Solar Express

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  “Our daily ration of comms,” observed Tavoian, knowing that he was largely talking to himself, since the ship’s AI didn’t respond, except to questions. He set aside the miniature AI unit and began to read the first message.

  Tavoian, Christopher A.

  Major, NSC

  NSS-21/Recon Three

  This is to inform you that the Sinese longliner Jiang class, departed Sinese counterweight station yesterday at 0400 UTC. Indications are that the ship maintained a 1.5 gee acceleration for two hours, then resumed drive use two hours later for another two-hour period. This pattern was maintained for sixteen hours.

  How could they do that? Tavoian fed the figures into the AI. As he’d guessed, the Sinese longliner was moving almost twice as fast as he was. A hundred and seventy-five percent, roughly.

  “How soon before they catch us?” he asked the AI. “Or how long will we have at the target destination before they arrive?”

  WITHOUT ADDITIONAL DATA, PROJECTION IS IMPOSSIBLE.

  “Assume a one-gee deceleration for us, and a deceleration pattern for the Sinese ship that matches the acceleration pattern outbound from Earth. Assume both ships are within one hundred fifty thousand kays of the target at the end of deceleration.”

  THE SINESE VESSEL WILL ARRIVE AT THE OBJECT BETWEEN FIFTY AND FIFTY-TWO HOURS AFTER RECON THREE.

  Belatedly, Tavoian turned to read the remainder of the message from Donovan Base.

  Ship and acceleration parameters strongly suggest that Sinese longliner is uncrewed and AI-directed. Preparations of a second and larger craft suggest crewed vessel to follow once the target is farther in-system and the uncrewed longliner is in position close to the target.

  That answered his question about the acceleration and fuel requirements. Without habitability concerns, the Sinese could pack more fuel into the hull … and they had a larger platform to begin with. They also had better drives—or at least more durable ones—and that was another worry, both for him and for Space Command. He continued reading.

  Do not make contact with Sinese vessels unless contacted first or unless such vessels act in a fashion hazardous to you or your vessel.

  Request daily reports, commencing immediately.

  That would be easy enough to do, considering he’d done little except watch screens, exercise, study AI documentation, and send a few messages. In roughly eighteen hours that would all change once Recon three began its decel and approach to the asteroid or artifact.

  Then he read the Space Service news summary. His own summary of that was that matters were slowly degrading, but no one was shooting, launching missiles, or moving troops. Yet. He was much more interested in the message from Alayna.

  Chris—

  I know you can’t tell me precisely where you are and what you’re doing, but I’m fairly certain I know what it is. It sounds like it could be hazardous, especially if others get involved. Maybe I’m reading too much into how you said what you did and what you didn’t say, but I’m concerned. Now that I’ve said that … I am glad to hear from you, and I hope you’ll be able to send messages on a more frequent basis, for more than the selfish reason that I like hearing from you.

  There’s not been that much progress on the multi-fractal mini-granulations. I feel that I’m on the edge of something, that if I could only see just a shade—or a fraction of another layer deeper—into the sun I might find a hint of what I’m looking for. I can’t believe that the fact that the smaller areas of convection have multi-fractal properties while the larger granulations are essentially regular and Gaussian in distribution and field pattern is merely an affect of deeper solar mechanics. At the same time, the history of science shows how misguided belief can be. Einstein insisted that God did not play dice with the universe. We know what quantum mechanics and subsequent developments did to that belief.

  Tavoian smiled at those words. They called up his image of Alayna, both incredibly earnest and focused, yet with a wry cynicism beyond her years—or his, he realized. Aren’t you the one who never thought that the military nature of being a pilot would ever be exploited? That people would learn? He paused. No one’s fired any missiles yet. It’s not too late. Rather than dwell on that, he went back to reading what Alayna had written.

  I can also hear, in my mind, Professor Janes saying something like, “Merely an affect of solar mechanics, Miss Wong-Grant?” That might be like saying Newton’s apple’s falling was merely an affect of gravity.

  The unique asteroid that’s behaving like a comet and is possibly neither remains on course for a sun-grazing pass in late December. One of my colleagues at another well-known observatory can’t believe that there’s been no media or obvious government interest. She wonders if someone is keeping it quiet. I’m getting that feeling myself, but now that it’s in range of amateurs with telescopes with enough resolution to determine some of its unique features, I don’t think it can be kept hidden much longer …

  What Alayna was saying, as much to the colonel as to Tavoian, was that her discovery appeared likely to explode through the media at any moment, if it hadn’t already, since he was getting messages but not media, except for the Space Service news summary, which hadn’t reported anything about it.

  … we’ve done some recalculations based on better data and more observations. It looks like the “asteroid” has an extremely long period, somewhere in the vicinity of eleven thousand years since the last time it made a pass at the sun, which I think, although I can’t prove it, might have been its first pass.

  Tavoian frowned. That meant, if it were an alien artifact, whatever was there was old. On the other hand, things didn’t deteriorate that much in conditions of cold and vacuum, at least not after the initial decompression, assuming that it had been an artifact and pressurized.

  … From the time the object passes Mars’s orbit to reach Earth’s orbit will take about three weeks, and from there to Venus’s orbit will take less than two weeks, and from there to the averaged orbit of Mercury will be six days, possibly less. That’s not much time for something this unique, and our projections show it’s going to pass close to the Roche Limit. If it does, it may not survive perihelion, and that would be a great loss to science …

  Seven weeks from now, and she’s sending a not-so-veiled warning to me and the colonel not to stay around too long. Tavoian wanted to tell her that matters were under control, but he wasn’t in a position to do so, and even if he did, the colonel or whoever was reviewing his messages would not allow anything that definite to go through.

  I’ve attached the latest data and observations. We’re getting some clearly defined images. I don’t know how it could be, but I’d say that the silver-white side might be as polished as a mirror. How that could have occurred, considering that there are no visible craters, scarring, or abrasion, leaves me speechless. That’s a poor statement of fact. As you know, I’m seldom speechless.

  Responding in kind to your last quote, I have another from The Passion of Science:

  As an astronomer, you’d better be passionate; a billion stars aren’t even a significant faction of our own galaxy, let alone the visible universe. Most people can’t comprehend what a million of anything means, except in devalued currencies. They toss around millions and billions as if they understood. A scientist has to understand what numbers mean, what they represent, and how to use them accurately and not dishonestly. In our ever-more complex world, the only thing that can fuel such dedication is the passion for knowledge, in and of itself, and not in pursuit of material gain.

  Passion for what we do takes us to the strangest places. Why else am I on Farside, hundreds of kilometers from the nearest other human, and hundreds of thousands from friends and family—except you, and at the closest, you’re still thousands of kilometers away? Because I can’t do what I love doing without being here. While I’m speaking for you, and that’s always dangerous and often self-deceiving, I would think you must feel the same way.

  Do you? Do you feel as pas
sionate as she does about what you do? Tavoian had his doubts. He liked piloting. He liked being good at it, and he especially liked it when he could actually handle the ship, rather than oversee the AI. He also realized that he hadn’t hesitated in the slightest to take on a mission that could easily go wrong and kill him when he’d found out that he would be the first to see and explore, even if only through cubesats and remote AIs, what might be an alien artifact.

  He sat for a time, loosely strapped in the control couch, thinking, Why are you here? It certainly wasn’t for duty. Or patriotism. Who could feel that patriotic about a nation cobbled together from necessity and for survival some forty years earlier? You’re going to have to think about that.

  A sardonic smile crossed his lips as he considered that he and Alayna were roughly the same age. He might be several years older chronologically, but she was far older in every other way.

  I look forward to hearing from you as you’re able to message.

  After several moments, he accessed the next message—from Kit. It was short.

  Dear Chris,

  I was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to get back here, especially with what the media news is spouting. It’s frightening. Neither the Sinese nor the Indians want to back down, and President Yates appears to be totally ineffectual at calming the situation. I want to ask if they’re all idiots, but after working with politicians for the last year, I’m afraid I already know the answer to that question.

  Mom and Dad did get your message. They were happy to hear you’re fine, but they worry. So do I. I know you can’t say much. That’s obvious. We just hope that you’ll come through whatever you’re doing.

  All my love, little brother!

  He half grinned, knowing how much love was contained in the words “little brother.”

  Then he checked the monitors. There was no sign of the Sinese longliner, but then, given the limits of the ship’s detection systems, the first time he should be able to detect it would be once he reached the target, possibly not until it was almost there.

  At least he had three messages to respond to … and there was always the AI programming and documentation. But first … Alayna.

  36

  HOTNEWS!

  6 NOVEMBER 2114

  [Image Deleted For Off-Earth Transmission]

  A space race! For real. A Noram FusEx burner is blasting outsystem. A Sinese fusionjet’s two days behind. There’s nothing where they’re headed except a recently discovered asteroid. Word is it might not be an asteroid at all, but something old and alien. Sinese Space Minister Wong—all he’ll say is that the Sinese space program is proceeding according to plan. Noram DOEA Director Luvalle won’t comment at all. He must be imitating Prexy Yates. As for EC Chancellor Rumikov, he’s demanding sharesies from Noram and the Sinobloc. That man-dexer wants shares of everything, especially women. Does he think there’s an alien beauty out there?

  [Image Deleted]

  Don’t miss Seduced and Screwed … most tre-awesome realie of the fall, the true story of Vikson Brady’s seduction of former Noram Pres Robby Sawyer, and what happened at the Top of Ottawa the night before Sawyer sent Army spec-ops against the Idaho Libertarians.

  [Image Deleted]

  Double, no triple, brace yourself for the spectacle of fall, Patsy! The docu-realie about the sexyist enviro ever to assassinate a politician and get away with it. Loosely based on Patrice Kennedy-Harper’s involvement with Senator Steven Bush during the last days of the sovereign USA.

  [Image Deleted]

  One big chill’s going to boil India’s Mars plans! India’s Prime Minister Ravindra claims that the ice asteroid the Sinese have sent careening toward the Red Planet will impact the meridian lowlands. That’s where India has just finished its multi-dome geo-forming project. Sinese Space Minister Wong claims Ravindra’s all wet. That’s left Ravindra steaming.

  [Image Deleted]

  Noram Border Security agents patrolling the New Orleans wetlands made a really big find yesterday—crocodile style—and almost didn’t live to tell about it. The eight-meter-long saltwater crocodile nearly upended their hovercraft as they patrolled the abandoned sections of the submerged city. No one could explain how the monster croc—native to Southeast Asia—ended up in the ruins of New Orleans unless it was a survivor of a southern water park destroyed decades ago.

  CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

  37

  RECON THREE

  8 NOVEMBER 2114

  At 0743 UTC, the AI began deceleration, following the same pattern used to accelerate Recon three to the greatest real velocity Tavoian had ever experienced, not that he had experienced much of anything at all. With vacuum beyond the ship, unless something pinged the shields hard enough for the vibration to get through the graphene and shields to the inner hull, the only sounds were those generated inside, and the screens gave no indication of the speed. Over a million kays per hour, and there’s no real indication of it at all.

  After two hours of deceleration and two of waiting for the drives to recover, Tavoian was relieved when, shortly after the AI resumed decel, it also announced, TARGET LOCATED ON PLOTTED COURSE. CURRENT DISTANCE IS FIVE POINT FOUR MILLION KAYS.

  The AI didn’t have to say more, but Tavoian knew that even after two hours of decel Recon was still headed outward at more than 245 kps, and with the inbound speed of the asteroid/alien object, the distance between the two was shrinking by something like 280 kps.

  He also wasn’t looking forward to thirteen more hours of alternating decel and zero gee, while wondering the entire time how long the FusEx “booster” would last.

  Some twenty minutes into the second two-hour stint of deceleration, the day’s messages arrived. The first, as always, was official.

  Tavoian, Christopher A.

  Major, NSC

  NSS-21/Recon Three

  Request immediate update on status and position of target when acquired. Also request you report when Sinese longliner appears in vicinity of Recon three.

  At any sign of hostile action by any Sinese vessel, you are authorized to use requisite force as necessary.

  Requisite force? Two torps? Tavoian supposed two torps were better than nothing.

  Astronomical data suggests possible artifact may be of great age. Recommend initial survey with care.

  So that you don’t damage anything that might be useful, especially technology, as if anything there is going to be laid out for the taking … if it even is an alien creation.

  Report all events immediate real-time once on station.

  Tavoian did not bother with an immediate acknowledgment message, since he was not on station and the acquisition of the target was at such distance that he could not report on its status. Somewhat surprisingly, there was a second official message, except it wasn’t addressed to him specifically, but to all Noram Space Service installations and spacecraft. The text was simple:

  At 0200 UTC, 7 November 2014, the Sinese Federation closed all Sinese borders with India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Myanmar, and ordered the mobilization of all Sinese Federation reserve forces. The mobilization order was described as strictly precautionary, in response to threats to Sinese security. The nature of such threats was not disclosed in the mobilization order.

  In response, all Noram installations are hereby placed on Security Threat Level 3 [SecThreat3].

  No Sinese vessels or personnel are to be granted access to any WestHem or Noram space elevator or space installations or vessels. Exceptions may be made only in emergency conditions and only by an installation commander or higher authority.

  Tavoian hadn’t seen anything about the Sinese action in the last news summary; so he immediately looked to see if the latest Space Service news summary was included in his message dump. It was, and he began to read.

  Sinese Head of State Jiang placed all Sinese forces on high alert and closed China’s southern borders. Subsequent statements from the Ministry of Defense stated that “Indian-affiliated” insurgents had infiltrated the
Sinese Federation with weapons of “targeted and mass destruction.” A ministry spokesman warned India that the Federation would retaliate with necessary force against any violence …

  The rest of the summary wasn’t any better. Tavoian couldn’t see that there was much evidence of all the Indian hostility toward the Sinese … and that there hadn’t been all along. Was it all a pretext to force the Indians to back down on completing their space elevator? Or was the uncompleted installation in orbit truly the particle beam weapon that the colonel had implied?

  At times, he did wish that he could receive the vidloids, even the lurid ones like HotNews! and InsideOut. Sometimes, if infrequently, they revealed more hard news that the so-called reputable news sources, and definitely more than the Space Service news summaries.

  The third message was from Kit.

  Dear Chris,

  Is everyone crazy? Does it really matter whether the Indians complete their space elevator? What do terrorists inside the Sinese Federation have to do with that? Or much of anything else.

  Tavoian nodded. Logically speaking, Kit was right. But it wasn’t about that. The other obvious difficulty was that the Sinese hadn’t asked the Indians to do anything that they could do or were likely to do. And if the Indians couldn’t or wouldn’t … the Sinese would lose face if they didn’t do something … and likely something that the rest of Earth would find disturbing … and possibly requiring a response.