Enlightenment [Book 2: SEKTOR V Trilogy]

Chapter 36: Day 92

Chapter 36: Day 92

The day had finally come.

Time to get off our pussy-footing orbiting arses and get going for real thought Sir Alex Smithson.

Ninety-two. That was how many days it had taken them to use the ship's constant acceleration drive to get them into the proper orbit.

Well...almost. He knew that they weren't quite there yet. This final bit would be the trickiest part. Still, Smithson was glad they would finally get on with it. Everyone he spoke with, even the ET engineers, had feelings of apprehension. After three months in a pseudo-orbit near the supermassive black hole, the stress was beginning to weigh on everyone.

Quintavius and Melkaan were smart to have left after the final wormhole Jump, Smithson thought. They provided reasonable explanations for their relatively early departure, but he was sure part of their reasoning was to avoid the slow-motion vice that now had a tight grip on the SS Black Hole.

Of course, every one of those 92 days was needed in order to accelerate their ship to over half the speed of light. And while it was technically feasible to have accelerated much more quickly, doing so would have done considerable physiological damage to both the Humans and the Arcturians who were along for the ride. As it turned out, the Arcturians could have tolerated 1.3 g, but the frail Humans required a much lower, much more Earthy-friendly 9.81 meters-per-second squared "1 g" rate of acceleration. Still, at least in a relative sense, no one had a right to complain. The 92 days they'd already endured onboard were closer to 201 days back home on Earth.

Their decision to come perilously close to the supermassive black hole, which allowed them to capture some ancillary effects of gravitationally-induced time dilation, was a smart move. Besides reducing mental anguish, the 109-day "savings" also helped extend ship supplies and effectively reduced overall vessel fatigue.

On balance, beginning the orbiting sequence closer to the black hole was worth the added risk, Smithson thought. Of course, nothing in life ever comes for free, and Mother Nature was always looking for her compensatory pound of flesh. Here, since they initiated at such a close radius and such slow initial speeds, the first 80 days of orbit necessitated constant, complex maneuvering in addition to costly, energy-draining, outward radial thrust. Doing so ensured that they wouldn't become Sagittarius A star's next meal. However, it also meant a loss of finite energy resources and less wiggle room for any future thrust-related adjustments they might require over the coming two years.

Right on cue with that last thought, Smithson noticed the lighting in the library flickering. It wasn't the first time. Given how much time he'd been spending in here of late, he'd grown accustomed to the interruptions.

Despite the minor inconveniences, he liked it in the library. For whatever reason, few of the other 302 souls on board bothered to venture here, which suited him just fine. After 50 days in space, Smithson had begun to wonder how he could possibly survive another 700-odd days on a monotonous circular journey without going mad. Then, he found this place. Here, he had everything and anything he could ever want on a long journey such as this. Somehow, the ETs managed to cram all the knowledge that had ever been archived on Earth within the confines of this non-descript, windowless, small room. As if that were not enough, an incalculable amount of information from outside alien worlds also resided within these walls. There was no question that this would be his oasis for the next two years.

As much as he loved the place, though, on this particular day, the library would have to wait. Today was their judgment day. It was the day they'd been simultaneously anticipating and dreading since they departed Earth. And finally, it had arrived.