The Capsule by Maurice Ellis (i can read book club .txt) 📖

in orbit around the Moon. They had calculated that the average speed was in excess of two-hundred- thousand miles per hour. It was ten-thirty in the morning of October 29th. 2041. Seventeen days after the rocket was launched.

 

* * * * *

 

Professor Maynard and eleven of the UK's top scientists gathered at the UK space agency. Two extremely important points were raised at the beginning. Would it be possible to make a rocket go at a much higher speed and, how much fuel would they need? The trip to Mars and back had used only two-hundred and fifty grams of the one kilogram they had placed in the rocket. The round trip had taken only seventeen days at an average speed of two-hundred-thousand miles an hour. The rocket had been programmed to cut out after half an hour and then to give a short burst once every hour. If the engine was providing thrust constantly, was there a limit to the rocket's speed and range?

 

The next item on the agenda concerned the documents found inside the capsule. The easiest to understand was the one showing the alien planet, in what appeared to be an area inside the Milky Way. Many planets and stars surrounded it, which was one reason it hadn't been spotted before. Also, there were giant gas clouds obscuring the general area.

 

The documents showed a drawing of twenty space rockets which had lifted off in different directions, probably carrying identical capsules. It was likely that each one would be jettisoned after it reached a certain altitude, or speed, sending the capsules into the unknown, perhaps with the hope that at least one of them would land on a planet with intelligent life. If that was the case, they had succeeded at least once. What no one on Earth could know is how long their capsule had been travelling. It could be months, years, or even centuries. The technical drawings, for the most part, had been deciphered. There were certain elements of the information which were a mystery to everyone, but the document had made it possible to figure out how to use the fuel supplied. They had not yet worked out what the black and yellow crystals were for, so more work was needed in that area.

 

 

 

The final documents were obviously an attempt to explain more about the aliens, their planet and language. This was not too difficult to understand as Maynard already had a good understanding of old Norse. The second language was very much like ancient hieroglyphics.. The most surprising thing was that the drawings of their people showed them to be very similar to humans, had they actually evolved over the same t time period as humans? Everyone agreed that further tests should be carried out as soon as possible. More test rockets would be launched from the Moon to determine speed, distance and how best to utilise the fuel. The black and yellow crystals needed further testing, to find out their purpose. They would not have been sent unless they were very important. Plans were drawn up and the team members left with a deep sense of excitement and purpose.

 

* * * * *

 

 

Many tests had been carried out to ascertain the purpose of the black and yellow crystals, to no avail. Then, on April 20th 2042, it happened. Doctor Walker, a prominent physicist, was testing a small piece of the crystal. He placed the crystal on the bench then reached for a bottle of cola. As he sipped at the drink he began thinking about what the team had achieved so far. His mind was elsewhere when the bottle slipped from his fingers and tipped over as it hit the bench, spilling some of its contents over the crystal. There was an immediate reaction. A fine mist started to rise from the crystals and surrounded the four people in the laboratory, who couldn't help but breathe it in. They all panicked and headed for the door. Once outside they stood looking at each other expecting the worst. At first nothing happened then they all began to smile. One by one they all said the same thing: they felt great, even rejuvenated. Whatever the mist was it didn't seem to have harmed any of them, quite the opposite. The next task was to get all of them checked out medically and then set about finding out exactly what had happened.

 

 

All four of them passed their medical with flying colours. The substance they had inhaled was obviously designed to improve their health. There was really no other explanation as to why the aliens had sent the yellow and black crystals. A week later tests were started to ascertain which of the drinks’ ingredients had caused the reaction when it came into contact with the crystals. All the ingredients of the drink were tested by allowing each one to come into contact with the crystal. All failed to have any effect until the last one – phosphoric acid. When it came into contact with a tiny segment of crystal the same fine mist was given off. Phosphoric acid is also known as orthophosphoric acid, (H3PO4). It is produced by reacting sulphuric acid (H2SO4) with naturally occurring phosphate rock, found in abundance on Earth.

 

More tests were carried out until they were absolutely sure there had been no mistakes. The final conclusion was that the mist was designed to keep people healthy whilst in space, maybe negating the necessity to exercise for hours each day to avoid muscle fatigue and a drop in bone density, a major problem with long space flights.

 

 

*****

 

 

The Europa space station, flying four-hundred miles above the Earth, had been in operation for two years. It had been decided that a small piece of crystal would be taken up along with the phosphoric acid in two separate sealed containers. They were going to test the effects on two of the crew, a male and a female. The idea was to let them breathe in a small amount of mist before going to bed and do no exercises for a full week. They would be checked each day by the space station's doctor for adverse effects.

After a week of testing the mist proved to be exactly what they had hoped for. It was a rejuvenating formula which could be used to allow people to travel for long periods in space, without any physical downside.

 

 

 

Chapter 7 – Manned Flight

 

August 4th.2041. At eight-thirty in the morning, Earth time, the manned space rocket, now known as Alien-one, was ready for launch. There were six highly trained astronauts on board, three men and three women. Professor Colin Maynard had convinced the space agency to let him go on this trip. There were no objections to this so he would travel with them. He had undergone months of training to ready himself for the rigours of space travel. The mission target was Mars, which they would orbit for seven days before returning to the Moon. The round trip should take no more than three weeks at the speeds already achieved in the first flight, but an attempt would be made to increase the speed further to reduce the time factor. No exercise equipment was on board as they wanted to confirm that the crystal-mist would keep the crew healthy for the whole trip. Engineers had built and placed rejuvenation pods on board which the crew would use to sleep in. With the help of the crystal-mist they should be able to stay healthy.

 

The countdown began at nine o'clock precisely. The engines started and the rocket lifted off, heading for Mars. The laser-guided telescope transmitted pictures to those in the Moon-base control room, who in turn relayed the pictures down to the Europa space control just outside London. The rocket was gaining speed at an astonishing rate. Moon base had control of the on-board computers but there were manual over-rides. As Alien-one gained more and more speed ground control sent a message for the crew to cut the engines manually. They released themselves from their seats and went to their various stations. The chief engineer, Josh Metcalf, reached for the manual over-ride. He turned the switch to the zero mark and, a second later, there was a loud, blue flash. Manual over-ride had failed and the ship kept accelerating. Moon-base tried to take back control but there was no response from the ship. Neither was there any response to their radio calls. Something very serious had happened. As they watched the monitors it was obvious that the ship was gaining a phenomenal amount of speed. Then something strange happened. Out of nowhere the ship became surrounded by a blue bubble of light, and then disappeared from sight.

 

Back on Earth, Scientists in the Europa Space Agency couldn't understand what they had just witnessed. One minute the ship was there and the next it completely disappeared. What was the blue bubble and where had it come from? Furthermore, where the hell was their space ship? They tried for over an hour to make contact, but to no avail. They held a think-tank. Many theories were put forward but none that satisfied them. Josh Metcalf, a renowned scientist, a big man with a big voice, suddenly stood up and said, “I think I know what happened.” All eyes were on him. “I think they're travelling outside normal space. I think they've broken through the time barrier and I don't think that they're heading for Mars.”

 

 

Josh Metcalf continued, “According to the laws of physics nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. This is because as its speed increases so does its mass. Not mass in the physical sense but energy-wise. Usually known as inertial mass or stored up energy. Inertial mass is the amount of resistance that a physical object has to any change in its motion. As an object increases in speed, so does the amount of energy that it has. This energy is what we refer to as ‘the increase in mass’ Here I’m talking about inertial mass. Now, as our space ship moves faster the amount of energy used to increase its speed also increases its mass. Which requires more energy and therefore more mass is produced. The faster it goes, the more mass is created which requires much more energy until we reach a point where there is not enough energy to obtain even a fraction the speed of light. However, because we have never been able to travel at such high speeds we really don’t know what would happen if we attempted to. This, I believe, is why the blue bubble we saw came into effect. It seems to be some kind of protective shield to allow the ship to travel at tremendous speeds outside of normal space. How it came into being I don’t know. That ship could now be moving at the speed of light, or even faster.”

 

*****

 

On board Alien-one they could see, through one of the tiny portholes, the blue light surrounding them. Nothing else was visible outside. The monitors showed nothing except the blue bubble via the external cameras. The engines were still accelerating their spacecraft. It took about half an hour, but they were finally able to stop the engines. The ship kept racing through space and the blue light stayed with them. The speed indicator had stopped working when the manual over-ride system went down. It would appear that their fate was now in the hands of the gods.

 

It was almost twenty-four hours since the team at Europa Space Agency had lost contact with the space ship. It had just simply disappeared. No visual or radio contact. No one had any idea what to do next. They would have to keep trying to make contact and hope for a breakthrough. During this time, he ship's crew had worked non-stop trying to figure out exactly