FULL NOVELXO Chapter The Jump
The first ship wide launch stations alert, which came blaring through all fixed monitors, startled Wendy to the extent that she visibly jumped at the instant of hearing it. Wendy knew that this event was coming, but she did not expect it to occur so soon after their arrival to Mars. The Amaterasu had just settled into a parking orbit around the red planet ten hours earlier. She was expecting several days and hopefully several weeks to pass before they would make their departure. It was her understanding that all the starcorps would leave there together and all knew that they were a day away from finishing the retrofits.
A call to launch stations was the last thing Wendy wanted to hear at this moment. She feared that a launch from Mars would separate her from Sawyer by more than four light years. This fear was supported by the common knowledge that the Basestar Orion was not in Mars orbit. It was also known that when the fleet broke orbit with Mars, it would not stop until it reached Proxima Centauri. Wendy’s fears were enhanced further by the absence of any official news regarding the Orion’s activities. There were no updates on the events that were transpiring between the starcorps and Earth. This silence was the fuel that nourished a fleet-wide rumor mill.
While Wendy was spending most her awake periods sitting at home and worrying about Sawyer, Daniel, Daphne and Adam were devoting the bulk of their spare time compiling rumors about the Orion and Earth. There was plenty of this to be had. The most prevalent report regarding the Orion was that it was engaged in battle with a large force of UFP Space Fighters. The widespread circulation of this rumor gave it credence in the minds of Daniel, Daphne and Adam. Despite this, none of them repeated it to Wendy.
There was one piece of news that the Starcorp League was eager to televise throughout the fleet. This information spoke of the star-drive, the interstellar jump that they were all soon to make and their combined futures away of the Sol System. This was done so that everyone would know that the star-drive was thoroughly tested, and safe and that their futures had enormous potential for prosperity and contentment. They gave details on what to expect and showed test results to support their claims. This data was repeatedly broadcast in the hope that it would ease the anxieties of the populace.
The launch stations alert was the first interruption in the stream of continuous information and support messages that the Starcorp League had been broadcasting since their arrival to Mar’s orbit. From the moment that the alert began the fleet’s populace seemed to go into a flurry. Within those spaceships that were selected to leave, the alert advised their occupants that they had one hour to get to their space capsules. This was more than enough time but far less than what was given for a normal launch.
The Becks began making their preparations for launch as well, but this they did with less enthusiasm than most. Wendy’s efforts to prepare for launch was almost nonexistent. The idea of leaving Sawyer behind was difficult for her to consider. For her, mustering the resolve to do just that was a difficult mindset to sustain. Despite this feeling, she managed to get into her launch and entry suit and her space capsule with fifteen minutes to spare. Much of the credit for this on time performance belonged to Daniel, Daphne and Adam. Their gentle urgings kept Wendy in motion despite her tearful despair.
The Amaterasu began to push its way out of Mars orbit fifteen minutes past the launch station deadline. The Beck family, minus Sawyer, observed their departure through the large monitors inside their space capsule. The orange planet looked as if it was falling away from them in slow motion. Ten minutes after the commencement of the launch Mars was a bright orange dot against the black backdrop of space. They were eighteen hours into the launch, three hours away from their time jump, when the captain of the Amaterasu made his first announcement to all aboard since the start of their launch. A live image of him appeared on the monitors as he spoke.
“This is the Captain speaking. I have news that I am sure you will be interested in hearing. This report just came in from BX01. The RG01 war machine participated in two engagements with a large force of UFP space-fighters that were approaching Mars. The report says that our forces have destroyed more than eight-hundred enemy space-fighters to a loss of two-hundred and five of our own. The war machine that we built has won the time that we needed to escape. The remaining starcorp spaceships are accelerating away from Sol as I speak. We are out of danger. The UFP cannot stop us now. We are too far away. Our star-drives will go online long before they get within sensor range. When we go through the time jump, we will be beyond the reach of UFP forces. We are three hours away from this event. Good luck to all of us.”
At the hearing of this there were visual, and audible, displays of relief and approval from within every space capsule aboard the Amaterasu. But there were no cheers to be heard. The minds of most were preoccupied with thoughts about the upcoming interstellar jump. A distant event that had no effect upon them carried little weight within their thinking. The Becks were one of the few exceptions to this. The Captain’s report was all that they could think about at that moment. Their fears for Sawyer were elevated to great new heights. Up until then they could entertain the hope that this division between Earth and the starcorps would not escalate into an armed conflict. Now all that they could think about were the two-hundred and five losses.
The Beck family knew that Sawyer was chosen to be a part of the RG01 fighter force. This was explained to Daniel and Wendy during their search for their son. This knowledge deprived them of any hope that Sawyer would miss the worse of the fighting. Their great fear at that moment was that Sawyer might be a member of the two-hundred and five fighters that were lost in the fighting.
This worry was all that Wendy could think about over the next three hours. Even as the announcements from the Captain gave reports of their narrowing approach to jump velocity, she gave no thought to this information. It was not until the Captain announced that they were counting down for the jump that she gave it any attention. The heightened tension within the capsule provided a second reason for Wendy to fix her attention onto the large monitor in the center of the capsule.
All eyes within the space capsule were focused on the large monitors at the center. Multiple views of the collection of spaceships about the Amaterasu could be seen on them. Each spaceship had its thrusters burning at full blast. A readout along the bottom perimeter of the monitor indicated that the Amaterasu was moving at 39.834% of light speed and accelerating. The Captain had advised all that the temporal field generator would be triggered when they reached 40% of light speed.
The Beck family was seated in a square formation. Daniel and Wendy were in acceleration pods that were situated directly behind Adam and Daphne. They too had their attentions fixed on the monitors at the center of the capsule. Their worries for Sawyer could not eclipse the enormity of this event. They were both intrigued by and afraid of this coming event.
Nearly all the occupants within this starcorp convoy shared some degree of fear that something might go wrong. A popular concern was that they might run into something. This fear was driven by the fact that spaceships were virtually blind in null space-time. Visual and radio scanning was impossible. The scientists attempted to belay this fear by explaining that there was nothing in null space-time to run into other than each other. And they gave their assurance that the magnetic sensors on all spaceships would warn them of any impending collisions.
Another fear the populace had was that they would emerge inside a star or planet. This worry persisted despite the assurance of the scientists that the magnetic sensors could be used to safely steer them back into space-time. The reason for their continued fear of this was the limited weight of evidence behind this assurance. This contention of the scientists was based on small experimental time jumps within the void between solar systems. A jump from one side of this space to the other was considered by most to be a far more dangerous endeavor. Many people within the convoy disputed the claim that there was little risk in this jump.
The most entrenched worry within the populace was about all that they did not apprehend about this unexamined segment of the universe. Null space-time was an unknown, for the most part. The imaginations of the populace were forever at work envisioning mishaps and dangers waiting to occur inside this abyss. Much of what was fancied was discredited by others within the community and to the satisfaction of most. That which was not discredited circulated about the starcorp communities like an airborne chemical weapon of mass destruction.
The science community could not deny the possibility of some unforeseen peril, but when it came to capabilities of the magnetic sensors their claims were emphatic. Their null space-time experiments convinced them that the magnetic sensors on spaceships would enable them to avoid large objects while steering across the threshold between null and real space-time. They knew that the sensors range expanded as the spaceships dialed into null space-time and contracted as they came out. On the sensor screen it appeared as if the universe around them was shrinking when they went in and expanding as they came out. This effect brought whole star systems onto their magnetic sensor screen while making asteroid size objects too small to sense. When they dialed out of null space-time the reverse was the effect. The universe looked to be expanding. Small objects in real space-time grew increasingly discernable. As this happened, distant objects moved out beyond the range of the sensors. Because of this effect, the scientists and engineers had no doubt that spaceships could safely navigate the perils of reentry into real space-time.
“Two minutes.”
The voice of the Captain boomed through the speakers in the space capsules throughout the starship. All eyes became fixed on the large monitors in front of them a second behind this announcement. The only sound to be heard was the whir and beeps of the electronics all around them. The visuals on the monitors displayed images of the space around them. In appearance, they looked to be fixed panoramas of the universe. The black of space glowed with the illuminations of an unknown number of pinpoints of light. Mixed in with these images were visuals of the convoy all about the Amaterasu. Two minutes later a report from the Captain enunciated in all the space capsules.
“Activating temporal field generator in five—four—three—two—one.”
An instant behind this countdown the monitors that were displaying external images of the surrounding space erupted with static. Everyone inside the Becks’ space capsule waited in silence for the next report. Ten minutes later the sound of the Captain’s voice filled the space capsules again.
“This is the Captain again, I am happy to report that all systems are good. The Amaterasu is intact and on course. All spaceships within the convoy are now synced together and accounted for. Our arrival at Proxima Centauri will be in roughly three null space hours and twenty-five hundred real space hours from now. We are on our way.”
Nearly all the occupants of the space capsule that the Becks were in demonstrated some expression of relief after hearing this. Wendy wept in silence.