CHAPTER 3
Nathaniel Gordon was a small man with nervous hands and a tendency toward pedantry. He stood at his seat, bowed formally in the direction of the prime minister, and said loudly: “Dr. Nathaniel Gordon, University of Homeport, Department of Foldspace Astronomy and Physics. May I please have the lights down?”
As the conference room sank into gloom, the holoscreens mounted high on each of the four walls lit to show a complex three-dimensional diagram. The figure on the screens was a rough ellipsoid shape composed of two hundred small white spheres connected in a seemingly random pattern by a series of curved red lines. It had the look of a child’s construction set or of a complex organic molecule model. Close by each of the spheres were small golden pyramid-shaped markers. Upon closer examination, it became apparent that the red connecting lines did not actually touch the spheres, but rather, terminated in every case at the golden markers.
“Before one can fully appreciate what the Helldiver Project proposes to accomplish,” Gordon began, “it is necessary to understand the effect the Antares Supernova has had on the structure of foldspace. The figure on the screens is undoubtedly familiar to many of you. It is a somewhat stylized diagram showing the major foldline links within human space – what we astronomers call a Foldspace Topology Chart, or FTC for short. This particular FTC represents the situation before the Antares Supernova of 2512. The small white spheres are stars, the red connecting lines are active foldline links, and the gold-colored triangles are charted foldpoints.
“The first thing one notices about this FTC is that fewer than five percent of all the stars in human space are charted. That is because the number of stars that possess foldpoints is less than one in twenty. Another point to note: It is the pattern of foldline connections between the stars, not their actual positions in space that is important.
“This is sometimes a difficult concept for laymen, so forgive me if I dwell on it a bit. Take the example of our own closest neighbor, the M2 dwarf star, Reglati-Sera. Even though Reglati is but three light-years distant from us, no human being has ever visited it. That is because Reglati-Sera belongs to the 95% of stars that do not possess foldpoints. Thus, in a very real sense, Valeria’s closest neighbor is not Reglati-Sera at all; but rather, Napier, from whence our ancestors came. The two systems are separated by 110 light-years through normal space, but only by a few billion kilometers via foldline link.”
Gordon manipulated the screen control in his hand, and another FTC of considerably less complexity replaced the diagram. The stars were far less densely packed and the scale was such that it was now possible to read the names of individual stars. At the center of the screen was a star around which were clustered six small golden triangles. Floating nearby were a series of green, glowing letters that spelled out: ANTARES.
“It is not my intention to conduct a seminar in foldspace astronomy this morning,” Dr. Gordon assured his audience. “Therefore, let us concentrate on the local situation. On the screen is a foldspace topology chart showing part of our own local star group. Specifically, you are looking at the FTC for the Napier Sector of the Antares foldspace cluster. By the way, please do not confuse the term ‘foldspace cluster’ with the more common ‘star cluster.’ A star cluster is a group of gravitationally bound stars, whereas a foldspace cluster is a group of stars intimately linked by foldlines. The individual stars of a foldpoint cluster may not – and indeed, seldom are – in close physical proximity to one another.
“It is a truism that the structure of foldspace determines the economics of all activities that rely on interstellar travel. To understand this point, let us take an imaginary journey. Pretend for a moment that you are a pre-nova starship captain departing Alta with a cargo for Earth. Since Valeria is a cul-de-sac system, you have no choice as to the first waypoint on your journey. Of necessity, the destination of any starship leaving Val must be Napier.” Dr. Gordon did something to the screen control, and the faint red line connecting Valeria to Napier turned bright crimson. He continued: “Once in the Napier system, however, a pre-nova ship captain was faced with a choice as to his subsequent route to Earth. For example, he could have chosen to take the Hellsgate/Aezer route, which involves successive transitions from Napier to Hellsgate, Aezer, Hermes, Sacata, Carswell, Vega, and Luyten’s Star before finally reaching Sol.”
The links between stars brightened on the holoscreens as Gordon called out each name. “That is a total of eight foldspace transitions with intrasystem maneuvering at each star along the way. More sensibly, the same ship captain could have chosen to use one of the Antares routes from Napier to Sol. In that event, he would merely have to jump from Napier to Antares to Goddard to Sol – a total of three foldspace transitions. Obviously, the latter route is the more economical by a considerable margin.
“Now then, let us look at the post-nova situation…” Dr. Gordon manipulating the screen controls again. The small white globe that represented Antares suddenly expanded to ten times its former size, engulfing the foldpoint markers around it. Simultaneously, six red hued foldlines faded nearly to invisibility, causing the whole center of the foldspace diagram to dim.
“The value of a foldspace cluster lies not in the number of foldpoints it possesses, but rather in the increased inter-connectivity that cluster brings to the foldspace topology of human space as a whole. In other words, the supernova not only robbed us of those six trade routes, it also robbed us of the flexibility which they provided to our starships.” Dr. Gordon thumbed the holoscreen control and a third FTC flashed on the screen. He zoomed in on one section of the chart, revealing a string of four stars dangling like a loose strand of beads from the body of human space. The names floating beside the star markers were Aezer, Hellsgate, Napier, and Valeria.
“Here then,” Nathaniel Gordon said, “is what Antares did to us. Where before a starship captain could choose half-a-dozen routes between Alta and the other systems of human space, now there is but one. Clearly we are poorer and more vulnerable as a result.”
* * *
When Professor Gordon finished, the prime minister glanced down the table to where Drake sat. “I believe you are up next, Fleet Captain.”
“Yes, sir.” Drake stood and faced the audience. “My name is Richard Drake. I command the battle cruiser Discovery. I was military commander of Interstellar Expedition One, and will perform that same function for the Altan contingent to the Helldiver Expedition. I have been asked to review some of the events that led up to the decision to initiate the Helldiver Project. I will try to keep it brief.”
Drake paused and gazed at his audience. Except for the dozen or so neophyte legislators present, most looked mildly bored. The newly elected members of Parliament displayed a less identifiable emotion. Drake had long since decided that they were suffering from ill-concealed impatience. It appeared as though they had already made up their minds and were not particularly interested in having their opinions swayed by facts. Not for the first time during the meeting, he wondered if the decision concerning Helldiver’s fate had not already been made in some caucus room on Parliament Hill. He hurriedly pushed the thought from his mind and concentrated instead on his prepared text.
“Two years ago, ladies and gentlemen, we had no idea what conditions were like beyond our own foldpoint. All we knew was that the remains of a once powerful warship had fallen into our hands. Since that single ship could easily have defeated our whole navy, we were naturally concerned. It was for that reason that we launched the expedition to New Providence and Sandar.
“As you are all aware, we arrived at New Providence and found that the planet had been extensively bombarded prior to its being abandoned in 2527. We also learned of the existence of the Ryall. After New Providence, I decided to push on to the Hellsgate system to investigate further. There we made contact with the Sandarians, who gave us considerable information regarding the Human/Ryall War.
“Yet, when we quizzed the Sandarians about Conqueror, they denied ever having seen it. That left us with something of a paradox since, as you can see on the screen, Hellsgate sits astride the only plausible route for Conqueror to have taken from Earth. Obviously, if Conqueror didn’t come via the Hellsgate route, there is only one other possible route it could have used.” Drake stabbed his finger at the central star on the diagram. “It had to come straight through the supernova remnant!”
“How is that possible, Captain Drake?” a voice asked from midway down the table.
Drake turned at the interruption. “I beg your pardon, sir. You are?”
“My name is Jason Pettigrew. I am the newly elected representative of the New Chalmers District, Paradise Island. Frankly, I have seen the nova with my own eyes and find your suggestion to be utterly preposterous. How could any ship survive inside the supernova longer than an instant without being vaporized?”
Drake shrugged. “It couldn’t, Mr. Pettigrew. Not if the funeral pyre we see in our sky every night was a true picture of the nova. However, remember that light has been in transit for more than a century. What we are seeing is the supernova in its youth. Antares has aged considerably in 127 years.” As Drake spoke, he tapped a computer reference into the screen control. Suddenly, the foldspace diagram was gone, to be replaced by a full color holograph.
The holograph showed a view of the Antares Nebula as seen from the surface of New Providence. More than a century of expansion had transformed the brilliant point of light into a ghostlike nebulosity. The nebula had grown to nearly six light-years in diameter and when viewed from the relative closeness of the Napier system, covered a staggering 22.5 degrees of arc. That made it 40 times the diameter of Luna as seen from Earth, 200 times the diameter of Felicity as seen from Alta. At the shell’s center burned the corpse of what had once been the second largest star in human space; while nearby, a second star-like object was all that remained of Antares’ smaller A3 companion.
“That is how the nova looks today. Conditions inside are still pretty hellish by human standards, but compared to the primordial fury of those first few cataclysmic hours, Antares is practically cold!”
Pettigrew shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Then the rumors we’ve heard are true! The purpose of the Helldiver Project…?”
Drake nodded. “Is to penetrate the nebula, retrace Conqueror’s route, and find Earth.”
* * *
There was a long silence in the room. Finally, another Member of Parliament spoke up. “Surely you can’t be serious!”
“Why not?” Drake asked.
“Damn it, we’ve all seen photographs of Conqueror. The bow section was practically melted off. Are you telling us that the nova didn’t do that?”
Drake shook his head. “I’m telling you that the nova definitely did do it. Conqueror’s autopilot was damaged, but still retained sufficient sanity to use the blastship’s bulk as a radiation shield for itself, the engines, and fuel tanks.”
“And you’re going to send our ships into that same hell?” Jason Pettigrew asked.
“Not without protection, sir. For the past two years, a team of Altan and Sandarian scientists has been developing an anti-radiation field of radically new design. It should be able to protect a ship inside the nebula.”
“I take it that this project is where all the money has gone?” Pettigrew asked.
Drake nodded. “That was a large part of it. We’ve also been equipping various ships with anti-rad generators and making other general improvements.”
“What ships?”
“Discovery, Dagger, City of Alexandria, various tankers and support craft.”
“My God, you’re talking about half our Navy!”
“Not quite half, Jason,” the Prime Minister replied from where he had been following the debate. “Not when you count our new construction and foldpoint defense program.”
“But you are sending Dagger and Discovery out with this expedition!” Pettigrew insisted. “That leaves us only Dreadnought to defend Alta!”
“True enough, at least until the first of the new cruisers start coming out of the shipyards,” Gareth Reynolds replied.
“What can possibly have possessed you to siphon off so much of our strength for this hair-brained scheme?” Pettigrew asked.
“We had our reasons,” the prime minister responded. “Admiral Dardan!”
Admiral Luis Dardan, commander of the Altan Space Navy, rose from his seat and strode to where Drake was standing. He nodded at his subordinate and whispered, “Good job, Captain,” before Drake returned to his seat. Dardan waited for the assembled MPs to quiet down before continuing.
“Gentlemen, with the return of Interstellar Expedition One, we Altans found ourselves faced with an outside threat for the first time since the founding of our colony. It was the Navy’s job to determine how best to meet the Ryall challenge; and in doing our job, we studied two basic options. These were to help Sandar defend the Hellsgate-Aezer foldpoint against Ryall attack and to attempt to dislodge the Ryall from the Aezer system altogether. I will address the latter option first.
“By far the best solution to our problem would be to drive the Ryall from the Aezer system. Not only would this put more distance between our enemies and us, it would also allow trade to resume between Alta and the rest of human space. Unfortunately, the military prospects for this option are not good. The reason for this lies in the nature of foldpoints. A foldpoint is what we in the military call a choke point – a restricted volume of space through which all attacking forces must be funneled. Since a defender knows precisely where the attack will come, he need not waste his forces in patrolling other sectors. Every ship, every orbital fortress, every weapon he possesses can be concentrated in and around the foldpoint. With the defenders positioned to defend such a limited killing zone, the battle begins the moment an attacker materializes. If the defense possesses a sufficient concentration of firepower, it can annihilate virtually any size attacking force before the aggressor has an opportunity to escape into the system at large. The Sandarians have tried to force the Aezer-Hellsgate foldpoint three times over the past seventeen years. Each attempt has been a bloody failure. In light of this, we concluded that there is little likelihood of our driving the Ryall from Aezer any time soon.
“The other option considered was to assist the Sandarians in defending the Hellsgate-Aezer foldpoint. Not only will this save Sandar, it will also provide Alta with three separate lines of defense.” Dardan turned to the foldspace topology diagram. “The Ryall are here in the Aezer system. By fortifying the entrances to the Hellsgate, Napier, and Val systems, we can make them fight for each star system along the way. With such defense in depth, there is a very good chance that we can stop any likely Ryall attack for the indefinite future. Indeed, defense in depth is our primary strategy, and the reason why we have embarked on our massive shipbuilding program.”
“That doesn’t explain why you chose to divert so many resources into the Helldiver Project,” Pettigrew responded.
“No, sir, it does not. Normally, I would agree with you about the inadvisability of diverting such a large fraction of our strength at this time. If anything, I would argue that we should wait until we built up larger reserves before launching this expedition. Unfortunately, the Human/Ryall Institute at Homeport University uncovered a factor that convinced both ourselves and the Sandarian Government that it is not in our best interest to wait.”
“What factor, Admiral Dardan?”
“During its studies, the institute asked what the long term effect of our being isolated from the rest of humanity would be. Now, we know from our studies of Conqueror and the data we obtained from the Sandarians that Alta has lagged perceptibly in technological development during the Long Isolation. Since the Ryall are more than holding their own against humankind, we can assume that we have lagged their technological development as well. What the institute concluded was that we will fall even further behind if our isolation continues, and that as time goes by, the chance of the Ryall developing weapons and techniques capable of countering our defenses increases.
“What form such developments might take, we cannot predict. However, you merely have to observe some of the more advanced devices we discovered aboard Conqueror to know that the concern is a real one. By extrapolating the known rate at which we are falling behind, the institute calculated that we can expect the Ryall to defeat the Hellsgate-Aezer foldpoint defenses sometime within the next 10 to 25 years. Once Sandar falls, we Altans can expect to be overrun in less than a decade.
“Unless we reestablish contact with Earth immediately, our world has less than 35 years to live. That is the motivation behind the Helldiver Project and the reason why it must proceed at the earliest possible moment!”