Fundamental Force Episode One (6 page)

“Only a few
hours? We shan’t have time! As you know, the approach time of large
space ships is... they are like space elephants, they aren’t
responsive enough. Surely it ought to be possible to provide the
information earlier?”

“I was the one
who proposed that the president should only have the information
just before the start. He is not in charge of the technical side,
there’s no reason for him to have information he doesn’t need.
That’s why, as I say, the data will come in just a few hours
beforehand, no earlier than that. We don’t want to arouse
unnecessary suspicions, do we?”

“But...”

The senior of
the three made a calming gesture to the others, who shut up at
once.

“If there’s no
other way, we’ll just have to put up with it.”

The smile
finally left LeRoy’s face, which nevertheless became more
friendly.

“Quite right.
I’ll make sure we get it done in time. To do that, we’ll have to
use some reserve ships. I don’t know where the jump will be from,
but for technical reasons, there are only four regions in question.
Therefore, we need four absolutely identical ships at four points,
ready for takeoff.”

The three put
their heads together and began whispering. LeRoy turned his back on
them and started softly whistling some tune or other as he looked
at his fingers.

“I’m afraid
that four ships with the equipment we need will cost us a
considerable sum. So considerable that the viability of the project
would be called into question,” said the leader, when they had
finally finished whispering.

LeRoy stopped
whistling and turned back towards them.

“You mean you
won’t be able to find enough to finance it?”

“No, of course
we can finance it. It’s something else. These are different
conditions, after all. The cost of the project has increased. To
keep to the previous share of participation would be...”

LeRoy leaned
forward, groped in his briefcase, took out the cube and put it on
the table.

“The game will
go on as long as our agreement is in force. Changing the terms,
even the hint of a change, means I leave the project. Remember
that, gentlemen. Have a productive day.”

For the whole
20 minutes Steve was on the train, he kept looking away from his
tablet and at the drinks and snacks machine humming softly a few
paces away. Its bright display was showing cyclic video clips of
rivers of cold beer and fresh fruit juices, periodically
interspersed with contented people cracking big nuts and eating
succulent hot dogs, crunchy potato chips.

The images were
having a torture-like effect on Steve’s hungry body, since he had
overslept that morning and had not had time for breakfast, but he
steeled himself against the thought of approaching the machine.
There was complete silence outside as the mountain landscapes
rushed past. It would only be another five minutes to the campus,
ten at most. He would lunch there and lunch well, giving full reign
to his hunger. It would be a pity to spoil his appetite with
snacks. He once again forced himself to ignore the mental picture
of getting up, going to the machine, pulling out a steaming hot dog
and adding a generous amount of ketchup before devouring it.

Steve opened
today’s menu for their university refectory on his tablet. Over the
past few years, it had improved the dishes it had on offer
considerably and had even won a prize for the best university
refectory in the country... Ah, his favorite pancakes with vanilla
custard were on today. One serving usually consisted of two
pancakes, which he had always considered somewhat inadequate.
Perhaps he’d place a double order today... Steve closed his tablet
and put it away in his rucksack. He still couldn’t keep his mind on
science. Thoughts of food were forcing everything else out...

The train
suddenly entered a tunnel. Not far to the campus now. He rose from
his seat, collected his things and moved towards the door. Outside,
a couple of feet from the windows, the tunnel lights were flashing
past. The train’s very high speed produced the effect of someone
having switched on a stroboscope to put the passengers in festive
mood. Just like a disco, enough to hurt your eyes...

Steve caught
the aroma of vanilla custard a good few meters from the refectory.
The smell, multiplied by his hunger, made him quicken his pace. He
heard someone running up behind him and glanced back over his
shoulder.

Clive’s
unbuttoned jacket was blowing in the wind as he ran and he waved to
attract Steve’s attention. Typical of him to appear just at the
most inappropriate moment.

“I’m so glad I
found you!” puffed Clive as he reached him.

“What’s
happened?”

“I had a call
from Shelby, he wants us both to go and see him at once.”

“Couldn’t it
wait till after lunch?”

“No, no, no! He
said it’s a matter of the greatest urgency. It’s a bit late for
lunch anyway...”

Steve looked
sadly at the entrance to the refectory building and sighed deeply.
The aroma of vanilla was so intense and tempting that the thought
of going to Shelby’s study instead filled him with deep regret.

“Clive, I’ve
come straight from the conference, I’ve only just landed. I haven’t
had a bite to eat since yesterday evening. You go, I’ll be along in
half an hour or so.”

He would have
walked on towards the refectory, but Clive grabbed his sleeve.

“Just tell him
you couldn’t find me.”

Clive took
Steve by the arm and pulled him the other way.

“I can’t do
that!”

“So what’s all
the hurry about?”

The roar of
turbines could suddenly be heard overhead as a small ship, painted
in the dark grey of the space fleet, appeared from behind the
façades of the old buildings on the other side of the lake. It
passed over them, throttled back to low thrust, did a half-turn and
slowed down somewhere above the building of the astronomy and
astrophysics faculty. Its silhouette could be seen through the
sparse trees as it smoothly came in to land. Once it had landed,
the turbine noise soon faded to nothing.

“You can see
why...”

“You mean
that’s come for us?”

“It looks like
it.”

Steve sighed in
disappointment. There would be no pancakes with vanilla custard for
him today.

Shelby was
standing next to the ship and discussing something with one of the
officers.

“There you are
at last!” he said, nodding to the officer, in whose hands appeared
a small instrument with a black antenna. It looked like a metal
detector. Without saying a word, he passed it in front of and
behind Clive and Steve, scanning their bodies.

“It’s a
security measure,” explained Shelby.

After
completing the scan, the officer nodded approvingly.

“All
clear.”

They sat inside
the small yet spacious-looking passenger compartment and unbuttoned
their coats while the officer who had scanned them closed the
outside door. The plane’s engines started up again, raising a
mighty storm of dust, grass and yellow leaves from where it had
landed.

The façade of
the faculty buildings and the tops of the trees floated past the
porthole. Gradually gaining speed, the plane rose sharply.

“I am
consulting with MacQueen in connection with the Gliese flight
project,” began Shelby. “I think you will have guessed that
already. But there’s something else interesting that has been kept
secret. Until yesterday. Did you see the evening debate with the
President?”

Clive and Steve
both shook their heads.

“In that case,
you will be interested to learn that the military has an
experimental space travel technology by which we can reach the
Gliese system in three weeks.”

“Twenty light
years in three weeks? You mean they’ve discovered the secret of the
aliens’ portals?”

“You could put
it that way. We have theoretical models of the physical principle
and they look quite convincing. As we now know for certain, the
portals changed the structure of space-time by threads of
Planck-length thickness, but this principle does not work
anymore.

“When it became
clear that this was a dead-end technology, the study was wound up.
It was no longer suitable for creating portals. But the new way is
based on different principles.”

“It’s strange
that I haven’t heard anything about these studies,” said Clive in
surprise.

“There’s
nothing strange about it. These studies were not made publicly
accessible. By the way, I should warn you that unauthorized
revelation of the details carries a penalty of life imprisonment. I
am telling you about this because your former status allowing you
access to secret information has been restored.”

“All the same,
it’s not clear how this portal would work using the secret
technology,” said Clive.

“You can ask
technical questions when we arrive at the Lunar Base. The portal is
controlled from there. You’ll see what’s what with your own
eyes.”

“And have they
restored unlimited credit too?” asked Clive.

Shelby
laughed.

“For where the
journey is going this time, credit will not be needed.”

“Do you want us
to join the expedition?” asked Clive.

Shelby
nodded.

“Do you have
any objection?”

“How long will
we be away?” asked Steve.

“The estimate
for the whole expedition is twelve weeks.”

“As little as
that?”

“The military
authorities believe that will be long enough. As I said, the
one-way journey itself lasts three weeks. We start from the Lunar
Base, then two weeks to reach a safe distance from the inner
planets. After that the portal opens and the whole group jumps to
the Gliese system. This will take no more than a few minutes. The
rest of the time will be spent reaching a point from which we can
make contact and conduct negotiations.

“We shall have
six weeks to settle everything, after which the group will set the
opposite course and a week later will be far enough away from the
aliens to make a jump safely again. The portal will reopen and
transport us back to the Solar System. Another two weeks and we’ll
be home.”

“But why all
the hurry?”

“Two versions
of the project were produced initially. A flight of 20 light years
for our ships by the classic method would take a little over a
hundred years. The people who flew would have to be prepared to
leave the Solar System forever. They would be in a similar position
to the first Mars colonists, except that contact with Earth from
where they were would be impossible.

“In parallel
with this project, the military experimented with a new high-speed
travel technology. Today they have advanced far enough for us to
try to use not the initial plan, but the quicker version. The
public only knew about the first version. Until yesterday, when the
president revealed that we had the new portal technology in an open
broadcast. Now that everyone knows, we have to set off as soon as
possible.”

“Why?”

“For security
reasons. It will not be a mini-portal. It will stretch across space
for several light hours, which means that everyone who knows the
coordinates and vector will be able to fly to Gliese. It is too
large a sector of space for the Fleet to monitor it and prevent
such attempts. Therefore, we are starting as soon as we can, so as
not to let third parties jump into Gliese along with the official
expedition. The less time the preparations take, the less chance of
unauthorized use of the portal.”

“Are you
talking about pirates?”

“No, at least
not primarily. They are too poorly equipped. It’s more a matter of
various industrial groups of interests that would like to use the
portal to reach Gliese. They have sufficient resources to do that
sort of thing. The military think that is too great a risk.”

“But why do
they need to do it?”

“Business, what
else?”

“What business
could they have in Gliese?”

Shelby
laughed.

“Just wait till
we’ve made contact, Steve. Five or so years later, you will see how
many opportunities exist there. The military have no reliable
information on the exact plans, but what they have discovered
clearly points to the activities of certain very influential
economic groups who are collecting data to this end. And for
security reasons, we cannot allow anyone else, with unclear
intentions, to be in Gliese apart from the official expedition.
It’s too dangerous.”

“Why us in
particular?”

“You must be
joking, Steve,” said the professor in surprise. “Your role in the
first contact and in the second one too... You are now doomed to be
linked to all such projects for evermore. That is a cross you’ll
have to bear for the rest of your life.”

The ship was
flying at an altitude of several thousand feet. Far below, a few
clouds floated by, throwing a shadow on the empty bluish ocean
extending from horizon to horizon.

“Where are we
flying now?”

“You are bound
for the Lunar Base, but first we have to cover our tracks a bit.
They may be on our tails.”

Soon the ship
began its descent into a grey mist. The further it descended, the
darker it became outside the porthole. It was gloomy weather over
the place to which the ship was heading.

Steve looked
out of the porthole. Nothing could be seen because of the dense
cloud. The ship passed through the cloud base and the clouds
outside disappeared. Before them, in the middle of the ocean, lay
an island. In its brightly illuminated center, military ships could
be seen parked here and there. But instead of landing next to them,
their ship flew around the base and carefully taxied into one of
the tall hangars. Through the portholes, they could see the
servicing personnel inside turning away from the hurricane of wind
from its engines.