On to Tau Ceti

by David McCahan

  Saoi was silent for a second as he thought about the information and listened with the Collective on the subject and then spoke “Yes privacy is a new concept for us but we understand the importance of respecting each other’s needs. Colonel Callaghan was just telling me earlier today how the loud couple needed their privacy while procreating and we see that we have much to learn in this area.” Saoi finished speaking while Glory experienced an entirely new level of crimson blush.

  “Well in his defense we humans are very, very mentally loud when passions run high.” Glory explained while considering crawling under the table.

  Rhonda then to the rescue “We will schedule classes for humans, but I’m not sure we should mention the loudness of passion. For the Collective though I think we would only need to have a few of you along with a few of our human sensitives to discuss boundaries and then you’ll share with all and problem averted?” Rhonda looked at Saoi for agreement.

  “Yes doctor, this seems like a good approach to us. I have relayed this discussion to the Collective and so we have already begun to listen on this.”

  “Good, I think we have an approach on the subject and we’ll leave it to the good doctor to setup the classes and schedules.” Jeff nodded to Rhonda.

  “I’m sure we’ll work this out quickly.” Rhonda agreed. “One other small item is the two bodies of the Collective that died in spirit form on the Invincible. The Collective has taken on the admirable task of caring for their physical bodies by taking turns merging their spirit form into the bodies to provide nourishment and exercise. This is all very commendable but it tends to scare my medical staff when all of a sudden a very lifeless body jumps up off the table. A little trick Colonel Callaghan has been very good at in the past.” Rhonda gave a wink at Glory and continued “Would there be a way of setting a schedule or at least giving some small sign that they are waking up to help my staff be a little less jittery when in the area?” Rhonda addressed the question looking towards Saoi.

  “Would a deep breath before rising be adequate warning Doctor?” Saoi asked.

  “That would do nicely, thank you.” Rhonda replied.

  “Very good, in the meantime we are getting close to Heliopause so unless anyone has anything else pressing?” Jeff hesitated for a couple seconds to read the room. “Dismissed then. Now Bonnie, I believe we have a visitor that I would love to meet.” With that Jeff turned to look at the Beagle sitting ever so still and quiet at the edge of the room. “Can you call her over?”

  “Actually Sir she will respond to your voice. Just call her by her name and tell her what you want her to do.” Bonnie responded.

  “Maggie, come here.” Jeff said as he patted his lap. Maggie stood quickly and walked over to Jeff with tail wagging and effortlessly hopped into his lap and sat looking expectantly at Jeff. He stroked her head and back down to her tail. “If you didn’t tell me she was mechanical I’d never believe it. The fur and hide feel like the real thing and her movements are flawless. You say they were developing these as sentries?”

  Captain Gerard interjected at this point “I can vouch for her abilities there Sir. We tried to get past the R&D units in full powered armor. They are faster than a Cheetah and stronger than an Ox. One like this one here beat the living daylights out of me. I had 3 broken ribs and a concussion. I’ve actually requisitioned a few Golden Retrievers for my Marines. Loveable looking enough to not scare anyone but powerful enough to stop a battle tank.”

  “I take it all AI safety protocols are in place to protect the crew?” Jeff asked.

  “Yes Sir, crew safety is paramount and these companions will sacrifice themselves if need be to protect any of the crew along with the normal do no harm nor allow no harm to humans and also any of the Collective.” Glory answered.

  “OK so why have I not heard of this before now? Did I miss an email again?” Jeff asked showing a little annoyance.

  “I’m sorry Jeff but I wanted to surprise you with this. They wanted to tell you but I wanted you to see the finished product. My responsibility alone.” Glory did her best to look contrite.

  Jeff just continued petting Maggie while trying to look angry but couldn’t keep it up. “Ok, so when do I get mine?”

  “Top priority I promise. We’ll spec one out tomorrow, Ok?” Glory asked.

  “Ok, you’re forgiven. Bonnie thank you and Maggie, you are allowed to come along anytime.” At that Maggie wagged her tail and gave one bark in acknowledgement. “Well on that note we had best be getting to our duty stations and prepare for FTL.

  Index

  Chapter 2 - Wormhole

  Glory could literally taste the eagerness in the Command and Control Center (C&C) as Columbia approached the Heliopause. This boundary area was not an exact line of demarcation but is the area where solar winds slow to zero and there is a buildup of what can best be described as hydrogen and dust. Once past this area Columbia would be in the clear in interstellar space and could lock Grav Focus on to Tau Ceti and accelerate to 10 times the speed of light by pulling on that star.

  She opened her cyber links with Columbia’s systems and began to review ship’s status, both operational and tactical. The 3d plot in front of her workstation (more of an area for her to sit since the computer in her brain was more powerful than any of the display stations) showed their approach to the Heliopause. She could feel Saoi seated next to her and also on the edge of her consciousness was the Collective looking out into space in front of Columbia. She had gotten lost in this merge when they left Eden and so she focused on staying more in the physical world and just keeping the Collective at the edge of her senses. Saoi could bring anything the Collective see to her attention quickly.

  “I’ll keep you from getting lost again.” Saoi picked up on her concern and his reassurance was welcome.

  “General we have passed out of the Epsilon Eridani system into interstellar space. We are clear to proceed on to Tau Ceti.” Eva called out from her Navigation station.

  Jeff keyed his com to ship wide broadcast “We have cleared the Heliopause and preparing to engage FTL to Tau Ceti. All Department Heads report systems status.”

  Glory monitored the systems dashboard reports and noted that all systems status had been updated and all systems were go for launch. “All systems reporting in. All clear for launch Sir.”

  “Nav, you are clear to launch FTL.” Jeff gave Eva the go ahead for FTL.

  “Yes Sir, course plotted and laid in, accelerating to 10 C now.” Eva commented as she engaged the Grav Drive.

  Glory kept her link to the ships systems open, followed the increase in speed to 10 C and all Fusion Plants and Grav Drives showed performance well within specs. As Javier had informed the staff they were actually running better now than when Columbia left Sol system. Everything was going so smoothly she began to open up to the Collective and experience the feelings of the personnel onboard Columbia, then following their thoughts out into space ahead and around Columbia. The sensation of being one and as much wrapped in love was exhilarating. She opened more fully and then a sensation akin to fingernails being run over a blackboard was beginning to be sensed or felt. She looked for the source and could “see” a ripple in space in the path of Columbia. The ripple was vibrating slightly different than Columbia was. A thought began to form in the Collective that this harmonic was making the Grav Drive work harder than they needed and causing wear. Yes, this was not good and just a small change in the Grav Drive frequency would run so much better …………….

  Glory became aware of something grabbing her arms and she retreated back into the physical world. What was happening? Alarm Klaxons were sounding. “Colonel!” wait that was Jeff’s voice. That brought her fully aware. “Engineering all stop!!” Jeff was on the com with Javier.

  “All stop, acknowledged” Javier responded.

  “General we’ve dropped from FTL, now coming to full stop.” Eva confirmed the Grav Focus FTL was shut down and Ion drives brought the ship to full stop.


  “Engineering, what the hell happened here?” Jeff demanded.

  “At this point Sir I just don’t know. Give me a few minutes to run diagnostics and review the logs and I should be able to give you some answers.”

  The alarms had stopped at this point. Glory was back in the present and rolling through the systems and the logs. “Sir, I cannot find anything out of the ordinary, in fact all systems report fully operational.”

  Jeff just looked at her as angry she’d ever seen him and then he looked to the main plot for the tactical overview. The plot had just updated Columbia’s position and it appears that they were currently just under half way to Tau Ceti. “So Colonel how do you explain that plot? If all systems are fully operational then how does that plot show a position we know to be impossible?” Jeff snapped at her while pointing to the main 3d plot.

  Glory could feel Saoi becoming concerned and moving protectively closer but she gave him a mental assurance and he backed off but his mental presence was very alert for any danger to her.

  “General Fitsimmons, I’ve had Astrometrics plot our position via direct observation and comparison to star charts and they report the plot is correct. We are nearly half way to Tau Ceti in under 5 minutes of travel.” Eva reported.

  Jeff just stood with his mouth open in astonishment looking first at the plot, then Glory, then Saoi, then Eva and finally back to the plot again.

  “General Fitsimmons this is Engineering.” Javier called over the com.

  “Go ahead Colonel Rodrigues.” Jeff replied

  “Sir I can’t explain everything yet but it appears that the frequency of our Grav Drives was adjusted 35 seconds after we initiated FTL. It was a slight change but the net effect was our apparent speed jumped off the charts. The ships systems can’t tell us how fast but that is why the alarms. I also can’t tell you why that slight change caused us to increase velocity in that manner, yet. At this point that is all I can find out of the ordinary from the sensor logs.”

  “Can you tell me where the adjustment came from?” Jeff asked.

  A moment of silence and then “Colonel Callaghan’s station Sir”

  “Keep on the investigation Colonel and pull in any assets and assistance you need to figure out why that change did what it did and keep me updated as you figure things out.” Jeff replied.

  “Yes Sir, Rodrigues out.”

  Glory gasped when she heard her name. Saoi stepped closer to her and she took a step back closer to him.

  Jeff turned to them and said “You two in my ready room, now.” He turned and walked over to his office door and waited for them. Glory and Saoi entered the room and Jeff slammed the door after entering. His was the only door on the ship that wasn’t a powered pocket door, but he had insisted on having a door that he could close himself.

  “Colonel, explain yourself!”

  Jeff stood there with both fists balled by his side in barely controlled rage. He may not be as tall as many of the younger generation with their genetic manipulation advantages but at 6’ 2” and many hours in the gym he was quite an imposing site.

  “SsSir I am very sorry about this. All systems were running so smooth I merged into the Collective in order to view the ship and her surroundings from their perspective. Again everything was perfect there as well but then we looked forward and there was an awful vibration between the Grav Drives and space in front of us.” She couldn’t quite bring herself to mention the ripple. “It was a harmonic distortion and we theorized that it was causing excessive wear on the drives and just a slight tweak would smooth things out. Before I knew it that assumption transferred from my thoughts with the Collective to my cybernetic link to the ship and …… it …. made the frequency change without my even realizing it.”

  Glory had never seen Jeff actually lose it completely, until now. “What?!?! All on your own, without discussing the affects you just decided a little tweak would be a good thing to do?? Your little TWEAK could have blown us all to kingdom come!” Saoi made to step between them but Glory sent him a mental nudge that she would be alright and just stay where he was. Jeff saw Saoi start to move and then step back where he was and then Jeff continued “Your conduct out there today was just unconscionable. Also this is not the first time you got lost in the Collective. As we broke orbit you went into dreamland and I almost had to shake you to snap you out of it. I don’t know what to do with you but this CANNOT CONTINUE!!”

  Jeff finally seemed to have hollered at them enough and his anger was abating. He poured a glass of water and drank while he gathered his thoughts and calmed down.

  Finally, Glory could sense that he was a bit more rational and felt she could risk talking. “General, my apologizing again would not do anything to mitigate how badly I have screwed up. Whatever punishment you deem necessary I will accept; I only hope to eventually earn your trust again.”

  “Well, we obviously have to put a formal reprimand in your record and we’re going to have to have a serious discussion about NOT joining the Collective at the same time being in full cybernetic merge with the ship’s systems but on the bright side it does not appear any systems or personnel were harmed and we just saved four months of travel.” At that everyone relaxed a little. “I thought your guardian there was going to try to step in and defend you at one point.”

  “Well it was a little bit more than just step in. He was seriously afraid for my life and I had to stop him from dropping that wall there on you to protect me.” Glory said while pointing at the wall behind Jeff.

  Jeff was about to laugh at the joke but then saw no hint of laughter and while the Collective were still very difficult for Jeff to read their expressions it appeared that Saoi was looking for a place to hide rather than explain that she was joking.

  “General Fitsimmons, I assure I was not going to drop the wall on you but looking to place the wall between you and Glory. I was sure you were going to do physical harm to her but never was I going to harm you.” Saoi hurriedly explained.

  Jeff looked at Saoi and then Glory and finally Glory said “Ok not drop the wall but you really scared the crap out of both of us.” Holding up a hand as Jeff was about to speak Glory continued “Not that it was not deserved. Believe me, I fully deserved that dressing down and agree we need to put some protections in place to make sure I NEVER do something that bone headed again. I can say though with this boy scout around I know I’m very protected. Now General how would you like to proceed with me?”

  Jeff gave them a long look and then threw his hands up and said “Well first off, Saoi I need you to keep a tighter watch on her. Do not let her merge into the Collective when engaged in the ships systems. Can you do that?”

  “Yes Sir, I can promise that to you.” Was Saoi’s prompt reply.

  “Good you can be my boy scout on that task. Glo does he know what ‘boy scout’ means to us? Well if not then you can mind meld with him later on it. Now young lady with that proviso in place I need Glorious Glory, although maybe not so glorious today?” Glory winced at that little jab. “I need you to put that bright mind of yours to good use, along with all that cybernetic hardware and give Javier a hand figuring out just what the hell did happen. Saoi, we need the Collective to listen fully on this to see what you can figure out as well. Understood?”

  “Yes Sir” they both said in unison.

  “Damn, here I was expecting a nice quiet day and was going to visit robotics to see about getting a puppy. Not going to happen now though.” Jeff said as he began walking back to C&C.

  “Well Sir maybe tomorrow will be better and we can get your puppy then.” Glory said as she took a step away from Jeff just in case.

  “Well Glo there is always hope.” as he chuckled quietly and sat down at his station. C&C was dead quiet and everyone was doing their best to look like they weren’t watching their commanding officers. “Ok I think we’ve scared the natives enough for one day. You two have your assignments. Let’s get some answers and maybe turn this fiasco into a positive.” Jeff sa
id while giving both a little push in the direction of the exit.

  “Ok, ok, sheesh pushy much.” They said together as they continued out the door.

  Jeff shook his head while enjoying a little chuckle and said to no one in particular “Yep, she has totally corrupted him.” Which got a few surprised chuckles from the staff nearest Jeff.

  “What is that noise? What is this thing doing here? Leave me alone. Be quiet! Go away!”

  He cursed the large, round object that just appeared near him in space. With all the noise coming from it he could not enjoy his solitude. He must tell them to leave so he moved towards the big sphere until he entered it.

  After so much time of solitude, the interior of Columbia was a deafening madhouse of noise. Thousands and thousands of beings moving and doing and not listening to him.

  “Leave me alone!! Be quiet!! Go away!!” he shouted at them but no one noticed.

  As he moved through the personnel quarters, he was drawn to a particular room with two beings that were very loud. He approached them repeating again “Leave me alone!! Be quiet!! Go away!!”

  They appeared not to notice him and he began to shake them to get their attention.

  Two of the Collective were walking to the Dining Hall for lunch when they heard screams coming from one of the crew quarters. Approaching the door, they tried to enter but found it locked. Again, more screams so they left their bodies and entered the room in spirit form.

  “Leave me alone!! Be quiet!! Go away!!”

  They saw what appeared to be one of their own in spirit form battering a human man and woman.

  “Stop” they both called out as they tried to halt the attack.

  At the sight of the two Collective the intruder fled. The human couple were badly injured so the intruder was allowed to escape to try to save the lives of the couple.