Forbidden the Stars (27 page)

Panicking, Klaus began flailing about, desperate for a lung full of clean, life-giving air.

He had the presence of mind enough to realize he could get air from only one source. “All right! All right! You win! I’ll do whatever you say, only give me some—”

The influx of oxygen was like cool water washing over a feverish forehead, a warm fire in the arctic cold.

Klaus took several deep breaths, remembered that he shouldn’t inhale so deeply, or the oxygen itself would adversely affect him, and slowly, slowly, evened his breathing.

The ATV’s motor flared to life, and Alex said, “Come on, Klaus. Let’s get going.”

“You know,” Klaus said once he had his breath back and had his nausea firmly under control, “you are really a little shit.”

__________

SELECTED ARTICLES :

FROM WORLD ASSOCIATED PRESS :

JULY 2091

In an historic move, United Earth Corporate has abolished the long-standing Luna Charter in favor of a direct administration. Spurred by recent events involving a Chinese expatriate who managed to usurp most of Luna Station’s resources and property, an act which nearly brought the UEC to the brink of an international incident with China, the UEC has penned a new charter nullifying all land claims on Luna Station by country corporation and individual corporations. An official explained that the Station will be independent of any country corporation’s political influence, and in the future, will lease space on Luna Station on a yearly renewal basis.

*

JULY 2091

The Chinese Ambassador is in New York today, in the first of six scheduled meetings attempting to bridge the gap between Western Corporate philosophy, and the long-standing Republic philosophy that has been a cornerstone of Chinese politics for centuries. In a statement issued prior to the first meeting, the ambassador reasserted that his government would not hold NASA or any other agency responsible for the kidnapping of Sakami Chin on Luna Station seven months ago. He also expressed an interest in continuing to build a dialogue between the two great nations in order to further the newest science of Kinemetics. China, who owns more than a hundred asteroid mines, has revealed their suspicions that one or more of their asteroids may have the faster-than-light supraconductor element called Kinemet.

*

AUGUST 2091

The second Pluto mission has successfully launched this morning at 06:23 local time at Kennedy Space Port. The
Orca 2
is a joint mission between NASA and CSE with a mandate to further explore the artifact known as
Dis Pater
, and study its relationship to the Kinemetic influence known as the Manez Effect. With pressure from the European Space Agency as well as the Japanese and South American Organizations, NASA has begun organized a third Pluto mission,
Orca 3,
and has invited representatives from every nation to accompany the flight to our farthest planet. Captain Justine Churchill Turner, Captain of both the
Orca 1
and
Orca 2,
is scheduled to helm the third mission as well.

*

NOVEMBER 2091

NASA has announced in a press release today that they have discovered a small cache of the FTL element Kinemet on their small asteroid, Nimow. According to preliminary tests, Dr. Caven Oahe estimates that the hundred and two kilogram find contains enough potential energy to send a ship to Alpha Centauri and back. Although the Jet Propulsion Lab, in conjunction with Quantum Resources of Canada Corp., has not yet released a timetable, sources indicate that designs for such an interstellar craft are in the works. Physicists and Engineers at the University of South Carolina estimate the first FTL ship could be ready within four years.

*

MARCH 2092

In today’s technological society, organized religion has long been relegated to history books and small gatherings in basements. But in Central America, there is a growing religious movement that some say are a doomsday cult. The Mayan Spiritists, who have been gaining in number over the past year and a half, foresee the end of the world’s civilizations as they stand. When asked, a high-standing member of the organization indicated that, as the Mayan Culture was once the most advanced society in the world, it will once again inherit mastery of the Earth.

*

MARCH 2092

Scientists from the
Orca 2
have not been able to discover the origin or intent of the Plutonian artifact,
Dis Pater
. After weeks of investigation, members of the
Orca 2
mission are no closer to solving the puzzle of the huge monolith on the Dark Planet. A NASA spokeswoman says this is not unexpected. The last time the artifact showed any kind of activity was during the first Orca mission, when it responded to the triggering of the FTL element, Kinemet. The
Orca 2
mission is not mandated to conduct any Kinematic experiments; instead, that will be reserved for the
Orca 3
mission, an undertaking which will be shared by all active space agencies of the Earth. The
Orca 2
will takeoff from Pluto tomorrow morning, and is scheduled to arrive on Luna in an estimated six months.

*

AUGUST 2092

Quantum Resources Inc. of Toronto, Canada Corp. has released the latest results of their joint research project with the JPL of NASA. The mystery of Kinemet, once referred to as Element X, has been solved. With recent discoveries of Kinemet deposits on more than twenty asteroids in the past year, research has been shifted into high gear, and has yielded fantastic results, says a Quantum Resources spokesman. “It is only a matter of time before we can outfit an interstellar ship with a Kinemet-powered engine.” The complete report on Kinemet can be found on the Quantum Resources Meshsite, mirrored at NASA.

*

NOVEMBER 2092

The
Orca 2
has returned to Earth, and its seven-member crew is in debriefing in Houston. NASA and CSE declare the mission a success, even though very little new information has been accumulated on the artifact,
Dis Pater
. A complete sensor array was left behind on Pluto to document any future reaction from the artifact.

*

JANUARY 2093

NASA and CSE have announced the upcoming schedule for the test launch of the first interstellar spacecraft.
The Quanta,
as the ship has been dubbed, is a one-man ship designed without a payload. Its primary mission will be to achieve the first recorded FTL flight. The ship will travel from Luna Station to Pluto, where it will rendezvous with the
Orca 3
mission for the jet-propelled return trip. A date for the launch has not been announced, but analysts from the Canadian Astronomy Association say the next window for a flight to Pluto will be October 2094, landing on the farthest planet seven months later, approximately May 2095. The most probable date for the FTL test flight will be then.

*

OCTOBER 2094

Major Justine Churchill Turner is on her way to Pluto for the third time. The
Orca 3
successfully blasted off Luna Station early this afternoon. Three and a half years ago, Major Turner played a key part in the capture of international criminal Chow Yin on Luna Station; she is something of a celebrity there, with a planetarium named after her. Of historical note, Major Turner is a descendant of Percival Lowell, the astronomer who first theorized the existence and possible location of Pluto.

*

MARCH 2095

NASA has announced the name of the pilot who will take the helm of the first FTL flight. Captain Mitchel Kincardine of Canadian Space Exploration has been selected from nearly three hundred qualified applicants to undertake this historic mission. Capt. Kincardine, father of two, has long been a pilot for CSE.

*

APRIL 2095

The Quanta,
NASA/CSE’s interstellar spacecraft which is scheduled to make the first FTL flight next month, is en route to Luna Station where it will be outfitted with a Kinemet engine and tested in zero gravity a few thousand kilometers above the moon’s surface. Captain Kincardine is accompanying the ship, and has been quoted as saying that he is looking forward to seeing his name written alongside Christopher Columbus, Yuri Gagarin, and Neil Armstrong.

__________

Luna Station :

Luna :

The unrelenting chorus
repeated itself in his mind, and had been for four long years.

The sounds of the planets were slowly driving him insane with their message of urgency.

Come to us, Alex. Come to us.

He was working towards that as fast as he could, but he had to wait for others.

Wait.

Always wait.

Watching every move, reading every word published, communicating with others who could provide him with any scraps that would help him complete his task.

They had announced a date, and he had to shift his preparations into high gear.

The music of the spheres told him so.

Come to us, Alex. Come.

__________

The Quanta
:

Luna Station :

Luna :

May 2095

Alex Manez took a deep
, agonizing breath and ran his fingers through the thin wisps of his hair, once long and luxurious.

The fourteen-year old then strapped himself into the leather-back pilot seat of the space craft and began systematically flipping switches, turning dials, and pressing specific buttons on the panoramic console surrounding him in the cockpit. Every so often, he took readings from the various meters and consulted the computer monitor, rechecking this figure or that.

He had to be sure that everything was running smoothly, at this stage of the game, since he was on his own on a project that would ordinarily require the input and coordination of hundreds of personnel. Alex was undertaking this task of his without the permission of those hundreds.

Alex was stealing the FTL ship they had dubbed,
The Quanta.

The vessel, highly experimental, was owned by the United Earth Corporate, each member country having invested heavily in the project in the hopes of reaching the outer planets of Sol System in a matter of hours, rather than the months that it took at present.

Because of the unusual mission assigned to
The Quanta,
the only means of piloting and navigating the craft was via the onboard computer—the mission control’s part was only an observe-and-assist position.

Because he could manipulate electrical machines, it was child’s play to create enough distractions in the lunar hanger for him to pass unnoticed.

Once Alex had snuck onto the ship where it had been temporarily docked in Lunar Station’s port—all the while ensuring no one else was yet on board—it had taken him only a few minutes to orient himself and take command of the vessel.

The first thing he did was to disconnect all on-line communications with the mission control centers on the Station and on Earth. The only link he kept alive was to the docking computer, which, in turn, he had already fixed with a virus that would recognize launch requests from him, but disregard any abort command from any other source.

Then he secured the hull, locked the ship electronically, and, finally, after obtaining the proper launch permission from the Lunar Station docking computer, he fired the ship’s main engines. He had to do this before setting the trajectory and acceleration controls; the ignited jet fuel of the mundane engines would keep the security force that just arrived at the port well away from
The Quanta
while Alex went through the rest of the preliminary launch procedures. Oxygen control, cabin pressure, launch stats; all checked. He reset diagnostics one more time, and aligned the launch trajectory to put him in a gosling orbit following Mother Moon once he lifted off. He could not rely on the mission control computer. Access to that resource was denied him.

As Alex programmed the ship, and prepared for takeoff, he smiled. It was the first time he had smiled in years, ever since returning to translunar space from Pluto.

Getting aboard
The Quanta
and pirating it had been easy; it would have put the Nova Pirates to shame. Nobody paid attention to a fourteen-year old wandering about.

He was certain no one would recognize him.

Four years ago, once the search for him had been exhausted, the world had turned their attention to developing Kinemet and their precious FTL Quanta spacecraft. He had been left at the wayside to sink or swim on his own.

It was a simple bargain he had made with Captain Gruber and Klaus. They sheltered him in their station for the duration, and he loaned them his services. Alex did not participate in their illegal activities, but he was the perfect early warning system for when security patrols gave surprise inspections. And with his ability to scan the entire solar system from inside his mind, he often detected wrecked vessels and other salvage which Captain Gruber could lay claim. It was a profitable arrangement for both parties.

It was only after a few months of his stay when Alex had started to develop the debilitating sickness in his bone marrow. Lunar gravity had helped prolong complete dysfunction, so long as he avoided the any area powered by gravitrons, but it was only a matter of time before a single step would shatter his bones.

Like Chow Yin.

It was the exposure to Kinemet that had done this to him. He knew it as well as he knew that to drink a liter of strychnine was to ensure you did not see tomorrow.

He also knew that in order to save his own life, he needed once again to come in contact with Kinemet. Over the past years, his powers had faded somewhat, but even being within a hundred meters of the fantastic supermetal now on board
The Quanta,
he was already feeling rejuvenated.