Nu Trilogy 1: The Esss Advance (11 page)

The master chronicler was worried. They were approaching the new galaxy at the relatively high speed necessary to make the intergalactic jump. The nursery was doing well so far, but supplies were dwindling. At this velocity, there would be only one chance to release the six interstellar ships, and the spot had to be chosen carefully.

The master miners of this and past generations had already prepared a chamber large enough to assemble the six ships. This chamber was close enough to the surface that they could separate the final layer of the planetesimal with six carefully placed charges at each apex of two overlapping triangles. Then the surface piece would be lifted away by a combination of small rocket engines placed underneath and simple centrifugal force from their rotation. All of this had been recorded during the conclave and passed forward to the current master chronicler as part of the Esss Chronicles. These sacred recordings were the sole responsibility of the master to protect, review, interpret, and enhance.

The master engineers had no problem assembling the six interstellar ships. There had been more than enough time during the voyage to accomplish this task. The ships were assembled just beyond the apex charges on what appeared to be the floor of the chamber. This would allow them to lift off from the floor, proceed forward over the opening, and then maneuver slowly into open space. The plan was simple but effective.

As their home for the past several million years passed through the edge of the new galaxy and the ships were released, their problem would be bleeding off their intergalactic speed. They would use up almost their entire fuel supply in each ship just trying to slow down to the speed of the stars rotating around the galaxy. This meant that a target system must be chosen where they could refuel. The system need not have suitable planets to colonize. It just needed to have a gas giant planet that they could tap for refueling.

This is what worried the master chronicler. They had very little control over their intergalactic trajectory and had to count on luck that they would pass near enough to an appropriate star system for refueling. On their current trajectory, they would pass near enough to only a few systems, and the correct one had to be chosen or all would be lost. Gathering data on each of the systems was its primary focus at the moment. Their ship had to be close enough to each system to detect movement of the star caused by a large enough gas giant planet but still far enough away that the interstellar ships would have time to decelerate relative to the star without blowing past and not having enough fuel to get back to the star system.

Hopefully, at least one of the six intergalactic missions would be successful (assuming the other five missions had not succumbed already to supply shortages or other unknown circumstances).

There were only three likely candidate systems on their trajectory, and the master chronicler gathered and sorted through every bit of intelligence it could gather on each system. One of the three was eliminated because it was determined the tiny displacements in the star’s motion were caused not by a gas giant but by a larger brown dwarf sun. The infrared signature only became obvious shortly before the ships had to be released. This left two potential candidates, and the master knew it must choose between them immediately. After a short but relaxing stay in the sacred crèche waters, the master chose the closer of the two systems.

From deep in the crèche, the master began the thrumming chant that was picked up by the external biologic sensors attached all around the crèche and then amplified and routed throughout the enormous island of life. Every Esss picked up the basic thrumming chant and enhanced it in a feedback loop that brought the entire ship alive with activity. It was like a flower blossoming from what appeared to be a dried up seed.

Fuel lines extended from the deeply embedded fuel storage tanks into each of the interstellar craft. Long unused generators awoke, generating electricity to charge the systems in each ship. Esss engineers flowed like ants over, around, and through each vessel, awakening all of the systems and running all of the tests to verify that everything worked as designed. When any problem was discovered, the engineers either repaired the system or replaced it as necessary.

During the entire process, the thrumming continued. Variations marked the beginning of each new stage of the preparations, keeping all of the participants synchronized with the plan, and, in the end, all six ships were ready for departure well before the scheduled time.

Sted’s full crew of twelve had been on board and worked into two efficient teams for their twelve-hour shifts. The trip to the belt had been slowed to the cruising speed of the mining platform, and this had allowed several weeks of thorough training.

Julie Cross, the lead pilot on this mission, had proved to be a solid replacement for Marty Alverez. She had taken over and helped the crew complete the last four days of the trial. Her experience on the Gamma class mining ships was invaluable to Sted in completing the trials. Now she guided them to an appropriate, though less dense, area in the belt where the mining platform could reconfigure back to its original purpose. The platform would be on call for the first asteroid Sted and his crew discovered.

This final operational phase of the trial for the
Delta
was just as important as all those preceding. This is where they would find out how effective the new ship was at discovering and, if necessary, defending any valuable claims.

Because of their new higher speed engines, they could actually work this area of the belt that other miners had avoided previously. Also, with a dedicated and fully stocked mining platform in the area and no competing mining ships, Sted did not have to worry so much about resupply of his ship. They would stay within point laser hailing distance of the platform for the next several weeks in case any trouble developed.

With the ship now going operational, Sted decided that calling his ship
Delta One
had gone far enough. This ship deserved a proper name. Sted engaged his crew as well as the mining platform crew in a contest to find just the right name. There were several entries, but Sted selected what seemed the most appropriate. Eddie Sampson, their new chief engineer and an avid history buff, submitted the name “Scorpion” after the
USS Scorpion
(SS-278). This submarine was commissioned during WWII and was tasked with laying mines along the Japanese coastline. It was also a close-in fighting ship that sent several Japanese freighters to the bottom of the ocean during the war.

Although the mining reference was for a different kind of mining, the image of the sting of a small scorpion bringing down larger prey was perfect as far as Sted was concerned. Before they departed the mining platform on their first mining run, he officially christened the ship the
AMC Scorpion
.

The Nu reinforcements were about to arrive in the outer shell. AlvaResh’s team had spent the interim scouting the debris in the shell to find ideal candidates to send down to their selected planet. The water content had to be high in each body selected. The first candidates sent were the largest. The world was too young to have much of an atmosphere, so little had been lost during that phase. Later, when a small shell of atmosphere developed from the continuous impact of these larger candidates, smaller bodies would be sent so as not to disturb this tenuous shell, which would be gathering warmth from the sun and helping to ameliorate large swings in temperature on the planet’s surface.

Destabilizing each body’s orbit around the distant star was handled by using their interstellar ships to slow down the body’s orbital speed. This was enough to allow the star’s gravity to pull it inward. Once the plunge had begun, one of the Nu would be selected to ride herd on this massive projectile. The Nu would inject a significant portion of itself directly into what would become a grand comet as it spiraled inward.

The portion of the Nu that was now on board played a significant role in guiding the comet. The goal was to strike the third planet on the first inward pass so that ablation of the water, ammonia, and methane ice would be kept to a minimum. This would be accomplished by transforming part of the comet into small methane jets. The Nu rider would control these jets over the thousands of years necessary to bring the comet to the inner system. Deviations in the path through the outer shell caused by other planetesimals or by the larger gas giant planets required on-board course correction. The Nu accomplished this by placing a part of themselves aboard to act as observer, course computer, and engineer for creating and controlling the methane jets.

Once enough of the larger planetesimals had been nudged into the inner system, the Nu could withdraw and continue the search for other such promising star systems. They would return after this star system completed two rotations around this galaxy (approximately 450 million years) to begin phase two.

The
AMC Scorpion
had completed the final operational testing phase more than three months prior. The assay class vessel had proven itself by discovering almost a dozen asteroids with enough valuable minerals to engage the mining platform for the next year. At that point, the platform could make the long and tedious trek back to the foundries in orbit on the opposite side of the sun.

After filing his final report to AMC headquarters on the
Scorpion’s
performance, Sted received orders to proceed to that area in the belt where AMC was experiencing their greatest problem with claim jumping. Cam personally sent a note to Sted requesting that the
Scorpion
work the area where AMC had lost their ship and crew. Cam was not looking for revenge primarily. According to the note, he knew the area was rich with tungsten and bauxite deposits, and he wanted an assay ship capable of defending itself in that area to help boost their sagging bottom line.

Sted had ordered all of their stores to be replenished at the mining platform before departing and had Julie set a course across the orbital path to their destination. With a Gamma class ship, this course would have required resupply multiple times. As it was, Sted had to establish a resupply rendezvous point and time prior to their departure so he would be able to restock upon arrival.

Since the small assay ships were often working the belt for ten- to twelve-month stints, AMC had established a unique resupply system that allowed these vessels to continue working without having to return to either a mining platform or one of the foundries every couple of months. Each assay ship’s captain was given a unique 4096-bit encryption key to use for resupply communication with AMC’s lunar base. Using the key, the captain would establish a place and time that he wanted a resupply capsule delivered to the belt. Then AMC would work with the lunar MagRail authorities to have the capsule flung from the lunar surface to arrive at the appropriate time and place. The capsules were painted matte black and were relatively small and were thus virtually undetectable by someone not looking for them. A timer on the capsule was used to switch on a low-powered homing beacon just one day prior to arriving at its destination. This high-security approach prevented others from intercepting resupply shipments. In this manner, AMC could support a small fleet of assay ships without the necessity of maintaining a resupply base of operations and sending regular resupply ships on round trips from the moon to the base.

As with any long-distance operation, logistics was a key component to the success of any mission. AMC did not have the resources of the Space Navy with its shipyards and centralized bases of operation, so it made up for this through ingenuity and nimbleness.

Their foothold had been established. All six interstellar ships had abandoned their intergalactic transport and come to rest in the periphery of this new galaxy. After refueling, five of the vessels departed their new base of operations in search of their first planetary nursery. The master ship with the nursery aboard stayed behind to maintain that nursery and await word from one of the five explorers that a new home had been found.

It was time to be patient once again. The master chronicler had plenty of time to organize and record all of the information related to arrival at this new promising galaxy. These recordings would be stored along with those chronicling the creation and sending of the intergalactic ships. They would be needed in the far distant future when this galaxy became too crowded with Esss offspring and a jump to the next galaxy was required. Lessons learned were never forgotten.