The Earth Conundrum: Book 1 of the Alliance Conflict (14 page)

“Crista,” Lorano yelled, “Move it slightly to the right, now push.”

“You push. I’ve seen girl scouts pushing cookies harder than you!” she screamed back.

They finally got the missile to the lab. Lorano basically had to create an entirely new type of missile. The normal hyperspace charting missiles would travel to the location, chart it, and then try to return. Since these missiles didn’t have a hyperspace drive, they wouldn’t be able to reenter hyperspace and return. Further, they won’t be able to communicate what they found. Well, technically a missile could report, provided Lorano was willing to wait in cryostatis a few hundred years for a coded signal to travel the speed of light back to Earth.

So, Lorano improvised by creating a missile that would continuously send its location and status back to Earth while it was traveling in hyperspace. This way, they would receive the signal back through hyperspace with just a few hour delay.

Lorano detached the payload from the bomb and the two wrestled it back out of the lab. Lorano told Crista he was done with her for a while. She left and he started reprogramming the missile. He created a gravity monitoring and communications package and installed it in the cavity vacated by the payload. He tested it as best he could and decided it was about as good as it was going to get. Fortunately, he didn’t have to move the missile a second time, because the automatic missile loader was still intact.

At the last moment, Lorano decided he didn’t anyone in Waylon to find the missiles. He added back a small amount of explosives and programmed the missile to explode when it exited hyperspace. If someone found the missile, they might be able to track the course back to Earth.

He called Crista on the communicator and said, “Hey mini-human, come back to the lab. I have a job I think you are mentally qualified to perform.” These days, he only insulted her when he was well out of range from her hand / knife / gun / basically anything not firmly attached.

Crista responded, “Why don’t you get an actual human to help you. Oh, right, I know, you are too scared.”

Crista finally rejoined Lorano in the lab. They wrestled the missile into the automatic loader magazine. It was ready to be fired. They repeated six more times.

Carank had the more difficult task. He had to find a way to fire the missiles remotely. He started by investigating the missile launcher attached to the freighter. Fortunately, it was self-contained unit. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy to remove. Carank and Victor tried several methods to remove it, but were stymied with each approach.

Victor was ready to give up. He said, “There has to be a better way.”

“Like what? Asked Carank.

Crista had been nearby and said, “Well, if you can’t move the missile launcher, then move the hyperspace generator.

Carank loved the idea. He said, “Crista that is a brilliant idea. We can’t actually remove the hyperspace generator, but we should be able to focus the hyperspace bubble a hundred meters in front of the ship.”

He reviewed the specifications and reprogrammed the hyperspace generator. Now, it should create the hyperspace bubble in front of versus around the freighter. Then, they can fire a missile out of the existing launcher and have it enter hyperspace.

They finished all necessary work and prepared to leave that evening. They had a brief celebration of their 40
^th
day on Earth. Crista found the place growing on her. She no longer noticed that she wasn’t blue anymore and she actually enjoyed Victor’s company. She wondered if she would feel like a stranger when she finally returned to Solaria.

That evening Victor turned the
Vista
to blimp mode and gently led the ship from the hangar. They floated up out of the atmosphere and to the original rendezvous point with the
Jackal
. They were far enough away from Earth’s gravity that they could make a micro-jump.

Victor said, “First, let’s check the original hyperspace lane. Perhaps it has recovered and we can use it.”

Lorano answered, “Yes, we should check it. I updated the hyperdrive with the exact coordinates of this solar system. This should help us get a better calculation.” He didn’t harbor much hope though. He suspected that this route had been corrupted.

They jumped back from the moon to Uranus. Crista set a course for Conron and performed the necessary hyperspace calculations. She double checked her entry coordinates and had the system calculate a second time. All three stared over her shoulder at the result.

It wasn’t good.

Lorano said, “Computer, analysis.”

…There appears to be a large gravity flux. The origin is unknown. It is unclear whether it was the gravity source we passed on the journey here or if it is a new source. The percent chance of successfully reaching Conron on this jump is negligible, less than .0005%. This hyperspace lane is effectively closed…

They jumped back near Mars. They were in range of possible detection from ground based radar telescopes, so they had to be cautious. They slowly moved to the position that Lorano had indicated and scanned the entire area.

“What are we looking for?” Victor asked.

Lorano answered, “I don’t know, anything, something, possibly something that shouldn’t be here. They performed a detailed scan for several hours. They did find something that wasn’t supposed to be there, but not exactly whatever they were looking for. The detailed scan revealed two heavily concealed hyper-communications platforms. They were designed to open a hyperspace bubble and shoot a message into hyperspace to a receiver at a fixed location.

“I wonder if these still work properly.” Victor asked.

Lorano answered, “It’s a good question. They probably do. They are not aimed at Conron, or Waylon for that matter. I think they are aimed directly at Solaria. Plus, the gravitational pull from the new gravity source should have a minimal impact on such a transmission. Still though, it is good to know they are here if we ever need them.”

Victor asked, “Maybe we should disable them.”

Carank asked, “Why?”

Victor responded, “Well, this is how my competition is sending human programming back to Solaria. If I get rid of these generators, I can make more money.”

Lorano responded, “And quadruple the amount of suspicion on you. You would never be able to sneak anything past the screeners if you and Jack were the sole source for human programming.”

Carank said, “Plus, if we disable them, the entrepreneurs will start looking for a new path to Earth. We don’t want our mission to be discovered until we complete it.”

After a detailed review of the localized scans, they selected what appeared to be the best potential paths to Waylon. Crista entered the hyperspace coordinates, checked them, and activated the hyperspace drive. She didn’t wait for Victor’s command this time.

Lorano programmed the first missile at a random point heading away from the solar system. This had been the missile that Victor had loaded into the magazine. It couldn’t be removed from the launcher, so they basically had to waste it. Victor said, “Fire” and Crista pressed the launch button. No one was sure why, but apparently firing missiles was also Crista’s responsibility.

Lorano displayed the first missile’s potential course. Victor repositioned the ship until it was facing those coordinates. Then, Crista entered the new hyperspace coordinates, checked them, activated the hyperspace drive and fired the first modified missile. They repeated this six more times until all seven missiles were headed more or less to Waylon. The computer had shown each hyper trajectory should last around 8 hours.

They positioned the ship in a location that best hid it from Earth and began the tracking process. Each missile was actively sending back its location and relative gravity reading. It was a long, slow process with the 10 to 1 time dilation.

Over the course of three days the missiles made their way to Waylon. The readings they were sending were slowly creating a chart of the gravity field between the two solar systems. However, there was precious little for them to do during the three days. Crista watched the entire series of her favorite human television show. Victor worked in the space garden.

Carank decided to try the new quarters they had just built in the hold. He selected a bunk bed at random and laid down in it. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. Suddenly, he heard a voice from above. Lorano was lying in the bunk directly above him. Lorano said, “I knew you would select this bunk.”

“Why?” Carank asked.

Lorano responded, “I don’t know. It was my favorite as well.”

Lorano and Carank continued to monitor the results of the video game and observed that players were progressing through it. Lorano noted that one player had made it through a difficult turn and hoped that soon others would follow.

However, for the most part, they had precious little to do each day. They spent the majority of the time in the human hold. They tried playing basketball and foosball, but quickly decided those sports were not for them. Lorano said, “Computer, are there any cerebral human games.”

…96.7%. Not really, but the best human strategy games aboard the ship are chess, checkers, and spades. There are several others. In descending order, they are…

Carank said, “Computer, belay that order. Let’s just try chess.

Carank went the game library and scanned the shelf. He eventually found what he was looking for and brought it to the table. He dumped the pieces on the table and started reading the directions.

Lorano said, “Hey look, how nice. This is a combination chess / checker set.”

Carank looked up from the directions and said, “Set aside the flat pieces, they are checkers.” He set up the board and they played a game.

Lorano said, “Well, I guess it beats doing nothing.”

The twosome had played nearly every game in the human library, but had focused primarily on chess. They figured they were masters by this point. They didn’t keep score of losses and victories, but Lorano knew that he had won 3 out of every 5 times and near the end 4 out of 5 times.

One evening they invited Victor and Crista back to play a game of spades. Crista didn’t like the game, so instead they switched to Texas Hold-em poker. They played a couple games, but quit after Crista lost on the river and threw the cards across the hold.

The three impatient days of waiting and hoping finally ended. The missiles had exited hyperspace at the proscribed coordinates and stopped transmitting. Lorano assumed they had also successfully exploded upon exit from hyperspace.

The results were encouraging. All seven missiles had made it the entire journey to Waylon. There were no gravitation signatures of note. It appeared to be a good route. Carank summarized, “Well, there appear to be no gravity sources between here and there. I think we are safe to go there.”

Victor said, “Congratulations Lorano, you may have just invented a new way to chart hyperspace lanes.”

Lorano responded, “Thanks, it certainly beats spending the rest of our lives here watching humans play video games.

Crista added, “Or being stretched apart from the inside out and dying in a gravity well.”

“Well said,” said Carank. He added, “I think it only worked because we knew the exact location that we were sending the probes.”

Victor reoriented the mini-freighter and headed back to Earth. He was concerned that they may be detected after launching from the planet, making a micro jump, making a second, launching seven missiles, and moving about in real space.

He used the same approach as last time and entered Earth’s atmosphere without incident. He activated the blimp screening and flew the rest of the back to the hanger.

Everyone cheered when he safely landed.

Wait a moment, Lorano thought to himself, I am happy about the fact I just landed on Earth for the second time? Oh well, at least this will be the last time I ever have to come here.

Chapter 8

The Alliance Navy has a fleet of just over 500 ships and each ship has approximately 20 fighters. In addition, there are several wings of fighters stationed on fixed weapons platforms. This means there are roughly 12,000 active Alliance fighter pilots. There is also a reserve of 20,000 pilots, like Arean, who have either retired or moved to other positions. In the last century, a grand total of 80,000 pilots have taken the final examination in the flight simulator.

An Alliance pilot would start the simulator by donning his flight helmet. He would immediately feel the flight computer whispering in his head, communicating position, fuel, flight status, and every other function of the fighter. There was a switch to fly the fighter in manual mode. In this event, all of the flight information would flow directly into the brain unfiltered. Every pilot had to try this. The record for the longest time an Alliance pilot had flown a fighter on manual was 8 seconds. The information overload would drive a pilot incoherent if he let it flow into his brain too long.

The simulation would start with an Advranki female who would give the player an exhaustive speech, wish him/her well, and ask if he would like to trade any weaponry. None of the Alliance pilots had ever requested a weapon trade at this stage, there was no point. The Alliance pilot would launch from an Advranki cruiser and start the course. They were only allowed three lives to complete the entire course.

The first section of the test was literally an obstacle course. Alliance pilots had to fly through a series of increasingly difficult turns. At each turn, lasers would shoot at the fighter, forcing it to maintain a high rate of speed. The final turn was a tight, 90 degree turn. If the pilot went through it slowly, he would be shot by the cannons. If he went through quickly, he would smash into the wall. Every Alliance pilot who had tried the turn had failed. It became customary to fly through the course, smash into the wall, and start the next part of the test down one life.

Having died, they would again be greeted by the Advranki female, be allowed to request a different missile payload, and then launch from the Advranki cruiser. They would then have a one on one battle with a Hiriculan fighter. The pilot had to win the battle without dying to proceed to the next phase. The Advranki cruiser was there should the pilot choose to land.