by PP Corcoran
But as Valerie Hayes had pointed out, “If my precious computer circuits can survive the jump into fold space and back to normal space, so can you.”
Yeah, that fills me with confidence, thought David. Or perhaps not. But all the same, here he was, along with his bijou crew. A carefully selected crew, as each had displayed excellence in their respective fields. David took time out to consider his command team: Executive Officer, commonly shortened to XO, Lt. Cmdr. Roger Cromie, and Chief Engineer Susan Harper. They had become friends over the past six months of training on the Marco Polo and had come to trust each other’s judgement implicitly. Also on the bridge were two civilian scientists: Dr Walter Kernaghan and Dr Amanda Allenby, physicist and xenobiologist respectively. Although they too had been training alongside the Command Team, they had both remained a bit of mystery to David. There was no questioning their knowledge and expertise, but often science got in the way of real life and neither had really engaged with the rest of the crew as human beings; albeit there was mutual respect, friendship was out of the question.
Five years, David continued to muse. Five years, the best minds humanity had to offer and a bucket load of cash. And here, at last, mankind was about to make his first tentative steps into the unknown.
“All ahead one third, Chief.”
“All ahead one third, aye,” responded Susan. And with that, the Marco Polo’s reaction drive pressed them back in their seats. The promised gravity sump, an off-spin of the Gravity Drive that would take them into fold space, was not yet as efficient at negating acceleration as had been hoped for, but research and development was well underway; only time would tell.
Mixed emotions welled, excitement, trepidation even a touch of fear of the unknown. David pushed these aside, conscious he and his crew had an important mission to complete. He was also conscious if he was feeling this way, his crew would be too.
“Everyone, it has been a pleasure training and working with you on the build-up to this mission. I regard you all as experts in your fields and colleagues. Some of whom have become my friends; others I have come to regard with the utmost respect.” He glanced at the doctors as they sat by their control panels. “To each and every one, I thank you for your hard work and dedication in making this possible. Rest assured I will do everything in my power to ensure a successful mission and ensure that we all return to friends and family having made history.” David didn’t wait for any responses, he took a breath and said in his best command voice, “Okay. Let’s make it look good for the press folks. Stand by on the sensors, Dr Kernaghan, Dr Allenby.” Both of their indicators went to green on the captain’s repeater display, “Very well, Chief. Take us to all ahead two thirds.”
“All ahead two thirds and three, two, one… fold!”
David felt a slight tremor run through the ship and then a second tremor as the computers automatically cut the Gravity Drive. “External view ahead.” On command, the view ahead of the Marco Polo was projected into the main display Holo Cube to the front of the bridge. He let out the breath he didn’t realise he had been holding. “Okay, people. We’re here.” Under his breath he said, “Wherever here is…
“Commander! Position fix – computer and manual if you please. Chief! Rotate ship and bring us to a dead stop. Dr Kernaghan, Dr Allenby, full sweep all sensors. But passive only; no need to let anyone know that we’re out here.”
The doctors exchanged exasperated glances.
“But Captain…” began Walter in protest, his thirst for knowledge outweighing his concern for his own and the ship’s safety.
“No, Dr Kernaghan. Passive only. Until I personally give orders to the contrary. Is that clear to you both?” David addressed Amanda too.
“Yes, Captain,” they announced in resigned unison.
David gave a nod and thought scientists could be such children. He operated the internal communications system and barked at his engineer, “Lieutenant! Are you still with us down there? And more importantly, how are my engines?”
“Give me a few minutes to do a complete system check, sir.” Glendinning’s reply was tinny and a little muffled.
“Very well. Report to the Chief on completion.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
David looked across at his chief knowing that she would double check all Glendenning’s results, not because she didn’t trust him; but the old adage of two heads are better than one was one that David held too, especially when you were two and a half light years from home.
“Commander, thoughts?” asked David of his XO.
Roger looked up from his console and said deadpan, “Sir, so far we have successfully carried out phase one of the mission. We’re still alive.”
David smirked. “And phase two?”
“Navigation computer puts us within the margin of error for the fold transit; sensors report no contacts within passive range, and engineering shows a green board.” The news satisfied David as Roger continued, “All data has been downloaded to the courier drone, as per Standing Operating Procedure, and the drone is ready for launch.”
Roger referred to the courier drone. Despite the huge scientific leap in technology borne out by the capabilities of the Marco Polo, still the most efficient means of communicating over these vast distances was by courier drone. A courier drone was fitted with an individual Gravity Drive and travelled from the ship’s current location through fold space before docking back in the Sol System. Its aim was to bear news of the Marco Polo’s location and status of the crew and ship, and it allowed for the manual downloading of all data gathered during their mission. An effective system, a bit like a carrier pigeon really. As long as you had drones, you still had communications. Thankfully, Marco Polo carried the standard twenty.
“Very well, Commander, launch the drone and plot our next Fold. I want to arrive at least ten AUs outside the Proxima Centauri System.” David planned to exit fold space some 1,490,597,871 kilometres from the edge of the system, close enough that the passive systems of the Marco Polo could scan the whole system and far enough away that hopefully the Marco Polo would get sufficient warning of any danger.
“Understood, sir. Calculation running. Standby. Ready, sir.”
David turned to Susan “Ready, Chief?”
“Ready, Captain.”
“Very well, rotate ship to...” David glanced at the navigation repeater in front of him, “three-one-five decimal seven degrees by negative zero decimal seven degrees galactic and ahead two thirds.”
“Three-one-five decimal seven degrees by negative zero decimal seven degrees galactic and ahead two thirds, aye aye,” repeated Susan “Rotation complete and three, two, one…… fold!”
This time the slight tremor went virtually unnoticed; then the main display Holo Cube showed him a dim red dwarf star, Proxima Centauri.
David reflected on the importance of this manoeuvre. They had done it! The first humans to visit another star. Damn, he felt good!
Back to business. “Same again people, confirm location, sensors on passive only. And bring us to a dead stop relative to the system primary.”
A chorus of “Aye aye, sirs” greeted David, and he began to relax as he watched his people go about their business. Suddenly he realised he was hungry; a small snack wouldn’t go amiss. After all, he had travelled a long way he thought, with a wry smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught one of his scientists frowning at his sensor suite, punching new commands in as quickly as results were being displayed. “Problem, Dr Kernaghan?”
“I’m not sure, Captain. I’m getting some strange readings here.”
David sat bolt upright in his chair. “Explain strange, now.” David felt an uneasiness creep over him – a bad feeling. Unbidden, he could see his XO downloading the ship’s logs into a courier drone and readying it for launch. Walter was still querying his computer.
In his best command tone, David said “Now, Doctor!”
Walter was shaking his head slowly. “Well I’m seeing what looks like a
... a…” He grappled for a word to describe the abnormal readings he could not believe he was seeing. “A power source,” he finally settled on. Walter looked up from his panel and directed his next words straight to David. “It’s from one of the inner planets, Captain. But it’s no natural source. It must be machine generated.”
Without a second thought, David began to recite the ritual he had practised long and hard so as to be of second nature. A ritual he had so hoped he would never have to complete. “Computer, Alpha X-ray six-four-two initiate,”
A pause, then a flat emotionless reply. “Voice print confirmed, Captain Catney. On your authority Alpha X-ray six-four-two has been activated, courier drone launched. Bio readings indicate that Lieutenant Commander Cromie is alive and unharmed; does he concur?”
The two civilians were looking at the captain in stunned silence. What was happening? Why was he communicating directly with the ship’s computer? What was this gibberish?
“Computer,” said the XO. “Bravo Yankee five three one, I concur.”
Amanda had been virtually silent until this point, but now her face was flushing red with frustration and anger at the lack of understanding of events on the bridge.
“What the hell is this military double talk, Captain?”
David didn’t turn to face the doctor. Instead he addressed the bridge in general. “On my command, all our logs have been downloaded to a courier drone which has now folded to a location held by the ship’s computer. I have no idea of its destination. Only the computer knew that. I say knew, past tense, because as soon as the courier was launched the destination was erased from the computer memory.” There was silence on the bridge as they took in this information.
“When our return to the Sol System becomes overdue, a data chip will activate at Survey Command headquarters. This chip holds two hundred possible locations of our courier drone. A recovery drone will be deployed to search and retrieve it.” The civilians’ faces paled. “If in the next sixty minutes the computer does not receive the correct coded halt cipher from two of this command team that is Commander Cromie, Chief Harper or myself, then the computer will activate a fusion device hidden somewhere on board the ship.”
“Are you serious?” Amanda’s outburst was a rhetorical one. She understood full well that Capt. Catney was perfectly serious.
David looked at each of his bridge crew, one at a time, before resting his gaze on Amanda. “It’s very simple, Doctor. Your colleague has stated that the energy source he has detected is mechanical. That means alien intelligence, potentially hostile alien intelligence. Humanity is vulnerable while our star travel is still in its infancy. We are all located in one star system. We…” He gestured to them all, “cannot afford to leave a breadcrumb trail back to Earth. The result could be the extinction of our very race. So, Doctors. You now have some fifty-five minutes to prove to my satisfaction that this alien intelligence is no threat.”
#
TDF Marco Polo - Proxima Centauri - 4.22 LY from Sol
“Well, Dr Kernaghan?” asked David,
“In a minute. It takes time to narrow the location down at this distance,” replied a harassed Walter. Beads of sweat were visible on his forehead.
“A minute is about all we have,” muttered his fellow scientist, Amanda.
“Twelve to be precise,” said Roger tightly.
“That’s enough, ladies and gents,” said David from his command chair. “Doctor?”
“Okay, I have it. Planet Three. There’s a lot of background radiation but I have it isolated to within two hundred square kilometres.”
“Computer, display Planet Three region as specified by Dr Kernaghan.”
The Holo Cube lit up with what could have been a view from the orbit of the moon, if not for the red tinge from the system’s red dwarf primary. Crater upon crater filled the Holo Cube.
“What am I looking for, Doctor?” asked David.
“Does the scene look at all familiar, Captain?” asked Walter.
David looked harder. Yes, it looked like the cratering on the moon alright. Before he could speak though, his Chief spoke up.
“It looks like the Midwest plains of North America, or the Urals of Russia after the nuclear strikes of World War Three.”
Then David saw it: it was a strike pattern… There was nothing random here.
“Do you want the good news, Captain?” asked Walter.
“Yes please.” David thought the doctor was enjoying this now, but their personal countdown to destruction was still ticking,
“I would calculate using radiation decay rates that this happened at least seven hundred years ago. It’s old news.”
“Are you positive? We can’t afford to be wrong here.”
Walter replied confidently, “Yes, give or take twenty years. The system is reasonably accurate even at this distance.”
“What about the power source, Doctor?”
Walter ran through the data in front of him again. “There is no indication of any change in the level of output since the time we detected it.”
“Very well.” Turning to address his XO, David enquired, “Commander. Thoughts?”
“Given the doctor’s calculations, I think it’s safe to say that whoever or whatever did this is long gone. As far as the power source goes, the fact that there has been no reaction to our presence would lead me to believe that it is not a weapon or detection system of any kind. I think we can assume that we, and therefore Earth, are in no immediate danger.”
“I concur. Computer, Romeo Charlie Nine-six-three, execute.”
Again a pause, then the computer replied, “Voice print confirmed, Captain Catney. On your authority Romeo Charlie nine-six-three previous auto destruct can now be countermanded. Bio readings indicate that Lieutenant Commander. Cromie is alive and unharmed. Does he concur?”
Roger spoke aloud, “Computer. Whiskey Zulu one-eight-seven, I concur.”
“Auto destruct aborted, fusion weapon deactivated,” the computer confirmed.
The relief on the bridge of the Marco Polo was palatable.
“Okay, Commander. Plot us a course to Sol and take us home. You have the con. I’m going for a coffee while I think about what I tell our lords and masters.”
CHAPTER THREE
Crossing the Rubicon
Innes Base - Planet III - Proxima Centauri
Robert Ignico looked up at the red dwarf, which was Proxima Centauri, through the clear steel dome that protected them from the bitter cold, a touch above the average noon temperature on this scarred rock – minus 112 centigrade.
He searched for the reflection of TDF Ferdinand Magellan in geostationary orbit above the base, he knew it was futile, even though it was by far the largest interstellar craft that humans had so far built. It was some thirteen hundred metres long, 250 at the beam and weighing in at 110 thousand metric tonnes. It had carried the essential parts and personnel that had initially constructed Innes Base on the surface of Planet III of the Proxima Centauri system. TDF Ferdinand Magellan had then shuttled back and forth to Earth, bringing more scientists and engineers and materials as Innes had expanded to become the current home to some 630 men and women, all of whom were searching for the illusive source of the power spike found by TDF Marco Polo six months before.
The engineer in charge of the drilling had promised Robert that today was the day. He had been promising this for the past week. Although the source of the power spike had been located quickly enough, it was found to be some five kilometres underground. One of the first groups to arrive on the Magellan had been mining engineers. They had been digging ever since.
Robert was returned to the present by a crackling in his ear-piece.
“Dr Ignico?” called the disembodied voice of the duty controller.
“Go ahead.”
“We’re approximately ten minutes drilling time from the target”
“Okay. I’m on my way thanks.” Time to go to work, thought Robert as he headed off to his offi
ce in the control centre.
#
Robert was seated at his desk facing the holo cube which filled the centre of his office, trying to figure out what his eyes and his chief structural engineer were telling him.
“Sorry, run that past me again?”
“Radar on the drill head is reporting a cavern some seventy-five metres across and at least four, possibly five buildings. We must wait until we learn more from the robot sled after it arrives at the bottom of the drill shaft in another thirty minutes or so.” Sarah repeated herself while tracing the display on the holo cube.
“What’s new,” said Robert. “Best tell them to start widening the shaft. I want to get down there as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir.” Sarah began making the necessary calls to the drill team.
#
Five kilometres below the Surface - Planet III - Proxima Centauri
A week of trudging around under the artificial lights that illuminated the cavern and cast conflicting shadows around it. The squat, box-like buildings were arranged with one at each corner of a square and, what Robert and his engineers were assuming, was the power plant in the middle. None of the buildings showed any obvious doors or other access points –– assuming, of course, that whoever or whatever built this cavern had the same thought processes as humans.
The week had been spent mapping and measuring the buildings and now, with baited breath, the moment of truth.
“Okay, Sarah. Let’s do it.”
Sarah Boone, Robert’s chief structural engineer nodded and signalled to her cutting crew. Plasma torches flared and Robert began making his own door.
The walls had turned out to be two metres thick. This place had been built to last! All the evidence pointed to some form of nuclear bombardment on the surface. The five kilometres of rock had provided protection but whoever had built this place was obviously not taking any chances.