This month I am writing 30 short stories in 30 days. (Hopefully one a day.)
Here is the Day 2 story:
Terminal Confinement
by J.D. Udall
"Of course, we all know that faster than light travel is not possible," said Dr. Edgar Tenne. "However, this is not because there is a 'speed limit' on the universe."
Tenne motioned air quotes with his fingers.
"The reason light speed is the limit of speed, is simply because in a sense, it is actually INSTANTANEOUS travel, between two points in space time."
Tenne drew two points on his screen.
"In this diagram Up is time."
Tenne drew an up arrow next to the left point."
"... and left right is space."
Tenne drew a double-sided arrow between the two points.
"Velocity differential essentially distorts space and time between two points, so anything, even energy in the form of light and gravity waves, travel into the future when traveling across space."
Tenne drew a slanted arrow between the first point and above the second. He then drew a third point at the end of the arrow above the second point.
"Therefore, anything moving through spacetime in a standard manner will always arrive in what we commonly refer to as the future when traveling through space."
Tenne paused to look out at the crowd gathered in the small conference room. He looked out at the faces of government leaders pretending to understand what he said, and then at the engineers and scientists advising them who were trying their best to hide the disgust they must feel at the many important details this simplistic explanation left out.
"So, how to solve this seemingly impossible problem?"
Tenne was happy that the brilliant engineers of the Half-Spin Project were able to implement the discoveries of his team. Otherwise, he would be fielding ego-driven challenges from half of the audience for as long as they could hold out. As is, they held their tongues to see the results of the technical demonstration before embarrassing themselves.
"Half-spin."
Tenne drew a circle with two curved arrows. He put an "x" over the second arrow.
"Just like Gauss's Law, it has been believed that a rotational motion must include both vectors of each dimension that it is rotating in."
Tenne drew two straight orthogonal lines next to each curved arrow, left and up on the left, and right and down on the right.
"However, just as the discovery of isolated magnetic poles by Cansas and Palloc in 2245, we have discovered a way to rotate an object halfway. In this example, only left and up, without moving right and down."
Tenne crossed out the right and down arrows, leaving only the left and up vectors.
If we spin a craft orthogonally to the motion of travel, and then half-spin in only orthogonal and opposite directions, the distortion of time will be counter-acted as an object moves through space.
Tenne motioned towards his screen as he played a complex animation showing how the X-4552A craft would spin as the force vectors from its engine moved the craft through space, but not through time. The animation was crude, but no one in the room understood the simplifications except for himself and his team. Half of whom were sitting in a similar room in Earth orbit.
"Soon, we will see a demonstration of the Abyssa Chronos X-4552A test spacecraft. From our side in Martian orbit the effect will be much more dramatic than our colleagues on Earth's perspective," said Tenne. "From their point of view, they will see the craft launch and then twelve minutes later they will see it arrive at our location. While this will be twelve minutes faster than they would normally see any reply from us, from our perspective the demonstration will be viscerally apparent."
Tenne took a deep breath before this final video of the presentation.
"What we will see is a live feed of the craft sitting at the launch pad, but twelve minutes before launch it will arrive outside of our window. We will see the craft arrive in the catch ring at the test site.”
Tenne motioned out the window to the large ringed structure 70 kilometers away from the space station they had all gathered in to witness the event.
“Capt. Kennewick and Lt. Senicca will be sipping Champagne by the time we see the launch in the live feed.”
He pressed play and the video played showing a cartoon of an Earth video feed showing the Abyssa sitting on the launchpad in Earth orbit and then arriving at Mars when the countdown still was at -12:00.
"Those of us who know of the twelve-minute delay between Earth and Mars might be tempted to think that there was no time travel at all, but that is not the case,” said Tenne. “In fact, the time travel taken by the ship is simply of a form that is incapable of causing time paradoxes as the objects and information which travel through time can never influence their own past, even if they are able to deliver information about live events that from one perspective may seem to be from the future. Because that future is always farther in the past than the time it takes light to travel to that location it is unable to change the chronology of events in spacetime.
Genna Braun glared at Tenne. She didn’t want him to discuss the time traveling nature of the technology, as there would always be someone who asked some foolish question. He never understood the immense pressure she was under as Martian Director, but he seemed happy to add to them.
“Doctor, could you exp---“, began Representative Colton.
“Not now, Larry,” interrupted Braun with a frown as she made her way to the front next to Dr. Tenne.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen," said Tenne. "I turn you over to Director Braun for a few words before the demonstration."
Braun stood up and shook Tenne's hand. She genuinely felt bad that she had to take this moment from him, but she needed to show Earth that the Martian government was strong and very much in control of this demonstration. If they wanted this technology, they would need to promise more favorable trade conditions. Of course, if this failed, she was as good as dead.
"Welcome, all," said Braun. "In the video feed we see that Dr. Tenne’s counterpart on Earth is about to give a similar lecture. Of course, we all know that happened about twelve minutes ago and the launch of the X-4552A will happen at any moment."
Braun pointed at the screen which showed footage of the launch vehicle with a countdown to launch of less than thirteen minutes. It also showed Earth UTC as well as Mars UTC, which were currently twelve minutes out of phase.
"Please direct your attention to the catch ring as the arrival of the vessel will be our first indication of the launch’s success."
Silence held over the room like a pressure malfunction. Braun strained to hear anyone breathe, including herself. It reminded her of her spacewalk classes in college. Extreme silence like she had never experienced. Not only a lack of noise, but things which normally should have made sounds just didn't. It was like sound didn't exist. She remembered panicking thinking she went deaf and remembering that her instructor said this was a very common reaction.
This next moment would either go down in history or would be forgotten as another failure to break the FTL barrier that had stymied any serious interstellar missions for decades. Centuries even. Not to mention the fate of the Mars Democratic Union and the mining and geoengineering efforts that needed funding and Earth resources.
The blast from the catch ring caught Braun off-guard. Ripples of flame and plasma radiated from the ring and back towards Earth. The blast flashed through colors as if it was spinning the electromagnetic field itself. It was like spacetime itself was resonating with the blast.
And then it was over.
"Abyssa, do you read?"
"Copy, Sangre Circulus. Abyssa docking procedure complete," said Kennewick. She gave a thumbs up to the camera in the cockpit.
The strength of the cheers in the small room rang through Tenne's ears was so surprising that it took a few moments to realize that much of the volume was from his own voice.
Tenne embraced his colleagues as they rushed into a clumsy group hug as they jumped up and down. Braun walked over and the crowd parted so she and Tenne could shake hands. Tenne didn't expect the heartfelt hug from Braun, nor was he prepared for the tears that blurred his vision.
Everything was different now.
Audio from the Earth launch played over the live video feed from Earth. The communication between launch control and the crew, Capt. Jenna Kennewick and Cobac Senicca, played over the footage.
At T minus one minute the spacecraft began its outer-shell rotation.
"Orthogonal rotation go."
The outer shell of the spacecraft began spinning like a top around the axis of the nose of the vehicle.
"Half-spin vectors go."
The half-spin was impossible to explain, but seeing it action always filled Braun with dread. The spacecraft seemed to turn inside out as it turned in all directions. Despite the name "half-spin" it seemed to liquify and spin in on itself like a water fountain. Apparently, the orthogonal spin made it appear this way, but the crew were completely fine.
"Can we get a go-no go, Captain?"
"We are a go for launch," said Kennewick.
Soon mission control entered the countdown.
"Five...Four...Three...Two...One...Launch."
The engines of the Abyssa fired and it appeared that the rocket engines were pointed outwards as well as behind. This was not completely an illusion, but also not completely correct, as Tenne had explained to Braun many times. It still didn't make any sense.
The camera followed the spaceship as it blasted off towards Mars, but it was almost immediately out of sight.
Tenne looked away from the vid screens and back at the catch ring out the window. He saw several flashes out of the corner of his eye. He stepped closer towards the window and could make out several small lights around the catch ring. He blinked, trying to focus on the lights. Soon other flashes appeared, and other lights gathered around the Abyssa.
"Braun, is that what I think it is?” said Tenne pointing out the window.
Braun dropped her wine glass and put a shaking hand up to the window.
"Yes, Doc," said Braun. "It looks like the entire galaxy wants a ticket to our after-party."
Lights from the alien ships shone on the Abyssa and the space station. Smaller crafts launched out from a few of them. The small craft flew towards the Abyssa and Sangre Station.
A loud screech rang through Tenne's mind. He held his head in his hand as others in the room did the same. He could make out words, or perhaps pure meaning, in the static.
"You have breached the terminal confines and have triggered the primal legitimacy protocol," said the voice. "Prepare to justify your existence."
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