Twenty minutes later, Janet found Billy eating plants in the botany lab. He must have been hungry, spending all the time during launch in his cage. Zeke hugged Billy first and then Janet. Janet seemed happy just to have contributed to finding Billy.
Tom said, “I am glad we found the tortoise. Please make sure he is at least locked into a room and has plenty of water and food to eat. I don’t want the entire ship looking for tortoises all the time.”
Zeke was just happy to find Billy and told Tom he would make sure this did not happen again.
“I’d love to help with that, if you don’t mind an assistant! I love tortoises. I used to have one back at home,” said Janet.
“Sure, Janet,” Zeke said.
Then Tom started walking to the bridge. If this was relaxation, then Tom preferred to go back to work.
The next day, Tom, Bob, Sam, Jose and a group of officers met with Dorothy and Carson to inspect the engines and to discuss the speed they would continue at for the next few weeks. They also needed to figure out how to obtain and maintain warp speed.
Everyone was sitting around a large round table in the conference room for the bridge.
Tom began, “I want to thank you two for working almost twenty-four hours a day to launch this spaceship. I am sure you are both exhausted, but now we need you more than ever. I believe you two, as well as Dr. Sato and the commanders, are the key people who will determine whether we ever reach a new galaxy like Alpha Centauri.”
Everyone in the room applauded for Dorothy and Carson.
Carson said, “Thank you for your compliments. While Dorothy and I certainly worked hard at our jobs, we could not do this without the assistance of all the people working on the engines and our great commanders.”
Everyone applauded again.
Dorothy then said, “We have some updates to report and some matters to discuss. First, all of the engines are working fine. Our new fuel system, which will continuously recycle fuel is working, and we hope it continues to do so. I doubt we will have many gas stations in space or many places to pick up the necessary chemicals needed to make more, but you never know for sure. Second, we can verify that we can fly at Mach 8, which is faster than any spaceship has traveled before. However, it is still not fast enough. Now, I have some really fantastic news. My team will be working on this issue probably day and night until we reach warp speed. We believe we have found a solution to achieve this goal. If we are successful, we will be able to travel ten times the speed of light.”
Tom said, “This is absolutely fantastic news. Can you explain how this is theoretically going to work?”
Carson stood up and said, “Yes, I would be delighted to explain it to everyone, and we will conduct simulations very soon. In order for us to fly at warp speed, we need to create space-time to warp around the starship, creating a region of contracted space in front of it and expanded space behind. As you know, Einstein always believed it as impossible to travel faster than the speed of light. However, we can bend space to achieve warp speed.”
Tom asked, “From what I understand, in order to achieve that, it would take a huge amount of energy that is not possible on a ship like this. How will we be able to produce the energy need to successfully fly at warp speed?”
Carson said, “That is an excellent question and one we have been wrestling with even before we set foot on Imagine. In fact, I would say that it is probably the most important factor of why we have not been able to achieve warp speed yet. What we need to do—and have been successful in determining in our calculations—is to find the right shape of the warp field to greatly decrease the amount of energy needed. It is possible we may need less energy than what was required to launch. We are going to run some simulations and find the best warp field possible.”
Sam, who had been sitting quietly the whole time, suddenly said, “Fantastic. I may actually get to a new home before I turn one hundred years old.”
Everyone laughed at the remark.
Tom also laughed. He said, “That is an incredible discovery. When you are ready to run your simulations, please let me know. This is of the utmost importance. Carson and Dorothy, you have done a wonderful job since you have worked for the Imagine. Keep up the good work.”
Dorothy was all smiles. She said, “Thank you, Tom, for your great leadership on board. I am sure we will be discussing the warp issue in the near future. I would also like to recommend that when we break orbit and head toward Mars, we start off at Mach 1 or 2 and gradually build up speed. There are two reasons for this. First, we need to keep monitoring the engines as we increase speed to identify and fix any problems that occur. Second, everyone on board, including the officers and us, has to get used to traveling at such a fast pace. We hope that no one even notices the speed or becomes ill from the motion of the ship.”
Tom said, “Your comments are understandable. I will notify the other ships to start off at Mach 1, and we can decide when to travel at Mach 2 and so forth. I am glad the engines are all working fine now. When we break Earth’s orbit, how will we get past the gravitational pull again? We do not have eight rockets or controls from the surface to help us anymore. We are now on our own, except for the two other spaceships. We will need to work closely with their engineering teams to discover the best way to travel in space. Also, all three ships will continuously plot our path to Alpha Centauri.”
Jose asked, “What can Sam and I do to help with this? We enjoyed assisting with the launch plans.”
Carson responded, “Both Sam and Jose did a great job working with us, and if the officers do not mind, we would love to have them continue.”
Tom said, “That will be fine with me. As long as we are making progress, I do not mind anyone assisting you.”
Dorothy said, “You asked about how we will break orbit. The simple answer to this is we will increase the thrust in the propulsion system to boost the energy necessary to break orbit. We will not need a lot of power. However, all three ships must use the same control to ensure we will be moving at the same speed and ability to stay relatively close to each other. Also, before we leave orbit, we need to test the shuttle as it moves outside our ship and transports people to other vessels. The shuttle could be vital if we need to perform repair work on the hull.”
Tom said, “You are right. Do you have two pilots ready to test the shuttle?”
“Yes, Marvin Watson, who tested the shuttle with you before, can pilot the shuttle. I think Bob may want to be the co-pilot. It will be a learning experience for him. He can quickly check out the systems on board while the shuttle is in action.”
Bob responded, “Sure, I would like that. It will be nice to fly something again. How soon are we going to launch the shuttle, and how long do you want us to fly it before returning to Imagine?”
Dorothy said, “It will only take an hour to fly the shuttle around the ship. You will need to do two things. First, check out all the systems on board the shuttle to make sure they are all functioning correctly. Second, as you fly around Imagine, check the hull to make sure it is all intact from the outside. The inside hull is fine, but we need to check to make sure the outer hull was not damaged.”
Bob said, “And if it is damaged?”
Tom said, “Use the camera inside the shuttle to video the hull. That way the people on the bridge and myself can assist with the process of repairing it. If it is only minor repairs, then we will tell you how to fix it. If it is significant damage, then we will send another shuttle with supplies and engineers to assist you.”