‘We think it is safe for a “go see” expedition,’ said Mary at the next full conference meeting.
‘I’d rather that was a certainty, rather than thinking it is safe,’ said Neil.
‘Now we understand the time-dilation problem, our experiments have concentrated on the entering and leaving of hyperspace. We’ve sent and returned a number of atomic clocks without any variance,’ said Terry.
‘And the time dilation always occurs?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ said Mary. ‘We’ve measured it very accurately. It is caused by our movement through the dark matter. Unavoidable. We’re recommending a limit of one hundred light years for any jump. There is some evidence that the amount of time spent in stasis is inversely proportional to the distance travelled. For example, a ten-light-year journey might see one hour in stasis, but forty light years is only ninety minutes and eighty light years could be just two hours. We haven’t worked it out in detail yet.’
‘Trappist-1 is safe then?’ asked Tosh.
‘Yes, only forty light years,’ said Terry.
‘What about the mass changes?’ asked Bill. ‘What effect is the change in mass of the ship going to have?’
‘None,’ said Mary. ‘Matching up the mass was a red herring.’
‘You mean we went to all that trouble of chiselling the asteroid and attaching it to Spirit for nothing!’ said Tosh, sitting back in exasperation.
‘Yes, but we had no way of knowing,’ said Mary. ‘We had to be safe rather than sorry. And I think smashing rocks was therapeutic for you anyway.’ Unusual for Mary to try to be funny. Tosh pulled a face but didn’t respond.
‘Geologists will be delighted to have an asteroid from another solar system to examine, so not a total waste of time, Tosh,’ I added.
Tosh nodded at my point. ‘So, the movement through the entiroverse is entirely down to the angles of entry and exit?’
‘Yes, Tosh. We must always get that right,’ said Mary. ‘We’re working on calculations right now which might allow us to choose which universe we visit.’
‘Really?’ asked Anna. ‘We could go back to that pristine Earth we found?’
‘Not impossible. We’re not there yet though,’ replied Mary.
‘We’ve been back nearly two months,’ I said. ‘We must get back to Arctur and let the Heradians know we haven’t abandoned them. Will you authorise it, Neil?’
‘As long as you all realise that there may be risks that we are not yet aware of,’ said Neil. ‘A straight there and back mission. No diversions.’
‘Sorry, Neil,’ said Tosh, ‘Chi and I will want to go and see that grave from orbit around Haven. We need to know if it still says “Chi” in this universe.’
‘Okay. No other unnecessary diversions though,’ said Neil.
‘Can we fill the third tank with vitamins for Arctur?’ I asked. ‘SpaceX say it is a simple matter to partition the tank if it is not going to have to lift off from the surface. All we’ll have to do is land it near to their colony.’
Neil said, ‘Okay. The boffins have been working out which vitamins are most likely to be helpful and are on the case. I authorise that too, now get out of the conference room, all of you, before you screw up the entire NASA budget!’
The press conferences which followed were fascinating to be part of. The whole world was curious about the Trappist-1 worlds and all of us were invited onto news programmes and documentaries to talk about our discoveries.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Using a couple of solid rocket boosters, the adapted tank was lifted into orbit just three weeks after it had been given the green light.
My crew, Anna, Chi, Tosh, Bill, Terry and me, took a Starliner into orbit and we soon transferred to Spirit and were preparing it for the jump to Trappist-1. There was a lot of new equipment and many extra sensors in place to provide data for Mary’s team when the ship returned. Anna soon had the adapted vitamin tank attached and the original spare tank undocked and left in orbit for use on future missions. The new Rimors had improved heat tiles which would allow multiple missions. Landings would only be limited by the number of fuel tanks we took with us. Boeing was already looking at attaching more in a cluster around the hull. It seemed that mass didn’t affect spolding so the number of tanks was not restricted by weight.
Down on Earth, Neil and the NASA engineers were busy designing ships which could be used to get the population of Arctur into orbit and, eventually, down to Herade if the method of destroying the Haven weed could be proven to work. They were also working with the World Health Organization on methods to ensure that no bugs were interchanged between the Heradians and the crew. This was proving a more difficult problem than most envisaged. Frankly, it was going to take a lot of time and would need to be explored in stages, starting with first physical contact and a lot of medical monitoring.
At last, Spirit was departure ready and Chi moved the ship out of low orbit and away from the ISS. It seemed so strange seeing her sitting in the pilot’s seat with that silly soft toy, Shooey, held by Velcro to the top of her console. What a strange entiroverse we inhabit, where you can watch someone choking to death on their own blood on a horrible alien world, only to then find them fit and healthy back on Earth. Philosophers will have a wonderful time trying to resolve the incongruities. Would it be the death knell for religion, or could it inspire a whole new belief in infinite locations for heaven? A whole new take on reincarnation perhaps.
We strapped into our couches and took the straws from our spolding fluid bottles into our mouths. Chi carried out a short countdown and, all of a sudden, we were in hyperspace. Space outside the windows had reverted to that dark, greenish-black we recognised, and the fusion reactor whined away under full power as Spirit cut its way between Sol and Trappist-1.
Ninety minutes later, we were thrown forward and Arctur filled our view.
‘PROXIMITY ALARM. PROXIMITY ALARM,’ screamed the computer.
‘Computer, mute alarm,’ I said and we were in relative silence again.
Arctur was far too close! I saw Chi wrench her steering joysticks to the right and heard the conventional jets cut in under maximum thrust. This was bad news. We were almost in the atmosphere and my console showed the exterior temperature climbing.
‘What the hell!’ exclaimed Terry from behind me.
‘Hold tight everyone!’ shouted Anna as she watched Chi’s console and added force to her own controls to help the turn.
Only seconds had passed but it seemed like minutes. ‘Prognosis, Chi?’ I said. ‘Do we need to think about abandoning ship?’
Such a scenario had been envisioned. Arrival at an interstellar body was projected to be within two to three hundred thousand miles. Most planets are a few thousand miles in diameter, so occupy only a tiny proportion of that huge space bubble. It was, nevertheless, a danger that we could arrive too close to our destination or, heaven forbid, even within it.
If we emerged within a planet or its atmosphere, the only escape would be an immediate blind jump back into hyperspace. No one wanted to contemplate such a scenario, but Chi had been holding the emergency lever throughout the journey as time would have been of the essence if it had been needed. The second alternative, if we had time, was to abandon ship, climb into one of the Rimors and separate from Spirit. They could be powered up in about a minute and had the ability to blast us out of the atmosphere. With the attached fuel tank, that could even be achieved from a very low atmospheric location.
‘I think we’re okay,’ said Chi, as cool as ever. ‘We’ll know in a minute.’
Spirit was vibrating as the jets fired continuously to get us out of the atmosphere before it melted the tunnels to the Rimors, the least aerodynamic component of the ship.
The vibration eased and the fear that a tank’s hull might be breached and explode, gradually subsided.
‘We’re almost clear,’ said Anna, releasing her duplicate controls now that physical force was no longer needed to turn the ship.
‘Clear,’ said Chi and we were back in free fall. ‘Orbit only one-fifty miles. I’ll need to adjust, but we’ll rest the jets for a while. The nozzles are reading a temperature above safe operating levels.’
‘Well done, Chi,’ I said.
‘How the hell did that happen?’ asked Tosh.
‘One of the risks of spolding,’ said Terry. ‘Can’t be predicted – or, at least, it can’t yet be predicted.’
‘Near thing,’ said Chi. ‘Another ten miles in and we’d have had to abandon ship.’
‘Phew!’ said Bill.
I watched Chi pat Shooey on the head. ‘We were lucky,’ she said.
‘We need that geosynchronous orbit, Chi,’ said Tosh.
‘Yes, as soon as the jets cool,’ Anna said. ‘Any sign of the Arcturian colony?’
‘No. We need that orbit,’ he replied.
‘Patience, guys,’ I said. ‘Give us that orbit when it’s safe to do so, Chi, and not before.’
‘I’ve picked up our old Rimor,’ said Tosh. ‘Right on the money.’
‘And the Heradian command module?’ Bill asked.
‘Yes. There it is. Also spot on,’ said Tosh. ‘This version of the Trappist-1 system is very much like the one we left. That’s for sure.’