Leaving Blue 5.1, page 1
A journey to the stars.
Captain Frim and the crew aboard Exp 1, a starship that is on an exploratory mission, headed for the planet D36, must take an alternate route and land on E4, a planet where a race of beings called the Reen live because the crew is running out of food.
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Leaving Blue 5.1
Copyright © 2013 Thadd Evans
ISBN: 978-1-77111-722-7
Cover art by Angela Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by Devine Destinies
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Leaving Blue 5.1
By
Thadd Evans
To Michael Crichton
“This is the first scientific expedition to go beyond Alpha Centauri A, a main sequence star, the one our home planet, Blue 5.1, orbits.”
Captain Greg Frim
Chapter One
Exp One
It was the year 1501. We had orders to take our star ship, Exp One, on a scientific expedition, bound for a planet named D36. EMPE, the Executive Management branch of Physicists and Engineers and the global government agency that had sent us on this mission, had instructed me alone to open a top secret manila envelope when our ship drew close to D36.
Although EMPE had given us an adequate food and water supplies, there wasn’t much left, because we had taken longer routes, safer ones.
Our navigator, an astrophysicist named Dr. Thomas Harn, and his assistant, Dr. Jen Emen, an astronomer, had been studying this planetary system, trying to find a main-sequence star, because in many cases habitable planets orbited this type of celestial body. Within the last four days, after decelerating, we were closer to a world named E4.
Before going into its orbit, Exp One would pass two moons, then inspect a four-hundred-foot-diameter indigo ship. Although that vessel hadn’t responded to our messages, if anyone was aboard, they might share food.
On my vtp—a a cell phone-like voice, texting, video portable communicator—Steve’s, Lisa’s, Bette’s, Wanda’s, Roger’s, Larry’s and Seth’s names enlarged. In the last three hours, none of them had responded to my emails. Something was wrong.
I spoke into my vtp, telling Thomas about the fact that they weren’t paying attention to my recent messages.
His face appeared on the device. He blinked. “Understood. An hour ago, I sent emails to Susan, Rita and Marie. But they haven’t replied. Perhaps they’re too busy.”
“Meet me in Steve’s room in ten minutes. We need to get to the bottom of this.”
“Will do.”
I thought about Susan, a Microbiologist. Because of my busy schedule, we rarely spoke.
About two weeks ago, for the first time in months, Rita, a Software Engineer, a woman who was well versed in using strange attractor formation in G forces to create star charts, spoke to me about several galactic maps. Although I wanted to talk to her more often, both of us had too much to do.
I entered Steve’s room. I picked up a piece of paper next to a monitor.
I can’t take it anymore. I’m going to jump out of the escape hatch.
Steve.
Thomas walked in. He was five feet eleven inches, muscular, with sharp features and deep-set blue eyes. Although he listened carefully, he always looked threatening because he always had a serious expression on his face. His specialty was using neutrino density around Alpha Centauri A and other stars to create galactic maps. According to his studies, using neutrinos, a ghostly particle, was only one way of getting results.
“Look at this note.” I handed it to him.
“Trouble.” He frowned.
“Are there any records that show if Steve actually did this?”
“I’m not aware of any. According to Mary, he was depressed. As you know, Exp One may not make it to D thirty-six. As a result, everyone aboard is far more depressed than any of us anticipated. Despite the fact that the crew has been trained, everyone has their breaking point.”
“Understood. Did she tell you anything else about Steve crawling into the hatch?”
“Yes. She never actually saw him climb inside it. However, she mentioned that he complained about being lonely.
“According to these video records, there’s no sign of him crawling out of any escape hatches. I’ll keep looking,” Thomas said, unperturbed.
A new email from Sam scrolled across my vtp.
Greg-
I want to see you immediately.
I responded, telling her that she should come to my office in a few minutes.
“Thomas, assuming that everyone else is like Steve is a bad idea.”
“I agree. I’ll go back to room N fifteen, search the database. Perhaps I can find out what happened to the other missing crew.”
“Let’s have a meeting in twenty-five minutes. Except for Alan and UE, everyone will attend. It’s important that we get more information.”
“See you then. I’ll spread the word.” He left.
Alan’s face scrolled across my vtp. He blurted, “Greg, the indigo ship still hasn’t responded to any radio signals.”
“Send more messages. Tell them we’re on the verge of starvation.”
“I’ll do that.”
I left the room. On my vtp, notes about Exp One’s eight-hundred-foot long triangular carbon-nanotube hull enlarged. In the last two months, Alan, the co-pilot and David, the chief engineer, had told me that tiny cracks near the tail had spread farther than anyone imagined.
About eight months ago, although we never planned it, we had gone through the Nios meteor belt, a shorter route, and steroid dust smashed against the hull. During that time, we accelerated and decelerated many times, pushing the ship’s limits. After leaving Nios, everyone scanned many rooms, some halls and portions of the hull, searching for any hull damage. At first, no one spotted any cracks.
I entered my office, sat down and thought about one of our passengers, the most mysterious entity among us, a seven-foot-tall humanoid name UE. When I was on Blue 5.1, an EMPE officer named James told me that members of UE’s race, the Dcou, had spoken to EMPE management. The Dcou said that UE wanted his privacy kept intact while on Exp One.
James insisted that if any member of the crew spoke to the humanoid, they had to address him as UE. No other name was acceptable. James added that I needed to hold a meeting and share this information regarding the humanoid with the entire crew, because everyone aboard needed to understand that none of them could ask UE a question about anything or greet him unless the humanoid himself said otherwise. We held the meeting. Everyone reluctantly agreed.
Eight months ago, after speaking to the crew about UE’s privacy, I heard stories. The humanoid was walking around the halls, checking telescopes, spectrometers, database files, medical records and software. Although the crew didn’t like it, they couldn’t ask him a single question.
Chapter Two
Meeting
I waved my hand over the monitor and the missing crew’s names and records scrolled by. It was amazing to see how many hours they put in. They wanted to make sure that everything on the ship operated smoothly.
Then I thought about Sam, our on-board experienced dentist. She also prepared meals, supervised nutrition and kept track of medical records. Sam never called attention to her skills. She just performed each duty without fanfare, never complained about the lack of equipment or not having enough fresh food.
According to other pages, everyone was pitching in, trying to make this mission easier. I needed to thank them at our next meeting. Then I started thinking about the missing crew.
Larry, a computer scientist with years of experience, had studied satellite, spectrometer and interferometric telescope maintenance.
A few weeks ago, Bette, a Nutritionist, a woman with an extensive background in amino acids and the long term effects of vitamins, sent emails, messages telling me that the crew needed more exercise.
Wanda, a Nurse, talked to Jen and Thomas every few days.
Seth, a physicist who spent just about every waking moment examining the ship’s dosimeters, dynameters and declinometers, usually spoke with Roger and Jen.
The only missing crew member I knew well was Dr. Marie Nriwo, a woman with a doctorate in photonic computer languages, a scientist who was well versed in the computer languages GD and MC. An image of a smiling lady with red hair entered my thoughts. Perhaps she had crawled into an escape hatch and ejected.
The conference would take place in Room two. Alan, the co-pilot, would fly Exp One during the meeting.
Although I was the captain, everyon e aboard was bright. None of them needed much supervision. Nonetheless, listening to Sam and other member of the crews was my responsibility.
I sipped coffee, hoping that my discussion with her would be short. I didn’t talk to Sam often. She spent most of her free time with David, the IT Director, a man who knew more about our servers than anyone else aboard.
Sam came from Frchi, a town in the Hoom desert, a war zone. A tall slender woman and a member of the Sian race, Sam rarely smiled.
“Good afternoon.”
“Hi.” Sam plopped down, an irritated expression on her face.
“So, what’s up?”
“I have several complaints. I’ll get right to it.”
“Okay. I’m listening.”
“Who is this UE character anyway?” Sam hollered. “As far as I can tell, he never cleans, talks or makes any attempt to acknowledge anybody. That’s what I hear from David, Jen and some other crew. He’s a pain in the ass! I make meals, track nutrition, take blood pressure and x-ray teeth. Every crew member helps. UE doesn’t do a fucking thing. I’ve seen him look at database files and studying spectrometers. Does he know what he’s doing?
“I’ve brought meals to him many times. He never says thank you. What gives him the right to be so rude? He doesn’t seem to be accountable or care about anyone,” Sam said.
“I understand. You know what EMPE expects.”
“Although I know about their policy, I don’t trust that UE character.” She banged her fist on table. “Can’t you talk to him, force him to co-operate?”
“I’ll talk to him. The problem is I can’t force him to do anything.”
She frowned. “Okay, but I don’t trust him. I’ve lived in a war zone, know how to use a knife. If he bothers me, I’ll stab him.”
“If UE threatens anyone, I’ll respond. In the meantime, I have to give him the same consideration I give everyone else.”
“I guess that’s your job,” Sam said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“It is.”
She rose and hurried off.
On a wall-mounted screen, an auburn hill in E4’s southern hemisphere enlarged, making it easier to study.
Jen’s voice came out of a wall-mounted speaker, “Greg, according to the optical interferometric telescope, eighty-one percent of this planet is covered by an ocean. Three continents are completely covered by snow and ice.
“Who lives there?”
“I don’t know yet. These are just preliminary scans.”
“Understood. We need to understand these humanoids. It’s important to know if there is a war on any of the continents.”
“Acknowledged. I’ll get back to you.”
Using spectrometers, optical interferometric telescopes and radio interferometric telescopes, Jen had mapped Brigp, Tido and Laar, three planets that orbited Alpha Centauri A, so I assumed that she would create good flight paths that would allow us to go into orbit close to our destination.
Another issue came to mind. Although Jen was experienced, our aging equipment might create artifacts, or false data. Several months after departing from Blue 5.1, four servers produced inaccurate galactic charts. Because she had dealt with this obstacle many times before, Jen used new differential equations designed to analyze chaotic movements within turbulence. As a result, all four servers generated better maps.
While on Blue 5.1, she realized that light diffusion distorted many star maps. After studying this for several years, Jen spoke to her colleagues about it. Within months, four of them, Dr. Halip, Dr. Mim, Dr. Thein and Dr. Awwa, spoke to manufacturers, asking them to create better telescope lenses.
Alan’s face materialized on my vtp. He blinked. “Greg, I just received a text email from a town called Tri, one that is in the northern hemisphere. Someone named Ine has agreed to talk about our need for food and drinkable liquids after we go into orbit. Unfortunately, I can’t translate the rest of the message. I’ll be in touch.”
“Understood.” I sent a text message to EMPE, telling them about the fact that several crew had recently disappeared.
On screen, at the north end of Tri, close to E4’s equator, it was forty-one degrees Fahrenheit. According to the spectrometer, this planet had enough oxygen. We didn’t need oxygen tanks.
On a desktop computer, Thomas’s blurred face with a new message came into focus. He raised his eyebrows. “Greg, there are five continents, Ncio, Eaco, Sou, Wees and Iom. I don’t know anything about the inhabitants. There aren’t any videos or photographs, just nine pages of hieroglyphics. All of them are difficult to grasp.”
“Understood. Keep me posted.” In the next few days, I wanted to update the language software, making it possible to translate these messages.
Chapter Three
Hybrids
I entered the room and sat down facing an oblong table. Everyone else rested their elbows on it, looking at me, nervous expressions on their faces.
Sam hadn’t arrived.
I offered a brief greeting. “Thanks for coming.”
Thomas, David, Joel, Lesley and Mary nodded, smiling faintly. Jen’s frown deepened.
Sam entered and plopped down, scowling.
Except for Alan, UE and the RM—the routine maintenance robots—the entire crew was here.
I announced, “I’d like to know if anyone has any new information about the missing crew, all ten of them. As everyone knows, Steve supposedly climbed through a hatch and ejected into space. Does anyone have any information about the others? I would like to hear anything that anyone has seen, heard or knows about.”
“I do.” Jen cleared her throat, tense.
“I’m listening.”
“I’ve waited because of several reasons, but I’ll tell you what Roger told me.”
“You should have spoken to me about this sooner.”
Jen blinked. “I know, but I was keeping a promise. Roger asked me to do it this way. If it’s all my fault, I’ll pay the price.
“Anyway, as everyone aboard knows, all the missing crew are hybrids. Hybrids have had an arm, hand, leg, ear or some other body part replaced because of an accident or illness. The replacements were either donated limbs or genetically created body parts. During the operation, micro surgeons used tiny needles to connect blood vessels on a leg, an arm or another body part. Sometimes a leg, a regenerated body part that was created by hot start cloning, is partially sewn onto a patient’s hip. Then the patient enters a clean room, one that has been disinfected, and the legs heals. The problem is that I’m not a doctor, so my details aren’t specific enough.
“Anyway, hybrids have problems. In some cases, they can’t adjust to their new arms or legs. The psychological shock is too much to bear.
“Also, the leg or arm’s muscles, ligaments, capillaries, arteries and veins must heal properly, or they can’t use that limb.
“Also, according to what Roger said, many parents, brothers, sisters and other family members dislike hybrids because hybrids are regarded as freaks. Roger says he knows that because as a hybrid, he has experienced a lot of rejection at job interviews, family reunions and from strangers.
“Anyway, after the operation, some hybrids cover up the scars with makeup. If the scar is on their stomach or back, it’s easier to hide it. Unfortunately, if a fellow worker sees the scar and tells the boss, the hybrid will get fired.
“In general, hybrids are despised because a few of them are either terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. Although I don’t know why those few hurt anyone, they have ruined the reputation of every hybrid.
“According to Roger, the missing crew, a group of brilliant scientists, went on this mission because it would advance their careers. If they remained on Blue 5.1, all of them would end up in the streets, homeless.
“The problem is as Exp One started running low on food, the missing crew panicked. They assumed that we would die of starvation or thirst.
“Roger added that he showed Rita, Lisa and the rest of the missing crew Bayesian statistics. According to those predictions, we would run out of packaged meals before Exp One reached D fifty-three. Because of that, Roger tracked three planets, Nothi, Hoipl and Deabl for several weeks and found that Nothi had five moons. One moon, which Roger named Despl, had a thin atmosphere. According to his spectrographic analysis, the hybrids could survive there. They waited for several days, took two shuttles and headed for Despl.” Jen blinked.
