Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 12

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Part 12
DATE:FC+31

"Keep sharp," said Tina. "This could all go wrong."

"You're always the pessimist," responded Sam. "The coordinates are ready."

"Thanks. This is my first solo. I'm so glad James taught us both how to fly Aurora while we were in hiding."

"The Earth jumps aren't difficult," said Sam. "It is the space ones that are tricky. You only got a few attempts at that and I've yet to have firsthand experience using the thrusters. So, why are we doing this?"

"I'm not fully certain," responded Tina thoughtfully. "But to hazard a guess, I'd suspect it was something requested by Miss T. A bit of ship exposure. I'm sure James won't be unhappy not having an eight-hour transatlantic flight."

"It was in the press that some cities in the UK and abroad had started closing off certain areas, just in case we wanted to land there. Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow. Even the Space Centre at Leicester has an area coned off. Mostly the foreign ones are near heads of state offices. Perhaps they all want to meet the aliens in person. I've not heard of one at NASA Houston though."

"I've just had the call," said Becky over the communications. "It's a go."

"Acknowledged," responded Tina and pressed the button. They disappeared from the factory.

"Cameras look clear," said Sam as soon as they'd arrived at their destination. "Home coordinates are in. I'll prepare the door."

"There's James," said Tina, pointing.

James was stood with two men. One was his age, the other looked older, but smartly dressed in a business suit. James said something to the older man who shook his hand politely before handing over a bag to James. James then turned to the other and after giving a more vigorous handshake gave a friendly slap on the back. His goodbyes done, he grabbed his travel bag and rushed towards Aurora. Sam completed the unlatching and opened the airtight door for James to board. There was no sound of sirens, nor people with guns.

"Door closed," said Sam.

Tina pressed the button, and they traversed the interdimensional tunnel back to the ship's home.

"Nicely driven," remarked Captain James Partridge to Tina.

There was slight irony in his voice. The jumps on planet were easy. Put in the coordinates and go. It was if they ever had to abort to space that things got tricky and why James was normally the one flying her.

"Well, if you go swanning off on vacations, you lose your pilots slot," teased Sam.

"Is Becky upstairs?"

"Sure, why?"

"I have something for her."

"Don't you have gifts for the rest of us?" asked Tina, with a slight teasing manner.

"This is something special."

They locked up the ship and made their way to the top floor where the small control room was. Inside was Becky, Evan, Ashleigh and Jenny.

"Thanks for the collection," said James as he went in. "Especially on a Saturday."

"Laura thought it might help."

"It did. Here."

James handed a bag to Becky who looked inside. She took out a white box, and after opening it she gasped.

"What is it?" asked Jenny, jumping up to have a look. Becky removed a Pudsey Bear with the tag 'Becky' on it.

Jenny squealed with delight and turned over the tag to see a small splat of ink that she'd caused when younger. It was the real thing.

"The Space Flight director thanks you for the emergency medication you sent. But he requests that you don't shock the astronauts again. The ship appearing was proof to them that I was able to hand the bear back to his rightful owner."

"Did you talk with some of your old colleagues?"

"Yes, though I didn't tell them that I was piloting Aurora. They are still in awe that there are aliens and that there is a ship that can travel outside the solar system. They are a mixture of explorers and scientists at heart, and this is something that is exciting to them. They see so many possibilities."

"While you were gone, we found that Laura had instructed one of her factories to make another ship. I'm sure it won't be the last one it produces either. Just the shell. We provide the power and engine. It is bigger than Aurora and has an airlock."

"Does it have couplings for the space station?"

"Yes, there is the International Docking System on it. That is separate to the airlock, on the other side of the ship."

"Good. It will help if there is ever an issue. I'm sure there will be more ships built. When the other ship is concluded, I think Aurora should be removed from space service. Without an airlock, or docking adaptor, it is an unnecessary risk. It can still be used when going somewhere on Earth or even to that alien space station."

"She is the prototype," said Evan. "The test ship. She was a simple design to prove the technology. I think she's more than done her job. The Space Shuttle Enterprise only flew test flights. She never went to space but was dropped from a 747 to prove gliding and landing. She had no engines, so the test pilots had to get it right. They did five free-flight tests like that."

"With no engines?" asked Jenny aghast.

"Ah, it was part of my youth," said Rebecca. "Not the test flights, but later shuttle missions. If I remember right, they came in like a glider."

"Now, they were pilots," said James, his voice full of admiration. "They don't make spaceships like that anymore."

"Ours is better," said Jenny.

"Ours is different," responded James. "Different doesn't equate to better. It is good for jumping long distances and going to specific places. Traditional rocket ships have more engines for longer distance cruising. Aurora has some thrusters, but is for minor movements, not massive orbit changes."

"But if you wanted to go somewhere else, you'd just jump, wouldn't you?" said Jenny, not giving up on Aurora.

"Of course. And not having to worry about the g-forces for taking off and landing. Plus, no re-entry challenges."

"Oh?"

"Some research for you," Evan said to Jenny, a twinkle in his eyes. "Look at the issues of having a vehicle that is going faster than the speed of sound, re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. It was a major issue years ago before scientists understood how to control and harness the heat when entering Earth's atmosphere."

"Thank you again for doing this," said James.

"It was good to fly the flag. Who knows, it might inspire some of the current astronaut program to want to fly one of Aurora's sister ships."

"Perhaps we should do visits to the ESA, Roscosmos and CNSA," thought Sam aloud.

"Don't forget JAXA," said Jenny, showing off her knowledge of space agencies.

"No stepping off Aurora though. Otherwise, Ashleigh will have so many forms to fill in and get authorisation. It's good the UK General Aviation Report system can authorise within hours now. How soon before the other ship is ready?" asked James.

"A few weeks," said Becky. "Henry and Sam will be supervising it. As they say, the second one is always easier than the first. Henry has created a mobile power unit and drive. They should be able to transport it here where it can be tested and fitted.

"You can do that?" said James, surprised.

"Liam and Henry say so," said Evan.

"You're unsure?"

"The theory is sound. The power isn't my worry. It is the drive. It has to become part of the ship frame to bind it to the interdimensional opening. We don't want to take half the factory with us."

"Are you still okay to look after Jenny?" asked Becky to Tina as they wandered down the stairs to go home.

"Sure," grinned Tina. "We are going to have so much fun."

"What are we doing, Aunty Tina?" asked Jenny, getting excited.

"Aunty?"

"Yes. I've decided to refer to Miss Thompson as Mum, so you'll be Aunty."

Tina stopped and Sam almost bumped into her.

"Are you okay?" Jenny asked, concerned to see a tear trickle down Tina's cheek.

"You caught me by surprise," responded Tina, leaning down and giving Jenny a hug. "I'm honoured to be your aunt. As for tonight, I don't want to spoil the surprise."

With that, Tina straightened up, and they all carried on down the stairs.

"You know you shouldn't dally on the stairs like that," said Sam in mock admonishment. "Didn't you learn anything at school?"

They all laughed as they continued down the stairs and out of the main entrance.

"Get back inside," said Tina spying an unknown car pulling to the security hut.

She went back in too and took out her phone to ring the security hut. "I was just about to ring you," said Lucy, who was the guard on duty at the front. I have a Tim Harper and Storm Daniels."

"Ask them to wait," said Tina and muted her phone.

"We have the press at the gate," she said to the others. "Tim Harper and Storm Daniels."

"A few days longer than Laura thought," mused Becky. "Okay. This will be just Evan and me. The rest of you, why don't you go sit in the control room. If they ask for a ride, will you James and Sam be happy to do that?"

"Sure, as long as we aren't going to be on camera."

Becky pulled out her phone and instigated the communications blanket. "Nobody is going to be on camera. I'm going to discuss things, but no interview. Not today. We'll have a chat in the meeting room, and then I'll bring them down to see Aurora."

Tina unmuted her phone. "Let them in. Becky will meet with them."

"Now scarper," said Becky when Tina had hung up. Becky passed the bag containing the Pudsey Bear to Ashleigh. "Will you put this into the meeting room on the way past. I think that should be a good opener."

It was just Becky and Evan left. They went outside and watched the car pull up.

Evan said, "I bet Liam's glad he wasn't around today."

"Do you want me to do this alone?" asked Becky. "I thought as chief scientist you should be here."

"Oh joy," said Evan with a grin. "Throw that back at me at each stage. I knew I should never have accepted that job title."

"You did get the bigger house than Liam, a slightly bigger salary and a bigger share in the company Laura Taylor setup for us."

"I suppose I better live with it," capitulated Evan, their shared smile highlighting the constant teasing between them.

Storm finished parking the car, and the two journalists got out.

"Hi," said Tim, stretching out his hand. "I'm Tim Harper."

Becky and Evan shook his hand.

"And I'm Storm Daniels," said Storm, and they repeated the greeting.

"Shall we go in," said Becky, not having introduced herself. "It's certainly a cold day."

"Indeed," agreed Storm.

They went upstairs to the meeting room. Storm immediately spotted the bear.

"It came back with the recent flight. The NASA Flight Director handed it to our pilot earlier."

"You're Becky?"

"I'm Becky," she acknowledged.

"I don't want to give you my name yet," said Evan. "I want to know why you are here. This is a private company. You are two different reporters, a political editor and a science editor. We aren't political."

"You gave a lift to the Prime Minister so she could attend the alien council. Your ship was mentioned in dispatches as being the reason the aliens made contact. That covers the political situation," responded Tim. "The science is what the ship does and how it does it."

"We were asked if we could assist. I'm sure others have helped the government and not been hounded."

"We aren't hounding. We aren't recording this. We would like to interview you."

"And then be hounded by everybody else. We've already had thirty armed mercenaries storm the building and we had to flee."

"We could do it where you're blacked out. We wouldn't expose who you are."

"We don't think it's wise at the moment to give full information about how the ship moves. It has huge implications."

"Such as?"

"It took three seconds for the ship to travel 150 light years. We can basically jump anywhere on the planet in under a second. Imagine the implications for borders. We can send things without the ship."

"Like the bear or the medication?"

"Yes. Someone could just as easily send a bomb. Or send an assassin to the room where a politician is. Until there is security, is that wise to give that to everybody?"

Tim glanced at Storm. This wasn't something they'd thought about.

"Three seconds?" Storm enquired. "It only took three seconds to travel that far? What about relativity? Was there not time dilation?"

"You've seen the Prime Minister. You saw when she went and when she came back. She didn't come back 300 years later."

"But you can't go faster than the speed of light," said Tim, and explained further.

Becky had heard that way of talking a few times. Sam, Tina, Jessica and Luke had that way of querying.

"All very good points," said Becky. She opened up her file and pulled out two sheets of paper and two pens. She slid them across the table to the two journalists. "No conferring. Draw the line an aeroplane would travel from London to Anchorage. Both places are marked on the map."

Storm looked at the map and frowned. She suspected there was more to this than a simple line, but geography had never been her forte. She was tempted to look across to see what Tim had done but felt that would be cheating. She'd not got where she was today by cheating. With a small sigh, she drew a straight line. She suspected it was wrong, but no idea why.

Tim on the other hand had smiled and quickly drawn his answer. When Storm had finished torturing herself, Becky leaned across and smiled at what she'd saw.

"Tim, do you want to explain your answer?" said Becky.

Storm glanced across at Tim's drawing and frowned.

"It's a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional object," said Tim. "Earth is curved. Therefore, the shortest line is curved."

"Tim's plane would have got from London to Anchorage quicker and with less fuel than Storm's," concluded Evan.

Storm cottoned on quickly and her eyes widened. "You didn't break the speed of light. You didn't even create an Alcubierre Drive. You created a way to travel via a different dimension! Now things make sense. The tests. You didn't create a transporter. You sent it through some sort of tunnel and the medication popped out in the space station."

Becky was please that Storm had said Alcubierre Drive and not Warp Drive. She knew her science, even if she wasn't that good at geography.

"The medication wasn't a test. The teddy bear was the test. The medication was because we heard someone needed it. There was an issue getting it there in a timely manner, so we sent it. Unfortunately, neither time was expected, and caused a few surprises to the astronauts."

"Though your Pudsey Bear test did bring in quite a bit of money for Children in Need."

"A worthy cause," said Becky. "Now we aren't going into how things work. It isn't time for this to be replicated."

"Who are you to say that?" retorted Tim.

"The creators of the technology," responded Evan curtly. "We will be publishing a paper in a journal, but that isn't a quick process. It will give the science behind it, but it won't be enough information for others to easily duplicate it."

"We outlined earlier the security risks. There is also the impact on the single representative vote."

"You're pushing to join the alien group?" asked Tim. They were now straying into his side of the job.

"That isn't for me to say," replied Becky. "However, even if we don't join the council, when the technology is produced, it will have an impact on governments. The ship has no concept of borders. I could live in Tokyo, work in London and go for a nice evening meal in Nassau."

"Do you need the ship? You didn't seem to require a ship when you sent the two items to the space station."

"In theory, no. Like you can walk to the office or catch a taxi. A taxi is much more convenient if you've got a lot of luggage to take with you. So far, we've only done small tests without the ship. But yes, we could build something for just a person. We did transport a mouse via the test unit. It was alive and ran off when it got to its destination."

"Did you meet any of the aliens when you took the PM?"

"I didn't go. It's only a test ship with limited space."

"I went," added Evan, still not having revealed his name. "We fly with a pilot, one of the engineers and one of the scientists. That was the furthest we'd ever travelled so wanted to make sure we could fix any issues. There weren't any problems, and when we got there only the Prime Minister and her aide Rupert met the council. We stayed with the ship and checked it for the return journey."

"So, what do you want from us?" asked Becky.

"Information, and an interview," said Storm.

"How did you find this place? Does your boss know where you are?"

"I got a tip," said Tim.

"We nearly went somewhere else," said Storm. "There was an old rumour of some strange activity about twenty miles north of here. Tim's tip was more dependable."

"This is where the ship was built and is stored. Tell me about the other place."

Storm shrugged. "An old pub in a small village called Epney. I heard the rumour for a few weeks last summer. It then went dead, like a lot of rumours do. It was the only thing we had to go on. I'm glad Tim found a better contact."

"There is one other area this impacts people, but you've not thought about it yet. Do you want to see Aurora?"

"The ship?" said Storm, her eyes wide with excitement. "Please."

"And you Tim?"

"If you're going to show Storm, I might as well tag along."

They went back downstairs, and then into the basement. Evan was ahead with Storm, and Becky walked next to Tim.

As Storm and Evan went around a corner, Becky tapped Tim on the arm, and they stopped. "I need to ask you this without Storm or Evan around. Did you go to a special music school?"

Tim frowned. "Why are you asking where I went to school?"

"If you saw someone here that went to that school, they might not want you to acknowledge it. Also, it might cause Storm to ask questions."

"Why do you think I went to a music school?"

"It's your attitude, and some of the things you said. I've come across a few people from that school and you seemed the type. If I'm wrong then you won't recognise anybody, and it will be irrelevant."

"Let's see this ship of yours," said Tim, and they rushed to catch up with the others.

"Wow, look at her," said Storm in awe. "How do you get her out?"

"It doesn't need an exit," Evan reminded her.

"Doh!" she responded, in her best Homor Simpson impression.

Becky opened the door. "Have a look inside, if you want. Remember, this is just the test ship, so rather functional."

Storm went in and gasped. "No, she's beautiful. You say the ship is called Aurora?"

"Yes."

Tim climbed aboard and gave a low whistle. "She really goes to space?"

"Are you after a ride?" responded Becky.

"Do you mind?" responded Tim, thinking how Andrea would respond that evening.

"I don't mind, but it is up to the three that would go with you," said Becky, all serious.

"I'm good to help," said Evan.

"I'll leave you to chat. I'll go to the control room and see if the other two will join."

Becky left them and went up the two floors. When she went in, there were anxious gazes.

"They are wondering if we'd give them a sample ride. James and Sam, are you up for that?"

They responded they were.

James went out of the door, but Becky held Sam back. "I think he might have gone to the school here."

"He did. He was slightly older, and I was only there for six months, so if he recognises me or not, we shall see. I won't say anything, and he shouldn't either."

Sam left to catch up with James.

The three computers responsible for monitoring the ship were operational. However, in the absence of Liam and Henry, Becky was solely overseeing everything. Evan had been present when Tina and Sam executed the jump earlier.

"Can you give me a hand?" asked Becky to the room.

"Who?" asked Ashleigh.

"Tina, take that one, and Ashleigh this one. Jenny, sit with whoever you want to."

When they were seated, Becky continued, "I want you to watch these screens. You don't need to do anything, but if one of the numbers turns red, shout. Don't panic but let me know. I can then pull up the details on my side. This will only be for a short while, until the ship is gone. You'll have no telemetry then."

"I'm not comfortable with this," said Ashleigh sitting down on the centre console, and gazed at dials, graphs, and numbers. "If you need people for this, then we have people for this. I've seen space launches on television. They have banks of desks with people who understand what's happening."

"They have a lot more systems to watch and a lot more can go wrong. Aurora is a lot less complex, and Sam will be monitoring inside the ship."

"Not Evan?"

"There is no secondary console. Evan is there just in case they come across something strange that hasn't been accounted for. Sam is there to look after the ship. James is there to fly if manual flight is required. He is also responsible for the ship and the people inside. If a difficult choice has to be made, it falls on his shoulders."

"Tina, don't tell me you've done this before,” Ashleigh quipped, keeping watch on the screen.

"Not a space vehicle, but I did do monitoring at a chocolate factory. The output might be different, but the concepts aren't alien to me."

"Ooh, did you get to sample the chocolate?" asked Jenny, sat in between her Mum and Aunt.

"No, but they did have a nice staff shop where we did get it rather cheap."

Evan came over the radio. "We've had an incident. Becky, can you come down."

They all looked at the main screen and saw Storm leaving the ship. James was just behind, his arms moving wildly as if he was very upset.

"Oh boy," muttered Becky and rushed downstairs to find out what was happening.

The two reporters had got to the entrance by the time Becky had got downstairs. James was with them, clearly very angry. Storm had a haughty look, and Tim was looking at her with disgust.

"What's going on?" enquired Becky.

"Storm was abusing one of the crew," said James.

"I wasn't."

"You called Sam, 'it' and other snide remarks," said James. "I asked you to apologise, and you ranted."

"You've been warned about that type of attitude," said Tim. "Sam was going out the way to help you and that is the way you repay. Don't you feel you should treat people with respect? You do realise for this you may be sacked."

"I treat people with respect when they deserve it. I bet it is just here because of some equal opportunity rubbish."

"Sam is here because Sam is the best Ship Engineer," said Becky. "On our initial test flight there was an issue which not only did Sam help diagnose but fixed while floating weightless in orbit. Sam is a hero, and we are honoured to have Sam on our team. Sam was part of the crew that took the Prime Minister."

"I'm disappointed in you," Tim said to Storm. "You had the opportunity of a lifetime, and you threw it away."

Tina came down the stairs. "I'll escort our guest out."

Tim was going to follow too, but Tina put up her hand to stop him. It wasn't long before Storm was in the car and making her way out of the carpark. When she was gone, Tina came back in, a small smile on her face.

"What did you do?" asked Becky, seeing the smile.

"Her phone seems to have been wiped, and all her contacts gone. The cloud backup will have gone too."

"That's awful," said James, smiling too.

"Hey Tina," said Tim. "Long time no see. But you've left me with no ride back to London."

"Do you want a flight back?" asked James.

"If Sam is okay," said Tim. "I need to ring the office first."

Tim pulled out his phone but saw that there was no signal.

Becky pulled out her phone and pressed a few buttons. "Try again. I'll send the footage as proof."

"Nice security," responded Tim. He wasn't on the phone long. His report to HR was concise. Becky's email came through and he forwarded it to HR. Their response was swift to maintain their reputation as being one of the top LGBTQ companies in the country. Storm Daniels would no longer be employed by the company.

Tina sighed. "There's nothing stopping her selling this location on the market."

"The Yvestigans already know where we are," said Becky. "The only ones we have to worry about is the press and spies, corporate or other."

"I must apologise again," said Tim. "What Storm said is never acceptable in my eyes. Can I go down to see Sam? I would like to apologise directly."

James moved aside and let Tim go down the stairs. They all followed. Sam was sat at the entrance to the ship looking morose, but there was no sign of tears. Without any signal, Tim rushed forward.

"Thanks James," said Becky as they watched Tim and Sam embrace. "You did the right thing. I've not known someone like that for years."

"The UK does appear to be a lot more tolerant than ten years ago," mused James. "I doubt the Prime Minister would have got in back then. I think having a government like we have sets standards for all of us. I'm honoured to work with Sam."