Star One: Dark Star

by Weil, Raymond L.

  “It’s time,” spoke Christy, quietly. She could feel the increased adrenalin in her body from the excitement.

  Steve turned and looked expectantly toward the main viewscreen. He could feel the tension and the growing anticipation. They were about to embark on a historic journey that could determine the survival of humankind.

  On the screen, Star One seemed to float majestically in the star filled void, waiting. Its aesthetic beauty was missing. The Space Platform attached to the Power Wheel and the numerous Luxen cables, which connected the three wheels, made for a strange sight.

  “Ignition,” Teela reported suddenly, watching data stream in from every section of the station, and particularly from the computers monitoring the ion drives.

  On the screen, four small flares lit up on the bottom of the Space Platform. The flares brightened rapidly and would have been nearly blinding to an unprotected observer. Four visible streams of fire could be seen spreading out beneath the station. Steve felt the station vibrate and quiver as stresses the station had never been designed for encompassed Star One.

  “I never heard the station groan before,” commented Christy uneasily, hoping everything was okay. A quick glance at her console showed everything in the green.

  “It’s nothing,” Teela assured them. “It’s mostly the Luxen cables tightening up under the acceleration. It was expected.”

  Steve could hear the station groaning in feeble protest as the stress from the four ion drives pushed at Star One’s enormous mass. Gradually the four ion drives began pushing the station out of its orbit. In minutes, the station was accelerating outward away from the Earth at a constant speed of one-tenth gravity. The groaning noise from the station had also stopped.

  “Stand by for initial SRB firing,” Teela spoke as she brought the internal temperatures of the SRBs up for ignition. She checked the SRBs one final time to ensure everything was ready.

  The SRB firing was necessary to allow the station to develop enough acceleration to break out of the powerful gravitational hold of the Earth and the Moon. The ion drives had been ignited first to allow the station to handle the SRB firing better. By firing the ion drives, tension had been placed on the new Luxen cables and joints, which had been used to strengthen the station. Teela analyzed the stress being put on the station’s structure and found that it was minimal. All the Luxen cables were holding.

  On the main screen, Star One almost seemed to glow as the long filaments from the ion drives stretched out behind. Steve’s hands clenched the edge of his chair tightly as he waited for the SRBs to light. This would be the crucial test. If the station could handle the stress from the added acceleration, they would be all right. They would be able to escape the Earth and Moon’s gravity field and make a try for the wormhole at the center of the black hole.

  “We have SRB ignition,” stated Teela, watching the computers as the temperatures rose high enough in the SRBs to ignite the slow burning fuel.

  Eight more brilliant drive flares blossomed around the edge of the platform where the powerful SRBs had been mounted. They were held in place by massive Luxen brackets welded to the side of the platform.

  The station shuddered, and Steve could hear the metal of the station protesting loudly to the added acceleration. Just hold together, he thought as he tensed up. This acceleration was necessary if they were to escape. Glancing around Main Control, he saw that each person was watching their consoles closely, looking for any signs of trouble.

  “The station’s really protesting,” Christy commented with a weak smile. She could feel the vibration from the SRBs as it was transmitted through the hull. It was very faint, but it was there.

  “Star One is holding up to the additional acceleration within acceptable parameters,” reported Teela, checking the station’s stress monitors as they began to register considerably more stress than they had with just the ion drives.

  “Keep us informed, Teela,” ordered Steve, glancing down at his console and seeing everything was still in the green. No sections were reporting any problems.

  Several stress monitors were nearly reading in the red but were still within acceptable limits. Teela made a note of these, as they would have to be strengthened before they neared the neutron star-black hole binary. She sent the information to Christy’s console as this was one of the things Christy was monitoring closely.

  The SRBs added another one-third gravity of acceleration to the station giving it the speed necessary to escape the Earth-Moon system. On the main screen, the station could be seen visibly moving against the background of stars, which surrounded it.

  Everyone in Main Control felt the added strain as the station creaked and groaned. Crewmembers looked around nervously as this was a sound they were not used to.

  Teela’s holographic image stood calmly as she monitored the station and the Space Platform. She stood next to Steve, completely oblivious to the slight strain that he was showing as his station made protesting noises he had never expected to hear.

  Christy reached over and gently squeezed Steve’s hand. “The station’s doing fine.”

  Steve squeezed her hand back, forcing a smile. “I know.”

  Christy was listening to Todd’s constant reports over her mini-com. She knew that John was in the Space Platform’s control room using the station’s RCS thrusters to keep the station stable. She was also monitoring the stress areas that Teela had pointed out to her. She would have Lieutenant Commander Hastings organize some work crews to strengthen those areas once the initial boost was over.

  Steve watched the viewscreen nervously, glancing down occasionally to scan the instruments and computer readouts on his console, watching for any signs of trouble. He was tapping the top of the console with his index finger as he listened to the station. It almost sounded as if it was talking to him. He could hear loud creaking and groaning noises from the station as it bent and shifted slightly to the stresses from the acceleration. It gave him an eerie feeling knowing that the station was protesting so loudly. It was almost as if it had a life of its own. From everything that he could see, the added Luxen coating, the new cables, and support beams were handling the stress as well as could be expected.

  “How are we doing, Teela?” asked Steve, looking over at the AI.

  “No problems,” she replied with a slight smile. “Our trajectory looks good, and the SRBs and the ion drives are functioning normally.”

  “We’re on our way,” General Karver spoke in a pleased voice. He wished he could see Senator Farley’s reaction when he realized that Star One was no longer within his reach. A slight smirk covered his face as he imagined the anger Senator Farley would feel when he realized that Star One had escaped him.

  For nearly ten minutes, the SRBs continued to burn, accelerating Star One by brute force to the speed necessary to escape the gravitational hold of the Earth-Moon system. General Karver was pacing between the weapons console and Steve and Christy’s command console. Deep in his heart, he knew that President Kateland would have been proud of what they were attempting. If it worked, humankind might just survive after all.

  Steve watched the viewscreen as the SRBs continued to fire and then finally shut off. For hundreds of miles behind Star One, space was full of the glowing expended gases from the now quiet SRBs. Only the light acceleration from the ion drives continued pushing the station farther and farther into space.

  “The SRBs have shut down,” Steve announced over the station wide com system. “Everything is proceeding according to plan. There have been no reported problems so far.”

  -

  In her quarters, Jennifer was lying on her bed with a safety harness holding her firmly in place. It was a precaution in case there had been an accident with one of the SRBs or one of the ion drive containment fields.

  “How are you doing, Jennifer?” Teela’s voice asked with concern. She had been keeping a close eye on the crew. However, Jennifer was still her best friend. She always kept an extra careful eye on her.


  “I’m fine,” Jennifer replied, visibly relaxing now that the SRBs were shut off. “Did everything go as planned?”

  “So far everything looks good,” Teela responded. “Todd says it couldn’t have worked better. He is very satisfied with the way the ion drives are performing. He does not expect any problems. Everyone is supposed to stay in their quarters until we turn the ion drives off. You can get up, but no one is supposed to be wandering around.”

  “Do you think the FarQuest really made it?” Jennifer asked in a more quiet tone. She had been thinking about Ty a lot recently, especially since they lost contact with the ship after the FarQuest entered the wormhole.

  “I think there is a good chance,” responded Teela, understanding why Jennifer was so concerned. “From what I have learned of Professor LaRann’s theories about black holes and wormholes the ship stood an excellent chance of making it through. If we are successful in our transit of the wormhole, we should find them waiting on the other side.”

  “I hope so,” Jennifer replied wistfully, her eyes looking over at Teela’s monitor. “I would really like to see Ty again!”

  -

  Down in the main control room for the ecological habitats Julie and Kathleen were watching all their monitors closely. Each habitat had its own set of screens and controls in the control room, with dedicated technicians closely monitoring the stress each habitat was being subjected to.

  “It’s a good thing we drained the streams and ponds,” stated Kathleen, looking at the different screens around the large room. “If we hadn’t we would have water everywhere from the vibration of the SRBs.”

  “The habitats seem to be holding up well,” commented Julie, looking at some readings on the computer screen in front of her.

  “Of course, we won’t know for sure until after the twelve days of acceleration are over with,” added Kathleen, looking at a viewscreen, which showed one of the park habitats. “We don’t know what the lasting effects of this type of acceleration against the pull of gravity will have on our habitats.”

  “Hopefully none,” Teela’s voice spoke as she quickly scanned the habitats for any problems. “The soil is mostly held firmly in place by vegetation in the habitats. There may be some minor shifting where the soil is loose from the slight vibration of the ion drives. But all the simulations I’ve run indicate it should be minimal. Our actual boost is quite small compared to a shuttle launch.”

  “At the low acceleration of the ion drives we should not see any adverse effects to the plant life,” Julie continued thoughtfully. “However, the higher thrust from the SRBs worry me some, especially in areas where the soil hasn’t had time to settle properly. We need to watch those areas closely, Teela.”

  “I will, but since we usually operate the station under normal Earth gravity I don’t believe there will be any problems,” Teela replied. “I am compensating for the thrust and keeping our gravity at Earth normal. This should reduce or alleviate any potential problems being caused by the slight vibration being transmitted by the ion drives.”

  -

  Down in the Space Platform control room Lieutenant Commander Todd Williams watched his instruments closely, pacing back and forth from one control station to the next. Dryson and Stoler were both present carefully monitoring the fusion reactor’s power level as it fed energy to the four ion drive chambers. Todd also had a mini-com in his right ear so he could speak to Christy as needed.

  “Reactor looks to be holding up well,” Ted Dryson commented as he studied some readings on his computer screen. “Containment fields are holding to within two percent of optimal.”

  “Sounds good,” replied Jarl Stoler with a nod of his graying head. “Power is holding steady, and we should be able to continue the boost.”

  “Very well,” Todd replied with a nod. He felt better with these two experts monitoring the fusion reactor and the ion drives. He quickly reported Stoler’s comments to Christy.

  “Everything is in the green,” John Gray stated from his pilot control station that controlled the SRBs, the four ion drives, and the RCS thrusters.

  John was currently watching the RCS thruster firings. They were set on automatic to keep the station stable, but he could take over in an instant if necessary. The control station was extremely complicated, covered with instruments, screens, and controls. Two other pilots sat next to John, ready to assist him if needed. Teela was controlling the ion drives and the SRBs with John watching closely for any signs of potential problems.

  “Fuel consumption is right on the line, and we are dead center on our plotted trajectory,” one of the copilots reported as he studied the data flowing across one of the computer screens.

  “We are experiencing a little bit of a wobble due to the weight balance of the station, but we are countering that with occasional short bursts of the station’s RCS thrusters,” added John, watching the RCS thruster firings intently. “It will cost us a lot in fuel for the twelve days of thrust we have planned, but fortunately we have plenty of fuel for the thrusters thanks to what we had stored in the storage facility.”

  “It’s a shame we had to leave so much of that fuel behind,” commented Todd, standing behind John. “At least we did manage to top off the fuel storage tanks in the platform.”

  “How does everything look?” asked Teela, materializing next to Todd. She already knew from her own analysis. However, she knew it made people feel better when she asked for their opinions.

  “Almost perfect,” answered Todd, smiling. “Could you run a thruster fuel analysis of how much fuel we will be using to maintain the station’s stability during the ion boost? We have a slight wobble that keeps showing up. We are correcting for it periodically. The wobble was one thing we hadn’t planned on in our simulations. It shouldn’t be a cause for concern, but I would like to confirm what our fuel use will be just in case.”

  “No problem,” replied Teela, nodding. “I just need to monitor it for a few minutes. I will get back with you shortly.” With that, she vanished.

  “She’s quite a girl, Todd,” spoke John, smiling and watching as he had the computer fire the port RCS thrusters for an extra four seconds to maintain the station’s equilibrium. “She has really come a long ways.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Todd replied with a grin. “She has one of the most inquisitive minds you can imagine. She can talk for hours, and her voice is one you never get tired of listening to. She’s so innocent and honest about everything. I know some people think our relationship is a little strange, but Teela means a lot to me.”

  “I don’t think it’s strange at all,” John replied.

  -

  In Main Control, Steve and Christy watched the viewscreen as Star One slowly built up acceleration and left the camera satellite far behind at the Lagrange point. A steady rumbling could be dimly heard from the bowels of the station, and a slight almost undetectable vibration was constantly present.

  “Commander Colton says we have really lit up the night sky,” Margaret Sullivan reported from her communications console. “He says most of the inhabitants of Tycho City are watching on their screens or from the surface. He wishes us the best of luck, Sir.”

  “Tell Mase I’ll contact him later, and thanks for the support,” Steve replied with a nod.

  “I hate leaving Mase and his people behind like this.” Christy said quietly so only Steve could hear. “What will happen to them if the Sun does go nova? Do they stand a chance of survival?”

  “If they can complete their deep shelters soon enough Mase feels they do,” replied Steve. The two had discussed it when Steve had made the decision to move Star One. “They will have nearly a mile of lunar soil over their heads and Luxen walls as protection. If he has to, he can put many of those people into deep sleep, possibly for years if need be. Mase isn’t too worried; he thinks he has a decent chance of surviving.”

  “I guess that depends on how big the nova is,” Christy replied with a deep sigh. She knew from what Teela
had said that it could be anything from a minor flare up to a full-fledged nova. If it was a full-fledged nova, nothing in the Solar System would survive.

  Steve punched up a command on one of the computer screens on his console and looked at the stress indicators for the station. All were well within the green. Glancing up at the main viewscreen, the fiery electron trail behind Star One stretched out for hundreds of miles. If people on Earth could see, it would be a highly visible spectacle.

  -

  Unfortunately, down on Earth it was visible and had caused quite a stir. Senator Farley was hastily summoned to the massive underground facility’s war room when the officer in charge realized the significance of what he was seeing. He knew that Senator Farley would blow a gasket when he realized that Star One was escaping.

  “What is it now?” rumbled Farley, angry at being disturbed from his sleep.

  Farley didn’t normally get up until late morning, and here it was not even 7:00 a.m. yet! He wasn’t used to someone having the gall to demand his immediate presence. He definitely didn’t care for it. He had been forced to leave two gorgeous secretaries that routinely shared his bed with him. Maybe it was time he made an example out of somebody else again. Nothing kept order like the fear of death, especially where these military people were concerned.

  “Senator,” the young general in charge said, hurrying up to Senator Farley as he entered the large room. “As you know, we have a spy plane that we launch periodically above the cloud layer when conditions permit. We have been using it to monitor the storm situation around the U.S.”

  “This had better be more important than the weather,” Farley warned, still seething with anger at being summoned out of his warm, luxurious bed.

  He didn’t have time for a damn weather report. He had plans for the secretaries as soon as he got back to bed. Just what was this young general thinking? Perhaps he should have put an older man in charge.