Prototype: The Lost and Forgotten Series

by Robert Gallagher

  2

  Alistair Brookes’s Story

  Facility Zero, -1 day online: federation year 2417

  Forty-eight hours until Facility Zero comes online

  Professor Alistair Brookes stares at the framed photos upon his desk as he sips his morning coffee. His wife and two daughters. He’s surprised at having been apart from them for just over two years, and he misses them dearly. Two years is not so long though, really, not nearly as long as some soldiers might be apart from their families—five years for some of them. So he’s lucky in that regard, and in just a few days, his lifetime’s work will be complete.

  Now his station has been moved to this sector of space, ready to be placed above this particular black hole, one of the closest ones to Earth, so very convenient in that respect, and also pretty small in comparison to others.

  Looking at the time, he realizes that he must get going, or the commander will not be happy with more delays, delays the professor thinks he’s managed to track down and fix. Odd really—all the preliminary system tests showed everything in the green, but as soon as he started to get the system ready to go online near the black hole in question, he started to experience power fluctuations. Okay, it was the first time he had managed to draw power from a black hole itself, so there were bound to be issues, but the simulation all checked out, only now it’s starting to look like his equations are off. Not by a major amount, but enough for the systems to have a deficit of power to run all the systems, hence the power fluctuations.

  He suspected that if the station were a little smaller, this would not be happening, but it was far too late to change that now. Ten years to build and move the station into position, and at a cost of tens of trillions of credits…could have been a little quicker and maybe a little cheaper, but they had to keep the station off the official books. Can’t really have a supersecret detention center as the top news story. This had to be kept quiet. The best tactic is the tactic that no one knows about; otherwise the system can be undermined and weakened. Besides, there would be plenty of protester groups out there that could cause a lot of trouble. But anyway, he’s here now, and in two days he will be heading back to his beloved family.

  The intercom buzzes, and a slight, shrill voice on the line says, “The commander and the VIPs have arrived, Professor. I’ve taken them into the observation lounge.”

  “Thank you, Emily. I will be in shortly,” replies the professor. Then, taking a deep breath and thinking, It’s now or never, he sets his now empty cup on the desk and pats himself down, making sure he’s all neat and tidy before he heads for the observation lounge.

  The professor walks briskly into the observation lounge of the command ship with a welcoming smile. “Good morning, Commander, esteemed ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for being here today, and I do hope and I’m sure you will be very happy with what your money has helped build and develop. In just a few days, the new facility will be online and receiving the first of its new inmates, but unluckily for them, it will be a one-way trip.” The professor smiles again and motions to the assembled guests to turn toward observation windows that are all currently sealed shut.

  “I’m proud to announce that Facility Zero will be online in just over forty-eight hours. Commander, if you would please do the honors.” With a flick of a switch, the observation shutters slide open, revealing the majestic sight of the black hole, or rather the absence of anything but a glimmering circle of nothingness surrounded by a sea of stars. Seemingly floating above it is Facility Zero, a circular space station that resembles a giant cylinder, with no apparent windows or hatches, docks or entry ports.

  “What you see before you is hopefully the first of many. I believe it is theoretically possible to install two or three other installations at the same location, but we are still in the early stages of this development. Only time will tell, but as they say, this is all relative.”

  This last comment is received with a mixed reaction of amusement and confusion, a fact that is not missed by Professor Brookes as he continues his speech. “As the facility reaches each occupier threshold, the station is dropped closer to the black hole. This reaction in turn increases the amount of energy the facility can generate from the black hole itself.” He pauses momentarily, allowing his audience to keep up.

  “In layman’s terms, the facility acts as the core of a giant electromotor, and the black hole is the casing. This means that once online, the station will produce all the power it requires and will be completely self-sustaining.” Pausing once more, he realizes he’s lost the majority of his guests who are here mainly for the free drinks and the chance of seeing a black hole up close. He gets the “end it now” nod from the commander.

  Brookes takes another breath and says, “This means that all the very worst members of our society can be sent here, and they will naturally stay here for the rest of their lives with no possible way of escape. This is the end of the first part of our introduction talk, and I’ve just been informed that you are now free to wander and take in the breathtaking views of the facility. You are welcome to ask any questions you may have. Thank you for listening, and please enjoy the rest of your visit.” Ending his speech, the professor looks toward the commander and smiles, receiving a “well done” nod and smile back just before the commander vanishes from sight, surrounded in a sudden rush of guests.

  Taking a drink from a passing waiter, Brookes heads over to the viewing area, the sight, as always, taking his breath away. He takes readings from his handheld monitoring device and ticks off the various tasks that are required to be resolved before the station is dropped down to its online position. Happy with the current status, he looks up as one of his guests stops beside him.

  “It’s very impressive, Professor,” the new arrival says as he holds out his hand to shake. Brookes turns slightly, taking his hand, and as they shake, he realizes the man before him is Martin Connor, one of the bigger shareholders of this endeavor.

  “Thank you. I would say this is the culmination of my life’s work. Anything less would be disappointing. Impressive was something I was trying to reach, but what would be really impressive is having four of these online at this single location. Now that would be a truly impressive sight,” replies Brookes, looking at Martin Connor and then back at the station.

  “Oh, hang on there, Professor. Let’s get this one working first.” Martin laughs. “I said it’s impressive, not that I have unlimited money, patience, and resources. Besides, I want to see this working without any glitches for a few years and with no escapees in that time. Then, sure, I think it will be very likely you will have your second facility—hell, maybe even more if it proves to be as good as your predictions say it will be,” Martin says, also now looking back at the station. “What I don’t understand is why there are limitations on how many inmates you send there per month.”

  “Well, it’s a little complicated, but it’s all down to the time dilation between the staging area and the facility itself. This black hole is relatively small, so the time differences will be about thirty days here to one day in the facility. If you were to send too many prisoners at once, you would quickly overwhelm the station, and everything would come crashing down. Let me explain further.” Martin Conner nods slowly, starting to comprehend the complexity of the situation.

  “The reason why we have two stations, one above and one below, is that the one that’s outside of the black hole’s influence is a cryogenics holding station that will deliver up to around fifty pods to the station below every month via a computer-controlled automotive system. However, from the point of view the station below, these pods will arrive at the station levels each day due to the time dilation. Remember it’s a maximum of about fifty pods. I’m guessing it won’t always be that many, but once we take care of the surplus of high-level prisoners that are rerouted here from all over the federation, I’m guessing the number will drop dramatically.” Brookes pauses, collecting his own thoughts before continuing.

&n
bsp; “As the levels start to fill up, the station will need to be lowered closer to the event horizon of the black hole. This has two effects. Firstly, it produces more power to run all the necessary systems, and secondly, the time dilation increases. At first it’s a gentle ratio of fifteen days to one week, then thirty, etcetera, increasing fifteen days every additional level that’s being powered online to a maximum of three hundred days per one week on the station.”

  Martin raises a hand to halt Brookes while he works out the numbers in his head. “So what you’re saying is, it will take around one hundred and ten years to deliver the last of the prisoners to the station?” Conner asks with an accusing tone.

  “That’s about right,” Brookes replies, looking a little sheepish.

  “And that’s just the last two thousand,” says Martin. “How long would it take from start to finish, assuming it is fifty pods per day for the station?”

  Professor Brookes, already knowing the answer, takes on an expression of making calculations in his head before replying, “Well, as long as there are no complications or issues from start to finish, the time it will take is around one hundred and three years.”

  “One hundred three years?” Martin Connor repeats, surprised. “And this can’t be decreased?”

  “Not really, no, but as you know, the cryogenic station makes the transition from court trial to the facility almost seamless to the inmate. As far as they know, they arrive at court, they are tried and then moved to the holding cells, and then from there to the shuttle, which is their own personal pod. Then they are placed into cryostasis and fed dreamtime and woken up as they arrive at the station. Technically we don’t really need volunteers to help run the station, but it’s helpful to have some nonconvicted prisoners to oversee the running of the place, as long as they realize there is no way out once they enter.”

  “As you put it that way, it’s pretty ingenious. What about the cryogenic station? Won’t it become obsolete once the station is filled up?” Martin replies.

  “No, the cryostation can be used just as a staging area for any other facility that is installed here or even as an overflow station, plus its secondary purpose is to send supplies down to the facility via the pods. When a pod is launched, it has only a very limited maneuvering and deceleration ability. Just enough to get itself to the central spine of the station, where it docks and is lowered down to the level that the inmate will be assigned to. The pod is then taken down to the lower level and dismantled for its various core components, plus the various items stored within—food, water, air scrubbers and other spare parts, etcetera.” Brookes finishes with a smug smile.

  “Well, that I can appreciate. Very clever design. But why this size? Why not bigger? Saves on making others later.”

  One question that Brookes had hoped would not be asked. “Good question, but one that is rather complex to explain fully. The two simple reasons are, firstly, if the station was larger, the self-sustaining power we gain from being in close proximity to the black hole would need to be closer, and being closer would mean a more extreme time dilation, the result being the cryostation might have to deliver fifty inmates per year rather than per month. The second issue is the station’s stabilizing modules. These modules, using a specialized mixture of tractor beam and antigravity technology, have a twofold purpose. Firstly, they lower the station toward the black hole and hold it there, and secondly, they reduce the gravitational effects on the occupants of the facility. This stops them from being crushed to death and allows near-earthlike gravitational effects on the inmates. So if the station was bigger, these modules would not be able to cope with the power requirements, and if the modules were built with more power, this in turn could possibly give the inmates a system vulnerability that could be exploited,” Brookes replies. He looks down at his handheld, realizing that it’s almost time to end the status update conference for the various major stockholders. “Looks like we are almost out of time. Maybe time for one more if you have anything.”

  Martin, having listened intensely to everything that Brookes has been saying, thinks for a moment before answering, “I think you have covered everything, but there is one thing bothering me still.”

  “Ask it, and I’ll try and answer,” Brookes replies.

  “Okay then, why are you so confident about this place being so inescapable, considering the thousands of pods that are sent down to the station, in view of the unlimited energy supplies the facility produces, and allowing for the modules that lower the facility into position, what’s stopping the inmates taking the station over and flying it out of there?”

  Pondering the question for only a moment, Brooke replies, “As I mentioned before, the pods are broken down into various components. What I did not mention is that the pods’ fuel supplies cannot be replicated, and the fuel is burned off by the time the pod docks. The thrusters on the pods are a very weak system, and even if the smartest man in the world could jury-rig something, there would never be enough thrust to take the pod back out of the reach of the black hole. Next, the power generated by the black hole is only enough to power the station. If they want more, they need to lower the station closer to the event horizon, thus needing even more power to break free from the gravitational effects.

  “Then, even if the inmates somehow managed to gain remote access into the other computer system controlling the stabilization modules and tried to raise the station, these modules would shut down one by one. This shutdown process is carried out slowly, giving the prisoners a chance to stop, and if it’s ignored, then the whole station is dropped into the black hole.

  “Lastly, if any prisoner somehow escapes from his or her assigned area, then the system will automatically ignore any request from him and will send tracking data to security. This effectively traps the prisoner, who will be collected by security. If an area of the station is compromised, even if it’s an entire level, it can be isolated and ejected from the rest of the station. That is all the time I have left. I hope I’ve relieved any fears and answered all your worries.”

  Martin Connor, now looking out toward the majestic sights, nods and smiles. “Well, Professor, I think you have answered most, but I still have concerns. Every system has flaws. However, yours, it would seem, are very hard to detect, but I’m satisfied that you have designed and built a remarkable system, one that in time will prove you right and me wrong. Thank you, and I really have had a good and interesting time. Will I see you on the tour of the station later?”

  Professor Brookes smiles. “Sadly, no…I have a few things to resolve before the station is brought online and lowered down into its position, but I’m sure you will enjoy the tour. Have a good day.” They shake hands, and Martin leaves and rejoins the others just in time as the group, along with the commander, leaves the observation deck.

  Looking back at the station and then down at a blinking red light on his handheld, Brookes notices another power warning light and starts running more diagnostics. Looks like it’s going to be another long day, he thinks to himself.

  Twenty-six hours until Facility Zero comes online

  Waking up from the sound of the alarm and the clock flashing 0500 hours—almost mockingly, or is that just the lack of sleep?—Brooke slips out of bed knowing that he only got into it a few hours earlier. But some sleep is better than none, and making mathematical errors at this late stage of the installation could be catastrophic. Sleep is a must, even if it is only for short time; there will always be more time to sleep later.

  With a quick shower, some food, and a strong coffee, he feels good to go. In fact, he feels amazing, reenergized. Now if only the major refit he ordered after tracking down the power fluctuation has been completed, he can really get to town on the other issues that’ve been driving him mad. Leaving his room, he heads down to his lab and enters it, the sound of the computers making him feel ready for the next twenty-four hours. This is going to work. His life’s work just over one day away to being complete.

  Readin
g the latest update logs, Brookes ticks off all the required changes and implementations that he ordered, feeling positively over the moon when he reads the last line regarding the power induction line refit. It’s been completed, and power levels are now nominal, with no sign of the previous fluctuations. At last, this station is going to be online in time.

  Spending the next hour organizing cleanup crews to various areas of the station, Brookes readies himself for the 0600 hours daily brief for the commander.

  Arriving at the Commanders office Brookes knocks and enters hearing the Commanders voice, “Enter.”

  “Good morning, Commander,” Brookes says closing the door behind him.

  The commander is still looking pretty good for a man in his late fifties, still handsome and fit, but he’s a stubborn git, wanting his very last project to be completed without a hitch, his retirement project, as he keeps telling Brookes. “Very good, thank you, Professor. So how’s my baby? What is the current situation?”

  “Well, Commander, the updates are looking good. The power fluctuations have been resolved at last. Cleanup crews are currently inbound and will start clearing out the preparation equipment. Shuttles will be shipping over the stores, enough food and water supplements for at least five years; half of that will be set aside as emergency stores, and the rest will be topped up with each month’s intake of inmates.”

  Commander Taylor ticks off each item on his list as Brookes reads out each line. “Good work, Professor. What’s next after that?”

  “Then we start final system checks that will take about twelve hours. The shuttles and cleanup crews will take about six hours, and there’s a further four hours to drop the station into last position, leaving us three hours for last-minute updates and to set up the wake-up protocols for the cryostation in preparation for our first fifty guests.”