"I still think we should delay our departure, dear," said Rose. "At least until Rosey has gone off to college."
"As the message from the future explained," said Randy, "the one thing the treatments can't do is resurrect memories lost when a brain cell dies. The sooner we get under treatment, the more memory and capability we will retain."
"I'm thirteen—I can take care of myself, Mom," said Rosey. "You go get your treatment."
"I'll take good care of Rosey, Mom," Junior said.
"Phooey with that!" said Rosey contumaciously. "I want my own apartment."
"When you are eighteen, you can do what you want," Randy reassured her. "But until then, you had better stay at the mansion with Junior. Besides, it isn't that we are going to be gone long—at least as far as you two are concerned. As soon as we complete our five years of treatment, we will just hop back again through time. The only problem is that timegates jump over chunks of time. This first one covers twenty-three and a half years at a time."
Randy turned to look at Junior. "In the coming years, you will want to have the Reinhold engineers make timegates with different-length time hops, say twelve, six, and three years, then sixteen, eight, four, and two months, and smaller hops all the way down to a day or so. That way, by choosing the right sequence of timegates, we can come back to this time soon after we leave. Your mother and I can then live here in the mansion with you both until Rosey goes to college. Then, with you both properly launched, we can take off to explore the future."
"Even then," Rose added, "we will be coming back to visit often—especially to see our grandchildren."
"And great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren, and ..." Randy continued thoughtfully and quietly, awe in his voice. The somber realization of what it really meant to have true immortality as well as access to time machines was finally beginning to sink into Randy's consciousness.
Rosey broke the spell. "Fine thing!" she blustered. "I'm thirteen, have no boyfriends to speak of, and you two are already talking about me being a grandmother!"
"I'm sure you'll get married to a nice boy one of these days, dear," said Rose.
Rosey turned quickly to her dad. She wasn't dumb—her father had been in the future and probably knew if she ever got married or not. "Will I get married?"
Randy hesitated. Rosey was always quizzing him about the future, but for her own peace of mind he had avoided telling her too much—not that he had learned that much during his brief visits to the solar system between bouts of flying spacecraft at high gees. He had learned, however, about Rosey being married and having a househusband from Harold, Junior, over a trout dinner some twelve years in the future.
"Will I?" repeated Rosey, boring in.
Randy paused to think, then decided that it wouldn't hurt her to know. "Yes," he finally replied.
"What's his name?" persisted Rosey.
Randy was glad he didn't know—for sure Rosey would soon have it out of him.
"Mike? Jim? Pete?" queried Rosey, peering at her father's eyes for some clue.
"I honestly don't know," replied Randy with a relieved smile. "Harold didn't happen to tell me his name when we were talking about him."
"Who's Harold?" interjected Junior.
"The president of Reinhold Astroengineering Company," replied Randy, chuckling. "You don't call the president of a major company 'Junior'."
"Oh!" said Junior, finally understanding. "Me!"
"Yes, you. And you can start learning about your new job as president tomorrow," said Randy. "You have an appointment with Alan Davidson and the company comptroller at nine."
"Right, Dad," said Junior, shooting out his cuff-comp and making an entry in his appointment calendar.
"WELL, WE'RE all set," said Randy, standing with Rose on the porch, waiting for Franklin to bring the limousine around. "It seems so final," said Rose.
"It's just the beginning ..." replied Randy, awed by the near infinity of lifetime that stretched before him. He looked up at the evening sky. There were now so many large objects in near-Earth space that he had long ago given up trying any serious ground astronomy from his backyard. He picked out the Reinhold Space Station, which would soon hold the two ends of the first timegate.
Franklin drove up.
"Are you two coming?" Randy hollered through the door at the youngsters.
EVERYONE was waiting in the Space Station reception room when Andrew opened the door and the man with the mustache walked in.
Randy, in a bemused, almost paternal mood, watched the young man stride into the room. I can't imagine that I was once that smart-aleck youngster, swashbuckling into the room sporting that silly-looking mustache. I must have thought I was Errol Flynn incarnate.
Rose and Rosey smothered the man with kisses. Rosey stepped back giggling and rubbing her cheek. "That tickles, Daddy!" she squealed. Rose stayed in the man's arms and he gave her a long kiss.
What does Rose see in him, anyway? thought Randy, his mood becoming less paternal.
The clinch went on far too long. To break it up, Randy went over with his hand extended. "Hello, young man," he said. "Glad to see you got this far in good time, at least."
After the conversation had gone on for a while, Andrew looked at the time on his cuff-comp. "The next rotovator that connects to the space station holding the Tau Ceti warpgate will be arriving shortly," he reminded them.
"I guess I better say good-bye," said the mustached youngster. "Got to go off and rescue the kid in his mansion in the sky." He gave Rosey a big hug and Rose another kiss that went on far too long.
"Ahem!" said Randy, to break it up.
The man shook hands all around, ending with Junior. "I'll be keeping in touch through the videolink," he said. "But I'm glad to know the company is in good hands." The young man took his two green metal boxes from Andrew, stroked his mustache, waved good-bye, and left.
TWO DAYS later, Alan and the children took Randy and Rose to the timegate room. The door to the room was built like a bank-vault door with a combination lock.
Alan explained. "We wanted to make sure that there is no unauthorized use of the timegate until we completely understand all its ramifications."
Junior punched in the combination and the door opened into a cubical room three meters on a side. They all went inside and Junior shut the door behind them. On the walls to the right and left of the rectangular entry door were two pentagonal doors, one labeled past, the other future. During the night, the artificial warpmouth that had been brought through the Silverhair from the future had been expanded and sealed in a tubular vacuum frame that had been prepared for it. One pentagon of the frame surrounded one of the pentagonal doors, while the rest of the pentagons had been blocked off and sealed into a doorless room on the other side of the wall. Each pentagonal door was also armored and had a combination lock. Above each door was an electronic clock with the date and time. On one door, the electronic clock was blank, and would stay blank for twenty-three years until the artificial warpmouth at the other end of the timegate was installed in the waiting frame. On the other door the electronic clock read 1252 GMT TUE 19 SEPT 2079.
"Are you ready?" asked Junior.
"Are you?" asked Randy. "When you open that door, you three are going to see older versions of yourselves."
"I'd forgotten about that," said Junior. He punched in the combination and the pentagonal door to the future opened. The matching door in the future timegate room had already been swung back, and Randy glanced at the strangely silent Alan, Junior, and Rosey as their eyes widened at seeing themselves in the future. With them were some strangers and a number of children.
What struck Randy first was everyone's glowing health. The younger children, especially, had blemish-free skin, shining hair, intelligent bright eyes, healthy muscle tone, strong limbs, and beautiful faces and teeth. They looked like young Greek gods and goddesses. No makeup was needed for those vibrant, rosy-cheeked faces. With such beautiful hair to work with, everyone, me
n and woman alike, wore their hair long, men in shoulder-length curls and women in long braids that went down to their knees.
Men's fashions hadn't changed much, but nearly every suit had some sort of subtle holographic pattern either above or below the surface. The women's dresses, however, were spectacular. All the women and girls wore simple, long white sheaths that fell from the shoulder almost to the floor. Flowing over each sheath was a continuously moving, three-dimensional holographic image in living color. The skirt of one little girl had an image of a field of blowing flowers with bunny rabbits hopping everywhere. A matronly Rosey had a waterfall cascading down her body. Occasionally a salmon could be seen jumping up the falls.
"Hey, me!" Rosey called over to herself. "Like your braid. Think I'll grow one like it."
"Do it! You'll start a new fashion," replied the older Rosey with an amused smile.
"Shall we go, Rose?" said Randy, taking her hand and stepping through the door.
WHEN RANDY and Rose stepped into the future timegate room, Rose immediately went to hug the matronly Rosey and the many grandchildren. Behind them, a mature Junior was closing the door that said past. The date on the electronic clock over the door was 0909 GMT SUN 06 FEB 2056.
"Hello, Harold," said Randy, remembering that Junior was now a forty-three-year-old man who had been running Reinhold Company for nearly a quarter of a century. Standing next to Harold was an elderly Alan Davidson, a holographic tweed shimmering over his suit. "You're looking spry, Alan."
"Harold and Rosey keep me busy," said Alan.
"I'd like to stop and visit," said Randy, "but we'd best be getting on. We'll come back for a long stay as soon as we've finished our treatments."
"We've already enjoyed a number of your visits," said Harold.
Randy and Rose were then introduced all around to Harold's and Rosey's spouses and children. Randy stopped to chat with one teenage son of Rosey's. His shirt was producing a moving three-dimensional kaleidoscope of brightly colored patterns. From each of his shoulders there emerged music directed at the boy's ears. The sound was so closely directed that the music couldn't be heard unless you were very close to the boy.
"Is that the Deadly Scum I hear?" asked Randy, wincing at the somewhat familiar guitar solo that often blasted out of Rosey's bedroom when she opened her bedroom door.
"Yezza, Granddad," replied the boy politely. "I switched my shirt to a nice quiet 'oldie-fogie' when I knew you were about to arrive."
"That's quite an amazing shirt," said Randy. "Moving three-dee images and sound."
"It's a Silvershirt," replied the boy.
Harold interrupted. "The Silverhairs turned out to have excellent artistic as well as musical talents. In addition to music videos, they now have their own line of designer holoclothing, with those unique synthesized three-dee patterns in them."
"They seem to be doing all right for themselves." Randy nodded in satisfaction. "Anything come of Elena's observations of the Boötes Void?"
"She has seen some occultations of background galaxies by distant objects," replied Harold. "But nothing definite yet."
"I'll soon know if she was successful in the future," said Randy.
When the introductions were all completed, Harold shooed the future family out. "The Timegate Control Board insists that sightseers be kept to a minimum." After he got the timegate room cleared, he turned to his parents.
"Are you ready?" he said.
"Are you?" asked Randy, holding Rose by the hand. "You're going to see a much older version of yourself on the other side of the door."
"I don't look anymore," said Harold. He punched the combination on the door that read future and slowly pulled the door open, staying behind it so the door blocked his view into the future. The heavy door from the other side also started to slowly swing open.
Holding Rose by the hand, Randy started for the opening door. The date on the electronic clock read 0126 GMT FRI 05 MAY 2103.
Rose, looking with apprehension at the date, hesitated. "I'm afraid ..." she said, holding back.
Randy came back to Rose, put his arms around her, and gave her a reassuring hug. Then, trying to lighten the moment, he stepped back, twisted his face into that of a hard-bitten cowboy, and tugged at her arm.
"Come on, Rose!" he growled in an imitation John Wayne voice. "Do you want to live forever?"
The End
5 March 2056 and 18 October 2079
FINAL REPORT
TO THE
REINHOLD ASTROENGINEERING COMPANY
BOARD OP DIRECTORS
AND THE
REINHOLD TRUST
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
CONCERNING THE INTER VIVOS TRUST
OF HAROLD RANDOLPH HUNTER
Alan V. Davidson
Senior Trust Officer
Sequence National Bank
SUMMARY
With the resignation of Harold Randolph Hunter (HRH) as president of Reinhold Astroengineering Company in favor of his son Harold Randolph Hunter, Junior, the disbursement of most of his personal fortune to charitable works, and his permanent departure into future time, the necessity for a Trust Officer to manage his personal and business affairs through an Inter Vivos Trust during his frequent absences is no longer necessary.
This report summarizes the activities carried out by the Trust Officer during the duration of the trusteeship. A major portion of the report documents the important activities engaged in by HRH during the period of the trusteeship.
During the period of the trusteeship, HRH, through Reinhold Astroengineering Company, developed the techniques for rapid interstellar commerce between a majority of the "interesting" nearby star systems. A list of those star systems and a map of their relative positions in space are also to be found in the following pages.
Included in the report are simple tables and diagrams that illustrate some of the important technical details mentioned in the body of the report.
EARLY INTERSTELLAR COMMERCE
The first interstellar voyages happened much differently than had been originally envisioned. Instead of initially exploring a star system with unmanned probes, then decades later sending exploration vehicles crewed by humans, the development of the Reinhold Negmatter Drive revolutionized space travel by allowing the initial exploration of the nearer stars to be carried out by a human crew (usually in the person of Harold Randolph Hunter) in less than a decade.
A Reinhold Negmatter Drive has the capability to operate at high accelerations, thus allowing relativistic velocities to be reached in weeks or months instead of years. The upper bound on the spacecraft velocity is limited only by the effectiveness of the ship's shields against the radiation generated by the passage of the spacecraft through interstellar gas and dust. The shields consist primarily of superstrong magnetic fields that surround the spacecraft out to great distances. The magnetic fields strip apart the gas molecules and smaller dust particles and deflect the resultant charged particles away from the rapidly moving spacecraft. The few larger dust particles, cosmic rays, and occasional stray molecule that slip through the magnetic field barriers are nullified by negative-matter shields. The early versions of the Reinhold spacecraft were limited to 0.8 c, while later versions could reach 0.98 c with no radiation danger to the crew, and 0.995 c under emergency conditions.
The first visit to an extrasolar star system was the exploration of the nearest system, Alpha Centauri, by HRH in 2042. Also known as Rigil Kentaurus, Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the southern constellation Centaurus, and the third-brightest star in the sky after Sirius and Canopus. Alpha Centauri is not a single star, but a collection of three stars. The nearest of these, at a distance of 4.3 light-years, is a small red dwarf star called Proxima Centauri. The other two stars are one-tenth of a light-year farther away and are called Alpha Centauri A and B. Alpha Centauri A is similar to our sun, while B is slightly redder. These two stars orbit around each other every 80 years, while Proxima Centauri circles the pair with a period
of millions of years.
HRH traveled in one of the first-generation Negmatter Drive interstellar spacecraft, capable of an acceleration of one Earth gravity and a top speed of 80% of the speed of light. A disadvantage of the first-generation spacecraft was that the wormhole mouths carried in the ship were living Silverhairs. Because of the fragility of the Silverhair body, these worm-holes could only be dilated for use when the relative velocity of the ship and Sol were near zero. Thus, although the person on board the ship could use laser links to communicate through the wormholes with the people back at Sol, the person had to stay on the ship until the ship had decelerated.
After successfully arriving at Proxima Centauri and discovering a potential Earthlike planet, "Hunter", HRH then opened up a warpgate between Sol and the Alpha Centauri system. Shortly thereafter he demonstrated the rapid, economical transportation of people, goods, and raw materials over interstellar distances using the warpgates, thus establishing the economic feasibility of interstellar commerce. With a monopoly on the source of negmatter, HRH then committed Reinhold Astroengineering Company to a planned program for the installation and operation of a network of warpgates to the more commercially promising of the nearer star systems. Information on those star systems follows:
First is a listing of those Sunlike or otherwise interesting stars within twenty light-years, listed in order of their distance from the Sun. Multiple star systems are denoted by letters after the star name. Also shown are spacings between the stars when the distance is significantly less than the distance to Sol. Next is a three-dimensional plot of all the interesting stars within 16 light-years, showing their relative position in an Earth-oriented equatorial coordinate system, where the +Z direction is toward the north pole. Next is a projection on the equatorial plane of all the stars within 16 light-years close to the equatorial plane of Earth. Dotted lines show the distances between neighboring stars, especially in the Ceti and Eridani sections of the sky. Note the commercially interesting "trade routes" with the two Sunlike stars, Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti, as hubs.
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