Alpha Redemption by P.A. Baines

Author:P.A. Baines
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Splashdown Books
Published: 2019-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

6

Elapsed mission time on Earth: 4 years 5 months

Relative time on the Comet: 1 year 1 month

Test subject’s genetic age: 34

For the first time since starting the mission, Brett woke without feeling as though he had just been hit by a train. He had the usual aches and his mouth was dry but it was all less intense than before. He assumed it was because this had been a shorter sleep than normal, being only four weeks (though five months would have passed on the Earth). Or perhaps he was adapting, mentally and physically, to the trauma of hyper-acceleration. The human body could get used to most things if you stuck at it long enough. Wasn’t that the whole point of training? And over the years he had learned that training was almost as much a mental exercise as a physical one.

He exited the tank and stood for a minute, dripping onto the floor and testing his muscles to assess the damage. Most of his body ached but not as much as last time. He had experienced worse after a heavy workout

“Good morning,” Jay said.

Brett nodded.

“We are on mission day one-thousand-six-hundred-and-eleven. Current speed is nine-hundred-and-thirty-seven miles per second or zero-point-five percent of light speed. Two-point-zero-four terabytes of data transmitted to Earth for analysis. How was your hyper-sleep?”

“Fine,” Brett managed to say, stifling a cough.

He walked through to the changing area and took a shower. A quick check in the mirror revealed nothing new. He looked pretty much the same as last time. Clean clothes felt good against his skin. He settled into his recliner chair but did not fall asleep. His stomach made noises.

“I’m hungry,” he said.

“That is good,” Jay said. “Your body has recovered quickly from the shorter hyper-sleep. You are not deficient in any minerals so you may choose your breakfast. What would you like?”

“Eggs. I’m craving fried eggs.”

“Certainly. If you make your way to the kitchen I will prepare them for you.”

“Do we have any ketchup?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I want plenty…next to the eggs. And a big glass of cold apple juice.”

“Very good.”

Brett thought about telling Jay that saying “very good” made him sound like a waiter but thought better of it. He pushed himself out of the chair, waiting for the usual jabs of pain as he used his stiff muscles for the first time in over a month. Happily, he felt a few twinges but nothing serious. “So, anything exciting happen while I was asleep?”

“No, nothing unusual.”

“No inversions of the artificial gravity system?”

“No. All systems functioned without a glitch.”

“Good. So when do we arrive?”

“We passed within a light year of Proximi Centauri two weeks ago. We are now approaching the Alpha Centauri twin stars.”

“Can we see them?”

“Yes.”

Brett turned to look at the wall. The room grew dark. The wall was replaced by deep space where, in centre-stage, a pair of fiery discs performed a slow pirouette in a silent ballet before an audience of a billion points of light.

Brett could only watch with his mouth open. “Incredible,” he said.

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