by E. N. Abel
''Why?'' Marlene inquired. ''How fast were they?''
''Top speed was eight miles per hour.''
''Gosh. And we are running at a hundred!''
''ETA to target area eighty seconds,'' Tjurin threw in. ''Nice'n flat here. Pilot, go to two hundred meters. I want a better overview.''
''Roger.''
Again the forward camera of the sledge looked into the sky, then levelled out high above the plain.
''Over there,'' Walter announced. ''Fifty seconds to go. Guess we can stomp on the brake a bit.''
The rushing landscape on the main screen slowed down and changed to walking speed. The target area was dead center now, getting larger by the second.
''Can you see the rock already?'' Mike asked.
''No,'' Tjurin replied. Then, after a moment. ''Yes. Over there, at eleven o'clock. Change course.''
''Roger.''
''Damn, what's that?'' the Russian suddenly exclaimed.
''It's kind-of glowing!'' Walter's voice sounded unbelieving. ''Looks like it's glowing from the inside!''
''NAV,'' Mike ordered, ''align camera and zoom in!''
Marlene turned to her control board and accessed the sledge's cams. The front picture moved to the center of the bridge's main screen and doubled in size. Then a zoom process started, diving down to the target point. At maximum magnification a yellowish glowing spot became visible. Suddenly it seemed to bloom ...
''What the ...'' Mike's exclamation was overruled by a shrill sound coming over the comm link.
''Radiation alert!'' Tjurin yelled. ''Heave to!''
Walter's reaction came quick as thought. With Tjurin's first word he threw the sledge in a tight right-turn, accelerating sharply, steering it away from the radiation source. After a few seconds the alert broke off.
''Damn, we caught nearly ten rads!'' Tjurin cursed.
''In five seconds! Must be a glowing hell down there,'' Walter shouted. ''Good that you demanded to use the Russkie suits. Now what?''
''Captain speaking!'' Mike stepped in. ''Commander, fly a circle around the area and measure the safe distance of the radiation.''
''OK. But I estimate we've to stay at least one thousand meters away.''
''Play it safe, but get all data available.''
''Sure, Captain. Pilot, what sensors do we have on board? Never mind, switch them all on.''
''Roger.''
''Medic,'' Mike called out.
''Captain?''
''You're listening in?''
''Sure.''
''And?''
''They might have some radiation poisoning.''
''Can you help?''
''If it stays at that level, no sweat.'' Said a medic who had seen it all.
''You heard the lady, boys. Play it safe now.''
''Yes, Captain,'' came Tjurin's voice from the distant vehicle. ''Distance to target one thousand. Commencing full circle turn in one-forty.''
Chapter 119
Moon
Wednesday, 04.01.2017
Freshly showered and health-checked the two adventurers sat in the galley and delivered their report. Mike, Simone, Carl, Alex and Margaret were listening intensely. But however precise the observations were, they contained no new information beyond what had been seen on the bridge's screen.
After the two finished, Margaret immediately had a question: ''Can you specify the reading of your dosimeter? On the comm channel you spoke of ten rad.''
''Yes,'' Tjurin replied, ''that's what it showed.''
''You know,'' Margaret returned, ''That's really weird. Because my instruments don't show any activity on you.''
Walter gawked: ''No radioactivity?''
''Not even a lousy milli-rem.'' This statement caused general astonishment.
''But you heard the alarm,'' Walter protested. ''And we have it recorded! You saw the measured data yourself.'' He pointed to the flat-screen on the wall. ''I can even call it up now.''
''I know,'' Margaret confirmed, ''but as a matter of fact: you did not suffer exposure to any kind of nuclear radiation.'' Perplexed silence prevailed.
''In case no-one else noticed,'' Simone suddenly threw in, ''the collected data contains another irregularity.'' That drew the attendees' attention to her.
Mike was in no mood for quiz games: ''Could you specify?''
''Sure. How about matter with an atomic weight way over three hundred.''
''Three hundred? That would be ... super-heavy nuclei,'' Alex threw in. ''They would be very unstable. Fall apart in microseconds.''
''Our data suggests otherwise. The spectrometric analysis shows that our rock there contains stable transuranic elements. With an atomic weight of even over five hundred in some cases.''
''Hypermatter?'' Alex was at a loss. ''Here, on the Moon?''
''That's impossible.'' Dimitri shook his head. ''Matter with such nuclei weight can't be a natural phenomenon! And I know of nobody on Earth who can create it.''
''Exactly,'' Simone agreed. ''And that's what I would call an irregularity.'' Silence followed. Everybody thought it, nobody spoke it: an alien artifact? On Earth's moon?
Margaret finally broke the quiet: ''What does all this mean?''
The others shook their heads, and Mike summarized it for them all: ''I haven't the slightest clue. Nobody has any use for such stuff.''
''I do.'' To everyone's surprise Carl spoke up. ''I could turn it into an exceptionally massive warhead, with an explosive yield far beyond everything you can imagine. Like that Naqadah stuff in the movie Stargate - one bomb to flatten a whole continent.''
''What a sick thought,'' Simone grumbled. ''So what do we do?''
''Stay away.'' Mike was determined about that. ''We don't have the equipment to research the phenomenon and it seems very dangerous. So we stay away.''
''Sure?''
''Yes. Captain's orders. And here is another one: we don't mention the rock to anyone else.''
''Not even NASA?''
''Especially not NASA. You want them to come up and snoop around?''
''No.''
''Me neither.''
''We need Westinghouse's promise to keep his trap shut,'' Alex reminded.
''Right.'' Mike nodded to Tjurin, got a short nod back. Dimitri would take care of that.
The Captain had the last word: ''Case closed.''
Over the open intercom system the crew had been listening in. What they couldn't see was a quiet exchange of glances between the meeting's attendees.
Chapter 120
Moon
Wednesday, 04.01.2017
Two hours later another meeting of the 'folder-team' took place in the ship's conference center - the small galley.
''I've got to admit: your capability to penetrate this forsaken matter is more than impressive.'' Mike leaned back, looking thoughtfully at the multitude of Chan's notes spread wildly over the table. ''So you are positive: your derivation is valid.''
''Yes, Captain.'' She sounded a bit indignant.
''Yes, Mike.''
''Yes, Mike.'' She sighed. ''You have been stressing this question over and over. I personally have no doubts at all - even considering the fact that I will also be on board during those jumps.''
''So you decided.''
''Whether the proof is correct or whether to stay with you?''
''The latter.''
''Yes. I decided. I will stay with you. Or, more precisely, with Alex.''
''Wow.'' Mike nodded approvingly. Turning to his chief engineer he asked: ''How did you convince her?''
''With my animalistic attraction - and my magic night caps.'' That earned him a sharp punch against his arm.
Mike laughed. ''Congrats.''
''Can we return to the matter at hand ... ?'' Alex changed track.
''Sure.'' Mike pointed to the top note. ''On the assumption that your girlfriend's logic is unbreakable, I've already asked our IT guys to program that patch. It's nearly done.''
''So we are ready?'' Chan made big eyes.
Mike passed the question on: ''Alex?''
''The warper hardware is assembled and tested - as far as we could. And because we have plenty of antimatter now, I took the liberty to run a warm-test during the last nightshift.'' Registering Mike's perked eyebrow, he quickly added: ''Just heating it up a bit, testing the flux control, stuff like that.'' MacMillan's perked eyebrow mutated to a frown. ''No worry, I stayed way under the threshold. Promise.'' He sounded clearly defensive now. ''Didn't even push it up to eighty percent.''
''Eighty percent.''
Chan saw her Alex melting under Mike's scrutinizing stare and decided to jump to her lover's rescue. A bit aggressively she asked: ''What's wrong with that? As far as I can see, no harm was done.''
Mike pointed to the top note sheet. Following his hint, Chan took the paper and read over it quickly. ''So what? This is just the describing function of the time flux during a folding process ...'' She stopped in her tracks, looked closer, then gaped at MacMillan. Mike just nodded wordlessly towards the wall clock. Chan understood first: ''Oh my!'' She sounded shocked.
''What?'' Alex found himself lost now. ''What's wrong with the clock?''
''Alex,'' Chan said, ''we forgot to analyse the warpers effect on the time line ...''
''What do you mean?''
Chan pointed at the note sheet: ''See that formula there? It basically says that every attempt to fold space automatically affects the flow of time, too.'' She looked up. ''We need to check our clocks against an external time server!''
''You really think ...''
Mike cut him short, tipped his communicator ''Captain to Bridge!''
''XO.'' Snider was on watch.
''Ralf, check our board chronometer against the NASA timeserver. Read-only, please!''
''Yes, Captain. One moment ... oh fuck!''
''What?'' Chan, Alex and Mike shouted it at the same instance.
''We have a difference of twelve seconds ...''
''Backward or forward?''
''Sorry, back. I mean, we are back twelve seconds.''
''Synchronise all our on-board chronometers to the NASA time server.''
''Yes, Mike.'' Some clicking was heard, then: ''OK, time sync complete. How come ...''
''We don't know.''
''But you are suspecting ...'' Ralf was somewhat insistent.
''More like guessing: it may have to do with that fucking rock!''
''Damn.''
''Roger that. Over and out.''
''Over and out.''
Chan stared at Mike, eyes wide. She took a breath to contradict him, then caught herself. You could see her thoughts rushing.
Alex looked at his comrade, searching for the permission to tell her about the spy, got a nod.
''Darling,'' he began, to have his girl's attention at once. ''Darling,'' he started again, ''we have a foreign agent on board. Someone is sending reports back to Earth.''
''The encrypted messages I cracked.''
''Yes.''
''I understand.''
''Now back to the folder tests,'' Mike reminded them. Turning to Alex, he asked: ''You understand now?''
''Did you know?'' Alex asked, ''I mean, did you really know that a time deformation would happen?''
''Did I know - no. Suspect - yes.''
''Wow.''
Mike went on: ''As to your little tests ...''
''No more tests. I promise.''
''Wrong.''
That return caught Rosskov by surprise: ''Sorry?''
Chan picked up the answer: ''Alex, now it's too late to stop. The time lag has been noticed - at least by the bridge crew. So you need to run the test again. Every two or so days. Very discreetly and unnoticed from the rest of us.''
It took the Russian a moment to understand: ''Someone will notice again...'' Then he smiled: ''Another bait. That rock will get more and more attractive. I understand.''
''And,'' Chan added, ''because the spy doesn't know the real cause of the time lag, he can't simply dismiss the rock as a possible fake anymore.''
''OK, I will run the test sporadically until we have the spy.''
''Good.'' Mike ended the conversation. ''Damn, I need a beer.'' He got up and walked towards the fridge. ''Anybody else?'' Both his friends nodded.
After a long pull Mike set the bottle down, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ''God, that was great.''
Chan sipped on hers. ''What's the next step?''
''Towards our original plans?''
''Yes.''
''Well,'' Mike said, ''Thought we wait 'till we get the second ship - the one NASA is building for us. Then we initiate the first real test jump.''
Chan was curious: ''How far do you want to go?''
''I made an estimation once, concerning the minimum distance you can travel through a space fold. Or maybe better put this way: the minimum area of space you can fold.''
''And?''
''Came up with about one AU.''
''One astronomical unit?'' Chan wondered. ''Distance Earth to Sun?''
''Yes. One hundred fifty million kilometers. But it's a three-dimensional thing, not a distance.''
''How did you figure that one out?''
''By a SWAG.'' Mike lifted the bottle, toasted to some unknown god.
''A ... what?'' Chan looked confused.
''A swag,'' Alex assisted. ''Military lingo: a scientifically based wild assed guess.''
''Oh you!''
That earned Mike a punch, too. He absorbed it easily and smiled into his bottle. Chan had arrived at home. Finally.
''So how do you want to go about it?''
''We get the second boat, fly her through normal space to a position in one AU distance and make our other ship jump after her.''
''One hundred fifty million kilometers ... isn't that too far for our remote controls?''
''We don't think so. Doesn't matter anyway; we won't need remote control. I'll fly the fucking nut shell myself.''
''You are still on that trip?'' Chan was clearly upset. ''Are you out of your mind?''
''Hey, some respect for your elected Captain, please!''
''Are you out of your mind, SIR?''
''See, didn't hurt, did it?''
Alex laughed, but Chan ignored the tease, got very serious. ''Mike, that stunt is unbelievably dangerous. You know it, I know it. We don't have the slightest idea how the folding process affects a living being - you yourself pointed that out to me. The first jump should be unmanned.''
''Tell you what. Let's get the show set up first, then we debate the first-flight crew. OK?''
''Very well.'' Chan already had an idea what that debate would look like. But she also had a plan of her own. ''Talking of the new ship: where do you want to get the crew from?'' she switched track elegantly.
''There are still about forty people from our original construction team on Earth, all free or set free again by now. We're currently contacting them with the offer to join up, they have earned the right to be asked first.''
Again that sense of loyalty, Chan thought.
''If enough of them are willing, then that's it. If not, we'll pop the offer to CERN, ESA, NASA and Roskosmos. We'll mix them in and then split into two groups of twenty. So there is some experienced personnel on each ship.''
''With Tjurin as Commander ...''
''No-one better here.''
Chan and Alex nodded agreement.
''He'll get his pick of his people, too.''
That caused a quick exchange of glances between the two.
''No worries,'' Mike laughed. ''I will accept his selections at face value, but I trust he'll choose wisely.''
Chan wasn't satisfied yet: ''Do you have any idea when the new ship will be ready?''
''Dr Coleman called yesterday. Announced flight-ready status in three days.'' Mike turned to Alex: ''You have the antigravs for them?''
''Two complete sets. Tested and gift-wrapped.''
''Fantastic. Now we just ...''
''... ha
ve to wait.'' Chan concluded.
Suddenly the galley's door was ripped open. All three looked up in astonishment: Tjurin rushed in, walked rapidly over to their table.
''Hi there,'' he greeted informally. ''I just caught a whisper from the XO that the forsaken rock has caused a time shift.'' He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. ''Captain, I want to take a second look.''
''Negative, One-Oh,'' Mike waved off, ''you seem to have forgotten that the fucking stone makes Fukushima look like a fucking sparkler.''
''I remember, boss. I was there.''
''Right. So you should know better.''
''I do. That's why I want to go and look again.''
''Alright, Dimitri,'' Mike sighed, ''pull over a chair, have a beer and convince me.''
Tjurin retrieved a cold bottle from the fridge, sat and started his argument: ''Let's imagine something ...''
''You serious?'' Mike asked sceptically.
''Absolutely.''
''A nuclear reactor from an alien spacecraft. On our moon.''
''Yes.''
''Lying here for aeons.''
''Yes.''
''Dimitri, you've had a few too many ...''
''C'mon Mike, what if I'm right?''
''You're fucking nuts!'' MacMillan grumbled.
''Big time,'' Alex agreed.
Tjurin just laughed. ''So what?''
Mike considered the discussion a few moments. ''Alright, damn, choose one fellow idiot and go. But damn you if you fuck up.''
''One moment!'' Chan suddenly interrupted. ''You'll let Dimitri fly over to that weird rock just to check the assumption if it really is the reactor of an alien spaceship that stranded here?''
''Aeons ago. Yes. That about covers it,'' Mike agreed.
''You are all out of your minds!'' She shook her head. ''That thing is radioactive as hell! Do you really want to get contaminated that fast?''
Tjurin laughed again.
''You think that's funny?'' Chan raged.
''No. But I can tell you what is: we didn't catch one single ray flying over it. And our on-board dosimeters can't detect any radioactivity from here - although that stone is supposed to be radioactive as hell and just ten kilometers away.''
That left Chan speechless.
''When do you want to go?'' Mike inquired.
Tjurin consulted his watch. ''In sixty minutes? I would take Walter again.''