Excerpts From Nonexistent Books

Video-Audio Intercept
10.180.107.225 16:08:54 -0700
4eab128e.700f.b54ffb90.5c6b
2Qah2dN87-a94PijNNQPg__XMa4
CAGPdH6pRAq3q2dpxiyAbeTZiGk
Subject: [redacted]
From: [redacted]
To: [redacted]
Date: [redacted]
Delivered-To: [redacted]

Partial transcript:

Dr. Leszek NIYSTSKI: I think our problem is a bit more…universal than that.

Robert DUBOIS: I’m not sure I follow. Universal?

Dr. Leszek NIYSTSKI: In your report, you say that Col. Angelo was attempting to modify the hyperspace communications relay to accept input from an unknown power source aboard the stolen vessel.

Robert DUBOIS: That’s correct. I could see that they were trying to make the modifications, but my training is primarily in signals intelligence, not power or propulsion.

Dr. Leszek NIYSTSKI: Did you have the opportunity to examine the stolen vessel?

Robert DUBOIS: Not particularly. I was busy on the array, though my superior brought me into combat to man a support weapon after Jenkins was killed. I could give you a tactical description of the interior, maybe. Nothing more.

Dr. Leszek NIYSTSKI: Would it surprise you to learn that the ship was the testbed for a radical new propulsion source–an artificial singularity?

Robert DUBOIS: A black hole?

Dr. Leszek NIYSTSKI: Of a sort, I suppose. Suffice it to say that connecting such a source to a hyperspace communications array would increase its power by an order of magnitude. Whoever Col. Angelo wished to contact, they must have been very far away indeed.

The Maia Nebula station didn’t have any living inhabitants, of course. It was all automated, from fueling to repairs to upgrading and even illegal modifications. Drones entered one of hundreds of bays while their operators were connected to the station’s servers, allowing for much faster and higher-quality communication than the relays outside. Unmanned freighters constantly jumped in and out nearby, bringing fresh materials and consumables from Earth. No human could have survived the trip.

Remote-piloted drone operators had a saying: the suits own the stations, but they’re a trillion miles away. The RPD’s interfaced closely enough with the station systems that enterprising hackers had long ago compromised their systems. There were back channels for everything–people selling leads on claims, errands that needed running, and the occasional headhunting mission. The RPD’s hadn’t been designed with weapons, but a few lines of code here, a few repurposed thrusters and mining lasers there, and Cam was able to defend his drone from armed claimjumpers and griefers who had nothing better to do than maliciously destroy other peoples’ investments.

“Nearly complete damage between the second and third thoracic vertebrae. Layman’s terms, son, you’re looking at paraplegia for life.”

“Shouldn’t the doctor be telling me this?” said Arch.

“Oh, he’ll be in soon enough with the proper diagnosis,” the suit said. “I’ve arranged to have a few minutes with you before that.”

“To gloat?”

The suit laughed an insincere laugh. “Of course not. So cynical! I’m here to offer you participation in a clinical trial. You’re familiar with lanxisol?”

“A little,” Arch said. He’d seen alarmist media reports, but hadn’t put much stock in them.

“Well, there’s a newer derivative we’re developing–lanxisol centlin. It promises far more potent benefits with fewer side effects. We’ve got the chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus breathing down our neck to get it approved so his little brother can walk again. That’s where you come in.”

In theory, the Pskov-Lindberg drive was elegant and simple. Every star and galaxy in the universe was in motion, and by adjusting the vessel’s position in time, but not space, vast distances could be covered in a fraction of the time needed for normal space travel.

The calculations were exceedingly complex, but the popular press rendered the Pskov-Lindberg “geting there before you left.” A normal spacecraft would struggle to pass 20 km/s even with a gravitational assist, while the universe is expanding at nearly 80 km/s. At 80 km/s, it would take 16 years to reach Proxima Centauri. But by shifting 16 years backward in time along the correct trajectory, a Pskov-Lindberg drive could make the trip instantly and arrive well before it left.

Tests with unmanned drone ships and laboratory animals were promising, but the world government was under immense political pressure and cut corners. The first hundred Arks–Pskov-Lindberg equipped starships with volunteer colonists–were constructed and launched before a single human test had been performed. The science community fretted over the lack of radio traffic from the worlds selected for colonization–which should have arrived years before the Arks departed–but could not prevent the launch.

What happened next took centuries to reconstruct. Through a combination of factors, the Arks arrived at their destinations not 20-30 years before their departure, but 20000-30000. The Arks were in fact assumed destroyed until the advent of the Higgs drive in the next century, when astonished surveyors reported contact with humans speaking an unknown language. The Arks had survived, with their descendents were now spread across the most desirable colony worlds with thousands of years of independent biological and cultural evolution.

Inevitably, conflicts broke out between the settlers arriving on fast, safe Higgs spacecraft and the people they came to call Arkers.

“I’m getting a lot of interference,” said Ev. Her transmission was rent with static and artifacts. “I think if we spend too much time outside the planets’ magnetospheres, the solar radiation will fry our RPD’s.”

Cam swore under his breath. “Doesn’t that worry you?”

“It’s just a remote drone, Cam. If it’s disabled, we can buy another one.”

“Maybe you can, Ms. Trust Fund,” said Cam. “And have you ever been in an RPD when it goes dark? The connection overloads, and you get a nice, sharp jolt of pain that’ll have you seeing double for a week.”

The static faded as their RPD’s entered the magnetosphere of HD 11765d. “I guess that’s why Dale decided to hide out here,” Ev replied. “Not many people willing to blow their investment just to find him.”