Thats true, but once he turned his viewer that gave resonance readings on a star, he made two huge discoveries; one was that that particular resonance frequency of that distant star was being read in real time. There was no loss of time because of distance, unlike the speed of light, where in some cases light took centuries to reach Earth from the star it left. The second discovery was building a field that would contain one of his devices that could vibrate the field at any resonance he chose, which led to its immediate disappearance; then simple logic was all that was necessary to make a star drive.
How do you get that? Mikado asked. It took him another ten years to finally build a drive.
Yes, but he had to eliminate all the other possibilities before he could understand it, Kosiev said. He learned that every place in the universe has its own unique resonance frequency and that anything that resonates at the same frequency as another place will immediately leave normal space and time and, for lack of a better term, instantaneously jump to the place that resonates the corresponding frequency. Of course the jumper must be surrounded by a field resonating at the frequency of the place targeted for a jump. If you remember, he built a small field and resonating device and put in the coordinates of the table on the other side of his lab. Once the resonance matched, the small device immediately appeared on the other table.
But then he was stuck, Mikado said. It would move no further than the width of his lab. It was five years later on a trip to the orbit of Jupiter to work on the engines of mining equipment that he tried his little experiment again, and the device disappeared out of the ship. He had an Aha moment and discovered that the suns gravity prevented the device from resonating over any distance within Jupiters orbit. He actually modified the field around the ship he was in and scanned the resonance of Neptune and actually jumped the ship to its orbit and then back to Jupiter. It probably would have taken many more years if he had not made that trip to Jupiter.
Kosiev nodded and said, But he did make the trip, and now we jump from star to star. He also learned that it was impossible to jump into a planet or star because just like the sun, its gravity would force the jumping ship out of star drive.
Mikado thought for a few moments and said, Where do you think ships go when they jump? They dont stay in normal space.
No one has ever really answered that, Kosiev said. But there are some theories. The current theory is that its really not space at all; sort of like null space or no space. Some of our higher thinkers believe that every place in the universe is in contact with every other place in that no space, sort of like it was at the moment just before the big bang when the universe was the size of the smallest atom just before it exploded. The resonance of each place is still locked up atom sized in no space because unlike the physical universe, the resonance frequency space didnt expand and is still the size of that small atom and when you match the resonance frequency of somewhere else youre actually not moving any distance at all in null space. Thats why its instantaneous when you emerge back into real space.
Mikado leaned back in his chair, stared at his console, and finally said, Every advanced race eventually makes the same discovery, which is why the Alliance has so many members. Maybe someday well be able to go out more than twenty light-years.
Kosiev looked out at the stars, I hope so, I really do.
Mikado then leaned back in his chair and said, Its also strange that every race weve encountered so far breathes oxygen. I wonder what the odds are of that happening strictly by accident.
Kosiev took another mouthful of popcorn and said, Its a big universe, Mr. Mikado; perhaps our galaxy is easier for oxygen breathers to evolve in. Then he laughed and said, Maybe an oxygen breather set the ball rolling millions of years ago.
They still had six more days before they arrived at Earth Station Seven, and Kosiev was looking forward to three days of rest and relaxation. Most of his ships crew was sleeping, leaving only Lieutenant Mikado (his sensor officer) and Ensign Smith, his helmsman, on the bridge. The background hum of the fusion reactors had a calming effect and helped most of the crew to fall asleep. Even when off the ship, most of his crew had a recording of that hum playing in their rooms; it just didnt feel right when it was missing.
Sir, theres something peculiar here, Lieutenant Mikado said.
Kosiev stopped, his hand full of popcorn a few inches from his mouth, and said, Whats that?
Im getting a small return from our Coronado screen about sixty thousand miles off the starboard side.
Kosiev put the popcorn down and got up to take a look. He saw the small blip on the sensor display.
Since the invention of the Coronado power cell, it had found wide usage in weapons development. One of the developments was the Coronado screen, where the entire surface of a warship would be covered with Coronado power cells and then covered with a hard, clear armor. The cells would be powered by four fusion reactors, and when the cells were charged they would emit an extremely low power energy field as it bled off excess power that would extend out six hundred thousand miles. The bonus of using this field for sensors was that it didnt use any extra power. The emitted field had such little energy that it was hard to detect more than fifty miles from its source. Anything that entered the field would cause a disruption that would be detected by the processors controlling the field. The other benefit of having the ship covered with power cells was that they would also absorb and store energy from any star they passed, which made use of the fusion reactors to charge them unnecessary most of the time. One of the primary design functions of the cells was that if a ship was attacked, the screen would be contracted to within three hundred yards and then would solidify into a protective force field. Each of the cells would discharge energy into a pattern that totally surrounded the ship. Anything that struck the screen would be instantly burned out of existence. Even then the power cells would absorb the energy from that destruction, replacing the energy that was used. It was like shortening the flame on a welder. The tighter it was pulled in, the hotter the flame. As the screen pulled close to the ship it became impenetrable. The only thing that could come through the screen untouched was another Coronado screen. Ships could actually dock without lowering their screens. The other design function was that the power cells could be discharged into an unbelievable energy beam. The intensity of the beam and its length were controlled by the weapons console.
The ship could still be destroyed if enough energy was directed at it. But that would be difficult with a ship that could move as fast as this one was capable. When the screen was at full power much greater speeds could be achieved, because the random molecules of matter scattered throughout universal space would be absorbed by the screen, offering less resistance. Before the use of power cells, ordinary force fields directed the particles around a ship, which was like traveling through water. There werent many molecules in open space, but at extremely high speeds there were enough to offer stiff resistance. The power cells simply consumed those molecules, converted them to energy, stored the resulting power, and thereby eliminated the resistance.
What is that? Kosiev asked.
Sir, its about the size of a cruiser, but its not moving or registering any power, at least none that I can pick up at this range.
Can you determine what its made of?
Yes sir. Most of it is high-strength alloy.
Kosiev raised his eyebrows and said, Is it inside the limit?
Yes it is, sir.
Sound general quarters, all hands to battle stations. Ensign Smith, change course to intercept that object. Pull in the screen as we approach it. Were going to take a look; take us in at one-third speed. The alarm klaxon began wailing, the bridge lights went to full combat power, and sailors jumped from their beds and ran to their duty stations. Moscow was getting ready for war, and Kosiev was proud of the crew and their efficiency. In less than forty-five seconds all sections had reported in and all systems were manned. The bright Directorate ship changed course and flew toward the object on its sensors.