20 No Limits by Peter David

Author:Peter David [David, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Science fiction; American, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure, Star Trek fiction, Interplanetary voyages, Space ships
ISBN: 9780743477079
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2003-10-20T23:00:00+00:00

The conference room reflected the personalities of the men and women who used it. Utilitarian, and unadorned, but with the best available technical equipment.

The conference table was worn and small, the bare metal chairs mismatched, as if they had been appropriated from other workspaces when they were needed, and the carpet colorless. In contrast, at each station the table held a state-of-the-art engineering screen linked to all the data available on the 4-D project, and oversized display screens covered the walls.

When McHenry reached the room, about half the stations were already filled. Seetara, Harris, and Crane, the other test pilots, were clustered together at one end. Jill Harris gestured to an empty seat next to her, and McHenry moved to join the group.

At the center of the table, where he could command a view of all the participants, was Colin Murphy. As the chief engineer, he was in charge of the project, and the rest of the staff answered to him.

Though they were all members of Starfleet, McHenry knew that in this room rank counted for nothing. All that mattered was creating a new navigational system, and your status depended on your ability to contribute. Today, McHenry was at the top of the ladder.

McHenry listened as Murphy gave a brief description of today's simulation. Although he assumed a relaxed posture, and seemed to be inattentive, he was sharply focused on Murphy's description of the test.

"Shield integrity showed signs of failure at approximately twenty-seven minutes, flight time. Before failure occurred, the craft escaped the event horizon. The simulation was subsequently terminated at twenty-nine-point-five minutes of flight time." The usually taciturn Murphy could not disguise the note of excitement in his voice. "Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that we have successfully simulated the flyby of an event horizon. Congratulations."

Murphy paused, as if allowing them to savor a moment of success. Then he continued. "Mr. McHenry, your observations, please."

McHenry suppressed a grin as he rose to his feet. He knew what the engineers needed to hear.

"The flight was uneventful through launch and approach." He tapped a command on his padd and a display of his flight path appeared on the screens. "At twenty-five minutes, I experienced increased subspace distortion, at approximately this point." He indicated a spot in his flight path on the display. "Cochrane readings exceeded fifteen hundred at about that same time. A few seconds later, there was a fluctuation in the controls. It was so slight that it may not have registered, but it was there. It lasted only a fraction of a second; then navigational control returned to nominal. The runabout continued on trajectory, taking an elliptical path around the singularity, and drawing closer to the event horizon. At twenty-seven minutes, we reached the closest approach to the event horizon, and began the withdrawal. During the initial withdrawal phase, all controls appeared nominal, and all readings were normal. At about twenty-eight minutes, the warning klaxons sounded a shield-failure warning. However, the ship pulled free of the event horizon and assumed its return course before Mr.

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