So far we hadn’t seen any indication of an interstellar presence out toward the rim, but then we’d just gotten started. Three hundred lightyears was just over one percent the distance we needed to go before we ran out of stars and hit the void.
“Stand up, step away from the console, and help me pick out a dress. We’re going out tonight.”
I sighed and logged out as I glared at her. Sure, I was kind of happy she didn’t let me become a hermit, but then I didn’t want her to know that.
“Where to?” I asked plaintively.
“We’re way to young and sexy to be stuck in this tin can, drop the whining and let’s go.”
I suppressed a smile, “You didn’t answer the question.”
She shook her head, “Come along,” and turned around and walked out.
I rolled my eyes and followed, of course we went straight to the landing bay, and took a shuttle down to the house. We wound up having a good night. First, I got to enjoy the house and view, it was a couple of hours until sunset, so we got in the hot tub and watched the mountains out back, while drinking a little wine. It was a great way to relax, unwind, and remind myself I wasn’t a stuffy old admiral, but a young woman that needed some fun every once in a while.
After which, we got dressed up, went to dinner, and then went dancing. It was a blast, thank god for my best friend…
Our test ship was built, and we flew it straight up above the disk of our galaxy just over ten thousand light years. Probably overkill, but Kristi and I had no idea what to expect from our experiment. I also had those shield missiles launched, to be used as sensor drones. A few were close, some were almost a light year away.
“You ready?” Kristi asked with a grin.
Of course, we were sitting safely on my command ship, the A.I. was flying the test ship, and with quantum communications we had real time data and connection to make decisions. I felt like a child lighting their first fire cracker, there was no way I was going to hold it in my hand so to speak. I took a moment to verify all the sensors were running and recording data.
I grinned back, and turned it on.
Where once there was a back wall in the chamber, there was nothing. It wasn’t black exactly, it was void. Of course, without the sensors we wouldn’t have seen anything with the naked eyes, it was as designed, a micro-singularity, or black hole. Way too small to see without sensor enhancement. Nothing crazy happened either, so at least I knew it was contained. For now.
“Al, start the testing.”
It was a little tricky, we had to test for effects, since dark energy was invisible, and wouldn’t show up on the scans directly.
Kristi asked, “Anything, besides the expected gravity and other expected forces I mean?”
I shook my head, wondering if my guess had been wrong. I’d been so sure.
“Not yet.”
Al finished the battery of tests about fifteen minutes later, it looked like a bust. I’d been so sure though.
“Al, rerun the tests please.”
Kristi raised an eyebrow.
I shrugged, “Maybe it’s like a trickling spring? It might take time to build up and pool.” my voice full of doubt.
Kristi snickered, “Maybe. So… a black hole is the pool, and it will take time to fill with water?”
It sounded so stupid when she put it in those terms, even if I was the first person to compare it to water.
Al interrupted, “The results are slightly different, I suggest rerunning the tests until equilibrium is reached. It seems the singularity is both the containment and attractant for some type of energy of phenomena we are unable to directly measure. However, I’d suggest using the comparative concept of charging a battery, rather than filling a pool.”
Kristi and I stared at each other. Sometimes, since the upgrade, Al’s suggestions seemed a little bit too human.
“That… sounds like a plan Al,” and then added banally, “Let’s do that.”
I took a deep breath, “So what do you think now?”
Kristi shrugged, “It could be dark energy, or it could be something else, completely different, that we can’t scan for or measure for directly.”
I shrugged, “I guess we’ll find out.”
Hours passed, and the data just kept getting more skewed. According to the data, there was more energy contained in the singularity than any reactor known. It was a huge leap from the fusion reactors that powered the ship. If the fusion reactors were a candle, the singularity, or dark energy reactor, would be a volcano.
Of course, I had no idea how to tap that power. No more than we knew how to tap gravity. We could convert all sorts of things to power systems, heat, pressure, motion, magnetic fields, and much more. But like gravity, we didn’t really understand how dark energy worked, it was like trying to build a puzzle around a missing piece. I wasn’t giving up, all that power, there had to be a way to convert it to usable energy.
Kristi broke me out of my delusions of grandeur, “This is… crazy. I can’t believe you were right, but based on the indirect evidence, you built a dark matter reactor. Or is it a black hole reactor.”
She laughed a little bit, it sounded unsure.
“Both. Yeah, we have a lot of work to do as well. We have to one, figure out how to tap the energy, and two, we need to figure out how to safely shut it down. If it was shut down now, I imagine the dark energy would tear the ship apart. That’s why I put in so much redundancy, and an ejection system. I think to start I’m going to go over the gravity equations, dark energy isn’t really energy at all, it’s more like a force, like gravity. So, we’ll see.”
She frowned, “How about adding shields and weapons? Dark energy would ignore all shields, and tear a ship apart.”
I snorted, “Sure, and while I’m at it, I’ll build a wormhole device, after all there is more than enough power to do so.”
We both frowned and looked at each other, as we realized my sarcastic joke… wasn’t really out of the realm of possibility. The biggest restraint on opening a wormhole through space and time was lack of power. Let me amend that to the biggest restraint to trying to open a wormhole, and testing those very old theories, is lack of a power source that even came close to the theoretical requirements. Of course, this brought us back to actually figuring out how to extract the fantastic amount of power we’d just discovered.
Kristi lost her mirth, “Umm, we shouldn’t share this with anyone, at all. This isn’t something we’d ever build on Earth anyway, so when we come clean we should specify space only if the powers that be aren’t smart enough to. You realize we slanted the balance of power with Shield defense missiles, and especially the gravity anti-FTL missiles. This will turn balance on its head. I’m not saying we shouldn’t do this, but we need to be wary about how we present it.”
I nodded, “Maybe even military only, civilians don’t need it, at least not right away. So you can run with the weapons and shields?”
Kristi frowned, “Fine, I’m the weapons person anyway, and our projects aren’t interdependent anyway.”
I shook my head, “How so?”
Kristi shrugged, “You want to build some kind of power converter right? To power the ship, which by the way makes you evil to want central power like that. To make it a weapon or shield, I’ll need to manipulate the dark energy itself.”
“Right,” I said softly, “That hadn’t occurred to me yet. Don’t worry, we’ll keep the fusion reactors around in case we need them.”
Kristi snickered, “Very wise, those EPS manifolds are always breaking down at the worst possible time.”
I shook my head, hoping neither of us would ever grow up.
I added, “And hey, we might not figure out anything, it could be a dead end.”
Kristi looked at me like I was an idiot. What did I miss?
She shook her head, “You’re too naïve sometimes Alicia. What would happen if you flew that ship into a solar system, and then shut down the sixteen gravity emitters on purpose.�
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Holy shit. I turned white as the blood drained from my face.
She nodded, “That’s right, you just built the first bomb that may be capable of ripping a solar system apart down to its component atoms, sun included. Assuming our theories are correct.”
She was right, oh, probably not the way it was right now. But it could take out a good chunk of the solar system. To take out the whole thing we would need to increase the size of the singularity, which would be really easy, simply expand the field generated by the gravity emitters. I had a feeling I was going to have nightmares tonight. To put in perspective though, the anti-mass FTL system has the potential to create an extinction level even on Earth, we just need to make sure there are enough safeties and protocols to make it as safe as the current fusion reactors, ones that can’t be bypassed.
Chapter 6
I groaned, as I read over the recent report and set of orders from the USFS board. Apparently a representative, Marlon, was coming from one of the Knomen colonies to discuss the treaty. Nora, Senna, and a number of other races would be represented as well. A few on the board wanted me present during the talk to even out the Knomen’s unfair advantage of soul reading.
Not that there was anything to truly negotiate, the treaty was pretty much take it or leave it. But they wanted my presence to make sure the Knomen were serious in their intentions, and that it wasn’t simply an attempt to spy for the royal family. That I was part of that royal family wasn’t lost on me at all. I also had the idea there would be hard feelings from some of the other races. Knomen had us under their thumb for months, which meant I was only slightly annoyed at my birth race. For some of the people present it would be years, and in some cases, centuries. That’s a lot of pent up stress, and plenty long enough to develop a deadly grudge.
I wasn’t naïve enough to believe some of those races would’ve rather we’d destroyed Knomen for their enslavement of the galaxy for their high handed bureaucratic madness. Perhaps enslavement was too strong a word, it’d been more like many kingdoms being forced to be vassals and pay tribute to one central kingdom. Or maybe like the mob going around the neighborhood for protection money.
No matter how it was defined, it meant there was some potential for nastiness.
When the Knomen ship arrived outside the system, and started their approach at sub-light speed, I sent him an invitation to shuttle over, so we could travel together. At least they were respecting our no FTL in system rules. I thought it wise to evaluate him first, and then the large group of aliens at the meeting, rather than attempt to do both at the same time. I stopped by my quarters on ship to make sure both myself, and my uniform was presentable, and then headed down to the shuttle bay to await our guest.
I’d expected an arrogant person. Instead, Marlon was rather nervous and tentative as he exited the shuttle. I walked over and shook his hand.
“Welcome aboard.”
Marlon smiled, “Thank you, it is good, but strange, to be here.”
I returned his smile and waved for him to follow me over to my sports shuttle.
“Oh, in what way?”
He didn’t respond right away, and I could sense his feelings shift around from nervous, to hopeful, to doubtful. It was almost painful, but I realized he either thought we’d reject him, or… something else bad.
When we took off he said, “If we sign this treaty, your, and the other worlds, will truly defend us? Many of our people find this hard to believe, because of the way our race has treated them over the millennia.”
I sighed, “You would understand, you were in much the same position weren’t you?”
He shrugged, “Perhaps, you could say we were second class citizens, under the people at the home world, but that would mean every other race was third class.”
I frowned and decided to be bluntly honest, especially since he could read me as well, “Earth would come. I believe the rest would as well, maybe not out of love for your planet or race, but because if they fail to answer a call through the treaty, they would be kicked out, and no one would come to their call. Maybe in the future that can change? Have the Knomen colonies started to trade with others yet?”
He shook his head, “What we have to offer, they can get elsewhere. We have nothing unique.”
I laughed, “That’s not entirely true. But I can see why you haven’t even considered it.”
He looked over at me in surprise, “What do we have?”
I shrugged, “In the Knomen empire there were spies and facilitators. Obviously facilitators are a thing of the past, but spies would be a good export. Consider exploration, one of the things the Knomen empire did well was recon on societies entering the stage where the FTL discovery was imminent. The emperor kept all that in the family, but obviously that is no longer the case.
“You can charge for some of you to go out, recon a world and its laws, society, along with its customs and taboos. Our race is the only one that can do that easily, since we can change our aspect so readily.”
He sighed, “But not many are needed.”
I shook my head, “Not many were needed. Without that ridiculous five light year exploratory limit per year expansion and new worlds are going to start popping up a lot more than in the past. Another thing you have going for you is soul reading. Imagine showing up hired for one world to make sure the other world is honest in their dealings. Then that world will want their very own soul reader for negotiation. In other worlds, use the strengths of our race to serve and help, instead of dominate.
“And of course… for a price.”
I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing with these suggestions, but I didn’t think it could hurt. They would need some kind of export to afford imports, and the export of singular talents seemed obvious to me.
Marlon nodded, “I will think on this, and bring it up with my leadership when I get back to our worlds. If I may ask, what is your intention toward the Knomen home world? I only ask, because I fear if they once again regain power, they will call us all traitors if we sign your treaty.”
I shrugged, “They are under enforced protection. They will remain that way until my cousin sees reason, or the people grow tired and overthrow him.”
Marlon muttered, “Enforced protection?”
I nodded, “We are quarantining the planet and won’t let them off, but we will also defend them if anyone tries to attack. We bear the responsibility of their lives, since we took away their ability to defend themselves on their own.”
Marlon asked thoughtfully, “And the other treaty worlds?”
I shook my head, “The Knomen home world is not a part of the treaty. They aren’t required to weigh in, since it was only us who took the system. I don’t expect anyone else would lift a finger if they were attacked, a hard truth, but I’m sure it comes as no surprise.”
Marlon shook his head, “The colonies would, for the sake of the population, if you could trust us not to try and displace your Earth fleet.”
I pondered that a moment, “I would trust you, but I’d need to meet the command staff in person before I’d feel comfortable with it.”
Marlon didn’t seem the type, but I imagined some of the power hungry in the colonies resented Earth from taking their exalted position in the galaxy away, even if their worlds will probably be richer for it, not being under the thumb of my cousin any longer. We ran out of time for discussion when we arrived at the U.N. complex.
I knew the way, so I escorted him through the building to the large meeting room. The entire board was there, as well as fifteen more people, including Senna from Leira, and Nora from Tressia. Seven of the worlds weren’t present, but it was hardly a requirement. There was no voting someone in, if a world signed they were in, if they violated the treaty they were out for at least fifty years. It was that simple.
At a guess I’d say all fifteen people were only there to work out trade and other agreements, not because of the treaty itself. At least, that was probably the case before they
heard a Knomen colony wanted to join. I could feel how tense the room was, but I believed Marlon could win them over if they gave him a chance. He was the first Knomen I’d met that wasn’t ridiculously arrogant and blind to reality. Even my grandmother, who I liked, was arrogant beyond belief.
When I caught Nadia’s eyes, I nodded almost unperceptively, just to let her know that Marlon at least, was on the level. I stayed in the back, and gave half an ear toward following the conversation. It was basically a very flowery way to go over the blunt questions we’d covered in the shuttle together. Marlon wanted to make sure his colony would be equal in the eyes of everyone else in the treaty, and everyone else questioned him about why he wanted to join and probed for ulterior motives.
As far as my perceptions, he didn’t really have one. As far as the others, there was definitely anger there, but no one threatened to walk out if we let him sign on. I felt a little sorry for him, but then that was life. It would take years before they would ever be trusted, and many times that for the home world when that finally got sorted out.
At least no one tried to kill him…
Chapter 7
A month went by before anything exciting really happened. The fleet had their first tournament, the computers keeping score. To my surprise the ship that won didn’t take leave on Earth, they exchanged some money for gold, left at FTL, and headed to Tressia which was just hours away in our newest ships. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise, one of the perks of fleet should be meeting aliens and stepping foot on other worlds. I just hope they don’t wind up in jail somewhere.
The moral in the fleet seemed to be up, especially with the shore leave schedule fully in swing.
I’d spent a lot of time running simulations, and pouring over the multi-dimensional math for gravity, and seeing how exactly dark energy fit into it. I knew the forces were related in some way, or at least, that was the theory. It was at the end of the month that theory, and my work, paid off. I’d designed a power converter, and power conduits that reached through the whole ship. I let the fabricators take care of the big stuff, and put the nanites on the smaller tasks.
Alicia Jones 3: New Frontier Page 3