“And possibly a new home for the human race,” said Brett.
“Perhaps,” replied Captain Erickson, glancing at Brett. “If we can’t find allies, then, yes, we will seek out new worlds to colonize.”
-
The Constellation and the Vengeance continued to move through the solar system. The battlecruisers flew past Saturn and then on to the outer edges of the solar system, finally leaving the orbit of Pluto far behind. Even the sun was now nothing more than a brilliant pinpoint of light behind them.
-
“Stand by to increase power to the FTL drive,” ordered Captain Erickson. “Ensign Smith, send a message to Admiral Edwards that we are embarking on our mission to Proxima Centauri. We will attempt to contact Earth once we arrive.” The hyperspace communications system was supposed to have sufficient range to reach Earth from Proxima Centauri, but it was untested.
“Message sent,” replied Ensign Smith. “Admiral Edwards wishes us all good luck, and they’ll be waiting for our safe return.”
Captain Erickson nodded. “Lieutenant Masterson, increase the power to the FTL dive to 60 percent, and let’s see what our ships can do.” The navigation and helm controls of the Vengeance were tied into the Constellation so the two ships could stay close together.
Brett nodded and gradually increased power, watching as the speed indicator rapidly rose. When the instruments showed the ship was flying at 60 percent of the power the FTL drive could handle, Brett leaned forward, checking their speed. Simulations had been run, and he kind of knew what to expect. “Current speed is 874 times the speed of light. Arrival in the Proxima Centauri System will be in twenty-two hours.”
“Keep me informed if there are any changes,” ordered Captain Erickson.
Lisa looked at Brett and grinned. “We’re on our way.”
Brett smiled back. “Yes, we are. Let’s just hope we find something on our voyage of exploration.”
-
Captain Erickson leaned back in his command chair. He allowed the five special lieutenants a lot of flexibility. For one thing, a few other scientists were on board, but none were as smart as these five. Professor Wilkens and General Mitchell had made it very clear the five were to be given as much latitude as possible, as long as it didn’t endanger the ships. If the mission were to be a success, it would most likely be because of them. He was already aware the five of them had set up their own private communication system, one he had secretly tapped into. While he was perfectly willing to give them the latitude they needed, he still wanted to know what they were discussing in the Command Center.
-
In orbit around Earth, Admiral Edwards watched as the defense grid steadily grew. The Vengeance and the Constellation were well on their way, and Captain Erickson had sent a message informing him they were on the first leg of their voyage to Proxima Centauri. In many ways Edwards wished he could have gone along, but his duty was to protect Earth.
“First layer of Jelnoid satellites have been deployed,” reported Captain Nelson. The first layer was at eight thousand kilometers, and the second would be at seven thousand. “The cargo ships are lowering their orbit to begin the second defensive layer.”
Admiral Edwards nodded. This would be a defense in depth. Two layers of Jelnoid primary beam satellites, one layer of missile platforms and then of course the fleet and a few other select surprises. On the tactical display, numerous green icons were visible, representing the recently deployed satellites.
“What about our other mission?” asked Captain Nelson. “We have enough defense satellites in orbit to thwart a Trellixian attack, particularly with our fleet here.”
“Contact the Plymouth and the Destiny. They have permission to return to the Moon and begin conducting tests.” Professor Wilkens and his team had suggested using the Moon for a possible base as well as installing some Jelnoid primary beams on its surface also. The two ships would check out several potential locations for such a base. The ships had some small shuttles capable of landing on the lunar surface.
-
General Mitchell stood on the surface of Earth, looking into the night sky. It was cool outside in the mountains. Several guards stood nearby as Mitchell never set foot upon the surface without an escort. It was a moonless night with a calm wind. The stars were shining brightly, causing the snow on some of the taller peaks to really stand out.
He wondered what former President Drummond would think about the current situation. Dwight Meadows would have loved to see the spaceships launched. Sad to think of the many men and women lost who had dedicated their lives to this moment.
Gazing up into space, he could see a number of brilliant pinpoints of light moving about. Cargo ships as well as orbiting battlecruisers. Occasionally one of the pinpoints of light would move off, leaving another behind. Those were the satellites being deployed.
For nearly an hour General Mitchell stood outside, watching the stars and the orbiting ships. He didn’t know if the future of the human race was on Earth or out there. Only time would tell. With a deep sigh, he turned to go back inside. There was still a lot of work to be done.
-
Lisa was in her quarters, putting on her uniform. In another hour they would enter the Proxima Centauri System. It was exciting as well as frightening to know they would soon be in another star system. What if the Trellixians waited for them there? That would be a danger in every star system they stopped in. Lisa stepped in front of the large mirror in her quarters, checking her uniform.
In the back of her mind, Lisa could hear her mother saying she was crazy to undertake such a dangerous mission. Her mother had always wished for Lisa to live a quiet life. Stay in Portland, marry Streth, settle down, and have children. Her mother had wanted grandkids, lots of them. Her father would have been more understanding. He knew how important Lisa’s career was to her, though he had been confused when she had joined the military. She hadn’t told anyone it had been at Professor Wilkens’s request.
Lisa had traveled to Portland with Brett and Brenda a few months back with a Ranger escort. The center of the city had been smashed from the explosion of a Trellixian twenty-kiloton nuclear missile and was mostly in ruins. The suburbs where Lisa’s parents’ home was had suffered little damage, though it was obvious either Trellixian troops or vandals had hit the area. The front door had hung from one hinge, and several of the windows were broken. Brett had put the door back in place and covered the windows. Inside, Lisa found a few items she wanted to take with her but no sign of her parents or where they had gone. It was even worse at Streth’s apartment. A fire had swept through the complex, leaving nothing behind. Portland was empty with no signs of life.
President Hathaway had ordered a census taken of all the survivors in the United States, and the lists were readily available. Lisa had checked the lists extensively, seeing no familiar names. No one from her family had survived.
Lisa stepped over and opened a drawer in one of the walls of her quarters. Inside she took out a Christmas photograph of her family: her parents, Streth, and her. One of her aunts had taken it. Taking a deep breath, she wiped a tear from her eye and carefully put the picture back. She had recovered several photo albums and even a few videos from her home in Portland. Most she had left at Complex One, bringing only a few with her. The memories those items evoked were still too powerful for her to handle.
Leaving her quarters, she made her way to the Command Center, encountering Derek on the way. He seemed unusually excited.
“In the last messages we received from Earth was an attachment from Professor Weir. It’s the mathematical formulas I need to perfect the quantum computer!”
Lisa’s eyes widened. “Do you think it will actually work?”
“Yes, the computer works on the theory of quantum entanglement. The math formulas better predict and control the entanglement. We could be looking at a computer thousands of times faster than anything we have now, and it will give the right answers 98.4 percent of the time.�
�
Lisa frowned. “That still means it could be wrong nearly 2 percent of the time.”
Derek looked crestfallen and then brightened back up. “True, but look where it was before. We couldn’t trust its answers at all. Surely between the five of us, we can figure out a way to get that last 2 percent correct.”
“Maybe,” Lisa replied as they neared the hatch to the Command Center. “We’re almost to Proxima Centauri, and I’m anxious to take some scans of the system. Once we’re done there and continue on to our next destination, we can all meet in one of the labs and see what we can do about this quantum computer of yours.”
Derek nodded enthusiastically. “I think we can do it. Let’s go see what’s waiting for us at Proxima Centauri.”
Lisa nodded as the two of them stepped into the Command Center.
Chapter Six
The High Command of the Trellixian military was in a special meeting in an orbital station far above their home planet. Beneath them the planet was covered in buildings. Nearly the entire planet made up a single massive city. Only one small continent was still green, and it was used to grow food for the eighty billion Trellixians who lived on the crowded world below. Every hour, hundreds of cargo ships landed, unloading food supplies and other materials for the Trellixians who lived in the crowded spaces.
High Commander Kaldre stood in front of a large viewport, gazing at the planet. Reports had come in that the planetary government was once more considering a reduction in the size of the living space assigned to each Trellixian. It had been years since Kaldre had set foot upon the planet. The size of the crowds and the steady press of the population wherever one went was nearly claustrophobic. At least the space station had more room, and the number of Trellixians allowed on board was rigorously controlled to prevent overcrowding.
Turning away from the viewport, he sat back down at the large wooden table where the rest of the High Commanders were taking their places. Kaldre had a report to present. Things in the outer region of the Empire were not going well.
“The Voltrex become more of a threat every day,” reported Kaldre. “We have sent our fleets out some three hundred light-years along our outward border, and, almost in every case, we have encountered Voltrex warships. Their fleet must number in the thousands. So far, in the past year, we have not been able to get around them.”
This caused a stir in the High Command. Never had they encountered such an enemy before. Most sentient races never even developed space travel but stayed on their world. A few were found occasionally with interplanetary travel in their own star system, but on only four occasions in the long history of the Trellixian Empire had races been discovered with actual interstellar vessels. Only one major war had been fought, and that was against the Jelnoids.
“A sizable Empire,” commented High Commander Thatrex, one of the older Trellixians on the High Command. “We were bound to encounter one as we expanded ours. I am surprised it has not happened more often.”
“We need the living space,” said High Commander Olnarr. “Our worlds are overcrowded, and we must find new ones to colonize. The Voltrex are blocking an entire region of the galaxy from us. They must be dealt with and their populations cleansed from their planets to make way for Trellixian colonists. If necessary we should send more warships. The population pressure on our primary worlds grows more intense with every passing day.”
High Commander Kaldre looked across the large table at the other High Commanders. “Fortunately the ships of the Voltrex are not as advanced as our own. They suffer staggering losses to keep our fleets at bay. I only recently received a message from Battle Commander Balforr indicating he might have discovered the general location of a Voltrex world. He has requested we send some exploration ships to that region of space to begin a star-by-star search. Once we find one Voltrex world, it should not be difficult to find the others.”
“Then we shall do so,” said High Commander Thatrex. “When we know the location of all their worlds, we can send sufficient fleets to conquer them.”
“As soon as we conquer one of their worlds, we can begin sending colonization fleets,” added High Commander Olnarr. “Our planetary leaders are demanding more worlds to colonize to deal with our growing population.”
High Commander Kaldre looked once more at the others. “If we are in agreement, I will send the orders for a large number of our exploration ships to be directed to that region of space. It should not take long to search the stars in the region indicated by Battle Commander Balforr.”
“Colony ship construction is up 22 percent,” reported High Commander Danaar. “Even so, the population on many of our worlds still increases. We are reaching a point where, very soon, we cannot feed the populations of some of our worlds. Space needed for growing food will be taken by the expanding populations. Increasing food shortages and possible starvation on some of our more heavily populated planets is likely, including the one below us.”
“The home world?” uttered High Commander Olnarr, his eyes narrowing sharply. “That must not happen. If necessary we can send more food ships to feed the population.”
“We need to reserve some worlds solely for growing food and not for population expansion,” suggested High Commander Trammor. “If we do not do so, there will be no food to send.”
“Impossible!” responded High Commander Olnarr, shaking his head violently. “We need every bit of space for our growing population. We must find another solution for growing the necessary food.”
“If a solution is not found shortly, we are facing famine on some worlds,” replied High Commander Trammor. “If our people have nothing to eat, they will die.”
“Our people can survive on less,” said High Commander Olnarr. “We can cut back on the nourishment packs by 20 percent.” A nourishment pack was the amount of food each Trellixian on a planet was allocated per meal.
Trammor shook his head. “We have already reduced the nourishment packs as much as possible. To do so any more could result in violence. Our people will begin to lose confidence in our ability to find new planets and to feed them. We may see unrest on our worlds.”
“Never!” responded High Commander Olnarr, rising to his feet. “Our people would never contemplate violence against one another. The survival of our species is too important.”
High Commander Kaldre took a deep breath and then made a suggestion he knew would not be well received. “Perhaps we should delete some of our excess population, particularly the old. They are a drain on our resources, particularly the nutrient packs. Many have reached the point they no longer provide any service to our people.”
“Delete our own people?” cried out High Commander Olnarr, horrified at the thought. “The very idea is despicable and should not even be discussed. It is the right of all Trellixians to live out their lives. We must find more worlds and build more colony ships for our people. It is our destiny.”
High Commander Kaldre would not be silenced. He was also the youngest High Commander. “If we don’t do something to control our growing population, then I fear someday, in the near future, our Empire will collapse when we can no longer sustain ourselves. What will happen when we suffer major food shortages or can’t build sufficient housing for our people? Mark my words, those times are coming.”
“You should know better than to speak such words,” warned High Commander Thatrex. “Our people will find a way. We always have.”
Kaldre did not reply. To do so would only endanger his place in the High Command. The Trellixians had survived for generations by constant expansion, destroying any races who stood in the way and colonizing the conquered worlds. The Voltrex were delaying the Trellixian colonization effort in their region of space. Colony ships waited to depart above a number of overcrowded worlds. Already there was increased pressure from the governors of those worlds to load the ships and send them on their way to reduce the population pressure. Kaldre had deep concerns about the direction the Empire was headed. He also knew there
was no way to reverse it.
-
The Vengeance and the Constellation dropped out of FTL into the Proxima Centauri System. Proxima Centauri was a red dwarf star one-seventh the diameter of the sun with one-eighth of the mass.
“Report!” called out Captain Erickson.
“Three planets detected,” reported Kia excitedly. “One in the habitable zone and the other two are small gas giants three hundred million kilometers and seven hundred million kilometers from the star.”
“Trellixian vessels?”
“None detected.”
“What about the planet in the habitable zone?”
“It’s 11,000 kilometers in diameter with an atmosphere, but no water vapor is detected. It’s eight million kilometers from the star.”
Lieutenant Commander Barrington looked confused. “That’s awfully close, isn’t it?”
“No,” answered Brett. “Proxima Centauri is a small and relatively cool star. The habitable zone runs from about 4.5 million kilometers out to a little past 8 million. However, if there’s no water, then there’s no life as we know it.”
“Which makes this system useless to the Trellixians,” said Captain Erickson. “However, we will scan all three planets for resources which might prove useful in the future.” Erickson paused, looking at a counter on a small console next to him. “We’ll stay twenty hours and then be on our way. Inform the science teams to take whatever readings they need.” Erickson looked directly at Lisa. “Lieutenant Reynolds, that means your group as well.”
-
Four hours later Lisa and the others were in one of the labs, going over the results of their scans.
“Nothing spectacular,” said Derek as he worked at a computer console. “Very similar to what we would find in the solar system.”
“Maybe so,” replied Brett, disappointed. “But these are the first planets outside of our solar system ever to be seen by humans. These scans will cause quite a stir back on Earth.”
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