“Thank you, Major. We’ll be there in two minutes,” Damien said, then disconnected the call. “Let’s drop this thing off and get the hell out of here.”
As they approached the heliport, the saw the unit Andrea and Regina had dropped off from the GST construction station had been pulled off to the side next to the container they had brought the SEALs home in, leaving the heliport clear.
While Simon paid attention to landing, Damien was busy watching the skies to see if the fighters were sneaking back into the area. As soon as he powered down the emitters, releasing the capsule, he nodded to Simon who immediately sent the jumper skyward. When they reached orbit, he contacted Andrea.
“All done,” Simon said.
“Okay, phase three. G2, please give the location of those Russian satellites with the missiles,” Andrea asked.
“One is currently over the Indian Ocean, the other is about to cross over the California coast.”
“East or west, ladies?” Damien asked.
“We’ll get the one over the Indian Ocean,” Andrea replied.
“Roger that,” Simon said, turning the jumper and heading toward the western coast of the United States.
The A.I. displayed the positions of the two nuclear-armed satellites on the navigation consoles, vectoring them directly to their position in orbit.
Simon reached their objective first and slowed to cautiously approach the satellite.
“It’s a big son of a bitch!” Damien exclaimed. “Look, that open hatch must be where the missiles launched from,” he said, pointing.
“Fuck the sightseeing, let’s get this done just in case they have some sort of nuclear self-destruct.”
“You think so?” Damien asked in alarm.
“Maybe yes, maybe no. The shields are up full strength. Let’s just get this bastard stopped in orbit and make sure it drops in the Pacific Ocean. What’s the radiation reading off that beast?”
“Nominal. It’s probably from whatever generates electricity for the thing, it appears the warheads are shielded. It’s not cold, but it’s not dangerous even if we didn’t have Peanut’s best protecting our gonads. Okay, I’m going to grab it … Now!”
Simon immediately put on the brakes and brought the satellite to a halt relative to the rotation of the planet, making sure that they were well away from the coast below.
“Okay, let it go,” said Simon, watching the satellite slowly drop. He backed the jumper off until it was a mile away and kept pace with the satellite’s descent into the atmosphere.
It wasn’t long before there was a visible glow on the section pointed downward. They kept pace as the satellite picked up speed and began to leave a trail of burning residue looking like thin smoke. Simon kept pace as small pieces began to detach in the heat and rush of atmosphere, the metal getting red, then orange, then yellow as the temperature climbed.
When they were fifteen miles above the ocean, the satellite broke up. Simon slowed their descent into the atmosphere as he and Damien turned to watch the screens on the console. Once the show was over, Simon climbed back into orbit to await Andrea and Regina’s return.
“One more job to do,” Andrea radioed just as their jumper pulled into view. “Wanna swap?” she asked Simon.
“Ladies’ choice,” he replied.
“We want to take the ISS. You get SkyHub,” Andrea offered.
“You bet. Meet you back at the station,” said Simon.
In no time Andrea and Regina were pulling up to the International Space Station, circling around to get a good look at the design.
“It’s huge!” Regina exclaimed. “I know size isn’t supposed to matter,” she began, making Andrea laugh, “but that’s one big-ass station.”
“Look along the main span along the center there. We can grab on right there, and if I start up slow, we should be fine. We just have to make sure there’s no automatic attitude adjustment system that fights us. G2?”
“Yes, Andrea. How may I be of assistance?”
“Have you gotten into the ISS computer systems yet?”
“I have. How may I assist you?”
“Is there an automatic attitude adjustment system in operation?” she inquired.
“Yes, there is, but it only operates through direct control from Earth. I have shut down all command communications. You are free to proceed.”
“Thank you, G2. Okay, Gina, I’m going to bring us in close; hold on.” Regina watched as the jumper approached the center crew compartment. “Okay, that should do it.”
Regina activated the tractor emitters and grabbed the ISS in several places. Once she was sure the grip was stable, she said, “That should do it. You’re free to maneuver.”
Andrea applied power slowly, gently pulling the station out of low Earth orbit and out toward the moon’s orbit while Regina kept watch for any structural problems.
They took their time, spending three hours in transit to get the space station to the Earth/Moon L5 point. Once there, Andrea aligned the solar panels to face the sun and then detached.
“Hey, Simon. We’re done and the ISS is in a stable orbit. How are you coming?” Andrea radioed.
“Right behind you. We should be there in about fifteen minutes.”
Andrea moved the jumper away from the ISS and flew about a mile away to give Simon and Damien plenty of room to slide the GST station into orbit.
It wasn’t long before the women saw the other space station growing larger as it got closer. With G2 guiding the jumper it took but a moment for the station to be parked in a stable orbit half a mile from the ISS.
Once Damien released the station, both crews began their flight to their own station at the L4 point, eager to get something to eat and then some rest.
Chapter 43
BACK ON THE BLOCK
Christopher wasn’t going to wait around Operations to monitor the doings in Earth’s neighborhood. He was checking out his space suit prior to donning it, and he was in a hurry because sending Ben off to class that morning had taken a little bit longer than he had planned.
Once he was suited up and had run all the diagnostic checks, he hurried off to the main hangar to meet Chuck, Peanut and TJ who were in the process of performing the final checks on the interdimensional probe.
The probe was mounted to the side of one of the Jupiter jumpers. It was cylindrical, about six feet in diameter and seven feet tall. The exterior was smooth, with the housings of Peanut’s shield emitters spaced evenly around the middle of the cylinder and on each end.
When Christopher arrived at the hangar and joined the others, Peanut said, “We thought you were going to skip the test, Chris.”
“Yeah, you straight?” Chuck inquired.
“Sorry, guys. It took a little longer getting Ben off to school, and it’s been a while since I used my suit, so I took my time checking it out,” Christopher apologized.
“Hey, man. You need me to double-check your suit?” Chuck asked, a little concerned.
“No. Seriously, I didn’t skip any of the checklist; I’m good,” Christopher assured them.
“Okay, cool,” said Peanut, turning back to TJ, whose datapad was running the last few pre-flight tests on the probe.
“Okay, Genesis, download the clone,” TJ instructed.
The only sign that the probe’s computer systems had powered up were the readouts on the datapad. Seconds later, TJ announced, “We’re good to go.”
At the same time, Sondra and Julius arrived in the hangar, also wearing their suits and carrying their helmets.
“You riding along, too?” Christopher inquired.
“Nope, we’re going to be in the rescue jumper sitting well away from the probe and you guys. But we’ll be close enough to swoop in and pick you up if something goes wonky,” she answered. She and Julius wished them good luck as they headed over to th
eir jumper.
TJ boarded the jumper, and Christopher waved to the few people who had gathered to watch them depart as the inner airlock door to the hangar slowly closed.
They prepared for launch, Chuck piloting, Peanut in the copilot seat with Christopher and TJ seated directly behind. Chuck called the control room and requested the hangar be emptied of atmosphere in preparation for departure.
As the air was being pumped out of the huge space, TJ and Peanut were performing last minute simulations on the probe with the assistance of the Genesis clone aboard.
“G2, would you confirm the power levels?” Peanut requested.
“The power cells are fully charged, Peanut. However, I have a slight correction. I am the second operating clone. G2 is currently installed on the space station in Earth’s L4 position. I should be addressed as G3 for clarity.”
Peanut, Chuck and Christopher laughed as TJ looked up in confusion.
“What? The clones always maintain their own identity, especially when they’re sharing data with Genesis … Genesis Prime for lack of a better term, I guess,” TJ explained. Seeing the amused looks on the faces around him, TJ said, “Screw you,” and turned back to his tablet.
Christopher clapped TJ on the back and watched as Sondra taxied her jumper to the hangar doors. Chuck then lifted the ship several feet off the deck and carefully pulled up behind Sondra, mindful of the probe hanging off the port side. The two ships pulled out into space with Chuck taking the lead, following the course Peanut had laid out. Peanut planned to be well away from the colony when the probe activated in case something unexpectedly cataclysmic occurred.
The jumpers set out at a good pace toward a point several million miles away from the colony, and further out from the sun, in case the star’s gravity well affected local space and time outside their usual four dimensions. During the flight, Peanut and TJ worked on programming and simulations together with G3 as Christopher looked on. When they were several million miles from the colony, Chuck slowed, then stopped when the navigational display indicated that he’d arrived at Peanut’s designated spot. Sondra, five hundred miles away, waited for Peanut to either give the all clear, or until their slaved instruments showed that Chuck’s jumper was in trouble.
Peanut counted down from ten, and when he reached zero he released the probe. Chuck backed off about halfway between the probe and Sondra’s ship, then asked Peanut whether he was sure they were a safe distance away. When Chuck saw the unsure look on Peanut’s face he backed the jumper another two hundred fifty miles away and had Sondra put a thousand miles distance between their jumper and the probe.
Peanut and TJ muttered back and forth, then donned headsets. Peanut made contact with G3 and initiated the countdown to executing the interdimensional effect and the activation of strobe and radio beacons.
Both jumpers had high-resolution, high-speed cameras and every other instrument focused on the probe.
Peanut counted down from thirty to give the probe time to fully power up the hardware. At ten seconds, everyone unconsciously held their breath until he reached zero. A second later the strobe light disappeared and the four hundred-cycle tone that was being broadcast by the probe ceased transmitting.
Christopher looked over Chuck’s shoulder at the navigation display and saw that the probe was no longer registering on the screen. He then looked over to Peanut and TJ and whispered, “Holy shit!”
Chuck, asked, “How soon before it comes back?”
“If it comes back, it’s supposed to be gone for five minutes, three hundred seconds,” Peanut replied.
“But we have no idea how fast three hundred seconds will pass outside our universe,” TJ reminded them.
There was a minuscule flash out where the probe had disappeared and the beacon began registering on the ship’s sensors.
“How long was that?” Christopher asked.
“Almost exactly thirty seconds; stand by,” said Peanut. “G3, do you read me?”
“Affirmative, Peanut. Beginning a data dump.”
“Is the probe damaged at all? And how long does its clock say that you were rotated out of our universe?”
“Negative on the damage. The elapse timer shows that the probe was outside this universe for exactly three hundred seconds. However, synchronizing with the jumpers’ clocks and the time signal from the master clock at the colony, the time elapsed outside this universe approximately ten times faster than local time.”
Peanut and TJ were poring over the massive amount of sensor data, getting a preliminary overview of the readings. Christopher and Chuck let them work in silence, content that there had been no mishap.
“Sondra, Julius, stand by. The probe has returned early, but there is no sign of any other problems. I’m moving the jumper toward the probe slowly,” Chuck announced. “Chris, would you take the communications console and zoom the forward camera in on the probe, I want to see if anything is up with it, any visible changes or damage. Also relay our camera feed to Julius, just in case. Sondra, hold up until we survey the probe up close.”
Chuck eased toward the probe, strobes flashing every few seconds as Christopher observed the surface of the device.
“Orbit right, Chuck. I want to inspect the entire surface before we get too close.”
“Roger that,” said Chuck as he began a wide circle around the probe, keeping the lights focused on the probes exterior.
“Yes!” TJ exclaimed, obviously pleased with something on his datapad.
“What up, TJ?” Chuck asked, still swinging the jumper around the probe.
“It looks like time isn’t really linear outside this universe, and that the probe’s sped-up clock was the result of the bubble of physics the probe brought with it,” TJ answered absently.
“What he means is that we could very well control the rate of time experienced by probes and ships traveling through interdimensional space/time,” Peanut explained. “We might be able to travel outside our universe instantaneously and pop back into our space/time great distances away.”
“Are you sure?” Christopher asked.
“Damn right! Once we get this data back home we might have something that will show us how to travel through that dimension. That is, exactly what manner of propulsion is required to move us from one place to another, and how that space overlaps ours. Hey, Chuck. If the inspection looks good, grab the probe and let’s get it back to my lab so we can really go over it.”
“Roger that …”
“Chris, are you getting any radiation readings from the probe?” asked Chuck.
“You read my mind! Nothing out of the ordinary. How much power did that little jaunt outside take, Peanut?” Christopher asked.
“Hang on—about thirty percent.”
“And most of that was punching out of our universe and then returning, according to the data,” TJ added.
TJ and Peanut chatted back and forth as Christopher and Chuck left them alone. Once Christopher gave the all-clear, Chuck slowly moved toward the probe. When the jumper was close enough, Christopher used the tractor emitters to pull the probe into place alongside the jumper.
Checking with Peanut before he started back home, Chuck was relieved everything had gone so well. The tension was draining out of the crew as they headed for home, and in moments Sondra pulled alongside their jumper and the two ships flew back to the colony in formation. On the way back, Peanut drew Christopher into the conversation with TJ about the preliminary summary of the data the probe had detected.
While Chuck piloted the jumper home, the others were analyzing the data, becoming more and more excited as they dug into the findings.
Halfway home, G3 announced that the collected data had been transferred to the colony and that it was shutting down.
“Thank you, G3. That will be all,” Peanut said.
When the two jumpers arrived back in t
he hangar and the atmosphere was restored, about fifty people were awaiting the crew’s return. When Peanut emerged from the jumper a chorus of cheers broke out and the waiting throng crowded around, congratulating him. TJ, Chuck and Christopher hung back, letting Peanut have his day, happy to see their friend receive his due.
Several engineers had brought a floater and positioned it under the probe, which they detached and floated past the crowd to take back to the lab. When Chuck saw Sondra and Julius leaving their jumper, he moved through the crowd and gave them both a hug, thanking them for backing up his crew.
“That’s what we’re here for. We clean up everyone else’s mess. We were both glad when nothing happened that wasn’t supposed to happen,” Julius said, clapping Chuck on the back.
“Let’s get out of here, get cleaned up and grab something to eat, the eggheads will be at it for hours. Unless you two have something else to do?” asked Chuck.
“That sounds good, half an hour?” Sondra suggested.
“See you then,” promised Chuck.
After a while, Peanut started moving through the crowd toward his lab. Christopher stopped Peanut in his tracks and reminded him, “Hey, bud. Let’s grab our helmets and get out of these suits before we hit the lab.”
By the time they managed to make it to Peanut’s lab, they found that the staff had removed the exterior panels from the probe and were deep into an almost microscopic examination of its components. So far they had found nothing unusual.
When they saw the three enter the lab they paused while Peanut received the report on their inspection.
TJ began running tests on the probe’s onboard computer, linking Genesis with the hardware, while Christopher scraped some ceramic flakes from the exterior panes into Petri dishes for microscopic inspection. Peanut and his team continued to disassemble the probe’s hardware so every system could be inspected. It was important to see if any changes had occurred to the probe all the way down to the microscopic level to ensure that once they sent a manned ship into interdimensional space, there would be no surprises and the crew would be protected. The excitement in the room was palpable. Everyone understood where the implications of the experiment would likely lead.
Confrontation Page 73