Starburner: Enter the Vortex by David Morgan

Author:David Morgan [Morgan, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, interstellar, Space Opera, comedy, Humor, future
Publisher: Idle Droid Press, LLC
Published: 2018-03-26T22:00:00+00:00

A Hop, Skip, and a Jump

Everyone is on the bridge, except Diego and Kai who are in the engine room. The crew are at their stations. The science team sit around the conference table in quiet anticipation. The ship is under the power of the Orion engine as they travel away from the solar system center. The large view screen displays a clock that reads company time 9:57 AMNY. In three minutes they will cut the Orion engine and switch over to the new propulsion system.

“So how does this new alien engine work, Todd?” asks Brian.

“It’s based on quantum entanglement. Basically, a wormhole opens between us and our destination. An exact copy of us is created at the other end. Once that copy forms, the original ceases to exist, and the wormhole closes.” Todd is proud of himself for being able to boil all of the complicated physics and jargon down into such a simple plain-English explanation. He spent half the morning practicing it.

“That’s impossible!” Albert shouts in disbelief.

“That’s what the engineers told me. Nobody fully understands how it works,” shrugs Todd.

“Well, Diego had better understand it if we’re to get back home eventually.” Brian is disturbed by this news.

“Oh, he knows which spinny parts need to spin and what thingamajig connects to which whatchamacallit, but he can’t tell you how it generates a wormhole."

“Or generates a copy of us. I’m sorry...” Winchester chimes in, “but am I the only one who gets the willies at the idea of cloning as a means of transportation?”

“It’s perfectly safe. You can’t exist in two places at once, so the original disappears.” Todd is eager to defend the technology.

“But you do exist in two places at once. For an instant at least.” argues Albert.

“Right,” answers Todd, “but the copy is actually a second older than the original before that one disappears. It’s actually kind of cool. Technically, you arrive at your destination a second before you left.”

“So what you’re saying is that I’m not really arriving anywhere. I disappear. A copy of me materializes where I wanted to go. Me...” Winchester spins around to give everyone a good look, “the unique and handsome gentleman you see before you ceases to exist and a doppleganger, a copy, an imitation ‘ME’ goes on living my life!”

“I find your lack of faith in advanced technology disheartening, Mr. Winchester,” LARS interjects.

“You guys are giving me a headache!” complains Tick.

“So what do the engineers call this thing, anyway?” asks Brian.

“The Echo Drive,” Todd answers.

Brian takes a second to ponder the name. “Hmm, I was expecting something with more pizazz.”

“They said the marketing department wasn’t invited to any of the meetings,” replies Todd.

Diego’s voice comes on the intercom.

“We’ve disengaged the main engine, Commander. Ten seconds to Echo Drive,” he announces.

Everyone holds their breath.

Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two...one

Nothing seems to happen. There was no jolt. No one was turned inside out. Everyone looks around for some kind of confirmation that something happened.

Brian gets on the intercom, “Diego, what’s wrong?”

“What do you mean, Commander? Everything worked exactly as it was supposed to.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.