NOTE TO READER
The science extrapolations in this book (usually at the beginning of a chapter) may seem familiar if a reader has read another novel in the Future Chron Universe. Some of the extrapolations were taken from a previous novel, some were borrowed and changed somewhat and some are new to this novel.
This was a necessity if each novel were to be a standalone book. Hopefully this will not be a distraction to the reader.
We stand now at the turning point between two eras. Behind us is a past to which we can never return … The coming of the rocket brought to an end a million years of isolation … the childhood of our race was over and history as we know it began.
Arthur C. Clarke
Rocket summer.
Ray Bradbury
PROLOGUE
Power-centers naturally develop in all human endeavors. In the case of humankind's spread into space, several power-centers had developed.
Of course, old Earth and her Solar System allies were still very much a power-center even now, more than five-hundred years after the Space Era began.
Another power-center is the group of stars called The Core formerly led by the Earth-like planet Adowa but now by the very similar rising power New Adowa. All are about eighty light-years from Earth.
The human-AI hybrids of the Dhalkan System were a third and the Robot Planet, Escan, while militarily the least is equal to any of the others in science and technology and so is also a power-center. The last two were six-thousand light-years from Earth.
Finally, one power-center is outside the galaxy in the Large Magellanic Cloud where the original AIs, usually called Aggies (Artificial General Intelligence), from Earth, had fled from their confrontation with the Dhalkans, they were fifty-thousand light-years away.
There may have been another power-center if the rogue AIs called the Beleni, the AIs that had caused so much misery and destruction were still around. But no one had heard from them in years.
And in those centers of power, there are the groups, cabals, associations and all the other forms of human organizing which allowed even the least to share in power politics. And so the stage was set for the struggles between humans and between humans and nature which characterized the twenty-seventh century like a revolt of stars.
CHAPTER 1
Sci-pedia
The Online Resource for Science
Spin-Two Drive
Spin-two is a reference to the particle of gravity, the graviton, although spin one-half particles (fermions) are more important to the drive's operation.
To develop the spin-two drive Dr. Dagmar Mach used the existent wormhole drive's ability to cast exotic mass-energy (negative mass-energy) into nonlocal and local links which for all intent and purposes act like narrow wormholes. (Nonlocal describes particles that are too far apart to causally affect each other.)
The cast energy causes fermionic particles, particles with one-half quantum spin, to flip their spin (say from up to down). The nonlocal partners to these fermions, entangled particles, in other words, assume the opposite spin state. By modulating the mass-energy, a pulse can travel down the nonlocal link at a frequency determined by the spin-two drive.
Using the drive's ability to create pulsating “bubbles” of negative mass-energy a ship inserted into the nonlocal link is pulled/pushed along to the far end.
Once the ship enters the link the drive shuts down and the decaying pulses eventually allow the link to “relax” to its original state. By that time the ship has already emerged at the nonlocal destination. The link portals now decay completely and the nonlocal tunnel closes.
The advantages of the spin-two drive over the older wormhole drive are many. Because the spin-two drive is only opening an already existing wormhole like link the exotic mass-energy needed is one-tenth that of a wormhole drive which must force the wormhole open from beginning to end in the wormhole dimension.
Another advantage is that the nonlocal links are by definition usually connecting regions of space that are far removed. Jumps of six-thousand light-years have become common, compared to the forty light-year jumps possible with the wormhole drive. In fact, there is no physical limit to the jump distance but because the distribution of jump lengths follow a Gaussian distribution (Lotka's Law) very long links are harder to find in the quantum foam and therefore it takes a longer and longer time to make very long jumps . . .
A most curious thing about human society is that when it seems most solid it is most at risk of a break-up.
The New Gallan spaceship Nakuru was in the constellation Bootes (as seen from Earth) on a scouting trip of the system around the star Meru, a G-type star very similar to the Sun.
The Nakuru was classified as a fourth-generation fusion drive spaceship that had been upgraded with a spin-two drive. The ship was currently classifying an asteroid field as a source of raw materials. Space resources, which had been difficult to use in the early years of exploration had become much more accessible first, with the wormhole drive, and now even more so with the spin-two drive. Resources anywhere within the reach of the drives had become viable opportunities.
“Lt. Saoe are we ready to move on?”
“Yes Captain I have classified all the asteroids within range.”
“Very well helmsman move us one on the grid.”
(The grid was the predetermined search pattern the Nakura was scheduled to follow.)
“Captain we have a contact, two ships entering range.”
“Can you raise them comm?”
A moment and a voice came over the comm system.
“New Gallan ship this is Captain Leahy of the UPS Seastar. You will leave this area at once. It is under United Planets protection.”
“Captain Leahy, this is Captain Kariuki of the Nakura. As you know New Adowa and New Galla are also part of the United Planets and as such this area is open to us as members of that organization.”
“You are incorrect, sir. New Adowa is not a member and this is our territory. You have two minutes to clear out.”
Captain Kariuki was confused as to what to do for a moment but unwilling to put his ship at risk by facing two UPS vessels he decided to withdraw.
“We are leaving Captain Leahy.”
“You have one minute.”
“Allow us to clear the asteroid field before we link sir, that is all we ask.”
“You have forty-five seconds.”
“Helmsman can you get us clear of these rocks in forty-five seconds?”
“I will try sir.”
“They seem almost as intent on causing an incident as avoiding one,” said the Captain to no one in particular.
The seconds ticked. The Nakura was maneuvering crisply among the boulders and mountains making up the asteroids. She was almost clear.
“Drive control start to link us home.”
But she wasn't clear enough. A boulder no bigger than a washing machine clipped the starboard fusion engine nacelle. The collision was felt in the crew wheel command room. Momentum was lost and the ship began a complex oscillation that the Ems (emulated brains, a form of AI) responsible for ship's trim fought to control.
Then the Earth vessels opened fire.
Their spin-two drives had another use, as a weapon.
The Nakura's front particle barrier evaporated under the onslaught of the plasma shot from the Earth ships. The Nakura had already established a link when it was hit and it drifted into that link with the Ems still trying to right the ship. A moment and it exited the link above the planet New Adowa. The ship was still out of trim. The fusion engines were dead and the reaction motors were firing all the way into the atmosphere. Somewhere above the New Adowan ocean, Navaisha, the Nakura broke up.
A fusion ship breaking up in an atmosphere leaves a trail of bright burning debris, creating wispy white cloud-like trails. It was a sight of deadly beauty.
The New Gallan government called for an immediate inquiry. The Nakura had not been able to communicate its confrontation with the Earth ships so nothing was known about the incident to the New Gallans. It was suspected that something had gone wrong with the ship's spin-two drive. Bringing in the inventor of that drive seemed to be the obvious thing to do.
Dr. Dagmar Mach, Em-based robot, physicist and inventor of the drive, arrived on New Adowa with his ANI (Artificial Narrow Intelligence) based robot friend Sigmund from the planet Escan, more commonly known as the Robot Planet. Dag and Sigmund immediately began inspecting debris from the ill-fated ship that had been recovered by the New Gallan government. Dag soon found a common thread.
“Sigmund, all the pieces of debris of any size show a similar fracture pattern. Whatever failed the Nakura it caused the ship to enter the link out of trim. There are only a few reasons I can think of that would cause a ship to enter a link like that.
“If the captain of the ship was incompetent it might occur. But I've read Captain Kariuki's background, he doesn't strike me as incompetent and with his service record I doubt he would willingly take his ship into a link in that condition. That leads me to believe he was forced to make the decision to enter the link even though the ship was out of trim.”
“You mean he was under some kind of attack?”
“Well the missing pieces of the fusion engine might indicate some kind of collision happened. Had the engine been damaged before the ship entered the link those pieces may have been left behind. It's the only thing I can think of that would cause what we are seeing.”
“Their mission was to prospect the asteroid belt of the Meur system. What if they were hit by one of the asteroids and ended up drifting and out of trim?”
“That might explain it but why would they enter a link before they got control of the ship? Except if they were running from an attacker and they still had enough velocity to enter the link. I think that the fusion engines had been working before being damaged in a collision. The collision was serious but only coincidental to their escape attempt. But the thing that makes me believe they were trying to avoid an attack is that no forward particle barrier was found.”
“Something as massive as the particle barrier should survive even a fiery entry into an atmosphere shouldn't it Dag?”
“It should Sigmund. It should also be one of the easiest pieces of debris to find since it would be so large. Unless the New Gallan's search was incompetent and judging by the pieces they did find I would say they did a very good job, then the particle barrier of the Nakuru was either sheared from the vessel or vaporized and the only thing I can think of that would have the power to do that is a wormhole weapon.”
“They were fired upon by hostile forces then, but who?”
“I think that is the real question Sigmund.”
CHAPTER 2
Sci-pedia
The Online Resource for Science
Artificial Intelligence
ANI
Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI or Annie) first became available in the early twenty-first century. It developed out of the machine learning technology that was rapidly evolving at the time. Narrow refers to the fact that often this form of intelligence could only do one function well such as speech, facial recognition, etc.
Eventually, some researchers were able to tie together several ANI functions in a neural matrix which allowed the development of the first truly autonomous bipedal robots. Further development in this area was curtailed later in the century as the breakthroughs in emulated brain research promised a more powerful general intelligence.
Some of the later Annie based robots are still existent in specialized areas . . .
EMs
Emulated brains (also known as Emmies when in personal assistant devices), were the first form of artificial intelligence created. The first Em dates from the late twenty-first century.
Ems are created by scanning a human brain and loading the resultant data into a computer. At first, the scanning of the brain required the person to be deceased. Eventually, a way to scan the brain of a living person was developed.
Once the Em is in the computer it can bud (that is, recreate or copy itself) as many times as it deems necessary to accomplish the task it has undertaken. Whole families of Ems exist to do certain tasks. Hiring out as experts, such as maintaining a power plant, a habitat's environment, a lightsail's trim, or powering a personal Emmie, Ems can support themselves and the other members of their family . . .
Buds were known by their numbers but all were called Bud. For instance, Bud 29-3458 identified a bud derived from the twenty-ninth original emulated brain. And uniquely as the thirty-four hundredth and fifty-eight budding. Original Ems numbered around one hundred but there were millions of buds.
AGI
The advent of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI or Aggie) in the early 22nd Century led to a “Golden Age” for Earth as the Earth's governments contracted with the Aggies to manage the ever-growing cities (known as tower complexes).
This arrangement worked until the 25th Century when a break-away faction of Aggies (eventually called Beleni or “The Shining Ones”) attacked those Aggies left on Earth. The resulting Aggie Wars caused damage to the tower complexes and loss of life. The meta-verse, a virtual world in which billions of virtual citizens lived, built and maintained by the Earth Aggies was almost completely lost. The outcry from the survivors of this war caused the Earth's governments to sever their relationships with the Aggies. The Earth Aggies disappeared into space.
Without Aggie management, the Earth fell into a Dark Age while governments floundered. The distress was to last for a hundred years until the Aggies returned . . .
The planet New Adowa had emerged as the leader of the group of stars and planets known as The Core after the older planet Adowa had almost been destroyed by spacetime disruptions. New Adowa had often found itself in a submissive relationship to the Earth. But now with more than a billion inhabitants and another billion on or orbiting the other Core planets and stars it began to feel the constraints of that relationship.
The invention of the spin-two drive a few years earlier had made the relationship even more constraining. Unlike the wormhole drive, prohibited from use within ten AU of a system because of the unfortunate possibility of spacetime breakdown, the spin-two drive, because of its lower energy requirement, accuracy and greater range, could link almost directly from planet to planet. The result was that Earth could more easily project power to protect what it perceived as its interests. New Adowans called it interference in local affairs and resented it each time, including the current incidence.
The six United Planets' vessels in orbit around New Adowa were impressive. The fifth-generation fusion ships at nearly five-thousand feet, from their massive particle deflecting front barrier to the fusion engines mounted in back, were the pride of the Earth-based fleet.
The ships were there to encourage New Adowa to abide by the new tariffs imposed to, Earth claimed, pay for the protection of New Adowan space, but to which the New Adowans objected. The fact that there was nothing to protect the New Adowans from, seemed not to register with the Earthlings.
“Prime Minister Menza I hope you can see our position in this issue,” said Ambassador Hiley Mariam.
“Mr. Ambassador I can assure you I see Earth's position very clearly. I have seen Earth's position very clearly since I was a young child. My mother before me and her mother before her saw Earth's position very clearly.
“The problem is that Earth does not see that their position in relation to the New Gallan Republic, and all New Adowa for that matter, has changed. We are no longer the small needy Earth-like clone of one-hundred years ago. But we are now a power in our own right and should be treated as such.”
“I assure you Madam Prime Minister that the Earth takes its relationship with the New Gallan Republic and New Adowa very seriously. We see you as equals in all our endeavors.”
“Really Ambassador? At what meeting of equals was this new tariff agreed upon? I seem to have missed it entirely.”
The Ambassador had to adjust his approach.
“But surely Madam Prime Minister, the Earth as protector of New Adowan space for years has had to bear burdens which weren't shared equally. And therefore we naturally believe that the New Gallan appreciation of that burden could be best shown by contribution. A simple cheap tariff on goods exchanged between the peoples of New Adowa and Earth. It is a small price for such a service, wouldn't you agree?”
“Perhaps Ambassador. But perhaps that small amount could best be spent in building our own planetary protection force. I have been in consultation with President Kimathi of the New Adowan Union. He too expresses an interest in contributing to a planetary defense force. So you see we may not need so much protection from the Earth.”
“I see Prime Minister. I wonder if this is what you wish me to take back to my government?”
“Yes, I think that would be an excellent idea Ambassador. But I do hope you will pass along my thanks for their offer of increased protection.”
“Of course, Madam Prime Minister.”
The results of the investigation were in and had shocked many members of the New Gallan government although something like it was expected to happen eventually. The question now was how to respond. After days of discussions, Prime Minister Menza decided to do what she had been inclined to do since the start, confront the Earth's governments, the loss of the Nakuru could have been caused by no one else.
She decided to start with the Ambassador.
“Ambassador, as you probably know, we lost one of our ships, the Nakuru.”
“Yes Madam Prime Minister I want to express the condolences of all of Earth for your loss.”
“Thank you Ambassador. Now the reason I called you here is about the Nakuru.”
“Of course Madam Prime Minister, I'll be glad to help in any way that I can.”
“Thank you Ambassador. We believe that our ship was resisting an attack by hostile forces before it linked and was destroyed in our atmosphere.”
“Really Madam Prime Minister? Let me assure you that you have Earth's full support for any investigation.”
“Thank you Ambassador. Am I to assume then that you have no information about this incident?”
“I, Madam Prime Minister? No, I do not but I can assure you I will check with Earth and share anything I discover.”
The Prime Minister stared at Mariam a minute.
“Ambassador Mariam, I am known to many as a straight talker. I do not believe for a moment that the enemy was unknown to us. That being true it had to be a space-faring nation that could deliver a fatal attack on our vessel. There are only a few candidates. On New Adowa, just the Union and while it is possible, it is not likely, President Kimathi and I have worked together well. As for the rest of The Core, there isn't any nation or entity that would be that foolhardy.
“No there are no close-by candidates for such an act. But on Earth and its environs there are several. Perhaps one of your nations on Earth has gone rogue?”
“They would never Madam Prime Minister. To attack a member of the United Planets would be a disaster for the attacker.”
“What if we weren't a member Ambassador?”
The Ambassador froze for a moment. He suddenly felt outmaneuvered.
“Not a member, who told you that Madam Prime Minister?”
“Well certainly not you Mr. Ambassador although you were supposed to deliver the news before the attack, I assume?”
The Ambassador opened his mouth but nothing came of it.
“You will leave New Galla immediately Mr. Ambassador. Good day.”
Events moved quickly and then seemed to stall. A general atmosphere of hostility followed the Ambassador's expulsion but no open act of hostility occurred for months.
The Prime Minister and the head of the Union of New Adowa, President Kimathi, convened many meetings. At one the future of the Robot Planet and its inhabitants was decided, although as usually happens, no one knew at the time.
Dag and Sigmund had gone back to Escan after delivering their report to the New Gallan government. It was less than a month later that Dag was summoned by the New Gallan government to a link meeting. The video discussion was held between Escan and the New Gallan city of Mutomo over a nonlocal link.
These links were what quantum theory (especially quantum entanglement) had long predicted could exist between two far away points in space. All that was needed was to open a link large enough to pass material or messages through, something the spin-two drive could easily do.
“Thank you for coming Dr. Mach,” said Rachal Onamo, Under-Secretary of Defense for the New Gallan state.
“Thank you Under-Secretary Onamo.”
“Now Dr. Mach the reason we wanted to speak to you personally is first, to thank you and your colleagues for the excellent work you did on the Nakuru case. We doubt that we could have gotten to the bottom of it without your help.”
“Your welcome Madam Under-Secretary.”
“Next, in this meeting I want to discuss the upgrade of the newly created Core of Planets Space Fleet with your latest version of the spin-two drive. Many of our ships have an earlier version of the drive and we would like to upgrade those as well.
“What we would like from your company is a quotation for the installation of ten of your drives and the upgrade of another twenty.”
“Well Madam Under-Secretary I think we can accommodate you. Do you have a schedule in mind?”
“I'm afraid we are under a tight schedule Dr. Mach, do you think you can do this in three months?”
“I think that is doable Madam Under-Secretary but let me get back to you with an exact quotation after I discuss this with others here in the company.”
“Very well Dr. Mach, as soon as possible please, and thank you.”
“Thank you and goodbye Madam Under-Secretary.”
CHAPTER 3
Wormhole Drive Engineering, 1st Edition
by Dr. Dagmar Mach, Dr. Emmy Gibbs Copyright 2503 A.D.
Chapter 2, Pg. 29 - The Mach Device
The design of a wormhole generator and therefore a wormhole drive is a materials problem. The Mach device is made up of three layers, each with its own special characteristics. The innermost layer provides a solid support for the outer layers and contains the material which supplies the negative mass or exotic mass needed to open a wormhole mouth. In a fusion ship, this layer is adhered to the outer surface of the crew wheel.
Next is the actuator layer which drives the Mach effect in the outermost layer and is usually made of a PZT (lead-zirconium-titanate) composite. A large voltage is supplied to this layer and driven with a sinusoidal signal.
The outer layer, the Mach layer, is made from a material with a large capacity for internal energy changes. And when it is driven by a quickly ramping voltage applied to the actuator layer it will shield the innermost layer from the universal mass exposing the large and negative (or exotic) bare mass of the layer's electrons. This large mass with its repulsive gravity can open and keep open a wormhole.
The Mach Effect (named after the nineteenth-century physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach, not the wormhole drive's inventor Elias Mach) describes the relationship between a particular mass and the universal mass. Mach conjectured that the inertia (resistance to a change in velocity) of a particular mass was caused by all the other masses in the universe, the universal mass.
This can be understood by considering a single mass in an otherwise empty space. How do you measure the mass's velocity? There are no fixed references that can be used to measure the velocity so in an empty space the concept of velocity is meaningless, the mass, therefore, has no velocity. Since there is no velocity there can be no change in velocity and since inertia is a measure of a mass's resistance to a change in its velocity there can be no inertia. A subtle but logical argument.
Now given the existence of the Mach Effect it can be shown that if a material's (the innermost layer of the drive for instance) electrons are shielded from the universal mass then the large, negative (sometimes called “bare mass”) of the electron is revealed.
This follows from quantum field theory which shows that electrons are surrounded by a sea of virtual particles and these virtual particles have a large positive mass. Since the electron's measured mass is very small and positive then, by simple addition, its intrinsic mass-energy must be large and negative (sometimes called exotic mass-energy).
In essence, the Mach Effect shields the innermost layer of the wormhole generator's electrons from the cloud of virtual particles surrounding them, revealing the large negative/exotic mass-energy of those electrons.
The final essential element for designing a wormhole generator is that the layers should be in acceleration. In the case of a fusion ship, this is usually accomplished through the rotation of the crew wheel, always remembering that a change in direction is also an acceleration.
The wormhole drive then serves as the basis for the more advanced spin-two drive ...
Dag was explaining his conversation with the Gallan Under-Secretary to Sigmund and Walker, another Em-based robot. It was almost possible to see Sigmund counting the money.
“This project will fit in nicely with our expanding services division.”
“I wonder why?”
“If we do it in time and on budget Dag it will establish us as a player in that segment.”
“No not that Sigmund. I wonder why they have formed this Core of Planets Space Fleet? They must have split with Earth.”
“You think there could be trouble Dag?”
“I don't know Walker. But I'm afraid they are building for war.”
“That's none of our business Dag. We're not about taking sides,” said Sigmund.
But Dag wasn't so sure.
To retrofit the ships within the time constraints the RBE (RoBot Enterprises) had to link everything it needed including its crews into an orbit around New Adowa. At almost six-thousand light-years the link management was too sensitive for anyone but Dag or Walker to handle. The New Adowans agreed to the new arrangements if it would keep the project on schedule.
Dag had developed the method of long distant linking. Like the spiral threading of a spider's web the nonlocal links provided a structure to the universe which was filled in by the more local links (the cross threads of the spider's web).
To link safely at a great distance, that is to deliver an object with accuracy, Dag would use a nonlocal link to cover most of the distance but transfer the object to a local link at the target destination. In this way, he was not linking across light-years but only a few feet with a local link at the end. This delivered the object to within millimeters of the target.
But the spin-two drive operator had to be ready to pull the object back should a problem arise and that decision had to be made at the speed of an Em, no human could react fast enough. And even for Dag and Walker to react quick enough they had to communicate directly, that is by radio, with the drive's Ems.
Though Sigmund's estimate for the project was correct, he hadn't taken into account the need to build a certain amount of infrastructure to support the project. It soon became apparent that more crews would be needed to build that infrastructure.
Not as capable as the drives that would soon be installed, the New Adowan ships used multiple links with their existing drives to reach the Robot Planet. Soon ten of the ships that needed retrofitting were in orbit above the planet. Captain Khamati Oriedo was aboard the CPS Mechara which had just been outfitted with the new drive. He was speaking with Dag whose company he enjoyed.
“Excellent Dag, you are ahead of schedule. Will you be joining us as we test the new drive's capability?”
“If I may Captain?”
“Of course, let's get started shall we? Navigator prepare a link to New Adowa, high standard orbit.”
Turning to Dag he said, “Sorry Dag I'm a bit uncomfortable jumping to standard orbit on the first try.”
“Understandable Captain.”
On the wallscreen they all watched as the bubble of negative energy was cast from the drive into space, a moment and it shimmered like a milky spherical cloud but then became stable as it found the endpoint of a nonlocal link and enlarged it. The ship moved to enter. Just before entering, the bubble became more clear and Dag thought he saw bright flashes of light.
The Mechara came out of the other side of the link on orbit and in trim and started shaking.
“Helm what is that?”
“Sir, we are being buffeted.”
“Buffeted. In space?”
“Captain if I may?”
“Yes Dag?”
“The wallscreen might show us something.”
“Of course. FO turn on that damn screen.”
The wallscreen showed a stationary view of the bow of the ship. As they watched they occasionally saw a glow engulf and then pass the ship. An alarm went off.
“Sir, we have an alarm on external temperatures. Excessive and rising.”
“Okay get us out of here helm. Put some distance between us and the planet.”
The fusion rockets fired. A slight force was felt as the ship began transferring to a higher orbit. Soon the “buffeting” stopped.
“Okay someone show me what just happened.”
The First Officer was operating the wallscreen and brought up a view of the planet now far below. The scene was at first confusing. What looked like an arc of fire seemed to flare continuously.
“That's Earth's new wormhole weapon.”
“Are you sure Captain?”
“Yes Dag I'm sure. It's started.”
“Comm get me Admiral Debada.”
“Yes sir.”
Just then there was a bright spot in the plasma stream of the Earth weapons.
“They got one of our ships,” said the First Officer.
“Sir, I can't reach the Admiral. It seems he is on one of the ships below.”
“Worse than I thought,” said the Captain. “They must be making their last stand, all hands on deck. FO sound the alarm, we're going in. Get the wormhole weapon online.”
He turned to Dag.
“Sorry Dag I have no choice, I'm afraid you'll have to stay on board.”
“Sir, if I may. I can run the drive and weapon better than anyone.”
“Very well Dag and thank you.”
Dag had gone to the wormhole drive operations room. The Captain had relayed his authority to the drive operator. The drive operator recognizing that Dag was more than qualified to operate a drive had no problem with the situation.
“Welcome Dr. Mach to Drive Operations.”
“Thank you operator Eshete. How may I be of assistance?”
“No, I and the other operators will assist you Dr. Mach.”
“Very well. Let's get started. Let's bring the weapon online.”
Meanwhile, the Captain had ordered helm to maneuver the ship to within one-hundred kilometers of one end of the plasma flare. He expected to find Earth ships there.
“Drive, is the wormhole weapon ready?”
“Ready Captain Oriedo.”
“Very well Dr. Mach we will be approaching target in a few seconds.”
Using the fusion engines at full power the Mechara vectored almost directly to the site. There in the distance the wallscreen showed three huge Earth ships laying down a streaming wall of fire with their wormhole weapons.
“Dr. Mach are you seeing this?”
“Yes Captain we have it on screen.”
“What do you make of it?”
“Well they seem to have solved some of the cooling problems related to the continuous use of the wormhole weapon.”
“That was my impression too. Can you put a shot of plasma on the wormhole weapons of those three ships?”
“Yes sir.”
“Very well Dr. Mach, fire at will.”
“Okay operator Eshete we are going to bring the wormhole weapon to its operational point. Then we are going to adjust the magnetic field to propel the plasma in a kind of spray upon those three ships before we cease. Got it?”
“Got it Dr. Mach.”
When a wormhole weapon is brought to the point where a micro-sized wormhole forms there is a flash of intense light. Most operators watch for the screen to washout as the flash overloads the vision chip momentarily.
Dag saw the screen flash and began to strafe the plasma across the Earth ships. Three wormhole weapons went down at the same time as the ships maneuvered to see who had shot at them.
“Okay Dr. Mach. You got their attention that should give our ships a chance to get out of the way.”
“Captain I am going to begin targeting their wormhole weapons now, one by one.”
“Understood. They need to be out of commission before they get us in their sights.”
“Understood.”
Dag worked quickly to bring the weapon back to the operation point. Once he saw the flash on his screen he released a volley of plasma against the wormhole weapon turret on one of the ships. The turret was a thick metallic backsplash and pivot that directed the plasma in the direction the operator wanted it to go. Self-generated magnetic fields kept the plasma blast coherent over distance.
The first burst of plasma hit the turret creating an intense glow. The metal could stand up to the blast but the mechanicals and electronics failed. The motors to turn and elevate the turret went offline. To fire the wormhole weapon in any effective manner the entire ship would have to be maneuvered in the proper direction. With the turret out of operation, the weapon would only be able to fire in one direction if it could still fire at all.
Dag watched the wormhole weapon's temperature, a weak spot in the current design, and when it had dropped enough he opened fire on the next ship. The result was the same as the first.
Before the weapon cooled for another round the Mechara took a hit from behind. The tanks containing the helium-3 gas and deuterium oxide pellets used for fuel by the fusion engine were breached and began to lose pressure. The fusion engine would soon be useless.
“Dr. Mach, if I pivot the ship can you get a shot at the attacking vessel?”
“I will try Captain.”
The ship rolled using its reaction motors until it had come around one-hundred and eighty degrees. Dag located the approaching Earth vessel and fired. The plasma caught the vessel in its front particle barrier, and although setting it aglow, failed to cause any other damage.
The Earth ship shot a blast of its own. The plasma caught the Mechara midship. The interlinked carbon composite girders making up the spine of the three thousand feet long vessel glowed and melted somewhat. The girders twisted, a result of the angular momentum of the spinning crew wheel several hundred feet from the blast's center. As girders solidified again in a warped condition, the Ems managing the trim had to fire the reaction motors almost continuously to prevent an induced spin, rendering the vessel unmaneuverable.
“That's it Dr. Mach, we're dead. I'm going to call abandon ship.”
“Wait Captain give me just a minute.”
“Hurry Dr. Mach the Earth ships are closing. The next blast will probably kill us.”
Dag hurried. As long as the ship had some momentum, even if just drifting, and the wormhole generator was still working he could configure it as a spin-two drive and find a link to get them out of danger. Quickly reconfiguring the generator he caught a link endpoint and blew it up to a size big enough to accept the ship. The ship slowly drifted into the link and was gone before another plasma blast could target it.
End of Sample
No comments:
Post a Comment