by Terry Mixon
Mostly.
“Send the go signal, Invincible,” Jared said.
The ship’s sentient AI did so. She felt the transmission leave the ship.
“Commands sent, Admiral,” the AI said. “It’s programmed to make the trip and immediately return. We’ll know in half an hour if it was successful.”
She leaned up against Jared’s console. “While that happens, I have a few things to run by you.”
They talked about last-minute loading details until her implant timer indicated the probe would have made the transit and the data was about to arrive at their location. She could see Doctor Leonard was busy reading the full data stream from the probe, but it made no sense to her. It was all technical.
The probe vanished…and reappeared a few seconds later. It immediately indicated it was in distress. The battle screen had failed and the hull of the probe looked…melted.
“What the hell happened to it?” she asked. “Was it fired on?”
“I’m getting the scanner feed now,” Invincible said. “I’m forwarding it to you.”
The view from the probe was of deep space. It saw the weak flip point in its scanners. When the signal came across to flip, it did so.
And intense radiation bombarded it from every angle on the other side. The battle screen lasted almost as long as it took the flip drive to cycle and take the probe back across.
The view of the system beyond the flip point was indistinct. It was as though space was cloudy.
“What the hell is that?” Jared asked. “What’s happening?”
“I believe I have the answer,” Doctor Leonard said as he stepped up beside Jared’s console. “The other system is the problem. The sun has gone nova. The destination side is far too close to either a neutron star or perhaps even a black hole for the probes to survive more than a few moments.”
Kelsey shook her head. “Well, that certainly explains why no probe ever came back. And it means we’re not going over there, either.”
“Actually, that’s not a given,” Invincible said. “I’ve analyzed the strength of the radiation and a ship’s battle screens are capable of protecting it. Only the probe’s lack of power caused its premature failure.”
“Admiral, might I mention that this is an unprecedented opportunity to study such a phenomenon?” Doctor Leonard asked. “We have no records of anything like this in the Old Empire databases and we might not be back this way again anytime soon. Might we use one of your ships for a few hours? Other than the natural dangers, the system probably doesn’t pose any additional risk.”
Her brother looked between the scientist and Kelsey. “Okay, but only if you make the trip on Persephone. Her scanners are more than capable of getting you the data you need. You only have twelve hours. We’re leaving on schedule.”
She was more than a bit surprised Jared was allowing her to ride herd on the scientist. He must be even more exhausted than he looked. Still, it sounded interesting.
“We can do that,” she said. “Doctor, what are the chances that you can detect other flip points in that system?”
“Slim, but not impossible. Weak flip points are out of the question. We’ll be able to find this one again because we know precisely where it is, but the chaotic environment there will overshadow any others. We can use the ship’s scanners to locate gravimetric anomalies like planets and regular flip points, though. If they are not too far away from us, that is.”
She grinned. “Well then, what are we waiting for? We have a supernova to explore!”
About Terry
Terry Mixon is author of The Empire of Bones Saga and The Humanity Unlimited Saga. He served as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army 101st Airborne Division. He also worked alongside the flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center for almost two decades, supporting the Space Shuttle program, the International Space Station, and other human spaceflight projects during his tenure there. He lives in Texas with his lovely wife and a pounce of cats.
Table of Contents
Works By Terry Mixon
Copyright Notices
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Preview of Paying the Price
Table of Contents
Works By Terry Mixon
Copyright Notices
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Preview of Paying the Price