by Ken Lozito
Dr. Volker looked at him, unconvinced. “I think you and I can both agree that Colonel Quinn isn’t an alarmist.”
“He isn’t, but if an attack were imminent, we’d be at Condition One. Going to Condition Two increases our state of readiness, and with all the monitoring stations we’ve deployed, we would’ve been alerted much sooner. My guess is that we’ve encountered something unexpected. Colonel Quinn will share more with us as he deems necessary. I realize this might be new to someone like you, but I trust Colonel Quinn. There’s a reason he’s in command of this ship. We’re lucky to have him.”
“Thank you, Captain. I appreciate you clarifying this for me,” Dr. Volker said and looked away for a moment. “And I agree with you about the colonel.”
“Diagnostic on forward and aft sensor array is normal. We have no problems with our equipment, Colonel,” Lieutenant Russo said.
“Very well, Lieutenant,” Sean replied. “Ops, prepare a comms drone that contains the data collected by our sensors. Give it Priority Bravo.”
“Yes, Colonel, preparing comms drone to be sent on your orders,” Lieutenant Katherine Burrows replied.
“Tactical, put our relative position on screen in the star system. I want the probable paths of the gravitational waves on there as well,” Sean said.
The main holodisplay on the bridge became active with the indicators Sean had asked for.
The gravity wave had been detected coming from further within the star system, but Sean knew that could be misleading. “Tactical, bring up the status of our deep-space monitoring stations. I want to know if they’re checking in and whether they’ve detected the anomaly.”
“Colonel, be advised that because we’re requesting an update that is out of band, the monitoring stations’ status updates will take at least seventy minutes to retrieve from COMCENT at New Earth,” Lieutenant Russo said.
“Very well, Lieutenant. Update the plot on the screen as the new data arrives,” Sean said.
He leaned back in his chair, considering, and then brought up the sensor data on his personal holoscreen and read through it. There’d been nothing detected with enough mass to generate those types of waves near the star system, so what could it be? He glanced at the other people on the bridge for a moment. “I’m open to ideas or theories on what could’ve caused this. Anyone?”
Lieutenant Russo turned toward him. “We don’t have enough information. Even Gabriel indicates that there is insufficient data available.”
Sean nodded, knowing she was right, and pressed his lips together. They only had enough information to operate the Vigilant in the New Earth star system, so he opened the comlink to someone who might be able to help.
Dr. Volker answered, and his brows rose in surprise. “Colonel, I didn’t expect to hear from you.”
“I didn’t expect to be calling you either, but we need some help. Do you have someone on your team who could give us some guidance on astronomical phenomena?” Sean asked.
“Oh, I see. Is this related to the announcement a few minutes ago?” Dr. Volker asked.
“Yes, it is. I need someone with extensive experience with astrophysics. Can you spare one of your people to come to the bridge and have a look at what we’ve detected? There’ll be a certain amount of discretion expected,” Sean said.
He almost didn’t like having to ask for help because it implied that they weren’t prepared for everything they would need to deal with out there, but he had little choice, and an outside opinion could shed some light on the problem. He and Lieutenant Russo could come up with theories, but one of the drivers for having the scientists aboard was so they could serve as an intelligence resource. However, this situation did highlight some shortcomings with the Vigilant’s computer systems. The CDF might need to rethink some of the resources that were made available if their warships were required to serve double duty as science vessels.
“I have someone who might be able to help you. Dr. Evans is absolutely brilliant. I’ll send her up right away.”
Sean thanked him and closed the comlink.
Lieutenant Russo arched an eyebrow.
Sean shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”
“If you say so, Colonel.”
For the next fifteen minutes, they waited to see if Gabriel would be able to highlight anything new from the data feeds. The automated monitoring stations they had throughout the star system all checked in with COMCENT at regular intervals back on New Earth. New data was then distributed to the CDF fleet and other salvage ships working throughout the system. These updates only occurred once a day, and since they weren’t due for an update for another fifteen hours, he wasn’t inclined to wait.
The door to the bridge opened, and Sean heard a woman give her name to the soldier at the door. Dr. Evans had arrived, causing Sean to glance over. As the young woman entered, her silky black hair seemed to follow her in a wave. She looked over at Sean, and the edges of her full lips lifted in a knowing smile that conveyed to him in no uncertain terms that she was going to enjoy this meeting.
“Dr. Oriana Evans from the Apollo Mission science team,” the soldier stationed at the door said, and Sean gestured for her to be allowed onto the bridge.
Sean drew in a breath, trying to forget that the last time they’d met, she’d stormed off. He might have been a smidge abrasive when she’d voiced her frustrations with the security protocols required for the star probes’ AI. Her beautiful dark eyes locked onto his and seemed to stand out amongst a sea of gray. He tried not to let his eyes linger on hers, but he just couldn’t help himself. She was a beautiful woman.
Sean watched as Oriana—Dr. Evans—gave a few friendly nods to the CDF crew she passed on her way to the Command Center. When she arrived, she politely waited for him to speak first.
“Thank you for coming to the bridge, Dr. Evans,” Sean said.
Oriana tilted her head to the side for a moment, and Sean tried to ignore the beautiful lines of her neck. “I could hardly turn down such a compelling invitation. Dr. Volker said you needed help with the analysis of some sensor data.”
“We do, but I thought your expertise was with the star probes’ operating systems,” Sean said.
Oriana’s full lips lifted into a smile that caused a blaze of warmth to spread across his chest. He refused to allow it to travel any further.
“I’m multitalented, Colonel Quinn, and one of my specialties is in astrophysics,” Oriana said.
Sean stood up and invited her over to the main holoscreen. “Okay, you’re here, and I’m not going to question it any further. This is the data we have from our sensors. They indicate a substantial gravitational wave that seemed to appear out of nowhere. We’ve requested updates from our monitoring stations, most of which we’ll get from COMCENT, but the stations closer to us should relay their data in about fifteen minutes. What we’re trying to understand is what could’ve caused these gravitational waves and how they suddenly disappeared. You can see here that they abruptly stopped at this time stamp.”
Oriana quickly read through the data on the screen and then glanced at the star system plot that was shown on the main holoscreen. “Is there any chance there was equipment failure? Faulty sensors? Anything like that?”
Sean shook his head. “That was the first thing we checked for. All diagnostics came back normal.”
Oriana nodded. “A good call to get the updated data from the monitoring stations. That should help us validate the data you’ve got here, but we should be able to figure out what caused it just by the trajectory of the wave.”
“Our data on the ship is limited, and judging by the intensity of the wave, whatever caused it would need to be relatively close by, like within a few light-years. There isn’t anything,” Sean said.
“May I?” Oriana asked and gestured with her slender arm toward the main holoscreen.
“Go ahead.”
A small data window appeared, and Sean watched as Oriana connected to the data repositories for the Apollo Missi
on. He almost kicked himself for not thinking of doing that on his own. She was more than a pretty face.
“Your instincts are correct. Something that can cause waves like this would be on the level of a neutron star or a binary black hole…” Oriana frowned and looked at him. “Are you sure the equipment is working? Because these calculations don’t make any sense.”
“As I said before, our equipment checks out fine.”
Oriana blew out a breath and nodded. “Well, we can rule out a neutron star because that would be something we would have detected or even seen. We could be measuring the effects of a rogue black hole that’s passing by us, but it would have to be more than one. A binary black hole system could send out gravitational waves like this, but we’d also be seeing—no, not seeing—detecting the effects of something that close to our star system. Could you give me a few minutes to run a couple of simulations?” Oriana asked.
“That’s fine, but you don’t have to work at the main holoscreen. You can take the aux workstation near Lieutenant Russo at Tactical,” Sean said.
Oriana’s brows drew together in confusion, and Lieutenant Russo waved. Sean shook his head, inwardly reminding himself that Oriana had never been on the bridge of a warship before and wouldn’t know where any of the workstations were. “There,” he said, gesturing toward Lieutenant Russo.
“I think I can find it,” she said with a hint of amusement in her voice.
Sean returned to the commander’s chair and blew out a shallow breath. He glanced around the bridge and noticed that more than a few people—particularly men—were watching Oriana.
He turned his attention toward his personal holoscreen and rubbed his chin, thinking about what she’d said. When he heard her chuckle at something Lieutenant Russo said, he had the sneaking suspicion that it was a joke being told at his expense, but then he chided himself for his foolishness. She was attractive, but he’d been around plenty of beautiful women before.
Oriana stepped away from the workstation and walked over to Sean. “A binary black hole would explain the cause of the gravitational waves. My calculations indicate that they would out-mass our star, which isn’t that surprising on its own, but if they were as close by as the gravitational waves indicate, we would’ve felt the effects of their strong gravitational pull before we even detected the waves. Something as massive as a binary black hole system would have the potential to affect all our planet’s orbital alignments, and there’d be nothing we could do about it.”
“What about a massive black hole from farther away?” Sean asked.
“It’s possible, and we simply haven’t been here long enough to discover it. We should re-task the Colonial Sciences Institute’s deep space telescopes to scan the area where we think the gravitational waves came from to search for more evidence.”
“Okay, let’s do that, but what else could it be?”
Oriana glanced at the main holoscreen. “If we were to rule out a distant but massive binary black hole, then I’m really not sure. This is bizarre, to put it mildly, because the waves just stopped. If I were to speculate further, I’d have to consider concepts from theoretical physics for an explanation.”
“I’d rather not rely on an unproven theory for an explanation, but I understand what you mean,” Sean said. Then, he leaned toward her and spoke softly. “I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot earlier. I appreciate your input, and I realize that you have important work to do for the Apollo Mission.”
Oriana’s angelic face lit up with a genuine smile. “I’m willing to start over,” she said and extended her hand toward him as if they’d never met. Sean took her hand. Their handshake was brief and professional, but afterward he rubbed his fingertips together as they sought to remember the silky smoothness of her skin.
Oriana continued. “If you’ll allow me access to the sensor data, I can run more simulations using my own equipment while we continue to work on the star probes’ AI. This isn’t something I can do from here, and I’d like to collaborate with a few colleagues as well.”
“I’ll authorize it with the understanding that your findings are to come to me first,” Sean said.
Oriana considered this for a moment and then nodded.
“Good,” Sean said, and she left the bridge.
It was better now that she was gone—less of a distraction for everyone. Sean pressed his lips together at the silly thought. He wouldn’t become a bungling idiot for a pretty face, but she did appeal to him. There was no denying that, so he’d rather just get past it and continue on with the mission.
Sean waited for the update from the monitoring stations. Hopefully, they would yield more insight. Gravitational waves didn’t just disappear; they continued on unless whatever had created them was cut off for some reason, but what could do that?
“Ops, set Condition Three,” Sean said.
The order was repeated, and the Vigilant’s readiness status was moved back to Condition Three.
14
The small-form C-cat sped through the air, and New Earth’s countryside became a blur beneath them. When it had come time to leave Noah’s little home away from home, they’d had the option of either taking the C-cat H version, which was associated with the Colonial Research Institute, or Noah’s personal C-cat. While the H version was capable of hauling bigger loads and seated about twelve individuals, his personal C-cat had more in the way of creature comforts and could reach a higher velocity than the clunker Dash was using.
Dash was impressed with the type of equipment Noah had at his disposal. Noah had gotten used to it, but it hadn’t been that long ago that he was also doing the best he could with less-than-stellar equipment.
A voice-only comlink alert appeared on the HUD, and Noah answered it.
“Hey, Noah, I got your message,” Lars Mallory said.
The geo-locator for the comlink indicated that Lars was calling from Sierra.
“Thanks for getting back to me. I’m actually in transit to Delphi.”
“What takes you to Delphi? Business or pleasure?”
“It’s business. It’s always business. You know I don’t do anything for fun,” Noah replied, imagining Lars’s grin.
“Same here. I ran into Connor the other day in New Haven. It was just a quick, five-minute chat in the hallway, but he seemed worried about something.”
“Yeah, there’ve been some things going on,” Noah said. “Someone’s been spying on him.”
Dash flashed him a worried glance, and Noah gave him a nod.
“Spying on him?” Lars said. “Why would anyone spy on him?”
“I don’t know,” Noah lied, not liking how it felt. “I’m helping him find whoever’s doing it, and one of my leads is taking me to Delphi.”
“Delphi? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Delphi is mainly an agricultural center.”
“Do you think you could use your resources at the Colonial Intelligence Bureau to help us narrow down the search?” Noah asked.
There was a long pause, and Noah wondered if the comlink had severed.
“I can look into it, but I’m not sure I’ll find anything. Listen, I have to go. I have another meeting I need to go to, and it’s pretty important. I’ll let you know if I turn anything up. How long will you be in Delphi?” Lars asked.
“It could be a few days,” Noah answered.
The comlink closed and Dash gave him a concerned look. “I thought we weren’t supposed to tell anyone about the spying.”
“I can trust Lars. We’ve been friends for a long time. We’re actually going to meet with his father, Franklin Mallory, in Delphi. But I can’t come right out and talk about the spying with Franklin.”
“Why not him?”
“It’s complicated.”
“You say that a lot.”
Noah nodded. He did use that term a lot.
“So how are we going to get his help without actually telling him what he’s helping us with?”
“All we know so far i
s that we got several contacts from my tracer in Delphi, and I think… Well, Franklin also works in a government building, and I was going to use the excuse to do some checking on their systems without trying to access them remotely. Doing it this way won’t trigger any alarms, which are mostly configured against remote-access-type attempts.”
Dash nodded, and Noah could tell that the young man was thinking of something else. “It’s a shame we can’t just be open about what we’re trying to do.”
“I agree with you. I hate it, but I don’t know another way to accomplish our goal,” Noah said. There had to be a better way than all this deception.
A short while later they were landing Noah’s C-cat at a designated area that was between the CDF base at Delphi and the mayor’s offices.
Dash looked at him in surprise. “How’d you get clearance to land here? Whenever I travel to the cities, I have to go to the landing zones that are on the outskirts and then use local options to get to the interior if that’s where I need to go.”
“I’ve been involved in a lot of projects that required convenient access to the CDF in the colonial government, and I still have clearance for those areas.”
Dash nodded. “I noticed that.”
A short while later, they were outside Franklin Mallory’s office, waiting to see him. When they were finally escorted into his office, Franklin stood to his full six feet, five inches. He was broad-shouldered, with salt-and-pepper hair and a thick brown beard.
“Noah, it’s so good to see you,” Franklin said in a welcoming tone and came around his desk to shake hands.
“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. This is Dash DeWitt. He’s with the Colonial Research Institute.”
Franklin Mallory shook hands with both of them and then invited them to sit down near his desk.
They exchanged a few pleasantries, asking after their significant others and families.
“I don’t see Lars all that much anymore. He’s extremely busy with the startup of the Colonial Intelligence Bureau,” Franklin said and drank the last of his coffee.