The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #1, Inception by Andrew Beery Page B
Authors: Andrew Beery
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to?"
"We're going to make a big bomb bigger"
"OK... I'll bite... How much bigger?"
"Think supernova"
Ken stopped walking and looked at her.
She put a hand on his shoulder to encourage him to continue walking. "Trust me... It doesn't sound nearly as crazy as it is."
" And this is supposed to make me feel better?"
"... and here I thought you were a man of faith" she chuckled.
As they entered the nearly full shuttle for the trip to Ganymede station she started to outline her plan. "When Cal and I were working out the quantum fold heuristics, a comment was made that got me thinking."
"And that was?"
"The easiest quantum fold to calculate is the one to the galactic center... It never changes... In other words once calculated... Always calculated."
"And this helps us how?"
"Well mister engineer... What happens to a ship that hyper jumps into a sun?"
"Really bad things... At a minimum it goes boom"
"And?" Cat prompted.
"...and the boom propagates on both sides of the quantum fold."
"And what happens to a ship located near the origin terminus of such a quantum fold?" Cat asked the engineer.
"For a brief second it would be like it was literally in the middle of the sun."
Cat just smiled as the shuttle pilot cleared the Bowman's landing bay.
Ken continued to look confused. "How does this in any way help us? Suicide is not an effective means of battling an enemy."
"Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe suicide is a sin... One's own starship is not the only source of a hyper drive."
The light of understanding started to dawn in the engineer's eyes. "You want to use one of the hyper drive missiles... But they won't help. It takes too long to calculate the jump parameters... By the time you got them done the battle would be over... Besides, the ship that fired the missile would be fried too."
"Ah... But if you could pre-calculate the hyper jump to say..." Cat started.
"The galactic core" the engineer finished. "Makes sense... I assume you would program the hyper jump to initiate only after the friendlies have jumped clear."
"Exactly" Cat said. "The key to making this work, is going to be augmenting the missiles' sensors and AI to be able to autonomously determine when it's safe to do a suicide jump."
The Shuttle touched down on one of several pads near the armory on Ganymede station.
"That should not be a problem" Ken stated matter-of-factly.
"That's why I have you along. I took a look at the schematics. Things are pretty tight in those things."
"I imagine we could just remove the nuclear payload... That should free up plenty of room"
"See... I knew bringing you was a smart idea."
By the time the loading crew had made the four trips between the Bowman and the armory, necessary to fully stock the ship's weapon systems, Cat and Ken had modified three of the hyper jump missiles. Cat took the opportunity to add random micro jump sequences to the drive controller. These jumps would only be a few feet each time so the calculations could be done in milliseconds but they would make the missiles very hard to hit. Somewhere along the way the two of them had started referring to the modified missiles as suicide jumpers or 'SJ' rounds, and the name stuck.
***
Once again back on board the Bowman, Cat and Ken briefed the Captain on the project she and the Chief Engineer had been working on.
Captain Debu Ramchandani rubbed his chin as he thought about the implications of his First Officers efforts. "Do you really think we need a weapon this powerful? If someone launches that from Earth orbit it could do some serious damage."
"No question about that Sir. However I think I may have a means of insuring that can't happen" Cat said.
"Care to elaborate?"
"It was really Cal's idea... Can I invite him to join us?"
"Commander, I've noticed you started referring to 'Cal' as a him...
"We're going to make a big bomb bigger"
"OK... I'll bite... How much bigger?"
"Think supernova"
Ken stopped walking and looked at her.
She put a hand on his shoulder to encourage him to continue walking. "Trust me... It doesn't sound nearly as crazy as it is."
" And this is supposed to make me feel better?"
"... and here I thought you were a man of faith" she chuckled.
As they entered the nearly full shuttle for the trip to Ganymede station she started to outline her plan. "When Cal and I were working out the quantum fold heuristics, a comment was made that got me thinking."
"And that was?"
"The easiest quantum fold to calculate is the one to the galactic center... It never changes... In other words once calculated... Always calculated."
"And this helps us how?"
"Well mister engineer... What happens to a ship that hyper jumps into a sun?"
"Really bad things... At a minimum it goes boom"
"And?" Cat prompted.
"...and the boom propagates on both sides of the quantum fold."
"And what happens to a ship located near the origin terminus of such a quantum fold?" Cat asked the engineer.
"For a brief second it would be like it was literally in the middle of the sun."
Cat just smiled as the shuttle pilot cleared the Bowman's landing bay.
Ken continued to look confused. "How does this in any way help us? Suicide is not an effective means of battling an enemy."
"Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe suicide is a sin... One's own starship is not the only source of a hyper drive."
The light of understanding started to dawn in the engineer's eyes. "You want to use one of the hyper drive missiles... But they won't help. It takes too long to calculate the jump parameters... By the time you got them done the battle would be over... Besides, the ship that fired the missile would be fried too."
"Ah... But if you could pre-calculate the hyper jump to say..." Cat started.
"The galactic core" the engineer finished. "Makes sense... I assume you would program the hyper jump to initiate only after the friendlies have jumped clear."
"Exactly" Cat said. "The key to making this work, is going to be augmenting the missiles' sensors and AI to be able to autonomously determine when it's safe to do a suicide jump."
The Shuttle touched down on one of several pads near the armory on Ganymede station.
"That should not be a problem" Ken stated matter-of-factly.
"That's why I have you along. I took a look at the schematics. Things are pretty tight in those things."
"I imagine we could just remove the nuclear payload... That should free up plenty of room"
"See... I knew bringing you was a smart idea."
By the time the loading crew had made the four trips between the Bowman and the armory, necessary to fully stock the ship's weapon systems, Cat and Ken had modified three of the hyper jump missiles. Cat took the opportunity to add random micro jump sequences to the drive controller. These jumps would only be a few feet each time so the calculations could be done in milliseconds but they would make the missiles very hard to hit. Somewhere along the way the two of them had started referring to the modified missiles as suicide jumpers or 'SJ' rounds, and the name stuck.
***
Once again back on board the Bowman, Cat and Ken briefed the Captain on the project she and the Chief Engineer had been working on.
Captain Debu Ramchandani rubbed his chin as he thought about the implications of his First Officers efforts. "Do you really think we need a weapon this powerful? If someone launches that from Earth orbit it could do some serious damage."
"No question about that Sir. However I think I may have a means of insuring that can't happen" Cat said.
"Care to elaborate?"
"It was really Cal's idea... Can I invite him to join us?"
"Commander, I've noticed you started referring to 'Cal' as a him...
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