Version Innocent

Chapter 51

  When the antimatter rockets had stopped, leaving the trio in momentary free fall, they had all been surprised. When the ship told them to stay in their seats and large liquid metal radiators had deployed from the aft of the ship, they began to wonder what was going on. Then the acceleration began, and they zipped away from the planet at a rate that should have killed them without being seriously restrained, but they all felt fine, if somewhat heavy. Sam’s suit was registering three g’s, a lot of weight for someone who was recently bounding on Europa, but this was still tolerable if one didn’t stand up suddenly.

  “Ship, what is going on?” Terra yelled. “How fast are we accelerating?” Terra had been on enough interplanetary flights to know that a body like Europa didn’t recede like that in any three g burn. And what had happened to the rocket noise?

  “We are accelerating at fifteen g’s,” the ship answered. “I am compensating for this in the passenger cabin. I will slow to ten g’s in two hours. That will lessen the forces in the passenger cabin to one g. At such time you may leave your restraints,” the ship replied.

  “What? How is that possible?” Terra asked, confused.

  “This ship is equipped with an experimental drive system developed recently at our destination. The system permits me to lessen the effect of the acceleration inside the cabin. I am not allowed to discuss how.”

  “That’s not possible,” Terra said, refusing to believe it.

  “Why not, Terra? You can’t think that everything under the sun in physics has been discovered, or is a hundred percent correct,” Jeff said, smiling. He was enjoying the whole idea of something new.

  “What are you saying?”

  “You remember the Arlin Department of Theoretical Physics back in Denver. Remember I told you that they were working on new things, things that physics had overlooked or called impossible,” Jeff reminded her.

  “But that was theoretical, I thought you said they couldn’t experiment,” Terra said, remembering too well the building and its impressive security system.

  “They weren’t allowed to do it on Earth. Perhaps Sam got some of them off Earth and they were experimenting out here. It sounds like something he would d.” They both turned to look at Sam who was staring out the window.

  “Sam, what do you think?” Terra asked.

  Sam had a dreamy look in his eyes when he turned back to them. His mind was reeling with the consequences. “It’s something I always hoped was possible. Do you realize that this changes everything?”

  “It will if it uses less energy and fuel than rocket propulsion. Not otherwise,” Terra said.

  “It uses less energy,” Sam said confidently.

  “How do you know that?” Terra asked.

  “The radiators. They’re not that big. If we were using the same amount of energy that’s used for antimatter propellant rocketry, we’d fry in minutes with such small radiators, but we’re not even warming up,” Sam explained.

  Terra was silent.

  “Speechless, Terra? That’s unusual for you,” Jeff teased.

  “No, just reeling at the consequences of this technology. It will change everything. Do you think that’s what Sam’s been doing out here? Outlawed experiments to develop this space drive?” Terra asked. If that were what Sam was going to give her, it would be worth all the aggravation, the headaches of sorting out the problems her other version had left her. It would change the whole nature of space travel, perhaps even put the stars within reach.

  “Ship, how long will the trip take?” Sam asked.

  “Approximately five hours and twenty-two minutes,” the ship responded.

  “Not too far away from Jupiter then,” Sam said resolutely.

  “It’s long enough for us to cover a lot of distance at this rate,” Jeff said.

  “Well, then we’d better get some rest while we can. I don’t think events will be slowing down any,” Terra suggested. She was tired. It’d been a long day already. She couldn’t believe that earlier that same morning they’d arrived at Europa on the Express. That reminded her that she should have sent word to Ignus to let him know it was okay to leave, but he would anyway in a few more days.

  “Ship, are we being followed by the Powel?” Sam asked, trying to look through the wall viewers to see if they were indeed being followed.

  “The Powel is pursuing at ten g’s. They have a very bright rocket plume which indicates that they are burning antimatter rich,” the ship replied. “They will not intercept us unless they accelerate faster. We will beat them to our destination by several hours, provided they can continue to follow.”

  “Well, that’s comforting,” Sam said. “I hope my other version has some neat tricks up his sleeve to deal with the Powel. At least we’ll have a few hours.”

  “Don’t worry Sam. You’re a resourceful guy, and so’s your other version.” Jeff smirked.