The Journey of Atlantis_Leaving Home Read online

  “We are already patrolling for enemy intruders ma’am,” the corporal acknowledged. “We will keep an eye out for the extra help.”

  She turned to the sergeant again, “Sergeant, communicate to captain LaCrosse to take a company of men out to the battles site and piece together how the hell this happened. I need a full report in two hours.”

  “Ma’am,” the sergeant said, “General McCormick on the line as you requested.” Major Susan Smythe was getting that headache that always followed a pooch screw that needed explaining.

  ∆∆∆

  Consortium Meeting

  The Consortium had been together for a little more than twenty years now, Hari thought. He was sixty-two now, but the stress had made him seem older. Admiral Amberson had passed away a couple of years ago and had been replaced by Admiral Leonard Johnson. General McCormick is over seventy now will likely to be leaving us soon, although, the general is very fit for his age. Hari realized maybe for the first time, that the people that originally started the ball rolling, will now have to pass the baton to someone else. This really was a project like no other. It was a project that his generation would never know if it was successful. That was a worrisome and empty feeling. He felt good about the accomplishments the consortium helped humankind realize. But would it be enough? People shuffling in; better get this show on the road. “Good morning,” he greeted. “Check your pads for any messages, and prepare for the meeting. We will start with Miss Childress. You may start in a few minutes, when you are ready Sam.”

  After giving her colleagues a few minutes, she took her position at the dais. “Good morning,” she said. “As you can see on your pads, the hibernation units are having problems. Some of the problems are related to biology. It is not a problem to slow down a human metabolism and circulatory system. The bigger issue is what to do with the body over long periods of time. Muscle will waste away. Bones will deteriorate. There is also cellular degradation. If cells that naturally die and are replaced with new cells, like blood cells, are out of step because of the slower metabolism, you can have cells die faster that created, and that is a big problem. We are nearing the end of the testing phase of the newest hibernation technology. The patient’s blood is replaced with chilled artificial blood in a process geared to slow down processes to almost nothing. In transit, the muscles and bones are stimulated to retain function. When it is time to revive the patient, the artificial blood that is circulating is warmed. Protocols, in case of complications, are in place and ready. After revival, the patient is given cellular stimulants to replace the artificial blood. We have hibernated individuals for five years in the trials with no side effects. We must start manufacturing the hibernation units soon, because it is going to take a while to make fifteen million plus units and have them installed and checked out.”

  “On the selection front, we’re nearly finished counting everyone that is possible to count. If we really wanted to count every head on the planet, we would tag them like sheep; however, that is a little degrading. What we came to realize is that people who did not wish to be counted, no matter how hard we tried to convince them, felt strongly about staying, and so we honor that wish by not including them in the database. It is a small minority, less than one percent, that feel this way. We instituted registering newborns about ten years ago and that has greatly helped to catch everybody. As we reach equilibrium of registered newborns and people dying, we can turn our energies more towards the hibernation project, and changing and shifting of protocols for getting selectees aboard with the least amount of problems.

  Cheng asked, “You said that you had a five-year test that was successful. Five years does not sound like very long. Have you any plans for longer testing?”

  “Unfortunately,” Sam began “we don’t have the luxury of making multiple long-term experiments. Something you should remember though is that five years is equivalent to fifty light years. This could certainly be within our travel time to our destination. We will continue to improve on the hibernation system until we must go with what we have, if we are to get the units manufactured. At that point, we will just have to hope for the best.”

  “Thank you, Sam,” Hari said, “please do not hesitate to confer, or ask for assistance from the other sections if you need. They are resources too.”

  “I won’t hesitate, and thank you all for the assistance you have given my people already, and in the future.”

  “And now,” Hari announced, “We will hear from General McCormick, if you are ready.”

  “Certainly, Mr. Chairman,” the general replied as he took his place at the dais. “As you may have heard, last week there was a sophisticated attack on the shipboard A.I. 'Sonny'. Sonny believes the objective of the attack was to seize control of one of the two fusion power plants that are operational. The end game was to cause the power plant to malfunction in a manner that would cause it to go critical. If that happened, it would have blown a sizeable hole in the ship, or worse, destroy a ring. It would be a significant setback fixing the damage and running diagnostics on everything else that may have surged or been damaged by power failure. The attackers were one of the larger groups of the Enders. The attempt was orchestrated by a stolen A.I. that was not nearly as powerful as Sonny, but able to build a virus that took advantage of the fact that Sonny communicates with, and controls many of the craft that runs around out there. The virus compromised a shuttle and lay there dormant, not affecting the shuttle, but waiting for Sonny to connect with it. When that happened, the virus tried to slip into Sonny through the shuttles carrier. Sonny detected it immediately, and was isolated before it could set up shop. Analyzing the virus, Sonny determined that it could not have been human engineered. A quick count of all the A.I.s on and off planet, Sonny discovered one unaccounted for. In the next few minutes Sonny had tracked down the wayward A.I., hacked into the machine and rendered it harmless, but not before sucking some important information out of it, and recorded some video of members of the group before they realized something had gone wrong. Sonny then notified local security and they moved in and captured most of the ring leaders of the group. Some of them ended up dead. This all happened in the span of seventeen minutes. If Sonny was not around, but the less powerful A.I.s was, the Enders would most likely have succeeded. No human could have reacted that fast.”

  “Since that incident, I have had specific discussions with some of you, of which, I will now communicate with you all. It’s clear that Sonny needs to be our eyes and ears of the Project. Specifically, we have spoken to Sonny and it has had some suggestions that I have agreed to. For instance, Sonny will be responsible from now on with day to day operations aboard the ship. Humans will take directives from Sonny when something needs done. It will prioritize and manage maintenance, construction, and development of the ship. Sonny will also manage scheduling, and duty assignments for the whole operation. It will also monitor all movement on and off ship having to do with the project. Sonny will work with Security to identify intruders and attackers and coordinate to apprehend same. We have had discussions with Sonny about cryptographic algorithms and it has assured us that he remains the strongest machine operating, which means no one in the solar system can break it defenses.”

  “I have voiced my disapproval in the past about putting our faith in such a machine, however, I see now, that for good or ill, we really have no choice but to choose the path we are on if we are going to complete the Project on time. The security of the ship, and by that extension, Sonny, is paramount. A ship this size could not be managed with enough humans on board. It is clear to me now, that we must make this journey together, man and machine.”

  “I have assembled a special strike team that will coordinate with Sonny to track down certain individuals. We have been defensive in the beginning, but now it looks like we will have to be more proactive about intervening. We do not want to start a war with the whole world, but we cannot afford to wait until someone attacks to do something. As time goes on I feel that th
e attacks will be more sophisticated and desperate. Polls show that twenty six percent of the world populace hope we all blow up rather than be left behind. Twenty six percent of seven billion people are a lot of people. The numbers are on our side, but we do not want to be drug down fighting a world war.”

  “Thank you general,” Hari said sincerely. “I think I speak for all of us here when I say that the world appreciates what you’ve done for the Project. You and your men have been crucial to our mission and objectives.”

  The general gave a short bow to the chairman. “My life has always been about service, and I’m honored to be a part of the biggest project in the history of man. If there is a future, these times will go down as a legend that will live forever.”

  “I quite agree, General McCormick,” Hari said as he gave a little bow in the general’s direction. “And now, we will have our updates from the Construction section, if you are ready Malcolm.”

  “Thank you, Hari,” Malcolm replied. “Good morning everyone; as was mentioned earlier, two fusion power plants are up and running. We will be running startup protocols over the next year, so we will be importing our energy for just a little longer. Sonny is constantly giving us updates and suggestions on organizing the work that needs to be done. Any suggestions Sonny makes are OK’d by upper level designers and engineers. In many instances Sonny also implements those directives to the work crew and robots. Things are running much more smoothly now. It is hard to imagine that we are really doing this. The first ring was the biggest thing we ever built in space, and now we have twenty-three put together now! We need two power plants for every ring. That is a little over building by the overall specs, but things happen. We may have plants quit working and cannot bring them back up, or the best reason is YNK.”

  Samantha asked, “YNK?”

  “You never know,” Malcolm replied. “So, we’re a little behind, but we have started work on twenty plants while we are awaiting the results of the startup of these two. That way if there are any modifications that we need to make, we can instantly update them on the new ones. We should be caught up in about fifteen years according to Sonny.”

  “Why did it take so long to start putting plants in the ship?” General McCormick asked.

  “It would be like building a car. You would not start with the battery and build the car around it would you? The battery is the last thing you put in after everything else is built. Likewise, we had to put in the entire infrastructure and run the plumbing, the wiring and such. Each plant is like a node, supplying power for a given area. The node is also part of a grid, so that if one goes down, an area does not have to do without power. Depending on what the location of the power out is, that could be dangerous, even catastrophic. The ship must have continuous power 24/7. To that end, we were necessarily going to fall behind at first.”

  “We have nearly replaced the three FAB plants that were destroyed in the coordinated attacks in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Manila eighteen months ago. At the same time, we’re at various stages of building forty more manufacturing plants. On the ship, we’re starting with two FAB plants for each ring. We’ve built thirty plants so far. As more and more of the ship gets occupied, and demands on the plants become steady, we will see if we are going to need more. If we have time, we will do so. Sonny will be of help here since it is better at projecting the future than we are. The mission in a nut shell for the FAB plants is to be able to have the ability to fabricate ANY part, piece, and thingamabob that the ship might need. Different plants will have different focuses. There is no tow truck out in space if you break down. Each screw, bolt, plate, toilet, computer components that make up this ship is in the database of parts and the recipe to make them. We will only need to pull the part from the database and send it to the plant that makes that part to be produced. Currently, Sonny is managing the database. There isn’t one part on this ship that Sonny doesn’t know about. It is not hard really. The FAB plant that makes the new part uploads the specs to Sonny where it will keep it safe. If there are modifications, those are saved as well.”

  “The navy has sent requests for the manufacturing of several fleet types of FTL craft. Some of these include transports, scouts, tugs, cargo, and even some fighters. There are also requests for exploration, construction, and medical vehicles as well. The design of the command section, which will be the biggest, and the last section, will have an enormous launch bay area for these craft. There have also been weapon designs both for security and the ship. We are really coming along with particle and other beam technologies.

  “Thank you, Malcolm,” Hari said. “You really are pulled in a thousand directions.”

  Malcolm only shrugged his shoulders, “Eh, it’s a living!” Everyone chuckled at the common joke amongst the group.

  “It is indeed,” smiled Hari. “If you are ready Dr. Deng, we will hear the briefing in Logistics section.”

  “Thank you, Chairman Ling,” Cheng replied. He did not know why that sometimes the chairman would be so formal with him and sometimes not. He supposed that since they were both Asian that certain formalities were polite and respectful. He didn’t want to offend. However, Cheng was always the gregarious type. Quite the opposite of what Hari seemed to think. Don’t over think it Cheng, he said to himself, always take politeness when given. “Good afternoon my friends,” he began. “We’re in the process of upgrading our launch platforms. We have developed a way of delivering a much higher energy delivery. Every kilogram of mass requires so many joules of energy to accelerate it to a certain speed. Our current platforms could launch our cargo ships, which is the heaviest payload by far when full, into space. However, that was the maximum energy delivery that we could bring to bear. A heavier ship would not launch with the same speed and therefore come up short in altitude. Now as projected, we will be able to launch ten times the payload with launch turnaround shorter. The modified cargo ships we tested launched as expected. We also modified the queuing of the launch vehicles so they are on a conveyor where they are loaded like bullets in magazine. This has also quickened the turnaround. Much of these modifications were suggestions from Sonny. What this means to the Project is bringing a lot more mass to the ship and quicker deliveries all over the world.”

  “Security at these spaceports is paramount. Security has done well so far. Eight months ago, an attempt to attack a section of the Florida launch track was thwarted. No track was damaged and the aggressors were put down quickly. But I feel that I must state the obvious. As time gets nearer to the launch date, and people get more desperate, this task is going to get almost impossible. If just one spaceport is taken offline, that would be a ten percent reduction of deliveries. All the ports are running at maximum launches and cannot pick up the slack if a spaceport goes offline. We are addressing this problem in two ways.

  First, more spaceports are being built. It is not easy finding a ten mile stretch of space to put a launch platform. We have analyzed and consulted with Sonny, and have found four more of the easier places to put a spaceport. Building a spaceport takes about three years. We will have construction build them two at a time so as not to put any undue stress on construction than necessary. It requires a lot of manpower, but is a straightforward affair. A lot of the construction is modular, which accounts for the quick construction time. Having the extra spaceports will give us necessary breathing room if a port goes down for any reason and interrupting delivery schedules.

  Secondly, security is setting up a much more automated protection scheme to help them do their job. There are new protocols for identifying friend and foe that are being instituted so that friendly crew and security can be distinguished in a fire fight. Cameras and automated gunnery stations will be spaced all up and down the launch track. Spaceports are really the hardest to protect because it is the largest installation. It is too much real estate to protect. We feel that the extra automation will help us eliminate threats and detect attackers sooner. All these things we hope will be able to increase deliveri
es, payloads, and accommodate everyone’s schedules, so they can be met quickly, and speed up things all up and down the line for the Project.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Deng,” Hari said. “I think this will be a good time to break for lunch.”

  After lunch, Hari saw the admiral and Cheng talking out in the hallway and wandered over to them. “Admiral Johnson,” Hari said extending his hand, “I have spoken to you often on the network, but have not had the pleasure of meeting you face to face.”

  The admiral spoke as he gripped the extended hand firmly, “I thought running a war room was an exercise in multitasking, I see this is unfortunately similar. Call me Leo. This isn’t exactly a military conference after all. It has been very busy. I have been barely treading water since my appointment.”

  Hari said, “I would say that you’ll get used to it, but now that I think about it, I’m still getting used to it myself! Our projects intersect with each other so much that it is sometimes hard to know who is doing what. These meetings help to detangle our jobs.”

  “I’m all for untangling,” the admiral said. “Cheng here was telling me about the delivery of some of the craft that was special ordered from Construction.”

  “Yes,” Cheng said, “the exploration, cargo, and fighter craft are finished and ready for the Navy to shake them down. They are very interesting vehicles. I heard that Sonny had some input on revolutionary new applications for these vehicles.”

  “I will be addressing some of this in my briefing,” the admiral added.

  “Speaking of which,” Hari realized, “We should be starting already!” “If everyone will take a seat, we will start. I apologize for the late start.” Hari had a thing about punctuality. He was the unhappiest when the rate limiter was himself. “I hope you all had a good lunch. I would like to think that we had some non-Project and pleasant discussions, but I know that we cannot help talking shop.”