Xessmithia
19-09-2004, 06:16
Doctor Quinn Hampton was tired of the view. Nothing but blackness and the occasional blue-shifted star as the science vessel XSV Relativity worked her way through the interstellar void riding the warped space created by the tachyon drive 28 days ago when she left on her journey. He sighed and turned his gaze to the decking.
"We'll be deactivating the tach drive in under an hour Doctor. No need to sigh now." A voice said from behind him. It was female and crisp. Quinn smiled to himself. She's good, he thought. He turned to face the newcomer.
"I know that Commander Boden, but I'm not used to being cooped in flying alluminum cans for months at a time. Give me open skies anytime." Quinn started walking away from the viewscreen, Boden followed.
"The Relativity's a luxury liner compared to the Albertasaurus, corvettes aren't known for their roomy interiors you know." Boden said, her voice dripping with comedical sarcasm. Quinn smiled.
"No they certainly aren't." He said while chuckling. "I do believe I'd prefer my quarters to the triple-deck bunks you have over on the 'Berta."
"I hate those things, remind me of my own mortality." She said, a frown spreading across her face. "Fortunately I get a slightly larger cabin to myself as the CO." Both of the two shipmates laughed.
"Yes, advantages like that do tend to come with pow..." Quinn was cut off by the harsh buzz of the 15 minute proximity alarm. He glanced at his watch, he thought he had had almost a half-hour before the jump ended. I must have lost track of time, he thought. He turned to say goodbye to Boden, but she was already gone. Sighing again, he turned down the side corridor that led to the bridge and his station for when the Relativity arrives.
* * * * *
Strapped tightly in his chair Quinn was watching the countdown towards the end of the jump. It hit one minute and the artificial gravity was turned off, Quinn's stomach rose, threatening to make him spill his lunch. Gulping hard he said, "Do you always have to turn off the gravity when doing these jump transitions?"
"As I told you when we started the jump Quinn, yes we do. We need the power that artificial gravity draws to get enough for the tach drive to unwarp space-time. You should know that." Marcus Bradford, the captain of the Relativity, said disapprovingly.
"I'm a theortical phsycist not an engineer Marcus. Besides, I didn't read the specs of the ship before I went on this mission. It was a last minute thing you know." Quinn retorted, he loooked at the countdown timer again, thirty seconds left. He grimaced and closed his eyes, he didn't like starting the jump, odds were he won't like ending it either.
"Lousy excuse Quinn," Marcus paused to fiddle with the controls, "Tach drive shut down in five... four... three... two... one." At the end of the countdown, Quinn felt nothing at first, but then quickly felt as if he were being flattened and blown up at the same time for the briefest moment, and then it was over. He opened his eyes to look out the viewscreen, he saw the stars in an unfamial pattern, he let out a deep breath.
"I'll never get used to those." He said, unbelief heavy in his voice.
"Sure you will. If you keep your job as Minister of Science and Research, you'll have to go on a lot more of these." Marcus retorted comically, Quinn just groaned.
Quinn started to get out of his seat, he was just unbuckled when he realised that the gravity was still off, it was also the same time the gravity came back on. He feel a few centimeters to the chair, hit the rim and fell sprawled to the floor. Marcus started chuckling, then laughung then wheezing as he witnessed the evident, Quinn glared at him.
"That wasn't funny." Quinn said, his voice deadpan as he picked himself up of the deck. "Now I guess I better get started hmm."
"Yes I guess you should, and get the rest of the scientists going to. I want to get back to Xess as soon as possible. I miss my wife."
"I bet you do Marcus, I bet you do."
* * * * *
"Okay here's the optical scope view of sector 445." Said the technician, a young graduate student from the Univeristy of Xessmithia, as Quinn looked over his shoulder at the display screen.
"There's more of those blue splotches. There seem to be a lot of those in this system. Any word back on their mass?" Quin asked the tech.
"Not yet, we should be getting the tachyon mass scan data back in a few seconds" The tech said, checking his display screen.
"How far away are they?" Quin asked, scanning the display for some kind of distance marker.
"About one and a half AUs, it takes about two minutes for the tachyons to get there and back from that distance."
"I know how fast C tachyons travel, I just can't see the distance marker." Quinn said jokingly. A tone sounded from the panel. "Is that the tachyon mass scan data?"
"Yep," The tech paused for a second to look at the readout, "They range in mass from five-hundred grams to ten-thousand kilograms."
"Hmm," Said Quinn, taking a look at the readout. "They're amazingly dense. We're not getting any object with a radius over 3 centimeters." He did some quick calculations on his PDA. "That works out to a density of about one-hundred million kilograms per cubic meter." The tech whistled in astonishment as he confirmed the rough numbers.
"We'll definately need to get a closer look at those." The tech said, awe evident in his voice.
Quinn looked at the screen, "That's an understatement if I ever heard one."
* * * * *
The closer look had finally come, and as far as Quinn could tell there wasn't much more to see up close. "Okay, what haven't we tried doing to these things?" He asked the tech, his voice strained with frustration.
"Well," the tech answered, "We've done everything short of shooting it with a high-power neutron beam."
"We mind as well do that then." Quinn flicked some switches. "I'm initiating the beam now." He activated the emmitter and the viewscreen overlayed the path of the invisible neutron beam with brilliant orange. Half a second later the beam struck the object. "Any change?"
"None that I can see... wait we're starting to get increased neutrino emmisions from it. In the giga electronvolt range." The tech said exciteldy.
"Now that's something." Quinn looked at the indicator for the neutrino detector, there were indeed very energetic neutrinos being emmitted from the object, and they were coming faster and in greater numbers. Quinn shivered, he toggled the intercom, "Marcus, move the ship back a couple hundred kilometers will you." Quinn waited just long enough to hear the positive reply before turning back to look at the indicator. The amount of neutrinos was still climbing.
"I think that neutron beam caused some kind of reaction in the objects." The tech said. Quinn was about to agree when the viewscreen flared with blinding violet light before the viewscreen went opaque.
"What was that!" Quinn shouted as warning lights and klaxons wailed.
"The object exploded. It released the equivalent of six-hundred gigatons of energy before our scanners were blinded by it."
"Well it seems we found something very valuable here. If we can harness it we just found ourself an amazing power source," Quinn paused. "Or else an unimaginable weapon."
"We'll be deactivating the tach drive in under an hour Doctor. No need to sigh now." A voice said from behind him. It was female and crisp. Quinn smiled to himself. She's good, he thought. He turned to face the newcomer.
"I know that Commander Boden, but I'm not used to being cooped in flying alluminum cans for months at a time. Give me open skies anytime." Quinn started walking away from the viewscreen, Boden followed.
"The Relativity's a luxury liner compared to the Albertasaurus, corvettes aren't known for their roomy interiors you know." Boden said, her voice dripping with comedical sarcasm. Quinn smiled.
"No they certainly aren't." He said while chuckling. "I do believe I'd prefer my quarters to the triple-deck bunks you have over on the 'Berta."
"I hate those things, remind me of my own mortality." She said, a frown spreading across her face. "Fortunately I get a slightly larger cabin to myself as the CO." Both of the two shipmates laughed.
"Yes, advantages like that do tend to come with pow..." Quinn was cut off by the harsh buzz of the 15 minute proximity alarm. He glanced at his watch, he thought he had had almost a half-hour before the jump ended. I must have lost track of time, he thought. He turned to say goodbye to Boden, but she was already gone. Sighing again, he turned down the side corridor that led to the bridge and his station for when the Relativity arrives.
* * * * *
Strapped tightly in his chair Quinn was watching the countdown towards the end of the jump. It hit one minute and the artificial gravity was turned off, Quinn's stomach rose, threatening to make him spill his lunch. Gulping hard he said, "Do you always have to turn off the gravity when doing these jump transitions?"
"As I told you when we started the jump Quinn, yes we do. We need the power that artificial gravity draws to get enough for the tach drive to unwarp space-time. You should know that." Marcus Bradford, the captain of the Relativity, said disapprovingly.
"I'm a theortical phsycist not an engineer Marcus. Besides, I didn't read the specs of the ship before I went on this mission. It was a last minute thing you know." Quinn retorted, he loooked at the countdown timer again, thirty seconds left. He grimaced and closed his eyes, he didn't like starting the jump, odds were he won't like ending it either.
"Lousy excuse Quinn," Marcus paused to fiddle with the controls, "Tach drive shut down in five... four... three... two... one." At the end of the countdown, Quinn felt nothing at first, but then quickly felt as if he were being flattened and blown up at the same time for the briefest moment, and then it was over. He opened his eyes to look out the viewscreen, he saw the stars in an unfamial pattern, he let out a deep breath.
"I'll never get used to those." He said, unbelief heavy in his voice.
"Sure you will. If you keep your job as Minister of Science and Research, you'll have to go on a lot more of these." Marcus retorted comically, Quinn just groaned.
Quinn started to get out of his seat, he was just unbuckled when he realised that the gravity was still off, it was also the same time the gravity came back on. He feel a few centimeters to the chair, hit the rim and fell sprawled to the floor. Marcus started chuckling, then laughung then wheezing as he witnessed the evident, Quinn glared at him.
"That wasn't funny." Quinn said, his voice deadpan as he picked himself up of the deck. "Now I guess I better get started hmm."
"Yes I guess you should, and get the rest of the scientists going to. I want to get back to Xess as soon as possible. I miss my wife."
"I bet you do Marcus, I bet you do."
* * * * *
"Okay here's the optical scope view of sector 445." Said the technician, a young graduate student from the Univeristy of Xessmithia, as Quinn looked over his shoulder at the display screen.
"There's more of those blue splotches. There seem to be a lot of those in this system. Any word back on their mass?" Quin asked the tech.
"Not yet, we should be getting the tachyon mass scan data back in a few seconds" The tech said, checking his display screen.
"How far away are they?" Quin asked, scanning the display for some kind of distance marker.
"About one and a half AUs, it takes about two minutes for the tachyons to get there and back from that distance."
"I know how fast C tachyons travel, I just can't see the distance marker." Quinn said jokingly. A tone sounded from the panel. "Is that the tachyon mass scan data?"
"Yep," The tech paused for a second to look at the readout, "They range in mass from five-hundred grams to ten-thousand kilograms."
"Hmm," Said Quinn, taking a look at the readout. "They're amazingly dense. We're not getting any object with a radius over 3 centimeters." He did some quick calculations on his PDA. "That works out to a density of about one-hundred million kilograms per cubic meter." The tech whistled in astonishment as he confirmed the rough numbers.
"We'll definately need to get a closer look at those." The tech said, awe evident in his voice.
Quinn looked at the screen, "That's an understatement if I ever heard one."
* * * * *
The closer look had finally come, and as far as Quinn could tell there wasn't much more to see up close. "Okay, what haven't we tried doing to these things?" He asked the tech, his voice strained with frustration.
"Well," the tech answered, "We've done everything short of shooting it with a high-power neutron beam."
"We mind as well do that then." Quinn flicked some switches. "I'm initiating the beam now." He activated the emmitter and the viewscreen overlayed the path of the invisible neutron beam with brilliant orange. Half a second later the beam struck the object. "Any change?"
"None that I can see... wait we're starting to get increased neutrino emmisions from it. In the giga electronvolt range." The tech said exciteldy.
"Now that's something." Quinn looked at the indicator for the neutrino detector, there were indeed very energetic neutrinos being emmitted from the object, and they were coming faster and in greater numbers. Quinn shivered, he toggled the intercom, "Marcus, move the ship back a couple hundred kilometers will you." Quinn waited just long enough to hear the positive reply before turning back to look at the indicator. The amount of neutrinos was still climbing.
"I think that neutron beam caused some kind of reaction in the objects." The tech said. Quinn was about to agree when the viewscreen flared with blinding violet light before the viewscreen went opaque.
"What was that!" Quinn shouted as warning lights and klaxons wailed.
"The object exploded. It released the equivalent of six-hundred gigatons of energy before our scanners were blinded by it."
"Well it seems we found something very valuable here. If we can harness it we just found ourself an amazing power source," Quinn paused. "Or else an unimaginable weapon."