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Authors: Travis S. Taylor
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things in mid-air that were not there, but the captain could see them just fine.
“. . . So you see, sir, here’s the ship. This hole here, that must be where you tore through, this part here is from battle damage, and now let’s move away the exterior layers.” Buckley waved his hand and pulled away the structure. “Now here is the power system. You see these conduits flowing here? This conduit goes into this junction box from the main propulsion system, but if you look just beyond that, there’s another conduit coming out of there, going somewhere where it normally wouldn’t. To this box here. That’s what triggered my suspicion.”
Pull away this layer, Debbie, he said to his AIC. With another motion of his hand, the box skin flew away, revealing the internal components.
“And this , sir, right here, is a quantum membrane snap-back teleporter link.”
“You’re damn right, Joe, I’ve seen plenty of them,” Moore responded. “Have you cracked it?”
“Well sir, we put a cluster of all the AICs on the Madira together, and when all the AICs on board put their noggins into it, in just a matter of a four minutes, they cracked Copernicus’ encryption. Looks like there’s seven addresses.”
“Seven? Very interesting. But you still haven’t figured out a way to know where in the hell that address is?”
“Sorry, sir. Quantum physics and all doesn’t allow for that. All we can say is that this thing is connected to seven other things somewhere else in the universe.”
“Shit!” Moore said. “Physics.”
“Yes sir, quantum membrane stuff to be exact,” Buckley replied.
“Maybe we need some other quantum physicists on board to help you out.”
“Well, sir, the chief scientist and I have been working on this for awhile, and we’ve spoken with anybody with any knowledge on the subject, as well as all of the AICs, and all we can say is, this thing is linked to seven other locations somewhere in this universe.”
“Understood, Joe. Good work,” Moore said as he offered him a hand. Joe shook it in return. Moore had been a politician for so long that a lot of times, Joe had noticed, he would offer a hand to shake over a salute. Joe didn’t mind at all.
“So what are your orders, sir?”Moore rubbed his chin in thought, then looked at the 3D model in his mind for a second longer.
“Well, I guess we start at the top, Joe. Get this shuttle fixed back up, and we’ll just have to figure out where these things go. How long will it take?”
“It’ll take, uh . . . a few days, sir.”
“Good. That’ll give the A Team time for their wounds to heal, and to rest and prepare, and we’ll start right back at this thing.”
“Yes sir.”
This time, he saluted. Joe watched as Moore returned the salute and then turned and walked out of the hangar deck, thinking, Does that man ever tire? He slumped for a second, and leaned against the hull of the shuttle and thought, So we need to put you back together, old girl.
“Well, it l ooks like it hurts, Dee,” Rackman told her. Deanna could see the 3D printer laying out bone materials onto the severed hand and watched as tissues were printed and attached, but she could feel nothing. There was the occasional spurt of blood as an artery or vein was printed then sealed but the small transparent plastic shield kept any debris in or out as needed. Then she looked at Rackman’s new arm.
“Did it hurt you?” she asked the SEAL.
“Didn’t feel a damned thing. Amazing to watch,” he said. “Seen it before but not on myself.”
“Yeah, I don’t really care to watch much more of it.”
“Understood,” Rackman smiled. “Hey, look at it this way. Minimum required recovery before active duty is seven days. We get to goldbrick for a week!”
“Well, we’ll see about that.” Dee closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she showed the young SEAL her big brown doe eyes that she had inherited from her mother. “Davy, do me a favor and quit gawking
“. . . So you see, sir, here’s the ship. This hole here, that must be where you tore through, this part here is from battle damage, and now let’s move away the exterior layers.” Buckley waved his hand and pulled away the structure. “Now here is the power system. You see these conduits flowing here? This conduit goes into this junction box from the main propulsion system, but if you look just beyond that, there’s another conduit coming out of there, going somewhere where it normally wouldn’t. To this box here. That’s what triggered my suspicion.”
Pull away this layer, Debbie, he said to his AIC. With another motion of his hand, the box skin flew away, revealing the internal components.
“And this , sir, right here, is a quantum membrane snap-back teleporter link.”
“You’re damn right, Joe, I’ve seen plenty of them,” Moore responded. “Have you cracked it?”
“Well sir, we put a cluster of all the AICs on the Madira together, and when all the AICs on board put their noggins into it, in just a matter of a four minutes, they cracked Copernicus’ encryption. Looks like there’s seven addresses.”
“Seven? Very interesting. But you still haven’t figured out a way to know where in the hell that address is?”
“Sorry, sir. Quantum physics and all doesn’t allow for that. All we can say is that this thing is connected to seven other things somewhere else in the universe.”
“Shit!” Moore said. “Physics.”
“Yes sir, quantum membrane stuff to be exact,” Buckley replied.
“Maybe we need some other quantum physicists on board to help you out.”
“Well, sir, the chief scientist and I have been working on this for awhile, and we’ve spoken with anybody with any knowledge on the subject, as well as all of the AICs, and all we can say is, this thing is linked to seven other locations somewhere in this universe.”
“Understood, Joe. Good work,” Moore said as he offered him a hand. Joe shook it in return. Moore had been a politician for so long that a lot of times, Joe had noticed, he would offer a hand to shake over a salute. Joe didn’t mind at all.
“So what are your orders, sir?”Moore rubbed his chin in thought, then looked at the 3D model in his mind for a second longer.
“Well, I guess we start at the top, Joe. Get this shuttle fixed back up, and we’ll just have to figure out where these things go. How long will it take?”
“It’ll take, uh . . . a few days, sir.”
“Good. That’ll give the A Team time for their wounds to heal, and to rest and prepare, and we’ll start right back at this thing.”
“Yes sir.”
This time, he saluted. Joe watched as Moore returned the salute and then turned and walked out of the hangar deck, thinking, Does that man ever tire? He slumped for a second, and leaned against the hull of the shuttle and thought, So we need to put you back together, old girl.
“Well, it l ooks like it hurts, Dee,” Rackman told her. Deanna could see the 3D printer laying out bone materials onto the severed hand and watched as tissues were printed and attached, but she could feel nothing. There was the occasional spurt of blood as an artery or vein was printed then sealed but the small transparent plastic shield kept any debris in or out as needed. Then she looked at Rackman’s new arm.
“Did it hurt you?” she asked the SEAL.
“Didn’t feel a damned thing. Amazing to watch,” he said. “Seen it before but not on myself.”
“Yeah, I don’t really care to watch much more of it.”
“Understood,” Rackman smiled. “Hey, look at it this way. Minimum required recovery before active duty is seven days. We get to goldbrick for a week!”
“Well, we’ll see about that.” Dee closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she showed the young SEAL her big brown doe eyes that she had inherited from her mother. “Davy, do me a favor and quit gawking
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