Alien Psychology
Page 7
Many of the Exordicans had already set up their homes within asteroids. It was quite an easy task for machines to be set working to excavate a multitude of chambers and passageways through an asteroid. The stone and metal asteroids were the most suitable types. Processed materials from elsewhere were used to make additions within the chosen asteroid to strengthen and reinforce all the living areas. They had their own miniature suns in the form of nuclear fusion reactors.
A typical asteroid about ten miles across had sufficient space within to support fifty thousand beings in comfort, including all the necessary life support systems in triplicate. There were space ports for incoming and outgoing vehicles, huge food processing units, storage facilities for absolutely everything that was required, theatres, auditoria, museums, gardens and controlled wildlife. Most of the machinery and storage equipment was retained within the central low gravity part of the asteroid while the living quarters were positioned on the periphery. With a spin imparted to the asteroid, a degree of artificial gravity was obtained; it was only a fraction of Exordium's gravity but it was more than sufficient to supply a viable living environment. Very early in the colonisation process, Exordicans tried to live in zero gravity but life became far too complicated; even convection of heat doesn't work in those conditions and maintaining air purification systems was made more difficult by the need for continually operating pumps. Imparting a spin to a large asteroid was a slow and energy consuming process but with fusion rocket motors it wasn't impossible.
Within the colonies, there were many asteroid bases; over two hundred had been built to varying standards and dimensions. There were several of the size mentioned above and it was on three of them that the project to make them mobile was commenced. On the outside, to all intents and purposes, they looked like ordinary asteroids. It was only on a closer approach that signs of habitation became evident.
Experiments had been ongoing for many years on the use of matter/antimatter as a source of power. The risky nature of this research had made it impossible to carry out experiments on a densely populated world like Exordium so all work had been stationed on a distant world, beyond the twelfth planet. As mentioned, disastrous events occurred but research continued elsewhere until a workable reactor had been invented. Essentially, two beams of protons accelerated in a doughnut shape reactor to speeds approaching that of light were allowed to collide in a force field vessel powered by nuclear fusion energy. So fierce were the collisions that anti-particles were created which were subsequently separated into a shielded chamber totally out of contact with normal matter. The antimatter remained stable for only a fraction of a second, short but sufficiently long to feed it into a reaction chamber injected with a controlled quantity of normal matter to react and convert all mass to energy. Though capable of creating unimaginable quantities of energy, if was a rather crude system unsuitable for a domestic type reactor. It was, however, excellent as a propulsion source.
The selected asteroids were modified to include an antimatter drive. The huge quantity of metal required to provide shielding of the habitation zones was mined from other asteroids in the system. Working in secrecy, even from most of the other colonists, three drives were completed in record time. The interior chambers and passageways were altered to account for the different direction of artificial gravity which would be imparted by the thrust of the drive. The next stage was the accumulation of provisions for an indefinite period and when this was accomplished, the alpha elite and their specially selected entourage from Exordium made their way to the asteroid ships.
Without further announcements, one by one, the three asteroids made preparations to begin an epic and hopefully long journey out of the Exordium system. This was to be the first time that any being from the planet or system had left the star of their origin to venture amongst the thousands of millions of other stars in the galaxy. It was an exciting and momentous time for them all.
This was the theory, still and all, everything didn't go to plan. It had been decided to activate one asteroid first to see how effective the system was in operation. Though calculated a thousand times to the highest degree of accuracy possible, only a practical test would definitely prove the effectiveness of the new drive. It was a tremendous undertaking: powerful as an antimatter drive was, to shift a ten mile asteroid out of its orbit, away from the star, required a push of unbelievable proportion. Initial velocity, as expected, was very small but not inconsequential. Acceleration is the important factor in these calculations.
Newtonian gravity allows the following formula: Force = mass x acceleration. So if we want to find acceleration, the formula then becomes: acceleration = mass / force. The mass of the asteroid ship would be approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000 kg or ten million billion. If you think that the mass of a large satellite orbiting around the earth is approximately 5,000 kg and the Space Station Alpha during construction about 200,000 kg, it's easily seen that the mass of an asteroid ship is quite considerable. One of the largest rockets ever used on earth was the Saturn V which took men to the moon. It had a thrust or force on takeoff of approximately 3,500,000 kg. If you divide this force by the huge mass of the asteroid the acceleration is negligible. A large nuclear fusion rocket would give a lot more trust but it's still too puny to do the job. Only an antimatter conversion drive would come anywhere near to imparting acceleration. As a rough calculation, if only one gram of matter was converted, it would provide about 100,000,000,000,000kg thrust. This would provide an acceleration of 0.01 metres per second squared. This doesn't sound like much. After the first second, the velocity would be 0.01 metres per second. After the second second, it would be 0.02, and after the third second, 0.03 metres per second. It's a slow acceleration, much slower than 1 g of 10 metres per second squared experienced by a falling object on earth. After one minute, the asteroid would be travelling at 0.6 metres per second, a slow walking pace, but after one hour of continuous acceleration, the velocity would be a much faster 36 metres per second, the speed of a fast car. All in all, it's a better performance than railways in Britain!
It is important to point out the difference between velocity and acceleration. An object can be travelling very fast but have no acceleration and in circumstances, acceleration can be high but initial velocity low. Velocity refers to constant speed while acceleration is a speed which continually increases. The above acceleration isn't very high. Imagine a car dealer trying to sell you a car which took one hour to reach maximum velocity? For our purposes, this is fine. In the first few seconds, beetles and spiders would overtake you, but after an hour, you'd leave all animals behind. This is a leisurely acceleration where a huge mass is being put in motion. After one week, the velocity would be 6048 metres per second which takes you twice around the world in an hour: things are picking up now. A year later, the velocity would be 300,000 meters per second—now we're flying. Its about one thousandth the speed of light. Now, from this, a ten-year acceleration produces a velocity of one-hundredth the speed of light. This is probably, for the purposes of this book, a practical velocity and burn time for the antimatter reactor but there is no reason why this velocity could not be increased further.
If we set out from earth in this flying asteroid, we would approach the nearest star system in approximately four hundred and fifty years. One of the problems of reaching a high velocity is that once the target is in sight, you have to slow down otherwise you'll go zooming past at great speed. So, a journey to the Alpha Centauri system will take ten years speeding up and the same slowing down with a period of constant velocity in the middle. Using the antimatter drive, the mass required to do this enormous task works out to be only three hundred thousand kilograms. This isn't much compared to the 10,000,000,000,000,000 kg mass being moved at tremendous speed.
The first asteroid ship from the Exordium colonies began its journey. When the antimatter drive burst into life, there was a huge outburst of gamma rays and x-rays but there was little to see from the exhaust end of the rocket; no burning flames, sparks
or flashing lights that one would expect from a science fiction movie. There was only a faint conical shaped glow. Most of the energy was emitted in higher wavelength radiation, very dangerous radiation at that, but the fifty thousand beings inside were shielded by massive amounts of metal in the asteroid and also a powerful force field directing particles in the opposite direction of the flight. One reason why it was more or less impossible to build a small ship with an antimatter drive which would theoretically reach high velocity a lot quicker than a massive asteroid was the huge amount of material required for shielding. Even the idea of unmanned probes was impractical because the radiation fried the electronics as well as living beings. It was, however, ideally suited to propelling a large protected object through space.
The main problem with the antimatter drive was not its visibility in ordinary light, it was its extreme luminosity in gamma rays. This radiation would take only a few hours to reach other colonists and then the Exordium home planet. Questions would be asked. What in hell is going on out there? Some would suggest that the gamma emissions look remarkably like the theoretical picture of an antimatter drive bursting into life.
Although the asteroid ships were far out in the system, the fastest ships from the planet Exordium would take about six of our months to get there. By this time, with the asteroids only seven hundred hours beyond the fast ships from Exordium, catching up with them was more than a likely possibility. When two further gamma ray explosions were observed in the outer reaches of the system, they immediately set a chase into action. Now it was only a matter of time.
* * *
Phase 6
Nomads
Not only was the government of Exordium taken aback at the sight of three asteroid ships leaving the system without their knowledge or permission, the vast majority of the colonists on other worlds weren't pleased with the situation either. It was a race against time. The last of the three asteroids to leave was eventually overtaken some way out of the planetary system. When ordered to stop, they ignored all communication and continued on their way. A thermonuclear device was aimed for the antimatter drive and launched. It hit, causing an explosion that ruptured the entire engine sector of the asteroid, also forming a shock wave that killed half of the population and injured the rest. With little or no medical help available, it wasn't long before most had died.
Four ships managed to catch up with the second ship. This time there was communication, and, knowing the fate of the first asteroid, they surrendered. The fastest of the remaining four pursuit ships was ordered to take on extra fuel which would, it was calculated, enable it to catch up with the first asteroid ship now far beyond them. With insufficient fuel for a return, there was an additional sense of trepidation in that no being from the Exordium system had ever made a journey that far out.
The Exordium ship ultimately caught up with the remaining asteroid at a point where the F type star of the system had been reduced to a bright star-like object in the blackness of space. A request was issued for the asteroid to stop and to return, backed up by the threat to fire upon them if the request was ignored. The captain of the Exordium ship, weary after the long journey, dejected also at having seen an asteroid and its occupants destroyed, was philosophical about the situation and pleaded for some form of communication from the runaway asteroid. They did communicate, giving him a choice to consider: either death alone in the depths of space or eternal life with them in the asteroid. He chose the latter.
The Exordium pursuit ship captain sent a message back to his home planet, mainly for the sake of relatives and friends, to the effect that he had refused to fire upon the asteroid ship and had indeed joined them on their journey to the stars. This was the last message that anyone from the planet ever received from the asteroid.
This event was the beginning of the end for the planet Exordium. Within a few years, as a consequence of population pressure, a general lack of resources and a feeling of distrust between the social classes, the structure of its society began to break down and those with ability and resources left the planet for the colonies to take over the administration of a system which had been left completely in disarray following the rejection and duplicity perpetrated by their former allies and leaders. Civil war broke out on the planet. Government collapse in association with the reduction in power of multinationals, now toothless and impotent, left a power vacuum which was filled with regional armed factions more than ready to do battle with each other in a vicious struggle.
In combination with political turmoil, luck would have it that several natural disasters decided to strike at the same time. A massive volcanic eruption sent clouds of dust and acid particles into the atmosphere which circulated for over three years, causing the primary star to appear red even at midday. Agriculture failed on many parts of the globe, and a series of floods and tidal waves battered another continental region which had hitherto escaped without much devastation. Then Exordicans died by the million, killed by a new and terrible disease but still there was worse to come. Anarchy is all very well when protagonists are armed with picks and scythes but when armed with nuclear weapons, it's a completely different ball game.
An exclusion zone was put around the planet by the colonial organisation which forbade any travel to and from Exordium. On the dark side of the planet, away from the star, the people in the ships could see flashes of nuclear hell exploding on virtually every part of the land surface. The ships waited but there was no challenge to their blockade. After ten of their years, they departed to their own colonies, leaving automated sentinels to continue the task but they need not have bothered.
Ninety years later, a population of no more than five hundred million inhabited the planet Exordium. The civilisation had collapsed to a meagre agricultural subsistence economy which, strained of resources and suitable radiation-free soil, struggled to keep even that number, pitiful as they were, alive and kicking. Defeated and depressed at having once been so powerful, the Exordicans of Exordium continued in apathy and poverty for the rest of their days.
The third planet had escaped the war and the other problems but never became the success that was initially envisaged for it. The process to make the planet properly inhabitable was a constant struggle against nature and eventually there came a time when it was deemed totally uneconomical to continue further; it was considered a cheaper alternative to remove all beings to resettle them elsewhere in the planetary system than to pump ten to twenty times the same capital each year just to maintain a status quo with the environment. One hundred years after the asteroid ship had left, the third planet was home to a couple of thousand stragglers intent on fighting to the bitter end without the means or economy to do so. The eventual end was inevitable at some time in the future.
The colonies were no longer colonies. They were now the worlds of the Exordican people, now no longer stratified into social layers, now intent to ensure that the fate of their homeworld was not visited upon them too. Numbering half a billion spread over a thousand scattered sites in the planetary system, their main aim for the future was the continuation of their species through close cooperation of their constituent worlds. While their level of expertise in science and technology was very high, the experiments on longevity and antimatter were never repeated. Their calculations showed that the population could be maintained for thousands upon thousands of years with the resources at their disposal and to go down the same path as their predecessors would be a mistake. Governmental control was such that while it would be impossible to stop attempts by individuals to seek to develop these things, only a united government of the worlds would have the resources to mount such vast and costly programmes and it was unwilling, at least for the present time, to proceed further.
The asteroid ship with its fifty thousand inhabitants continued accelerating through interstellar space. Despite intermittent problems which had been relatively easy to fix, the antimatter drive had functioned for ten years, increasing the velocity to one tenth that of light, t
aking them to a dark realm never experienced by their species before. Then it was shut off. The first sensation was that of silence. For ten years, the low but audible hum of the antimatter drive had been with them constantly. Initially, this irritating noise was a source of complaint but after a few years, nobody noticed it anymore ... until it was switched off. Now, the utter silence of interstellar space reigned supreme.
One hundred years later, they were truly in the depths of interstellar space. Though the primary star of the Exordium system was bright enough to cast a faint shadow, any heat emanating from it was detectable only with scientific instruments. Other stars were just the same: points of light in a black, black universe. It was an eerie existence; for the billions of years of history on Exordium all living species had been used to the presence of their star, benevolently giving out its heat and light to keep them alive, but now they had, for the first time, left it behind. It was a feeling akin to departing from the family home. Some were apprehensive about this emotion while others were more excited, feeling that their species had come of age, just beginning to live in the cosmos that was destined to be home.
They were alone, undetectable and pleased for that. For years, they had received signals from the Exordium system, some intended for them but most just normal broadcasts and communications of the time. Telling the horrific story of the collapse of their former world, the pieced together items made grim news and it gave them the resolve to protect themselves from any such occurrence in the future.
Although travelling at one percent of the speed of light, there was, of course, no sensation of movement. As expected, light reaching them from distant stars in their direction of travel still arrived with the normal speed of light. Similarly, light from the rear, coming from receding stars, arrived with the same speed. The only difference was that the incoming light was shifted towards the blue end of the spectrum whereas the light from behind was shifted towards the red. Light from either side was largely unchanged. This Doppler effect was a fine example of physics in action.