Snippet from a project.....

 

*In the engineering shop of an Earth Fleet ship, someplace near the orbit of Saturn.  Saturn was on the opposite side of the sun at the time, so the good ship ‘Stranger’ was basically in clear space.  Well, as clear as space ever really is. The Star Drive demanded relatively clear space unless the ship’s crew was bent on an ugly form of Russian Roulette.  Taking the ship outside ‘normal space’ was all well and good, but people usually wanted to come back eventually. Falling back into normal space near or inside another object would form an energy disbursal visible in other star systems. *

“Junior, I said drop it.  If you ask me the same questions again, I’m going to be annoyed.  Do you really want to annoy me?  Have you considered how that might play out?”

No…. he really hadn’t thought this through.   He was just curious about the drive and thought he could get some answers.  “No Chief, I certainly do NOT wish to annoy you. Just hoping to understand how this works so I can do my job better.  Thank you Chief.  I’ll shut up now Chief”.

Chief Winston looked at the new rating standing at his duty station and considered just how far to take this.  “Junior, I know you got monkey curiosity.   You won’t be human without it.  But this is not a subject that gets bounced around a lot.  It’s not a secret, yet it’s still dangerous stuff to get your head stuck on.  Any chance you can just forget you asked and let it go?”

“Absolutely Chief!  One hundred percent forgotten already Chief!” said the young rating at his console, very carefully keeping his eyes on the cycling readouts from the fusion reactor.

Winston scowled. “Jesus Wept, you are the WORST damn liar I’ve ever met on this ship!  You have ZERO intention of dropping this, and you deity-be-damned well know it!” he yelled.  There was no help for it.  He’d have to explain enough to make Junior more scared than curious.

“Sit-down, you first-class pain in my ass, and listen to what I’m going to tell you.  You will NOT hear this again, so make the best of it your feeble mind allows” Growled the Chief, as he sent a command to lock the engineering access for the next 30 minutes.

“I’m going to lay out what the big deal is…. And I suggest you figure out the best way to deal with it you can.  Your career is riding on this.  No matter how good you are at everything else, if an officer even suspects you head is dwelling on the drive unit you will be out of ships forever. That’s the first thing you need to understand, got it?”

“Yes chief, I got it.  That was drilled during training.  I was way too scared to even ask why.  They made sure of that”  said the young man.  “But is asking anything at all going too far?”

“Yes, it is, you damn pup, and you know it!  You’re just taking advantage of my kind and gentle soul to wheedle me on the subject.  I’ll let it slide… just this once…. And only for the next few minutes.   If you asked again, I’ll kick your ass all the way to the captain’s office myself. You’ll get your butt kicked off this ship, and I’ll have to train your replacement.  I already have too much time invested in you to lose if I can help it.  If I don’t stop this right now, you won’t make it another week” The Chief said.

“Here’s the story, so shut up and pay attention to the best of your sorry ability.  You understand there are one hundred and sixteen species of intelligent critter on this arm of the galaxy that we KNOW of, right?  One hundred and five planet-born, three space-born, two artificial intelligence cultures that keep to themselves, and the others are so weird we haven’t got a clue”. 

“Yes Chief.  Training, Chief”.  Said the young man.

“Shut up kid.  I’ll let you know when to talk”.  The rating started to say something again but failed under the withering glare from the engineering Chief.

“Just…. Shut…Up… This little conversation may be necessary, but that won’t stop an officer from locking us in a shipping container and dumping us on the next station we dock at. Now, out of that one hundred and sixteen space faring species, every single one made it into space on their own and are developing their own systems.  They all figured out reaction engines and even gravity drives.  All of them made those technology leaps.  Now, how many of them developed the star drive?  How many made it to other systems without spending centuries crossing the black?   THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU ANSWER, CHILD!”

“Um…. I don’t know the answer to that Chief.  I just assumed most of them did” the young man said, trying to not show his nervousness.

“One, Kid.  Just ONE.  The Stokala, and no, that’s not their real name.  It’s just the closest we can get with what we make sounds with.  They are the only ones who developed a useful star drive that can move a ship from one system to another without taking generations to do it”.

“I still don’t understand the danger here Chief. I’m a bit lost”, Said the young watch-stander.

“Kid, you are so lost not even your ghost will find its way back.  Shut up while I explain, which I will do as best I can if you will JUST SHUT UP!” said Chief Winston.

“One species figured it out, and one species controls it.  Period.  Anyone else wants a star drive, they must ask nicely and buy it from the Stokala.  Right about the time a species is ready, the Stokala show up.  IF they deem the species worthy, they sell them the drive units.  Not cheap by any means, but most creatures that control a system can come up with the scratch to buy at least a few to start with.   There’s more…. The space drive comes with a rule.  Do Not Attempt To Learn How It Works”.  The Chief made the capital letters stand out like beacons.

Engineering Chief Winston continued “The drive units are all a standard format. Roughly two meters by three meters by three meters, with spots to hook up power and controls.  They all have the same power requirements, and they all take the same commands to operate.  They all have the same operating parameters.  No ship smaller than fifty tons or so, and no ship bigger than three thousand tons.  This means no fighters, and no real war ships, but small cargo ships are fine.  They can’t be used in tandem.  Anyone that’s tried has vanished.   The Stokala have nothing to say about experiments of that kind.  They don’t seem to care how many beings die trying to use the drive outside its planned configuration.  They DO care…. real, real hard… if anyone tries to open one up and figure it out”.

Sensing the important moment was happening, the kid just shut up and let the Chief go on at his own pace.

“Every species we know about has tried to back-engineer the star drives.  Every species we know about has a crater on their planet, or moon, at least a thousand meters in diameter.  Any attempt to penetrate the casing and it’s shields results in a detonation we don’t understand. It’s not old fashioned nuclear, it’s not fusion, and it’s not antimatter.  It’s more like reality itself just ceased to exist within the thousand-meter sphere”.

“Is this a no shitter you are telling me here, Chief?” said the rating.   He knew instantly that he’d made a mistake in questioning the story.

“You damn little idiot.  I’m going to finish what I have to say, and then I’m going to go bet someone a year’s pay you don’t last another week!  Now shut up and listen”.

“When that happens, the Stokala always show up within a week.  No one knows how they find out, or how they get there so quickly.  Ten light years or a thousand, they will be orbiting the planet within an Earth week”.

“They don’t communicate.  They just orbit, and nothing we or anyone else has can touch their ships.  I mean literally, nothing, not radiation, missiles, or beams; Nothing even gets close.  We can see their ship if we are close.  The heat shows up.  Nothing else; Not even ancient radar”.

“They just orbit, and watch, I guess.  We think they are judging, but nobody knows for sure.  All we understand is one of a few things can happen.  One, they just go away, and it's business as usual.  We think that means they determined the species was done playing around.  Two, the species is found wanting, and every star drive they own melts down.  In port, docked, in the middle of deep space; Doesn’t matter.  One second, it’s there and working, the next it’s a smoking puddle and the ship is going no place.  When that happens, that species gets to thumb rides for the rest of eternity.  Instant second-class beggars”.

“Is that all that ever happens Chief?”  asked the young rating very quietly.

“No kid, that’s not all.  You remember how many species in this galaxy we know of?  One hundred and sixteen… now.  Kid, there were at least five more we know of.  Operative word ‘were’. They hit the third option from the Stokala.   I guess they were judged incorrigible… and what can happen to a drive unit can happen to a planet, we think.  All that’s left in their star systems is slag and ash.  I saw one with my own eyes, my second mission. I still have nightmares”.

“Jesus Chief… you weren’t kidding.  That’s scary” said the young man as his eyes slid past the star drive at the end of the engineering bay.

“Kid, we are monkeys.  We’ll play with anything and take anything apart to see what’s inside it.  That’s what mankind does.  But listen to me here; We ain’t smart monkeys.  On a galactic scale we ain’t shit in the brains department.  You oughta know that being in engineering.  How do we fix things on this ship?  This is the part where YOU SPEAK, boy!”

The young rating thought a moment, “Well chief, we figure out what part of something isn’t working correctly and we replace it”.

The chief almost smiled, “Got it in one. Good monkey.  We replace the thing.  It’s called unit replacement repair, but we ain’t actually repairing the thing.  We just swap out parts till it works again.   We don’t really fix anything.   Do you know why, boy?”

Again, the young man took a moment.  He really wanted to get this right the first time. “Because we are dumb monkeys, chief?”.

“Well I’ll be damned, we might make something of you yet despite all the talking.  Yup, that’s correct.  We are dumb monkeys.  Most of the gear on this ship that’s important comes from other species.  We just bought the designs and copied the manufacturing.  We don’t understand how half of it works.  You could spend your entire life studying this stuff and still only know a fraction of it”.

“Chief, if we are so dumb, then why are we out here?  What have we got that makes it worth trading with humans?” asked the junior engineer

“Son, we may be stupid monkeys, but even a stupid monkey can have skills.  We humans might not be bright at most things, but in this galaxy we are the finest species ever seen at just one thing.  Killing other people, or bugs, or whatever creepy crawly things needs killing.  We are who the galaxy calls when things go pear shaped, and that makes us worth a lot. Now take it to heart, kid.  Let it go.  Get back to work and get your head wrapped around your sex life, or beer, or reactor manuals, or anything but the star drive” the Chief said as he stood up and unlocked the access portal.

The rating returned to his console and double checked the readouts to be sure all was well. “Hell, Yes Chief.  Consider it done”.

****

Engineering Chief Winston met with the ship’s captain, Alicia Whitaker, later that shift.  “Well Winnie, how did it go?” asked the captain.

“Damn it, I hate when you call me that.  You’re just enjoying the freedom that comes with office.  You never would have said that while standing watch in my department, you damn puppy!” snarled the elder Engineering Chief.

The captain laughed, saying ‘Yes Sir Chief Winston Sir!  Now tell me… will this kid make it like the rest of us did after you told us the story?”

“I think so, ma’am.  He seemed to get the idea, but you know how it goes.  We’ll watch him, like we watch everyone.  If he gets too curious, too human monkey, about the star drive we’ll have to ground him.  I hate it and you hate it.  But it’s the only way we survive as a species”.

The captain stared at Winston for about a minute, and then quietly said “I’m glad you’re here to do that Chief.  Thank you, from all of us over the years”.

****

Stranger, under command of Captain Whitaker, was on the first leg of an exploratory mission. The trip was broken up into phases, with the first being her shakedown cruise and crew training as she worked her way to the area of clear space where it was safe to use the star drive.  Her normal space engines were Fusion based and used fuel from tanks of hydrogen compressed to the point of being a solid.  Only fields had the ability to do this, and the field generators on the ships hull were the latest in Earth technology.  These fields doubled as fuel gathering wings, scavenging stray atoms of hydrogen as the ship traveled.  They were also defensive shields for times the ship intersected something bigger than single atoms.  At the speed she had reached on this first leg, hitting a paperclip would have been ‘An Event’.

 

(More to come?)