Sampson sat heavily in his chair on the bridge, glad to be off that ghost ship. After a few minutes, he turned towards Tara.
"You were right. We learned very little in the engine room. There were bodies there too. And bones. They ran out of supplies, ate each other, then finally starved to death." He shivered unconsciously. "The probes will tell us if they had any stations in the system, or if this was only a stop over to the next system." Thompson straightened up, and frowned. She looked at her display.
"Speaking of probes, the first one has completed its survey of this gas giant." She turned towards Tara. "Your theory was correct. There is more then one portal in this one. More then one super storm spot." Tara nodded.
"I expected as much. The lower gravitational field on a larger planet had to have something different. A second portal that focused the field elsewhere is that difference. Which means that this system connects to more then one system. We could come from our system, orbit, enter the other system, and keep exploring." She thought for a moment. "I wonder if Arcturus has more then one portal."
"Arcturus? That super star with a gas giant many times larger then Jupiter?" She nodded. "There haven't been any sightings of superstorms there, and that's because they can't see anything around that monster. But something like that should have at least one planet, and it should be a gas giant."
"That's because its so far away, all we can really do is verify its existence, and suppose the rest. We get light from those places, but I suspect the actual details aren't quite as clear as they let on. Such as a lack of planetary bodies, or even the assumptions around what kind of star it is. We only have our star as an example, so what really is the chance that they can tell with a test case of one? And what's the chance that all the light to make up an image is there when it arrives? Some might be absorbed by celestial bodies all around." Daria frowned.
"So you mean they just fudge the details?" Tara shrugged.
"Not sure its fudging, as more supposing. The scientific community does that a lot when it comes to data and conclusions. Look at the Ice Age. There is no scientific proof of its existence, yet scientists suppose that's the reason for a great many things. Like why the dinosaurs are extinct, or why extremely large boulders are moved from place to place. Floods can cause movement of that kind. It is supposition, but the real proof, other then glaciers that still exist, just isn't there. Its supposition that those glaciers once covered most of the Earth. Science is always finding out new things that make old theories invalid." Daria thought quietly for a moment.
"That makes a lot of sense. People assumed that if you went fast enough, time would stand still, or you could go back in time. It was their understanding of time that prevented them from understanding the reality of it." Tara smiled a big wide one.
"Correct. They think that if they travel fast enough, they can travel back in time because they would be faster then the light itself. Eventually they would be at the source where it was emitted thousands of years ago, and therefore, go back in time. The reality is, even if they traveled instantaneously to the source, time would not have changed, and they would not travel backwards. Freeze time. Travel along the path of the light, and the light continues to get younger as you travel along it. It isn't reversing. The light just gets younger. Science didn't know they explained it when they said that the light you see now may be in fact light from a dead star. If you travel along that path, faster then the speed of light, you won't find a star that's lit. You'll only come to the end of the light." Daria frowned.
"So does that mean time doesn't actually exist?"
"Time exists, but only in as much as we can measure the passage of it. Time is not a thing. Its a concept. We conceive that it exists, measure its passage, and make suppositions about it. Think of it this way. If you take two beams of light, say a laser, shine it at a distant point in space, but along that route, one beam gets diverted by a series of mirrors that bend it along another route until it returns to its original path. The starting point will be a bit behind the other beam, but the light is the same age. The same amount of time passed for both beams. Time didn't pass any differently. It just took a bit longer due to the distance diversion." Daria shook her head.
"Philosophical conversations that take on a life of their own over centuries, with suppositions, and mathematicians who strive to prove their theories correct will be able to force the conclusions to fit their theories. And if you don't believe their results, that will just prove how unintelligent you are, which proves them correct on their false theory. That just gives me a headache." Tara chuckled.
"I don't blame you. I got many headaches in college by banging my head against a stubborn wall made up of those suppositions. Eventually, the most intelligent people in the world just learn to keep their mouths shut, and study in silence." Sampson chuckled.
"Welcome to the voyage of the silent." He shook his head a bit, then his eyes grew more serious. "So what should we do about that ship? If feels too valuable to just leave behind, and not have anything to show for investigating it." Tara pursed her lips.
"Suppose you wanted to create an artificial gravity field, where would you put the generator for that field?" He thought for a moment.
"In the bottom of the ship, near the middle." Then his eyes lit up. "If we go search that section, we can see if there is a unit set up at that location! And if it was small enough to move." He smiled wider. "Artificial gravity would give us an advantage for all future space travel! No need to build to simulate gravity on a small scale, more compact ships, and longer space voyages! Even stations! The possibilities are almost too good to give up!" She smiled.
"Lets float it by the captain first, Sampson. If he agrees, you should choose someone who would assist you to locate, remove, and relocate to our ship." She looked at Daria. "Thompson, I would like your assistance in going through our logs for the trip." Daria frowned but nodded.
"Alright, but why? The information is pretty self explanatory." Tara gave her a straight, but cold look.
"I want your opinions of what you saw on record. What you felt, your assumptions before, and your conclusions after. When we put together a report on that ship, I want it to be thorough." She looked over at Sampson, the engineer they all relied upon. "You too, Sampson. You looked a little bit shaken, and I want that on record. Why you felt that way, and what you thought about." Sampson rolled his eyes.
"What I thought about? That's easy! How could intelligent beings become so desperate that they ate each other? That place felt like a tomb when I saw those bodies, not an advanced space vessel! Creeped me the hell out!" Daria turned towards him.
"You too?" He nodded.
"I'm not made of stone, Thompson, and neither are you! That shit was damned spooky, and less expected then space spiders! Brr!" He shivered. "If you saw that on Earth, it would mark your memories, and give you nightmares. My dad was a cop, and he saw some sick shit in his career. Gave him nightmares too." He smiled sadly. "Don't even think about trying to act tough in those circumstances is what he would tell me. Let it out. Drain away its power, then analyze it. If we were stuck out here, our ship immobile, and we couldn't get home, would we eat each other?" She frowned.
"Of course not! Most likely, we would make a decision to end it peacefully. Like the ones in the airlock did at the end. They might have eaten a bit, but decided not to keep going at the end. They didn't want to starve to death, so they decided to end it properly." Jim nodded.
"Correct. Those were not spooky. It was the bridge, and engineering that housed the nightmares." He smiled again, and leaned his head back against the headrest. "We respect each other too much to allow our bellies to overcome our good judgement. If we were going to starve, we would send out the probe to give the information to headquarters, then vent the ship. No drawing straws. We came out together, we go home together. Anyone gets it in their head to try and take a bite, they'll be spaced before we vent." Daria smiled a relieved smile.
Her nightmares weren't over, but at least she had someone who understood the reasons she had them, and that alone alleviated her concerns about their current mission. Everyone on board was trained, and dedicated to each other professionally. She still couldn't quiet her mind of those troublesome thoughts.
Just how long was that species in space, and what happened that drove them to eat each other, instead of going home? And if they couldn't go home, what happened that prevented them from going through the portal?
She knew Tara had a hypothesis, and she would ask her about it later. Right now, all she wanted to do was crawl into bed, and have Tara tell her it would be alright. Even if she didn't believe it herself.
"It was easier then expected, captain. The unit is small compared to some of our components, but to tell you the truth, I can't make heads or tails about what makes it work. It has power lines running into it, and it also has some familiar configurations with the way circuits seem to work. They aren't circuit boards, but more like sandwiched switches, connected with fiber cables, and all are routed to one self contained unit. It looks like the power needs might also be a direct feed." The captain frowned.
"Wait, are you saying that we could get it working?" Sampson shrugged.
"If we controlled the flow, started out at the possible lowest voltage, just to see what happens, and slowly increase the flow until its doing what I expect it to, then maybe. That's a big maybe. Its an artificial gravity unit, which means it creates a field of mass in the bottom of the ship. We will be drawn to it, just like we are drawn to the center of the earth. If I'm careful enough, I might be comfortable increasing our gravity to the point of the moon, which will help us a lot." He cleared his throat quickly. "However, not until I'm sure I have enough safety features plugged in. Switches to cut the power, foot and hand, and a dead man's switch." The captain thought for a moment.
"Alright, if the power flow is monitored by someone else, you have control over the amount, and someone else has a kill switch, then I'm game with this experiment. Bottom of the ship, along the y axis while we are in transit, not upright in launch mode." Sampson grinned.
"Agreed. Don't want this to be like some Hollywood movie stunt."
"Report!" The captain shouted. The ship began to shake as the power was turned on to the gravity unit.
"The ship is developing a gravitational field in the bottom of the ship, and its creation is shaking the plates right around the others with the greater mass!" The shaking slowed, became more gentle, then eased off until there were only minor vibrations. "Leveling off, sir. Whew! I thought we were gonna be spaced!" Thompson chuckled in his headset.
"Make sure we're not, Sampson. That's your job, remember?"
"Aye. Power drain is stable, and much lower then expected." He took a tentative step, then smiled. "Hey, guys! Release your straps and stand up!" Tara frowned, and stepped forward. She had hold of a strap, and the kill switch.
"Well, I'll be damned." She said softly. "It feels like I'm back on Earth."
The captain looked at the screen, stood up and stretched. He smiled and took a short jump, just to be sure he didn't bang his head on the low ceilings.
"What do you think? Time to go home?" The crew smiled.
"Yes, sir!" Tara looked at her screen for a moment.
"Captain, I would recommend that we disable the artificial gravity while we traverse the portal. We don't know how it would react to the unit, or if it would collapse it accidentally. I don't want to find out in the atmosphere of this monster." He grinned.
"Agreed. Sampson, lower the power until its turned off, then flip the switch to cut off the source. We can power it up on the other side, but for now, it should remain off." Sampson obeyed the order, and waited. The field slowly released its hold, the ship shook for a minute, then slowly eased off again.
"I think that we should keep it off, sir. That unit will need to be examined completely by a team of engineers, and we don't have the resources on board to fix the problems we don't anticipate. The salvage team might also find out how they compensated for this particular problem." The captain grunted.
"Yeah, which is too damned bad, because that gravity felt really good after two years out here! Alright, Thompson, plot our course, and take us home!"
The Earth vessel turned away from the alien ship, and headed directly for the portal. The captain frowned.
"Sampson? Did you turn that generator off?" He turned and looked at his chief engineer. He lifted his hand and still felt the pull. Sampson pressed a few keys, and then looked panicked.
"It felt like it went off, but its still on! Turn us away from the portal! Turn us away from the portal!" He got out of his chair, and rushed down the hall, and all the way, his feet thumped on the plating. The gravity generator was not off.
"Oh shit!" Thompson yelled out. The portal was dead ahead, they were already caught in the gravity well of the gas giant, and the portal just flickered.
Like a light about to go out.
No comments:
Post a Comment