Star One: Dark Star

by Weil, Raymond L.

  “It is Sir,” General Young said hastily. “As you know, whenever possible we have the plane take routine sightings of Star One, as you previously ordered, with the long range instruments on board. Look at the screen. This is what the plane is picking up at this moment.”

  Farley turned to look impatiently at the big screen on the wall to see a long, fiery trail in space. Due to the distance involved, he couldn’t make out what it was.

  “It looks like a comet; have your people never seen one before? Maybe we will get lucky and it will collide with Star One,” puffed Farley, finding it hard to believe that this young idiot had interrupted his sleep to look at a comet on a TV screen. A firing squad might very well be in order.

  “It’s not a comet, Senator,” General Young replied with a frown. It was obvious the senator didn’t understand what he was seeing on the screen. “Twenty minutes ago, Star One left its orbit at the Lagrange point. Those fiery trails you see are what’s left of the drive flares from four ion drives that we have detected operating on Star One. From the instruments on the spy plane, we have measured Star One’s current acceleration at one-tenth gravity of acceleration. They have also used some SRBs that were evidently attached to the station to give them escape velocity. Now we know why they attached the Space Platform to the bottom of the station.”

  “Escape velocity?” asked Farley looking confused, his eyes widening. “What the hell do you mean by escape velocity? Are they going to the Moon?”

  “It doesn’t look like it,” General Young replied with a shake of his head. “From their present trajectory and acceleration they are going farther out into the Solar System.”

  “But where?” demanded Senator Farley, realizing that Steve Larson and General Karver might be putting themselves beyond his reach. “They can’t get away; our laser isn’t ready yet! They must not escape! They have to be destroyed!”

  “We don’t know yet where they’re going,” General Young replied, his eyes shifting nervously about. “We will need to monitor their course for a number of hours and then extrapolate it to see what it intersects with, if anything.”

  Fuming, Farley stared with obvious hate at the viewscreen on the wall. Two more weeks and his laser would have been completed, and Star One would have been doomed. He would have sat in this very room and watched that infernal station being incinerated by his super laser.

  “Damn them!” Farley said aloud in frustration. “Someday I’ll destroy you, Steve Larson. Someday we’ll meet again, and then you and your precious station will die!”

  -

  On Star One, the object of that rage watched as the station continued to accelerate away from the Lagrange point. Christy reached over and took Steve’s hand, smiling.

  “Well, we are on our way. I just hope that our luck continues to hold. I can just imagine what Senator Farley must be thinking right now,” she said.

  “So can I,” Steve replied in agreement, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “At least that is one threat we won’t have to worry about anymore.”

  “Do you think he will bother Mase on the Moon?” asked Christy, wondering if Tycho City would be safe.

  “I don’t think so,” answered General Karver, walking over to stand in front of their console. “He was after Star One, not Tycho City. Besides, he has too much to worry about down on Earth. Mase also has some Black Knight missiles if he needs them.”

  “He knows about our escape,” announced Teela, reappearing next to the general. “I’ve picked up some transmissions from a high altitude reconnaissance plane that detected our departure.”

  -

  Hours later, Steve and Christy watched as the ion drives shut down on schedule. Current plans called for eight hours of boosting and then eight hours of rest, giving the scientists and technicians an opportunity to check all the systems. After the systems were checked, there would be another eight hours of boosting.

  Steve knew at the end of the second boost period they would be traveling at a speed of nearly 35 miles per second, and twelve days from now their final speed would be an incredible 422 miles per second. If they stayed on their planned schedule, they would meet the neutron star-black hole binary at four and one half billion miles from the Sun.

  -

  An hour later, Steve was down in the platform’s control room checking with one of the crews that would operate it during the off boosting hours. Christy had gone to her quarters to get some much-needed rest since she would be in charge of the next boost sequence. Steve and Christy had decided to rotate to allow them time to rest and stay sharp. Most of the first shift boost personnel had already left except for Dryson, who was busy at a computer terminal checking some type of readouts.

  “What’s up, Ted?” asked Steve, strolling over to stand above the scientist looking over his shoulder at the computer screen. It was covered with a lot of complex mathematical formulas.

  “I’m just reviewing the performance of the reactor during the boost,” Dryson replied, not taking his eyes off the screen. He was plugging in numbers and watching as the computer recalculated the formulas.

  Looking around the room, Steve watched for a moment as the busy crew prepared for the next boost in a little less than seven hours. This crew would be rechecking and calibrating everything to ensure that all the systems were ready for the next boost period.

  “Have you and Stoler had a chance to work on our revolving magnetic field generator?” asked Steve, returning his attention to Dryson.

  “We have created a preliminary design,” Dryson responded as he put in another series of numbers into the computer. “We should have it ready to test in about two weeks. From what we can understand from Professor LaRann’s papers on black holes and wormholes, it should stabilize the wormhole long enough for us to make the transit.”

  Turning, Dryson looked Steve directly in the eyes. “You realize though that taking a structure as large as Star One through the wormhole will be extremely dangerous. From the few readings we managed to get from the FarQuest, the station will be subjected to a lot of stress.”

  “I know,” replied Steve, recalling what he had read about black holes. “But it’s the best chance we have of surviving the nova. Teela has said that there is a good chance the station will receive some damage as we transit the wormhole, but it should be able to make the transit relatively intact.”

  “I’m just not to sure how intact that’s going to be,” commented Stoler, frowning.

  The two talked for several more minutes and then Steve made his way back up to the Power Wheel to stand and stare at the reactor. Looking around the large room Steve nodded, satisfied at the technicians on duty and noticing the slower more relaxed pace now that Luxen was no longer being produced. They had abundant supplies of the alloy for emergency use if needed. The steady hum from the fusion reactor, which was funneling its power throughout Star One, was audible in Steve’s ears as he turned and made his way to the main elevator.

  Several minutes later, Steve stepped out into one of the ecological habitats, breathing in the fresh air, and nearly bumped into Kathleen who was carrying several sample bags in her hands.

  “Commander,” she stammered, embarrassed from nearly knocking Steve over. “I didn’t see you!”

  “Kathleen,” replied Steve, smiling. At least she was dressed in her regulation uniform. “What’s the hurry?”

  “We’re taking a few samples to check on how some of our more delicate plants are handling the vibration from the ion drives. Julie wants to take a few samples after each boost to monitor for any stress the plants may exhibit.”

  Steve looked around at the trees, which nearly touched the tall ceiling and the now empty stream and small pond, which the day before had held water and trout.

  “How did the animals in the other habitats hold out during the acceleration?” asked Steve, noticing a few butterflies floating in the air amongst the trees and flowers.

  “Just fine, from what we can tell,” answered Kathleen, adjusting h
er sample bags to make sure they were marked correctly. “We sedated most of the larger animals through the acceleration, but the birds, squirrels, and insects were left to fend for themselves. Other than a few confused squirrels, everything seems to be fine.”

  “How is everyone else holding up?” Steve asked. “We haven’t been able to talk much recently, and I know you get to see a lot of the station’s crew.”

  Kathleen smiled at Steve’s obvious reference to her partying and socializing when off duty. “A lot of people are scared; particularly the new arrivals. Some don’t understand why we have to move the station. The old timers have been filling them in and doing a lot of explaining. For the most part, everyone trusts your judgment.”

  “What about you?” asked Steve, curiously. While he had never been close to Kathleen, he knew that she was brilliant in her work or she would never have landed the job as Julie’s assistant.

  Kathleen hesitated a moment. The commander had always made her a little nervous. “I believe we will survive. I believe that we will find Ty and the FarQuest on the other side of the wormhole waiting for us. I have to believe Commander; what other choice is there?”

  Steve caught a glimpse of a squirrel in a nearby tree gingerly walking out on a limb. He almost smiled at the squirrel’s obvious nervousness as it took one cautious step at a time.

  “We all have to believe, Kathleen,” Steve replied. “What is life without hope, and who knows what we may find on the other side of the wormhole?”

  -

  Later, Steve returned to Main Control and took his command seat to stare thoughtfully at the main screen, which now showed Star One as a bright dot surrounded by stars. These people believe in me. He looked around at the crewmembers in the room, knowing that he couldn’t let them down. I just hope I’m leading them to a better place.

  Changing the view on the screen, he stared at the cloud shrouded Earth. He knew from their latest reports that the people living on that globe were suffering horribly from the ceaseless weather and now widespread shortages of food. What other choice do we have, he thought, thinking about what the living conditions on the ground must be like.

  From their latest reports, tens of millions of people had already lost their lives in the flooding that was raging everywhere. Changing the screen again, it showed a view of distant space with a dim dot at its center, the neutron star with its companion black hole that was invisible on the screen. Our destiny, he thought, staring at the screen. For several long minutes, he sat in Main Control, wondering what awaited them at the black hole.

  Chapter Twelve

  Day twelve arrived uneventfully as the final eight-hour boost of Star One ended. Steve breathed a tired sigh of relief as the ion drives shut off, leaving the station hurtling through the void of space at an appalling speed of 422 miles per second. It was quiet, and the steady vibration from the ion drives was finally absent. Already, in the twelve days the station had been boosting, they had traveled nearly 200 million miles. Looking around Main Control, Steve could see a look of tired relief on everyone’s faces.

  “Todd reports everything normal on the Space Platform,” a worn out Christy reported from her console next to him. “They will be doing a complete recalibration of the entire ion drive system since it’s going to be down for awhile.”

  “It should take 72 hours to complete the entire job,” Teela commented from where she was standing next to Steve’s console. “They will also be checking the ion drive chambers for any wear to the Luxen lining after such a long boost period.”

  Looking over at Christy, Steve reached out, took her hand, and squeezed it. Her eyes were bloodshot, and Steve knew that she had spent a lot of hours walking around the station talking to the crew and being at her station during boost. For that matter, Steve also was nearly to the point of physical and mental exhaustion. A good meal tonight and then a decent night’s uninterrupted sleep would definitely be a cure all for himself as well as the rest of the crew.

  “We’re committed now,” Steve spoke to Christy, knowing she needed some rest. “I just hope we made the right decision.”

  “It’s the only decision that has a reasonable chance of Star One surviving,” commented Teela, watching the two. At least being an AI, she didn’t feel tired.

  Steve nodded his head, knowing Teela was right, but it had still been a hard decision to make. He was still feeling nervous about the course they were being forced to take in order to intercept the neutron star-black hole binary. They were following a course closer to the plane of the ecliptic than what the FarQuest had, much closer. Already, the station’s railguns, under the command of Captain Gerald and Lieutenant Emerson, had been used six times to blast small asteroids into harmless pieces that had ventured too close to their intended path.

  Lieutenant Emerson, along with Captain Gerald and the station engineers, had redesigned and reprogrammed the station’s long-range sensors and radars. This allowed them to extend their detection range out to slightly over 200,000 miles. Still, that only gave them barely eight minutes of early warning from the time an object was detected to the time it could potentially collide with Star One.

  The effective range of the railguns required that an object be within one minute of impacting Star One before it could be destroyed. Captain Gerald and Lieutenant Emerson had full control of the railguns from the weapons station in Main Control. At least one of them had been at the weapons console since Star One had left the Lagrange point.

  To be on the safe side, General Karver had ordered that they maintain crews at two of the actual railgun stations on the outer rim. In case of an emergency, these could be fired by manual control. Each railgun contained its own targeting computer, which could be used if the computer system in Main Control went down.

  Lieutenant Damon Carter had been undergoing additional training to share the burden of commanding the railguns. Now that the boost was over, he would command the railgun station one shift per day, which would allow the three to rotate to just one eight-hour shift in a twenty-four hour period. It would help to relieve the pressure and strain that Captain Gerald and Lieutenant Emerson had been under. General Karver had suggested training several others just in case they were needed.

  Steve also planned on using Todd to help share the command load in Main Control. The three duty officers were qualified, but none had the command experience that Todd did.

  “Commander,” Teela said, interrupting his thoughts with a grave look on her face. “I have picked up reports of a massive earthquake in the Los Angeles area along the San Andreas fault line.”

  “Oh no!” Christy moaned in anguish, knowing what this might signify. She looked over at Steve and saw the same look of anguish on his face.

  “Contact General Karver and ask him to report to Main Control,” ordered Steve, crisply. He knew that the general would want to know about this earthquake. Steve wondered if this was the beginning of the next disastrous phase for Earth.

  Teela was still able to monitor Earth through the orbiting satellites even though communication one way now took nearly eighteen minutes due to the lengthening distance. They were also still maintaining daily contact with Tycho City, even though it was becoming more difficult to carry on a conversation as the distance between the two steadily increased.

  “General Karver is on his way,” Teela reported, after finding the general in one of the cafeterias eating a light meal.

  “How serious is the earthquake, Teela?” asked Steve, feeling disturbed at realizing what the Earth would soon be going through. This could be the advent of the serious and dangerous earthquakes they had been expecting. He suspected this earthquake was probably the result of the influence of the neutron star-black hole binary.

  The heavy rains had been causing numerous mudslides and sinkholes to appear all along the densely inhabited California coast from Santa Rosa to San Diego. There had been several minor earthquakes already, and Steve had been afraid that a major Earth movement was inevitable. Particularl
y the closer the deadly binary came to Earth.

  The Earth was still inundated with storms, and the situation was steadily getting worse day by day with no end in sight. Each day they could hear repeated pleas for help on the radio waves as beleaguered communities and people became steadily more desperate.

  “I have several TV stations that are reporting from the California area,” stated Teela, scanning all the reports she was receiving. “I can put them up on the main screen.”

  Over the past few months, many of the broadcasting stations had gone completely off the air; most due to a lack of available electricity as the power grid became too damaged to operate. Power companies just couldn’t keep up with all the damage being done to their transmission facilities by the storms.

  The main screen flickered, and then a clear picture of the Greater Los Angeles area came into view. Main Control became deathly quiet as everyone stared in shock at the screen. It was obviously being filmed from a slowly circling helicopter high above the disaster. Light rain was falling in a cloud covered gray sky, but the devastation was overwhelming.

  Los Angeles was gone! The Pacific Ocean had moved in and reclaimed the city. Only a few of the city’s tallest buildings were still visible above the dark blue ocean water, and even those showed a tremendous amount of earthquake damage. Most of the windows in the buildings were broken, and several buildings were leaning over at odd angles as if they were about to teeter and fall into the encircling water.

  Debris and countless bodies were plainly visible in the swirling water around the surviving structures. Even as they watched, one of the remaining buildings seemed to tremble and then disappeared as it collapsed on its foundation, allowing the ocean waters to swallow it with little effort.

  “The area is still experiencing severe aftershocks,” Teela informed them as she scanned the available media stations.

  Steve heard the door to Main Control open and, looking over, saw General Karver enter. The general walked over to Steve and Christy, glancing up at the main viewscreen.