The Line of the Sol Empress

Chapter 7.1

Hope is also a verb. Worked, it grows. Lent, it returns twice strong.

     - Writings of the Sol Empress, Words of Faith

[Celeste]         

To Celeste, the quantum drive seemed like a magical box. The inside of the large rectangular black enclosure, with each dimension roughly the same as Moon's height, did nothing to dispel that impression. She almost expected the box to contain a collection of talismans marked with ancient runes, but with the cover off, it appeared to be not as much magic as impossibly complicated technology.

How can anything this small propel a starship many times faster than the speed of light? Maybe it is magic after all.

Moon was in his element, kneeling before the device with steeled focus. Shifting his head to different perspectives, he made fine adjustments with the tools, like a magician performing a complicated illusion. A short squat robot controlled by Sai, a mass of appendages mounted on stubby metal feet, served as the magician's assistant. A jumble of wires and tubes twisted around a spherical core like blood vessels to a heart. Coiled attachments stuck out from the sphere like blunt spikes. Several of these coils were missing, or rather they laid scattered on the floor around Moon. These appeared to be the focus of his efforts.

Celeste sat cross-legged on the floor, observing him. "You do know what you are doing, don't you?"

"Yeah. I worked on quantum drives in the military. My specialty." He straightened up and lifted his chin, motioning to the core. "Rebuilt this one myself. And now the Phoenix Star is one of the fastest haulers around." He grinned. "No worries."

She frowned. "When you say 'no worries', I feel like maybe I should worry. So what could go wrong?"

Moon moved a cylindrical sensor probe across one coil while observing the read-out on his viewer. "Well, the most likely of failure modes is that it just won't work and we will be stuck in deep space for a very long time, which is our current situation."

"Ooo-kay... Is there a worse failure mode?"

"Quantum displacement drives work by generating a controlled space-time anomaly. The funny thing about it is that if it overheats or you don't get the alignment right, it might turn into sort of a mini black hole. The implosion and gravitational stresses would tear the ship apart."

Celeste clamped her eyes shut. "Well, that is not a desired outcome."

"Not at all. But I haven't imploded a quantum drive yet, although that is something you only ever do once. I have to admit, we almost did running from that torpedo." He turned his eyes up to the maintenance bot fastening a coil. "We've got this, right Sai?"

The bot responded with Sai's voice. "Indeed so, sir. My simulations indicate only a nine percent probability of implosion."

Moon tilted his head and lifted an eyebrow. "Like I said, no worries."

Celeste sighed. "Right..."

He has already defied the odds and kept me alive. Might as well run with it.

Moon grinned at her. "So how are the four of you doing?"

Four? She turned her eyes down and grasped her belly. Yes, four! Me and the three tiny ones that grow within. Her heart leaped at the thought, but then dropped. But I will ultimately have to give them up. I should feel satisfaction with this sacred duty, but I don't.

"Good, I think. Although I never knew morning sickness could be so uncomfortable. I have more empathy for pregnant women now."

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