Solar Express (55 page)

Both Dad and I test negative for T3, and if we're still negative next month, we'll likely be out of the woods.

I have to say that I was relieved to hear that you weren't on what might amount to a military mission and that you're returning. I can't wait to hear what you saw and learned out there. My brother—the first man to see the alien spacecraft …

And one of the last as well.
Tavoian paused. Alayna hadn't mentioned anything about either of the Sinese ships. He expected that the uncrewed longliner, with its remotes, would have stayed with the artifact. Given what he knew about the Sinese, he wouldn't even have been totally surprised if the larger and apparently heavily shielded ship had attempted to stay with the artifact. If it had, it couldn't have possibly survived whatever it was that had destroyed the artifact.

Please be careful.

When he finished the message, Tavoian frowned. Kit hadn't said a word about the situation on and around Earth. Her latest message was the first that really hadn't mentioned that. Was that because of their mother's death … or something else that had gotten so bad that she didn't want to mention it? Belatedly, he also realized that he hadn't gotten a news summary … and, combined with Kit's omission, that was also more than a little worrisome.
Much more than a little worrisome.

“Present level of CO2?”

THE CURRENT LEVEL IS SIX POINT FIVE PERCENT. SYSTEMS ARE FUNCTIONING WITHIN OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS.

Tavoian massaged his forehead, trying to lessen the dull headache that he'd become more aware of after the AI's response. He was also getting more than a little tired of the phrase “functioning within operational parameters.” He hated to think of the situation he'd be in if the systems weren't working within those parameters, if they even were.

There's little enough you can do.

But he could send messages to Kit and Alayna. They might get through before all comm systems were shut down. Later, if necessary, he could resend them.

 

79

D
AEDALUS
B
ASE

2 D
ECEMBER
2114

Most of COFAR was already heavily shielded by the very fact that it had been built belowground and designed for exposure to high levels of solar radiation, since the Moon effectively provided no protection. So Alayna hadn't been required to do much to prepare for the impact of the coronal mass ejection except command Marcel to shutter the entire facility and then wait. The most time-consuming part for her was to compose all the messages to various facility users explaining why they'd been precluded from using their time, and offering what time was still available … and some time blocks, Alayna knew from experience, would take weeks or even months to reschedule. The good part of that, if anything could be called good, was that no one could blame her for a coronal mass ejection.

Except possibly Director Wrae.

Her other personal concern was that, with the communications systems shut down, and the location of COFAR on the Moon's far side, she had no idea of how great or how minimal the effect the CME had on Earth and the complex web of satellites and orbit stations. If the Carrington Effect happened to be great enough, entire sections of Earthside power grids could be disabled, with transformer and other equipment damage widespread enough to cripple areas for years. But there wasn't anything more she could do. She'd warned everyone she could think of, and it was up to them now.

What she could do—and did—was to study the images from the main and solar arrays of the sun before and after destruction of the Solar Express.

She'd thought that there had been no sign of sunspots, only a rising of the magnetic flux lines that bordered the granulations from where the solar prominence had originated. That turned out not to be entirely so. There had been a definite darkening around the flux lines just prior to the eruption of the prominence. That certainly fit with the understanding that prominences were triggered by a cramping or constriction of the flux lines and the underlying magnetic fields. What didn't fit was the rising of the flux lines and boundaries, since sunspots were essentially cooler places on the surface of the photosphere, in effect downdrafts of plasma.

The most obvious divergence from standard theory was the energy line from the prominence toward the artifact. Unlike the prominence, which had erupted at an extraordinarily high—but finite—sub-light speed, the energy beam—Alayna had no idea what else to call it—appeared more like a laser, except it had not been in the visible spectrum, and she wouldn't have seen it at all if she hadn't also been watching the extreme ultraviolet display. Even that was essentially the by-product of the beam.

Something like a cosmic radiation laser?
Except that since cosmic radiation was composed of particles accelerated to almost, but not quite, the speed of light, whatever the beam was, it wasn't a laser, and was more likely the equivalent of the theoretical particle beam … and solar plasma at coronal temperatures of over a million degrees Kelvin and accelerated to nearly the speed of light might have been just powerful enough to destroy the artifact. In fact, it had … if that was what the beam had been.

Alayna couldn't think of what else it could have been, but she was sure that if any other observations had been made someone else would have ideas.

You might as well write it up and send it … somewhere, if just to let the astrophysics community know what you observed. And that you did it first.
The downside was that it would take a great deal of effort, particularly making sure the data was correct and presented in the proper format … and it would take away from her work with the multi-fractal mini-granulations.

She frowned. She hadn't looked at the mini-granulations, or even studied in detail the charts and graphics she'd asked Marcel to create.

You do have time.
With that thought she called up the first of the images showing the links between the multi-fractal mini-granulations in the areas bordering the initial base of the solar prominence. The multi-fractals were so numerous and so close together … almost as if they formed a pattern.

She blinked, then shook her head. “Marcel … highlight and link the multi-fractals with the same color as the highlighting.”

There was something … and she knew that she'd felt the same way before.
More of the man who wasn't there, and he's not there again today … except he is.

“Marcel … analyze the pattern formed by the highlighting.”

“There is no pattern, Dr. Wong-Grant. The lines do not form any recognizable shape, but contain too much Gaussian distribution to be fractal, except for the portions that are discrete multi-fractal mini-granulations.”

“Thank you.” Alayna continued to study the images, trying to discern what it was that she wasn't seeing. Finally, convinced that, while she was missing something, she wasn't going to find it by staring at the images, she closed the multi-fractal images and turned her attention back to the report she needed to draft on the demise of 2114 FQ5 and the inexplicable solar phenomena associated with its destruction.

For a moment, her thoughts centered on Chris, hoping that he was out of danger and returning safely to Earth … or at least to whatever installation where he was based.

After several moments she began to call up data and to organize it in the approved format …

 

80

T
HE
T
IMES OF
I
SRAEL

3 D
ECEMBER
2114

(J
ERUSALEM
) The massive solar storm that struck the Earth's upper atmosphere yesterday has already accounted for hundreds of deaths across the globe, largely from exploding power lines and the catastrophic failure of electrical equipment linked to outdated and underprotected aboveground power and communications lines. Unconfirmed reports suggest immediate fatalities may run into the thousands, if not higher. Longer-term fatalities in the tens of thousands are “highly probable,” according to analysts in the Israeli office of strategic planning, as short-term backup power systems fail in hospitals and in high-rise structures in dense urban areas around the world. The shortage of replacement transformers will leave large areas without power for months or even years.

The entire power grid in the central western states of Noram is reported as inoperable, as are the grids in Southeast Asia, central China, and Australia. The EC authority reports scattered outages, as do the majority of UAAS states. Only defense-related power systems are operating in India, as a result of the separation of defense power systems from the commercial grid two decades ago. Approximately fifteen percent of Noram households have independent renewable energy supplies, but those supplies cannot be utilized by other households or by the power grid as a result of regulatory-generated physical blockages. The WestHem space elevator is expected to resume service this morning, as is the Sinese Federation elevator.

In much of the world communications are spotty, if nonexistent, as a result of electrical failures of communication towers.

Sinese Head of State Jiang Qining declared that any nation that attempted to benefit from the power catastrophe would “suffer the wrath of the Sinese Federation.” Scattered sources indicate that most Sinese military facilities are functioning, but that domestic power systems have been “devastated.”

In a separate statement, Sinese Space Minister Wong Mengyi declared that Noram and India were jointly responsible for the loss of the Sinese research spacecraft investigating the reputed alien artifact referred to as the Solar Express. That statement was retracted without comment. Requests for explanation were told that the minister was indisposed.

Israeli Prime Minister Meir did not issue a statement, but power in Jerusalem was restored within hours of its disruption yesterday. All Israeli forces remain in a high readiness standard, and cadres of reservists were notified to expect mobilization to maintain order as necessary.

Indian military authorities have announced that all Indra missiles remain in a launch-ready status, and that individual commands have the authority to order launches if any attack on Indian territory or installations is attempted. The orbital Dyaus station is “fully operational,” according to General Sanji Gupta. Indian Prime Minister Ravindra has not issued a statement.

The immediate status of power supplies in much of South America is currently not known because of a near-complete blackout of communications and power systems except around Quito, where an isolated power grid is linked to the space elevator.

No comment was forthcoming from Noram President Dyana Yates, but the Noram Defense Forces and Space Command are reported to be on high alert.

 

81

R
ECON
T
HREE

3 D
ECEMBER
2114

Tavoian woke up with a headache. That didn't surprise him. It seemed like his headache was more or less constant all the time. He also felt flushed and sweaty. He fumbled for the squeezebottle of water and drank several swallows. Then he checked the monitors, asking as he did, “How close are we to destination?”

APPROXIMATE DISTANCE TO DESTINATION IS TWENTY-FIVE POINT FOUR MILLION KAYS.

Just a little less than three days.
“Present level of CO2?”

THE CURRENT LEVEL IS SEVEN POINT FOUR PERCENT. SYSTEMS ARE FUNCTIONING AT EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT EFFICIENCY.

Tavoian almost froze. That was way too close to eight percent. The other problem was that he had his doubts about the reports on system efficiency. If he hadn't been having headaches, sweating, and feeling that his breath was labored, he might have wondered about the accuracy of the monitoring as well. He'd done his own calculations, based on the volume of air in the ship and the amount of CO2 a normal person exhaled every twenty-four hours, and from what he could figure the efficiency of the removal system couldn't be any higher than twenty percent at best, and more like ten percent or less. “Reserve oxygen supply level?”

FIFTEEN PERCENT.

That meant he had enough air in the reserve tanks to replace at most thirty percent of the ship's atmosphere. Replacing that much would drop the level to slightly more than five percent if he didn't run into problems.
Which you will.

“What is the procedure for venting air from the ship and replacing it with air from the reserve tanks?”

THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE.

Not possible?
“Why not?”

ALLOWING THAT PROCEDURE WOULD ALLOW THE POSSIBILITY FOR THE SHIP TO BE TOTALLY DEPRESSURIZED.

“Is it physically possible?” Even if the AI couldn't allow it, Tavoian could override or disable the AI and do it himself.

IT IS NOT.

“Show the schematic that makes it impossible.”

Immediately, a diagram flashed on the screen wall.

Tavoian began to study it. From what he could determine, the reason why was simple. The atmospheric system only replaced lost air, and only up to sea-level Earth-norm pressure. There were no venting valves anywhere in the ship. Replacement air could go to the airlock, but interlocks prevented air from flowing into the lock unless both inner and outer lock doors were sealed.

Theoretically, Tavoian realized, he could replace some of the air in the ship by opening the outer lock door, letting the air in the lock escape out into space, then close the outer door, let the lock repressurize, and then open the inner door. The fresher air would then mix with the CO2-laden air. That would help, except that he was down to fifteen percent of reserve air, and given the lock's capacity, far larger than made sense except for a passenger transport, that would only allow him two, possibly three, uses of the lock to “recycle” air.