Chapter 28: The Running Clock
Daria sat staring at the computer screen. Today had started out as an emotional day, even though she hated to admit she had emotional reactions to things. Today marked six months until she and Tom departed Mars. It seemed impossible that four and a half years had gone by already. Today she and Tom had to start wearing the weights that would gradually get their musculoskeletal structure used to supporting their bodies in Earth's gravity again. They wore the weights on their shoulders, wrists, ankles, and a belt around their waists. They had kept up with their fitness requirements, so at least for the moment they were not so heavy. The weights would be increased weekly until it was time to go. Daria was just annoyed that these were a constant reminder that their time on Mars would soon be coming to an end.
As romantic and adventurous as it seemed, she had to admit to herself, and Tom as well, that she did not really want to live out the rest of her life here. Mars had been fun. Mars had been the adventure they had sought to have in this season of their lives. But, it was at the expense of being far away from family and friends. They both wanted to see the grandchildren grow up in person. Virtual reality was just not the same. Sure they both played important roles here. But that did not mean that they could not be replaced or at least have successful successors.
As she was sitting there musing, Mia came in the door. This startled Daria and she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Sorry to startle you," Mia said. "Short timer."
"No problem. I was just thinking about having only six months left."
Mia smiled, "It is amazing how the hours might sometimes seem to drag on, but the months and years fly by!"
Daria asked, "What can I do for you?"
"For once, nothing," Mia said as she grabbed a chair. "Sometimes I just need someone to talk to other than my husband. He is great, but he is still just one person."
"What's up?"
"Nothing in particular. That is what worries me," Mia said with a chuckle. "We had a successful first flight of the test vehicle. The landing system works. The unmanned test of the Alcubierre drive was successful."
"The warp drive."
Nodding her head Mia responded, "Yes. The warp drive. We managed to engage it when Mars was between the ship and Earth, so I do not think they could have seen the flash as it engaged and passed the speed of light."
"That's good," Daria responded.
"It is good. Now I have to put people in it. That is the scary part. It is one thing to risk a machine. It is another to take two living, breathing humans and put them in something that could potentially be a death trap."
Now it was Daria's turn to be a little morose and say in total deadpan, "Look Mia. All of Mars is a death trap. This planet tries every day to kill all of us. We can't breathe the atmosphere. Even if we could the pressure is so low our lungs would explode. There is no open water. We have to mine it. A hole in the habitat or failure of the wrong systems and we all die a slow death together. Boom the experiment is over. The dust gets in everything. We are constantly cleaning things to avoid that dust. Mars is a pretty odd paradise for a human!"
"You're always the optimist aren't you Daria," Mia exclaimed.
Daria looked at her and responded, "Only a realist."
Mia laughed. "Still, we are pioneers. We have come to a place to make a home where no human has ever trod. We build this habitat. We built the agricultural domes. We began fabricating our own equipment and now a spaceship that could take us to the stars. Well, at least a prototype."
Daria asked, "So who are you going to send out on the first manned test flight?"
"I have chosen Darren and Anton. Darren is an excellent rover driver. He was a fighter pilot on Earth and flies 'copters here. Anton is brave and the closest thing we have to a war hero. Plus, I've seen the two drinking straight Martian Moonshine together."
Now Daria's mood lightened. She chuckled, "I think drinking straight Martian Moonshine qualifies you as a risk taker and adventurer in and of itself." Pausing a moment she got more serious and added, "How do Marcie and Ludmilla feel about this?"
"Actually, they wanted to go to. They wanted to know why I wasn't sending a woman along. I told them that first of all there are only two seats. Second, I do not have a woman with the skill set needed for this flight. In the event of some kind of failure out in space those two will need Anton's Spetsnaz training to either fix the problem or accept their fate."
"Why not send Marcipor?"
Mia sighed. "Probably because I am still uneasy about him. He has been instrumental in getting this ship built. But, I do not want to take the chance this was all to get us to fabricate a ship for him to steal and take home. This is the next technological wave for humanity. I do not want a robot taking it away."
"Understood. I have been having some good conversations with Marcipor. He knows so much Earth history and can even provide video material of events long before there was video, or photography. It is really fascinating to see ancient Rome in all of its splendor. They even managed to record a session of the Senate!"
"That is amazing."
Daria cleared her throat. "So when do you plan to do the manned test of this new craft?"
"Tomorrow, Daria. Tomorrow. I pray that all will go well."
28.2
Darren looked at Anton and at the screens in front of him. They were filled with images of dials and lists of data from all of the prototype's systems.
Anton said, "That is the end of the pre-flight checklist. Everything is ready to go."
Darren stated to the microphone embedded ahead of him in the cockpit, "Martian Explorer I is ready for launch."
"Roger Martian Explorer I," came the voice across the communication system. They were using a wired system at the moment so that there would be no chance of Earth picking up their signals. "After launch maintain radio silence."
"Roger," Darren replied. "Let's do this!"
"Launch in 1 minute. Mark," came the voice again.
Darren and Anton settled themselves into their chairs again in anticipation of the launch. This was actually irrational. The inertial dampers were online, so they would not feel any acceleration during launch. Without inertial dampers when they engaged the Alcubierre drive they would become 2 mm thick splotches of goo on the back wall – assuming the back wall or any other part of the ship survived.
As the countdown hit zero the craft began moving down the launch rail. By the time it departed the end of the rail it was traveling at Martian orbital velocity. It took just a little maneuvering from the thrusters to gain a stable orbit.
The flight plan was displayed on the screens. Darren and Anton would orbit Mars twice in a stable orbit and then on the third orbit engage the warp drive when the planet was between them and Earth. That would propel the bus sized craft into deep space at a speed greater than that of light itself. In that moment Darren and Anton would be traveling faster than any human in all of history.
Anton stated in a flat voice, "All systems nominal. Orbit is stable."
"Roger," Darren responded. "Continue monitoring. Warp drive in 20 minutes."
The time seemed to tick by slowly, even though both men were fully engaged in their checklists and starting the mission recording systems. After what seemed an eternity the time finally came.
Darren said with some formality for the moment, "Anton, I am engaging warp drive. We are leaving Mars for Uranus at 1.2 C." With that Darren pressed the display and the ship accelerated almost instantaneously to 1.2 times the speed of light. On their displays they saw a momentary flash of light and then the screens cleared and they saw space ahead of them."
Anton stated, "Shields are nominal. Inertial dampers nominal." Turning his face toward Darren he added, "Which is obvious since we are not both dead gelatinous masses on the back wall." Turning back to his display he continued, "Warp field is stable. Sensors show no objects ahead of us which the shields would not be able to deflect. Engaging artificial gravity set to Mars normal. You are clear to increase speed."
"Roger," Darren replied. "Increasing speed to 2 C." Silently the spaceship increased its speed to twice the speed of light.
Anton intoned, "All systems continue to be nominal. Estimated time of arrival at Uranus is 1 hour. We are on schedule. If it is all the same to you Captain I am going to get out of my seat and use the head."
"You are relieved to relieve yourself Anton," Darren said in his best military intonation. "At least with these suits we don't have to foul ourselves unless it is an emergency."
Anton turned to Darren and responded, "I am thankful to God for small things. Hopefully he will let us complete this mission in one piece."
Darren smiled to himself and turned back to his displays. As he looked at them all he could think of was that Anton was so Russian.
28.3
For being the fastest humans in history and the ones that traveled farthest in space the next hour was nothing if not boring. Being essentially test pilots, most of what Darren and Anton did was verify that performance data of their spacecraft was being recorded and they also recorded data on the conditions in interplanetary space. There were no breathtaking moments. The largest piece of dust that careened off of the shields was encountered while transiting the asteroid belt. That 'asteroid' was the size of a grain of sand.
Finally as the end of the transit hour approached there was something to do. They were traveling fast enough that they would have to slow or Uranus would simply fly by in an instant.
Darren called out, "Going sub-light. Setting speed to 0.2 C."
"Roger," Anton replied. "We need to slow to 0.01 C to make the turn around Uranus." As he looked up the giant planet was coming into view on his screen.
"Slowing to 0.01 C," Darren stated. "Calling up thruster setting to make the turn."
The craft began its preprogrammed turn around the giant planet, which now mostly filled the view screens.
"Darren," Anton exclaimed. "I am getting a reading on long range sensors."
"Can you put it on your screen?" Darren asked.
"Yes," Anton replied. He pressed a couple of buttons and up came an image generated from the sensor readings. "It looks like a ship."
"I agree. In fact, the configuration is similar to ours, but it looks like it is missing pieces. Set an intercept course and we will check it out. As we approach I will idle the warp drive and we will approach on thrusters."
"I will make certain there is no reduction in the shields. I do not want some stray piece of junk bringing this mission to an end!"
Darren slowed the ship further and Anton calculated the intercept course and the information was loaded into the navigation computer. The computer also generated the power profile to arrive exactly at the ship. As soon as it was entered, Darren engaged the program and the two waited. Neither had ever even had a thought that they would encounter another ship on this short voyage.