Fundamental Force Episode One (10 page)

If he couldn’t
set off openly from Earth, what the devil sort of meeting was he
flying to? Having gotten himself involved, he felt like a fly
caught up in a web spun by a huge experienced spider. The job not
only reeked of danger, but of death too and now he had no choice.
Even if he managed to survive to the end of the mission, he would
not escape his employers alive. Still, we’ll see. There’s always a
chance...

For now,
however, he simply lay back and settled in comfortably to enjoy the
flight. Not only had the drone flown on a completely automatic
program, it had also blocked all the control systems. Zach had been
given the role not so much of a passenger, but more of a prisoner.
Even access to radio communication was cut off. That was not good,
not good at all. All kinds of things might happen in space, but he
would be unable to call for help.

He partly
closed his eyes. Why go into details? They would only spoil his
mood. When you have to take a big risk, it’s better not to think
about it. Yes, thinking about a risk he could not control would
only spoil his mood...

The strict
secrecy conditions imposed on the mission gave it an element of
surprise for all those taking part in the expedition. With the
exception of the captains and first pilots of the spacecraft,
no-one knew exactly from which part of the Solar System they would
be making the jump to the Gliese system.

As on the last
mission to the gravitational anomaly, Steve and Clive were at the
head of the scientists. Their previous experience of communicating
with the aliens had resulted in them being given the authority to
take difficult decisions and have the last word in unclear
situations.

Also on the
ship were the crew, with the addition of a platoon of SSS for
security, and some of the mission’s scientific personnel. The
astrophysicists accompanying the expedition were not the most
numerous group, but were under a restriction that did not apply to
the other scientists: they were the only ones who were not allowed
to travel together on the same ship up to the very moment of their
return to the Solar System.

This rule was
based on the value of their knowledge of deep space. If something
went wrong and the ships in the convoy ended up scattered all over
the Galaxy, each of them would be able to determine their location
in unexplored space and send an emergency signal to Earth. Their
knowledge, unlike that of the pilots, was not restricted to
navigation only within the limits of the Solar System.

After leaving
lunar orbit, long hours of waiting followed. Clive made good use of
the time by trying to absorb as much information about the Gliese
system as possible, but Steve decided it would be much better to
have a long deep sleep. Twelve hours later, having slept well and
with his stomach full of food from the ship’s galley, he immersed
himself in a novel. When would he get another opportunity for some
light reading?

Pacing around
in his cabin a few days later, Steve suddenly sensed that the ship
was changing course. They were finally turning onto their set
trajectory.

He did not have
to wait long for things to get started. Forty minutes later, the
captain assembled everyone on board except the guards in the
pilot’s compartment. Steve was one of the last to arrive, after all
the seats had been taken. Just after he entered, the pilot looked
inquiringly at the captain, who shook his head.

“We’ll wait for
the others,” he said quietly. “In the meantime, you can open the
windows.”

The pilot
nodded, pressed something on his console and the armor plating over
the front windows slowly slid aside. The starry sky became visible
through the multilaminar glass and although no planetary landmark
could be seen and neither could the Sun, Steve soon worked out
their direction.

On the left was
the constellation Scorpio, on the right Virgo, and between them,
directly on their course, was Libra, towards which their route lay.
Steve could not determine by eye from where in the Solar System
they were starting, however, and his thoughts were interrupted by
the arrival of the other two crew members, breathing hard. It
seemed they had run from the very tail end of the ship.

The captain
looked at those present, counted them and, satisfied with the
result, cleared his throat.

“So, we’re all
here.”

The pilot took
this as a signal for action. After a few rapid manipulations on his
console, he nodded to the engineer sitting next to him.

“We’re ready,
sir,” reported the engineer. “Final synchronization on your
command.”

“Begin.”

Through the
window, they could see that a small shaft had opened up on the bow
end of the hull plating. A massive object of cylindrical shape,
fixed to a long rod, poked out of it. The telescopic tube began to
open up, extending forward like a sword.

At first it
seemed to Steve that its tip was grey all over, but then it
suddenly began to rotate. Reflections of their own ship and of the
Sun shining behind them flashed by in it. It turned out that the
cylinder was not a single solid object, but that its surface was
broken down into a system of mirrors. It gradually increased its
rate of rotation, spinning faster and faster.

“That thing out
there is the synchronizer,” explained the captain in a loud voice.
“We use it to carry out what we call deep synchronization. This
means synchronization in speed and relative position of our group’s
ships in space.

“In case you
don’t already know, we have to fly in the form of a certain
geometrical figure – all at the same speed and every ship strictly
in its position. Because we shall all jump to Gliese together, and
for us all to arrive together, our position relative to each other
must be very precisely calibrated.

“We shall be
making the interstellar part of our journey on the crest of a wave.
All the ships have to be exactly where the very same phase passes
through. If someone makes a mistake in speed or position, in the
best case he will fly off the crest before reaching Gliese and in
the worst, he will end up God knows where...”

“Or will
disintegrate,” added the pilot softly, earning an angry look from
the captain.

“Are those
mirrors inside it?” asked Clive.

“It has a
system of lasers inside,” explained the engineer. “We send a beam
to a prism, where it is split in two. One part goes on to the
synchronizations of the other ships, passes through them and
returns. Here we put them together again and if everything is
correct...”

“We see the
interference picture, right?” said Clive, finishing the sentence
for him.

“Right. But
only if each ship with its synchronization is exactly in its
position. If only one of them is just slightly out of place, we
lose the interference picture.”

“What is the
permissible error?” asked Steve.

“Ten
nanometers,” replied the captain.

Several people
whistled at the same time, as if on cue.

The engineer
pointed to one of the screens.

“The
synchronization sends the picture here. As soon as you see
alternating light and dark lines, we are ready to jump.”

He switched the
image on the largest screen to a schematic depiction of the whole
formation. Against a black background, it showed points floating
above a three-dimensional system of coordinates. Each one was
marked by a serial number, followed by about ten digital
parameters.

“These numbers
are important now. They are the deltas between the vectors of
calculated and actual velocity, plus spatial coordinates. They
should all be at zero...”

“Engines stop!”
ordered the captain.

The pilot
gestured to start the program.

“Switch off
thrust in three, two, one... All engines stopped!”

The ship’s
barely noticeable vibration gradually dwindled to nothing. With the
engines switched off, they were flying in space, away from the
planets, in a straight line and without acceleration. The other
ships could start synchronization at last. After stopping their own
engines, they set about correcting their position and speed with
the aid of special jets, ejecting high-speed plasma in strictly
dosed, milligram portions.

Minutes passed
by. The parameter values changed rapidly, jumping backwards and
forwards. It seemed they would never settle on the required value.
Suddenly all the values for one ship jumped to zero. The computer
framed it in green on the diagram.

“S3-V ready,”
reported the engineer in a satisfied tone.

“Synchronization completed,” reported the computer when the other
ships had achieved the same.

As if on
command, everyone turned their heads towards the monitor for the
detector. Instead of the interference picture, it showed a
pulsating point.

“Is that the
way it should be?” asked someone cautiously.

“Where are the
strips?” asked someone else.

The engineer
stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“Strange.
Everything is in the right position...” he muttered to himself
after a brief pause. “I don’t understand...”

The captain
went up to the engineer’s seat.

“What’s the
problem?”

“There appears
to be an error in the calculations. All the ships are in position,
but there is no interference.”

“Could the
synchronizer calibration be wrong?”

“Maybe. I can’t
say from here. We’ll need an EVA.”

The captain
turned to the technicians.

“How long will
it take to check the synchronizer?”

“At least four
hours.”

“You’d better
get a move on, then.”

“Skip, to save
time, couldn’t we call the base? Let them recheck the
calculations,” suggested the pilot. “They could check it quicker
than we can.”

“No. We’ll try
to sort it out ourselves first. We’ll only break radio silence as a
last resort.”

The captain
turned to the others.

“Everyone apart
from the astrophysicists to their positions.”

Muttering, they
went to the exit, leaving plenty of room in the pilot’s compartment
for Steve and Clive to sit in empty seats and observe the process.
Two people in space suits soon appeared outside. They were
accompanied by a robot assistant towing the servicing
equipment.

All three,
attached by long cables like umbilical cords to the mother ship,
floated towards the rotating cylinder of the synchronizer. This
continued to rotate extremely quickly on the tip of the telescopic
tube, which was a good two hundred meters long. When they reached
the synchronizer and began pottering about around it, the repair
men looked tiny.

Watching the
monitors, Steve saw the green frame around one of the ships
disappear but soon reappear. A minute later the same thing happened
with another ship.

“Why does the
frame keep disappearing and reappearing? We’re flying with engines
switched off, aren’t we?”

“Residual
thrust, perhaps?” suggested Clive.

The engineer
shook his head.

“That’s due to
the thermal expansion of the structures under solar radiation. The
tolerances are very fine, so even something as small as that can be
seen.”

“What if this
desynchronization took place during a jump?” asked Clive.

“We took that
into account. The system knows about these distortions and finds
those moments in time when synchronization can be guaranteed within
30 seconds.”

It was silent
in the pilot’s compartment. Long minutes elapsed. An hour went by,
then a second, then a third... Clive was fidgeting more and more in
his chair. His impatience needed an outlet.

“What the hell
are they doing out there?”

“They’re
checking all the parameters. It’s a time-consuming job.”

“Surely they’ve
had long enough by now?”

“Be patient,”
interjected the commander. “They’re doing all they can. The
synchronizer is a tricky thing. It’s not like checking
batteries...”

“Skip!” was
heard from the loudspeakers. It was one of the repair men calling.
“Everything’s fine here. The synchronizer is running like
clockwork.”

“Roger, come
back in.”

The captain
turned to the engineer.

“Any
ideas?”

The engineer
shrugged.

“Looks like an
error in the calculations, but we won’t be able to check that
ourselves in time. We’ll have to call the base.”

The captain
made no reply, just picked up his mug and went to the exit. He
stopped in front of the door.

“I’ll be back
in ten minutes. If no-one has had any ideas by then, we’ll make the
call.”

As soon as the
door had closed behind him, Clive sprang to life. He jumped out of
his seat and went up to the engineer.

“Show me the
calculations,” he demanded.

“They’re very
complex. You can’t do anything on your own, you’ll need a whole
team...”

“I understand,”
interrupted Clive. “This is the file, isn’t it?”

Without waiting
for permission, he started looking through the documents on the
engineer’s console. The engineer gently pushed Clive away.

“Just a minute.
I’ll give you access to the calculations. Done. Now you can look at
them on your own console,” he said, inserting himself between his
console and Clive.

Clive returned
to his own position and immersed himself in reading. In less than
five minutes, he laughed.

“I think I know
the reason.”

The engineer,
with an exaggeratedly tired expression, turned his seat towards
Clive.

“So what is
it?”

“This wasn’t
the first calculation, was it?”

“That’s right.
We had to delete the first one because we were afraid it was
compromised.”

“OK, so it’s a
different version. The calculations are based on the initial
sequence of the location of the ships in the formation.”