Star One: Dark Star

by Weil, Raymond L.

  Steve looked at one of the small viewscreens, which was focused on Star One. As the station began slowly to shrink behind them, the Space Platform began to grow in the large viewport in front of them. It was a ten-mile trip and allowed him a few minutes to think about what was going on down below on Earth.

  “The entire shuttle fleet is being prepared for round-the-clock launches, including the six military shuttles,” continued Steve, knowing the cape would soon become an extremely busy place. “They are in the process of placing two marine divisions around the cape facility to protect it. They have restricted the airspace within one hundred miles of the launch center and have stationed one of the newer aircraft carrier battle groups offshore. There is a lot of concern about attempted sabotage from some of the more radical elements that are out there.”

  “You don’t think they will actually try to shoot a shuttle down, do you?” John asked, not wanting to believe that such a thing was possible. He knew that, for a few minutes after launch a shuttle would be extremely vulnerable to an attack.

  “They might,” answered Steve. “That’s why the aircraft carrier has been put in position.”

  “Do you think it will get that bad, that fast? John asked as he sped up the shuttle by firing its small rocket motor for a few seconds. “I mean, I knew that later when the effects from the neutron star start to be felt it could get rough down below. But I didn’t expect any problems so soon; at least not in the United States!”

  “Some of the leading astronomers on Earth, particularly in France, Russia, China, and South Africa have come out with their own doomsday predictions,” replied Steve, shaking his head. He had read several of their statements. “They refused to follow President Kateland’s lead and not panic their people.”

  “I guess that was to be expected,” John replied with a frown. In recent years, all four of those governments had tried to reduce the United State’s influence in world affairs. “We can’t expect to keep everyone quiet.”

  “They are claiming that the neutron star will cause the Earth to become totally uninhabitable,” Steve added, taking a deep breath. He looked out the viewport at the slowly growing Space Platform. “The United States is denying that it will come to that, but the president doesn’t know how much longer they can stall before having to release the entire truth.”

  “What about Senator Farley? What does he say about the reports from these other scientists?” asked John, wondering how the senator was going to deal with the information coming out of other countries.

  “He continues to deny the reports, claiming it’s all an elaborate scheme by the space lobby to dramatically increase their portion of the budget,” Steve answered with a scowl. “He just doesn’t want to accept the reality of the situation. It goes against everything he believes in.”

  “He’s just playing politics,” John responded, shaking his head in disgust. “He wants to run for president and he's using this as an excuse to stay in the public eye.”

  “Perhaps,” Steve answered, arching his eyebrows. “But now is not the time to play politics.”

  The Space Platform gradually loomed up before them. Steve scanned the surface of the platform noting the two large cargo shuttles setting on its surface being prepped for return flights to Earth with special cargoes. He also saw, in the distance, two Centaur work vessels returning with Tycho City mass driver cargo pods in tow. Each pod was twenty feet wide, twenty feet tall, and forty feet long, with a diminutive rocket engine in the front and a small group of maneuvering thrusters.

  The mass driver on the wall of Tycho crater used giant electromagnets to accelerate the containers, hurling them up into space and on their short, 37,000-mile journey to the Lagrange point. The small rocket engine that was attached to the pods was used to slow them down. Once brought to a stop the Centaur work vessels would capture the pods and haul them to the Space Platform where the raw material could be processed. After the raw material was unloaded, the rocket engine would be refueled, and the pods would be launched back to the moon where a special orbiting shuttle would capture the pods and break them down.

  Each pod was built so the that the outer walls could be collapsed and the engines detached. One of the special shuttles could transport five of the broken down pods back down to the lunar surface.

  “If we have time, I want to put an additional coating of Luxen around the entire Space Platform,” Steve said, thinking about some of the projects he had in mind.

  It seemed as if every time he sat down to think about their situation, he came up with more projects that needed to be done. President Kateland was entrusting him with 3,000 people. He had to do whatever was necessary to keep them safe.

  “That’s a lot of Luxen,” commented John, wondering if Dryson and Stoler had been told yet.

  Steve knew they were already pushing their Luxen production schedule to cover the requirements needed to cover Star One in Luxen and still leave some left over for Tycho City. He hoped that Mase could get his Luxen production started up soon. If Mase didn’t, Steve didn’t know if they had the spare capacity to do the Space Platform, as well as the other projects.

  “We are also going to start stockpiling fuel,” added Steve, thinking about everything that needed to be done. “We may need it for future shuttle flights between here and the Moon someday. I don’t know how much longer the cape is going to be accessible if matters get out of hand down below.”

  “You think the situation down on Earth will get so bad we can’t depend on the cape for launches?” John spoke, surprised. He thought with the military guarding the cape it would be safe for months yet.

  “It could happen very quickly; we just don’t know,” replied Steve, uneasily. “General Karver thinks he can hold the cape for as long as necessary, but I’m not so sure. I can’t imagine American troops firing on U.S. citizens.”

  “You actually think it will come down to that?” asked John, hoping that it didn’t.

  “It could,” replied Steve, somberly.

  “How are we going to stockpile this extra fuel?” asked John, knowing that there wasn’t that much spare room on the Space Platform.

  “Lieutenant Commander Williams is going to begin constructing a small fuel storage facility a few miles from the platform. He is also going to set up a new manufacturing facility to construct small SRBs in the Space Platform,” Steve replied. “We can extract the fuel from the material that we are receiving from Tycho City’s mines. Colton is going to do the same thing on the Moon. There may come a day when we have to depend on one another. We will also put a thin coating of Luxen around the fuel depot if we have the time.”

  John slowly flew the Centaur over the platform’s surface before firing the thrusters to send the vessel skimming down its side. Another firing of the thrusters and they were flying slowly beneath the platform’s slowly rotating wheel. Satisfied, John fired the Centaur’s small rocket engine, which pushed them rapidly back toward Star One. John knew that Steve had a busy schedule planned for the afternoon.

  -

  Deep in space, the FarQuest was nearly 50 million miles from Star One and getting farther away every minute as the ship’s velocity steadily increased. A message to the station and back was taking nearly nine minutes due to speed of light limitation. Carrying on a conversation with Star One was steadily becoming more difficult.

  Ty and Winston Archer were currently seated at their stations on the instrument-crowded Flight Deck checking the instruments and computer readouts. Data flowed across the screens indicating the ship’s fuel usage and energy requirements. So far, the flight had been rather uneventful, with the crew adjusting well to the duty schedule. There had only been a few minor system malfunctions, and Winston and Karl had corrected them rather easily. As long as the ion drive was on Ty wanted at least one person on the Flight Deck at all times as a safety precaution.

  “Everything is still in the green,” Winston said, checking the ion drive readings carefully. “Fuel consumption is along predi
cted curves. The latest computer estimation is that we will consume eighteen percent of our fuel during the burn.”

  “That will leave us a reasonable reserve once we arrive at the neutron star,” responded Ty, wanting to maintain a good safety margin. “How about the fusion reactor; how does it look?”

  “No problems,” answered Winston, glancing at a screen that continuously showed reactor information. “Magnetic containment fields are holding steady, and fusion temperatures are within acceptable parameters.”

  “Let’s just hope everything stays that way,” Ty commented pleased with the way the FarQuest had performed so far.

  Ty leaned back in his acceleration couch and checked the crew monitors. The three scientists were in level nine playing a game of cards while Lieutenant Strett and Captain Simpson were asleep in their bunks on level six. Karl Velm was in level ten, the main Engineering section, checking over the systems. He wanted to ensure everything was operating within specs. Karl took a lot of pride in his work and was continually fine-tuning the FarQuest’s systems.

  Karl and Winston had devoted a lot of their time to checking the ship’s systems to see how they were responding to the long boost of the ion drive. This was their last opportunity to do a complete systems check before they went into deep sleep a few days hence. Once they were all in deep sleep, any system problems would have to be corrected from the Space Platform. Only a serious problem or malfunction would result in part of the crew being brought out of deep sleep.

  On the main viewscreen in front of Ty, a dim speck was visible to one side of the screen at its highest magnification. Ty knew that this was the neutron star, which was sweeping down on the helpless Solar System. Ty tried to imagine just what they might find when they got there. He wondered if there was any chance at all of there being any unknown planets in orbit around the intruding star. This greatly intrigued him. Was there anything else associated with the neutron star that they didn’t know about?

  Ty knew from the Farside reports that none had been detected, but with the tremendous distances involved, they had not entirely ruled out the possibility. Also, with the deflection in Pluto’s orbit increasing, there had to be something else out there. Ty had a suspicion that it had to be a massive planet in orbit around the neutron star that hadn’t been detected yet.

  In the back of his mind, he pondered the fact that Teela was concerned about the Farside data. The AI claimed that something was seriously wrong; that there was something else influencing the neutron star. Ty worried about that cryptic comment of Teela’s and just what they would find when they arrived there.

  In three more days, the ion drive would shut down and part of the crew would go into deep sleep. From what Lieutenant Strett had told him, it would be just like falling asleep normally except they would wake up months from now when the ship neared the neutron star. For months, the FarQuest would travel through space controlled only by her computers while the human crew slept. If Teela discovered some other danger during that time that information might just have to wait until they arrived at their destination.

  As Ty looked at the screen and thought about Teela, he couldn’t help wondering what Jennifer was doing. He wondered if she would still be available when the FarQuest returned from its mission. For a moment, he pondered sending her a private message, but it would have to pass through several hands before it got to her. He gazed out the Flight Deck’s viewports at the steady glow of the stars that beckoned to the FarQuest. They were already far past the point of any previous manned mission.

  Ty had certainly enjoyed the brief time he had spent with Jennifer. She was intelligent and fun to be with. Perhaps later, before they all went into deep sleep, he might send her a short message. Margaret could be depended on to deliver it without asking any questions. Putting Jennifer momentarily out of his thoughts, Ty activated a computer screen and began checking their current location on the flight plan.

  -

  On Star One, Jennifer was in her quarters. Today was the day she had set up the big surprise she had planned for Teela. She hoped, with all of her heart that it would make a monumental difference in the life of the AI.

  Andre had been tremendously enthusiastic about the project when Jennifer told him what she intended to do. He had volunteered to help her and had put in some long hours setting up the needed program changes to allow the new equipment to function as Jennifer wanted. The simulated tests in the Computer Center had worked perfectly. Andre had been amazed and excited at the results. The techs had installed it, and now it was time for the real test.

  “Teela?” asked Jennifer, waiting for a response. She knew that Teela was watching her. It was something that she was now used to. She and the AI had become extremely close. Jennifer considered Teela to be a close friend.

  “Yes, Jennifer,” a much more grown-up girl’s voice responded. Teela sounded more like a young woman now than an immature teenage girl.

  Teela’s days with Martain Blackwater had encouraged a substantial change in the AI. Blackwater was spending one to two hours a day working with Teela, explaining human interaction, and responding to other questions the curious AI had. Teela’s rapid maturing had been astounding.

  Jennifer was immensely pleased with the progress Teela had made. Already all of her station responsibilities had been fully restored. Commander Larson had even commented about how Teela was doing so much better than he had expected. He had commended Jennifer on the job she had done with the AI. Teela had been performing flawlessly with no complaints from anyone.

  According to Blackwater, Teela was now a young adult eighteen to twenty-one years of age, and her growth would now take place at a much slower rate based on her experience and interaction with people. Part of that Jennifer was hoping to accomplish with the new equipment.

  “I have designed a new program for you,” Jennifer said, sitting in front of her computer terminal with her hands folded in her lap.

  “What kind of program?” asked Teela, curiously.

  She knew that Andre and Jennifer had been working on something and had blocked her access to the Computer Center for a considerable length of time. She had been intensely curious as to what was going on. It hadn’t frightened her since she knew the two had her best interests at heart.

  “This is a surprise, and I want you to tell me what you think of it,” Jennifer said, reaching over and entering the activation command on her computer. She held her breath in excitement, gazing expectantly at a spot a few feet away from where she sat.

  A sudden shimmering of light coalesced in the center of her quarters. A young woman with black shoulder length hair, blue eyes, a youthful inquisitive face, small breasts, and a slight flaring of the hips came into being. She stood five feet eight inches tall and looked extremely innocent, dressed in a regulation Star One uniform.

  The young woman looked surprised and amazed. She stared at her hands unbelievably, then turning her left hand over, she gazed at her palm, touching it with her right hand hesitantly. She smiled wonderingly, amazed at feeling the sensation of touch. Her hands felt warm and soft. Walking over to a large mirror on the wall, she gazed at herself in awe. A young woman in her late teens or early twenties stared back.

  “How can this be?” asked Teela, touching her face and staring at her reflection in amazement. “I can’t be real!”

  Jennifer smiled, walking over to stand next to the young woman. “It’s done with the use of the latest virtual reality software and holographic image projectors, Teela,” answered Jennifer, softly. “The software makes you see and feel everything from the hologram’s perspective. The hologram projectors are one of the latest creations on Earth with some special modifications added by the Star One technical staff. People on Earth use them all the time to play games. A person standing in the room with you will not be able to tell you apart from a real person.”

  Jennifer watched as Teela took her slim hands and ran them across her face, then slowly through her hair.

  “Everythin
g feels so real, or what I always thought real would feel like,” Teela said with awe in her voice. She turned sideways, putting her hands on her hips. Teela looked at her figure critically in the mirror. “I look nice, don’t I?” she commented, turning to face Jennifer with a big smile.

  “Do you like it?” Jennifer asked, even though she already knew the answer just from the captivating and excited look on Teela’s face.

  “It’s fantastic! I wish I was real so I could hug you,” spoke Teela, looking excitedly at Jennifer with large round eyes. “I can’t believe you did this for me.”

  “I’m just happy you like it,” responded Jennifer, smiling at Teela.

  “Are there any other places on the station with holographic projectors?” asked Teela, thinking about all the new possibilities that had suddenly opened up for her. She had never imagined something like this.

  “Only my quarters and the Computer Center for now,” Jennifer answered. “However, if you want, we will give the commander a demonstration later today and ask him about installing more projectors in other areas of the station. I know that Julie would like some as much as she depends on you in her areas, possibly Main Control, and anywhere else we can talk the commander into.”

  “How about Jensens?” asked Teela, thoughtfully, her eyes growing wide at the possibilities and the new freedom that could be hers. “I would like to be able to go to Jensens. I could see people there, and it would be after working hours. I could even join you and Kathleen when you’re dining.”

  “Let’s see what the commander says first,” Jennifer cautioned, highly pleased by Teela’s obvious pleasure and excitement.

  She wasn’t sure how Jensen would take to having Teela around after some of the pranks she had played on his patrons in the past. It was something she would have to work on.

  “For now, you can activate the program for the hologram whenever you want,” Jennifer stated, still smiling. “If you concentrate, you can turn it on or off; that’s how we set it up. I need to go to the Computer Center so, if you want, we can continue our conversation there.”