The Birth of The Unity (sequel to Chronicle of Nautilus)

Chapter 4: The Exciting Job

"Maneuvering the ship at 4/5 the speed of light is quite tricky. Of course, there is theory and differential formulas taking all known variables into account to help you, but using them in practice is much difficult than it's explained in the files. The planets you currently see on the map have negligible masses in comparison to the stars at the center of their solar systems." The captain pointed his finger at a three-dimensional star map projected above young Adam's knees. With fast precise movements of his hands, he manipulated the star map and broke it into three pieces. Then, he increased the scale of each image.

On the left of the young man floated a solar system somewhat similar to that of Earth's: eight planets orbited a single massive red sun. On the right floated a binary solar system of two bright yellow stars, a dozen of planets orbiting them. And in the center was projected the ship. It had the shape of a hawk in a diving position. Where the hawk's head should have been, a long smooth pointy cone, similar to an umbrella was tilted by a few degrees. The cone was uniform and perfectly symmetrical around the center axis. The image of the ship hologram was painted in dark blue but in truth, the outer layer of the hull was totally black with the light absorption rate of eighty-eight percent. Similarly, to a black hole, it did not let light escape once it touched the ship's surface. All energy absorbed from outside was consumed and transformed into another form. Either it was used to assist ship propulsion engines when accelerating, or aid its life support systems.

The captain continued the explanation, "According to the data gathered in our journey. The three stars together are forming a single star system. Since we are traveling at such high speed, our vision range is narrowed and the distance seen through the window of navigation room is much different from the image you are going to see in your computer screen. In fact, the distances between the suns are much larger. Before making the maneuver, you need to double check the computer calculations of gravitational forces provided by the suns.

Student's eyes were focused on the image in front of him. He knew the theory of how the maneuver is done but listened attentively without interrupting. He did not want any detail to slip away.

Old Adam went on, "Eleven turns remain to reach our new home. At this point, we are to make a turn of four degrees and head for the CX-79 system. We will need to decelerate to 2/5 LS because at such speed side engines are not sensitive enough to change our direction. Never, and I mean never try to turn without doping to the required speed. If the ship starts spinning, you won't be able to balance it back. Once we complete the maneuver we will use gravitational forces of double suns and their solar energy to accelerate back to 4/5 LS."

"The trick, however, is not to make the maneuver but keep the hull from straining. It is carbon based and very sensitive. A meter displacement to the sides over the length of a kilometer is the norm. Make it three and the center may crack. The carbon used in our hull won't start cracking. The funny thing is that the strain on the hull was not considered an issue when manufacturing the ship and we found out that it was an issue only after leaving Solar system and making the first turn. We have no way to monitor the strain. We have no sensors installed in the hull and the only thing that helps to understand it is sound. Listening to the speakers is how you know if the strain still bearable or not. Loud bangs are nothing, the constant squealing tune is what you should watch out for. Reduce the side trusts if it continues for more than ten minutes.

You always have the crew which is backing you up. Though the person making choices will always be you. Each maneuver is calculated in anticipation of the upcoming few ones. You may not pass the stars too far, for the gravitational influence will be too small, nor too close, so you can avoid their outer asteroid. The ship in the image looks nice, but there are already a few bumps on the front shield. We even had to activate the umbrella in the front a few times.