The Orthogonal Galaxy (44 page)

“
How do we knows what
health effects there is with humans travelin’ at these speeds? I
mean… won’t we get torn to shreds up there?”

“
Actually, no… we don’t
believe that you’ll be harmed in any way. Physicists are rapidly
converging on a set of mathematical models which are very
encouraging. They suggest that traveling faster than the speed of
light merely requires the escape of the electromagnetic force. It
turns out that the mechanics of escaping EM isn’t at all
destructive to the atoms which comprise any physical
body.”

“
But we won’t be subject
to electromagnetism?” Blade’s question was animated.

Edwards looked intently at
Gilroy who was weighing the answer. “That’s right.”

“
Absurd!” responded Blade
in agitation. “Without the EM force, we’d be nothin’. All the
molecules that make me who I am are kept together because of EM.
Without it, the finger attached to my hand will float off into
space. The hand attached to my wrist? Same thin’. Wrist? Arm?
Shoulder? Like I said, we’d be shred to pieces without
electromagnetism. It’s—it’s—it’s responsible fo’ darn near
everythin’ we ‘xperience in life.”

“
Well, this led physicists
to some concern, but as Dr. Zimmer reiterated, there must have been
an answer to that question, otherwise there would be nothing
keeping the comet together once it had obtained warp speed. It
turns out that recent mathematical models indicate that once matter
obtains warp speed, it enters a state of suspension. All atoms
effectively remain frozen in place. While it is true that there is
no electromagnetic force to keep atoms together, there are very
small sub-atomic particles which act as a glue to keep everything
intact.”

“
But without
electromagnetism, how we s’pposed to see or hear anythin’? Light
and sound travel in EM waves, y’know.”

Dr. Gilroy leaned closely
over the table. “Blade, have you ever heard of
cryogenics?”

Blade instantly realized
where this was going. “You mean yer gonna freeze us? I thought the
technology was still unproven and dangerous. If traveling the speed
of light don’ kill us, then freezin’ us certainly will.”

“
No, no…” Gilroy asserted.
“We won’t be freezing you at all, but we believe that warp speed
yields effectively the same result. You will be suspended in time.
It’s like being frozen without having to lower the core temperature
of your body. In fact, even the 98.6 degree body temperature that
you will have at that velocity will remain suspended until you slow
down below the speed of light. It’s really like stopping time. And
why shouldn’t it be? Einstein gives us the relationship of time and
speed. The faster you go, the slower time goes. Once you hit the
speed of light, time stops. And now we know the reason why… because
the EM force fades to zero. The strength of electromagnetism yields
to weaker quantum forces that simply preserve the state of the body
traveling faster than the speed of light in freeze-frame as it
were.”

Blade’s mind kept whirring
with excitement over these newfound theories. “Ok, so then if we
have this comet that’s goin’ faster than the speed of light, and
it’s frozen, why is there a tail? Shouldn’t it simply stay frozen?
If the freeze theory is right, then tell me how’s it sheddin’
matter.”

Gilroy sat back in his
chair with a smile. “You really think through everything, don’t
you, Blade? Let me answer your question with a question. What do
you think happens when an object traveling faster than the speed of
light strikes another object which is not?”

Blade thought for a
moment, but Gilroy didn’t give him enough time to think through his
answer. “The tail of the comet is due to material stripping away
from the comet because of particle impacts. As it hits matter in
front of it, tiny atomic-level explosions result that cause the
matter to unfreeze and drop back to sub-warp speed.”

Blade was not appeased.
“When we’re ridin’ in the tail of the comet, won’t we be bumpin’
into other matter? Won’t our spaceship tear apart?”

“
No, because it only
happens when you hit matter which is subluminal. By the time the
Star Transport obtains warp speed, you’ll be comfortably in the
middle of the tail with nothing but particles that are traveling
faster than the speed of light. You will gradually accelerate
towards this point and then gradually decelerate away from this
point, all under computer control. Effectively, you’ll be riding
behind the comet, which will block everything... kind of like a
windshield keeps the bugs from hitting your face as you drive on
the freeway.”

“
But won’ the computer be
frozen too? I mean, once we’s travelin’ faster than the speed of
light, there’ll be no control of the system.” Blade volleyed back
across the table.

At this Gilroy leaned
back, and cocked his head while wearing a playful smiled. “Ah, did
I forget to mention the time bombs?”

Blade’s eyes grew into
large circles, while Paol quickly whipped his head forward as if to
hear better.

“
In the last several
months, we’ve come to understand that superluminal matter is not
subject to the speed of light. The other forces, however, remain in
tact. In our case, in order to start moving the ship back out of
the tail, we’ll use the weak nuclear force to our advantage. By
calculating the half-life of a heavy metal, we can combine the
exact ratio of masses between a certain gas and the decayed
material. At a point where we desire, the decayed matter will be of
sufficient mass to cause an explosive reaction with the gas. The
explosion will be used to propel the vehicle back out of the
comet’s tail. Once the ship has hit the outer reaches of the tail,
where matter is traveling at sub-warp speeds, it will act as a
breaking system that will slowly decelerate the vehicle. Once the
Star Transport is traveling less than the speed of light, the
computer will be able to take over and make course corrections
based on its position. Of course, since the computer is coming out
of a deep sleep, it really won’t know initially where it is at. It
will use image sensors to scan the sky around it in order to
calculate its exact location and then put the spaceship back on
track with its rendezvous with Earth2.”

After a pause, all that
Blade could muster were the words, “Time bomb.”

“
Oh, don’t worry about
that Blade. The explosion will be very small, not enough to damage
the ship, of course. It’s no more harmful than the explosion of
fiery gasoline that occurs in your car’s engine.”

Paol was dumbstruck by all
of these concepts. “Sounds a whole lot like sci-fi to me,” he said
in deep, serious tones. He wasn’t appeased by Gilroy’s
response.

“
It is—at least for the
next couple of years. As we refine all of these mechanisms and
concepts, we’ll need to do extensive testing to see if we can pull
it all together. We remain optimistic that we’ll be able to pull it
off.”

Questions flooded the
minds of both Blade and Paol, and as quickly as they could come,
Gilroy did his best to either answer them or defer them to their
normal course of training. In due time all questions would be
answered. He did proceed to tell them of the mission in its basic
form. Hitch a ride on a comet tail, orbit the Milky Way, visit
another Earth, study it for a few years, and return with oodles of
data.

Blade asked one final
question at the end of the two-hour overview briefing session. “Dr.
Gilroy?”

“
Yes, Blade.”

“
Why’d we get tapped fo’
this job? Ya’ gotta have hundreds of astronauts more capable of
this job. We don’t know nothin’ ‘bout bein’ astronauts. It don’t
make sense.”

Gilroy sighed. “I think
you know the answer to that question, Blade. Our astronauts think
it’s too much of a commitment at best, and suicidal at
worst.”

Paol interjected. “So,
give it to us straight, Doctor. I’m guessing you’re a man with a
conscience. Tell us—if you wish to continue to sleep at night—what
are the odds of the mission?”

“
Well... that’s impossible
to say, Gentlemen.”

“
Humor
us, then,” Paol goaded. “Tell us what you
think
the odds of success are. It
sounds like there is just so much that could go wrong, don’t you
agree?”

“
There certainly is, but
we have five years to get everything as perfect as possible. After
we’re done, and Star Transport takes off from Edwards Air Force
Base, all we can do is put it in the hands of God.”

Gilroy gave no indication
that he was going to answer the question. Paol gave every
indication that he wasn’t satisfied with this approach, but for the
time being, he deferred questioning to allow the briefing to
continue.

“
Let’s turn to logistics,”
Gilroy said after an insufficiently basic briefing of the mission.
There simply wasn’t enough time to answer every question and
placate every fear just yet.

“
Typically, an astronaut
candidate comes to us with a set of skills that is mandatory for
mission training. Neither of you have any of that, so the first
step will be to make potential astronauts out of you. A physical,
intellectual, and training regimen will be required to make sure
the basic sciences and physical conditioning result. Further, you
will both need to be trained as jet pilots and will need to log
hundreds of hours of flight time in order to get you comfortable
with the concepts of flying. Only then will real mission training
begin.

“
Your schedule will be as
follows. You will wake up at 5:30 AM every weekday morning.
Personal trainers will meet you in the gym on Mondays and Thursdays
at 5:45 AM. You will be at the gym until 7:00 AM. You will have one
half hour of personal preparation before reporting to the astronaut
candidate cafeteria for breakfast. At 8:15, you’ll be in class,
learning aeronautics. At 11:00, you’ll turn to the simulator to get
cockpit training on the XJ-20 fighter jet. Lunch is at noon, and
then at 1:00, you’ll return to the classroom for instruction on
mathematics and physical sciences. Teachers will finish with you at
4:00, where you will then have an hour and a half to yourself for
any personal business you’d like to attend to—email, laundry, etc.
Dinner from 5:30 to 6:30, and then on to the library for personal
study after that. You’ll need to be back in your living quarters by
9:30. Lights should be out no later than 10:30.

“
Of course, this is just
for the next several weeks. We’ll be mixing it up with field trips
to Edwards air force base for in-flight training, you’ll be tutored
on psychology, philosophy, and other social studies in order to
know how to relate to any sentient beings that you discover on the
planet. Eventually, there will be a host of other astronaut
training—spacewalking, scuba diving for weightless conditioning and
functioning, wilderness survival training, medical training,
emergency procedural training, atmospheric pressure conditioning,
mechanical and electrical engineering, earth sciences, orbital
mechanics, earth and space navigation—let’s just say, you’ll know
everything that you could possibly need to know by the time you
launch several years from now. This is a crash course which will be
about as mentally difficult as a PhD program and as physically
grueling as boot camp.

“
So, gentlemen! Good luck,
and enjoy the adventure.”

After a deep breath and
pause, Gilroy stood up. “Mr. Edwards will give you the tour of the
facilities from here and answer any logistical questions that you
have.”

He paused as he walked
through the doorway. With his hand on the lever of the door, he
turned back and said, “One in three.”

“
Come again?” asked
Paol.

“
Let’s just say that if
you were going to play Russian roulette, you’d load four bullets
into the revolver—not just one. Those are your odds, Gentlemen, but
this is strictly my opinion, and it is utterly off the record.”
Gilroy took a deep breath. “It was a fair question, Mr. Joonter,
and it deserved an answer. But, I trust you to not repeat it—to
anyone.” His intent gaze passed from Joonter to Slater to Edwards.
No words were exchanged, but everyone understood each other
clearly. Gilroy’s words were not to be repeated or the entire
mission would certainly be jeopardized.

Observing the look of
terror in the eyes of Joonter and Slater, he attempted to comfort
the pair. “If it’s any consolation, I feel confident that those
odds will improve by launch time.”

It was very little
consolation.

…

The next morning, the
alarm clocks went off at 5:30, just as Gilroy had promised. Blade
rubbed his blurry eyes and let open a wide-mouth yawn as he turned
off the alarm and rolled away from it, falling back to sleep. He
was quickly wakened up by a loud rap on his room door. He sat up,
and looked at the clock. 5:32 AM.

“
Who’s there?” called out
Blade with an annoyed voice.

A cheerful voice pierced
the door. “It’s Paol. Time to wake up.”

“
Oh, man… what on Earth?”
Blade mumbled as he shuffled his feet across the cool floor,
rambling incoherent phrases with an occasionally articulate word,
like “ridiculous,” “tired,” “unbelievable.” Wearing nothing but
briefs, he cracked opened the door and protected his eyes from the
blinding light in the hallway outside. “Whatcha want,
man?”