USS Kepler Dawn

by Gerald Lane Summers

  After sitting down at my favorite station in the library, I asked it question after question. We had clearly established a rapport that would serve us well. The computer was definitely more effective than it had been in the beginning and thoughts about that started rattling around in my head. It was built to be intelligent and grow along with circumstances, and it was. At no point, however, was it to violate its programing regarding its relationship with humans and I had not noticed any indication that it might consider doing so.

  On this occasion, I was concerned about our apparent success in planning and asked it to calculate the odds of something going disastrously wrong with our plans. It placed the odds at close to zero. I then threw it a curveball.

  “You do know that we live in a chaotic universe, do you not?”

  “Yes, of course. What does that have to do with the landing plans?”

  “Nothing, directly. But I’d like you to take some time to examine the plans using non-linear mathematic formulas. Have you ever done that before?”

  “In a sense, yes. I have examined the way markets on Earth have performed in the past to see if any predictions could be reliably made as to where a particular market might go at any one time. That was something Director Marshal had asked me to do. His explanation was that the project needed more money and if I could predict the various markets, it might help raise those funds.”

  “Did it work?”

  “Only in a general sense. I could tell him within the next few years there would be a downturn or a boom, but nothing more precise. He nevertheless persisted in asking me for specific advice and I gave him what I could. Just before we left the Sol system, he made a huge bet on one particular stock I thought would do well over time. He made what he called a ‘ton of money,’ but I made sure he understood that it had been more luck than expertise.

  I have also searched to see if general predictions could be reliably made of the weather on Kepler 186f. So far, the situation has been the same as on Earth. I can give general information, but nothing precise or specific on a day to day basis. Mostly, it appears benign all over and that is likely due to the reduction in radiation coming from the red dwarf star. Another factor could be the depth of the planet’s oceans and the speed of its currents.

  Some cold systems calve off of the Polar Regions now and then and wander toward the equator, but not with any regularity. They become violent occasionally, but I’ve seen nothing that could not be handled with normal precautions. Below sixty degrees latitude south and north, storms develop naturally and can circle around the entire planet. South, as on the Earth, those storms can travel without encountering a land mass. Very strong storms can develop there. Staying away from them is easy. Just don’t go below that latitude.”

  “Okay, good. Now, as for the satellite, it seems a tiny bit more stable than the planet. Will this make a difference to our plans? It occurs to me that with the larger core of the satellite, the larger magnetic field it produces might be a distinct advantage. This would be especially true if the system were to come under radiation, comet or asteroid bombardment.”

  “I can see it would be more protective against radiation, but not much against a comet or asteroid impact.”

  “Then that means we must analyze the chances of either body being impacted. Have we observed any old impact craters on either body?”

  “No. That has not figured into the studies so far.”

  “Then, we must take a look at the entire planetary system as far out as we can and attempt to develop an optimal risk pattern. Looking at some of the other satellites without atmospheres should give us a history of the development of the entire stellar system. Any bombardment phases should show up well on those bodies. Will doing this compromise your ability to study the problems presented by the colonials as they work toward a landing?”

  “No, as long as I ration my time between the subjects.”

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  With our increased speed, we were soon within one year of arrival within the system and the location for the colony remained up in the air. Kepler 186f had two major continents, both located astraddle the equator. There were few islands.

  The satellite had six smaller continents, a shallower ocean, and more islands. The latter were indicative of oceanic volcanic activity, likely along tectonic plate lines. There were few major faults to worry about on the smaller continents. Fresh water was abundant on both bodies, and the decision was made not to decide the final location of the main colony until both the planet and its moon could be examined close up.

  Expeditions were scheduled to be sent to each body to test the air and soils for microbes and the oceans for sea life. Most of the scientific minds thought it certain they would be on each in abundance.

  Many green areas were showing up on both bodies and the highland areas on Kepler 186f appeared to have some kind of trees. On the satellite, there was a green belt starting just below the northern ice cap that circumscribed the entire satellite almost down to the equator. Infra-red sweeps did not pick up warm blooded life forms on either of the two bodies, so the danger from that seemed minimal.

  Lieutenant Commander Herman and Lieutenant Sakura managed to complete their mathematical computations regarding the proper approach to Kepler 186f, and announced that it would be best to come in from the vertical, meaning we would not try to approach through the plane of the system. Upon arrival, we would enter a polar orbit around 186f and remain in it until the landing area for the colony was chosen. From there, the ship would locate the ‘Lagrange point,’ and establish itself in a stationary orbit.

  As all young space cadets knew from their classes in orbital mechanics, a Lagrange Point was a location in space where the combined gravitational forces of two large bodies equaled the centrifugal force felt by a much smaller third body. In our case the smaller body would be Kepler Dawn itself. And due to the difference in gravitational pull, the point between the planet and the moon would put that point much closer to the planet because of the greater strength of the moon’s gravity. The beauty of it would be that the orbit could be maintained with a minimal expenditure of energy by the ship.

  From there, atmospheric scientists would be sent down in groups carried by small anti-gravity shuttles to study air quality, microbes in the atmosphere, etc. Next, the geologists would study the land forms to supplement their studies from the ship and locate the best possible location for a city. It must be near a good, controllable water source, with access to a variety of minerals and soils capable of growing food the colonists would need. Agronomists would test the soils for acidity, fertility and the ability to grow various things. Every aspect of the planet would be known before a commitment to settlement would be made. Radiation would also figure in, although it was not anticipated that the red dwarf star would give them any difficulty. This was especially true due the anti-radiation genes implanted in the ship’s complement before we left the Sol system.

  As the data was collected, I made sure it was uploaded to the AI computer. When the colonists finally made up their minds on a particular issue, I would pose it to the computer to see if it agreed. Many times, it did not and that aggravated some. For one thing, the computer was overly concerned for the safety of the colony. I required them to listen carefully to the computer and argue with it until they knew the best course of action and were willing to follow whatever decision was made. The computer appeared to love the interaction.

  Since the colonists had risen to the occasion and were being productive, I started spending more of my time anticipating the captain’s needs. To do that I checked his calendar every day, added to it if necessary and made sure he had whatever he needed for each of his activities. When I had the extra time, I tended to spend it trolling the ship studying the various activities and trying to find out what the groups needed. I also intertwined myself with the newbies, the youngest of the new officers, encouraged them in their studies and listened to the gossip of the teenagers. I was not sure it was doing much go
od. Nevertheless, when I was coming up in my final year I had appreciated and enjoyed the assistance of the few low level officers I’d met. They tended to love what they were doing and were generally willing to talk about it.

  Miki had been working hard keeping the colonists in line and on task. She had a great knack for it and whenever she arrived amongst them, they flocked to her with questions. Even among the best colonial mathematicians, she was able to figure out whatever was hanging them up and as a result, progress was rapid and enjoyable. If she could not provide an answer, Commander Herman usually could.

  The captain had been particularly interested in any discussion of the prior mutiny plot. In the end, we decided that the colonists had not been included in general discussions of that matter and once we had cut the head off of the snake by arresting Marshal and his crew, the whole thing disappeared. At least I had not heard of any of it. I was satisfied the danger was over when Dr. Dundee informed me he had tested every single passenger on the ship, including the officers and Marines, and not one had shown any indication of addictive drug use. He did not test me, himself, the captain, or the chief engineer.

  One day, we were completely surprised to receive a message from Spa/Com that indicated a second Earth ship, ES John F. Kennedy, was less than five years out from making landfall at Kepler 186f. A few days later, we received a direct message from the Kennedy saying it was less than a year out. We were all thrilled.

  This would provide us with the ability to occupy both the planet and the satellite or provide more bodies for either one if the other was not habitable. Three thousand colonials were not a great many for a planet the size of 186f, even with them reproducing like rabbits.

  Captain Hollenbeck immediately responded by providing all the data we had been able to collect on the Kepler system to the Kennedy so it could join us with substantially more information than we had as we’d approached.

  We also received specifications for the Kennedy itself and discovered it was a smaller ship, roughly two thirds the size of Kepler Dawn but with similar sized engines. This made it capable of significantly higher speeds. More importantly, it was constructed with folding vertical and horizontal stabilizers capable of assisting it in atmospheric flight. This meant it could land directly on the planet, maneuvering as it did so.

  Kepler Dawn could also land directly on the planet due to its line of smaller AG engines on the abaxial or ‘dorsal’ side of the ship as well as a set of small wings aft of the main engines. Still, it could not maneuver as easily in the atmosphere as the Kennedy, nor was it intended it do so. The small wings could assist in atmospheric directional control, but that was about it. Our ship was enormous and primarily designed as an orbital station for the delivery of personnel and various equipment.

  The line of small AG engines ran from the front of Kepler Dawn to the rear on what would usually be referred to as the keel, or backbone of the ship. The primary reason they had been included was that they might be needed to assist the ship in lifting off from the Earth. Once the ship was in orbit, they would be shut down and put into hibernation.

  Originally, it had been contemplated that Kepler Dawn would be constructed in space, but the needs of lifting the gigantic sections as well as the cargos was just too much and would have taken far more effort as well as time. Once everything necessary for the ship to function was in place, it lifted slowly up from the shipyard. Lest it be overstressed, twisted or became unbalanced in the process, it continued upward slowly until fully out of the grasp of the planet. Once in space it was accelerated with the main engines into a self-sustained parking orbit until all agreed it was time to depart. In the meantime, smaller AG tractor units transported cargo and colonists up to the ship. I wish I could have been there to see all that. It must have been quite a sight.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  I took great pleasure in the captain’s plan to promote Miki to first lieutenant and Anne Herman to full commander. He had already informed me of his intention to promote me to lieutenant commander.

  While all this had happened over a period of years, it was our little group’s dedication and performance that convinced the captain to move us all up. My father had been correct. Performance rules.

  The only downside to this period in the ship’s history was the recovery of Buryl Boggs. He had no recall of the events that had led to his injuries and as far as I was concerned he should not be told. Once he had demonstrated basic skills, he might be allowed back into one of the education programs. It would be on the colonial side of the mission if I had anything to say about it. And, I was pretty sure my views would be heard and accepted by the captain. Buryl should be transferred to the planet and allowed to complete his recovery and education there. Commander Boggs and Buryl’s mother agreed to the plan.

  When I knew for sure the Kennedy was approaching shortly, I visited Commander Bogg’s wife and told her. She was ecstatic and hugged me so long I began to wonder of her intentions. They were, of course, benign, and I berated myself on the way back to the bridge for having thought poorly of her.

  Chapter 26

  Our arrival at the planet and the establishment of a stable orbit occurred without mishap. The entire complement, passengers as well as crew, stared at the planet until their eyes were glazed. A celebration took place that night that would have rivaled anything that had ever occurred on Earth. I worried that our stocks of alcoholic beverages would be depleted. A lot of really drunk people were found the next day scattered about the ship. A number of them had vomited on the ship’s carpeted corridors and stressed the cleaning robots. In fact, the AI/Com reported that many of the robots were grumbling about it.

  When I heard that, I was stunned. When I asked the computer about it, it informed me that all of the ship’s robots were tied to its main system in some way and over time they had developed the ability to communicate with it. They did not complain much, it said; and when they did it was not so much verbal as by way of little breakdowns here and there. Since they were capable of repairing themselves, these breakdowns could only mean they were complaining about something.

  I thought about this for some time and then gave up. There was nothing I could do about it. I did tell the main computer to make sure they were discouraged from any tendency to rebel. Charges of mutiny, I reminded it, could just as easily be applied to them as it had been to the colonial leadership. In the meantime, I made sure all hands understood that trashing the ship was not going to be tolerated.

  After discussing this situation with the captain, he laughed off and on all day. It became our little joke. Every time I entered his office, he would yell out: “Watch out for the robots.” Strangely, they seemed to love it. No more breakdowns were reported.

  As for the excessive boozing, the Captain assured me that it was one staple we were not likely to run short of. We were well stocked for more than one journey. And, of course, one of the first priorities of at least one great family among the colonists was to start its own distillery as soon as we landed and they could harvest the crops necessary to do so.

  After depositing the colonists on Kepler 186f and determining they were safe from various natural threats, they began building their first town, which they were to call, “Dawn.” Ultimately, the population began referring to the entire planet as “Dawn.”

  With no objection, we entered that name into our records and forwarded it by atomic wormhole message back to Earth.

  We kept a stream of AG cargo ships moving down to the construction site and made sure they had all the supplies necessary to survive for many years without the ship.

  Most of the colony’s construction engineers settled into temporary quarters around the town site and set about designing a much larger city, one that could accommodate the several thousand more people soon to be created through natural processes. They also expected that with the arrival of half of the Kennedy’s colonists, they would definitely need to expand.

  Once Captain Hollenbeck was assured the colonists would
be safe and could survive, Kepler Dawn was moved over to the satellite and established an orbit just outside of the moon’s large magnetic field. Initial probes indicated that like Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts, the magnetic field lines of the satellite tended to trap stellar radiation in belts to be avoided, at least for any long period of time. Even with the ship’s radiation protection mechanisms, it would not be worth the risk to settle in closer than two thousand miles from the moon. The primary protection against radiation for the crew was the anti-gravity bubble, and while in orbit that bubble could only be maintained at a low level.

  From the start, the satellite studies looked very promising, especially considering the oceans. Because of the numerous smaller continents and islands, the seas were calmer and less likely to support huge storms. The oceans were shallow, with maximum depths of two thousand feet with most areas being less than five hundred feet.

  Several of the larger landmasses were forested on their highlands with larger areas of grasslands on the plains. We were, however, unable to locate any large grazing animals with our scans. There was plenty of plant life so this was seen as odd. Evolution tends to fill holes in any environment and why animal life had not yet evolved on this perfect place was inexplicable.

  Our excitement was palpable as we looked forward to the first manned probe. Mineral surveys from orbit showed vast deposits of various metals both on the plains and in the foothills. Iron was most common, with tin, copper, and nickel in abundance. A wide variety of rare Earths were also available in large quantities.