Story: The Lethe, pt. XIII

Commander Ella walked over to Dobbins. “Most interesting, Captain,” she said. “That woman sounded as if she did not realize that she was on board a ship.”
“Yes,” Dobbins concurred, “it was interesting–and frustrating. What was all of this about a mayor and Captain Loman being dead?”
“I don’t know. It seems a little odd for Captain Loman to be dead, given that he was only in his early 40s. Still, an accident could have happened. It’s the part about the son and the mayor that bother me. Loman had no children when the Lethe left, and there was no role of mayor in the ship’s society.”
“It’s been 30 years,” observed Skylar. “Isn’t that enough time for things to change on board and for Loman to have children?”
“You’re forgetting, Mr. Skylar,” Dobbins said, “that the Lethe has been traveling at close to the speed of light. Time has passed more slowly for the people on board than it has for us. I’m not sure exactly what the difference is, but it must be less.”
Lieutenant Sawyer briefly joined the discussion. “About 13 years have passed, sir.” She promptly returned to work.
“So,” Dobbins continued, “obviously not enough time. Something clearly is wrong, but what? And how do we figure out what is wrong?”
“Captain,” Brackers said, “let me take a team over to the Lethe. We can meet with this ‘Mayor’ and see what else might have happened.”
“Hang on, Commander,” Dobbins responded. “Let’s see if we can talk to the ‘Mayor’ first.
“Lieutenant Marquél, patch us back into the Lethe’s internal communications again.”
After Marquél worked to regain access to the Lethe, Ella offered a suggestion to Dobbins. “Captain, it might be better if I spoke this time, given that the woman on the Lethe already considers you a troublemaker.”
“Very well, Commander Ella, give it a try.”
After a brief click, the same female voice came from the speakers. “Mayor’s Office. This is Marlene. How may I help you?”
“May I speak with the Mayor, please?” Ella asked.
“I’m sorry,” Marlene answered, “but the Mayor is unavailable today. May I take a message for him?”
“No, Marlene, that’s fine.” Ella responded. “I’ll try again later. Thank you.”
Marlene closed the connection again.
“Well, Commander Brackers,” Dobbins said. “it looks like we are about out of options. I’m going to lead a team over there to see if we can meet with this mayor personally. If something’s wrong psychologically with the passengers of the Lethe, I don’t want this to look like an invasion, and I don’t expect there to be much danger. Mr. Skylar, you’re our pilot. Commander Ella, Mr. Chang, and Mr. Samuelson, grab your gear and meet me at Shuttle One’s docking port in 20 minutes.”
As he left the bridge, Dobbins wondered exactly what happened to the Lethe.

Twenty minutes later, the entire team had assembled in front of Shuttle One’s docking port. Docking ports were the ship designer’s answer to the pesky problem of losing atmosphere to space during shuttle exits and entries. Instead of having the ship land in a pressurized shuttle bay that had to be evacuated every time a shuttle exited or entered, the shuttles flew into a shuttle bay that was a vacuum. Each ship then connected to a docking port, a small tube wide enough for two people to walk comfortably through side-by-side. Each shuttle then could push off from the docking port, come about, and fly away from the ship into space without any loss of the ship’s atmospheric supplies.
Shuttle One, nicknamed “Lucy” by Skylar, had the best engines of any of the Hyperion’s three shuttles. Capable of traveling at 0.95c, Lucy was the only shuttle that had any hope of matching speed with the Lethe. Lucy had the capacity for up to 15 people. Indeed, it was almost a small starship in itself, not much smaller than the early interplanetary shuttles that Hegemony had used to colonize Mars. Now, such a ship served merely to transport people between ships.
The team entered through the docking port. Skylar immediately walked to the shuttle’s helm controls and activated the ship’s power. As the ship powered up, the remainder of the team found seats and sat down. Zhang sat at the shuttle’s engineering controls, while Samuelson settled at the communications/operations panel. Dobbins, dressed in tan away mission fatigues, took the central command chair, a station that duplicated the command station on the bridge in miniature. Commander Ella found herself a seat a little behind the main control area in the passenger section.
“Ready to push off, Mr. Skylar?” asked Dobbins.
“Ready, sir.”
“Push off,” Dobbins ordered.
The shuttle Lucy separated from its docking port slowly. As soon as it had cleared enough room to turn, it spun around to fly out of the shuttle docking area. Gradually, it moved passed the other three shuttles that were settled at their own docking ports, moving out towards the main shuttle bay doors. The doors opened as the Lucy drew near, allowing the ship to enter space. As the doors fully opened, Skylar activated the shuttle’s main thrusters, and the Lucy accelerated away from the main ship and on towards the Lethe.

Colder Weather Attacks!

After temperatures in the 60s and 70s for much of last week, cold and rainy weather has arrived in NE Kansas. Snow is possible in central Kansas, while the temperatures here are barely in the 40s, with a moderate wind and rain showers. While this weather is more seasonal than the spring-like pattern we saw last week, it is still a bit of a shock to need long sleeves and a heavy coat.
It will take me a couple of days to get used to the cooler weather. I know that I have not felt warm at all any time today. Right now, I've dressed warmly, have a computer and a cat on my lap, not to mention a blanket and a space heater, and I still feel cool. Now, in another couple of weeks, this won't be a problem; I'll have acclimated to the cold weather. For now, though, it is cold, rainy, and dreary here, more like central Iowa in November rather than Kansas in November.

EDIT (4:30 pm): The latest forecast now shifts the snowfall farther east than before. Less than half an inch is predicted for Topeka at this point, but any shift in the motion of the storm could turn that half inch into several inches. It is definitely going to be an interesting weather day tomorrow.

EDIT #2 (5:25 pm): I misread the official forecast. It appears that 1-2" of snow are now forecast for the Topeka area. I know, however, that last year, the NWS tended to over-predict snow accumulations. So, I'm not convinced that we'll see that much snow. At the same time, I understand the NWS wanting to err on the high side. So, I stand by my initial (unscientific) guess of a 0.5" of snow by Tuesday morning.

Story: The Lethe, pt. XII

“Put it on visual, Lieutenant,” Dobbins ordered.
The three-dimensional visual changed from a field of stars to that of a starship, one that Dobbins remembered seeing in the history books as a child: a large dome-like structure sitting atop seven or eight decks of a rectangular base. An intense blue glow steadily emerged from the ship’s main engines.
“Mr. Skylar, bring us to within shuttle range of the Lethe and match her speed and course. Lieutenant Sawyer, thoroughly scan that ship. I want to know exactly what the status is on every one of her systems. Lieutenant Marquél, open a channel to the Lethe.”
The crew sprang into action. Dobbins punched the intercom button on his command console. “Commander Ella to the bridge, please.”
“Channel to the Lethe open, Captain,” Marquél announced.
“EGS Lethe,” Dobbins said, trying to sound calm in spite of his excitement, “this is Captain Christopher Dobbins of the Earth ship Hyperion. We’ve come to offer you assistance on your journey to Elysion.”
He waited for what seemed to be an interminable time. Only silence answered him. “Lethe,” Dobbins began again, “this is the Hyperion, are you receiving us?”Again, silence alone answered him.
“Sawyer, what’s the status of the Lethe’s communication systems?”
“Almost have it, sir. Give me a second….” A few random beeps came from Sawyer’s console as she made took some final readings and analyzed the results. “I have it, sir. The hyperwave transmitter and receiver are both off-line.”
“Damaged?”
“No, sir. They appear to be physically intact, just off-line.”
“Why would someone disable the hyperwave?” asked Marquél.
“Because they don’t want to talk to anyone, obviously, sheesh,” Skylar said sarcastically.
“Not on the bridge, Mr. Skylar,” Dobbins snapped at Skylar, “not even in jest. There will be decorum on this bridge.”
“Aye, sir. Sorry, sir,” Skylar said, sounding as if he was only halfway repentant.
“The system may not have been intentionally disabled, Captain,” said Brackers, the first officer. “Perhaps there was an internal power grid malfunction, or a computer system glitch.”
“Good point, Mr. Brackers,” Dobbins responded. “Let’s not jump to conclusions until we’re sure that there’s a problem. I’d like to talk with the Lethe’s captain before I try to send a team over. Lieutenant Marquél, is there any way other than hyperwave that we could contact the Lethe?”
Marquél thought for a minute. “Once we get close enough, I could cut into the Lethe’s internal communication system and connect you to the ship’s control center that way.”
“Do it.” Dobbins ordered.
Marquél got to work. Within two minutes, the Hyperion was close enough, and Maruél was ready to patch into the Lethe’s internal communications system. Just as she completed the connection, Commander Ella arrived on the bridge.
After a brief pause, there came a click, followed by a female voice. “Mayor’s Office. This is Marlene, how can I help you?”
Dobbins glanced at Marquél with surprise before answering, “This is Captain Christopher Dobbins of the Earth Ship Hyperion. We’re here to offer you any assistance that you may require. Could I speak with Captain Loman?”
“Earth Ship Hyperion? Captain Loman?” asked Marlene. “Is this some sort of joke? Billy, is that you, again? How many times have I told you not to make prank calls on the comm system?”
“No, ma’am,” Dobbins replied, “this is Captain Dobbins. We’ve been sent from Fleet Com to help you reach your destination in any way possible. That’s really why I need to speak with Captain William Loman as soon as possible.”
“Billy, this isn’t funny,” Marlene persisted. “You know that Mayor Loman’s father has been gone for several years. Now, get off this line right away, young man. If you don’t, I’m going to disconnect you and report you to your parents.”
Dobbins made one last attempt. “Marlene, let me be clear. I need to speak to Captain Loman immediately. It’s an urgent matter.”
“All right, Billy, I’ve heard enough. I have work to do, and I can’t have your shenanigans keeping me from the Mayor’s business.”
“Wait, you’re not listening to me, Marlene,” Dobbins began, only to be interrupted by a click. Marlene had closed the channel.

Weather, yet again

The weather is the story around here, lately. It's been warmer than average. I've been able to have the windows open and sit outside on some of these days. Meanwhile, an unusual late-season hurricane is rolling into the Gulf of Mexico and headed for the U.S. Gulf Coast. How much power it has by the time it gets to the U.S. remains to be seen. The NHC expects the Hurricane (Ida) to be extratropical by the time it gets to the Gulf Coast, so the strength of the storm might be less than a typical hurricane. It makes for an interesting story, though, and one far less controversial than the events at Ft. Hood, TX.

Story: The Lethe, Pt. XI

“Anything, Marquél?” asked Dobbins.
“No, sir,” replied the young woman. “I’ve been trying to contact the Lethe on every frequency. If their communications systems are working, they should be receiving it instantly. Either they’re not receiving us, or they’re not responding.”
Before Dobbins could thank Marquél and walk away, the entire room seemed to spin in one giant circle. Dobbins grabbed the console to brace himself.
“Captain,” Marquél’s voice sounded distance, hollow, concerned, “are you okay?”
“What happened?” the dazed Dobbins asked. “For a second, it felt like the whole room was spinning.”
Marquél smiled slightly in relief. “That’s a normal side effect of jump drive travel, sir, for those who aren’t used to it. It took me a few jumps to adjust to it, but now, it doesn’t bother me at all.”
“Very well. Thank you, Lieutenant.” Dobbins carefully walked back to his command station and sat down, waiting for Sawyer to finish her scanning of space ahead of the Hyperion.
One hour passed, and Sawyer’s scans all showed no sign of the Lethe itself, only faint traces of the ship’s ion trail. Based on the dissipation rate, Sawyer estimated that the Lethe had passed through this area about 25 years ago.
Dobbins ordered another jump. Again, Dobbins found himself watching the control panel as the jump field built. Then, it felt as if he had blacked out for the briefest of instants, and when he had regained consciousness, the instruments indicated that the jump field again was dropping. Attempting to stand and then thinking better of it when the room once again started to play merry-go-round, Dobbins sat in his chair and watching the sensor reports as Sawyer began to scan anew for the Lethe. Once again, the sensors turned up nothing except the Lethe’s ion trail.
Another jump occurred, putting the Hyperion 15 light years from Earth. The tedious scan process began again. Once again, nothing except the Lethe’s trail. Another jump followed, then a fourth, and fifth. Each time the sensors came up empty. Just as Dobbins began to think that he would have to brace himself for a sixth jump, Sawyer exclaimed, “Captain, I’ve found something!”
Slowly, Dobbins stood up and walked over to her station. “What is it? The Lethe?”
Sawyer frowned. “I can’t tell, sir. It’s something, but it’s near the far edge of sensor range, about 4 light years away. It’s clearly metallic, but other than that, I can’t tell. It could be the Lethe. It could also be one of our early jump-drive probes. We sent a few out this direction. We’re too far away for a visual to be meaningful. If we could jump closer, I could tell you for sure.”
“Lieutenant Skylar,” Dobbins said, spinning around gradually to avoid a repeat of his earlier vertigo, “how close can you get us to that object using the jump drive?”
“As close as you want me to, sir,” came the reply from the confident young helmsman.
“Very well. Get us to within five hundred kilometers of that object. I want to be close enough to get a good visual on the object, but far enough away that we don’t run the risk of getting it caught in our jump field.”
“Aye, sir,” Skylar replied as he began the calculations for making the new jump. Within thirty seconds, he had completed his calculations and initiated the jump sequence.
As the sequence began, Dobbins suddenly wished that he had sat down. After the brief blackout that indicated the jump had taken place, the room seemed to spin for a second before returning to normal. Maybe I’ll get used to this one of these days, Dobbins thought.
“Captain!” Sawyer said, exuding excitement. “We’re close to have a visual, and there’s no question about it, sir. I can’t believe it. It’s the Lethe!”

VoIP

I had the chance to experience first-hand the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology that underlies services such as Skype. It is truly amazing technology. I was talking with a friend of mine in Romania via the Internet, and the sound quality was the same as if we were talking on the phone. Indeed, I would say that the sound quality exceeded that of my cell phone. It is impressive what a group of dedicated computer scientists were able to figure out how to do. To be able to take my voice, convert it into packets, send the packets through the Internet and then get them arrive at the same time in the right order is truly amazing. I may have to do a little research into how it works, because I'm very curious about it, now.

Story: The Lethe, pt. X

The most tedious part of the mission had begun: getting far enough away from the large gravity well of Mars in order for the jump drive to be engaged. Two days of travel later, and the Hyperion successfully reached a point at which the gravity of Mars would not interfere with the jump drive’s bending of space. Preparations began for the Hyperion’s first jump as official starship.
Skylar, Sawyer, and Chang spent the hours preceding their arrival at the safe point in order to calculate the exact settings needed to make the jump 5 light years ahead. Normally, the calculations would only take a few minutes, but this jump required extra precision because Sawyer had to scan ahead to see if the Lethe happened to be in the ship’s path. If so, then the Hyperion would want to jump a shorter distance in order to arrive exactly next to the Lethe.
Finally, Skylar announced, “We’re ready to jump, Captain.”
Dobbins looked up from the status monitors that he had been studying casually. “Excellent. Lieutenant Sawyer, any sign of the Lethe in the region ahead of us?”
“No, sir,” Sawyer replied quietly. “Nothing out there at all of any size, sir.”
Dobbins nodded. “That’s to be expected. If the Lethe were this close, someone would have spotted her. Mr. Skylar, whenever you’re prepared, let’s make the first jump.”
Skylar smiled. “Aye, sir.” His hands once again danced over the control panel and the Hyperion initiated a jump.
An observer outside the ship would have seen a unique sight. First, the clear striping around the middle of the ship suddenly began to glow orange. That orange glow grew in intensity until several meters on each side of the ship reflected the aura. Then, suddenly, without any flash from the engines or change, the Hyperion vanished, reappearing just as suddenly in a new location without any signals to indicate its arrival.
On board the Hyperion, the change was as sudden. One minute, Dobbins sat looking at his control panel, watching the jump field grow up to full strength. For the briefest microsecond, he felt like he blacked out, and then he noticed that the jump field indicators on his panel were dropping. The distant star patterns on the holographic display had changed dramatically. The Hyperion had just jumped 5 light years from Earth and sat alone in vast darkness of interstellar space.
“Jump complete, Captain,” reported Skylar.
“No sign of the Lethe in the immediate vicinity,” Sawyer said. “I’m expanding scans outward to 5 light years ahead.”
Dobbins nodded, still a little shocked by the suddenness of the jump. He knew what had happened—even if he did not totally understand it—but even knowing what had happened did not settle the slight sense of disorientation he felt. To try to get his sense of equilibrium back, he walked over to the communications station, where Lieutenant Marquél sat, transmitting on all hyperwave frequencies in an attempt to contact the Lethe.