Beyond Uranus Read online

  We walked over to the pilot’s bay which was absolutely huge, far bigger than any aircraft hangar I’d ever seen. Out in the distance I could see the sheen of the plasma screen that insulated us from the cold vacuum of space. The area stretched for a good kilometre on either side of me and the roof was about the height of a ten story building. The white that dominated the rest of the station, shone at me here too. Looking around I could see a mixture of vessels, including several of the shuttle ships that had brought me to the station. People were milling around everywhere, probably support staff, busy at all manner of tasks and a hubbub of noise issued from a myriad of conversations punctuated by occasional shouts as they went about their daily business. Until now I hadn’t given a thought to the need for the maintenance of the station’s space fleet.

  Simon said “Could you ask your computer to locate Simon please?”

  “Sure. Adams where’s Simon?”

  “There are fifty Simon’s on this station. Which one would you like?”

  Simon rolled his eyes “Ask him for Simon the engineer in the UK sector.”

  “Simon the engineer in the UK sector, please Adams.”

  “Simon can be located in bay nineteen with the training ship.”

  Simon stepped onto a nearby scooter and said “Grab hold of that other transport device and twist the grip to accelerate. Follow me.”

  I did as he asked and five minutes later we were at bay nineteen. The ship was identical to a lot of the others that I could see in the bay but it seemed likely to be the one we were going to use. It was as tall as a two storey house and about half the length of a football pitch. There were two massive spherical sections connected by a long tube. Towards what I assumed was the front were four diagonal wing projections on the tube just behind the front sphere. Attached to the ends of each wing was a long rod that extended beyond the front of the ship with circular appendages that looked like the suction pads from an octopus. The whole ship was black and like the shuttle had no windows. New-new Simon, not Simon the pilot instructor but Simon the engineer, stood at the back of the ship holding a device up to the sphere. On spotting our approach, he waved and headed towards us.

  “Good morning Simon, how’s our new recruit?”

  “Morning Simon. I think he’s about ready. How’s his ship?”

  “It’s fine, all systems checked and ready to go.”

  “Thanks Simon. Could you give Roy the basics of the set up for the ship?”

  “No problem. OK Roy. This is very simple. At the back you have a Quantum Singularity Drive. The bit in the middle is a tube that connects to the cockpit at the front. There is a toilet at the rear of the tube, in front of the Drive. The four projections allow you to attach to other space craft and shunt them into a new course. The ship’s material is indestructible and it will insulate you from cold, heat, collisions and well, everything really. You can fly into the heart of your sun and not get a scratch on it, any questions?”

  “Yes, just one. Why is the drive so big? On the shuttle that brought me here there was no obvious engine and yet this has a huge bulge on the back.”

  “Power. You need lots and lots of power to shift some of the freighters. If you didn’t have enough you wouldn’t be able to change their trajectory. Some of the freighters you are going to shunt will have many times your mass and if you don’t have enough muscle to overcome the momentum and inertia from that mass you’ll never be able to get them out of the exclusion zone. Most of what you see is shielding from the Quantum Singularity. There is enough compressed matter in that sphere to create a small black hole powerful enough to consume your entire solar system. A drive system this big could propel a ship much larger than this at the fastest Hyper Travel velocities. You have enough energy at your disposal to get you clear across the galaxy in twelve months and enough grunt to shunt anything up to a planet the size of Neptune. Simon, she’s ready to go if you want to take her out.”

  “Thanks Simon. Come on Roy, follow me.”

  Moving round the other side of the ship, we found a set of steps heading upwards into the tube section. Despite the metallic look, the tread was springy but firm underfoot. As we made our way forwards along the tube, there was a faint hum behind us when the stairs folded into the ship, followed by a hiss as the entry door sealed itself. As we walked towards the door at the front, our footsteps echoed in the enclosed space, which was strange given the springy tread. Touching a plate at the side of it, the door slid silently aside. Setting foot over the threshold I immediately noticed the smell of fresh leather. Simon must have heard me inhaling its perfume. “It’s synthesised of course.” He informed me.

  I was a little disappointed by the cockpit. I had expected to see floor to ceiling switches and dials and banks of digital readouts with flashing lights all over the place like on the bridge of the Enterprise in Star Trek. However, there was only a rather comfortable looking recliner chair behind a futuristic looking desk with a dark, blank screen on it. Around the walls were what I thought might be windows giving a two hundred and seventy degree panoramic view of the hangar. “I know,” I said, “view-panels not windows.”

  Simon nodded ascent, “High definition, set on one to one resolution as a default setting.”

  Simon pointed to the pilot’s chair “It will mould itself to your dimensions,” he said, “Whilst you were maxing out in the reconstruction room, the scanners of Dr Philberts recorded all your measurements, so everything given to you will be custom made for a perfect fit. Now, strap yourself in and ask your computer to power up the cockpit.” As I sat down the door slid back into place to seal the entrance, making the cockpit a seamless sphere. Simon pulled a second seat out from the wall and sat down beside me.

  “Adams, power up the cockpit.” I instructed.

  Lights twinkled and the pilot’s desk screen flickered into life. The view of the bay changed to reveal a three hundred and sixty degree seamless three dimensional view of the outside. “Wow” I said “This is amazing. It’s like sitting in the middle of the air with no ship.”

  “You are going to need all the observation area you can get. The only thing that blocks your view is the instrument panel and we need that but you can rotate the whole console, chair and ship if you wish, there’s a small joystick on the end of the left arm rest that rotates everything. I’m going to take you through the instruments. This panel here is your relative speed and you can set it to any object.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “How fast are we travelling?”

  “We aren’t, we are motionless.”

  “Incorrect. We are travelling around the sun at about forty five thousand kilometres an hour. So how fast are we travelling?”

  “Forty five thousand kilometres an hour?”

  “Incorrect. We are travelling as part of the Milky Way at five hundred and ninety kilometres per second. So how fast are we travelling?”

  “It depends on which point you consider to be motionless.”

  “Well done. You decide which object you are travelling relative to. It could be one of the planets, the station or another ship. If you don’t tell your computer what to set the relative speed to then it will decide. At the moment it has chosen the station so it is registering that we are not moving. These three panels over here are variable frequency electromagnetic wave scanners. They can be cycled through all the wavelengths of the E.M. spectrum. You get three; one each for local, mid range and long distance scans. This final screen is for information sent by the station. You might find you don’t need any of this equipment because you’ll find it’s your computer that will supply you with all the information you need.

  “I saw footage of the inside of NASA’s space shuttle and compared to that, this is minimal.”

  “Yes, but remember how your computers have changed and become much easier to use as they advanced from the early days of punch cards, to today’s touch screens. OK, all we’re going to do today is get you acclimatised to using your computer to posi
tion the ship where you want it. Ask your computer to power up and take us five kilometres from the station.”

  “OK. Adams can you power all systems and take us five kilometres from the station please?”

  The ship lifted slightly off the deck and without any feeling of movement the ship started moving towards the plasma glass shield. As we got closer to the shield we started to accelerate. Moments later, we stopped and Adams said “We have reached your destination.”

  We spent several hours moving to different destinations. Simon showed me that however hard I tried Adams would not let me collide with the station. After heading back to the station for a quick lunch we were then back out in space.

  “Let’s do some Hyper Travel,” said Simon.

  “OK. Where shall we go?”

  “How about Your Anus?”

  I chuckled and said “You’re not like the other Simons are you Simon. You have a sense of humour.”

  “Although we are a hybrid type of clone and twin there are always variations in the pathways of the brain. We are not all like Simon the recruitment officer. If we were I think our race would have bored ourselves to extinction. We all have different personalities but we are all Simon Philberts.”

  “Thank God for that.”

  “And can you explain why Simon has started listening to Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk?”

  I chuckled again “I think he’s trying to get some soul. Adams?”

  “Yes Roy.”

  “Can you power up the Hyper Drive and put us in orbit around Uranus.”

  “No problem.” There was a whine and all the screens went black. I wasn’t sick this time and only felt butterflies in my stomach, like when you drive over a humpbacked bridge a little too fast. About fifteen seconds later all the monitors came back on and we were floating above the light blue sphere of Uranus. The view was stunning. White fluffy clouds floating in a pale turquoise-blue atmosphere and I could clearly see the ring system. The planet itself looked blue but that may have been the thin atmosphere absorbing colours. I spent a good few minutes silently awed by the beauty of it.

  “Can we land?” I breathlessly asked.

  “Yes we can. The ship will easily cope with the atmospheric pressure. You won’t see much, so you might want to ask your computer to change the view type. Infrared might be OK. Radar will work but it will only give you a grey scale view. You could ask your computer to add in false colours but I don’t think it will make much difference on Uranus. There are also types of views you will not have heard of like resonance, single harmonic and Reactive view.”

  “What are they?”

  “Resonance picks up the atomic resonance of each molecule and Adams can filter out undesirable noise. Single harmonic uses a gravity pulse from the Quantum Singularity Drive and Adams can then pick up the harmonic signature of matter. Reactive picks up the vibrations of matter but it might not work too well if it is very cold, which here of course it is.”

  “Whoosh.” I said, whilst gesturing that his words had gone completely over my head.

  ”I didn’t understand a word of that Simon. Adams, take us down and land on the surface.”

  “No problem Roy.”

  The ship quickly descended and a minute later we were settled on the surface. I asked Adams for several view types but the clearest was the grey scale radar. There was little to see on the surface, it was, mostly flat but with some outcrops of oddly rounded crystalline rock or frozen gas structures. I supposed that the rounding was due to erosion by the grinding blasts of the chemical winds sweeping over the mantle. Although the view was in greyscale, the predominant colour was white and it was a bit of a letdown after the fantastic view from orbit. We didn’t stay long because, to be honest, it was a bit boring.

  We spent the rest of the day using Hyper Travel to go to various parts of the outer solar system. All the planets were much better to look at from space, than from their surface. Too often there was little to see. Saturn and Jupiter were all gas and foggy, followed by a super heated nuclear interior that was like travelling through liquid gloop.

  Their moons were something else. Primordial, untouched other than by the bombardment of meteorites. The lack of atmosphere disallowed degradation other than sublimation and it was fantastic to think of how many millions or even billions of years the visage I saw, remained constant. Top of my list if you’re ever in the area visiting would be Jupiter’s Ganymede and Io along with Saturn’s Titan.

  Eventually Simon said “This is going to be the last jump of the day. Until now I’ve chosen all the destinations, so now it’s your turn.”

  “Thanks for letting me have a jump, Simon.” After a wry smile and a moment of thought I continued, “Adams, plot a course of Earth Station Five.”

  “No problem.”

  Within forty seconds we had arrived at our destination. In front of us was an identical copy of Earth Station Three.

  “Why did you come here?” asked Simon.

  “I don’t know. I guess I wanted to see if there really was another station.”

  *

  When we got back to the station we walked over to Simon’s office for a debrief. Simon sat on the opposite side of the big wooden table and I sat in my usual chair. He interlocked his fingers, placed his arms on the table and started the conversation.

  “Well, how do you think today went?”

  “It was fine. It’s a very simple process and let’s face it Adams did most of the work today.”

  “That’s good Roy and I think you have progressed remarkably well today. Your choice for a final destination was unusual.”

  “I don’t know why I chose to go to another Earth Station. I guess all this is like a dream and I wanted to check all the pieces were there. Simon told me about the six Earth Stations and I only wanted to confirm they exist.”

  “I’m quite impressed. I think it shows you are analysing a situation, checking all the facts. We’ve got a long day tomorrow and you’re going to be doing a lot of the work. I want you here for nine o’clock, fresh and sharp.”

  “Thanks Simon I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I left Simon’s office and walked down to the square.

  In his office Simon checked his note pad and then told his computer to call up the personnel database for the last twenty years and to put it on screen. “Scroll medium, please.” Moments later he called, “Stop.” Leaning forwards with eyes narrowed to scrutinise the screen, he read the entry. Then chuckling to himself he muttered. “Aha, McCormack and Isaac, I should have guessed. Computer erase search.”

  As I approached the square I enquired, “Adams, do you know where Claire is?”

  “Yes, she is on patrol.”

  “Dam it.” I said a little disappointedly.

  “She is on patrol in the evenings for the next four days.”

  My mood deepened a little. I’d had such a good time with Claire and I wouldn’t see her for a while because I was stuck in the middle of training and she was out on patrol. I didn’t feel like going to the Pilot’s Bar or their Restaurant. So, I decided to go to Sam’s Bar on the other side of the square.

  As I entered, the room was a blaze of green and a cacophony of noise overwhelmed me. Green jumpsuits predominated and they were all laughing and joking with their fellows as they enjoyed their evening. The jocular conviviality was a change from the strained deference of the pilots bar and I felt at ease the moment I stepped over the threshold. In the centre of the room was a rectangular island that formed the bar itself. I laughed internally when I spotted pumps labelled; Coke, Lilt and even one displaying Horlicks. As my eyes swept the walls I spotted the frosted windows etched with ‘raB s’maS’ and wondered if s’maS owned the whole premises or just the windows. Suddenly, I noticed that I was standing in an ever increasing circle of space and that the chatter was decreasing in an expanding radius around me. I heard someone shouting my name, I swivelled around and there was Gary, shouting “Roy! Over here come and join us.” As I followed t
he summons the noise of chatter filled the space I’d vacated.

  “Hi Gary, do I have something wrong with my face?”

  “No it’s fine Roy. It’s unusual for a pilot to come into this bar because you have your own facilities.”

  “How unusual?”

  “You’re the first.”

  “Unusual equals unique then. One small step for the pilots eh? Sorry for being facetious but Claire’s on patrol and I didn’t want to eat with the other pilots so I thought I come to this bar for a change. If it’s a problem I can leave.”

  “Don’t be daft you’re more than welcome. Take a seat. I recommend the burger and chips.”

  “That sounds just about right. Where do I order and do they also do pizza?”

  “Order at the bar and yes they do pizza.”

  “Oh God, I think I’ve arrived in heaven. The barman won’t call me sir will he?”

  “No. This isn’t a pilot’s only area so we tend not to go for all that tugging the forelock crap.”

  I ordered my burger and chips and Gary and I had a long talk about deference and the class divide. We were both educated in comprehensive schools. Gary was brought up in a council house with his mum, stepdad and a granddad that was blind, whilst I was luckier with a more middle class background. Gary worked weekends in a takeaway to earn money to buy clothes whereas I tinkered with computers that were bought for me by my parents. There was one common link in that we both missed our dads as we grew up.

  As Gary grew older and became more aware of his sexuality, his stepdad didn’t understand and couldn’t deal with that. Gary wasn’t certain if he was trying to beat the homosexuality out or heterosexuality into him, whichever it made his life miserable and he longed for his real dad. I missed my dad because he worked abroad for most of the year.

  Gary had known his real dad up to the age of eight and then one day he disappeared. His mother had told him that he had left them for another woman. At the age of ten his mother told him that his dad had died and his bastard of a soon to be step dad started going out with his mum. At the age when Gary was beginning to understand who he was and what he was, his mum and her boyfriend married and Gary’s life became a living hell. His step dad had in his own way tried, Gary thought, and would make him do anything that he considered a male pastime to try and get him to ‘man up’.