of the corner of his eye, his augmented eye. What he saw was an overlay from the game computer onto Jason's augmented circuits. What he saw wasn't really there but part of the game.

  He went into action. He slowly drew his vetting wand from his carry pouch. The wand was vetted by the computer running the game to logon a player. This could have been done with an embedded capsule under the player's skin but for once Jason used a “real” prop.

  As he looked down at the wand it became a directed energy weapon. Jason always used it at the lowest setting, he liked to collect points not kills. The quarry moved again. It was a phase-shifter. A walk through walls type of alien that surprised its victims by appearing suddenly and attacking.

  Jason ducked. He crawled his way carefully and quietly to the main aisle of the growing room. The phase-shifter had disappeared but Jason knew the tell-tale signs that preceded its appearance. A slight opacity of the air announced the arrival of the phase-shifter as well as a distinct buzzing sound that was difficult for a normie or normal person to hear. But Jason could hear it easily.

  Jason was backing down the main aisle still in a crouch. He wanted to work his way around the perimeter of the room and come up behind the phase-shifter when it next appeared. He was almost at the wall when a prickling sensation on his skin alerted him to his quarries position.

  Behind him!

  He pivoted and rolled to the other side of the aisle while raising his weapon. His trigger finger twitched and the phase-shifter was caught in a mid-air lunge. The energy from the weapon deflected the alien to the other side of the aisle. It was alive but stunned.

  Jason stood over his target, placed the wand back in his pocket and the unconscious phase-shifter disappeared.

  He accessed his game points through his mind link and smiled. He was in fifth place and rising fast. He left the room without finishing his work, he had done enough for one day.

  Ajax knew it was his fault. He wasn't a leader. Being a CEO was easy, especially if it was your money that bought the company. Sit around a conference table and listen to others argue and then do what you had already decided to do.

  But motivating people was hard. Understanding other people's motivations was even harder. Ajax understood now why men were trained for leadership. They might have some natural ability but that had to be enhanced and tested.

  How am I going to get these people motivated, he wondered. We only have two days until deceleration and if Lindsey is right we aren't prepared. Maybe if I just explain the difficulties we face during the rest of the mission they will police themselves.

  Ajax didn't like public speaking but he didn't have any other choice. Time was limited.

  The cafeteria which doubled as an assembly hall was set up for the speech. It was just possible to get everyone on the ship into the room though not everyone would be there. Some were too busy with other duties. But the talk would be heard throughout the ship and on all the Annies for those not attending. Ajax had sent out a terse corporate order requiring everyone to be at the speech in pers
on or listen to it live, preferably.

  Ajax began haltingly.

  “I know that most of you had to make room in your schedule to attend or listen to this talk. But I assure you it is important.

  “I believe we are at a crossroads in this mission. The hard parts are yet to come. One of those difficult parts of the mission is approaching us fast. That is the crossover from acceleration to deceleration.

  “Now we all know that most of the details of the crossover will be handled by the Em's under the monitoring of the volunteers. But I assure you that the simulations show a small but non-negligible chance of something going wrong.”

  The crew in the room visibly tensed.

  “Let me assure you I don't think we will have a problem but we should be prepared. And that brings me to the reason I called this meeting. I have reports and some personal observations of actions by some of the crew that might under the right circumstances cause problems with this or future critical moments in the mission.

  “So I am asking you, the crew of the Starway Centauri, to rededicate yourselves to the success of the mission. Please do not let your personal pursuits become an interference to your corporate duties. And please if you find an area that the planners have overlooked or miscalculated I ask you to take the initiative to correct the problem or bring it to the attention of myself or one of the other mission managers.

  “That is all I wanted to say except to please make sure you have finished all your assigned duties before noon tomorrow as the Em's and volunteers will begin to deploy the deceleration sail at that time. Thank you for your attention.”

  As the room emptied Lindsey came up to Ajax.

  “How'd I do?” asked Ajax.

  “I thought you did well, at least you presented all the necessary announcements.”

  “But?”

  “But you might have come up a little short on motivation.”

  “You think so?”

  “We'll see brother.”

  15

  Despite the dangers, the deployment of the deceleration sail went without a problem. The Em directed sail-bots scurried across the circular sail and had it fully opened and with a stabilizing spin without incident. At thirty kilometers in diameter, the aft sail was smaller than the forward sail having an area of somewhat over fifty-six percent of the forty-kilometer acceleration sail. All this meant that deceleration would not be as great as acceleration. The starship would decelerate at about point-eight Earth gravity.

  The greater part of the forward sail was in the shadow of the aft sail or was pivoted to allow light through instead of reflecting it. The remaining part that was still in the beam had its pivots positioned to reflect the light onto the aft sail at an optimal angle. As the aft sail deployed it was filled with the reflected light from the acceleration sail.

  Because the light was now hitting the forward sail essentially at an angle and because only a small ring-like portion of the sail was being used the imparted acceleration to the forward sail was much less than the rear sail. The ship began to slow noticeably but maximum deceleration wouldn't come until the forward sail was detached.

  In the ship's control room, Ajax and others were monitoring the crossover.

  “We've got reduced acceleration,” said Horace. “The aft sail has deployed successfully. The Ems should be detaching the forward sail shortly. Everyone make sure you are strapped down securely.”

  Then it happened. The forward sail was detached from the ship. Suddenly the deceleration increased to its maximum of eight-tenths of Earth gravity. The change was jarring. Some smaller objects took off for the ceiling and stuck. Then the ring started rotating. A moment of panic affected some of the crew. Eventually, the ring locked into its new position. Everyone in the control room relaxed. Many shaking, unstrapped and stood to stretch.

  Horace called out, “We have maximum deceleration.”

  Ajax said, “Lindsey put up the forward view.”

  There ahead of the ship the forward sail with its bright rim of beam light surrounding a dark interior was still reflecting laser light back to the deceleration sail. Though it wasn't immediately noticeable the sail was slowly receding from the ship and would continue until the ship slowed to a velocity below two-tenths of light speed when the ship's own fusion rocket would take over deceleration duties into the Centauri System.

  Then the reports started coming in. Damage reports of objects that weren't secured or secured improperly had come loose and either damaged themselves or other things. Then the injury list started growing. It was obvious that people had not taken the crossover seriously.

  Ajax looked discouraged.

  “Don't worry brother, the injuries and damage aren't serious.”

  “I'm not worried about this time, I'm worried about the next time.”

  “Sir,” said Winston. “We are coming up on beam relay station thirteen-ninety-five. I have begun the experiment.”

  “Thank you Winston,” said Horace. “Let me know the results.”

  A few minutes and Winston spoke, “Sir I have preliminary results from the experiment. According to my calculations, the theory of time dilation is correct to the twentieth decimal point. I'll have a more accurate number when I run the results through the main computer.”

  “Very well Winston, as we expected.”

  “That's it Ajax,” said Horace. “The last of the beam relay stations are passing now.”

  “Then we are completely on our own from here to Centauri,” said Ajax.

  And I still haven't learned how to lead.

  16

  The Starway Centauri had become the furthest man-made object from Earth. And still, the crew's readiness for duty had not improved, if anything it had become worse.

  Once it became apparent to the crew that neglect of duty would not draw a reprimand, more and more crew members preferred to pursue anything other than their proscribed work. Ajax was at a loss as to how to motivate the crew to do their jobs. Since the crossover from acceleration to deceleration was handled so smoothly by the Em's and volunteers most people were happy to leave it to the computers to manage the ship. But this was not an optimal situation.

  “If we don't get these people motivated,” said Arn Strombecker, “I'm afraid we could pay a severe price should an emergency arise. A much greater loss than we experienced in the crossover can be expected.”

  “You're right Arn,” said Ajax. “But so far I've been unable to figure out how to motivate them. Anyone got any ideas?”

  “You may have to discipline them,” said Horace.

  “I don't know Horace, that would work if we were a military organization or even in the corporate world back in the Solar System. But out here, light-years from Earth why would anyone care whether I fired them or not, they know that we can't let them starve even if they don't do any work.”

  “That's true,” said Lindsey. “But whether they are working or not our lives are inextricably bound with all other lives aboard this ship. One person's slacking affects not only his job but all jobs. You may have no choice but to come up with some kind of discipline. To do otherwise would be negligence.”

  “Thanks Lindsey, I needed more pressure,” said Ajax shaking his head.

  “Just the truth brother.”

  “Well these people like games don't they? After all, they are neglecting their duties many times to play a game. Couldn't we come up with a virtual or augmented reality game that would motivate them to do their duties?”

  “Maybe Horace,” said Ajax. “I think maybe a discussion with the volunteers about such a game might be enlightening.”

  Ajax was discussing the crew problem with Charles, Rachael and Ruth. The three volunteers had taken to casting themselves virtually into the seats around the conference room table. They had resurrected the images of their physical bodies, but with slight improvements of course.

  “So you see,” said Ajax. “You three have been incredibly useful to this mission, as a matter of fact, you've made it app
ear to be such an easy transit that I think the crew is taking their jobs for granted. They don't see the effect of doing them or not doing them to the best of their ability.”

  “That is a problem,” said Charles. “While we can ease the burden of the mission technically and logistically even we could be subject to some mishap. Then the crew would need to be effective and efficient to prevent disaster.”

  Ajax had been surprised at the realism of their projections when they first started attending the meeting virtually but by now he had become familiar with the projections and treated them much as he would any other person.

  “That's why I was wondering if you three might have some insight on how to motivate these people. We were thinking that since they seem to enjoy playing virtual games could we make their work duties into something that would seem to be more game-like?”

  “Interesting problem,” said Rachael. “By the way this penchant for game playing exists even in the meta-verse. It seems to be something that is inherently human. But turning work into play may be challenging.”

  “Yes,” said Ruth. “I was always motivated by the love of my work. Can we use that as an approach?”

  “I don't know,” said Ajax. “The most motivated crew members seem to be those that have been assigned to the agricultural section. Apparently seeing the plants grow is quite satisfying.”

  “I have several plants growing in my apartment right now,” said Rachael. “And I can say without question that caring for them is very satisfying.”

  Everyone nodded, then Ajax said, “Excuse me Rachael, I don't mean to be intrusive but you are talking about virtual plants aren't you?”

  “Of course Ajax, what else.”

  “Interesting, then is there some way we can come up with a game that would encourage people to do their jobs and as a reward their virtual plants would flourish.”

  “Don't forget animals,” said Charles. “My cats are great motivators for me to get going in the morning.”