To Touch the Stars (Founding of the Federation Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

  He shook his head. That was a morale headache and one that wasn't going to go away anytime soon. At least his hands weren't tied when it came to terraforming. With no population on a world and no busy body authorities to second guess them, they were going to hit each target world with a broad spectrum plan to get the biosphere ticking over to as close to Earth normal as quickly as possible. But the planet had to pass a battery of tests first. And of course not have any life forms with the potential of being sapient.

  He'd left it up to the crew to decide. They had to make the call. He wasn't going to be there, and he didn't intend to micromanage from a thousand light years away. Things were moving incredibly slowly as it was.

  One thing he did note about the current … call it partnership, he thought with a wry twist of his lips, and that was putting it rather broadly, he thought. Definitely in good terms, which it wasn't; the Intel shop had reported that Pavilion was working behind the scenes on their own negotiations. They wanted to drop any claim to star systems in exchange for a right to charge for passage. Lynn was always a smart cookie. She was pushing forward with the next ship design of her company, a colony vessel. What she was after was the ability to ship people and goods anywhere, he thought. There were some on his own company's board who wanted the same thing.

  He was pretty sure Lynn was in over her head. From the brief his people had gotten their hands on, she was going to charge trade patents, political support, tax incentives, and mineral and exclusive trade agreements for passage. He wasn't at all certain that complex arrangement would work, though dangling it in front of a few of the rather over crowded nation states seems to have gotten them thinking and talking.

  If it did work out, Star Reach might jump on board. Ever since Reg had … he paused with a pang of pain. Ever since his friend had passed away, the company had modeled itself more and more like Pavilion. The two companies were even holding joint research projects. He shook his head. He was fairly certain Lynn was letting Star Reach fund most of that and then sucking them dry of ideas. He snorted. “Good luck with that,” he murmured.

  “The attack on your colony effort?” Athena asked.

  He looked up with a frown then shrugged. He sat back. “Something like that. Caught me talking to myself?” He asked.

  “Yes. I believe from your vital signs you were in need of a distraction for a break,” the AI replied.

  “You are getting better at interpreting my moods,” Jack observed.

  “It is … an exponential learning process,” Athena replied. “The longer I study humans and Neos the easier it is to interpret your moods and general patterns,” she replied.

  “I see,” Jack murmured thoughtfully. “How are the kids doing?” He asked.

  “You should be asking them or your wife that, but …” the AI pulled up a split view of his family on the main monitor. He turned to it. Wendy was in class while Yorrick was talking with a girl. Zack was not on the station; he frowned at that and then nodded. From the distant view of the camera, he judged his eldest son was at Mars University.

  Aurelia was in the home office working on a document.

  “Yorrick and Miss Kylie are supposed to be studying,” the AI reported. “They are at her residence,” the AI observed. Both young people had virtual glasses on. Jack snorted. Virtual glasses were one way to get data. He personally preferred old school with a tablet or phone, or voice address to a mainframe computer. But in a pinch he could access information with his cybernetic implants.

  He hated using the implants though, he thought. They caused headaches half the time. There were still some issues to be worked out. Over reliance for instance caused bleeding and other problems. Infections were also a major concern, as was tissue rejection. Which was one of the reasons he still stuck with the old tried and true methods of getting information.

  “What are they studying?” Jack asked.

  “Business ethics and math,” Athena replied. “From the flirting and general play, human social interaction and biology isn't too far behind,” she replied.

  “Give them their space,” Jack ordered, waving a hand. “Is Wendy also busy later?”

  “Your daughter has classes for the next three hours and then homework,” Athena replied. “If you are looking for a sounding board, I believe Doctor Lagroose will be available shortly,” she said, pulling Aurelia's image up to fill the screen. He watched her get annoyed and toss her tablet down and run her hands through her hair. “From her body language, she too is tired and slightly frustrated,” Athena stated flatly.

  Jack snorted. “I … okay,” he finally said. “Give her a ring.”

  “If by ring you mean a call, opening up communications,” Athena replied. He felt or at least assumed she was backing off and giving them some privacy. He watched Aurelia look up and purse her full lips in annoyance when the telephone sound went off.

  “Yes?”

  “Hi. Got a minute?” Jack asked.

  She sat up straight. He smiled slightly and then tapped a command to put his video image up too. She looked at the camera in front of her. “Hi!” she said, eyes wide in surprise.

  “I've got some problems with Pavilion and … well, I thought you could bounce them around too. Maybe see them from a different perspective,” he said.

  She nodded slowly. “I've been keeping abreast of the Intel now that I am involved with the terraformers,” she said simply. She smiled. “Care to chat over lunch?” She asked.

  “ … sure,” he said slowly, fighting the urge to wince over his tone. It was like pulling teeth trying to rebuild their relationship he thought. He glanced at the digital readout in his view. It was about lunchtime he thought or close enough.

  She smiled invitingly, eyes glittering with slight amusement and hope. “Home or …”

  “I've got a meeting in a couple hours so, um, why not that sandwich shop? The one with the yogurt and ice cream shop nearby?” He asked.

  Her face fell briefly then she smiled coyly. “Is my husband asking me out on a lunch date?” She teased. He shrugged. “Cool,” she said, leaning forward enough to get a bit of a view. He chuckled. It was a lot like old times he thought, which might be a good thing. Courting all over again it seemed. “I'll go change. Meet you there in ten,” she said with a hand wave as she blew him a kiss.

  “See you then,” he said, waving the connection closed. He got up and stretched. “One step at a time,” he murmured to himself as he walked out.

  Chapter 32

  March 2182

  Icarus had been sent out to map a path to the area around the Gum nebula, one thousand light years from Sol. The corporate agreement earmarked that area of space for Lagroose to use and exploit, though apparently none of the other corporations had thought it was possible for a ship to go that distance. The crew of the ship intended to prove them wrong, even if it took them nearly a century to do so. They were going to blaze a trail, one the colony ships would hopefully follow. There were a few allusions to Lewis and Clarke from time to time, and how the ship should have been named after them.

  The crew settled down rather well once they got over their initial anxiety over being on such a long cruise. Those that had chosen to go thought of themselves and their fellows as half mad, though they all acknowledged they would be able to write their own ticket or even buy Icarus when they returned.

  Six and a half weeks and four light years out from Sol, Icarus had a problem with her number two reactor. Her plasma containment bottle had a glitch in a power run, and she had a plasma burp. The burp was enough to disrupt the bottle and alarm the crew. Some damage was done, but with the reactor in use it was difficult to tell what.

  For safety reasons they dropped to the lowest octave of Alpha to allow Cosmos Savadore the chief power room tech and his team to track down what happened and make any necessary repairs. When they dropped out of the higher bands, they were swept up in the riptide current. The ship bucked in the turbulence of the outer edge of the wall. Instinctively Nak'nak'ch
ick and her partner maneuvered the ship to the least turbulent area, which was the middle of the stream.

  They had inadvertently hit the hyperbridge Daedalus had stumbled on. The hyperbridge acted as an undercurrent, sucking them along at a high rate of speed in hyper. Since the computer wasn't programmed to recognize a hyperbridge the current wasn't represented well in the virtual reality helm simulation or on the navigational station for some time.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  “This can't be right,” Wally murmured, watching the hyper-odometer spinning like a top. Numbers were flying by, indicating they were traveling a large distance in a short period of time. He glanced over to the speedometer. The speedometer took it's readings from the hyper-odometer, as well as the ship's clock. The software app divided the distance by the time to get their approximate speed. He tapped the indicator. It was pegged out, which wasn't possible.

  “We've got a problem,” he said softly.

  “What sort of problem?” Captain Peck asked. The navigator looked over his shoulder to the skipper. Apparently with the rough ride, the skipper had decided to stick around the bridge for a while.

  “I'm not sure if it is software or what, sir. The hyper-odometer is going crazy,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Define crazy,” the skipper said, coming over to stand beside him.

  “Well, it's this,” Wally said, pointing to the scrolling numbers. If anything the rate seemed to be increasing. He frowned and checked the speed. It was true; their speed was picking up slowly. “What the hell is going on?”

  “I was going to ask you. Did we hit a reef?”

  “An uncharted one, skipper,” the navigator said, struggling to keep up with the ball. The ball indicated the course for the helm fins to follow. But they were moving at such a high speed … he shook his head. “I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing,” he said.

  “I'm still trying to figure out what it is,” the captain said. “And I take it you don't know either?”

  “Not a clue, skipper,” the navigator said helplessly.

  “I was afraid of that,” the captain replied grimly as he turned away. “Nike, page Miss Norton then run a diagnostic. Look for something, a virus or whatever,” he growled, headed to the hot seat. “Con, try to keep us off the reefs,” he ordered.

  “Doing,” Nak'nak'chick replied, struggling to keep up with the sudden rapid pace.

  “Are we off course?” the captain asked as he frowned at the readings.

  “No, that's the thing, it's along our planned course, sir. But we're going crazy fast. It's impossible,” the navigator replied, glancing at the fin tank. The two swapped control of the helm. Usually it was a smooth changeover but their rapid pace made them feel a jolt. He winced, grabbing his arm rest and station console for support. Nak'nak'chick seemed to sag in the null gravity field, her flipper hands hung limply.

  “Tired,” the fin gasped, rasping for breath.

  “Call for your relief,” the captain ordered. He frowned as Miss Norton came onto the bridge. “Ah, Miss Norton. We seem to have a computer problem,” he said, indicating the navigator. The woman glanced at him and then grimly came over to Wally's station.

  “I've paged engineering to take a look at the hyperdrive, Captain. I sent both techs an email since they are off shift,” the ops tech said. “We've got a vicious load on the force emitters. We're over 100 percent on them now.”

  “Helm, can we turn?”

  “No. When we do, load doubles and we start having problems, Captain,” the ops tech insisted, waving a frantic hand. “Load goes to critical levels,” he said, shaking his head. “As long as we stay on this heading we're okay. But if we turn …”

  The fin tried to skew the ship slightly to port and the ship immediately started to shake.

  “Compensating,” the ops tech said, tapping at his controls. The ride smoothed out as he and Nike adjusted the inertial dampeners. “The dampeners aren't designed to handle this rapid movement,” the tech warned.

  “Turbulence ahead. A wall of some sort,” Anita called out from the sensor station.

  “Con, get us back on track.”

  “Captain, if this is right, we're in some sort of … I don't know. Tube,” the navigator said, wrinkling his nose as he scratched his head.

  “Is it a computer error?” the captain demanded, looking at him and Shannon. “Could the VR be acting up? Nike?”

  “No, Captain,” Shannon replied softly. She looked over her shoulder from where she was leaning over Wally. “It's not the computer. This is real,” she said.

  “Yes, but again, what is it?” The Captain demanded.

  “When we figure it out, skipper, you'll be the first to know,” Wally said as he went to work on the problem. “Okay, second,” he admitted when he realized he'd have to figure it out to tell the skipper.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Once the ship's flight was stable, the captain called a meeting of the senior officers in the wardroom. The COB was left in charge of the bridge during the meeting. As usual Click'ck'a attended the meeting virtually, leaving Nak'nak'chick to continue manning the helm. The other fin had gotten two hours to rest before she'd been tapped to take the helm once again.

  “All right people, let's keep this short. I know Miss Heart isn't too thrilled about being stuck in charge,” he said with a whimsical smile. Everyone knew who really ran the ship but sticking her in the hot seat seemed to be amusing to the skipper. “So, you have an idea on what is going on Mister Pappas?” the captain asked, looking at Wally.

  The navigator nodded. “I think I do, skipper, now. There is only one explanation; the late Doctor Kershall got it right. We're in a hyperbridge,” he said, sounding confident for once.

  “I thought you said it was a riptide current?” Doctor McReese asked carefully. The red haired woman was prickly, a stickler for calling her by her earned title. The one time Wally had mistakenly called her Tanya she'd ripped him a new one.

  She was the chief scientist on the boat. For a while she had treated the crew as lackeys, little better than peon peasants that were beneath her. She'd resided in her cabin going over her “work” for the first part of their journey until boredom had driven her out to seek other company.

  “I'm not a hyper physicist, Doc, I'm, well, not out of my element but damn close to it. No one has had any experience with this shit as far as we know of,” Wally replied as her eyes narrowed at him in speculation. “And before you ask, no, I don't know how we got in it. It is supposed to be impossible. Obviously not, cause here we are. That turbulence obviously played a part.”

  “Riptide. It is sucking us along,” Click'ck'a replied. “Moving the ship fast. Faster than expected. Hard to keep up,” she said. “Tired.” She shook her head wearily. She'd had a brief stint on the con and even she had been hard pressed to keep up. It took a great deal of concentration.

  “Which explains the bumpy ride,” the navigator agreed with a nod. “We're moving along at a pretty fast clip, faster than anyone has gone before,” he said. He caught the faint smile of amusement from the chief engineer. The two of them were old Sci-Fi buffs. They'd discovered that when they had discovered the files each of them had uploaded to the ship's video library. He glanced her way then back to the skipper. “I'm trying to brush up on what we know, but up until this it's all been math and theory. Hypothesis really,” he said, shaking his head.

  “A hyperbridge,” the chief engineer echoed. “A bridge to where exactly?” She asked.

  Wally sighed as all eyes turned to him once more. “I wish I knew. No one knows how to get in a bridge, obviously we have. It was thought that it would be impossible to get in or out of!” He frowned. “Which means getting out will be tricky,” he murmured thoughtfully.

  “One step at a time,” the captain ordered. “What else do you know?”

  “I can dump the summary to each of you or the link to it anyway. I can barely understand it myself,” the navigator replied. “Maybe the hyperdrive techs can
?” he asked the chief. She shrugged. Jeff she doubted, but Taz might be flexible enough to figure it out. “Anyway, what Doctor Kershall's theory stated is that a mass in real space creates a shadow mass in hyper. That much everyone knows of course,” he said with a polite smile. “The bigger the mass, the more the shadow. It not only bends space and time in real space but hyper.”

  The captain nodded. The recap was hardly needed, but he knew the navigator was laying a foundation. “Go on.”

  “Now, what the theory states is that a mass can bend hyperspace, therefore creating pockets of bent hyperspace. Folded in other words, folded more than what our Alcubierre drive does,” he said, using his slowly curling fingers to simulate the bending of space. “Now, you take two or more objects on either end that they call poles and they form a bridge. I'm not sure about how they are connected in hyper. I don't know how Doctor Kershall theorized that, perhaps the math, I don't know. It may be why he never got the Nobel and why the hyperspace physics community laughed at him until he passed away on Mars.” He shook his head. “We're all learning new things here,” he said with a helpless shrug. “The good news is, he'll eventually be vindicated. Too bad he's no longer alive to enjoy it.” He made a brief disgusted face.

  “So, we have to ride it out? Until what, it takes us to a black hole?” Click'ck'a demanded. She squawked in annoyance. “No!” She thrashed her head from side to side. “Bad, bad,” she squeed, slipping a bit into simple terms.

  “Yes, we know. How do we get out?”

  “Well, there is a bit of good news,” the Chief engineer said. They looked to her. “This current or bridge or whatever the hell it is is moving us along at a good clip. We need to reinforce the force emitters; if anything happens to them we'll be crushed. Already the load is twice what we'd expected.”

  “And you think of this as good news?” Doctor McDaniel demanded. Doctor McDaniel was the Chief Medical Officer of the ship. She was caustic but a gifted healer.