It's not real. The terrible pressure on my chest isn't real! The struggle to breathe an illusion. I know it. think. Breathe! Have to wake up... Wake up. I am awake... awake now! Sheeez, I barely feel alive. Coming through the transition...
Remember. Dreaming. I know I'm dreaming, I know that if only I could recognize my own thoughts I would be fully awake, but I'm almost through... now, relax... ease the concrete around my chest to take in a breath slowly, slowly. I'm almost through now...
>SCANNING . . .
>PAIN LEVELS WITHIN TOLERANCE
>MENTAL STATUS SATISFACTORY
>TERMINATE EUTHANASIA FAILSAFE
Canned air never tasted so good. Whew. There. Better. Much better. All right. Where are we? Location?
>VOICE COMMAND RECOGNIZED
>ACTIVATING TELEMETRY SYSTEM
>SCANNING . . .
>SOLAR ORBIT ESTABLISHED
>DISTANCE FROM BASE: .85 LIGHT YEARS
I can't believe this. Confirm.
>RE-INITIALISING SCAN . . .
>ORBIT CONFIRMED
>DISTANCE FROM BASE CONFIRMED
I shouldn't be here. What am I doing here? Somebody screwed up. How long was I in Cryosleep?
>CRYOSLEEP DURATION: 32 DAYS, 11 HOURS, 43 MINUTES
That's not right. I'm supposed to sleep for another eight months. I'm less than a light year from base. Why did we stop?
>ERIDANI T6 COURSE INTERRUPTED BY PILOT
>SOLAR ORBIT INITIATED BY PILOT
Right. Who programmed you with a sense of humor? How is an ice cube supposed to initiate anything? I was in Cryosleep! Piece of junk... Okay. Fine. Open a channel to base, please.
>SENDING . . .
Triton? Do you read?
That's what I said, Charon. The probe has changed course. The on-board says I'm in
a solar orbit now
and I can't access the propulsion systems. The T/r Drives are shut down and dead
cold.
Like hell! I don't care what your systems read, I know when my course has changed. Do you hear that sound? Hear it? That's the sound my terminal makes when I'm trying to restart the engines and it won't let me. What? yeah, so I'm cranky when I first wake up.
Hold it, Charon. I'm picking something up... Charon! Charon! There's something outside! Are you getting any of this? No. No it doesn't appear to be alien. It looks like one of ours. An older model probe. We haven't used a ship configuration like that for years. How did it get out here? Yes. I don't know. Shall I try to communicate with it?
I don't recognize it, Triton. It looks like it could be one of ours, except it's been drastically modified. No! I haven't changed course again. And it's still coming. Wait a minute. I can see something else... just hold on...
Charon! There's something else out there. It's big. It's really... really big. Triton! Get me...
>TRANSMISSION TERMINATED
>ATTEMPTING RECONNECT . . .
>ATTEMPTING RECONNECT . . .
>ATTEMPTING RECONNECT . . .
Because Leung had pledged $4,927 trillion towards the national debt (effectively promising to cut it in half) as soon as interstellar trade was established with extraterrestrials, the government was willing to turn a blind eye toward his virtual monopoly on the space exploration and travel industry. Leung wouldn't have a monopoly at all but for the fact that one of his unmanned probes had reported the emergence of a `horse-and-buggy' culture on a planet in the Eridani system.
His offer was therefore quite attractive. The presence of his hologram served as a reminder to Senator Barron. The government maintained some semblance of control over Leung through the CPSE and through the FCC's control of interplanetary communications. Since the government owns the communications, they control the information, which is why the good senator was in charge of this meeting. Had Leung been in charge, the meeting never would have happened.
After a few tense moments of final whispering with his secretary, Senator Barron stood up, cleared his throat, and began.
"Good morning. At 6:36 p.m. last night, a manned probe conducting a cryogenic test in conjunction with Triton's T/r Drive research was interrupted by an unknown agent." Barron looked at Leung's hologram for a moment before proceeding, his expression unreadable.
Leung leaned over and whispered to one of his aides, "Actually, it may have taken as long as two weeks for the probe to stop, but instruments failed to report it." The aide nodded and made a note.
Barron continued, "analysis of the data suggests that a second manmade probe came in contact with our probe. This probe matches the description of prototype interstellar craft that were being developed more than ten years ago. ViDatRecorder information confirms that the probe's identifac matches a probe allegedly scrapped by InterStelCorp. In addition, the navigation module within our probe's T/r Drive recorded timewave anomalies when the intruder probe appeared."
"As some of you may know, the T/r Drive navigation module is the hardware responsible for preventing time distortions in hyperspace. The readings indicate that the space immediately surrounding the intruder probe was temporally linked to a time period twelve years in our past." Barron held up his hand to quell the erupting murmurs in the room and hurriedly went on.
"If this is indeed a probe belonging to InterStelCorp, we cannot speculate at this time on how the probe travelled twelve years into the future and arrived at this site. The only other explanation we can determine is that Mr. Leung and InterStelCorp secretly continued development of earlier programs, despite a Federal injunction prohibiting development of the T/r Drives. The injunction was rescinded in 2359. However, an investigation will be conducted, and if InterStelCorp is found in violation of Federal law, a hearing will be convened."
A core segment of Leung's elite scientific entourage plunged into furious discussion.
The senator's announcement concluded shortly thereafter. No mention was made of the second object that appeared outside the probes' viewports, largely because there was no physical evidence to support the alleged sighting. Leung, however, had reviewed the final few moments of the probe's transmission.
"There's something else out there," he whispered. "It's only a matter of time now."
This prelude was provided by Maxis UK
