Luca

A story about the first people ever to exit the solar system.

Luca

Joe Porter, 2012

 

When Luca Simon was a young boy, he looked into the night sky, dreaming that someday he might reach out and touch just one of the distant points of light shining down from overhead.  As he grew, his dream did not fade but took on a life of its own.  Voracious in his hunger for learning and feeling disconnected from his ordinary childhood, he imagined distant worlds and fantasized about a life no man had ever known.

 

Luca was born in 2040, during the last years of the Great War:  the third of the world wars.  He was only two years old when the war was finally declared to be over and the last treaties were signed by the planet’s most powerful men and women.  He would never know the despair that was the height of the war:  the homeless epidemic, the subsequent rise in infectious disease, the unemployment, or the widespread hunger.  Certainly he would never know the darkness that was the deaths of so many women and men, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. 

 

Among the casualties of the war, aside from the staggering number of broken families, was the planet itself.  By this time, Earth had been nearly cleared of its forests and natural resources.  Part of the reason for the war in the first place was to claim ownership to the remaining reservoirs of oil on the planet.  With the fighting raging on for years, however, these reservoirs were all but completely drained.  The planet was becoming a husk of what it once had been.  Famine and sickness were not yet widespread in the developed countries but it would not be long before the entirety of the world began to know real suffering.

 

It was during this period of diminished resources, following the war, that there was a sudden resurgence of advancement in science and technology.  In ten years, the scientific community and its accomplishments grew at such a staggering rate that new technologies became commonplace; the luxuries of the old world were resurfacing.  Where once was the daily struggle of human misery and the desperation to survive the war, were now inventions and reinventions of technologies and processes previously unimagined by any human being.  Every day was another astounding feat of the human mind, exploring the possibilities around them, devising new ways to improve the lives previously broken but now, once again, full of hope.

 

Although he did not know it at the time, it was the mind of one scientist, in particular, that changed Luca’s life forever.  The man’s name was Maxim Alkaev, a Russian scientist with nearly unlimited federal funding at a time when the governments of the world began to shift focus from destruction to the sciences, perhaps out of fear that they may not be as lucky to still have a planet, were such a war ever to break out again.  It was his invention, in 2054, that would thrust the scientific community into the business of space exploration:  a tachyon emitter array that would later come to be known as a BLS, or Beyond Light Speed array, and would permit humans, for the first time in history, to visit the worlds formerly beyond their reach; worlds previously only dreamed of.  Luca would later look back at Alkaev’s life with a heaviness of heart and a sort of dreamy gratitude that would sometimes bring tears to his eyes " little did he know that the children of future generations would recall Luca’s own life and accomplishments with the same sort of reverence.

 

Sometime after Alkaev’s breakthrough invention, which took many years to perfect and make safe for practical use, there was an international clamor to get into space and search for the opportunity of first contact with an alien civilization.  The population of the world became obsessed with space, and space exploration.  Universities specialized in training students in space exploration, began popping up all over the world.  Every country had its elite graduates that were being prepared to man the first missions outside the solar system.  Luca, only 24 years old, was among the first students to graduate from the Academy of Aeronautic Sciences and Space Exploration, the first in the country, and funded by NASA and the United States government. 

 

Luca was an exceptional student, starving for knowledge and brimming with passion for all things space related.  He was actually training for the very career he had dreamed of since he was a child.  He would sometimes step back and look at his life and credit it all to luck:  believing he was merely in the right place at the right time.  In reality, though, it was his brilliant mind and charismatic personality that allowed him to arrive here, at the precipice of a new age of human history, and he cherished every moment of it. 

 

Graduating at the top of the first ever class of the academy afforded Luca more opportunities than he could ever have imagined.  However, when Luca found that NASA had begun skimming the universities for talent to man the first ever mission outside of the solar system, he wasted no time in applying.  Naturally, after a long series of tests and examinations of his mental and physical fitness, Luca was chosen to enter the New Worlds program, developed by the United States government to facilitate the final testing, selection and training of the first interstellar astronauts.

 

Luca excelled in every test given to him by NASA and was chosen to lead a civilian science team, hired not only to document and examine anything and everything the crew might encounter while aboard Oasis I " the ship chosen to carry the non-military crew " but also to lead the ground investigation of the new planet which had become the focus of the mission. 

 

In addition to Oasis I, a military ship was commissioned to accompany the civilians as a safety precaution, providing security and no small amount of firepower for the mission.  There was no evidence that such measures would be needed in this uncharted region " after all there really was no evidence that life outside of the planet Earth even existed.  However, as had been tradition in the United States for longer than one could remember, no American would ever go into uncharted lands " or space " unarmed. 

 

The USS Guardian was the most powerful and advanced military vessel on Earth, and with the addition of its BLS array, was the natural choice.  Captained by John Paul Kineas, formerly of the United States Navy, the ship was fitted with everything it would need to survive the dangers of space, including a very skilled " albeit light " crew.  Together, the two ships would make the first journey into uncharted space, leaving behind the only home they had ever known, risking their very lives to explore a new world. 

 

-

 

Five years before this fateful mission left the ground, astronomers began to work around the clock, collecting information and developing various hypotheses about the condition of the third of six planets circling a pair of binary stars " Micon Alpha and Micon Beta " almost thirty-four light-years away.  This planet, known as Micon 3, was the nearest planet to the Earth that was capable of supporting human life, without the need for life-sustaining devices.  It had an oxygen atmosphere and an abundance of liquid water: two of the primary requirements for human survival.  Without the technology able to scan the planet for signs of life, the crew would be going in blind, which was very risky, considering the innumerable possibilities that lie waiting on the surface.

 

Micon 3, or New Earth as the media predictably came to know it, was to be the savior of a people from a dying planet; a renewal of resources long lost to the human race; a chance to start over.  “This time, things will be different,” became the mantra heard around the world: the empty promise of a desperate people, begging for one more chance. 

 

With the help of the BLS array, Oasis I and Guardian were permitted to travel the thirty-four light-years to Micon 3 at roughly seventy times the speed of light.  Prior to the invention of the tachyon emitter, this journey would have taken hundreds of years, longer than any human’s lifetime.  Generations of people would be needed aboard the ship, raising future pilots, and science crews as they travelled to reach their destination; not to mention the massive quantities of fuel that would be needed.  It was simply an impossibility, something they could only dream about. 

 

Like so many things before it " SCUBA gear, long range real-time video communication, and even flash data storage " a tachyon emitter began as something strictly out of science fiction.  It wasn’t until Alkaev’s breakthrough discovery of the tachyon particle in the early 2040s that science fiction became science fact.  He discovered that this rogue particle was capable of traveling almost seventy times the speed of light.  He found that by splitting the nucleus of a hydrogen atom, and then super heating the resulting particles, they would begin to fuse, creating a cluster of particles he called “tachyons” " a completely shocking discovery because the particle behavior was so unlike anything ever witnessed. 

 

It was discovered that matter completely contained within a field of tachyon particles was no longer limited by the laws of physics, particular in regard to speed.  Not only that, but to give a tachyon particle field a little push in one direction would build such momentum that the field would be traveling beyond the speed of light in minutes, pulling the contents along with it and deflecting matter in its path.  It was virtually unstoppable, and almost impossible to damage.

 

Once he made this monumental discovery, it was almost fourteen years before he was able to create a compact device, capable of creating the particle clusters and then concentrating them into streams; a device he called a tachyon emitter.  Situating these emitters around the ends of a space craft, the first tachyon emitter array was created, later known as a BLS " or beyond light speed " array.  These devices were able to point the tachyon streams in such a manner, as to envelop the ship in a tachyon field, facilitating travel through space at a rate dozens of times the speed of light.

 

The Micon 3 mission was scheduled to take six months each way, with a three month investigative stay on the planet itself.  When each member of the crew was asked if he or she was prepared to stay aboard a ship for such a long period of time " one year in total " each answered with a resounding yes.  The thought of exploring uncharted space was such a rare and unprecedented opportunity that they might have volunteered for a journey many times longer than the one they were about to embark upon.  The pressures and complications of such a long trip would not begin to sink in until much later. 

 

For now, though, each of the crewmen had stars in their eyes.  Some were filled with dreams of glory, wanting nothing more than to return home heroes, saviors of the human race.  Others sought only adventure, bored with the mundane world they were born into; seekers of new and exciting places and experiences: thrill riders.  For Luca though, it was a mixture of many things.  He was a very scientific man, and the discovery of a new world was not only thrilling for him, but stimulated him intellectually in ways that he would never know again.  The possibilities were endless, and he was limited only by the narrow view of the universe in which his people were currently capable. 

 

-

 

Luca got out of bed the morning of the launch, having slept very little, but still bouncing with energy.  He had, after all, been waiting for this day for a very long time.  He went about his morning routine with a detached sense of order this morning, thinking only of the launch.  His eyes were nearly the color of the bloody marys he had enjoyed the night before with his best friend, Jeremy.  It was sort of a last hurrah; a farewell-to-Earth party. 

 

Jeremy and Luca had been best friends for many years before their time at the academy, though their circle of friends was quite small:  mostly just the two of them, with a few other people peppered in over the years.  It was Jeremy that stayed up all night with Luca, studying for exams.  It was Jeremy that bought drinks when Luca and Caroline parted ways their freshman year.  And it was Jeremy that stood next to Luca on the stage of the auditorium as they each accepted their degrees from the academy. 

 

Luca graduated magna cum laude with a degree in biophysics.  It was only by a close margin, however, that Jeremy graduated at all.  Always a sort of slacker, he was often bored with his school work and opted, instead, to spend his evenings at the pub, chain smoking cigarettes and hitting on the waitresses.  It was really only because of Luca that he made it out of the academy with his degree in botany.  It was also only because of an unwavering insistence from Luca to the New Worlds selection committee that he was invited aboard Oasis I, as the ships horticulturist in charge of running its botanical laboratory.  Luca, being the most promising entry to the New Worlds program, had the unique ability to persuade just the right people " much to the benefit of Jeremy Webb.

 

The relationship between the two of them had always been one that defined the phrase, “opposites attract”.  Luca was always very diligent in his studies while it seemed Jeremy only continued his education so they wouldn’t be separated.  Luca basically carried him through college, but it was time now for Jeremy to grow up.  This was a very serious mission, and Luca had a lot on his plate.  Jeremy was often reminded by program instructors that there were a lot of people, all over the world that would kill for a chance to be in his shoes. 

 

Hundreds of people applied for entry into the New Worlds program but only a few dozen were chosen to attend.  In the end, only six civilians were chosen for the Micon mission:  Luca Simon, Jeremy Webb, and Nick Pegg from the United States (although Jeremy was originally from Manchester, England); Dr. Charlie Frost and Lilly Park, from the Ireland and England respectively, and Yelena Nolosova from Russia.  All six candidates were put through the program in Virginia, and all six successfully completed training and were briefed extensively on the mission at hand.  Each had their assigned areas of responsibility. 

 

MOVE OR REMOVE BELOW

 

Nick Pegg was chosen to pilot Oasis I, after having spent several years in NASA, flying short missions to the moon and once to Mars.  He was a gruff sort of man in his early forties, with limited social skills.  Though few people ever witnessed him drinking, he often smelled vaguely of whiskey.  He was chosen to pilot this very special mission because of his unwavering ability to remain cool under pressure.  It was his steady hand, and apparent lack of emotion while flying the shuttle Novac, that averted disaster upon reentry of the atmosphere from a routine cartography mission to Mars.  It was from this incident that his nickname, Nick Novac, became popular among the other pilots. 

 

Luca was chosen to lead the mission, essentially placed in command of Oasis I, as it was primarily an expedition of scientific research.  His background in biophysics was perfectly suited to the investigation of a planet, where new forms of life may be present.  He would also be in charge of the daily operations of the ship, mostly overseeing each of the other scientists work. 

 

Jeremy was to serve as the ships horticulture specialist, charged primarily with maintaining edible and medicinal plants to supplement the materials for both ships.  Although he was rarely serious enough for it to become noticeable, he was an extremely intelligent man " and, perhaps less mysteriously, he very much enjoyed smoking cigarettes.  In spite of the insistence of the flight coordinators that he absolutely not bring any smoking materials along with him, he managed to smuggle a few cartons of Camels aboard, commenting to Luca, “if I can’t take my ciggies, it’s likely that no one will return alive.” 

 

Watching him blow a puff of smoke up through his loosely curled strawberry blonde hair, always reminded Luca of their younger days:  Jeremy always with a cigarette in his hand, trying to get Luca to ditch class for an afternoon at the pub; Luca inevitably succumbing to Jeremy’s charms, only to find himself finishing not only his own homework first thing in the morning, but Jeremy’s as well.  Luca would later find that these were some of the best memories of his life.

 

Perhaps some of Jeremy’s more well-known skill sets around campus were those which involved the female population.  He had an inherent charm that few people, men or women, could resist.  He could roll hastily out of bed, throw on yesterday’s blue jeans and stroll up to any woman on campus and successfully convince her that she needed " not wanted " to meet him for a drink that evening.  When asked by Jeremy why Luca didn’t do more flirting with the girls around them, Luca would reply that he found Jeremy’s tactics vulgar and off-putting, citing that the girls he was interested in would never go for such displays.  In reality, though, Luca had always been jealous of the way Jeremy interacted with people.  He made everyone trust him in such a way that sometimes reminded Luca of what he thought a cult leader might be like.  Thank god Jeremy used his powers for good " mostly.   

 

It was this very charm the New Worlds classmate Yelena Nolosova was destined to fall victim to " or so Jeremy thought.   Yelena was to serve as the ships computer and electrical engineer, having first majored in English and Engineering Technology at Moscow Aeronautical University and then completing her training at New Worlds.  She was the final addition to the crew, having turned her application in at the last possible minute " she wrestled with the decision to apply for quite some time, but it was the insistence of her father that allowed her, finally, to make the decision.   He was a tough, but loving man that guided her through the most important adjustments in her life.  

 

Yelena had always had a passion for technology.  She was top of her class at Moscow, and always knew that she would be some sort of engineer.  She loved the way things fit together, like pieces of a puzzle.  It fascinated her that she could take a seemingly random pile of wires and circuitry, chips and cards, and form them into a useable and powerful computer system.  While most people saw only the finished product, she saw the sum of its parts.  This was both a blessing and a curse for Yelena, as she often tended to look at life in this manner as well, mentally disassembling the things and situations around her and analyzing the pieces.  Although only those closest to her knew otherwise, she sometimes appeared to others as being cold and calculating, much like the machines she built.   

 

She was, however, extremely beautiful and Jeremy, assuming he would mostly be among men for the next fifteen months, breathed a sigh of relief with the news that she would be joining them.  Her entry into the program would mark the beginning of a long game of cat and mouse between the two of them: Jeremy endlessly pursuing Yelena; Yelena endlessly dismissing Jeremy " a vicious circle that both expected to engage in for longer than either thought was necessary. 

 

With Jeremy’s affections already so obvious, Yelena was relieved to discover that she would not be the only female onboard Oasis I.  Normally, Yelena seemed more successful in friendships with men than with women, perhaps because of the logical way she looked at the world, unencumbered by excessive emotions.  However, she knew that with such a long journey ahead of them, it would be beneficial for her to befriend the only other female in what will essentially be her home for the next fifteen months.   Little did she know that Lilly Park would not only become her closest friend but that the two might also learn a few important lessons from each other.

 

Lilly was on boarded to the mission as the communications specialist, having worked for many years in Information Systems as a communications expert.  It was her job to design, implement, and support an integrated voice, video, and web system that would not only be capable of communications between the two ships, but " for a while " between the ships and Earth.  She was a bit older than Yelena (fifteen years older to be exact), which initially caused Lilly to roll her eyes with the expectation of having to spend so much time with what she thought would be a young, inexperienced, and drama-prone woman.  After their first meeting, however, Lilly’s fears seemed put to rest as she saw that Yelena was much more than the irresponsible young woman she had imagined. 

 

Although Lilly’s parents were Japanese, they moved to Brighton, England when Lilly was an infant.  They pushed her quite hard throughout her childhood in everything she did.  Perhaps because of their pushing, she had always had a fierce determination to achieve.  This, coupled with a deep desire to explore the universe, landed her firmly aboard Oasis I, about to embark on a mission with which even her parents would be impressed " and that was no small feat.  Unfortunately, both of Lilly’s parents were killed in a car accident six years earlier and would never see their daughter leave Earth.  With a smile, Lilly would later look back down at the big blue ball she calls home, and remember her parents, thanking them for giving her the opportunity of a lifetime.   

 

The last person join to the civilian vessel going to Micon was certainly not the least important.  In fact, he was quite famous throughout most of the world for developing prosthetic technology that was completely infused into the patient’s bone and musculature, literally growing with the tissue and becoming part it.  He was an overnight sensation all over the western world, but not just because he was a medical prodigy.  There were some that thought his methods were immoral because he used fetal stem cells to create the base for his implementations.  This generated quite a lot of buzz and was quite the hot topic, but mostly only in tabloids and other disreputable publications. It was enough, however, to create intrigue surrounding the doctor and forcing him into fame, whether he was ready for it or not.  For the most part, Dr. Charlie Frost was seen as a hero and a genius, particularly for those whose lives were changed because of him.

 

Dr. Frost was the only of the six chosen to go to Micon that didn’t apply at all.  In fact, he had very little interest whatsoever in manning a mission into space.  He was quite content to enjoy his new-found fame with both feet planted firmly on the ground.  It was because of his fame, however, that New Worlds sought him out in the first place.  The general idea was that he would not only be helpful as a doctor on the mission, but that his very recent time in the lime light might help to generate some sensational headlines, ensuring that the entire mission remained positively portrayed by the media.  A built-in hero, off to save the world.

Author's Note

Not polished. There are large chunks that will be moved to other parts that will later be written or removed altogether.

Reviews

[sithlordjp]

Very interesting sci-fi story! Very difficult to come up with something new or exciting in this genre, but you've succeeded! Like you mentioned, it could use a bit of editing for pacing , but I really enjoyed it! Good job!