Using the shell the pilot flys the shuttle through the thick water vapor canopy and into the planet's upper atmosphere at slower gravity controlled speeds which eliminates the high-speed entries experienced with re-entry to earth’s atmosphere.
The flight to the surface is exciting as everyone on board gasped at the beauty of the planet. Logan piloted the shuttle to an open space close to a large inland body of water. As they got closer to the landing site, the crew and passengers could make out herds of animals grazing in grasslands, and two rivers that flowed into the lake dropped off of a large cliff on one side of the lake surrounded by lush vegetation.
It looked like something out of a sightseeing brochure.
“We now know that there is life on other planets!” exclaimed Reeder “but I have not seen anything that would lead me to believe there is intelligent life, no structures, no roads, nothing at all.”
“Let’s be careful out there” Inman exclaimed. “I don’t want any injuries, and we don’t want anyone tasting, drinking or eating anything until we can finish our testing and let’s do no harm to anything or anyone.”
The shuttle smoothly touched down from a hovering position after assuring the ground was hard, and nothing was obstructing the landing pad Logan and Inman had selected. The ground felt solid under the grasses they landed on.
Inman made his way to the shuttle door and lowered the door to the ground with the extension steps and hand rails.
The air was sweet and a little damp but clear. From the edge of a clearing, some four-legged beasts were slowly coming toward the shuttle to satisfy their curiosity.
“Cerro, have your men ready just in case” cautioned Inman “but do not fire unless one of us is in danger.
The small herd of ten, four-legged creatures looked somewhat like deer. They came right up to the crew as if they were expecting us. Inman reached out a hand to stroke one of the deer looking creatures, and it didn’t even flinch. Not what you would expect.
“Look over there in that clearing; there is something very large moving toward us, wait there are two of them” cautioned one of Cerro’s men. “They are moving fairly slowly; they do not appear to be aggressive” as they grazed on their way toward the shuttle.
“Keep an eye on them for any aggressive behavior” Inman cautioned.
“Aye, sir” responded the guard.
“Look” clamored one of the scientists “birds, or should I say reptiles. They look prehistoric.”
“But the birds hovering over the canopy do not, they look like normal birds” Reeder exclaimed.
“Let’s go down to the water and test some samples. If the water is potable, we will scoop as much as we can with the shell and take it back with us before we leave” exclaimed Inman.
As they approached the water, the deer like creatures and the larger bipod creatures followed along, rubbing the shoulders of their visitors as if to say “pet me, pet me.” The scene was like something out of a children’s book, but it made the crew giddy, especially the anthropologist that was with them.
Arriving at the water one of Reeder’s team members scooped up some water into a tester and raised it to view the results.
“Impossible, this is very pure H2O” not only can we drink it, but we can also use it without any purification process” exclaimed the scientist.
Splashing sounds came from Inman’s right as one of the security team members dove into the clear blue lake. Fear grew in Inman but quickly subsided as a large dorsal fin arrived next to the swimmer and brushed by his side as he walked along.
“Are we awake; this is very strange, like something out of Alice in Wonderland? There is no way this is happening, why are all these creatures so friendly, why are they all so trusting and tame” queried Bennett. “The next thing we know they are going to start talking to us!”
“The larger beast seems to have incisors, but none of the deer-like creatures are afraid of them. And they seem to be sexed the same as any earth creature” noted Reeder.
Inman was enjoying seeing Reeder so animated; the confrontation on the ship when she refused the weapons development request had built a wall between them, and he was glad to see her letting her hair down a little.
“Evelyn, let’s take a little walk,” he asked as he approached her.
The two walked along the shore away from the shuttle and discussed the probabilities of what they were experiencing.
“I want to apologize for the hurt I might have caused during our discussions of weaponizing your technology” Will said clumsily.
“Thank you, Will, it means a lot to me that you would say so” as she brushed against his arm.
“Do you think we should shuttle others to the surface and let them enjoy this?” queried Reeder.
“I don’t see how we could not offer to bring them here.”
Evelyn kept her hand where Will could grab it, but Inman resisted. He was attracted to her, but it seemed forward to him, and he was sure Evelyn would not be interested in him. Evelyn was the most beautiful woman he had ever known, and there was no way a beauty like her was going to pay any attention to a brute like himself.
Evelyn was hurt, thinking Will Inman must not think her attractive, or maybe he was still upset over her refusal to allow the exploitation of the shell and warp technologies. To be shunned at such a beautiful moment, in the most incredible place she had ever been made her misty and anxious.
“Would it be possible to use the shell technology to move people back and forth to the planet?” asked Inman.
“I don’t know, why don’t you ask Bennett” Reeder fired back. “Just like him just to lose the beauty of the moment to the mission. It’s always the mission” thought Reeder as they approached the rest of the group.
“I did something wrong,” thought Inman, now what. “My instincts were right; she is obviously not interested in me.”
“Leo! I have a question for you” shouted Inman. “What are the chances of developing a transporter using your technology?”
“Way ahead of you Will, we have been working on it for years now. According to string theory, there are different dimensions all with different properties. We are trying to find ways of controlling, or at least using what they can provide us to move material objects from one place in time to another.”
“English Leo, can we do it or is it ten thousand years in the future?”
“Nothing like that, we are already moving objects from one place to another within the lab. I think it is only a matter of a few months before we can test it on one of our primates. It will take some time before we can be certain we’re not delivering people to the wrong place, but it is not just theory any longer, we know we can do it, it is just learning to control it better over distances and assuring it is safe. We also do not know what the passenger will experience during the transfer.”
“Is this thing going to disintegrate us and make us reappear?”
“No, nothing like that, it will just move you like you as if reflected by a set of mirrors, one reflecting you to another.”
“Wow, and this is something you are already testing?”
“Yes, we have some very positive results.”
“When were you going to tell me about this discovery of yours, and what made you want to work on something like this?”
“It is the brainchild of one of my students, a brilliant young lady, very good looking by the way, who approached me with the idea as we were researching how the different dimensions respond to outside stimulus. One of them has this mirroring effect to it, and it led us in this direction.”
“Let me know how things progress; this could be a wonderful tool.”
“Sure” replied Bennett.
Inman’s thoughts started to drift toward security again, “what if we could use Bennett’s dimension transfer device to move something or someone that was a threat from one place to another? We kill nothing, and the result would be the removal of a security threat; they could not object to that!” Inm
an made a note to himself in his com visor and let it be for the time being.
Daylight was disappearing, and it was time to make it back to the ship. Inman gave the order and the shuttle crew, and her passengers boarded the ship to make the trip back.
“Let’s do some high-speed flight over the surface of the planet, but keep it low enough that we can all see; I would like us to get a look at this beautiful place before we return to the ship” ordered Inman.
“Yes, sir” responded Logan.
As they flew over the surface of the planet, Inman, and the others began to develop a sense of wholeness, this place just seems right. Teams were going to return to the planet tomorrow and learn more about this beautiful and wonderfully mysterious place.
The shuttle docked with the Connie without incident. As the passengers disembarked, Inman asked Reeder and Bennett to meet with him in the morning for breakfast at the Diner. Both agreed and headed off for a good night’s rest.
Inman caught Cerro on his way out “What’s your take on what you saw today?”
“Somethings not right, it just seems to good to be true” replied Cerro.
“We are going to be hanging around here while teams R&R and we study this place. We should make sure we have security with us at all times” replied Inman.
“Agreed” replied Cerro, “I will make sure we have armed security with us at all times.”
“Thanks” replied Inman.
Reeder had a restful night and rose early to make it to the gym before her breakfast meeting with Bennett and Inman. Her curiosity about what Inman was up to was getting the best of her.
Bennett had completed his daily early morning routine of tea, some time in his journal and some light reading before he headed off to breakfast. Leo was one of the lucky guys whose metabolism was off the charts, he never worried about gaining weight, it just never settled on him.
Inman felt better this morning than he had in years. The time on the planet had been just what he and others needed to take the edge off. He headed for the gym, and as he passed Evelyn Reeder's quarters (hoping to accompany her as he had many times before,) he knocked, but no one answered, and he continued.
Upon entering the gym, his eyes met Evelyn, and it excited him when her gaze met his. The electricity was flowing between them as he approached her.
“You’re looking chipper this morning,” Inman said sheepishly.
“Chipper!” laughed Evelyn, “you seem to be in good spirits" replied Evelyn.
“Something about that planet, it has a beauty about it, and it is not just the scenery” Inman responded.
“Everyone senses the same thing; its beauty is more than what you see” agreed Evelyn.
“Getting a chance to study it and spend more time there will give everyone a chance to get rested before our next adventure.”
“You look at all of this as one great adventure” claimed Reeder.
“I guess, I see it as one great journey or adventure. How many people have the opportunity to see what we saw yesterday? How many people have traveled faster than light? How many people will live thousands of years?”
“My take away if I can put it into one word is hope. Hope for the human race where the best of us comes out instead of the worst. I long to see a time when we can be like all of those animals on the planet where people do not fear one another, where love seems to be everyone’s predisposition.”
“You are quite the romantic this morning” exclaimed Inman.
“Don’t laugh at me” Evelyn chimed playfully.
“Not at all, I love it. There is something about how real you are I have always admired, it is refreshing, and I think it is one of the reasons your team not only looks up to you for your professional achievements, but they admire you as a person, just as I do.”
“Admire! I was under the impression I was just a scientist on your staff helping you to execute the mission. In fact, I am surprised you would even notice if I am in the room or not” claimed Bennett.
“You cannot be serious, when you enter the room I cannot think straight, I have to focus away from you or I cannot get anything done” confessed Inman.
“I cannot believe what I am hearing, are you saying you have been interested in a relationship.”
“I am sorry, I know that was”
“Yes,” Evelyn interrupted, “Yes, why haven’t you just asked.”
“The dream was better than what I have always thought would obviously be a rejection” Inman responded. “Ok then, can I buy you breakfast?”
“Hmmm, I will have to think about it . . . , OK” Reeder said with a smile.
This morning Inman and Reeder sat together in an intimate discussion as the crew watched with amused grins, observing what everyone thought was going to happen years ago.
Bennett and Cerro walked in and sat across from them, both curious as to why they sat so close to one another.
The two are disappointed as they realize they were meeting, and Inman was now sorry he had made the request.
Innovation
“There are a couple of things I wanted to get status on and to get your take on how long we want to stay here” Inman stated.
“I think we need to give everyone a few months to enjoy some rest” Cerro expressed.
“I agree,” said Reeder and then Bennett.
“So do I. Let’s play the time frame by ear and use the time to get some things done up here. I want to make sure we all get plenty of R&R down there, who knows how long it will be before we can enjoy something as refreshing as this planet,” said Inman.
“How is the implementation of the Displacement Drive coming” queried, Inman.
“We will be ready to test it once we leave this system” replied Reeder.
“What will it mean to us as far as speed?” queried Inman.
“Reeder’s warp technology is slow relative to the actual size of space. Space is big beyond words, it is big, very big, and displacement drives will help us explore more of it. The technology moves us from one point in space to another point instantaneously. It has not received the attention warp technology has because it requires an incredibly large mass to work. We have that mass between the UB and the Connie” Cerro explained.
“We are working on integrating the displacement drive with the warp drive. It is no small feat, to say the least, it has our computer systems bogged down doing the computations. On top of these impossible tasks, we have to make them both operate within the shells. We have the math; we have the design, we have the operational units ready to install. What we do not have is a way to test it!” replied Reeder.”
“You need a ship with incredible mass to test it on?” queried Inman.
“Yes.”
“How many of the displacement drives do we have?”
“We have several operational prototypes and two production units already installed” claimed Reeder.
“How about the shell generators, how many do we have?” queried Inman.
“We have those in mass production, as many as you want” claimed Bennett.
“Why don’t we find an asteroid of the mass we need, place it in a shell, install a power plant and both the drives on it and send it somewhere with sensors to record what happens in travel” queried Cerro.
“Perfect” exclaimed Inman “does this work for the two of you?” Inman asked of Reeder and Bennett.
“It will take some time, and I would hate to lose the systems if things do not work out, but yes, this is probably the best option we have.”
“Perfect, let’s move on to the next agenda item. Bennett, we were talking about the dimension transporter you have in the works. I have a couple of questions for you. Instead of destroying potential threats, what if we just moved them to some other place. In other words, what if we create something we can aim at someone or something and move it to a place where it cannot harm us. If we come to an asteroid or comet in harm's way, we can shoot this thing at it and instantly transport it to where it can ca
use no harm. Would a weapon with these capabilities violate your conscience?” Inman queried.
“No, I am good with the idea, and it is brilliant. We could help keep the peace instead of destroying” Bennett exclaimed as Reeder nodded in approval.
“Ok, then the next question is simple, how long until we can equip the ships with the trans-dimensional weapon and how long before you can give us a weapon we can carry?” asked Inman.
“Equipping the ships will not be difficult or time-consuming, we can have it ready within a month or so, developing one that you can carry, now that is going to take substantially longer. And before you ask, I do not know exactly how long, but it is longer than a month and shorter than a year” replied Bennett.
Battle Group Titan: Beyond Warp ((Battle Group Titan Series Vol 1)) Page 5