by Bob Blanton
Prisha hit the ceiling, flipped, and bounced back to the floor. “No way!”
“Yes, way!”
“How?!”
“You have a tell,” Catie whispered.
“Nah uh!”
Catie flicked her eyes back and forth like Prisha did then tilted her head, mimicking the move Prisha had made that gave away her intended direction.
“Ohhhh!” Prisha whispered as she mentally reviewed her actions.
“Hey, that didn’t count!” Cadet Jamison shouted.
“Yes it did,” Lieutenant Fiore said. “A touch of any kind is a tag, and that’s the first one ever against one of these two.”
Prisha stuck her tongue out at Catie as she moved back into position. She was clearly not happy about being tagged.
“So, any touch?” the cadet asked.
“If you can land one, I’ll buy you dinner all week,” Lieutenant Fiore said.
“I won’t collect,” Catie said. “I’ve had a previous round with these two, they’re my Academy Family.”
“I don’t care if they’re your sisters, I’ll pay. I’ll be able to win a few bets on that. Do you mind sharing how did you do it?”
“It’s a secret,” Catie said.
“She let her!” Cadet Jamison yelled.
“No I didn’t,” Prisha yelled back. “And I’ll take him!”
“How did you do it?” Miranda asked in a whisper.
“She had a tell.”
“Had?”
“She won’t have it anymore,” Catie said. “Let’s watch her leave big mouth in the dust.”
Jamison set up in front of Prisha. She danced twice then shot by him so fast he never even made a try for her.
“I guess I won’t have to suffer your company at dinner,” Lieutenant Fiore said. “Next!”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Dr. McDowell,” Catie knocked at his lab door. She was ostensibly on duty in the Delphi Station control room but had arranged with Captain Clark to have someone cover for her.
“Oh hi, Catie, are you ready for our experiments?” Dr. McDowell asked, hardly giving Catie a second glance.
Catie was amazed at how oblivious Dr. McDowell could be. It was like a superpower. He had seen her both as Keala and Alex, and had yet to notice anything different. He’d made one comment about her hair, that was it. Captain Oblivious.
“Yes, I am. I’ve got eight hours,” Catie replied.
“Good, the jump ships are in place; they’ve got a nice small asteroid out there that we can use, so everything is set.”
“I assume you’ve already confirmed that we can open a wormhole.”
“Yes, sent a small probe through. It made it to the other side and we closed the wormhole. The ships stayed on this side.”
“Oh, that’s good. I guess we could have dealt with them jumping through, but it’s better this way.”
“Of course they didn’t jump through,” Dr. McDowell scoffed. “They were outside the radius of the wormhole.”
“Sorry,” Catie said. “I see that for today, we’re going to see how close to the asteroid the ships can be and still open up a wormhole. How big did you say it was?”
“I didn’t, but it masses the same as that Dutchman of yours when it’s fully loaded.”
“Perfect. Are we ready?”
“As soon as you sit down and start reviewing the readings.”
“Of course.” Catie sat at the second control console and set the display up the way she liked it. She was glad that Dr. McDowell liked to have her next to him when he conducted the big experiments. He called her his lucky charm, but she suspected that he was afraid that he’d miss something and was used to her being there to point it out.
“I’m ready,” Catie announced. “The asteroid’s position is matched to the jump ships at one kilometer. Probe is ready.”
“I’ll open the wormhole on three,” Dr. McDowell said. “One . . . two . . . three, engage.”
“I’ve got a wormhole, probe went through. Sending back a positive signature.”
“Okay, closing the wormhole.”
“Wait! Let’s see if we can bring the probe back.”
“Good idea, do you have control over it?”
“Sure, here it comes, . . . and there it is.”
“Excellent, closing the wormhole. Now next we want to see what happens if the asteroid is moving relative to the jump ships. Who’s going to give it a push?”
“Can’t we just have the jump ships moving?”
“Oh, that would be easier, all velocity is relative, so sure. Do you want to do the honors?”
“Hmm, . . . I’ll have them move at one meter per second relative to the asteroid; it’s one thousand kilometers from them. They are at the correct speed, and now they’re in lockstep with each other.”
“Okay, on three, one . . . two . . . three, engage. Wormhole didn’t open.”
“Why?”
“Local gravity is changing too fast to compensate I suspect. I’ll know more when I review all the data,” Dr. McDowell said.
“Okay, let’s try ten thousand kilometers.”
“Tell me when you’re ready.”
“Just five minutes,” Catie said. . . . “Okay, we’re ready. One meter per second from ten thousand kilometers.”
On three, one . . . two . . . three, engage. No wormhole.”
“Twenty thousand or one hundred thousand?” Catie asked.
“One hundred, we want to find the other side then iterate back to determine the exact distance,” Dr. McDowell said.
“That’ll take twenty minutes,” Catie said. “Would you like some coffee?”
“That would be nice.”
Catie went down the hall to the small café and got them each a cup of coffee. By the time she got back the ships were almost in place. Once the ships were at the right distance from the asteroid, Catie took another minute to get their speed back down to one meter per second, then she nodded to Dr. McDowell.
“One more time, on three. One . . . two . . . three, engage. No wormhole.”
“Boo, one million?”
“Yes.”
“That will be an hour. What should we do while we wait?”
Dr. McDowell was already at one of his display boards working on an equation. Catie shook her head and went back to her console. She thought she might as well work on her paper for her fusion reactor class.
Catie’s Comm pinged when the jump ships were at the correct range. “Ready!”
“Oh, good,” Dr. McDowell said. Catie was surprised he was attentive enough to have heard her, he must be really interested in these experiments.
It took her another minute to get the ships stabilized for opening a wormhole. “They’re ready.”
“One more time, on three. One . . . two . . . three, engage. We have a wormhole.”
“Whew,” Catie gasped. “So do we want to back off to five hundred thousand?”
“No, let’s go back the way we came up, subtracting incrementing powers of ten.”
“So, back off ten thousand?”
“Yes.”
“Just a minute and I’ll have them in place. . . . ready.”
“Once again on three. One . . . two . . . three, engage. We have a wormhole.”
“Probe’s through,” Catie announced. “Hit the target again. . . . And it’s back. Down one hundred thousand?”
It took another hour before they iterated to 817 thousand kilometers as the limiting distance. Then another two hours to determine that that distance was related to the square of the velocity differential.
“Now let’s see if the ships can hold the wormhole open while the asteroid continues to approach it. Do we give it a nudge this time?” Dr. McDowell asked.
“I don’t see why,” Catie said. “Everything is in motion, so the ships are still the easiest things to move.”
“Of course. But this time if the asteroid goes through, we can’t bring it back.”
“We can figure out other
experiments, or we can jump the ships through the wormhole and then send it back.”
“Oh, yes. Just reverse the process. These jump ships are a wonderful invention if I do say so myself,” Dr. McDowell said. Catie smiled at the backhanded praise.
Since everything was already in place, it only took a moment to resync the ships and the asteroid.
“Well, we’re ready; do we want to try and accelerate before the jump?”
“Let’s.”
“I’ll go to one-G of acceleration, once the wormhole is open. We’re ready.”
“On three. One . . . two . . . three, engage. We have a wormhole.”
“Probe says the other side is clear. Accelerating!”
“Wormhole is holding steady.”
“We’re going to have to sit here for an hour while the ships catch up with the asteroid,” Catie said.
“Yes, but we want to watch the systems and all the sensors, so no running off to work on equations.”
“Did I ever tell you we almost hit an asteroid once?” Catie asked.
“No, when was this?”
“Back when we were going to Artemis the first time. We came through the wormhole and the proximity alarm started blaring. Uncle Blake had the plasma cannons firing within seconds and they obliterated it. That’s why we send a probe through when the wormhole is still small.”
“Clever,” Dr. McDowell said. “It must have been a small asteroid.”
“Yes it was. The sensor log showed that it was only about one meter in diameter.”
“Lucky.”
“Yes. It makes me wonder what would happen if two ships tried to open a wormhole in the same system at the same time.”
“Umm, that might not be a good thing.”
“My thinking exactly. Of course, just opening a small one and sending the probe through first will help minimize the odds, but what if the other ship comes in a few seconds later.”
“We definitely should look into that. Not too much risk since there are only three ships with jump drives, plus these jump ships.”
“Since the jump ships can each open their own wormhole, we should be able to run some experiments,” Catie said.
“Yes, let me think about it.”
. . . “And there it goes,” Catie said as the asteroid moved through the wormhole.
“Everything looks steady,” Dr. McDowell said. “Closing the wormhole.”
“Let’s go to lunch.”
◆ ◆ ◆
After lunch, Catie moved the jump ships to the system with the asteroid. Since each of them was capable of making a jump on its own, she moved them one at a time to simplify the coordination effort.
“Okay, they’re in the other system,” Catie said. “You wanted to open a wormhole with one, then try and open another wormhole with the other one. To different systems, I assume?”
“Correct,” Dr. McDowell said.
“I’ll manage the Beta ship; you manage the Alpha ship.”
“Agreed, let me open the first wormhole. I’ll open it to system D-3, you open yours to system F-4 when I tell you.”
“Ready,” Catie said.
“Opening wormhole . . . it’s open. Now open yours.”
“Opening it now.”
“Mine collapsed.”
“No wormhole, it looked like it was forming, then it didn’t,” Catie said. “The power dropped to the hold level, but there wasn’t a wormhole.”
“Let’s try that again; this time force your power level to stay up.”
“Okay, ready.”
“Opening wormhole . . . it’s open. Now open yours.”
“Opening.”
“Mine has collapsed.”
“Mine did that jumpy thing, then it opened,” Catie said.
“Interesting. Jumpy thing, huh?”
“You know, where the power spikes.”
“Okay, I’ll have to spend some time studying the data. Move your ship to D-3 and I’ll put mine in F-4. We’ll both try to open a wormhole to C-7.” Dr. McDowell sighed as he brought up the control panel so he could fly the ship.
“Doctor, I can move your ship for you if you wish,” ADI said.
“Oh, thank you. I hate flying the infernal things,” Dr. McDowell said.
“Would you like me to operate it while you study the sensors?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Mine is ready,” Catie said.
“Alpha is ready also,” ADI added.
“ADI, open your wormhole first.”
“Opening . . . wormhole established.”
“Now Catie.”
“Opening, wormhole established, but there was a power spike.”
“The Alpha wormhole is now connected to D-3,” ADI reported.
“Oh, mine is connected to F-4,” Catie said. “Does that mean they merged?”
“It appears so,” Dr. McDowell said.
“Should we send a probe through?” Catie asked.
“Yes, send one, then send it back.”
“Sending,” ADI said. “Probe transit was successful. . . . I’m now returning the probe, . . . Return successful.”
“That opens up some interesting possibilities,” Dr. McDowell said.
“So, do you think the first ones merged and that’s why they collapsed?” Catie asked.
“Possibly. If they merged, then they would no longer be connected to the jump drive, so it makes sense that they would collapse.”
“Let’s see what happens if we open one using a jump drive on each end,” Catie suggested. “Then I have to head back, I’m expected in a class.”
“What class do you have to take?” Dr. McDowell asked. He sounded like he thought she was just trying to duck out of working for the rest of the day.
“It’s on the station’s environmental systems. What a waste of time, but it’ll look bad if I don’t attend,” Catie said. “ADI, you can stay and help Doctor McDowell, can’t you?”
“It will be my pleasure.”
“Thank you,” Dr. McDowell said. “I have a whole list of experiments to do to determine the max size and mass. They’re going to be boring, which is probably why you’re not skipping that class.”
“Believe me, they will not be as boring as the class.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Catie and her friends stayed over an extra day on Delphi station, while the rest of the class headed back on Saturday morning.
“I’ll have the huevos rancheros,” Catie said, handing her menu to the server. They were meeting for breakfast at Betty’s Diner since none of them wanted to cook.
“So, we’re really staying an extra day because Braxton’s class is coming back from the asteroid belt, right?” Yvette asked Catie, giving her a knowing smile.
“That might have something to do with it.”
“Oh, be honest. You’re hoping he’ll have dinner with you.”
“Not hoping.”
“So you already have a date?” Miranda asked.
“Yes. They’re stopping here at Delphi Station so they can do that environmental class we just did.”
“Oh, too bad for him,” Yvette said. “But I’m sure having dinner with you will compensate for it.”
“So you found the class boring as well?” Catie asked.
“Not boring, gross,” Yvette said. “Merde this, merde that.”
Miranda was laughing, “How did you survive Guatemala if you’re so squeamish?”
“It was très difficile, but it was only mud.”’
“So you won’t be joining the Marines?” Miranda asked.
“Non, too much dirt,” Yvette said. “Although they are beaux garçons, so I might date one.”
“You’re too much. But Alex, when does he arrive, and do we need to get lost?” Miranda asked.
“They arrive at 1400. We’re just meeting for dinner at 1800, so you don’t have to get lost.”
“What about after dinner?” Yvette asked.
“Expect me back at the cabin around 2300, alone.”<
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◆ ◆ ◆
“Alex, nice dress,” Miranda said as she saw Catie exit her room wearing an evergreen party dress. It hit just above her knees, a snug fit that flared from the waist.
“Oh, hi, Miranda, I didn’t know you were still here.”
“I wasn’t letting you go out without getting to see what you would decide to wear.”
“Oh là là,” Yvette said as she came out of her room. “I thought your red dress was the only pretty one you owned.”
“Hey, I have a few dresses,” Catie said. She didn’t want to let them know that she hadn’t packed this dress. She’d just gotten it from the closet in her room.
“Not that I’ve seen,” Yvette continued. “You’ll have to let me borrow that one, it looks very nice.”
“Sure, now I have to go or I’ll be late,” Catie said, making a note to take the dress back to Delphi City with her.
“It’s good to keep a man waiting,” Yvette said. “You must let them know you’re worth it.”
“Go ahead, Alex, I’ll keep this French Poodle at bay while you escape,” Miranda said as she moved to block Yvette.
“Bye,” Catie said over her shoulder.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hello, Braxton, I hope you haven’t been waiting too long,” Catie said as she met Braxton Graham at the Four Seasons restaurant.
“I’ve only been here a couple of minutes,” Braxton said. He’d been seated in the reception area waiting for Catie. He stood up when she walked in. “You look nice, a lot nicer than in that Academy uniform.”
“Thank you.”
He walked over and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. Then he took her hand and led her to the receptionist. “Reservations for MacGregor.”
The receptionist had a server show them to their table. The server seated them and handed them their menus. “Would you like something to drink?”
“I’ll have a glass of water now,” Catie said.
“Me too, and a glass of Jack Daniels,” Braxton said.
◆ ◆ ◆
“How did your project go?” Catie asked once the waiter had brought their drinks.
“Great, we got the smelter installed and running. It is really amazing.”
“How does it work?”