Parker's Folly (30 page)

“Yes, Captain.”

The crew found themselves sitting in a gray conical room with only the soft light from the control stations shining in their eyes. Billy Ray shook Bobby, breaking the nothing's spell.

“Dude, what the hell was that?” Bobby said in an almost reverent voice.

“When you stare long into the abyss, the abyss also stares into you,” Billy Ray recited.

“What, Mr. Vincent?” asked the shaken LCpl Feldman from the weapons console on the other side of Bobby.

“Nietzsche. From
Beyond Good and Evil
,” Billy Ray explained, “I just reckoned it fit.”

“Indeed, Mr. Vincent,” the Captain commented, adding to himself,
the first part of that quote is
‘
Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster.
’
Shaking off the words of the dead philosopher, the Captain returned to the task at hand. “Folly, we are flying blind, could you generate a synthetic view of the area around the ship and put it on the main display?”

“Certainly, Captain, but it will be quite uninformative,” the ship replied. “The ship is enclosed in its own isolated bubble of 3-space and should be quite safe as long as conditions are not altered.”

Wonderful, whatever that means,
Jack thought. “Attention! Do not change any settings—leave the engines, the shields, the reactor, everything just as they are until I get some answers about what just happened to us. Dr. Gupta, please join me in my sea cabin.” Then over the PA, “Dr. Saito, Lt. Curtis, please come to the Captain's sea cabin. On the double, if you please.”

With that the Captain left the bridge with Dr. Gupta in tow.

Despite Dr. Gupta's highly excited state the Captain insisted on waiting for the other's to join them in his sea cabin. “Calm down Rajiv. Let's wait for Dr. Saito and Lt. Curtis to get here so we don't have to go over anything twice.”

“Certainly, Captain. But you don't understand! If what just happened is what I think just happened we have just stumbled upon the greatest discovery in the history of science.”

“Fine, we can all split the Nobel Prize.”

“You are joking but I am entirely serious. This is the most spectacular thing I have ever experienced.” Before the ebullient physicist could continue Lt. Curtis arrived with Dr. Saito in tow.

“Sir, I brought Yuki as instructed.” Military training prevented Gretchen from blurting out the hundred questions that were spinning in her head. She prayed that the Captain would make some sense out of this.

“Yes, Captain. I am also most anxious to discover the nature of the phenomenon that we have just experienced,” Dr. Saito added, with a perfunctory bow.

“Thank you for responding quickly, please be seated,” Jack began, raising both hands, palms out, gesturing for silence. “I think we should start by letting the ship's computer present its analysis of our current situation and the events leading up to it.

The two fidgeting scientists and the almost as agitated First Officer could barely contain themselves but managed to hold their tongues. The Captain looked at each of them in turn, his gaze projecting a calm that he himself did not feel inside. Raising his voice he called, “Folly, would you please explain what just happened and were we are?”

“Certainly, Captain. We have followed the alien vessel into alternate dimensional space and are currently en route to another star system. From the prospective of an observer in normal 3-space we are nowhere.”

The two physicists came out of their chairs shouting questions rapid fire while Gretchen sat back with her mouth agape. The Captain again motioned for quiet and the two scientists reluctantly complied.

“I think we will be needing a bit more detail than that, Folly. But first, is the ship in any immediate danger? Are there things we should not do, actions we should refrain from taking?”

“In the largest sense the ship is not in any danger, though transit through alter-space always carries some amount of risk. The ship should not try to change course or accelerate. The shields should remain up and the power settings left unaltered. Venturing outside the ship's hull is not recommended.”

“The weapons systems?”

“They can be powered down without affecting the transit.”

“You say we are in-transit, this implies that we will eventually arrive at some destination. What is that destination and how long will the ship be in alter-space?”
If we are indeed traveling to another star system we could be trapped in this state for years,
the Captain thought with some trepidation.

“I have calculated that transit should last around seven and a half days. As for the star system, I am not familiar enough with human naming conventions to identify it but it is roughly
30
light-years away from Sol.”

“So we are arriving somewhere, but not here?”

“Yes, Captain. Here is just the nowhere between two places.”

Yuki could no longer contain himself. “Thirty light-years! And you say we will arrive in just over a week? How is this possible?”

“That is correct, Dr. Saito. Perhaps I should explain. Captain?”

“If the ship is not in immediate danger and we are not about to find ourselves popping out in some strange star system at any moment I think we can proceed with a more detailed explanation.”

“Of course, Captain. The explanation lies in the multidimensional nature of the Universe...”

The Marines and crew who did not have assigned action stations had gathered in the lounge area between what would have been the enlisted quarters and the chiefs quarters on a Navy vessel. Though they had felt the shudder when Folly departed normal space, the assembled personnel were not really aware that they had just become the first humans to venture into alter-space or to embark on a journey to a star system not their own.

Their interest was held by Tommy Wendover, who was cowering before the mixed party of crew and Marines. Those present were listening to Gunny Rodriguez and Chief Zackly discussing the fate of the aforementioned Wendover.

“So he was on the upper deck without permission, in the bar no less?” the Chief asked.

“That's where we collected him Chief. And that's not all,” the Gunny looked at Tommy with disgust. “He demanded a drink from crew member Betts, even though the bar was closed and he had no business being there in the first place.”

“Well that alone is enough for punishment.”

“Wait, there's more Chief. According to JT, he physically assaulted Ms Betts when she refused to accommodate his unlawful request.”

“I only grabbed her arm!” Tommy protested.

Cpl Sizemore raised a threatening fist and barked, “Shut your pie hole, maggot!” Tommy winced. Black and blue welts on the sides of the prisoner’s face bore evidence of previous verbal indiscretions and their result.

“I saw the bruises on the girl's arm, Chief,” reported the Gunny. “He definitely manhandled her. God knows what would have happened if Mr. Taylor hadn't come upon the altercation.”

“Well, Gunny. I think we have enough to go on, even without Mr. Taylor's testimony,” the Chief said, hands on hips. “Wadda' ya say?”

“Your deck, Chief.”

“Right.” The Chief rubbed one hand across the stubble on his chin as he eyed the man kneeling before him. “
I wish I could put you on assholes and elbows duty but we ain't got no wooden decks. Instead, I think five days of solitary confinement on short rations might help to adjust yer attitude.”

“You can't do that, this ain't a trial!” Tommy whimpered.

“The hell I can't, you bent shitcan. Part of what chiefs do on a ship is smooth out little wrinkles like you without bothering the Captain, who has more important things to do. Be thankful that you ain't facing a captain's mast, 'cause Captain Jack would surely put your sorry ass out the airlock.”

Turning to the Marines standing on either side of the prisoner, the Chief said “Haul this scumbag off to his new quarters.”

As Tommy was hauled away, the Gunny spoke to the Chief in a low voice, “I got a bad feeling about that boy.”

“I think you're right Gunny. That dickhead ain't even got the makings of a decent deck ape. As soon as he's back out he'll step in the shit fer sure.”

“So there have been a number of ways invented to get around Einstein's cosmic speed limit?” asked Dr. Saito of the ship's computer.

“That is correct, Doctor. Traveling through alter-space is one of the more primitive methods. Because of the curvature of space-time caused by gravity and the presence of multiple dimensions beyond normal three dimensional space it is possible to transit between gravity wells by passing through two points of equal potential. Such transits traverse significantly shorter distances than in normal 3-space”

“You are saying we are not really exceeding the speed of light, simply taking a cross dimensional short cut,” Yuki prompted, still trying to absorb what the computer was telling him.

“Essentially, Dr. Saito. The greater the potential, the shorter the effective distance and the faster the transit. But to access the short cut a ship must be headed on the proper vector—one that describes a course in 3-space between the two gravity wells—and traveling with sufficient velocity. A ship can then use generated gravity to slip through to alter-space.”

“The shudder we felt just prior to the transition, that was what let us through?” asked Dr. Gupta.

“Merely a side effect. A coupling between the ship's gravitonic drives and shields created a harmonically coupled distortion of local space. This allowed the ship to fall through the normal curved 3-dimensional surface of space into other dimensions that are normally not accessible. You might think of the oscillations as breaking the gravitational surface tension of 3-space.”

“And how do you know how long we will be in alter-space?” asked Lt. Curtis, concentrating on the practical aspects of their predicament.

“Knowing the curvature of local space, the course vector and the entrance velocity the subjective transit time can be calculated. There is some quantum uncertainty involved so the time estimate is not exact. The equations are rather involved but I can provide them for your inspection.”

“Yes, please do,” said both Yuki and Rajiv. The physicists were champing at the bit to look at the details.

“Is there any way to change course or to come out of alter-space early?” the Captain asked, thinking of the tactical implications.

“Altering course is not really possible, though the right gravitonic coupling can bring a ship out of alter-space early. I would warn you, however, that entering alter-space is only practical from within a substantial gravity well. An interrupted transit would leave one in flat space-time where the amount of energy needed to re-enter alter-space would make doing so impractical. Perhaps even deadly.”

“So the bottom line to all of this is that we can power down the weapons systems, secure from general quarters and prepare to resume the chase seven days from now?” the Captain summed up.

“Essentially Captain.”

“What's the old saying, a stern chase is a long chase?” The Captain then asked the question everyone had avoided until now. “And knowing where we exit from this cosmic short cut, and our course and speed will allow us to return by the same path?”

“As long as the relative positions of the two gravity wells doesn't change significantly, yes. We will be able to return to Earth by the same path.”

The Captain had the crew stand down from General Quarters and opened the bar in the main lounge to all hands for the next two watches. Naturally, the main topic of discussion was the ship's unexpected journey to another star system. Bobby and the Marine gunner, Jon Feldman, were conversing with Jolene across the bar. JT was locked in conversation with the two physicists at a table in the corner.

Billy Ray was standing the first dog watch and wouldn't be off until 1800, leaving Susan at loose ends. Looking around the lounge, Marines and crew were gathered in small clusters, exchanging scuttlebutt. If the little foray on the Moon accomplished anything it was to weld the ship's assortment of personnel into a more cohesive whole, She noted.

According to Yuki, the shore party brought back some alien artifacts, though no details had been forthcoming. Now everyone was talking about hyperspace or whatever it was called. She didn't have the technical knowledge to sit in on the discussion between Rajiv and Yuki. Hopefully JT will be able to distill the techno-babble down to something mere mortals could understand. She was having trouble understanding JT herself these days. She never would have suspected that her unassuming cameraman was both a scientist and a man of action—Indiana Jones in a spacesuit.

Coming across the lounge, Susan spotted Lt. Curtis and the Russian Doctor. Their eyes met her's and the duo came over to join her at the bar.

“Good afternoon Lieutenant, Doctor.”

“First names in the mess, if you please Susan,” said Gretchen, smiling. “Let's get a round and snag a table, Ludmilla has some interesting things to tell us.”

“Yes, some very interesting things about the creature Bear captured on the Moon,” Ludmilla added, then gestured to the crowd of people in the lounge. “Unfortunately, that news seems to have been eclipsed by our venturing outside the solar system.”

The three women collected their drinks and found an empty table. Their drink selections seemed a reflection of their personalities—Ludmilla, of course, was drinking vodka, Gretchen scotch neat, and Susan her usual glass of Shiraz. Susan wondered about the deeper meaning of their choices and what it might say about her, as compared to her companions.

“So what's this all about, Ludmilla?” Susan asked, ever the reporter interested in a good story.

“After I treated the wounded from the shore party I went across the hall to the Bio Lab to see what the expedition had brought back. It would seem that the spider captured by Bear is not so much a creature as a living construct,” Ludmilla said, launching right in to the details of her discovery.