Tina, sitting in her command chair on the bridge, looked anxiously at what was ahead of her ship, now that they had just completed their tenth jump. Those jumps had not been stress-free, far from it, with the first three in particular revealing how badly out of alignment with the ship’s star charts the actual star positions were. The first jump had in fact led the NOSTROMO to an uncomfortably close distance from the red dwarf sun it had been targeting as destination. Fortunately, this hard-earned experience had helped Reena Shapour and SPIRIT to better extrapolate by how much and in which direction the stars of today differed with their positions registered in 2337. As a result, this last jump to the Solar System had been nearly spot-on with the position predicted by SPIRIT
and Reena. However, those reviewed star plots had also revealed approximately how much this present time was off from the year 2337. The best estimates from the astrophysics experts of the NOSTROMO and from SPIRIT were now that the black hole must have projected the ship by at least 2,000 years into the past. Tina thus had no hope anymore of finding a modern Earth on arrival in the Solar System. That was confirmed quickly enough by Anwar Duharto, at the main sensors station, who reported verbally to Tina a minute after their arrival on the fringes of the system.
‘’Captain, the electro-magnetic spectrum around the Solar System is totally empty. I detect no radio or radar signals coming from within the system. The Solar System is electronically silent. Also, the surveillance station that was around Pluto in 2337 is nowhere in sight. This is definitely not the 24th Century.’
‘’I expected this much, Mister Duharto. We now have to establish how far exactly in the past we ended up. Reena, do a micro-jump to close to Earth. Frida, you will then adopt a low polar orbit around Earth. I want to have all our ship instruments and sensors be able to scan the entirety of the planet in as much detail as possible. All the data and images from our sensors will from now on be recorded in a special databank. Let’s collect and preserve as much historical information as we can while trying to escape from this time trap.’
‘’Aye, Captain!’
81
‘’The only ones enjoying this moment must be the staff and students of our history department.’ muttered Tina to herself as she eyed the small yellow dot of the Sun as seen from near Pluto. A brief flash or orange light then permeated the bridge for a fraction of a second, following which Tina was able to look at planet Earth, now nearly filling the holographic screens of the bridge. Her pilot, Frida Skarsgard, then placed the NOSTROMO in a low polar orbit at the outer edge of Earth’s atmosphere, in order to give the best definition possible to their batteries of cameras, spectroscopes, radars, thermal viewers and magnetic detectors. As they were starting to overfly Earth, Tina noticed that no artificial lights were visible in the parts presently in the night zone. This was definitely a primitive, non-technology Humanity. Her heart sank a bit at this hard fact: despite nearly four days of scientific discussions and theorizing, the astrophysics team of the NOSTROMO was still no nearer to finding a quick way to return to the 24th Century. The only known theoretical way to travel back to the future would be to use the old relativistic theory which said that, by traveling at a speed near that of light, they would then see time slow down and nearly stop inside the ship, making its occupants sense only days passing, while Earth would see years and even decades pass by.
There was however a big problem with that ‘solution’: getting this close to the speed of light by thrust propulsion power alone meant that their engines would need to function at maximum power continuously in order to overcome the relativistic increase in mass the ship would experience as it would approach the speed of light. This would result in turn in the NOSTROMO running out of fuel for its power generators well before arriving into the 24th Century. As for finding a source of cryogenic deuterium-tritium thermonuclear fuel in any period before the 22nd Century, good luck to that! It would be like someone attempting a long-distance rally in an all-terrain car in the Antiquity, only to run out of gas in a place where no gas stations existed yet. Tina also had another reason to feel despondent: her son Misha, who had been close to his eighteenth year, had been the copilot aboard one the heavy fighters which she had to leave behind in the Wolf 1061
System. While she knew that Misha should be safe there and then, the idea of being separated from him for good was a most painful one.
Some two hours later, as the NOSTROMO was passing over Europe, Anwar Duharto’s voice took her out of her funk.
‘’Captain, we are now passing over the location of Rome, in Italy. There is actually a large city on that spot, an antique one.’
82
‘’Quick! Alert our history department about it and ask them to do their best to identify in which century we are now in, using the features of the Rome we are now overflying.’
‘’On it, Captain.’
While waiting for a word from her history experts, Tina avidly examined the picture her high-resolution cameras gave of that ancient Rome. It definitely was not the modern Rome she had visited a few times in the 24th Century. As she was still looking at the images of the old Rome, she got a call from Professor Shmelling.
‘’Captain, this is Shmelling: we just had a look at the Rome we just overflew. We also were able to look at other cities visible in both Italy and Greece and can now give you an approximation on the year we are in.’
‘’Go on!’ said Tina, her heart accelerating.
‘’Basically, what was our biggest clue was Athens, in Greece. According to history, the Persians invaded the region of the Attic in the year 480 B.C.E.5 and sacked Athens, then left to go fight the Greek fleet at Salamis. After the Persians had been defeated and left Greece, the Athenians rebuilt their city, including the temple of the Parthenon on the Acropolis. That reconstruction took many years but was eventually completed around the year 460 B.C.E., give or take a few years. Well, in the overhead imagery of Athens and of Greece we just recorded, the Parthenon had clearly been devastated by fire but was actively being restored, with hundreds of workers around it.
Also, the famous city of Sparta is still up and intact. All this makes me believe that we presently are around the second half of the Fifth Century B.C.E., with my bet being on the period 475 to 465 B.C.E., approximately. I could have a more precise year for you once we will have had a chance to view more cities around the Earth.’
‘’That is already of great help, Professor. Make sure that you inform SPIRIT and our astrophysics team of this, so that they could use that data to better understand our trip back in time. Again, thank you for that information, Professor.’
‘’It was a pleasure, Captain.’
Closing that link, Tina then sat back, thoughtful: so, they basically had travelled back in time by a total of approximately 2,800 years. Now, it was up to her astrophysicists and to SPIRIT to find a way to travel forward in the future by 28 centuries.
5 B.C.E.: Before the Common Era, i.e. before Year One of the Christian calendar.
83
15:09 (Universal Time)
Tuesday, June 15, 2337
Astroport of Camelot, administrative center of the moon New Haven Wolf 1061 System, 13.8 light years from Earth
When 17-year-old Misha Koniev-Forster disembarked with the rest of the crew from their MAMBA-Class heavy fighter, the RISING STAR, he found their squadron leader, Major Keiko Nomura, waiting for them on the tarmac of the astroport of Camelot, their new and hopefully temporary base. The flare of hope Misha felt on seeing Nomura was quickly extinguished when he saw the somber expression on her face. Still, he came to attention in front of her while saluting her, imitating his crewmates. Nomura returned their salute, then spoke first, addressing the pilot, Sylvie Montreux.
‘’How was your patrol, Sylvie?’
‘’Routine, Major: nothing special to report.’
Nomura nodded her head once, then looked at the whole crew.
‘’If you were waiting for news about the NOSTROMO, then I am afraid that I have to tell you that it is still missing. However, it could simply have sustained some damage in combat that is delaying its return to this system. We should all keep our hopes up about its eventual return. You may now go back to the squadron operations center to fill your patrol report and rest. Mister Koniev, please stay for a moment with me.’
The five other members of the heavy fighter crew saluted Nomura again, then walked away, leaving her alone with young Misha.
‘’At ease, Misha! While I will again urge you to keep your hopes up about the eventual return of the NOSTROMO, a few political realities are now catching up with us.’
‘’Political realities, Major?’
‘’Yes! As you know well, your mother is the founder and sole owner of the New Haven Corporation, which includes her ship, the NOSTROMO, our fleet of commercial shuttles and this moon. In her testament, she named in order of precedence her husband, then you, then your young sister Janet, as successors to her in case of death.
That successor would in turn inherit all of her possessions and assets, as well as the control of her corporation as its new CEO. While she is still only missing, certain things need to be taken care of as a matter of routine, in order to continue administering the New Haven Corporation in her absence. Her public testament stated that Piotr Romanski, the present governor of New Haven and Tina’s past financial and commercial
84
agent, would help administer the corporation until she either returns or until she is officially declared dead. Mister Romanski will thus take on the role of acting CEO for the time being, but he stated to me that he will inform you about any important development concerning the corporation and will seek your approval before taking any major decision.
As you know, Piotr Romanski is a man of great integrity in whom your mother had complete confidence.’
‘’I know him well and also have full confidence in him, Major. I am completely at ease in letting him direct and administer the corporation for the time being, until my family returns.’
Keiko was satisfied to see that Misha had not given up yet and nodded once.
‘’Good! However, Piotr has warned me that some in the Spacers League are already starting to eye New Haven as a potential prize to add to their assets. He however is vowing to keep any vultures at bay but is also saying that you may soon have to defend your ownership of the corporation at the High Council. Unfortunately, politics can still be dirty business, even in this century.’
‘’I realize that, Major, but I will fight with the help of Piotr in order to stop any of these vultures from grabbing New Haven. This world and the corporation were created by my mother in order to provide a safe, peaceful and prosperous refuge to those who were suffering on Earth from wars, famines, persecutions and abuses, and I fully intend it to stay that way.’
Keiko was pleasantly impressed by the resolve shown in the tone of voice of the teenager and shook hands with him.
‘’And I am sure that you will be up to that task, Misha. You may now join back your crewmates.’
‘’Thank you, Major.’ said Misha, who then exchanged a last salute with Keiko before starting to walk towards the small building housing his squadron’s operations center.
85
CHAPTER 7 – FINDING A WAY BACK TO HOME
14:28 (Greenwich Meridian Time)
Year 472 B.C.E. (six days after encounter with the black hole) Astrophysics laboratory, Habitat Ring Complex, Level 576
A.M.S. NOSTROMO, in low polar orbit around Earth Solar System
Roshana Golshan, a 27-year-old certified genius, ex-student of the late Doctor Koomak and presently the head of the astrophysics department of the NOSTROMO University, anxiously waited with the other physicists of her work team the verdict from SPIRIT on their latest proposal about how to travel back to the future. The central AI computer then took five seconds to reply, an eternity for SPIRIT’s electronic processing and analysis, which demonstrated clearly the complexity and intricacy of the problem they were facing. SPIRIT, communicating via her android avatar, which was present in the laboratory with Roshana’s team, finally spoke in a sober tone.
‘’I must say that your proposed solution to our problem is both ingenious, logical...and highly risky, Roshana. Doctor Koomak would probably not have been able to come up with anything better than this. Yes, it could very well work, but the only way to establish if it is truly a viable solution would be to try it and expose the NOSTROMO to very real risks of getting destroyed in the process. However, of all the proposals worked up until now, including my own proposal, this is still the most promising one. The only truly safe method to travel back to the future, by using Relativity and traveling at near the speed of light, thus slowing down time aboard our ship, would work but would ultimately fail when we would run out of thermonuclear fuel for our power and propulsion systems.
Since I doubt that we will be able to cook up a better and safer plan, we will then have to either take the risks and try your plan, or resign ourselves to stay in the past. However, I doubt very much that Tina or any of us would choose that last option and stay in the Fifth Century B.C.E.’
86
‘’Damn right I am not ready to stay in the past, SPIRIT.’ said at once Roshana, making the other scientists around the table nod in agreement with her. ‘’If there are no objections, I would like to present this plan to Tina, to gain her approval for it. Nobody against that? Then I will go at once speak with the Captain. SPIRIT, could you accompany me, in case Tina has pointed questions I couldn’t answer? I may be a genius but I can’t think as fast as you do.’
‘’Certainly, Roshana. I will be right behind you.’
‘’Good! Alright, this meeting is now over, my friends. Go relax a bit and clear your minds of those physics’ formulas. I will keep you appraised of the Captain’s decision.’
As she was walking out of the astrophysics lab, Roshana used her wrist communicator to call Tina Forster, getting a response after two buzzes.
‘’Yes, Roshana?’
‘’Tina, I believe that we have a plan on how to return to the future. However, it will be a risky one and there are a lot of uncertainties and unknowns in it.’
‘’How risky is it?’
‘’SPIRIT estimates that the chances of success without incurring damages are at 72 percent. Furthermore, we may have to repeat the maneuver multiple times in order to get to the 24th Century.’
Roshana didn’t miss the slight grimace Tina made on hearing her estimate of risks.
‘’Any chances that we could lower the level of risk, Roshana?’
‘’Doubtful, Tina. There is no precedence to our present situation and we are literally walking blind, with only the laws of physics as we know them and scientific logic to guide us. Could we have a general command meeting, so that I could present this plan to our people?’
‘’I will call one for fifteen hundred hours, in thirty minutes, to be held at our command conference room in the central core section. Would that do for you?’’
‘’It will, Tina. I will see you there.’ said Roshana before closing the link and looking at SPIRIT.
‘’I can well understand her reaction to our plan, SPIRIT: 72 percent chances of success, to be tried multiple times, is indeed a very risky venture.’
‘’I believe that Humans would call that a game of Russian roulette.’ replied the android, her tone most serious.
87
Half an hour later, Roshana found herself the focus of a dozen pairs of hopeful eyes in the command conference room, on the level of the executive apartments, with SPIRIT sitting next to her. Tina, looking most sober, then nodded her head to her.
‘’You may start presenting your plan, Roshana.’
‘’Thank you, Tina.’ replied the young astrophysicist, who then looked around the conference table before starting to speak.
‘’As I said earlier to Tina, the plan my team worked up and then had vetted by SPIRIT is a risky one but it is also the only realistic one we could come up with.
Basically, we are going to replay what happened to us when we encountered that black hole in Canis Majoris, but will attempt to reverse the process. When we escaped the pull from that black hole, we basically put our propulsion to maximum while trying to fly away, then made a jump with our Koomak Drive. We then saw an unusual greenish tint to the normal orange flash of a Space distortion jump and found ourselves 2,800 years in the past. What I propose that we do is to repeat the same kind of experience, but with a crucial twist: instead of doing a Space distortion jump while running away from a strong gravity pull, we will do a micro-jump while going TOWARDS a star, in this case our own Sun. This should create the reverse effect of what we lived through in Canis Majoris.
We will of course not head directly into the Sun but will instead fly very close to it in a tangent course, so that our ship actually feels the gravity pull from our Sun. Then, as close as possible to the Sun, we will do a micro-jump, pointing straight ahead of us along a straight line passing very close to the surface of the Sun. By our calculations, this should cause the reverse effect of what we experience in Canis Majoris and should propel us towards the future.’
Rose Tillman, the tall, sixty-year-old chief engineer of the NOSTROMO, then asked the first questions to Roshana.
‘’You said that your plan was risky, Roshana. What kind of risks will we be incurring? Also, by how many years do you expect us to go forward in time with your maneuver?’
‘’SPIRIT calculated the risks of this maneuver to fail to be around 28 percent, due to the totally unknown factors and the uncertainty involved. If our maneuver fails, our ship may be torn to pieces as it jumps past the Sun. Also, if we miscalculate the timing and direction of our jump, we may travel further towards the past, instead of going towards the future. To be honest, this will be a monumental dice roll for us but I simply
88
don’t see any other way to return to our proper time period. However, we can twitch that risk factor by doing a shorter micro-jump a bit further away from the Sun, at the cost of possibly diminishing the final effect of our maneuver. As for how many years this will make us go forwards towards the future, your guess is as good as mine. The only thing that I can say with near certainly about that is that we will have to repeat that maneuver many times, each time checking out how much forward we advanced in time before attempting the next jump. Think of it as playing Russian roulette...many times in a row.’
The meeting participants exchanged knowing looks of concern before Rose Tillman spoke again.
‘’Between that and staying stuck in the past, cut off from our own time period and condemned to solitude in Space, then I am ready to take my chances with your plan, Roshana.’
‘’I am also ready to run the risks of your plan.’ added Reena Shapour, followed in turn by the other persons around the table. Tina nodded her head in satisfaction on seeing a consensus about Roshana’s proposed plan.
‘’Then, we will try Roshana’s maneuver after supper, but will let SPIRIT control that run to the Sun and the micro-jump, as she will be able to more precisely conduct that maneuver than anybody else among us. That will give you the time to speak to your family members or friends before we attempt this.’
‘’...Or to kiss our asses goodbye.’ added Rose Tillman in a philosophical tone.
89
CHAPTER 8 – THE GOLSHAN MANEUVER
19:20 (Greenwich Meridian Time)
472 B.C.E. (six days after the encounter with the black hole) Bridge of the A.M.S. NOSTROMO
