"And if you look over here Donovan, you can see right across the system" explained LPI Co-ordinator Oscar Lee to a government official. Lee was the system controller for the small amount of traffic that traversed the Texas system. His family had always lived on Houston, well at least since 95 A.S.
That was a great year for Liberty. Not only did Captain Steve Tanner of the Liberty exploratory vessel Einstein find the Bering system but Deep Space Engineering built its headquarters here during the great construction boom following the announcement in 95 A.S. that Texas would be Liberty's R & D center for the practical application of Ageira I technology. Now the year was 501 A.S. Dallas Research Station was at the forefront of Tradelane and Jumpgate technology.
These prospects in 95 A.S. forced many families from the crowded Colorado and New York systems, as California had not been settled at that time. Among these immigrants, were the Lees. Since settlement, the Lees maintained an agricultural crop on the very southern edge of the mass continent that sprawled over Manhattan. However, times were hard for the settlers then, they were bought out and they packed their belongings and climbed aboard a shuttle to Houston. Houston, was an arid desert planet although cities were soon set-up and proper amenities became common as more people began populating the planet. Everyone had some role in the new work. Numerous Ageira and DSE facilities dotted the surface, churning out the goods that Dallas required for it's groundbreaking Jumpgate technology.
Oscar Lee, 45 years old and married was sleeping soundly on the day. However his body clock slowly aroused him from slumber and he sat on the edge of his bed on the flat surface. His wife stirred and rolled over. Rubbing his eyes, he opened the view panel a crack, peering out into the harsh desert and up at the sky. His bushy eyebrows raised ever so slightly as he gazed up into the hazy grey sky. He stepped back and walked towards his wardrobe. The door slid back silently as he motioned at it and a familiar blue flight suit was slowly conveyered to him. He stepped into it and suited up, then walked to the living area, grabbing a pack of rations. Synth paste hadn't been developed as of yet, owing to the fact that Los Angeles was yet to be settled. After a retina scan, the main door opened and Lee walked over to their DSE mk XII ground car. Gazing down at all the other identical houses that stretched into the horizon, Lee pressed the canopy button and after scanning his thumbprint it slid back into the ground car's shiny blue fuselage. Lee carefully stepped in, nestling himself in the thick synthetic leather upholstery. 'Aah, bliss' he thought to himself. Suitably comfortable and feeling ready to go, the canopy slid forward, insulating the sound from outside and he enabled the thrusters and the ground car slowly hovered up on a cushion of air. He pushed the throttle all the way forward and the ground car shot forward and up into the tepid Houston morning sky.
Meanwhile, above Houston, a heavy lifter was transferring the second and last cargo pod of Tradelane parts to be fitted on the C-class utility transport Ft. Worth. Also, in the heavy lifter's cargo bay was the Ft. Worth's crew. As the lifter placed the second cargo pod into place, a metal air tube was raised from it's holding bay to a similar sized space underneath the Ft. Worth's bridge. The crew lined up in the air tube and climbed the ladder rungs to the top, and into the Ft. Worth. "Ahh, home sweet home" murmured Captain Dan Caruthers as he ran his hands along the control panels. The rest of the crew seemed almost relieved to be away from the crowds and noise of Houston, although one did miss terra-firma after extended periods in space. The quickly assumed their positions at various places around the bridge as a green hue illuminated the cockpit. This was the all-clear signal from the Heavy Lifter as it backed away. Flt Officer McDowell became intent on reading a screen and he clutched his headset. "Warning, hostiles incoming, shall I abort?" "Negative, launch is still a go" Caruthers shot back immediately Two small explosions blew away the two tethers that held the Ft. Worth to it's moor and the ship. The Ft. Worth quickly backed away and instead of directly heading the Dallas, shot off towards Planet Brazos, avoiding the incoming hostiles. Fortunately, the pirates ignored them and continued attacking some target entering from the New York system.
Lee's ground car cruised at it's maximum altitude, 6000ft. There were two columns of traffic in the air, marked out by Hazard buoys. One lane headed straight back to Lee's hometown on Houston, Turner's Reach but he was on the crowded lane, the one stretching towards Houston City. He assumed it might be a little confusing to have the major city on each planet named after the planet itself but it seemed to fit as a name and it was common practice Sirius wide. He zipped down an exit and plunged into the backlog of traffic common in Houston City. However most of these people were heading to the factories out in the wasteland, and the Main Landing Pad no. 1 route was fairly quiet as nobody was doing much flying this early. He parked his ground car in one of the underground-parking hangers and caught a lift up to the Main Landing Pad. Instead of heading straight out to the Landing Pad, he turned left and into one of the many bars that dot Landing Pads Sirius wide. These bars are not normally frequented by local civilians, only space farers, shipping pilots and their crews as well as the odd cop or two.
He recognized the Government man straight away. At first glance, he could have been an IC representative, crisp grey suit and short well kept hair, but Lee had seen him in the news once or twice. He walked up to his table, getting wary eyes from a couple of Junkers and a Freelancer seated at a nearby table. "You Donovan?" Lee asked casually. The man who had been staring at the lamp on his table looked up. "Yes, that's me. Co-ordinator Lee? I'm told you're the one to escort me around the base?" Lee smiled, "Yup, that's me sir." The formalities over, the two men walked out of the bar and turning left, headed up the stairs to the landing pad.
It was a hectic place with groundcars and ships flying overhead, various cargoes being loaded on to an assortment of old and new ships while men and women in flight suits and uniforms strode around, attending their business. Lee looked up. The grey haze had retreated in the dawn, leaving a pinky grey colour. Abilene, like a large white crescent shone through the morning sky while ships of varied sizes stormed about the skies. Lee's ship was onboard LPI Huntsville, so an EL-HiL Mk III freighter-shuttle was waiting on a corner of the Landing Pad. While walking across the massive landing pad, Donovan explained about Liberty's plans for the Texas system. Lee wasn't really paying attention but they were talking of expanding Huntsville from a Depot to a Orbiting Prison which sounded unreal enough so he just continued walking, and nodding his head occasionally. They reached the freighter shuttle and it's back bay door opened for them to step into it's hold, which had been converted into a small yet bare lounge. Slowly, the ship lifted up and shot up faster and higher than a ground car could ever hope for into the Houston sky. After a few seconds, they joined a short queue, fenced on either side by Hazard buoys that enabled ships wanting to get into space via the new Docking Rings to wait orderly. Soon, they went through the Docking Rings and into space. The Government official looked eagerly through a window as one who does not normally travel much through space might. For Lee however, the novelty had worn off so he merely reclined in his seat and adjusted his cap over his eyes.
The Ft. Worth, after escaping from the pirate raid had continued travelling that route. Captain Caruthers checked his nav-map. They were directly four navs south of Dallas research Station. "McDowell, adjust position for cruise speed to Dallas, Pemberton, I want a long range scan of this area for ships now." Pemberton, an attractive Bretonian woman with flame red hair and dancing green eyes, was renowned for her sharp tongue and dry humour however today her tone was serious. "Nothing serious on the scope sir"
The freighter-shuttle docked with the small Huntsville station, only a small depot back then and Donovan walked off eagerly while Lee walked at a lesser pace behind him. Lee walked up to his office and the doors slid open at his approach. Mike Yard was asleep on his desk. Yard and Lee shared the Co-ordinator duty in 12-hour shifts. Lee checked his chronometer. 07:42am Houston time, 1:00pm Universe time. Yard looked up blearily. "Oh shi..sorry Lee" he said, an apologizing grin on his face. Lee grinned "Get to your shuttle and fall into bed before you start 'resting your eyes' again" Yard stood up stiffly and stretched. "Will do" he chuckled and he disappeared out of the office and down the hallway. Lee sat back in the office chair and reviewed his day's requirements on the neural net screen. There had been a delay in the new, New York -> Texas Jumpgate and a DSE team had it fixed but was not overloading it too soon. That meant minimal traffic on what normally would've been peak shipping time. Donovan sat in a chair gazing around the room at various pictures and displays. "Oh well," said Lee, closing the neural net "I guess I can show you around the station, don't worry there's been a delay so I'm not needed." Donovan nodded in acknowledgement and he followed Lee down a corridor and stopped at a door that was signposted in transparent blue but had an opaque old-fashioned beer glass shape on it. "It's erm…a bit early for that don't you think?" asked Donovan uncertainly. Lee chuckled, "Yes indeed it is, but this place has the best views" They entered and found only the lone barman setting up for today. They strode over towards the main window.
"And if you look over here Donovan, you can see right across the system"
The faint orange glow from the distant Walker Nebula illuminated their faces, as did the white sun.
"Dallas research station to transport convoy requesting data"
"Roger that Dallas, transmitting data now"
"Understood, your request to moor is granted, proceed to moor 1 on arrival at the station"
"Roger that Dallas"
…………………………………
…………………………………….
"Ft. Worth this is Dallas, please stand by………."
There was a single, terrible blinding white flash. For an instant, Lee thought the sun had exploded somehow. He covered his closed eyelids with his hands but the light shone through. Then it stopped. Or, rather rapidly "darkened" back to normality. He opened his eyes after awhile, carefully and slowly. Looking around, he could see a dazed Donovan sitting up and the Barman was staggering up as well. 'Ah' he thought. Then he swiftly turned around and gasped, leaning against the glass. There was a bright glow from the site of the "Jumpgate Testing ground" and on either side of it, were….no….it wasn't possible. Two sprawling thick black clouds dominated space where there had been nothing before. 'What could've happened? Godamn, look at it all!' He simply ran, leaving Donovan behind, back through the labyrinth of corridors to his office. He took two wrong turns, and swearing angrily he ran into his office and scrambled all Patrol wings that were docked as well as alerting all Patrols on service. Although, it was be hard to imagine anyone in Texas space who hadn't seen it. Thinking rationally, he quickly checked today's freight manifest. There was a lot of cargo destined for Dallas but most of it had been held up at the NY -> TX Jumpgate. He quickly eliminated all of them and was left with only three transports. He searched for all of them over the neural net. The Amarillo hadn't left yet, the John Williams was due to leave in 15 minutes and the Ft. Worth……had already left. '****' he thought. It had last been recorded heading south to avoid pirates and it's freight manifest showed it was hauling tradelane parts. He brought up a comms-link. Patrol Alpha nine, this is Mission Control, Search for the Ft. Worth, am uploading it's path to you now." He closed the comm quickly and got a team on handling calls from the various spacers who had seen fit for themselves to report this disaster to LPI Huntsville. Then he tried to raise Dallas…….Only static. He brought another comm-link up. "Get me a tech weenie now!"
James T. Woods was no weenie. At 6ft 5" and with broad shoulders, you may expect him to be rather the opposite. Born of a wealthy Manhattan family, he had a Degree in Space effects on humans but that didn't stop in enlisting in the LPI to avoid a boring desk life. He cautiously poked his head through the bar door looking around. Lee turned and motioned towards him. Woods strode up. "You uh, called for me sir?" he said. Lee turned and looked out at the fading glow and the two massive clouds in the distance. "Yes," he said, still looking away. "Tell me what those clouds are and what's happened."
Woods joined his gaze for a minute. "Well sir," he said, scratching his head "I'd say those were Dark Matter clouds, and I'm guessing the Jumpgate malfunctioned somehow." Lee nodded. It seemed feasible enough. "Tell me, is Dallas still operational?" Woods looked surprised. "Well sir, it looks as though the left Dark Matter cloud envelops Dallas's position, and if these are Dark Matter clouds, I'm afraid Dallas is gone for good. Those clouds have nasty, naasty rads and would've killed off everybody who lived through the explosion. As for the Jumpgate testing area, I'd say that would be fairly radioactive as well, the explosion and the rads in there effectively killing off any survivors there as well." Lee sighed. "What about escape pods?" Woods thought for a moment. "Well, those clouds would've spewed out of that Jumpgate almost instantaneously, and even if someone did have time to launch one, the rads will eat through the hull in about fifteen minutes. Not to mention, they'd be getting pretty sick from the small yet concentrated doses of radiation leaking through." Lee's gaze dropped. "And if there were a transport around?" "Hmmm…if it was further away from the explosion, the radiation might damage it to render it immobile, but it would still keep intact. As for the crew, same situation as the escape pods"
"Very well Woods, you can go now" Lee replied solemly.
All over Houston, people immediately tuned into or read the news from the Colony News Service, seeking reason for the bright white light that had seared the dry skies of Houston before. And then later, the people of the 4 Houses gazed in horror and amazement of the destruction struck upon Texas. The researchers and scientists at Dallas had been experimenting with what could go into a Jumpgate and how far they could send it. Using older, faster yet more dangerous technology they had abandoned centuries before, the tech geniuses at Dallas thought they had devised a way to bypass the Kuryo Anomaly, the vast, dark matter cloud more than 10 light years in crosswise, although very thin -- less than a typical star system's radius. Fortunately it was not entirely continuous, and subsequent explorers eventually established a relatively safe route through it. These were the Kepler and Galileo systems. During the final stages of testing, Dallas had thought they had perfected this technology and locked the exit point to a zone north of the Kuryo Anomaly. The object they sent through was never found, nor was it known what they sent but it is widely believed to have been a probe rather than a test ship. As the object crossed the Kuryo Anomaly, the jumpgate's travel path was distorted and one thing lead to another and the Jumpgate exploded. Whether the dark matter clouds were "transported" from the Kuryo Anomaly or simply created from the Jumpgate explosion it is not known, as no other gates have exploded before. The young news anchor reported. Lee scratched his head while the neural display of the news illuminated the bedroom in pale blue light.
The whole western stretch of the system was swathed in a radioactive mess of dark matter and debris, rendering it totally inhabitable. Ageira was bound to leave soon enough. There were still the factories but Texas would have a big hole in it's income for some time to come. After showing some dramatic shots of the dark matter clouds, the visual switched to commodity prices and the stock market. Lee turned the neural net off and lay straight on the bed, resting his head and his weary body. He wondered what would be going on for some time to come. Texas would be changed forever. 'Oh well' he thought, that was up to Yard to handle for the moment he reflected.
The Sirian Rogues, Scourge of the Sirius.
Unprotected Trade Convoy freight, is our freight >
Hand over the cargo or die...Either way, I'm taking your cargo
Sun Jan 09, 2005 10:12 pm 