Starship X-15
By Alan VanMeter
Copyright: By Alan VanMeter 2015
All rights reserved
Table of Contents: (Please note that all chapters are bookmarked.)
Chapter 1: 5
Chapter 2: 39
Chapter 3: 66
Chapter 4: 109
Chapter 5: 147
Chapter 6: 197
Chapter 7: 249
Chapter 8: 285
Chapter 9: 321
Chapter 10: 360
Chapter 11: 381
Chapter 12: 430
Epilogue: 476
Grateful thanks to Gene Roddenberry, and for his wonderful vision. Also to those who strive hard to make his vision a reality.
Chapter 1
Oh, my office is so drab and dingy. It needs some color, some art; because there is no chance of a window here in the basement. The art has to be astronomical though. Maybe some gorgeous shots from the Hubble Telescope? Yeah, I can download them and print them out for free. Even though this is only my fourth day on the job, hey… it’s my office.
Today I actually get to find out the nature of my project. I can’t believe how much protocol these people insist upon! Three days of solid reading, technical reading. I hope the boss likes me, or at the very least wants to bang me. Oh, here he is now.
“Good morning Ms. Stanley, I hope you are rested, and ready to go to work.”
“Yes Doctor Clark. Ready to go!”
“Good. Let’s talk in my office, and I’ll fill you in on your task today, just to get us started.”
I sure hope they haven’t found out my fraud. That would be big trouble, but the fake diploma and transcripts are so damned professional looking. No way, unless they contacted MIT, and actually checked. Hell, what was I thinking? I should just quit now, and save them the trouble. There are a couple stools he points to by the chart table, so I sit on one, and he takes the other.
“Now to warm you up to the project Devon, oh. May I call you Devon?”
“Certainly Doctor.” Hope he likes my legs… yeah, he sure noticed them, and my chest. Good, like shooting a duck in a pond.
“Our first task is to check out a potential stellar observation.”
“Great. What is it?”
“Okay, this information is highly classified, just remember that for your clearance; you wouldn’t normally be allowed, but since you do have a need to know...”
I make the lips locked motion, and instead of throwing the imaginary key away, I pretend to put it down my blouse. He has a nice smile.
“First observation to check, is to do a deep field linear search along the vector from the Milky-way’s position in our own galactic cluster, and follow that vector through the epicenter of our own globular galactic cluster way out into deep intergalactic space; to see if it eventually will intersect with a Quasar.”
Oh shit! It’s a good thing I love reading about astronomy, as I at least know what he is asking for. “That will be easy enough. Do we have the coordinates of our galactic cluster’s epicenter handy?”
“They are on our data base. My terminal is unlocked, please feel free.”
“Excellent.” I give my best smile, and eye twinkle to him.
Amazingly it is easy. Sure enough, way out there…yup, right into a Quasar. “Found it!”
“That was quick Devon! You certainly will be an asset to the team. So, does it hit a Quasar?”
“Yup, right smack dab into one.”
“Okay… there it is then. Next, do another vector search from our position, through the epicenter of the next nearest globular galactic cluster; the same as before.”
This isn’t so hard. The program is very intuitive, and I’m smart. Hey, there it is again. What’s going on here? “It does too! Right into another Quasar Doctor Clark.”
“So it is true, he’s right! This changes everything! Quick, just to make sure, do another search through another cluster.”
I figure that I’ll do a big cluster… what is that? Catalogued as a Quasar also? “Doctor, it runs right into an object catalogued as Quasi-Stellar, but there’s not much there.”
“What’s the catalogue number?”
As I read it to him… suddenly I see it. “The Quasars are in the epicenter of the clusters, not way out in the far distance!”
“Yes, that is the hypothesis… yes. And this backs it up! Is that cluster a large diameter cluster?”
“Yes Doctor, the biggest I could find.”
“The oldest.”
That makes sense, hence the fading, or remnant Quasar. “Doctor that might mean that each galactic cluster is created by a separate… big bang. Couldn’t it?”
“Yes, very nice postulation Devon, that is indeed the hypothesis presented.”
He has a very interested smile, maybe I actually earned some respect? Oh hey, maybe some more? “Why the enormous red-shift then?” Yes, he is giving me some credence, I see it in his eyes.
“That is a very good question Devon, now isn’t it? Care to guess?”
Oh crap. Theoretical analysis on my first real day. Think girl! What could be bending light from these possible big bangs so much? “Maybe because we are moving away from them much more quickly than we thought?”
He’s thinking about it… still…no smile. Oh throw me a bone Doc!
“Perhaps…perhaps that is a part of the equation. Indeed. You’ve certainly earned your title of theoretical astrophysicist Devon. That is very intuitive.”
“Part of the equation? What’s the rest?”
“Well, you’ll hear it all tomorrow morning, and I am not really authorized to tell you more at the moment… I know, it seems silly because you will hear it tomorrow anyhow. Let me just give you a tease to see if you figure it out. I really wouldn’t be surprised at all; after how well you performed so far. Here. I assume you are familiar with the simple graphic of a gravity-well.”
He hands me a very familiar graphic printout. The one people use to illustrate Einstein’s discovery of bent time-space near a gravity-well.
“Now I know you’ve probably seen this image hundreds of times before, but now I want you to tell me what is wrong with that representation Devon.”
His smile tells me this is a challenge. “That might take a while Doctor Clark.”
“Give me what you can in the morning. Now even though it’s only eleven, let’s break for lunch. I’ll buy, down in the in the cafeteria. I think you’ll like the food, it’s pretty tasty.”
Just before we exit our department’s secure lab area, the Doctor reminds me to keep the conversation non-classified. Of course this brings back my anxiety again, I just know I’m going to get busted. Hey, if I can get the good Doctor to make some moves on me before they find out, then I might have some leverage. Yeah.
The food is very good, or at least the freshly made sour cream, and spinach lasagna is… Yes, mmmm. What’s that? Artichoke heart? Nice.
“So, how long ago did you graduate, with your Master’s degree, correct?”
“Yes, six months ago.”
“And are you pursuing your Doctorate?”
“Not at the moment. I need to pay off some bills before I rack up any more debt.” My smile is without showing my teeth, just in case there is some spinach stuck there.
“You should consider it Devon. You’re very bright and intelligent. I can see you rising to the top of our field. Hell, you’re light years ahead of where I was when I’d just earned my Master’s. That’s obvious.”
I hope my smile is thank-you enough, sure can’t say it with this mouthful.
“Just something to consider, perhaps; the local university has a program established with the Labs, and you can earn credits for your work here. I’m sure those credi
ts would be transferable to MIT.”
After I swallow, I nod. “Yes, I would like to sign up for that program.”
“Excellent. That will give us something to do this afternoon, our previous task was supposed to take all day.”
Just by his excited grin, I can tell we are going to get along fine.
Got the paper work filled out for my application to UNM, and we still have two hours to kill. He starts with the jokes.
“Did you hear the one about the cowboy with shit on his moustache?”
“Unh uh.”
Doctor Clark starts singing, “He was lookin’ for love in all the wrong places…”
I force a laugh. Nodding. “That’s funny. Hey, why do they call cowboys, cowpokes anyway?”
As his eyes go wide, I realize he has more than a couple cowboy pictures on his walls. Oh shit.
“Ha! That’s screwed up Devon. Okay, why did the blonde go to church then?”
Yeah, I guess I do deserve the blonde joke after that. “I don’t know.”
“She heard there was a guy there, hung like this.” He spreads his arms out to the side, forming a cross with his body.
Again I force a laugh. “Guess I’ll be going to church this Sunday then.”
“You are a naughty young lady Devon.”
Now there is a lecherous smile. Got him! “I’m not really.”
“Oh?”
“I’m not really a blonde. I would prove it to you, but I shave.” Now my coy, naughty smile, and I should be good to go.
He starts coughing.
“Oh, Doctor! Let me get some water for you.”
As I’m rubbing and patting his back, after he quells the coughs, he sets the cup of water down, and he makes his move. Here we go!
The drive home is full of crazy traffic, but I don’t care. I have the evidence I need, just in case; the good Doctor’s special DNA. It won’t come to that, as they already gave me a clearance, and surely had investigated me by now. So I work the Doctor for favors, and promotions! Ha! With this body, and these brains; there is no stopping me. Aim for the stars. Damn straight! The brightest one… Sirius. Get Sirius girl…Ha!
Even though I still have only one friend in town, my neighbor Selena; it is an enjoyable place to live. The Sandia Mountains are beautiful, especially at sunset, or when clouds partially cover them, and then they seem to be immensely tall. This evening they are bright salmon pink. The view from my apartment is perfect, one of the reasons I chose it. Selena’s knock on my door, I know it by heart. The peephole isn’t even needed, as I let her in.
“Hey girl, you want to drink a glass of wine with me?”
“Of course! Get in here with that bottle.”
She pours and hands me a glass, then joins me on the sofa. “So how’s your new job going Devon?”
“Pretty damn good, if I say so myself.”
“Great, I’m glad. You deserve a good career girl. Speaking of which… I wanted to tell you, last Friday a couple of investigators came around asking me some questions… about you.”
“What?” I didn’t use Selena as a reference.
“Yeah, it’s cool though. I didn’t tell them about you being a Chinese spy, so don’t worry.”
Selena’s laugh is infectious. Damn these guys are thorough! Shit. “Thanks for not ratting me out girl, I owe you.” Now my laugh gets her going again.
“So just where the hell do you work Devon?”
“Out on base, at the Labs.” Uh oh, I can’t say too much, remember.
“Sandia Labs?”
I shake my head. “Phillips.”
“What kind of work do you do?”
“Oh, it’s classified. Sorry.” I give her a sincere pout.
“Well, what field are you in, you can tell me that can’t you? My superiors need something you know.”
Oh god! She makes me laugh. “You are trouble girl! I knew it.”
“Well?”
“My degree is in theoretical astrophysics.”
Selena gets wide eyes at me.
“Damn! So you’re a rocket scientist, for real.”
“I guess you could say that.”
Her grin tells of mischief. “My superiors will be glad to hear this.”
For a moment I am actually worried again. “Your superiors can eat shit, and die.”
She is laughing at my reaction! Still, it is infectious...
“We already know you are working on Star Trek shit, it’s cool.”
I know my chuckle tells her that she is way off. “Actually I have some homework, maybe you could help me with it. You’ll see how boring it really is.” I get the printout Doctor Clark gave me, and give it to her.
“I’ve seen this before.” Selena looks perplexed.
“That’s a graphic representation of what Einstein said a gravity-well looks like. The ball in the middle is supposed to be a planet, or a star.”
“Okay. Yeah.”
“Well something is wrong with that picture, and I am supposed to figure out what.” I can’t help but shrug, as I am drawing a blank.
“Okay, the ball is a star, or a planet, but what’s this bent checker board that it is sitting on here?” She points.
“That’s supposed to be time-space, and it’s bent, or warped near a big gravity source.”
“So, like outer space?”
“Yeah, but it has to do with time somehow too.”
“If it is supposed to be outer space, why is it flat? Or… two-D?”
Huh? Hey wait a minute…she’s onto something.
Selena goes on, “What would it look like in three-D?”
“Yeah. What would it look like?” I can’t picture it. Maybe all kinds of bent planes… but bent how?
“Shit, I don’t have a clue.” Selena frowns, and sips her wine.
It is called time-space because it is not emptiness, or nothingness. Einstein proved that, by proving it can be bent, or warped. So they needed a name, and somehow it relates to time. Shit I have to read his theories again, in depth this time, to answer that question. Not tonight though. Maybe it is simpler than that. Oh shit, “What Selena? I’m sorry I was thinking.”
“I asked if it was something you had to figure out tonight. I can see it is girl. I’ll leave you to it then.”
She gets up to leave.
“Oh no. Please Selena, I was just nerding out there. It happens.”
“It’s okay Devon. I understand that work is too important to put off. You’ll figure it out girl, it’s what you do. We’ll check you tomorrow.”
She’s cool, and I really would like to impress Doctor Clark with my intellect again, and not just my body. So what is it? Oh better lock the door, I am scared of the boogie-man, I am, I am! Anyhow… what the hell am I looking for? The intersecting planes idea doesn’t work. What would work then? Hmm…hey! A vortex? Shit! That would imply movement. Movement of time-space inwards towards a gravity well? Oh my god! Moving time-space might be what gravity actually is! Shit, this is big. This has to be what Doctor Clark was implying. They already know… damn, but I still get to impress the hell out of him, ha!
As I lay in bed trying to get to sleep, that vortex keeps popping into my mind’s eye. It has to be what is going on. Gravity is the kinetic pressure caused by the movement of the volume of time-space on matter as it moves over it and through it. Something like that. I have to make it sound good, for more credence. He’ll be impressed.
Just as I feel the sinking of sleep, I see something else. Time-space behaves perhaps like a fluid of sorts. Yeah, that makes sense… kind of… Try to remember that…for tomorrow…
I’m spinning, and falling. A vortex is below me, I’m falling into it! Wow, that’s weird; the farther I fall, the slower I go, and now everything is spinning around me so fast. Oh! Hey now, where am I? I like this place. It’s a beautiful garden, or is it natural? I can’t tell. Hey there’s a horse! NO! OH MY GOD! A Unicorn! She likes me, “Hey come here. Yeah. Hi Unicorn.”
“Hi Devon.
I love you. It’s time to go to deep sleep now sweetie.”
“Sleep?”
“Yeah. Sleep.”
“Okay Unicorn. Night, night, I love you too.”
“I know you do sweetie, you’re so wonderful.”
As I am brushing my teeth, I’m trying to remember something. This bugs me all the way to work. He’s waiting for me in my office.
“Good morning Doctor Clark.”
He sees that I don’t close the door, and I can tell he is disappointed.
“Good morning Devon. Did you ponder the question I posed to you?”
My excited smile and nod seems to cheer him up. “I supposed that the problem with the graphic representation of the gravity-well only showed time-space as two dimensional, and I wondered what a three dimensional display would look like.”
His laugh is bright and cheerful. “Exactly my girl! You are even brighter than I had hoped.”
My girl huh? He’ll learn. “The only thing I could visualize was a vortex. Which implies movement of time-space, inward towards the gravity well. Then I thought that maybe this moving time-space perhaps exerted kinetic pressure on matter as it flows.” I remember now! Yes! “Speaking of flowing, maybe time-space has properties of a fluid?”
“Good lord Devon! You figured it all out, or a good bunch of it anyhow. Nicely done. Now the briefing starts in about an hour, and if the speaker asks any questions, you get your hand up and tell him even before he calls on you. Remember shoot the hand up and fire away. You’re going to impress the hell out of them!”
“Okay.” I like the sound of that!
It isn’t a large conference room, good. Less competition. Along with the two of us, there are six others there. All from our section. Just as the introductions wind up, an Air Force general leads two men into the room with him.
“Ladies and gentlemen we have requisitioned use of you from your section to help us on a very sensitive and highly classified project. My name is General Hawthorn, and I am the Commander of the project. This information is classified Top Secret, CL-thirty. Of course each of your security clearances have been temporarily modified to reflect this. Don’t worry, all the proper in depth background checks have been done to warrant this, as each of you have previously signed off authorizing any such action.”
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