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

don't fully understand the technology ourselves yet. “But what we do know is that once your speed enters the region above about 95% of the speed of light, the rules of physics themselves are bent by time dilatation. The Blue Bubble is generated as the space itself begins to curve due to a vessel's immense speed. Once that vessel is enclosed, the whole thing enters what you may like to think of as another dimension. “In that dimension the Newtonian concept, based on what I’ve learned from Professor Maynard, says distance = velocity x time no longer holds completely true. Consequently, very large distances can be covered in much smaller times than outside the Blue Bubble. But outside the Blue Bubble speed is limited to just below the speed of light anyway.”

 

This appeared to satisfy the Earth crew. None of them were physicists, so they were unable to take the discussion to a higher level. It didn't matter that much to them anyway – the technology worked, and that was enough to get them home. It was hoped that more people from Earth could be persuaded to make Tellius their home. The gene pool and been somewhat limited when the present-day inhabitants first came to this planet. And the social and intellectual mix would greatly enrich both societies.

 

 

Finally the crew members were strapped in ready for the return journey. They were not expected to return in less than a year. The three space ships left the ground at ten-minute intervals, based on Earth time not Tellius as their day was shorter than Earth time. All three ships soon reached an extremely high velocity and were soon lost from sight. The monitoring equipment kept them in range until the blue bubble developed around the three ships just before they disappeared. Now it was purely a matter of wait and hope for those left behind. Would they return within the specified time or would they never be heard from again. Professor Maynard and Guilden stayed looking up into space long after the others had retreated. A feeling of sadness swept through Maynard.. He realised that he would most likely never see any of them ever again.

 

* * * * *

 

At 02.15 a telephone call woke up General Miles Fallon, head of mission control on the Moon. He sat up in his bed. “This had better be damned important” he growled into the phone. “It's the middle of the night! It was indeed important. Several different astronomical observatories had reported that three unidentified space ships had gone into orbit around them. Details had first been received from the operations room at the UK Space Agency on Mars, who had been tracking them since they spotted the ships headed towards the moon.

 

The General dressed quickly and hurried to the operations room. When he arrived the control staff were in turmoil. More off-duty controllers and just about anybody else who could walk were turning up every minute, many in various stages of undress still. Pictures of the three ships were being displayed on the monitors. He pulled the chief of operations to one side and asked for an update. The story the chief outlined was incredible. A Captain Skinner was on board the lead ship along with four aliens. His story was that six humans had left Earth approximately ten months ago, during 2042, and had reached a planet called Tellius. Apparently the aliens on the planet were direct descendants of travellers from Earth from over two-thousand years ago. The Tellius planet was peaceful and would welcome anyone from Earth who wished to make it their home. They asked for permission to land on the moon. The general didn't hesitate in granting it. He had to meet these aliens and debrief the human crew. There was something very wrong with their story which they were obviously not aware of.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * * * *

 

The human travellers and the Aliens were seated around a large conference table in the control centre. It was located two hundred feet below the surface of the Moon. This was for protection from the lack of atmosphere and the extremes of temperatures from day to night. General Fallon started the meeting by first questioning the humans and then the aliens. Recordings were made and notes taken. After two hours of questioning General Fallon sat silently in deep thought for several minutes. Finally he looked up and swept his gaze over the assembled Earth crew.

 

 

“Gentlemen, I have to tell you something very important. It will come as a shock to you. While we've been talking I ran a background check on you and your story. I believe everything you have said but there is something you are obviously not aware of. Our records show that you did leave on your little trip when you say but you have not been away for ten months. You have actually been away for over two-hundred years this is the year 2253.

 

“The Earth is virtually uninhabitable now because of climate change and a third world war. We colonised Mars over a hundred years ago. Earth is no longer a place for you to go. Professor George Moorfield will explain more.” The general sat down. Professor Moorfield rose and addressed the meeting. “Well my friends,” he began. “It seems you managed to do the impossible. You've effectively travelled travel forward in time. Although Einstein's theory of relativity has been proved already, it was only for fairly low speeds and small distances. You've now proved it on the grand scale.

 

“I'll come to the enigma of your “Blue Bubble” travel in a moment. But we can explain how you have only aged a year or so in two centuries. For four periods in your last year, you spent time above 95% of the speed of light – once while accelerating on your outbound journey, then again while decelerating towards Tellius, and a further two similar periods on the return journey. At those speeds, significant levels of time dilatation occur. Your absolute speed doesn't really matter here. It's the difference in your speed relative to earth.

 

 

 

“Now we come to the Blue Bubble time. We still don't fully understand that, but we know you were outside time itself during that interregnum. So you could cover vast distances then without any Einsteinium effects. All those effects occurred just before and soon after your Blue Bubble “time”. General Fallon steered the meeting onto more mundane matters. The human crew and Aliens were given a brief history lesson about what had happened on earth nearly two-hundred years ago.

 

Climate change had increased the planet's average temperature by four degrees. This had caused about eighty percent of the world's ice to melt. The resultant rise in sea levels submerged thousands of low-lying islands and flooded large parts of the continents. Billions of people drowned. Survivors from near the shores had to resettle inland, resulting in crowding and shortage of food. Air pollution increased around the world. People rioted and a third world war started. North America, Europe and Australasia formed a partnership and built ships which could travel to Mars and start colonisation. Hundreds of cargo ships were sent in advance with everything necessary to sustain life for over five thousand people. One hundred years later Earth was virtually abandoned and the Mars colony was thriving. The Moon-base was kept manned as a look-out post in case of something unforeseen happening on Earth.

 

The crew must now decide on their next move. They quickly reached a unanimous decision. They would travel on to Mars. Once there they would invite up to three-hundred people to join them on their return trip to Tellius. It would most likely be a one-way trip. They also realised that, if they made it back to Tellius, they would probably meet the great, great grand children of Professor Maynard.

 

One week later the three ships stood by ready for take-off to Mars. Four of the Moon's scientists were on board to learn as much as possible about the alien space ship. The three ships took off at ten o'clock in the morning. As mission control tracked them the blue bubble appeared and they were lost to sight. Would they make it to Mars, and the back home to Tellius? Only time would tell.

 

End

 

 

Imprint

Text: Maurice Ellis
Images: canva.com
Cover: canva.com
Editing: David Ellis
Translation: None
Layout: canva.com
Publication Date: 10-19-2020

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
During the Blitz, in the second world war, a mysterious object landed in the River Thames and lay undiscovered for the next ninety-five years. Had it not been for an accident it may never have been discovered. When it was finally brought to the surface it proved to be a find of some magnitude. One which would prove that Humans were not alone in the galaxy.