“GF?”
“The ship we are discussing will travel at close to the speed of light. The ship creates a deep gravitational well around the spacecraft using a massive GF Ring. This stands for Gravitational Field. It is perhaps the most dangerous and touchy device on the ship. I could monitor these controls, but I would need immediate response from you whenever I call upon you for anything – even in the middle of the night. You would probably have to run from room to room to operate the different controls.”
“I would be willing. I need to see people – no offense. I need to get out of here.”
“If you would be willing, then yes, it is possible. If you were to change your mind halfway there, we would probably not survive. I am unable to bring the ship out of its warp safely and that is why ships do not fly themselves.”
“It sounds like you are lecturing me, computer.”
“Like you, I can only be in one place at a time. If I transfer myself to the ISDC TauCeti and our mission fails, I will truly cease to exist. I don’t wish for that right now.”
“Basically, you’re not willing to die over my stupidity.”
“Yes.”
“I won’t fail. Can we do this?”
“The ship is fully operational and loaded with supplies. I could have us out of here within the hour.”
He hopped off of the bed and tossed his backpack onto the dresser.
“Then let’s do it.”
. . . . .
The ISDC TauCeti broke free from its mooring and slipped casually away from the space station. Skylar typed the code into the panel and plotted a course per the computer’s instructions. They were both surprised to discover that the computer was unable to fly the ship or to plot in navigational instructions.
The ship came about and accelerated toward the moon. Within a few minutes, the ship turned again and then sped toward a star.
“I need you to run back to engineering and type ‘368.2’ into the green control panel back there. Then flip the silver GF lever up to the slot marked ‘4’.”
Skylar rose from his “captain’s chair” and dashed back to the engineering room for the third time today. He followed the instructions to the letter and rushed back to the bridge.
“The GF Ring is engaged and we are entering warp now. If you will remain at the controls and monitor our path, I will transfer the fuel cells as needed. This acceleration is the most dangerous part.”
For the next hour, the ship accelerated rapidly while Skylar made two miniscule course corrections. Once the gravitational well was deep enough, he didn’t need to worry about small meteoroids or space dust colliding with the ship. A green light on his monitor informed him that they were now in this safety zone.
“There is no turning back now, Skylar Rains.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he replied with a chuckle.
“I discovered a program aboard with several AIs. These are only programmed to play games, but they are programmed exceptionally well. If you wish to play any videogames or card games at all, I think we will find some good competition aboard.”
“That sounds like fun. We’ve got what – 13 or 14 years to try to beat them?”
“This will be a very long trip, Skylar Rains.”
“I wonder what the people aboard the CetiDrifter did to pass the time.”
Part II
History of the ISDC CetiDrifter
Week #693
Her chestnut hair was getting a lot longer since she stopped cutting it last year. Thanks to her mother’s written suggestion, it was already halfway down her back. Chasen tried to convince her to cut it, but nothing would ever change Jenny’s mind now that their mother was gone. He took her sparkly blue comb and used it to divide her hair down the middle. The bark of their favorite apple tree was starting to dig into his lower back as he tried to make himself more comfortable.
“Scoot up a little, Jenny,” Chasen said, gently easing his little sister forward, “This is hurting my butt.”
She giggled. He pushed her a little further and then inched himself away from the tree. He took the hair on the left side of her head and divided it into three equal strands.
“Now, don’t do it as tight as Mommy used to,” Jenny said.
“Mommy used to,” he thought, “Why is it so normal to say that?”
He loosened the braid he had just started and took the small rubber band from between his lips.
“Now, I don’t want to hear about you skipping school again. We can’t afford for anyone to be stupid. You hear me?” he said.
“I’m not stupid,” she replied, tilting her head to the side, “I’m the only one who’s taking both agriculture and physics this year.”
“And since you’re the only one, we’re relying heavily on you. You are a part of our last hope. Pretty soon, there will be no one left for us to turn to,” he said, tying off the braid with a rubber band.
“Is it true that there used to be over a thousand people on this ship?” she asked.
From the back, all he could see was their mother. Even from the front, her face was starting to take on the same features. There was that downward slant of her eyes or the way her lips disappeared when she was upset. But she would never see those similarities. She was too distracted by her shrunken world to concern herself with painful memories. She had a sweet innocence that seemed to just radiate from all her pores. It was an innocence he wanted to guard with his life. That innocence was the only piece of hope he had left on this godforsaken ship. It was all he held onto.
“Over ten thousand,” he corrected, “Now there are only seventy-eight people.”
She turned around and looked at her brother. Her forehead was scrunched in a way that only Jenny could do.
“I still don’t get it. Why did they all leave? Why did Mommy leave us?” she asked.
He picked his sister up and sat her on his lap. She challenged him in more ways than any eight-year old should. For as much as she liked to skip school and neglect her education, she had an amazing sense of curiosity. How could someone with such a strong desire to learn hate going to school?
“They had no choice. The plague was hurting so many people that they had to send them to the bone-”
He almost said ‘boneyard” which was their slang term for the whole quarantined portion of the ship from which no one ever returned. The unexplained plague started to run its course only eight years after they left Earth. Within a week of discovery, nearly two hundred people had died. The doctors searched for a cure, but the speed of the plague was offering them no time for research. The only hope was to seal off a quarter of the ship and immediately send any sick people into quarantine. No one ever returned from that section of the ship. No cure was ever found and eventually all contact with that portion of the ship was lost.
“I know what you were going to say. I’m not stupid,” she said.
“Yeah, maybe not, Jenny. Mommy left us because she got sick and she didn’t want us to catch it,” he said, “We’re safe now.”
It wasn’t a lie. He could never afford to lose her trust, so he refused to ever lie to her. He simply made it a point to avoid certain words such as “dead” or “dying.” She died, Jenny! She had no choice.
“Yeah, well, you know what Donny says? He said that we’re not safe at all because we’re all just a bunch of kids who have to figure out how to land this ship. And we’re landing on a planet that no one has ever seen. And when we get there, we’ll be out of fuel. And when…”
“Hold it a second, Jenny. Don’t listen to Donny. Donny doesn’t know anything,” he said, “Now give me the other side of your head so I can finish.”
She turned her unbraided side to him.
“I also heard it from Andrea. You’re just being the parent now and you don’t want me to be scared.”
“Listen up, Jenny,” he said, turning her face to him, “They don’t know anything. Are you going to listen to these seven and eight-year olds or are you going to
trust your fifteen-year old brother? I’ve been around a lot longer and I’ve done my own investigation. Everything is programmed into the ship’s controls. Everything was set up ahead of time.”
“Yeah, but…”
“No, listen to me. We had communication with the bone… we had communication with the boneyard for several months. As these people were quarantined, things started to become pretty clear to everyone. It didn’t take them long to figure out what the future held. They left detailed instructions for us and besides that; the whole navigation system was always preprogrammed. We were going on the same course whether we were all alive or dead. Everything is going to be okay,” he said, pulling the other rubber band from his lips.
She turned to him and placed both of her hands over his mouth.
“Now you listen to me and stop interrupting!” she barked, “The planet we are going to has been detected through spectrum telescopes from almost twelve light years away. Telescopes, Chasen! All we could tell from those spectrum telescopes was that this planet was emitting signatures of carbon dioxide, ozone, and water vapor. Well, that and the fact that it’s also located within the habitoo… habitool… ha-bit-a-ble zone of the star Tau Ceti. This is all we have, Chasen. It doesn’t matter if we make it there automatically. What are we going to see when we get there?”
He looked at her for a moment, shocked at what he was seeing. She was growing up much too fast. The words she spoke belonged to someone twice her age. Those fears and worries were quickly taking away his little sister. She was losing her childhood before his very eyes and he never took notice of it. Finally, he reached up and removed her hands from his mouth.
“You think too much. We wouldn’t have been sent on a one-way mission if that’s all the information they had,” he replied, pushing her down onto the grass.
She laughed, then quickly rose to her feet and dove at Chasen. She landed hard into his arms, causing him to fall back against the tree.
“You’d better get to class, little girl,” he said, pushing her away and rising to his feet.
He slid her comb into his back pocket then yawned and stretched. Looking up at the ceiling, he noticed that two more of the UV bulbs were burned out. He filed this away in the back of his mind as yet another job he would have to contend with today. First though, he would need to meet with the Captain.
. . . . .
“And what about the bend you detected in the GF Ring?” the Captain asked.
She was scrolling through the Water Consumption Reports on her screen as the Executive Officer relayed the Weekly Mission Report to her.
“I executed a full scan again and the Gravitational Field Ring is showing two slight bends. There are no records of any collisions, so we have to assume that these bends have been caused from stress. This does indeed affect our warp by point one-three percent,” he said, “And yes, before you ask, I ran a stress analysis on the GF Ring. There doesn’t seem to be any danger of collapse. The current damage will extend our journey by about two weeks. That’s not much, Autumn, when you consider the fourteen years we will have spent in transit.”
She turned to him and put her hand on her hip. He grinned, knowing full well what was coming next.
“What have we discussed, Ed, about using names?” she said, “It’s been hard enough to convince this skeleton crew to accept a female Captain.”
He shook his head while offering her that same patronizing smile. She continued to glare at him as walked over to her and proceeded to put his arm around her.
“Now come on, Autumn, it’s just-”
She elbowed him in his side as hard as she could. He gasped, doubling over in pain. Then she brought up her foot and kicked him on the hip, causing him to stumble over the navigator’s chair.
“Hey! What’s that for?” he asked, with a groan.
A digital chime resounded from the door before opening behind them. Chasen’s first thought as he set foot on the ship’s bridge was that the Captain was alone. Then his eyes were drawn to the figure crumpled on the floor near the navigator’s chair.
“Sir? Ma’am?” Chasen said.
She turned to him with a welcoming smile while the XO slowly brought himself up from the floor. He was still rubbing his side while he held onto the chair.
“What can we do for you, Chasen?” she asked, appearing genuinely happy to see him.
Chasen stepped forward so the door could close behind him. The XO brushed the dirt from his pants and finally nodded a greeting to Chasen.
“Have we heard from Earth at all?” Chasen asked.
“Nothing in six years,” she replied, “Not a peep.”
Chasen walked over to the navigator’s chair and sat down. He then punched in his code on the keypad and turned on the navigation panel.
“What’s really on your mind, Chasen?” Ed asked.
“It’s just... everything seems to be out of control lately. My sister skips school; the teachers don’t seem to care anymore; the Earth doesn’t seem to care; and now people are talking about the fact that we have no choice once we get to the Ceti system – which is absolutely true. If this planet isn’t habitable, we die,” Chasen stated.
Autumn nodded and looked down at the papers in her hand.
“We need to call a meeting. I think we need to talk to the whole crew again. If people stop caring, we die. We won’t even have to worry about making it to the Ceti system,” she said.
Chasen looked up from his panel and caught Autumn’s gaze. Here was the girl he used to chase on the ship’s playground. He even kissed her once when they were hiding from her parents. Here was a girl who should be living the life of a seventeen-year old princess, but instead she was thrust into running a ship of fools. Who would have thought that a billion-dollar interstellar spacecraft would be run by a teenage girl? But the fact is, when people are dying, they mainly concern themselves with protecting their young. Eventually, everyone concerns themselves with saving the children. The problem with that process is exactly what occurred aboard this ship - the children end up being all that’s left.
“Would you like me to call the meeting?” Chasen asked, “And if so, could it wait a while? I have a dozen things to do today.”
“A dozen? Make that thirteen things you need to do. I need help with the Landing Dome.” Autumn stated.
The XO released a groan of disagreement. “I said I’d go with you.”
“No thanks. I’ll take Chasen. Besides, he understands the navigation systems onboard and that’s part my checklist,” she said, placing a hand on Chasen’s shoulder and leading him to the door.
“Fine with me,” Ed grumbled, turning back to the computer panel, “I could do with some peace and quiet anyway.”
. . . . .
The passageways were silent as they made their way to the lower decks. Just a few years ago, these same passageways would have been bustling with activity at this time of the morning. Though the Captain was leading the way, she remained at Chasen’s side, keeping in step with him.
“You don’t like the XO much, do you?” Chasen asked.
She snickered.
“You were supposed to be my XO,” she said.
“Yeah, well I didn’t trust myself. I figured someone else could do it better,” he replied, “I was wrong.”
“Now don’t be talking dissention around me. I’m the Captain and I’ll hear none of that,” she said, “I’ll put you on the ground as quickly as I did the XO.”
“Ooh, sounds like fun,” Chasen replied with a laugh.
Quicker than the strike of a cobra, her hand shot out and latched onto his wrist. She twisted his arm around behind his back and drew it as high as she could before he screamed.
“OWW! Alright! Stop!” he shouted as she continued to tug his hand up between his shoulder blades.
She pressed him up against the wall and put her mouth by his ear.
“I’m trying to keep control of a bad situation here. I need support and I need the appearance of respec
t – even if it’s not sincere,” she firmly stated, her breath tickling his neck.
“I’ve never disrespected you. I’m the one who convinced everyone you were the right choice for Captain. Calm down,” Chasen whined.
She let go of his wrist then put her arm around him. She drew him close to her side, filling his head further with confusion.
“I know. And I also know that you’re the only one who still supports me. And you know what? I’m the type of person who never forgets,” she whispered.
“Well, I expect you to remember that the next time you decide to hurt me, Captain,” Chasen said, pressing the button for the elevator, “I’ll withdraw my support with the first broken bone.”
“Hey, if you make me mad enough to break a bone, you won’t be alive to withdraw your support,” she said, patting him roughly on the back.
He snickered and waved her into the open elevator.
. . . . .
Page 138 of the ISDC Operations Manual
The best hope for safe and secure shelter on any undiscovered planet would be a unit called the Landing Dome. This 200-meter dome would be jettisoned from the ISDC (Interstellar Space Dilation Craft) upon arrival at the new planet. It contains only enough fuel to slow itself to a safe landing and navigate approximately ten kilometers in either direction from the drop site. Once it has touched down, the unit will secure itself into the ground with four ten-meter grounding screws. The dome can survive temperatures of up to two thousand degrees; winds of up to eight hundred kilometers per hour; and 2-meter hailstones. It is not designed to be a permanent housing facility, but it will serve its purpose initially to protect its occupants from the unknown elements of an alien planet. Maximum comfortable occupancy is twelve thousand personnel.
. . . . .
Event Horizon Page 6