94
DAEDALUS BASE
8 DECEMBER 2114
Alayna didn’t sleep well on Friday night and woke early on Saturday, thoughts swirling through her mind. Would things have been different if she hadn’t taken the COFAR position? Of course, they would have been. Someone else would have discovered the Solar Express, but with the same result. The CME would have occurred, and the odds were that she still wouldn’t have been anywhere near Lincoln, not in time to change what had happened with her father.
That doesn’t help … But it was true.
Chris would still have been assigned to the mission, but he might not have survived without her concerns and warnings.
He might have talked to another postdoc … Alayna smiled wryly. That most definitely wouldn’t have happened. She’d learned later that the other top two candidates for the COFAR position had been men, and it had been clear to her from the beginning that Chris was strictly interested in women.
That didn’t help much, either, because she felt like she’d had to pay, somehow, because she’d jumped at the opportunity offered by COFAR … because she’d been attracted to Chris from the moment he had briefed her and the others before leaving ONeill Station, and she had been forward in lingering to talk to him at the end of the transit to the Lunar Low Orbit Station. But you’ve both paid. He paid for following his dream of being a pilot … and seeing the stars.
Knowing that if she stayed in her bunk, she’d only stew, she struggled up and dressed, then straggled to the kitchen and made a large pot of coffee. She was going to need it. And then there were her worries about Chris, which hadn’t been fully abated by his last message, although she’d been touched by the way he had promised to explain everything. Finally, she wasn’t looking forward to the DOEA requisition of space at COFAR for two weeks for no more than five DOEA personnel for quarters and use of common facilities for operations in the area that would not interfere with COFAR operations.
She’d already received a second message from the Foundation, this time from Director Wrae, requesting that she report on the arrival of DOEA personnel and the requirements imposed on COFAR, as well as reminding Alayna that the Foundation could invoice DOEA for all supplies and food consumed by the DOEA team.
As she sat at the mess table and sipped her coffee, she turned her thoughts to what she could control—at least, a little—her work.
Her clearly speculative theorizing about the basis of the alien spacecraft was coming along as she expected. Slowly. That was always the way it seemed matters went after the initial inspiration. The intellectual grunt work to fit the pieces together took forever. If they will even fit. There was a Sinese proverb or the like about a journey of a thousand kilometers beginning with a single step. Well, in trying to figure out the theoretical basis of the graviton drive, she’d taken a few steps along the way on a journey that might take millions of light-years.
The other problem that nagged at her was one that was far closer to her own studies—the source of the pseudo-particle beam that had destroyed the alien artifact.
She couldn’t help thinking that, somehow, “the man who wasn’t there” was somehow involved. Maybe, if she saw the images again …
She thought about eating, shook her head, then picked up her mug, carefully, and walked from the mess to the control center, where she seated herself in her usual position.
“Marcel, please display the fractal construct based on the multi-fractal mini-granulation array—the one that was visible right after the solar prominence and the event that destroyed 2114 FQ5.”
The image appeared on the screen wall.
“Can you construct a three-dimensional image based on the construct?”
“That is possible, but it will not be a fractal.”
Alayna recalled the time, as an undergraduate, when two of her classmates had attempted to create a Mandelbulb—a mathematical attempt to re-create a Mandelbrot set of fractals in three dimensions. Marcel was politely telling her that he couldn’t do that, either.
“Cancel that.” Instead, Alayna studied the existing construct. Surely, it should remind her of something. She kept looking, but she couldn’t think of a thing.
“Marcel … would you see if you can find a fractal image anywhere in the database, any of them…” She paused. “See if you can get a link to the National Science Center and request a match.” Using Earth-Moon links was frowned on, but if the NSC was up, there actually might be less traffic.
While Marcel waited for a reply, or possibly even for a link, Alayna realized that another message had come in, from Harris at Lunara Mining. She frowned as she opened it and began to read.
Pack train will be leaving here at 0830 with DOEA contingent and supplies. DOEA is paying for the extra power. Enjoy.
The fact that the AI-guided series of lunar rollers was being sent during lunar night meant DOEA was serious about whatever it was, and that was another concern Alayna didn’t really want to dwell on.
She immediately replied.
Thanks for the heads-up.
The response was even shorter than usual.
Our pleasure.
Alayna smiled wryly. Their pleasure at your having to deal with another DOEA contingent.
“Dr. Wong-Grant,” said Marcel, “we did obtain a link. This is the closest to the one you indicated. It may not be what you wanted. Please note the source.”
Alayna did—“Fractal Structure Failure as Indicator of Dysfunction,” Kellana M. Dukes, M.D., Journal of Neurology, April, 2109. She immediately studied the image—which did indeed resemble the construct. Then she began to read the article, and a section leapt out at her.
… natural fractals do not exist in three-dimensional form. Three-dimensional natural biologics do have a two-dimensional fractal representation in certain biological structures, particularly in the human nervous system …
Could it be? Observations over the past century had shown that AGNs at the center of certain galaxies appeared to exercise some form of regulatory control over the ebb and flow of gases and matter in a way that kept those galaxies intact and functioning. Even the Earth shifted its magnetosphere to block certain types of CMEs. The problem with the last CME had been that the magnetosphere had been essentially overpowered.
And then there were the ancients. Had Akhenaten been right in his belief and speculations that the sun was more than a natural phenomenon?
That’s stretching, Alayna.
Still … why had the sun reacted so violently to the approach of the artifact … unless it could somehow sense the gravitons. Even so …
Energy! All those energy storage chambers had to be filled—energized—somehow. What if the sun, or whatever the multi-fractals represented, opposed having energy being drained?
That’s preposterous. You’re grasping at straws … or the man who isn’t there.
Nonetheless, she shivered for a moment. Should she send a copy of the reconstructed solar image, along with a copy of the image from the article, to Dr. Dukes?
Abruptly she smiled sadly and then shook her head. She’d write it up, if only in her personal records, but for the present, the Solar Express had been enough of a shock to the poor inhabitants of Earth. Equally important from a professional point of view, first, she wasn’t a neurologist, and second, the near-matching solar fractal was a theoretical construct, not a complete observation.
If you can ever capture a complete image … But that would be like imaging the man who wasn’t there.
Perhaps … later … but only with better evidence. Much better evidence. A lingering thought remained. But no one else has a better explanation, not yet anyway.
In the meantime … she did have a base to run, and she only had a few hours to make certain it was presentable to whatever DOEA contingent was about to descend upon her.
Something else that was likely another price to pay.
95
LRT [AI2]
8 DECEMBER 2114
Tavoian
stood by the airlock door, holding his kit bag in his left hand. His knees were shaking, despite the low gravity, as the lock doors opened. He stepped out toward the woman who stood there, her mouth opening.
“Chris…” Her voice caught. “You … you’re … the DOEA contingent?”
“All of it … for better or worse. The colonel couldn’t think of a better place for my low-grav rehab. I did promise you…” He didn’t know what else to say.
He didn’t have to.
Her smile, brighter than a lunar day, was more than enough as she stepped forward, her intense green eyes meeting his as she took his hand.
ASTRONEWS
2 DECEMBER 2197
ALAYNA WONG-GRANT
(2085–2197)
Nobel Prize–winning scientist Alayna Wong-Grant died in her sleep at 0131 UTC on this date. The Noram-born astrophysicist received her doctorate from Princeton University at the comparatively young age of twenty-eight. After taking a postdoctoral appointment as the resident astronomer at the Combined Farside Lunar Array (COFAR), she pursued her interest in solar dynamics and, in particular, a study of solar multi-fractal mini-granulations. As part of her other duties at COFAR, she discovered what appeared to be a comet, an object classified prosaically as 2114 FQ5, which became the Solar Express, the only alien artifact yet discovered. Her studies of solar dynamics and the interaction of the Solar Express led to the formulation of her Gravitonic Theory of Spacetime [GTS], for which she later received the Nobel Prize for Physics, and which is the basis of the Gravitonic Drive. After several years with a number of observatories, she succeeded Dr. Jay M. Mehlin as director of the Williams Observatory consortium, and as professor of astronomy at Williams College. Upon her retirement from direct observational activities, she remained as Director Emerita until her death.
She was predeceased by her husband of seventy-one years, Brigadier General Christopher A. Tavoian, who served as the Noram Space Command’s director of outer planet studies for nearly fifteen years, and who was the only survivor of the expeditions sent to investigate the Solar Express, for which he received the Medal of Valor. The couple had two daughters and five grandchildren.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
L. E. Modesitt, Jr., is the bestselling author of more than sixty novels encompassing two science fiction series and three fantasy series, including the Saga of Recluce and the Imager Portfolio. He lives in Cedar City, Utah.
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TOR BOOKS BY L. E. MODESITT, JR.
THE IMAGER PORTFOLIO
Imager
Imager’s Challenge
Imager’s Intrigue
Scholar
Princeps
Imager’s Battalion
Rex Regis
Madness in Solidar
Treachery’s Tools (forthcoming)
THE COREAN CHRONICLES
Legacies
Darknesses
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Alector’s Choice
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Soarer’s Choice
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Lady-Protector
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The Towers of the Sunset
The Magic Engineer
The Order War
The Death of Chaos
Fall of Angels
The Chaos Balance
The White Order
Colors of Chaos
Magi’i of Cyador
Scion of Cyador
Wellspring of Chaos
Ordermaster
Natural Ordermage
Mage-Guard of Hamor
Arms-Commander
Cyador’s Heirs
Heritage of Cyador
Recluce Tales (forthcoming)
THE SPELLSONG CYCLE
The Soprano Sorceress
The Spellsong War
Darksong Rising
The Shadow Sorceress
Shadowsinger
THE ECOLITAN MATTER
Empire & Ecolitan (comprising The Ecolitan Operation and The Ecologic Secession)
Ecolitan Prime (comprising The Ecologic Envoy and The Ecolitan Enigma)
The Forever Hero (comprising Dawn for a Distant Earth, The Silent Warrior, and In Endless Twilight)
Timegods’ World (comprising Timediver’s Dawn and The Timegod)
THE GHOST BOOKS
Of Tangible Ghosts
The Ghost of the Revelator
Ghost of the White Nights
Ghosts of Columbia (comprising Of Tangible Ghosts and The Ghost of the Revelator)
The Hammer of Darkness
The Green Progression
The Parafaith War
Adiamante
Gravity Dreams
The Octagonal Raven
Archform: Beauty
The Ethos Effect
Flash
The Eternity Artifact
The Elysium Commission
Viewpoints Critical
Haze
Empress of Eternity
The One-Eyed Man
Solar Express
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Inbound from Aphelia
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Orbital Mechanics
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Close Encounters
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Three’s Company
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Escape Velocity
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Astronews
About the Author
Tor Books by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SOLAR EXPRESS
Copyright © 2015 by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Michael Graziolo
Solar flare image courtesy of NASA/SDO/Goddard/Wiessinger
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Modesitt, L. E., Jr.
Solar express / L. E. Modesitt, Jr.—First edition.
p. cm.
“A Tor book.”
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First Edition: November 2015