Solar Express (59 page)

What if confined instability was what gave that beam its destructive force?

Alayna shook her head. That just added problems at another level. How could one confine unstable hadrons in what amounted to a vacuum. Inside the sun was one thing, with incredible gravitational/mass pressures, but in the corona?

What if the beam originated below the photosphere and the instruments only picked it up when it reached the corona?

She went back and followed the images, and the timing. The beam, for lack of a better word, had only lasted seven seconds and had never extended beyond the artifact. That suggested it
could
have originated somewhere below the surface of the photosphere. But there was no evidence to prove where it had originated.

Between her struggles with the multi-fractal mini-granulations and the very real but inexplicable beam, not to mention her worries about Chris, it was a relieving distraction when the message from Emily arrived in midafternoon.

Alayna—

Thanks for the follow-up! And those images. They're spectacular, but I'll keep them private.

Pleased and then some to hear your friend survived the SPE and CME. Maybe I'll get to meet you both together some time.

If that isn't both hint and suggestion …

The big island is still cleaning up, but we're fully operational here. Hope all the Earthside mess doesn't translate into problems for you.

Looking forward to whatever you're working on. Knowing you, I won't be expecting whatever it is.

Emma

When Alayna went back to work, after touring the aeroponics section, she was still worrying about what her solar observations had shown, but even more about her father, from whom she still had not heard, and Chris.

 

86

R
ECON
T
HREE

5 D
ECEMBER
2114

Tavoian wasn't even certain that he actually slept, not with all the thoughts and dreams that swirled through his head, especially about weapons. The thought that lingered and was with him when he woke was the definition of a weapon. It was simple enough. Projection of force. Most weapons were projectiles of some sort. Even lasers projected something, even if what was projected were essentially photons at the speed of light. In essence, projectiles were a combination of velocity and mass.

As he took several swallows of water from the squeezebottle, he stiffened. Velocity and mass! He currently had a great deal of velocity … and there were a number of cubesats and several spy-eyes that he hadn't used. Plus there were two ISVs, both with AI rovers still attached, that might allow limited maneuverability.

He had barely finished eating the last Mexican breakfast burrito, which left something to be desired, such as flavor beyond excessive chilies, when the latest message from the colonel arrived. He read it slowly.

Tavoian, Christopher A.

Major, NSC

NSS-21/Recon Three

This is to inform you that two Sinese spacecraft with military capabilities have taken positions as noted in the attached data plot. They have demanded that all Noram off-Earth facilities be surrendered. They have also declared that any craft or weapon leaving any facility will result in that facility being immediately destroyed …

Tavoian reread that again. The words didn't change.

ONeill Station currently incommunicado.

Sinese Space Command headquarters does not respond. Ships at L1 appear to be under control of off-Earth Sinese Space Command military authorities.

Any action that you can take to disarm or disable Sinese spacecraft would be appreciated.

That was the entire message. Tavoian doubted that the last line had been approved by higher authority. But it appeared that Sinese higher authorities had been rendered mute by the CME, as had Noram commands … or at least the ability of Noram to respond to the threat.

He was still thinking about the colonel's request when the message from Alayna arrived, which he immediately began to read.

Dear Chris,

After reading your last message, even if you may be back at wherever you are stationed before you get this, I had to message you. Your thoughts and comments have come to mean so much to me. Some might say that it's just because I'm running COFAR alone, and I'm lonely. I don't think so. I like people, but I don't need them, not in the sense of absolutely having to have them around. The very few with whom I'm friends are those who think and who have something of worth to say. I've enjoyed so much exchanging comments and quotations. I want those exchanges to go on, one way or another, even if it takes time before we can do so in person. I wanted you to know that.

Tavoian swallowed.
She cares, and she wants you to know it.
His second thought wasn't as cheerful.
She's read through what you said, and she's really worried.
After a moment's thought, he realized that he wasn't all that surprised.

I'm still working on what you called my “mysterious document.” I will be for a while yet, but I promise that you'll get to read it.

Take very good care of yourself.

Short and sweet. Very sweet.

After several moments, and belatedly, he checked the CO2 level. It stood at six point nine percent. At the current rate of increase, it would reach seven point five percent around 1200 UTC, and that was a definite danger level. He'd hoped to keep it below seven percent … and somehow he definitely had to keep it below eight percent, although he was running out of options.

He thought about cycling the lock, as the colonel had suggested, but something held him back. The last time he'd been too hasty, and a few minutes more of reflection wasn't going to change anything measurably one way or the other.

His thoughts went back to the colonel's message. The first thought was that it was clear the colonel didn't think Donovan Base was going to survive without outside intervention. The second thought was that even if Tavoian could provide only a distraction, then the colonel could launch the converted fusionjets at Donovan Base, and that might well change the calculus of the situation.

Tavoian, on the other hand, had no desire to provide a distraction that would prove fatal to himself. He also couldn't afford to have the L1 facilities destroyed for quite a number of reasons, and with ONeill Station incommunicado and possibly inoperative, his own options were limited, to say the least.

After several moments, he asked, “Distance to L1 when we begin decel?”

TWO MILLION ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHT THOUSAND KAYS.

Tavoian thought. That was quite a ways away for accurate plotting to have objects even generally get close to a target. But if the Sinese ships remained comparatively stationary with regard to L1 …

“Do we have enough thruster propellant to do two turnovers?”

THERE IS ENOUGH FOR FOUR TURNOVERS AND A STANDARD APPROACH TO DONOVAN BASE.

Recon three would be traveling at roughly eighty-five kps for two hours after the first two-hour decel. Tavoian did more mental calculations. At eighty-five kps, any object released from Recon three would be traveling at over five thousand kays a minute. “What will be the distance from L2 just before we begin the second decel burst?”

SEVEN HUNDRED EIGHTEEN THOUSAND KAYS.

“How accurately can you program the torps from that distance?

THEORETICALLY, ACCURACY IS WITHIN ONE HUNDRED METERS FOR A TARGET TRAVELING ON A STABLE ORBITAL PATH.

“What about unpowered objects?”

THERE IS NO DATA ON WHICH TO BASE AN ANALYSIS.

Another guess. What he had in mind
might
work, and he couldn't think of anything else. And it was a very good thing he hadn't cycled the lock, because that cycling was going to have to do double duty, so to speak.

 

87

HOTNEWS!

5 D
ECEMBER
2114

[Image Not Available Due to Technical Limitations]

Power's back on in the EC. Mostly, that is, except for Russian and the black glass area on the north side of the Black Sea. Who needs power there? It still glows. Chancellor Rumikov would be pressing everyone else, but he can't. The others are too busy with not enough power, not enough transport, and soon, not enough food.

[Image Unavailable]

No one's heard from Jiang Qining the All-Powerful? Might be that one of those scattered explosions across the Sinese Federation rumored to be Indra scramjet strikes silenced him. Or maybe Qining the Merciless is still in his deep bunker hoping for mercy? The silence hasn't stopped some of his space dreadnoughts from demanding the turnover of all Noram space assets to the Federation. A deep space coup, perhaps? No word from Ottawa, but silence has always suited Prexy Dyana.

[Image Unavailable]

An AAZ delivery drone got misguided, but it did pick up images of what's happening in Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia First has brought out the horn bows. They don't require any power but muscles. The remaining Sinese security forces have dispersed. Fled—that's the word. Now that all the maglevs are down—they take LOTS of power—Beijing can't send forces there. Well, they could airlift them, but there's the small problem of air control. Also it's hard to refuel when there's no power for the fuel pumps.

[Image Unavailable]

The top dog at Twenty-Second Century Fox already plans a full-scale production based on the recent solar superstorm. That's right. Mieville Hughes, chairman of the entertainment giant, has it all planned. The best thing of all? He can tell the truth—mostly, anyway. What an amazing idea!

[Image Unavailable]

Noram's acting Secretary of DOEA—that's the not-so-lovable Hensen Correia—he's got two converted and militarized fusionjets in striking position to take out the Sinese EastHem space elevator, if the Sinese attempt to move against the Noram L1 facilities. Talk about a standoff. Only problem is … our would-be standoffer can't find any Sinese authority who'll talk to him. Or even talk back.

[Image Unavailable]

This just in! New York, the Venice of the North, is totally without power. Situation's getting worse by the moment. No power … no pumps. Everything's flooded, and there's a strong probability that the waterlogged not-so-big apple might take a hit from late-season Hurricane Tomas … which did a number on Savannah and just finished the demolition of the west end of the old Mall in the ruins of Washington, D.C. What's next? The obliteration of the Balt—

[Signal Lost]

 

88

R
ECON
T
HREE

5 D
ECEMBER
2114

At 0745 UTC, Tavoian initiated turnover, and at 0801, deceleration began. Immediately, he felt heavy, very heavy, and his head began to throb. His vision was fuzzy as well, but after several swallows of water, he could see better. He still felt like shit, but he was sitting in the control couch, not floating.

“Current CO2 level?”

CURRENT CO2 LEVEL IS SEVEN POINT ZERO.

He just hoped he could hang on until 1145 UTC, or thereabouts. Sitting, watching the monitors, and waiting made him even more worried. Less than twenty minutes later, he was in the aft compartment, the one that had been filled with gear, surveillance, and measuring and analytical devices, many of which he had used, and some of which he had not, but there was still quite an array of items and still unused equipment.

To begin with, Tavoian sorted out the smaller items he had not used, such as the spare cubesats and spy-eyes, and other small items, such as spare thruster paks, and moved them all to the space adjoining the main lock. He'd hoped that there might be items like steel screws and nuts and bolts. There were all of three small packages. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the fasteners and the like were of lightweight composite.

As the deceleration continued, Tavoian took all the other detachable things that were of small and moderate sizes, among them the carbon extruder and the broken tunable laser, and moved them as well. He thought about the space anchors, but realized that they were still attached to one of the ISVs docked to Recon three.

After the deceleration stopped at 1202 UTC, Tavoian asked, “Are the Sinese spacecraft still in position at L1?”

THEIR POSITION HAS CHANGED. THEY APPEAR TO BE STABLE.

At least they were stable in that position some four seconds ago.
“Calculate course line for Sinese craft, and indicate how much fuel it will require to put us on that course line with no tangential vector component.” The last words might not have been necessary, but Tavoian wanted to make certain.

ADDITIONAL FUEL REQUIRED TOTALS FOURTEEN MINUTES.

“Will Recon three have enough fuel remaining for decel and approach?”

RECON THREE WILL HAVE SUFFICIENT FUEL FOR DECEL AND APPROACH WITH A MARGIN OF EIGHTEEN MINUTES. THAT IS LESS THAN THE REQUIRED MARGIN OF THIRTY MINUTES.

It was getting so that everything was coming up a little short. Tavoian paused. Hel3 requirements were affected by the mass of the ship. It just might work. Especially if he got rid of everything he could.
The colonel did suggest all available weapons.

He'd still have to wait almost another two hours, and he'd never been good at waiting when there was something to do. So he went back to the aft compartment to see what else he might be able to add to the pile of parts, equipment, and objects that now floated in reasonable proximity to the inner airlock.

When he had done all that he could, he returned to the controls, and began to program the two ISVs to home in on any vessel with the profile similar to the Sinese ships. That was probably an exercise in futility, given the speed at which the ISVs would be moving and the comparative minimal power from the ISV thrusters thrust from, but … if they just happened to be close …