Curious Sols (The Sol Principle Book 1)

by Myron Smith III

  Motioning to stop the recording, Captain Sterling examined the faces of her crew. The trials they had endured had shaped them. The officers before her were not the same people who began the trip. They were more than individuals of a crew, they were turning into something greater.

  “Ensign Williams, at this distance, how long for a round trip message?” asked Captain Sterling.

  “Five minutes,” quickly replied the ensign.

  Turning to Ashley the captain directed, “Doctor, tie in your data with the message.”

  Ashley moved to Ensign William's workstation. Entering her pass codes, she added her calculations to the captain's message. When finished, she gave the captain a thumbs up.

  “Lick the envelope and mail it, Ensign,” confirmed the captain.

  Looking puzzled, but grasping the gist, the ensign confirmed, “Aye, Captain.”

  *

  Chapter 23 Planar Geometry

  The main vidcomm of the bridge pictured each of the ships in the fleet. Superimposed in the middle of the screen was a peculiar looking outline. It was as if the ships formed eleven puzzle pieces. All eleven had been joined to form one larger shape. Four of the pieces formed the corners of the outline. Their shape was different from the rest of the pieces in that they were circular in form. They had deployed their sails, tracing a circle around their midsection. The rest of the ships were scarred, stripped of their beautiful circular manes.

  “Ensign Williams, do we have all the navigators on a separate Nav channel?” asked Captain Sterling.

  The comm officer answered, “Aye, Captain. The channel is formed and all navigators have reported in.”

  Ensign Simmons nodded his head in confirmation.

  “Put the Command Channel on main audio,” directed the captain.

  Ensign Williams acknowledged the command and relayed it was active.

  “The actions of the H.S. Argo wounded our community,” the captain addressed the fleet. “Though I am deeply upset by that betrayal, I am equally bolstered by the humanity that has flourished. The instinct of self-preservation could have infected our wounds. Healthy ships could have guaranteed their own survival leaving the wounded behind. Instead the able stay and tend to the wounded. We continue the time honored tradition that no solider is left behind.”

  Slowly walking across the bridge she continued. “Your resilience in the face of such challenges has given us a way to complete our journey to Mars. We shall arrive at our destination in brotherhood, fulfilling the vision of the MARC program in body and in spirit.”

  Signaling Ensign Williams to close the channel, the captain asked Ashley. “Are you ready, Dr. Quinn?”

  Ashley sat at a workstation across from Navigator Simmons. The workstation itself looked as if it was in surgery with all the devices Ashley had plugged into it.

  “Diagnostics has confirmed all systems are integrated and on-line,” she replied.

  Captain Anita Sterling took one last glance at the vidcomm before giving the order, “Send the signal, Ensign. It’s time to see our new home.”

  The seconds that followed felt like an eternity of waiting. The eerie silence was abruptly broken, however, as four beams of plasma illuminated the screen. Each beam struck one of the sails of the four corner ships.

  The U.S.S. Columbus reeled from the impact of the plasma beam as if slamming into a wave. Ashley's fingers darted across her workstation as she tried to manually adjust the sails' alignments.

  Ensign Simmons reported. “Energizers are at ninety-five percent capacity and rising.”

  The ships of the fleet used the polarity of their shields to stick together like a web. Each ship reinforced the strength of the next as it spread the strain of the deceleration across the fleet. Key were the four ships performing the actual reduction in speed. If any one of the four were out of synchronization with the others, then the ships in the middle would tear through the magnetic strands. They would continue on at a velocity exceeding Mars' ability to safely trap them in orbit.

  The main vidcomm rotated the image ninety degrees horizontally, making the depth of the ships readily apparent. The four corner ships were the furthest from Mars as they continued to slow from the plasma beams. Stretching forward were the ships in the middle. The inertia of the ships fought against the decelerating force of the magnetic web. Green, yellow, and red warning lines cut straight down the screen in front of the ships. Any ship reaching the red line would break away from the fleet and continue its journey.

  The bulk of the ships stretched no further than the middle of the yellow band. A countdown timer in the bottom corner of the screen displayed the remaining required burn.

  The captain knew better than to distract Dr. Quinn with a request for an update. Instead she hovered near her workstation and looked for danger signs on her own.

  “Captain, the Panyu is reporting system-wide power failures!” reported Ensign Williams. “They are ejecting their sail before their shields fail!”

  Captain Sterling checked with Dr. Quinn. “Ashley?”

  “On it,” she replied, yanking the picture of the fleet's configuration across her screen into a triangle. “I need thirty seconds,” she stated, too busy to panic.

  “Ensign, get me their captain, main screen!” Captain Sterling briskly ordered.

  Without wasting time for an acknowledgment, the ensign changed the main vidcomm over to a live image of the Panyu's bridge. Random computer systems were sparking out while the crew was admirably working to avoid a shutdown.

  “Captain Tang, I need your ship's energizers for...” pausing to look at Ashley's workstation, Captain Sterling requested, “...I need them for twenty-four more seconds.”

  The captain of the Chinese ship caught the eye of Captain Sterling. Looking around his frayed bridge, he began barking orders to the crew. If possible, they moved with an even greater sense of urgency.

  “Split the screen,” ordered Captain Sterling.

  Ensign Williams adjusted the vidcomm to show the bridge of the Panyu on one side and the fleet tactical on the other. A second countdown timer appeared on the screen, ticking off the seconds until the fleet was reconfigured.

  Ashley cringed as she began to tap a button labeled disconnect repeatedly.

  “C’mon Admiral,” she muttered to herself, “cut the beam.”

  Five more seconds passed before Ashley uttered, “Beam cut! Eject the sail!”

  Like a rapid fire pulse gun, a series of events fired in succession.

  Captain Sterling enabled fleet override and ejected the sail of the Panyu. Immediately, the ship staggered from a change in positioning. The main vidcomm displayed each ship shifting into a triangular pattern. The magnetic web was now held together at three ends by the three intact ships. Relinquishing its corner, the Panyu folded into the middle with the bulk of the fleet.

  “Excellent work, Captain!” Anita cheered to her fellow captain on the vidscreen.

  The entire fleet had surged farther into the yellow warning area with three ships in imminent danger of crossing into the red.

  “Captain,” Ashley summoned the fleet commander. Pointing at her readout with her one free hand, she cautioned. “I'm out of tricks here. We're not going to make it.”

  Anita Sterling slammed her palm down on the workstation.

  “We didn't come all this way not to make it,” she said half to herself and half to the crew. “Think, think, think.”

  “Fleet channel on!” she fired off without wasting the time to turn around.

  The left side of the screen changed from the Panyu to fleet view indicating an open channel.

  “All captains, fire your maneuvering thrusters to decelerate on my command!” she snapped off an order with all haste. Anita paused just long enough for the crews to react.

  “In three, two, one, fire thrusters!” she ordered.

  The main vidcomm continued to show the fleet closing dangerously upon the red line. One, two, then three ships crossed into the red. With only
a few thousand meters to spare, the countdown timer expired. The fleet had decelerated to orbital speed.

  The bridge broke into cheers, echoed by the sounds of joy across ten other ships. Several crew members shook hands, gave hugs, or exchanged smiles.

  In the midst of it all, Ashley and Anita managed to sneak in a barely audible conversation.

  “That was like stopping a runaway ship with a cargo fan,” Ashley beamed. “How in the world did you think that would work?”

  “Every bit helps my dear, every bit helps,” the captain joked as days of stress seemed to pour out of her being.

  *

  Chapter 24 The Spider and the Fly

  Four spider pods were ready to be inaugurated. Their namesake would be proud of the strands of cable that spun from the Argo to the surface of the planet. Much like strands from a web, their delicate appearance gave little indication of their strength. In fact the pods could be safely loaded with several hundred tons of weight.

  Unlike a spider, however, the pods did not climb up and down their cable. Miniature plasma beams, cousins to those used for space travel, pushed the pods. They could quickly accelerate or decelerate the pod many times faster than by traction alone. A trip either up or down on the MARC station could take several hours. With the use of specially designed suits, however, passengers inside the spiders could travel at speeds rivaling old-fashioned rockets.

  Though Dominic's focus should have been on this event, he was laboring to finish up a private project.

  “Dr. Andreou,” called Captain Dranius over the vidcomm. “We have received confirmation that Dr. Stanton's party is ready to begin their journey to the Argo.”

  “Not now!” Dominic muttered under his breath. “I’m not ready yet.”

  Moving to the vidcomm he spoke, “Captain, send the pods down. Send them down at payload speed.”

  “Doctor,” the captain said with a hint of question in his voice, “payload speed? That will take several hours for transit. Did I hear you correctly?”

  “Payload speed!” Dominic ordered, “and if you wish to avoid testing a new re-entry technique I suggest you obey my orders without question.”

  “Payload speed,” the captain reiterated. “By the Order.”

  Dominic wanted to storm the bridge and teach the captain a lesson in discipline, but he did not have time. The minute the high philosopher arrived, his research would need to be stowed away.

  Returning to the matter at hand, he reset the trial settings on his workstation for another attempt. In the last few days, the lab itself had been re-arranged for the express purpose of testing his neuroband. An eerie similarity between his lab on the Argo and “her” lab was apparent. Status monitors for brainwaves stood next to computer assisted cognitive devices.

  Donning his latest neuroband, Dominic prepared for the next test. Across the room sat a technician, formerly assigned to the engineering station. Now that the Argo was safely hovering above Mars, several more techs were now considered non-essential personnel.

  “I understand you're a man of science,” Dominic greeted the technician. “In that case, you shouldn't mind helping me test out a theory or two.”

  #

  Dr. Elizabeth Stanton peered up into the sky, her vision obscured by the sun's light. Pushing her auburn hair aside, she shaded her face from the bright rays. Her eyes squinted in an attempt to spy the cables ascent into space. They passed hundreds of feet into the air before wisps of clouds obscured their passage to the Argo.

  Her attention was drawn by a spray of ocean water upon her face. Waves crashed upon the sides of the giant flotilla, occasionally casting themselves across the deck. Rather than peer into the sky she closely examined the cables at the base. They were lashed to the flotilla with great clasps. As they swayed in the afternoon breeze, the flotilla swayed with them, diffusing the energy that would have ripped them from land.

  A small group of heavily armed soldiers patrolled the deck. They were the elite guard of the high philosopher or O-Sophia. Those in the Order addressed her as O-Sophia, meaning great wisdom. Those outside the Order, referred to her by another name, Dr. Elizabeth Stanton. Armed with pulse rifles and wearing military grade armor, their presence created an eerie zone of silence. Seagulls that nested at the deck instead gave a wide birth to the humans. Martian crickets, whose sounds could deafen the foolish traveler, stood in silence. Even the wildlife of the plains seemed to avoid the guard on instinct.

  “O-Sophia,” called one of the guards as he bowed, “the Argo has sent a lift down from orbit. Captain Dranius reports that it will take several hours before it arrives.”

  “Hours?” she asked rhetorically.

  “That is unexpected,” she stated. “Did they explain the delay?”

  “They are sending down fragile equipment,” answered the soldier. “Dr. Andreou did not wish to risk a faster descent.”

  Elizabeth nodded then turned toward the ocean. The ocean breeze bunched the folds of her white dress allowing a modest glimpse of the woman beneath. Though years of laboring in the sun had given her a deep tan, her regenerative genetics nurtured her beauty. She strolled slowly along the perimeter of the flotilla as she pondered. She had known Dominic for nearly twenty years now. He habitually followed the beat of a different drum. An ordinary philosopher wouldn't have dreamed of keeping her waiting for hours. That lack of wisdom had resulted in a quick departure from her graces. His genius, however, made him an invaluable member of the Order. Times like these tested how invaluable.

  “Why would you risk offending me?” she asked herself.

  Elizabeth turned back toward the center of the flotilla. She walked with a purpose back to the soldier.

  “Archon,” she addressed the man, “bring me your best scout and make sure he has his exploration pack with him.”

  The soldier asked for her permission in this case to leave. “By the Order.” He bowed and then left. The archon hurried across the ramp connecting the flotilla to the mainland. On a pace seemingly beyond his heavy encumbrance, the soldier gracefully bounded several supply crates in his way. Reaching a camp, he summoned several men to his side. One of those men quickly left the group and grabbed a pack. Securing his gear, the scout returned to the archon. Both men then quickly returned to the high philosopher.

  Winded but not exhausted, the archon bowed and spoke, “O-Sophia this is our finest scout, Ezio.”

  Bowing deeply, the soldier stood to the side and slightly behind the archon.

  “Come forward,” she commanded.

  Ezio quickly stepped to the high philosopher and knelt on one knee.

  Motioning the man to stand, she questioned him. “You have your surveyor with you, do you not?”

  “I have it O-Sophia,” the soldier replied.

  “Remove it from your pack and ready it,” she directed. “I have a question it will answer.”

  The soldier opened his pack and from one of the compartments removed a black metallic object shaped like a saucer. He set it down upon the ground before removing a Ksync from his belt. Ezio adjusted several settings on the small vidscreen of the device, making sure the saucer's systems were ready.

  Confident in the machine's functionality, he informed the high philosopher, “O-Sophia, the surveyor is ready.”

  Taking a step to the saucer, Elizabeth bent down and picked it up.

  “It's been some time since we've met,” she spoke to the saucer.

  “You may go Ezio,” the high philosopher said with a smile. “I am old friends with this machine.”

  The soldier bowed and handed her his Ksync. He left his pack as well before heading back to shore.

  Years ago when the domes were constructed, the Martian landscape was surveyed first by machines. They located the ideal settings for the dome cities. There were several qualifications such as tectonic stability and resource availability that were scouted by these machines. Operated by remote, they were designed to traverse a world without an atmosphere and under extreme
conditions. Elizabeth had discovered them early in her arrival on Mars. Long discarded, she had recovered and revived them for use by the military as unmanned scouts.

  She did not, however, foresee using one to spy on her own people.

  The archon looked at her with a puzzled stare.

  “You may be unaware,” the high philosopher informed him, “these amazing drones were a discovery of mine some time ago. It has been years since I've piloted one, but I'm sure it will come back to me.”

  “Completely unaware,” replied the archon, “though it doesn't surprise me, Elizabeth.”

  The change in formality did not phase her. Indeed she was quite experienced with his shortcomings in protocol. The brashness reminded Elizabeth of her past, of a missed past.

  Scanning the area, she remarked, “Adonis, one of these times your sixth sense is going to fail you, and someone is going to overhear your insolence.”

  “Would it be so horrible to accept your general's love publicly,” he said in a low voice.

  “My general is going to have to hold his tongue for a while longer,” she replied. “We have far too many irons in the fire now to risk adding fuel to the flames.”

  He took a step closer to her and said even lower, “I thought you didn't mind the heat.”

  Elizabeth tossed the saucer to her archon, forcing him to change his train of thought and catch the device. Then quickly manipulating the controls on the Ksync, she fired off a quick jet from the saucer.

  “Watch out” the man said leaping back as the saucer flew across the platform. It continued out across the water and then up into the sky.

  Her attention focused on the Ksync, Elizabeth managed to get out. “I can stand the heat, but it looks like you're likely to get burned.”

  Taken aback at first, he smirked at her brand of humor.