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BACK to timeline contents: Perspectives
| Some niceties the Pearsalls avoid buying include even light duty lightspeed transporters in place of old fashioned doors and hatches and shuttle craft of various sorts, as well as medium duty one-way-trip-home models popular with many other expeditions as a last resort escape route from being stranded in deep space. The Pearsalls do however take along a couple of economical standalone replicators, closet-sized, with a wide range of heavy medical and light industrial capacities, with premium priced 'roaming' feed acceptance modules (i.e., unlike most standard replicators, these are not picky about the types of raw mass they'll ingest) -- but NO built-in transporter capabilities. The Pearsalls also don't buy the one or more humanoid android assistants/companions many other teams opt for now. In place of such things the Pearsalls buy two assembled autonomous medical treatment beds (and replicator licenses for three complete sets of replacement parts), three ion drive space sleds (and replicator license for a fourth)(sleds are meant for vacuum chores; though they can glide to a planet's surface in an emergency, they can't regain space afterwards on their own), and three skimmers (plus a replicator license for a fourth) for planetary travel (robust atmospheric VTOL with short range rocket assists; in a pinch a skimmer can achieve low orbit for a few minutes for pickup by spacecraft), along with enough spare parts to keep them all going through more than a couple complete catastrophes. Instead of humanoid androids, the Pearsalls choose three long tailed monkeys with human dexterity hands and human level intelligence (mostly inorganic A.I.s), 'hardened' like the Pearsalls to also be able to survive in space without protection-- though for only 20 minutes.
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Conceptual image by DeimosSaturn (2007) of the Pearsalls, a Rover, and one of their cyborg monkey servants. The Pearsalls are wearing fourth skins. Posted here with the permission of the artist.
Want more imagery? Then check out this same artist's 2008 work regarding a Rover traveling at fractional lightspeed, the cyborg monkey servant, and Al and Liz. |
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The Pearsalls also 'skimp' on their spacecraft-- at least from the perspective of many of their competitors. Rather than buying the latest and greatest models that could do many things they'd never require and offer the utmost in luxuries and convenience (and cost a fortune), the Pearsalls choose instead to buy two nearly identical Sonnenschein Rovers (yes, practically the same vehicle Terri received new almost a century before). Although both Rovers are at least 60 years old, they are examples of one of the most popular and versatile consumer spacecraft ever manufactured (and remarkably still being built new in small quantities in obscure locations), and built practically to tough military specs of their original manufacture date. The Terra Sys Agency themselves had standardized on the Rovers for many years, which further boosted the vehicle's reputation and popularity. Two identical Rovers in the expedition allow for cannibalization to keep one running if necessary, plus provides twice the storage space of one craft. These two Rovers are in excellent condition, lovingly overhauled by a friend of the Pearsalls in return for 5% value of whatever the Pearsalls might discover or bring back. Though the Rovers mostly are true to their original parts and designs, in a few strategic areas the Pearsalls have upgraded them to more modern elements where recommended by their friend, or personally deemed necessary.
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To cope with the possible loss of a fuel wakeway beyond six or seven lightyears from Sol system, the Pearsalls have opted for a four pronged strategy: one, to settle on a faraway world indefinitely once fuel shortages become too severe; two, both Rovers possess antimatter and fusion drives, in addition to the ions. The ion drives will fail at the same time as the current wakeway (though refueling is still possible under some circumstances), but at around .25c the antimatter fuel will last about 10 lightyears per each Rover, and the fusion drive 1-2 lightyears per Rover, without refueling. Three, behind them they're also towing a small breeder reactor, capable of generating fuel for use in a fusion drive indefinitely-- provided they can feed the breeder itself on occasion from local mining stops along the way. Of course, actually using the fusion drive would be much riskier than they'd like, the mining stops would cost them almost more time and acceleration than the nuclear drive might provide in return, and their convoy would have to be substantially reconfigured structurally to set up the fusion drive for use. But the Pearsalls, like some other deep space explorers, are only carrying such equipment as a last resort measure. As a remedy to possible death in space, it's well worth its cost in mass and money. Too, so long as their cryo-units perform well, they can stretch their fuel out by simply making do with smaller velocities, if they are forced to limp home, or struggle towards a suitable planetoid to set up an indefinite homestead. Four, the Pearsalls plan to budget VERY LITTLE of their fuel for DE-celeration duties at journey's end, or for stops or slow downs along the way. But they must have an alternative: in the Pearsall's case that alternative is the extra heavy duty frames on themselves (cyborg supplements) and their vessels and cargos, as well as beefed up buffer fields-- all to help them endure possibly many high G-force loops around local gravity wells to bleed off speed, in place of using precious fuel for such a task. Both Pearsalls are experienced spacers, but neither have ever experienced the magnitude of G-forces they now plan to use to exploit gravity wells for decelerations like this. Indeed, before their pre-launch preparations, such G-forces would certainly have killed the Pearsalls in their previous conditions and vessels, if they'd been tried. This last point is one virtually no one else among the Pearsalls' competitors would consider trying, except in a have-to case. Yes, smaller magnitude decelerations of this kind would be acceptable to many, but not the frighteningly large ones in the Pearsall's plan. Indeed, even with the benefit of the Pearsall's preparations, should something like the computer controls for their buffer fields fail at a critical moment, the Pearsalls could be jellified.
So in summary, providing no significant problem develops in regard to the propulsion systems, the Pearsalls can travel via ion engines as far as their current wakeway extends, and can in some circumstances refuel the ion drives via tricky mass captures along the way, for still greater range. When the ion drives are spent, the Pearsalls enjoy a combined range of about 20 lightyears at .25c from their two Rovers' antimatter engines. The antimatter engines can never be refueled again locally without the help of a major spacecraft from the vicinity of Home space, however-- which the Pearsalls don't foresee ever happening. Where both ions and antimatter drives aren't useful, the two Rovers' fusion drives combined offer fuel onboard for 2-4 lightyears travel at .25c, and can be refueled via breeder reactor in hardship cases.
Yes, for their deep space mission the Pearsalls are essentially using beefed up versions of several different types of engines mainly designed for intra-system travel, rather than deep space. But this is what almost all the private explorers in this second wave are doing, and most not in as well thought out a manner as the Pearsalls. For example, many other expeditions might possess nothing more than ion drives for the wakeway and medium duty lightspeed transports to return home, figuring on somehow finding something of value everyone else has missed relatively close to Sol system, and having the lightspeed transports for a virtually guaranteed return trip (sans vessel, of course, which is thereafter subject to legal salvage by anyone who can get to it). Some better planned missions, enjoying stronger financial backing than the Pearsalls and peers, pass on the option of taking along a messy and inconvenient breeder reactor for agonizing stop-and-go refueling in the case of an emergency, choosing instead to install awesomely large Bussard ramjet buffer fields for a greater bite of the wakeway, and attendant greater speeds (.3c to .4c) while the wakeway lasts, then use a huge stockpile of antimatter fuel to drive possibly another 40-50 lightyears beyond that, and fusion drives for fast local maneuvering (but insufficient fuel for more than 1-2 lightyears propulsion at .3c speeds), and medium duty lightspeed transport for eventual crew return to Sol if necessary.
Though there would seem to be a tantalizing prospect for enjoying an inexhaustible fuel supply via onboard replicators, this is not a realistic option for most expeditions of this time period, for many reasons.
Such an arrangement is prohibitively expensive in many ways for almost everyone, so only the most wealthy expeditions may even consider it. But the wealthy desire convenience and security for their money, and fuel gained from replication offers neither. First off, replicators simply cannot be used to create anti-matter-- much greater resources are required for that then might be installed onto any but the very largest spacecraft-- and very large spacecraft are ill suited for deep space exploration due to the fuel required to accelerate their mass. The incapacity to generate antimatter means replicators cannot manufacture the high performance fuel most preferred by all, including the wealthy. No, replicators may only produce lower performance fuels, suitable for ion and fusion drives. Thus, right there you cut the cost-effectiveness of using replication for a fuel source by a substantial margin. Then there's the inefficiency of replication to consider. Within Sol system itself, the inefficiency is mainly a cost and convenience issue. But in deep space, vessels striving for minimum mass onboard to maximize both speed and range, as well as seeking to avoid unnecessary decelerations to capture fuel-mass along the way (and thereby burn off valuable velocity), can ill afford such inefficiencies in the area of fuel and/or propulsion systems.
Replicators require considerable amounts of processing power, energy, and raw mass to manufacture their end products. And replicators circa 2330 are only some 60% efficient in their operations. So it turns out it's significantly more cost-effective to simply carry the physical fuel from the start than to use replicators for it along the way. Thus, the moment you begin using replicators for fuel onboard a fast moving vessel is the beginning of the end for your journey.
Even inside Sol system itself the economics of fuel-via-replicator improves only slightly. Desperate crews might feed a 'roaming' capable replicator various non-essential furniture and appliances onboard their vessel, and reach safety with the fuel generated before the negative economics caught up to them-- but by no means would the procedure be recommended for most situations. Usually it would make more sense to simply call for help.
At the beginning of their journey, the Pearsalls have one Rover packed so full of supplies there's only barely room for the two to squeeze into the vehicle in an emergency. The other Rover (in which they will live for a long, long time) is only half-filled in this manner. The Pearsalls also have third and fourth vehicles, but they consist of merely large container vessels, holding still more supplies. Al had initially wanted to utilize two stripped Rover shells (junked Rover bodies/frames stripped of engines, life support, and just about everything else) for these containment purposes, so he and Elizabeth would enjoy still greater redundancy in terms of spacecraft repair/rebuilding, if needed. Unfortunately, crunching the numbers showed this to be too inefficient fuel-wise. Plus, junked Rover shells were surprisingly expensive due to their popularity among spacecraft aficionados; old Rovers enjoyed a popularity and image prior to the Pearsall's launch from Sol System that rivaled the wildest fantasies a hard core personal transportation fan could ever harbor.
To put the Rover's popularity into perspective, imagine an alternate history of the world wherein the first practical and comfortable automobile ever available to the masses was the 1960s Volkswagon Beetle-- which even looked cute-- in a homely sort of way. Now imagine this same VW Bug is instrumental in taming the American West-- as sort of a combination of horse and train, serving both determined trailblazers and the humbler pioneers/settlers that followed them. Next imagine the Beetle serves as crucial transport during a time of unbridled economic and political conflict, not far different from the American Civil War-- for both opposing sides. Then, after the war's over, the Beetle serves as the official transport of something like the Canadian Mounted Police, which patrols all the wildlands beyond the centers of civilized society, heroically helping rescue citizens from disasters and accidents, as well as defending law abiding citizens against pirates and other outlaws in their jurisdiction. Finally, picture the mystique built up by popular entertainment media based on both fictional and non-fictional accounts of events wherein these Beetles played a significant role, over a matter of decades, and you get some idea of how the Rovers were regarded.
END NOTE.
 An alternative artist's concept of the Pearsall's type of Rover spacecraft (top view). |
 An alternative artist's concept of the Pearsall's type of Rover spacecraft (side view). |
One container ship is attached to the front of the unmanned Rover, which is remotely piloted from the manned Rover behind it. The unmanned Rover leads the procession, its engines pulling the entire convoy, towing the manned (and exhaust shielded) Rover behind it. This arrangement increases safety since the worst chance for collisions with high speed debris is in front of the parade-- so the front-most cargo vessel should always be hit first, the unmanned Rover second, and the manned Rover enjoy the greatest protection possible. This also works better in the case that atmospheric braking might be needed at some point, and in emergencies would likely allow the manned Rover more flexibility for evasive action or escape, even if the other vehicles had to be sacrificed.
Naturally the buffer fields acting somewhat as Bussard ramjet collectors for the Pearsall's ion engines feeding on the wakeway are configured to work around the cargo vessel for the unmanned Rover doing the pulling for the caravan-- while the Pearsall's primary Rover has its buffer fields otherwise engaged. The second cargo vessel (containing the breeder reactor and other nuclear fusion drive equipment) is towed behind the manned Rover where it can be cut loose easily, and is protected from debris collisions.
Lastly, the Pearsalls spend over 10 years directing their tiny convoy in a series of staggeringly complex loops between the Sun, Jupiter, and other planets, building up acceleration amongst all those gravity wells, before they ever actually exit the solar system. Again, this is something else very few of their fellow explorers are willing to do (to such an extreme, anyway; typically it's only much smaller and unmanned craft that match or exceed the Pearsalls' own gravity well exploitation at this time). But this essentially helps the Pearsalls match or surpass the acceleration of many of their competitors at much lower comparable cost in money and fuel.
But how could the Pearsalls stand such a long delay in actually leaving the Solar System? Cryo-sleep. The whole process is fully automated; the Pearsalls suffer no waiting whatsoever. Their cryo units are one of the areas the Pearsalls do not skimp on. Though most believe the Pearsalls are planning cryo sleep on a par with that of most other core adventurers (10-25 year stints), the Pearsalls actually order their onboard A.I.s not to waken them unless necessary for 150 years after launch (this is NOT in shipboard years-- velocities approaching lightspeed make onboard years pass differently than outside). The Pearsalls have determined that this should allow them to awaken the first time already deeper towards the galaxy core than 80-90% of their competitors, who will either have turned back, or stopped to explore various solar systems on the way. And the Pearsalls plan to make other lengthy cryo sleeps along the way as well.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2343 milestone: Al Pearsall is awakened more than 130 years earlySignposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2480 milestone: the Pearsalls are awakened some 140 years from Earth (33 lightyears distant)Though the government had warned all explorers prior to launch that the wakeway might be unreliable beyond the first 10 lightyears, here at 33 lightyears (well into the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy: page 94, The Sun, The Natural History of the Universe by Colin A. Ronan, 1991, Macmillan Publishing Company) its scorecard has been excellent so far. The Pearsalls note that the Rover's A.I. had only seen necessary to use the fusion drives for course corrections (to switch to a less inconsistent region of wakeway) roughly a dozen times the last 25 lightyears. Of course, the stats indicate the wakeway is finally destabilizing in great chunks now, and estimates place its effective end less than 10 more lightyears from their present location (and about 43 years ship time). However, no resonance signal from any wake generator plant is showing up on the Rover instruments yet.
NOTE: Wake generators are programmed to veer off the main course they are seeding with fuel and then shut down, once their own supply gets too low, in order to avoid becoming a collision threat for following craft. The plants also possess non-powered resonance signal generators which resonate in response to strong natural radiation wavelengths, with signals that can be detected and recognized by modern spacecraft. These fail-safe signals allow following craft to pinpoint the wake generator plant locations and thereby lessen even further the chance of collision, as well. Another function of the signal is so craft in trouble can easily find the generator plant and exploit its remaining supply of fuel if needed. During their primary mission of fuel laying, the generator plants also possess routine powered radio transmitters relaying course information to following vessels as well, for maximum wake usage efficiency. The powered transmissions are detectable at much greater distances than the fail-safe resonance signals. END NOTE.
The Pearsalls spend several anxious weeks dreading contact with other explorers now-- for that would mean they hadn't outpaced them as hoped. And if any competition remains, they'll be much harder to outrun from this point on, with the wake way petering out. No contact is received however. And the latest messages from possible competitors logged by the Rover A.I.s are at minimum 11 years old; so it does seem the Pearsalls have outpaced their peers, even if only by a smaller margin than expected. Of course, there could always be other expeditions dialing up long cryo-sleeps too...
The Pearsalls send a message towards Sol system to notify the authorities of their present position, course, and condition, as are standard. It'll require roughly 33 years for the message to reach Earth, based on the Pearsall's average velocity of 23% of lightspeed so far.
The Pearsalls spend the next months performing intensive subjective surveys of all the space around them (though they do not deviate from their speed or course towards the core) that vary somewhat from the automatic surveys done by the A.I.s, as well as checking out every facet of their convoy, and making repairs or adjustments as necessary. They remain awake less than a year, and then return to cryo-sleep once more. This time the programmed duration is only 42 years-- since that's about when the wake way is expected to quit.
ITEM: The primary communications the Pearsalls have with Sol system during the major portion of their journey is one-way in nature-- from Sol to the Pearsalls.
ITEM: Messages from Sol to the Pearsalls are increasingly delayed as the Pearsalls travel further from Sol system. For example, any EM signals they receive from Sol now were actually transmitted 33 years ago. This means the Pearsalls effectively are always at least as far behind in technical information and news regarding what the rest of humanity knows by a number of years roughly matching their distance from Sol in lightyears. Pearsall expedition progress reports to Sol system share the same discrepancy in currency.
ITEM: The Pearsall's communications with Sol are typically passive or automated in nature-- receiving but not transmitting. Partly this is because the Pearsalls are asleep-- in stasis-- for lengthy periods. The Rovers' onboard A.I.s record and archive all incoming communications for the Pearsall's to examine in summary or by search during periods of consciousness later on. The A.I.s may awaken the Pearsalls when urgent messages are received-- but how urgent can a message possibly decades old really be?
ITEM: Most broadcast communications (like general news and entertainment media) from the vicinity of Sol are by definition not usually meant for long range reception-- and so deteriorated badly beyond 10-25 lightyears distance from Earth. Although technically it's possible for the Pearsalls to access this material with some big gaps and glitches interspersed among the content, in practice they rarely do so. And the quality of this category of communications only worsens as the distance increases.
ITEM: Beyond 25 lightyears distance from Sol, the Pearsalls dispense almost entirely with the routine recording of broadcasts, to focus their resources instead on recording of narrowcasts or unidirectional messages-- communications specifically beamed in their direction. This category of communications includes a considerable amount of heavily encrypted (and therefore inaccessible) private communications between various core expeditions and their Sol-based masters or bosses or loved ones. However, there's also periodic government and corporate-sponsored messages in the clear on these bands, intended to support the most distant of the expeditions with essential news and info from home for as long as possible. Unfortunately, the majority of even these narrowcasts peter out in practical reception/value roughly another 60 lightyears out (this is due to several factors, including a signal scattering effect from the dense molecular cloud the Pearsalls encounter some distance from Sol, the necessarily small size of the Pearsall's receiving dish, and more).
ITEM: Recall that the Pearsalls are in a competition with others to reach as deep into the galaxy as possible-- therefore there is some competitive advantage in limiting their own transmissions for anything but urgent or contractually required matters.
ITEM: Most core expeditions (including the Pearsalls) agree before launch to send periodic progress reports to certain government entities in exchange for the subsidized ion wakeway at the start, long range narrowcast communications news and info from Sol to the expeditions, certain automatic patent and estate claims based on their reports, possible long term help in survival and rescue if stranded (waits for rescue are often expected to measure in the decades though, if no EM lightspeed transport equipment is available on the stranded end), and other things. Expeditions may also have communications agreements with other parties as well (as the Pearsalls do with the friend who rebuilt their Rovers and maintains a business interest in their journey).
ITEM: Once the Pearsalls get beyond about 85 lightyears from Sol, they can no longer reliably receive any communications at all originating in the vicinity of Sol system. They still occasionally send progress reports back, but they cannot know for certain if anyone hears them. The Pearsalls reasonably expect that Sol system has set up enormous, highly sensitive receivers, and therefore are indeed cataloging their reports. And this remains true up until the disaster of 2615 (after which such cataloging resumes once the relevant parties in the Sol region manage to get things reasonably rebuilt again). Unfortunately, while equipped only with their convoy and its supplies, the Pearsalls' own reception power remains woefully limited by comparison.
END TECHNICAL NOTES.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2511 milestone: again, Al Pearsall is awakened prematurelyAl barely manages to repair the problem. After repairs are completed, he awakens Elizabeth (it was impossible before), to make sure she's OK. She is. They both stay awake a few months now before returning to cryo-sleep once more.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2512 milestone: Al Pearsall is awakened once moreThey decide to always be awakened together from now on, if possible.
Though the molecular cloud would be slowing the caravan down significantly under other circumstances, it also has caused a slightly richer wakeway from the preceding generator, which gave sufficient extra thrust to the Rover's ion drive to counteract the cloud's drag.
The Pearsalls encounter with the cloud began approximately 40 lightyears from Sol system, inside the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy (page 94, The Sun, The Natural History of the Universe by Colin A. Ronan, 1991, Macmillan Publishing Company).
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2522 milestone: The Pearsalls are reawakened-- and terrifiedThe A.I.'s message log reveals no warning of the present thickening cloud from other explorers, which might mean the Pearsalls are in the lead to the core. Then again, withholding warnings could possibly help one explorer rid themselves of another. The Pearsalls decide the intensifying cloud is worthy of an alert to other explorers, and broadcast the message.
The Pearsalls are somewhat dismayed and alarmed to receive a response within only hours of their broadcast-- which seems to mean someone is uncomfortably close to their position. The message is at first indecipherable however, being compressed into virtually a single burst lasting much less than a tenth of a second, and apparently encoded in something other than standard formats.
The Pearsall's A.I.s finally manage to decompress and decode the message from its non-standard medium. The message source appears to be a military spacecraft, following in the wake of the Pearsall's convoy through the cloud-- thereby enjoying a 'shield' effect from the Pearsall's convoy leading the way-- but not employing any fuel from the wakeway (since there isn't any in the Pearsall's own wake). A space craft this deep in space not requiring a wakeway?
The message itself is ominously brief and cryptic, telling the Pearsall's it's "not safe" to communicate now, and they should maintain comm silence until further notice. The sender also assures them that all will be explained shortly.
The Pearsalls are stunned. This far in towards the core (about 43 light years from Earth, average speed since leaving Sol around 28.44% c) there shouldn't be anyone anywhere near them. But there's apparently a military craft from Sol system on their tail-- for what reason they cannot guess-- and the pilot of that craft is speaking as if there's yet a third party in the vicinity as well, that may be a threat to both the Pearsalls and their suspect military escort.
And the transmitting craft isn't using the wakeway? The only ways with technology known to the Pearsalls that this could be should leave telltale signs in the space behind the Pearsalls-- and they can detect none. Well, maybe it could be a cramped one man craft with an enormous antimatter fuel budget on a one-way suicide trip? Highly improbable, expensive, and stressful (for the pilot).
The Pearsalls are certain they themselves have broken no laws to incur a police pursuit, much less a military one. It's been near to 200 years since they left Sol System; and over 50 years since their Rover A.I. logged the last message from a nearby spacecraft (before the present stunner).
Has humanity encountered an alien threat? Are the Pearsalls themselves unwittingly heading straight into a newly discovered alien empire? Or, more likely, is their pursuer simply a competitor attempting to delay or scare off the Pearsalls from their present course?
Though the message timing indicated their mystery neighbor was close behind them, his craft can not be found by the Rover's instruments.
The uncertainty of it all is maddening. The Pearsalls are suddenly afraid to cryo-sleep now, and even regular sleep is difficult until they decide to do so in shifts, so that one of them is awake at all times. The Pearsalls are afraid they might be boarded if they let down their guard. The other ship is almost certainly well advanced over their own, apparently including stealth characteristics of some kind. Perhaps even now it might be alongside their convoy without their knowledge. The mystery craft must also be potentially faster than the Pearsall Rovers. Was it much larger as well? Thereby containing dozens or even hundreds of well armed crew? There had surely been such vessels available when the Pearsalls left Sol. Vessels as much as 15-20% faster in maximum acceleration than their revamped Rovers. Vessels many many times larger. Craft which could accept crews of hundreds or even thousands. And even faster and better vessels would have been available in the decades following the Pearsall's departure from Sol. But when the Pearsalls left such vessels were relatively few, and utilized for much more sensible and logical missions than this one sounded. Maybe a later expedition in a far superior craft has now caught up with the Pearsall's convoy, and is toying with them. Such a craft could likely destroy or commandeer the Pearsall's convoy with little effort. And there were no authorities anywhere around to give them pause.
The Pearsalls agonize over this matter for months. After some discussion they comfort themselves with the fact that larger, later built craft might boast greater accelerations, but their mass shortened their effective range at such accelerations. Plus, the Pearsalls must enjoy a significant headstart over most potential interlopers (unless unimaginable breakthroughs in propulsion had occured even before their own Rovers had finished looping through Sol System). Could a Vinge Singularity have taken place back home? No, it seemed unlikely a craft from a post Singularity Sol system would be wasting time out here-- especially on the Pearsalls.
When no second message ever materializes, and nothing else goes amiss, their anxiety subsides, and they begin wondering if somehow they misinterpreted the whole thing. Their A.I.s did admittedly have problems in the interpretation. And the timing may only have been a a scary coincidence-- with the sender never having received the Pearsall's cloud warning beforehand. After all, the message didn't specifically respond to the warning of the cloud. If the timing was coincidental, then they had little on which to base their original notion of how close the transmitting party was to their convoy.
Finally, almost two years after their most recent awakening, the Pearsalls are sufficiently satisfied with their status that they return to cryo-sleep. Of course, they do their best to make sure their A.I.s will keep a very close watch for anything odd occuring during their nap, awakening them immediately.
But even as they drift into frozen slumber, both Pearsalls are still wondering who the mystery speaker was, and who he was speaking to, and what third party he was speaking about... He almost had to be another explorer, like themselves, headed to the core like them, and speaking to some other explorer other than the Pearsalls-- and acting as if there was yet another vessel in the vicinity that both the message sender and intended recipient needed to be wary of. It was puzzling indeed. Were the Pearsalls themselves the third party the other two vessels were afraid would overhear them? And the mystery only deepened when no subsequent messages followed the first for two entire years....
Returning to more practical matters, during this last waking period the Pearsalls indeed were forced to shut down the ion drives due to the end of the wakeway, and ignite the unmanned Rover's antimatter drive (after a grueling weeks-long reconfiguration of the entire convoy, to install the unmanned Rover at the rear for its now dangerous exhaust, and re-jigger the cargo vessels and buffer fields accordingly). After the mods the convoy now proceeded with the original first cargo module still frontmost, but reversed in direction to present a fresh end to the abrasive molecular cloud. Next is the manned Rover, then the second cargo module, then the unmanned Rover, with its antimatter fueled flame.
At their present speed, the Pearsalls should be able to go another 10 lightyears (35 years ship time) before the fuel is gone from the unmanned Rover, and another convoy reconfiguration is necessary.
The 'halfway' point (or point of no return) for the Pearsalls, should their breeder reactor and other refueling possibilities prove fruitless (and assuming nothing goes amiss with their existing onboard fuel or drives) now lies only some 11-12 lightyears ahead of them (38 or so ship years). Recall that so long as they can make it back to the end of the wakeway in a return flight, they can then use their ion drives again to return the rest of the way to Sol. So the point of no return is basically half the range of their present antimatter and fusion fuel supply, based on the average speed they travel-- or roughly 11-12 lightyears.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2560 milestone: The Pearsalls are awakened just short of the 'point-of-no-return'...and begin building their place in history.The Pearsalls have no way of knowing that the decision they make now will mean the difference between their expedition making history, or ending up as just another footnote, like so many others of the time.
The Pearsalls remain inside the region of abrasive molecular cloud. Analysis of a system not far ahead of them indicates a curiously diffuse mass distribution. As they get nearer, the system seems to be a proto-star system, either very young or hampered in formation by the presence of the cloud, or both.
It is at this point that Liz Pearsall is struck by her first brilliant idea to exploit the fledgling star system's composition for fuel to re-engage their expedition's ion engines once again. Though Al is at first skeptical, Liz soon manages to make it sound plausibly exciting to him as well...and they start their true historical odyssey, which will remain unmatched by any other core explorers for a long time to come.
The first thing the Pearsalls must do is wrestle their expeditionary craft away from their present high speed course towards the core, and into a great orbit about the proto-system instead, with minimal fuel usage and gross deceleration, and yet maintain practical access to the system itself. Luckily, the diffuse nature of the proto-system means its volume is truly immense-- perhaps 20-30 times greater than that of Sol system-- and so the costs of establishing a practical orbit about the system is not as great as it might otherwise be.
Unfortunately, with the relatively low density of the system's gravity wells, as well as the terribly dangerous distribution of particulate matter in the system, the Pearsalls cannot utilize strong slingshot effects as they might have in other systems to decelerate, and thus are forced to expend practically all their fusion fuel from both Rovers over the next 1.5 years of maneuvering. However, fusion fuel is theoretically replenishable via their breeder reactor, while anti-matter is not.
Once their caravan's long orbit about the proto-system is established, the Pearsalls reconfigure their expedition for the next stage: an extended low velocity mission into the system. They expect to spend many years in this stage. Their system studies show the proto-system to contain an enormous region of hydrogen gas suitable for driving their Rover's long dormant ion engines, with some modification, indefinitely. The Pearsalls' smaller ion drive space sleds may also utilize the local gas.
Though there are no true planets or moons in the system on which to land, there are plentiful items like comets and asteroids. So plentiful, in fact, that it's no small problem avoiding collisions here. Another consequence is that the Pearsalls must limit themselves to very low speeds inside the proto-system cloud, which will greatly extend the length of time required to accomplish their task.
Though the thorough survey and sampling they perform will themselves be worth much back on Earth, the Pearsalls are after primarily two other things here: fuel for their breeder reactor, and the means to create their own ion fuel wakeway between the proto-system and the galactic core.
Liz's initial plans prove futile, due to unanticipated local conditions; but then she comes up with an even better scheme.
Liz's brilliance results in the Pearsalls actually wrapping up their mission into the proto-system ahead of time, and with greater gains than they had originally hoped. The 'roaming' feed standalone replicators purchased for the mission more than make up for their original cost by now processing sufficient fusion fuel from proto-system materials to completely refill the tanks of both Rovers. Within the inexhaustible confines of the proto-system cloud, the replicators' gross inefficiencies at fuel production matter not all. The replicators are also able to provide Al with suitable repair and reinforcement materials for the damaged cargo carrier in the caravan.
The long distance wakeway problem however, is a somewhat tougher nut to crack.
Though Liz needed sixteen months to plan the deed, execution (and component testing) required even longer-- another 3 years. Even with the near humanoid level physical help of their three human-handed, five limb cyborg monkeys, and various Rover A.I.s, and flexibility of their replicators.
The crowded region within the cloud both helped and hindered their plan, which amounted in its initial stages to a solar system-sized billiards game. The Pearsalls settled on several of the greatest mass comets they could find with suitable orbital positioning and timing, then pre-positioned appropriate equipment on each (some of which required replication).
The Pearsalls also sought out suitable metallic or rocky asteroids, and installed certain equipment on them as well.
Finally the moment came to go for broke, and the Pearsalls' set Liz's plan into motion.
A series of carefully shaped and timed nuclear fusion explosive charges served to slightly change the courses of a group of moderately sized asteroids.
Over a period of weeks and months, some of these asteroids collided with others, and some directly with the targeted comets, putting these additional objects into play.
Eventually the target comets were also impacted by the remaining asteroids, further adjusting their courses and speed. All these collisions broke up most of the comets, but the bulk of the cometary mass continued in the direction desired.
Some four years later the first of the target cometary debris emerged from the proto-system, headed towards the galactic core.
Around this time the automated fusion-powered lasers installed on several well-located asteroids fired up, focusing on the retreating cometary fragments. The lasers are tuned to vaporize the comet material to a degree that the event will both eject material from the bodies (accelerating them in a guided path), as well as leave appropriate residue to fuel ion drives in their wake: i.e., wakeway generation. Embedded location transponders among the cometary debris provide sufficient information so that complex processing tasks at the laser sites are not necessary for targeting.
With ion fuel in the proto-system cloud inexhaustible, perhaps a century worth of replicated fuel for the lasers pre-processed, as well as an ion drive space sled and some spare parts for maintenance duties, along with a single monkey cyborg and its own improvised fourth skin and buffer fields, the Pearsalls should now enjoy roughly a hundred lightyear wakeway towards the core, with considerable redundancy and flexibility in the heart of the system. (This deployment leaves the Pearsalls still in possession of two monkeys, two assembled space sleds and a license for a third replicant, regarding the types of supplies left behind)
With the reduction in onboard mass due to the deployment of the space sled, laser equipment, and monkey, the Pearsalls are now able to significantly increase the amount of drive fuel they carry onboard the Rovers. As ion fuel offers the greatest range for the cost, they stockpile it.
Of course, the Pearsalls cannot follow too closely on the heels of their cometary trailblazers, and so must stick around the proto-system for another few decades. This allows them to add further depth to their surveys and sampling of the system, when they are awake. They also pass some of the time in stasis.
Won't the Pearsalls encounter the laser beams when they enter the wakeway? No. The lasers only converge at the rear of the cometary debris. The farther behind the comets you look, the wider apart the laser beams are; the Pearsalls' caravan will typically enjoy thousands of miles of distance minimum from the nearest beams, as they pursue the cometary fragments.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2605 milestone: The Pearsalls relaunch from the proto-system, following their new wakeway towards the core.Note that under current humn laws regarding core expeditions the Pearsalls now enjoy substantial ownership claims on the entire proto-system they just left. Such a proto-system today is regarded as actually MORE VALUABLE than a mature planetary system like Sol's, since its mass is more accessible due to weaker gravity wells, and there are few if any ecological concerns stemming from significant life signs on developed planets. Commercial and scientific exploitation of the proto-system will automatically occur in the wake of the Pearsall's expedition as feasible, under contracts and policies the Pearsalls agreed to prior to launch from Sol. The first stage of appraisal takes place at Sol based solely on the Pearsall's reports, with later validation to be performed via other means. The first stage of stock selling in the new system is undertaken by speculators of various sorts. It will likely take decades for actual physical assimilation of the system to begin in earnest-- but that's OK as it will take decades for those concerned to plan out precisely what they wish to do with the massive new asset, and how, and to set up subcontracting of various sorts. Merely surveying the existence, location, and estimated resource base of the system removed enormous uncertainties for investors, thereby earning the Pearsalls their money and greatly accelerating the pace of system development, as well as lowering the costs for everyone substantially as well. If the Pearsalls ever manage to make it back to their home region in the galaxy, this proto-star system alone will include them among the ranks of the independently wealthy.
A few other core expeditions have enjoyed similar successes-- but the vast majority don't. And rarely does an expedition score more than one such claim-- for a variety of reasons.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2840-2849 milestone: The Pearsalls are awakened when their improvised wakeway suddenly ends only some 40 lightyears beyond the proto-systemThough they know it'll take 40 years for their monkey ally in the proto-system to receive the message (and another 40 years for any response to reach them), the Pearsalls send it an update of their status and all other relevant information, ordering the ally to anticipate their next moves and help them if it can with its lasers (sans a second message). Importantly, the Pearsalls order the monkey to keep the lasers firing, because they may be able to maneuver more wakeway material into their sweet spot.
The near system is a binary (two stars), with an unusual arrangement of orbiting bodies. The Pearsalls establish a long orbit about the system to preserve velocity (the double stars help a lot gravity well-wise), and enter the system with one Rover. As before in the proto-system they do careful surveys, as well as restock on fuel. For months the Pearsalls explore new schemes, with no success. Then Liz strikes it rich again, after she determines a potential windfall for their core effort exists in a small gaseous moon in an already precarious orbit about a small planetoid (practically a moon itself), trapped in a wildly eccentric orbit about the two stars in the system. Liz's plan is to 'nudge' the tiny gaseous moon enough that it breaks free of its present orbit perhaps a few centuries earlier than it naturally would, and moves into a vulnerable position between the stars themselves. Without the host planetoid to anchor it, the math indicates that (given the proper timing) the tiny gaseous moon could be violently flung out of the system entirely by the gravitic interactions of the binary stars. The math however is very hairy. If it contains a significant error, the entire operation will be for naught, with the moon either destroyed and/or sent careening off into a worthless course in space.
But if the math works, the results would be interesting indeed; for the gaseous moon's composition indicates it could possibly lose sufficient atmosphere to leave a trail of material behind it as it is flung into deep space.
A wakeway!
Not a perfect wakeway, by any means-- but a very dirty and non-homogenous mix that the Pearsalls would have to heavily modify their spacecraft to exploit. There's a chance some debris will be sufficiently dense to pose possibly fatal consequences for the expedition in a collision.
But on the other hand, the most dangerous debris should be produced at launch of the planetoid from its system, with the wakeway after that being much safer to traverse. Plus, the Rovers' navigation systems can be programmed to adapt somewhat to the expected obstacle course. Perhaps the most exciting aspect is the relativistic velocity the body might attain as it essentially squirts out under pressure from the gravity wells of two different stars. The moon may actually disintegrate from the stresses, thereby drastically increasing the debris risk. But .26c looks feasible for at least some fragments. And the newly created wakeway may extend for hundreds, even thousands, of lightyears, as the moon possesses much more material than the typical wakeway comet to leave behind.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Burdened by their present position and equipment, the Pearsalls effectively lost all future reception of communications from Sol system nine lightyears back (the 85 LY mark). When they finally lost the link around 2840, they had received news and information from Sol system that was supposedly current around 2755 AD.
For some 140 years prior to that final cessation however (since about 2700), the Pearsalls had been frustrated to find they were receiving much highly inconsistent and conflicting information from the vicinity of Sol-- and often getting nothing at all (this was communications in the wake of the disaster at Sol system, as well as considerable efforts by the inorganics during the Peer Proof wars to disrupt the Pearsalls expedition or psychological status if possible). The Pearsalls even discovered that some messages had contained erroneous information that could have skewed their convoy's course if not for the highly redundant way they had their automated systems set up during stasis. We're talking sabotage from afar here. So the Pearsalls had stopped receiving information they could fully trust by 2700. With the time lag involved, this meant the vast majority of their best news and info regarding the rest of humanity was frozen at around 2615 in accuracy-- or just before the disaster at Sol system.
The Pearsalls know something terrible happened at Sol system-- but in the aftermath of the disaster the truth is just one of many versions of events they received from numerous conflicting narrowcasts. And unfortunately, the truth seems one of the least credible accounts they hear.
Luckily the Pearsalls are sure that much of humanity (or what passes for it these days) at and around Sol has survived-- and an ongoing struggle between biologicals and non-biologicals seems to exist.
A few significant messages do seem to stand out from the somewhat bizarre crowd of post-2700 contacts: a handful of messages claiming to be from their close friend who overhauled their Rovers. After lots of examination they eventually come to believe these messages are largely genuine-- though they hold suspect the excessive enthusiasm they contain, as it seems unlike their friend-- although perhaps justified if the scenario he describes is true (that their expedition has somehow re-ignited human hopes during an otherwise depressing war with the A.I.s).
The financial windfall their friend describes coming from their proto-star system claim also seems much larger than expected-- though both the Pearsalls are aware of the effect of psychology on markets. Unfortunately, the Pearsalls cannot exploit much of anything in the way of tangible rewards from all this at present.
One frustrating thing about the latest messages is that they seem to contain enormously valuable replicator credits and new technology designs for replicator products the Pearsalls would dearly love to have.
But the Pearsalls are afraid to try them.
Why? Because of the insidious nature of many messages they found archived when they awoke, which attempted to sabotage their automated navigation systems. Any such things contained in the new tech data or replicator credits could do still greater harm to the Pearsalls, if loosed within their equipment. From the 'bad' messages they so far have discovered, it seems extremely advanced A.I.s are involved in their crafting-- much more powerful A.I.s than the Pearsalls have onboard their Rovers. If nothing more happened than a permanent disabling of their replicators by unrecognized sabotage code, that alone could doom them. Likewise a disabling of their engines. The new tech for various jobs that looks so inviting on displays might in physical form be deadly termination devices instead.
No, the Pearsalls couldn't trust the new goodies sent to them in the archives during their sleep, because there were too many indications that someone at the other end was trying to covertly trick or trap or harm them. It was a shame though. Because the new tech options looked so enticing. And much of it could help enormously in the Pearsalls' future plans-- if it was real and not a booby trap of some kind.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2855 milestone: The Pearsall's plan works-- sort ofFortunately, much of the worst debris is heading away at speeds between .15c and .33c, while the desired thin wakeway broth is largely left behind. So by waiting in stasis a few years, the Pearsalls minimize meaningful collision chances.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2875 milestone: The Pearsall's launch into the wake of the destroyed moonLiz plots a way to steal acceleration from the binaries without personally passing through the meat grinder. The Pearsalls use fusion bombs to send a tough nearly pure metal asteroid into the gauntlet. The asteroid is large and dense enough to possess its own significant gravity well, but sufficiently small and well formed to likely survive the gauntlet intact.
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It appears highly likely that our solar system jettisoned one or more of its planets in its early history, when those planet(s) strayed too near Jupiter or another of the gas giants.
-- "Scientist says Earth may have a long-lost 'twin'" By WILLIAM McCALL, June 30, 1999, http://www.nandotimes.com, Nando Media/Associated Press |
The Pearsall's caravan then makes rendezvous with the asteroid after it emerges from the gauntlet. The rendezvous is daring-- perhaps even foolhardy-- but it works. The Pearsalls are successfully able to swing into a wide off center orbit of the asteroid before it reaches maximum velocity emerging from the system, via a combination of the asteroid's own gravity and sustained maximum thrust from virtually every propulsive system on both Rovers simultaneously. The G-forces are awful. Even with their reinforced cyborg bodies and extraordinary improvised precautions (i.e., filling the Rover cockpits with a versatile nanotech fluid similar to Scenario Gel to more evenly distribute accelerations on the crew and interior equipment), both Pearsalls suffer substantial injuries. The entire caravan is heavily damaged (both Rovers suffer some buckling, as well as other problems). But perhaps worst of all, in order to save both Rovers, the Pearsalls are forced to release their most important cargo pod (but managed to keep the other, containing the breeder reactor and other nuclear fusion drive equipment).
If the Pearsalls could have chosen which cargo container was lost, they would have made it the breeder reactor pod instead.
On the bright side, the wakeway is now redundant-- a back up plan, with possibly indefinite lifespan towards the core. Because the Pearsalls have managed to create a great no tech metallic starship traveling at .36c(!), which may well carry them all the way to the galactic core with little further intervention-- if only they can maintain their eccentric orbit about the beast, avoid being smacked by random debris from the wakeway, maintain indefinite life spans via onboard medical technologies, and avoid suicidal levels of boredom over many coming millennia.
Now the Pearsalls painfully tend to their injuries and the damage to their craft, and assess their fuel and supply status. After a few months they transmit a progress report towards the region Sol used to be.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2898 milestone: 'Swiss Family Pearsalls' and their new home, "Pearsalls' Grit"The Pearsalls began their voyage centuries earlier with:
A. Physical cyborg bodies of 65% biological human status (most additions not typically visible to observers); this allows survival naked to space for hours if necessary, as well as improved intellectual and communications faculties on-person
B. A supply of 'fourth' and 'third skins' (formidable combination exo-skeletons/space suits/armor and flying gas-like fields of nanotech machines useful for utilitarian purposes)
C. Two standalone closet-sized replicators, with a wide range of heavy medical and light industrial capacities, with premium priced 'roaming' feed acceptance modules (i.e., unlike most standard replicators, these are not picky about the types of raw mass they'll ingest) -- but NO built-in transporter capabilities.
D. Two assembled autonomous medical treatment beds (and replicator licenses for three complete sets of replacement parts)
E. Three ion drive space sleds (and replicator license for a fourth)(sleds are meant for vacuum chores; though they can glide to a planet's surface in an emergency, they can't regain space afterwards on their own)
F. Three skimmers (plus a replicator license for a fourth) for planetary travel (robust atmospheric VTOL with short range rocket assists; in a pinch a skimmer can achieve low orbit for a few minutes for pickup by spacecraft), along with enough spare parts to keep them all going through more than a couple complete catastrophes.
G. Three long tailed monkeys with human dexterity hands and human level intelligence (mostly inorganic A.I.s), 'hardened' like the Pearsalls to also be able to survive in space without protection-- though for only 20 minutes.
H. Two nearly identical 60 year old Sonnenschein Rovers; examples of one of the most popular and versatile consumer spacecraft ever manufactured (and remarkably still being built new in small quantities in obscure locations, at time of launch from Sol system), and built practically to tough military specs of their original manufacture date. Two virtually identical Rovers in the expedition allow for cannibalization to keep one running if necessary, plus provides twice the storage space of one craft. These two Rovers were in excellent condition, lovingly overhauled by a friend of the Pearsalls in return for a cut of any discoveries. In a few strategic areas the Pearsalls upgraded the Rovers to more modern elements where recommended by their friend, or personally deemed necessary.
Probably the biggest updating the Pearsalls made to their Rovers were in the areas of its resident A.I.s and nanotech buffer fields (both internal and external). Both these upgrades made the Rovers into something much closer to living things, both in terms of intelligence and the capacity to manipulate their environment and themselves. The next biggest changes were to the Rovers' engines. There'd been considerable advancement in spacecraft engine technologies since the Rovers first rolled off the assembly line, and the Pearsalls wanted as much acceleration, reliability, and fuel efficiency as they could get in that department. They'd installed the best propulsion systems they could possibly afford.
Both Rovers possessed both antimatter and fusion drives, in addition to the ions. The ion drives will fail without a wakeway or onboard fuel supply, but at around .25c the antimatter fuel will last about 10 lightyears per each Rover, and the fusion drive 1-2 lightyears per Rover, without refueling.
I. Behind them the Rovers also towed a small breeder reactor, capable of generating fuel for use in a fusion drive indefinitely-- provided the Pearsalls can feed the breeder itself on occasion from local mining stops along the way.
So in summary, providing no significant problem develops in regard to the propulsion systems, the Pearsalls can travel via ion engines as far as their current wakeway extends, and can in some circumstances refuel the ion drives via tricky mass captures along the way, for still greater range. When the ion drives are spent, the Pearsalls enjoy a combined range of about 20 lightyears at .25c from their two Rovers' antimatter engines. The antimatter engines can never be refueled again locally without the help of a major spacecraft from the vicinity of Home space, however-- which the Pearsalls don't foresee ever happening. Where both ions and antimatter drives aren't useful, the two Rovers' fusion drives combined offer fuel onboard for 2-4 lightyears travel at .25c, and can be refueled via breeder reactor in hardship cases.
J. At the beginning of their journey, the Pearsalls have one Rover packed so full of supplies there's only barely room for the two to squeeze into the vehicle in an emergency. The other Rover (in which they will live for a long, long time) is only half-filled in this manner. The Pearsalls also have third and fourth vehicles, but they consist of merely large container vessels, holding still more supplies. One container ship is attached to the front of the unmanned Rover, which is remotely piloted from the manned Rover behind it. The unmanned Rover leads the procession, its engines pulling the entire convoy, towing the manned (and exhaust shielded) Rover behind it. This arrangement increases safety since the worst chance for collisions with high speed debris is in front of the parade-- so the front-most cargo vessel should always be hit first, the unmanned Rover second, and the manned Rover enjoy the greatest protection possible. This also works better in the case that atmospheric braking might be needed at some point, and in emergencies would likely allow the manned Rover more flexibility for evasive action or escape, even if the other vehicles had to be sacrificed.
Naturally the buffer fields acting somewhat as Bussard ramjet collectors for the Pearsall's ion engines feeding on the wakeway are configured to work around the cargo vessel for the unmanned Rover doing the pulling for the caravan-- while the Pearsall's primary Rover has its buffer fields otherwise engaged. The second cargo vessel (containing the breeder reactor and other nuclear fusion drive equipment) is towed behind the manned Rover where it can be cut loose easily, and is protected from debris collisions.
K. Two heavy duty cryo-stasis units, with replicator licenses sufficient to assemble two more.
The Pearsalls inventory of supplies and equipment have dwindled in this manner up to now:
1. Minor replacement parts and materials repair draw downs; most items can be recycled or possibly replenished via contact with space debris or planetary bodies (and were, during the stop at the proto-system).
2. Gradual draw down on available empty computer memory storage, due to logs, surveys, etc. along the way.
3. Consumption of irreplaceable anti-matter fuel (both fusion and ion fuels may be theoretically replenished under certain plausible circumstances (and were, during the stop at the proto-system)).
4. Consumption of irreplaceable replication privilege licensing. Keep in mind the Pearsalls purchased as much privileges as they could pre-launch to the types of non-obsolete replications they estimated were required. Also, though deep space explorers like the Pearsalls did enjoy some extra government subsidies of items like replication privileges compared to non-explorers, those privileges were still far from inexhaustible, especially on certain types of high value items. Of course, privileges for many low value items (obsoletes) virtually ARE infinite with replicators-- so savvy users can minimize use of consumable privileges in many circumstances by replicating free obsolete wares instead-- where such obsoletes will satisfactorily perform the job.
5. Somewhat irreplaceable equipment the Pearsalls left behind in the proto-system included:
* one monkey cyborg
* one ion drive space sled and some spare parts
* several long range fusion powered lasers
6. Somewhat irreplaceable equipment/supplies the Pearsalls left behind when they achieved orbit around Pearsall's Grit included:
one roughly Rover-sized space worthy cargo container, holding:
* many critical spare parts for both Rovers
* all three assembled planetary skimmers and related spare parts
* certain crucial cyborg spare parts for both the Pearsalls and their cyborg monkeys
* certain crucial spare parts for their replicators
* standalone replacement A.I. modules for both Rovers
* heavy duty combination weapons/space mining/refinement equipment
* long term agricultural and aquacultural mini-plants, meant to aid the Pearsalls in any lengthy stranding on a faraway world.
* miscellaneous other supplies and equipment.
7: Irreparable damage suffered by the Pearsall expedition during their rendezvous with Pearsall's Grit included:
* A permanent weakening in the structural integrity of both Rovers and the remaining cargo container. Though all leaks are repaired and both craft are space worthy, the Rovers must never again be subjected to G-forces such as those endured in the rendezvous-- or even as much as 60% of same-- for they will break up.
* Some damage which limits the flexibility and usefulness of the nuclear breeder reactor stored in the cargo pod.
* A portion of the A.I. capacities in one Rover were also lost/damaged in the event, essentially making that Rover no longer trustworthy of much navigation on its own.
* One of the two remaining cyborg monkeys was brain-damaged during the ordeal, rendering it useless for anything but the simplest tasks now.
* Liz had to have her left leg amputated and replaced with a robotic substitute; unfortunately they (and the med beds) are unable to get the interface software for the leg properly tuned no matter what they do. Apparently there are subtle incompatibilities between the new leg and some of the cybernetic wares embedded in Liz prior to launch from Sol. This leaves Liz with a permanent limp in one G and a clumsiness she never knew with her biological leg.
* Al lost the sight in his left eye and suffered multiple grievous internal injuries. A small cam permanently attached to the side of his head and plugged into his implants replaced the vision functionality (though it took some getting used to). As for his internal organs, the med beds fixed much, and for the rest Al and Liz put together a high tech 'hump' for Al to wear on his back to take up the slack in functionality.
For a while afterwards Al sometimes refers to himself as "the one-eyed hunchback of Notre Dame".
* One cryo unit was destroyed, and the other damaged sufficiently that only relatively short sleeps are considered safe in the device. Though two other complete cryo units are allowed under their replicator licenses, the Pearsalls have never yet used that option.
Centuries ago the Pearsalls would have been delighted to hear that at some point they would be far ahead of all the other explorers who began with them, and even have possibly put together a relativistic speed craft with no need of refueling ever, heading straight to the galactic core at around 36% the speed of light. But their delight would have ended abruptly if they'd also heard the price paid for these accomplishments.
This is so far the hardest part of the trip for the husband-wife team.
The enormous ball of metal they orbit offers the Pearsalls practically an inexhaustible supply of raw mass suitable for replicator feed. And Pearsall's Grit (their great metal slug) is flying through a rough but serviceable wakeway, perhaps into perpetuity, gradually collecting solid debris from the wake-producing gaseous moon like a 20th century car collected smashed bugs on its windshield.
The Pearsalls' ally cyborg monkey in the proto-system is also still firing his lasers in a route parallel to their current course. The beams are pretty weak and diluted at this range, and focused on now-non-existent targets lightyears ahead of the Pearsalls present position.
The Pearsalls have had plenty of time to argue, despair, fight, and everything else the past 23 years. Eventually they preferred more useful pursuits. Sometimes together, sometimes apart. After all, the Pearsalls are effectively immortal-- at least until their technology degrades beyond a certain point, or a bad accident takes them by surprise, or they kill one another or commit suicide. Might as well develop some interesting hobbies if nothing else, right?
The Pearsalls over the years have assembled a veritable army of low brow bots which do little more but mill about Pearsall's Grit cutting out suitable size chunks of metal to feed the replicators, or building new forms on the landscape with the output of those replicators.
Liz has had the bots construct her a space worthy house on Grit's bleak landscape of craggy, sometimes knife-edged metallic terrain.
The Pearsalls have also added lots of tiny orbiting fusion lights, powered by the collection of hydrogen fuel from the ever present wakeway above. It was either do that or face constant pitch black darkness on the face of Grit. Now Grit enjoys its own simulation of night and day, thanks to fusion fires.
Grit doesn't have sufficient gravity to hold niceties like air and water on its own. But such things can be artificially held in place by buffer fields. And so around and atop of Liz's house are sufficient buffer fields to maintain not only breathable air, but fluid water as well. To help maintain this bit of paradise amid hell, the Pearsalls also insulated the area under the house (because the metal of Grit was unimaginably cold, and would conduct heat away faster than a nuclear reactor could produce it), as well as installed a fusion powered heating grid beneath the house and nearby land as well.
The Pearsalls were careful to build Liz's house in one of the regions of Grit safest from direct collision with debris from the gaseous moon which preceded them on this course. Grit's current course and rotation meant Liz's house was only directly exposed to that danger some 6-15% of the time.
While Liz had wanted a house on the surface of Grit, Al had different aims. For years he placed top priority on building Liz's house and related items she wanted, partially because of her injuries from the Grit rendezvous. But after Liz seemed mostly satisfied (or at least far enough along that she seemed comfortable with less help), Al set his own plans into motion.
Though it was difficult to do with the size replicators they had (especially when you were trying to use as much 'free' obsolete tech as possible), Al eventually put together a small group of heavy construction and mining bots, and went to work.
Al had more wake collectors at work in orbit than merely those powering the fusion lights for Liz. He was stockpiling hydrogen (as well as certain other elements), for years, which slowly stretched into decades.
Al has big plans for Grit.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2918 milestone:
The Albatross is now some 214 lightyears from Sol system; Pearsalls' Grit, 109 lightyearsSignposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2930 milestone: Pearsall's Grit is slowly transformed to something more than it wasPlus, Al has a secret plan to try some of the most tantalizing rep plans and credits received in the suspect transmissions from Sol, with the very last of the replicator's working hours. Al figures by sufficiently isolating the replicator from Grit he can protect Liz and himself from most of the worst scenarios which might transpire from any malevolence hidden in the data. Of course, Liz would explode if she knew his intentions.
Grit is slowly being transformed by a vast army of bots under Al's command. Many of the projects are as yet unknown to Liz, as Al wants to surprise her (of course, he's taken the precaution of keeping a personal log with special notes for Liz to fully inform her in case he unexpectedly expires).
One of Al's projects is a great scooped out shallow bowl shape on the surface of Grit, along with a carefully planned variety of much smaller and narrower vents/scoops elsewhere on the great ball of metal. Small capacity linear accelerator powered trackways network together all the curious depressions to a couple of special installations elsewhere on Grit. The trackways do double-duty as handy mini-commuter rails for Al and Liz to get around the surface, good for up to 120 mph casual speed, or short trips in the local vicinity.
Al's grand plan? A propulsion and maneuvering system for Grit. Based on a rapid firing of multiple fusion blasts, for sustained thrust.
Of course, Grit's formidable mass makes it at best a sluggish and unwieldy craft, even with perfect propulsion systems. And its present relativistic velocity would be a bear to burn off. Plus, why would you want to? The Pearsall's goal is the galactic core, and any conceivable change to Grit's present course or speed now would be detrimental to reaching that goal.
Another pet project of Al's is an exploratory fast-slow auxiliary body system in an arrangement of wildly eccentric orbits about Grit. At its nearest pass to Grit each major body will be only a few thousand miles from Grit, and traveling at its highest velocity. At each major body's furthest orbital reaches (and slowest velocities) it will be considerably further from Grit than the average distance between Earth and Sol system's asteroid belt.
The vast eccentric orbit of Grit Explorer Thumb Twiddler One (as Al names the artificial moon) is further extended in utility by two much smaller bodies named Grit Explorer Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, which themselves orbit Thumb Twiddler One in a similar extended, eccentric orbit placing both smaller bodies on opposing sides of the orbit at any given time.
This micro-planetoid system results in a highly flexible arrangement which theoretically would allow Al and Liz at least brief opportunities to explore interesting off-Grit phenomena first-hand which happens to fall within an Astronomical Unit or so of Grit itself during its journey-- without the necessity to burn off precious speed from Grit itself.
This system would basically be a regular bus route between Grit and various other space bodies Grit was passing in its journey to the core-- Al and Liz could use a Rover to catch a bus near Grit, ride it for a few days to their destination, fly to the foreign body, spend a few hours investigating or scavenging there, then catch the next bus back to Grit and be back home again only a week or so after they left. There'd be some uncomfortable G-forces here and there for a few hours, sure. Plus the bus system didn't really reach very far in space terms-- Grit would almost have to be brushing against something space-distance wise for it to work-- and if the speeds and courses of the foreign objects were outside a certain set of parameters, there too was a way the bus system wouldn't work.
There was also the extra burden the bus system put on Grit's own propulsion systems-- if those systems were ever used, that is. Because the bus system would only automatically synchronize with changes of course by Grit during the very smallest changes in course-- anything larger and the entire bus system would either fly off altogether-- or much worse-- parts of it might collide with Grit to make for something approaching World War Fourteen.
Of course, this is all based on an old idea of Liz's, that Al has used Rover computers to flesh out into a practical design. The massive industrial base Al enjoys on Grit, plus the inexhaustible wealth of raw material, provides all the resources required to build the bus system. The biggest challenge is getting the bus system launched and all the related bodies synched into the proper orbits. And these bodies are relatively big too-- since the bus system requires a certain minimum amount of mass for desired gravity well pressures to work.
It requires decades for Al to get all system components suitably positioned and working as well as he wants.
The beauty of the system is that it shouldn't put too big a strain on the Rover, plus the loss to Grit velocity is negligible-- and it theoretically allows Al and Liz to survey/lay claim to any interesting items they pass by from here on out.
One truly elegant aspect of it all is that the nearer they come to the core, the more often interesting things should pass within range of the bus system-- since solar systems and the like become more frequent and denser nearer the core than they are farther out.
So why is Al doing all this? Al likes to be prepared for the unexpected. He and Liz are the deepest space explorers of all humanity, so far as they know. And they are alone. What if they encounter hostile aliens? Or detect a cosmic catastrophe looming ahead? They must have options.
Besides-- there's nothing better to do.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2966 milestone: The U.S.S. Pearsall's Grit (now some 126 lightyears from the original location of Sol system)Al's propulsion and maneuvering system for Grit seems finished, but no significant test is possible without jeopardizing their current course and velocity. Plus, fuel and parts are to be conserved for more important matters. His other projects are perhaps more satisfying. Among them, the space worthy cabins and other rooms he has cut from the interior of Grit.
Al had been surprised to find some heat at Grit's core-- though it wasn't sufficient to act as a reasonable power source or anything. Mainly, it forced him to change his plans a little. For Al had been considering that if he and Liz could take shelter at the center of Grit that might allow them to proceed safely through various circumstances that might otherwise force them to abandon the planetoid. Such as a cascade of radiation, or something like that. Plus, having an extra security edge around when he finally unwrapped those last scary replicator packages from Sol wouldn't hurt either. Anyway, Al had mined out a complex reminiscent of a spacecraft interior deep inside Grit. Complete with a bridge about as big as anything he'd ever seen onboard large military and tourist craft in Sol system. Al had always wanted two things when he was a kid: his own space warship, and a bridge to go with it. Now it seemed he had both. Sort of, anyway.
Al also considered spacecraft hangers and repair shops and storerooms important too-- so he'd constructed his own designs for those inside Grit as well, but much nearer the surface than the living quarters or bridge. Al has brought in "Rover Number One" (the one still capable of piloting itself) from orbit and parked it in his new 'garage'. Liz has the other Rover at her house on the surface. The Pearsalls have by now installed other equipment in orbit that provides the same long range radar and imaging information the Rovers did. Al and Liz use the Rovers mostly like flying automobiles about the surface of Grit. But for short hops they often use space sleds instead.
Al is proud of his work. But he's sure when Liz sees it she'll notice only one thing: That Al hadn't spent nearly as much time designing and building the crew cabins as everything else. Oh well. Maybe Liz would enjoy making up for his oversight there.
Al's bridge was fully functional-- if you called controlling untested propulsion systems you dared not use functional. Well, maybe someday, Al thought. And turned to yet another project.
Meanwhile, Liz has some semi-secret projects of her own in the works. With their nanotech replicator at high risk of loss, and thereby its best output suspect of a short life as well (due to their inability to repair or adequately maintain nanotech over the long term without a replicator) Liz is exploring what might be done with older micromachine technology instead.
It turns out quite a lot. Especially in the low gravity of Grit. Low gravity allows you to scale up devices in a way that wouldn't be practical on worlds like Earth. The vacuum of space also offers advantages in such things.
Presently Liz is engaged in study of the human physical structure, and how it (or variants) might do in a certain new configuration she has in mind...among other things.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2980 milestone: The crew of Grit plans increases in speed and sensitivityAl has become excited about a new idea himself the past few years; searching for signs of other explorers behind them. As well as vastly improving their communications power.
Al has realized he could possibly get decent results from a large collection of 'snapshots' of the sky in the desired direction taken simply by synchronizing dish use (Grit's main rocket nozzle-- a huge shallow bowl shaped depression) with Grit's normal rotation...and using an appropriate computer program to do the analysis of the compiled data. This should allow Al to build a much more extensive 3D map of this region of the galaxy than allowed by the Rover equipment, too.
Doing things this way, configuring Grit's main rocket nozzle to act as a giant radio telescope dish, Al could get much more sensitive readings than were possible now with the Rover equipment. Of course, to optimize the nozzle for EM reception will require some new devices....
Meanwhile, while testing some of her latest gadgets, Liz has noticed immense mountains of metallic debris from Al's own work, dotting the surface of Grit here and there (this is largely the refuse from Al's enormous excavations and production of his bus system). These mountains of metal trash annoy Liz's sense of aesthetics. After a while though this annoyance combines with Liz's knowledge of the Grit-wide transport system built by Al decades earlier, to form a surprising conclusion.
Liz realizes she can significantly increase Grit's velocity towards the core-- with virtually no additional fuel or replicator credits consumption. She'll simply construct an army of robots to transport and process the metallic debris into projectiles which she'll then shoot off Grit to both lighten the planetoid and accelerate it at the same time via action equals reaction: a mass driver system.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2986 milestone: Liz and Al bring Liz's mass driver onlineSignposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
2988 milestone: Al gets his enhanced radio antenna array onlineSignposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
3076 milestone: Pearsalls' Grit is roughly 166 lightyears from the Sol regionTheir old injuries and ever diminishing technological base didn't help matters either.
On the brighter side, Liz's mass driver had successfully boosted Grit's speed to 0.37c now.
Roster of investors/contractors/allies-- or enemies/opponents/competitors-- or others related in one way or another to the Pearsall expedition, in the centuries before and after 3076 AD| COMING SOON! |
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Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
3092 milestone: The deadly gamma ray shower from the ER11 disaster is now roughly one lightyear's distance from GritSignposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
3092 milestone: A mistake in judgment robs the Pearsalls of their most important technology asset-- and threatens to condemn the Pearsalls to death or worseAl spent considerable time using the Rover to travel to and along his now all but defunct bussing system which orbited Grit, which had never been used by the couple before its unfortunate destruction of late (as no nearby solar systems had been suitably close for the construction's capacities).
The Thumb Twiddler One system is about as far away from Liz as Al can get without leaving Grit forever. Of course, it's also the site of Al's worst mistake of recent times. A mistake for which he's unsure if Liz will ever forgive him. Why had he done it? It hadn't seemed truly risky to him during his planning. Good thing he'd built a robust abort plan though-- that was all that'd saved them.
In the meantime, Liz knows exactly where Al is (due to the built-in systems onboard the Rovers), and has decided to examine some of the many projects Al has been pursuing on his own for the last few centuries. Sure, she'd had some knowledge of a few of the tasks, but she hadn't really paid much attention to them before now.
Wow. What if Al had something else supremely dangerous simmering somewhere on Grit? Liz had decided it necessary to scour the planetoid for such stuff and get rid of it before it got rid of them. She'd wanted Al to help, but he'd refused, said she was going overboard, that he'd built nothing dangerous, and of course he was sorry about detonating the bomb, but he'd just thought the risk was worth taking at the time.
Al has his talents to be sure, but it was obvious his best work came from collaborations with Liz. Perhaps Al's worst fault was being unable to see the Big Picture in many instances.
Al had decided to try one of the suspect replicator packages possibly sent by rogue A.I.s to their convoy long ago-- something he knew Liz had expressly forbidden him to do. Liz had thought she had erased all the suspect packages. Apparently Al had saved a copy and hidden it somewhere.
Of course, the dangerous package destroyed their single remaining nanotech replicator, removing once and for all their single most important piece of equipment.
But it could have been worse-- much worse. They were actually lucky that something far more nefarious had not been loosed upon them by Al's boneheaded actions. Al had risked not only himself but Liz as well-- and without Liz even knowing about it, until after the fact. He'd only admitted what happened when Liz had needed the replicator for something and Al had to confess it was gone.
Yes, Al had taken some precautions with the replicator-- precautions which caused him to lose his precious Grit Explorer Tweedle Dum when the software bomb detonated. The replicator had begun to rapidly transform into something malevolent according to Al's automated monitoring instruments, which triggered an instant jettisoning of the entire artificial micro-moon from Grit orbit. Tweedle Dee soon followed, as Al's carefully balanced orbits about Thumb Twiddler One collapsed with the spin off.
Al had even used some of their precious anti-matter fuel to provide propulsion for the spin off. ARRRGHH!
Yes, from what the monitors indicated, Al's precautions had all been essential for preventing the software bomb from killing them (or worse).
But it was Al's fault they were in danger in the first place.
Al's eccentricities had been attractive centuries ago, but they were getting tiresome now. Like most men, Al seemed to have gotten stuck in puberty and never escaped (or even tried).
After a time Liz found Al's enhanced communications and long range sensor array. It looked like it might actually work with a few tweaks here and there. Liz wondered what might be happening on Grit Explorer Tweedle Dum right about now, with the replicator bomb in full bloom. The new A.I. of Tweedle Dum had been bombarding standard Grit communications channels continuously since jettisoning with what had to be other software bombs just waiting for a chance to activate inside an active system of some sort. But of course Al had known better by then than to allow such access to Grit systems, and after Liz discovered what was going on she naturally erased all the messages stored so far and banned anymore from being received from the monstrosity. However, merely receiving transmissions from Dum and actually observing it were two different things. It took a week or two, but finally Liz had the array up and tracking the rapidly receding Grit Explorer Tweedle Dum.
Tweedle Dum was starkly unrecognizable. Its mass appeared to be spreading across space like a great unfolding flower, as it slowly tumbled end over end in Grit's wake. But wait; the rate of tumble seemed wrong. Liz performed a few calculations based on Al's jettison data and confirmed her suspicions: Tweedle Dum was now acting in a sentient fashion to stabilize its course in the void.
Tweedle Dum seemed to possess its own independent propulsion and maneuvering systems now-- and it looked like it was eventually going to try to come after Grit.
Maybe Al should have used a bit more anti-matter in his abort system to allow for disintegration of Tweedle Dum. Or at least burn off more of the momentum Tweedle Dum enjoyed from once being a part of the Grit body system. For the replicator form now possessing the moonlet could literally transform all that mass into whatever it wanted, from drives to fuel to feed them. Sure, it'd be inefficient as hell, but Dum only needed to be efficient enough to kill the crew of Grit. Liz also was sure that replicator efficiency had probably risen tremendously since she and Al had left Sol. Dum might be able to pursue them for millennia with the mass at its disposal.
Tweedle Dum was less than half a lightyear behind them, and still slowly losing ground-- for the moment.
Liz was sure of two things: one, life was about to get much more interesting, and two, she and Al were going to have to make up, and fast.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
3093 milestone: The Battle for Pearsalls' GritThe consequences of this battle will shape the relationship between humanity and the A.I.s for centuries to come.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
3098 AD: The rehabilitation of Al PearsallSignposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
3106 AD: For the love of Liz PearsallThey need more specialized help from Sol system. But at their present distance old-style communications could put off Liz's recreation by more than two full centuries!
Fortunately, there's the tantalizing possibility of an instantaneous transport station available for salvage from the debris related to the same dark matter filament collision which killed Liz herself.
The debris field lies many years physical travel distance from Grit. But if what they need is there, Liz might be restored almost immediately after the transporter's in hand. And Alex has some ideas for how they might get there and back faster than most.
Al and Alex decide to mount a mission to the scene of the calamity. Unfortunately for the two, something besides Liz's death was brought about by the history-making impact. Something Al and Alex could never anticipate. After completion (it's not yet ready for posting) For the love of Liz Pearsall will detail the epic struggle which followed. Unbeknownst to Al, the fate of not only Liz-- but the entire human race-- would hinge upon the outcome.
Signposts Perspectives Pearsall Saga Contents
Now you know how humanity around Sol system felt in-between updates from the Pearsalls.
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