by George Deeb
This evening's class was on the Ganaphe' home world Taloraicia. It is a planet lush with plant life due to the fact that Taloraicia orbits two suns in an elliptical orbit. When the planet is traveling between the suns two thirds of it is in sunlight, making for short night times and long day times. This also means that plant life there is exposed to long hours of daylight boosting the growth cycle. As it circles around one or the other sun only half of the planet is in daylight, like the Earth. The orbit makes for a changing sleep cycle for the inhabitants – an alternating circadian rhythm - which is why the Ganaphe' can often go without sleep for long periods. Most of the planet's land mass is around its equator, and is mostly in a tropical climate. Vegetable and fruit growth is abundant throughout the planet's orbital cycle. Where there is a bounty of vegetation, animal life is also abundant. So it was with Taloraicia.
Theories were being broken here. 'No, that's not correct.' thought Erika. 'Not broken. Expanded on. Re-evaluated. Looked at under the light of new information. That is a more accurate way to describe it.' It wasn't so much that their understanding of the laws of physics was wrong as it was too limited. Not all the factors and their interactions with each other were understood. The Ganaphe' were much more knowledgeable, more advanced in their understanding, but even they had admitted there was so much more to learn and understand. 'We are going to have to write a whole new set of text books when this gets out to the world – whenever that will be.' she thought.
Of all the new insights, new possibilities, and new truths that were taught, one stood out among the rest. Scientific examination showed that in all the known galaxies, with all the known habitable planets, life had appeared on them at approximately the same time – give or take five hundred to a thousand Earth years, which in geologic time is insignificant. In effect, all known life began at the same time. It was a stunning and mind opening revelation.
3
October 17, 2014
General Farber-Chatwell stood in back of the gathered military project heads and the technical team of the X-37B mission. He was a guest at this event – a self invited guest. When a man with Farber-Chatwell's credentials – and seemingly endless connections – wanted to be invited to a top secret military operation of this type, he was. No high ranking officer questioned it anymore. He had helped too many of them successfully overcome problems in career making situations, and they wanted to make sure he would help them in the future if the need arose. They suspected he was here for a specific reason, but no one would ask directly. It didn't matter though. He had clearance to be here, and was already one of the most knowledgeable people of the X-37B project and its capabilities. He had been involved in designing some of the craft's instrumentation, and was contributory in fixing problems with the software that controlled it. How he was able to get these things done was itself classified. He was a resource for the country to use when needed, and satisfying his curiosity was a very small price to pay for that.
The long focal length DOAMS (Distant Object Attitude Measurement System) tracking cameras displayed their views on various screens in the control room. The only thing visible at the moment was a bright white spot. The ship was still too far away to make out any details. Readouts on the screens showed airspeed, ground speed, altitude and direction of travel among many other readings. It took another minute before the small but definite outline of the X-37B could be seen as it maneuvered through the sky at several times the speed of sound. With every passing second more detail could be seen. It looked like a mini STS as it flew closer to Vandenberg Air Force Base. On board cameras showed the view in front of the robot aircraft as its automated flight system guided it towards the runway.
A few minutes later the ship followed the guidance signal of the Microwave Scan Beam Landing System to align itself with the runway. The landing gear came down and locked into place. All of it was done by the on-board computer. It all looked very smooth on the monitors. At 0924 hours PST the almost two year secret mission of the X-37B came to an end as it touched down and rolled to a stop. Technicians in trucks rolled onto the runway to check out and secure the craft. That was when Farber-Chatwell reached into his pocket and pushed the button on what looked like the remote control to his car. Before the technicians were close enough to see clearly, the small rectangular device hanging onto the skin of the X-37B released its grip and slid down the side of the ship. It landed on the sun beaten gray runway that it was painted to look like. Then the computer inside the device repeatedly expanded and contracted the gecko cloth that had held it to the ship, causing the device to crawl away from the ship and into the grass on the side of the runway – unnoticed by anyone. Recorded inside the device was the data needed by Eckelberry Cove to get his new ship into operation.
Farber-Chatwell watched as the X-37B was checked out, and then hooked up to a tow vehicle and taken into a hangar - the machine as well as the mission was classified. That was when he was sure no one had seen anything out of the ordinary. He thanked his hosts for allowing him to watch the landing, and after a few words of praise on their accomplishment he left the building, got into his car, and drove off the base. The device would be recovered tonight by a camouflaged Ganaphe' shuttle.
4
November 2014
You couldn't tell by the pair of beat up and scuffed sneakers sticking up in the air that they belonged to a person considered to be one of Earth's most brilliant scientists. He had degrees in several fields, and has re-written some of the text books. Only a few had access to his work – at least at this time. His father is a semi-retired and very experienced heavy machinery mechanic, who occasionally takes contract jobs across the country. His mother owns a small and profitable bakery whose customers regularly enjoy the constantly innovative culinary treats she comes up with. They are a successful middle class couple, and there is nothing to indicate that their only male child is a genius. They never talk about him as one either, and never indicate to friends and family that there was anything very special about Eckelberry Cove. Their two daughters however are often gushed about, by both their parents and their older brother.
Having helped his father with heavy equipment repairs since he was seven gave Eckelberry an unconscious understanding that being physically strong was a useful characteristic in life. He didn't mind crawling around the dirty machinery, and from observation and a lot of questions he learned many principles of mechanics and hydraulics. He liked several outdoor activities, and worked out regularly. This was a good balance to the many sedate hours he spent delving into books of various scientific disciplines. They all intrigued him, and he could see the interconnectivity of the natural sciences. In his teens he soaked up all the knowledge available to him. When he was sixteen he was the beneficiary of a college scholarship that he had not applied for. It was funded by a small technology company he had not heard of, and it paid for all expenses including a small apartment, a car, and clothing and food allowances. This was how he met Ransen Ramsdel, who was the administrator of the scholarship. His parents were thrilled by their son's good fortune, and found themselves in a position to afford better schools for their daughters than they might have been able to afford if paying for three college educations.
Eckelberry Cove just didn't look like the genius type. With his upper torso stuck up behind the control panel of the X-ECN-1, and with only his lower body visible and his feet in the air he looked less so. Maybe that was why John Smith and George Washington, whose upper bodies were also unseen and their feet also in the air, got along so well with him. The pilots were on either side of Cove, helping him hook up the wiring harnesses of the new instrumentation. Every now and then an 'ouch' or a 'damn it' could be heard, and one or the other would show himself as he grabbed another tool or fastener.
The airframe mechanics whose job it actually was to install the equipment had quickly realized they were relegated to being the backup team, so they stood outside the spacecraft waiting for any requests from the three. They would eventually have
to put their heads under the panel to verify the work was done to specs – after all, it was they who would have to sign off on the installation. Not even the inventor/designer/builder of the equipment had the authority to do that, and on this moon base run by Commander Travellor everything was done by the rules and regulations. Above the main hangar door, for everyone to see, was mounted a large piece of twisted steel from what was the original hangar door. It was a reminder to everyone of the only major accident to occur on the base, which almost took the life of one of its inhabitants.
“Go ahead, admit it.” said Cove. “First chance you had you were going to push the engine to its limits, weren't you?”
“Well... maybe.” said Smith, and he involuntarily shrugged and hit a metal support with his shoulder. “OW – damn it!”
“I'll take that as a definite 'Yes'. But that's OK. That's what I expected you to do – whatever your instructions were.”
“But only after a complete checkout of all the systems!” interjected Washington defensively. “Everyone knows you over-design your stuff – WAY over-design. You put a large safety margin into everything.”
“You're right. I do. The problem is that you will be traveling at speeds we've never reached before... well... if it works correctly..., and accelerating at a rate we've never done before – at least not for any manned vehicle I'm aware of. Today's state of the art sensors are not capable of accurately measuring in that realm. When I realized that - when I realized how far off the measurements would be, and that you could and probably would exceed the design safety limits – even the over limits I designed into the ship...” He hesitated, lost in thought for a while. “The ship would have been destroyed, and you would have been killed – and it would have been my fault!”
“How did you figure that out?”
“It's my brain.” said Cove. “Sometimes I have no control over it. When I'm working on a project it never shuts down. Even when I'm sleeping, or more accurately trying to sleep, my mind is still active – still analyzing – still calculating. Until the conclusion of the project I never get a peaceful night's rest.”
“I've had nights like that,” said Smith, “but with me it usually happens after I screw up.”
“That is why the first thing I did when I realized my error was to contact the General and tell him to shut down the program immediately. I told him no one was to fly this ship until I re-instrumented it. I even suggested that he have the engine removed from the airframe as a precaution, but he said that everyone up here were professionals and that no one would violate the no fly directive.”
Smith and Washington both turned their faces away. They didn't want Cove to see the guilt on them. It had only been talk after all, that they would take the ship for a short hop. They weren't really going to do it. At least that's what they told each other.
“I didn't want anyone's blood on my hands.” said Cove in a quiet voice. “If you had throttled this ship to its limits it would have broken up – catastrophically.” He was quiet for a while, and then his voice went louder. “Once I get these new instruments in – once we can compensate for the deficiencies in our sensors, and give you accurate readings on all flight parameters – speed – acceleration – airframe stress, and the computer can account for all of these factors, then – THEN – if you decide you want to kill yourselves – then I'll be able to sleep OK.”
Cove continued working on the cable harness. He wanted his words to sink into the thoughts of the two men who would be testing his new creation. He wanted them to understand that there was danger from known and yet to be learned factors of what they were about to do. He wanted them to be cautious – and to come back alive.
5
The Briefing
December 2014
“The ship now has the new protective Interleaved Magnetic Field generator. It generates multiple rotating magnetic fields that alternately move from an inside to outside position in reference to the ship's skin. This will provide better protection from space radiation, and because of the way the fields interact with each other they can also act as a sensor array that can be used to detect and analyze radiation.” said Cove, speaking to his small audience.
In the room were Base Commander Travellor, General Farber-Chatwell, Ransen Ramsdel, the A&P maintenance team, and all flight crew personnel. As a courtesy, the Orysta's Grilik, Tahn-grilik, and Chief Engineer were invited to sit in. Everyone listened intently, trying to understand as much as they could. Of course, the pilots were more interested in anything related to flying the ship, the maintenance team was mostly interested in how it was assembled and tested, the Ganaphe' were mostly interested in the potential of the engine design as a substitute for their own damaged engine, and Travellor, Farber-Chatwell, and Ramsdel were mostly interested in the potential risk to the test pilots. Cove had to try to explain everything in a way his audience would understand.
“I have also installed an experimental Light Field Camera system that feeds into a dedicated computer. The computer is constructed of multiple mother boards, each containing sixteen multi-core processors running in parallel. This much computer power may sound like a lot, but it is the minimum required to analyze input from the LFC and display it in real time – well, relatively real time anyway - for the pilots to use. The computer is programmed to analyze the space in front of the ship and alert to any potential threats. It has its limits though. It's just one piece in the overall system of protection.”
“What kind of potential threats?” interrupted Travellor.
“Asteroids, meteoroids, or any type of space debris that may be heading for impact with the ship. A collision avoidance detection system on loan from the Orysta has also been installed. We are still working on our own version of that device, but it will take a lot more time to get a functional and reliable unit.”
The conversation brought back and old unpleasant memory to Travellor. One where he almost lost a friend. He shivered in his chair as the incident replayed in his head.
“In open space,” said Grilik Munen, “there is not much risk of such impacts occurring. Flight near planets, asteroids, comets or other celestial bodies are where most of the danger exists. Unfortunately you can never be certain that open space is free of such dangers. Your test flight will not take you within the influence of any celestial bodies, and Califas will be on the flight with you, to monitor for any dangers.”
“Excuse me gentlemen.” said John Smith impatiently. “Does this mean we are ready to go or not? We've been retrofitting the ship for weeks now. Is it ready to fly?”
“Almost.” replied Cove. “That is, we will be ready as soon as the paint is dried and connected.”
The remark brought questioning looks from everyone.
“Connected?” asked Farber-Chatwell, as confused as the others.
“Yes Sir, connected. The Sensor Skin Paint project was successfully concluded just prior to my coming here. I thought that this would be the best real world test of it. It's being sprayed on the X-ECN-1 at this moment. Should be ready to go in two or three days.”
Smith sighed and slid down in his chair, letting his posture express his feeling about this new delay.
“What does the Sensor Skin Paint do?” asked Travellor.
“The Sensor Skin Paint is a coating of micro-electro-mechanical-machines, fabricated using our own proprietary MEMS manufacturing process – but that's not important right now. Basically the paint is loaded with microscopic machines that perform three functions. First, they are self generating power sources, meaning no external power source is required for them to work. Second, they are condition sensors. In this function they monitor the overall condition of the coating and communicate any abnormal condition, such as physical damage, to surrounding machines. Third, if there is damage to the coating these machines can repair the damage – if it is not too severe. They are immune to radiation – up to a point. Their main purpose is to indicate contact with foreign objects that have not yet damaged the ship's sk
in. An early warning device is one way to think about it. A clear air turbulence detector – or in our application, a clear space turbulence detector.”
“But this is not necessary for the test flight?”
“No sir, it's not. But there is no better opportunity to test it than this flight.”
Travellor thought about this for a moment then looked at Farber-Chatwell, who just shrugged. He looked around at the expressions and postures of everyone in the room. They were ready for this flight, and a lot of them (mainly the flight crews) were tired of waiting.
“Two days!” said Travellor. “This ship takes off in two days – no longer! There will be no further changes to the configuration of the ship without my approval. Anything not working that isn't flight critical will be tagged and ignored. Understood?”
Cove hesitated a bit, then nodded his agreement. He wasn't used to not getting his way in these matters, but he quickly realized that Commander Travellor was not like General Farber-Chatwell. This base was not a design center. It was a operational testing center. That was what they did here. If something wasn't ready for testing, it shouldn't be here.
6
Clothes Encounters