Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 45

Mark said, "Thank you, Liyana. Citizens of the Atlantean Federation today will go down in the history books as the day we revolutionized space travel. Gone are the days of spending days, weeks and months in light drive travelling between planets.

We've been developing a technology we're calling, 'Hyperspace Gates'. These gates allow near instantaneous travel between themselves, made possible by the enhanced communication network we've been building out across the stars.

Here's a video taken by one of our Defenders as they travelled from Earth to Thulark, which previously took 21 days with the security class FTL drives, or two months of travel time with commercial light drives. The trip now takes less than a minute between any two gates. We've already done extensive testing of the gate network, but for the next week we will limit it to security traffic only."

The new hyperspace gates were all the news for several days, not only across the Federation but also around Earth.

The writer for the science magazine waited around until he got to talk to Mark again in the city, but he just asked many technical questions. Mark informed him he didn't even understand how it all works as he didn't develop the technology. The writer then asked if he could interview the inventor, but seemed to have second thoughts once he was told that the inventor was in a prison cell on the Thulark Space Station and that they weren't human. The writer went away disappointed he didn't get answers to any of his questions, and he seemed especially disappointed when he was told the inventor wasn't human, but Mark didn't care.

With the gate network semi-operational, Mark thought maybe they should build gates close to some non-Federated planets, not right at a non-Federated planet, but so that at least they were a day of light drive away. That might make them more acceptable of the Federation, if it didn't take days or weeks to deliver goods to them.

They had already planned for a gate at Silica, so really would it hurt to have gates at Hytros, Virgohn and Braga? The gates were automated, plus Mark did plan on eventually visiting those planets. Actually Hytros was optional, since it would be less than two days of FTL from either Marnot or Neptune, and they don't like us already, but Virgohn and Braga were both quite remote and, as far as he knew, neither of those planets had any issues or distaste for the Federation, they were just too remote.

Both planets were fairly close to each other so, if we built a gate in between them, it would make it more convenient for future visits, plus the gates had sub-light engines, so if one of those planets joined the Federation, the gate could easily move closer to the planet.

Cricket then brought it to Mark's attention that Federation citizens that had an issue with the Federation view of religion were the ones that had colonized Braga only a few centuries ago.

Mark redirected the closest Sentinel to an area between the two remote planets, but closer to Virgohn being the larger of the two planets. Once that gate was ready, it would still be a few hours of FTL to reach either planet, but it was far less time than travelling there from the next closest gate which would be Arias, still over 7 days of FTL from either planet.

With the Sentinel redirected, Mark thought, "There was something else I needed to look at redesigning. What was it?"

Cricket said, "The Space Stations!"

"Oh yeah! Since I know you've already been working on a redesign, show me what you got!"

Cricket popped up a hologram of her redesign, it actually upgraded the existing space stations! The current space station just became one arm of the new space station. The new space station had a 3 kilometre diameter park in the centre with a tall cylindrical hotel in the very centre. This was for people that had layovers between connecting trips. The very top of the hotel was the command and control for the entire Space Station; from the height of 500 metres it offered the perfect 360° vantage point for the entire facility. Off the central section were several loading docks, like a large multi-pointed star-shaped marina. There were 4 extra long 3 kilometre docks and 4 shorter 1.5 kilometre docks. It kind of looked like a compass, in a way.

The shuttle bus stations were near the wider end of each arm, close to the park. To make the trek easier for passengers, there was a wide moving sidewalk that went down the middle of each dock arm and another moving sidewalk that went around the exterior of the park. There were only two moving sidewalks inside the park that went from the outer edge to the central hotel.

There was also a reverse spire and dome on the underside of the space station for staff and security, with the emergency ships and shuttles taking off from the undersides of the docks. The section just below the park and docks at the top of the staff section was where the medical centre was, which had 2,500 medibeds, enough to treat all passengers on pretty much any type of transport should they get some sort of contagion during their trip.

Cricket explained, "In time, the ships should start getting smaller and they wouldn't need to have as many amenities, so the space station should be able to handle more traffic. Kind of like your discount airlines on Earth... cheaper flights, fewer perks."

Mark asked, "And they've still got sub-light engines for movement, if required?"

"Of course!"

"Draft up a memo to all space station staff about the upcoming changes and then start implementing the upgrades."

* * * * *

Mark finally got a good night's sleep, then woke up early and went through his daily reports. Now that the gates were operational, the plan was to all meet on the Poseidon at 10:00 today to meet with Kaleb, Adam, Derek and Ramón.

After breakfast, Maren flew Mark up to the Poseidon, surprised to see Kaleb there.

Kaleb said, "These gates are amazing. Just a few minutes ago I left my office on the Atlanterra security station!"

Mark shook his hand, "It's good to see you again, my friend!"

Kaleb said, "It almost feels like this chapter in our lives is ending. What's your next plans for the universe?"

Mark looked at him, "So it's not just me. I've had that feeling ever since the Little Joe was born."

Kaleb said, "By the way, I can't remember if I congratulated you on the birth of the Prince."

Mark said, "Thanks! I haven't been keeping track, just too much stuff on my mind."

Kaleb asked, "You see pretty much everything in our universe, has there been any issues you've been dealing with?"

Mark said, "No! I think that's the problem, it's too quiet! There're no emergencies or issues anywhere. At least now with the gates, if there is an emergency we can respond in no time."

"Well, maybe this is fate speaking and telling you to stay home with your wife and son!"

"Maybe? Although, I was planning on visiting the planets I haven't made it to since my coronation. I think there's still 5 or 6 of them, Caprica, Geminus, Tauron, Arias, Librus, Olympia and I also didn't actually go to Maaku, plus with the gates I plan on now visiting Virgohn, Hytros and Braga."

"Well, I think you might stick around here for a bit and help your wife with the child. I know she's got lots of help already, but I think you need to be there for her."

Their wrist devices beeped, signalling it was time for their meeting. They proceeded to the bridge and then to the ready room, where Adam, Derek and Ramón were already waiting.

Mark again thanked them for their service and informed them they would see a bonus payment in their accounts by the end of the day. Then asked if they had thought about their next assignments.

Ramón went first and said, "Actually, I think I'd like to retire. With these new gates, my wife and I could do a lot of travelling."

Kaleb said, "If that is your desire, enjoy your retirement! Thank you for your service!"

Mark then gave his thanks and congratulations, and then Ramón took his leave to go pack what little belongings he had on the ship.

Once he had left, they asked if Derek had thought about his next assignment.

Derek nodded he had, "I want to assemble a group to go explore the rifts."

Mark almost choked at the idea, "Explore the rifts? That might be a one-way trip to who knows where!"

Derek explained, "Yes, it could be, but I have faith in the Federation. My thoughts are to go through the rifts and deploy communications seeding ships, with multiple ships going in various directions from each rift, eventually they should meet up with a connected Federation beacon somewhere, and then the entire area we have explored will suddenly be available to the Federation."

Kaleb said, "I say good luck finding a crew crazy enough to go with you! With an exploration voyage you would need a large ship, probably Defender-class or maybe even a Sentinel so you would have a mobile shipyard to repair the ship and manufacture seeding ships."

Adam smiled and raised his eyebrows towards Mark and Kaleb.

Mark then smiled, "Adam, what's the minimum personnel requirement to operate a Defender?"

Adam said, "It could be done with about a dozen, but I wouldn't recommend it!"

Mark then looked at Derek and smiled, "You have one month to recruit at least 50 people to join your crew and they must all understand that the mission they are going on is potentially one-way. If you can come up with 50 or more volunteers, covering all the required positions to staff and operate a Defender, plus all the positions for functional community, such as doctors, teachers, engineers, cooks, and so on... then you have my blessing."

Derek then said, "But there's only two Defenders! Am I going to get one of these or are you going to build a new one just for me?"

Before Adam could say anything, Mark answered, "No, actually I'm probably not going to give you a Defender. Like the General said, I'm more tempted to give you a Sentinel. They're self-repairing, they're well defended with the autonomous drones, they have their own asteroid harvesters and can construct the seeding ships you'll be deploying after each rift. Plus, with their size, there's lots of space to expand and reconfigure should you pick up people along the way or, if you never return, your own population may need the space. Which reminds me, this crew you're going to assemble, must be an even mix of male and female."

Derek smiled as he looked at the three men, "Challenge accepted!"

Kaleb said, "Draft up your recruitment pitch, I'll make sure it's sent to all security personnel and you can do the recruitment, but they must contact me to get assigned to your crew."

Derek nodded, "Thank you, sir! My crew and I will see you in a month!"

Derek then took his leave, as Adam looked at Mark and Kaleb, "Do you think he'll do it!"

Mark laughed, "He will! There's no quit in that boy, he will do whatever it takes to succeed."

Kaleb laughed as he looked at Mark, "Kind of like someone else I know!"

Changing the subject, Mark looked at Adam, "You were about to offer the Poseidon to Derek, weren't you?"

Adam said, "I was thinking about it, but then realized that you probably already knew what he was going to ask, and that you probably already had a plan developing in your mind. You always do!"

Mark laughed, "No, I didn't know what he was going to ask, but once he asked, I had an idea for what he would need to do his mission."

Adam then smiled, "See, you always have a plan! So what's going to happen with the Poseidon after I retire?"

Kaleb said, "As you have mentioned, we no longer need Defenders for the role we've been using them, they're going back to their original roles that the Mazjik used them for, which is deep space exploration. So we will give all staff the opportunity for reassignment and we'll see what's left, then do some recruitment to fill in the gaps. So I really can't see us needing more Defenders, not with the fleet of Sentinels we have, when you add that to the gate network, we should handle any threats to any planet before they can become a danger. If we had this technology when the Destructors attacked Cantara, they probably would never have known they were in danger as we could've handled the threat before it reached the planet."

Mark said, "That's why I'm even building a gate out between Virgohn and Braga. Even if they aren't part of the Federation, if we find a planet that doesn't join, I want a gate within a day or two of FTL built. If they have an emergency, we can be there to help."

Adam said, "The Federation is evolving, you never cease to amaze me, my King! I remember when we first found out about you, myself and many others were very skeptical of you being able to go from a commoner and being able to handle a position of power. But you have, and with flying colours, which is why now is a perfect time for me to retire. I know that wherever my wife and I travel will be safe, and we plan on doing a lot of travelling!"

Mark and Kaleb stood to shake hands with Adam as they both thanked him for his service. Adam then went and made his announcement to the entire crew, as Mark and Kaleb stood by.

Once Adam finished his speech, Kaleb explained that with the new hyperspace gates, Defenders were going back to their original roles as deep space exploration and any personnel could request reassignment. As its last voyage with Commander Topos, the Poseidon was going to return to Atlanterra and all staff would get two weeks leave to decide if they wanted to stay with the Defender or not.

A week later, the space stations were all upgraded and the hyperspace gates went into operation. Every planet was already reporting a massive increase in vacation bookings, which made Mark feel good. In other news, the Sentinel had reached the space between Virgohn and Braga and had begun construction of the hyperspace gate there.

The baby had got into a bit more of a routine, although Mark still found he was taking naps in the middle of the day to make up for lost sleep.