Drive Time

by Matt Wilkinson

  Inevitably, once the teleportation technology was released, it didn’t take long for other particle physicists to consider the time travel element. Whenever PRE-Innovations suspected others were using the ability, they would pay them a visit, inform them of their prior invention of the technology and give them the option to join their group. Every scientific group that received the offer would accept, especially when they realised that PRE-Innovations could travel back in time and interfere with their discovery. The team felt no guilt in their passive aggressive intimidation, as the world’s population was happier than it had ever been, they felt safe in their convictions, no fear of corruption in their ideals. They also knew the hazards of the technology all too well, a lesson they were eager to impart on anyone choosing to follow in their footsteps.

  PRE-Innovations had expected more resistance from some of the more controlling governments, especially the regimes that were no more than a facade, but they were surprised to find those in control were as enchanted by the new technology as anyone else. In the beginning, some tried to use those hi-tech devices as another way to intimidate their people but quickly realised that it was a battle they’d already lost. They could try and use military force to get the people back in line, but why take the trouble when power no longer meant riches, now there were far more accessible ways to pursue greed and the SARA could heavily arm their people.

  Once the lack of essential needs was a thing of the past, borders relaxed, and since teleportation revolutionised travel, people were free to go where they pleased. An absence of poverty meant that previously affluent countries were no longer as desirable and strict border control was relaxed. Governments had become almost defunct due to their services no longer being needed, people could take care of themselves. Hospitals were obsolete, teaching was a vocation that people swarmed to voluntarily, crime rates came way down when stealing became pointless, anything could be obtained for free, and if your possessions were taken, you wouldn’t be bereft for long. Android firefighters were a safer option, though some humans also still volunteered. Waste management was a thing of the past, refuse is fodder for the SARA and people would actually make withdrawals from their local landfill to help remove the eyesore. Waste eventually became less abundant, as the SARA omitted all packaging, but there would never be a shortage of material for the SARA to recycle, even items that were regularly used could be disintegrated and reintegrated later, like with Spencer’s infinite wardrobe. Why waste space storing apparel when the SARA could create new clothes for you every day, in any style you wanted, throw your used clothes into the recycler on an evening and reform tomorrow.

  Nobody travelled by air unless making quick jumps by helicopter or taking part in related recreational activities, most planes were recycled. Fuel for cars could be created via the SARA, so no more Big Oil or the adverse effects that came with it. Though fuel could be produced with the SARA, it was wasted material without a way to recycle the emissions. It would be possible to devise an engine that salvaged the discharge, converting it back to fuel using SARA, but the emissions weren’t equal to the fuel used. Anyone who owned a car did so for the purpose of entertainment, rather than travel, as electric self-drive taxis were available for short trips. All towns and cities had networks of teleportation hoops for longer trips, train stations were converted into teleportation sites and the trains recycled; likewise, airports became larger teleportation sites. Each depot had a gateway to every other neighbouring town, meaning that most locations could be reached by walking through a few portals in sequence. All the major cities had gates leading to every other major city so they could be attained through fewer portals. A person could arrive in London, for instance, in a maximum of three portal journeys from any town in England. City stations in America usually had a state zone containing forty-nine portals, each leading to the capital of every other state, with another area for gates to each of the major towns and cities within that state. Large stations also contained a zone for jumps between continents, and individual countries within the current continent.

  The work of the PRE-Innovations team would change every life on earth for the better. This was forefront in their minds as they looked at the craft and its delivery system. They were about to embark on the final leg of their journey, a new planet or two on which the human race could spread out would be the icing on the future’s cake. The possible omnipotence of humanity relied on what perched on that launch pad.

  How could anything go wrong?

  Chapter 56

  The launch executed perfectly; the craft had shed its delivery system and was floating in space awaiting further instructions. The PRE-Innovations group were back at HQ deciding where they wanted to initiate the spacecraft’s search pattern. Zack had a list of planets in the Milky Way which could be capable of supporting life, but there were a possible eleven billion others that could be colonised. They would send the craft out to each and every one of them if they had to until they found the right two, but they had to pick a starting point and direction for their spiral-shaped search trajectory.

  “I’ve entered the coordinates of the nearest viable planet to its current position," Zack said.

  “Go ahead, get it moving," Simon said with a smile.

  Zack tapped some keys, and the craft turned slowly, then began to move in the direction instructed. Their monitors displayed the view captured by the cameras at the front, rear and sides of the vehicle. The ship was programmed to search and scan for candidate planets, it’s automation would take over from here, but they were still eager to keep an eye on the unfolding of the historic search. The ship sent data from it’s scanning equipment and instruments to the quantum computer, which recorded every ounce of data along with the video that the cameras were picking up. The drive could receive continuous footage from every one of the cameras for the entire journey and still never exhaust the storage space. Once the craft reached the first candidate planet, it would begin to travel in a spiral using earth as a centre, adjusting course slightly to ensure any candidate planets it passed were in the range of its sensors. Once a suitable world was found, it would relay the coordinates of the location back to its own databanks in the past, allowing a direct path to be taken as soon as it left Earth. When the shorter voyage was complete, the craft would relay its location and arrival time to the team in the past so they wouldn’t have to endure the intervening years. It could take thousands of years for all they knew, but they couldn’t wait that long and didn’t have to. There were protocols in place to ensure that the craft’s message would arrive in their current reality along with any new timelines it had established during its trek. The ship’s ability to send the information back in time to HQ had not yet been engaged, as the crew wanted to enjoy the show for a while, but once it was, they would immediately receive the location of their first suitable world. The android would then drop to the surface of the planet and set up a teleporter to be paired with those at HQ. There would always be a time differential between their Earth portal and the portal on the new planet, anyone travelling between them would also be taking a trip to the future, there was no way to avoid it. The ship couldn’t instantly appear in the new planet's proximity, and the team weren’t prepared to wait for the craft’s arrival before making a start. The chronology of the two worlds would be synced — at least in real time — adding or subtracting the correct amount of time for each journey between them. If a person were to visit the new world and stay for two hours, earth time would also have advanced two hours when they returned. The new planet was unlikely to share Earth’s twenty-four hour day, and its calendar would not unify, but hopefully, this would only be slightly more complicated than keeping track of Earth time zones.

  “How long do you want to wait?” Simon asked.

  “I suppose it would be pointless to keep watching now, we can see a lot of this with Earth telescopes," Zack said.

  “Why don’t we just enable it now? We have it recorded anyway.” Victor said.

  “Y
eah, I can experience every part of its journey virtually with the helmet anyway. Let’s do it.” Zack smiled, excited.

  “Okay then, here goes," Simon initiated the craft’s access to cross-time communication.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  Simon read the data on-screen. “It took one hundred and fifty-three years to find it the first time, but seven on a direct course. I’ll send the data over to our alternate selves.”

  He wrote an instant message to their future selves and sent it back so it would be received moments after they saw them leave to their home reality. A reply arrived almost immediately, with the location of another suitable planet included.

  “Looks like we both found different worlds, they avoided the location of our own after they received the message I just sent," Simon said. “I’ll tap in the coordinates and send them to the craft, get it there as quickly as possible.” which he did immediately.

  The craft remained in orbit around the newly discovered planet, to save the need for a relaunch, the android would exit and re-enter the ship via a small portal at the rear of its interior. Departing the ship involved another teleportation hoop built into the outer hull, which would drop him into the void outside. The portals were slightly modified, so the liquid pool became a solid surface, so embarking and disembarking would not cause changes in cabin pressure. Upon the ship's first arrival, the android had left the craft while still in orbit — a securely packed SARA machine in a compartment on its chest — then small thrusters on its chassis helped manoeuvre the android into the planet’s atmosphere. The android’s casing would keep it from burning up on entry, and its design even incorporated a back panel that would release a tightly packed parachute at the right moment. When it was time to port back to the ship, the robot would use the SARA to build another small portal and pair it with the spacecraft, allowing him to crawl back inside.

  A second after Simon entered the coordinates of the second planet the team received notification that the droid was on the second new world and the HQ linked portal was set up and ready.

  “That’s a choice of two we now have," Sarah said. “Which are we visiting first?”

  “Whichever’s warmest," Jules said. “I fancy a sunbathe. I spent way too long underground.”

  “Actually, from the data, they both have similar climates to our planet. Some warm spots, some cold spots. The android set up camp in a place with optimal temperature. If we’re going to be building there, we’ll want a region that’s comfortable to work in. We can build a portal network when we have time so we can reach the warmer climates quicker.”

  “Less talk, more portal," James said.

  “Fair enough," Simon said and booted up their gate to another world.

  Chapter 57

  Led by Zack, the PRE-Innovations team set foot, one by one, onto their new planet, to say they were excited to be the first humans to lay eyes upon it would be downplaying their emotions significantly. Simon had elected to stay at HQ for safety, in case there were any problems with the connection between the portals, no one wanted to be marooned on the planet before it was habitable. They were keeping the gate open for a quick getaway, should something drastic happen. Simon would get to enjoy the new world after the first hour when the group chose someone to replace him, they would then rotate the position hourly, each taking their shift.

  “Did we come out in the right place?” Beth asked.

  “Definitely," James replied. “But it does look a lot like earth. It’s just as green, and those mountains over there are as purple.”

  “I wonder if there’s any life in that lake over there," Sarah said. “Maybe fish about to walk on land, the beginning of something like human life?”

  “I’m a little nervous about that, who knows what could crawl out from there or from behind those trees." Jules moaned.

  The craft had completed a few orbits around the planet before the android left the ship, there were no signs of civilisation anywhere on the surface. Although, if there were tribes of humanoid creatures, their habitat might not have been visible from space. They couldn’t currently scan for life signs like in some science fiction, a straightforward visual check was all that was presently possible. As for what some would call lower life forms, animals or insects, they couldn’t say until they’d had a chance to look around.

  “We could be ravaged any moment by a monkey-lizard or whatever there might be here,” Jules continued.

  “Well, if that happens, Simon will make a new copy of us," James said.

  “This body doesn’t feel too reassured by that," Jules said.

  “I don’t even see any birds in the sky," Zack said. “I’ll go down to the lake and see if there’s any insect life. There should at least be some annoying bugs there. Can’t ever go near a natural body of fresh water without getting bitten.”

  “What if there’s mosquitoes or something like them, and they give you some alien disease?” Jules asked.

  “We have nanobots that will eradicate any disease. Worst comes to worst, teleporting back home will remove any anomalies. You know that.” James was becoming impatient with his sister.

  “Yeah, but now I’m here, it’s kind of terrifying, I can’t think straight.”

  “Take a look around, it’s beautiful and untouched, nothing to be afraid of. Chill.”

  In earth’s future, pandemics were no longer a danger, travelling using a station’s portal would pick out any infectious diseases in the scan and recreate the subject on the other side without the dangerous microorganisms. When the group passed back through the portal to Earth, any anomalies in their blood would be detected by the quantum computer, removed and a notification would be made to alert the group.

  Zack walked to the shore of the nearby lake, he checked the mud for signs of insect life and looked to the water for swimming creatures. He thought he might have seen a ripple in the water, but he couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t just the wind or plant life in the current, his footwear was unsuitable for wading in for a closer look. Something landed on his arm, his first instinct was to pull his forearm up to take a look, but then his brain kicked in, and he wondered if he might not like what he saw there. His mind ran away with thoughts of all the terrible creatures that could possibly exist here. He told himself to stop being so ridiculous, and man up then lifted his arm to eye level, still diverting his gaze, he slowly turned his view toward whatever sat on his arm. He was pleased to see that the flying bug perched there didn’t look too different from a house fly. He brought his arm closer for a more scrutinous look. The fly had a wing arrangement that he didn’t recognise, instead of a pair on each side, there seemed to be four. Continuing the inspection, he noticed that the head was one giant eye, instead of the pair of compound eyes that earth flies carried, its whole head was a mass of lenses that brought a disco ball to his mind.

  “Weird," Zack muttered to himself.

  As he turned to rejoin the group something to his left caught his eye. A small bird had alighted on the ground beside the water. Crests on its head resembled a circular arrangement of leaves, and the legs had tiny feathers. Other than that, it was very similar to common Earth birds, about the size of a robin with green plumage. No giant eye-head here. He made his way back to the group, who had started work on base camp.

  “We have life," Zack said. “I saw a fly and a bird down there.”

  “Stands to reason," Victor said. “I don’t think the plant life would be as lush without a full ecosystem.”

  “We’ll have to make sure we have a safe, locked environment around this area, we don’t want any unknown wildlife destroying the portal, we can start with a simple steel cage for now,” Sarah said. “I think we should launch the drone to scan the environment, then we can design the building that we want to place in this spot once we get home. Then the androids can get to work.”

  When the android set up the portal, it had gathered debris from the surrounding trees, dug up some of the earth and larger half-buried rocks, recycling it in
the SARA until the osmium tank had been filled. Ultimately, the resulting flat area would serve as the location of the new HQ foundations. Most of the osmium had been used when the team were reintegrated by the teleportation process, and they had spawned any gear they needed to make a start on basecamp so they would need to refill the tank. Water could be drained from the lake as a particle source and replaced later.

  “I’ll launch the survey drone," Victor said.

  They had designed a new drone to survey the area and get a better look at the environment, and the wildlife that they now knew to be a certainty. Victor was keen to begin looking for any species that might cause them problems when colonising the planet. The drone was programmed to fly systematically, recording any points of interest that it might find. The battery would allow continuous power for flight, like the androids or nanotech, so it could complete its survey without a break. Eventually, they would release more drones to cover a larger area, but right now they were more concerned with the landing site.