Alicia Jones 3: New Frontier
black hole drive, but we need to figure out
the answer to that before we even consider rolling this out.”
    Kristi shrugged, “We need to figure out how we can turn it off. 
Once that’s solved we can set up strict shutdown protocols if the ship is about
to buy it, same as what we do with the fusion reactors.”
    “You know, we’ve just been assuming
it would be that destructive.  For all we know the dark energy would
collapse with the singularity, or perhaps be reabsorbed in that spot and not
explode outward.  That actually makes more sense if you think about it,
dark energy isn’t really energy like plasma, it’s more like gravity.  Last
I checked, gravity doesn’t explode.  All we really know about dark energy
is that it’s attracted by black holes.
    “Of course, even if that’s the case it would still be bad to
turn it off normally, but only for the ship the dark energy would come in contact
with.  I think we should find out, but I don’t want to risk the battle
cruiser.  I’m going to build a small shuttle with the singularity device
system and very little else… and give it a try.”
    The design only took a few minutes, I just had to take our
current lab design and shrink it enough to fit inside a shuttle.  Truth be
told, all I really did was tell Al to do that and then checked and approved his
solution.  I was even able to build it out there on the big lab ship in
the landing bay, since it was a fully functional battle cruiser with its own
fabrication equipment.  It would only take a day to build, and be finished
around the same time as the wormhole device.
    Kristi frowned, “Anything else?”
    I shrugged, “I don’t think so.  Once we prove it’s safe
and we have a wormhole drive, if it is and we do I mean.  We update the
carriers, command ships, battle cruisers, and platforms with the new dark
energy reactor, plasma cannons, and wormhole drives if we get approval. 
Everything else stays the same.”
    Kristi frowned, “If we get approval?”
    I nodded, “Now that we aren’t in danger of imminent
destruction, the countries of Earth have started pinching pennies.  Our
blank check has been filled out, so to speak.  Regardless, we will update
our command ship either way, we own that one, and we own the ship out
here.  Worst case, we own the two most powerful ships in the known galaxy
for a while.  Not bad for two young blondes with doctorates.
    Kristi giggled…
     
    The Nairan.  Another update came in about the world that
reached space but wasn’t interstellar yet, about five thousand light years
rimward.  No surprises, they were humanoid.  On average they were
shorter by about five inches, the tallest male generally around five foot
seven, and the shortest female around four foot five.  There were shorter
and taller people than that of course, but those were the more common numbers.
    They had golden skin, and were hairless.  There was
some debate about that, it might be cultural.  Their heads were a bit less
oval and more rounded, with eyes set a bit further apart, and they had longer
necks.  The people in charge of reviewing and gathering data managed to
get access to their version of the internet, sort of.  They could only see
what others were looking at in the data stream.  They also had the
television and radio, though there wasn’t a full translation yet of their
language.
    The probes had also found another two worlds.
    The first was uninhabitable, with cities crumbling. 
Looks like that world didn’t get past their entrance to the atomic age. 
Maybe in a few thousand years we could move in, if the tattered remains of the
populace couldn’t hold on.
    The second world was actually more exciting news than the
update about the Nairan’s world.  We found a planet that was marginally
inhabitable, and most importantly was unlikely to evolve its own higher life
forms.  There is some smaller life in the oceans, and some sparse plant
life along with insects, but no

Similar Books

This is a Call

Paul Brannigan

Dead Man Waltzing

Ella Barrick

Necessary Detour

Kim Hornsby

The Green Mill Murder

Kerry Greenwood

Infernal Bonds

Holly Evans

A Hopeful Heart

Amy Clipston