Usurper of the Sun (7 page)
“Mark thinks he has a soft spot for Asian women,” Commander Kindersley commented with a grin. “I’m not sure Asian women agree. I remember a pinup of a Korean actress that he kept in a locker with a—”
“Commander,” Mark interrupted, “let’s categorize that as classified information.”
Aki giggled more loudly than she intended.
“She covers her mouth when she laughs. You love that courtly behavior.” The commander looked at Aki. She was glad that her new team was going to be able to laugh together.
“Enough, um, please,” Mark said. He took a breath, then another, and regained his composure before saying to Aki, “You certainly have a nice smile. I hope having all this on the table won’t be a problem during our mission.”
Any reply would sound trite. Aki bowed and shifted in her seat. She was less familiar than most with romance, but she did not mind the attention. Knowing she was Mark’s type made him more interesting. She doubted that his momentary infatuation, or hers for him, would actually amount to anything.
IN ADDITION TO
the training, Aki still had to stay on top of the latest research. In between classroom sessions, Aki would retreat to her office to continue studying the Ring, trying to unravel the mystery behind its regenerative systems. She was discouraged by her minimal progress—both her schedule and how little was known were major obstacles—but she continued to make efforts to keep up with the latest findings and conference reports when she could find the time.
Then, without warning, a new phenomenon occurred, creating another mystery for Aki and the world’s scientists. An enormous dark spot appeared on the upper edge of the Ring. It was 130,000 kilometers in diameter—as large as Jupiter—even when the spot first appeared. The contrast of the spot varied at first but stabilized after a year.
For lack of a better name, the spot was christened the “Island.” Relative to its massive diameter, the Island was unbelievably thin. It did not protrude from the inner surface of the Ring and appeared to extend beyond the outer surface by less than three hundred meters. Observations from NASA’s space telescope were unable to discern distinguishing features. It was as if somebody had placed a gigantic gray sticker on the outside of the Ring.
Even though proportionally it was thin, its expansive surface area was likely to create a significant amount of extra mass on that portion of the Ring. Despite this, however, the Island was not falling victim to the sun’s gravitational pull. Later observations showed a weak shower of ions emanating from the inner side of the Ring just behind the Island. Since the ions were traveling at an extraordinarily high speed toward the sun, scientists theorized that the mass of the Island was supported by numerous ion jets. The sun’s pull at that distance is a mere 1/120 of a G, which would not require much force to overcome.
The Life-Form Theory fell out of favor with the discovery of the Island. The fact that the Island had appeared on a single specific point that did not move relative to the sun was considered solid evidence that the Island was a mechanical function of the Ring and not an attribute of a living organism. It was further theorized that the Island was some kind of antenna that was pointing toward the star that the Builders called home.
The Ring was positioned on the same plane as Mercury’s orbit, and it was highly improbable that the Builders’ home happened to be on this exact same plane. If the gray Island were an antenna, it would be reasonable to assume that it could point itself in any tilted direction relative to the plane that it was currently on. If it were a phased antenna array, it could even change the direction of its transmission beam without having to physically tilt at all.
A group of probes was sent to explore the phenomenon in a mission called the Island Express. The probes were destroyed by the graser when they reached the distance of 2.8 million kilometers from the Island, indicating that the Island was also protected by the fixed line of defense.
Fear grew among the public with this new demonstration of the Ring’s intimidating powers. The scientific community teemed with excitement because these observations allowed the monumental discovery that brought them one step closer to understanding the Ring. The reason that the inside of the Ring was black, the scientists finally understood, was because it absorbed photons and converted them into energy. Any leftover energy was then emitted as heat. By observing how much was released, the scientists determined the overall input-to-output balance of the Ring’s energy system. Until now, the energy production of the Ring had been minimal. They hypothesized that when the Island started its job, whatever that task was going to be, the level of energy production increased. The lingering concern was that when the Island had formed, the overall temperature of the Ring had not dropped. This seemed to indicate that the Island was producing the energy it needed to resist gravity on its own.
What was most interesting, however, was that when the graser fired, the overall temperature of the Ring plummeted for a short period. It was obvious that the graser was drawing energy from the rest of the Ring then recharging itself to be ready to fire again.
“EXCUSE ME, MS
. Shiraishi. May I have a word with you? I won’t take more than a few minutes of your time. Please, a few questions?” asked a young woman who had stopped Aki in the Johnson parking lot one afternoon.
When the Island appeared, the leaders of the Vulcan Mission had postponed the launch in order to rethink strategy. The delay, naturally, upset some of the same people who had protested the mission in the first place. In response, the mass media joined the voices that heaped outrage upon the UNSDF. All four of the crewmembers had stories of playing cat and mouse with the press. Aki had stumbled a bit at first but eventually learned to be quite good at it.
“If we cut off energy to the graser, we might disable it. Central command is working day and night to formulate a plan to stop the graser,” Aki responded with the standard script.
Aki knew that she had been branded the uptight female of the team by the media. She had even used that public image to her advantage more than once. As long as she was part of the mission, the Space Force, she did not care what names the press called her.
“Some are now saying that the Ring and the Island are sacred and should not be destroyed because they fear retaliation from the Builders. What are your thoughts?”
“We will follow what Central Command decides, as always,” Aki responded.
“Yes, but what’s your personal opinion? Is it wrong to tamper with what isn’t ours?”
“It is threatening humanity. We have no choice but to dismantle it.”
“Shiraishi-san, by participating, won’t your life be as expendable as a piece of equipment on that ship?” the reporter asked. “I want your true feelings. The world is placing its hope in you. I think those hopeful people would sleep more soundly if they knew that people with feelings, not robots, were in charge. Don’t you agree?”
Aki stared at the reporter. She was not from the mainstream media. Judging from her dusty clothes and disheveled appearance, she looked as though she might have been waiting for Aki for days.
“The Ring could just as easily be going around the sun vertically relative to Earth’s orbit instead of horizontally. Level with the earth, it would have no discernible impact on us. Yet, since they’re building it from metal mined on Mercury, it makes sense that it would be on the same plane as Mercury’s orbit,” the girl said. She cared much more than most of the callous journalists who began pouncing on Aki once she was selected.
Aki couldn’t help it. This girl wanted truths that were more complicated than her rehearsed script had room for. Choosing her words carefully, Aki began a statement that was not on the list of approved and rehearsed replies.
“Direct contact with an alien civilization has always been my dream. I regret that it is turning out this way. Everyone regrets that it is turning out this way. But I am participating in this mission because I hope it leads to a face-to-face encounter with the Builders.” Realizing that Aki was now speaking from her heart and not her press script, the reporter’s face went slack. There was an attenuated moment of silence.
Finally, the girl asked, straying from her own rehearsed questions, “You really want to meet them
in person
?”
Aki looked at the confused expression on the reporter’s face and surprised herself by grinning. “Yes. I have to find a way. Just like how I have to figure out how to get there and back without being thrown away like any other piece of junk on that ship.”
THE TRANSPORT CAPSULE
to the International Space Station did not have the luxury of a window. It was not until after docking and entering the habitation module that Aki finally got to see the vessel that would carry her and her crewmembers. A chill rushed over her. Motionless, she stared at the irregularly shaped silhouette that obscured the sun. The UNSS
Phalanx
. Costing over seventy billion dollars and, tragically, thirty-seven lives in the making, the
Phalanx
had drained precious resources while the rest of the planet froze and starved. She was the first nuclear-powered spaceship built by humankind—and she never would have come into existence if straits had not been dire.
She measured an immense 130 meters in length and was fitted with twelve round propellant tanks, each stemming out in a different direction, attached by ribs that jutted from the ship’s spine. If the round tanks had been painted purple, the tanks would have looked like grapes on stems floating in space. The bow, which was covered with a silver thermal insulator, contained the unmanned probehound, a parabolic mirror acting as a light shield to protect the ship from solar radiation, and the cramped living quarters. The stern was crowned with the double NERVA III nuclear engines, attached to the hull via a thirty-meter truss.
For the moment, a tanker, launched into space on a
Titan V
rocket, was docked alongside the propellant tanks and fueling up the last tons of RP-1, a kerosene fraction. Aki counted five people in space suits dangling from various parts of the ship’s exterior making last-minute adjustments.
Two guided missiles earned the
Phalanx
the right to call herself a warship, and each missile had a five-megaton nuclear warhead.
Five megatons. A spark of energy that is little more than a match head when compared to the stars
, Aki thought. It was just another reminder that concerns on Earth seemed trivial from a sufficiently distant vantage point.
“Refrain from getting your hopes up. A direct attack on the Ring by the
Phalanx
would be like trying to keep the ocean tide from rising by shoveling scoops of sand into the sea,” was the kind of comment made by critics. Even Aki was unconvinced that a direct attack would work, if it were even prudent to try.
UNSDF Central Command, however, had lost any patience for pessimism and responded by saying, “Our most potent weapon is humanity itself. We believe in the crew of the Vulcan Mission without reservation.” After a brief ceremony that struck all four crewmembers as superfluous, the crew entered a long transparent tube and boarded the
Phalanx
. They floated through the airlock and into the crew area, a twelve-cubic-meter compartment that was the only common space in the habitation module.
Commander Kindersley chuckled. “That’s one hell of a long trip just to end up in another sardine tin. At least it feels homey.”
“Long trip? We haven’t even left orbit to hit the deep sky yet,” Mark chided.