Chapter 1.1

The Crash

“Warning! Proximity alert!” a synthesized female voice exclaimed. A shrieking alarm immediately follows as a display on the bridge flickered a warning beacon began pulsing. Computers began communicating with each other, problem solving and determining if the key bridge crew should be awakened. More and more systems began reviving themselves as the danger to the ship was analyzed.

The AI¹ Started the waking sequence of the crew, stopping short because another computer fizzled with smoke and sparks upon awakening. “Terminal Failure in Code 3-3-5-2-119, Line 17. Cryo-Failure!” The redundant computer kicked in and atmosphere began filling the living compartments as the gravity couches began to warm up. “Terminal Failure in Code 3-3-5-2-119, Line 17. Cryo-Failure! Cascade Error in Gravity Couches 4, 7, 19, 45, 78, and 92. Vital signs stable. Wake Sequence Commencing.” the redundant computer said in a deep phased male voice. “Particle Cannon online,” stated the weapons console. “Tracking Object on collision course, bearing 24 degrees.”

By this time, Capt Behr was no longer submerged in the gravity couch, and was still suspended in weightlessness with tubes and intravenous catheters beginning to pump stimulants into his body.

The female A.I. began the next sequence. “Terminal Failure. . . syntax error--correction. . .flatline. . . . ***digitized garbled slowing decompressed datastream***. . . . .flatli-i-i-i-n nnnnn nn n ne. . . . Recompression of datastream completed. I report a complete failure of life support program. Atmosphere at 89 percent due to damaged recirculation valve, engineering compartment 17 tac 334 tac 91 alpha. Shall I wake engineering crew captain?”

By this time, Behr was alert and could sense that the atmosphere was thin, and he could feel a tingling in his extremities. An oxygen mask was presented to him by a robotic arm, which he took and placed on his face. It had a microphone and miniature speaker in it so he could speak, making his own voice sound somewhat synthesized like the computer's.

“Yes ALICE, begin waking everybody.” Behr was worried, His wife's chamber was in another part of the ship. “Is my wife awake? And where are we and what is our current situation?” There were a multitude of alarms going off and the calamity of it all was distracting and very confusing. Crew members were scrambling about to get dressed into their emergency firefighting gear (EFF), tripping over one another, yelling, confused and disoriented by the sudden awakening from deep cryosleep, dizzy from the thin atmosphere and struggling to put on their oxygen masks as they stumbled about.

“Captain, we have reached Ursalon System and are currently two days from our final approach vector and destination. We have encountered a rogue asteroid that is currently on an intercept course and will impact our starboard side in about twenty minutes. Micro-meteoroids have already penetrated creating hull breaches on deck 19, between frames 328 and 367. Atmosphere cannot reach optimum pressure. Drones have been deployed to repair damage. Navigational aids have been disrupted and cascade failure of plotter is imminent. Cryofailure has been detected. I have been trying to wake everyone sir, but connection to gravity couch controls 4, 7, 19, 45, 78, and 92 have failed. Only vital signs have been registered. I currently do not have data about your wife's condition. If ship reaches point of no return, all gravity couches that are occupied will be jettisoned according to final protocols.”

An explosion deep with the heart of the ship caused a tremendous shudder and a lurch to the port side, slamming the captain into the bulkhead opposite of his gravity couch. Crew members cried out in surprise as several of them were thrown to the deck violently, catching them off-guard. “What the hell was that!?” he yelled. His voice cracked through the mask as his voice overpowered the microphone and distorted it while he struggled to steady himself and rubbed his bruised upper arm.

More alarms pinged imminent danger, just intensifying the emergency more. A high pitched slow-ascending screech of a general alarm reverberated in the thin atmosphere and bounced off the metal bulkheads with a deafening echo. It was a sound that Behr learned in training for this mission all to well and it always made the hairs on his arms and head stand on end and the fillings in his teeth ache. It was the sound of probable death of the ship, and the groans from her bowels deep within her were an indication of something catastrophic about to happen.

“Restore gravity ALICE!” he barked at the computer.

On command, Earth-standard gravity was engaged and he landed hard, but unharmed, on the deck. The diamond plating felt cold and bit into the skin of his palms like razored teeth. He shuttered a bit from the painful sensation and held his breath until the pain dissipated. “Gravity restored 100 percent. Sorry for the sudden engagement sir, but my internal sensors are having problems connecting with my core controls.”

Behr clumsily stumbled to a portal and looked out into the vacuum expanse of space, and there it was just below him and coming slowly into view: Ursalon 6! But something was very wrong. The planet looked very different than it did from the surveys sent from Nova 9. Behr thought to himself that this couldn’t be the planet they were looking for, that perhaps they were off course! This planet was much like Mars, a planet that he knew well—that couldn’t be a possibility, he felt the lag of his body from being in a dormant state in the grave couches for a very long period of time. He even thought that the sensation was even a bit more excessive than what would have been several years of gravity couch sleep. Something was very wrong, and not just with the planet, or the current emergency situation—something much bigger. His lathargic body, the tingling from oxygen deprivation—he could imagine that his lips must be blue. A mirron on the bulkhead next to him confirmed his suspicions. Looking out of the portal into space confirmed the planet’s atmosphere was pink and the rock below was pitted with massive craters and fissures along its equator. “ALICE! Are you certain we are in the correct place? AND FIND OUT WHAT YOU CAN ABOUT MY WIFE!” Meanwhile, as the ship’s attitude adjusted, the planet’s atmosphere was slowly eclipsing the entire portal so that was all he could see. The ship was going to enter the atmosphere and could burn up, and what didn’t would create a massive creator below—a planet killing one! He certainly didn’t want his mission and life to end in a fusion-based fiery mushroom cloud of devastation!

“All navigational aids indicate that we have arrived at our designated coordinates,” said ALICE.

He could feel his manhood shrink into his groin as a sudden feeling of total hopelessness began to wash over his gut and creep into his chest as he could feel the blood flush from his face and brain. The sudden drop in altitude caused the pit of his stomach and his bowels to rise up into his throat with a sudden stabbing sensation of enormous gravitational increase. And suddenly, the “Gs” let up and almost brought him to total weightlessness.

Just as he was about to pull himself to together, looking deep inside himself for the hope he thought he lost, another alarm screamed into his ears.

“WARNING! WARNING! Plasma cannon failure! Error in Line 778. Command not found!” announced the tactical computer with it deep masculine synthesized voice.

Another synthetic voice from the back up navigation warning center chimed in. “Attitude controls are offline. Angle of approach is VERY BAD. Manual overrides are offline. Recommend immediate aba a a a a ndonnnnnnnmm m m m m ment of ship p p p p ***digital garble***”

“WARD! Report!” commanded Behr. “Talk to me WARD!”

“Captain. Proxi I I I I I I I mi-ty alert ! Impact im-maaaa-nent t t t t t . Icannotdefeeeeeeeeendship f f f f from asteroidoninterceptcourse. iiiiiiiiImpact in se-ven-teeeen minutes.”

“HOW BIG IS THIS ASTEROID?”

Suddently, WARD's voice stabalizes. “Asteroid is approximately 10,000 meters across and moving at a speed of 456,000 kilometers per hour. Impact will destroy ship. Crew should consider evacuation immediately.”

“Oh my God! We come all this way only to have this happen? Right on the doorstep of our new home? FUCK!” Behr rushed to his locker to get dressed. At this point, he was just in his briefs. He pulled the final connections to the gravity couch from his body, and threw on his jumper. He wanted to run and help his wife, but as the commander, he had to put his worries aside and hope for the best. He had to put his responsibilities to the crew and ship first. Gretta would know what to do. She was highly trained. He knew in his heart that she was alive.

“ALICE! TURN OFF THE ALARMS!” yelled Behr.

The alarms stopped and all that was left was the yelling and sounds of the crew clambering about, and the rumble of the damage below them, accompanied by the high pitch of ringing in his ears. His head was throbbing like a morning after hangover. His body was aching, his bladder was full and he felt like he could puke his guts out. His vision was blurred and his eyes were dry. He rubbed them a few seconds for more clarity. The room came into focus as the blackness brightened and the “stars” faded away. The calamity of the crew was something that he had missed with his awakening from cryosleep, being drowned out by the shrieks of alarms and computers. Everyone was quickly rushing about, frantically getting dressed into flight suits, gather supplies. Finally, one person stopped to see how he is doing. His long-time friend, Ivar.

“Sir, are you okay?”

“Yes, Just confused as to what the fuck is going on!”

“We need to think about getting the hell out of here sir!”

“No shit! The computer’s have been barking that now for the past five minutes. Is there anyway we could get the partical cannon online to kill that astroid?”

“Sir, there isn’t time. ALICE was not able to wake us all in time!”

“Fine! I will join you at the lifepod. Gather what supplies you can. I’ll be right behind you!”

“Yes Sir!” Ivar then ducked out of the compartment and rushed to the aid of a crewmate before heading off to the lifepod.

“Damage in primary engineering core. Dyson Sphere 3 critical. Star drive breach immanent. All crew is to report to their lifeboat stations. All gravity couches commencing ejection sequence now. All cryosleep re-wake sequences suspended.”

ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP! ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP!

“ALICE! How long have we been out here?” asked Behr.

“Chronometers indicate 790 Earth-standard years.”

Another explosion rocked the ship throwing everyone, and everything not bolted down to the port side of the compartment, and with the gravity engaged, it hurt that time.

Behr knew that something was wrong with the ship's chronometer. “ALICE, is that an estimation based accumulated time dilation?”

“Sir, this is based on positions of known stars and their proximity to us. We have been traveling for 790 years, 6 months, 26 days, 12 hours, 38 minutes.”

The mission was only supposed to bring them here in a few short years, but almost 8 centuries have passed, and the ship was falling apart! “ALICE! Transfer yourself to my lifeboat computer along with all the relevant logs you can. Let's get everyone off the ship. Open a channel to the crew.”

“Yes Captain. Transfer is complete. All AIs have been copied into your lifeboat computers. Internal 1M-C² is open sir.” (A bos'n pipe plays to get the attention of the crew).

“Attention! This is the captain speaking! Everyone abandon ship! All crew is to report to their designated lifeboats. Ship is in immanent danger. All hands abandon ship!”

“Captain, we now have 11 minutes before impact. All lifeboats must leave immediately. To reach minimal safe distance, ships, life boats and gravity couches must leave no later than 3 minutes prior to impact.” said WARD.

“ALICE, how many crew members have been revived?”

“Captain, I can account for 56 colonists and 19 command crew. My systems are degraded. Damage in engineering is critical and preventing me from connecting to cryo-systems computers and other internal sensors.”

More micro-meteoroids impacted the starboard side. Alarms resumed. More explosions, this time much closer to the compartment Behr was standing in, rocked the ship and caused the deck to heave to the starboard side. This time, the slowed decent into the planet’s gravitational feild was greatly increased as the AI struggled to regain control. Smoke was filling the compartment.

Running down the long corridor to the lifeboat, he stumbled and groped for handholds as the ships death throws plunged them deeper into the atmosphere. Artificial gravity was still working, but that could change any second and he need to be as far across the corridor as possible in the event that it failed. He didn’t want to fall to his death. His luck held true as the gravity plating stopped working just as he arrived at the bulkhead opening leading to the lifeboat promenade.

Once he reached it, Behr struggled with the airlock to the lifeboat for an aggravated moment before getting it open. He then grabbed a survival kit from the bulkhead adjacent to the opening and throwing it on-board, he grabbed a man that was thrown to the suddenly lurched deck by another explosion. It was Ivar. “Get in there my friend! We need to get out of here!”

“Yes Sir!” Ivar and Behr both felt a momentary relief as they entered into the lifeboat. Once they were both secured in their seats, the door to the lifeboat sealed behind them. The sounds of the excited crew and fires on-board the ship were muffled and the hum of systems coming to life in the controls before them gave Behr a small feeling of reassurance. The atmosphere in the lifeboat was 100 percent and he removed the mask from his face. “I hope she made it to her lifeboat” he said quietly to himself thinking of his wife.

Ivar put his hand on the shoulder of his long-time friend and offered his reassurance. “I'm sure she's fine. She's a survivor too.” He smiled and then turned to his console.

The air was stale and the lifeboat was dusty inside, but the displays and controls all appeared to be working. The word “PURGE” was flashing and the computer was waiting for his command confirmation.

“Let's get out of here!” Behr exclaimed.

The computer obliged him. The launch tube doors opened in front of him and the canopy of the lifeboat was filled with the light of the pink world in front of them, which was now fairly large. As the lifeboat moved forward on its track to the launching position, ALICE began her sequence countdown. The two men sat in their seats that moved forward into the canopy. The acrylic bubble it formed around them was laced and faceted by triangular supports and the chairs locked into place onto them. Their feet dangled several meters from the bottom of the canopy. Behr felt like this was the closest he would be to the vacuum of space.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, the anxiety filled Behr’s body with adrenaline as his heart raced. He wasn’t feeling fear, but he was angry. It was almost a rage—the kind that makes his blood boil and his eyes see red. Even in the quieted chamber of the lifeboat, his ears were ringing with a deafening roar. The computer droned on its countdown whose launch couldn’t come soon enough.

“Sequence complete.” ALICE stated. The word PURGE changed to BURN. The lifeboat's thrusters fired and with a violent push, forced the two men into the backs of their seats with such force that they both passed out. The din of the boosters firing at full burn faded into a dream state, and as Behr lost consciousness, that last thing he heard was: “Engineering Dyson Sphere³ 3 core breach commencing.”

The ship exploded just as the enormous asteroid struck the starboard pylon, enveloping several lifeboats that could not get away fast enough. The shock-wave of energy produced by the two other Dyson spheres pushed the lifeboats off of their programmed flight courses, debris flew in all directions as the ship broke apart. Much of the ship and the asteroid was vaporized into a plasma gas that fueled the shock-wave even more, burning away more of the lifeboats as a secondary explosion formed a sphere of brilliant blue light and hot energy. The largest of the Dyson Spheres actually went “micronova” as it pulled some of the energy and debris into it as it collapsed. At the sphere’s critical mass, the dilation of time and space could be visibly seen as a complete slow down and stopping of time and then a gradually increasing speed with a ripple as the energy of the explosion spread in all directions with brilliant white, blinding light. The sound in space was silent, no atmosphere to conduct it. The sight was cataclysmic in scope, and Behr imagined that thousands of years from now, people of Earth would see the brilliant light like a star twinkling in the sky.

But Behr and Ivar were safe, escaping with their lives and sustained only minor damage. Several other lifeboats were nearby, and soon began to link up with each other on auto pilots.

The crew members that survived were few, and after several hours, the lifeboats divided into two groups. The groups were too far apart to rejoin as one. ALICE engaged secondary colonial protocol to try and ensure successful delivery of survivors to the planet's surface.

It would be several hours, but they would soon enter the atmosphere of Ursalon 6, Behr's group would be in the equatorial region. In order to avoid destruction from floating debris of the ship’s wreckage, ALICE had to program all the remaining lifeboats to form an orbit that would avoid collisions. Gretta's group would land on the other side of the planet in the southern hemisphere. Neither of them knew, for certain, the other was still alive.

Behr's lifeboat was a command pod, designed to be a temporary shelter on the surface of the planet and housed computers capable of storing all the A.I.s and logs of the entire journey. It was a mobile library. As it linked up to other lifeboats, communications links were hardlined together and they formed a network of ships.

As the approach vector for atmospheric entry began, ALICE warned of another unforeseen danger, “Captain, although our approach vector is accurate, atmospheric readings indicate extreme high velocity wind-sheer and turbulence. I recommend all lifeboats enter on their own and disconnect. Our structural integrity will be preserved.”

“This means that the crew will be scattered all across the surface of the planet,” said Behr with a glazed stare. He just came too with the sound of ALICE's voice.

“I will program each life boat with the appropriate navigational course to place them as closely together as possible.”

“Very well, ALICE. Proceed.”

As the vessel separated from the group, turbulence began to shake them violently. “Hang on my friend! It's gonna be a wild ride down!” Behr explained to Ivar. Ivar acknowledged him by gasping and grabbing onto the handles on the sides of his chair. Ivar was also just recovering from being unconscious and was abruptly awakened by the violent movement of the pod. The world below them was now the only thing they could see as debri from Mother began burning up in the atmosphere like a rain of thousands of comets. Some of the debris exploded sending shrapnel that burned up in the atmosphere as white smokey streamers. ALICE continued to maneuver the craft to avoid debris that could potentially damage or even destroy the lifeboat. The gravitational forces were so great, that both men blacked out again.

Darkness. Silence. The confusion and the din fell away as the planet's surface approached them. Stabilizers fired as the automated landing system fought to keep the lifeboat from flattening on the ground that was quickly approaching under them. The atmosphere was scorching the outer hull as the blast shield doors closed around the cockpit, shielding them from the white-hot fire and its searing brightness.

Behr only just began to regain consciousness again as the thrusters fired with everything they were designed to handle in a final effort to slow the rapid descent. Airbags deployed and encased the entire lifeboat as chutes opened from a tether attached to the vessel, dragging the velocity back even further. A feeling of momentary weightlessness caressed the stressed bodies of both men in a gravitational fluctuation.

The first impact with the lifeboat’s airbags sent the vessel high in the air about 200 meters. It was a sudden impact that bounced them with a force of 2 Gs (relative to this planet—whose gravitational pull was a little heavier than Earth). This repeated several more times, with each bounce becoming less and less—the gravitational forces being like that of a terrifying roller-coaster. Soon, the men were being rolled around until they came to a stop after several minutes. Kinetic energy had finally run out and they found themselves upside down in their seats.

The lifeboat began to deflate the airbags in a sequence that, along with the firing of lateral, dorsal and ventral thrusters, eventually placed the vessel right-side up. The landing struts deployed as the lifeboat righted itself and the blast-shield doors of the cockpit dome finally opened to slowly reveal to them the alien world’s surface on which they finally came to rest.

Mostly, what they could see was dust that was scattered from the energy of the lifeboat’s thrusters and movement. A few moments passed and the dust finally settled--quickly due to the planet's gravity. The computer monitor’s and Head Up Display (HUD) lit up to show them the statistics and readings of the new environment outside, as well as information about damage to the lifeboat, locations of beacons for other vessels, and status of their interior environmental controls.

The walking platform slid underneath their dangling feet and locked into place. Once Behr and Ivar were aware that the platform was under their feet, they began to disconnect their safety restraints and stand up inside for the first time in the new gravity of this new world. Behr and Ivar both felt the weight in their limbs, the tug of this planet was only about 4 percent higher, but it was enough to make both of them tire. It was going to take some time to get used to the gravity.

1Artificial Intelligence

2 1 M. C. is the Primary Mass Communications or general ship's public address system. This acronym dates back to the United States Of America's Navy warships built in the early 20th-21st centuries.

3Dyson Sphere was hypothesized as a megastructure by Freeman Dyson. Such a "sphere" would be a system of orbiting solar-power satellites meant to completely encompass a star and capture most or all of its energy output. Dyson speculated that such structures would be the logical consequence of the long-term survival and escalating energy needs of a technological civilization, and proposed that searching for evidence of the existence of such structures might lead to the detection of advanced intelligent extraterrestrial life.

Since then, other variant designs involving building an artificial structure or series of structures to encompass a star have been proposed in exploratory engineering or described in science fiction under the name "Dyson sphere". These later proposals have not been limited to solar-power stations. Many involve habitation or industrial elements. In May 2013, at the Starship Century Symposium in San Diego, Freeman Dyson repeated his comments that he wished the concept had not been named after him. However, when fusion dynamic theory was established and the first controlled fusion reaction was achieved by mankind in the creation of a micro-star, the Dyson Sphere became a reality. A chamber, spherical in shape was designed to create the micro-star, making the fictional and theoretical Dyson Sphere a reality in 2212.